JPS62134278A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To lower running cost, to improve heating efficiency and to further keep the peripheral rotational speed of a transfer medium constant even if the outer diameter of the transfer medium changes, by heating the rotating transfer medium by a recording head and allowing the transfer medium to move so as to follow a pressure contact member with recording state. CONSTITUTION:When a motor 4 is driven, a pressure contact roller 3 rotates to the direction shown by an arrow (a) and an ink roller 1 rotates to the direction shown by an arrow (b) so as to follow the rotation of said roller 3. At the same time, a recording head 5 generates heat correspondingly to image information to melt the ink on the surface of an ink roller 1 according to an image pattern to reach a pressure contact part (c) with the rotation thereof. At the same time, a supply roll 10 and timing rollers 11 rotate to separate recording sheets 8 one by one to feed the same to the pressure contact part (c) and the molten ink in the image pattern is transferred to the recording sheet 8. Because the rotation of the ink roller 1 moves so as to follow the rotation of the pressure contact roller 3, even if the pressure contact roller 3 rotates at a constant speed, the peripheral speed of the ink roller 1 is kept constant regardless of the diameter of the ink roller.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that performs recording by heating a rotating transfer medium.

<Prior Art> The thermal recording method has been widely used in recent years because of its general features such as a small and lightweight device and no noise, as well as the ability to record on plain paper.

Conventionally, a generally used thermal recording device forms a transfer medium by coating a heat-resistant base film with a thin layer of heat-melting ink, superimposes the ink layer of the transfer medium on the recording medium, and prints the image. The ink on the transfer medium is melted according to the image pattern by heating from the base film side using a recording head that generates heat according to the information, and is transferred and recorded on the recording medium (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-220795).
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<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the conventional heat-sensitive recording device described above, the heat-melting ink must be coated on a relatively expensive heat-resistant base film through a complicated process, and furthermore, this Since the transfer medium is disposable once transferred, the running cost is high, and since the heat-melting ink must be heated through the base film, there are problems such as poor thermal efficiency.

In addition, in order to improve thermal efficiency, there is a method in which the heat-resistant base film is made of a conductive film, and the recording head is made up of electrodes that are energized according to the image information, and the ink is directly heated by Joule heat. Kaisho 58-12
No. 790), this configuration makes the base film even more expensive.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and provides a recording device that has low running costs, good heating efficiency, and can maintain a constant rotational peripheral speed even if the outer diameter of the transfer medium changes. It is something.

<Means for Solving the Problems> Means of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned conventional problems includes a rotatable transfer medium, and a pressure contact member that rotates in pressure contact with the transfer medium and rotates the transfer medium in a driven manner. and a recording head that heats the transfer medium according to image information.

<Operation> According to the above means, the transfer medium is rotated by the rotating pressure contact member, and the surface of the transfer medium is directly heated by the recording head in an image pattern, and the heated transfer medium is conveyed. transferred onto the medium.

Furthermore, even if the outer diameter of the transfer medium gradually decreases due to recording, the rotational circumferential speed of the transfer medium is always maintained constant because it depends on the rotational speed of the pressing member.

<Embodiment> Next, an embodiment of a recording apparatus to which the above means is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cut away perspective view of the recording device.
FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view.

First, to explain the overall outline, 1 is an ink roller which is a transfer medium, and the core 1a is formed by solidifying ink having supercooling characteristics into a roll shape, and the core 1a is rotatably attached to the side plate 2 of the device. , and is attached so as to slide downward as the roller diameter decreases.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a pressing roller that is a pressing member that presses against the ink roller 1, and is moved by the stepping motor 4 as shown by the arrow a.
The ink roller 1 is rotated stepwise or continuously in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Further, a recording head 5 that generates heat according to image information is attached to the upstream side in the rotational direction of the ink roller 1 with respect to the pressure contact portion (hereinafter simply referred to as “pressure contact portion J”) C between the ink roller L and the pressure roller 3. During this recording, the recording head 5 comes into line contact with the axial surface of the ink roller 1, and as the diameter of the ink roller l decreases, the contact area between the ink roller 1 and the recording head 5 (hereinafter simply referred to as r contact) Part 1) d
moves upward so that the circumferential length from the contact portion d to the pressure contact portion C is always constant.

