Printer and a method of sorting out and cutting papers printed thereby

Abstract

In a printer comprising a printing means for performing printing on a continuous paper in response to a print data and a cutter unit for cutting the continuous paper in the paper width direction upon completion of printing, a printed paper needs to be sorted out easily and clearly depending on jobs. To meet the demand, the printer is provided with a rotary blade and a fixed blade which cut the continuous paper in the paper width direction which crosses perpendicularly to the paper feed direction and it is further provided with a carriage for holding the rotary blade so as to be movable in the paper width direction. The carriage has a shading piece. Sensors are disposed at the position corresponding to the position where the cutting amount of the paper in the paper width direction is set to be smaller than the entire paper width. When the sensors detect the shading piece, the rotary blade stops moving to thereby stop the cutting operation. As a result, the cutting operation with leaving uncut portion at one side of the paper in the paper width direction is performed depending on each job so that the cut papers range per job unit whereby the printed paper of one job is not mixed with other printed papers of other jobs and they can be easily distinguished from one another without resorting to a stacker.