JP2001038995A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To load and unload a ribbon cassette easily and quickly by providing a push member for pushing a drive clutch in the engaging direction while resisting against the urging force of an urging member and connecting it with a driven clutch. SOLUTION: A drive clutch 22 is movable in the axial direction along a rotary shaft applied with an urging member, e.g. a coil spring, for urging the drivel clutch 22 to recede from a winding core 6. A frame is applied with a cover 18 for containing a loaded ribbon cassette 9. A push member 26 formed in the cover 18 pushes the drive clutch 22 in the direction of the winding core 6 while resisting against the urging force of the urging member when the cover 18 is closed and connects the drive clutch 22 with the driven clutch of the winding core 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer,
In particular, the present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer provided with a mechanism for attaching and detaching a ribbon cassette.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thermal transfer printer which performs desired recording on a recording sheet by driving a thermal head having a heating element formed thereon by heat is generally used for reasons such as high recording quality and high maintenance. It is heavily used.

As shown in FIG. 7, a line printer 1 as an example of the thermal transfer printer has a columnar platen roller 3 rotatably supported at a substantially central position of a frame 2. At an upper position facing the platen roller 3, a thermal head 4 is provided so as to be able to approach and separate from the platen roller 3.

In the frame 2, as shown in FIG.
A ribbon cassette 9 containing an ink ribbon sheet 8 wound therein is detachably mounted on a take-up core 6 and a delivery core 7, and a storage lid 18 for fixing the mounted ribbon cassette 9 is openably and closably provided. Have been. And
A take-up core 6 and a delivery core 7 are respectively disposed at front and rear positions of the platen roller 3 so that the ink ribbon sheet 8 wound therearound is fed out between the platen roller 3 and the thermal head 4. It has become.

Further, the side of the ribbon cassette 9 (FIG. 7)
(Left side in FIG. 1), a winding mechanism 5 for winding the ink ribbon sheet 8 is provided. The winding mechanism 5 has a driving motor (not shown), and transmits the power of the driving motor to the winding core 6 via a driving force transmission mechanism (not shown). A claw-shaped drive clutch 14 is provided at a position corresponding to one end of the winding core 6 of the drive force transmission mechanism. The drive clutch 14 is movable in the axial direction along the rotation shaft 13, and the rotation shaft 13 includes a coil spring or the like for urging the drive clutch 14 toward the winding core 6. The urging member 16 is wound.

On the other hand, a claw-shaped driven clutch 12 which can be engaged with the drive clutch 14 is formed at one end of the winding core 6, and both are driven by the urging force of the urging member 16. Has been engaged.

A rotation support member (not shown) for rotatably supporting the delivery core 7 is disposed at a position corresponding to one end of the delivery core 7 of the ribbon cassette 9.

When recording is performed using the conventional line printer 1 having the above-described configuration, first, the ribbon cassette 9 is mounted on the frame 2. At this time, since the drive clutch 14 is urged toward the ribbon cassette 9 by the urging member 16, the drive clutch 14 is manually pushed by the user against the urging force of the urging member 16 to save space. Open the ribbon cassette 9.

After mounting the ribbon cassette 9,
The recording paper is conveyed onto the platen roller 3, and the thermal head 4 is moved to the ink ribbon sheet 8 against the recording paper.
Then, a desired recording is performed on the recording paper by causing the heating elements of the thermal head 4 to generate heat based on the recording information.

[0010]

However, in the conventional thermal transfer printer, since the drive clutch 14 is urged by the urging member 16 in the direction of engagement with the driven clutch 12, the ribbon cassette 9 is attached and detached. Therefore, the drive clutch 14 must be pushed and spread in the disengagement direction against the urging force of the urging member 16, which takes time and effort.
There has been a problem that the ribbon cassette 9 cannot be easily and quickly attached and detached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of easily and quickly attaching and detaching a ribbon cassette.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal transfer printer, comprising: an urging member for urging a drive clutch in a disengagement direction; When stored, there is a pushing member that pushes the drive clutch in the engaging direction against the urging force of the urging member to engage with the driven clutch of the winding core.

By adopting such a configuration, the biasing member biases the drive clutch in the disengagement direction, and does not engage with the driven clutch of the winding core unless the pushing member acts. As a result, the ribbon cassette can be easily and quickly attached and detached.

The feature of the thermal transfer printer according to claim 2 is that
2. The push-pull member according to claim 1, wherein the drive clutch is formed with a substantially frusto-conical push-receiving portion having a small diameter on a release direction side, and a pushing-moving portion slidingly contacting an outer peripheral surface of the pushing-receiving portion. It is in the point formed.

