JPH0357477Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer in which a pen tip is provided at the tip of a leaf spring-like elastic body whose one end is fixedly supported, and printing is performed by deforming the elastic body and moving the pen tip. .

[Summary of the invention] This invention forms an insertion hole in the support part of a leaf spring-like elastic body that supports a pen tip at the tip, and also forms opposing grooves and protrusions above and below this insertion hole. The plate spring-like elastic body inserted into the insertion hole is deformed into a wave shape in the width direction by the groove and the protrusion, and is fixed. In addition to this, it also reduces variation and enables mass production.

[Conventional technology]

When performing hammer-type printing using a pen tip, the above-mentioned pen tip constituting the printing means is attached to the tip of a leaf spring, and the leaf spring is deformed by a driving means such as a plunger solenoid and placed on the platen. Printing will be performed on the printed paper provided. Therefore, the leaf spring that supports the pen tip at its tip must be supported at one end by some kind of support means. Therefore, it has been devised that, for example, this leaf spring is fixedly attached to the body of the ink cartridge. In such a case, conventionally, the leaf spring was inserted into the ink tank and fixed with an adhesive.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

Conventional methods of fixing leaf springs using adhesives make it difficult to mount the leaf springs accurately, and the parts that come into contact with the plunger solenoid and the tip of the pen tip The positional accuracy of the product decreases, and variations tend to occur between individual products. Moreover, such a leaf spring support structure requires a large number of man-hours for installation, which is disadvantageous in terms of cost, and is also unsuitable for mass production. The present invention was developed in view of these problems, and it is a leaf spring-like elastic body that improves the installation accuracy of the leaf spring-like elastic body, improves the workability of assembly, and makes it suitable for mass production. The object is to provide a printer having a support structure.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a printer in which a pen tip is provided at the tip of a leaf spring-like elastic body whose one end is fixedly supported, and printing is performed by deforming the elastic body and moving the pen tip. an insertion hole formed in the support portion of the spring-like elastic body; grooves and protrusions formed oppositely on the upper and lower inner walls of the insertion hole; and a recess formed facing the entrance portion of the insertion hole; a protrusion provided on the leaf spring-like elastic body, and when the fixed end side portion of the leaf spring-like elastic body is inserted into the insertion hole, the protrusion engages with the recess; The plate spring-like elastic body is deformed into a wave shape along the width direction and fixed by the groove and the protrusion.

[Effect]

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to attach the leaf spring-like elastic body to each product with high precision without causing variations. Further, since the elastic body can be attached by simply inserting the leaf spring-like elastic body into the insertion hole, the workability of assembly is improved and the structure is suitable for mass production.

【Example】

Ι Explanation of the structure (1) Feed screw and guide rod FIG. 1 shows almost the entire printer according to this embodiment. A motor 12 is attached via. A drive gear 14 is fixed to the output shaft 13 of this motor 12, and a feed screw 15
It meshes with a gear 16 fixed to the end of the shaft.
The feed screw 15 is rotatably supported by the chassis 10 via bearings 17 at both ends thereof. And this feed screw 15 has
In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, two thread grooves 18 are formed, and both ends of these thread grooves 18 are connected to each other by an arcuate groove. A rotating disk 19 is integrally connected to the drive gear 14 fixed to the output shaft 13 of the motor 12, and this rotating disk 19 faces an encoder 20 that is fixedly arranged. . This allows the rotation of the motor 12 to be detected. In addition, the feed screw 15
A guide rod 21 is arranged parallel to the guide rod 21 (see FIG. 1), and both ends of the guide rod 21 are supported by bearings 22. A guide plate 23 is disposed below the feed screw 15 and guide rod 21, as shown in FIG. Further, a table 24 is attached to the lower side of the guide plate 23. (2) Paper Feed Roller Shaft A roller shaft 28 is disposed on the front end side of the upper surface of the chassis 10 shown in FIG. 1, and is rotatably supported by a pair of left and right bearings 29. A plurality of paper feed rollers 30 are fixed to this roller shaft 28, as shown in FIG. A knob 31 is attached to the end of the roller shaft 28, so that the roller shaft 28 can be rotated manually. Furthermore, a worm gear 32 is attached to the roller shaft 28. To further explain the installation of the worm gear 32, FIGS. 3, 14, and 1
As shown in FIG. 5, a sleeve 33 is formed on the worm gear 32, and the sleeve 33
A slit 34 is provided therein. Then, a ring-shaped spring 35 is applied to tighten the sleeve 33.
is attached to the sleeve 33, and these slits 34 and the ring-shaped spring 35
The limiter mechanism 36 is constructed by the above. In addition, in order to press the print paper onto the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23, respectively, this printer uses a paper feed spring 37 and a back tension spring 38, as shown in FIG.
