JPH11216939A - Dot impact type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dot impact type printer that automatically restores an ink ribbon from a ribbon jamming condition by a constitution wherein a control section having a retry control function for displacing a platen toward or away from a printing mechanism, thereby improving the reliability. SOLUTION: This dot impact type printer comprises an ink ribbon 4, a printing mechanism for performing printing on a printing paper (not shown in the drawing) with the ink ribbon 4 therebetween, a platen 7 for sucking or discharging the printing paper, and a platen motor 9 for moving the platen 7. It further comprises a sensor roller that rotates along with the winding movement of the ink ribbon 4, a ribbon jamming sensor for detecting the rotational cycle of the sensor roller, a ribbon feed roller 5 for winding the ink ribbon 4, a ribbon motor for rotating the ribbon feed roller 5 and a control section for controlling the platen motor 9 in accordance with the detected signal of the ribbon jamming sensor.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dot impact printer, and more particularly to a dot impact printer capable of automatically restoring a ribbon jam state of an ink ribbon with improved reliability.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional dot impact printer, when a paper stapler or perforation of copy paper is sent to a printing mechanism, the gap between the paper surface and the printing mechanism becomes zero due to the rise of the paper stapler or perforation. When the ink ribbon cannot be wound up or the head of the printing mechanism and the ink ribbon are caught and the tension of the ink ribbon is reduced to cause the ribbon jam, a manual recovery is required as a means for recovery. The disadvantage is that you have to resort to remedial measures.

Accordingly, when printing a large amount of copy paper such as a large number of slips, it is necessary to frequently monitor the dot impact printer in order to avoid the problem of ribbon jam due to the above-mentioned causes. There are issues.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional dot impact printer, when the ink ribbon is in a ribbon jam state, the only means of recovery is to rely on repair means by manual intervention. For example, when printing a large amount of copy paper such as a large number of slips,
As a measure to prevent the ribbon jam, there is a problem that the dot impact printer must be frequently monitored by manual intervention.

An object of the present invention is to improve the reliability of automatically restoring a ribbon jam state of an ink ribbon by providing a simple control unit having a retry control function for moving a platen away from a printing mechanism unit. An object of the present invention is to provide a dot impact printer.

[0006]

A dot impact printer according to the present invention comprises an ink ribbon, a printing mechanism for printing on printing paper via the ink ribbon, a platen for sucking and discharging the printing paper, and a platen. A platen motor to be moved, a sensor roller that follows and rotates in conjunction with the winding movement of the ink ribbon, a ribbon jam sensor that detects the operation of the sensor roller, a ribbon feed roller that winds the ink ribbon, and a ribbon feed roller that rotates And a control unit for controlling the platen motor based on a detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor.

The control unit for controlling the platen motor has a function of maintaining a distance between the platen and the printing mechanism at an appropriate gap, and a function of moving the platen.

When a control section for controlling the platen motor based on the detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor detects the ribbon jam state of the ink ribbon based on the detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor, the control section drives the platen motor to temporarily move the platen from the printing mechanism section. Evacuation to a distance greater than the appropriate gap
It has a retry control function of moving the platen from the printing mechanism to the appropriate gap again.

The control unit drives the platen motor in the opposite direction to that when the platen is temporarily retracted from the printing mechanism by a distance equal to or more than the appropriate gap and by the same amount as the retracted amount. It is characterized by the following.

[0010] The ribbon jam sensor is characterized by detecting a rotation cycle of the sensor roller.

The control unit for controlling the platen motor based on the detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor has means for notifying, as an alarm, that the ribbon jam has occurred when the ribbon jam sensor for detecting the rotation period of the sensor roller detects an abnormal signal. It is characterized by the following.

Means for notifying as an alarm that the ribbon jam sensor is in a ribbon jam state when the ribbon jam sensor detects an abnormal signal includes driving a platen motor to temporarily retract the platen from the printing mechanism to a distance equal to or more than an appropriate gap; The method is characterized in that the retry for moving the platen from the printing mechanism to the appropriate gap is performed at least once, and then the retry is enabled.

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a dot impact printer 20 according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing an embodiment of the dot impact printer 20 of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a dot impact printer 20 of the present invention
A printing mechanism 1 for printing on printing paper (not shown) via the ink ribbon 4, a platen 7 for sucking and discharging the printing paper, and a platen motor 9 for moving the platen 7.
A sensor roller 2 that follows and rotates in conjunction with the winding travel of the ink ribbon 4, a ribbon jam sensor 3 that detects the rotation cycle of the sensor roller 2, a ribbon feed roller 5 that winds the ink ribbon 4, The control unit includes a ribbon motor 6 for rotating the roller 5 and a control unit 8 for controlling a platen motor 9 based on a detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor 3.

