JPH11334152A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate printing to a relatively thick print object and simplify carrying of an apparatus by setting a driving wheel driven electrically, a printing head and a control part to a main body, and making the control part drive the driving wheel to move the main body on a stationary object to be printed and also drive the printing head. SOLUTION: A driving wheel 4 is set on a main body 1 and electrically driven. Driving wheels 10, 11 are constituted of an elastic body or the like, positioned separately right and left to the driving wheel 4 and both fixed to a shaft 5. When electricity is supplied to a carriage motor 14, a rotational force is transmitted to a first pulley 15 and a belt 18, so that a carriage 12 fixed to the belt 18 and a printing head 20 fixed to the carriage 12 move in a B direction. A connector 34 set to an upper face of an upper part 2 is electrically connected to an external device. Display lamps 35, 36, 37 display various states of a printing apparatus 39. A control part (computer), etc., are mounted on a circuit board 38 which is electrically connected to a circuit board 29.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, this type of printing apparatus is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-178895. According to this publication, a driving roller, a roller, a print head, and the like are provided in a main body. Then, a thin printing material such as paper is sandwiched between the drive roller and the roller, fed, and printed. The printing apparatus is always connected to an external device, and performs printing in accordance with recording information input from the external device.

[0003]

As described above, the conventional printing apparatus has a first drawback in that it can print only a printing material thin enough to be sandwiched between a driving roller and a roller. That is, printing cannot be performed on a thick printing material such as an envelope, a book, or a box.

Further, since the printing apparatus is always connected to an external device, it cannot be easily moved, and there is a second disadvantage that the use place is limited. Accordingly, the present invention provides a printing apparatus that can easily print on a relatively thick substrate, can be easily carried around, and can print anywhere, in view of such conventional disadvantages.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention according to claim 1 comprises a main body, an electrically driven drive wheel provided on the main body, and a print head provided on the main body. And a control unit. The control unit drives the drive wheels, moves the main body on the stationary printing medium, and drives the print head.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control unit controls the moving distance of the drive wheel according to the print width given by the print head.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a storage unit for storing recording information input from an external device is provided in the main body, and when the electrical connection with the external device is cut off, the control unit stores the stored recording information. According to the information, the print head performs predetermined recording.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a selection unit is provided, the storage unit stores a plurality of pieces of record information, and when a specific selection is made by the selection unit to correspond to the specific record information, the control unit sets ,
According to the specific record information, the print head is caused to perform a specific record.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, an input means is provided, a storage means for storing a plurality of fonts is provided, and when a specific input is made to the input means, the control means sets the identification corresponding to the specific input from the storage means The font is selected, and the print head is made to perform a specific recording according to the specific font.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the print head is constituted by an ink jet system.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to a front view of FIG. 1, a side view of FIG. 2, and a bottom view of FIG. In these figures, the main body 1 is made of, for example, plastic and is composed of an upper part 2 and a lower part 3, and the upper part 2 having a small cross-sectional area is formed on the lower part having a large cross-sectional area. The inside of the main body 1 is formed in a hollow shape.

The drive wheel 4 is made of, for example, an elastic body and is formed in a cylindrical shape, and a shaft 5 is fixed through a hole formed in the center. The gear 6 is fixed to the shaft 5, and the gear 7 has a gear portion having a different number of teeth, and one of the gear portions meshes with the gear 6. The other gear portion formed on the gear 7 is a gear 8
, And the gear 8 is fixed to the shaft of the drive wheel motor 9. The shaft 5 is supported by a hole in a side wall constituting the lower part 3 of the main body 1. When the drive wheel motor 9 is energized, the rotational force (torque) is transmitted to the gears 8, 7 and 6, and the drive wheel 4 rotates.

As described above, the drive wheel 4 is provided on the main body 1,
It is electrically driven. The drive wheels 10 and 11 are made of, for example, an elastic body or the like, and are respectively located on the left and right sides of the drive wheel 4 (as viewed from FIG. 1), and are both fixed to the shaft 5.

A hole is formed in the carriage 12 at an appropriate position, and a guide shaft 13 is inserted into the hole. The guide shaft 13 is supported by a hole in a side wall constituting the lower portion 3 of the main body 1. A pulley 15 is fixed to a shaft of the carriage motor 14. The shaft 17 is inserted into the hole of the second pulley 16,
The shaft 17 is supported by the lower part 3 of the main body 1. Belt 18
Is mounted on a first pulley 15 and a second pulley 16, and the carriage 12 is fixed in place on a belt 18.