It is now equipped with both. As mentioned above, by providing the limiter mechanism 36 at the attachment part of the worm gear 32 of the roller shaft 28, damage to the drive section of the roller shaft 28 can be prevented, and manual operation can be performed if necessary. ing. That is, the roller shaft 28 is configured to transmit power through frictional coupling of the sleeve 33 of the worm gear 32, which is tightened by a ring-shaped leaf spring 35, and the value of the transmission torque of the limiter mechanism 36 is such that It is set to a value higher than the load to be sent, yet sufficiently lower than the breaking strength of the structure. Therefore, during automatic paper feeding, the limiter value is higher than the paper feeding load and the paper is fed normally, and when the knob 31 is manually pressed during automatic paper feeding or when it is stopped, the limiter mechanism 36 moves. Paper feeding can be performed manually without destroying each mechanical part. Therefore, with a very simple structure, it is possible to manually feed paper and to protect the drive unit for paper feeding. (3) Platen and its support mechanism As shown in FIG. 4, a table 24 is arranged below the guide plate 23, and a platen roller 45 is arranged as desired in the horizontally long opening of this table 24. It's becoming like that. To explain the support mechanism of the platen roller 45, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 8, the table 2
A rotating plate 42 is disposed on the lower side of the chassis 10, and is rotatably supported on the rear side of the chassis 10 by a support shaft 43. A platen roller 45 is mounted so as to face the horizontally long opening 44 of the rotating plate 42, and both ends thereof are supported by bearings 46.
It is designed to be supported by the rotating plate 42 via. This rotary plate 42 is urged by a rod 47 to rotate upward. That is, the central portion of the front end of the rotating plate 42 is pushed upward by the bent portion 48 of the rod 47. Rod 47
The other bent portion 49 is biased upwardly by a leaf spring 50 disposed on the chassis 10. A cam 51 for rotating the bending portion 49 against the leaf spring 50 is attached to the roller shaft 28, and when the operating portion 52 is rotated, the cam 51 rotates as shown in FIG. The rod 47 is then rotated against the leaf spring 50, and the rotating plate 42 is lowered. Note that instead of the structure in which paper is inserted by moving the rotating plate 42 up and down using the cam 51, as shown in FIGS. A piece 53 is provided,
With this protrusion 53, as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, the rotary plate 42 may be directly pushed down. According to such a configuration, the rod 4 is moved by the force applied to the rotating plate 42 via the projecting piece 53.
7 is rotated, the leaf spring 50 is pushed down, and the rotary plate 42 is also lowered accordingly. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The paper feed spring 38 and paper feed spring 37 are lowered,
This creates a gap and allows the printing paper to be inserted. (4) Intermittent drive mechanism for paper feed roller Next, a mechanism for intermittently driving the paper feed roller 30 will be explained. As shown in FIGS. 11 to 13, there is a paper feed lever 56 on the chassis 10. is provided, and a fulcrum pin 57
It is rotatably supported around the center. The lever 56 is biased to rotate by a spring 58 and comes into contact with a stopper 59. A pin 60 is embedded in this lever 56, and the pin 60 allows the lever 56 to be pushed by the carriage. Furthermore, this lever 56 is connected to the end of the rod 61. The other end of the rod 61 is a bent portion 62 bent upward, and is movably supported by a guide 63 provided at the opposite end of the chassis 10 shown in FIG. It's summery. The bent portion 62 supported by this guide 63 is adapted to be pushed when the carriage moves to the left. The end of the paper feed lever 56 is connected to an intermittent feed lever 64 via a pin 65. This lever 64 has a guide pin 66
is implanted and is adapted to engage with a groove 68 of a cam plate 67 provided on the chassis 10. Furthermore, the guide pin 66 is connected to the intermittent drive wheel 69.
It is adapted to engage with the pawl 70 of. This pawl 70 is pressed by a stopper 71, thereby prohibiting clockwise rotation in FIG. 11 and allowing only counterclockwise rotation. and intermittent drive wheel 69
is provided with a worm 72, which meshes with the worm gear 32 attached to the roller shaft 28. (5) Carriage and ink cartridge Next, we will explain the structure of the printer head that actually performs printing operations.
