JPS6323918B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing head capable of printing a price, date, etc. on a label or the like, and particularly relates to an improvement of a spacer used in this printing head.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Hand-held labelers are equipped with a printing head on which a plurality of printing bands are arranged side by side for printing data such as prices, dates or symbols. Each printing band is formed into an endless strip, and this band is provided with predetermined numbers, letters, and other symbols along its length, and the user selects specific symbols, etc. for each band using a selector. The selected symbol etc. will be printed on the label.

U.S. Pat. No. 1,143,445 discloses a stamp head in which a plurality of printing bands are arranged side by side. This printing head is basic with three printing bands arranged in one row and two spacers placed in between the printing bands; Nothing has been disclosed yet regarding the arrangement of arranging them side by side.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,106 discloses a hand-held labeler with a printing head. The print head of this hand-held labeler includes two rows of printing bands arranged side by side, with spacers provided between the printing bands. However, the spacer between the printing bands is simply formed in an annular shape and does not extend to the printed portion of the printing band. Therefore, in the case of printing, the intervals between data of adjacent print bands may deviate.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention As mentioned above, in a print head that prints two or more columns of symbols, etc., a spacer is used to maintain the intervals between the printed data at a constant interval without widening the interval between the columns. There wasn't enough about it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing head that can maintain constant spacing between adjacent characters without unnecessarily increasing the spacing between the columns even when printing two or more rows of characters, etc. is to provide.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve this object, a printing head according to the invention comprises a spacer integrally molded from a moldable material, the spacer having a generally annular portion and a spacer formed in one piece from a moldable material. , consisting of a pair of focusing portions each coupled to an annular portion and extending toward each other from the annular portion, and a connecting portion coupled to both focusing portions at a position away from the annular portion, One focusing portion extending from the annular portion is coupled to the connecting portion at a substantially right angle to the connecting portion, and the other focusing portion extending from the annular portion is coupled to the connecting portion at an obtuse angle to the connecting portion. It is characterized in that it is coupled to the connecting portion.

Embodiment Referring to FIG. 1, the printing head body indicated by the reference numeral 10 includes a pair of printing head frames 11, a pair of columns 12, guide portions 13 and 14, and a column 15.
, all of which are connected to each other by end plates 16. Print head 10 also has another end plate 17 suitably secured to frame 11 and post 15. The pair of selectors 18 each have a knob 19
has. The selector 18 is located in the notch 2 of the drive wheel 22.
It has a lug 20 cooperating with 1. Each drive wheel 22 has a generally annular configuration as shown and has an inner bore 23 and an outer peripheral lug 2 that engages a corresponding notch 25 on the back side of the respective printing band 26.
4. A rectangular section 27 with a pointer 28 moves in unison with the respective selector 18 . The member 27 includes a window 29 for viewing the text on the human readable portion 30 of the printed band 26.
is provided. The printing band 26 also has a printing portion 31 with various different printing characters for printing data on a product or on a recording member R, such as a tag or label. Further details of print head 10 are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,798,106.

Each printing band 26 is included in one of sets S1 and S2. Within each set S1 and S2, a relatively thin spacer 32 is provided between the drive wheels 22.
is sandwiched. Each thin spacer 32 has an annular portion 33 with an annular through hole 34 slightly larger than the hole 23 in the drive wheel 22 . This allows the selector to be easily moved from a position in which it cooperates with one drive wheel 22 to a position in which it cooperates with another selected drive wheel. The spacer 32 has a protrusion 36 that spans a portion 37 of the frame 11, as shown in FIG. Therefore, even if the drive wheel adjacent to the thin spacer 32 rotates, the spacer itself does not rotate. Furthermore, even if one drive wheel 22 rotates and its associated printing band 26 advances, an adjacent drive wheel 22 does not rotate and therefore its corresponding adjacent printing band 26 does not advance. The outer circumference of the spacer 32 is larger than the outer circumference of the adjacent drive wheel 22,
For this purpose, adjacent printing bands are separated from each other in the vicinity of the drive wheel 22. Drive wheel 22
is supported by resting on an arcuately recessed mounting surface 38 of the frame 11. The lug 24 rests on the surface 38 and rotates. The printing band 26 goes around the drive wheel 22 and the support 39 under tension.

