JPH07125365A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer device which reduces the time and labor at the time of setting up an ink ribbon to a printer and is capable of setting swiftly and reliably the ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:A stationary ribbon guides 5A, 5B guiding an ink ribbon 101 to be sent out through a ribbon unwinder pulley 3 toward a printing head, ribbon feed rollers 6A, 6B which are provide between the stationary ribbon guides 5A, 5B and unwinder pulley 3 and energizes running force to the ink ribbon 101 and a movable ribbon guide 11 guiding the ink ribbon 101 toward a wind-up shaft 4A part of a ribbon wind-up pulley 4 from the printing head 2 side by functioning at the time of fitting the ribbon 101 are provided. In the wind-up shaft 4A, a ribbon connecting hole 4a through which passing of the tip part of the ink ribbon 101 is possible is provided. The movable ribbon guide 11 is constituted so that it is driven and controlled at a fixed timing by a controlled part.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer device,
In particular, it relates to a printer device having means for automatically guiding an ink ribbon for a thermal transfer printer to a print head and a ribbon winding shaft.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when setting an ink ribbon in a thermal transfer printer, the ribbon is wound up from a ribbon winding shaft through a ribbon feeding mechanism, a ribbon guide, etc. between a print head and a platen roller. A device that manually guides the ink ribbon along the ribbon traveling route to the shaft and finally fixes the tip of the ink ribbon to the slit of the ribbon winding shaft, or the ink ribbon follows a predetermined ribbon route. Various types of systems have been adopted, such as a structure in which a cassette, which is completely set including a ribbon winding shaft and a ribbon winding shaft, is completely set in a printer.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, in the case of a printer in which the ink ribbon is set manually, it takes time and labor to set the ribbon if it passes through a fine and complicated ribbon route. In addition, there is a disadvantage that an operation mistake is likely to occur, and there is a disadvantage that the guide mechanism becomes large in size in order to make the ribbon route easy to set.

In the case of a printer using a cassette,
Although it is easy to set the ink ribbon in the printer, the cassette is consumed each time, resulting in high cost and a large amount of waste.

[0005]

It is an object of the present invention to improve the disadvantages of the prior art, particularly to reduce the time and labor required for setting an ink ribbon in a printer, and to quickly and surely ink without requiring any skill. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device capable of setting a ribbon on a printer.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a platen and a print head mounted via a paper transport path, and a ribbon unwinding pulley arranged along the paper transport path and driven to rotate by a torque limiter. And a ribbon take-up pulley, a fixed ribbon guide that is provided between the ribbon take-up pulley and the ribbon take-up pulley and that guides the ink ribbon sent from the ribbon take-up pulley toward the print head, and the fixed ribbon guide. And a ribbon feed roller for urging the running force to the above-mentioned ink ribbon.

A movable ribbon guide that functions when the ink ribbon is mounted and guides the ink ribbon from the print head side toward the winding shaft portion of the ribbon winding pulley is provided between the print head and the ribbon winding pulley. Equipped. The ribbon take-up shaft portion of the ribbon take-up pulley is provided with a ribbon locking hole through which the tip of the ink ribbon can pass.

The movable ribbon guide is usually equipped with a guide portion driving means for setting the movable ribbon guide to be separated from the ribbon winding pulley portion, and further, a control portion for driving and controlling the guide portion driving means at a predetermined timing. Equipped with,
Etc. are adopted. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0009]

First, when the ink ribbon 101 is not set, the control section 20 controls the entire apparatus to set the ribbon loading mode.

Next, when setting the ink ribbon 101, the ribbon 10 pulled out from the ribbon unwinding pulley 3 is set.
By inserting 1 into the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B, the setting operation of the ink ribbon 101 is started. The ink ribbon 101 inserted into the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B passes between the fixed ribbon guides 5A and 5B, passes between the print head 2 and the platen roller 1, and then moves to the movable ribbon guide 11 and the guide auxiliary plate 12. The leading end is guided to the winding shaft 4A portion of the ribbon winding pulley 4 through the space.

