JPS6242799B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing endless ink ribbons used in various printers, typewriters, etc. The purpose is to improve the bonding durability of the ink ribbon and to provide an ink ribbon with a dramatically increased lifespan. Conventionally, ink ribbons for printers or typewriters are wound around bobbins or reels, which takes time and effort to replace, easily contaminating hands and objects when replacing them, and furthermore, the effective length of the ribbon during use is short. Due to these drawbacks, recently, a system in which endless ribbons are stored in a cartridge to facilitate ribbon replacement has become widely used. Ultrasonic bonding is generally used to make this ribbon endless. However, in this method, since the joints are fused, the fiber gap that serves as an ink tank is reduced, and the life of the ink near the joints is significantly reduced. Therefore, even if printing is possible normally in the non-bonded portion, missing characters occur due to the fusion bonding, and the ink ribbon no longer functions as an ink ribbon. In addition, the bond strength and impact strength of the fused joint are inferior to those of the non-bonded part, so even if the non-bonded part is still usable, there are problems such as the ink ribbon having to be discarded due to damage to the joint. It was hot. The present invention solves the above problems related to endless ink ribbons. The present invention provides a method for manufacturing an endless ink ribbon in which both ends of an ink ribbon are overlapped and cut by ultrasonic melting, and the melted convex portions generated at that time are crimped and ultrasonically bonded. After stacking three or more ink ribbons so that the unnecessary end portions are on the side of the melted convexity created by melt cutting, cut the ink ribbons by melting and remove the unnecessary end portions welded to the melted convexities. After that, the method for producing an endless ink ribbon is characterized in that the melted convex portions are crimped. In the present invention, the ink ribbon is a ribbon made of thermoplastic synthetic fibers such as polyamide synthetic fibers such as nylon 6 and nylon 66, and synthetic synthetic fibers such as polyester synthetic fibers, among the ribbons normally used as computer ribbons and typewriter ribbons. This refers to white fabric that has been slit into narrow widths and has already been inked, or has not yet been inked. Three or more of the ink ribbons mentioned above are stacked and cut by ultrasonic melting, but the stacking method is important. That is, they must be stacked so that the unnecessary end portion produced by melt cutting is on the side of the melt convexity produced by melt cutting. An example of this stacking method is shown in the figure below. FIG. 1 shows a conventional two-sheet stacking method, in which two ink ribbons 1 and 1' are stacked as shown in FIG. 1-a. In the method of the present invention, when stacking three ink ribbons, as shown in FIG. The other end 5' is overlapped to form three layers. In addition, in the case of 4 sheets stacked, Fig. 3-
As shown in a, overlap the two ink ribbons 1 and 1', and fold the ends 2 and 2' of both ribbons so that they are on the outside of the overlapping part, respectively, to create folded parts 2 and 2'. . Alternatively, instead of the folded portions 2, 2', small ribbon pieces 2, 2' may be used in an overlapping manner. The respective long parts 5 and 5' are shown in Figure 3-a.
Stack them to make 4 sheets as shown. 4 to 7 illustrate other embodiments of how ink ribbons are stacked in the method of the present invention. After the ribbons are stacked as described above, ultrasonic melt cutting is performed. Figure 1-b shows the conventional stacking method (Figure 1-b).
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a melted convex portion 3 produced after melting and cutting the material according to a). Figure 2-
b and Fig. 3-b are respectively the same as Fig. 2-a above.
It also shows the melted protrusions 3' and 3'' produced when melting and cutting is performed in the stacking manner shown in Figure 3-b.In both cases, the volume of the protrusions is increased compared to the conventional method, and unnecessary parts are removed. The terminal portions 4, 4' are characterized by being present on the molten convex side.In the method of the present invention, since the convex volume is increased as described above, bonding durability can be improved without increasing the bonding area. and the unnecessary end portion 4 which is welded to the melted convex portion generated by melt cutting.
4' can be easily removed by picking it up with your fingers or tweezers, for example. Figures 8a, b and 9a, b illustrate that depending on how the ink ribbons are stacked, the unnecessary end may be on the opposite side of the melting protrusion (lower side in the figure). It is. In this case, if force is applied to remove the unnecessary end portion, there is a risk that the entire melted portion will be damaged. To avoid this, removing the cut with scissors or the like is not only time-consuming but also difficult to completely remove. If this cannot be completely removed, the remaining portion will form a film in the next press-bonding process, making re-inking impossible and causing missing characters, which is undesirable. After melting the ink ribbons 1, 1' as described above and removing unnecessary end portions, the steps of the method of the present invention are completed by subjecting the melted convex portions to a compression treatment. The endless ink ribbon thus obtained by the method of the present invention has improved bonding durability and significantly extended ribbon life compared to conventional bonding methods.
In addition, due to the durability of the bond in the conventional method, when the bond width (bond area) is increased, missing characters occur.
According to the method of the present invention, this problem of missing characters can also be solved. Example Leona 66 (66 nylon registered trademark manufactured by Asahi Kasei Industries, Ltd.) 40 denier fabric (vertical density 170 threads/inch, width density 115 threads/inch) was cut to a width of 13 mm, and oil-based ink was applied at 20%. I inked it to make an ink ribbon. Cut this ink ribbon to 2.7m, twist one side half way and overlap each other with both ends crossed at 30 degrees.
The ribbon was melted and cut using an ultrasonic welder (manufactured by Branson), and the resulting joining protrusions were thermally fused using the same ultrasonic welder to obtain an endless ribbon with a circumference of 2.5 m. At this time, various overlapping methods were used as shown in the following table. The resulting endless ribbon is printed on a serial line printer (Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.)
(manufactured by) to check printing durability. The results are shown in the table below. Durability is expressed as the number of pages of application sheets required until missing characters occur due to damage to the joints.

[Table] As described above, according to the method of the present invention, the durability of the joint is significantly improved, there is no occurrence of initial missing characters, and the workability is almost the same as that of the conventional method. On the other hand, if the unnecessary end portions are stacked on the opposite side of the protrusions, the durability will be improved, but there will be a problem in the workability of cutting characters.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1-a is a plan view showing an example of stacking two ribbons according to the conventional method, FIG. Figures 2 to 7 are schematic diagrams showing embodiments of the present invention, and Figures 2-a and b are three sheets stacked,
FIGS. 3-a and 3-b are schematic explanatory diagrams showing examples in which four sheets are stacked, FIGS. 4 and 5 are examples in which small pieces of ribbon are used, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are respectively in which four sheets are stacked. 8th
FIG. 9 and FIG. 9 are schematic diagrams showing another embodiment. Code, 1, 1'... Ink ribbon, 2, 2'...
Folded part (or small ribbon piece), 3, 3', 3''...
... Melting convex portion, 4, 4'... Unnecessary end portion, 5,
5'...Nagabe.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method for producing an endless ink ribbon, in which both ends of an ink ribbon are overlapped and ultrasonically melted and cut, and the melted convex portions generated at that time are crimped and ultrasonically bonded, the ink ribbon is attached to the melted cut portion. After stacking three or more sheets so that the unnecessary end portions are on the side of the melted convexity produced by melt cutting, the unnecessary end portions welded to the melted convexities are removed by melt cutting. A method for manufacturing an endless ink ribbon, characterized in that the melted convex portions are then crimped.