JPS61175073A - Ribbon switcher - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the distortion of a ribbon as well as to obtain clear printing conditions by a method in which a guider to hold a printing ribbon is moved to the straight line direction crossing the moving direction of a carrier, and the cassette case with a supporter is moved by the first and second arms in an interlocking manner with the action of the guider. CONSTITUTION:A guider 19 to guide a part of a printing ribbon 8 in a sliding manner is provided movably to the straight line direction crossing the moving direction of a carrier 2. A supporter 10 for a cassette case 9 is provided movably to the straight line direction crossing the moving direction of the carrier 2. The first arm 21 whose one end is movably connected to the guider 19 is connected with the other end of the second arm 23 whose one end is connected movably with the supporter 10 in a rotatable manner toward the direction of crossing the moving direction of the carrier 2. A printing ribbon 8 is held by the guider 19 and always faced a printing section 1 in parallel. The supporter 10 moves the case 9 to the direction of crossing the moving direction of the carrier 2 by rotational actions of the arms 21 and 23, thereby preventing the distortion of the ribbon 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to a ribbon switching device for use in a printer.

Conventional technology Conventionally, a mounting plate on which a cassette case containing multicolored printing ribbons is mounted is rotated vertically around a fulcrum.
2. Description of the Related Art There is a printer in which a desired color of a printing ribbon is placed opposite a printing section to print in a desired color.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in such a device, since the mounting plate rotates, the printing ribbon cannot be opposed parallel to the printing portion depending on the rotational position. In order to make them nearly parallel, it is necessary to increase the distance between the fulcrum of the mounting plate and the printing section, which poses a problem of increasing the size of the apparatus. Furthermore, there is a method in which only a part of the printing ribbon is shifted at the tip of the printing section in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier, but multicolor ribbons have a large shift amount and are easily twisted. There is a problem that the printing ribbon gets damaged due to frequent switching.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a ribbon switching device that can always keep the printing ribbon facing parallel to the printing section to obtain a clear printing condition, and can also prevent the ribbon from twisting. The purpose is to scale.

Means for Solving the Problem A cassette case 9 containing color-coded printing ribbons 8 in a plurality of zones 4, 5, 6.7 is provided, and the printing section 1 is mounted on the tip of a carrier 2 that moves back and forth. , a guide member 1 that slidably guides a part of the printing ribbon 8 pulled out from the cassette case 9 along the moving direction of the carrier 2;
9 is provided to be freely movable in a linear direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2, a support part 10 for supporting the cassette case 9 is provided to be freely movable in a linear direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2, and the supporting part 10 and the guide member A ribbon switching mechanism 26 is provided to move either one of the ribbon arm 21 and the guide member 19. The other end of the arm 23 is connected to both sides of the carrier so as to be rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2, and each of the first and second arms 21 and 23 has a plurality of arms that mesh with each other. tooth 2
5 are arranged around the outer periphery of the arms 21 and 23 having a radius around the center of rotation.

Therefore, the printing ribbon 8 is held by the guide member 19 and always faces the printing section 1 in a parallel state. By the rotational movement of the first and second arms 21 and 23 with which the teeth 25 mesh, the support part 1o moves the cassette case 9 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2 in conjunction with the movement of the guide member 19. , to prevent the printing ribbon 8 from twisting.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

A carrier 2 on which a dot printer head 1, which is a printing section, is mounted is held by a carrier shaft 3 so as to be able to reciprocate. Further, a cassette case 9 is provided in which an endless printing ribbon 8 color-coded into a plurality of zones 4, 5, 6° 7 is housed, and a mounting plate 10 is provided as a support for detachably holding the cassette case 9. is provided. This mounting plate 10 has guide shafts 12 slidably held by frames 11 on both sides, and is urged upward by a spring 13 to move in a linear direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2. Further, the mounting plate 10 is formed with a horizontally long groove 14 and an expanded portion 15 located at the end of the groove 14. Then, it is inserted from the expanded portion 15 into the groove 1.
A movable body 17 is provided that supports a roller 16 that moves within the movable body 4.

Therefore, shafts 18 are erected on both sides of the tip of the carrier 2,
A guide member 19 is held by these shafts 18 so as to be movable in a straight line direction perpendicular to the direction in which the carrier 2 moves. A ribbon roller 20 that allows the printing ribbon 8 to run smoothly is rotatably held in the guide member 19. and,
On both sides of the carrier 2 are first arms 21 located at the front.
is rotatably held by a shaft 22, and a second arm 23 located at the rear is rotatably held by a shaft 24. These arms 21 paired on one side
．． 23 is formed with teeth 25 that mesh with each other. The tip of the first arm 21 is rotatably connected to the guide member 19, and the second arm 23 is rotatably connected to both sides of the movable body 17 and indirectly connected to the mounting plate 10. ing.

