JPH1143247A - Device for regulating the width of print media in printers - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To print out a medium to be printed (label continuous body 4) such as a label or tag wound in a roll shape into a band shape and regulate the width thereof, and to wind the roll. The print surface can be pressed down so that the curl caused by the curl can be eliminated, and the width of the print target medium in a printer that can be easily set without worrying about the width and floating of the print target medium 4. Provide regulatory devices. SOLUTION: A printing surface pressing mechanism 11 is provided in a width regulating mechanism 10.
And a width regulating mechanism 10 capable of regulating the width of the print-receiving medium 4 on the upstream side of the printing mechanism 8 for feeding the print-receiving medium 4 wound in a roll shape into a band and performing printing. And a printing surface pressing mechanism 11 provided on the width regulating mechanism 10 and capable of pressing the printing surface of the print-receiving medium 4.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for controlling the width of a printing medium in a printer, and more particularly to a printing apparatus in a printer which prints out a printing medium such as a label or tag wound in a roll form in a belt shape. The present invention relates to a medium width regulating device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, many types of printers have a label or a tag wound in a roll shape as a printing medium to be loaded in the printer. When setting the print-receiving medium in the printer's print mechanism, be careful of this curl, and if you do not set it while pressing it back to the original position, There is a problem of biting into various mechanisms inside.

[0003] In addition, various types of print media are prepared, and a single printer is provided with a width restricting mechanism in order to cope with print media of various widths. There is a problem in that the work of loading the print-receiving medium while controlling the width and regulating the width is considerably troublesome, and it is difficult to load the belt-shaped print-receiving medium accurately and without any trouble.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is capable of restricting the width of a medium to be printed such as a label or a tag wound in a roll shape by feeding it out in a belt shape. Another object of the present invention is to provide a device for regulating the width of a print-receiving medium in a printer capable of pressing a printing surface so as to eliminate the curl caused by being wound in a roll shape.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for regulating the width of a print medium in a printer which can prevent the floating of the print medium when the print medium is set.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for regulating the width of a print medium in a printer which can easily set the print medium without worrying about the width and floating of the print medium.

[0007]

That is, the present invention focuses on combining a printing surface holding mechanism with a width regulating mechanism. The printing medium is fed out in a belt shape from a printing medium wound in a roll, and the printing mechanism is used. A width regulating device for a print medium in a printer that performs printing on the printing surface, and a width regulating mechanism capable of regulating the width of the print medium upstream of the printing mechanism, and provided in the width regulating mechanism, A printing surface pressing mechanism capable of pressing the printing surface of the printing medium, and a printing medium width regulating device for a printer.

The width regulating mechanism may include a pair of width regulating plates whose positions can be adjusted in the width direction with respect to the center line of the printing medium.

The printing surface pressing mechanism may include a pair of printing surface pressing plates provided on the width regulating plate and capable of pressing both edges of the printing surface of the printing medium.

[0010] The width regulating mechanism may include a guide inclined plate for guiding the printing medium upward toward the printing mechanism.

The guide inclined plate may have a small width portion corresponding to a small width of the print medium and a large portion corresponding to a large width of the print medium.

In the printing medium width regulating device of the printer according to the present invention, since the printing surface pressing mechanism is combined with the width regulating mechanism, the width of the printing medium is regulated and set, and the printing surface is simultaneously pressed. This makes it possible to properly and easily load even print media such as labels and tags that are curled in a roll and do not bite into various parts or mechanisms inside the printer. It can be carried out. In addition, if the width regulating mechanism is operated, the printing surface pressing mechanism is operated at the same time, so that the setting can be easily performed without concern for the width and the lift of the print medium.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a printer (bar code label printer) 1 equipped with a printing medium width control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a printer 1. The printer 1 is configured to load a label continuous body 4 in which a plurality of label pieces 3 are temporarily attached on a print-receiving medium, for example, a backing paper 2. , Label supply shaft 6 and label continuum 4
, A printing mechanism 8, and a label peeling mechanism 9.

