JPS61172763A - Sheet material feed mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow the title mechanism to correspond to the change in the width of a sheet material by improving accuracy and operability at the time of the positional determination of holders, by integrally providing levers for fixing holders to a guide shaft to at least one of the above-mentioned holders. CONSTITUTION:In altering a paper width, the knob part 9b of a left side lock lever 9 is pushed down to disengage the projection 9a of said lever 9 from the groove of a guide shaft 5. Next, a holder 3 is slid through the lock lever 9 and the position of the projection 9a is matched with the position of the groove 5b or 5c corresponding to the width of newly used paper and the knob part 9b is released to fix a left side tractor to a new position. Subsequently, the left end part of the new paper is set to the left side tractor and, thereafter, the position of a right side tractor is matched to the position where the point of a pin wheel 1 is engaged with the right end side feed holes of the paper and set. That is, the right side tractor is located by the paper. Therefore, the positional determination can be mechanically and simply performed with good accuracy. The right side tractor corresponds to the change in the width of paper in a freely slidable manner.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding mechanism, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet material feeding mechanism, and more specifically, a sheet material in which feeding holes are formed at predetermined intervals, and bottles that fit into the holes are planted on the outer periphery of the sheet material. The invention relates to a sheet material feeding mechanism that feeds the sheet material via a pin wheel provided therein.

[Prior Art] As a sheet material feeding mechanism of this type, a paper feeding mechanism is known that is used in a printer and feeds fan-hold paper, which is recording paper having the above-mentioned feeding holes. A tractor comprising the pin wheel of this paper feeding mechanism has conventionally been constructed as shown in FIG.

In the same figure, what is indicated by the symbol l is a pinwheel,
On its outer periphery, bins 1a that fit into holes for feeding fan hold paper (not shown) are planted at predetermined intervals, and slide on a prismatic transmission shaft 2 that transmits rotational driving force to the pin wheel l. It is set up freely.

Further, the reference numeral 3 denotes a holder for holding the pinwheel, and is provided with a paper presser 4 that can be opened and closed to press the fan-hold paper against the pinwheel l via a spring 8, and is installed parallel to the transmission shaft 2. It is slidably provided on the guide shaft 5.

A post 3a is protruded from the left side surface of the holder 3 adjacent to the guide shaft 5, and this post 3a is used as a lock lever to lock the position of the holder 3 on the guide shaft 5.
6 is rotatably supported via a screw 7 to prevent removal.

The lock lever 6 has an elastic clamp part 6a formed in the shape of a tongue that is curved in a substantially arc shape and continuous with a cylindrical bearing part at the base end. The convex portion 6b is formed at 1%. Further, a groove 6C is formed between the clamp portion 6a and a long operation portion 6d continuous with the bearing portion.

When the lock lever 6 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. , in the unlocked state with a sliding pattern. From this state, the lock lever 6 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, the convex portion 6b is brought into contact with the guide shaft 5, and the convex portion 6b is further bent to ride over the guide shaft 5.

The lock lever 6 clamps the guide shaft 5 into the groove 6C by the elastic force of the clamp portion 6a, and presses the guide shaft 5 thereto. As a result, the position of the holder 3 on the guide shaft 5 is fixed, and the position of the pin wheel l on the transmission shaft 2 is determined.

The above-mentioned tractors are installed at both left and right ends of the feed path, and both ends of fan hold paper (not shown) are set on the outer periphery of the pinwheel 1 via the paper presser 4, and the bin la is fitted into the feed hole. One paper is fed by rotating the pin wheel 1.

By the way, when changing the paper width of the fan-hold paper with the above conventional configuration, first release the fixation of the left and right tractors by operating the lock lever 6 mentioned above, and then move the left tractor toward the recording surface to the paper width. After positioning it according to a scale (not shown), it is fixed by operating the lock lever 6. After setting the left end of the fan hold paper on the left tractor, the right tractor is fixed in alignment with the feeding hole on the right end of the fan hold paper.

In this way, in the conventional configuration, when changing the paper width, etc., the tractor must be positioned visually using a scale, etc., which is not accurate, and is troublesome and time-consuming.
Mistakes can easily occur, and since the left and right tractors are fixed, if the paper width changes due to humidity, etc., the position of the right tractor must be readjusted accordingly, otherwise the feed hole will be deformed and the tractor position will change. There is a problem in that misalignment can cause holes to tear and paper jams to occur.

