JP2587453Y2 - Two-stage bidirectional ink ribbon take-up mechanism - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial applications]

[0001] The present invention relates to a mechanism for winding an ink ribbon, which is used in a time recorder or the like, in which an ink ribbon is rotated in both directions to perform printing and two-color printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a time recorder, it is preferable to print on a time card different colors for attending at regular time and for leaving early or late. In response to this, conventional color printing uses an ink ribbon in which several types of ink are applied at regular intervals, and performs printing while controlling the feed amount.
With such an ink ribbon, the control of feeding becomes complicated. In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to hold ink ribbons of different colors in two upper and lower stages and use ribbons of the corresponding colors as necessary.

However, in a configuration in which the ink ribbons are held in the upper and lower stages of one bobbin, the diameters of the upper and lower ribbons differ depending on the frequency of use, but the rotation of the bobbins is the same in the upper and lower directions, so that the bobbins are the same. When rotated by the rotation angle, the corresponding feed amounts of the upper and lower ink ribbons differ. For this reason, slack occurs in one of the feed ribbons.

When a multi-time ink ribbon that can be used repeatedly a plurality of times is used by moving it bidirectionally, the bobbin on the side to be wound is free from a rotational load and is rotated more than necessary by inertia due to inertia. Is loose and wrinkles are formed. Conventionally, in order to prevent the loosening, a leaf spring provided in the ribbon cassette is conventionally pressed against the ink ribbon to make the resistance of the movement, so that the structure of the ribbon cassette is complicated.

[0005]

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a winding mechanism that holds the multi-time ink ribbon on the upper and lower two stages of the same bobbin and that does not cause slack in any of the ink ribbons during winding. First to offer
The purpose of.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-stage bidirectional ink ribbon take-up mechanism capable of preventing the ink ribbon on the side to be taken up from becoming loose without complicating the structure of the ribbon cassette. As a second object.

[0007]

In order to achieve the first object, a two-stage bidirectional ink ribbon take-up mechanism according to the present invention comprises two vertically arranged bobbins on both sides of an ink ribbon cassette. A separate ink ribbon is wound around each of the upper and lower bobbins, and a carriage having a printer head and the ink ribbon cassette is attached to and detached from the upper bobbins on both sides. A bobbin shaft and a bobbin gear provided with a bobbin adapter, and a bobbin shaft and a bobbin gear provided with a bobbin adapter engaged with the lower bobbin on both sides of the bobbin shaft, respectively. Is formed, and the flange is superimposed on the side surface of each of the bobbin gears via a friction sheet, and the pair of bobbin gears on both sides are bidirectionally rotated. Characterized by being arranged to be engaged alternately driving gear.

In order to achieve the second object, the two-stage bidirectional ink ribbon take-up mechanism according to the present invention is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned invention, the flange formed at the lower end of each of the bobbin shafts is provided with the friction. The pair of bobbin gears on each side are superimposed on the side surfaces of the bobbin gears via a sheet, and these are spring-biased in the superimposing direction.

[0009]

According to the invention as set forth in claim 1,
Since the upper and lower bobbin gears rotate while meshing with the driving rotary gears, the rotational speeds are always the same. However, since the upper and lower bobbin gears are overlapped on the flanges of the lower and upper bobbin adapters via the friction sheet, the bobbin shafts corresponding to the respective bobbin adapters rotate while sliding on the friction sheet. Therefore, the upper and lower bobbin adapters connected to the bobbin shaft rotate separately on the winding side. For this reason, even if the ribbon diameters of the upper and lower ink ribbons are different, the ribbon adapter on the take-up side rotates up and down separately, so long as the bobbin gear rotates enough to wind up the ink ribbon, There is no slack in any of the ink ribbons, reliable winding can be performed, and good two-color printing can be performed in both the left and right directions.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2,
Since the ribbon adapter on the take-up side rotates separately in the upper and lower directions, no slack occurs in any of the ink ribbons at the time of take-up, but also on the side where the take-up is performed, the flanges of the two bobbin shafts are compressed by the compression springs. Since it is pressed by the bearing member of the carriage, it cannot rotate freely due to the frictional force. Therefore, the ink ribbon does not become loose.

