JPH0217885Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a transfer device for transferring a member to be transferred that is linearly transferred, such as a carriage or a slide table of a printer or an X-Y plotter.

[Background of the idea]

Printers and XY plotters are equipped with a transport mechanism such as a carriage or slider equipped with a printing mechanism, and print in response to control signals. An example of this is a transfer type thermal printer as shown in the plan view and perspective view of FIGS. 7 and 8, for example. To explain based on the drawings, in FIG. 7, 1 is a platen on which recording paper (not shown) is set, 2 is a platen rubber installed at the front position of this platen 1, that is, the printing position, and 3 is a platen 1.
This is a paper guide that guides the recording paper that is wound around the paper.
4 is arranged to face the platen rubber 2,
A thermal head having a plurality of heat generating elements, 5 a carriage to which this thermal head 4 is attached, 6
Reference numeral 7 indicates a printing tape having a heat-fusible material to be transferred onto the recording paper, and 7 a tape cassette in which the printing tape 6 is stored.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a carriage guide plate on which the carriage 5 is movably mounted, and as shown in FIG. A groove 11 for guiding the guide shaft 10 is provided. The carriage guide plate 8, the carriage guide shaft 10, and the groove 11 constitute a carriage guide mechanism that guides the carriage 5 along the front surface of the platen 1.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a pressure spring that urges the carriage 5 on the carriage guide plate 8, that is, the thermal head 4, in a direction toward the platen rubber 2.

Further, reference numeral 13 shown in FIG.
5 is a pulley arranged on the carriage guide plate 8 side and around which the wire 13 is wound; 16 is a drive pulley around which the wire 13 is wound and has gears on both sides, for example. The wire 13 and pulleys 14, 1 mentioned above
5 and the drive pulley 16 constitute a carriage moving means for moving the carriage 5 along the platen 1.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a paper feed roller against which the recording paper comes into contact, and 18 a paper feed shaft on which the paper feed roller 17 is supported. This constitutes recording paper feeding means for feeding the recording paper in the direction of arrow A.

19 shown in FIG. 7 is a stepping motor;
20 is a motor gear provided on the output shaft of this motor 19, and 21 is an idle gear that engages with this motor gear 20 and also engages with a gear on one side of the drive pulley 16 described above. 22 is a first intermittent gear that engages with the gear on the other side of the drive pulley 16; 23 is a second intermittent gear that engages with this first intermittent gear 22; and 24 is this second intermittent gear 23.
25 is a movable contact piece mounting base,
26 is a ratchet that engages with the paper feed gears 24, 24, and 27 is a ratchet that can be engaged with and disengaged from the ratchet 26. 28 is a ratchet spring that biases the ratchet 27 in the direction of engagement with the ratchet 26, and 29 is a washer that restricts one end of the ratchet spring 28. 30 is a manual knob that moves the ratchet 27 in a direction away from the ratchet 26 and has a gear on the circumferential side that can be engaged with a gear formed on the ratchet 27; 31 is a lever that rotatably supports the manual knob 30; It is.

The above-mentioned motor gear 20, idle gear 21,
The drive pulley 16, the first intermittent gear 22, the second intermittent gear 23, and the paper feeding gear 24 are gear parts that can interlock the above-described carriage moving means and recording paper feeding means, that is, reciprocate the carriage 5. , constitutes a gear section that feeds a certain amount of recording paper in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 7 in response to one reciprocating movement of the carriage 5.

The ratchets 26, 27 and the manual knob 30 constitute a manual paper feeding mechanism that can manually feed the recording paper backwards, that is, in the direction of arrow C in FIG.

In this type of printer, as described above, the carriage 5 has a carriage moving means composed of the wire 13 connected to both ends, the pulleys 14 and 15 around which the wire 13 is wound, and the drive pulley 16. , if the wire 13 is connected to the traction portion 5a of the carriage 5 as shown in FIG. 9, a problem arises in the case of bidirectional printing.

This problem is a problem that inevitably occurs in the mechanism of the drive mechanism that drives the traction body such as the wire 13, and is a problem that occurs in the transmission mechanism from the power source such as a motor to the traction body via a gear train, a pulley, etc. This is caused by the looseness that exists in the This play is difficult to adjust because the pitch between the gears in the transmission system from the motor to the idle gear is subtle and changes quickly.It is also difficult to eliminate this play, so if accurate positioning is required and it cannot be eliminated, It was necessary to limit the direction of transport of the members to one direction. That is, in the case of bidirectional transport, when the transport is performed in the return direction and positioning is performed, the play comes to the surface and accurate positioning cannot be performed. In order to avoid this, the power source side compensates for the play in the transmission mechanism, allowing accurate positioning regardless of the direction of movement. Since the amount of play differs, the amount of correction changes. This correction is
Currently, this is done using a microcomputer, but since the microcomputer can only make corrections for each unit amount, it is still not possible to obtain high positioning accuracy.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention was made in view of the actual state of the prior art, and its purpose is to
An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for improving positioning accuracy during bidirectional transfer of a member in a device having a member that is linearly transferred, such as a plotter or a slide table.

[Summary of the idea]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a transfer device that uses a traction body to transfer a printer carriage or slide table through a drive mechanism equipped with a drive motor. a pulling body formed into a loop shape by being connected to each other, a tension adjustment mechanism capable of adjusting the tension of the pulling body, and a stopper of the pulling body provided on a part of the transported member such as the carriage or slide table. It is configured to include a traction portion that is moved by being brought into contact with it and pulled by a traction body according to the transfer direction.

