Citizen Watch Company, Ltd.

Citizen Holdings Company, Ltd.

Masahiko Ueda

Tetsuya Yamamoto

Seiji Morita

Takashi Moriya

Hiroshi Sakurai

Makoto Yasunaga

Toshihiro Endo

Yoshinobu Nagasaki

Ribbon tension detecting means (), which are formed of a plate-like lever body () each, are located individually on the upstream side and the downstream side of a platen () with respect to its travel. The plate-like lever body () has first and second rollers () on the upstream and downstream sides with respect to travel of a ribbon, and swings around an axis of rotation of the second roller (), depending on a tension of the ribbon traveling guided by the rollers (). If the amount of its swing is not less than or not more than a fixed value, a ribbon feed motor () or a ribbon take-up motor () is driven. Further, the ribbon tension detecting means () are provided with a smoothing member which touches the ink ribbon () to remove wrinkles from the ink ribbon ().

Ribbon feeder and printer

A ribbon supply shaft drive motor () and a ribbon take-up shaft drive motor () are drivingly controlled separately. If the state of a ribbon is not changed after a control cycle is repeated for a set time, the rotational speed of the drive motors () is increased step by step.

Printer

A head unit () and a sensor unit () are freely Rotatably mounted in a printer main body (). A rod-shaped portion () is projectingly provided to the tip portion of the sensor unit (), and a first catching portion is provided to the rod-shaped portion (). Furthermore, a first fixing member () is provided to the tip portion of the head unit (), and the first fixing member () is freely detachably fitted to the first catching portion.

A plurality of current patterns with regard to driving current which flows in a driving motor for a ribbon winding shaft are set in advance. The driving motor is driven based on the current pattern selected from a plurality of current patterns on an operation panel. The plurality of current patterns are set in advance so that the tension applied to the ink ribbon, which is between a printing head and a ribbon winding shaft, is an approximate predetermined value from the start to the end of ribbon winding according to the kind of the ink ribbon installed on a ribbon supply shaft.

Printer using ink ribbon

A braking mechanism which applies tension to an ink ribbon is provided. The braking mechanism comprises: a first friction member which is fitted to a supply shaft to rotate and support the ink ribbon and is rotated as one body together with the supply shaft; a second friction member which is fitted to the supply shaft in such a way that relative rotation can be realized and for which absolute rotation at least in one direction is restricted and relative axial movement to the supply shaft can be realized; an operation member which is screwed into a screwed section formed on the supply shaft; and an energizing member which is arranged between the operation member and the second friction member and which presses the second friction member for energizing the second friction member.

Thermal transfer printer

A stylus actuator unit for dot matrix line printers in which each electromagnetic actuator drives each stylus. An armature is rockably supported by the electromagnetic actuator while fixing a stylus for printing to one end thereof and having at the other end thereof a plunger to be attracted by the electromagnetic actuator. At an intermediate between the stylus fixing end and the plunger fixing end of armature is provided an armature support member composed of a torison leaf spring which is supported by a yoke base mounted on the electromagnetic actuator. The torsion leaf spring has a configuration of the letter E and both side portions are fixed to the yoke base and the central portion supports the armature. When the electromagnetic actuator attracts the plunger, the armature on the side of the stylus is driven in the opposite direction to the direction of attraction, thereby enabling the stylus to impact to the paper placed over the outer periphery of the platen.

Print head for dot matrix printers

A dot matrix print head comprises a print wire unit in which a plurality of print wires are slidably mounted, an electromagnet unit having a plurality of electromagnets, and an armature unit secured to the electromagnet unit. The armature unit has a cover, a spring plate having a plurality of projections, and a plurality of armatures. Each armature has a projection which is engaged with a hole formed in a sub-yoke. The engagement of the projection is kept by the projection of the spring plate.

Growing community of inventors

Musashino, Japan

Masahiko Ueda