JPH02103174A - Ribbon cassette replacing mechanism of printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the driving force for moving a carriage and to eliminate the contamination of paper by forming a delivery mechanism performing the delivery of a ribbon cassette between a cassette holding part, to which a carriage is opposed, and the carriage to a carriage and cassette holding body. CONSTITUTION:A carriage 5 is moved along a platen 2 to be opposed to either one of cassette holding parts and an arbitrary cassette 22 is selected from a plurality of the ribbon cassettes 22 mounted on a cassette holding body 28 and automatically delivered to the carriage 5 by a delivery mechanism to be used in printing. After the finish of printing, the carriage 5 is opposed to the cassette holding part holding no cassette 22 and the cassette 22 hold by the carriage is delivered to the cassette holding part by a delivery mechanism. Then, the carriage 5 is moved so as to be opposed to the cassette holding part holding other cassette 22 to deliver the cassette 22 to the carriage by the deliv ery mechanism to perform printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a printer that performs printing by transferring ink from an ink ribbon in a ribbon cassette onto paper, and particularly relates to a printer that prints by transferring ink from an ink ribbon in a ribbon cassette onto paper, and in particular, it relates to a printer that prints by transferring ink from an ink ribbon in a ribbon cassette to paper, and in particular, it relates to a printer that prints by transferring ink from an ink ribbon in a ribbon cassette onto paper. The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette exchange mechanism for a printer that can select a cassette and automatically exchange it for printing.

[Conventional technology]

For example, how to use a printer equipped with such a plurality of ribbon cassettes is to use a printer equipped with two ribbon cassettes,
One is a ribbon cassette that stores a once-used ink ribbon, and the other is a ribbon cassette that stores a new ink ribbon.When proofreading, use the once-used ink ribbon, and for old poems, use a new ink ribbon. Or...
Alternatively, there are various uses such as providing ribbon cassettes of two or more different colored ink ribbons to use different printing colors.

A conventional ribbon cassette exchange mechanism for this type of printer is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 164876/1983.

That is, as shown in FIG. 10, a highly cylindrical platen 71 is attached to a frame 70, and a carriage shaft 72 is attached to the frame 70 substantially parallel to the axial direction of the platen 71. The carriage 73 is attached to the carriage shaft 72 at t! ! Supported freely. The carriage 73 also includes a thermal head 74 facing the platen 71, a cassette shift lever 75 that rotates around the carriage shaft 72 by a motor (not shown), and a cassette shift lever 75 that rotates around the carriage shaft 72 by a motor (not shown). A cassette holder 77 which can be raised and lowered by 4tE'J via a bin 76 is attached to the cassette holder 77. In this cassette holder 77, a printing ribbon cassette 78 containing a printing ink ribbon 78a and a correction ribbon cassette 79 containing a correction ink ribbon 79a are mounted in two stacked layers, one above the other. has been done.

The ribbon cassette exchange 1m side of the conventional printer described above is configured as described above, so the motor (not shown)
, the cassette shift lever 75 is rotated around the carriage shaft 72, and the cassette holder 77 is rotated.
By moving up and down to select the ribbon cassettes 78 and 79 facing the thermal head 74, printing or correction can be performed on the paper P using the ink ribbons of the glue ribbon cassettes 78 and 79. can.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional device described above, the carriage 73 must be moved along the platen 71 with a plurality of ribbon cassettes 78, 79 mounted on the carriage 73, and the carriage 73 must be moved along the platen 71. 73 requires a large driving force, and the ribbon cassette 78 or 79 that is not used for printing is also moved together with the carriage 73, so the ink ribbon in the ribbon cassette 78 or 79 that is not used for printing is There is a risk that the paper P will be soiled, and furthermore, if multiple ribbon cassettes 7
8. Carriage 73 with 79 stacked vertically
Since the ribbon cassette 79 is mounted on the ribbon cassette 79, there are various problems such as difficulty in replacing the lower ribbon cassette 79.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems with the conventional ones, reduces the driving force for moving the carriage, eliminates the risk of staining paper with a ribbon cassette that is not used for printing, and An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon cassette exchange mechanism for a printer that allows easy exchange of ribbon cassettes.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention includes a carriage that can reciprocate along a platen and can mount a ribbon cassette, and a plurality of cassette holders formed at positions facing the carriage, each of which holds a ribbon. a cassette holder that holds a cassette, and a transfer mechanism is formed on the carriage and the cassette holder to transfer the ribbon cassette between the carriage and the force cell I/holding section facing the carriage. It is characterized by what it did.

