JPH08295012A - Ink jet printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an ink jet printer which is capable of printing data on an easily bendable recording medium and other recording media with a thickness or a size which is not suited for a sheet feed mechanism in addition to a routine printing process by which data is printed over the feeding-out of a comparatively less rigid recording medium. CONSTITUTION: This ink jet printer is composed of a main printer system 10, a sheet feeder unit and a position changing mechanism. The main printer system 10 is equipped with an ink jet cartridge 11 with a recording head which prints data by allowing ink to stick to a recording sheet, a carriage 12 on which an ink jet cartridge 11 is mounted and a drive mechanism which shuttles the carriage 12 back and forth. The carriage and the drive mechanism are arranged behind or below the recording head. The sheet feeder unit 50 is equipped with a recording sheet feed mechanism which receives a part of drive force transferred from the drive mechanism, and the position changing mechanism makes the position of the main printer system with the recording head side variable freely.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink jet printer for ejecting ink from a recording head to print on a recording member, and more particularly to an ink jet printer capable of printing on an unspecified recording member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ink jet printer of this type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-196374, and this ink jet printer includes a recording head portion, a carriage on which the recording head portion is mounted, a carriage driving mechanism, and a recording device. It is composed of a platen arranged at a position facing the head, a supply roller for conveying the recording sheet between the recording head and the platen, an integrally formed frame for supporting and fixing these.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The ink jet printer of the above publication is designed to print while feeding a relatively weak recording member, and the ink jet printer conveys and supplies, for example, books, boxes and the like. Even if you try to print on a recording material that has an unsuitable shape, or a recording material that is made of a material such as plastic, metal, wood, etc., consider printing on that recording material. I couldn't print it because it was not printed.

Further, in order to obtain a printer capable of printing on a relatively strong recording member such as a card or a passbook, that is, so-called slip printing, for example, a recording sheet as disclosed in JP-A-3-39270 is used. It is necessary to newly remake a printer having a transport mechanism, one type of printer cannot handle various recording materials, and a user needs to prepare a plurality of printers corresponding to the recording materials. It was

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and in addition to the normal printing in which a recording member having a comparatively weak stiffness is fed out, a book, a box or the like is also used. Recording material having a shape, plastic, metal,
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet printer capable of printing on a recording material such as a tree that is strong or does not deform and a recording material that is relatively rigid such as a passbook.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An ink jet printer according to the present invention is an ink jet cartridge having a recording head for adhering ink to a recording member to perform a printing process, a carriage equipped with the ink jet cartridge, and A first drive mechanism for reciprocating the carriage in the width direction of the recording member, at least a first printing position for performing a printing process on the first recording member, and a second recording member. The inkjet cartridge is moved in a direction orthogonal to the width direction of the recording member according to a plurality of printing positions including a second printing position for performing the printing process and a recording member to be subjected to the printing process, And a second driving unit for switching the printing position.

For example, the first recording member is thin recording paper, a paper feeding unit for conveying the recording paper to the first printing position is provided, and the second recording member is Is a member to be recorded having a shape unsuitable for the above-mentioned conveyance and supply, and is provided with a base for holding it at the second printing position.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the carriage is reciprocated by the first drive mechanism to eject ink from the recording head of the ink jet cartridge mounted on the carriage, for example, to the first printing position by the paper feeding unit. The printing process is performed on the conveyed first recording member. When performing the printing process on the recording member having an unsuitable shape for the above-mentioned conveyance / supply, or the second recording member including the recording member having a strong rigidity, the second driving means is used to After moving the ink jet cartridge including the recording head up and down to a desired position (second printing position) for printing on the second recording member, the printing position is switched to the second recording member. Print processing.

With this, it becomes possible to perform printing processing on recording members having various shapes and materials with one printer.

[0010]

1 is a sectional view of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the printer body 10 of the inkjet printer of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the printer body of FIG. 4 seen from the motor side. As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet printer is composed of a printer body 10, a paper feed unit 50, and a case 70 containing these. The printer body 10 includes an ink jet cartridge 11 having a recording head 11 a and an ink bag (not shown), and the ink jet cartridge 11 is attached to a carriage 12. The carriage 12 is supported by a pair of guide rods 14 provided on a frame 13 so as to be movable in the axial direction. Carriage 12
For example, a DC motor is provided as a motor 15 that serves as a drive source for driving, and is driven to rotate in a fixed direction.
The rotation of the motor 15 is transmitted to the gear 16, and the gear 16
Rotates the timing belt 19 by rotating the gear 17 and the drive wheel 18 engaged with the timing belt 19. This rotation causes the driven wheel 20 to rotate and the gear 21 connected thereto to rotate. A drive pin (reference numeral 3 in FIG. 6) for reciprocating the carriage 12 is provided on the timing belt 19.
No. 0) is provided, and the carriage 12 reciprocates due to the rotational driving of the timing belt 19 in one direction.

The printer body 10 is provided with an encoder 25 for detecting the rotation of the motor 15, which is directly connected to the rotary shaft of the motor 15. Furthermore,
Control for inputting a control signal for driving the motor 15, a sensor (not shown) or the like, or for extracting a signal, and a control signal for driving the recording head 11a to the printer body 10 as shown in the figure. Line 27 is connected.

