JP2002361956A - Method for recording image and its apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a finishing time, make an apparatus compact and prevent paper clogging. SOLUTION: A paper supply means 1, a recording means 20 and a delivery means 40 are arranged in an inverted V shape. A recording medium 3 let off from a roll is moved forward until recorded and is moved backward after recorded until discharged. Each means is thus arranged within a small space and a moving distance of the recording medium is reduced, so that the finishing time is shortened. Moreover, the rotation of one driving motor 61 is transmitted by a worm gear 63 and a worm wheel 64 to a one-sequence driving system. A cutter 6 of the paper supply side, a movable guide 24 at the side of a platen drum 21, a cutter 42 at the delivery side, and a paper dust tapping bar 45 are synchronously driven by the one sequence driving system. Accordingly, the driving system is made small, low-cost and power-saving, images are made high-quality and paper clogging is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording method in which a thermal transfer ink ribbon is heated by a thermal head, and the heated color material is transferred to a single recording medium wound around a platen drum to record an image. More specifically, when the recording medium wound in a roll shape is fed to the platen drum side, a sheet feeding means for cutting the recording medium into one sheet, a thermal head and a thermal transfer ink ribbon Means for recording an image on a recording medium wound on a platen drum, and a sheet discharging means for cutting a margin of a clamp portion of the recording medium fixed to the platen drum by a clamper to finish a single printed recording medium In the image recording method and apparatus therefor, the arrangement of each means and the movement (flow) of the recording medium which can make the overall configuration as compact as possible Make a new proposal regarding, in conjunction,
All of the above-mentioned units are operated synchronously by a single drive motor and a series of drive mechanisms, so that the finish time can be reduced as much as possible, and the apparatus can be reduced in size and cost, and the control mechanism can be simplified. And an apparatus for recording an image.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image recording apparatus, a recording medium is wound into a roll, and the recording medium fed from the roll is cut into a single sheet of recording medium, which is cut into a platen drum. Then, the image is recorded using a thermal head and a thermal transfer ink ribbon, and when discharging the recorded recording medium, the platen drum is rotated in the reverse direction to release the recording medium from the platen drum, and this is discharged to the discharge side cutter. In the case of a system in which the margin of the portion sandwiched by the clamper is cut to finish a single printed recording medium, the paper feeding unit, the recording unit, the paper discharging unit, and each driving unit have independent configurations, In this configuration, each operation is controlled by a control circuit.

As a result, the size of the entire apparatus is increased,
Since two or more drive motors and two or more drive mechanisms including a paper feed side and a paper discharge side cutter are required, the cost is increased and the size is increased. Simultaneously feeding and discharging paper leads to a reduction in recording time. However, in order to control the two or more motors and the drive system in synchronization, a control mechanism becomes complicated and Synchronization errors are also likely to occur. For this reason, it is necessary to control a series of operation speeds to some extent slower. To finish one sheet, it takes about 30 seconds for an image recording apparatus using a normal thermal head and an ink ribbon. What is needed is the current situation.

Further, paper waste cut by the paper-discharge-side cutter may be rolled up on the paper-discharge side together with the recording medium, causing a so-called paper jam phenomenon.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording method and apparatus for preventing paper jam, miniaturizing the apparatus, shortening the recording time (finish time), reducing the cost, and improving the driving system. The purpose is to simplify the control mechanism.

[0006]

The above objects can be attained by the following constitution. That is, in the invention according to claim 1, after stopping the leading end of the recording medium fed from the paper feed roll using a clamper on a platen drum, the recording medium is cut into one recording medium. A color image is recorded on the recording medium wound around the platen drum by using a thermal head and a thermal transfer ink ribbon.Then, the platen drum is rotated in the reverse direction with respect to the rotation direction at the time of recording, and the printed recording medium is thereafter rotated. After unraveling from the end side, the clamp margin of the clamper is cut to finish a single color image.

Further, in the invention according to the second aspect, in the invention according to the first aspect, the paper waste generated when the platen drum is rotated in reverse to cut the clip margin of the clamper is knocked down simultaneously with the cutting. Thus, paper jam is prevented.

