JPH08197489A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a printer capable of processing high speed printing without generating a paper jam. CONSTITUTION: A rotary blade body 52 rotated around a rotation axis intersecting the passing direction of a recorded medium 7 after printing and formed to be long in the direction of the rotation axis, and a fixed blade body 55 facing the rotary blade body 52 are disposed in the passing path of the recorded medium 7 after printing. The timing of the rotating speed of the rotary blade body 52 and the paper feed speed are controlled to be adjusted so that the recorded medium 7 passes a clearance between the rotary blade body 52 and the fixed blade body 55 by the cut length part during the rotation of the rotary blade body 52.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer for high-speed printing processing, which is provided with a cutting device for cutting a recording medium after printing into a predetermined length.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional shuttle printer, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-52913, printing pins are arranged in a row in the left-right direction intersecting the feeding direction of a printing medium such as paper. Disclosed is a configuration in which unit printing mechanisms are fixedly arranged in a row and the tip end side of a printing pin protruding from each printing mechanism is reciprocally rocked in the lateral direction of a recording medium via a tip guide member and a movable body. Has been done.

Further, the present applicant has previously made a facsimile machine to print while unrolling a roll of recording paper (recording medium), and cut the printed recording paper with a scissors-type cutting device. I disclosed to do. This cutting device has a fixed blade that is long in a direction orthogonal to the recording paper conveyance direction, faces the fixed blade, and approaches one end of the long blade of the fixed blade and faces the other end. When the length of the recording paper passing between the two blades reaches a certain length, the conveyance of the recording paper is temporarily stopped and then rotated. The blade was operated intermittently.

[0004]

However, in the cutting device according to the above-mentioned prior art, in order to cut the recording paper in the width direction, after the longitudinal blade edge of the fixed blade body and the longitudinal blade edge of the rotary blade body are once superposed, Until the longitudinal cutting edge of the rotary blade opens wide enough to create a predetermined gap with respect to the longitudinal cutting edge of the fixed blade,
There is a problem that the time required for the printing process of a plurality of recording papers (recording media) becomes long because the subsequent conveyance of the recording papers and eventually the printing operation cannot be started.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and to provide a printer equipped with a cutting device capable of speeding up the printing process of a recording medium.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the printer according to the first aspect of the present invention is configured so that a recording medium passes between a print head and a platen disposed so as to face the tip of the print head. In the passage path of the recording medium after printing, a rotary blade that rotates around a rotation axis that intersects the passage direction and that is long in the rotation axis direction, and a fixed blade that faces the rotary blade. The recording medium is controlled so as to pass through the gap between the rotary blade body and the fixed blade body by the cutting length during one rotation of the rotary blade body.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the printer according to the first aspect, the printing operation and the paper feeding operation for the recording medium are executed immediately after the recording medium is cut by the rotary blade and the fixed blade. To do.

[0008]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a shuttle printer 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a print head 2. The shuttle printer 1 of the present invention includes a cover body 4 arranged on an upper portion of a frame 3.
Paper feed mechanism 6 provided in the paper path between the cover and the lower cover body 5
A recording medium 7 such as a sheet conveyed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by a driving roller 6a and a pressing roller 6b which are driven by a paper feed motor 6c via a timing belt 6d.
Is printed on the lower surface of the. A print head 2 which will be described later is arranged so as to face a substantially trapezoidal platen 8 fixed to the lower surface of the cover upper body 4, and the print pins 13 of the unit print mechanism 12 in the print head 2 are arranged in the conveyance direction of the recording medium 7. The print pins 13 are arranged in a line in a direction orthogonal to the (passing direction), and the print pins 13 move left and right along the arrangement direction at a predetermined amplitude while projecting toward the lower surface of the platen 8 and passing through the ink ribbon. After printing on the surface of the recording medium 7, the recording medium 7 is cut into a predetermined length by a rotary cutting device 9, and then a discharge roller 10 having a plurality of rubber protrusions radially protruding. It is configured to be discharged to the outside of the machine.

The basic structure of the print head 2 of this embodiment is as follows.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 6, a base body 11 made of metal and having an upward U-shaped cross section is disposed so as to face each other in the base body 11 and is orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the print-receiving medium 7. Two
A plurality of unit printing mechanisms 12 arranged in rows, a swingable support member 14 for guiding and supporting a midway portion of the print pin 13 in each unit printing mechanism 12, and this support member 14
And a swinging mechanism 15 for swinging the print medium 7 back and forth in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the print medium 7.

