JPS6099686A - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enlarge a ribbon end detecting distance, thereby facilitate control of a printing operation stopping position and enable to favorably print without generating any irregularity in density at boundaries, by a method wherein an inerting part for a printing head is provided at one end of a front face of a cassette casing, and an inserting part for a ribbon end detector is provided at the other end. CONSTITUTION:The printing head inserting part 8 for receiving the printing head 7 is provided at the left end of the front face of the cassette casing 1, and the inserting part 15 for the ribbon end detector 16 is provided at the right end of the front face. An ink ribbon 2 is fed from a supplying reel 3 to a take-up reel 4 by each guide part provided in the casing 1, and in its source, it is passed through an opening end of the inserting part 8. When the cassette is fitted, the ribbon end detector 16 fitted to a carriage 6 is inserted, and detects the passage of the boundary between an ink-coated part and a trailing end auxiliary winding part of the ribbon 2. Accordingly, the length of the ribbon can be enlarged, and it is possible to securely print up to a pausing position such as the end of a line.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] This invention i-J: A ribbon cassette that is detachably attached to the carriage of a thermal transfer printer and feeds an ink ribbon to the printing surface of a print head in synchronization with printing operations. Regarding structure.

[Prior art]

In conventional bottle cassettes of this type, a print head insertion portion is generally provided in the center of the front surface of the cassette.

On the other hand, in the ribbon cassette of this building, d2 detects that the ink ribbon is almost used up and controls the printing operation i1.
1 is being done. That is, a ribbon end detector (a means for photoelectrically detecting the difference in reflectance at ribbon ends) provided on the carriage is inserted into the cassette at a position adjacent to the ribbon feeding path, and the ribbon Control is performed to prevent printing defects by stopping the printing operation at the same time as the start-end detection or after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

However, in conventional ribbon cassettes, the print head insertion part is provided at the center of the front surface, and the ribbon end detector insertion part is provided at an appropriate position in the ribbon path from the supply reel to the print head insertion part. Therefore, the length of the ribbon from the ribbon end detector to the print head, that is, the detection distance, must be relatively short, and after detecting the ribbon end, it is necessary to wait until an appropriate division point (for example, until the end of a row or when one section of the image ends). There was a drawback that once printing was performed, it was impossible to control it, and it was impossible to freely perform good printing with inconspicuous density differences.

[1] The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks of the prior art,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a 17-link cassette that can facilitate control of printing operations by increasing the detection distance of the ribbon.

[Summary of the invention]

A feature of the present invention is that the above object is achieved by providing a print head insertion section at the left end of the ribbon cassette and a ribbon end detector insertion section at the right end.

In this case, the 4'iI construction can be simplified by making the sudon end detector insertion portion also serve as sudon cassette positioning means.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figures 8111 to 5.
I'll tell you my brother.

1 to 3 are diagrams showing a first embodiment of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

In these figures, a supply reel 3 and a take-up reel 4 for an ink ribbon 2 are provided in a cassette case 1, and the ribbon is fed by driving the take-up reel in the direction indicated by the arrow. A case lid 5 is detachably attached to the upper surface of the cassette case 1.

This ribbon cassette has 6 carriages that move along with the paper.
The ribbon feeding is performed by driving the take-up reel 4 in synchronization with the movement N+i of the carriage in the direction of arrow B during printing operation.

A print head insertion portion 8 for receiving a print head 7 is provided at the left end of the front surface of the cassette case l.

As shown in the figure, the ribbon 2 is sent along a predetermined path from the supply reel 3 to the take-up reel 4 by each guide section provided in the cassette case l. - At the tortoise shell, the open end of the print head insertion part 8 is 1111. tFh.

During the printing operation, the printing pad 7 swings and sounds forward to press the ribbon 2 from the back side and bring it into pressure contact with the paper (not shown).

Positioning openings 9 and 10 are formed in the cassette case 1, and guide pins 11 and positioning protrusions 12 provided on the carriage 6 are fitted into these openings. In addition, a chevron-shaped protrusion 13 for substantially spring contact is formed on the rear surface of the cassette case 1, and when the suppression spring 14 attached to the carriage 6 comes into contact with this chevron-shaped protrusion 13, the series ribbon cassette is pressed forward. be done.

