JPH1029343A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a printing device that can always guarantee good printing quality even when used by different operators or when a slight change in the holding angle occurs during operation. SOLUTION: A non-contact type in which arbitrary characters, figures, and the like are printed in a non-contact state on paper 9 based on print image data by performing manual scanning on paper 9 in a state where a casing 3 is upright. An inkjet head 10 is provided, and projections 101 and 102 are provided for regulating the upright posture of the housing 3 on the paper 9 within a predetermined angle range during scanning on the paper 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manually or automatically scanning the main body of a device on a printing medium such as paper, so that arbitrary characters and figures are printed on the printing medium based on print image data. The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a non-contact type print head for printing in a non-contact state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following techniques have been used in a printing apparatus, particularly in a printing apparatus in which a printing apparatus main body does not have a paper conveying means and a printing position is manually determined by an operator. .

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a print data input portion of a conventional printing device, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main portion showing a printing portion of the printing device. The operator operates the print data input unit 10
0 using the hiragana key 102 and the conversion key 104 provided on the front face of the print data input device 100.
A text to be printed is input while confirming it on a liquid crystal display device 106 provided on the front of the printer. The input text is converted into print image data by a CPU (not shown) provided therein and transmitted to a head controller 112 provided in the print unit 110.

Next, the operator presses the printing surface of the printing apparatus, that is, the lower surface in the figure, against the paper 114, and sweeps in the direction of the arrow in FIG. A right roller 120 and a left roller 122 rotate, and an ink jet head 124 supported at an intermediate portion between the two rollers is controlled by the head controller 112, ink is ejected from the ink jet head 124 and the print image data is Is printed on

However, in such a configuration, the ink jet head 124 is sandwiched between the rollers 120 and 122 and cannot be seen directly by the operator. Therefore, it is difficult for the operator to grasp an accurate printing position, and the printing position is easily shifted or tilted.

On the other hand, a printing apparatus as shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed. The inkjet head 124 is supported on the left side of the roller 120, and when the operator sweeps rightward, the inkjet head 124 and the formed image can be directly viewed, so that the adjustment of the printing position is facilitated.

[0007]

However, in the case of such a printing apparatus, the preferred angle at the time of sweeping differs depending on each operator. For example, when a certain operator holds and sweeps almost vertically, the distance between the nozzle of the non-contact type print head and the printing surface of the printing medium becomes appropriate,
On the other hand, if another operator sweeps at an angle of, for example, 30 ° in the sweep direction, the distance between the nozzle of the non-contact type print head and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium becomes too large, and a good printed image is obtained. There was a problem that was not possible.

Further, even if the sweep is started while being held almost vertically, there is naturally a slight change in the inclination during the sweep, and the quality of the printed image is degraded depending on the magnitude of the change. was there.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and is intended for use by different operators.
Or even if a slight change in the holding angle occurs during the operation,
An object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus that can always guarantee good printing quality.

[0010]

In order to achieve this object, a printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention performs printing by manually or automatically scanning the apparatus main body on a printing target medium. Targeting a device equipped with a non-contact type print head that prints any characters or figures on a print-receiving medium in a non-contact state based on image data, particularly, when scanning on the print-receiving medium, There is provided an angle restricting means for restricting a scanning attitude of the apparatus main body on a printing medium within a predetermined angle range. Therefore, at the time of scanning on the print-receiving medium, the angle regulating means regulates the scanning attitude of the apparatus main body on the print-receiving medium within a predetermined angle range.

In a printing apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention, the angle regulating means is provided at a front portion or a rear portion in the scanning direction of the apparatus main body, and is in contact with the print-receiving medium. And a regulating member for regulating the inclination of the apparatus main body within a predetermined angle range. Therefore,
The regulating member regulates the inclination of the apparatus main body within the predetermined angle range by coming into contact with the print-receiving medium.

Further, in the printing apparatus according to the third aspect, the angle regulating means is provided at a front portion and a rear portion in the scanning direction of the apparatus main body, and each of the angle regulating means comes into contact with the printing medium by contacting the printing medium. The apparatus includes a first regulating member and a second regulating member for regulating the inclination of the apparatus main body within a predetermined angle range. Therefore, the first regulating member and the second regulating member respectively regulate the inclination of the apparatus main body within the predetermined angle range by contacting the printing medium.

