JPH0570963U - Ribbon cassette drive mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To drive a compact ribbon cassette that can reduce the inner diameter of the ink ribbon take-up core and that accommodates an ink ribbon of the same length or longer as before. A ribbon cassette in which a gear 16 is mounted coaxially with a winding-side core 14 which is mounted on and driven by a carriage 7, and a ribbon cassette which is provided so as to project from the carriage 7 and the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage 7. At this time, a gear 15 that meshes with the gear 16 of the ribbon cassette is provided, and the inner diameter of the core 14 in the cassette is made small, so that the ink ribbon 5 can be stored compactly.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette driving mechanism for printing by an output device such as a printer, and in particular, by driving it through a gear, a portion of the cassette body around which the ink ribbon is wound is made small in diameter. The present invention relates to a ribbon cassette drive mechanism capable of using a ribbon cassette that accommodates an ink ribbon of the same length as a conventional one.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 FIG. 6 shows a ribbon cassette and a main portion of a carriage which have been conventionally used for printing by an output device such as a printer. The ribbon cassette is rotatably supported inside the cassette body 1. A supply reel 3 and a take-up reel 4 are arranged, and an ink ribbon 5 is wound around both ends of the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4. Guide rollers 6 for guiding the ink ribbon 5 when the ink ribbon 5 travels from the supply reel 3 to the take-up reel 4 are arranged at various points in the cassette body 1. When the supply reel 3 and the take-up reel 4 are mounted on the carriage 7 with the cassette body 1 turned upside down, the supply side and the take-up side are reversed.

The carriage 7 carrying the ribbon cassette is supported by a pair of carriage guide shafts 9 supported in parallel with the axial direction of the platen 8 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. 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 disposed on the base 7. Has been done.

The operation of the conventional ribbon cassette drive mechanism configured as described above will be described below.

The ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage 7, and while reciprocating in the axial direction of the carriage guide shaft 9, a printing head 12 such as a thermal head provided on the carriage 7 partially ejects the ink on the ink ribbon 5. The ink ribbon 5 in the ribbon cassette is guided from the supply reel 3 to the guide roller 6 by the rotation of the take-up reel drive shaft 10 fitted in the center of the take-up reel 4. After being taken out, provided for printing, and taken up by the take-up reel 4.

[0006]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, in the conventional ribbon cassette drive mechanism, the take-up reel drive shaft 10 and the supply reel guide shaft 11 engage with the take-up reel 4 and the supply reel 3 from the inside, respectively, and the corresponding reels 4, 3 respectively. As shown in FIG. 7, since the shafts 10 and 11 having relatively large outer diameters are located inside the reels 3 and 4, respectively, the inner diameters of the reels 3 and 4 are increased. Therefore, the outer diameter of the ink ribbon 5 wound around the reels 3 and 4 becomes large, and the size of the cassette cannot be reduced. As a result, the width dimension of the printer has become large.

Further, when the outer diameter of the take-up reel 4 is small, the diameter of the ink ribbon 5 wound around the take-up reel 4 changes greatly, and as a result, the tension of the ink ribbon 5 changes greatly. However, such a large change in the tension of the ink ribbon 5 adversely affects the print quality, so it was difficult to reduce the inner diameter of each reel.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and it is possible to reduce the inner diameter of the winding core of the ink ribbon, and a compact ribbon cassette that accommodates an ink ribbon of the same length or longer as the conventional one. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drive mechanism for a ribbon cassette that drives the.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 To achieve the above object, the ribbon cassette driving mechanism of the present invention comprises a ribbon cassette having a gear mounted coaxially with a winding-side core which is mounted and driven on a carriage. It is characterized in that it is provided with a gear that protrudes and meshes with the gear of the ribbon cassette when the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage.

[0010]

[Action]

 According to the drive mechanism of the ribbon cassette of the present invention, the inner diameter of the core in the cassette can be made small, so that the ink ribbon can be stored compactly. Furthermore, the compact size of the ribbon cassette enables the size of the output device to be reduced.

[0011]

【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 configuration of a ribbon cassette and a carriage on which the ribbon cassette is mounted, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around the winding side core. FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view showing the structure of the ribbon cassette. 4A is a plan view of the ribbon cassette when the side A is set, FIG. 4B is a plan view of the ribbon cassette when the side B is set, FIG. 5A is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 4A, and FIG. It is sectional drawing by the BB line of FIG. 4B. The same parts as those of the conventional one will be described with the same reference numerals.

