JPS6249198B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing device using an ink ribbon cassette.

The ink ribbon of a printing device must be replaced frequently. In order to extend the usable period of the ribbon as much as possible, an attempt was made to make it an endless ribbon, and to add one twist in the middle, so that one ribbon could be used for twice as long as conventional ribbons. However, if the ribbon is wide compared to the size of the printed characters, there is a problem that even if it is used twice, there will still be an unused portion, and there is still waste from the viewpoint of ribbon usage efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette that can utilize the entire surface of a wide ribbon.

As a conventional ribbon cassette, as shown in FIG. 1, an endless ink ribbon 52 is stored in a cassette 51, and the part used for printing by the print head 53 is rolled into the cassette by the winding action of winding gears 54 and 55. It can be done. Winding gear 54,5
On the one hand, the winding action of ribbon 52 pulls out ribbon 52 from cassette 51 and sends it in front of printing head 53. The ribbon 52 is then twisted once at the twisting section 56. Therefore, by arranging the printing heads 53 above or below half of the ribbon 52 so as to face each other, one ribbon 52 can be used in two stages, upper and lower, as shown by the shaded area in FIG. 2, and the usage time can be doubled. . However, unused portions remain at the upper and lower ends or in the center. The cassette of the present invention which solves this problem will be explained in detail below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

In FIGS. 3 to 5, the endless ribbon 2 stored in the cassette 1 comes out from the cassette outlet 3, is guided by ribbon guides 4, 5, and 6, passes in front of the printing head 7, and is then taken to the cassette entrance by the ribbon guide 8. You will be guided to 9. The ribbon 2 is pulled out from the cassette outlet 3 and drawn into the cassette inlet 9 by the winding action of the winding gears 10 and 11 provided in the cassette 1.

The ribbon 2 is twisted once at a twisting part 12, for example, a twisting part 12 provided between the ribbon guides 5 and 6, while running.

The parts of the winding gears 10 and 11 that protrude outside the cassette 1 are formed as grooved ends that engage the ribbon motor 13 or knurled ends that serve as manual operation parts that can be turned by hand, and can be installed by turning the cassette 1 over. In this case, either one of the winding gears 10,
11 is positioned so that it engages with the ribbon motor 13. The winding gear 10 or 11 can be directly engaged with the output shaft of the ribbon motor 13, but as shown in FIG. You can also do this. The cassette 1 is fixedly held in a predetermined position by a leaf spring 16.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, a space is provided below the installed cassette 1 for the manual operation part of the winding gear 10 to be located, so that the ribbon cassette 1 can be installed upside down. Even though
Winding gear 1 protruding from the surface of cassette 1
The manual operation parts 0 and 11 do not hit each other on the printing device.

If the width W of the ribbon 2 stored in the cassette 1 is, for example, 13 mm, the cassette 1 also has an opening 17 with a width of 13 mm.
is formed as an outlet 3 or an inlet 9. The cassette 1 may be constructed of a cassette body 19 and a cassette lid 20, and the upper end of the opening 17 may be the upper end of the cassette body 19.

The print wires 18 of the print head 7 are arranged oppositely below the center of the ribbon 2, as shown in FIG. Of course, the printing wire 1 is above the center.
8 can also be placed.

The height of printed characters by printing wire 18 is 2.5 mm.
In this case, by twisting the ribbon once, the central portion of the ribbon 2 is used as two tiers as shown by the diagonal lines in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6, the relative position of the ribbon 2 and the printing head 7 is such that the distance l from the lower end of the ribbon 2 to the lower end of the printing wire 18 is 3.7, for example.
When the ribbon is set to 1 mm, the position where the ribbon 2 is used becomes as shown in FIG. 7 dimensionally. Distance from the bottom edge of ribbon 2 to the bottom edge of printing wire 18 is 3.7 mm
is set by taking into account the 0.6 mm gap formed between the height of the printed characters, 2.5 mm, and the position where the ribbon is used.

The opening 17 in the cassette 1 is not formed at the center in the height direction of the cassette, but at a position that is biased toward either the top or bottom as shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG.
If the distance from the top end is 4.1 mm, and the distance between the bottom end of the opening 17 and the bottom end of the cassette 1 is 1 mm, the cassette thickness will be 18.1 mm, and the cassette 1 will be turned over and engaged with the same ribbon motor 13 to be driven. When considering the structure in which the ribbon 2 is turned over, the center position of the ribbon 2 in FIG. 5 is 8.05 mm from the bottom end of the ribbon 2 and 4.95 mm from the top end. In other words, by turning the cassette over, the ribbon will be shifted up and down by 3.1 mm. This deviation causes a deviation in the printing position,
It is the sum of the height of the printed character and the spacing between the usage positions. For example, when the cassette 1 is turned over as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the position of the opening 17 is shifted, and the relative position of the print wire 18 of the print head 7 and the ribbon 2 becomes as shown in FIG. In this state of use, by twisting the ribbon once, it is used in two stages at the position shown by diagonal lines in FIG.

