JP4793330B2 - Tape cassette and tape printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a tape cassette having a printing tape made of an ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on one side and a transparent film having an adhesive layer formed on the other side in a cassette case. The present invention relates to a tape cassette in which an adhesive layer of a tape and an ink layer of an ink ribbon come into contact with each other and a printing apparatus using the tape cassette.

  Conventionally, various tape printers for producing a tape with letters have been proposed. In a tape cassette used in such a tape printer, generally, a ribbon spool wound with an ink ribbon, a film tape spool wound with a film tape as a printing medium, and an adhesive tape spool wound with an adhesive tape are used. It is provided in the cassette case, and when making a tape with letters, characters, etc. are printed on the film tape via the ink ribbon by the thermal head attached to the tape printer while transporting each ink ribbon and film tape. It is created by going.

In the tape printer, in order to improve the scratch resistance of characters and the like formed on the film tape after printing, after sticking the adhesive tape on the character printing surface of the film tape after printing with a laminating roller or the like It is common to cut the tape.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-314831

  However, in the tape cassette used in the conventional tape printer, it is necessary to stick the adhesive tape to the character printing surface of the film tape after printing characters, etc., so the adhesive tape is wound around the tape cassette. An adhesive tape spool and a laminating roller must be built in.

  Due to this, there is a problem that the size of the tape cassette is increased, and the entire printing apparatus must be enlarged in order to secure the cassette mounting portion. Further, the laminating roller disposed in the tape cassette is configured to be disposed between the thermal head provided in the tape printer and the cutting mechanism. As a result, the front margin of the created printing tape (the margin corresponding to the distance between the cutting position of the printing tape and the thermal head of the tape printer) becomes longer, resulting in printing. The problem is that the running cost increases due to an increase in tape consumption.

  Accordingly, in order to solve the above problems, an adhesive tape can be used to create a so-called laminate-type printing tape that can improve the scratch resistance of characters and the like by bonding an adhesive tape to the character printing surface of a film tape. A compact tape cassette that eliminates the laminating roller that bonds the adhesive tape spool and adhesive tape that are wound around the film tape, and the thermal head and cutting mechanism can be placed close to each other so that The advent of a tape printer capable of shortening the margin and reducing the running cost of the printing tape is desired.

  In addition, when performing thermal printing from the print tape side with a thermal head, if toner ink is used as the ink on the ink ribbon, the ink will adhere to the thermal head when the ink ribbon and the thermal head come into contact with each other. There is a risk of it happening. In particular, when the printing tape and the ink ribbon are displaced in the width direction, the ink on the ink ribbon may adhere to the thermal head.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and an adhesive tape spool wound with an adhesive tape to be bonded to a character printing surface of a film tape and an adhesive tape are attached to the character printing surface of the film tape. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tape cassette capable of producing a laminate type printing tape while omitting a laminating roller.

  In addition, by using a tape cassette that omits the adhesive tape spool and laminating roller, the cutting mechanism can be placed immediately downstream of the thermal head, and the film tape is cut immediately after printing of characters, etc. on the film tape. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus that is capable of reducing the running cost of a film tape.

  Furthermore, it aims at providing the printing apparatus which can prevent that an ink is transcribe | transferred to a thermal head.

In order to achieve the above object, a tape cassette according to claim 1 comprises an ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on one surface and a transparent film having an adhesive layer that generates adhesiveness when heated. A tape comprising a printing tape, a cassette case for storing the ink ribbon and the printing tape, wherein the adhesive layer of the printing tape and the ink layer of the ink ribbon are in contact at a printing position, and a thermal head and a platen are provided. A state that is detachable from the cassette mounting portion of the printing apparatus, is mounted on the cassette mounting portion of the tape printing apparatus, and the printing tape and the ink ribbon are sandwiched between the thermal head and the platen at the printing position. in the ink layer before Symbol ink ribbon, the adhesive by being selectively heated by the thermal head It is bonded to the heated portion without the adhesive layer, the width dimension of the print tape, and greater than the ink ribbon width.

  A tape cassette according to a second aspect is the tape cassette according to the first aspect, wherein the widthwise dimension of the adhesive layer of the printing tape is smaller than the widthwise dimension of the ink ribbon.

  A tape cassette according to a third aspect is the tape cassette according to the first or second aspect, wherein a release agent layer is provided on the surface of the printing tape where the adhesive layer is not formed.

  A tape cassette according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the tape cassette according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the ink ribbon take-up spool for taking up the ink ribbon and the ink ribbon at the downstream side of the print position in the tape transport direction. And a separation part that separates the printing tape, and after the ink ribbon has passed through the separation part, the ink layer adhered to the adhesive layer of the printing tape is transferred to the printing tape, and the ink ribbon is the ink It is characterized by being wound by a ribbon take-up spool.

A tape printer according to claim 5 is a tape printer to which the tape cassette according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is mounted , wherein the print tape is discharged from a tape discharge portion of the mounted tape cassette. The conveyance roller pair includes a heat roller that heats the discharged print tape.

Tape printing device according to claim 6, in the tape printing apparatus according to claim 5, before Symbol a drive control mechanism for the drive control of the heat generating portion of the thermal head, said the print tape transparent film wherein contact with the thermal head When the ink layer transferred to the adhesive layer of the printing tape through the heat generating portion is viewed from the transparent film side of the printing tape, It is controlled by a drive control mechanism so that it can be visually recognized as a normal image.

