JPH1016205A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To apply printing to various objects to be printed other than usual printing paper. SOLUTION: In a usual state, a carriage unit part 20 supporting a carriage 10 having a printing head is attached to a sheet feed part 40 feeding a sheet to be printed to feed usual printing paper in the sheet feed part 40 to perform printing and the carriage unit part 20 is separated from the sheet feed part 40 to be attached to a solid matter tray having a height adjusting mechanism to apply printing to various objects to be printed on the solid matter tray.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer having a carriage unit on which a printing head is mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a printer apparatus of an ink jet system, a printer unit having a structure in which a carriage unit for transporting a carriage holding a print head and a paper feed unit for transporting printing paper have been widely used. . That is, in this printer device, the carriage is moved by the carriage unit in a direction orthogonal to the paper feed direction in synchronization with the conveyance of the print paper by the paper feed unit, so that the print paper and the carriage are relatively moved in the XY directions. Move and print text and images.

[0003]

However, since the paper feed unit in such a conventional printer device transports the printing paper by a rubber roller or the like, the thickness, shape, and material of the transportable paper are limited. There are many restrictions. For example, a sheet that is thinner or slippery than general printing paper cannot be fed properly, and as a result printing cannot be performed. In addition, it is difficult to apply a paper feed mechanism to something that breaks when bent, such as glass or ceramics, or extremely thick paper, and it is almost impossible to print on the surface of a box. Met.

Further, it is difficult to feed a sheet having a special shape such as a circle or a triangle due to a positional relationship between a paper sensor and a paper feed roller. The direction cannot be changed, and the desired print cannot be obtained. As described above, the conventional printer device mainly enables printing only on specific paper, and has a drawback that it cannot be used in such a manner as to easily print various printing objects.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of easily and widely performing printing on various printing objects.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printer apparatus having a carriage unit for supporting a carriage and a sheet feeding unit for conveying a sheet to be printed. Are configured to be separable from the sheet feeding unit, and printing on an arbitrary printing target is enabled by a carriage unit separated from the sheet feeding unit.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer apparatus having a carriage unit which can be carried by itself, and which can be attached to a holder for holding an object to be printed, wherein the carriage unit comprises a carriage. And a moving mechanism for moving the carriage unit in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carriage feed direction with the carriage unit attached to the holder. It is characterized in that printing can be performed on any held printing object.

In the printer device of the present invention as described above, the carriage unit is separated from the sheet feeder,
By attaching the carriage unit alone to a predetermined holder, it is possible to easily print thick sheets and non-foldable sheets other than paper held by the holder, and three-dimensional objects such as boxes. Can be. If the carriage unit is attached to the sheet feeding unit, printing can be performed on normal paper.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of a printer device according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 and FIG.
FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view showing an example of a printer device according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a carriage unit and a sheet feeder of the printer are integrated, and FIG. This shows a separated state. FIG. 3 is a schematic front sectional view showing a state where the carriage unit separated from the sheet feeding unit is installed on a three-dimensional object tray (corresponding to a holder). FIG. 4 is a schematic side view in the installation state of FIG. It is sectional drawing.

The printer of this embodiment has a carriage unit 20 for supporting a carriage 10 having a printing head, and a sheet feeder 40 for conveying a printing target sheet (mainly printing paper). The carriage unit 20 is configured to be separable from the sheet feeding unit 40, and the carriage unit 20 separated from the sheet feeding unit 40 is attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60 to print on the printing target 80 on the three-dimensional object tray 60. Is what you do. As shown in FIG. 1, the carriage unit 20 and the sheet feeder 40 are provided in a case 2 having a dome shape with a cross section. The case 2 has a structure in which the carriage unit 20 is provided in an upper case 2A, and a sheet feeder 40 is provided in a lower case 2B. Then, the upper and lower cases 2A and 2B are fitted and integrated, so that the carriage unit 20 and the sheet feeder 40 are disposed to face each other in an appropriate positional relationship, and can function as a printer.

