JPS6280046A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a compact printer having a housing height as low as possible by arranging a printing element drive means on the same side as a platen with a printing element. CONSTITUTION:In the interior of a rear housing 12, a type wheel having types 36 provided on the tips of a plurality of spokes arranged radially is installed on a head carriage 40 in such a way that said wheel may be positioned almost parallel to the bottom surface of the housing 12. The type wheel 38 is set so that a selected type 36 may assume an opposed position to a platen 14. Further, in the head carriage 40, a selector motor 46 which rotates the type wheel 38 to selectively move a prearranged type 36 to a printing position in accordance with the key operation of a keyboard 20 is mounted. This selector motor 46 is installed on the same side as the platen 14 against the type wheel 38.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing device such as a typewriter, and more particularly to a printing device in which a housing is divided into two parts and the nosings of the two parts are rotatably attached. .

[Prior Art] Printing devices such as typewriters are required to be able to directly view printed characters immediately after key-in. A type wheel having a configuration in which a plurality of type characters are arranged around a flat outer periphery is also considered to have this function.

For example, as shown in a partial cross-sectional view of a conventional printing device in FIG.
2 had to be mounted at an angle nearly perpendicular to the bottom surface of the housing 74. For this reason, the mechanical height of the printing device must be higher than the diameter of the type wheel 72, and as a result, the mechanical height is increased, making it inconvenient to store and carry, and the increased height also increases the housing cost. The problem was that the weight of the machine increased.

Further, in printing devices, the keys are generally arranged at higher positions in order from the front side to the back side in order to make the keys easier to see for the typist and to make the keys easier to operate. For this reason, the height of the rear side of the housing had to be made relatively high. Therefore, from this point of view as well, the housing becomes taller, making it impossible to achieve compactness, and moreover, it is not possible to overcome the disadvantages that the weight increases accordingly.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, the applicant has provided a housing for the printing device which comprises two parts: a front housing which is provided with a keyboard having a plurality of keys, and a rear housing which is provided with a printing element and its drive means. A printing device has been provided which is divided into two housings and one housing is rotatably attached to the other housing.

With this configuration, the printing element can be placed in a position where the printed characters can be seen directly when in use, and the printing element can be positioned horizontally when not in use. It has become possible to combine the advantages of both, allowing the height of the machine to be lower than that of the previous model.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such a case where the housing is divided into two parts, the printing element and the driving device for driving the printing element are installed in the same housing. The mounting position within the housing is specified so that the printing element can print facing the platen, but the mounting position of the drive device may be any position near the printing element. The position at which the device is attached to the printing element will affect the height and length of the housing. For example, if the printing element is a flat plate like a daisy wheel, the drive device should be attached to one side of the printing element. Mounted on the side. If the drive device is placed on the opposite side of the platen from the printing element, the height of the housing will be the sum of the diameter of the platen and the height of the drive device, and the height of the housing will be increased. There was a problem.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and includes a printing device in which the housing of the printing device is divided into two parts and these housings are rotatably attached. It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact printing device in which the height of a housing including the printing element and the driving means can be made as low as possible by arranging the driving means for the printing element on the side.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a housing of a printing device, a front housing having a keyboard having a plurality of keys, a printing element, and a driving device for driving the printing element. In a printing device comprising two housings, a rear housing and a rear housing provided with a drive means for printing, one housing is rotatably attached to the other housing, on the same side as the platen with respect to the printing element, The driving means is arranged.

[Function] The present invention having the above configuration has the driving means arranged on the same side as the driving means and the platen with respect to the printing element.
The drive means and the platen can be housed within the same height, and the height of the housing can be made lower than when the drive means is attached to the print element on the opposite side of the platen.

[Example] Next, the present invention will be explained based on the drawings.

1 and 2 are longitudinal sectional views of an embodiment of the printing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows the flat state when not in use.
FIG. 2 shows the folded state during use. Also,
FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the printing device in use.

The housing of the printing device is composed of two bodies: a rod-shaped front housing 10 and a lock-shaped rear housing 12. The front housing 10 and the rear housing 12 are rotatable around the position of the platen shaft 16 of the cylindrical platen 14 that guides the printing paper 13, with the lock-shaped open surfaces facing each other. installed on. The end position of one side of the rotation of the front housing 10 and the rear housing 12 is such that their upper and lower surfaces are on the same plane (Fig. 1), and the end position of the rotation of the other side is such that their upper and lower surfaces are on the same plane. When bent into a dogleg shape with the bottom sides close to each other (Figure 2)
It is said that

A keyboard 20 having a plurality of keys 18 such as character keys and symbol keys is attached to the front of the upper surface of the front housing 10. Further, inside the front housing 10, a ribbon cassette 24 that stores the ribbon 22 facing the platen 14 and a ribbon drive device 26 that winds up the ribbon 22 are provided. 26 is held on a ribbon carriage 28. This ribbon carriage 28 has a printing hammer 30 at a position facing the platen 14 with the ribbon 22 in between.
is mounted so that it can swing freely. Furthermore, a hammer drive device 32 consisting of a solenoid or the like is attached to the ribbon carriage 28 for driving the printing hammer 30 in response to the operation of the key 18. The ribbon carriage 28
is reciprocated by a known transfer means (not shown) along two guide shafts 34, 34 which are suspended parallel to the platen 14 between the sides of the front housing IO.

