JPS6372579A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application] The present invention relates to a type printer, and more particularly to a printer that prints using a type wheel as a type unit and that can automatically replace a plurality of type wheels. It is.

[Prior Art] In printers using conventional type wheels, type is arranged on the outer diameter of the wheel, and the number of type that can be placed on such a wheel is limited by the size of the wheel. ing.

In order to resolve this limitation on the number of typefaces, a mechanism was proposed in which the typewheel could be easily attached and detached from the motor shaft.
A printer has been realized in which the type wheel can be replaced with another type wheel to increase the number of type types.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such an apparatus, since the ink ribbon is slack, there is a problem in that the ribbon gets caught on the wheel when replacing the ribbon, resulting in printing defects.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer that eliminates the occurrence of printing defects by automatically taking up the slack of the ink ribbon when replacing it.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the printer of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a storage means for storing a plurality of type wheels, a printing means for rotating the type wheels to select desired type and printing them via an ink ribbon, and a storage means for storing a plurality of type wheels; The apparatus includes a transfer means for transferring and exchanging the type wheel, and a means for taking up the slack of the ink ribbon when exchanging the type wheel.

[Function] In the above configuration, when replacing the type wheel, the slack of the ink ribbon is automatically taken up and the ink ribbon is prevented from being caught on the type wheel.

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Description of Electronic Typewriter (FIG. 2)] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an electronic typewriter incorporating a type wheel type printer.

In the figure, a wheel cartridge 5 is mounted on a carriage 2 within the printer, and is moved parallel to the platen 3 in response to the key input from the keyboard 1. In this way, the wheel cartridge 5 is carried to the position where printing is to be performed by the eight shifts of the carriage 2 in the platen direction, and the cartridge 5
The desired type is selected by rotating the type wheel in the direction of the arrow. Thereafter, the back surface of the selected type is struck by a hammer, and the ink ribbon interposed between the type and the paper prints on the paper.

As will be described later, the carriage 2 includes a plurality of wheel cartridges 5 therein, and is equipped with a mechanism that allows one of the plurality of wheel cartridges 5 to be selected by a simple operation of the keyboard 1.

[Explanation regarding wheel cartridge replacement (Fig. 1,
(Fig. 3)] Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a cross section of the carriage 2 and a control block.

A type wheel 50 is housed inside the wheel cartridge 5, and five pieces of the five wheel cartridges are housed in a wheel magazine 18 in parallel. The wheel magazine 18 can be stored by sliding it from the side into the storage stand 29.

A storage stand shaft 22 passes through a part of the bottom of this storage stand 29. A rack 19 is also provided on this storage stand 29. This rack 19 and a gear 20 are engaged with each other, and the gear 20 is configured to be rotated by a motor 21. Therefore, movement of the storage table 29 in the direction of arrow C for selection of the wheel cartridge 5 is performed by the rotation of the motor 21.

When selecting a type wheel, the motor 2 is activated so that the wheel cartridge 5 containing the desired type wheel 50 out of the five type wheel cartridges 5 in the wheel magazine 18 stops when it reaches the replacement position.
Control 1. Further, the storage stand 29 is provided with a recess 15 for fixing the storage stand 29, corresponding to each wheel cartridge.

The wheel magazine 18 is located in the front and back direction of the platen 3 (arrow C
direction), the vertical lever 25 continues to maintain its normal position as shown in FIG. A rack 14 is cut at the end of the vertical lever 25 opposite to the portion connected to the magazine 18, and is engaged with a gear 27. This gear 2
7 is rotated by a motor 28.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the wheel cartridge 5 is lifted upward from the state shown in FIG. 1.

When the paddy gear 27 is rotated counterclockwise by the rotation of the motor 28, the rack 14 meshing with the gear 27 is rotated counterclockwise by the rotation of the motor 28.
As a result, the vertical lever 25 is rotated clockwise about 16 and lifted upward. At this time, the wheel cartridge 5 is lifted upward as shown in FIG. 3 by the lifting member 26 attached to the end of the up-down lever 25.

