JPS6237174A - Latch device for fitting auxiliary device to printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate fitting and detaching a paper-supplying device from a printer, by bringing a contact part provided for a latch lever into contact with a part of a printer or a member affixed to the printer, and turning the lever against an energizing force of an energizing means to engage the lever to a fitting part of a platen. CONSTITUTION:When mounting the paper-supplying device 1 on the printer 7, an engaging part 8 of a side plate 2 is placed on the upper side of a platen shaft 10, and is lowered as it is. In this case, since the latch lever 4 is energized by a spring 6 in such a direction that an engaging part 11 is not engaged to the platen shaft 10, the engaging part 8 can be smoothly engaged with the shaft 10 without need to operate the lever 4 by fingers or the like. When detaching the device 1 front the printer 7, the contact parts 13 can be sequentially separated from a simply by lifting up the device 1, so that the lever 4 is turned clockwise by the function of the spring 6, and the engaging part 8 can be disengaged from the shaft 10 without trouble.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a latch lever rotatably supported on an auxiliary device, and a locking mechanism that cooperates with the latch lever to engage the auxiliary device with a mounting portion of a printer. The present invention relates to a latch device for attaching an auxiliary device to a printer, including a joint portion.

It has long been well known that various types of printers, such as serial impact printers, wire dot printers, or thermal printers, are equipped with auxiliary devices such as automatic paper feeders and home tractors as necessary. It has also been common practice in the past to use latching devices of the type described above for attachment to printers. Figure 9 and 1
FIG. 0 shows an example of a conventional latch device of this type, and this latch device 20a is attached to a side plate 2 of an auxiliary device consisting of a paper feeder 1a.
A has a latch lever 4a rotatably supported via a pivot pin 3a, and a knob 5a is attached to the upper part of the latch lever 4a. The latch lever 4a moves counterclockwise (in the direction of the arrow) around the pivot pin 3a by a biasing means consisting of a tension spring 6a whose ends are locked to the lever 4a and the side plate 2a.
is energized by

To attach the paper feeder 1a to the printer, as shown in FIG. 4a against the action of spring 6a as indicated by arrow A.
Rotate it in the opposite direction. Leave the paper feed unit [1a] in this state.
is placed on top of the printer, the notch-shaped engaging portion 8a formed on the side plate 2a is engaged with the platen shaft 10 of the platen 9 supported by the mounting portion of the printer, in this example, the frame of the printer, and the knob 5a is Let go of your hand. As a result, the locking portion 11a of the latch lever 4a engages with the platen shaft 10 by the action of the spring 6a as shown in FIG.
is sandwiched between the locking part 11a of the latch lever 4a and the engaging part 8a of the side plate 2a, and the paper feeder @1a is latched to the platen shaft 10 by the cooperative action of the latch lever 4a and the engaging part 8a. Installed in.

Also when removing the paper feed device 1a from the printer 7.

By placing a finger on the knob 5a and pressing it, the locking portion 11a of the latch plate A-48 is separated from the platen shaft IO, and the sheet feeding device 11a is lifted to remove the engaging portion 8a from the platen shaft 10.

As mentioned above, the auxiliary device of the paper feeding device can be launched into the printer or removed by releasing the latched state using the conventional latching device, but the knob 5a must be pressed with a finger each time the operation is performed. However, it was not free from the drawback that it was somewhat time-consuming to operate.

An object of the present invention is to provide a latch device that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional art and allows for easier attachment and detachment of a paper feeder to a printer than in the prior art.

11. The present invention also provides an urging means for urging the latch lever in a direction in which the latch lever does not engage with the mounting portion of the printer, and the abutment portion provided on the latch lever is attached to a part of the printer or the printer. The present invention proposes a configuration in which the latch lever is brought into contact with the attached member, and the latch lever is rotated against the biasing force of the biasing means to engage the lever with the mounting portion of the platen.

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

FIG. 1 shows the state before the automatic paper feeder 1, which feeds sheets of paper one by one into the printer, is mounted on the printer. i! 11 is fixedly attached to the printer by a latch device 20 according to the present invention. Similarly to FIGS. 9 and 10, reference numeral 9 designates a platen rotatably supported by the printer frame via a platen shaft 10. As shown in FIGS.

