JPS6183087A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform the selection of a color without using a solenoid, in a printer using a multi-color ink ribbon, by providing a ribbon guide to a carriage in a freely rising and falling state and allowing the lock member of said ribbon guide to operate by the movement of the carriage. CONSTITUTION:A slide holder 59 having a ribbon guide 60 attached thereto is engaged with the ribbon guide shaft 58 provided to the end part of a carriage 27 in a projected state in a freely rising and falling state. A lock lever 62 is pivotally supported by the lower part of the slide holder 59 and the pawl 62a of said lever 62 is energized so as to be engaged with inside cams 59a-59c of the slide holder 59 by a spring 62e. When the carriage 27 further moves from a home position, the protruded piece 62c of the lever 62 is impinged to the change-over cam 49 provided to the substrate at the left end of the advance path of the carriage and the pawl 62a is detached from the cam and the slide holder 59 is falled to the lowermost falling position. When the carriage 27 further moves to the left, the roller 62f at the lower end of the slide holder 59 rides on an oblique surface 49b. When the slide holder 59 reached a predetermined position, the carriage 27 is stopped and the pawl 62a is engaged with the cam.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a serial type printer that performs recording by reciprocating a recording head.

[Prior art] Conventional printers of this type are widely used because they are inexpensive, but they require initial setting of perforations on fan-hold paper (folded paper), alignment of the leading edge of cut paper, and adjustment of the horizontal direction of recording paper. Operations such as positioning were extremely complicated.

In an attempt to eliminate these inconveniences, printers equipped with various automatic paper setting mechanisms have been proposed, but these types of mechanisms have the disadvantage of being extremely complex and costly.

FIG. 8 shows the main parts of a conventional printer of this type.

In FIG. 8, the reference numeral 101 indicates a platen, and a recording head 102 is disposed opposite to the platen.

A paper pressing roller 103 is in contact with the platen 101 at an upward position on the side of the recording pad 102 .

The paper pressing roller 103 is rotatably supported on a shaft 104, and both ends of the shaft 104 are supported by arms 105, respectively.

The lower end of the arm 105 is fixed to a shaft 109 that also serves as a guide shaft of a carriage (not shown), and the upper end of a lever 113 is fixed to the shaft 109.

The lower end of the /<-113 is the rod 11 of the solenoid 112.
It is rotatably connected to 2a.

On the other hand, a paper pan 106 is arranged below the platen lot.

A pinch roller 10 is placed under the paper pan 106.
7 is placed. Support shaft 108 of pinch roller 107
is given a force to approach the platen 101 by a spring (not shown), and the pinch roller 107 comes into contact with the platen 101 through an opening (not shown) formed in the paper pan 106 .

Further, a paper edge set lever 110 is disposed below the paper pan 106, almost directly below the platen lot, with one end of the lever 110 being fixed to the shaft ill.

The tip of the paper edge set lever 110 fits into the opening formed in the paper pan 106 and comes into contact with the platen 101.
As will be described later, the edge of the recording paper is brought into contact with the edge of the recording paper so that the edge of the recording paper is parallel to the platen 101.

On the other hand, a set of pin wheels 117 is arranged at a predetermined pressure # apart from the handle 106.

The bin wheel 117 has a plurality of pins 1 along the circumferential direction.
17a.

This bin wheel 117 is fixed to a shaft 119.

On the other hand, what is indicated by reference numeral 114a is fan-hold paper;
Through holes into which the pins 117a fit are formed near both ends at a predetermined pitch, and the pins 117a are fitted into these through holes.

After the fan-hold paper 114a is set on the bin wheel 117, it is held down by a cover 118 so that it does not come off the pin 117a.

On the other hand, a paper guide 115 is arranged above the paper pan 106.

This paper guide 115 guides the cut paper 114b, and at one end there is a positioning member 11 for adjusting the width of the paper.
6 is slidably attached.

Note that the reference numeral 106a indicates a paper pan for cut paper.

Based on the structure described above, recording paper is set as follows.

First, to set the cut paper 114b, use the positioning member 1.
16 to a predetermined position according to the scale of the paper guide 115, and presses an off-line switch on a keyboard (not shown) to bring the device into an off-line state.

Subsequently, a paper set lever (not shown) is rotated to separate the pinch roller 107 from the platen 101.

