JPS62174176A - Carriage apparatus for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exclude the cutting accident of a ribbon based on erroneous operation at the time of the replacement of a ribbon cassette, by retracting a head in conjunction with the detachment operation of the ribbon cassette to release the engagement of the ribbon with a printing head. CONSTITUTION:In usual printing operation, a printing head shift mechanism 3 is energized by a retraction motor 4 to be operated and moves a printing head 2A to the opposite direction shown by an arrow C to perform printing operation. After the finish of printing operation, the printing head 2A is retracted to the direction shown by the arrow C. At the time of the detachment of a ribbon cassette 1, a revolving arm 11 is revolved to bring the cassette 1 to a releasable state. In this case, a head part retracting interlocking mechanism 20 is energized by the operation of the revolving arm 11 to immediately operate, and a head support 2 and the printing head 2A are revolved to the C-direction by the action of a cam 21 and a lever 22. By this method, the engagement of the printing head 2A with a ribbon 1A is released to make the ribbon cassette easy to detach.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a carriage device for a printer, and in particular,
The present invention relates to a printer carriage device suitable for a printer that performs a printing operation with a print head in contact with a printing surface.

[Conventional technology]

The carriage device used in this type of printer includes a cassette attachment/detachment mechanism that removably locks the ribbon cassette;
It is equipped with a print head shift mechanism that brings the print head into contact with the print surface and moves it away, and each of these mechanisms performs a predetermined function to ensure smooth printing operations.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the above conventional example, since the cassette attachment/detachment mechanism and the print head shift mechanism are each equipped independently, for example, even though the print head is in contact with the printing surface, the ribbon cassette replacement operation is difficult. A situation arises in which something is done. In this case, there was an inconvenience that an accident of cutting the ribbon occurred.

[Purpose of the invention]

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a carriage device for a printer that can improve the disadvantages of the conventional example and can effectively prevent ribbon cutting accidents caused by incorrect operations when replacing a ribbon cassette. That purpose.

[Means for solving problems]

A printer carriage device according to the present invention includes a cassette attachment/detachment mechanism that detachably attaches a ribbon cassette, and a print head shift mechanism that brings a print head disposed through the ribbon of the ribbon cassette into contact with and retreats from a printing surface. In a printer carriage device comprising: a head retraction interlocking mechanism that is activated by a cassette removal operation by a cassette attachment/removal mechanism and that energizes a print head shift mechanism to retract the print head from a printing surface; The structure is such that it is connected to the cassette attachment/detachment mechanism.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a ribbon cassette 1 containing a ribbon LA, a head support 2 equipped with a print head 2A, and a print head shift mechanism 3 that brings the print head 2A into contact with and retreats from the print surface. have.

The print head shift mechanism 3 moves the print head 2A to the ribbon I.
It has the effect of bringing it into contact with or retreating from the stamp surface via A. The operation of the print head shift mechanism 3 is performed by being energized by the traction motor 4, which will be described later, in response to the printing operation of the print head 2A and the completion of printing.

The ribbon cassette 1 is detachably stored on the frame 6 side by a cassette attachment/detachment mechanism 5.

The head support 2 is rotatably mounted around a fulcrum 7 disposed on the right side of the print head 2 in FIG. On this head support 2, a stud 2B for engaging with a head evacuation interlocking mechanism 20, which will be described later, is located at the lower right portion of the rotation fulcrum 7, and a spring 8 for pressing printing is secured at the lower left portion. One spring locking stand 2C is provided for each.

On the back surface of the head support 2 (see FIG. 2), a substantially U-shaped traction arm 9 is provided so as to be rotatable about a pivot point 7. At the rotating end of the retraction arm 9, there is an elongated hole 9A for transmitting the movement of the retraction motor 4 to the retraction arm 9 via the driven gear 4A, and a long hole 9A for transmitting the movement of the retraction motor 4 to the retraction arm 9 through the driven gear 4A.
A protrusion 9B is provided for transmitting the signal to. The head support 2 is rotated in the C direction by the pressing action of the protrusion 9B, so that the print head 2A can be retracted from the printing surface.

