printer

Abstract

A printer having good operability is provided. This printer 1 in which a storage space SP for rotatably storing roll paper RP is formed comprises: a printer body 2 having an opening 2C communicating with the storage space SP; a cover 3 attached to the printer body 2 and capable of changing position by rotating between an opening position for exposing the opening 2C and a closing position for closing the opening 2C; a roller 32 that is in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP; and a roller-moving mechanism 33 that places the roller 32 at a projection position where the roller 32 projects from the cover 3 toward the storage space SP when the cover 3 is at the closing position, and places the roller 32 at a retreat position where the roller 32 has retreated to the cover 3 side when the cover 3 is at the opening position.

Description

Printer

[0001] The present invention relates to a printer in which a storage space for storing roll paper is formed inside.

[0002] There is known a printer that stores a roll paper in which a long sheet of paper is wound in a roll shape in a storage space formed in a printer main body, pulls out the paper from the stored roll paper by rotating a conveyance roller such as a platen roller, prints on the pulled-out paper, and then discharges the paper. The roll paper stored in the storage space rotates as the paper is pulled out. In order to prevent the roll paper in the storage space from moving significantly due to this rotation, some printers are provided with an abutting portion (idle roller) that suppresses the movement of the roll paper by abutting against the outer peripheral surface of the roll paper (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The printer of this Patent Document 1 includes a printer main body in which an opening communicating with the storage space is formed, and a cover that can change its position between an open position and a closed position by rotating with respect to the printer main body and closes the opening in the closed position. When storing the roll paper in the storage space, the cover is set to the open position to expose the opening, and the roll paper is put into the storage space through the opening.

[0003] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-81106

[0004] However, the abutting portion of the printer described in Patent Document 1 is arranged at a position protruding from the cover, and when the roll paper is taken in and out of the storage space, the abutting portion contacts the outer peripheral surface of the roll paper, which hinders the taking in and out of the roll paper. Therefore, there is a problem that the operability of the printer is poor.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a printer with good operability.

[0006] The present invention, which solves the above problems, is a printer having a storage space formed inside for rotatably storing a roll of paper, and is characterized by comprising: a printer body having an opening leading to the storage space; a cover attached to the printer body that can change position by rotating between an open position that exposes the opening and a closed position that closes the opening; a contact portion that contacts the outer surface of the roll of paper stored in the storage space; and a contact portion moving mechanism that positions the contact portion in a protruding position that protrudes from the cover toward the storage space when the cover is in the closed position, and positions the contact portion in a retracted position that is retracted toward the cover when the cover is in the open position.

[0007] According to this printer, when the cover is rotated to the open position, the contact part is moved to the retracted position by the contact part movement mechanism, so that the contact part does not get in the way when inserting or removing roll paper into the storage space, thus improving the operability of the printer.

[0008] Here, the printer body may have the opening on the circumferential surface between the top and bottom surfaces. The contact portion may restrict the forward movement of the roll paper stored in the storage space when the cover is in the closed position, and may contact the lower outer circumferential surface of the roll paper stored in the storage space. The contact portion movement mechanism may retract the contact portion to a position inside the cover when the cover is in the open position. The contact portion movement mechanism may also position the contact portion in a protruding position away from the cover when the cover is in the closed position. The opening may be a roll paper receiving port for storing the roll paper in the storage space.

[0009] In this printer, the contact portion may be a rotating body that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the roll paper stored in the storage space.

[0010] As the rotating body rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the roll of paper, the paper can be smoothly pulled out from the roll.

[0011] In this printer, the contact portion movement mechanism may be attached to the cover.

[0012] This eliminates the need for space in the printer body to install the contact part movement mechanism, thus allowing the printer to be made smaller. Furthermore, other mechanisms besides the contact part movement mechanism can also be placed in the printer body.

[0013] Furthermore, in this printer, the contact portion movement mechanism may have an arm member that can swing relative to the cover, and the contact portion may be rotatably attached to the arm member.

[0014] In this embodiment, the contact portion movement mechanism can be configured with a simple mechanism.

[0015] Furthermore, in this printer, the contact portion movement mechanism may have a stopper portion that abuts against a portion provided on the printer body when the cover is in the closed position, thereby positioning the contact portion in the protruding position.

[0016] This allows the contact portion to be reliably positioned in the protruding position when the cover is closed, using a simple mechanism.

[0017] Furthermore, in this printer, the printer body may have the opening on its front portion.

[0018] In a configuration where the contact portion protrudes from the cover even when the cover is in the open position, compared to, for example, when the opening is formed on the top surface, inserting and removing roll paper becomes particularly difficult when the opening is located on the front, and operability tends to deteriorate. In contrast, by configuring the contact portion to be retracted when the cover is in the open position, the operability of the printer is not impaired even when the opening is located on the front.

