JPH068602A - Detecting apparatus of feeding amount of ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To detect the feeding amount of a ribbon and to wind the ribbon in a constant state. CONSTITUTION:A rotary body 52 is rotatably supported at one end of the apparatus and an urging member 46 counteracting against the pressing force of a feeding reel to a ribbon 50 is provided at the other end. The feeding amount of the continuous band of ribbon 50 wound at the side of the feeding reel 48 when the ribbon is wound by the winding reel is converted and detected as the rotating amount of the rotary body 52 which obtains the rotating force from the pressing force of the feeding reel directly pressing the ribbon wound on the outermost peripheral surface of the feeding reel. Moreover, a lever member 53 which is supported to sway at a supporting part 51c of a main body 3 and an actuator 31 for swaying the lever member to generate the pressing force at the other end are provided in the apparatus. The actuator 31 is coupled with the lever member via a compression spring 54.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ribbon feed amount detecting device, and more particularly, it can accurately detect the ribbon feed amount according to the print amount such as the ribbon feed of thermal transfer (sublimation) printing record, and in a constant state. The present invention relates to a ribbon feed amount detection device capable of winding a ribbon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when it is necessary to accurately set the ribbon feed amount according to the print amount such as ribbon feed of thermal transfer (sublimation) printing record, a ribbon feed amount detection device is required. Become. An example of a ribbon feed amount detection device will be described with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 14A and 14B are front views showing the basic operation concept of a conventional ribbon feed amount detection device. In the figure, in the state shown in FIG. 14A, the ribbon 50 is near the used state on the supply reel 149 side, and almost no ribbon remains on the outer periphery of the supply reel 148. Further, in the state shown in FIG. 14B, the ribbon 50 is provided on the supply reel 149 side.
Is almost unused, and many ribbons 50 are wound around the outer circumference of the supply reel 148.

In the state described above, the supply reel 14
When the continuous strip ribbon 50 wound around 8 is wound by the take-up reel 149, the feeding amount of the ribbon is as much as that on the ribbon 50 wound on the outermost outer peripheral surface of the supply reel 148. The rotating body 102 that directly abuts
For example, by fixing the input shaft on the rotary encoder side, it is possible to configure a ribbon feed amount detection mechanism which is converted into a rotation amount and detected. Therefore, the rotating body 102 is rotatably supported at one end of the lever body 101, and has a biasing spring 104 against the contact force at the other end of the lever body 101. Part 1
A solenoid 131 is swingably supported by 03 and swingably drives the lever body 101 so as to generate an abutting force at the other end. With the above-described configuration, when the solenoid 131 is attracted as shown in (a) and (b), the rotating body 101 directly comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the ribbon.
In the case where 49 is driven for winding, the ribbon feeding amount can be accurately detected even if the winding diameter gradually increases.

[0004]

However, according to the above-mentioned proposed ribbon feed amount detecting device, the ribbon winding is started from the state shown in FIG. 14 (b) in which the maximum winding diameter is the maximum before the ribbon is supplied. The picking operation gradually progresses, and as shown in FIG.
When the winding diameter in the state of being wound around the supply reel 148 is close to the minimum diameter as shown in (b), the contact force F1 of the rotating body 101 against the ribbon outer peripheral surface becomes smaller than F2. In other words, a difference in the pulling force due to the difference in the pulling stroke L of the pulling spring 104.

As a result, when the ribbon is wound by the driving operation of the take-up reel 149, a large difference occurs in the required back tensions M1 and M2, so that the ribbon can be wound in a constant state. Disappear. If the ribbon winding operation cannot be performed in this way,
For example, it has been pointed out that, in color printing that requires delicate color expression, a shade of color or the like occurs, which adversely affects the color printing. Therefore, the ribbon feed amount detection device of the present invention is made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the purpose thereof is to make it possible to realize the ribbon winding operation in a constant state and to perform various thermal transfer operations. (Sublimation) There is no adverse effect on printing.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] and

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, the ribbon feed amount detecting device of the present invention is a ribbon for winding a continuous strip-shaped ribbon wound on the supply reel side by a winding reel. The feed amount of the rotary body is detected by converting it into the rotation amount of the rotating body that obtains the turning force by directly obtaining the contact force of directly contacting the ribbon wound on the outermost peripheral surface of the supply reel. A ribbon feed amount detection device, comprising a rotating member pivotally supported at one end and a biasing member resisting the contact force at the other end, and is swingably supported by a fulcrum portion on the main body side. A lever member and an actuator means for swinging and driving the lever member so as to generate the contact force at the other end, and the actuator means and the lever member are connected via a compression spring. It is composed of Even if the winding diameter in the state of being wound on the ribbon is close to the minimum, by generating a back tension in the ribbon that is almost the same as that at the maximum winding diameter, it is possible to wind the ribbon in a constant state. work.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the internal structure of a color recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen from the figure, a sheet cassette 5 containing recording sheets, a discharge tray 6, and a ribbon cassette 4 containing Y (yellow), M (magenta), and C (cyan) primary color ink ribbons.
The greatest feature of this embodiment is that all the parts of the operation panel 1P that are frequently accessed by the operator can be accessed from the front of the device.

Hereinafter, the respective structures will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, in FIG. 1, the present apparatus fixes a rectangular main body cover 1 indicated by a chain double-dashed line on a base 2. The basic structure is to cover all the built-in mechanisms, and openings (not shown) are provided in front of the main body cover 1, respectively, and a sheet cassette 5, a discharge tray 6, and a ribbon containing three primary color ink ribbons. The cassette 4 is manually moved in the directions of arrows A1 and A2 in the drawing so that the cassette and the like can be easily attached, replaced, and the sheet after recording can be easily taken out. Further, since the operation panel 1P is disposed below the front surface of the main body cover 1, it is possible to perform all the predetermined operations required for normal operation from the front surface of the main body cover 1, and also in terms of design. It enables excellent cohesion.

By arranging all of them from the front surface of the main body cover 1 in this manner, for example, they can be provided on both sides of the device or in the vertical direction so that other devices can be connected and provided substantially adjacent to each other. There is also an effect that the space can be minimized. Now, in FIG. 1, the sheet cassette 5 is detachably provided on the left half portion of the base 2 as described above, and the discharge tray 6 is disposed immediately above the sheet cassette 5. The basic structure is such that each sheet 60 supplied from the sheet cassette 5 is conveyed downstream through the sheet assembly 9 shown by the broken line, and the sheet after the recording operation can be discharged into the discharge tray 6. It has a layout. Also, a ribbon cassette 4 containing a multicolor ribbon
Is arranged so as to be along the upper half of the seat assembly 9, and is attachable and detachable in a slightly inclined state as shown in the drawing. Further, the ribbon cassette 4 is configured to be housed in a space portion sandwiched by both side plates 3 each having an opening 3a that substantially follows the outer shape thereof and to perform a ribbon feeding operation described later.

A thermal head assembly 8 is rotatably provided between the side plates 3 as will be described later, and a cooling fan 11 is provided in the vicinity of the thermal head assembly 8 so as to be integrated with the thermal head assembly 8. The thermal line head, which is fixed in place, can be cooled. On the other hand, in the carriage assembly 7, the front end portion of the sheet 60 conveyed in the direction of the arrow B1 in the drawing is sandwiched by a pair of upper and lower press rollers 81 and 82 which can be driven on the carriage assembly 7, The recording medium is recorded on the sheet 60 by performing a predetermined energization to the thermal head while reciprocating in the directions of the arrows B2 and B3, which is an original idea of the applicant of the present application. For this reason, the carriage assembly 7 is configured to be reciprocally driven on the base 2 in the directions of arrows D1 and D2 in the drawing as will be described later, and in the directions of arrows D1 and D2 while maintaining the above-described sheet holding state. The recording sheet 60 can be discharged to the discharge tray 6 by the reverse rotation operation of the upper and lower press rollers, while being moved to a predetermined recording operation described later.

The sheet drooping prevention assembly 10 rotated from the position shown by the broken line to the position shown by the solid line is provided with a biasing spring (not shown), and the carriage assembly 7 is provided.
With the leading end portion in contact with the sheet, the carriage assembly 7 is rotated in the direction of the arrow C1 in FIG. The sheet can be reliably moved in the sheet guide plate 4 when the carriage assembly 7 reciprocates.

Next, FIG. 2 is a front view of the color recording apparatus of FIG. 1 and shows the main part of each component.
Describing sequentially along the conveyance path of the sheet 60, the sheet cassette 5 is detachable from the front side of the apparatus as described above, and is a so-called exchangeable type in which it is made immovable by the pressing action of the stopper 5c at the mounting position shown in the drawing. It is a cassette. A plurality of pieces of high-quality paper or film-like sheets 60 are accommodated in the sheet cassette 5, and in the mounted state shown in the figure, the main body side is rotatably supported by the rotary shaft body 17a and is biased by the urging spring 17b. Thus, the press lever 17 having the urging force to rotate downward is always urged on the sheet 60 placed on the uppermost position.