As shown in FIG. 19, the printer head is equipped with a carriage 76 made of a synthetic resin molding. Four cartridge mounting portions 77 are formed in this carriage 76, and an ink cartridge 78 is removably mounted on these mounting portions 77. Particularly, as shown in FIG. 19, this cartridge 78 is equipped with an ink storage section 79 whose interior serves as an ink tank, and furthermore, the front end side of this ink storage section 79 is provided with an ink storage section 79 when the air in the tank expands. It houses an adjuster 80 for preventing ink from being ejected. A supply pipe 81 is drawn out to pass through the adjuster 80, and supplies ink to a pen tip 83 supported at the tip of a leaf spring 82. A lock lever 84 is attached to the upper part of the mounting section 77 in which such an ink cartridge 78 is mounted.
is installed. This lock lever 84 has a thin wall portion 85 at its base portion, and the cartridge 78 is locked by the elastic restoring force of this thin wall portion 85. Further, a leaf spring 86 is provided to assist the elastic restoring force of the lock lever 84, and urges the lock lever 84 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 19. A presser plate 87 is attached to the front side of the leaf spring 86 to prevent the lock lever 84 from rotating significantly counterclockwise. The lock lever 84 has a claw 89 at its tip.
This claw 89 connects the ink cartridge 78
It is adapted to relatively climb over the inclined surface 90 of and engage with the stepped portion 91 . A leaf spring 92 is attached to the front end of the cartridge 76 so as to push the cartridge 78. Furthermore, a plunger solenoid 93 is fixed to the upper part of the carriage 76. This plunger solenoid 93 deforms the leaf spring 82 by pushing out the rod,
A printing operation is performed using a pen tip 83. (6) Leaf spring and its holding mechanism As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, the leaf spring that supports the pen tip 83 at its tip is formed by drawing in the center of its length. A tent-like protrusion 97 is provided, and the upper surface of the protrusion 97 is pressed by a plunger rod 98 of a plunger solenoid 93. With this structure,
The plate spring 82 is always pressed at a constant position regardless of the deformation of the plate spring 82, or even when the plunger 93 moves in the width direction relative to the spring 82.
The pen tip 83 is prevented from tilting. The upper part of the tent-like protrusion 97 is connected to the plunger rod 98 of the plunger solenoid 93.
It is adapted to be pressed by a pressing member 99 attached to the tip of the. Note that instead of drawing a part of the leaf spring 82 to form the tent-like projection 97, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, a pin 1 is attached to the leaf spring 82.
00 may be implanted, and the upper surface of this pin 100 may be pressed by the plunger rod 98 of the plunger solenoid 93 via the pressing member 99. By providing such a pin 100, it is possible to always apply force to the spring 82 at a constant position regardless of the deformation of the spring 82, and the plunger 93 of the spring 82
Pen tip 8
3 will be prevented from tilting. An insertion slit 101 as shown in FIGS. 26 and 27 is formed on the front surface of the ink storage portion 79 of the ink cartridge 78, and a pair of grooves 102 are formed on the bottom surface of the slit 101. ing. A protrusion 103 is formed at the upper part of the slit 101 so as to face these grooves 102. The proximal end of the leaf spring 82 having protrusions 104 on both sides is inserted into the slit 101, and the protrusions 104 are inserted using a jig 105 as shown in FIG. The leaf spring 82 is pressed into the slit 101 by pressing the leaf spring 82. When the leaf spring 82 is pushed into the slit 101 in this way, the groove 102 and the protrusion 103 deform the leaf spring 82 into a wave shape as shown in FIG. The end of the leaf spring 82 is securely held in the slit 101. Moreover, facing the entrance of the insertion slit 101 of the ink cartridge 78, recesses 106 are formed on both sides thereof, as shown in FIG. When the leaf spring 82 is inserted into the slit 101, the projections 104 formed on both sides of the leaf spring 82 come to be engaged with the recesses 106 as shown in FIG. As a result, the leaf spring 82 inserted into the slit 101 of the cartridge 78 is correctly positioned. That is, by simply inserting the fixed end of the leaf spring 82 into the slit 101, the leaf spring 82 can be easily and precisely attached to the cartridge 78. According to this installation of the leaf spring 82, the base end of the leaf spring 82 is aligned with the groove 1 of the slit 101.