The base 11 which is long in the direction orthogonal to the recording medium 7 transport direction is made of metal such as aluminum alloy, and the support member 14 is made of synthetic resin such as PBT or ABS. As will be described later, 14 is integrally formed with a cover body 16 which is attached with a screw so as to cover the upper surface of the base body 11. Plural (28 in the embodiment)
The individual unit printing mechanisms 12 are arranged alternately (in a zigzag shape) along the longitudinal direction of the vertical side plates 11a, 11a facing each other of the base body 11 in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the recording medium 7. The back surface of the main frame 21a of each unit printing mechanism 12 is brought into contact with the inner surface of each vertical side plate 11a and fixed with screws 17 or the like. Therefore, 14 unit printing mechanisms 12 are arranged for each vertical side plate 11a, and a plurality of printing pins 13 are arranged in a line in plan view (see FIG. 3).

As shown in FIG. 6, each unit printing mechanism 12 has a vertically elongated piezoelectric element 18 in which a plurality of rectangular piezoelectric ceramics each having a thickness of about 100 microns are laminated, and a tip of the piezoelectric element 18. A drive mechanism 19 mounted on the upper end of the piezoelectric element 18 for enlarging the expansion / contraction motion of the piezoelectric element 18 and transmitting the expanded / contracted movement to the print pin 7, and a generally upward upward side view supporting the drive mechanism 19 and the piezoelectric element 18. The U-shaped support frame 21 is made of a material having a small linear expansion coefficient, such as a U-shaped iron or nickel alloy (Invar alloy).

When charged by applying a voltage, the piezoelectric element 1
Numeral 8 extends in the laminating direction (longitudinal direction) and contracts when discharged. Since the piezoelectric element 18 shrinks as the temperature rises, the temperature compensator 20 having a positive temperature expansion characteristic for correcting the temperature is inserted between the lower end of the support frame 21 and the rear end of the piezoelectric element 18, Stick with an adhesive.

The drive mechanism 19 has a substantially triangular arm 22 in side view formed by brazing a base of a print pin 13 having an appropriate length (50 mm in the embodiment) to the tip, and the support frame 21.
Of the main strut portion 21a in the longitudinal direction rearward in parallel with the first plate spring and the second plate spring, and a rigid connecting portion that connects the tip ends of the two plate springs to each other. The spring body 23 and the four-node link member 24 are fitted and fixed to the base end of the arm 22 by brazing or the like. The base end of the first leaf spring is connected to the main strut 2
While being brazed and fixed to the side surface of 1a, the base end portion of the second leaf spring is also fixed to the movable element 25 that comes into contact with the front end surface of the piezoelectric element 18 in a pressed state by brazing or the like.

The four-node link mechanism member 24 made of an elastic material such as a spring plate is provided on the other side of the mover 25 and the support frame 21.
Of the four-node link mechanism member 24 is provided so as to straddle the sub strut portion 21b in FIG. Then, the left and right wide side plates are fixed to the front and back side surfaces of the auxiliary column portion 21b and the front and back side surfaces of the mover 25 by spot welding (also possible by brazing), and when the piezoelectric element 18 expands and contracts by voltage application, it is a four-section link. The left and right wide side plate portions of the mechanism member 24 are elastically deformed into a parallelogram shape in a side view and positionally fixed.
The movable element 25 is configured to be movable in parallel along the longitudinal direction of b.

Then, each piezoelectric element 1 is formed at a predetermined timing.
Control device 7 of shuttle printer 1 so that 8 operates.
In order to transmit a drive voltage signal from 0 (see FIG. 10), a pair of lead portions 27, 27 are provided to electrically connect to the printed board 26 on the outer surface of the bottom plate portion of the base body 11. With this configuration, when the printing operation is performed, voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 1.
8 extends along the longitudinal direction, the main strut portion 21
The spring body 23 is oscillated and displaced so that the rotation center is a substantially midway portion in the longitudinal direction of the first plate spring fixed to a, and the displacement amount is enlarged by the arm 22 via the connecting portion, and printing is performed. The ink ribbon cartridge 28 mounted on the cover upper body 4 is advanced by moving the pin 13 toward the lower surface of the platen 8.
The surface of the recording medium 7 is stamped through the ink ribbon 29 (see FIG. 8) fed from the recording medium 7. The ink ribbon cartridge 28 includes a main storage portion 28a in which the ink ribbon 29 is accommodated and a guide arm portion 2 protruding from both left and right ends thereof.
8b and 28c, the ink ribbon 29 is bent at 90 degrees between the guide arms 28b and 28c so as to move along the lower surface of the platen 8.