The carriage unit 20 moves the carriage 10 in the width direction of the object to be printed (the paper surface direction in FIG. 1 = X in FIG. 3).
Direction), the guide pipe 22 corresponding to the stroke of the carriage 10 is disposed by the mounting member 26 in the case 2A, and the support piece 12 provided on the carriage 10 is slidably fitted to the guide pipe 22. As a result, the carriage 10 is slidably held. Then, the wire 24 wound around the inside of the guide pipe 22 is connected to the support piece 12 of the carriage 10, and the wire 24 is wound up by a mechanism such as a carriage driving motor (not shown) to control the carriage. 10 is slid.

A guide pin 14 is provided on the side of the carriage 10 opposite to the support piece 12, so that the case 2A
With the carriage guide 28 inside. Thus, the carriage 10 is prevented from rotating downward with the guide pipe 22 as a fulcrum and falling, and an appropriate printing position is secured. As shown in FIG. 3, the carriage unit 20 has a head maintenance unit 30 at a position corresponding to the end point of the stroke of the carriage 10. Suction, wiping and the like are performed.

On both lower surfaces of the carriage unit 20, engagement legs 32A and 32B are provided.
As will be described later, when the carriage unit 20 is attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60, the engaging leg portions 32A and 32B are used to move the linear guide portions 62A and 62B of the three-dimensional object tray 60.
B, the carriage unit 20 is slidably fitted to the linear guide portion 62 by positioning.
A and 62B are slidably held in the longitudinal direction, that is, in the feeding direction of the printing object (Y direction in FIG. 1 = the direction of the paper surface in FIG. 3). Further, the carriage unit 20 is provided with an interlocking mechanism for applying a driving force for sheet feeding to the sheet feeding unit 40 side. This interlocking mechanism is composed of a sheet feeding motor and a gear mechanism (not shown), and here only the final gear 34 is shown.

In this interlocking mechanism, the gear 34 at the last stage is engaged with a roller drive mechanism (not shown) on the side of the sheet feeding section 40, so that the gear of the sheet feeding section 40 is synchronized with the movement of the carriage 10 described above. Rubber rollers 42, 46
And feeds the sheet. Also,
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the carriage unit 2
In a state where the “0” is attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60, the gear 34 at the final stage is locked by the rack part 64 provided on the three-dimensional object tray 60.

Thus, by the rotation of the gear 34 at the last stage,
The carriage unit 20 itself slides and runs in the longitudinal direction of the rack 64, that is, in the feed direction of the printing target (Y direction in FIG. 1 = the direction of the paper in FIG. 3). As a control system of such a carriage unit 20, a circuit board (not shown) is provided on the inner wall of the case 2A or the like, and the control circuit of each of the motors described above and printing data are printed on this board. Is provided. A cable for transferring print data from an external device and a power supply cable are connected to this board, and signal supply and power supply are performed via a connector (not shown) provided on the outer wall of the case 2A. . For power supply, for example, an AC adapter for a 100 V AC power supply is used.

On the other hand, when the carriage unit 20 is mounted, the sheet feeding unit 40
The printing target sheet (mainly, printing paper) is conveyed to a position where the printing head faces, and a normal printing operation is performed. The sheet feeder 40 feeds the printing target sheets, which are inserted one by one from the direction of arrow a shown in FIG.
The printing is carried out by the printing head of the carriage 10 on the printing table 56.

The roller 42 is a paper feed rubber roller driven via the gear 34 by the above-described interlocking mechanism. The roller 44 is supported by the support link 50 and is urged by a spring (not shown) to supply the paper. Paper rubber roller 4
2 is a paper feed roller that is pressed against. The print target sheet is fed by these feed rollers 42 and 44 and is conveyed to a print point of the carriage 10 on the print table 56. Further, the roller 46 is a paper discharge rubber roller driven via the gear 34 by the above-described interlocking mechanism,
The roller 48 is supported by the support link 52,
The discharge roller 44 is urged by a spring (not shown) and pressed against the discharge rubber roller 46. The print target sheet printed by the print head of the carriage 10 is discharged by the discharge rollers 46 and 48 in the direction of arrow b shown in FIG.

