JPS6027587A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a jamming and contamination of a form with an ink from occurring, by a method wherein a printing head is normally retracted to a stand- by position, and can be moved to a position proximate to a platen only at the time of printing, and an ink ribbon is retracted in conjunction with the head. CONSTITUTION:When the form 4 fed into a gap (g) between the platen 1 and the tip of the printing head 2, a command for causing the head 2 to approach the platen 1 is outputted from a controller of an optical character reader, thereby exciting a solenoid 13, whereby the head 2 is moved to a position proximate to the platen 1, and printing is conducted. Concurrently with the printing action, the ink ribbon 3 is taken up into a cartridge 8 by a cassette driver 9, and a fresh ink ribbon part passes by the tip face of the head 2. When printing is completed, the solenoid 13 is deenergized, so that the head 2 is returned to its initial position by the function of a return spring 15, and the head 2 stands by there. In this case, the gap (g) is enlarged. On the other hand, the ink ribbon 3 is taken up, and a predetermined tension is exerted thereon, so that it does not sag. Accordingly, the form 4 is prevented from making contact with the ink ribbon 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an improvement in a printing device, such as a numbering printing device for an optical character reader (OCR).

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

OCR numbering printing devices generally use a dot matrix printing head.

Such a printing device includes a platen 10 as shown in FIG.
The tip of the print head 2 is placed facing the curved surface, and the ink ribbon 3 is placed on the tip of the print head 2, and a wire dot bin (not shown) protruding from the tip of the print head 2 is used to pass the ink ribbon 3 through. impact print on form 4. 5 indicates a form guide.

In conventional printing devices, the relative distance (hereinafter referred to as gap) g between the platen 1 and the print head 2 is fixed.

In the case of a dot matrix print head, the gap g
The narrower the width, the better the print quality, but if it is too narrow, it becomes difficult for the form 4 to pass through, resulting in a jam.

In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 2, the platen 1 is made movable so that when the form 4 is fed into the gap g, the platen 1 is moved to the front of the print head 2. There is something I did. However, in this case, since the position of the ink ribbon 3 does not change, the fed form 4 comes into contact with the ink ribbon 3 and rubs it, causing the form 4 to become smeared with ink, or as the form 4 moves, the ink may There is a problem in that the ribbon 3 is pulled out, resulting in a jam.

Furthermore, in order to solve this problem, there is one in which a protector 6 is provided between the ink ribbon 3 and the form 4, as shown in FIG. However, in this case, the thickness of the protector 6 itself makes the passage gap g of the form 4 even narrower, so this is not a fundamental solution.Also, the existence of the protector 6 poses an obstacle when replacing the ink ribbon. There are also the above problems.In particular, this is a problem because the ink ribbon must be replaced by the user.

[Object of the Invention] Therefore, the present invention prevents jamming by ensuring a sufficient gap between the platen and the ink ribbon disposed at the tip of the print head, and also prevents the ink ribbon from staining the form. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing device equipped with a mechanism that allows easy replacement of ink ribbons.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, a printing device according to the present invention includes:
It is characterized in that the print head is movable, and in conjunction with the movement of the print head, the ink ribbon also moves toward and away from the platen.

That is, in the printing device according to the present invention, the tip of the print head faces the circumferential surface of the platen, an ink ribbon is arranged on the tip surface of the print head, and the print paper passes between the grater and the ink ribbon. A moving drive device that moves the print head close to the platen from a predetermined standby position when the print paper is fed into the gap between the platen and the ink ribbon at the tip of the print head, and the print head an ink ribbon feeding device that sequentially feeds the ink ribbon under a predetermined tension during movement of the ink ribbon and during printing operations;

It is composed of:

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the printing device according to the present invention will be described below. First, main parts of the embodiment of the printing device according to the present invention are schematically shown in FIG. 6. In the following embodiments, the same parts as in FIGS. g1 to 3 are given the same reference numerals and explained.

As can be seen from FIG. 4, the feature of the present invention is that the platen 1
is fixed, the print head 2 is moved toward and away from the surface of the platen 1, and as the print head 2 moves, the ink ribbon 3 is moved toward and away from the surface of the platen 1.

Please briefly describe the specific configuration for performing this operation. FIG. 5 shows the details in a side view. In FIG. 5, the printing device is broadly divided into a print head 2 and its moving drive device 7.

It consists of an ink ribbon cassette 8 and a cassette drive device 9 that drives the ink ribbon cassette 8.

The print head 2 is mounted on a support frame 1 as shown in FIG.
0 and the tip of the print head 2 is attached to the platen 1.
are faced with the situation of A slider 11 is attached to the lower part of the support frame 10, and this slider 11 is slidably attached to a shaft 40 provided on a helad base 12, and its sliding direction is in the direction facing the platen 1. An electromagnetic solenoid 13 is provided at the other end of the head base 12, and is connected to the slider 11 at the tip of a cylinder arm 14 of the electromagnetic solenoid 13. Further, the support frame 10 is urged in a direction opposite to the platen by a return spring 15. Therefore, electromagnetic solenoid 1
3 is excited, the slider 1f is drawn toward the platen via the cylinder arm 14, and as a result, the print head 2 is moved closer to the platen 1. When demagnetized, the return spring 15 pulls it back to the original standby position.

