JPH1044481A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a thermal transfer printer in which a print medium can be rewound while closing a cover. SOLUTION: A cover 42 is pivoted to a casing 2 such that it can tilt freely and a thermal print head 46 is arranged on a cover 42. When the cover 42 is tilted, the thermal print head 46 comes into pressure contact with a platen roller 28 from above an ink ribbon 114 and a print medium 138. Consequently, the print medium 138 on the platen roller 28 is printed with a desired color by means of the thermal print head 46. The cover 42 is provided with a mechanism for driving the thermal print head 46 to elevate or lower. The mechanism is driven to elevate the thermal print head 46 with respect to the platen roller 28 and then the print medium 138 is rewound while closing the cover 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for printing characters used on a signboard or the like on a sheet member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cover having a thermal print head disposed on a casing is openably and closably attached, and an ink ribbon cassette is detachably mounted on the cover. When the cover is closed, the thermal print head causes the ink ribbon and the print medium to be removed. From above, press against the platen roller on the casing side,
A thermal transfer printer in which a print medium and an ink ribbon are fed in a predetermined direction in this state so that printing is performed on the print medium is conventionally known.

[0003]

Conventionally, when performing multi-color printing on a print medium, after performing one-color printing, an operator manually opens the cover and separates the thermal print head from the print roller. The feed roller is rotated in the reverse direction to return the print medium to the original position, and thereafter, the ink ribbon cassette attached to the cover is replaced with a cassette containing an ink ribbon of another color to restart the printing operation. Therefore, there is a problem that the operation of returning the print medium is performed in an extremely unstable state with the cover open. In the present invention, when performing multi-color printing, when one-color printing is completed,
It is an object of the present invention to automatically perform a print medium return operation.

[0004]

According to the present invention, a platen roller (28) linked to a rotary drive system is disposed on a casing (2), and printing is performed before and after the platen roller (28). A transport section for feeding the medium in the front-rear direction is provided, and a roll portion (138a) of a sheet-shaped print medium (138) wound in a roll around the casing (2).
And a roll support means linked to a rotary drive system for feeding the print medium (138) from the roll section (138a) and passing the casing (2) through the transport path.
A cover (42) is attached to the casing (2) so as to be capable of being turned upside down, and a thermal print head (46) is disposed on the cover (42). (2) Ink ribbon (11
When the ribbon cassette (112) having the built-in 4) is freely attachable and the cover (42) is folded down, the thermal print head (46) moves the platen from above the ink ribbon (114) and the print medium (138). A roller (28), and presses the platen roller (28), the drive roller on the transport path and the roll (1) of the print medium (138).
The feeding portion of the printing medium (138) is fed in a predetermined direction on the transport path by the rotation of the printing medium (138), and the ribbon (114) is sent in a predetermined direction by the rotation of the platen roller (28) by the thermal print head (46). A) a thermal transfer printer adapted to print a desired color on the print medium (138) above, wherein the cover (42) is provided with a head elevating mechanism for driving the thermal print head (46) up and down. is there.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. Reference numeral 2 denotes a casing of the thermal transfer printer, and a paper feed motor 4
(See FIG. 10). A roll paper feed shaft 6 is rotatably supported at the lower part of the casing 2.
Are connected to the paper feed motor 4. At the lower part of the casing 2, opposed to the roll paper feed shaft 6,
A roll paper loading roller 8 is rotatably supported by a shaft. The roll paper feed shaft 6 is provided with a disk-shaped side plate 10 of the roll paper holder 10 so that the roll paper holder 10 does not swing.
A pair of rollers 12, 14 having concave grooves for removably receiving a, 10a are fixed (see FIG. 7).

The above-mentioned concave groove is a concave groove 1 for receiving both side plates 10a, 10a of a holder 10 for a wide large roll paper.
6, 18 and a small roll paper holder 1 with a narrow paper width
A groove 20 for receiving both side plates 10a ', 10a'
22 are provided. 24 and 26 are paper feed rollers,
Reference numeral 28 denotes a platen roller,
And are connected to the paper feed motor 4 respectively. Pressing rollers 32 and 34 movably supported in the direction of contact and separation with respect to the paper feed rollers 24 and 26 are rotatably opposed to each other. Reference numeral 36 denotes an automatic cutter unit for cutting paper, and is configured such that a blade (not shown) is driven by an automatic cutter motor 38 (see FIG. 10) built in the casing 2. Reference numeral 40 denotes a paper width sensor that detects whether or not a paper is disposed above. The sensor 40 is attached to a substrate 30 fixed to the casing 2. A cover 42 is rotatably supported on the casing 2 by a shaft 44.

