KR100465338B1 - Paper supplier for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

A paper feeding device for a printer, comprising: a printer body having a cassette mounting groove and a paper feed roller; A paper cassette having a retractable paper outlet toward the printer body and detachable from the cassette mounting groove, the paper cassette being capable of discharging printing paper stacked in the paper feed roller when the paper outlet is opened; And an outlet opening and closing portion for opening the paper discharge opening when the paper cassette is mounted in the cassette mounting groove. According to this, the paper discharge port of the paper cassette is opened only during printing and closed when printing stops, so that the printing paper accommodated therein can be safely stored, and it is particularly useful when storing printing paper for photos.

Description

Paper feeder of printer {PAPER SUPPLIER FOR PRINTER}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeder for a printer, and more particularly, to a paper feeder for a printer that can be employed in a photo-only printer for printing an image photographed by a digital camera, for example, by which a paper cassette is exposed outside the printer body.

Among the printers being released in various models, there are products in which a paper cassette for stacking printing paper is exposed to the outside. Recently, paper cassettes exposed to the outside can be pivotally folded or detached from the printer main body so as to efficiently use the indoor space.

By the way, in such a printer in which the conventional paper cassette is exposed to the outside, since the printing paper laminated and accommodated in the paper cassette is in direct contact with the atmosphere, deformation occurs gradually over time. In particular, recently disclosed photo printers, that is, photo printing papers used in printers for printing images captured by a digital camera exclusively, have a problem of being easily deformed due to the property that a thin film is coated on the printing surface thereof. .

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer paper feeder having a paper cassette capable of supplying smoothly when necessary, while safely storing the printing paper without deformation in view of these problems.

Another object of the present invention is to feed a photo printer exclusively equipped with a removable paper cassette that can be easily supplied when printing an image captured by a digital camera or the like while safely stacking the printing paper for photos without deforming. To provide a device.

1 is a schematic side view of a photo-only printer having a sheet feeding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view of FIG. 1 showing the configuration of a paper feeding apparatus according to the present invention; FIG.

3 and 4 are side views of the paper feeder, showing the operation of opening and closing the paper outlet of the paper cassette,

5 is an exploded perspective view of the paper cassette;

6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 3, in which a return spring for restoring the upper cover of the paper cassette is mounted;

7 is a view showing that the paper cassette of the paper feeding device is installed to be rotatable up and down, and is folded in the outer casing;

8 is a view showing a state in which the return spring of the upper cover according to another embodiment of the present invention is mounted, and

9 is a view showing a state in which the return spring of the upper cover according to another embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1: Photo exclusive printer 3: External casing

10: printer body 11: feed roller

20: paper feeder 23: paper feed roller

30: paper cassette 31: lower case

32: paper outlet 36 ', 36 ": paper adjusting pin

37: roller receiving groove 41: upper cover

51: outlet opening and closing part 53: fixing member

54: movable arm 55: inclined surface

63: driven rib 65: cam projection

66: operating part 71: bracket

81, 91, 95: return spring

The object is a printer main body having a paper feed roller embedded adjacent to the cassette mounting groove and the cassette mounting groove; A paper cassette having an openable / closed paper outlet toward the printer body and detachable from the cassette mounting groove, the paper cassette capable of discharging printing paper stacked in the paper feed roller when the paper outlet is opened; And a discharge opening and closing part for opening the paper discharge port when the paper cassette is mounted in the cassette mounting groove.

Here, the paper cassette includes a rectangular cylindrical case having an upper surface opened; An upper cover which seals the opening surface of the lower case and has a roller receiving groove for partially accommodating the paper feed roller; And a hinge part provided at the rear end of the lower case and the upper cover to form an axis for opening and closing the upper cover with respect to the lower case.

At this time, the outlet opening and closing portion is fixed to the bottom surface of the printer body, having a movable arm extending toward the paper outlet of the paper cassette; A driven rib extending from the upper cover to be in contact with the movable arm of the fixing member; And an operating portion interposed between the movable arm and the driven rib to allow the upper cover to rotate upwardly about the hinge portion when the paper cassette is mounted to the cassette mounting groove. An inclined surface inclined downward in a direction extending to an end of the movable arm of the fixing member; And a cam protrusion projecting downward from the driven rib of the upper cover and moving along the inclined surface.

