阅读说明：本技术 打印装置 (Printing apparatus ) 是由 德田裕亮 于 2020-01-19 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明的打印装置(1)为一种在由胶辊(21)在输送路上输送的被打印介质(M)上进行打印的打印装置。打印装置(1)包括切割部和排出部(100)。切割部具有切断刀片(16b)和用于承接切断刀片(16b)的刀片承接部(16c),用于在与输送方向正交的方向上切断被打印介质(M)而制作标签。排出部(100)具有与切割部连动而在与输送路交叉的方向上移动的可动部,用于根据可动部的移动而将残留在输送路上的标签向打印装置(1)的外部排出。(A printing apparatus (1) prints on a medium (M) to be printed conveyed on a conveyance path by a blanket (21). The printing apparatus (1) includes a cutter portion and a discharge portion (100). The cutter unit has a cutting blade (16b) and a blade receiving unit (16c) for receiving the cutting blade (16b), and cuts the print medium (M) in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction to produce a label. The discharge unit (100) has a movable unit that moves in a direction intersecting the conveyance path in conjunction with the cutter unit, and discharges the labels remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus (1) in accordance with the movement of the movable unit.)

1. A printing apparatus that prints on a print medium conveyed on a conveyance path by a conveyance unit, comprising:

a cutter unit having a cutter blade and a blade receiving unit for receiving the cutter blade, and configured to cut the print medium in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction to produce a label; and

and a discharge unit having a movable unit that moves in a direction intersecting the conveyance path in conjunction with the cutter unit, and configured to discharge the label remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus in accordance with the movement of the movable unit.

2. The printing apparatus of claim 1,

the discharge unit includes:

a pinion gear;

a first rack having a row of teeth arranged in a first direction intersecting the blade receiving portion;

a second rack having a row of teeth aligned in the first direction and arranged to face the first rack with the pinion interposed therebetween; and

and a connecting portion that engages with a protruding portion provided on the first rack and pulls the first rack in a first direction away from the blade receiving portion in the first direction in conjunction with an operation of the cutting portion.

3. The printing apparatus of claim 2,

the cutting unit includes:

a full cutter for cutting the printing medium to produce a label; and

a half cutter including the cutting blade and the blade receiver for cutting a cut on the to-be-printed medium.

4. Printing device according to claim 2 or 3,

the discharge unit further includes:

a first roller fixed on the conveying path;

a second roller that is disposed so as to face the first roller with the conveyance path therebetween, and that is selectively disposed at either a first position at which the second roller does not contact the first roller or a second position at which the second roller contacts the first roller;

a third roller that shares a rotation axis with the second roller and is selectively disposed in either a third position corresponding to the first position or a fourth position corresponding to the second position; and

a support member that supports the rotating shaft such that the second roller is disposed at the first position,

the second rack is provided with an elastic part,

when the rotation of the pinion gear caused by the first rack moving in the first direction moves the second rack in a second direction approaching the blade receiving portion, the elastic portion pushes the third roller and moves the third roller from the third position to the fourth position, and the third roller moved to the fourth position is wiped and rotated.

5. The printing apparatus of claim 4,

the third roller has an outer diameter less than the outer diameter of the second roller.

6. Printing device according to claim 2 or 3,

the second rack is configured such that when the rotation of the pinion gear caused by the first rack moving in the first direction moves the second rack in a second direction approaching the blade receiving portion, at least a portion of the second rack protrudes from the blade receiving portion onto the conveying path.

7. The printing apparatus of claim 3,

the printing device is also provided with a cam for opening and closing the full cutter and the half cutter,

the connecting portion has a long hole for the projection to be slidably fitted therein,

and is fixed to the cam so as to pull the first rack in the first direction in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter.

8. The printing apparatus of claim 7,

the connecting portion has a step portion provided along the long hole,

the protruding portion includes:

a guide surface for guiding the protruding portion, which is in contact with the connecting portion, into the elongated hole without engaging with the connecting portion; and

and a locking portion that comes into contact with the step portion in a state where the protruding portion is slidably fitted into the elongated hole.

