JPH0617560Y2 - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette accommodating an ink ribbon used in a printing apparatus.

[Prior Art] A conventional ribbon cassette has an ink ribbon and a spool for winding the ink ribbon, and when the ribbon cassette is attached to the printer main body, the ink ribbon is stored in the spool. An operation unit was provided that is manually wound to remove the slack. Further, the operating portion is provided so as to project from the upper surface of the upper wall of the housing of the ribbon cassette in order to facilitate the winding operation when the operating portion is attached to the printer main body.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the operation portion projects from the upper surface of the upper wall of the housing of the ribbon cassette like the conventional ribbon cassette described above, when the ribbon cassette is detached from the printer main body, If the operating part comes into contact with the operator's finger, etc., or is left on a desk, etc., and if the ribbon cassette is left with the top wall facing down, the operating part may inadvertently move in the opposite direction to the winding direction. There is a problem that the ribbon is rotated and the ribbon is loosened accordingly.

Further, in recent years, a ribbon cassette that can be used upside down by using a multi-type ribbon that can be printed multiple times or a wide ribbon that can be printed in two upper and lower rows has been found in recent years. However, in such a ribbon cassette, if the above-mentioned operation portion is provided so as to project from the upper surface of the upper wall of the housing for the winding operation, it is possible to turn the printer upside down and attach it to the printer body. However, there is a problem in that the operation portion protruding downwardly comes into contact with the upper surface of the carriage on which the ribbon cassette is placed, which hinders the winding operation of the printing apparatus. Further, in order to solve this problem, there is known a printing apparatus configured so that an opening for accommodating an operating portion is provided in a carriage to avoid contact between the operating portion and the carriage. However, in this printing device, there are problems that the appearance of the carriage is impaired when the ribbon cassette is removed, and that the manufacturing process is complicated and the cost is increased due to the opening of the carriage.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a first object of the present invention is to cause a ribbon to accidentally come into contact with an operation portion for winding operation when a ribbon cassette is removed. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette that does not easily loosen. A second object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette that can be used upside down, such that the winding operation of the printing device can be smoothly performed even when mounted on the carriage of the printing device. To do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the ribbon cassette of the present invention includes an ink ribbon, a pair of spools used for winding or delivering the ink ribbon, and both of the spools. The spool is rotatably supported between the top wall and the bottom wall, and has an operation part provided on the top end surface for manually winding up the ink ribbon, and a top wall, a bottom wall and a side wall. A housing, and an opening portion that is recessed from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall and exposes the operation portion is provided on the periphery of the operation portion of the housing, and the operation portion is provided. The part is formed in a concavo-convex shape along the rotation axis of the spool, and is formed so as not to project from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall.

[Operation] According to the ribbon cassette of the present invention having the above configuration,
The ink ribbon is wound around a pair of spools, and is wound or delivered by the rotation of the spools. The operation part is provided on both top end surfaces of the spool, and when the operation part is rotated, the spool is also rotated and the ink ribbon is wound up. The housing has a top wall, a bottom wall and a side wall, and the spool is rotatably supported between the top wall and the bottom wall.

The opening portion is provided on the periphery of the operation portion of the housing,
It is depressed from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall. The operation part is
It is formed in an uneven shape along the rotation axis of the spool, and
It is exposed from the opening and does not protrude from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall.

[Embodiment] An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a ribbon cassette usable in a thermal transfer thermal printer which can be turned upside down will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the structure of the ribbon cassette, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the section line GG ′ in FIG.

The ribbon cassette 1 includes a multi-type ink ribbon 2 capable of printing a plurality of times at the same location, and a pair of spools 3 and 3'used for winding or delivering the ink ribbon 2 by a printing device (not shown). Is equipped with. The spools 3 and 3 ′ are rotatably supported between an upper wall 4 and a bottom wall 5 of a housing 7 composed of an upper wall 4, a bottom wall 5 and side walls 6. In addition, spool 3,3 ',
Operating portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b for manually winding up the ink ribbon 2 are provided on both top end surfaces thereof.
The operation portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b are formed in a concavo-convex shape in the vertical direction. Further, the spools 3 and 3'are provided with engaging portions 3c and 3'c which are connected to a ribbon feeding device (not shown) of the printing device.

The top wall 4 and the bottom wall 5 of the housing 7 are
4 which is recessed from the upper surface 4a of the base and the bottom surface 5a of the bottom wall 5
b and 5b are operating portions 3a and 3b of the spools 3 and 3 ',
3'a and 3'b are provided on the peripheral edge of. Also, the operating portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b of the spools 3, 3 '
Is exposed from the openings 4b and 5b, and the upper wall 4
Is supported at a position such that it does not protrude from the upper surface 4a of the above and the bottom surface 5a of the bottom wall 5. Further, the housing 7 has an insertion hole A through which the thermal head of the thermal transfer thermal printer is inserted, and an insertion hole B through which the thermal head is inserted when the ribbon cassette 1 is turned upside down.
And are provided.

Regarding the operation of the ribbon cassette having the above structure
This will be described with reference to the drawings and FIG.

