WIRE DOT PRINT HEAD

Abstract: In a wire dot print head (1) having print wires (3) extending through an opening of a guide nose (20), the guide nose comprises two halves (21). The print head may further comprise a wire guide (51) which is fitted in the guide nose (20) and through which the print wires (3) extend, and the wire guide may be clamped by the two halves. In another embodiment, the half members have abutting surfaces (117a) provided with semi-circular grooves (118a), which when the guide nose halves are assembled, form guide holes in which the print wires are slidably supported. The use of the two halves facilitates assembly of the print head and reduces noise.

Description: The present invention relates to a print head of a wire dot printer, and more particularly to a wire dot print head according to the preamble of claim 1. Document US 4,180,333 describes a bearing for the printing head of a matrix printer. Slidable printing pins are guided in guide channels which are provided in a portion of the bearing. The whole nose bearing is composed of two mating bearing halves which are connected to each other by way of screws. Each bearing half comprises several identical, semi-cylindrical and mutually parallel recesses having a semi-circular cross section. The recesses of the two bearing halves are symmetrically disposed with respect to a vertical line to the centre of the guide channels which are formed by joining the two exactly mating bearing halves. The known matrix printing head additionally comprises driving means for driving the printing pins. The driving means are arranged in a housing of rectangular shape to which the nose bearing is connected by means of an extra supporting piece. The curved printing wires extend from the inside of the housing via a large opening of the housing to the outside and are inserted into the guide channels of the nose bearing being spaced apart from the housing. The known printing head comprises the features of the preamble of claim 1 of the present invention. Document DE 28 07 337 A1 describes a dot print head comprising a wire drive unit and a guide nose fixed to the wire drive unit. The paper "IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 27, No. 4B, September 1984, pages 2557 - 2558, New York US.; R. G. Cross et al: "Two-Part Molded Matrix Print Head" describes a nose guide bearing for a matrix print head which comprises symmetrical and identical right-hand and left-hand molded outer shell side pieces and a molded centre section used conjunctively with side pieces to form the guide nose. An example of print head used in a wire dot printer is a spring-charged print head shown in Fig. 1 which is a partial cross section. The conventional wire dot print head 9 has plate springs 93 and armatures 94 between a conventional guide nose 91 and a head printed circuit hoard 92. Print wires 95 provided at the free ends of the armatures 94 extend through wire guides 96 and project from guide holes 97 provided in the tip guide 91a of the guide nose 91. That is, the print wires 95 are surrounded or enveloped by the guide nose 91, and the wire guides 96 disposed inside the guide nose 91 limit movement of the print wires 95 and restrain vibrations. A permanent magnet 99 and electromagnets 98 which are provided below the guide nose 91, and yokes 94A form magnetic circuits. When the electromagnets 98 are not energized, the armatures 94 are attracted toward the electromagnets 98 due to the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet 99. When the electromagnets 98 are energized, the magnetic flux from the electromagnets cancel the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet and the armatures 94 are released so that the print wires 95 are projected from the guide holes 97 by virtue of the resilient reactive force of the plate springs 93 to press the print wires 95 against an ink ribbon IR and a print paper PP on a platen PL. When the wire dot print head 9 of the above structure is assembled, a wire assembly having print wires 95 inserted through the wire guides 96 is assembled from below (as seen in Fig. 1) the guide nose 91 and the tips of the print wires 95 are aligned with the guide holes 97. For this purpose, an air gap AG is needed to permit the wire guide 96 to fit in the guide nose 91. However, because of the presence of the air gap AG, carbon particles or the like that have entered through the guide holes 97 are accumulated inside the guide nose 91 and cause oxidation of the print wires 95. Moreover, noise, i.e., contact-slide noise, generated when the print wires 95 slide against the wire guide 96 is loud because the air gap AG functions as an echoing chamber. Another prior-art print head is shown in a sectional view of Fig. 2. As shown, it comprises plate springs 93 and armatures 94 which are provided between a guide nose 91 and a head printed circuit board 92. The print wires 95 fixed to the free ends of the armatures 94 are made to project from tip guide holes 174a of the tip guide 91a. An intermediate guide 176 and a guide felt 177 provided in the cavity in the guide nose 91 support the