EP1426316A2 - Device for feeding roll paper for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

The paper supply has a cradle (3) with lateral cheeks (4), a support (5) for rollers (7) that carry the outer periphery of the roll of paper (6), which is free to rotate on the rollers when the paper (10) leaving the roll is subject to traction (9). A brake (13,14) presses against the end face of the roll of paper reduce the effects of inertia of the roll.

Description

The present invention relates to improvements brought in the field of food in ribbon paper, roll, machines printers and, more specifically, it concerns improvements to power devices in roll paper for printing machine, including a cradle provided with lateral flanges, means for support located at the bottom of the cradle and forming a cradle to support a roll of paper so that said roll of paper rests freely on said support means by its lower periphery and turns freely on said support means when the free end of the paper tape is subjected to a traction, this device further comprising means for braking of said rotating roller which are integral of said cradle and which have at least one support member elastic against at least one side of the paper roll.

Paper feeders of the kind considered are appreciated by users due to the simple installation of a paper roll: it there is no organ to operate or move, there is no axis to introduce into bearings, the roller paper is simply placed on its support at the bottom of the cradle (which generally has two crazy rollers on which the roller turns freely).

However, in some applications, large capacity rolls of paper a relatively large diameter (for example typically about 20 cm) and which are heavy (for example typically around 2 kg). As a result, new or largely complete roll has a notable inertia when rotated by the printer machine in operation. Now this roll, resting freely on crazy rollers of the cradle, continues to run when the printer machine stops to operate and the peripheral turns of the roller release (deforestation). This results in the risk of a unwanted unwinding of paper, tangling of paper, tearing the paper, or even blocking the feeding device.

Document US 2,899,145 describes a device roll paper feed which has braking means of the rotating roller which are arranged to act on the sides of the roller. However, this known device is arranged for paper rolls which are very bulky and therefore very heavy (several tonnes). Therefore, the braking means are arranged accordingly and are complex. Such means are not suitable for a device paper feed for printing machine, which device should remain as compact and as simple as possible.

The object of the invention is to propose means designed to provide reliable operation of the power supply device operated in conjunction with a printing machine to avoid inconvenience presented by current devices, improvements thus brought before, to the fullest extent of possible, prove to be structurally simple and little expensive while being effective.

For these purposes, the invention provides a device roll paper feed for printer machine as mentioned in the preamble which is characterized, being arranged in accordance with the invention, in that said elastic support member comprises at least one arm elastically deformable secured to the cradle and at least a protruding area which is located at the free end of said arm and which is engaged through an opening practiced in a lateral flange of the cradle and protruding with respect to the inner face of said flange, and in this that said projecting area is in the form of a pellet protruding which includes a substantially support surface flat clean to carry against a side of the roller and peripherally surrounded by an inclined surface suitable for slide on the sides of the roll when it is introduced into the cradle.

Thanks to the provisions of the invention, it is possible in a simple and effective way to the desired goal, namely that the roll of paper, rotated by a pull exerted on its free end, is permanently braked so that when the tractive effort is interrupted, the roller can no longer continue to turn on the wand of the makes its inertia and stops instantly: we avoid thus the deforestation of the last turns of the paper that we could see in the previous devices. The means used for braking the roller are simple and require no adjustment. Furthermore, as it is desirable, the braking force is not excessive so as not to require too much tractive effort important on the part of the training means of the associated printer machine.

In an advantageous embodiment, said inclined face may be of substantially frustoconical shape. Or, when said support pad is weakly protruding from the flange of the cradle, we can provide that said inclined surface is rounded with a cross section substantially in a quarter circle.

To avoid too rapid damage to the braking devices in contact with the cutting edges turns of paper, at least the support face of each zone protruding is metallic, especially steel.

In a simple manner, said bearing surface can be round in shape.

Preferably, the elastic support member of the braking means bears against the side of the roller in the lower part of it.

Particularly interesting, we can also provide that the braking means include a second support member located on the other side of the roller and with a second substantially identical projecting zone which is arranged opposite the aforesaid first zone protruding, to be in abutment against the other side of the roller. In a preferred embodiment, the second protruding area may be fixed and integral with a flange of the cradle. But as a variant, it may be interesting that the second protruding area is located at a free end a second elastic arm secured by its end opposite, from the other flange of the cradle.

The provisions which have just been set out find a particularly interesting application when the cradle is equipped with two crazy rollers paper roll holder.

