JPH0952414A - Transfer type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transfer type printer which can reduce printing costs by using an ink ribbon to be wasted without being used effectively by simple structure. SOLUTION: In a transfer type printer equipped with a freely rotatable roll 8 onto which an ink ribbon is wound, a thermal head 5 which transfers the ink of the ink ribbon 7 supplied by rotating the roll 8 to a printing paper sheet, and a platen roller 3 which is contacted/separated relatively with/from the thermal head 5, the roll 8 is equipped with a rewinding mechanism which rewinds the ink ribbon 7 supplied to the thermal head 5 while the ink ribbon 7 being pulled by force accumulated by the rotation of the roll 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer type printer for transferring ink of an ink ribbon onto a printing paper for printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional transfer printer will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 denotes a paper cassette, which stores a large number of standard-size (for example, A4, A5, etc.) printing papers 2. The printing paper 2 is taken out one by one by a sheet feeder (not shown), and is conveyed by the conveying path 2a.
It is conveyed to the platen roller 3 arranged above (broken line in FIG. 9), and by the rotation of the platen roller 3, it is conveyed to the thermal head 5 while being guided by the pinch rollers 4A and 4B. After that, the printing paper 2 is thermally transferred by the pressure contact between the summar head 3 and the thermal head 5, and is discharged to the outside. The thermal head 5 has a plurality of heating elements, and performs thermal transfer for each color of the ink ribbon 7 based on the supplied character data, image data, and the like.

The ink ribbon 7 is wound around a supply roll 8 and is supplied between a thermal head 5 and a printing paper 2 which is brought into pressure contact with a platen roller 3 through a guide roller 9 so that the heat generating element The ink is thermally transferred onto the printing paper 2 by heat urging, and is peeled off from the printing paper 2 by the peeling plate 5a of the thermal head 5 to be used and wound up by the winding roll 11 via the guide roller 10. Has become. Further, the ink ribbon 8 is made up of three primary color inks of yellow, magenta and cyan (or
(A four-color ink with black B added to the three primary colors)
Are applied to each of the fixed sections and subjected to color printing.

Next, the printing operation of color printing in this configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

(1) First, the thermal head 6 is moved in the u direction in FIG. 5 to be separated from each other, and as shown in FIG. 10 (a), the ink ribbon 7 is guided by the guide roller 9, the peeling plate 5a and the guide. Thermal head 5 through roller 10
It is put in the tension state immediately below, and put in the standby state.

(2) From the standby state, the print sheets 2 are taken out one by one by the sheet feeder and conveyed to the platen roller 3 side, and the platen roller 3 is rotationally driven clockwise. As a result, the printing paper 2 is nipped by the pinch rollers 4B and is rotatably conveyed right below the thermal head 5. At this time, however, since the thermal head 5 is separated from the platen roller 3, the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4B are separated. As shown in FIG. 10B, the printing paper 2 nipped and conveyed by the pinch roller 4A and
Instead of being conveyed in the P direction between the platen rollers 3, it is conveyed in the Q direction on the guide roller 10 side. Therefore, since it is necessary to convey the printing paper 2 in the P direction, the thermal head 5 is moved in the d direction to move the printing paper 2 together with the ink ribbon 7 as shown in FIG. Print paper 2 by pressing it by sandwiching it with
Is guided by the thermal head 5 and the leading end of the printing paper 2 is fed until it passes between the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4A, and the printing paper 2 is cueed. Further, when the print sheet 2 is fed, the ink ribbon 7 pressed against the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 is also fed to the guide roller 10 side as the print sheet 2 is fed.
By rotating the take-up roll 11 counterclockwise and feeding the ink ribbon 7 from the guide roll 9 side to the guide roll 10 side by the paper feed length, the ink ribbon 7 is cueed in yellow.

(3) Next, the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 7
When the print head 2 and the ink ribbon 7 are pressed against each other by the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3, the platen roller 3 is driven clockwise and the take-up roller 11 is driven counterclockwise. Then, the printing paper 2 is conveyed together with the ink ribbon 7 to the ink ribbon take-up roller 11 side. In response to this rotational drive, the heat generating element of the thermal head 5 urges the print paper 2 in synchronization with the conveyance speed of the print paper 2 in correspondence with the print dots. As a result, the yellow ink of the ink ribbon 7 is thermally transferred to the printing paper 2 to the rear end of the printing paper 2 by heat and pressure contact.

