JPS60229783A - Multicolor ribbon printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate an accurate color selection by positioning a ribbon guide at the corresponding position in linkage with selective positioning of a ribbon applied in the vertical way with a ribbon device. CONSTITUTION:When the indexing position of a cam 17 is selectively controlled with a color selection motor, a ribbon device 15 is turned about a hinge 19 to position the color corresponding to a ribbon 21 in a ribbon cassette 20 at the printing position. With the turning of the ribbon device 15, an interlocking arm 22 is turned about a hinge 23 through a bearing 24 to select the vertical position of ribbon guides 14 and 14' through an interlocking 25 guided by guide pins 13a and 13a'. At this point, a detent tooth 25a of the interlocking member 25 is engaged with a click engaging section 26a of a plate spring 26 on the side of carrier frame 13 to position the ribbon guides accurately corresponding to selection positions of four-stage for colors of an ink ribbon 21.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multicolor ribbon printing device, and more particularly to a ribbon device of a printing device suitable for performing color selective printing using multicolor ribbons of not only two colors but three or more colors. .

<Prior Art and Background> Multicolor ribbon devices for impact printers are known, for example, as red and black cutting devices for serial printers.

As shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, a ribbon cassette 6 in which three ribbons 8 colored in stripes of two colors are loaded in a carrier is prepared, and the ribbon in the cassette is used together with printing. This type selects stripes by feeding the ribbon and selectively moving it in the vertical direction according to color instructions, and vertical stripe selection is performed using a selection magnet 7 as shown in FIG. 2, for example. However, with this model, if you try to use more colors, the ribbon will inevitably become larger, and the ribbon device that feeds and selects the ribbon will also need to be larger, and it will also require printing at a certain high speed, such as with a wire dot printer. In the device, the storage length of the ribbon must be increased considering the ribbon replacement cycle, so in the case of a type that is mounted on a carrier, the size and weight of the ribbon device will be large, and the width of the entire device in the printing digit direction will be reduced due to the increased width of the carrier 3. There are many unfavorable points in terms of balance when installing a printing device due to the influence of an increase in the capacity of the spacing drive means and an increase in the demand for improved structural strength due to an increase in the moving weight of the carrier.

Therefore, such a large multicolor ribbon device is not mounted on a carrier, but is configured on the structural frame side, and the ribbon is guided on both sides of the structural frame and stretched in the direction of the printing column, and the color selection is performed by selecting the upper and lower guides. By adopting this configuration, there is no need to mount the ribbon device on the carrier, so even if the size and weight increase, the above disadvantages will not occur. Since the ribbon must be guided, it has the disadvantage that it is difficult to determine the vertical position of the ribbon at the print head (relative position to printing and dots).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an improved multicolor ribbon printing device in view of the above.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that it provides a printing device having a print head mounted on a carrier whose spacing is controlled in the digit direction, and a mechanical frame on which the carrier, platen, ribbon device, etc. are mounted. A ribbon device having at least positioning means is provided on the carrier, and a ribbon guide is provided on the carrier to sandwich the print head and support the ribbon in the vertical direction, and the ribbon guide is configured to be movable in the vertical direction. A means for interlocking with a selective positioning means of a ribbon device is provided, and the ribbon guide is positioned at a corresponding position in conjunction with vertical selective positioning of the stretched ribbon by the ribbon device.

<Example> FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.

5 and 6 show supplementary views of FIG. 3.

As shown in the figure, both side frames 10 of the printing device
．． A platen 1, a guide shaft 4, and a drive shaft 5 that also serves as a guide are passed between the carriers 11 and 11, and a carrier 13 is positioned and guided so as to be able to scan in the space direction.The space motor 12 controls the space drive. Guide bins 13a and 13'a are formed to support the print head 2 and the ribbon guide 14.14' in a vertically movable manner.
It is configured to be driven in conjunction with a ribbon guide lever 22 for positioning drive.

Also, a ribbon cassette 2 with a width spanning the printing area
0 in which the ribbon 21 is stored is fitted into the ribbon device 15, and the ribbon device 15 feeds the ribbon by driving the feed rollers 20a and 20b, which are engaged with the ribbon feed motor 16, in the direction of the arrow. Hinge 1 on 11
9 (19'), the extended tongue portion 15b forming a cam follower contacts the cam 17, and the cam 17 selectively controls the index position of the cam 17 according to the color signal by the color selection motor 18. As shown in FIG. 5, on the carrier 13 side, a ribbon guide interlocking arm 22 is rotatably supported around a fulcrum 23, and is moved up and down within the guide sleeve 15a of the ribbon device 15 with a hair ring 24. The carrier 13 is interlocked and guided with a degree of freedom left in the space direction of the carrier while being restricted in the direction.
Regardless of the space position of the carrier, the tip of the interlocking arm 22 is in phase and with approximately the same amplitude as the arm tip portions 20C and 20d of the ribbon cassette 20 in conjunction with the sowing of the ribbon device selected by the cam I7. The ribbon guide 14.14', which is configured to select the vertical position and is installed on the carrier 13 side, has a guide pin 13a as shown in FIG.

