JPS60180875A - Serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a serial printer which is simplified in construction by omitting one of guide rods for a carriage and in which the printing gap can be easily adjusted by controlling the position of a guide plate. CONSTITUTION:A guide shaft 5 is fitted between left and right sidewalls of a frame 1 of the printer in parallel with a platen 2, and a lower part of the front end of the carriage 6 is supported by the shaft 5. A roller 8 is rotatably fitted at a rear end part of the carriage 6. A laterally elongate guide plate 11 is fitted to the rear end of the frame 1. The guide plate 11 is provided with a slot 12 parallel with the guide shaft 5, and the roller 8 is fitted into the slot 12. Vertically elongate adjusting holes 13 are provided at both end parts of the guide plate 11, and screws 14 passed through the holes 13 are engaged to the frame 11, thereby fixing the guide plate 11 to the frame 11 so that the position of the guide plate 11 can be adjusted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a serial printer that facilitates assembly and print gap adjustment.

[Technical Background of the Invention and Problems thereof] In conventional serial printers, the carriage is generally supported by two guide shafts attached to a frame. This guide shaft is made of stainless steel or other materials with rust resistance in mind, or materials with poor rust resistance are treated with anti-corrosion treatments such as chemical plating, but both are expensive. .

Furthermore, the weight of the guide shaft is heavy, resulting in an increase in the weight of the entire printer.

On the other hand, in recent years, there has been a trend to manufacture printer frames using molded products, but ensuring an appropriate printing gap between the platen and the tip of the print head is important because of material flow during molding and variations in molding conditions. I was becoming more troubled than others.

[Object of the invention] The present invention was made based on the above circumstances, and
The purpose is to provide a printer that can reduce production cost and weight by simplifying the configuration, and also allows easy adjustment of the printing gap.

[Summary of the Invention] To achieve the above object, the serial printer of the present invention supports a carriage by one guide shaft attached to the printer frame, and a print head is attached to the carriage at a position near the guide shaft. Additionally, a guide plate is provided that supports the carriage so as to be movable in parallel with the platen at a position apart from the guide axis, and the guide plate is adjustable in position in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage. It is configured by being attached to the printer frame. Therefore, the carriage rotates as the position of the guide plate is adjusted, and the printing gap between the platen and the print head can be easily adjusted by this rotation.

[Embodiments of the invention] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a partially disassembled serial printer.
In the figure, 1 is a printer frame, and 2 is a cylindrical platen rotatably supported at both ends of a shaft by the left and right side walls of the printer frame 1. As shown in FIG. Gears 3 are attached to both ends of the shaft of the platen 2. Further, a motor 4 for paper feeding, that is, for driving the platen, is attached to the left side of the platen frame 1, and a motor gear (not shown) that meshes with the gear 3 is attached to the rotating shaft of this motor 4. . A guide shaft 5 is provided between the left and right side walls of the printer frame 1, and a guide shaft 5 is provided between the left and right side walls of the printer frame 1.
is mounted parallel to the axis of the This guide shaft 5 is the second
As shown in the figure, it supports the lower front end of the carriage 6, so that the carriage 6 is movable in the axial direction, that is, parallel to the platen axis, and rotatable about the guide shaft 5. At the front end of the upper surface of the carriage 6, a print head 7 is mounted on the platen 2 at a position near the guide shaft 5, that is, at a position substantially above the guide shaft 5.
It is installed so that it faces the outer circumferential surface of the Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a transfer roller 8 is rotatably attached to the rear end of the carriage 6 via a shaft 9 and a bearing 10.

On the other hand, a guide plate 11 that is long in the left-right direction is attached to the rear end of the printer frame 1. This guide plate 11 has a long hole 12 provided parallel to the guide shaft 5,
The transfer roller 8 is fitted into the elongated hole 12, thereby supporting the rear end portion of the carriage 6 so as to be movable in parallel with the platen 2. In addition, the guide plate 11
Adjustment holes 13 that are long in the vertical direction are provided at the left and right end portions. The guide plate 11 is fixed to adjustment screws 14 screwed into the frame 1 through the adjustment holes 13, and by loosening these screws 14, the position can be adjusted in the vertical direction. It is. Also, guide plate 1
1 as the carriage 6 moves upward or downward.
rotates around the guide shaft 5, and due to this rotation, the print head 7 on the platen 2 approaches the platen 2 when the guide plate 11 moves upward, and conversely the guide plate 11 moves downward. At this time, it becomes separated from the platen 2. In this way, as the guide plate 11 moves upward or downward, the print gap G between the outer peripheral surface of the platen 2 and the tip of the print head 7 is adjusted. Further, 15 in the figure is a paper pan for guiding the printing paper. This paper pan 15 is located below the platen 2 and is curved in an arc along the outer circumferential surface of the platen 2, and there is a space between the outer circumferential surface of the platen and the paper pan 15 that is large enough to allow printing paper to pass through. A gap is provided. Also paper bread 1
An opening 11.16 is provided in a part of the opening 1.
6, the pinch row 517 is introduced from the lower surface side of the paper pan 15 to the upper surface side, and is configured to press against the outer circumferential surface of the platen from below.