(4) When the thermal transfer of yellow onto the printing paper 2 is completed, the operations described in (1) and (3) above are repeated to print the printing paper 2 onto which the yellow heat has been transferred.
Then, the next magenta is transferred by thermal transfer. Eventually,
The same operation is performed for three-color or four-color inks, and as a result, color printing is performed on one sheet of printing paper 2 with a print pattern such as a character pattern or an image pattern. After that, the color printing paper 2 is ejected to the outside of the printer.

By the way, the printing paper 2 is loaded onto the platen roller 3
And the pinch roller 4A are passed between the print head 2 and the pinch roller 4A, the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 press the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 7 together, and then the platen roller 3 is driven to rotate. When the paper is fed, the ink ribbon 7 is also fed to the ink ribbon take-up side roller 11 side by the paper feed length, and the ink ribbon 7 is wasted by this amount. That is, since the printing paper 2 is fed, the unused ink ribbon 7 that is not used for printing is consumed, that is, the length L of the ink ribbon 7 is the ink ribbon length L1 required for printing and the printing paper 2 The length n × L2 (where n is the number of times of paper feeding) is required for the amount of paper feeding (L = L1 + n × L2), which is wasted by n × L1.

When the thermal head 5 moves between the u direction and the d direction in FIG. 9, the ink ribbon 7 is loosened. That is, as shown in FIG. 10A, the thermal head 5 is moved from the standby state in the d direction to
As shown in (c), when the platen roller 3 is brought into a pressure contact state, the ink ribbon 7 is pulled to the pinch roller 4A side by the peeling plate 5a of the thermal head 5 (at this time, the supply roll 8 rotates). Then, it is pressed together with the printing paper 2. Then, in order to thermally transfer the yellow of the ink ribbon 7 onto the printing paper 2 and to thermally transfer the magenta over the yellow, the thermal head 5 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
As shown in (d), u is separated from the platen roller 5.
When moved in the direction, the ink ribbon 7 will move to the pinch roller 4A.
It will be slackened by the amount pulled to the side. in this way,
With the ink ribbon 7 slackened, the thermal head 5 is pressed against the platen roller 3, the platen roller 3 is rotated, and yellow and magenta are transferred to the printing paper 2 again, and cyan is transferred by thermal transfer. Problems such as 7 being caught in the pinch roller 4A occur.
Therefore, after the thermal head 5 is separated from the platen roller 3, the slack of the ink ribbon 7 is eliminated by rotating the take-up roll 11 counterclockwise, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the ink ribbon 7 is restored to the waiting state, which is the tension state. In this way, for each thermal transfer of the yellow, magenta, and cyan three primary color inks (or four color inks in which black B is added to the three primary colors black) of the ink ink 7 to the printing paper 2, the u direction of the thermal head 5 and the d direction In order to eliminate the slack of the ink ribbon 7 that occurs due to the movement, the unused ink ribbon that is not used for printing is consumed by the amount of the ink ribbon 7 that is wound to eliminate the slack.

As described above, in the transfer printer according to the prior art, the consumption of the ink ribbon 7 used for printing one sheet of the printing paper 2 increases, and the unit price of printing per sheet of the printing paper 2 also increases. It becomes expensive and uneconomical.

[0012]

In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to wind the unused ink ribbon around the ink ribbon supply roll by using a drive device such as a motor for the ink ribbon supply roll. If a drive device such as a motor is separately provided, the size of the printer itself is increased and the cost is increased.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and has a simple structure, and it is possible to effectively use unused ink ribbons and to reduce the printing cost. The purpose is to provide a printer.

[0014]

In order to solve the above problems, in the transfer printer according to the present invention, in claim 1, a roll around which an ink ribbon is wound and an ink supplied from the roll to the printing paper are provided. In a transfer printer including a thermal head that transfers ink from a ribbon and a platen roller that is pressed against and separated from the thermal head, the roll is the ink ribbon that is supplied to the thermal head. Is also provided with a rewinding mechanism that allows the roll to be rewound to the roll while being pulled by the force accumulated by the rotation of the roll. With this, when the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller and the platen roller is rotated to feed the printing paper, the ink ribbon is sent to the thermal head side together with the printing paper, and the platen of the thermal head is also fed. Even if the ink ribbon becomes loose due to the pressure contact / separation movement of the roller, the rewinding mechanism can pull the ink ribbon back to the roll while pulling it with the force accumulated by the rotation of the roll. The ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper can be shortened by effectively using the ink ribbon, and the printing cost can be reduced.

