JPH0629853U - Ribbon storage cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide an ink ribbon cassette capable of preventing the use of a multi-pass ink ribbon which has exceeded a predetermined number of times of printing. A ribbon storage cassette 21 for storing a multi-pass ink ribbon R is provided with a counter S for recording the number of prints made by the multi-pass ink ribbon R, so that the multi-pass ink ribbon R currently set can be reliably stored. You can check the number of prints.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a ribbon storage cassette that stores a multi-pass ink ribbon.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Conventionally, in a printing apparatus such as a facsimile machine, a thermal head is arranged opposite to a platen roller. Then, the ink ribbon contained in the dedicated cassette passes between the thermal head and the recording paper on the platen roller, and the ink is transferred onto the recording paper in the meantime.

Currently, there are two types of ink ribbons, one-time ink ribbons and multi-pass ink ribbons. The former one-time ink ribbon has a high printing quality, but the printing frequency is usually once. In addition, the latter multi-pass ink ribbon is inferior to the former one-time ink ribbon in terms of print quality, but since it can be printed multiple times, it is economically advantageous over the one-time ink ribbon. is there. The user properly uses both ribbons according to the print quality required at that time and the number of prints.

[0004]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, the above-mentioned facsimile machine has the following problems when the multi-pass ink ribbon is used.

That is, as described above, the multi-pass ink ribbon can print a plurality of times, but in the above-mentioned facsimile apparatus, it was not possible to confirm what the number of times the printing was performed at that time. For example, it is assumed that the multi-pass ink ribbon is printed a predetermined number of times twice. Then, even if the number of times of printing with the multi-pass ink ribbon is the second time of the final printing time, the user cannot determine that the printing time at that time is the final printing time.

Therefore, the user may perform printing using the multi-pass ink ribbon even after the number of times of printing exceeds a predetermined number. Therefore, in such a case, almost no ink has already remained for printing, so the print image quality deteriorates, and the predetermined print image quality cannot be maintained.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an ink ribbon cassette that can prevent the use of a multi-pass ink ribbon that has exceeded a predetermined number of times of printing. .

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the gist of the present invention is to provide a recording means for accommodating a multi-pass ink ribbon and recording the number of times of printing performed by the multi-pass ink ribbon.

[0009]

[Action]

 According to the above configuration, each time printing of one stroke of the multi-pass ink ribbon is completed, the number of times of printing can be recorded in the recording means provided in the ink ribbon cassette. Therefore, the user can confirm how many times the multi-pass ink ribbon is currently printing.

[0010]

【Example】

 An embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a facsimile machine will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, a reading unit 2 for reading an image on a document G is arranged inside the apparatus case 1. Further, inside the apparatus case 1, a recording unit 3 for printing on the recording paper P based on the received image data and the like is arranged. Further, a paper feed cassette 4 for accommodating the recording paper P is detachably attached to the lower part of the apparatus case 1. Further, a document tray 6 on which the document G is stacked and supported is arranged on the upper part of the apparatus case 1, and a feeding force is applied to the document G by the rotation of the feed assist roller 7.

A separation roller 8 and a separation pad 9 are fixed in the device frame 1. A pair of guide plates 10 are supported on the downstream side of the separation roller 8, and the guide plates 10 form a transfer passage 10a through which the document G passes.

A reading window 11 is formed on the one guide plate. Then, the reflected light emitted from the light source 12 to the original G through the reading window 11 passes through the reading window 11 again, and finally illuminates the image sensor 15 through the plurality of mirrors 13 and lenses 14. . That is, the image of the document G is read by the image sensor 15. Further, the plurality of feed rollers 17 discharge the document G after the image reading from the document discharge port 16.

A large number of recording papers P are accommodated inside the paper feed cassette 4 in a stacked state. A half-moon-shaped paper feed roller 18 is installed above the paper feed cassette 4 so as to be positively rotatable. Then, by the rotation of the paper feed roller 18, the recording papers P are sent from the inside of the paper feed cassette 4 through the guide plate 19 toward the recording unit 3 one by one. Further, due to the rotational force of the feed roller 20, the feed force is further applied to the recording paper P delivered from the paper feed cassette 4.

The recording unit 3 is composed of a platen roller 22, a thermal head 23 disposed in contact with the platen roller 22, and the like. An ink ribbon (multi-pass ink ribbon) R accommodated in the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 is sandwiched between them.