print wires 95 and serve to prevent vibration. In a drive part provided below the guide nose 91, a magnetic circuit is formed of electromagnets 98, a permanent magnet 99 and yokes. By virtue of this magnetic circuit, the armatures are attracted, and by virtue of the resilient reactive force of the plate springs 93, the print wires 95 are projected from the tip guide holes 174a to press an ink ribbon IR and a paper PP onto a platen PL. Printing is thereby accomplished. When the wire dot print head 9 of the above structure is assembled, as shown in the exploded oblique view of Fig. 3, print wires 95 on a wire assembly 181 are assembled from below the guide nose 91 and the tips 173a of the print wires 95 are fitted in the tip guide holes 174a of the tip guide 91a. Then, a guide felt 177, for preventing vibration of the print wires 95 and the like, is inserted through an insertion opening 190 provided on the side of the guide nose 91 into a cavity 175. The print wires 95 on the spring assembly 181 are normally thin and not associated with support members so that although they stand by themselves they are easy to vibrate and therefore it is difficult to align them with and insert them in the holes 176a of the intermediate guide 176. Moreover, even when they are fitted in the holes 176a, the tips 173a of the print wires again have to be aligned with the holes 174a in the tip guide 91a. It is thus laborious to fit the print wires in the tip guide holes 174a and the holes 176a. On the other hand, the insertion opening 190 provided at the side of the guide nose 91 is open even after the guide felt 177 is inserted, so that the contact-slide noise and the like of the print wires 95 which are generated when the wire dot print head is driven leak out of the insertion opening 190 causing a high loudness. The object of the present invention is to provide an improved wire dot print head which reduces oxidation and damaging of the print wires caused by particles and dust. This object is solved by the wire dot print head according to claim 1. Accordingly, the guide nose halves each having an upper guide part and side parts forming a semi-annular recess are made to abut. The semi-annular recesses of the guide nose halves constitute a sealed cavity within the guide nose. The semi-annular grooves provided on the abutting surfaces of the tip guide parts confronting each other form guide holes through which the print wires extend and by which the print wires are securely supported. Accordingly, when the print wires of the spring assembly are placed in the grooves of one of the guide nose halves and the other guide nose half is made to abut, then the print wires in the semi-annular grooves form a guide nose and are fitted in the guide holes. As a result, the insertion of the print wires into the guide holes is substantially simplified, and therefore the assembly of the print head is facilitated. Moreover, if a guide felt or the like is mounted in the cavity of the two guide nose half members when the guide nose halves are made to abut each other the guide felt is then in the state inserted in the cavity. The guide nose need not have an opening for insertion of the guide felt or the like. Furthermore the contact-slide noise of the print wires or the like will not leak outside, which means the noise emanating from the print head is reduced. Further advantageous embodiments of the present invention are explained by the dependent claims and the following description of embodiments of the invention in connection with the drawings. Fig. 1 is a partial sectional view showing a conventional print head; Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing a conventional print head; Fig. 3 is an oblique view showing how the print head of Fig. 2 is assembled; Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a wire dot print head comprising a print head drive part which can be used in a wire dot print head of the invention; Fig. 5 is an exploded oblique view of the guide nose of the dot print head according to Fig. 4, which particularly shows pins and holes which can be used in an inventive wire dot print head; Fig. 6 is a diagramm showing how the print head of Fig. 4 is mounted with a carriage; Fig. 7 is a diagramm for explaining the print head of Fig. 4. mounted on the carriage. Fig. 8 is an oblique view of guide nose half members forming a guide nose according to a print head of the invention; Fig. 9 is a partial cross sectional view of the guide nose of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is an oblique view showing a step of assembly of the guide nose of Fig. 8; Fig. 11 is an oblique view for explaining how the guide nose and the drive part are mounted; Fig. 12 is a side schematic view showing how the wire dot print head is mounted; Fig. 13 is an oblique view showing another embodiment of the guide nose half member according to an inventive wire dot print head. As illustrated in Fig. 4 a dot print head 1 comprises a special guide nose 20 formed of a pair of guide nose half members 21. A pin 27 and a hole 28 are formed on the inner surface of each of the half