JPH01317777A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform printing within a short time and to prevent the positional shift of recording paper during printing by containing a pulley moving mechanism for moving a movable pulley, on which an endless feed belt is wound in the vicinity of the inlet of a discharge passage, in a direction spacing apart from the inlet of the discharge passage. CONSTITUTION:When the printing of ink having a final color is started, a geared motor 18 is again driven and a gear 16 is rotated in a clockwise direction through a gear 17 and a revolving plate 15 is revolved upwardly and, therefore, movable pulleys 13, 13 are moved and displaced upwardly and a part of the feed endless belt 11 closing the inlet 20a of a discharge passage 20 is spaced apart from th inlet 20a. Recording paper 22 on which the ink of the final color is printed is guided to the inlet 20a on the leading end side already finished in printing thereof two be guided between paper discharge guides 19, 19. Even when the recording paper 22 is guided to the discharge passage 20 during the printing of the ink of the final color, the recording paper 20 is forcibly fed while held between a feed roller 9 and the feed endless belt 11. Therefore, the recording paper can be discharged during printing while the positional shift of the recording paper 22 is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer device that prints on recording paper using transfer paper.

[Conventional technology]

A thermal transfer printer device uses a thermal head to press a transfer paper with an ink layer on a film against the recording paper on a platen roller, and heats the transfer paper with a heating element of the thermal head to make the ink adhere to the recording paper. , This prints characters, etc.

By the way, in order to perform color printing, a yellow ink layer,
A transfer paper having a cyan ink layer and a magenta ink layer or a transfer paper further adding a black ink layer is used.
When such transfer paper is used, each time the platen roller is rotated to position the recording paper, the ink of each color ink layer is deposited, and the ink of each color is superimposed and printed on the recording paper. In order to perform such overlapping printing, the platen roller must be rotated multiple times, which takes a long time for printing.

Therefore, in the past, a clamping claw member was provided on the circumferential surface of the platen roller, and the above-mentioned overlapping printing was performed while the leading edge of the recording paper was held between the claw member, and the claw member was used when printing the last ink layer. The grip of the paper is released, and the portion of the recording paper that has already been printed is guided directly to the ejection path, thereby shortening the printing time.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when the grip of the claw members is released in the middle of printing, the recording paper is sent to the ejection path side by the pressing force of the thermal head and the frictional force between the recording paper and the circumferential surface of the platen roller. For this reason, if irregular tensile force is applied to the recording paper when winding the transfer paper at the time of release, or if the degree of adhesion (frictional force) between the transfer paper and the recording paper changes depending on the amount of print data, the position of the recording paper may shift. This has the drawback that so-called registration misalignment, in which dot positions shift, occurs.

Another method for holding the recording paper is to press a plurality of pressure rollers arranged at equal intervals around the circumferential surface of the platen roller, and press the recording paper against the platen roller with the pressure rollers to perform the overlapping printing described above. A thermal transfer printer device having a structure that performs this has also been proposed. However, when a pressure roller is used, it is necessary to guide the recording paper to the ejection path after all printing operations are completed, making it impossible to shorten the printing time. In addition, when the pressure roller increases the pressure force, there are problems such as the recording paper wrapping around the pressure roller side, so it is not possible to increase the pressure force, and as a result, the position of the recording paper often shifts. There were drawbacks.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and provides a thermal transfer printer device that can print in a short time and has a structure that prevents the recording paper from shifting during printing. The purpose is to provide.

[Means for Solving the Problems 1] The thermal transfer printer device of the present invention includes an endless conveying belt that forcibly conveys recording paper while keeping it in close contact with a platen roller, and an endless conveying belt that is wound near the entrance of a discharge path. It is characterized by including a movable pulley that is suspended, and a pulley moving mechanism that moves the movable pulley in a direction away from the entrance of the discharge path.