In addition, it is preferable to further include a return spring installed adjacent to the hinge portion to return the upward rotation of the upper cover with respect to the lower case to its original position.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

1 is a schematic side view of a photo-only printer having a sheet feeding apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a partially enlarged perspective view of Figure 1, showing the configuration of the sheet feeding apparatus according to the present invention. As can be seen from the figure, the printer 1 dedicated to the photo includes an outer casing 3 forming an external appearance and a conveying roller 6 in the printer body 10, 3, and 4 embedded in the outer casing 3. And a paper feeding device 10 for supplying printing paper P to the printer body 10. The outer casing 3 is provided with a cassette folded portion 4 recessed in the rear, and a cassette accommodating groove is opened in the lower portion of the cassette folded portion 4.

The printer main body 10 has a paper feed path 19 to which printing paper P is conveyed, a feed roller 11 provided on the paper feed path 19, and a feed roller 11 as in a general printer. It includes a carrier (not shown) mounted with an ink cartridge that moves horizontally with respect to the conveying direction of the printing paper (P) by. The feed roller 11 transfers the printing paper P supplied from the paper cassette 30 of the paper feeding device 20 described later in detail at line intervals. At this time, the ink cartridge performs printing on the conveyed printing paper P while interlocking with the moving carriage according to the control signal of the controller. General description of the structure and operation of such a printer body 10 will be omitted.

At the rear of the printer body 10, on the other hand, a cassette mounting groove portion (18 in Figs. 3 and 4) opened corresponding to the cassette receiving groove of the outer casing 3 is formed. The paper cassette 30 of the paper feeder 10 is detachably coupled to the cassette mounting groove 18. On the outside of the cassette mounting groove 18, a bracket (see 71 in Figs. 3 and 4) for detachably coupling the paper cassette 30 can be installed. Such a bracket 71 preferably has a configuration that can be folded while pivoting up and down with respect to the cassette folded portion 4 of the outer casing 3. Then, the paper cassette 30 of the paper feeding device 20 according to the present invention can be folded on the back of the outer casing 3, so that the space in the room can be used efficiently.

3 and 4 are side views of the paper cassette of the present paper feeding device and the discharge opening and closing portion for adjusting the size of the paper discharge port of the paper cassette. The paper feeding device 20 includes a paper cassette 30 for stacking a plurality of printing papers P, a discharge opening / closing portion 51 for forming a paper discharge port 32 of the paper cassette 30, and a paper cassette 30. And a paper feed roller 23 for supplying the printing paper P inside the paper sheet to the feed roller 11 of the printer body 10.

3 and 4, although the printer main body 10 is not shown in detail, the paper feeding apparatus 20 inside the cassette mounting groove 18 opened at the rear of the printer main body 10 therebetween. The feeding roller 23 and the fixing member 53 of the discharge opening and closing part 51 are provided up and down, and the paper cassette 30 is detachably coupled to the outside. Then, in front of the fixing member 53 of the discharge opening and closing part 51, a feed roller 11 of the printer body 10 and a feed roller member 13 rotatably supporting it are provided. A plurality of pinch rollers 17 are arranged in parallel with the feed roller 11 at the upper portion of the feed roller 11. These pinch rollers 11 are rotatably installed in a separate pinch roller member 15, it is embedded in the printer body (10).

The paper feed roller 23 of the paper feed device 20 has a rotating shaft 24 parallel to the feed roller 11 of the printer body 10, and is rotatable by a driving force of a motor (not shown).

On the other hand, the paper cassette 30, as can be seen in more detail in the exploded perspective view of Fig. 5, a rectangular cylindrical lower case 31 having an upper surface opened, and the opening surface 32 of the lower case 31 ) Is largely configurable as an upper cover 41 which opens to seal. A hinge portion 75 is provided at the rear coupling end of the lower case 31 and the upper cover 41, and the upper cover 41 rotates up and down about the pivot shaft 77 of the hinge portion 75. 31) Open and close.

The lower case 31 includes a pair of long side walls 34 and a pair of short side walls 35 which are each bent and extended from the edge of the bottom plate 33. The bottom plate 33 is provided with a plurality of paper adjusting pins 36 'and 36 ". The pair of paper adjusting pins 36' and 36" are movable in the width direction of the bottom plate 33 in a pair of widths. It can be divided into a control pin 36 'and a length control pin 36 "movable along the longitudinal direction in the bottom plate 33. And, the return spring 81 which will be described later in detail on the inner surface of the single rear wall 35; The spring mounting groove 38 to be installed is recessed.

The upper cover 41 has a flange portion 43 extending downward from both longitudinal edges. Both flange portions 43 surround the long side walls 34 of the lower case 41 when the upper cover 41 is coupled to the opening face 32 of the lower case 31. The upper cover 41 also has its rear end 45 protruding with respect to the reference upper surface. The protruding portion of the upper cover 41 is formed with a spring coupling groove (see 48 in FIG. 6) formed along the plate surface direction facing the spring mounting groove 38 of the lower case 31.

The hinge portion 75 includes a pivot shaft 76 formed at a rear end of the pair of long side walls 34 of the lower case 31 and a pivot shaft protruding from the rear ends of both flange portions 43 of the upper cover 41. 77). The rotating shaft 77 of the upper cover 41 is coupled to the shaft hole 76 of the lower case 31, whereby the upper cover 41 is relative to the lower case 31 about the rotating shaft 77. Up and down rotation is possible. At this time, the front end of the lower case 31 and the upper cover 41 is provided with a paper discharge port (see 32 in Figure 4) is adjustable in size. That is, the upper cover 41 can be rotated up and down between the position to close the paper discharge port 32 and the position to open the center of the rotation shaft 77.

Here, the return spring 81 provided at the rear end of the lower case 31 and the upper cover 41 serves to elastically press the upper cover 41 pivoting upward to the open position to the closed position. The return spring 81 is simply configurable as a prefabricated spring having a "⊂" shape, and is mounted in the spring mounting groove 38 of the lower case 31. Both ends 85 of the return spring 81 are coupled to the bottom surface of the spring mounting groove 38, as can be seen in more detail in FIG. The end portion 83 extending forward of the return spring 81 is accommodated in the spring engaging groove 48 of the upper cover 41. As a result, the upper cover 41 is elastically pressed downward in the direction of closing the lower case 31.

On the other hand, the outlet opening and closing part 51, as can be seen in more detail in Figure 7, the fixing having a movable arm 54 installed on the bottom surface of the printer main body 10 extending toward the cassette mounting groove 18 The member 53, the driven rib 63 protruding from the upper cover 41 of the paper cassette 30 toward the movable arm 54 of the fixing member 53, and the movable arm 54 and the driven rib 63. It consists of the operation part 66 interposed between. The fixing member 53 is disposed between the feed roller member 13 and the cassette mounting groove 18 and faces the lower portion of the pinch roller member 15.

The driven rib 63 has a structure which protrudes along the plate surface direction of the upper cover 41, and they can simply be integrally injection molded. In the central area of the boundary portion between the upper cover 41 and the driven rib 63, a roller accommodation groove 37 is formed in which the lower portion of the paper feed roller 23 is accommodated. The paper feed roller 23 whose lower part is partially accommodated in this roller accommodation groove 37 contacts the printing paper P laminated | stacked and accommodated in the lower case 31. As shown in FIG. Thus, when the upper cover 41 is rotated upward with respect to the lower case 31, that is, when the upper cover 41 is disposed in the open position and the paper outlet 32 is opened, the printing paper ( P) can be supplied.

The operation part 66 can be simply comprised by the inclined surface 55 formed in the movable arm 54 of the fixing member 53, and the cam protrusion 65 protruding downward to the driven rib 63 of the upper cover 41. FIG. . The inclined surface 55 forms an inclined angle gradually downward along the extending direction of the movable arm 54.

In the paper feeding device 20 of the present printer having such a configuration, the paper cassette 30 in which the lower case 31 and the upper cover 41 are combined can be stored separately from the printer body 10. The separated paper cassette 30 is maintained in a state where the upper cover 41 closes the lower case 41 by the elastic force of the built-in return spring 81. Therefore, even when a plurality of printing sheets P are accommodated in the paper cassette 30, it can be stored in a good state. This is especially effective when storing printing papers for photos that are easily deformable by contact with the atmosphere.

