Patent ID: 6965391

Claim:
Thermal transfer ribbon actuation device for printing machines, specifically in machines incorporating a thermal printing head ( 9 ) established on a moving carriage ( 4 ) that travels along a fixed plate ( 3 ) and above a continuous band ( 1 ), which advances intermittently and bears the printing clusters ( 2 ) that define transverse alignments (with respect to the motion of the carriage) such as labels, films or the like, and in which said thermal printing head ( 9 ) employs a thermal transfer ribbon ( 7 ) supplied by a cassette of origin ( 5 ) and collected by a destination cassette ( 10 ) that acts as a transport mechanism for the ribbon ( 7 ), characterised in that the motor ( 11 ) transporting the aforementioned thermal transfer ribbon ( 7 ) is placed at any suitable place of the fixed plate ( 3 ), this is, out of the carriage ( 4 ), transmitting its motion directly or indirectly to a drive roller ( 12 ) also established on the fixed plate ( 3 ), which is aided by a return roller ( 14 ) also established on the fixed plate ( 3 ), the two rollers ( 12 ) and ( 14 ) being connected to each other by a transmission mechanism ( 13 ), such as a belt, which bends with the aid of a pair of auxiliary rollers ( 16 – 16 ′), mounted on the corresponding side of the carriage ( 4 ), in its path towards a drive roller ( 15 ) that is also mounted on the carriage ( 4 ), which conveys the motion to the destination cassette ( 10 ) when the thermal printing head ( 9 ) is operating, this is, in correspondence with the printing clusters established in the continuous band ( 1 ).