JPH043820Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (a) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette for a printer, and particularly relates to a structure for supplying ink to an ink ribbon.

(b) Background of the Technology For example, many printers such as portable printers for banks are formed using removable ink ribbon cassettes. This type of ink ribbon cassette generally includes an ink roller impregnated with ink, and is often constructed so that ink from the ink roller is supplied to the ink ribbon. When the impregnated ink in this type of ink ribbon cassette is consumed, it is discarded and replaced with a new ink ribbon cassette. Therefore, when using this type of ink ribbon cassette when it is new, it is possible to supply an appropriate amount of ink to the ink ribbon without oversupply, and the density of printing can be optimized, making it easier to use. It is preferable to have a structure that can extend the service life.

(c) Prior Art and Problems FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view of the essential parts of a conventional ink ribbon cassette 10 of this type, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A--A' in FIG. In these figures,
11 is a cassette case, 12 is an endless ink ribbon, 13 is a feed roller, 14 is an ink roller, 15 is a printing ink impregnated in the ink roller 14, 16 is a leaf spring, and 17 is a ribbon guide pin. are shown respectively.
The ink ribbon 12 is sandwiched between a feed roller 13 and a leaf spring 16, and is installed in the cassette case 11 under appropriate tension. The feed roller 13 is rotated in the direction of arrow B as the print head (not shown) reciprocates while the cassette 10 is attached to a printer (not shown). As the feed roller 13 rotates, the ink ribbon 12 is fed out and moved in the direction of arrow C in response to the clamping pressure between the feed roller 13 and the leaf spring 16. The ink roller 14 is made of a material with good liquid impregnability, such as foamed urethane, and has its inside impregnated with printing ink 15, and its outer peripheral surface 14a is similar to the feed roller 13.
It is rotatably disposed in a state in which it is pressed against the outer circumferential surface 13a of , with an appropriate pressing force. Therefore, the ink roller 14 is rotated in the direction of arrow D by the rotation of feed roller 13 (in the direction of arrow B). At this time,
Ink 15 is transferred from the outer circumferential surface 14 a of the ink roller 14 to the outer circumferential surface 13 a of the feed roller 13 , and then transferred to the ink ribbon 12 . The ink ribbon cassette 10 is constructed so that the ink 15 is supplied to the ink ribbon 12 in this manner. However, this conventional ink ribbon cassette 10, as shown in FIG.
Since the outer circumferential surface 14a of the ink roller 14 is pressed against the outer circumferential surface 13a of the feed roller 13 over its entire width W, the following problem occurs.

When the ribbon cassette 10 is new and is used for the first time, the ink 15 of the ink roller 14
The ribbon 12 is oversupplied, resulting in printing darker than necessary. For this reason, there are problems such as print smudges and prints that seep to the back side of the paper (e.g., bankbook, slip, etc.), and when the paper is set to print on this back side, the front side of the paper that seeps onto the back side. The printed portion of the paper is easily read by a sensor such as an optical sensor, causing undesirable problems such as paper being stopped at an unnecessary location when starting a new line or the like.

As mentioned above, there is a problem that the ink ribbon cassette 10 has a short service life because too much ink 15 is discharged from the ink roller 14 at the time of initial use.

(iv) Purpose of the invention In view of the problems of the prior art described above, the purpose of the invention is to provide an ink ribbon that can supply an appropriate amount of ink to the ink ribbon without oversupply even during the initial use of a new product. An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cassette for a printer that can extend its service life.

(e) Structure of the invention In order to achieve the above object, the invention includes an ink ribbon for printing, a feed roller for feeding and moving the ink ribbon, and an ink ribbon sandwiched between the feed rollers. An ink ribbon cartridge for a printer, comprising a leaf spring to be pressed into contact with the ink ribbon, and an ink roller impregnated with printing ink and whose outer peripheral surface is pressed against the feed roller to transfer and supply ink to the ink ribbon via the outer peripheral surface of the feed roller. There is provided an ink ribbon cassette for a printer, characterized in that the width of the ink roller is formed to be substantially smaller than the width of the feed roller.

