JPH0675748U - Tape printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The platen should not come into direct contact with the thermal head even if it is replaced with a cassette with a different ribbon width. In a tape printer device that prints on a tape-shaped print medium via an ink ribbon by a thermal head 104 in which a plurality of heating elements are arranged in a direction orthogonal to the printing direction, a frame 107 of the printing device is provided. Arranges the thermal head 104 having a width (L2) corresponding to the widest ink ribbon, and includes the ink ribbon, the print medium, and the platen 6 for sandwiching them against the thermal head 104. It was built in a cassette that can be attached to and detached from the printer, and formed so that the width dimension (L1) of the platen 6 corresponds to the width dimension of the ink ribbon.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention is a structure of a tape printer device in which a tape print medium and an ink ribbon are built in a cassette, and characters and figures are printed on the tape print medium by the thermal head via the ink ribbon. With regard to the above, more specifically, the present invention is such that printing can be performed by exchanging a cassette in which the width dimension of the printing medium and / or the ink ribbon is changed.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 The applicant previously proposed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-56666 a cassette used in a tape printer device for producing a label tape or the like for label display. This cassette is a cassette that is detachably attached to the main body of the tape printer, and is printed in advance on a printing tape (printing medium) such as a transparent film made of a synthetic resin while being pulled out from the cassette. This relates to a structure in which arbitrary characters and symbols input by the printer device are printed by the printing unit (thermal head) of the tape printer device.

The cassette is composed of a case body and a lid body made of synthetic resin. Inside the case body, there are a winding storage portion for a printing tape, a winding storage portion and a winding portion for an ink ribbon, and a single-sided surface. A double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape winding accommodating section with a release paper attached thereto is provided. Then, the ink surface of the ink ribbon and the inner surface of the printing tape are put together and pulled out from the transport outlet (ejection section) of the cassette. Between the rotating platen provided in the vicinity of the transport outlet and the fixed thermal head, the ink ribbon is sandwiched with the print tape so that the ink ribbon faces the print head, and the print head is composed of the thermal head. In the printing unit, ink is printed as a mirror image on the inner surface of the printing tape corresponding to the pattern of characters input by the tape printer.

The printed ink ribbon is drawn into the cassette again on the downstream side of conveyance of the printing unit and wound up by the winding unit. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the printing unit in the transport direction, one exposed adhesive surface of the double-sided adhesive tape that has come out of the cassette is attached to a printing tape so as to adhere to the ink adhering surface. Cut the product that has come out of the printer unit to the specified size.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, it is necessary to change the width of the printing tape and the width of the ink ribbon depending on the size of the area where the tape is attached and the size of the characters to be printed, and a cassette with a width corresponding to that was used. . On the other hand, in the past, the thermal head and platen provided in the tape printer were set to be wide ones corresponding to the widest tape.

Therefore, in the case of a tape having a narrow width, there are many places where the surface of the platen and the surface of the (printing portion) of the thermal head are in direct contact with each other. In general, the platen is often made of elastic material such as rubber, while the surface of the print part (heat generating element part) of the thermal head is covered with a hard glassy protective film with excellent abrasion resistance. Since the printed part protrudes in a line shape along the width direction of the tape, if the platen rotates while the two are in direct contact with each other as described above, the frictional resistance will increase and the driving force more than necessary for rotating the platen. Must be given, the required driving torque must be increased, and the surface of the platen is scraped by the thermal head, resulting in poor durability.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks. The width dimension of the tape (ink ribbon) to be used is the width dimension of the platen mounted on the cassette on the side where the platen is replaced. The purpose of this is to reduce the load of rotating the platen and prevent the platen from being worn.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, a tape printer device of the present invention uses a thermal head formed by arranging a plurality of heating elements in a direction orthogonal to a printing direction via an ink ribbon. In the case of printing on a tape-shaped print medium, the thermal head is arranged in the apparatus main body, and the ink ribbon, the print medium, and a platen for sandwiching these against the thermal head are provided. It is built in a cassette that can be attached to and detached from the main unit, and is formed so that the width of the platen corresponds to the width of the ink ribbon.

