JP2003191509A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that the degree of freedom is limited in the design of a printer because an ink ribbon cassette cannot be set/removed on/from the ink ribbon setting/removing passage when an ink ribbon sensor for detecting presence of the ink ribbon or the color type thereof is set oppositely to the ink ribbon, for example. <P>SOLUTION: The ink ribbon sensor 6 is movable freely between a retreat position not hindering setting of the ink ribbon cassette 3 and a position for detecting the ink ribbon while facing it. At the time of removing the ink ribbon cassette 3, the ink ribbon sensor 6 retreats automatically to the retreat position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus in which an ink ribbon cassette accommodating an ink ribbon is detachably loaded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a thermal transfer type printing apparatus having a thermal head, it is necessary to use an ink ribbon. This ink ribbon has a film-shaped base material coated with an ink layer, which is pressed against the medium to be printed by a thermal head, and the heat generated by the thermal head melts the ink layer and transfers it to the surface of the medium. Printing is performed.

This ink ribbon cannot be reused because the ink layer has fallen off in the part that has been used once, and the new part must always contact the medium during printing. Therefore, a long ink ribbon is wound around a bobbin and the ink ribbon is wound around another bobbin so that a new portion is always supplied.

Since the ink ribbon is extremely thin, if both bobbins are separately attached to the printing apparatus, it is difficult to attach or replace the ink ribbon. Therefore, we made an ink ribbon cassette with both bobbins housed in each casing,
The ink ribbon cassette may be configured to be attached to and detached from the printing device.

When all the unused ink ribbons wound on the bobbin are wound on another bobbin, the ink ribbon cassette must be replaced. Therefore, the printing apparatus is provided with an ink ribbon sensor that faces the ink ribbon in a state where the ink ribbon cassette is loaded in the printing apparatus and that detects whether or not all the ink ribbons have been wound up.

[0006]

In the printing apparatus in which the above-mentioned conventional ink ribbon cassette is mounted, it is necessary to provide the ink ribbon sensor as described above, but when the ink ribbon cassette is attached or detached, the ink ribbon sensor is set to the ink ribbon cassette. You have to make sure it doesn't get in the way. For example, in the one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 5-155123, the ink ribbon cassette is inserted into the main body of the printing apparatus in parallel with the ink ribbon take-up shaft and mounted, and is inserted into the bobbin of the ink ribbon cassette. A sensor is attached to the guide member.

In particular, when the ink ribbon cassette must be attached / detached in a direction orthogonal to the ink ribbon winding axis, the ink ribbon sensor must be provided at a position covered with the ink ribbon when the ink ribbon cassette is attached. Therefore, there is a problem in that the degree of freedom in designing the printing apparatus is significantly limited.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a printing apparatus in which the ink ribbon sensor does not interfere with the attachment / detachment even when the ink ribbon cassette must be attached / detached in the direction orthogonal to the ink ribbon. The task is to do.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, a printing apparatus according to the present invention has a pair of bobbins, and an ink ribbon wound around one bobbin is wound around the other bobbin. In the printing apparatus, the detached ink ribbon cassette is detachably attached, and the ink ribbon sensor detects that the ink ribbon is completely wound around the other bobbin at a detection position facing the surface of the ink ribbon. The ink ribbon cassette is detached in a direction approaching the ink ribbon sensor at the detection position, and the ink ribbon sensor is moved to a retracted position that does not interfere with the ink ribbon cassette in association with the detaching operation.

When the ink ribbon cassette is removed, the ink ribbon sensor moves to the retracted position so that the ink ribbon cassette can be removed from the printing device without interfering with the ink ribbon sensor, and in that state, another new ink ribbon cassette is printed. Can be attached to the device.

Although the ink ribbon sensor may be manually moved to the detection position after the ink ribbon cassette is newly attached in this way, the ink ribbon sensor in the retracted position is interlocked with the operation of attaching the ink ribbon cassette. The ink ribbon cassette may be moved to a position corresponding to the ink ribbon, and the ink ribbon cassette may be positioned at the detection position by interlocking with the print preparation operation performed thereafter, or the ink ribbon cassette may be interlocked with the operation of attaching the ink ribbon cassette. The sensor may be configured to move to the detection position. Further, it is preferable that the ink ribbon cassette is provided with a positioning portion for defining the ink ribbon sensor at a distance suitable for detection with respect to the ink ribbon.