Tape printer according to claim 7 is the tape printing apparatus according to claim 5 or claim 6, and further comprising a tape cutting means for cutting the printing tape between said tape discharge portion and the conveying roller pair To do.

The tape printing apparatus according to claim 8, in any of the tape printing apparatus of claims 5 to 7, wherein the print tape abuts the heat roller is provided with a layer of transparent film, the heat roller, It contacts from the transparent film side of the said printing tape, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

In the tape cassette according to claim 1, the printing tape and the ink ribbon are sandwiched between the thermal head and the platen at a printing position where the adhesive layer of the printing tape and the ink layer of the ink ribbon are in contact with each other. The thermal head is in contact with the other surface of the transparent film of the print tape at the contact portion, and the ink layer of the ink ribbon is heated by the thermal head, and the heated portion of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer that has become sticky Glued to. Here, the ink layer of the ink ribbon is adhered to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer formed on one surface of the transparent film, and from the other surface side of the transparent film, the ink layer is protected via the transparent film, Thus, a so-called laminate type printing tape is produced. This eliminates the adhesive tape spool wound with the adhesive tape to be bonded to the character printing surface of the printing tape and the bonding roller for bonding the adhesive tape to the character printing surface of the printing tape. A laminate type printing tape can be produced. Moreover, since the width direction dimension of the printing tape is larger than the ink ribbon width dimension, the ink ribbon does not contact the thermal head even if the printing tape and the ink ribbon are displaced in the width direction. Thereby, the problem that the ink of the ink ribbon adheres to the thermal head can be prevented.

  In the tape cassette according to the second aspect, since the widthwise dimension of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the printing tape is smaller than the widthwise dimension of the ink ribbon, it is possible to prevent a problem that the pressure-sensitive adhesive adheres to the platen or the like.

  In the tape cassette according to claim 3, since the release agent layer is further provided on the other surface of the transparent film of the printing tape, the adhesive layer is a transparent film when the printing tape is wound around the tape spool. Therefore, the adhesive layer is wound around the release agent layer, and the problem that the adhesive layer adheres to the transparent film can be avoided.

  In the tape cassette according to claim 4, after the ink ribbon passes through the separation portion, the ink layer adhered to the adhesive layer of the printing tape is transferred to the printing tape, and the ink ribbon is taken up by the ink ribbon take-up spool. Therefore, the ink transfer to the printing tape can be performed satisfactorily.

In the tape printer according to the fifth aspect, by using a tape cassette in which the adhesive tape spool and the laminating roller are omitted, the cutting mechanism can be arranged immediately downstream of the thermal head, and the print tape can be printed. The printing tape can be cut immediately after printing of the characters, etc., and the running cost of the printing tape can be reduced.

  Further, the print tape discharged from the tape discharge unit is transported through the pair of transport rollers, and the adhesive layer of the print tape is heated by the heat roller of the transport roller pair to generate adhesiveness. Thereby, since the printing tape is discharged with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer exposed on the surface, the user can apply it as it is to the adherend without removing the release paper. Moreover, since no release paper is used, the generation of dust can be suppressed.

In the tape printer according to claim 6, the heat generation of the thermal head is such that the ink layer transferred to the adhesive layer of the printing tape can be visually recognized when the printing tape is viewed from the transparent film side of the printing tape. Since the portion is driven and controlled via the drive control mechanism, the user can accurately recognize the characters through the transparent film. Also, when the printing tape is affixed to the adherend, the printed characters and the like are on the back side of the transparent film without being exposed on the surface, and because it has a configuration as a so-called laminated printing tape, Even when the surface of the printing tape is rubbed or when water, chemicals, or the like adheres to the surface of the printing tape, characters and the like do not blur or disappear.

In the tape printer according to the seventh aspect, the cutting means is disposed between the tape discharge portion and the conveying roller pair, and the printing tape can be cut immediately after printing. The front margin of the printing tape can be shortened compared to the laminating tape making apparatus, and the running cost of the printing tape can be reduced.

In the tape printer according to the eighth aspect, the heat roller comes into contact with the transparent film side of the print tape, and the adhesive can be prevented from directly adhering to the heat roller.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a tape cassette and a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings based on embodiments embodying the present invention. First, a tape cassette and a tape printer according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part showing a state in which the tape cassette is mounted in a cassette housing part of the tape printer, and FIG. 2 is a plan view schematically showing an internal configuration of the tape cassette.

  In FIG. 1, the tape cassette 1 can be attached to and detached from a cassette housing 6 provided in the tape printer 10, and the tape cassette 1 has an upper case 2 and a lower case 3. The upper case 2 is a lid member that covers the upper surface of the lower case 3, and the lower case 3 has a tape spool 18 in which a film tape 17 is wound slightly above the center as shown in FIG. Is arranged. Further, in the lower case 3, a ribbon spool 20 around which an ink ribbon 19 is wound is disposed at a lower right position of the tape spool 18. Further, the ink ribbon 19 is pulled out from the ribbon spool 20 and is consumed by printing characters or the like. A ribbon take-up spool 21 for taking up the ink ribbon 19 is disposed.

