JPS61205165A - Strip form thermal paper charging feeder for thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the setting of labels easier by a method in which a guide frame of both-handle type, provided to the feeding path of labels, is rotationally opened by a lever and a link mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A lever 34 is counterclockwise turned against a spring 37, and the couplement between a pin 35 and a coupler 30 is released. Guide frames 14 and 15 are upwardly opened rotationally by the pulling force of the spring 27, and a feeding path 4 is opened. Under the condition, labels 2 are set on the feeding path 4 and advanced to between a thermal head 29 and a platen 33, and the guide frames 14 and 15 are turned by pushing them from above manually. Thereby, the guide frames 14 and 15 are closed against the pulling force of the spring 27. In this case, the pin 35 of the operating lever 34 comes into contact with the slope 30a of the coupler 30, whereby the coupling of the pin 35 and the coupler 30 is made possible. The closed setting of the guide frames 14 and 15 is completed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Application of the Invention) The present invention includes loading a strip of thermal paper into a thermal printer,
The present invention also relates to a feeding device, and particularly relates to a strip-shaped thermal paper loading/feeding device for a thermal printer that is capable of reducing the size of the entire thermal printer and improving printing accuracy, and furthermore, that can be used in various ways.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a band-shaped thermal paper such as a label or a tag has been loaded and set in this type of thermal printer, but this setting is extremely difficult due to the band-like shape. Moreover, in order to set the thermal paper, some devices have a shaft or frame for guiding the thermal paper cantilevered on the frame of the main body, and the thermal paper is loaded from the open side. Since the shaft or frame is cantilevered, it tends to tilt, and there is also the problem that the parallelism between the thermal head and the platen cannot be maintained, which adversely affects printing.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention was made in view of these problems, and it is possible to easily load and set thermal paper even if the members such as the shaft and frame for guiding the thermal paper are supported on both sides. An object of the present invention is to provide a strip-shaped thermal paper loading/feeding device for a thermal printer that can be used both in a mode in which the label is peeled off and in a mode in which it is not peeled off when a thermal label is used, and which enables miniaturization of the entire thermal printer. .

(Summary of the Invention) That is, the present invention enables a guide frame that covers a transfer path of a band-shaped thermal paper to be rotated and released around a rotating shaft installed over the transfer path, and furthermore, a thermal head is provided on this guide frame. This is a band-shaped thermal paper loading/feeding device for thermal printers that facilitates loading and can also be used as a dual-purpose type by rotating the printed thermal paper take-up shaft and platen using the same stepping motor. be.

(Example) Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the entire thermal printer 1 of the present invention, in which a thermal label 2 is supplied from the left side in the figure (label roll holding means is omitted from illustration). The thermal label 2 is introduced into the label transport path 4 through between the label width regulating pieces 3. The lower surface of the transfer passage 4 is made of a stainless steel plate material to facilitate label loading. In addition, in this transfer passage 4,
A label sensor 5 is provided.

Figure 2 simply shows the structure of the three label width regulating pieces. The width regulating piece 3 is formed by bending a plate material as shown in the figure, and is attached to a shaft suspended from the left and right frames 6a and 6b of the printer main body. Holes 8 and 9 are formed in 7 so that it can be moved left and right. Further, this width regulating piece 3 has a moderating member made of a leaf spring material 10, and its position in the left and right direction is regulated by a sawtooth position regulating member 11 provided on the main body, and can be set to an arbitrary label width. can.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, a pair of guide frames 14 and 15 are rotatably mounted on a vehicle 12, 13 which is suspended on both sides of the frames 6a and 6b above the transfer path 4. It is provided. Note that the shaft 12.13 and the guide frame 14.15 can each rotate integrally. axis 1
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, opening/closing links 16 and 17 are fixedly attached to each of the links 16 and 13, respectively, and elongated holes 1B and 19 are formed in each of the links 16 and 17.

A vertically movable link 21 having a pin 20 loosely fitted into a hole 18.19 of this opening/closing link 18.17 is connected to a rotating link 22 below. This connecting part is
@ Long hole 23 of moving link 22 and bottle 2 of vertical moving link 21
It consists of 4. Note that the reference numeral 22a indicates a rotation axis of the rotation link 22.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, elongated holes 25 and 26 are formed in the vertical link 21 and the frame 6a, respectively, the shaft 6C of the frame 6a is loosely fitted into the elongated hole 25, and the elongated hole 26 is fitted with a pin. 20 is loosely fitted to stabilize the vertical movement of the vertical movement link 21.

Note that the rotation link 22 is urged downward in FIG. 3 by a tension spring 27, and therefore, the guide frame 14, 15 is always held as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. This means that it is biased to rotate and open in two parts.

Returning to FIG. 1, in front of the guide frame 14.

A label detection sensor 28, a thermal head 29, and a pair of closing engaging portions 30 on the left and right sides of the guide frame 13.14 are provided. In addition, on the surface of each guide frame 14.15 facing the transfer path 4, a substantially U-shaped guide surface 31.32 is formed of a metal plate material to facilitate loading of the label 2. .

The thermal head 29 is provided so as to come into contact with the platen 33 under a predetermined pressure, and the thermal label 2 that has passed through the transfer path 4 is held and printed by the thermal head 29 and the platen 33, and is sent forward. .

The engaging portion 30 engages with a bin 35 provided on the opening/closing lever 34 to set the guide frames 14 and 15 in the closed position. This opening/closing lever 34 is connected to the shaft 3
6, and is always urged to rotate clockwise in FIG. 1 by a spring 37.

A turning member 38 for turning is provided in front of the platen 33, and a peeling auxiliary bin 39 is further provided. this! The four-separation auxiliary pin 39 is provided at the top of an opening/closing frame 41 that is pivotally connected to a fixed shaft 40 provided on the printer body, and a guide roller 42 is provided below the opening/closing frame 41 . This opening/closing frame 41 has a winding shaft 4 for winding a thermal label mount S.
3, this winding shaft 43 has a gear 44, and a gear 48 with a pulley is connected via a round belt 47 to a stepping motor 46 that drives the platen 33 via a timing belt 45. It is said that it is possible to mesh with. Therefore, the platen 33 and the take-up shaft 43 are driven and rotated simultaneously by the stepping motor 46.

In addition, to briefly explain the structure of the label 2 in FIG. 6, the label 2 has unit label pieces temporarily attached to a strip-shaped mount S with a release agent, and there is a space between each label piece. A trimming section T is provided. This trimming portion T is detected by the sensor 5 and the transfer is controlled.

Next, the effect will be explained. First, to explain loading of the thermal label 2, the lever 34 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 against the biasing force of the spring 37, and the engagement between the bottle 35 and the engaging portion 30 is released. When this engagement is released, the guide frames 14 and 15 are rotated upward by the tensile force of the spring 27 (FIG. 3), and the transfer passage 4 is opened. That is, the rotation link 22 rotates clockwise in FIG.
The links 16, 17 engaged in will rotate clockwise and counterclockwise, respectively. Therefore, axis 12
．． The guide frames 14 and 15 fixed to the guide frame 13 are also rotated clockwise and counterclockwise, so that the transfer passage 4 is largely opened.

The label 2 is set on the transfer path 4 with the guide frame 4.15 opened. Then, the label 2 is advanced to between the thermal head 29 and the platen 33. At this point, the operator can manually push the guide frame 14 or 15 from its upper surface to close and rotate the respective guide frame 14 or 15 against the tensile force of the spring 27.
It is in a closed state as shown in the figure. At this time, the operating lever 34
The bin 35 comes into contact along the inclined surface 30a of the engaging portion 30, and the engagement between the bin 35 and the engaging member 30 becomes possible, and the closed set of the guide frames 14 and 15 is completed.

In addition, here, the label width regulating piece 3 is adjusted according to the label width.
It is assumed that it is moved left and right in Figure 2. Even if the upper part 3a of the label width regulating piece 3 is operated, the holes 8 and 9
is somewhat inclined with respect to the shaft 7, making it impossible or difficult to move the width regulating piece 3, making it difficult to move it easily. However, by operating the lower part 3b of the one-width regulating piece 3, the inclinations of the holes 8 and 9 are slight, and the width regulating piece 3 can be easily moved from side to side.

Here, in order to eject the label 2 as it is out of the printer l without peeling off the label piece from the mount S, the label 2 is ejected passing above the turning member 38. That is, when predetermined information is input using a keyboard (not shown) and a start switch (not shown) is turned on, the stepping motor 46 is driven and rotated, and the thermal head 29 prints a thermal label according to a print signal corresponding to the print pattern. An arbitrary bar code or the like is printed P on the top.

Then, the label 2 which is sandwiched and transferred between the thermal head 29 and the platen 33 passes above the turning member 38 and is directly discharged from the printer 1. Therefore, after printing a desired number of label pieces, cut them, peel off the backing sheet S, and paste the label pieces on a desired item (not shown) to use for data or system management. I can do it.

Next, a case will be described in which the label pieces are peeled off from the mount S one by one for use. First, only the backing paper S of the label 2 discharged from the platen 33 and the thermal head 29 portion is passed between the turning member 38 and the peeling auxiliary pin 39 along the guide roller 42 [and set on the winding shaft 43]. At this time, the opening/closing frame 41 can be opened counterclockwise in FIG. 1 around the fixed shaft 40 to facilitate the setting. When the opening/closing frame 41 is closed, the gear 44 and the gear 48 can mesh with each other. If printing is started in this state, only the backing paper S will be turned by the turning member 38, so the label piece will be removed from the backing paper S.
The peeling auxiliary pin 39 and the detection sensor 28
Excreted into parts.

Here, if this printed label piece is removed with a finger or the like, the sensor 28 detects this, prints on the next label piece, and peels off and discharges this label piece.

In the above embodiment, the guide frame is divided into two parts and rotated to open, but it is also possible to use a single guide frame, and the link mechanism can be configured accordingly.

(Effects) As explained above, according to the present invention, the guide frame provided in the label transport path is supported on both sides and can be rotated and opened by a lever and a link mechanism.
It is very easy to load labels, and the parallelism of the thermal head and platen can be maintained sufficiently. Furthermore, since the platen and the take-up shaft are driven by the same stepping motor, the printer can be used in either a label peeling type or a label non-peeling type, increasing the usage of the printer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory longitudinal cross-sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the main part of the label regulating piece 3, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the link mechanism of the guide frame 14, 15. Part cutaway front explanatory diagram,
4 is a top view of the main parts of the printer, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the link mechanism, and FIG. 6 is a clear view of the label. In the figure 1-・Thermal printer No. 2・Thermal label 3・e-label width regulation piece 3a・・
Upper part 3b...Lower part 4, Transfer passage
5...Sensor 6a, 6b...Frame 6c, 3rd axis 7 fist, axis
8.9... Hole lO... Leaf spring material 11-, position regulating member 12.1
3...Axis 14.15...Guide frame 16.17...
Opening/closing link 18.19.25.26...Long hole 20.24--Pin 21--Vertical movement link 22...
Rotating link 22a... Rotating shaft 23... Long hole
27...Tension spring 28-・Detection sensor 2911・
Thermal head 30 - Engagement part for closing 30a... Inclined surface 31.32 Fist/guide surface 33... Platen 34... Lever 35 for opening/closing.
・Bottle 36・・Shaft 37・・Spring 38・・Turning member 39・Fist・Peeling auxiliary pin 40・Fog・Fixed shaft 41・・Opening/closing frame 42
・・Guide roller 43・・Take-up shaft 44.48・
・Gear 45 ・・Timing belt 46 ・・Stepping motor 47 ・Round belt

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A transfer path for the band-shaped thermal paper, a guide frame that covers the transfer path and can be rotated and opened around a rotating shaft installed on the transfer path, and a guide frame provided on the guide frame for printing on the thermal paper. a link mechanism that opens and closes the guide frame by operating a lever, a platen provided in front of the transfer path and facing the thermal head, a turning member provided in front of the platen, and a winding member for thermal paper. A strip-shaped thermal paper loading/feeding device for a thermal printer, which has a take-up shaft and a stepping motor that rotationally drives a platen and a take-up shaft. (2) The band-shaped thermal paper loading for a thermal printer according to item 1, wherein the band-shaped thermal paper comprises a mount and a pressure-sensitive thermal label temporarily attached on the mount, and the winding shaft winds up the mount. Feeding device.