JPH11151824A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus having a simple and low cost structure capable of preventing deterioration of a platen roller and shift of a printed image when the printing on a whole face of a recording medium is to be performed. SOLUTION: A platen roller 74 that conveys a card C by nipping it between the platen roller 74 and a thermal head 71b for pressing a transfer film against a surface of the card C to perform the printing is provided opposite the thermal head 71b. The thermal head 71b is urged toward the platen roller 74 by a pressing roller 46a in order to press the transfer film against the surface of the card C. When the rear end of the card C passes through a portion between the thermal head 71b and platen roller 74, the movement of the thermal head 71b toward the platen roller 74 by virtue of the pressing roller 46a is limited by the abutment of a roller 74b with an abutment section 71d of a bracket 71a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal head for printing by pressing a transfer film on the surface of a recording medium, and a recording medium sandwiched between the thermal head and a thermal head disposed opposite to the thermal head. And a biasing means for biasing the thermal head toward the platen roller in order to press the transfer film against the surface of a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when printing a pattern or a character on a relatively thick and hard card such as a cash card, an employee card, a membership card, or a prepaid card as a recording medium, the card is printed on the card. It is known that a margin is set on a side and printing is performed on a portion surrounded by the margin.

In such an image forming apparatus, a thermal head that presses a transfer film against the surface of a card to print an image is provided, and the card is sandwiched between the thermal head and a thermal head that is disposed to face the thermal head. The apparatus includes a platen roller for conveying, a biasing unit for biasing the thermal head to the platen roller side to press the transfer film against the surface of the card, and a displacement unit for vertically moving the thermal head.

The displacing means normally displaces the thermal head upward against the urging of the urging means, so that the margin of the leading end of the card is conveyed onto the platen roller just below the thermal head, and then the urging is performed. The thermal head is displaced downward by the urging of the means, and the printing process is executed while holding the card between the thermal head and the platen roller, and the margin at the rear end of the card is placed on the platen roller just below the thermal head. When it reaches, the thermal head is displaced upward against the urging of the urging means.

[0005]

On the other hand, in card printing in recent years, there has been an increasing demand for performing printing processing on the entire surface of the card. Immediately before or at the same time as when the leading edge of the card is conveyed onto the platen roller just below the thermal head, the thermal head is displaced downward to execute printing while holding the card between the thermal head and the platen roller. Immediately after the trailing end of the card has been displaced from the platen roller just below the thermal head, or at the same time, the entire surface of the card cannot be printed unless the thermal head is displaced upward.

However, for example, when the thermal head is displaced upward immediately after the rear end of the card comes off the platen roller just below the thermal head, the urging force of the urging means is caused by the absence of the card on the platen roller. The thermal head is displaced downward by
For example, the heat of the thermal head is transmitted to the platen roller, or the transfer film ink adheres to the platen roller.
There is a problem that the platen roller is deteriorated. Also,
If the urging force of the urging means is unbalanced in the width direction of the card, the card is shifted when the rear end of the card comes out from between the thermal head and the platen roller, and the printing on the surface is likely to be shifted. The problem had arisen.

Further, when the rear end of the card is displaced from the platen roller just below the thermal head and the thermal head is displaced upward at the same time, it is difficult to set the control timing, and a slight error is likely to occur. However, there is a problem that a blank portion is formed without being completely performed, or the above-described deterioration of the platen roller and a printing deviation occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has a simple and inexpensive structure, and can prevent deterioration of a platen roller and misregistration of printing when performing full-surface printing on a recording medium. It is an object to provide a forming device.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the object, an invention according to claim 1 is provided with a thermal head for pressing a transfer film on a surface of a recording medium for printing, and a thermal head opposed to the thermal head. A platen roller provided for nipping and transporting a recording medium between the thermal head and urging means for urging the thermal head toward the platen roller to press the transfer film against the surface of the recording medium Regulating means for regulating movement of the thermal head toward the platen roller by the urging means when a rear end of a recording medium passes between the thermal head and the platen roller. The gist is that it is provided.

