JPH02258366A - printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To allow a printer to be disposed on an arbitrary position and to facilitate the loading of continuous paper by a method wherein the printer and a tractor feeding the continuous paper to the printer are disposed in a box having a flat top surface, and the tractor is formed so as to be freely inserted/extracted to/from the box through the side face of the box. CONSTITUTION:In a printing on continuous paper, a tractor 60 is extracted from a box 10, the leading edge of the continuous paper is loaded on the tractor 60, and the tractor is returned into the box 10. A guide device 40 is lowered about a shaft 56 until the top surface thereof is disposed on a line connecting the tractor 60 and a roller 30. By starting the tractor 60, the continuous paper is fed along the top surface of the guide device 40. The roller 30 is rotated by a fixed amount at the time that the leading edge of the continuous paper is detected by a sensor 90, whereby the first line on the paper is fed to a position opposed to a printing head 24. After printing, the paper is discharged from a discharge port 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printer used as a print output device for a computer or the like.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY] A conventional printer has an opening on the top surface of a box constituting the exterior, a printing paper is inserted from the top surface through the opening, and the printed paper is discharged from the opening.

For this reason, printers have a structure that makes it easy to insert and eject paper when placed on a desk next to a computer or CRT display.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventional printers require a special place to be placed next to the computer main body, and a sufficient height space above the place to insert and eject paper. There is.

To solve this problem, there is a method, like a copying machine, in which a paper feed cassette containing unprinted paper is removably inserted from one side, and printed paper is ejected from the other side.

This solves the problem of having to secure space above, but it makes it difficult to load continuous paper from the side of the machine.

In other words, in order to hook the feed hole of the continuous paper to the pin of the tractor device and press it down from above, a sufficient working space is required above the printer, and it is difficult to insert the continuous paper from the side.

In order to solve each of the above-mentioned problems, this invention provides a form in which the printer can be placed at any location, and
The purpose is to facilitate the loading of continuous paper.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention includes a printing device and a tractor device for supplying continuous paper to the printing device in a box with a flat top surface, and the tractor device is installed in a box with a flat top surface. It is constructed so that it can be inserted and removed from the inside and outside from the sides of the box.

[Function] This invention has a flat top surface of the box constituting the exterior of the printer, so the printer can be easily attached to a computer or CRT.
It can be stacked on top of the display, and unlike conventional systems, it does not require a special space next to the computer body, making it possible to save on installation space. In addition, to load continuous paper, all you have to do is pull out the tractor device from the side, hook the continuous paper onto the tractor device, and then return the tractor device into the printer, so the top of the printer box is closed. Despite this, continuous paper can be easily loaded.

[Embodiment] As shown in FIG. 5, in a printer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a box 10 constituting the exterior is hexahedral, and its top surface 11 is flat.

A printing device 20 (FIG. 1) is installed on the right side of the box 10. The printing device 20 is installed on the right side 12 and top surface 1 of the box 10.
1, and a print head 24 mounted on a carriage 23 that is slidable on guide shafts 22, 22 that extend in the same direction. In the illustrated embodiment, the print head 24 faces the platen 21 from below and prints on the bottom surface of the printing paper, but the vertical relationship between the platen 21 and the print head 24 may be reversed.

Further inward of the box 10 than the printing device 20, rollers 30 for frictionally feeding the printing paper are arranged in pairs, one above the other. A print paper discharge port 13 is formed on the right side 12 of the box 10. A guide plate 31 is arranged between the roller 30 and the discharge port 13, and a guide plate 31 is arranged between the roller 30 and the discharge port 13 to guide the printing paper to the platen 21.
and the print head 24 and are guided to the discharge port 13.

A guide device 40 for continuous sheets, which will be described later, is arranged closer to the inside of the box 10 than the rollers 30, and below the guide device 40, a paper feed device 50 for stacked cut sheets is arranged. is located.

The paper feed device 50 feeds the stacked cut sheets 5 on the upper surface of the substrate 51.
A paper feed cassette 53 containing paper sheets 52 is slidably mounted thereon, and a friction roller 54 is provided which contacts the upper surface of the cut paper sheets 52 and feeds the cut paper sheets one by one. When the paper feed cassette 53 is inserted onto the substrate 51, the cut sheet 52 is pushed up toward the friction roller 54 by a well-known pushing up mechanism (not shown).

A door 14 that can be opened and closed is provided on the right side 12 of the box 10, and the paper feed cassette 53 can be taken in and out of the box 10 in an open state.

The guide device 40 consists of two plates 41 and 42 that are divided into front and rear (left and right in FIG. 1) in the direction of movement of the continuous paper. The front plate 41 (on the tractor device side to be described later) is
It is fixedly provided at the upper end of a side plate 55 that stands up from both sides of the board 51 of the paper feeding device. Rear (roller 30 side)
The plate 42 has one end inserted into a hole 43 in the front plate 41 and is connected to the plate 41 so as to be swingable about a horizontal axis. The drawing plates 41, 42 are pressed against each other by springs 44 so that their upper surfaces are always maintained substantially in the same plane.

The guide device 40 and the paper feed device 5o are connected to the rollers 30 of the substrate 51.
can swing together around a horizontal shaft 56 provided at the opposite end. Thereby, both devices 40, 50 can alternatively be opposed to the roller 3o.