On the other hand, inside the rear housing 12, a type wheel 38 having a type 36 at the tips of a plurality of radially arranged spokes is attached to the head carriage 40 so as to be substantially parallel to the bottom surface of the rear housing 12. It is being

The type wheel 38 is set so that the selected type 36 is positioned opposite the platen 14.

Further, a character selection motor 46 is attached to the head carriage 40 for rotating the character wheel 38 and selectively moving a predetermined character 36 to a printing position in accordance with the operation of the keys 18 of the keyboard 20. This selection motor 4
6 is mounted on the same side of the type wheel 38 as the platen 14, as shown in FIG. A drive gear 48 is fixed to the tip of this character selection motor 46, and this drive gear 4B is engaged with the type wheel 38 and meshes with a driven gear 50 serving as a transmission member that rotates together with the type wheel 38 (fourth (see figure). Furthermore, a paper meter 52 for guiding the printing paper 13 and a ribbon guide 54 for guiding and supporting the ribbon 22 of the ribbon cassette 24 are also attached to the head carriage 40.

The head carriage 40 is connected to the rear housing 12.
It is mounted so as to be reciprocally movable along a guide shaft 42 and a guide plate 44, which are horizontally suspended between the side surfaces of the platen 14 in parallel with the platen 14. This headgear ridge 40 is moved by known transport means (not shown), for example consisting of a stepper motor and a belt. This guide shaft 42 and the guide shaft 34 are installed parallel to each other, and both carriages 28.40 are guided by the respective guide shafts 34.42.
are set to move synchronously in the same direction and the same distance by the transport means. That is, the ribbon cassette 24 and the type wheel 38 are set so that they always move in the same positional relationship during printing (FIG. 2).

When not in use, the type wheel 38 mounted within the rear housing 12 is spaced apart from the ribbon 22 of the ribbon cassette 24 mounted within the front housing 10, as shown in FIG. In addition, when in use, the type wheel 38 is moved to the platen 1 as shown in FIG.
The type wheel 38 rotates around the platen shaft 16 of 4.
The selected type 36 is connected to the ribbon 22 and the printing hammer 3.
0, and is set so that the printing hammer 30 can strike the type 36 toward the platen 14 via the ribbon 22.

Next, when a key 18 such as the 0 character key is pressed to explain the printing operation in the printing device configured as described above, the input signal corresponding to that key 18 is sent to the central processing unit (CPU).
), etc., and the character selection motor 46 is driven by a signal from the control means. The rotation of the character selection motor 46 rotates the type wheel 38 via the drive gear 48 and the driven gear 50, and moves the type 36 corresponding to the key 18 to the printing position. At the same time, the hammer drive 32 is actuated to move the print hammer 30 toward the platen 14 and strike the rear surface of the selected type 36. Then, the struck type 36 comes into contact with the printing paper 13 on the platen 14 via the ribbon 22, and printing is performed.

This completes the printing operation for one character.

After that, the ribbon carriage 28 and the helad carriage 40
is laterally moved by the transport means, and becomes ready for the next printing. Thereafter, when the key 18 is pressed, printing operations similar to those described above are performed.

In the above embodiment, the drive gear 48 of the character selection motor 46 and the driven gear 50 of the type wheel 38 were directly engaged, but as shown in FIG.
a driving gear 48 of the type wheel 38 and a driven gear 50' of the type wheel 38.
An intermediate gear 56 may be interposed between the two.

Further, in the embodiment described above, the printing hammer 30 was provided on the front housing 10 side, but it goes without saying that it may be provided on the rear housing 12 side.

Further, in the embodiment described above, a gear was used as a driving force transmission means from the character selection motor 46 to the type wheel 38, but other transmission means such as a chain or a belt may be used.

Furthermore, in the above embodiments, a ribbon cassette type printing method is shown as the type of printing, but an ink roll type printing method may also be adopted.

Although not described in detail, it goes without saying that the present invention can be practiced with various modifications based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention configured as described above has a printing device in which a housing is divided into two parts and these housings are rotatably attached to each other. Compared to the case where the driving means is mounted on the opposite side of the printing element from the platen, the height of the housing that houses them can be lowered, and the size of the printing device can be reduced. .

Furthermore, by driving the printing element via the transmission member instead of directly driving the printing element with the driving means, the driving means does not have to be located at the center of the printing element, and the position of the driving means can be changed around the transmission member. can be placed at any position. Furthermore, if the number of transmission members is increased, the range of placement positions of the drive means will be wider.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are longitudinal cross-sectional views of one embodiment of the printing device according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state when not in use, and FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state when in use. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the printing device in use, FIG. 4 is a front view of one embodiment showing a printing element, a driving means, and a transmission member between them, and FIG. 5 is a fourth embodiment showing another embodiment. Figure equivalent diagram,
FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing a conventional printing device. 1O...Front housing, 12...Rear housing. 14...Platen, 18...Key, 20...Keyboard, 38...Type wheel, 46...Type selection motor, 48.
... Drive gear, 50/50'... Driven gear, 56... Intermediate gear. Figure 3 Figure 6 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) The housing of the printing device consists of two housings: a front housing with a keyboard having a plurality of keys, and a rear housing with a printing element and a drive means for driving the printing element. 1. A printing device comprising: one housing rotatably attached to the other housing, wherein the driving means is disposed on the same side of the printing element as the platen. (2) The printing device according to claim 1, characterized in that a transmission member is provided between the printing element and the driving means.