JP3127728B2 - Ink 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 an ink ribbon cassette for mounting a thermal ink ribbon at a printing position in a printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a thermal transfer printing apparatus, ink on a thermal ink ribbon is melted by a thermal head and transferred to a paper side to perform printing. The heat-sensitive ink ribbon is wound around a supply roll and a take-up roll and travels between the two rolls. Both rolls are set in a housing of the ink ribbon cassette, and together with the ink ribbon cassette, in the apparatus main body. Is to be loaded into. Support caps are attached to both ends of the supply roll and the take-up roll, and both rolls are attached to the mounting portion of the housing with a total of four support caps. When the cassette is mounted on the apparatus main body, the gear portion formed on the support cap meshes with the drive gear in the apparatus main body, and as a result, rotation is transmitted from the drive gear and both rolls are rotated. Has become.

[0003]

However, the shapes of the gear portions of the four support caps are not all the same, and if certain support caps are fitted to different rolls and set in the housing, they cannot mesh with the gears of the apparatus main body. There are cases. In this case, the ink ribbon cassette cannot be loaded into the apparatus main body. for that reason,
If both rolls are set in the housing by mistake when the support cap is mounted, the user will notice the mounting error of the support cap only at the stage of mounting on the device main body, and at this stage, the user will again recognize It was troublesome to correctly re-attach the support cap to the roll.

If the roll is mistakenly set in the housing before and after the roll, the end of the ink ribbon comes to the ribbon start position. This mistake is often found after actually restarting printing, and the ink ribbon must be set in the correct direction again, which is troublesome. In this case, in the case of a multi-pass ink ribbon cassette, it is sufficient to temporarily remove the cassette from the apparatus main body and replace it before and after, and then reload it. They cannot be swapped. Therefore, in the single-pass ink ribbon cassette, it is necessary to temporarily remove both rolls from the housing and replace the rolls themselves before and after, which is very troublesome. Further, if the rolls are replaced, the gear portion will not mesh with the drive gear of the apparatus main body unless the support caps are also replaced back and forth. As a result, both the support caps and the rolls must be re-mounted from the beginning, which is too complicated.

[0005] The present invention is to solve the above problems at once. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon cassette in which rolls are set in a correct direction can be surely loaded in the apparatus main body in a correct direction.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a supply roll of a thermal ink ribbon and a winding roll of the ribbon are formed by first and second support members, respectively. The first and second supports in the ink ribbon cassette supported on the mounting portion of the housing through the first and second supports.
The member has a main body fitted to both rolls and a rotating shaft.
Ri, the rotation shaft of the two support members corresponding Te RaShime different diameters from each other
Fitted into the hole of the mounting portion of the housing you are detachable
The point is that the mounting structure is adopted.

[0007]

[0008]

SUMMARY OF] With the configuration as described above, in the invention of claim 1, when attaching the roll fitted with a supporting lifting member to the mounting portion of the housing, are formed in that the diameter of the rotary shaft differ
Runode, the roll is smoothly rotated similarly to the conventional preparative
Moni, there is no Rukoto wrong attachment to the mounting portion.

[0009]

[0010]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which an ink ribbon cassette case of the present invention is applied to a facsimile machine.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The facsimile apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 4 is a model in which the paper cassettes 2a and 2b are mounted in two stages, and the lower paper cassette 2b can be mounted separately. A recording unit (not shown) and a reading unit (not shown) are provided in the apparatus main body 3. Further, an ink ribbon cassette 4 is detachably provided in the recording section. An upper cover 5 is provided on an upper portion of the apparatus main body 3, and is turned upward and opened when the cassette 4 is attached or detached.