At this time, the ribbon take-up pulley 4 is forcibly prevented from rotating in advance, and the ribbon engaging hole 4a provided in the take-up shaft 4A is provided in the movable ribbon guide 11 and the guide auxiliary plate 12 described above. It is set to be stopped at a position facing the ribbon route between them.

When the winding shaft 4A of the ribbon winding pulley 4 is stopped in this state, the tip of the ink ribbon 101 passes through the inside of the ribbon locking hole 4a of the winding shaft 4A and exits from the ribbon locking hole 4a. . The tip of the ink ribbon 101 comes out of the ribbon locking hole 4a.

Next, the control section 20 releases the ribbon loading mode at the time of setting the ink ribbon and starts the driving of the respective driving means in order to form the normal printing mode.

Thus, first, the movable ribbon guide 11
Is rotated by the guide portion driving means 11A in the clockwise direction and stops at a position deviated from the ribbon traveling route of the ink ribbon 101. In this case, the movable ribbon guide 1
1 functions as a part of the paper transport path 100 as shown in FIG.

Further, the ribbon winding pulley 4 is set so as to be freely rotatable.

Next, the control unit 20 issues a drive command to the ribbon feed rollers 6A, 6B, the platen 1 and the ribbon winding pulley 4 for a certain period of time to cause the ink ribbon 10 to be wound on the winding shaft 4A.
1 is wound up by a predetermined amount, thereby completing the ink ribbon setting operation.

[0017]

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

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the platen 1 and the print head 2 of the thermal transfer system, which are installed via the paper transport path 100, are arranged along the paper transport path 100, and a torque limiter is used. The ribbon take-up pulley 3 and the ribbon take-up pulley 4 that are driven to rotate, and the ink ribbon 10 that is provided between the ribbon take-up pulley 3 and the ribbon take-up pulley 4 and is sent out from the ribbon take-up pulley 3.
1. Fixed ribbon guides 5A and 5B for guiding 1 toward the print head 2 described above, and fixed ribbon guides 5A and 5B.
And a ribbon feed roller 6A, which is provided between the unwinding pulley 3 and the above-mentioned unwinding pulley 3, and applies a running force to the ink ribbon 101,
6B and.

Of these, the fixed ribbon guide 6B located on the right side of FIG. 1 has the lower end portion of the print head 2 described above.
The ink ribbon 101 is set to be easily bent toward the print head 2. The ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B are actually arranged at the entrance portions of the fixed ribbon guides 5A and 5B. Here, the ink ribbon 101
Has a somewhat rigid tip.

The print head 2 is supported by a print head support mechanism 7. The print head support mechanism 7 is driven and controlled by a control unit 20 which will be described later. When the print head 2 prints out, the print head 2 is pushed to the platen side, and when the print output is stopped, the print head 2 is moved upward in FIG. Operates to move and separate from platen.

A slide type ribbon guide 8 is provided near the platen 1 described above. In the slide type ribbon guide 8, the lower end surface in FIG. 1 forms a part of the above-described paper transport path 100, and the right side portion of the upper end surface in FIG. 1 is cut out into a substantially L shape.

The L-shaped cutout portion 8A of the slide type ribbon guide 8 is extended between the print head 2 and the platen 1 along the lower end portion of the fixed ribbon guide 6B when the printing output is stopped ( 1), and at the time of printing output, the left and right transfer means (not shown) is urged to move to the left in FIG. And the print mode is set.

Reference numeral 11 indicates a movable ribbon guide. The movable ribbon guide 11 has a function of operating when the ink ribbon 101 is mounted and guiding the ink ribbon 101 from the print head 2 side toward the winding shaft 4A portion of the ribbon winding pulley 4. This movable ribbon guide 11 is provided between the print head 2 and the ribbon winding pulley 3.