  A head insertion opening 40 is formed in the tape cassette 1 so as to penetrate the upper case 2 and the lower case 3. When the tape cassette 1 is stored in the cassette storage portion 6, the head insertion opening 40 is A thermal head 7 described later is inserted. A separation member 4 is formed on the downstream side of the thermal head 7 (left side in FIG. 2) at the head insertion opening 40. As will be described later, the separation member 4 changes the feeding direction of the ink ribbon 19 that is sandwiched between the platen roller 8 and the thermal head 7 and pressed against the film tape 17 when characters or the like are printed by the thermal head 7. At the same time, the ink ribbon 19 is separated from the film tape 17.

  The tape cassette 1 is also formed with a discharge port 13 through which the film tape 17 on which characters and the like are printed is discharged to the outside of the cassette case 1 after the ink ribbon 19 is separated through the separating member 4.

  Next, the configuration of the tape storage unit 6 in the tape printer 10 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a thermal head 7 is fixed to the cassette housing portion 6 of the tape printer 10. The thermal head 7 has a substantially rectangular plate shape when viewed from the front in FIG. 2, and is formed by arranging a predetermined number of heating elements in a line along the side of the left edge at the left edge of the front. Has been. A platen holder 46 is rotatably supported around the holder shaft 47 in the cassette housing portion 6, and the platen roller 8 is rotatably supported by the platen holder 46. The platen holder 46 is urged counterclockwise around the holder shaft 47 by an elastic member (not shown), and is driven clockwise by a motor or the like when printing on the film tape 17, whereby the platen roller 8 is The head 7 can be moved toward and away from the head 7.

  Further, a ribbon take-up shaft 9 connected to the ribbon take-up spool 21 of the tape cassette 1 is disposed in the cassette storage unit 6. The ribbon take-up shaft 9 is connected to a drive mechanism such as a motor (not shown), and rotates the ribbon take-up spool to take up the ink ribbon 19 separated through the separating member 4 as described above. Is.

  Further, a scissor-type cutter unit 14 is disposed in the cassette housing portion 6 adjacent to the tape discharge port 13 of the tape cassette 1, and this cutter unit 14 is fixed to the fixed blade 14A and the fixed blade 14A. And a movable blade 14B that operates to cut the printed film tape 17.

  Further, on the downstream side of the cutter unit 14, printing is performed in cooperation with a heat roller 15 that heats an adhesive layer (described later) formed on the film tape 17 and the heat roller 15 facing the heat roller 15. A pair of conveying rollers 48 including a tape feeding roller 16 for feeding the used film tape 17 to the outside of the tape printer 10 is provided.

  When the tape cassette 1 configured as described above is stored in the cassette storage unit 6 of the tape printer 10 and characters or the like are printed on the film tape 17, the film tape 17 wound around the tape spool 18 is Guide from the tape guide roller 30 provided at the corner of the case 3, the inner wall of the lower case 3, and the guide pin 42 formed on the arm portion 41 to the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8 through the opening 43 of the arm portion 41. Is done. The ink ribbon 19 is guided toward the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8 through the opening 43 while being regulated by the regulating projections 44 and 45 of the arm 41.

  The film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 guided as described above are overlapped between the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8, and in this state, the heating element group of the thermal head 7 is driven to generate heat. As a result, characters and the like are printed on the film tape 17 via the ink ribbon 19. Thereafter, the ink ribbon 19 is fed to the downstream side of the thermal head 7, separated from the film tape 17 via the separating member 4, and then taken up by the ribbon take-up spool 21.

  In addition, characters and the like are printed via the ink ribbon 19 and the thermal head 7, and after the ink ribbon 19 is separated via the separating member 4, the film tape 17 is transferred from the tape discharge port 13 to the outside of the tape cassette 1. Then, the paper is further discharged to the outside of the tape printer 10 through the conveying roller pair 48. At this time, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the film tape 17 is heated by the heat roller 15 of the transport roller pair 48, and as a result, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer generates adhesiveness as described later.

  Then, when the film tape 17 reaches a desired length, the cutter unit 14 is driven, whereby the film tape 17 is moved to a desired length by the cooperation of the fixed blade 14A and the movable blade 14B of the cutter unit 14. You are cut off.

  Next, the configuration of the ink ribbon and the printing tape according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing the relationship between the ink ribbon and the film tape in the printing process of characters and the like. As shown in FIG. 3, the ink ribbon 19 includes a base film 22 and an ink layer 23. The film tape 17 as a printing tape has an adhesive layer 24 formed on one side of the transparent film tape 25 (upper side of the transparent film in FIG. 3), and a release agent layer on the other side (lower side of the transparent film in FIG. 3). 26 is formed.

  The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 is not sticky at normal temperature, and becomes sticky only after being heated, and has a special property that has sticky properties even if the temperature drops once heated. It consists of As such an adhesive, for example, an adhesive used for a heat seal label described in Japanese Patent No. 3394572 can be used. This type of pressure-sensitive adhesive has a characteristic that it is melted when heated to 80 ° C. to 100 ° C. by a heat roller or the like and generates adhesiveness. In the first embodiment, heating by the heat roller is performed at 80 ° C. or more and less than 90 ° C.

  The film tape 17 has the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 on the inside, the release layer 26 of the transparent film 25 on the outside, and the tape spool 18 with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 superimposed on one side of the transparent film tape 25. It is wound around and stored. Since the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 is wound through the release agent layer 26, it is possible to avoid a problem that the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 directly adheres to the transparent film 25.