At this time, the paper edge set lever 110 is interlocked with the platen 10.
1.

Next, the cut paper 114b is inserted between the paper pan 106a and the platen 101 via the paper guide 115, and is brought into contact with the paper edge set lever 110.

Next, operate the paper set lever to set pinch roller 1.
07 is pressed against the platen 101, and the cut paper 114b is sandwiched between the platen and the platen.

When the paper set key on the keyboard is pressed in this state, the solenoid 112 is energized, the rod 112a is attracted, the arm 105 is rotated clockwise in the figure via the lever 113, and the paper pressing roller 103 is separated from the platen 101.

At the same time, the platen 101 is rotated counterclockwise in the figure, and after the cut paper 114b is fed a predetermined distance, the solenoid 112 is de-energized and the paper pressing roller 103 presses against the platen 101 with the leading edge of the recording paper sandwiched therebetween.

Note that the paper edge set lever 110 separates from the platen 101 at the same time as the paper set key is pressed and the solenoid 112 is energized.

In this way, setting of cut sheets is completed.

On the other hand, the fan hold paper 114a must be set manually.

That is, first release the lock lever (not shown),
Slide the pinwheel 117 along the axis 119,
Open the cover 118, align the through holes at both ends of the fan hold paper 114a with the pins 117a, close the cover 118, adjust the interval between the pin wheels 117 so that the fan hold paper 114a does not sag, and operate the lock lever to close the pin wheels. Lock 117.

Next, a paper set lever (not shown) is operated to separate the pinch roller 107 from the platen 101.

At this time, the paper edge set lever 110 is not interlocked.

Thereafter, the paper holding roller 103 is raised by hand, an off-line switch (not shown) is pressed, and a line feed button is pressed to rotate the pin wheel 117 to feed the fan hold paper 114a to a position beyond the paper holding roller 103.

In this state, the paper holding roller 103 is pushed down by hand and the leading edge of the fan-held paper is aligned using a paper feed knob (not shown) to complete the setting.

By the way, when the fan hold paper is set, turn off the power and reset, the position of the tip of the fan hold paper becomes the reference, and the length set by the DIP switch or program is set by the form feed switch or each program. The page is cued.

However, if the paper is fed or reversed even once using the paper feed knob, the reference position of the leading edge of the fan-held paper is shifted, and page cueing does not work properly.

In this way, in the case of fan-hold paper, use pinwheel 1.
17, the position of the leading edge of the paper, etc., are often adjusted using scales or intuition, making the operation extremely complicated.

Furthermore, when using a multicolored ink ribbon as an ink ribbon, a complicated mechanism is required to select the color.
Furthermore, it requires a driving source such as a solenoid to operate this mechanism, which has the disadvantage of increasing the number of parts and making it expensive.

[Purpose] The present invention was made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional technology, and it is possible to select the color of the ink ribbon in conjunction with the movement of the carriage, and does not require a special drive source such as a solenoid. It aims to provide a printer that does not.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

1 to 7 illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows the overall structure.

In FIG. 1, the symbol l indicates the platen, and the substrate 3
The platen is rotatably supported via a platen shaft 1a between side plates 2 fixed on both sides of the platen.

A post 4 is fixed to one end of the platen shaft 1a, and paper feed gears 6a and 6b are fixed via the boss 4 and washer 5.

Reference numeral 8 indicates a C ring for preventing the paper feed gears 6a, 6b from falling off.

Note that a spring 7 is stretched between the gears 6a and 6b, and is applied with a force that causes them to rotate in opposite directions, as shown in FIG.

These two paper feed gears 6a, 6b are meshed together with a pinion gear 9 fixed to the output shaft of a paper feed pulse motor IO fixed to the side plate 2, as shown in FIG.

At this time, as mentioned above, the two gears 6a and 6b are given a rotational force in opposite directions by the spring 7, but when the two gears 6a and 6b are engaged with the pinion gear 9 due to this rotational force, the gear 6a and 6b are rotated as shown in FIG. , 6b tend to shift, and a pinching force is applied from above and below to the teeth of pinion gear 9, causing gear 6a.

It functions to reduce the backlash that 6b has.

On the other hand, reference numerals 11 and 12 refer to guide shafts of a carriage which will be described later, and both ends thereof are fixed to the side plates 2 by screws 18.

