JPS61266288A - Ink ribbon cassette for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the user to know at a glance what number of times an ink ribbon has been used, by providing a detecting mechanism for detecting a substantial take-up of an ink ribbon on the payout shaft side, and a means for driving a displaying means for the number of times of use of the ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:A pair of reels 13, 14 fitted with a thermal ink ribbon 12 capable of being used plural times are rotatably mounted in a cassette casing 11. The detecting mechanisms 17, 18 are fixed respectively at left and right end part on the front end part side of the casing 11 so that they make contact with the outer peripheries of the reels 13, 14 or of the ribbon 12 wound therearound, respectively. By the functions of the detecting members 17, 18 and the driving members 28, 29, a ratchet wheel 23 is rotated for each one-time use of the ribbon 12 to display the number of times of use. Accordingly, it is made possible to determine at a glance the actual number of times of use of the ribbon 12, in other words, the residual number of times of use of the ribbon 12.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette for a printer having an ink ribbon that can be used multiple times.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventional printers For example, thermal printers have a pair of reels on which thermal ink ribbons, which can be used multiple times, are stretched, and these reels can be attached to and detached from the winding shaft and the winding shaft of the carriage. Attempts have been made to use an ink ribbon cassette connected to -C. In this case, if you want to reuse the thermal ink ribbon that has been wound up on the take-up shaft side, you can rewind it onto the reel on the take-up shaft side, or turn the ink ribbon cassette upside down and reel it on the take-up shaft side. One possible method is to reconnect the shaft to the shaft to be wound, but in either method,
There is a problem in that it is not possible to know at a glance how many times a thermal ink ribbon has been used and how many times it can be used remaining.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an ink ribbon cassette for a printer that allows you to know at a glance how many multi-use ink ribbons in the cassette case have been used. There is something to do.

(Summary of the Invention) The present invention provides a detection mechanism for detecting that the ink ribbon on the winding shaft side of the pair of reels in the case is approximately wound up, and The present invention is characterized by a driving means for driving a display means for displaying the number of times the ink ribbon has been used in accordance with the detection, and the number of times the ink ribbon has been used is notified by the display means.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a thermal printer will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the schematic configuration of the main parts of the thermal printer will be described according to FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a flat platen bridged to the machine frame (not shown); 2 is a kite rail bridged to the machine frame parallel to the platen 1; A carriage 3 is movably supported. The carriage 3 is linked to a carriage drive motor (not shown) via a belt 4, and is moved to the right or left according to the rotation of the carriage drive motor.

Further, the carriage 3 supports a winding shaft 5 and a winding shaft 6, and in particular, the winding shaft 5 is provided with a binion (not shown), which is connected to the guide. It corresponds to a rack plate 7 arranged parallel to the rail 2.

In this case, the pinion of the winding shaft 5 meshes with the teeth of the rack plate 7 only when the key ↑/ridge 3 moves to the right, rotating the winding shaft 5 in the direction of arrow 8. .

Reference numeral 9 denotes an I normal head which is a print head attached (-) to the center of the rear end of the carriage 3 in correspondence with the platen 1, and has a large number of heat generating elements.
The heating element is controlled to be turned on and off based on print data.

Reference numeral 10 designates an ink ribbon cassette mounted on the front carriage 3, which will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Reference numeral 11 denotes a rectangular cassette case with an open top surface, and a pair of reels 13 and 14 each having a thermal ink ribbon 12, which is an ink ribbon that can be used a plurality of times, for example, eight times, stretched over the cassette case, are rotatably attached thereto. A part of the thermal ink ribbon 12 is hung on a guide pin 16.16 near the head insertion hole 15 formed in the center of the rear end of the cassette case 11. Denoted at 17 and 18 are detection members made of leaf springs, which serve as detection mechanisms, and their base ends are fixed to the left and right ends of the front end of the cassette case 11 via fixing parts 19 and 20, respectively. These detection members 17 and 18 are always given a swinging force in the directions of arrows 21 and 22 by their own spring force, so that they can detect the reels 13 and 14 or the thermal ink wound thereon respectively. It is adapted to come into pressure contact with the outer periphery of the ribbon 12. Reference numeral 23 denotes a ratchet gear serving as a display means rotatably mounted in the center of the front end side of the cassette case 11, and has, for example, eight pawls 23a. Furthermore, this ratchet gear 23 has a "1J" mark on its surface along the direction opposite to the direction of the rotary arrow 24 of the ratchet gear 23.
.