Further, in any of the above cases, it is not necessary to provide a spring or the like for suppressing movement of the ink ribbon in the ribbon cassette.

[0012]

1 and 2 show a mechanism for winding an ink ribbon installed in a time clock. Reference numeral 1 denotes a carriage. The carriage 1 is a member provided with a detachable ink ribbon cassette 2 and a printer head (not shown), and is fixed to a timing belt 3. The timing belt 3 is stretched around a pulley 4, and the pulley 4 is meshed with an output gear 6 of a carriage driving motor 5 via an intermediate gear 7.

On both sides of the ink ribbon cassette 2, bobbins 8 and 9 (see FIG. 5) are provided in two upper and lower stages and independently rotatable on the same axis. Have separate ink ribbons 10 of different colors,
11 are wound. Also, the ink ribbons 10, 11
Is a multitime ink ribbon that can be used multiple times. In addition, this time clock is
It is assumed that the printing program is configured so that printing can be performed bidirectionally when moving from left to right and when moving from right to left.

The carriage 1 has a printer head and the ink ribbon cassette 2 is attached and detached.
On both sides, a support shaft 12 for mounting the ink ribbon cassette 2,
13 is erected.

Each of the support shafts 12 and 13 has an ink ribbon 1 attached thereto.
A bobbin shaft 15 provided with a bobbin adapter 14 for engaging with the upper bobbin 8 on both sides of 0 and 11, a bobbin gear 16,
Bobbin adapter 1 that engages the lower bobbin 9 on both sides.
The bobbin shaft 18 provided with the shaft 7 and the bobbin gear 19 are coaxially supported in two stages. Flanges 20, 21 are formed at the lower ends of the bobbin shafts 15, 18, respectively. Each of the flanges 20, 21 is provided via a first friction sheet 22 such as a rubber sheet and a second friction sheet 23,
The upper bobbin gear 16 and the lower bobbin gear 19 are respectively superposed on the side surfaces. Upper stage bobbin gear 16
And the lower bobbin gear 19 are arranged on the outermost side.

Further, the outermost lower bobbin gear 19
The compression springs 24 and 25 are disposed between the bobbin adapter 17 and the lower bobbin gear 17 and between the upper bobbin gear 16 and the receiving cylinder 26, respectively. Thus, the upper bobbin gear 16 is provided on the flange 20 of the upper bobbin adapter 14, and the lower bobbin gear 19 is provided on the flange 21 of the lower bobbin adapter 17, respectively, in the first friction sheet 22 and the second friction sheet 23. Are elastically pressed through each other.

When the ink ribbon cassette 2 is mounted on the carriage 1, the bobbin adapter 14 of the upper ink ribbon 10 is attached to the upper bobbin adapter 14 as shown in FIG.
However, the bobbin 9 of the lower ink ribbon 11 is engaged with the lower bobbin adapter 17.

Next, as shown in FIG. 1, an elongated switching member 30 is arranged at the center of the carriage 1 so as to be swingable in the left-right direction with a support shaft 31 as a fulcrum. A drive switching gear 33 meshing with the gear 32 is rotatably supported. The switching gear 33 is provided so as to mesh with the bobbin gears 16 and 19 when the switching member 30 swings right and left.

Further, a wire 34 is arranged and fixed to the time clock in parallel with the moving direction of the carriage 1. Part of the wire 34 is connected to the wire pulley gear 32
Is wrapped around.

Reference numeral 35 denotes a stopper means which is used when the carriage 1 returns to the left or right after printing is completed.
The swinging of the switching member 30 to the opposite side is stopped at the neutral position so that the wire pulley gear 32 is at the neutral position where it does not mesh with any of the right and left bobbin gears. The stopper means may be configured to be able to select to swing the switching member 30 from left to right or to stop swinging from right to left at the neutral position.