The dot impact printer 20 configured as described above operates as follows.

When the ink ribbon 4 stops for some reason, the rotation of the sensor roller 2 that follows the rotation of the ink ribbon 4 in conjunction with the winding travel of the ink ribbon 4 also stops, so that the ribbon jam sensor 3 detects the rotation cycle of the sensor roller 2. Detects an abnormal signal as a rotation cycle signal of the sensor roller 2,
The control unit 8 determines that the ink ribbon 4 is in the ribbon jam state from the abnormal signal of the ribbon jam sensor 3 and temporarily stops the rotation of the ribbon motor 6 for rotating the ribbon feed roller 5, and rotates the platen motor 9 by a fixed amount. As a result, the platen 7 is retracted from the printing mechanism 1 by a predetermined distance. After retracting the platen 7, the control unit 8 drives the ribbon motor 6 again to rotate the feed roller 5. When the feed roller 5 is rotated, the ink ribbon 4 is wound up and the sensor roller 2 is rotated. When the ribbon jam sensor 3 detects a normal signal as a rotation cycle signal of the sensor roller 2, the control unit 8 controls the platen motor 9
In the anti-evacuation direction by the same amount as the evacuation amount, and the platen 7
Is returned from the original position of the printing mechanism 1 to the position where the appropriate gap is held, and then printing is resumed.

When the ribbon jam sensor 3 fails to detect the normal signal of the rotation cycle of the sensor roller 2 even after the platen 7 is retracted from the printing mechanism 1 by a predetermined distance and the ribbon motor 6 is restarted. The controller 8 processes the fact that the ink ribbon 4 is in the ribbon jam state as an alarm, and displays the alarm on the main body of the dot impact printer 20 (not shown). In this embodiment, the control unit 8
Drives the platen motor 9 to temporarily retract the platen 7 from the printing mechanism 1 to a distance equal to or greater than the appropriate gap,
A repair means for automatically recovering from a failure in which the ink ribbon 4 has entered the ribbon jam state by executing a single retry of moving the platen 7 from the printing mechanism unit to the original appropriate gap position again is described. However, it goes without saying that executing the retry twice or more times is also included in the present invention.

[0020]

As described above, the dot impact type printer of the present invention has a simple configuration in which a control unit having a retry control function for bringing the platen into and out of the printing mechanism is provided. There is an effect that it is possible to provide a dot impact type printer with improved reliability for automatically recovering the image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing an embodiment of a dot impact printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view illustrating an embodiment of a dot impact printer according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printing mechanism part 2 Sensor roller 3 Ribbon jam sensor 4 Ink ribbon 5 Ribbon feed roller 6 Ribbon motor 7 Platen 8 Control part 9 Platen motor 20 Dot impact printer

Claims (7)

[Claims] An ink ribbon; a printing mechanism for printing on printing paper via the ink ribbon; a platen for sucking and discharging the printing paper; a platen motor for moving the platen; A sensor roller that follows and rotates in conjunction with the winding travel, a ribbon jam sensor that detects an operation of the sensor roller, a ribbon feed roller that winds the ink ribbon, a ribbon motor that rotates the ribbon feed roller, A dot impact type printer comprising: a control unit for controlling the platen motor based on a detection signal of a ribbon jam sensor. 2. A control unit for controlling the platen motor, the control unit having a function of maintaining a distance between the platen and the printing mechanism at an appropriate gap, and a function of moving the platen. 2. The dot impact printer according to 1. 3. The control section, which controls the platen motor based on a detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor, drives the platen motor when detecting a ribbon jam state of the ink ribbon based on a detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor. 2. A retry control function for temporarily retreating the platen from the printing mechanism to a distance equal to or more than an appropriate gap and moving the platen from the printing mechanism to an appropriate gap again. Dot impact printer. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to drive the platen motor to temporarily retreat the platen from the printing mechanism to a distance equal to or greater than an appropriate gap, and to have the same amount as the retreat amount. 4. The dot impact printer according to claim 1, wherein the platen motor is driven only by the drive. 5. The dot impact printer according to claim 1, wherein the ribbon jam sensor detects a rotation cycle of the sensor roller. 6. The control section, which controls the platen motor based on a detection signal of the ribbon jam sensor, determines that the ribbon jam sensor for detecting a rotation cycle of the sensor roller is in a ribbon jam state when detecting an abnormal signal. 2. The dot impact printer according to claim 1, further comprising means for notifying as an alarm. 7. A means for notifying, as an alarm, that a ribbon jam has occurred when the ribbon jam sensor detects an abnormal signal, drives the platen motor to temporarily move the platen from the printing mechanism to an appropriate gap or more. At least one retry to move the platen from the printing mechanism to the appropriate gap.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the function is enabled after execution of at least one time.
3. A dot impact printer according to claim 3.