JPH0732077Y2 - Cleanable transfer type printing device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transferable printing apparatus which can be used for cleaning a thermal head and a platen of a thermal transfer printing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art At present, the widespread use of personal computers and word processors is remarkable. A printer is often attached to these devices. Although there are various types of printers, a thermal transfer printer is often attached to a personal word processor or the like. Also, as a video printer that prints video signals on photographic paper,
A thermal transfer printing apparatus is used.

The thermal transfer printing device has a relatively simple structure, can supply the device at low cost, has a low noise during operation, and has a relatively good printing quality. Suitable for

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the thermal transfer type printing apparatus as described above, dust or dirt adheres to the thermal head due to static electricity generated by friction between the ink film and the thermal head, or due to friction between the recording paper and the platen. Dust or dust may attach to the platen due to static electricity generated,
This causes a problem that the printing quality of the printing apparatus is deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a transfer type printing apparatus which can easily clean the printing head and the platen.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides (a) a printing apparatus main body 50, including (a1) a platen 4 and (a2) a motor for rotating the platen 4 around its axis.
26, and (a3) a print portion 1a facing the platen 4, and the print portion 1a
The printing head 1 is provided with a plurality of printing elements in parallel with the axis of the platen 4, and (a4) the printing head 1 is attached to the front end, and the base end rotates parallel to the axis of the platen 4. It is angularly displaceable around the shaft 3, and the printing position where the printing part 1a is pressed against the platen 4 in the printing mode and the printing part 1a in the cleaning mode
A lever 2 for displacing the lever 2 to a standby position away from the platen 4, and (a5) a print head moving means 24 for displacing the lever 2 to the print position in the print mode and displacing the lever 2 to the standby position in the cleaning mode a6) Key input section for setting the print mode and cleaning mode
23, and (a7) in response to the output of the key input unit 23, in the printing mode, the lever 2 is displaced to the printing position by the printing head moving means 24, the platen 4 is rotated by the motor 26, and the printing head 1 prints. Information is printed, and in the cleaning mode, the printing head moving means 24 displaces the lever 2 to the standby position and the motor 26
The printing apparatus main body 50 having the control section 21 for rotating the platen 4 and keeping the printing head 1 in the deenergized state, (b) the cartridge 6, (b1) the sheet-like ink film 5, (b2) ) Cartridge body 36, which is a supply unit that stores and supplies the ink film 5 in a roll shape
37 and a collecting section for collecting the printed ink film 5 in a roll shape
38, and a support section 40 having a first window 39 for stretching the ink film 5 between the recording section 7 on the platen 4 and the print head 1 between the supply section 37 and the collection section 38. And the supply unit 37 and the recovery unit 38 are connected to the platen 4 with respect to the support unit 40.
(B3) The cartridge main body 36 is formed to bulge to the side, and (b3) moves in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the platen 4 and is attached to the printing apparatus main body 50, and moves in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47. The cartridge 6 that can be detached from the cartridge 6, and (c) the cleaning tool 8, and (c1) a first bulge portion 41 corresponding to the supply portion 37, the collection portion 38, and the support portion 40 of the cartridge body 36, respectively. Second bulge 42
And the connecting portion 43 are formed in the same shape as the cartridge body 36, and the connecting portion 43 has the first window of the cartridge body 36.
Cleaning tool main body 8a in which a second window 44 corresponding to 39 is formed, and (c2) the surface of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool main body 8a on the side of the print head 1 at the end of the second window 42 in the ink film moving direction 45. To 46,
A brush plate 9 that is a leaf spring having a base end portion 9a fixed to the downstream side in the insertion direction 47 and protruding to the second window 47, and (c3) the other end portion 9b of the brush plate 9 has an axis line of the platen 4. The brush 10 slidably contacts the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1 in the standby position, which is fixed in the direction of extension, and (c4) the platen 4 side of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a. On the end 48 of the second window 44 in the ink film moving direction 45,
The plate 11 which is a plate spring having the base end portion 11a fixed and extending over the entire width direction of the platen 4 and protruding to the second window 44
And (c5) a cleaning member (12) fixed to the other end portion (11b) of the plate (11) so as to extend over the entire length in the axial direction of the platen (4) and slidably contact the platen (4) by the elastic force of the plate (11). The cleaning tool 8 that moves in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the cartridge is mounted on the printing apparatus main body 50, can be removed in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47, and can be replaced with the cartridge 6. It is a transferable printing apparatus which is characterized by including.

According to the present invention, the cartridge 6 and the cleaning tool 8 are attached to the printing apparatus main body 50 in an exchangeable manner, and in the printing mode, the cartridge 6 is provided and the printing head 1 is operated via the ink film 5 on the recording paper. When performing printing and replacing the cartridge 6 with the cleaning tool 8, the key input unit 23
By setting the cleaning mode, the lever 2 is displaced to the standby position, the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1 is separated from the platen 4 to the standby position, and the cleaning tool 8 is attached to the printing apparatus main body 50. When inserting 8, the brush 10 slides on the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1 by the elastic force of the brush plate 9 to clean the printing portion 1a. In this cleaning mode, the platen 4 is rotated to clean the platen 4. The member 12 makes sliding contact with the elastic force of the plate 11, and the entire outer peripheral surface of the platen 4 is cleaned.
Dust and dust adhering to the outer peripheral surface of the platen 4 is removed.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cleaning tool 8 for a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cleaning tool 8 for a printing apparatus, and FIGS. 9A and 9B are a side view and a plan view for explaining the mounting operation of the printing device cleaning tool 8.

