The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-55667, which was filed on Mar. 18, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Field
The present disclosure relates to a printer performing printing on a print-receiving medium.
Description of the Related Art
A printer performing printing on a print-receiving medium is known. This printer (a label producing device) comprises a housing, a storage part (a roll storage part) provided on the housing and storing a print-receiving medium (a print-receiving tape), and an opening/closing lid (a housing cover part, a touch panel part) pivotally coupled to one side end portion of the housing.
The printer of the prior art has an operation part mounted on the opening/closing lid opening and closing the upper side of the storage part, so that the total weight of these components becomes comparatively heavy. Therefore, a spring member is provided to apply a comparatively large urging force to the opening/closing lid in the opening direction so as to achieve a stability improvement and an impact suppression when the opening/closing lid and the operating portion are closed. However, contrarily, this may consequently make a motion too fast when the opening/closing lid and the operation part are opened, and a bounce may occur at the completion of the opening motion.
It is therefore an object of the present disclosure to provide a configuration capable of suppressing the occurrence of bounce at the completion of an opening motion in a printer having an operation part mounted on an opening/closing lid.
In order to achieve the above-described object, according to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a printer comprising a housing comprising a storage part configured to store a print-receiving medium, a printing part configured to perform printing on the print-receiving medium, an opening/closing lid that is coupled pivotally around an axis located on one side of the housing, and is configured to open and close an upper side of the storage part, an operation part configured to be detachably mounted on the opening/closing lid, a first spring member that applies an urging force in an opening direction to the opening/closing lid, and a second spring member configured to apply an urging force in a closing direction to the opening/closing lid, the second spring member being configured to be separated from the opening/closing lid without applying the urging force in the closing direction to the time the opening/closing lid has pivoted from a closed state in the opening direction by a first predetermined angle and to come into contact with the opening/closing lid to apply the urging force in the closing direction when the opening/closing lid has pivoted from the closed state in the opening direction by the first predetermined angle, the housing comprising a contacted part, and the opening/closing lid comprising a contacting part configured to be separated from the contacted part in the closed state, and to come into contact with the contacted part from the time the opening/closing lid has pivoted from the closed state in the opening direction by a second predetermined angle larger than the first predetermined angle to the time the opening/closing lid has pivoted in the opening direction by a third predetermined angle larger than the second predetermined angle.
In the printer of the present disclosure, the operation part is mounted on the opening/closing lid, so that the total weight thereof becomes comparatively heavy. Therefore, the first spring member is provided to apply a comparatively large urging force to the opening/closing lid in the opening direction, so that a stability improvement and an impact suppression can be achieved when the opening/closing lid and the operation portion forming a heavy load are closed. However, contrarily, a motion may become too fast in this state when the opening/closing lid and the operation part are opened, and a bounce may occur at the completion of the opening motion. Thus, in the present disclosure, the second spring member is provided so that an urging force can be applied to the opening/closing lid in the closing direction, and the contacted part provided on the housing and the contacting part provided on the opening/closing lid come into contact with each other in the opened state. As a result, while the opening/closing lid is urged in the closing direction at the timing near completion of the opening motion, the contacting part of the opening/closing lid separated then comes into contact with the contacted part of the housing at the completion of the opening motion of the opening/closing lid to absorb the impact. As a result, the occurrence of bounce can be suppressed.
In the present disclosure, when the opening/closing lid and the operation part are opened, the urging force of the second spring member is not exerted to the time the first predetermined angle, and the urging force is exerted after the first predetermined angle is reached. Therefore, while a comparatively fast opening speed is ensured partway without exerting the urging force in the closing direction, the occurrence of the bounce can reliably be suppressed by subsequently exerting the urging force in the closing direction. Additionally, in the present disclosure, when an opening angle (the second predetermined angle) larger than the first predetermined angle is reached, the contacting part of the opening/closing lid starts contacting with the contacted part of the housing. Since the contacting part further comes into contact with the contacted part after the second spring member exerts the urging force in the closing direction on the opening/closing lid and the operation part in this way, the force in the closing direction can smoothly be exerted in stages so that the occurrence of the bounce can reliably be suppressed.
An embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. If “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “top,” and “bottom” are noted in the drawings, “front,” “rear,” “left,” “right,” “top,” and “bottom” in the description indicate the noted directions.
<Overall General Configuration>
First, an overall general configuration of a printer of this embodiment will be described with reference to
In
A touch panel unit TU (corresponding to an operation part) comprising a touch panel T is detachably attached to the cover 6 on the top side (anti-cassette storage part side) opposite to a cassette mounting part 8 (see
Returning to
A locking piece 21 is formed on a back surface of the cover 6 on the side facing the cassette mounting part 8. The locking piece 21 is formed at a position on the front side in the closed state of the cover 6. When the cover 6 is closed, the locking piece 21 engages with a locking mechanism 23 formed on a front side portion of an upper side surface of the housing 2 to maintain the closed state of the cover 6. An unlocking button 24 for an opening and closing operation of the cover 6 is provided on the front side portion of the upper side surface of the housing 2. By operating the unlocking button 24, the engagement of the locking piece 21 with the locking mechanism 23 is released and the cover 6 is put into an openable state.
