JPS5991085A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely prevent a printing head from being dried when supply of electric power to a printer is stopped, without sacrificing the printing performance of the printer, by a method wherein an operating power for a drying- preventing device for a printing head is obtained from a moving action of a carriage, and the carriage is moved by an auxiliary power source when supply of electric power is stopped. CONSTITUTION:When a voltage impressed on output lines of a rectifying circuit 52 disappears due to failure of power supply, Curning-OFF of a power source switch or the like, a power source changing-over circuit 53 immediately changes over from an input side to an auxiliary power source part 57, switchingly connects an output side to a stand-by operating circuit 60 and a motor driver 56, and switchingly connects a gate 55 to the circuit 60 side. A switch 61 provided at a predetermined part on the left side of the carriage 3 and in the exterior of a printing range is closed by being pressed by a projecting piece 62 provided at a lower left end part of the carriage 3, whereby the supply of the auxiliary power source is stopped, a rotatable arm 34 is pivoted clockwise, and head caps 31A-31D are fitted respectively to the printing heads 2A-2D to prevent inks from being dried.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer with an IF during drying of a print head.

If a printer that uses raw ink as a printing medium is left unused for a long time without printing, the ink at the tip of the print head may dry, resulting in poor printing. Conventionally, as a method to prevent the print head from drying, the Utility Model Application No. 56-5063
As shown in Publication No. 8, a motor-driven print cover is attached to the tip of the print head (in this cover, a cap plate made of an elastic member is attached, and the elastic force of this cap plate seals the tip of the print head. A number of ideas have been proposed for implementation.

However, with the above conventional technology, if an accident such as a power outage occurs, or if the power supply to the printer is cut off due to termination of use or storage, the conventional device will not operate at all. Not only does this have the disadvantage of not being able to prevent the print head from drying out, but since the gap plate, the cap plate operating mechanism, and the motor as the driving means are all mounted on the carriage, the structure of the carriage becomes complicated and heavy. When multiple print heads are used for color printing, etc., the gap plate, motor, etc. mentioned above must be installed for each print head, which puts an extremely large burden on the structure and weight of the carriage, and reduces the print speed. .

In addition to unavoidably lowering printing performance such as printing accuracy, the entire device also had the disadvantage of becoming expensive.Furthermore, in raw ink type dot impact printers, the clearance between the recording paper and the print head was 0. Since only around .5 mwt could be secured, it was completely impossible to arrange the cap rate of the prior art at the tip of the print head.

The present invention has been developed in view of the shortcomings of the prior art, and includes a printer body equipped with a print head drying prevention device 17, and an operating chip carriage of the print head drying prevention device. By moving the carriage with a backup power supply when the power supply is stopped, and by moving the carriage with the standby power supply, the structure can reliably prevent the print head from drying out when the power supply to the printer is stopped without sacrificing the printing performance of the printer. The purpose is to provide a simple and inexpensive print head drying prevention device.

The present invention includes a carriage provided with a print head, a carriage feed mechanism that allows the carriage to move freely to a standby position outside the printing range, a carriage feed motor that feeds the carriage, and a carriage in which the carriage is placed in a standby position. a cap that is movably fitted to face the print head when the carriage is present; a movement conversion mechanism that converts the standby movement movement of the carriage to move the cap toward the print head; and a standby power supply when the power supply is stopped. The above-mentioned object is achieved by providing a standby operation section connected to the motor to drive the carriage feeding motor and move the carriage in standby mode.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 6.

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted schematic diagram showing a printing section of a raw ink type wire dot printer according to the present invention. In the figure, a plurality of print heads 28 to 2 are installed opposite the platen l.
A carriage 3 carrying D is equipped so as to be movable in the left and right direction. A set of guide valve bars 4.4 extends along the moving direction of the carriage 3, and bushes 6.4 protrude from the lower side of the carriage 3.
6°... are slidably fitted and guided in parallel. The carriage 3 is connected to a timing belt 9 wound around a drive 1i1J pulley 7 and an idler pulley 8 by a clamp part 10. The drive pulley 7 is directly connected to the stepping motor 12, and when the stepping motor rotates 120 times, the carriage 3
can be moved to any position. A recording paper 13 is wound around the platen 1, and line breaks, page breaks, etc. are performed on the recording paper 13 by rotation of a paper feed roller (not shown).

