JPH06336068A - Thermal transfer type recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a thermal transfer type recording device which is capable of performing image recording by corresponding to either a one-time ink sheet or multi-time ink sheet. CONSTITUTION:Wind-up roll driving means 8 driving an ink sheet wind-up roll 7, braking means 105 imparting braking force to an ink sheet feed roll, ink sheet feed roll driving means 103 imparting turning and driving force to the ink sheet feed roll, a wind-up shaft connected with the wind-up roll driving means and a feed shaft 106b connected with the braking means and feed roll driving means are provided. Then the wind-up shaft and feed shaft are capable of fitting in a wind-up spool and feed spool 108b of respectively a one-time cassette into which a one-time ink sheet is held and a multi-cassette into which a multi-ink sheet is held and lengths of the feed spool of the one-time cassette and the spools each of the multi-cassette of the axial direction are made to differ from each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus, and more particularly to a thermal transfer recording apparatus which can use both an ink sheet that can be used only once and an ink sheet that can be used many times. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer recording apparatus is one in which a dye or ink on an ink sheet is selectively sublimated or melted by a recording head such as a thermal head or an energization recording head and then transferred onto an image receiving sheet. A recording image is formed on the image receiving sheet. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus for exclusive use of one-time ink sheet, and an ink sheet supply roll 201.
While the ink sheet (hereinafter, referred to as “one-time ink sheet”) 205b and the image receiving sheet 206 that can be used only once from the recording head 212 are conveyed while being sandwiched between the recording head 212 and the platen 213, By generating a heat pattern according to image information, the dye of the one-time ink sheet 205b is transferred to the image receiving sheet 206 to record an image.

On the other hand, with respect to the one-time ink sheet 205b which can be used only once, an ink sheet which can be used many times (hereinafter referred to as "multi-ink sheet") is transported at a speed slower than that of the image receiving sheet. A thermal transfer recording apparatus has been proposed in which the density of use of the multi-ink sheet is increased by carrying the image for recording, and the running cost is reduced (see JP-A-62-58917). The one-time ink sheet 205b passes between the recording head 212 and the platen 213 while being fused to the image receiving sheet 206 by the heat from the recording head 212. The ink sheet take-up roll 214 is a motor,
By the winding roll driving means 215 including a speed reducing mechanism,
Tension is applied to the one-time ink sheet 205b which is rotationally driven through a tension applying means 216 such as a torque limiter and has passed between the recording head 212 and the platen 213.
It is peeled off from the image receiving sheet 206 and wound up. The ink sheet supply roll 201 is braked by the braking unit 202 and applies tension to the one-time ink sheet 205b. However, in the thermal transfer recording apparatus as described above, only the one-time ink sheet 205b can be used, and the multi-ink sheet is used as the one-time ink sheet 20b.
When replaced with 5b, the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet are conveyed at a constant speed. Therefore, it is impossible to reduce the running cost by carrying out the image recording by carrying the carrying speed of the multi-ink sheet at a speed slower than the carrying speed of the image receiving sheet.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the construction of a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus dedicated to a multi-ink sheet, in which a multi-ink sheet 205a and an image receiving sheet 206 which are fed from the ink sheet supply roll 201 and which can be used many times are recorded in a recording head. While being sandwiched between the platen 212 and the platen 213 and conveyed, a thermal pattern corresponding to image information is generated by the recording head 212, and the dye of the multi-ink sheet 205a is transferred to the image receiving sheet 206 to perform image recording. It is a device. The ink sheet supply roll 201 is rotationally driven by the ink sheet supply roll driving means 203 including a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and the like, and the multi-ink sheet 205a.
Is fed at the peripheral speed of the ink sheet supply roll 201. This speed is slower than the conveying speed of the image receiving sheet 206. The multi-ink sheet 205a passes between the recording head 212 and the image receiving sheet 206 by the frictional force acting between the multi ink sheet 205a and the image receiving sheet 206. The ink sheet take-up roll 214 is rotationally driven by a take-up roll driving means 215 including a motor and a speed reduction mechanism via a tension applying means 216 such as a torque limiter, and passes between the recording head 212 and the platen 213. The multi-ink sheet 205a is wound while applying tension. Here, the multi-ink sheet 205a is n times (n
> 1) It has usable properties, and the transport speed ratio between the multi-ink sheet 205a and the image receiving sheet 206 is approximately 1: n.

However, in the thermal transfer recording apparatus as described above, only the multi-ink sheet 205a which can be used many times can be used. Contrary to the above-mentioned thermal transfer recording apparatus, such a thermal transfer recording apparatus has a conveyance speed of the multi-ink sheet 205a which is 1 / n that of the image receiving sheet 206.
There is a problem that the one-time ink sheet 205b cannot be used because it is regulated by the above. The one-time ink sheet 205b is significantly inferior to the multi-ink sheet 205a in terms of cost, but has one of the advantages such as image quality and power consumption. It is desirable to be free to choose which type of 205b to use. However, the conventional thermal transfer type recording apparatus has a multi-ink sheet 205a or a one-time ink sheet 205b.
There was a problem that only one of the two types could be used.

