阅读说明：本技术 色带盒及带有该色带盒的热转印打印机 (Ribbon cartridge and thermal transfer printer with same ) 是由 田德萍 于 2021-10-23 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种占用空间小、走带平稳舒展且以快速拆装结构安装在打印机内的色带盒及带有该色带盒的热转印打印机。包括盒体、安装在盒体内用于供给色带的放带筒和用于回收色带的收带筒,所述盒体的顶面中央区域开设一个顶窗孔,在与该顶窗孔相对的盒体底面上开设一个底窗孔,所述放带筒和收带筒分别安装在盒体内的前侧和后侧,将该色带盒安装在热转印打印机中时,打印机的打印头可下穿所述顶窗孔将连接在放带筒与收带筒之间的色带通过所述底窗孔抵压在位于该底窗孔之下的打印介质上。该色带盒通过限位结构安装在打印机的卡片传输通道内设置的位置上,可以便捷的更换打印过程所消耗的色带,同时,大大压缩了色带盒的体积。(A ribbon cartridge which occupies a small space, is stable and flexible in tape running and is installed in a printer through a quick assembly and disassembly structure and a thermal transfer printer with the ribbon cartridge are provided. Including the box body, install in the box body and be used for supplying the ribbon to put a tape section of thick bamboo and be used for retrieving the receipts ribbon section of thick bamboo of ribbon, a top aperture is seted up to the top surface central zone of box body, sets up a bottom aperture on the box body bottom surface relative with this top aperture, put a front side and the rear side that a tape section of thick bamboo and a receipts ribbon section of thick bamboo were installed respectively in the box body, when installing this ribbon box in the thermal transfer printer, the printer head of printer can wear down the top aperture will be connected and put the ribbon between a tape section of thick bamboo and a receipts ribbon section of thick bamboo and pass through bottom aperture supports to press on the print medium that is located under this bottom aperture. This ribbon cartridge passes through limit structure and installs on the position that sets up in the card transfer passage of printer, and the ribbon that the process consumed is printed in change that can be convenient, simultaneously, has compressed the volume of ribbon cartridge greatly.)

1. An ink ribbon cassette (100) includes a cassette body (101), a ribbon supply spool (104) installed in the cassette body (101) for supplying an ink ribbon (110), and a ribbon take-up spool (105) for recovering the ink ribbon (110), it is characterized in that the central area of the top surface of the box body (101) is provided with a top window hole (106), a bottom window hole (107) is arranged on the bottom surface of the box body (101) opposite to the top window hole (106), the tape releasing cylinder (104) and the tape collecting cylinder (105) are respectively arranged at the front side and the rear side in the box body (101), when the ribbon cartridge (100) is arranged in the thermal transfer printer (200), the print head of the printer (200) can be lowered through the top window (106) to press the ink ribbon (110) connected between the ribbon pay-off spool (104) and the ribbon take-up spool (105) through the bottom window (107) against the print medium located below the bottom window (107).

2. The ribbon cartridge (100) of claim 1, wherein a position limiting structure is provided on the left side wall (111) and/or the right side wall (112) of the cartridge body (101) for positioning the ribbon cartridge (100) in a horizontally disposed manner at a position within a card transport path of the printer (200), the position limiting structure comprising a horizontal position limiting structure and a vertical position limiting structure for limiting the movement of the cartridge body (101) in the printer (200) in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, respectively.

3. The ribbon cartridge (100) of claim 2, wherein the horizontal stop feature is a recess (113) provided in the left side wall (111) and/or the right side wall (112) that is recessed into the housing (101); perpendicular limit structure is for setting up the elastic trip that has on the tank bottom wall of recess groove (113), and the trip divide into colluding portion (114) and stalk portion (115), and stalk portion (115) are rectangular slice, and its upper end and tank bottom wall body coupling, stalk portion (115) both sides cut apart with the tank bottom wall, and the lower extreme of stalk portion (115) is colluded portion (114), and the eave tile of colluding portion (114) is up.

4. The ribbon cartridge (100) according to claim 3, wherein a driven gear (108) is provided on a side of the take-up drum (105), and a notch (109) is provided on a bottom surface of the case body (101) opposite to the driven gear (108), and the driven gear (108) is engaged with a driving gear (201) provided in the printer (200) through the notch (109).

5. The ribbon cartridge 100 according to claim 4, wherein a ribbon return slip spring (119) for preventing the breakage of the moving ribbon (110) due to the excessive tension is provided on one side of the ribbon take-up drum (105), a ribbon supply slip spring (130) for preventing the breakage of the moving ribbon (110) due to the excessive tension is provided on one side of the ribbon take-up drum (104), and a ribbon supply return spring (128) for returning the slack ribbon (110) to the flat state after the release of the pressure applied to the ribbon (110) is provided on the ribbon take-up drum (104).

