JPH11188900A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent that a recording sheet strikes against foreign matter to generate image inferiority by projecting a part of recording sheet from an apparatus main body when the recording sheet is reciprocatingly moved to perform recording and protecting the projected sheet. SOLUTION: A projective means 11 has the guide part 11a supporting the under surface of a reciprocally moving recording sheet S to guide the same and the protective cover 11b protecting the upper surface of the recording sheet S and is formed into a cylindrical shape as a whole. A protective means 11 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 in a slidable manner and housed in the apparatus main body 1 at the time of non-use and drawn out of the apparatus main body 1 at the time of use to protrude. In such a state the protective means 11 is drawn out of the apparatus main body 1, the recording sheet is moved into the protective means even if projected out of the apparatus main body. Since the periphery of the protective means 11 is surrounded, the protective means does not collide with foreign matter or the like and the movement of the sheet is not disturbed and the superposition of a plurality of colors can be performed and the apparatus main body 1 can be miniaturized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording images of a plurality of colors by reciprocating a recording sheet, and more particularly, to a recording apparatus capable of protecting a recording sheet protruding from the apparatus main body during reciprocation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, with the spread of video cameras and digital cameras, there is an increasing demand for color printers for recording color images from various image input devices.

There are various recording methods of the above color printer, and an ink sheet coated with a heat sublimable or heat fusible ink is selectively heated by a thermal head.
Thermal recording devices that transfer and record ink images on recording sheets are widely used. In particular, the sublimation thermal transfer recording device can provide high-quality full-color images comparable to photographs,
Expectations are high for printers for digital cameras.

Here, a color image recording configuration using the recording sheet will be described. As shown in FIG. 6, in a thermal transfer recording apparatus, a recording sheet S is conveyed using a pair of conveying rollers 50 and the like.
And the thermal head while feeding the recording sheet S.
At 51, heat is applied to the ink sheet 52 to transfer the coloring material of the ink sheet 52 to the recording sheet S. At this time, when a color image is recorded, the ink of each color (for example, yellow, magenta, and cyan) is sequentially transferred to the recording sheet S. Therefore, the recording sheet S is pulled out as indicated by a solid line in FIG. The ink of each color is sequentially recorded while reciprocating to the position S2, and after recording, it is discharged outside the apparatus main body.

[0005]

In the above device,
When performing color recording, it is necessary to accurately convey the recording sheet S in order to accurately overlap the respective color inks. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid that the recording sheet S during recording hits a foreign substance or the like because it causes a recording failure. Conventionally, a power supply, a control circuit board, and the like provided in the recording apparatus are large, and the apparatus main body is sufficiently large, so that the recording sheet S can be reciprocated in the apparatus main body. Because of the short length, there was no possibility that the recording sheet S being recorded would hit a foreign substance outside the apparatus.

However, in recent years, advances in semiconductor technology and miniaturization, integration, and power saving of electrical components and the like have been progressing, so that power supplies and circuit boards have been reduced in size, and it is possible to reduce the size of the device body. It is becoming. Further, various sizes of the recording sheet S to be used are used. At this time, if the apparatus main body is downsized, the recording sheet S protrudes from the apparatus main body when the recording sheet S is reciprocated, and the recording sheet S being reciprocated is moved.
May hit the foreign matter. In order to prevent this, if the recording sheet S is reciprocated in the apparatus main body as in the related art, the size of the apparatus cannot be reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to prevent a recording sheet from hitting a foreign substance and causing an image defect when recording by reciprocating the recording sheet even if the apparatus is downsized. It is intended to provide a recording device capable of preventing the above.

[0008]

A typical configuration according to the present invention for achieving the above object is to reciprocate a recording sheet in a recording apparatus for recording images of a plurality of colors by reciprocating the recording sheet. When recording is performed, a part of the recording sheet is configured to protrude from the apparatus main body, and a protection means for protecting the protruding recording sheet is provided.

In the above configuration, when the recording sheet is reciprocated and the image is recorded, even if the sheet protrudes from the apparatus main body, the protruding portion is protected by the protection means, so that the protruding portion may not hit a foreign substance or the like. There is no disturbance of sheet movement. For this reason, it is possible to accurately overlap a plurality of colors and to reduce the size of the apparatus main body.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment. First, the overall configuration of the recording apparatus will be described.
Is loaded, and the sheet cassette 2 is separated and fed one by one by a feed roller 3, and is nipped and conveyed by a pair of conveying rollers 4 to be sent out to a recording unit. In the recording unit, a platen roller 5 that is driven and rotated across a sheet conveyance path and a thermal head 6 that is a line-type recording head that generates heat in accordance with recording information are opposed to each other, and are housed in an ink cassette 7. At the same time, the ink sheet 8 coated with the heat-meltable or heat-sublimable ink is pressed against the recording sheet S by the thermal head 6, and
By selectively heating, a predetermined image is transferred and recorded on the sheet S. When a roll sheet is used as the recording sheet S, the roll sheet is conveyed from the right side to the left side in FIG. 1, the sheet after recording is cut by a cutter (not shown), and the sheet is discharged to the discharge tray 10. doing.

