JPH066391B2 - Ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a structure of an ink ribbon cassette used in a thermal transfer printer, a wire dot printer, a typewriter, or the like.

[Prior art]

Printers, facsimiles, and other recording devices and typewriters have an ink ribbon cassette mounted on a carriage that moves along the paper, and are configured to transfer ink while feeding the ink ribbon between the print head and the paper. There is.

The ink ribbon cassette has a structure in which a supply reel and a take-up reel are provided in a cassette case, and the ink ribbon on the supply reel is taken up on the take-up reel through a print head insertion portion during a printing operation. The take-up reel is rotationally driven by a drive shaft provided on the carriage. The cassette case is closed by mounting the cassette lid.

By the way, the cassette case and the cassette lid are generally formed of a non-conductive material such as plastic, and during the printing operation, the cassette, the ink ribbon and the like are charged due to the following reasons.

i) Friction between print head and ink ribbon ii) Friction between cassette case and each reel iii) Friction between cassette case and ink ribbon iv) Transfer process of ink to paper v) Ink ribbon is peeled off from supply reel Due to these, the following problems occur.

i) The user touches the cassette and receives an electric shock.

ii) The data signal and operation signal from the CPU may be disturbed due to the charging of the cassette, and the device may malfunction or stop.

iii) Electronic elements such as CPU may be damaged due to charging of the cassette.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such a charging problem,
Various countermeasures have been proposed.

First, there is a method of dissipating charges by providing a charge eliminating brush. However, this method has a problem in appearance processing, and further,
The equipment becomes large and the cost also rises.

Further, there is a method of electrically processing by adding a ground wire, a capacitor, a shield plate or the like to the control circuit. However, this method also has a complicated and large-scale circuit configuration, which results in an increase in cost.

〔Purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, and with a simple and inexpensive structure, it is possible to easily discharge the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to the outside, and to mount the ink ribbon cassette on the carriage. If you do
Another object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cassette unit that can more efficiently perform the above discharge by utilizing the movement of the carriage.

〔Overview〕

According to the present invention, in a non-conductive ink ribbon cassette that accommodates an ink ribbon, a case member having a plurality of openings in a bottom surface thereof, and a conductive material disposed between the ink ribbon and the bottom surface portion accommodated therein. A conductive sheet, and by discharging the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to the outside of the ink ribbon cassette through the atmosphere between the conductive member sheet member and the plurality of openings, The above object is achieved.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an ink ribbon cassette of a thermal transfer recording device.

In FIG. 1, an ink ribbon cassette 1 has a casing composed of a cassette case 2 and a cassette lid 3, and a supply reel 4 and a take-up reel 5 are provided in the cassette case 1.
Is supported and is configured to wind the ink ribbon 6 on the supply reel onto the take-up reel 5. Cassette case 2
Print head (thermal head in the example shown) on the front side of
A recess 7 for insertion is formed, and the ink ribbon 6 is guided through the recess.

When the cassette 1 is mounted on the carriage, the ribbon drive shaft on the carriage is engaged with the take-up reel 5 and the print head is inserted into the recessed portion 7 to drive the take-up reel to supply the ink ribbon 6 to the supply reel. 4 travels in the recess 7 from above and is wound onto the winding reel 5.

It should be noted that the cassette lid 3 is formed with a hole 8 for inserting a loosening stopper that prevents the ribbon from loosening when the cassette is transported.

However, the inner surface of the cassette case 2 and the ink ribbon 6
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a conductive sheet 9 is laid between and. As the sheet 9, a metal foil or a conductive plastic sheet mixed with metal particles or carbon can be used.

Further, the cassette case 2 and the cassette lid 3 are
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, a plurality of through holes 10 and 11 for discharging are formed respectively.

In the illustrated example, a large number of relatively small-diameter openings 10 are formed over almost the entire area of the bottom surface of the cassette case 2, while many large-sized relatively small-diameter openings 11 are formed in the cassette lid 3 throughout the entire area. ing.

When the ink ribbon cassette 1 is mounted on the carriage for printing, static electricity is generated due to the above-described causes such as friction between the print head and the ink ribbon 6 and friction between the cassette case 2 and the reels 4 and 5. However, according to the illustrated embodiment, the conductive sheet 9 is laid between the cassette case 2 and the ink ribbon 6 and a plurality of discharge ports 10 are formed. The electric charge in the cassette 1 can be easily discharged toward the conductive sheet 9 and further discharged to the outside from the through hole 10. In this way, charging inside the cassette 1 can be easily prevented.

As described above, the inside of the ink ribbon cassette 1 is easily charged with static electricity generated by friction between the cassette and the ink ribbon 6.

Therefore, in the illustrated embodiment, the conductive sheet member 9 is arranged inside the case member in contact with the ink ribbon 6 and between the ink ribbon and the plurality of through holes (openings) 10 provided in the cassette case 2. Therefore, for example, the static electricity can be discharged to the outside of the cassette through the atmosphere having an inductivity which is several times or more the inductivity of plastic or the like as the non-conductive material.

Further, when the ink ribbon cassette 1 is mounted on a carriage, the atmosphere in the cassette can be moved by moving the carriage, and by utilizing the movement of the atmosphere, the ink ribbon cassette 1 is removed from the inside of the ink ribbon cassette 1. It becomes possible to discharge the static electricity more efficiently.

Therefore, a problem occurs due to charging, that is, the user receives an electric shock, the electric signal is disturbed and the device malfunctions,
Further, it is possible to easily solve the problem that electronic elements such as CPU are damaged.

In the illustrated example, a large number of openings 10 and 11 are formed in both the cassette case 2 and the cassette lid 3, but sufficient discharge action can be obtained by forming the openings 10 on the cassette case 2 side. Therefore, the same effect can be obtained.

Regarding the number of passages 10 and 11, in addition to providing a large number of small-diameter passages as shown in the figure, it is also possible to provide a plurality of relatively large-diameter passages at several places.

Further, the shape of the passages 10 and 11 is not limited to the circular shape, but may be a polygonal shape or an elongated hole, or may be a slit shape.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, in the non-conductive ink ribbon cassette that accommodates the ink ribbon, a case member having a plurality of through holes in the bottom surface portion,
A conductive sheet member disposed between the ink ribbon accommodated and the bottom surface portion, and charges the inside of the ink ribbon cassette with electric charges between the conductive sheet member and the plurality of through holes. When the ink ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, it is possible to easily discharge the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette with a simple and inexpensive structure because it is configured to discharge to the outside of the ink ribbon cassette through the atmosphere. Further, there is provided an ink ribbon cassette capable of more efficiently performing the above discharge by utilizing the movement of the carriage.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention in a state where a cassette lid is separated, FIG. 2 is a plan view of a cassette case and a conductive sheet of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a vertical section of a central portion of FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the cassette case of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cassette lid of FIG. 1 ... Ink ribbon cassette, 2 ... Cassette case, 3 ... Cassette lid, 9 ... Conductive sheet, 10, 11 ... Passage.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A non-conductive ink ribbon cassette for accommodating an ink ribbon, wherein a case member having a plurality of through holes on a bottom surface thereof, and an ink ribbon accommodated between the ink ribbon and the bottom surface portion. A conductive sheet member, and discharges the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to the outside of the ink ribbon cassette through the atmosphere between the conductive sheet member and the plurality of openings. Ink ribbon cassette. 2. The ink ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon cassette is mounted on a carriage that moves in a predetermined direction that intersects a conveyance direction of a recording medium included in a recording device. .