JPH02106381A - Ribbon switching device for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply and accurately finely adjust a printing position by providing a pulse motor for driving a cam at a suitable rotating angle to oscillate a cassette holder to select the color area of multicolor ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:When a multicolor ink ribbon 5 is slightly deviated upward with respect to the end of a printing head 3 and the ribbon 5 is finely moved downward, a clamping screw 16 is loosened, a regulation lever 14 is suitably oscillated clockwise in a suitable regulation length N to move the position of a ribbon cassette 4 fixedly supported to a cassette holder 8 to a position designated by a solid line, the screw 16 is again clamped at the position, thereby completing the fine movement. In this case, the lever 14 is relatively rotatably displaced at the pivotal shaft 13 of the holder 8 as a center. This regulating work is conducted to accurately position the color areas of the ribbon 5 to be regulated with respect to the end of the head 3.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a printer that is capable of printing in a mixture of multiple colors, and particularly relates to an ink ribbon (hereinafter referred to as "Multicolor ink ribbon"
) The present invention relates to a ribbon switching device in a printer that changes the print color by changing the attitude of a ribbon cassette having a ribbon cassette.

[Prior Art] In conventional printers that perform multicolor printing by running a carriage equipped with a print head, a ribbon cassette containing multicolor ink ribbons is supported in a position changeable part in the printer body (stationary type). As a color ink ribbon switching device, there is, for example, a device previously filed by the present applicant and published in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-37248 (hereinafter referred to as the "former").

This device is equipped with a ribbon cassette that stores multicolor ink ribbons, and a ribbon guide plate having a ribbon guide section that guides the multicolor ink ribbons to the tip of the print head. The ribbon guide plate is provided with a hook portion that elastically and slidably engages with the hook portion, and a projection or groove is provided on the carriage or print head and the groove or projection is engaged with the carriage or print head so as to be movable up and down. is provided on the ribbon guide plate, and the printing color can be changed by swinging the ribbon cassette around an axis parallel to the running direction of the print head.

In addition, it is a printer that prints in multiple colors by mounting a ribbon cassette on a carriage (carriage mount type) and running it integrally with the print head.

For example, there is one (hereinafter referred to as the "latter") published in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-220884.

This product consists of a ribbon cassette in which multicolor ink ribbons are housed in a cassette case, a carrier on which a print head is mounted, a cassette support stand, and a drive mechanism for moving the support stand in the width direction of the ribbon; a pair of locking bodies meshed with each other by a number of locking parts corresponding to the number of locking bodies, one locking body is attached to the cassette case so as to be freely displaceable in the width direction of the ribbon, and the other locking body is attached to the carrier. The cassette case is biased and displaceably attached to the locking body side of the cassette case, and an adjustment spiral with an axis that coincides with the width direction of the ribbon is provided on the cassette case so as to be rotatable while preventing movement in the axial direction. It is characterized in that the adjustment spiral is screwed into a locking body on the case.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention 1] However, in the former case, there was no fine adjustment mechanism for swinging the ribbon cassette by a minute amount. If the position is not set accurately, the boundary between colors may be printed, and it is difficult to take countermeasures against this problem.

In addition, in the latter case, there was a conventional mechanism for finely adjusting the printing position of the multicolor ink ribbon, but the fine adjustment mechanism had a complicated structure and was difficult to adjust. Ta.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and aims to solve the above-mentioned problems by providing a fine adjustment mechanism with a simple structure that can finely adjust the printing position of a multicolor ink ribbon. It is said that

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, a ribbon switching device in a printer of the present invention includes a ribbon cassette storing multicolor ink ribbons color-coded into a plurality of regions in the width direction; and a ribbon guide section that guides the color ink ribbon to the tip of the print head, and by swinging the ribbon cassette around an axis parallel to the running direction of the print head, the ribbon guide section is moved up and down to change the printing color. In a ribbon switching device for a printer that switches a ribbon cassette, the ribbon cassette is detachably and swingably supported by a cassette holder, the adjustment lever is fixed such that the relative position of the cassette holder can be adjusted and has a cam roller, and the cam roller is connected to the cassette holder. It consists of a cam that comes into contact with the cam, a spring that presses the cam roller against the cam, and a pulse motor that rotates the cam and whose rotation angle can be selected from a plurality of types. It is characterized in that color mixing is prevented by changing the mutual fixing positions of the cassette holder and the adjustment lever.