• la figure 1 est une vue schématique de côté, en coupe partielle, d'un dispositif d'alimentation en papier en rouleau agencé conformément à l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est une vue en coupe, selon la ligne II-II de la figure 1, du dispositif de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue en coupe, analogue à celle de la figure 2, d'une variante de réalisation du dispositif de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 4 est une vue en perspective d'une partie constituante du dispositif des figures 1 à 3 ; et
• la figure 5 est une vue en coupe transversale d'une variante de réalisation de la partie constituante de la figure 4.

The invention will be better understood on reading the detailed description which follows of certain preferred embodiments given solely by way of nonlimiting examples. In this description, reference is made to the appended drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a schematic side view, in partial section, of a roll paper supply device arranged in accordance with the invention;
• Figure 2 is a sectional view along the line II-II of Figure 1, of the device of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a sectional view, similar to that of Figure 2, of an alternative embodiment of the device of Figure 1;
• Figure 4 is a perspective view of a component part of the device of Figures 1 to 3; and
• FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the constituent part of FIG. 4.

Referring first to Figure 1, a roll paper feed device 1 is functionally associated with a printing machine 2.

The feeding device 1 comprises a cradle 3 fitted with side shields 4 (the front shield, on Figure 1, has been broken away so that the interior is visible). The bottom 5 of the cradle 3 is arranged in the form of supporting or incorporating supporting means for a roller paper 6. In current arrangement in practice illustrated in Figure 1, at the bottom 5 are associated two 7 idler rollers rotating on respective axes transverse (parallel to that of roller 6), separated from each other, and protruding above the bottom 5, of so that the roller 6 is simply placed on the rollers 7 and can rotate freely (arrow 8) when the printer machine 2, in operation, exercises a pull (arrow 9) on the paper tape 10.

The cradle 3 is generally integrated into a housing closed by a cover (not shown).

When the paper roll 6 has a mass important (for example typically 20 cm roll of diameter, having a weight of the order of 2 kg), it continues to take place, due to its inertia, when the effort of traction ceases to be exerted on the ribbon 9 and it results in loosening of the first turns of the roller (Reduction in volume).

To avoid this drawback, we associate with roller 6 of the braking means 13, supported by the cradle 3, which have at least one member 14 bearing elastic against at least one side of the roller 6.

Both to simplify the structure and so that the braking means 13 are active whatever the effective diameter of the roller 6, it is expected that the member 14 elastic support against the side of the roller is located in look at the bottom of it as illustrated in Figure 1.

A simple arrangement is that the organ 14 elastic support is arranged at the bottom from the bottom 5, between the two rollers 7.

The elastic support member 14 exerts on the side of the roller a transverse force (arrow 15 in the figure 2) sufficient to brake the roller when the effort of traction 9 is interrupted and prevent deforestation of the last turns of the roll 6, but however low enough not to disturb rotation correct roll and correct tape drive paper under the action of coaching means (in the printer machine) which must not be modified.

The elastic support effort (shown schematically by the arrows 15 in Figure 2) can either result from the constitution of the support member 14, or be conferred by a spring.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the support member elastic 14 includes a raised area or projecting area 16 engaged through an opening 17 made in a lateral flanges 4 of the cradle 3 and projecting from compared to the internal face of said flange.

As illustrated in Figure 2, this raised area 16 is in the form of a protruding pellet having a substantially flat bearing surface 18 suitable for bearing against a side of the roller 6.

In a simple manner, the projecting zone 16 can be located at one end of an integral deformable arm 19, at its other end, from the cradle 3.

To ensure that the rotation of the roller is not not bothered by braking means, it is better that two projecting support zones are applied respectively on the two sides of the roller 6, preferably symmetrically (i.e. the two protruding areas are arranged approximately in look at each other on either side of the roller).

In a preferred embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, we double the arrangement described above, providing, on the other side of the cradle, a second zone projecting support 16, in particular also in the form of protruding pellet, which is engaged through a opening 17 provided in the other flange 4 of the cradle 3 and which is supported by a second deformable arm 19.

In this case it is interesting that the two arms 19 are joined to each other by a bar 20 transverse, so as to constitute a single piece in form of clamp which is snapped onto the cradle 3. A such unique piece is easy to manufacture for example by forging if it is entirely metallic or by molding if it is plastic. Furthermore his assembly is simple and quick.

We can also have recourse to mounting the Figure 3, in which one of the projecting zones, 16 ', which can also be in the form of an embossed pellet of advantageously, is fixed and integral with the flange 4 of the cradle 3, for example being integrally formed with said flange 4 as visible in FIG. 3 (by example coming from stamping on the cradle is metallic or coming from molding if the cradle is made of material plastic).

