JPH06320766A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To apply tension to a ribbon without performing special operation by providing a tension arm revolving the ribbon in a ribbon cartridge to acting and standby positions bringing the ribbon to a tensioned state to the support member fixed to a printer body at one end thereof in a revolvable manner. CONSTITUTION:The back plate 71 of a head mechanism part is attached to a chassis by a support member supporting tension arms 13, 14 so as to be revolvable centering around a pivot 3. A prescribing plate 12 is also attached to the chassis in parallel to the back plate 71 so as to be revolvable centering around a pivot 11. The pivots 3, 11 are parallel rotary shafts separated by a predetermined distance. When the head mechanism part is opened, the prescribing plate 12 relatively falls with respect to the back plate 71 and bearings 133, 134 are allowed to fall by key-shaped parts 121, 222 and the tension arms 13, 14 are rotated centering around shafts 132, 134 in opposite directions to inwardly move the arms 131, 141 to release the engagement of a ribbon with the arms. When the head mechanism part is closed, outward tension is applied to the ribbon.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device using an ink ribbon cartridge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a printer using an ink ribbon, in order to prevent jamming of the ink ribbon and unevenness of an image to be recorded, the ink ribbon in a portion related to a recording head is always fixed. Giving tension.

Since tension is applied to the ribbon when the printer is stopped, such as when the cartridge is replaced, the operator manually applies tension to the newly set cartridge, or a tension arm is used. In some cases I had to put a ribbon over it.

[0004]

However, such manual tensioning of the ribbon by the operator increases the chances of contact with the structure near the ribbon and the recording head, and is only troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that it may cause a stain on the recording medium during recording or a failure of the apparatus itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional example, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printer device which can apply tension to a ribbon without any special operation.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the printer device of the present invention has the following configuration.

A tension arm that is detachably mounted on the printer body and is rotated to an operating position and a standby position for tensioning a ribbon in a ribbon cartridge, and one end of the printer arm is fixed to a rotation shaft. And a moving section configured to move the tension arm to the standby position in synchronization with opening and closing of the support member with respect to the main body.

[0008]

With the above structure, the tension arm moves to change the tension on the ribbon.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A sublimation printer will be described below as an embodiment of the present invention. The sublimation printer of this embodiment controls the heating elements arranged in series to sublimate the recording material in contact with the heated elements and transfer it onto the recording medium.
Further, in the printer of this embodiment, the heating elements are arranged in a line over the length corresponding to the recording width of the recording medium, the head unit is in a fixed position during recording, and the recording medium is conveyed in the sub-scanning direction. This is a line head type printer that realizes two-dimensional recording by being performed. Also,
The head unit has a head including a recording element and a pattern for applying energy to the element, and a heat sink for efficiently radiating heat generated from the head. The printer of this embodiment realizes a recording density of 400 dpi.

The procedure for replacing the ink ribbon cartridge in such a sublimation printer will be described below. <Removal of Cartridge> FIG. 1 is a diagram of the printer body with the head and the ink ribbon cartridge attached. In the drawings used in the description of the present embodiment, parts not directly related to the description are omitted.

First, after confirming that the printer is not operating, turn off the power and open the cover. FIG. 1 shows this state. A head mechanism portion 7 is attached to the chassis 1 by a pivot 3, and the head mechanism portion 7 is rotatable about the pivot 3 between a closed state (FIG. 1) and an open state (FIG. 2). Is. The head top plate 6 is fixed to the head mechanism section 7 and is assembled.
The head unit is attached to the bottom of the top plate 6. One end of the top plate 6 is bent at a substantially right angle, and the hook hole 34 is formed in the bent portion. When the head mechanism unit 7 is closed, the positioning member fixed to the head mechanism unit 7 and the positioning member fixed to the chassis 1 (both not shown) come into contact with each other to determine the position of the head mechanism unit 7. At that position, the hook 4 that rotates around the fulcrum fixed to the chassis 1 and the hook hole 34 are engaged with each other, and the head mechanism portion 7 is fixed at that position. In this state, the top plate 6
The position of the head unit attached to is determined, but the structure for that will be described later. The ribbon cartridge 5 is attached to the head mechanism section 7. The cartridge 5 has an inverted concave shape and is fixed by a leaf spring material hook 8 so as to straddle the top plate 6. The ink ribbon is set so as to come out from the vicinity of the tips of the concave arms of the cartridge 5 and pass under the head unit.

