JPH061024A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the oblique running of the endless film belt of a recording apparatus. CONSTITUTION:An endless film belt 1 is passed over an idler shaft 32 having the same width as that of the film belt 1 and a pair of rubber rollers 33 and planetary gears 34 integrally formed with the rubber rollers 33 are provided at both ends of the idler shaft 32 in such a manner as to be rotatable around the idler shaft 32. The planetary gears 34 can make planetary motion around outside rotary shafts 36.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus using an endless film belt, and in particular, it uses hot-melt hot-melt ink, powder toner or the like to print on a medium such as plain paper. The present invention relates to a recording device that can be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus using an endless film belt has a grain-like surface or a shallow groove on the surface in order to form an ink layer on the surface of the film belt by an ink replenishing member. The concave portion of the ink replenishing member is filled with the heat-melting ink to bring the film belt into contact, the surface of the film belt is coated with the heat-melting ink, and the thermal head transfers the ink of the film belt to a medium for recording. It was

In another recording apparatus, a toner image formed on a sheet is heated by a heater from behind via an endless film belt to perform heat fixing. In such a recording device, when the film belt runs, the difference in the parallelism of the shaft center of each roller, the variation in the circumferential length of each roller, the slip between each roller and the film belt, and the difference in the circumferential length of the film belt, The film belt gradually skews due to factors such as stretching.

As a conventional recording apparatus having means for preventing such skewing, a detecting means for detecting the lateral displacement of the film belt disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 2-19247 and a correction movably supported by a solenoid. There was a recording device that corrects the lateral displacement of the film belt with the roller.

[0005]

In the conventional recording apparatus having the above-mentioned means for preventing the film belt from skewing, the unit cost of the means for detecting the skew of the film belt and the solenoid is effective and makes them function. Therefore, there is a drawback in that the cost of the device becomes high because an electric circuit for the above is required.

[0006]

A recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus for printing using an endless film belt having a constant width, and an idler shaft around which the film belt having the same width as the film belt is wound. , A pair of rubber rollers rotatably provided at both ends of the idler shaft, and a pair of planet gears capable of planetary motion by meshing with main gears integrally fixed to the rubber rollers.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a line type transfer recording apparatus having a reinking mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a portion of the idler shaft 32 in FIG. 1 which is a mechanism for guiding the running of an endless film belt. In the figure, 1 is a film belt made of a heat-resistant film made of polyimide or polyaramid, and a heat-melting ink 12 in which carbon black is mixed with wax and resin is applied to the outer surface of the film belt. A part of the outer side surface of the film belt 1 is in contact with the platen roller 8 with the recording paper 2 sandwiched by the biasing force of the head pressure spring 16 via the thermal head 3. 4-a, 4-
Reference numeral b is a die roller which guides the traveling of the film belt 1. The film belt 1 has an endless shape by joining both ends of a belt-shaped heat resistant film.

This film belt 1 has a thermal head 3
As the printing is performed by the platen roller 8, the platen roller 8 drives the capstan roller 26 to circulate it. The ink containing portion 20 is made of a metal such as aluminum having good thermal conductivity, and contains the heat-meltable ink 12 therein. Here, a heater 30 that maintains a certain temperature slightly higher than the melting point of the heat-meltable ink 12 is fixed to the side surface of the ink container 20, and the heat-meltable ink 12 in the ink container 20 is a liquid. Is melted into a shape. Further, the ink replenishing member 19 has a surface of a stainless steel or aluminum roller roughened by sandblasting, has a shallow knurled groove formed on the surface, or is plated with chrome or the like. The cell groove is formed by the etching process. An ink smoothing member 27 is provided near the ink replenishing member 19. The ink smoothing member 27 is composed of a metal shaft having a smooth surface or a member in which a wire is wound around the surface of the shaft.

Reference numeral 32 denotes an idler shaft around which the film belt 1 having the same width as that of the film belt 1 is wound. At both ends of the idler shaft 32, a pair of rubber rollers 33 and a rubber roller are rotatably coaxial with the idler shaft 32. A planetary gear 34 formed integrally with 33 is provided. The planetary gear 34 is capable of performing a planetary movement around a main gear 37 which is fixed around an external rotation support shaft 36 by a planetary arm 35. The planet arm 35 is pulled by a spring 38 to give an appropriate tension to the film belt 1.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, a drive signal is applied to the thermal head 3 from a control circuit (not shown). Part of the film belt 1 is heated by the heat and the heat-meltable ink 12 is transferred to the recording paper 2. At this time, the platen roller 8 and the capstan roller 26 rotate in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1 with respect to the printing direction, so that the film belt 1 is sequentially run.

On the other hand, since the film belt 1 has an endless shape, it is printed by the thermal head 3 and then conveyed to the reinking mechanism. Since the film belt 1 is wound around the ink replenishing member 19 in this re-inking mechanism, the ink replenishing member 19 rotates as the film belt 1 runs. The hot-melt ink 12 melted in a liquid state in the ink containing portion 20 is filled in the concave portion formed on the surface of the ink replenishing member 19, and the ink replenishing member 19 rotates together with the ink film as described above. Then, the hot-melt ink 12 is pulled up. Then, the hot-melt ink 12 is supplied to the surface of the film belt 1.

The ink layer on the surface of the film belt 1 supplied by the ink replenishing member 19 has unevenness in the transferred ink layer because the surface of the ink replenishing member 19 is grainy. Therefore, the ink smoothing member 27 (which also supplies heat) before the hot-melt ink 12 solidifies.
The surface of the ink layer is rubbed with to form a smooth ink layer. The heat-meltable ink scraped off here flows down from the ink smoothing member 27 and is collected in the ink container 20.

As the film belt 1 travels while printing is continuously performed in this manner, the difference in the parallelism of the shaft centers of the rollers, the variation in the circumferential length of the rollers, the platen 8, the capstan roller, etc. The film belt 1 is gradually skewed due to the slip between the film belt 1 and the film belt 1, the difference in circumferential length of the film belt 1 from left to right, mechanical elongation due to tension, thermal elongation due to the thermal head 3, and the like. . The rubber roller 33 on the side where the end portion of the film belt 1 has moved laterally due to skewing when skewed to some extent
The planetary gear 34 on the other side gradually climbs up on the main gear 37 by contacting the.
At this time, the idler shaft 32 tilts left and right to correct the skew of the film belt 1. By this correcting operation, the film belt 1 gradually returns from the lateral movement and returns from the rubber roller 33 to return to the center position, and the planet gear 34 is pushed down by the tension of the film belt 1 and returns to the original position. While repeating such an operation, the film belt 1 continues to run and does not greatly skew in a certain direction.

When the film belt 1 is damaged due to the heat of the thermal head 3 and the mechanical stress of the running system by each roller due to running for a long time and the print quality is deteriorated or when wrinkles or wrinkles occur, a new film is produced. Replace with a belt.

The embodiment of the thermal transfer system for recording with the thermal head has been described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, but the present invention is not limited to the printing system of this embodiment.

For example, as one example, a mechanism in which a toner image formed on electrophotographic recording paper is heated by a heater from behind via an endless film belt to perform heat fixing can be used. It's obvious.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a recording apparatus for printing using an endless film belt having a constant width, an idler shaft around which a film belt having the same width as the film belt and an idler are wound. By having a pair of rubber rollers rotatably provided at both ends of the shaft and a pair of planet gears that can perform planetary motion integrally with the rubber rollers, stable running of the endless film belt without skewing is guaranteed. There is an effect that is done.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a portion of an idler shaft 32 in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Film Belt 2 Recording Paper 3 Thermal Head 12 Thermal Melting Ink 19 Ink Replenishing Member 20 Ink Reservoir 26 Capstan Roller 30 Heater 32 Idler Shaft 33 Rubber Roller 34 Planetary Gear

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for performing printing using an endless film belt having a constant width, and an idler shaft around which a film belt having the same width as the film belt is wound, and rotatably provided at both ends of the idler shaft. And a pair of planetary gears capable of planetary motion by meshing with main gears integrally fixed to the respective rubber rollers.