Further, a smooth blade 6 is attached to the downstream side of the ink roller 1 in the rotation direction with respect to the pressure contact portion C. This smoothing blade 6 is used to smooth the ink by scraping off minute irregularities remaining on the roller surface after the ink from the ink roller 1 has been transferred to the recording medium, or by smoothing the surface with heating pressure, etc. is attached to the side plate 2 so as to contact the surface of the ink roller 1 and slide as the diameter of the roller 1 decreases.

7 is a conveying means for conveying recording sheets 8, which are recording media, in the direction of arrow e in accordance with the recording operation. The recording sheet 8 is conveyed by a roller 11 in synchronization with the recording operation, and when the recording sheet 8 conveyed by the conveying means 7 passes between the ink roller 1 and the pressure roller 3, a predetermined recording is made, and the recording sheet 8 is transferred to the sheet receiver 12. It is configured to be discharged.

Next, the configuration of each part of the recording apparatus will be described in detail.

First, the ink roller 1 will be explained. As mentioned above, the ink of the ink roller 1 is composed of ink having supercooling characteristics. Ink that has this supercooling property means that when it is heated and melted or softened and then cooled,
This is an ink that maintains a melted or softened state or adhesive state for a certain period of time that can be transferred to the recording sheet 8 even at a temperature below the ink's original melting point or softening point, and includes a carbon blank in a thermofusible binder having supercooling properties. It is made by dispersing colorants such as dyes and pigments that are commonly used in printing or other recording methods, either singly or in a mixture of two or more.

Here, as an example of the thermofusible binder having the supercooling property, N-cyclohexyl-p-
Plasticizers such as toluenesulfonamide, N-ethyl-p-toluenesulfonamide, dicyclohexyl phthalate, benzotriazole, acetalinide, etc., or derivatives thereof may be used alone or in combination of two or more to achieve conventional thermal transferability. Mixed into conventional heat-melting binders used in ink, such as polyamide resins, thermoplastic resins such as polyacrylic resins, polyvinyl acetate resins, or copolymers of these, various natural or synthetic waxes, etc. The ink roller 1 can be obtained by solidifying this into a roll shape using a mold or the like.

In order to obtain the supercooled thermofusible binder used in this example, for example, 20 to 90 parts by weight of the supercooled substance may be mixed into 10 to 90 parts of the conventional thermofusible binder; An oil agent or the like may be added to the supercooled thermofusible binder to adjust its supercooling characteristics, or an elastomer or the like may be added to adjust the melt viscosity, adhesive strength, etc.

The ink having supercooling characteristics has a melting point or softening point of preferably about 40 to 200°C, more preferably about 50 to 180°C, and is melted or softened by being heated above the melting point or softening point. After that, the time until solidification starts when left at room temperature is preferably 0.
．． The time is set to about 1 to 100 seconds, preferably about 0.1 to 10 seconds.

The ink roller l having the above-mentioned characteristics has cores 1a at both ends inserted into vertically elongated holes 2a drilled in the left and right side plates 2, and inserted into horizontally elongated holes 13a bored in the rotary plate 13 attached to the side plate 2. has been done.

One end of the rotating plate 13 is attached to be rotatable about a shaft 13b, and the other end is pulled downward by a spring 14. Therefore, the ink roller 1 is always urged downward and is configured to come into pressure contact with the pressure roller 3 disposed below the ink roller 1.

The pressure roller 3 has a shaft 3a protruding from both ends thereof, which is attached to the side plate 2.
As shown in FIG. 3, it is connected to a stepping motor 4 via a belt 4a, and is configured to be rotated by the drive of the motor 4, which rotates in response to recording operations. Further, knurls 3b are provided at both longitudinal ends of the pressure roller 3, and when the pressure roller 3 is driven and rotated as described above, the knurls 3b bite into the ink roller 1, causing the ink roller 1 to rotate in a driven manner. It is structured as follows.

