JPS61277480A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable higher printing quality to be contrived, by a construction wherein an ink ribbon support member and a correction ribbon support member are turnably supported on a rotary shaft of a carriage frame, while a thermal head support member is turnably supported on another rotary shaft. CONSTITUTION:The ink ribbon support member 3 for moving an ink ribbon up and down and a support member 9 for moving a correction ribbon 4 up and down are turnably supported on the rotary shaft 11 of the carriage frame 10, while the support member 15 for a thermal head 14 is turnably supported on another rotary shaft 16. The first cam 28 engaged to the support member 3, the second cam 29 engaged to the support member 9 and the third cam 30 engaged to the support member 15 are provided. Accordingly, since only the ink ribbon 2 is lifted at the time of printing while only the correction ribbon 4 is lifted at the time of correction and the thermal head 14 is brought into contact with the lifted ribbon to heat the latter, efficiency of heat transfer is high, and clear printing and correction can be performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a ribbon lift mechanism for an ink ribbon for printing and a collection ribbon for correction of print in a printing device such as a typewriter or a printer, and a printing hammer pressing mechanism. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing device equipped with a mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

In general, impact type typewriters and printers that use ribbons are often equipped with two types of ribbon: a ribbon for printing and a correction ribbon for correcting characters printed by mistake. ing. In particular, having two types of ribbons, a printing ribbon and a correction ribbon, eliminates the need to erase accidentally printed characters with an eraser, etc., and allows you to print the same characters in the incorrectly printed position using a correction ribbon. By performing this operation, characters printed by mistake can be automatically erased, which is extremely convenient for the operator.゛A conventional device of this type uses a drive source (four solenoids or a motor) equipped with a link mechanism, etc. that moves the ink ribbon for printing up and down, and a solenoid that feeds the collection ribbon. In printers and ribbon lift mechanism drive sources equipped with drive sources such as the above, a display device is used in conjunction with the printer to confirm the characters, correct any errors in the characters, and then print the characters.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The conventional ribbon lift mechanism and feeding mechanism for the ink ribbon for printing and the collection ribbon for correction of print described above are different from each other because the ribbon for printing and the collection ribbon for correction of print are separate. It occupies a large space, and due to the complexity of the structure of the power transmission mechanism, there are many related parts, and it requires a lot of man-hours to assemble.
In a structure in which a ribbon lift mechanism and a ribbon case are mounted on the retarder, economical problems such as a large carriage and high manufacturing cost remain unsolved.

On the other hand, typewriters and printers that use the thermal transfer method require high equipment costs because they also use a display, so thermal transfer typewriters and printers that use a collection ribbon are desired as popular models. There is.

[Means for solving problems]

This invention has been made in view of the actual situation in the prior art described above. That is, an ink ribbon support member that moves the ink ribbon up and down and a collection ribbon support member that moves the collection ribbon up and down are rotatable about a rotating shaft provided on a carriage frame, and a thermal head support member having a thermal head is made rotatable about a rotation shaft provided on a carriage frame. Rotatably supported on another rotating shaft of the carriage frame.

The apparatus further includes a first cam that is engaged with the ink ribbon support member, a second cam that is engaged with the collection ribbon support member, and a third cam that is engaged with the thermal head support member, ink ribbon.

To provide a small and inexpensive thermal thermal transfer printing device by lifting a collection ribbon and a thermal head to a tilting operation position to solve the conventional problem of a gap.

Here, thermal transfer typewriters and printers print by sandwiching an ink ribbon between a thermal head and printing paper (the thermal head presses the ink ribbon in front of the printing paper), and thermally transferring the ink ribbon onto the substrate. The heating element is driven so that the thermal head generates heat based on an information pattern of a thermal head having a plurality of independent heating elements made of semiconductors or the like.

However, the ribbon's pace (
It has the characteristic that a thermo-tactile ink is applied to a heat-resistant film (e.g., polyester, etc.) and is dissolved in the printing paper. Therefore, when printing, lift the ink ribbon, and when correcting (erasing), lift the collection ribbon, and attach them separately in front of the printing paper. This will improve heat transfer from the thermal head, resulting in clean printing and Clean erasing is possible. Thermal Rexilon is a 7-piece cover type that uses the heat of the thermal head to paste, melt, or bake hot-melt white ink onto the printing paper, and a cover that uses the heat of the thermal head to reverse transfer the print onto the collection ribbon. There is a lift-off type.

Identical components are designated by the same reference numerals, and the thermal transfer printing apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of a thermal transfer printing device of the present invention mounted on a carriage, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing the state of the home position of the thermal transfer printing device of FIG.

