JPH0712008Y2 - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial application] The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette,
In particular, the present invention relates to a ribbon cassette capable of discriminating the type of ink ribbon contained in the ribbon cassette without using a plurality of types of cassette cases having different shapes.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 3 shows a conventional general thermal transfer printer. A platen 2 having a flat plate shape is arranged at a substantially central portion of a frame 1 of the printer so that its printing surface is substantially vertical. A carriage shaft 3 is disposed below the front side of the platen 2 of the frame 1 in parallel with the platen 2. A flange-shaped guide portion 4 is formed on the front edge of the frame 1, and a carriage 5 reciprocates along the carriage shaft 3 and the guide portion 4 on the carriage shaft 3 and the guide portion 4. It is movably attached. The leading end of the carriage 5 faces the platen 2,
A thermal head 6 is attached to and detachable from the platen 2 by a drive mechanism (not shown). An ink ribbon is housed inside the upper surface of the carriage 5, and the ink ribbon is attached to the thermal head 6. A ribbon cassette (not shown) for guiding between the platen 2 and the platen 2 is detachably attached. Further, the carriage 5
A winding bobbin 7 for winding the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette and a feeding bobbin 8 for feeding the ink ribbon are disposed on the upper surface of the.

A sheet insertion port 9 for feeding a sheet (not shown) to the front of the platen 2 is formed at the rear of the platen 2, and the sheet insertion port 9 has the sheet insertion port 9 at a predetermined speed. A paper feed roller 10 that conveys a paper is provided. A pressure contact roller 11 that is pressed against the paper feed roller 10 is rotatably disposed below the paper feed roller 10. The paper feed roller is provided with a transmission gear group 12 on one side surface of the frame. A paper feed motor 13 that is rotationally driven through is provided. Then, by driving the paper feed motor 13 to rotate the paper feed roller 10, the paper inserted between the paper feed roller 10 and the pressure contact roller 11 is pinched and conveyed from the paper insertion port 9. It is designed to do.

In the conventional thermal transfer printer, a sheet is inserted from the sheet insertion port 9, the sheet is sandwiched between the sheet feeding roller 10 and the pressure contact roller 11, and the sheet feeding motor 13 causes the sheet feeding roller 10 to move. The sheet is conveyed at a predetermined speed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage 5 by rotating the sheet. On the other hand, the thermal head 6
In the state of being pressed against the paper with a predetermined pressing force,
While the carriage 5 is moved and the winding bobbin 7 is rotated to wind up the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette, the thermal head 6 is driven based on a desired print signal to print a desired print on the paper. Is to do.

In such a conventional printer, there are many kinds of ink ribbons stored in the ribbon cassette, such as a hot peeling ink ribbon, a cold peeling ink ribbon, a single color ink ribbon or a color ink ribbon. However, conventionally, the shape of the cassette case of the ribbon cassette is changed according to the type of ink ribbon,
Due to this change in shape, a detection switch (not shown) provided on the carriage is turned on and off to identify the type of ink ribbon. For example, in the case of a cold peeling ink ribbon, the peeling roller is operated to control the peeling distance of the ink ribbon to be long and to perform cold peeling. Is designed to perform desired printing control according to the type of ink ribbon, such as control to perform color sensing.

[0006]

However, in the ribbon cassette applied to the conventional thermal transfer printer,
Since the type of ink ribbon is identified by changing the shape of the cassette case, it is necessary to prepare multiple types of cassette cases according to the type of ink ribbon, increasing the number of ribbon cassette parts. Therefore, there is a problem that the component cost increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points , and it is possible to determine the type of the ink ribbon housed in the ribbon cassette without using a plurality of types of cassette cases having different shapes , and also to reduce the size. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ribbon cassette to be obtained .

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a ribbon cassette according to the invention as defined in claim 1 is provided with a delivery reel and a take-up reel inside a cassette case detachably mounted on the upper surface of a carriage. ribbon cassette odor formed by accommodating an ink ribbon which is wound on the reel Te, before <br/> SL outside the outermost periphery of the ink ribbon wound on the reel
On the surface of the cassette case, which is arranged on the upper surface of the carriage so as to be inclined with respect to the end surface of the carriage.
It is characterized in that a detection unit corresponding to a plurality of detection switches arranged is provided .

Further, the invention of claim 2, claim
1, the detection unit is a member separate from the cassette case
It is characterized by being constituted by .

[0010]

According to the present invention, the cassette ribbon is arranged on the upper surface of the carriage at a position corresponding to the outside of the outermost circumference of the ink ribbon so as to be inclined with respect to the end surface of the carriage.
The detection unit corresponding to the plurality of detection switches
In, by mounting the ribbon cassette in the carriage, the type of the ink ribbon housed in the ribbon cassette
Accordingly, the detection switch at the specific position is selectively pressed , and the type of the ink ribbon inside the ribbon cassette can be detected by the combination of ON and OFF operations of the detection switch. The desired print control can be performed according to the type of ink ribbon without changing the shape.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show an embodiment of a ribbon cassette according to the present invention and a carriage portion to which the ribbon cassette is mounted. The carriage 5 is reciprocally movable along a platen (not shown). The thermal head 6 is attached to the platen so that the thermal head 6 can be moved toward and away from the platen, and a support shaft 14 that is the center of the thermal operation of the thermal head 6 is formed on the upper surface of the carriage 5 so as to project therefrom. . A winding bobbin 7 and a delivery bobbin 8 are rotatably driven on the upper surface of the carriage 5, and a second winding bobbin 15 and a second delivery bobbin 16 are provided on the upper surface of the carriage 5. Are rotatably driven. Further, the upper corner portion of the carriage 5, the three detection switches 17, 17 ... carriage
5 are arranged to be inclined with respect to the end surface of the carriage 5, and the end of the ink ribbon to be used or the color marker of the color ink ribbon is detected near the support shaft 14 on the upper surface of the carriage 5. A photo sensor 18 is provided for this purpose.