02 and the protrusion 103, the plate spring 82 is fixed in a wave-shaped deformed state, which reduces variations in the holding of the leaf spring 82, making it possible to attach it with high precision. That is, since there is no longer a need for accurate attachment using adhesive, the positional accuracy of the pen tip 83 is also increased, thereby further reducing variations. Furthermore, when installing the leaf spring 82, it is sufficient to simply insert it into the slit 101 of the tank 78, which simplifies the installation process and is advantageous in terms of cost. (7) Pen Tip The pen tip 83 supported by the cartridge 78 via a leaf spring 82 is equipped with a ball 109 at its tip, as shown in FIG. The ink is supplied through the Further, a cap 110 that also serves as a damper is attached to the top of the pen tip 83, and when the pen tip 83 moves back, it comes into contact with a stopper (not shown), thereby preventing resonance by the damper 110. That's what I do. Therefore, the pen tip 83 supported by the leaf spring 82 vibrates stably, making it possible to stabilize the image quality. Further, a connecting portion 111 is provided on the side of the pen tip 83, and the supply pipe 81 is connected to this connecting portion 111. The pipe 8 is connected to the connecting portion 111 formed on the side in this way.
1, the pipe 81 extends almost parallel to the leaf spring 82, which improves the frequency response of the leaf spring 82 and reduces the power of the plunger solenoid 93, resulting in energy savings. will be achieved. The structure of the pen tip 83 is the 31st one.
It is possible to replace it with a modified example as shown in the figure. In this case, the pen tip 83 is connected to the leaf spring 8.
The pen tip 83 is made of synthetic resin and is integrally molded with the plate spring 82, and the elastic restoring force of the thin portion 113 of the leaf spring 82 allows the pen tip 83 to move. By adopting such a structure, the number of parts is further reduced and the structure becomes simpler. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 32, the upper end of the pen tip 83 is bent laterally at right angles, and this bent portion is supported by the leaf spring 82 via the holder 112, and the pen tip 83 is bent from the holder 112. The supply pipe 81 may be connected to the tip of the pen tip 83. (8) Plunger structure Next, the plate spring 82 is deformed and the pen tip 8
The structure of the plunger for press-bonding the ink cartridges 78 to the printing paper will be explained.The plunger has a structure in which four ink cartridges 78 are connected, and a multiple type plunger is used. That is, the yokes 116 of the four plastic gears 93 are connected to each other as shown in FIG.
6. Note that the upper plates 117 of the four plunger solenoids 93 are independent from each other, and a gap 126 is provided between them. A gap 118 is formed in a portion of the yoke 116 between each plunger solenoid 93, and the gap 118 allows the adjacent plungers 9
This is to prevent magnetic interference between the three.
Therefore, leakage magnetic flux is reduced, effective magnetic flux is increased, and magnetic efficiency is improved. For this reason, the responsiveness of the driving frequency is improved, and power consumption is also reduced. Next, to explain the internal structure of this plunger, a bobbin 119 is disposed inside the yoke 116 as shown in FIG.
20 is wrapped. And this bobbin 11
An armature 121 is arranged so as to be slidably held by 9. A plunger rod 98 is connected to the lower end of the armature 121, and the plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by a guide portion 124 of a fixed core 123 installed in the bobbin 119. In addition, the plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by a guide portion 124 of a fixed core 123 mounted within the bobbin 119. In this way, the plunger solenoid 93 for printing has its armature 121 connected to the bobbin 1.
19, and the plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by the guide portion 124, thereby achieving guidance of the movable part. ing. And the stopper 12 attached to the upper part of this plunger solenoid 93
7 only regulates the stroke of the armature 121, and since this stopper 127 is not provided with a bearing portion, there is no need for alignment with the shaft as in the conventional case, making assembly easier. brings the advantage of Furthermore, since the armature 121 is guided by the bobbin 119, the gap between the armature 121 and the bobbin 119 can be reduced and magnetic efficiency can be improved. Is possible. In this modification, a guide part 124 is provided at the lower part of the fixed core 123, and a guide part 124 is also provided at the upper part.
25 are provided, and these guide parts 124, 125
The plunger rod 98 is slidably supported by the plunger rod 98. According to such a structure, the armature 121 is attached to the bobbin 119.
Since it is no longer necessary to guide the armature 121 by the armature, the support structure for the armature 121 is simplified. Explanation of operation and function (1) Inserting paper To insert paper, move the cam 51 shown in Fig. 6 to the operating section 5.
2, thereby rotating the rotating plate 42.
