JP2594672B2 - Ink ribbon winding mechanism of thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ink ribbon winding mechanism for winding an ink ribbon of a thermal transfer printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, this type of ink ribbon winding mechanism transmits a driving force from a gear driven by a motor to a ribbon hub mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an integrated pulley / gear for explaining such an example of the prior art.

As shown in FIG. 4, a pulley and a gear are integrated in the integrated pulley / gear 7 in the conventional ink ribbon winding mechanism, and a gear driven by a motor transmits a driving force to the ribbon hub mechanism. I have.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional ink ribbon winding mechanism described above,
When winding the ink ribbon by manually rotating the ink ribbon roll shaft on the take-up side, with a force greater than the combined force of the torque at the ribbon hub mechanism and the frictional resistance when the ink ribbon and the ribbon feed roller rub against each other. Since the take-up side ink ribbon roll shaft must be rotated,
There is a disadvantage that it is difficult to operate.

Also, since there is frictional resistance when the ink ribbon and the ribbon feed roller rub against each other, the ribbon tension between the ribbon feed roller and the winding side ink ribbon may damage the winding core of the winding side ink ribbon. Alternatively, the winding shaft may be twisted left and right. Therefore, there is a drawback that wrinkles are generated in the ink ribbon and the print quality is extremely reduced.

Further, since the rotation speed of the ink ribbon shaft on the winding side is kept constant and the ribbon winding force is frictionally transmitted to the winding shaft by the slip clutch, the torque becomes constant. However, since the diameter of the ink ribbon is different between the start and end of the winding of the ink ribbon, a difference occurs in the circumferential bundle and the ribbon tension. Therefore, particularly in the case of color printing, a change in the ribbon tension affects the paper feed pitch, and there is a disadvantage that color misregistration occurs at the beginning and end of winding of the ink ribbon when performing overprinting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the operability, improve the printing quality without causing wrinkles on the ink ribbon, and prevent the ink ribbon winding of a thermal transfer printer from being able to prevent color misregistration at the time of color overprinting. It is to provide a picking mechanism.

[Means for solving the problem]