The above is the configuration of the mobile drive device 7.

The ink ribbon cassette 8 has one end tapered,
The ink ribbon 3 is sequentially fed out from its tip.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, an opening 18 is provided at the lower end of the L-shaped base 16. As shown in FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, the opening 18 has a thickness that allows the tip of the print head 2 to protrude in the assembled state.On both sides of the opening 18, conversion shafts 19 for changing the feeding direction of the ink ribbon 3 are provided. It is provided. Further, along the feeding path of the ink ribbon 3, guide rollers are provided with ribs, 21 , 22 , 23 .
, 24 , 25 , and stations are provided. That is, for example, the shaft 19 rotates around the shaft 21 via a guide roller.
As shown in FIG. 5, the ink ribbon 3 passes through the front end of the print head 2, passes through the rope 25, is redirected by the shaft 19, and then passes through the roller 27 to the ink ribbon cartridge. Return to set 8. An ink supply roller 4 for impregnating the ink ribbon 3 with ink is in pressure contact with the guide roller 21, and ink is supplied when the ribbon passes between the supply roller 4 and the guide roller 21. The ink ribbon cassette 8 is removably attached to the L-shaped base 16 by the holding member 4.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, the cassette drive device 9 includes an L-shaped base, a drive motor 31 attached to this, and a drive attached to a rotating shaft 32 of this drive motor 31. The belt 3 is attached to the drive pulley 32 and the drive pulley 32.
It consists of Goo I734 connected by 3.

The drive motor 31 is attached to one end of the L-shaped base I, and is configured to transmit rotation 7 from the drive googly 32 to a boot IJ 34 pivoted diagonally upward on the opposite side.

The rotary shaft protrudes from the inner surface of the L-shaped base (the mounting surface of the ink ribbon cassette 8), and a connecting shaft 35 is provided at its tip. This connecting shaft passes through a through hole 36 (Fig. M7) of the L-shaped base 16 in which the ink ribbon cassette 8 is set, and engages with an inner roller (not shown) in the cassette 8.

Therefore, by rotating this connecting shaft 35, the ink ribbon 3 is sent along the above-mentioned route. A guide pin 37 for positioning is missing from the projecting piece 39 of the L-shaped base 30, and an engagement hole (not shown) provided in the L-shaped base 1G is fitted into the guide pin 37, and the L-shaped base 16 and (capital) can be assembled correctly. (See FIG. 5) Now, FIG. 5 shows a state in which the above devices are combined. The operation will be explained with reference to FIG. now,
It is assumed that the print head 2 is in the standby position and a form is fed into the gear g between the platen 1 and the tip of the print head 2. Then, a print head approach command is issued from the OCR control device (not shown), and the '#L magnetic solenoid 13 is magnetized. As a result, the print head 2 moves closer to the platen l, the gap g is narrowed, and a first impact is performed.

Thereafter, the ink ribbon 3 is wound up into the cartridge 8 by the cassette drive device 9 in conjunction with the printing operation, and a new ink ribbon portion passes through the front end surface of the print head 2.

Next, when printing is completed, the electromagnetic solenoid 13 is demagnetized, and the print head 2 is returned to its original position by the action of the return spring 15 and stands by. Therefore, the gap g between the platen l and the front end surface of the print head 2 becomes large. On the other hand, as the print head 2 moves backward, the ink ribbon 3 is wound up by the cassette driving device f9, so that a predetermined tension is applied to the ink ribbon 3 so that it does not slacken. Therefore, a sufficient gap is ensured between the ink ribbon 3 and the platen 1, so that the form 5 can be prevented from coming into contact with the ink ribbon 3.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the print head is normally retracted to the standby position and approaches the platen only when printing.
By making the ink ribbon movable in the same direction as the print head, and by moving the ink ribbon backward in conjunction with the print head, it is possible to secure a sufficient gap between the platen and the ink ribbon or the print head, which prevents the occurrence of soybean and the ink ribbon. can prevent ink stains.

Furthermore, since a sufficient gap can be secured as described above, the ink ribbon can be easily replaced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first example of a conventional printing device, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a second example of a conventional printing device, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a third example of a conventional printing device. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the printing device of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a side view showing the configuration of the printing device of the invention, and FIG. 6 is a print head and its driving device. Figure 47 is a front view showing the configuration of the ink ribbon cassette. Figure 8 is a side view thereof. Figure 9 is a front view showing the configuration of the cassette drive device.
The figure is a side view thereof. l...Platen 2...Print head 3...Ink ribbon 4...Form 7...Movement drive device 8...Ink ribbon cassette 9...Cassette drive device. Applicant's agent Kiyoshi Inomata

Claims (1)

[Claims] The tip of a print head faces the circumferential surface of a platen, an ink ribbon is arranged on the tip surface of the print head, and printing is performed on print paper that passes between the platen and the ink ribbon. In the apparatus, a movement drive device moves the print head close to the platen from a predetermined standby position when the print paper is fed into a gap between the platen and the ink ribbon at the tip of the print head, and when the print head is moved; A printing device comprising: an ink ribbon feeding device that sequentially feeds an ink ribbon under a predetermined tension during a printing operation;