As shown in FIG. 2, a supply roll support 24 and a winding roll support 25 are formed on the frame 21 a of the ribbon storage cassette 21. A supply paper tube 27 around which the multi-pass ink ribbon R is wound is detachably supported on the supply roll support portion 24. On the other hand, the take-up roll support portion 25 detachably supports a take-up paper tube 29 for taking up the multi-pass ink ribbon R supplied from the supply roll side 28. Further, silver-colored end marks 33 indicating a print start portion and a print end portion are formed on the front end portion and the rear end portion of the multi-pass ink ribbon R.

Support shaft pieces 43 and 44 are detachably fitted to both ends of the supply paper tube 27 and the take-up paper tube 29, respectively. It is rotatably and detachably supported by the support portions 24 and 25. Further, keys 43a and 44a are formed on the support shaft pieces 43 and 44, and key grooves 27a and 29a are formed on the paper tubes 27 and 29, respectively. The relative rotation between the support shaft pieces 43 and 44 is prevented. Gears 31 and 32 are formed on the support shaft pieces 43 and 44 on one side.

That is, the supply roll 28 is constituted by the supply paper tube 27 and the support piece 43, and the winding roll 30 is constituted by the winding paper tube 29 and the support piece 44. Gears (not shown) connected to the motor M are meshed with the gears 31 and 32 formed on the support pieces 43 and 44. That is, the both rolls 28, 30 are positively rotated by the driving force of the motor M, and the multi-pass ink ribbon R is wound. The motor M is drive-controlled by a controller C described later.

When the printing in one direction of the multi-pass ink ribbon R is completed, the supply roll 28 and the winding roll 30 are removed from the ribbon accommodating cassette 21, and the support shafts of both rolls 28, 30 are supported. The pieces 43 and 44 are interchanged in the front-rear direction, and the rolls 28 and 30 are interchanged in the front-rear direction and attached to the cassette 21.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a counter S as a recording unit is formed on the side of the frame 21a of the ribbon accommodating cassette 21. The counter S is provided with a numeral portion 45 on which the numeral "1, 2,3" is displayed. A red sheet 46 is fixed to the frame 21a immediately above each numeral of the same numeral portion 45. Further, a total of three peelable seals 47 are attached to the upper surface of the red sheet 46 corresponding to the respective numbers.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, an optical sensor 35, which is a reflective optical sensor, is installed above the recording unit 3. That is, the optical sensor 35 is a sensor for detecting the end mark 33 formed on the end portion of the multi-pass ink ribbon R. A guide plate 36 is provided on the upstream side of the platen roller 22. In addition, a pair of supply rollers 20a for supply is positively rotatably supported on the upstream side of the guide plate 36. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the platen roller 22, a pair of ejection feed rollers 38 are rotatably supported. Further, a recording paper discharge tray 39 is arranged further downstream thereof.

Further, the feed roller 20 a for supply and the feed roller 20 arranged on the side of the paper feed cassette 4 are connected by a recording paper feed passage 41 formed by a pair of guide plates 40. There is. Therefore, when the recording paper P sent out from the paper feed cassette 4 passes through the recording paper feed path 41 and is supplied to the recording unit 3, the recording unit 3 outputs desired data and received image information. Is printed. Then, the recording paper P printed by the recording unit 3 is ejected to the recording paper ejection tray 39 by the rotational force of the ejection feed roller 38.

Next, the electrical configuration of the above facsimile apparatus will be described based on the block diagram of FIG. It should be noted that, here, only the electrical configuration which is the main part of the present invention will be described. The controller C includes a central processing unit (CPU) 51, a read-only memory (ROM) 52 in which each control program is stored in advance, and a readable and writable memory (RAM) 53 in which various information is temporarily stored. It is configured.

The reading unit 2 and the optical sensor 35 are connected to the input side of the CPU 51. The optical sensor 35 outputs an ON signal to the CPU 51 when detecting the end mark 33 of the multi-pass ink ribbon R.

On the other hand, on the output side of the CPU 51, a display unit 57 and a recording unit 3 which are liquid crystal displays for displaying various memory contents are connected. The CPU 51 drives and controls the recording unit 3 based on a control program stored in the ROM 52. A motor M for rotating the supply roll 28 and the winding roll 30 is connected to the output side of the CPU 51. When the ON signal is input from the optical sensor 35, the CPU 51 stops driving the motor M and the recording unit 3. That is, the CPU 51 stops the printing operation when an ON signal is input from the optical sensor 35.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. When the received image information is printed and various data is printed, the multi-pass ink ribbon R is used up to its end, and the entire length of the multi-pass ink ribbon R is taken up by the take-up roll 30. The end mark 33 provided at the end of is detected. When the optical sensor 35 outputs an ON signal upon detection, the CPU 51 stops the printing operation.