Further, the chassis 1 is provided with an image board 2 equipped with a control circuit for controlling the printer device, and is electrically connected to a head unit or the like by a cable.

Next, from the state of FIG. 1, the engagement between the hook 4 and the hook hole 34 is released, the head mechanism portion 7 is opened, and the state shown in FIG.
In this state, the head mechanism section 7 contacts the positioning member provided on the chassis 1 and is stable even in the state of FIG. In FIG. 2, the portion covered by the head mechanism portion 7 can be seen in the closed state. Head unit 9
Faces the platen 10 with the head mechanism section 7 closed, and is pressed against the platen 10 with the ink ribbon and the recording medium sandwiched during recording. In this case, the recording medium is conveyed by the conveying roller 10 in the direction of arrow A in the figure.

Next, the ribbon cartridge 5 is removed from the head mechanism section 7. This is shown in FIG. Although the cartridge 5 is fixed by the hook 8, the hook 8
Is a hook formed by bending the tip of a leaf spring into a crank shape and locking the cartridge 5 by the crank shape portion, so that it can be lifted and removed as shown in FIG.
By doing so, the cartridge 5 becomes free and can be pulled out in the direction of the arrow and removed. The ribbon is wound around two reels in the cartridge, and these reels are driven by the rotating shaft 11 or 12. Further, near the center of the reel of the cartridge 5, there is provided a recess for accommodating the sensor 13 fixed to the head mechanism section 7,
The shape corresponds to the information such as the color of the ink that requires identification of the cartridge. The sensor 13 detects the shape of the concave portion of the cartridge 5 and transmits the detection signal to the control board 2.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the cartridge 5 is mechanically locked by the hook 8 while being held by the head mechanism portion 7, and the hook is manually hooked even in the operating position in the recording state. 8 is removed, cartridge 5
There was a risk of releasing the holding of the head mechanism section. In order to make this safer, when the head mechanism section 7 is displaced from the operating position to the standby position, the ribbon cartridge 5 is moved in conjunction with this displacement operation or the operation of the hook 4 for releasing the operating position. The hook 8 being locked is unlocked and displaceable, that is, the cartridge 5
It is also possible to allow the retreat movement so that the user can take off.

In this way, even if the hook 8 is accidentally touched at the operating position, the hook 8 is not displaced and the cartridge 5 does not move, which is safe. In addition, the head mechanism 7 is interlocked with the movement from the operating position to the standby position to not only unlock the hook 8 in the locked state but also automatically displace the hook 8 to remove the cartridge 5. You may let me.

In conjunction with the displacement of the head moving mechanism 7 as described above, the unlocking of the hook 8 or the displacement operation of the hook 8 can be achieved by using a well-known link mechanism or the like.

When the cartridge is removed as described above, a new cartridge is attached in the reverse order of the above, and the work is completed.

In the printer apparatus of this embodiment, when the cartridge is replaced, the tension of the ink ribbon is controlled by the tension arm attached to the head mechanism section 7. This mechanism will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. <Opening and Closing of Head Mechanism Section> FIG. 4 is a side view of the head mechanism section 7 attached to the chassis 1. The back plate 71 of the head mechanism portion 7 is a support member that supports the tension arm 14, and is attached to the chassis 1 so as to be rotatable around the pivot 3. Further, in parallel with the back plate 71, the regulation plate 12 is also rotatably attached to the chassis 1 by the pivot 11. The pivot 3 and the pivot 11 are parallel rotation axes separated by a predetermined distance l. The distance l is
The rotation of the back plate 71 and the rotation of the regulation plate 12 interfere with each other, and it is not possible with only one of them, but both can be rotated at the same time and in the same direction in a substantially overlapped state. . Since the center of rotation of the back plate 71 and the regulation plate 12 thus mounted are different axes separated by the distance l, the overlapping portions differ depending on the rotation angle.
That is, as can be seen from FIG. 4, the head mechanism unit 7 applies tension to the ink ribbon 5 so that the head unit 9 faces the platen 10 in a closed state (a standing state) which is a recordable working position. The ink ribbon 5 releases the tension,
The relative position of the regulation plate 12 with respect to the head mechanism portion 7 is different in the opened state (oblique state) which is the standby position in which the head unit 9 moves away from the platen 10.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the head mechanism portion 7, and FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the head mechanism portion 7 viewed from the side. Although only the tension arm 14 is shown in FIG.
And 14 work in the same way.

