JPH11147346A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily assure a parallelism of a thermal head with a platen roller. SOLUTION: A thermal head 71b is held at a bracket 71a. A pair of rails 77b, 77d for guiding to a predetermined position to print a card C by the head 71b are oppositely disposed at both sides of the bracket 71a. The head 71b is brought into pressure contact with the card C on a platen roller 74 via a sublimation type color ribbon by a contact force of a contact roller 46a. A leaf spring 79 set to be urged toward the bracket 71a is interposed between the one rail 77d and the bracket 71a, and a leaf spring 78 set to be urged toward the bracket 71a is interposed between the other rail 77b and the bracket 71a. Thus, with a reference surface 77e disposed at an end of the other rail 77b in a guiding direction as a reference, the springs 78, 79 cooperate with a pressure contact force of a pressure contact means to regulate an inclination of the head 71b.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for performing printing on a recording medium by pressing a recording medium on a platen roller with a thermal head through a transfer film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a relatively thick and hard card such as a cash card, an employee card, a membership card, or a prepaid card is used as a recording medium, and when a picture or a character is printed on the card, a platen roller is used. The printing process is carried out by transporting the card above and pressing a thermal head against the card via a transfer film.

FIG. 6 shows such a recording apparatus 1, and FIG.
Is a platen roller, 3 is a thermal head, 4 is a bracket for holding the thermal head 3, 5 is a guide roller rotatably mounted on the bracket 4, and 6 and 7 are a pair of the thermal head 3 when the guide roller 5 rolls. A guide rail 8 serving as a pair of guide members for integrally guiding the bracket 4 is a leaf spring interposed between one guide rail 6 and the bracket 4. The upper surface of the bracket 4 is brought into contact with a pressing means (not shown) biased toward the platen roller 2, thereby pressing the thermal head 3 toward the platen roller 2. .

The leaf spring 8 urges the bracket 4 toward the guide rail 7 with the entire inner wall surface of the guide rail 7 as a reference plane, whereby the tip of the thermal head 3 and the axis of the platen roller 2 are Are set in parallel, that is, the thermal head 3 is pressed uniformly toward the platen roller 2 (toward the card).

[0005]

By the way, in the recording apparatus 1 described above, when an assembling error occurs in the platen roller 2, the guide rails 6, 7, the leaf spring 8, etc., as shown in FIG. Since the inclination of the bracket 4 toward the guide rail 6 is allowed by the elasticity of the leaf spring 8, when the above-described assembly error occurs, the bracket 4 is tilted toward the guide rail 6 so that the thermal head 3 causes the platen roller 2 to move. Although it is possible to correct the pressure so that the reference surface is guided uniformly by the guide rail 7, it is possible to correct the pressure so that the reference surface is guided in the guide direction of the guide rail 7. Because of the straightness, it was impossible to tilt the bracket 4 toward the guide rail 7 side.

Further, when the above-described assembly error occurs in the guide rail 7, the reference surface is inclined. In particular, when the assembly error of the guide rail 7 occurs in the direction in which the bracket 4 inclines toward the guide rail 7. Also,
The correction was not possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a recording apparatus capable of easily ensuring the parallelism of a thermal head with respect to a platen roller.

[0008]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for printing a recording medium on a platen roller by pressing a thermal head against the recording medium via a transfer film. A bracket for holding the thermal head, a pair of guide members disposed on opposite sides of the bracket to guide the thermal head to a predetermined position for printing on a recording medium, and the transfer toward the recording medium. The gist is to adjust the inclination of the thermal head by the pressing force of the pressing means with reference to the leading end of one of the guide members in the guiding direction, with the pressing means for pressing the thermal head through a film.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an urging means for urging the bracket toward the reference surface.

The invention according to a third aspect is characterized in that the urging means is provided at a rear end of the guide member in the other guide direction.

