JPS595090A - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To permit the drive of plural ribbon cassettes by single drive source by forming one end of the shaft of a ribbon feeding and driving roller for the ribbon cassette into a shape fittable with the other end of the shaft of a drive roller for the other ribbon cassette. CONSTITUTION:In a ribbon cassette 1 housed with an endless ink ribbon 7, a cross-shaped groove 50a, for example, is formed at the lower end of the drive shaft 50 of a ribbon feeding roller 5, which is coupled with the motor drive shaft 10a of a ribbon drive motor 10. A cross-shaped projection 50b is formed at the upper end of the drive shaft 50, which is coupled with said cross-shaped groove 50a. When the second cassette 1' is placed on the cassette 1, the drive shaft 50' of the cassette 1' is coupled with the drive shaft 50 of the cassette 1 and both of the ribbon cassettes are driven by one ribbon feeding motor 10. The third and fourth cassettes may be also placed and driven.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette, and more particularly to a ribbon cassette suitable for use in stacking a plurality of ribbon cassettes.

Prior Art In conventional printing devices such as wire dot printers,
One ribbon cassette containing an endless ink ribbon is mounted on a carrier, and while the ink ribbon is sequentially fed by a drive roller, a print head is made to correspond to the portion of the ink ribbon exposed from the cassette, and printing is performed sequentially. In the conventional printing device as described above, only one ribbon cassette was mounted on the carrier, so the drive roller shaft of the ribbon cassette was designed to receive rotational drive from the drive source from below. It has a shape with a connecting groove, etc., and the other end has a circular knob shape so that the drive p-ra can be rotated manually and the ribbon in the cassette can be manually rotated as necessary. There were many.

When a ribbon cassette like the one described above is mounted on a carrier with multiple print heads and you are trying to print multiple lines simultaneously or print multiple lines simultaneously in multiple colors, drive the drive p-ra axis for ribbon feeding for each cassette. It is necessary to provide a drive mechanism to However, providing a ribbon feeding drive mechanism for each ribbon cassette as described above not only increases the complexity and size of the device, but also increases the cost of the device.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to solve the above-mentioned problems with conventional ribbon cassettes, and to provide a printing device equipped with a plurality of ribbon cassettes. To provide a ribbon cassette in which multiple ribbon cassettes can be driven by a single drive source.

The object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette for storing an endless ink ribbon, characterized in that one end and the other end of the drive roller for feeding the ink ribbon are configured to have shapes that can engage with each other. Achieved by ribbon cassette.

Embodiments of the Invention Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the entire ribbon cassette which is an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the ribbon drive section, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams for explaining the ribbon drive section. It is a figure explaining the shape of a shaft.

In FIG. 1, a ribbon cassette 1 has a ribbon guide section 2.
Ribbon guide section 3. Ribbon storage part hand, ribbon feed roller 5
and a presser roller 6. As shown in the figure, the ink ribbon 7 is attached to the ribbon cassette 1 in a state where it is exposed through the opening 8, and the ink ribbon 7 is attached to the ribbon guide section 2. The ribbon passes through the ribbon feed roller 3 and is fed to the ribbon storage section 4 by the rotation of the ribbon feed roller 5 while being held between the ribbon feed roller 5 and the presser roller 6 pressed by the roller 5. In such ribbon feeding, a print head (not shown) corresponds to the opening 8 and enables desired printing on the paper.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, the ribbon feeder 4-ra δ has a special shape so that a plurality of ribbon cassettes 1 can be stacked and used. This point will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the ribbon driving section, and to make the explanation easier to understand, the carrier 9 and the second ribbon cassette 1' of the printing device are shown by two-dot chain lines. A ribbon cassette 1 is mounted on a carrier 9.

Driving the ribbon feed roller 5 of the ribbon cassette 1 (3)
- The shaft 50 is constructed integrally with the ribbon feed roller 5. As shown in FIG. 4, a cross-shaped groove 50a is formed at the lower end of the drive shaft 50, and is adapted to connect and engage with the motor drive shaft 10a of the ribbon drive motor 10 mounted on the carrier 9.

The ink ribbon 7 is fed by rotating the ribbon drive motor 10 in a desired direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, a cross-shaped protrusion 501) is formed at the upper end of the drive shaft δ0 of the ribbon feed p-ra 5, and the cross-shaped protrusion 50b connects and engages with the cross-shaped groove 50a. When the second cassette 1/ is mounted on the cassette 1 as shown in FIG.
'A cross groove 502 provided on the drive shaft 50'. ' is connected and engaged with the cross protrusion 501) provided on the drive shaft 50 of the cassette 1. Furthermore, the third. Even when the fourth cassette (not shown) is placed above the second cassette, the cross grooves and the cross protrusions of each cassette can be connected and engaged in the same way. As a result, multiple ribbon forces are set (1.1',...) for each drive force (←)
- 1 mounted on the carrier 9, which can be connected and engaged with the moving roller shaft.
By rotating the ribbon feed motors 1o, it is possible to simultaneously drive a plurality of ribbon cassettes.

In the above embodiment, the upper and lower ends of the drive p-ra shaft of the ribbon cassette are formed into a cross-shaped protrusion and a cross-shaped groove, respectively, and are connected and engaged with each other. Needless to say, it is also possible to use a shape other than a cross.

Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, in a ribbon cassette that stores an endless ink ribbon, one end and the other end of the drive roller for feeding the ink ribbon are configured to have shapes that can be held together. As a result, multiple ribbon cassettes can be driven by a single drive source, making it possible to make the device compact and simple in structure, and also allowing the number of ribbon cassettes to be freely selected according to the purpose.
Another effect is that it allows for a more flexible design.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a partially cutaway front view of a ribbon force set F showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the main parts thereof.
3 and 4 are diagrams showing the engraved shapes of the upper and lower ends of the M1 moving roller shaft. 1; Ribbon cassette, 5: Ribbon feeding rope, 6: Holding roller, 9: Carrier, lO: Ribbon drive motor, 5
0.50': Drive shaft, 50t-, 50a': Cross groove, 50b+50b" cross protrusion. Patent applicant: Hitachi Seisakusho Co., Ltd. 505-

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a ribbon cassette that stores an endless ink ribbon, one end of the shaft of the drive roller for feeding the ink ribbon and the other end of the shaft of the drive roller of another ribbon cassette are configured to have a shape that allows them to engage with each other. Ribbon cassette δ featuring