JPH08192560A - Ribbon cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a ribbon cartridge housing an ink ribbon in a housing part non-wastefully and efficiently and capable of regularly and stably drawing out the ink ribbon by eliminating an increase in the draw-out force of the ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION: A drive gear 8 is provided to the shaft 4 of the drive roller 2 rotated along with a driven roller 3 to draw an ink ribbon 10 in a housing part 22 and the driven gear 21 meshed with the gear 8 is provided. The rotary shaft 19a of the driven gear 21 is attached to a cartridge case 1a in a rotatable manner and an eccentric collar 19b is fixed to the shaft 19a. A groove 11 is formed to the bottom part of the cartridge case 1a and a ribbon stopper 12 is inserted in the groove 11 in a movable manner and reciprocally moved by the rotation of the eccentric collar 19b. The wall parts 16, 17 against which the R-part 10a of the ink ribbon 10 impinges are provided to the ribbon stopper 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ribbon cartridge that stores an ink ribbon, and particularly to a ribbon cartridge that efficiently stores an ink ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, ribbon cartridges which are mounted on a printer in a stationary manner have been widely used. However, these ribbon cartridges are provided with a drive roller and a driven roller in pressure contact with each other in a rotatable manner. Causes the ink ribbon to be fed. The drive roller and the driven roller are arranged at the entrance of the ink ribbon storage portion and rotate to store the ink ribbon in the storage portion and feed the ink ribbon from the storage portion at the same time. When the ink ribbon is stored in the storage section, after passing through the pressure contact section of both rollers, it sticks to one of the rollers and hits the wall, forming a crease here, this time sticking to the opposite roller Hit the side wall.
Here again folds are formed and again glued to the original roller. By repeating this operation, the ink ribbon forms a substantially regular wave shape in the storage portion.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional ribbon cartridge, the ink ribbon is folded and stored in the storage portion in a corrugated shape, and the folds of the ink ribbon are formed at both ends of the storage portion. It is not formed in the central part of the part. Therefore, there is a problem that both end portions of the storage portion are densely stored, a gap is formed in the central portion, and the storage space of the storage portion cannot be used efficiently.

Further, since the ink ribbons are densely stored at both ends of the storage portion, the pulling force when the ink ribbon is pulled out from the storage portion is increased, the load of the ribbon feed is increased, and regular ribbon feeding cannot be performed. There was fear.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a ribbon cartridge in which an ink ribbon is sandwiched between two rollers which are in pressure contact with each other and the ink ribbon is housed in a case by the rotation of these two rollers. ,
A moving member is provided which has a wall portion where the ink ribbon after passing through the pressure contact portion of the two rollers abuts and forms a fold, and which reciprocates.

[0006]

According to the present invention having the above-described structure, when the two rollers rotate, the ink ribbon is fed and moves along one of the rollers after passing through the pressure contact portion of both rollers. Then, the moving member moves, and at the same time, the wall also moves.
The movement of the wall changes the position where the ink ribbon strikes the wall, and thus the position where the fold of the ink ribbon is formed.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that elements common to the drawings are given the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a ribbon cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, the ink ribbon cartridge 1 is provided with a drive roller 2 and a driven roller 3. The shaft 4 of the drive roller 2 is rotatably supported by the drive roller holder 5, and the shaft 6 of the driven roller 3 is rotatably held by the driven roller holder 7. The drive roller holder 5 is fixed to the case 1 a of the ribbon cartridge 1. A drive gear 8 having a diameter smaller than that of the drive roller 2 is attached to the shaft 4 so as to rotate simultaneously with the drive roller 2. The drive roller 2 is rotationally driven by a driving unit (not shown).

The driven roller holder 7 has one end 7a.
Is rotatably supported by the case 1a and is biased by the spring 9 toward the drive roller 2. The driven roller 3 is pressed against the drive roller 2 with the ink ribbon 10 sandwiched by the spring 9. Due to this pressure contact, the driven roller 3 also rotates by receiving the rotational force of the drive roller 2.

A rectangular groove 11 is formed in the bottom portion 1b of the ink ribbon cartridge case 1a, and a ribbon stopper 12 is slidably fitted in the groove 11 in the direction of arrow A. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the ribbon stopper 12. In the figure, the ribbon stopper 12 is shown in FIG.
And upper and lower arms 14 and 15,
Walls 16 and 17 are provided at 15 respectively. Further, a rectangular hole 18 is formed in the main body portion 13, and the rotary shaft 19a and the eccentric collar 19b are inserted into the rectangular hole 18. The rotating shaft 19a is the cartridge case 1.
The eccentric collar 19b is rotatably attached to the rotary shaft 1a.
It is fixed to 9a and rotates together with the rotating shaft 19a. One end of the tension spring 20 is attached to the end portion 13a of the main body portion 13, and the other end of the spring 20 is fixed to the cartridge case 1a. Due to the tension spring 20, the side 18a of the rectangular hole 18 of the ribbon stopper 12 is always in contact with the eccentric collar 19b.