This is achieved by processing the material from the state shown in FIG. 7 to the state shown in FIG. When the cam 51 is rotated, the rod 47 is forced down against the leaf spring 50, and the bent portion 49
comes into almost contact with the bottom of the chassis 10. In this state, the tip of the cam 51 locks the bent portion 49. As a result, the rotating plate 42 is lowered, and the springs 37 and 38 attached to the rotating plate 42 are both moved downward, away from the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23. Become. In this way, the paper travel path becomes open. Therefore, it becomes possible to insert print paper from the back side or the front side. The print paper is inserted between the table 24 or platen roller 45 and the guide plate 23. Thereafter, the cam 51 is unlocked, and the rotary plate 42 is raised via the rod 47 by the leaf spring 50. Then, the platen roller 45 rises, and the springs 37 and 38 attached to the rotating plate 42 come into contact with the paper feed roller 30 and the guide plate 23, respectively. Therefore, the spring 37 allows the paper to be fed as the paper feed roller 30 rotates, and the spring 38 makes it possible to apply back tension to the printing paper. Such a paper insertion mechanism particularly places the cam 51 on the right side of the chassis 10 where it can be easily operated, and uses the torsion rod 47 to apply the force to approximately the center in the width direction of the rotating plate 42. The elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 50 is applied to the rotating plate 42 without creating any imbalance laterally. The cam 51 is attached to a roller shaft 28 for paper feeding, and is locked and released by vertical movement of an operating section 52. With this structure, the amount of movement of the cam 51 is reduced, and the structure for raising and lowering the series of rotary plates 42 is simple and requires a small number of parts, which saves space and economy. Further, with this mechanism, the printing paper is inserted by moving the platen roller 45, so the insertion path for the printing paper is wide, and the mechanism is not released. At times, the area from the print paper insertion slot to the print paper exit is completely open and there are no obstructions. Therefore, it is now possible to easily insert even thick paper such as postcards, and the guide plate 23, which conventionally had a complicated shape for inserting printing paper, has a straight and smooth shape, making it easier to manufacture parts. Benefits also increase in terms of processability and processability. Furthermore, in this printer, the position of the paper can be freely adjusted using three positions of the knob. The knob 31 is attached to the roller shaft 28, and the worm gear 32 attached to the roller shaft 28 is connected to the limiter mechanism 3.
The roller shaft 28 is connected to the roller shaft 28 via a shaft 6. Therefore, when the knob 31 is rotated, the limiter mechanism 36 slides, and as a result,
While protecting the drive mechanism of the paper feed roller 30,
The paper feed roller 30 can be manually rotated via the roller shaft 28. Therefore, it is possible to freely set the position of the beginning of the printing paper which is pressed against the paper feed roller 30 by the spring 37. Moreover, this limiter mechanism 36 makes it possible to protect the mechanism part without destroying the drive part even if the knob 31 is operated during automatic paper feeding. (2) Printing operation The printing operation is performed by an ink cartridge 78 mounted on a carriage 76 that is guided by the guide rod 21 and fed laterally by the feed screw 15. When the feed screw 15 is driven by the motor 12, the carriage 76 supporting the four ink cartridges 78 moves in the lateral direction of the printer, and is moved by an electrical signal applied from the outside. Plunger solenoid 93
is activated to bring the pen tip 83 into contact with the printing paper to perform a printing operation. To explain this printing operation in more detail, it is performed by energizing the plunger solenoid 93 shown in FIGS. 18 and 9 and pushing out the plunger rod 98. As shown in FIG. 22, a pressing member 99 is attached to the tip of the plunger rod 98, and this pressing member 99 pushes the spring 82 to move the pen tip 83 downward to perform the printing operation. ing. Each of the four cartridges 78 is filled with yellow, magenta, cyan, and black ink, and the corresponding plunger solenoid 9 is activated by an external signal.
3 is excited to perform printing operations for each color. Since the cartridges 78 of each color are independent from each other, each cartridge 78 can be replaced separately when the ink in each cartridge 78 runs out, thereby making it possible to avoid wasting ink. As shown in FIGS. 19 and 22, an extrusion type plunger solenoid 93
The printing operation is performed by pushing out the rod 98 and deforming the leaf spring 82. Therefore, the plunger solenoid 93, which requires durability, and the ink cartridge 78, which is a disposable part, can be completely separated, and the part of the plunger solenoid 93, which requires durability, can be made highly accurate, improving performance and reliability. In addition to reducing power consumption, the cost of consumables can be reduced. In addition, the plunger solenoid 93 is placed above the leaf spring 82 and has a structure that pushes out the plunger rod 98, which simplifies the path of the printing paper, improves reliability, and increases the degree of freedom in design. This will lead to improved performance and even greater power savings. Furthermore, the leaf spring 82 that supports the pen tip 83 at its tip has a protrusion 97 formed in its longitudinally intermediate portion, as shown in FIGS. 20 to 22. The lower surface of a pressing member 99 attached to the tip of the rod 98 of 93 is used for pressing.
