JPH03112678A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To start smoothly image forming operation by preventing generation of an incomplete state of a lever operation, missing out of the operation, etc. by a method wherein when a transfer means is installed to a storage means to be stored in a body, a fitting means which fits a support means interlocked with the storage, is provided. CONSTITUTION:When a ribbon drawing out part 100 is pushed into a body 100, a gear 120 provided to a cartridge equipping rack 102 starts to be engaged with a rack 122 on the body side. A rack 121 on the drawing out side, i.e. a ribbon shaft 106 on an insertion side starts to move left. When the ribbon drawing out part 100 is further pushed into the body 1, the ribbon shaft 106 is inserted into a ribbon bearing 107. At the same time, a ribbon shaft 109 on the body side is inserted into a ribbon bearing 108. A ribbon cartridge 103 or ink ribbon simple substance cores 30, 31 are supported with the ribbon shafts 106, 109 via the ribbon bearings 107, 108, and an image formable state comes to be obtained. Further, where the ribbon drawing out part 100 is drawn out from the body 1, reverse operation is performed. The ribbon drawing out part 100 is thoroughly drawn out from the body 1, and mounting and removing of the ribbon cartridge 103 or an ink ribbon 26 are freely performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a thermal transfer printer or a thermal transfer copying machine that forms a full-color image on paper according to image information. In particular, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which an ink ribbon can be easily attached and detached.

(Prior Art) In recent years, color copying machines have been developed and put into practical use as image forming apparatuses using digital technology and thermal transfer ink ribbons. FIG. 15 shows a perspective view of the appearance of such an image forming apparatus.

In the figure, 1 is the main body of the copying machine, and the upper part of the main body 1 is on a document table (transparent glass) 2 fixed to the main body, and a document cover 5 is provided on the document table 2 so that it can be opened and closed freely. It is being Further, on the right side of the figure, a paper feed cassette 20 for supplying original documents and a paper discharge tray 28 are provided.

Furthermore, a ribbon drawer 100 is provided at the lower front of the main body 1.
The ribbon drawer section 100 can be taken in and out by sliding on slide rails 101a and 101b. This ribbon drawer part 1
On the cartridge mounting base 102 constituting the ribbon cartridge 10, the ink ribbon 26 wound between the delivery side winding core 30 and the winding side winding core 31 is housed.
3 is now installed.

FIG. 16 is a sectional view of the ribbon drawer 100 pulled out from the main body 1. The ribbon cartridge 103 is mounted on the cartridge mounting base 102/<-
When 104a and 104b are on the side A in the figure, the ribbon cartridge 103 is removable and the lever 10
4a and 104b are rotated around the fulcrum O toward the side B in the drawing, the insertion-side ribbon shaft 106 supported by the bearing 105 is inserted into the ribbon bearing 107. Next, by pushing the ribbon drawer 100 in the direction of arrow C in the figure, the first
As shown in FIG. 7, the ribbon bearing 108 is inserted into the ribbon holder 109 provided on the main body 1 side, and the image forming operation becomes possible.

In this way, when replacing the ribbon cartridge 103, the ribbon cartridge 103 is mounted on the ribbon mounting base 102, and then the levers 104a and 104b are operated to fix the ribbon cartridge 103 on the ribbon mounting base 102.
After that, it is necessary to push the ribbon drawer 100 into the main body 1, so the levers 104a and 104b
There is a drawback that the image forming operation cannot be started smoothly because the operation is incomplete or the operation is forgotten.

(Problem 8 to be Solved by the Invention) When replacing the ribbon cartridge as described above, the present invention is capable of attaching the ribbon cartridge to the ribbon mounting base and then operating a lever to fix the ribbon cartridge to the ribbon mounting base. However, since it is necessary to push the ribbon drawer part into the main body 1 after that, the drawback that the lever operation may be incomplete or forgotten, and the image forming operation cannot be started smoothly is eliminated. By eliminating manual operations such as operating a lever and fixing the ribbon cartridge to the ribbon mounting table, it is possible to prevent incomplete lever operation or forgetting to operate the lever. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can start an image forming operation.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a rotating means for rotating an image forming medium, a transfer means that runs while contacting the rotating means, and a transfer means that rotates the image forming medium. A thermal recording means that transfers an image while being in pressure contact with the image forming medium rotated by the rotating means; a storage means that is removably installed in the main body of the apparatus and stores the transfer means; and a storage means that is stored in the storage means. and a fitting means for fitting the support means in conjunction with the storage when the transfer means is attached to the storage means and stored in the main body. It is characterized by

