JPH0349971A - Cassette for printing medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable printing paper to be easily color-printed by a method where in printing paper, transfer ink paper and a winding shaft winding this transfer ink paper are respectively arranged free rotatably in parallel in a cassette body, and a discharge opening of the printing paper is provided. CONSTITUTION:Since roll form printing paper 30, transfer ink paper 40, and a winding shaft 51 winding said transfer ink paper are built in a cassette body 1, the printing paper and the thermal transfer ink paper can be simultaneously supplied only by installing the cassette body to a printer. Further, since color areas of a plurality of colors are successively repetitively arranged on the transfer ink paper, the printing paper in the cassette body can be color-printed. Further, the color-printed printing paper is discharged from a discharge opening 18 of the cassette body, and the used thermal transfer ink paper is made to be wound on the winking shaft 51. Therefore, after use, the cassette body is taken out from the printer and the thermal transfer ink paper can be easily exchanged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a print medium cassette having a roll-shaped print medium formed by overlapping print paper and transfer ink paper.

[Summary of the Invention] The present invention relates to a print medium cassette having a roll-shaped print medium formed by overlapping print paper and transfer ink paper, in which the roll-shaped print paper is placed inside the cassette body. and a transfer ink paper that overlaps the print paper at least at a predetermined printing position and is wound into a roll in which color areas of a plurality of colors are arranged repeatedly, and a winding shaft for winding the transfer ink paper. By arranging them in parallel so that they can rotate freely, and by providing an outlet through which the print paper printed on the cassette body is discharged, it is possible to print in color on the print paper in the cassette body, and also to dispose of used paper. This makes it extremely easy to replace the transfer ink paper.

[Prior Art] For example, a roll-shaped printing medium made by overlapping a printing paper with a transfer ink paper was developed in U.S. Pat.
It is disclosed in Publication No. 57. To explain this in detail with reference to FIG. 6.7, 60 is a roll-shaped printing medium, and a printing paper 62 and a sheet-shaped thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 as transfer ink paper are superimposed on a roller 61. It is rolled up.

Then, the printing medium 60 is supplied between a thermal head 64 and a platen 65 of a thermal transfer type printer schematically shown in FIG.
It is designed to be printed using thermal transfer.

In addition, in the printer using the print medium 60, in order to prevent the thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 from shifting or wrinkling during printing, the used thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 is taken up by a take-up roller 66. It is designed to be rolled up.

However, in a printer using the above conventional print medium 60, when loading the print medium 60 into the printer, the thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 is slightly wound in advance around the winding roller 66 that winds up the used thermal transfer ink ribbon 63. In addition, after use, the take-up roller 66 must be replaced in order to remove the thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 wound around the take-up roller 66. There is a problem that the work of attaching and removing the print medium 60 to the printer, including the replacement work, is complicated and time-consuming. In addition, the above print paper 6
Since the ink ribbon 2 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 are wound together, the ink of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 63 may melt due to the high temperature and cause abnormal transfer to the entire printing paper 62 when stored at high temperatures. There was a simple problem.

Incidentally, since the take-up roller 66 is indispensable for a printer using the printer medium 60, the entire device becomes complicated and the cost becomes high.

To deal with this, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-276576
No. 64-13353, etc., a cassette body includes a roll of printing paper, a roll of transfer ink paper that overlaps the printing paper at least at a predetermined printing position, and this transfer ink. It has been disclosed that a print medium is made into a cassette by arranging winding shafts for winding paper in parallel and rotatable.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, since the print medium cassettes disclosed in the above-mentioned conventional publications are used in facsimile machines, the ink paper for transfer thereof is of a single color such as black; The drawback was that the printing paper could only be printed in one color.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention provides a print medium cassette that is capable of color printing on print paper within the cassette body.

[Means for Solving the Problems] A cassette body includes a roll of printing paper wound in an a-roll shape and color areas of a plurality of colors sequentially and repeatedly arranged so as to overlap the printing paper at least at a predetermined printing position. A transfer ink paper wound in a shape and a take-up shaft for winding the transfer ink paper are respectively arranged in parallel and rotatably, and an ejection port through which the print paper printed on the cassette body is discharged. This is provided.

[Function] The cassette body has a built-in roll of print paper, transfer ink paper, and a take-up shaft for winding up the transfer ink paper, so just by installing the cassette body in the printer, the same The supply of printer paper and the supply of transfer ink paper are performed simultaneously from the cassette body. Further, since the transfer ink paper in which color areas of a plurality of colors are arranged in a sequentially repeated manner is used, color printing is performed on the print paper in the cassette body. Furthermore, the color printed paper is ejected from the outlet of the cassette body, and the used transfer ink paper is wound up on the take-up shaft, so after use, you can simply remove the cassette body from the printer and use it. Used ink paper for printing can be easily taken out and replaced.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a cassette body of a print medium cassette, which is bonded to a first case 10 made of synthetic resin and the periphery of the upper surface of the first case 10 shown in the figure by ultrasonic welding or the like. A second case made of synthetic resin that covers the first case 10
Case 20 is comprised of the following cases.

A rectangular opening 13 for inserting a head and a platen is formed in the center between a pair of supporting parts 11 and 12 standing vertically at opposite ends of the first case 10. A pair of storage portions 14 sandwiching the storage portion 13.
15 is integrally molded. An outer end support piece 11a having a pair of substantially arcuate upper end surfaces is integrally molded at a position on the side of the one storage part 14 of the one support part 11, and the outer end support piece 11a A pair of inner supporting pieces 11b and 11b having substantially arcuate upper end surfaces are integrally protruded from the inner side, which are parallel to each other and spaced apart by a predetermined pressure. Also,
An outer end support piece 11a' having a substantially arc-shaped upper end surface is integrally molded at a position of the one support part 11 on the side of the other storage part 15, and this outer end support piece 11a
An inner support piece tib' having a substantially arc-shaped upper end surface is integrally protruded from the inside spaced apart by a predetermined pressure so as to be parallel to the inner support piece tib'.

Furthermore, a pair of inner support pieces 12b, 12b having substantially arcuate upper end surfaces are integrally and protrusively molded at a position on the side of the storage part 14 on the negative side inside the other support part 12. Further, the other storage section 15 inside the other support section 12
At the side position, there is an inner support piece 12 having a substantially arc-shaped upper end surface.
b' is integrally extruded. Between each pair of inner support pieces 11b, 12b and llb, 12b of one storage section 14, there is a supply reel 31 wound with print paper 30 (described later) in a roll in order from the side wall 14a of the storage 114, and thermal transfer ink. A supply reel 41 having a ribbon (transfer ink paper) 40 wound thereon is rotatably supported, and each support piece 1 lb inside each of the other storage section 15
', 12b', the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40
It rotatably supports a take-up reel (take-up shaft) 51 for winding up. Further, on the side of the opening 13 of the storage section 14 and on the side wall 151 of the storage section 15 between the pair of support sections 11 and 12, a pair of guide rollers are provided for guiding the print paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 in a fixed direction. 16 and 17 respectively. Further, a rectangular discharge port 18 for discharging the printed paper 30 is provided at a position facing the lower side of the circumferential surface of the guide roller 17 on the side wall 15a.
It is formed.

A rectangular opening 23 for inserting a head and a platen is formed in the center between a pair of supporting parts 21 and 22 standing vertically at opposite ends of the second case 20. A pair of storage parts 24 and 25 curved in an arc shape so as to sandwich the part 23 are integrally molded. The first case 10 of the one storage section 24 of the one support section 21
At positions facing the outer end support piece 11a and the pair of inner support pieces ttb and zb, an outer end support piece 21a and an inner support piece 21b each having a pair of substantially arcuate upper end surfaces are integrally protruded and molded. It is. Further, the other storage section 25 of the one support section 21 has a substantially arc-shaped upper end surface at a position facing the outer end support piece 11a' and the inner support piece 11b' of the first case 10. The outer end support piece 211' and the inner support piece 21b' are each integrally formed by protrusion molding.

A pair of inner support pieces 2 having a substantially arc-shaped upper end surface are provided at a position opposite to the pair of inner support pieces 12b, 12b of the first case 10 in one storage part 24 of the other support part 22.
2b and 22b are integrally extruded. Further, the first case 1 of the other storage section 25 of the other support section 22
At a position opposite to the inner support piece 12b' of 0, an inner support piece 22b' having a substantially arcuate upper end surface is integrally and protrusively molded. A pair of inner support pieces l2b of this one storage section 24
, 22b and 12b, 22b rotatably support the supply reel 31 of the printing paper 30 and the supply reel 41 of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40, and each inner support piece 12b of the other storage section 25 A winding wheel 51 for winding up the thermal transfer ink ribbon 33 is rotatably supported between ' and 22b'.

The printing paper 30 is wound in a roll around a substantially cylindrical supply reel 31 made of resin. The above supply reel 31
The printing paper 3 is placed between the pair of collar parts 32a, 32a.
0 has a body part 32, a tip part 33, and a base part 34. The body portion 32 and the tip portion 33 are formed to have the same small diameter. The base portion 34 is formed to have a large diameter,
A plurality of ribs 35 for drive locking, into which a drive shaft of a thermal transfer type printer (not shown) is inserted and locked, are integrally protruded from the inner peripheral surface in parallel.

The thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 is wound around a substantially cylindrical resin supply reel 41 in a roll shape longer than the print paper 30. This thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 has three colors: yellow (Y), magenta (M), and cyan (C).
It is formed into a sheet by coating a film with heat-melting ink of four colors or black (B). The width d of each color is the image feed pitch (print size/
Number of pixels) Width greater than the width, and the above 3 or 4 colors! Color areas for printing lines of images are coated in a sequential and cyclical manner, and are wound up by a winding wheel 51 at a slightly faster speed than the printing paper 30. Furthermore, marks 40a for printing start detection are printed on one edge of the ink ribbon 40 for in-thermal transfer for each of the three or four colors. Then, the printing paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40
The two overlap each other at the printing position of each opening 13.23.

Further, the supply reel 41 has a pair of collar portions 42 yu, 42
It has a body part 42, a tip part 43, and a base part 44, in which the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 is wound between a. The body portion 42 and the tip portion 43 are formed to have the same small diameter. The base portion 44 is formed to have a large diameter, and a plurality of ribs 45 for drive locking, which are inserted into and locked to the drive shaft of the printer, are integrally protruded from the inner peripheral surface in parallel.

The take-up reel 51 is formed of synthetic resin into a substantially cylindrical shape, and has a body part 52 and a tip part 53 between which the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 is wound up.
and a base 54.

The body portion 52 and the tip portion 53 are formed to have the same small diameter. The base portion 54 is formed to have a large diameter, and the drive shaft of the printer is inserted into the inner peripheral surface of the base portion 54.

A plurality of ribs 55 for driving mooring to be locked are integrally protruded in parallel.

The bases 34, 44 of the supply reel 31, 41 and the base 54 of the take-up reel 51 are connected to the elastic piece portions 26, 27 on one side of the storage section 24 of the second case 20 and on the side of the other storage section 25. The elastic force of each elastic piece 28 causes the first case 1 to
0 pair of inner support pieces 11b, llb side and inner support piece 1
1b' are respectively pressed and clamped, and
Each of these pairs of inner support pieces 11b, llb and inner support piece 1
Each collar portion 32a42a is respectively locked by tb'.
, 52a, they are each supported so that they can be stopped from being pulled out.

Note that a handle portion 29 is integrally molded to protrude from one support portion 22 side of the second case 20.

According to the print medium cassette of the embodiment described above, the cassette body 1 rotatably incorporates a roll of printing paper 3°, a thermal transfer ink ribbon 40, and a winding wheel 51 for winding the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40. Since the cassette body 1 is installed in a thermal transfer type printer (not shown), printer paper 30 and thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 can be simultaneously supplied from each supply reel 31 and 41 to the thermal head of the printer. Color printing can be performed on the printing paper 30 via the thermal head or the like. The thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 has three subdivided colors (Y, M, C) or four colors (Y, M, C, B).
Since a mark 402L for detecting the start of printing is printed on each print, when resetting after printing is interrupted due to a malfunction, etc., the amount of idle feeding of the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 necessary for detecting the start of printing is reduced, and the thermal transfer ink is ribbon 4
It is possible to eliminate waste of 0, and it is possible to reduce costs. Further, since the print paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 are overlapped only on the side of each opening 13.23, abnormal transfer can be prevented to a minimum even when stored at high temperatures, for example. Furthermore, by changing the width d of each color, the printing feed amount, direction, etc. can be arbitrarily selected.

Further, the color-printed printing paper 30 is discharged from the discharge port 18 of the cassette main body l, and the used thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 is wound up on the take-up reel 51, so that after use, the printer The used thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 can be easily taken out together with the cassette body 1 by simply taking out the cassette body l.

Since the print paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 33 are made into a cassette in this way, it is possible to extremely easily replace the print paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 in the printer.

Further, each of the supply reels 31, 41 and the take-up reel 5
1 is prevented from idling by the elastic force of the elastic pieces 26, 27, 28, so that the printing paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 can be reliably prevented from loosening, and the printing paper 30 and the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 can be It is possible to reliably prevent misalignment.

In addition, since the thermal transfer ink ribbon 40 rotates in one direction and is wound up on the take-up reel 51 and is not reversed and rewound, the printer does not need a mechanism for rewinding the thermal transfer ink ribbon. The structure of the main body is correspondingly simplified and costs can be reduced.

In addition, according to the above embodiment, the width d of the color area of the thermal transfer ink ribbon was made into a rectangle and the coloring area was repeatedly applied sequentially.
The width may be made as small as possible and the coating may be applied between lines.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the roll-shaped printing paper, the transfer ink paper, and the take-up shaft for winding the transfer ink paper are built into the cassette main body. By simply installing the cassette into the printer, printer paper and thermal transfer ink paper can be simultaneously supplied from the same cassette body. Further, since the transfer ink paper has color areas of a plurality of colors arranged repeatedly in sequence, color printing can be performed on the print paper in the cassette main body.

Furthermore, the color printed paper is ejected from the ejection port of the cassette body, and the used thermal transfer ink paper is wound up on the take-up shaft, so after use, simply remove the cassette body from the printer. Therefore, used thermal transfer ink paper can be replaced extremely easily.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a print media cassette showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in FIG. 1, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of printing paper and a thermal transfer ink ribbon, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional print medium. FIG. 7 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a printing process using a conventional printing medium. 1...Cassette body, 18...Ejection port, 30...
Print paper, 40... thermal transfer ink ribbon (transfer ink paper), 51... take-up reel (take-up shaft).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Inside the cassette body, there is a roll of printing paper and a roll of transfer ink that overlaps the printing paper at least at a predetermined printing position and in which color areas of multiple colors are sequentially arranged repeatedly. A paper and a winding shaft for winding up the transfer ink paper are respectively arranged in parallel and rotatable, and the cassette body is provided with an ejection port through which the print paper printed on the cassette body is ejected. Cassette for print media.