Next, the structures of the support member 14 and the swing mechanism 15 will be described with reference to FIGS. The support member 14 includes a pair of flexible columns 30 and 30 projecting upward from the cover body 16 that covers the upper surface of the base body 11,
The main guide piece 31 is integrally connected between the upper ends of the pair of columns 30 and 30 along the longitudinal direction of the platen 8, and the central portion of the cover body 16 that covers the upper surface of the base body 11 is Groove holes 32 are formed in which the print pins 13 projecting in a row are inserted, and a pair of flexible columns 30, 30 is formed from both ends of the cover body 16 (both longitudinal ends of the groove holes 32).
Is integrally projected upward.

Further, the main guide piece 31 and the plurality of flexible auxiliary guide pieces 33 for connecting the upper and lower midway portions of the pair of columns 30 and 30 to each other have a fixed interval (2.8 mm in the embodiment). ) Are provided with guide holes (not shown) for slidably guiding and supporting the print pins 13 arranged in a line. It should be noted that both ends of each auxiliary guide piece 33 in the longitudinal direction are rotatably connected to the support columns 30 via connecting pins 34, respectively.

Next, the swing mechanism 15 will be described with reference to FIGS.
7 and FIG. 7. A connecting block 37 having a horizontal pin 36 horizontally protruding toward the upstream side in the transfer direction of the recording medium 7 is fixed to a support block 35 at the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the side surface of the main guide piece 31 with a screw 38. To do. Then, the base end of the crank arm 40 pivotally connected to the lateral pin 36, which is a swing connection portion between the support member 14 and the swing mechanism 15, is pivotally connected to the bearing 4 in the frame 3.
1 is rotatably mounted on an eccentric rotor 39 which is rotatably supported via a shaft 1, and the eccentric rotor 39 having a single swing amplitude amount e moves in a fixed direction via a swing motor 42 and a speed increasing transmission gear mechanism 43. It is configured to be rotationally driven.

A linear encoder as a sensor means for controlling the print timing is provided near the support member 14. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, a long sensor piece 44 is arranged on one side of the main guide piece 31 along the longitudinal direction thereof, and both ends of the sensor piece 44 have the pair of columns 30, It is attached to a bracket 45 which is detachably attached to the side surface of 30. The sensor piece 44 is provided with a forward slit portion 46a composed of eight slits for printing timing and a backward slit portion 46b also composed of eight slits. Light transmissive detector 4 such as photo interrupter
7a and 47b are arranged.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 9 and 10, the cutting device 9 for the recording medium 7 is rotatably pivoted between the left and right side plates 51, 51 of the base 50 fixed to the frame 3. The supported rotary blade 52 and the left and right side plates 51, 51
It is rotatable via pins 53, 53, and is biased by a biasing spring 54 so that the sliding disk 52 on one side of the rotary blade body 52 can be rotated.
a fixed blade body 55 that is constantly pressed against the circumferential surface of a,
The rotation axis of the rotary blade body 52 and the longitudinal cutting edge of the fixed blade body 55 extend in a direction perpendicular to the transport direction A of the recording medium 7.

Further, the long blade edge 52 of the rotary blade body 52
b extends from the base 52c having a smaller diameter than the sliding disc 52 to the same radius as the sliding disc 52, and the cutting edge 52b.
Are formed to be inclined with respect to the rotation axis. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 10, a gap through which the recording medium 7 can pass is formed at a position other than the position where the blade edge 52b of the rotary blade body 52 abuts the long blade edge 55a of the fixed blade body 55.

Further, the rotary blade 52 and the discharge roller 1 are simultaneously rotated in the direction of arrow A'via the drive motor 56 and the transmission gear mechanism 57. A rotary phase detector 60 including a slit disk 58 and a photo interrupter 59 is provided on one side of the rotary blade body 52, and a cutting start phase (cutting) by the fixed blade body 55 and the rotary blade body 52 is cut. The start point) and the cutting end phase (the cutting end point) can be detected.

FIG. 10 shows a functional block diagram of the control device of the present invention. The printer control device 70 including a microcomputer in the shuttle printer 1 stores a central processing unit (CPU) and a control program (not shown). It comprises a read-only memory (ROM), a readable / writable memory (RAM) for storing various data, an input / output interface, and the like. The input interface includes the rotary phase detector 60 in the cutting device 9 and the vibration of the print head 2. Light transmission type detectors 47a and 47b for detecting movement and print timing, and a paper feed sensor 61 for detecting that the front end of the recording medium 7 in the conveyance direction has reached the drive roller 6a of the paper feed mechanism 6. They are connected and each detector signal is input.

