JPH03187777A - Thermal transfer recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an erroneous insertion of an ink ribbon cassette and to carry out printing in an indicated color by providing a detecting body to distinguish the color of an ink ribbon at different positions of ink ribbon cassettes and a detecting switch to detect the erroneous insertion of the cassette in a cassette bed. CONSTITUTION:Detecting bodies 16a-16c are provided at different positions of ink ribbon cassettes 13a-13c to distinguish the color of ink ribbons. Detecting switches 17a-17c are provided in a cassette state 14 at positions corresponding to the respective detecting bodies 16a-16c so as to detect an erroneous insertion of cassettes 13a-13c through contact with the detecting bodies. If the ink ribbon cassettes 13a-13c are erroneously inserted to the cassette stage 14, the detecting bodies 16a-16c are not possible to be in touch with the detecting switches 17a-17c, whereby the detecting switches are kept OFF. Accordingly, the erroneous insertion of the ink ribbon cassettes 13a-13c can be detected. Thus, the erroneous insertion of the ink ribbon cassette can be prevented, the correct and printing with the specified color can be achieved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a multicolor thermal transfer recording device using a serial printing method.

<Prior Art> As shown in FIGS. 9(a) to 9(c), a multicolor thermal transfer recording device includes a carriage 2 on which a recording head 1 is mounted and which reciprocates in a scanning direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction; Different types of ink ribbon force set above) 3a = 3t++3c
The ink ribbon cassette 3 a is placed on the cassette table 4 on which the ink ribbon cassette 3 a is superimposed, and the ink ribbon cassette 3 a is scanned several times with the recording spatula l'1.
The apparatus includes an elevating device 5 for elevating the cassette table 4 relative to the carriage 2 in order to sequentially select a desired ink ribbon from among the ink ribbons t 3 b and 3 c and to make it face the recording head 1 .

In addition, in the figure, 6 is a platen.

In the above configuration, a cyan (blue) ink ribbon cassette 3as is mounted on the first stage of the cassette table 2, a magenta (red) ink ribbon cassette 3b is mounted on the second stage, and a yellow ink ribbon cassette 3C is mounted on the third stage. The first row of yellow is printed, then the cassette stand 4 is raised to print the second stage of magenta, and the cassette stage 4 is further raised to print the first stage of cyan to perform full color printing.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the above-mentioned conventional technology, the identification of the ink ribbon in the ink ribbon cassette relies on a sticker indicating the ink ribbon type displayed on the ink ribbon cassette, and the cassette stand does not display the ink ribbon type. There is no function to identify the

Therefore, if the ink ribbon cassettes are inserted in the wrong order due to incorrect insertion, or if two or three ink ribbon cassettes of the same color are inserted and printed without noticing, correct full-color printing will not be possible. For example, if you set a magenta ink ribbon cassette in the first stage of the cassette table, a yellow ink ribbon cassette in the second stage, and a cyan ink ribbon cassette in the third stage,
Printing is performed in the order of cyan, yellow, and magenta, resulting in poor full-color tones.

Similarly, when performing single-color printing, incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassette results in printing in a different color.

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording device that can identify an ink ribbon cassette before printing, prevent incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassette, and print in a correctly designated color.

<Means for Solving the Problems> As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the means for solving the problems according to the present invention includes a carriage 12 on which a recording head 11 is mounted and reciprocated in the scanning direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, and the carriage 12
Different types of ink ribbon cassettes 13a, l
a cassette stand 14 on which 3b-13c is superimposed and placed;
While the recording head 10 is scanning a plurality of times, the cassette table 14 is moved against the carriage 12 in order to sequentially select a desired ink ribbon from among the ink ribbon types 13a=13b and 13c and make it face the recording head 11. In a thermal transfer recording apparatus equipped with an elevating device 15 for elevating and lowering each ink ribbon cassette 13a.

Detectors 16a, 16b=16c for identifying the color of the ink ribbon are provided at mutually different positions on the cassette table 14, respectively.

