JPH01286876A - Ink film device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an ink film from being wrinkled due to failure in mounting the ink film in position by providing a pay-out core at one end of the ink film, and a take-up core at the other end of the ink film. CONSTITUTION:An ink film R has the leading end of an ink film roll R' adhered to a take-up core 32 by an adhesive tape or the like, and protrusions 33a, 33fb and 34a, 34b of retainer plates 33, 34 are inserted respectively into end parts of holes 27a, 32a of a pay-out core 27 and the take-up core 32 to prevent deformations. At the time of mounting the ink film R in a recording part, the retainer plates 33, 34 are removed, and the take-up core 32 adhered to the leading end of the ink film roll R' is mounted in the recording part, whereby the operator can set the ink film R in position without taking care of the parallelism of the cores 27, 32 or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to an ink film device that can be attached to a main body of a thermal transfer recording device.

(Conventional Technology) In recent years, advances in electronics have been remarkable, and this influence has spread to general offices, and the rationalization and mechanization of office work is progressing under the name of office automation. In particular, the importance of recording devices as terminal devices is being recognized and increasing. Among these recording devices, thermal transfer printers have recently attracted attention.

Thermal transfer printers have simple equipment, are tamper-proof, and have excellent storage stability. In addition, multi-colored
It has many advantages, such as being relatively easy to create in full color.

The above thermal transfer printer has two types of printing methods depending on the recording method on the recording paper.
There are two types. One of them is a serial printer.
For example, in a Kanji printer with a 24 x 24 dot configuration, 24 heating resistors are arranged vertically, and are driven sequentially in response to a recording signal to record while scanning horizontally line by line. One type of printer is a line printer, in which heating resistors corresponding to the entire width of the recording paper are arranged horizontally and recorded while being scanned in the vertical direction.

In any of the above methods, an ink film carrying ink is layered on a recording paper, and then a thermal head equipped with multiple heat generating resistors is pressed into contact with the recording paper, and the heat generating resistors are selectively energized according to the recording signal. This dissolves the ink and transfers it to recording paper to record characters and figures.

Therefore, in this recording method, one of the important points is to bring the heating resistor of the thermal head, ink film, and recording paper into close contact as much as possible to reduce thermal resistance and to make it easier for ink to be transferred from the ink film to the recording paper. If the heat generating resistor and the ink film, or the ink film and the recording paper do not come into close contact with each other due to wrinkles in the ink film or the like, and even a slight air gap is created, the ink will not be transferred properly to that part.

So-called "transfer ripples" occur, resulting in recording defects.

That is, it is necessary and indispensable to prevent the occurrence of wrinkles in the ink film in order to obtain good recording quality.

However, since ink films are made by carrying several micrometers of ink on an extremely thin base film, usually around 10 micrometers thick, they lack stiffness and are extremely sensitive to wrinkles, making it difficult to handle, package, and in printers. Extreme care must be taken when transporting.

In the case of serial printers, which are currently in practical use as recording terminals for word processors, etc., the ink film used is in the form of a tape with a width of about 1011I11, so even if wrinkles occur, the width is narrow enough that the wrinkles can easily escape to both ends. As a result, "transfer ripples" are relatively less likely to occur. However, when a line type printer is required due to the demand for increased recording speed, it is necessary to use an ink film with a width comparable to the width of the recording paper.

When using such a wide ink film, it is difficult for wrinkles to escape to both ends, so once wrinkles occur due to meandering of the ink film or some other cause, the wrinkles increase as the recording length increases, eventually resulting in "transfer ripples". There are various possible causes for the wrinkles mentioned above, but one of them is how to make sure that the ink film is wrinkle-free when it is first set in the printer, and that it is not misaligned parallel to the transport direction. This is due to how it is set.