  Further, as described above, the film tape 17 drawn out from the tape spool 18 is fed to the printing position between the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8 of the tape printer 10 by the tape guide roller 30 or the like. The film tape 17 is overlapped with the ink ribbon 19 at the printing position, and the adhesive layer 24 of the film tape 17 and the ink layer 23 of the ink ribbon 19 come into contact with each other.

  As described above, when the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 of the film tape 17 and the ink layer 23 of the ink ribbon 19 are in contact with each other, the contact point where the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 and the ink layer 23 are in contact is the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8. As shown in FIG. 3, the thermal head 7 is in contact with the other surface of the base film 22 (the back surface side of the ink layer 23), and the ink layer 23 of the ink ribbon 19 is melted by heating the thermal head 7. At the same time, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 becomes sticky when the thermal head 7 is heated. The melted ink layer 23 is adhered to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24, whereby characters and the like are transferred to the film tape 17.

  Further, the tape printer 10 is provided with a drive control device (not shown) for controlling the drive of the heat generating portion of the thermal head 7 so that the transferred ink layer 23 is mirror-image printed on the film tape 17. Therefore, when the film tape 17 is viewed from the transparent film tape 25 side, characters printed with a normal image can be visually recognized.

  Next, a transfer mechanism for transferring the ink layer to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer when heated via the thermal head 7 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a transfer mechanism in which an ink layer is transferred to an adhesive layer when heated by a thermal head. As shown in FIG. 4, when the film tape 17 is overlapped with the ink ribbon 19 at the printing position between the thermal head 7 and the platen roller 8, the adhesive layer 24 of the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 are overlapped. The ink layer 23 comes into contact. At the contact portion, both the ink layer 23 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 are heated by the heating of the thermal head, but the heat transfer from the ink layer 23 to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 causes a transmission loss at the boundary portion. As a result, a temperature difference occurs at the boundary between the ink layer 23 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24. Further, the ink layer 23 of the ink ribbon 19 used in the tape cassette 1 of the first embodiment uses a high melting point type ink that melts at 90 ° C. or higher, and the adhesive layer of the film tape 17. 24 uses a pressure-sensitive adhesive that generates adhesiveness at 80 ° C. or higher. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the temperature of the ink layer 23A in the heating section reaches 90 ° C. or higher, the temperature of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24A As a result, the ink layer 23A and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24A in the heating portion are bonded.

  On the other hand, the temperature of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24B which is not heated by the thermal head 7 is less than 80 ° C., is not tinged with adhesiveness, and the temperature of the corresponding ink layer 23B is also less than 90 ° C. Then, after passing through the thermal head 7 and passing through the separation portion 4 arranged on the downstream side of the thermal head, as shown in FIG. 4, only the ink layer 23A heated and adhered to the adhesive layer 24A is printed. Transfer to tape 17. The remaining portion of the ink ribbon is taken up by the ribbon take-up spool 21 as the consumed ink ribbon 19.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the thermal head has a heat concentration type glaze structure, and the ink layer 23 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 are concentrated on the pinpoint and heated. Therefore, since the temperature difference between the ink layer 23A and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24A in the heating part becomes larger than the ink layer 23B and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24B in the non-heating part, the heating part 23A and the non-heating part 23B in the ink layer, and Adhesion can be performed while keeping the boundary between the heating part 24A and the non-heating part 24B of the adhesive layer clear.

  Further, the ink layer 23 is a wax-based ink, and even if it is cooled after heating, it is transferred well. Therefore, even when the heated ink 23 is cooled, it can be securely bonded to the adhesive 24A of the heating portion, and characters and the like are reliably transferred to the printed film tape 17.

  The film tape 17 on which characters and the like are printed is pulled out to the scissor cutter unit 14 as a cutting device by the cooperation of the tape feed roller 16 and the heat roller 15 as described above. By the cooperation of the fixed blade 14A and the movable blade 14B of the cutter unit 14, the printed film tape 17 can be cut to a desired length. The cut film tape 17 passes between the tape feed roller 16 and the heat roller 15 and becomes sticky by heating the heat roller 15 in the adhesive layer 24B other than the portion where the ink layer 23 is adhered. become. Thereafter, the printed film tape 17 having adhesive properties is discharged out of the tape printer 10 as a linerless tape that has been cut.

  As described above, the tape feeding roller 16 and the heat roller 15 are arranged on the downstream side of the cutter unit 14 without incorporating the adhesive tape spool and the laminating roller in the tape cassette 1, so that the cutter unit 14 is moved to the thermal head. Since the printed film tape 17 can be cut immediately after printing of characters or the like on the film tape 17 by being arranged immediately downstream of the film 7, the front margin of the film tape 17 after printing is shortened. Running costs can be reduced.

  Further, the heating by the heat roller 15 is performed at 80 ° C. or more and less than 90 ° C. On the other hand, the ink used is a high melting point type (the melting point of the ink is 90 ° C. or more). The ink adhered to 24 does not melt, and there is no possibility of causing a printing defect due to melting of the ink or the like.

  Moreover, since the heat roller 15 contacts from the release agent layer 26 side of the printed film tape 17 (the back side of the adhesive layer 24), direct contact with the adhesive layer can be avoided, and after heating The adhesive layer 24 does not adhere to the heat roller 15. On the other hand, since the tape feed roller 16 that is in direct contact with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 is subjected to mold release processing (silicon treatment or the like), the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 is not likely to adhere to the tape feed roller 16.

