JP2014046633A - Ink ribbon cassette for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ink ribbon cassette capable of preventing double jumping-out of an ink ribbon and large fluctuation of tensile force of the ink ribbon.SOLUTION: An ink ribbon cassette includes, in a casing including a cassette case and a cassette cover, at least a ribbon storage part and a ribbon driving part for circulating the ink ribbon, and has the following features (A) to (E): (A) exit walls are formed on both sides of the ribbon exit part of the ribbon storage part; (B) the exit walls form a space in a height direction in the cassette; (C) the ribbon storage part has a first bank and a second bank, and the first bank is disposed at a position nearer to the exit walls than the second bank; (D) the first bank and the second bank are arranged over the side wall of the printer head side of the ribbon storage part and the longer exit wall; and (E) the first bank and the second bank extend from positions facing the cassette case and the cassette cover.

Description

  The present invention mainly belongs to the technical field of an ink ribbon cassette that is used by being attached to an impact printer (also referred to as a dot printer).

  This type of conventional ink ribbon cassette 100A is configured as shown in FIG. That is, inside the cassette case 2A, a pair of ribbon take-up gears 3 and a driven gear 4 are rotatably provided, and a ribbon storage portion 6A is provided in the vicinity of the ribbon drive portion constituted by both gears 3 and 4. Is formed. A pair of arms 16 is formed in the cassette case 2A. The arm 16 is formed with a travel path 18 along which the ink ribbon 1 travels. A space 10 is formed between the pair of arms 16 into which a print head (not shown) of the printing apparatus enters when the printing apparatus is equipped.

The ink ribbon 1 that forms the main body of the ink ribbon cassette 100A is an endless ink ribbon that is endless or a seamless ink ribbon that is seamless. The ink ribbon 1 is folded in a zigzag manner and housed in the ribbon housing portion 6A, and is sandwiched between the gears 3 and 4 so as to pass along a predetermined ribbon travel path along the inner peripheral wall of the cassette case 2A. Equipped to be wound around. The pair of gears 3 and 4 are rotationally driven by a ribbon drive shaft (not shown) of the printing apparatus inserted into the ribbon take-up gear 3. The ink ribbon 1 travels to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. 2 when the pair of gears 3 and 4 are rotationally driven. The ink ribbon 1 travels to the front surface of the print head that has entered the space 10 with a predetermined tension applied by a leaf spring 17 provided immediately after the exit of the ribbon storage portion 6A. The ink is struck on the paper surface by the section, and the ink carried on the paper is transferred to the paper surface and printed.

In such an ink ribbon cassette, since the ink ribbon is folded in a zigzag and stored in a dense state in the ribbon storage portion, it is folded and overlapped due to the influence of the adhesiveness of the ink and the static electricity charged on the ink ribbon. In some cases, the ink ribbons adhere to each other at the part where they are pulled out of the ribbon storage part. If the ink ribbons are pulled out from the ribbon storage portion while being in close contact with each other, the close contact is released while the ink ribbon is running, and the ink ribbon is loosened, which may cause printing failure or running failure. Further, if the ink ribbon is traveled to the print head without being unwound while being in close contact with each other, the ink ribbon that is in close contact and overlapped between the print head and the print paper is pinched, resulting in poor travel. (Hereinafter, pulling out from the ink ribbon storage portion while the ink ribbons are in close contact with each other is referred to as double jumping.)

Therefore, conventionally, a protruding step portion called a bank is provided on the bottom surface of the cassette case and the inner surface of the cassette cover. At this portion, the height inside the cassette is made narrower than the width of the ink ribbon, and the ink ribbon passing through the bank is arranged in the width direction. Some forcedly deformed to eliminate double popping.

Conventionally, such a bank as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 has been used.

The bank 7A shown in FIG. 2 is provided across the side wall 20 on the printer head side of the ribbon storage unit and the outer wall 21 of the cassette case which is the end of the ribbon storage unit. Used in sets.

The bank 7B shown in FIG. 3 is provided perpendicular to the running direction of the ink ribbon 1 in the ribbon storage section 6B at the outlet of the ribbon storage section 6B, and is used in the ink ribbon cassette of Patent Document 3.

