JPS60125684A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the occurrence of elongation and wrinkle of an ink donor sheet by a simple structure in which a guide plate is provided between an inlet guide roller and the ink donor contact starting position on the periphery of the platen drum. CONSTITUTION:During the monochromic printing period, a recording paper 12 is supplied and printing is ended while the platen drum 1 is turned one time. A platen 1 and guide rollers 2 and 3 are reversely turned, and the paper 12 is discharged from a supply and discharge region 5. When the last line is printed, the tip of the paper 12 goes into a printing region through a guide plate 15, and its tip is often contacted with the ink donor sheet 7. The donor sheet 7, however, is guided and supported by the guide plate 15 to prevent the occurrence of elongation or wrinkle in the sheet 7. The tip of the paper 12 is also guided to the periphery of the platen by the guide plate 15 and fed smoothly. Even in the case of color printing, exact printing can be easily made by similar action effects.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Technical Field] The present invention relates to the structure of a thermal transfer recording device, and in particular, an ink donor sheet is wound around the surface of a cylindrical platen drum, and a recording sheet is inserted between the ink donor sheet and the surface of the platen drum. The present invention relates to the structure of a thermal transfer recording device of the type in which printing is performed from the beginning by feeding a sheet by holding it between the sheets, and after printing is completed, the platen drum is reversed to discharge the recording sheet.

[Prior art]

This type of thermal transfer recording device (generally referred to as a thermal transfer printer) has an ink donor sheet placed at a predetermined interval adjacent to the circumferential surface of a cylindrical platen drum having a circumference longer than the length of the recording sheet (2). An entrance guide roller and an exit guide roller are provided to guide the recording sheet. The ink donor sheet is wound around the platen drum and fed out from the exit guide roller, and the recording sheet is held between the platen drum and the ink donor sheet for printing and paper feeding. The recording sheet is ejected by reversing the direction. In the case of color printing consisting of a plurality of colors, the platen drum is controlled to rotate a plurality of times to perform printing, and then to be reversed and discharged.

This type of recording device (printer) is capable of high-speed printing because the print head has good smearability with respect to the recording sheet and ink donor sheet. Since it can be performed with high precision, it has the feature of being able to quickly and accurately perform color printing in which multiple colors are superimposed.

Therefore, not only monochrome (one color black) printing but also color printing can be easily performed.

However, in conventional recording apparatuses of this type, when the recording sheet is repeatedly fed into the printing area especially during color printing, the leading edge of the recording sheet rises in the supply and discharge area.
There is a high possibility that the ink donor sheet will collide with the ink donor sheet near the inlet guide roller, and this has the disadvantage that the thin (for example, 6 μm thick) and wide ink donor sheet may stretch (sag) or wrinkle, leading to poor printing. Ta.

〔the purpose〕

The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate such drawbacks of the prior art,
An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording device that has a simple structure and can prevent stretching and wrinkles of an ink donor sheet.

[Summary]

The present invention provides a guide plate between the inlet guide roller and the ink donor sheet contact start position on the platen drum surface, which slides into contact with the back surface of the ink donor sheet and guides the leading edge of the recording sheet to the platen drum surface. This aims to achieve the above objectives.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, an inlet guide roller 2 and an outlet idler roller 3 are provided adjacent to the circumferential surface of a cylindrical platen drum 1 at a predetermined interval, that is, a gap for feeding and discharging recording sheets. The surface of the platen drum 1 is divided by these guide rollers 2.3 into a printing area 4 and a supply/discharge area 5, which cover almost the entire circumference.

The platen drum 1 and each guide roller 2, 3 are moved by a step motor in the forward direction (printing direction) shown by the solid line arrow.
and is rotationally driven in the opposite direction (discharge direction) shown by the chain arrow.

The wide ink donor sheet 7 fed out from the ink donor sheet supply roll 6 is directed to the printing area 4 of the platen drum 1 through an inlet guide roller (5) and another direction.
The ink donor sheet is wound around the ink donor sheet, is synchronously conveyed in close contact with the circumferential surface of the ink donor sheet, is let out from the exit guide roller 3, and is wound onto the ink donor sheet winding roll 8.

A position 9 in the printing area 4 indicates the position at which the ink donor sheet 7 starts contacting the surface of the platen drum, and a recording sheet leading edge detector 10 and a printing head 11 are provided in this printing area.

Recording sheets (cut sheets) 12 stacked in a paper feed cassette (not shown) or the like are fed out one by one by a paper feed roller (not shown) or the like, and their leading edges contact a pair of timing rollers 13. Then, by driving the roller pair 13 at a predetermined timing, the sheet is supplied onto the circumferential surface of the platen drum 10 through the guide plate 14. This recording sheet 12 is held between the platen drum 1 and the ink donor sheet 7 and is synchronously fed.

