JPH0825753A - Head support for tape printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate adjustment between a heat-generating element of a thermal head for printing a tap and a position of a platen to be pressed against the heat-generating element. CONSTITUTION:A head support is constructed in such a way that a head support member 52 provided with a thermal head 51 is, after its position being adjusted in advance, mounted to a base plate 29 having thereon a holder shaft 30 provided upright for rotatably supporting a platen holder 28 provided with a platen 26 which is engaged with and disengaged from a heat-generating element of the thermal head 51 for printing a tape, and that the base plate 29 is tightly fixed with a tightening screw 56 to a frame of a containing part of a cassette storing at least the tape for printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention detachably mounts at least a cassette storing a printing tape on a tape printing apparatus having a printing section having a thermal head and a platen, and a tape feeding means, The present invention relates to the structure of a printing portion supporting device in a printing tape creating device for printing an image such as a character or a graphic on the tape in accordance with data inputted in advance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has previously disclosed Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-92650.
In the gazette, a printing tape making device was proposed for displaying labels and the like. This device is configured such that a cassette storing a printing tape, which is a print medium, and an ink ribbon can be detachably mounted in a cassette housing portion of a printing tape creating apparatus, and the cassette housing portion has a thermal A printing unit provided with a head, a roller-shaped platen that comes into contact with and separates from the printing unit, a winding means for the ink ribbon, and the like are provided. An image such as a character string is printed on the tape while being pulled out at an appropriate speed, and a tape cutting device for cutting the printed tape into a predetermined length was provided.

The bottom of the L-shaped head support member of the head support member is screwed to the upper surface of the flat frame of the cassette housing, and the print unit has a front surface of the vertical plate of the head support member. Further, a thermal head is stretched with an adhesive, and one row of heating elements of the thermal head is arranged vertically perpendicular to the upper surface of the frame.

On the other hand, the base end of the platen holder that supports the platen is rotatably mounted on a support shaft that stands upright from the frame in the cassette storage unit, and in the printing unit via a roller release knob and a roller release rod. The thermal head is configured to be pressed toward the one-row strip heating element.

[0005]

However, the configuration of the above-mentioned conventional device has the following inconveniences. That is, a roller-shaped roller is formed so that the printing tape and the ink ribbon are pressed to the center in the width direction of the heating elements in a row in the thermal head (the center of the heating element width in the direction orthogonal to the row direction). In order to press the circumferential surface of the platen,
It is necessary to finely adjust the mounting position of the head supporting member with respect to the frame and fasten it with a screw, which causes a problem of time-consuming adjustment work. In particular, when the thermal head is damaged, etc., if the head support member is replaced together, this position adjustment work must be performed on site,
It was very time consuming.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing portion supporting device in a printing tape producing device, which enables easy position adjustment. Is.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a printing portion supporting device in a printing tape making apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention has at least a frame of a storing portion of a cassette storing a printing tape. A printing tape producing apparatus comprising: a printing tape transporting means; a thermal head for printing on the tape; and a platen that comes into contact with and separates from a heating element of the thermal head, wherein the platen is provided. A head supporting member provided with the thermal head is preliminarily adjusted in position and attached to a substrate on which a holder shaft for rotatably supporting a platen holder is erected, and the substrate is screwed and fixed to a frame. It is configured in.