By employing such a configuration, the drive clutch can be appropriately pushed in the engagement direction with a simple configuration and with a small force.

The feature of the thermal transfer printer according to claim 3 is that
In Claim 1 or Claim 2, a storage lid for storing the mounted ribbon cassette is provided so as to be openable and closable,
The point is that the pushing member is formed on the storage lid.

By employing such a configuration, the pushing member can be pushed by the opening and closing operation of the storage lid, and the driving clutch can be disengaged from the driven clutch. Easy to do.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

Parts that are not different in basic configuration from the conventional line printer 1 will be described using the same reference numerals.

As shown in FIG. 1, the line printer 20 according to the present embodiment has a platen roller 3 rotatably supported at a desired position on a frame 21.

At a position above the platen roller 3, a thermal head 4 for performing thermal transfer recording on the recording paper conveyed on the platen roller 3 can be moved toward and away from the platen roller 3. It is arranged in.

Further, the winding core 6 is provided on the frame 21.
A ribbon cassette 9 in which the ink ribbon sheet 8 is wound and accommodated is mounted on the delivery core 7 in a detachable manner. A take-up core 6 and a delivery core 7 are respectively disposed at front and rear positions of the platen roller 3, and the ink ribbon sheet 8 wound around these is fed out between the platen roller 3 and the thermal head 4. It is supposed to be.

The side of the ribbon cassette 9 (FIG. 1)
(On the left side), a winding mechanism 25 for winding the ink ribbon sheet 8 is provided. The winding mechanism 25 has a driving motor 23 as a driving source, and the driving force of the driving motor 23 is transmitted to a driving force transmitting mechanism 29.
Through the winding core 6.

A claw-shaped drive clutch 22 is provided at a position corresponding to one end of the winding core 6. The drive clutch 22 is movable in the axial direction along the rotation shaft 13, and the drive shaft 22 is attached to the rotation shaft 13 in a direction in which the drive clutch 22 is separated from the winding core 6 (hereinafter, referred to as “drive clutch 22”).
A biasing member 24 such as a coil spring for biasing in the direction of disengagement is wound. This urging member 2
4 may be a leaf spring or the like.

On the other hand, a claw-shaped driven clutch 12 which can be engaged with the drive clutch 22 is formed at one end of the winding core 6.

The frame 2 is provided with a storage cover 18 for storing the mounted ribbon cassette 9 so as to be freely opened and closed.

When the storage lid 18 is closed, the drive clutch 22 is moved in the direction of the winding core 6 (hereinafter referred to as an engagement direction) against the urging force of the urging member 24 when the storage lid 18 is closed. A pushing member 26 for pushing is formed, and the driving clutch 22 is engaged with the driven clutch 12 of the winding core 6 by pushing of the pushing member 26.

The drive clutch 22 facing the push member 26 is formed with a substantially frustoconical push receiving portion 27 having a small diameter on the release direction side.
The pushing member 26 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the pressing member. Since the outer peripheral surface of the pressing receiving portion 27 is inclined along the axial direction, when the pressing member 26 moves downward while abutting on the outer peripheral surface, the axial force component of the abutting force causes the pressing member 26 to move downward. The drive clutch 22 is pushed to the driven clutch 12 side. The driving clutch 22 can be pushed by such a simple configuration.

Further, at the tip of the pushing member 26,
An arc-shaped pushing portion 28 that is in sliding contact with the pushing receiving portion 27 is formed in a concave shape. Therefore, since the contact area with the push receiving portion 27 is increased, the drive clutch 22 can be effectively pushed even if the force applied to the push member 26 is small.

At a position corresponding to one end of the delivery core 7 of the ribbon cassette 9, a rotation support member (not shown) for rotatably supporting the delivery core 7 is provided.

Next, the operation of the line printer 20 according to the present embodiment will be described.

First, it is assumed that in the initial state, the ribbon cassette 9 is not mounted on the frame 2 and the storage lid 18 is opened as shown in FIG.

Then, the ribbon cassette 9 is provided in the frame 2.
Attach. At this time, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drive clutch 22 is urged in the disengagement direction by the urging member 24. There is no need to spread it.

