JPH0664298A - Electronic numbering device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The mechanism is simplified by attaching a motor that drives the character selection cam shaft that fixedly supports the character selection cam and the character wheel shaft that pivotally supports the character wheel, respectively. Provided is an electronic numbering device which is small in size, light in weight, inexpensive, and hard to break down while reducing the character selection operation and power consumption. A character selection operation is performed by controlling rotation of a character selection cam and a type wheel by independent motors by a control means that changes a set value by a predetermined amount based on data input from an input means. After selecting characters, print on the object.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic numbering device for electronically selecting arbitrarily set print data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an electronic numbering device,
There has been proposed an apparatus that electronically sets and changes an arbitrary value with respect to the numbering for mechanically recording serial numbers.

[0003]

However, the numbering in the electronic numbering device, which has a mechanism for selecting a character ring corresponding to the number of digits, is a character selection operation after the character ring once selected is reset after printing. Therefore, there is a waste in the character selection operation, and since the character selection solenoid has only the number of digits, the power consumption during character selection is large, and many dry batteries are required. There is a problem that expensive components such as solenoids are required, the mechanism is complicated and the number of components is increased.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to change only a necessary ring shape by a set amount to reduce power consumption as much as possible. At the same time, it is to provide a small, lightweight, and inexpensive electronic numbering device.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the electronic numbering device of the present invention displays an input means for setting and inputting data to be printed, and the data input by the input means. Electronic having display means, control means for changing a set value by a predetermined amount based on the input data, and printing means for printing the value set by the control means on an arbitrary object by a plurality of type wheels. In the numbering device, a character selection shaft that rotatably supports the plurality of character wheels and a character selection cam that is provided with a protrusion for sequentially selecting the character wheels that is provided corresponding to each character wheel is fixedly supported. A stepping motor that independently controls the rotation of the cam shaft is provided.

[0006]

In the electronic numbering device of the present invention having the above-described structure, the rotation control of the character wheel shaft and the character selection cam shaft is performed by an independent stepping motor, so that a complicated mechanism such as a power switching mechanism is not required. , The character selection operation can be performed efficiently.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an external view of an electronic numbering device according to the present invention. The electronic numbering device is composed of a main body 1 and an opening 2 which is made of a transparent member and shows a printing position for easy confirmation of the printing position. And slide 3 with. The main body 1 is composed of a front body 1a and a rear body 1b. A keyboard 4 constituting an input means and a display device 5 (display means) composed of an LCD or the like are provided on a central front surface of the front part 1a of the main body, and a battery lid 6 for replacing a battery is provided on an upper portion. Has been.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the present apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along the line aa of FIG. 2.

Both sides of the type wheel shaft 7 are supported by the chassis 9 via the metal 8. On one side surface of the plurality of type wheels 10, a groove portion 10 for storing a type spring 11 for engaging and positioning the type wheel 10 and the type wheel shaft 7 at a constant pitch.
a and a plurality of engaging claws 10b for engaging and disengaging the engaging portion 15a at one end of the latch 15 are provided. On the opposite side surface, the type spring 11 is fitted with the groove portion 10a. Is integrally provided with a spring retainer 10e for restricting the swinging of the in the thrust direction. The type wheel 10 has the groove 1
The character springs 11 for each digit stored in 0a are connected to and separated from the claw portions 7a divided at the same angular pitch as the marking surface 18 of the character wheel 10 in the radial direction on the character wheel shaft 7 so that each digit is independent. It is rotatably supported. Further, one end of the type wheel shaft 7 is connected to the stepping motor 25 by the shaft coupling 12.
It is connected to and can rotate integrally. The stepping motor 25 has a smaller diameter than the type wheel 10, and is fixed to the motor fixing plate 13 with screws (not shown). The motor fixing plate 13 is also fixed to the chassis 9 with screws (not shown). ing. Further, the mounting position of the stepping motor 25 to the motor fixing plate 13 is fixed at a position where it does not project in the printing position direction.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the character selection cam.
FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the character selection cam of FIG. 4A rotated by 180 °. As is apparent from this figure, the character selection cam 14 is arranged in a spiral shape on the surface of a cylindrical cam at substantially equal angular pitches, and is a projection that operates the cam follower 15b at the other end of the latch 15 for the number of digits ( 16a to 16h, which is about 8 digits in the case of the embodiment, and a reset projection 1 which has about half the height of the projection 16 and extends over the entire length of the character selection cam 14 and pushes up the latches 15 of all the digits to the reset position.
7 has the same height as the protrusion 16 and extends in the longitudinal direction of the character selection cam 14, and holds the marking surface 18 of the type wheel 10 so as not to be displaced after the character selection operation is completed. Positioning protrusion 1 that pushes up the latch 15 of the
9 and a blank 20 for rotating the selected printing surface 18 to the printing position.