  In addition, since the heated pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24 retains its adhesiveness even if the temperature is lowered thereafter, the linerless tape prepared as described above is directly attached to the adherend through the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 24. Is pasted. This eliminates the need for the user to remove the release paper as when using a conventional laminate tape. Further, as described above, since the transferred ink layer 23 is mirror-printed with characters and the like on the film tape 17, the user can recognize the characters and the like printed as normal images through the transparent film. The release agent layer is also transparent. Needless to say, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer present between the film layer and the ink layer is transparent or semi-transparent in order to make the ink layer visible through the transparent film.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a tape cassette and a tape printer according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a main part showing a state in which the tape cassette is mounted in the cassette housing part of the tape printer according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a plan view schematically showing the internal structure of the tape cassette.

  The configuration of the tape cassette and the tape printer according to the second embodiment has basically the same configuration as the configuration of the tape cassette 1 and the tape printer 10 according to the first embodiment described above. Accordingly, in the following description, the same components as those of the tape cassette 1 and the tape printer 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with the same reference numerals, and the tape cassette 1 of the first embodiment will be described. A description will be given focusing on the configuration different from that of the tape printer 10.

  In FIG. 5, the tape cassette 301 can be attached to and detached from the cassette storage unit 6 provided in the tape printer 310, and the tape cassette 301 has an upper case 2 and a lower case 3. The upper case 2 is a lid member that covers the upper surface of the lower case 3, and the lower case 3 has a tape spool 18 in which a film tape 17 is wound slightly above the center as shown in FIG. Is arranged. Further, in the lower case 3, a ribbon spool 20 around which an ink ribbon 19 is wound is disposed at a lower right position of the tape spool 18. Further, the ink ribbon 19 is pulled out from the ribbon spool 20 and is consumed by printing characters or the like. A ribbon take-up spool 21 for taking up the ink ribbon 19 is disposed.

  In the tape cassette 301, a roller arrangement portion 50 is formed so as to penetrate the upper case 2 and the lower case 3, and when the tape cassette 301 is stored in the cassette storage portion 6 in the roller arrangement portion 50, A platen roller 58 described later is disposed. In the roller arrangement portion 50, the separation member 4 is formed on the downstream side (left side in FIG. 6) of the thermal head 57. As will be described later, the separating member 4 changes the feeding direction of the ink ribbon 19 that is sandwiched between the platen roller 58 and the thermal head 57 and pressed against the film tape 17 when characters or the like are printed by the thermal head 57. At the same time, the ink ribbon 19 is separated from the film tape 17.

  Further, the tape cassette 301 is formed with a discharge port 13 through which the film tape 17 on which characters and the like are printed is discharged to the outside of the tape cassette 301 after the ink ribbon 19 is separated through the separating member 4.

  Next, the configuration of the tape storage unit 6 in the tape printer 310 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the cassette storage unit 6 of the tape printer 310 is provided with a thermal head 57 mounted on a head support member 52 arranged to be rotatable around a head support shaft 51. It has been. The thermal head 57 has a substantially rectangular plate shape when viewed from the front in FIG. 6, and a predetermined number of heating elements are arranged in a line along the side of the left edge at the left edge of the front. Has been. In addition, a platen roller 58 is rotatably supported by the cassette storage unit 6.

  Here, the head support member 52 is biased counterclockwise around the head support shaft 51 by an elastic member (not shown), and is driven clockwise by a motor or the like when printing on the film tape 17, thereby The thermal head 57 can be brought into contact with and separated from the platen roller 58.

  In addition, a ribbon take-up shaft 9 connected to the ribbon take-up spool 21 of the tape cassette 301 is disposed in the cassette storage unit 6. The ribbon take-up shaft 9 is connected to a drive mechanism such as a motor (not shown), and rotates the ribbon take-up spool to take up the ink ribbon 19 separated through the separating member 4 as described above. Is.

  Further, a scissor-type cutter unit 14 is disposed in the cassette housing portion 6 adjacent to the tape outlet 13 of the tape cassette 301. The cutter unit 14 is connected to the fixed blade 14A and the fixed blade 14A. And a movable blade 14B that operates to cut the printed film tape 17.

  Further, on the downstream side of the cutter unit 14, printing is performed in cooperation with a heat roller 15 that heats an adhesive layer (described later) formed on the film tape 17 and the heat roller 15 facing the heat roller 15. A pair of conveying rollers 49 including a tape feeding roller 16 for feeding the used film tape 17 to the outside of the tape printer 310 is provided.

  When the tape cassette 301 configured as described above is stored in the cassette storage unit 6 of the printing apparatus 310 and characters or the like are printed on the film tape 17, the film tape 17 wound around the tape spool 18 is 3 is guided toward the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58 through a tape guide roller 30 provided at the corner of 3 and a guide support 53 formed on the inner wall of the lower case 3. The ink ribbon 19 is guided toward the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58 while being guided and supported by the guide support portion 54 formed at the end of the roller arrangement portion 50.