The label supply shaft 6 winds the label continuous body 4 in a roll shape, and feeds out the label continuous body 4 in a belt shape in the direction of the printing mechanism 8.

The width regulating device 7 has a width regulating mechanism 10 and a printing surface pressing mechanism 11. The width regulating mechanism 10 regulates the width of the label continuum 4 on the upstream side of the printing mechanism 8, and has a pair of vertically erected states whose positions can be adjusted in the width direction with respect to the center line of the label continuity 4. Width control plate 12
And a guide inclined plate 13 for guiding the label continuous body 4 upward toward the printing mechanism 8.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the guide inclined plate 13 and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of the width regulating plate 12.
The guide inclined plate 13 has an upstream small width portion 14 corresponding to the small width of the label continuous body 4 and a downstream large portion 15 corresponding to the large width of the label continuous body 4.

The small width portion 14 has a pair of left and right minimum width regulating surfaces 16 for regulating the minimum width of the label continuous body 4 passing therethrough when the width regulating plate 12 comes into contact with the lateral outside. The large portion 15 is such that the width regulating plate 12 is
And a pair of left and right width direction guide surfaces 17 that can be guided so as to adjust the position in the width direction to the left and right of the center line.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the opening / closing adjusting section 18 of the width regulating plate 12 in the width regulating mechanism 10.
Are connected to a fixed pinion 19 that rotates on the center line of the label continuous body 4, a triangular stabilizer 20 horizontally attached below the width regulating plate 12, and a fixed pinion 19 that is attached to the bottom of the stabilizer 20. Rack 21
And

Therefore, if one of the width regulating plates 12 is moved by a finger in the width direction of the label continuous body 4 along the width direction guide surface 17 of the guide inclined plate 13 (large portion 15),
Since the rack 21 of the width regulating plate 12 rotates the fixed pinion 19 and moves the rack 21 of the other width regulating plate 12, the pair of width regulating plates 12 are simultaneously moved along the width direction of the label continuous body 4. It is possible.

The printing surface pressing mechanism 11 includes a width regulating mechanism 10.
And a pair of printing surface pressing plates 22 capable of pressing both edge portions of the printing surface of the label continuous body 4 (the printing surface of the label piece 3).

The printing surface pressing plate 22 is formed of a guide inclined plate 13 (small width portion 1) on the inner wall surface of the width regulating plate 12 on the label continuous body 4 side.
4) projecting horizontally from the surface at a predetermined height from the surface,
When the label continuum 4 is set, the label continuity 4 can be pressed or regulated in the direction of the guide inclined plate 13.

The printing mechanism 8 has a thermal head 23 and a platen roller 24, and passes the label continuum 4 between them to print predetermined information on the printing surface of the thermosensitive coloring label piece 3. The thermal head 23 is attached to the opening / closing arm 25 together with a leaf spring 26 and a pair of pressing rollers 27. The opening and closing of the opening / closing arm 25 about the opening / closing shaft 28 causes the thermal head 23 and the pair of pressing rollers to be pressed. The roller 27 can press the label continuous body 4 to the platen roller 24 side and the base 5 side, respectively.

The label peeling mechanism 9 has a deflecting pin 29 and a backing transfer roller 30. By turning only the backing paper 2 at the deflecting pin 29, the label strip 3 is attached to the backing paper 2.
From the printer 1 and can be taken out of the printer 1.

In the printer 1 and the width regulating device 7 having such a configuration, when the label continuous body 4 is set in the printer 1, the opening / closing arm 25 is opened around the opening / closing shaft 28, and the thermal head 23 and the pair of pressing rollers are opened. 27, the roll-shaped label continuous body 4 is unwound from the label supply shaft 6 in a belt shape, and a pair of width regulating plates 12 are formed.
The label continuous body 4 is set on the platen roller 24 and the turning pin 29 from the small width portion 14 and the large portion 15 of the guide inclined plate 13 in a state of being opened at the maximum width position (full left and right).