The bank-shaped ink ribbon cassette 100A as shown in FIG. 2 has a drawback that the tension of the ink ribbon 1 drawn out from the ribbon storage portion 6A varies greatly. The ink ribbon 1 stored in the ribbon storage portion 6A contacts the inner surface of the outer wall 21 of the cassette case serving as the end of the ribbon storage portion in a state where the subsequent ink ribbon receives a pressing force. Ink ribbon 1 is coated with adhesive ink. Therefore, the ink ribbon 1 may stick to the inner surface of the outer wall 21 of the cassette case. In this state, when the ink ribbon 1 is pulled out from the ribbon storage portion 6A, the tension of the ink ribbon 1 is greatly increased.

  In the bank-shaped ink ribbon cassette 100B as shown in FIG. 3, the ink ribbon 1 is temporarily blocked by the bank 7B, and the ink ribbons 1 are pulled out one by one from the bank 7B. For this reason, the ink ribbon 1 does not stick to the inner surface of the outer wall of the cassette case 2B.

However, in the bank-shaped ink ribbon cassette 100B as shown in FIG. 3, the area of the ink ribbon from both the gears 3 and 4 to the bank 7B is reduced. For this reason, in the ink ribbon cassette 100B, when an ink ribbon having the same length as that of the ink ribbon cassette 100A is stored, a ribbon jam easily occurs, and the force with which the ink ribbon 1 pushes the bank 7B increases. When the force with which the ink ribbon 1 pushes the bank 7B increases, double jumping easily occurs, and tension variation of the ink ribbon due to the ink ribbon 1 getting over the bank 7B increases.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-39968 JP 2000-272213 A JP 2012-24946 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cassette used in a printing apparatus that can prevent double jumping out of an ink ribbon without greatly changing the tension of the ink ribbon.

A first invention is an ink ribbon cassette that is detachably attached to a printing apparatus,
In a casing composed of a cassette case and a cassette cover, at least a ribbon storage unit that stores an ink ribbon in a folded state, and a printing unit and a ribbon storage unit of a printing apparatus while pushing the ink ribbon into the ribbon storage unit And an ink ribbon cassette having the following characteristics (a) to (e).
(A) It has an exit wall on both sides of the ribbon exit part of the ribbon storage part.
(A) The outlet wall has a space in the high direction in the cassette.
(C) The ribbon storage unit includes a first bank and a second bank, and the first bank is provided closer to the outlet wall than the second bank.
(D) The first bank and the second bank are provided across the side wall on the printer head side of the ribbon storage section and the longer outlet wall.
(E) The first bank and the second bank protrude from a position where the cassette case and the cassette cover face each other.

The second invention is the ink ribbon cassette according to the first invention, wherein the outlet wall portion has an inner height of 45% to 75% of the width of the ink ribbon.

In the third invention, the cassette inner height of the first bank portion is 70% to 90% of the ink ribbon width, and the cassette inner height of the second bank portion is 85% to 95% of the ink ribbon width. In addition, the ink ribbon cassette of the first invention or the second invention is characterized in that the cassette inner height of the second bank is made larger than the cassette inner height of the first bank.

  According to the present invention, there are outlet walls on both sides of the ribbon outlet portion of the ribbon storage portion, and the outlet wall has a space in the high direction in the cassette. For this reason, in the ink ribbon cassette of the present invention, it becomes difficult for the ink ribbon to stick to the outlet wall of the ribbon storage portion. Therefore, the tension of the ink ribbon drawn out from the ribbon storage portion does not vary greatly.

  According to the present invention, the first bank and the second bank are provided across the side wall on the printer head side of the ribbon storage section and the longer outlet wall. By providing two banks, it is possible to reliably prevent double jumping of the ink ribbon.

It is the top view which removed the cassette cover of the ink ribbon cassette which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and the cross-sectional shape of an exit wall, a 1st bank, and a 2nd bank. A plan view of a conventional ink ribbon cassette with a cassette cover removed, and a sectional shape of a bank. This is an ink ribbon cassette having a bank extending between the side wall on the printer head side of the ribbon storage portion and the outer wall of the cassette case serving as the end of the ribbon storage portion. A plan view of a conventional ink ribbon cassette with a cassette cover removed, and a sectional shape of a bank. An ink ribbon cassette having a bank provided perpendicular to the running direction of the ink ribbon in the ribbon storage section. It is a figure which shows the measuring method of the tension | tensile_strength of an ink ribbon.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments. FIG. 1 is a plan view in which a cassette cover of an ink ribbon cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention is removed, and sectional shapes of an outlet wall, a first bank, and a second bank.