According to the above configuration, when printing on a time card when the carriage 1 moves rightward in FIG. 1, the timing belt 3 is rotated by operating the carriage driving motor 5, and the carriage 1 is moved as shown in FIG. When the wire 34 is moved in the middle right direction, the wire 34 wound around the wire pulley gear 32 is relatively pulled leftward. As the wire pulley gear 32 is pulled leftward, the switching member 30
Swings leftward about the support shaft 31 as shown in FIG. As a result, the switching gear 33 meshes with the upper and lower bobbin gears 16 and 19 for winding (the right bobbin gear is free).

In this case, the upper and lower bobbin gears 16, 1
9, the upper and lower bobbin gears 16 and 19 are connected to the upper and lower bobbin adapters 14 and 23 via the first and second friction sheets 22 and 23, respectively, as shown in detail in FIG. 17, the bobbin shafts 15, 18 corresponding to the respective bobbin adapters 14, 17 are in contact with the first and second friction sheets 22, 21.
23, the bobbin 8, 9 of the ink ribbon cassette 2 on the carriage 1 rotates to the left, and the ink ribbons 10, 11 are wound on the bobbin. Therefore, on the winding side, the upper and lower bobbin adapters 14 and 17 connected to the bobbin shafts 15 and 18 rotate separately. Therefore, even if the diameters of the upper and lower ink ribbons 10 and 11 are different, the bobbin adapters 14 and 1 on the winding side are different.
7 rotates independently of each other, so long as the bobbin gears 16 and 19 rotate sufficiently to wind up the ink ribbons 10 and 11,
No sagging occurs in 11 and reliable winding can be performed, and two-color printing can be favorably performed in both the left and right directions.

When the carriage 1 returns to the left after printing is completed, the switching member 30 is turned in the opposite direction.
Swings to the right, but since the wire pulley gear 32 is held at the neutral position by the stopper means 35, the bobbin gears on both sides idle and the ink ribbons 10 and 11 do not move.

Further, when printing is performed when the carriage 1 moves to the left, it is set to stop at the neutral position when the switching member 30 swings from left to right. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, the switching member 30 swings rightward, contrary to the above, so
3 engages with the right bobbin gear (for winding) (the left bobbin gear is free), and the bobbin adapter rotates with the bobbin gear to the left, so that the bobbins 8, 9 of the ink ribbon cassette 2 on the carriage 1 rotate to the right. Then, the ink ribbons 10 and 11 are wound around the bobbins 8 and 9. Also in this case, even if the diameters of the upper and lower ink ribbons 10 and 11 are different, the bobbin adapters 14 and 17 on the winding side are different.
Since the upper and lower sides of the ink ribbon rotate separately, no slack occurs in any of the ink ribbons 10 and 11 during winding.

Next, FIG. 6 shows another embodiment. Also in this embodiment, each support shaft of the carriage 1 has a bobbin adapter which is engaged with the upper bobbins 8 on both sides of the ink ribbons 10 and 11. 14, a bobbin shaft 18 having a bobbin adapter 17 that engages the lower bobbin 9 on both sides, and a flange 2 of the bobbin shafts 15 and 18.
Lower and upper bobbin gears 16 and 19 that overlap with the first and second friction sheets 22 and 23 on the first and second friction sheets 22 and 23 are coaxially supported in two steps.

In this example, as shown in FIG.
A lower bobbin gear 19 is disposed below the flange 21 of the lower bobbin adapter 17, and a low friction such as a Teflon sheet is provided between the flange of the upper bobbin shaft 15 and the lower bobbin gear 19. Sheet 36 is polymerized.

In addition, on each side, a flange 21, a second friction sheet 23, a lower bobbin gear 19, a low friction sheet 36, and an upper bobbin adapter 14 of a bobbin shaft 18 having a lower bobbin adapter 17 are provided. Bobbin shaft 1
5, the first friction sheet 22, the upper bobbin gear 16 are superposed in this order, and these are further applied to the other side surface of the lower bobbin gear 19 by a compression spring 37 provided outside the outermost one flange 21. When pressed, a spring is urged in the stacking direction to resiliently contact.

