JP2791348B2 - Dot impact printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dot impact printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a dot impact printer, a ribbon cassette is provided in which arms are formed at both ends and an ink ribbon is exposed between the arms, and an arm of the ribbon cassette is provided between a print head and a platen. The ink ribbon between them is inserted. Then, at the time of printing, the recording paper is fed between the platen and the ink ribbon, and the printing element of the print head collides with the recording paper via the ink ribbon, whereby the recording paper is printed. .

In this type of dot impact printer, a ribbon cassette is detachably engaged with a printer frame or the like via an engaging means so that the ribbon cassette can be replaced as needed.

[0004]

However, in the conventional structure, the ink ribbon is inserted and removed between the print head and the platen at the same time when the ribbon cassette is attached or detached. It is necessary to set the ribbon cassette while inserting the ink ribbon between the platen and the ribbon cassette and remove the ribbon cassette while removing the ink ribbon from between the print head and the platen. there is a problem that bad
Was.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a ribbon cassette in which arms are formed at both ends and an ink ribbon is exposed between the arms, and an arm is provided between the print head and a platen. A dot impact printer in which an ink ribbon is inserted between the units, a support frame for detachably fixing and holding the ribbon cassette, and an ink ribbon between the arms in a state where the ribbon cassette is held on the support frame. An auto-loading device for moving to an insertion position between the print head and the platen and a position for exiting from between the print head and the platen ,
The auto loading device has a ribbon on the support frame
While holding the cassette, both ends of the ink ribbon between the arms
A pair of moving members for engaging the portion,
Drive the ink ribbon between the arm and the print head.
Insertion position between platen and print head and platen
It is characterized in that it is moved to a position where it comes out of the space between the two .

In the present invention, the ink ribbon is moved by the moving portion.
When the material is driven, it is driven by the driving force of the ribbon feed motor.
It is characterized by being.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the ink ribbon between the arms is inserted between the print head and the platen and the position between the print head and the platen by the auto-loading device while holding the ribbon cassette on the support frame. Can be moved to the exit position. That is, the support frame
While holding the ribbon cassette, clean the
By driving a pair of moving members engaging with both ends of the
The ink ribbon between the print head and the platen.
Insertion position and between the print head and the platen.
Can move to the exit position.

Therefore, there is no need to set the ribbon cassette while inserting the ink ribbon between the print head and the platen, or to remove the ribbon cassette while removing the ink ribbon from between the print head and the platen. The ribbon cassette can be easily attached and detached.

Further , when the moving member is driven, the ink ribbon is
Drive by receiving the driving force of the ribbon feed motor.
If the ink ribbon between the arms is
It can be inserted smoothly between the balance and the print head and the platen.
Can be smoothly pulled out from the space.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A dot impact printer to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this printer, as shown in FIG. 1, a paper feed port 2 is formed on a front surface of a printer case 1, and paper discharge ports 3, 4 are formed on a rear portion of the printer case 1. A platen 5 and a print head 6 facing the platen 5 above the platen 5 are provided inside the printer case 1, and the continuous paper 7 is fed between the platen 5 and the print head 6 through the paper feed port 2. After printing, the printed continuous paper 7 is selectively discharged from one of the discharge ports 3 and 4 after printing.

As shown also in FIG. 2, inside the printer case 1, side plates 8 are erected in parallel on both sides, and a platen 5 and a print head 6 are arranged between these side plates 8. I have. The platen 5 extends in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and is fixedly supported at each end by each side plate 8.
The print head 6 is mounted on a head carrier 10 and slidably supported by a pair of guide shafts 11 via the head carrier 10. The guide shaft 11 extends in parallel with the platen 5, and is fixedly supported on each side plate 8 at both ends, and the head carrier 10 is slidably engaged with an intermediate portion. Therefore, the print head 6 is movable in parallel to the platen 5 in a direction orthogonal to the paper feed direction along the pair of guide shafts 10.

Downstream of the print head 6, a paper guide 12 for guiding the printed continuous paper 7 to the discharge port 3, a paper guide 13 for guiding the printed continuous paper 7 to the discharge port 4, A switching lever 14 for switching the discharge path of the paper 7 to selectively discharge the printed continuous paper 7 from one of the discharge ports 3 and 4, and a discharge roller 15 for transporting the printed continuous paper 7 Are provided. The paper guides 12 and 13 are provided to branch off the discharge path of the continuous paper 7 downstream of the discharge roller 15. The switching lever 14 has one end attached to the drive shaft 16 near the branch of the continuous paper 7 discharge path,
The rotation of the drive shaft 16 swings as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1 to switch the discharge path of the continuous paper 7. The drive shaft 16 is driven to rotate by the drive force of a motor (not shown). A driven roller 17 is opposed to the discharge roller 15, and the continuous roller 7 is nipped and conveyed with the driven roller 17. The rotational force of the paper discharge roller 15 is transmitted to the driven roller 17 by a gear (not shown).