(Function) According to the present invention, the transfer means is stored in the storage means provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus in a freely insertable and removable manner, and when the storage means is inserted into the main body of the image forming apparatus, the transfer means is inserted into the main body of the image forming apparatus in conjunction with the insertion. The transfer means is fitted and set in the support means by the coupling means, and then an image is formed by the thermal recording means while the transfer means is running in contact with an image forming medium rotated by the rotation means. It is.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same parts as those in the conventional structure shown in FIGS. 15 to 17 will be described with the same reference numerals.

FIG. 1 shows an external perspective view of a thermal transfer type color copying machine capable of selectively making multicolor copies as an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-section. That is, 1 is a main body of a copying machine, and an operation panel (not shown) is provided at the front of the upper surface of the main body 1. The upper part of the main body 1 is a document scanning section 3 that scans and reads a document set on a document table (transparent glass) 2, and the lower part is an image forming section 4. Further, 5 is a document cover provided on the document table 2 so as to be openable and closable. Furthermore, a ribbon drawer section 100 is provided at the lower front of the main body 1. Note that the document table 2 is fixed to the main body 1.

At the longitudinal end of the document table 2, there are
), a fixed scale 50 is provided which serves as a reference for setting the document. The fixed scale 50 is composed of a transparent part and a white opaque part. Pointers 51 and 52 as size indicators are opposed to the transparent portion. This guideline 51.52 is the third
As shown in Figure (b), it is fixed to a belt 57 that is stretched between pulleys 54 and 55. The pulley 55 is rotated by a motor 58, and the distance between the pointers 51 and 52 is changed by driving the rotation of the motor 58 according to the set paper size, magnification, etc. It looks like this. This guideline 51.5
The range indicated by 2 is the width in the vertical direction as the copyable range.

Further, a white reference plate 59 is provided on the upper surface of the end of the document table 2 below the fixed scale 50 .

The document scanning section 3 is configured as shown in FIG. 4, for example. That is, the first lamp is equipped with the illumination lamp 6 as a light source.
A carriage 7, a second carriage 8 that bends the optical path with a mirror, a lens 9, and a photoelectric converter 1 that converts the reflected light from the document tray.
1, and a mirror part 10 that corrects the optical path length when changing the magnification;
It is comprised of a photoelectric converter 11 that receives reflected light from a document plate, and a drive system (not shown) that changes the positions of these parts.

The first carriage 7 includes an illumination lamp 6 that irradiates light onto the document tray, a glue deflector 12 that serves as a reflector that collects the light from the illumination lamp 6 onto the document surface, and a second carriage that directs the reflected light from the document tray. A mirror 13 that guides the camera to the 8 side is mounted.

The first carriage 8 is equipped with mirrors 8a and 8b that guide the light guided by the mirror 13 to the lens 9. The first and second carriages 7.8 are connected to each other by a timing belt (not shown).
move in the same direction at 1/2 the speed of the first carriage 7. This makes it possible to scan while keeping the optical path length up to the lens 9 constant.

The lens 9 has a fixed focal length and is moved in the optical axis direction when changing the magnification. This lens 9 may be composed of a variable focal length lens such as a zoom lens.

The mirror part 10 has two mirrors 10a.

10b, and those mirrors 10a according to the change in optical path length corresponding to the selected magnification ratio.

The position of the lens 10b is changed, and by bending the optical path of the light from the lens 9 with the two mirrors 10a and 10b, the light is guided to the photoelectric converter 11.

The photoelectric converter 11 photoelectrically converts the light reflected from the original paper to separate and output the image on the original paper as color signals of cyan, green, and yellow (or red, green, and blue) light. For example, the main text is composed of a CCDCD beline image sensor. In this case, one pixel of the document is divided into three consecutive elements (C,
G.

Yl corresponds to R, GSB). The above photoelectric converter 1
The output of 1 is supplied to an A/D converter 91, which will be described later.