(F) Embodiments of the invention Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

3 to 13 are diagrams for explaining embodiments of the present invention. In these figures, the same or equivalent parts as in the above-mentioned Figs. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference numerals.

FIG. 3 shows a portable printer 21 as an example.
FIG. 4 is a side view taken from the direction of arrow E in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a plan view taken along the line F--F in FIG. FIG. In these figures, 22 is a shuttle head, 23 is a pocket portion, 24 is a feed roller, 25 is a pinch roller, 2
6 is a platen, 27 is a magnetic reading unit, 28 is a magnetic reading head, and 29 is a support frame. In the case of this printer 21, for example, a bankbook, a ticket (not shown), etc. are inserted into the pocket portion 23 from the direction of arrow G (FIGS. 3 and 5). The magnetic reading unit 27 (FIG. 5) is driven up and down and back and forth, descending when inserting a ticket, and rising after inserting the ticket to read the symbol written on the ticket via the magnetic reading head 28. , read characters, etc. The inserted ticket is further held between the feed roller 24 and the pinch roller 25 and fed, inserted between the platen 26 and the shuttle head 22, and stopped at a predetermined position. The ink ribbon cassette 20 is mounted on a support frame 29, and an ink ribbon (not shown) is disposed within the insertion part 30. Then, it is printed on a single sheet by the shuttle head 22. The support frame 29 is provided with a shuttle head 22, a motor, a drive mechanism (not shown), etc., and is opened in the direction of arrow H using a support shaft 31 as a rotation axis. The ink ribbon cassette 20 is attached to and detached from the support frame 29 with the support frame 29 opened in this manner. As shown in FIG. 3, the ink ribbon cassette 20 includes a rotating shaft 3 of a rotatable feed roller (not shown, see FIG. 9, reference numeral 36).
A feed knob (not shown) and a gear 33 are fixed to 2. The gear 33 meshes with a drive system disposed on the support frame 29 and is rotationally driven. As a result, the feed roller is rotationally driven together with the rotating shaft 32, and the ink ribbon is moved by the feed roller.

FIG. 6 is a partial detailed plan view showing the ink ribbon cassette 20 mounted on the support frame 29 (see FIG. 3), FIG. 7 is a partial view of the ink ribbon cassette 20 before mounting, and FIG. It is a front view seen from the arrow J direction of the figure. In these figures, reference numeral 34 indicates a stopper having an L-shaped cross section fixed to the support frame 29, 34a indicates a positioning hole provided through the stopper 34, and 35 indicates a locking plate fixed to the support frame 29. spring, 2
0a indicates a positioning post that is fixedly or integrally provided to the cassette 20, respectively. As shown in the figure, the ink ribbon cassette 20 is mounted and fixed on the support frame 29 by inserting the positioning post 20a into the positioning hole 34a and then fixing it with a locking leaf spring. Also,
Ink ribbon cassette 20 from support frame 29
The removal operation can be easily performed by pulling out the cassette 20 against the pressing force of the locking leaf spring 35.

