JPS60239272A - Transfer material cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a transfer material to be replaced in a single stroke, by a construction wherein a transfer material is wound around a payout-side winding core and a take-up side widing core, and these are enclosed in a casing to form a cassette, in an image-forming device. CONSTITUTION:A ribbon cassette 14 comprises the winding cores 31, 32 around which a thermal transfer ribbon 15 is wound, and these are enclosed in the casing 33 having a part exposed so that an intermediate part of the ribbon 15 is intermediately disposed between a platen and a thermal head. A slit 34 for fitting to a holder is provided between winding core containing parts 33a, 33b, and driving force receiving end parts 31a, 32a having an engaging groove 35 are provided on the side of an open end. When the cassette 14 is fitted, an engaging projection 38 of a coupling 37 for a driving shaft 36a of a motor is engaged to the groove 35, and a driving force is transmitted. Flanges 40 as stoppers are integrally provided at both end parts of the payout-side winding core 32 to restrict skewing of the ribbon 15.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a transfer material cassette provided in, for example, a thermal transfer type image forming apparatus.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Thermal transfer image forming equipment is small, inexpensive, produces little noise, and can use plain paper as the transfer material, so it has recently come into use not only for recording output from computers and word processors, but also as a copying device. (1 ) If you want to replace the one you are currently using with a different color midway through, or use it immediately.

(Width) When the thermal transfer material is used up and replaced with the next new thermal transfer material.

The replacement process is very troublesome, and there are also inconveniences such as dirty hands and wrinkles on the thermal transfer material.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to enable transfer material to be replaced with a single touch without getting hands dirty or wrinkled; It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer material cassette that can maintain a good set state.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention winds a transfer material between a pair of winding cores on a feeding side and a winding side, and incorporates this into a case to form a cassette, and at least the winding core on the feeding side. A stopper is provided to restrict movement of both ends of the transfer material in the core.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings. Figure 1 shows the external appearance of the image forming apparatus. In the figure, 1 is the main body of the apparatus, and the front part of the upper surface of the main body 1 has an operation panel section 1.
A is formed on the left side of the apparatus main body 1, and a document scanning section (scanner section) 4 that scans the document 3 set on the document table 2, and an image forming section (printer section) 5 on the right side. It has become.

A display section 6, a numeric keypad 7..., a keypad 8, etc. are arranged in the operation section 1a. In addition, the document scanning section 4
As shown in FIG. 2, the movable scanning unit 9 of the exposure optical system reciprocates along the lower surface of the document table 2 to optically scan the document 3 set on the document table 2, and The information is photoelectrically converted and input to the image forming section 5.

Further, the image forming section 5 has a configuration as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. That is, a grating 1θ is arranged approximately at the center of the image forming section 5, and a thermal head 11 as a recording head is arranged in front of the platen 10 (to the left in the state of FIG. 3). .

The thermal head 11 is attached to a heat sink 13 integrally formed on the rear end surface of the boulder 12, and is used for thermal transfer as a thermal transfer material cassette via this holder 12. A thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a thermal transfer material is interposed between the thermal head 11 and the grating 10.

Further, a paper feed row 216 is provided diagonally below the grating 10LD, and is configured to sequentially take out the sheets P, which serve as transfer materials, stored in the paper feed cassette 17 one by one. After this taken out paper is aligned by a pair of registration rollers 18 arranged diagonally above the paper feed roller 16, it is transported toward the grating 10 and wound around the platen 10 by the pressing rollers 19, 20. It will be sent exactly as it is hung.

On the other hand, the thermal head 11 presses the paper P against the platen 10 via the thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a thermal transfer material, and heats and melts the ink 2 as a colorant on the thermal transfer ribbon 15, as shown in FIG. The image is then transferred onto the paper P.

The thermal transfer ribbon 15 has approximately the same size as the paper P, as shown by range A in FIG.
*21 Each ink area 2 of yellow (T), magenta, cyan (C), and black as shown by c or range mouth
1 a , 2 l b , 21 c * 21 d are arranged side by side, sb, one color at a time is transferred, the paper P is returned to its original position, and the paper P is accurately stacked one after another.

Heat transfer? The one containing the black ink part 21d is used when it is desired to produce black clearly, and even the one without the black ink part 21d can produce almost black by overlapping three colors.

In this way, the paper P is reciprocated by the number of colors by the rotation of the platen 10, but the path of the paper P at this time is guided by the first and second guides arranged sequentially on the lower surface of the paper output tray 22. 23.24.

Further, the ribbon cassette 14 is thermally transferred as shown in FIG. The thermal transfer ribbon 15 has two parallel winding cores 31 and 32 around which both ends of the ribbon 15 are wound.
The middle part of the grating 10 is enclosed between the grating 10 and the thermal head 11 so that a part thereof is exposed.

There is a core between the core accommodating portions 33a and 33m of the case 33. A slit 34 is formed along the axial direction of the winding cores 31 and 32 and is open at one end.
1a and 32m are provided.

