JPH0727165Y2 - Ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an ink ribbon cassette that stores an endless ink ribbon so that it can be drawn and circulated.

This type of ink ribbon cassette is provided with a pair of feed rollers for feeding the ink ribbon into the cassette case body and is used by being installed at a predetermined position of the printer device. The ink ribbon fed into the cassette case body by the feed roller is continuously folded into the cassette case body and then fed out of the cassette case body. The fed ink ribbon passes through a position facing the platen and is fed again into the cassette case body by the feed roller.

In the ink ribbon cassette having such a structure and operation, it is necessary to prevent the ink ribbon from being caught by the feed roller when it is fed by the feed roller. This is because a wide ribbon which is easily wrinkled is used. If you do, it will be an important issue.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Main parts of various conventional ink ribbon cassettes of this type are shown in FIGS. In Figure 5, the ribbon width is 13
This is the case when it is as narrow as about mm. 5A is a front view and FIG. 5B is a side view. In the figure, 1 is a cassette case main body, 2 and 2 are drive rollers, 3 and 3 are driven rollers, and 4 are.
5 is a separator.

The drive roller 2 is rotatably supported by the cassette case body 1 and is driven by a drive system (not shown) to rotate clockwise in FIG. 5 (A). The driven roller 3 is rotatably supported by the holder 6, and the holder 6 is supported by the cassette case body 1 and is movable in the vertical direction of FIG. 5 (A). The holder 6 is biased upward in FIG. 5 (A) by the spring 7, whereby the driven roller 3 is pressed against the drive roller 2 and driven.

The base of the separator 4 is attached to the cassette case body 1, and the tip of the separator 4 is located between the drive rollers 2 and 2. The separator 5 has a base integrally connected to the holder 6, and a tip end located between the driven rollers 3 and 3. The ink ribbon 8 fed into the cassette case body 1 is fed with a transfer force by the drive roller 2 and passes between the drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3 and is fed into the folding portion 9 of the cassette case body 1. Numerals 4 and 5 prevent the ribbon from being wound when the ribbon is fed. The ink ribbon is omitted in FIG. 5 (B).

When the width of the ink ribbon is narrow, a pair of separators as shown in FIG. 5 is sufficient, but when the width of the ribbon is wide, a plurality of pairs of separators are required. FIG. 6 shows the case where the ribbon width is as wide as 74 mm, for example.
Is a front view, and FIG. 6B is a side view. In the figure, 11 is a cassette case main body, 12, 12, 13, 13, 13 are drive rollers arranged coaxially, 14, 14, 15, 15,
Reference numeral 15 is a driven roller arranged coaxially, and 16 and 17 are separators.

The drive rollers 12 and 13 are rotatably supported by the cassette case body 11 via a support shaft 18, and driven by a drive system (not shown) to rotate clockwise in FIG. 6 (A). The driven rollers 14 and 15 are rotatably supported by a holder 19 via a support shaft 20, and the holder 19 is supported by the cassette case body 11 and is movable in the vertical direction of FIG. 6 (A). The holder 19 has a spring 21 so that the holder 19 shown in FIG.
(A) is urged upward, whereby the driven roller 14 is pressed against the driving roller 12, and the driven roller 15 is pressed against the driving roller 13 respectively.

The separator 16 includes the drive rollers 12 and 1
3 are provided in total, the base is collectively attached to the cassette case body 11, and the tip end is located between the drive rollers. Similarly, the separator 17 (omitted in FIG. 6B) has a total of 4 layers between the driven rollers 14 and 15.
Individually provided, the base is collectively attached to the cassette case body 11, and the tip is located between the driven rollers.

The ink ribbon 22 taken into the cassette case body 11 is given a transfer force by the drive rollers 12 and 13, and the drive rollers 12 and 13 and the driven roller 1.
Although it is fed into the folding portion 23 of the cassette case main body 11 through the space between Nos. 4 and 15, the separators 16 and 17 prevent the ribbon from being wound when the ribbon is fed.

[0011]

In the conventional ink ribbon cassette as described above, particularly when a wide ink ribbon is used, the left-right balance (pressing force, load of the traveling system, etc.) in the ribbon width direction is small. If it collapses, the ink ribbon is easily wrinkled, and this portion is often caught between the roller support shaft and the separator to cause a ribbon lock failure. FIG. 7 shows this occurrence situation, where A shows a normal ribbon route, B shows a route of a wrinkled and slack ribbon, and C shows a ribbon caught on a separator.

The shaft for supporting the ribbon feeding roller in the conventional ink ribbon cassette is supported by both outer walls of the cassette case body facing each other, while the separator is fixedly provided on the cassette case body. Therefore, when the separator is attached to the cassette case main body, it is necessary to pay sufficient attention so that the positional relationship with the roller is within a predetermined size, and the manufacturing and assembling work is troublesome.

Further, when the separator is integrally molded with the cassette case body, the work of attaching the separator to the cassette case body is unnecessary, but due to heat shrinkage in the manufacturing process, the roller and the separator after the roller is assembled. May not be in a predetermined dimensional relationship, and therefore, measures for preventing heat shrinkage are required in the molding process. The present invention is particularly applicable to this latter problem (the problems described in [0012] and [0013]).
Is the solution.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon cassette which does not require position adjustment of the drive roller and the separator and is easy to assemble.

