Ribbon cartridge

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11298956-B2
Application number	US-201916980457-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2019
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Apr 12, 2022
Grant date	Apr 12, 2022

Abstract

A ribbon cartridge includes: a winding-side cylinder part that guides an ink ribbon and into which a winding shaft is inserted when the ribbon cartridge is installed in a cartridge installation part; a first ribbon guide that guides the ink ribbon at a position on a downstream side of the winding-side cylinder part in a feeding direction of the ink ribbon; and a second ribbon guide that guides the ink ribbon at a position on the downstream side of the ribbon guide in the feeding direction. The first ribbon guide is on an inner side of the second ribbon cartridge with respect to a guide imaginary line connecting the winding-side cylinder part and the second ribbon guide to each other when seen from a front side of the ribbon cartridge in an installation direction.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A ribbon cartridge that is a second ribbon cartridge installed in a printing device including a first cartridge installation part in which a first ribbon cartridge accommodating a first winding core on which a first ink ribbon is wound is installed, a second cartridge installation part in which the second ribbon cartridge accommodating a second ink ribbon is installed, and a first winding shaft that is provided in an overlap region of the first cartridge installation part and the second cartridge installation part and inserted into the first winding core when the first ribbon cartridge is installed in the first cartridge installation part, the ribbon cartridge comprising:
a winding-side cylinder part that guides the second ink ribbon and into which the first winding shaft is inserted when the second ribbon cartridge is installed in the second cartridge installation part;
a first ribbon guide that guides the second ink ribbon at a position closer to a downstream side in a feeding direction of the second ink ribbon than the winding-side cylinder part; and
a second ribbon guide that guides the second ink ribbon at a position closer to the downstream side in the feeding direction than the first ribbon guide, wherein
the first ribbon guide is provided on an inner side of the second ribbon cartridge with respect to a guide imaginary line connecting the winding-side cylinder part and the second ribbon guide to each other when seen from a front side of the second ribbon cartridge in an installation direction.

2. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 1 , wherein
a first paying-out core on which the first ink ribbon is wound is accommodated in the first ribbon cartridge,
a first paying-out shaft that is inserted into the first paying-out core when the first ribbon cartridge is installed in the first cartridge installation part is provided in the overlap region, and
the ribbon cartridge includes a paying-out-side cylinder part that guides the second ink ribbon and into which the first paying-out shaft is inserted when the second ribbon cartridge is installed in the second cartridge installation part.

3. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 2 , comprising:
a second ribbon exposed part at which the second ink ribbon is exposed so that a thermal head provided in the overlap region is capable of contacting the second ink ribbon when the second ribbon cartridge is installed in the second cartridge installation part, wherein
the second ink ribbon fed to the second ribbon exposed part passes through one side of an inter-cylinder imaginary line connecting the paying-out-side cylinder part and the winding-side cylinder part to each other when seen from the front side in the installation direction,
the second ink ribbon fed from the second ribbon exposed part passes through the other side of the inter-cylinder imaginary line on a side opposite to the one side of the inter-cylinder imaginary line when seen from the front side in the installation direction,
a closing part that closes a space between the winding-side cylinder part and the paying-out-side cylinder part is provided between the winding-side cylinder part and the paying-out-side cylinder part, and
the first ribbon guide is provided on the downstream side of the winding-side cylinder part in the feeding direction of the second ink ribbon so as to face the closing part when seen from the front side in the installation direction and contacts an ink surface of the second ink ribbon fed from the winding-side cylinder part.

4. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 3 , wherein
a cylinder protrusion part protruding from a peripheral surface toward the second ink ribbon on the downstream side of the first ribbon guide in the feeding direction is provided on the paying-out-side cylinder part.

5. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 4 , comprising:
the second cartridge case accommodating the second ink ribbon, wherein
the second cartridge case has the cylinder protrusion wall part from which the winding-side cylinder part protrudes,
the winding-side inclination part that is inclined with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part and the winding-side perpendicular part of which the inclination angle with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part is smaller than the inclination angle of the winding-side inclination part are provided in the circumferential direction of the winding-side cylinder part on the peripheral surface of the winding-side cylinder part, and
the winding-side cylinder part guides the second ink ribbon at the winding-side perpendicular part.

6. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 5 , comprising:
the second cartridge case accommodating the second ink ribbon, wherein
the second cartridge case has the cylinder protrusion wall part from which the winding-side cylinder part protrudes,
the winding-side inclination part that is inclined with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part and the winding-side perpendicular part of which the inclination angle with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part is smaller than an inclination angle of the winding-side inclination part are provided in a circumferential direction of the winding-side cylinder part on the peripheral surface of the winding-side cylinder part, and
the winding-side cylinder part guides the second ink ribbon at the winding-side perpendicular part.

7. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 2 , comprising:
a second cartridge case accommodating the second ink ribbon, wherein
the second cartridge case has a cylinder protrusion wall part from which the winding-side cylinder part protrudes,
a winding-side inclination part that is inclined with respect to an angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part and a winding-side perpendicular part of which an inclination angle with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part is smaller than an inclination angle of the winding-side inclination part are provided in a circumferential direction of the winding-side cylinder part on a peripheral surface of the winding-side cylinder part, and
the winding-side cylinder part guides the second ink ribbon at the winding-side perpendicular part.

8. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 7 , wherein
the paying-out-side cylinder part protrudes from the cylinder protrusion wall part,
a paying-out-side inclination part that is inclined with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part and a paying-out-side perpendicular part of which an inclination angle with respect to the angle perpendicular to the cylinder protrusion wall part is smaller than an inclination angle of the paying-out-side inclination part are provided in a circumferential direction of the paying-out-side cylinder part on a peripheral surface of the paying-out-side cylinder part, and
the paying-out-side cylinder part guides the second ink ribbon at the paying-out-side perpendicular part.

9. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 8 , comprising:
the second cartridge case accommodating the second ink ribbon, wherein
the second cartridge case has the first case and the second case, and
the winding-side cylinder part and the paying-out-side cylinder part are provided in one of the first case and the second case.

10. The ribbon cartridge according to claim 7 , comprising:
the second cartridge case accommodating the second ink ribbon, wherein
the second cartridge case has the first case and the second case, and
the winding-side cylinder part and the paying-out-side cylinder part are provided in one of the first case

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Ishimoto Akio
• Sasaki Taishi

Classifications

• B41J2/325 Primary

  by selective transfer of ink from ink carrier, e.g. from ink ribbon or sheet · CPC title

• B41J33/14

  Ribbon-feed devices or mechanisms · CPC title

• B41J32/00 Primary

  Ink-ribbon cartridges · CPC title

• B41J3/4075 Primary

  Tape printers; Label printers · CPC title

• B41J35/04

  Ink-ribbon guides · CPC title