JPH0570962U - Ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] The size of the ribbon cassette can be flexibly set without limiting the miniaturization of the output device.
Moreover, it is easy to guide the ink ribbon. [Structure] Two cores 14 are formed so as to be spaced apart in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and each core 14 has a carriage 7 side when the cores are the winding side. A driven member 16 that meshes with the drive transmission member 15 is attached to reduce the size constraint of the ribbon cassette in the width direction so that the size of the printer body is not restricted.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette used for printing on an output device such as a printer, and more particularly to a ribbon cassette that can be used multiple times by turning the inside out and mounting it on a carriage of the output device.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 A ribbon cassette used for an output device such as a conventional printer has two reels arranged at an interval in a cassette body, and an ink ribbon is wound around the two reels from both ends thereof. When mounted on a carriage, the cassette body is manufactured so that the line passing through the center of the reel that is the ribbon supply side and the center of the reel that is the winding side is parallel or perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carriage. It was

The ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 5 is an example of a ribbon cassette in which a line passing through the centers of the two reels is parallel to a traveling direction of a carriage 7 described later.

A supply reel 3 and a take-up reel 4, which are rotatably supported respectively, are arranged in a cassette body 1 of the ribbon cassette. The supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are provided with an ink ribbon. 5 is wound from both ends thereof. Further, the cassette body 1 is provided with guide rollers 6 at various points for guiding the ink ribbon 5 when traveling from the supply reel 3 to the take-up reel 4. When the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are turned upside down on the cassette body 1 and mounted on the carriage 7, the supply side and the take-up side are reversed.

The carriage 7 on which the ribbon cassette is mounted is slidably supported in the axial direction of a pair of carriage guide shafts 9 that are supported in parallel with the axial direction of the platen 8. A take-up reel drive shaft 10 that fits into the take-up reel 4 and drives the take-up reel 4 to rotate, and a supply reel guide shaft 11 that rotatably guides the supply reel 3 are provided.

The operation of the ribbon cassette will be described. First, the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage 7 and prints like a thermal head provided on the carriage 7 while reciprocating in the axial direction of the carriage guide shaft 9. The ink from the ink ribbon 5 is partially transferred to the paper by the head 12 for printing, and the ink ribbon 5 in the ribbon cassette is rotated by the take-up reel drive shaft 10 fitted in the center of the take-up reel 4. As a result, it is guided from the supply reel 3 to the guide roller 6, is led out, is used for printing, and is then wound on the winding reel 4.

Further, FIG. 6 shows an example of a ribbon cassette in which a line passing through the centers of the ribbon supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 is at right angles to the carriage running direction. The elements are approximately the same as the ribbon cassettes described above, only the dispositions are different. That is, in this ribbon cassette, the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are rotatable in the cassette body 1 so that the line passing through the centers of the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 is perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carriage 7. The print head 12 is arranged on the carriage 7 so as to correspond to the extension of the line passing through the centers of the reels 3 and 4, and the line passing through the centers of the reels 3 and 4 is arranged. A cutout 13 for inserting the print head 12 is provided at the end of the cassette body 1 which is on the extension line of FIG.

[0008]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional ribbon cassette configured as shown in FIG. 5, since the carriage 7 has a long length in the running direction, that is, the horizontal width of the cassette body 1 is large, the horizontal width of the printer equipped with the ribbon cassette is inevitable. In addition, it was much larger than the maximum paper width that was used, which limited the miniaturization of the printer body.

Further, the ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 6 can shorten the length in the carriage traveling direction and can shorten the lateral width of the printer main body, but the guide of the ink ribbon 5 in the ribbon cassette is possible. However, many guide rollers 6 for guiding the ink ribbon 5 are required.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and does not limit the downsizing of the output device, and the size of the ribbon cassette can be flexibly set. It is an object of the present invention to provide a ribbon cassette that can be easily guided and has a simple structure.

[0011]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the ribbon cassette of the present invention has two cores which are spaced apart from each other in the cassette body, and the ink ribbon is wound around the two cores from both ends thereof. In a ribbon cassette that can be used multiple times by turning it upside down and mounting it on the carriage of the output device, the two cores can be used in either the running direction of the carriage or the direction perpendicular to the running direction. In the above, the cores are formed so as to be spaced apart from each other, and a driven member that engages with the drive transmission member on the carriage side when the cores are on the winding side is attached to each core.

[0012]

[Action]

 According to the ribbon cassette of the present invention, the size of the ribbon cassette in the width direction is less restricted, and therefore the size of the printer body is not restricted. In addition, the ink ribbon can be stored compactly, and the ink ribbon can be easily guided.

[0013]

【Example】

 The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of a ribbon cassette of the present invention and a carriage for mounting the ribbon cassette, and FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view showing the structure of the ribbon cassette. 3A is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention when the side A is set, FIG. 3B is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention when the side B is set, and FIG. 4A is taken along the line AA of FIG. 3A. FIG. 4B is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 3B. The same parts as those in the conventional example will be described with the same reference numerals.

In the ribbon cassette of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, two cores 14A and 14B are arranged at intervals in a cassette body 1 having a substantially rectangular shape. These cores 14A and 14B are obtained by removing the fitting portions of the take-up reel drive shaft 10 and the supply reel guide shaft 11 from the conventional reels 3 and 4 described above, and are therefore more than those of the reels 3 and 4 described above. Since the portion around which the ink ribbon is wound has a small diameter, it is possible to store an ink ribbon having the same length as the conventional one in a small outer diameter.

The one core 14A is arranged at an appropriate position which is slightly closer to one corner of the cassette body 1, and an axial end portion of the core 14A rotates integrally with the core 14A. The gear 16A is attached so that it can be moved. This gear 16A is located at a position where it meshes with the drive gear 15 shown in FIG. 1, which is formed so as to project on the upper surface of the carriage 7 when it is mounted on the carriage 7 while using the side A of the ribbon cassette. It is fixed.

The other core 14B is formed so as to be spaced apart from the core 14A in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and the axial end of the core 14B is A gear 16B is attached so as to rotate integrally with the core 14B. The gear 16B is fixed at a position where it meshes with the drive gear 15 when the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage 7 in a state where the side B is used.

With the configuration described above, the gear 16A and the gear 16B are located in the opposite directions of the front and back of the cassette body 1, and the gears 16A and 16B are formed to have the same diameter.

The ink ribbon 5 is wound around the cores 14A and 14B, and guides the running ink ribbon 5 from the core 14 on the supply side to the core 14 on the winding side depending on the front and back directions of the ribbon cassette. Two guide rollers 6 and 6 are arranged at predetermined positions. A notch 13 for inserting the print head 12 is formed at an end of the ribbon cassette between the guide rollers 6 and 6. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, an opening 17 for introducing the drive gear 15 into the cassette body 1 is formed on both surfaces of the cassette body 1.

Next, the operation of the ribbon cassette of this embodiment will be described.

First, in the ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage 7 in a state of using the A side, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, the gear 16A coaxially arranged with the core 14A is projected onto the carriage 7. Meshes with the driving gear 15 that is running. When the drive gear 15 is rotationally driven, the core 14A on the A-side winding side is rotationally driven according to the rotation of the gear 16A, and the ink ribbon 5 is led out from the core 14B on the A-side supplying side to print head 12. After passing through the front surface of the sheet for printing, the sheet is wound around the winding-side core 14A.

When this ribbon cassette is turned upside down and the back side B is used, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 4B, the gear 16 B coaxially arranged with the core 14 B is mounted on the carriage 7. It meshes with the projecting drive gear 15. When the drive gear 15 is rotationally driven, the core 14B on the B-side winding side is rotationally driven according to the rotation of the gear 16B, and the ink ribbon 5 is led out from the core 14A on the B-side supplying side to print head 12. After passing through the front surface of the sheet for printing, it is wound around the core 14B on the winding side.

As described above, the two cores 14 and 14 of the ribbon cassette of the present invention are arranged at a distance from each other in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. When either one of the front and back surfaces of the cassette body 1 is turned upward, one of the cores 14 becomes a winding-side core 15 having a gear 16 that meshes with the drive gear 15, and the ink ribbon 5 Can be run.

In the ribbon cassette of the above-described embodiment, the two cores 14, 14 around which the ink ribbon 5 is wound are spaced apart in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. Since the space between the cores 14 and 14 is shortened in the carriage traveling direction even when the ink ribbon 5 having the same length as the conventional ribbon cassette is stored, the width of the ribbon cassette is reduced. Can be narrowed. Moreover, the two guide rollers 6 can easily guide the ink ribbon 5. Further, since the length of the carriage in the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the carriage becomes long, the distance between the carriage guide shafts for sliding the carriage can be made long, and the traveling performance becomes stable.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but can be modified as necessary.

For example, as the drive transmission member and the driven member, a gear is used in the embodiment, but a high friction member such as rubber may be used to transmit the driving force.

[0027]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, since the ribbon cassette of the present invention is constructed and operates, according to the ribbon cassette of the present invention, the size restriction of the ribbon cassette is reduced, so that the size of the printer main body can be arbitrarily set. be able to. In addition, since the guide of the ink ribbon in the cassette is simple, the number of guide rollers can be small, the ink ribbon can be stored compactly, and both sides of the ink ribbon can be effectively used without waste. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a ribbon cassette of the present invention and a main portion of a carriage for mounting the ribbon cassette, showing the cassette body in phantom lines.

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention when the A side is set. B is a plan view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention when the B side is set.

4A is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3A.
BB cross-sectional view

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a ribbon cassette and a main part of a carriage of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional ribbon cassette and a main part of a carriage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 cassette body 3 supply reel 4 take-up reel 5 ink ribbon 6 guide roller 7 carriage 8 platen 9 carriage guide shaft 10 take-up reel drive shaft 11 supply reel guide shaft 12 print head 13 notch 14 core 15 drive gear 16 gear 17 opening Department

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cassette body having two cores arranged at a distance from each other. An ink ribbon is wound around these two cores from both ends thereof. In a ribbon cassette that can be used a plurality of times by being mounted on a carriage, the two cores are formed so as to be spaced apart in both the traveling direction of the carriage and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. A ribbon cassette, wherein a driven member that engages with the drive transmission member on the carriage side when the core is on the winding side is attached to the core.