Until now, the counterclockwise rotation of the storage table lock lever 23 by the spring 24 was interrupted by the pressure from the up and down lever 25 at point 30, but as shown in FIG. It is canceled because it has risen to the position.

In this way, the convex portion 3 at the tip of the storage table lock lever 23 is
1 just fits into the recess 15 of the storage stand 29. Here, the movement of the wheel magazine 18 in the longitudinal direction (in the direction of arrow C) is completely fixed, and the position will not shift even if a small amount of external force is applied.

In FIG. 1, a bullet plate 10 and a disk portion 11 are attached to the tip of a shaft 9 of a wheel motor 8, and an annular groove is provided at the tip of the disk portion 11. The entire wheel motor section including the above-mentioned components is reciprocated in the direction of the arrow by means of a guide means. The upper and lower connections of the wheel cartridge 18 and the ribs of this wheel motor section are interlocked. That is, while the wheel cartridge 18 is in the wheel magazine 18, the wheel motor section waits at a position away from the platen 3, and the wheel cartridge 18 is lifted up by the vertical lever 25 and comes to the height of the wheel motor shaft 9. Then, the type wheel 50 begins to move toward the platen 3, and finally fits into the center hole of the wheel cartridge 5, and the type wheel 50 is attached to the wheel motor 8.

During a printing operation, when the wheel cartridge 5 is moved to a regular printing position, the wheel motor 8 rotates to select desired characters. There is a hammer 7 on the opposite side of the tip of the spokes of the type wheel 50 facing the platen 3, and this hammer 7 is driven by a solenoid 6.
The back of the type 51 at the tips of the spokes of the type wheel 50 is struck. 33 is a ribbon cassette, and an ink ribbon exposed portion 35 is attached to the hammer 7 and the type mold 51 at a position where ink can be transferred to the paper 4. 34 is a ribbon winding motor, and the ink ribbon 32 is wound up by the rotation of the ribbon winding motor 34.

When the wheel cartridge 5 is lifted upward by the vertical lever ``25'', if the ink ribbon 32 is slack, it may come into contact with the protrusion of the wheel cartridge 5, so the wheel cartridge 5 is lifted upward. In this case, the ribbon winding motor 34 winds up an appropriate amount of the ink ribbon 32 to take up the slack before lifting it.

A sensor 36 detects the position of the storage table lock lever 23 and detects whether the wheel cartridge 18 is attached to the wheel motor 8 or not.

When the protruding part 37 of the storage table lock lever 23 blocks the light transmitting part of the sensor 36 in the state shown in FIG.
It is determined that the wheel cartridge 5 is not installed. This is wheel motor 8 and wheel cartridge 5
This is because the vertical lever 25 is always in the upward position when it is attached, as shown in FIG.

38 is a sensor amplifier that amplifies the output of the sensor 36; 39
is the CPU that performs calculations and controls the entire device, and the ROM and C that store the CPU control programs and data.
This is a control unit that includes a RAM and the like that temporarily stores the number of the cartridge 5 installed as a work area of the PU and other data.

40, 41, and 42 are drive circuits for motors 21, 28, and 34, respectively. When the wheel magazine 18 is moved eight times to the left to the leftmost home position, a control section 39 outputs a signal to rotate the motor 21 to a drive circuit 40 to move the wheel magazine 18 leftward. While the motor 21 is operating, the control unit 39 inputs a signal from the home position sensor on the left side and checks whether the motor has reached the home position.

[Description of the type wheel and wheel cartridge (Figures 4 and 5)] Figure 4 (A) is a front view of the type wheel, and Figure 4 (B) is a side view of the type wheel and a cross section taken along line A-A'. FIG.