Ink cartridge 1 filled with ink
9 is fixed to the carriage 12, the print head 20 is fixed to the carriage 12, and the ink in the ink cartridge 19 is supplied to the print head 20. The print head 20 is desirably of an ink jet type. The print head 20 is in the direction A (in the sub-scanning direction,
For example, 16 orifices are formed in FIG. 2), and each orifice is configured to appropriately discharge ink liquid.

With the above configuration, when the carriage motor 14 is energized, the rotational force (torque) is transmitted to the first pulley 15 and the belt 18. As a result, the carriage 12 fixed to the belt 18 and the print head 20 fixed to the carriage 12 are configured to move in the direction B (the main scanning direction, see FIG. 1).

When viewed from the bottom (see FIG. 3), the drive wheels 4, 1
Auxiliary wheels 21, 22, 2
3, 24 and 25 are provided. The auxiliary wheels 21 to 25 are made of, for example, an elastic body or the like, are formed in a columnar shape, and the shaft 26 is passed through and fixed to a hole formed in the center. Axis 26
Is supported by the lower part 3 of the main body 1.

The batteries 27 and 28 are connected in series, are both arranged in the cavity of the upper part 2, and are electrically connected to the circuit board 29. A power switch 30 is disposed above the upper part 2 and is electrically connected to the circuit board 29, and a start switch 31
The stop switch 32 is disposed below the power switch 30 and is electrically connected to the circuit board 29. A switch including the start switch 31 and the stop switch 32 is referred to as an operation switch 33.

The connector 34 is provided on the upper surface of the upper part 2,
It is electrically connected to an external device (a host computer such as a personal computer, which will be described later). The display lamps 35, 36, and 37 indicate various states of the printing apparatus, and are arranged on the upper surface of the upper part 2. A control unit (described later) and the like are mounted on a circuit board 38, and the circuit board 38 is electrically connected to the circuit board 29. The printing device 39 is configured by the above components and the like.

Next, the electrical configuration of the printing device 39 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. The control unit 40 is, for example, a CPU
Etc. The storage unit (memory unit) 41 incorporates a control program of the control unit 40 itself, and stores recording information input from an external device (for example, a personal computer or the like) 42. The bus 43 is connected to the control unit 40. The external device 42 is connected to the bus 43 via the connector 34 and the interface circuit 44.

The operation switch 33 is electrically connected to the input port 45. The selection means (selection switch) 46 counts up each time a plurality of (for example, 10) button switches or one button is pressed once.
It is arranged on the upper part 2 of the main body 1 and is electrically connected to the input port 45. Alternatively, an input unit 47 may be provided instead of the selection unit 46. The input means (input key) 47 is, for example, a numeric keypad, and performs a specific input when a specific number combination (for example, 1 and 5) is pressed. Electrically connected.

The display 48 comprises, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like, and is electrically connected to the bus 43 via a display control circuit (driver) 49. The head (print head) 20 is electrically connected to a bus 43 via a head control circuit 50. The motor A (drive wheel motor 9) and the motor B (carriage motor 14) are each electrically connected to the bus 43 via a motor control circuit 51.

The lamps (display lamps 35, 36, 37) are electrically connected to a bus 43 via an output port 52. The power supply circuit 53 is supplied with a commercial AC power supply AC or a battery (batteries 27, 28), and supplies a predetermined power to the head control circuit 50, the motor control circuit 51, the lamps 35, 36, 37, the control unit 40, the display control circuit 49, and the like. It supplies voltage. The above components make up the electrical configuration of the printing device 39.

Next, the operation of the printing device 39 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which printing is performed by the printing device 39 on a printing material 54 (for example, a celebration bag), and FIG. 6 is a drawing in which printing is performed by the printing device 39 on a printing material (for example, book surface) 55. It is a drawing showing a situation.

In these figures, first, the user connects the external device 42 and the connector 34 with a cable or the like.
Turn on the power switch 30. Next, the user sets the external device 4
2. Operate the keyboard and mouse of the external device 42
The user edits characters and graphics that the user wants to print using input software dedicated to the printing device 39 or general-purpose input software, and transmits the recorded information to the storage unit 41 of the printing device 39 for storage. At this time, the storage unit 41 stores a plurality of pieces of record information (for example, a congratulation shown in FIG. 5 or various illustrations shown in FIG. 6).