The paper feed unit 50 is provided with a gear group 51 that engages with a gear 24 provided at the other end of the transmission shaft 23 of the printer body 10. The gear group 51 is a pair of paper feed rollers 52 and 53. Further, when the ink jet cartridge 11 is moved in one direction to perform a printing process and then moved in the opposite direction to return to the home position, the inserted recording paper is fed out by one line. When the printer main body 10 is in the lower part of the figure (state shown by a chain double-dashed line), printing processing can be performed on the fed recording paper.

The state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 is an example in which the position of the printer main body 10 is moved upward together with the ink jet cartridge 11 to print on the spine cover 100 of the book placed on the frame 70g. Is shown.

Gear shaft 76 to which worm gear 75 is fixed
Engages with a collar portion 13b provided on the frame 13,
Further, shaft guide portions 13c, 13 provided on the frame 13
Printer guide shafts 77 and 78 for guiding the printer body 10 in the vertical direction penetrate through d, and the printer guide rod 7
The printer body 10 is supported by the three shafts 7, 78 and the gear shaft 76 so as to be vertically movable. The worm gear 75 is engaged with the fixed rack teeth 70 a formed on the inner wall of the case 70. The motor 79 is a drive source for moving the printer body 10 in the vertical direction,
The rotation of the motor 79 is transmitted to the gear shaft 76 and the worm gear 75 via the gear 80, and resists the fixed rack teeth 70a to drive the motor 79 according to the rotation direction.
Moves up and down.

It should be noted that the printer body 10 is moved upward (in the direction of the arrow) from the lower part of the drawing (indicated by the two-dot chain line) so that the ink jet cartridge 11 faces the case opening 70f (indicated by the solid line). State), the transmission shaft 23 attached to the printer body 10 disengages from the gear group 51 engaged with the gear 24 provided at the other end, and the printer body 10 moves downward. At that time, they are engaged again.

Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the head 1
1, the drive mechanism is provided at the rear of the printer 1. Therefore, by moving the positions of the paper feeding unit 50 and the printer body 10 shown in FIG. Recording member that is strong or does not deform,
Alternatively, it is possible to perform printing on a recording member having a thickness and size that cannot be supplied to a paper feeding mechanism, or printing on a relatively strong recording member such as a card or passbook.

The position of the printer main body 10 is moved upward (in the state of a solid line) so that the back cover 100 of the book does not bend.
When printing on, the book 100 is guided by the guide surface 13a of the frame 13 and the cases 70g and 70h.

As shown in the figure, when the book 100 placed on the case 70g is pressed toward the ink jet cartridge 11, the spine of the book 100 contacts the guide surface 13a and the case 70h. The gap G between the nozzle and the nozzle 61 can be properly secured. Even in the thermal transfer system and the wire dot system, it is possible to perform printing processing on various recording members by switching the printing position in this way, but the inkjet system is most suitable for the following reasons.

A) In both the thermal transfer system and the wire dot system, the mechanism is complicated because the ink ribbon is interposed between the head and the recording paper. In addition, the ink ribbon may stain the recording paper, and some measures must be taken to avoid this. On the other hand, in the inkjet method, the structure is simple because the ink is inside the cartridge. Although the ink may drip, if the pressure in the ink bag (inside the cartridge) is set to an appropriate negative pressure, the ink will not drip and stain the recording paper.

B) Generally, in the case of the wire dot system, the gap G must be adjusted with high accuracy. That is,
The size of the gap G becomes a factor that determines the force (impact force) by which the wire dots press the ink ribbon against the recording paper, and the impact force greatly affects the density of printing, so that the gap G requires accuracy. It Further, in the thermal transfer method as well, since the ink on the ink ribbon interposed between the head and the recording paper is transferred, the density of printing depends on the pressing force. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain the gap G with high accuracy, and a mechanism and processing accuracy for that purpose are required to be severe. Although the contact method is not suitable for slip printing for the above reasons, the non-contact method, that is, the ink jet method is the most rational method because it does not have the above-mentioned problems.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention and is a sectional view of an ink jet printer. The case 70 is provided with the motor 8 as a drive source for moving the printer body 10 in the vertical direction, and the rotational force of the motor 81 is transmitted to the drive wheels 82 provided in the case 70.
By rotating the drive wheel 82, the timing belt 83 rotates. The timing belt 83 is provided with a drive pin 84 for moving the printer body 10 up and down, and the printer body 10 is moved up and down while being guided by the printer guide shafts 77 and 78 by the rotational drive of the timing belt 83. The motors 79 and 8 in FIGS.
Printer main body 1 when 1 is composed of a step motor
It becomes possible to position the position of 0 at a desired position.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the present invention and is a sectional view of an ink jet printer. An ink absorbing member 94 for the case where the printer body 10 is positioned in the upper direction is attached to the case 70 of this embodiment, and absorbs the ink preliminarily ejected from the ejection port of the recording head 11a. The ink absorbing member 90 is mounted inside the outer cover 91, and is configured so that it can be taken out as needed. Since the preliminary ejection is performed at the end of the recording head 11a, the ink is ejected at the end of the case 70,
This is absorbed by the ink absorbing member 90 so that the recording paper is not stained. In addition, the ink absorbing member 90 is attached to the outer skin 9
Since it is covered with 1, the case 70 is also kept clean.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the drive mechanism of the carriage and the paper feeding mechanism. Although the motor 15 rotates only in a fixed direction, the carriage 12 needs to reciprocate. Therefore, the drive pin 30 is attached to the timing belt 19 as shown in the drawing, and the drive pin 30 is engaged with the carriage 12 to move. I have to. At that time, when the drive pin 30 is in the position of the solid line (upper part), the carriage 12 is moved from right to left, for example, and when the drive pin 30 is in the position of the two-dot chain line (lower part), the carriage 12 is moved from left to right. It shall be. Incidentally, this mechanism itself is already known and its details are omitted.