Next, a ribbon switching mechanism 26 is provided.

The ribbon switching mechanism 26 includes a cam 27 and two shift levers 2.
8,29 and more. The cam 27 has a gear 32 that meshes with a gear 31 driven by a motor 30. The shift levers 28 and 29 are rotatably held around a shaft 33,
A roller 34 is rotatably held at one end, and a support piece 36 is formed at the other end to support a shaft 35 hanging from the lower surface of the mounting plate 10. Figure 6 is a side view of the cam 27 developed.

A slope 37 is formed on the lower surface thereof, and a total of eight locking recesses 38, 39°, 40, 41, which engage with the roller 34, are formed at intervals of 45°. Locking recesses 38, 39, 40.4 having the same height, respectively
1 comrades are arranged with an interval of 180'.

In such a configuration, the motor 30 is driven to drive the cam 2.
When 7 is rotated every 45@, the locking recesses 38, 39, 40, 41 that engage with the roller 34 change, so the shift lever
28 and 29 rotate in the vertical direction about the shaft 33 as a fulcrum. The mounting plate 10 is lifted by the support piece 36 and rises, and the support piece 3
It goes down when 6 goes down. 2 and 3 show a state in which the rollers 34 of the shift levers 28 and 29 are engaged with the highest locking recesses 40 to move the mounting plate 1o to the highest position, and FIGS. 4 and 5 2 shows a state in which the roller 34 is engaged with the lowest locking recess 38 and the mounting plate 10 is moved to the lowest position. As the mounting plate 10 moves up and down, the arms 21 and 23 whose teeth 25 engage with each other rotate. Therefore, the guide member 19 moves up and down in the linear direction in conjunction with the movement of the mounting plate 1o.

7(a), (b), (c), and (d) show the locking recesses 38° and 39 which engage the roller 34 by rotating the cam 27 by 45".
．． This shows a state in which 40.41 is changed.

The position of the mounting plate 10 changes as it goes from (a) to (d). As a result, the printing ribbon 8 held by the guide member 19 moves as shown in FIGS. It faces the tip surface of the head 1.

In this way, since the guide member 19 moves in a linear direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier 2, the printing ribbon 8 can always be opposed to the front end surface of the dot printer head 1 in a parallel state. At this time.

Since the cassette case 9 moves together with the mounting plate 10 in parallel to the guide member 19, twisting of the print ribbon 8 can be prevented. Therefore, the four color zones 4, 5, 6 .
7 is printed in one zone or multiple zones overlappingly, and seven printing colors are selected, the printing ribbon 8 shifts a large amount and has to be switched frequently, but the printing ribbon 8 does not twist, so there is little pain. Can be used for a long time.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, the guide member that holds the printing ribbon is moved in a straight line direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier, so that the printing ribbon is always parallel to and facing the printing section. can also be the first,
By linking the cassette case with the support section to the movement of the guide member by the second arm, it is possible to prevent twisting of the printing ribbon and increase the durability of the printing ribbon. The interlocking mechanism according to 11 has a simple structure and smooth operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a perspective view, FIG. 2 is a side view of the guide member and the mounting plate in the lowest position, and FIG. 3 is the guide member and the mounting plate in the lowest position. FIG. 4 is a front view with the mounting plate in the lowest position; FIG. 4 is a side view with the guide member and the mounting plate in the highest position; FIG.
The figure is a front view with the guide member and mounting plate in the highest position, Figure 6 is a side view with the cam unfolded, and Figure 7 is a front view showing the rotational movement of the cam and the lifting and lowering movement of the shift lever. , FIG. 8 is a front view showing the printing ribbon switching operation for the dot printer head.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cassette case containing color-coded printing ribbons in a plurality of zones is provided, and a part of the printing ribbon pulled out from the cassette case is placed at the tip of a carrier that carries a printing unit and moves back and forth, and the carrier is moved. A guide member that is slidably guided along the direction is provided to be movable in a linear direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier, and a support part that supports the cassette case is moved in the linear direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carrier. a ribbon switching mechanism that is freely provided and moves either the support section or the guide member; a first arm that is rotatably connected to the guide member at one end; The other end of a second arm that is movably connected is connected to both sides of the carrier so as to be rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the carrier, and each of the first and second arms has: A ribbon switching device characterized in that a plurality of teeth that mesh with each other are arranged on an outer periphery with a radius around the center of rotation of these arms.