6. The ribbon cartridge (100) according to claim 5, wherein the ribbon retracting cylinder (105) comprises a ribbon retracting cylinder (116) of an integral structure, a left reel (117) and a right reel (118) which are arranged at two ends of the ribbon retracting cylinder (116), one side of the left reel (117) is connected to a column shaft arranged at one side of the left side wall (111) of the cartridge body (101) through the driven gear (108), a ribbon retracting shaft cylinder (122) which extends rightwards and is in a hollow cylindrical shape is arranged on the outer side surface of the right reel (118), the ribbon retracting shaft cylinder (122) is inserted into a shaft hole arranged at one side of the right side wall (112) of the cartridge body (101), and the ribbon retracting slip spring (119) is arranged between the driven gear (108) and the left reel (117); put and take a section of thick bamboo (104) by the confession of an organic whole structure take section of thick bamboo portion (125), set up and supply a set (126) and right side to supply to coil (127) to constitute supplying of barrel portion (125) both ends left side, supply a set (126) one side to connect through adapter disc (129) and set up in the column shaft of box body (101) left side wall (111) opposite side on the column shaft, supply on the right side of dish (127) to be equipped with and extend right and be hollow cylindrical confession and take a section of thick bamboo (133), this right side supplies dish (127) to pass through supply to take a section of thick bamboo (133) to cup joint on setting up in the column shaft of box body (101) right side wall (112) opposite side, supply to take skidding spring (130) to set up between adapter disc (129) and the column shaft that corresponds, it sets up to supply to take gyration spring (128) between adapter disc (129) and the left side supplies to coil (126).

7. The ribbon cartridge (100) of claim 5, wherein the outer peripheral wall of the rewind reel (122) is spaced apart by a plurality of linear ribs (123); the periphery of the left supply disc (126) is provided with an annular disc cylinder extending leftwards, the outer side surface of the left supply disc (126) is provided with a plurality of radial ribs (131), and the adapter disc (129) is embedded into the annular disc cylinder.

8. The ribbon cassette (100) of claim 7, wherein a rotation stop spring (124) is sleeved on the linear rib (123) to prevent the take-up spool (105) from freely rotating, the rotation stop spring (124) being interposed in compression between the right side wall (112) and the spool (118).

9. A thermal transfer printer 200 comprising a housing (202), a cover (203), a printhead assembly (204) disposed on an inner face of the cover (203), and a card transport path disposed between a left side plate (205) and a right side plate (206) of the housing (202), characterized in that a card position for mounting the ribbon cassette (100) of any of claims 1-8 is provided on the left side plate (205) and/or the right side plate (206) at a rear side of the card transport path directly below the printhead assembly (204), the card position defining the ribbon cassette (100) within the card transport path at a position set between the printhead assembly (204) and a print medium.

10. The thermal transfer printer 200 of claim 9, wherein the locking position is a convex cavity (207) extending from the corresponding side plate toward the centerline of the card transport path, the convex cavity (207) is adapted to engage with a limit structure on the sidewall of the ribbon cartridge (100) and restrain the ribbon cartridge (100) from displacement in the card transport direction, and a locking assembly for locking the ribbon cartridge (100) in the card transport path and an unlocking assembly for releasing the ribbon cartridge (100) from the card transport path are disposed in the convex cavity (207).

11. The thermal transfer printer 200 of claim 10, wherein: the locking assembly comprises an ejecting support block (217), an ejecting spring (218) and a hook part (114) arranged in a limiting structure on the ribbon cartridge (100), the ribbon cartridge (100) is pressed on a support block plate (219) of the ejecting support block (217) to move downwards, and the hook part (114) is hung on the unlocking hole (209); the unlocking assembly comprises a button (212), a button spring (213), an ejecting support block (217) and an ejecting spring (218), inclined salient points (214) are arranged on the button (212), the button spring (213) is arranged between the button (212) and a partition plate (208), the lower end of the button spring (213) is inserted into a spring hole in the partition plate (208), the upper end of the button spring is arranged in the spring hole in the bottom surface of the button (212), a support block plate (219) is arranged on the inner side of the ejecting support block (217), the inner side edge of the support block plate (219) extends out of a card transmission channel through an upper lock hole (210), the upper end of the ejecting spring (218) is inserted into the spring hole in the bottom surface of the ejecting support block (217), and the lower end of the ejecting support block is arranged in the spring hole in the bottom surface of a lower cavity.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, and more particularly, to an ink ribbon cassette mounted in the thermal transfer printer and a thermal transfer printer using the ink ribbon cassette.

Background

As shown in fig. 11 to 14, a ribbon cassette applied to a thermal transfer printer in the prior art is generally inserted into the printer horizontally from the side of the printer, in which a ribbon supply spool 104 for supplying a brand-new ribbon 110 and a ribbon take-up spool 105 for recovering a used ribbon 110 are provided at upper and lower positions of one side of the cassette, respectively, and the other side of the ribbon cassette is shaped like a bridge with a bridge passage, wherein the ribbon feed path of the ribbon 110 connected between the ribbon supply spool 104 and the ribbon take-up spool 105 is: the ribbon 110 on the ribbon-placing drum 104 is translated from one side in the box along the top of the bridge opening to the other side in the box, turned 90 degrees, turned downward by the bridge pier to the bottom of the bridge pier and turned 90 degrees, and then passes through the opening at the bottom of the bridge opening to return to the ribbon-receiving drum 105 at one side in the box.