The output interface of the printer controller 70 includes a cutting device controller 73 for operating the drive circuit 72 of the drive motor 56, and the swinging motor 4 for the print head 2.
A print control unit 76 for a rocking drive circuit 74 that operates 2 and a print drive circuit 75 that operates the piezoelectric element 18,
A paper feed control unit 78 for a paper feed drive circuit 77 for operating the paper feed motor 6c composed of a pulse motor is connected, and each drive circuit is operated according to the printing operation.

Next, the printing operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. 11. When print data is input from the host computer 71, which is the host controller, and a print command is issued, the printing operation starts and the cutting device operates. The rotary blade body 52 in 9 starts rotation (step S1). Then, the presence or absence of print data is determined (step S2), and print data is present (step S2, yes).
In the case of, 1 line printing is executed (step S3). In this case, the recording medium 7 is transported in the direction of arrow A in FIG. On the other hand, since the swinging motor 42 rotates and the eccentric rotor 39 rotates in a fixed direction via the speed-increasing transmission gear mechanism 43, the main guide piece 31 which is the support member 14 via the crank arm 39 and the lateral pin 36 A pair of stanchions 3
It reciprocally swings in the directions C and D of FIGS. 2 and 3 around the base of 0 and 30. Therefore, the tip end side of each print pin 13 receives lateral pressure on the side surface or side edge of the guide hole in the main guide piece 31, and each print pin 13 bends leftward or rightward around its base end. The timing for starting printing is
For example, suppose that the main guide piece 31 is reversed from the swing end in the C direction and starts moving in the D direction.

Then, when a pulse voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element 18 in the predetermined unit printing mechanism 12 based on the dot pattern data developed into the dot pattern corresponding to the character of the input print data, the print pin 13 is printed. It is possible to perform dot printing on the surface of the recording medium 7 via the ink ribbon 29 by instantaneously projecting toward the platen 8. In this way, when the print pin 13 moves in the C and D directions, 1 is set at a predetermined print timing.
Line dots are printed (step S3).

Next, the fact that the main guide piece 31 has reached the swing end in the D direction or the C direction is detected by the light transmission type detector 47a or 47b.
If it is detected in step S4, it is determined whether the printing of one line is completed (step S4). Next, if there is print data for the next line (step S5, yes), the paper feed mechanism 6 is operated intermittently to move the recording medium 7 by 1 dot in the line feed direction (arrow A direction).
After the line is moved (step S6), dot printing is executed in the same manner as described above.

When the main guide piece 31 comes to the right swing end or the left swing end, the tips of the respective printing pins 13 that are largely curved are twisted at the side surface and the side edge of the guide hole in the main guide piece 31. In order to prevent this from occurring, the swing amplitude amount of the support member 14 is limited. In this embodiment, the total amplitude of the tip of each print pin 13 is set to 3.1 mm. Further, it is assumed that one printing pin 13 can print 8 dots in the width direction (print digit direction) of the recording medium 7 within 2.8 mm, whereby Roman letters, numbers, katakana (the above character types are ANK) is set to be printable.

As described above, when the recording medium 7 is fed in the direction of arrow A while printing one line at a time, the recording medium 7 becomes a gap between the fixed blade 55 and the rotary blade 52 in the cutting device 9. The rotating blade 52 of the rotary blade 52 that is rotating is longer than the blade 55a of the fixed blade 55.
The cutting operation is not executed until it matches. Step S
5, if there is no print data for the next line (step S
5, no), the recording medium 7 is fed in the direction of arrow A (step S7), and then the total amount of paper feeding is set to a specified value by the rotary encoder or the like provided in the speed increasing transmission gear mechanism 43 of the paper feeding mechanism. Is determined (step S8), the paper feed is executed until the specified value is reached (step S7), and when the specified value is reached (step S8, yes), the paper feed is stopped instantaneously (step S8). Step S9). Then, the longitudinal blade edge 52b of the rotating rotary blade body 52 comes into contact with the longitudinal blade edge 55a of the fixed blade body 55 to perform the cutting operation (step S10). Next, it is judged whether or not the printing work is completed (step S11), and if the next printing work is not completed (step S11, no), the process returns to the step S2, and the succeeding recording medium 7 is printed. I do.

