JPS6014596Y2 - ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette that uses an endless ink ribbon.

Conventionally, a separable two-cassette case type ink ribbon cassette has been developed, for example, as disclosed in Utility Model Application Publication No. 53-10721.
This is known from Japanese Patent No. 0, etc., and in such a two-cassette type ink ribbon cassette, different parts are usually built in on the left and right sides.

In such a case, conventionally, the left and right cassette cases were designed to have different shapes that matched the shapes of the parts contained therein.

Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to reduce costs by devising the inner shape of the two cassette cases and standardizing the two-sided set case when parts with different shapes are built into the two separate cassette cases. It is something to do.

A feature of the present invention is that a guide body for guiding an ink ribbon is supported in one cassette case so as to be slidable in the tensioning direction of the ink ribbon via a guide groove, and a guide body for guiding an ink ribbon is supported in one cassette case so as to be slidable in the direction in which the ink ribbon is stretched. An ink roller and a transfer roller are rotatably supported through bearing holes, a dummy bearing hole corresponding to the bearing hole of the other cassette case is formed in one cassette case, and a -cassette case is formed in the other cassette case. A dummy guide groove corresponding to the guide groove is formed.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the ink ribbon cassette of this embodiment includes a pair of cassette cases 1, 1 having completely symmetrical (identical) shape structures. Each cassette case 1 is composed of a lower case 2 and an upper case 3 made of plastic such as ABS.

The lower case 2 has four coupling holes 4, and the upper case 3 has protrusions (not shown) at positions corresponding to the holes.

) is press-fitted into the hole 4 and fixed to the lower case 2.

An ink roller 5 and a transfer roller 6 in contact with the ink roller are provided inside the left cassette case 1.

The ink roller 5 is made of nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR).
The ink is forcibly impregnated into it.

As the material of the ink roller 5, various other sponge-like porous rubbers, felt, and the like may be used.

The transfer roller 6 also serves as a guide roller for the ink ribbon 20.

A guide body 7 is provided inside the cassette case 1 on the right side.

The guide body 7 includes a cove-shaped cavity 8 with an open right end;
A semi-cylindrical part 9 is formed at the rear of this hollow part 8, and a collar part 10.10 is formed to project from both sides of this semi-cylindrical hollow part 9.
It consists of

A coil spring 12 is disposed between the semi-cylindrical portion 9 and the wall surface 11 of the lower case.

As mentioned above, the left and right cassette cases 1, 1 have completely symmetrical structures in common, and the bottom of the lower case 2 has a guide groove 13 for supporting the guide body 7 so as to be slidable left and right. The depth is approximately equal to the wall thickness of the flange portion 10.

In the left cassette case 1, the diameters of the ink roller 5 and the transfer roller are determined so that they do not come into contact with the guide groove 13.

The lower case 2 is provided with a bearing hole 15 that rotatably receives the shaft 14 of the ink roller, and a long groove-shaped bearing hole 17 that receives the shaft 16 of the transfer roller 6.

The bearing hole 17 has a width approximately corresponding to the diameter of the shaft 16, so that the transfer roller 5 is rotatable and also movable left and right.

The inner surface shape of the upper case 3 is exactly the same as the bottom surface shape of the lower case 2.

For the right cassette case 1, the bearing hole 1 shown in the second diagram
5 and 17 are dummies, and the guide groove 13 is a dummy for the left cassette case 1.

Furthermore, opening grooves 18 are formed in the upper and lower positions of the opposing surfaces of the left and right cassette cases 1, 1, respectively, and a connecting claw 19 is provided in the center that can combine and separate the dual-power set cases 1, 1. , 19 is formal.

The dual force set cases 1, 1 are assembled in a connected state with each other using connecting claws 19, 19, and are sold in this state.

A considerable length of the endless fabric ink ribbon 20 is folded in a meandering manner and packed inside the cavity 8 of the guide body 7. - It is passed through each opening groove 18 separately and is turned around the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller 6.

In the state shown in FIG. 1, the guide body 7 is pushed to the right by the coil spring 12, and therefore the ink ribbon is moved between the tip of the guide body 7 and the inner surface of the lower case 2 by the force of the coil spring 12. The ink ribbon 20 will not be pulled out naturally from the cavity 8 of the guide body 7 even with a slight external impact due to the pinched state, and no inconvenience such as the ink ribbon 20 becoming tangled within the cassette cases 1, 1 will occur.