The tape discharging shaft 221 and the tape collecting shaft 222 driving the tape discharging drum 104 and the tape collecting drum 105 to rotate are fixedly arranged on the inner side plate of the printing channel in the printer, when the ribbon cassette is installed, the drum holes of the tape discharging drum 104 and the tape collecting drum 105 on the back side of the ribbon cassette are aligned with the tape discharging shaft 221 and the tape collecting shaft 222, and the ribbon cassette is pressed inwards to enable the tape discharging shaft 221 and the tape collecting shaft 222 to be respectively inserted into the tape discharging drum 104 and the tape collecting drum 105, namely, the ribbon cassette is installed in the printer, and meanwhile, the printing head assembly 204 arranged on the inner side plate of the printer is also inserted into the bridge hole of the ribbon cassette and is arranged on the ink ribbon 110.

The above structure has the following disadvantages:

1) the whole ribbon cassette is inserted on the ribbon placing shaft 221 and the ribbon collecting shaft 222 in a hanging manner, and during printing, the stability of the whole ribbon cassette is poor, so that the ribbon 110 is easy to deflect or wrinkle when running, as a result, the normal conveying of the ribbon 110 is affected, the ribbon clamping phenomenon is caused, and the working area of the ribbon 110 is uneven, so that the ribbon 110 is discarded too early.

2) Since the whole ribbon cartridge is installed in a way that the ribbon releasing cylinder 104 and the ribbon collecting cylinder 105 are respectively inserted into the ribbon releasing shaft 221 and the ribbon collecting shaft 222, a larger gap exists between the cylinder holes of the ribbon releasing cylinder 104 and the ribbon collecting cylinder 105 and the corresponding ribbon releasing shaft 221 or the corresponding ribbon collecting shaft 222, and thus, the ribbon 110 is prone to be uneven and wrinkles are often generated during the tape running, and the printing effect is influenced.

3) The ribbon cassette has a complicated design structure and occupies a large space in the vertical direction (the ribbon supply spool 104 and the ribbon take-up spool 105 are disposed vertically and the ribbon 110 is wound thereon, and therefore, the spacing distance therebetween is not likely to be excessively small), resulting in a large height of the entire printer.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a ribbon cartridge which occupies small space, is stable and stretched in running and is installed in a printer by a quick assembly and disassembly structure and a thermal transfer printer with the ribbon cartridge.

In order to solve the technical problems, the invention adopts the technical scheme that:

a ribbon cartridge comprises a cartridge body, a ribbon-placing barrel and a ribbon-collecting barrel, wherein the ribbon-placing barrel and the ribbon-collecting barrel are arranged in the cartridge body and used for supplying ribbons, a top window hole is formed in the central area of the top surface of the cartridge body, a bottom window hole is formed in the bottom surface of the cartridge body opposite to the top window hole, the ribbon-placing barrel and the ribbon-collecting barrel are respectively arranged on the front side and the rear side in the cartridge body, and when the ribbon cartridge is arranged in a thermal transfer printer, a printing head of the printer can penetrate through the top window hole to press the ribbons connected between the ribbon-placing barrel and the ribbon-collecting barrel on a printing medium located below the bottom window hole through the bottom window hole.

And the left side wall and/or the right side wall of the box body are/is provided with a limiting structure which positions the ribbon box at a position in a card transmission channel of the printer in a horizontal arrangement mode, and the limiting structure comprises a horizontal limiting structure and a vertical limiting structure which restrict the box body to move in the printer in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction respectively.

The horizontal limiting structure is a concave position groove which is arranged on the left side wall and/or the right side wall and is concave towards the box body; perpendicular limit structure is for setting up the elastic trip that has on the tank bottom wall of recess groove, and the trip is divided into colludes portion and stalk portion, and the stalk portion is rectangular slice, and its upper end and tank bottom wall body coupling, stalk portion both sides are cut apart with the tank bottom wall, and the lower extreme of stalk portion is colluded the portion, and the eave tile of colluding the portion is up.

One side of the tape receiving barrel is provided with a driven gear, the bottom surface of the box body opposite to the driven gear is provided with a notch, and the driven gear is meshed with a driving gear arranged in the printer through the notch.

One side of the ribbon take-up cylinder is provided with a ribbon return slip spring which can prevent the moving ribbon from being broken due to too high tension, one side of the ribbon take-up cylinder is provided with a ribbon supply slip spring which can prevent the moving ribbon from being broken due to too high tension, and the ribbon take-up cylinder is also provided with a ribbon supply rotary spring which enables the loose ribbon to be returned to a flat state after the pressure applied to the ribbon is released.