When the transmission of the record information is completed, the user disconnects the cable, disconnects the electrical connection between the external device 42 and the printing device 39, moves the printing device 39, and moves the printing device 39, for example.
Place on top of 4.

The user selects a selection means (selection switch) 46.
By pressing once, for example, an image based on the recording information stored in the storage unit 41 is displayed on the display 48. Then, when the user presses the selection means 46 n times and the image on the display 48 displays “celebration” shown in FIG. 5, the user presses the start switch 31. As a result, the printing device 39 is
When "Holiday" is printed on the top and the stop switch 32 is pressed, the movement is stopped. In addition, the user operates the external device 4 described above.
In step 2, for example, when “Sanyo Taro” is input, this character is stored in the storage unit 41. Then, the user selects the selecting means 4
When "6" is pressed m times and the image on the display 48 displays "Taro Sanyo", when the start switch 31 is pressed, "Taro Sanyo" is printed under "Holiday" of the printing object 54.

In this manner, the storage unit 41 for storing the record information (for example, “congratulations” of a special typeface) input from the external device 42 is provided in the main body 1, and the external device 42 and the printing device 3
When the electrical connection with the control unit 9 is disconnected, the control unit 40 causes the print head 20 to perform a predetermined recording (“congratulation”) according to the stored recording information (“congratulation”).

More specifically, a selecting means 46 is provided, and the storage unit stores a plurality of pieces of recorded information (for example, "Holiday" or "Taro Sanyo").
) Is stored, and when a specific selection (for example, pressing the selection switch 46 n times) is performed by the selection unit 46 in order to correspond to specific recording information (for example, “festival”), the control unit 40
Causes the print head 20 to perform a specific recording (such as “celebration”) according to the specific recording information (“celebration” or the like).

Similarly, referring to FIG. 6, the user inputs and edits the illustrations of FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C into the external device 42, stores the recorded information in the storage unit 41, and 4
2 and the printer 39 are disconnected. Then, when the user places the printing device 39 on the printing material (book surface) 55 and presses the selection switch 46 a times and presses the start switch 31, the illustration a is printed on the paper surface 55. By performing the same operation, the illustrations of b and c are printed.

Next, the printing operation will be described. As mentioned above,
When the user presses the selecting means 46 n times and “celebration” is displayed on the display 48, the user presses the start switch 31. The control unit 40 retrieves the recording information of “Holiday” from the storage unit 41, supplies the recording information to the head control circuit 50, and drives the motor control circuit 51. As a result, the carriage motor 14 is energized, and the rotational force is transmitted to the first pulley 15 and the belt 18. Then, the carriage 12 fixed to the belt 18 and the print head 20 fixed to the carriage 12 move from the left end to the right end in the main scanning direction (B in FIG. 1). At that time, the head control circuit 50 appropriately discharges the ink liquid from the sixteen orifices provided in the print head 20 onto the printing material 54 in accordance with the recording information.

In this manner, the print head 20 finishes printing the print width (indicated by C in FIG. 2) from the first line (C1) to the sixteenth line (C16) on the print substrate 54. Next, the control unit 40 controls the moving distance D of the drive wheel 4 according to the print width C provided by the print head 20. That is, the print head 20
The distance (C1 to C17) that the first orifice in (1) moves from the first row (C1) to the 17th row (C17)
Is controlled by the control unit 40 so that the distance D matches the distance D. When the drive wheel motor 9 is energized, the rotational force is changed to the gears 8 and 7.
And the drive wheel 4 is rotated, and in order to make the moving distance D equal to C1 to C17, the energizing time of the drive wheel motor 9 may be maintained at a predetermined value.

Next, the control unit 40 again energizes the carriage motor 14 with a reverse voltage, operates the print head 20, and moves the main scanning direction from the right end to the left end. At this time, the control unit 4
0 prints the 17th line (C17) to the 32nd line (C32) on the printing substrate 54 by using the print head 20. Then, the control unit 40 moves by the distance D again. By repeating such an operation, printing from the first line to the L-th line is performed, and the printing of “Holiday” is completed. As described above, the control unit 40
Driving the drive wheels 4, 10, 11 and the stationary printing material 5
The print head 20 is driven (printed) by moving the main body 1 onto the print head 4.