FIG. 4 shows an electrical configuration related to carriage feeding of the printer. The printer is connected to an external AC power source 51 via a power switch (not shown), and the AC voltage supplied from this AC power source 51 is first input to a rectifier circuit 52.
Converted to μ current. A power supply switching circuit 53 is connected to the output side of the rectifier circuit 52. This source switching circuit 53
When a DC voltage is applied to the output line of the rectifier circuit 52, the printer control circuit 54 built into the printer uses this voltage as the power supply voltage. The power is supplied to each part of the device light such as the motor dryer 56, and the gate 55 is switched and connected to the printer control a1 circuit 54 side.

The printer control circuit 54 receives character data and character start commands from an externally connected keyboard, computer, etc.
Receives various control data such as carriage return commands (i
1't, while the C motor driver 5 is connected through the gate 55.
It has a function of sending a control signal consisting of a predetermined Nockles train signal and forward/reverse signals to 6 to rotate the stepping motor 12 in the forward and reverse directions to feed the carriage in the right direction or in the left direction -\. [7. In response to the control signal from the printer control circuit 54, the motor dryer 56 rotates and stops the stepping motor 12 (7) during printing operation, moves the carriage 3 to the print start position (first
The carriage 3 is sequentially moved to the right from the solid line A in the figure (see Fig. 5), and on the other hand, when the carriage return operation is performed after printing of - lines is completed, the carriage 3 is moved to the left and the printing is performed. It is designed to return to the starting position. The printer control wholesale circuit 54 also has the function of controlling one drive of the print heads 2A to 2D and controlling paper feed.

A backup power supply section 57 is connected to the output side of the rectifier circuit 52. This backup power supply section 57 consists of a discrete charger 58 and a rechargeable battery 59. This battery 59 is charged to a predetermined value by a battery charger 58 while the printer is connected to the AC power source 51. This standby power source 57Fi is connected to the 'IE source switching circuit 53.

When the voltage applied to the output line of the rectifier circuit 52 disappears due to a power outage, power switch being turned off, etc., this power supply switching circuit 53 immediately switches the input end to the backup power supply section 57 and the output side to the power supply switching circuit. 53 and the motor driver 56, and the gate 55 is switchably connected to the standby operation circuit 60 side. This standby operation circuit 60
is the standby power supply unit 5 due to the switching operation of the power supply J switching circuit 53.
When the power source is supplied from 7, a predetermined pulse train signal and a reversal signal are sent to the motor driver 56 via the gate 55.
Move the gear ridge 3 to the mid-printing position or d, and to the printing start position 1r1.
It has the function of moving from the center to the left in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, a switch 61 is provided at a rotation location outside the printing range in the leftward movement direction of the carriage 3. As shown in FIG. This switch 61 causes the carriage 3 to move to the printing start position 1r.
When the standby position fil (two-dot chain line 13 in Fig. 6, see Fig. 6) is located a distance l away from t, the carriage 3 is pressed by a protrusion 62 protruding from the lower left end of the carriage 3 and closed. l
;I'm benevolent.

This swig 61 is connected to the power supply switching circuit 53, and when the switch 61 is closed, the circuit switches immediately. and the motor driver 56, and connect the gate 55 to the printer track]
1 wholesale circuit 541tlj, the ping motor 12 is stopped, and the carriage 3 is placed in the above-mentioned standby position (
City C - Shiroyo 1 (It is. By lifting and moving the carriage 3, the dry prevention +L↓ is tf!?, which will be described later)
30 is fVJ71+L, and the print heads 28 to 21) are prevented from drying. Incidentally, when the W source becomes normal after the standby n1 operation of the carriage 3 described above, the carriage 3 adjusts the printing amount (
It looks like it will move to the 1st position.

[11J print head 2A fixed to carriage 3~
21) is the clearance α(
=K 2 :q47s Hlp, ) is set after 0.5 M itl so that optimal printing can be performed. The print heads 2A to 2D are yellow,
Magenta.

They are provided for different printing colors, 7' and black, so that it is possible to print characters, figures, etc. in color by dot printing. Each of the print heads 28 to 2D has the same configuration, and as shown in FIG. Several wires 17, 17. . . are provided with penetrating equipment, and the ends of these wires 17, 17° . . . are guided to a tip guide 18 attached to the tip of the cylindrical body 15.