In such a sheet feeding section 40, a sensor 54 for detecting the insertion of a sheet is provided near the entrance of the sheet feeding rollers 42 and 44. When the sensor 54 detects the sheet, the carriage driving motor and the sheet feeding motor on the side of the carriage unit 20 can be activated, and the printing operation on the sheet is started. The sheet feeding section 40 and the carriage unit section 20 are electrically connected to each other by, for example, connecting with a dedicated cable and a connector, or providing an electrode section to be joined with the integration of the cases 2A and 2B. The detection signal of the sensor 54 is transmitted to a control system on the carriage unit 20 side.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the three-dimensional object tray 60 has a printing object table 70 on which a thick flat object 80 is placed in a positioned state. In addition, as a configuration for positioning and holding the printing target 80 on the printing target table 70, for example, a simple positioning pin 72 may be provided, and the printing target 80 may be placed in accordance with the pin 72. Further, by using a predetermined adapter or the like with the pin 72 as a reference, it is possible to hold a printing object 80 having a round shape or a triangular shape other than a square, for example.

The printing object table 70 is supported on the three-dimensional object tray 60 so as to be adjustable in height, so that the distance between the carriage 10 and the printing head can be appropriately adjusted according to the thickness of the printing object 80. Has become. As a configuration for supporting the printing object table 70 so that the height can be adjusted, for example, a link mechanism such as a pantograph, a cam mechanism, or a screw mechanism can be used. Also,
As a method of the adjustment, a scale indicating the height position is provided to perform the adjustment visually, or a dedicated spacer provided corresponding to the thickness of the printing object is actually inserted between the table 70 and the carriage 10. Then, it may be determined whether the position of the head is appropriate.

The three-dimensional object tray 60 is provided with linear guide portions 62A and 62B fitted to the engaging legs 32A and 32B of the carriage unit 20 described above. That is, the engaging leg 3 of the carriage unit 20
Grooves are formed in the bottom surfaces of 2A and 32B, and linear guide portions 62A and 62B are fitted into these grooves, so that carriage unit 20 can be mounted on three-dimensional object tray 60 in a positioned state. In addition, the linear guide portions 62A, 62
B is the printing object 8 along the sheet feeding direction described above.
The carriage unit 20 is slidably supported over the entire length of the printing object 80.

The three-dimensional object tray 60 is provided with a rack portion 64 which engages with the gear 34 of the carriage unit 20 described above, and the carriage unit 20 is positioned and attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60. Thus, the gear 34 and the rack portion 64 engage with each other. The rack portion 64 is provided over the entire length of the printing target 80 along the sheet feeding direction described above.
Accordingly, the rotation of the gear 34 causes the carriage unit 20 to slide along the entire length of the printing object 80.

Next, a method of using the printer having the above-described configuration will be described. First, a case where the carriage unit 20 is used as a normal printer with the carriage unit 20 attached to the sheet feeding unit 40 as shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The user inserts one printing sheet from the direction of the arrow a shown in FIG. 1 and, in a state where this is detected by the sensor 54, gives an instruction for printing to a printer device from an external device, for example. Accordingly, the control circuit in the carriage unit 20 starts the printing operation, and the paper feed rubber roller 42,
The feed roller 44 is driven to feed the printing sheet. Then, the fed printing sheet is discharged by a paper discharge rubber roller 46,
By entering the space between the discharge rollers 48, the printing sheet is flattened on the printing table 56, and the printing is enabled.

On the other hand, in synchronization with such a sheet feeding operation, the carriage 10 is driven to scan the sheet surface of the fed printing sheet, and to print by the printing head based on the printing data transferred from the external device. I do. Thereafter, the predetermined printing is completed, and the printing sheet is discharged from the discharge rollers 46 and 48 in the direction of arrow b shown in FIG.

Next, a case where the carriage unit 20 is separated from the sheet feeder 40 and used in a state where the carriage unit 20 is attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60 will be described. When attaching the carriage unit section 20 separated from the sheet feeding section 40 to the three-dimensional object tray 60, the user fits the grooves of the engaging legs 32A and 32B of the carriage unit section 20 into the linear guide sections 62A and 62B. By inserting it, it can be easily mounted on the three-dimensional object tray 60 in a positioning state. At the same time, the gear 34 of the carriage unit 20 can be engaged with the rack 64 of the three-dimensional object tray 60.