The detection body 16a-16 is located at a position corresponding to 16bt16c.
b, whether or not it touches 16c) 13a-1
Detection switch 1 that detects incorrect insertion of 3b and 13c? a,
17b and 17c are provided.

<Operation> In the above problem solving means, the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b=13c are stacked and placed on the cassette stand 14, and while the recording head 11 is scanned a plurality of times, the elevating device 1
5, the cassette table 14 is raised and lowered relative to the carriage 12, and a desired ink ribbon is sequentially selected from among the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b, and 13c, and the recording head 11 is moved up and down.
Full-color printing is performed by facing the

At this time, the ink ribbon cassettes 13a and 13b.

When the ink ribbon cassette 13c is inserted into a predetermined position on the cassette stand 14, the detection bodies 16a, 16b, 16c contact the corresponding detection switches 17a, 17b, 17c, turn on the detection switches 17a, 17b, 17c, and remove the ink ribbon cassette. It is detected that 13a+13b*13c have been correctly inserted into the cassette stand 14.

On the other hand, the ink ribbon force is applied to the cassette stand 14)
When 13a, 13b, 13c are inserted incorrectly, the detection bodies 16a, 16b, 16c are the detection switches 17a.

17b*17c cannot be contacted, the detection switches 17a, 17b, and 17c remain in the off state, and erroneous insertion of the ink ribbon cassette 13a=13btl 3c can be detected.

Therefore, the ink ribbon and cassette can be identified before printing to prevent incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassette, and printing can be completed in the correctly specified color.

<Example> An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette used in a thermal transfer recording device showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
(c) is a diagram showing the positional relationship of the detecting bodies of each ink ribbon cassette, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cassette stand, FIG. 4 is a side view of the cassette stand, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the identification operation of the ink ribbon cassette. 6 is a side view showing a lifting device for a cassette table, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a main part showing a scanning section of a carriage, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a main part of a thermal transfer recording apparatus.

As shown in the figure, the thermal transfer recording device of this embodiment has a main body 1
a carriage 12 on which a recording head 11 is mounted and moves back and forth in a scanning direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction;
Different types of cyan (blue) ink ribbon cassette 13a, magenta (red) ink ribbon cassette 1
3b and yellow ink ribbon cassette 13
A cassette table 14 on which the ink ribbons c are superimposed and placed, and a desired ink ribbon from among the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b, and 13c are sequentially selected and made to face the recording head 11 while the recording head 10 is scanned a plurality of times. and a lifting device 15 for lifting and lowering the cassette table 14 with respect to the carriage 12.

and each of the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b,
Detectors 16a, 16b, 16c for identifying the color of the ink ribbon are provided at mutually different positions of 13c,
Each detection object 1611.16by16 of the cassette stand 14
13m, 13b, 13c)
A detection switch 17a detects incorrect insertion.

17b and 17c are provided.

The recording head 11 is a thermal head, and the sixth
As shown in the figure, it is supported at the front part of the carriage 12 so as to be rotatable about the lower end in the direction of the platen 18 (see diagram tAB). A peeling lever 19 is arranged near the recording head 11, as shown in FIG. Similar to the recording head 11, the peeling lever 19 is rotatably supported in the front part of the carriage 12 in the direction of the platen 18 around its lower end, and adjusts the ribbon peeling angle according to the printing speed. It is possible to adjust.

The carriage 12 is formed into a box shape as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and its front part is slidably fitted into a guide rod 20 and attached to a timing belt 22 via a hook 21. ing.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the drive device for moving the carriage 12 in the scanning direction includes a pair of left and right pulley gears 24 and 26 disposed at both ends in the scanning direction, and a drive device wound around the pulley gears 24 and 26. It is composed of the endless timing belt 22 and a carriage motor 44 that rotationally drives the pulley gears 24 and 26.