The latching device 20 is shown clearly in FIGS. 2 and 3.
A latch lever 4 is rotatably supported on the side plate 2 of the paper feeder l via a pivot pin 3, and the latch lever 4 is
It has a latch lever locking part 11 on one end that is shaped to hold the platen shaft 10 when the paper feeder l is attached, and the other end has a latch lever locking part 11 at a suitable place on the printer's surface, in this example, a cover 12 thereof. A contact portion 13 that can be contacted is provided. A pivot pin 3 is located between these ends, and the pivot pin 3 and the abutment part 13
One end of a biasing means consisting of a tension spring 6 is locked between. The other end of the spring 6 is locked to the side plate 2, so that the latch lever 4 has its locking portion 11 locked onto the platen shaft 1.
0 (in the direction of arrow B).

On the side plate 2.

A cutout-shaped engagement portion 8 is formed similarly to the conventional latch device.

When the paper feeder 1 is mounted on a printer, the engaging portion 8 of the side plate 2 is brought above the platen shaft 10 as shown in FIG. 2, and then lowered as it is.

At this time, the spring 6 biases the latch lever in a direction in which the locking portion 11 of the latch lever 4 does not engage with the platen shaft IO, so the latch lever 4 assumes the posture shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Therefore, the engaging portion 8 and the platen shaft 10 can be fitted together without any problem without operating the latch lever 4 with a finger or the like.

As the paper feeder l is lowered, the contact part 1 of the latch lever 4
3 comes into contact with the cover 12 of the printer, so that the lever 4 is pushed by the cover 12, and due to the weight of the paper feeder l, the latch lever 4 moves around the pivot pin 3 against the action of the spring 6 as shown in FIG. Rotate counterclockwise at . Therefore, when the paper feeding device 1 is placed on the printer and the platen shaft 10 has finished fitting into the engaging portion 8 as shown by the solid line in FIG.

The locking portion 11 of the latch lever 4 also engages with the platen shaft 10, and the locking portion 11 and the engaging portion 8 sandwich the platen shaft 10.

In this way, the paper feeding device 1 can be attached to the printer surface in a latched state by simply lowering the paper feeding device 1 and placing it on the printer surface.

When removing the paper feeder l from the printer 7, the paper feeder l
Since the abutting portion 13 is successively separated from the cover 12 simply by immediately lifting the latch lever upward, the latch lever 4 rotates clockwise in FIG. can be removed. Therefore, in this case as well, the paper feeding device can be easily removed without pressing the latch lever 4 with a finger or the like as in the conventional case.

As described above, the latch device i provided on one side of the paper feeder 1
! Although 20 has been described, a similar latch group 120 can also be provided on the other side as shown in FIG. Alternatively, a latch device having the configuration according to the present invention may be used as a latch device.
The other side may simply be provided with a support member supported by the platen shaft. As described above, the number of latch devices according to the present invention may be an appropriate number, and the same applies to the embodiments described below.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the contact portion 13 is formed by a part of the latch lever 4. However, in the embodiment shown in FIGS.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the contact portion can also be formed by a leaf spring 113 having one end fixed to the latch lever 4. In this embodiment as well, in order to mount the paper feeder l on the printer, the latch device 20 on the paper feeder side is brought to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Place the contact part on the cover 12 of the printer, rotate the latch lever 4 counterclockwise by the weight of the paper feeder 1, and engage the locking part 11 and the engaging part 8 with the platen shaft 10 as shown by the solid line. and set the paper feeder 1. At this time, since the leaf spring 113 can be elastically deformed, the following advantages can also be obtained.

That is, the relative height positional relationship between the platen shaft 10 and the cover 12 often differs depending on the printer model or variations in printer manufacturing. For example, the height positions of the platen shaft 10 and the cover 12 may be set as shown by the solid line in FIG.
may be located slightly higher as shown by the dashed line. In such a case, if the abutting portion 13 is formed by the latch lever 4 itself as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cover 12 will occupy a position lower than the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the latch lever 4 also occupies a position rotated clockwise from the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 after the paper feeder is set. Therefore, the locking portion 1 of the latch lever 4
1 does not engage with the platen shaft 10, or the engagement force becomes weak, and the latch lever 4 cannot be completely latched.