In the present embodiment, a color image is recorded. Ink sheets 8 are sequentially coated with inks of a plurality of colors.
Are sent out. Further, the recording sheet S is nipped and conveyed back and forth by the conveying roller pair 4 so that the inks of the respective colors are transferred in an overlapping manner. Then, the recording sheet S after recording is discharged by a discharge roller pair 9 to a discharge tray 10 provided on the left side of the apparatus.

Here, the recording sheet S at the time of the recording is
Will be described in the case of performing three-color printing, for example.

First, when the sheet is supplied from the sheet cassette 2, the sheet is nipped by the pair of conveying rollers 4 and sent out to a state shown by a solid line in FIG. Thereafter, the conveying roller pair 4 is driven to rotate in the reverse direction and pulls back the recording sheet S (the state shown by the broken line in FIG. 1). At this time, an image is formed with the first color (for example, yellow) ink. Thereafter, the thermal head 6 is raised, the second color (for example, magenta) portion of the ink sheet 8 is sent out, and the recording sheet S is sent out again to the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. Then, when the recording sheet S is pulled back to the state shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, an image of the second color is recorded. Similarly, an image of the third color is overlap-transfer-recorded.

When the recording sheet S is reciprocated, the apparatus main body 1 is downsized so that a part of the recording sheet S protrudes from the apparatus main body 1 when the sheet S is pulled back. If the protruding recording sheet S collides with a foreign substance outside the apparatus, the reciprocating movement of the sheet is disturbed, so that the color registration is not performed accurately and an image defect occurs.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, a protection means 11 for the protruding recording sheet S is provided. The protection means 11 has a guide portion 11a that supports and guides the lower surface of the reciprocating recording sheet S, and a protection cover 11b that protects the upper surface of the recording sheet S, and is formed in a cylindrical shape as a whole. The protection means 11 is slidably attached to the apparatus main body 1 and is stored in the apparatus main body when not in use as shown by a broken line in FIG. Pulled out of the device body 1, the device body 1
Protruding from.

When the protective sheet 11 is pulled out of the apparatus main body 1 as described above, the recording sheet S may protrude from the apparatus main body 1 when the recording sheet S is nipped by the transport roller pair 4 and reciprocated and conveyed. Since the protective member 11 moves inside the protective member 11 and is surrounded by the protective member 11, there is no possibility of collision with a foreign substance or the like.

The guide portion 11a further includes a discharge tray.
A recording sheet S on which a color image is recorded is ejected to the ejection tray 10.

In the vicinity of the protection means 11, a protection means is provided.
A sensor 12 is provided as detection means for detecting that the device 11 is set to the use state. That is, protection means
When the sensor 11 is stored in the main body, the sensor 12
Is turned off, and is turned on when the protection means 11 is pulled out of the apparatus main body 1 and set to a use state. The setting state of the protection means 11 can be determined by turning on and off the sensor 12. ing. And the sensor 12
When the recording start key is pressed while the recording apparatus is turned off, a warning display indicating that the protection means 11 is not set is displayed on a display section (not shown) by a control means (not shown), or the recording is not started. I have. As a result, when the recording is started, the protection means 11 is always set to the use state, and the recording sheet S which protrudes from the apparatus main body 1 during the color recording is protruded because it is protected by the protection means 11. It is possible to reliably prevent a situation in which the recording sheet S collides with a foreign matter and causes an image defect.

[Second Embodiment] In the above-described first embodiment, an example is shown in which the protection means 11 is configured to be removable from the apparatus main body 1, but as shown in FIG. The protection means 11 may be configured to be rotatable by the hinge portion 13. This embodiment is the same as the above-described first embodiment except that the protection means 11 is rotatable.

That is, when the protection means 11 is used, the protection means 11 is set by being turned down as shown by a solid line in FIG. As a result, the recording sheet S protruding from the apparatus main body 1 during recording is protected by the protection means 11 as in the first embodiment.

On the other hand, when the protection means 11 is not used, when the protection means 11 is raised as shown by the broken line in FIG.
The sensor 12 determines whether the protection means 11 is set.
The first embodiment is similar to the first embodiment in that control is performed so that recording is not performed when the setting is not made.

[Third Embodiment] Next, as a third embodiment, an example in which the protection means is constituted by a part of the sheet cassette 2 is shown in FIG.
Shown in Note that, also in this embodiment, the configuration other than the protection means is the same as that of the above-described first embodiment.

