JP2571207Y2 - Thermal transfer ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer ribbon cassette for printing with a thermal transfer printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to perform printing with a thermal transfer printer, a cassette is mounted on the printer, a take-up core is connected to a driving device of the printer and rotated, and a ribbon is fed from the pay-out core, and the ribbon is fed at an external printing position. Printing and winding were performed on the take-up core. However, when the printer was stopped, an inertia was activated, an extra ribbon was fed out, and the ribbon was sagged, which sometimes hindered printing. Therefore,
However, in order to reduce costs due to recent price competition, there has been a growing demand for omitting the brake mechanism on the printer side and providing a brake mechanism on the cassette side.

[0003]

However, a complicated braking mechanism cannot be attached to the ribbon cassette, and a simple structure may cause the braking force to be biased to a part of the core or become too strong. Therefore, there is a drawback that a load is imposed on the driving side of the printer. The present invention has been made to remedy these drawbacks, that is, a simple structure, while uniformly applying a braking force to the payout core,
The thermal transfer ribbon cassette is provided with a moderately adjusted braking force that is not excessively strong so as not to impose a load on the drive side of the printer, thereby preventing excess ribbon from being fed out from the feeding core side and ribbon slack. For the purpose of providing.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a thermal transfer ribbon cassette comprising a case, a lid, a pay-out core and a take-up core rotatably supported by the case and the lid. A thermal transfer ink ribbon wound around the payout core and wound around the take-up core via an external printing portion, and a tension member, and a holding portion is provided at a position corresponding to the payout core of the lid, and a spring is provided in the holding portion. The tension member is inserted into the tension member, and one end of the extension core is pressed circumferentially by the tension member by the elastic force of the spring member, and the material of the extension core is changed to the tension portion.
Material with a coefficient of friction smaller than that of the material
The core was made of a material having a lower hardness than the tension member .

In the present invention, a locking projection provided on a tension member is movable and can be locked in an elongated hole provided in an axial direction of the holding portion , so that a spring member and a tension member are mounted in the holding member. So that it can always be moved .
Then, the operation becomes smoother. The tension member may be pressed against one end of the pay-out core on the end face or the step of the pay-out core, or may be continuous or discontinuous.

[0006]

When the ribbon cassette of the present invention is mounted on a printer, the tension member always presses one end of the payout core circumferentially by a spring member to uniformly apply tension, and the payout core has a smaller coefficient of friction than the tension member. This prevents excessive ribbon feeding and ribbon slack from the feeding core even if rotation of the take-up core is stopped, and also improves slippage and can be adjusted to an appropriate braking force. No excessive force is applied. The adjustment of the braking force can be achieved by selecting an optimal spring member.

In the case where the ribbon is exchanged many times for one cassette (especially a wide industrial ribbon, etc.), in the present invention, since the spring member and the tension member are always held in the holding portion, the tension member, etc. Only the core around which the ribbon is wound can be replaced, and the unreeling core is made of a material having a lower hardness than the tension member. The spring member can be held as it is, and only the ribbon and the core can be replaced many times.

[0008]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention with the lid removed, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of the holding unit in an assembled state of the embodiment, and FIG.
And FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal transfer ribbon cassette 1 comprises a case 2, a cover 3, a feeding core 4 rotatably supported by the case 2 and the cover 3, and a winding core 5. The wide thermal transfer ink ribbon 6 for industrial use is disposed so as to be wound around the payout core 4, and then wound around the take-up core 5 via an external printing portion 7. The cores 4 and 5 are made of a styrene resin mixed with silicon, but may be formed of a resin mixed with molybdenum disulfide or fluorine.

The lid 3 is provided with a hole 8 at a position corresponding to the take-up core 5 and a holding portion 9 having a bottomed cylindrical shape projecting upward at a position corresponding to the feeding core 4. An inner cylinder 10 is vertically provided at a bottom of the inner cylinder 10, and three long holes 11 in the axial direction having a locking portion at a lower end are provided on the inner cylinder 10 at equal intervals. A tension member 14 comprising a disk portion 12 and a cylindrical upright portion 13 is inserted into the holding portion 9 so as to be movable in the axial direction, and a coil spring is provided between the tension member 14 and the upper bottom portion of the holding portion 9.
Insert the disk part 12 while popping out the disk part 12 and extend the disk part 12
Is constantly pressed circumferentially against the upper end surface. Also,
At the tip of the upright portion 13, three locking projections 16 that can be inserted into the elongated hole 11 and can be locked are provided, and the inner peripheral surface of the upright portion 13 is slid on the outer peripheral surface of the leading end of the inner cylinder 10. It is movably attached. The tension member 14 is formed of a polycarbonate resin.

When the ribbon cassette of this embodiment is mounted on a printer and driven, the take-up core 5 rotates to draw out the thermal transfer ink ribbon 6 from the pay-out core 4, prints at an external print location 7, and prints the image onto the take-up core. It is wound. At this time, since the tension member 14 constantly presses the end face of the payout core 4 circumferentially by the elastic force of the coil spring 15 to apply tension, even if the rotation of the take-up core 5 is stopped, the extra force from the payout core 4 is obtained. The ribbon 6 is not paid out. Further, since the feeding core 4 is made smaller than the friction coefficient of the tension member 14, and the feeding core 4 is pressed uniformly by the tension member 14, the coil spring 15 is pressed by selecting a slightly stronger one. However, since the slippage is good and the biased force is not applied to the feeding core 4,
There is no burden on the drive unit on the printer side. The pressing force can be freely adjusted by changing the coil spring 15.

In this embodiment, since the tension member 14 is movable together with the coil spring 15 in the holding portion 9 of the lid 3 and is integrally held, the ribbon replacement is performed many times (in the case of an industrial wide width, (About 30 times) can be handled only by opening and closing the lid. Further, since the payout core 4 is made of a material having a lower hardness than the tension member 14, the payout core 4 to be replaced each time the ribbon is replaced with the ribbon among the two members 4 and 14 that continuously rubs is immediately damaged, but is not replaced. 14 hardly hurts and can withstand repeated use. Further, the bit spring from the printer can be absorbed by the coil spring 15.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, an elongated hole 11 is provided in the outer peripheral portion without providing an inner cylinder in the holding portion 9, and a locking projection 16 corresponding to the elongated hole 11 in the outer peripheral portion is provided in the tension member 14. Other configurations and operations are the same as those of the embodiment of FIGS.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a step 17 is provided at the upper end of the feeding core 4 and a disc portion of the tension member 14 is provided.
A center hole 18 is provided in the center 12, and the lower surface of the periphery of the center hole 18 is fed out and pressed against the step 17 of the core 4 by the elastic force of the coil spring 15, and the core is fed out by a holder 19 provided on the bottom surface of the lid 3. 4 is held at the upper end, and other configurations and operations are the same as those of the embodiment of FIG.

[0014]

According to the present invention, the present invention has a simple structure, a uniform braking force applied to the feeding core, and a moderately adjusted braking force which is not too strong. In a state where no load is applied to the drive side,
The thermal transfer ribbon cassette can prevent the excess ribbon from being fed out from the feeding core side and the ribbon from sagging. When the ribbon is exchanged many times for one cassette (especially a wide industrial ribbon, etc.), only the ribbon and the core can be exchanged while the tension member and the spring member are held on the lid. In addition, even if the core to be replaced is damaged, the tension member is less likely to be damaged, and the thermal transfer ribbon cassette can be replaced many times with the ribbon and core only while the tension member and the spring member are held as they are.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention with a lid removed.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a holding unit in a state where the embodiment is assembled.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal transfer ribbon cassette 2 Case 3 Lid 4 Feeding core 5 Take-up core 6 Thermal transfer ink ribbon 7 Printing location 9 Holder 11 Long hole 14 Tension member 15 Spring member 16 Locking protrusion

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A case (2), a cover (3), a pay-out core (4) and a take-up core (5) rotatably supported by the case (2) and the cover (3), and pay-out. A thermal transfer ink ribbon (6) wound around a core (4) and wound around a take-up core (5) via an external printing portion (7); a tension member (14); and a lid (3) A holding portion (9) is provided at a position corresponding to the feeding core (4), and a spring member (15) and a tension member (14) are inserted into the holding portion (9), so that the feeding core (4) is formed.
Together to press circumferentially with tension member (14) by the elastic force of the one end of the spring member (15), feeding co
A) The material of (4) is changed from the tension member (14) to the friction coefficient.
A thermal transfer ribbon cassette made of a material having a small size . 2. A case (2), a lid (3), and a case
Feeding core rotatably supported on (2) and lid (3)
(4) and take-up core (5) and pay-out core
Winded around (4) and wound through an external print location (7)
Thermal transfer ink ribbon wound on take-up core (5)
(6) and a tension member (14), and a lid
(3) Holder at a location corresponding to the payout core (4)
(9) is provided, and the spring member (15) and the
Insert the core member (4)
Is tensioned by the elastic force of the spring member (15).
With the member (14) pressed circumferentially,
A) The material of (4) is lower in hardness than the tension member (14).
The thermal transfer ribbon cassette, which is made of a suitable material .