JPH11105363A - Ink ribbon cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an upper spool and a spool flange from being integrally welded together even when ultrasonic welding is applied by a constitution wherein an ink ribbon cartridge is so constituted that a part of an inner wall of an upper shell is formed to be a thin section such that the spool flange of the spool and the upper shell are not brought into contact with each other. SOLUTION: After an upper shell 1 and a lower shell 2 are temporarily assembled with each other, a metallic welding ham is brought into contact with a top face of the upper shell 1 by a predetermined pressure and a part contacting the lower shell 2 is integrated with the lower shell 2 by ultrasonic welding to form an ink ribbon cartridge. As spool flanges 4a, 5a of spools 4, 5 are not to be brought into contact with the upper shell 1, a part of an inner wall face of each of vertical walls 17, 18 on the upper shell 1 is removed in the thickness direction to form respective thin sections 17b, 18b. The thin sections 17b, 18b have the same structure. The shape of the thin section 17b roughly corresponds to a shape of a half of the spool flange 4a, i.e., an arc of a semicircular shape.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is used for various printers utilizing electric heat energy, for example, a heating vaporization type or a heating sublimation type printer. The present invention relates to a cartridge provided with a supply spool and a take-up spool.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A commonly used vaporizing or sublimation type printer uses an ink ribbon coated with a sublimable dye and a heat-sensitive head. Electric energy is applied to the heating head, and the heat energy generated from the heating head causes the sublimable dye on the ink ribbon to be sublimated and transferred onto photographic paper.

An ink ribbon cartridge used in such a vaporization type or sublimation type printer is, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, in which an ink ribbon 3 is wound inside an upper shell 1 and a lower shell 2 formed of resin. And a take-up spool 5 for taking up a used ink ribbon.

[0004] The upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are respectively provided with windows 6,
The spools 4 and 5 are housed so that the ink ribbon 3 faces the windows 6 and 7. The spools 4 and 5 have spool flanges 4 a and 5 a at both ends, respectively, and a code ring 8 is attached to one end of the supply spool 4.

When the two spools 4 and 5 are stored, one end is rotatably supported by bearings 11 and 12 provided on the lower shell 2 via elastic members 9 and 10, respectively. The end side of each is a rising wall 1
The upper shell 1 is positioned after facing the semicircular openings 15 and 16 provided in the lower shell 2 and assembled into the lower shell 2.
And temporarily assembled as shown in FIG.

In this case, the upper shell 1 is also provided with falling walls 17, 18 symmetrical to the lower shell 2 and semicircular openings 19, 20. The openings 15 and 16 of the shell 2 and the openings 19 and 20 of the upper shell 1 form circular openings, respectively, and the other end sides of the spools 4 and 5 facing these openings are It is driven by engaging with an appropriate drive shaft provided on the printer side. In the united state,
Notches 1a and 2a are formed in upper shell 1 and lower shell 2, respectively, so that a part of cord ring 8 is exposed to the outside.

The code ring 8 has a hot stamping surface 8a.
And a gear portion 8b. Information such as the type of the ink ribbon is displayed on the hot stamping surface 8a by, for example, a bar code or the like. The barcode is read to obtain information on the ink ribbon, and it is possible to determine whether or not the ink ribbon is compatible with the printer used.

After the upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are temporarily assembled, a welding horn made of metal is brought into contact with the upper surface of the upper shell 1 with a predetermined pressing force. The ink ribbon cartridge is integrally formed by sonic welding.

In the welding in this case, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. 8, a projection or a welding rib 1b is provided on the upper shell 1 side, and when the ultrasonic vibration is applied to the welding horn, the vibration is reduced. It functions as an energy director for concentrating energy, and the projections or welding ribs 1b are melted and welded by frictional heat generated by ultrasonic waves on the contact surface with the lower shell 2, and the upper and lower shells 1 and 2 are integrated.

At the time of this integration, as shown in FIGS. 9 to 10, the upper shell 1 to which the welding horn comes into contact has a falling wall 17, on which the ends of both spools 4, 5 are engaged or bearing. Numeral 18 is integrally formed with a predetermined thickness, and reinforcing ribs 17a and 18
a is provided.

However, since both the upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are formed by resin molding, they are easily deformed partially due to sink marks or the like after molding. In particular, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the falling wall 17 (1
8) is often deformed and tilted inward by a predetermined angle θ (θ = 1 to 5 °).

In this case, in the state of the temporary assembly, a step portion α is formed between the falling wall 17 (18) and the rising wall 13 (14) (α = 1 to
3 mm), if there is no obstacle to the assembling work of the upper shell 1 with respect to the lower shell 2, even if there is a step portion α, it is temporarily assembled and welded.

[0013]

However, there is a portion X where the inclined falling wall 17 (18) and the spool flange 4a (5a) of the spool 4 (5) are relatively strongly abutted at least partially. When the ultrasonic vibration is applied by the welding horn, the ultrasonic vibration is transmitted to the abutting portion X and melted, and the falling wall 1 partially falls.
7 (18) and the spool flange 4a (5a) are welded to prevent the spool 4 (5) from rotating, resulting in a malfunction of the spool rotation in function and a nonstandard product. All such defective products are discarded because they cannot be regenerated.

