In the accompanying drawings:
Referring to
As shown in
A substantially flat-plate-shaped thermal head 6 is directly fixed to a side wall 2b in an upper portion of the case main body 2. Further, in the vicinity of a swing end of the cover member 3, a platen roller 7, which opposes to a printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6 when the cover member 3 is closed, is mounted.
In the vicinity of the swing end of the cover member 3, a slider 8, which is supported so as to be capable of linearly moving in a swing radius direction of the cover member 3, is provided. Coil springs 9 are disposed between the slider 8 and the cover member 3, and the slider 8 is continuously biased in an outward direction of the swing radius direction.
The platen roller 7 is rotatably supported by the slider 8 via shaft bearings 10. Then, the slider 8 is caused to linearly move in the swing radius direction, whereby the platen roller 7 is caused to linearly move on a plane including a rotational center C1 thereof and a swing center C2 of the cover member 3. In
Further, as shown in
By swinging the cover member 3 from a state shown in
In this case, in the state where the engagement pieces 12 are engaged with the concave portions 13, the cover member 3 closes the upper portion opening 2a of the case main body 2, and due to a biasing force F of the coil springs 9, the platen roller 7 is caused to pressurize the printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6.
Further, as shown in
An action of the thermal printer 1 as structured above according to the embodiment will be described below.
According to the thermal printer 1 of the embodiment, in a case of setting the heat sensitive paper 15 between the thermal head 6 and the platen roller 7, the operator operates the lever member 14 mounted to the cover member 3, opens the cover member 3 swinging as shown in
In this case, in a case of applying an external force with respect to the lever member 14, the lever member 14 is caused to swing with respect to the cover member 3, and the coil springs 9 are compressed by a small force to cause the slider 8 to move in the inward direction of the swing radius direction of the cover member 3 due to the principle of leverage. Accordingly, the platen roller 7 mounted to the slider 8 is caused to be spaced apart from the thermal head 6, and the engagement state of the engagement pieces 12 fixed to the slider 8 and the engagement concave portions 13 provided to the case main body 2 is released, so the cover member 3 is capable of swinging with respect to the case main body 2.
Further, by causing the cover member 3 to swing with respect to the case main body 2, the platen roller 7 mounted to the swing end of the cover member 3 is caused to move in a direction in which the platen roller 7 comes to be spaced apart from the thermal head 6, so the storing portion 2c mounted to the case main body 2 is caused to be exposed.
Accordingly, the operator can readily set the roll-shaped heat sensitive paper 15 in the exposed storing portion 2c, that is, can readily and rapidly execute a recovering operation of a paper jam or a supplying operation of the heat sensitive paper 15.
Further, in a state where the roll-shaped heat sensitive paper 15 is stored in the storing portion 2c and a portion thereof is disposed so as to be along the printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6, by causing the cover member 3 to swing in a reverse direction, the upper portion opening 2a of the case main body 2 is closed with the cover member 3. In this case, the chamfers 12a of the engagement pieces 12 provided to the slider 8 come in contact with the case main body 2 to mount thereonto, so the coil springs 9 are compressed and the slider 8 is caused to move in the inward direction of the swing radius direction of the cover member 3.
Then, by further causing the cover member 3 to swing, the contact between the chamfers 12a of the engagement pieces 12 and the case main body 2 is released at the position where the platen roller 7 opposes to the thermal head 6, the elastically deformed coil springs 9 are decompressed, and the slider 8 is caused to move in the outward direction of the swing radius direction of the cover member 3. As a result, the engagement pieces 12 are completely engaged with the inside of the engagement concave portions 13, and the platen roller 7 provided to the slider 8 pressurizes the heat sensitive paper 15 in a state where the heat sensitive paper 15 is sandwiched between the platen roller 7 and the printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6.
In this case, according to the embodiment, the platen roller 7 pressurizes the heat sensitive paper 15 in the outward direction of the swing radius direction on the plane including the rotational center C1 of the platen roller 7 and the swing center C2 of the cover member 3, so a moment for causing the cover member 3 to swing due to the pressurizing force is not generated. Accordingly, the entire biasing force F due to the coil springs 9 can be effectively used to pressurize the heat sensitive paper 15 against the printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6.
As a result, rigidity of the coil springs 9 can be minimized, or the heat sensitive paper 15 can be brought into close contact with the printing surface 6a of the thermal head 6 with a large pressurizing force.
Further, according to the thermal printer 1 of the embodiment, the thermal head 6 is fixed to the side wall 2b of the case main body 2, so only the side wall 2b of the case main body 2 is disposed to a back surface side of the thermal head 6. Thus, a space in the back surface side of the thermal head 6 can be made smaller, and a width dimension thereof can be reduced, which are advantageous. Further, by fixing the thermal head 6 to the side wall 2b of the case main body 2, due to the side wall 2b of the case main body 2, rigidity of the thermal head 6 can be reinforced. As a result, the rigidity of the thermal head 6 itself is not necessarily large, and the thermal head 6 can be made thinner.
Further, the thermal head 6 is stiffly supported from its back surface by the side wall 2b of the case main body 2, so the biasing force F due to the coil springs 9 can be directly used without being released as the pressurizing force of the thermal head 6 with respect to the heat sensitive paper 15, which is advantageous.
Further, in the embodiment, the storing portion 2c for storing the roll-shaped heat sensitive paper 15 is provided to the inside of the substantially rectangular-parallelepiped box-shaped case 4 including the case main body 2 and the cover member 3 that close the case 4, so dead spaces S are defined in four corners thereof in the outward direction of a radius direction of the heat sensitive paper 15 as shown in
Note that in the embodiment, the coil springs 9 are exemplified as biasing means. However, it is not limited thereto, and an arbitrary elastic member may be employed alternatively. Further, the engagement pieces 12 and the engagement concave portions 13 engaged therewith are provided to the slider 8 and the case main body 2, respectively, or may be provided to the case main body 2 and the slider 8, respectively.
Further, in the embodiment, an example in which the case main body 2 is structured to have a rectangular-parallelepiped box shape is described, but the case main body 2 is not necessarily a rectangular parallelepiped, and any shape capable of storing the roll-shaped heat sensitive paper 15 can be employed.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-282983 | Oct 2006 | JP | national |