Furthermore, the tractor has a large number of parts, which has the disadvantage of increasing parts and assembly costs.

[Objective] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is not limited to the above-mentioned paper feeding mechanism, but also relates to a sheet material feeding mechanism that similarly feeds a sheet material having feeding holes via a pin wheel. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material feeding mechanism that has good operability, has a simple structure, can be manufactured at low cost, and has high reliability.

[Structure of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a plurality of holders that hold each of a plurality of pin wheels for feeding sheet materials and are slidably provided on a guide shaft. In the sheet material feeding mechanism, a configuration is adopted in which a lever is provided integrally with at least one of the holders, which elastically presses against the guide shaft and fixes the holder on the guide shaft.

[Example] Hereinafter, details of an example of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures. Here, the paper feed mechanism for feeding the fan-hold paper of the printer mentioned above is used as an example, and in each figure from Fig. 2 onwards, the same parts as in Fig. 1 of the conventional example are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be explained below. is omitted.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 2 shows the left and right sides of the paper feed mechanism according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the left tractor among the tractors.

In this tractor, the holder 3 is integrally formed from a material having appropriate elasticity such as plastic, and a lock lever for fixing the holder 3 is located near the lower side of the guide shaft 5 on the outer surface on the left side in the figure. -9 is integrally provided with the holder 3 in a protruding manner.

The lock lever 9 is approximately "one" when viewed from the direction of arrow C in Figure 2.
It is bent into a square shape, and has a triangular prism-shaped projection 9a protruding from the middle part of its upper surface, and is configured to elastically press against the guide shaft 5 at this projection 9a. Further, the tip portion is a knob portion 9b with a concave and convex strip formed on the upper surface so that the lever 9 can be easily placed with a finger when operating it.

On the other hand, a groove 5a having a triangular cross section corresponding to the protrusion 9a is provided at a predetermined position on the outer circumference of the guide shaft 5 that guides the holder 3.
~5C are formed, and the holder 3 is fixed and positioned on the guide shaft 5 by engaging the protrusion 9a of the lock lever 9 with the grooves 5a to 5c (groove 5a in FIG. 2). It is configured as follows.

Here, it is assumed that fan-hold papers of three different paper widths are used, and the positions of the grooves 5a to 5c correspond to the fixing positions of the tractor according to the respective paper widths.

On the other hand, in the tractor on the right side of this embodiment, whose illustration is omitted, the holder is not provided with a loci lever, and is provided so as to be freely slidable at all times without being fixed.

When changing the paper width in the above configuration, first push down the knob 9b of the lock lever 9 of the left tractor and align the groove between the protrusion 9a and the guide shaft 5 (5a in Fig. 2).
Remove the lock from the holder 3 via the lock lever 9.
, align the protrusion 9a with the groove 5b or 5C depending on the paper width of the new fan-hold paper to be used, and release the knob 9b to release the lock lever 9.
The elastic force causes the protrusion 9a to engage with the groove 5b or 5C, thereby fixing the left tractor in the new position.

Note that when moving to an adjacent groove, there is no need to keep pressing the lock lever after disengaging from the groove, just slide it sideways, and when the groove and protrusion 9a are aligned, the lock lever 9 The projections 9a automatically engage with each other due to the elastic force.

Next, after performing the above positioning and setting the left end of the new fan hold paper on the fixed left tractor, move the right tractor to the position where the pin wheel bin fits into the feeding hole on the right end of the fan hold paper. Align the position and set the right end of the fan hold paper on the right tractor. That is, the right tractor is positioned by the fan hold paper.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the positioning of the tractor can be performed mechanically with high precision and extremely easily without visual alignment. Further, since the right tractor is always slidable, if the paper width changes due to humidity or the like as described above, the right tractor can move in response to the change, thereby preventing the occurrence of paper jams. Further, since the lock lever 9 is integrally provided with the holder 3 of one tractor, and the lock lever is not provided with the holder of the other tractor, the number of parts is significantly reduced compared to the conventional one.

In addition, in the above-mentioned structure, the number of grooves 5a to 5C is of course not limited to three, but is, for example, 80 digits (pyropower mode).
For this printer, it is practically sufficient to have the grooves at three locations corresponding to three types of paper widths: 10 inches, 9.5 inches, and 9 inches.

