JPH07739U - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer that performs printing using an ink ribbon and that can be downsized and shorten the time required for printing. [Structure] An ink ribbon 41 is sandwiched together with a drive roller 14, and a driven roller 17 for sending the ink ribbon 41 is rotatably held on a carriage 7 by a holder frame 19.
Further, by providing the base plate 1 with the lever 24 having the engaging claw portions 29 that engage with the claw portions 22 of the holder frame 19 in the deceleration section of the carriage 7, when the carriage 7 enters the deceleration section, the holder frame 19 is provided. Is rotated and the driven roller 17 is pressed against the drive roller 14, and the ink ribbon 4
1 is sandwiched between the driving roller 14 and the driven roller 17.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer that prints using an ink ribbon.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 5 and 6 show configuration diagrams of an example of the related art. 5 (A) is a plan view, FIG. 5 (B) is a front view, and FIG. 6 is a side view. In the figure, indicates a color ribbon cassette 12. A color ink ribbon 41 is stored in the color ribbon cassette 12. As shown in FIG. 7, the color ink ribbon 41 has a color identification for distinguishing each color by areas 42, 43, 44 and 45 of four colors of heat-meltable ink of yellow, magenta, cyan and black on a base such as polyester. It is divided by the marker 46 and sequentially applied.

The color ribbon cassette 12 is mounted on a carriage 47 and is configured to move by the carriage 47 in the direction of arrow A, which is the printing direction.

A thermal head 48 is disposed on the carriage 47, and the thermal head 48 and the platen 49 are rotated by rotating the thermal head 48 in the direction of the platen 49 (arrow B ₁ direction). 41 and the printing paper 50 are nipped, and printing is possible. In this printable state, while moving the carriage 47 in the direction of the arrow A ₁ , the thermal head 48 is energized in accordance with the print data to heat the thermal head 48 and face the heated portion of the thermal head 48 of the ink ribbon. Printing is performed by melting the ink in the formed portion and transferring it to the printing paper 50.

In such a printer, when a print command is supplied to the printer from a computer or the like, first, since the ink ribbon 41 of the color designated by the print command is printed, the color identification marker 46 of the ink ribbon 41 is searched. , It is necessary to find the area of the required color. For this purpose, an ink ribbon feeding mechanism for idling the ink ribbon 41 is provided.

The conventional idle feed mechanism is composed of a driven roller 52 provided on the left end of the base plate 51 and a drive roller 53 provided on the carriage 47. The driven roller 52 and the drive roller 53 are combined. The ink ribbon 41 is sandwiched and the drive roller 53 is rotated to feed the ink ribbon 41.

Next, the operation of the conventional printer will be described. Initially, the carriage 47 is located at the home position.

The home position is a position indicated by a point s in FIG. 6 and is a position where the carriage 47 stops after printing is completed. When there is a print command from the computer etc. to the printer, the area of the color specified by the print command of the ink ribbon is searched. Therefore, the above-mentioned ink ribbon feeding mechanism performs idle feeding, and the ink ribbon sensor 54 including a photo interrupter etc. The color identification marker 46 is detected.

Since the idle feeding is performed, it is necessary to hold the ink ribbon 41 between the driven roller 52 and the driving roller 53. Therefore, the carriage 47 is moved further leftward from the home position, and the drive roller 53 provided on the carriage 47 is pressed against the driven roller 52 provided at the left end of the base plate 51 at the position e, and further moved leftward. As a result, the ink ribbon 41 is held by the spring pressure of the spring 55 that biases the driven roller 52 at the position f.

Next, in this state, the drive roller 53 is rotated by a motor, so that the ink ribbon 41 can be pulled out from the supply core 56 and sent to the winding core 57 side.

In the ink ribbon pulled out from the winding core 57, the color identification marker 46 is detected by the ink ribbon sensor 54 on the way. FIG. 8 shows a configuration diagram of the ink ribbon sensor 54. The color identification marker 46 includes an opaque marker 46a and a transparent marker 46b. The color identification marker 46 identifies the color by counting the number of times and the light blocking and transmitting time of light passing through the ribbon sensor 54, and the ink of the color to be printed Areas 41 to 44 are searched.

When the area of ink of the color to be printed is found, the carriage 47 is returned to the home position s, the thermal head 48 is pressed against the platen 49, and the carriage is moved to the right.

When the carriage 47 starts moving from the home position s and reaches a constant speed, the thermal head 48 is heated according to the print data and printing is started. After the printing is completed, the carriage 47 is decelerated in the deceleration section, stops at the stop position g, and then returns to the home position s again.

After that, the above-described operation was repeated to perform printing according to the color, and the color printing was performed.

