JPH07205521A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform printing on any kinds of printing medium regardless of the size, thickness, kind and the like of the printing medium to be used. CONSTITUTION:A printing head 8 is provided movably on a main body of an ink jet printer 1, and a sensing means for sensing the printing position of the printing head 8 is provided on the printing head 8, and also a control section for receiving position data of the printing head 8 from the sensing means and operating the printing head 8 in compliance with the data is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing mechanism having a print head which is detachable from a printer body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printer, a print medium is conveyed into the printer and printed by a print head. As a print medium of such a printer, a paper having a size, a thickness, a strain, etc., which is capable of being conveyed into the printer, is used.

[0003]

In the conventional printer, an extremely wide paper sheet or a thick plate cannot be inserted into the insertion opening, and the paper sheet or cloth having a weak stiffness is not able to be inserted. However, there is a problem in that the tip cannot be properly conveyed because the tip is curled, and there are many restrictions on the print medium to be used, such as size, thickness, and type.

[0004]

In order to solve the above problems, in the printer of the present invention, the print head is detachable from the printer main body, and the detection means for detecting the print position of the print head is provided in the print head. With the provision
A control unit is provided which receives the print head position data from the detection means and operates the print head in response to the position data.

[0005]

When the print head of the printer configured as described above is mounted on or removed from the printer body, the detecting means detects the print position of the print head and sends the position data to the control section. Since the control unit receives the position data and sends the print data to the print head while driving the print head at a print timing, the print head drives the print head, and the print head prints according to the movement.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to print on any print medium regardless of the size, thickness, type, etc. of the print medium used.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The elements common to the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an ink jet printer of one embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view showing a print head of one embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the ink jet printer 1
Is composed of a main body 2 and a printing unit 3. Body 2
Has a setting table 4 for setting sheets. A carriage 5 is movably supported by the print unit 3 by a guide shaft 6 and a lead screw 7.
Further, a top cover 3a that can be opened and closed in the direction of arrow AA 'is attached.

An ink jet type print head 8 is detachably attached to the carriage 5. Both ends of the guide shaft 6 are fixed to side frames (not shown), and the lead screw 7 is rotatably supported by the side frames (not shown) at both ends and is rotated by a drive motor (not shown). The carriage 5 moves in the spacing direction together with the print head 8 as the lead screw 7 rotates.

Below the print head 8, a paper transport path 9 is formed. The sheet guide upper 1 is provided on the conveying path 9.
0 and a sheet guide lower 11 are provided. The feed rollers 12 and 13 are rotatably supported by a side frame (not shown). Pressure rollers 14 and 15 are pressed against the feed rollers 12 and 13, respectively. A paper insertion port 16 is formed near the pressure contact portion between the feed roller 12 and the pressure roller 14, and a paper discharge port 17 is formed near the pressure contact portion between the feed roller 13 and the pressure roller 15.

In FIG. 3, a head carrier 18 is fixedly attached to one side surface of the print head 8. The head carrier 18 has a claw 19 made of a flexible member on the upper portion,
A boss 20 is provided on the side opposite to the fixed side of the print head 8. On the other hand, the carriage 5 has a lock groove 21 at a position facing the claw 19 of the head carrier 18,
Positioning holes 22 are provided at positions facing 0, respectively. The print head 8 is mounted on the carriage 5 by the hook 19 of the head carrier 18 being caught in the lock groove 21 of the carriage 5 and the boss 20 being inserted into the positioning hole 22.

When removing the print head 8 from the carriage 5, first, the end 19a of the claw 19 is pressed toward the print head 8 to bend it, and the tip 19b is released from the lock groove 21. Next, the print head 8 is pulled in the direction of the arrow B and removed from the carriage 5. A sensor (not shown) provided in the positioning hole 22 detects whether or not the boss 20 is inserted in the positioning hole 22. As a result, the attachment / detachment of the print head 8 is detected.

A shaft 23 is rotatably attached to a side wall of the head carrier 18 below the head carrier 18. A roller 24 and a slit disk 25 are fixed to the shaft 23, and the roller 24 and the slit disk 25 rotate integrally. A U-shaped sensor 26 is provided above the slit disk 25. The sensor 26 counts the slits of the slit disk 25 by a light emitting element and a light receiving element (not shown) provided so as to face the inner wall of the sensor 26.
With the print head 8 mounted on the carriage 5,
As shown in FIG. 2, the roller 24 is a sheet guide upper 1
0 is in contact with the upper surface.

Next, the printing operation of the above-mentioned ink jet printer 1 will be described. When the print head 8 is mounted on the inkjet printer 1, the boss 20 of the head carrier 18 is positioned in the positioning hole 22 of the carriage 5.
Is detected in the carriage 5, so the carriage 5
Prints in the mounting mode in which the spacing operation is performed. Place the printing paper on the set stand 4, and insert the leading edge of the printing paper into the paper insertion slot 1
6 and inserts it into the pressure contact portion between the feed roller 12 and the pressure roller 14. When this sheet set is detected by a sensor (not shown), the feed roller 12 rotates and the sheet is fed by the feed roller 12 and the pressure roller 14.
It is sandwiched by and and is conveyed to a position where the print position of the first line is opposed to the tip of the print head 8.