The gist of the present invention is that the restricting means restricts the movement of the thermal head at a position where the thermal head does not contact the platen roller.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the restricting means includes a restricting member provided on a bracket for supporting the thermal head and a receiving member rotatably provided on a rotating shaft of the platen roller. The gist of the invention is that the movement of the thermal head is regulated by the regulation member coming into contact with the receiving member.

[0012] The invention according to a fourth aspect is characterized in that the regulating member is formed integrally with the bracket.

The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the receiving member is a rotating body having a diameter larger than the diameter of the platen roller.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the restricting means has a notch for engaging the receiving member, and the notch contacts the receiving member to restrict the movement of the thermal head. Is the gist.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the restricting means makes the interval between the thermal head and the platen roller in the width direction of the recording medium uniform. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1.

[0016]

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

In FIG. 1, a sublimation type full-color printer 1 (hereinafter, simply referred to as “printer 1”) includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 2.

The housing 2 includes a cover body 3 having an opening 31 above, and a lid 4 for opening and closing the opening 31 of the cover body 3.

On one side wall of the cover main body 3, a card supply device 5 for supplying a plurality of superimposed cards C into the cover main body 3 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 3 is provided with an outlet 33 for the card C after the printing process is completed. Further, inside the cover body 3, a first transport path 6 for transporting the card C supplied from the card supply device 5, a printer unit 7 located in the middle of the first transport path 6, and a first transport path 6
And an encoding unit 9 which is provided at the end of the second transport path 8 and writes magnetically coded information on a magnetic recording layer provided on the back surface of the card C. Have.

When 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 4 rotates about a shaft 41 fixed to the cover main body 3 as a fulcrum, and a rack 34 provided on the upper inside of the other side wall of the cover main body 3.
Gear 4 rotatably mounted on shaft 42 to engage
3, a stopper 44 having an engaging recess 44a which engages with an engaging shaft 35 fixed to the cover body 3 to maintain the opening state when the opening 31 is opened by the lid 4, and one end of the stopper A tension coil spring 47 is engaged with the back surface of the body 4 and the other end is engaged with a pressing member 46 that rotates about the support shaft 45 as a fulcrum.

When the opening 31 is closed, the closed state of the lid 4 is maintained by the engagement of the hook 36a of the lock device 36 provided on the cover body 3 with the shaft 42. You. The shaft 42 has a torque limiter 48 for regulating at least rotation of the shaft 42 in the opening direction of the lid 4.
When the lock device 35 provided on the cover main body 3 is operated to release the closed state of the cover 4, the gear 43 is gently rotated and meshes with the rack 34. The lid 4 is prevented from being rapidly opened by the urging of the tension coil spring 47.

The pressing member 46 is biased by a tension coil spring 47 so as to resiliently contact the printing means 71 of the printer unit 7 when the opening 31 is closed by the lid 4. A contact roller 46a that elastically contacts the upper portion of the printing means 71 is provided. Further, the pressing member 4
Reference numeral 5 designates an abutment that abuts against an elliptical roller 73 that rotates about a shaft 72 as a fulcrum so as to lift the abutment roller 46a upward against the urging of the tension coil spring 47 in conjunction with the supply state of the card C. And a roller 46b.

The card supply device 5 includes mounting tables 51 and 52 located on the downstream side in the transport direction so that a plurality of cards C are superimposedly mounted, and a pair of right and left regulating tables for positioning the left and right edges of the card C. 53, 54, a delivery roller 55 that abuts on the downstream surface of the card C in the transport direction, and a substantially half-moon-shaped separating roller 56 that can abut on the upstream surface of the card C in the transport direction.
A gate 58 that forms a gate gap 57 through which the card C passes in cooperation with the mounting table 52; and a gate gap 57 that is provided on the upper surface of one of the restricting tables 54 and that corresponds to the thickness of the card C.
And gate adjusting means 59 for displacing the gate 58 so as to change the distance between the gates.

The first transport path 6 transports the card C between the gate gap 57 and the discharge port 33.
A rotating transport body 61 that transports the card C introduced from 7 to the downstream side in the transport direction and can transfer the card C to and from the second transport path 8, 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
A tension roller 65 for applying a tension to the rotation plate 66, a rotation plate 66 for detecting the rotational position of the rotary conveyance body 61, and a sensor 67 for detecting one of a plurality of protrusions 66a provided on the rotation plate 66. I have.