With the above configuration, the bobbin shafts 15, 18 corresponding to the respective bobbin adapters 14, 17 rotate while sliding on the first and second friction sheets 22, 23. Therefore, the winding side is the bobbin shaft 15, 1
The upper and lower bobbin adapters 14 and 17 connected to 8 rotate separately. Therefore, the upper and lower ink ribbons (FIG. 5)
Even if the ribbon diameter is different, the bobbin adapters 14 and 17 on the take-up side rotate up and down separately, so that no slack occurs in any of the ink ribbons during take-up.

Also, on the side to be wound up, the compression spring 37 causes the flanges 2 of the two bobbin shafts 151 and 8 to move.
Since 0 and 21 are pressed by the bearing member 38 of the carriage 1, they cannot rotate freely due to the frictional force. Therefore, the ink ribbon does not become loose.

Next, in the example of FIG. 6, as shown in FIG. 7, between the flange 21 of the bobbin shaft 18 having the lower bobbin adapter 17 and the compression spring 37 provided on the carriage 1. The frictional force is Fa, the frictional force between the flange 21 and the lower bobbin gear 19 and the second friction sheet 23 is Fb, and the low friction with the flange 20 of the bobbin shaft 15 including the lower bobbin gear 19 and the upper adapter 14. Fc is the frictional force between the seat 36 and the upper adapter 14.
The frictional force between the flange 20 of the bobbin shaft 15 provided with the first friction sheet 22 and the first friction sheet 22 is represented by Fd.
The friction between the bearing member 38 of the carriage 1 and Fe
, The frictional forces Fa, Fb, Fc, Fd, F
It is preferable to form the following equation: Fc <Fa <Fb Fc <Fe <Fd.

Thus, the upper and lower bobbin gears 1
When the rotation of the bobbin gears 6 and 19 is the smallest, the bobbin shafts 15 and 18 provided with the upper and lower bobbin adapters 14 and 17 can rotate independently of the rotation of the upper and lower bobbin gears 16 and 19, respectively. . On the winding side, since Fa <Fb and Fe <Fd, the bobbin gear 16,
With the rotation of 19, the bobbin shafts 15, 18 can rotate while sliding.

Also, on the side to be wound up, the compression spring 37 causes the flanges 2 of the two bobbin shafts 15 and 18 to rotate.
Since 0 and 21 are pressed by the bearing member 38 of the carriage 1, they cannot rotate freely due to the frictional force. Therefore, the ink ribbon does not become loose.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a main part of a two-stage bidirectional ink ribbon winding mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional side view of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of an operation mode of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation mode of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional side view of another example of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of a part of the ink ribbon winding mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 carriage 8 bobbin 9 bobbin 10 ink ribbon 11 ink ribbon 14 bobbin adapter 15 bobbin shaft 16 bobbin gear 17 bobbin adapter 18 bobbin shaft 19 bobbin gear 20 flange 21 flange 22 friction sheet 23 friction sheet 33 driving gear

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 32/00 B41J 33/20 B41J 35/08

Claims (2)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. A bobbin is provided on each side of an ink ribbon cassette in two upper and lower stages and independently rotatable on the same axis. A separate ink ribbon is wound around each of the upper and lower bobbins, and a printer head is provided. A carriage for attaching and detaching the ink ribbon cassette, a bobbin shaft and a bobbin gear having a bobbin adapter engaging with the upper bobbin on both sides, and a bobbin shaft having a bobbin adapter engaging with the lower bobbin on both sides. The bobbin gears are disposed coaxially with each other, a flange is formed at the lower end of each of the bobbin shafts, and the flanges are overlapped on the side surfaces of the respective bobbin gears via a friction sheet. A two-stage ink ribbon take-up mechanism, which is arranged so as to be alternately meshable with a driving gear that rotates. 2. A flange formed at a lower end of each of the bobbin shafts is overlapped on the side surfaces of the pair of bobbin gears on the respective sides via the friction sheet, and these are spring-biased in the overlapping direction. 2. The method according to claim 1,
A step-up bidirectional ink ribbon winding mechanism.