Further, the image recording medium wound up in a roll is cut into one sheet of recording medium, and the cut recording medium is wound on a platen drum. After the color material of the thermal transfer ink ribbon is heated by a thermal head to transfer the color material to the recording medium, the printed recording medium is released from the platen drum. An image recording apparatus configured to cut a margin of a pinch margin portion into a single printed recording medium, wherein a paper feeding unit of the apparatus feeds the recording medium wound up in a roll shape to a paper feeding roller. Feed it out between the rotating blade and the fixed blade of the paper feed side cutter, and then feed it over the paper feed side slide guide by sandwiching it between the paper feed rollers at the tip of this paper feed side. After fixing the leading end of the recording paper to the platen drum using a clamper, the recording paper is cut into one sheet of recording medium by the paper feed side cutter. A platen drum with a clamper is arranged in front of the paper feed side slide guide of the means, and a movable guide is arranged around the platen drum on the entrance side facing the outlet of the paper feed side slide guide, and A guide device configured by a fixed guide is not arranged, and the paper discharging means of the image recording device is
In front of the entrance side of the movable guide of the image recording means, a paper discharge side slide guide with a paper discharge roller formed at the front end side with a receiving port for receiving the printed recording medium released from the rear end side by the reverse rotation of the platen drum. Is disposed, and a discharge-side cutter comprising a rotary blade and a fixed blade is disposed on the exit side of the discharge-side slide guide. Further, between the exit of the discharge-side slide guide and the discharge-side cutter. A paper scrap hitting bar is rotatably provided, and a paper discharge roller for discharging the finished printed recording medium from the inside of the apparatus is disposed on the discharge side of the paper discharge side cutter.

Further, according to the present invention, a thermal transfer ink ribbon is heated by a thermal head, and an image is recorded on a single sheet recording medium in which the heated coloring material is wound around a platen drum. In an image recording apparatus, a paper feed side cutter for cutting a recording medium wound in a roll into a single sheet, and a paper ejection for cutting a margin of a clamp portion of a clamper in a recording medium after printing is completed. By connecting the drive system of the side cutter with a single interlocking drive system and driving this drive system with a single motor,
That is, the feed-side cutter and the discharge-side cutter are configured to operate in synchronization.

Further, according to the invention as set forth in claim 5, in the invention as set forth in claim 4, a rotatable tapping device which faces the entry side of a discharge-side cutter and knocks down paper waste cut off by the cutter. A bar is provided, and the driving of the hitting bar is connected to the drive system of the cutters on the paper feeding side and the paper discharging side via an interlocking mechanism, and the hitting bar is operated in synchronization with the driving of each cutter to beat the paper debris. Dropping and preventing paper jam.

Further, according to the invention as set forth in claim 6, in the invention as set forth in claim 4, the movable guide of the guide device disposed along the outer periphery of the platen drum is connected to the feed side cutter via an interlocking mechanism. And a drive system for driving the cutter and the hitting bar, and opening and closing the movable guide in synchronization with the driving of the cutter and the hitting bar.

[0012]

The recording medium fed from the feeding roll is
After the leading end is stopped by a platen drum, the sheet is cut into one sheet-shaped recording medium by a paper feed side cutter. An image is recorded on the recording medium wound around the platen drum by the thermal transfer ink ribbon and the thermal head. Next, the printed recording medium enters the paper discharge side slide guide from the rear end by the reverse rotation of the platen drum, and the margin of the portion held by the clamper of the platen drum is cut by the paper discharge side cutter, and the paper discharge side rollers Emitted from the cabin. On the other hand, the paper debris cut by the cutter is beaten downward by a strike bar. The drive of the single drive motor is controlled by a control circuit, and the feed and discharge side cutters are operated synchronously by a series of drive mechanisms, and simultaneously drive the hitting bar and the movable guide.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 1 is a side view of the paper feeding unit 1, the image recording unit 20, the paper discharging unit 40, and the driving unit 60. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the paper feeding side cutter, a movable guide, a driving motor, and a driving system.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing parts in each part in order to make the paper feeding means 1, the image recording means 20, the paper discharging means 40, and the driving means 60 easy to understand.

In each of these drawings, a paper feeding means 1 includes a recording medium 3 wound around a payout side core 2 and a recording medium 3.
Rollers 4 and 4a for feeding out the recording medium 3 and the recording medium 3 inserted from the insert guides 5 and 5a are fed out by a fixed amount by the feed side rollers 8 and 8a of the feed side slide guide 9, and the leading end of the recording medium 3 is Rotating blade 7 and fixed blade 7 for cutting recording medium 3 after stopping on platen drum
a on the paper feed side cutter 6.

