JP2008238423A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder allowing easy attachment/removal of an ink ribbon cartridge at normal times and preventing the cartridge from being removed from or coming off a cartridge supporting portion simply even if a force of pushing a ribbon take-up shaft caused by a ribbon take-up roller or the like acts. <P>SOLUTION: In the recorder where a recording head mounted on a carriage is provided with a plurality of recording wires and an image is recorded on a recording medium through an ink ribbon from an ink ribbon cartridge 29 by projection movement of these recording wires, the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is provided with an engaging piece 61 sliding toward the supporting portion 26 of the ink ribbon cartridge 29 and engaged with a latching hole 26a in the supporting portion. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus provided with a mechanism for preventing an ink ribbon cartridge from being detached from or removed from a cartridge support portion.

  In general, a dot impact printer is known in which a recording head mounted on a carriage is provided with a plurality of recording wires, and an image is recorded on a recording medium via an ink ribbon by the protruding operation of these recording wires. In this type of conventional dot impact printer, a ribbon take-up shaft is fitted to a ribbon take-up roller provided in an ink ribbon cartridge, the ribbon take-up shaft is driven, and the ribbon take-up roller causes an ink ribbon to be driven. In general, an image is recorded by striking a recording wire on a recording medium via the ink ribbon while winding the image (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In the above configuration, the ink ribbon cartridge includes a stationary ink ribbon cartridge fixedly provided between a pair of side frames and an on-carriage ink ribbon cartridge mounted on a carriage. All of the ink ribbon cartridges support the ink ribbon cartridge in a detachable manner with respect to a cartridge support portion including a side frame or a carriage.
JP 2004-330516 A

However, in the conventional configuration, the ink ribbon cartridge support structure with respect to the cartridge support portion has a simple support configuration using, for example, a weak spring force in consideration of the ease with which the ink ribbon cartridge is normally attached and detached.
In this case, for example, in the ribbon take-up structure described above, when the ribbon take-up shaft pushes out the ribbon take-up roller due to occurrence of a ribbon lock or paper jam, the ink is resisted against the spring force of the support component. There is a risk that the ribbon cartridge may fall off the support. If this happens, it will adversely affect other equipment in the printer.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, and to easily remove the ink ribbon cartridge in a normal state, and to apply a force that the ribbon take-up shaft pushes the ribbon take-up roller. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus that does not easily fall off the cartridge support portion.

The present invention provides a recording apparatus that includes a plurality of recording wires in a recording head mounted on a carriage, and records an image on a recording medium via an ink ribbon from an ink ribbon cartridge by a protruding operation of these recording wires. The ink ribbon cartridge includes an engagement piece that moves toward a support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge and can be engaged with the support portion.
Further, the engagement piece may be slid to engage with the support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge.
In these inventions, since the ink ribbon cartridge is provided with the engagement piece that moves toward the support portion of the cartridge and can be engaged with the support portion, for example, the ribbon take-up roller is pushed out to the ribbon take-up shaft. Even if an excessive load is applied, the ribbon cartridge is prevented from detaching from or dropping out from the support portion.

In this case, the engagement piece of the ink ribbon cartridge is spring-biased so that the tip of the engagement piece protrudes outward from the side edge of the ink ribbon cartridge, The tip of the piece is pushed inwardly from the side edge against the spring force, and after being attached to the support part, the tip of the engagement piece protrudes outward from the side edge by the spring force. Then, the ink ribbon cartridge may be engaged with the support portion.
The support portion may be a fitting hole formed in the side frame.
In this configuration, when the support piece is mounted, the tip of the engagement piece is pushed inward from the side edge against the spring force, and after installation, the engagement piece is moved by the spring force. Since the tip protrudes outward from the side edge and engages with the support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge, the ink ribbon cartridge can be easily detached and the ribbon take-up shaft pushes out the ribbon take-up roller. Even if a strong force is applied, the cartridge is prevented from being detached or dropped.

In the present invention, since the ink ribbon cartridge is provided with an engagement piece that slides toward the support portion of the cartridge and can be engaged with the support portion, for example, the ribbon take-up roller is pushed out to the ribbon take-up shaft. Even when such an excessive load is applied, the detachment and dropping of the ribbon cartridge from the support portion are prevented.
In addition, when mounting on the support portion, the tip of the engagement piece is pressed inwardly from the side edge against the spring force, and after mounting, the tip of the engagement piece is moved by the spring force. If the ink ribbon cartridge is formed so as to protrude outward from the side edge and engage with the support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge, the ink ribbon cartridge can be easily detached and attached to the ribbon ribbon winding shaft. Even if a force that pushes out is applied, the cartridge is prevented from being detached or dropped.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a front appearance of a printer 10 according to an embodiment of a recording apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the printer 10, and FIGS. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure of this.
The printer 10 includes a recording head 20 that selectively ejects a plurality of recording wires, and a carriage 21 on which the recording head 20 is mounted. The recording wire ejected from the recording head 20 is a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a sheet). .) Is a serial dot impact printer that records an image including characters by hitting it. As shown in FIG. 2, this printer 10 is roughly divided into a printer main body 12, which constitutes a recording unit, a tractor unit 13, and a sheet guide 14. These upper and lower parts are as shown in FIG. Further, the upper case 15 and the lower case 16 are covered. The sheet includes a cut sheet cut to a predetermined length and a continuous sheet in which a plurality of sheets are connected. Examples of the cut sheet include a cut sheet, a copy paper, a passbook, and a cut film, and the continuous sheet includes a continuous sheet.