9. The printing apparatus of claim 7,

the connecting portion has a long hole for the projection to be slidably fitted therein,

and is fixed to the half cutter so as to pull the first rack in the first direction in conjunction with the closing operation of the half cutter.

Technical Field

The content of this specification relates to a printing apparatus.

Background

Conventionally, there has been known a label printer which prints characters, figures, and the like on a tape member as a long-sized print target medium having an adhesive layer, and cuts the printed tape member to produce a tape piece. The user can attach the tape base material using the adhesive layer exposed by peeling the separator from the tape base material. (see, for example, International publication No. 2003/021475)

However, the operation of peeling the separator from the tape substrate is not easy. Therefore, the label printer is provided with a half cutter for cutting only the tape member base material, in addition to the full cutter for completely cutting the tape member. The label printer having the half cutter can produce a tape piece in which the base material can be easily peeled off from the separator by half-cutting the tape member near the tip end thereof.

However, the tape piece cut from the tape member by the full cutter can be discharged to the outside of the label printer by its own weight. However, in such natural discharge utilizing the weight of the tape piece, the tape piece may not be discharged as intended and may remain at the discharge port of the tape piece.

When the production of the next tape piece is started in a state where the tape piece remains at the discharge port, the half-cut performed near the tip end of the tape member cuts not only the tape member before printing but also the tape piece remaining at the discharge port, and the produced tape piece is unnecessarily cut.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above circumstances, an object of one aspect of the present invention is to provide a technique for suppressing a tape piece from remaining in a tape piece discharge port after full cutting.

The present invention is a printing apparatus for printing on a printing medium conveyed on a conveyance path by a conveyance unit, including: a cutter unit having a cutter blade and a blade receiving unit for receiving the cutter blade, and configured to cut the print medium in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction to produce a label; and a discharge unit having a movable unit that moves in a direction intersecting the conveyance path in conjunction with the cutter unit, and configured to discharge the label remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus in accordance with the movement of the movable unit.

Drawings

A further understanding of the invention may be obtained when the following detailed description is considered in conjunction with the following drawings.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the tape cassette 30 housed in the printing apparatus 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cartridge accommodating section 19 of the printing apparatus 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the printing apparatus 1.

Fig. 5 is a first diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of the protrusion 104 and the connection portion 105.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of the protruding portion 104 and the connecting portion 105, and is a view of the protruding portion 104 and the connecting portion 105 viewed from a direction different from that of fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the rollers 109 and 110 in fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a second diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 10 is a third diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 11 is a fourth diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 12 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the rollers 109 and 110 in fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a fifth diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 14 is a sixth view for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 15 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the rollers 109 and 110 in fig. 14.

Fig. 16 is a seventh view for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 17 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the rollers 109 and 110 in fig. 16.

Fig. 18 is an eighth view for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100.

Fig. 19 is a diagram for explaining the operation of separating the protrusion 104 from the connection portion 105, and shows a state before the protrusion 104 is separated from the connection portion 105.

Fig. 20 is a diagram for explaining a disengaging operation of the protrusion 104 and the connecting portion 105, and shows a state after the protrusion 104 is disengaged from the connecting portion 105.

Fig. 21 is a first diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 200.

Fig. 22 is a second diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 200.

Fig. 23 is a third diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 200.

Fig. 24 is a fourth diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 200.

Fig. 25 is a first diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 300.

Fig. 26 is a second diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 300.

Fig. 27 is a third diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 300.

Fig. 28 is a fourth diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 300.

Fig. 29 is a first diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 400.

Fig. 30 is a second diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 400.

Fig. 31 is a third diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 400.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the printing apparatus 1. The printing apparatus 1 shown in fig. 1 is a label printer, and prints on a belt member (to-be-printed medium) M conveyed by a conveying portion. The printing apparatus 1 performs printing based on print data received from an information processing apparatus not shown. The tape member M is a long-sized printing medium having an adhesive layer.

As shown in fig. 1, the apparatus casing 2 of the printing apparatus 1 is an approximately cylindrical body having an elliptical bottom surface. The portion of the surface of the device case 2 corresponding to the side surface of the column is constituted by two flat surfaces orthogonal to the bottom surface and two curved surfaces having a cross section of an approximate semicircle. A concave portion is formed in one of the two curved portions.

