JPH0731354U - Thermal transfer ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] Even though the structure is simple, the braking force is uniformly applied to the payout core, and a moderately adjusted braking force that is not too strong is applied to the printer drive side. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer ribbon cassette that prevents the excessive ribbon from being fed from the feeding core side and prevents the ribbon from sagging in a state in which the thermal transfer ribbon cassette is not applied. [Structure] A thermal transfer ribbon cassette, a case, a lid,
A feeding core and a winding core rotatably supported by the case and the lid, a thermal transfer ink ribbon wound around the feeding core and wound on the winding core through an external printing portion, and a tension member. Then, a holding portion is provided at a position of the lid body corresponding to the feeding core, the spring member and the tension member are inserted into the holding member, and one end portion of the feeding core is circumferentially formed by the tension member by the elastic force of the spring member. It is configured to be pressed.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a thermal transfer ribbon cassette for printing with a thermal transfer printer.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Conventionally, in order to perform printing with a thermal transfer printer, a cassette is installed in the printer, the take-up core is connected to the printer drive and rotated, the ribbon is taken out from the take-up core, and printing is performed at the external printing point. However, when the drive of the printer was stopped, the inertia actuated, the extra ribbon was taken out, and the ribbon slackened, which sometimes hindered printing. Therefore, a break was required, but to reduce costs due to recent price competition, there has been a strong demand for omitting the break mechanism on the printer side and providing a break mechanism on the cassette side. .

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, a complicated break mechanism cannot be attached to the ribbon cassette, and if the structure is simple, the break force will be biased to a part of the core or become too strong, which will put a burden on the drive side of the printer. There was a drawback of putting it on. The present invention has been made in order to remedy these drawbacks.In other words, it has a simple structure and evenly applies a breaking force to the feeding core, and is appropriately adjusted so as not to be too strong. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer ribbon cassette that prevents excessive ribbon feeding from the feeding core side and ribbon slack by applying force to the printer's drive side so as not to burden the printer.

[0004]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to solve the above problems, the present invention winds a thermal transfer ribbon cassette around a case, a lid, a feeding core and a winding core rotatably supported by the case and the lid, and a feeding core. It is equipped with a thermal transfer ink ribbon that is rotated and wound onto a take-up core through an external printing area, and a tension member.A holding portion is provided at a portion of the lid body corresponding to the pay-out core, and a spring member and a tension are provided inside the holding member. The member was inserted, and one end of the feeding core was circumferentially pressed by the tension member by the elastic force of the spring member.

In the present invention, the locking projection provided on the tension member is movable and lockable inside the elongated hole provided in the axial direction of the holding portion, and the spring protrusion and the tension member are provided. A more effective riboca cassette can be obtained by always holding the member in the holding portion so that it can move, making the feeding core a material having a smaller friction coefficient than the tension member, or a material having a low rigidity. The tension member may be pressed against one end of the pay-out core by either the end face or the step of the pay-out core, the continuous circumferential shape or the discontinuous circumferential shape.

[0006]

[Action]

 When the ribbon cassette of the present invention is installed in the printer, the tension member constantly presses one end of the pay-out core circumferentially by the spring member to apply the tension evenly, and the pay-out core has a smaller friction coefficient than the tension member. Therefore, even if the rotation of the take-up core is stopped, it is possible to prevent the excessive ribbon from being fed out from the unwinding core and to prevent the ribbon from slackening. In addition, it is possible to adjust the braking force to an appropriate level by making it possible for the driving device on the printer side. It doesn't work. It should be noted that the adjustment of the breaking force may be performed by selecting the optimum spring member.

Further, when ribbons are exchanged many times for one cassette (especially for a wide industrial ribbon), the tension member is always held in the holding portion in the present invention. It is sufficient to replace only the core around which the ribbon is wound while keeping the same etc., and the pay-out core is made of a material that is less rigid than the tension member. The member and spring member can be held as they are, and only the ribbon and core can be replaced many times.

[0008]

【Example】

 Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention with a lid removed, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing the periphery of a holding portion in the assembled state of the embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show other embodiments. FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of an example. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal transfer ribbon cassette 1 includes a case 2, a lid 3, a feeding core 4 rotatably supported by the case 2 and the lid 3, and a winding core. The wide thermal transfer ink ribbon 6 for industrial use is wound around the pay-out core 4 and wound around the take-up core 5 via the external printing portion 7. The cores 4 and 5 are made of styrene resin mixed with silicon, but may be made of resin mixed with molybdenum disulfide or fluorine.

