JP2011046042A - Cartridge and tape printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cartridge which enables formation of a tape of a higher decorativeness by utilizing commercial decoration tapes of various kinds as a printing tape, and can enlarge an application range of a tape printing apparatus, and to provide the tape printing apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The cartridge 11 attached to a cartridge attachment part 7 of the tape printing apparatus 1 has a tape guide part 29 separable from an ink ribbon unit 27 that supplies an ink ribbon 25 to a printing part 15 of the tape printing apparatus 1. The tape guide part 29 includes a platen 45 which presses the ink ribbon 25 and the printing tape 43 supplied from outside to a printing head 17 of the printing part 15, and tape feed guides 47 and 48 which guide the printing tape 43 supplied from outside into the cartridge to the platen 45. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a cartridge and a tape printing apparatus that are detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a tape printing apparatus.

  Various tape printers that print characters and marks on tape have been proposed. The tape printing apparatus draws a printing tape from a tape cartridge mounted on a cartridge mounting unit, and prints characters and marks. Thereafter, the printed printing tape is cut into a predetermined length and discharged from the tape discharge port.

  There are many types of tape cartridges installed in such a tape printer depending on the material and color of the printing tape to be accommodated. In addition, as a tape cartridge, a ribbon-integrated type containing an ink ribbon used for printing together with a printing tape has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  In the case of a ribbon-integrated tape cartridge, various types of cartridges are prepared depending on the combination of the ink ribbon color in addition to the printing tape material and color.

  Therefore, by exchanging the tape cartridge, the type of printing tape or ink ribbon can be changed, making it possible to create a label with a different taste.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 06-122245

  By the way, even if various types of tape cartridges are prepared, the types of printing tapes prepared are limited. Compared to commercially available packaging or decorative ribbon tapes and wrapping tapes, there are few types of colors and materials. Therefore, to make label printing using a tape printing device more attractive, it is desirable to make commercially available packaging or decorative tapes available.

  However, since conventional tape cartridges are not designed to refill printing tapes, commercially available decorative tapes cannot be used.

In the existing tape cartridge, the platen roller that presses the printing tape against the printing head of the tape printing apparatus is positioned in the cartridge body on the assumption that the printing tape having a thickness within a specified range is used.
However, some commercially available packaging or decorative tapes have a thickness that exceeds the specified range of printing tapes in conventional cartridges. If a tape with a thickness outside the specified range is used, the contact pressure There is a possibility that printing failure such as running failure or ribbon breakage may occur due to non-conformity.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and can use various commercially available decorative tapes as printing tapes to realize label printing with higher decorativeness and use of a tape printing apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide a cartridge and a tape printer capable of expanding the range.

The present invention that can solve the above-described problems is a cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a tape printer, and presses a print tape supplied from the outside against a print head included in the tape printer. It has a tape guide part provided with a platen and a tape feed guide which guides the printing tape to the platen.
According to the above configuration, the print tape supplied from the outside can be supplied into the cartridge, and the print tape supplied from the outside into the cartridge is fed to the platen by the tape feed guide. For this reason, the user can easily replace the printing tape to be used, and a commercially available packaging or decorative tape can be used as the printing tape.
Therefore, it is possible to produce a printing tape with higher decorativeness by printing characters and marks on a commercially available packaging or decorative tape having an excellent design. For this reason, the utilization range of a tape printer can be expanded.

  Further, the tape guide portion can be separated from the ink ribbon unit that supplies the ink ribbon to the platen. For this reason, when replacing the printing tape, the ink ribbon is not erroneously operated, and the handling at the time of replacing the printing tape can be simplified.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the printing tape is further provided, and further includes a tape supply unit that supplies the printing tape to the tape guide unit.
According to the said structure, since the tape supply part which supplies a printing tape to a tape guide part is provided, the user can install the commercially available tape for packaging or decoration in a tape supply part. Since the installed tape is supplied to the tape guide and further guided to the platen, tape printing is possible even for commercially available printing tapes that were not used in conventional cartridges in which printing tapes and ink ribbons were integrated. Enables printing by the device.

Moreover, in this invention, the said tape guide part and the said tape supply part are integrally formed, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
According to the above configuration, since it is integrally formed, the user can easily attach and detach the cartridge to and from the tape printer.

