JPH072516Y2 - Tape cartridge - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tape cartridge which can be attached to and detached from a tape printer for printing on a tape-shaped medium,
In particular, the present invention relates to a tape cartridge including, in its housing, a print-receiving tape on which printing is performed and an adhesive tape having an adhesive surface to be attached to the print-receiving tape after printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of tape cartridge, when the adhesive tape is sent out, the adhesive surface is exposed only by sending out the non-adhesive surface of the adhesive tape, that is, the back surface along a guide member. The adhesive tape is sent out along a predetermined traveling route.

[0003]

However, even such an adhesive tape feeding mechanism is still insufficient, and the following problems have been pointed out.

That is, when the adhesive tape is loosened and its back surface is separated from the guide member, the adhesive surface may adhere to a member near the traveling route. Once the adhesive tape has adhered in this way, not only is it impossible to send it out, but it is necessary to remove the adhesive tape and then restore it so that it can be resumed along the travel route. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object thereof is to send an adhesive tape having an adhesive surface exposed along a predetermined traveling route while avoiding adhesion to a member near the traveling route. To provide a tape cartridge capable of

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the means adopted by the present invention is a tape cartridge which can be attached to and detached from a tape printer which prints on a tape-shaped medium, the tape cartridge being housed in a housing of the tape cartridge. In a tape cartridge comprising a print-receiving tape on which printing is performed by a printing device and an adhesive tape having an adhesive surface attached to the print-receiving tape after printing, a transport path for the print-receiving tape and the adhesive tape A separating wall for partitioning the conveying path is provided, and a plurality of ridges are provided at a position of the separating wall facing the conveying path in a portion where the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape is exposed. The gist is a tape cartridge characterized by.

[0007]

In the tape cartridge of the present invention having the above structure, the separating wall is provided with a plurality of ridges, so that even if the adhesive tape deviates from the predetermined traveling path to the adhesive surface side and adheres to the separating wall. Since the adhesive portion is in line contact, the adhesive force is extremely weak. Therefore, it does not hinder the delivery of the adhesive tape.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a tape cartridge for supplying a tape to a tape printer will be described with reference to the drawings. In this tape printer, after performing reverse printing of the inside-out pattern on the transparent printing tape with the thermal head, the printing surface of this printing tape and both sides with release paper with the release paper adhered on only one side One of the pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes (hereinafter, simply referred to as a double-sided tape) is pressure-bonded with each other to form a multilayer label tape.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the tape cartridge 1 before the lid is attached in the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view in which the lid is omitted, and FIG. 3 is a predetermined mounting position of the tape printer 100. It is a rear view which fractures | ruptures and shows the state which mounted the tape cartridge 1. FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a tape cartridge 1 has a double-sided tape 3 wound around a double-sided tape spool 3a with the adhesive surface inside and the release paper surface with the release paper attached outside. Printing tape 5 wound around the tape winding spool 5a, and a print heat transfer ink ribbon that is wound around the ribbon supply spool 7a with the ink surface facing inward and wound up on the ribbon take-up spool 7b with a collar every time printing is performed. Each tape (hereinafter, simply referred to as an ink ribbon) 7 and each member described later are housed and arranged in a predetermined housing position of the cartridge body 9, and the cartridge body 9 is covered with a lid 10.
And is constructed as follows.

The double-sided tape 3 is a hollow boss 11 projecting from the center of the left side of the bottom surface of the cartridge body 9 (see FIG. 2).
It is housed in a state in which it is wound on a double-sided tape spool 3a whose both ends are axially supported by the boss 12 of the lid 10 and is sent out of the tape cartridge 1 through the following route. That is, it passes through the delivery opening portion 13 formed by opening the upper side surface of the cartridge body 9, and further passes through the tape hole 17 formed by the tape retainer 15 installed on the upper side surface on the left side of the delivery opening portion 13. It reaches the outside of the tape cartridge 1. The double-sided tape 3 is made up of the cartridge body 9
The direction is changed before the tape hole 17 while the release paper surface is placed along the outer peripheral surface of the tape feed roller 23 with a collar, both ends of which are supported by the support hole 19 on the bottom surface and the support hole 21 of the lid 10. . At the position where it contacts the double-sided tape 3 that is going to run away from the outer peripheral surface of the tape feed roller 23, a rotatable guide roller 25 that contacts the adhesive surface of the double-sided tape 3 over its width is provided from the bottom surface of the cassette body 9. It is wound around the protruding guide pin 27. The guide roller 25 is an integrally molded product made of silicone rubber.

At a position facing the outer peripheral surface of the tape feed roller 23, a curved separating curved wall 29 is provided upright from the bottom surface of the cartridge body 9 concentrically with the support 19. On the inner peripheral surface of the separation curved wall 29, a plurality of ridges having sharp tips are formed along the standing direction of the separation curved wall 29. Further, a tape upper curved wall 31 which is curved with a curvature larger than the maximum winding diameter of the double-sided tape 3 and whose height from the bottom surface becomes lower toward the tip is continuous from the lower end surface of the separation curved wall 29 concentrically with the boss 11. It is set up.

