JPH07125392A - Cassette for ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform a stable serial print without sticking and zigzag print, by so setting a drawing force of a ribbon when the ribbon is drawn at a predetermined speed to a specific range as to form an angle of 45 deg. to a line for connecting center of rotary shafts of two spools. CONSTITUTION:In order to draw a ribbon 4 from a cassette body 2 by rotating a spool 3b of a cassette 1 for a ribbon, a force which is larger than total sum of frictional forces of respective parts is required. Then, the case where it is actually mounted in a printer is presumed, and a drawing force when the ribbon 4 is drawn from the cassette body 1 at a speed of 100m/sec in a direction of an arrow C is set to a range of 7-14g. In this case, if the force is less than 7g, supply of the ribbon 4 becomes excessive, and a zigzag print occurs, and hence is not preferable. If the force exceeds14g. supply of the ribbon 4 becomes insufficient, and hence preferable printing is not conducted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette, and more particularly to a ribbon cassette capable of stable serial printing without sticking or meandering of the ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A serial type printer used for output printing of a computer or a word processor uses a predetermined ribbon cassette loaded with a ribbon. This ribbon cassette is mounted on the printer so that the thermal head faces the printing medium via the ribbon. Then, the heat-melt transfer type ribbon is pulled out from the ribbon cassette, and printing is performed on the printing medium by the thermal head.

[0003]

However, if the pulling force required to pull out the ribbon from the ribbon cassette is too small, there is a problem that the ribbon is excessively supplied and the printing meandering occurs. Further, if the ribbon pulling force is too large, there is a problem in that ribbon supply becomes insufficient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is for a ribbon in which the pulling force of the ribbon is appropriate and stable serial printing is possible without sticking between the ribbon and the thermal head or meandering of printing. The purpose is to provide a cassette.

[0005]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention provides a cassette body, two spools rotatably mounted in the cassette body, and one of the spools. In a ribbon cassette provided with a ribbon wound so as to be wound on another spool through a predetermined path, an angle of 45 ° with respect to a line connecting the rotation axes of the two spools. As described above, the pull-out force when pulling out the ribbon from the cassette body at a speed of 100 mm / sec is in the range of 7 to 14 g.

[0006]

The ribbon loaded in the ribbon cassette is pulled out from the cassette body at a speed of 100 mm / sec so as to form an angle of 45 ° with respect to the line connecting the rotating shafts of the two spools. Is required to prevent excessive supply or insufficient supply of ribbon.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of the ribbon cassette of the present invention. In FIG. 1, a ribbon cassette 1
Is wound around a cassette body 2, two spools 3a and 3b rotatably mounted in the cassette body 2, and one of the spools 3a and 3b (3a in the illustrated example), The other spool (3
and b) loaded so as to be wound on b). The ribbon 4 is transported in the cassette body 2 in the direction of arrow A, first pulled out from the opening 2a of the cassette body 2 via the transport roller 5a, and returned into the cassette body 2 from the opening 2b. Transport rollers 5b, 5c
Through the opening 2c of the cassette main body 2 to the outside, is returned to the inside of the cassette main body 2 from the opening 2d, and is wound around the spool 3b. During this transport route,
A foreign matter removing unit 6 for removing foreign matter adhering to the ribbon, and a biasing member 7 for applying a constant tension to the ribbon 4 are provided. The foreign matter removing unit 6 is composed of a spring member 6a and a cleaning member 6b attached to the tip of the spring member 6a. The cleaning member 6b causes the spring member 6a to convey the ribbon 4 at a constant pressure to the conveying roller 5a. Are pressed against. Further, the biasing member 7 is rotatably mounted inside the cassette body 2 and is biased in the direction of arrow B, the ribbon 4 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A, and the biasing member 7 is opposite to the direction of arrow B. When the ribbon 4 is rotated in the direction of, a constant tension is applied to the ribbon 4.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a case where the above ribbon cassette 1 is mounted in the printer, and the cassette body 2
The ribbon 4 pulled out from the opening 2c is supplied between the thermal head 11 and the printing object 12.

