JP3496267B2 - Printer ink ribbon cassette - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ink ribbon cassette used for a printer for printing a recorded image such as a video image as a hard copy, that is, a so-called color photograph. It is. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ink ribbon cassette used in a printer of this type is shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which an ink ribbon is stored in the ink ribbon cassette, and FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the ink ribbon cassette. The perspective view of a state is shown. In both figures, an ink ribbon cassette includes an ink ribbon unit 1 and the ink ribbon unit 1.
Are housed in a cassette housing 4 composed of a lower half 2 and an upper half 3. The ink ribbon unit 1 has a supply spool shaft 6 around which an unused ink ribbon 5 is wound and a take-up spool shaft 7 around which a used ink ribbon is wound. Are shaft ends 6a and 7a driven by a drive shaft (not shown), and shaft ends on the other end side are driven shaft portions 6b and 7b. In the case of color printing, the Y ribbon (yellow) patch, the M (magenta) patch, and the C (cyan) patch are formed in this order on the ink ribbon 5 (not shown). On the other hand, the lower half 2 of the cassette housing 4 has a substantially boat-like shape, and circular shaft holes 8a, 8a are formed at one end thereof.
Drive-side bearings 8, 8 having openings are provided, and the drive-side shafts 6 a, 7 of the ink ribbon unit 1 are provided on the bearings 8, 8.
a is rotatably supported. The other end of the lower half 2 has a driving bearing 8,
Drive-side bearing portions 9, 9 having U-shaped bearings 9 a, 9 a are provided at positions opposed to 8 while being supported by reinforcing ribs 10. The driven shaft portions 6b, 7b of the ink ribbon unit 1 are rotatably supported by the bearing portions 9, 9. An opening window 11 corresponding to a printing head (not shown) is formed on the bottom surface of the lower half 2. [0007] The upper half 3 is provided with the above-mentioned driven bearings 9 and 9.
The spring pieces 12, 12 integrally formed on the side edges of the upper half 3 are engaged with the engaging pieces 2 a formed on the lower half 2 to be united with the lower half 2. Pressing leaf springs 13 are attached to the upper half 3 at positions corresponding to the driven side bearing portions 9 of the lower half 2. In the method of assembling the ink ribbon cassette thus constructed, first, the driven shaft portions 6b, 7b of the ink ribbon unit 1 are supported from above by the bearings 9a, 9a of the driven bearing portions 9, 9 of the lower half 2. Then, the supply spool shaft 6 and the take-up spool shaft 7 are strongly pressed against the driven bearings 9, 9 against the spring force of a coil spring (not shown) provided in both spool shafts, and the drive shaft 6a is pressed. , 7a are inserted into the shaft holes 8a, 8a of the drive-side bearings 8, 8 of the lower half 2, and then the upper half 3 is combined with the lower half 2, thereby completing the assembly of the ink ribbon cassette.
At this time, the pressing leaf springs 13 attached to the upper half 3 press the driven-side shaft portions 6b, 7b from above, and the driven-side shaft portions 6b, 7b are pressed.
7b is prevented from being pulled out. In the conventional ink ribbon cassette constructed as described above, when all the ink ribbons 5 have been used, they are discarded together with the ink ribbon cassette. However, although the used ink ribbon 5 itself cannot be reused, the cassette housing 4 can be reused. However, since the ink ribbon unit is not easily detached from the conventional cassette housing, the cassette housing 4 is not used. At present it is discarded. Further, since the cassette housing 4 is made of a plastic molded product, toxic gas is generated at the time of incineration, which is socially problematic. In addition, since the incineration heat becomes high temperature, the incinerator is damaged. There is also the problem of doing so. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and makes it possible to easily remove an ink ribbon unit from a cassette housing, to reuse the cassette housing, and to save resources. It is an object of the present invention to obtain a printer ink ribbon cassette that can be used. In order to achieve the above object, an ink ribbon cassette for a printer according to the present invention is provided.
Ribbon supply shaft 6 around which an unused ink ribbon is wound
And a ribbon winding shaft 7 for winding the used ink ribbon.
The drive shafts at one end of the lower half 2
The other end of each bearing is supported by the lower bearing
The inner part is rotatably supported by the bearing part 9 of the
A crib cassette, wherein a driving side shaft portion is a driving side bearing.
The portion 8 is rotatably supported and has a rib 18 on the inner peripheral surface of the shaft.
The drive shaft and the drive shaft are integrally formed coaxially with the drive shaft.
A first gear 16 having a flange shape is provided inside the side bearing portion 8.
Drive shaft member 14 rotated by the drive shaft of the printer
Coaxial with the first gear 16 of the drive shaft member 14 at an interval.
Facing upward, the axes of the ribbon supply shaft 6 and the ribbon take-up shaft 7
A second flange-like gear 20 provided at the end;
Interlocking that meshes across the gear 16 and the second gear 20
Between the gear 30 and the first gear 16 and the second gear 20
And the periphery of a shaft hole 17 provided at the center of the first gear 16.
Spring piece 23 having a bowl-shaped convex surface portion 27 that engages with the first spring piece 23
And a second gear of the ribbon supply shaft 6 and the ribbon take-up shaft 7.