Therefore, the illustrated adhesive cassette is positioned with respect to the carriage 6 in all directions, front and back, left and right, and up and down, as shown in FIGS. , mounted in place.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, an opening 15 is formed at the front right end of the cassette case 1 as a ribbon end detector insertion portion, into which the ribbon end detector 16 attached to the carry roller is inserted when the cassette is installed. It has become so.

This ribbon end detector detects passage of the boundary between the ink attached part and the end auxiliary part of the ribbon 2,
For example, a photoelectric detector is used that utilizes the difference in reflectance between tape surfaces.

According to the embodiment described above, since the printing lead insertion part 8 is provided at the left end and the ribbon end detector insertion part 15 is provided at the right end, the length of the sliding bin between these parts, that is, the detection distance can be increased. , it is possible to obtain the effect that the printing operation stop position can be easily controlled. Therefore, an appropriate break point M such as the end of a line or the end of a section of an image can be set.
It is possible to reliably print up to 100% of the area, and it is possible to perform good printing without boundary density unevenness.

5 and 6 are diagrams showing a second embodiment of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the ribbon end detector 16 itself is used as a positioning protrusion, and the positioning protrusion 12 and opening 1:110 in the M1 embodiment are removed, and the ribbon end detector 16 is placed on the right side of the cassette case. tA Iα The above-mentioned εI
The structure is different from that of the No. 31 embodiment. The other parts have substantially the same structure, and corresponding parts are designated by the same reference numerals and their explanation will be omitted.

According to the second embodiment, not only can the same effects as in the first embodiment be achieved, but also the positioning protrusion 12 can be removed and the structure can be simplified.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, a lipo/cassette can be obtained in which the detection distance of the ribbon end can be increased and the printing operation can be easily controlled.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a first embodiment of the present invention's yorosu yl' y cassette, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III-Il in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view along line IV-I in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a second embodiment of the lipo/cassette according to the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. It is. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Cassette case, 2... Ribbon, 3... Supply reel, 4... Winding series reel, 5... Case attachment,
6... Carriage, 7... Print head, 8... Print head insertion section, 15... S? end detector insertion part,
16... Ribbon end detector. ILA ■ Figure 2 @ Figure 5! Figure 6 - L Do, Kanne City - JJE r! r"i March 261, 1981" 1, ν Correction Agency Director No. 1 Sugi Kazu Inu 1, Indication of the Case Patent Application No. 58-207577 2, Title of the Invention Ribbon Cassette 3 Amend Nagisa'is 4' ) Relationship with Patent applicant name (100) Canon Co., Ltd. 4 Agent address 40 Toranomon, 5-13-1, Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo Mori Building Column 6 for claims and detailed description of the invention in the specification; Ura's contents fi+ Details page 3, line 11 [leftmost 1? "Let one end be l. (2) Let the "right end" of line 12 of the same book in the same book be [i (mouth corner l. +31 Ibid. i4 page 1, irT] r left end! y < r -
y'+At l. (The 41st page, page 5, 4 lines from the bottom, [Right end]). (5) The 6th, 7th line of the same page, ``Left end - 1''. 16) Same page, same page. The "right end" of the 8th line is the "other end". (7) Same f - 1st line from the bottom of the same page, "Right end, 1χ "Other end"
shall be. , 8) Revise the scope of the I patent claims on a separate sheet. 1v♀Claims (11 heat Ili;,'j people) In the ribbon cassette, which can be freely loaded into a carriage such as an 0 printer, a print head insertion hole is provided at one end, and a rise end detector is installed at the other end. Should I have an insertion part? Characteristic Ribbon Kachinodo. (2) Is the insertion part of the scaler H at the above d? Tsukaset's key 17 Sol Ic positioning means? The adhesive described in claim 1, which is characterized by a double layer? Tsuka set.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A ribbon cassette that is removably attached to a carriage such as a thermo-floating printer, which is characterized by having a print head insertion part at the left end and a ribbon end detector insertion part at the right end. cassette. (2) The ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the ribbon end detector insertion portion also serves as means for positioning the ribbon cassette with respect to the carriage.