The printing tape 5 is stored in a state in which it is wound around a printing tape spool 5a which is rotatably supported by a hollow boss 33 projecting to the right of the boss 11 and a boss 34 of the lid 10. It is separated from the double-sided tape 3 by an arcuate printing tape storage wall 35 formed on the periphery. The printing tape 5 is provided with a guide shaft 39, an upper slit 41, along the outer peripheral surface of a non-ink-adhesive resin film separator 37 that is fixed to the U-shaped groove at the end of the printing tape storage wall 35. It is sent out of the tape cartridge 1 through the tape hole 17 via the opening of the print head insertion hole 43. Then, as will be described later, the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 3 are adhered to each other via their adhesive surfaces,
It becomes the label tape 4 and reaches the outside. The print head insertion hole 43 is formed by a guide piece 43a and a boss 41a projecting from the boss 41a below the upper slit 41 toward the tape hole 17.
It is composed of an L-shaped peripheral wall 43b protruding from a.

On the other hand, the ink ribbon 7 is accommodated via the following path. That is, the boss 4 on the right side of the peripheral wall 43b
5 and the boss 47 of the lid 10 from the ribbon supply spool 7a, along the inner peripheral surface of the separator 37, through the opening of the print head insertion hole 43, and through the tip of the peripheral wall 43b. Change the direction of travel by about 180 °. Next, the ribbon take-up spool 7 with a flange passes between the lower surface of the peripheral wall 43b and the upper surface of the upper curved wall 31 of the tape and is pivotally supported by the supporting hole 49 below the peripheral wall 43b and the supporting hole 51 of the lid 10.
to b.

On the guide shaft 39, the ink ribbon 7, the separator 37, and the printing tape 5 are pressed in this order by a pressing spring 53 attached to the inner wall surface of the cartridge body 9. As a result, back tension independent of each other is applied to the ink ribbon 7 and the printing tape 5.

The ribbon take-up spool 7b also has a peripheral wall 43.
A pressing spring 55 provided on the lower surface of b acts to prevent the ink ribbon 7 from being loosened before being attached to the tape printer 100 in cooperation with the pressing spring 53.

Since the lid body 10 is provided with a hole provided on the side surface of the cartridge body 9 and a projection and a convex portion which fit into the concave portion, the cartridge body 9 and the lid body 10 are reliably positioned and fixed. To be done.

Next, the mounting of the tape cartridge 1 having the above structure in the tape printer 100 and its operation will be described (see FIG. 3).

To mount the tape on the tape printer 100, first, the tape feed roller drive shaft 100 on the tape printer 100 side.
a and the ribbon take-up spool drive shaft 100b are respectively fitted to the tape feed roller 23 or the ribbon take-up spool 7b, and at the same time, the positioning protrusion 10 on the tape printer 100 side.
0c and 100d are the long holes 57 on the side of the tape cartridge 1,
This is done by fitting it in 59 and inserting the cartridge receiving piece 100e on the tape printer 100 side into the insertion hole 63 on the tape cartridge 1 side. At the same time, the fixed print head 102 fixed at a predetermined position of the tape printer 100 enters the print head insertion hole 43 from the back side of the tape cartridge 1 side. Since the ink ribbon 7 is supported on the printing tape 5 side by the leaf spring 63 provided on the upper surface of the peripheral wall 43b and pressed against the upper surface as the fixed print head 102 enters, the fixed print head 102 is When entering, the ink ribbon 7 does not get caught on the tip of the fixed print head 102.

Next, when the operator swings the roller holder 104 around the swing shaft 100f with a lever (not shown) on the tape printer 100 side, the movable platen roller 106 is moved.
The drive roller 108 partially enters the opening of the print head insertion hole 43 of the tape cartridge 1 and the delivery opening 13.

The movable platen roller 106 that has entered the tape cartridge 1 polymerizes the printing tape 5 and the ink ribbon 7 exposed at the opening of the print head insertion hole 43, and further, these are fixed to the fixed print head 102. It will be held between the end face where the heating element is present.

On the downstream side, the drive roller 108 is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the tape feed roller 23 on the tape cartridge 1 side.

When the operator operates the tape printer 100 side to perform printing, a drive mechanism (not shown) on the tape printer 100 side operates to drive the drive shafts 100a, 10a.
0b starts rotating. At the same time, the fixed print head 1
The heating element 02 starts to generate heat according to the reverse printing pattern printed by the operation of the print driving circuit (not shown),
Printing is performed on the back surface of the printing tape 5.

When the drive shaft 100a starts to rotate, the tape feeding roller 23 cooperates with the drive roller 108 to bond the printing surface of the printing tape 5 and the adhesive surface of the double-sided tape 3 to each other, and The label tape 4 as a laminate is discharged to the outside from the tape discharge hole 100g.
Therefore, simultaneously with this discharging operation, the printing tape 5 is pulled out from the spool 5a, and the double-sided tape 3 is pulled out from the spool 3a.