A cassette pressing mechanism 100 is provided on the back surface of the cover 6. The cassette holding mechanism 100 comprises a pressing plate 110 that is a plate-shaped member formed in a substantially L-shape and presses a tape cassette (not shown) mounted on the cassette mounting part 8 from above when the cover 6 is closed, thereby holding the tape cassette inside the cassette mounting part 8.
The cassette mounting part 8 is a region in which a tape cassette capable of supplying a tape is stored such that the tape cassette can be attached and detached in the up-down direction. The cassette mounting part 8 is provided as a recess substantially corresponding to a shape of a bottom surface of the tape cassette. A head holder (not shown) equipped with a printing head 10 comprising heat generation elements is fixedly provided on a right portion of the cassette mounting part 8.
The front side surface of the housing 2 is disposed with a discharging slit 11 discharging to the outside a printed tape having a print formed thereon by the printing head 10 after being fed out from the tape cassette. A cutting mechanism (not shown) cutting the printed tape is provided on a transport path through which the printed tape is transported, before the slit 11 seen from the cassette mounting part 8.
As described above, the printer 1 of this embodiment has the touch panel unit TU mounted on the surface of the cover 6. As a result, since the total weight of these components becomes comparatively heavy, a first spring member 25 is provided.
<First Spring Member>
In particular, as shown in
As described above, the urging force of the first spring member 25 makes the opening motion of the cover 6 smooth and can achieve a stability improvement and an impact suppression when the cover 6 and the touch panel unit TU forming a heavy load are closed.
<Second Spring Member>
However, as a result of providing the first spring member comprising the large urging force as described above, contrarily, the motion may become too fast in this state when the cover 6 and the touch panel unit TU are opened, and a bounce may occur at the completion of the opening motion. Therefore, the second spring member 250 is provided in this embodiment.
A configuration of the second spring member 250 and a positional relationship with the cover 6 will be described with reference to
As shown in
As shown in
<Behavior of Urging Force Action by Second Spring Member>
The behavior of the second spring member 250 exerting the urging force in the closing direction on the cover 6 will be described with reference to
When the cover 6 is in the closed state as shown in
Subsequently, when the opening motion of the cover 6 as described above reaches a predetermined pivoting angle (the opening angle of 80° described above in this example, corresponding to a first predetermined angle), one end portion 260a (lower end) of the slit 260 pivoting together with the cover 6 comes into contact with the tip end portion 250aB of the engaging part 250a from below as shown in
Subsequently, when the opening motion of the cover 6 further proceeds, the one end portion 260a of the pivoting slit 260 pushes up the tip end portion 250aB from below, so that the root portion 250aA of the engaging part 250a separates from the placing part 270. As a result, the second spring member 250 starts applying the urging force in the closing direction to the cover 6. When the opening angle reaches 90° as shown in
As described above, while the cover 6 is pivoting from the closed state in the opening direction to the predetermined angle (the opening angle of 80°), the second spring member 250 does not apply the urging force in the closing direction because the engaging part 250a is placed on the placing part 270 and is separated from the one end portion 260a of the slit 260 of the cover 6. When the cover 6 has pivoted from the closed state in the opening direction by the predetermined angle (the opening angle of 80°), the second spring member 250 comes into contact with the one end portion 260a of the slit 260 of the cover 6 and applies the urging force in the closing direction.
<Contacting Structure Between Contacting Part of Cover and Contacted Part of Housing>
While the urging force of the second spring member 250 suppresses a bounce at the completion of the opening motion as described above, a contacted part provided on the housing 2 and a contacting part provided on the cover 6 come into contact with each other to further suppress the bounce in this embodiment. The details will be described with reference to
As shown in
The cover 6 comprises a contacting part 301 formed downward like a projecting piece from substantially the entire area in the width direction of the rear end portion. The contacting part 301 is separated in the closed state from, and brought into contact in the opened state with, the contacted part 302 (details will be described later).
<Contacting Behavior of Contacted Part and Contacting Part>
The behavior of the contacting part 301 and the contacted part 302 coming into contact with each other will be described with reference to
As shown in
Subsequently, as the opening motion of the cover 6 proceeds as described above, the contacting part 301 pivots around the rotation axis k (pivots clockwise in
Subsequently, when the opening motion of the cover 6 further proceeds and reaches a certain opening angle (e.g., 81°, 85°, corresponding to the second predetermined angle) larger than the opening angle of 80° (at which the second spring member 250 starts urging), the contacting part 301 starts contacting with the contacted part 302. At the time of the contact with the contacted part 302, the second inclined surface 301a comes into contact with the first inclined surface 302a in a non-parallel state to the first inclined surface 302a (see
As the opening angle of the cover 6 further increases after the contact, the second inclined surface 301a slides along the first inclined surface 302a or, in other words, the second inclined surface 301a and the first inclined surface 302a are brought into contact with each other such that the surfaces rub each other upward while moving a contact position of line contact. In a state shown in
If the unlocking button 24 is operated to release the engagement of the locking piece 21 with the locking mechanism 23 as described above while the touch panel unit TU is removed as shown in
In this way, when the touch panel unit TU is not mounted, the pivoting of the cover 6 does not reach the second predetermined angle (because of a light weight) and the contacting part 301 does not come into contact with the contacted part 302. Setting the minimum necessary spring force in this way can reduce manufacturing costs and restrain the durability from decreasing due to unnecessary contact between the contacting part 301 and the contacted part 302 when the touch panel unit TU is not mounted.