A paper feed roller 1 for feeding continuous paper 7 between the platen 5 and the print head 6 is provided upstream of the print head 6.
8, a paper guide 19 for guiding the continuous paper 7 between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and a tractor 20 located upstream of the paper feed roller 18.

A driven roller 21 faces the paper feed roller 18, and the continuous roller 7 is nipped and conveyed with the driven roller 21. The rotational force of the paper feed roller 18 is transmitted to the driven roller 21 by a gear (not shown).

The paper feed roller 18 and the paper discharge roller 15 are driven to rotate by a paper feed motor 22. That is, the pinion gear 23 is attached to the drive shaft of the paper feed motor 22, the intermediate gear 24 meshes with the pinion gear 23, and the drive gear meshes with the paper feed roller 18 and the discharge roller 15 with the intermediate gear 24, respectively. 25 and 26 are attached, and the pinion gear 2
3. The paper feed roller 18 and the paper discharge roller 15 are driven by the paper feed motor 2 via the intermediate gear 24 and the drive gears 25 and 26.
2 is driven to rotate.

A pair of tractors 20 are provided (only one side is shown in the drawing), and these are mounted on a tractor frame 27. The tractor frame 27 extends in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and has both ends at the side plate 8.
It is supported by. A guide shaft 28 and a drive shaft 29 extending in a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction are attached to the tractor frame 27, and the tractors 20 are slidably engaged with the guide shaft 28 and the drive shaft 29 to form a continuous paper. The position can be adjusted in accordance with the width dimension of 7.

The tractor 20 is provided with a sprocket (not shown) that rotates integrally with the drive shaft 29. The sprocket is engaged with both ends of the continuous paper 7 through the paper feed port 2, and the continuous paper 7 is set. The rotation of the shaft 29 conveys the continuous paper 7 between the paper feed roller 18 and the driven roller 21. A drive gear 30 is attached to one end of the drive shaft 29, and is driven to rotate by the paper feed motor 22 together with the paper feed roller 18 and the paper discharge roller 15 via the drive gear 30. That is, the driving gear 25 is connected to the driving gear 25 via the intermediate gear 31.
Are engaged with each other, so that the drive shaft 29
The paper feed motor 22 and the paper discharge roller 15 are driven to rotate.

Above the print head 6, the ink ribbon 3
2 is provided, and the ink ribbon 32 of the ribbon cassette 33 is inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5.

The ribbon cassette 33 is held between the side plates 8 above the print head 6 via a support frame 34. The support frame 34 is formed in a U-shaped cross section, and both ends thereof are fixedly supported by the side plates 8, and the ribbon cassette 33 is housed and held in a fixed state at an intermediate portion. The ribbon cassette accommodating portion of the support frame 34 is opened on the front side of the printer case 1, and the opening / closing lid 35 on the front side of the printer case 1
And the ribbon cassette 33 can be attached and detached from the front side of the printer case 1. Support frame 3
4, a gear box 36 having a built-in ribbon drive wheel train (not shown) and a ribbon feed motor 37 for driving the ribbon drive wheel train attached thereto;
The ink ribbon 32 can be driven to travel by a ribbon feed motor 37 via a ribbon drive train, and the attachment / detachment of the ribbon cassette 33 can be detected by a microswitch 38 as an example of a detecting means. It has become.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ribbon cassette 33 has arm portions 33a formed at both ends and projecting downward at right angles to the plane of the cassette. The ribbon 32 is exposed and inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5. The tip of the arm 33a is located above the print head 6, and the ink ribbon 32 between the tips of both arms 33a is moved downward from the tip of the arm 33a by an auto-loading device 39 shown in detail in FIG. It is pulled out and inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the auto-loading device 39 has a pair of movable pins 40 which engage with both ends of the ink ribbon 32 between the distal ends of the arms 33a.
Are provided, and the arm portion 33 is
The ink ribbon 32 between the leading ends of “a” is inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5.

Each of the movable pins 40 is attached to a support plate 41 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and is engaged with the arm 42 and the side plate 8 via the support plate 41. The support plate 41 is formed in the shape of an L-shaped plate, and the movable pin 40 is attached to one side thereof. Engagement pins 43 and 44 are attached to the other side of the support plate 41, and are engaged with the arm 42 and the side plate 8 via these engagement pins 43 and 44. The arm 42 is pivotally supported inside the side plate 8 via a support pin 45 so as to be swingable inside the side plate 8 and extends in the longitudinal direction.
The engaging pin 43 is slidably engaged with the engaging hole 46. An oblique L-shaped engagement hole 47 is formed in the side plate 8, and an engagement pin 44 is slidably engaged with the engagement hole 47 through the engagement hole 46.

The engagement holes 46 and 47 are provided so that the movable pin 40
As shown in FIG. 5, below the arm portion 33a and at a slightly higher height than between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and above the print head 6 as shown in FIG. Is guided to the adjacent height position. Then, the movable pin 40 is
a, the ink ribbon 32 between the leading ends of the arm portions 33a is moved between the print head 6 and the platen 5 in a state where the ink ribbon 32 is moved to a position slightly higher than the position between the print head 6 and the platen 5. When the movable pin 40 is moved to a position above the print head 6 and adjacent to the arm 33a, the ink ribbon between the tips of the arm 33a is inserted (see the two-dot chain line position in FIG. 2). 32 is drawn out from between the print head 6 and the platen 5 (see the solid line position in FIG. 2). Also, the arm 33
During the time when the ink ribbon 32 between the leading ends of the movable portion 40a reaches the above-mentioned both height positions, the guide portion of the movable pin 40 is set by the engagement holes 46 and 47, as shown in FIG.
The ink ribbon 32 between the leading ends of the print heads 6 bypasses without interfering with the print head 6. The print head 6 is provided with a ribbon guide 6a for guiding the insertion of the ink ribbon 32 between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and the movable pin 40 is connected between the print head 6 and the platen 5 by the ribbon guide 6a. Even when the ink ribbon 3 is located at a height position slightly higher than the space between the ink ribbons 3
2 is inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5.

Each engagement pin 44 projects outside of each side plate 8 through engagement holes 46 and 47, and is engaged with drive arms 48 and 49 outside of each side plate 8 as shown in FIG. ing. The drive arms 48 and 49 are pivotally supported on the outer side of the side plate 8 via support pins 50, and are connected to each other via connection means (not shown) so as to swing together. Each of the drive arms 48 and 49 has an elongated engaging hole 51 formed along the longitudinal direction, and the engaging pin 44 is slidably engaged with the engaging hole 51. Drive arms 48 and 49 and engagement holes 51
The movable pin 40 is moved below the arm part 33a by the swing of the drive arms 48 and 49 and the print head 6
3 and a height position above the print head 6 and adjacent to the arm 33a (a position shown in FIG. 5). Its length is set so that it can be done. A drive gear 52 is formed integrally with one of the drive arms 48 coaxially with a shaft supporting portion to the side plate 8, and the drive arms 48 and 49 are swingably driven integrally via the drive gear 52. It has become. That is, the intermediate gear 5 is
The pinion gear 57 of the drive motor 56 is meshed through the gears 3, 54 and 55, and the drive arm 48 is rocked by the drive force of the drive motor 56, and the drive arm 49 is rocked by the connecting means. Receiving the power, it swings integrally with the drive arm 48.

The drive motor 56 is automatically driven to rotate forward based on the detection signal of the microswitch 38 when the ribbon cassette 33 is stored and held in the support frame 34,
In addition, it is driven in reverse rotation by operating an operation switch (not shown). When the drive motor 56 is automatically rotated forward based on the detection signal of the microswitch 38, the movable pin 40 is slightly below the arm 33a and slightly between the print head 6 and the platen 5. When the drive arms 48 and 49 are oscillated in the direction of moving to the high height position (the position shown in FIG. 3) and the drive motor 56 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction by operating the operation switch, the movable pin 40 The drive arms 48 and 49 are swingably driven in the direction of moving to a height position (the position shown in FIG. 5) above the arm 6 and adjacent to the arm 33a.

The microswitch 38 and the operation switch drive the ribbon feed motor 37 together with the drive motor 56. That is, the support frame 3
4, the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven based on the detection signal of the micro switch 38, the drive motor 56 is driven forward, and when the operation switch is operated, the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven and the drive motor 56 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction. The ribbon feed motor 37 is also driven during printing by a control circuit (not shown).

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 3 shows that the ribbon cassette 33 is accommodated and held in the support frame 34 and the movable pin 40 is below the arm portion 33 a and slightly higher than between the print head 6 and the platen 5. The ink ribbon 32 located at the height position and between the ends of the arm portion 33a is inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and printing can be performed in this state.

When removing the ribbon cassette 33 from this state, the open / close lid 35 of the printer case 1 is opened,
In this open state, the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven by operating an operation switch (not shown), and the drive motor 56 is driven.
Is driven in reverse rotation, the ribbon cassette 33 can be easily removed.

