FR2778141A1 - Thermal printer with cartridges of consumables for use in facsimile machines or as a computer peripheral - Google Patents

Abstract

The printer has a thermal print head (1), a housing that accepts a thermal print ribbon cartridge (10) or a cartridge of thermal printing paper (2). The printer has a drive to carry either thermal paper or the thermal print ribbon beneath the print head. The ribbon or paper cartridge is held in place by a clip. The printer can read a memory integrated into the cartridge that is inserted.

Description

THERMAL PRINTING DEVICE AND CARTRIDGES

CONSUMABLE FOR SUCH DEVICE

  The invention relates to thermal printing devices intended to be integrated into an apparatus such as a facsimile machine, for example, or which can be used as an external device of equipment such as

  personal computer, again as an example.

  io There are mainly two types of thermal printing devices.

  The first type of printing devices comprise a thermal printing head and a thermal printing ribbon, for example by ink transfer, used in a roll. The printing ribbon is coated with a layer of hot-melt ink intended to be transferred to a printing medium, such as a sheet of plain paper, by heating the thermal head. During printing, the ribbon is unwound from a food roll and then, after passing in front of the print head

  thermal, rewound on a take-up roll intended to be thrown away.

  Printing devices of the second type also include a thermal printing head and use as printing medium a

  thermal paper tape, usually used in rolls.

  With printing devices of the first type, the food roll and the ribbon take-up roll must be changed regularly by an operator. This operation is delicate, the operator may get dirty

or damage the ribbon.

  The invention first proposes to overcome this drawback.

  To this end, the invention relates to a thermal printing device comprising a thermal printing head, means for receiving a thermal printing ribbon and drive means arranged to drive a printing medium and the thermal printing ribbon in front of the printing head, device characterized in that the means

  receiving ribbon are arranged to receive a ribbon cartridge.

  Thanks to the invention, the operator will no longer have to directly manipulate the

  roll of ink ribbon but the ribbon cartridge, protecting it.

  Advantageously, said receiving means comprise means

of the cartridge.

  Preferably, the latching means are detachable latching means. In a particular embodiment, the means for receiving the ribbon cartridge are arranged to receive a paper cartridge

  io thermal printing, instead of the ribbon cartridge.

  The printing device thus makes it possible to print either by ink transfer of the printing ribbon on a printing medium such as a sheet of plain paper, or with thermal paper. Thanks to this, we profit

  also the advantages of thermal paper.

  The invention also relates to a thermal printing ribbon cartridge for the above printing device, comprising means for receiving a food roll of thermal printing ribbon and

  means of attachment to said device.

  The invention also relates to a thermal printing paper cartridge for the above printing device, comprising means for receiving a food roll of printing paper.

  thermal and fixing means to said device.

  The invention will be better understood using the following description of a

  particular embodiment of the invention and of a variant, with reference to the appended drawing, in which: - Figure 1 shows a side sectional view of a fax machine comprising the printing device, according to the particular embodiment of the invention, in which is inserted a print ribbon cartridge and - Figure 2 shows a side sectional view of the facsimile machine of Figure

  1, into which a thermal paper cartridge is inserted.

  In the particular example of the description, the printing device

  is integrated in a fax machine. For the sake of clarity, only the elements of the facsimile machine necessary for understanding the invention will

now be described.

  The printing device, located at the rear of the fax machine, comprises a thermal printing head 1, and a housing 2 for receiving a

  print consumable cartridge, explained below.

  The housing 2 is open towards the rear by an opening for introducing the cartridge and comprises two lateral and vertical walls 4, facing each other and connected to each other by a bottom 3, generally in the form of a half-cylinder extending horizontally lengthwise and having a lower edge 6 extending substantially in a lower plane of support of the facsimile machine against a support and an upper edge 5 shaped as a support finger for a printing medium and, where appropriate, printing ribbon against a support roller (13 or 34), as will be explained below. The thermal printing head 1 is located near the upper edge 5 of the bottom 3. The two side walls of the housing 2 each provide, on the side located inside the housing 2 and near the lower edge of the side walls, a groove for receiving a latch of the cartridge, extending substantially vertically. One of the two receiving grooves extends to the lower edge of the wall, to allow easy removal of the lug from this groove. Thanks to this, the consumable cartridge can be mounted at will on the fax machine, by snap-fastening, and removed, detached from the fax machine. The snap-fastening system is therefore qualified

of "detachable".

  The facsimile machine comprises an upper cover 40, which extends from front to rear and covers the elements of the facsimile machine, as well as a gear system, located in the vicinity of one of the side walls of the housing 2 and connected to a motor shaft, not shown, intended to drive the printing medium and, if necessary, the printing ribbon, as will be explained below. The rear edge 41 of the upper cover 40, which extends in a direction orthogonal to the section plane of FIGS. 1 and 2, is

  toothed and thus constitutes a cutting edge.

  The print consumable cartridge intended to be inserted into the receiving housing 2 is either a print ribbon cartridge

  thermal, a cartridge of thermal printing paper.

  The thermal printing ribbon cartridge 10 (FIG. 1) comprises a pair of paired flanges supporting an axis 1 the support of a food roll of thermal printing ribbon 1 1 and here another pair of paired flanges supporting a axis 12 'support of a receiving roller for the printing ribbon 12. The food roller 11 and the receiving roller 12 are thus each received in the cartridge 10, between two flanges. The two pairs of flanges are integral with each other and the two axes 11 'and 12' are parallel to each other and define a plane P. 0o The cartridge 10 further comprises an axis 13 'supporting the support roller 13, intended to support the printing ribbon and the printing medium against the thermal printing head 1. The support axis 13 ′ extends substantially between the food roller 11 and the receiving roller 12, slightly in outside the plane P, parallel to the axes 12 '. A portion of the tape leaving the food roll 13 is wrapped around the

take-up roller 12.

  The rollers 11-13 are rotatably mounted The food roller 11 is mounted to rotate freely and the support axes I11 ', 12' are mechanically connected to each other by a gear system, not shown, intended to cooperate with the facsimile gear system, to drive

rotation of the rollers 12 and 13.

  A cover 14 and a cover 15 partially surrounds the food roller 11 and the take-up roller 12, respectively, such that in the functional position, when the cartridge 10 is inserted into the receiving housing 2 of the facsimile machine, the rollers 11 and 12 are covered, protected

by their respective covers 14, 15.

  The cover 14 supports two lateral latching pins provided for detachably fixing the cartridge 10 to the facsimile machine. The pins are adjacent to an edge of the cover 14 parallel to the axes 1 1'-13 'and intended to extend near the lower edge 6 of the housing 2 after the cartridge 10 has been placed in the facsimile machine. The snap pins define a pivot axis of the cartridge 10, parallel to the axes 1 1'-13 '. These two pins are intended to be received in the receiving grooves

  in the side walls of the housing 2 for receiving the cartridge 10.

  Finally, the cartridge comprises an introduction plate 16 support for receiving print sheets to be printed, and an exit plate 17 extending between the support plate 16 and the lower part of the cover 15, in the vicinity of the roll of support 13. The plates 16 and 17 are fixed to the cover 14. In the vicinity of the support roller 13, a slot 18 for introducing printing sheets is provided between the plate 16 and the plate 17. A slot 19 of output of the printing sheets, after printing, is spared

  between the plate 17 and the cutting edge 41 of the upper cover 40.

  The thermal printing paper cartridge 30 (FIG. 2) comprises a pair of paired flanges, supporting an axis 31 supporting a food roll 32 of thermal printing paper as well as an axis 33 supporting a roll 34 of pressing thermal paper against the thermal printing head 1. The roll of thermal printing paper 32

  is thus received between two flanges.

  The food roller 32 is mounted to rotate freely and the support roller 34 is intended to be driven in rotation by the motor shaft of the fax machine, by means of the gear system of the fax machine and

  a pinion, not shown, mounted on the support pin 33.

  The paper cartridge 30 further comprises a cover 35 partially surrounding the food roller 32 and the support roller 34, so that in the functional position, after the cartridge has been placed in the facsimile machine, the food roller 32 and the support roller 34, located inside the housing 2, are covered at the rear by the cover 35, and the cutting edge 41 and the upper edge of the cover 35 form between them

  a thermal paper outlet slot 36.

  The cover 35 supports two snap-on lugs intended to snap into the receiving grooves of the housing 2 in order to detachably attach the cartridge 30 to the fax machine. The two snap lugs are adjacent to an edge of the cover 35, parallel to the axes 31 and 33 and intended to extend near the lower edge 6 of the housing 2

  after placing the cartridge 30 in the fax machine.

  After the structural description of the printing device, its

  operation will now be described.

  Printing by ink transfer of a printing ribbon on a printing medium

  As the printing medium, a sheet of plain paper is used here.

  The ribbon cartridge 10 is first mounted on the fax machine. To set up the cartridge, it is oriented so that the plane P defined by the axes 1 1 'and 12' extends substantially horizontally and the cover 14 is oriented downwards. Then the ribbon food roll 11 is placed in the receiving housing 2, while inserting the latching lugs of the cartridge 10 into the receiving grooves in the housing 2, and the cartridge 10 is pivoted upwards, around from the pivot axis defined by the latching lugs, until the cartridge 10 reaches its functional position. In the functional position, the food roller 11 extends inside the receiving housing 2, between the bottom wall 3, located at the front of the roller

  11, and the cover 14, located at the rear of the roller 11 and thus protecting it

  this. The take-up roller 12 extends just above the rear part of the upper cover 40, substantially above the thermal print head, and finally the support roller 13 bears against the thermal print head 1 and against the pressing finger 5 of the fax machine. Note that when placing the cartridge in the fax machine, the operator does not directly handle the rolls of tape

1 1 and 12.