[0019] Here, the printer body may have a display unit on the front, or it may have an operating unit on the front.

[0020] According to the present invention, a printer with excellent operability can be provided.

[0021] This is a perspective view of a printer corresponding to one embodiment of the present invention, viewed from diagonally above. This is a perspective view showing the printer shown in Figure 1 with its cover opened to the open position. This is a front view of the printer shown in Figure 1. This is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 3. This is a top view of the printer shown in Figure 2 with its cover in the open position. This is a cross-sectional view taken along line C-C in Figure 5. This is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B in Figure 3.

[0022] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this description of the embodiment, a thermal printer will be used as an example, which pulls out linerless label paper from a roll formed by winding a long, heat-activated linerless label paper into a roll, prints on the pulled-out linerless label paper by selectively heating it, and then discharges the printed linerless label paper. Note that this linerless label paper is equivalent to an example of paper.

[0023] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a printer 1, corresponding to one embodiment of the present invention, viewed from diagonally above. Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the cover 3 of the printer 1 shown in Figure 1 opened to the open position. In Figures 1 and 2, the lower left of the figure is the left side of the printer 1, the upper right of the figure is the right side of the printer 1, the lower right of the figure is the front side of the printer 1, and the upper left of the figure is the rear side of the printer 1. In the following description, the left-right direction of the printer 1 may be referred to as the width direction.

[0024] As shown in Figure 1, the printer 1 comprises a printer body 2 and a cover 3. Figure 1 shows the printer 1 in the closed state, i.e., with the cover 3 in the closed position. Figure 2 shows the printer 1 in the open state, i.e., with the cover 3 in the open position. As shown in Figure 2, the printer body 2 has an opening 2C on its front and is box-shaped with an upper projection 2A and a lower projection 2B formed on the upper and lower parts of the front, respectively, that protrude forward from the opening 2C. The printer body 2 has two operation buttons 21 and four display units 22 on the front of the upper projection 2A. These operation buttons 21 are an example of an operation unit. The four display units 22 indicate the status of the printer 1 by lighting up, turning off, or blinking.

[0025] The cover 3 is rotatably attached to the printer body 2, with the front lower part of the printer body 2 as the pivot point. By rotating, the cover 3 changes position between the closed position shown in Figure 1 and the open position shown in Figure 2. In the closed position, the cover 3 closes the opening 2C, and in the open position, it exposes the opening 2C. The cover 3 is provided with a cover open lever 31. By pulling the cover open lever 31 of the cover 3 when it is in the closed position, the cover 3 rotates to the open position. Also, by lifting the part of the cover 3 opposite to the pivot point and pressing that opposite part against the printer body 2, the cover 3 changes position to the closed position. As shown in Figure 1, a paper output port PE is formed between the upper end of the cover 3 in the closed position and the lower end of the upper protrusion 2A of the printer body 2, through which the printed linerless label paper is ejected.

[0026] Figure 3 is a front view of the printer 1 shown in Figure 1. In Figure 3, a paper guide 4, which is provided inside the printer body 2 and is used to regulate the position of the roll paper stored there in the left-right direction to the correct position, is shown by a dashed line.

[0027] As shown in Figure 3, the paper guide 4 has a left guide 4L, a right guide 4R, and an interlocking mechanism 41. The interlocking mechanism 41 is a rack and pinion mechanism located on the lower part of the printer body 2, and is configured such that when one of the guides, the left guide 4L or the right guide 4R, is moved in the left-right direction, the other guide also moves in the left-right direction. More specifically, the interlocking mechanism 41 moves the other guide towards the center when one of the guides, the left guide 4L or the right guide 4R, is moved towards the center in the left-right direction of the printer 1, and moves the other guide outwards when one guide is moved outwards.

[0028] Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in Figure 3.

[0029] As shown in Figure 4, a storage space SP for storing roll paper RP is formed inside the printer body 2. In Figure 2, the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP is shown by a dashed line. This roll paper RP is formed by winding linerless label paper, which has a print surface to be printed on and an adhesive surface to which adhesive is applied, into a roll shape with the print surface on the outside and the adhesive surface on the inside. The roll paper RP is rotatably stored in the storage space SP. The printer body 2 is equipped with a print head 5, a fixed blade 6, and a paper sensor 7. The cover 3 is equipped with a platen roller 8 and a movable blade unit 9. The print head 5 and platen roller 8 constitute the printing mechanism. The movable blade unit 9 and fixed blade 6 constitute the cutting mechanism.