1 and 2, 1 is an ink ribbon cassette having an ink ribbon 2 for printing (hereinafter referred to as ink ribbon), and the ink ribbon cassette 1 has an ink ribbon support member 30 having a tongue piece 3b projecting downward. base 3α
Attaches removably to the

Reference numeral 4 denotes a collection ribbon, and the collection ribbon 4 is wound from a collection spool 5 on the delivery side, via ribbon guides 6 and 7, to a collection spool 8 on the winding side. Thus, the collection spool 5.8 and the ribbon guide 6.7 on the sending side and the winding side have bases 9α on both sides and connecting rods 9 that connect the bases 9α.
It is removably attached to the base 9a of the collection ribbon support member 9 having a main body 9b. Further, a tongue piece 9c is provided at either end of the base portion 9α. (Right side base in FIG. 1) The above-described ink ribbon support member 3 and collection ribbon support member 9 are rotatably attached to rotating shafts 11 provided on both sides of the carriage frame 10.

Further, the above-mentioned ink ribbon 2 and collection ribbon 4 are arranged between the printing paper 13 in front of the platen 120 and a thermal head described later.

14 is a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements, and the thermal head 14 is attached to a thermal head support member 15. The thermal head support member 15 has a sliding ring 15a below and is rotatably supported by a rotating shaft 16 provided on the carriage frame 10.

Note that IT is a spring 1 installed between one end of the thermal head support member 15 and the carriage frame 10.
8 is an ink ribbon support member 3 and a carriage frame 1
A spring 19 installed between the collection ribbon support member 9 and the carriage frame 10 is a spring installed between the collection ribbon support member 9 and the carriage frame 10.

Further, 21 is an ink ribbon feed gear, and the ink ribbon feed gear 21 is an ink ribbon cassette 1.
It is connected to an ink ribbon roller 20 that winds up an ink ribbon 2 built into the ink ribbon roller 20. 22 is a collection ribbon feed gear, and the collection ribbon feed gear 22 is connected to the collection spool 8 on the winding side. There is also a feed rack 23 which is interlocked with the movement of the carriage frame 10 on a sliding rod (not shown) by a carriage motor (not shown).

Therefore, when the ink ribbons 1-, 2 and the collection ribbon 4 are lifted for desired printing and desired erasing, the ink ribbon feed gear 21 and the collection ribbon feed gear 22 are moved to the feed rack 23.
The ink ribbon 2 and the collection ribbon 4 are individually engaged with each other and rotated to wind up the ink ribbon 2 and the collection ribbon 4 individually.

On the other hand, 24 is a drive source (hereinafter referred to as a motor), 25 is a gear attached to the output shaft of 24, 26 is a gear that meshes with the gear 25, and the gear 26 is provided with a recessed part 2Ta. It is fixed to one end of the camshaft 27.

The camshaft 2T is connected to a recessed portion 2T of the camshaft 27 between the inner walls in the longitudinal direction of the carriage frame 10.
, x the first cam 28. shown in FIG. Second cam29. When the cam sleeve 31 is fitted so that the protrusions 31g of the cam sleeve 31 having the third cam 30 are engaged with each other, and the cam sleeve 31 is loosely fitted and is pivotally supported from the bearings 27AK on both sides of the carriage frame 1G, the carriage frame 1° becomes slidable along the camshaft 2T.

As a result, the outer circumference of the first cam 28 comes into contact with the tongue piece 3AK of the ink ribbon support member 3, the outer circumference of the second cam 29 comes into contact with the tongue piece 90 of the collection ribbon support member 9, and the third cam 28 comes into contact with the tongue piece 3AK of the ink ribbon support member 3. The outer peripheral edge of the cam 30 is connected to the thermal head support member 1
It comes into contact with the sliding ring 15a of No. 5. In this way, the contact positions of these cams are set to the home position shown in FIG.

The first cam 28 described above. Second cam29. The shape of the third cam 30 is shown in FIG.
The shape is set to draw the cam timing characteristic diagram shown in the figure. In FIG. 6, 28a' is a characteristic diagram of the first cam 28, 29a is a characteristic diagram of the second cam 29, and 30e is a characteristic diagram of the first cam 28.
L is a characteristic diagram of the third cam 30, and is a characteristic diagram from the home position state to the rotational (clockwise and counterclockwise) directions.

[For production]

A detailed explanation of the present invention constructed in this manner will be given below.

FIG. 2 shows the home position before printing or before collection, and the thermal transfer printing device is in this state.

