JPH046926Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Field of application of the invention> This invention is a ribbon cassette, in particular, an endless ribbon that is neatly folded and stored in a storage part having a feeding part and a drawer part. The endless ribbon of the ribbon cassette is continuously pulled out from the drawer section, passed through a predetermined path, and sent from the feed section to the storage section by nipping between a feed roller and a pressure roller that presses into contact with the feed roller. Concerning sexual improvement.

<Prior art> As a conventional ribbon cassette, for example,
Those shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-38434 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 48-94519 are known. In addition, as a technique for monitoring the running condition of endless ribbon outside the ribbon cassette, for example,
The ones shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-33659, etc. are known.

<Problems to be solved by the invention> However, in the device shown in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-38434, the circumferential surface of the feed roller is smooth, so even if the circumferential surface is made to have a high coefficient of friction, There is a limit to the feeding force, and if unexpected resistance occurs in the running of the endless ribbon, the running of the endless ribbon will stagnate or lack smoothness. Furthermore, in order to solve this phenomenon, a technique for providing serrated irregularities on the entire circumferential surface of the feed roller is disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 48-94519.
In this case, the problem arises that excessive load is applied to the endless ribbon due to the serrated irregularities provided on the entire circumferential surface of the feed roller, which shortens the life of the endless ribbon.

In addition, in the above monitoring technology, the monitoring mechanism is a "printer".
Since it is installed on the side, the running path of the endless ribbon requires extra space, making the structure of the "printer" complicated and forced to increase in size.

Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide a ribbon cassette that improves the running performance of the endless ribbon without shortening its life, and allows the running performance of the endless ribbon to be monitored within the ribbon cassette.

<Means for Solving the Problems> As a means for achieving the above object, the ribbon cassette according to the present invention has a ribbon cassette in which the endless ribbon, which is neatly folded and stored in a storage portion having a feeding portion and a drawer portion, is fed. Ribbon cassettes are continuously pulled out from the drawer section, passed through a predetermined path, and sent from the feed section to the storage section by being nipped between a feed roller provided in the feed section and a pressure roller that presses into contact with the feed roller. In this case, the peripheral surface of each of the feed roller and the pressure roller is
A plurality of upper and lower substantially smooth elastic surface portions that sandwich the upper and lower portions of the endless ribbon while the corresponding pressing portions are elastically deformed by the pressing force of the pressure roller against the feed roller, and a plurality of substantially smooth elastic surface portions having the same diameter or a slightly smaller diameter than the elastic surface portions. , formed with an intermediate hard surface part that has serrated irregularities and holds the intermediate part of the endless ribbon in a state where the serrated irregularities bite without deforming the corresponding pressing part due to the pressing force of the pressing roller against the feed roller. Further, the drawer section is provided with an idle roller that rotates as the endless ribbon is pulled out, a pressing member that presses the endless ribbon against the peripheral surface of the idle roller, and a detector that detects the rotational state of the idle roller. A monitor for monitoring the running state of the endless ribbon is provided, and the endless ribbon is held while the upper and lower parts of the endless ribbon are being held between the elastic surface parts, and at the same time, the middle part of the endless ribbon is being held between the hard surface parts. The detector is made to pass through the monitor in the drawer part, and the pressing member is formed of a leaf spring, and the detectors are a pair facing each other across a transparent groove formed at the tip of the rotating shaft of the idle roller. It is formed by a light emitter and a light receiver, and the light emitted from the light emitter passes through a light-transmitting groove and reaches the light receiver at a period corresponding to the rotational state of the idle roller. The gist is to detect the running state of the endless ribbon based on the state of the arrival period.

<Function> In other words, the elastic surface portions provided on each of the feed roller and the pressure roller are deformed at the mutually pressed portions due to the pressing force of the pressure roller against the feed roller, and the axial center of the feed roller and the axis of the pressure roller are deformed by that amount. The center of the hard surface approaches the pressing roller and the feed roller, and the serrated irregularities of the hard surface portion, which has the same diameter or a slightly smaller diameter than the elastic surface portion and does not deform under the predetermined pressing force, are formed in the deformed portion of the elastic surface portion. They mesh with each other, and the endless ribbon is held between them. In this state, the endless ribbon is fed with a load that does not cause wear of the endless ribbon, and the upper and lower parts of the endless ribbon, which are subject to frequent contact with the "type" and are often worn out, are sandwiched between the smooth and soft elastic surfaces under a load that does not cause wear and tear on the endless ribbon. The intermediate portion, which has no wear and tear, is sandwiched between the hard surface portion and the sawtooth-like irregularities on the circumferential surface of the hard surface portion.
Therefore, the endless ribbon is given sufficient feeding force by the serrated irregularities of the hard surface, and even if unexpected resistance occurs, it is extremely unlikely that the ribbon will stagnate or lack smoothness in its running. Moreover, since the upper, lower, and middle portions are simultaneously fed, distortion in the endless ribbon and deviation of the running track will not occur. At the same time, since the pinched portion with the serrated irregularities is only the intermediate portion where "printed characters" do not come into contact with it and there is little wear, the life of the endless ribbon is not shortened. On the other hand, in the non-pressed area between the pressure roller and the feed roller, the elastic surface maintains its original circumference, so the endless ribbon sent out from the pressed area between the pressure roller and the feed roller maintains this original circumference. It adheres to the elastic surface portion and is neatly folded into the storage portion over a predetermined span.

Further, as described above, the endless ribbon pulled out from the drawer portion comes into contact with the idle roller while being pressed by the pressing member, and rotates the idle roller according to its running speed. Therefore,
If the endless ribbon is running normally, the idle roller will also rotate normally, and if an abnormality occurs in the running of the endless ribbon, an abnormality will occur in the rotation of the idle roller. Therefore, the rotating state of the idle roller is monitored by a detector, and any abnormality that occurs is outputted as a warning by appropriate means, whereby the running state of the endless ribbon is detected and monitored within the ribbon cassette. Activating the monitor using the running force of the endless ribbon in this way
This will give an extra load to the running of the endless ribbon, but since this load is fixed under normal conditions, it will be sufficiently absorbed by the strong clamping force as described above, and will not interfere with the running of the endless ribbon. Never.

The monitoring device can reliably monitor the running condition of the endless ribbon in the manner described above, but it is particularly advantageous in that its structure is simplified and the overall compactness of the ribbon cassette is not compromised. It has great advantages. That is, the pressing member is
Since it is formed of a leaf spring, the mounting structure is simple and the mounting space is small. In addition, the passage and blocking of light between the light emitter and the photoreceptor is done via a light-transmitting groove machined directly into the rotating shaft of the idle roller itself, making the structure extremely simple and requiring no extra parts. There is no need to do this.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example of this invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

A storage section 3 is provided in the case 2 of the ribbon cassette 1, and a feeding section 4 is provided on the left side of the storage section 3 in the drawing, and a drawer section 5 is provided on the right side of the storage section 3.
is provided with a feed roller 6 and a pressure roller 7, and a monitor 9 for monitoring the running state of the endless ribbon 8 is provided in the drawer section 5.

The feed roller 6 has a shaft 11 rotatably supported by a bracket 10 provided in the case 2, and two elastic pieces 13 having a ring-shaped elastic surface portion 12 on the peripheral surface and a hard surface portion 14 on the peripheral surface. An elastic piece 13 and one hard piece 15 having approximately the same diameter are installed with an appropriate gap between each piece and the hard piece 15 is sandwiched between the elastic pieces 13 in a sandwich-like manner. The overall length is made approximately the same as the width of the endless ribbon 8. Elastic surface part 12
is made of slightly soft rubber that can be deformed by a predetermined pressing force applied by a spring 16, which will be described later, and has a substantially smooth peripheral surface 17. In this specification, the term "smooth" includes cases where there are minute irregularities that do not damage the endless ribbon 8. On the other hand, the hard surface portion 14 is
It is made of hard plastic and has a rigidity that will not be deformed by the pressing force, and its peripheral surface 17 is provided with sawtooth-like irregularities 19 over the entire surface.

The pressure roller 7 is composed of an elastic piece 23 having an elastic surface portion 22 and a hard piece 25 having a hard surface portion 24, similar to the feed roller 6, but its circumference is slightly smaller than that of the feed roller 6. The difference is that the elastic surface portion 22 of the elastic piece 23 is slightly thicker than the elastic surface portion 12 of the feed roller 6. This pressure roller 7 is mounted in a guide groove 28 provided in the case 2 with a bracket 27 supporting a shaft 26, and is moved in the direction of arrow A via a spring 16 that applies a pressing force to this pressure roller 7. It is said that it is only movable.

The monitor 9 includes an idle roller 30 that rotates as the endless ribbon 8 is pulled out, a pressing member 31 that presses the endless ribbon 8 against the idle roller 30, and a detector that detects the rotational state of the idle roller 30. It is mainly composed of 32.

The idle roller 30 is a rubber idle top 3
3 are mounted on a shaft 34 at an appropriate interval, and the overall length is approximately the same as the width of the endless ribbon 8. The lower part of the shaft 34 is made to protrude more than the idle piece 33, and a light-transmitting groove 35 is provided at the tip of this protruding portion.

The pressing member 31 is made of a plate spring and the idle roller 30
A bifurcated pressing portion 36 is provided at a portion that presses the idle piece 33. This pressing member 31 is fitted with a base end 37 bent into a box shape between a guide arm 40 for guiding the endless ribbon 8 provided in the case 2 and a side wall 41 of the case 2.

The detector 32 has a light emitting body 50 and a light receiving body 51 as a pair.
It is set so that the light 52 emitted from the light emitter 50 passes through the light transmission groove 35 provided in the shaft 34 of the idle roller 30 and reaches the light receiver 51.

Next, the operating state of this ribbon cassette 1 will be explained.

The pressure roller 7 is pressed into contact with the feed roller 6 by a predetermined pressing force applied by the spring 16, and due to this pressure contact, the elastic surface portions 12 provided on each of the feed roller 6 and the pressure roller 7 are deformed at the mutually pressed portions 60. do. Then, the axial center of the feed roller 6 and the axial center of the pressure roller 7 are brought closer to each other by that amount, and the elastic pieces 13 and 23 provided on each of the pressure roller 7 and the feed roller 6 have approximately the same diameter as the predetermined one. Hard pieces 15, 2 that do not deform with pressing force
The sawtooth-like unevenness of the hard surface portions 14 and 24 of the elastic surface portions 12 and 22 engage with each other at the deformed portions of the elastic surface portions 12 and 22, and the endless ribbon 8 is held therebetween in a biting state. In this state, the endless ribbon 8 is sandwiched between the upper and lower portions of the endless ribbon 8, which are subject to frequent wear and tear, by the smooth and soft circumferential surfaces 17 of the elastic surface portions 12 and 22 under a load that does not cause wear and tear on the endless ribbon. At the same time, the middle part, which is not hit by "printed characters" and has little wear, is sandwiched between the sawtooth-like irregularities 19 of the hard surface parts 14 and 24. Therefore, the endless ribbon 8 is given sufficient feeding force by the serrated irregularities 19 of the hard surface parts 14 and 24, and even if unexpected resistance occurs, the endless ribbon 8 will not stagnate or lack smoothness in its running. It becomes extremely small. Moreover, since the upper and lower parts and the center part are pinched at the same time,
There is no possibility that the endless ribbon 8 will be distorted or the running trajectory will be shifted. At the same time, the life of the endless ribbon 8 will not be shortened since the pinched portion by the sawtooth unevenness 19 is only the intermediate portion which is not touched by the "printed characters" and is less worn out.

On the other hand, in the non-pressed portion 61 between the pressure roller 7 and the feed roller 6, the elastic surface portion 12 of the elastic piece 13 maintains its original circumference, so that the elastic surface portion 12 of the elastic piece 13 maintains its original circumference. The endless ribbon 8 adheres to the elastic surface portion 14 that maintains its original circumference and is neatly fed and folded into the storage portion 3 over a predetermined span.

Further, the endless ribbon 8 pulled out from the drawer section 5 as described above comes into contact with the idle roller 30 while being pressed by the pressing member 31, and rotates the idle roller 30 according to its running speed. If the endless ribbon 8 runs normally in this state and the idle roller 30 rotates normally accordingly, the light 52 emitted from the light emitter 50
The photoreceptor 5 is rotated at a constant period by a light-transmitting groove 35 provided on a shaft 34 that rotates together with the idle roller 30.
1, but endless ribbon 8
If stagnation or irregularity occurs in the traveling of the light 52, the period at which the light 52 reaches the photoreceptor 51 will be disturbed. Therefore, this disturbance is outputted as a warning by appropriate means, and the running state of the endless ribbon 8 is detected and monitored. Activating the monitor 9 using the running force of the endless ribbon 8 in this way puts an extra load on the running of the endless ribbon 8, but this load is fixed under normal conditions. Therefore, if the "feeding roller" and "pressing roller" are configured as described above, the feeding force can be sufficiently absorbed, and the running of the endless ribbon 8 will not be hindered. Note that, as described above, the idle roller 30 is constituted by two idle pieces 33 and the pressing member 31 is provided with the bifurcated pressing part 36 when the upper and lower parts of the endless ribbon 8 are of different colors. This is to prevent the two colors from being mixed at the border by the idle roller 30 and the pressing member 31.

<Effects of the invention> Since the ribbon cassette according to this invention is as described above, regarding the feeding section,
The upper and lower parts of the endless ribbon, which are subject to constant contact and wear and tear, are fed by a smooth and soft elastic surface with a load that does not cause wear and tear on the endless ribbon, while the middle part, which is not subject to contact with print and is subject to less wear and tear. The endless ribbon is fed with sufficient force while being bitten by the serrated irregularities on the circumferential surface of the hard surface, and even if unexpected resistance occurs, it will not cause stagnation in the running of the endless ribbon or affect its smoothness. It has the excellent effect of minimizing the occurrence of chipping, preventing distortion of the endless ribbon and misalignment of the running track, and prolonging the life of the endless ribbon. In some cases, a monitor may be installed inside the ribbon cassette to rotate the idle roller while pulling out the endless ribbon using the powerful feeding force of the feeding section, and detect the rotational state of the idle roller to monitor the running state of the endless ribbon. Therefore, it is possible to monitor and detect abnormal running of the endless ribbon within the ribbon cassette, which may occur infrequently. Therefore, it is possible to omit the ``running abnormality occurrence monitoring mechanism'' for the endless ribbon on the ``printer'' side, and the structure of the ``printer'' can be reduced accordingly. It has the excellent effect of being simple and compact, and also provides the additional effect that even a "printer" without such a "monitoring mechanism" can easily monitor the running state of the endless ribbon.

Furthermore, since the structure of the monitor is simplified, even if it is provided, the ribbon cassette as a whole can be kept compact as before, which has an effect of great practical significance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view showing the main parts of the ribbon cassette according to this invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the arrow line in FIG. 1, and FIG. An explanatory diagram showing a pressed contact state and an endless ribbon sandwiched state, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the monitor. 1...Ribbon cassette, 3...Accommodation section, 4...
Feeding section, 5... Drawer section, 6... Feeding roller,
7... Press roller, 8... Endless ribbon, 9
... Monitor, 12, 22 ... Elastic surface section, 14, 2
4...Hard surface portion, 19...Sawtooth unevenness, 30...
Idle roller, 31...pressing member, 32...detector.

Claims (1)

[Claim for Utility Model Registration] An endless ribbon that is neatly folded and stored in a storage section that has a feeding section and a drawer section,
The ribbon is continuously pulled out from the drawer section and passed through a predetermined path by being sandwiched between a feed roller provided in the feed section and a pressure roller that is in pressure contact with the feed roller, and then sent from the feed section to the storage section. In the cassette, the circumferential surface of each of the feed roller and the pressure roller elastically deforms the corresponding pressing portion by the pressing force of the pressure roller against the feed roller, and a plurality of upper and lower portions of the endless ribbon are sandwiched between the upper and lower portions of the endless ribbon. The intermediate portion of the endless ribbon has a substantially smooth elastic surface portion, a diameter equal to or slightly smaller than the elastic surface portion, and serrated irregularities, so that the pressing force of the pressing roller against the feed roller does not deform the corresponding pressed portion. It is formed by an intermediate hard surface part that pinches the endless ribbon with serrated irregularities, and an idle roller that rotates following the pulling out of the endless ribbon in the drawer part, and an endless ribbon on the peripheral surface of the idle roller. A monitor for monitoring running of the endless ribbon is provided, which includes a pressing member that presses the idle roller, and a detector that detects the rotational state of the idle roller, and the endless ribbon has its upper and lower portions covered with elastic surfaces. At the same time as being pinched, the intermediate portion thereof is pinched by the hard surface part and passes through the monitor in the drawer part, and the pressing member is formed of a leaf spring, and the detector is It is formed by a pair of light-emitting body and light-receiving body facing each other with a light-transmitting groove formed at the tip of the rotating shaft of the roller, and the light emitted from the light-emitting body passes through the light-transmitting groove, causing the idle A ribbon cassette characterized in that it is formed so as to reach a photoreceptor at a period corresponding to the rotational state of a roller, and the running state of the endless ribbon is detected based on the state of this arrival period.