JPS60250967A - Imaging device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To arrange so that a recording head and a transfer material may precisely be held always in positional relationship by providing a guide conducting the run of the transfer material to the recording head in an integral body. CONSTITUTION:At both sides of a base 40 bonded to a head holder 31, the whole thick film substrate and part of a thin film substrate are covered by a resin cover 50, and between the covers 50, a heating resistance is arranged in an exposed manner. In the middle, a concave part 51 is formed along the longitudinal direction. In addition, at both sides of the base 40, a stopper plate is fixed and between these plates a round bar-shaped ribbon guide 54 is provided in a freely turning way, and is adjusted in position so that a slight clearance may be left between the heating resistance and a platen 10. When the head 11 is separated from the platen 10, the ribbon guide 54 moves together thus enabling easy attachment and detachment of a ribbon cassette 35.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a transfer-type image forming apparatus that transfers, for example, a colorant of a thermal transfer material to a transfer material to form an image on the surface of the transfer material.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

This type of image forming apparatus is small, inexpensive, produces little noise, and can use plain paper as the transfer material, so it has recently been put into practical use not only for recording the output of computers and word processors, but also as copying machines. It is becoming more and more popular.

Such an image forming apparatus has a transfer material interposed between the grana y and a recording head that approaches and separates from it, and in this state, a transferred material is inserted between the transfer material and the recording head,
Transfer is performed by the operation of the recording head, and after the transfer, the transfer material is made to travel a predetermined width. In order to allow the transfer material to run smoothly, a guide member is provided adjacent to the platen.

However, in the past, the guide body was supported in a fixed state separately from the recording head, which made it difficult to achieve positional accuracy between the recording head and the transfer material, especially when replacing the recording head due to wear and tear. There is a problem in that a relatively large deviation occurs in the positional relationship between the recording head and the transfer material, which often leads to abnormal transfer. Furthermore, if the transfer material is made into a cassette and configured to be detachable, the guide is fixedly placed adjacent to the platen, making it difficult to interpose the transfer material between the guide and the platen. However, this resulted in a problem in that it became an obstacle in converting the transfer material into cassettes.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made with attention to these points, and its purpose is to be able to maintain an accurate positional relationship between the guide body and the recording head at all times, and to easily convert transfer materials into cassettes. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can realize the following.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, in the present invention, a recording head that moves toward and away from a platen is integrally provided with a guide body that guides the movement of a transfer material.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 shows its schematic configuration. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates a main body of an image forming apparatus, and an operation panel section 1a is formed on the upper front surface of the apparatus main body 1. As shown in FIG. On the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1, there is a document table 2 having a document holding cover 3 on the left side thereof.
The lower side of the document table 2 inside the apparatus main body 1 is a document scanning section (scanner section) 4 that scans the document set on the document table 2, and the right side inside the apparatus main body 1 is an image scanner. It is a forming section (printer section) 5. The above operation panel section 1a
A copy number setting section 7 consisting of a display section 6 and a numeric keypad 7, buttons 8, etc. are arranged. As shown in FIG. 2, the document scanning section 4 is operated by moving the movable scanning section 9 of the exposure optical system back and forth along the lower surface of the document table 2.
The original 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.

The image forming section 5 has a configuration as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. To the left (in the state of FIG. 3), a thermal head 1 serving as a recording head is arranged so as to be able to approach and separate from the platen 10. A thermal transfer ribbon (ink ribbon) 15 as a transfer material is interposed between the thermal heater 11 and the platen 1o.
A sheet of paper P as a transfer material is inserted between the platen 1o and the thermal head 11, and in this state, the thermal head 11 moves to the side where the platen 1o is arranged, and a heating resistor, which will be described later, is formed in the shape of a line tod in front of the thermal head 11. The colorant (ink) on the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is heated according to the image information.
is heated and melted and transferred onto paper P.

A paper feed roller 16 is provided diagonally below the platen 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 registration row 218 disposed diagonally above the paper feed roller 16, and then transported toward the platen 10 and wound around the platen 10 by pressing rollers 19 and 20. The item will be sent correctly.