Therefore, the user removes the ribbon containing cassette 21 from the apparatus case 1, replaces the multi-pass ink ribbon R back and forth, and attaches it again to the ribbon containing cassette 21. On the other hand, together with this, the support shaft pieces 43 and 44 are replaced with respect to both rolls 27 and 29 so that the positions of the support shaft pieces 43 and 44 with respect to the cassette 21 do not change. Further, the user peels off the sticker 47 attached to the upper part of "1" of the numeral portion 45 formed on the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 (see FIG. 5). Since the user has peeled off the seal 47 above the "1" of the numeral portion 45, a red sheet 46 is provided on the "1" of the numeral portion 45 unlike the other upper portions of "2" and "3". Exposed. This "1" indicates that the first printing has been completed. Then, the user stores the ribbon storage cassette 21 in the apparatus case 1 again, so that the printing can be continued.

When the sensor again detects the end mark provided at the end of the multi-pass ink ribbon R, the user removes the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 from the apparatus case 1 and removes the multi-pass ink ribbon R as described above. The spindles 43 and 44 are held at the same position on the cassette 21 while the front and rear are replaced, and the cassette 21 is attached to the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 again. At this time, the user peels off the seal 47 provided on the upper part of the numeral "2" of the numeral portion 45 (see FIG. 6). As a result, the red sheets 46 above the numeral portions "1" and "2" are exposed and the end of the second printing is displayed.

As described above, the user peels off the seal 47 provided on the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 every time printing of one stroke of the multi-pass ink ribbon R is completed. That is, the number corresponding to the lower part of the red sheet 46 exposed in the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 corresponds to the number of times of printing using the multi-pass ink ribbon R. Therefore, the number of times the multi-pass ink ribbon R is used can be determined by looking at the numeral portion 45 corresponding to the red sheet 46.

In the above embodiment, the numeral part 45 is displayed up to “3”, but if the ribbon can be used twice, it can be up to “2”. However, if the number part 45 has a large number of numbers, it is possible to deal with various ribbons having different usable times freely.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the ribbon storage cassette 21 that stores the multi-pass ink ribbon R is provided with the counter S that records the number of prints made by the multi-pass ink ribbon. Therefore, the number of prints of the currently set multi-pass ink ribbon R can be surely confirmed. As a result, in the present embodiment, unlike the prior art, it is possible to prevent continuous printing with the multi-pass ink ribbon R that has exceeded the predetermined number of times of printing, and it is possible to maintain a predetermined print image quality at all times.

Further, in this embodiment, since the ribbon accommodating cassette 21 is provided with the simple fixed counter S, more reliability can be obtained. For example, in an electric counter, when the power of the facsimile machine is turned off, the count value may be erased.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and may be configured as follows, for example, within the scope of the invention. (1) In the above embodiment, the counter S as a recording unit is provided with the seal 47, and the seal 47 is peeled off to count the number of times the multi-pass ink ribbon R is printed. On the other hand, for example, an entry sheet or the like on which the number of printings of the multi-pass ink ribbon R can be directly entered may be attached to the ribbon accommodating cassette 21. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, a slide member 61 that slides on its upper surface is provided on a counter S on which numbers are drawn in advance, and the numbers on the side not covered by the slide member 61 are displayed. The number of printings performed by the multi-pass ink ribbon R may be set.

(2) In the above embodiment, the facsimile apparatus is embodied, but it may be embodied as a ribbon accommodating cassette used in a word processor or a ribbon accommodating cassette used in an external printer. .

[0035]

[Effect of device]

 As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the number of printing times of the multi-pass ink ribbon can be counted, it is possible to prevent the use of the multi-pass ink ribbon which exceeds the predetermined number of printing times. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a ribbon storage cassette and a multi-pass ink ribbon.

FIG. 3 is a partial side view of a ribbon storage cassette showing a counter.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration.

FIG. 5 is a partial side view of the ribbon accommodating cassette showing a state in which the first pass printing of the multi-pass ink ribbon is finished, the counter seal is peeled off, and the red sheet is exposed.

FIG. 6 is a partial side view of the ribbon storage cassette showing a state where the second pass printing of the multi-pass ink ribbon is completed, the counter seal is peeled off, and the red sheet is exposed to the position of “2”.

FIG. 7 is a partial side view of a ribbon storage cassette showing a counter of another example.

FIG. 8 is a partial side view of a ribbon storage cassette showing a counter of another example.

[Explanation of symbols]

21 ... Ribbon container, R ... Multi-pass ink ribbon, S
... Counter as recording means

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A ribbon containing cassette containing a multi-pass ink ribbon and provided with recording means for recording the number of times of printing using the multi-pass ink ribbon.