JPS6212608Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a portable inkjet printer that is battery powered.

Ink-on-demand type inkjet printers have been proposed to be applied to calculator printers as portable printers because they require very little printing energy and are advantageous when powered by batteries. However, the ink at the tip of the nozzle, which has a diameter of several tens of microns, dries and becomes highly viscous, which causes the nozzle to become clogged, making it impossible to print. In response to this problem, it has been proposed to use a solenoid or the like to automatically close a lid to prevent clogging on the front surface of the nozzle when the nozzle is not in use. However, in order to completely prevent clogging, it is necessary to press the lid against the front of the nozzle with considerable pressure. Especially in portable printers, the pressing pressure of the lid is large to prevent ink from flowing out from the nozzle due to impact from dropping. I had to. Therefore, a large amount of energy is required to cover the front surface of the nozzle, making it impossible to take advantage of the low energy consumption of the inkjet. In addition, in order to reliably press the lid, a drive source such as a solenoid or a motor for pressing the lid becomes large, resulting in a high cost.

This invention attempts to eliminate the above drawbacks.
The purpose of the present invention is to prevent nozzle clogging and ink outflow due to impact by reliably pressing the lid.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce energy consumption due to closing the lid.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

In FIG. 1, 1 is an inkjet head;
2 is an ink tank that supplies ink to the ink jet head 1; 3 is a lid made of rubber that is corrosion resistant to ink; 4 is a lever on which the lid 3 is placed; 4a is a claw thereof; 5 is a swinging portion of the lever 4. 6 is a spring, 7 is a recording paper, 8 is a platen, 9 is a paper press roller, 10 is a case, 11 is a release lever, 12 is a roller provided at the tip of the release lever 11, 13 is a spring , 14 is a solenoid, 1
5 is a notch provided in the case 10, and 16 is a shaft around which the release lever 11 rotates.

In the above configuration, when the lever 4 is not in use,
At the position shown by the solid line, the lid 3 is pressed against the front surface of the ink jet head 1 to prevent nozzle clogging.
When printing is to be performed, the lever 4, which is partially exposed to the outside through the notch 15, is manually rotated in the direction of arrow A. As the lever 4 moves, the claw portion 4a of the lever 4 pushes the roller 12, and the release lever 11 is rotated in the direction of arrow B while riding on the roller 12. Even if you release your hand from lever 4 in this state, release lever 1
1 has returned, the lever 4 is held as shown by the dotted line. With the lid 3 separated from the ink jet head 1 in this manner, the ink jet head 1 is driven by a signal from a control circuit (not shown) and recording is performed on the recording paper 7. After recording is finished, press the print stop switch (not shown) or if there is no recording signal for a certain period of time,
The solenoid 14 is energized by a signal from a control circuit (not shown). Due to magnetic force,
The release lever 11 rotates about the shaft 16 in the direction of arrow C, the roller 12 disengages from the claw portion 4a of the lever 4, and the lever 4 rotates in the direction of arrow D, and the lid 3 is rotated from the front of the ink jet head 1. Pressed by Here, even if the force of the spring 6 is increased, it is possible to weaken the spring 13, and the claw portion 4a and the roller 1
The frictional force when removing 2 and 2 is also small. Therefore, the attractive force of the solenoid 14 can also be reduced.

In this way, the pressure between the lid and the front of the nozzle is manually released from the outside, and after recording is completed, the lid is pressed against the nozzle surface using a solenoid, etc., so even if the pressing force of the lid is increased, the energy consumption of the device itself is reduced. It does not increase. The mechanism of the inkjet printer shown in FIG. 2 is a further improvement of this mechanism, achieving miniaturization of the solenoid, motor, etc., and lower power consumption. The difference from FIG. 1 is that the release lever 11 is not rotated directly by a solenoid 21, but instead is provided with a trigger lever 22, and normally the release lever 11 is held by the trigger lever 22, and the release lever 11 is rotated by an eccentric cam 23. This is the point where the solenoid 21 is energized when a gap 24 is created between the trigger levers 22. That is, the inkjet printer shown in FIG. 2 is provided with an on-demand type inkjet head 1 having nozzles on the surface facing the recording paper.