(Function) According to the present invention having the above-described configuration, by moving the carriage along the platen and stopping the carriage so as to face any one of the cassette holders, any one of the ribbon cassettes mounted on the cassette holder can be selected. You can select the ribbon cassette, and you can receive this ribbon cassette 1i11
4, the ribbon cassette can be used for printing etc. by automatically transferring the ribbon from the cassette holder to the carriage. After printing, etc., the carriage is passed to the cassette holding section where the ribbon cassette is not held, and the ribbon cassette held by the carriage is transferred to this cassette holding section, and then the other The carriage is moved so as to face the cassette holder holding the ribbon cassette, and the ribbon cassette in the cassette holder is transferred to the carriage again by the transfer mechanism, so that printing can be performed using another ribbon cassette. can.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.

1 to 9 show an embodiment of a ribbon cassette exchange mechanism for a printer according to the present invention, and reference numeral 1 in the drawings indicates a frame framed so that the cross section is approximately 1-shaped. A platen 2 having a plate shape extending in the left-right direction is disposed on the horizontal N 1 a of the frame 1 . In addition, a cylindrical support tube 3 is provided in the horizontal portion 1a.
is supported via brackets 4 provided at both left and right ends so as to be substantially parallel to the platen 2.

The support rod 3 has a main ridge 5 formed in a plate shape.
is slidably supported. A plate-shaped guide plate 6 whose cross section is approximately horizontally 1-shaped is attached to the upper end of the vertical portion 1b of the frame 1 by screws 7, 7, etc., and the i; The guide plate 6 at the contact part 8
It is slidably supported on the end of the Further, a rack 9 is formed at an end of the guide plate 6 and is substantially parallel to the platen 2, and this rack 9 has a winding bobbin which is supported by a support shaft 10 on the carriage 5 and which will be described later. A gear 11 that rotationally drives the gear 27 is engaged with the gear 11.

On the horizontal portion 1a of the frame 1, a toothed belt 12 is movably supported by a gear 13 (only one shown in the drawing) pivotally supported at both left and right ends of the frame 1 so as to be substantially parallel to the platen 2. The toothed belt 12 can be moved by a motor 14 connected to one gear 13. This toothed belt 12 is connected to the carriage 5, and the main carriage 5 can reciprocate along the support rod 3 by running the toothed belt 12 by a motor 14.

A thermal head 15 is attached to the carriage 5 so as to face the platen 2 and print on the paper so that it can move toward and away from the platen 2.

In addition, a plate-shaped cassette support member 16 that is substantially parallel to the carriage 5 is mounted on the carriage 5 by means of a rank mechanism 17 that is parallel to the carriage 5.
It is installed so that it can move freely in parallel so that it approaches and separates from the A pair of parallel rank mechanisms 17 are provided on both the left and right sides of the cassette support member 16, and a pair of links 17a and 17b that intersect with each other in an X shape are pivoted at the intersection position by a pin 17c, and the links 17a, The end of 17b is attached to the bin 17d, 1
They are pivotally connected to the left and right sides of the carriage 5 and the cassette support member 16 by 7e, 17f, and 17G, respectively. Note that the bottle 17e.

17G are the carriage 5 and cassette support 1, respectively.
It is slidably locked in elongated holes 18 and 19 formed at the upper ends of the left and right sides of 6. Further, a rotating crank mechanism 20 is mounted on the carriage 5, and the rotating crank mechanism 20 allows the cassette support member 16 to be moved in parallel. As shown in FIG. 7, this rotating crank mechanism 20 includes a rotating plate 20a that is a single rotating member that is rotatably supported by the carriage 5.
and a connecting link 20C forming a connecting member pivotally attached to the eccentric position of the rotary plate 20a by a pin 20b,
The distal end of the connecting link 20 is pivotally attached to the cassette support member 16 by a pin 20d. The rotary plate 20a is rotatably driven by a motor (not shown).