A discharge port 2a is formed in the recess. The tape member M after printing in the printing apparatus 1 can be discharged from the discharge port 2a to the outside of the apparatus. The discharge port 2a is an opening parallel to the bottom surface.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the tape cassette 30 housed in the printing apparatus 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the cartridge accommodating section 19 of the printing apparatus 1. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the printing apparatus 1. The tape cassette 30 shown in fig. 2 is detachably accommodated in the cassette housing portion 19 shown in fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows a state in which the tape cassette 30 is accommodated in the cassette accommodating portion 19.

As shown in fig. 2, the tape cassette 30 has a cassette case 31, the cassette case 31 accommodating the tape member M and the ink ribbon R and formed with a thermal head insertion portion 36 and an engagement portion 37. The cassette case 31 is provided with a ribbon spool core 32, a ribbon supply spool core 34, and a ribbon spool core 35.

The tape member M is wound in a roll shape around a tape spool 32 inside the cartridge case 31. The tape member M is, for example, a tape including a base material provided with an adhesive layer and a release paper releasably stuck to the base material so as to cover the adhesive layer. The ink ribbon R for thermal transfer is wound in a roll shape around the ribbon supply shaft core 34 inside the cartridge case 31 in a state where the leading end thereof is wound around the ribbon take-up shaft core 35.

As shown in fig. 3, a plurality of cartridge supporting sections 20 for supporting the tape cartridge 30 at a predetermined position are provided in the cartridge housing section 19 of the apparatus case 2. The cassette support portion 20 is provided with a tape width detection switch 24 for detecting the width of the tape member M stored in the tape cassette 30.

The bandwidth detection switch 24 is a switch for detecting the width of the tape member M according to the shape of the tape cassette. A plurality of bandwidth detection switches 24 are provided in the cassette housing portion 19. The tape cassettes having different bandwidths are configured such that the plurality of bandwidth detection switches 24 are pressed in different combinations. This causes the control circuit of the printing apparatus 1 to determine the kind of the tape cassette according to the combination of the pressed tape width detection switches 24, thereby detecting the width (tape width) of the tape member M.

A thermal head 10 having a plurality of heat generating elements and used for printing on the tape member M, a rubber roller 21 as a conveying portion for conveying the tape member M, a tape spool engagement shaft 22, and a ribbon spool drive shaft 23 are also provided in the cartridge accommodating portion 19. Further, a thermistor 13 is embedded in the thermal head 10. The thermistor 13 measures the temperature of the thermal head 10.

In a state where the tape cassette 30 is accommodated in the cassette accommodating portion 19, as shown in fig. 4, the cassette support portion 20 provided in the cassette accommodating portion 19 supports the engaging portion 37 provided on the cassette case 31. Also, the thermal head 10 can be inserted into the thermal head insertion portion 36 formed on the cartridge case 31. The tape spool engagement shaft 22 engages with the tape spool 32 of the tape cassette 30, and the platen drive shaft 23 engages with the platen spool 35.

When print data is input from the information processing apparatus to the printing apparatus 1, the rotation of the rubber roller 21 can cause the belt member M to be fed out from the belt axial core 32. At this time, the ink ribbon R can be fed out from the ribbon supply shaft core 34 simultaneously with the tape member M by the ribbon spool drive shaft 23 rotating in synchronization with the rubber roller 21. This causes the belt member M to be conveyed in an overlapped state with the ink ribbon R. Further, the ink ribbon R is heated by the thermal head 10 when passing between the thermal head 10 and the rubber roller 21, and ink is transferred onto the belt member M, thereby performing printing.

The used ink ribbon R passing between the thermal head 10 and the rubber roller 21 is wound around the ribbon spool core 35. The printed tape member M passing between the thermal head 10 and the rubber roller 21 is cut by the full cutter 17 and discharged from the discharge port 2 a.

Next, a configuration example of the discharge unit included in the printing apparatus 1 will be specifically described. The discharge unit is a mechanism for discharging the tape pieces (labels) remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus 1. The printing apparatus 1 forcibly discharges the tape piece to the outside of the printing apparatus 1 by the discharge portion, and can avoid the half-cut blade for cutting the cut near the tip end of the tape member M from operating to half-cut the tape piece remaining near the discharge port 2a of the conveyance path.