The image recording means 20 includes a thermal transfer ink ribbon and a thermal head (not shown), a platen drum 21, a solenoid-driven clamper 22 for holding the leading end of the recording medium 3 a on the surface of the platen drum 21, and a platen drum 21. A movable guide 24 with a pinch roller 24a and a fixed guide 26 following the movable guide 24. The rear end side of the recording medium wound around 21 is guided by the guides 24 and 25. 24b is the movable guide 2
4 is a spring that draws the spring 4 toward the platen drum 21. An arm receiving pin 24c is engaged with a distal end of a movable guide driving arm described later.

The paper discharging means 40 comprises upper and lower two paper discharging slide guides 41 for receiving and guiding the printed recording medium 3a unwound by the reverse rotation of the platen drum 21 from the rear end side.
41a, a paper discharge side cutter 42 including a paper discharge side rotary blade 43 and a fixed blade 43a attached to a rotary shaft 43b for cutting a margin serving as a clip margin of the clamper 22 in the recording medium 3a, and a paper discharge side rotation Paper-discharge-side feed rollers 44, 4 for feeding the printed recording medium between the blade 43 and the fixed blade 43a.
4a, and a hitting bar 45 attached to a rotating shaft 46 for knocking down cut-off paper debris at a front portion (entrance side) of the discharge-side rotating blade 43 and the fixed blade 43a of the sheet discharging means 40.
A lever 48 is attached to the rotating shaft 46 to rotate the rotating shaft 46 of the hitting bar 45 supported by the bearing 49. The lever 48 is attached to the engaging piece 69a of the paper discharge side cutter driving lever 69. The lever 48, the rotating shaft 46, and the hitting bar 45 are rotated by the rotation of the engagement piece 69a. Reference numeral 50 denotes a return spring for returning the rotary shaft 46 (bar 45) to the original position, and reference numerals 51 and 51a denote paper discharge rolls disposed on the output side of the paper discharge side cutter 42, which have been printed by the action of these rolls. The recording medium is ejected from the machine.

The driving means 60 includes a driving motor 61, a worm 63 attached to a rotating shaft 62 of the driving motor 61, a worm wheel 64 meshing with the worm 63 and rotatably attached to a shaft 65. A drive bar 66 having one end rotatably connected to a radial portion of the worm wheel 64 by a shaft 67, and a distal end side of the drive bar 66 rotatably connected by a pin 68, and a rotary blade 43 of the paper discharge side cutter 42. A paper discharge side cutter rotation lever 69 having a base fixed to the rotation shaft 43b of the paper discharge side, and a paper supply side cutter drive lever 71 rotatably connected to the free end side of the paper discharge side cutter rotation lever 69 with a pin 70. The paper feed side, which is rotatably connected to the tip of the paper feed side cutter drive lever 71 by a pin 73 and whose base is fixed to the rotating shaft 7 b of the paper feed side rotary blade 7. Rotator lever 72, an arm drive lever 74 fixed to the rotation shaft 7 b of the paper feed side rotary blade 7, and rotatably connected to the arm drive lever 74 by a pin 74 a, and the other end of the movable guide 24 A movable guide drive arm 75 that opens the entrance side of the movable guide 24 by pushing up the receiving pin 24c attached to the entrance side against the spring 24b. Reference numeral 76 denotes a slide guide slot provided in the movable guide drive arm 75, and reference numeral 77 denotes a slide guide screw located in the slide guide slot 76.

The operation of the image recording apparatus having the above configuration will be described below. The recording medium 3 wound on the feed-out core 2 is fed by feed-out rollers 4 and 4a, passes between the feed-side rotary blade 7 and the fixed blade 7a, and the rollers 8 and 8a, reaches the platen drum from the feed guide 9, and The tip is stopped by the clamper 22.

