WO2022064441A1

WO2022064441A1 - A lid for a thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and a printing apparatus including said lid

Info

Publication number: WO2022064441A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/058730
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mauro Casetta; Luciano PERTUSIO; Stefano Dolcetti; Paolo BORI
Original assignee: Eidos S.R.L.
Priority date: 2020-09-24
Filing date: 2021-09-24
Publication date: 2022-03-31
Also published as: IT202000022561A1

Abstract

A lid (10) for a thermal-transfer printing apparatus comprises a front plate (12) and a pair of primary supports (14), adapted to support respective reels of thermal transfer ribbon, said primary supports (14) being in turn non-rotatably supported by said front plate (12).

Description

A lid for a thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and a printing apparatus including said lid

Technical field

This invention is generally in the field of printing machines; in particular, the invention relates to a lid for a thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and to a printing apparatus including said lid.

Prior art

Thermal-transfer printing apparatuses are known to use heat induced by a heating print head to transfer an ink from a heat-sensitive support (typically, a ribbon made of plastic material, e.g., PET, inked on one side) to a substrate (typically, a plastic packaging film, or a paper or fabric film).

Traditionally, the print head is housed in a case, inside of which it is defined a compartment in which the thermal transfer ribbon reels are housed, said reels being supported in a rotating manner by a pair of shafts or mandrels in turn carried by a lid, whereby, when this lid occludes the front face of the compartment inside the case, the shafts (and the reels carried thereby) fit inside said compartment and engage in corresponding rotating sockets, driven in rotation by motors associated with the case, these mandrels then being supported in rotation at one of their axial ends by the lid and at the opposite end by the case (by means of said rotating sockets).

When the lid is mounted to the case, the heat-sensitive ribbon unwinding from one reel rewinds onto the other reel, sliding underneath the print head (located on the fixed part of the machine) to transfer the ink from the heat-sensitive ribbon to the final substrate.

Examples of solutions of the above type are known from US 2019/299689 Al and US 2012/280077 Al. Similar configurations, however, are particularly disadvantageous, for example because of the complexity of the lid (and therefore its cost, which is very high), the weight of said lid, or the fragility of the object, which in the case of an accidental fall may be easily damaged; all this may make it inconvenient for the operator to handle.

These limitations, understandably, make a thermal transfer printing press according to the prior art inconvenient and expensive.

Summary of invention

An object of this invention is to overcome the aforementioned problems.

To achieve this, a lid for a thermal-transfer printing apparatus according to this invention comprises a pair of primary supports, suitable to support respective thermal transfer ribbon reels (i.e., a ribbon unwind reel and rewind reel), said primary supports, at the portion that enters into contact with the spools of the respective reels, being fixed in rotation with respect to an internal face of the lid (from which they protrude).

In this way, not only is the architecture of the lid simplified significantly, with resulting savings in terms of production and maintenance costs (since it is no longer necessary to integrate the mandrels supporting the reels into the lid during the printing stage), the product also becomes much lighter and may be easily handled by an operator.

Moreover, due to the significant reduction in costs, it becomes possible to acquire and use more than one lid, whereas the high cost of a motorized lid according to the prior art would probably have allowed the purchase of only one device. In this way, the operator may apply a first lid to a printing apparatus and, while said apparatus performs the printing operation, the operator may load two new reels on a second lid, whereby, when the first processing cycle is over, the operator may quickly remove the first lid and replace it with the second one, without major interruptions in the printing flow (which happens instead in conventional systems, where the reels, once the processing cycle is over, must be removed and replaced with new reels, the ribbon of which must be properly developed along the path inside the lid, which requires a complex set-up stage, and long machine downtime).

In effect, the ribbon which is unwound from the full reel may be expediently arranged along a path guided by non-rotating elements that hold it in place, and then taped to the empty spool.

Then, the lid may be applied to a printer case, in which two motorized mandrels are rotatably mounted, and the reels transferred to said mandrels in order to carry out the printing operation.

A subsequent pressure action on a pair of pushers would allow the translation of the reels from the fixed primary supports, integral with the lid, to the rotating mandrels of the printer case.