Moreover, the tape printer of the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is a tape printer capable of mounting any one of the cartridges described above, and the print tape supplied from outside is supplied to the tape supply unit. A slit for guiding is provided.
According to the above configuration, the printing tape disposed outside the tape printing apparatus can be introduced into the cartridge mounting section through the slit provided in the tape printing apparatus, and the cartridge mounted in the cartridge mounting section. Can be introduced in.
And since a printing tape can be arrange | positioned outside a tape printer, the winding diameter of a printing tape is not restrict | limited to the magnitude | size of a cartridge mounting part. Therefore, even a commercially available packaging or decorative tape having a winding diameter that cannot be accommodated in the cartridge mounting portion can be used as a printing tape to create a tape with higher decorativeness. The range of utilization of the tape printer can be expanded.

Preferably, in the tape printer according to any one of the above, when the printing tape is not printed, the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon unit is not sent to the printing unit.
With such a configuration, consumption of the ink ribbon can be saved.

Preferably, in the tape printer according to any one of the above, the pressing force of the print head to the printing tape can be adjusted according to the thickness of the printing tape.
For example, the thickness of a commercially available packaging or decorative tape selected by the user as a printing tape is outside the specified range of a standard printing tape, and the pressing force of the tape on the cartridge side exceeds the appropriate range. Sometimes. Even in such a case, according to the above configuration, it is possible to increase or decrease the pressing force on the ink ribbon or the print tape on the print head side. For this reason, at the time of actual printing, the printing tape, the ink ribbon, and the printing tape can be kept in close contact with an appropriate pressing force, and stable printing can be realized.
In other words, high-quality tapes can be produced by performing stable printing even on commercially available packaging or decorative tapes having a thickness outside the specified range.

1 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of a cartridge and a tape printer according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view showing a state where the cartridge shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of the tape printer.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a cartridge and a tape printer according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  The tape printing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 has a cartridge 11 mounted on a cartridge mounting portion 7 provided on the upper surface 3a of the apparatus main body 3, and the printing tape and ribbon accommodated in the cartridge 11 are fed out to the printing tape. A device that prints characters and marks.

  A cartridge mounting portion 7 and a display portion 9 are disposed on the rear portion of the upper surface 3 a of the apparatus main body 3. An input unit 5 for inputting information such as characters and marks to be printed is disposed in front of the upper surface 3a of the apparatus body 3.

  The cartridge mounting portion 7 is a portion where the cartridge 11 of the present embodiment is detachably mounted. The display unit 9 is a part for displaying input information from the input unit 5 and a print layout, and a thin display device such as a liquid crystal panel is used.

Further, the bottom surface of the cartridge mounting portion 7 is a cartridge mounting surface 13. The cartridge mounting surface 13 is equipped with a guide shaft 14 for guiding the mounted cartridge 11 and a printing unit 15.
The printing unit 15 is provided with a platen drive shaft 16 for sending a printing tape accommodated in the cartridge 11 to a printing position, and a printing head 17 for printing characters and the like by a thermal transfer method. The upper surface of the cartridge mounting unit 7 and the display unit 9 is covered with an openable cover (not shown).

Further, the tape printer 1 of the present embodiment includes a slit 19 for introducing a printing tape from the outside into the cartridge mounting portion 7.
The slit 19 is an opening that allows the cartridge mounting portion 7 to communicate with the outside.

  Further, a tape discharge port 23 for discharging the print tape after the printing process is provided around the cartridge mounting portion 7. Further, a tape cutting section (not shown) for cutting the printed printing tape is provided around the tape outlet 23.

  The cartridge 11 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the tape guide 29 is separable from the ink ribbon unit 27 and the print tape 43 that is a commercially available packaging or decoration tape is installed in the tape guide. And a tape supply unit 53 that supplies the unit 29.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cartridge 11 and the ink ribbon unit 27 can be mounted on the cartridge mounting portion 7 independently of each other.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink ribbon unit 27 includes a ribbon reel 35 around which the ink ribbon 25 is wound in a ribbon unit case 33 having a head entry hole 31 through which the printing unit 15 enters, and a used ribbon ribbon 35. A take-up reel 36 for taking up the ink ribbon 25 is accommodated.