Next, the ink ribbon cassette 4 loaded in the apparatus main body 3 will be described. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the ink ribbon cassette 4 is placed upside down and placed on a horizontal plane F, and the ink ribbon R is replaced in this state. The cassette 4 includes a housing 7, a supply roll S1 set in the housing 7, and a take-up roll S2. When the cassette 4 is loaded into the facsimile apparatus 1, the ink ribbon cassette 4 is turned 180 degrees, and the cassette is loaded into the apparatus main body 3 from the opening portion with the upper cover 5 opened. ing. In the following description of the ink ribbon cassette 4, the left side is the left side and the right side is the right side in the mounted state in FIG. Further, the upper side is defined as an upper side, and the lower side is defined as a lower side.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Is composed of a pair of left and right main body frames 8a and 8b in which both rolls S1 and S2 are stored, and a support frame 9 between both ends of the main body frames 8a and 8b for connecting the main body frames 8a and 8b at a predetermined interval. I have. On the outer surfaces of the main body frames 8a and 8b, a curved guide portion 11 bulging outward to guide the recording paper P when passing therethrough is formed. As shown in FIG. 1, the left main body frame 8a
A pair of supply roll holding plates 13 for holding the supply roll S1 is formed at both ends of the guide portion 11. A pair of take-up roll holding plates 14 for holding the take-up roll S2 is formed at both ends of the guide portion 11 of the right main body frame 8b. The two holding plates 13 and 14 are the guide 1
1 and a plate formed integrally therewith. The holding plates 13 and 14 have different colors (for example, if the supply roll holding plate 13 is red, the take-up roll holding plate 14 is different).
Is colored blue).

As shown in FIG. 1, a supply roll holding plate 1 is provided.
3 and the take-up roll holding plate 14 open toward the center of the cassette 4, that is, in the direction along the running direction of the ink ribbon R. In the state shown in FIG. The mounting groove 15 is formed horizontally. Engagement projections 17 are provided on the upper and lower sides of the opening 16 of each mounting groove 15 to prevent the rolls S1 and S2 from falling off when the support caps 18 and 19 at both ends are mounted. Substantially circular support cap mounting holes 20 and 21 serving as mounting portions are formed in the mounting groove 15 continuously from the opening 16. The support cap mounting hole 20 of the supply roll holding plate 13 is smaller in diameter than the support cap mounting hole 21 of the take-up roll holding plate 14.

A keyhole-shaped expansion permitting portion 22 is formed continuously with the support cap mounting holes 20 and 21, and as a result of the formation of the keyhole-forming expansion permitting portion 22, the mounting groove 15 is bent up and down to expand. Also, it has an elastic structure that allows it to return. A mounting portion 23 is formed adjacent to the opening 16 for temporarily supporting the support caps 18 and 19. A rolling prevention projection 24 for preventing the support caps 18 and 19 from rolling is provided at an end of the mounting portion 23 so as to protrude upward.

As shown in FIG. 1, the support frame 9 having a substantially angled cross section is composed of a support frame main body 25 and an eave portion 26. The support frame body 25 is integrated with both holding plates 13 and 14 at both ends. A stand portion 28 is formed on the eave portion 26 to stably support the housing 7 in contact with the mounting surface F as shown in FIG. 1 and also function as a handle when the housing 7 is attached to and taken out of the apparatus. Has become. A pair of body frames 8
An opening 29 is formed at the center of the housing 7 by the pair of support frames 9, and the single-pass ink ribbon R runs in the opening 29. The single-pass ink ribbon R is sandwiched between a thermal head (not shown) and a platen roller. The thermal head melts the ink of the single-pass ink ribbon R and prints image information on recording paper.

Next, the supply roll S1 and the take-up roll S2 mounted on the housing 7 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the supply roll S1 is supported by a supply roll support cap 18 between both supply roll holding plates 13 in a suspended state. The take-up roll S2 is supported by a take-up roll support cap 19 between the two take-up roll holding plates 14 in a suspended state.

The supply roll S1 and the take-up roll S2 are cylindrical bodies made of paper or synthetic resin. Supply roll S
A base end of a single-pass ink ribbon R is fixed to the outer surface of the first ink ribbon R. The single-pass ink ribbon R is an elongated ribbon-shaped ink ribbon sheet, and is formed by applying a heat-meltable ink to a base film. The single-pass ink ribbon R is wound around the outer circumference of the supply roll S1, and its tip is extended and fixed to the outer surface of the take-up roll S2.

Both ends of the supply roll S1 are formed as fitting portions 30 to which the support caps 18 for the supply roll are fitted.
It is colored in the same color as the supply roll holding plate 13.
Two key grooves 31 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the fitting portion 30 at positions shifted by 90 degrees. On the other hand, both ends of the take-up roll S2 are formed as fitting portions 32 to which the take-up roll support cap 19 is fitted.
It is colored in the same color as 4. 1 on the inner peripheral surface of the fitting portion 32
Two key grooves 33 are formed at positions shifted by 80 degrees.

