JPS60101071A - Thermal transfer type printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a recording head by preventing the erroneous insert of a cassette, by providing an erroneous insert preventing shutter for limiting the insert of the cassette in such a state that the recording head is contacted under pressure. CONSTITUTION:Recording paper 12 is held by a paper holder 14 and wound around the outer periphery of a drum 13. When the recording paper 12 reaches a recording start position, the drum 13 is stopped and a recording head 19 is raised to be penetrated into the opening part of a cassette 21 and contacted with the recording paper 12 under pressure through a transfer sheet 16. Herein, when a user inserts a cassette 21, after the recording head 19 is raised, in oder not to forget the mounting the cassette 21, said cassette 21 can not be inserted because a part of a cassette insert opening is closed by an erroneous insert peventing shutter 23. By this mechanism, the damage of the recording head 19 caused by the collision of the cassette 21 and the recording head 19 can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer that transfers and records ink applied on a transfer sheet onto a recording paper wound around a drum using a recording head such as a thermal head. It is.

Conventional Structures and Their Problems In recent years, printers of various types have been announced for hard copying of terminal devices such as computers and CRT displays. Among these, thermal transfer printers are attracting attention because they are low-noise, require no maintenance, and are relatively easy to adapt to color printing. A conventional thermal transfer printer will be described below.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of a conventional thermal transfer printer. 1 is a recording paper cut to a specified size. A drum 2 winds and conveys the recording paper 1. 3 is a paper holder, 4 is a pipe, and the leading end of the recording paper 1 is made bold with a thread 4 and wound around the outer periphery of the drum 2.

6 kJ: Transfer notebook, on the surface in contact with recording paper 1,
The ink has not been applied. Reference numeral 6 is a supply reel, and an unused transfer reel 7-to 5 is used for winding. Reference numeral 7 denotes a take-up reel, which sequentially takes up the used transfer sheet.

8 is a recording head, and a large number of recording elements are arranged in the depth direction of the figure. 9 is a cassette which contains a supply reel 6 and a take-up reel 7;
It can be freely attached and detached in the axial direction. There is still an opening 27 in the center of the cassette 9 through which the recording head 8 enters. Reference numeral 10 denotes a lock lever, which fixes the cassette 9 at a fixed position in the axial direction of the drum 2 when the cassette 9 is installed.

The operation of the conventional thermal transfer printer configured as described above will be described below.

When the recording paper 1 is inserted, it is held by the paper holder 3, and is wound around the outer periphery of the drum 2 by rotating the drum 2 in the direction of the arrow by a drive source such as a pulse motor (not shown). go. When the recording paper 1 reaches the recording start position, the drum 2 stops, the recording head 8 rises, enters the opening 27 of the cassette 9, and comes into pressure contact with the recording paper 1 via the transfer sheet 6. . When a recording signal is sent here, the recording elements of the recording head 8 generate heat in response to the signal and transfer the ink on the transfer sheet 5 onto the recording paper 1. At this time drum 2
rotates in the direction of the arrow to feed the recording paper 1 and the transfer sheet 5.

The recorded transfer sheet 6 is wound up on a winding wheel 7 which is rotated by another drive source. When the predetermined recording is completed, the recording head 8 descends and stops at a position where the cassette 9 can be moved in and out. 1. The cassette 9 has a lock lever.
10, and is fixed at a predetermined position in the axial direction of the drum 2 by a lock lever 10.

When recording is finished, move lock lever 10 and cassette 7
By disengaging the notch from the cassette 7,
can be attached and detached.

However, with the above configuration, if you try to insert the cassette after the recording head 8 has been pressed against it by mistake, the cassette γ and the recording head 8 may collide, causing damage to the recording head. This has the serious problem of causing equipment failure.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to provide a thermal transfer printer that is less likely to malfunction by preventing incorrect insertion of a cassette and protecting the recording head. .

