JP2008012862A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To open an opening/closing lid by a simple operation when thermal sensitive paper is to be changed. <P>SOLUTION: A thermal head 25 provided to face a hollow portion 25, a lid body 51 which covers an opening portion 24 so that it can be opened and closed by using a rotary shaft 33 as a rotation center, a support portion 31 which supports the rotary shaft 33 so that it can be moved to the other side of a chassis, an open/close button 52 which is provided on the lid body 51 and has a platen roller 41 disposed to be opposed to the thermal head 25 and has a recessed portion 53, an insertion member 26 having a distal end 28 provided so that it can be inserted into and removed from the recessed portion 53 and a locking member 29 locked with a pin 42 at an intermediate position, and a tensile spring 27a biasing the locking member 29 in the direction where it is locked with the pin 42. When the open/close button 52 is pressed down, the recessed portion 53 and the distal end portion 28 move the distal end 28 of the insertion member 26 to one side of a chassis main body 20, thereby releasing the lock between the pin 42 and the locking portion 29. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a thermal printer that prints on thermal paper, and more particularly, to a printer that can easily open and close an open / close lid when replacing thermal paper.

Thermal printers are known for thermal paper (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Such a thermal printer is provided with a thermal head, and a platen is disposed opposite to the thermal head. Thermal paper passed between the thermal head and the platen, and printing was performed on the thermal paper by the heat applied to the thermal head. Note that the thermal paper is usually wound in a roll shape, and when the thermal paper is replaced, it is necessary to open the opening / closing lid on the top of the housing.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-286147

  The thermal printer described above has the following problems. That is, the thermal head is provided on the housing side and the platen is provided on the lid side. Usually, the thermal head and the platen are pressed against each other, so that the platen interferes with the housing side when opening and closing. Therefore, a complicated operation such as opening and closing the opening / closing lid once in a direction away from the thermal head is required.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal printer capable of opening an opening / closing lid with a simple operation when replacing thermal paper.

  In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the thermal printer of the present invention is configured as follows.

  A housing having a hollow portion and an opening continuous with the hollow portion provided at an upper portion thereof, a thermal head provided on one side of the housing and facing the hollow portion, and the other of the housing A lid that opens and closes the opening with a horizontal rotation shaft provided on the side as a rotation center, and is provided on the housing, and the rotation shaft can be moved to the other side of the housing A platen roller that is provided in the lid, is located in the hollow portion in a state of being closed to the opening, and is disposed to face the thermal head, and is disposed in the hollow portion, and is thermal paper. A thermal paper transport mechanism that feeds the paper between the thermal head and the platen roller in a state where the lid is closed, a locking portion provided on the lid, It has a recess attached to one side of the lid and open to the bottom The close button and its base end are provided so as to be rotatable about a horizontal rotation axis arranged on one side of the casing, and the tip thereof is provided so as to be removably inserted into the recess of the open / close button. And an urging member that urges the insertion member in a direction to lock the locked portion of the insertion member to the locking portion. And the recess and the distal end of the insertion member move the distal end of the insertion member to one side of the housing by depressing the open / close button, and the biasing force by the biasing member It is formed in the shape which cancels | releases the latching | locking of the said latching | locking part and the said to-be-latched part.

  According to the present invention, when changing the thermal paper, the opening / closing lid can be opened by a simple operation.

  FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a thermal printer 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an essential part of an opening / closing lid of the thermal printer 10, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a state in which the opening / closing lid of the thermal printer 10 is opened. In the figure, P indicates thermal paper. 1 to 4, the left side corresponds to one side of the housing body 20, and the right side corresponds to the other side of the housing body 20.

  The thermal printer 10 includes a housing body 20 that houses each mechanism, and an opening / closing mechanism 30 that is openable and closable with respect to the housing body 20.

  The housing body 20 includes a base portion 21 made of a resin material. On the base portion 21, a main body portion 22 that houses various devices such as a thermal paper transport mechanism 22 a is provided, and a hollow portion 23 is formed. The hollow portion 23 is opened upward in the figure, and an opening 24 is formed.

  A thermal head 25 is attached to the inner wall surface on one side of the main body portion 22 so as to be exposed to the hollow portion 23. Further, on the left side of the main body 22 in the figure, an insertion member 26 is provided so as to be rotatable about its base end 27 about a horizontal rotation axis. Furthermore, the distal end 28 of the insertion member 26 is detachably provided in a recess 53 of an opening / closing button 52 described later. Further, at a middle position of the insertion member 26, a locked portion 29 that is locked to a pin 42 described later is provided. A guide portion 29 a is formed below the locked portion 29, and has a shape that guides to the locked portion 29 side by contacting the pin 42.

  The pin 42 and the locked portion 29 are engaged with the open / close lid 50 closed. In addition, a tension spring (biasing member) 27 a is connected to the base end 27, and the distal end 28 is urged to the right side, and the engagement between the pin 42 and the locked portion 29 is maintained.

  The tip 28 is provided with an inclined surface 28a (see FIG. 2) that descends from the left side to the right side of the housing body 20, and is formed to be slidable with an inclined surface 53a of a recess 53 of the opening / closing button 52 described later.

  The opening / closing mechanism 30 includes a support portion 31 erected on the base portion 21, a horizontal rotation shaft 33 attached to a support hole 32 provided in the support portion 31, and the rotation shaft 33. A paper cover frame 40 that rotates about the center, and an opening / closing lid 50 that is attached to the paper cover frame 40 and covers the hollow portion 23 are provided. The support hole 32 has an elliptical shape with the major axis in the horizontal direction, and the rotation shaft 33 is formed to be movable in the horizontal direction.