The sheet cassette 2 is detachable from the apparatus main body 1 by being inserted and removed, and is configured such that a part of the sheet cassette 2 projects from the apparatus main body 1 in a mounted state. The upper surface of the sheet cassette 2 has a guide portion 14a to which the recording sheet S can reciprocate during color recording, and a discharge portion 14b from which the recorded recording sheet S is discharged.

An upright wall 14c is formed on both sides of the guide portion 14a in the sheet width direction, and a protective cover 14d is slidably mounted along an upper portion of the upright wall 14c. When the sheet cassette 2 is inserted into the apparatus main body 1 by an extruding mechanism (not shown), the protective cover 14d is raised.
c, slides and protrudes, and covers the upper surface of the guide portion 14a. This allows the apparatus main body 1 to be used for color recording.
The protruding recording sheet S is guided by the guide portion 14a on the lower surface, and is protected by the protective cover 14d on the upper surface, and reciprocates without hitting foreign matter.

On the other hand, during non-recording, the sheet cassette 2
When the protective cover 14d is pulled out of the apparatus main body 1, the protective cover 14d is drawn into the apparatus main body 1 and stored by the pushing mechanism.

As a structure in which a protection means is provided in a part of the sheet cassette 2, as shown in FIG.
d may be configured integrally with the sheet cassette 2. With this configuration, there is no need to provide an extrusion mechanism for sliding the protective cover 14d of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, and the configuration can be simplified.

As described above, even when the protection means is provided in a part of the sheet cassette 2, it is possible to obtain the same effect as the above-described embodiment. By configuring the protection means by a part of the sheet cassette 2, the configuration can be simplified.

[Fourth Embodiment] FIG. 5 shows a fourth embodiment in which the protection means is constituted by a part of the discharge tray. Note that, also in this embodiment, the configuration other than the protection means is the same as that of the above-described first embodiment.

In this embodiment, the discharge tray 15 is configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body 1, and the discharge tray 15
A recording sheet S that reciprocates during color recording on a part of
When the recording sheet S protrudes from the apparatus main body 1, a guide portion 15a for guiding the protruding portion and a protection cover 15b for protecting the protruding upper surface of the recording sheet S are integrally formed to form a cylindrical protection means.
The discharge portion 15c is attached to the guide portion 15a so as to be able to be pulled out.

When the discharge tray 15 is attached to the apparatus main body 1 and recording is performed, the recording sheet S which reciprocates and protrudes from the apparatus main body 1 is protected by protection means including a guide portion 15a and a protection cover 15b. There is no collision with foreign matter.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which recording is performed when the recording sheet S is pulled back by the conveying roller pair 4 during recording. It is a matter of course that recording may be performed when the data is transmitted to the server.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a thermal transfer recording system is exemplified as a recording system for recording a color image.
In addition to the thermal transfer recording method, other recording methods such as an ink jet recording method and an electrophotographic recording method can be used.

[0034]

The present invention is constructed as described above.
When the recording sheet is reciprocated to record an image, even if the sheet protrudes from the apparatus main body, the protruding portion is protected by the protection means, so that the protruding portion does not hit foreign matter or the like, and the sheet movement is not disturbed. Absent. For this reason, it is possible to accurately overlap a plurality of colors and to reduce the size of the apparatus main body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which a protection unit is configured to be rotatable.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which a protection unit is configured as a part of a sheet cassette.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which a protection unit is configured as a part of a sheet cassette.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which a protection unit is configured as a part of a discharge tray.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printing apparatus that performs color printing by reciprocating a printing sheet according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 S: recording sheet 1: apparatus main body 2: sheet cassette 3: feeding roller 4: transport roller pair 5: recording unit 6: platen roller 7: thermal head 8: ink sheet 9: discharge roller pair 10: discharge tray 11: protection Means 11a Guide part 11b Protective cover 12 Sensor 13 Hinge part 14a Guide part 14b Discharge part 14c Standing wall 14d Protective cover 15 Discharge tray 15a Guide part 15b Protective cover 15c Discharge part

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shinya Hirai 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for recording an image of a plurality of colors by reciprocating a recording sheet, wherein a part of the recording sheet protrudes from the apparatus main body when recording by reciprocating the recording sheet. And a protection means for protecting the protruding recording sheet. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protection unit includes a guide section for guiding the protruding recording sheet, and a protection cover for protecting an upper surface of the recording sheet. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protection means protrudes from the apparatus main body when in use, and can be stored in the apparatus main body when not in use. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said protection means is constituted by a part of a sheet cassette for storing recording sheets. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the protection unit includes a part of a discharge tray for discharging a recording sheet after recording. 6. A detecting means for detecting that the protection means is set to a use state, and issuing a warning when the detection means does not detect that the protection means is set to a use state. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is controlled not to start recording.