A first hole 5a is formed on the bottom surface of the sheet cassette 5 at a position corresponding to the lower side of the press lever 17.
Is formed, and a part of the lower paper feed roller 33 enters into the first hole portion 5a so that the sheet placed at the lowermost position is discharged to the outside.
Next, the paper feed roller 33 is rotatably supported by the above-mentioned both side plates 3 (represented by diagonal lines in the drawing),
The belt 38 transmits rotational force in a fixed direction only in the sheet discharging direction. On the other hand, the sheet 60 discharged from the exit 5e formed in the lower right side surface of the sheet cassette 5.
Only one sheet passes between the slit plate 35 and the lower slit plate 34, and goes to the portion sandwiched between the downstream feed roller 36 and the press roller 37. This feed roller 36
A belt 38, which shares a drive source with the above-described paper feed roller 33, is hung on the paper feed roller, and can be driven only in the feeding direction.

As described above, the first motor 12 serving as a common drive source uses, for example, a step motor, and is driven in the clockwise direction and the counterclockwise direction to enable the drive state described later. On the other hand, the press roller 37 is rotatably supported at one end of a lever 42 which is rotated about a fulcrum, and the first solenoid 30 and the return spring 46 connected at the other end of the lever 42. By the action of the above, the press roller 36 can be moved between the pressed state and the illustrated separated state.

The sheet guide plate 40 provided with the rollers described above at its lower end is curved in a semi-circular shape as shown in order to change the direction of the sheet conveyed downstream. And guides the sheet 60 to the platen roller 41 disposed near the upper exit,
It has the function of guiding upstream during printing. The ribbon cassette 4 is located above the sheet guide plate 40 in a state of descending to the right as shown in the drawing, and the built-in broken-line ribbon 50 shown in FIG. . The ribbon 50 has an intermediate portion guided by a guide rod body 56 fixedly supported by the both side plates 3, and the used portion is wound on the supply reel 48. While being wound by the take-up reel 49, the ribbon 50 has a predetermined color. It is a thermal transfer of sublimation. For this reason, the take-up reel 49 obtains a predetermined driving force from the third motor 14 such as a step motor.

Next, above the ribbon cassette 4, the thermal head assembly 8 is rotated about a rotation fulcrum 32, and the DC motor 16 is used as a drive source for the return spring 46 to stand by as shown in the figure. In this state, the strong pressure contact spring 66 stretched between the thermal plate arm 59 and the action plate 67 sharing the rotation fulcrum 32 makes it possible to move to a pressure contact state described later.

The supply reel 4 of the ribbon cassette 4
The detection roller 52, which is brought into contact with 8 and detects the supply amount of the ribbon 50, is rotatably supported at one end of the lever 53, and the rotation can be transmitted to the encoder disk 51 via the belt 38. There is. A pulley 51a, which shares a rotation fulcrum of the lever 53 and its rotation center, is integrally fixed to the encoder disk 51. The encoder sensor 21 is fixed at a position for counting a plurality of holes formed at equal intervals in the encoder disk 51, and can detect the feed amount of the ribbon 50. At the other end of the lever, a return spring 46, a second solenoid 31, a compression spring 54, etc. are connected as will be described later, and the second solenoid 31 is energized and de-energized to come into contact with the illustrated standby position. The detection roller 52 is movable to the position.

Next, the carriage assembly 7 is moved (in the directions of the arrows D1 and D2) to the positions indicated by the two-dot chain line and the solid line in the figure by using the second motor 13 such as a step motor as its drive source. A base 80 is used as a base, and a fourth motor 15 such as a step motor is mounted on the base 80. On the moving base 80, the platen roller 4 described above is
The lower press roller 82 is provided at a portion corresponding to a portion close to 1.
The upper press roller 81 and the upper press roller 81 are kept in contact with each other by an urging mechanism shown in the figure and are rotatably provided. Of these, the upper press roller 81 is the rotation fulcrum 8 on the moving base 80.
The lever 79 is rotatably supported by 3 and is rotatably supported at the tip of a lever 79 whose other end is stretched and held by a return spring 46. Further, the lower press roller 82 can transmit the driving force of the fourth motor 15 via the belt 38. These upper and lower press rollers 8
2, 81 holds the leading edge of the sheet conveyed from the exit of the sheet guide plate 40 to enable a recording operation described later.

Finally, the discharge tray 6 is the sheet cassette 5
Is positioned immediately above and is moved in the opposite direction after the moving base 80 is moved to the position shown by the solid line after the color recording on the sheet held by the upper and lower press rollers 82 and 81 is completed. Then, the recorded sheet can be placed on the discharge tray 6. Each main constituent element described above is controlled by a main controller equipped with a microprocessor, a driver and the like. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a state in which the wiring is connected to the main controller, and the wiring state is omitted.

Referring to FIG. 3, in the order of feeding the sheet 60, a trailing edge sensor 22 for detecting the trailing edge of the sheet is provided near the exit of the sheet cassette 5, and the presence or absence of the sheet is provided near the exit of the sheet guide plate 40. The presence / absence sensor 24 for detecting is provided and connected to the main control device 100 incorporated in the device. In addition, the ribbon 50 in the ribbon cassette 4
Is to form Y, M, C, and B (black may be further provided) continuously on the film base so as to form a so-called "dundler" continuously over substantially the sheet length, and is detected, for example, at the start end of yellow. The markings are pre-printed to enable detection of the print start position of the color material. Therefore, the ribbon sensor 24 that detects this detection mark is provided near the left of the above-mentioned guide rod 56, and is connected to the main controller 100.