[0012]

1 and 2, reference numeral 1 is a printing apparatus according to the present invention. The printing apparatus 1 is connected to a computer or the like (not shown), receives print data transmitted from the computer, and prints based on the print data. The medium 2 to be printed is wound into a roll and placed at the medium setting position 11. As the printing medium 1, the printing apparatus 1 has a long sheet having an adhesive layer coated on the back surface and further having an adhesive layer covered with a release tape, and a plurality of labels attached to the long mount at regular intervals. Select either the worn die-cut label to use.
Both this sheet and the die-cut label can be printed on a plurality of sheets having different width dimensions. In the present embodiment, printing is possible on media of two different width dimensions. When a medium having a narrow width is set at the medium setting position 11, the pair of pressing members 11a are moved inward so that the medium is located at the center.

Further, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the printer 1 is provided with a cover 12 which can be opened and closed, and a print head 13 is attached to the cover 12. Further, the ink ribbon cassette 3 is detachably attached to the cover 12, and the ink ribbon cassette 3 is covered with the cover 12.
The ink ribbon 3 of the ink ribbon cassette 3 when loaded in
1 is configured to cover the print head 13. An optical width sensor 12a detects the width of the ink ribbon 31 set according to the width of the medium 2.

On the front surface of the printing apparatus 1, a front panel 14 that can be opened by tilting forward is attached. The front panel 14 has outlets 15 and 16 opened vertically in two stages. When printing is performed on the sheet by the printing apparatus 1, the printed sheet is ejected from the upper ejection port 15. In addition, the sheet is a cutter 1 for each predetermined dimension defined by the content of printing and the setting of the margin amount.
It is automatically disconnected by 7. The cutter 17 has a disk shape and a cutting edge is formed on the entire circumference. Then, the cutter 17 is moved left and right by a motor (not shown) to cut the sheet.

When printing on a die-cut label and performing a label peeling process, the backing sheet is bent downward just before the upper discharge port 15 and is sandwiched by a pair of rollers 18a and 18b located in the front panel 14. It is sent to the outside from the discharge port 16 at the bottom. The roller 18a is attached to the main body side of the printing apparatus 1 and rotates freely. On the other hand, the roller 18b is attached to the front panel 14, and the gear 18c is attached to the rotating shaft of the roller 18b. Then, when the front panel 14 is closed, the gear 18c meshes with a gear (not shown) exposed on the main body side, so that the mount can be fed in the forward and reverse directions. The mount is the upper outlet 1 as described above.
Since the path is bent downward just before 5, the label attached to the mount is peeled off from the mount, and the upper outlet 1
It is discharged to the front through 5.

Reference numeral 6 denotes an ink ribbon sensor, which detects the presence or absence of the ink ribbon 31 and the color type of the ink ribbon 31. A roller 41 that can freely rotate is attached to the ink ribbon sensor 6,
When the cover 12 is closed, this roller presses the medium 2 pulled out from the roll against the transport roller 42 from above. The transport roller 42 rotates forward and backward at a predetermined speed by a motor (not shown). Therefore, the transport roller 42 and the roller 4
The medium 2 sandwiched between 1 and 1 is sent in the printing direction or the reverse direction according to the rotation of the transport roller 42.

Reference numeral 43 is a platen roller, which is a cover 12
When is closed, the print head 13 is positioned above the platen roller 43. The print head 13 has a cam mechanism 43.
It can be moved vertically by a. When printing is performed, the print head 13 is lowered by the pressure of the pressure spring 71, but when printing is not performed, the print head 13 is pushed up by the cam mechanism 43a and separated from the platen roller 43.

