JPH068065B2 - Printer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a printer using an ink ribbon.

[Prior Art] In this type of printer, for example, a dot printer, a printing mechanism and a ribbon cassette are mounted on a carrier, and a ribbon guide having an opening is provided in front of the dot head of the printing mechanism. The ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette is guided so that it just passes through the opening, and the dots from the dot head project onto the platen from above the ink ribbon through the opening and print on the printing paper wound on the platen. I am trying to do. In such a device, the distance between the tip of the dot head and the platen is about 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm, and although the ribbon guide is interposed between them, the distance between the ink ribbon and the printing paper is small.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In such a printer, when printing paper is fed such as cueing the paper or feeding several lines, the ink ribbon may come into contact with the printing paper through the opening of the ribbon guide. However, there was a problem that the printing paper was soiled.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of preventing a print sheet from being contaminated when the print sheet is fed when a single color ink ribbon is used.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a printer which can prevent the printing paper from being contaminated when the printing paper is fed when the multicolor ink ribbon is used.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] As shown in FIG. 1, the present invention is directed to a platen a, a carrier b which moves along the platen a, and a platen mounted on the carrier b and having a printing section. A printing mechanism c facing a and a ribbon cassette d containing a single color ink ribbon
And a ribbon guide f which forms an opening e and positions the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette d between the platen a and the front surface of the printing portion through the opening e, and the ribbon cassette d is opened by the ink ribbon opening e. And a paper feed motor h that rotationally drives the platen a. The paper feed motor h is driven to feed the print sheet i wound around the platen a. At this time, the cassette rotating mechanism g is controlled by the control means j.
Is operated so that the ink ribbon is removed from the position of the opening e.

Further, according to the present invention, when a multicolor ink ribbon is used as the ink ribbon, when the paper feed motor h is driven to feed the print paper i wound around the platen a, the cassette rotating mechanism g is controlled by the control means j. The lightest color among the colors of the ink ribbon is operated so that it is located in the opening e.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In this embodiment, the invention is applied to a dot printer.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a carrier shaft 2 and a guide shaft 3 are provided in parallel along the axial direction of the platen 1, and a carrier 4 is movably attached to each of the shafts 2 and 3. .

The carrier 4 has a dot print head 5 as a printing mechanism mounted on the front part thereof, and a ribbon cassette 6 containing a single color ink ribbon on the rear part thereof. The ribbon cassette 6 is placed on a ribbon base 8 which is rotatably supported by a support 7.

A ribbon guide 9 is provided at the tip of the carrier 4,
The ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 is positioned between the platen 1 and the print portion 5a of the print head 5. An opening 10 is provided in the ribbon guide 9 at a position facing the printing portion 5a at the substantially central portion, and guides the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 so as to pass through the opening 10.

A cassette rotating mechanism 11 is attached to the lower part of the carrier 4. The cassette rotating mechanism 11 is a ribbon shift motor 12, a rotating gear 13 for transmitting the rotation of the motor 12, and a fan-shaped structure for rotating the ribbon base 8 about the support 7 as a rotational force is transmitted from the rotating gear 13. It is composed of a gear 14. That is, as shown by the arrow in the figure, the motor 12 is rotated in the clockwise direction, whereby the rotating gear 13 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, and the rotation of this gear 13 causes the fan-shaped gear 14 to rotate in the clockwise direction and the ribbon base 8 to be rotated. Is rotated clockwise. The rotation amount of the ribbon base 8 is regulated by the stopper 15.

A printing paper 16 is wound around the platen 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration, 21 is a CPU (central processing unit) that constitutes the control unit main body, and 22 is this CP.
ROM (Read Only Memory) in which program data for U21 to control each part is stored,
Reference numeral 23 denotes an R provided with a memory for storing various data such as print data and a memory for storing processed data.
It is AM (random access memory). This CP
The U21, the ROM 22 and the RAM 23 are connected by a bus line 24.

Reference numeral 25 is an I / O port, 26 is a keyboard interface for controlling input of key signals from the keyboard 27,
Reference numeral 28 is a reception control circuit for receiving and controlling data such as print data from the outside. The I / O port 25, the interface 26, the reception control circuit 28, and the CPU 21 are connected by a bus line 29.

The I / O port 25 has a head drive circuit 30 that controls the drive of the print head 5, and a motor drive circuit 3 that controls the drive of a carrier motor 31 that controls the movement of the carrier 4.
2. A motor drive circuit 34 that drives and controls a paper feed motor 33 that rotates the platen 1 to feed the printing paper 16 and a motor drive circuit 35 that drives and controls the ribbon shift motor 12 are connected to each other. The carrier motor 31 also feeds the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 6 with a ribbon feed mechanism 36.
I also try to drive control.