Therefore, regardless of the amount of deformation of the leaf spring 82, the portion that presses the leaf spring 82 is always constant, thereby making it possible to perform a stable printing operation. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 23, the point of action of the plunger solenoid 93 in the width direction of the leaf spring 82 can be made constant, thereby making it possible to eliminate the inclination of the leaf spring 82 in the width direction. . Therefore, the pen tip 83 supported at the tip of the leaf spring 82 is prevented from coming into contact with the printing paper at an angle.
Correct printing operations will always be performed. Furthermore, in the printer of this embodiment, a connecting portion 111 is formed on the side of the pen tip 83 (see FIG. 30), and the supply pipe 81 is connected to this connecting portion 111. ing. This pipe 81 extends to the side of the pen tip 83.
They are arranged substantially parallel to each other below the leaf spring 82. Therefore, a hammer-type printing operation is possible, and the ink supply pipe 81 does not interfere with this hammer-type printing operation. Furthermore, since it becomes possible to install the ink supply pipe 81 in parallel to the leaf spring 82, the frequency response of the leaf spring 82 is improved, and the driving power of the plunger solenoid 93 is also reduced, resulting in energy saving of the printer. will be achieved. Furthermore, it becomes possible to install a damper 110 at the upper end of the pen tip 83, thereby making it possible to prevent resonance and perform stable vibration. Therefore, this makes it possible to stabilize the image quality. In addition, along with improved paper feeding structure, hammer-type printing also makes it possible to print on thick paper such as postcards. Further, the plunger solenoid 93 for performing the printing operation uses a yoke 116 as shown in FIG. 33. This yoke 116 is provided with a gap 118 between the respective units, and furthermore, a gap 126 is formed between each upper plate 117. These gaps 118 and gaps 126 prevent magnetic interference between adjacent units. That is, when each unit is energized, a magnetic path as shown by the arrow in FIG. 33 is formed, leakage magnetic flux is extremely small, and there is almost no magnetic interference with adjacent units. Furthermore, since the magnetic flux is effectively used within each unit, the effective magnetic flux increases and the attractive force of the electromagnet also increases compared to the conventional system. Therefore, from this, it becomes possible to reduce the driving power of the plunger solenoid, or if it is sufficient to drive the plunger solenoid with the same power as before, the frequency response will be improved. (3) Replacing the ink cartridge When the ink in the ink cartridge 78 of the printer head that performs printing operations runs out in this manner, the cartridge 78 is replaced. To replace this cartridge 78,
Rotate the lock lever 84 shown in FIG. 19 counterclockwise. Then, the lever 84 moves to the thin part 85
The claw 89 is rotated counterclockwise against the elastic restoring force of the cartridge 78 and the elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 86, and the claw 89 is separated from the stepped portion 91 of the cartridge 78. Since the front end of this cartridge 78 is pressed by the release spring 92,
The elastic restoring force of the release spring 92 pushes the cartridge 78 to the right in FIG. 9, thereby removing the cartridge 78 from the carriage 76. After this, the lock lever 84 returns to the locked position again by its own elastic restoring force and the elastic restoring force of the spring 85. In this way, the old ink cartridge 78
Once removed, insert a new ink cartridge 78 filled with ink into the carriage 76.
The cartridge is attached to the cartridge attachment section 77 of the cartridge. This operation can be accomplished by inserting the cartridge 78 into the mounting portion 77 of the carriage 76 from right to left as indicated by the arrow in FIG. By inserting the cartridge 78, its inclined surface 90
The pawl 89 of the lock lever 84 overcomes this, whereby the pawl 89 of the lock lever 84 comes to engage with the stepped portion 91 of the cartridge 78. Note that a stopper (not shown) prevents the cartridge 78 from being inserted beyond a predetermined amount. And the cartridge 78 inserted all the way
lock lever 84 because its front end is pushed rearward by release spring 92.
The pawl 89 and the stepped portion 91 come to rest in a state where they are in contact with each other. The lock lever 84 acts to press the cartridge 78 against the carriage 76 by its own elastic restoring force and the elastic restoring force of the leaf spring 86.
Therefore, with this structure, the ink cartridge 78 can be attached and detached with a single touch, making the operation very easy. Furthermore, since the cartridges 78 can be replaced one by one, there is no need to replace the cartridges 78 in which ink remains, making it possible to eliminate waste of ink. (4) Intermittent feeding of paper The intermittent feeding of paper, that is, print paper, is performed in conjunction with the movement of the carriage 76. This operation is shown in Figures 11 to 1.