The character selection cam shaft 21 has metal 2 on both sides.
It is supported by the chassis 9 via 2. The character selection cam 14 is fixedly supported by the character selection cam shaft 21 and rotates integrally with the character selection cam shaft 21. Further, one end of the character selection cam shaft 21 is connected to the stepping motor 26 by the shaft joint 23 so that the driving force of the stepping motor 26 can be directly received. Like the stepping motor 25, the stepping motor 26 is fixed to the motor fixing plate 13 with a screw (not shown). At the other end of the character selection cam shaft 21, an encoder 4 for indicating the base point position of the character selection cam 14 is provided.
7 and a position sensor 45 that is switched by the encoder 47 are fixed to the chassis 9 with screws or the like (not shown).

A latch 15 that sequentially fixes the type wheel 10 as the character selection cam 14 rotates is rotatably supported by a latch shaft 24 fixed to the chassis 9. The cam follower 15b at the other end of the latch 15 is constantly pressed against the character selection cam 14 by a comb spring 27 which is fixed to the chassis 9 with screws or the like (not shown).

The slide 3 engages with the slide protrusions 34 formed integrally with the elongated longitudinal grooves 33 formed on both side surfaces of the main body 1, and the relative relative to the main body 1 along the elongated grooves 33. Move up and down. A spring 35 is provided between the slide protrusion 34 and the main body 1 so that the main body 1 can be used during printing operation.
Is manually pushed downward and released, the spring 35 causes the spring 35 to return to its original position.

The ink roll 28 comprises a roll-shaped ink pad 29 and a pad case 3 made of a porous polymer material.
0, and the ink pad 29 is rotatably supported by the chassis 9 via a pad case 30 at a position where the ink pad 29 is pressed against the type wheel 10. The ink roll 28 is replaced through the ink window 31 near the center of the rear surface of the rear body 1b.

Further, a room for accommodating a plurality of batteries 32 is integrally formed on the upper portion of the main body 1, and the battery lid 6 is provided.
Open and close to replace the battery.

FIG. 5 is a system block diagram of this apparatus, which is arranged on a substrate 43 which is mainly fixed to the chassis 9 by screws (not shown) or the like. The keyboard 4 which is an input unit is connected to the CPU 38 of the control unit 39. The control means 39 includes a power supply circuit 50 and a transmission circuit 48.
And a voltage detection circuit 3 for detecting the voltage of the power supply circuit 50.
7, a CPU 38 that integrally manages input information and memory information, and executes a character selection operation and display, and the CPU 3
It is composed of drivers 40 and 41 for operating the stepping motors 25 and 26, respectively, in response to signals from 8. The display device 5 which is a display unit is a CP of the control unit 39.
Controlled by U38. The printing unit 44 includes stepping motors 25 and 26 as a motor for selecting characters, a print sensor 46 for detecting a printing operation, and a character selection cam 14.
And a position sensor 45 for detecting the initial position of.

The operation will be described below.

The print sensor 4 indicates that the printing operation is completed.
6 is confirmed, the positioning protrusion 1 on the character selection cam 14
9 pushes up the cam followers 15b of all the latches 15, and the engaging portions 15a of the latches 15 engage the engaging claw portions 1 of the type wheel 10.
The character wheel 10 is in a state of being engaged with 0b, and is waiting for the character selection command of the control means 39 while being held so that the character wheel 10 does not cause a positional shift.

A general character selection operation is a case where an arbitrary numerical value is input from the keyboard 4 or the numerical value changes by a predetermined amount according to a specific regularity. Assuming that the distance in the radial direction from the stamp surface 18 on the type wheel 10 to the next stamp surface 18 is 1 pitch, the control means 39 compares the current state of the type wheel 10 with the set value to be changed next. For each digit, the displacement amount, which is the number of pitches to rotate the type wheel 10 relative to the type wheel shaft 7, is determined, and the stepping motor 2
Give commands to 5,26.

The character selection cam 1 reaches a position where the latch 15 engages with the type wheel 10 of the girder to be rotated by the displacement amount.
4 is rotated, and the type wheel 10 is rotated in the direction of arrow A by the amount of displacement described above from the time when the rotation of the character selection cam 14 is completed. Here, since rotation of the type wheel 10 with which the latch 15 is engaged is blocked by the latch 15, the type spring 11 stored in the type wheel has a type wheel shaft 7.
The engagement and disengagement with the claw portion 7a is repeated by the rotation pitch, and the relative rotation between the type wheel 10 and the type wheel shaft 7 is executed by the displacement amount. By repeating the above-mentioned operation for a necessary digit, the set value and the stamp surface 18 are made to coincide in the digit direction.