As shown in FIG. 3 (a), the supply roll support cap 18 has a cylindrical cap body 18a, a rotating shaft 18b fitted into the support cap mounting hole 20, and a gear formed on the main body head. It is composed of a part 18c.
As shown in FIG. 3B, the take-up roll support cap 19 includes a cylindrical cap body 19a, a rotation shaft 19b fitted into the support cap mounting hole 21, and a gear portion formed on the main body head. 19c. The supply roll support cap 18 is provided with the supply roll holding plate 1.
The take-up roll support cap 19 is colored in the same color as the take-up roll holding plate 14 and the take-up roll fitting portion 32. The support cap mounting holes 20, 21
The rotation shaft 18 of the supply roll support cap 18 corresponding to
b is smaller in diameter than the rotation shaft 19b of the take-up roll support cap 19.

Keys 34, 35 are formed at the bases of the cap bodies 18a, 19a of the support caps 18, 19, respectively. The key 34 of the supply roll support cap 18 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), they are formed at two positions shifted by 90 degrees.
And, it is designed to engage with the key groove 31 formed 90 degrees apart from the fitting portion 30 of the supply roll S1.
Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, the keys 35 of the take-up roll support cap 19 are formed at two positions shifted by 180 degrees. Then, the take-up roll S2 is engaged with the key groove 33 formed in the fitting portion 32 at a distance of 180 degrees from the take-up roll S2.

Next, the operation of the ink ribbon cassette 4 of this embodiment will be described. First, as shown in FIG.
The supply roll support cap 18 is fitted to the fitting portion 30 of the supply roll S1, and the take-up roll support cap 19 is fitted to the fitting portion 32 of the take-up roll S2. Since the supply roll support cap 18 and the fitting portion 30 of the supply roll S1 and the take-up roll support cap 19 and the fitting portion 32 of the take-up roll S2 have the same color, the color is used as a guide.
In this case, the supporting caps 18 and 19 are
0, 32, but is to be fitted to different fitting portions 30, 32, the key 3 of the cap 18, 19
4 and 35 cannot be engaged with the key grooves 31 and 33. For example, since the key 34 of the supply roll support cap 18 is displaced from the key groove 33 of the fitting portion 32 of the take-up roll S2, the supply roll support cap 18 may be fitted to the take-up roll S2. Is no longer possible.

The key grooves 31, 33 and the keys 34, 35 are engaged with each other, and
In a state in which the rolls S1 and S2 are fitted to the mounting portions 30 and 32, the support caps 18 and 19 of the rolls S1 and S2 are temporarily mounted on the mounting portions 22 formed on the holding plates 13 and 14, respectively. Here, support caps 18 of the same color as the respective holding plates 13 and 14,
19 is placed. Then, each support cap 1
8 and 19 are inserted into the opening 16 of the mounting groove 15 by the two rolls S1 and S.
Press 2 while rolling. Then, the rotation shafts 18b and 19b of the support caps 18 and 19 press the engagement protrusions 17 of the opening 16, and the mounting groove 15 is allowed to expand by the action of the expansion allowing portion 22, and the rotation is performed. Axis 18
b and 19b are inserted into the support cap mounting holes 20 and 21, respectively. The connecting portions 18c and 19c are used as support cap mounting holes 20,
At the same time as being fitted into the mounting groove 21, the mounting groove 15 returns from the expanded state to the original position again, and the support caps 18, 19 are attached to the mounting groove 1.
Set to 5.

In this case, even if the supply roll S1 and the take-up roll S2 are interchanged, the rolls S1 and S2 cannot be set on the housing 7. For example, winding roll S
2 is suspended between the supply roll holding plates 13,
The rotation shaft 19b of the take-up roll support cap 19 cannot be fitted because it is larger than the diameter of the support cap mounting hole 20 of the holding plate 13. Similarly, the rotation shaft 18b of the supply roll support cap 18 of the supply roll S1 is smaller than the diameter of the support cap mounting hole 21 of the take-up roll holding plate 14 and easily falls out of the opening 16; S1 cannot be suspended between the take-up roll holding plates 14.

