JP2001121769A - Ink sheet cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simple ink sheet cassette constituted so that a part of the cassette case thereof can be recycled and easy to reassemble. SOLUTION: An ink sheet cassette consists of an ink sheet holder 2 positioning a pair of a taking-up core 4 around which an ink sheet S is wound and a feed-out core 5 in an adjacent relationship to support them between a pair of cassette frames 9, supporting a guide roller 11 folding back the ink sheet S drawn out of the feed-out core 5 in the arranging direction of the taking-up core, and forming a gap 12 in which the thermal head of a line printer is inserted between the ink sheet S supplied to the gap between the feed-out core 5 and the guide roller 11 and the ink sheet S folded back to the taking-up core 4 by the guide roller 11, and a cassette case 3 holding the ink sheet holder 2 so as to cover the ink sheet S in the feed direction thereof, while exposing the same to at least the part opposed to the thermal head and opening and closing a part thereof by a joining part due to a mold hinge to make the ink sheet holder 2 replaceable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink sheet cassette, and more particularly, to a small ink sheet cassette which can recycle a part of a cassette case.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a recording apparatus for rapidly performing recording on a recording sheet line by line or page by page, a line having a long thermal head in which heating elements are arranged and arranged along the width direction of the recording sheet. The printer is being used.

In this line printer, a take-up core wound around an ink sheet from both ends and a delivery core are disposed in a cassette body so as to be rotatable and separated from each other, and the delivery core is provided between the two cores. Using an ink sheet cassette having a cassette body forming a conveyance path of an ink sheet conveyed and supplied from the side to the take-up core side. When this ink sheet cassette is mounted on the line printer, a line printer Position the thermal head,
The thermal head and the platen roller are pressed against each other via an ink sheet located on the transport path to perform recording.

[0004]

In line printers, it is desired to reduce the size of the apparatus itself. Therefore, one of the issues is to reduce the size of the ink sheet cassette mounted in the line printer. ing. That is, if the size of the ink sheet cassette can be reduced, the size of the line printer itself can be reduced.

However, as described above, an ink sheet cassette having a configuration in which the delivery core and the take-up core are spaced apart from each other is capable of storing a pancake in which the entire length of the ink sheet is wound. A space to be used must be prepared in the outer peripheral region of each core, and there is a limit to miniaturization.

Consumables such as ink sheet cassettes are encouraged to be recycled in consideration of the global environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is an ink sheet cassette configured to reduce the size of an ink sheet cassette as a whole. It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple ink sheet cassette which is easy to assemble.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ink sheet cassette comprising: a pair of a take-up core and a delivery core wound with an ink sheet serving as a recording medium; And a guide member that folds the ink sheet drawn out from the delivery core in the direction in which the take-up core is disposed, and supports the guide sheet in a direction in which the take-up core is disposed. An ink sheet holder configured to form a gap into which a thermal head of a line printer is inserted between an ink sheet supplied between the ink sheet and an ink sheet folded back to a take-up core side by the guide member; While exposing the sheet to at least a portion facing the thermal head, the ink sheet holder is so covered as to cover the sheet in the transport direction. It holds the and is characterized by comprising said ink sheet holder interchangeably cassette case which is integrally formed with the opening and closing a part with a joint according to the mold hinge.

According to the present invention, the take-up core and the delivery core are disposed adjacent to each other in the same space so that a pancake obtained by winding an ink sheet for the entire length can be stored. The entire shape of the ink sheet cassette can be reduced in size by partially using the space, and the number of parts can be reduced by forming the cassette case holding the ink sheet holder in a single member, The ink sheet holder can be easily exchanged by opening and closing a part of the ink sheet holder with a joint formed by a mold twist.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ink sheet cassette according to the first aspect, wherein a portion of the cassette case which is opened and closed by a mold arm of the cassette case and other portions are other portions. In this case, engaging claws as lock members are formed at respective positions opposed to each other when the holding member is held.

According to the present invention, the ink sheet holder can be easily and reliably held by the engagement of the engagement claws.

The ink sheet cassette according to a third aspect of the present invention is the ink sheet cassette according to the first or second aspect, wherein the cassette case has a tongue piece as a gripping portion formed by a mold twist. It is characterized by being integrally formed.

According to the present invention, the tongue piece can be stored in a folded state when not in use, and can be made to function as a grip portion by extending it when in use.

[0014]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink sheet cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, an ink sheet cassette 1 according to the present embodiment has an ink sheet holder 2 for supporting an ink sheet S so that the ink sheet S can be conveyed from the side, and the ink sheet holder 2 is mounted on a flat surface. And a cassette case 3 which is held so as to cover from the direction.

The ink sheet holder 2 has a substantially elliptical shape so as to rotatably support the take-up core 4 and the delivery core 5 around which the ink sheet S as a recording medium is wound from both ends. A formed wall portion (hereinafter referred to as a core housing portion wall portion) 6 and an ink sheet guide portion 7 which is a straight side portion of the elliptical wall portion 6 and extends toward the disposition side of the delivery core 5. A pair of cassette frames 9 including a straight arm-shaped wall (hereinafter referred to as an arm-shaped wall) 8 to be formed;
have. Between the arm-shaped wall portions 8 constituting the ink sheet guide portions 7 of the pair of cassette frames 9,
A plate-shaped ink sheet guide plate 10 for guiding the ink sheet to the take-up core 4 is formed so as to form a gap for running the ink sheet with a rear cassette case described later. And the arm-shaped wall portion 8
Is bent in a hook shape toward the side where the cores 4 and 5 are disposed, and a guide for folding the ink sheet drawn out from the delivery core 5 in the direction in which the take-up core 4 is disposed at the leading end thereof. A guide roller 11 as a member is supported, and a thermal head of a line printer is provided between the ink sheet S supplied between the delivery core 5 and the guide roller 11 and the ink sheet guide section 7. It is configured to form a gap 12 for insertion with the mounting base.

On the other hand, the cassette case 3 holds the ink sheet holder 2 so as to cover the ink sheet S at least in a portion facing the thermal head and to cover the ink sheet S in the conveying direction, and also uses a mold screw. The ink sheet holder 2 is integrally formed so as to be replaceable by opening and closing a part thereof with a joint.

In the present embodiment, the cassette case 3 is configured such that the front half surface where the gap is formed when the ink sheet holder 2 is divided in the extending direction of the ink sheet guide portion 7 is the gap 12. A front cassette case 3A that covers the formation portion of the ink sheet S so as to form an exposed portion, and a rear cassette case 3B that covers the entire rear half surface of the ink sheet holder 2 where the gap 12 is not formed. And a part of the front-side cassette case 3A and a part of the rear-side cassette case are connected to each other and are integrally formed by a mold screw (hereinafter referred to as an extending position of the ink sheet guide 7). When the ink sheet holder 2 is divided into two parts, the first half side where the gap is formed is called the front side of the ink sheet cassette, and the opposite side is called the back side. .

Here, the front-side cassette case 3A
As shown in FIG. 1, has a flat bowl-shaped cross-sectional shape that is substantially the same as the shape of the core housing portion wall portion 6 on the front half surface side, which is substantially elliptical. Further, the rear-side cassette case 3B
Has a substantially J-shaped cross-sectional shape in which the rear half surface side of the arm-shaped wall portion 8 and the core housing portion wall portion 6 constituting the ink sheet guide portion 7 are connected. 3
B molds an open end of the front cassette case 3A located on the side where the take-up core 4 is disposed and an open end of the rear cassette case 3B located on the same side where the take-up core 4 is disposed. It is integrally formed in a state where it is connected with an arm.

By thus integrally forming the rear cassette case 3B and the front casing 3A to form the cassette case 3 for holding the ink sheet holder 2 in a single member, the number of parts can be reduced. And assembly work is simplified. In addition, the ink sheet holder 2 can be easily replaced by opening and closing the front casing 3A (or the rear cassette case 3B), which is a part of the joint formed by the mold, in this embodiment. be able to.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, when the cassette case 3 is arranged along the cassette frame 9 by bending the joint portion by the mold strap, An engagement claw 14 as a lock member is formed at each position of the front cassette case 3A and the rear cassette case 3B, and the engagement claw 14 is engaged. It is configured to be held between the front cassette case 3A and the rear cassette case 3B.

As described above, the ink sheet cassette 1 of the present embodiment constituted by combining the ink sheet holder 2 and the cassette case 3 includes the winding core 4 and the sending core 5 in the core housing portion wall. 6 is arranged adjacently in the space formed between the cores 6, so that an ink sheet for the entire length, which had to be prepared in the peripheral area of each of the cores 4 and 5, conventionally, is wound. In this case, the space for accommodating the pancake can be partially used, and the ink sheet cassette 1 can be reduced in size.

Also, as described above, the positions of the cassette case that are opened and closed by the mold screw and the other portions that face the ink sheet holder when the ink sheet holder is held. By engaging the engaging claws 14 as lock members formed on the cassette case 3B and the cassette case 3A on the front side with each other, the ink sheet holder 2 can be easily held and fixed to the cassette frame 9. With this configuration, the cassette case 3 can be reused, and only the used ink sheet holder 2 can be replaced with a new ink sheet holder 2, and the operation can be easily performed. .

Further, in the present embodiment, when the ink sheet cassette is taken out from the mounting portion of the ink sheet cassette of the line printer, the tongue piece 15 used as a holding portion by the user is attached to one end face of the front side cassette case 3A. It is integrally formed by a mold arm.

In the present embodiment, the tongue piece 15 is formed integrally with a straight side portion of the front cassette case 3A, which is the front side when the ink sheet cassette 1 is mounted on the line printer, as shown in FIG. In addition, a V-shaped cut 16 is formed on the rear surface of the base, so that the tongue piece 15 can be stored in a state of being bent to the rear side when not in use, and function as a grip portion by being extended when used. You can do it.

In the ink sheet cassette 1 configured as described above, the front-side cassette case 3
The open end of the delivery core 5 of A is a delivery port for delivering the ink sheet S wound around the delivery core 5 to a recording position. The side edge is a winding port for guiding the ink sheet S provided for recording to the winding core.

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

[0028]

As described above, in the ink sheet cassette according to the present invention, the number of parts can be reduced by forming the cassette case of the ink sheet cassette into a single member by using a mold twist. The ink sheet holder can be easily exchanged by opening and closing a part of the cassette case with a joining portion formed by a mold screw. Also, the ink sheet holder is formed by engaging engagement claws formed at respective positions facing each other when the ink sheet holder of the cassette case is opened and closed by a mold screw and other portions of the cassette case when holding the ink sheet holder. Can be easily attached to and detached from
Furthermore, the cassette case can be reused by replacing only the ink sheet holder for winding the ink sheet, which is a consumable, and the reassembling operation can be easily performed. When the user collects the ink sheet cassette from the printer, the holding portion held by the user can be folded and housed as a mold arm structure, so that the space can be saved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an ink sheet cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing engagement between a front cassette case and a rear cassette case.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state where a tongue piece as a grip portion is extended.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a tongue piece as a grip is folded.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Ink sheet cassette 2 Ink sheet holder 3 Cassette case 3A Front cassette case 3B Rear cassette case 4 Take-up core 5 Sending core 6 Core housing wall 7 Ink sheet guide 8 Arm-shaped wall 9 Cassette frame 10 Ink Sheet guide plate 11 Guide roller 12 Gap 13 Mold twist 14 Engagement claw 15 Tongue piece 16 Cut

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink sheet pulled out from a delivery core, wherein a pair of a take-up core and a delivery core around which an ink sheet as a recording medium is wound are adjacently supported between a pair of cassette frames. Between the ink sheet supplied between the delivery core and the guide member and the ink sheet folded toward the take-up core by the guide member. An ink sheet holder configured to form a gap into which the thermal head of the line printer is inserted; and the ink sheet so as to cover the ink sheet in a transport direction thereof while exposing the ink sheet at least to a portion facing the thermal head. Hold the holder and open and close a part of the joint with the joint of the mold, so that Ink sheet cassette, wherein the cassette case is replaceably formed integrally a click sheet holder, in that it consists of. 2. An engaging claw as a lock member is formed on each of a portion of the cassette case which is opened and closed by a mold screw and another portion of the cassette case which faces when holding the ink sheet holder. The ink sheet cassette according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The ink sheet cassette according to claim 1, wherein a tongue as a grip portion is formed integrally with the cassette case by a mold.