According to a second aspect, in addition to the first aspect,
The rewinding mechanism rotates a shaft that is rotatable with respect to the roll, a spring coil that is loosely fitted to the roll or the shaft and has both ends attached to each member, and the rotation of the shaft. And a brake unit for blocking / allowing the spring coil, and the spring coil is configured to reduce the coil diameter by rotation of the roll when the ink ribbon is supplied to the thermal head. It is a thing. Thereby, when the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller and the platen roller is rotated to feed the printing paper, if the ink ribbon is sent to the thermal head side together with the printing paper, or the roll rotates, or , When the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller and the ink ribbon is pulled toward the platen roller side at the same time and the rolls rotate, the spring coil reduces the coil diameter by the rotation of these rolls and the roll rotates in the reverse direction. It is possible to accumulate the spring force that causes it to rotate, and the action of this spring force causes the roll to rotate in the reverse direction, so that the ink ribbon sent to the thermal head side or the ink ribbon loosened due to the separation of the thermal head pressed against the platen roller is released. It can be rewound into a roll while pulling. As a result, it is not necessary to separately provide a motor or the like for winding the ink ribbon, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used with a simple structure, and the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper can be shortened. The printing cost can be reduced.

In claim 3, in addition to what is claimed in claim 2,
The shaft is provided with a stopper pin that is loosely fitted in a circumferential groove formed at a predetermined angle on the roll end, and when the roll is rotated by the degree, the stopper pin and the circumferential groove are separated from each other. It is characterized in that the abutment / engagement allows the brake part to rotate and rotates integrally with the shaft. As a result, when the roll is rotated, the circumferential groove end abuts and engages with the stopper pin of the shaft,
The spring force to reversely rotate the roll can be accumulated in the sprinkle coil until they are connected together.After the roll and the shaft are connected together, the spring and the shaft are integrated while the spring force is accumulated in the spring coil. Since it rotates, the ink ribbon wound on the roll can be sequentially supplied to the thermal head to transfer the ink to the printing paper, and the ink ribbon generated when the thermal head is separated from the platen roller after printing. Can be rewound by reversely rotating the roll with the spring force accumulated in the spring coil. As a result, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used to shorten the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper, and the printing cost can be reduced.

According to a fourth aspect, in addition to the second aspect,
The brake unit may prevent the shaft from rotating in the process of reducing the diameter of the spring coil, and may allow the shaft to rotate by tightening the roll or the shaft by reducing the diameter of the spring coil. It is a thing. This allows the spring coil to tighten the roll or shaft and accumulate spring force for reverse rotation of the roll in the spring coil until they are connected together, and after tightening to integrally connect the roll and shaft, Since the roll and the shaft rotate integrally while accumulating the spring force in the spring coil, the ink ribbon wound on the roll can be sequentially supplied to the thermal head to transfer the ink to the printing paper, The slack of the ink ribbon that occurs when the thermal head is separated from the platen roller after printing can be rewound by reversely rotating the roll with the spring force accumulated in the spring coil. As a result, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used to shorten the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper, and the printing cost can be reduced.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the structure of a transfer type printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a supply roll of the transfer type printer according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the configuration of the supply roll of the transfer type printer according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the relationship between the shaft and core holder of the transfer type printer according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a main part for explaining a printing operation of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the invention. 1 to 5 of the present invention, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 9 of the prior art indicate the same configurations, and thus the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 1, the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention can rewind the ink ribbon 7 supplied between the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 onto the supply roll 8 shown in FIG. 5 of the prior art. It also has a rewinding mechanism 15 and is based on FIG. 2 and FIG.
The rewinding mechanism 15 will be described.