members 21 so that when the two half members 21 are placed in confrontation, the pins 27 of the respective half members 21 are in alignment with the holes 28 of the opposite half members 21. When the two half members 21 are made to confront and the pin 27 of each half member 21 is pressure-inserted into the confronting hole 28 of the other half member 21, a unitary guide nose 20 is formed. A recess 22 is formed on the outer surface of the half members 21. When the guide nose half members 21 are assembled the recesses 22 of the half members 21 are substantially parallel with each other. At the time of mounting, the recesses 22 are fitted with and supported by a mounting groove 81 of a carriage 8 (Fig. 5 to Fig. 7), to be described later, so that the half members 21 are securely fixed. The print wires 95 are fixed to the tips of the armatures 94 to form a spring assembly 181 (comprising annular spacer 204, plate spring 93, armature yoke 205, armatures 94 and print wires 3). The spring assembly 181 is clamped by the half members 21. Thus, the spring assembly 181 is integrally assembled in the pair of the guide nose half members 21 to form the guide frame 2. A print head drive part which is similar to that shown in and described with reference to Fig. 1 to Fig. 3 is assembled with the guide nose 20. More specifically, lower (as seen in Fig. 4) ends of the print wires 95 are fixed to respective armatures 94 supported by inwardly projecting parts 93A of a plate spring 93. The lower surfaces of the armatures 94 are in confrontation with upper ends of cores 98A on which coils 98B are wound to form electromagnets 98 for the respective print wires 95. The lower ends of the cores 98A are fixed to a disk-shaped base plate 201 which is a magnetically permeable material. A lower annular yoke 202, an annular permanent magnet 99, an upper annular yoke 203, an annular spacer 204, an annular part 93B of the plate spring 93, and an annular part 205B of an armature yoke 205 as well as a guide frame holder 206 and a peripheral part 21A of the guide nose half members 21 form a cylindrical wall of the print head drive part. The coils 98B of the electromagnets 98 are electrically connected by a head printed circuit board 92 to a drive circuit, not shown, for controlled selective energization in accordance with data for printing. The printed circuit board 92 is covered with a lower cover 207. The members forming the cylindrical wall of the print head drive part are clamped by a clamp member 208. When the electromagnets 98 are not energized, the armatures 94 are attracted toward the cores 98A of the electromagnets 98 because of the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet 99. The projecting parts 93A of the plate spring 93 are thereby resiliently deformed. When the electromagnets 98 are energized the magnetic flux due to the electromagnets 98 and the magnetic flux due to the permanent magnet 99 cancel each other and the print wires 95 are projected from the guide holes 97 by virtue of the resilient reactive force of the plate springs 93. As a result, the print wires 95 are pressed against an ink ribbon IR and a print paper PP on a platen PL. Printing is thereby accomplished. The assembly and the mounting of the print head of the above structure will now be described. Fig. 5 is an exploded view of the guide nose 20 of the dot print head 1. A pair of the guide nose half members 21 are arranged and the holes 28 are made to confront the pins 27. The pins 27 are then pressure-inserted into the confronting holes 28. An opening 61 of a guide frame holder 6 is aligned with the guide nose 20 formed as described above, and knock pins 7, 7 are used for fixing the guide frame holder 6 to the spring assembly 181. The print head drive part is then assembled with the guide nose 20. This completes the wire dot print head 1. In particular, as shown in Fig. 6, when the recess 22 is fitted with a mounting cutaway 81 of a first member 82 of the carriage 8, a second member 83 is then rotated as shown by arrow 87 about a pivot 86 and a cutaway 84 of the second member 83 is then fitted with the recess 22 of the guide nose 20. Thus, the guide nose 20 is in engagement with the carriage 8, and a clamping force F is exerted from the both sides of the half members 21 as shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8 shows an embodiment of the invention. It comprises first and second guide nose half members 101A and 101B forming a guide nose 101. The guide frames 101A and 101B are two halves, divided vertically, of the guide nose 101. The first guide nose half member 101A comprises upright side parts 112a and 113a extending vertically from a flange 111, and a rear plate 114a also extending vertically from the flange 111 and bridging the side parts 112a and 113a. These three parts form a semi-annular recess 115a. Formed at the tip side of the semi-annular recess 115a is a tip guide part 116a. Formed on the abutting surfaces 117a are semi-annular grooves 118a of the same size as or slightly greater than the cross section of the print wires 95. Formed in the middle of the semi-annular