[ first embodiment ]

The discharge unit 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 5 to 20. The printing apparatus 1 includes a discharge unit 100 interlocked with the operation of the full-cut blade 17 or the half-cut blade 16. The full cutter 17 is a cutter for cutting the tape member M in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction to produce a tape piece. The half cutter 16 is a cutter for cutting a slit at the tip end portion of the tape member M, and includes a cutter body 16a provided with a cutting blade 16b, a cutting blade 16b for cutting a slit in the tape member M, and a blade receiving portion 16c for receiving the cutting blade 16 b. Hereinafter, the full cutter 17 and the half cutter 16 are collectively referred to as a cutter portion.

As shown in fig. 5, the discharge portion 100 includes a pinion 101, two racks (rack 102, rack 103) that mesh with the pinion 101, and a connecting portion 105. Fig. 5 is a first diagram for explaining the operation of the discharge unit 100, and shows an intermediate state of the discharge unit 100.

The rack 102 is a first rack of the discharge unit 100 and includes a protrusion 104. The rack 102 has a row of teeth aligned in a first direction intersecting the blade receiving portion 16c of the half cutter 16, and is a movable portion that moves in the first direction in conjunction with the cutter portion. The discharge unit 100 discharges the tape pieces remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus 1 in accordance with the movement of the movable unit. The first direction is a direction intersecting the conveyance path, and in this example, a direction perpendicular to the conveyance path. The blade receiving portion 16c is a plate-like member that contacts and receives the cutting blade 16b of the cutting blade body 16a when the half cutting blade 16 is closed.

The rack 103 is a second rack of the discharge unit 100 and includes an elastic unit 107. The elastic portion 107 is a plate spring bent in an S-shape, and extends from one end of the rack 103. Like the rack 102, the rack 103 has a row of teeth aligned in the first direction. The rack 103 is disposed opposite to the rack 102 with the pinion 101 interposed therebetween. More specifically, the rack 102 and the rack 103 are disposed so that the rows of teeth face each other.

In the discharge portion 100, although the first direction is a direction orthogonal to the blade receiving portion 16c, the first direction may be a direction intersecting the blade receiving portion 16c as long as the rack 102 moves in the first direction and the distance between the blade receiving portion 16c and the rack 102 changes. In the present specification, the "direction" is defined by a straight line, and the "direction" is defined by an arrow. That is, for example, the north-south direction is one direction, while the north-south and south-north directions are different orientations.

The connecting portion 105 is fixed to a cam 106 for opening and closing the full cutter 17 and the half cutter 16, and engages with a projection 104 provided on the rack 102 in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the full cutter 17 by the rotation of the cam 106.

Fig. 6 and 7 are enlarged views of the protrusion 104 and the connection portion 105. As shown in fig. 6 and 7, the connecting portion 105 includes an elongated hole 105a for slidably fitting the protrusion 104 and a stepped portion 105b provided along the elongated hole 105 a. The protruding portion 104 includes a guide surface 104a for guiding the protruding portion 104, which is in contact with the connecting portion 105, into the elongated hole 105a in a state where the protruding portion is not engaged with the connecting portion 105. The protrusion 104 further includes an engaging portion 104b that comes into contact with the step portion 105b in a state where the protrusion 104 is slidably fitted into the elongated hole 105 a.

As shown in fig. 5, the discharge portion 100 further includes a roller 108, a roller 109, a roller 110, and a stopper 111. The roller 108 is the first roller of the discharge portion 100 and is fixed on the conveyance path of the belt member M. The roller 109 is a second roller of the discharge portion 100. The roller 108 and the roller 109 are used as conveying rollers for conveying the tape piece remaining on the conveying path.

The roller 109 is disposed so as to face the roller 108 with the conveyance path therebetween. The roller 109 is selectively disposed at either one of a position not in contact with the roller 108 and a position in contact with the roller 108. Hereinafter, the position of roller 109 not in contact with roller 108 is referred to as a first position, and the position of roller 109 in contact with roller 108 is referred to as a second position.

