JPH0321966Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a ribbon separator for a dot line printer.

Many types of printers are generally used as output devices for computers and the like. Particularly recently, high-speed printers called dot-line printers that have both high printing speed and font flexibility have been widely used. This type of printer prints characters or figures in a dot matrix. The printing method etc. will be briefly explained below.

The printing mechanism section can be roughly divided into a hammer bank composed of a plurality of printing hammers, a reciprocating drive section equipped with means for reciprocating the hammer bank, an ink ribbon drive section that drives an ink ribbon, and an ink ribbon drive section that drives the ink ribbon. It consists of a supporting platen, a paper feeding section that feeds the paper in dot rows, etc. FIGS. 1 and 2 show this state.

A hammer bank 1 has a plurality of printing hammers 2 having printing pins 2a capable of dot printing arranged at equal intervals in the left-right direction. A shaft 3 is fixed to both ends of the shaft 3 and supported by a linear slide bearing 4 so as to be able to reciprocate in the left and right direction. A reciprocating drive unit 10 having means for reciprocating is connected to the hammerbank 1 by a joint 11. This allows the hammer bank 1 to sweep back and forth in the left and right direction.
The ink ribbon 20 is tape-shaped and is positioned in front of the printing hammer 2 by a ribbon guide 21. The ink ribbon 20 has a pair of spools 22
It travels back and forth by being wound up alternately.
The paper 30 is conveyed one dot line at a time by a tractor 31 shown in FIG. 2 while in contact with a platen 40 which supports the impact of the printing hammer 2 in front of the ink ribbon 20. Ink ribbon 20 and paper 30
For example, a ribbon separator 5 made of a thin stainless steel plate is fixed to the hammer bank 1 with bolts 6 between the
will be placed. The ribbon separator 5 is provided with a round hole 5a in a portion corresponding to the printing pin 2a of the printing hammer 2. The ribbon separator 5 has the role of preventing the entire surface of the ink ribbon 20 from coming into direct contact with the paper 30. This prevents the ink ribbon 20 from staining the paper 30 and the ink ribbon 20 from being lifted due to the feeding of the paper 30. Dot printing is performed by the printing pin 2a of the printing hammer 2 passing through the circular hole 5a of the ribbon separator 5 and striking the paper 30 supported by the platen 40 via the ink ribbon 20. The printing hammer 2 here is called a spring charge type, and is attracted and held by a permanent magnet (not shown). FIG. 3 schematically shows the moment when the printing hammer 2 performs dot printing.

As described above, the plurality of printing hammers 2 disposed in the hammer bank 1 and their reciprocating movement in the left-right direction make it possible to print dots at any point in the left-right direction on the paper 30. The paper 30 is positioned in the longitudinal direction by feeding the paper at intervals of dot rows.

There are two major problems with the ribbon separator 5. The first problem is that the ink ribbon 20, which is constantly running as shown in FIG. 3, is damaged by being bitten into the round hole 5a of the ribbon separator 5 by the printing hammer 2 and printing pin 2a. The second point is that the round hole 5a of the ribbon separator 5 that reciprocates in the direction of arrow A as shown in FIG.
etc. is to attract. Particularly when the perforation 30a becomes convex toward the ribbon separator 5 side, this becomes the most problematic. This pulling causes damage to the paper 30, irregular printing due to shaking of the paper 30, damage around the round hole 5a of the ribbon separator 5, and concomitant damage to the printing hammer 2. The solution to this problem is to make the round hole 5a as small as possible, but the first problem is so large that it cannot simply be made smaller.

An object of the present invention is to significantly reduce the problems of the prior art described above, and to prevent damage to the printing mechanism, particularly the ribbon separator, of this type of printer, and to improve printing quality.

The present invention focuses on the fact that the above-mentioned problem lies in the paper being attracted to both the left and right end surfaces of the round hole of the ribbon separator, and by minimizing these end surfaces, the degree and number of times the paper is caught is reduced. This is something that has been devised to reduce it.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

Only one elongated hole 5b of the ribbon separator 5 is provided for each of the several printing hammers 2, and its shape is an elongated hole extending in the reciprocating direction of the hammer bank 1, that is, in the width direction of the paper 30. . Further, its height in the perpendicular direction is smaller than that of the conventional round hole 5a. In this embodiment, only one elongated hole 5b is provided for three printing hammers 2.

According to the present invention, the number of holes in the ribbon separator that attracts paper is significantly reduced, which greatly reduces paper damage due to paper being caught, irregular printing, damage to the ribbon separator, damage to the printing hammer, etc. This makes it possible to improve the reliability and print quality of the dot line printer. Furthermore, in the case of damage to the printing pins, since the size is large enough to accommodate several printing pins, there is little local deformation and no damage occurs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a plan view showing the printing mechanism of a dot line printer, Figure 2 is a sectional view of Figure 1, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining the moment when dot printing is performed, and Figure 4 is paper and ribbon. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the ribbon separator of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a hammer bank, 2 is a printing hammer, 2a is a printing pin, 3 is a shaft, 4 is a linear slide bearing, 5 is a ribbon separator, 5
a is a round hole, 5b is a long hole, 6 is a bolt, 10 is a reciprocating drive device, 11 is a joint, 20 is an ink ribbon, 21 is a ribbon guide, 22 is a spool, 30
30a is a paper, 30a is a perforation of the paper, 31 is a tractor, and 40 is a platen.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A hammer bank holding a plurality of printing hammers for dot printing arranged in rows along the row direction is reciprocated along the row direction, and the printing hammers are driven during this reciprocating movement. This device prints dots using a printing pin on a printing hammer, and prevents the ink ribbon traveling along the row direction from coming into contact with the printing paper sent in a direction perpendicular to the row direction outside the printing area. The ink ribbon is provided such that its upper end is located between the ink ribbon and the printing paper,
In a dot line printer equipped with a thin metal ribbon separator whose lower end is attached to a hammer bank and which has a hole for passing the printing pin near the upper end, the ribbon separator has at least 2 holes and no more than 3 holes. 1. A ribbon separator having a size that allows a printing pin to pass through, and said one hole can cover two or three printing pins.