That is, when the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven, the ink ribbon 32 is driven via the ribbon drive train. When the drive motor 56 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction, the drive arms 48 and 49 swing to move the movable pin 40 upward, and the ink ribbon 32 is wound up and printed with the movement of the movable pin 40. It is smoothly extracted from between the head 6 and the platen 5. When the movable pin 40 reaches a height position (the position shown in FIG. 5) above the print head 6 and adjacent to the arm portion 33a, the driving of the ribbon feed motor 37 and the drive motor 56 is stopped, In this state, if the ribbon cassette 33 is removed from the support frame 34 as shown in FIG. 5, there is no need to remove the ribbon cassette 33 while removing the ink ribbon 32 from between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and the ribbon cassette 3 can be removed.
3 can be easily removed.

When the ribbon cassette 33 is mounted after the removal of the ribbon cassette 33, the opening / closing lid 35 of the printer case 1 is opened, and the support frame 34 is
When the ribbon cassette 33 is set, the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven based on the detection signal of the micro switch 38 and the drive motor 56 is driven to rotate forward, so that the ribbon cassette 33 can be easily mounted.

That is, when the ribbon cassette 33 is accommodated and held in the support frame 34, the movable pins 40 are located above the print head 6 and adjacent to the arm 33a at both ends of the ink ribbon 32 between the arms 33a. It is engaged at the height position. When the ribbon feed motor 37 is driven, the ink ribbon 32 is driven via the ribbon drive train. When the drive motor 56 is driven to rotate forward,
The movable pin 40 moves downward, and by this movement, the ink ribbon 38 moves downward while being pulled out from the tip of the arm portion 33a, and is smoothly inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5. Then, the movable pin 40 is
a, the drive motor 56 is stopped when it reaches a position slightly higher than the position between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and this stop causes the print head 6 and the platen 5 to move as shown in FIG. 5, the drive of the ribbon feed motor 37 is stopped after a lapse of time necessary for the ink ribbon 32 to settle between the print head 6 and the platen 5. Therefore, there is no need to set the ribbon cassette 33 while inserting the ink ribbon 32 between the print head 6 and the platen 5, and the ribbon cassette 33 can be easily set.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the ribbon cassette 33 is removed while the ink ribbon 32 is removed from the space between the print head 6 and the platen 5, or the ink ribbon 32 is inserted between the print head 6 and the platen 5. Thus, there is no need to set the ribbon cassette 33, and the ribbon cassette 33 can be easily attached and detached, and the operability of attaching and detaching the ribbon cassette 33 is improved.

In this embodiment, the ink ribbon 32 between the ends of the arm 33a is pulled out from the end of the arm 33a by the movable pin 40, and the print head 6 and the platen 5 are pulled out.
And the ribbon cassette 33
Of the ribbon cassette 33 can be shortened.
This is advantageous for downsizing.

[0034]

As described above , according to the dot impact printer of the present invention, the ribbon cassette is set while the ink ribbon is inserted between the print head and the platen, and the position of the ribbon cassette between the print head and the platen is reduced. There is no need to remove the ribbon cassette while pulling out the ink ribbon from the printer, so that the ribbon cassette can be easily attached and detached, and there is an excellent effect that the workability of attaching and detaching the ribbon cassette is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a printer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing a setting state of the ribbon cassette corresponding to line AA in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing a main part of the auto-loading device.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view showing a main part of the operation of the auto-loading device.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a main part of the operation of the auto-loading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 Platen 6 Print Head 32 Ink Ribbon 33 Ribbon Cassette 33a Arm 34 Support Frame 39 Auto Loading Device 40 Movable Pin (Moveable Member) 37 Ribbon Feed Motor

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ribbon cassette having arms formed at both ends and exposing an ink ribbon between the arms is provided. An ink ribbon between the arms is provided between a print head and a platen. A dot impact printer to be inserted, wherein a support frame for detachably fixing and holding the ribbon cassette, and an ink ribbon between the arm portions in a state where the ribbon cassette is held on the support frame, and a print head. An auto-loading device for moving to an insertion position between the platen and an exit position between the print head and the platen , wherein the auto-loading device includes
When the ribbon cassette is held,
A pair of moving members are provided for engaging both ends of the ink ribbon.
Driving the moving member to move the ink between the arms.
Move the ribbon to the insertion position and the exit position.
Dot impact printer, which comprises causing. 2. The ink ribbon according to claim 1, wherein
When the moving member is driven, it receives the driving force of the ribbon feed motor.
Only by dot impact printer characterized in that it is driven.