As described above, in the work of assembling the upper shell 1 with the lower shell 2, the inclined falling wall 17 is tilted.
(18) and the spool flange 4a (5a) cannot be found to be in strong contact with each other, and are welded as they are in the welding process. If they are once welded, defective products are discriminated in the inspection stage. In addition, if the falling wall is tilted frequently, defective products are frequently generated, resulting in a decrease in production efficiency, and also leads to a waste of materials and an increase in waste.

Therefore, the conventional ink ribbon cartridge solves the problem that even if the falling wall of the upper shell is slightly inclined, welding to the spool flange does not occur, thereby preventing the occurrence of defective products. Have issues that must be addressed.

[0016]

As a specific means for solving the problems of the conventional example, the present invention comprises a supply spool and a take-up spool each having an ink ribbon wound thereon and a code ring attached thereto, An ink ribbon cartridge in which an upper shell and a lower shell are united by ultrasonic welding, wherein a part of an inner wall surface of the upper shell is formed in a thin portion so that a spool flange of the spool does not contact the upper shell. It is intended to provide an ink ribbon cartridge characterized by doing the above.

In the present invention, a part of the inner wall surface of the upper shell is a wall portion facing the spool flange, and the thin portion has a shape substantially corresponding to the spool flange. Is further provided as an additional component requirement that a thick remaining portion is provided in a part of the.

In the present invention, a part of the inner wall surface of the upper shell is formed in a thin portion so that the spool flange does not come into contact with the upper shell, so that even when ultrasonic welding is performed, the upper shell and the spool flange are formed. Will not weld,
It is possible to avoid occurrence of defective products due to poor rotation operation of the spool.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the illustrated embodiments. For easy understanding, the same parts as those of the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals and described.
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the illustrated ink ribbon cartridge includes an upper shell 1 made of resin.
And a supply spool 4 in which an ink ribbon 3 is wound in a lower shell 2 and a take-up spool 5 for winding up a used ink ribbon.

The upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are respectively provided with windows 6,
The spools 4 and 5 are housed so that the ink ribbon 3 faces the windows 6 and 7. The spools 4 and 5 have spool flanges 4 a and 5 a at both ends, respectively, and a code ring 8 is attached to one end of the supply spool 4.

When the two spools 4 and 5 are stored, one end is rotatably supported by bearings 11 and 12 provided on the lower shell 2 via elastic members 9 and 10, respectively. The end side of each is a rising wall 1
The upper shell 1 is positioned after facing the semicircular openings 15 and 16 provided in the lower shell 2 and assembled into the lower shell 2.
And temporarily assembled in the same manner as in the conventional example.

In this case, the upper shell 1 is also provided with falling walls 17 and 18 symmetrical with the lower shell 2 and semicircular openings 19 and 20. The openings 15 and 16 of the shell 2 and the openings 19 and 20 of the upper shell 1 form circular openings, respectively, and the other end sides of the spools 4 and 5 facing these openings are It is driven by engaging with an appropriate drive shaft provided on the printer side. In the united state,
Notches 1a and 2a are formed in upper shell 1 and lower shell 2, respectively, so that a part of cord ring 8 is exposed to the outside.

The code ring 8 has a hot stamping surface 8a.
And a gear portion 8b. Information such as the type of the ink ribbon is displayed on the hot stamping surface 8a by, for example, a bar code or the like. The barcode is read to obtain information on the ink ribbon, and it is possible to determine whether or not the ink ribbon is compatible with the printer used.

After the upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are temporarily assembled, a welding horn made of metal is brought into contact with the upper surface of the upper shell 1 with a predetermined pressing force. The ink ribbon cartridge is integrally formed by sonic welding. In the welding in this case, similarly to the conventional example, the projection or the welding rib provided on the upper shell 1 side acts as an energy director for concentrating vibration energy when ultrasonic vibration is applied to the welding horn, The projections or welding ribs are melted and adhered by frictional heat generated by ultrasonic waves on the contact surface with the lower shell 2, and the upper and lower shells 1 and 2 are integrated. The configuration of each of these parts is generally substantially the same as that of the conventional example.

In the present invention, the structure of the upper shell 1 to be brought into contact with the welding horn is different from that of the conventional example. That is, as shown in FIGS.
5, the falling wall 1 which is a part of the upper shell 1 so that the spool flanges 4a, 5a do not contact the upper shell 1.
Thin portions 17b and 18b are formed by removing a part of the thickness of the inner wall surface of each of the inner walls 7 and 18 to make them thinner.

Since the thin portions 17b and 18b formed on both of the falling walls 17 and 18 have substantially the same structure, only one thin portion 17b will be described, and the other thin portion 18b will be described. The description is omitted.