In a printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the non-contact type print head is constituted by an ink jet type print head which discharges ink from nozzles to perform printing, and the angle regulating means comprises the ink jet type print head. The distance between the nozzle of the print head of the system and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium is maintained within a range in which the print head can perform predetermined printing. Therefore, the angle regulating means, the distance between the nozzle of the ink jet print head and the printing surface of the print target medium,
The predetermined printing by the print head can be maintained within a range where the printing can be performed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus, wherein the non-contact type print head applies an electric field to the charged body from the charged body passage portion to fly on the printing medium and print. Wherein the angle regulating means sets the distance between the charged body passing portion of the charged body flying type print head and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium in a range where predetermined printing by the print head is possible. It is configured to keep within. Therefore, the angle restricting means:
The distance between the charged body passing portion of the charged body flying type print head and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium can be maintained within a range in which the print head can perform predetermined printing.

[0015]

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

FIG. 1 shows a pen-type printing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing an operation.

As shown in FIG. 1, a sweeping roller 5 is rotatably supported on a rotating shaft 7 at the tip of a casing 3 of the pen-type printing apparatus 1. In such a manner that the sweep roller 5 is slightly pressed against the paper 9 as the printing medium,
The housing 3 is held by the operator. FIG. 1 of the sweep roller 5
On the left side, an ink jet head 10 is supported by the housing 3 such that a nozzle 10a described later faces the paper 9. The housing 3 constitutes the apparatus main body of the present invention, the paper 9 constitutes a medium to be printed, and the ink jet head 10 constitutes a non-contact print head and an ink jet print head.

The housing 3 further includes a head controller 1
1, an ink tank 13, an infrared communication control circuit 15, and an infrared communication device 17 are arranged as shown in FIG. The infrared communication device 17 performs infrared communication with an external personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) (not shown). This PC is for the operator to edit the content to be printed, and the content to be printed is transmitted to the head controller 11 via the infrared communication control circuit 15. The head controller 11 controls the inkjet head 10 so as to follow the transmitted content to be printed, and prints an image on the paper 9.

The sweep roller 5 transmits the rotation of the sweep roller 5 to an encoder 23 by a belt 21. When the encoder 23 rotates, the speed detector 25 detects the rotation speed of the sweep roller 5 from the passing speed of the slits provided evenly in the encoder 23. The scanning direction is indicated by an arrow in the drawing.

Further on the right side of the sweep roller 5 of the housing 3,
A protrusion 101 is provided. The protrusion 101 is disposed at a position where the tip thereof comes into contact with the paper 9, and when the operator performs a sweeping operation, the projection 101 is swept while being in contact with the paper 9 together with the sweep roller 5. Therefore, even when the operator cannot sweep stably and the angle of the housing 3 with the paper 9 is likely to change, at least the housing 3 is prevented from tilting to the right. Protrusion 101
Is made of a material such as resin, and has a front end processed into a curved surface so as not to damage the paper 9.

The ink jet head 10 of the housing 3
Further, a projection 102 is provided on the left side. The protrusion 102 is disposed at a position where there is a gap of about 1 mm between the projection 9 and the paper 9 so that the front end thereof does not contact the paper 9 while the housing 3 is held vertically on the paper 9. When the operator performs the sweep operation, the sweep is usually performed at a position separated from the paper 9. However, when the operator cannot sweep stably and the angle of the casing 3 with the paper 9 changes, the inclination of the casing 3 to the left is restricted.

The projections 101 and 102 are the angle regulating means of the present invention, the projection 101 or the projection 102 is a regulating member, the projection 101 is a first regulating member, and the projection 102 is a second regulating member.
Are respectively configured.

Next, the operation of the pen-type printing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the operator holds the pen-type printing apparatus 1, opposes the paper 9, and gently presses the sweep roller 5 and the protrusion 101 against the paper 9 (solid line portion in the figure). At this time, the operator, as shown in FIG.
Is held. From a PC (not shown), print image data is output via the infrared communication device 17 as necessary, and is input to the head controller 11.