Further, the rotary transport body 61 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the illustrated state while holding the card C by two pairs of transport rollers 63 (or in an empty state).
When the card C is rotated 0 degrees, the card C can be transferred to and from the second transport path 8.
By rotating the card C by 0 degrees, the card C can be inverted. Then, in the state shown in the figure and the state rotated by 180 degrees, the card C introduced from the gate gap 57 can be received and transported to the printer unit 7.

The printer unit 7 includes a platen roller 7 located below the printing means 71 on the first transport path 6.
4, an ink ribbon cassette 76 on which a sublimation type color ribbon 75 is wound, and a rail 77 for guiding the printing means 71 up and down.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the printing means 71 includes a bracket 71a with which the contact roller 46a contacts,
The thermal head 71 held by the bracket 71a
b. Gap adjusting legs 71c project downward from both ends in the width direction of the bracket 71a.

The rotating shaft 74a of the platen roller 74 has
A pair of rollers 74b is rotatably provided so as to sandwich the platen roller 74. The roller 74b is engaged with an annular groove 74c formed on the rotating shaft 74a, so that there is no movement in the axial direction on the rotating shaft 74a.

On the other hand, a substantially U-shaped contact portion 71d which contacts the outer periphery of the roller 74b is provided at the lower end of the gap adjusting leg 71c.
Accordingly, the roller 74b rotates on the rotation shaft 74a so as to allow the rotation of the rotation shaft 74a and the platen roller 74 by the urging force from the contact roller 46a. The projecting length of the gap adjusting leg 71c is such that the card C between the thermal head 71b and the platen roller 74 when the contacting portion 71d is in contact with the roller 74b.
Of the card C is set to be uniform and slightly smaller than the thickness of the card C, so that the thermal head 71b and the platen roller 74 can convey the card C while holding the card C at a uniform pressure. .

Further, by securing this interval G,
Even when the entire printing process is performed on the card C, the rear end (the downstream end in the transport direction) of the card C is
When the thermal head 71b comes out of the space between the platen roller 1b and the platen roller 74, there is no possibility that the thermal head 71b comes into contact with the platen roller 74 by the urging force from the contact roller 46b, and the deterioration of the platen roller 74 can be prevented.

The rear end of the card C is the thermal head 7
When the thermal head 71b comes into contact with the card C when the paper C is pulled out from the gap between the card 1b and the platen roller 74, the card C is less likely to be misaligned, and printing misalignment is less likely to occur. Moreover, since the width G of the card C in the width direction between the thermal head 71b and the platen roller 74 is made uniform, the occurrence of the displacement of the card C is further prevented.

The roller 74b is eliminated, and the rotary shaft 7
The contact portion 71d may be brought into contact with 4a. In addition, roller 7
By using a material having low thermal conductivity or excellent heat resistance for 4b, the thermal head 71b may directly contact the roller 74b and the gap adjusting leg 71c may be omitted.

On the other hand, a guide member 100 for guiding both widths of the card C is provided before and after the thermal head 71b in the transport direction.
Is provided.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the guide member 100 is mounted on the fixed bracket 101 so that one side of the card C can be changed in the width direction of the card C. The other side of the card C is mounted on the movable bracket 102 so that the position can be changed in the width direction of the card C. Therefore, when performing printing processing of cards C of different types, if the widths of the cards C of different types are different, the cards C are guided without play by changing the position of the cards C in the width direction.

At this time, since the position of the guide member 100 in the width direction of the card C is changed based on the center of the card C, the thermal head 71 is used for printing.
Stable printing can be performed irrespective of the type of the card C without making other changes such as changing the position of b.

The movable bracket 102 is mounted on the fixed base 10.
3, a rotating bracket 104 which is rotatably held between flanges 103a and 103b raised from both ends of the fixed base 103 and has a guide member 100 mounted thereon, and is suspended over the fixed base 103 and the rotating bracket 104. And a coil spring 105.

The rotating bracket 104 is mounted on the fixed base 10.
3, the guide member 100 can be rotated by the action of the coil spring 105.
Pressed in the width direction. Therefore, the card C is moved by the pressing force so that the guide member 1 on the back side (downstream side in the transport direction) is moved.
Since the sheet is conveyed along 00, the sheet can be conveyed without bending or bending during the conveyance.