Reference numeral 46 denotes a thermal print head, which is fixed to a holder 48. One of the holders 48 is the cover 4
The shaft 50 is rotatably supported by the shaft 2 and is urged clockwise in FIG. The holder 48 has a shaft 54 projecting therefrom.
Are slidably fitted. The receiving member 56
Are urged by a coil spring 58 in the projecting direction with the holder 48 as a fulcrum. The receiving member 56 is supported by a guide shaft 60 and a shaft 62 disposed on the cover 42 by a biasing force of the coil spring 52 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 64 is in elastic contact with the lower surface.

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the raising / lowering mechanism of the thermal print head 46 and the ribbon feeding mechanism will be described. Reference numeral 66 denotes a substrate fixed to the cover 42, on which a head elevating motor 68 comprising a stepping motor is provided.
Has been fixed. The motor 68 is also used as a ribbon feed motor. A shaft 70 is rotatably supported on the substrate 66, and a one-way clutch 76 with two-stage gears 72 and 74 and a torque limiter 80 with a gear 78 are mounted on the shaft 70. The shaft 70 has a two-stage gear 8.
2 and 84 are rotatably supported, and the gear 82 meshes with a gear 86 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 68.

Reference numeral 62 denotes a shaft rotatably supported by the base plate 66. A one-way clutch 92 having two-stage gears 88 and 90 is mounted on the shaft 62. Further, an eccentric cam 92 is fixed to the shaft 62. I have. The one-way clutch 92
The gear 88 meshes with the gear 84, and the gear 90 meshes with the gear 72. A roller 94 (see FIG. 1) is rotatably supported by the elevating body 64. A U-shaped groove is formed on the side and upper part of the elevating body 64,
One groove is slidably fitted to a guide shaft 60 provided on the substrate 66, and the other groove is slidably fitted to the shaft 62 as shown in FIG. The elevating body 64 is supported by the shaft 62 and the guide shaft 60 so as to be vertically movable. The receiving member 56 is in elastic contact with the protruding bottom surface 64 a of the elevating body 64 by the force of the spring 52. Reference numeral 96 denotes a torque limiter fixed to the substrate 66, and a gear 100 is fixed to an input shaft 98 of the torque limiter. Reference numeral 102 denotes a gear, which is fixed to a shaft 104 rotatably supported on the substrate 66. Axis 104
The gear 106 is fixed to the
And are engaged. Gears 108, 1 are provided on the cover 42.
The gear 10 is rotatably supported, the gear 108 meshes with the gear 102, and the gear 110 meshes with the gear 100.
A fitting recess is formed in the cover 42 for fitting and holding the ribbon cassette 112 in a detachable manner. The ribbon cassette 112 includes a ribbon supply reel 116 on which the color ribbon 114 is wound and the ribbon take-up reel 1.
18 are rotatably accommodated, and gears 120 and 122 are connected to the reels 116 and 118, respectively, as shown in FIG.

When the ribbon cassette 112 is mounted in the fitting recess of the cover 42, the ribbon 114 stretched between the reels 116 and 118 is just
6, the gear 120 on the ribbon supply reel 116 meshes with the gear 110 for tension application, and the gear 122 on the take-up reel 118 meshes with the output gear 108. . The thermal print head 46 is connected to a head data control circuit 124 (see FIG. 10) built in the casing 2.
The D and C motors 38 for the automatic cutter, the paper feed stepping motor 4, and the head elevating stepping motor 68
Each is connected to the motor control circuit 126.