[0015]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional printer, the idling mechanism for idling the ink ribbon is composed of the drive roller mounted on the carriage and the driven roller provided at the end of the base plate. When feeding, the carriage is moved further from the carriage stop position toward the driven roller, and the ink ribbon is sandwiched between the drive roller and the driven roller to perform idle feeding. It is necessary to move the carriage, and the movement amount of the carriage is large correspondingly. Therefore, there are problems that the device becomes large and the printing time required for the movement amount of the carriage becomes long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that can be downsized and the time required for printing can be shortened.

[0017]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 The present invention is a printer that performs printing while moving a carriage on which an ink ribbon is mounted at a constant speed in the printing direction. The ink ribbon feed is mounted on the carriage and holds the ink ribbon to run the ink ribbon. A mechanism, at least one of an acceleration section for accelerating the carriage from the stopped state to the constant speed, a printing section for moving the carriage at the constant speed, and a deceleration section for moving the carriage from the constant speed to the stopped state. In a range, an ink ribbon feed control mechanism that engages with the ink ribbon feed mechanism and operates the ink ribbon feed mechanism is provided.

[0018]

[Action]

 A print range that moves the carriage movement range at a constant speed, a width speed range that increases from a stopped state to a constant speed before the print range, and a deceleration range that decelerates from the constant speed to the stopped state after the print range ends. Since the ink ribbon is rewound during non-printing within the carriage movement range, the carriage movement range does not require the movement range for non-printing ink ribbon winding. Jig movement can be the minimum range required for printing.

[0019]

【Example】

 1 and 2 are block diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same components are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In the figure, 1 indicates a base plate. Pulleys 2 and 3 are rotatably attached to a base plate 1 and a guide rail 4 is held.

The pulley 2 is connected to the movement driving unit 5, and is moved and rotationally driven by the driving unit 5. The pulley 2 and the pulley 3 are connected by a moving belt 6, and when the pulley 2 rotates, the moving belt 6 is driven in the arrow A direction. A carriage 7 is fixed to a part of the moving belt 6. The carriage 7 is engaged with the guide rail 4 and moves in the direction of arrow A along the guide rail 4 as the moving belt 6 moves.

A thermal head 8, a thermal head driving mechanism 9, an ink ribbon feeding mechanism 10, and an ink ribbon winding mechanism 10 are mounted on the carriage 7, and an ink ribbon cassette 12 is mounted on the carriage 7. The thermal head 7 is provided on the side of the carriage 7 on which the platen 13 is disposed, and is rotated in the arrow B direction by the thermal head drive mechanism 9.

The head drive mechanism 9 rotates the thermal head 8 in the direction of arrow B ₁ during printing, presses it against the platen 13, and moves the thermal head 8 in the direction of arrow B ₂ during non-printing such as idling of the ink ribbon. It is rotated to release the pressure contact with the platen 13.

The ink ribbon feeding mechanism 10 includes a driving roller 14, a driving mechanism 15, and a driven roller portion 16. The drive roller 14 is planted on the upper surface of the left end portion of the carriage 7, and is configured to rotate in the arrow C direction by the drive mechanism 15.

The driven roller portion 16 is held on the left side surface of the carriage 7 so as to be rotatable in the arrow D direction. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the essential parts of one embodiment of the present invention.

The driven roller portion 16 includes a driven roller 17, a roller holder 18, and a holder frame 19. The driven roller 17 is rotatably held by a roller holder 18, and the roller holder 18 is held by a holder frame 19 so as to be aligned.

The holder frame 19 has a rotary shaft 20 on the lower side, and the rotary shaft 20 is rotatably held by the carriage 7 by engaging with a rotary shaft holding portion 21 formed on the lower part of the left side surface of the carriage 7. To be done. Further, a claw portion 22 is integrally formed on the lower portion of the rotary shaft 20 of the holder frame 19.

At the end of printing, the claw portion 22 engages with the ink ribbon feed control mechanism 23 to rotate the holder frame 19 in the direction of the arrow D ₁ and press the driven roller 17 against the drive roller 14. There is.

The ink ribbon feed control mechanism 23 is arranged on the right bottom surface of the base plate 1. The ink ribbon feed control mechanism 23 is composed of a lever 24 and a spring 25, and the lever 24 is rotatably held on the base plate 1 by a screw 26.

One end of the spring 25 is engaged with a claw portion 27 formed by cutting and raising a part of the base plate 1, and the other end is engaged with an engaging portion 28 of the lever 24. It is biased in the direction of arrow E. Further, the lever 24 is integrally formed with an engaging claw portion 29 that engages with the claw portion 22 of the holder frame 19. The engagement claw 29 extends from the opening 30 on the step side surface of the base plate 1 to the upper surface of the base plate 1 and is configured to engage with the claw 22 of the holder frame 19.

At this time, printing is completed at the contact position A between the engaging claw 29 of the lever 24 and the claw 22 of the holder frame 19, and the carriage 7 is positioned within a deceleration section where the carriage 7 decelerates from a constant speed to a stopped state. Set to.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Initially, the carriage 5 is at home position s.