As described above, in this embodiment, the second spring member 250 comes into contact with the one end portion 260a of the slit 260 of the cover 6 to apply the urging force to the cover 6 in the closing direction. The contacted part 302 provided on the housing 2 and the contacting part 301 provided on the cover 6 come into contact with each other in the opened state. While the cover 6 is urged in the closing direction at the timing near completion of the opening motion, the contacting part 301 of the cover 6 separated then comes into contact with the contacted part 302 of the housing 2 at the completion of the opening motion so as to absorb the impact. As a result, the occurrence of the bounce can be suppressed.
Particularly in this embodiment, when the contacted part 302 and the contacting part 301 come into contact with each other, the first inclined surface 302a and the second inclined surface 301a are brought into contact with each other such that the surfaces rub each other upward while moving a contact position of line contact, rather than bringing entire surfaces into contact with each other at a certain moment as in the case of the contact in a parallel state. Therefore, a sufficient impact absorption effect can be acquired additionally because of a friction effect at the time of the rubbing and a bending effect of the inclined surfaces 302a, 301a.
Particularly in this embodiment, while a comparatively large urging force is applied to the cover 6 in the opening direction by the first spring member 25 as described above, the damper 220 is provided for stabilizing the opening and closing speed. However, to ensure a certain level of opening motion speed without delaying the opening motion more than necessary, a degree of buffering by the damper 220 must be made relatively weak. In such a case, a bounce easily occurs at the completion of the opening motion of the cover 6 and, therefore, the bounce occurrence suppression effect by the second spring member 250 described above becomes particularly effective.
Particularly in this embodiment, because of the structure using the placing part 270 and the slit 260 described above, the urging force of the second spring member 250 is not exerted until the opening angle of 80° when the cover 6 is opened, and the urging force is exerted after exceeding 80°. Therefore, while a comparatively fast opening speed is ensured partway without exerting the urging force in the closing direction, the occurrence of the bounce can reliably be suppressed by subsequently exerting the urging force in the closing direction.
Particularly in this embodiment, the second spring member 250 can be pressurized by the placing part 270 and made on standby such that the urging force can effectively be generated. When the cover 6 is opened to the opening angle of 80°, the engaging part 250a (specifically, the root part 250aA) of the second spring member 250 in the standby state separates from the placing part 270 and comes into contact with the cover 6 (specifically, the one end portion 260 of the slit 260), so that the biasing force in the closing direction can reliably be exerted.
Particularly in this embodiment, when the certain opening angle (e.g., 81°, 85°) larger than the opening angle of 80° is reached, the contacting part 301 starts contacting with the contacted part 302. As a result, since the contacting part 301 further comes into contact with the contacted part 302 after the second spring member 250 exerts the biasing force in the closing direction on the cover 6, the force in the closing direction can smoothly be exerted in stages so that the occurrence of the bounce can reliably be suppressed.
Instead of storing the tape cassette in the cassette mounting part 8 as in the configuration described above, the present disclosure can be applicable to a configuration in which a tape roll capable of feeding out a tape used as a print-receiving medium is housed inside the housing 2 such that a print is formed by a printing head on the tape fed out from the tape roll. The same advantage as above is acquired also in this case.
It is noted that terms “vertical,” “parallel,” “plane,” etc. in the above description are not used in the exact meanings thereof. Specifically, these terms “vertical,” “parallel,” “plane,” etc. allow tolerances and errors in design and manufacturing and have meanings of “substantially vertical,” “substantially parallel,” and “substantially plane,” etc.
It is noted that terms “same,” “equal,” “different,” etc. in relation to a dimension and a size of the exterior appearance in the above description are not used in the exact meaning thereof. Specifically, these terms “same,” “equal,” “different,” etc. allow tolerances and errors in design and manufacturing and have meanings of “substantially the same,” “substantially equal,” and “substantially different,” etc.
The techniques of the embodiment and modification examples may appropriately be utilized in combination other than those described above.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-055667 | Mar 2016 | JP | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20140147187 | Jo et al. | May 2014 | A1 |
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20150165802 | Wong | Jun 2015 | A1 |
20170028747 | Kanda | Feb 2017 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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H11-084982 | Mar 1999 | JP |
2004-205910 | Jul 2004 | JP |
2006-349022 | Dec 2006 | JP |
2014-104697 | Jun 2014 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20170267000 A1 | Sep 2017 | US |