The head data control circuit 124 and the motor control circuit 126 are connected to a CPU 128 built in the casing 2 and are controlled by the CPU. A data input device (not shown) is connected to the CPU 128 via an interface 130 so that character information and other print information can be input to the CPU 128 from a keyboard of the data input device. . In addition to the paper width sensor 40, the casing 2 includes a cutter sensor 132 for detecting the position of the cutter, a head elevating sensor 134 for detecting the elevating position of the thermal print head 46, a ribbon sensor 136 for detecting the presence or absence of the ribbon 114, and a cover. A cover open sensor 138 and the like for detecting the open / close position of 42 are provided, and these are connected to the CPU 128. The force of pushing up the receiving member 56 of the coil spring 58 is
Is set to be stronger than the force of lifting the holder 48.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
When the new ribbon cassette 112 is mounted on the cover 42, as shown in FIG. 4, the cover 42 is swung about the shaft 44 in a counterclockwise direction until it is locked by the stopper at a predetermined angular position. The cover 42 is set substantially upright.
In this state, remove the old ribbon cassette from the cover 42,
A new ribbon cassette 112 is fitted and mounted in the inner fitting concave portion of the cover 42. At this time, the ribbon 114 disposed between the reels 116 and 118 of the ribbon cassette 112
The thermal print head 46 is arranged to face the printing surface. Further, the respective gears 120 and 122 of the ribbon cassette 112 are
As shown in FIG. 5, the gears mesh with the corresponding gears 110 and 108. Next, the cover 42 is swung clockwise about a shaft 44 in FIG. 1 to a substantially horizontal state to lock the cover 42 to the casing 2. In this state, the thermal print head 46 is pressed against the platen roller 28 via the ribbon 114 and the roll paper 138. Roll portion 138a of roll paper 138 held in roll paper holder 10
The roll paper 138 fed from the feeding roller 2
4, via the platen roller 28 and the feed roller 26,
It is led to the outlet 140 of the casing 2.

When the printing operation starts, the paper feed motor 4 is driven. Thereby, the feed shaft 6, the platen roller 28, and the feed rollers 24 and 26 rotate in a predetermined direction, and the roll paper 138 is conveyed to the left in FIG. On the other hand, print data is supplied to the thermal print head 46 from the head data control circuit 124 together with thermal energy suitable for the paper width, and the print data is thermally transferred to the roll paper 138 on the platen roller 28. During paper transport,
The pressure rollers 32 and 34 are in pressure contact with the feed rollers 24 and 26, and follow the rotation of the rollers 24 and 26. On the other hand, during printing, the motor 68 is driven, and the driving force of the motor 68 is the gears 86, 82, 84, 88, 90,
The power is transmitted to the shaft 70 via the 72 and the one-way clutch 76, and the shaft 70 rotates. At this time, the gears 88 and 90 idle, and the shaft 62 remains stationary. The rotation of the shaft 70 is transmitted to a gear 78 via a torque limiter 80,
The rotation of the gear 78 is controlled by the gear 106, the shaft 104, the gear 10
2, transmitted to the take-up reel 118 of the ribbon cassette 112 via the output gear 108 and the gear 122. As a result, the take-up reel 118 rotates in the ribbon take-up direction. At this time, the supply reel 116
The static torque of the torque limiter 96 acts via 0, 110, and 100, and the ribbon 114 is wound on a take-up reel 118, while the ribbon 114 is given an appropriate tension.

When printing on the roll paper 138 is one-color printing, when printing of a predetermined length is completed, supply of print data to the thermal print head 46 is stopped, and driving of the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 is stopped. Stop. Next, the auto cutter motor 38 is driven, the roll paper 138 is cut by the auto cutter unit 36, and the printed portion of the roll paper 138 is cut off. When printing on the roll paper 138 is multi-color printing, when printing of one color is completed, supply of print data to the thermal print head 46 is stopped, and driving of the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 is stopped.
Next, the CPU 128 supplies a reverse rotation signal to the motor control circuit 126 to drive the head elevating motor 68 to rotate in the reverse direction.

The reverse rotation of the motor 68 causes the gear 86 to rotate in the reverse direction, and the rotation of the gear 86 is transmitted to the shaft 62 via the gear 82, the gear 84, the gear 88, and the one-way clutch 92. At this time, the rotation of the gear 90 is not transmitted to the shaft 70 by the one-way clutch 76, and the shaft 70 maintains the stopped state. When the shaft 62 rotates, the eccentric cam 92 rotates, and the large eccentric portion of the cam 92 comes off the roller 94. As a result, the pressing force of the eccentric cam 92 on the elevating body 64 is released, and the elevating body 64 and the thermal print head 46 are raised by the tensile force of the coil spring 52,
The thermal print head 46 is separated from the platen roller 28 by a predetermined distance upward as shown in FIG. CPU1
When the head elevating sensor 134 detects that the thermal print head 46 has risen to a predetermined position, the driving of the head elevating motor 68 is stopped. Next, the CPU 128 drives the paper feed motor 4 in the reverse rotation direction, and moves the roll paper 138 fed out by the printing operation of the first color to a position where the printing start position of the second color is immediately below the printing surface of the thermal print head 46. Until the roll paper 138 is wound around the roll section 138a.