FIG. 9 is a plan sectional view of an ink ribbon cassette 20 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line K-K' in FIG. In both figures, reference numerals 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17 indicate the same parts as those shown in FIG. 1 (prior art example) described above, and a description thereof will be omitted. The reference numeral 36 is a feed roller fixed to the rotating shaft 32;
37 is an ink roller fixed to a rotary shaft 38 rotatably supported by the cassette case 11, and 39 is a tension leaf spring whose one end is fixed to the cassette case 11 and the other end (free end) supports the ink ribbon. are shown respectively. The ink ribbon 12 is sandwiched between the feed roller 36 and the leaf spring 16 with appropriate clamping pressure, is slidably locked to the guide pin 17 and the tension leaf spring 39, and is attached to the first As in the case shown in the figure (prior art example), the cassette is mounted in the cassette case 11 in an appropriately tensioned state. The feed roller 36 is rotated in the direction of arrow B as the print head (not shown) reciprocates with the ribbon cassette 20 attached to the printer 21 (FIG. 3). This feed roller 3
6, the ink ribbon 12 moves in the direction of arrow C according to the pinching pressure between the feed roller 36 and the leaf spring 16.
be sent out and moved in a direction. Ink roller 3
7 is made of a material with good liquid impregnability, such as foamed urethane, and is impregnated with printing ink 15 inside, and its outer circumferential surface 37a is applied with an appropriate pressing force to the outer circumferential surface 36a of the feed roller 36. It is rotatably arranged in a press-welded state.
Therefore, the ink roller 37 is the feed roller 36
is rotated in the direction of arrow D by the rotation of (in the direction of arrow B). Along with this rotational movement, the ink roller 3
The ink 15 of No. 7 is applied to the outer peripheral surface 3 of the ink roller 37.
7a to the outer circumferential surface 36a of the feed roller 36, and then transferred to the outer circumferential surface 36a of the feed roller 36.
a to the ink ribbon 12. In this way, the ink 15 of the ink roller 37 is supplied to the ink ribbon 12. Now, as clearly shown in FIG. 10, this ink roller 37 has a radial cross-sectional shape in which both shoulders of the outer circumferential surface 37a are tapered off along the circumference, and the outer circumferential surface The pressure contact width of 37a is the width W of the feed roller 36
(The width of the ink roller 37 is also smaller than W)
It is formed to a width of W ₁ . By setting the pressure width W ₁ of the ink roller 37 to be substantially smaller than the width W of the feed roller 36 in this way, the amount of ink 15 transferred from the ink roller 37 from the outer peripheral surface 37a to the outer peripheral surface 36a of the feed roller 36 is limited. will be done. In other words, the amount of ink 15 transferred is greater when the pressure width of the ink roller 37 is set to W ₁ as shown in FIG. (Supply amount) can be limited to a small amount. Therefore,
The ink ribbon cassette 20 of this embodiment can control the amount of ink 15 supplied to the ink ribbon 12 at an appropriate amount without oversupply even during initial use when it is brand new, and can control the amount of ink 15 supplied to the ink ribbon 12 to an appropriate amount without oversupply. etc.), it is possible to prevent ink from seeping out to the back side of the paper, and furthermore, the service life can be extended.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an application example of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. This application example is the first embodiment 2
Ink roller 3 corresponding to ink roller 37 of 0
The only difference is the shape of 7-1, and the other configurations are the same as in the first embodiment. Ink roller 37 of this application example
-1, both shoulders of the outer peripheral surface are formed in a stepped shape along the circumference, and the pressing width of the outer peripheral surface 37a is the pressing width W ₁ of the ink roller 37 of the first embodiment (FIG. 10).
is set the same as. Therefore, the operation and effect of this application example are similar to those of the first embodiment described above.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs in the shape of the feed roller 36-1, which corresponds to the feed roller 36 in the first embodiment (FIGS. 9 and 10), and is shown in FIG. 2 (conventional example) as an ink roller (not shown). This embodiment differs from the first embodiment 20 in that it uses an ink roller 14, and the other structures are the same as the first embodiment. Feed roller 36 of this embodiment
-1 is formed with cross-shaped grooves 40 provided on its outer circumferential surface 36a. By providing the cross-shaped grooves 40 in this way, the ink from the ink roller is not transferred to the groove 40, and the ink from the ink roller is not transferred to the groove 40.
As a result, the pressure contact width (ink transfer width) of the ink roller is the same as that of the feed roller 36-.
width W of 1. Therefore, this embodiment can obtain substantially the same functions and effects as those of the first embodiment described above. Incidentally, in this embodiment, of course, the ink roller 37 of the first embodiment (Figs. 9 and 10) or the ink roller 37-1 of the application example (Fig. 11) may be used as necessary. It is also possible to configure