24 is an air hole for air replacement. The ink storage body 16 is connected to an ink tank 20 provided outside via an ink pipe 19, and the detection electrodes 21.21
According to the ink occlusion detected in step 1, the flow-feeding control valve 22 is operated so that it is always filled with the amount of ink that allows optimum printing. I'm in C. The wire 17 + 17 t...
- is individually slid by a solenoid mechanism (not shown) at the rear end of the head, protrudes from the tip guide 18 and impacts the recording paper 13, and at this time, the ink attached to the tip of the wire causes the recording paper to be moved. 13- Print dots on H.

By repeating the impact operation while the carriage 3 moves to the right during the printing operation, a predetermined character can be printed.

The printer main body (not shown) on the left side of the recording paper 13 is equipped with a drying prevention device 30 for the print heads 28 to 2D. This drying prevention device 30 operates when the carriage 3 is moved to the standby position IC 1hL due to the stoppage of feeding to the printer.
Each print head 28~2I) Head cap 31 for each IC
A to 31D are covered to prevent ink from drying at the tip of the print head. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, a suppression roller 32 is rotatably supported at the upper left end of the carriage 3.
A rotating arm 34 having a contact portion 33 made of a smooth curve is disposed opposite to the moving direction of the pressing roller 32.1, this rotating arm 34 has a substantially central portion that rotates around the printer main body rC. It is movably supported at 4111, and has 4 sides so that it can easily rotate when the front row 1'2 contact portion 33 on one end side is pressed. The other end of the rotating arm 34 is connected by a shaft screw 35 to a linker 36 provided at a rotating position. The other end of the linker 36 is rotatably coupled to a protrusion 40 of a cam plate 39 guided by a pin 38, 38 implanted in a fixed plate 37 via a shaft screw 41. In response to the rotational movement of the rotating arm 34 in the V direction, the ML') cam plate 36 depresses the 01'' cam plate 39 to the right. At this time, the cam plate 39
The bin 38 is inserted into the elongated holes 42, 42 drilled in the left and right direction.
38 is fitted, so that it moves in parallel to the right. On the other hand, a tension spring 43 is tensioned between the vicinity of the shaft screw 41 of the linker 36 and the printer body, so that a return force in the left direction is always applied to the linker 36 (C).

Therefore, the carriage 3 moves to the right and press roller 32
When the pressure of the rotating arm 34 is released, the linker 36 moves to the left by the tension of the tension spring 43, and at the same time, the cam plate 39? It is supposed to move to the left.

Mfl recorder 11 plate 37 & L is fixed to the printer main body. A cap IF plate 44 is provided between the fixed plate 37 and the cam plate 39 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction in FIG. The cup/plate 39 is provided with pivots 45, 45, which serve as active joints, which are bored diagonally. A bin 46.46 is fitted therein. At both left and right ends of the cap locking plate 44, the fifth
Elongated holes 47, 47 are drilled in the vertical direction of the figure, and the elongated holes 47°47vr, 5°? Bottle 48 planted on board 37
．． 48 is fitted. Therefore, when the cup/plate 39 moves to the right, the bin 46.46 receives a downward pressing force from the elongated hole 45.45, and at this time, the elongated hole 47.47 guides the bin 48.48VC. The cap member 1 plate 44 moves downward in parallel - this and t': Conversely, when the cam plate 39 moves to the left, the cap member 1 and the plate 44 move upward. . The cam plate 3
9's left and right movement requires the bin 38 at the left and right ends of the long length 42.42.
．． 38 is in contact with and restricted, and the upward movement of the cap locking plate 44 is restricted with the bottles 46, 46.48° 48 in contact with the upper and lower ends of the elongated holes 42, 42, 47, 47. It has become. The cap locking plate 44 includes a bottle 38.3.
Holes 49 and 49 are drilled into which the 8 is loosely inserted.

Head caps 31A to 31D made of a rubber member with strong ink resistance are attached to the lower edge of the cap locking plate 44, corresponding to the print heads 28 to 2DK. Each of the head caps 31A to 31D has a cap hole that can be fitted to the tip of the print heads 28 to 2D, and this cap hole is treated with an ink-resistant water fountain. For example, sponge coated with N B H. When the switch 61 is closed and the carriage 3 stops, the stamps 1 are fitted sideways onto the tips of the heads 28-2D (see FIG. 6).