The ink ribbon cassette 100 of FIG. 1 is the same as the conventional ink ribbon cassette of FIG. 2 except that it has an outlet wall 8, a first bank 7, and a second bank 15 shown below.
Exit wall 8:
It is provided on both sides of the ribbon outlet portion 19 of the ribbon storage portion 6 and protrudes from both the opposite positions of the cassette case 2 and the cassette cover 11, and there is a space in the high direction in the cassette.
First bank 7 and second bank 15:
In both the first bank and the second bank, the side wall 20 on the printer head side of the ribbon storage unit 6;
It is provided over the longer outlet wall and protrudes from a position where the cassette case 2 and the cassette cover 11 face each other. The first bank is provided closer to the exit than the second bank.

In the ink ribbon cassette 100 of FIG. 1, there is a space in the cassette high direction on the outlet walls 8 provided on both sides of the ribbon outlet portion 19 of the ribbon storage portion 6. Due to the presence of this space, even if the ink ribbon 1 stored in the ribbon storage unit 6 contacts the outlet wall 8, the ink ribbon 1 becomes difficult to stick to the outlet wall 8. For this reason, the tension of the ink ribbon 1 does not vary greatly. In FIG. 1, the outlet wall 8 is provided at both the opposing positions of the cassette case 2 and the cassette cover 11, but the outlet wall 8 is provided only on one of the cassette case 2 or the cassette cover 11. Also good.

The inner height of the cassette at the outlet wall 8 is preferably 45% or more and 75% or less of the width of the ink ribbon. When the ink ribbon width is less than 45% of the ink ribbon width, the ink ribbon 1 tends to stick to the outlet wall 8 and the fluctuation of the tension of the ink ribbon 1 becomes large. On the other hand, if it exceeds 75%, the ink ribbon 1 gets over the space of the outlet wall 8 and a running failure is likely to occur.

In the ink ribbon cassette 100 of FIG. 1, the first bank 7 is provided across the side wall 20 on the printer head side of the ribbon storage unit 6 and the longer outlet wall. Therefore, the area for storing the ink ribbon becomes larger than that of the conventional ink ribbon cassette of FIG. 3, and a long ink ribbon can be stored.

The first bank 7 is provided at a position where the cassette case 2 and the cassette cover 11 face each other in order to reliably release the ink ribbons that are in close contact with each other. The cassette inner height of the portion facing the first bank 7 is preferably 70% or more and 90% or less of the ink ribbon width, and more preferably 75% or more and 85% or less of the ink ribbon width. When the ratio is less than 70%, the resistance when the ink ribbon 1 passes through the first bank 7 increases, and the fluctuation of the tension of the ink ribbon 1 increases. On the other hand, if it exceeds 90%, the effect of releasing the adhesion of the ink ribbons 1 that are in close contact with each other decreases. In order to reliably release the close contact of the ink ribbons that are in close contact with each other, it is preferable that the first bank 7 is provided at least from the ribbon outlet portion 19 of the ribbon storage portion with an interval equal to or larger than the ink ribbon width.

  In the ink ribbon cassette 100 of FIG. 1, the second bank 15 is provided farther from the outlet wall than the first bank 7. Similar to the first bank 7, the second bank 15 is provided across the side wall on the printer head side of the ribbon storage unit 6 and the longer outlet wall. The second bank 15 acts to brake the movement of the ink ribbon 1 in the ribbon storage unit 6. For this reason, the force with which the ink ribbon 1 in the ribbon storage 6 pushes the first bank 7 is reduced. By reducing this force, it is possible to further increase the effect of releasing the close contact of the ink ribbon 1 that is in close contact, and the impact when the ink ribbon 1 gets over the first bank 7 is reduced. By reducing this impact, the tension fluctuation of the ink ribbon 1 drawn out from the ribbon storage 6 can be reduced.

  The first bank 7 temporarily dams the ink ribbon 1 to prevent double jumping. On the other hand, the second bank 15 applies a brake to the movement of the ink ribbon in the ribbon storage unit 6. For this reason, the cassette inner height of the second bank 15 portion is set larger than the first bank 7 partial cassette inner height.

The cassette inner height of the second bank 15 portion is preferably 85% or more and 95% or less of the width of the ink ribbon 1. If it is less than 85%, the effect of blocking the ink ribbon 1 becomes too great. On the other hand, if it exceeds 95%, the effect of braking the movement of the ink ribbon 1 becomes small.

  When passing through the second bank 15, the ink ribbon 1 is forcibly deformed in the width direction due to the cassette inner height of the second bank portion. After passing through the second bank 15, the deformation of the ink ribbon 1 is recovered and spreads in the width direction. However, if the distance between the second bank 15 and the first bank 7 is too short, the ink ribbon 1 may pass through the first bank 7 before the deformation of the ink ribbon 1 recovers and spreads. If the ink ribbon 1 passes through the first bank 7 before spreading, the effect of preventing the ink ribbon 1 from popping out twice in the first bank 7 is reduced. For this reason, it is preferable that the second bank 15 is provided at a position spaced from the first bank 7 at least by a ribbon width or more.

Specific examples of the present invention are described below. In addition, this invention is not limited by these Examples.

[Create ink ribbon cassette]
Ink ribbon cassettes of Examples 1 to 5 and Comparative Examples 1 to 11 were created under the creation conditions shown in the items of Table 1. Each ink ribbon cassette is the same except for the production conditions shown in Table 1. The ink ribbon used was a seamless ribbon fabric having a thickness of 0.12 mm and a circumferential length of 2.2 m. Further, the ink ribbon used was obtained by applying 0.19 g of ink to 1 g of the seamless ribbon fabric.

The following evaluation was performed on the ink ribbon cassette prepared as described above. Evaluation items and evaluation methods are as follows.

1.2 Double pop-out confirmation (visual evaluation)
In an environment of 40 ° C. and 85% RH, a driving force was applied from the outside to the ribbon take-up gear of the ink ribbon cassette, and the ink ribbon was run at 70 mm / second. The moving ink ribbon was photographed by video at a position immediately after the ink ribbon came out from the ribbon exit portion shown in FIG. The photographed image was confirmed, and the number of double jumps appearing in 30 minutes was confirmed.

2. Evaluation of tension fluctuation range The tension of the ink ribbon when the ink ribbon was pulled out from the ink ribbon cassette was measured at room temperature. The ink ribbon cassette was placed on a horizontal desk, and the ink ribbon at the ribbon outlet portion of the ink ribbon cassette and the needle of the dial tension gauge were connected via a thread and a W clip as shown in FIG. The dial gauge was moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4 at a speed of 20 mm / second, and the tension was measured while pulling out the ink ribbon. As the dial tension gauge, DTN-100 manufactured by Teclock Co., Ltd. was used, and the maximum value and the minimum value indicated by the dial tension gauge needle while the ink ribbon was pulled out 10 cm were measured. This measurement was repeated 5 times, and the maximum value among the maximum values and the minimum value among the minimum values were recorded in Table 2.

The evaluation results are summarized in Table 2.

1: ink ribbon 2, 2A, 2B: cassette case 3: ribbon take-up gear 4: driven gears 6, 6A, 6B: ribbon storage portion 7: first bank 7A, 7B: bank 8: outlet wall 10: (printing device) Space 11, 11A, 11B: cassette cover 12: ribbon take-up gear holder 13: driven gear holder 15: second bank 16: arm 17: leaf spring 18: travel path 19: ribbon (in the ribbon storage section) Outlet portion 20: Side wall 21 on the printer head side (of the ribbon storage portion): Outer wall 100, 100A, 100B of the cassette case (which becomes the end of the ribbon storage portion)

Claims (3)

An ink ribbon cassette that is detachably attached to a printing apparatus,
In a casing composed of a cassette case and a cassette cover, at least a ribbon storage unit that stores an ink ribbon in a folded state, and a printing unit and a ribbon storage unit of a printing apparatus while pushing the ink ribbon into the ribbon storage unit An ink ribbon cassette having the following characteristics (a) to (e), wherein a ribbon drive unit for circulating the ink ribbon is provided.
(A) It has an exit wall on both sides of the ribbon exit part of the ribbon storage part.
(A) The outlet wall has a space in the high direction in the cassette.
(C) The ribbon storage unit includes a first bank and a second bank, and the first bank is provided closer to the outlet wall than the second bank.
(D) the first bank and the second bank are a side wall on the printer head side of the ribbon storage unit;
It is provided over the longer outlet wall.
(E) The first bank and the second bank protrude from a position where the cassette case and the cassette cover face each other. 2. The ink ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein an inner height of the outlet wall portion is 45% to 75% of an ink ribbon width. The cassette inner height of the first bank portion is 70% to 90% of the ink ribbon width, the cassette inner height of the second bank portion is 85% to 95% of the ink ribbon width, and the first bank. 3. The ink ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the cassette inner height of the second bank is made larger than the cassette inner height.

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