The operator sweeps the pen-type printing apparatus 1 in a desired printing direction while pressing the sweep roller 5 and the projection 101 against the paper 9. Thereby, the sweep roller 5 rotates,
This rotation is transmitted to the encoder 23 by the belt 21, and the encoder 23 detects the rotation of the sweep roller 5 and outputs the rotation to the head controller 11. The head controller 11 controls the inkjet head 10 so as to conform to the print image data input from a PC (not shown) so as to match the speed of the sweep roller 5, ejects the ink in the ink tank 13 onto the paper 9, and prints the print image. obtain. At this time,
The distance between the nozzle 10a of the inkjet head 10 and the printing surface of the paper 9 is the distance indicated by the arrow a as shown in FIG.

Here, the operator always sweeps the pen-type printing apparatus 1 with the intention of pressing both the sweep roller 5 and the projection 101 against the paper 9. Since the relative position changes and the conditions change,
The rotation of the sweep roller 5 around the shaft 7 may cause the protrusion 101 to be separated from the paper 9. At this time, the position where the protrusion 102 contacts the paper 9 at the maximum, that is, FIG.
The pen-type printing apparatus 1 can tilt only up to the state shown by the broken line. Accordingly, the distance between the nozzle 10a of the ink jet head 10 and the printing surface of the paper 9 when the pen-type printing apparatus 1 is most inclined with respect to the paper 9 is the distance indicated by the arrow b as shown in FIG.

Comparing the arrows a and b in FIG. 2, it can be seen that the arrow b is slightly shorter. Here, the distance between the shaft 7 and the position of the nozzle 10a of the inkjet head 10 is L
1. The distance between the shaft 7 and the projection 102 is L2, the distance between the position of the nozzle 10a of the inkjet head 10 and the paper 9 when the projection 101 is in contact with the paper 9 is a, and the projection 101 is in contact with the paper 9. Assuming that the moving distance of the tip of the protrusion 102 from the state in which the protrusion 102 is in contact with the paper 9 is d and the rotation angle is θ, the ink jet head in a state in which the protrusion 102 is in contact with the paper 9 The distance b between the position of the nozzle 10a and the printing surface of the paper 9 is given by the following equation.

[0027]

(Equation 1)

Here, the pen-type printing apparatus 1 is sized so that the operator can operate it by holding it with one hand.
Both the ink jet head 10 and the ink jet head 10 are very small, and the sweep roller 5 usually has a radius of about 0.5 to 2 mm, and the ink jet head 10 has a width of about 6 mm. Therefore, each parameter is a = 1 mm, L1 = 6 m
Under the condition that m, L2 = 18 mm and d = 1 mm, b becomes b = 0.67 mm. Thereby, the relative distance between the ink jet head 10 and the paper 9 is guaranteed to be the difference between the arrows a and b in FIG. 2, that is, a range up to 0.33 mm, and is always equal to or more than a certain value without substantially affecting the print quality. Printing quality is guaranteed.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described in detail above, and various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the radius of the sweep roller 5 is 0.5 to 2 mm, the width of the ink jet head 10 is about 6 mm, and the gap between the projection 102 and the paper 9 is 1 mm. 6, 18m respectively
m, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, since the distance from the printing position on the print-receiving medium that can be guaranteed by the performance of the adopted print head differs, Nozzle 1 within the range
If the values are determined and designed so that the fluctuation range of the gap between 0a and the print-receiving medium falls within the range, the present invention exerts its effect.

In the above-described embodiment, an ink jet head is employed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an opposing electrode may be arranged below a print-receiving medium, and a charging member passing portion may be used. It is obvious that the effect can be exerted even if a charged body flying type print head is used in which a charged body such as toner is applied with an electric field to fly on a print-receiving medium.

Further, in the description of the operation of the above-described embodiment, the angle at which the operator holds the printing apparatus is limited to a vertical angle, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, if the case 3 is designed in advance so that the housing 3 is inclined when the sweep roller 5 and the projection 101 are simultaneously held in contact with the paper 9, the projection 101 is shifted from the state in which the projection 101 contacts the paper 9 to the projection 102. The inclination of the housing 3 is limited to a range up to the state in which the sheet comes into contact with the paper. Therefore, the distance between the print head and the print-receiving medium does not affect the print quality due to the effects of the present invention. Needless to say, it can be guaranteed.

