JPH0687258A - Electronic numbering apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the driving torque of a character selection mechanism and to accelerate character selection actions by installing movable character selection cams having channel cam parts which trace the movement of latches for selecting more than one character wheel one after another corresponding to each character wheel. CONSTITUTION:A character selection cam 14 is turned to the position where a latch 15 is engaged with a character wheel 10, then the character wheel 10 is rotated in the A direction by an angle corresponding to the displacement. The engagement and disengagement with the nail 7a of the character wheel shaft 7 are repeated by a character spring 11, and the character wheel 10 is turned by an angle corresponding to the displacement. Since the dislocation of a print 18 often occurs, the character selection cam 14 is turned again to correct the position. After all the latches 15 stop at the position of the blank 20 in a channel cam 31 where the latches 15 are free from the engagement with the nails 10b of the character wheels 10, the character wheel shaft 7, together with all the character wheels 10, is rotated by one pitch. The character selection cam 14 is ratated again so that the projected positioning part 19 in the channel cam 31 makes all the latches 15 hold the character wheel 10.

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, in a parallel type printing apparatus having a number of type wheels corresponding to the number of digits, the drive control of these mechanisms is realized by using a stepping motor or the like to simplify the mechanism of the entire apparatus, An easy-to-control device with a reduced number of parts has been proposed.

[0003]

However, in the printing apparatus, the load torque applied to the stepping motor for driving the character selecting mechanism is very large, and the stepping motor is operated at a low rotational speed to obtain the required torque. There is a problem that the character selection operation cannot be speeded up because it must be used.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce the drive torque of a parallel type character selecting mechanism having a number of type wheels corresponding to the number of digits as much as possible. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic numbering device that can speed up character selection operation.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the electronic numbering device of the present invention has an input means for setting and inputting data to be printed, and a display for displaying the data input by the input means. Electronic numbering including an apparatus, a control unit that changes a set value by a predetermined amount based on the input data, and a printing unit that prints the value set by the control unit on an arbitrary object by a plurality of type wheels. In the apparatus, a movable character selection cam having a groove cam portion tracing a movement of a latch for sequentially selecting the plurality of character wheels is provided so as to correspond to each character wheel individually.

[0006]

The electronic numbering device of the present invention having the above structure has the groove cam portion tracing the movement of the latch,
By rotating all movable character selection cams individually corresponding to each type wheel, the latch is operated by each groove cam portion to select the target type wheel.

[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 which constitutes an input means and a display device 5 which is composed of an LCD and the like are provided on the central front surface of the front part 1a of the main body, and a battery lid 6 for replacing the battery is provided on the upper part thereof.

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. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the character selection cam. As is apparent from this figure, the character selection cam is fixedly supported by the character selection cam shaft 21 and is rotated integrally with the character selection cam shaft 21. Character selection cam (8 digits in the embodiment) 14a corresponding to the wheel 10
14h to 14h have a grooved cam portion 31 on one side surface of a disk-shaped cam, which traces the movement of the latch 15 while engaging with a cam follower 15b at the other end of the latch 15 for each digit. The groove cam portion 31 is a convex portion 16 that operates the engaging portion 15a of the latch 15 of each girder to engage the type wheel 10.
A reset protrusion 17 having a height about half that of the protrusion 16 for guiding the latch 15 to a reset position, and a latch 15 having the same height as the protrusion 16 to form the type ring 10.
And a blank 20 for guiding the latch 15 to a position not engaged with the type wheel 10 for rotating the selected marking surface 18 to the printing position. And have. The reset convex portion 17, the positioning convex portion 19, and the blank 20 are arranged at the same position as the adjacent character selecting cam 14 with respect to the supporting position of all the character selecting cams 14, and are aligned in parallel with the character selecting cam shaft 21. It is arranged.

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 followers 15b of the latch 15 are individually fitted with the groove cam portions 31 on the character selection cam 14 of each digit, and the movement of the latch 15 is traced from the groove cam portions 31 as the character selection cam 14 rotates. . At this time, no external force other than sliding resistance by the cam follower 15b is applied to the character selection cam 14,
The load torque applied to the character selection cam shaft 21 that rotates integrally with all the character selection cams 14 is significantly reduced.