In order to pull out the ribbon 4 from the opening 2c of the cassette main body 2 by rotating the spool 3b in the ribbon cassette 1 as described above, the rotational frictional force between the cassette main body 2 and the spool 3a, the transfer rollers of each transport roller, and the like. A rotational frictional force, a frictional force between the cleaning member 6b of the foreign matter removing unit 6 and the ribbon 4, a tension applied to the ribbon 4 by the urging member 7, and an adhesive force between the ribbons 4 wound around the spool 3a, Other ribbon 4 and cassette body 2
A force larger than the total sum of the frictional force with the opening and the like is required. With the ribbon cassette of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The pull-out force when pulling out the ribbon 4 from the cassette body 1 at a speed of 100 mm / sec (in the direction of arrow C) at an angle of 45 ° with respect to the line L connecting the rotating shafts of the three spools 3a and 3b is 7 It is characterized in that the range is up to 14 g. If the pulling-out force is less than 7 g, the supply of the ribbon 4 becomes excessive and the ribbon 4 wobbles to cause printing wobbling, which is not preferable. On the other hand, when the pulling force exceeds 14 g, the ribbon 4 is insufficiently supplied and good printing cannot be performed.

To measure the pull-out force, the ribbon 4 is fixed to a dial tension gauge manufactured by Teclock Co., Ltd., and the ribbon 4 is moved from the cassette body 2 in the direction of arrow C at a speed of 100 mm / sec as shown in FIG. It can be done by reading the gauge value when pulled out.

The ribbon used in the ribbon cassette of the present invention is not particularly problematic as long as it is within the range of the above-mentioned drawing force, and a ribbon having a drawing force of more than 14 g is in a rolled state. Blocking is likely to occur and sticking with the thermal head is likely to occur, which is not preferable.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing an example of a ribbon usable in the present invention. In FIG. 4, the ribbon 4 is formed on a base material 21, a heat-meltable ink layer 23 laminated on one surface of the base material 21 via a release layer 22, and the heat-meltable ink layer 23. It has a configuration including a surface layer 24 and a back surface layer 25 formed on the other surface of the base material 21.

As the base material 21, a base material film used for a conventional ribbon can be used and is not particularly limited. Specific examples of the base material 21 include polyester, polypropylene, cellophane, polycarbonate, cellulose acetate, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride,
Polystyrene, nylon, polyimide, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl alcohol, fluororesin, chlorinated rubber,
Plastic film such as ionomer, glassine paper,
Examples thereof include paper such as condenser paper and paraffin paper, and non-woven fabric. Moreover, these composites can also be used as a base film.

The thickness of such a base material 21 can be appropriately determined so as to obtain required strength and thermal conductivity, and is, for example, about 1 to 100 μm.

The peeling layer 22 is a layer for facilitating transfer of the heat-meltable ink layer in the area heated by the thermal head during printing to the printing medium. This release layer 22 is
It is formed from a release agent such as wax, silicone wax, silicone resin, fluororesin, acrylic resin or the like. The forming method is an ink prepared by dissolving or dispersing in a suitable solvent a resin obtained by adding necessary additives to the above resin,
It is formed by coating and drying it on the base material 21 by a known means. The thickness of the peeling layer 22 is preferably about 0.5 to 5 μm.

The heat-meltable ink layer 23 comprises a pigment and a binder, and may further contain various additives as required. Of course, the pigment is preferably carbon black for black monochromatic printing, and chromatic color pigments such as yellow, magenta, and cyan are used for multicolor printing. In the case of multicolor printing, for example, a yellow ink layer, a magenta ink layer, and a cyan ink layer can be formed in a frame sequential manner. The amount of these pigments used is about 5 in the ink layer.
A proportion of 70% by weight is preferable.

As the binder, a mixture of wax as a main component and other wax and a drying oil, a resin, a mineral oil, a derivative of cellulose and a rubber, etc. is used.

Typical examples of waxes include microcrystalline wax, carnauba wax and paraffin wax. In addition, various types of Fischer-Tropsch wax, various low molecular weight polyethylene, wood wax, beeswax, whale wax, ivowa wax, wool wax, shellac wax, candelilla wax, petrolactam, polyester wax, partially modified wax, fatty acid ester, fatty acid amide, etc. Wax is used. Further, the wax may be mixed with a thermoplastic resin having a relatively low melting point to improve the adhesiveness of the ink to the transferred material. In this case, the thermoplastic resin is 5 to 100 parts by weight of the wax.
It is preferably used in a proportion of 300 parts by weight.

As a method of forming the heat-meltable ink layer 23 on the release layer 22 provided on the substrate 21, in addition to hot melt coating, hot lacquer coating, gravure coating,
Gravure reverse coating, roll coating, emulsion coating, and other known means may be used. The thickness of the heat-meltable ink layer 23 formed as described above is 0.5.
It is preferably about 20 μm.

