JPS63256471A - Serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the need to manually adjust the fitting position of a paper for printing at a desired part on the paper and make it possible to constantly print at a predetermined position on the paper, by providing a means for detecting the ends of the paper in the moving directions of a carriage. CONSTITUTION:When a serial printer is set into an operable condition, a carriage 3 is moved from one end to the other of a movable range L thereof. Meanwhile, a photo-sensor 4 provided on the carriage 3 detects a light emitted from a fluorescent lamp 5 provided on the rear side of a paper 2, thereby detecting the boundary between a place where the paper 2 is absent and a place where the light is interrupted by the paper 2. A section t1 over which the carriage 3 is moved until it reaches the left end 6 of the paper 2 and a section t2 over which the carriage 3 is moved to pass across the width of the paper are detected by a paper end-detecting means, whereby the fitting position of the paper 2 and the width of the paper 2 are automatically confirmed. By this, it is possible to print at the same part measured relatively from an end of the paper even when the paper is fitted at, for example, a position deviated in a moving direction of the carriage, and it is possible to avoid printing at a position on the outside of the paper width.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a serial printer, and particularly to detection of a paper mounting position in a carriage movement direction.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of serial printer has been equipped with a mechanism for detecting the presence or absence of paper to be printed on, but has not had a mechanism for detecting where the paper is attached in the gear ridge movement direction.

On the other hand, to align the paper in the feeding direction, it is possible to attach the paper to the correct position using a form feed mechanism or the like.

[Problems to be solved] However, such conventional serial printers do not have a function to detect the paper mounting position in the carriage movement direction, and the carriage movement range is set in advance. In order to print at the desired location, it is necessary to manually adjust the paper mounting position, which poses a problem in that it is necessary to perform trial printing several times and make adjustments.

Furthermore, since the movement range of the carriage is fixed regardless of the mounting position of the paper, there is also the problem that even if the number of characters printed in one line exceeds the width of the paper, printing continues as is.

[Means for Solving Problems] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and includes a method of moving a carriage in a direction intersecting the paper supply direction and printing on the paper using a print head provided on the carriage. The serial printer is characterized in that the carriage is provided with paper edge detection means for detecting an edge of the paper in the carriage movement direction.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

First, to explain the configuration, 1 in the figure is a rubber roller whose both ends are rotatably supported on the printer body (not shown), 2 is a rubber roller,
The printing paper 3 is a carriage that reciprocates in parallel with the axis of the rotation shaft of the rubber roller l. The paper 2 is fed from the bottom to the top in the figure, a carriage 3 moves in a direction intersecting the feeding direction, and a print head (not shown) provided on the carriage 3 prints in the width direction of the paper 2.

The carriage 3 is provided with an optical sensor 4 with a light receiving section facing the paper 2. Reference numeral 5 denotes a rod-shaped fluorescent lamp provided opposite to the optical sensor 4, and its axial center line is set substantially parallel to the axial center line of the rubber roller l.

The optical sensor 4 and the fluorescent lamp 5 constitute a paper edge detection means for detecting the edge of the paper 2 in the carriage movement direction.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. When the serial printer according to this embodiment shifts from an inoperable state such as power off or out of paper to an operable state by turning on the power or supplying paper, the carriage 3 moves within its movable range. move from one end to the other. During this time, the optical sensor 4 provided on the carriage 3 senses the light from the fluorescent lamp 5 provided on the rear side of the paper 2, and detects the areas where the paper 2 is absent and the areas where the light is blocked by the paper 2.

The changes in the output signal from the optical sensor 4 are shown in FIG. It senses and outputs the detection signal. Subsequently, when passing over the interval t1 and entering the interval tz, the light from the fluorescent lamp 5 is blocked by the paper 2, so the output of the detection signal is stopped. Further, when the paper 2 passes over the right edge 7 and passes through the section t2, the optical sensor 4 returns to the state of sensing light from the fluorescent lamp 5, and therefore the optical sensor 4 starts outputting a detection signal again.

In this way, the section tl until the paper edge detection means reaches the left edge 6 of the paper 2, and the section t2 until it passes the paper width.
By detecting this, the attachment position of the paper 2 and the width of the paper 2 can be automatically recognized.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, since the paper edge detection means for detecting the paper edge in the carriage movement direction is provided, the mounting position of the paper and the paper width can be automatically recognized. This makes it possible to print at the same location relative to the edge of the paper even if the paper is installed at a position that is shifted in the direction of carriage movement, and it is also possible to print at a position beyond the width of the paper. Therefore, it is possible to always print at a predetermined position on the paper.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure showing the change of the output signal from the optical sensor shown in the figure. 2: Paper 3: Carriage 4: Light sensor 5: Fluorescent lamp 6: Left edge of paper 7: Right edge of paper. Agent Patent Attorney Mura 1) Miki Yu Figure 1 Figure 2 (Kiri, i Kishi 1 Tsukasa [[υ]

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A serial printer in which a carriage is moved in a direction intersecting with a paper supply direction and a print head provided on the carriage prints on the paper, wherein the carriage is provided with an edge of the paper in the carriage movement direction. A serial printer characterized in that it is provided with paper edge detection means for detecting a copy.