The pinch roller is 211 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.
They are supported by a support 18 as an I-group, and this support 18 is supported from below by a leaf spring 19. The leaf spring 19 has one end fixed to a part of the printer frame 1 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the other end supports the support 18 from below. Further, a square shaft 20 is disposed below the plate-spring 19, parallel to the platen 2, and rotatably supported by the printer frame 1 at both ends. When the surface of the square shaft 20 comes into contact with the leaf spring 19 as shown in FIG. 3, the pinch roller 17 is separated from the outer peripheral surface of the platen 2, but When the plate 190 is brought into contact with the pinch roller 19, the elasticity of the plate 190 causes the pinch roller 17 to
is in pressure contact with the outer peripheral surface of the platen 2.

On the other hand, a tooth *21 is fixed to one end of the square shaft 20 as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and a spur gear 23 provided at the lower end of the operating lever 22 is engaged with this gear 21. I'm letting you do it. The operating lever 22 is rotatably mounted on one side wall of the printer frame 1.
The upper end serves as an operation knob portion 24 that protrudes above the printer frame 1. The operating lever 22 and the square shaft 20 constitute a pinch roller drive mechanism 25.

Further, 26 in FIG. 1 is a motor for driving the carriage.

This motor 26 is attached to the left side of the platen frame 1, and the carriage 6 is driven by this motor 26 via a timing belt 27. In other words, motor 26
A timing pulley 28 is attached to each of the rotating shaft of the motor and the printer frame 1 (only the pulley on the motor rotating shaft side is shown), and the timing belt 27 is wrapped around these pulleys 28, and both ends are attached to the carriage 6. , a groove 29 having the same shape as the longitudinal cross-sectional shape of the timing belt 27 (
(see Fig. 2) from below.

Furthermore, an ink ribbon cassette 30 is detachably held on the right side of the platen frame 1.

Further, two ribbon guide bins 31 are provided on the left side 11!1aI of the platen frame 1, and the ink ribbon 32 led out from the ink ribbon cassette 30 is passed through the front surface of the print head 5 and wrapped around these ribbon guide bins 31. ing.

With the above configuration, the carriage 6 is supported by one guide shaft 5 attached to the printer frame 1,
The print head 7 is attached to the carriage 6 at a position near the guide shaft 5, and a guide plate 11 supports the carriage 6 so as to be movable in parallel with the platen 2 at a position away from the guide shaft 5. This guide plate 11 is attached to the printer frame 1 so as to be adjustable in position in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carriage 6. Therefore, the carriage 6 rotates in accordance with the position I of the guide plate 11, and the printing gap G between the platen 2 and the print head 7 can be easily adjusted by this rotation. becomes.

In addition, one end of the leaf spring is supported by the printer frame, and the other end of the leaf spring supports the pinch roller support so that the outer circumferential surface of the pinch roller faces the outer circumferential surface of the platen. The pinch roller is rotatably mounted in a retaining relationship with the leaf spring, and by rotating this pinch roller operating mechanism, the pinch roller is separated from the outer circumferential surface of the platen, or the elasticity of the leaf spring causes the pinch roller to move away from the outer circumferential surface of the platen. Since the pinch roller support structure is configured such that the plate spring is in pressure contact with the printer frame, the pinch roller support structure can be completed by simply supporting one end of the leaf spring with the printer frame and supporting the pinch roller support with the other end of the leaf spring. The configuration is simplified, the number of assembly steps is reduced, and assembly is facilitated. Therefore, it becomes easy to automate assembly, thereby reducing production costs.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above based on the embodiments, according to the serial printer of the present invention, the configuration can be simplified by omitting one of the guide shafts that were conventionally used.
This makes it possible to reduce production costs and weight, and to easily adjust the printing gap by adjusting the position of the guide plate, thereby achieving the desired effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a partially exploded perspective view of a serial printer, FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the positional relationship between the platen and the carriage, and FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the positional relationship between the platen and the carriage.
4 are schematic side views showing the positional relationship between the platen and the pinch roller. 1...Printer frame, 2...Platen, 5...
- Guide shaft, 6... Carriage, 7... Print head, 11... Guide plate, 12... Elongated hole, G... Print gap. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 2 2 0 Figure 4 14

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A platen attached to a printer frame, a guide shaft attached to the printer frame in parallel with the platen, a carriage supported by the guide shaft so as to be movable and rotatable in the axial direction, and a carriage attached to the guide shaft. a print head mounted on the carriage at a nearby position facing the outer circumferential surface of the platen; a guide plate attached to the printer frame such that the position thereof can be adjusted in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the platen, and the platen and the print head are moved by rotation of the carriage in accordance with a position adjustment button of the guide plate; A serial printer characterized in that it is possible to adjust the printing gap between the printers. (2) The guide plate has a long hole or long groove parallel to the guide shaft, and the carriage is engaged with the long hole or long groove.
Serial printer mentioned in section.