As described above, in the tape cartridge 1, the rotatable guide roller 25 is brought into contact with the adhesive surface of the double-sided tape 3 over the width thereof under the connecting portion of the separating curved wall 29 and the tape upper curved wall 31. It is provided. Therefore, while the double-sided tape 3 is under tension, as shown in FIG. 4A, the double-sided tape 3 and the guide roller 25 are in contact with each other at substantially one point indicated by a. However, this guide roller 25
Is a roller made of silicone rubber having a high releasability with respect to the adhesive surface, and has a low adhesive force with the double-sided tape 3 and rotates as the double-sided tape 3 runs. That is, double-sided tape 3
The delivery of is continued satisfactorily. On the other hand, when the double-sided tape 3 relaxes and deviates from the predetermined path toward the adhesive surface side, as shown in FIG.
And will contact over the range from b to c.

However, since the adhesive force with the double-sided tape 3 is extremely weak as described above, the guide roller 25 is easily peeled off from the double-sided tape 3 and rotates as the double-sided tape 3 starts running. That is, the double-sided tape 3 that has deviated from the predetermined path is corrected and returned to the original path. Therefore, since the double-sided tape 3 always travels on the predetermined route,
It is possible to prevent the double-sided tape 3 from being adhesively fixed to the upper curved wall 31 of the tape, the ink ribbon 7 or the inner surface of the tape cartridge 1.

Next, the label tape 4 formed of the printing tape 5 and the double-sided tape 3 and discharged from the tape discharge hole 100g has a structure as shown in FIG. 5, for example. The back surface of the transparent printing tape 5 is the printing surface, the adhesive surface 3a of the double-sided tape 3 adheres to this back surface, and the bottom layer is the release paper 3b of the double-sided tape 3. The label tape 4 is formed by rotating a cutting lever 110 provided in the tape printer 100 in a direction of an arrow and a rotary cutter 112.
Is rotated in the direction of the arrow, the blade 112a is pressed against the outer surface of the tape cartridge 1 as shown by the broken line, and thus is cut off. Then, when the cutting lever 110 is released, the blade 112a rises and returns to the original position.

The label tape 4 thus manufactured is
If the user peels off the release paper 3b and attaches it to the desired location,
Since the reverse printed characters are visually recognized through the printing tape 5, they are normal characters, and since the printing is on the back surface rather than the front surface, highly durable label display is possible.

In addition, since a plurality of sharp ridges having sharp tips are formed on the inner surface of the separating curved wall 29, it is possible to prevent the double-sided tape 3 from loosening and sticking and fixing to the inner surface of the separating curved wall 29. You can

Further, since the tape upper curved wall 31 is formed such that the height from the bottom surface becomes lower as it goes to the tip, that is, as it approaches the ribbon take-up spool 7b, the ribbon take-up spool 7b and the tape upper curved wall 31 are formed. The working space between the tip is widened. Therefore, the work of arranging the easily bendable ink ribbon 7 in a narrow space between the lower surface of the peripheral wall 43b and the upper surface of the tape upper curved wall 31 becomes easy. Furthermore,
The tape upper curved wall 31 and the separated curved wall 29 can prevent the ink particles falling from the ink ribbon 7 from adhering to the adhesive surface of the double-sided tape 3. Moreover, the tape upper curved wall 31 and the separated curved wall 29 can prevent the flexible ink ribbon 7 from adhering to the double-sided tape 3 and being pulled out to destroy the function of the tape cartridge.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and it is needless to say that the present invention can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0032]

As described above in detail with reference to the embodiments, according to the tape cartridge of the present invention, the adhesive tape that is about to run while deviating from the predetermined running path to the adhesive surface side, that is, the guide wall side, It is possible to return to a predetermined traveling route without fixing to the guide wall. Therefore, it is possible to send the adhesive tape along the predetermined traveling route in a state where the adhesive surface is exposed while avoiding sticking of the adhesive tape to the member provided near the traveling route.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tape cartridge 1 before a lid is attached in the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view in which a lid is omitted.

3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a state in which the tape cartridge 1 is mounted in a predetermined storage place of the tape printer 100. FIG.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the effect of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a structural diagram of a label tape that can be formed by the tape cartridge of this embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Tape Cartridge 3 Double-sided Adhesive Tape 4 Label Tape 5 Printing Tape 7 Ink Ribbon 15 Tape Presser 17 Tape Hole 23 Tape Feed Roller 25 Guide Roller 29 Separate Curved Wall 31 Tape Upper Curved Wall 43 Print Head Insertion Hole 53 Presser Spring 100 Tape Printer

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A tape cartridge detachably mountable to a tape printer for printing on a tape-shaped medium, wherein a housing is provided with a tape to be printed by the tape printer, and the printed tape after printing. A tape cartridge provided with an adhesive tape having an adhesive surface attached to a tape, comprising a separation wall for partitioning the transport path of the print-receiving tape and the transport path of the adhesive tape, and A tape cartridge, wherein a plurality of ridges are provided at a position facing the transport path in a portion where the adhesive surface of the adhesive tape is exposed.