3, when the carriage 76 is guided by the guide rod 21 and moved to the right end of the printer by the feed screw 15, the carriage 76 is moved to the paper feed lever 5.
This causes the lever 56 to rotate clockwise in FIG. 11 about the pin 57 against the spring 58. The movement of this lever 56 then causes the pin 6 to
5 to the intermittent feed lever 64, and the lever 64 moves to the left as shown by the chain line in FIG. At this time, the pin 66 of the lever 64 hooks the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69, causing the drive wheel 69 to rotate one quarter of a turn. Furthermore, since the drive wheel 69 is prevented from rotating clockwise by the stopper 71, it stops after completing one-quarter rotation. This quarter-rotation motion of the drive wheel 69 is transmitted to the worm gear 32 of the roller shaft 28 via the worm 72, and the roller shaft 28 rotates by a predetermined rotation angle. A paper feed roller 30 is provided on this roller shaft 28, and a paper feed spring 3 is attached to this paper feed roller 30.
Since the printing paper is pressed through the paper 7, intermittent feeding of the printing paper is thereby achieved. The intermittent drive wheel 69 is connected to the stopper 71 as described above.
Since clockwise rotation is restricted by , even if the carriage 76 begins to move to the left and the lever 56 is rotated counterclockwise by the spring 58, the paper will not be fed. At this time, the pin 66 of the intermittent feed lever 64 moves within the groove 68 of the cam plate 67 and rides over the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69. Then, when the carriage 76 moves to the left end,
The bent portion 62 of the rod 61 guided by the guide 63 shown in FIG. 1 is pushed, and the rod 62 moves to the left. Since this rod 61 is connected to the lever 56, the lever 56 is thereby rotated clockwise. Therefore, in this case as well, the intermittent feed lever 64 moves to the left, and its pin 66 hooks the pawl 70 of the intermittent drive wheel 69 to rotationally drive the drive wheel 69. The counterclockwise rotation of the drive wheel 69 is transmitted to the worm gear 32 via the worm 72, and drives the roller shaft 28 provided with the paper feed roller 30, thereby intermittently feeding the print paper. In this way, in the printer according to this embodiment, as the carriage 76 moves to the left and right ends, the paper feed roller 30 is moved through the intermittent drive mechanism.
I am trying to drive it intermittently. Therefore, it is possible to achieve intermittent feeding of paper using the motor 12 that drives the feed screw 15 without requiring a dedicated drive source such as a motor or flange, and the number of parts is reduced. Alternatively, parts costs can be reduced. Furthermore, there is no need for a dedicated electric circuit for a drive source, and the cost of the circuit is also reduced. Furthermore, since there is no dedicated drive source, no space is required and the printer can be made smaller. (5) White Skip When performing various printing operations, when printing areas that do not have print information,
All you have to do is feed the paper. However, as mentioned above, this printer does not have a drive source dedicated to feeding paper. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to move the carriage 76 left and right to feed the paper both in the part where there is print information and in the part where there is no print information, making it impossible to shorten the printing time. Therefore, in this printer, except for the inconvenience of having to move the carriage 76 just to feed the paper, it is possible to skip the parts that do not need to be printed and immediately start printing from the parts that have print information. This reduces printing time and eliminates unnecessary printer operations. This operation is achieved by the control circuit shown in FIG. This control circuit is
Equipped with CPU 129, this CPU 129 has RAM
130, R0M131, frame memory 132,
Line memories 133 are connected to each other. Further, the CPU 129 controls the plunger solenoid 93 and the motor 12 via drive circuits 135 and 136, respectively. To explain the operation of this control circuit, for example, print information as shown in FIG. 37 is sent to the frame memory 132 via the CPU 139.
Incorporate into. Then, the data in the frame memory 132 is transferred line by line to the line memory 133 via the CPU 129, and at that time it is determined whether there is any data to be printed. The CPU 129 then checks for the existence of a flag that becomes 1 when data to be printed appears in a line, and sets the flag to 1 when the first line with data comes. Then, when the flag becomes 1, the DC motor 12 is driven. For example, as shown in FIG. 37, if there is no information to be printed from _L1 to _L5 , and information to be printed appears for the first time at _L6 , then from _L1 to _L5 , Each step of loop 1 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 38 is cycled through in sequence. Then, a flag is set at _L6 and the printing operation is started. Therefore, after this, each step of loop 2 is circulated until the final line, and the printing operation is performed. When the printing of the final line is completed, the flag is set to 0 and printing ends. This kind of operation can be performed even if the blank area or background is not white but another color, and by specifying the color to be blown using the software, it is possible to It is possible to shorten printing time by skipping even if By using this type of white skip, the time it takes to write a single diagram can be significantly shortened, depending on the content of the diagram, and the printer will not have to make unnecessary movements, which will save the machine time. It is possible to extend the lifespan.