The lower ends of arms 13 are rotatably supported at both ends of one guide shaft 11, respectively.

A shaft 14 is rotatably supported between the upper ends of the arms 13.13, and a plurality of paper pressing rollers (pinch rollers) 15 are fixed to this shaft 14.

Further, a paper pressing gear 16 is fixed to one end of the shaft 14, and this gear 16 meshes with a gear 17 fixed to one end of the platen shaft 1a.

Note that a spring 5'5 is provided between the arm 13 and the board 3.
is stretched so that the arm 13 is drawn toward the platen 1 and the paper pressing roller 15 is pressed against the platen 1.

A support plate 19 is fixed to the outside of one side plate 2 with screws 20, and a stepping motor 21 for carriage drive is fixed on this support plate 19, and a pinion gear 22 fixed to the output shaft of the stepping motor 21 is fixed on the support plate 19. It protrudes below the support plate 19.

Further, a shaft 23 is also fixed to the support plate 19, and a gear 24 is rotatably supported on the shaft 23 on the lower side of the support plate 19, and meshes with the pinion gear 22.

A sprocket-like structure is provided on the lower side of the gear 24, and one end of an endless timing belt 25 is wrapped around the sprocket 24a.

The other end of the timing belt 25 is a sprocket 28 of a tension pulley 28 rotatably supported on the other steel plate side.
It is applied to b.

The tension boob 928 is rotatable on a shaft 30 protruding from a rotating plate 29 rotatably supported on the base plate 3 via a shaft 29a at a position near the side plate 2 on the side where the pulse motor 10 is fixed. The bearing is mounted on the shaft.

A long hole 29b is formed in a part of the rotary plate 29, and a screw 37 fitted into the long hole 29b is screwed onto the substrate 3 side.

Therefore, the rotating plate 29 can be freely rotated within the range of the long hole 29b by loosening the screw 37.

A base end of a switching plate 33 is rotatably supported on a shaft 3o above the tension pulley 28.

The switching plate 33 is prevented from being removed by a C ring 26 via a spring washer 34. A shaft 35 is protruded from the lower surface of the tip of the switching plate 33, and a switching gear 36 is rotatably supported on the shaft 35.

This gear 36 consists of three gears 36a whose diameters are successively smaller.
~36c are integrated.

On the other hand, a ribbon gear 32 is rotatably supported on a shaft 31 protruding near the rotary plate 29.

This ribbon gear 32 has a shaft 32a in its center that is fitted into an ink ribbon cassette, which will be described later.A small diameter gear 32b is formed at the base of the shaft 32a, and an internal gear 32c is formed inside near the outer peripheral surface. .

The switching gear 36 is fitted inside the ribbon gear 32,
The gear 36b is the gear 32b, and the gear 36c is the internal gear 32.
It is configured so that it can selectively engage with c.

On the other hand, reference numerals 38 and 39 indicate paper guide shafts, which are arranged on the other side of the platen 1, and both ends of which are fixed to the left and right side plates 2.

Further, one of the paper guide shafts 38 is formed with an annular groove (not shown) that matches the width of the recording paper.

The paper guide shaft 38 is fixed by the screw 18 and the paper guide shaft 3
9 is fixed by a C ring 47.

Paper guides 40 are installed at both left and right ends of the paper guide shafts 38 and 39.
a and 40b are slidably fitted together. Each paper guide 40a, 40b has one end of a plate spring 41 fixed at a position corresponding to the paper guide shaft 38, and the plate spring 41 is fixed at a position corresponding to the paper guide shaft 38.
The free end of 1 presses a pin or steel pole (not shown) that is fitted in a vertically movable manner into a through hole formed through the paper guides 40a and 40b, and is inserted into a groove formed in the paper guide shaft 38. Fit pins etc. to the paper guides 40a and 40b.
You can move it by clicking.

A paper detector 42 is attached below one of the paper guides 40b in a state closer to the platen l than the pinch roller 44.

A paper pan 43 is arranged below the paper guide shafts 38 and 39, and its tip extends along below the platen 1. Opening 4 formed in this paper pan 43
A pinch roller 44 is fitted into the roller 3a, and is pressed against the platen l by a spring (not shown).

Furthermore, a paper pressure plate 45 is arranged on the front side of the platen 1 from the substrate 3 via a support plate 46, and its upper end is pressed against the platen 1.