  During printing, under the action of the rotary motor drive of the facsimile machine, the take-up roller 12 and the support roller 13 are driven in rotation, by means of the gear system of the and that of the cartridge 10 which cooperate. Under the action of the rotation of the take-up roll 12, the printing ribbon is unwound from the food roll 11 and rewound on the take-up roll 12, the roll

  food 1 1, under the tensile stress of the ribbon, being driven in rotation.

  The printing sheet 100 placed on the support plate 16 is introduced into the facsimile machine by the insertion slot 18, taken between the support roller 13 and the printing ribbon, then, under the action of the rotation of the backing roller 13, the printing sheet 100 and the ribbon are concomitantly driven in front of the printing head 1. After printing, the printing sheet 100 is ejected through the exit slot 19 and the ribbon

  used is rewound around the take-up roller 12.

  After use or to replace the ribbon cartridge with a thermal paper cartridge, remove the ribbon cartridge by pivoting the cartridge downwards and then disengaging the tabs

  of the receiving grooves.

  i0 Thermal printing using thermal printing paper Before placing the paper cartridge 30 in the facsimile machine, a portion of thermal paper is unrolled from the food roll 32.

  plate against the support roller 34.

  Then, as for the positioning of the ribbon cartridge, the paper roll is placed in the receiving housing 2, while inserting the latching lugs of the cartridge 30 in the receiving grooves in the housing 2, and rotates the cartridge 30 upwards, in position

functional.

  In the functional position, the food roller 32 extends inside the housing 2, the support roller 34 bears against the thermal printing head 1 and against the upper support edge 5 of the bottom 3, and thermal paper is interposed between the head 1 and the support roller 33 as well as between

the head 1 and the support edge 5.

  Under the action of the rotary drive of the facsimile motor shaft, the support roller 34 is driven in rotation, by means of the gear system and the pinion integral with the axis 33, and drives itself the thermal printing paper moving in front of the print head 1, before ejecting it through an exit slot 36. After printing, we cut

  the print medium using the cutting edge 41 of the cover 40.

  Alternatively, the ribbon cartridge does not include a used ribbon take-up roller, and the ribbon cartridge is analogous to the thermal paper cartridge described above, with the only difference

  that the thermal paper is replaced with thermal printing ribbon.

  In this case, after printing, the used printing ribbon is ejected with the printing medium, through the exit slot formed between the cutting edge of the facsimile machine and the cutting edge 41 of the cover 40 of the cartridge, then peeled by an operator and cut using the cutting edge 41 of the facsimile machine. To remove the paper cartridge, proceed in the same way as

for the ribbon cartridge.

  In a variant, the consumable cartridges, whether they are printing ribbon cartridges or thermal printing paper cartridges 10, support, on the outside face of one of their support flanges, a card , in this case a standard SIM card, supporting an electronic chip storing in memory information relating to the consumable, here indications on the nature of the consumable (ribbon

  or thermal printing paper).

  The printing device includes an electronic chip reader intended to read the content of the electronic chip when the cartridge which supports it is inserted into the printing device. The reader is connected to a processing unit intended to interpret the information read by the reader, to recognize whether it is a print ribbon cartridge or a thermal paper cartridge and to report it to a printing device control. Thanks to this, the nature of the consumable of the

  cartridge is automatically recognized by the printing device.

Claims (11)

  1- Thermal printing device comprising a thermal printing head (1), means (2) for receiving a thermal printing ribbon and drive means arranged to drive a printing medium and the ribbon thermal printing in front of the printing head (1), device characterized in that the means (2) for receiving the   ribbon are arranged to receive a ribbon cartridge (10).   2- Device according to claim 1, wherein said means for   reception comprises means for latching the cartridge (10).   3- Device according to claim 2, wherein the means   are detachable latching means.   4- Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the means   (2) for receiving the ribbon cartridge (10) are arranged to receive a thermal printing paper cartridge (30), in place of the ribbon cartridge (10).   - Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, wherein means   are provided for reading the content of memory means supported by a   consumable cartridge inserted into the printing device.   6- Cartridge of thermal printing ribbon for the device   printing device according to one of claims 1 to 5, comprising means   (11 ') receiving a food roll of thermal printing ribbon   (11) and means for fixing to said device.   7- cartridge according to claim 6, wherein the fixing means   to the printing device comprise latching means.   8- Cartridge according to one of claims 6 and 7, comprising means   (12 ') for receiving a printing ribbon supply roll (12).   9- cartridge according to one of claims 6 to 8, comprising a roller   support (13) intended to support the printing ribbon against the head   printing device (1) of the printing device.   - Cartridge according to one of claims 6 to 9, in which are   provided memory storage means for information relating to the ribbon. 11- Thermal printing paper cartridge for the device   printing device according to one of claims 1 to 5, comprising means   (31) receiving a food roll of thermal printing paper   (32) and means for fixing to said device.   12- cartridge according to claim 11, wherein the fixing means   said printing device comprise latching means.   13- cartridge according to one of claims 11 and 12, comprising a   backing roller (34) for pressing the thermal printing paper against the thermal printing head (1) of the printing device.   14. Cartridge according to one of claims 11 to 13, in which are   provided memory storage means for information relating to the paper thermal printing.