Next, the thermal head assembly 8 is provided with a head up / down sensor 20, which enables detection of the vertical drive position of the thermal head assembly 8, while main control is performed in the same manner as the encoder sensor 21 described above. It is connected to the device 100. On the other hand, in order to detect the movement state of the carriage assembly 7, the actuator 9 is attached to the bottom of the movement base 80.
6 is fixed, and the actuator 96 passes through the carriage end sensor 26 and the carriage home sensor 27 fixed on the base 2 to enable the position detection of the moving base 80 (carriage assembly). . Further, the sheet cassette 5 is provided with a second hole 5b, and the presence / absence of the sheet 60 can be detected by the sheet presence / absence sensor 25 located below through the second hole 5b. The motors 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and the solenoids 30, 31 are all similarly connected to the main controller 100.

Next, the characteristic points of each component shown in FIG. 2 will be individually described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 4 is a front view of a main part of the sheet conveying system, showing a state in which the sheet 60 discharged from the sheet cassette 5 is held between the upper and lower press rollers 81 and 82 of the carriage assembly 7. A one-way clutch 43 that transmits a rotational force only in the direction of arrow E2 in the drawing is built in the rotating portion of the paper feed roller 33. Similarly, the one-way clutch 44 that transmits the rotational force only in the direction of the broken line arrow F2 in the drawing is also incorporated in the rotating portion of the feed roller 36. Further, as shown in the figure, one of the belts 38 wound between the pulley of the first motor 12 and the pulleys of the driven rollers is one from the front side of the first motor 12, and the other of the belt 38 is from the back side of the feed roller. Three
It is hung on 6. On the other hand, the sheet guide plate 40 includes a lower sheet guide plate 40b and an upper sheet guide plate 4 as shown.
A sheet guiding space portion is formed between 0a.

With the above construction, when the first motor 12 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow E1 in the figure, the rotational force in the direction of arrow E2 is transmitted to the paper feed roller 33 to eject the sheet and the feed roller. The rotational force is not transmitted to 36. Further, when the first motor 12 is rotationally driven in the arrow F1 direction in the drawing, the rotational force in the arrow F2 direction is transmitted to the feed roller 36 via the one-way clutch 44. Therefore, the first solenoid 30 is driven to move the lever to the position shown by the broken line to cause the press roller 37 to follow the feed roller 36 and generate a conveying force for feeding the sheet. Further, the rotational force is not transmitted to the paper feed roller 33. With the above configuration, different rollers can be driven separately by using one motor that can rotate in the forward and reverse directions.

Next, FIGS. 5A and 5B are operation explanatory views of the detection roller 52 provided for detecting the ribbon feed amount of the ribbon cassette, and the above-mentioned second solenoid 31.
It is shown that the detection roller 52 is brought into contact with the ribbon 50 wound around the supply reel 48 by energizing the supply reel 48. Further, FIG. 5A shows a state in which the consumption of the ribbon 50 wound around the supply reel 48 progresses and the remaining amount is reduced, and FIG. 5B shows the ribbon 50 before the consumption in a substantially maximum outer diameter state. Shows the state of being wound around the supply reel 48.

In the figure, the components already described are given the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. To describe the additional components, the suction plunger 3 of the second solenoid 31 will be described.
1a has a shaft body 31f integrally fixed thereto, and a hole portion 53 of a lever 53 which is rotatably supported around a rotation fulcrum 51c.
After inserting the shaft body 31f into b, the compression spring 54 is inserted, and the E ring 31e is fixed to prevent the compression spring 54 from coming off. The rotational force in the direction of the arrow G1 acts on the lever 53 via the compressive force.

With the above construction, the lever 5 is used when the ribbon consumption is high and the ribbon consumption is low as shown in FIG.
3 makes a large rotation, and the compression stroke L of the compression spring 54
1 is slightly smaller than the natural state at the time of non-energization.
On the other hand, as shown in (b), when the ribbon consumption amount is small and the remaining amount is large, the lever 53 cannot rotate much,
The compression stroke L2 of the compression spring 54 becomes considerably larger than the natural state when no current is applied. As a result, the contact force of the detection roller 52 that directly contacts the ribbon 50 is
Since the compression stroke can be gradually increased in inverse proportion to the compression stroke L of the compression spring 54, the optimum pressing state by the detection roller 52 can be achieved according to the change in the winding diameter of the ribbon 50. That is, by using the above simple mechanism, a large pressing force can be applied when the ribbon winding diameter is large, and a small pressing force can be automatically applied when the ribbon ribbon winding diameter is small. The ribbon pulling force required when winding the ribbon can be made constant.