In the above description, after the recording information input from the external device 42 is stored in the storage unit 41 in the printing device 39, the external device 42 and the printing device 39 are separated. However, in the printing device 39, an input unit 47 is provided instead of the selection unit 46, a plurality of fonts are stored in the storage unit 41, and when a specific input is made to the input unit 47, the control unit 40 The specific font corresponding to the specific input may be selected from the means 41, and the print head 20 may cause the specific recording to be performed according to the specific font.

For example, when the input means 47 is constituted by a numeric keypad or the like and the user presses "1, 5" with the input means 47, the control means 40 causes the specific font (1, 5) corresponding to the specific input of "1, 5". A “celebration” having a specific typeface may be selected, and the print head 20 may be caused to perform a specific recording “celebration” according to the specific font.

Further, the start switch 31 is pressed to print "congratulations" on the printing medium 54, and the stop switch 32 is pressed to end the printing. Then, the printing device 39 may be placed on the same printing material 54 or another printing material, and the start switch 31 may be pressed to perform the same printing of “Holiday”, and the same recording operation may be performed any number of times.

Further, an infrared sensor or a laser beam sensor is mounted inside the carriage 12 to
A mechanism for automatically adjusting the height of the upper print head 20 within a range of several millimeters may be provided. Even if the surface of the printing object 54 has irregularities, the distance between the surface and the surface of the print head 20 can be kept constant by this mechanism, and the recording quality is improved.

[0038]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the control unit drives the drive wheels, moves the main body on the stationary printing medium, and drives the print head. Since printing is performed while moving on the printing substrate in this manner, printing can be easily performed on a thick printing substrate such as an envelope, a book surface, or a box.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control unit controls the moving distance of the drive wheel according to the print width given by the print head. As a result, the drive wheels move for each print width, so that the intervals between the rows are uniform, and the print quality is improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a storage unit for storing recording information input from an external device is provided in the main body, and when the electrical connection with the external device is cut off, the control unit stores the stored recording information. According to the information, the print head is caused to perform predetermined recording. As described above, since the printing can be performed by the printing apparatus apart from the external device, the printing can be performed at a place desired by the user without limiting the use place.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a selection means is provided, and the storage unit stores a plurality of pieces of recording information, and when a specific selection is made by the selection means to correspond to the specific recording information, a specific recording Let As described above, since a plurality of pieces of record information can be selected by the selection means, record information preferred by the user can be easily taken out and recorded, thereby improving usability.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, an input means is provided, a storage means for storing a plurality of fonts is provided, and when a specific input is made to the input means, the control means sets the identification corresponding to the specific input from the storage means Select a font and make a specific record with a specific font. As described above, since a plurality of fonts are stored in the storage unit of the printing apparatus itself, there is no need to input recording information from an external device, no external device is required, and the cost is reduced.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since the print head is formed by an ink jet system, it is possible to perform a fine print even when the printing object itself has some irregularities when the printing apparatus itself moves.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a view of the printing apparatus as viewed from behind.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view when the printing apparatus is printed on a celebration bag.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view when the printing apparatus is printed on a book.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 4, 10, 11 Drive wheel 20 Print head 40 Control part 54 Printed matter

Claims (6)

[Claims] An electronically driven drive wheel provided on the main body, a print head provided on the main body, and a control unit, wherein the control unit drives the drive wheel, A printing apparatus characterized in that the main body is moved on a stationary printing object and the print head is driven. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls a moving distance of the driving wheel according to a print width given by the print head. 3. A storage unit for storing recording information input from an external device is provided in the main body, and when an electrical connection with the external device is cut off, the control unit operates according to the stored recording information. 2. A printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printing head causes said print head to perform predetermined recording. 4. A selection means is provided, wherein the storage unit stores a plurality of pieces of the record information, and when a specific selection is made by the selection means so as to correspond to the specific record information, the control unit sets the specific 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the print head performs a specific record according to the record information. 5. An input device, wherein a storage device for storing a plurality of fonts is provided. When a specific input is made to the input device, the control device selects a specific font corresponding to the specific input from the storage device. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing head performs a specific recording according to the specific font. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the print head is configured by an ink jet system.