JPS6110480A - Ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a ribbon to be shifted at high speed, by providing a ribbon guide which can be moved with an ink ribbon (exposed to the exterior) passed therethrough and guide rollers which can be moved in the width direction of the ribbon, in an ink ribbon cassette for a printer. CONSTITUTION:To perform overlap printing in three primary colors, printing by a yellow belt 2c liable to generate mixing of colors is first conducted. Next, the ribbon guide 8 is lifted up by a ribbon-lifting mechanism to select a cyan belt 2a, and the ribbon 2 is taken up into a main body 1 of the cassette through the guide rollers 4, 5. To prevent the ribbon 2 to be bent abruptly, the rollers 4, 5 are slidden along shafts 6, 7 onto the path of the ribbon 2 once slanted, and are rotated at the new positions concurrently with the feeding of the ribbon 2. A magenta belt 2b is also selected in a similar manner. Accordingly, when shifting the ribbon in the width direction thereof, the ribbon can be shifted with a small force and at high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Technical Field) The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette for a printer.

(Prior art) With the spread of personal computers in recent years, there has been a strong demand for color printers, but color printers using ribbons can be roughly divided into thermal transfer methods using thermal heads, and wire impact printers. There are two types of dot impact methods. In both cases, the ribbon θ) had to be switched, and the switch was done by moving the entire ribbon up and down. [7 Kashi,
With this conventional method, the entire ribbon cassette must be moved when changing colors, so it is difficult to move the ribbon cassette.
(The drawback is that it takes too much power and time.)

(Objective) It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink ribbon cassette that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and allows ink ribbons to be switched at high speed with extremely little force.

(Example) Fig. 1 shows an ink ribbon cassette that is an example of the present invention, 1 is a cassette body, and although not shown in the figure, an ink ribbon spool wound into a roll is stored inside. ing. The two ink ribbons unwound from the ribbon spool are pulled out from the opening 3, are not guided to the guide rollers 4 and 5, and are again wound into the cassette body 1 through the other opening (not shown). Guide rollers 4, 5
The width a of the ink ribbon 2 is approximately equal to the width a of the ink ribbon 2, and the arm portions 1a and 1b protrude from the cassette body 1. Arm IC, 1 (fix both ends to 1 tt 7
) The length b of the shafts 6 and 7 is 2 to 3 times the middle color of the ribbon. is set to . A ribbon guide 8 is completely free from the cassette body 1, and the ink ribbon 2 is inserted into a pair of left and right grooves 8a (only the right groove is shown in the figure).

Although not shown in the figure, this ribbon guide 8 is fixed to an elevator mechanism of the printer while being attached to the printer, and is shifted in the direction C, which is a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ribbon. The tip of a wire tod head 9 mounted on a carriage (also not shown) enters the central opening 8b, as shown in FIG. 3.

The ink ribbon 2 has a cyan color band 2al and a magenta color band 2b.
, a multi-color ribbon consisting of three stripes with a yellow color band 2c, the distance between the guide rollers 4 and 5 is almost equal during the movement of the wire tod head, and the cassette does not move at all during printing. 9 reciprocates between the guide rollers 4 and 5 together with the ribbon guide 8. Ichi Nako's ink ribbon 2 t, t is wound 11 times by a winding claw (not shown) provided on the lower surface of the cassette body at the same 1υ1 movement as the wire tod head 9 moves. In is a manual ribbon winding knob, and 11 is a cassette ejecting knob.

Next, the operation of the above configuration example will be explained.

First, when printing, the three primary colors are overprinted, so K
The yellow band 2C, where ribbon color mixing is likely to occur, is printed first (FIG. 2(a)). After printing predetermined dots, a cyan band 2a is selected by a ribbon elevator mechanism (not shown) (FIG. 2(b)). At this time, it is sufficient to raise only the ribbon guide 8, and the ribbon 2 is wound into the cassette body 1 via the guide rollers 4 and 5. Guide opening La 4゜5 It is effective to prevent the ribbon 2 from breaking suddenly. Position on the diagonal K-shaped path of the ribbon 2 It rotates with the feed of step 2. In addition, if the cloth ribbon does not come into contact with the guide portion of 1/C times, there is a risk of color mixing, but in this embodiment, the color mixing prevention upper 1/C:l; 1 is also effective, and the magenta band 2bo>p selection is also performed (21st N (C)
).

As stated in J'J I., according to this embodiment, ribbon switching only needs to be done by raising and lowering the necessary part (the tip of the head).
Compared to raising, lowering, or rotating the entire ribbon cassette,
The driving force is small and the switching time is very short t11.
There are benefits to coming.

Furthermore, since a vertically movable guide roller is used to guide the ribbon, the ribbon can be fed smoothly, and in the case of cloth ribbons, color mixing in the ribbon feeding path can be prevented.

Also, when attaching and detaching the ribbon, move the ribbon guide to the specified position ff1.
K-setting can be done easily, and the operability is improved compared to conventional ribbon cassettes that are pushed in with a pencil or fingertip.

(Effects) As described above, the present invention provides an ink ribbon cassette that requires only a small amount of force to shift the ink ribbon in its width direction and can be shifted at high speed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 shows an oblique view of an ink ribbon cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention. lt! Figure 2 (a), ft, +l, (CI is a cross-sectional view explaining the operation 01... Ink ribbon cassette body 2... Fist ink ribbon 4.5... Guide roller 6.7... Guide shaft 8... e-ribbon guide 9... wire dot head

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an ink ribbon cassette in which an ink ribbon pulled out to the outside from one opening is guided into the inside from the other opening, a ribbon guide through which the ink ribbon exposed to the outside is inserted and which is free with respect to the cassette body;
An ink ribbon cassette comprising a guide roller that guides the ink ribbon and is movable in the width direction of the ink ribbon.