When the printing start position of the second color of the roll paper 138 moves to just below the printing surface of the thermal print head 46, the CPU 128 stops the reverse rotation drive of the paper feed motor 4. Next, the operator manually releases the lock of the cover 42 with respect to the casing 2 and swings the cover 42 in the upright direction as shown in FIG. 5, removes the ribbon cassette 112, and replaces the ribbon cassette 112 with another color ribbon cassette. After replacement, the cover 42 is closed horizontally again as shown in FIG. When the CPU 128 confirms that the cover 42 has been closed by the cover open sensor 138, the CPU 128 drives the head lifting / lowering motor 68 in the reverse direction to rotate the eccentric cam 92, and moves the eccentric enlarged portion onto the roller 94. The shaft 54 is pressed down so that the print surface of the thermal print head 46 is
The plate 38 comes into pressure contact with the platen roller 28. next,
The CPU 128 resumes the printing operation, drives the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 in the forward direction again, feeds the roll paper 138 and the ribbon 114 in a predetermined direction, and heats the print information on the thermal print head 46. The energy is sent to print the second color on the roll paper 138. When all the printing is completed, the CPU 128
As described above, the cutting process of the roll paper 138 is performed. In the present embodiment, roll paper is used as a printing medium, but a sheet member made of a vinyl chloride adhesive sheet, a plastic sheet, or any other material can be used.

[0017]

According to the present invention, as described above, since the thermal print head elevating mechanism is provided on the cover, the thermal print head is separated from the print roller without swinging the cover in the upright direction, and the operation shifts to the return operation of the print medium. There are effects that can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a thermal head print elevating mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a ribbon feed mechanism and a thermal print head elevating mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the ribbon cassette.

FIG. 10 is an electronic block circuit diagram of the thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 2 casing 4 paper feed motor 6 roll paper feed shaft 8 roll paper placement roller 10 roll paper holder 12 roller 14 roller 16 concave groove 18 concave groove 20 concave groove 22 concave groove 24 paper feed roller 26 paper feed roller 28 platen roller 30 substrate 32 pressure Roller 34 Pressure roller 36 Auto cutter unit 38 Auto cutter motor 40 Paper width sensor 42 Cover 44 Axis 46 Thermal print head 48 Holder 50 Axis 52 Coil spring 54 Axis 56 Receiving member 58 Coil spring 60 Guide axis 62 Axis 64 Elevating body 66 Substrate 68 Head elevating motor 70 Shaft 72 Gear 74 Gear 76 One-way clutch 78 Gear 80 Torque limiter 82 Gear 84 Gear 86 Gear 88 Gear 90 Gear 92 Eccentric cam 94 Roller 96 Torque limiter 9 Input shaft 100 gear 102 gear 104 shaft 106 gear 108 output gear 110 output gear 112 ribbon cassette 114 color ribbon 116 Ribbon supply reel 118 ribbon take-up reel 120 gear 122 gear 138 rolls sheet 138a roll 140 outlet

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] September 17, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Full text

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Document Name] Statement

[Title of the Invention] Thermal transfer printer

[Claims]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer for printing characters used on a signboard or the like on a sheet member.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A cover having a thermal print head disposed on a casing is openably and closably attached, and an ink ribbon cassette is detachably mounted on the cover. When the cover is closed, the thermal print head causes the ink ribbon and the print medium to be removed. From above, press against the platen roller on the casing side,
A thermal transfer printer in which a print medium and an ink ribbon are fed in a predetermined direction in this state so that printing is performed on the print medium is conventionally known.

[0003]

Conventionally, when performing multi-color printing on a print medium, after performing one-color printing, an operator manually opens the cover and separates the thermal print head from the print roller. The feed roller is rotated in the reverse direction to return the print medium to the original position, and thereafter, the ink ribbon cassette attached to the cover is replaced with a cassette containing an ink ribbon of another color to restart the printing operation. Therefore, there is a problem that the operation of returning the print medium is performed in an extremely unstable state with the cover open. Ma
Also, even in the case of single-color printing, return after printing
Operation must be performed with the cover open.
The work was troublesome. The present invention uses the seal with the cover closed.
It is an object of the present invention to be able to return a character medium .

[0004]

According to the present invention, a platen roller (28) linked to a rotary drive system is disposed on a casing (2), and printing is performed before and after the platen roller (28). A transport section for feeding the medium in the front-rear direction is provided, and a roll portion (138a) of a sheet-shaped print medium (138) wound in a roll around the casing (2).
Roll supporting means for supporting the print medium (1).
38) is fed out from the roll part (138a), and is guided to the discharge port (140) of the casing (2) through the transport path, and the cover (4) is attached to the casing (2).
2) so that the thermal print head (46) is disposed on the cover (42), and a ribbon cassette (112) containing an ink ribbon (114) is mounted on the casing (2). , The cover (4
2), the thermal print head (46) comes into pressure contact with the platen roller (28) from above the ink ribbon (114) and the print medium (138), and the platen roller (28) and the transport path The feed roller of the print medium (138) is fed in a predetermined direction on the transport path by the rotation of the drive roller and the roll section (138a) of the print medium (138), and the ribbon (114) is fed in a predetermined direction. A thermal transfer printer configured to print a desired color on a print medium (138) on the platen roller (28) by the thermal print head (46).
6) is provided with a head elevating mechanism for driving up and down.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. Reference numeral 2 denotes a casing of the thermal transfer printer, and a paper feed motor 4
(See FIG. 10). A roll paper feed shaft 6 is rotatably supported at the lower portion of the casing 2 , and a roll paper loading roller 8 is rotatably supported opposite the roll paper feed shaft 6. The roll paper holder 1 is mounted on the roll paper feed shaft 6 so that the roll paper holder 10 does not shake laterally.
A pair of rollers 12, 14 having concave grooves for detachably receiving the disc-shaped side plates 10a, 10a are fixed thereto (see FIG. 7).

The above-mentioned concave groove is a concave groove 1 for receiving both side plates 10a, 10a of a holder 10 for a wide large roll paper.
6, 18 and a small roll paper holder 1 with a narrow paper width
Groove 2 for receiving both side plates 10a ', 10a'
0 and 22 are provided. Reference numerals 24 and 26 denote paper feed rollers, and reference numeral 28 denotes a platen roller, which is rotatably supported by the substrate 30 of the casing 2 and is connected to the paper feed motor 4 respectively. Pressing rollers 32 and 34 movably supported in the direction of contact and separation with respect to the paper feed rollers 24 and 26 are rotatably opposed to each other.
Reference numeral 36 denotes an automatic cutter unit for cutting paper, and is configured such that a blade (not shown) is driven by an automatic cutter motor 38 (see FIG. 10) built in the casing 2. Reference numeral 40 denotes a paper width sensor that detects whether or not a paper is disposed above. The sensor 40 is attached to a substrate 30 fixed to the casing 2. 42 is a cover,
The casing 2 is rotatably supported by a shaft 44.

Reference numeral 46 denotes a thermal print head, which is fixed to a holder 48. One of the holders 48 is the cover 4
The shaft 50 is rotatably supported by the shaft 2 and is urged clockwise in FIG. The holder 48 has a shaft 54 projecting therefrom.
Are slidably fitted. The receiving member 56
Are urged by a coil spring 58 in the projecting direction with the holder 48 as a fulcrum. The receiving member 56 is supported by a guide shaft 60 and a shaft 62 disposed on the cover 42 by a biasing force of the coil spring 52 in the clockwise direction in FIG. 64 is in elastic contact with the lower surface.

Next, with reference to FIG. 8, the raising / lowering mechanism of the thermal print head 46 and the ribbon feeding mechanism will be described. Reference numeral 66 denotes a substrate fixed to the cover 42, on which a head elevating motor 68 comprising a stepping motor is provided.
Has been fixed. The motor 68 is also used as a ribbon feed motor. A shaft 70 is rotatably supported on the substrate 66, and a one-way clutch 76 with two-stage gears 72 and 74 and a torque limiter 80 with a gear 78 are mounted on the shaft 70. The shaft 70 has a two-stage gear 8.
2 and 84 are rotatably supported, and the gear 82 meshes with a gear 86 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 68.

