JP2001277625A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate handling of a recording paper 4 at the time of jamming and provide a compact main body by skillfully arranging the posture of an ink sheet cartridge 20 stored in a facsimile device. SOLUTION: A main body case 2 with the upper surface capable of being opened, comprises a paper storage part disposed in the upper rear part therein, a storage part 13 for an ink sheet cartridge for supplying an ink sheet 21 from the conveyance upstream side to the conveyance downstream side with a printing part including a platen 17 and a thermal head 22 disposed halfway, and a paper discharging part in the front part of the main body case 2 with respect to the storage part 13. The ink sheet cartridge 20 is disposed in the storage part 13 in an inclined state such that an ink sheet supply side sheet spool 25 is at a high position, and a taking up side sheet spool 26 is at a low position so that a recording paper 4 can be supplied along the upper surface of the ink sheet 21. A controlling substrate 29 is provided below the storage part 13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the structure of an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile machine in which an ink sheet cartridge having a replaceable wide ink sheet is arranged.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When printing on recording paper such as plain paper using a thermal printer, an ink ribbon cartridge is usually used because of its easiness of replacement and simplicity of handling. And if the thermal printer is a line printer,
A wide ink sheet is used. A conventional ink sheet cartridge of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-8174.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-193732 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-193732, a cartridge body configured to rotatably support a supply-side winding tube for an ink sheet and a winding core tube, respectively.
A frame formed in a plan view frame shape formed in a window hole so as to cover the outer peripheral portion of the supply side wound tube and the winding core tube from above and below and to allow a printing portion to be exposed therebetween is disclosed.

In Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 6-81749, a printing section (thermal head) slides on an ink sheet cartridge mounted on a printer from above the window hole, and recording paper is printed from the underside of the cartridge. And discharged from the lower part of the cartridge to the outside of the printer.

[0004]

However, in the above prior art, the ink sheet cartridge is configured to be inserted into the inside from the opening / closing door on the front side of the main body case, and the main body case is adjacent to the opening / closing door. A paper cassette that can be attached to and detached from the front (at a position lower than the height at which the ink sheet cartridge is placed) is disposed on one side of the main body case. However, there is a problem that a work space is required in front of one side and the main body case is large and bulky because of a space for disposing the control board necessary for the image forming apparatus.

Further, when a paper jam occurs in the recording paper, there is another problem that the recording paper on the lower surface side cannot be removed unless the ink sheet cartridge is removed from the main body.

[0006] The present invention has been proposed in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving the operability by reducing the space for replacing the recording paper and the ink sheet cartridge.

[0007]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, comprising: a sheet feeding unit disposed above a rear portion of a main body case having an openable upper surface; A print section at a lower front position, a storage section for an ink sheet cartridge for supplying an ink sheet from a transport upstream side to a transport downstream side across the print section, and a paper discharge in front of the main body case from the storage section And an image forming apparatus comprising:
An ink sheet supply side spool, a take-up side spool, and a window hole portion between which the printing section faces, and the storage section has the ink sheet cartridge, the ink sheet supply side spool positioned at a high position. , Disposing the take-up spool in a forwardly inclined state so as to be at a low position,
The recording paper is configured to be supplied along the upper surface of the ink sheet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the ink sheet cartridge includes a conveyance path for a recording sheet after printing, and a winding path for the ink sheet after printing. While a partition plate for separating the take-off side is provided continuously, a tension member for bending the printed ink sheet downward is disposed between the partition plate and the printing unit in the storage unit. .

[0009] The invention described in claim 3 is the first invention.
Alternatively, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, a control board is arranged on a lower surface side of the main body case and below the storage section.

[0010]

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a facsimile apparatus 1 on which an ink sheet cartridge 20 is mounted, FIG. 2 is an enlarged side sectional view of a main part of an ink sheet cartridge 20 mounting portion, and FIG.
Is a plan view of the ink sheet cartridge 20, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ink sheet cartridge 20.

First, the structure of a facsimile machine 1 as an image forming apparatus of the present invention will be schematically described. The facsimile apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment reads an image or the like from a document 8, transmits the image data as facsimile data to another facsimile apparatus via a communication line such as a telephone line, and connects the communication line such as a telephone line. In addition to receiving the facsimile data transmitted from another facsimile device via the facsimile device and forming an image on the recording paper 4, the function as a normal facsimile device, and wireless communication such as a printer cable or infrared rays from a personal computer or a word processor. It has a function as a printer that receives print data transmitted through the printer and forms an image in accordance with the data.