After setting the two rolls S1 and S2 in the housing 7, the ink ribbon cassette 4 is turned upside down by 180 degrees so as to be suspended on a frame 36 in the apparatus main body 3 as shown in FIG. Is loaded from above.

Next, when the two rolls S1 and S2 are to be removed for replacement, the cassette 4 is taken out of the apparatus main body 3 and then turned over.
Each of the support caps 18 and 19 fitted to 0 and 21 is pressed against the opening 16 of the mounting groove 15 in a direction opposite to the direction when the two rolls S1 and S2 are set. Then, each support cap 1
The rotating shafts 18b, 19b of the 8, 19 press the engaging projections 17 of the opening 16, and the mounting groove 15 is expanded again. Then, the rotating shafts 18b and 19b come out of the opening 16 and are temporarily placed on the mounting portion 22 again.

The following effects can be obtained by the above configuration. (1) The supply roll support cap 18 is the supply roll S1
, And the take-up roll support cap 19 is fitted only to the fitting portion 32 of the take-up roll S2. The supply roll support cap 18 can be suspended only between the supply roll holding plates 13,
The take-up roll support cap 19 can be suspended only on the take-up roll holding plate 14. That is,
When a new single-pass ink ribbon R is mounted, only one type of pattern is set in which the rolls S1 and S2 are correctly set in the housing 7 due to the engagement between the support caps 18 and 19 and the holding plates 13 and 14. Therefore, there is no possibility that both the rolls S1 and S2 are set on the housing 7 by mistake.

(2) The fitting portion 30 of the supply roll S1, the supply roll support cap 18, and the supply roll holding plate 13 are colored in the same color. The fitting portion 32 of the take-up roll S2, the take-up roll support cap 19, and the take-up roll holding plate 14 are also colored in the same color. Therefore, if the rolls S1 and S2 are combined so that the colors are aligned, the two rolls S1 and S2 are correctly set on the housing 7, and errors in combining with the wrong pattern are reduced.

(3) The fitting portions 30 of the two rolls S1 and S2,
32 has the same diameter, and the cap bodies 18a, 19a of both support caps 18, 19 also have the same shape. That is, the fitting of the support caps 18 and 19 is prevented only by the difference between the formation positions of the key grooves 31 and 33 and the keys 34 and 35, and it is necessary to design by changing the diameter of the special rolls S1 and S2. There is no. Also, the key grooves 31, 33 and the keys 34, 35
Plays a role of preventing the support caps 18 and 19 from being erroneously fitted and also preventing the support caps 18 and 19 from running idle while being fitted to the fitting portions 30 and 32 of the rolls S1 and S2.

(4) Two supply roll support caps 18 of the same shape are fitted to both fitting portions 30 of the supply roll S1, and two of the same shape are fitted to both fitting portions 32 of the take-up roll S2. A take-up roll support cap 19 is fitted.
That is, only two types of support caps are sufficient for the four fitting portions 30 and 34, and four types or three types
There is no need to provide any kind of support cap.

(5) When the front and rear of the roll are mistakenly set in the housing (that is, when the support cap itself is mistakenly attached to the roll before and after), the end of the ink ribbon is moved to the ribbon start position. Will come. In this case, in the case of a multi-pass ink ribbon cassette, it is sufficient to temporarily remove the cassette from the apparatus main body and replace it before and after, and then reload it. They cannot be swapped. Therefore, in order to correctly set the rolls in the single-pass ink ribbon cassette, the rolls must be removed from the cassette, the support cap must be removed from the rolls, and the support caps and the rolls must be re-installed in the correct correspondence.