Reference numeral 62 denotes a shaft rotatably supported by the base plate 66. A one-way clutch 92 having two-stage gears 88 and 90 is mounted on the shaft 62. An eccentric cam 91 is fixed to the shaft 62. I have. The one-way clutch 92
The gear 88 meshes with the gear 84, and the gear 90 meshes with the gear 72. A roller 94 (see FIG. 1) is rotatably supported by the elevating body 64. A U-shaped groove is formed on the side and upper part of the elevating body 64,
One groove is slidably fitted to a guide shaft 60 provided on the substrate 66, and the other groove is slidably fitted to the shaft 62 as shown in FIG. The elevating body 64 is supported by the shaft 62 and the guide shaft 60 so as to be vertically movable. The receiving member 56 is in elastic contact with the protruding bottom surface 64 a of the elevating body 64 by the force of the spring 52. Reference numeral 96 denotes a torque limiter fixed to the substrate 66, and a gear 100 is fixed to an input shaft 98 of the torque limiter. Reference numeral 102 denotes a gear, which is fixed to a shaft 104 rotatably supported on the substrate 66. Axis 104
The gear 106 is fixed to the
And are engaged. Gears 108, 1 are provided on the cover 42.
The gear 10 is rotatably supported, the gear 108 meshes with the gear 102, and the gear 110 meshes with the gear 100.
A fitting recess is formed in the cover 42 for fitting and holding the ribbon cassette 112 in a detachable manner. The ribbon cassette 112 includes a ribbon supply reel 116 on which the color ribbon 114 is wound and the ribbon take-up reel 1.
18 are rotatably accommodated, and gears 120 and 122 are connected to the reels 116 and 118, respectively, as shown in FIG.

When the ribbon cassette 112 is mounted in the fitting recess of the cover 42, the ribbon 114 stretched between the reels 116 and 118 is just
6, the gear 120 on the ribbon supply reel 116 meshes with the gear 110 for tension application, and the gear 122 on the take-up reel 118 meshes with the output gear 108. . The thermal print head 46 is connected to a head data control circuit 124 (see FIG. 10) built in the casing 2.
The D and C motors 38 for the automatic cutter, the paper feed stepping motor 4, and the head elevating stepping motor 68
Each is connected to the motor control circuit 126.

The head data control circuit 124 and the motor control circuit 126 are connected to a CPU 128 built in the casing 2 and are controlled by the CPU. A data input device (not shown) is connected to the CPU 128 via an interface 130 so that character information and other print information can be input to the CPU 128 from a keyboard of the data input device. . In addition to the paper width sensor 40, the casing 2 includes a cutter sensor 132 for detecting the position of the cutter, a head elevating sensor 134 for detecting the elevating position of the thermal print head 46, a ribbon sensor 136 for detecting the presence or absence of the ribbon 114, and a cover. A cover open sensor 138 and the like for detecting the open / close position of 42 are provided, and these are connected to the CPU 128. The force of pushing up the receiving member 56 of the coil spring 58 is
Is set to be stronger than the force of lifting the holder 48.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.
When the new ribbon cassette 112 is mounted on the cover 42, as shown in FIG. 4, the cover 42 is swung about the shaft 44 in a counterclockwise direction until it is locked by the stopper at a predetermined angular position. The cover 42 is set substantially upright.
In this state, remove the old ribbon cassette from the cover 42,
A new ribbon cassette 112 is fitted and mounted in the inner fitting concave portion of the cover 42. At this time, the ribbon 114 disposed between the reels 116 and 118 of the ribbon cassette 112
The thermal print head 46 is arranged to face the printing surface. Further, the respective gears 120 and 122 of the ribbon cassette 112 are
As shown in FIG. 5, the gears mesh with the corresponding gears 110 and 108. Next, the cover 42 is swung clockwise about a shaft 44 in FIG. 1 to a substantially horizontal state to lock the cover 42 to the casing 2. When the power switch is turned on
Initial operation (initializing operation) is performed, the thermal print head 46, rose against the platen roller 28
Is set in the state, and the leading end 13 of the roll paper 138 is set.
8a is before the platen roller 28 as shown in FIG.
Is set at a predetermined position.

In the monochromatic printing, when the printing operation starts, the leading end of the roll paper 138 is
Outlet 1 from the position where the print head 46 is pressed against
Rotate the paper feed motor 4 forward to the point beyond
The transport paper 138 is transported. Next, the head lifting
Data 68 is rotated in reverse, and the thermal print head 46 is lowered.
Then, the thermal print head 46 is connected to the platen roller 28.
Press. Next, the paper feed motor 4 is rotated forward. Thereby, the platen roller 28, the feed roller 24,
26 rotates in a predetermined direction, and the roll paper 138
It is transported in the middle and left directions. On the other hand, the thermal print head 4
6, print data is supplied from the head data control circuit 124 together with thermal energy suitable for the paper width, and the print data is thermally transferred to the roll paper 138 on the platen roller 28. During the paper conveyance, the pressure rollers 32 and 34 come into pressure contact with the feed rollers 24 and 26, and follow the rotation of the rollers 24 and 26. On the other hand, during printing, the head elevating motor 68 is driven to rotate forward, and the driving force of the motor 68 is transmitted through gears 86, 82, 84, 88, 90, 72 and the one-way clutch 76 to the shaft. 70 to the shaft 70
Rotates. At this time, the gears 88 and 90 idle and the shaft 6
2 holds a stationary state. The rotation of the shaft 70 is transmitted to the gear 78 via the torque limiter 80, and the rotation of the gear 78 is transmitted to the gear 106, the shaft 104, the gear 102, and the output gear 1.
08, and transmitted to the take-up reel 118 of the ribbon cassette 112 via the gear 122. As a result, the take-up reel 118 rotates in the ribbon take-up direction. At this time, the supply reel 116 has the gears 120, 110, 10
After zero, the static torque of the torque limiter 96 acts, and the ribbon 114 is wound on the take-up reel 118, while the ribbon 114 is given an appropriate tension.

When printing of a predetermined length is completed, supply of print data to the thermal print head 46 is stopped, and driving of the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 is stopped. Next, the head elevating motor 68 is rotated in reverse.
The thermal print head 46 is the platen roller 28
Rise. Next, the paper drive motor 4 rotates forward and
The paper 138 is transported to the cutting position. Next, the auto cutter motor 38 is driven, the roll paper 138 is cut by the auto cutter unit 36, and the printed portion of the roll paper 138 is cut off. Next, the paper drive
The dynamic motor 4 rotates in the reverse direction, and the leading end 138 of the roll paper 138
a returns to the initial position shown in FIG. Roll paper 1
In the case of multi-color printing on the print 38, when printing of one color is completed, supply of print data to the thermal print head 46 is stopped, and driving of the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 is stopped. Next, the CPU 128 supplies a reverse rotation signal to the motor control circuit 126 to drive the head elevating motor 68 to rotate in the reverse direction.

The reverse rotation of the motor 68 causes the gear 86 to rotate in the reverse direction, and the rotation of the gear 86 is transmitted to the shaft 62 via the gear 82, the gear 84, the gear 88, and the one-way clutch 92. At this time, the rotation of the gear 90 is not transmitted to the shaft 70 by the one-way clutch 76, and the shaft 70 maintains the stopped state. When the shaft 62 rotates, the eccentric cam 91 rotates, and the eccentric enlarged portion of the cam 91 comes off the roller 94. As a result, the pressing force of the eccentric cam 91 on the elevating body 64 against the elevating body 64 is released, and the elevating body 64 and the thermal print head 46 are raised by the tensile force of the coil spring 52,
The thermal print head 46 is separated from the platen roller 28 by a predetermined distance upward as shown in FIG. CPU1
When the head elevating sensor 134 detects that the thermal print head 46 has risen to a predetermined position, the driving of the head elevating motor 68 is stopped. Next, the CPU 128 drives the paper feed motor 4 in the reverse rotation direction to return the leading end of the roll paper 138 fed by the printing operation of the first color to the initial position.

