Label printer

Abstract: A label printer comprises a casing (10) separated into a driving section covered by a front panel (12) and a printing section (20) covered by a pivotally openable cover (11). A thermal printing head (21) is mounted on a pivotable head holder (25). When cover (11) and head holder (25) are pivoted upwardly as shown, a roll of tape (40') may be easily placed within the printer and the tape (40) may be extended over roller platen (22), so that when the head holder (25) and cover (11) are pivoted closed, the tape (40) lies between the printing head (21) and roller platen (22) to allow printing of the labels (41).

Description: The present invention relates to a label printer which uses a thermal printing head such as a thermographic printing head. Conventional label printers of this type are adapted to use a label tape made up by temporarily applying a number of labels onto a carrier strip in order, and carry out printing on each of these labels in sequence by a thermal printing head while feeding the label tape at a specified speed by a label tape forwarding means. For such label printers, the label tape is wound in the shape of a roll and held by a holding means such as, for example, a winding frame, and is drawn out to the printing position of the thermal printing head by unwinding the roll. The thermal printing head is adapted so that it opposes a platen roller, and so that it and the platen roller may move relatively toward and away from one another. A space through which the label tape is passed is formed between these two components when they are apart. The label tape is held by and between them when they closely approach one another, and is forwarded as the platen roller rotates while the thermal printing head carries out printing on the labels. To pass the label tape through between the thermal head and platen roller, the label tape is forwarded by manual or automatic label tape feeding means along its longitudinal direction, and the leading end of the label tape is guided into the space between the thermal printing head and the platen roller. Label printers having such a construction as described above are disclosed in Patent Application Disclosure Gazette (TOKUKAI) SHO 61-190431 and Patent Application Disclosure Gazette (TOKUKAI) SHO 62-260644. Since conventional printer apparatuses are adapted so that the label tape is passed through between the thermal printing head and the platen roller while being drawn out from the roll of label tape held by the holding means, a problem exists in that, with a label printer for which the label tape is manually extended, that manual extension of the label tape is troublesome, whilst with a label printer for which the label tape is extended by an automatic label tape feeding means, its construction is complicated and its price is more expensive. In addition, in most conventional label printers, the label tape is inserted into the casing and cannot be seen from outside as disclosed in Patent Application Disclosure Gazette (TOKUKAI) SHO 61-190431. Therefore, a further problem exists in that, if a malfunction occurs with the label tape set in the casing, the investigation into its causes and its correction require a lot of time and effort. In label printers in which the label tape is set to be visible from outside as disclosed in Patent Application Disclosure Gazette (TOKUKAI) SHO 62-260644, the problem exists that, since the label tape is often kept upright in the widthwise direction and guided in the passage formed by guide rollers, it is necessary to take out the label tape from the passage for inspection, and the investigation of the causes of the malfunction and its correction are troublesome. From EP-A-0 191 493 it is known to provide a label printer comprising a casing separated into a driving section and a printing section, said printing section comprising a thermal printing head supported by a head holder, a platen roller which comes in contact under pressure with said thermal printing head, a label position detector which is provided in series with said platen roller and a label tape store which stores a rolled label tape consisting of a carrier strip onto which the labels are attached, said driving section being covered with a front panel and being adapted so that printing data entered in its electric circuit by an input means provided in said driving section is printed on a label on the carrier strip of the label tape when said thermal printing head is driven, said label tape being moved by actuating said platen roller by driving its driving means, and said label tape being positioned according to a detection signal. The present invention is characterised in that said printing section is coverable by an openable cover, said cover being adapted to be pivotable about one side edge thereof through at least substantially 90° between an open and a closed position, said head holder being adapted to be pivotable through at least substantially 90° between an open and a closed position, whereby, when the cover and the head holder are in the open positions there is unimpeded access to the label tape along its transport path, said platen roller, said label position detector and said label tape store being arranged so that they form a horizontal extension passage which is exposed when said head holder and so said thermal printing head is pivoted to its open position, said label position detector being provided to detect said label on the carrier strip of the label tape extended along said extension passage, said label tape store being formed as a recessed chamber which is open at its upper side to store the rolled label tape. A label printer in accordance with the present invention is thus adapted so that the label tape is horizontally extended and can be entirely seen. To use