The numbers r3J, l-5J and "7" are displayed at equal intervals, and the number "1" is shown on the back.

r2J, r4J, r6J and the number "8" (not shown) are placed between r3J, r5J and 1-71. And cassette case 11
The ratchet gear 23 is attached to the lid 25 (see FIG. 3), which is attached to the frontage of the first side so that a film can be deposited to close the opening.
For example, one of the numeric displays made on the
A display window 26 is formed corresponding to the display window 26, and a display window (not shown) is formed on the bottom plate of the cassette case 11 facing the display window 26. Reference numeral 27 denotes a retaining pawl made of a leaf spring attached to the center of the front end side of the cassette case 11, and this is one pawl 23 of the ratchet gear 23.
a to restrict rotation of the ratchet gear 23 in the direction of arrow 24. Reference numerals 28 and 29 denote drive members made of root springs serving as drive means, the base end portions of which are swingably supported by the detection members 17 and 1B, and the tip end portions of the respective drive members 11 ni radji ft ni
A regulation bottle 3c protruding from 11′1 near 23
).

It is located between 30 and 31.31. Then, in these driving members 28 and 29, -pjIJ
The latches 1 to 23 are pressed against and engaged with the tips of the claws 23a, and the other one faces the other claws 23a at a distance of 11 points.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. 6.

Now, when the 4 normal ink ribbon 12 is being used for the first time, the number display "1" on the ratchet gear 23 is visible from the outside in correspondence with the display window 26 of the lid 25, as shown in FIG. In addition, when the ink ribbon is ready for use, the number of 4-inch ink ribbons 12 wound around the reel 13 is small, and the number of 1 normal ink ribbons 12 wound around the reel 14 is extremely large. The thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 13 side has a small diameter and is attached to the reel 14.
The thermal ink ribbon on the side has a diameter of 1214 mm. In addition, the detection member 17 that presses against the outer periphery of the thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 13 side is in a state of swinging in the direction of arrow 21, and the thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 14 side
The detection member 18 in pressure contact with the outer periphery of is in a state of swinging in the opposite direction to the arrow 22, and at this time, the tip of the driving portion 28 is in contact with one pawl 23a of the ratchet gear 23, as shown in FIG. The drive member 2 is engaged with the tip from the hFt side.
The tip of the ink ribbon cullet 9 faces the other pawl 23a of the ratchet gear 23 from the right side as shown in FIGS. 1 and 6 (a). is mounted on the carriage 3 so that the reels 13 and 1/1 are connected to the winding shaft 5 and the winding shaft 6, respectively, and by this mounting, the thermal head 9 is adjusted to the ink ribbon force set 1-10. The print paper (not shown) is positioned in the head insertion hole 15 of the head and supported by the platen 1 via the thermal ink ribbon 12.Then, the carriage drive motor moves the paper via the belt 4 to the print paper (not shown). The carriage 3 is reciprocated rightward and leftward, and during the rightward movement, the heating element of the thermal head 9 is controlled to be energized or de-energized based on print data, and the thermal ink ribbon 12 is heated by the heat of the energized heating element. The dye is transferred to the printing paper, and the printing operation is performed.Then, when the key 17 carriage 3 is moved to the right, the winding shaft 5 is moved by the action of the rack plate 7 and the pinion of the winding shaft 5. is rotated in the direction of arrow 8, and accordingly, the reel 13 is also rotated in the same direction to wind up the thermal ink ribbon 12.As the printing operation progresses, more and more of the thermal ink ribbon 12 is wound around the reel 13. As a result, the thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 13 side gradually becomes larger in diameter, and conversely, the thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 14 side to be wound gradually becomes smaller in diameter. The detection member 18 is swung in the opposite direction, causing the driving member 28 to be swung leftward, and the detection member 18 is swung in the direction of the arrow 22, causing the driving member 29 to be swung leftward. The 14th side -
When the number of maru ink ribbons 12 becomes extremely small, as shown in FIG.
As shown in b), the tip of the drive member 29 engages with and presses one pawl 23a of the ratchet gear 23, and the ratchet gear 23 resists the spring force of the holding pawl 27 and moves in the direction of the arrow. Rotated in 24 directions. And reel 14
When the side thermal ink ribbon 12 is almost completely removed, the ratchet gear 23 is removed as shown in FIG. 6(C).
is rotated in the direction of arrow 24 by one pawl compared to the state shown in FIG.
is engaged with the tip of one of the pawls 23a from the rear side, and the tip of the drive member 28 is engaged with the tip of one of the pawls 23a of the ratchet gear 2 as shown in FIG.
It comes to face one claw 23a of No. 3 from the left side.