When the recording medium is clamped, the drive motor 61 is driven. The rotation of the motor 61 rotates the worm gear 63 → the worm wheel 64 by 180 ° (half a rotation).
By this 180 ° rotation, the drive bar 66 → the paper discharge side cutter rotation lever 69 → the paper supply side cutter drive lever 71 → the paper supply side cutter rotation lever 72 → the arm drive lever 74 → the movable guide drive arm 75 is driven. . As a result, the paper discharge side rotary blade 43 and the paper supply side rotary blade 7 rotate simultaneously, the rear end of the recording medium 3 is cut by one sheet on the paper feed side, and the clamp margin of the clamper is cut off on the paper discharge side. Cut at the same time. Further, the hitting bar 45 rotates and the cut paper dust is knocked down, and at the same time, the movable guide drive arm 75 slides to push up the receiving pin 24c, thereby opening the movable guide 24 (the position indicated by the chain line in FIG. 1).
In this opened state, a platen motor (not shown) for driving the platen drum 21 rotates the platen drum 21 counterclockwise in FIG. 1 and temporarily stops. Next, the drive motor 61
When the worm wheel 64 is further rotated by 180 °, the sheet feed side cutter 6, the sheet discharge side cutter 42, the movable guide arm 65, and the hitting bar 45 return to their original positions (the positions indicated by the solid lines in FIG. 1).

Next, the recording process will be described. The thermal transfer ink ribbon fed out of the ribbon cassette and the thermal head (not shown) descend onto the recording medium 3a wound around the platen drum 21, come down and press the thermal transfer ink ribbon onto the recording medium 3a. When the platen motor rotates, the thermal head is energized according to arbitrary dots in a manner synchronized with the rotation of the platen motor to generate heat.
a, and an image is recorded. After the end of the first color, the thermal head releases the pressure, temporarily separates from the platen drum 21, feeds out the ribbon from the ribbon cassette and searches for the next color, rotates the platen drum 21, and moves the head on the recording medium 3 a side. Delivery is performed. Then, the same operation is repeated again to record a color image on the recording medium 3a.

The recording medium 3a on which the color image is recorded is
When the platen drum 21 is rotated in the reverse direction, the recording medium 3a is free at the rear end side.
The recording medium 3a is released from the platen drum 21 while being guided by the recording medium 4, and the rear end of the unprinted recording medium 3a enters the entrance of the discharge side slide guides 41 and 41a.
4a, it is pulled and pulled off from the clamper 22 at the tip end. Then, the recording medium 3a passes between the paper discharge side rotary blade 43 and the fixed blade 43a, and is sandwiched between the paper discharge rollers 51, 51a.
When the recording medium 3a reaches the predetermined cutting position, the above-described paper discharge side rotary blade 43 rotates, and cuts the margin (FIG. 3w) held by the clamper 22. The cut paper waste 3b is immediately knocked down by the hitting bar 45 and discharged from the machine.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the flow of the recording medium fed out of the roll is advanced to the paper feeding means and the subsequent recording means, and the flow from the recording means to the paper discharging means is retreated. By arranging the respective means as described in (1), all the means and the drive system can be incorporated in the small space space. Therefore, the size of the apparatus can be reduced, and the movement of the recording medium can be efficiently performed, and the recording time can be significantly reduced.
The time required for recording (finish) one sheet is 14 to 15
Seconds. In addition, by synchronizing the movement of the paper feed side cutter, the movement of the movable guide, the movement of the discharge side cutter, and the operation of the hitting bar for hitting the margins with a single motor and a series of drive systems, The following effects can be obtained. 1. By forcibly knocking off the margins, paper jams are eliminated. 2. Since four operations are performed by a single motor, the size of the device, the cost of the device, and the power consumption can be reduced. 3. Since rotation of a single motor is simultaneously performed at four locations via a series of drive system link mechanisms, all can be operated accurately and synchronously. Therefore, the speed of image recording can be increased, the synchronization control can be easily performed, and the control circuit and the like can be simplified. 4. In the guide formed around the platen drum,
By attaching a pinch roller to the movable guide,
A high quality color image can be obtained without damaging the image recorded on the recording medium.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an image recording apparatus in which an arrangement of respective units and a synchronous operation mechanism according to the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an image recording apparatus in which an arrangement of each unit and a synchronous operation mechanism according to the present invention are implemented.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of each part drawn to make it easy to understand the disassembly and the synchronous operation mechanism of the arrangement of each means and the synchronous operation mechanism according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper feeding means 6 paper feeding side cutter 7 paper feeding side rotating blade 7 a fixed blade 20 recording means 21 platen drum 24 movable guide 40 paper discharging means 42 paper discharging side cutter 43 paper discharging side rotating cutter 43 a fixed cutter 45 hitting bar 60 drive Means 66 Driving bar 69 Discharge side cutter rotation lever 71 Paper supply side cutter drive lever 72 Paper supply side cutter rotation lever 75 Movable guide drive arm