[0009]

【Example】

 Next, an embodiment embodying the present invention will be described. The cassette comprises a case body 1 having an open upper surface and a plate-like lid body 2 for covering the upper surface of the case body 1. Both the case body 1 and the lid body 2 are formed by injection molding or the like made of synthetic resin. To be done. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a lid body 2 and a case body 1 in which a printing tape 3 which is a print medium, an ink ribbon 4, and a double-sided adhesive tape 5 are housed and a platen 6 is provided in the vicinity of a discharge portion. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state before the printing tape 3, the ink ribbon 4 and the double-sided adhesive tape 5 are attached to the case body 1, and FIG. 3 is a cassette in the printing device 100 of the tape printer device. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view of a state in which the is attached (excluding the lid body 2), and FIG. 4 is a front view of the printing apparatus 100, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 4, the driving force from a drive motor 111 provided on the back surface of the frame 107 in the printing apparatus 100 is fed out by a drive gear train 52 arranged on the front surface side of the frame 107, which will be described later. It is assumed that the shaft 102 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4 and the drive gear 53 in the ribbon winding mechanism 50 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the drive roller 103 is movably mounted in a long groove on the tip end side of the swing arm 106, and is elastically biased toward a feed roller 11 described later by a biasing spring 105. The base end of the swing arm 106 is rotatably pivotally attached to a bracket 108 standing upright from a frame 107 in the printing apparatus 100, and is moved in a direction away from the thermal head 104 by a spring means (not shown). Being energized. Further, the transmission gear 113 (see FIG. 6) provided so as to rotate integrally with the drive roller 103 is attached to the feed drive shaft 102 when the tip end side of the swing arm 106 approaches the feed roller 11. It is configured to mesh with the gear 114.

As shown in FIG. 2, cylindrical fitting shafts 7, 8 and 9 are erected on the bottom plate 1 a of the case body 1. The spool 3a of the printing tape 3 is rotatably supported by the fitting shaft 6 to form a winding storage portion for the printing tape 3. The spool 4a of the ink ribbon 4 is rotatably supported by the fitting shaft 7 to form a winding housing portion of the ink ribbon 4, and a release paper (not shown) is provided on one surface (outside the radius of the winding portion). The spool 5a of the attached double-sided adhesive tape 5 is rotatably supported by the fitting shaft 9 to form a winding storage portion for the double-sided adhesive tape 5.

The take-up spool 40 of the ink ribbon 4 is rotatably supported at 10 bearing holes formed in the bottom plate 1 a of the case body 1, and is a drive shaft in a ribbon take-up mechanism 50 provided in the printing apparatus 100. The portion 51 fits into the inner diameter of the take-up spool 40, and the ink ribbon 4 is taken up. A feed roller 11 for feeding the double-sided adhesive tape 5 to the outside and feeding it is rotatably supported at 12 bearing holes formed in the bottom plate 1a, and is fed by a feed drive shaft 102 protruding from the printer 100. The roller 11 is rotationally driven.

The shape of the case body 1a is as follows. That is, the feeding roller 11 is provided in the opening 13 formed by cutting out one side of the peripheral wall 1b of the case body 1a so that one side of the circumferential surface is exposed, and the release paper on one side of the double-sided adhesive tape 5 is fed. The printing tape 3 and the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape 5, which have passed through the circumferential surface of 11 and have been printed by the printing unit to be described later, are nipped by the driving roller 103 and the feed roller 11 in the printing apparatus 100 and conveyed. It

With the two tapes 3 and 5 adhered to each other, the tapes 15 are passed through a tape hole 15 formed by a tape retainer 14 provided on the lateral side of the opening 13 and taken out of the printing apparatus 100. In addition, a guide roller 17 made of silicone rubber is rotatably fitted on a support shaft 16 facing the feed roller 11 and protruding from the bottom plate 1a, and the adhesive surface of the double-sided adhesive tape 5 is exposed from the opening 13. It is configured so as not to adhere to the curved separating wall 18. Further, the curved separating wall 18 is formed with a plurality of ridges that are difficult to adhere to at a position facing the feed roller 11.

Adjacent to the opening 13, a take-up inlet 19 for the ink ribbon 4 and a transport outlet 20 for the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 should be formed with the curved separation wall 18 interposed therebetween. A U-shaped peripheral wall 21 is provided. The thermal head 104 of the printing apparatus 100 fits in the space 22 surrounded by the peripheral wall 21. The leaf spring body 23 whose curved tip 23b extends toward the winding inlet 19 in the space 22 is attached by attaching the base end 23a having a U-shaped cross section to the peripheral wall 21 and the curved shape of the leaf spring body 23. The printing tape 3 and the ink ribbon 4 that have come out from the transport outlet 20 are placed in an overlapping state on the tip 23b.

The roller-shaped platen 6 mounted on the cassette has boss portions 6a, 6a on both left and right ends thereof, and a bracket 41a provided on the case body 1 and the lid body 2 in the vicinity of the carry-out port 20, respectively. The platen 6 is attached in a direction in which the platen 6 is separated from the thermal head 104 by a torsion spring 44 that is movably fitted into the long groove holes 42a and 42b of 41b and fitted to a mounting shaft 43 that is provided across both brackets 41a and 41b. I am energetic. The width of the platen 6 corresponds to the widths of the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 in the cassette, and the platen 6 has a mounting hole 45 formed in the central axis thereof.

The support shaft 112 is projected from the bottom plate 106 a of the swing arm 106, and when the cassette is mounted on the printing apparatus 100, the mounting hole 45 in the platen 6 fits into the support shaft 112. As the thermal head 104 moves into the space 22, the lower surface of the thermal head 104 presses the laterally inclined portion of the leaf spring body 23, and the thermal stress is generated between the lower surface of the ink ribbon 4 and the leaf spring body 23. The head 104 is inserted. After mounting the cassette, the swinging arm 106 is brought into a set state in which the tip end side thereof is brought closer to the feed roller 11 side via the link mechanism 110 by the rotation of the operation lever 109. The recording tape 3 and the ink ribbon 4 are sandwiched between the thermal head 104 and the rotatable roller-shaped platen 6 while rotating so as to be pressed against 104.

The width dimension (L2) of the thermal head 104 is set to a wide width in conformity with the widest one of the width dimensions of the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 in the cassette to be replaced. The heating elements (not shown) in the thermal head 104 are arranged in a row in the width direction of the printing tape 3 or the like. The tip of the leaf spring 24, which is pressed against the ink ribbon 4 wound on the take-up spool 40 to prevent loosening, faces the case body 1 in a direction opposite to the leaf spring body 23 inserted into the peripheral wall 21. Face in.

The transport path of the printing tape 3 in the case body 1 is as follows. The printing tape 3 that has come out from the tip notch groove 26 of the partition wall 25 that is curved in plan view and divides the winding storage portion of the printing tape 3 and the winding storage portion of the ink ribbon 4 is located around the case body 1. It extends along the inner side of the wall 1b, is curved by 90 degrees in a plan view on the peripheral surface of a cylindrical guide portion 27 that is provided upright from the bottom plate 1a at the corner, and extends in the direction of the transport outlet 20.

Then, the ridge 28 a of the rib 28 that extends radially outward from the partition wall 25 close to the notch groove 26, the peripheral surface of the cylindrical guide portion 27, and the lid between them. 2 and the long tip of the rib 29 protruding downward from the lower surface of the rib 2 and the obstacle made of an inelastic body for bending the linear transport path of the printing tape 3 in a non-linear manner (see FIG. 1). ), And the transfer resistance is applied to the printing tape 3 pulled out from the cassette by these three members. In this way, so-called back tension is applied to the printing tape 3 to prevent slack.