A lid according to the invention is suitably configured as a device for inserting and extracting the reels from the printing machine, provided with supports for only loading and removing the reels into and out of the printing compartment; said supports, however, do not cooperate with the operations of unwinding and rewinding the reels during the printing stage, such operations being delegated to the motorized mandrels associated with the case.

Expediently, the printer may recognize (e.g., by means of a sensor, of a type known per se) that the lid has been inserted, driving the motor associated with the mandrel carrying the rewind reel in rotation, which sets the ribbon in motion.

Appropriately, there may be a clutch (passive or active) keyed to the shaft intended to support the unwinding reel of the ribbon, said clutch being configurable to maintain and control the tension of the ribbon during movement.

The particular shape of the static guide elements (integral with the lid), their arrangement with respect to the ribbon guide rollers located on the printer case, in combination with the movement of the ribbon imposed by the rewind motor, may cause the thermal ribbon to span across the static elements to jump and stretch on the rotating guide rollers. After a few centimeters of movement, the ribbon may be fully extended on the guide rollers and the printer may be ready to print.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages are achieved by means of a lid and thermal-transfer printing apparatus having the features defined in the appended claims. Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

Brief description of the drawings

The functional and structural features of some preferred embodiments of a lid and thermaltransfer printing apparatus according to the invention will now be described. Reference is made to the appended drawings, wherein:

- Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a thermal-transfer printing apparatus comprising a case and a removable lid, in a position removed from the case, according to one embodiment of this invention;

- Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the lid in Fig. 1, shown from a different angle;

- Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the case in Fig. 1, shown from a different angle;

- Fig. 4 is a schematic top view of the lid in Fig. 2, shown in a configuration in which annular pushers, designed to push the reels along the axis of their respective primary supports, are in an initial retracted position;

- Fig. 5 is a schematic top view of the lid in Fig. 4, shown in a configuration where the annular pushers are in a second extended position;

- Fig. 6 is a schematic top view of the lid in Fig. 4, shown with a pair of reels supported by their respective primary supports;

- Fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the lid in Fig. 6, shown from a different angle;

- Fig. 8 is a schematic top view of the lid in Fig. 2, shown with a pair of primary supports supporting respective reels having larger axial dimensions than the reels shown in Fig. 6;

- Fig. 9A and 9B are schematic views of the movement circuit of the heat- sensitive ribbon reel when this takes place inside the lid and inside the case, respectively; - Fig. 10A and 10B are schematic views of two stages of the transfer of reels from the lid to the fixed case of the printing apparatus, shown from the first side of the apparatus (unwind reel side);

- Fig. 11A and 11B are schematic views of the two stages of transfer of the reels from the lid to the fixed case of the printing apparatus shown in Fig. 10A and 10B, but shown from the opposite side of the apparatus (rewind reel side);

- Fig. 12A through 12C are schematic views of three stages, following those shown in Fig. 10A and 10b, in which the adjustment of the ribbon into the correct printing position is shown, from the first side of the apparatus (unwind reel side); and

- Fig. 13A to 13D are schematic views of four stages, following those illustrated in Fig. 11 A and 1 lb, in which the adjustment of the ribbon into the correct printing position is shown, from the opposite side of the apparatus (rewind reel side).

Detailed

Before describing a plurality of embodiments of the invention in detail, it should be clarified that the invention is not limited in its application to the construction details and configuration of the components presented in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention may assume other embodiments and be implemented or constructed in practice in different ways. It should also be understood that the phraseology and terminology have a descriptive purpose and should not be construed as limiting.

Referring, by way of example, to the figures, a lid 10, adapted to be mounted removably to a thermal-transfer printing apparatus, comprises a front plate 12, which in turn includes an external face 12a, adapted to face the outside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and an internal face 12b, parallel to the external face 12a and adapted to face the inside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus.

A pair of primary supports 14 (preferably, cylindrical in shape) is provided, supported by the internal face 12b of the front plate 12 and adapted to support respective reels 16 of thermal transfer ribbon 17, wherein the portion of the primary supports 14 adapted to come into direct contact with the spools of the respective reels is fixed in rotation with respect to the internal face 12b.

