JPH06210913A - Photographic printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a photographic printer which can remove easily paper which have caused clogging by a method wherein the position which is clogged with paper can be easily discovered when clogging with paper occurs. CONSTITUTION:Recording paper 4 is inserted directly into a photographic printing part from a direction (the arrow D direction) rotated at 90 degree from a traditional inserting direction of the recording paper of a photographic printer. After finishing photographic printing, the paper is discharged from the same position. When the recording paper 4 is inserted, a pinch roller 3 and an ink sheet cassette are used as a guide member for inserting the recording paper 4 certainly, and a special guide member is not used. Further, a movable positioning member 14 for holding the inserted recording paper accurately at a position for performing photographic printing is provided. The movable positioning member 14 comes in pressure contact with the printing paper after finishing photographic printing to discharge the recording paper.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus (thermal transfer recording apparatus) for recording information and the like on recording paper using a thermal head and an ink sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for a device for making a color hard copy of a display screen such as a CRT. In particular, as an easy-to-maintain device, a color ink sheet in which three colors of yellow, magenta and cyan are sequentially applied is used. There is a demand for an apparatus that sequentially transfers and records on recording paper.

9 and 10 show, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-286.
3A and 3B are a perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing a conventional printing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 361/361, in which 1 is a thermal head, a platen 2 with an ink sheet 5 and a recording paper 4 interposed therebetween.
Being pressed against. Two pinch rollers 3 are pressed against the platen 2. The ink sheet 5 is supplied from the supply reel 6 and wound on the take-up reel 7. The ink sheet 5, the supply reel 6, and the take-up reel 7 are housed in an ink sheet cassette 8. The thermal head 1 is forcibly cooled by a fan 9 to prevent overheating.

Next, the operation of the conventional device will be described. The recording paper 4 stored in the paper cassette 10 is fed by the paper feed rollers 11 and 12 and is nipped and conveyed by the platen 2 and the pinch roller 3. With the first color ink sheet 5 (for example, yellow) and the recording paper 4 sandwiched between the thermal head 1 and the platen 2, the platen 2 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and the thermal head 1 is heated by the recording signal. The ink on the ink sheet 5 to the recording paper 4
Transfer it to the top. When the recording for one screen is completed, the thermal head 1 moves away from the platen 2 to the position 1A indicated by the solid line and the position 1B indicated by the dotted line, as shown in FIG. At this time, the recording paper 4 is indicated by the arrow A by the pressure contact force between the auxiliary roller 3 and the platen 2.
When the recording start position of the first color reaches the heat generation position of the thermal head 1 by being conveyed in the direction, the platen 2 stops rotating,
The conveyance of the recording paper 4 is also stopped. On the other hand, during this time, the ink sheet 5 is taken up by the take-up reel 7 and stopped when the second color reaches the heat generating position of the thermal head 1. After this,
The thermal head 1 presses the platen 2 again, recording is performed up to the second color (for example, magenta) and the third color (for example, cyan), and a color hard copy is obtained by subtractive color mixing of yellow, magenta, and cyan. The recorded recording paper is ejected from the paper ejection port 13.

[0005]

Since the conventional printing apparatus is constructed as described above, the recording paper 4 is inserted from the front side of the apparatus to the rear side (the direction of arrow C) and the pinch on the rear side of the rear side apparatus. Since the thermal head 1 and the platen 2 convey the sheet by the roller 3, if a paper jam occurs at the time of printing, it is not possible to detect the paper jam state because the printing unit is located at the back and jams again. It was also difficult to remove the paper. Further, there is a problem that the jammed paper cannot be printed unless it is immediately removed, and the thermal head 1 is damaged or the printing portion is damaged.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has a structure in which a paper jam condition can be easily found and easily removed even if a paper jam occurs in the printing section. It is another object of the present invention to provide a printing apparatus that does not require a special member for obtaining a recording sheet and can easily discharge a printed recording sheet.

[0007]

A printing apparatus according to the present invention conveys an ink sheet coated with heat transferable ink, a thermal head for selectively heating a heating element, a platen for pressing the thermal head, and a recording sheet. In a printing apparatus having a pinch roller for printing information and the like on a recording sheet, the recording sheet is inserted in the axial direction of the platen or the pinch roller and set at a predetermined position, and then the thermal head generates heat to print. It operates.

The recording paper is inserted in contact with the pinch roller.

The recording paper is inserted in contact with the ink sheet cassette.

The recording paper is inserted in contact with the pinch roller and the ink sheet cassette.

Further, a positioning member for setting the recording paper at a predetermined position after inserting the recording paper is provided, and the positioning member is movable.

Further, the positioning member is separated from the recording paper while the printing device is performing the printing operation after the recording paper is set at a predetermined position.

The positioning member pushes out the recording paper in a direction opposite to the inserting direction.

[0014]

According to the printing apparatus of the present invention, since the recording paper is directly inserted into the printing unit to perform the printing operation, the printing operation can be directly observed.

Further, when the recording paper is directly inserted, the pinch roller and the ink sheet cassette, which are components of the printing mechanism, are also used as the guide member for the recording paper, so that the number of parts does not increase and the apparatus can be simplified.

The movable positioning member is a single member for positioning and discharging the recording paper.

[0017]

【Example】

Example 1. Hereinafter, a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 is a perspective view showing a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which shows a printing operation. In the figure, 1
Reference numerals 8 to 8 are the same as conventional components, 14 is a positioning member, and 15 is an actuator for moving the positioning member 14.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recording paper 4 is inserted in the axial direction of the pinch roller 3. At this time, the recording paper 4 is in contact with the pinch roller 3. As a result, the recording paper 4 is stably guided without falling down. When the recording paper 4 is further inserted further, it contacts the positioning member 14 and is set at a position for printing. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing this set state. From this state, as shown in FIG. 3, the thermal head 1 and the pinch roller 3 move to press the recording paper 4 against the platen 2, and the recording paper 4 is conveyed by the pinch roller 3 and printed by the thermal head 1 and the ink sheet 5. A copying operation is performed.

Example 2. In the first embodiment, the recording paper 4 is guided by contacting the pinch roller 3, but in the present embodiment, the same operation can be expected by guiding the recording paper 4 by contacting the ink sheet cassette 8 as shown in FIG. .

Example 3. In the first and second embodiments, the pinch roller 3 and the ink sheet cassette 8 are used as guides for the recording paper 4, respectively, but in this embodiment, the pinch roller 3 and the ink sheet cassette 8 are used together as shown in FIG. Four
A similar operation can be expected as a guide by contacting with.

Example 4. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the positioning member 14 is attached to the actuator 15 and has a movable structure. The actuator 15 is, for example, like a pulse motor, is movable to an arbitrary position, and has a holding force at an arbitrary position. When the recording paper 4 is inserted in the direction of the arrow D, it comes into contact with the positioning member 14 and the recording paper 4 is set at the printing position. FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of this state. Next, when the printing operation is started, the recording paper 4 is conveyed in the direction of arrow E shown in FIG. At this time, if the recording paper 4 and the positioning member 14 are in pressure contact with each other, it becomes a load and becomes difficult to convey. Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the actuator 15 is rotated in the arrow F direction,
By separating the recording paper 4 from the positioning member 14, the above load can be eliminated. Furthermore, after the printing operation is completed or when the set recording paper 4 is taken out again,
As shown in FIG. 8, when the actuator 15 is rotated in the arrow G direction, the positioning member 14 pushes the recording paper 4 in the arrow H direction (the direction opposite to the insertion direction), so that the recording paper 4 can be easily taken out.

[0022]

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, the recording paper is directly inserted into the printing section to perform the printing operation.
Not only can the printing operation be directly observed, but even if a paper jam occurs, the paper jam location can be easily found. Moreover, there is an effect that the jammed paper can be easily removed.

Further, when the recording paper is inserted, the pinch roller and the ink sheet cassette, which are the components of the printing mechanism, are also used as the guide member of the recording paper, so that a special member for guiding is not required and the number of parts is reduced. The number of devices does not increase, which simplifies the device.

Since the positioning member for setting the inserted recording paper at a predetermined position is movable,
During the printing operation, the printing paper can be separated from the recording paper to reduce the load on the printing mechanism.

Further, since the movable positioning member can move the recording paper in the direction opposite to the inserting direction, the recording paper can be positioned and discharged by one member.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a printing apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a printing operation by the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a printing apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a printing apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a recording sheet to be arranged in the printing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention is positioned.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the recording paper and the positioning member arranged in the printing apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention are separated from each other.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a positioning member is pushing out a recording paper to be placed in a printing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a conventional printing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view showing a conventional printing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal head 1A Position where thermal head is printing 1B Position where thermal head is not printing 2 Platen 3 Pinch roller 4 Recording paper 8 Ink sheet cassette 14 Movable positioning member

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An ink sheet coated with heat transferable ink, a thermal head for selectively heating a heating element, a platen for pressing the thermal head, a pinch roller for transporting the recording paper, and information on the recording paper. In a printing apparatus for printing, after the recording paper is inserted in the axial direction of a platen or a pinch roller and set at a predetermined position, a thermal head generates heat to perform a printing operation. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording paper is inserted in contact with the pinch roller. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording paper is inserted in contact with the ink sheet cassette. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording paper is inserted in contact with the pinch roller and the ink sheet cassette. 5. A printing apparatus comprising a positioning member for setting the recording paper at a predetermined position after inserting the recording paper, and the positioning member is movable. 6. The positioning member is separated from the recording paper while the printing device is performing a printing operation after the recording paper is set at a predetermined position. The printing device described. 7. The printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the positioning member pushes out the recording paper in a direction opposite to the inserting direction.