Next, the overall operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

The printer is connected to the AC power supply 51 in advance to receive the power supply, and the power supply switching circuit 53 is connected to the input terminal full rectification circuit 5.
2. The output side is switched and connected to the printer control circuit 54 and the 7-star driver 56, and the gate 55 is switched to the printer side diagonal circuit 54 side.
It is assumed that the battery 59 is charged to a predetermined wind pressure. First, when performing a printing operation, the carriage 3 is in advance at the printing start position, and the printer control circuit 54
Is it external? [) When receiving the print start command, the motor driver 5
6 sends a control signal to 17 and rotates the stepping motor 12 to move the carriage 3f! -Move to the right (row direction). Each print head 2A to 2D is driven with a certain period of delay based on one line of character data stored in a line buffer (not shown) of the printer, and when it reaches a predetermined print position on the recording paper 13, it sequentially prints a character pattern. Dot printing is performed in different colors. When one line of printing is completed by VC and the printer controller 1 circuit 54 receives a carriage return command, the stepping motor 12 is reversely rotated to return the FC carriage 3 to the printing start position ii"j'.

During this time, the recording AMk 13 (t) is advanced by - lines. Thereafter, printing on the recording paper 13 is performed in the same manner over -page Qk or a plurality of pages.

On the other hand, if an unfortunate accident such as a power outage occurs during the printing operation, or if the power supply to the printer from the outside is stopped, such as when the printer is turned off after use, the carriage 3
A standby operation is performed. That is, when the power supply to the printer is stopped and the electric IE output of the rectifier circuit 52 disappears, the
The power supply switching circuit 53 immediately switches the input side 6 to f1! The output side of the II power supply unit 57 is switched and connected to the standby operation circuit 60 and the motor driver 56, and the gate 55 is switched to the standby operation circuit 60 side. The standby operation circuit 60 generates and outputs a control signal consisting of a predetermined pulse 911 signal and a reverse signal when the backup source is supplied from the power source switching circuit 53, and sends it to the motor driver 56 via the gate 55fO. As a result, the stepping motor 12 rotates, and the carriage 3, which was at the mid-printing position t4 or the printing start position ii, rotates.
moves to the left M5h-X. During this leftward movement of the carriage 3, the pressing roller 32 provided at the left end of the carriage 3
presses and rotates the contact portion 33 of the rotating arm 34 against the tension spring 43, and this rotation of the rotating arm 34 causes the link part 36. The cap locking plate 44 gradually moves downward in FIG. 5 via the cam plate 39. When the protruding piece 62 of the carriage 3 closes the switch 61, the power switching circuit 5
3 is switched and the standby operation circuit 60. The motor driver 56 is released from the standby position and the carriage 3 stops at a predetermined standby position. At this time, each head cap I
The IA~311) are attached to the print heads 2A~21J, and each print head 28~2F) is in a sealed state.
(1) See Figure 6. This completes the setting of the drying prevention device 30 to each of the print heads 28 to 2D.

The stepping motor 12 maintains the set state of the anti-drying device 30 against the return force of the tension spring 43 by the detent force of the built-in permanent magnet even if the stepping motor 12 is stopped from running. When the power supply to the printer is resumed, the carriage 3 is moved from the standby position ii#B to the print start position IffA under the control of the printer control circuit 54. When the pressure on the rotating arm 34 is released by this rightward movement of the carriage 3, the link bar 369, the rotating arm 34, and the cam plate 39 return to their original positions due to the action of the tension spring 43, and at this time, the cap locking plate 44 also returns. Return to the original position upwards.