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a third embodiment of the present invention. This example is similar to the second example (first example) described above.
The only difference is the shape of the feed roller 36-2, which corresponds to the feed roller 36-1 in FIG. 2), and the other configurations are the same as in the second embodiment (FIG. 12). The feed roller 36-2 of this embodiment has its outer peripheral surface 36
It is formed by providing a flat groove 41 in a. Therefore, the operations and effects of this embodiment are substantially the same as those of the second embodiment described above. This embodiment may also be constructed using the ink roller 37 of the first embodiment (Figs. 9 and 10) or the ink roller 37-1 of the applied example (Fig. 11), as necessary. I can do it.

(g) Effects of the invention As explained in detail above, the ink ribbon cassette for printers according to the invention has the advantage that the pressure width of the ink roller (ink transfer width) is formed to be substantially smaller than the width of the feed roller. According to
Even during the initial use of a new ink ribbon, the amount of ink supplied to the ink ribbon can be controlled to an appropriate amount without oversupply, and the ink does not seep onto the back side of the paper to be printed on (bank passbook, slip, etc.). In addition, since there is no initial oversupply, it takes longer for the ink held in the ink roller to be consumed compared to conventional methods, which has the great effect of extending the service life. This contributes to improved printer performance and reliability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan sectional view of main parts of a conventional ink ribbon cassette 10, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A' in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an example of a portable printer 2.
1 is a plan view showing the state in which the ink ribbon cassette 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is installed, FIG. 4 is a side view seen from the direction of arrow E in FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is a partially detailed plan view showing the ink ribbon cassette 20 mounted on the support frame 29 (FIG. 3); FIG. 7 is a partial partial view of the ink ribbon cassette 20 before mounting;
8 is a front view seen from the direction of arrow J in FIG. 6, FIG. 9 is a planar sectional view of the ink ribbon cassette 20 according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an application example of the first embodiment (FIGS. 9 and 10), FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 13 is an illustration of the second embodiment of the present invention. It is an explanatory view of 3rd example. 20... Ink ribbon cassette for printer of the present invention, 11... Cassette case, 12... Endless band ink ribbon (endless ink ribbon), 15
... Ink, 16 ... Leaf spring, 17 ... Ribbon guide pin, 21 ... Portable printer, 29 ...
... Support frame, 32 ... Rotating shaft, 33 ... Gear, 36, 36-1, 36-2 ... Feed roller, 36a ... Outer peripheral surface of feed roller, 37,
37-1... Ink roller, 37a... Outer peripheral surface of ink roller, 38... Rotating shaft, 39... Tension plate spring, 40... Cross-shaped groove, 41... Flat-shaped groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. An ink ribbon for printing, a feed roller for feeding and moving the ink ribbon, a plate spring that pinches and presses the ink ribbon against the feed roller, and the feed roller impregnated with printing ink. In the ink ribbon cassette for printers, the ink ribbon cassette includes an ink roller whose outer circumferential surface is pressed against the ink roller and which transfers and supplies ink to the ink ribbon via the outer circumferential surface of the feed roller. An ink ribbon cassette for a printer, characterized in that the ink ribbon cassette is formed to have a width substantially smaller than that of the ink ribbon cassette. 2. The utility model registration according to claim 1, wherein the ink roller has both shoulder portions on its outer peripheral surface removed along the circumference, and a central zone of the outer peripheral surface is formed as a pressure contact portion along the circumference. Ink ribbon cassette for printers. 3. The ink ribbon cassette for a printer according to claim 1, wherein the feed roller has a twill-like groove formed on its outer peripheral surface. 4. The ink ribbon cassette for a printer according to claim 1, wherein the feed roller has a flat groove formed on its outer peripheral surface.