  In the ribbon unit case 33, the ink ribbon 25 drawn from the ribbon reel 35 passes through the front of the print head 17, wraps around the back of the print head 17, and is taken up by the take-up reel 36.

  In the cartridge mounting portion, a ribbon feed driving unit (not shown) for performing the operation of feeding the ink ribbon 25 from the ribbon reel 35 to the print head 17 and the operation of winding the used ink ribbon 25 to the take-up reel 36. ) Is provided.

  The ribbon feed drive unit includes a drive shaft that engages with the ribbon reel 35 and the take-up reel 36 when the ink ribbon unit 27 is mounted at a predetermined position of the cartridge mounting unit 7. When the drive shaft is driven in accordance with the printing process on the printing tape, the ink ribbon 25 is sent to the print head 17.

  In the case of the present embodiment, the ribbon feed drive unit is configured to stop driving of the drive shaft when printing on the printing tape 43 is not performed. Thereby, since the ink ribbon 25 in the ink ribbon unit 27 is not sent out to the printing unit 15, it is possible to suppress wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon.

  The tape guide unit 29 includes a platen 45 that presses the print tape 43 and the ink ribbon 25 against the print head 17 of the printing unit 15 in a tape unit case 41 that is detachable from the cartridge mounting unit 7 separately from the ink ribbon unit 27. And tape feed guides 47 and 48 for guiding the printing tape 43 supplied from the outside into the tape unit case 41 to the platen 45.

  The tape unit case 41 is provided with a tape supply unit 53 located outside the tape printer 1, a tape passage unit 51 through which the slit 19 is inserted, and a tape guide unit 29. In the cartridge 11 of this embodiment, the tape guide portion 29 and the tape supply portion 53 provided in the tape unit case 41 are integrally formed.

  The tape supply unit 53 rotatably supports a tape reel 55 around which the printing tape 43 is wound. The printing tape 43 drawn from the tape reel 55 supported by the tape supply unit 53 is supplied into the tape unit case 41 through the tape passage unit 51, and is supplied to the platen through the tape feed guides 47 and 48. 45. In addition, the diameter of the bobbin of a commercially available packaging or decorative tape has various sizes. For this reason, the tape reel 55 may be provided with an elastic member such as a spring so that the spring expands and contracts according to the size of the bobbin. Thereby, printing tapes of various diameters can be appropriately mounted on the tape reel 55.

  The platen 45 is a platen roller that is rotationally driven by a platen drive shaft 16 provided in the cartridge mounting portion 7. The platen 45 presses the print tape 43 and the ink ribbon 25 against the print head 17 to enable thermal transfer printing by the print head 17.

The tape unit case 41 is equipped with a cylindrical guide shaft fitting portion 57 into which the guide shaft 14 (see FIG. 1) of the cartridge mounting portion 7 is fitted.
The tape feed guides 47 and 48 are arranged close to the guide shaft fitting portion 57 so that the slack is removed when the printing tape 43 supplied into the tape unit case 41 contacts the guide shaft fitting portion 57. Has been.

  The platen 45 constituting the tape guide portion 29 is located in the vicinity of the tape discharge port 23, and the print tape 43 that has finished printing is discharged from the tape discharge port 23 to the outside.

  In the case of this embodiment, the print head 17 on which the printing tape 43 is pressed by the platen 45 is supported by a support mechanism 61 that can be displaced according to the thickness of the printing tape 43. The support mechanism 61 displaces the print head 17 relative to the platen 45 when the pressing force from the platen 45 fluctuates in accordance with the thickness of the print tape 43, so that the print head for the print tape 43 and the ink ribbon 25. It functions as a pressing force adjusting mechanism that maintains the pressing force of 17 at an appropriate pressure.

  That is, the tape printer 1 of the present embodiment can adjust the pressing force of the print head 17 on the print tape 43 according to the thickness of the print tape 43.

In the cartridge 11 described above, the print tape 43 can be supplied from the outside, and the print tape 43 introduced into the cartridge 11 from the outside is sent to the platen 45 by the tape feed guides 47 and 48. Therefore, the user can easily replace the printing tape 43 to be used, and in addition to the existing dedicated printing tape 43, a commercially available packaging or decorative tape can be used as the printing tape 43.
Therefore, by printing on a commercially available packaging or decorative tape having an excellent design etc., it is possible to create a tape with higher decorativeness and to expand the application range of the tape printer. .