In addition, from approximately the center of both outer surfaces of the lower case 2 to the fulcrum portion 21
is integrally protruded, and a plate-shaped spring portion 22 is attached to the lower case 2 around this fulcrum portion 21 as shown in FIG.
It is integrally formed to hang down along the outer wall surface of the building.

The lower end of the plate-shaped spring portion 22 protrudes below the lower surface of the lower case 2, and a locking pawl 23 is provided at this lower end.

This ink ribbon cassette is set in a printing device such as a serial printer as follows.

First, in FIG. 1, hold the left and right cassette cases 1, 1 by hand and shift them vertically relative to each other.

Then, the coupling claws 19 and 19 are disengaged, and the double force set cases 1, 1 become separable.

Then, the double force set cases 1 and 1 are opened to the left and right (and the ink ribbon packed in the cavity 8 is exposed to the frictional force between the tip of the guide body 7 and the inner surface of the lower case 2 caused by the coil spring 12). The ink ribbon 20 is finally completely removed from the cavity 8, and as shown in FIG. 3, the guide body 7 is guided by the guide groove 13 against the coil spring 12 and moves inside the case. Move slightly to the right.

The distance between the two-sided set cases 1, 1 at this time is set in advance to the installation length of the cassette cases 1, 1 of the printing device.

The printing device is provided with a mounting plate 24 shown in FIG. 4 as an example, and the cassette cases 1 and 1 are
When pushed down, the locking pawl 23 locks onto the end face of the mounting plate 24, and each cassette case 1, 1 is held on the mounting plate 24 by the spring force of the plate-shaped spring portion 22.

In the installed state shown in the first diagram, both cassette cases 1, 1
One of the two ink ribbons 20 pulled out from the opening groove 18 and exposed is connected to a print head and a platen (both not shown).

). At this time, an appropriate tension is applied to the ink ribbon 20 via the guide body 7 which is receiving the spring force of the coil spring 12, and the transfer roller 6 is brought into elastic contact with the ink roller due to the tension.

When printing is performed with the scanning of the print head, the appropriate ink ribbon 20 is fed through a feeding mechanism in conjunction with the scanning of the print head, particularly in conjunction with the carriage return operation of the print head. , the transfer roller 6 and the ink roller 5 also rotate.

The ink impregnated in the ink roller 5 adheres to the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller 6 in the form of a thin film, so that when the ink ribbon 20 rotates as described above, the ink ribbon 20 is attached to the surface of the transfer roller 6. The ink adhering to the printer is replenished.

When removing the cassette case 1 from the installed state shown in FIG. 4, by holding the upper ends of both plate-shaped spring parts 22.22 with your hands and moving them inward, the lower ends of the plate-shaped spring parts 22.22 will become the fulcrum. 21 as the center of the lever, and the locking claw 23 is released from the end surface of the mounting plate 24, and the cassette case 1
It can be easily removed by simply lifting it upwards.

As described above, according to the present invention, even when two cassette cases have built-in parts such as the guide body 7 on one side and the ink roller 5 and transfer roller 6 on the other side, which have different shapes and have different functions, the dual-power set case are completely identical (
Since we devised a symmetrical) shape, the dual force set case can be completely standardized, and only one type of mold is required for injection molding this cassette case, resulting in a significant reduction in manufacturing costs. Even ribbons can be provided at a very low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of an ink ribbon cassette for a printing device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a partially sectional plan view showing the internal structure with the upper case removed when assembled. Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a plan view showing the state when the double force set case is separated and set, and Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in Figure 3. be. 1... Cassette case, 2... Lower case, 3... Upper case, 5... Ink roller, 6... Transfer roller, 7... Guide body, 13... Guide groove, 15... Bearing hole for ink roller, 17... Bearing hole for transfer roller.

Claims (1)

[Claim for Utility Model Registration] An endless ink ribbon is stretched across two cassette cases that are separately set in a printing device, and a guide body that guides the ink ribbon is installed in one of the cassette cases in a guide groove. an ink roller and a transfer roller that are in contact with each other are rotatably supported in the other cassette case through bearing holes, and are supported in the other cassette case so as to be slidable in the direction in which the ink ribbon is stretched. A dummy bearing hole corresponding to the bearing hole of the cassette case of the external force is formed in the cassette case, and a dummy guide groove corresponding to the guide groove of the one cassette case is formed in the other cassette case. Ink ribbon cassette.