[0015]

To achieve the above object, according to the present invention, an endless ink ribbon is folded in a cassette case body by rotation of a drive roller provided in the cassette case body and in pressure contact with a driven roller. In an ink ribbon cassette provided with a separator that prevents the winding of the fed ink ribbon by the drive roller while circulating the fed ink ribbon, both ends of the support shaft of the drive roller are supported by opposite outer walls of the cassette case body. In addition, the separator is coaxially incorporated into the support shaft of the drive roller, and is provided separately from the cassette case body.

[0016]

In the present invention, as described above, the separator is installed coaxially with the support shaft of the drive roller supported by the outer walls of the cassette case body facing each other, and is provided separately from the cassette case body. There is. Therefore, the drive roller and the separator can be placed in a predetermined positional relationship regardless of the accuracy of the molding of the cassette case body, and even if there is an error in the mounting accuracy of the support shaft with respect to the cassette case body, The above predetermined relationship can be maintained.

[0017]

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a main part of an ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention (FIG. 1A is a front view and FIG. 1B is a side view).
In the figure, 31 is a cassette case body, 32 and 33 are rubber drive rollers arranged coaxially, 34 and 35 are rubber driven rollers arranged coaxially, and 36 and 37 are separators.

The drive rollers 32 and 33 are rotatably supported by the cassette case body 31 via a support shaft 38, and driven by a drive system (not shown) to rotate clockwise in FIG. 1 (A). Further, the driven rollers 34 and 35 are attached to the holder 39.
Is rotatably supported by a support shaft 40, and the holder 39 is supported by the cassette case main body 31 and is movable in the vertical direction of FIG. The holder 39 is biased upward in FIG. 1A by the spring 41, whereby the driven roller 34 is pressed against the driving roller 32 and the driven roller 35 is pressed against the driving roller 33, respectively.

The separator 36 is composed of the drive rollers 32, 33.
There are four in total. This separator 36
2 has a shape shown in FIG. 2, and is incorporated coaxially with the drive rollers 32 and 33. Therefore, it is not necessary to adjust the relative positions of the separator and the drive roller. This assembling procedure is as shown in FIG. 3, and the separator 36 is alternately fitted (fitted) to the support shaft 38 when the rubber drive rollers 32 and 33 are press-fitted into the support shaft 38. Separator 3 in this state
The semicircular outer peripheral portion 36a of 6 is slightly retracted from the outer periphery of the drive rollers 32 and 33.

Further, unlike the conventional case, the separator 36 is provided separately from the cassette case main body 31, and the bottom side thereof faces the inner wall of the cassette case main body 31 with a minute gap therebetween. (Assembling work) is facilitated, and the separator 36 does not rotate when the drive roller rotates.

Similarly, four separators 37 are provided and are coaxially installed with the driven rollers 34 and 35. The shape of the separator 37 is similar to that of the separator 36.

The ink ribbon cassette of this embodiment is provided with the separators 36 and 37 having the above-described shapes, and the separators 36 and 37 are the starting point (a) of engagement between the ink ribbon 42 fed and the drive rollers 32 and 33. ) (Fig. 1 (A)
(Refer to FIG. 1), the shape is extended to the near side (right side in FIG. 1A) and surrounds the support shaft. That is, the separator 36 is placed in the drive roller 3 from before the engagement start point (a).
In the direction of rotation of 2 and 33, it extends so as to surround the support shaft 38 over substantially half the circumference of the drive rollers 32 and 33 including the pressure contacts of the drive roller and the driven roller.

Therefore, even if the ink ribbon 42 caught between the driving roller and the driven roller is wrinkled, the ink ribbon 42 is reliably guided by the separators 36 and 37. Since the outer diameters of the separators 36 and 37 are slightly smaller than the outer diameters of the driving roller and the driven roller, the separators 36 and 37 do not hinder the feeding of the ink ribbon 42.

The ink ribbon 42 guided by the separators 36 and 37 in this manner is reliably fed to the folding portion 43 without being rolled up.

Another example of the separator is shown in FIG. The separator 51 in this figure is a shape obtained by cutting out a part of the shape shown in FIG. 2 and has a cutout portion 52. In the case of this example, if the material is made of plastic or the like and has a spring property, the assembly can be performed simply by fitting the separator 51 into the roller support shaft. Therefore, a drive system other than the rubber roller system as shown in FIG. It can also be used (gear feed, etc.).

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the separator is installed coaxially with the support shaft of the roller,
Moreover, since it is separate from the cassette case body, the drive roller and the separator can be in a predetermined positional relationship regardless of the accuracy of the molding of the cassette case body. Even if there is an error in the mounting accuracy of, the predetermined positional relationship can be maintained.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B are configuration diagrams of a main part of an ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 1A being a front view and FIG. 1B being a side view.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a separator of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a procedure for assembling the separator of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing another example of the separator of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a conventional ink ribbon cassette,
5A is a front view and FIG. 5B is a side view.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a conventional ink ribbon cassette,
FIG. 6A is a front view and FIG. 6B is a side view.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of ribbon winding occurrence in a conventional ink ribbon cassette.

[Explanation of symbols]

 31 cassette case main body 32, 33 drive roller 34, 35 driven roller 36, 37 separator 38, 40 support shaft 42 endless ink ribbon 43 folding part

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An endless ink ribbon is fed into a folding portion in the cassette case body for circulation by rotation of a drive roller provided in the cassette case body and in pressure contact with a driven roller, and the driven ink ribbon is driven. In an ink ribbon cassette provided with a separator that prevents roll-up by a roller, both ends of a support shaft of the drive roller are supported by opposite outer walls of the cassette case body, and the separator is supported by a support shaft of the drive roller. An ink ribbon cassette, which is installed coaxially and is provided separately from the cassette case body.