[Operation] When the posture of the adjustment lever supported by the cassette holder is changed, the relative position between the cam roller provided on the adjustment lever and the cassette holder changes slightly, so that the spring that biases the cam roller against the cam The force changes the posture of the cassette holder, and the ribbon cassette fitted and supported by the cassette holder swings in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the print head, so that each color area of the multicolor ink ribbon is positioned at the tip of the print head. fine adjustment to ensure accurate positioning.

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention.

First, to explain the configuration, 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a base plate which is a member on the printer main body side, 2 is a platen rotatably supported on the printer main body side, and 3 is a printing plate movably attached to the base plate 1. A printing head 3 reciprocates in the axial direction parallel to the surface of the platen 2.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a ribbon cassette in which a multicolor ink ribbon 5 color-coded into a plurality of regions in one width direction is housed in a cassette case 6, and two protrusions 7 are provided on one side of the cassette case 6 perpendicular to the ribbon running direction. A protrusion is provided on the other side, which is not shown in the figure, to serve as the center of the rocking motion.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a cassette holder having two recesses 9 into which two protrusions 7 fit, and as shown enlarged in FIGS. 2 and 3, the two recesses @9 are open upward, A bushing is fitted into a hole drilled below to provide a bearing lO. The bearing lO has a base plate (as shown in Fig. 1)1
A support shaft 12 provided on a vertically supported support plate 11 is loosely fitted, so that the cassette holder 8 is attached to the support shaft 12.
It is configured to be able to rotate around the center and to be able to swing in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the print head 3 travels.

An adjustment lever 14 whose lower end is swingably supported by a pivot 13 is disposed on the surface of the cassette holder 8 opposite to the ribbon cassette 4. The upper part of the adjustment lever 14 has an arc-shaped elongated hole 15 provided in the cassette holder 8.
A female threaded portion 1 into which the threaded portion of the fixing screw 16 passing through is threaded.
There are 7. Further, the adjustment lever 14 is provided with a pointer portion 18 by bending its upper end toward the cassette holder 8 side. Depending on the position, an adjustment scale 19 is formed that indicates a minute position in the width direction at the tip of the print head 3 of the multicolor ink ribbon 5. Furthermore, a cam roller 20 is rotatably supported near the portion of the adjustment lever 14 supported by the pivot shaft 13.

21 is a tension spring stretched between the cassette holder 8 and the base plate 1;

The tensile force of the spring 21 causes the cassette holder 8 to swing about the support shaft 12, thereby urging the cam roller 20 against the cam 22. The cam 22 is provided integrally with a gear 23 rotatably supported by a support shaft 11a provided on the support plate 11.

A pinion 24 meshes with the gear 23.

The pinion 24 is connected to the support plate 11 by a screw 25.
It is attached to the output shaft of a pulse motor 26 fixed to.

Next, the effect will be explained.

When performing multicolor printing with the multicolor ink ribbon 5, the posture of the ribbon cassette 4 is changed depending on the color to be printed, and the opposing position in the width direction of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 at the tip of the printing pad 3 is changed. It can be executed by

That is, when the pulse motor 26 is driven at a constant rotation angle and the rotational force is transmitted from the pinion 24 to the gear 23,
A cam 22 integrated therewith rotates by an angle corresponding to the rotation angle of the pulse motor 26, and the cam roller 20 is displaced by a lift amount corresponding to the rotation angle of the cam 22. As a result, the cassette holder 8 fixed to the adjustment lever 14 having the cam roller 20 swings around the support shaft 12 in accordance with the amount of displacement of the cam roller 20, so that the cassette holder 8
The ribbon cassette 4, which is held and supported by the ribbon cassette 4, swings in a direction perpendicular to the running direction of the rad 3 for printing.