FIG. 5 shows the speed of the stepping motor (PP
It is a diagram showing the relationship between (S) and torque, and as is clear from this graph, it is understood that a large torque is generated at a low speed and the torque is greatly reduced at a high speed.
Therefore, by reducing the load torque applied to the character selection cam shaft 21 and the type wheel shaft 7, it is possible to use at a higher speed, the character selection operation can be performed faster, and the current flowing during the control of the stepping motors 25 and 26 can be performed. The power consumption can be suppressed by reducing the power consumption.

The slide 3 engages the slide protrusions 34 formed integrally with the vertically long slots 33 formed on both side surfaces of the main body 1, and relatively slides relative to the main body 1 along the long slots 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 replacement of the ink roll 28 is performed through the ink window 60 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. 6 is a system block diagram of the present apparatus, which is arranged on a substrate 43 which is mainly fixed on the chassis 9 by screws (not shown) or the like. The keyboard 4 constituting the input means is connected to the CPU 38 of the control means 39. The control means 39 centrally manages the power supply circuit 50, the transmission circuit 48, the voltage detection circuit 37 for detecting the voltage of the power supply circuit 50, the input information and the memory information, and executes the character selection operation and the display. CPU 38 and the C
A stepping motor 25, 2 is generated by a signal from the PU 38.
6 are operated by drivers 40 and 41, respectively. The display device 5, which is a display unit, includes a control unit 39.
Is controlled by the CPU 38. The printing unit 44 includes stepping motors 25 and 26 for selecting characters, a print sensor 46 for detecting a printing operation, and a position sensor 45 for detecting the initial position of the character selection cam 14.

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 guides the cam followers 15b of all the latches 15, and the engaging portions 15a of the latches 15 engage the engaging claw portions 10 of the type wheel 10.
The character wheel 10 is in a state of being engaged with the character wheel b, and is waiting for the character selection command of the control means 39 while being held so that the character wheel 10 is not displaced.

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 up to the 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 through the above process, at this time, in most cases, the printing position for the printing operation and the set printing surface 18 are displaced.

M: total 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.
Groove cam portion 3 at a position not engaging with the engaging claw portion 10b of 0
After stopping at the position of the blank 20 in 1, the type wheel shaft 7
Then, all the character wheels 10 are integrally rotated by the pitch amount y, and the set stamp surface 18 is aligned with the printing position to complete the character selection process. In this way, the character selection cam 14 is rotated again, and the positioning projections 19 in the grooved cam portions 31 guide and stop all the latches 15 to the positions where they engage with the type wheel 10, and the character wheel 10 is displaced by the printing operation. In order to prevent the occurrence of the printing error, the latch 15 waits for the printing operation while holding the type wheel 10.

When used as numbering especially in a series of character selection operations including the above-mentioned correction operation, the type wheel 10 usually passes the contact point with the ink roller 28 at least once, so that the stamp surface 18 is passed. Ink is automatically applied in the state of being aligned with the print 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 character selection cam 14 once at the position of the blank 20.

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 guide all latches 15 to the reset convex portion 17 and stop them. Here, the reset protrusion 17 is the normal protrusion 16
Since it has only half the height of the
The latch 15 guided and held by 7 can be rotated only up to the original half engaging position, and only one of the engaging claw portions 10b of the type wheel 10 has a high claw height. Synthetic claw part 1
Only 0d can be engaged. 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.

[0028]

As is clear from the above description, the electronic numbering device of the present invention is excellent in that the load torque applied to the character selection cam can be reduced as much as possible, and thus the character selection operation can be speeded up. Produce the effect.

[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. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a character selection cam.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between speed (PPS) of a stepping motor and torque.

FIG. 6 is a system block diagram of the present apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 keyboard 5 display device 10 type wheel 14 character selection cam 15 latch 31 groove cam part 39 control means 44 printing means

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An input means (4) for setting and inputting data to be printed, a display device (5) for displaying data input by the input means (4), and based on the input data. And a printing unit (44) for printing the value set by the control unit (39) on an arbitrary object by a plurality of printing wheels (10). In the electronic numbering device, a movable character selection cam (14) having a groove cam portion (31) tracing the movement of a latch (15) for sequentially selecting the plurality of character wheels (10) is provided to each character wheel ( An electronic numbering device, which is provided by individually corresponding to 10).