FIG. 4 is a recording section of a thermal transfer type recording apparatus, FIG. 5 is a typical conventional ink film mounting method, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the shape of an ink film roll. In Fig. 4, (1) is a metal heat sink, and a thermal head (2) is installed on this heat sink (1), and the roll wound around the winding core (3) on the supply side. The shaped ink fill A(R) has guide rollers (4a) and (4b)
, (4c) and (4d), the tip of the ink film (R) is attached and set on the winding core (5) on the winding side with an adhesive tape (6) as shown in FIG. 6, for example. At that time, a mark (m) is provided on the guide roller (4d) to align the set position of the ink film (R), and the - side edge of the ink film (R) must be aligned with the above mark (m) by visual inspection. A method was being used to do so.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such a conventional method, even a fairly experienced operator is likely to make mistakes in alignment, and it is extremely troublesome to have to redo the alignment each time.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ink film device that allows even a relatively inexperienced operator to easily set an ink film.

[Structure of the invention]

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides an ink film device that can be attached to a thermal transfer recording device main body that is equipped with a recording section that transfers solid ink to a transfer material by melting, softening, or sublimating it by heat. is an ink film that carries the ink, a supply winding core that is provided on one end of the ink film and the ink film is wound in a roll, and that supplies the ink film to the recording section, and an ink film that is provided on the other end of the ink film. A winding-side winding core is provided and winds up the ink film supplied by the supply-side winding core via the recording section.

(Function) That is, the ink film device of the present invention is configured such that one end of the ink film is wound around a supply side winding core, and the other end is previously wound around an attached winding side winding core.
Since the ink film wound on the winding-side winding core is attached via the recording section, the ink film can be easily set without causing wrinkles in the ink film as in the conventional case.

(Example) The present invention will be described below based on an example shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of a thermal transfer recording device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a recording section showing the main parts thereof, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an ink film device showing an embodiment of the present invention. 6 In Figure 1, (11) is the recording paper (
This paper cassette (1
A paper feed roller (12) that comes into contact with the uppermost recording paper (P) is arranged on the take-out side of the paper feed roller (12).
), the recording paper (P) is taken out one by one.

A pair of aligning rollers (13a) and (13b) are provided on the transfer side of the paper feed roller (12) in contact with each other, and these aligning rollers (13a) and (13b)
The recording paper (P) is driven by the guide body (14), (
Is) while being guided by the platen roller (16). A pair of drive rollers (17a) and (17b) are pressed into contact with this platen roller (16),
By driving the drive rollers (17a) and (17b), the platen roller (Is) is driven, and the recording paper (P
) is conveyed by holding it in place. On the discharge side of the platen roller (16), the recording paper (P
) guide bodies (18), (19) and (
21), (22), and conveyance rollers (
20a).

(20b), (23a), and (23b) are provided, and are configured to discharge the conveyed recording paper (P) to a paper discharge tray (24).

On the other hand, a thermal head (26) in which a plurality of heating resistors are provided on a metal heat sink (25) is attached to the lower side of the platen roller (16).
16) and the thermal head (26).
P) and the ink film (R) can be moved while being pressed against each other. That is, ink film (
R) is a ribbon-like film whose upper surface carries solid ink that melts, softens, or sublimates with heat. (2B).

(29), (30) and a pair of guide rollers (3
1a) and (31b) to the winding core (32) on the winding side.
It is configured to be wound up. Here, the ink film (R) to be wound around the winding core (27) is attached with a winding core (32) on the winding side in advance as shown in FIG. The tip of the roll (R') is adhered with adhesive tape or adhesive, and the ink film roll (
A winding core (27) is used to prevent R') from being pressed and deformed.

A pair of holding plates (33) are provided with protrusions (33a), (33b) and (34a), (34b) that can be inserted with slight gaps between the holes (27a) and (32a) of (32). ) and (34) to form a core (27).

(32) is configured to be attached from both sides.