The invention according to a fourth aspect is characterized in that the guide member is provided with a support member for swingably supporting a rear end side of the bracket in the guide direction.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the support member is an elastic body provided at a rear end of the guide member in the guide direction.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the support member and the biasing means located on the other side of the guide member are an integral leaf spring.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, applied to a sublimation type full-color printer of an image forming apparatus.

In FIG. 1, a sublimation type full-color printer 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as “printer 10”) includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 20.

The housing 20 includes a cover body 30 having an opening 31 above, and a lid 40 for opening and closing the opening 31 of the cover body 30.

On one side wall of the cover body 30, a card supply device 50 for supplying a plurality of superimposed cards C into the cover body 30 at the upper side thereof is mounted, and at the lower side thereof, a defective card C is rejected. A mouth 32 is provided. Further, the other side wall of the cover body 30 is provided with an outlet 33 for the card C after the printing process is completed. Further, inside the cover body 30, a card supply device 50 is provided.
Transport path 60 for transporting the card C supplied from the
Printer unit 7 located in the middle of first transport path 60
0 and the second transport path 80 located below the first transport path 60
And the card C provided at the end of the second transport path 80
And an encoding unit 90 for writing magnetically encoded information on a magnetic recording layer provided on the back surface of the recording medium.

If there is no post-processing on the card C after the printing processing, a discharge tray (not shown) is provided below the discharge port 33.
In the case where post-processing is performed on the card after the printing process, a post-processing device (for example, an overcoat fixing device that covers the surface of the card with a coat film such as a hologram coat film) or the like is attached or installed adjacently. Is done.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lid 40 pivots around a shaft 41 fixed to the cover main body 30, and engages with a rack 34 provided on the upper inside of the other side wall of the cover main body 30. A gear 43 rotatably mounted on a shaft 42 so as to engage with an engaging shaft 35 fixed to the cover main body 30 to maintain the open state when the opening 31 is opened by the lid 40. Stopper 4 having engaging recess 44a
4 and a tension coil spring 47 whose one end is engaged with the back surface of the lid 40 and whose other end is engaged with a pressing member 46 that rotates about the support shaft 45 as a fulcrum.

The cover 40 is provided with a lock device 36 provided on the cover body 30 when the opening 31 is closed.
The closed state is maintained by engaging the hook portion 36a with the shaft 42. Further, the shaft 42 is provided with a torque limiter 48 for regulating at least the rotation of the shaft 42 in the opening direction of the lid 40, whereby the cover body 3 is
When the locking device 35 provided at the first position is operated to release the closed state of the cover 40, the gear 43 is engaged with the rack 34 while gently rotating. 40 is prevented from opening suddenly.

The pressing member 46 is biased by a tension coil spring 47 so as to elastically contact the upper surface of the printing means 71 of the printer unit 70 when the opening 31 is closed by the lid 40. Is provided with a contact roller 46a for elastically contacting the upper portion of the printing means 71. The pressing member 46 has a contact roller 46b. The contact roller 46b contacts the elliptical roller 73 that rotates about the shaft 72 so as to lift the contact roller 46a upward against the bias of the tension coil spring 47 in conjunction with the supply state of the card C. Contacting card supply device 50
Are mounting tables 51, 52 located on both sides of the upstream and downstream in the transport direction so that a plurality of cards C are superimposedly mounted, and a pair of left and right regulating tables 53, which position the left and right edges of the card C,
54, a delivery roller 55 that abuts on the downstream surface of the card C in the transport direction, a roughly half-moon-shaped separating roller 56 that can abut on the upstream surface of the card C in the transport direction, and the card 52 in cooperation with the mounting table 52. A gate 58 that forms a gate gap 57 through which C passes, and a gate adjustment that is provided on the upper surface of one of the regulating tables 54 and displaces the gate 58 so that the distance between the gate gaps 57 can be varied according to the thickness of the card C. Means 59.