Next, the height of the printing object table 70 of the three-dimensional object tray 60 is adjusted by the above-described method so that the printing head appropriately faces the printing object 80. In this state, for example, an external device instructs the printer to print. As a result, the control circuit in the carriage unit 20 starts the printing operation, and the carriage unit 20 is rotated by the rotation of the gear 34 so that the linear guides 62A and 62A are moved.
The carriage 10 moves along the guide pipe 22 while moving along 2B.

Thus, the printing head of the carriage 10 scans in the XY directions on the surface of the printing object 80 to perform printing. Then, upon completion of printing, the rotation of the gear 34 stops, and the carriage unit 20 stops on the linear guides 62A and 62B. In this manner, in the present embodiment, the carriage unit 20 is separated from the sheet feeding unit 40 and attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60, so that a thick sheet or a three-dimensional object that cannot be printed by the normal sheet feeding unit is used. Alternatively, printing can be easily and effectively performed on glass or ceramic products.

In particular, the above embodiment has an advantage that the carriage unit 20, the sheet feeder 40, and the three-dimensional object tray 60 can be easily attached and detached without using a special jig or the like. Also, the linear guide portions 62A, 62B
Thus, positioning can be easily performed. Also,
Since the object to be printed on the three-dimensional object tray 60 can be conveyed by using the sheet conveying mechanism on the carriage unit section 20 side, there is no need to provide a mechanism for conveying the object to be printed on the three-dimensional object tray 60 side. A device can be obtained.

Since the printing object table 70 of the three-dimensional object tray 60 can be adjusted up and down, it is possible to appropriately cope with printing objects 80 having different thicknesses. Further, since the printing target 80 is placed on the printing target table 70, printing can be easily performed on a three-dimensional object or an odd-shaped printing target 80. In the above embodiment, the carriage unit 2 used in combination with the sheet feeder 40 is used.
Although the configuration in which 0 is used separately from the sheet feeding section 40 has been described, a configuration in which the single carriage unit section 20 can also be used as various holding tools such as the above-described three-dimensional object tray 60 is also possible.

Also, an example has been described in which the carriage unit section 20 and the sheet feeding section 40 constitute a single printer apparatus. However, in a printer apparatus incorporated in another OA apparatus, the carriage unit section is configured to be detachable. However, similarly to the above-described embodiment, it is also possible to remove the OA device and attach it to the three-dimensional object tray 60 for use. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the three-dimensional object tray 60 that holds a thick flat body is provided as the printing target object 80, but another holding tool may be provided. For example, if an adapter that can set four postcards on a table is prepared and printing is performed on all four postcards at a time, efficient printing can be performed without paper jams in the sheet feeding unit. be able to.

Further, by providing a table having a concave portion for holding a specially shaped polyhedron or the like, and holding the polyhedron by the concave portion, it is possible to perform printing with one surface of the polyhedron facing the printing head. It is. Also,
It is also possible to print on one side of foods such as natural products such as rocks and wood chips and fruits. In this case, the gap between the printing object and the concave portion is filled and fixed with clay or the like, and the flat surface of the printing object is made to face the printing head as horizontally as possible.

It is also possible to print on chocolate or the like by using edible ink instead of ordinary ink. At this time, by replacing the head maintenance unit 30 at the same time as the head ink, the normal ink is prevented from being mixed. In the above embodiment,
Although the height of the printing target table 70 is adjusted to adjust the distance between the printing target and the printing head, the adjustment can be performed on the carriage unit 20 side. For example, the engagement legs 32A and 32B may be configured to be adjustable in length.

In place of such manual adjustment, a distance sensor is provided on the carriage unit 20 side, and an actuator for automatically adjusting the height of the carriage unit 20 in accordance with the detected value is provided. Alternatively, the printing may be performed while adjusting the height. In this way, even if the object to be printed has some curvature, the distance from the head can be kept constant, and proper printing can be performed. Further, in the above embodiment, the sensor 54 for detecting the sheet insertion is used.
Is provided on the sheet feeding section 40 side, but may be provided on the carriage unit 20 side. This eliminates the need for a cable or the like that sends a detection signal from the sensor 54 from the sheet feeding unit 40 to the carriage unit 20. In addition, when the carriage unit 20 is attached to the three-dimensional object tray 60, Can also be used for detecting the printing object 80 on the three-dimensional object tray 60.