Next, to explain about RAD 5 to the record, Fig. 4 (A)
As shown in (B), the recording head 5 is formed to have approximately the same length as the length of the ink roller 1 in the longitudinal direction, and has a heating element (not shown) that generates heat according to image information.
It is attached to the support 15 by a. Guide protrusions 15b are protruded from the upper portions of both sides of the support body 15.
Further, a U-shaped notch 15C is bored at the lower end, and these are attached to the support side plate 16 by engaging with a curved elongated hole 16a and a support protrusion 16b provided in the support side plate 16, and are driven by a motor (not shown). When the supporting body 15 is urged in the direction of arrow r by the rotating eccentric cam 17, the guide protrusion 15b is configured to slide along the curved elongated hole 16a using the supporting protrusion 16b as a fulcrum. 18 is a spring tensioned between the guide protrusion 15b and the support side plate 16, and the guide protrusion 15b
Below, the minus sign indicates the opposite direction).

Here, as shown in FIG. 4(C), the curved elongated hole 16a is formed at the contact portion d when the guide protrusion 15b slides using the support protrusion 16b as a fulcrum as the diameter of the ink roller decreases.
It is configured in a curved shape to guide the slide of the guide protrusion 15b so that the angle between the circumferential length of the ink roller 1 from the to the pressure contact part C and the normal line at the contact part d and the recording pad 5 is always constant. has been done.

Further, a nut member 16C is non-rotatably attached to the outside of both supporting side plates 16, and the nut member 16c is threadedly engaged with a lead screw member 19. As shown in FIG. 1, this lead screw member 19 is a U-shaped holding member 19 that is attached to a predetermined position of the side plate 2 with screws 19a.
A pulley 1719c is fixed to the end of each lead screw member 19, and a belt 19d is suspended between each lead screw member 9C. Further, a gear 19e is attached to the end of one lead screw member 19, and the lead screw member 19 is rotated by the drive of a motor 19f connected to the gear tc+s, and accordingly, the NAND member 16c is rotated. The lead screw is configured to slide along a member 19 and the recording head 5 to slide in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the ink roller l.

Next, the smooth blade 6 is formed to have approximately the same length in the axial direction of the ink roller 1, and as shown in FIG. It has a knife-like configuration that heats the circumferential surface of the ink roller l by the heat generated by 6C and cuts it in minute units. Two slide protrusions 6a are protruded from both ends of the smooth blade 6, and the slide protrusions 6a extend from the side Fi.
It is slidably inserted into a guide hole 2b bored in 2.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a connecting plate 6b is attached to the end of the slide projection 6a, and one end of a link member 20 is pivotally attached to the connecting plate 6b. The link member 20 is
<Constructed of a member bent in a 1-shape, rotatably attached to the side plate 2 by a link shaft 20a at the bent part,
The other end 20b is configured to abut against the lower end of the rotating plate 13. Therefore, when the diameter of the ink roller 1 decreases and the rotary plate 13 rotates in the direction of the arrow g, the link member 20 rotates in the direction of the arrow G to slide the smooth blade 6 along the guide hole 2b.

Further, an eccentric cam 21 is attached to the lower part of the link member 20 so as to be in contact therewith. This eccentric cam 21 is connected to the rotating plate 1
The rotating shaft 21a of the eccentric cam 21 is rotatably attached to the side plate 2 at a position below the link member 20 that contacts the link member 3.
and motor 21b are connected via one-way clutch 21c, and only when motor 21b rotates in the direction of arrow i, one-way clutch 21c is locked and rotates eccentric cam 21, whereby link member 2
0 in the direction of the arrow.

Next, the structure of the sheet conveying means 7 is as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the feeding roller lO and the timing roller 11 have a length above the width plate of the recording sheet 8, and the respective rollers 10.1
Shafts IQa and lla are protruded from both ends of the shaft 10a.
, lla are pivoted to the side plate 2 and rotatably mounted by a motor 4 that rotates the pressure roller 3.

Here, the feeding roller 10 is attached to a position where it comes into pressure contact with the top layer of recording sheets 8 stored in the cassette 9 when the cassette 9 is loaded into the apparatus, and rotates in the direction of arrow j according to the recording operation. The recording sheet 8 is separated and fed one by one.

Further, the timing roller 11 rotates in the direction of the arrow in synchronization with the rotation of the pressure roller 3 that operates according to recording, and conveys the recording sheet 8 between the ink roller 1 and the pressure roller 3, and is made of stainless steel or It is composed of a pair of rollers in which metal rollers such as iron are arranged above and below, and a tension spring 22 is attached between the mutual shafts lla,
The pair of rollers is configured to come into pressure contact with each other. The pressing force between the pair of rollers by the tension spring 22 is set to 16 kg/cm'' or more, which is a general fixing pressure when an image transferred in a copying machine or the like is fixed under pressure.

Further, a sheet guide 23 is provided between the feeding roller IO and the timing roller 11 and between the timing roller 11 and the pressure roller 3 for guiding the recording sheet 8 being conveyed.

Next, the operation of the device configured as described above will be explained.

When the motor 4 is driven, the pressure roller 3 rotates in the direction of the arrow a, and the ink roller 1 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow. At the same time as this rotation, the recording head 5 generates heat according to the image information, heats and melts the ink on the surface of the ink roller 1 in an image pattern, and the ink remains in a molten state as the ink roller 1 rotates. This leads to C. At the same time, the supply roller 10 and the timing roller 11 rotate in the directions of the arrows j to transfer the recording sheet 8 to the cassette 9.
The sheets are separated one by one from the inside and conveyed to the pressure contact section C in synchronization with the recording operation. Therefore, the molten ink in the image pattern is transferred to the recording sheet 8 at the pressure contact portion C.
A recording sheet 8 on which a predetermined image has been recorded is discharged to a sheet receiver 12 by rotation of an ink roller 1 and a pressure roller 3.

Further, after the ink has been transferred, minute irregularities remain on the surface of the ink roller, but when the ink roller 1 rotates and comes to the position of the smoothing blade 6, the surface of the roller 1 is heated to be cut or smoothed by the blade 6. , the unevenness is eliminated and a smooth surface is obtained.

Therefore, continuous transfer recording is performed.

The diameter of the ink roller 1 decreases as recording progresses due to ink transfer and cutting by the smooth blade 6, but the core 1a of the ink roller 1 slides along the longitudinal hole 2a as the roller diameter decreases. Therefore, the ink roller 1 and the pressure roller 3 are pressed against each other with a constant pressure regardless of the change in the roller diameter. At this time, the rotation of the ink roller 1 follows the rotation of the pressure roller 3, so the pressure roller 3
If the ink roller 1 rotates at a constant speed, the circumferential speed of the ink roller 1 will be maintained constant regardless of the ink roller diameter.

Further, the sliding of the core 1a rotates the rotary plate 13 in the direction of the arrow g, and accordingly, the link member 20, in which the lower end and one end 20b of the rotary plate 13 are in contact, rotates in the direction of the arrow. Then, the slide protrusion 6a of the smooth blade 6 slides in the direction of the ink roller 1 along the guide hole 2b, so that the smooth blade 6 is always in contact with the surface of the ink roller l.

Furthermore, when the ink roller diameter decreases, since the recording head 5 is urged in the direction of arrow f by the eccentric cam 17,
As the diameter of the ink roller decreases, the guide protrusion 15b of the support body 15 of the recording head 5 becomes smaller than the support protrusion 1 of the support side plate 16.
It slides along the curved elongated hole 16a using the fulcrum 6b. Therefore, the contact angle between the ink roller 1 and the recording head 5 and the circumferential length from the contact portion d to the pressure contact portion C are always maintained constant.

Next, when the recording sheet 8 is conveyed, the recording sheet 8 fed from the feeding roller IO passes between the timing rollers 11 and is subjected to pressure on the sheet surface by the pair of rollers. Therefore, if the recording sheet 8 is made of paper or the like due to the above pressure, even if minute fibers are stretched on its surface or paper dust, etc. is attached, the fibers, paper dust, etc. will get into the paper. It is something. Therefore, even if the surface of the recording sheet 8 is fluffy or has low surface smoothness,
As the sheet passes between the timing rollers 11, the smoothness of the sheet surface is increased and transfer omission is prevented.

Generally, when pressure equivalent to pressure fixing by a copying machine is applied to the sheet surface, the smoothness of the sheet surface is increased. .

Note that it is more effective for the timing roller 11 to be made of a metal roller in order to smooth the surface of the recording sheet 8 by the pressure contact, but at least the side where the recording sheet 8 contacts the ink roller l, that is, the recording If the timing roller 11 on the side that contacts the transfer surface of the sheet 8 is made of metal, the same effect can be obtained even if the timing roller 11 on the other side is made of hard rubber or hard plastic. Further, when the timing roller 11 made of hard rubber or hard plastic is used on one side as described above, it is preferable to install a pact below the roller 11 to collect minute dust such as paper dust.

Next, when not recording, it is desirable not to apply pressure to the surface of the ink roller 1 in order to maintain the roundness of the roller 1. To do this, first move the motor 21b to the direction indicated by the arrow i.
Drive rotation in the direction. At this time, one-way clutch 21
C is in the locked state, the eccentric cam 21 is rotated in the i direction, and the link member 20 is rotated in the -h direction. As a result, the rotary plate 13 rotates in the -g direction and pushes the ink roller 1 upward, so that the pressure contact between the ink roller 1 and the pressure roller 3 is released, and at this time, the smooth blade 6 also rotates as the link member 20 rotates. and separates from the surface of the ink roller 1. At the same time, when the motor 19f is driven and the lead screw member 19 is rotated in a predetermined direction, the nut member 16c screwed with the lead screw member 19 is rotated.
is an arrow! direction, thereby causing the recording head 5 to
is separated from the ink roller 1. Therefore, according to the apparatus of this embodiment, it is possible to prevent other members from coming into pressure contact with the surface of the ink roller 1 outside the plate during recording.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, the transfer medium was configured in the form of a roller, but in other embodiments, the ink may be applied to the surface of a rotating drum, an endless belt, or the like.

Further, the pressure roller 3, the supply roller 10, and the timing roller 11 are not limited to roller-shaped members, and the same effect can be obtained by using other members such as rotating belts.

Furthermore, if the heating part of the recording head 5 is coated with silicone resin, the ink that melts when heated will be transferred to the recording head 5.
It is possible to prevent the ink from adhering to the ink roller 1, and also to improve the sliding with the ink roller 1.

Furthermore, although the knife-shaped smoothing member 6 was described in the above-described embodiment, the surface of the ink roller 1 may be smoothed by bringing a heating roller into contact with it.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the recording sheets 8 were stored in the cassette 9, but the recording sheets 8 may be stacked on a deck, manual tray, or the like.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, the present invention is configured such that the rotating transfer medium is heated by the recording head, so there is no need for an expensive base film as in the past, and the heat efficiency for the transfer medium is also good. Therefore, running costs can be reduced. In addition, since the transfer medium is configured to follow the pressing member that rotates in accordance with recording, the rotational peripheral speed of the transfer medium can always be maintained constant even if the outer diameter of the transfer medium changes, making it possible to control complicated control. Accurate transfer recording can be performed without using any mechanism.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective explanatory view of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view thereof, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between an ink roller and a pressure roller, and The figures are explanatory views of the recording head, in which (A) is an exploded explanatory view, and (B)
) is an explanatory diagram of assembly, and (C) is an explanatory diagram of sliding of the recording head as the ink roller diameter decreases. 1 is an ink roller, la is a core, 2 is a side plate, 2a is a vertical hole, 2b is a guide hole, 3 is a pressure roller, 3a is a shaft, 3b
is the low left, 4 is the motor, 4a is the belt, 5 is the recording head, 6 is the smooth blade, 6a is the slide protrusion, 6b
6C is a connecting plate, 6C is a nichrome wire, 7 is a conveying means, 8 is a recording sheet, 9 is a cassette, 1O is a feeding roller, 11 is a timing roller, 12 is a sheet receiver, 13 is a rotating machine, 13
a is a horizontally elongated hole, 13b is a shaft, 14 is a spring, 15 is a support body, 15a is a screw, 15b is a guide protrusion, 15C is a U
character-shaped notch, 16 is a support side plate, 16a is a curved long hole, 16
b is a support projection, 16c is a nut member, 17 is an eccentric cam,
18 is a spring, 19 is a lead screw member, 1
9a is a screw, 19b is a U-shaped holding member, 19c is a pulley, 19d is a belt, 19e is a gear, 19f is a motor,
20 is a link member, 20a is a link shaft, 21 is an eccentric cam, 21a is a rotating shaft, 21b is a motor, 21C is a one-way clutch, 22 is a tension spring, and 23 is a seat guide.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) It has a rotatable transfer medium, a pressure contact member that rotates in pressure contact with the transfer medium and rotates the transfer medium in a driven manner, and a recording head that heats the transfer medium according to image information. Recording device. (2) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a low left is provided at a predetermined position of the pressure contact member.