By turning over cassette 1, the 11th
As shown by diagonal lines in the figure, it can be used in four stages, and the operating time can be doubled compared to the conventional method.

The printing width on the ribbon 2 is determined by the printing wire 18.
If the width W is determined by the size of , Δw is the interval formed between the use positions, and δ is the interval between the side edge of the ribbon 2 and the use position, it can be expressed as W=4w+3Δw+2δ.

The deviation of the ribbon before and after turning over the cassette must be w+Δw. From this, the distance between the upper end of the opening and the upper end of the cassette in FIG. 5 is greater than the distance between the lower end of the opening and the lower end of the cassette by w + Δw (2.5 + 0.6 = 2.5 + 0.6 in the example shown).
It is necessary to design it so that it is only 3.1mm larger.

The relative position between the ribbon 2 and the printing wire 18 of the printing head is shown in FIG. 6 as w+Δw+δ=2.5+0.6+
w+ between 0.6=3.7mm and δ=0.6mm shown in Figure 9
It is positioned so as to be shifted by Δw=3.1mm.
Naturally, depending on the usage conditions, both Δw and δ can be set to zero.

According to the present invention, it has become possible to dramatically improve the usability of the ribbon cassette by turning the ribbon cassette upside down.

Further, even if the ribbon cassette is provided with two take-in gears, it is not necessary to provide two engaging portions for the ribbon drive means of the printing device, and the configuration of the printing device can be simplified.

Furthermore, even if the ribbon cassette is used upside down, one of the winding gears can be engaged with the engaging part of the ink ribbon drive means, and the manual operation part of the winding gear is always located on the top surface of the ribbon cassette. Therefore, it has the effect of facilitating manual operation.

Moreover, when the ribbon cassette is attached to the printing device, a space is provided in the printing device in which the manual operation section located on the lower surface of the ribbon cassette is located, so that the amount of protrusion of the manual operation section of the take-in gear is reduced. It has become possible to increase the size of the winding gear, and it has become possible to dramatically improve the manual operation of the winding gear.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a plan view of a conventional ribbon cassette, Figure 2 is a plan view of a conventional ribbon cassette;
The figure is a diagram explaining the usage state of the conventional ribbon.
The figures are a plan view of a ribbon cassette and a print head according to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ribbon cassette, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the ribbon cassette.
The figure is a front view of the ribbon cassette, Figure 6 is an explanatory diagram of the relative position of the ribbon and print head when the cassette is installed as shown in Figure 5, and Figure 7 is an illustration of the ribbon being twisted in the state shown in Figure 6. Fig. 8 is a front view of the cassette when it is used upside down, Fig. 9 is an explanatory drawing of the relative position of the ribbon and print head in the state shown in Fig. 8, and Fig. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the position in use. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the entire ribbon usage position when the cassette is used upside down. 1...cassette, 2...ribbon, 3...exit,
7...Print head, 9...Inlet, 12...Twisted portion, 17...Opening, 18...Print wire.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printing device using a ribbon cassette, which (1) has a ribbon driving means for winding the ribbon into the ribbon cassette; (2) the ribbon driving means has a ribbon cassette; (3) The ribbon cassette has a single engaging portion that engages with a winding gear for winding the ribbon provided in the ribbon cassette and transmits driving force to the winding gear; a first winding gear for engaging with the engaging portion of the ribbon driving means to wind the ribbon; and a first winding gear provided separately and at a different position of the ribbon driving means. (4) The ribbon has a width sufficient to allow the ribbon cassette to be turned over and used. (5) the ribbon cassette has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface; (6) the first winding gear is configured to drive the ribbon; (7) The second winding gear has an engaging part for engaging with the engaging part of the ribbon driving means, and a manual operation part for manually rotating the ribbon. (8) The ribbon cassette is used with the first surface of the ribbon cassette facing down. In this case, the engaging part of the first winding gear is provided on the first surface of the ribbon cassette at a position where it can engage with the engaging part of the ribbon driving means, and the second winding gear (9) a manual operation part of the first winding gear is provided to protrude downward from the second surface of the ribbon cassette; When using the ribbon cassette with the second side facing down, the second side of the ribbon cassette is in a position where the engaging part of the second take-up gear can engage with the engaging part of the ribbon driving means. and a manual operating portion of the first winding gear is provided to protrude downward, and a manual operating portion of the second winding gear is provided to protrude upward on the first surface of the ribbon cassette. (10) When the printing device is installed with the ribbon cassette,
1. A printing device characterized by having a space portion in which a manual operation portion of a winding gear protruding downward from a lower surface of a ribbon cassette is located.