The roller 110 is the third roller of the discharge section 100 and has an outer diameter smaller than the outer diameter of the roller 109. Roller 110 and roller 109 share a common axis of rotation. Therefore, the roller 110 is selectively disposed at either one of two positions corresponding to the position of the roller 109. That is, the roller 110 is selectively disposed at either one of a position corresponding to the first position and a position corresponding to the second position. Hereinafter, the position corresponding to the first position is referred to as a third position, and the position corresponding to the second position is referred to as a fourth position.

The stopper 111 supports a rotation shaft common to the roller 109 and the roller 110 so that the roller 109 is disposed at the first position. That is, stopper 111 supports the rotation shaft so that roller 108 is not in contact with roller 109.

The discharge unit 100 configured as described above is in an intermediate state shown in fig. 5 at the start of the printing process, and as shown in fig. 8, a stopper 111 supports a rotation shaft common to the roller 109 and the roller 110. That is, roller 109 is disposed at a first position away from roller 108 and not in contact with roller 108, and roller 110 is disposed at a third position corresponding to the first position.

When the printing process is started and the cam 106 starts rotating clockwise, the rotation of the cam 106 changes the half-cutter 16 from the open state to the closed state, so that the cutting blade 16b contacts the blade receiving portion 16 c. In this way, the belt member M is half-cut. Fig. 9 shows a state after half-cutting.

In the operation from the intermediate state shown in fig. 5 to the half-cut state shown in fig. 9, the protrusion 104 is not engaged with the connection portion 105. Therefore, the power of the cam 106 is not transmitted to the rack 102, so that the positional relationship of the rack 102 and the rack 103 does not change. Therefore, the elastic portion 107 extending from the rack 103 does not move, and the positions of the rollers 109 and 110 do not change from the state shown in fig. 8.

When the half-cut is finished, the cam 106 starts to rotate counterclockwise, and the rotation of the cam 106 starts to move the full cutter 17 from the open state to the closed state. This causes the discharge portion 100 to change from the half-cut state shown in fig. 9 to a state in which the connecting portion 105 approaches the protruding portion 104 shown in fig. 10 via the intermediate state shown in fig. 5. Meanwhile, although the half cutting blade 16 is changed from the closed state to the open state, the positional relationship between the roller 109 and the roller 110 is not changed from the state shown in fig. 8.

When the cam 106 continues to rotate counterclockwise, the full cutter 17 further approaches the closed state, and at the same time, the connecting portion 105 comes into contact with the protruding portion 104 and presses the protruding portion 104 toward the blade receiving portion 16 c. As shown in fig. 11, this causes the rack 102 to move toward the blade receiving portion 16c, and the rotation of the pinion 101 generated by the movement of the rack 102 moves the rack 103 toward the blade receiving portion 16 c.

When the rack 103 starts moving in a direction away from the half cutter 16, the elastic portion 107 also starts moving in the same direction, and the tip of the elastic portion 107 is caught on the roller 110. On the other hand, when a force of a predetermined value or more is applied to the elastic portion 107, the elastic portion 107 passes over the roller 110, and as shown in fig. 12, the tip of the elastic portion 107 reaches a position higher than the roller 110.

When the cam 106 further rotates counterclockwise, the full cutter 17 reaches the closed state to perform full cutting of the belt member M. In this way, the tape sheet Ma is produced. At the same time, the connection portion 105 engages with the protrusion portion 104. Fig. 13 shows a state in which the connection portion 105 is engaged with the protrusion 104. More specifically, in the connecting portion 105 pressed against the protruding portion 104 by the cam 106, the lower surface of the connecting portion 105 slides along the guide surface 104a, thereby gradually bringing the protruding portion 104 closer to the elongated hole 105 a. When the lower surface of the connecting portion 105 reaches the end of the guide surface 104a, the tip of the protruding portion 104 fits into the elongated hole 105a, and the engaging portion 104b engages with the stepped portion 105b, whereby the connecting portion 105 engages with the protruding portion 104.