Next, the operator manually releases the lock of the cover 42 with respect to the casing 2 and swings the cover 42 in an upright direction as shown in FIG. After replacing the ribbon cassette, the cover 42 is closed horizontally again as shown in FIG. When the CPU 128 confirms that the cover 42 has been closed by the cover open sensor 138, the CPU 128 drives the head lifting / lowering motor 68 in the reverse rotation direction to rotate the eccentric cam 91, and moves the eccentric enlarged portion onto the roller 94. The shaft 54 is pressed down so that the print surface of the thermal print head 46 is
The plate 38 comes into pressure contact with the platen roller 28. next,
The CPU 128 resumes the printing operation, drives the paper feed motor 4 and the head elevating motor 68 in the forward rotation direction again to feed the roll paper 138 and the ribbon 114 in a predetermined direction, and print information is loaded on the thermal print head 46. The heat energy is sent to print the second color on the roll paper 138. When printing is completed, the CPU 12
8 performs the cutting process of the roll paper 138 as described above. When the cutting is completed, the roll paper 13
8 is returned to the initial position . In the present embodiment, roll paper is used as a printing medium, but a sheet member made of a vinyl chloride adhesive sheet, a plastic sheet, or any other material can be used.

[0017]

According to the present invention, as described above, since the thermal print head elevating mechanism is provided on the cover, the thermal print head is separated from the print roller without swinging the cover in the upright direction, and the operation shifts to the return operation of the print medium. There are effects that can be done.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a thermal head print elevating mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the thermal transfer printer with a cover opened.

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a ribbon feed mechanism and a thermal print head elevating mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the ribbon cassette.

FIG. 10 is an electronic block circuit diagram of the thermal transfer printer.

[Description of Signs] 2 Casing 4 Paper feed motor 6 Roll paper feed shaft 8 Roll paper placing roller 10 Roll paper holder 12 Roller 14 Roller 16 Groove 18 Groove 20 Groove 22 Groove 24 Paper feed roller 26 Paper feed roller 28 Platen roller Reference Signs List 30 substrate 32 pressure roller 34 pressure roller 36 auto cutter unit 38 auto cutter motor 40 paper width sensor 42 cover 44 axis 46 thermal print head 48 holder 50 axis 52 coil spring 54 axis 56 receiving member 58 coil spring 60 guide axis 62 axis 64 elevating body 66 substrate 68 head elevating motor 70 shaft 72 gear 74 gear 76 one-way clutch 78 gear 80 torque limiter 82 gear 84 gear 86 gear 88 gear 90 gear 91 eccentric cam 92 one- way clutch H 94 Roller 96 Torque limiter 98 Input shaft 100 Gear 102 Gear 104 Shaft 106 Gear 108 Output gear 110 Output gear 112 Ribbon cassette 114 Color ribbon 116 Ribbon supply reel 118 Ribbon take-up reel 120 Gear 122 Gear 138 Roll paper 138a Roll section 140 Discharge Exit

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Fig. 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Fig. 1]

[Procedure amendment 3]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Figure 2

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 2

[Procedure amendment 4]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Figure 3

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Fig. 3]

[Procedure amendment 5]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Fig. 6

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Fig. 6]

[Procedure amendment 6]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Fig. 8

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Fig. 8] ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ───

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] September 18, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Claim 1

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

Claims (1)

[Claims] A casing (2) is provided with a platen roller (28) linked to a rotary drive system, and a conveying path for feeding a print medium in the front-rear direction is provided before and after the platen roller (28). (2) a roll portion (138a) of a sheet-shaped print medium (138) wound in a roll shape
And a roll support means linked to a rotary drive system for feeding the print medium (138) from the roll section (138a) and passing the casing (2) through the transport path.
The cover (42) is attached to the casing (2) so as to be able to be turned upside down, and a thermal print head (46) is arranged on the cover (42). (42) Ink ribbon (11
When the ribbon cassette (112) having the built-in 4) is freely attachable and the cover (42) is folded down, the thermal print head (46) moves the platen from above the ink ribbon (114) and the print medium (138). A roller (28), and presses the platen roller (28), the drive roller on the transport path and the roll (1) of the print medium (138).
The feeding portion of the printing medium (138) is fed in a predetermined direction on the transport path by the rotation of the printing medium (138), and the ribbon (114) is sent in a predetermined direction by the rotation of the platen roller (28) by the thermal print head (46). A) a thermal transfer printer adapted to print a desired color on the print medium (138) above, wherein the cover (42) is provided with a head elevating mechanism for driving the thermal print head (46) up and down. Characteristic thermal transfer printer.