According to this implementation sequence, when the supply 1E to the printer stops due to a power outage, power off, etc., the carriage immediately moves to the standby position and the drying prevention device 4 is installed on each print head.
Is the print head dry even if it is left for a long time? T-Reliably prevents overprinting, and there is no need to clean or inspect the print head when restarting printing.As the carriage moves out of the printing range as soon as the power supply to the printer is stopped, the print head can record HIE paper. There is no risk of contaminating the In addition, there is no need to worry about having to provide a special power source such as a motor or solenoid to operate the anti-drying device, and the entire structure of the device can be made simple and inexpensive. Since it is installed on the side of the carriage, it is possible to obtain high printing performance with a small and lightweight carriage, and it can also be easily installed in raw ink type wire dot printers where the clearance between the print head and the recording paper is narrow. can. Also, as mentioned above, the drying prevention device or platen 1
Since it is provided on the side of the head cap, it can be approached relatively easily and maintenance and inspection such as replacing and cleaning the elastic part inside the head cap can be easily performed. In addition, since the head cap moves horizontally toward the tip of the print head, it is possible to secure a sufficient distance between the print head and the head cap when the anti-drying device is not operating. With each stroke, the ink-resistant elastic part can be brought into close contact with the print head tip. Therefore, for example, if the air hole 24 for air replacement is provided on the front surface of the head as shown in FIG.
By simultaneously closing the eight wire guide holes 18A, 18A, . . . and the air hole 24, it is possible to ideally dry the print head. Further, since the elastic part in the head gap is treated to be water repellent, it is possible to prevent the head cap and the print head tip from being contaminated by ink. Furthermore, in a multicolor printer, each print head is provided with a head cap, so there is no risk of color mixing within the head cap.

In the above embodiment, the link bar and the cam plate are connected to the rotating arm that rotates during the standby operation of the carriage to move the cap locking plate up and down as shown in FIG. The present invention is not limited to this in any way.
s, <, As shown in FIG. 7, the ball interlocking mechanism 70, the eighth
The gap locking plate 110 may be moved by the rotating force of the rotating arm 100 using a piston-cylinder mechanism 80 such as hydraulic pressure shown in the figure, a push-pull wire 90 shown in FIG. 9, or the like. The standby movement #b of the carriage is performed based on the clock signal of the timer even when printing is interrupted for more than a predetermined time because it takes time to receive print data from the outside during the printing operation. It's okay. In addition, a standby power source may be supplied to a printer control circuit and a motor driver together with the power supply frame to the printer, and the standby movement of the carriage may be carried out under the control of the printer control circuit.

Also, the drying prevention device can only be set on the carriage when the power supply to the printer is stopped as described above.
Even when printing is interrupted for a predetermined period of time or more, the standby operation circuit or the printer control circuit may control the printer control circuit based on a clock signal from a timer, and when the standby operation circuit is used, the power source is a standby power supply or a standby operation circuit. You may use either the "e" or the AC turtle V field.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent drying of the character head when the power supply to the printer is stopped and the VC thread is removed at the cost of printing performance, and the configuration is simple. An inexpensive device for preventing drying of marking heads can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention ((a schematic diagram showing the printing section of such a wire-cut printer, and FIG.
3 is a schematic perspective view showing the print head shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the carrier 6 is an explanatory view of the operation of FIG. 7, and FIGS. 8 to 9 are schematic plan views showing modifications of the one-way drying stop device. 28-21)... Print head, 3... Carriage,
34.100... Rotating arm, 36... Link-139... Cam plate, 44,110... Cap locking plate, 57... Standby power supply section, 60... Standby operation section 70...Ball interlocking mechanism, 80...Piston cylinder machine i, 90...Fusible wire. Figure 7J Figure β Figure 9rgI Procedural amendment (method) % formula % 1. Indication of the case 1982 Patent Application No. 200655 2. Name of the invention Printer 3. Person making the amendment Relationship with the case Patent applicant Address: 7-2 Nipponkoami-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Name (
Name) (551) Pentel Co., Ltd. Representative Yukio Horie 4, Agent Address: 16410003) 361. -081
9 1-55-4 Higashi-Nakano, Nakano-ku, Higashisen-to 1. Correct it to ``Figure 7''. that's all

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) a carriage equipped with a print head; a carriage feeding mechanism that allows the carriage to move freely at a standby position 1 outside the printing 4j1); a carriage feeding motor that feeds the carriage; ? a cap that is movably fitted to face the print head when the carriage is in the position; a motion conversion mechanism that converts the standby movement movement of the carriage to move the cap toward the print head; A printer comprising: a standby operation unit connected to a backup power source to drive the carriage feeding motor and move the carriage on standby.