6 (a) and 6 (b) are explanatory views of the operation of the thermal head assembly 8, showing how a strong pressing force acts on the platen roller 41 by the strong pressure contact spring 66. It is a thing. The same reference numerals are given to the already-described components, and the description will be omitted to describe the further components. For example, the thermal head 58 has eight /
This is a so-called thermal line head capable of independently energizing a heating element for 1024 dots with a millimeter resolution, and in a state where a heat radiation plate is provided by adjusting parallelization with a thermal head arm 59 as described later. Installed and fixed. Further, an action plate 67 is rotatably supported on the rotation fulcrum 32 that supports the thermal head arm 59.

The action plate 67 is integrally constructed by providing a pair of right and left rollers between which the roller shaft 65 and the like are provided, and an arc hole 67d is formed in the central portion.
A rotating rod 63 is rotatably supported by the side plates 3 as shown in the drawing. The stud 61 fixed to the upper end portion of the working plate 67 and the working end 59 of the thermal head arm 59 shown by the broken line in the figure.
Between the studs 61 in the vicinity of a, a strong pressure contact spring 6 is designed to generate a strong tension spring force by extending only the stroke H in FIG. 6 (b).
One set of 6 is stretched on both sides, as shown in FIG.
In the illustrated state, the working end 67a of the working plate 67 and the working end 59a of the thermal head arm 59 are always in contact with each other.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned roller shaft 6 is attached to the rotary rod 63 which is rotatably supported in a state of being inserted through the arcuate hole portion 67d of the action plate 67.
5, a Delrin roller 6 made of hard resin is provided at a position on the axis corresponding to the roller 65a rotatably supported.
4 is fixed using a press-fitting pin or the like. The Delrin roller 64 is formed in an arc shape as shown in the drawing, but the fixing hole is formed at an eccentric position to form an eccentric cam. The above-mentioned Delrin roller 64 is fixed, and the rotation rod 6 is pivotally supported by both side plates 3.
3 is driven by the DC motor 16 described above,
This driving force is transmitted through a gear 62, which is shown by a broken line, and is fixed to one end of the rotary rod 63, and a motor gear 16a which meshes with the gear 62. Further, an opening 4e into which the thermal head 58 penetrates is formed in the ribbon cassette 4 shown by the two-dot chain line, and the thermal head assembly 8 is rotated in the direction of arrow J1 in the figure so that the thermal head assembly 8 can penetrate. The head 58 is in a state of being able to contact the platen roller 41 described above.

In the configuration described above, the vertical sensor 20 is in the ON state in the state shown in FIG. 6 (a),
The drive of the DC motor 16 is stopped and the working plate 6
The outer peripheral surface of the Delrin roller 64 is closest to the No. 7 roller shaft 65. As a result, the thermal head assembly 8 is held in a state in which the working end 67a of the working plate 67 and the working end 59a of the thermal head arm 59 are brought into contact with each other by the tension spring force of the natural length of the strong pressure contact spring 66. Up to the standby position shown in the figure by the action of the return spring 46. In this standby position, the space between the thermal head 58 and the sheet guide plate 40 can maintain a sufficient distance for replacing the ribbon cassette 4 from the front side of the apparatus.

Next, when the DC motor 16 is driven, the thermal head arm 59 of the thermal head assembly 8 is moved to move the thermal head 5 as shown in FIG. 6B.
8 moves the ribbon 50 onto the sheet 60 and then presses it against the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 41. This pressing force is generated as a result of the strong pressing spring 66 stretching the action plate 67 between the thermal head arms 59 extended by the distance H in the figure by driving the Delrin roller 64.

That is, when the rotation of the DC motor 16 in the direction of arrow J3 is started from the state of FIG. 6A, the outer peripheral surface of the Delrin roller 64 slides in the state of gradually pressing the roller 65 in the direction of arrow J1. While moving, the working plate 67
Is rotated together with the thermal head arm 59 (while maintaining the contact state between the working ends 67a and 59a). When this rotation is further continued, the outer peripheral surface of the highest portion of the Delrin roller 64 further presses the roller 65a.
After the contact state of a and 59a gradually separates against the return spring 46, the strong pressure contact spring 66 is separated by the above distance H, and the vertical sensor 20 is turned off.
This state is maintained.

As a result, the tension spring force J2 due to the extension amount of the distance H acts on the thermal head 58, and FIG.
As shown in (b), the thermal head assembly 8 is pressed. After that, the DC motor 16 is repeatedly driven based on the detection of the up / down sensor 20 so that the state of FIG. In this way, the strong pressure contact spring 66 can generate a necessary pressure contact force only by extending the extremely short distance H, so that there is no settling.