[Function] The recording paper is forcibly conveyed by the endless conveying belt to prevent the recording paper from shifting. Furthermore, the movable pulley is moved by the pulley moving mechanism before the printing operation is completed. As a result, a part of the endless belt for conveyance is separated from the entrance of the ejection path, and the part of the recording paper that has already been printed is guided to the ejection path while being held by the endless belt for printing during the printing operation, thereby increasing the printing time. Shorten.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a thermal transfer printer device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, l is a platen roller, and the platen roller 1 has a hard rubber layer on a metal core, and has a circumferential surface with a circumference smaller than the length of the recording paper. ing. A thermal head 2 is located above the platen roller 1. Thermal head 2 is attached to holding member 3
The holding member 3 is rotatably supported by a shaft 3a. The lower part of the thermal head 2 is inserted into the center hole of the transfer paper cassette 4. This cassette 4
A supply roll 6 on which the transfer paper 5 is wound and a take-up roll 7 on which the used portion of the supply roll is wound are housed.

Below the platen roller 1, a pair of feed rollers 8.9 are arranged in a substantially triangular shape with the platen roller 1 at the apex. These feed rollers 8.9 are provided with a hard rubber layer on a metal core, and have the same outer diameter as the platen roller 1.
Each axis is arranged parallel to the axis of the platen roller 1. Platen roller 1 and each feed roller 8.
A gear (not shown) having the same outer diameter and the same number of teeth is attached to the shaft 9. Since these gears are rotated in the same direction and at the same speed by a driving means (not shown), the platen roller 1 and the feed roller 8.9 are also rotated in the same direction and at the same speed.

A tangent line connecting the peripheral surfaces of the platen roller 1 and the feeding roller 8.9 forms a running path for the recording paper, and endless conveying belts 1o and 11 are disposed along this running path. One endless belt 10 for conveyance is wound around a plurality of pulleys 12 rotatably supported at fixed positions, and
is pressed against the circumferential surface of the The other endless belt for conveyance 1
1 is a pulley 12.1 rotatably supported in a fixed position.
2 and is wound around a movable pulley 13.13 that is moved as will be described later, and is pressed against the circumferential surface of the feed roller 9.

Note that a guide plate 14 is provided between the platen roller 1 and each feeding roller 8.9, facing the endless conveying belt 1O111.
are arranged.

The movable pulley 13.13 is rotatably attached to a substantially triangular rotating plate 15. This rotating plate 15 is attached to a gear 16 coaxially arranged with the feed roller 9, and is rotated by the rotation of this gear 16. Gear 16 has another gear 17
are in mesh with each other, and this gear 17 is rotationally driven by a geared motor 18 including a speed reduction mechanism.

Below the take-up roll 7 are a pair of upper and lower paper discharge guide plates 19.
19 are arranged. These paper ejection guide plates 19.19
forms a recording paper discharge path 20, one end of which extends to the vicinity of the movable boot 913. Therefore, the entrance 20a of the discharge path 20 is normally blocked by a part of the endless conveying belt 11.

Note that a paper feed cassette 21 is installed below the paper discharge guide plate 19. A large number of recording papers 22 are stored in this paper feeding cassette 21, and the uppermost recording paper 22 has a paper feeding roller 2.
3 is pressed.

Next, the operation of the printer device of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the geared motor 18 is driven, the gear 16 rotates in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow via the gear 17, and the rotating plate 15 rotates upward. Therefore, since the movable pulley 13.13 moves upward and is displaced, the introduction plate 2
Endless conveying belt 11 that was blocking the introduction path 25 on 4
A part of it is separated from the introduction path 25.

After the rotating plate 15 moves, the paper feed roller 23 rotates in the counterclockwise direction indicated by the arrow, and the uppermost recording paper 22 is separated from the other recording papers and fed onto the introduction plate 24. Therefore, after that, the recording paper 22 is introduced through the guide path 25 between the lower end of the endless conveying belt 10 and the lower guide plate 14.

Next, the platen roller 1 and the feeding roller 8.9 rotate in the same direction and at the same speed via a drive means and gears (not shown), so that the endless conveying belt 10.11 rotates as a result. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, the recording paper 22 is conveyed to the platen roller 1 while being held between the feeding roller 8 and the endless conveying belt 1o. When the leading edge of the recording paper 22 moves to the printing start position of the platen roller 1, it is detected by a detector (not shown), and the rotation of the platen roller 1 and the feeding roller 8.9 is stopped. In this case, a pressure bonding mechanism (not shown) is activated by a detection signal from the detector, the holding member 3 is rotated about the shaft 3a, and the thermal head 2 is attached to the circumferential surface of the platen roller 1 via the recording paper 22 and the transfer paper 5. It is crimped.