a label printer in accordance with the present invention, the printing section is exposed by pivoting open the cover, the head holder is pivoted open so that the extension passage is exposed, the roll of the label tape is stored in the label tape store, the head holder is pivoted to its closed position to depress the label tape against the platen roller and the cover of the printing section is reclosed to finally set the label tape in the label printer. After the label tape has been properly set, a main switch may be turned on to supply the electric circuit with power, printing data is entered using the input means which may, for example, be a keyboard, and the electric circuit may be started by turning on a start switch. With the above procedure, the electric circuit begins to rotate the platen roller and forward the label tape, and simultaneously to perform printing on a label. In this case, the position of the label with respect to the thermal printing head is detected by the label position detector and the drive means of the platen roller is controlled by a detection signal transferred from the label position detector to the electric circuit. An embodiment of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a label printer in accordance with the present invention; Figures 2 to 5 are similar views to that of Figure 1 showing the label printer at various stages during the loading of a roll of label tape; Figure 6 is a similar view to that of Figure 1 showing the label printer loaded and ready for use; and Figure 7 is a block diagram of the electric circuit of the label printer of Figure 1. As can be seen from Figures 1 and 2, the casing 10 of the label printer comprises a printing section 20 and a drive section 30 (shown in Figure 7). Printing section 20 is closed by a cover 11 and drive section 30 is closed by a fixed front panel 12. Cover 11 is adapted so that one of its edges, for example in this case, internal edge 111 located along drive section 30, is pivotally supported, and so that the opposite edge, that is in this case external edge 112, may be opened. Cover 11 is also designed to be pivoted upwardly to at least 90 degrees so that the printing section 20 may be entirely exposed when the cover 11 is opened as shown in Figure 2. As may be seen from Figures 2, 3 and 4, the printing section 20 is provided with a thermal printing head 21, a platen roller 22 which contacts under pressure with the thermal printing head 21, a label tape store 23 for storing the label tape 40 and a label position detector 24 for detecting the position of a label 41 on the carrier strip 42 of the label tape 40. The thermal printing head 21 is supported by a head holder 25, which is set inside cover 11 and is pivotally supported in this case at its internal side 251 adjacent to the internal edge 111 of the cover 11, whereby its external side 252 opposing the external edge 112 of cover 11 is made openable. For this purpose, cover 11 and head holder 25 are pivoted commonly about a single pivot 13 provided inside the casing 10 and designed so that the head holder 25 may be pivoted through 90 degrees or more about the pivot 13. Thermal printing head 21 pivots with head holder 25 and is made to stand upright so that the extension passage for the label tape 40 may be entirely exposed when the head holder 25 stands upright. Platen roller 22, label tape store 23 and label position detector 24 are arranged in linear alignment to form an horizontal extension passage 20' for the label tape 40. The label tape 40 is wound in the shape of a roll 40' and stored in the label tape store 23 as shown in Figure 4. The platen roller 22 is provided at a position where the thermal printing head 21 is able to come in contact under pressure with it when the head holder is pivoted downwardly. Thermal printing by the thermal printing head 21 is made on labels 41 of the label tape 40 held by and between the heat-resistant surface of platen roller 22 and the thermal printing head 21. The label tape 40 is fed out of the casing through the feedout port 14 provided on the lower part of the cover 11 by rotation of the platen roller 22. For this purpose, platen roller 22 is coupled to a drive means such as a stepping motor (not shown), which is controlled together with the thermal printing head 21 by an electric circuit 31 (shown in Figure 7) in the drive section 30. The label tape store 23 is made as a long and narrow above-opened recessed chamber which stores the rolled label tape 40 in a rotatable manner inside this chamber, so that the label tape can be drawn out from the roll 40' of label tape toward the platen roller 22. The label position detector 24 is provided between the platen roller 22 and the label tape store 23 and comprises, for example, photo-electric conversion elements. For activating the label position detector 24, optical marks (not shown) are inscribed on the rear surface of the carrier strip 42 of the label tape 40, and the position of a label 41 with reference to the thermal printing head 21 is determined by the detection of this optical mark by the label position detector 24. Since the drive means for the thermal printing head 21 and platen roller 22 is controlled by the electric circuit 31 as described above, a security switch 26 is provided to control the operation of the electric circuit 31. This switch 26 is adapted to provide the electric circuit 31 with power only when holder 25 is in its closed position. In the embodiment, the security switch 26 is a micro switch provided to one side of the head holder 25. The head holder 25 is provided with a slidable lock piece 253 to maintain a pressure contact state between the thermal printing head 21 and the platen roller 22. The head holder 25 and the thermal printing head 21 are fixed in position by sliding this lock piece 253 to engage with a hook 15 which is provided on the casing 10, and the head holder 25 can be released for pivotal movement by sliding and disengaging the lock piece 253 from the hook 15. The thermal printing head 21 is held in the head holder 25 with a depression spring 254 to obtain a fixed contact pressure between the thermal printing head 21 and the platen roller 22. The drive section 30 includes the electric circuit 31 and an input means such as, for example, the keyboard 32. In this case, the electric circuit 31 is similar to the one used in the printing and feeding mechanism of a conventional hand labeller and such an electric circuit is disclosed, for example, in Patent Publication Gazette SHO 58-15376. The keyboard 32 is provided on the front panel 12 of the casing 10 and printing data entered by this keyboard 32 is displayed on, for example, a liquid crystal display 33. A start switch 321 is provided on the keyboard 32 to operate the electric circuit 31, and a main switch 34 is provided between an internal power supply stored in the drive section 30 or an external power supply connected to the drive section 30, and the electric circuit 31, and is connected in series with, for example, the security switch 26. As shown in Figure 7, electric circuit 31 is typically formed with a microprocessor 311. RAM and ROM cards which are freely insertable into the electric circuit 31 may be used as the input means. Such input means is disclosed in, for example, Utility Model Application Disclosure Gazette (JITSUKAI) SHO 63-1710. The power supply is denoted by reference numeral 35 in Figure 7. It is preferable to adapt this power supply 35 so that a power supply unit, which incorporates a rechargeable battery, and an AC/DC converter unit, which incorporates an AC/DC converter to be connected to the commercial mains power, can be selectively replaced as required. For this purpose, the casing 10 is preferably provided with a chamber capable of alternately accommodating the power supply unit and the AC/DC converter unit. The drive means for driving the platen roller 22 of the printing section 20 is denoted by reference numeral 221 in Figure 7 and this drive means 221 is operated simultaneously with the thermal printing head 21. In the above description, the cover 11 could have been pivotable about its external edge 112 and, the head holder 25 could have been pivotable about its external side 252. The label printer in accordance with the present invention is such that the label tape 40 can be very easily loaded in the label printer merely by opening the cover 11 and the head holder 25 to wholly expose the extension passage 20', setting the roll 40' of the label tape in the label tape store 23, drawing out the leading part of label tape 40 through the platen roller 22 and closing the head holder 25 and the cover 11. The label printer of the present invention also has the effect of facilitating the detection of the cause of a failure and the elimination of its cause, since the label tape 40 and the extension passage 20' can be exposed to be visible from outside by opening the cover 11 and the head holder 25 when a failure occurs.

Claims: A label printer comprising a casing (10) separated into a driving section (30) and a printing section (20), said printing section comprising a thermal printing head (21) supported on a head holder (25), a platen roller (22) which comes in contact under pressure with said thermal printing head, a label position detector (24) which is provided in series with said platen roller and a label tape store (23) which stores a rolled label tape (40) consisting of a carrier strip (42) onto which the labels (41) are attached, said driving section being covered with a front panel (12) and being adapted so that printing data entered in its electric circuit (31) by an input means (32) provided in said driving section is printed on a label (41) on the carrier strip of the label tape when said thermal printing head is driven, said label tape being moved by actuating said platen roller by driving its driving means, and said label tape being positioned according to a detection signal, characterised in that said printing section is coverable by an openable cover (11), said cover being adapted to be pivotable about one side edge thereof through at least substantially 90° between an open and a closed position, said head holder being adapted to be pivotable through at least substantially 90° between an open and a closed position, whereby, when the cover and the head holder are in the open positions there is unimpeded access to the label tape along its transport, path said platen roller, said label position detector and said label tape store being arranged so that they form a horizontal extension passage (20') which is exposed when said head holder and so said thermal printing head is pivoted to its open position, said label position detector being provided to detect said label on the carrier strip of the label tape extended along said extension passage, said label tape store being formed as a recessed chamber which is open at its upper side to store the rolled label tape. A label printer in accordance with claim 1, wherein said openable cover (11) and head holder (25) are pivotable about adjacent side edges. A label printer in accordance with claim 1 or 2, wherein a security switch (26) is provided which closes when said head holder turns downwardly so that said electric circuit (31) is supplied with power only when said thermal printing head (21) comes in contact under pressure with the platen roller (22).

Inventors: SATO JUNICHI, SATO, JUNICHI
Applicants: SHINSEI INDUSTRIES CO, KABUSHIKI KAISHA SHINSEI INDUSTRIES
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B41J29
IPC codes: B65C9, B41J29, B41J3, B41J25, B41J2, B65C11