This may cause the paper feeding device 1 to move loosely with respect to the printer. On the other hand, if the cover 12 is higher than the state shown by the solid line in FIG. There is a possibility that the paper being fed may be easily skewed due to vibrations of the printer 7. The same applies when the contact portion 13 is brought into contact with a portion of the printer other than the cover 12.

However, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, since the abutting portion is composed of the leaf spring 113, even when the height of the cover 12 with respect to the platen shaft 10 is as indicated by the solid line in FIG. Even when it's a dashed line.

While the leaf spring 113 is elastically deformed, the latch lever 4 can be pressed against the platen shaft 10 with an appropriate pressure, and incomplete latching or excessive latching will not occur. Further, since vertical vibrations can be absorbed by the leaf spring 113, there is also an advantage that the latch lever 4 is difficult to come off from the platen shaft 10.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the abutting portion is constituted by a torsion coil spring 213 instead of a leaf spring, and this spring 213 is wound around the pivot pin 3 that pivots the latch lever 4. One end of the latch lever 4 is pressed into contact with the latch lever 4, and the other end is connected to the printer 7 as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.
It can be pressed against the cover 12 of. As a result, the latch device 20 of the paper feeder l is brought to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Similarly, by rotating as shown by the solid line, the paper feeder l can be latched to the printer 7. At that time, since the torsion coil spring 213 can be elastically deformed in this embodiment as well, even if the cover 12 is positioned as shown by the solid line,
Even if the latch lever 4 is positioned as shown in the dashed line, under-latching or over-latching of the latch lever 4 can be prevented, and there is also an advantage that the latch lever 4 is difficult to come off from the platen shaft 10.

In each of the above embodiments, the contact portion is configured to come into pressure contact with the cover of the printer, but it may also be brought into pressure contact with another part of the printer, or with another member provided on the printer instead of the printer itself. You can also do that. Particularly in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, if the height of the cover is too low and there is a risk of insufficient latching, a spacer member is placed on top of the cover 12, and the contact portion 13 is placed on top of the cover 12. It is advantageous that the latch can be brought into pressure contact with each other because insufficient latching can be prevented from occurring.

Further, the attachment part of the printer to which the latch lever 4 and the engagement part 8 are attached is not limited to the platen shaft, but may be any other suitable member.

The present invention is not limited to the automatic paper feeding device as shown in FIG.
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 8, it is of course possible to adopt a paper feeding device consisting of a home tractor 100 that feeds continuous paper (not shown) to the printer 7, or other appropriate auxiliary devices to the printer. be.

According to the present invention, there is no need to manually operate the latch lever when attaching or detaching the auxiliary device to the printer.

It is possible to work easily.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the state before the paper feed device is installed in the printer, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the state immediately before the paper feed device is latched to the printer by the latch device, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the state when the paper feed device is latched to the printer. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 in another embodiment, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram to clarify the operation, and FIG. 5 is in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 in another embodiment; FIG. 7 is an illustration similar to FIG. 3 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6. 8 is a perspective view showing another example of the auxiliary device, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another example of the auxiliary device.
10 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 which reveals a conventional latching device, and FIG. 10 is a partially sectional side view showing a state in which latching is completed by the latching device shown in FIG. 9. 4...Latch lever 7...Printer 8...
- Engaging portion 13... Contact portion 20... Latch device 113... Leaf spring 213... Torsion coil spring Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 4 Fig. 6 Fig. 9

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) An auxiliary device is attached to a printer, the auxiliary device comprising a latch lever rotatably supported on the auxiliary device, and an engaging portion that cooperates with the latch lever to engage the auxiliary device with a mounting portion of the printer. In the latch device for mounting, a biasing means is provided for biasing the latch lever in a direction in which the lever does not engage with the mounting portion of the printer, and the abutment portion provided on the latch lever is attached to a part of the printer or the printer. The latch device is characterized in that the latch lever is brought into contact with an attached member and rotated against the biasing force of the biasing means to engage the lever with a mounting portion of the platen. (2) The latch device according to claim 1, wherein the contact portion is formed by a part of the latch lever itself. (3) The latch device according to claim 1, wherein the abutting portion is constituted by a leaf spring attached to the latch lever. (4) The latch device according to claim 1, wherein the abutting portion is constituted by a torsion coil spring attached to the latch lever.