[Example of idea]

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are explanatory diagrams showing the main parts of the transfer device applied to the thermal printer shown as a conventional example of the present invention, and Figure 1 shows the state when it is not in operation. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an operating state when transferring to the right, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an operating state when transferring to the left. In these figures, the same components as in the conventional example are given the same reference numerals, and their explanations will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, there are stoppers 13a at the left and right ends of the wire 13 for transferring the carriage 5.
and 13b are provided respectively, and a tension spring 50 is stretched over these stoppers 13a and 13b to form a loop-shaped traction body. Also,
A traction portion 51 formed integrally with the carriage 5 has a space 52 in which both the stoppers 13a and 13b and a tension spring 50 elastically connecting them are housed, and the space 52 communicates with the traction portion 51. a cutout hole 53a through which only the wire 13 can pass;
53b are formed on the left and right sides. A connecting portion 54 of the wire 13 consisting of these stoppers 13a, 13b and the tension spring 50 is disposed in the space 52 of the traction portion 51 to form a transport mechanism for the main body of the carriage 5. On the other hand, wire 13
Pulley 1 is a component of the driving force transmission mechanism of
4 is supported by a pulley base 56 provided with a tension adjustment screw 55, as shown in the rear view in FIG. This constitutes a tension adjustment mechanism 58.

Next, the operation of the transfer device having the above configuration will be explained.

For example, when an attempt is made to move the carriage 5 to the right, the wire 13 is pulled to the right by the action of the motor 19 and the transmission mechanism, and as shown in FIG. It comes into contact with the inner wall 51b on the right side and moves to the right side. When printing in the reverse direction after printing one line, the motor 19 rotates in the opposite direction, and the left stopper 13a moves toward the traction portion 51 as shown in FIG.
It comes into contact with the left inner wall 51a and moves to the left.
However, when trying to move the traction part 51 to the right, the stopper 13b moves against the inner wall 51 on the right side of the traction part 51.
The traction part 51, that is, the carriage 5, does not move until it comes into contact with the traction part 51, and when the carriage 5 tries to move to the left, the stopper 13a moves against the left inner wall 51 of the traction part 51.
Similarly, the carriage 5 does not move until it comes into contact with a. That is, if the width of the space 52 formed in the traction part 51 is D and the width of both stoppers 13a and 13b is E, the amount of backlash of the traction part 51 with respect to the wire 13 is determined by the width shown by DE. Here, when the tension of the wire 13 is changed by rotating the tension adjustment screw 55 and moving the pulley 14 in parallel, the length of the tension spring 50 changes and the width E between the stoppers 13a and 13b is changed. changes, and the backlash amount DE of the traction portion 51 changes. Therefore, the amount of play in the motor 19 and the transmission mechanism associated therewith can be adjusted to a constant amount as the amount of play in the entire transmission system including the wire 13, that is, the traction body.
Even if the amount of play on the transmission mechanism side is not constant,
The amount of backlash can be adjusted to a level that can be corrected by a microcomputer at any time. This means that in the past, the amount of backlash had to be carefully adjusted when mechanical parts or control parts needed to be replaced for maintenance, etc., but when the transfer device is configured as described above, the tension Wire 1 with adjustment screw 55
This shows that there is no need to adjust the amount of play in the replacement parts by just adjusting the tension in item 3. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the adjustment range of this wire 13 is from the time when the length of the tension spring 50 is the minimum, to
Both stoppers 13a, 13b are on the left and right inner walls 51
Since it can be removed until it comes into contact with a and 51b, it can be used in any case as long as the assembled parts and replacement parts are within the design error and assembly error range.

Furthermore, since the tension spring 50 does not enter the transmission system from the power source to the traction portion 51 when the wire 13 is driven, there is an advantage that the directionality of the amount of deviation due to the extension of the tension spring 50 is eliminated.

[Effect of idea]

As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of backlash in the transmission system can be adjusted by providing stoppers at both ends of a traction body such as a wire or belt, and connecting the stoppers with a tension spring to adjust the tension of the traction body. The amount of backlash can be easily adjusted and set to a level that can be corrected by a microcomputer, improving positioning accuracy when transporting carriages, etc., and improving carry accuracy during bidirectional printing. Additionally, special adjustments are no longer required when replacing parts.
This has the effect of making maintenance easier.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are explanatory diagrams showing the main parts of the transfer device of the present invention. Figure 1 is a plan view showing the non-operating state, and Figure 2 is a drawing with the traction unit on the right. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the operating state when moving the traction section to the left;
Figure 4 is a plan view showing the state where the amount of play is set to the maximum, Figure 5 is a plan view showing the state where the amount of play is set to the minimum, and Figure 6 is the back view showing the tension adjustment mechanism of the wire (pulling body). 7 is a plan view of a conventional transfer type thermal printer, FIG. 8 is a perspective view thereof, and FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a state in which the wires of a conventional carriage transfer device are connected. 13...Wire (traction body), 13a, 13b...
...Stopper, 19...Drive motor, 50...
Tension spring, 51... Traction section, 58... Tension adjustment mechanism.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A transfer device that uses a pulling body such as a wire or belt to transfer a printer carriage or slide table through a drive mechanism equipped with a drive motor, and this device has stoppers at both ends and connects the stoppers with a tension spring. A towing body formed in a loop shape, a tension adjustment mechanism for adjusting the tension of the towing body, and the stopper abuts according to the transfer direction, and a carriage, a slide table, etc. that is towed and transferred by the towing body. A transfer device comprising a traction portion provided on a part of a member to be transferred.