A plate spring-shaped brush plate 9 is attached to the upper surface of the cleaning tool body 8a of the printing device cleaning tool 8, that is, the surface facing the thermal head 1.
A brush 10 as a cleaning member is fixed to one end of the.
The brush 10 is made of synthetic resin or animal hair. Also, the lower surface of the cleaning tool body 8a of the cleaning tool 8 for the printing device,
That is, a leaf spring-like felt plate 11 is attached to the surface facing the platen 4, and a felt 12 as a cleaning member is fixed to one end thereof. Further, the cleaning tool body 8a is provided with a handle 13 used when performing the attaching / detaching operation. The cleaning tool body 8a has the same shape as the cartridge 6 described later.

As shown in FIG. 3, a thermal head 1 which is a printing head
The lever 2 and the lever 2 are separated from the platen 4 and are in a so-called standby position. When the printing device cleaning tool 8 as described above is mounted in the arrow F direction as shown in FIG.
Moves on the surface of the printing portion 1a of the thermal head 1 to remove dust and dirt adhering to the surface. Cleaning tool for printing equipment 8
Is completely attached to the position indicated by the phantom line, the felt 12 extends over the platen 4 in the entire width direction, that is, the felt 12 extends along the entire axial length of the platen 4,
The felt plate 11 comes into contact with the elastic force. In this state, when the platen 4 is rotated in the direction of arrow A3 (the rotation mechanism is not particularly shown), dust and dirt attached to the surface of the platen 4 are also removed.

A stopper is provided to prevent the thermal head 1 from contacting clockwise in FIG. 3 even when the thermal head 1 is pressed by the leaf spring brush plate 9 during the mounting operation described above. In addition, brush 10 when wearing
And a guide member 15 as shown in FIG. 5 is provided so that the felt 12 does not get in the way. In the present embodiment, the brush 10 is provided only in a part of the thermal head 1 in the width direction, but it may be provided in the entire width direction.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the cartridge 6 used during the printing operation. The ink film 5 is built in the cartridge 6, and a handle 14 used when performing the attaching / detaching operation is provided. FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are a side view and a plan view showing the general configuration of the thermal transfer printing apparatus.
The thermal head 1 is attached to the lever 2 and is configured to be pressure-bonded to the platen 4 with the rotating shaft 3 as an axis. The printing portion 1a of the thermal head 1 is provided with a plurality of heating elements, which are heating elements, parallel to the axis of the platen 4. The heating resistance element prints on the recording paper 7 via the ink film 5 when the platen 4 rotates, and is provided over the printing region along the axis of the platen 4. The position shown by the solid line of the thermal head 1 and the lever 2 shown in FIG. 7 shows the standby position, and the position shown by the phantom line of the thermal head 1 and the lever 2 is the crimped state,
That is, the print state is shown. At the standby position, the cartridge 6 containing the ink film 5 can be replaced as shown in FIG.

When the cartridge 6 is mounted to the position shown by the phantom line in FIG. 8, the thermal head 1 and the lever 2 rotate counterclockwise about the rotation shaft 3 as shown in FIG.
The ink film 5 and the recording paper 7 wound around the platen 4 are pressed together. In this state, mark the platen 4 with an arrow
While rotating in the A1 direction and winding the ink film 5 in the arrow A2 direction, the color of the ink film 5 is transferred to the recording paper 7 by the heat of the thermal head 1, and printing is performed.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the thermal transfer printing apparatus. The print information input unit 22 realized by a random access memory or the like provides print information to the control unit 21 realized by a microcomputer or the like. The control unit 21 drives the thermal head driving means 25 to print the given printing information by the thermal head 1. At this time, the control unit 21 synchronizes with the printing operation of the thermal head 1 and
The platen 4 is driven by 26.

The key input unit 23 is provided with keys for designating the operation mode of the printing apparatus, and performs mode setting such as printing mode and cleaning mode. When the cleaning mode is set, the control
21 drives the thermal head moving means 24 to displace the thermal head 1 to the standby position as described above, and the motor 26
The platen 4 is rotated by. At this time, the thermal head 1 is deenergized.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, since the cleaning tool body 8a has the same shape as the cartridge 6, the cleaning tool body 8a can be easily mounted on the printing apparatus. Since the cleaning operation is performed by the mounting operation of the cleaning tool 8 and the rotating operation of the platen 4, the operation is simple. Thus, the thermal head 1 and the platen 4 of the printing apparatus can be easily cleaned. As a result, the durability of the thermal head 1 and the platen 4 can be improved, and the print quality can be prevented from deteriorating.