  Further, since the tape guide portion 29 that guides the printing tape 43 to the platen 45 is separable from the ink ribbon unit 27 that supplies the ink ribbon 25 to the platen 45, the ink ribbon 25 is erroneously operated when the printing tape 43 is replaced. Therefore, the handleability when replacing the printing tape 43 can be simplified.

  The tape printer 1 described above includes the slit 19 into which the tape passage 51 of the cartridge 11 is inserted. By providing the slit 19, the printing tape 43 is guided from the tape supply unit 53 installed outside the tape printing device 1 to the tape guide unit 29 inside the tape printing device 1 through the tape passage unit 51.

As described above, since the printing tape 43 can be arranged outside the tape printer 1, the winding diameter of the printing tape 43 is not limited to the size of the cartridge mounting portion 7.
Therefore, even a commercially available packaging or decorative tape having a winding diameter that cannot be accommodated in the cartridge mounting portion 7 can be used as the printing tape 43.
That is, it is possible to realize tape printing with higher decorativeness by printing on a commercially available packaging or decorative tape having an excellent design, and the range of utilization of the tape printer 1 can be expanded.

In the tape printer 1 of the above embodiment, the pressing force of the print head 17 on the print tape 43 can be adjusted according to the thickness of the print tape 43.
For example, the thickness of the commercially available packaging or decoration tape selected by the user as the printing tape 43 is outside the specified range of the standard printing tape, and the pressing force of the tape by the platen 45 on the cartridge side is appropriate. Even when the range is exceeded, the pressing force on the ink ribbon 25 and the print tape 43 can be adjusted on the print head 17 side.
For this reason, the printing tape 43 and the ink ribbon 25 can be kept in close contact with an appropriate pressing force, and stable printing can be realized.
That is, it is possible to carry out stable printing even on commercially available packaging or decorative tapes to produce high-quality tapes.

In the above-described embodiment, the support mechanism 61 has been described as adjusting the pressing force of the print head 17 on the print tape 43, but it can also be adjusted by other methods.
For example, the pressing force may be adjusted by changing the diameter of the platen 45 provided in the cartridge 11. In this case, the platens 45 having a plurality of diameters may be prepared in advance so that the platen 45 having an appropriate diameter corresponding to the thickness of the printing tape 43 can be replaced.

  Further, the tape printing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment has a configuration in which the slit 19 is notched in the conventional tape printing apparatus, so that other parts are not changed, and the printing tape and the ink ribbon are integrated. Printing can be performed in the same manner as before by mounting the conventional cartridge.

In this embodiment, the tape guide unit 29 and the tape supply unit 53 are integrally formed, but the tape supply unit 53 may be a separate member separated from the tape guide unit 29. That is, the tape supply unit 53 and the tape guide unit 29 may be configured to be independently attached to the apparatus main body 3 of the tape printer 1.
Further, when the tape supply unit 53 and the tape guide unit 29 are formed as separate members, the tape passage unit 51 can be omitted if it does not hinder the introduction of the printing tape 43.

1: tape printer, 3: apparatus main body, 5: input unit, 7: cartridge mounting unit, 11: cartridge, 13: cartridge mounting surface, 14: guide shaft, 15: printing unit, 16: platen drive shaft, 17: Print head, 19: slit, 23: tape outlet, 25: ink ribbon, 27: ink ribbon unit, 29: tape guide, 31: head entry hole, 41: tape unit case, 43: printing tape, 45: platen 47, 48: Tape feed guide, 51: Tape passage section, 53: Tape supply section, 55: Tape reel, 57: Guide shaft fitting section, 61: Support mechanism.

Claims (4)

A cartridge that is detachably mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a tape printer,
A cartridge comprising: a tape guide unit including: a platen that presses an externally supplied printing tape against a print head included in the tape printer; and a tape feed guide that guides the printing tape to the platen.   The cartridge according to claim 1, further comprising a tape supply unit on which the printing tape is installed and supplies the printing tape to the tape guide unit.   The cartridge according to claim 2, wherein the tape guide portion and the tape supply portion are integrally formed.   It is a tape printing apparatus which can mount | wear with the cartridge in any one of Claims 1-3, Comprising: The slit for guiding the said printing tape supplied from the outside to the said tape supply part was provided. Tape printer.

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