2 and 3, the supply roll 8 comprises a tubular ribbon core 20 having a certain width in the axial direction thereof, and core holders 21 and 22 fitted in the shaft hole 20A from both ends of the ribbon core 20. It is configured. The core holder 21 includes a shaft portion 21 protruding in the axial direction of the ribbon core 20.
A, the shaft portion 21A is rotatably supported by, for example, a support 23A on one side of the roll receiving portion 23 of the printer. (In the case of the ink ribbon cassette, the core holder 2 is rotatably supported on the cassette.)
2 has a stepped hole 24 in which a large-diameter hole portion 24A and a connecting hole portion 24B are continuously formed by gradually reducing the diameter from the end face, and the rewind mechanism 15 connected to the stepped hole 24 is It is rotatably rotatably supported by the other support 23B of the roll receiving portion 23. Also, the large diameter hole portion 24A of the stepped hole 24
An attachment hole 25 extending in the axial direction of the ribbon core 20 is formed in the bottom 24a of the. The ink ribbon 7 is wound around the outer circumference of the ribbon core 20 only a plurality of times.

The rewinding mechanism 15 is mainly composed of a shaft 30, a spring coil 31, and a brake portion 32. The shaft 30 includes a large-diameter shaft portion 30A rotatably supported by a support member 23B of the roll receiving portion 23,
A connecting shaft portion 30B that is reduced in diameter from the large-diameter shaft portion 30A and continuously protrudes toward the ribbon core 20 side is integrally formed, and the connecting shaft portion 30B is provided with the stepped hole 2 of the core holder 22.
4 is inserted from the opening side and is rotatably fitted in the connecting hole portion 24A. As a result, the supply roll 8 is rotatable independently of the shaft portion 21A of the core holder 21 and the shaft 30 of the rewinding mechanism 15 with the connecting hole portion 24A of the rewinding mechanism 15 as a reference. In addition, the shaft 30 has a circular flange portion 30C that protrudes in the radial direction between the support body 23B of the roll receiving portion 23 and the core holder 22 and covers the opening of the stepped hole 24 of the ribbon core holder 22. Are formed. Further, a mounting hole 33 penetrating in the axial direction of the shaft 30 is formed in the flange portion 30C, and a stopper pin 30D having a predetermined radius r and protruding toward the core holder 22 is provided. The stopper pin 30D is attached to the core holder 22.
It is loosely fitted in a circumferential groove 26 formed with a radius r outside the stepped hole 24. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the circumferential groove 26 is formed over an angle of 270 degrees clockwise with the stopper pin 30D as a reference.

The spring coil 31 is arranged so as to be loosely fitted outside the connecting shaft portion 30B extending into the space defined by the flange portion 30C of the shaft 30 and the stepped hole 24 of the core holder 22. Also, the spring coil 31
Both end portions 31A, 31B are bent so as to project in the axial direction, and one tip portion 31A is
The core holder 22 is mounted in the mounting hole 25, the other end portion 31B is mounted in the shaft mounting hole 33, and the supply roll 8 moves in the direction of supplying the ink ribbon 7 to the thermal head 5 (counterclockwise direction). When rotated,
The diameter of the coil is reduced.

Further, the brake unit 32 has the roll receiving unit 23.
The annular friction member 34 externally fitted to the large-diameter shaft portion 30A of the shaft 30 protruding from the support body 23B to the side opposite to the ribbon core 20, and the brake spring 35 urging the friction member 34 toward the support body 23B side. It consists of and. The friction member 34 is the friction member 3 provided concentrically with the annular plate 34A.
4B, the shaft 30 can be moved in the axial direction by engaging with a spline 30a formed on the large-diameter shaft portion 30A of the shaft 30, and is rotatable with the shaft 30. The brake spring 35 includes the retaining ring 36 fixed to the end of the large-diameter shaft portion 30A of the shaft 30 and the friction member 3.
The friction material 34B is externally fitted to the large-diameter shaft portion 30A between the four portions and biases the friction material 34B to the support body 24B with a predetermined spring force F1.

The transfer type print according to the embodiment of the present invention is constructed as described above. Next, the printing operation of the color printing in this construction will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 (a) to 10 (d) of the technology
It will be described based on.