As a result, the area of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 located in front of the print head 3 changes, so by appropriately selecting the rotation angle of the pulse motor 26, the desired color can be applied to the paper supplied to the platen 2. Can be printed.

Next, if the printing position of the ribbon 5 is to be finely adjusted because an accurate printing position t cannot be obtained due to variations in product assembly or the like, the printing position may be finely adjusted as follows, for example.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining such fine adjustment work, and in the figure, the attitude of the ribbon cassette 4 is changed from a shifted position shown by an imaginary line (two-dot chain line) to an accurately positioned position shown by a solid line. The figure shows the case of slight movement to .

As shown in the figure, the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is attached to the print head 3.
If the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is slightly shifted upward from the tip of the ink ribbon 5 and you want to move it slightly downward, fix the
6 and swing the adjustment lever 14 clockwise in the figure by an appropriate adjustment length N, the position of the ribbon cassette 4 fixedly supported by the cassette holder 8 can be moved to the position shown by the solid line. By tightening the fixing screw 16 again at that position, the minute movement is completed.

At that time, the adjustment lever 14 is
Rotationally displaced relative to center 3.

By performing such adjustment work, it is possible to accurately position and adjust each color area of the multicolor ink ribbon 5 with respect to the tip of the printing pad 3.

In addition, when the multicolor ink ribbon 5 is slightly moved upward, the adjustment lever 14 may be swung counterclockwise in FIG. 3.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a ribbon cassette that stores multicolor ink ribbons, a cassette holder that swingably supports the ribbon cassette, and a cassette holder that supports the ribbon cassette so as to be able to change its posture. a spring that biases a cam roller provided thereon to the cam, and a pulse motor that selects a color area of the multicolor ink ribbon by driving the cam at an appropriate rotation angle and swinging the cassette holder. Because of this structure, even users who are inexperienced in making fine adjustments to the printing position can easily adjust the position of the cassette holder relative to the adjustment lever in the event that an accurate printing position cannot be obtained due to variations in product assembly, etc. The effect is that fine adjustments can be made easily and accurately just by changing the .

Furthermore, since the structure is simple as described above, it is possible to manufacture a printer equipped with this type of mechanism at a low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an exploded main part of the figure, and is an explanatory view for explaining the present invention in detail. 3: Print head 4: Ribbon cassette 5: Ribbon 8: Cassette holder ll: Support plate
12: Support shaft 13: Pivot 14: Adjustment lever 16: Fixing screw 20: Cam roller 21 spring
22: Cam 26: Pulse motor patent applicant Citizen Watch Co., Ltd. agent Patent attorney Small 1) Written amendment to administrative procedures (voluntary) December 28, 1999

Claims (1)

[Claims] It has a ribbon cassette that stores multicolor ink ribbons that are color-coded into a plurality of regions in the width direction, and a ribbon guide section that guides the multicolor ink ribbons to the tip of the print head,
In a ribbon switching device for a printer that changes printing colors by moving the ribbon guide section up and down by swinging the ribbon cassette around an axis parallel to the running direction of a print head, the ribbon cassette is detachable and swingable. a cassette holder to support, an adjustment lever that is fixed so that the relative position of the cassette holder can be adjusted and has a cam roller, a cam that abuts the cam roller, a spring that presses the cam roller against the cam, and a rotationally driven drive of the cam. In addition, it is comprised of a pulse motor whose rotation angle can be selected from a plurality of types, and the printing color is switched depending on the rotation angle of the pulse motor, and color mixing is prevented by changing the mutual fixing position of the cassette holder and the adjustment lever. A ribbon switching device for a printer, characterized in that: