JPH06286261A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In a thermal printer, it is used both as a ribbon saver drive motor and a paper cutter drive motor. [Structure] A ribbon saver drive shaft and a cutter drive shaft are connected to a single motor through one-way clutches in mutually opposite directions, and which of the ribbon saver and the cutter is to be driven is selected depending on the rotation direction of the motor. [Effect] Since the motor is also used, the printer mechanism is simplified.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon type printer. In a thermal printer that uses an ink ribbon, the ink ribbon is also fed during printing to prevent the misalignment between the two, but if there is a blank portion in the paper feeding direction in the print content, that portion will also be printed. Sending the ink ribbon with the wastes the ink ribbon, so when the paper is sent without printing such as blank areas of the print content, separate the platen from the thermal head and lift the ink ribbon from the paper. , Ink ribbon feeding is stopped. A ribbon saver is a mechanism for separating the platen from the thermal head when this printing is not performed. The present invention relates to a ribbon saver driving mechanism in a printer using an ink ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional printer, a motor for operating a ribbon saver and a motor for operating a cutter for cutting a continuous sheet are separate from each other. Therefore, the number of motors increases, the structure becomes complicated, and the cost is high. It was supposed to be.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to reduce the number of motors used in a printer by using both a motor for operating a ribbon saver and a motor for operating a cutter.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problem] The ribbon saver drive shaft and the cutter drive shaft are connected to a single motor through one-way clutches in which the transmission directions are opposite to each other, and the ribbon saver is driven when the ribbon saver is operated. The motor is rotated in the opposite direction, and when the cutter is operated, the motor is rotated in the opposite direction.

[0005]

[Operation] Since the ribbon saver and the cutter are connected to one motor through the one-way clutches in opposite directions, when the motor is rotated in the direction to operate the ribbon saver, the cutter is rotated by the motor. However, the ribbon saver does not move when the motor is rotated in the direction that activates the cutter. That is, it is possible to select whether to move the ribbon saver or the cutter depending on whether the rotation direction of the motor is forward or reverse, and one motor can be used for both purposes.

[0006]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 is a thermal head, and 2 is a platen roll. A paper feed roller 3 feeds the continuous paper P to the right in the figure. 4 cuts the paper printed by the cutter into a length of one page. An ink ribbon 5 is delivered from a ribbon delivery roller 6 and wound around a ribbon winding roller 7. The platen roll is rotated by the main motor pulley 8 via the belt 9 in the arrow direction. A sheet feeding mechanism such as a sheet feeding roller is also driven by a main motor through a transmission mechanism (not shown). The ribbon winding roller 7 is driven by a motor (not shown) different from the main motor. A ribbon saver unit 10 is shown in FIG.
Is a cam mechanism for moving the platen roll 2 up and down. Reference numeral 11 is a shaft of a motor that operates the ribbon saver and the cutter 4, and a ribbon saver pulley 12 and a cutter pulley 13 are connected to the motor shaft 11 via a one-way clutch (not shown in the figure).
As described above, the transmission directions of these one-way clutches are opposite to each other. Ribbon saver unit is belt 14
It is connected to the ribbon saver pulley 12 via a, and the cutter 4 is connected to the cutter pulley 13 via a belt 14b.

While printing is being performed, the paper P is sent to the right, the platen roll is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the ink ribbon 5 is sent at the same speed as the paper and taken up by the ribbon take-up roller 7. Has been. When there is a certain amount of blank space in the paper feed direction in the print content, the control device (not shown) recognizes the existence of the blank space in advance from the print pattern data, and drives the ribbon saver and cutter drive motor. The shaft 11 is rotated once to rotate the shaft 11 once clockwise. Then, the ribbon saver pulls down the platen roll and separates it from the thermal head 1. On the other hand, paper P
Is being sent to the right, and the winding of the ink ribbon 5 is stopped. Since the platen is pulled down and the pressure contact state between the paper and the ink ribbon is eliminated, the ink ribbon can be stopped without difficulty even if the paper is sent to the right. When the blank portion of the print surface is finished, the control device rotates the ribbon take-up roller again, and the motors for driving the ribbon saver and the cutter are rotated again to rotate the shaft 11 once more in the same clockwise direction as described above. Then, the platen roll 2 is pushed up and the paper P and the ink ribbon 5
Is pressed against the thermal head 1.

When printing is completed normally and printing is completed, the ribbon saver is actuated, the platen roller is pushed down, the paper is floated from the ink ribbon, and the paper is placed so that the trailing edge of one page of print comes to the position of the cutter. Send in the cutter direction (forward direction). When the paper arrives at that position, the control device rotates the ribbon saver and the cutter driving motor in the opposite direction to the above-described direction, and rotates the shaft 11 once in the counterclockwise direction. Then, the cutter operates once to cut the paper into the length of one page. Next, the paper is fed in the reverse direction to the position where the printing of the next page is started, and when the paper reaches that position, printing is performed as described above. As described above, in the normal series of operations, the printing operation is not performed immediately before and after the cutter cutting operation, and the paper feeding operation is performed. Therefore, in order to speed up the series of operations of the printer,
It is not necessary to drive the ribbon saver and the cutter at the same time. Thus, in an ordinary series of operations, it was attempted to drive the ribbon saver and the cutter by the same motor, noting that it is not necessary to drive the ribbon saver and the cutter at the same time.

