JPS6021288A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a transfer type image forming apparatus capable of rapidly and certainly performing the mounting and detachment of a transfer material without contaminating the hand, by forming the transfer material wound around winding cores at both end parts thereof into a cassette system by enclosing the same by a case so as to expose the halfway part thereof. CONSTITUTION:A ribbon cassette 14 is constituted so that a thermal transfer ribbon 15 is wound around two winding cores at both end parts thereof end enclosed in a case 33 so as to expose the halfway part thereof and, by pushing the cassette 14 along a platen 10 so as to engage the slit 34 provided to the case 33 and the holder 12 of a thermal head 11, the exposed part of the ribbon 15 is mounted between the platen 10 and the head 11. At this time, 1-3 projections A, B, C provided to the side surface of the case 33 press the switches 47A-47C in a main body 1 and the kind of the cassette 14 can be judges. In addition, both end plate parts 33c, 33d of the case 33 are transparent of translucent and a color or a wind-up state can be confirmed from the outside.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a transfer type image forming apparatus that forms an image by transferring, for example, a colorant of a thermal transfer material to a transfer target material.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Thermal transfer image forming devices are small, inexpensive, and low noise.
Moreover, it can form images on plain paper, and in recent years it has been put into practical use not only for recording the output of computers and word processors, but also for copying machines.

However, the thermal transfer material conventionally used in this type of image forming apparatus does not have a case, etc., and the user has to set the material independently by winding both ends around two cores. (1) Thermal transfer Replacing materials is very troublesome and time consuming.

(11) I sometimes got my hands dirty with the colorant from the thermal transfer material.

610 When setting, wrinkles are generated in the thermal transfer material, leading to defective image formation.

(ψ　The dedicated space required for installing the thermal transfer material is large.

There were other problems.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to enable quick and reliable mounting and removal of a transfer material such as a thermal transfer material without getting your hands dirty; An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that allows easy confirmation of the image quality from the outside.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention involves forming a cassette by enclosing a transfer material whose both ends are wound around a core in a case so that the middle part is exposed, and forming a part of the transfer material cassette into a cassette. An information detection instruction section for detecting the type of transfer material is provided, and the control section is configured to determine the type of transfer material based on a signal from the information detection instruction section.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is the main body of the apparatus, and an operation panel 1a is formed at the front of the upper surface of the main body 1. The part is manuscript table 2
A document scanning unit 4 that scans the document 3 set in the
An image forming section 5 is located on the right side.

A display section 6, a numeric keypad 7, . As shown in FIG.
The original 3 set in the image forming section 5 is optically scanned, and this optical information is photoelectrically converted and input to the image forming section 5.
Ru.

Further, the image forming section 5 has a configuration as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, the platen 10 is located approximately at the center of the image forming section 5, and a thermal head 1 serving as a recording head is located in front of the platen 10 (to the left in the state of FIG. 3). There is.

The thermal head 11 is attached to a heat dissipation plate 13 integrally formed on the rear end surface of the holder 12, and is connected via the holder 12 to a thermal transfer reden cassette (hereinafter simply referred to as a thermal transfer material cassette of the present invention). A thermal transfer link cassette (hereinafter referred to as a link cassette) 14 is attached, and a thermal transfer link 15 as a thermal transfer material is installed between the thermal transfer pad 11 and the platen 10.
There is an intervening state.

Also,! A paper feed roller 16 is provided diagonally below the latin 10, and is adapted to sequentially take out sheets of paper P as a transfer material stored in a paper feed cassette 17 one by one. The leading edge of the taken out paper P is aligned by a pair of registration rollers 18 disposed diagonally above the paper feed roller 16, and then transported toward the platen 1θ and wound around the platen 10 by pressing rollers 19 and 20. It will be sent exactly as it is hung.

On the other hand, the thermal head 11 presses the paper P against the platen 10 via the thermal transfer resin 15 as a thermal transfer material, and as shown in FIG. 21 is heated and melted and transferred onto the paper P.

The thermal transfer ribbon 15 has yellow, magenta, and cyan ink portions 21a having approximately the same size as the paper P, as shown by area A in FIG.