  A platen roller 41 is provided on the leading end side of the paper cover frame 40 and is pressed against the thermal head 25 with the opening / closing mechanism 30 closed. Further, the paper cover frame 40 is provided with a pin (locking portion) 42 for locking the locked portion 29 of the insertion member 26 described above. An abutting member 43 that abuts the main body 22 is provided at an intermediate portion of the paper cover frame 40, and is urged by the spring member 44 in the direction in which the paper cover frame 40 is opened.

  The open / close lid 50 includes a lid 51, and the base end side of the lid 51 is attached to the paper cover frame 40 so as to be swingable in the vertical direction via a swing shaft 51 a. In addition, an open / close button 52 is attached to the distal end side corresponding to one side of the casing body 20 of the lid 51. As shown in FIG. 2, the lower surface of the open / close button 52 is opened, and a recess 53 into which the insertion member 26 can be inserted is provided.

  The recess 53 is provided with an inclined surface 53a in which an inclined surface 28a provided at the distal end 28 of the insertion member 26 is slidable, and an inclined surface 53b having a larger inclination angle is provided above the inclined surface 53a. It is connected continuously. Accordingly, the recess 53 and the distal end portion 28 of the insertion member 26 can move the distal end portion 28 to the left side by depressing the open / close button 52, and the pin 42 is engaged with the pin 42 against the urging force of the tension spring 27a. The locking with the stop portion 29 can be released.

  In the thermal printer 10 configured as described above, the thermal paper P is replaced as follows. That is, by depressing the open / close button 52 of the open / close mechanism 30, the inclined surface 53a of the recess 53 comes into contact with the inclined surface 28a of the insertion member 26, and the tip 28 of the insertion member 26 is moved to the left in the drawing. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 3, the locking of the pin 42 and the locked portion 29 is released.

  Even if this locking is released, the inclined surface 28a of the insertion member 26 presses the inclined surface 53a of the concave portion 53 to the right side, so that the paper cover frame 40 is generally biased to the right side. Become. On the other hand, since the support hole 32 has an elliptical shape, the rotation shaft 33 of the paper cover frame 40 moves to the right. Further, since the resin base portion 21 is bent, the thermal head 25 and the platen roller 41 are separated from each other, and the platen roller 41 does not interfere with the main body portion 22 when the paper cover frame 40 is opened.

  Since the contact member 43 of the paper cover frame 40 is pressed against the main body 22, the paper cover frame 40 is automatically opened.

  When the paper cover frame 40 is closed after the thermal paper P is replaced, the contact member 43 first comes into contact with the main body 22 and the spring member 44 is slowly stretched. It will close slowly.

  When the open / close button 52 is pushed in, the pin 42 comes into contact with the guide portion 29a and is guided. Then, the pin 42 and the locked portion 29 are engaged, and the platen roller 41 is brought into contact with the thermal head 25.

  As described above, according to the thermal printer 10 according to the present embodiment, when the thermal paper P is replaced, the open / close lid 50 can be opened and closed with a simple operation by simply pressing the open / close button 52, and the platen It is possible to prevent the roller 41 from interfering with other members.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a tension spring (biasing member) 27 b may be added to urge the insertion member 26 more strongly toward the right side of the distal end 28. Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a thermal printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the principal part of the opening / closing lid | cover of the thermal printer. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the principal part of the opening / closing lid | cover of the thermal printer. The longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows typically the state which opened the opening-and-closing lid | cover of the thermal printer. The side view which shows the modification of the thermal printer.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Thermal printer, 20 ... Housing | casing main body, 21 ... Base part, 22 ... Main-body part, 22a ... Thermal paper conveyance mechanism, 23 ... Hollow part, 24 ... Opening part, 25 ... Thermal head, 26 ... Insertion member, 27 ... Base end, 27a ... tension spring (biasing member), 28 ... tip, 28a ... inclined surface, 29 ... locked portion, 30 ... opening / closing mechanism, 31 ... support portion, 32 ... support hole, 33 ... rotating shaft, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 40 ... Paper cover frame, 41 ... Platen roller, 42 ... Pin (locking part), 43 ... Contact member, 50 ... Opening / closing lid, 51 ... Lid body, 52 ... Opening / closing button, 53 ... Recess, 53a ... Inclined surface.

Claims (4)

A housing provided with a hollow portion and an opening continuous with the hollow portion at an upper portion thereof;
A thermal head provided on one side of the housing and facing the hollow portion;
A lid that opens and closes the opening with a horizontal rotation axis provided on the other side of the housing as a rotation center;
A support portion provided on the housing and supporting the rotation shaft so as to be movable to the other side of the housing;
A platen roller that is provided on the lid, is located in the hollow portion in a state of being closed to the opening, and is disposed to face the thermal head;
A thermal paper transport mechanism that is disposed in the hollow portion, transports thermal paper along a paper transport path, and supplies the thermal paper between the thermal head and the platen roller in a state where the lid is closed;
A locking portion provided on the lid,
An open / close button attached to one side of the lid and having a recess opened on the lower side;
The base end is provided so as to be rotatable about a horizontal rotation shaft arranged on one side of the casing, and the tip thereof is provided to be detachable from the recess of the opening / closing button. An insertion member having a locked portion locked to the locking portion at a position;
A biasing member that biases the locked portion of the insertion member in a direction to lock the locked portion to the locking portion;
The concave portion and the distal end portion of the insertion member move the distal end portion of the insertion member to one side of the housing by depressing the open / close button, and resist the urging force of the urging member. A thermal printer characterized in that it is formed in a shape for releasing the locking between the locking portion and the locked portion.   The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the lid is biased in an opening direction.   The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the support portion supports the rotation shaft by an elliptical hole.   The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the support portion bends to the other side of the housing.

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