Next, each time the heating element of the thermal head 2 is controlled to be energized, the platen roller 1 and the feeding roller 8.9 are rotated, so that the leading and trailing ends of the recording paper 22 are transported by the endless conveying belts 1o and 11. The recording paper 22 is conveyed while being pinched.
Yellow ink or the like on the transfer paper 5 is printed as the first color. When the recording paper 22 moves to a predetermined position during printing of the first color, this movement is detected by a detection means such as a photocoupler (not shown), and the geared motor 18 is driven in the opposite direction based on the detection signal. Therefore, the rotating plate 15 rotates downward, and as shown in FIG. 3, the movable pulley 13.1
3 moves to its original position, the endless conveyor belt 11
The introduction path 25 is closed at the lower part of the . In this state, the entrance 20a of the discharge path 20 is also closed by the endless conveying belt 11.

Thereafter, the platen roller 1 and the feeding roller 8.9 are rotated, and the recording paper 22 on which the printing of the - color has been completed is conveyed while being held between the feeding roller and the endless conveying belt 10.11, and the thermal head 2 Since the energization is controlled, the ink after the second color is printed in an overlapping manner on the recording paper 22.

Now, when printing of the final color ink is started, the geared motor 18 is driven again, the gear 16 is rotated clockwise via the gear 17, and the rotating plate 15 is moved upward as shown in FIG. As it rotates, the movable pulley 13.13 moves upward and is displaced, and a part of the endless conveying belt 11 that was blocking the entrance 20a of the discharge path 20 is separated from the entrance 20a. Therefore, the recording paper 22 on which the final color ink is printed
The leading end side of the sheet, on which printing has already been completed, is guided to the entrance 22a, and guided between the sheet discharge guide plates 19 and 19 (discharge path 20).

In this way, even if the recording paper 22 is guided to the discharge path 20 during printing of the final color ink, the recording paper 22 is held between the feeding roller 9 and the endless conveying belt 11 and is forcibly conveyed. . Therefore, it is possible to eject the recording paper 22 during printing while preventing misalignment of the recording paper 22, so that color printing without registration shift can be performed on the recording paper 22 in a short time.

Incidentally, if the paper feeding operation shown in FIG. 2 is performed while the rotating plate 15 is rotated upward as shown in FIG. 4, printing on the recording paper 22 can be performed continuously. .

In the above embodiment, the movement of the movable pulleys 13 and 13 is controlled by the rotating plate 1.
5. The gears 16, 17 and the geared motor 18 are used to control the movable pulley 13.1 by other means such as a link mechanism.
3 may be moved.

Further, it is preferable that the geared motor 18 is not used independently, but that another motor or the like for rotating the holding member 3 is used in common as a driving means.

By the way, the present invention can of course be applied to a thermal transfer type printer device having a structure in which the endless conveying belt is directly pressed against the platen roller 1 without using the feeding roller 8.9.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the recording paper is forcibly conveyed by the endless conveying belt, and before the printing operation ends, the movable pulley is moved by the pulley moving mechanism to move a part of the endless conveying belt to the discharge path. Since the recording paper is separated from the entrance and the recording paper is ejected during printing, it is possible to provide a thermal transfer printer device that can perform color printing without registration misregistration in a short time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a thermal transfer printer device according to the present invention;
2 to 4 are front views for explaining the operation of the device. l...Platen roller, 2...Thermal head, 5
...Transfer paper, 8.9...Feeding roller, 10,11.
...Endless belt for conveyance, 13...Movable pulley, 15.
... Rotating plate, 16.17... Gear, 18... Geared motor, 20... Discharge path, 20 a-Population, 22-...
·Recording paper. Patent applicant: Kunio Kakiki, representative of Victor Japan Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer printer device comprising a platen roller to which a thermal head is pressed through a transfer paper and a recording paper, and an ejection path for ejecting the printed recording paper,
an endless belt for conveyance that forcibly conveys the recording paper while keeping it in close contact with the platen roller; a movable pulley around which the endless belt for conveyance is wound near the entrance of the discharge path; and a pulley moving mechanism that moves the movable pulley in a direction away from the entrance of the discharge path to guide the discharge path.