The leaf spring 30 has a base end inserted into the rib 28, a tip end supported by the cylindrical guide portion 27, and a middle portion thereof brought into contact with the ink ribbon 4 in the winding accommodating portion to provide back tension. Is. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, on the lower surface of the lid body 2, there are provided engagement pins 33 protruding from the bottom plate of the case body 1 or fitted to a large number of fitting columns 31, 32, etc. provided on the inner surface of the peripheral wall 1b. Since the guide walls 35 and 36 which are projected downward and project downward on the peripheral edge of the lid plate 2 are along the inner surface of the peripheral wall 1b of the case body 1, the lid body 2 is fixed to the case body 1 without misalignment. To be done.

With this configuration, when replacing the cassette, as shown in FIG. 3, the tip end side (driving roller 103) of the swing arm 106 in the printing apparatus 100 is operated so as to be separated from the cassette. When the lever 109 is operated to rotate, the support shaft 112, which is displaced integrally with the swing arm 106, is fitted into the mounting hole 45 of the platen 6, and the platen 6 is biased by the torsion spring 44 or the like. Is separated from the thermal head 104.

Next, when printing on the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 having a narrow width, they are built in, and the platen 6 having a narrow width (L1) corresponding to the width of the ink ribbon 4 or the like is mounted. The cassette thus prepared is attached to the printing apparatus 100. At this time, as described above, after the platen 6 in the cassette is mounted on the support shaft 112 at a position distant from the thermal head 104 (see FIG. 7), as shown in FIGS. The platen 6 may be moved closer to the thermal head 104 by rotating 106, and the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 may be sandwiched between them.

A platen 6 having a width dimension (L3) corresponding to this is attached to the cassette of the wide ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 (see FIG. 9), and this cassette is used in the same manner as described above. It may be detachably attached to the printing device 100. As described above, the platen 6 having a width corresponding to the widths of the ink ribbon 4 and the printing tape 3 to be incorporated in the cassette is preliminarily attached to the cassette, while the printing device 100 has the widest width. Since the width of the thermal head 104 is set according to the ink ribbon 4 of the above, even if the cassette is exchanged, the platen 6 does not come into direct contact with the thermal head 104, and the platen 6 is rubbed more than necessary. It is possible to prevent the generation of resistance and reduce the abrasion of the surface of the platen 6.

In the above embodiment, the cassette in which the double-sided adhesive tape 5 is adhered to the printed printing tape 3 has been described, but the present invention provides an adhesive layer on the lower surface of the printing tape, It goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a type in which a release tape is temporarily adhered and printing is performed on the upper surface of this printing tape via an ink ribbon.

[0027]

[Operation and effect of the device]

 As described above, in the tape printer device of the present invention, the platen having a width corresponding to the width of the ink ribbon and the printing tape to be incorporated in the cassette is preliminarily attached to the cassette, while Since the width of the thermal head is set according to the ink width with the widest width, the platen can be prevented from making direct contact with the thermal head even if it is replaced with a cassette with a different width. It is possible to prevent excessive frictional resistance from occurring and to reduce wear on the surface of the platen.

Therefore, it is possible to effectively use a plurality of cassettes having different tape widths with one printing device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a case main body accommodating a printing tape and the like and a lid.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state before the printing tape is attached to the case body.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a cassette is attached to the printing apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a printing device and a winding mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view of a main part during a printing operation.

6 is a view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an assembled state of a narrow ink ribbon cassette.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which the platen is brought close to the thermal head in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a wide ink ribbon cassette in an assembled state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Case Main Body 2 Lid Body 3 Printing Tape 4 Ink Ribbon 5 Double-sided Adhesive Tape 6 Platen 11 Feed Roller 100 Printing Device 103 Drive Roller 104 Thermal Head 106 Swing Arm 111 Drive Motor

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A tape printer apparatus for printing on a tape-shaped print medium via an ink ribbon by a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged in a direction orthogonal to the printing direction, wherein Place the head,
The ink ribbon, the print medium, and a platen for sandwiching them against the thermal head are built into a cassette that is detachable from the main body device, and the width of the platen is the width of the ink ribbon. A tape printer device characterized by being formed so as to correspond to the size.