A bowl-shaped protrusion that engages with the periphery of a shaft hole 21 provided at the center of
Bearing machine comprising second spring piece 24 having face portion 28
It is characterized in that it is composed of a frame and a frame . [0013] [0014] [0015] [0016] [0017] [0018] [0019] [act] As described above, the ink ribbon cassette of the present invention, the ribbon supply shaft 6 and the ribbon take-up shaft 7 driving shaft portion
To load the material 14, the ribbon supply shaft 6 and the ribbon take-up
The second gear 20 provided at the shaft end of the shaft 7
By inserting it into the spring piece 24, the shaft of the second gear 20
The hole 21 is formed by the convex portion 28 of the second spring piece 24 and the spring pressure.
Engaged and supported, each drive shaft member 14 and ribbon
Loading the supply shaft 6 and the ribbon take-up shaft 7 coaxially
Can be. The drive shaft member 14 is a drive shaft of the printer.
Is interlocked with the first gear 16 by being rotated by
The second gear 20 rotates via the gear 30 to supply the ribbon.
The shaft 6 and the ribbon winding shaft 7 can be driven to rotate.
You. An embodiment of an ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette of a printer in a separated state, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same in an assembled state, FIG. 3 is a plan view of a bearing structure of a driving-side bearing portion, which is a main part of the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line AA, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line BB. The same components as those of the conventional ink ribbon cassette described with reference to FIGS. Is omitted. The present embodiment differs from the conventional ink ribbon cassette in the configuration of the drive mechanism of the drive shaft 6a of the supply spool shaft 6 and the drive shaft 7a of the take-up spool shaft 7 of the ink ribbon unit 1. This part will be described. Since the bearing mechanism has the same configuration on the supply spool shaft 6 side and the take-up spool shaft 7 side, only one take-up spool shaft 7 side will be described. A drive shaft member 14 is inserted into a bearing hole 8a of the drive side bearing portion 8. A flange 15 is provided at the rear end of the drive shaft member 14 so as to be located inside the lower half 2, and a first gear 16 is provided on the outer periphery thereof. The drive shaft member 14 has a hollow shaft hole 17.
A drive shaft of a printer (not shown) is inserted into the inside, and the drive shaft member 14 is rotationally driven. Reference numeral 18 denotes a rib formed on the inner surface of the shaft hole 17 and engaging with the drive shaft of the printer. A drive-side shaft portion 7a of the take-up spool shaft 7 is coaxially arranged at a predetermined distance behind the drive shaft member 14 described above. A flange 19 is provided at an end of the driving-side shaft portion 7a, and a second gear 20 is provided at an outer peripheral portion thereof.
The drive-side shaft portion 7a has a hollow shaft hole 21. The drive shaft member 14 and the drive side shaft portion 7a are held by a shaft holding member 22 erected between them.
To explain this in more detail, the shaft holding member 22 has two parallel first spring pieces 23 and a second spring piece 24, and the lower portions of the two spring pieces 23 and 24 are integrally formed as a continuous portion 25. Are fixed by caulking with pins 26 provided on the lower half 2. The first spring piece 23 is provided with a bowl-shaped convex surface portion 27 which is engaged with the end of the shaft hole 17 of the drive shaft member 14 to hold the drive shaft member 14 rotatably. I have. Also,
The second spring piece 24 is also provided with a bowl-shaped convex surface portion 28, which is engaged with the end of the shaft hole 21 of the drive-side shaft portion 7a to rotatably hold the drive-side shaft portion 7a. are doing. On the other hand, the first gear 16 of the drive shaft member 14 and the second gear 20 of the drive side shaft portion 7a are meshed with each other by interlocking gears 30 supported by bearings 29, 29 formed on the lower half 2. ing. Next, a procedure for attaching the supply spool shaft 6 and the take-up spool shaft 7 of the ink ribbon unit 1 to the lower half 2 of the ink ribbon cassette configured as described above will be described. Since the supply spool shaft 6 and the take-up spool shaft 7 are attached in the same manner, only one take-up spool shaft 7 will be described in the same manner as described above. The drive shaft member 14 is inserted into the bearing hole 8a of the drive side bearing portion 8 in advance, and the first spring piece 2 of the shaft holding member 22 is inserted.
3. In this state, first, the driven shaft 7b of the take-up spool shaft 7 is supported by the driven bearing 9a of the lower half 2, and then the drive shaft 7a is loaded from above. Flange 19 of side shaft portion 7a
Abuts against the convex surface portion 28 of the second spring piece 24, elastically deforms the second spring piece 24 outward (in the direction of the first spring piece 27) and bends. The convex surface portion 28 of the second spring piece 24 engages with the shaft hole 21, and the drive side shaft portion 7 a is coaxially supported with the drive shaft member 14 as shown in FIG. 4. With the bearing of the drive-side shaft 7a, the drive-side shaft 7
The second gear 20 formed on the outer peripheral portion of the flange 19a meshes with the interlocking gear 30. Thus, by combining the upper half 3 with the lower half 2, the take-up spool shaft 7 has a presser plate spring 13 abutting on the driven side shaft portion 7b and a second spring holding the drive side shaft portion 7a. It can be held in a state of being sandwiched between the pieces 24. When the drive shaft of the printer (not shown) is inserted into the shaft hole 17 of the drive shaft member 14 and the drive shaft rotates, the first gear of the flange 15 is rotated together with the drive shaft member 14. The rotation of the drive shaft 16 through the interlocking gear 30 and the second gear 20 of the flange 19
The take-up spool shaft 7 can be rotationally driven together with a. The drive shaft member 14 and the first spring piece 23
Since the convex surface portion 27 and the drive side shaft portion 7a and the convex surface portion 28 of the second spring piece 24 are in frictional contact, the first spring piece 2
By manufacturing the shaft holding member 22 constituting the third and second spring pieces 24 from a resin having a high hardness such as POM (polyacetal resin), a bearing with little wear can be provided. The take-up spool shaft 7 can be removed by removing the upper half 3 from the lower half 2 and then pulling up the drive-side shaft portion 7a, whereby the convex surface portion 28 is separated from the shaft hole 21 and
The flange 19 pushes out the convex part 28 and the second spring piece 2
4 bends outward and can be easily removed. At this time, the gear 20 of the flange 19 of the drive side shaft portion 7a is
Is in a free state, so that the engagement is easily released. Then, the driven shaft 7b may be removed from the driven bearing 9a. In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the shaft hole 17 is held by the convex surface portion 27 of the first spring piece 23 as the holding structure of the drive shaft member 14 has been described, but as shown in FIG.
The spring piece 23 may be a flat plate having no convex portion, and the flat plate may press and hold the end surface of the drive shaft member 14. As described above, in the ink ribbon cassette according to the present invention, since the ink ribbon unit 1 can be easily attached to and detached from the ribbon cassette housing 4, only the ink ribbon unit is replaced, and the ribbon cassette housing is replaced with the next new ink ribbon unit. There is an advantage that it can be used for. The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. [0041] As described above, according to the present invention, in accordance with the present invention
Click ribbon cassette is, for the ink ribbon cassette housing
Ink ribbon with ribbon supply shaft and ribbon take-up shaft
Can be attached and detached very easily,
Discard the used ink ribbon only and remove the ink ribbon cover.
There is an effect that the set housing can be reused.
You. In addition, the fact that the ribbon cassette housing can be reused repeatedly can solve social problems caused by incineration and the like, and can effectively utilize material resources. ## EQU00003 ##

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette of the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of the ink ribbon cassette of the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a plan view of a bearing mechanism of a drive side shaft portion of the ribbon take-up spool shaft. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the drive-side shaft portion in the process of being mounted. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of another example of the drive shaft member. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a conventional ink ribbon cassette in an assembled state. FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional ink ribbon cassette. [Description of Signs] 1 Ink ribbon unit 2 Lower half 3 Upper half 4 Ribbon cassette housing 5 Ink ribbon 6 Supply spool shaft 7 Take-up spool shaft 6a, 7a Drive side shaft portions 6b, 7b Drive side shaft portion 8 Drive side bearing Part 9 driven side bearing part 13 holding leaf spring 14 drive shaft member 15, 19 flange 16 first gear 17, 21 shaft hole 20 second gear 22 shaft holding member 23 first spring piece 24 second spring piece 27 , 28 Convex part 30 Interlocking gear

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] [Claim 1] Incremental consisting of upper half and lower half
Wrap an unused ink ribbon around the
Ribbon supply shaft and the reel for winding the used ink ribbon.
Bonn winding shafts are connected to the drive
The moving side shaft portion is supported by the lower half drive side bearing portion,
The other end is rotatable on the lower half bearing.
An ink ribbon cassette adapted to be supported , wherein the drive-side shaft portion is rotatably supported by the drive-side bearing portion and a rib is provided on an inner peripheral surface of the shaft.
A drive shaft having a shaft and integrally formed coaxially with the drive shaft
And a flange-shaped first gear is provided inside the drive-side bearing.
And a drive shaft section rotated by the drive shaft of the printer.
Material and the first gear of the drive shaft member are coaxially spaced apart from each other.
Opposed to the end of the ribbon supply shaft and ribbon take-up shaft
A flange-shaped second gear provided, and a gear that straddles and meshes with the first gear and the second gear.
Between the first gear and the second gear;
Bowl-shaped convex surface that engages with the periphery of the shaft hole provided at the center of the gear
A first spring piece having a portion, the ribbon supply shaft and a rib
Peripheral edge of a shaft hole provided at the center of the second gear of the take-up shaft
And a second spring piece having a bowl-shaped convex portion engaging with the second spring piece.
Is composed of a that the bearing mechanism, the rotary drive the drive shaft member by the drive shaft of the printer
The first gear through the interlocking gear
The second gear rotates to rotate the ribbon supply shaft and the rib.
The take-up shaft is driven to rotate, and the ribbon supply shaft and
The ribbon take-up shaft is formed between the shaft hole of the second gear and the second gear.
An ink ribbon cassette for a printer, wherein a convex portion of a spring piece is detachable by a spring action .