The head 1 is housed in a case as in FIG. As is clear from the drawing and the above description, the mechanism of the inkjet printer shown in FIG. 2 includes a lever 4, a release lever 11, a trigger lever 22,
and a solenoid 21 as the main components. To briefly explain each of them, the lever 4 is rotatably supported by a shaft, and a lid 3 is provided at a position opposite to the nozzle surface of the head.
Open and close with . The release lever 11 is also rotatably supported and restricts the rotation of the lever 4. The trigger lever is also rotatably supported and restricts the rotation of the release lever 11. The solenoid 21 drives the trigger lever 22.

Next, each will be explained in detail. A lid 3 is mounted on the lever 4. The first spring 400 biases the lid 3 toward the nozzle surface.
Pulling the lid 3 away from the nozzle surface to open the nozzle surface to face the recording paper (open state) is performed by manually operating the manual operation section 4b. Further, the lever 4 is provided with a claw portion 4a for use in regulating rotation.

The release lever 11 rotates about a pivoted center of rotation, and has a protrusion 1 at one end of the center of rotation.
1a, and a second spring 110 is provided at the other end. The protruding portion 11a engages with the claw portion 4a to restrict rotation of the lever 4, thereby opening the lid 3. Second
The spring 110 urges the release lever 11 in the direction of disengaging the claw portion 4a from the protruding portion.

The end 22a of the trigger lever 22 faces and abuts against the other end of the release lever 11 to maintain engagement between the claw 4a and the protrusion 11a when the solenoid 21 is de-energized, thereby restricting rotation of the release lever 11. do.
Third spring 22 provided on trigger lever 22
0 urges the trigger lever 22 in the direction of separating it from the solenoid 21 and brings it into contact with the degree-determining locking member 30 disposed on the case 10 .

An eccentric cam 23 is arranged on the other end side of the release lever 11, and is slidably engaged with the release lever 11 and rotated to form a gap between the end 22a of the trigger lever 22 and the release lever 11. be done.

The cooperative relationship among the lever 4, release lever 11, and trigger lever is as follows. In other words, the lever 4, the release lever 11, and the trigger lever 22
are in mutually engaged state, and the trigger lever 2
When a gap is formed between the head 2 and the release lever 11 and there is no recording signal to the head 1 for a certain period of time, the solenoid 21 is energized and the trigger lever 22 made of, for example, iron is attracted. Then, the engagement with the release lever 22 is released, and the engagement between the release lever 11 and the lever 4 is released by the second spring 110. Then, the lid 3 is brought into contact with the nozzle surface by the first spring 400 to be in the closed state. By doing this, when removing the trigger lever 22,
Since the frictional force between the release lever 11 and the solenoid 21 is zero, a small solenoid 21 with low energy consumption can be used. The eccentric cam is rotated by a motor that is more efficient than a solenoid, so there is no need for a particularly large one, and it can also be driven by the drive motor of the printing device used for moving the head, feeding the recording paper, etc. It can be used as a source.

In the above embodiments, the lid is rotated, but it is also possible to move the head to move toward or away from the lid.

Further, in each of the embodiments described above, the lever and the lid are made of separate members, but they may also be made of the same material, such as plastic, and various modifications of these may be considered in addition to the embodiments of the present invention.

According to the above-described inkjet printer of the present invention, the pressure between the lid and the nozzle surface is manually released, and after recording is completed, the lid is pressed against the nozzle surface by the biasing force of the spring, so the pressing force of the lid is increased. However, there is no increase in power consumption. Since the pressing force on the lid can be increased, it is possible to reliably prevent clogging, and it is also possible to prevent ink from flowing out due to the impact of dropping, which is common with portable devices.

