JPH0762926B2 - Roller tape unit - Google Patents

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to roller tape units.

"Prior Art" A conventional item variable keyboard and a so-called book-type item variable keyboard in the related art that pulls out a desired sheet out of a plurality of sheets (tapes) in which a large number of items are written to change the item (page change) In order to eliminate the disadvantages (large size, weight, high cost, wrong selection of sheets, small maximum number of items, etc.), the present inventor has previously developed a series of special flat tape drive devices (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-242242). 59-27335 Gazette, Japanese Patent Application No. 59
-27842, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-27844, etc.).
Among them, according to a tape drive device (see Japanese Patent Application No. 59-27844) in which both sides of the tape can be used at the same time, one side of the tape is placed inside and the other side Of the tape, with the opposite side of the tape inside and the tape from the other end of the tape to the other roller, and the pair of rollers are simultaneously rotated in the opposite direction to move the tape left and right by a desired amount. . A plurality of pairs of these roller / tape assemblies are juxtaposed in parallel to each other and applied to a multi-function keyboard (item variable keyboard) or the like. An example of such a roller / tape assembly is a roller / tape unit (Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-69107).
However, in this type of unit, a tension bar is used in order to eliminate the slack of the tape that reciprocates rapidly. The tension bar fulfills its function by constantly moving in relation to the spring force and the tape tension, but if the tension bar does not move parallel to the tape (when the left and right spring forces are different, etc.), it will meander on the tape wound around the roller. The accuracy of the device is significantly lowered due to the occurrence of wrinkles and wrinkles on the tape. In addition, because the amount of movement of the tension bar is limited, the amount of tape slack absorbed by the tension bar is limited, the amount of tape wound around the roller is also limited, and the effective use length of the tape is limited. The number is also limited.

[Object of the Invention] An object of the present invention is to provide a novel roller / tape unit having no tension bar, which can eliminate the above-mentioned problems of the roller / tape unit using the tension bar.

According to the present invention, the roller / tape unit includes at least a pair of rollers that rotate in opposite directions to each other, a third roller corresponding to each pair, and a pair of rollers with one surface facing inward from one end. A tape that is wound around one side (a winding roller), passes around the other side (guide roller) of the pair of rollers with the other surface of the tape inside, and is wound around the third roller from the other end of the tape, The third roller is constantly biased in the pulling direction of the tape.

"Embodiment" When one embodiment of the present invention is described with reference to the drawings, the roller tape unit (Figs. 1 and 2) of the present invention has a circular or regular polygonal (illustrated regular pentagonal) cross section. A pair of same type rollers (first roller or wrapping roller 1 and second roller or guide roller 2) juxtaposed parallel to each other and a circular or suitable cross section extending parallel to and adjacent to these rollers It comprises a third roller 3 (in the illustrated example, a circular cross section), a tape 4, a means D for rotationally driving the roller 1-3, and a unit frame 5 for rotatably supporting the roller 1-3. As shown in FIG. 3, the tape 4 is wound from one end on the winding roller 1 with one surface F thereof facing inward, and the opposite surface f thereof.
Passes inside the guide roller 2, reaches the third roller 3, and is wound around the third roller 3 from the other end of the tape. The roller 1-3 has its end shaft 1a-
3a, 1b-3b are rotatably supported by both side plates 6 of the unit frame 5, and end gear shafts 1a, 2a of the rollers 1, 2 have gears 7, 8 of the same diameter meshed with each other fixed to each other. is there. A gear 9 is also mounted on the end shaft 3a of the third roller, and this gear 9 meshes with the gear 7 of the winding roller (fourth gear).
Figure). These gears 7-9 form roller driving means D. As shown in FIG. 3A, when the tape 4 is wound around the third roller 3 with the one surface F of the tape inside, the gear 9
Engages with the gear 8 instead of the gear 7 (not shown).

The roller / tape unit of the present invention is provided with means B for rotationally biasing the third roller 3 in the tape pulling direction. According to one example, this means B, as shown in FIG. 5, inserts the end shafts 3a, 3b into a sleeve 11 fixed in both ends of a hollowed third roller 3 so that these end shafts The end of the spiral spring 12 is fixed to the inner end, and the end shafts are interconnected via this spiral spring.
3b is fixed to the sleeve 11 (by screws 13 or the like), while the end shaft 3a is rotatably held by the sleeve 11 and the gear 9 is fixed to this shaft. In this means B,
When assembling the unit, before meshing the roller gears 7 and 9 after winding the tape, the shaft 3a is rotated with respect to the fixed shaft 3b to pretwist the spiral spring 12 to store energy therein. After that, the gears 7 and 9 are meshed with each other. When assembled in this way, the third roller 3 itself can rotate relative to the gear 9 due to the spring force, so that the gear 7,
Despite the 9 interlocking, the third roller 3 (tape wrapped from the other end) is the first roller (tape wrapped from one end)
It can rotate independently (due to the spring force) with respect to the roller 1. Therefore, if the spring 12 in the third roller 3 is pre-twisted so that the third roller is rotationally biased in the direction in which the third roller winds the tape (the arrow direction in FIG. 3), The rollers operate to constantly pull the tape to eliminate slack in the tape. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, instead of the helix spring,
The roller rotation biasing means B may be formed by using a high-quality hollow rubber 14 and firmly fixing both ends of this rubber to the end shafts 3a and 3b with appropriate retainers 15. Furthermore, the 7th
As shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the gear 9 is rotatably mounted on the end shaft 3a of the third roller 3 and the fixing sleeve 11 and the gear 9 (where the third roller 3 and the end shaft 3a are fixed) are fixed. The biasing means B may be connected to each other by a spring 12 (FIG. 7A), and as shown in FIG. 7B, the through shaft 3c having the gear 9 fixed thereto is rotated on the sleeve 11 of the hollow third roller 3. The biasing means B may be formed by interconnecting a pin or bush 16 fixed to the shaft 3c and one of the sleeves 11 with a spring 12 so that the biasing means B can be interconnected. Although not shown in the figure, any elastic means (for example, a spring) can be used instead of the spiral spring or the hollow rubber. The point is that the third roller 3 and the gear 9 for rotationally driving the third roller 3 may be relatively rotatable via the elastic means 12.

In the above embodiment, the roller / tape unit is composed of a pair of rollers 1 and 2 and a third roller 3. However, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of pairs of rollers 1 and 2 are substantially in the same plane. A roller / tape unit may be formed by juxtaposing the rollers 1 and 2 and the third roller 3 associated therewith with one unit frame (the side plate 6 thereof is shown by a chain line).

In the above embodiment, the third roller 3 is the first and second rollers 1,
2, located below 2, but according to another embodiment, 9A,
As schematically shown in FIG. 9B, the arrangement of these rollers is such that the third roller 3'is substantially juxtaposed with the first and second rollers 1 ', 2'which are juxtaposed to each other, and the third roller 3' The gear 9'is brought into mesh with the gear 8'of the second roller (guide roller) 2'which meshes with the gear 7'of the first roller 1 '. Also in this case, the tape 4'is wound around the first roller (winding roller) 1'with its one surface F inside and passes around the guide roller 2'with the tape opposite surface f inside, It is wound around the third roller 3'from the other end of the tape with one surface F inside. This roller arrangement roller
The tape unit has the advantage that it is shorter than the roller tape unit according to the above embodiment.

The operation of the roller / tape unit of the present invention will be briefly described with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 1-4 and 5. The pair of the first roller and the second roller has one side surface S substantially 1
It is set so as to be located in one plane P (FIG. 3), and the roller rotation biasing means B causes the third roller 3 to move in the direction of the arrow in FIG. )
It is preset so that the rotation is always biased to. Here, if the gear 7 is rotated in the direction of the arrow (FIG. 4) by an appropriate control drive means (eg, gear drive by a step motor), the tape 4 is unwound from the third roller 3 to the first roller 1. It is wound up. During this time, the tape is not loosened because the tape is pulled by the rotation biasing means B. When the gear 7 is rotated in the opposite direction, the tape 4 is unwound from the first roller and taken up by the third roller. In this case as well, the tape is not loosened due to the presence of the rotation biasing means B. Absent. When the gear 7 is rotated by 1/5 rotations by the control driving means, the tape is moved by the width L of the roller side surface S with the rotation of the rollers 1 and 2, and the gear 7 is rotated by 1/5 × N at a stroke. The tape also moves LxN at a stretch. In both cases, there is no slack in the tape. Instead of the gear 7, gears 8 and 9 may be driven.

It is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the first and second rollers may have a circular cross section.

[Advantages of the Invention] With the configuration described above, the roller / tape unit of the present invention does not have a tension bar, so that it is possible to handle long tapes (sheets) with less meandering or wrinkling of the tapes. In this case, the accuracy of the device is improved, the number of items that can be handled is significantly increased, and the device is lightweight and inexpensive.

"Application of the Invention" The roller tape unit of the present invention can be applied to various applications as well as the item variable keyboard. For example, the present invention is a one-touch dial type telephone, register, ticket vending machine, hospital chart management, sales and credit customer list, catalog sales, address book, inventory management, map, telephone exchange, real estate information service, town guide service, Travel guide, home delivery service, securities transaction service, image file,
It can be used as an input device for captains and INS.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic plan view of a roller / tape unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic elevation view of the roller tape unit shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, showing how to wind the tape. FIG. 3A is a sectional view showing a modification of FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 1, showing the roller driving means. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of the rotation biasing means. Figures 6, 7A and 7B
The figure is a sectional view showing different embodiments of the rotation biasing means. FIG. 8 is a schematic side view showing another embodiment of the roller tape unit of the present invention. FIG. 9A is a schematic side view showing another example of the roller arrangement of the roller / tape unit of the present invention. First
FIG. 9B is a diagram showing the roller driving means for FIG. 9A. 1: winding roller, 2: guide roller 3: third roller, 4: tape 5: unit frame, 7-9: gear 11: sleeve, 12, 14: elastic means B: rotation biasing means, D: roller driving means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A pair of rollers 1, 2 having a circular or regular polygonal cross section and arranged in parallel adjacent to each other (one of each pair is called a winding roller 1 and the other is called a guide roller 2), and these Third roller 3 adjacent to rollers 1 and 2 and extending in parallel
A tape 4 wound around each pair of winding rollers 1 from one end with one surface inside and passing the other surface inside around each pair of guide rollers 2 and from the other end wound with a third roller 3. A unit frame 5 that rotatably supports the winding roller 1, the guide roller 2, and the third roller 3, and a roller driving means D that rotationally drives the winding roller 1, the guide roller 2 and the third roller 3, In order to constantly bias the third roller 3 in the direction in which the third roller winds the tape 4, rotational biasing means B comprising elastic means 12 for elastically connecting the roller driving means D and the third roller is provided. A roller tape unit that is characterized by 2. The roller tape unit according to claim 1, wherein the elastic means is a spiral spring. 3. The roller / tape unit according to claim 1, wherein the elastic means is a hollow rubber. 4. The roller / tape unit according to claim 1, wherein the roller driving means is mounted on the end shafts of the winding roller and the guide roller, and first and second gears meshed with each other. , A third gear mounted on an end shaft of the third roller and meshed with the first gear or the second gear, the roller tape unit. 5. The roller tape unit according to claim 4, wherein the rotation biasing means comprises elastic means having one end connected to a third roller and the other end connected to a third gear. Tape unit.