FIG. 2 shows the mechanism of the ribbon saver. The shaft 21 of the platen roll 2 is held by a bearing (not shown) that is slidably guided in the vertical direction. Reference numeral 15 is an eccentric cam, and 16 is a cam shaft, to which a pulley 17 is fixed, and is connected to the ribbon saver pulley 12 of FIG. 1 by a belt 14a. A connecting rod 18 connects the cam 15 and the platen shaft 21. Therefore, the platen roll 2 moves up and down by the rotation of the cam 15. The thermal head 1 can move up and down within a small range, is pressed by a spring (not shown), and is pushed up against the spring at the rising position of the platen roll 2 (FIG. 2A), and the descending position of the plantain. (Fig. 2
In B), the thermal head 1 and the platen roll 2 are separated. A click disc 19 is fixed to the cam shaft 16. The click disk 19 is provided with notches 19a at both ends of one diameter so that the click pins 20 engage with each other, and the notches 19 and the click pins 20 are engaged at the platen rising position and the platen lowering position. Cam 1 at each position
5 is designed to be locked.

The cam 15 is made to rotate half a turn by one rotation of the motor for driving the ribbon saver and the cutter. Therefore, at the start of the blank portion of the print, the ribbon saver and the cutter driving motor make one rotation to pull down the platen roll, and at the end of the blank portion, the motor makes another rotation in the same direction to push up the platen roll. The cutter is operated once by one rotation of the motor. For this reason, the mechanism for rotating the motor once is as follows. The ribbon saver and cutter driving cam are direct-current motors capable of forward and reverse rotation, and can be switched between forward and reverse rotation by operation from the control device. As shown in FIG. 3, a disc 23 having a notch in one place is fixed to the shaft of this motor, and the protrusion of the movable contact plate of the switch Sw1 is in contact with the circumference of this disc. When enters into the cut of the disc 23, the switch Sw1 opens. This switch is in series with a ribbon saver and a cutter driving motor M, and this motor is stopped at a position where the protrusion of the movable contact plate of the switch Sw1 enters the notch of the disk 23. The normally open contact of the relay 22 is connected in parallel with the switch Sw1, and when the ribbon saver or the cutter is operated, the relay 22 is operated by the pulse signal from the control device, and the normally open contact is temporarily opened. When the closing motor is started, the switch Sw1 is closed, and after one rotation of the motor, the protrusion of the movable contact plate enters the notch of the disc 23 and the motor M is stopped.

FIG. 4 shows a connecting portion of the ribbon saver / cutter driving motor shaft 11 and the ribbon saver pulley 12 / cutter pulley 13. C1 and C2 are one-way clutches, and C1 is a clockwise rotation of the shaft 11. Is transmitted to the pulley 12, and C2 transmits the counterclockwise rotation to the pulley 13.
The one-way clutch may be interposed between the motor shaft 11 and the pulleys 12 and 13, but may be interposed between the pulley 17 mounted coaxially with the cam shaft 16 of the ribbon saver and between the cutter pulley and the cutter shaft. FIG. 5 is a front view of the ribbon saver, and the mechanism shown in FIG. 2 is provided at both ends of the platen roll shaft.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, both the ribbon saver and the cutter are connected to the motor shaft 11 by using belts, but these connections may be made by using gears. Further, in the above description, the ribbon saver is activated only in the blank part of the print, but when only the paper is moved without printing, for example, a continuous paper is printed for one page and the rear end of the page is printed. The ribbon saver is also activated when the paper is fed to the cutter, and after the cut edge, the cut paper is returned and the next page is printed.

[0013]

According to the present invention, since the ribbon saver driving motor and the cutter driving motor are combined into one motor, the number of motors in the printer is reduced, and the structure is simplified accordingly. The price as a whole can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the ribbon saver of the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a drive circuit of a ribbon saver and a cutter drive motor of the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a connecting portion between a ribbon saver / cutter driving motor and a ribbon saver / cutter pulley.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the ribbon saver of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Head 2 Platen Roll 4 Cutter 5 Ribbon 10 Ribbon Saver Unit 11 Ribbon Saver, Cutter Drive Motor Shaft 12 Ribbon Saver Pulley 13 Cutter Pulley 15 Eccentric Cam 18 Connecting Rod

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] April 21, 1993

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

Claims (1)

[Claims] The ribbon saver drive shaft and the cutter drive shaft are connected to a single motor via one-way clutches in which the transmission directions are opposite to each other, and when the ribbon saver is operated, the motor is rotated by a certain rotation angle in the direction in which the ribbon saver is driven. And a control means for rotating the motor by a constant rotation angle in the opposite direction when the cutter is operated.