By the way, as is clear from FIG. 2, the paper guides 40a and 40b have a guide groove 57a formed on the side surface thereof into which the cut paper 56a is inserted, and a guide groove 57b below which the paper 56b of the fan hole is inserted. There is.

On the other hand, a switching cam 49 for switching the color of the ink ribbon is provided on the substrate 3 and near the home position of the carriage, which will be described later, near the left end in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, this switching cam 49 has a protrusion 49a and a slope 49b that becomes higher toward the left side.
One end of a spring 51 is fixed to the right end of the base 49c to which the cam 49 is fixed.

The other end of the spring 51 is connected to the right end side of the paper set lever 50.

The paper set lever 50 extends below the arm 13 on the side to which the pulse motor 10 is fixed.
A slope 50b is formed below which is higher on the left side. This slope 50b is in contact with a protrusion 13a formed below the arm 13.

Further, a protrusion 50 is provided on the right end side of the paper set lever 50.
a protrudes toward the front side.

Furthermore, on the near side of the cam 49, a slit plate 52 is disposed in a stretched state between support plates 53 and 53 extending from the base plate 3.

The slit plate 52 has a large number of slits, and a photointerrupter fixed to the carriage side detects the slits and controls the recording position.

Note that the reference numeral 54 is a knob for manually feeding the platen l, and is fixed to one end of the platen shaft 1a.

Incidentally, a recording head 65 is attached to the upper surface of the carriage 27, which is slidably fitted onto the guide shafts 11, 12.

In this embodiment, the recording head 65 is configured as a wire dot head. Further, two ribbon guide shafts 58, 58 are protruded from the end of the carriage 27 on the side of the platen l, and a slide holder 59 is fitted into these ribbon guide shafts 58 so as to be movable up and down.

A ribbon guide 60 is attached to the slide holder 59, and a ribbon mask 61 is attached to the ribbon guide 60 to protect the recording paper from stains caused by the ribbon. An ink ribbon, which will be described later, passes through the inside of this ribbon mask 61.

By the way, the slide holder 59 is formed hollow, and three cams 59a to 59c are provided protruding from the inside of one side wall, the right side wall in FIG. 1, in order from the top.

Further, a lock lever 62 is provided below the slide holder 59.
is rotatably supported in the middle by a shaft 62b.

The upper end of the lock lever 62 has a claw 62a as shown in FIG.
A projecting piece 62c is provided at the lower end.

Further, a projecting piece 62d projects toward the front side from the middle of the lock lever 62, and a spring 62e is stretched between the projecting piece 62d and the upper end of the slide holder 59.

Therefore, the lock lever 62 is given a clockwise rotational force about the shaft 62b in FIG.

On the other hand, the reference numeral 64 is an ink ribbon cassette, and this ink ribbon cassette is constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, the ink ribbon cassette 64 is a cassette body 67.
and a cover 68, and guide rollers 70 are rotatably supported at both ends of the cassette/upper body 67, respectively.

A ribbon separator 69 is disposed at one end of the cassette body 67, that is, the left end in FIG. 6, and a ribbon feed gear 71 and a follower gear 72 are rotatably supported on the ribbon separator 69.

The two gears 71 and 72 are in mesh with each other, and rollers 71a and 72a integrally provided at their upper ends are in contact with each other.

The reference numeral 73 is a spring, which is attached to the follower gear 72.
The roller 72a is pressed against the roller 71a.

The ribbon feed gear 71 has a structure that meshes with a pawl formed on the shaft 32a of the ribbon gear 32.

Further, the reference numeral 63 is an ink ribbon, and as shown in FIG.
Zones of colors a, i10-63b, schiff 763C, and magenta 63d are formed.

In addition, in FIG. 3, the reference numeral 66 indicates the recording head 6.
This is the wire provided at 5.

Next, the operation of the printer according to the present invention configured as above will be explained.

First, the recording paper setting operation will be explained.

9 and 10 (A) to (E) explain the automatic setting operation of the recording paper, and the symbols A to E in FIG.
correspond to FIGS. 10(A) to (E), respectively.

First, the paper guide 40a,
40b and set it.

When using the cut paper 56a in this state, the guide groove 57
a, and when using fan-hold paper, insert it into the guide groove 57b.

No matter which paper is used, the inserted recording paper comes into contact with the contact portion between the pinch roller 44 and the platen l and stops there.