The thermal head 1 is a thermal transfer ribbon 1s as a transfer material.
The paper P is pressed against the platen 10 through the thermal transfer ribbon 15, and the ink 21 as a colorant on the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is heated and melted and transferred to the paper P as shown in FIG.

The thermal transfer ribbon 15 has approximately the same size as the paper P and is yellow (Y), as shown by range A in FIG.

Magenta (B) and cyan (C) ink portions 21a
,.

21 b and 21 c are provided side by side, or yellow (Y), magenta (b), and cyan (q, black) ink portions 21 a and 21 b are provided side by side, or as shown by the range openings.

21c and 21d are arranged opposite each other, and after each color is transferred, the paper P is returned to its original position, and the sheets P are overlapped one after another accurately.

The thermal transfer ribbon 15 containing the black ink portion 21d is used when it is desired to produce a clear black color, and even if it does not have the black ink portion 21d, almost black can be produced by overlapping three colors.In this way, the paper P is reciprocated by the number of colors by the rotation of the platen IQ, but the path of the paper P at that time is the first one arranged sequentially 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 supplied from the paper feed cassette 17 passes through the registration row 218 and the arrangement portion of the first distribution guide 25 and is wound around the platen 10 . (See FIG. 6(a)) Next, the platen 10 is rotated using a pulse motor (not shown) as a driving source to transport the paper P at a predetermined speed and form a line tod shape along the axial direction of the platen 10. The heating resistor of the thermal head 11 generates heat according to the image information, and the ink 2 of the thermal transfer ribbon 15 is heated.
1 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 . (Refer to FIG. 6(B)) In this way, the paper P onto which two inks of one color have been transferred is transported backwards by reversing the platen 10, and at the same time, the paper P is transported backward by the rotation of the first distribution guide 25. The displacement operation sends it onto the 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 two pairs of paper discharge rows 27 and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 22 . (See FIG. 6) The image forming apparatus includes an original scanning section 49, a color converting section 12, and a color converting section 12, as shown in FIG. Memory section 138 Image forming section 5. and an overall control section 14. Then, the green ((1), yellow (2) detected by the original scanning unit 4
), :/an(q) The color conversion unit 12 converts the values of the respective color components of the print medium into magenta (b) and yellow (
2) The color is converted to cyan (C), and the color-converted values are stored in the memory unit 13 for each color together with the position information on the document.
magenta depending on the value read out).

Yellow (2), cyan (C), black (B) (black is magenta (ro).

The AND output of yellow (7) and cyan (q) transfers the output portion of the medium onto the paper P.The overall control section 14 controls the document scanning section 41, color conversion section 12, memory section 13, and the entire image forming section 5. The paper ejection roller pair 27, paper ejection tray 22, first and second guides 23 are still controlled.
．． 24 is formed into a unit, and this unit can be removed as necessary.

The thermal head 1 is supported as shown in FIG. 8, that is, 29 is a frame block, a rod 30 is inserted into this frame block 29 so as to be able to move forward and backward, and a head holder 3 is connected to one end of this rod 30. The thermal head 11 is attached to the front surface of this head holder 31. At the other end of the rod 30 is a drive mechanism (not shown). The rod 30 moves forward and backward by the operation of this drive mechanism, and the thermal head 1 approaches and separates from the platen 10 in accordance with this movement. 15 thermal transfer ribbons are
Both ends of the ribbon are wound around cores 32 and 33 and assembled into a case 34 to form a cassette, and this ribbon cassette 35 is detachably attached to the frame block 29.

To further explain the thermal head 1, as shown in Figs. 10 to 14, 40 is the above-mentioned -
The base is connected to the RAD holder 3. On the surface of the base 40, there are thick film substrates 41, 41 on both sides, a thin film substrate 42 in the center, and a relay PC for connection to an external node on one end. A plate 43 is provided respectively. A copper plate 44 on the power ground side, a copper plate 45 on the power common side, and an IC chip 46 are arranged on the surface of the thick film substrate 4.
A C chip 46 is wire-bonded to the thick film substrate 4 and the thin film substrate 42 using ultra-fine gold wires 47 and 48.

