JP2001353915A - Ribbon cartridge and thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the thickness furthermore of a thermal printer arranged so that a ribbon cartridge incorporating a feed spool applied with a recording ribbon R and a spool for winding a used recording ribbon is loaded from a front opening. SOLUTION: A guide groove 11 for guiding a ribbon cartridge 6 to a specified position from a front opening is directed toward a thermal head 77 from an oblique direction. The ribbon cartridge 6 comprises a first case incorporating a feed spool, a second case formed separately from the first case while incorporating a winding spool, and a rotary fulcrum part 9 for guiding the ribbon cartridge 6 along the guide groove 11 such that it can be deformed freely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a ribbon cartridge for a thermal printer and a thermal printer.
In particular, the present invention relates to a technology in which a ribbon cartridge having a built-in supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding up a used recording ribbon is configured to be deformable and can be loaded from a front opening of a thermal printer device. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A plurality of recording sheets (preferably, special recording paper) are used detachably from a thermal printer.
Is loaded in a stacked state, a sheet cassette having a function of separating recording sheets one by one is loaded, and the recording sheet is conveyed to a recording section including a thermal head mechanism and a recording ribbon mechanism, and discharged after recording. Various types of thermal printers have been proposed.

According to this thermal printer, since the recording head does not travel, it is possible to place the printer vertically or horizontally, which is impossible with a head traveling type printer that performs recording while running an ink jet recording head, for example. That is, in the case of the recording head traveling type, since the head traveling direction is limited to the horizontal direction due to the influence of gravity, all models are placed horizontally on a horizontal plane.

On the other hand, the heat-generating portions are arranged at a predetermined pitch (for example, 20
According to the thermal printer using the (line) thermal head provided at 0 dpi), there is no head running portion as described above and there is no restriction on the installation position, so that a handy type portable model has been put to practical use. I have.

In addition, since a personal computer to which a thermal printer is connected can be used in a vertically installed state adjacent to a main unit, a recording ribbon and a take-up spool are integrally built in addition to the above-mentioned sheet cassette. By configuring the ribbon cartridge so that it can be loaded or detached from the front opening of the thermal printer, the installation area can be minimized and a thermal printer in which other devices can be installed adjacently can be provided. Are known.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of a thermal printer which can be used in a vertical position.

In FIG. 1, a housing 150 has a front opening 1.
A sheet cassette 5 is set from the front opening 104, and is sequentially picked up from the uppermost recording sheet by a pickup roller provided to face the sheet cassette, and is conveyed downstream. After recording is performed in a recording section including the recording sheet 77, a recording ribbon, and a platen roller, the recording sheet is discharged onto the lid of the sheet cassette.

Further, a ribbon cartridge 10 shown by a broken line
6 is inserted through the front opening 104 in the direction of the arrow, and set at the position shown by the solid line. When the ribbon cartridge 106 is set, the guide member 111 guides the ribbon cartridge 106 linearly. To guide and insert the convex portion 106a formed on the side surface of the thermal head 77, the thermal head 77 is rotated to the position shown by the broken line and held at the evacuation position where it does not interfere, and is rotated to the position shown by the solid line after loading. It is conceivable to make it drive.

[0009]

However, according to the thermal printer configured as described above, when the ribbon cartridge 106 is set, it is guided and inserted by the guide member 111 which guides the ribbon linearly. The thermal head 77 requires a rotation stroke at least as large as the thickness of the ribbon cartridge. For this reason, the width dimension W of the housing 150 must be equal to or larger than the above-mentioned rotation stroke, and further thinning cannot be realized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and separates a ribbon cartridge having a supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a winding spool which winds a used recording ribbon. An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cartridge for a thermal printer and a thermal printer, which can be formed and deformable so that the thermal printer can be loaded from a front opening of the thermal printer, thereby realizing further thinning.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, according to the present invention, in a ribbon cartridge for a thermal printer including a supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding up a used recording ribbon, the ribbon cartridge comprises:
A first case containing the supply spool, and a second case containing the take-up spool;
And the second case are formed separately, and are configured to be freely deformable at a connecting portion connecting the first case and the second case.