The rear plate 42 of the guide device 40 is shown in FIG. 3(a),
As shown in (b), there are pins 45 on both sides in the paper movement direction.
, and its pin 45 is inserted into the arc-shaped elongated hole 46 of the chassis 15.
It is embedded. When the guide device 4° is lowered around the horizontal shaft 56 and the pin 45 comes into contact with the lower end of the elongated hole 46, the rear plate 42 is held with its tip facing the roller 30.

Further, when the guide device 40 is raised, the pin 45 is inserted into the elongated hole 46.
The rear plate 42 stops rising regardless of the rise of the front plate 41. This keeps the height of the box 10 as small as possible.

A tractor device 60 for feeding continuous paper is installed in the left part of the box 10. The tractor device 60 includes a pair of frames 63 (only one of which is shown) that is slidably provided in the paper width direction on a pair of shafts 61 and 62. Similar to the well-known structure, the frame 63 supports two booms and a belt with a pin that is passed between the boots, and a lid 64 provided on the top surface that can be opened and closed holds down the continuous paper. Keep the feed hole hooked to the pin. A door 17 is provided on the left side 16 of the box 10 so that it can be opened and closed, and an inlet 18 for the continuous paper 65 is provided between the upper end of the door 17 and the left side wall.
is formed.

The tractor device 60 is supported by a pair of parallel links 66 so that it can be moved in and out from the left side of the box 10, as shown in FIG. One link 66 is provided with a lock lever 67, and the tractor device 60 is held within the box 10 by being locked to a lock pin 68 provided within the box 10. In this state, the gear 69 on the tractor device side meshes with the gear 70 on the drive source side, and the pinned belt is driven.

By opening the door 17, unlocking the lock lever 67 and the lock pin 68, and pulling the tractor assembly gt60 out of the box 10, the lid 64 can be opened and the continuous paper 65 can be loaded or removed.

The tractor device 60 can be designed to be moved in and out not only manually but also by a drive source such as a motor.

FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b) show a tray 80 for receiving the cut sheet discharged from the discharge port 13.

The receiver stand 80 is provided in a groove 81 formed on the right side of the box 10 so that it can be taken in and out. In the receiver shown in (a), the stand 80 has two bars 82 and 83 that are rotatable around a vertical axis 84, and the shorter bar 83 is further provided with an auxiliary bar 85 that is slidable. ing. (b) The stand 80 has a main bar 86 rotatable around a shaft 84.
A pantograph-shaped auxiliary bar 87 is connected to and stored in the groove 81 in a folded state.

When printing on continuous paper, the tractor device 6
0 from the box 10, the front end of the continuous paper is loaded into the tractor device 60, and the tractor device is returned into the box 10. Further, the guide device 40 is lowered around the shaft 56 so that its upper surface is connected to the tractor device 60 and the roller 3 as shown by the solid line in FIG.
0 on the line connecting it. Then, by starting the tractor device 60, the continuous paper is fed along the upper surface of the guide device 40. By rotating the roller 30 by a certain amount from the time when the leading edge of the continuous paper is detected by the sensor 90, the first line on the paper is fed to a position facing the print head 24.

After printing, the paper is discharged from the discharge port 13.

When printing on cut sheets, the tractor device 60 and rollers 30 are rotated in the opposite direction to move the continuous sheet remaining in the printing device 20 backward. From the time when the leading edge of the continuous paper is detected by the sensor 90, the reverse rotation is further continued by the distance between the sensor 90 and the tractor device 60, and then stopped. Then, the continuous paper is stopped with its leading end hooked to the tractor device 60. Thereafter, the paper feeding device 50 is raised around the shaft 56, and the paper feeding cassette 50 is moved up as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
3 to face the roller 30. Then, by starting the friction roller 54, the cut sheets are transferred one by one to the roller 3.
0 to the printing device 20. (At this time, the tractor device 60 is stopped.) As described above, the printer of the above embodiment has the tractor device 60 stopped.
0 is pulled out from the left side and continuous paper is loaded, and in the printing state, the continuous paper is pulled in from the left side and discharged from the right side. Further, the paper feed cassette 53 containing cut sheets is inserted from the right side, and the printed sheets are discharged from the right side. Therefore, the top surface of the box 10 can be made completely flat, and the fifth
As shown in the figure, even if the CRT display 101 and the computer main body 102 are placed on top of each other, there will be no problem in supplying and discharging paper. In fact, there is no need for a special desk or shelf to install the printer, and the installation space for the computer system can be reduced.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained in detail above, the present invention has a flat top surface of the box that constitutes the exterior of the printer, so the printer can be stacked on top of a computer or CRT display, making it possible to place the printer on top of a computer or CRT display. This eliminates the need for a special place to place the printer next to the computer, resulting in a significant reduction in installation space. In addition, continuous paper can be loaded into the tractor device outside the printer, and this operation can be easily carried out even though the top surface of the printer box is closed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a printer according to an embodiment of the present invention viewed from the front, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the tractor device, and FIG.
Figures (a) and (b) are an explanatory view of the operation of the guide device and a vertical cross-sectional view of its main part, and Figure 4 (a). (b) is a plan view showing different embodiments of the receiver and stand, respectively;
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of the arrangement of printers. In the figure, 10 is a box, 20 is a printing device, and 60 is a tractor device. Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printing device and a tractor device that supplies continuous paper to the printing device are installed in a box with a flat top surface, and the tractor device is configured to be able to be moved in and out of the box from the side of the box. A printer characterized by: