JP3233351B2 - printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer in which a paper feed tray provided at a paper feed port of an ink jet printer or the like does not deform and warp.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is an ink jet printer described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-259020, which uses a paper feed port 1a as shown in FIGS.
A paper feed roller 2, a feed roller 3, a paper discharge roller 4, and a printing unit 5 are provided in a housing 1 having a paper feed port 1b.
1A, a paper feed tray 6 is arranged, and a paper guide plate 7 is fixed to the rear of the housing 1 along the paper feed tray 6.

The paper feed tray 6 has a pair of protrusions 1c, 1 of the housing 1 via support shafts 6a projecting from upper ends of both side surfaces.
d, and is urged toward the paper feed roller 2 by a spring 8. By rotating an open / close lever 9 provided on one of the protrusions 1c, the paper feed tray 6 is 8 and is separated from the paper feed roller 2 to lock its state.

A fixed guide 10 and a movable guide 11 are attached to the paper feed tray 6, and the fixed guide 10 is fixed to one end of the paper feed tray 6, and the movable guide 11 is
A guide body 11a abutting on the surface of the paper feed tray 6,
A substantially L-shaped engagement frame 11b in side view that engages with the back surface of the paper feed tray 6 from the guide body 11a over the upper edge of the paper feed tray 6, and projects forward from one side edge of the guide body 11a. The movable guide 11 is moved along the paper feed tray 6 so that the movable guide 11 is, for example, an A4 size sheet as shown in the drawing. P to the paper engaging position T corresponding to the paper feed tray 6 between the movable guide 11 and the fixed guide 10.
The paper P of A4 size is supplied thereon, the lock by the opening / closing lever 9 is released, the paper P on the paper feed tray 6 is brought into contact with the paper feed roller 2, and the paper feed roller 2 is rotated. Only one sheet of paper P is sent out from the paper feed tray 6.

Press rollers 13 and 14 are in contact with the feed roller 3 and the paper discharge roller 4, respectively. The rollers 3 and 4 are integrally rotated to be fed from the paper feed tray 6. The sheet P is discharged from the discharge port 1b.

The printing unit 5 includes a moving frame 18 movably engaged with a guide rail 16 and a guide frame 17 disposed horizontally, a print head 19 and an ink tank 20 mounted on the moving frame 18, The printhead 19 includes a platen 21 facing the print head 19 and a drive motor 23 for reciprocating the moving frame 18 via a timing belt 22. Printing is performed on the paper P passing below.

In the above configuration, when the printer is packed and transported or stored, the movable guide 11 is rotated to lock the paper feed tray 6 against the spring 8 in order to prevent the paper feed tray 6 from being damaged. However, only by this, the paper feed tray 6 is pressed by the spring 8 and the paper feed tray 6
May be deformed and warped.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, a spacer 24 made of cardboard or the like is inserted into the paper feed port 1a to hold the paper feed tray 6 against the spring 8.

[0009]

In the above-mentioned conventional configuration,
A spacer 24 is required to prevent the paper feed tray 6 from being deformed and warped by the spring 8, and the number of parts increases,
Production costs are high. Further, the spacer 24 is connected to the sheet feeding port 1a.
It takes time and trouble to insert it inside.

An object of the present invention is to provide a printer capable of preventing deformation of a paper feed tray by a simple operation without increasing the number of parts in view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks.

[0011]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper feeder which is swingably disposed in a paper feed port of a housing provided with a paper feed roller and a printing unit. A tray is urged toward the paper feed roller by a spring, and a fixed guide and a movable guide are attached to the paper feed tray.The movable guide is moved to a predetermined paper engagement position, and the movable guide is In a printer in which the paper supplied between the paper guide roller and the fixed guide is sent out by the paper feed roller and the printed paper is printed by the printing unit, the lock means is provided at a position deviated from the paper engagement position. The paper feed tray is locked against the spring by engaging the movable guide with the lock means.

In the above configuration, by moving the movable guide along the paper feed tray to a position disengaged from the paper engagement position and engaging with the locking means, the paper feed tray separated from the paper feed roller can be used as a spring. Can be held down.