The above first and second carriages 7.8, lens 9, mirror 1
0a and 10b are each moved using a stepping motor (not shown) as a driving source. As shown in FIG. 5, the first and second carriages 7.8 actuate a timing belt 19 that is stretched between a drive pulley 14 connected to the rotating shaft of the stepping motor and idler pulleys 15 and 16. It will be moved accordingly. The mirror 10a, IQb and lens 9 are each moved by separate stepping motors (not shown). The lens 9 is
A spiral shaft (not shown) is rotated by a corresponding stepping motor, and the spiral shaft is moved in the direction of the optical axis.

The image forming section 4 is configured as shown in FIG. 2, for example. That is, the platen drum 22 is disposed approximately at the center of the image forming section 4 . The platen drum 22 has a periphery made of an elastic material such as rubber, and functions as a platen roller for the thermal head 24. The platen drum 22 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing, thereby wrapping the paper P around the platen drum 22 to prevent the paper P from shifting during overlapping printing.

Around the platen drum 22, sheets of paper P are placed at predetermined intervals.
Pressure rollers 25, . The circumference of the platen drum 22 is slightly longer than the length of the maximum paper size in the longitudinal direction.

A thermal head 2 is located below the platen drum 22.
4 are arranged. The thermal head 24 is attached to a heat radiator integrally formed on the rear end surface of the holder.

An ink ribbon 26 as an image forming medium is interposed between the platen drum 22 and the thermal head 24. The ink ribbon 26 is loaded by inserting the ink ribbon cartridge 103 attached to the ribbon drawer 100 into the main body 1 (details will be described later). Above ink ribbon 2
The winding cores 30 and 31 of No. 6 are connected to a drive shaft of a motor (not shown) via a drive force transmission mechanism (not shown), and are rotationally driven as necessary.

The thermal head 24 includes a thermal head pressure contact cam 3
By rotating 2, it moves up and down according to the cam shape,
This allows the contact and separation from the platen drum 22 to be controlled.

A paper feed roller 41 is provided at the lower right portion of the main body 1, and is configured to take out sheets of paper P as an image forming medium stored in the paper feed cassette 20 one by one. The paper P taken out by the paper feed roller 41 is transferred to the transport roller 4
2 through a guide 43 toward the platen drum 22, gripper 23, pressing roller 25, etc.
• The sheet is wound around the platen drum 22, thereby making it possible to convey the sheet accurately.

Here, the paper feed cassette 20 is detachable from the side of the main body 1. Note that 46 in FIG. 2 is a manual paper feeding device for manually feeding paper P and the like. The paper P fed from the manual paper feeder 46 is also wound around the platen drum 22 in the same manner as described above.

The sheet P, whose leading end is fixed by the gripper 23, is wound around the platen drum 22 by rotation in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and after the leading end passes through the printing area, the thermal head 24 is pressed against the platen drum 22, and printing is performed. will be held.

- When the color printing is completed, the platen drum 22 has made approximately one rotation. Here, the thermal head 24 is once released, the ink ribbon 26 is wound up, and the next color is located.

Then, the platen drum 22 starts rotating again in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, printing is performed by the thermal head 24, and the next color is overprinted (printed).

In this manner, in the case of full-color copying, image formation is performed by four operations of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, or three operations of yellow, magenta, and cyan.

In the case of a single color such as black, it is performed in one operation.

When discharging paper, the platen drum 22 is rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure until the rear end of the paper P reaches the paper discharge guide 27, and when it reaches the guide 27 for discharging the paper, the platen drum 22 is rotated in the direction of the arrow E in the figure. The rear end of the paper P is separated from the platen drum 22 by a separation claw (not shown), and the paper discharge guide 27 is rotated.
lead to. Finally, the tip of the paper P is held by the gripper 23.
The paper P, on which copies have been made, is released and transported by the paper ejection guide 27 and is ejected onto the paper ejection tray 28.

Next, the ribbon drawer section 100, which is a feature of the present invention, will be explained in detail. When the image forming apparatus operates, the ribbon drawer 100 is housed in the main body 1, as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, when replacing the ink ribbon 26, the ribbon drawer 100 is pulled out from the main body 1, as shown in FIG. That is, the ribbon drawer section 100
is configured to be able to be inserted into and removed from the main body 1 by slide rails 101a and 101b.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the ribbon drawer 100. As shown in the figure, an accommodating part 110 of the feeding-side winding core 30 and an accommodating part 111 of the winding-side winding core 31 are each formed in a concave shape, and members 112a and 112b that slide on the slide rails 101a and 101b are provided on the side surfaces. is provided. Further, the front cover 113 forms part of the external appearance.