Further, the connection portion is characterized in that the first case and the second case are rotatably provided at a pivot point.

[0013] The connection portion is characterized in that the first case and the second case are provided so as to be deformable via an elastic member.

Then, a ribbon cartridge containing a supply spool around which the recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding up the used recording ribbon is loaded from the front opening of the apparatus, and an intermediate portion of the recording ribbon is inserted into the thermal head. The recording sheet is set at a predetermined position to be in a stretched state with respect to the heat generating unit, and a recording sheet stored in a sheet cassette is loaded from the front opening, and is conveyed to the recording ribbon in the stretched state. In a thermal printer that maintains the recording sheet in a biased state and energizes the heat generating section in synchronization with a recording sheet conveyance operation, a guide unit that guides the ribbon cartridge from the front opening to the predetermined position, The supply spool is formed so as to be directed toward the thermal head from an oblique direction, and the supply spool is arranged along the guide means. The ribbon cartridge, which is formed separately from the stored first case and the second case containing the take-up spool, is freely deformable at a connection portion connecting the first case and the second case. It is characterized in that it can be loaded into

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a thermal printer 2 installed on a desk together with a personal computer 1, and shows a state in which a sheet cassette 5 and a ribbon cartridge 6 are loaded from a front opening 4 of the thermal printer 2. I have.

In FIG. 1, a thermal printer 2 is formed in a flat box shape having a width W as shown in the figure, and has a bottom surface 2a mounted on an installation surface A on a desk and a main body of the personal computer 1. A front wall having a front opening 4 and an operation panel 3 formed obliquely from the front to the ceiling. . For this reason, when the printer is set vertically as shown in the figure, it can be installed on the minimum required installation surface A, and both the sheet cassette 5 and the ribbon cartridge 6 required for the printer operation are installed. It is configured so that it can be individually set in the direction of the arrow from the front side. Although not shown, it is designed so that both the sheet cassette 5 and the ribbon cartridge 6 can be attached to and detached from the front side even when the paper cassette is placed horizontally.

According to the conventional thermal printer, the sheet cassette 5 can be attached and detached from the front, but the ribbon cartridge 6 can be attached and detached from the side, so that a space is secured on the side. When the ribbon cartridge is attached / detached, there are restrictions on installation conditions such as moving the entire cartridge.

The ribbon cartridge 6 has a first case 7 containing a supply spool shown by a broken line, and a second case 8 containing a take-up spool shown by a broken line and formed separately from the first case 7. And a pair of elastic members 15 for connecting them. After being inserted in the oblique lateral direction from the front opening 4 with the grip portion 12 being gripped, it is moved and set diagonally.

Next, FIG. 2A is an external perspective view of the ribbon cartridge 6, and FIG. 2B is an external perspective view of the ribbon cartridge 6 showing a state of being loaded into a thermal printer.

First, in FIG. 2A, the ribbon cartridge 6 has a first case in which a supply spool R1 around which a recording ribbon R is wound around a shaft (not shown) is rotatably held so as to apply a braking force after being loaded. And a second case 8 having a built-in take-up spool R2 for taking up the used recording ribbon on a shaft that is to be turned after loading. These cases are injection-molded using a predetermined resin material, and a pair of extending portions 7a and 8a are continuously formed from each case as shown in the figure, and the thermal printer side shown in FIG. The first case 7 and the second case 8 can be relatively rotated in the direction of the arrow D2 when being inserted and guided in the direction of the arrow D1 along the guide groove 11 formed in the first direction. A rotation fulcrum 9 serving as a connecting portion is formed at a joint between the pair of extending portions 7a and 8a.