A receiver (not shown) is arranged on one side of the main body case 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1. The upper cover body 6 covering the upper surface of the main body case 2 having an open top surface is pivotally attached to the upper rear end of the main body case 2 so as to be rotatable up and down around a rotation fulcrum 6a at the rear end. An operation panel 3 having a key switch 3a, a liquid crystal display device 3b, and the like is provided on a front side of an upper surface of the upper cover body 6. The operation panel 3 is also configured so that the front side can be opened upward and turned in order to remove the document 8 when the document 8 is not properly fed. At the rear of the upper surface of the main body case 2, a paper feed table 5 for stacking and placing the recording paper 4 in an obliquely downward state is provided rotatably with respect to the rear of the upper cover body 6. A document table 7 is detachably mounted in the middle of the upper and lower surfaces of the main body case 2.

In the main body case 2, a feed roller pair 9 for conveying a document 8 from the document table 7, a contact image scanner unit (CIS) 10, and a reading thereof are provided at a position below the operation panel 3. A document pressing body 11 and a pair of paper discharge rollers 12 are arranged above the unit.

A paper feed roller 15 for transporting the recording paper 4 from the paper feed table 5 one by one in the main body case 2 below the paper feed table 5 and a spring biasing the upper peripheral surface thereof. The paper feed unit 14 includes a separated pad 16 and the like.

A roller-shaped platen 17 as a printing unit, a thermal head 22 on a printing table 19 urged by a spring 18 toward the lower surface of the platen 17 A storage section 13 for an ink sheet cartridge 20 is provided so as to straddle the printing table 19 in the front-rear direction (see FIG. 1).

In the ink sheet cartridge 20 in the accommodating portion 13, the supply sheet spool 25 for the ink sheet 21 is disposed at the rear side of the main body case 2, the take-up sheet spool 26 is at the front side of the main body case 2, and It is arranged in a forwardly inclined shape (hip-up shape) such that the supply-side sheet spool 25 is at a high position and the winding-side sheet spool 26 is at a low position. Therefore, the storage unit 1
The lower part of the main body case 2 is located on the rear side of the lower surface of the main body case 2, and a large space is formed at the rear lower part of the main body case 2 in combination with the configuration of the ink sheet cartridge 20 being inclined forward. Thus, a control board 29 for executing the operation of the facsimile machine 1 and the like is arranged in this space, that is, below the storage section 13.

The ink sheet 21 wound from the supply side sheet spool 25 to the front take-up side sheet spool 26
Is a thermal head 22 and a tension body 2 made of a spring plate.
3 and reaches the lower peripheral surface side of the take-up side sheet spool 26. At this time, the ink surface of the ink sheet 21 is on the upper surface. The recording paper 4 overlapping the upper surface (ink surface) of the ink sheet 21 is printed by a printing section where the platen 17 and the thermal head 22 overlap, and then is printed on the upper side of the ink sheet cartridge 20 on the winding sheet spool 26 side. The paper passes through the upper surface of the formed partition chute 24 having the function of the transport chute, and is discharged to the front of the main body case 2 via the pair of discharge rollers 28. An upper chute 27 of a plurality of rib-shaped transfer chutes protruding downward is arranged on the lower surface of the upper cover body 6 so as to extend from the upstream side to the downstream side with the platen 17 interposed therebetween. It is configured such that the recording paper 4 can pass between the partition plate 24 and the cartridge 20.

On the other hand, the ink sheet 21 is bent downward at the top surface of the tension body 23, passes through the lower surface of the partition plate 24, and is wound around the lower peripheral side of the winding sheet spool 26. Have been.

Next, the configuration of the ink sheet cartridge 20 according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The ink sheet cartridge 20 includes a case body 30 as a cartridge body, an ink sheet 21, a pair of left and right supply-side spools 36 and 37 as a supply-side sheet spool 25, and a winding-side sheet spool 26. It comprises a pair of left and right take-up spools 38, 39.