(A) First, the thermal head 6 is set in FIG.
As shown in (a), the ink ribbon 7 is separated from the thermal head 3 by moving in the u direction, and the ink ribbon 7 is pulled right below the thermal head 5 via the guide roller 9, the peeling plate 5a, and the guide roller 10. It becomes a standby state.

(B) From the standby state, the printing papers 2 are taken out one by one by the sheet feeder, conveyed to the platen roller 3 side, and the platen roller 3 is rotationally driven clockwise. After the printing paper 2 is nipped by the pinch rollers 4B and is rotatably conveyed directly below the thermal head 5, the thermal head 5 is moved in the d direction as shown in FIG. The ribbon 7 and the platen roller 3 are brought into pressure contact with each other, and the leading end portion of the printing paper 2 is fed while passing between the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4A while guiding the printing paper 2 by the thermal head 5 and the peeling plate 5a. The print paper 2 is cueed. Further, when the print sheet 2 is set to the top, the ink ribbon 7 pressed against the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 is also fed to the guide roller 10 side as the print sheet 2 is fed. Rotates counterclockwise. Then, when the supply roll 8 rotates counterclockwise, the shaft 30 of the rewinding mechanism 15 is rotated by the blade 30.
The rotation is restricted by the frictional force F2 with the friction member 34 that is biased by the spring force F1 of the brake spring 35 of the key portion 32,
Since the one end side 31B of the spring coil 31 is fixed to the shaft 30, as shown in FIG. 5A, the spring coil 31 having the tip end portion 31A attached to the core holder 21 is the printing paper 2 The sheet is fed by a rotational force from the ribbon coil 20 to rotate the sheet while reducing the coil diameter. After that, when the cueing of the printing paper 2 is completed and the rotation of the platen roller 3 is stopped, the feeding of the ink ribbon 7 to the guide roller 10 side is also stopped, and the coil diameter of the spring coil 31 is reduced. As shown in FIG. 5B, the ribbon core 20 is rotated clockwise by the spring force F3 acting in the direction of expanding the coil diameter of the spring coil 31. As a result, the ink ribbon 7 sent to the guide roller 10 side by the paper feed amount of the printing paper 2 is pulled and rewound on the ribbon core 20 of the supply roll 8.

(C) Next, the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 7
When the platen roller 3 and the take-up roller 11 are driven to rotate in the clockwise direction after the cueing of the print head 2 and the print paper 2 is guided by the pinch rollers 4A and 4B, the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 are sequentially rotated. While passing between
The ink ribbon 7 is also the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3.
Pass between. At this time, since the rotation of the winding roll 10 is transmitted via the ink ribbon 7, the supply roll 8 rotates counterclockwise. When the supply roll 8 rotates, the rotation of the shank 30 of the rewinding mechanism 15 is restricted by the frictional force F2 with the friction member 33 which is urged by the spring force F1 of the brake spring 34 of the brake 32. Since one end side 31B of the spring coil 31 is fixed to the shank 30, the spring coil 31 having the tip portion 31A attached to the core holder 21 is attached.
However, it receives the rotational force from the ribbon core 20 and rotates while reducing its coil diameter.
As shown in FIG. 5C, the stopper pin 30D of the peripheral groove 25 of the supply roller 8 rotated clockwise by 270 degrees.
Abut and engage the end. Then, when the stopper pin 30D of the shaft 30 abuts and engages with the circumferential groove 25, the ribbon core 20 and the shaft 30 are integrally connected so as to be able to rotate clockwise. When the rotational force F4 of the ribbon core 20 transmitted to the shaft 30 through the stopper pin 30D overcomes the frictional force F2 of the brake portion 32 due to the connection between the ribbon core 20 and the shaft 30, the ribbon core 20 and the shaft 30 are integrated. Since it rotates counterclockwise,
Ink ribbon 7 is attached to thermal head 5 and platen roller 3
Can be passed between and. Then, in response to the rotational driving of the platen roller 3, the heating element of the thermal head 5 is urged corresponding to the print dots in synchronization with the transport speed of the print paper 2. As a result, the yellow ink of the ink ribbon 7 is thermally transferred to the printing paper 2 to the rear end of the printing paper 2 by heat and pressure contact.