[0008]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the printing tape making apparatus 1. In the printing tape making apparatus 1, a cassette 4 to be described later is detachably housed on one side of an upper surface of an upper case 3 fitted to a lower case 2. A cover body 6 that covers the storage portion 5 is provided to be openable and closable. The upper and lower cases 3 and 2 and the cover body 6 are injection molded products made of synthetic resin. Further, on the upper surface of the upper case 3, there are arranged a keyboard unit 7 for inputting characters and the like, a switch panel 8 for various operations, a liquid crystal display unit 9 for displaying the input characters and operation instructions, and the like. Between the upper and lower cases 3 and 2, a mechanical mechanism section, which will be described later, and a microcomputer (not shown) for control are incorporated.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the state where the cover body 6 is opened to the upper case 3 by approximately 90 degrees. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cassette 4 with the lid body removed. A printing tape 10 and an ink ribbon 11 are mounted on the cassette 4, and a receptor type printing tape wound around a tape spool 12 is used. The tape 10 is guided by the four rollers 13 by the tape conveying means described later, and is ejected from the discharging portion 14 to the thermal head 51.
It is configured so as to be conveyed through the printing unit 15 provided with. Ink ribbon 1 wound around the ribbon spool 16
1 is attached to the printing portion 15 at a position substantially parallel to the tape 10 and is wound by a ribbon winding spool 17.

In the cassette 4, the ink color of the ink ribbon 11 mounted on the cassette 4, the type of the printing tape 10 (thereceptor type for normal image printing and the laminate type for mirror image printing) and the tape 10 are used. The six detection target parts 18 are set in advance according to the width dimension of the detection part 18 and are configured to be detected by the detection part 19 provided in the storage part 5. Further, the cassette 4 is provided with a tape feed roller 20 as one component of the tape feeding means.

Next, referring to FIGS. 2 and 4 to 8, the tape feeding means and the printing section 1 provided in the printing tape forming apparatus 1 will be described.
5 and the structure of the interlocking mechanism portion such as the ink ribbon winding means will be described. The receptor-type tape 10 is printed on the surface facing the ink ribbon 11, and an adhesive layer is previously applied to the back side of the tape 10, and a release tape is temporarily adhered to this adhesive layer.

First, the construction of the feeding means for the printing tape 10 and the winding means for the ink ribbon 11 will be described. The ribbon take-up spool 1 is attached to the frame 21 arranged on the lower surface side of the storage section 5 in the printing tape making apparatus 1.
7, a ribbon drive cam 22 fitted into the inner diameter portion of the tape feeding roller 20 and a tape drive cam 23 fitted into the inner diameter portion of the tape feeding roller 20 are provided upright, and the rotational force of the tape driving motor 24 is applied to the lower surface of the frame 21. It is transmitted to the ribbon drive cam 22 and the tape drive cam 23 via the arranged gear train 25.

In the present invention, the thermal head 51 for printing on the tape 10 via the ink ribbon 11 is used.
From a head support member 52 provided with a plate holder 26 provided with a holder shaft 30 for rotatably supporting a platen holder 28 provided with a platen 26 that comes into contact with and separates from a heating element 53 of the thermal head 51. The printing portion supporting device 54 is attached to the frame 21 in the storage portion 5 of the cassette with one fastening screw 56.

Next, details of this structure will be described with reference to FIGS. The thermal head 51 in the printing unit 15 is stretched via an adhesive on the surface of the vertical plate portion 52a of the head supporting member 52 made of metal such as aluminum die casting that also serves as a heat dissipation plate and has a substantially L-shaped cross section. . As shown in FIG. 6, the heating elements 53 in the thermal head 51 are arranged in a line in a vertical direction at right angles to the upper surface of the frame 21, and in the embodiment, the effective width is 15 at an appropriate pitch.
128 dots are arranged per mm.

The base end of the holder shaft 30 is erected at a portion near the one side of the substrate 29 by caulking or the like. On the holder shaft 30, the heating element 5 of the thermal head 51 is attached.
The base of the platen holder 28, on which the platen 26 facing the tape 3 and the pressing roller 27 facing the tape feed roller 20 are mounted, is rotatably fitted.