When installing the ink ribbon 26 made up of a single ink ribbon in the ribbon pull-out section 110 configured in this way, as shown in FIG. The side winding cores 31 are fitted to the housing portions Ill, respectively. Further, when the ink ribbon 26 housed in the ribbon cartridge 103 is to be attached, the ink ribbon cartridge 103 is attached as it is, matching the four parts, as shown in FIG.

In other words, as shown in FIG.
00, set the ink ribbon alone or the ribbon cartridge 103, and then open the ribbon drawer 1.
00 into the main body 1 to replace the ink ribbon 26.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon drawer 100 pulled out from the main body 1. A ribbon cartridge 10 containing an ink ribbon 26 is mounted on the cartridge mounting base 102.
3 or a single ink ribbon 26 wound around cores 30 and 31 is attached. This ribbon 2
Ribbon bearings 107 and 108 are provided at both ends of each of the feeding-side winding core 30 and the winding-side winding core 31 of No. 6. Also,
Lower front part of cartridge mounting base 102 (right side in the figure)
A gear 120 is provided. The ribbon shaft 106 on the insertion side to which a rack 121 that is provided so as to mesh with the gear 120 is fixed is supported by a bearing 105, and is movable in the left-right direction in the figure. Then, as the ribbon shaft 106 moves to the left in the figure, the ribbon bearing 10
7 to rotatably support the winding cores 30, 31 of the ink ribbon 26. On the other hand, ribbon shaft 1
By moving 0B to the right in the figure, the ribbon shaft 106 is detached from the ribbon bearing 107, and in this state, the ribbon cartridge 103 or the single ink ribbon 26 wound around the core 30, 31 can be attached and detached. .

Also, on the main body 1 side, a rack 1 is provided which meshes with the gear 120 when the ribbon drawer part 100 is inserted into the main body 1.
22 and the ribbon bearing 108
A ribbon shaft 109 is provided which fits into the ribbon shaft 109.

In such a configuration, when the ribbon drawer 100 is pushed into the main body 1, the cartridge mounting base 102 is placed at a predetermined position.
The gear 120 provided at
That is, the ribbon shaft 106 on the insertion side starts moving to the left. In this state, the ribbon drawer 100 is further inserted into the main body 1.
When pushed in, the ribbon shaft 106 on the insertion side supported by the bearing 105 is inserted into the ribbon bearing 107. At the same time, the ribbon shaft 109 on the main body side is inserted into the ribbon bearing 108. When the ribbon drawer 100 is completely inserted into the main body 1, as shown in FIG.
Ribbon shaft 1.0 G via ribbon bearings 107, 108
, 109, and becomes ready for image formation.

Further, when pulling out the ribbon drawer 100 from the main body 1, the operation opposite to the above is performed, and when the ribbon drawer 100 is completely pulled out from the main body 1, it is not wound around the ribbon cartridge 103 or the cores 30, 31. The single ink ribbon 26 can be freely attached and detached.

In this way, since the ink ribbon 26 is automatically set in conjunction with the insertion and removal of the ribbon drawer 100, there is no need to operate the lever as in the conventional case. There is no possibility of incomplete conditions or forgotten operations.

FIG. 13 schematically shows the overall control system, which includes a main control section 81, a first sub-control section 82, and a second sub-control section 83. The main control unit 81 includes an operation panel 80, a memory 99, a correction circuit 84, a luminance/color difference separation circuit 85, an image quality improvement circuit 86, a color signal conversion circuit 87, a binarization circuit 88, a first
It is connected to the sub-control unit 82 and the second sub-control unit 83, respectively, and controls these units.

The first sub-control section 82 is connected to a light source control section 89, a motor drive section 90, a photoelectric converter 11, an A/D converter 91, and a resolution conversion section 92, and is in charge of controlling these. There is. The light source control unit 8 is connected to the illumination lamp 6 and controls its lighting and light amount. That is,
The illumination lamp 6 is turned on during normal image reading operation. The motor drive unit 90 includes the scanning motor 18
drive.

The second sub-control unit 83 includes a thermal head temperature control unit 93,
It is connected to the thermal head 24, various detection switches 94, and drive section 95, respectively, and controls these. The drive unit 95 is connected to a drive system 96 such as a motor and a solenoid, and drives the drive system 96 .

The memory 99 stores reference data obtained by A/D converting the light reflected by the five white reference plates.

The correction circuit 84 performs standardization (shading correction, that is, variation correction of the photoelectric converter 11 ).

Further, the color signal conversion circuit 87 will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 14. The luminance signal (I), color difference signal 1 (C1), and color difference signal 2 (C2) sent from the image quality improvement circuit 86 are sent to the color signal conversion circuit 87, and are converted by the color signal conversion circuit 87. One of the color signals of YSMSC, , and B is sent to the binarization circuit 88. At this time, the selection of the Y, M, and CSB color signals is performed by the main control section 81. That is, as shown in the table below, the main control section 81 controls two signals by the combination of signals a and b.
YSMSC sent to digitization circuit 88.

The B color signal is selected. The above color signal selection is as follows:
Automatically selected sequentially (e.g. Y-M-C→B order)
It has become so.

Table 1 Next, the operation in the above configuration will be explained. It is assumed that the ribbon drawer 100 is completely inserted into the main body 1 and is ready for image formation. For example, the operator now specifies copying conditions such as magnification using the operation panel. Then,
The main control unit 81 determines the copyable range (width in the vertical direction) based on the size of the paper P in the paper feed cassette 20, the copy magnification, etc., and drives the motor 58 according to the result of this determination. As a result, the pointers 51 and 52 are moved to indicate the copyable range determined by the specified copying conditions and the size of the paper P.

In response to this instruction, the operator places the document tray and presses a copy start key (not shown). Then, the main control section 81 drives the motor 58 to move the pointer 51.degree. 52 to a position equal to or larger than the maximum document width (for example, 297 mm for A3 size), that is, to a non-image area. Further, the main control section 81 turns on the illumination lamp 6 and moves the first and second carriages 7.8. Thereby, the light from the illumination lamp 6 is irradiated onto the white reference plate 59 and the document plate via the document table 2.

The reflected light from these white reference plate 59 and original plate is reflected by mirrors 13, 8a, 8b, lens 9, and mirrors 10a, 10b.
are guided to the photoelectric converter 11 via the . This photoelectric converter 11 separates the light into analog color signals of cyan (C), green (G), yellow (Y), or red (R), green (G), and blue (B). /D converter 91. The A/D converter 91 converts each analog color signal into a digital signal. The signal from the white reference plate 59 from the A/D converter 91 is stored in the memory 99 as reference data. The original signal from the A/D converter 91 is output to the resolution converter 92.

The resolution conversion unit 92 performs resolution conversion to match the resolution of the photoelectric converter 11 and the resolution of the thermal head 24, and sends the result to the correction circuit 84. At this time, if the resolutions of the photoelectric converter 11 and the thermal head 24 are the same, the above resolution conversion process is omitted. Correction circuit 8
4 are C, G, Y, sent from the resolution converter 92;
Alternatively, each color signal of RlG and B is standardized using the reference data stored in the memory 99, that is, correction processing (shading correction) is performed to correct variations in the photoelectric converter 11, and the results are used as luminance. Color difference separation circuit 8
Send to 5. The luminance color difference separation circuit 85 receives C and G signals sent from the correction circuit 84.

Various calculation processes are performed on each color signal of Y, R, G, and B to produce a luminance signal (I), color difference signal 1 (C1), and color difference signal 2.
(C2) and sent to the image quality improvement circuit 86. The image quality improvement circuit 86 analyzes the luminance signal, color difference signal 1, and color difference signal 2 sent from the luminance color difference separation circuit 85,
Image quality improvement processing such as edge emphasis and character identification is performed on the signal, and the signal is sent to the color signal conversion circuit 87. The color signal conversion circuit 87 receives a luminance signal, a color difference signal 1, and a color difference signal 2 that have been subjected to image quality improvement processing.
Performs color conversion based on , yellow (Y), magenta (
M), cyan (C), black (B) [three primary colors (Y, M, C) plus B during printing].
(signal corresponding to the degree) and sends it to the binarization circuit 88.