The spools 36, 37, and 39 are integrally formed by, for example, injection molding of a synthetic resin material, and only one spool 38 is configured by combining a plurality of components.

The ink sheet 21 is formed by forming an ink layer on one entire surface of a wide resin film. As shown in FIG. 8, the ink sheet 21 is wound around a pair of cylindrical core tubes 40 and 41 made of paper or the like. Have been. The recording paper 4 is formed on the ink layer of the ink sheet 21.
Are sandwiched between the platen 17 and the recording surface of the thermal head 22 which is a line printer, and the heating resistor of the thermal head 22 is energized in accordance with image data. An image is formed.

Core tube 40 on the supply side and core tube 41 on the winding side
The supply-side right spool 37 and the take-up-side right spool 39 which are fitted to the right ends (the right side as viewed from the discharge side of the recording paper 4) have the same shape as shown in FIG. 4
The inner cylindrical portion 42 fitted to the inner diameter at the right end of 1) and the large-diameter flange portion 4
3 and a small-diameter cylindrical outer shaft 44 as a support shaft portion rotatably arranged with respect to a case body 30 described later.

The supply-side left spool 36 fitted to the left end of the supply-side core tube 40 fits into the inner diameter of the left end of the core tube 40, and has an inner cylindrical portion with an engagement claw 42a that engages with a notch groove. 42
A large-diameter flange portion 43, a support shaft portion (not shown) provided outside the flange portion 43 and rotatably disposed with respect to a case body 30 described later, and a gear portion provided outside the support shaft portion. 45,
It consists of.

On the other hand, the take-up left spool 38 fitted to the left end of the take-up core tube 41 is provided on one side plate 3 of the case body 30.
1a, the first member 46 having a gear 47 disposed outside the one side plate 31a, and the one side plate 31a is attached to the first member 46.
And a second member 48 connected from inside. These are formed by injection molding of a synthetic resin material or the like. The engaging body 49 is removably fitted to the second member 48, and the engaging body 49 is fitted to the inner diameter portion at the left end of the core tube 41 on the winding side.

Next, the configuration of the case body 30 as the cartridge body will be described with reference to FIGS.
The case body 30 includes a pair of left and right side plates 31a and 31b extending from the sheet supply side to the take-up side so as to surround the left and right outer sides of the ink sheet 21, and the pair of side plates 31a and 3b.
1b, an upper cover piece 32 connected to cover the upper side of the winding portion on the supply side of the ink sheet 21, and a pair of side plates 31a, 31b covering the upper portion of the ink sheet 21 on the winding side. It is composed of a partition plate 24 and is integrally produced by injection molding of a synthetic resin material. Therefore, the left and right supply side upper cover pieces 32
And the winding side partition plate 24 and the left and right side plate connecting pieces 31a,
A portion surrounded by 31b is a window hole from which the ink sheet 21 is exposed, and a roller-shaped platen 17 faces from above the window hole, and from below the window hole, the printing table 19, the thermal head 22, and the like. The tension body 23 faces (see FIGS. 1 and 2). Further, fin-shaped knobs 35, 35 project upward from both left and right end portions of the partition plate 24 or a pair of left and right side plates 31a, 31b.

The side plates 31a and 31b have:
Except for the take-up side left spool 38, the outer shafts 44 of the supply-side right spool 37 and the take-up right spool 39
A shaft support groove 33 of one end open type is formed in which the support shaft of the supply-side left spool 36 is loosely fitted (see FIGS. 6 and 8). The side plates 31a, 31a are connected to the shaft support groove 33 and extend radially outward.
b, each outer shaft 44
When the (support shaft) is pushed upward with its axis substantially crossing the shaft support groove 33, the width between the lower open groove edges of each shaft support groove 33 expands elastically.
In the free state, each outer shaft 44 (support shaft portion) is
3 so as not to fall off.

The ink sheet cartridge 2 having the above configuration
When 0 is set in the storage unit 13 of the facsimile machine 1,
Left and right side plates 3 of case body 30 as a cartridge body
1a, 31b and the like are supported in a predetermined posture. At this time, the winding-side right spool 39 and the supply-side right spool 37
The inner diameters of the outer cylinders 44, 44 are fitted on shafts (not shown) projecting from the main body frame (not shown), and the gears 45 and the gears 47 are each provided with a power transmission gear (not shown). And the supply side left spool 3
6 and the inner diameter of the outer shaft of the take-up side left spool 38 are:
It is fitted on a shaft (not shown) that is elastically protruded in the axial direction from the main body frame side. As a result, the supply-side sheet spool 25 and the take-up-side sheet spool 26 can rotate smoothly.