[0030] When the cover 3 is in the closed position shown in Figure 4, the print head 5 is positioned opposite the platen roller 8 and is pressed against the platen roller 8 by a spring (not shown). The movable blade unit 9 has a movable blade 91. The movable blade 91 and the fixed blade 6 are opposite each other across the paper transport path when the cover 3 is in the closed position. In the following explanation using Figure 4, the positional relationship when the cover 3 is in the closed position will be used as the basis for the explanation.

[0031] The paper transport path of this printer 1 is the path from the storage space SP, through the space between the print head 5 and the platen roller 8, and through the space between the fixed blade 6 and the movable blade 91, to the paper output port PE. The direction from the storage space SP towards the paper output port PE is the paper transport direction. Linerless label paper in the paper transport path is transported downstream in the transport direction by the rotation of the platen roller 8, and is ejected from the paper output port PE toward the front of the printer 1.

[0032] The print head 5 is a so-called thermal print head having multiple heating elements arranged in the width direction of the printer 1 (the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in Figure 4). By selectively heating these multiple heating elements while transporting the linerless label paper, printing is applied to the portion of the linerless label paper that passes between the print head 5 and the platen roller 8. Hereinafter, the portion of the linerless label paper that has been printed on it may be referred to as the printed portion.

[0033] The fixed blade 6 is fixed to the printer body 2. The paper sensor 7 is a reflective photosensor equipped with a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element. The paper sensor 7 is located near the paper output tray PE and detects whether the printed portion cut by the fixed blade 6 and the movable blade 91 has been removed from the printer 1. In addition to this paper sensor 7, the printer 1 is also equipped with a black mark sensor, which is composed of a reflective photosensor for detecting black marks on the paper, and a label gap sensor, which is composed of a transmissive photosensor for detecting the leading edge position of the label.

[0034] The platen roller 8 is positioned opposite the heating element of the print head 5. The platen roller 8 is a roller that extends in the width direction and rotates when the transport motor 81 is driven. By rotating, it transports the linerless label paper PP, which is sandwiched between the platen roller 8 and the print head 5, toward the front of the printer 1 along the transport direction. This platen roller 8 is an example of a transport means. Other transport means besides the platen roller 8, such as a pair of rollers, may also be provided.

[0035] The movable blade unit 9 includes the movable blade 91 and the cutting motor 92 described above. The movable blade 91 is movable in an advancing direction toward the fixed blade 6 and in a retracting direction away from the fixed blade 6, and moves in the advancing and retracting directions by driving the cutting motor 92. After the printed portion has been transported downstream of the space between the movable blade 91 and the fixed blade 6, the movable blade 91 advances toward the fixed blade 6 by driving the cutting motor 92. At this time, the movable blade 91 advances while being elastically pressed against the rear surface (right surface in Figure 2) of the fixed blade 6 by the pressure contact mechanism and riding up onto the rear surface of the fixed blade 6. As a result, the printed portion is separated from the upstream linerless label paper on the roll paper RP side at the cutting position, which is the contact point between the movable blade 91 and the fixed blade 6. Immediately after the advancing operation is completed, the movable blade 91 retracts downward and returns to its original position, spaced apart from the fixed blade 6, as shown in Figure 4.

[0036] Four body rollers 23 are provided at the lower end of the storage space SP, which is the inner bottom surface of the printer body 2. The four body rollers 23 are all cylindrical in shape and are rotatably supported by roller support parts formed on the bottom surface of the printer body 2. Figure 4 shows two of the four body rollers 23, which are located on the left side of the printer 1. On the right side of the printer 1, the remaining two body rollers 23 are located in the same positions as the two body rollers 23 on the left side, both in the front-to-back and up-to-down directions. Of the four body rollers 23, the two rear body rollers 23 are positioned slightly higher than the two front body rollers 23 to match the shape of the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP.

[0037] A top plate member 24 is fixed to the upper end of the storage space SP of the printer body 2. A tension-applying member 25 is provided on this top plate member 24. The tension-applying member 25 is biased downward by a spring (not shown). This tension-applying member 25 prevents extreme fluctuations in the tension of the linerless label paper pulled from the roll paper RP.

[0038] The cover 3 is provided with a cover roller 32 and a roller movement mechanism 33. The cover roller 32 corresponds to an example of a contact portion and also to an example of a rotating body. The roller movement mechanism 33 corresponds to an example of a contact portion movement mechanism. The cover roller 32 has a cylindrical shape similar to the main body roller 23. The cover roller 32 is rotatably mounted on the roller movement mechanism 33. When the cover 3 is in the closed position, the cover roller 32 is positioned in a protruding position that extends from the cover 3 toward the storage space SP. This protruding position is such that, when the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP is at least large in diameter, the cover roller 32 contacts the outer surface of the roll paper RP.