According to the present invention, a relatively thick spacer 41 separates the printing band sets S1 and S2, so that the sets S1 and S2 are attached to the recording member R, as shown in FIG.
forming two separate printing areas. In this way, the thick spacer 41 according to the present invention is used to separate the two printing areas at a predetermined distance. The recording member R may be formed to have two label portions L1 and L2, and a pressure sensitive adhesive may be provided on the lower surface of one of the label portions L1. If you do this, the label part L
1 displays the regular price, label portion L2 displays the discount price, and when the sale is over, the store clerk can cut the label portion L2 along the perforation P, leaving only the regular price on the product. In such a case, if the label portion L1 and the label portion L2 are not sufficiently separated, the lateral misalignment will cause the print to overlap the perforation, an undesirable result. However, since the label cannot be made larger than necessary, the parts L1 and L2 cannot be separated by too much. Therefore, the interval is limited to a certain value.

Spacers 41 can be used for the above separation. Spacer 41 has an annular portion 42 with a circular hole 43 and a trapezoidal portion 44 with a generally trapezoidal hole 45. The arcuate portion 46 that forms part of the annular portion 42 also forms part of the trapezoidal portion 44 . This arcuate portion 46 is the mounting surface 3 of the frame 11.
Supported by 8. The trapezoidal portion 44 includes a pair of focusing portions 47 and 48, and these focusing portions,
The connecting portion 49 is connected to the annular portion 42 at a position remote from the annular portion 42. One focusing portion 48 is
It extends from the annular portion 42 in a tangential direction thereof and is connected to the connecting portion 49 at a substantially right angle. The other focusing section 48 extends tangentially from the annular section 42 and is connected to the connecting section 49 at an obtuse angle. Connection part 49
is in contact with the support 39 at its lower surface, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. Also, trapezoidal part 4
4, the frame 11 is inserted through the trapezoidal hole 45, as shown in FIG.

Although not intended to be limiting, the above spacer 41
is formed considerably thicker than the spacer 32. For example, spacer 41 is at least 5 times thicker than spacer 32, and preferably 10 to 14 times thicker. Further, the thickness of the spacer may be the same as the width of the printing band 26. In one embodiment, spacer 32 is approximately 0.005 inches (0.127
thick spacer 41 was formed to a thickness of approximately 0.060 inch (1.52 mm) at the flat portion. Note that in the accompanying drawings, the spacer 41 is shown relatively narrow for convenience of illustration. Also, the width W of any part of the spacer 41 is the same as that of the circular hole 4.
No wider than 1/2 of the diameter of 3.

Effects of the Invention Spacer 4 according to the present invention having such a shape
1 is suitable for use in a print head that prints two (or more) rows of characters, symbols, etc. This can be done by placing the two rows of printing bands 26 in the printing field Z close to each other by placing the focusing portions 48 connected at right angles to the connecting portions 49 back to back, as shown in FIG. It is from. Also, for example, in a two-row printing head,
Since the spacers 41 for one row can have the same structure as the spacers for other rows (see FIG. 3), the spacers 41 according to the present invention can have the same shape in any row. Can be used.

Still referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, a two-row printing head is disclosed, in which one row of printing bands 26 includes two sets, S1 and S.
2, and the other rows of printing bands 26 are provided with three sets S1 to S3. in this way,
A spacer 41 according to the present invention is also used to separate each set.
It is preferable to use Therefore, in one column,
One thick spacer 41 is used in the other row, and two thick spacers 41 are used in the other row. In this way, the printing head 10 prints data such as characters and symbols in separate areas on the recording member R, as shown in FIGS. In this way, overlapping printing on the perforation P can be minimized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a printing head in accordance with the present invention, with some parts omitted for clarity. FIG. 2 is an enlarged front view of the print head. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2, but to a reduced scale. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2, but on a reduced scale. FIG. 5 is a view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 2, but to a reduced scale. FIG. 6 is a partial bottom view similar to FIG. 4 of another embodiment. FIG. 7 is a top view similar to FIG. 5 of a recording member printed by the printing head of FIG. 6; DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10...Printing head main body, 11...Printing head frame, 18...Selector, 22...Drive wheel, 26...
...Printed band, 31...Printed part, 32...Thin spacer, 38...Mounting surface, 39...Support, 4
1... Spacer according to the present invention, 42... Annular part, 44... Trapezoidal part, 47... Focusing part, 48
...Focusing part, 49... Connection part, R... Recording member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a printing head with a spacer, the spacer is molded in one piece by a moldable material, and the spacer has a substantially annular section, each connected to the annular section and mutually approaching from the annular section. a pair of converging portions extending in a manner similar to that of the annular portion; and a connecting portion coupled to both converging portions at a position apart from the annular portion, one of the converging portions extending from the annular portion being connected to the connecting portion. A printing head, characterized in that it is coupled to said connecting portion at a substantially right angle, the other of said focusing portions extending from said annular portion being coupled to said connecting portion at an obtuse angle with respect to said connecting portion. .