JPS60219081A - Heat transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable to detect the leading and trailing ends of an ink ribbon in a cassette, by a construction wherein a cassette capable of being used in a normal condition and an inverted condition is provided with two notched parts symmetrical on left and right sides so that a head can be inserted into one of the notched parts while a ribbon sensor can be inserted into the other. CONSTITUTION:In a thermal transfer printer, the cassette 34 containing the ink ribbon 16 having a printing width for two lines and capable of being used in the normal condition and the inverted condition is provided with two notched parts A, B symmetrical on left and right sides so that, when the cassette is fitted to a carriage of the printer, the printing head 15 can be inserted into one of the notched parts while the ribbon sensor 25 can be inserted into the other notched part. A winding-starting part and a winding-finishing part of the ink ribbon 16 are provided with a highly reflective tape or a transparent tape, which is detected by the ribbon sensor 25.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, and more particularly to a ribbon cassette for a thermal transfer printer that stores an ink ribbon and a method for monitoring the ink ribbon.

[Background of the invention]

Conventional thermal transfer printers generally print in only one direction, and the ink ribbon detection section only needs to be installed in an appropriate blank area of the ribbon cassette. There was no need to consider it.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that can detect the presence or absence of an ink ribbon in a reversible ribbon cassette.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, two notches are provided symmetrically in the ribbon cassette so that a thermal head can be inserted into one and a ribbon sensor can be inserted into the other.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows an external view of a thermal transfer printer. Side plate (1) 1
The shaft (1) 4 is fixed between the side plate (2) 2 and the side plate 6
Further, a carriage 5 is arranged so as to be slidable on the shaft (1) 4,
A ribbon cassette 7 and a thermal head 15 are mounted on the carriage 5, and inside the ribbon cassette 7,
An ink ribbon 16 is stored.

The carriage 5 is configured to be movable in the left-right direction in the figure by a carriage motor 8 via a timing belt 10. The line feed motor 11 transmits driving force to a gear (1) 12 fastened to the shaft of the platen 18, and feeds the paper 14. Paper can also be fed in the same way by turning the platen knob 13 by hand. 19 is a paper guide. By moving the release lever 20 in the front-back direction, the shaft 3
It has a structure in which a paper pressing roller 17, which is slidably disposed on the paper surface, is pressed against the paper surface or released from the paper surface. 6 is the home position sensor, 9 is the thermal head 1
This is a flat cable for energizing 5 etc.

This printer uses a unidirectional printing method that prints only when the carriage 5 moves to the right. When the carriage 5 moves to the right, it winds up the ink ribbon 16, and when it moves to the left, it winds the ink ribbon 16. I won't take it. Also, carriage motor 8
．． Line feed motor 11. It is assumed that the home position sensor 6, thermal head 15, etc. are controlled by a controller (not shown).

FIG. 2 is an overall exploded perspective view of the ribbon cassette 7 according to the present invention.

The ribbon cassette 7 is configured to form a hollow case by fixing a cassette case (1) 31 and a cassette case (2) 34 with fixing screws 30, and inside thereof,
The ink ribbon 16 and a bank tension mechanism section 33 for applying a constant pack tension to the ink ribbon 16 are incorporated. Further, the cassette case (1) 31 and the cassette case (2) 34 are provided with insertion notches A and B for the thermal head 15 mounted on the carriage 5.

Figure 3 shows cassette 1-case (1) of ribbon cassette 7.
31 is removed and the internal structure of the ribbon cassette 7 is viewed from above.

The winding operation of the ink ribbon 16 will be described using FIGS. 2 and 3.

In the above configuration, the thermal head 15 is installed at a position where the heating element section (not shown) of the thermal head 15 transfers only the lower half of the width of the ink ribbon 16, and the ribbon cassette 7 is placed in the cassette case (2). ') When the thermal head 151 is inserted into the notch A when the 34 is mounted on the side that contacts the top surface of the carriage 5! l: The ink ribbon 16 pressed against the paper 14 is discharged toward the ribbon core (2) 40 side by the movement of the carriage 5. That is, since the ribbon cassette 7 moves together with the carriage 5, the new ink ribbon 16 wound around the ribbon core (1) 39 passes through the back tension mechanism section 33 and is supplied to the thermal head 15.