In the print mode, the guide portion driving means 11A is energized to operate in the direction of the arrow P to form a part of the above-described paper transport path. By operating in the direction of arrow Q, the guide function for the ink ribbon described above can be exhibited. Here, the guide portion driving means 11A includes the control portion 20 shown in FIG.
The timing of the operation is set by.

Further, the ribbon winding pulley 4 and the print head 2
, And a guide auxiliary plate 12 that functions when the ink ribbon is mounted and that is provided to face the movable ribbon guide 11 described above and that is normally detached from the ribbon winding pulley 4 part.
Is provided.

Similar to the movable ribbon guide 11 described above, the operation timing of the guide auxiliary plate 12 is set by the control unit 20, and in the print mode, the auxiliary plate driving means 12A is urged to move the arrow R. In the ribbon loading mode, the ribbon winding pulley 4 is separated from the ribbon winding pulley 4 and rests. On the other hand, in the ribbon loading mode, the ribbon winding pulley 4 is actuated in the opposite arrow S direction to face the movable ribbon guide 11. Reference numeral 13 denotes a ribbon detection sensor that detects the tip of the ink ribbon 101.

When the ribbon detection sensor 13 detects the arrival of the ink ribbon 101 described above, the ribbon winding pulley 4 described above is rotated at a predetermined timing.

The winding shaft 4A of the ribbon winding pulley 4 is provided with a ribbon locking hole 4a through which the tip of the ink ribbon 101 can pass.

The ribbon take-up pulley 4 functions so that it functions when the ink ribbon 101 is mounted, and the ribbon locking hole of the ribbon take-up pulley 4 can be located ahead of the guide direction of the ink ribbon 101 by the movable ribbon guide 11. A spool stopper mechanism 14, which temporarily blocks the rotation operation, is attached to the ribbon winding pulley 4. This spool stopper mechanism 14
Is provided with a stopper removal drive means 14A, and the control section 20 described above, prior to the removal operation of the movable ribbon guide 11 from the ribbon take-up pulley 4 portion, via the stopper removal drive means 14A. It has a stopper detachment control function for detaching 14 from the ribbon winding pulley 4 portion.

Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 15 indicates a ribbon take-up sensor provided on the ribbon take-up pulley 4.
The ribbon take-up sensor 15 is used for the ribbon take-up pulley 4
The rotational speed of the control unit 20 is detected and immediately detected.
Function to feed.

In the control unit 20, the ribbon winding sensor 1
Based on the information from 5, it is determined whether or not the ink ribbon 101 is normally set. Specifically, when the ink ribbon 101 is set normally, the rotation speed of the ribbon winding pulley 4 is restricted by the traveling speed of the ink ribbon 101 and becomes slower. Has become.

Further, reference numerals 16A and 16B indicate sheet conveying pulleys installed on the upstream side of the above-mentioned sheet conveying path 100, and reference numerals 17A and 17B indicate sheet conveying pulleys installed on the downstream side of the above-mentioned sheet conveying path 100. Indicates.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, when the ink ribbon 101 is not set, the control unit 20 controls the entire apparatus to set the ribbon loading mode, and the above-mentioned components are set to the states shown in FIG. ing.

Next, when setting the ink ribbon 101, the ribbon 10 pulled out from the ribbon unwinding pulley 3 is set.
By inserting 1 into the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B, the setting operation of the ink ribbon 101 is started.
The ink ribbon 101 inserted into the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B passes between the fixed ribbon guides 5A and 5B and is guided by the slide-type ribbon guide 8, further passes between the print head 2 and the platen roller 1, and then, The leading end of the ribbon take-up pulley 4 is guided to the take-up shaft 4A portion of the ribbon take-up pulley 4 by passing between the movable ribbon guide 11 and the guide auxiliary plate 12.

At this time, the rotation of the ribbon winding pulley 4 is forcibly stopped at a predetermined position by the spool stopper 14, and the slit-shaped ribbon locking hole 4a provided on the winding shaft 4A is described above. The movable ribbon guide 11 and the auxiliary guide plate 12 are set to be stopped at a position facing the ribbon route.

Since the winding shaft 4A of the ribbon winding pulley 4 is stopped in this state, the leading end of the ink ribbon 101 passes through the ribbon locking hole 4a of the winding shaft 4A and passes through the ribbon locking hole 4a. Get out. When the tip of the ink ribbon 101 comes out of the ribbon locking hole 4a, the control unit 20 shown in FIG. 3 outputs a drive stop to the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B, and the feeding of the ink ribbon 101 is stopped. The timing of this stop control is set by the control unit 20, and the ribbon detection sensor 13 detects the front end of the ink ribbon 101 and the control unit 2
After being fed to 0, the control unit 20 stops and controls the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B as described above after a lapse of a predetermined time in order to feed a predetermined amount of ink ribbon.

Next, the control unit 20 releases the ribbon loading mode when the ink ribbon is set and drives the respective driving means to form the normal printing mode, and the arrangement of each unit is shown in FIG. Set to state.

In FIG. 2, first, the slide type ribbon guide 8 is moved in parallel to the left direction, and the print head 2 is moved.
It functions as a part of the paper transport path on the upstream side of. The print head 2 moves downward to face the platen roller 1, and the movable ribbon guide 11 is rotated clockwise by being urged by the guide portion driving means 11A, and is separated from the ribbon traveling route of the ink ribbon 101. Stop at the right position. In this case, the movable ribbon guide 11 functions as a part of the paper transport path 100 as shown in FIG.

The movable ribbon guide 11 is biased by the guide portion driving means 11A to rotate in the clockwise direction, and stops at a position deviated from the ribbon traveling route of the ink ribbon 101.

Similarly to the movable ribbon guide 11, the guide auxiliary plate 12 has its operation timing set by the control unit 20. In the print mode, the auxiliary plate driving means 12A is urged to move the guide auxiliary plate 12 in the direction of arrow R. The ribbon take-up pulley 4 is controlled to be separated from the ribbon take-up pulley 4 and is set to a rest state as shown in FIG.

Further, the spool stopper mechanism 14 is rotated counterclockwise by the operation of the stopper disengaging drive means 14A to be disengaged from the ribbon take-up pulley 4, whereby the ribbon take-up pulley 4 can be freely rotated. To be done.

Next, the control unit 20 issues a drive command to the ribbon feed rollers 6A and 6B, the platen 1 and the ribbon winding pulley 4 for a certain period of time to cause the ink ribbon 10 to the winding shaft 4A.
1 is wound up by a predetermined amount, thereby completing the ink ribbon setting operation. At the same time, the control unit 20 detects the rotation speed of the winding shaft 13 output from the winding sensor 15 as described above, and the rotation speed of the winding shaft 13 decreases by a predetermined amount due to the winding of the ink ribbon 2. If so, it is determined that the setting has been normally performed, and in other cases, it is determined that the setting is abnormal.

[0044]

Since the present invention is constructed and functions as described above, according to this, when the ink ribbon is set in the printer, the apparatus is set to the ink ribbon loading mode as a whole by the action of the controller. Therefore, it is possible to feed the ink ribbon to the ribbon take-up pulley only by inserting the ink ribbon into the ribbon feed roller, and the ink ribbon is inserted into the ribbon locking hole provided in the take-up shaft of the ribbon take-up pulley. Since the tip is automatically inserted, it is possible to attach the tip of the ink ribbon to the take-up shaft of the ribbon take-up pulley without requiring any work by the operator.