(D) When the thermal transfer of yellow onto the printing paper 2 is completed, the thermal bed 5 is moved to the thermal transfer bed 5 shown in FIG. While moving in the u direction, the platen roller 3 is rotated clockwise to cue the printing paper. At this time, when the thermal head 5 is moved in the u direction, the ink ribbon 7 is loosened due to the movement as shown in FIG. 5D. However, due to the operation described in the above (C), Since the coil diameter of the spring coil 31 is reduced, as shown in FIG. 5D, the ribbon core 20 is moved by the spring force F5 acting in the direction of expanding the coil diameter of the spring coil 31. When the ink ribbon 7 is rotated clockwise, the slack of the ink ribbon 7 is pulled and rewound on the ribbon core 20 of the supply roll 8 by this rotation,
Put it on standby.

(E) Then, by repeating the operations described in (A) to (D), the next magenta is thermally transferred onto the printing paper 2 to which yellow has been thermally transferred. Finally, the same operation is performed with respect to color inks of three colors or four colors, and as a result, color printing is performed on one sheet of printing paper 2 with a print pattern such as a character pattern or an image pattern. After that, the color printing paper 2 is ejected to the outside of the printer.

The transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a stopper pin 25 provided on the shaft 30.
The structure is such that the supply roll 8 and the shaft 30 are integrally rotated by abutting / engaging with the circumferential groove 26 formed in the core holder 22. However, the structure is not limited to this, and FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the stopper pin 25 is provided with no circumferential groove 26, and the supply coil 8 and the shaft 30 are integrally rotated by tightening the connecting shaft portion 30B of the shaft 30 with the spring coil 31. It may be one. In FIGS. 6 and 7, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 indicate the same components, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted. Then, as shown in FIG.
The operation will be described based on (a) to FIG. 8 (d) and FIGS. 10 (a) to 10 (d) of the related art.

(A) First, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the ink ribbon 7 is separated from the thermal head 3 by moving in the u direction, and the ink ribbon 7 is pulled right below the thermal head 5 via the guide roller 9, the peeling plate 5a, and the guide roller 10. It becomes a standby state.

(B) From the standby state, the printing papers 2 are taken out one by one by the sheet feeder, conveyed to the platen roller 3 side, and the platen roller 3 is rotationally driven clockwise. After the printing paper 2 is nipped by the pinch rollers 4B and is rotatably conveyed directly below the thermal head 5, the thermal head 5 is moved in the d direction as shown in FIG. The ribbon 7 and the platen roller 3 are brought into pressure contact with each other, and the leading end portion of the printing paper 2 is fed while passing between the platen roller 3 and the pinch roller 4A while guiding the printing paper 2 by the thermal head 5 and the peeling plate 5a. The print paper 2 is cueed. Further, when the print sheet 2 is set to the top, the ink ribbon 7 pressed against the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 is also fed to the guide roller 10 side as the print sheet 2 is fed. Rotates counterclockwise. Then, when the supply roll 8 rotates counterclockwise, the shaft 30 of the rewinding mechanism 15 is rotated by the blade 30.
The rotation is restricted by the frictional force F2 with the friction member 34 that is biased by the spring force F1 of the brake spring 35 of the key portion 32,
Since the one end side 31B of the spring coil 31 is fixed to the shaft 30, as shown in FIG. The sheet is fed by a rotational force from the ribbon coil 20 to rotate the sheet while reducing the coil diameter. After that, when the cueing of the printing paper 2 is completed and the rotation of the platen roller 3 is stopped, the feeding of the ink ribbon 7 to the guide roller 10 side is also stopped, and the coil diameter of the spring coil 31 is reduced. As shown in FIG. 8B, the ribbon core 20 is rotated clockwise by the spring force F3 that acts in a direction to expand the coil diameter of the spring coil 31, so that this rotation is performed. As a result, the ink ribbon 7 sent to the guide roller 10 side by the paper feed amount of the printing paper 2 is pulled and rewound on the ribbon core 20 of the supply roll 8.