On the other hand, when printing, the paper cassette 30 is coupled to the cassette mounting groove 18 of the printer body 10 through the cassette receiving groove formed in the outer casing (3). Then, the paper cassette 30, that is, the cam protrusion 65 formed on the driven rib 63 of the upper cover 41, moves upward along the inclined surface 55 formed on the movable arm 54 of the fixing member 53. do. At this time, the upper cover 41 rotates upward with respect to the lower case 31 about the pivot shaft 77 formed at the rear end thereof, whereby, the paper discharge port 32 at the front end of the paper cassette 30. Is opened.

In this state, when the paper feed roller 23 is operated, the printing paper P laminated and accommodated in the paper cassette 30 can be supplied to the feed roller 11. Here, the lower portion of the paper cassette 30 is provided with a device for elastically pressurizing the stacking printing paper (P) in contact with the feed roller 23, for example, a device including a knocker plate (Knocker Plate) desirable. Such devices are common to those skilled in the art and for further details refer to other inventions filed by the applicant. Then, the printing paper P may be discharged one by one through the paper outlet 32 of the paper cassette 30.

In order to reinforce the state of the paper cassette 30 mounted in the cassette mounting groove 18 of the printer body 10, it is preferable to provide the bracket 71 as described above. The bracket 71 described above can be pivoted upward to fold the paper cassette 30 to the rear of the outer casing 3. In such a state, the contact between the driven rib 63 of the paper cassette 30 and the movable arm 54 of the fixing member 53 is released, and thus, the paper cassette 30 is connected to the built-in return spring 81. The upper cover 41 is in a state in which the lower case 31 is closed by the elastic force. Thereafter, when the paper cassette 30 is rotated downward, the paper discharge port 32 of the paper cassette 30 is opened while being engaged with the cassette mounting groove 18 as described above.

In addition, the paper cassette 30 may be deformed into a structure that can be upwardly rotated with respect to the cassette mounting groove 18 of the printer body 10 without a separate bracket 71. 7 shows a state in which the paper cassette rotates upward with respect to the cassette mounting groove with or without a bracket.

On the other hand, in the above-described and illustrated embodiments, the structure in which the return spring 81 incorporated in the paper cassette 30 is constituted by a "pore" -shaped pre-pore spring has been described. However, the return spring may be employed in various ways, for example, the leaf spring 91 in FIG. 8 or the torsion spring 95 in FIG. 9 may be used.

As described above, according to the present invention, a paper cassette capable of supplying printing paper by opening the paper outlet only when necessary, i.e., printing it, while safely storing the printing paper accommodated therein with the paper outlet closed, without deformation. There is provided a paper feeding device of a printer.

In particular, when the paper feeding apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a printer for exclusive use of a porter, an excellent effect of easily printing a photographed image on a digital camera or the like is provided while safely stacking and storing photo printing papers without deformation.

Claims (5)

A printer body having a cassette mounting groove portion and a paper feed roller embedded adjacent to the cassette mounting groove portion; A paper cassette having an openable / closed paper outlet toward the printer body and detachable from the cassette mounting groove, the paper cassette capable of discharging printing paper stacked in the paper feed roller when the paper outlet is opened; And And a discharge opening and closing part for opening the paper discharge port when the paper cassette is mounted in the cassette mounting groove. The method of claim 1, wherein the paper cassette, A rectangular cylindrical case with an upper surface opened; An upper cover which seals the opening surface of the lower case and has a roller receiving groove for partially accommodating the paper feed roller; And And a hinge part provided at a rear end of the lower case and the upper cover to form an axis for opening and closing the upper cover with respect to the lower case. The method of claim 2, wherein the outlet opening and closing portion, A fixing member installed on a bottom surface of the printer body and having a movable arm extending toward a paper discharge port of the paper cassette; A driven rib extending from the upper cover to be in contact with the movable arm of the fixing member; And And an operating portion interposed between the movable arm and the driven rib to cause the upper cover to pivot upwardly around the hinge portion when the paper cassette is mounted in the cassette mounting groove. The method of claim 3, wherein the operating unit, An inclined surface inclined downward in a direction extending to an end of the movable arm of the fixing member; And And a cam protrusion protruding downward from the driven rib of the upper cover and moving along the inclined surface. The method according to claim 2 or 4, And a return spring installed adjacent to the hinge portion to return the upward rotation of the upper cover with respect to the lower case to its original position.