The regulation plate 12 has a "U" shape,
Both ends thereof are bent to form key portions 121 and 122. Tension arms 13 and 14 are rotatably attached to the back plate 71 by shafts 132 and 142, respectively. Bearings 133 and 143 are attached to these arms, respectively, and arms 131 and 141 for applying tension to the ribbon are further provided. When the head mechanism section 7 is opened, as shown in FIG.
As described above, the regulation plate 12 descends relatively to the back plate 71. Therefore, the bearings 133 and 143 are set downward by the key portions 121 and 122, and the tension arms 13 and 14 rotate in opposite directions about the shafts 132 and 142, respectively. Therefore, the arms 131 and 141 move inward in accordance with the rotation thereof (solid line portion in FIG. 5). The arms 131 and 141 are portions to be inserted into the cartridge 5, and by this movement, the engagement between the ribbon and the arm is released. In addition, springs 134 and 144 are hooked between the arms 13 and 14 and the back plate 71, respectively, to urge the arms.

On the contrary, when the head mechanism portion 7 is closed, the arms 131 and 141 are hooked on the ribbon and pulled toward each other, so that an outward tension is applied to the ribbon.

Further, the arm 14 is provided with a sensor claw 144, and although not shown, the position of the claw 144 is detected by a photosensor or the like to monitor the state of the tension arm by the control unit. This is of course the same for the tension arm 13.

Next, the operation of the ribbon cartridge will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the ribbon cartridge 5. The ribbon is wound on reels 53 and 54, one of which is the used portion and the other of which is the unused portion. The arm 141 is inserted into the hole 51, and the arm 131 is inserted into the hole 52. Each hole is shaped like a moving arm.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the state of the ribbon when tension is not applied to the ribbon, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the state of the ribbon when tension is applied to the ribbon. When the head mechanism section 7 is opened, the regulation plate 12 is lowered, so that the tension arm moves inward and comes off the ribbon 15. Then, the ribbon 15 becomes free, and attachment / detachment of the cartridge 5 can be carried out by simply inserting / removing the cartridge. This state is the standby position. When the head mechanism portion 7 is closed, the regulation plate 12 rises, so that the tension arm projects outward and hangs on the ribbon 15 to apply tension. This position is the working position.

As described above, since the tension in the ribbon in the ribbon cartridge is applied / released in accordance with the state of the head mechanism portion, the ribbon cartridge can be easily replaced.

[0027]

As described above, the printer device according to the present invention has an effect that tension can be applied to the ribbon without any special operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment with a head mechanism unit closed.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the printer apparatus of the embodiment with the head mechanism section opened.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the printer device of the embodiment with the ribbon cartridge removed.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing how to open and close the head mechanism section of the printer device of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a head mechanism portion of the printer device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a head mechanism portion of the printer device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a ribbon cartridge of the printer device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a state in which the head mechanism unit of the printer device of the embodiment is opened.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a state in which the head mechanism portion of the printer device of the embodiment is closed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 chassis, 5 ribbon cartridge, 7 head mechanism part, 11 pivot, 12 regulating plate, 13 tension arm, 14 tension arm, 15 ribbon, 71 back plate, 131, 141 arm, 132, 142 shaft, 133, 143 bearing, 144 It is a sensor nail.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tension arm for displacing a ribbon in a ribbon cartridge detachably provided in a printer main body between a working position and a standby position for releasing the tension of the ribbon, and a printer. The tension arm is provided on a support member whose one end is pivotally supported on the main body, and the tension arm is moved to the standby position in conjunction with the opening operation of the support member with respect to the main body, A moving unit that moves the tension arm to the working position in conjunction with the closing operation of the printer device. 2. The moving unit has one end pivotally fixed to the printer body in a direction substantially parallel to the supporting member, and drives the tension arm by changing the positional relationship with the supporting member due to opening and closing of the supporting member. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The printer device according to claim 1, further comprising a biasing unit that biases the tension arm from the standby position toward the working position. 4. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein the support member is provided with a pair of tension arms. 5. A head mechanism section that holds a ribbon cartridge that is directly detachable from a printer body has a working position where the head of the head mechanism section can record, and a standby position where the ribbon cartridge can be attached and detached. In the printer device displaceably provided between the head mechanism unit, the lock to the head mechanism unit of the ribbon cartridge held by the head mechanism unit is released in association with the displacement of the head mechanism unit to the standby position, A printer device, wherein the ribbon cartridge is removed.