JPS6172576A - Ink ribbon drive control system for shuttle type line printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit a fixed density of printing to be performed all the time by moving an ink ribbon set between a printing head and a printing paper when the left and right side reciprocal movements of the head are turned to each other. CONSTITUTION:In a shuttle type wire-dot line printer to make printing while reciprocally moving a printing head 1 with many printing pins and hammers arranged in the direction B-B' of crossing the feeding direction A of a printing paper 3, the ink ribbon 4 set between the head 1 and the paper 3 is moved only during the period of deceleration-stoppage-acceleration while the head 1 is moved from one-way (B or B') movement to the other way (B' or B) movement.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to improvements in shuttle-type wire dot line printers, and particularly to an ink ribbon drive control structure aimed at uniformizing print density.

Recently, line printers have become faster and faster, and there is a strong demand for improved printing quality.

However, it is extremely difficult to achieve both high-speed functionality and improved printing quality, and in particular, the difference in shading in printing increases as the printing speed increases.

For this reason, there is a strong demand for the development of a line 1° link device that can always perform stable printing with uniform printing density regardless of the printing speed.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of essential parts showing the configuration of a conventional shuttle type line printer device.

As shown in the figure, the shuttle type line printer device includes a hammer bank 1 which is equipped with a plurality of print heads equipped with a plurality of print wires (not shown) and performs printing while swinging from side to side (in the direction of arrow B-8'). , a platen 2 installed at a position facing the hammer bank 1, and an ink ribbon 4 that moves at a predetermined speed in the direction of arrow B by an ink ribbon drive motor 8. The structure is such that printing is performed on printing paper 3 that is arranged and transported in the direction of arrow A.

Note that the hammer bank 1 is driven by a shuttle motor 5 and supported by a pair of support springs 6. Further, control of the swinging motion in the left-right direction (in the direction of arrow B-B') is performed by an edge sensor 7 that detects the positions of both left and right ends of the hammer bank 1 and a control section 10.

By the way, although different from the device of the present invention, in a type drum type or type belt type line printer device, the relationship between the rotation speed of the type drum or the moving speed of the type belt and the moving speed of the ink ribbon is constant during printing operation. Therefore, there is no particular causal relationship between variations in print quality and the moving speed of the ink ribbon.

-However, the shuttle-type line printer shown in FIG. 3 has a structure in which printing is performed by swinging the hammer bank 1 in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the printing paper 3 as described above, so the ink ribbon 4 is Similar to a type belt type line printer device, when moving in a certain direction at a constant speed, the relative speed between the hammer bank 1 and the ink ribbon 4, which change direction due to the swinging movement, changes, and of course the print density will not change. This results in a disadvantage that the printing becomes uniform and the printing quality is also reduced.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention has been made in order to improve the print quality by solving the above-mentioned problem, that is, the non-uniform print density caused by the change in the relative speed between the hammer bank and the ink ribbon.

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem is a shuttle-type wire dot line printer that prints while swinging a hammer bank equipped with a plurality of print heads in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the printing paper, and the hammer bank and the printing paper The ink ribbon disposed between the hammer banks is controlled to stop when the hammer bank is located within the printing area, and to move only when the hammer bank is located within direction change areas provided at both ends of the printing area. This problem is solved by an ink ribbon drive control method for a shuttle type line printer device, which is characterized by the following.

[Effect]

The present invention utilizes the fact that the oscillating hammer bank moves at a constant speed within the printing area to equalize the absolute value of the relative velocity between the oscillating hammer bank and the ink ribbon. The ink ribbon is stopped when the ink ribbon is inside the ink ribbon.

That is, the present invention is characterized in that the movement of the ink ribbon is stopped while the hammer bank is performing a printing operation, and the ink ribbon is moved while the hammer bank is changing direction outside the printing area.

The purpose of moving the ink ribbon is to prevent the ribbon from being damaged by being hit at the same location by the printing hammer installed in the hammer bank.

〔Example〕

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

FIG. 1 is an operational characteristic diagram showing the correlation between a hammer bank and an ink ribbon in an ink ribbon drive control system of a shuttle type line printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a control flow chart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

Note that the same reference numerals indicate the same objects throughout the figures.

As shown in FIG. 1, the feature of the present invention is that the movement timing of the ink ribbon 4 is limited to only when the hammer bank 1 is within the direction change area 16.

That is, as is clear from the figure, the moving trajectory 14 of the ink ribbon 4 shows that when the hammer bank 1 is performing a printing operation within the printing area 15, its speed is "0", that is, it is stopped. , the hammer bank 1 is in the direction change area 16
It is shown that the robot moves leftward, that is, in the direction of arrow C shown in FIG. 3, only when it comes inside.

As described above, the direction change of the hammer bank 1 is executed based on the right edge signal 11 and the left edge signal 12 of the edge sensor 7.

Therefore, in the ink ribbon 4, the hammer bank 1 is the printing area 1.
The structure is such that it stops when it is within the direction change area 16 and moves only when it is within the direction change area 16.

Therefore, while the hammer bank 1 is in a printing operation, the relative speed between the hammer bank 1 and the ink ribbon 4 is kept constant.

In the figure, reference numeral 13 indicates a swing locus of the hammer bank 1.

Next, one embodiment of the control operation according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of the control system of the present invention.

First, the edge sensor 7 detects the positions of both ends of the hammer bank 1 with respect to the printing paper 3, and determines the printing area 15 and direction change area 16 during the swing stroke of the hammer bank 1.

J Then, when the hammer bank 1 is within the printing area, the ink ribbon 4 is stopped, and the hammer bank 1 reaches the direction changing area 16 and changes direction until it reaches the printing area 15 again. The ink ribbon drive motor 8 is excited to move the ink ribbon 4 a certain distance.

By the above operations, the ink ribbon 4 is transferred to the hammer bank 1.
It is possible to form a movement pattern in which it stops when it is in the printing area and moves only when it is in the direction change area.

The drive timings of the ink ribbon 4 and the hammer bank 1 are controlled by a control section 10 that operates based on information from the edge sensor 7.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained in detail above, the ink ribbon drive control system of the shuttle type line printer device of the present invention is configured so that printing is performed while the hammer bank moves at a constant speed via the stopped ink ribbon. This has great effects in that it is possible to achieve uniform print density and to significantly improve print quality.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operational characteristic diagram showing the correlation between the hammer bank and the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon drive control system of the shuttle type line printer device according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the control system of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of essential parts showing the configuration of a conventional shuttle type line printer device. In the figure, 1 is a hammer bank, 2 is a platen, 3 is a printing paper, 4 is an ink ribbon, 5 is a shuttle motor, 6 is a support spring, 7 is an edge sensor, 8 is an ink ribbon drive motor,
10 is a control device, 11 is a right edge signal, 12 is a left edge signal, 13 is a rocking trajectory of the hammer bank, 14 is a moving trajectory of an ink ribbon, 15 is a printing area, and 16 is a direction change area.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A shuttle-type wire dot line printer that prints while swinging a hammer bank equipped with a plurality of print heads in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of printing paper, the printer having a hammer bank disposed between the hammer bank and the printing paper. The ink ribbon is controlled to stop when the hammer bank is located within a printing area, and to move only when the hammer bank is located within direction change areas provided at both ends of the printing area. Ink ribbon drive control system for shuttle type line printer equipment.