Reference numeral 51 is a medium sensor, which is a conveyance roller 42.
The presence or absence of the medium 2 between the platen roller 43 and the platen roller 43 is detected. Further, reference numeral 52 is a front end detection sensor which is located on the downstream side of the print head 13 with the cover 12 closed and which is a reflection type optical sensor attached so as to face the upper surface of the medium 2. In addition to the front end position of the medium 2, when the die-cut label is set as the medium 2, the front end of the label attached to the mount, or the rear end depending on the print mode is detected. Reference numeral 53 is a peel sensor, and when a die-cut label is set as a medium, the printed label is peeled off from the backing sheet leaving a certain length, and is ejected forward through the ejection port 15 at the upper portion. The label is detected. Further, reference numeral 54 is a mount sensor, which detects that the mount transported by being sandwiched by the rollers 18a and 18b is discharged from the lower discharge port 16.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the ink ribbon cassette 3 has a cylindrical bobbin 32 around which an ink ribbon 31 is wound in an initial state, and a bobbin 3 according to printing.
The same cylindrical bobbin 33 that winds the ink ribbon 31 wound around 2 is loaded in the cassette case 34. A pair of shaft members 32S and 33S are inserted on both sides of both bobbins 32 and 33, respectively. The shaft members 32S and 33S are exchanged and used with appropriate lengths so that they can be attached to the ink ribbon cassette 3 according to the width of the ink ribbon 31. This shaft member 3
The collar portions 32T and 33T are formed on the 2S and 33S, and the ink ribbon 3 is formed by these collar portions 32T and 33T.
1 is positioned in the width direction. In addition, these collars 32
Both T and 33T have openings 32a and 33a so that the winding amount of the ink ribbon 31 on both bobbins 32 and 33 can be visually checked from the outside.

Reference numeral 35 is a sheet metal reflecting plate for reflecting the light emitted from the ink ribbon sensor 6 and returning it to the ink ribbon sensor 6. The recess 36 is used for positioning the ink ribbon sensor 6.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, the ink ribbon sensor 6 is connected to the cover 12 via an arm 61 which is swingable about a pivot 62. An engaging portion 63 made of a spring plate is formed on the arm 61. In a state where the ink ribbon cassette 3 is not loaded in the cover 12, the ink ribbon sensor 6 is lowered by its own weight, and therefore, does not interfere with the ink ribbon cassette 3 when the ink ribbon cassette 3 is loaded in the arrow direction. However, when the ink ribbon cassette 3 is loaded into the cover 12, the cassette case 34 abuts on the engaging portion 63, and the ink ribbon sensor 6 is pulled up in association with the loading operation of the ink ribbon cassette 3. And the ink ribbon sensor 6
Moves to a position facing the reflection plate 35.

If the ink ribbon sensor 6 contacts the ink ribbon 31, the ink ribbon 31 may be damaged when the ink ribbon 31 is wound around the bobbin 33. Therefore, the engagement shaft 64 is attached to the ink ribbon sensor 6.
The engaging shaft 64 enters the recess 36 formed in the cassette case 34 and is positioned so that the distance between the ink ribbon sensor 6 and the ink ribbon 31 does not come closer than an appropriate distance. . Ink ribbon cassette 3
The ink ribbon sensor 6 moved to a position facing the reflection plate 35 in association with the loading operation of the cover 1
When 2 is closed, the roller 41 attached to the ink ribbon sensor 6 is urged toward the ink ribbon cassette 3 by being pressed against the transport roller 42, and the engagement shaft 64 enters the recess 36 and abuts against it, thereby detecting Be positioned in position. Also, the ink ribbon cassette 3
When detached, the ink ribbon sensor 6 automatically retracts to the retracted position shown in FIG. 6 by its own weight, and the ink ribbon sensor 6 does not interfere with the ink ribbon cassette 3.

By the way, the width sensor 12a has a relay flag 12 when the wide ink ribbon 31 is set.
The optical path blocked by b is positioned so that the collar portion 32T opens by pushing the relay flag 12b. Therefore, when the optical path of the width sensor 12a is opened, the wide ink ribbon 31 is set, and when the optical path remains blocked, the narrow ink ribbon 31 is set.

Referring to FIG. 8, the ink ribbon sensor 6 has a reflection type optical sensor 7 including a light projecting section 71 for emitting light and a light receiving section 72 for receiving the light emitted from the light projecting section 71. 3 are installed side by side. The wavelengths of light emitted from these three optical sensors 7 are different from each other. For example, each light emitting diode which emits light of three primary colors of light, red, blue and green is used in the light projecting section 71. There is. The light emitted from the light projecting portion 71 of each optical sensor 7 is applied to the ink ribbon 31, but the ink ribbon 31 is extremely thin. Therefore, most of the emitted light passes through the ink ribbon 31. The transmitted light is reflected by the reflection plate 35, again transmitted through the ink ribbon 31, and then received by the light receiving portion 72. If the ink ribbon sensor 6 including the three optical sensors 7 is used, the color type of the ink ribbon 31 can be discriminated.

That is, if the color type is different, the ink ribbon 3
Since the wavelength of the light that attenuates when passing through 1 is different, the color type of the ink ribbon 31 can be determined from the amount of light received by each optical sensor 7.

The ink ribbon sensor 6 has a light projecting portion 8
1 is provided with a reflection type ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 including a light receiving portion 82. This sensor 8 is the ink ribbon 3
In addition to the presence / absence of 1, it also functions as a ribbon end sensor that determines that the ink ribbon 31 has ended by detecting that all the ink adhered portions of the ink ribbon 31 have been wound up to become only a transparent base material. The ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 is arranged in the vicinity of the optical sensor 7 and receives the light reflected by the reflection plate 35 and performs detection, like the optical sensor 7.

Since the ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 needs to function as a ribbon end sensor as well, it is necessary to always detect it. In addition, a strong light amount and a high discrimination accuracy are required to discriminate the color type of the ink ribbon 31. The optical sensor 7 is installed separately from the optical sensor 7 because it can be detected by a low-precision sensor unlike the optical sensor 7. Further, the optical sensor 7 and the ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 are arranged in the vicinity of the central portion in the width direction so that the optical sensor 7 and the ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 can be detected even when any one of the ink ribbons having a plurality of widths is attached.

The medium 2 is formed by the printing apparatus 1 having the above configuration.
The operation of printing on the sheet will be described with reference to FIG. When print data including settings such as margins is received from a computer (not shown) (S1), the cover 12 is detected by a sensor (not shown).
Determine if is open. If the cover 12 is open, a message to that effect is displayed, and the process waits until the cover 12 is closed (S2, S3).

When the cover 12 is closed, the medium sensor 51 determines whether the medium 2 is set (S).
4). If the medium 2 is not set, the fact that there is no medium error is displayed and the printing operation is stopped (S5). If the medium 2 is properly set, then it is checked by the ribbon presence / absence detection sensor 8 of the ink ribbon sensor 6 whether or not the ink ribbon 31 is set (S6). The ink ribbon 3 which is wound around the bobbin 32 when the ink ribbon cassette 3 is not loaded or when it is loaded
When all 1s are wound on the bobbin 33, it is determined that there is an ink ribbon absence error, and further printing operation is stopped (S7).

If there is no abnormality in the above steps (S2, S4, S6), the bobbin 33 is rotated in the forward direction and a certain tension is applied to eliminate the slack of the ink ribbon 31 (S8). When the slack of the ink ribbon 31 is removed, the ink ribbon 31 comes into contact with the reflection plate 35 without a gap. In this state, the feeding of the ink ribbon 31 is stopped and the ink ribbon 31
Keeps pressed against the reflection plate 35.

Next, the optical sensor 7 of the ink ribbon sensor 6 determines the color type of the ink ribbon 31. The color type data included in the print data received from the computer or the like is compared (S9), and when the color type of the actually loaded ink ribbon 31 does not match the color type data, an incorrect color type ink ribbon is set. Since it has been done,
This is notified and the printing operation is stopped (S10).

When the color type of the ink ribbon 31 and the color type data match, it is checked whether or not the label is detected by the peel sensor 53 (S11). Since no label has been printed yet at the start of printing, if the peel sensor 53 detects a label, it is determined to be abnormal and the printing operation is stopped (S12).

When the above pre-print check is completed and there is no error, printing is started. As described above, the printing apparatus 1 can perform printing on a sheet and printing on a die-cut label. Therefore, the print mode is read from the print data received from the computer (S1
3) If the printing is for the sheet, the sheet printing process is performed (S14), and if the printing is for the die-cut label, the die-cut label printing process is performed (S15).

When the sheet printing process is selected, it is first checked whether the mount sensor 54 is in the detection state. If the mount sensor 54 is in the detection state, it is possible that the die-cut label is set by mistake or the sheet is set in the die-cut label mode.