  The film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 guided as described above are overlapped between the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58, and in this state, the heating element group of the thermal head 57 is driven to generate heat. As a result, characters and the like are printed on the film tape 17 via the ink ribbon 19. Thereafter, the ink ribbon 19 is sent out to the downstream side of the thermal head 57, separated from the film tape 17 via the separation member 4, and then taken up by the ribbon take-up spool 21.

  In addition, characters and the like are printed via the ink ribbon 19 and the thermal head 57, and after the ink ribbon 19 is separated via the separating member 4, the film tape 17 is transferred from the tape discharge port 13 to the outside of the tape cassette 301. Then, the paper is further discharged to the outside of the tape printer 310 via the conveying roller pair 49. At this time, the adhesive layer of the film tape 17 is heated by the heat roller 15 of the conveyance roller pair 49, and as a result, the adhesive layer is adhesive as described later.

  Then, when the film tape 17 reaches a desired length, the cutter unit 14 is driven, whereby the film tape 17 is moved to a desired length by the cooperation of the fixed blade 14A and the movable blade 14B of the cutter unit 14. You are cut off.

  Next, the configuration of the ink ribbon and the print tape according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is an explanatory view schematically showing the relationship between the ink ribbon and the film tape in the printing process of characters and the like. As shown in FIG. 7, the ink ribbon 19 includes a base film 35 and an ink layer 34. The film tape 17 as a printing tape has an adhesive layer 33 formed on one side of the transparent film tape 32 (lower side of the transparent film in FIG. 7), and a release agent layer on the other side (upper side of the transparent film in FIG. 7). 31 is formed.

  The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 is not sticky at room temperature, and becomes sticky only after being heated. Even if the temperature is lowered after being heated, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 has a special property of being sticky. It consists of As such an adhesive, for example, the adhesive used for the heat seal label described in Japanese Patent No. 3394572 can be used as in the case of the first embodiment. This type of pressure-sensitive adhesive has a characteristic that it is melted when heated to 80 ° C. to 100 ° C. by a heat roller or the like and generates adhesiveness. In the second embodiment, heating by the heat roller is performed at 80 ° C. or more and less than 90 ° C. as in the first embodiment.

  The film tape 17 is wound around and stored in the tape spool 18 with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 on the inside, with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 superimposed on one side. Since the release agent layer 31 is formed on the back surface side of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 of the transparent film tape 32, a part of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is tacky while being wound around the tape spool 18. Even if this happens, it is possible to reduce the problem that the adhesive layer 33 adheres to the transparent film 17, the inside of the tape cassette, and each part of the printing apparatus.

  Further, as described above, the film tape 17 drawn out from the tape spool 18 is fed to the printing position between the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58 of the tape printer 310 by the tape guide roller 30 or the like. The film tape 17 is overlapped with the ink ribbon 19 at the printing position, and the adhesive layer 33 of the film tape 17 and the ink layer 34 of the ink ribbon 19 come into contact with each other.

  Thus, when the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 of the film tape 17 and the ink layer 34 of the ink ribbon 19 are in contact with each other, the contact points where the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 and the ink layer 34 are in contact are the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58. As shown in FIG. 7, the thermal head 57 comes into contact with the release agent layer 31 side of the film tape 17, and the adhesive layer 33 becomes adhesive due to the heating of the thermal head 57. The ink layer 34 of the ink ribbon 19 is melted by heating the thermal head 57. The melted ink layer 34 is adhered to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33, whereby characters and the like are transferred to the film tape 17.

  Further, the tape printer 310 is provided with a drive control device (not shown) for controlling the drive of the heat generating portion of the thermal head 57 so that the transferred ink layer 34 is mirror-printed on the film tape 17. Therefore, when the film tape 17 is viewed from the transparent film tape 32 side, characters printed with a normal image can be visually recognized.

  Next, a transfer mechanism in which the ink layer is transferred to the adhesive layer when heated via the thermal head 57 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory view schematically showing a transfer mechanism in which the ink layer is transferred to the adhesive layer when heated by the thermal head 57. As shown in FIG. 8, when the film tape 17 is overlapped with the ink ribbon 19 at the printing position between the thermal head 57 and the platen roller 58, the adhesive layer 33 of the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 The ink layer 34 contacts. At the contact portion, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 is heated together with the ink layer 34 by the heating of the thermal head, but the heat transfer from the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 to the ink layer 34 causes a transmission loss at the boundary portion. As a result, a temperature difference occurs at the boundary between the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 and the ink layer 34. Moreover, the adhesive layer 33 of the film tape 17 used in the tape cassette 301 of the second embodiment uses an adhesive that generates adhesiveness at 80 ° C. or higher, and the ink layer of the ink ribbon 19 Since the low melting point type ink that melts at 60 ° C. or higher is used for No. 34, as shown in FIG. 7, when the temperature of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33A in the heating section becomes 80 ° C. or higher, the temperature of the ink layer 34A As a result, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 </ b> A and the ink layer 34 </ b> A are bonded to each other in the heating portion.

