JPH037174Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ink ribbon winding device in a printing device using an ink ribbon such as a transfer type thermal printer, and is designed so that the ink ribbon can be wound up only when printing is actually being performed. The purpose is to enable effective use of ink ribbons.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the basic configuration of a conventionally widely used transfer type thermal printer.
a platen 1' that is rotated intermittently by a line feed means (not shown), and a carriage that is suspended on a pair of guide shafts 21' and 22' that are provided parallel to the platen 1'. 2' and a motor 32 for reciprocating the carriage 2' via a timing belt or wire 3'.

Reference numeral 5' denotes a thermal head mounted on the carriage 2', which has a plurality of printing elements arranged at predetermined intervals and selectively energizes the printing elements to generate Joule heat and apply it to the transfer type thermal ink ribbon. The melted ink is melted and transferred onto plain paper to represent characters, figures, etc.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a cartridge mounted on the carriage 2', in which a transfer type thermal ink ribbon (not shown) is stored, and a part of the ink ribbon is pulled out from the cartridge 6' to print on plain paper 11'. It is led between the thermal head 5'.

In order to wind up the ink ribbon only when the carriage 2' moves forward, a one-way clutch 5 is connected to a take-up pulley 42' around which a wire 57, both ends of which are attached to predetermined fixed parts of the printing device, is wound once.
An ink ribbon winding device is provided, which is connected to a gear 44' through an ink ribbon winding shaft 47' of a cartridge 6'. The one-way clutch 56 rotates the take-up pulley 42' only when
The signal is transmitted to a winding shaft 47' via a gear 44', thereby winding the ink ribbon (see FIG. 7).

When such an ink ribbon winding device is used, while the carriage 2' is moving forward,
Since the ink ribbon is wound up by the thermal head 5' regardless of whether printing is actually being performed or not, the ink ribbon cannot be used effectively and the running cost of the printing device increases. It was hot.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks by stopping the winding of the ink ribbon when the carriage moves backward or when forming a blank area without printing, and winds the ink ribbon only when printing is performed. This will be explained in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings showing embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a transfer type thermal printer equipped with an ink ribbon winding device of the present invention. platen 1
, a carriage 2 suspended so that a pair of guide shafts 21 and 22 provided parallel to the platen 1 can be reciprocated; and a timing belt suspended between a plurality of pulleys 31 to drive the carriage 2 back and forth. 3, and an ink ribbon winding device, which is the main feature of the present invention.

Note that 5 is a thermal head, and 6 is a cartridge for storing a transfer type thermal ink ribbon.

The configuration of the ink ribbon winding device, which is the most important aspect of the present invention, is as follows.

One side of one guide shaft 22 is cut off to form a flat surface 41, and driving means for rotationally driving the guide shaft 22 is provided. A take-up arm 43 whose center of rotation is the rotation axis of the take-up pulley 42 is provided, and an intermediate gear 44 that is always engaged with the take-up pulley 42 is provided at a predetermined position of the take-up arm 43.
A spring 45 is stretched between the take-up arm 43 and a predetermined position of the carriage 2 to constantly bias the take-up arm 43 in one direction, and the intermediate gear 44 is connected to the cartridge 2. 6 ink take-up shaft 4
It meshes with a winding gear 46 fitted on the shaft 7'.

The guide shaft side end of the winding arm 43 does not come into contact with the central part of the flat surface of the guide shaft 22, but is in strong pressure contact with the peripheral edge of the flat surface or the cylindrical surface. is extended and protruded so as to be rotated against the spring 45 (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

Further, the drive means for rotationally driving the guide shaft 22 connects the tip of the arm rod 48 fitted to one end of the guide shaft 22 with a plunger 49, and energizes the plunger 49 to drive the guide shaft 22. is rotated so that the flat surface 41 can directly face the winding arm 43. Note that 40 is a spring for returning the guide shaft 22. Here, the timing of energizing the plunger 49 is synchronized with the timing of energizing the thermal head 5, so that the flat surface 41 of the guide shaft 22 directly faces the take-up arm 43 only when the thermal head 5 prints on plain paper 11. I have to.

The operation of the transfer type thermal printer having the above configuration is as follows.

When printing on plain paper 11, the plain paper 11
is wrapped around the platen 1, and a transfer type thermal ink ribbon (not shown) is held between the plain paper 11 and the thermal head 5, thereby completing the print preparation operation.

Next, by applying a print signal to the thermal head 5, characters, figures, etc. can be printed on the plain paper 11. That is, the timing belt 3 is moved forward and backward for a predetermined period of time, and while the timing belt 3 is moving backward, the feed means is energized to rotate the platen 1 by a predetermined angle, thereby performing the feed feed operation.