According to a preferred embodiment, the lid 10 further comprises a pair of annular pushers 18, radially external and concentric to respective primary supports 14, each of said annular pushers 18 being axially slidable with respect to respective primary supports 14 from a first position retracted with respect to the internal face 12b, wherein a terminal edge of the annular pusher 18 is proximal to said internal face 12b, and a second position extended with respect to the internal face 12b, wherein said terminal edge of the annular pusher 18 is distal from the internal face 12b. In said second extended position, the terminal edge of the annular pusher 18 protrudes more from the internal face 12b of the lid 10 with respect to when the annular pusher 18 is in the first retracted position.

Said terminal edges of the annular pushers 18 are adapted to engage the reels 16 whereby said reels 16 slide axially with respect to their respective primary supports 14 in the transition of the annular pushers 18 from the first retracted position to the second extended position.

Thus, in the transition from the first retracted position to the second extended position, the annular pushers 18 will be more prominent with respect to the internal face 12b, so as to push the reels 16 so that they slide along their respective primary supports 14.

According to one aspect of the invention, a thermal-transfer printing apparatus comprises a case 30, which defines an internal compartment, accessible from outside the case 30; a lid 10, removably mounted on the case 30 so as to preclude access to said internal compartment; a pair of mandrels 32, having a cylindrical body adapted to insert axially into the spools of respective reels 16, said mandrels 32 being rotatably supported by the case 30 even in the absence of the lid 10; and motor means, carried by the case 30 and adapted to place said mandrels 32 in rotation. Expediently, the apparatus comprises a heating print head, housed in the internal compartment of the case (30) and suitable for transferring an ink from a heat- sensitive ribbon, carried by the reels (16), to a substrate.

The mandrels (32) are expediently supported axially by the case (30) alone, avoiding a different support on the lid (10), both when the latter is removed from the case (30), and possibly when it is mounted thereon.

Expediently, the lid (10) may then be configured to avoid cooperating with the rotation of the reels 16 during the print operating stage.

According to a preferred embodiment of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus, the lid 10 comprises a front plate 12, which in turn includes an external face 12a, suitable for facing the outside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and an internal face 12b, parallel to the external face 12a and adapted to face the inside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus. The lid 10 further comprises a pair of primary supports 14 (preferably, cylindrical in shape), adapted to support respective reels 16 of thermal transfer ribbon 17 and coaxial to respective mandrels 32 when the lid 10 is affixed to the case 30, and further comprises a pair of annular pushers 18, radially external to and concentric to respective primary supports 14, each of said annular pushers 18 being axially slidable with respect to respective primary supports 14 from a first retracted position with respect to the internal face 12b, wherein a terminal edge of the annular pusher 18 is proximal to said internal face 12b, and a second extended position with respect to the internal face 12b, wherein said terminal edge of the annular pusher 18 is distal from the internal face 12b. The terminal edges of the annular pushers 18 are adapted to engage the reels 16 whereby the reels slide axially with respect to their respective primary supports 14 in the transition of the annular pushers 18 from the first retracted position to the second extended position and engage the respective mandrels 32, avoiding further support from the primary supports 14.

Some preferred features of a lid 10 according to the aspects of the invention described above will be discussed below. It is understood that these features are applicable to both the lid 10 as a self-contained claimed element and the lid 10 claimed in association with the printing apparatus described above.

The primary supports 14 of the lid 10 may comprise radially contractible and spreadable portions (e.g., under the action of springs), adapted to contract to allow the reel 16 to be keyed to the cylindrical support 14, and to expand radially to axially lock said reel onto said cylindrical support 14. Expediently, the annular pushers 18 pass axially through the front plate 12 and protrude from said front plate 12 on the side of the external face 12a.

According to an embodiment, the portions of the annular pushers 18, projecting from the side of the external face 12a, are transversely connected by means of a handle 20, adapted to be pushed by a user toward the external face 12a. Thus, by pressing the handle 20 toward the front plate 12, the annular pushers 18 are pushed from their first retracted position to their second extended position, increasing the overhang with which they protrude from the internal face 12b.

Elastic means 19 may be present, adapted to push the annular pushers 18 toward the first retracted position, thereby recalling them to return to a position in which they are not adapted to engage the reels 16.