[Effect of the idea]

As described above, the present invention has an insertion hole formed in the supporting part of the leaf spring-like elastic body, a groove and a protrusion formed on the upper and lower sides of the inner wall of the insertion hole, and an inlet of the insertion hole. The plate spring-like elastic body has a facing recess and a protrusion provided on the plate spring-like elastic body, and when the fixed end side portion of the plate spring-like elastic body is inserted into the insertion hole, the protrusion engages with the recess. At the same time, the plate spring-like elastic body is fixed by being deformed into a wave shape along the width direction by the groove and the protrusion. Therefore, with such a structure, it becomes possible to attach the leaf spring-like elastic bodies to the support portions without causing individual variations. Furthermore, attachment can be accomplished by simply inserting the end of the leaf spring-like elastic body into the insertion hole, which reduces the number of assembly steps and provides a structure suitable for mass production. Moreover, the protruding piece of the leaf spring-like elastic body is engaged with the recess formed facing the entrance portion of the insertion hole, so that the leaf spring-like elastic body is correctly positioned within the insertion hole. This makes it possible to mount the leaf spring-like elastic body with accurate positioning. Moreover, the leaf spring-like elastic body attached in this way is elastically supported by the groove and the protrusion so as to be deformed into a wave shape, and is not fixed by a fixing means, so it is not necessary to It can be easily replaced depending on the situation, resulting in a structure with excellent serviceability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing almost the entire structure of the printer according to the embodiment, Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the paper feed roller in the front, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the printer. , FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the operating cam, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the support structure of the platen roller, FIG. 7 is a sectional view when the platen is in the raised position, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a modified example of the support structure for the platen roller, FIG. 10 is a sectional view when the platen roller is lowered, and FIG. 11 is a plan view of the intermittent feed mechanism. 12 is a cross-sectional view showing the support structure of the paper feed lever, FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the paper feed worm, FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view of the limiter mechanism of the paper feed roller, and FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing the support structure of the paper feed lever. 16 is a plan view of the printer head, FIG. 17 is a back view, FIG. 18 is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 19 is a vertical sectional view, and FIG. 20 is a leaf spring for supporting the pen tip. , FIG. 21 is a side view of the same, FIG. 22 is a side view of essential parts of the printing mechanism, FIG. 23 is a cross-sectional view of the same, FIG. 24 is a perspective view of a spring according to a modified example, and FIG. 25 is a side view of the same. Figure 26 is a side view of the main parts of the printing mechanism, Figure 26 is a front view of the ink tank, Figure 27 is the same as Figure 26.
XX-XX line sectional view, Figure 28 is a sectional view showing the spring insertion operation, Figure 29 is a sectional view of the inserted spring, Figure 30 is a sectional view of the pen tip, and Figure 31 is a sectional view of the inserted spring.
32 is a side view of another modified pen tip, FIG. 33 is an external perspective view of the plunger yoke, FIG. 34 is a vertical sectional view of the plunger solenoid, and FIG. 35 is a cross-sectional view of a modified pen tip. 36 is a block diagram of the control circuit, FIG. 37 is a plan view showing the operation of the white skip, and FIG. 38 is a flowchart of the same. In addition, in the symbols used in the drawings, 78... Ink cartridge, 82... Leaf spring. 83... Pen tip, 101... Insertion slit, 102... Groove, 103... Projection, 104...
... protrusion, 105 ... jig, 106 ... recess.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A printer in which a pen tip is provided at the tip of a leaf spring-like elastic body whose one end is fixedly supported, and printing is performed by deforming the elastic body and moving the pen tip. , an insertion hole formed in the support portion of the leaf spring-like elastic body; a groove and a protrusion formed on an inner wall of the insertion hole to face each other vertically; and a protrusion provided on the leaf spring-like elastic body, and when the fixed end side portion of the leaf spring-like elastic body is inserted into the insertion hole, the protrusion engages with the recess. The printer is characterized in that the plate spring-like elastic body is fixed by being deformed into a wave shape along the width direction by the groove portion and the protrusion portion.