JPH0650210Y2 - Ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette that accommodates an ink ribbon inside and is detachable from a mounting surface of a recording apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

In a conventional recording device, for example, a thermal transfer printer, a tape-shaped ink ribbon is fed between a print head and a paper, and printing is performed while feeding the ink ribbon according to the movement of a carriage of the recording device that supports the print head. The ink ribbon is housed in an ink ribbon cassette (hereinafter referred to as a cassette), one end of the ink ribbon is wound around a supply reel that is a free roller, and the other end is wound up by a winding reel that is a drive roller. The ink ribbon stretched between the supply reel and the take-up reel is guided by a plurality of ribbon guides to correct the position in the vertical direction, and then sent so as to pass through the opening for receiving the print head on the front face of the cassette. .

In such a cassette, it is necessary for the mounted cassette to be reliably positioned in the front, rear, left, right, and up and down directions with respect to the carriage so that the print quality of the print recorded on the paper does not deteriorate. Otherwise, a problem may occur in the ribbon winding operation, and especially when the vertical movement is large, the print head may protrude from the ribbon width in the vertical direction, causing a print defect. Further, the print head is a consumable item, and it is required that the cassette be detachable with respect to a cartridge for replacing a new cassette one after another with a cartridge for semi-permanent use.

Therefore, the conventional cassette is provided with positioning openings on both sides of the front portion of the cassette, which are fitted to the positioning members of the carriage, and engages with the positioning elastic member fixed to the carriage at the center of the rear side wall of the cassette. A positioning protrusion is provided, and the positioning protrusion is engaged with the lower side of the chevron protrusion of the positioning elastic member.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

Since the conventional cassette described above is mounted on the carriage at three points, reliable positioning can be obtained. However, when a used cassette is removed or a new cassette is mounted, a great amount of stress is applied to the positioning elastic member of the carriage.
As a result, a crack or the like is generated at the base of the elastic member, and thus the cassette is improperly positioned, and the cassette is lifted from the carriage to cause misalignment of the ink ribbon or the like, so that normal printing cannot be expected.

An object of the present invention is not to stress the positioning elastic member on the carriage side, which is a semi-permanent use member, but to stress on the positioning side on the cassette side, which is a consumable member, as in the prior art. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink ribbon cassette that extends the service life of the elastic member for positioning the carriage and facilitates attachment / detachment of the cassette.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ink ribbon cassette which accommodates an ink ribbon therein and which can be attached to and detached from a mounting surface of a recording device, and a positioning member of the recording device is provided on both left and right sides of a front portion of the cassette. And a positioning protrusion that engages with a positioning elastic member that is fixed to the recording device and has a chevron protrusion is provided at the center of the rear side wall of the cassette. The positioning protrusion is formed by a hook-shaped elastic member that extends upward from a lower portion of the rear side wall of the cassette in a bent shape and has a free end portion on an upper portion, and the hook-shaped elastic member has a vertical shape. This is achieved by an ink ribbon cassette characterized in that a second chevron protrusion engaging with the lower side of the chevron protrusion of the positioning elastic member is provided in the middle of the portion.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The cassette lid, the ink ribbon, and the ribbon guide are omitted for clarity.

FIG. 4 shows the cassette 2 mounted on the carriage 1 of the recording apparatus.
In the plan view of FIG. 2, a print head 5 attached to the carriage 1 and a positioning elastic member 6 formed of a leaf spring or the like are provided in a print head receiving opening recess 3 on the front left side of the cassette and a recess 4 in the center of the rear side wall. Located respectively. The positioning elastic member 6 engages with the positioning protrusion 7 provided in the recess 4 at the center of the rear wall of the cassette 2.

In order to prevent the cassette 2 mounted on the carriage 1 from moving forward, backward, leftward, rightward, and downward with respect to the carriage 1, two positioning openings, that is, cassettes, are provided on the bottom wall of the carriage 1 in addition to the above-mentioned positioning projections 7. An oval opening 8 on the left side and a rectangular opening 9 on the right side are provided.