Expediently, the lid 10 may comprise a plurality of primary diverters 22 (expediently, four primary diverters 22) projecting perpendicularly from the internal face 12b in proximity to opposite edges and/or vertices of the front plate 12 and adapted to deflect a thermal transfer ribbon 17 unwound from one reel 16 and wound on the other reel 16 whereby said thermal transfer ribbon 17 is at least partially stretched between the two reels 16, arranged along a path determined by the position of said primary diverters 22 (e.g., arranged at least partially parallel to the profile of three consecutive sides of the front plate 12). According to a preferred embodiment, the primary diverters 22 are fixed in rotation with respect to the internal face 12b of the plate 12.

According to a preferred embodiment (shown by way of example in Fig. 2), at least one of the primary diverters 22 may protrude from the internal face 12b in such a way that the ribbon 17, in turning around it, is held at a distance from said internal face 12b greater than the distance of said ribbon 17 at one or more of the other primary diverters 22.

The lid 10 may further comprise a bracket 24, projecting perpendicularly from the internal face 12b in proximity to an edge thereof, and a dragging arm 26, supported by the bracket 24 from which it projects perpendicularly so as to intercept the axes of both primary supports 14, said dragging arm 26 facing the internal face 12b at a predetermined distance whereby the reels 16 are axially containable between the internal face 12b and the dragging arm 26. The function of the dragging arm 26, which will be better clarified hereinafter in this description, is to engage the reels 16, when these are carried by secondary supports (concentric with respect to the primary supports 14, but not integral with the lid 10), and to drag said reels 16 along said secondary supports 32 by extracting them axially therefrom at the stage wherein the lid 10 is separated from the printing apparatus 30. Optionally, the dragging arm 26 may be rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the bracket 24 between a position wherein it intercepts the axes of the primary supports 14 (e.g., a substantially horizontal position, when the lid 10 is mounted on a printing apparatus) and a position wherein it avoids intercepting the axes of the primary supports 14 (e.g., a substantially vertical position, when the lid 10 is removed from the printing apparatus) to leave free access for inserting the reels 16, 17 onto the primary supports 14.

According to a preferred embodiment, the lid 10 comprises a pair of rods 28, radially internal and concentric to respective primary supports 14, said rods 28 protruding axially from said primary supports 14. Said rods 28 are suitable for supporting the reels 16 when they become detached from the rotating mandrels 32 during extraction of the lid 10 from the case 30, preventing them from falling.

Preferably, the printing apparatus includes a plurality of secondary diverters 34 (expediently, four secondary diverters 34), pivotably carried by the case 30 and protruding into the interior compartment of the case 30 in proximity to opposite edges and/or vertices of said internal compartment, said secondary diverters 34 being adapted to deflect a thermal transfer ribbon 17 that is unwound from one reel 16 and wound on the other reel 16 whereby said thermal transfer ribbon 17 is arranged along a path determined by the position of said secondary diverters 34. Preferably, the secondary diverters 34 are suitable for deflecting the thermal transfer ribbon 17 that is unwound from one reel 16 and wound on the other reel 16 whereby said thermal transfer ribbon 17 is arranged at least partially parallel to the profile of three consecutive sides of the case 30.

A method for equipping a thermal-transfer printing apparatus according to one aspect of the invention will be illustrated in the following by way of example.

First, a pair of reels 16 is keyed to respective primary supports 14, integral with the lid 10. To facilitate the keying of the reels on the primary supports 14, the dragging arm 26 (when present) may first be rotated (about a longitudinal axis of the bracket 24 to a position where it does not intercept the axes of the primary supports 14, whereupon, once the reels 16 have been positioned on said supports and the thermal ribbon has been passed along the path marked by the primary diverters 22, the dragging arm 26 may be rotated to a position where it intercepts the axes of the primary supports 14, whereby the reels 16 are axially interposed between the internal face 12b and the dragging arm 26.

The lid 10 is then inserted/engaged into the case 30, occluding its internal compartment, within which the primary supports 14 and the related reels 16 are inserted, said primary supports 14 being arranged coaxial to the mandrels 32.

According to an embodiment, the dragging arm 26 may comprise a pair of through holes 27, adapted to allow the mandrels 32 to be inserted through said dragging arm 26, which may then remain in the position where it intercepts the axes of the primary supports 14 even when the lid 10 is attached to the case 30. In this way, when the lid 10 is removed from the case 30, the dragging arm 26 would drag the reels 16 that are keyed to the mandrels 32, causing them to detach from said mandrels and thereby causing the extraction of the reels 16 from the case 30.