When there is a print command from the computer or the like to the printer, first, it is necessary to idle feed the ink ribbon in order to search the area coated with the ink of the color corresponding to the print command of the ink ribbon. Therefore, first, the carriage 7 is moved to the right (direction of arrow A ₁ ).

When the carriage 6 reaches the point A in the deceleration section, the claw portion 22 of the holder frame 19 abuts on the engaging claw portion 29 of the lever 24, and is further moved to the right (arrow A ₁ direction), When the carriage reaches the stop positions B and E, the holder frame 19 rotates in the direction of arrow E ₁ , and the driven roller 17 is pressed against the drive roller 14 by the biasing force of the spring 25 via the ink ribbon.

Next, the drive roller 14 is rotationally driven. When the drive roller 14 is rotationally driven, the ink ribbon is held between the drive roller 14 and the driven roller 17 by the urging force of the spring 25, so that the ink ribbon travels at a constant speed in the direction of arrow F, is pulled out from the supply core 31, and is wound. It is wound around the take-up core 32.

At this time, the ribbon sensor 33 detects the color identification marker, and the area of the color corresponding to the print command is located. When the area of the color corresponding to the print command is found, the carriage 7 is moved to the left (direction of arrow A ₂ ) and returns to the home position s.

When the carriage 7 returns to the home position s, the thermal head 9 is pressed against the platen 11 and the carriage 7 moves rightward (direction of arrow A ₁ ).

When the carriage 7 starts moving from the home position s and reaches the position c, the moving speed of the carriage 7 becomes constant.

When the moving speed of the carriage 7 becomes constant, the thermal head 8 is energized according to the print data to start printing. Next, when the carriage 7 reaches the print end position D, the thermal head 8 is de-energized, the carriage 7 is decelerated from a constant speed, and stopped at the stop position b.

At the stop position b, the ink ribbon 41 is pressed by the driving roller 14 and the driven roller 17 by the spring pressure of the spring 25, and the color search according to the next print command is performed, and the next printing is continued. Will be performed.

As described above, since the ink ribbon feed mechanism 10 and the ink ribbon feed control mechanism 23 can set the idle feed operation of the ink ribbon within the deceleration section (d to b), the idle feed of the ink ribbon Since it is not necessary to provide a dedicated section for the carriage 7, the moving range of the carriage 7 can be limited to the minimum range necessary for printing. Therefore, the printer can be downsized and the time required for printing can be shortened. Further, since the movement amount is small, it is possible to save power.

Further, since the pressure for holding the ink ribbon is generated by the lever 24 and the spring 25 held under the base plate 1, even if the strength of the lever 23 or the biasing force of the spring 25 is increased, the direction of the arrow A Since it does not protrude to a relatively small size, and the pressure for pinching can be increased, the ink ribbon can be stably run. Therefore, malfunction does not easily occur.

[0042]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, the moving range of the carriage is the printing range in which the carriage moves at a constant speed, the acceleration range from the stop to the constant speed, and the deceleration range from the constant speed to the stop. The ink ribbon running during non-printing is performed within the above carriage movement range by the ink ribbon feeding mechanism and the ink ribbon feeding control mechanism, so the carriage movement range is within the minimum range required for printing. Therefore, it has the advantages that unnecessary movement is not required, the time required for printing can be reduced, and the printer can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a color ink ribbon.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of a ribbon sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Base Plate 7 Carriage 10 Ink Ribbon Feeding Mechanism 14 Drive Roller 17 Followed Roller 18 Roller Holder 19 Holder Frame 20 Rotating Shaft 21 Holding Part 23 Ink Ribbon Feeding Mechanism 24 Lever 25 Spring

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Hirohisa Hishinuma, 1-4 Fujimi-cho, 1-chome, Gyoda-shi, Saitama Prefecture, GECO CORPORATION (72) Masao Masumura 1-4-1 Fujimi-cho, Gyoda, Saitama Incorporated (72) Inventor Toru Iwasa 1-4, Fujimi-cho, Gyoda-shi, Saitama Within Jeco Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoichi Mitsuki 1-4-1, Fujimi-cho, Gyoda-shi, Saitama Inside Jeco Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A printer for performing printing while moving a carriage on which an ink ribbon is mounted in a printing direction at a constant speed, the ink ribbon being mounted on the carriage and holding the ink ribbon to run the ink ribbon. A feed mechanism, at least one of an acceleration section for accelerating the carriage from a stopped state to the constant speed, a printing section for moving the carriage at the constant speed, and a deceleration section for moving the carriage from the constant speed to the stopped state. A printer comprising an ink ribbon feed control mechanism that engages with the ink ribbon feed mechanism and operates the ink ribbon feed mechanism within a range.