The lid 3 is provided with holes 8 at corresponding positions of the winding core 5 and at the corresponding positions of the pay-out core 4, a holding portion 9 having a bottomed cylindrical shape and protruding upward, respectively. An inner cylinder 10 is vertically provided at the bottom of the inner cylinder 10 and three axially elongated holes 11 having locking portions at the lower end thereof are provided in the inner cylinder 10 at equal intervals. A tension member 14 composed of a disk portion 12 and a cylindrical standing portion 13 is axially movably inserted into the holding portion 9, and a coil is provided between the tension member 14 and the upper bottom portion of the holding portion 9. The spring 15 is inserted while being elastically pushed, and the disk portion 12 is extended so as to constantly press the upper end surface of the core 4 circumferentially. In addition, the tip of the upright portion 13 is provided with three locking projections 16 that can be inserted into the long holes 11 and can be locked, and the inner peripheral surface of the upright portion 13 is the outer peripheral surface of the inner tube 10. It is slidably attached to. The tension member 14 is made of polycarbonate resin.

When the ribbon cassette of this embodiment is attached to a printer and driven, the winding core 5 rotates and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 6 is fed from the feeding core 4, and printing is performed at an external printing portion 7, and the ribbon is printed on the winding core. It is wound. At this time, the tension member 14 circumferentially presses the end surface of the pay-out core 4 by the elastic force of the coil spring 15 to constantly apply tension. Ribon 6 is never paid out. Further, since the feeding core 4 is made smaller than the friction coefficient of the tension member 14 and the tension member 14 uniformly presses against the feeding core 4, the coil spring 15 is selected to be slightly stronger and pressed. Even if it is slippery and the biasing force is not applied to the feeding core 4, the driving device on the printer side is not burdened. The pressing force can be adjusted freely by changing the coil spring 15.

In this embodiment, the tension member 14 together with the coil spring 15 is movable in the holding portion 9 of the lid 3 and is held integrally, so that the ribbon can be exchanged many times (in the case of wide industrial use). About 30 times) can be handled by simply opening and closing the lid. Further, since the pay-out core 4 is a material having a rigidity lower than that of the tension member 14, the pay-out core 4 of the members 4 and 14 that continuously rubs continuously is replaced every time the ribbon is replaced, but the pay-out core 4 is damaged immediately. Since the tension member 14 is hardly damaged, it can withstand repeated use. Further, the coil spring 15 can absorb the bit pressure from the printer side.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the holding portion 9 is not provided with an inner cylinder, but an elongated hole 11 is provided in the outer peripheral portion, and a locking projection 16 corresponding to the elongated hole 11 in the outer peripheral portion is provided in the tension member 14. The other structure and operation are the same as those of the embodiment of FIGS.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, a step 17 is provided at the upper end of the pay-out core 4, a center hole 18 is provided in the disk portion 12 of the tension member 14, and the lower surface around the center hole 18 is paid out. While pressing the step 17 of the core 4 with the elastic force of the coil spring 15, the upper end of the pay-out core 4 is held by the holder 19 provided on the bottom surface of the lid body 3. Is the same as the embodiment of FIG.

[0014]

[Effect of device]

 With the above-described structure, the present invention has a simple structure and evenly applies the braking force to the payout core, and also provides a moderately adjusted braking force that is not too strong, thereby imposing a burden on the drive side of the printer. The thermal transfer ribbon cassette prevents the ribbon from sagging due to excess ribbon being fed from the feeding core side in the unloaded state. Also, when ribbons are exchanged many times for one cassette (especially for wide industrial ribbons), only the ribbon and core can be exchanged while holding the tension member and spring member in the lid, and Even if the core to be replaced together with the ribbon is damaged, the tension member is less damaged, and the tension member and the spring member are held as they are, so that it becomes a thermal transfer ribbon cassette in which only the ribbon and the core can be replaced many times.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention with a lid removed.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing the periphery of a holding portion in the assembled state of the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 of another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Transfer Ribbon Cassette 2 Case 3 Lid 4 Feeding Core 5 Winding Core 6 Thermal Transfer Ink Ribbon 7 Printing Area 9 Holding Part 11 Long Hole 14 Tension Member 15 Spring Member 16 Locking Protrusion

Claims (4)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A case (2), a lid (3), a feeding core (4) and a winding core (5) which are rotatably supported by the case (2) and the lid (3). ), A thermal transfer ink ribbon (6) that is wound around the feeding core (4) and then wound around the winding core (5) via the external printing location (7), and a tension member (14). The holding part (9) is provided at a position of the body (3) corresponding to the payout core (4), and the spring member (15) and the tension member (14) are inserted into the holding part (9) to make the payout core (4). The thermal transfer ribbon cassette is characterized in that one end of (1) is pressed circumferentially by the tension member (14) by the elastic force of the spring member (15). 2. A locking projection (16) provided on a tension member (14) is movably and lockably inserted into an elongated hole (11) provided in an axial direction of a holding portion (9). 2. The thermal transfer ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the spring member (15) and the tension member (14) are movably held in the holding portion (9) at all times. 3. The feeding core (4) has a tension member (14).
The thermal transfer ribbon cassette according to claim 1, which is made of a material having a smaller friction coefficient. 4. The feeding core (4) has a tension member (14).
The thermal transfer ribbon cassette according to claim 1 or 2, which is made of a material having lower rigidity.