Therefore, it is possible to greatly reduce the time and labor conventionally required for mounting the ink ribbon. Furthermore, since members such as cassettes are not used, unlike conventional cassette systems, cassettes, etc. Since it does not take time to dispose of waste, many movable parts are adopted and multiple functions can be combined in one member, it is possible to downsize the entire device, and since it is configured as above, It is possible to provide an excellent printer device that has never been used, in which an ink ribbon can be loaded quickly and reliably without requiring any skill.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system that controls the operation of each unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a time chart showing the timing of the operation of each part of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Platen 2 Printing Head 3 Ribbon Unwinding Pulley 4 Ribbon Winding Pulley 4A Winding Shaft 4a Ribbon Locking Holes 5A, 5B Fixed Ribbon Guide 6A, 6B Ribbon Feed Roller 11 Movable Ribbon Guide 11A Guide Part Drive Means 12 Guide Auxiliary Plate 12A Plate driving means 14 Spool stopper mechanism 14A Stopper removing means 20 Control unit 100 Paper transport path 101 Ink ribbon

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A platen and a print head mounted via a paper transport path, a ribbon take-up pulley and a ribbon take-up pulley arranged along the paper transport path and driven to rotate by a torque limiter. A fixed ribbon guide that is provided between the ribbon winding pulley and the ribbon winding pulley and that guides the ink ribbon fed from the ribbon winding pulley toward the print head, and the fixed ribbon guide and the winding pulley. And a ribbon feed roller for urging a running force to the ink ribbon, the function being provided when the ink ribbon is mounted, and the ink ribbon is wound from the print head side to the ribbon take-up pulley. A movable ribbon guide for guiding toward the take-up shaft portion is provided between the print head and the ribbon take-up pulley, and The winding shaft portion of the Bon winding pulley is provided with a ribbon locking hole through which the tip of the ink ribbon can pass, and the movable ribbon guide is usually separated from the ribbon winding pulley portion. A printer apparatus comprising: a guide unit drive unit for setting; and a control unit for controlling the drive of the guide unit drive unit at a predetermined timing. 2. A platen and a print head mounted via a paper transport path, a ribbon take-up pulley and a ribbon take-up pulley arranged along the paper transport path and driven to rotate by a torque limiter. A fixed ribbon guide that is provided between the ribbon winding pulley and the ribbon winding pulley and that guides the ink ribbon fed from the ribbon winding pulley toward the print head, and the fixed ribbon guide and the winding pulley. And a ribbon feed roller for urging a running force to the ink ribbon, the function being provided when the ink ribbon is mounted, and the ink ribbon is wound from the print head side to the ribbon take-up pulley. A movable ribbon guide for guiding toward the take-up shaft portion is provided between the print head and the ribbon take-up pulley, and A ribbon locking hole that allows the tip of the ink ribbon to pass through is provided in the winding shaft portion of the ribbon winding pulley, which functions when the ink ribbon is attached, and the ribbon locking hole of the ribbon winding pulley is movable. A spool stopper mechanism that temporarily blocks the rotational movement of the ribbon take-up pulley is installed alongside the ribbon take-up pulley so that the ribbon guide can be positioned ahead of the ink ribbon by the ribbon guide. Is equipped with a guide portion driving means for setting the movable ribbon guide to be separated from the ribbon winding pulley portion, and a control portion for driving and controlling the guide portion driving means at a predetermined timing is provided. Prior to the detaching operation of the ribbon guide from the ribbon take-up pulley portion, a stopper detaching means pre-installed in the spool stopper mechanism is used. A printer device having a stopper detachment control function for detaching the spool stopper from the ribbon winding pulley portion. 3. A guide, which is provided between the ribbon take-up pulley and the print head to function when the ink ribbon is attached, and which is provided so as to face the movable ribbon guide, and is normally detached from the ribbon take-up pulley portion. 3. The printer device according to claim 1, wherein an auxiliary plate is provided, and the operation timing of the guide auxiliary plate is set to be substantially the same as that of the movable ribbon guide. 4. A paper detection sensor is provided in a portion of the movable ribbon guide near the ribbon winding pulley, and the control is performed at a predetermined timing after inputting an ink ribbon arrival signal output from the paper detection sensor. 4. The printer device according to claim 3, wherein the stopper disengagement control function of the section is configured to operate.