Next, as shown in FIG.
Close. At this time, the pushing portion 28 of the pushing member 26 provided on the storage lid 18 is pressed down while contacting the outer peripheral surface of the pushing receiving portion 27 of the drive clutch 22,
As a result, the drive clutch 22 is
Is pushed in the engaging direction against the urging force of At this time, the pressing member 26 and the pressing receiving portion 2 are
Since the contact area with the cover 7 is large, the drive clutch 22 can be properly pushed even when the force for closing the storage lid 18 is small. Thereby, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the drive clutch 22 and the driven clutch 12 are engaged at the same time as the ribbon cassette 9 is stored.

After the storage of the ribbon cassette 9 is completed, the recording paper is conveyed onto the platen roller 3, and the thermal head 4 is pressed against the recording paper via the ink ribbon sheet 8. And the drive motor 2
3 is transmitted to the driving clutch 22 via a driving force transmission mechanism 29, and the driven clutch 12 is rotated to rotate the driven clutch 12 and to wind the ink ribbon sheet 8 around the winding core 7. The thermal head 4
The desired heating is performed on the recording paper by driving the heating elements to generate heat based on the recording information.

Next, when removing the ribbon cassette 9 after the recording is completed, first, the storage cover 18 is opened and the pushing member 26 is separated from the drive clutch 22. At this time, the drive clutch 22 is returned to the disengagement direction by the urging force of the urging member 24, and the engagement between the drive clutch 22 and the driven clutch 12 is released as shown in FIGS. Therefore, the drive clutch 2
There is no need for the user to push 2 in the disengagement direction.

Accordingly, in the present embodiment, when the cassette 9 is attached or detached, the drive clutch 22 can be urged in the disengagement direction, so that the drive clutch 22 is pushed in the disengagement direction as in the prior art. There is no need to spread and remove. Therefore, the ribbon cassette 9 can be easily and quickly attached and detached.

Further, since the pushing portion 28 of the pushing member 26 is formed in a concave shape and the pushing receiving portion 27 is formed in a truncated cone shape, the driving clutch has a simple configuration and a small force. 22 can be properly moved.

Further, since the driving clutch 22 can be disengaged from the driven clutch 12 by operating the pushing member 26 by the opening and closing operation of the storage lid 18, the attachment / detachment of the ribbon cassette 9 can be more easily performed.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be variously modified as needed.

[0041]

As described above, according to the thermal transfer printer of the first aspect of the present invention, the ribbon cassette can be easily and quickly attached and detached.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the second aspect,
In addition to the effects of the thermal transfer printer according to the first aspect, the pushing of the drive clutch in the engaging direction can be efficiently performed with a simple configuration and with a small force.

According to the thermal transfer printer of the third aspect,
In addition to the effects of the thermal transfer printer according to the first and second aspects, the attachment and detachment of the ribbon cassette can be more easily performed by opening and closing the storage lid.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front cross-sectional view illustrating a disengaged state of a drive clutch in the embodiment of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a disengaged state between a driving clutch and a driven clutch in the embodiment of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a stored state of a ribbon cassette in the embodiment of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view showing an engagement state between a driving clutch and a driven clutch in a cassette storage state shown in FIG. 5 in the embodiment of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view showing an engagement state between a driving clutch and a driven clutch in a cassette storage state shown in FIG. 5 in the embodiment of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a conventional thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 6 Take-up core 7 Send-out core 8 Ink ribbon sheet 9 Ribbon cassette 12 Driven clutch 13 Rotary shaft 18 Storage lid 20 Line printer 21 Frame 22 Drive clutch 24 Biasing member 25 Take-up mechanism 26 Pushing member 27 Pushing receiving portion 28 Push Moving part

Claims (3)

[Claims] A thermal head is provided so as to be able to freely contact with and separate from a platen, and a ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon sheet fed to the front surface of the platen is wound around a delivery core and a take-up core and is detachably mounted. A thermal transfer printer comprising: a take-up mechanism for mounting and rotating the take-up core; a drive clutch formed in the take-up mechanism; and a driven clutch engaged with the drive clutch formed on the take-up core. A biasing member for biasing the drive clutch in the disengagement direction, and, when the ribbon cassette is stored, pushing the drive clutch in the engagement direction against the biasing force of the biasing member. And a pushing member for engaging with the driven clutch of the winding core. 2. A drive receiving part having a substantially frustoconical shape having a small diameter on the release direction side is formed on the drive clutch, and a pressing part slidingly contacting an outer peripheral surface of the pressing receiving part is formed by the pressing member. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer printer is formed. 3. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein a storage lid for storing the mounted ribbon cassette is provided to be openable and closable, and the pushing member is formed on the storage lid. .