The CPU 21 executes the fifth program based on the program stored in the ROM 22.
It is set to perform the control shown in the figure. That is, when data for one line is received from the outside via the reception control circuit 28, it is checked whether or not the data has print data.
1 and the print head 5 are driven to print on the print paper 16.

If the received data is paper feed data, the ribbon shift motor 12 is driven to rotate the ribbon base 8 in the clockwise direction so that the tip end of the ribbon cassette 6 is rotated downward as indicated by the arrow in the drawing. Shift the opening 1
Remove from 0. In this state, the paper feed motor 33 is driven to rotate the platen 1 to feed the print paper 16 for one line.

(Control Unit) The printing paper 16 is continuously fed as long as the received data is paper feeding data. Then, if there is data indicating that the paper feeding has ended, the ribbon shift motor 12 is rotated in the reverse direction to rotate the ribbon base 8 counterclockwise and restore the ribbon cassette 6 to the original state.

In the apparatus of the present embodiment having such a configuration, when printing the print data, the opening 10 of the ribbon guide 9 has the sixth position.
As shown in (a) of the figure, it is located at the ink adhering portion of the ink ribbon 6a. However, when the paper feed motor 33 is driven to feed the printing paper 16, the ribbon cassette 6 is rotated downward. As shown in FIG. 6B, the ink ribbon 6a is removed from the position of the opening 10, and the platen 1 is rotated in this state to feed the printing paper 16. Then, the ink ribbon 6a is fed during the feeding of the printing paper 16.
There is no possibility that the ink adhering part of the above will contact the printing paper 16 through the opening 10, and therefore the paper 16 will not be contaminated by the ink ribbon 6a.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The same parts as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as an ink ribbon, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (B) are arranged from the top in the width direction. The ink ribbon 6b is used. When the ink ribbon 6b is used, the CP is changed according to the color used.
U21 drives the ribbon shift motor 12 to move the leading end of the ribbon cassette 6 up and down to control the desired color to be located in the opening 10. That is, the CPU 21 performs the program control shown in FIG. A characteristic of this control is that when the paper feed data is received, the ribbon shift motor 12 is driven so that the ribbon cassette 6 has the lightest color at the position of the opening 10 as shown in FIG. 7B. Rotate so that yellow (Y) is positioned. That is, when a multicolor ink ribbon is used, its width is large, and it is difficult to completely remove the ink ribbon 6a from the opening 10 because the ribbon cassette 6 is greatly inclined. For this reason, yellow (Y) is positioned in the opening 10.

As a result, when the printing paper 16 is fed, it is always 4
The lightest color among the colors will be located in the opening 10, and even if the ink ribbon 6b and the printing paper may come into contact with each other, stains on the paper are barely noticeable, and the clarity of the printing is improved. There is no danger of hindrance.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer capable of preventing the printing paper from being contaminated when the printing paper is fed when a single color ink ribbon is used.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a printer capable of preventing the printing paper from being contaminated when the printing paper is fed when the multicolor ink ribbon is used.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the constitution of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a partial perspective view, FIG. 3 is a side view with a partial cross section, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration, FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the main processing of the CPU, and FIG. 6 is a print operation and print paper. 7 and 8 show the positional relationship between the monochromatic ink ribbon and the opening at the time of feeding, and FIGS. 7 and 8 show another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. Diagram showing the positional relationship between the multicolor ink ribbon and the opening at the time,
FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the main processing of the CPU. 1 ... Platen, 4 ... Carrier, 5 ... Print head,
6 ... ribbon cassette, 7 ... support, 9 ... ribbon guide, 10 ... opening, 11 ... cassette rotating mechanism, 1
6 ... Printing paper, 21 ... CPU (central processing unit), 2
2 …… ROM (Read Only Memory), 33 ……
Paper feed motor.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A platen, a carrier that moves along the platen, a printing mechanism mounted on the carrier and a printing unit facing the platen, a ribbon cassette storing a single color ink ribbon, and an opening. A ribbon guide that positions the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette between the platen and the front surface of the printing unit through the opening, and a cassette rotation that controls the rotation of the ribbon cassette so that the ink ribbon comes off the opening. A moving mechanism, a paper feed motor for rotating and driving the platen, and a control means for driving the paper feed motor to operate the cassette rotating mechanism when feeding the printing paper wound around the platen. A printer characterized by the above. 2. A platen, a carrier that moves along the platen, a printing mechanism mounted on the carrier and a printing unit facing the platen, a ribbon cassette storing a multicolor ink ribbon, and an opening. A ribbon guide for positioning the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette between the platen and the front surface of the printing unit through the opening, and the ribbon cassette so that each color portion of the ink ribbon is located in the opening. A cassette rotation mechanism that controls rotation, a paper feed motor that drives the platen to rotate, and a cassette rotation mechanism that drives the paper feed motor to feed the print paper wound around the platen. And a control means for positioning the lightest color of the multicolor ink ribbon in the opening. Data.