JPS61241182A - Ink ribbon feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obviate defective printing due to irregular feeding and enable efficient use, by a method wherein graduations on an ink ribbon are read by an optical means to detect a feed quantity. CONSTITUTION:Graduations 2 with a fixed pitch are set on the film base 1b side of the ink ribbon 1. A hammer 5 is driven according to a recording signal, whereby a predetermined type of a daisy wheel 3 is impacted against a platen 7, a character is transferred from the ribbon 1 to a recording paper 6, thereby performing recording. In this case, a counter in a controlling circuit 17 is previously cleared. After recording one character, the ribbon 1 is fed by a one- character amount, by generating N pulses by the circuit 17. At this time, the graduation 2 is detected by a photo-reflector 4 to detect the feed quantity of the ribbon 1. When the feed quantity N' is smaller than a feed quantity corresponding to the character being recorded, a minimum required feed quantity is calculated by the circuit 17, and a pulse is outputted to drive a pulse motor 20, thereby feeding the ribbon 1 by the required number of pitches.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ink ribbon feeding device, and more particularly to an ink ribbon feeding device used in a collectible ribbon cassette from which ink is removed from the ink ribbon after recording.

[Summary of the Disclosure] This specification and drawings describe an ink ribbon feeding device that includes:
A predetermined scale is provided on the ink ribbon, and the scale t
- By detecting the read ink ribbon feed amount,
This invention discloses a technique for controlling the amount of ink feed and preventing disturbances in ink ribbon feed.

[Prior art] Conventionally, with the above-mentioned Nileftaple type ink ribbon, the ink is completely transferred to the recording paper and no ink remains on the ink ribbon, making it impossible to print twice, but the print quality is extremely high. It has the characteristic of being able to obtain something.

However, this ink ribbon has two problems due to poor ribbon feeding.
It also has the disadvantage that it tends to cause printing defects, such as repeated punching. Conventionally, in order to accurately feed the ink ribbon by the specified feed amount for each character during printing, the ink ribbon was converted into an electric pulse signal corresponding to each character, and a pulse motor was used to accurately feed the ink ribbon each time each character was recorded. It is driven to feed the ink ribbon a predetermined amount.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such conventional devices, when the driving force from the pulse motor is transmitted to the ink ribbon cassette and converted into a ribbon feeding operation, the winding system during feeding is disturbed and the supply is interrupted. When the ribbon feed dog attached to the ribbon winding knob feeds the ribbon due to changes in the winding load due to changes in the amount of ribbon in the system.

This has the drawback that slippage occurs, causing ribbon feeding failure and the feeding pitch to fluctuate, resulting in ink removal during recording at overlapping locations, resulting in recording failure.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink ribbon feeding device that eliminates printing defects caused by irregular feeding of the ink ribbon and allows ineffective use of the ink ribbon. shall be.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a predetermined scale on the ink ribbon, and provides a device that reads the scale and detects the amount of ink ribbon feed. A configuration was adopted in which the amount of ink ribbon feed is controlled according to the amount of ribbon feed.

[Operation] /) The scale set on the IJ pon is read by optical means, and the actual feed amount of the ink ribbon that is fed after recording is detected, and if the feed amount does not correspond to the recorded characters. In this case, a control circuit advances the ink ribbon by a predetermined amount to compensate for irregularities in feeding.

[Example] The present invention will be described in detail below according to embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a recording apparatus equipped with an ink ribbon feeding device of the present invention. In the same figure, the reference numeral 3 indicates a daisy wheel in which each type is arranged radially. Recording is performed on the recording paper 6 mounted on the platen 7 in accordance with the recording signal. Recording is performed via the ink ribbon 1, and after recording, the ink ribbon 1 is advanced a predetermined amount. In the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example, the ink
Preferably, predetermined scales 2 at equal intervals are provided on the base film 1b supporting the base film 1b.

Further, in the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1, an optical detection means such as a photoreflector 4, which is provided on the ink ribbon 1 and reads the data scale 2, is arranged adjacent to the daisy wheel 3. The ink ribbon 1 is stored in a cassette case 8 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, is supplied from a ribbon core 14 via a detent spring 15, and is fed by being wound around the ribbon core 10. . In this case, the ribbon core 10 is provided with a feed lever spring 13, which presses the take-up side feed lever 12 against the wound ink ribbon. The ink ribbon is fed by rotating a feed knob 9 driven by a pulse motor. This feed knob 9 is provided with a reverse rotation prevention spring 11. The feed lever spring 13 presses the take-up ribbon against the feed dog attached to the feed knob 9. Further, the detent spring 15 functions to prevent a large amount of the supply ribbon from coming out at once during winding, and to prevent the ribbon core from reversing.