In the figure, the cylindrical inner circumferential surface 400 of the center hole is for inserting the shaft 9 of the wheel motor 8 that rotates the type wheel 50. The back side of the wheel 50 (the back side when facing FIG. 4(A)) is completely flat from the center of the wheel to the tips of the spokes 401, but the front side of the wheel 50 has a step between the flat surface 402 and the flat surface 403. The wall thickness of the plane 403 is thinner than that of the plane 402. Spoke portions 401 having a thinner wall thickness than the outer periphery of the plane 403 extend outward at approximately the same angle in the circumferential direction, and a type mold 404 is formed at the outermost end of the spoke portion 401 on the front side. When printing, the back side of the type mold 404 is hammered, etc., and the type mold 40 is
Printing is performed by pressing the printing surface of 4 onto paper 4 wound around platen 3 via an ink ribbon.

FIG. 5(A) shows a wheel cartridge 5 consisting of an integrated configuration of a type wheel and a type holder that supports it.
FIG.

The holder portion of the wheel cartridge 5 is basically composed of two parts, and a wheel front plate 501 and a wheel rear plate 502 are assembled in such a manner that the type wheel 5° is sandwiched therebetween. The wheel front plate 501 and the wheel rear plate 502 are connected to each other by fitting six bosses 503 protruding from the wheel rear plate 502 into six holes 504 in the wheel front plate 501 and welding them together. There is.

FIG. 5(B) is a side view of the wheel cartridge 5.
Figure (C) is a sectional view taken along line BB' in Figure 5 (A).

At the center of the wheel back plate 502 is a hole 505 into which the shaft 9 of the wheel bottom part 8 is inserted. The outer surface 506 of the wheel front plate 501 is completely flat. At the center of the wheel front plate 501 is a type wheel 5.
There is a hole 506 that is sufficiently larger than the diameter of the plane 402 of 0,
A part of the circle is a notch like a notch 507. Further, the plane 506 has six holes 504 for connection with the wheel back plate 502. In addition, the wheel front plate 501 has a shape whose upper end is indicated by a line 508,
Above the boundary 508 toward the drawing is the type wheel 50
The shape is such that it is directly exposed.

The protrusions 509.510 have gentle curved portions such as 511.512. This is designed to provide a good feel to the operator's hand when taking out or inserting the wheel cartridge 5 from the wheel magazine 18.

Furthermore, the cartridge 5 has symmetrical protrusions 513.51.
4, and below it are protrusions 515 and 516 of the same length.
There is. These are the protrusions 513 and 515 on the right side and the protrusion 514 on the left side when the cartridge 5 is lifted up as shown in FIG.
．． 516 are fitted into elongated grooves provided in the body of the carriage 2, so that the cartridge 5 moves up and down along the grooves. These protrusions allow the cartridge 5 to move only in the vertical direction within the carriage 2. In addition, the wheel magazine 18 is also provided with a groove, and the cartridge 5 is inserted into the wheel magazine 1.
When inserted into magazine 18, protrusions 515,516
The insertion is completed when the abutment surfaces 517 and 518 of the protrusion abut against the wheel magazine 18.

The recess 1i519 is a portion through which the hammer 7 passes when striking the type wheel 50, and the type 51 that has been selected by the rotation of the type wheel 50 is stopped at this position.

[Description of Wheel Replacement Process (FIG. 6)] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the wheel replacement process instructed by the keyboard 1, and this program is stored in the ROM of the control unit 39.

This program is started by an instruction to replace the type wheel, and first, the number of the type wheel 50 to be replaced and newly installed, which was instructed in step S1, is stored in WHO-1 of the RAM of the control unit 39. Next, the process advances to step S2, and the number of the type wheel currently mounted is read from WHO-2 in the RAM.

In step S3, it is checked whether the designated type wheel number and the currently installed type wheel number match. If they match, there is no need to exchange, so the process ends without doing anything. If they do not match, step S4
Then move the wheel motor section away from the platen 3 to remove the shaft 9 from the cartridge 5.Next, the motor 28 rotates clockwise to lower the wheel cartridge 5 and store it in the magazine 18. .