However, in the present embodiment, the support caps 18, 19 are provided by the keys 34, 35 corresponding to the key grooves 31, 33.
Eliminating the fitting error when fitting the holding plates 13 and 14
Since the setting errors were eliminated by changing the diameters of the rotating shafts 18b and 19b when setting the single-pass ink ribbon, the above-mentioned problem that occurred in the single-pass ink ribbon cassette was solved.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented with the following modifications. In the above embodiment, the cap bodies 18a, 1 of the supply roll support cap 18 and the take-up roll support cap 19 are provided.
9a have the same diameter, and the key grooves 31, 33 and the keys 34, 35
The difference in the formation position prevents the fitting of the support caps 18 and 19 from being mistaken. However, the shape of the cap bodies 18a, 19a themselves is changed without using the key grooves 31, 33 and the keys 34, 35 so that the fitting portions 30, 32 of the corresponding shapes are formed on both rolls S1, S2. Is also good. For example, the cross-sectional shape of one support cap 18 is square,
The cross section of the other support cap 18 is made to be hexagonal. Anyway, if the shapes of the support caps 18 and 19 and the corresponding fitting portions 30 and 32 are made different, it is possible to prevent the support caps 18 and 19 from being erroneously fitted.

The keyways 31, 33 and the keys 34, 35
May be formed at positions other than 90 degrees and 180 degrees. In the above embodiment, the rotation shaft 18 of the support caps 18, 19 is used.
b and 19b are fitted into the support cap mounting holes 20 and 21 from the opening 16 opened in the transverse direction with respect to the loading direction of the ink ribbon cassette 4. However, the present invention can be freely applied even if the opening 16 is other than the one having the lateral direction.

In the above embodiment, the single-pass ink ribbon R is used as the ink ribbon. However, a multi-pass ink ribbon can be used as a matter of course. However, in this case, when the ink ribbon cassette 4 is first loaded into the apparatus main body 3 so that the end of the ink ribbon does not come to the ribbon start position, care must be taken so that the loading direction is not reversed. .

In addition, the present invention can be applied to a copying machine or a printer instead of the facsimile machine 1, and can be freely modified and implemented without departing from the gist thereof.

Further, other technical ideas grasped by the above embodiments will be described below together with their effects. (1) In addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the invention, the ink ribbon cassette is used for a single-pass ink ribbon, and the housing of the cassette is provided with a loading direction indicating means (guide recess) for preventing a wrong loading direction. thing. By doing so, the loading direction of the single-pass ink ribbon cassette into the apparatus main body is not mistaken. (2) In addition to the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, the first support member and the first support member fitting portion formed on the supply roll and the supply roll attachment portion are colored in the same color, and the second support is provided. The member and the second support member fitting portion formed on the take-up roll and the take-up roll attachment portion are colored in the same different color from the above. In this way, if the rolls are combined so that the colors are aligned, both rolls will be correctly set on the housing 7, and errors in combining in an incorrect pattern will be reduced.

[0037]

As described in detail above, according to the ink ribbon cassette of the first aspect of the present invention, the rotation of both support members is achieved.
Because the shaft diameter is different , when installing a new ink ribbon, the roll with the support member
When the roll is mounted on the mounting portion of the housing, there is no possibility that both rolls are set in the housing in the wrong front-rear direction .

[0038]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a state where an ink ribbon cassette of the present invention is placed upside down.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a supply roll and a take-up roll in the same embodiment.

3A and 3B are side views illustrating a support cap in the same embodiment, wherein FIG. 3A is a supply roll support cap and FIG. 3B is a winding support cap.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a facsimile apparatus loaded with an ink ribbon cassette of the same embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which an ink ribbon cassette is loaded in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 ... cassette for ink ribbon, 7 ... housing , 18 ...
The first support member, a supply roll support cap, 19 ...
A support cap for a winding roll as a second support member, 18
a: Cap body, 19a: Cap body, 18b: Rotating shaft, 19b: Rotating shaft, 20: Supporting cap mounting hole as mounting part , 21: Supporting cap mounting hole as mounting part, S 1 ...
Supply roll, S2: take-up roll, R: single-pass ink ribbon as a thermal ink ribbon.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-54969 (JP, A) JP-A-3-215065 (JP, A) JP-A-3-19055 (JP, U) JP-A-2-2 106347 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B41J 32/00 B41J 17/32

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An ink ribbon cassette in which a supply roll of a thermal ink ribbon and a take-up roll of the ribbon are supported on a mounting portion of a housing via first and second support members, respectively . 2 support members are both rolls
The main body and the rotating shaft are fitted to the
Rotation axis is the corresponding Te RaShime different diameters from each other the Haujin
Ink cassette with a detachable mounting structure that fits into the hole of the mounting part of the ink ribbon.