If it is determined that the printing operation is completed (step S
11, yes), the rotary blade 52 stops at a predetermined phase (step S12). This predetermined phase means that all of the longitudinal blade edges 52b are the longitudinal blade edges 55a of the fixed blade body 55.
This is the position where the contact with As described above, according to the present invention, the rotary blade 52 is constantly rotating during the printing operation, and the specified value of the total paper feed amount of the recording medium 7 is made during one rotation of the rotary blade 52. The timing of the paper feed speed of the recording medium 7 and the rotation speed of the rotary blade body 52 are adjusted so that the paper is fed (paper feed) in the direction of arrow A by (the required cutting length). Therefore, in effect, the recording medium 7
The paper feeding operation is instantaneously stopped only at the moment when the paper is conveyed by the specified value of the total paper feeding amount in the direction of arrow A, and immediately after the recording medium 7 is cut to a predetermined length, Since the recording medium 7 can pass through the gap between the rotary blade body 52 and the fixed blade body 55 even when the recording operation and the paper feeding operation of a plurality of lines (a large number of lines) are performed on the recording medium 7. The front edge of the recording medium 7 is not clogged at the cutting device 9,
High-speed printing processing can be performed without causing paper jams. In other words, in fact, the printing operation and the paper feeding operation of the plurality of recording media 7 can be continuously executed.

The recording medium 7 cut into a predetermined length by the rotary type cutting device 9 is ejected out of the apparatus by the ejection roller 10 having a plurality of rubber projections radially protruding. The print head in the present invention may be an ink jet type print head or a line type thermal head. Further, the recording paper as the recording medium may be a thermal paper which can be printed by coloring in black or the like by the heat of the heating element of the thermal head without using an ink ribbon.

[0032]

As described above, according to the printer of the first aspect of the present invention, the recording medium is configured to pass between the print head and the platen disposed so as to face the leading end of the print head. In the passage of the recording medium after printing, a rotary blade that rotates around a rotation axis that intersects the passage direction and that is long in the rotation axis direction, and a fixed blade that faces the rotary blade. Is arranged, and the recording medium is controlled so as to pass through the gap between the rotary blade and the fixed blade for the cutting length during one rotation of the rotary blade.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the rotary blade is constantly rotating during the printing operation, and the recording medium 7 is fed by the required cutting length during one rotation of the rotary blade. As described above, if the timings of the paper feeding speed of the recording medium and the rotation speed of the rotary blade are matched, the recording medium is immediately cut into a predetermined length immediately after the recording medium is cut into a predetermined length. Even if you execute the line printing operation and the paper feed operation,
Since the recording medium can pass through the gap between the rotary blade and the fixed blade, the cutting front edge of the recording medium does not become clogged at the cutting device, and paper jam does not occur continuously. This has the effect of enabling high-speed printing processing.

The invention described in claim 2 is the same as claim 1
In the printer described in the above, since the printing operation and the paper feeding operation for the recording medium are executed immediately after the recording medium is cut by the rotary blade and the fixed blade, the recording medium has a required cutting length. (Specified value of total paper feed amount) It is only necessary that the paper feed operation is stopped momentarily only at the moment when the paper is fed.
Immediately after the recording medium is cut into a predetermined length, even if the printing operation and the paper feeding operation of a plurality of lines are performed on the next recording medium, the front edge of the recording medium is not cut at the cutting device. Since the printing operation and the paper feeding operation of a plurality of recording media can be continuously performed without jamming, the high-speed printing process can be performed without causing a paper jam. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a shuttle printer.

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a print head.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway front view of the print head.

5 is a view taken along the line VV of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a unit printing mechanism.

7 is a front view of the swing connecting portion and the swing mechanism taken along the line VII-VII in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of an ink ribbon cartridge and a cover upper body.

9 is a front view of the cutting device taken along the line IX-IX in FIG.

10 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 9 showing the cutting device.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of a control device.

FIG. 12 is a control flowchart of printing work.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Shuttle Printer 2 Print Head 6 Paper Feed Mechanism 6c Paper Feed Motor 7 Recording Medium 8 Platen 9 Cutting Device 12 Unit Printing Mechanism 13 Printing Pin 14 Supporting Member 15 Swing Mechanism 18 Piezoelectric Element 42 Swing Motor 43 Speed-increasing Transmission Gear Mechanism 52 rotary blade 52b longitudinal blade 55 fixed blade 55a longitudinal blade 56 drive motor 60 rotation phase detector 70 printer controller 73 cutting controller 76 print controller 78 paper feed controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium is configured to pass between a print head and a platen disposed so as to face the tip of the print head,
In the path of passage of the recording medium after printing, a rotary blade that rotates around a rotation axis that intersects the passage direction and that is long in the rotation axis direction and a fixed blade that faces the rotary blade are provided. A printer, wherein the printer is arranged such that the recording medium is controlled to pass through a gap between the rotary blade and the fixed blade for a cutting length during one rotation of the rotary blade. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the printing operation and the paper feeding operation on the recording medium are executed immediately after the recording medium is cut by the rotary blade and the fixed blade.