21b, 21c or yellow as shown in range B;
Magenta, cyan, and black ink sections 21h, 21b, 2
1c and 21d are arranged side by side, and after transferring one color at a time, the paper P is returned to its original position and accurately overlapped one after another.

A thermal transfer recan with a black ink portion 21d is used when black is to be clearly printed, and even a thermal transfer recan without a black ink portion 21d can be used to create intertwining points by overlapping three colors.

In this way, the paper P is reciprocated by the number of colors as the platen rotates 100 times, but the path of the paper P at this time is the first one that is sequentially arranged along the lower surface of the paper output tray 22. It will be guided onto the second guide 23.24.

That is, the explanation will be made with reference to FIGS. 6(a) to 6).

First, the paper P fed from the paper cassette 17 passes through the registration roller pair 18 and the first distribution guide 25, and is wound around the platen 1o. (See Fig. 6 (a)) In the stack, the platen 1o is rotated using a pulse motor (not shown) as a drive source to transport the paper P at a predetermined speed, and the platen 1o is moved into a nine-line shape along the axial direction of the platen 1o. A heating element (not shown) of the thermal head 11 formed in the thermal head 11 generates heat according to image information, and the ink 21 of the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is transferred onto the paper P.

Furthermore, the leading edge of the paper P that has passed through the platen 10 is located at the second
The paper is sent onto a first guide 23 provided along the lower surface of the paper discharge tray 22 by a sorting guide 26 . (See FIG. 6(B)) In this way, the paper P onto which the ink 21 of one color has been transferred is sent backwards by reversing the platen 1o, and is then sent to the first distribution guide 25. Due to the dynamic displacement operation, it is sent onto a second guide 24 provided along the lower surface of the first guide 23. (See FIG. 6(c)) In this way, by reciprocating the paper P a plurality of times, a plurality of colors are transferred.

Finally, the paper P to which two inks of all colors have been transferred is
The paper is guided by the second sorting guide 26 to a pair of paper discharge rollers 27 and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 22 . (See FIG. 6) Note that reference numeral 28 shown in FIG. 3 and FIGS.

Further, a pair of paper discharge rollers 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22, a first paper discharge roller pair 27, a paper discharge tray 22; Second
The guides 23, 24 are formed into a unit, and this unit 30 can be removed as indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the ribbon cassette 14 has two parallel winding cores 31 and 32 around which both ends of the thermal transfer IJ and yn 15 are wound.
6 is enclosed by a case 33 so that a part thereof is exposed so as to be interposed between the platen 10 and the thermal radar 11.

A slit 34 is formed along the axial direction of the winding core 31.31 between the winding core accommodating parts 33m and 33b of the turf 330 and is open at one end.
The driving force receiving end 31a of the winding core 31.32 is located on the open end side of the winding core 31.
*This is due to the configuration with 32 m.

The driving force receiving end portion 311L of the winding core 31.32 has a through hole 33c formed in the end surface of the case 33, as shown in FIG.
・A pair of cutout grooves 35.35 are formed at the ends of the winding core 31.32, and when the resin cassette 14 is installed in a predetermined position, the motor 36
The locking protrusion 38.38 of the coupling 37 attached to the drive shaft 36m of the motor 2 engages with the notch groove 35.35.
The driving force of the coil 36 is transmitted to the winding core 31 or 32. Further, the coupling 32 is movable in the axial direction of the motor 36, and locking protrusions 38, 38 of the coupling 32 are provided when the cassette set 14 is attached.
When the coupling 37 is in a position where it does not engage with the notch grooves 35 and 35 of the winding core 31 or 32, the coupling 37 is displaced against the biasing force of the spring 39, and the mounting operation of the joint cassette 14 is prevented. It looks like there isn't one.

On the other hand, due to the displacement operation of the coupling 37, the switch 4
When the lever 41 of 0 is pressed and the motor 36 rotates, the locking projections 38 and 38 of the coupling 37 engage the winding core 31 or 3.
When they face the notch grooves 35 and 35 of No. 2, they engage, and at this time, the return operation of the coupling 37 causes the switch 40 to turn OFF'L, and the motor 36 to stop.

