JPH0671990A - Ink makeup-type ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an ink makeup-type ribbon cassette which is capable of maintaining ink at an adequate density level until the ink in a tank felt runs out completely and printing data as an ink makeup-type ribbon cassette used for a printer. CONSTITUTION:The ink makeup-type ribbon cassette 10 is composed of an ink supply member 12 installed in a main cassette system 13 which accommodates an endless ink ribbon 11 in a mobile circulatable manner. The ink supply member 12 consists of a tank felt 17 for reserving ink and feeder felts 18 arranged so that the peripheral surface comes in contact with the tank felt 18. Further, the feeder felt 18 supplies ink to the endless ink ribbon 11 through the contact of the tip of the felt 18 with the endless ink ribbon 11.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink supply type ribbon cassette used in a printer.

A ribbon cassette is constructed so that an endless ink ribbon, which is folded and accommodated in an ink ribbon accommodating chamber in a cassette body, is pulled out to the outside and then retracted to be circulated through the ink ribbon accommodating chamber. Some ribbon cassettes include an ink replenishing member that replenishes the endless ink ribbon with ink in the cassette body, and replenishes ink to the circulating endless ink ribbon to improve ribbon life.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 4, an ink supply member 1 used in a conventional ink supply type ribbon cassette includes a tank felt 2 for storing ink and a tank felt 2 for storing the ink.
And a replenishment felt 4 arranged so that the peripheral surfaces thereof contact with each other and replenishing the endless ink ribbon 3 with ink.

[0004]

However, in the conventional ink replenishing member, there is a limit to the amount of ink replenished from the tank felt to the replenishing felt even if the capacity of the tank felt is increased to prolong the life of printing. The print density near the end of life was almost unchanged.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ink replenishment type ribbon cassette capable of performing printing while maintaining the initial density until the ink in the tank felt is exhausted.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention, in which 11 is an endless ink ribbon and 12 is an ink supply member. The endless ink ribbon 11 is
Although illustration is omitted, the ribbon cassette is folded and accommodated in the ink ribbon accommodating chamber in the cassette main body, and at the time of printing, it is pulled out to the outside and then retracted to the inside so that it circulates through the ink ribbon accommodating chamber. Has become. The ink supply member 12 is provided inside the cassette body and plays a role of supplying ink to the endless ink ribbon 11.

The ink replenishing member 12 is arranged such that the tank felt 17 for storing ink and the peripheral surface of the tank felt 17 are in contact with each other. And a plurality of replenishment felts 18 for replenishing. The tank felt 17 may be polyurethane foam compressed at a compression rate of 55 to 70%, and the replenishment felt 18 may be polyurethane foam compressed at a compression rate of 75 to 90%.

The contact force of the replenishment felt 18 with the endless ink ribbon 11 is preferably 3 to 30 g.

[0009]

The ink present in the tank felt 17 moves to the replenishment felt 18 and is replenished to the endless ink ribbon 11 by the replenishment felt 18, but the ink moves from the tank felt 17 to the replenishment felt 18.
There is a limit to the amount of movement (moving speed) per unit area on the contact surfaces of the two felts. Hereinafter, the movement amount of ink within a certain time when the tank felt, the replenishment felt, and the ink ribbon are moved in this order is referred to as replenishment efficiency.

In the present invention, since there is a plurality of replenishment felts, which has conventionally been only one, the contact area between the tank felt and the replenishment felt is increased and the replenishment efficiency is improved.
Therefore, in the case of the conventional structure, it is possible to solve the problem that the replenishment ink cannot be consumed until the end of its life due to poor ink replenishment efficiency. That is, in the case of the present invention, the ink in the tank felt can be completely consumed, and printing can be performed with the initial density maintained until the end.

When the replenishment felt is brought into contact with the endless ink ribbon with a force of 3 to 30 g, the replenishment felt can be provided with the back tension control function of the endless ink ribbon. No leaf spring is required.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the internal structure of the ink replenishing type ribbon cassette 10 of the present embodiment. In the figure, 11 is an endless ink ribbon and 12 is an ink replenishing member. The endless ink ribbon 11 is folded and accommodated in the ink ribbon accommodating chamber 14 of the cassette body 13, and is drawn out from the drawer portion 13a of the cassette body 13 at the time of printing, and then is drawn in from the drawer portion 13b. The ribbon accommodation chamber 14 is circulated and moved.