The first transport path 60 transports the card C between the gate gap 57 and the discharge port 33. The first transport path 60 transports the card C introduced from the gate gap 57 to the downstream side in the transport direction and the second transport path. It has a rotary transport body 61 capable of transferring the card C to and from the path 80, and a plurality of transport roller bodies 62.

The rotary transport body 61 includes two pairs of transport roller bodies 6.
3, a belt 64 for synchronously rotating the drive roller 63a of the two pairs of transport roller bodies 63, and a belt 64
Roller 65 that drives
And a sensor 67 for detecting one of a plurality of protrusions 66a provided on the rotating plate 66.

The rotary transport body 61 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the illustrated state while holding the card C (or in an empty state) by two pairs of transport rollers 63.
Card C with second transport path 80 when rotated 0 degrees
Can be delivered, and similarly, the state shown in FIG.
The card C can be inverted by rotating by 80 degrees. Then, in the illustrated state and the state where the card C is rotated by 180 degrees, the card C introduced from the gate gap 57 can be received and transported to the printer unit 70.

The printer unit 70 includes a first transport path 60
A platen roller 74 located below the printing means 71 on the path of FIG. 1, an ink ribbon cassette 76 on which a sublimation type color ribbon 75 is wound, and a guide rail 77 as a guide member for guiding the printing means 71 up and down. ing.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the printing means 71 includes a bracket 71a with which the contact roller 46a contacts,
Thermal head 71b held by bracket 71a
And a pair of upper and lower rollers 71 rotatably held on flanges 71c protruding from both sides of the bracket 71a.
d, 71e, 71f, and 71g.

The guide rail 77 has rollers 71d, 71e.
And a rail 77d having a guide groove 77c for guiding the rollers 71f and 71g.

Rails 7 are provided in the guide grooves 77a and 77c.
The cover body 30 is positioned between the roller 7b and the roller 71d and between the rail 77d and the rollers 71f and 71g.
, Leaf springs 78 and 79 having one end fixed thereto are interposed. At the lower end of the guide groove 77a, there is provided a reference surface 77e with which the peripheral end surface of the roller 71e abuts, and the leaf spring 78 is set so as not to be interposed between the reference surface 77e and the roller 71e. I have.

The leaf spring 78 is a swing member that is biased (elastic) toward the roller 71d. Also,
The projecting amount of the intermediate portion of the leaf spring 78 is set such that the projecting amount projects toward the roller 71d from the reference surface 77e when the roller 71d is not in contact.

The leaf spring 79 has a swinging part 79 as a swinging member with which the roller 71f contacts from substantially the center to the upper part.
a, and an urging portion 79b as urging means protruding toward the roller 71g so that the roller 71g abuts from substantially the center to the lower portion.

The oscillating portion 79a has a roller 71 at a substantially central portion thereof.
The roller 71f is curved so as to protrude toward the f-side. In particular, by pushing the roller 71f below the curved portion toward the rail 77b, the biasing direction of the roller 71f is directed to the reference surface 77e. ing.

By the way, the urging forces of the leaf spring 78 and the oscillating portion 79a on the respective rollers 71d and 71e are set to be substantially the same, whereby the platen roller 74 and the guide rail 7 are set.
7 even if an error occurs during the assembly of the reference surface 77e.
The thermal head 71b is connected to the platen roller 7
The bracket 71a is guided so as to be in parallel contact (indirectly via the sublimation type color ribbon 75 and the card C) with respect to 4.

The second transport path 80 has a rotary transport 81 located below the rotary transport 61. This rotary carrier 81
Are two pairs of transport roller bodies 82 and two pairs of transport roller bodies 8
A belt 83 for rotating the driving roller 82a in synchronization with the belt 83;
4 and a rotary plate 8 for detecting the rotational position of the rotary carrier 81
5 and sensors 86 and 87 for detecting two of the plurality of protrusions 85 a provided on the rotating plate 85.