Note that when the switch 40 is OFF, the force and the grinder 37 are
A slight gap is formed between the opposing surfaces of the lever 41 of the switch 40 and the lever 41 of the switch 40, so as not to interfere with the rotation of the motor 36 during normal operation.

Furthermore, the case 33 of the upper distribution cassette 14 has a thermal transfer IJ y as shown in FIGS. 7, 9, and 10.
To accommodate the heat dissipation plate part 13 integrally formed on the rear end surface of the holder 2 between the back surface of the exposed part of the yn 15 and the case 33, and the thermal head 11 attached to the heat dissipation plate part 13. The cross section forming the space 42 is formed in a recessed U-shape.

Due to the heat transfer, the width tR of the yin 15 (see FIG. 9) is larger than the maximum winding diameter t (see FIG. 7) of the winding core 31, 32, and the slit 34 formed in the case 33 The cutting depth 1B (see FIG. 10) is set to be equal to or larger than the width dimension tR of the thermal transfer ribbon 150, that is, t,';>-,ztR.

In this way, the rinse cassette 14 is designed so that the entire length of the case 33 is t.
If it is c, the upper and lower parts are continuous, and the range of btA is divided into two by the slit 34, which is vertically t.
, and the range of . The width a:ac of the slit 34 is set to be slightly wider than the thickness δ of the holder 2, and the cutting depth of the slit 34 is 1 m.
are set to have the same width dimensions tli and haho of the holder 12.

Therefore, when installing the ribbon cassette 14, the holder 12
The opening end surface of the slit 34 is opposed to the end surface of the ribbon cassette 14, and the ribbon cassette 14 is pushed along its longitudinal direction (the axial direction of the platen) to engage the holder 12 and the slit 34, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12. All you have to do is align it, and when you remove it, you just have to pull it out in the opposite direction.

As can be seen from FIG. 12, the support strength in the width direction of the thermal head 11 is determined by the width dimension LH of the holder 12, so the cutting depth tB of the slit 34 is determined from the dimension 1A of the remaining part. The dimensions are determined to be large, that is, tB>tA.

Further, the ribbon cassette 14 can be inserted into or removed from the holder 12 through an insertion/removal port 43 formed on the right side of the device main body 1, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. . The insertion/removal port 43 is closed by a door body 44 as a blocking means that can be opened only by a specific operator, and prevents anyone other than the specific operator from removing the cassette 14. It becomes h.

Also, the above? The hook cassette 14 has a handle 45 attached to one end surface of the case 33, and by gripping the handle 45, the hook cassette 14 can be attached and removed very easily.

Furthermore, Su? At least the end plates 33d and 33e of the case 33 of the transfer ribbon 4 are made of a transparent or semitransparent material, and a transparent or semitransparent part 46 is used to determine the size, color, and winding of the thermal transfer ribbon 15. The case 33 is turned back so that its condition can be checked from the outside.

On the other hand, on one end surface of the case J5 of the ribbon cassette 14, that is, on the driving force receiving end side, there are one to three protrusions A, B, C as an information detection indicator for detecting the type of the ribbon cassette 14. (Three switches in the example) - are implemented, and as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, there are three switches on the device main body 1 side that are operated by being pressed by the projections A, B, and C. 47, 47B.

A switch unit 48 with 47C is provided. Then, when set in the hook set No. 14 in the device main body 1, three switches 47A, 47B, 47C
All or part of the switches 471.47B and 47C are turned on and off by the control circuit 49.
The type of ribbon cassette 14 can be easily determined by the combination (binary evolution).

For example, it is possible to combine the three protrusions A, B, and C with 8 passages (23 = 8 passages), and generally this one passage is used to detect the presence or absence of the ribbon cassette 14, and the others are used for the type of thermal transfer ribbon 15, etc. It can be used to judge colors.

That is, the determination contents as shown in the table below can be obtained depending on the combination of presence and absence of protrusions.

○... Protrusion present ×... Judgment result of no protrusion or higher is displayed on the display unit 6 and the operator looks at it? It can be easily determined whether or not the hook set 14 needs to be replaced.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

That is, in the above embodiment, the beam pin cassette 14 has 1 to 3 protrusions as the information detection instruction part) (B) (C)
Although the color of the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is determined by protruding the ribbon 15, the size of the thermal transfer ribbon 15 may also be determined. This has the effect that, for example, it is possible to prevent uneconomical situations such as using an A4 size thermal transfer ribbon 15 in a place where only A5 size copies are to be made.

Further, both color and size may be determined, and whether the paper is for plain paper or for over-head projector paper may be determined.

one! In addition, the case 33 has been described in which one to three protrusions serving as an information detection indicator are integrally molded.
The number of protrusions is not limited to this, and as shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, 50B and 50C may be formed in the insertion hole 50 of the case 33, and a groove 51 and a hook 52 may be formed in the insertion part. It is also possible to selectively insert one to three protrusions Φ) having the same diameter, thereby making the case 33 common.

Further, although the handle 45 is made into a U-shape, it may also be made into a truncated cross-section as shown in FIG. But the point is case 33
If the winding state of the thermal transfer ribbon 15 could be checked from outside, what position would it be?

It may be a shape.

Furthermore, although the paper feed cassette 17 is attached to and removed from the front side of the apparatus main body 1, and a portion of the paper feed cassette 17 protrudes from the front side of the apparatus main body 1, the present invention is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. 18, the paper feed cassette 17 may be entirely housed in the main body 1 of the apparatus, or as shown in FIG. It may be applied to the product obtained, and it does not have to be a product of Kassette Totaizo. Of course, any image forming apparatus may be used as long as it forms a predetermined image by transferring the colorant of the transfer material to the transfer material.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

In the description of the other embodiments (FIGS. 18 and 19), the same parts as in the embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed explanations thereof will be omitted.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a transfer material whose both ends are wound around a core is encapsulated in a case so that the middle part thereof is exposed to form a cassette, and a part of the transfer material cassette is An information detection instruction section for detecting the type of transfer material is provided, and the control section is configured to determine the type of transfer material based on a signal from the information detection instruction section. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus in which the transfer material can be mounted and removed quickly and reliably without getting one's hands dirty, and the type of the transfer material can be easily confirmed from the outside.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 14 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway schematic perspective view, and FIG. 4 is a schematic longitudinal side view, FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the transfer operation state, FIG. FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of the core drive unit; FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic perspective views showing the transfer material cassette, which is the main part; 11 and 12 are perspective views showing the attachment state of the transfer material cassette, FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the main parts with the transfer material cassette pulled out, and FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the transfer material cassette type detection means. The perspective views of FIGS. 15 to 19 show modified examples of the present invention. FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a transfer material cassette with a removable protrusion as an information detection instruction part, and FIG. FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a transfer material cassette with different handles, and FIGS. 18 and 19 are schematic diagrams of different types of image forming apparatuses to which the present invention can be applied. FIG. 12... Holder, 14... Thermal transfer cassette (ribbon cassette), 15... Thermal transfer material (Thermal transfer body X31
．． 32... Winding core, 33... Case, 34... Slit, 45... Handle, 46... Transparent or translucent part, A, B, C... Indication part for information detection (protrusion) ) Applicant Agent Takehiko Suzue Figure 6 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 and above Figure 9 To Figure B

Claims (9)

[Claims] (1) A transfer material cassette in which a transfer material wound around a core at both ends is enclosed in a case so that the middle part is exposed, and a part of this transfer material cassette to detect the type of transfer material. An image forming apparatus comprising: an information detection instruction section; and a control section that determines the type of transfer material based on a signal from the information detection instruction section. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information detection instruction section includes at least one protrusion. (3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the protrusion is removably attached to the case. (4) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information detection instruction section is on the driving force receiving end side of the winding core. (5) Claim 1, characterized in that a slit is formed in the case along the axial direction of the winding core and is open at one end, and at least a part of the case has a transparent or semi-transparent part. The image forming apparatus described in . (6) The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the transparent portion or the semi-transparent portion is formed on a side surface of the case. (7) Claims characterized in that the transfer material has a width larger than the maximum diameter of the winding material, and the cutting depth of the slot and groove is equal to or larger than the width of the transfer material. The image forming apparatus according to item 5. (8) The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the slit fits into a holder of a recording head. (9) The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the driving force receiving end of the winding core is located on the open end side of the slit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the QO case includes a handle.