When the full cutting is completed, the cam 106 starts to rotate clockwise again, and the rotation of the cam 106 starts to move the full cutter 17 from the closed state to the open state. At this time, since the connecting portion 105 is engaged with the protruding portion 104, the connecting portion 105 moving together with the cam 106 pulls the protruding portion 104 and the rack 102. As described above, the connecting portion 105 is fixed to the half cutter 16 so as to pull the rack 102 in a direction away from the blade receiving portion 16c in conjunction with the opening operation of the half cutter 16.

More specifically, as shown in fig. 14, the projecting portion 104 is slidably fitted into the elongated hole 105a formed in the connecting portion 105, and the position of the projecting portion 104 in the elongated hole 105a is changed, whereby the projecting portion 104 is moved in a direction away from the blade receiving portion 16c together with the connecting portion 105 while avoiding the projecting portion 104 from moving in a direction parallel to the blade receiving portion 16 c. That is, the curved motion of the connection portion 105 can linearly move the protrusion portion 104. This causes the rack 102 to move in a direction away from the blade receiving portion 16c, and the rotation of the pinion 101 caused by the movement of the rack 102 moves the rack 103 in a direction toward the blade receiving portion 16 c.

When the rack 103 starts moving toward the blade receiving portion 16c, the elastic portion 107 also starts moving in the same direction, and the tip of the elastic portion 107 collides against the roller 110. Then, when the elastic portion 107 applies a force of a predetermined value or more to the roller 110, the rotation shaft shared by the roller 109 and the roller 110 passes over the stopper 111, and the roller 109 is lowered onto the roller 108. That is, roller 109 moves from the first position to the second position, and roller 110 moves from the third position to the fourth position. Fig. 15 shows a state in which the roller 109 is lowered onto the roller 108 and is in contact with the roller 108.

As the cam 106 continues to rotate clockwise, the full cutter 17 is further opened while the connecting portion 105 further pulls up the protrusion 104. This causes the rack 102 to move further away from the blade receiver 16c and the rack 103 to move further toward the blade receiver 16 c. The movement of the rack 103 causes the elastic portion 107 to apply a force of a predetermined value or more to the roller 110 located at the fourth position, and the elastic portion 107 passes over the roller 110, and as shown in fig. 16 and 17, the tip of the elastic portion 107 reaches a position lower than the roller 110.

In the process that the elastic portion 107 passes over the roller 110, it is rubbed against the roller 110 to rotate it. At this time, the roller 109 sharing the rotation axis with the roller 110 also rotates. Since the roller 109 is located at the second position and sandwiches the tape Ma with the roller 108, the rotation of the roller 109 can transport the tape Ma sandwiched with the roller 108 to the discharge port 2a and forcibly discharge the tape Ma from the discharge port 2 a. As described above, the discharge portion 100 can forcibly discharge the tape piece from the discharge port 2a in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17 after the full cutting.

As shown in fig. 18, when the cam 106 further rotates clockwise, as shown in fig. 19, the projection 104 (the locking portion 104b) locked to the step portion 105b gets over the step portion 105b as shown in fig. 20. This disengages the protruding portion 104 from the connecting portion 105, thereby releasing the engagement of the protruding portion 104 with the connecting portion 105. Thereafter, the discharge portion 100 returns to the intermediate state shown in fig. 5.

As described above, the discharge unit 100 returns to the intermediate state after performing the operations of half-cut, full-cut, and forced discharge from the intermediate state. Therefore, since the discharge portion 100 can forcibly discharge the tape piece in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17, the half-cut performed after the full-cut can prevent unnecessary cutting of the tape piece.

Further, by conveying the tape piece using the roller provided near the cutter blade, the tape piece remaining on the conveyance path can be reliably discharged to the outside of the printing apparatus 1. Further, by configuring the rollers (rollers 108 and 109) for conveying the tape piece and the roller (roller 110) for converting the linear motion into the rotational motion, respectively, and making the outer diameter of the roller for converting the linear motion into the rotational motion smaller than the outer diameter of the roller for conveying the tape piece, not only the amount of movement of the rack gear but also a large conveying amount of the tape piece can be obtained.