[0034]

As described above, in the printer of the present invention, the carriage unit is configured to be separable from the sheet feeding unit, and the carriage unit is attached to a predetermined holder or the like by itself, so that the holder can be attached to the holder. There is an effect that printing can be easily performed on a held thick sheet, a non-foldable sheet other than paper, and a three-dimensional object such as a box.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side sectional view showing an example of a printer device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic side sectional view showing a state in which a carriage unit in the printer device of FIG. 1 is separated from a sheet feeding unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front sectional view showing a state where a carriage unit in the printer device of FIG. 1 is attached to a three-dimensional object tray;

4 is a schematic side sectional view showing a state where a carriage unit in the printer device of FIG. 1 is attached to a three-dimensional object tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

2, 2A, 2B ... case, 10 ... carriage, 20
... Carriage unit, 22 ... Guide pipe, 3
2A, 32B: engaging leg portion, 34: gear, 40: sheet feeding portion, 42, 44, 46, 48: roller, 60
... three-dimensional object tray, 62A, 62B ... linear guide part, 64 ... rack part, 80 ... printing object.

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A printer device comprising: a carriage unit for supporting a carriage provided with a print head; and a sheet feeder for conveying a sheet to be printed, wherein the carriage unit is separable from the sheet feeder. A printing unit configured to print on an arbitrary printing target object by a carriage unit separated from the sheet feeding unit. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said carriage unit has a carriage feed mechanism for moving said carriage in a direction substantially orthogonal to a sheet feed direction, and is detachably engaged with said sheet feed section to allow said sheet feed. 2. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising an interlocking mechanism that drives a unit in synchronization with the carriage feed mechanism. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the carriage unit is attached to a holder that holds the printing target while being separated from the sheet feeding unit, and performs printing on the printing target held by the holder. Item 3. The printer according to Item 2. 4. The holding tool has a guide portion that holds the carriage unit so as to be movable in the sheet feeding direction, and has an engaging portion that engages with the interlocking mechanism of the carriage unit. The carriage unit is driven by a carriage feed mechanism and an interlocking mechanism,
The printer according to claim 3, wherein printing is performed by moving the holder in the XY directions. 5. The interlocking mechanism has a gear mechanism that, when the carriage unit is attached to the sheet feeder, engages with a gear of the sheet feeder to transmit a driving force to the sheet feeder. In a state in which the unit is separated from the sheet feeder and attached to the holder, the gear mechanism is engaged with the rack on the holder, thereby moving the carriage unit in the sheet feed direction along the rack. Item 5. The printer according to any one of Items 2 to 4. 6. A printer device having a carriage unit that can be carried by itself and being attachable to a holder that holds an object to be printed, wherein the carriage unit moves a carriage. A carriage moving mechanism for moving the carriage unit in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carriage moving direction in a state where the carriage unit is attached to the holder; A printer device capable of printing on an arbitrary printing target. 7. The holder has adjusting means for adjusting a relative position of a carriage unit mounted on the holder with respect to a print head, and the holder has an adjusting means according to a form of a printing object held by the holder. The printer device according to claim 3, wherein a relative position of the printing head is adjustable. 8. The printing apparatus, wherein the holder has a printing target table for holding the printing target in a mounted state, and the carriage unit includes a printing target on which a printing head is mounted on the printing target table. The printer device according to claim 3, wherein the printer device is mounted so as to face an upper surface of the printer and moves in a horizontal direction to perform printing. 9. The printer device according to claim 8, wherein said adjusting means adjusts a distance between the printing object table and the printing head by displacing the printing object table. 10. The printer device according to claim 8, wherein said adjusting means adjusts the distance between the printing object table and the printing head by displacing the carriage unit. 11. An adjusting mechanism for detecting an interval between the printing object table and the printing head, and an adjusting mechanism for automatically adjusting the interval between the printing object table and the printing head based on the detection signal. The printer device according to any one of claims 8 to 10, comprising: 12. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printing target is a thick flat body having a square planar shape or another shape. 13. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the printing object is food, and the printing head uses edible ink. 14. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the carriage unit and the sheet feeder can be integrated by fitting the case of the carriage unit and the case of the sheet feeder. 15. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the carriage unit has a detector that serves both as a means for detecting a sheet to be printed in a sheet feeding unit and a means for detecting an object to be printed in a holder.