The ink ribbon 16 printed and discharged by the thermal head 15 is wound around a ribbon core (2) 40. The ribbon core (2) 40 is configured within the carriage 5, and is connected to and rotationally driven by the winding shaft 26 driven by the timing belt 10. Also, ink ribbon 1
The print marks at 61 are only on the underside of the ink ribbon 16, as shown by diagonal lines in FIG.

Through the above operation, the ink ribbon 16 with printing traces on only the lower half is fed out from the ribbon core (1) 39 until only its terminal end remains on the ribbon core (1) 39, and wound around the ribbon core (2) 40. It is passed around.

When only the end portion of the ink ribbon 16 remains in the ribbon core (1) 39, the ribbon cassette 7
is removed from the carriage 5, reversed and mounted on the angle carriage 5. That is, contrary to the above, the ribbon cassette 7 is installed with the cassette case (1) 31 in contact with the upper surface of the carriage 5, the thermal head 15 is inserted into the notch B, and the heating element part of the thermal head 15 is inserted. (not shown) is connected to the take-up shaft 26 by a ribbon core ( ) 39 which is located in a part of the width of the ink ribbon 16 where there is no printing trace and in which only the end portion of the ink ribbon 16 remains. be. When a printing command is given in this state, the ink ribbon 16 performs printing in the half width remaining from the above operation by the same operation as described above, and the ribbon core (1) 39
It is wound around.

In this embodiment, the lower half of the ink ribbon width is used when the ink ribbon 16 travels forward, and the remaining half is used when the ink ribbon 16 travels backward, but the same effect can be obtained even if the ink ribbon 16 is reversed.

Next, a method for monitoring the ink ribbon 16 will be explained using FIG. The ink ribbon 16 has an ink ribbon end mark (aluminum foil pasted) at the beginning and end of the winding, and a reflective ribbon sensor 25 detects the difference in the amount of reflected light between the black ink and the aluminum foil. This is to detect the presence or absence of. The front surface of the wood cassette 7 is provided with notches A and B symmetrically. When the ink ribbon 16 travels forward, the thermal pad 15. A reflective ribbon sensor 25 is inserted into the notch B, and a printing operation is performed. When the end of the ink ribbon 16 is detected and the ribbon cassette 7 is reversed and mounted for return travel, a reflective ribbon sensor 25. The thermal head 15 is inserted into the notch B and a printing operation is performed.

As described above, the space of the ribbon cassette 7 can be effectively utilized to perform printing and ribbon detection on the reciprocating reversing cassette.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, it is possible to reliably detect the presence or absence of an ink ribbon in a reciprocally reversible ribbon cassette, thereby making it possible to reliably reduce running costs, which is an advantage of a reversible ribbon cassette.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of the thermal transfer printer, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the entire ribbon cassette, and FIG. 3 is a top view of the inside of the ribbon cassette. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Side plate (1), 2... Side plate (2), 3... Axis, 4... Axis (1), 5... Carriage, 6... Home position sensor, 7...・Ribbon cassette, 8・
・・Carriage motor, 9・・Flat cable, 1G
...Timing belt, 11...Line feed motor, 12...Gear (1), 13...Platen knob, 14...Paper, 15...Thermal head, 16...
・Ink ribbon, 17...Paper presser roller, 18...
Platen, 19... Paper guide, 20... Release lever, 25... Reflective ribbon sensor, 26... Winding shaft, 30... Fixing screw, 31... Cassette case (1), 33... Back tension mechanism section, 34...
...Cassette case (2), 39...Ribbon core (1)
), 40... Ribbon core (2). Agent Patent Attorney Akio Takahashi 1'] 2 q False Map

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ink ribbon, a ribbon force set 1- for storing the ink ribbon, a thermal head, a carriage for moving the thermal head and the ribbon cassette, a thermal head pressing mechanism provided on the carriage, and a control for controlling printing operations. In a thermal transfer printer having a container, two notches are provided in a reversible ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon having a printing width of two lines in a direction perpendicular to the printing direction, and the shape of the notches is A thermal transfer printer characterized in that the notches are identical and symmetrical, and a thermal head can be inserted into one of the notches, and a ribbon sensor can be inserted into the other.