JPH066390B2 - Recording device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a recording apparatus using an ink ribbon cassette such as a thermal transfer printer, a wire dot printer or a typewriter.

[Prior art]

Printers, facsimiles, and other recording devices and typewriters have an ink ribbon cassette mounted on a carriage that moves along the paper, and are configured to transfer ink while feeding the ink ribbon between the print head and the paper. There is.

The ink ribbon cassette has a structure in which a supply reel and a take-up reel are provided in a cassette case, and the ink ribbon on the supply reel is taken up on the take-up reel through a print head insertion portion during a printing operation. The take-up reel is rotationally driven by a drive shaft provided on the carriage. The cassette case is closed by mounting the cassette lid.

By the way, the cassette case and the cassette lid are generally formed of a non-conductive material such as plastic, and during the printing operation, the cassette, the ink ribbon and the like are charged due to the following reasons.

i) Friction between print head and ink ribbon ii) Friction between cassette case and each reel iii) Friction between cassette case and ink ribbon iv) Transfer process of ink to paper v) Ink ribbon is peeled off from supply reel Due to these, the following problems occur.

i) The user touches the cassette and receives an electric shock.

ii) The data signal and operation signal from the CPU may be disturbed due to the charging of the cassette, and the device may malfunction or stop.

iii) Electronic elements such as CPU may be damaged due to charging of the cassette.

Therefore, in order to eliminate such a charging problem,
Various countermeasures have been proposed.

First, there is a method of dissipating charges by providing a charge eliminating brush. However, this method has a problem in appearance processing, and further,
The equipment becomes large and the cost also rises.

Further, there is a method of electrically processing by adding a ground wire, a capacitor, a shield plate or the like to the control circuit. However, this method also has a complicated and large-scale circuit configuration, which results in an increase in cost.

〔Purpose〕

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional technical problems, to discharge static electricity charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to a conductive portion outside the cassette with a simple and inexpensive structure, and further, the ink ribbon cassette. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus that can perform the above-mentioned discharge more efficiently by using the movement of a carriage carrying the.

〔Overview〕

The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that mounts an ink ribbon cassette on a carriage that moves in a predetermined direction that intersects a conveyance direction of a recording medium, and transfers the ink of an ink ribbon contained in the ink ribbon cassette to a recording medium to perform recording
The ink ribbon cassette is a non-conductive ink ribbon cassette having a mounting surface on which a plurality of openings are arranged,
When the ink ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage, the mounting surface of the ink ribbon cassette is mounted so as to be in contact with a conductive member, and the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette is transferred from the plurality of through holes to the conductive surface through the atmosphere. The above object is achieved by adopting a configuration of discharging to a member.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and FIG. 2 shows the cassette case in FIG.

In FIG. 1, an ink ribbon cassette 1 has a casing composed of a cassette case 2 and a cassette lid 3, and a supply reel 4 and a take-up reel 5 are provided in the cassette case 1.
Is supported and is configured to wind the ink ribbon 6 on the supply reel onto the take-up reel 5. Cassette case 2
The print head (the thermal head in the case shown) on the front side of the
A recess 7 for insertion is formed, and the ink ribbon 6 is guided through the recess.

When the cassette 1 is mounted on the carriage 10, the ribbon drive shaft 11 on the carriage is engaged with the take-up reel 5 and the print head is inserted into the recess 7 to drive the take-up reel so that the ink ribbon 6 is removed. It travels through the recess 7 from above the supply reel 4 and is wound onto the take-up reel 5.

It should be noted that the cassette lid 3 is formed with a hole 8 for inserting a loosening stopper that prevents the ribbon from loosening when the cassette is transported.

The carriage 10 is guided and supported on a guide shaft 12 and is driven in the direction of arrow A by a step motor or the like, and the ribbon drive shaft 11 rotates in synchronization with the movement of the carriage.

However, a conductive member 13 is attached to the cassette mounting surface on the carriage 10, and the conductive member 13 is placed between the cassette case 2 and the carriage 10 when the cassette is mounted.
Are configured to intervene. In the illustrated example, the conductive member 13 is formed of a thin metal plate.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of discharge openings 14 are formed in the portion of the cassette case 2 that contacts the conductive member 13, that is, the bottom surface. In the illustrated example, a large number of relatively small-diameter through holes 14 are formed over almost the entire bottom surface of the cassette case 14.

When the ink ribbon cassette 1 is mounted on the carriage 10 for printing, static electricity is generated due to the above-mentioned causes such as friction between the print head and the ink ribbon 6 and friction between the cassette case 2 and the reels 4 and 5, and According to the structure shown in the drawing, a plurality of through holes 14 for discharging are formed on the mounting surface of the cassette case 2 and the conductive member 13 is provided between the cassette case and the carriage 10 even though it is about to be charged with a high voltage. Because of the interposition, the internal static electricity can be easily discharged toward the conductive member 13 through the through hole 14, and the charging inside the cassette 1 can be effectively prevented.

As described above, the inside of the ink ribbon cassette 1 is easily charged with static electricity generated by friction between the cassette and the ink ribbon 6.

Therefore, in the illustrated embodiment, since the ink ribbon cassette 1 formed of a non-conductive material is provided in contact with the conductive portion (conductive member) 13 on the carriage 10, the opening portion (passage) 14 is provided. For example, it becomes possible to discharge the conductive portion 13 through the atmosphere having a dielectric constant several times or more that of plastic as a non-conductive material.

In addition, since the atmosphere in the cassette can be moved by moving the carriage 10 while holding the ink ribbon cassette 1, the movement of the atmosphere can be used to discharge static electricity from the inside of the ink ribbon cassette 1. Can be performed more efficiently.

Therefore, it is possible to solve the problems due to the charging of the cassette, that is, the problems that the user receives an electric shock, the electric signal is disturbed to malfunction the device, and the electronic elements such as the CPU are damaged.

In the illustrated example, a sheet-shaped member is used as the conductive member 13, but the shape size and the like can be appropriately selected.

Further, the discharge passage 14 formed in the cassette case 2 is formed by a large number of relatively small passages, but this may be formed by providing a plurality of relatively large passages at several places. The shape of can also be appropriately selected from polygonal shapes, long holes, slit shapes, and the like.

The case where the conductive member 13 is interposed between the cassette case 2 and the carriage 10 has been described above. However, in the present invention, the carriage 10 itself is made of a conductive material, and the portion of the cassette case 2 that is in contact with the carriage (shown in the figure). In the example, the configuration may be such that a plurality of discharge openings 14 are formed on the bottom surface of the cassette case).

In this case, the carriage 10 can be formed of a conductive plastic (for example, a conductive plastic mixed with carbon, which is manufactured under the trade name "Torayca") or a die-cast product or a pressed product of a metal such as aluminum. .

Such a modified embodiment, i.e. the illustrated conductive member 13
Even if the carriage 10 itself is made of a conductive member instead of using, the static electricity in the cassette can be effectively released as in the case described above, and therefore, the same action and effect can be obtained. .

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the ink ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage that moves in the predetermined direction intersecting the recording medium conveyance direction, and the ink of the ink ribbon accommodated in the ink ribbon cassette is recorded on the recording medium. In the recording apparatus for transferring and recording, the ink ribbon cassette is a non-conductive ink ribbon cassette having a mounting surface on which a plurality of through holes are arranged, and the ink ribbon cassette is mounted when the ink ribbon cassette is mounted on the carriage. The mounting surface of the ink ribbon cassette is mounted in contact with the conductive member, and the electric charge charged inside the ink ribbon cassette is discharged to the conductive member through the atmosphere from the plurality of openings, so that the structure is simple and inexpensive. To discharge static electricity charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to a conductive member outside the cassette. It can, moreover, utilized to the discharge more efficiently can perform recording apparatus movement of the carriage for mounting the ink ribbon cassette is provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part configuration of an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of a cassette case in FIG. 1 ... Ink ribbon cassette, 2 ... Cassette case, 3 ... Cassette lid, 10 ... Carriage, 13 ... Conductive member, 14 ... Passage.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for performing recording by mounting an ink ribbon cassette on a carriage that moves in a predetermined direction intersecting with a conveyance direction of a recording medium, and transferring the ink of an ink ribbon contained in the ink ribbon cassette to the recording medium. The ink ribbon cassette is a non-conductive ink ribbon cassette having a mounting surface on which a plurality of openings are arranged, and when mounting the ink ribbon cassette on the carriage, the mounting surface of the ink ribbon cassette contacts a conductive member. A recording apparatus, which is mounted as described above, and discharges electric charges charged inside the ink ribbon cassette to the conductive member from the plurality of openings through the atmosphere.