The other spring locking stud 9C for locking the pressing spring 8 is provided at the rotating end of the retraction arm 9.
is provided. This other spring locking stud 9C
and one spring locking stud 2C on the head support 2 side.
A spring 8 is stretched between the two. The rotational movement of the retraction arm 9 is transmitted to the head support 2 via this spring 8, and as a result, the head support 2 rotates in the direction opposite to the C direction, and the print head 2A comes into contact with the printing surface. It has become so.

That is, in this embodiment, the print head shift mechanism 3 is formed by the retraction arm 9, the projection 9B, the head support 2, the spring locking studs 2C and 9C, and the spring 8. Among these, the retraction arm 9, the protrusion 9B, and the head support 2 perform the print head retraction operation, and the retraction arm 9, the spring locking stands 2C and 9C, the spring 8, and the head support 2 perform the print head retraction operation. A pressing operation is performed.

The cassette attachment/detachment mechanism 5 also includes a pair of cassette support members 10 having a U-shaped groove 10A (see FIG. 2) for supporting the ribbon cassette 1, and both ends of the cassette 1 supported by the cassette support members 10. Rotating arm 1 that holds the part
1, and a shirt) IIS which connects the rotational fulcrums of each of these rotational arms 11 and is rotatably supported on the frame 6,
It is composed of tension springs 12 and 6, which maintain the state of one of the rotating arms 11 before and after rotation. Here, IB shown in FIG. 2 indicates a locked part formed in the cassette 1, and 11A, IIB
indicates a protrusion for locking the tension spring 12.

A head retraction interlocking mechanism 20 that functions in conjunction with the cassette attaching/detaching mechanism 5 is provided between the cassette attaching/detaching mechanism 5 and the print head shift mechanism 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the head retraction interlocking mechanism 20 includes a cam 21 fixed to a shaft IIS, a lever 22 that is biased by the cam 21 and rotates back and forth, and a rotating end 22A of the lever 22. A stud 2B is installed on the head support 2 in correspondence with the head support 2. Of these, the lever 22 is capable of reciprocating rotation in the B direction and the opposite direction about the fulcrum 22B. The cam 21 also moves the lever r22 to the direction B in FIG. 1 in synchronization with the rotation of the rotating arm 11 in the direction A in FIG.
It has the function of rotating in the direction (or the opposite direction).

Next, the overall operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

In a normal printing operation, the print head shift mechanism 3 is activated by the traction motor 4 to move the print head 2A in the opposite direction of the arrow C, thereby performing the printing operation. When the printing operation is finished, the print head 2A
is evacuated in the direction of arrow C.

When removing the cassette 1, the rotating arm 11 is rotated in the direction A in FIG. 2 to set the cassette 1 in a removable state. In this case, the head retraction interlocking mechanism 20 is immediately activated by the operation of the rotating arm 11, and the head support 20 is activated by the action of the cam 21 and the lever 22.
And the print head 2A is moved in the C direction this time. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the print head 2A
The engagement between the ribbon cassette 1 and the ribbon IA is released, and the ribbon cassette 1 can be easily removed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is configured and functions as described above, the head retraction interlocking mechanism is activated in conjunction with the ribbon cassette removal operation to effectively release the ribbon from the print head. Therefore, it is possible to provide an excellent printer carriage device that can almost completely eliminate ribbon cutting accidents caused by erroneous operations when replacing ribbon cassettes, which have conventionally occurred.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
The right side view of FIG. 1 and FIGS. 3 and 4, when the figure is viewed in a horizontal plane, are explanatory views of the operation when removing the ribbon cassette. 1...Ribbon cassette, IA...Ribbon, 2A...Print head, 3...Print head shift mechanism, 5...Cassette attachment/removal mechanism,
20... Head retraction interlocking mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A printer equipped with a cassette attachment/detachment mechanism that removably attaches a ribbon cassette, and a print head shift mechanism that brings a print head disposed through the ribbon of the ribbon cassette into contact with and retreats from a printing surface. In the carriage device for the cassette, a head retraction interlocking mechanism that is activated by a cassette removal operation by the cassette attachment/detachment mechanism and that energizes the print head shift mechanism to retract the print head from the printing surface is provided. A printer carriage device characterized by being connected to and equipped with a detachable mechanism.