In addition, the mandrels 32 may have respective axial holes 33, into which the rods 28 (if any) may be inserted. Once the primary supports 14 and mandrels 32 are aligned, the reels 16 provided on said supports are transferred to said mandrels. This may expediently be done by pressing the annular pushers 18 toward their extended position, whereby the reels 16 will be pushed by said pushers to slide axially along their respective primary supports 14, until they are keyed onto the mandrels 32 (as shown by way of example in Fig. 10A through 1 IB).

According to a preferred embodiment (shown by way of example in Fig. 7), when the reels 16 are keyed to the primary supports 14, the ribbon is unwound so as to stretch around the primary diverters 22, integral with the lid 10. In the embodiment of Fig. 7, it may be seen that the primary diverter 22 proximal to the rewind reel is configured to distance the ribbon from the internal wall 12b of the lid 10. This facilitates the proper realignment of the ribbon on the secondary diverters 34 that are rotatably supported by the case 30.

As shown by way of example in the sequence of Fig. 12A through 13D, in effect, the ribbon (which, when the reels 16 are carried by the lid 10, is axially flattened into a filiform shape) unfolds along the secondary diverters 34, assuming an axially enlarged shape as the reels 16 are rotated by the mandrels 32. In this way, the ribbon will slide from the primary diverters 22 to the secondary diverters 34, unfolding from a filiform conformation to an expanded conformation, until it assumes the width, axially, of the reels 16.

Various aspects and embodiments of a lid and a thermal-transfer printing apparatus according to the invention have been described. It is understood that each embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment. Furthermore, the invention is not limited to the described embodiments, but may be varied within the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A lid (10), adapted to be mounted in a removable manner to a thermal-transfer printing apparatus, comprising:

- a front plate (12), comprising an external face (12a), adapted to face the outside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and an internal face (12b), parallel to the external face (12a) and adapted to face the interior of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus; and

- a pair of primary supports (14), supported by the internal face (12b) of the front plate (12) and adapted to support respective reels (16) of thermal transfer ribbon (17); characterized by the fact that the portion of the primary supports (14) adapted to come into direct contact with the spools of the respective reels is fixed in rotation with respect to the internal face (12b).

2. The lid according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of annular pushers (18), radially external and concentric to respective primary supports (14), each of said annular pushers (18) being axially slidable with respect to the respective primary supports (14) from a first position retracted with respect to the internal face (12b), in which a terminal edge of the annular pusher (18) is proximal to said internal face (12b), and a second position extended with respect to the internal face (12b), in which said terminal edge of the annular pusher (18) is distal from the internal face (12b), said terminal edges of the annular pushers (18) being adapted to engage the reels (16) in such a way that said reels (16) slide axially with respect to the respective primary supports (14) in the transition of the annular pushers (18) from the first retracted position to the second extended position.

3. The lid according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the annular pushers (18) pass axially through the front plate (12) and protrude with respect to said front plate (12) from the side of the external face (12a).

4. The lid according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the portions of the annular pushers (18) protruding from the side of the external face (12a), are transversely connected by means of a handle (20), adapted to be pushed by a user towards the external face (12a).

5. The lid according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the annular pushers (18) are pushed by elastic means (19) towards the first retracted position.

6. The lid according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of primary diverters (22), protruding perpendicularly from the internal face (12b) in proximity to opposite edges and/or vertices of the front plate (12) and adapted to deflect a thermal transfer ribbon (17) unwound from one reel (16) and wound onto the other reel (16) so that said thermal transfer ribbon (17) is at least in part stretched between the two reels (16).

7. The lid according to claim 6, wherein at least one of the primary diverters (22) protrudes from the internal face (12b) in such a way that the ribbon (17), in turning around said primary diverter (22), is held at a distance from said internal face (12b) greater than the distance of said ribbon (17) at one or more of the other primary diverters (22).

8. The lid according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising at least one bracket (24), protruding perpendicularly from the internal face (12b) in proximity to one edge of said internal face, and a dragging arm (26), supported by the bracket (24) from which it protrudes perpendicularly in such a way as to intercept the axes of both primary supports (14), said dragging arm (26) facing the internal face (12b) at a predetermined distance so that the reels (16) are axially contained between the internal face (12b) and the dragging arm (26).