The ink ribbon take-up mechanism of the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention selectively heats the ink ribbon coated with the heat-meltable ink and the recording medium on the platen by the thermal head based on the recording information. An ink ribbon winding mechanism of a thermal transfer printer that performs transfer by energizing and generating heat, a one-way gear mechanism that couples a pulley, a one-way clutch, and a gear connected to a motor with a belt and rotates the gear only in one direction; A driving force is transmitted from the one-way gear mechanism by a slip clutch and a ribbon feed roller mechanism that feeds the ink ribbon with a constant tension, and a driving force is transmitted from the one-way gear mechanism to a ribbon hub by a slip clutch. The ink that has passed through the ribbon feed roller mechanism Constructed and a Ribonhabu mechanism for winding the ribbon at a constant torque.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon winding mechanism of a thermal transfer printer showing one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this embodiment uses a supply side ink ribbon.
Recording is performed in a state where the ink ribbon fed from 1a is pressed against a platen roller (not shown) by the thermal head 2, and the ink ribbon that has passed through the printing unit is driven by the motor 3 using the belt 5. A pulley 6, a gear 8 into which a one-way clutch is press-fitted, and a gear 9
Are fed with a constant feed force by the ribbon feed roller 4 to which the drive force has been transmitted from the slip clutch 12 driven by. Further, the ink ribbon 1a (or 1) having passed through the ribbon feed roller 4 is driven by a pulley 6 driven by a motor 3 using a belt 5, a gear 8 into which a one-way clutch is pressed, and gears 10 and 11. The paper is fed by the slip clutch 13. That is, the driving force of the svel clutch 13 is transmitted to the take-up side ink ribbon 1 that rotates integrally with the ribbon take-up shaft 14 and the ribbon hub 15, and is taken up with a constant torque.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the one-way gear mechanism shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the aforementioned pulley 6 and gear 8
, A one-way clutch 8 a is press-fitted into the gear 8 and fitted to the pulley 6. Thus, when the pulley 6 rotates in the direction A shown in FIG. 1, the gear 8 also rotates integrally, but when the pulley 6 rotates in the direction B, the gear 8 does not rotate. Conversely, when the gear 8 is rotated in the direction A, the pulley 6 does not rotate, and when the gear 8 is rotated in the direction B, the pulley 6 rotates integrally. Accordingly, when the take-up side ink ribbon 1 is rotated in the direction C shown in FIG. 1 by the ribbon hub 15, the motor 3, the belt 5 and the pulley 6 do not rotate, and the ribbon feed roller 4 and the gears 8 to 8 do not rotate.
11, the slip clutches 12 and 13 and the ribbon winding shaft 14 rotate.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the sliding clutch mechanism shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the plate holder 4b and the plate 4c are fixed to the ribbon feed roller 4 with pins 4a as the fixed side to the shaft. On the rotating side by gear connection, the gear 9, the spring 9a, the sliding plate holding plate 9b, and the sliding plate 9
Then, the sliding plate 12a and the sliding plate holding plate 12b are fixed to the ribbon feed roller 4 with the pins 12c. That is, the driving force transmitted to the gear 9 is transmitted as sliding torque between the sliding plates 9c and 12a. In addition, slip clutch 13
Also have a similar mechanism.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the ink ribbon take-up mechanism of the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is configured such that a gear in which a one-way clutch is press-fitted is attached to a pulley driven by a motor.
Since the load torque of the sliding clutch mechanism and the frictional resistance with the ribbon feed roller are not applied to the ink ribbon during manual winding of the ink ribbon, the operability is improved and the core for the core of the ink ribbon is damaged. In addition to the above, there is an effect that good printing quality without wrinkles can be realized.

In addition, the ink ribbon that has passed through the printing unit in which the thermal head has been pressed against the platen roller is fed at a constant tension by a ribbon feed roller to which a driving force is transmitted from a gear driven by a motor, and a ribbon feed roller. The passed ink ribbon is fed from the gear driven by the motor with a constant torque by the ribbon hub to which the driving force is transmitted by the slip clutch, so that the ribbon tension in the printing unit changes from the beginning to the end of the winding of the ink ribbon. Therefore, there is an effect that it is possible to eliminate color misregistration occurring in the case of color superimposed printing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon winding mechanism of a thermal transfer printer showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a one-way gear mechanism shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the sliding clutch mechanism shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an integrated pulley gear for explaining an example of the related art. 1. Ink ribbon on the winding side, 1a Ink ribbon on the supply side, 2 ... Thermal head, 3 ... Motor, 4 ... Ribbon feed roller, 4a, 12c ... Pin, 5 ... Belt, 6
... Pulley, 8-11 ... Gear, 8a ... One-way clutch, 12,13 ... Slip clutch, 12a ... Rotation side sliding material,
12b: Fixed-side sliding material, 14: Ribbon winding shaft, 15: Ribbon hub.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An ink ribbon coated with a heat-meltable ink and a recording medium are pressed against a platen by a thermal head, and a heating element of the thermal head is selectively energized to generate heat based on recording information to perform transfer. In the ink ribbon winding mechanism of the thermal transfer printer, a one-way gear mechanism for coupling a pulley, a one-way clutch and a gear connected to a motor with a belt and rotating the gear in only one direction, and a slip clutch from the one-way gear mechanism A driving force is transmitted to the ribbon feed roller mechanism for feeding the ink ribbon with a constant tension, and a driving force is transmitted from the one-way gear mechanism to the ribbon hub by a slip clutch to pass through the ribbon feed roller mechanism. Ribbon cartridge that winds the ink ribbon with a certain torque Ink ribbon take-up mechanism of the thermal transfer printer characterized by having a mechanism portion.