The paper feed unit 50 is provided with a pair of paper feed rollers 52 and 53 respectively connected to the gear group 51. The paper feed rollers 52 and 53 are provided with one recording head 11a of the ink jet cartridge 11. When the printing process for a line is completed and the process returns to the home position, the recording papers are rotated in opposite directions and the recording paper is fed out for one line in the direction of the arrow. Further, an ink absorbing member 54 is attached to the lower part of the paper feeding unit 50, and absorbs the ink preliminarily ejected from the ejection port of the recording head 11a. The replacement can be easily performed by changing the positions of the paper feeding unit 50 and the printer body 10.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the paper feeding unit 50. The ink absorbing member 54 is covered with the outer skin 55,
The sheet feeding unit 5 is exposed at the end 54a.
No. 0 is mounted as shown in the drawing, and can be taken out as needed. The preliminary ejection is performed by the recording head 11
Since it is performed at the end portion of a, ink is ejected to the end portion of the paper feeding unit 50, that is, the portion indicated by the symbol A, but since this is absorbed at the end portion 54a of the ink absorbing member 54, the recording paper is No dirt. Further, since the ink absorbing member 54 is covered with the outer cover 55, the guide surface 13a is not contaminated. When the guide surface 13a becomes dirty, the recording material is stiff or does not deform, or the recording material having a thickness or size that cannot be supplied to the mechanism for feeding the paper is printed, or a relatively stiff recording material such as a card or a passbook is used. Although the recording paper is contaminated during printing on the recording member (see FIG. 1), such contamination can be prevented.

In the above-described embodiments shown in FIGS. 1 and 7, the printer main body 10 is moved and positioned in the vertical direction of the case 70. However, the same mechanism is used to rotate the printer main body 10 in the horizontal direction. It is also possible to move and position in the direction.

In the embodiment, the example in which the driving mechanism is provided behind the recording head 11a has been described, but the driving mechanism may be provided anywhere other than in front of the recording head 11a, and even in that case, FIG. Also, printing can be performed in the same manner as in the embodiment of FIG.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, the carriage and drive mechanism of the printer main body are arranged behind or below the recording head, and the paper feed unit is moved to the position of the printer main body. In addition to the printing of, there is no obstacle in the front of the recording head when printing,
It is possible to print a recording material that is strong or does not deform, or a recording material that has a thickness or size that cannot be supplied to the mechanism for feeding the paper, or a recording material that is relatively rigid such as a card or passbook. Its uses are expanding. Furthermore,
When the printer main body is moved up and down, if the motor is a step motor, the printer main body can be positioned at a desired position, so that printing of a plurality of lines is possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an inkjet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of an inkjet printer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of an inkjet printer mounted in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the ink jet printer mounted in the embodiment as seen from the motor side.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a carriage driving mechanism and a paper feeding mechanism of the inkjet printer.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a paper feeding unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Printer Main Body 11 Inkjet Cartridge 12 Carriage 13 Frame 50 Paper Feed Unit 70 Case 70a Fixed Rack Teeth 76 Gear Shaft 77 Printer Guide Shaft 78 Printer Guide Shaft 79 Motor 81 Motor 82 Drive Wheel 83 Timing Belt 84 Drive Pin

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 25/308 B41J 25/30 G

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An inkjet cartridge provided with a recording head for performing ink printing by adhering ink to a recording member, a carriage on which the inkjet cartridge is mounted, and reciprocating the carriage in the width direction of the recording member. A first driving mechanism for performing printing processing on at least a first recording member, and a second driving mechanism for
A plurality of printing positions including a second printing position for performing a printing process on the recorded member, and a direction orthogonal to the width direction of the recorded member according to the recorded member on which the printing process is performed. And a second driving unit for switching the printing position. 2. The first recording member is a thin recording paper, and a paper feeding unit for conveying the recording paper to the first printing position is provided. Inkjet printer. 3. A table for holding the second recording member at the second printing position is provided.
Alternatively, the inkjet printer described in 2. 4. The carriage, the first drive mechanism,
2. The ink jet printer according to claim 1, wherein the second drive mechanism is arranged at a position other than the front of the recording head.