JPH01178469A - Thermal transfer recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily eliminate a slippage in reciprocating conveyance, by providing a retract roller which operates for conveyance of recording paper in place of a head when the head is retracted and stops participating in the conveyance of the recording paper, and which is retracted and stops the operation when the head applies a pressure at the time of recording. CONSTITUTION:A retract roller 3 which can be retracted is provided at a position through which a thermal recording head 2 passes. The retract roller 3 presses recording paper with a shaft support element block pushed by a spring 13. At the time of recording, however, the shaft support element block is pulled by a cam 14, and thereby the retract roller 3 is detached from a platen roller and does not participate in conveyance of the recording paper. When the recording paper is returned, the thermal recording head 2 is pulled against a spring 8 by a rod 7 with the rotation of a cam 6, so as to release a pressure on the recording paper 19. At the same time, the retract roller 3 is returned by the spring 13 with the rotation of the cam 14, so as to press the recording paper 19 on a platen roller 1. When the recording paper is returned, accordingly, the conveyance is executed by an auxiliary roller 4 and the retract roller 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a color thermal transfer printer that outputs an image by reciprocating recording paper three times and superimposing three colors of Y, M, and C, and particularly relates to The present invention relates to a recording paper transport method suitable for eliminating color misregistration by matching the recording paper transport direction during recording and return.

[Conventional technology]

In the conventional device, as described in JP-A No. 62-103171, two recording paper pressing rollers (indicated by auxiliary rollers) are rotatably supported by bearings relative to the platen roller, but the bearing block was fixed with a degree of freedom only in the direction of suppression and was always involved in transportation.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-mentioned conventional technology, two holding rollers (auxiliary rollers) and a thermal recording head are involved in transporting the recording paper. During recording, the paper is transported by two pressure rollers and the head, and during return, transport is performed using only the two pressure rollers. Therefore, when considering the vectors of the conveying force at the three locations mentioned above during recording and during return, only the rotational directions of the two sets of presser rollers are reversed during recording and during return. In other words, since it is constantly involved in conveyance, the recording paper does not shift even when it goes back and forth.
However, in actual printing, the head unit is only required to carry the image during printing, so if there is a misalignment between the head conveyance direction and the presser roller conveyance direction.

A misalignment occurs between the conveyance direction during recording and the conveyance direction during return. Up to now, the positioning accuracy of the head and rollers has been strictly controlled to absolutely eliminate errors in each direction of conveyance. Therefore, there is a problem in that the manufacturing cost of one mechanism section increases. An object of the present invention is to easily eliminate deviations in reciprocating conveyance by providing five retract rollers that are involved in conveying recording paper only when the head is retracted, and by balancing conveyance by the head and conveyance by the retract rollers.

[Means to solve the problem]

The above purpose is to act on the recording paper conveyance in place of the head when the head is retracted and no longer participates in recording paper conveyance.
This is achieved by providing a retract roller that retracts and ceases to act when the head presses during recording.

[Effect]

The retract roller according to the present invention does not take part in conveying the recording paper during recording, but only takes part in conveying the recording paper when returning. By doing so, by balancing the conveyance by the retract roller and the conveyance by the head (assuming they are considered to be the same conveyance), the return conveyance when the head is retracted is the exact opposite of that during recording, so it is possible to record by reciprocating. No color shift occurs even when recording.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. First, FIG. 1 shows the structure of the retract roller according to the present invention and the conveying method during recording.

The recording paper 19 is taken out from the paper supply cassette 18 by a paper feed roller, the skew caused by the paper feeding is removed by a registration roller, and the recording paper 19 is conveyed to the platen roller section. The recording paper 19 is guided to the auxiliary roller section by the guide 15, and then conveyed to the thermal recording head section by the auxiliary roller 4, which is constantly pressed. The thermal recording head 2 is rotatably attached to a head mount 10 by a rotation pin 9. Further, the head 2 is pressed by a spring . . . 8, and presses the recording paper wound on the platen roller through the ink film. Further, when the recording paper is returned, the head 2 is retracted by the rod 7 by 60 rotations of the cam. The ink film is transported by a guide roller 12 and a peeling roller 11 to form an ink film transport bus. After the recording paper passes through the head 2 and the ink film is peeled off, it is wound around the platen roller 1 by a pressing roller 17 and conveyed by the rotation of the platen roller 1.

Furthermore, a retractable retractable roller 3 is provided at a position after the thermal recording head 2 has passed. The retract roller 3 connects the shaft support block to the springs 2...1.
3 to press the recording paper. However, during recording, the shaft support block is pulled by the cams 2 . . . 14, and the retract roller 3 is separated from the platen roller and does not take part in conveying the recording paper.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the conveyance of the recording paper when returning it will be explained. When returning the recording paper, the thermal recording head 2 is pulled against the spring 8 by the rod 7 as the cam 6 rotates, and the pressure on the recording paper 19 is released. At the same time, the retract roller 3 is returned by the springs 2 . . . 13 as the cams 2 . Therefore, when the recording paper is returned, it is transported by the auxiliary roller 4 and the retract roller 3.

Next, the conveying mechanism for balancing the head 2, which shows an application of the retract roller shown in FIG. 3, can be realized by using a plate-shaped rubbing plate, that is, a retract roller plate 20, as shown in FIG. 1 instead of the roller. At this time, record paper 1
Since frictional resistance acts on 9, it is necessary to reduce the friction by coating with a non-lubricated material.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the recording paper is always transported in a balanced manner (transportation in opposite directions) both during recording and when returning the recording paper, so that deviations between lines of the three recorded colors (Y, M, C) can be avoided. This has the effect of making it extremely small.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a side view of an embodiment of the invention. ■...Platen roller, 2...Thermal recording head, 3
... Retract roller, 4... Auxiliary roller, 5...
- Ink film roller, 20... retract plate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Consists of a platen roller, a thermal recording head, a plurality of recording paper transport rollers, and a plurality of recording paper holding rollers,
An ink film coated with Y, M, and C (yellow, magenta, and cyan) in three colors sequentially and recording paper are passed between the head and the platen roller, and the head is pressed during recording to record. In a color thermal transfer recording device that has a retract mechanism that releases the surface pressure when returning the paper and performs overwriting, when the head presses and records, the head retracts and does not take part in conveying the recording paper, and the head retracts. A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a retract roller is provided which takes part in conveying the recording paper when returning the recording paper.