JP3045192B2 - Printer paper feed mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a paper feed mechanism for a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printer which is an output terminal device of a computer is required to be able to handle not only ordinary cut sheets but also various kinds of sheets such as envelopes, postcards, and copy papers from the viewpoint of a variety of business uses. I have.

However, in general, a printer is configured to wind a sheet around a platen and feed the sheet to a printing section. Therefore, in the case of a copy sheet which is superimposed, the sheet is wound around the platen. The top sheet and the bottom sheet are misaligned, and in the case of strongly stiff paper such as postcards or postcards, the paper is skewed around the platen due to warpage when it is wound around the platen. There is an inconvenience that a jam may occur.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feed mechanism of a new printer that can feed and print not only ordinary cut sheets but also special sheets such as sealed letters, postcards, and copy sheets without any trouble.

[0005]

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention extends from a first cassette loading section provided on one side of the printer body to a recording / writing section surrounding the periphery of a platen. The first paper guide path and the second paper guide path, which is provided on the other side of the printer main body and extends substantially linearly from the second cassette loading section to the recording / writing section, are located immediately upstream of the recording / writing section in the paper transport direction. In the paper feed mechanism of the printer, which is merged at the parts, the independent paper feed mechanisms are arranged in the respective paper guide paths on the upper side in the paper conveyance direction of the merge part, so that not only ordinary cut sheets but also ordinary paper sheets are provided. In addition, a multi-layered paper or a stiff paper can be accurately fed without causing slippage or paper jam, and corresponding to a different load for each paper guide path. .

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The drawings all show one embodiment of the present invention.

In the printer main body indicated by reference numeral 1 in the drawing, a first loading unit for loading a first cassette 11 for accommodating a normal cut sheet S1 is provided on the right side of the drawing, that is, on the upper rear side of the printer main body 1. The loading section 13 is provided.
A first paper guide 14 is provided to surround the periphery of the platen 2 toward the upper side in the paper transport direction of the recording head 3, and a second paper guide 24 of the paper guide 14 is provided.
Just before merging with the cut sheet S on the peripheral surface of the platen 2.
A pressing roller 16 as a paper feeding mechanism for feeding the sheet 1 by pressing the sheet 1 is provided rotatably.

On the other hand, below the operation side of the printer main body 1, that is, below the left side of the drawing, a second cassette 2 mainly for storing stiff paper S2 such as a letter, postcard or copy paper.
The second paper guide 24, which extends substantially linearly from the second loading portion 23 for loading the sheet 1 toward the facing portion between the platen 2 and the recording head 3, is provided with the first loading portion 23 described above. Immediately before the paper guide 14 joins, a paper feed roller 25 that is driven by a drive motor (not shown) to rotate to feed the paper S2 to the recording head 3, and presses the paper S2 against the paper feed roller 25. A paper feeding mechanism including a pressing roller 26 for causing the sheet to feed is provided.

In the figures, reference numerals 19 and 29 denote first and second reference numerals, respectively.
The paper feed rollers provided in each of the cassette loading sections 13 and 23 are indicated by reference numerals 4 and 5 from the second paper guide 24 to the lower side of the recording head 3 in the paper transport direction. A discharge guide for discharging the slip sheet S1 or the sheet S2 substantially linearly and a discharge roller for discharging the cut sheet S1 or the sheet S2 to the discharge stacker 6 are shown.

In the paper feed mechanism configured as described above, when recording and writing is performed on the normal cut sheet S1, the cut sheet S1 is inserted into the first cassette loading unit 13 on the right side in FIG.
Is mounted, and a switching mechanism (not shown) is operated to drive the first paper feed roller 19 to pull out the cut sheet S1 in the cassette 11 and to load the cut sheet S1 in the cassette 11.
On the paper guide 14.

Thus, the cut sheet S1 is pressed by the pressing roller 16 pressed against the peripheral surface of the platen 2 with a required pressing force.
Is fed to the recording head 3 with a paper feeding force corresponding to the curvature of the first paper guide 14, where necessary recording / writing processing is completed and the paper is discharged onto the paper output stacker 6 by the paper output roller 5. .

On the other hand, when printing on multi-layered paper such as copy paper, a sealed letter, or a postcard or on a stiff paper S2, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a cassette 21 containing any one type of paper S2 is provided below the operation side of the printer main body 1.
The sheet S2 in the cassette 21 is pulled out by the second sheet feed roller 29 by operating a switching mechanism (not shown) after the sheet S2 is mounted on the loading section 23.

[0013] Thereby, multi-layer paper or stiff paper S2
The paper feed roller 2 provided on the paper path is guided by a second paper guide 24 which extends substantially linearly toward the printing section without causing any deviation between papers or paper jam.
5 is fed to the recording head 3 by receiving a required paper feeding force by the pressing roller 26, and after receiving required recording and writing, is further linearly fed to the lower side in the paper transport direction. The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge stacker 6.

By the way, the above is a description of the multi-layer paper or the stiff paper S.
Although the present invention has been described by way of an example in which recording and writing are performed on the cassette 2, the cassette 11 (21) having the same shape is loaded into any of the cassette loading sections 13 and 23 depending on the installation location and the usability of the printer main body 1. It is also possible to load cassettes 11 and 21 containing papers of different sizes and paper qualities into respective cassette loading sections 13 and 23, and select one of the required papers. It can also be sent to a recording / writing unit to perform required recording / writing.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, the first paper guide path surrounding the periphery of the platen and the second paper guide path extending almost linearly to the recording / writing section are formed by the recording / writing section. In the paper feed mechanism that is made to merge at the upper side of the paper guide, an independent paper feed mechanism is provided at the upper side of the merging portion of the paper guide path, so that for multi-layered paper and strong paper, By feeding this to the recording / writing unit via the first paper guide path, not only the misalignment of papers and the occurrence of paper jam can be suppressed, but also the cassette can be changed depending on the installation location of the printer and usability. It is also possible to use it by loading it into one of the cassette loading sections, and furthermore, depending on the curvature of the paper guide path, the quality of the paper being conveyed, etc., depending on the paper feed mechanism provided for each paper guide path. Forms and allow the paper feed corresponding to,
Normal recording and writing can always be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a paper feed mechanism of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a set state when multi-layer paper or stiff paper is fed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Platen 3 Recording head 11, 21 First, second cassette 13, 23 First, second cassette loading unit 14, 24 First, second paper guide 16, 26 First, second pressing roller

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A first paper guide path extending from a first cassette loading section provided on one side of a printer body to a recording / writing section surrounding a platen, and a second paper guide path provided on the other side of the printer body. In a paper feed mechanism of a printer, a second paper guide path extending substantially linearly from a cassette loading section to the recording / writing section is joined at a portion immediately upstream of the recording / writing section in the paper transport direction. In each of the above paper guide paths on the upper side in the paper transport direction of the
A paper feed mechanism for a printer, wherein independent paper feed mechanisms are provided. 2. A paper feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein cassettes having the same shape can be mounted on each of said cassette loading sections.