Typewriting machines – Including interposed inking device for record-medium – For typing plural copies simultaneously with ribbon
Utility Patent
1999-06-22
2001-01-02
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Including interposed inking device for record-medium
For typing plural copies simultaneously with ribbon
C400S206200, C400S206300
Utility Patent
active
06168328
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer provided with a mechanism for performing a ribbon cassette transfer operation between a carriage and a cassette holder plate. A ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon of a desired color is loaded onto the carriage automatically, thereby permitting image recording to be effected using the ink ribbon of the desired color.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, thermal transfer recording devices such as thermal transfer printers are popular as output devices such as computers and word processors by reason of high recording quality, low noise, low cost and easy maintenance.
According to the construction of such conventional thermal transfer recording devices, a carriage is disposed so that it can reciprocate along a platen, a thermal head is mounted on the carriage, and a ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon of a desired color is loaded onto the carriage removably. The thermal head is driven in accordance with image information while taking up the ink ribbon in the ribbon cassette, whereby a desired image recording is performed on a recording paper which is fed between the platen and the thermal head.
Recently, in such a thermal transfer recording device, a full-color image recording has been conducted using ribbon cassettes containing ribbon cassettes of, that is, four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black.
In this case, according to the prior art, when recording of a certain color is to be performed, the user is required to make a change to a ribbon cassette of that color. But the cassette changing work is very troublesome and may cause an error in the selection of color. Thus, it has so far been impossible to effect a full-color image recording in a rapid, easy and reliable manner.
In an effort to eliminate such an inconvenience there has recently been developed a thermal transfer printer wherein four-color ribbon cassettes of yellow, magenta, cyan and black are held side by side on a frame of the printer and are loaded onto a carriage selectively in accordance with recording information, thereby permitting a change from one ribbon cassette to another. According to this printer, a full-color image recording can be done rapidly and that reliably.
In the above thermal transfer printer, a certain number of ribbon cassettes can be changed from to another automatically. However, recently a wide variety of inks have come to be used such as, for example, metallic inks, lustrous inks or overprint inks. In the conventional printer a limit is encountered in the number of ribbon cassettes capable of being held side by side. Thus, it has become impossible to fully cope with the use of such a wide variety of inks, giving rise to the problem that ribbon cassettes containing ink ribbons of various colors cannot be changed from one to another automatically.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above-mentioned points and it is an object of the invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein a larger number of ribbon cassettes than in the conventional thermal transfer printer can be held properly and a ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon of a required color can be selected from among those ribbon cassettes and be loaded onto a carriage automatically.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer comprising: a carriage with a thermal head mounted thereon and which can reciprocate along a platen; a ribbon take-up mechanism for taking up an ink ribbon of a ribbon cassette loaded onto the carriage; a holding cover disposed at a position opposed to the carriage; a plurality of cassette holder plates for holding ribbon cassettes respectively, the cassette holder plates being arranged side by side on the holding cover on the side opposed to the ribbon cassette holding side of the carriage; and a carrier disposed on the carriage for the transfer and replacement of the ribbon cassettes between the cassette holder plates and the carriage. A ribbon cassette containing an ink ribbon of a desired color is selected and loaded onto the carriage, the thermal head is driven in accordance with image information to effect a desired recording on a recording paper fed between the platen and the thermal head. The cassette holder plates can hold the ribbon cassettes stacked in two stages, and the total number of ribbon cassettes held on all the cassette holder plates is smaller by at least one than the total number of ribbon cassettes capable of being held by the cassette holder plates. When the lower-stage ribbon cassette out of the ribbon cassettes held in two stages on each cassette holder plate is to be taken out, the upper-stage ribbon cassette can be retracted on a vacant stage of another cassette holder plate and thus the ribbon cassettes held on the cassette holder plates can be loaded selectively onto the carriage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein the cassette holder plates are movable vertically, and an urging means is provided for urging the cassette holder plates so as to be positioned on the carriage side at all times, whereby even when only one ribbon cassette is held on a cassette holder plate, the ribbon cassette can be transferred easily onto the carriage because it is positioned on the carriage side.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein on both sides of each cassette holder plate are disposed respectively a fixed holding arm for holding the ribbon cassettes on the cassette holder plate and a movable holding arm for pressing the ribbon cassettes to the fixed holding arm side, holding guides are erected on the holding cover so as to extend through the cassette holder plates at positions corresponding to ribbon cores of the ribbon cassettes, a holding arm for holding the peripheral edge portion of one ribbon core of each ribbon cassette is formed integrally with one holding guide for each cassette holder plate, and a rib for engagement with the other ribbon core of the ribbon cassette is formed on the other holding guide. Whereby the rotation of the ribbon cores of the ribbon cassette held on each cassette holder plate can be prevented and hence it is possible to prevent the occurrence of slack, etc. of the ink ribbon.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein the tip of the fixed holding arm and that of the holding arm of one holding guide are respectively formed with pawls for holding the ribbon cassette, the pawls projecting in the same direction, and the rib of the other holding guide is also projected in the same direction. With a force exerted in one direction, not only the ribbon cassette can be held firmly, but also the rotation of the ribbon cores can be prevented.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein the projecting direction of the tip of the fixed holding arm and that of the holding arm of one holding guide and the projecting direction of the rib of the other holding guide are made opposite to the pressing direction of the movable holding arm for the ribbon cassette. With a unidirectional pressing force of the movable holding arm, not only the ribbon cassette can be held firmly but also the rotation of the ribbon cores can be prevented.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer printer wherein the rib of the other holding guide is engaged with the take-up core of the ribbon cassette. While the ribbon cassette is held on the cassette holder plate, it is possible to prevent rotation of the take-up side ribbon core and prevent the occurrence of slack, etc. of the ink ribbon. Further, it is possible to surely prevent the occurrence of a recording error or the like which is attributable to dislocation to a recorded area of an already ink-transferred (recorded) ink ribbon portion.
It is a still
Abe Yoshibumi
Ueda Kazuo
Yorozu Hideki
Alps Electric Co. ,Ltd.
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Colilla Daniel J.
Hilten John S.
LandOfFree
Thermal transfer printer with a plurality of cassette holder... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Thermal transfer printer with a plurality of cassette holder..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Thermal transfer printer with a plurality of cassette holder... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2479481