Further, the printing signal is printed on the printing element of the thermal head 5 only while the timing belt 3 is moving forward, and only the printing element corresponding to the printing signal is energized to generate pulse heat. Desired printing can be performed on plain paper 11 by melting the meltable ink of the ink ribbon.

Then, while printing, the guide shaft 2
Since the flat surface 41 of No. 2 is directly opposed to the winding arm 43, the winding arm 43 is rotated by the spring 45.
The intermediate gear 44' and the take-up gear 46 are held in mesh (see FIG. 2).

Therefore, the rotation of the take-up pulley 42 is controlled by the intermediate gear 44.
The ink ribbon is then transmitted to the take-up shaft 47 via the take-up gear 46, and the ink ribbon can be taken up in synchronization with the traveling speed of the carriage 2. Note that the take-up shaft 47 and the take-up gear 46 slip when a torque of more than a predetermined value is applied to the take-up shaft 47, so even if the take-up diameter of the ink ribbon changes, there will be no excessive stress on the ink ribbon. There is no need to worry about adding tension.

In addition, if there is a continuous blank space without printing characters in the middle of one line, or if the carriage 2 is to be moved backwards, the cylindrical surface of the guide shaft 22 can be rotated by the plunger 49. Since the winding arm 43 is brought into strong pressure contact, the winding arm 4
3 is rotated against the spring 45, and the intermediate gear 44 and the winding gear 46 are disengaged (see FIG. 3).

Therefore, the rotation of the take-up pulley 42 is caused by the rotation of the take-up shaft 47.
is not transmitted, and even if the carriage 2 runs, the ink ribbon is not wound up.

By performing the above operations, the ink ribbon can be wound up only when printing is actually performed, and waste of the ink ribbon can be eliminated.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the drive means for rotationally driving the guide shaft 22, in which a motor 50 is used instead of the plunger 49. More specifically, a timing pulley 52 fitted on one end of the guide shaft 22 and the motor 50 are connected by a timing belt 51, and a cutout recess 53 is bored at a predetermined position on the outer peripheral surface of the timing pulley 52. Furthermore, a roller 55 provided at the tip of an operating piece of a micro switch 54 provided close to the timing pulley 52 is brought into constant contact with the outer peripheral surface of the timing pulley 52.

When the roller 55 engages with the cutout recess 53, the micro switch 54 is turned off, and the flat surface 41 of the guide shaft 22 directly faces the winding arm 43.

Therefore, when the micro switch 54 is OFF, the ink ribbon can be wound by meshing the winding gear 46 with the intermediate gear 44.
Further, by rotating the motor 50 by a preset number of pulses while the micro switch 54 is in the OFF state, the winding gear 46 and the intermediate gear 44 can be disengaged and winding of the ink ribbon can be stopped. .

In this case, unlike the embodiment using the plunger 49, it is possible to significantly reduce noise and take advantage of the cleanliness that is a characteristic of thermal printers.

Although the embodiment described above is applied to a thermal printer using a transfer-type thermal ink ribbon, the present invention is not limited to being applied to a transfer-type thermal printer at all. Of course, the present invention can be applied to all printing devices that perform printing. In addition, the guide shaft 2
The shape of No. 2 is also not limited to the above-mentioned shape, and may be selected as appropriate, such as an oval shape.

As described above, in this invention, the ink ribbon is wound only while printing is actually being performed, and the ink ribbon is not wound while printing is not being performed, so that the ink ribbon can be used effectively. This has the unique practical effect of reducing the running cost of the printing device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a transfer type thermal printer equipped with the ink ribbon winding device of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are plan views showing the ink ribbon winding device of the present invention. 2 is a state diagram of the ink ribbon winding operation, FIG. 3 is a diagram of the ink ribbon winding operation stopped state, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are side views showing an embodiment of the driving means for rotationally driving the guide shaft 22, respectively. FIG. 6 is a plan view of a conventional transfer type thermal printer, and FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional front view of an ink ribbon winding device installed in the conventional transfer type thermal printer. 1... Platen, 2... Carriage, 3... Timing belt, 5... Thermal head, 6...
Cartridge, 21, 22... Guide shaft, 41...
... Flat surface, 42 ... Take-up pulley, 43 ... Take-up arm, 44 ... Intermediate gear, 45 ... Spring, 46
... Winding gear, 47... Winding shaft.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An ink ribbon that moves a printer head and cartridge-equipped carriage back and forth parallel to the platen that wraps the paper to be printed on, prints on the printer head during the forward movement, and rotates the platen by a predetermined angle during the return movement to perform a changeover operation. In the printing device using A printing device characterized in that a take-up arm is provided with an intermediate gear attached thereto for transmitting the rotational force of a take-up pulley to an ink ribbon take-up shaft, and is swingably provided with one end of the take-up arm facing the guide shaft. Ink ribbon winding device.