The ribbon cassette to which the drive mechanism of the present invention is applied is, for example, one that is turned upside down and can be used a plurality of times, and the ribbon cassette has a substantially rectangular shape inside the cassette body 1. As shown in FIG. 1, two cores 14A and 14B are arranged at intervals. As shown in FIG. 2, 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 two reels 3 and 4 described above. The outer diameter of the portion around which the ink ribbon is wound is smaller than that of the reels 3 and 4. When the outer diameter of the portion around which the ink ribbon 5 is wound becomes small, the tension of the ink ribbon 5 changes greatly. However, the change in the tension of the ink ribbon 5 is caused by other components such as a friction plate (not shown). Can be more constant. The one core 14A is disposed at an appropriate position which is slightly close to one corner of the cassette body 1, and a gear is provided at an axial end of the core 14A so as to rotate integrally with the core 14A. 16A is attached. The gear 16A is positioned so as to mesh with the drive gear 15 shown in FIG. 1 which is formed so as to project to the upper surface of the carriage 7 when the A side of the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage 7 in a state of being used. It is fixed to.

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

The ink ribbon 5 is wound around both ends of the cores 14A and 14B, and the ink ribbon 5 running from the core 14 on the supply side to the core 14 on the winding side is wound depending on the front and back directions of the ribbon cassette. Two guide rollers 6 and 6 for guiding are arranged at predetermined positions. A notch 13 for inserting the print head 12 is formed at the end of the ribbon cassette between the guide rollers 6 and 6. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, an opening 17 for introducing the drive gear 15 into the cassette body 1 is formed on both sides of the cassette body 1.

The drive gear 15 projecting on the carriage 7 is rotationally driven by a drive system similar to that of the above-described conventional one, in which the take-up reel 4 is rotationally driven as the carriage 7 travels. However, since this drive system is well known, its description is omitted.

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

As shown in FIGS. 4A and 5A, the ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage 7 in the state of using the side A has a gear 16A coaxially arranged with the core 14A, and the gear 16A is projected on the carriage 7. It meshes with the gear 15. 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 supply side and the print head 12 moves. After passing through the front surface and being used for printing, it is wound around the core 14A on the winding side.

When the ribbon cassette is turned upside down and the back side B is used, as shown in FIGS. 4B and 5B, the gear 16B coaxially arranged with the core 14B 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, the sheet is wound around the core 14B on the winding side. Thus, the two cores 14, 14 of the ribbon cassette used in the drive mechanism of the ribbon cassette of the present invention are spaced apart from each other in both the traveling direction of the carriage 7 and the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. By arranging one of the front and back surfaces of the cassette body 1 to face upward, one of the cores 14 becomes a winding-side core 15 having a gear 16 that meshes with the driving gear 15. The ink ribbon 5 can be run.

In the ribbon cassette used in the drive mechanism of the ribbon cassette of the present invention, the two cores 14, 14 around which the ink ribbon 5 is wound are arranged in either the traveling direction of the carriage 7 or the direction perpendicular to the traveling direction. In addition, since the cores 14 and 14 are arranged with a space between them and the cores 14 and 14 are contracted in the carriage traveling direction, the ink ribbon 5 having the same length as that of the conventional ribbon cassette is accommodated. Also, the width of the ribbon cassette can be reduced. Further, 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 carriage traveling direction is long, the distance between the carriage guide shafts for sliding the carriage can be long, and the traveling performance is stable.

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

[0023]

[Effect of the device]

 Since the drive mechanism of the ribbon cassette of the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, the inner diameter of the core in the cassette can be reduced, so that the ink ribbon can be stored compactly and the ribbon cassette can be made compact. There is an effect that the size of the output device can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a ribbon cassette and a main part of a carriage showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view around the winding side core of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the bottom of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

4A is a plan view of the ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 1 when the A side is set. B is a plan view of the ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 2 when the B side is set.

5A is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3A. FIG. 5B is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 3B.

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

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view around a conventional take-up reel.

[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 14 core 15 drive gear 16 gear 17 opening

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A ribbon cassette in which a driven gear is mounted coaxially with a winding-side core which is mounted and driven on a carriage, and when the ribbon cassette is projected on the carriage and the ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage. And a drive gear meshing with a driven gear of the ribbon cassette.