The belt recovery barrel consists of a belt rewinding barrel part, a left return disc and a right return disc which are arranged at two ends of the belt rewinding barrel part, wherein the belt rewinding barrel part is of an integral structure; put a section of thick bamboo and take section of thick bamboo by the confession of an organic whole structure and take section of thick bamboo, set up and supply a set and right side to constitute supplying of section of thick bamboo both ends, supply a left side to set up one side through the switching dish to connect on the column shaft that sets up in box body left side wall opposite side, be equipped with on the right side supplies the outside face of dish and extend right and be hollow columniform and supply to take a section of thick bamboo, this right side supplies to set up and pass through supply to take a section of thick bamboo to cup joint on setting up in the column shaft of box body right side wall opposite side, it is in to supply to take the spring setting of skidding between switching dish and the column shaft that corresponds, it is in to supply to take the gyration spring setting to be in between switching dish and the left side supplies to set.

A plurality of linear ribs are arranged on the outer peripheral wall of the rewinding shaft barrel at intervals; the periphery of the left supply disc (126) is provided with an annular disc cylinder extending leftwards, the outer side surface of the left supply disc is provided with a plurality of radial ribs, and the adapter disc is embedded in the annular disc cylinder.

And a rotation stopping spring capable of preventing the belt collecting drum from freely rotating is sleeved on the linear rib, and the rotation stopping spring is arranged between the right side wall and the linear rib in a pressed mode.

The thermal transfer printer comprises a shell, a cover, a printing head assembly arranged on the inner surface of the cover and a card transmission channel arranged between a left side plate and a right side plate of the shell, wherein a clamping position for installing the ribbon cartridge is arranged on the left side plate and/or the right side plate which is positioned right below the printing head assembly at the rear side of the card transmission channel, and the ribbon cartridge is limited in the card transmission channel and positioned between the printing head assembly and a printing medium.

The card position is a convex cavity extending from the corresponding side plate to the central line direction of the card transmission channel, the convex cavity is in adaptive clamping connection with a limiting structure on the side wall of the ribbon cartridge and restricts the ribbon cartridge to generate displacement in the card transmission direction, and a locking assembly capable of locking the ribbon cartridge in the card transmission channel and an unlocking assembly capable of releasing the ribbon cartridge (100) from the card transmission channel are arranged in the convex cavity.

The locking assembly comprises a pop-up support block, a pop-up spring and a hook part arranged in a limiting structure on the ribbon cartridge, the ribbon cartridge is pressed on the support block plate of the pop-up support block to move downwards, and the hook part is hung on the unlocking hole; the unlocking assembly comprises a button, a button spring, a support block and a spring, wherein the spring is arranged on the button, an inclined bump is arranged on the button, the button spring is arranged between the button and a partition plate, the lower end of the button spring is inserted into a spring hole in the partition plate, the upper end of the button spring is arranged in the spring hole in the bottom surface of the button, a support block plate is arranged on the inner side of the support block plate, the inner side edge of the support block plate extends out of a card transmission channel through an upper locking hole, the upper end of the spring is inserted into the spring hole in the bottom surface of the support block, and the lower end of the spring is arranged in the spring hole in the bottom cavity plate.

Compared with the prior art, the ribbon of the ribbon cartridge is linearly transferred from the ribbon releasing drum to the ribbon collecting drum, and the transfer distance is shorter, so that the overall dimension of the ribbon cartridge can be effectively reduced, the volume of the whole printer can be effectively reduced, and the production cost can be reduced; the ribbon cartridge is arranged in the thermal transfer printer through a limiting structure, and the ribbon cartridge assembled in the printer can be stabilized at a set position; the printer provided with the ribbon cartridge can also conveniently replace the ribbon consumed in the printing process, and meanwhile, the volume of the ribbon cartridge is greatly reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic external view of the ribbon cassette of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an exploded view of fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of fig. 2 rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of fig. 1 turned 180 degrees in each of the horizontal and vertical planes.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view of the inside (with the cover opened) of the thermal transfer printer without the ribbon cassette mounted.

Fig. 6 is a schematic view of the cassette of the present invention being loaded into the printer of fig. 5.

FIG. 7 is a top view of the printer of FIG. 6 with the cover closed.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 7

Fig. 9 is a schematic view of the printer of fig. 6 with the printer housing and cover removed.

Fig. 10 is an exploded view of fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a schematic external view of a prior art ribbon cassette.

Fig. 12 is a sectional view taken along line a-a in fig. 11.

Fig. 13 is a side view of the inside (with the cover opened) of a thermal transfer printer in which the prior art ribbon cassette is installed.

Fig. 14 is a schematic view of the ribbon cassette of fig. 11 mounted in fig. 13.