In this case, when the ratchet gear 23 is in the state shown in FIG. 6(C), the number display "2" located between the number displays rIJ and f3J comes to correspond to the display window (not shown) of the cullet case 11, and therefore, When the ink ribbon cassette 10 is removed from the carriage 3 and turned over, the number "2" becomes visible through the display window, indicating that the thermal ink ribbon 12 is being used for the second time. And this time, ink ribbon power set 1-
10 is turned upside down, and the reel 13 is attached to the carriage 3 so that the reel 13 is connected to the winding shaft 6 and the reel 14 is connected to the winding shaft 5. As the printing operation progresses, the reel 14 is rotated in the direction of arrow 8 to wind up the thermal ink ribbon 12. The subsequent operations of the detecting member 17 and the driving member 28 are similar to those of the detecting member 18 and the driving member 29 during the first use described above, and when the thermal ink ribbon 12 on the reel 13 side is almost removed, , the ratchet gear 23 is again rotated by one claw in the direction of the arrow 24 by the tip of the drive member 28, and the numeral "3" corresponds to the display window 26. Similarly, if the ink ribbon force sets 1 to 10 are alternately reversed and their sets 13 and 14 are alternately connected to the winding shaft 5 and the winding shaft 6, thermal ink The ribbon 12 can be used repeatedly C times, and the number of uses is displayed each time. After that, cassette case 1
Number display 1-8-1 of ratchet gear 23 in display window 1
When this occurs, it is known that this is the last number of times the thermal ink ribbon 12 has been used.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, the detection members 17, 18 and the drive i! I
Thermal ink ribbon 12 due to the action of J material 28.29
Each time one of the Maruin Ripons 12 is used, the gear 23 is rotated to the Ratch 1 to display the number of uses. In addition, as mentioned above, since the rad J-set south wheel 23 is rotated at the same time by the action of the detection members 17 and 18 and the drive parts I428 and 29, This can be achieved through configuration.

In the above embodiment, the ink ribbon force set 1 and 10 are used with the front and back sides crossed.
The state shown in the figure can be returned to the state shown in FIG. 1 by not rewinding the thermal ink ribbon 12 wound on the reel 13 onto the reel 14. It is sufficient to display numbers only on the surface.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and may be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the invention, such as being applicable not only to thermal printers but also to wire printers. Of course it is possible.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the ink ribbon cassette of the printer of the present invention, the display means is driven when the ink ribbon on the reel on the side of the winding shaft is almost taken off, so that it is possible to see how many times the ink ribbon has been used. This has the excellent effect of being able to be understood at a glance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a thermal printer, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view with the lid removed, Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 1 in a different operating state, and Fig. 3 is Fig. 2. 4 is a plan view, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the main parts of the thermal printer, and FIGS. 6(a) to (C)
is a partially enlarged plan view for explaining the operation. In the drawing, 1 is a platen, 3 is a carriage, 5 is a winding shaft, 6 is a shaft to be wound, and 9 is a thermal head (print head).
, 10 is an ink ribbon cassette, 11 is a cassette case, 12 is a thermal ink ribbon (ink ribbon), 13
and 14 is a reel, 17 and 18 detection members (detection mechanism)
, 23 is a ratchet gear (display means), 25 is a lid, 26
indicates a display window, and 28 and 29 indicate driving members (driving means). Applicant Toshiba Corporation Toshiba Audio Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of reels are provided with an ink ribbon that can be used multiple times, and these reels are connected to a winding shaft and a winding shaft, so that the print head prints on the printing paper via the ink ribbon. a detection mechanism for detecting that the ink ribbon on the reel on the winding shaft side of the pair of reels in the cassette case is approximately wound; An ink ribbon cassette for a printer, comprising driving means for driving a display means for displaying the number of times the ribbon has been used.