Further, it would be more convenient if a display indicating the paper width corresponding to each groove is provided near each groove.

Further, the configuration of the right tractor may be the same as that of the left tractor in FIG. 2, and a groove similar to that described above may be formed in the right end of the guide shaft 5 to perform positioning in the same manner.

[Second Embodiment] FIG. 3 illustrates a second embodiment of the present invention in which the configuration of the right tractor is modified in the configuration of the first embodiment described above, and the guide shaft 5 and the lock levers of the left and right tractors are -9,
It is an explanatory view showing engagement and fitting with IO.

That is, in this embodiment, a lock lever 10 similar to the lock lever 9 described above is also provided on the right tractor holder (not shown), and a protrusion 10a formed on the upper surface of this lock lever 1O is connected to the guide shaft 5. By fitting with a predetermined amount of play into the grooves 5d to 5f, which are wider than the protrusion 10a formed on the right end side, the right tractor is positioned within the range of the positional play.

However, in this case, in order to allow the right tractor to slide freely within the above range, a lock lever is attached to the holder of the right tractor so that the tip of the protrusion 10a of the lock lever 10 does not come into pressure contact with the bottom surfaces of 195d to 5f. A stopper is provided to restrict 1O.

According to the configuration of this embodiment, the position of the right tractor is regulated by the grooves 5d to 5f after positioning, so there is no fear that the right tractor will shift even if the fan hold paper runs out.

The above-described first embodiment has the advantage that the fan-hold paper can be easily reset. Further, because of the predetermined amount of backlash mentioned above, it is possible to cope with the change in paper width mentioned above.

[Third Embodiment] FIG. 4 illustrates a third embodiment of the present invention in which the configuration of the left tractor in the configuration of the first embodiment described above is modified.

As shown in the figure, in this case, instead of the protrusion 9a of the first embodiment, a high friction coefficient member made of rubber or the like is fixed to the middle part of the upper surface of the lock lever 9. 11 is brought into pressure contact with the guide shaft 5, which has no groove, by the elastic force of the lock lever 9, thereby fixing the tractor.

In this embodiment, the tractor can be positioned and fixed at any position on the guide shaft 5, so the first. Compared to the second embodiment, there is an advantage that the paper width is not limited and a wider variety of fan-hold papers can be used.

In addition, the lock lever of the pinwheel holder as shown above
It goes without saying that the configuration of the present invention related to this is not limited to the above-mentioned paper feeding mechanism, but can be widely applied to other sheet material feeding mechanisms that use pin wheels to feed sheet materials having holes for feeding.

[Effect] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a sheet having a plurality of holders each holding a plurality of pin wheels for feeding sheet material and slidably provided on a guide shaft is provided. In the material feeding mechanism, a lever that elastically presses against the guide shaft and fixes the holder on the guide shaft is provided integrally with at least one of the holders, so that positioning of the holder is easy. It is possible to provide an excellent sheet material feeding mechanism that has good accuracy and operability, can respond to changes in the width of sheet materials, is highly reliable, has a simple structure, and can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a tractor with a conventional paper feed mechanism, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a tractor according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a lock lever and guide shaft of a holder of a tractor according to a second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a tractor according to a third embodiment. 1... Pin wheel 2... Transmission shaft 3... Holder 4... Paper presser 5... Guide shaft
5a to 5e...Groove 9, lO...Lock lever 9a, loa...Protrusion 11...High friction coefficient member

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A sheet material feeding mechanism that holds each of a plurality of pin wheels for feeding sheet material and has a plurality of holders slidably provided on a guide shaft, wherein the guide shaft has an elastic member. A sheet material feeding mechanism characterized in that a lever is provided integrally with at least one of the holders, the lever being in pressure contact with the holder and fixing the holder on the guide shaft. 2) A protrusion is provided on the pressure contact portion of the lever with respect to the guide shaft, and a groove is provided on the guide shaft to engage with the protrusion, and the holder is fixed on the guide shaft by engagement of the protrusion and the groove. A sheet material feeding mechanism according to claim 1. 3) A high friction coefficient member is provided in the pressure contact portion of the lever, and the holder is fixed on the guide shaft by the pressure contact of the member against the guide shaft. Sheet material feeding mechanism.