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (Reference) B41J 13/10 B41J 13/10 3F101 13/22 13/22 15/04 15/04 B65H 5/12 B65H 5/12 A 29/20 29/20 29/52 29/52 35/08 35/08 F term (reference) 2C058 AB02 AB03 AB08 AB16 AC06 AE04 AF06 AF20 AF25 AF31 AF37 AF51 DA10 DA37 LA02 LA03 LA23 LA31 LA37 LA43 LB07 LB17 LB36 LC10 LC11 2C059 DD03 DD05 DD13 DD19 DD20 EE04 EE07 EE13 EE20 EE23 2C060 BA01 BC03 BC12 BC15 BC84 3C021 FA02 3F049 AA10 DA11 DA12 LA01 LB03 3F101 CA13 CC07 FB11 FB14 FE02 FE04 LA01 LB03

Claims (6)

[Claims] After stopping the leading end of a recording medium fed from a paper feed roll on a platen drum using a clamper, the recording medium is cut into one recording medium, and then wound around the platen drum. Recording a color image on a recording medium using a thermal head and a thermal transfer ink ribbon,
Next, the platen drum is rotated in the reverse direction with respect to the rotation direction at the time of recording, and the printed recording medium is unwound from the rear end side. Then, the clamp margin of the clamper is cut to finish a single color image. An image recording method comprising: 2. The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein the paper debris generated when the platen drum is rotated in the reverse direction to cut the clip margin of the clamper is knocked down simultaneously with the cutting. 3. The image recording medium wound up in a roll is cut into one sheet of recording medium, and the cut recording medium is wound around a platen drum, and the color material of the thermal transfer ink ribbon is transferred to a thermal head. After transferring the color material to the recording medium by heating the recording medium, the printed recording medium is released from the platen drum, and then the clamped portion of the released recording medium is cut to remove the margin. An image recording apparatus configured to finish a sheet of printed recording medium, wherein a sheet feeding unit of the apparatus feeds out the recording medium wound up in a roll shape between sheet feeding rollers, and feeds out the recording medium. Pass between the rotating blade and fixed blade of the cutter,
Furthermore, after a predetermined amount of the recording paper is fed out onto a paper-feeding-side slide guide with the paper-feeding side being sandwiched between paper-feeding rollers and the leading end of the recording paper is fixed to the platen drum using a clamper, the paper-feeding-side cutter is used. It is configured to cut into one sheet of recording medium, the image recording means of the image recording apparatus,
A platen drum with a clamper is arranged in front of the paper feed side slide guide of the paper supply means, and a movable guide is arranged around the platen drum at an entrance side opposed to an outlet of the paper supply side slide guide. And a guide device which is constituted by a fixed guide. The discharge means of the image recording apparatus is opened by a reverse rotation of a platen drum in front of the movable guide entrance side of the image recording means. A discharge-side slide guide with a discharge roller is formed at the front end side of the discharge-side slide guide. The discharge side slide guide has a receiving port for receiving the printed recording medium from the rear end side. A discharge side cutter composed of a fixed blade is disposed, and a paper scrap hitting bar is rotatably provided between the exit of the discharge side slide guide and the discharge side cutter. The possible discharge roller for discharging the printing already recording medium the finished on the discharge side of the discharge-side cutter from the machine is arranged structure, the image recording apparatus characterized. 4. An image recording apparatus in which a thermal transfer ink ribbon is heated by a thermal head and an image is recorded on one sheet of recording medium in which the heated coloring material is wound on a platen drum. A single interlocking drive drives the feed-side cutter that cuts the recording medium into a single sheet and the discharge-side cutter that cuts the margins between the clampers of the recording medium after printing is completed. An image recording apparatus, wherein a paper feed side cutter and a paper discharge side cutter are operated in synchronization by driving the drive system with a single motor. 5. A rotatable striking bar for striking paper debris cut by the cutter facing the entry side of the discharge-side cutter, and driving the striking bar with the sheet feeding side via an interlocking mechanism. The image according to claim 4, wherein the image forming apparatus is connected to a driving system of a cutter on a sheet discharging side, and configured to operate the hitting bar in synchronization with driving of each cutter to knock down paper debris and prevent paper jam. Recording device. 6. A movable guide of a guide device arranged along the outer periphery of the platen drum is connected to a drive system of a paper feed side cutter, a paper discharge side cutter and a hitting bar via an interlocking mechanism, and the respective cutters and hitting bars are connected. 5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the movable guide is configured to open and close in synchronization with the driving of the image recording apparatus.