This state is shown in FIG. 10(A).

In this state, as is clear from FIG.
is located below the pinch roller 44, so the paper detector 42
detects that there is no paper, as shown by arrow A in FIG. 9, and the device goes off-line, allowing automatic setting.

In this state, the paper press shaft 14 is rotated toward the platen 1, and the paper press roller 15 is in contact with the platen 1.

After setting the recording paper in this way, when a paper feed switch (not shown) is pressed, the motor 21 is driven and the pinion gear 22 is rotated in the direction of arrow C in FIG.

This rotation is caused by gear 24. The carriage 27 moves in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 due to the timing belt 25.

During this first operation, the carriage 27 moves beyond the home position, which is the printing start position, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 1, the direction is arrow A.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7(A), the lock lever 62 advances with the previous printing state in which the cam 59b and the pawl 62a are engaged, but eventually the protrusion 6 of the lock lever 62
2c comes into contact with the protrusion 49a, and rotates counterclockwise in the figure against the tensile force of the spring 62e, as shown in FIG. 7(B).

As a result, the engagement j±resolving force 1 between the wind 62a and the cam 59b is
The slide holder 59 remains integrated with the ribbon guide 60° and the ribbon mask 61 and falls to the lowest stage under the force of the spring 62e.

That is, in FIG. 7(A), the state in which the yellow zone of 1.5 mm corresponds to the wire changes to the state in which the cleaning zone corresponds to the wire.

At this point, the motor 21 reverses in the direction of the arrow.

The carriage 27 returns in the direction of arrow B.

Then, the lower end of the slide holder 59 comes into contact with the protrusion 50a of the penocousette lever 50, and moves the paper 7/trenocouple 50 in the direction of arrow B against the tensile force of the spring 51.

Then, since the slope 50b is in contact with the protruding piece 13a of the arm 13, the arm 13 is rotated in the direction away from the platen 1.

As a result, the paper presser shaft 14 moves away from the platen l together with the paper presser roller 15, as shown in FIG. 10(B), and at the same time, the carriage 27 stops.

This extra-low feed pulse motor IO begins to rotate in the direction of arrow E. Then pinion gear 9. The platen 1 rotates in the direction of arrow G via the gears 6a and 6b, and the pinch roller 44 in contact with the platen 1 rotates in the opposite direction to feed the recording paper sandwiched between them.

As a result, the leading edge of the recording paper passes through the paper detector 42 and the ninth
As shown in the figure, the presence of paper is detected.

From this point on, a constant step pulse is applied to the pulse motor lO.
is applied, the platen L is rotated in the direction of arrow G, and the recording paper is fed as shown in FIG. 10(C).

Specifically, this operation is a step of feeding the recording paper indicated by "Cera IJ" in FIG. 9 to just before the paper presser shaft.

Simultaneously with paper feeding, the motor 21 is reversed in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 to move the carriage 27 in the direction of arrow A.

As a result, the paper set lever 50 is pulled by the spring 51, the arm 13 also returns to its original position as shown in FIG. 10(D), and the paper pressing roller 15 is pressed against the platen 1 through the recording paper.

Next, as shown in "Set 2" in FIG. 9, this state in which the recording paper is fed a predetermined distance to take up the paper slack is shown in FIG. 10 (
Shown in E).

This completes the automatic recording paper setting.

On the other hand, changing the color of the ink ribbon and cleaning the tip of the wire are performed as shown in FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B).

That is, when the motor 21 is rotated in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1, the carriage 27 is further moved in the direction of arrow A from the home position via the timing belt 25.

As a result, as mentioned above, the protrusion 62c of the lock lever 62
hits the protruding piece 49a, and the claw 62a hits the cams 59a to 59c.
If the slide holder 59 comes off from one of the ribbon guides 60. It falls to the lowest position together with the ribbon mask 61 and the ink ribbon 63. In this situation, Figure 3 (A)
The cleaning band 53a corresponds to the wire 66 as shown in FIG.

In this state, when the solenoid provided on the recording head 65 is energized, the wire 66 pops out and its tip is cleaned.

In this embodiment, a configuration is adopted in which eight dots are recorded in the vertical direction using a wire consisting of four pins, first to fourth.

And yellow when recording black.

This is done by overprinting three colors: 'y7' and magenta.