recess 115a is an intermediate guide part 119a. Semi-annular grooves 120a similar to the above are also provided on the intermediate guide part 119a. In addition, a recess 121a having a greater width than a clamp bar of a carriage is provided. The second guide nose half member 101B is similar to the first guide nose member 101A and includes side part 112b and 113b, and a rear plate 114b, which together form a semi-annular recess 115b. An tip guide part 116b is formed at the tip side of the semi-annular recess 115b and semi-annular grooves 118b are formed on the abutting surface of the tip guide part 116b. Moreover, an intermediate guide part 119b, corresponding to the intermediate guide part 119a of the half member 101A, is formed and semi-annular grooves 120b are formed corresponding to the semi-annular grooves 120a. The rear plate 114b is also provided with a recess 121b similar to the recess 121a. When the first and second guide nose half members 101A and 101B are made to abut each other, the semi-annular recesses 115a and 115b confront each other and form a sealed cavity 122 in the guide nose 101, as shown in the partial cross sectional view of Fig. 9. The guide felts are respectively fitted in advance in the semi-annular recesses 115a and 115b. The guide felts will therefore be present in the sealed cavity 122. With the semi-annular grooves 118a and 118b in confrontation with each other, guide holes 123 are formed. Similarly, the semi-annular holes 120a arid 120b of the intermediate guide parts form holes 124. To assemble the print wires on the spring assembly 181 using the half members 101A and 101B, one of the half members, 101B, is brought into abutment with the print wires 95 fixed to the armatures 94, and the tips 173a of the print wires 95 are placed in the corresponding semi-annular grooves 118b, as shown in Fig. 10. Similarly, the trunk parts 173b of the print wires 95 are placed in the semi-annular grooves 120b. Next, the other half member, 101A, is brought from the lateral direction into abutment with the half member 101B. The semi-annular recesses 115a and 115b then form a sealed cavity 122, and the semi-annular grooves 118a and 118b form guide holes 123 in which the tips 173a of the print wires 95 are fitted. At the same time, the semi-annular grooves 120b and 120a form holes 124 in which the trunk parts 173b of the print wires 95 are fitted. In this state, as shown in Fig. 11, a mounting part 127 of the guide nose 101 is mounted onto an electromagnet assembly 182 (comprising upper annular yoke 203, permanent magnet 99, lower annular yoke 202, base plate 201 and electromagnet 98) so as to be integral with the print head drive part. Next, for mounting in a dot printer as shown in the schematic view of Fig. 12, the recesses 121a and 121b of the guide nose 101 are fitted with a cutaway part 141 of a carriage 104 and clamp springs 105 and 106 are used for pressure-fixing. Due to the mounting with the mounting part 127 and the pressure-fixing, the half members 101A and 101B are maintained in an integrally assembled state. Fig. 13 shows a half member 101C of another embodiment of the invention. In this half member 101C, a pair of supporting protrusions 125 and 126 are formed in the semi-annular recess 115c in place of the intermediate guide parts 119a and 119b of the above embodiment. Guide felts 177 are fitted between the supporting protrusions 125 and 126. It is therefore unnecessary to provide an opening for inserting the guide felts 177. The sealed cavity can then be formed in the guide nose. The above description relates to the spring-charged dot print head. The invention is not limited to it but can be equally applied to the clapper type dot print head. As has been described, according to the wire dot print head of the invention, insertion of the print wires in the guide nose, that is the assembly of the wire dot print head call be simplified. The efficiency of production is thereby substantially improved. Moreover, the cavity in the guide nose can be formed in a sealed state. Therefore, noise of the print wires do not leak outside. The noise is thereby reduced. As has been described, a dot print head according to the above embodiment comprises a pair of half members forming a guide nose, so that it is not necessary to insert an assembly of the print wires and a wire guide from below the guide nose. That is the conventional insertion method is replaced by the clamping method, so that no air gap which results when the wire guides and the like are inserted in the guide frame is created. As has been described, according to the above dot print head, the sliding parts of the print wires are completely sealed. The effect of dust prevention and rust prevention is considerable and the durability of the print wires can be substantially extended. Moreover, the air gap AG is strongly reduced, so that the contact-slide noise due to the print wires is reduced. Furthermore, at the time of assembly of the dot print head, it is only necessary to clamp the spring assembly with a pair of half members. The assembly step is thereby extremely simplified.