Furthermore, when the pressing force of the lid is increased, the first spring that biases the lever 4 for opening and closing the lid applies a strong rotational force, but the protruding portion 11a of the release lever 11 and the claw portion of the lever 4 engage with each other. The rotation of the release lever 11 is restricted by the trigger lever 22, but an eccentric cam 23 that acts like a lever on the release lever 11 and rotates the release lever 11 creates a gap between the trigger lever 22 and the release lever. is formed, the trigger lever 2 is activated by energizing the solenoid 21.
2 and the release lever 11 and the protrusion 11
Since the engagement between the lid 3 and the claw 4a is released and the lid 3 is brought into contact with the nozzle surface of the head, the power consumption required for opening and closing the lid is extremely small, and the printer can also be made smaller. Therefore, even when powered by batteries, it can be used for a long time and can be made small and portable.

In addition, the lid is manually removed from the nozzle surface of the ink jet head, but if there is no recording signal for a certain period of time, a solenoid is activated and the lid is automatically closed, so the lid wrinkles and clogs occur. never occurs.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1... Inkjet head, 3... Lid, 4
... lever, 10 ... case, 11 ... release lever, 14, 21 ... solenoid.

Claims (1)

[Utility Model Claims] An on-demand type inkjet head 1 having nozzles on the surface facing the recording paper is housed in a case 10.
The inkjet printer is a portable inkjet printer that has a nozzle surface and is battery-powered, and includes a lever 4 for opening and closing a cover 3 that is rotatably supported and disposed opposite the nozzle surface, a release lever 11 that is rotatably supported and restricts the rotation of the lever 4, a trigger lever 22 that is rotatably supported and restricts the rotation of the release lever 11, and a solenoid 21 that drives the trigger lever 22. The lever 4 is connected to the cover 3 and a first spring 400 that urges the cover 3 toward the nozzle surface.
The release lever 11 includes a manual operation portion 4b for manually pulling the lid 3 away from the nozzle surface against the first spring 400 to open the lid 3, and a claw portion 4a for restricting the rotation of the lever 4. The release lever 11 includes a protrusion 1 for restricting the rotation of the lever 4, which engages with the claw portion 4a at one end with respect to the center of rotation to hold the lid 3 in the open state.
1a at its other end, and a second spring 110 for biasing the release lever 11 in a direction for releasing the engagement of the claw portion 4a with the protrusion 11a. The trigger lever 22 is connected to the solenoid 21.
an end portion 22a that faces and abuts against the other end side of the release lever 11 to restrict the rotation of the release lever 11 so as to maintain the engagement between the claw portion 4a and the protrusion 11a when the current is not applied to the release lever 11; and a third spring 22 that biases the trigger lever 22 in a direction to pull it away from the solenoid 21 and abuts against a positioning locking member 30 that is disposed in the case 10.
0, an eccentric cam 23 is disposed on the other end side of the release lever 11, which is capable of rotating so as to come into contact with the release lever 11 and form a gap between an end 22a of the trigger lever 22 and the release lever 11, and when the lid 3 is opened, the lever 4 rotated by manual operation releases the abutting state of the lid 3 from the nozzle surface to form an open state, and the open state is maintained by engaging a claw portion 4a of the lever 4 with a protruding portion 11a of the release lever 11, and the release lever 11 is pressed against the trigger lever 22.
When the lid 3 is closed, the end 22a of the eccentric cam 2 abuts against the release lever 11, and the rotation of the release lever 11 is restricted.
The trigger lever 22, which has a gap formed between it and the release lever 11 due to the rotation of the trigger lever 22, is attracted by the solenoid 21 and the release lever 11 is released.
the rotation restriction of the release lever 11 is released, the engagement between the protrusion 11a of the release lever 11 and the claw portion 4a is released, and the lid 3 is pressed against the nozzle face by the lever 4 biased by the first spring 400.