After cleaning is completed, move the motor 21 in the direction of arrow C (
When the carriage 27 is further moved in the direction of the arrow, the roller 62f provided at the lower end of the slide holder 59 moves onto the slope 49b as shown in FIG. 7(B).
start climbing.

When the carriage 27 moves by a certain amount, the slide holder 59 rises by a certain amount accordingly, and the pawl 62a of the lock lever 62 comes into engagement with the cam 59a located at the top. This state is shown in FIG. 7(C).

At this time, the yellow zone 63b of the ink ribbon corresponds to the wire 66, as shown in FIG. 3CB).

At this time, when the motor 21 is rotated in the direction of arrow B (forward direction), the carriage 27 begins to move in the direction of arrow B.

A detector consisting of a photointerrupter (not shown) is provided at the bottom of the carriage 27, and this detector and the slit of the slit plate 52 generate timing pulses as shown in the second row from the top of FIG. 11(A). A signal is generated.

In this state, when a solenoid (not shown) is energized in synchronization with the timing pulse signal, the character font, for example, yellow is recorded every other dot in the vertical direction of the diagonal line, as shown in FIG. 11(A). To perform a dot, energize the pulse motor 10 in the state of .
When rotated in the direction of arrow E, the platen 1 is rotated in the direction of arrow G via gears 9, 6a, and 6b, and the recording paper is pulled out by the frictional force between the pinch roller 15 and the platen 1.

That is, a gear 17 is fixed to one end of the platen shaft 1a, and this gear 17 and a paper presser gear 16 fixed to the shaft 14 are connected to each other.
Since the two are engaged, the recording paper is pulled out.

By this operation, the recording paper is fed by the wire 66 at a pitch of 1/2.

By the way, the gear ratio of the gears 17 and 16 is set so that the rotational speed of the paper presser roller 15 is greater than the rotational speed of the outer circumference of the platen l, and the rotational speed of the paper presser roller 15 is higher than the rotational speed of the recording paper by the platen l and the pinch roller 44. The speed at which the recording paper is fed by the roller 15 is set to be faster, and the recording paper is strongly pulled to generate a constant tension, so that no "flapping" sound is generated due to the vibration of the paper during recording.

Subsequently, when a pulse is applied so that the motor 21 continues to rotate in the direction of arrow C, the carriage 27 again starts moving in the direction of arrow A via the timing belt 25, and during the return operation, it is already rotating every other dot in the vertical direction. A dot is recorded at the vertically intermediate position of the recorded dots, and the recording of the desired character is completed in yellow.

Next, the carriage 27 is moved in the direction of arrow A, the roller 62f is further moved along the slope 49b, and the cyan zone of the ink ribbon is raised to a position corresponding to the wire, and the same operation as described above is performed. and perform cyan overprinting.

Subsequently, the carriage is further moved in the direction of arrow A, and the ink ribbon is set so that the magenta zone corresponds to the wire. Then, magenta is overprinted in the same manner as described above, and the recording of the black diagonal lines is completed.

Note that each time a different color is recorded, the carriage 7 is moved in the direction of arrow B, the slide holder 59 is lowered, and cleaning is performed by aligning the cleaning band 63a with the wire 66.

As shown in Figure 11 (B), if you want to record only one character with a diagonal line in one line, make a line break, and then record only magenta on the next line, you can print only one line of recording paper without cleaning. Just send it in and start recording.

During cleaning, since the ribbon mask 61 exists between the cleaning band 63a and the platen as shown in 311(A), the recording paper does not come into contact with the cleaning band or the wire.

Note that the example shown in FIGS. 11(A) and CB) is a case where one character is recorded per line to simplify the explanation.
In reality, after one line is printed in the same color, in the case of black, all other colors are printed overlappingly.

Of course, in the case of color mixing, etc., it is sufficient to selectively overprint only the desired characters.

Through the above operations, a total of 8 colors are created: yellow, cyan, magenta, green (a mixture of these colors), blue, red, black (mixture of three colors), and white (color of recording paper).
Recording can be done in color.

Furthermore, in the case of an ink ribbon having three color zones and a cleaning zone, when only black is to be recorded, the three colors must be mixed, which slows down the recording speed.

Therefore, if you often print only black, prepare a black ink ribbon cassette and replace it to achieve extremely high speed printing.

