Seiko Epson Corporation

Hiroshi Ishida

Kenjiro Murakami

Toshikazu Kotaka

Masayuki Kumazaki

Yukihiro Uchiyama

Naoto Yamaguchi

Kazuhiko Yamaguchi

Yoshiaki Nakayama

Nobuhito Takahashi

Satoshi Takehana

Kiyoto Komuro

Norio Horaguchi

Shigeki Mizuno

Motoyuki Niimura

Tatsumi Tsuboki

Satoshi Fujioka

Kenichi Miyazaki

Seiichi Hirano

Kiyoto Komura

A printer wherein a drive roller of a pair of sheet discharge rollers is made of rubber and a driven roller of the pair of sheet discharge rollers is made of synthetic resin; the leading end of a sheet is guided so as to be abutted against the drive roller earlier than the driven roller; the sheet that is in the course of being discharged is guided by a sheet discharge tray so as to come in slidable contact with an edge portion that is on a print head side of a sheet discharge opening. As a result, the printer can provide satisfactory printing conditions quickly with a simple structure and reduce noise leaking from the sheet discharge opening.

Printer

A sheet end detector comprising a light-emitting element and a light-receiving element for detecting changes in the amount of light associated with movement of a piece of a recording medium is provided. A standard value calculator detects the difference between the sheet end detector platen voltage Vp corresponding to light reflected only from said platen and said sheet end detector paper saturation voltage Vm corresponding to light reflected only from the recording medium. The amount necessary to feed the paper for platen voltage Vp to reach paper saturation voltage Vm is a constant value, irrespective of recording medium characteristics, which is when all of the light is reflected by the recording medium and the entire end portion of a piece of a recording medium has reached a predetermined position relative to the position of the sheet end detector. A standard value is calculated by multiplying this difference by a constant coefficient C and then adding back the lesser of Vp or Vm, C being a numerical value greater than 0 and less than 1 and being an indication of the desired position of the leading edge of the recording medium. A comparator compares the standard value and a signal from the sheet end detector and determines when the signal corresponds to the standard value, which is indicative that the presence of a leading edge or trailing edge of the recording medium has reached a predetermined position.

Method for detecting an end portion of a recording medium in a recording

Printer having noise noise reduction structure

A paper detection device for a printer, includes: a support member; a main lever pivotably mounted on the support member, wherein the main lever has a self-resetability to an upright position and is pivotable only in a sheet-feed-direction; an auxiliary lever pivotably mounted on the main lever, including a free end protruding into a sheet passage, wherein the auxiliary lever has a self-resetability and moves the main lever in the sheet-feed direction when the free end thereof is urged in the sheet-feed direction, but does not move the main lever in a reverse-sheet-feed direction when the free end of the auxiliary lever is urged in a reverse-sheet-feed direction.

Paper detection device for printer

A ribbon mask for use with a impact dot matrix printer is provided. The ribbon mask comprises a head confronting surface and a pair of opposed side plates each positioned on an opposite side of the head confronting surface. An obtuse angle is formed between said head confronting surface each of the opposed side plates. A pair of fitting tabs are also provided. Each fitting tab is positioned on one of the pair of opposed side plates. An acute angle is formed between each of the fitting tabs and a plane parallel to a plane in which the head confronting surface lies. As a result of this construction, when the ribbon mask comes in contact with a sheet of a recording medium, the ribbon mask is deformed so that a portion of the head confronting surface comes into contact with an end of a recording head, which in turn prevents the ribbon mask from interfering with the sheet of the recording medium.

Ribbon mask for impact dot matrix printed

A method of printing on a printing medium is provided, including providing a printing head for printing on a recording medium and conveying the recording medium in a first direction with a conveyer. A detector is positioned on the upstream side of the print head, the detector then detecting a trailing edge of the recording medium. The amount of recording medium conveyance by the conveyer upon the detection of said trailing edge is computed and it is determined whether the recording medium is of a standard size. Thereafter, a printing region on the recording medium is defined in accordance with the size of the recording medium if the recording medium is a standard size. A printer for printing on a printing medium which employs the above method is also provided wherein a detector is positioned upstream of the print head for detecting a trailing edge of the recording medium which is being conveyed. A computer computes the amount of the recording medium conveyance by the conveyer upon the detection of the trailing edge by the detector, and a size determiner determines whether the recording medium is of a standard size and defines a printing region on the recording medium in accordance with the size of the recording medium if the recording medium is of a standard size.

Paper size determining method and printer in which the method is used

A printing method of playing out piled sheets of paper one by one, feeding the played-out sheet of paper to the position of a platen, and printing the sheet of paper, the printing method includes the steps of: (a) feeding the sheet of paper played out from the piled position thereof at a first speed until the sheet of paper approaches a platen which is stopping; (b) feeding the sheet of paper at a second speed lower than the first speed until a required short time passes from a time when the sheet of paper is engaged with the stopping platen, for performing a sheet flexing and a sheet skew removing; and (c) driving the platen at the second speed to feed the sheet of paper to a printing position. And the printing apparatus performs the printing method.

Printing method and printing apparatus

A paper skew removal apparatus including a single paper feed roller for feeding a paper in a state that the paper feed roller is in contact with the central part of the paper as viewed in the paper width direction, and a paper feed roller and gate roller for contacting the leading edge of the paper, the portions of the rollers that contact the leading edge of the paper are disposed in a direction orthogonal to the advancing direction of the paper fed by the paper feed roller. A printer is also disclosed which incorporates the disclosed paper skew removal apparatus. The inventive and unique construction provides reduction of paper feed time and size reduction in the overall printer, as well as ensuring a reliable skew removal from the paper.

Paper skew removal apparatus and a printer using the same

A printer which is compact, can accurately supply paper and has reduced noise characteristics. Additionally, the printer enables easy correction of paper jams and can be selectively operated in various modes according to the user's preference. The printer includes a paper feed roller which is pivotable between a paper feed position and a non-feeding position, a drive force transmitting mechanism for transmitting a drive force to the paper feed roller, a carriage reciprocatively movable along the width of the paper fed by the paper feed roller, and an intermediate transmission mechanism attached to the side of the carriage. Only when the carriage is in a stand-by position, the intermediate transmission mechanism couples with the drive force transmitting mechanism to transmit to the paper feed roller a paper-feed directional rotating force so as to rotate the paper feed roller to the paper feed position. The intermediate transmission mechanism is preferably an idler rotatably mounted on the side of the carriage. The paper feed roller is preferably driven through a planetary gear mechanism including a sun gear provided on a drive shaft, a paper-feed roller holder rotatably mounted on the drive shaft, and a planetary gear coaxially provided with the paper feed roller supported with the paper-feed roller holder.

Printer having an inverting paper tray

Printer having discharge rollers

Printer having paper feed roller

A feeding and delivery structure for a cutform medium for use in a printer having a feeder positioned upstream of a platen, includes rollers disposed adjacent to the platen, a stacker having a curved bottom face member for storing delivered cutform media, guide plates positioned adjacent the feeder, and guide members slidingly attached to front faces of the guide plates, for guiding a manually fed cutform medium. The guide members form a surface of the stacker, and may have ribs formed thereon to decrease the carrying load of the cutform medium after it is conveyed through the rollers.

Growing community of inventors

Nagano, Japan

Hiroshi Ishida