The reference numbers are as follows:

the ribbon cartridge 100, the cartridge body 101, the left housing 102, the right housing 103, the tape discharging barrel 104, the tape collecting barrel 105, the top window hole 106, the bottom window hole 107, the driven gear 108, the notch 109, the ribbon 110, the left side wall 111, the right side wall 112, the concave groove 113, the hook 114, the handle 115, the tape returning barrel 116, the left return disk 117, the right return disk 118, the tape return slip spring 119, the tape return barrel cover 120, the gear sleeve 121, the tape return shaft barrel 122, the linear , the rotation stopping spring 124, the tape supply barrel 125, the left supply disk 126, the right supply disk 127, the tape supply return spring 128, the adapter disk 129, the tape supply slip spring 130, the radial tape 131, the tape supply barrel cover 132, the tape supply shaft barrel 133, the printer 200, the driving gear 201, the chassis 202, the cover 203, the printer head assembly 204, the left side plate 205, the right side plate 206, the convex cavity 207, the partition 208, the unlocking hole 209, the locking hole 210, the slot hole 211, the button 212, the button 213, the inclined button 214, the button spring 213, the inclined groove 214, the top window hole 106, the handle 115, the bottom window hole 107, the bottom window hole, the left side wall 120, the right side wall, the left side wall, the right side wall 120, the right side wall, the left side wall 120, the rear wall, the right side wall, the rear wall 112, the rear wall 120, the rear wall, An upper locking guide post 215, a support block guide post 216, an ejecting support block 217, an ejecting spring 218, a support block plate 219, an ink ribbon guide post 220, a ribbon unwinding shaft 221 and a ribbon winding shaft 222.

Detailed Description

Ink ribbon cartridge 100

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, the ink ribbon cassette includes a cassette body 101, a ribbon supply reel 104 installed in the cassette body 101 for supplying an ink ribbon 110 (the ink ribbon 110 is a new tape on which contents have not been printed at this time), and a ribbon take-up reel 105 for recovering the ink ribbon 110 (the ink ribbon 110 is an old tape on which contents have been printed at this time).

1. Box 101

The box 101 may be an integrally formed structure, or may be formed by combining a left shell 102 and a right shell 103. The outer contour of the case 101 is a rectangular body with two semicircular end portions (specifically, the outer contour of the case is a rectangle which is cut along a vertical plane in the longitudinal direction and has a projection shape formed by two semicircular short sides and two straight long sides, and the outer contour of the case is a rectangle which is cut along a horizontal vertical plane in the longitudinal direction, and the longitudinal direction means that when the ribbon cartridge 100 is loaded into a card transport path of the printer 200, the card transport direction is the longitudinal direction, and the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is the transverse direction, which is the same below).

The box body 101 is preferably made of plastic material with good toughness, a top window hole 106 is arranged in the central area of the top surface of the box body 101, and a bottom window hole 107 is arranged on the bottom surface of the box body 101 opposite to the top window hole 106; a tape releasing reel 104 and a tape collecting reel 105 are respectively installed on the front side and the rear side (with reference to the paper surface direction in fig. 1, the right side is the rear, the left side is the front, and the lower side is the same) in the box body 101; a driven gear 108 is provided on one side of the take-up drum 105, a notch 109 is provided on the bottom surface of the case 101 facing the driven gear 108, the driven gear 108 is engaged with a driving gear 201 provided in the printer 200 through the notch 109, and the driving gear 201 is connected to a driving motor mounted on the chassis of the printer 200 outside the card transport path.

The structure has the advantages that: the transfer of the ink ribbon 110 from the ribbon pay-off spool 104 to the ribbon take-up spool 105 is a straight line transfer, and the transfer distance is short, which effectively reduces the outer dimensions of the ink ribbon cartridge 100, and thus the overall size of the printer 200.

Since the ribbon cartridge 100 is mounted in the thermal transfer printer 200 (hereinafter also referred to as printer 200) corresponding thereto, in order to stabilize the ribbon cartridge 100 mounted in the printer 200 at a predetermined position (i.e., a position in the lateral, longitudinal, and height directions), a stopper structure is provided on the left side wall 111 and/or the right side wall 112 (the upper surface is left, the lower surface is right, and the same applies to the lower surface with reference to the paper surface direction of fig. 1) of the case 101. The present invention preferably provides the same position-limiting structures on the left side wall 111 and the right side wall 112, respectively, which position the ribbon cartridge 100 in a horizontally disposed manner at a set position in the card transport path of the printer 200, and the position-limiting structures include a horizontal position-limiting structure and a vertical position-limiting structure, which respectively restrict the movement of the cartridge body 101 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the printer 200.

Preferably, horizontal limit structure is for setting up on left side wall 111 and right side wall 112 to concave recessed groove 113 in box body 101, preferred perpendicular limit structure has elastic trip for setting up on the tank bottom of recessed groove 113, the trip is for colluding portion 114 and stalk portion 115, stalk portion 115 is rectangular slice, its upper end and tank bottom wall body coupling, other three sides of stalk portion 115 cut apart and form the gap of certain width with the tank bottom wall between with the tank bottom wall, the lower extreme of stalk portion 115 is colluding portion 114, the colluding head of colluding portion 114 is up, if press in the box body 101 stalk portion 115, then can make colluding portion 114 produce the elastic retraction displacement to box body 101 internal direction.

When the ribbon cartridge 100 is pressed into the card conveying passage from the upper part of the printer 200, the concave groove 113 is in fit engagement with a card receiving position provided in the printer 200, so that the ribbon cartridge 100 is constrained in the X direction (i.e., the transverse direction) and the Y direction (i.e., the longitudinal direction) set in the printer 200; the hook 114 is engaged with a locking structure provided in the printer 200 to limit the ink ribbon cartridge 100 to a predetermined height position.

As shown in fig. 8, when the ribbon cartridge 100 is installed in the thermal transfer printer 200, the print head of the printer 200 can press the ink ribbon 110 connected between the ribbon unwinding spool 104 and the ribbon winding spool 105 through the top window 106 against the card located below the bottom window 107 through the bottom window 107, thereby completing printing.

Compared with the prior art, the ribbon cartridge 100 has the advantages that the ribbon cartridge 100 can be conveniently installed at a set position in a card transmission channel of the printer 200 through a limiting structure, the ribbon 110 consumed in the printing process can be conveniently replaced, and meanwhile, the volume of the ribbon cartridge 100 is greatly reduced.

2. Tape take-up drum 105 and tape pay-off drum 104

1) The ribbon collection drum 105 is composed of a ribbon return drum 116, a left return disc 117 and a right return disc 118 which are arranged at two ends of the ribbon return drum 116, the ribbon return drum 116 is provided with an axial passage, the collected ribbon 110 is wound on the ribbon return drum 116, and the left return disc 117 and the right return disc 118 are used for preventing the collected ribbon 110 from deviating in the process of rewinding.

The belt-returning slip spring 119 and the driven gear 108 are respectively arranged on one side of the left disc 117 of the belt-collecting drum 105, a column shaft is fixedly arranged on the front side of the left side wall 111 of the box body 101, and the right end of the column shaft passes through the driven gear 108 and the belt-returning slip spring 119 and is inserted into the axial channel of the belt-returning drum 116, so that the driven gear 108 and the belt-collecting drum 105 can rotate on the column shaft.

The left side surface of the left return disc 117 is provided with a belt returning cylinder sleeve 120 which is coaxial with the axial channel, the right side surface of the driven gear 108 is provided with a gear shaft sleeve 121, the belt returning slipping spring 119 is sleeved on the gear shaft sleeve 121 of the driven gear 108, the right end head of the belt returning slipping spring 119 is inserted into a positioning hole formed in the belt returning cylinder sleeve 120, and the winding direction of the belt returning slipping spring 119 from left to right is the same as the belt retracting rotating direction of the driven gear 108.

During normal operation, the driven gear 108 drives the rewinding slip spring 119 to rotate, the rewinding slip spring 119 drives the rewinding cylinder 116 to rotate, when the recycled ribbon 110 enables the rewinding cylinder 116 to rotate and is subjected to the reverse traction force exceeding the set value, the rewinding slip spring 119 can be subjected to the reverse acting force, the diameter of the spring ring is slightly increased, the gear shaft sleeve 121 on the driven gear 108 idles in the spring ring of the rewinding slip spring 119, and the moving ribbon 110 can be effectively prevented from being broken due to the overlarge tension.

A tape rewinding shaft barrel 122 which is coaxial with the axial channel is arranged on the right side surface of the right tape rewinding disc 118 of the tape rewinding barrel 105, a plurality of linear strips 123 are arranged on the outer peripheral wall of the tape rewinding shaft barrel 122 at intervals, a shaft hole is fixedly arranged on the front side of the right side wall 112 of the box body 101, the right end of the tape rewinding shaft barrel 122 is inserted into the shaft hole, and the tape rewinding shaft barrel 122 can rotate in the shaft hole.

The linear strips 123 are arranged to play a limiting role, and when the tape rewinding shaft cylinder 122 is inserted into the shaft hole, the tape rewinding cylinder 105 rotates stably and does not shake axially.

2) The ribbon unwinding barrel 104 is composed of a ribbon supply barrel 125, a left supply tray 126 and a right supply tray 127, wherein the ribbon supply barrel 125 is integrally formed, the left supply tray 126 and the right supply tray 127 are arranged at two ends of the ribbon supply barrel 125, the ribbon supply barrel 125 is provided with an axial passage, the original ribbon 110 is wound on the ribbon supply barrel 125, and the left supply tray 126 and the right supply tray 127 are used for preventing the ribbon 110 from deviating in the unwinding process.

The belt supply rotary spring 128, the adapter plate 129 and the belt supply slip spring 130 are respectively arranged on one side of the left supply plate 126 of the belt releasing cylinder 104, a column shaft is arranged on the front side of the left side wall 111 of the box body 101, the right end of the column shaft penetrates through the belt supply slip spring 130, the adapter plate 129 and the belt supply rotary spring 128 in sequence and is inserted into the axial channel on the belt supply cylinder part 125, and the adapter plate 129 and the belt releasing cylinder 104 can rotate around the axis of the column shaft.

The left side of the adapter plate 129 is provided with a shaft sleeve which is coaxially arranged with the axial channel, the belt slipping spring 130 is sleeved on the shaft sleeve of the adapter plate 129, the left end head of the belt slipping spring 130 is inserted into a positioning hole formed in the left side wall 111 beside the shaft column, a spring ring at the right end of the belt slipping spring 130 is pressed on the left side surface of the adapter plate 129, and the winding direction of the belt slipping spring 130 from left to right is opposite to the rotating direction of the belt releasing cylinder 104.

The adapter plate 129 and the left supply plate 126 are provided with spring hanging holes for hanging two ends of the belt supply rotary spring 128 on the adapter plate 129 and the left supply plate 126 respectively, and the winding direction of the belt supply rotary spring 128 from left to right is the same as the rotation direction of the belt releasing cylinder 104 during releasing the belt.

A belt supply sleeve 132 extending outwards along the axial direction is arranged on the left side face of the left belt supply disc 126, an arc baffle plate extending outwards along the axial direction is arranged on the periphery of the left belt supply disc 126, a rotary disc sleeve extending outwards along the axial direction is arranged on the right side face of the adapter disc 129, a clamping arc plate protruding outwards along the radial direction is arranged on the periphery of the adapter disc 129, during installation, the adapter disc 129 and the left belt supply disc 126 are combined together in a mode that the rotary disc sleeve is sleeved on the outer wall of the belt supply sleeve 132, the rotary disc sleeve and the belt supply sleeve 132 can rotate relatively, at the moment, a belt supply rotary spring 128 is arranged between the adapter disc 129 and the left belt supply disc 126, when the initial section of the belt normally laying of the belt laying barrel 104 is rotated, the belt laying barrel 104 drives the belt supply rotary spring 128 to rotate for a large half of a circle firstly (during this period, the adapter disc 129 is in a static state under the action of generating resisting friction force between the belt supply rotary spring 130 and the belt laying barrel 104, and the belt supply rotary spring 128 stores torsion energy), when the arc blocking plate on the left supply disc 126 is meshed with the arc blocking plate on the adapter disc 129, the continuously rotating belt release drum 104 drives the adapter disc 129 to rotate synchronously.

The periphery of the left supply disc 126 is also provided with an annular disc cylinder extending leftwards, the outer side of the left supply disc 126 is provided with a plurality of radial bars 131, the adapter disc 129 is hidden in the annular disc cylinder, and the radial bars 131 can improve the strength of the left supply disc 126.

The outer side face of the right supply disc 127 of the belt placing cylinder 104 is provided with a supply shaft cylinder 133 which extends rightwards and is in a hollow cylindrical shape, the right supply disc 127 is sleeved on a column shaft arranged on the other side of the right side wall 112 of the box body 101 through the supply shaft cylinder 133, one side of the column shaft is fixed on the right side wall 112, and the other side of the column shaft is sleeved with the supply shaft cylinder 133.

When the tape placing cylinder 104 normally releases the tape to rotate, the tape supply slip spring 130 does not rotate along with the tape placing cylinder 104, the tape supply cylinder part 125 rotates to drive the adapter plate 129 to rotate, the tape supply slip spring 130 is subjected to reverse acting force, the diameter of a spring ring is slightly increased, and a shaft sleeve on the adapter plate 129 rotates in the tape supply slip spring 130.

When printing is completed, the take-up spool 105 stops rotating, the print head assembly 204 is lifted out of the hold-down of the ink ribbon 110, which was previously held down by the print head assembly 204 and extended out of the unwind spool 104, is in a relaxed state, and the unwind spool 104 is caused to rotate in reverse by the release of the previously stored torsional energy supplied to the ribbon return spring 128 to rewind the portion of the ink ribbon 110 onto the unwind spool 104, thereby returning the ink ribbon 110 to a flattened state.

Second, the thermal transfer printer 200 with the ribbon cartridge 100 of the present invention

As shown in fig. 5 to 10, including a chassis 202, a set cover 203, a printhead assembly 204 disposed on an inner face of the set cover 203, and a card conveyance path disposed between a left side plate 205 and a right side plate 206 of the chassis 202, a card seating position for mounting the ribbon cartridge 100 is provided on the left side plate 205 and the right side plate 206 located right below the printhead assembly 204 at a rear side of the card conveyance path, the card seating position defining the ribbon cartridge 100 in the card conveyance path at a position set between the printhead assembly 204 and a card.

The card mounting position is a convex cavity 207 extending from the corresponding side plate to the central line direction of the card transmission channel, and the convex cavity 207 is in fit clamping with a limiting structure on the side wall of the ribbon cartridge 100 and restricts the displacement of the ribbon cartridge 100 in the card transmission direction.

Two window holes are arranged on the wall of the convex cavity 207 facing the card transmission channel, the two window holes are arranged at intervals up and down, the upper window hole is called an unlocking hole 209, the lower window hole is called an upper locking hole 210, the shape of the unlocking hole 209 is a T shape for example, and the shape of the upper locking hole 210 is a long rectangle or an ellipse. Also disposed within the male cavity 207 are a locking assembly for locking the cassette 100 within the card transport path and an unlocking assembly for releasing the cassette 100 from the card transport path.

A partition plate 208 is arranged in the convex cavity 207 between the upper lock hole 210 and the unlocking hole 209, the partition plate 208 divides the convex cavity 207 into an upper cavity and a lower cavity, the upper cavity is a cavity corresponding to the unlocking hole 209, the lower cavity is a cavity corresponding to the upper lock hole 210, two through holes are arranged on the partition plate 208, and the bottom of the upper lock hole 210 is an M-shaped slot hole 211.

A button 212, a button spring 213, an ejecting support block 217 and an ejecting spring 218 are arranged in the upper cavity from top to bottom in the convex cavity 207, wherein the inner side wall and the outer side wall (the side facing the card transmission channel is inner, the other side is outer, the same is lower) of the button 212 are respectively provided with an inclined salient point 214 (the inclined salient point 214 on the outer side wall is used for avoiding the button 212 from losing balance in the inner direction and the outer direction under the action of the upward jacking force of the ejecting spring 218), the button spring 213 is arranged between the button 212 and the clapboard 208, the lower end of the button spring 213 is inserted into a spring hole arranged on the clapboard 208, and the upper end of the button spring 213 is arranged in a spring hole arranged on the bottom surface of the button 212; the inner side of the popup supporting block 217 is provided with a supporting block plate 219, the inner side edge of the supporting block plate 219 extends out of the card transmission channel through the upper locking hole 210, the upper end of a popup spring (218) is inserted into a spring hole on the bottom surface of the popup supporting block (217), the lower end of the popup spring is arranged in a spring hole arranged on the bottom plate of the lower cavity, and the popup spring 218 is arranged between the popup supporting block 217 and the bottom plate of the lower cavity.

1) Locking assembly

Including the described eject shoe 217, eject spring 218 and hook 114 disposed in a retaining structure on the ribbon cartridge 100.

The action process of pressing the ribbon cartridge 100 into the printer 200 from top to bottom and locking the ribbon cartridge with the position-limiting structure aligned with the card position in the printer 200 is as follows:

the bottom edge of the ribbon cartridge 100 is pressed against the holder plate 219 of the eject holder 217 and moves downward, when the hook 114 of the downward moving ribbon cartridge 100 goes over the unlocking hole 209, the hook 114 is hooked on the unlocking hole 209, and at the same time, under the elastic force of the eject spring 218, the holder plate 219 of the eject holder 217 receives an upward urging force, and after the urging force of pressing the ribbon cartridge 100 downward is released, the urging force can stabilize the ribbon cartridge 100 at a set position without free fall, thereby completing the mounting of the ribbon cartridge 100.

2) Unlocking assembly

Including a button 212, a button spring 213, an eject tray 217, and an eject spring 218.

The process of removing the ink ribbon cartridge 100 from the printer 200 is as follows:

when the button 212 is pressed downwards, the inclined salient point 214 on the inner side wall of the button presses the handle part 115 in the position limiting structure of the ribbon cartridge 100 towards the inner direction of the cartridge body 101, the handle part 115 drives the hook part 114 to retract towards the inner direction of the cartridge body 101 so as to be disengaged from the unlocking hole 209, at the moment, under the action of the elastic force of the ejecting spring 218, the ejecting support block 217 carries the ribbon cartridge 100 to move upwards, and therefore the detachment of the ribbon cartridge 100 is completed.

A further improvement of the invention: the rotation preventing spring 124 is sleeved on the tape rewinding shaft 122, the rotation preventing spring 124 sleeved on the tape rewinding shaft 122 is always in a compressed state, the rotation preventing spring 124 applies an axial leftward thrust to the tape rewinding drum 105, the thrust provides a friction force when the tape rewinding drum 105 rotates, the rotation preventing spring 124 rotates synchronously with the tape rewinding drum 105 under the normal rotation of the tape rewinding drum 105, and the axial pressure of the rotation preventing spring 124 on the tape rewinding drum 105 can prevent the tape rewinding drum 105 from freely rotating when the tape rewinding drum 105 is not rotating, so as to prevent the ink ribbon 110 on the tape rewinding drum 105 from loosening, which is particularly advantageous in the process of transferring the ink ribbon cartridge 100 or transporting the ink ribbon cartridge 100.

The invention further improves the following steps: in order to prevent the positions of the button spring 213 and the pop-up spring 218 from deviating easily, a locking guide post 215 extending downward is disposed on the bottom surface of the button 212, the upper end of the button spring 213 is sleeved on the locking guide post 215, and the lower end thereof is inserted into a spring hole disposed on the partition plate 208; the unlocking assembly is further provided with two support block guide posts 216 (preferably two support block guide posts), the inner side of the ejecting support block 217 is provided with a support block plate 219, the inner side edge of the support block plate 219 extends from the upper locking hole 210 to the card transmission channel, the ejecting support block 217 is provided with two through holes penetrating through the ejecting support block 217 from top to bottom, the lower end of the support block guide post 216 sequentially penetrates through the through hole in the partition plate 208, the through hole in the ejecting support block 217 and the ejecting spring 218 and is arranged in the column hole in the bottom plate of the lower cavity, and the upper end of the support block guide post is arranged in the column hole in the bottom surface of the partition plate 208. The eject tray 217 can move up and down on the tray guide post 216, and the eject spring 218 is interposed between the eject tray 217 and the lower chamber floor.