If the ink ejected from the ink jet head 10 is not quick-drying, if the protrusion 102 is provided outside the printing area, the quality of the print formed by the protrusion 102 is improved. Is not reduced.

In the above embodiment, the projections 101 and 102 are provided as the angle regulating means. However, only one of the projections 101 and 102 may be provided.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above description, the printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention can be used on a medium to be printed.
It is intended for those equipped with a non-contact print head that prints arbitrary characters and graphics on the print-receiving medium in a non-contact state based on the print image data by manually or automatically scanning the device body. In particular, there is provided an angle regulating means for regulating the scanning posture of the apparatus main body on the print-receiving medium within a predetermined angle range during scanning on the print-receiving medium. Therefore, printing can always be performed with good print quality even when used by different operators or when the holding angle of the apparatus main body fluctuates during operation.

Further, in the printing apparatus according to the second aspect, the angle regulating means is provided at a front portion or a rear portion in the scanning direction of the apparatus main body, and is in contact with the medium to be printed. And a regulating member for regulating the inclination of the apparatus main body within a predetermined angle range. Therefore,
It is possible to always print with good print quality without tilting the apparatus body too much in the scanning direction or in the direction opposite to the scanning direction.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the printing apparatus, the angle regulating means is provided in a front portion and a rear portion in the scanning direction of the apparatus main body, and the angle regulating means comes into contact with the medium to be printed, respectively. The apparatus includes a first regulating member and a second regulating member for regulating the inclination of the apparatus main body within a predetermined angle range. Accordingly, the apparatus main body is not tilted too much to either the scanning direction side or the side opposite to the scanning direction, and printing can always be performed with good print quality.

In a printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the non-contact type print head is constituted by an ink jet type print head which discharges ink from a nozzle to perform printing, and the angle regulating means comprises the ink jet type print head. The distance between the nozzle of the print head of the system and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium is maintained within a range in which the print head can perform predetermined printing. Therefore, the printing apparatus can be made small and inexpensive by the ink jet print head, and printing can always be performed with good printing quality.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing apparatus, wherein the non-contact type print head applies an electric field to the charged body from the charged body passage portion to fly on the printing medium and print. Wherein the angle regulating means sets the distance between the charged body passing portion of the charged body flying type print head and the printing surface of the print-receiving medium in a range where predetermined printing by the print head is possible. It is configured to keep within. Accordingly, the print head of the charged body flying system does not deteriorate the print quality due to bleeding or poor drying, and can always perform printing with good print quality regardless of the medium to be printed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an overall configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing an operation of the printing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a print data input unit of a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of a printing section of a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a main part of a printing unit of a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Case 9 Paper 10 Inkjet head 10a Nozzle 101 Projection 102 Projection

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus main body is manually scanned on a print-receiving medium.
Or, by automatic scanning, in a printing apparatus equipped with a non-contact type print head that prints any characters or graphics in a non-contact state on the print target medium based on print image data, A printing device comprising: an angle regulating unit that regulates a scanning posture of the apparatus main body on the print target medium within a predetermined angle range during the scanning. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the angle regulating unit is provided at a front portion or a rear portion in the scanning direction of the apparatus main body.
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a regulating member that regulates the inclination of the apparatus main body within the predetermined angle range by contacting the printing medium. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the angle regulating unit is provided at a front portion in a scanning direction and a rear portion in a scanning direction of the apparatus main body. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first regulating member and a second regulating member for regulating the pressure. 4. The non-contact type print head comprises an ink jet type print head which discharges ink from a nozzle to perform printing, and the angle regulating means comprises a nozzle of the ink jet type print head and the print target. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the medium and a printing surface is maintained within a range where predetermined printing by the print head is possible. 5. The non-contact type print head is constituted by a charged body flying type print head which prints by applying an electric field to a charged body from a charged body passing portion and causing the charged body to fly on a printing medium, and wherein the angle regulation is performed. The means is configured to maintain a distance between a charged body passing portion of the charged body flying type print head and a printing surface of the print target medium within a range where predetermined printing by the print head is possible. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein: