JP2000015913A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a thermal transfer recorder holding a variety of colors of ribbon cassette which can be replaced automatically. SOLUTION: A plurality of cassette holder plates 15 for holding ribbon cassettes 8 while stacking in a plurality of stages are arranged side by side on the plane facing a carriage of a holding cover 14 disposed oppositely to the carriage. The carriage is arranged with a carrier for replacing the ribbon cassette 8 by delivering the ribbon cassette 8 between each cassette holder plate 15 and the carriage. The ribbon cassettes 8 smaller at least one, in number, than the total number of ribbon cassettes 8 holdable on each cassette holder plate 15 are held on each cassette holder plate 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and more particularly, to a method of automatically exchanging a plurality of ribbon cassettes.
The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of performing image recording using a ribbon cassette of a plurality of colors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a thermal transfer recording apparatus such as a thermal transfer printer is widely used as an output apparatus of a computer, a word processor or the like because of high recording quality, low noise, low cost, and ease of maintenance.

In such a general thermal transfer recording apparatus, a carriage reciprocally movable along a platen is provided, a thermal head is mounted on the carriage, and an ink ribbon of a desired color is provided inside. The accommodated ribbon cassette is detachably mounted.
Then, the carriage is reciprocated along the platen, and while the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette is being wound, the thermal head is driven based on image information, so that the carriage is transported between the platen and the thermal head. The desired image is recorded on the recording paper.

In recent years, in such a thermal transfer recording apparatus, a full-color image is recorded by using, for example, a ribbon cassette in which ink ribbons of four colors, yellow, magenta, cyan and black, respectively, are stored. Is being done.

In such a case, conventionally, the user exchanges the ribbon cassette of each color every time recording of each color is performed. However, the exchange operation is extremely complicated, and a mistake of the color is made. For this reason, full-color images cannot be recorded quickly, easily, and reliably.

[0006] Therefore, in recent years, the frame of the printer,
The ribbon cassettes can be exchanged by holding the ribbon cassettes of four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan and black in parallel and selectively mounting the ribbon cassettes on the carriage according to the recording information. A ribbon cassette has been developed, whereby the ribbon cassette of each color is automatically replaced, and a full-color image can be recorded quickly and reliably.

[0007]

However, in the above-described thermal transfer recording apparatus, although a certain number of ribbon cassettes can be automatically replaced, in recent years,
For example, the types of inks, such as metallic inks, glossy raster inks, overprint inks, and the like, are also becoming diversified. In the conventional apparatus, the number of ribbon cassettes that can be held in parallel is limited. As a result, it has become impossible to respond sufficiently. For this reason, there is a problem that it is not possible to hold ribbon cassettes of various kinds and all colors and automatically replace these ribbon cassettes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of holding ribbon cassettes of various colors and automatically exchanging each of the ribbon cassettes. It is intended for.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a thermal transfer recording apparatus in which a carriage on which a thermal head is mounted reciprocates along a platen and is mounted on the carriage. By driving the thermal head based on image information while winding the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette to be
A thermal transfer recording apparatus for performing desired image recording on recording paper conveyed between the platen and the thermal head, wherein a holding cover is provided at a position facing the carriage, and the holding cover is A plurality of cassette holder plates for stacking and holding the ribbon cassettes in a plurality of stages on a surface facing the carriage are arranged in parallel, and the ribbon cassettes are transferred to the carriage between the respective cassette holder plates and the carriage. A carrier for exchanging is provided, and each cassette holder plate is
The present invention is characterized in that the number of ribbon cassettes held is at least one less than the total number of ribbon cassettes that can be held on each cassette holder plate.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the number of ribbon cassettes on each cassette holder plate disposed on the holding cover is smaller by at least one than the total number of ribbon cassettes that can be held on each cassette holder plate. , And by operating the carrier of the carriage to selectively mount a desired ribbon cassette on the carriage, it is possible to perform image recording using the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette. In this case,
Since each cassette holder plate holds the ribbon cassettes at least one less than the total number of ribbon cassettes that can be held by each cassette holder plate, each cassette holder plate holds a plurality of ribbon cassettes. Even when the ribbon cassette held on the lower side of the ribbon cassettes taken out is taken out, the ribbon cassette on the upper side can be retracted, and all the ribbon cassettes held on the cassette holder plate are selectively mounted on the carriage. Is what you can do.

The invention described in claim 2 is the first invention.
Wherein each of the cassette holder plates is vertically movable, and is urged to always be located upward, so that the ribbon cassette held by the cassette holder is always located at the uppermost position. It is.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, each cassette holder plate is biased so as to be able to move up and down and to always be positioned upward, so that the ribbon cassette held by the cassette holder is always positioned at the uppermost position. Thus, even when a smaller number of ribbon cassettes are held than the number of ribbon cassettes that can be held on the cassette holder plate, the ribbon cassettes on the cassette holder plate can be easily taken out.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
Will be described with reference to FIG.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention. A flat platen 1 is mounted on a printer frame (not shown) so that its recording surface is directed upward. A carriage 2 is disposed above the platen 1 along a guide shaft 3 so as to be reciprocally movable in parallel with the platen 1. A drive belt 4 wound around a pair of pulleys (not shown) is connected to the carriage 2. A drive device (not shown) such as a stepping motor drives the drive belt 4 via the pulleys. By driving
The carriage 2 is reciprocated along the guide shaft 3.

A thermal head 5 in which a plurality of heating elements (not shown) for selectively generating heat based on desired recording information are arranged on the carriage 2 is opposed to the platen 1 and has a platen. The carriage 2 has a take-up ribbon core 6a and a delivery ribbon core 6b on which a predetermined color ink ribbon 7 is wound and accommodated. A take-up bobbin 9a which is engaged with the ribbon cores 6a and 6b, respectively, and drives the take-up of the ink ribbon 7 of the ribbon cassette 8, and a delivery bobbin 9b which delivers the ink ribbon 7 are rotatably arranged.

Further, in the present embodiment, a carrier 10 on which the ribbon cassette 8 is removably mounted is vertically connected to the upper surface of the carriage 2 by a driving mechanism (not shown). It is disposed so as to be detachable and movable in the left-right direction (the moving direction of the carriage 2). On both sides of the carrier 10, a fixed carrier arm 11 and a movable carrier arm 12 swingable in the left-right direction are respectively provided upright. Are the holding claws 13, 1 respectively.
3 are formed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a holding cover 14 facing the carriage 2 is provided on the printer frame so as to be openable and closable. And are formed to have substantially the same length.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, at a predetermined position on the surface of the holding cover 14 facing the carriage 2, a plurality of (four in this embodiment) ) Cassette holder plates 15, 15 ...
Are arranged in parallel, and in the present embodiment, two ribbon cassettes 8 are provided for one cassette holder plate 15.
Can be held in an overlapping manner. In the vicinity of one side of each cassette holder plate 15 of the holding cover 14, fixed holding arms 16 having a length substantially the same as the thickness of the stacked ribbon cassettes 8 are formed so as to protrude, respectively. At the tip of the holding arm 16, a holding claw 17 is formed which is bent toward the cassette holder plate 15 so as to engage with the side edge of the ribbon cassette 8. The fixed holding arm 16 is formed with a stopper groove 18 extending in the longitudinal direction from the base end of the fixed holding arm.
The stopper groove 1 is provided on the side surface of the fixed holding arm 16 side.
An engagement pin 19 to be engaged with the projection 8 is protruded. The position of the upper end of the stopper groove 18 is set such that the engaging pin 19 of the cassette holder plate 15 is engaged with the upper end of the stopper groove 18.
Is formed so as to be approximately the same as or slightly smaller than the thickness of one ribbon cassette 8. This is because if the distance between the upper surface of the cassette holder plate 15 and the inside of the holding claw 17 is made larger than the thickness of one ribbon cassette 8, the cassette holder plate 15 and the holding claw 17 of the fixing holding arm will be used. This is because the ribbon cassette 8 cannot be held. Moreover, the cassette holder plate 15
If the upper surface of the cassette holder 15 can be moved to the vicinity of the inside of the holding claw 17, it is necessary to urge the cassette holder plate 15 with a large urging force. Required
Furthermore, the ribbon cassette 8 is always held by the holding claw 17 with a strong force.
This is because the durability of the case of the ribbon cassette 8 and the holding claws 17 is reduced.

In the vicinity of the other side of each cassette holder plate 15 of the holding cover 14, a movable holding arm 2 is provided.
0 is swingably mounted around the base end,
These movable holding arms 20 are urged to always swing toward the cassette holder plate 15 by the urging force of an urging spring (not shown). At the distal end of each of the movable holding arms 20, a holding claw 17 is formed which is bent toward the cassette holder plate 15 so as to engage with the side edge of the ribbon cassette 8.

The ribbon cover 8 is located at a position corresponding to each cassette holder plate 15 of the holding cover 14.
Two holding guides 21 and 21 are provided upright so as to correspond to the respective ribbon cores 6a and 6b. Two through holes 22 are provided at positions of the cassette holder plate 15 corresponding to the respective holding guides 21. Are drilled respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, the through hole 22 of the through hole 22 located on the movable holding arm 20 side is formed in a concave shape so as to extend in the circumferential direction of the through hole 22. A locking surface 23 is formed on the upper side.

The holding guide 21 located on the movable holding arm 20 side of the holding guide 21 is integrally formed with a holding arm 24 extending upward.
The movable holding arm 2 is attached to the tip of the holding arm 24.
An engagement claw 25 bent to the 0 side is formed. Further, a step 26 is formed at the base end of the holding arm 24 so as to be displaced so as to slightly project outward in the radial direction with respect to the holding guide 21. 26 engages with the locking surface 23 of the through hole 22 of the cassette holder plate 15 to restrict upward movement of the cassette holder plate 15.

As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, of the holding guides 21, one of the holding guides 21 located on the fixed holding arm 16 side has an end edge on the movable holding arm 20 side facing upward. The extended portion 27 is integrally formed with the holding guide 21 and the extended portion 27.
On the side surface on the side of the movable holding arm 20, a rib 2 extending in the vertical direction and formed on the inner peripheral surface of the take-up ribbon core 6a is provided.
A first rib 29 to be engaged with the projection 8 is formed so as to protrude. Further, a second rib 30 protruding from the side surface of the fixed holding arm 16 of the holding guide 21 and extending in the vertical direction and engaging with the rib 28 formed on the inner peripheral surface of the take-up ribbon core 6a is formed. ing.

Further, biasing springs 31, 31 for constantly biasing the cassette holder plate 15 upward are provided around each of the holding guides 21. In a normal state, the cassette holder plate 15 is provided with the stepped portion 26 of the holding arm 24 on the locking surface 23 of the through hole 22 of the cassette holder plate 15 by the urging force of the urging spring 31.
Are engaged and the engaging pin 19 is held in a state of being engaged with the upper end portion of the stopper groove 18, and when a downward pressing force is applied to the cassette holder plate 15,
Cassette holder plate 1 against the urging force of urging spring 31
5 is moved along each of the holding guides 21.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4, on the rear surface of the ribbon cassette 8, the type of the ink ribbon 7 stored in each ribbon cassette 8 is determined. For this purpose, a different identification mark 32 is formed for each type of ink ribbon 7, and a sensor support 32 is provided upright at an edge of the carriage 2 on the far side with respect to the platen 1. This sensor support 33
Two optical sensors 34, 34 for detecting the identification marks 32 of each of the ribbon cassettes 8 are disposed at positions corresponding to the rear surfaces of the ribbon cassettes 8 held in two stages on the holding cover 14. Have been.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

First, before performing a predetermined recording, the ribbon cassette 8 is mounted on each cassette holder plate 15 of the holding cover 14.

This is because the ribbon cassette 8 is sent out to the cassette holder plate 15 and the ribbon core 6b is extended.
7, the movable holding arm 20 is inserted while rocking the movable holding arm 20 against the urging force so that the side surface of the ribbon cassette 8 does not contact the holding claw 17 of the fixed holding arm 16. When the ribbon cassette 8 is placed on the upper surface of the cassette holder plate 15, the movable holding arm 20 presses the side surface of the ribbon cassette 8 by the urging force, and the upper end edge of the other side of the ribbon cassette 8 is fixed. The holding claw 17 of the holding arm 16 is engaged with the holding claw 17 of the holding arm 24, and the engaging claw 25 of the holding arm 16 is engaged with the peripheral edge of the delivery ribbon core 6 b of the ribbon cassette 8, as shown in FIG. The eye ribbon cassette 8 is held.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 6, the cassette holder plate 1 on which the first ribbon cassette 8 is mounted is mounted.
The second ribbon cassette 8 is mounted on 5 in the same manner as described above. As a result, the already mounted ribbon cassette 8 is pushed downward, so that the cassette holder plate 15 is moved down along the holding guide 21 by the urging force of the urging spring 31, and the upper ribbon cassette 8 The upper edge is engaged with the holding claw 17 of the fixed holding arm 16, and the engaging claw 25 of the holding arm 24 is engaged with the peripheral edge of the delivery ribbon core 6 b of the ribbon cassette 8, so that the ribbon cassette 8 It is held in columns.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 11, since the upper ribbon cassette 8 is urged toward the fixed holding arm 16 by the movable holding arm 20, the winding ribbon core 6a of the ribbon cassette 8 is The first extension 27 of the holding guide 21 is located between the ribs 28 formed on the inner peripheral surface.
The rib 29 is engaged so that the winding ribbon core 6
a is held so as not to rotate. When the first rib 29 directly contacts the rib 28 of the take-up ribbon core 6a depending on the rotation state of the take-up ribbon core 6a of the ribbon cassette 8, as shown in FIG. Since the core is pressed, the rotation of the winding ribbon core 6a can be similarly prevented. Furthermore, the lower ribbon cassette 8
Is not biased by the movable holding arm 20, but as shown in FIG. 13, the first rib 2 of the holding guide 21 is held between the ribs 28 of the take-up ribbon core 6a of the ribbon cassette 8.
9 and the second rib 30 are engaged with each other, whereby the take-up ribbon core 6a is held so as not to rotate.

As described above, the first rib 2 of the holding guide 21
Since the rotation of the take-up ribbon core 6a of the ribbon cassette 8 is prevented by the 9 and the second rib 30, the take-up ribbon core 6a rotates while the ribbon cassette 8 is held, and the slack of the ink ribbon 7 and the like. Can be prevented from occurring. Moreover, the winding ribbon core 6a
Is prevented from rotating, so that the portion of the ink ribbon 7 to which the ink has already been transferred is not displaced to the recording portion, and the occurrence of a recording failure or the like can be reliably prevented.

Further, there are n cassette holder plates 15,
Assuming that two ribbon cassettes 8 can be mounted on each cassette holder plate 15, 2n-1 ribbon cassettes 8 are mounted. In the present embodiment, since there are four cassette holder plates 15, , And seven ribbon cassettes 8. That is, when the ribbon cassette 8 held at the lower stage is used, the ribbon cassette 8 held at the upper stage is temporarily retracted.
There is provided a retreat portion to which two ribbon cassettes 8 can be mounted. In the present embodiment, two ribbon cassettes 8 are mounted on one cassette holder plate 15. For example, when three ribbon cassettes 8 are mounted, two ribbon cassettes 8 are mounted. It is sufficient to provide a retractable portion that can perform the operation. Further, when four or more ribbon cassettes 8 are mounted, a retractable portion corresponding to the number thereof may be provided.

Next, when recording is performed, for example, colors necessary for recording an image are set based on image information input from a host computer or an image reader (not shown), and ink of the set color is set. The ribbon cassette 8 containing the ribbon 7 is detected. This is carriage 2
The holding cover 1 is moved by the optical sensor 34 while
Mark 32 of the ribbon cassette 8 held in the cartridge 4
When the identification mark 32 of the ribbon cassette 8 containing the ink ribbon 7 of a desired color is detected, the carriage 2 is stopped at a position corresponding to the ribbon cassette 8. At this time, in the present embodiment, two optical sensors 34 are attached to the sensor support 33.
Is provided, the identification mark 32 of the ribbon cassette 8 held on the holding cover 14 in a two-tiered manner can be detected by one operation.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 14 or FIG. 19, the carrier 10 is separated from the carriage 2 and the movable carrier arm 12 is brought close to a position where the leading end of the movable carrier arm 12 comes into contact with the upper edge of the ribbon cassette 8. FIG. 15 or FIG.
As shown in FIG. 0, it is moved in the left-right direction along the ribbon cassette 8. Thereby, the movable carrier arm 12
The fixed carrier arm 11 is swung to move to a position beyond the other surface of the ribbon cassette 8. In this state, as shown in FIG. 16 or 21, the carrier 10 is further separated and brought closer to the ribbon cassette 8, and the holding claws 13 of the fixed carrier arm 11 and the movable carrier arm 12
Is positioned at the lower edge of the ribbon cassette 8. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 17 or FIG. 22, the carrier 10 is moved in the left-right direction so that the holding claws 13 of the movable carrier arm 12 and the holding claws 13 of the fixed carrier arm 11 are moved.
Are engaged with both edges of the lower surface of the ribbon cassette 8 to hold the ribbon cassette 8. After that, as shown in FIG. 18 or FIG.
The ribbon cassette 8 is mounted on the carriage 2.

The carriage 2 is reciprocated and the winding bobbin 9 is driven to rotate to wind up the ink ribbon 7 while driving the thermal head 5 based on image information, so that the platen 1 Recording of a desired color is performed on the recording paper conveyed between the head 5.

When the recording with the ink ribbon 7 of this color is completed, the carriage 2 is moved to a position facing the cassette holder plate 15 holding the used ribbon cassette 8.
To stop.

Then, the carrier 10 is separated from the carriage 2 from the state shown in FIG. 18 or FIG.
After the ribbon cassette 8 is brought close to the upper surface of the cassette holder plate 15 as shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 22, the carrier 10 is moved in the left-right direction as shown in FIG. 16 or FIG. Thereby, the holding claw 1 of the fixed carrier arm 11
3 is removed from the lower edge of the ribbon cassette 8,
The holding claw 13 of the movable carrier arm 12 is also removed from the lower edge of the ribbon cassette 8, and the ribbon cassette 8 is held by the cassette holder plate 15. Then, FIG. 15 or FIG.
14 and 19, the carrier 10 is returned to the carriage 2 by returning the carrier 10 to the left and right directions as shown in FIG. 14 or FIG.

Subsequently, similarly to the above-described operation, the ribbon cassette 8 containing the ink ribbon 7 of the desired color is detected by the optical sensor 34, and the ribbon cassette 8 is mounted on the carriage 2, and the ink of the desired color is loaded. Recording using the ribbon 7 is performed.

The above operation is sequentially performed on the ribbon cassette 8 containing the ink ribbon 7 of a desired color, so that a desired color recording is performed.

In this case, when the ribbon cassette 8 accommodating the ink ribbon 7 of a required color is held in the lower stage of the cassette holder plate 15, the ribbon held in the upper stage is operated by the operation of the carrier 10. The cassette 8 is retracted to the temporary retreat portion, and the lower ribbon cassette 8 is taken out.

Therefore, in this embodiment, each cassette holder plate 15 is
Since the number of the ribbon cassettes 8 held by the cassette holder plate 15 is one less than the total number of the ribbon cassettes 8 that can be held by the cassette holder plate 15, the ribbon cassettes 8 held by the cassette holder plate 15 at the lower stage side Even when the removed ribbon cassette 8 is taken out, the upper ribbon cassette 8 can be retracted, and all the ribbon cassettes 8 held on the cassette holder plate 15 can be selectively mounted on the carriage 2. Therefore, even when the ribbon cassettes 8 of various colors are held, the ribbon cassettes 8 of each color are automatically exchanged, and the full-color image can be recorded quickly and reliably.

Further, since the two optical sensors 34 are provided on the sensor support 33, the two
The identification mark 3 of the ribbon cassette 8 held in a stacked manner
2 can be detected by one operation, and as a result,
The detection operation of the ribbon cassettes 8 held in a plurality of stages can be performed quickly, and the exchange operation of the ribbon cassettes 8 can be speeded up.

Further, when the ribbon cassette 8 is held on the cassette holder plate 15, the rotation of the take-up ribbon core 6a of the ribbon cassette 8 is prevented by the first rib 29 and the second rib 30 of the holding guide 21. Therefore, while the ribbon cassette 8 is held, the take-up ribbon core 6a can be prevented from rotating to prevent the ink ribbon 7 from sagging, and the portion of the ink ribbon 7 to which ink has already been transferred is displaced. It is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of a recording failure or the like without being shifted to the recording unit.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be modified as needed.

[0044]

As described above, in the thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the total number of ribbon cassettes that can be held on each cassette holder plate disposed on the holding cover is provided on each cassette holder plate. Since the number of the ribbon cassettes is at least one less than the number of the ribbon cassettes, all the ribbon cassettes held on the cassette holder plate can be selectively mounted on the carriage. Therefore, even if the ribbon cassette of various colors is held, the ribbon cassette of each color is automatically replaced,
It is possible to record a full-color image quickly and reliably.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, each of the cassette holder plates is urged up and down and always biased upward so that the ribbon cassette held by the cassette holder is always positioned at the uppermost position. Since the number of ribbon cassettes that can be held by the cassette holder plate is smaller than the number of ribbon cassettes that can be held by the cassette holder plate, the ribbon cassette held by the cassette holder plate can be easily taken out. It works.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a holding cover part of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention.

3 is a side view of the thermal transfer recording apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in a normal state.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the thermal transfer recording apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a front view in which a part of a cassette holder plate portion of the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention is sectioned.

6 is a partially sectional front view showing a state where one ribbon cassette of the cassette holder plate portion of FIG. 5 is held;

FIG. 7 is a partially sectional front view showing a state in which two ribbon cassettes in the cassette holder plate portion of FIG. 5 are held;

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the holding guide of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a front view of the holding guide of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a side view of the holding guide of FIG. 8;

11 is a plan view showing the relationship between the holding guide and the ribbon core of the upper ribbon cassette in the state shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing another relationship between the holding guide and the ribbon core of the upper ribbon cassette in the state shown in FIG. 7;

13 is a plan view showing the relationship between the holding guide and the ribbon core of the lower ribbon cassette in the state shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of a slightly separated state of the carrier showing the delivery operation of the one-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of a state in which the carrier is moved left and right, showing a delivery operation of a single-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a state in which the carrier is in proximity to the ribbon cassette, showing a delivery operation of the one-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory view of a state in which the carrier is moved left and right, showing a delivery operation of a single-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory view of the return state of the carrier showing the delivery operation of the one-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory view of a slightly separated state of the carrier showing the transfer operation of the two-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory view of the carrier left and right movement state showing the transfer operation of the two-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory view of a state in which the carrier is close to the ribbon cassette, showing a transfer operation of the two-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory view of a carrier left-right movement state showing a transfer operation of a two-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory view of a return state of the carrier, showing a delivery operation of the two-stage ribbon cassette by the carrier of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 platen 2 carriage 5 thermal head 6 ribbon core 7 ink ribbon 8 ribbon cassette 10 carrier 11 fixed carrier arm 12 movable carrier arm 14 holding cover 15 cassette holder plate 16 fixed holding arm 20 movable holding arm 21 holding guide 29 first rib 30 first 2 rib 34 optical sensor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C068 AA01 AA06 AA15 BD01 BD49 KK16 KK36 LL07 LL12 LL14 LL17 LL23 MM03 MM06 MM16 MM21 MM22

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of driving a thermal head based on image information while reciprocating a carriage on which a thermal head is mounted along a platen and winding up an ink ribbon of a ribbon cassette mounted on the carriage. A thermal transfer recording apparatus for performing desired image recording on recording paper conveyed between the platen and the thermal head, wherein a holding cover is provided at a position facing the carriage, A plurality of cassette holder plates for stacking and holding the ribbon cassette in a plurality of stages are arranged in parallel on a surface of the cover facing the carriage, and the ribbon cassette is delivered to the carriage between the cassette holder plates and the carriage. A carrier for exchanging ribbon cassettes is provided, and each cassette holder plate is A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that the number of ribbon cassettes held by at least one less than the total number of ribbon cassettes that can be held by each cassette holder plate is held. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the cassette holder plates is vertically movable and urged so as to be always positioned upward, so that the ribbon cassette held by the cassette holder is always positioned at the uppermost position. 2. The thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: