JPH05309908A - Color printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the assembling and disassembling of a printer and a paper feed device by providing a connector between the drive arm and follower arm on a paper feed lever driving route so as to freely connect and separate both arms. CONSTITUTION:Since a follower arm 129 is attached to the rotary shaft 92 being the terminal of a paper feed lever driving route 120, the connecting and separating operations of a drive arm 127 and the follower arm 129 by a connector 128 are easily performed at the outermost position outside the bracket of a drive mechanism. Since the drive arm 127 and the follower arm 129 can be freely connected and separated by the connector 128, a printer and a paper feed device can be respectively independently assembled and separated. The connector 128 is constituted of a pair of the pins 140 integrally molded in parallel to the rotary shaft 92 on both sides of the leading end of the follower arm 129 and a pair of the grooves 141 integrally formed to the leading end of the drive arm 127.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a color printer which prints a color image by a thermal transfer method using a cut sheet of printing paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a photographic printing paper cut into A3 size or the like is supplied from a paper feed tray to a platen and wound around the outer periphery of the platen, and an ink ribbon hung between a pair of reels is heated by a thermal head. The pressure is applied to the cut paper on the outer circumference, and the cut paper is transferred by the rotation drive of the platen, at the same time, the ink ribbon is transferred together with the cut paper, and the transfer operation of the cut paper and the ink ribbon is repeated several times, so that the ink A sublimation color material (dye) of yellow, cyan, and magenta (three primary colors) applied to the ribbon is printed on the cut paper by the thermal transfer method so that the color image is printed on the cut paper. There is a color printer.

In this type of color printer, the cut paper in the paper feed tray is fed to the platen of the printing apparatus by a paper feed lever that is driven to rotate in synchronism with the pressing and separating operations of the thermal head with respect to the platen. It had been.

[0004]

However, this type of color printer has a printing device having a thermal head, a platen and an ink ribbon, and a paper feed lever for feeding the cut paper in the paper feed tray to the platen of the printing device. A paper feeding device and a thermal head / paper feeding lever driving mechanism for simultaneously driving the thermal head and the paper feeding lever by one motor are configured in three blocks, and the thermal head / paper feeding lever driving mechanism is a printing device. It was attached across both the blocks of the paper feeding device and the paper feeding device.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to remove the printing device and the paper feeding device independently at the time of repair, the thermal head / paper feeding lever drive mechanism must be disassembled, and the disassembling work is very troublesome. There was a problem to say.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a color printer in which assembling and disassembling the printing apparatus and the sheet feeding apparatus are very simple.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a color printer for printing an image using a cut sheet of photographic paper, comprising: a thermal head, a platen, an ink ribbon. A sheet feeding device having a sheet feeding lever for intermittently feeding the cut sheets stacked and accommodated in a sheet feeding tray to the image printing device; A thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism for rotating the paper feed lever in synchronism with the thermal head and rotating the paper feed lever in synchronization with the thermal head. In the paper feed lever provided on the drive path, a coupler that is connectable and separable between the drive side arm and the driven side arm is provided. . According to a second aspect of the present invention, the connector is composed of a pin and a groove into which the pin is fitted against the elasticity. According to a third aspect of the present invention, the driven arm is attached to the rotary shaft of the paper feed lever.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the color printer of the present invention constructed as described above, the paper feeding in the thermal head / paper feeding lever drive mechanism mounted across both blocks of the printing device and the paper feeding device is described. Since a coupler that can be connected / disconnected is provided between the drive side arm and the driven side arm on the lever drive path, the drive side arm and the driven side arm can be freely connected / separated by this coupler. Thus, the printing device and the paper feeding device can be independently assembled and disassembled. According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the connector is constituted by the pin and the groove into which the pin is fitted against the elasticity, the operation of connecting and disconnecting the driving side arm and the driven side arm can be performed very easily. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the driven arm is attached to the rotary shaft of the paper feeding lever which is the end of the paper feeding lever drive path. It can be done easily at the outermost position of the drive mechanism.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the color printer of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Outline of Color Printer] First, an outline of the color printer will be described with reference to FIG.

This color printer 1 uses printing paper A3
A color image is printed on a cut sheet 2 cut into a size or the like. Then, at a position near one side of the front panel 3a of the printer body 3 (position near the right side in FIG. 13), from the bottom, the insertion port 5 of the paper feed tray 4, the discharge port 6 of the cut paper 2, the operation panel 7, and the like. Is provided.
Further, the printing device 8 is housed in the printer main body 3 at one side (left side in FIG. 13) of the mounting position of the paper feed tray 4, and the platen 80 of the printing device 8 ejects paper from a paper ejection device described later. It is arranged in parallel with the direction of arrow d.