The driving force receiving ends 31m, 32m of the winding cores 31, 32 face a through hole 33C (only the lower side is shown) formed in the end face of the case 33, and the winding cores 31, , ? 2
A plurality of retaining grooves 35 are formed at the end of the frame. When the hook set 14 is installed in a predetermined position, the locking protrusion 38 of the coupling 37 attached to the drive shaft 36 & of the motor (not shown) engages with the engagement groove 35,
The driving force of the motor is transmitted to the winding core 31 or 32. Further, the coupling 37 is movable in the axial direction, so that when the ribbon cassette 14 is installed, the locking protrusion 38 of the coupling 31 is attached to the winding core 31 or 3.
When the coupling 37 is in a position where it does not engage with the engagement grooves 35 and 35 of No. 2, the coupling 37 is displaced against the biasing force of the spring 39, and the coupling 37 is displaced. The attachment operation of the hook set 14 is not hindered.

Therefore, when installing the ribbon cassette 14, the holder 12
The opening end surface of the slit 34 is opposed to the end surface of the holder 12, and the slit 34 can be engaged with the holder 12 by pressing the cassette 14 in its longitudinal direction (in the axial direction of the shaft) with oil. Just mark it in the opposite direction.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, flanges 40.
0 is provided integrally. These flanges 40.4
Is 0 the above heat transfer? They are closely opposed to both end faces of 715 with a small gap.

If the ribbon cassette 14 is subjected to impact, for example, when it is transported or removed, as shown in FIG. 8, or when it is placed on the floor, as shown in FIG. 9, the internal thermal transfer may occur. The IJ&N 15 tends to shift, but at this time, the end surface of the thermal transfer IJ, pn 15 comes into contact with the plate surface of the flange 40 mentioned above, and the shift is regulated. .

Therefore, Su? Thermal transfer in the hook set 14/
The set condition of the winding 15 can be maintained well, and winding can be carried out well at all times during use.

In addition, a flange 40.40 is provided only on the winding core 32 on the feeding side.
To provide this, when the thermal transfer roller 15 is winding, the core 31 on the winding side performs thermal transfer. Even if the tube 15 is biased, there is no risk of it breaking.

However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 10, flanges 41 and 41 may also be provided at both ends of the winding core 31 on the winding side. However, the flange 41° 41 is at an angle of δ1. facing each other with a distance of δ4, δ8, δ
4 is the above δ.

δ and υ are set to be large, so that even if the thermal transfer occurs on the winding core 31 on the winding side during winding, the flange 4
1.41 so that it will not break due to contact.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the flange is 40°40.41
．． 41 is provided on the winding core 32, 31, but the present invention is not limited to this, and similar effects can be obtained even if the flange 40, 40, 41° 41 is provided integrally on the case 33 of the upper cassette 14. play.

The present invention is capable of various modifications within the scope of its spirit.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, the transfer material is wound between the winding cores on the feeding side and the winding side, and this is assembled into a case to form a cassette, so that the transfer material can be replaced with one touch. This saves time and effort, and there is no risk of dirty hands or wrinkles on the transfer material during replacement work.

In addition, since it is equipped with a stopper that regulates the movement of the transfer material, the transfer material will not shift even when subjected to impact, and the set state of the transfer material can be maintained in a good condition, allowing for good winding at all times. This effect is achieved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway schematic perspective view, and FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional side view. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a device for explaining the transfer operation state, Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the ink application state of the thermal transfer reden, Fig. 6 is a partially cutaway front view of the IJ/ink cassette, and Fig. 7 FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the action of the stopper, FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory diagrams showing the biasing of the thermal transfer transfer, and FIG. 10 is a configuration diagram showing another example of the arrangement of the stopper. 15...Transfer material (thermal transfer IJ,%'n), P...
Transferred material (paper) 1. ．． 9J... Winding core on the winding side, 32
... Winding core on the feeding side, 40.40.41.41-flange (stock/day). Applicant's agent, patent attorney Takehiko Suzue! ! 9 Figure 10

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) In a device that transfers the colorant of a transfer material to a transferred material, the transfer material is wound between winding cores on a feeding side and a winding side, and this is assembled into a case to form a cassette.1. and,
A transfer material cassette comprising a regulating member that regulates movement of the transfer material at least on the feeding side. (2) The transfer material cassette according to claim 1, wherein the regulating members are provided at both ends of the core on the feeding side. (3) The transfer material cassette according to claim 1, wherein the regulating member regulates the movement of both ends of the transfer material on the core on the winding side. (4) The transfer material cassette according to claim 3, wherein the regulating members are provided at both ends of the winding core on the winding side. (5) The transfer material cassette according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the regulating member is provided in the case. (6) The transfer material according to claim 3, 4, or 5, wherein the dimension between the regulating members on the winding side is larger than the dimension between the regulating members on the feeding side. cassette.