Since the vertical position of the ribbon guide 14.14' is selected via the interlocking member 25 guided by the link member 13'a, the inclination of the ribbon device is selected by the color selection motor 1B and the arm tip 20c is selected.

When you select a color by moving 20d up or down, the ribbon guide is also selected at a predetermined vertical position accordingly, so that even if you select a color, the ribbon is always stretched parallel to the print area, and the ribbon feed motor 16 moves the ribbon. The ribbon stretched by the feeding is attached to the arm tips 20c and 20d.
This can prevent the ribbon from coming off, becoming wrinkled at the ribbon guide 14, 14', or becoming dirty.

<Supplementary information and effects> The multicolor ink ribbon 21 can be used for example in magenta, magenta,
If there are four colors (yellow and blank), at least four selection positions are required with a predetermined selection accuracy, and the more the same ribbon width is divided into multiple colors, the more positioning accuracy is required, as explained earlier. In the configuration in which the selected position is transmitted to the ribbon guide 14.14' attached to the carrier side which moves in space with the hair ring 24 via the guide sleeve 15a, the ribbon guide side is inevitably more relevant than the arm tip. As the tolerances accumulate, the indexing accuracy decreases, but as a multi-color printing device, it is the ribbon guide that performs indexing to prevent color mixing in correspondence with the printing device (the position where the tip 2h of the print head corresponds to the platen). Therefore, in order to position the ribbon guide, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, detent teeth 25a for self-positioning are formed on the interlocking member 25 moved by the interlocking arm 22 at corresponding positions with corresponding accuracy, and clicked onto the carrier frame 13 side. A self-stabilizing position is achieved by attaching a leaf spring 26 having an engaging portion 26a for
? If the valley of the detent tooth 25a and the engaging position of the click engaging part 26a are set at the center of the selection position corresponding to each color, the selected position will not be the selection position based on the cumulative tolerance from the cam 17, but the detent tooth. The selection accuracy from the outside is determined by the set position between the and leaf spring, and the accuracy of selection from the outside is good as long as there is enough resolution not to select the adjacent parts, so the manufacturing accuracy and assembly accuracy of each member to realize the interlocking part will be rough but better. However, accuracy control against changes over time due to wear and the like becomes easier, and a characteristic effect is produced in that highly accurate color selection can be easily realized at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams of a conventional example, Figure 3 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and Figures 4, 5, and 6 are supplementary diagrams of Figure 3, and are an embodiment of the present invention. A partial diagram of each part is shown. In the figure, 1 is a platen, 2 is a print head, 3 or 13 is a carrier, 4 is a guide shaft, 5 is a drive shaft, 6 or 20 is a ribbon cassette, and 7 is a selection magnet. 8 or 21 is a ribbon, 10 and 11 are frames, 12 is a space motor, 14.14' is a ribbon guide, 15 is a ribbon device, and 16 is a ribbon feed motor. 17 is a cam, 18 is a color selection motor, 19 and 23 are hinge fulcrums, and 22 is a ribbon guide interlocking arm. 24 is a hair ring, 25 is an interlocking member, and the suffixes indicate each of these parts. No. zI21

Claims (1)

[Claims] +11 A print head mounted on a carrier whose spacing is controlled in the digit direction, the carrier, and the platen. In a printing device having a mechanism frame on which a ribbon device or the like is mounted, a ribbon device having a selective positioning means is provided on the side of the mechanism frame, and a ribbon guide is provided on the carrier to sandwich the print head and support the ribbon in the vertical direction. the ribbon guide is configured to be movable in the vertical direction, and means is provided for interlocking with selective positioning means of the ribbon device, the ribbon guide being interlocked with selective positioning of the stretched ribbon in the vertical direction. A multicolor ribbon printing device characterized by being configured to position the ribbon guides at corresponding positions. (2) A multi-stage click detent mechanism is provided on the carrier to self-position the final position when the ribbon guide is selected. Colored ribbon printing device. (3) The means for interlocking the ribbon guide of the ribbon device is a hale provided in the digit direction on the ribbon device side, and the means for indexing the ribbon device is a cam. The multicolor ribbon printing device described in Section 1.