EP0765761A1 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Thermal printing apparatus

Assignee: Anritsu Corp

•

Filing: 1996-09-25

•

Granted: —

•

Expires: 2016-09-25

📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract A thermal printing apparatus has a housing (11) divided into two sections, a main shell (1) and a cover (2) which are joined at one end to each other for opening and closing, for ease of the mounting, dismounting, and positioning of a thermal head (26) with a pair of connectors (34, 50) without the use of any conventional tool. A platen (10) is pivotably mounted to the cover (2). The thermal head (26) includes a head side connector (34) and a heating element (30) mounted on one side of a rectangular base (28) thereof for printing on labels (4a). A head frame (40) is provided having positioning members (42) for determining the position of the thermal head (26) to the platen (10) when the housing (11) is closed and positioning projections (46a, 46b, and 46c) for coming into direct contact with four sides of the base (28) to hold the thermal head (26) in its position, and mounted to a base frame (3) in the main shell (1). The other circuit side connector (50) is movably mounted to the head frame (40) for fine positional adjustment to the head side connector (34).

Inventors

👤 Yuji Aoyama
👤 Masao Yamada

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —

Jurisdiction EP

Data Source google_patents

Last Synchronized 2026-11-09 13:26

CPC Classifications

B; B41; B41J; B41J25/00; B41J25/304; B41J25/316; B41J25/34

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 7

Claim 1

Independent Claim 264 words

A thermal printing apparatus characterized by comprising: a main shell (1); a frame (9) arranged movable in upper and lower directions for opening and closing the main shell (1); a thermal head (26) for printing on a printing medium; and a platen (10) pivotably mounted to the frame (9) for nipping the printing medium between the platen (10) and the thermal head (26); characterized in that: the thermal head (26) comprises: (a) a heat radiator plate (28); (b) a printed circuit board (32) mounted on an upper surface of the head radiator plate (28); (c) a heating element (30) mounted on an upper surface of the printed circuit board (32) and located on a location having a predetermined positioning relationship to the heat radiator plate (28); and (d) a first connector (34) provided on the printed circuit board (32) with vertical connecting directions; said apparatus further comprises: first positioning means (10b) provided on the frame (9) coaxially of the platen (10); a thermal head mount (40) having second positioning means for laterally positioning the head radiator plate (28) and third positioning means arranged laterally movable to the main shell for fixing a horizontal position of the thermal head (26) while engaging with the first positioning means (10b) when the frame (9) is lowered to close the main shell (1), thereby detachably supporting the thermal head (26); and a second connector (50) mounted on the thermal head mount (40) for detachably connecting to the first connector (34) with the vertical connecting directions while the thermal head (26) being installed on the thermal head mount (40).

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 49 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the thermal head (26) further includes a magnetic member (38) mounted to a bottom of the heat radiator plate (28) and used for attaching the thermal head (26) to the thermal head mount (40) by its magnetic attraction.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 31 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the second connector (50) is movably mounted to the thermal head mount (40) for fine lateral positional adjustment.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 33 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the frame (9) is supported by a cover (2) movable for opening and closing the main shell (1).

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 107 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the thermal head mount (40) is pivotably mounted at one end to the main shell (1) for positional adjustment at center and at another end urged on both ends by urging means (69) so that the heating element (30) is pressed against the platen (10), and stoppers (70, 72) are provided between the thermal head mount (40) and the main shell (1) for restricting the movement of the thermal head mount (40) towards the platen (10) caused by a yielding force of the urging means (68) when the frame (9) is opened.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 38 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the main shell (1) includes a container mounted therein behind the thermal head mount (40) for accommodating a roll of the printing medium.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 37 words

A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the printing medium is a roll of base tape (4) on which a plurality of labels (4b) are attached at equal intervals of a predetermined distance.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

FR2484916A1 Cited

US4896166A Cited

JPH01263067A Cited

EP0348176A2 Cited

EP0430565A2 Cited

US5248207A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Maintenance schedule is calculated for granted US utility patents.

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag

Select Category

Notes (Optional)