Next, when the lead screw 7 rotates, the carriage 5 moves in the spacing direction, and the print head 8 is activated to start printing. At this time, the roller 24 contacting the sheet guide upper 10 is rotated by friction in accordance with the spacing operation.

The slit disk 25 also rotates at the same time as the roller 24. The sensor 26 counts the number of slits due to this rotation, and the control unit (not shown) controls the carriage 5
Detects the position of the print head from the number of slits with reference to the position at which the print head comes into contact with the side frame and stops. When the printing of the first line is completed, the feed roller 12 rotates to convey a predetermined amount of paper, and the printing operation is repeated.

Next, the printing operation with the print head 8 removed from the ink jet printer 1 will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1
In, open the top cover 3a of the printing unit section 3,
The print head 8 is removed from the inkjet printer.
At this time, it is detected that the boss 20 of the head carrier 18 in FIG. 3 is not inserted into the positioning hole 22 of the carriage 5, and the print head is switched freely to the non-mounting mode in which printing is performed.

The print head 8 is electrically connected to the ink jet printer 1 by a head cable 27. The head cable 27 is housed in a cable guide 28 provided in the printing unit section 3 and is pulled out from the cable guide 28 at the same time when the print head 8 is removed.

In this embodiment, a thick plate 29 which cannot be inserted from the paper insertion slot 16 of the ink jet printer 1 shown in FIG. 2 is used as the print medium. First, the print head 8 is positioned at an arbitrary position by bringing the roller 24 into contact with the print surface of the plate 29. The operator
When the print head 8 is moved in the direction of arrow C while the roller 24 is in contact with the printing surface of the plate 29, the roller 24 is rotated by friction due to the movement.

At the same time as the roller 24, the slit disk 25 in FIG. 3 also rotates. The sensor 26 counts the number of slits due to this rotation. A control unit (not shown) performs printing by starting the print head 8 from the pulse of a predetermined amount after the roller 24 starts to rotate.

Next, the print control of one embodiment will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control unit of the ink jet printer of one embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the print timing of one embodiment. In FIG. 4, the pulse detection circuit 3 is provided in the control unit 30 of the inkjet printer.
1, a print timing generation circuit 32, and a head drive circuit 33 are connected in order. The pulse detection circuit 31 is a sensor 2 that counts the slits of the slit disk 25.
Connected to 6. In addition, the head drive circuit 33
Is connected to the print head 8 and a memory 34 that is provided in the control unit 30 and stores print data.

When the slit disk 25 rotates, the perforated portion 25a, which is a slit, and the closed portion 25b, which is not a slit, pass alternately between the light receiving element and the light emitting element of the sensor 26. As shown in FIG. 5, the pulse detection circuit output turns on when the perforated portion 25a passes between the light receiving element and the light emitting element, and turns off when the closed portion 25b passes.
When the pulse detection circuit output is turned on, the print timing generation circuit output is turned on to obtain the timing for forming dots. It should be noted that the dot pitch P1 is 1/1 which is an appropriate value.
The width of the slit and the diameter of the roller 24 that determines the rotation speed of the slit are set in advance so as to be 80 ″.

In the present embodiment, when printing is performed in the non-wearing mode, a thick plate has been described as an example of the print medium. However, in addition to this, an extremely wide sheet which cannot be inserted into the sheet insertion port is used. Printing may be performed on wide paper, weak paper or cloth that cannot be conveyed normally.

[0024]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following effects.

That is, the print head is detachable from the printer main body, and the detection means for detecting the print position of the print head is provided in the print head, and the position data of the print head is received from the detection means, and the print head is moved accordingly. By providing the control unit that operates, it is possible to perform printing on any print medium regardless of the size, thickness, type, etc. of the print medium used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic explanatory view showing an ink jet printer of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view showing a print head according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a control unit of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a time chart showing the print timing of one embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Inkjet Printer 8 Print Head 25 Slit Disk 26 Sensor 29 Plate 30 Control Section

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer for performing printing by a print head that moves relative to a medium, wherein the print head is detachable from the printer body, and a detection means for detecting the print position of the print head is provided on the print head. Receives the print head position data from the means,
A printer having a control unit for operating a print head in response to the request. 2. A sensor for detecting attachment / detachment of the print head is provided, wherein the control section performs normal printing as an attachment mode when the print head is attached to the printer body, and does not attach when the print head is removed from the printer body. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer receives position data of the print head from the detecting means as a mode and operates the print head in response to the position data. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printer is an inkjet printer. 4. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the print head is attachable to and detachable from the printer body by a claw provided on the print head and a groove provided on the carriage.