JPS582075B2 - printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer that prints while sweeping the print head left and right by reciprocating motion, and particularly to a printer that prevents vibrations caused by the movement of the print head and enables high-speed printing. This is related.

Various printers are used as output devices for computers, etc., but in recent years printers have been used to print kanji and figures, and as shown in Figure 1a, many types of characters and various figures can be expressed as a collection of dots. Due to its high speed, dot printers have come to be widely used.

Among dot-type printers, those called dot-type line printers or raster matrix printers have the advantage of particularly high reliability and printing speed.

In conventional printers of this kind, the print head starts from the left end position of the first line, sweeps to the right to reach the right end, and then changes direction and starts at the left end position of the first line, as shown in FIG. Sweep two rows from the right end to the left end, change direction again, and move to the third row.
Sweep the line.

By repeating this operation, the entire surface of the character is swept.

During this time, each time the dot generating element comes to the position of the black circle as shown in Figure 1a, the dot generating element is activated to print, for example, the number "3" consisting of a dot matrix of 5 columns and 7 rows. will be held.

This entire surface sweeping operation is performed by sweeping the print head and moving the printing paper.

As is clear from the explanation of the printing operation above, the printing speed is mainly determined by the relationship between the repetitive motion of the dot generating element and the speed of the reciprocating movement of the print head, and increasing these speeds is important for increasing the printing speed. This is the condition.

However, it is generally difficult to reduce the weight of a print head having many dot generating elements, and the reciprocating movement of the print head generates vibrations and noise in the printer body.

A conventional printer of this kind, for example, as shown in FIG. A rigid body 5 that has a weight that balances the moving body contained therein and is capable of reciprocating from side to side, and is rotatably fixed to a support member that connects this rigid body 5 and the print head 3 so as to reciprocate in opposite phases, and has both ends thereof. The print head 3 is composed of a lever 6 that is engaged with a lever 6, and leaf springs 7 and 7' that support and guide the print head 3 and the rigid body 5, respectively.

This print head 3 includes dot generating elements 31, 32,
......, 3n, each dot generating element 3
1, 32, . . . , 3n are positioned at equal intervals.

Each dot generating element 31 to 3n is, for example, 1
It has a driving means for moving the book wire back and forth,
Each dot is printed according to the print signal.

In this case, the ink ribbon 8 and its driving device (not shown) are required as shown in FIG.

Note that these are unnecessary in a heat-sensitive dot generating element or the like.

The stroke of the reciprocating motion of the print head 3 is designed to be approximately equal to the arrangement interval of the dot generating elements 31 to 3n.

FIG. 3a is a schematic representation of FIG. 2, showing the relationship with the printer main body 9.

For clarity, the printing head 3, rigid body 5, etc. are shown in a plan view, and the leaf springs 7, 7' are shown bent by 90 degrees from FIG. 2.

FIG. 3b shows an example in which the leaf spring 7 is similarly fixed to the rigid body 5, and the vibration damping effect is exactly the same.

Conventionally, the rigid body 5 was moved in the opposite phase to cancel the inertial force of the print head 3, but this rigid body 5 had the disadvantage of increasing the size and weight of the printer. .

This invention was made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks.
In place of the rigid body that was previously wasted in terms of space and weight, two print heads are installed, and by applying one of the print heads to the rigid body, the printer can be made smaller, lighter, and faster in printing speed. The purpose is to

This invention will be explained below.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a printing paper, 2 is a paper feeding mechanism, 3a and 3b are separate print heads, and the print head 3a has dot generating elements 31, 33, 35...3n-1 arranged at equal intervals, and Dot generating elements 32, 34, 3e, . . . , 3n are arranged at equal intervals on the head 3b.

4 is a drive mechanism for each of the print heads 3a and 3b, 6 is a lever that connects the print head 3a and print head 3b so that they move in opposite positions, and 7a and 7b are the drive mechanisms for the print head 3a.
and 3b are respective supporting and guiding leaf springs, and 8 is an ink ribbon.

Dot generating element 3 of two print heads 3a, 3b
1,33,...,3n-1 and 32,34.
..., 3n are arranged alternately in the direction of movement of the print heads 3a, 3b, and their mutual relationship is determined so that they can strike the printing paper 1 at a uniform pitch during printing.

In the paper feeding direction, dot generating elements 31, 33...
..., 3n-1 set and dot generation element 323
Because the position is different from the group 4......, 3n,
The drive timing for dot printing on the same line on the printing paper 1 is different.

In the printing operation in this configuration, the two print heads 3a, 3b are driven in opposite phases to each other, so the inertial force of each print head 3a, 3b is canceled, and vibration is prevented without using a rigid body as in the conventional case. can do.

In addition, in FIG. 4, the number of dot generating elements is the same as in the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, but of course, in FIG. Two lines can be printed at the same time by arranging them one line at a time.

In other words, high-speed character processing for two lines at a time is possible.

It goes without saying that this invention can achieve the intended purpose as long as the weights of the two print heads are approximately the same, and it is possible to print not only characters but also figures. .

As explained above, the present invention provides two print heads and makes the two print heads reciprocate in opposite phases to each other, so that it can also serve as a vibration isolating device for the printer, making the printer smaller and lighter. There are some advantages.

Additionally, twice the number of dot generating elements than conventional printers can be accommodated without significantly increasing the weight of the printer, which has the advantage of being lightweight and capable of high-speed printing.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of character printing by this type of printer, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional printer, and Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the relationship with the printer body in another conventional example. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a printing paper, 2 is a paper feeding device, 3a and 3b are print heads, 31 to 3n are dot generating elements, 4 is a drive device for the print head, 6 is a lever, 7a and 7b are leaf springs, and 8 is a It's an ink ribbon.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a printer that performs printing by sweeping a print head from side to side, in which a plurality of dot generating elements are arranged close to the printing paper and in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the printing paper, two print heads having the same weight and A printer comprising: a mechanism for supporting and guiding each of the print heads, and a coupling mechanism and a drive mechanism for sweeping the two print heads left and right in opposite phases.