When the set value and the printing surface 18 are made to coincide with each other by the above process, in most cases, the printing position for the printing operation and the set printing surface 18 are displaced.

M: sum of relative change pitches of the type wheel 10 and the type wheel shaft 7 s: number of the stamp surface 18 x: number of rotations of the type wheel shaft 7 y: feed pitch amount required up to the printing position y = s (x + 1)- m In order to correct the misalignment by the amount of y, the character selection cam 14 is rotated again in the next step, and all the latches 15 are moved to the type wheel 1.
After stopping at the position of the blank 20 on the character selection cam 14 which is the position not engaging with the engaging claw portion 10b of 0, the type wheel shaft 7 and all the type wheels 10 rotate integrally by the pitch amount y. By doing so, the set stamp surface 18 is aligned with the printing position, and the character selection process is completed. In this way, the character selection cam 14 is rotated again, and the positioning projections 19 on the character selection cam 14 stop at the position where all the latches 15 are pushed up, so that the type wheel 10 is prevented from being displaced by the printing operation.
5 is waiting for the printing operation while holding the type wheel 10.

When used as numbering in a series of character selection operations including the correction operation, the character ring 10 is used.
In most cases, the ink passes through the contact point with the ink roller 28 at least once, so that the ink is automatically applied when the printing surface 18 is aligned with the printing position. If the printing operation is not performed for a certain period of time after the character selection operation and the printer is left unattended, the power is automatically turned off by the control means 39, and when the power is turned on next time by the user, the type wheel shaft 7 is turned on. The ink application operation is performed by rotating the blank 20 on the character selection cam 14 once.

The display device 5 indicates that the character selection is completed in this way.
The character is selected by notifying the user using some kind of notification means such as displaying on the display, confirming the end of the character selection operation, and pushing down the main body 1 with the opening 2 of the slide 3 aligned with the printing position. Printing is performed by pressing the stamp surface 18 against an arbitrary object.

Next, the reset process will be briefly described. When an error occurs in the character selection process when the battery 32 is replaced or due to some reason, all digits are immediately reset once and then the next process is started. Character selection cam 14
Is rotated to stop all the latches 15 at the position where the reset protrusion 17 pushes up. Here, since the reset protrusion 17 has only about half the height of the normal protrusion 16, the latch 15 pushed up by the reset protrusion 17 can be rotated only to the half engagement position of the conventional one. , Type wheel 1
Only one of the 0 engaging claws 10b can engage with the engaging claw 10d having a high claw height. If the type wheel 10 is rotated once in this state, the rotation is blocked by the latch 15 at the position of the engaging claw portion 10d where all the digits are provided at the same position, and a mechanical reset operation can be performed. In the above operation, the stepping motor 25 that directly drives the type wheel shaft 7 is subjected to the spring pressure of the type springs 11 for all digits, and the load torque becomes several times that in the normal character selecting operation. The required driving torque is secured by lowering the value from the normal value, and control is performed so as to operate reliably even in the reset step.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, the electronic numbering device of the present invention can reduce the number of operations required for character selection as compared with the conventional one, and since the mechanism is simple, there are few failures and power consumption. It has an excellent effect that it is possible to significantly reduce the cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an electronic numbering device.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the device.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along the line aa in FIG.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a character selection cam. (B) It is a perspective view of the state which rotated the character selection cam of (a) figure 180 degrees.

FIG. 5 is a system block diagram of the present apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 keyboard 5 display device 7 character wheel shaft 10 character wheel 14 character selection cam 16 protrusion 21 character selection cam shaft 25 stepping motor 26 stepping motor 39 control means 44 printing means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A keyboard (4) for setting and inputting data to be printed, a display device (5) for displaying data input by the keyboard (4), and setting based on the input data. Electronic numbering having a control means (39) for changing the value by a predetermined amount and a printing means (44) for printing the value set by the control means (39) on an arbitrary object by a plurality of type wheels (10). In the device, a type wheel shaft (7) rotatably supporting the plurality of type wheels (10) and a protrusion (16) for sequentially selecting the type wheels (10) are associated with each type wheel (10). Electronic numbering, characterized in that the character selection cam shaft (21) for fixedly supporting the character selection cams (14) separately provided with the stepping motors (25, 26) are independently controlled. Location.