On the other hand, on the upper surface of the carriage 1, two positioning members, that is, a guide pin 10 and a protrusion 11 are provided at positions corresponding to the oval opening 8 and the rectangular opening 9, respectively. The guide pin 10 includes a reduced-diameter stepped portion (which is effective for positioning the cassette in the forward direction) for vertically positioning with the guide taper portion from the upper side to the lower side, and the protrusion 11 has an upper portion. Includes a guide inclined portion and a notched stepped portion for positioning in the up-down direction from below (FIGS. 1 and 3). Since the horizontal cross section of the projection 11 is loosely fitted into the rectangular opening 9 with a minute gap, it is effective for positioning the cassette 2 with respect to the carriage 1 in the front-rear and left-right directions.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the positioning protrusion 7 provided on the cassette 2 is a so-called hook-shaped (L-shaped) elastic member that extends horizontally from the lower portion of the cassette 2 and then extends vertically. It is formed of the member 12. This hook-shaped elastic member 12 has a free end portion 12A on which the upper end is hooked and a carriage 1 at the middle portion.
And a second chevron projection 12B that engages with the lower side of the chevron projection 6A of the positioning elastic member 6. Above hook-shaped elastic member 12
Is preferably integrally molded with the plastic cassette 2.

The positioning openings 8 and 9 of the cassette 2 are aligned with the positioning members 10 and 11 of the carriage 1, and the cassette is placed on the carriage and the rear portion of the cassette is pushed down.
Second engaging protrusion 12B engages with the upper side of the protruding protrusion 6A of the positioning elastic member 6 of the carriage 1, and then the vertical portion of the hook-shaped elastic member 12 is elastically deformed so that the second protruding protrusion 12B becomes the protruding protrusion. Engage with the underside of 6A. Guide pin 10 as described above
And the oval opening 8 enable vertical and forward positioning, and the projection 11 and the square opening 9 enable vertical and front-back lateral positioning. Further, the positioning elastic member 6 and the hook-shaped elastic member 12 allow vertical and rearward positioning. Since the directional positioning is possible, the cassette 2 is completely positioned with respect to the carriage 1, and the positioning elastic member 6 and the hook-shaped elastic member are provided.
Since 12 is elastically deformed together, fatigue of the positioning elastic member is small. Also, when removing the carriage 2, a hook-shaped elastic member
When the free end portion 12B of 12 is lightly pushed forward, the vertical portion of the member bends forward, and the cassette 2 can be removed with almost no stress acting on the positioning elastic member 6.

[Effect of device]

(1) Since the present invention is configured as described above, it is caused by a large stress when mounting the cassette on the recording apparatus as in the conventional case, and particularly caused by an extremely large stress when the cassette is removed. Damage to the positioning elastic member on the recording device side
The flexibility of the scraped elastic member and the free end which is the pressing portion can surely and easily eliminate it.

(2) The positioning elastic member may be a rigid body, and the range of choices for the material of the support is widened, and an inexpensive printer can be manufactured.

(3) Assembling and deformation of the cassette body and case adversely affect ribbon running. However, since the hook-shaped elastic member is independent of the wall, it is difficult for the wall of the case to receive the load of the positioning elastic member, so the running It is easy to ensure the stability of (for example, the connection between the lid and the case may be somewhat rough). (4) By grasping the upper end of the hook-shaped elastic piece, it is easy to attach and detach, and the usability is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line II of FIG. 4 showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view of the main part of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.
The figure is a plan view of the present invention. 1 ... Recording device (carridge), 2 ... Ink ribbon cassette, 6 ... Positioning elastic member, 6A ... Angle protrusion, 7 ... Positioning protrusion, 8, 9 ... Positioning opening, 10, 11 ... Positioning member, 12 ... Hook-shaped elastic member, 12A ... Free end, 12B ... Second chevron protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An ink ribbon cassette (2) which accommodates an ink ribbon inside and is detachable from a mounting surface of a recording device (1), the ink ribbon cassette (2) being provided on both left and right sides of a front portion of the cassette.
Positioning openings (8, 9) that fit into the positioning members (10, 11) of the recording apparatus are provided, and the central portion of the rear side wall of the cassette is fixed to the recording apparatus and has a chevron projection (6A). In which a positioning protrusion (7) that engages with the positioning elastic member (6) is provided, the positioning protrusion (7) bends upward from the lower portion of the rear side wall of the cassette. Formed by a hook-shaped elastic member (12) having a free end portion (12A) extending in a circular shape and having a chevron projection (6A) of the positioning elastic member in the middle of the vertical portion of the hook-shaped elastic member. Second engaging lower side
The ink ribbon cassette is characterized in that the chevron protrusion (12B) is provided.