When mounting the head supporting member 52 on the substrate 29, the bottom plate 52 of the head supporting member 52 is mounted.
a pair of engaging pins 58a, 5 protruding downward from the lower surface of b
8b is a pair of engaging elongated holes 57 formed in the substrate 29.
a long hole 59 fitted to the a and 57b and formed in the bottom plate 52b
Through a mounting screw 60 to the screw hole 61 of the substrate 29, and then the center of the heating elements 53 in a row in the thermal head 51 in the width direction (the heating element width in the direction orthogonal to the column direction is In order to press the circumferential surface of the roller-shaped platen 26 so that the printing tape 10 and the ink ribbon 11 are pressed to the center, the bus bar of the circumferential surface of the roller-shaped platen 26 in the platen holder 28 is pressed. After the position adjustment such as the displacement in the X direction is performed so as to contact the center of the thermal head 51 in the width direction of the one row of heating elements 53, the mounting screw 60 is tightened.

After the coil portion of the torsion coil spring 62 is fitted on the base side of the holder shaft 30, the holder shaft 30
The platen holder 28 is rotatably fitted to the base plate 29, and the ends of the coil springs 62 are twisted by the locking pieces 63 and the platen holder 28 of the board 29, respectively, so that the platen holder 28 faces upward from one side. Bent guide plate 21a
The platen holder 28 is urged so that the back surface of the platen holder 28 contacts.

A retaining ring is fitted on the upper end of the holder shaft 30 to prevent the platen holder 28 from falling off.
As described above, the base end of the platen holder 28 with the platen 26 and the pressing roller 27 is attached to the holder shaft 30 of the substrate 29, and the head support member 52 provided with the thermal head 51 is preliminarily adjusted in position and attached. Then, the substrate 29 is fastened and fixed to the upper surface of the frame 21 by the fastening screw 56 via the female screw portion 64.

In this case, the frame 21 has a loose fitting hole 6 into which the mounting screw 60 and the base of the holder shaft 30 can be loosely fitted.
5, 66 are provided, and a plurality of positioning protrusions (not shown) protruding from the upper surface of the frame 21 are
It is fitted into the positioning holes 67 and 68 formed in the substrate 29. The pressing holder 31 for pressing the back surface of the platen holder 28 to press the passing tape 10 against the surface of the heat generating element 53 of the thermal head 51 by the platen 26, as shown in FIG. Board 21
A roller 34 that is in sliding contact with a is provided. The other end of the pressing holder 31 is connected to one end of an interlocking link 33 that is rotatably provided about a pivot shaft 32 that stands on the frame 21. Guide groove 35 at the other end of the interlocking link 33
The pin 36 that fits in is attached to a platen actuating lever 37 that is arranged on the back surface (lower surface) of the frame 21 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction of the upper case 3. An engaging pin 38 is provided on the leading end piece 37a of the platen actuating lever 37, and engages with a pressing guide portion 39 projecting on the inner surface of the cover body 6 to cover the storage portion 5 of the cassette 4. When the cover body 6 is closed, the platen 26 is pressed against the surface of the heating element 53 via the platen holder 28,
The pressing roller 27 is pressed against the surface of the tape feeding roller 20 almost at the same time, and the cassette 4 placed in the storage section 5 is
Printing is performed while the tape 10 is being fed from the.

On the contrary, when the cover body 6 is opened around the hinge pin 40, the engagement between the pressing guide portion 39 and the engagement pin 38 is released, and the platen holder is biased by the torsion coil spring 62. 28 is configured so that the platen 26 attached thereto is separated from the heating element 53 of the thermal head 51, and the pressing roller 27 is rotated in a direction in which the pressing roller 27 is separated from the surface of the tape feeding roller 20.

If the position of the fastening screw 56 for fastening and fixing the substrate 29 to the frame 21 is set to a position close to the holder shaft 30, the displacement of the holder shaft 30 with respect to the frame 21 is reduced and the pressing force is reduced. This brings about an effect that the positional relationship of the back surface of the platen holder 28 with respect to the holder 31 is less likely to be displaced. In addition, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. 8, the substrate 29 has a middle-height shape, that is, the substrate 29 is preliminarily deformed into an upward convex curved shape so that the midway portion of the substrate 29 in the longitudinal direction floats above the upper surface of the frame 21. Then, when the substrate 29 is mounted on the upper surface of the flat plate-shaped frame 21 by the fastening screw 56, the convex curved substrate 29 is pushed by the fastening screw 56.
Are held parallel to the frame 21. As a result, the holder shaft 30 erected on the substrate 29 can be erected so as to extend perpendicularly to the upper surface of the frame 21.