Next, the tip detection sensor 52 is checked.
When the leading edge detecting sensor 52 is turned on, the sheet that is the medium 2 is pulled out from the roll, and the sheet covers the leading edge detecting sensor 52. Therefore, the conveyance roller 42 is reversely rotated until the leading edge detection sensor 52 is turned off, and the sheet is reversely fed. When the leading edge detecting sensor 52 is turned off, the leading edge of the sheet is located at the installation position of the leading edge detecting sensor 52, and therefore the backward feeding of the sheet is stopped and the printing process is started.

When printing a sheet, there are a cutting mode in which the cutter 17 cuts the sheet for each predetermined length and a non-cutting mode in which the sheet is not cut. If the non-disconnection mode is set, printing is continued until all the received print data is printed. Then, after printing all the print data, the label is conveyed until the last printed portion passes through the cutter 17, and the label is cut by the cutter 17 to end the printing process.

On the other hand, according to the print data input page by page, when the cutting mode is set to cut every page length, until the portion printed for one page passes the cutter 17. The sheet is fed and cut by the cutter 17, then the sheet is fed backward, the next page is printed again, and then the sheet is sent to the cutter 17 and the cycle for cutting is continued for the specified number of pages. Then, when printing of the specified number of pages is completed, the printed portion of the last page is the cutter 1.
The sheet is conveyed until it passes 7, and is cut by the cutter 17 to end the printing process.

When performing die-cut label printing, it is first checked whether or not label peeling processing is performed. The label peeling process is a process in which the mount is discharged from the lower discharge port 16, the label is peeled from the mount and discharged from the upper discharge port 15. In this label peeling process, the label is not completely discharged from the upper discharge port 15, and the printing process is temporarily stopped while a certain length of the rear end portion is attached to the mount. When the label discharged with a certain length from the upper discharge port 15 is picked up with a finger and taken out, the printing process is restarted and the next label is discharged again with a certain length left from the discharge port 15 again. The printing process is temporarily stopped.

If label peel processing is not selected,
The printed label is ejected from the upper ejection port 15 while being stuck on the mount. Further, it is possible to set a mount non-cutting mode in which the mount is discharged in a continuous state without being cut, or a mount cutting mode in which the mount is cut between the labels and the labels are discharged one by one.

In the mount cutting mode, after the printing of the first label is completed, the mount is conveyed and the front end position sensor 52 sets the rear end position of the label and the front end position of the second label. Detect. Based on the detected position, the conveyance is stopped when the cutter 17 comes between the printed label and the second label, and the mount is cut. The cut first label is discharged from the upper discharge port 15. When the cutting is completed, the backing sheet is fed back, and the second label is fed to the printing position based on the leading edge position of the second label detected by the leading edge detection sensor 52 during the backward feeding. Then, a series of operations such as printing on the second label is repeated. When setting the mount non-cutting mode or the mount cut mode,
If the mount sensor 54 is in the detection state, it is determined that the medium is set and the printing process is not started.

The die-cut label is attached to the mount at a fixed pitch. In the mount non-cutting mode, the pitch is input and the mount is conveyed at each input pitch for printing. Alternatively, it is possible to set a high-precision transport mode in which the leading edge is detected for each actual label and printing is performed based on the leading edge position.

In the mode of detecting the leading edge of each label, when the die-cut label which is the medium 2 is pulled out and set, the die-cut label is conveyed until the leading edge of the leading label is detected by the leading edge detection sensor 52. Since the leading edge detection sensor 52 is located on the downstream side of the print head 13,
When the leading edge detection sensor 52 detects the leading edge, the label has passed the print head 13. When the leading edge position is detected, the backing sheet is fed backward based on the leading edge position and the label is returned to the printing position. When the printing on the label is completed, the mount is conveyed until the leading edge detection sensor 52 detects the leading edge of the next label. When the leading edge is detected, the backing sheet is fed back and the second label is returned to the printing position and printing is performed.