  The printer main body 12 includes a recording head 20, a carriage 21, and a platen 22 as a recording mechanism unit, and a plurality of conveying rollers 23 as a sheet conveying mechanism unit. More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the printer main body 12 includes a back frame 27, a platen 22, a carriage shaft 28, a plurality of roller shafts 23 a, and a tractor unit 13 between a pair of side frames 25 and 26. The carriage shaft 28 is provided with a carriage 21, and each roller shaft 23 a is provided with a conveyance roller 23.

  The conveyance rollers 23 are arranged in pairs in the vertical direction in front of and behind the printer main body 12 with respect to the platen 22 (some conveyance rollers 23 are not shown), and a sheet conveyance motor (not shown) and the motor The drive wheel train 41, which is connected and arranged outside the right side frame 26, is driven to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise in FIG. As a result, the sheet can be conveyed from the front (sheet guide 14 side) to the rear of the printer main body 12 and from the rear to the front of the printer main body 12. The sheet is orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the carriage 21. Is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction.

The carriage 21 is slidably inserted into the carriage shaft 28 and mounted on a timing belt 43 (see FIG. 3) mounted with a recording head 20 and driven by a carriage drive motor constituted by a stepping motor (not shown). Combined.
As a result, the carriage 21 is guided to the carriage shaft 28 via the timing belt 43 by the forward or reverse rotation of the carriage drive motor, and coincides with the axial direction of the carriage shaft 28 and the longitudinal direction of the platen 22. (Scanned). The recording head 20 includes a large number of recording wires (not shown), and drives these recording wires toward the platen 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, a stationery type ink ribbon cartridge 29 is detachably mounted on the printer main body 12, and the ink ribbon of the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is fed between the recording head 20 and the platen 22.
As a result, while the recording head 20 is traveling in the main scanning direction together with the carriage 21, these recording wires are projected and applied to the ink ribbon, and the ink on the ink ribbon is placed between the platen 22 and the recording head 20. An image containing characters is recorded on the sheet conveyed to the sheet. As shown in FIG. 3, a ribbon mask holder 51 is installed on the carriage 21, and the ribbon mask holder 51 is conveyed from the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon cartridge 29 in contact with the upper surface of the platen 20 ( The cut sheet or continuous sheet) is protected.

The tractor unit 13 supplies a continuous sheet to the sheet conveying mechanism, and includes a pair of left and right tractors 30 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, each tractor 30 includes a tractor drive pulley 30a, a tractor driven pulley 30b, and a tractor belt 31 wound around these pulleys 30a and 30b, and a tractor drive pulley by a drive mechanism (not shown). 30a is rotated and the tractor belt 31 is driven to convey the continuous sheet.

  In the recording operation by the recording head 20, while the recording head 20 is moved in the main scanning direction by the carriage 21, recording for one line is performed by ejecting a recording wire from the recording head 20, and recording for this one line is performed. Each time, the conveyance roller 23 (and the tractor unit 13) as the sheet conveyance mechanism unit conveys the continuous sheet for a predetermined length, and these operations are repeated.

Next, an ink ribbon winding mechanism will be described.
FIG. 6 shows the configuration of the winding portion of the ink ribbon stored in the ink ribbon cartridge 29. In this ribbon take-up unit, a ribbon take-up shaft 47 attached to the back frame 27 is fitted to a ribbon take-up roller 45 provided in the ink ribbon cartridge 29, and the ribbon take-up shaft 47 is driven to rotate. The ribbon take-up roller 45 is rotated to take up the ink ribbon. The ribbon take-up shaft 47 is driven by a ribbon drive mechanism (not shown). Although not shown in the drawings, this ribbon drive mechanism is driven using the power when the carriage 21 reciprocates, and the ribbon take-up shaft 47 is driven in both directions of movement of the carriage 21 using a planetary gear mechanism or the like. Then, the ink ribbon is taken up by the ribbon take-up roller 45 fitted thereto.