Further, since the protrusion 104 has the guide surface 104a and the locking portion 104b, and the connecting portion 105 has the elongated hole 105a and the step portion 105b, the force required for engaging and disengaging the protrusion 104 with and from the connecting portion 105 can be made different. This enables the protrusion 104 to be smoothly engaged with the connecting portion 105, and thereafter, the rack to be moved with sufficient force using the engaged protrusion 104 and connecting portion 105.

[ second embodiment ]

The discharge unit 200 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 21 to 24. The discharge unit 200 is a mechanism for discharging the tape sheet remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus 1, and forcibly discharges the tape sheet in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17.

The discharge portion 200 has a similar configuration to the discharge portion 100, and is different from the discharge portion 100 in that it includes a biasing portion 201 for biasing the rack 102 in a direction approaching the blade receiving portion 16 c. Further, the ejection unit 100 is different from the ejection unit 100 in that the elastic portion 107 and the roller 110 are not included, and in that the rack 103 and the roller 109 are in direct contact with each other. The urging portion 201 is, for example, a spring having one end connected to the blade receiving portion 16c and the other end connected to the rack 102.

The discharge unit 200 is changed from the intermediate state shown in fig. 21 to the half-cut state shown in fig. 22 by clockwise rotation of the cam 106. Then, the discharge unit 200 is changed from the half-cut state shown in fig. 22 to the full-cut state shown in fig. 23 by counterclockwise rotation of the cam 106. Further, the discharge unit 200 is changed from the full cutting state shown in fig. 23 to the forced discharge state shown in fig. 24 by the clockwise rotation of the cam 106. These points are the same as those of the discharge portion 100.

The discharge unit 200 is different from the discharge unit 100 in the following point. In the discharge portion 200, since the biasing portion 201 biases the rack 102 in the direction approaching the blade receiving portion 16c, when the projecting portion 104 is separated from the connecting portion 105 after the forced discharge state shown in fig. 24, the rack 102 moves in the direction approaching the blade receiving portion 16c, and the rack 103 moves in the direction away from the blade receiving portion 16 c. This will cause roller 109 to move from the second position in contact with roller 108 to the first position out of contact with roller 108.

Further, the discharge portion 200 changes the position of the roller 109 by directly pushing the rack 103 against the roller 109 in a direction approaching the blade receiving portion 16c in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17. Further pushing of the roller 109 by the rack 103 causes the rack 103 to wipe across the roller 109 and rotate the roller 109. As a result, the tape sheet between the roller 108 and the roller 109 is forcibly discharged to the outside of the printing apparatus 1.

The discharging unit 200 operated as described above can obtain the same effect as the discharging unit 100, and can forcibly discharge the tape piece in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17, so that unnecessary cutting of the tape piece can be prevented in the half cutting performed after the full cutting.

[ third embodiment ]

The discharge unit 300 according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 25 to 28. The discharge unit 300 is a mechanism for discharging the tape sheet remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus 1, and forcibly discharges the tape sheet in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17.

The discharge unit 300 has a similar configuration to the discharge unit 200, but differs from the discharge unit 200 in that it does not include the rollers 108 and 109 and includes the rack 301 instead of the rack 103. The rack 301 is a second rack of the discharge portion 300, and has a row of teeth aligned in the first direction, like the rack 102. The rack 301 is disposed opposite to the rack 102 with the pinion 101 interposed therebetween.

Further, the rack 301 is arranged such that when the rack 301 is moved toward the blade receiving portion 16c by the rotation of the pinion 101 caused by the movement of the rack 102 toward the direction away from the blade receiving portion 16c, at least a part of the rack 301 protrudes from the blade receiving portion 16c into the conveyance path.

The discharge unit 300 changes from the intermediate state shown in fig. 25 to the half-cut state shown in fig. 26 by clockwise rotation of the cam 106. Then, the ejection part 300 changes from the half-cut state shown in fig. 26 to the full-cut state shown in fig. 27 by counterclockwise rotation of the cam 106. Further, the discharge portion 300 changes from the full cutting state shown in fig. 27 to the forced discharge state shown in fig. 28 by the clockwise rotation of the cam 106. These points are the same as those of the discharge portion 100.