Thereby, the storage table 29 can be moved in the direction of arrow C opposite the platen 3.

In step S5, the drive circuit 42 drives the winding motor 3.
4 to wind up the ink ribbon 32 by a predetermined amount to remove slack from the ribbon.

Step St) Te is RAM+7) WNO-217) The drive circuit 40 rotates the motor 21 to move the storage table 29 8 times so that the cartridge 5 storing the wheel corresponding to the wheel number comes to the replacement position. . This amount of movement and direction of movement are the number of the cartridge installed,
It is determined by the number of the next cartridge to be installed. It is assumed that the cartridge numbers are determined in accordance with the storage position of the magazine 18, for example, numbers "1" to "5" from the left.

When the designated cartridge 5 is transferred to the replacement position, as shown in FIG. 3, the drive circuit 41 rotates the motor 28 counterclockwise to lift the cartridge 5 and bring the wheel motor portion closer to the platen 3. At the same time, the shaft 9 is inserted into the cartridge 5 in the 8th direction, and at the same time, the number of WNO-1 in the RAM is stored in WNO-2. In this way, the installation of the cartridge 5 is completed.

In this embodiment, it has been explained that the ribbon winding motor takes up the slack in the ribbon, but the present invention is not limited to this. If the ribbon cassette is hooked to the corner for winding, the ribbon cassette may be moved backwards while leaving the ribbon guide in the same position.

Further, a stepping motor is used as the motor 21 as a drive source for moving the wheel magazine 18 eight times, and a counter that counts the minimum step feed amount of the motor 21 and a step count value related to the stop position of the wheel magazine 18 are stored. By providing the control unit 39 with a memory, it becomes easy to control the wheel magazine 18 to be moved to the replacement position.

Furthermore, when the wheel magazine 18 is shifted in the left-right direction in FIG. It can be controlled as a counter value set in memory.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, the type wheel can be replaced automatically, and the problem of the cartridge getting caught on the ink ribbon at the time of replacement can be solved.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of type wheels can be stored, a desired type wheel can be selected and printed, and when the cartridge is replaced, the cartridge does not get caught on the ink ribbon. It has the effect of preventing

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view of the carriage and the configuration of the control block of the electronic typewriter of this embodiment, Fig. 2 is a diagram of the type wheel type electronic tide of this embodiment, and Fig. 4 explains the type wheel. Figure 4 (
A) is a front view of the type wheel, FIG. 4(B) is a cutaway sectional view of the type wheel, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the wheel cartridge, and FIG. 5(A) is a holder that supports the type wheel. Figure 5 (B) is a front view of the wheel cartridge combined with the wheel cartridge, and Figure 5 (B) is a side view of the wheel cartridge.
C) is a sectional view taken along line BB' in FIG. 5(A), and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the wheel replacement process of this embodiment. In the figure, 1...keyboard, 2...carriage, 3...
...Platen, 4...Paper, 5...Wheel cartridge, 6...Solenoid, 7...Hammer, 8...
・Wheel motor, 9... Shaft, 15... Recess, 18... Wheel magazine, 19... Rack, 2
0...Gear, 21.28...Motor, 23...Storage stand lock lever-125...Upper/down lever, 26...
Pulling member, 29... Storage table, 32... Ink ribbon, 33... Ribbon cassette, 34... Ribbon winding motor, 36... Sensor, 38... Sensor amplifier, 39... Control unit, 40, 41, 42... drive circuit, 50... type wheel, 51... type mold.

Claims (1)

[Claims] storage means for storing a plurality of type wheels; printing means for rotating the type wheels to select desired type and printing them via an ink ribbon; and a storage means for storing a plurality of type wheels; 1. A printer comprising: transport means for transporting and replacing the ink ribbon; and means for taking up slack of the ink ribbon when replacing the wheel.