JPS60264254A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the replacement of a print wheel cassette without opening a top cover, by providing a small window for permitting the passage of the print wheel cassette and an opening and closing lid for covering said small window to the top cover. CONSTITUTION:When a carriage 6 is moved to the position directly under a small window 23a, the operation piece 17 for attaching and detaching a cassette is thrust in the recessed part between two projections 25, 28 provided to the under surface of a slide lid 23. When the small window 23a is opened, the operation piece 17 is pushed by the projection 25 and moved to the right and the upper part of the cassette is inclined so as to be spaced apart from a platen 5 to release the engagement of a selection motor 10 and a print wheel 8. In such a state that the slide lid 23 is fully opened, the upper end of a stop pole 29 is pushed by the cassette gripping part of a carrier front 16 and revolved while the engagement of the protruded part 29a with a latch pole projection piece 27b is released and the cassette can be easily taken out by holding the upper end thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer that performs printing using a print wheel set 1 that is detachable from a carriage, and more particularly, the cassette 1 can be easily attached and detached. This article is about a printer like this.

As illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 9, the conventional serial printer has a sabot 1 installed parallel to the platen 5, which is slidably supported by a shaft 14 and a guide rail 15. The gear ridge 6 is removably attached to the print wheel set 1 that accommodates the print 1 to the wheels (for example, daisy wheels) 8 as shown in FIG. The shaft of a selection motor 10, which is provided so as to be movable in the left and right directions, is connected to the print wheel 8 in the cassettes 1 to 7, and the selection motor drives the print wheel based on the print signal.
- Rotate the wheel 8 to bring the type 9 corresponding to the print signal to a predetermined printing position, impact the type 9 with the print 1-hammer 11 provided on the carriage 6, and transfer it onto the platen 5 via the ink ribbon 12. Wrapped paper 1
3, and each time a character is printed, the carriage 6 is moved parallel to the platen 5 by a spacing mechanism (not shown) to perform spacing and printing. There is.

As shown in Fig. 7, the entire mechanism of the printer is housed in a casing composed of a lower cover 1, an upper cover 2, and a top cover 3. In order to facilitate inspection, it is pivotally mounted so that it can be opened and closed about its back side, and a transparent cover 4 is provided except for the edges in order to see the printed state.

When replacing the print wheel cassette 7 depending on the type of type to be printed, open the top cover 3, pull out the cassette 7 from the carriage 6 upwards, and insert another cassette h, as shown in Figure 8. Installing.

In order to attach and detach the cassette 7 from the carriage 6, the cassette holding member that holds the cassettes 1-7 as shown in FIG.
4 as an axis, it is attached to the carriage frame 18 so as to be rotatable within a certain angular range, and an operating piece 17 is fixed to the upper end of the carriage frame 18 so as to protrude from the upper part of the carriage frame 18. A toggle spring 20 is engaged with a pin implanted in the upper part of the carrier front 16 and a pin implanted in the carriage frame 18, so that the operating piece 17 can be moved to the front side (right side in FIG. 9) or the back side (also left side). When the cassette 7 is pulled in the mounting position shown in FIG. The carrier front 16 is positioned and held so as to occupy the position shown in FIG. 11 during attachment and detachment.

When the operator moves the operating piece 17 to the right in Fig. 9, the carrier front t-1 is moved as shown in Fig. 11.
6 rotates around the shaft 14 together with the cassette 7, and the selection motor 10 connected to the carrier front 16 in a suspended state also moves to the right. Along with this, the print wheel 8 is disconnected from the wheel coupling clutch 21 provided at the shaft end of the selection motor IO, and is also released from the wheel pressing leaf spring (not shown) attached to the carriage frame. Platen 5
The upper parts of the pudding 1 to the wheel cassette 7, which are separated from the cassettes 1 to 7, can be lifted up with fingers and replaced freely.

Furthermore, when the top cover 3 is opened, a cover open switch (not shown) is activated to turn off the power and ensure safety during replacement. However, opening and closing the top cover of the printer every time you replace the print wheel is not only cumbersome, but also exposes the mechanism unnecessarily and can cause foreign objects to fall and get inside. It may cause a malfunction.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that does not require opening the knob cover when replacing a print wheel cassette and can be replaced with a simple configuration.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that the bottom cover is provided with a small window through which the print wheel cassette can pass, and an opening/closing lid that covers the small window.

With this configuration, pudding can be carried out with the top cover closed.
The wheel cassette can be attached and detached. Furthermore, in a particularly advantageous configuration of the invention, the opening/closing lid can engage with the cassette holding member, and by opening and closing the lid, the cassette holding member moves between the cassette 1 - detachable position and the cassette 1 - installed position. It is configured to occupy With this configuration, cassettes 1 to 1 can be attached and detached by opening and closing the lid, and the cassettes are pulled out from the small window in the lid, and
It can be inserted and removed.

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lt L! Replacement becomes easier by automatically allowing the 3 kaya 7 □ 1 note to protrude outward from the small window.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the transparent cover 22 of the top cover 3 of the printer has a carriage 6, for example.
A small window 23a having a width that allows the cassette 7 to pass through is provided at a position corresponding to the home position. The small window 23a is covered so as to be openable and closable by an openable/closeable lid configured as a slidable sliding lid 23 in the illustrated example. As shown in FIG. 2, there is a knob 2 on the second side of the slide lid 23.
4 is provided protrudingly, and an engaging portion is provided on the lower surface thereof,
In this example, the engaging portion includes two protrusions 25 arranged in the front and rear.
．． It consists of 28 pieces. Further, a mating engaging portion, in this example an operating piece 17, fixed to the upper part of the cassette holding member configured as the carrier front 16 can be inserted between both protrusions 25 and 28.

With cassette 1 and 7 attached to carriage 6, load cellar 1.
A spring, in this example, a leaf spring 26, which presses the lower end of -7 in one direction, is provided on the carrier front 1-16 as shown in FIG. Although omitted in FIGS. 2 and 3 to avoid complexity, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cassette gripping portion of the carrier front 16 includes a locking member, A latch pole 27 made of a leaf spring is attached, and as shown in FIG. 6(a), the cassette 7
is held in place, the latch port J
The tip of the claw 27a at the lower end of the l/27 is fitted into a notch 7a provided corresponding to the cassette 7, and the cassette h7 is locked in the mounting position against the force of the leaf spring 26. A protruding piece 27b protruding to the right in the figure is provided in the middle part of the latch pole 27, and the distal edge of the protruding piece 27b is biased in the counterclockwise H1 direction by a tension spring 30 about a point 31 on the carriage frame 18 as a fulcrum. 11-shaped stop pole 29 (Figures 2 to 5)
(not shown), that is, the protrusion 29a is engageable.

The other end of the stop pole 29 is opposed to the cassette gripping portion of the carrier front 16 with a slight gap therebetween. The stop pawl 29 serves as a link mechanism for actuating the 8-latch pawl 27 as will be described later, but a link mechanism other than the 1 heave pole may be used to achieve the same purpose.

The other configurations are the same as the conventional apparatus described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11. Therefore, the same members are shown with the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

The operation when replacing the printer 1 to the wheel force set 1 in the printer of this embodiment will be explained below.

When the carriage 6 is moved to a position directly below the small window 23a, for example, to the home position, the operation piece 17 for attaching and detaching the cassette 1
are two protrusions 25 protruding from the lower surface of the slide lid 23.
It plunges into the recess between 28.

Therefore, when the small window is opened by pulling the knob 24 on the top surface of the slide lid 23 from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. As a result, the upper part of the force cell 1 is tilted away from the platen 5 and the connection between the selection motor 10 and the print wheel 8 is released, as in the conventional apparatus described above.