Next, the operation of the present invention based on the above configuration will be explained. In FIG. 1, when the paper feed roller (12) is driven by a paper feed command and the uppermost recording paper (P) stored in the paper feed cassette (11) is taken out, the recording paper (P
) is an aligning roller (13a).

After the tip collides with (13b) and is aligned, it is conveyed in a pinched manner and transferred to a pair of drive rollers (17a) and (17b). Driven by the ylJ rollers (L7a) and (17b), it is sent between the platen roller (16) and the driven platen roller (16). Then, a command to start recording is issued, the thermal head (26) rises, and the platen roller (16)
pressure weld. Therefore, by driving and rotating the platen roller (16) clockwise, the recording paper CP) and the ink film (R) are conveyed at the same speed. At this time, by selectively supplying power to the heating resistor of the thermal head (26) from an external control unit (not shown), the ink on the ink film (R) is melted and transferred onto the recording paper (P). Characters and figures are recorded. The above ink film (R) is platen roller (16)
is unwound from the winding core (27) on the supply side by the drive of
It travels in the direction shown by the arrow via guide rollers (28), (29), (30), (31a), (31b), and the winding core (32) on the winding side is synchronized with the platen roller (16). The drive rotates and is wound up.

On the other hand, the platen roller (16) and the thermal head (26)
), that is, the recording paper (P) on which printing was performed at the printing point (A), is connected to the guide body (18), (19)
, (20), (21), and is guided by the transport rollers (
20a), (20b), (23a), (23b
) in the direction shown by the arrow, and the paper is transported to the output tray (
24).

By the way, the tip of the ink film (R') is adhered in advance to the winding core (32) on the winding side with adhesive tape or the like, and the ink film (R) is attached to the winding core (32) on the supply side.
27) and the hole (27a) of the winding core (32) on the winding side
And (32a) has holding plates (33) on both sides.
.

Protrusions (33a), (33b) and (34) of (34)
a) and (34b) are inserted to prevent deformation, so when installing it in the recording section, please use the above-mentioned restraining plate (34b).
33) and (34) and attaching the winding side winding core (32) glued to the tip of the ink film roll (R') to the recording section, the operator can connect the winding cores (27) and (32). can be set without paying attention to parallelism etc.

In the above embodiment, the tip of the ink film roll (R') is adhered to the winding core (32) on the winding side, and a projection (33a) is provided on a pair of restraining plates (33) and (34).

(33b) and (34a), (34b) were inserted from both sides of the winding cores (27), (32) to prevent deformation, but the -
There is no problem even if it is inserted on the side.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when an ink film roll with an ink film adhered to the winding-side winding core is mounted on a recording device, the operator can check the parallelism of the supply-side winding core and the winding-side winding core, etc. Since the ink film can be set without paying any attention, it is possible to prevent wrinkles from occurring in the ink film due to failure during mounting, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a thermal transfer recording device using an ink film roll showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the recording section of the same device, and FIG. 3 is an embodiment of the present invention. An exploded perspective view of an ink film roll and a holding plate showing an example, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a recording section in a conventional thermal transfer recording device, and FIG. 5 shows a typical conventional ink film mounting method. A perspective view, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the shape of an ink film roll. P...Recording paper R...Ink film. 6... Adhesive tape 16... Platen rollers 17a, 17b... Drive roller 25
... Heating plate 26 ... Thermal head (recording section) 27
... Supply side winding core 32 ... Winding side winding core
33.34...Suppressing plates 33a, 33b, 34a
, 34b-Protrusion R'-... Ink film roll agent Patent attorney Norio Ogo @Figure 3 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An ink film device that can be attached to a main body of a thermal transfer recording device that is equipped with a recording section that transfers solid ink by melting, softening, or sublimating it by heat onto a transfer material carries the ink. an ink film provided at one end of the ink film, the ink film is wound into a roll, and a supply winding core for supplying the ink film to the recording section; An ink film device comprising: a winding side winding core that winds up the ink film supplied by the side winding core via the recording section.