The surface layer 24 is composed of an adhesive resin and a releasable resin, enables good transfer to a printing medium having relatively coarse mesh, and the ribbons 4 are superposed on each other in a roll shape. This is a layer for preventing blocking from occurring in the closed state.

A thermoplastic resin having a relatively low melting point can be used as the adhesive resin forming the surface layer. Specifically, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA), ethylene-acrylic acid ester copolymer (EEA), polybutene, petroleum resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer,
Examples thereof include polyvinyl acetate, and a resin having a higher melt viscosity than the binder used for forming the heat-meltable ink layer 23 is preferable.

Further, as the mold-releasing resin forming the surface layer, a silicone resin can be used. Examples of the silicone resin include silicone-modified acrylic resin, silicon-modified urethane resin, silicon-modified epoxy resin, and silicon-modified urea resin.

More specifically, examples of the silicone-modified acrylic resin include a copolymer of polysiloxane and an acrylic compound represented by the following structural formula (Formula 1).

[0025]

[Chemical 1] R ₁ : Indicates either a dimethyl silicone chain or an acrylic chain.

R ₂ is any one of H, CH ₃ and C ₂ H ₅ .

R ₃ : H, COOH, COOCH ₃ , CO
Indicates either OC ₂ H ₅ .

Molecular weight: about 100,000 Silicon resin content: 30-40 wt% Further, examples of the silicone-modified urethane resin include copolymers of polyurethane polyol and organic polyisocyanate.

The ratio of the adhesive resin and the releasable resin in the surface layer 24 is as follows: adhesive resin: releasable resin = 1 based on the solid content ratio.
The range of 0: 0.1 to 10: 5 is preferable. If the amount of the adhesive resin is more than this range, there is a risk of blocking of the ribbon 4, and if the amount of the releasable resin is more than the above range, the printability on the printing medium is deteriorated, which is not preferable. Further, other necessary additives such as an antistatic agent may be added to the surface layer 24. Such surface layer 24
The thickness is preferably about 0.1 to 5 μm.

When the ribbon 4 is provided with the surface layer having the above-mentioned structure, the adhesive resin, which is a constituent of the ribbon 4, makes it possible to perform good printing on the object to be printed when printing with the thermal head. In a state where the ribbons are overlapped with each other, the release resin that constitutes the surface layer effectively prevents blocking between the surface layer and the ribbon facing the surface layer.

The back layer 25 is formed for the purpose of improving the slipperiness of the thermal head and preventing sticking. The back layer 25 is formed of a binder resin and other necessary additives. Examples of the binder resin include ethyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose resins such as nitrified cotton, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate, polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetal, polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and acrylic resin. , Vinyl resins such as polyacrylamide and acrylonitrile-styrene copolymer, polyester resins, polyurethane resins, silicone-modified or fluorine-modified urethane, and the like. Among these, it is preferable to use a resin having some reactive groups, for example, a hydroxyl group, and use a polyisocyanate or the like as a crosslinking agent to form a crosslinked resin layer.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing another example of the ribbon usable in the present invention. In FIG. 5, the ribbon 4 is formed on the base material 31, the heat-meltable ink layer 33 laminated on one surface of the base material 31 via the release layer 32, and the other surface of the base material 31. And a back layer 34.

The base material 31, the release layer 32, and the heat-meltable ink layer 33 can be the same as the base material 21, the release layer 22, and the heat-meltable ink layer 23 described above, and therefore the description thereof is omitted here. To do.

The back layer 34 is made of acrylic resin and silicone modified acrylic resin. The acrylic resin constituting the back layer 34 has a molecular weight of 30,000 to 600,000, preferably 100,000 to
Those in the range of 550,000 can be used. Further, examples of the silicone-modified acrylic resin include a copolymer of polysiloxane and an acrylic compound as shown in the above structural formula (Formula 1).

The ratio of the acrylic resin and the silicone modified acrylic resin in the back layer 34 is such that the solid content ratio of acrylic resin: silicon modified acrylic resin = 10: 1 to 10:10.
Is preferred. Further, it is preferable to form a crosslinked resin layer by using polyisocyanate or the like as a crosslinking agent. When the acrylic resin is more than the above range, the back surface layer 34
Of the thermal head and the back layer 34 become insufficient.
There is a risk of sticking with the ribbon and blocking of the ribbon 4 in the rolled state, which is not preferable.
When the silicone-modified acrylic resin is more than the above range, the film strength of the back surface layer 34 becomes insufficient, and rubbing with the thermal head causes dust, and the dust adheres to the thermal head to cause printing failure. There is a risk.
The thickness of the back surface layer 34 is preferably about 0.1 to 0.5 μm.