[0006]

The conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus has a problem that only one type of one-time ink sheet or multi-ink sheet can be used.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention is to solve such a problem. That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of recording an image corresponding to either one-time ink sheet type or multi-ink sheet type.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink sheet fed from an ink sheet supply roll and wound on an ink sheet take-up roll, an image receiving sheet, a recording head and a platen. In the thermal transfer recording apparatus, in which a thermal pattern corresponding to image information is generated by the recording head while being sandwiched between and, and the dye or ink of the ink sheet is transferred to the image receiving sheet to perform image recording, The recording device is capable of recording using both one-time ink sheets and multi-ink sheets. When using one-time ink sheets, the braking force is applied to the ink sheet supply roll to apply ink to the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet. When the multi-ink sheet is used at a constant speed, the rotational driving force of the ink sheet supply roll is applied and the Of the image-receiving sheet to reduce the peripheral speed of the image-receiving sheet to drive the ink-sheet take-up roll, braking means for applying a braking force to the ink-sheet supply roll, and the ink-sheet supply roll. An ink sheet supply roll driving means for imparting a rotational driving force to the winding roll, and a winding shaft connected to the winding roll driving means,
A winding shaft and a supply shaft connected to the supply roll driving unit, wherein the winding shaft and the supply shaft respectively wind a one-time cassette containing a one-time ink sheet and a multi-cassette containing the multi-ink sheet. The supply spool of the one-time cassette and the supply spool of the multi-cassette have different axial lengths that can be engaged with the take-up spool and the supply spool. Gears with different axial positions are integrated, and two supply shafts are coaxially arranged.
Gears capable of meshing with the respective gears are fixed to the respective supply shafts, one of the supply shafts is connected to the braking means, and the other supply shaft is connected to the ink sheet supply roll driving means.
The supply shaft is movable in the axial direction and, when moved in the axial direction, can be selectively meshed with two gears arranged at different axial positions, and one gear is connected to the braking means. The other gear is characterized in that it is connected to the ink sheet supply roll driving means.

[0009]

The thermal transfer recording apparatus configured as described above is
The configuration of the cassette is changed according to the type of the ink sheet, and the recording device that receives the cassette detects the difference in the configuration of the cassette. Therefore, just by mounting the cassette, the braking force or the rotational driving force can be changed depending on the type of the ink sheet. Provided is a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of recording an image corresponding to either one-time ink sheet type or multi-ink sheet type by automatically selecting either one and applying it to an ink sheet supply roll. I was able to do it.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. An ink sheet 2 fed from an ink sheet supply roll 1 (a multi-ink sheet 2a that can be used many times or only once) is used. While the usable one-time ink sheet 2b) and the image receiving sheet 3 are conveyed while being sandwiched between the recording head 4 and the platen roller 5, the recording head 4 generates a heat pattern according to the image information, and the ink sheet 2 (multi-ink sheet 2a
Alternatively, it is a thermal transfer recording apparatus for recording an image by transferring the dye of the one-time ink sheet 2b) onto the image receiving sheet 3.
The ink-sheet take-up roll 7 is rotationally driven by the take-up roll drive means 8 including a motor and a speed reduction mechanism via tension applying means 9 such as a torque limiter, and recording is performed by a frictional force acting between the ink sheet take-up roll 7 and the image receiving sheet 3. Head 4 and image receiving sheet 3
While applying tension to the ink sheet 2 that has passed between
It is designed to be wound up. The above structure is the same as that of the conventional example. According to the present invention, the ink sheet supply roll 1 is provided with the rotational driving force generated by the ink sheet supply roll driving unit 103 including a stepping motor, a speed reducing unit, or the braking unit 105 such as a torque limiter or a brake. Either of the braking force
The configuration is characterized in that it is selectively applied via the transmission means 102 and 104, respectively. In particular,
Whether the rotational driving force or the braking force is switched and transmitted to the ink sheet supply roll 1 is determined when the apparatus body detects the type of the cassette attached to the apparatus body and the one-time ink sheet cassette is attached. Is to transmit the braking force, and to transmit the driving force when the multi-ink sheet cassette is mounted.

Since the one-time ink sheet is fed to the image receiving sheet 3 at a constant speed, it is necessary to apply a braking force to the supply roll 1 to apply tension to the ink sheet. Further, since the multi-ink sheet needs to be conveyed at a speed of 1 / n of that of the image receiving sheet, a rotational driving force is applied to drive the supply roll 1 at the slow speed. In the following, the braking force and the rotational driving force applied to the ink sheet supply roll have this meaning. Note that, no matter which ink sheet is used, the take-up roll 7 side is driven at a necessary and sufficient speed for winding up the ink sheet that has passed through the printing section.

FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are a plan view and an X-X sectional view showing a specific structure of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention, and a cassette 109 (in which an ink sheet 2 is stored The multi-ink sheet cassette 109a or the one-time ink sheet cassette 109b) is an ink sheet supply roll spool 108 (winding roll) formed by winding the ink sheet 2 (multi-ink sheet 2a or one-time ink sheet 2b) in a cassette housing 109c. Take spool 108a
Alternatively, the supply spool 108b) is housed. The take-up spool 108a is pressed in the direction of arrow A in the drawing by a compression spring 110,
The spool ends of the end portions a and 108b are engaged with and supported by the holders 107a and 107b on the recording apparatus side. For example, a recess is formed at each spool end, and this recess is engaged with the protrusion on the side of each holder. Each holder 1
The shafts of the shafts 07a and 107b are fixedly supported by the shafts 106a and 106b, and receive the driving force.

Next, FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) are views showing the difference in the structure of the supply spools in the one-time cassette and the multi-cassette. In this embodiment, the one-time cassette and the multi-cassette are respectively constructed. It is characteristic that the axial lengths of the supply spools 108b (constituting the ink sheet supply roll 1) are different, and the axial length L ₁ of the supply spool 108b of the one-time cassette and the length of the supply spool 108b of the multi-cassette are long. The relationship with L _M
A characteristic is that L ₁ <L _M.

Next, FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are views showing the difference in operation between the case where the one-time cassette is mounted and the case where the multi-cassette is mounted, respectively.
The supply roll side shaft 106b rotatably supported by 15a and 115b so as to be capable of advancing and retracting in the axial direction integrally supports the shaft center of the gear 112, and a spring stretched between the holder 107b and the housing 115a. 111 is always urged to the left in the drawing (fitting direction). The gear 113 is directly connected to the output shaft of the supply roll driving means 103, and the gear 1
14 is directly connected to the braking means. Which gear 11
The movements of the shafts 3 and 114 are also restricted in the axial direction, and as a result of the movement of the supply roll side shaft 106b in the axial direction, they can be selectively meshed with the gear 112. Therefore, FIG.
When a one-time cassette is installed as in (a)
When a multi-cassette is installed as in (b),
Since the length of the spool 108b is different from L ₁ <L _M ,
When the one-time cassette shown in (a) is mounted, the holder 107b, the shaft 106b, and the gear 112 are moved to the cassette side (left side in the drawing) by the spring force of the spring 111, and the holder 107b is spooled at the position shown in the drawing. Engage with 108b. When the multi-cassette is mounted as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the holder 107b, the shaft 106b, and the gear 112 compress the spring 111 and move to the right (backward direction) in the drawing to move to the backside position in the drawing. In the holder 107b, the spool 108
Mate with b.

When the gear 112 is located on the housing 115a side (cassette side) as shown in (a), the gear 112 meshes with the gear 114, and the braking force generated by the braking means 105 is supplied to the supply spool 108b (ink). It is transmitted to the sheet supply roll 1). That is, the ink sheet moves at the same speed as the image receiving sheet, and at that time, a braking force is applied to the ink sheet supply roll 1 to put the ink sheet in a tensioned state. In addition, the gear 112 has a housing 115b as shown in (b).
When located on the side (back side), the gear 112 is the gear 11
3, the rotational driving force generated by the driving unit 103 is transmitted to the spool 108b (ink sheet supply roll 1). That is, the ink sheet supply roll 1 is driven at a slow speed in order to convey the ink sheet at a speed of 1 / n of the image receiving sheet. It should be noted that the above-described embodiment is merely an example, and therefore the spool 116b of the multi-cassette may be shorter, for example.

Next, FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are a schematic front view and a plan view of the cassette showing the essential structure of the recording apparatus of the second embodiment of the present invention. The spools 116a and 116b for winding and holding 2 are rotatably supported, and the spools 116a and 11b
Gears 118a and 118b are fixed to one end of 6b, respectively. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the axial length L _l of the supply side spool 116b of the one-time cassette and the axial length L _M of the supply side spool 116b of the multi-cassette are shown.
Since L ₁ <L _M , the protruding positions of the gears 118b are different. As shown in FIG. 5 (a), the gear 118a at the end of the spool 116a on the take-up side meshes with the gear 119 supported on the recording apparatus side when the cassette is mounted, and the tension applying means 9 is applied by the take-up roll driving means 8. The ink sheet is wound up by being driven to rotate through. Supply side spool 11
The gear 118b at the end of 6b is the gear 12 which is coaxially arranged on the recording apparatus side as shown in FIG.
The position relationship is such that 0, 121 can be engaged. That is,
The gear 120 of the multi-cassette is positioned and held in a positional relationship capable of meshing with the gear 118b of the multi-cassette when the multi-cassette is mounted, and is connected to the supply roll driving means 103, so that the rotation driving generated by the driving means 103 is performed. Receive power transmission. The gear 121 of the one-time cassette is positioned and held in a positional relationship capable of meshing with the gear 118b of the one-time cassette when the one-time cassette is mounted, and is connected to the braking means 105 to generate the braking seed 105. Receives braking force. The spool length and gear position may be reversed.
Therefore, for example, a multi-cassette spool 116b
May be shorter.

[0017]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, either the braking force or the rotational driving force is automatically selected and applied to the ink sheet supply roll depending on the type of the ink sheet. By doing so, it is possible to provide a thermal transfer recording apparatus capable of recording an image corresponding to either one-time ink sheet type or multi-ink sheet type. That is, the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention includes a braking unit that generates a braking force to be applied to the ink sheet supply roll and a driving unit that generates a rotational driving force to be applied to the ink sheet supply roll. Since the lengths of the supply side spools of the stored ink sheet cassette and the ink sheet cassette storing the one-time ink sheet are different, either the braking force or the rotational driving force is applied to each supply side spool. Only the ink can be automatically transmitted according to the type of ink sheet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2A and 2B are a sectional view of a main part of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing a specific embodiment of the present invention and a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 2A.

3A and 3B are comparative views of a supply side spool of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

4 (a) and 4 (b) are schematic views showing a connected state when a one-time cassette and a multi-cassette are mounted.

5A and 5B are explanatory views of a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5A is a schematic front view of a cassette mounted in a recording apparatus, and FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the cassette. Fig.

6 (a) and 6 (b) are explanatory views of the essential parts of the one-time cassette and the multi-cassette of the second embodiment.

7A and 7B are schematic diagrams showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a schematic description of a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a thermal transfer recording apparatus showing another conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ink sheet supply roll, 2 ink sheet, 2a
Multi ink sheet, 2b one time ink sheet, 3 image receiving sheet, 4 recording head, 5 platen,
7 ink sheet take-up roll, 8 take-up roll drive means, 102, 104 transmission means, 103 ink sheet supply roll drive means, 105 braking means, 106a take-up shaft, 106b supply shaft, 107a, 107b holder, 108 spool, 108a spool on the winding side,
108b supply side spool, 109 cassette, 110
Compression spring, 112, 113, 114 gear, 115
a, 115b housing, 116a, 116b axis,

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An ink sheet fed from an ink sheet supply roll and taken up by an ink sheet take-up roll, and an image receiving sheet are sandwiched between a recording head and a platen and conveyed, and image information is recorded by the recording head. In a thermal transfer recording apparatus for transferring a dye or ink of an ink sheet to an image receiving sheet to record an image by generating a thermal pattern according to the above, the thermal transfer recording apparatus is a one-time ink sheet or a multi-ink sheet. It is possible to record using both
When using a one-time ink sheet, a braking force is applied to the ink sheet supply roll to convey the ink sheet and the image receiving sheet at a constant speed, and when a multi-ink sheet is used, a rotational driving force is applied to the ink sheet supply roll. Is applied to make the peripheral speed of the supply roll smaller than the conveying speed of the image receiving sheet, and a winding roll drive means for driving the ink sheet winding roll, and a braking means for applying a braking force to the ink sheet supply roll. An ink sheet supply roll driving means for applying a rotational driving force to the ink sheet supply roll, a winding shaft connected to the winding roll driving means, a supply connected to the braking means and the supply roll driving means And a take-up shaft and a supply shaft each containing a one-time cassette containing a one-time ink sheet and the multi-ink sheet. A thermal transfer recording apparatus, which is engageable with a take-up spool and a supply spool of a multi-cassette, wherein the supply spool of the one-time cassette and the supply spools of the multi-cassette have different axial lengths. 2. The end of each supply spool of each cassette is integrated with gears having different axial positions, and two supply shafts are coaxially arranged. 2. A thermal transfer recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a gear capable of meshing with the gear is fixed, one supply shaft is connected to the braking means, and the other supply shaft is connected to the ink sheet supply roll driving means. . 3. The supply shaft is movable in the axial direction, and when the supply shaft is moved in the axial direction, the supply shaft is selectively meshable with two gears arranged at different axial positions, and one gear is used for the braking. 2. A means for driving the ink sheet supply roll, wherein the other gear is connected to an ink sheet supply roll driving means.
The thermal transfer recording apparatus described.