JPS63312877A - Ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve constantly uniform printing, by containing in a single casing a plurality of ink ribbons each of which is wound round a pair of reels, in a stacked form, in an ink ribbon cassette for a thermal transfer serial printer or the like. CONSTITUTION:With an ink ribbon cassette 10 mounted on a printer, protrusions 22, 23 provided on a carrier protrude from a bottom cover 11, grooves of the protrusions are engaged with groves of lower reels 14, 15, and a lower ink ribbon 12 is prevented from being rotated, namely, the ribbon 12 is maintained in a fresh, unused state. The protrusions 22, 23 are provided at their respective centers with holes 22a, 23a, through which shafts 20a, 21a of capstans 20, 21 are connected to a driving mechanism. As the carrier is moved, upper reels 16, 17 engaged with the capstans 20, 21 are rotated, whereby a used portion of an ink ribbon 13 is taken up on the reel 17. When the ink ribbon 13 is completely used, the cassette 10 is inverted upside down, and is re-mounted. Thus, it is possible to achieve constantly uniform printing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette, particularly a disposable ink ribbon cassette used in a thermal transfer serial printer or the like.

[Prior Art] A conventional ink ribbon cassette will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a general conventional ink ribbon cassette, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the usage state of the conventional ink ribbon cassette.

In Fig. 5, the ink ribbon (3) is wound around one reel, for example, the reel (5) when it is new, and the open end is fixed to the other reel (4), and the ink ribbon (3) is wound around a roller (6) etc. The ink ribbon cassette (1) is guided along a path by the ink ribbon cassette (1) and housed in a case consisting of a bottom cover (2) and a top cover (7).

The ink ribbon (3) has a width that is more than twice the height of the printed characters, and is used by dividing the ink ribbon cassette (1) into two stages, an upper stage and a lower stage, by installing the ink ribbon cassette (1) upside down. Here, the surface of the upper cover (7) in the figure and the part of the ink ribbon that is printed when this surface is the top surface are abbreviated as 8th surface.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which the print head (8) is printing using eight sides. That is, when the ink ribbon power set 1-(1) is new, the upper cover (contrary to the illustration)
7) is printed using the upper side, that is, the A side, and when the ink ribbon (3) is used up to the end, the ink ribbon cassette (1) is then turned upside down and placed in the printer (not shown).
Then, as shown in the figure, the bottom surface of the bottom cover (2) is set to the large direction, and printing is performed using eight sides.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Since the conventional ink ribbon cassette is configured as described above, when the A side of the ink ribbon (3) is used, the B side of the ink ribbon (3) is also temporarily turned on to the first reel. If the ink ribbon (3) is wound from (5) onto another reel (4), and the 8th side of the ink ribbon (3) is scratched for some reason as shown in (9) in Figure 6, that part If the ink peels off and printing is performed using the scratched area, there are problems such as missing prints and wrinkles in the ink ribbon (3) from the scratched area, resulting in poor winding. Was.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide an ink ribbon cassette that does not damage the 8 sides of the ink ribbon when the A side of the ink ribbon is used. .

[Means for Solving the Problems] The ink ribbon power sets 1 to 1 according to the present invention stack up multiple stages of ink ribbons wound between a pair of reels.
It is stored in one case.

[Function] For example, if ink ribbons are stacked in two layers, upper and lower, printing is performed first using either the upper or lower ink ribbon. At this time, the other unused ink ribbons are 0 Next, when the ink ribbon in the currently used stage is finished, the ink ribbon cassette is turned upside down and reinstalled in the printer, and the unused ink ribbon is inserted into the printer. to print.

At this time, the unused portion has not yet been subjected to the winding operation and remains in a new state, so even if printing is performed using this portion, the printing will be performed regardless of the missing print on the other column.

[Implementation M] A first embodiment of the ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention is described below.
This will be explained using FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4. Figure 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an ink ribbon cassette, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the shape of each reel for winding up the ink ribbon, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a capstan for driving the ink ribbon. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention is used.

In FIG. 1, an ink ribbon cassette (10) includes a case consisting of a bottom cover (11) and a top cover (19), ink ribbons (12) and (13) stored in the case, and an ink ribbon (12). and two pairs of reels (14), (15), and (16) for winding up (13).

(17) and a plurality of (four in the figure) rollers (1B). The reels (14) and (16) or the reels (15) and (17) each have a concave and convex fitting part (1) so that they can be stacked coaxially and vertically as shown in FIG.
4b.

17b), (15b, 16b), and furthermore, in the center is a capstan (20) next to the driver of the printer shown in FIG.

4 (14a, 15a, 16a) for engaging with (21)
, 17a). This uneven fitting part (14b, 1
7), (15b, 16b) may have opposite unevenness or different shapes, and the ink ribbon cassette (10) may be installed in the printer (not shown) with the ink ribbon cassette (10) upside down. If possible, each reel (1
4) and (16) or (15) and (17) may each have a structure in which they do not overlap coaxially.

Figure 3 shows the drive mechanism and reel (1) when the ink ribbon cassette (10) is installed in the printer (main body not shown).
4, 15, 16, 17).

In the figure, protrusions (22) and (23) are provided on a carrier (not shown), and are attached to each reel (14, 15, 16, 17). (14a, 15a, 16a, 17a), but it is fixed to the carrier and does not rotate.

Each protrusion (22), (23) has a hole (2
2a), (23a), and this hole (22a),
(23a) and gear pin 7 (2G),
The shafts (20a) and (21a) of (21) are connected to a drive mechanism (not shown), and rotate so as to wind up the used part of the ink ribbon (13) onto the reel (17) as the carrier moves. be done. Generally, either the upper ink ribbon (13) or the lower ink ribbon (12) may be used for printing (or may be driven), but
If the lower ink ribbon (12)' is driven contrary to the example shown in FIG. (There is a problem that the friction load cannot be ignored. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 3, the lower ink ribbon (12) is fixed and prevented from rotating), and the upper ink ribbon (13) The method of driving the ink ribbon ( 13) is used for printing. At this time, the ink ribbon (12) is prevented from rotating by the protrusions (22) and (23), so it remains in a new and unused state. When the ink ribbon (13) is used up to the end,
Next, remove the ink ribbon cassette (10) from the printer, turn it upside down, and reinstall it into the printer. At this time, the ink ribbon (13) is located at the bottom, and the protrusion (2)
2).

(23) prevents rotation. Ink ribbon (12
), the reel (14) is connected to the capstan (20), and the reel (15) is connected to the force f, ~・bustang (21) and so on.
When the carrier (not shown) is engaged and moved, the capstans (20) and (21) rotate, and the rotation of the capstans (20) and (21) causes the ink ribbon (1
The used part of 2) is wound up on the reel (14), and the unused part is newly supplied from the reel (15). Figure 14 shows the state of ink ribbon force set (16) at this time. The ink ribbon (12
) has never been wound onto a reel and is completely new, so there is no ink peeling off from the surface of the ink ribbon (12) due to scratches or the like.

In this example, the number of stages of the ink ribbon is two,
Since the ink ribbon cassette (10) is mounted upside down, when it is new, the reel (15) with the unused parts (12a) and (13a) wrapped around it, as shown in Figure 1, is used. (16) and reels (14) and (17) for winding up the used part are mutually arranged. However, there is a method in which the number of stages of ink ribbon is set to 3 or more, and each time the ink ribbon in each stage is used up, the ink ribbon cassette is vertically shifted upward to sequentially use the ink ribbon in the lower stage. [Effect] As described above, the ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention stores ink ribbons stacked in multiple tiers, and when printing using the ink ribbon in one tier, the ink ribbons in the other tiers are brand new. Because it is maintained in the same state as it is, even when printing using ink ribbons from other stages, the ink does not peel off or wrinkle due to scratches on the ink ribbon surface, and uniform printing can always be obtained. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the shape of each reel for winding up the ink ribbon, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a capstan for driving the ink ribbon. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention is used, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional ink ribbon cassette. @Figure 6 is a diagram showing how a conventional ink ribbon cassette is used. In the figure (io) is an ink ribbon cassette, (12),
(13) is an ink ribbon, (14), (15),
(16) and (17) are reels.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An ink ribbon cassette in which ink ribbons wound between a pair of reels are stacked in multiple stages and stored in a single case. (2) The ink ribbon is stacked in two layers, and a reel for winding the unused portion of each layer and a reel for winding the used portion are arranged coaxially with each other. The ink ribbon cassette described in item 1.