In this case, it is possible to prevent the paper feed tray from being deformed and warped by the spring only by moving the movable guide along the paper feed tray and engaging with the locking means. Further, since the locking means is provided in the housing, the number of parts does not increase, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the lock means comprises a lock piece projecting from the housing into the paper feed port.

According to the above construction, since only the lock piece protrudes from the housing into the paper feed port, the shape of the molding die for molding the housing is hardly complicated, and the mold processing is performed. Expenses can be made almost the same as before.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the lock piece is provided at a position spaced from the fixed guide at a distance smaller than a postcard interval.

According to the above configuration, since the lock piece is provided near the fixed guide, there is no fear that the lock piece hinders the rotation of the sheet feeding tray during sheet feeding.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 3 show an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which a lock piece (which projects from a housing into a paper feed port 1a and abuts on a paper support frame 11c of a movable guide 11). Locking means) 2
5 are provided. Since the configuration other than the above is almost the same as the conventional example shown in FIGS.

As shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the lock piece 25 is provided at a position spaced from the fixed guide 10 at a distance a smaller than the postcard interval.

In the above configuration, as shown by the phantom line in FIG. 3, the movable guide 11 is brought closest to the fixed guide 11 along the paper feed tray 6 and is engaged with the lock piece 25 so that the paper feed roller 2 Can be locked against the spring 8.

In this case, the movable guide 11 is
Just move it along and engage with the lock piece 25,
The spring 8 can prevent the paper feed tray 6 from being deformed and warped.

Further, since the lock piece 25 is provided on the housing 1, the number of parts does not increase, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Further, since only the lock piece 25 is protruded from the housing 1 into the paper feed port 1a, the shape of a molding die for molding the housing 1 is hardly complicated, and Processing costs can be made almost the same as before.

Further, since the lock piece 25 is provided near the fixed guide 10, there is no possibility that the lock piece 25 will hinder the rotation of the sheet feeding tray 6 during the sheet feeding.

In the above embodiment, the lock piece 25 is provided at a position spaced from the fixed guide 10 by a distance a smaller than the postcard interval. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
As shown by an imaginary line, the lock piece 25 is separated from the fixed guide 10 by an interval of b to d, between the postcard interval and B5 interval, between B5 interval and A4 interval, or between A4 interval and B
It may be arranged at a position deviated from the paper engagement position T between four intervals.

According to the above configuration, the lock piece 25 is prevented from coming into contact with the movable guide 11 stopped at the paper engaging position corresponding to each of the paper P of postcard size, B5 size, A4 size, and B4 size. There is no possibility that the lock piece 25 will hinder the rotation of the sheet feeding tray 6 during sheet feeding.

[0027]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the paper feed tray from being deformed and warped by the spring only by moving the movable guide along the paper feed tray and engaging with the locking means. be able to. Further, since the locking means is provided in the housing, the number of parts does not increase, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since only the lock piece protrudes from the housing into the paper feed port, the shape of the molding die for molding the housing is hardly complicated. In addition, the mold processing cost can be made substantially the same as the conventional one.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the lock piece is provided near the fixed guide, there is no possibility that the lock piece hinders the rotation of the sheet feeding tray during sheet feeding.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part of an ink jet printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 housing 1a paper feed port 2 paper feed roller 5 printing unit 6 paper feed tray 8 spring 10 fixed guide 11 movable guide 25 lock piece (lock means) P paper T paper engagement position

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI B65H 1/12 310 B65H 1/12 310A

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A paper feed tray, which is swingably disposed at a paper feed port of a housing provided with a paper feed roller and a printing unit therein, is urged toward the paper feed roller by a spring, and the paper feed tray is The movable guide is moved to a predetermined paper engaging position, and the paper supplied between the movable guide and the fixed guide is fed out by the paper feed roller. In a printer adapted to print on the paper sheet by the printing unit, a lock means is provided integrally with the housing at a position deviated from the paper engagement position, and the movable guide is engaged with the lock means. A printer, wherein the paper feed tray is configured to be locked against the spring. 2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein said lock means comprises a lock piece protruding from said housing into said paper feed port. 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the lock piece is provided at a position that is narrower than the postcard interval from the fixed guide.