In the peeling mode in which the label peeling process is selected, after the printing on the first label is completed, the label of the predetermined distance is detected while detecting the states of the mount sensor 54 and the peeling sensor 53. Transport and stop. This predetermined distance is the fixed length of the label regardless of the length of the label when stopped by the front end detection sensor 52 detecting the rear end position of the label and sending the set distance from the detected position. Is set so that it will remain on the mount. At this time, it is confirmed that the peel sensor 53 is turned on. When the label peeling process is selected, the mount is sandwiched between the rollers 18a and 18b, discharged from the lower discharge port 16, and the discharge route of the mount is changed to the rollers 18a and 18b side. It is detected by the sensor 54.

When the printed label is taken from the mount,
The peel sensor 53 is turned off. Since the distance between the peel sensor 53 and the leading edge detection sensor 52 is large, the leading edge of at least the second unprinted label has passed the leading edge detection sensor 52 at this point. When the peel sensor 53 is turned off, the transport roller 42 is rotated in the reverse direction, and after the printing of the first label is completed, the mount is fed back by the same distance as the predetermined distance at which the label was fed. During the reverse feeding, the leading edge of the label finally detected by the leading edge detection sensor 52 is detected as the leading edge of the second label, and the second unprinted label is conveyed to the printing position based on the leading edge position. Then, after printing on this unprinted label, a series of operations including the operation of transporting the mount for a predetermined distance like the above-mentioned first label is repeated.

The present invention is not limited to this embodiment. In the present embodiment, the ink ribbon sensor moves to a position facing the ink ribbon in synchronization with the mounting of the ink ribbon cassette and moves to the detection position by closing the cover, but it directly moves to the detection position in synchronization with the mounting of the ink ribbon cassette. , And the interlocking system can take any form. Further, in the present embodiment, the positioning portion formed on the ribbon cassette is a concave portion that engages with the engagement shaft of the ink ribbon sensor, but as long as it defines the distance between the ink ribbon and the ink ribbon sensor, another It may be in any form.

[0046]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the ink ribbon sensor moves to the retracted position when the ink ribbon cassette is removed, so that the ink ribbon sensor does not interfere with the removal when the ink ribbon cassette is removed. .

Further, when the ink ribbon cassette 3 is loaded, the ink ribbon sensor is interlocked and moves to a position facing the ink ribbon, so that it is not necessary to manually set the ink ribbon sensor to the detection position.

Further, when the ink ribbon sensor is located at a position facing the ink ribbon, the ink ribbon cassette is provided with a positioning portion for defining a distance suitable for detecting the ink ribbon, so that the ink ribbon can be detected at an appropriate position. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view with a cover open.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view with the cover closed.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a loaded state of an ink ribbon cassette.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a detection state of an ink ribbon sensor.

FIG. 8 is a partial perspective view showing the configuration of an ink ribbon sensor.

[Fig. 9] Printing process flow chart

[Explanation of symbols]

1 printing device 2 medium 3 Ink ribbon cassette 51 Media sensor 52 Tip detection sensor 53 Peel sensor 54 Mount sensor 6 Ink ribbon sensor 7 Optical sensor

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Mitsuhisa Kawakami             1234 Mate, Iwai City, Ibaraki Prefecture Canon N.             TC Corporation Iwai Factory (72) Inventor Kazuo Ochiai             1234 Mate, Iwai City, Ibaraki Prefecture Canon N.             TC Corporation Iwai Factory F-term (reference) 2C065 DA11 DA16 DA22                 2C068 AA02 EE57

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon cassette, which has a pair of bobbins and is configured to wind an ink ribbon wound on one bobbin on the other bobbin, is detachably mounted on the surface of the ink ribbon. In a printing apparatus including an ink ribbon sensor that detects that the ink ribbon has been completely wound up on the other bobbin at the opposite detection position, the ink ribbon cassette is removed in a direction approaching the ink ribbon sensor at the detection position. A printing apparatus, in which the ink ribbon sensor moves to a retracted position that does not interfere with the ink ribbon cassette in association with the removal operation. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon sensor in the retracted position moves toward a position facing the ink ribbon in association with the operation of mounting the ink ribbon cassette. 3. A positioning portion of the ink ribbon sensor, which defines a distance suitable for detection of the ink ribbon by the ink ribbon sensor when the ink ribbon sensor is at a position facing the ink ribbon, is provided in the ink ribbon cassette. The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the printing device is formed.