JPH0136436B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette used in an impact type dot printer. This invention relates to a multicolored ribbon cassette used when forming ribbons. Conventionally, multicolor ribbon cassettes employing an ink replenishment system using an ink cartridge are known. As an example, for example,
There is a structure as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 15046, in which the ink cartridges are arranged in a vertically overlapping manner. This arrangement of the ink cartridges does not pose much of a problem in the case of two-color ribbon cassettes, but in the case of three- or four-color multicolor ribbon cassettes, the thickness of the cassette increases unnecessarily, and this should be avoided. In this case, the capacity of the ink cartridge will be insufficient. Another drawback is that it is troublesome to replace the ink cartridge located below. The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art in a multicolor ribbon cassette employing an ink replenishment system using an ink cartridge. An example of this will be described below. 1 and 2, a cassette case 1 is comprised of a lower case 2 and its cover 3, and has a recess in the front portion sufficient to accommodate a printing head (not shown). The endless ink ribbon 4 has a total of four color bands 4y, 4m, 4c, and 4b, which are the three primary colors of paint, yellow, magenta, and cyan, plus black. It is housed folded in accordance with the regulations. And this ink ribbon 4
are exposed through passages 6, 7 through openings 8, 9 at their ends. Storage room 5 passage 6
A transfer roller 10 is rotatably supported at the offset position. This transfer roller 10 has four protruding transfer surfaces 10y, 10m, 10 on its outer peripheral surface.
c and 10b are formed in parallel. Transfer roller 1
The lower end shaft 11 of the 0 is exposed through the hole 12 of the lower case 2, and a cross-shaped groove 13 is formed in the lower end surface thereof as shown in FIG. When the cassette case 1 is attached to the print head, a ribbon feed shaft (not shown) provided on the print head side fits into the concave groove 13, so that the transfer roller 10 moves as shown in FIG. Driven counterclockwise. Also, the upper shaft (knob) 14 of the transfer roller 10 is connected to the hole 15 of the cover 3.
The upper shaft 14 protrudes upward from the upper shaft 14 and can be rotated manually. A pressure roller 16 facing the transfer roller 10 via the ink ribbon 4
As shown in FIG. 4, there are four pressing surfaces 16y, 1
6m, 16c, and 16b, the narrow neck portion 17 of which is rotatably supported by a holding member 18. Although not clearly shown in the drawings, the holding member 18 is slidably supported by the lower case 2 and biased to the left in FIG. 1 via a spring 19. Therefore, the ink ribbon 4 is pressed against the transfer roller 10 by the pressure roller 16.
At this time, the transfer roller 10 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1, so that the ink ribbon 4 runs clockwise in FIG. Further, a plate spring 20 is arranged on the passage 7 side, and the ink ribbon 4 is passed between the free end of the plate spring 20 and the protrusion 21, and the frictional force therebetween causes the ribbon 4 to be Tension is applied. On the other hand, a plurality of ink cartridges 22 are arranged radially around the transfer roller 10 when viewed from the plane. This ink cartridge 22
is removably inserted from the back side into a cavity 23 provided in the lower case 2, and its placement height is regulated by a positioning plate 24 vertically provided integrally with the cover 3. The ink cartridges 22 are sequentially arranged at different levels when viewed from the side, with some of the ink cartridges 22 overlapping each other. As a result, the core material 25, such as felt, protruding from the front surface of each ink cartridge 22 is in particular contact with the transfer surfaces 10y, 10m, 10c, and 10b, respectively. Each ink cartridge 22 is
The internal structure is the same, and as shown in FIG. The ink impregnating material 28 is impregnated with yellow, magenta, cyan, and black inks, respectively. An elastic spring 31 is provided between a side wall 29 and a rear wall 30 for partitioning the gap 23, and the spring force of the elastic spring 31 causes each ink cartridge 22 to move toward the transfer roller 1.
It is being pushed towards 0. When this ribbon cassette is mounted on a print head, the transfer roller 10 is driven to rotate as the ribbon cassette moves, thereby causing the ink ribbon 4 to travel clockwise in FIG. When the transfer roller 10 rotates,
The core material 2 of the ink cartridge 22 corresponding to the transfer surfaces 10y, 10m, 10c, and 10b is
5, the ink of the corresponding color is attached, and this ink is applied to the corresponding color bands 4y, 4m, 4c, and 4b.
The transfer will be supplemented. In the case of color printing, the ink of each color is not necessarily consumed equally, so the time when the ink in each ink cartridge 22 reaches its end of life differs from each other, but when the ink cartridge 22 reaches the end of its life, it can be replaced with a new one. Replaced with a spare cartridge. When the same ribbon cassette is used for a long period of time by replacing the ink cartridge 22 as appropriate, the ink ribbon 4 becomes damaged and eventually becomes unusable. At this time, the entire ribbon cassette is replaced with a new one. Further, since the ink ribbon 4 is supplied with a small amount of ink in its color bands 4y, 4m, 4c, and 4b, it does not contain excessive ink.
There are fewer problems of color mixing between the color bands 4y, 4m, 4c, and 4b. In addition, in the above embodiment, the positioning plate 24, the side wall 2
Although this is an example in which the position holding means of the ink cartridge 22 is configured by using the ink cartridge 22, the structure of the holding means is not limited to the embodiment, and may be modified as appropriate without departing from the scope of the claims. It is possible to do so. According to the multicolor ribbon cassette having the structure according to the present invention described in detail above, the necessary and sufficient capacity of the ink cartridge can be secured without increasing the thickness of the cassette. Moreover, since none of the ink cartridges overlaps when viewed from the plane, replacement is easy. In addition, an ink-replenishable multicolor ribbon cassette can be manufactured compactly and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the multicolor ribbon cassette of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway side view, Fig. 3 is a bottom view of the transfer roller, and Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the pressure roller. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the ink cartridge. 1...cassette case, 2...lower case, 3...
...Cover, 4...Ink ribbon, 4y, 4m, 4
c, 4b... Color band of ink ribbon, 10... Transfer roller, 10y, 10m, 10c, 10b... Transfer surface, 22... Ink cartridge, 23... Ink cartridge installation gap, 25... ... core material of the ink cartridge, 28 ... ink impregnating material of the ink cartridge, 24, 29 ... position holding means of the ink cartridge, 31 ... elastic spring.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A transfer roller is rotatably supported in a cassette case that accommodates a multicolor ink ribbon having a plurality of color bands, and the transfer roller has a plurality of protrusions on which the color bands are in contact with each other. A plurality of ink cartridges having the same shape each having a transfer surface, each having a different color of ink, and having a core material that guides the ink to a corresponding one of the transfer surfaces, can be freely inserted into and removed from the cassette case. Inside the cassette case, the ink cartridges are arranged radially in the same plane around the transfer roller when viewed from the plane, and at different levels so that they partially overlap when viewed from the side. Position holding means for holding the ink cartridge are formed, and an elastic spring is provided at the rear of each position holding means for elastically pressing the rear part of the ink cartridge toward the transfer roller. A multicolored ribbon cassette.