Next, a structure for preventing the ink ribbon cartridge 29 from falling off will be described.
In general, when the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is attached to the left and right side frames 25 and 26 (supporting portions), as described above, the ribbon take-up roller 45 is fitted to the ribbon take-up shaft 47, and as shown in FIG. In addition, the spring portions 129 at both end portions of the ink ribbon cartridge 29 are engaged with the pin members 126 provided on the inner surfaces of the left and right side frames 25 and 26 with a weak spring force. The reason why the locking force is a weak spring force is that the ease of attaching and detaching the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is taken into consideration.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, a pair of engagement pieces 61, 61 are provided at both ends of the surface of the ink ribbon cartridge 29 so as to be slidable on the surface. As shown in FIG. 7, the engagement piece 61 includes a slide portion 62 and a knob portion 63 that rises perpendicularly in a row and is connected to the slide portion 62 and the elastic portion 63 and extends. A spring portion 65 at one end of the body 64 is provided on the surface of the ink ribbon cartridge 29 and is locked to a base portion of a stopper 66 that rises in parallel with the knob portion 63. Then, the pair of engaging pieces 61 are biased by the spring portion 65, and the leading ends 61a of the engaging pieces 61 protrude outward from the side edges 29a of the ink ribbon cartridge 29. As shown in FIG. Locked in locking holes (supporting portions) 25a, 26a provided in the frames 25, 26.

In a state before the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is mounted, the engaging piece 61 is biased by the spring force of the spring portion 65, and the tip 61 a of the engaging piece 61 is outward from the side edge 29 a of the ink ribbon cartridge 29. It protrudes.
When the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is mounted, the knob portion 63 and the stopper 66 are pinched to apply a knob force in the direction indicated by the pair of arrows X, and the tip 61 a of the engagement piece 61 is resisted against the spring force of the spring portion 65. Then, it is compressed inward from the side edge 29a. This operation is performed by the user with both hands referring to FIG. Then, after the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position, when both hands are released, the tip of the engagement piece 61 protrudes outward from the side edge 29a by the spring force of the spring portion 65 of the engagement piece 61. As shown in FIG. 8, the left and right side frames 25 and 26 are locked in locking holes 25 a and 26 a.

  In the present embodiment, when the ink ribbon cartridge 29 is mounted, the engagement piece 61 is slid and the tip of the engagement piece 61 is locked to the locking holes 25a and 26a (supporting portions) of the left and right side frames 25 and 26. Therefore, even if an excessive load that pushes the ribbon take-up roller 45 acts on the ribbon take-up shaft 47 due to occurrence of a so-called ribbon lock or paper jam, the pushing force is blocked by the engagement piece 61, The ink ribbon cartridge 29 is prevented from falling off the left and right side frames 25, 26.

  The above-described embodiment is merely one aspect of the present invention, and can be arbitrarily modified within the scope of the present invention. For example, the engaging piece 61 is locked in the locking holes 25a and 26a of the left and right side frames 25 and 26. However, it is needless to say that the engaging piece 61 may be locked to another frame. Moreover, although the engagement piece 61 is slid, it is not limited to this, For example, you may make it engage with a support part by rotating an engagement piece, for example, and may prevent dropping. Furthermore, although the stationery type ink ribbon cartridge 29 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this, and the above embodiments can also be applied to an on-carriage type ink ribbon cartridge. In this case, the support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge becomes the carriage, and the engagement piece engages with the carriage.

1 is a perspective view showing a dot impact printer to which an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention is applied. FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a recording head, a carriage, and the like in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a frame configuration with an ink ribbon cartridge removed. It is a perspective view which shows the frame structure of FIG. 3 seeing from the tractor unit side. It is a perspective view which shows the state which mounted | wore the ink ribbon cartridge. It is sectional drawing which shows a ribbon drive mechanism. It is sectional drawing which shows the engagement piece of an ink ribbon cartridge. It is a perspective view which shows the engagement piece of an ink ribbon cartridge.

Explanation of symbols

10 Printer (recording device)
20 Recording head 21 Carriage 25, 26 Side frame 25a, 26a Locking hole 29 Ink ribbon cartridge 61 Engagement piece 62 Slide part 63 Knob part 65 Spring part

Claims (4)

In a recording apparatus that includes a plurality of recording wires in a recording head mounted on a carriage and records an image on a recording medium via an ink ribbon from an ink ribbon cartridge by a protruding operation of these recording wires.
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon cartridge includes an engagement piece that moves toward a support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge and engages with the support portion.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the engagement piece slides and engages with a support portion of the ink ribbon cartridge.   The engagement piece of the ink ribbon cartridge is spring-biased so that the tip of the engagement piece protrudes outward from the side edge of the ink ribbon cartridge. Then, against the spring force, the inner edge is pushed and shrunk inward from the side edge, and after the attachment, the tip of the engagement piece protrudes outward from the side edge by the spring force to support the ink ribbon cartridge. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the recording apparatus is engaged with a portion.   The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support portion is a fitting hole formed in a side frame.

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