The output of a print command on the operation panel 3 or a print command from an external computer (not shown) or the reception of facsimile data from another facsimile apparatus activates the control board 29 to perform a printing (recording) operation. Is started, first, the paper feed roller 15 rotates to start paper feed. After the leading end of the recording paper 4 detects a paper sensor (not shown), the recording paper 4 is conveyed a predetermined distance, and
, Power is transmitted to the gear portion 45 and the gear 47 of the platen 17 and the ink sheet cartridge 20, and the conveyance of the ink sheet 21 and the feeding of the recording paper 4 are started, and the printing by the thermal head 22 as a printing portion is started. Done.

Immediately after printing is performed in a state where the ink sheet 21 and the recording paper 4 are sandwiched between the platen 17 and the thermal head 22, the ink on the ink sheet 21 is printed by the heat generated by the heating resistor of the thermal head 22. The ink sheet 21 melts according to the data (character) and appears on the recording paper 4, and then the ink is cooled, so that the ink sheet 21 remains attached to the surface of the recording paper 4. At the location of the top surface 23a of the tension member 23, as shown in FIG. 2, the ink sheet 21 is largely bent downward so as to be wound on the lower side of the outer periphery of the take-up sheet spool 26, so that the ink sheet 21 Of the ink is released. On the other hand, the recording paper 4 whose lower surface is a printing surface is placed on the upper surface of the partition plate 24 and conveyed, so that the recording paper 4 and the ink sheet 2
1 can be reliably separated from the transport path. The leading end of the partition plate 24 (on the side closer to the top surface 23a of the tension body 23) is bent downward to scoop up the leading end (the downstream side of conveyance) of the recording paper 4 in a free state. It can be prevented from moving downward. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, a large number of ridges 2 are provided on the upper surface of the partition plate 24.
If the recording paper 4a is formed in a longitudinal shape along the conveyance direction, the recording paper 4 with the printing surface facing downward does not rub widely when the recording paper 4 passes, and the recording paper 4 due to the adhesion of the ink does not rub.
Dirt can be reduced.

The partition plate 24 serves as a lower chute which serves as a guide portion of the conveyance path of the recording paper 4, and a rib-shaped upper chute portion 27 extending across the platen 17 and an upper surface of the partition plate 24. And the recording paper 4 can be guided reliably.

The ink sheet cartridge 20 can be set with the supply-side sheet spool 25 positioned high and the take-up sheet spool 26 lowered in the storage section 13 of the main body case 2 whose upper surface can be opened. A paper feed unit is provided on the rear side of the upper surface of the main body case 2 so as to pass through the upper surface side of
Is provided at a lower position in front of the recording paper 4.
Is configured to pass over the upper surface of the ink sheet 20, so that when a paper jam (paper jam) occurs,
By simply opening the upper cover body 6 upward, the space between the partition plate 24 of the ink sheet cartridge 20 arranged on the main body case 2 side and the upper chute portion 27 can be greatly increased, so that the paper jam of the recording paper 4 can be reduced. It can be very easily removed.

When the used ink sheet 21 is replaced, an operation such as lifting the case body 30 from the main body case 2 may be performed, and a work space is not required on the side of the main body case 2. Then, the knobs 3 on the left and right sides
Since the fingers 5 and 35 can be grasped with fingers, the handling becomes easy, and the pair of left and right knobs 35 and 35 are located at the left and right ends of the partition plate 24 serving as the lower chute, so that the recording paper 4 The function of the left and right guide portions of the conveyance can also be achieved. In addition, a partition plate 24 as a lower chute portion is provided on the side of the case body 30 as a cartridge main body housed in the main body case 2, and the upper cover body 6 that opens and rotates.
Since the upper chute portion 27 is disposed on the lower surface side (inner surface side), the handling of the transport chute portion when exchanging the ink sheet cartridge 20 becomes extremely easy.