The ink donor sheet 7 is wide enough to cover the printing range of the recording sheet 12, and the lengths of the platen (6), ram 1, and each guide 90--ra 2, 3 are slightly larger than the width of the ink donor sheet. has been selected.

A transfer ink layer is provided on one side of the ink donor sheet 7, that is, the side that contacts the recording sheet 12. This transfer ink layer is a continuous black layer in the case of monochrome (single black color), and in the case of color, it is a continuous layer of black (for example, three colors of cyan, magenta, and yellow). ) are repeatedly applied in a predetermined order.

In addition, the printing pad 11 is configured to apply heat and transfer one line at a time in a pattern corresponding to the image information on the back surface of the ink donor sheet, and separates from the ink donor sheet at times other than printing operations such as when feeding paper. so that it can be controlled and driven.

A guide plate 15 is provided behind the ink donor sheet 7 between the inlet guide roller 2 and the contact start position 9. This guide plate 15 has a width that covers almost the entire inside of the ink donor sheet 7.

As shown in the figure, the guide grating 15 slides against the back surface of the ink donor sheet 7 to guide and support it, and also transports the recording sheet 12 that has passed through the print area 4 in the forward direction and sends it back to the print area. When loading, the leading edge of the sheet lifted from the platen drum surface in the supply/discharge area 5 is arranged at a position where it contacts or collides with the sheet. In addition, the cross section of the guide plate 15 is such that the recording sheet 1 that contacts or collides with the recording sheet 1
The tip of the platen 2 is shaped to gradually change its direction and guide it toward the platen-ram 10 plane.

The effects of the illustrated thermal recording device are as follows.

In the case of monochrome printing, printing is completed while the recording sheet 12 is fed and the platen drum 1 rotates once, and after the completion of printing is detected, the platen drum 1 and each guide roller 2
．． 3 is reversed to discharge the recording sheet 12 from the supply/discharge area 5 to the outside. Even in this monochrome printing, when printing the last line, the leading edge of the recording sheet 12 may pass through the guide plate 15 and enter the printing area, and the leading edge of the recording sheet 12 may come into contact with or collide with the ink donor sheet 7. Since the ink donor sheet 7 is guided and supported by the guide plate 15, stretching and wrinkles of the ink donor sheet can be prevented. Further, since the leading edge of the recording sheet 12 is guided to the platen drum surface by the guide grating 15, the recording sheet can be conveyed smoothly.

In the case of color transfer, after feeding the recording sheet 12, the first rotation of the platen drum 1 transfers the first color, and the second rotation overlays and transfers the second color. , the forward direction (printing direction) driving is continued, and these transfers are repeated a predetermined number of times, and after color printing is completed, the recording sheet 12 is reversed in the direction shown by the chain arrow and discharged to the outside.

In this color printing, the leading edge of the recording sheet 12 contacts or collides with the ink donor sheet 7 multiple times in the area of the guide grating 15, but as in the case (9) above, the ink donor sheet 7 is exposed to the guide plate from its back side. Since the ink donor sheet is guided and supported by 15, stretching and wrinkles of the ink donor sheet are effectively prevented.

Furthermore, the recording sheet 12 can be repeatedly fed smoothly.

In this way, it becomes possible to easily perform clean and accurate printing not only in monochrome printing but also in multicolor printing.

〔effect〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, by preventing stretching and wrinkles of the ink donor sheet and ensuring smooth surface operation, the accuracy of the overlapping position of the transfer portion of each color is improved even in color printing. A thermal transfer recording device that can be accurately and easily performed is provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer recording apparatus according to the present invention. 1...Platen drum, 2...Entrance guide roller,
3... Exit guide roller, 4... Print area, 5...
- Supply (10) Discharge area, 7... Ink donor sheet, 9... Contact start position of ink donor sheet, 11... Print head, 12... Recording sheet, 15... Guide plate. (11) Figure 1

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In the area where the leading edge of the transfer recording paper comes into contact with the ink surface of the donor sheet in the vicinity of the inlet where the ink donor sheet is fed out from the supply roll section and contacts the platen drum, the transfer recording paper is A thermal transfer recording device characterized in that a guide member for guiding to a drum surface is provided on the back side of an ink donor sheet. (2) A first guide roller and a second idle roller are provided adjacent to the surface of the cylindrical platen drum at a predetermined interval, and the surface of the platen drum is divided into a printing area and a supply/discharge area; The ink donor sheet fed from the guide roller is wound around the print area and fed out from the second guide roller, and the recording sheet fed from the supply/discharge area is held between the platen drum surface and the ink donor sheet, and the platen drum The paper is fed by rotating each guide roller, and the print head installed in the print area (1) applies heat at the main turn corresponding to the image size information. Thermal transfer recording according to claim 1, further comprising a guide plate that slides into contact with the back surface of the ink donor sheet and guides the leading edge of the recording sheet that has passed through the printing area to the platen drum surface between the contact start position of the ink donor sheet and the ink donor sheet contact start position. Device.