First, the motor 24 shown in FIG. 1 is rotated by a keyboard input (not shown) and an external input (for example, a print input from the outside via an interface), and the camshaft 27 is rotated, for example, in the counterclockwise direction of FIG. 3 via the gears 25 and 26. Rotate to . This rotation of the camshaft 2T causes the cam sleeve 31 to rotate about half a turn in the direction of the solid arrow (counterclockwise) in FIG. 3 (rotation of the motor 24 causes the cam sleeve 31 to rotate about a half turn and then stops). Therefore, as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 28α in FIG. 6, from the home position (ink ribbon rest position) to the ink ribbon operating position,
As shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 30α, the thermal head is moved from the thermal head release position (home position) to the thermal head operating position. This first and third cam 28
, 30, the tongue piece 3 of the ink ribbon support member 3 is rotated.
h and the sliding ring 15 of the thermal head support member 15
a pushes up almost vertically upward against the elastic force of the springs 17 and 18, so the ink ribbon support member 3 turns I clockwise around the rotating shaft 11 and lifts the ink ribbon 2 to the operating (printing) position. let

At the same time, the thermal head support member 15 rotates counterclockwise about the rotation shaft 16 to press the thermal head 14 against the printing paper 13 in front of the platen 12. As described above, a printable state is achieved, and this state is shown in FIG. 3 (ink ribbon lifted state). During this period, when the cam sleeve 310 rotates approximately half a turn in the counterclockwise direction, the second cam 2 is rotated so as not to lift the collection ribbon 4.
9 is made into the same arc.

Next, when printing is completed, the motor 24 lifts the ink ribbon, and the leaf 31 rotates about half a turn in the dotted arrow (clockwise) direction shown in FIG. 3 to return to the home position shown in FIG.

At this time, the thermal head support member 15 having the thermal head 14 moves from the thermal head operating position to the thermal head releasing position (home position position) as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 30α of FIG.
Since the thermal head 14 is returned to the home position state shown in FIG. 2 by the elastic force of the spring IT and the spring IT, the thermal head 14 is detached (released) from the printing paper 13 and the ink ribbon 2.

Further, as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 28a in FIG. 6, the ink ribbon 2 returns to the home position state from the ink ribbon operating position to the ink ribbon resting position by the elastic force of the spring 18. Then the collection (
(erasing), the motor 24 is rotated by keyboard input and external input, and the cam sleeve 31 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 4 by the rotation of the camshaft 27 via the gears 25 and 26. Due to the rotation of this camshaft 27,
The cam sleeve 31 rotates approximately half a turn in the direction of the solid arrow (clockwise) in FIG. 4 and then stops.

Therefore, as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 29α in FIG. 6, the ink ribbon moves from the home position to the ink ribbon operating position, and from the thermal head release position to the thermal head operating position as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 30a. Take. It is corrected by the rotation of the second and third cams 29.30.

The tongue piece 90 of the support member 9 and the sliding ring 15g of the thermal head support member 15 are connected to the spring 17.
Because it pushes up almost vertically upward against the elastic force of 19,
The collection ribbon support member 9 rotates clockwise about the rotating shaft 11 to lift the collection ribbon 4 to the operating (erase) position. At the same time, the thermistor fan member 15
It rotates counterclockwise about the rotation C axis 16, and presses the thermal head 14 against the printing paper 13 in front of the planar y12.

As described above, the erasable state is achieved, and this state is shown in FIG. 4 (collection ribbon shift state). During this period, the first cam 28 is kept in the same arc so as not to lift the ink ribbon 2 during approximately half a turn of the cam sleeve 31 in one direction.

Next, when the collection is completed, the motor 24 rotates in the opposite direction to that during the collection lift. Therefore, the cam sleeve 31 rotates approximately half a turn in the direction of the dotted arrow (counterclockwise) shown in FIG. 4 and returns to the home position shown in FIG. 2. At this time, the thermal head support member having the thermal head 14 15 is the cam timing characteristic diagram 30 in FIG.
As shown in g, the thermal head 14 moves from the thermal head operating position to the thermal head release position and returns to the home position state shown in FIG. 2 due to the elastic force of the third cam 30 and the spring 1T. It separates from the ribbon 4. Further, as shown in the cam timing characteristic diagram 29α in FIG. 6, the collection ribbon 4 is returned to the home position state by the elastic force of the spring 19 from the collection ribbon operating position to the collection ribbon rest position.

In addition, when the carriage moves without executing tab, carriage removal (turn, pax space, spacing, etc. printing or collection), the ink ribbon support member 3 and collection ribbon support member 9 are in the home position shown in FIG. The ink ribbon feed gear 21 and the collection ribbon feed gear 22 are separated from the feed truck 23 and are not connected.
The ink ribbon 2 and the collection ribbon 4 are configured not to be fed.

〔Example〕

In the above-described configuration, during printing, the cam sleeve 31
Although it has been described that the cam sleeve 31 is rotated about half a turn counterclockwise, and the cam sleeve 31 is rotated about a half turn clockwise during collection, this rotation direction may be reversed.

Further, the U-shaped recessed portion 27a of the cam shirt 27 may have any shape, such as a D-cut or a square shape, as long as the cam sleeve 31 can be rotated.

It goes without saying that slight design changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the thermal transfer printing device of the present invention, the ink ribbon support member 3 for moving the ink ribbon 2 up and down and the collection ribbon support member 9 for moving the collection ribbon 4 up and down are attached to the rotation shaft provided on the carriage frame 10. 11, and a thermal head support member 15 having a thermal head 14 is rotatably supported on another rotating shaft 16 of the carriage frame 10. Furthermore, a first cam 2 engaged with the ink ribbon support member 3
8, a second cam 29 engaged with the collection ribbon support member 9, and a third cam 3o engaged with the thermal head support member 15.

Ink ribbon 21 Collection ribbon 4. Each of the thermal heads 14 is configured to be movable. Therefore, when printing, only the ink ribbon 2 is lifted, and when erasing, only the collection ribbon 4 is lifted, and the thermal head 14 is brought into contact with each lipo y to heat it, resulting in good heat transfer efficiency and clear printing and erasing. This has the effect of improving the quality of popular models that are capable of

In addition, in the home position state, ink ribbon 2, collection ribbon 4. Thermal head 14 is platen 1
2 and the printing paper 13, the operator can easily confirm the printing and erasing, which is convenient for use.

Further, the first, second, and third cams 28, 29, and 30 are rotated by one motor 24, thereby lifting the ink ribbon 2 and the collection ribbon 4. Since the winding drive source No. 4 is provided by the feed rack 23 that is linked to the carriage frame 10, the number of these drive sources is significantly reduced compared to the conventional example.

Since the motor 24 is mounted outside the carriage frame 1o, the overall weight of the carriage frame 1o can be reduced, and the motor for moving the carriage frame 10 can also have a small capacity. The camshaft 27 that transmits the power to the cam sleeve 31 also serves as a guide shaft for the carriage frame 10, so the structure is consolidated and the entire device can be made into a shed, which is an advantage in reducing manufacturing costs. It has economical effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the thermal transfer printing device of the present invention mounted on a carriage frame, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing the home position state of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a side view showing the ink ribbon lift state of the present invention.
The figure is a side view showing the collection ribbon lift state of the present invention, and Figures 5(a) and <b> are perspective views of the cam sleeve of the present invention and the shapes of the first, second, and third cams. The front view and FIG. 6 are cam timing characteristic diagrams of the first, second, and third cams of the present invention.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Carriage frame 1 capable of reciprocating along printing lines
0, an ink ribbon support member 3 rotatably supported on a carriage frame 10 between an operating position in which the ink ribbon 2 at the leading end faces the platen 12 and a lower rest position; a collection ribbon support member 9 in which the ribbon 4 is rotatably supported in an operating position facing the platen 12 and a lower rest position; and a collection ribbon support member 9 rotatably supported on a carriage frame 10 in a print position and a release position. A thermal head support member 15 having a thermal head 14, a first cam 28 that is engaged with the ink ribbon support member 3 and moves the ink ribbon support member 3 up and down, and a collection ribbon support member that is engaged with the collection ribbon support member 9. 9 and a third cam 30 that is engaged with the thermal head support member 15 and moves the thermal head support member 15 up and down. is in the rest position and the thermal head 14 is in the release position, and during printing, the rotation of the drive source 24 causes the first cam 28 and the third cam 30 to rotate the ink ribbon support member 3 and the thermal head support member 15 upward. In addition, the second cam 29 and the third cam 30 are used when erasing characters.
A thermal transfer printing device characterized in that the collection ribbon support member 9 and the thermal head support member 15 are rotated upward to perform erasing. 2. A feed rack 23 that is linked to the movement of the carriage frame 10 driven by a drive source, and an ink ribbon feed gear 21 that is connected to an ink ribbon roller 20 that winds up the ink ribbon 2 contained in the ink ribbon cassette 1.
and a collection ribbon feed gear 22 connected to a take-up side collection spool that winds up the collection ribbon 4, the ink ribbon feed gear 21 is connected to the feed rack 23 only during printing, and the collection ribbon feed gear 22 is connected only during erasing. is feed rack 23
2. The thermal transfer printing device according to claim 1, wherein the thermal transfer printing device is configured to be connected to the thermal transfer printing device.