Further, the middle portion of the flexible wiring board 69 for applying voltage to the thermal head 51 is adhered to the back surface of the mounting piece 71 through the hole 70 formed in the vertical plate portion 52a of the head supporting member 52. It is guided to the inside of the lower case 2 through the insertion hole 72 formed in the substrate 29 and the insertion hole (not shown) formed in the frame 21. Next, a cutting device 42 for cutting the tape 10 delivered from the cassette 4 will be described with reference to FIG. The cutting device 42 includes a fixed blade 43, a movable blade 44, an L-shaped operation lever 45 for laterally rotating the movable blade 44 manually, a rotation support shaft 46, and the like.

In addition, at one longitudinal end of the operating lever 45,
A push button 48 made of synthetic resin is mounted, and the cutting blade of the fixed blade 43 is caused by the spring force of a biasing spring (not shown) mounted between the other end of the operation lever 45 and the frame 21. The cutting blade surface of the rotary blade 44 is urged so as to greatly expand with respect to the surface. Further, when the movable blade 44 moves in the closing direction, a relief switch (not shown) comes into contact with the sensor arm portion of the synthetic resin operating body 50 that rotates integrally with the operation lever 45, and if the printing operation is in progress. The rotation of the tape drive motor 24 is stopped so as to prohibit the feeding of the tape 10 into the cassette 4.

[0024]

As described above, the printing portion supporting device in the printing tape forming apparatus of the present invention conveys the printing tape to at least the frame of the storage portion of the cassette storing the printing tape. A printing tape producing apparatus comprising: a means, a thermal head for printing on the tape, and a platen that comes into contact with and separates from a heating element of the thermal head, wherein a platen holder provided with the platen is rotated. A head supporting member provided with the thermal head is preliminarily adjusted in position and attached to a substrate on which a holder shaft for movably supporting is erected, and the substrate is screwed and fixed to a frame. Therefore, the positional relationship between the position of the row of heating elements of the thermal head on the head supporting member attached to the substrate and the pressing portion of the platen is
It can be set without error by fine adjustment beforehand.

Therefore, the print quality on the tape can be stabilized only by a simple operation of screwing the position-adjusted substrate to the frame with the above structure.
Especially when replacing the print part due to damage to the thermal head, etc.
Even if the head support member with a thermal head and the holder shaft and substrate set are replaced, the positional relationship between the row of heating elements of the thermal head and the platen does not shift, so parts replacement work is extremely easy. Although it can be performed, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the print quality of the tape.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing tape producing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the printing tape creating apparatus with the cover body opened.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a cassette with a lid omitted.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a mechanical mechanism section in the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway plan view of a printing unit.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway front view of the printing unit with a platen holder removed.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a head support member and a substrate.

8 is a sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printing Tape Making Device 2 Lower Case 3 Upper Case 4 Cassette 5 Storage Section 6 Cover Body 10 Tape 11 Ink Ribbon 15 Printing Section 20 Tape Feed Roller 21 Frame 26 Platen 27 Pressing Roller 28 Platen Holder 29 Board 30 Holder Shaft 51 Thermal Head 52 Head support member 53 Heating element 54 Printing unit support device 56 Fastening screw

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location B41J 11/14 32/00 Z

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transporting means for a printing tape, a thermal head for printing on the tape, and a heating element of the thermal head in a frame of a storage portion of a cassette storing at least the printing tape. In a printing tape forming apparatus including a platen that comes into contact with and separates from the head, a head support member including the thermal head on a substrate on which a holder shaft for rotatably supporting a platen holder including the platen is erected. Adjust the position in advance and install it,
A printing part supporting device in a printing tape making device, characterized in that the substrate is screwed and fixed to a frame.