Therefore, according to the above-described thermal head assembly, the number of constituent parts can be minimized, and the natural length of the strong pressure contact spring 66 is set to be short in order to accommodate it in a limited space. Even in this case, the rotation stroke of the thermal head assembly can be set large. The urging / rotating mechanism of the thermal head assembly having the above-mentioned configuration is not limited to driving the thermal head, but is incorporated in a limited space and has a large turning stroke. It is needless to say that the invention can be appropriately applied to various office equipment having an urging rotation mechanism that generates a relatively large urging force. The method of attaching the thermal head to the thermal head assembly 8 described above is capable of adjusting the parallelism in a limited space so that the heat radiating plate is always in contact with the thermal head, and the thermal head is rotatable. Consideration is given so that it can come into contact with a certain position on the sheet 60 on the platen roller 41.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG. 6, in which the thermal head assembly 8 is moved to the standby position (shown by a chain double-dashed line) and the contact position (shown by a solid line). Along with that, it is a diagram showing a part of the view. In this figure, the thermal head arm 59 is manufactured by, for example, sheet metal bending, and forms a standing bent portion 59c on both sides as shown in the figure, while an opening for allowing a part of the heat dissipation plate 69 to penetrate. The portion 59a, at least four screw hole portions 59e, and the through hole portion 59f are integrally formed. In addition, the opening 59 of the thermal head arm 59
Four studs 75 for fixing the heat dissipation plate 69 to the thermal head 58 in a pressed state are fixed in the vicinity of a as shown in the drawing, and each hole 69a of the heat dissipation plate 69 is fixed.
After inserting the stud 75, the compression spring 73 is compressed and the E ring 75 is set in the groove formed in the stud 75 so that the heat dissipation plate 69 is attached to the thermal head 58 side in the figure. I am trying to move.

Next, the thermal head 58 has four screw holes 5 at positions corresponding to the through holes 59f.
8t is processed and formed, and a pulling screw 76 is screwed into the screw hole 58t through the through hole 59f, and the thermal head 58 is pulled toward the thermal head arm 59 side by adjusting the screw. Also, the screw hole 5
Pushing screws 77 are respectively screwed into the 9e, so that the mounting surface 58 of the thermal head 58 is pressed to be separated from the thermal head arm 59. That is, by adjusting each of the above screws, the thermal head 5
The heat generating portion 8 can be finely adjusted so as to be parallel to the axial direction of the platen roller 41 to obtain a uniform printing (recording) pressure.

Next, the fixed roller 7 is attached to one of the both side plates 3.
2 is rotatably supported, and when the thermal head assembly 8 is rotated in the direction of arrow J1 as described above, it is brought into contact with one of the bent portions 59c of the thermal head arm 59. A pressing roller 71 is rotatably supported on the other side plate 3 and is urged and moved by a lever 71a in the direction of arrow K1 in the figure. The thermal head assembly 8 is described above. When the thermal head arm 59 is rotated in the direction of the arrow J1 as described above, the thermal head arm 59 is brought into contact with the other of the bent portions 59c of the thermal head arm 59, and as a result, the thermal head arm 59 is moved to a fixed position pressed toward the fixed roller 72. It As a result of configuring as described above,
Since the arm 59 is always stopped at a fixed position when the arm 59 is rotated, color misregistration can be prevented. After the movement, the pressing roller 71 is returned to the position shown by the broken line by the elastic action of the lever 71a when moved again in the direction of the arrow J4 so as to be separated from the platen roller 41.

Next, FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of the carriage assembly 7 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as seen from the upper side of the back surface, and the characteristic points thereof are well shown. That is, in this figure, the carriage assembly 7 is configured to be supported and driven on the above-mentioned discharge tray 6 and sheet cassette 5 in a one-sided supported state. For this reason, the movable base 80 is provided with two guide rods 84 that are installed between a pair of sub-bases 86 (only one of which is shown) fixed on the base 2 at a predetermined distance as shown in the figure. Bushing 8 shown by broken line that is slidably guided by
The block 87 in which 8 is fixed is fixed. on the other hand,
The second motor 13 is fixed to the opposite side of one side of the sub base 86, and the power is transmitted to the pulley 85 via the belt 38. A belt 89 is adjusted between the pulley 85 and an idler pulley (not shown) between the sub bases 86, and an intermediate portion of the belt 89 is fixed to the block 87. 80 for D above
It is configured to be driven in the 1st and D2 directions.

Further, an actuator 96 is fixed to the lower block 87, and the detecting portions of the home sensor 27 and the end sensor 26 fixed on the base 2 are made to act on the movable base 80, that is, the carriage assembly. The position of the solid 7 can be detected. Furthermore, the moving base 80 is provided with the above-mentioned fourth motor 15 and the upper and lower prill rollers 81 and 82.