9. The lid according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a pair of rods (28), radially internal and concentric to respective primary supports (14), said rods (28) projecting axially from said primary supports (14).

10. A thermal-transfer printing apparatus, comprising:

- a case (30), which defines an internal compartment, accessible from the outside of the case (30);

- a lid (10) mounted in a removable manner to the case (30) so as to preclude access to said internal compartment; 14

- a pair of mandrels (32), having a cylindrical body adapted to be inserted axially in the spools of the respective reels (16), said mandrels (32) being rotatably supported by the case (30) also in the absence of the lid (10); and

- motor means, carried by the case (30) and adapted to rotate said mandrels (32).

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the lid (10) comprises:

- a front plate (12), comprising an external face (12a), adapted to face the outside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus, and an internal face (12b), parallel to the external face (12a) and adapted to face the inside of the thermal-transfer printing apparatus;

- a pair of primary supports (14), supported by the internal face (12b) of the front plate (12) and adapted to support respective reels (16) of thermal transfer ribbon (17), said primary supports (14) being coaxial to respective mandrels (32) when the lid (10) is applied to the case (30); and a pair of annular pushers (18), radially external and concentric to respective primary supports (14), each of said annular pushers (18) being axially slidable with respect to respective primary supports (14) from a first position retracted with respect to said internal face (12b), wherein a terminal edge of said annular pusher (18) is proximal to said internal face (12b), and a second position extended with respect to the internal face (12b), wherein said terminal edge of the annular pusher (18) is distal from the internal face (12b), said terminal edges of the annular pusher (18) being adapted to engage the reels (16) in such a manner that said reels (16) slide axially with respect to their respective primary supports (14) in the transition of the annular pusher (18) from the first retracted position to the second extended position and engage the respective mandrels (32).

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, comprising a heating print head, housed in the internal compartment of the case (30) and adapted to transfer an ink from a heatsensitive ribbon, carried by the reels (16), to a substrate.

13. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the annular pushers (18) of the lid (10) pass axially through the front plate (12) and protrude with respect to said front plate (12) from the side of the external face (12a). 15

14. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 13, wherein the portions of the annular pushers (18) of the lid (10), projecting from the side of the external face (12a), are transversely connected by means of a handle (20), adapted to be pushed by a user towards the external face (12a).

15. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 14, wherein the annular pushers (18) are pushed toward the first retracted position by elastic means (19).

16. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 15, wherein the lid (10) comprises a plurality of primary diverters (22), projecting perpendicularly from the internal face (12b) in proximity to opposite edges and/or vertices of the front plate (12) and adapted to divert a thermal transfer ribbon (17) unwound from one reel (16) and wound on the other reel (16) such that said thermal transfer ribbon (17) stretches at least partially between the two reels (16).

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein at least one of the primary diverters (22) protrudes from the internal face (12b) such that the ribbon (17), in turning about said primary diverter (22), is held at a distance from said internal face (12b) greater than the distance of said ribbon (17) at one or more of the other primary diverters (22).

18. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 17, wherein the lid (10) comprises at least one bracket (24), projecting perpendicularly from the internal face (12b) in proximity to an edge thereof, and a dragging arm (26), supported by the bracket (24) from which it protrudes perpendicularly so as to intercept the axes of both primary supports (14), said dragging arm (26) facing the internal face (12b) at a predetermined distance such that the reels (16) are axially containable between the internal face (12b) and the dragging arm (26).

19. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 18, wherein the lid (10) comprises a pair of rods (28), radially internal and concentric to respective primary supports (14), said rods (28) protruding axially from said primary supports (14). 16

20. The apparatus according to claims 10 to 19, comprising a plurality of secondary diverters (34), rotatably carried by the case (30) and protruding into the compartment inside the case (30) in proximity to opposite edges and/or vertices of said internal compartment, said secondary diverters (34) being adapted to divert a thermal transfer ribbon (17) unwound from one reel (16) and wound onto the other reel (16) in such a way that said thermal transfer ribbon (17) is arranged along a path established by the position of said secondary diverters (34).