The second transport path 8 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 drive roller 82 a in synchronization with the belt 2, a tension roller 84 for applying tension to the belt 83, a rotary plate 85 for detecting the rotational position of the rotary conveyance body 81, and a rotary plate 85. Multiple projections 8
5a are provided with sensors 86 and 87 for detecting two of them.

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 an empty card). When the card C is rotated 90 ° and 270 ° clockwise from the illustrated state, it is possible to transfer the card C to and from the first transport path 6, and similarly, the state shown in FIG. Sometimes, the card C can be conveyed to the encoding unit 9 or the reject port 32.

In the above configuration, the unrecorded card C superimposed on the card supply device 5 is fed to the cutting roller 5.
While being cut by 6, the sheet is introduced into the cover body 3 from the gate gap 57 one by one by the supply roller 55.

Card C introduced into cover body 3
As shown in FIG. 7, first, a sublimation type color ribbon is conveyed to the printer unit 7 through the rotary conveyance body 61 and is held on the printing means 71 and the platen roller 74 based on image information. 75, an image such as a character, a design, or an owner photograph is printed and recorded on the surface in black or color. In the case of monochromatic printing, the image is printed when passing through the printer unit 7 (steps S1 to S3). In the case of multicolor printing, reciprocation is performed a plurality of times around the printing means 71, and at the time of the reciprocation (the same in the transport direction of the sublimation type color ribbon 75), printing is performed (steps S4 to S6), and the card C Is transferred to the second transport path 8 (steps S7 to S8) when the card is not a magnetic card, and is discharged from the discharge port 34 when the card is not a magnetic card.

When the card C is a magnetic card, the card C on which an image has been recorded by the printer unit 7 is sent back from the rotary transport 61 to the rotary transport 81 after being sent back through the first transport path 6 (step S8). ). Then, the information is sent from the rotary conveyance body 81 to the encoder unit 9 on the second conveyance path 8, and information encoded magnetically by a magnetic recording head built in the encoder unit 9 is recorded on the magnetic recording layer on the back surface of the card C. (Steps S9 to S10).

For the card C for which magnetic recording has been completed, the printing state of the printer unit 7 and the magnetic recording state of the encoder unit 9 are checked (step S11).
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 rotary transport body 81 to the rotary transport body 61 and moved to the first transport path 6 (step S12). After passing through the printer unit 7 or printing on the back surface (generally, a single color), the paper is discharged from the discharge port 33 formed at the end of the first transport path 6.

[0046]

[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.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the printing unit.

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

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the card guide member.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of the card guide member.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by the image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 C: Card (recording medium) 46: Pressing member 46a: Contact roller 71: Printing means 71a: Bracket 71b: Thermal head 71c: Gap adjusting leg 71d: Contact portion 74: Platen roller 74a: Rotating shaft 74b: Roller

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A thermal head for printing by pressing a transfer film on the surface of a recording medium, and a platen roller disposed opposite to the thermal head for nipping and transporting the recording medium between the thermal head and the platen roller And an urging means for urging the thermal head toward the platen roller in order to press the transfer film against the surface of the recording medium, wherein a rear end of the recording medium has the thermal head and the thermal head. An image forming apparatus comprising: a regulating unit that regulates movement of the thermal head toward the platen roller by the urging unit when the thermal head passes between the platen roller and the platen roller. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit restricts the movement of the thermal head at a position where the thermal head does not contact the platen roller. 3. The restricting means includes a restricting member provided on a bracket supporting the thermal head, and a receiving member rotatably provided on a rotation shaft of the platen roller. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the movement of the thermal head is restricted by abutting on the receiving member. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the regulating member is formed integrally with the bracket. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the receiving member is a rotating body having a diameter larger than a diameter of the platen roller. 6. The control device according to claim 3, wherein the restricting means has a notch for engaging with the receiving member, and the notch contacts the receiving member to restrict the movement of the thermal head. An image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the regulating unit makes the interval between the thermal head and the platen roller in the width direction of the recording medium uniform.