JPH10193756A - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a ribbon cassette compact even when it holds a long ink ribbon and, moreover, to make excellent the stability of running of a carriage of an output device whereon the ribbon cassette is mounted. SOLUTION: A pair of cores 14A and 14B on the supply side and the winding side are disposed so that they are spaced from each other both in the direction of running of a carriage 7 and in the direction perpendicular to the direction of running and that the space between the two cores 14A and 14B in the direction of running of the carriage is narrower than that in the direction perpendicular to the direction of running of the carriage, and thereby a ribbon cassette RC is constructed compactly. A space between two carriage guide shafts of an output device which support the carriage 7 is made large so that the stability of running of the carriage 7 be attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette for printing by an output device such as a printer, and more particularly to a ribbon cassette in which the arrangement of a supply core and a take-up core is improved.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 8 shows a ribbon cassette and a main part of a carriage which have been conventionally used for printing by an output device such as a printer. A supply reel 3 and a take-up reel 4 which are freely supported are provided, and an ink ribbon 5 is wound around the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 from both ends thereof. Further, guide rollers 6 for guiding the ink ribbon 5 when the ink ribbon 5 travels from the supply reel 3 to the take-up reel 4 are provided at various locations in the cassette body 1. When the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are mounted on the carriage 7 with the cassette body 1 turned upside down, the supply side and the take-up side are reversed.

A carriage 7 of an output device on which the conventional ribbon cassette RC is mounted is supported by a pair of carriage guide shafts 9 supported in parallel with the axial direction of a platen 8 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. The carriage 7
A take-up reel drive shaft 10 that fits onto the take-up reel 4 and drives the take-up reel 4 to rotate, and a supply reel guide shaft 11 that rotatably guides the supply reel 3 are provided on the upper side. I have.

[0004] The operation of the conventional ribbon cassette RC constructed as described above and its driving mechanism will be described.

[0005] The ribbon cassette RC is mounted on the carriage 7, and reciprocates in the axial direction of the carriage guide shaft 9 to partially remove ink on the ink ribbon 5 by a print head 12 such as a thermal head provided on the carriage 7. The ink ribbon 5 in the ribbon cassette RC is supplied to the supply reel 3 by rotation of a take-up reel drive shaft 10 fitted in the center of the take-up reel 4.
After being guided by a guide roller 6 to be drawn out and used for printing, it is taken up by a take-up reel 4.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional ribbon cassette RC, the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are arranged at an interval in the traveling direction of the carriage 7. No space was formed in the direction perpendicular to the running direction. For this reason, when the length of the ink ribbon 5 housed inside is increased, the lateral width of the ribbon cassette RC is increased, and the ribbon cassette RC cannot be made compact.

In the conventional ribbon cassette RC, since the length of the carriage in the direction perpendicular to the carriage traveling direction is short, the distance between the carriage guide shafts 9 for sliding the carriage 7 cannot be made long. There is a possibility that a problem may occur in the traveling performance of the carriage 7.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and can be made compact even when a long ink ribbon is stored, and furthermore, the traveling of a carriage of an output device on which a ribbon cassette is mounted. An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette capable of improving stability.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette which can reduce the cost by increasing the use efficiency of the ink ribbon.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, a ribbon cassette according to the present invention is characterized in that a pair of cores on a supply side and a winding side are moved in a traveling direction and a traveling direction of a carriage. The cores are disposed so as to be separated from each other in any direction perpendicular to the carriage, and the cores are disposed so that the distance between the cores in the carriage traveling direction is smaller than the distance perpendicular to the carriage traveling direction. . By adopting such a configuration, the ribbon cassette can be made compact, and the running stability of the carriage can be improved by increasing the distance between the two carriage guide shafts supporting the carriage of the output device. Can be measured.

A feature of the ribbon cassette according to the present invention is that the ribbon cassette can be mounted upside down on the carriage and the ink ribbon can be used a plurality of times. And, by adopting such a configuration, the ribbon cassette can be turned over and used for printing a plurality of times,
Efficient use of the ink ribbon can be achieved.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

[0013] The ribbon cassette RC of the present invention is, for example, capable of being used a plurality of times by turning it over.
As shown in FIG. 1, two cores 14A, 1A are provided in a substantially rectangular cassette body 1 of the ribbon cassette RC.
4B are arranged at intervals. These cores 14
2A and 14B, as shown in FIG. 2, in which the fitting portions of the take-up reel drive shaft 10 and the supply reel guide shaft 11 have been removed from the two reels 3 and 4 described above. The outer diameter of the portion around which the ink ribbon is wound is smaller than that of No. 4. When the outer diameter of the portion around which the ink ribbon 5 is wound becomes small, the tension of the ink ribbon 5 largely changes. However, the change of the tension of the ink ribbon 5 is caused by other components such as a friction plate (not shown). Can be made constant. The one core 14A is disposed at an appropriate position slightly close to one corner of the cassette body 1, and a gear is provided at an axial end of the core 14A so as to be able to rotate integrally with the core 14A. 16A is attached. When the gear 16A is mounted on the carriage 7 in a state where the side A of the ribbon cassette RC is used, the gear 16A is located at a position where the gear 16A meshes with the drive gear 15 shown in FIG. Fixed.