The binarization circuit 88 receives the color signals (Y, M, etc.) sent from the color signal conversion circuit 87.

C, B) is subjected to area gradation conversion, that is, binarization, by a dither method or the like, and the binarized signal is sent to the thermal head temperature control section 93. The thermal head temperature control section 93 sends a print signal to the thermal head 24 based on the binarized signal supplied from the binarization circuit 88 .

Further, in response to the input of the copy start key (not shown), the paper P in the paper feed cassette 20 is taken out by the paper feed roller 41, and the taken out paper P is conveyed by the conveyance roller 42 and passed through the guide 43. Through the platen drum 22
and its tip is fixed by a gripper 23.

As a result, the paper P is wound around the platen drum 22.

In response to this state, the thermal head 24 is brought into pressure contact with the platen drum 22, and prints (that is, forms an image) on the paper P wound around the platen drum 22 in accordance with the print signal. Then, the above operation is changed to Y,
A full-color image is formed by repeating the process for each of the M, C, and B colors.

When the printing is finished, the main control section 81 turns off the illumination lamp 6, discharges the paper P wound around the platen drum 22, and ends the copying operation.

As described above, the ink ribbon 26 is stored in the ribbon drawer part 100 that is removably provided in the image forming apparatus main body 1, and when the ribbon drawer part 100 is inserted into the image forming apparatus main body 1, The ribbon shaft 108.109 is fitted into the ribbon bearing 107.109 attached to the end of the winding core 30.3, on which the ink ribbon 26 is wound by the action of the gear 120 and the racks 121, 122. Since I set the ribbon 26,
This eliminates the need to operate the lever as in the past, and it is possible to avoid situations where the lever operation is incomplete or the lever operation is forgotten.

[Effects of the Invention] As detailed above, according to the present invention, by eliminating the manual operation of operating the lever to fix the ribbon cartridge to the ribbon mounting base, it is possible to prevent incomplete lever operation. It is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can smoothly start an image forming operation while preventing forgotten operations.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 to 14 are for explaining the present invention in detail. Figure 1 is an external perspective view with the ribbon drawer inserted, and Figure 2 schematically shows the overall configuration. A sectional view, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the arrangement of the pointer and the white reference plate, FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the main part of FIG. 2,
Fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a part of the structure, Fig. 6 is an external perspective view with the ribbon drawer section pulled out, Fig. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing the structure of the ribbon drawer section, and Fig. 8 9 is a diagram showing a state in which the ribbon unit and the ribbon pull-out part are connected, FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the state in which the ribbon cartridge is connected to the ribbon bow extension part, and FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the state in which the ribbon is set. FIG. 11 is a schematic side view with the ribbon drawer pulled out, FIG. 12 is a schematic side view with the ribbon drawer inserted, and FIG. 13 is a block diagram schematically showing the overall control system. FIG. 14 is a block diagram for explaining the color signal conversion circuit in detail, and FIGS. 15 to 17 are for explaining the conventional image forming apparatus.
Fig. 5 is a diagram for explaining the state in which the ribbon is set, Fig. 16 is a schematic side view with the ribbon drawer section pulled out,
FIG. 17 is a schematic side view with the ribbon drawer inserted. 1... Image forming apparatus main body, 2... Original table, 3...
Original scanning section, 4... Image forming section, 22... Platen drum (rotating means) 24... Thermal head (thermal recording means) 26... Ink ribbon (transfer means), 3
0... Delivery side winding core, 31... Winding side winding core, 100
... Ribbon drawer (storage means) 101a. 101b...Slide rail, 102...Ribbon mounting stand, 103...Ribbon cartridge, 105...
...Bearing, 106°109...Ribbon shaft (instruction means)
, 107, 108... Ribbon bearing, 120... Gear (fitting means), 121.122... Rack (fitting means), D... Document, P... Paper (image forming medium) ).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A rotation means for rotating an image forming medium; a transfer means running while in contact with the rotating means; and a transfer means running while being in contact with the image forming medium; a thermal recording means for transferring the image; a storage means that is removably installed in the main body of the apparatus and stores the transfer means; a support means for supporting the transfer means stored in the storage means; An image forming apparatus comprising: a fitting means for fitting the support means in conjunction with the storage when the transfer means is attached and stored in the main body.