Patent Publication Number: US-10773527-B2

Title: Printer

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-023093, filed on Feb. 13, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD 
     Embodiments described herein relate generally to a printer. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In the related art, a label printer is widely used in an office such as a back office in a grocery store. A typical label printer requires a user to open and close the housing at the time of paper sheet replenishment and maintenance, which requires an additional space around the printer. Thus, when the office space is limited, it is difficult for the user to replenish printing paper and handle the maintenance. 
     For example, if the printer includes an opening and closing lid on a top surface of the housing, an additional space above the housing is needed. If the printer includes an opening and closing lid on the front side of the housing, an additional space in front of the housing is needed. 
     In this way, an installation location for a printer may be limited due to the opening and closing mechanism of the printer, especially when the printer needs to be installed in a small office. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of an exterior of a printer according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the printer with a first cover opened. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a perspective view of the printer with a second cover opened. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a perspective view of the printer with the first cover and the second cover opened. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a longitudinal side view of the printer with the first cover and the second cover closed. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a longitudinal side view of the printer with the second cover opened. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a side view inside the printer showing an exterior of a lock unit. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates a perspective view inside the printer showing the exterior of another example of a lock unit. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     One or more embodiments provide a printer with a high degree of freedom in the installation thereof. 
     The printer according to an embodiment includes a main body having a first opening through which a roll of paper can be inserted for installation within the main body and a second opening through which a roll of paper can be inserted for installation within the main body, a first cover configured to open and close the first opening, a second cover configured to open and close the second opening, a printing head attached to the first cover and configured to print an image on paper supplied from the roll of paper, and a roller attached to the second cover and configured to convey the paper from the roll of paper installed within the main body to the printing head. The paper is conveyed by the roller and printing is performed by the printing head when both the first and second covers are closed. 
     One or more embodiments will be described with reference to the figures.  FIG. 1  illustrates a perspective view of an exterior of the printer  1  according to an embodiment. The printer  1  includes a housing  2 . The form of the housing  2  is box-shaped (for example, an approximate cuboid or an approximate cube). The housing  2  includes a main body portion  20  that includes a main portion of the housing  2 , and a first cover  21  and a second cover  22  that constitute a portion of the housing  2 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a perspective view of the printer  1  with the first cover  21  opened.  FIG. 3  illustrates a perspective view of the printer  1  with the second cover  22  opened.  FIG. 4  illustrates a perspective view of the printer  1  with the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  opened. The main body portion  20  includes the openings  23  and  24  on two different surfaces of the housing  2 . The first cover  21  opens and closes one opening  23 . The second cover  22  opens and closes the other opening  24 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a longitudinal side view of the printer  1  with the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  closed.  FIG. 6  corresponds to  FIG. 3  and illustrates a longitudinal side view of the printer  1  with the second cover  22  opened. The printer  1  further includes a paper sheet storage portion  3  and a print unit  4 . 
     The paper sheet storage portion  3  is provided inside the main body portion  20 , stores a roll paper sheet  10  and holds the paper sheet such that the roll paper sheet rotates freely. The roll paper sheet  10  is a roll of paper sheet wound, for example, a label roll or a receipt roll. The label roll is a strip of base paper sheet on which labels are stuck at predetermined intervals wound. The receipt roll is a strip of paper sheet wound. Each of the openings  23  and  24  enables the paper sheet replenishment or replacement in the paper sheet storage portion  3 . 
     Here, the paper sheet storage portion  3  may hold the roll paper sheet  10  in a so-called throw-in way or may hold the core which is inserted into the hollow portion of the roll paper sheet  10  to become a shaft of rotation with a predetermined holding unit. 
     The print unit  4  prints on the paper sheet drawn out from the paper sheet storage portion  3 . The print unit  4  includes a print head  41  and a platen roller  42 . 
     The embodiment provides the openings  23  and  24  on two adjacent surfaces of the housing  2  and the paper sheet discharge opening  25  that discharges the paper sheet between the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  (refer to  FIGS. 1 and 5 ). 
     Further, according to the embodiment, one end  211  of the first cover  21  is attached to the main body portion  20  such that the first cover  21  is rotatable and opens and closes the opening  23  in accordance with the rotation. The other end  212  of the first cover  21  faces the paper sheet discharge opening  25 . Further, one end  221  of the second cover  22  is attached to the main body portion  20  such that the second cover  22  is rotatable and opens and closes the opening  24  in accordance with the rotation. The other end  222  of the second cover  22  faces the paper sheet discharge opening  25 . 
     The print head  41  is attached to the first cover  21 , and the platen roller  42  is attached to the second cover  22 . When the first cover  21  closes the opening  23  and the second cover  22  closes the opening  24 , the platen roller  42  comes into contact with the print head  41  and the printer  1  becomes ready for printing. 
     The print head  41  is, for example, a thermal head. The platen roller  42  rotates by the driving force of a stepping motor or the like being transmitted through the gear  421  (refer to  FIG. 4  or the like). When the platen roller  42  rotates, the paper sheet nipped between the platen roller  42  and the print head  41  is conveyed. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a side view inside the printer  1  showing an exterior of the lock unit  5 . In  FIG. 7 , the exterior portion of the housing  2  is removed from the printer  1 . Hereinafter, the main body portion  20  without the exterior (frame portion) will be referred to as the main body frame  201 , the first cover  21  without the exterior will be referred to as the first frame  213 , and the second cover  22  without the exterior will be referred to as the second frame  223 . The main body frame  201  is provided with a notch  202  (refer to  FIG. 4 ) for avoiding the rotation shaft of the gear  421  and the platen roller  42 . When the second cover  22  is positioned for closing the housing  2 , a portion around the notch  202  of the main body frame  201  is positioned between the gear  421  and the platen roller  42 , and the rotation shaft of the gear  421  enters the notch  202 . 
     The printer  1  further includes a lock unit  5 . The lock unit  5  includes the pins  51  and  52 , the levers  53  and  54 , and the buttons  55  and  56  (refer to  FIG. 1 ). 
     The levers  53  and  54  have hook-shaped lock ends  531  and  541 , the operation ends  532  and  542  to which a force from an operator is transmitted, and the rotation centers  533  and  543 . The first cover  21  pivotally supports the lever  53  at the rotation center  533 . The second cover  22  pivotally supports the lever  54  at the rotation center  543 . 
     The lock end  531  is provided at a pair of positions nipping the end portion of the first frame  213  near the paper sheet discharge opening  25  in the width direction. Further, the lock end  541  is provided at a pair of positions nipping the end portion of the second frame  223  near the paper sheet discharge opening  25  in the width direction. 
     In the side view illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the operation end  532  is positioned on the opposite side of the rotation center  533  from the lock end  531  and is provided in a portion connecting a pair of lock ends  531 . The operation end  542 , in the side view illustrated in  FIG. 7 , is positioned on the opposite side of the rotation center  543  from lock end  541  and is provided in a portion connecting a pair of lock ends  541 . 
     The pin  51  is provided on the main body frame  201  and catches the lever  53  when the first cover  21  is closed. The pin  52  is provided on the main body frame  201  and catches the lever  54  when the second cover  22  is closed. 
     The button  55  is provided on the first cover  21 , is positioned in the vicinity of the operation end  532  of the lever  53 , and transmits the force received from the operator to the operation end  532  to rotate the lever  53 . 
     In such a configuration, the printer  1  draws out the roll paper sheet  10  stored and held in the paper sheet storage portion  3  by rotating the platen roller  42 , prints on the drawn-out paper sheet with the print head  41 , and discharges the paper sheet from the paper sheet discharge opening  25 . 
     Further, for the printer  1  of such a configuration, the operator opens the first cover  21  or the second cover  22  and replenishes and replaces the paper sheet in the paper sheet storage portion  3 . Further, the operator closes the opened first cover  21  or the second cover  22  with a tip end of the paper sheet being drawn outside the housing  2  from the roll paper sheet  10  which is inserted in the paper sheet storage portion  3 . In this way, the paper sheet is nipped by the print head  41  and the platen roller  42 , and the tip end of the paper sheet sticks out the housing  2  from the paper sheet discharge opening  25 . 
     When the replenishment and the replacement of the paper sheet or the maintenance of the printer  1  is needed, the operator using the printer  1  can choose which one of the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  to open. In arranging the environment in which the printer  1  is to be installed, the operator only needs to maintain a state in which either the first cover  21  or the second cover  22  can be opened. In other words, according to the embodiment, the operator can easily find a location for installing the printer  1  even when the office space is limited. 
     The printer  1  includes the openings  23  and  24  that enable the paper sheet replenishment on the two different surfaces of the housing  2 , and each of the openings  23  and  24  is opened and closed by the first cover  21  and the second cover  22 , so that it is possible to use either the first cover  21  or the second cover  22  that can be opened, depending on the installation environment of the printer  1 . 
     Further, since the printer  1  includes the openings  23  and  24  on two adjacent surfaces of the housing  2 , by opening both the first cover  21  and the second cover  22 , it is easy for the operator to clean up the inside of the apparatus. 
     The print head  41  is attached to the first cover  21  and the platen roller  42  is attached to the second cover  22  in the printer  1 . Therefore, even when either the first cover  21  or the second cover  22  is opened, it is possible to separate the print head  41  and the platen roller  42  from each other. By closing the housing  2 , it is possible to easily nip the paper sheet between the print head  41  and the platen roller  42 . 
     Further, according to the embodiment, the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  is rotatably attached to the main body portion  20  such that the housing  2  is configured to be opened and closed in accordance with the rotation. According to the embodiment, it is possible to provide the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  to be slidable with respect to the main body portion  20  so as to open and close the housing  2  in accordance with the slide. However, compared with the latter configuration, the former keeps the cost of materializing the configuration for opening and closing low easily. 
     The printer  1  using the roll paper sheet  10  as a paper sheet is described as an example according to the embodiment. However, in practice, the configuration for opening and closing two different surfaces of the housing can be applied to a printer that prints on other forms of paper. Further, according to the embodiment, the printer  1  with the paper sheet discharge opening  25  facing forward is illustrated in  FIG. 1  and the like. However, in practice, the printer  1  may be used with the paper sheet discharge opening  25  facing another direction such as upward. 
     Further, according to the embodiment, each of the openings  23  and  24  corresponds to an entire surface of the housing  2 . However, in practice, the opening may correspond to a part of, not an entire, surface of the housing  2 . 
     Further, according to the embodiment, the levers  53  and  54  lock or unlock by rotation, but, in practice, the operation of the levers  53  and  54  may be other than the rotation. 
     Modification Example 
     Hereinafter, a modification example of the lock unit will be described.  FIG. 8  illustrates a perspective view of the interior of the printer  1  showing the exterior of another example of the lock unit (i.e., lock unit  6 ). In describing the lock unit  6 , the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as the parts of the lock unit  5 , and for the parts corresponding to, but different from, each other, a suffix A is used at the end. 
     The lock unit  6  includes a pin  61  instead of two separate pins  51  and  52 , a lever  53 A into which the lever  53  is deformed in conformity with the pin  61 , and a lever  54 A into which the lever  54  is deformed in conformity with the pin  61 . The pin  61  positions the first cover  21  and positions the second cover  22 . 
     The lock ends  531 A and  541 A of the levers  53 A and  54 A are longer than the lock ends  531  and  541  as illustrated in  FIG. 7 , and the tip ends are separated from the rotation centers  533  and  543 . The pin  61  is provided at a position where the lock ends  531 A and  541 A intersect with each other. 
     Therefore, by commonizing the pin  61 , it is possible to obtain the printing accuracy in the printer  1  easily. This is because the positional accuracy of the print head  41  and the platen roller  42  in the print unit  4  is important for printing accuracy. In the printer  1 , to optimize the positional accuracy between the print head  41  and the platen roller  42 , the positional accuracy of the first cover  21  with respect to the main body portion  20  has to be improved while the positional accuracy of the second cover  22  with respect to the main body portion  20  also has to be improved. 
     If the pin  51  that fixes the first cover  21  and the pin  52  that fixes the second cover  22  are separately provided on the main body portion  20  like the lock unit  5 , the total of the positional error of each of the pin  51  and the pin  52  affects the print unit  4 . 
     If the first cover  21  and the second cover  22  are both fixed to one pin  61  which is provided in the main body portion  20  as in the lock unit  6 , the cause of the position error is one. Thus, the error management becomes relatively easy. 
     While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.