The other core 14B is formed so as to be spaced apart from the core 14A in both the running direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the running direction. A gear 16B is attached so as to be able to rotate integrally with the core 14B. The gear 16B is fixed at a position where the gear 16B meshes with the drive gear 15 when the gear 16B is mounted on the carriage 7 using the B surface of the ribbon cassette RC.

With the above-described configuration, the gear 16A and the gear 16B are located in opposite directions of the front and back of the cassette main body 1, and these gears 16A and 16B are formed to have the same diameter.

An ink ribbon 5 is wound around the cores 14A and 14B from both ends thereof.
The two guide rollers 6 and 6 for guiding the ink ribbon 5 traveling from the core 14 on the supply side to the core 14 on the take-up side depending on the front and back directions are disposed at predetermined positions. Also,
At the end of the ribbon cassette RC between these guide rollers 6 and 6, a cutout 13 for inserting the print head 12 is formed. Further, a drive gear 15 is provided on both sides of the cassette main body 1 as shown in FIG.
An opening 17 to be introduced into the inside is formed.

The drive gear 15 protruding above the carriage 7 is driven to rotate by a drive system similar to the above-mentioned conventional drive device, which drives the take-up reel 4 to rotate as the carriage 7 travels. However, since this drive system is publicly known, its description is omitted.

Next, the operation of the ribbon cassette of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described together with the operation of the drive mechanism.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the ribbon cassette RC mounted on the carriage 7 with the A side used has a gear 16A disposed coaxially with the core 14A and protruding above the carriage 7. The gear meshes with the drive gear 15. When the drive gear 15 is driven to rotate, the core A on the A-side winding side is driven to rotate with the rotation of the gear 16A,
After the ink ribbon 5 is drawn out of the core 14B on the A-side supply side, passes through the front surface of the print head 12, and is subjected to printing,
It is wound around the core 14A on the winding side.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show the case where the ribbon cassette RC is turned upside down and the back side B is used.
As shown in the figure, the gear 1 disposed coaxially with the core 14B.
6B meshes with the drive gear 15 protruding above the carriage 7. When the driving gear 15 is driven to rotate,
After the core 14B on the B-side winding side is rotationally driven with the rotation of the gear 16B, the ink ribbon 5 is drawn out from the core 14A on the B-side supply side, passes through the front surface of the print head 12, and is subjected to printing. , On the winding side core 14B. As described above, the two cores 14, 14 of the ribbon cassette RC of the present embodiment are arranged at an interval from each other in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. By turning one of the front and back surfaces of the main body 1 upward, one of the cores 14
Becomes the winding-side core 15 having the gear 16 that meshes with the driving gear 15, and the ink ribbon 5 can run.

Further, the ribbon cassette RC of the present embodiment
Are two cores 14 around which the ink ribbon 5 is wound.
Are arranged at an interval in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and are arranged with the cores 14 and 14 shortened in the carriage traveling direction. Conventional ribbon cassette R
Even when the ink ribbon 5 having the same length as C is stored, the width of the ribbon cassette RC can be reduced. Further, the ink ribbon 5 can be easily guided by the two guide rollers 6. Further, since the length of the carriage in the direction perpendicular to the carriage traveling direction becomes longer, the distance between the carriage guide shafts for sliding the carriage can be made longer, and the traveling performance is stabilized.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified as needed.

[0023]

As described above, according to the ribbon cassette of the present invention, it is possible to make the ink cartridge compact even when a long ink ribbon is stored, and furthermore, the running stability of the carriage of the output device on which the ribbon cassette is mounted. Can be improved.

That is, the pair of cores on the supply side and the winding side are arranged so as to be spaced from each other in both the traveling direction of the carriage and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. Is arranged so as to be narrower than the interval in the direction perpendicular to the carriage traveling direction, the ribbon cassette can be made compact, and the space between the two carriage guide shafts supporting the carriage of the output device can be obtained. Is increased, the running stability of the carriage can be measured.

Further, since the ink cassette can be mounted on the carriage by being turned upside down and the ink ribbon can be used a plurality of times, the ribbon cassette can be turned upside down and used for printing a plurality of times. Efficient use can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a ribbon cassette according to the present invention together with a main part of a carriage of an output device.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around the take-up core of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the bottom of the ribbon cassette of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of FIG. 1 when setting the side A;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of FIG. 2 when setting the side B;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional ribbon cassette and a main part of a carriage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 RC ribbon cassette 1 Cassette body 3 Supply reel 4 Take-up reel 5 Ink ribbon 6 Guide roller 7 Carriage 8 Platen 9 Carriage guide shaft 10 Take-up reel drive shaft 11 Supply reel guide shaft 12 Print head 14 Core 15 Drive gear 16 Gear 17 Opening Department

Claims (2)

[Claims] The present invention has a supply-side core and a take-up core which are disposed in a cassette main body at an interval, and the both ends of an ink ribbon are wound around each of these cores. In a ribbon cassette mounted on a carriage and used for printing, the pair of cores is disposed so as to be spaced apart in both the traveling direction of the carriage and a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and the carriages of the two cores are provided. A ribbon cassette, wherein the interval in the traveling direction is narrower than the interval in a direction perpendicular to the carriage traveling direction. 2. The ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the ink ribbon is reversible and can be mounted on a carriage, and the ink ribbon can be used a plurality of times.