Then, a large number of cut sheets 2 are fed to a sheet feed tray 4
The sheets are vertically stacked and accommodated at once, and the paper feed tray 4 is horizontally inserted into the printer body 3 from the insertion opening 5 of the front panel 3a in the direction of arrow a and mounted.

At the start of printing, the uppermost cut sheet 2 in the paper feed tray 4 is fed to the platen 80 of the printing device 8 from below by the paper feed device, which is indicated by an arrow a, which is the mounting direction of the paper feed tray 4. Arrow b, which is the direction perpendicular to the direction
Paper is fed from the direction.

After the printing is completed, the cut sheet 2 is discharged from the upper side of the platen 80 of the printing apparatus 8 to the upper position of the paper feed tray 4 in the direction of arrow c which is the opposite direction of the direction of arrow b.

Then, after that, by a sheet discharging device described later, the cut sheet 2 is in a direction orthogonal to the arrow c direction which is the transport direction of the cut sheet 2 at the time of printing, and the sheet feeding tray 4
The sheet is ejected in the direction of arrow d, which is the opposite direction to the mounting direction, and is horizontally fed to the sheet ejection port 6.

[Mode explanation of color printer] Next,
Each mode of the color printer will be described in order with reference to FIGS.

First, FIG. 9 shows the mounting state of the paper feed tray 4, in which the paper receiving plate 4 is placed on the bottom portion 4a of the paper feed tray 4.
b is placed, and a large number of cut papers 2 are stacked on the paper receiving plate 4b and housed in the paper feed tray 4.
Then, the paper feed tray 4 is horizontally inserted between a paper feed lever 90 constituting the paper feed device 9 arranged at the bottom of the printer body 3 and a paper feed belt 91, and the paper feed tray 4 has a bottom 4 a. The opening 4c formed in is set right above the paper feed lever 90.

Next, FIG. 10 shows the paper feeding mode. The paper feeding lever 90 of the paper feeding device 9 is rotationally driven by the rotation shaft 92 in the direction of the arrow e upward to the paper feeding position. The paper lever 90 is inserted into the paper feed tray 4 from below through the opening 4c to push up the paper receiving plate 4b, and the top cut paper 2 is pressed against the paper feed belt 91 from below.

When the sheet feeding belt 91 and the platen 80 of the printing apparatus 8 are rotationally driven in the directions of arrows f and g, the uppermost cut sheet 2 is sent out in the direction of arrow c, and this cut sheet 2 is fed in the sheet feed guide. It is guided by 93 and wound around the outer periphery of the platen 80 from below.

At this time, a pair of pinch rollers 81 which are pressed against the outer periphery of the platen 80 which is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow g and are rotated in synchronization with each other, and as shown by a one-dot chain line only immediately after the start of sheet feeding. Is rotated in the direction of arrow h around the fulcrum shaft 82, and thereafter, the cut sheet 2 is guided by the thermal head 83 which is separated and returned in the direction of arrow h ′ and is wound around the outer periphery of the platen 80 in the direction of arrow c.

Then, once the cut sheet 2 is sent in the direction of arrow c to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.
As shown in, the paper feed lever 90 is moved to the printing position by the arrow e '.
11, the platen 80 is reversely rotated in the direction of the arrow g ', and the cut sheet 2 is returned in the direction of the arrow c'as shown by the solid line in FIG. It is set at the printing start position on the existing paper feed table 94. During this time, the thermal head 83 is shown in FIG.
It is separated from the platen 80 in the arrow h'direction as shown by the dotted line.

Next, FIG. 11 shows a printing mode. In the printing apparatus 8, the ink ribbon 84 is attached to the platen 8.
Take-up reel 85 and supply reel 86 arranged above and below 0
It is wound between the platen 80 and the thermal head 83 and is vertically stretched. And
A dye, which is a sublimable color material of yellow, magenta, and cyan (three primary colors), is applied along a surface of the ink ribbon 84 on the platen 80 side in a repeating pattern at a constant pitch.

Then, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 11, the thermal head 82 is rotated in the direction of the arrow h around the fulcrum shaft 82, and the ink ribbon 84 is moved by the thermal head 82.
Is pressed against the cut paper 2 on the outer periphery of the platen 80 from the direction of arrow h, and the platen 80 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow g. Then, the cut sheet 2 is transported in the direction of arrow c, and the friction torque between the cut sheet 2 and the ink ribbon 84 causes the ink ribbon 84 to be fed together with the cut sheet 2 in the direction of arrow i, and the first printing step Is done.
At this time, the ink ribbon 8 fed in the direction of arrow i
4 is wound around the winding reel 85 in the direction of arrow j.

In the first printing step, the yellow dye on the ink ribbon 84 is sublimated by heating the thermal head 83, and at the same time, it is thermally transferred to the cut paper 2.
Print a yellow image on.

Next, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 11, the thermal head 83 is separated from the platen 80 in the direction of the arrow h ', and the platen 80 is reversely rotated in the direction of the arrow g', and the cut sheet 2 is cut. After returning to the direction of the arrow c'on the paper feeding table 94, the second printing process similar to the above is performed, and the magenta dye of the ink ribbon 84 is sublimated and transferred at the same time, and the yellow image of the cut paper 2 is obtained. Print a magenta image on top of.

Then, in the same manner, the third printing process is performed to sublimate the cyan dye of the ink ribbon 84 and at the same time, to perform thermal transfer to superimpose the cyan image on the yellow and magenta images of the cut paper 2. To print, and finally,
Prints a color image composed of yellow, magenta, and cyan dyes.

Next, FIG. 12 shows the sheet discharge mode. After the printing process is completed, the sheet discharge roller 100 disposed obliquely above the platen 80 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow k, and the sheet discharge roller 100 is driven. The cut sheet 2 pressed by the pinch roller 101 is discharged in the direction of arrow c, and placed on the sheet discharge tray 102 of the sheet discharge device 10. Then, after this, the sheet discharge device 10 discharges the cut sheet 2 in the direction of the arrow d in FIG. 13 and sends it to the sheet discharge port 6.

[Description of Printing Apparatus Block] Next, the printing apparatus block 87 will be described with reference to FIG.

The printing device block 87 is formed in a substantially casing type, and has a platen 80 and a pinch roller 8 inside.
1, fulcrum shaft 82, thermal head 83, take-up reel 8
5, a printing device 8 including a supply reel 86 and the like is housed. An opening 88 is formed in the side wall 87a of the printing device block 87 on the side of the paper feed tray 4. A sheet feeding lever 90 is attached to the lower end of the lateral side wall 87a by a bracket 95 which also serves as a sheet feeding tray insertion stand. A sheet feeding belt 91, a sheet feeding table 94, and the like are also attached to the side wall 87a. Both ends of the horizontal fulcrum shaft 82 of the thermal head 83 are installed between the front and rear sides of the printing device block 87, and the thermal head 8
Both ends of a horizontal thermal head drive shaft 110 arranged at the upper portion on the back side of 3 are provided between both front and rear walls of the printing device block 87. The pair of links 11 rotatably attached to both sides of the upper end of the thermal head 83.
1 is pin-coupled to a pair of drive arms 112 fixed to both ends of the thermal head drive shaft 110.

[Description of Mounting Structure of Paper Feeding Lever] Next, the mounting structure of the paper feeding lever 90 of the paper feeding device 9 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The bracket 95, which also serves as the paper feed tray insertion stand, is formed to have a substantially L-shaped cross section, and is horizontally screwed to the lateral side surface 87a of the printing apparatus block 87. A rotary shaft 92 is horizontally installed between a plurality of bent pieces 95a vertically bent downward from the bracket 95, and the paper feed lever 9 fixed to the front end side of the rotary shaft 92.
0 is rotatable in the notches 96 formed in the bracket 95 in the directions of arrows e and e '.

[Explanation of Thermal Head / Paper Feed Lever Drive Mechanism] Next, referring to FIGS. 1 to 8, a thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism (hereinafter simply referred to as a drive mechanism).
11 will be described.

The drive mechanism 11 is a printing device block 87.
It is attached between the rear side wall 87a and the bracket 113 fixed to the rear side wall 87a with screws. Then, the thermal head drive path 114 of the drive mechanism 11
Is one motor 115 mounted on the bracket 113 side, and the worm 116 fixed to the motor shaft.
A worm wheel 117 attached to the rear side wall 87b and meshed with the worm 116, an intermediate gear 118 integral with the worm wheel 117, and an intermediate gear 118 fixed to the rear end of the thermal head drive shaft 110. The cam gear 119 is meshed with the cam gear 119.

The paper feed lever drive path 120 of the drive mechanism 11 includes a cam 121 integrated with a cam gear 119,
A cam follower arm 124 rotatably attached to the rear side wall 87b via a fulcrum shaft 122 and pressed by the cam 121 by a tension coil spring 123, and a cam follower arm 124 attached to the rear side wall 87b so as to be horizontally slidable. A slide link 125 slidably driven by the free end portion, and a fulcrum shaft 1 at the tip of the slide link 125
Drive-side arm 1 rotatably attached via 66
27, and a driven arm 129 that is attached to the rotary shaft 92 of the paper feed lever 90 and is connected to the drive arm 127 via a connector 128 so as to be detachable. The driven arm 129 has a torque limiter spring 97 composed of a torsion coil spring with respect to the rotation shaft 92.
The position is regulated by. Also, the cam follower arm 1
The free end of 24 and the free end of the slide link 125 are connected by an elongated hole 130 and a pin 131, and the slide link 125 is slidable on the rear side wall 87b via a pair of guides 132 and an elongated hole 133. It is installed.

According to the drive mechanism 11 configured as described above, FIG. 6 shows the home position corresponding to FIG.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a paper feed position corresponding to the paper feed mode described with reference to FIG. 10, and the thermal head drive shaft 114 is driven by the motor 115 to rotate the thermal head drive shaft 110 by a small angle in the direction of arrow m. Drive arm 112 as indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG.
Also, the thermal head 83 is rotationally driven about the fulcrum shaft 82 by a small angle in the arrow h direction via the link 111. In synchronization with this, the cam follower arm 124 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow n around the fulcrum shaft 122 against the tension coil spring 123 by the cam 121 of the paper feed lever drive mechanism 120, and the slide link 125 and the drive side arm 12 are driven.
7 is slid in the direction of arrow o, and the driven arm 129
The paper feed lever 90 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow e via the rotary shaft 92. After this, as shown in FIG. 6, the thermal head drive shaft 110 is rotated by the reverse rotation of the motor 115.
Is moved back in the direction of arrow m ', the thermal head 83 is moved back in the direction of arrow h', and the paper feed lever 90 is also moved back in the direction of arrow e ', as shown by the solid line in FIG. .

Next, FIG. 8 shows a printing position corresponding to the printing mode described with reference to FIG. 11, in which the thermal head drive path 114 is reversely rotated by the motor 115 in the direction of arrow m ′ by the thermal head drive path 114 by a large angle. When the thermal head 83 is driven, the thermal head 83 is moved through the drive arm 112 and the link 111, as shown in FIG.
Is rotated by a large angle in the direction of arrow h, and the ink ribbon 84 is pressed against the cut paper 2 on the outer periphery of the platen 80 by the thermal head 83. At this time, the cam 121 of the paper feed lever drive mechanism 120 causes the cam follower arm 124 to move around the fulcrum shaft 122 by the arrow n,
Swing in the n'direction, the slide link 125 and the drive side arm 127 reciprocate in the arrow o ', o directions, and the paper feed lever 90 reciprocates in the arrow e', e directions and stops at the position shown in FIG. ..

[Description of Coupler] Next, the coupler 128 will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the driving side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129 are molded by a member having an appropriate elasticity such as a synthetic resin, and the connector 128 has a rotary shaft on both sides of the tip 129a of the driven side arm 129. 92, a pair of pins 140 integrally formed in parallel with each other, and a drive side arm 127.
And a pair of grooves 141 integrally formed at the tip 127a of the. A gap 142 is formed between the pair of grooves 141. The inner diameters of the inner portions of the pair of grooves 141 are substantially the same as the diameter of the pin 140, and the inner diameters of the opening ends 141a of the pair of grooves 141 are slightly smaller than the diameter of the pin 140. A small piece 129b is integrally formed on the side of the tip 129a of the driven arm 129. However, the pair of pins 14
0 and the pair of grooves 141 may be replaced with each other.

The connector 128 is constructed as described above, and when the driving side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129 are connected, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A, the driving side arm 127 is used as a fulcrum shaft. Rotation operation is performed in the direction of arrow p around 126, and the gap 142 at the tip 127a of the drive side arm 127 is formed.
The distal end 129a of the driven side arm 129 is relatively fitted in the inside, and the pair of pins 142 is inserted into the pair of grooves 141.
Fit inside. At this time, the opening ends 14 of the pair of grooves 141 are
1a opens slightly against the elasticity, and the pair of pins 140 is click-fitted into the pair of grooves 141. Therefore, the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129 are connected to each other by the connector 128.
It is very easy to connect with one touch.

Next, when the driving side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129 are separated, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5B, the small piece 129b of the driven side arm 129 is pushed with a fingertip so that the driven side arm 129 is driven. The side arm 129 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow e. Then, the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 1
The pair of pins 140 pushes the opening ends 141a of the pair of grooves 141 open by the lever action of the tips 127a and 129a of the two 29 contacting each other, so that the pair of pins 140 moves in the direction of the arrow e from the pair of grooves 141. Clicked away. Therefore, the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 12
9 and 9 can be separated very easily with one touch by the connector 128. At this time, since the positional relationship between the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129 shown in FIG. 5B does not exist during normal operation, the coupler 128 does not come off during operation.

At this time, since the driven arm 129 is attached to the rotary shaft 92 which is the end of the paper feed lever driving path 120, the driving arm 127 and the driven arm 1 are attached.
The operation of connecting and disconnecting with the connector 29 by the connector 128 can be easily performed at the outermost position outside the bracket 113 of the drive mechanism 11.

Then, as described above, the drive side on the paper feed lever drive path 120 in the thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism 11 mounted across both blocks of the printing device 8 and the paper feed device 9. Arm 127 and driven arm 1
Since the connector 128 that can be connected / disconnected is provided between the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129, the connector 128 can be freely connected / separated between the drive side arm 127 and the driven side arm 129. The paper device 9 can be assembled and disassembled independently.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, between the rear side wall 87b of the printing apparatus block 87 and the bracket 113, the take-up reel 85 and the supply reel 86 are mounted, and the take-up reel shaft 150 and the supply are provided. A reel shaft 151 and a take-up reel shaft drive mechanism that rotationally drives the take-up reel shaft 150 via a gear train 153 and a torque limiter (not shown) by a motor 152 are attached. Also,
The printing device block 87 includes a platen 80 and a paper feeding belt 9.
1, a drive mechanism (not shown) such as the discharge roller 100 is also attached.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

[0046]

The color printer of the present invention constructed as described above has the following effects.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a drive side arm and a driven side arm on the paper feed lever drive path in the thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism mounted across both blocks of the printing device and the paper feed device. A connecting / separating connector is provided between the drive side arm and the driven side arm so that the drive side arm and the driven side arm can be freely connected and separated from each other. It can be assembled and disassembled independently, and the assembling and disassembling operations can be performed very easily.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the connector is constituted by the pin and the groove into which the pin is fitted against the elasticity, the operation for connecting and disconnecting the driving side arm and the driven side arm is very simple. In addition, it is possible to eliminate the need for fasteners such as screws and E-rings, and to reduce the number of parts.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the driven arm is attached to the rotary shaft of the paper feed lever which is the end of the paper feed lever drive path.
The drive side arm and the driven side arm can be easily connected and separated at the outermost position of the thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism. The assembly work can be done easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view illustrating a thermal head / paper feed lever driving mechanism of a color printer that is an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a partially cutaway plan view of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a driving side arm, a driven side arm, and a coupler.

FIG. 4 is a side view of an essential part for explaining an operation of connecting and disconnecting the drive side arm and the driven side arm by a connector.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the whole of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing a home position of a thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing a paper feed position of a thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a printing position of a thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a sectional front view showing a mounted state of a paper feed tray of the color printer.

FIG. 10 is a sectional front view showing a paper feed mode of the color printer.

FIG. 11 is a sectional front view showing a printing mode of the color printer.

FIG. 12 is a sectional front view showing a paper discharge mode of the color printer.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of the entire color printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Color Printer 3 Printer Main Body 4 Paper Feed Tray 8 Printing Device 80 Platen 83 Thermal Head 84 Ink Ribbon 9 Paper Feeding Device 90 Paper Feed Lever 92 Rotating Shaft 11 Thermal Head / Feed Lever Drive Mechanism 114 Thermal Head Drive Path 120 Paper Feed Lever Drive path 127 Drive side arm 128 Coupler 129 Driven side arm 140 Pin 141 Groove

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A color printer for printing an image using a cut sheet of printing paper, comprising: a printing device having a thermal head, a platen, and an ink ribbon; and the cut sheet stacked and stored in a paper feed tray. A paper feeding device having a paper feeding lever for intermittently feeding paper to the device, and one motor for rotationally driving the thermal head so as to press and separate the thermal head from the platen, and in synchronization with the thermal head. A thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism for rotating the paper feed lever is provided, and between the drive side arm and the driven arm on the paper feed lever drive path provided in the thermal head / paper feed lever drive mechanism. A color printer that is equipped with a connector that can be connected and separated. 2. The color printer according to claim 1, wherein the connector comprises a pin and a groove into which the pin is fitted against the elasticity. 3. The color printer according to claim 1, wherein the driven arm is attached to a rotary shaft of the paper feed lever.