JPS60242767A - Picture forming equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a job space as required at the outside of a picture image forming unit by providing a moving means for moving the picture forming unit with respect to the transfer type picture image forming equipment. CONSTITUTION:The picture image forming unit 5a is provided on a frame 31 and moved by a moving means 32. That is, the moving means 32 has a couple of slide rails 33, 33 provided in parallel at a prescribed distance on the frame 31 and the picture forming unit 5a is supported freely slidably to the slide rails 33, 33 via slide metallic fixtures 34, 34. For example, when a paper sheet P is jammed in a platen 10 in the picture forming unit 5a at picture forming and the paper is removed, or when devices around the platen 10 in the picture forming unit 5a are inspected for maintenance, the picture forming unit 5a is slid in the arrow along the slide rails 33, 33.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a transfer-type image forming apparatus that forms an image on the surface of a transfer material by transferring, for example, a coloring agent of a thermal transfer material to a transfer material. be.

[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 become popular not only for recording the output of computers and word processors, but also as a copying device. It is being put into practical use.

Normally, in this second transfer type image forming apparatus, a sheet of paper is fed to an image forming unit, and a colorant of a transfer material is transferred onto the sheet of paper to form an image. The image forming unit is provided with a platen, a pressure roller that rolls into contact with the platen and conveys the sheet under pressure, and a thermal head that presses against the platen through a transfer material and the sheet. “However, in the past, the image forming unit was installed in a fixed manner, so if, for example, paper got stuck in a grating in the image forming unit, it would have to be placed close to the image forming unit to remove it. Other internal components, such as paper guide members, get in the way and workability is poor, and maintenance and inspection of the platen rotor in the image forming unit also takes time. .

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which a work space can be formed outside an image forming unit as required. It is.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a moving means for moving the image forming unit.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the external appearance of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 2 shows its schematic configuration. In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 indicates a main body of an image forming apparatus, and an operation panel section 1a is formed on the upper front surface of the apparatus main body 1. As shown in FIG. Further, a document table 2 having a document cover 3 on the left side of the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 is provided.
The lower side is a document scanning section (scanner section) 4 that scans the document placed on the document table 2, and the right side of the apparatus main body 1 is an image forming section (printer section) 5.

A display section 6, a numeric keypad 7, a copy number setting section 7, buttons 8, etc. are arranged on the operation panel section 1a.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the document scanning section 4 optically scans the document set on the document table 2 by reciprocating the movable scanning section 9 of the exposure optical system along the lower surface of the document table 2. This optical 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, 58 in the figure is an image forming unit, and a platen 1o is disposed approximately in the center of this unit 5a.
A thermal head 11 serving as a recording head is disposed in front of (leftward in the state of FIG. 3) so as to be movable toward and away from the platen 1o.

Further, a thermal transfer ribbon (ink ribbon) 15 as a transfer material is interposed between the thermal roller 11 and the platen 10.

Then, with this thermal transfer resin 15 interposed, the paper P
is pressed against the grating 10, and in this state, a heating element (not shown) formed in a line tod shape of the thermal head 11 generates heat according to image information, thereby forming a thermal transfer IJ.
, the colorant (ink) on the Yin 15 is heated and melted and transferred onto the paper P.

Further, a paper feed roller 16 is provided diagonally below the platen 10, and is configured to sequentially take out sheets of paper P as a transfer material stored in a paper feed cassette 17 one by one. After this taken out paper is aligned by the registration roller 18 disposed diagonally above the pH paper feed row 216, the paper is transferred toward the platen 10 and is moved to the platen by pressing rollers 19 and 20. 10 and is fed accurately.

On the other hand, the thermal heater 11 presses the paper P against the platen 10 via the thermal transfer ribbon 15 as a transfer material, and heats the ink 21 as a colorant on the thermal transfer ribbon 15 as shown in FIG. It is designed to be melted and transferred onto paper P.

Further, the heat rolling differential 15 has yellow (A), magenta (Friday), and cyan (C) ink portions 21h*21 of approximately the same size as the paper P, as shown by range A in FIG.
b, 21c are arranged side by side, or yellow (a), magenta (goods) as shown in the range opening.

Cyan (C) and black (B) ink portions 21&, 21b,
21c.

21d are arranged side by side, and after transferring one color at a time, return the paper P and stack them one after another accurately. Even if the ink does not have the black ink portion 21d, almost black can be produced by overlapping three colors.

In this way, the paper P is reciprocated by the number of colors by the rotation of the grating 1θ, but the path of the paper P at this time is the first one, which is sequentially arranged along the lower surface of the paper ejection tray 22. It will be guided onto the second guide 23.24.

That is, the explanation will be made with reference to FIGS. 6(a) to 6).