Claims: Wire dot print head of a spring-charged type, comprising: a guide nose (101) which comprises first and second guide nose half members (101 A, 101 B) which are detachably connectable along a dividing plane to form that guide nose (101); print wires (95) extending substantially along a plane parallel with the dividing plane; a print head drive part (93, 94, 98, 99, 201 to 208) having a wall (93, 99, 201 to 208) and driving means (93, 94, 98, 99, 202, 203, 204, 205) housed within the wall of the print head drive part for driving the print wires (95) to selectively project from the guide nose (101) to press an ink ribbon (IR) and a print paper (PP) against a platen (PL), the print wires extending through the print head drive part and the guide nose (101); characterized in that the first and second guide nose half members (101 A, 101 B) of the guide nose (101) are fixed at their respective base parts (111) to the upper part (205, 206) of the wall (93, 94, 98, 99, 202 to 205) of the print head drive part, the wall is generally cylindrical; the first guide nose half member (101 A) includes means, comprising a first sidewall (112 a, 113 a, 114 a), for defining a first recess (115 a) and means, comprising a first tip guide part (116 a) formed intergrally with said first sidewall (112 a, 113 a, 114 a), for substantially closing a first end of the first recess (115 a), the first tip guide part (116 a) having an abutting surface (117 a) with grooves (118 a) formed therein; the second guide nose half member (101 B) includes means, comprising a second sidewall (112 b, 113 b, 114 b), for defining a second recess (115 b) and means, comprising a second tip guide part (116 b) formed integrally with the second sidewall (112 b, 113 b, 114 b) for substantially closing a tip end of the second recess (115 b), the second tip guide part (116 b) having an abutting surface (117 b) with grooves (118 b) formed therein; the first and second guide nose half members (101 A, 101 B) are connectable along the dividing plane to form the guide nose (101), such that the first and second recesses (115 a, 115 b) together form a substantially sealed cavity (122), said abutting surface (117 a) of the first tip guide part (116 a) abuts with the abutting surface (117 b) of the second tip guide part (116 b), and the grooves (118 a) in the abutting surface (117 a) of the first tip guide part (116 a) align with the grooves (118 b) in the abutting surface (117 b) of the second tip guide part (116 b) to form guide holes (123) adapted to receive and slidably support the print wires (95) therethrough which extend through the guide holes (123), the driving means of the print head drive part drives the print wires (95) to selectively project from the guide holes (123) in the guide nose (101). Wire dot print head according to claim 1, wherein each of said first and second guide nose half members (101 A, 101 B) further comprises an intermediate guide part (119 a, 119 b) which has an abutting surface provided with semi-cylindrical grooves (120 a, 120 b), wherein the semi-cylindrical grooves (120 a, 120 b) of the abutting surfaces of the intermediate guide parts (119 a, 119 b) of the two half members (101 A, 101 B) form, when said guide nose half members are assembled, said guide holes (124). Wire dot print head according to claim 1, wherein said first and second guide nose half members have a pin (27) and a hole (28), the pins of the respective guide nose half members are pressure-inserted in the holes of the opposite guide nose half members when the two guide nose half members are assembled.

Inventors: ANDOU, HIROKAZU OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD., KIKUCHI, HIROSHI OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD., KISHIMOTO, MITSURU OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD., OHISHI, NOBORU OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD., TESHIMA, MINORU OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD., UMEZAWA, YOUICHI OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO.,LTD.
Applicants: OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY COMPANY, LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B41J2
IPC codes: B41J2