FIG. 5 shows a control system of the feeding device according to the present invention as a block diagram. In the figure, reference numeral 16 indicates a print key, and this print key is connected to a control A circuit 17. A photoreflector 4 is connected to the control circuit 17, and the amount of feed actually sent after recording is reflected in the control circuit 1.
7 is input. The control circuit 17 is constituted by a CPU (central processing unit) including a counter 17'. A driver circuit 18 driven by a power supply circuit 19 is connected to the control circuit 17, and the pulse motor 20 and the hammer 5 are driven through it. pulse motor 20
is connected to the feed knob 9 in FIG. 4, and when the pulse motor is driven by the driver circuit 18, the ink ribbon 1 is advanced by a predetermined amount.

In the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a scale 2 of equal pitch and pitch is set on the film base 1b side of the ink ribbon. In this case, the ink ribbon feed is am/pitch, and the amount of ribbon feed to create space between each character on the ribbon is an integral multiple of this a. □. At this time, punched characters 1 after recording
The spacing of c has the highest difference in character width depending on each character, all
Since it changes from 0 to the lowest O1, the actual convergence X between characters on the ribbon exists in the range ca<x<c. The value of C is a value set based on feeding errors due to mechanical accuracy that occur during ribbon feeding, feeding errors caused by other fluctuations in the winding system inside the cut, and the like. In order to prevent printing defects due to double striking on the ribbon during recording, a value of 2a or more was set for C as a measure to increase the margin, but in the present invention, the minimum ribbon feed distance between each character is guaranteed. C
The value of can be set to the required minimum value a, and the distance between each character v and x on the ribbon becomes O<x<a.

In this way, the intervals between the equal pitch scales placed on the ink ribbon are set so that the same number of 37 scales corresponding to each character is detected regardless of the position relative to the character scale 2 on the ribbon after transfer. , is set to a value that is as close as possible to the maximum value O of each character amount width X, and is also set to a value that can be detected.

Qm2 equipped with an ink ribbon feeder like this one?
First, the recording paper 6 is inserted onto the platen 7, and the hammer 5 is driven in accordance with a recording signal.

In this case, predetermined printed characters on the daisy wheel 3 are struck against the plateau/7 via the ink ribbon 1, whereby the printed characters are transferred from the ink ribbon to the recording paper 6 and recording is performed. At this time, in step 51 of FIG.
The counter in 7 is cleared, and after recording one character, when recording the next character, the printing device moves to the next printing position, and the ink ribbon 1 is fed only outside the recorded character. This is determined by the control circuit 17 in step S2.
This is done by generating several pulses. At this time, by detecting the scale 2 with the photoreflector 4, the amount of actually fed ink ribbon is detected.

Specifically, as described above, the number of slits corresponding to each character is detected by the counter of the control circuit 17 when the ink ribbon is fed by the photoreflector 4 after recording the scale 2 with the interval set. The ink ribbon feed amount N' is detected (step S3), [
Then, in step S4, it is determined whether the feed amount N' detected by the left flapper 4 is smaller than the feed amount corresponding to the recorded character, that is, the number N of passages through the corresponding slit (v). If the amount is less, the control circuit 17 further calculates the required minimum feed amount, outputs (N-N',) pulses in step S5, and sends them to the pulse motor 20 via the dry circuit 18.
is driven to advance the ink ribbon 1 by the required number of pitches.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the reflection type light detection means 4 is used, but in place of this, a transmission type light detection sensor is used, and the ink ribbon is placed between the light emitting part and the light receiving part. It is also conceivable to detect the ink ribbon feeding amount.

In this case, a transparent base film is used for the ink ribbon so that light can pass through the slit portion of the scale.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, by setting a predetermined scale on the ink ribbon and detecting the amount of ink ribbon actually fed through this scale during recording,
Since the predetermined ribbon feed amount corresponding to each character is controlled, it is possible to prevent recording failures due to poor ribbon feeding, and at the same time, it is possible to shorten the spacing between each character on the ink ribbon, and it is possible to reduce the distance between each character on the ink ribbon. The number of characters that can be recorded can be increased, and the ink ribbon can be used efficiently.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Each figure shows an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 is a perspective view of a recording bag equipped with a feeding device according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon, and Figure 3 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a more detailed configuration of the ink ribbon cassette. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the schematic structure of the apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of control. l... Ink ribbon 2... School 3...
Daisy wheel 4... Photo reflector 5...
Hammer 16...Printing* -17...Control circuit 18...Driver circuit 19...Power supply circuit 20...Pulse motor Fig. 1 Fig. 2 1b Base Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Facility 7 lef? Broom 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A device comprising: a) an ink ribbon provided with a predetermined scale, b) a device for feeding the ink ribbon by a predetermined amount after recording, and c) a device for reading the scale and detecting the ink ribbon feed amount, An ink ribbon feeding device characterized in that the predetermined ink ribbon feeding amount is controlled according to the ink ribbon feeding amount.