In FIG. 1, the rotary shaft 19a is formed integrally with the driven gear 21, and the driven gear 21 meshes with the drive gear 8. Therefore, the driven gear 21 is rotated by the rotation of the drive gear 8, and the rotation shaft 19
a and the eccentric collar 19b also rotate. This eccentric color 19
The rotation of b causes the ribbon stopper 12 to reciprocate in the direction of arrow A. On the left side of the drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3, the ink ribbon 10 drawn into the case 1a is provided.
A storage portion 22 for storing the is provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, the ink ribbon 10 is pressed and sandwiched between the drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3. In this state, the shaft 4 is rotated by a drive source (not shown), and the drive roller 2 is rotated in the arrow B direction. Driven roller 3 pressed against drive roller 2
Also rotates in the direction of arrow C at the same time. By this rotation, the ink ribbon 10 is wound while being attached to the surface of either roller due to the viscosity of the ink (attached to the driven roller 3 side in FIG. 1).

The R portion (bent portion) 10a of the wound ink ribbon 10 is the wall portion 1 of the ribbon stopper 12.
You hit 6 and are blocked. Then, the ink ribbon 10 drawn in from the sandwiching portion between the drive roller 2 and the driven roller 3 newly forms an R portion, and this time, the ink ribbon 10 sticks to the surface of the drive roller 2 and the lower wall portion 1 is formed.
Go in 7 directions and hit this. When the R portion hits the wall 17 and is blocked from moving, the same operation as described above is repeated.

While the ink ribbon 10 is being drawn in, the drive gear 8 rotates in the same direction as the drive roller 2, and this rotation causes the driven gear 21 and the eccentric collar 19b to rotate. The ribbon stopper 12 moves in the direction of arrow A by the rotation of the eccentric collar 19b, and the walls 16 and 17 provided on the upper and lower arms 14 and 15 also move in the same direction.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of this embodiment. In the figure, the ribbon stopper 12 is moved from the position indicated by the solid line to the position indicated by the dotted line by the rotation of the driven gear 21. The R portion 10a of the ink ribbon 10 is the wall portion 1
The position where the hand that hits 6, 17 is blocked is gradually changed between the position shown by the solid line and the position shown by the dotted line.
For example, assuming that the cycle from the time when the ink ribbon 10 hits the wall portion 16 to the time when the ink ribbon 10 next hits the wall portion 16 is one cycle, and the ribbon stopper 12 makes one reciprocation in these ten cycles, the ink ribbon 10 is shown in FIG. As described above, the fold width in the storage portion 22 is gradually changed into a wavy shape from a large fold width to a small fold width.

In the present embodiment, the ribbon stopper 12
Since the drive source for moving the ink is obtained from the rotational force of the drive roller 2 that feeds the ink ribbon 10,
It is not necessary to separately provide a drive source for moving the ribbon stopper 12.

[0017]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, since the ribbon stopper having the wall portion against which the bent portion of the ink ribbon abuts is provided to reciprocate, the ribbon stopper after passing through the drive roller and the driven roller is provided. The position of the bent portion of the ink ribbon changes, and the ink ribbon is stored in the storage portion in that state. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently and efficiently store the ink ribbon in the storage portion and to regularly and stably pull out the ink ribbon by eliminating an increase in the pulling output of the ink ribbon.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a ribbon cartridge of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a ribbon stopper.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Ribbon Cartridge 2 Drive Roller 3 Driven Roller 8 Drive Gear 10 Ink Ribbon 12 Ribbon Stopper 16 and 17 Wall 19b Eccentric Color 21 Driven Gear 22 Storage

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A ribbon cartridge in which an ink ribbon is sandwiched between two rollers which are in pressure contact with each other and the ink ribbon is housed in a case by the rotation of these two rollers, wherein the ink ribbon after passing through the pressure contact portion of the two rollers. A ribbon cartridge comprising: a moving member that has a wall portion that abuts against each other to form a fold and that reciprocates. 2. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the moving member is reciprocally moved by a driving source that drives the two rollers.