On both left and right sides of the cassette support member 16, there are plate-shaped arms 21 whose distal ends are gently curved inwardly and whose upper and lower ends are engaged parts 21a with protrusions (not shown) formed thereon.
．． 21 are opposed to each other by the support shafts 23, 23 at a distance approximately equal to the width of the ribbon cassette 22! f!
They are paid 1 yen freely. Each arm 21 is biased 52 by a coil spring 24 so as to rotate in a direction approaching each other, and each arm 21 is
The cassette support member 16 is held in an upright state toward the front by being brought into contact with both left and right sides of the cassette support member 16 . Furthermore, a pair of positioning bins 25, 25 are erected on the upper ra portion of the cassette support member 16 so as to protrude forward, respectively. Furthermore, a pair of rotatable winding bobbins 26 and 27 are formed in the center of the cassette support member 16 at a predetermined distance from each other so as to protrude forward.

A plate-shaped cassette holder 28 having a lateral length approximately twice as long as the cassette support 16 and facing parallel to the cassette support 16 is erected at the tip of the horizontal portion 1a of the 1 m frame 1. has been done. At the bottom of this h set holder 28,
A pair of support protrusions 29 and 30 are provided at appropriate intervals in the longitudinal direction of the cassette holder 28 and protrude downward.

Coaxial guide shafts 31.32 extending horizontally are provided on these support projections 29.30 so as to protrude from each other so as to face each other. On the other hand, on both sides above the tip of the water qiL portion 1a of the frame 1, there are 0-shaped missing pieces 33 of glue, respectively.
．． 34 are formed, and the guide shaft 31.32 is fitted into these notches 33.34. Further, a coil spring 35, which is a biasing means for biasing the cassette holder 28 in the six directions of arrows in FIG. 1, is compressed between the one support projection 30 and the frame 1. The cassette holder 28 is always biased in the direction of the arrow by the coil spring 35, and the positioning portion 36 formed on the other support protrusion 29 is always in contact with the positioning al 137 formed near the notch WB33 to hold the cassette. The holding body 28 has been positioned.

As shown in FIG. 2, on the surface of the cassette holder 28 facing the cassette support 16,
The engaging portion 38a has almost the same shape as the arm 21 of No. 6, and similarly has an engaging portion 38a,
A plurality of pairs (two pairs in the embodiment) of arms 38 and 39 having the arm 39a are supported at positions corresponding to the respective arms 21 by support shafts 40.degree. 41 so as to be freely rotatable in a substantially horizontal direction. Further, each of the arms 38 and 39 is biased by a coil spring 42 so that the arms 38 and 39 rotate in a direction in which the pairs approach each other. Further, a stopper 43 is provided protruding from the base of each arm 38, 39 at 6, and this stopper 43 is connected to the cassette holder 28.
Each arm 38, 39 is held in an upright position by being brought into contact with the arm 38, 39. The arms 38 and 39 of the cassette holder 28 form a pair of cassette holders 28a and 28b, respectively.

The cassette holder 28 includes each arm 38, 39.
Guide plates 44, 44: 45, 45 are provided upright at approximately equal intervals to the arms 38, 39 that are located above and form a pair. The projecting piece 44a extends in the direction in which the pieces approach each other.

45a is formed. Further, the cassette holder 2
Below each of the arms 38 and 39 of 8, a horizontal plate-shaped cassette holder 46 is erected so as to protrude in a substantially horizontal direction. The distance to the lower end of the protruding pieces 44a, 45a of .45 mm is greater than the height of the ribbon cassette 22. In addition, the ribbon cassette 22 of the cassette holder 28
As shown in FIG. 6, on the surface on which the
A cushion member 48 such as a coil spring is provided between the cassette holder 28 and the cassette holder 28 to support the abutting plate 47.

The ribbon cassette 22, which is held W1 by the carriage 5 and the cassette holder 28, has an ink ribbon 50 inside a cassette case 49, which is a cassette main body in the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped.
is wound around a pair of reels (not shown) and housed in such a way that the middle portion is led out of the cassette case 49.

As shown in FIG. 4, both left and right side surfaces of the cassette case 49 are formed into substantially circular curved surfaces in cross section. Further, on both the left and right sides of the cassette case 49, ribbons are placed at positions corresponding to the upper ends of the respective arms 21.degree. Step portions 51 and 52 are formed at intervals in the thickness direction of the cassette 22, and the step portions 51 that are close to the cassette holder 28 have projections of each engaging portion 21a of the arm 21. Further, the step portion 52 is configured such that the protrusions of the engaging portions 38a, 39a of the arms 38, 39 can be engaged with the step portion 52. Furthermore, a pair of positioning holes 53.53 are formed in the upper end of the cassette case 49 at positions corresponding to the positioning pins 25.25 of the cassette support member 16, which are inserted through the holes in the thickness direction. Furthermore, an opening 54 is formed on the lower surface of the cassette case 49, and the intermediate portion of the ink ribbon 50 is led out from this opening 54. Further, the winding bobbin 26 is disposed in the center of the cassette case 49 in the vertical direction.
．． A pair of through holes 55, 56 are formed at the same distance as the through holes 27, and when the ribbon cassette 22 is mounted on the cassette support member 16, the bobbins 26, 27 pass through the through holes 55, 56, respectively. and is adapted to be engaged with the reel (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 1, the frame 1 has a paper feed port 57 formed at the upper end of the vertical portion 1b, which extends along the vertical portion 1b, reaches the horizontal portion 1a, and continues further forward. A paper path 59 is formed that passes between the thermal head 15 and the platen 2 and reaches the paper discharge port 58. A plurality of pairs of feed rollers 0-560.60 face the paper path 59, and the driving roller of the eight pairs of feed rollers 60 and 60 is a belt 61.
The paper P is connected to a motor (not shown) through a motor, etc., is rotationally driven, and is printed by the rotation of eight pairs of feed rows 560.
transportation is now possible.

An opening 62 for attaching the ribbon cassette 22 to the cassette holder 28 is formed in the upper part of the frame 1, and the cassette holder 28 slightly below the opening 62 has horizontal openings spaced apart from side to side. A pair of elongated holes 63, 63 extending in the direction are formed. On the other hand, a lid 64 is provided to cover the opening 62 of the cassette holder 28. This lid body 64 has a pair of flexible tongue pieces 65.65 that can be engaged with the elongated holes 63.63, and is attached to the guide plate 6 by a plurality of screws 66.66. It is set to be fixed.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-described configuration will be explained.

First, each screw 66 is removed in order to open the frontage 62, and the tongue piece 65 of the lid 64 is disengaged from the elongated hole 64 to remove the lid 64 from the guide plate 6 of the frame 1. and,
Each cassette holder 2 of the cassette holder 28 is opened from the opening 62.
The ribbon cassette 22 is mounted on 8a and 28b. At this time, each ribbon cassette 22 is inserted into the guide plate 44 from the opening 62.
．． 45 and placed on the cassette holder 46. In this state, each ribbon cassette 2
2 is an engaging portion 38a of each arm 38,39.

A protrusion (not shown) of ribbon cassette 22 is engaged with a step 52 of ribbon cassette 22, and is held by arms 38 and 39 by the pressing force of each spring 42, and held by cassette holder 28. Further, when each ribbon cassette 22 is placed on the cassette holder 46, the upper end of the ribbon cassette 22 is provided below the guide plate 44, 45. After each ribbon cassette 22 is mounted on each cassette holding part 28a, 28b of the cassette holding body 2B, the lid body 64 is attached to the guide plate 6 of the frame 1 as before, and the opening 6
■ Chain 2.

Next, the cassette holding part 28a of the cassette holding body 28,
A predetermined one to be used for printing is selected from a plurality of ribbon cassettes 22.22 mounted on the ribbon cassette 28b. In other words, when you press the selection button (not shown), the printer's
The motor 14 is driven by the υ1'@ signal from the 1@ section, runs the toothed belt 12, moves the carriage 5 along the support rod 3, and stops the carriage 5 in front of the selected ribbon cassette 22. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, by driving another motor (not shown), the rotary plate 20a is rotated counterclockwise and the connecting link 20a is rotated counterclockwise.
0c is moved forward and moved in parallel so as to be close to the cassette holder 28 by the action of the rank mechanism 17 that moves the cassette holder 28 horizontally.

To explain this operation in detail, as shown in FIG.
．． 21 is attached to the arm 38.3 of the cassette holder 28.
8: The cassette support member 16 is positioned inward from the tips of the cassette holder 28, that is, the distance between the pairs is narrow.
As shown in FIG. 8(b), each arm of the cassette support member 16 is placed between each arm 38 or 39 holding the selected ribbon cassette 22 and both left and right sides of this ribbon cassette 22. 21 protrusions are respectively inserted, and each arm 38 or 39 is expanded against the spring force of the coil spring 42 to release the engagement of each arm 38 or 39 with the ribbon force set I/22. The protrusion of the engaging portion 21a of the arm 21 is connected to the ribbon cassette 22.
Ribbon cassette 2
2 is held in place. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, since a cushion member 48 is provided, the cassette I/support material 1
6 in the vicinity of the cassette holder 28 and the ribbon cassette 22
When making contact with the shoe 212, the shoe 212 member 48 can absorb the second blow and errors in each mechanism. Further, as the cassette support member 16 approaches the cassette holder 28, the ribbon cassette 22 held between the arms 21 and 21 of the cassette support member 16 is moved so that each of the positioning bins 25 protruding from the cassette support member 16 By being inserted into each positioning hole 53 of the ribbon cassette 22, it is positioned at a predetermined position. Furthermore, along with this, the cassette support material 16
The take-up bobbins 26, 27 are inserted into the through holes 55, 56 of the ribbon cassette 22 and engaged with a reel (not shown) on which the ribbon cassette 22 is wound. Here, the take-up reel is operated by the motor to take up the slack of the ink ribbon in the cassette so that the ink ribbon does not get caught on the head when it is set on the carriage 5.

Thereafter, when the rotary plate 20 shown in FIG. 7 is further rotated counterclockwise, the connecting link 20C is moved rearward (to the right in FIG. 7), and the cassette support member 16 is moved horizontally by the action of the rank mechanism 17. The selected ribbon cassette 22 is set on the carriage 5 while being held between the arms 21.

During this movement, each arm 38 or 39 of the cassette holder 28 comes into sliding contact with the outside of each arm 21 of the cassette support 16. The ink ribbon 50 led out from the ribbon cassette 22 is transferred to the thermal head 15.
The ink ribbon 50 and the paper are inserted between the platen 2 and the platen 2, and the thermal head 15 is projected toward the platen 2, and the ink ribbon 50 and the paper are sandwiched between the platen 2 and the thermal head 15, thereby enabling printing.

Next, the effect of replacing the ribbon cassette 22 with another one will be explained.

First, the carriage 5 is moved along the support rod 3 to remove the empty pair of arms 38 of the cassette holder 28.
The carriage 5 is positioned in front of the cassette holder 28a or 28b between the cassettes 39 and 39.

Then, cassette supporting material 16 is inserted in the same manner as described above! -Move in parallel toward the holding body 28.

Then, as shown in FIG. 8(C), the cassette holder 2
The arms 38 and 39 on the 8th side are inserted between the left and right sides of the ribbon cassette 22 and each arm 21 of the cassette support member 16, and each arm 21 is expanded against the coil spring 24 to open each arm 21. The engaging portion 38a or 39a of each arm 38 or 39 is engaged with the stepped portion 52 of the ribbon cassette 22 while releasing the attachment to the ribbon cassette 22, and each arm 38.
The ribbon cassette 22 is clamped by the ribbon cassette 39. During this movement, each arm 21 of the cassette support 16 comes into sliding contact with the outside of each arm 38 or 39 of the cassette holder 28. Thereafter, when the cassette support member 16 is returned to the direction in which it is set on the carriage 5 in the same manner as described above, the ribbon cassette 22 is moved to the cassette holder 28.

Next, the carriage 5 is moved along the support rod 3 in the same manner as described above, the carriage 5 is stopped in front of another ribbon cassette 22 mounted on the cassette holder 28, and the carriage 5 is moved in the same manner as described above. Cassette support material 16
By moving the ribbon cassette 22 toward the cassette holder 28, another ribbon cassette 22 can be mounted on the cassette support 16. Then, by setting the cassette supporting member 16 on which another ribbon cassette 22 is mounted on the carriage 5 again in the same manner as described above, the ribbon cassette 22 is
2 can be exchanged for something else.

In this way, according to this embodiment, the ribbon cassette 22 can be automatically replaced. For example, the cassette holder 2
By mounting a plurality of ribbon cassettes 22 consisting of ink ribbons 50 of different colors on the cassette holder 8, multicolor printing can be easily performed without requiring manual labor. By installing a ribbon cassette 22 containing a once-used ink ribbon 50 for proofing and a ribbon cassette 22 containing a new ink ribbon 50 for cleaning purposes in the printer 28, printing can be performed using the ribbon cassette 22 for proofreading. After that, the ribbon cassette 22 is automatically exchanged with a clear one, and clear ♂ printing can be performed immediately.

The cassette holder 28 also has a coil spring 35 that allows the positioning portion 36 of the support protrusion 29 to be aligned with the notch 33 of the frame 1.
Since the ribbon cassette 22 is positioned so as to be always in contact with the positioning portion 37 near the frame 1 and supported by the frame 1, the ribbon cassette 22 can be reliably transferred between the cassette support member 16 of the carriage 5 and the cassette holder 28.

Furthermore, since only one ribbon cassette 22 is mounted on the carriage 5 for printing, the carriage 5 can be stably moved even if the driving force of the motor 14 that drives the carriage 5 is reduced.

Furthermore, since the parallel movement of the cassette support member 16 is performed by a combination of the horizontally moving rank mechanism 17 and the rotating crank mechanism 20, the link 1 of the horizontally moving rank mechanism 17
No large load acts on 7a, 17b, therefore,
The cassette support member 16 can be stably translated in parallel over a long period of time.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various changes can be made as necessary. For example, the ribbon cassette held by the ribbon holder is 311! It is also possible to do more than that.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the driving force for moving the carriage can be reduced, there is no risk of staining paper with ribbon cassettes not used for printing, and ribbon cassettes can be easily replaced. It has the effect of being able to do it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 9 show an embodiment of the ribbon cassette exchange mechanism according to the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printer implementing this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cassette holder. Figure 3 is a perspective view of the arm, Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line IV-IV shown in Figure 1, Figure 5 is a front view of the cassette holder, and Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the ribbon cassette exchange mechanism. Side view, Figure 7 is a schematic side view of the carriage, Figure 8(a)
. (b) and (C) are plan views showing the operating state of the ribbon cassette changing mechanism, FIG. 9 is a side view showing the operating state of the ribbon cassette changing mechanism, and FIG. 10 is a side view showing the conventional ribbon cassette changing mechanism. It is. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Frame, 2... Platen, 3... Support Rondo, 5... Carriage, 16... Cassette support material, 17... Parallel rank mechanism, 20... Rotating crank mechanism, 20a... Rotating plate, 20C... Connection link, 21° 38.39... Arm, 22... Ribbon cassette, 25... Positioning bin, 28... Cassette holder, 31.32... ...Guide shaft, 36.37... Positioning part, 38a, 39a... Engagement part, 48... Cushion member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A carriage capable of reciprocating along a platen and capable of mounting a ribbon cassette, and a cassette holder formed by holding a ribbon cassette in a plurality of cassette holders formed at positions facing the carriage, respectively. A ribbon cassette exchange mechanism for a printer, characterized in that the carriage and the cassette holder are provided with a transfer mechanism for transferring the ribbon cassette between the carriage and the cassette holder that the carriage faces.