Inking ribbon cartridge having feed rollers with different surface hardness

Claim 2

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like, comprising: a casing for housing an inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting support member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing; said inking ribbon being received within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon having two faces, one of which is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of resilient elastomeric material, the hardness of the elastomeric material forming the ring of said drive roller being different from that of the elastomeric material forming the ring of said pressure roller.

Claim 3

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like, comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing; said endless inking ribbon being received within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon having two faces, one of which is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of resilient synthetic material the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring of said drive roller being different from that of the resilient material forming the ring of said pressure roller.

Claim 4

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like, comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing; said endless inking ribbon being received within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon having two faces, one of which is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of resilient synthetic material the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring of said drive roller being different from that of the resilient material forming the ring of said pressure roller.

Claim 5

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like, comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting support member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing: said endless inking ribbon being disposed within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon being formed by a flexible film of plastics material of which one face is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of a resilient elastomeric material, the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of said ribbon being higher than that of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 6

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like, comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting support member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing: said endless inking ribbon being disposed within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon being formed by a flexible film of plastics material of which one face is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of a resilient elastomeric material, the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of said ribbon being higher than that of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 7

An inking ribbon cartridge according to claim 3, wherein the value of the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of the ribbon is comprised between 1.5H and 2H, H being the Shore value of the hardness of the resilient material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 8

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting support member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing; said endless inked ribbon being received within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon being formed by a flexible film of plastics material of which one face is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of a material formed by a polychloroprene, the hardness of the material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of said ribbon being higher than that of the material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 9

An inking ribbon cartridge for printers or the like comprising: a casing for housing an endless inking ribbon, said casing having a ribbon entrance opening and a ribbon exit opening; a first projecting support member disposed at said exit opening and a second projecting support member disposed at said entrance opening, each of said support members being formed by a hollow conduit having one of its two ends in communication with said casing; said endless inked ribbon being received within said casing and arranged in random loops, said ribbon passing through said support members and extending across the open space between the other ends of said support members, said ribbon being formed by a flexible film of plastics material of which one face is inked; guiding and friction means disposed inside said first support member for providing a substantially constant drag force on said ribbon; and ribbon transport means arranged inside said casing for translating said ribbon from said exit opening to said casing via said support members and said entrance opening, said transport means including a rotatably supported drive roller and an idler pressure roller for engaging said ribbon therebetween, each of said rollers comprising at least a ring made of a material formed by a polychloroprene, the hardness of the material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of said ribbon being higher than that of the material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 10

An inking cartridge according to claim 5, wherein the Shore Hardness of the material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of the ribbon is comprised between 1.5H and 2H, H being the Shore hardness of the material forming the ring in contact with the non-inked face of that ribbon.

Claim 11

An inking ribbon cartridge according to claim 5, wherein the Shore Hardness of the material forming the ring in contact with the inked face of the ribbon is between 60 and 110.