In this state, the width regulating plate 1 of the width regulating mechanism 10 is
2 is adjusted to the width of the label continuum 4 so that the left and right width regulating plates 12 regulate both ends of the label continuum 4 and the printing surface pressing mechanism 11.
Since the printing surface pressing plate 22 presses the label continuum 4 (the printing surface of the label piece 3) in the direction of the guide inclined plate 13 (small width portion 14) from above, even if the label continuum 4 is curled, Without worrying about width and vertical lifting,
The restriction in the width direction and the vertical direction can be performed simultaneously and easily.

When the opening / closing arm 25 is rotated in the closing direction in this state, the thermal head 23 and the pair of pressing rollers 27 press the label continuum 4, so that the label continuum 4 can be set on the printer 1. Complete.

After printing is performed on the label piece 3 of the label continuum 4 by the printing mechanism 8, the label piece 3 is peeled off from the backing paper 2 by the label peeling mechanism 9, and can be taken with a finger or the like. At this time, the label continuum 4 is
Is guided to a predetermined height, so that the label continuum 4
Is easily rolled back in cooperation with the pair of pressing rollers 27, and the finger picking operation is easy, and the printing mechanism 8 and the label peeling mechanism are used. The degree of freedom in the arrangement structure of components around the periphery of the printer 9 can be increased, and the entire printer 1 can be reduced in size.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, since a width regulating mechanism and a printing surface pressing mechanism are provided, even a continuous label having a curled habit can be easily inserted into a printer without any trouble. Set is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a printer (barcode label printer) 1 equipped with a print medium width control device 7 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part of a guide inclined plate 13;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of a width regulating plate 12 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the opening / closing adjustment section 18 of the width regulating plate 12 in the width regulating mechanism 10;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer (barcode label printer, FIG. 1) 2 Backing paper 3 Label piece 4 Label continuity (medium to be printed) 5 Base 6 Label supply axis which rolled label continuity 4 in roll form 7 Width regulation of label continuity 4 Apparatus (a device for regulating the width of a medium to be printed in a printer) (Embodiment) 8 Printing mechanism 9 Label peeling mechanism 10 Width regulating mechanism 11 Printing surface holding mechanism 12 A pair of width regulating plates 13 Guide inclined plate 14 Small width of guide inclined plate 13 Part 15 Large portion of the guide inclined plate 13 16 A pair of left and right minimum width regulating surfaces of the small width portion 17 17 A pair of left and right width direction guide surfaces of the large portion 15 18 Opening / closing adjustment portion 19 Fixed pinion 20 Triangular stabilizer 21 Rack 22 Printing Surface pressing plate 23 Thermal head 24 Platen roller 25 Opening / closing arm 26 Leaf spring 27 A pair of pressing rollers 28 Opening / closing axis 9 turning pin 30 mount the transfer roller

Claims (5)

[Claims] An apparatus for controlling the width of a print medium in a printer that unwinds a print medium wound in a roll shape into a band shape and prints on a print surface by a print mechanism, comprising: an upstream side of the print mechanism. A printer having a width regulating mechanism capable of regulating the width of the print-receiving medium, and a printing surface pressing mechanism capable of pressing the printing surface of the print-receiving medium, provided in the width regulating mechanism. The device for regulating the width of the medium to be printed. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the width regulating mechanism has a pair of width regulating plates capable of adjusting a position thereof in a width direction with respect to a center line of the printing medium. Width control device for print media. 3. The printing surface pressing mechanism includes a pair of printing surface pressing plates provided on the width regulating plate and capable of pressing both edge portions of the printing surface of the print target medium. 3. A device for regulating the width of a printing medium in the printer according to 2. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the width regulating mechanism has a guide inclined plate for guiding the medium to be printed upward toward the printing mechanism. . 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the inclined guide plate has a small width portion corresponding to a small width of the print medium, and a large portion corresponding to a large width of the print medium. Device for regulating the width of the print-receiving medium in the printer.