The shape of the thin portion 17b substantially corresponds to approximately half the shape of the facing spool flange 4a, that is, a semicircular arc, but as shown in FIG. The thickness of the falling wall 17 is left as it is.
That is, in the falling wall 17 formed in an arc shape, the vicinity of a substantially middle portion where the reinforcing rib 17a is formed is left over a predetermined width, and the other portions are entirely thinned to make the thinned portion. 17b is formed, and a part thereof is formed as a so-called thick remaining portion 17c (18c).

The reason for leaving the remaining portion 17c is that the amount of inward tilting near the center of the falling wall 17 is small,
Also, in order to maintain the strength of not only the falling wall 17 but also the wall surface of the upper shell at substantially the center. Therefore, the remaining part 1
7c is in a state of not contacting the spool flange 4a due to a small amount of inward tilt as a whole, even though it is formed thick. However, these remaining portions 17c (1
8c) is not always a requirement to be left.

The thin portion 17b is formed such that the thickness of both sides thereof is thin except for a substantially middle portion of the falling wall 17, and the thickness is about half of the thickness of the conventional example. As shown in FIG. 5, even if the thin portion 17b is tilted inward at a predetermined angle θ, the thinner portion 17b does not come into contact with the spool flange 4a because the inner thickness is reduced to make it thinner.

By forming the upper shell 1 in which a part of the inner wall surface is made thinner as described above, even when the lower shell 2 is temporarily assembled, there is no problem at all, especially the falling wall 17.
Even if is inclined inward, since the thickness of the inside is reduced by thinning the inside, the thin portion 17b is attached to the spool flange 4a.
Since they do not collide, the assembly work is rather easy.

After the assembly, the upper shell 1
Even if ultrasonic vibration is generated by bringing the welding horn into contact with the
Only the welding rib portion of the upper shell 1 that is in contact with the lower shell 2 with a predetermined pressing force is melted and integrated, and the falling wall 17 and the thin portion 17b are
Since there is no contact with a, there is no possibility of welding, and the two spools 4, 5 incorporated in the lower shell 2 are not affected at all.

Therefore, even when the upper shell 1 and the lower shell 2 are assembled mechanically, the spool flanges 4a, 5a of the two spools 4, 5 incorporated in the lower shell 2,
A part of the upper shell 1, that is, the falling walls 17 and 18 do not come into contact with each other due to the formation of the thin portions 17b and 18b, and in the subsequent ultrasonic welding process, the spool flanges 4a and 5a and the falling walls The inconvenience of inadvertent welding of the elements 17 and 18 is completely eliminated.

[0033]

As described above, the ink ribbon cartridge according to the present invention accommodates therein a supply spool and a take-up spool in which an ink ribbon is wound and a code ring is assembled, and an upper shell and a lower shell are provided. An ink ribbon cartridge obtained by ultrasonic welding of
Even if ultrasonic welding is performed from the upper shell side by forming a part of the inner wall surface of the upper shell to be a thin part so that the spool flange of the spool and the upper shell do not come into contact with each other, a conventional problem occurs. Welding between the upper shell and the spool flange, which has been done, has been eliminated, and the occurrence of defective products due to poor rotation operation of the spool can be largely avoided. It has an excellent effect of being economically advantageous.

Also, in the present invention, by forming a part of the inner wall surface of the upper shell, that is, the falling wall, in a thin portion, workability is improved in the step of assembling with the lower shell, and the thin wall is formed. As a result, the amount of the resin used is reduced, thereby providing various excellent effects of being economically advantageous.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an ink ribbon cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the upper shell in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion indicated by C in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of only a main part showing a relationship between an inner side of an upper shell and a stored spool in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of only a main part showing a relationship between the ink ribbon cartridge and a spool housed therein in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of an ink ribbon cartridge according to a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which an upper shell and a lower shell of the conventional ink ribbon cartridge are assembled.

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing, in an enlarged manner, welding ribs for integrating an upper shell and a lower shell of the ink ribbon cartridge.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the inside of the upper shell in the conventional example.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion indicated by A in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 upper shell; 1a, 2a notch; 2 lower shell; 3 ink ribbon; 4 supply spool;
a, 5a spool flange; 5 take-up spool;
6, 7 window; 8 cord ring; 8a hot stamping surface; 8b gear; 9, 10 elastic member;
1,12 bearing part; 13,14 rising wall; 1
5, 16, 19, 20 semicircular openings; 17, 18
Falling wall; 17a, 18a Reinforcing rib; 1
7b, 18b Thin portion; 17c, 18c Remaining portion; X
The part that is in contact.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon cartridge comprising a supply spool and a take-up spool on which an ink ribbon is wound and a code ring is assembled, and an upper shell and a lower shell are ultrasonically welded and united. An ink ribbon cartridge, wherein a part of an inner wall surface of the upper shell is formed to be a thin portion so that a spool flange of the spool does not contact the upper shell. 2. The ink ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a part of the inner wall surface of the upper shell is a wall portion facing the spool flange. 3. The ink ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein the thin portion has a shape substantially corresponding to the spool flange. 4. The ink ribbon cartridge according to claim 1, wherein a thick remaining portion is provided in a part of the thin portion.