[0039] The main body rollers 23 and cover rollers 32 contact the outer circumferential surface of the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP, thereby suppressing the movement of the roll paper RP within the storage space SP. As a result, the roll paper RP rotates stably in the storage space SP at a desired position corresponding to its diameter. Furthermore, the main body rollers 23 and cover rollers 32 contact the lower outer circumferential surface of the roll paper RP stored in the storage space SP and rotate in response to the rotation of the roll paper RP. This reduces the rotational resistance of the roll paper RP, allowing the linerless label paper to be smoothly pulled from the roll paper RP and suppressing the occurrence of transport failures due to the rotational resistance of the roll paper RP.

[0040] The roller movement mechanism 33 includes a first arm 331, a second arm 332, a pivot shaft 333, and a stopper portion 334. The first arm 331, the second arm 332, the pivot shaft 333, and the stopper portion 334 are integrally molded from resin. The first arm 331 extends below the pivot shaft 333. This first arm 331 corresponds to an example of an arm member. The cover roller 32 is rotatably attached by the lower end portion of this first arm 331. The second arm 332 extends above the pivot shaft 333. The second arm 332 is shorter than the first arm 331. The pivot shaft 333 is an axial member provided between the first arm 331 and the second arm 332, and is supported by a bearing portion formed in the cover 3. The pivot shaft 333 is supported by the bearing portion of the cover 3, so that the roller movement mechanism 33 is pivotably attached to the cover 3.

[0041] Figure 5 is a plan view of the printer 1 shown in Figure 2, with the cover 3 in the open position.

[0042] As shown in Figure 5, the roller movement mechanism 33 has a roughly T-shape when viewed from above with the cover 3 in the open position, with the top and bottom reversed. There is one abutment portion 334 on each side of the end of the second arm 332 (the front end in Figure 5 when the cover 3 is in the open position). These abutment portions 334 are cylindrical members that protrude outward in the width direction.

[0043] Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C in Figure 5. In Figure 6, the cover roller 32 and the first arm 331 are shown by dashed lines when the cover 3 is in the closed position and is fixed to the cover 3, making it immovable relative to the cover 3. Note that in Figure 6, the front-to-back direction of the printer 1 is depicted as the left-to-right direction in the figure, so as to be in the same orientation as in Figure 4.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 6, when the cover 3 is in the open position, the roller moving mechanism 33 swings (rotates) clockwise in FIG. 6 compared to when the cover 3 is in the closed position, and the cover roller 32 and the first arm 331 are arranged at a retracted position retracted to the cover 3 side. At this retracted positions, the cover roller 32 enters inside the cover 3. In other words, when the cover 3 in the open position is viewed from the side of the printer 1, the cover roller 32 is retracted to a position where it is covered by the side surface of the cover 3 and cannot be visually recognized. The mass of each part of the roller moving mechanism 33 is set such that the total mass of the mass of the first arm 331 and the mass of the cover roller 32 is greater than the total mass of the mass of the second arm 332 and the masses of the two abutting portions 334. For this reason, when the cover 3 is opened, the cover roller 32 and the roller moving mechanism 33 automatically assume the posture shown in FIG. 6 due to their own weight, and the cover roller 32 and the first arm 331 are retracted to the cover 3 side. When the cover 3 is opened, in order to more reliably place the cover roller 32 at the retracted position, the cover roller 32 or the first arm 331 may be retracted to the cover 3 side using an elastic member such as a spring. Further, by using a mechanical mechanism such as a link mechanism, the force for opening the cover 3 may be utilized to move the cover roller 32 to the retracted position when the cover 3 is opened.

[0045] The opening 2C communicates with the storage space SP. This opening 2C functions as a roll paper receiving port when storing the roll paper RP in the storage space SP. In FIG. 6, the roll paper access path, which is the storage path when passing the opening 2C and storing the roll paper RP in the storage space SP and the extraction path when extracting from the storage space SP, is indicated by a two-way arrow. When the cover 3 is opened and the roll paper RP is taken in and out of the storage space SP, if the cover roller 32 is at a position protruding from the cover 3 as shown by the two-dot chain line, the cover roller 32 gets in the way and it is difficult to take in and out the roll paper RP. In particular, when trying to extract a large-diameter roll paper RP from the storage space SP, there is also a risk that the cover roller 32 will get caught and it cannot be easily extracted. On the other hand, by adopting a configuration in which the cover roller 32 moves to the retracted position when the cover 3 is in the open position as in this embodiment, it becomes easier to take in and out the roll paper RP.