When the ribbon cassette 1 is mounted on the carriage of the printing device by the operator with the upper wall 4 of the housing 7 facing upward, the engaging portions 3c, 3'c of the spools 3, 3'are mounted on the carriage. Engages with the provided ribbon feeder. Before the printing operation is performed, the operator removes the slack of the ink ribbon 2 of the ribbon cassette 1 by exposing the spool 3 exposed above the opening 4b provided in the upper wall 4 of the housing 7. The operator's finger pad is pressed against the concavo-convex portion formed on the operating portion 3a to rotate the operating portion 3a in the direction of the arrow in FIG. An opening portion 4b that is recessed from the upper surface 4a of the upper wall 4 is provided on the periphery of the operating portion 3a of the spool 3, and the operating portion 3a of the spool 3 is exposed from the opening portion 4b. 3a can be easily rotated (operated), and since the operating portion 3a is formed in a concavo-convex shape, slipping does not occur between the operating portion 3a and the operator's finger, and the operator's operation can be performed more reliably. Can be transmitted to the spool 3.

When rotating (operating) the operating portion 3a of the spool 3, the bottom wall 5 of the housing 7 is mounted in contact with the carriage, while the operating portion 3b of the spool 3 is mounted on the housing 7
Since it is supported at a position where it does not protrude from the bottom wall 5, it does not come into contact with the carriage and is therefore freely rotated.

Then, the operator starts the printing operation after finishing the slack removing operation of the ink ribbon 2. Accordingly, the ribbon feeding device of the printing device is rotated and its rotational driving force is
It is transmitted to the ink ribbon 2 via the engaging portion 3c of the spool 3. Even in this case, since the operating portion 3b of the spool 3 does not come into contact with the carriage, it does not become a load of the ink ribbon winding operation of the printing device.

By repeating the above operation, when the ink ribbon 2 is wound up to the end thereof, the operator can use the ribbon cassette 1 upside down. Therefore, the operator removes the ribbon cassette 1 from the carriage of the printing apparatus, reverses it, and mounts it again on the carriage. Also at this time, the operating portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b of the spools 3, 3'are provided so as not to project from the upper surface 4a of the upper wall 4 of the housing 7 and the bottom surface 5a of the bottom wall 5. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the operating portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b from being accidentally rotated by the contact with the operator's finger or the like.

Further, even when the ribbon cassette 1 is turned upside down and mounted on the carriage of the printing apparatus, the ribbon cassette 1
Are formed symmetrically with respect to each other, the same operation as when mounted with the upper wall 4 facing upward.

Further, in the ribbon cassette 1, even when the ribbon cassette 1 is removed from the printing device and left on a desk or the like, the spool 3,
The operation parts 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b of 3'are configured so as not to protrude from the upper surface 4a of the upper wall 4 of the housing 7 and the bottom surface 5a of the bottom wall 5 and therefore contact with a desk or the like. As a result, the operation portions 3a, 3b, 3'a, 3'b are rotated, and it is possible to prevent the ink ribbon 2 from loosening.

In this embodiment, the present invention is shown as an example in which the present invention is embodied as a ribbon cassette that can be used upside down. However, it can also be applied to a ribbon cassette equipped with an ink ribbon that can be printed only once at the same location. Needless to say.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the ribbon cassette of the present invention has the following effects.

That is, since the operation portion is configured so as not to project from the upper surface of the upper wall of the housing and the bottom surface of the bottom wall, accidental contact with the operation portion can be prevented when the ribbon cassette is removed from the printing device. Thus, it is possible to prevent the ink ribbon from slackening.

Even when the ribbon cassette is placed on the carriage of the printing device, the operation unit does not protrude from the bottom surface of the bottom wall of the housing, so that the operation unit does not come into contact with the carriage. There is an effect that the slack removing operation of the ink ribbon and the winding operation of the ink ribbon by the printing device are smoothly performed. Further, since the operating portion does not protrude from the upper surface of the upper wall of the housing, the operating portion does not come into contact with the carriage even when it is used upside down, and the same effect can be obtained.

An opening portion is provided at the periphery of the operating portion so as to be depressed from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall, and the operating portion is exposed from the opening portion, so that the operator can easily operate the operating portion. Play.

Furthermore, since the operating portion is formed in a concavo-convex shape along the rotation axis of the spool, slippage does not occur between the operating portion and the operator's finger, and the operator's operation can be transmitted to the spool more reliably. Produce an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the structure of the ribbon cassette, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line GG ′ in FIG. In the figure, 2 is an ink ribbon, 3, 3'is a spool, 3a,
3b, 3'a and 3'b are operation parts, 4 is an upper wall, 4a is an upper surface of the upper wall, 5 is a bottom wall, 5a is a bottom surface of the bottom wall, 4b and 5b are openings, 6 is a side wall, 7 Is the housing.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An ink ribbon, a pair of spools used for winding or delivering the ink ribbon, and an operating portion provided on both top end surfaces of the spool for manually winding the ink ribbon. A ribbon cassette comprising: a housing having an upper wall, a bottom wall and a side wall, the housing rotatably supporting the spool between the upper wall and the bottom wall; Is provided with an opening that is recessed from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall and that exposes the operating portion, and the operating portion is formed in an uneven shape along the rotation axis of the spool. Further, the ribbon cassette is formed so as not to project from the upper surface of the upper wall and the bottom surface of the bottom wall.