  On the other hand, the temperature of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer portion 33B that is not heated by the thermal head 57 is less than 80 ° C., and is not tacky, and the temperature of the corresponding ink layer 34B is also less than 60 ° C. Therefore, after passing through the thermal head 57 and passing through the separation section 4 arranged on the downstream side of the thermal head, as shown in FIG. 8, only the ink layer 34A heated and bonded to the adhesive layer 33A is present. The remaining portion of the ink ribbon transferred to the print tape 17 is taken up by the ink ribbon take-up spool 21 as the consumed ink ribbon 19.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the thermal head has a heat concentration type glaze structure, and the ink layer 34 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 are concentrated on the pinpoint and heated. Accordingly, since the temperature difference between the ink layer 34A and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33A of the heating part is larger than that of the ink layer 34B and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33B of the non-heating part, the heating part 34A and the non-heating part 34B of the ink layer Adhesion can be performed while keeping the boundary between the heating part 33A and the non-heating part 33B of the adhesive layer clear.

  The ink layer 34 is a wax-based ink and can be transferred well even when cooled after being heated. Therefore, even if the heated ink layer 34 is cooled, it can be reliably bonded to the adhesive 33A of the heating portion, and characters and the like are reliably transferred to the printed film tape 17.

  The film tape 17 on which characters and the like are printed is pulled out to the scissor cutter unit 14 as a cutting device by the cooperation of the tape feed roller 16 and the heat roller 15 as described above. By the cooperation of the fixed blade 14A and the movable blade 14B of the cutter unit 14, the printed film tape 17 can be cut to a desired length. The cut film tape 17 passes between the tape feed roller 16 and the heat roller 15 and becomes sticky by heating the heat roller 15 in the adhesive layer 33B other than the portion where the ink layer 34 is adhered. become. Thereafter, the printed film tape 17 having adhesive properties is discharged out of the printing apparatus as a linerless tape that has been cut.

  As described above, the tape feeding roller 16 and the heat roller 15 are arranged on the downstream side of the cutter unit 14 without incorporating the adhesive tape spool and the laminating roller in the tape cassette 1, so that the cutter unit 14 is moved to the thermal head. Since the printed film tape 17 can be cut immediately after printing of characters or the like on the film tape 17 by being arranged immediately downstream of 57, the front margin of the film tape 17 after printing is shortened. Running costs can be reduced.

  Furthermore, when the heating with the heat roller 15 is performed at 80 ° C. or more and less than 90 ° C., the ink layer has a temperature of 60 ° C. or more, and the ink used as the ink layer 34 is a low melting point type (the melting point of the ink is 60 ° C. or more). However, since such ink is once dissolved in a high-viscosity adhesive when printing characters or the like, it becomes difficult to melt by heating of the heat roller 15, and remelting of ink when heated by the heat roller 15, etc. There is almost no risk of printing failure due to the above. The release agent layer is also transparent. Needless to say, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer present between the film layer and the ink layer is transparent or semi-transparent in order to make the ink layer visible through the transparent film.

  Further, since the heat roller 15 contacts from the release agent layer 31 side (the back side of the adhesive layer 33) of the printed film tape 17 such as characters, direct contact with the adhesive layer 33 can be avoided. The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 after heating does not adhere to the heat roller 15. On the other hand, since the tape feed roller 16 that is in direct contact with the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 is subjected to release processing (silicon treatment or the like), it is possible to reduce adhesion of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 to the tape feed roller 16.

  Further, since the heated pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 33 has adhesiveness even if the temperature subsequently decreases, the linerless tape made in this way is attached to the adherend by the user. As before, there is no need for the user to remove the release paper when using the laminate tape. Furthermore, since the transferred ink layer 34 is mirror-image printed on the film tape 17 as described above, the user can recognize characters and the like printed on the normal image through a transparent film.

  Here, when the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 face each other while being shifted in the width direction, the ink on the ink ribbon may be transferred to the thermal head 57. FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are cross-sectional views in the width direction showing the positional relationship between the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19. As shown in FIG. 9A, when the width direction dimension of the ink ribbon 19 and the width direction dimension of the film tape 17 having the adhesive layer are the same, as shown in FIG. If the ink ribbon 19 is displaced, a part of the ink ribbon 19 faces the thermal head 57 and the ink may be transferred to the thermal head 57.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10A, this problem can be avoided by making the width direction dimension of the ink ribbon 19 smaller than the width direction dimension of the film tape 17. That is, as shown in FIG. 10B, even if the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 are displaced in the width direction, the ink ribbon 19 and the thermal head 57 do not face each other, and the ink ribbon is not attached to the thermal head 57. It is possible to prevent 19 inks from being transferred.

  Furthermore, as shown to Fig.11 (a), when the width direction dimension of the adhesive layer of the film tape 17 is smaller than the width direction dimension of the whole film tape (namely, the transparent film 25 and the mold release agent layer 26), Since the adhesive of the adhesive layer does not protrude from the end of the film tape 17, it is possible to prevent the adhesive from adhering to the thermal head 57.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 12A, when the width direction dimension of the adhesive layer of the film tape 17 is smaller than the width direction dimension of the ink ribbon 19, the film tape 17 and the ink ribbon 19 are in the width direction. Even if the platen roller 58 is displaced, the platen roller 58 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer do not face each other, so that the pressure-sensitive adhesive can be prevented from adhering to the platen roller 58.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said 1st Embodiment and 2nd Embodiment, Of course, various improvement and deformation | transformation are possible within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention. For example, in the second embodiment, a heat-melting type thermal ink ribbon is used as the ink ribbon 19, but as another application example, as shown in FIG. It is also possible to employ a toner ink ribbon 39 provided with a toner ink layer 38 coated with toner ink on one side thereof.