An ink ribbon 21 is wound inside a cassette case 20 of a ribbon cassette 19 mounted on the carriage 5, and is engaged with a delivery bobbin 8 and a take-up bobbin 7 of the carriage 5, respectively. A delivery reel 22 and a take-up reel 23 are housed respectively, and on both inner side portions of the ribbon cassette 19,
A pair of guide rollers 24, 24 that are engaged with the second delivery bobbin 16 and the second winding bobbin 15 of the carriage 5 and guide the ink ribbon 21 are provided.
In addition, a concave portion 25 into which the thermal head 6 is inserted while being mounted on the carriage 5 is formed in a central portion of one side of the cassette case 20, and the concave and convex positions on both sides of the concave portion 25 of the cassette case 20 are symmetrical. Notches 26, 26 into which the support shaft 14 is inserted are formed in each of them.

Further, inside the cassette case 20, a plurality of parts are provided at the portion between the delivery reel 22, the take-up reel 23 and each guide roller 24, the recess 25, and the tip end of each notch 26. Guide member 27
a, 27b, 28a, 28b, 29a, 29b are provided.

Further, the outside position than the outermost periphery of the said sending a corner portion of the cassette case 20 reel 22 wound on the ink ribbon 21, the three constituting the detecting unit detecting hole 30, 30 ... Is inclined with respect to the end surface of the cassette case 20 so as to correspond to the detection switch 17 of the carriage 5, and thus the detection hole 3 is formed.
By forming 0 with an inclination, a large formation space can be secured. Then, each of these detection holes 30 is closed by a seal or the like according to the type of the ink ribbon 21, and the closed detection holes 30 press the detection switch 17 mounted on the carriage 5. By operating, the ink ribbon 2
One type can be detected.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

In this embodiment, by mounting the ribbon cassette 19 on the carriage 5, the detection switch 17 corresponding to the closed detection hole 30 among the detection holes 30 is pressed, and the detection switch 17 is pressed. 17 O
Depending on the combination of N and OFF operations, the ribbon cassette 19
The type of the ink ribbon 21 inside the printer is detected.

Then, by the detection switch 17, for example, the ink ribbon 21 is peeled off in the cold state.
If it is detected that the peeling distance of the ink ribbon 21 is formed to be long by operating a peeling roller (not shown), the peeling at the time of cold is controlled, and
If it is detected that the ink ribbon 21 is for thermal peeling, the ink ribbon 21 is not operated without operating the peeling roller.
Control for ensuring a large peeling angle of the ink ribbon, and for the color ribbon 21 when the ink ribbon 21 is the color ribbon, desired color printing control is performed according to the type of the ink ribbon 21. Is designed to do.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the shape of the cassette case 20 of the ribbon cassette 19 is not changed, and the type of the ink ribbon 21 is detected by the closed state of the detection hole 30 formed in the cassette case 20 to determine the proper state. Since printing drive control can be performed, it is not necessary to use a plurality of ribbon cassettes 19 having different shapes, and as a result, the number of parts can be reduced, the cost of parts can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost is low. be able to. Moreover, since the detection hole 30 is formed to be inclined with respect to the end surface of the cassette case 20, the detection hole 30 is formed as compared with the case where the detection hole 30 is formed parallel to the end surface or the side surface of the cassette case 20. A large space can be secured and the cassette case 20 can be downsized.
You can

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but various modifications can be made if necessary.

[0021]

As described above, the ribbon cassette according to the present invention is formed in the cassette case of the ribbon cassette.
Since the detection unit detects the type of ink ribbon and performs appropriate print drive control, it is not necessary to use a plurality of ribbon cassettes having different shapes, and as a result, the number of parts can be reduced. The cost of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Moreover, the detectors are aligned so that they are inclined with respect to the end face of the carriage.
Supports multiple detection switches on the mounted carriage side
In this way, since it is formed so as to be substantially inclined with respect to the end surface of the cassette case, the space for forming the detection unit is larger than that in the case where it is formed parallel to the end surface or the side surface of the cassette case. It is possible to secure the size of the cassette case, and it is possible to reduce the size of the cassette case .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a ribbon cassette according to the present invention and a carriage portion for mounting the ribbon cassette.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the ribbon cassette of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a conventional general thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Carriage 6 Thermal Head 17 Detection Switch 19 Ribbon Cassette 20 Cassette Case 21 Ink Ribbon 22 Feeding Reel 23 Take-up Reel 24 Guide Roller 25 Recess 26 Notch 30 Detection Hole

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Inside of 1. A cassette case detachably attached to the upper surface of the carriage, delivery Te ribbon cassette odor formed by accommodating an ink ribbon which is wound on the reel and the take-up reel, prior SL to each reel The surface of the cassette case that is outside the outermost circumference of the wound ink ribbon
On the upper surface of the carriage with respect to the end surface of the carriage
Pair multiple detector switches that are aligned to tilt
A ribbon cassette, which is provided with a corresponding detection unit . 2. The detection unit is separate from the cassette case.
Ribbon cassette according to claim 1, characterized by being configured by wood.