(C) Next, the printing paper 2 and the ink ribbon 7
When the platen roller 3 and the take-up roller 11 are driven to rotate in the clockwise direction after the cueing of the print head 2 and the print paper 2 is guided by the pinch rollers 4A and 4B, the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3 are sequentially rotated. While passing between
The ink ribbon 7 is also the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3.
Pass between. At this time, since the rotation of the winding roll 10 is transmitted via the ink ribbon 7, the supply roll 8 rotates counterclockwise. Then, when the supply roll 8 rotates, the rotation of the shaft 30 of the rewinding mechanism 15 is restricted by the frictional force F2 with the friction member 33 which is urged by the spring force F1 of the brake spring 34 of the brake 32. Since one end side 31B of the spring coil 31 is fixed to the shank 30, the spring coil 31 having the tip portion 31A attached to the core holder 22 is attached.
Receives the rotational force from the ribbon core 20 and rotates while reducing its coil diameter. Finally, as shown in FIG. 8C, the spring coil 31 is connected to the connecting shaft portion of the shaft 30. The ribbon core 20 and the shaft 30 are integrally and rotatably connected by tightening 30B and friction with the connecting shaft portion 30B. Ribbon core 20 and shaft 3
Due to the connection with 0, the rotational force F4 of the ribbon core 20 transmitted to the shaft 30 via the spring coil 31 is
When the frictional force F2 of the brake portion 32 is overcome, the ribbon core 20 and the shaft 30 rotate integrally in the counterclockwise direction, so that the ink ribbon 7 can be sequentially passed between the thermal head 5 and the platen roller 3. it can. Then, in response to the rotational driving of the platen roller 3, the heating element of the thermal head 5 is urged corresponding to the print dots in synchronization with the transport speed of the print paper 2. As a result, the yellow ink of the ink ribbon 7 is thermally transferred to the printing paper 2 to the rear end of the printing paper 2 by heat and pressure contact.

(D) When the thermal transfer of yellow onto the printing paper 2 is completed, the thermal bed 5 is transferred to the printing paper 2 onto which the yellow has been thermally transferred in order to superimpose and transfer the next magenta. While moving in the u direction, the platen roller 3 is rotated clockwise to cue the printing paper. At this time, when the thermal head 5 is moved in the u direction, the ink ribbon 7 is loosened due to the movement as shown in FIG. 8D. However, due to the operation described in the above (C), Since the coil diameter of the spring coil 31 is reduced, as shown in FIG.
The ribbon core 20 is rotated clockwise by the spring force F5 that acts in a direction to expand the coil diameter of the spring coil 31, and this rotation rewinds the ribbon core 20 of the supply roll 8 while pulling the slack of the ink ribbon 7. And put it in the standby state.

(E) Then, by repeating the operations described in (a) to (d) above, the next magenta is thermally transferred onto the printing paper 2 on which yellow has been thermally transferred. Finally, the same operation is performed with respect to color inks of three colors or four colors, and as a result, color printing is performed on one sheet of printing paper 2 with a print pattern such as a character pattern or an image pattern. After that, the color printing paper 2 is ejected to the outside of the printer.

The transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention is a thermal transfer printer coated with a heat-melting ink, but the present invention is also applicable to a sublimation transfer printer. The effect can be obtained. Further, the present invention is not limited to the transfer type printer for color printing, but may be monochrome printing (printing using a black ink applied over the entire surface of the ink ribbon 10), monochrome printing as well as color printing. You may implement | achieve to the transfer type printer which also serves as printing. Further, the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention uses the spring coil 31 as a means for storing a force necessary for rewinding the ink ribbon 7 supplied to the thermal head 5 by the rotation of the supply roll 8. However, it is not limited to this,
Instead of the spring coil 31, an elastic body such as a tubular rubber member may be used. In this case, the shaft 30 is loosely fitted outside the small-diameter shaft portion 30B, and both ends in the axial direction are stepped. By fixing the bottom portion 24a of the attached hole 24 and the flange portion 30C of the shaft 30 respectively, the cylindrical rubber member is twisted in the circumferential direction following the rotation of the supply roll 8 and is supplied to the thermal head 7. It is possible to store the force for rewinding the ink ribbon 7.

[0037]

As described above, according to the transfer type printer of the present invention, when the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller and the platen roller is rotated to feed the printing paper, The ink ribbon is sent to the thermal head side together with this printing paper, and even if the ink ribbon is loosened due to the movement of the thermal head to press and separate the platen roller, the force that the rewinding mechanism stores by the rotation of the roll. Since the ink ribbon can be rewound to the roll while being pulled by, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used to shorten the ink ribbon used for transfer of printing paper, thus reducing the printing cost. Becomes

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the platen roller is rotated and the printing paper is fed while the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller, the ink ribbon is fed to the thermal head side together with the printing paper. When the roller rotates or when the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller and the ink ribbon is pulled toward the platen roller at the same time and the roll rotates, the spring coil reduces the coil diameter by the rotation of these rolls. , The spring force to rotate the roll in the reverse direction can be accumulated, and by the action of this spring force to rotate the roll in the reverse direction, the ink ribbon sent to the thermal head side or the separation of the thermal head pressed against the platen roller Thus, the loosened ink ribbon can be pulled back to the roll while being pulled. As a result, it is not necessary to separately provide a motor or the like for winding the ink ribbon, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used with a simple structure, and the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper can be shortened. The printing cost can be reduced.

In the third aspect, when the roll is rotated, the circumferential groove end and the stopper pin of the shaft abut and engage with each other, and the spring force for rotating the roll in the reverse direction is accumulated in the spring coil until they are integrally connected. Also, after the roll and the shaft are integrally connected, the roll and the shaft rotate integrally while accumulating the spring force in the spring coil, so that the ink ribbon wound around the roll is sequentially heated by the thermal head. The ink ribbon can be transferred to the printing paper by feeding it to the printing paper, and the slack of the ink ribbon that occurs when the thermal head is separated from the platen roller after printing can be reversed by the spring force accumulated in the spring coil. You can rewind. As a result, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used to shorten the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper, and the printing cost can be reduced.

According to the present invention, the spring coil can squeeze the roll or the shaft to store the spring force for the reverse rotation of the roll in the sprinkle coil until they are connected together. After connecting, the roll and shaft rotate integrally while accumulating the spring force in the spring coil, so the ink ribbon wound on the roll is sequentially supplied to the thermal head to transfer the ink to the printing paper. In addition, the slack of the ink ribbon that occurs when the thermal head is separated from the platen roller after printing can be rewound by reversely rotating the roll with the spring force accumulated in the spring coil. As a result, the unused ink ribbon can be effectively used to shorten the ink ribbon used for transferring the printing paper, and the printing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transverse cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the ink ribbon supply roller of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a configuration of an ink ribbon supply roller of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between the shaft and the core holder of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

5A to 5D are enlarged views of a main part for explaining a printing operation of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing another configuration of the ink ribbon supply roller of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing another configuration of the ink ribbon supply roller of the transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

8A to 8D are enlarged views of a main part for explaining a printing operation of another transfer type printer according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a transfer printer according to a conventional technique.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of a main part for explaining a printing operation of a transfer printer according to a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Platen Roller 5 Thermal Head 7 Ink Ribbon 8 Supply Roll (Roll) 15 Rewinding Mechanism 30 Shaft 31 Spring Coil 32 Brake Unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rotatable roll around which an ink ribbon is wound, a thermal head that rotates the roll to transfer the ink of the ink ribbon supplied to a printing paper, and a thermal head relative to the thermal head. And a platen roller that is pressed against and separated from each other, wherein the roll rewinds the ink ribbon supplied to the thermal head while pulling the ink ribbon with the force accumulated by the rotation of the roll. A transfer-type printer having a rewinding mechanism that enables the transfer. 2. The rewinding mechanism includes a shaft rotatable with respect to the roll, a spring coil loosely fitted to the roll or the shaft, and both ends of which are attached to the respective members, respectively. And a brake unit that prevents / permits rotation of the shaft, and the spring coil is configured to reduce the coil diameter by rotation of the roll when the ink ribbon is supplied to the thermal head. The transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The shaft is provided with a stopper pin that is loosely fitted in a circumferential groove formed at a predetermined angle at the roll end, and when the roll is rotated by the angle, the stopper pin and the 3. The transfer printer according to claim 2, wherein the brake unit is allowed to rotate by contact and engagement with a circumferential groove and is rotated integrally with the shaft. 4. The brake portion prevents rotation of the shaft during a diameter reduction process of the spring coil, and allows rotation of the shaft by tightening the roll or the shaft due to the diameter reduction of the spring coil. The transfer spring coil according to claim 2, wherein