First, the paper P fed from the paper feed cassette 17 passes through the arrangement portion of the registration roller 18 and the first distribution guide 25, and is wound around the grating 10. (See FIG. 6(A)) Next, the grating 10 rotates using an A'rus motor (not shown) as a drive source to transport the paper P at a predetermined speed and form it into a line tod shape along the axial direction of the platen 10. The heating element of the thermal head 11 (
(not shown) generates heat according to the image information, and the thermal transfer ribbon 1
The ink 21 of No. 5 is transferred onto the paper P.

Furthermore, the leading edge of the paper P that has passed through the platen 10 is located at the second
The paper is sent onto a first guide 23 provided along the lower surface of the paper discharge tray 22 by a sorting guide 26 . (See FIG. 6(b)) In this way, the paper Pti grating 10 onto which the ink 21 of one color has been transferred is reversely fed, and the first distribution guide 250 is rotated and displaced. As a result of the operation, it is fed onto a second guide 24 provided along the lower surface of the first guide 23 . (See FIG. 6(c)) In this way, by reciprocating the paper P a plurality of times, a plurality of colors are transferred.

Finally, the paper P to which all the colors of ink 21 have been transferred is
The paper is guided by the second sorting guide 26 to a pair of paper discharge rollers 27 and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 22 . (See Fig. 6)) The image forming apparatus also includes an original scanning unit 4 as shown in Fig. 7.
Two-color conversion section 12. Memory section 132 image forming section 5. and an overall control section 14.

Then, the green (G) detected by the original scanning unit 4
), yellow (7), and cyan (C) are converted into the colors magenta, yellow (a), and cyan (C) of the print medium by the color conversion unit 12. The combined values are stored in the memory unit 13 for each color together with the position information on the document. Image forming section 5
Now, based on the value read out from the memory section 13, magenta (
(goods), yellow (a), cyan (c), black (n)
CJuk Magenta (B), Yellow (G), Cyan (C)
)'s AND output] is transferred onto paper P. The overall control section 14 includes an original scanning section 49, a color converter 12. Memory section 13. and controls the entire image forming section 6.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned image forming unit 5a is provided on the frame 3 and is moved by a moving means 32, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. That is, the moving means 32 includes a pair of slide rails 33, 33 disposed in parallel on the frame 31 with a predetermined distance therebetween.
The above-mentioned image forming unit is connected to these slide rails 33, 33 via slide fittings, 94, 34).
5a is slidably supported.

Therefore, for example, when paper P is jammed in the platen 10 in the image forming unit 5a during the above-mentioned image formation and it must be removed, or when performing maintenance and inspection around the platen 1θ in the image forming unit 5a, etc. , 10th
As shown in the figure and Fig. 11, the image forming unit) 5m
is slid along the slide rails 33, 33 in the direction of the arrow.

As a result, the image forming unit 5a is released from the paper P sorting guide 25, 26, etc., and a work space A is formed outside of the paper P distribution guide 25, 26, etc., and a work space A is formed outside of the paper P distribution guide 25, 26. Maintenance and inspection work can be carried out very easily.

Although the slide rails 33, 33 are used as the moving means in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effect can be obtained even if a slide bearing is used.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways within the scope of the gist.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, since the present invention is provided with a moving means for moving the image forming unit, the image forming unit can be moved when removing a transfer material clogged inside the image forming unit, or during maintenance and inspection of the image forming unit. can be moved to create a working space outside of it.
This has the effect that the workability is extremely excellent.

[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 longitudinal side view. , Fig. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the transfer operation state, Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the ink application state of the thermal transfer ribbon, and Fig. 6 (a) to 6) show the movement of the paper during multicolor transfer. An explanatory diagram to explain,
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the configuration of main parts, FIGS. 8 and 9 are perspective views showing the moving means, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are explanatory diagrams showing the state in which the image forming unit is moved. 5a... Image forming unit, P... Paper (transferring material), 15... Thermal transfer? (transfer material), 21... ink (coloring agent), 33... slide rail (transportation means)
. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Tube 5 A Figure 61 Figure 6 Figure 8 9 Figure 1

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) An image forming apparatus in which an image is formed by transferring a colorant of a transfer material to a transfer material using an image forming unit, the image forming apparatus comprising a moving means for moving the image forming unit. (2) The image forming unit includes a platen that conveys the transfer material, a recording head that presses against the platen through the transfer material and the transfer material, and a blur roller that rolls into contact with the grating and conveys the transfer material under pressure. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the image forming apparatus is integrally arranged. (3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the moving means is a slide rail. (4) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the moving means is a slide bearing. (5) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit moves in the conveyance direction of the transfer material.