A heating resistor 49 is provided on the surface of the thin film substrate 42, and this heating resistor 49 is connected to the IC chip 4 via the gold wire 48.
Note that FIG. 15 shows the arrangement and connection structure of the IC chip 46 and the heating resistor 49.

Covers 50, 50 made of synthetic resin are attached to both sides of the surface of the paste 40, and these covers so, so cover the entire thick film substrate 41, 41 and a part of the thin film substrate 42, and provide insulation protection. A heating resistor 49 is disposed between the cover 50 and the cover 50, which are exposed to the outside. Further, a recess 51.51 is formed in the intermediate portion of the covers io, io along the longitudinal direction thereof.

Stop plates 52 and 52 are provided with setscrews 5 on both end surfaces of the base 40.
3..., and a round bar-shaped ribbon guide 54.5 as a guide body is attached between the opposing stop plates 52.52.
4 will be erected. These ribbon guides 54,54 are rotatably supported and are arranged along the recesses 51,51 so that a part thereof faces the recesses 51,51. These ribbon guides 54.54 are
The mounting position is adjusted so as to leave a slight gap between the heat generating resistor 49 on the thin film substrate 42 and the platen 10 when it is in contact with the platen 10.

Thus, the ribbon guides 54, 54 support the thermal transfer ribbon 15 and guide its travel. Team Marchend 11
When the ribbon cassette 35 is moved away from the platen 1o, the ribbon guide 54.54 also moves together with it, and the gap between the ribbon guide 54.54 and the platen 10 widens. Work can be done easily and smoothly.

The thermal head 11 is constructed as a unit that integrally includes the ribbon guides 54, 54, and therefore the positional accuracy between the thermal head 11 and the ribbon guides 54, 54 can always be maintained at a good level. If the thermal head 1 is worn out, for example, the head holder 3 and the base 40 are disconnected and the thermal head 1 unit is replaced with a new one. Since the ribbon guides 54 and 54 are integrally built into the unit of the thermal head 1, by replacing the unit, the thermal head 11
There is no possibility that the positional relationship between the ribbon guide 54 and the ribbon guide 54 will be out of order. Ribbon guide 54゜54 is cover 5
The thermal head 11 is arranged so as to fall into the four parts 51 and 51 of 0.50 mm, so that the unit of the thermal head 11 is thin, which makes it convenient to handle, for example, when replacing it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, since the guide body for guiding the movement of the transfer material is provided integrally with the recording head, the mutual positional relationship between them can always be accurately maintained, and the guide body Since the transfer material moves together with the head and separates from the platen, it is easy to attach and detach the transfer material, and the transfer material can be made into a cassette without difficulty.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one 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. 3 is a schematic longitudinal side view. Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the transfer operation state, Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the ink application state of the thermal transfer ribbon, and Figs. , Fig. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main part, Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the main part, Fig. 9 is a further enlarged sectional view of the main part, Fig. 10 is a perspective view of the thermal head, and Fig. 11 is a sectional view of the main part. The figure is a front view seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 10, FIG. 12 is a front view similarly seen from the direction of arrow B, and FIG. 13 is a sectional view of a part of the thermal head.
FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the thermal head with the ribbon guide omitted, FIG. 15 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 16 is a layout and connection diagram of the 1C chip and heating resistor of the thermal head. 10... platen, 11... thermal head F (recording head), 15... thermal transfer ribbon (transfer material), 50
... Cover, 51 ... Recessed part, 54 ... Ribbon guide (guiding body), P ... Paper (transferring material). Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 4 Figure 5 A Figure 6 (A) Ding l (B) Figure 9 Figure 11 Figure 12

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a device in which a transfer material is freely interposed between a platen and a recording head that approaches and separates from the platen, and an image is formed by transferring the colorant of this transfer material to a transferred material, the recording head is An image forming apparatus characterized in that a guide body is integrally provided to guide the movement of the transfer material. (2) An image forming apparatus characterized in that the recording head is provided with a cover that covers a portion where the electronic control element is disposed, a recess is formed in the cover, and a guide body is exposed in the recess.