These rotation fulcrum portions 9 are formed so as to partly protrude outward, and together with the protruding portions 10 formed on the extending portions 7a and 8a, hold the engagement state with the guide groove 11. It is deformably loaded.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the components already described and the description is omitted. A part of the sheet cassette 5 is set in the front opening 4 by sneaking in and the recording sheet S is set by the pickup roller 21. The sheet is conveyed by rollers 24 and 25 to a recording section including a thermal line head 77 and a platen roller 26.

In the sheet cassette 5, recording sheets S including, for example, about 15 sheets of A5 size plain paper having a predetermined stiffness are contained in a stacked state, and the sheet located at the uppermost position is stored. The recording sheet S is sequentially conveyed to the above-described recording section, and the recording sheet S is discharged onto a lid above the sheet cassette 5.

The thermal head is inserted by inserting the ribbon cartridge 6 shown by the broken line in the direction of the arrow through the front opening 4 and setting it at the position shown by the solid line along the guide groove 11 shown by the broken line. The width dimension W of the housing can be reduced by reducing the stroke L to the retracted position where no interference occurs by rotating the stroke 77 to the position shown by the broken line.

In the construction described above, the ribbon cartridge 6 is set on the recording section, and the line thermal head 7
The recording can be performed such that the recording medium 7 is positioned on the platen roller 26 via the recording ribbon R built in the ribbon cartridge 6.

The ribbon cartridge 6 described with reference to FIG.
Is set similarly by deforming the elastic member 15 along the guide groove 11.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described configuration, and it is needless to say that various configurations are possible. For example, the shape of the guide groove is not limited to the above-mentioned curved shape, but may be linearly extended halfway. The guide may be provided so as to follow the thermal head below the thermal head. Further, the recording sheet size can be applied to other than A5 size, and when monochrome recording is performed in addition to color recording, the present invention is also applicable to a ribbon cartridge incorporating a protective film for forming a protective film.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A ribbon cartridge containing a supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding up a used recording ribbon are formed separately and made deformable, so that they can be loaded from the front opening of the thermal printer device. By that
It is possible to provide a ribbon cartridge for a thermal printer and a thermal printer that can be further reduced in thickness.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a thermal printer 2 installed on a desk together with a personal computer 1. FIG.

2A is an external perspective view of the ribbon cartridge 6, and FIG. 2B is an external perspective view of the ribbon cartridge 6 showing a state of being loaded into a thermal printer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of a thermal printer that can be used in a vertically placed state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Personal computer 2 Thermal printer 3 Operation panel 4 Front opening part 5 Sheet cassette 6 Ribbon cartridge 7 First case 8 Second case 9 Rotation fulcrum part 10 Convex part (guide means) 11 Guide groove (guide means)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A ribbon cartridge for a thermal printer, which includes a supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding a used recording ribbon, wherein the ribbon cartridge includes a first spool having the supply spool therein. And a second case incorporating the take-up spool, wherein the first case and the second case are separately formed, and the first case and the second case are provided. A ribbon cartridge, which is configured so as to be freely deformable at a connection portion for connecting the ribbon cartridge. 2. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the connection portion rotatably provides the first case and the second case at a rotation fulcrum. 3. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the connection portion is provided with the first case and the second case deformable via an elastic member. 4. A ribbon cartridge incorporating a supply spool around which a recording ribbon is wound and a take-up spool for winding up a used recording ribbon is loaded from a front opening of the apparatus.
The middle part of the recording ribbon is set at a predetermined position for extending the heat generating portion of the thermal head, and a recording sheet stored in a sheet cassette is loaded from the front opening, and the recording in the extended state is performed. A thermal printer that conveys the ribbon cartridge from the front opening to the ribbon, maintains the heat generating portion in a biased state with respect to the recording sheet, and energizes the heat generating portion in synchronization with a recording sheet conveying operation. A guide means for guiding to a predetermined position is formed in a shape going obliquely toward the thermal head, and includes a first case having the supply spool built therein along the guide means, and having the winding spool built therein. The ribbon cartridge formed separately from the second case,
A thermal printer, characterized in that it is configured so as to be freely deformable in a connection portion connecting the first case and the second case.