Further, in the storage section 13, the position of the supply-side sheet spool 25 is high, and
When the ink sheet cartridge 20 is set in a forward inclined state with the position of the control unit 29 set to a lower position, the space below the storage unit 13 becomes a large space. By arranging the control board 29 in this space, the main body case becomes bulky. Control board 29 without
Can be provided as a compact facsimile apparatus.

In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to a facsimile apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
The present invention can be used for various image forming apparatuses such as a printer, a copying machine, and a device having a plurality of functions thereof.

[0037]

As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a paper feed unit disposed above a rear portion of a main body case that can be opened at an upper surface, and a printing portion disposed at a position below and forward of the paper feed unit. An image comprising: a storage section for an ink sheet cartridge for supplying an ink sheet from the upstream side to the downstream side with the printing section interposed therebetween; and a discharge section in front of the main body case with respect to the storage section. In the forming apparatus, the ink sheet cartridge includes a supply-side spool and a take-up-side spool of an ink sheet, and a window hole portion facing the printing unit therebetween, and the storage unit includes the ink sheet cartridge, The supply side spool of the ink sheet is set at a high position, and the take-up side spool is disposed at a forward inclination so as to be at a low position, and recording paper is supplied along the upper surface of the ink sheet. When a paper jam occurs, it is only necessary to remove the jammed paper from the location where the top of the main body case is opened, and the recording paper is oblique from behind the top of the main body case. Since it is sufficient to convey the sheet downward and discharge the sheet forward, there is an effect that the image forming apparatus can be easily handled.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the ink sheet cartridge includes a conveying path of a recording sheet after printing, and a winding path of the ink sheet after printing. While a partition plate for separating the take-off side is provided continuously, a tension member for bending the printed ink sheet downward is disposed between the partition plate and the printing unit in the storage unit. Therefore, an effect is obtained that the stuck state between the recording paper and the ink sheet after printing can be reliably separated by the action of both the tension member provided in the image forming apparatus and the partition plate on the ink sheet cartridge side.

The third aspect of the present invention provides the first aspect.
Alternatively, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, a control board is arranged on a lower surface side of the main body case and below the storage section.

Therefore, by setting the ink sheet cartridge in the storage unit 3 with the supply side sheet spool at a high position and the take-up side sheet spool at a low position and tilting the ink sheet cartridge forward, the area below the storage unit is large. Because it becomes space
By arranging the control board in this space, it is possible to provide a compact image forming apparatus in which the control board is arranged without increasing the size of the main body case.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a facsimile machine.

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a path of a recording paper and an ink sheet near a printing unit.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the ink sheet cartridge.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ink sheet cartridge as viewed from the front left side.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the ink sheet cartridge as viewed from the front right side.

FIG. 6 is a right side view of the ink sheet cartridge.

FIG. 7 is a left side view of the ink sheet cartridge.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view of parts of the ink sheet cartridge.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Body case 4 Recording paper 6 Upper cover body 13 Storage section 17 Platen 20 Ink sheet cartridge 21 Ink sheet 22 Thermal head 23 Tension body 24 Partition plate as lower chute 25 Feeding sheet spool 26 Winding side sheet spool 27 Upper chute Part 28 Discharge roller pair 30 Case body 31a, 31b as cartridge body Side plate 32 Upper cover piece 36-39 Spool

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding unit disposed above a rear portion of a main body case that can be opened at an upper surface, a printing unit located at a lower position in front of the sheet feeding unit, and an ink sheet from a conveying upstream side to a conveying downstream side across the printing unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a storage section for an ink sheet cartridge for supplying ink, and a paper discharge section in front of the main body case with respect to the storage section. A take-up side spool, and a window hole portion in which the printing unit faces between the take-up side spool, the storage section, the ink sheet cartridge, the supply side spool of the ink sheet is at a high position, and the take-up side spool is An image forming apparatus, wherein a recording sheet is supplied along an upper surface of the ink sheet, and is arranged in a forwardly inclined state so as to be at a low position. 2. The ink sheet cartridge is provided with a partition plate for isolating a conveyance path of a recording paper after printing and a winding side of the ink sheet after printing. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a tension body for bending the printed ink sheet downward is disposed between the partition plate and the printing unit. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a control board is arranged on a lower surface side of the main body case and below the storage section.