The rotary transport body 81 rotates clockwise in synchronization with the rotary transport body 61. Like the rotary transport body 61, the card C is held by two pairs of transport rollers 82 (or is empty). In a state in which the card C is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees and 270 degrees from the state shown in the figure, the transfer of the card C with the first transport path 60 becomes possible. Similarly, in the state shown in FIG. When the card C is inserted into the encoding unit 90 or the reject port 3
2 can be transported.

In the above configuration, the card supply device 50
The unrecorded cards C superposed and placed on the cover main body 30 are introduced into the cover body 30 from the gate gap 57 one by one by the supply roller 55 while being cut by the cutting roller 56.

Card C introduced into cover body 30
As shown in FIG. 5, first, a sublimation type color ribbon is conveyed to a printer unit 70 through a rotary conveyance body 61 and is held on a printing means 71 and a platen roller 74 based on image information. 75, an image such as a character, a design, or an owner photograph is printed and recorded in black or color on the surface thereof. In the case of monochrome printing, the printer unit 7 is used.
0 (steps S1 to S1).
3) In the case of multicolor printing, reciprocation is performed a plurality of times around the printing means 71, and printing is performed at the time of the reciprocation (same in the transport direction of the sublimation type color ribbon 75) (steps S4 to S6).
If the card C is a magnetic card, it is transferred to the second transport path 80 (steps S7 to S8), and if it is not a magnetic card, it is ejected from the ejection port 34.

When the card C is a magnetic card, the card C on which an image is recorded by the printer unit 70 is transferred to the first transport path 6.
0 is sent back and transferred from the rotary transport 61 to the rotary transport 81 (step S8). And the second transport path 8
The top of the card C is sent from the rotary carrier 81 to the encoder unit 90, and information encoded magnetically by a magnetic recording head built in the encoder unit 90 is recorded on the magnetic recording layer on the back surface of the card C (steps S9 to S10). ).

The card C for which magnetic recording has been completed is printed by the printer unit 70 and the encoder unit 9.
0, the magnetic recording state is checked (step S1).
1) If a defect is detected in the printing state or the magnetic recording state, the sheet is ejected from the reject port 32, and if there is no defect, the sheet is transferred from the rotating carrier 81 to the rotating carrier 61,
The process is shifted to the first transport path 60 (step S12), and after the printing on the back side or the back side (generally, a single color) is performed, the paper is discharged from the outlet 33 formed at the end of the first transport path 60. Is done.

[0039]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the image forming apparatus with a cover body opened.

3A is a front view of the printing unit, and FIG. 3B is a side view of the printing unit.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the printing unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a process of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a front view of a conventional recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C: Card (recording medium) 46: Pressing member 46a: Contact roller (pressing means) 71: Printing means 71a: Bracket 71b: Thermal head 74: Platen roller 77: Guide rail (guide member) 77b: Rail (the other guide) Rail) 77d Rail (one guide rail) 77e Reference plane 78 Plate spring (supporting member) 79 Plate spring 79a Supporting part (supporting member) 79b Urging part (urging means)

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for printing on a recording medium by pressing a thermal head against a recording medium on a platen roller via a transfer film, wherein a bracket for holding the thermal head and oppositely disposed on both sides of the bracket. A pair of guide members for guiding the thermal head to a predetermined position for printing on a recording medium, pressing means for pressing the thermal head toward the recording medium via the transfer film, and one of the guide members A recording apparatus, wherein the inclination of the thermal head is adjusted by the pressing force of the pressing means with reference to the leading end in the guide direction. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an urging unit for urging the bracket toward the reference plane. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the urging means is provided at a rear end of the guide member in the other guide direction. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a support member for swingably supporting a rear end side of the bracket in the guide direction is provided on the guide member. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the support member is an elastic body provided at a rear end of the guide member in a guide direction. 6. The recording apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the support member and the urging means located on the other side of the guide member are an integral leaf spring.