Structure of the Invention The present invention is a thermal transfer printer equipped with a shutter to prevent erroneous insertion of a cassette when the recording head is in pressure contact with the cassette. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the number of failures.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state during recording of a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a front view thereof.
FIG. 4 is a front view showing a state in which recording is stopped. In FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, reference numeral 12 is a recording paper cut to a specified size. 13
The recording paper 12 is wound around the outer circumference by a drum and conveyed. 14
is a paper holder, and the recording paper 1 is held by the spring force of the spring 15.
Hold the tip of 2. 16 is a transfer sheet;
It is supplied from a supply reel 17 and taken up by a take-up reel 18. 19 is a recording head in which a large number of recording elements are arranged in the depth direction of the figure. Further, the recording head 19 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 20. A cassette 21 houses a supply reel 17 and a take-up reel 18, and is detachable from the main body of the apparatus in the axial direction of the drum 12, and is inserted in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The center of the cassette 21 is provided with an opening 28 through which the recording head 19 enters, and a notch that engages with a lock lever 22. When installed, the lock lever 22 moves the drum 12 into a fixed position in the axial direction. It has been identified. Reference numeral 23 denotes an incorrect insertion prevention shutter, which is rotatably supported by a support shaft 24, connected to the lock lever 22 by a single lever spring 25, and always biased upward. 2
Reference numeral 6 denotes a pin, which is fixed to the erroneous operation prevention lever 23, and is set so that when the recording head 19 descends, this pin 26 is pushed away by the recording head 19, thereby causing the erroneous insertion prevention/removal lever 23 to descend. has been done. The shutter 23 to prevent cassette 2 from being inserted incorrectly during recording operation.
It is shaped so that it partially closes the insertion port of No. 1 and opens completely when it is lowered.

The operation of the thermal transfer printer of this embodiment configured as follows will be described below.

As in the conventional example shown in FIG.
The recording paper 12 is held tightly and wound around the outer periphery of the drum 13. When the recording paper 12 comes to the recording start position, the drum 13
stops, the recording head 19 rises, enters the opening 28 of the cassette 21, and transfers the recording paper 12 through the transfer tube 16.
is pressed against. FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate this state. Here, if the user forgets to insert the cassette and tries to insert the cassette 21 after the recording head 19 has been raised, the erroneous insertion prevention/Yanotar 2
Since the cassette 3 partially blocks the cassette insertion slot, the cassette 21 cannot be inserted, and the cassette 21 and the recording head 19 can be prevented from colliding and damaging the recording head 19.

Further, as soon as the recording operation is completed in the same process as in the conventional example, the recording head 19 descends and stops at a position where the cassette 21 can be moved in and out. FIG. 4 shows this state. In this process, the recording head 19 pushes down the erroneous insertion prevention shutter 23 via the bin 26.Then, the erroneous insertion prevention shutter 23 completely opens the cassette insertion slot, so there is no problem with the insertion 17+ejection of the cassette 21. .

As described above, according to this embodiment, the cassette I/
By restricting the insertion of the cassette 21, collision between the recording head 19 and the cassette 21 due to incorrect insertion of the cassette 21 can be avoided, and the apparatus can be protected.

In this embodiment, the erroneous insertion prevention shutter 23 is linked to the rotation of the recording head 190.
However, it is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained even if the erroneous insertion prevention shutter 23 is separately driven and its operation is controlled in response to the rotation of the recording head 19.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention has a shutter for preventing erroneous insertion that restricts the insertion of the cassette when the recording head is in pressure contact with the recording head. It is possible to prevent damage caused by collision between the head and the cassette to be inserted, and to prevent the recording head from shifting its position, reducing device failures and improving reliability. The effect is great.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a front view of a conventional thermal transfer printer.
FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the thermal transfer type printer in the embodiment of the present invention during recording operation, FIG. 3 is a front view, and FIG.
The figure is a front view showing the thermal transfer printer according to the embodiment of the present invention while recording is stopped. 12... Recording paper, 13... Drum, 1
6... Transfer sheet, 19... Recording head,
21... Cassette, 23... Shutter to prevent incorrect insertion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A recording paper, a drum that winds the recording paper, a transfer sheet coated with transfer ink, which is pressed against the drum through the recording paper and the transfer sheet during recording operation, and is pressed against the drum through the recording paper and the transfer sheet when recording is stopped. A recording head rotatably arranged with a slight spacing between the recording head and a cassette in which the transfer sheet is wound and housed, and when the recording head is in pressure contact with each other, insertion of the cassette is restricted and recording is stopped. The inside of the thermal transfer printer is equipped with a erroneous insertion prevention/removal device arranged to release the restriction on the insertion of the force center.