Finally, the structure of the discharge tray 6 will be described with reference to FIG. 9. FIG.
It is a Y arrow line view, and shows the top view. In this figure, a part of the handle 94 is projected from the front surface of the main body cover 1, and the handle is operated from the outside to take out the printed sheet to the outside. 9B is a side view of FIG. 9A. In both figures, the above-mentioned base 2
A tray 90 is fixed on the upper side of the tray through a bracket (not shown), and the printed sheet is discharged and placed on the tray 90. This tray 90 has an inclined surface 90
A is processed and formed, and the discharged sheet end is dropped along the inclined surface 90a and placed at a predetermined fixed position.

Further, long groove portions 90d are bored on both sides so as to be substantially orthogonal to the inclined surface 90a, and a claw portion 92 integrally formed on the moving plate 91 to which the above-mentioned handle 94 is fixed is shown. It is designed to infiltrate into the long groove portion 90d as described above. This moving plate 91 is movable in parallel in the directions of the arrows A1 and A2 on the back surface of the tray 90, and
It is configured to return to the position shown in FIG. For this reason, a pair of bushes 93 are fixed to the back surface of the tray 90 to guide the guide grooves 91h of the moving plate 91 respectively, while the projections 91a of the moving plate 91 and the projections 9 of the tray 90 are provided.
A return spring 95 is stretched between 0e.

In the above structure, the sheet 60 is placed on the tray 90 from the state of the broken line as shown in the operation diagram of FIG. 10 (a). Thereafter, as shown in (b), the handle 94 is grasped and pulled out in the arrow A2 direction, and then the sheet 60 is taken out. After that, handle 9
The gripped state of No. 4 is released to return to the original state. An operation example of the entire apparatus described above will be described based on the operation flow charts of FIGS.

First, when the control device 100 receives a print start command from a control device (not shown), in step S1,
The third motor 14 is driven in the counterclockwise direction to drive the take-up reel 49 of the ribbon cassette 4 in the clockwise direction, and the process proceeds to step S2, in which the ribbon sensor 24 prints and records in advance the yellow tip portion on the ribbon 50. Marking is detected and stopped, but this operation causes the ribbon to be stretched between the reels.

After this, the process proceeds to step S2, the second motor 13 is driven to drive the carriage assembly 7 in the direction of arrow D2, and the home sensor 27 is stopped at step S4 when it is turned on. After stopping the second motor 13,
Proceeding to step S5, the second motor is additionally driven by a prescribed number of pulses to absorb the detection error, and then the carriage assembly 7 is accurately set at the initial printing position.

After that, if the presence or absence of the sheet is detected in step S6 and the absence of the sheet is detected, a warning or the like is generated and the process returns in step S7 to notify that the printing is impossible. On the other hand, when the presence of a sheet is detected in step S6, the first motor 12 is driven in the clockwise direction in step S8, and one sheet 60 placed at the lowest position is slit 35.
After passing through the space, it is conveyed between the feed roller 36 and the press roller 37.

In the next step S9, the first solenoid 3
0 is turned on to hold the sheet between the rollers. After this, the process proceeds to step S10 and the first motor 12
However, this time it is driven counterclockwise. As a result, as described above (described with reference to FIG. 4), only the feed roller 36 is driven via the one-way clutch to convey the sheet to the platen roller 41 side in the sheet guide plate 40,
In step S11, the sheet sensor 23 is driven until it is turned on. In the next step S12, the first motor 12 is additionally driven in the counterclockwise direction by a predetermined number of steps, so that the leading edge of the sheet is abutted while being pinched by the upper and lower rollers 81 and 82 of the carriage assembly 7. Skew at the time of conveyance is removed, and sheets are aligned in parallel. Then, in step S13, the ON state of the first solenoid 30 is released.

After the above operation, the process proceeds to step S14, in which the fourth motor 15 mounted on the carriage assembly 7 is driven in the clockwise direction and is conveyed downstream so that the leading edge of the sheet is sandwiched between the upper and lower rollers. The sheet is continuously driven by the trailing edge sensor 22 provided between the feed roller 36 and the slit 35 until the trailing edge of the sheet is detected in step S15. When the trailing edge of this sheet is detected, the process proceeds to step S16, the fourth motor 15 is further driven by a predetermined number of steps, and then stopped, so that the detection error by the trailing edge sensor 22 as in the home sensor 27 is eliminated. Absorbs and holds the sheet tip with the upper and lower rollers.

Next, referring to the flow chart of FIG. 12, in order to rotate the thermal head assembly 8 rotated to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 to the position shown by the broken line,
In step S17, the driving of the DC motor 16 is started, and in step S18, the head up / down sensor 20
Is turned off, and the driving is stopped in a state where the thermal head is pressed against the platen roller 41. After that, the process proceeds to step S19, the second solenoid 31 is turned on, and the detection roller 52 for detecting the feeding amount of the ribbon is brought into contact with the ribbon wound around the supply reel 48.

Now that the preparation for thermal transfer sublimation printing on the sheet is complete, the second motor 1 is driven in step S20 to drive the carriage assembly 7 in the direction of arrow D1.
3 is started, and when the above-mentioned actuator 96 fixed to the movable base 80 has passed the home sensor 27 (step S21), the printing start state is set. After this, subsequently, steps S22 to S24 are simultaneously advanced to print one ribbon color.

That is, in step S22, the thermal head 58 is energized based on the color information separated into YMC, and in step S23, the ribbon feed amount is detected by the contact state of the detection roller 52. 3 The motor 14 is driven to wind the ribbon around the take-up reel 48, and the second motor 13 is driven to move the carriage assembly 7 in the D1 direction in step S24. When the above-described steps S22 to S24 complete the predetermined energization and feed drive (steps S25 to 27), printing for one color is completed.

Subsequently, in order to prepare for printing the next color, the process proceeds to step S28, in which the second motor 13 is driven in the direction D2 to turn on the home sensor 27, and then additional driving is performed to detect an error by the sensor 27. The amount is absorbed and the movement of the carriage assembly 7 is stopped. Following this, step S29
Then, the second solenoid 31 is turned off to release the contact state of the detection roller, and then the process proceeds to steps S30 and S31 to release the state where the thermal head assembly 8 is in contact with the platen roller, Prepare to print the next color.

In step S32, the above-mentioned step S1 is performed.
By repeating steps 7 to 31, printing of M colors is completed. After this, the process proceeds to step S33, and the above step S33 is similarly performed.
By repeating 17 to 31, the printing of C color is completed. Since the color printing is completed as described above, the third motor 14 is driven in step S34, and the Y color of the leading color of the second printing ribbon is cued by the ribbon sensor 24 in step S35, and then the third motor is used. The driving of 14 is stopped.

Next, in order to discharge the printed sheet into the discharge tray 6, the carriage assembly 7 is moved to the position detected by the end sensor 26, and in step S36, the up-and-down press holding the sheet end is held. The rollers 81 and 82 rotate the fourth motor 15 counterclockwise. The printed sheet is discharged as described above (step S37), and is taken out of the apparatus. According to the embodiment described above, high quality color printing which is unique to the applicant of the present application is possible, and ribbon feeding can be always achieved in a constant state. Here, the above-described ribbon feed amount detection mechanism is not limited to a color printing apparatus using a thermal transfer ribbon, and can be naturally applied to various printing apparatuses.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a ribbon winding operation in a constant and stable state, and to prevent various thermal transfer (sublimation) printing from being adversely affected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of FIG. 1, showing an arrangement state of respective motors and sensors.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a main part of a sheet feeding assembly (sheet conveying means).

5A and 5B are enlarged front views of a main part of a ribbon feed amount detection mechanism.

FIG. 6A

FIG. 6B is an enlarged front view of a main part of the thermal head assembly (recording unit).

FIG. 7 is an XX arrow view of FIG. 6B, which is an enlarged side view of a main part of the thermal head assembly (recording unit).

FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of a carriage assembly 7 (reciprocating means).

9A and 9B are a plan view and a side view of a discharge tray 6 (discharge portion).

10A and 10B are side views for explaining the operation of the discharge tray 6 (discharge unit).

FIG. 11:

FIG. 12

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the operation.

14A and 14B are schematic configuration diagrams of a conventional ribbon feeding detection mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 main body cover, 2 base, 3 both side plates, 4 ribbon cassette, 5 sheet cassette, 6 discharge tray 7 carriage assembly (reciprocating movement means), 8 thermal head assembly (recording means), 9 sheet feeding assembly (sheets) Transport means), 21 encoder sensor, 31 second solenoid, 48 supply reel, 49 take-up reel, 50 ribbon, 51 encoder disk, 51c rotation fulcrum, 52 detection roller, 53 lever, 54 compression spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A ribbon in a state in which a continuous belt-shaped ribbon wound on the supply reel side is wound on a winding reel by a winding amount on the outermost outer peripheral surface of the supply reel. A ribbon feed amount detection device for detecting by converting to a rotation amount of a rotating body that obtains a turning force by directly obtaining an abutting force that directly abuts on the rotating body, wherein the rotating body is rotatably supported at one end, A lever member that has an urging member that resists the contact force at the other end, and is swingably supported by a fulcrum portion on the main body side, and the lever member that swings so as to generate the contact force at the other end. A ribbon feed amount detection device comprising: an actuator means that is dynamically driven; and a compression spring that connects the actuator means and the lever member.