  The transfer mechanism in which the ink layer is transferred to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer when heated via the thermal head 57 is the same as in FIG. 8 in which the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the film tape 17 heated by the thermal head 57 is equal to or higher than the melting temperature. It is heated to not less than 90 ° C. and less than 90 ° C., and is sticky. Then, the toner ink layer 38 of the toner ink ribbon 39 that is in contact with the sticky adhesive layer portion of the film tape 17 adheres to the sticky adhesive layer portion and is transferred to the film tape 17. The In this case, the toner ink is not melted below 90 ° C. and is transferred to the film tape 17 in a powder state.

  The film tape 17 after printing passes between the tape feeding roller 16 and the heat roller 15 and is heated to 80 ° C. or more and less than 90 ° C. by the heat roller 15, and the part of the adhesive layer that is not tacky In addition, the toner ink is not melted and kept transferred to the film tape 17.

  Therefore, even if the film tape 17 after printing is heated, the ink does not melt, so there is no possibility of causing printing defects.

It is a principal part expansion perspective view which shows the state which mounts a tape cassette in the cassette storage part of the tape printer which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a top view which shows typically the internal structure of the tape cassette in 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the relationship between the ink ribbon in the printing process of the character etc. of 1st Embodiment, and a film tape. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the transfer mechanism by which an ink layer is transcribe | transferred to an adhesive layer when heated with the thermal head in 1st Embodiment. It is a principal part expansion perspective view which shows the state which mounts a tape cassette in the cassette storage part of the tape printer which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a top view which shows typically the internal structure of the tape cassette in 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the relationship between the ink ribbon in the printing process of the character etc. of 2nd Embodiment, and a film tape. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the transfer mechanism by which an ink layer is transcribe | transferred to an adhesive layer when heated with the thermal head in 2nd Embodiment. In 2nd Embodiment, when a film tape and an ink ribbon are the same width dimensions, they are width direction sectional drawings which show both positional relationship. In 2nd Embodiment, it is the width direction sectional drawing which shows both positional relationship in the case where the width direction dimension of a film tape is larger than the width direction dimension of an ink ribbon. In the second embodiment, when only the widthwise dimension of the adhesive of the film tape is the same as the widthwise dimension of the ink ribbon, and the widthwise dimension of the entire film tape is larger than the widthwise dimension of the ink ribbon It is width direction sectional drawing which shows both positional relationship in FIG. In the second embodiment, when only the width direction dimension of the adhesive of the film tape is smaller than the width direction dimension of the ink ribbon and the width direction dimension of the entire film tape is larger than the width direction dimension of the ink ribbon, It is width direction sectional drawing which shows positional relationship. It is explanatory drawing which shows typically the transfer mechanism by which an ink layer is transcribe | transferred to an adhesive layer when heated with the thermal head in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tape cassette 2 Upper case 3 Lower case 7 Thermal head 10 Printing device 17 Film tape 18 Tape spool 19 Ink ribbon 23 Ink layer 24 Adhesive layer 25 Transparent film

Claims (8)

An ink ribbon having an ink layer formed on one side;
A printing tape made of a transparent film having a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer formed on one side by which the adhesiveness is generated by heating;
A cassette case for storing the ink ribbon and the printing tape;
The adhesive layer of the printing tape and the ink layer of the ink ribbon abut at the printing position,
It can be attached to and detached from the cassette mounting part of a tape printer equipped with a thermal head and platen.
Wherein is mounted in a cassette mount of a tape printer, in a state in which the printing tape and said ink ribbon is sandwiched between the platen and the thermal head in the printing position, the ink layer before Symbol ink ribbon, a thermal Adhered to the heated part of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer that has been tackified by being selectively heated by the head,
The width direction dimension of the printing tape is larger than the ink ribbon width dimension,
Tape cassette. The widthwise dimension of the adhesive layer of the printing tape is smaller than the widthwise dimension of the ink ribbon,
The tape cassette according to claim 1. A release agent layer is provided on the surface of the printing tape where the adhesive layer is not formed,
The tape cassette according to claim 1 or 2. An ink ribbon take-up spool for taking up the ink ribbon;
A separation unit for separating the ink ribbon and the printing tape on the downstream side in the tape transport direction of the printing position;
After the ink ribbon passes through the separation part, the ink layer adhered to the adhesive layer of the printing tape moves to the printing tape, and the ink ribbon is wound up by the ink ribbon winding spool.
The tape cassette according to any one of claims 1 to 3. A tape printer to which the tape cassette according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is mounted,
A pair of transport rollers for transporting the print tape discharged from the tape discharge portion of the mounted tape cassette ;
The transport roller pair includes a heat roller that heats the discharged print tape.
Tape printer. A drive control mechanism for the drive control of the heating portion before Symbol thermal head,
The printing tape in contact with the thermal head includes a transparent film layer,
The heat generation part of the thermal head is such that the ink layer transferred to the adhesive layer of the print tape through the heat generation part can be visually recognized as the normal image when the print tape is viewed from the transparent film side of the print tape. Controlled by the drive control mechanism,
The tape printer according to claim 5. Tape printing device according to claim 5 or claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a tape cutting means for cutting the printing tape between said tape discharge portion and the conveying roller pair. The printing tape in contact with the heat roller includes a transparent film layer,
The heat roller contacts from the transparent film side of the printing tape;
The tape printer according to any one of claims 5 to 7.

Images