Next, the operation of the ink ribbon will be explained. When the ink ribbon cassette 64 is installed in a predetermined position and the ribbon feed gear 71 is rotated in the direction of arrow M, the rollers 71a and 72 of the follower gear 72 pressed by the spring 73
The ink ribbon 63 sandwiched between a is the ink cassette 6
7, and at the same time the ink ribbon 63 is pulled out from the other end. Also, when switching the printing color, the slide holder 59. Report Guide 60. The ribbon mask 61 and the ink ribbon 63 move up and down simultaneously as one, but at that time, the ink cassette 67 does not move at all and only the ink ribbon 63 protruding from the ink cassette 67 moves up and down. The ink ribbon 63 has a ribbon guide 60. Since the ribbon mask 61 is integrated, when replacing the ink cassette, there is no need to use a pencil or the like to insert the ribbon between the ribbon mask and the nose of the print head. This was made possible by simply adding the .

Further, when feeding the ribbon, the timing belt 25 is driven by the motor 21. The other end of the timing belt 25 drives a tension boob 928. Also, tension pulley 2
Since the timing belt 8 is supported on the shaft 30, the tension of the timing belt 25 can be changed by pulling the rotating plate 29.

The shaft 30 rotates the switching plate 33 in the direction of rotation of the tension pulley 28 by its friction. The switching gear 36 then meshes with the ribbon gear 32.

For example, when the tension pulley 28 is driven in the N direction, the switching plate 33 rotates in the N direction due to the friction.

Then, the gear portion 36b of the switching gear meshes with the gear portion 32b of the ribbon gear, and transmits the rotation of the tension pulley 28 in the N direction to the ribbon gear 32 as rotation in the N direction.

Further, when the tension pulley 28 is driven in the 0 direction, the switching plate 33 rotates in the 0 direction, and the gear portion 3 of the switching gear
6c meshes with the gear portion 32c of the ribbon gear and rotates the tensile pulley 28 in the 0 direction to the ribbon gear 32' in the N direction 4
It is transmitted as rotation in the direction. In other words, the rotation direction of the ribbon gear is always the N direction 2, regardless of the rotation direction of the tension pulley.

The claw 32a of the ribbon gear meshes with the ribbon feed gear 71 of the cassette unit to feed the ribbon.

[Effects] As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the ink ribbon is moved up and down in conjunction with the movement of the carriage, so that color selection 0 can be performed.
An inexpensive printer with a small number of parts can be obtained without requiring a special driving source.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 7 illustrate an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view, Figure 2 is a vertical side view, Figure 3 (A
) to (D) are explanatory diagrams showing changes in the position of the ink ribbon with respect to the recording head, FIG. 4 is a perspective view explaining the meshing relationship of paper feeding gears, and FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 4. , 6th
The figure is an exploded perspective view of the ink ribbon cassette, Figure 7 (A)
~(C) are explanatory diagrams showing the operation of the lock lever and slide holder, Fig. 8 is a vertical cross-sectional side view illustrating the conventional structure, Fig. 9 is a timing chart diagram illustrating automatic setting of recording paper, and Fig. 10. (A) to (E) are explanatory diagrams showing the automatic setting process of recording paper. FIGS. 11(A) and 11(CB) are timing charts IN explaining the recording method and explanatory diagrams of recording examples. i-...Platen 10...Pulse motor 1
1.12--Guide shaft 13...Arm 15.44
- Pinch roller 21 Carriage drive motor 25 Timing belt 27 Carriage 28 Tension pulley 29 Rotating plate 32 Ribbon gear 3
3...Switching plate 38.39...Paper guide shaft 40a, 4. Ob---Paper guide 42-[Detector 43...Paper pan 49...Cam. 50...Paper set lever 55a...Cut paper 56b...Fan hold paper 57a, 57. b.-Guide groove 59...Slide holder 60...Ribbon guide 61...Ribbon mask 6
2...Lock lever

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printer that performs recording using a carriage equipped with a recording head that moves back and forth to record dots and an ink ribbon divided into multiple colors in the width direction, a ribbon guide is provided on the carriage so as to be movable up and down, and the ribbon guide is A locking member that can be locked at a predetermined position is provided, an engaging member that engages with the locking member is provided on the device side, and the locking member and the engaging member are engaged as the carriage moves,
A printer characterized in that a ribbon guide can be moved up and down.