Only one of the projecting zones 16 is then movable transversely to the flange 4. This pad 16 can be arranged as indicated above, being located at one end of a deformable arm secured to the cradle.

We can also, as a variant, provide that the projecting zone 16 has at its base a flange retainer 21, as illustrated in FIG. 3, and that it is retained in position only by a spring 22 leaning against an outer casing 23. It is then the protruding zone 16-spring 22 assembly which constitutes the support member 14.

To facilitate the positioning of the roller 6, each projecting support zone 16, 16 ′ is arranged in the form protruding pad which includes a bearing surface substantially flat 18, advantageously round in shape, which is peripherally surrounded by an inclined surface clean to slide on the edge of the roller when it is introduced.

An interesting arrangement is that said inclined surface is substantially frustoconical as shown in Figures 2 and 3 and as illustrated in 24 on a larger scale and in perspective in FIG. 4.

However, when the protrusion of the pellet is relatively weak on the internal face of the flange 4 (small clearance between the side of the roller 6 and the flange 4), we can, as illustrated in section in Figure 4, provide that the above inclined surface is constituted by a surface 25 rounded in a quarter of a circle.

The side of the paper roll 6, formed by the edge paper winding turns, is particularly aggressive. It is therefore preferable that the support surface 18 of each projecting zone 16 is made of a material mechanically very strong, preferably either metallic, especially steel. In case the area projection 16 is carried by a deformable arm 19, or it is the assembly which can be metallic (see the entire single piece forming a clamp), i.e. the area protruding metal 16 is secured to an arm 19 in one other material, especially plastic.

Note that, whatever the embodiment envisaged, each projecting zone 16 is fixed according to the direction of rotation of the roller; on the other hand it can accompany low transverse movements roller amplitude (movement along the axis of the roller). In particular, in the case of the single piece of pliers illustrated in Figure 2, this part can be secured at cradle 3 so that it can move transversely weakly compared to this one.

It will also be noted that, when the means of braking include two support members located on the side and on the other side of the roller as indicated above, these organs support helps keep the roller in a substantially constant axial position. The means of braking thus arranged therefore combine the two functions braking and guidance, without the need to have use of other means for guidance.

Claims (10)

Device (1) for supplying roll paper to a printing machine (2), comprising a cradle (3) provided with lateral flanges (4), support means (5, 7) located at the bottom of the cradle and forming cradle for supporting a paper roll (6) so that said paper roll rests freely on said support means by its lower periphery and turns (8) freely on said support means when the free end of the paper tape (10 ) is subjected to traction (9), this device further comprising braking means (13) of said rotating roller (6) which are integral with said cradle (3) and which have at least one elastic support member (14 ) against at least one side of the roll (6) of paper, characterized in that said elastic support member (14) comprises at least one elastically deformable arm (19) secured to the cradle and at least one projecting zone (16) which is located at the free end of said arm (19 ) and which is engaged through an opening (17) made in a lateral flange (4) of the cradle (3) and projecting relative to the inner face of said flange (4), and
in that said projecting area (16) is in the form of a projecting pad which comprises a substantially flat bearing surface (18) suitable for bearing against a side of the roller and peripherally surrounded by an inclined surface (24, 25) suitable for slide on the sides of the roller when it is inserted into the cradle. Paper feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that said inclined surface (24) is of substantially frustoconical shape. Paper feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that the support pad protrudes slightly from the flange (4) of the cradle and in that said inclined surface (25) is rounded with a cross section substantially in quarter circle. Paper feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that said bearing surface (18) is of round shape. Paper feeding device according to any one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least the bearing face (18) of the projecting zone (16) is metallic. Paper feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the elastic support member (14) of the braking means is in abutment against the side of the roller (6) in the lower part of it. Paper feeding device according to any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the braking means (13) comprise a second support member situated on the other side of the roller and provided with a second zone projecting (16 ') substantially identical which is arranged opposite the aforesaid first projecting zone (16), to be in abutment against the other side of the roller. Paper feeding device according to claim 7, characterized in that the second projecting zone (16 ') is fixed and integral with the other flange (4) of the cradle (3). Paper feeding device according to claim 7, characterized in that the second projecting zone (16 ') is situated at a free end of a second elastic arm (19) secured, by its opposite end, to said other flange (4 ) from the cradle (3). Paper feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the means for supporting the paper roll (6) comprise two rollers (7) parallel and spaced from one another.

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