The circulating movement of the endless ink ribbon 11 is performed by applying a driving force by a feed roller 15 and a driven roller 16 provided inside the cassette body 13. The feed roller 15 has a shaft engaged with a drive system on the carrier side (not shown) on which the ribbon cassette 10 is mounted together with a print head (not shown), and rotates in the direction of arrow A when the carrier moves. The driven roller 16 is supported by the cassette body 13 so as to be able to move back and forth in the directions of arrows B and B ′, is urged in the direction of arrow B by a spring (not shown), and is pressed against the feed roller 15 via the endless ink ribbon 11.

The ink replenishing member 12 is arranged such that the tank felt 17 for storing ink and the peripheral surface of the tank felt 17 are in contact with each other, and the tip of the ink replenishing member 12 is in contact with the endless ink ribbon 11 to supply the ink to the endless ink ribbon 11. Two (generally more than one) supply felts to replenish
And an ink replenishment section 19 in the cassette body 13
It is housed inside as shown.

The tank felt 17 is made by compressing polyurethane foam at a compression rate of 55 to 75%, and the replenishing felt 18 is made of polyurethane foam at a compression rate of 75 to 90%.
It is compressed in%. Further, the pressure contact force of the replenishment felt 18 with the endless ink ribbon 11 is set to 3 to 30 g. By using such a pressure contact force, the replenishment felt 18 can be provided with the back tension control function of the endless ink ribbon, and the leaf spring for providing back tension, which is conventionally required, becomes unnecessary.

As described above, according to the present invention, since there is a plurality of replenishment felts 18 which was conventionally only one, the contact area between the tank felt 17 and the replenishment felt 18 is increased and the ink replenishment efficiency is improved. Therefore, the ink in the tank felt 17 can be completely consumed, and printing can be performed with the initial density maintained until the end.

FIG. 3 shows the effect of the present invention in comparison with the conventional one. The horizontal axis of the figure represents the number of prints, and the vertical axis represents the print density. The solid curve represents the characteristics of the present invention and the chain double-dashed curve represents the conventional characteristics. As is clear from this figure, in the case of the conventional product, the ink replenishment efficiency was poor, and therefore the replenishment ink could not be consumed until the printing life, but in the case of the present invention product, the ink replenishment efficiency was excellent. As a result, the amount of ink consumed until the end of the conventional printing life is large and the printing is dark, and the printing life is extended. A Moore OCR tester 082A type measuring device was used for this measurement.

This will be specifically described with numbers.
Ink consumption up to 5 million characters is 2g for conventional products
On the other hand, the product of the present invention had an excellent ink replenishment efficiency of 3.5 g, and the print density of 15 million characters was improved by about 1.4 times.

If only the print density is to be improved,
It is sufficient to arrange a plurality of ink replenishing members having a conventional structure, but this is not a good idea because it has a drawback that the ink cannot be completely used up and the structure is complicated.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following various excellent effects can be obtained. (1) Since the ink replenishment efficiency is improved, the ink in the tank felt can be completely consumed. (2) It is possible to print while maintaining a sufficient density until the end. (3) By pressing the replenishment felt against the endless ink ribbon with an appropriate pressure, the replenishment felt can have a back tension control function of the endless ink ribbon. It becomes unnecessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an ink replenishment type ribbon cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of effects of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional ink supply member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Ink Replenishing Ribbon Cassette 11 Endless Ink Ribbon 12 Ink Replenishing Member 13 Cassette Body 14 Ink Ribbon Chamber 17 Tank Felt 18 Replenishing Felt

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Chiaki Sekioka 1405 Daimaru, Inagi City, Tokyo Inside Fujitsu Aisotec Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An endless ink ribbon (11) folded and contained in an ink ribbon chamber inside a cassette body (13) is pulled out to the outside at the time of printing and then passed through the ink ribbon chamber. The cassette body (13) is configured to circulate and move,
In an ink replenishment type ribbon cassette provided with an ink replenishment member (12) for replenishing ink to the endless ink ribbon (11), the ink replenishment member (12) includes a tank felt (17) for storing ink, A plurality of replenishment felts (1) are arranged so that their peripheral surfaces are in contact with the tank felt (17), and their tips are in contact with the endless ink ribbon (11) to replenish the endless ink ribbon (11) with ink.
8) An ink replenishment type ribbon cassette comprising: 2. The ink replenishable ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein polyurethane foam is used as the tank phenyl (17) at a compression rate of 55 to 70%, and polyurethane foam is used as the replenishment felt (18). An ink replenishment type ribbon cassette characterized by being used at a compression rate of 75 to 90%. 3. The ink replenishment type ribbon cassette according to claim 1, wherein the replenishment felt (18) is provided with an endless ink ribbon (1).
An ink replenishment type ribbon cassette characterized by having a back tension control function by being brought into contact with 1) at a pressure of 3 to 30 g.