Printer
AssigneeToshiba Tec Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYosuke Nishimura
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printing apparatus includes a feed side roll, a winding roller, a driver, a detector, a printer, a conveyance roller, and an adjuster. The feed side roll includes an ink ribbon wound on a feeding roller. The driver rotates the winding roller in a direction of winding the ink ribbon. The detector detects a change in a tension of the ink ribbon being wound. The printer prints on a print medium via the ink ribbon stretched in a tense state between a collection side roll where the ink ribbon is wound and the feed side roll. The conveyance roller winds the ink ribbon between the collection side roll and the printer. The adjuster adjusts a torque for rotating the winding roller by the driver based on detection results by the detector to keep a tension of the ink ribbon passing through the printer constant.
Claims18
A printer apparatus comprising:
- a feed side roll including an ink ribbon wound around a feeding roller;
- a winding roller that winds the ink ribbon fed from the feed side roll;
- a first driver configured to rotate the winding roller in a direction of winding the ink ribbon;
- a detector configured to detect a change in a tension of the ink ribbon being wound by the winding roller, wherein the detector is configured to include a sensor that detects a rotational speed of the winding roller, and to calculate a diameter of a collection side roll based on the rotational speed detected by the sensor;
- a printer configured to print on a printed medium via the ink ribbon stretched in a tense state between the collection side roll in which the ink ribbon is wound by the winding roller and the feed side roll;
- a conveyance roller that winds the ink ribbon between the collection side roll and the printer, and rotates in the direction of winding the ink ribbon;
- and
- a first adjuster configured to adjust a torque for rotating the winding roller by the first driver based on detection results in the detector, and to keep a tension of the ink ribbon passing through the printer constant.
A printing method comprising:
- providing a feed side roll including an ink ribbon wound around a feeding roller;
- rotating, by a first driver, to wind an ink ribbon from the feed side roll around a winding roller to form a collection roll;
- detecting, by a detector, a change in a tension of the ink ribbon;
- printing, by a printer, on a print medium via the ink ribbon stretching in a tense state between the collection side roll and the feed side roll;
- winding, by a conveyance roller, the ink ribbon between the collection side roll and the feed side roll;
- adjusting, by an adjuster, a torque for rotating the winding roller by the first driver based on detection results in the detector to keep a tension of the ink ribbon passing through the printer constant;
- rotating a holding member a first direction;
- and
- swinging a winding rod in the first direction to press an amount of a surface of the ink ribbon to the winding rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.