As the slide lid 23 is opened, the latch ball 27
In the process of displacing the carrier front 16 that grips the cassette 7 which is locked in a predetermined position from the mounted state shown in FIG. 6(a) to the inclined state shown in FIG. 6(c), Carrier front 16 to the intermediate position shown in b)
When the latch ball 27 rotates around the shaft 14, the tip of the protrusion 27b of the latch ball 27 touches the protrusion 29a of the stop ball 29.
The latch ball 27 is elastically deformed into the state shown in FIG. As shown in Figure 3, its upper end is a small window 23a.
Jump higher. When the slide lid 23 is opened all at once, as shown in FIG. 6(c), one end of the stop ball 29 is pushed by the cassette gripping portion of the carrier front 16, and is moved clockwise against the force of the spring 30. Rotate and protrude 29
a disengages from the tip of the protruding piece 27b of the latch ball 27, and the tip of the claw 27a of the latch ball 27 comes into pressure contact with the front surface of the cassette 7 due to its own elasticity. However, since the cassette 7 is pushed up by the spring 26 in front of it, the claw 27a
does not engage with the notch 7a of the cassette 7, and can be easily taken out by holding the upper end of the cassette. However, if another print wheel cassette 7 is inserted through the small window 23a as shown in FIG. When they fit together and lock the cassette 7, and then close the slide lid 23, the operation piece 17 is pushed by the protrusion 28 and moves to the left in FIG. 5, and the cassette is in the state shown in FIG. 6(a). is positioned at a predetermined mounting position and becomes ready for printing.

In addition, by opening and closing the small window 23a, a cover open switch (not shown), which opens and closes when the top cover 22 is opened and closed, can be opened and closed. Unforeseen accidents are prevented.

11- Note that if the size of the small window is made large enough to allow a finger to fit inside, it will be possible to pull out the cassette with a finger even if the latch ball and stop ball are omitted.

If necessary, it is of course possible to open the knob cover 1 to operate the operation piece directly.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no need to open and close the top cover of the printer each time the print wheel cassette is replaced. Furthermore, according to a particularly preferred configuration of the present invention, the cassette is automatically removed and installed by opening and closing the small window, thereby facilitating the operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a top cover of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing a partial cross section of the carriage and top cover of the embodiment, with some parts omitted. Fig. 3 is a side view showing the state when the cassette is removed, Fig. 4 is a schematic front view of the cassette holding part of the carriage, and Fig. 12-5 is a side view showing the state when the cassette is installed. Figures 6 (a), (b), and (c) are side views explaining the function of the cassette locking member, Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the appearance of an example of a conventional device, and Figure 8 shows the top cover of the device. FIG. 9 is a side view of the carriage; FIG. 1O is a front view of the print wheel cassette attached to it;
FIG. 11 is a side view showing the state of the carriage when the cassette is attached and detached. 5...Platen 6...Carriage 7...Print wheel cassette 8...Print wheel 9...Print IO...Selector motor 13...Paper 22...Top cover 23... Lid 23a...small window

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) It has a carriage and a top cover that covers the carriage, a print wheel cassette is removably attached to the carriage, and a selection motor that is removably connected to the print wheel in the cassette selects type corresponding to a print signal. A printer that is brought to a printing position and prints on paper, characterized in that the top cover is provided with a small window through which the printer 1-wheel cassette can pass, and an opening/closing lid that covers the small window. (2) When installing or removing a print wheel cassette, the cassette holding member is operated in the direction away from the platen, and the connection between the print wheel and the selection motor is released, and the cassette holding member and opening/closing lid are connected to each other. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the cassette holding member is actuated in a direction away from the platen by opening the lid. (3) Provide an engaging part on the inner surface of the opening/closing lid that can engage with the mating engaging part of the cassette holding member, and set a position where the mating engaging part holds the cassette 1 in the attached state when the opening/closing lid is closed. occupy,
Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the mating engaging part is brought along with the engaging part of the lid so that the mating engaging part occupies a position where the cassette 1 can be attached and detached when the lid is opened. Printers listed in section. (4) The spring that presses and biases the cassette 1~wheel cassette in the installed state upwards and engages with the cassette 1 in the installed state, and holds the cassette 1- in the installed position against the force of the spring 1. The locking member is disengaged from the cassette 1~ when the lid is half open, and when the lid is fully open, the cassette is moved by the force of the spring described in 1. Claims 1 to 3 further include a link mechanism that operates the locking member so that the locking member returns to a position where it can lock the cassette when pushed against the cassette. A printer according to any one of the following.