[0046] FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B - B showing the cross-section along line B - B of FIG. 3.

[0047] The top plate member 24 of the printer main body 2 has a butting portion 241 at the front portion. The butting portions 241 are formed on the left and right sides of the top plate member 2 respectively. In FIG. 7, the butting portion 241 formed on the right side is shown, and in FIG. 6, the butting portion 241 formed on the left side is shown. When closing the cover 3 in the open position, as shown in FIG. 7, each of the left and right butting portions 334 abuts against the left and right butting portions 241, and the roller movement mechanism 33 swings counterclockwise in FIG. 7 around the swing axis 333. Thereby, in the state where the cover 3 is in the closed position, as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 7, the cover roller 32 is arranged at the protruding position and is held at the protruding position while the cover 3 is in the closed position.

[0048] According to the printer 1 of the present embodiment described above, when the cover 3 is closed, the cover roller 32 is located at the protruding position, and when the cover 3 is opened, the cover roller 32 moves to the retracted position where it retreats from the roll paper access path. Therefore, when inserting and removing the roll paper RP, the cover roller 32 does not get in the way and the operability of the printer 1 is improved. Particularly, in the printer 1 having an opening 2C for inserting and removing the roll paper RP at the front portion, since the user of the printer 1 needs to insert and remove the roll paper RP while moving it in the horizontal direction, the cover roller 32 is likely to get in the way. For this reason, the fact that the cover roller 32 moves to the retracted position when the cover 3 is in the open position greatly contributes to the operability.

[0049] Also, since the roller movement mechanism 33 is attached to the cover 3, there is no need for a space to provide the roller movement mechanism 33 in the printer main body 2, and the printer 1 can be made smaller compared to the case where the roller movement mechanism 33 is attached to the printer main body 2. Thereby, particularly the height of the printer 1 can be suppressed. In addition, a space for arranging mechanisms such as the interlocking mechanism 41 of the paper guide 4 in the printer main body 2 can be secured.

[0050] Furthermore, since the cover roller 32 is rotatably attached to the first arm 331 of the roller movement mechanism 33, the roller movement mechanism 33 can be made into a simple mechanism, and as a result, the printer 1 can be constructed at a low cost. Moreover, since the roller movement mechanism 33 is configured to swing when the abutment portion 334 of the roller movement mechanism 33 abuts against the abutted portion 241 when the cover 3 is closed, the cover roller 32 can be reliably positioned in the protruding position when the cover 3 is in the closed position, even with an inexpensive mechanism.

[0051] The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims. For example, although a thermal print head 5 is used in this embodiment, other types of print heads, such as impact dot type, may be used. Also, a platen of a different shape, such as a platen roller, may be used instead of the platen roller 8. Furthermore, although this embodiment describes an example using roll paper RP made by winding linerless label paper into a roll, other types of label paper, such as label paper with a backing, may be used, or roll paper made by winding a long sheet of paper without adhesive into a roll may be used. In addition, although the printer body 2 is shown with an opening 2C on the front, the printer body 2 may have the opening 2C on the side or back, or on the circumferential surface between the top and bottom surfaces. Moreover, the roller 32 may not rotate with the rotation of the roll paper RP, and may be formed integrally with the first arm 331.

[0052] Furthermore, even if a constituent element is included only in the description of each of the modified examples described above, that constituent element may be applied to other modified examples as well.

[0053] 1 Printer 2 Printer body 2C Opening 3 Cover 32 Roller (contact part) 33 Roller movement mechanism (contact part movement mechanism) RP Roll paper SP Storage space

Claims

1. A printer having a storage space formed inside for rotatably storing a roll of paper, comprising: a printer body having an opening leading to the storage space; a cover attached to the printer body and capable of changing position by rotating between an open position that exposes the opening and a closed position that closes the opening; a contact portion that contacts the outer surface of the roll of paper stored in the storage space; and a contact portion moving mechanism that positions the contact portion in a protruding position that extends from the cover toward the storage space when the cover is in the closed position, and positions the contact portion in a retracted position that is retracted toward the cover when the cover is in the open position.

2. The printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact portion is a rotating body that rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the roll paper stored in the storage space.

3. The printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact portion moving mechanism is attached to the cover.

4. The printer according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact portion moving mechanism has an arm member that can swing relative to the cover, and the contact portion is rotatably attached to the arm member.

5. The printer according to claim 4, characterized in that the contact portion moving mechanism has a stopper portion that abuts against a portion provided on the printer body when the cover is in the closed position, thereby positioning the contact portion in the protruding position.

6. The printer according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the printer body has the opening on its front portion.

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