In the forced discharging state shown in fig. 28, the discharging portion 300 causes the rack 301 to slightly push the tape piece remaining on the conveyance path in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17, thereby causing the tape piece to swing. This makes it possible to discharge the tape piece to the outside of the printing apparatus 1 by the own weight of the tape piece.

Since the discharge unit 300 operated as described above can forcibly discharge the tape piece in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter 17, unnecessary cutting of the tape piece can be prevented in the half cutting performed after the full cutting. Further, the discharging unit 300 does not need a roller for discharging the tape sheet, and thus the tape sheet can be discharged with a simpler configuration than the discharging unit 100 and the discharging unit 200.

[ fourth embodiment ]

The discharge unit 400 according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 29 to 31. The discharge unit 400 is a mechanism for discharging the tape sheet remaining on the conveyance path to the outside of the printing apparatus 1, and forcibly discharges the tape sheet in conjunction with the closing operation of the control circuit 16.

The discharge portion 400 has a similar configuration to the discharge portion 300, but differs from the discharge portion 300 in that a pinion 401, a rack 402, a rack 403, a projection 404, and a connecting portion 405 are included instead of the pinion 101, the rack 102, the rack 103, the projection 104, and the connecting portion 105.

The pinion 401 corresponds to the pinion 101, and is sandwiched between the rack 402 and the rack 403. The rack 402 and the rack 403 are arranged to face each other with a tooth row aligned in the first direction.

The protrusion 404 is a protrusion extending from the rack 402 and engaged with the connecting portion 405. The protrusion 404 and the connection portion 405 are different from the protrusion 104 and the connection portion 105 in that they are constantly engaged with each other without being disengaged from each other regardless of the rotation of the cam 106. Further, the connecting portion 405 is not fixed to the cam 106 but fixed to the half cutter 16, which is also different from the connecting portion 105. More specifically, the connecting portion 405 is fixed to the half cutter 16 so as to pull the rack 402 in a direction away from the blade receiving portion 16c in conjunction with the closing operation of the half cutter 16. The connection portion 405 is similar to the connection portion 105 in that it has a long hole for the protrusion portion 404 to be slidably fitted therein.

When the discharge portion 400 starts the half-cutting operation of the half cutter 16 by clockwise rotation of the cam 106 from the intermediate state shown in fig. 29, the cutting blade 16b shown in fig. 31 reaches the forced discharge state shown in fig. 30 before reaching the half-cut state in contact with the blade receiving portion 16 c.

That is, the rack 403 projects from the blade receiving portion 16c to the conveyance path in conjunction with the closing operation of the half cutter 16, and pushes the tape piece remaining on the conveyance path lightly, so that the tape piece is forcibly discharged from the printing apparatus 1.

Since the discharge portion 400 operated as described above can forcibly discharge the tape piece in conjunction with the closing operation of the half cutter 16, unnecessary cutting of the tape piece can be prevented in the half cutting performed after the full cutting. Further, in the discharge portion 400, since the connection portion 405 is fixed to the half cutter 16, it is not necessary to repeatedly engage and disengage as in the case of fixing to the cam 106. The configuration of the protruding portion 404 and the connecting portion 405 can be made simpler than the protruding portion 104 and the connecting portion 105.

The above-described embodiments are specific examples shown for the convenience of understanding the invention, and the invention is not limited to these embodiments. Various modifications and changes may be made to the printing apparatus without departing from the scope of the claims.

Although the first to third embodiments show the configuration in which the joint portion pulls the first rack in the first direction in conjunction with the opening operation of the full cutter, and the fourth embodiment shows the example in which the joint portion pulls the first rack in the first direction in conjunction with the closing operation of the half cutter, the relationship between the operation of pulling the first rack by the joint portion and the operation of the cutter is not limited to these examples. The connecting portion may be interlocked with the operation of the full cutter or the half cutter to pull the first rack in the first direction. More specifically, the connecting portion may pull the first rack in the first direction during the full cut to the half cut.

Although the thermal printer of the thermal transfer type using the ink ribbon has been described as an example of the printing apparatus in the above-described embodiment, the printing method is not particularly limited. The printing apparatus may be a thermal printer using thermal paper. The printing apparatus may not be a thermal printer, and may be an inkjet printer, for example.