Further, the carriage 12 rotatably supports a winding wheel 23 that penetrates the cassette table 14 on the rear side of the recording head 11 and winds the ribbon in one direction as the carriage 12 moves in the scanning direction. and the peeling lever 19
On the side of the first pulley gear 24 of the recording head 11, a first paper guide 25 whose upper end is curved toward the platen 18 to prevent folding of the paper after printing is installed.
On the 6 side, the upper end is curved toward the platen 18, and the side edge on the printing direction side is curved toward the platen 18 to prevent the paper from folding toward the front and from swelling during printing. A fence has been erected.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, a ribbon sensor (reflective photointerrupter) 28 is provided at the front of the carriage 12 to detect the color ribbon, black ribbon, and end of the ribbon. The detection results are displayed on the display section. This makes it possible to check whether the print mode matches the installed ribbon, and also to notify the end of the ribbon. Opposed to the ribbon sensor 28, the second paper side 27 is provided with a reflecting plate 29 for reflecting the ribbon transmitted light from the ribbon sensor 28 to the light receiving section of the sensor 28. Therefore, discrimination between a color ribbon and a black ribbon is performed based on the high level (color) and low level (black) signals of the anti-JIt light. Further, the ribbon end is determined based on a signal from the striped pattern of the ribbon.

As shown in FIGS. 6-7, the rotational drive mechanism for the take-up reel 23 includes a rack 30 arranged in the scanning direction behind the carriage 12, and a rack 30 that engages with the rack 30 in accordance with the rotation of the recording head 11 to rotate the carriage 12. and a take-up reel rotation gear 31 that rotates in accordance with the movement of the take-up reel 23 and transmits this rotational force to the take-up reel 23. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 32 denotes rollers for supporting the carriage, which slide on the toothless upper surface of the rack 30.

The cassette stand 14 is formed into a box shape as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, and a cassette is placed on the cassette stand 14 by elastically pressing the cassette in the direction of the recording hole I'11 at the rear of the cassette stand 14. A cassette presser 33 is provided to prevent the cassette from shaking.

As shown in FIG. 6, the lifting device 15 has one end connected to the lower end bin 3.
4.35 to the carriage 12, the other end is the upper end pin 36
．． A link mechanism is provided which is connected to each other by 37.

The link mechanism is arranged on both the left and right sides of the cassette table 14, and has a pantograph mechanism in which a first link arm 38 and a second link arm 39 are connected at the center by a central bin 40. Then, the upper end pin 37 of the first link arm 38 is fitted into the horizontal groove 41 of the cassette stand 14,
The lower end pin 35 of the second link arm 39 is attached to the carriage 12.
It is fitted into the lateral groove 42 of. Furthermore, a horizontal shaft 43 is provided at the upper end of the second link arm 39 to connect the link mechanisms on both the left and right sides of the cassette stand 14, as shown in FIG.

The detection bodies 16a, 16b, 16c are connected to each ink ribbon cassette 13a, 13b, 13 as shown in
A protrusion formed protrudingly on the same side of C, the protrusion 1
6a, 16b, 16c are detection switches 17a, 17b, 17c when each ink ribbon cassette 13m, 13b, 13c is mounted at a predetermined position on the cassette stand 14.
It has the function of turning on by contacting it.

The cyan identification protrusion 16a is as shown in FIG. 2(c).
The magenta identification protrusion 16b is arranged at the rear of the side surface of the cyan ink ribbon cassette 13a, as shown in FIG. Second
As shown in the figure (,), yellow ink ribbon cassette 13a
located at the front of the side.

The detection switches 17a, 17b, and 17c are microswitches, and as shown in FIG.
The magenta detection switch 17b is arranged at the front of the first stage on the side surface of the cassette table 14, and the magenta detection switch 17b is arranged at the center of the second stage on the side surface of the cassette table 14 so as to be in contact with the protrusion 16b.
is arranged at the rear of the third stage on the side surface of the cassette stand 14 so as to be in contact with the protrusion 16a.

In FIG. 8, 45 is a feed roller that conveys the paper in the paper feeding direction, and 46 is a motor that drives the feed roller 45.

In the above configuration, the cyan ink ribbon cassette 13a is placed on the first stage of the cassette table 14, the magenta ink ribbon cassette 13b is placed on the third stage, and the yellow ink ribbon cassette 13c is placed on the third stage, and is raised and lowered while the recording head 11 is scanned multiple times. The device 15 moves the cassette table 14 up and down with respect to the carriage 12, and sequentially selects a desired ink ribbon from among the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b, and 13c, faces the recording head 11, and prints in the order of yellow magenta and cyan. to print in full color.

At this time, ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b=13
When C is inserted into a predetermined position on the cassette stand 14, the detection body protrusions H6a, 16b, 16c come into contact with the corresponding detection switches 17a, 17b, 17c and turn on the detection switches 17ay17b+17c, as shown in FIG. and ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b.

13c is correctly inserted into the cassette stand 14.

On the other hand, the ink ribbon cassette 1
If 3a, 13b, 13c are inserted incorrectly, the detection object 1
6a=16b, 16c is a detection switch 17a.

17b, 17c cannot be contacted, the detection switches 17a, 17b=17c remain in the off state, and erroneous insertion of the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b, 13c can be detected.

In this way, each ink ribbon cassette 13m, 13b, 1
detection body protrusions) 16a at mutually different positions on the side surface of 3c;
16b and 16c are provided, and the detection body 16a is placed at a position corresponding to each detection body 16a, 16b=16c on the cassette stand 14.
, 16b, 16c depending on whether or not it contacts)
By providing detection switches 17a, 17b, and 17c to detect incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassettes 13a, 13b, and 13c, the ink ribbon cassette can be identified before printing and incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassette can be prevented, so that the correctly specified color can be printed. You will be able to do this.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and it goes without saying that many modifications and changes can be made to the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiments described above, the ink ribbon cassettes are identified by projections, but recesses may be provided in different positions of each ink ribbon cassette to turn the detection switch on and off.

Furthermore, although the above embodiment has been described with respect to the case where the ink ribbon cassettes are stacked in three tiers, the present invention can also be applied to the case where the ink ribbon cassettes are stacked in four or three tiers.

<Effects of the Invention> As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the detection bodies are provided in different positions in each ink ribbon cassette, and the position of the detection body corresponding to each detection body on the cassette stand is determined whether or not it contacts the detection body. A detection switch is provided to detect incorrect insertion of the cassette, so when the ink ribbon cassette is inserted into the specified position on the cassette stand, the detection object contacts the corresponding detection switch, turns on the detection switch, and If you insert the ink ribbon cassette incorrectly,
The object to be detected comes into contact with the detection switch, and the detection switch remains in the off state.

Therefore, the ink ribbon cassette can be identified before printing to prevent incorrect insertion of the ink ribbon cassette, and there are excellent effects such as printing in the correctly specified color becomes easier.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ink ribbon cassette used in a thermal transfer recording device showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS.
(c) is a diagram showing the positional relationship of the detecting bodies of each ink ribbon cassette, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cassette stand, FIG. 4 is a side view of the cassette stand, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the identification operation of the ink ribbon cassette. 6 is a side view showing a lifting device for a cassette table, FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a main part showing a scanning section of a carriage, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a main part of a thermal transfer recording device.
FIGS. 9(a) to 9(c) are diagrams showing the operation of full-color printing in a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus. 1 3b, 1 stand, body, 1: recording head, 12: carriage, 13a, 13c: ink ribbon cassette, 14: cassette 15: lifting device, 1
6a, 16b, 16c: detection 7a, 17b, 17c
: Detection switch. Applicant Sharp Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] A carriage on which a recording head is mounted and reciprocates in the scanning direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction, a cassette stand on which different types of ink ribbon cassettes are stacked and placed above the carriage, and a period during which the recording head is scanned multiple times. and a lifting device that lifts and lowers the cassette stand relative to a carriage in order to sequentially select desired ink ribbons from the ink ribbon cassettes and make them face the recording head. Detectors for identifying the color of the ink ribbon are provided at different positions, and are turned on and off depending on whether or not the detection body contacts each detection body at a position corresponding to each detection body on the cassette stand to detect incorrect insertion of the cassette. A thermal transfer recording device characterized by being provided with a detection switch.