The back surface layer 34 has both the film-forming property of the acrylic resin and the sliding property of the silicon-modified acrylic resin. Therefore, the ribbon 4 provided with such a back surface layer 34 has a high thermal head slidability and very little dust residue on the thermal head, so that high quality printing can be stably performed. Further, the occurrence of blocking when the ribbon 4 is rolled is extremely small.

The back layer 34 may be added with other necessary additives such as an antistatic agent.

In the ribbon cassette of the present invention, the ribbon 4 is placed at 100 mm / sec from the cassette body 1 so as to form an angle of 45 ° with respect to the line L connecting the rotating shafts of the two spools 3a and 3b as described above. It is characterized in that the pulling force when pulling out at the speed of is in the range of 7 to 14 g. Therefore, the structure of the cassette is particularly preferable if the pulling force is within the above range due to the relationship with the ribbon to be used. There is no limit.

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to specific examples. (Example) As a ribbon-1 substrate, a paraffin wax (WE65 manufactured by Konishi Co., Ltd.) was coated on a polyethylene terephthalate film (Lumilar manufactured by Toray Co., Ltd.) having a thickness of 2.5 μm by a gravure coating method to give a coating amount of 1.0 g A coating layer was formed so that the peeling layer had a coating thickness of / m ² .

Next, a heat-meltable ink having the following composition was applied onto the release layer by a gravure coating method to give a coating amount of 1.0 g / m 2.
^It was applied so as to have a thickness of 2 to form a heat-meltable ink layer.

Composition of heat-fusible ink : Carbon black (MHI Black 201 manufactured by Mikuni Dye Co., Ltd.) 45.9 parts by weight Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (Eva # 150 manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical Co., Ltd.) 54.4 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Then, the surface layer ink A having the following composition is applied on the heat-meltable ink layer formed as described above by the gravure coating method to give a coating amount of 0.1 g / m ^2. And then dried to form a surface layer.

Composition of Ink A for Surface Layer -Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive resin) (Eva # 150 manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical Co., Ltd.) 41 parts by weight-Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive) Resin) (EVA KA-10 manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) 41 parts by weight Silicon-modified acrylic resin # 400 (releasing resin) 18 parts by weight (solid content ratio) In addition, in the above ink for the surface layer The physical properties of the two ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers used are shown in Table 1 below.

[0043]

[Table 1] The silicone-modified acrylic resin used in the above-mentioned surface layer ink was represented by the following formula (Formula 2).

[0044]

[Chemical 2] R ₁ : Indicates either a dimethyl silicone chain or an acrylic chain.

R ₂ : H, COOH, COOCH ₃ , CO
Indicates either OC ₂ H ₅ .

Molecular weight: about 100,000 Silicon resin content: 30 wt% Glass transition temperature of acrylic part: 105 to 120 ° C. Further, the back surface of the base material is coated with the back layer ink A having the following composition by a gravure coating method. Ribbon-1 is formed by coating and drying so that the amount becomes 0.15 g / m ² to form a back layer.
Got

Composition of ink A for back layer : Acrylic resin (BR108 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., molecular weight 500,000) 80 parts by weight Silicon modified acrylic resin # 400 20 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-2 surface Ribbon-2 in the same manner as Ribbon-1 except that the surface layer ink B having the following composition was used instead of the layer ink A.
Got

Composition of ink B for surface layer -Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive resin) (EVA KA-10 manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) ... 82 parts by weight-Silicon modified acrylic resin # 400 (releasing property) Resin) 18 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-3 A ribbon-3 was obtained in the same manner as in Sample 1 except that the surface layer ink C having the following composition was used in place of the surface layer ink A.

Composition of ink C for surface layer -Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive resin) (Eva # 150 manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical Co., Ltd.) ... 45 parts by weight-Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive) Resin) (EVA KA-10 manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) 45 parts by weight Silicon-modified acrylic resin # 400 (releasing resin) 10 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-4 On the other hand, ink for surface layer Ribbon-4 was obtained in the same manner as Ribbon-1, except that the surface layer ink D having the following composition containing no releasable resin was used in place of A.

Composition of Ink D for Surface Layer -Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive resin) (Eva # 150 manufactured by Mitsui DuPont Polychemical Co., Ltd.) 50 parts by weight-Ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (adhesive) Resin) (EVA KA-10 manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) 50 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-5 After forming a release layer and a heat-meltable ink layer on a substrate in the same manner as Ribbon-1 The backside ink A is applied to the backside of the substrate by a gravure coating method so that the coating amount is 0.15 g / m ²
Coated and dried to form the back layer and ribbon
Got 5. Ribbon-6 Ribbon-6 was prepared in the same manner as Ribbon-5, except that the back layer ink B having the following composition was used in place of the back layer ink A.
Got

Composition of Ink B for Back Layer Acrylic resin (BR100 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., molecular weight 120,000) 80 parts by weight Silicon modified acrylic resin # 400 20 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-7 back surface Ribbon-7 in the same manner as Ribbon-5 except that the ink C for the back layer having the following composition was used in place of the ink A for the layer.
Got

Composition of ink C for back layer : Acrylic resin (BR108 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., molecular weight 550,000) 70 parts by weight Silicon modified acrylic resin # 400 30 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-8 One side Ribbon-8 was obtained in the same manner as Ribbon-5, except that the ink D for the back surface layer having the following composition was used in place of the ink A for the back surface layer.

Composition of Ink D for Back Layer Acrylic resin (BR108 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., molecular weight 550,000) ... 100 parts by weight (solid content ratio) Ribbon-9 Instead of Ink A for back layer, the back face having the following composition Ribbon-9 in the same manner as Ribbon-5 except that the layer ink E was used.
Got

Composition of Ink E for Back Layer , Silicon Modified Acrylic Resin # 400 ... 100 parts by Weight (Solid Content Ratio) Each of the ribbon-1 to ribbon-9 prepared as described above.
(Width 6.35 mm, length 240 m) was used to prepare a ribbon cassette (Sample 1-9) as shown in FIG. Then, for each ribbon cassette, as shown in FIG. 3, the ribbon is formed from the cassette body at a speed of 100 mm / sec so as to form an angle of 45 ° with respect to the line L connecting the rotation axes of the two spools (arrows). It was pulled out in the C direction) and the pulling force was measured with a dial tension gauge manufactured by Teclock Co., Ltd. The results are shown in Table 2 below.

Next, using the above ribbon cassettes, printing was carried out under the following printing conditions, the printing quality was evaluated, and the results are shown in Table 2 below.

Printing conditions / printing device: word processor WD manufactured by Sharp Corporation
-A761 ・ Printing energy: 0.2 mJ / dot (constant) ・ Transfer material: Plain paper (Beck smoothness 35 seconds)

[0057]

[Table 2] As shown in Table 2, the pulling force of the ribbon is 7 to 14
Ribbon cassettes (samples 1 to 3,
5-7), the printing quality was good, but Samples 4 and 8 had a large ribbon pulling force and sticking occurred. On the other hand, when a ribbon cassette (sample 9) loaded with a ribbon-9 having a too small pulling force is used,
The print meandering occurred.

[0058]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, 2
Since the force to pull out the ribbon from the cassette body at a speed of 100 mm / sec is 7 to 14 g so as to form an angle of 45 ° with respect to the line connecting the rotating shafts of the two spools, the ribbon pulling force is appropriate. Stable serial printing is possible without sticking with the thermal head and meandering of printing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of a ribbon cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on a printer.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining measurement of ribbon pulling force of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an example of a ribbon that can be used in the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing another example of a ribbon that can be used in the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ribbon cassette 2 ... Cassette body 3a, 3b ... Spool 4 ... Ribbon 5a, 5b, 5c ... Conveying roller 6 ... Foreign matter removing section 7 ... Energizing member 11 ... Thermal head 12 ... Printed material 21, 31 ... Substrate 22, 32 ... Release layer 23, 33 ... Heat-meltable ink layer 24 ... Surface layer 25, 34 ... Back surface layer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A cassette main body, two spools rotatably mounted in the cassette main body, and one spool of the spools so that the cassette main body is wound around another spool via a predetermined path. A ribbon cassette having a ribbon loaded in the interior of the ribbon, wherein the ribbon cassette is 45 ° with respect to the line connecting the rotating shafts of the two spools.
The ribbon from the cassette body at an angle of 10
The pulling force when pulling out at a speed of 0 mm / sec is 7-1.
A ribbon cassette characterized by being in a range of 4 g. 2. The ribbon is provided with a heat-meltable ink layer and a surface layer laminated in this order on one surface of a base material, and the surface layer is formed of an adhesive resin and a release resin. The ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The ribbon comprises a heat-fusible ink layer on one surface of a substrate, and a back layer made of an acrylic resin and a silicone resin modified acrylic resin on the other surface of the substrate. The ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the ribbon cassette is used.