JPS6216180A - Image-forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To contrive a smaller device, a larger capacity for a transfer ribbon and simplification of a driving means, by a construction wherein a detachable cassette enclosing a transfer ribbon therein is attached to the outside of a main body, and a ribbon-driving means is enclosed in the cassette. CONSTITUTION:A printer part 5 of the main body 1 is provided with a U-shaped cassette-fitting groove 61 opened on the upper and back sides, and a cover 62 is fitted to the groove 61 when an image is to be formed on a paper P such as a thermal recording paper. When an image is to be formed on a paper P such as an ordinary paper, the cover 62 is removed, and the cassette 63 is fitted to the groove 62. The cassette 63 comprises a thermal transfer ribbon, a payout spool 66, a take-up spool 67 and a driving motor 68, which are enclosed in a casing 64. Accordingly, space for the cassette 63 can be omitted from the main body 1, the capacity of the cassette 63 for containing the thermal transfer ribbon 65 can be enlarged, and simplification of a driving means on the main body 1 side can be contrived.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical field 1 of the invention]
□□Relating to forming equipment.

Technical background of the invention and its problems] Some of the above-mentioned image forming apparatuses are capable of forming images on both thermal paper and plain paper.

In other words, when forming an image on thermal paper, the thermal head is operated with the thermal paper interposed between the platen and the thermal head to cause the thermal paper to undergo a thermal change, and an image is formed on plain paper. The ink of the thermal transfer ribbon is transferred to the plain paper by operating the thermal head with plain paper and the thermal transfer ribbon interposed between the platen and the thermal head.

Therefore, in such an apparatus, it is necessary to secure a space for accommodating a thermal transfer ribbon used when forming an image on plain paper.

However, in the past, a space for accommodating the thermal transfer ribbon was secured inside the apparatus, which caused the problem that the apparatus became large.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to reduce the size of the device, increase the storage capacity of the transfer ribbon, and reduce the drive speed on the main body side. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus whose means can be simplified.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that forms an image by operating the recording head with an image forming member interposed between the platen and the recording head. A cassette that stores a transfer ribbon and allows the transfer ribbon to be interposed between the platen and the recording head when attached to the main body is attached to the outside of the main body, and the cassette The device is characterized in that a ribbon driving means for driving the transfer ribbon is housed inside.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a serial scanner printer as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and 1 in this figure is a main body. A document table (transparent glass plate) 2 on which a document is placed is provided on the upper surface of the main body 1, and a document table cover 3 is provided on the document table 2. The rear side of the document table cover 3 is rotatably supported on a pivot shaft (not shown), and the document table cover 3 is
It can be opened and closed freely.

Further, on the rear side of the top surface of the main body 1, an inlet 6 and a lower outlet for paper (image forming member) such as thermal paper or plain paper to the printer section (image forming means) 5, which will be described later, are provided, and on the front side of the top surface, there is an operation lower part. Panels 8 are provided respectively.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. A printer unit (image forming means) 5 that forms an image on paper p is provided, and a scanner unit 9 is connected to the document table 2.
The printer section 5 is located below and behind the scanner section 9.

The scanner unit 9 includes a sensor unit (image carrying means) 10 that carries an image of a document placed on the document table 2, and a second direction (X direction, which is the left-right direction). It is comprised of a drive mechanism (moving means) 11 that reciprocates in the Y direction (first direction), which is the front-back direction.

The drive mechanism 11 is constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, a guide rail 12 is provided on the front side of the scanner section 9 in the main body 1, and a guide shaft 13 is provided on the rear side, respectively, along the X direction. A first carriage 14 is installed between the kite rail 12 and the guide shaft 13. The first carriage 14 is movably supported on the guide rail 12 via rollers 15 on the front side and slidably on the guide shaft 13 via the slider 16 on the rear side, and is movable along the X direction. It becomes. Furthermore, timing belts 17 and 18 are connected to the front and rear sides of the first carriage 14, respectively, and these timing belts 17 and 18 are connected to pulleys disposed near both ends of the guide rail 12 and the guide shaft 13, respectively. It spans between 19.19 and 20.20.

Further, pulleys 19 and 20 on one end are attached to both ends of a shaft 21, and this shaft 21 is driven by a first pulse motor 23 via a reduction gear train 22. As a result, this first pulse motor 23
The first carriage 14 is reciprocated in the X direction based on the drive.

Further, a second carriage 24 is supported by the first carriage 14 . This second carriage 24 is
As shown in FIG.
The left side of the shaft 25 provided along the Y direction is slidably supported by the edge of the first carriage 14 via the engagement recess 26, and is movable along the Y direction. Further, a timing belt 27 is connected to the right side of this second carriage 24, and this timing belt 27 is stretched between pulleys 28 and 28 arranged on the front side and rear side of the first carriage 14. . Further, one pulley 28 is driven by a second pulse motor 30 via a reduction gear train 29. Thereby, the second carriage 24 is reciprocated in the Y direction based on the drive of the second pulse motor 30.

The sensor unit 1-10 is mounted on a second carriage 24.
As shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, a lamp 31 illuminates the document surface a, and the reflected light is sent to a mirror 3.
2 and lens (optical imaging element) 33 in order.
It is configured to be guided to an image sensor 34 composed of O<charge imaging element) and formed into an image. Note that 35 is a focus adjustment screw, and by operating this screw 35, the lens 33 can be moved in the optical axis direction. Further, 36 is an amplifier circuit board for the image sensor 34, to which the image sensor 34 is directly attached in order to avoid the influence of noise as much as possible. Furthermore, 37 is a mirror holder, and 38 is a window.

Further, the image sensor 34 is a multi-bit image sensor, and the drive mechanism 11 is connected to the first carriage 14.
is moved at every pitch equal to or less than the width of a plurality of bits of the image sensor 34.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The original image is read line by line with a plurality of pitches of 4 and a width of 2.

As shown in FIG. 11, reading starts from position A on the left side of the front and continues reading in the Y direction. Then, the sensor unit 10 is read to the rear side position B, and returned to the front side at the same time as this reading is completed, and in the meantime, the sensor unit 10 is moved rightward by one line reading width. Repeat this to read up to position C on the right side of the rear.

The printer section 5 is configured as shown in FIG. That is, 39 is a platen (image forming member moving means) that supports and conveys the paper p, and this platen 3
9 is a third pulse motor 14 via a reduction gear train 140.
1, it is driven at every predetermined pitch.

Further, a thermal head (recording head>40) is opposed to this platen 39, and this thermal head 40 is moved along the axial direction of the platen 39 by a head moving means 41. , platen 39
A shaft 42 is provided parallel to this, and a slider 43 is slidably attached to this shaft 42. A timing belt 44 is connected to this slider 43.
This timing belt 44 is arranged between pulleys 45, 45 arranged near both ends of the shaft 42. One pulley 45 is driven by a fourth pulse motor 47 via a reduction gear train 46.

Further, a thermal head 40 is attached to the slider 43, and is moved along the axial direction of the three platens by driving the fourth pulse motor 47.

Further, this thermal head 40 is shown in FIGS. 13 and 1.
As shown in FIG. 4, the heating elements 48 are arranged along a direction perpendicular to the axial directions of the three platens, that is, along the rotational direction of the platen 39. Note that printing follows the reading by the scanner section 9 and is performed at the same speed. Further, the printing width is matched to the reading width λ of the scanner section 9.

Furthermore, a paper guide and a paper pressing roller (not shown) are arranged near the platen 39.

Next, the control circuit will be explained based on FIG. 15. That is, image information output from the image sensor 34 is supplied to the CPU 52 via the amplifier 51. This C
The PU 52 controls the entire system. The CPU 52 outputs the image information supplied from the image sensor 34 to the print control section 53, and the print control section 53 drives the thermal head 40 according to the supplied signal, and also drives the third and fourth pulse motors 141. 47 and a drive motor (ribbon drive means) 68, which will be described later.The CPU 52 also controls a drive section 54 that drives the first and second pulse motors 23 and 30. There is.

Next, the main parts of the present invention will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printer section 5 of the main body 1 is formed with a cassette mounting groove 61 in the shape of an opening opening on the top and back surfaces. A lid 62 is fitted into the mounting groove 61. Also,
When forming an image on paper p such as plain paper, the lid 62 is removed and a cassette 63 is installed as shown in FIG. That is, this cassette 63 is
As shown in FIG. 3, a thermal transfer ribbon (
transfer ribbon) 65, a feeding-side winding core 66 that feeds out this thermal transfer ribbon 65, a winding-side winding core 67 that winds up the thermal transfer ribbon 65, and a drive motor (ribbon driving means) 68 that drives the winding-side winding core 67. The case 64 is further provided with a connection terminal 69 and a guide arm 70. This guide arm 70 has a shape that can be fitted into the cassette mounting groove 61, and guides the thermal transfer ribbon 65 that is fed out from the feed-side winding core 66 and wound around the winding-side winding core 67. Moreover, the thermal transfer ribbon 65 is exposed in the middle. As shown in FIG. 4, the guide arm 70 is fitted into the cassette mounting groove 61, so that the cassette 63 is mounted on the rear outside of the main body 1. In this state, the thermal transfer ribbon 65 is attached to the platen 39 and the thermal head 4. The winding core 66 and 67 portions are located on the outside of the main body 1. In addition,
The connection terminal 69 of the cassette 63 is connected to the connection terminal 7 of the main body 1 side.
1 is now connected.

According to the above configuration, the cassette 63 is removed from the main body 1 to form an image on the paper p such as thermal paper, and the cassette 63 is attached to the outside of the main body 1 to form an image on the paper p such as plain paper. Since this is done, the space corresponding to 63 cassettes from the main body 1 can be omitted, and the apparatus can be made smaller.

Moreover, since the cassette 63 is attached to the outside of the main body 1, the storage capacity of the thermal transfer ribbon 65 in the cassette 63 can be increased without changing the size of the main body 1.

Furthermore, since the drive motor 68 for driving the thermal transfer ribbon 65 is housed in the cassette 63, there is no need to transmit driving force from the main body 1 side to the cassette 63, and the driving means on the main body 1 side can be simplified.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, an image is formed on the image forming member by operating the recording head with the image forming member interposed between the platen and the recording head. a removable cassette that houses an image forming means for forming an image, a main body that houses the image forming means, and a transfer ribbon, and that interposes the transfer ribbon between the image forming member and the recording head when attached to the main body. In the image forming apparatus equipped with the above, the cassette is configured to be mounted on the outside of the main body, and a ribbon driving means for driving the transfer ribbon is housed in the cassette, so that the apparatus can be miniaturized. This provides excellent effects such as being able to accommodate a large amount of transfer ribbon and simplifying the driving means on the main body side.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show a practical example of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of the main body with the cassette removed;
Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the cassette attached to the main body;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the cassette, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the cassette attached to the main body, FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the internal structure, and FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the drive mechanism. Fig. 7 is a longitudinal front view showing the sensor unit portion, Fig. 8 is a plan view, Fig. 9 is a longitudinal side view, Fig. 10 is a plan view showing the reading width, and Fig. 11 explains the reading order. Figure 12 is a perspective view showing the printer section, Figure 13 is a front view of the thermal head, Figure 14 is a side view,
FIG. 15 is a control circuit diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Main body, 2...Document stand, 5...Image forming means (printer part), 9...Image reading means (scanner part)p...Image forming member (paper), 1o. ... Image carrying means (sensor unit), 11... Moving means (drive mechanism), 33... Optical imaging element (lens), 34...
Image sensor, 3...Platen, 40...Recording head (thermal head), 63...Cassette, 64
...Case, 65...Transfer ribbon (thermal transfer ribbon)
, 66... Feeding side winding core, 67... Winding side winding core, 68
...Ribbon drive means (drive motor). Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 7 Figure 9 Figure 8 Figure 10 Figure 15

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) An image forming means that forms an image on the image forming member by operating the recording head with the image forming member interposed between the platen and the recording head, and this image forming means is housed. In an image forming apparatus comprising a main body and a removable cassette that stores a transfer ribbon and interposes the transfer ribbon between the image forming member and the recording head when attached to the main body, the cassette is equipped with the above-described cassette. An image forming apparatus configured to be mounted on the outside of a main body, and further comprising a ribbon driving means for driving a transfer ribbon housed within the cassette. (2) A cassette is a case in which a core for winding both ends of a transfer ribbon is housed together with a transfer ribbon and a ribbon drive means in a cassette case. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is arranged outside the main body. (3) The main body includes a document table on which the original is placed, and an image reading means for reading the image of the document placed on the document table, and the image forming means is formed based on the reading information of the image reading means. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured to form an image on a member to be imaged. (4) The image reading means includes an imaging means having an optical imaging element and a multi-bit image sensor, and moves the imaging means in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a moving means for moving the image sensor at a pitch equal to or less than a plurality of bit widths in the second direction.