To further describe the configuration, the printing apparatus main body 50 includes the platen 4
The motor 26, the print head 1, the lever 2, the print head moving means 24, the key input unit 23, and the control unit 21.
The motor 26 rotates the platen 4 about its axis. The printing head 1 has a printing portion 1a facing the platen 4, and in the printing portion 1a, a plurality of heating elements, which are printing elements, are arranged in parallel with the axis of the platen 4 over a printing area along the axis of the platen 4. It is provided and configured. The printing head 1 is attached to the front end of the lever 2, and the base end of the lever 2 can be angularly displaced around a rotation axis 3 parallel to the axis of the platen 4. Becomes the printing position where it is pressed against the platen 4, and in the cleaning mode, the printing portion 1a is displaced to the standby position where it is separated from the platen 4.

The print head moving means 24 displaces the lever 2 to the print position in the print mode, and displaces the lever 2 to the standby position in the cleaning mode. The key input unit 23 sets the printing mode and the cleaning mode.

In response to the output from the key input unit 23, the control unit 21 displaces the lever 2 to the print position by the print head moving means 24 in the print mode, rotates the platen 4 by the motor 26, and print information by the print head 1. The print head moving means 24
The lever 2 is displaced to the standby position by the motor 26, and the platen 4 is rotated by the motor 26 to keep the printing head 1 deenergized.

The cartridge 6 includes a sheet-shaped ink film 6 and a cartridge body 36. The cartridge body 36 has a supply unit 37, a recovery unit 38, and a support unit 40. Supply unit 37
Supplies the ink film 5 in the form of a roll as apparent from FIG. As is apparent from FIG. 7, the collecting section 38 collects the printed ink film 5 in a roll shape.
The support unit 40 has a window 39 between the supply unit 37 and the collection unit 38, which stretches the ink film 5 between the recording paper 7 on the platen 4 and the printing head 1 to face it. Supply unit 37 and recovery unit
38 is formed by bulging toward the platen 4 side with respect to the support member 40, which is apparent from FIG. 7.

The cartridge 6 can be mounted in the printing apparatus main body 50 by moving in the insertion direction 47 which is parallel to the axial direction of the platen 4, and can also be moved in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47 and detachable.

The cleaning tool 8 includes a cleaning tool body 8a, a brush plate 9, a brush 10, a plate 11, and a felt 12 which is a cleaning member. The cleaning tool body 8a includes a first bulge portion 41 that faces the supply portion 37 of the cartridge body 36, a second bulge portion 42 that corresponds to the recovery portion 38, and a connecting portion 43 that corresponds to the support portion 40. And has the same shape as the cartridge body 36. The connecting portion 43 has a window 44 corresponding to the window 39 of the cartridge body 36.
Is formed. The brush plate 9 is on the surface of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a on the side of the print head 1 at the end portion 46 of the second window 44 in the ink film moving direction 45 and at the base end portion 9a at the downstream side in the inserting direction 47. Is fixed and projects into the window 44. The brush 10 is fixed to the other end portion 9b of the brush plate 9 so as to extend in the axial direction of the platen 4 in a slender manner, and slidably contacts the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1 at the standby position by the elastic force of the brush plate 9. The plate 11 is the surface of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a on the platen 4 side, and the ink film moving direction 45 of the second window 44.
The base end 11a is fixed to the end 48 of the platen 4, extends over the entire width direction of the platen 4, and projects into the window 44. The felt 12, which is a cleaning member, is fixed to the other end 11b of the plate 11 by extending over the entire length of the platen 4 in the axial direction.
The platen 4 is brought into sliding contact with the elastic force of the plate 11. Similarly to the cartridge 6, the cleaning tool 8 is moved in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the platen 4 and mounted on the printing apparatus main body 50, and moved in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47. It is possible to leave.

As described above, according to the present invention, the cartridge 6 is mounted on the printing apparatus main body 50 to perform the printing operation in the printing mode, and the cleaning tool 8 is replaced and attached instead of the cartridge 6 to attach the printing head 1. It is possible to clean the printing unit 1a and the platen 4.

Particularly, according to the present invention, the brush 10 of the cleaning tool 8 can clean the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1, and
It is convenient that the platen 4 is driven to rotate in the cleaning mode and the plate 11 can be cleaned using the sweeping member 12, and thus both the printing unit 1a and the platen 4 can be cleaned.

Moreover, according to the present invention, by setting the cleaning mode by the key input unit 23, the print head moving means 24 displaces the lever 2 to the standby position and rotates the platen 4 by the motor 26, at which time the print head 1 is moved. With the deenergized state kept, in this state, the cleaning tool 8 is moved in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the platen 4 to be attached to the printing apparatus main body 50, and is moved in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47 to clean the cleaning tool 8 Is removed from the printing apparatus main body 50, and the sliding contact cleaning of the printing section 1a can be performed by the brush 10 at the time of such mounting and removal, and the cleaning tool 8 is still attached to the printing apparatus main body 50. Since the platen 4 is rotated as described above in 1., the platen 4 can be cleaned by the cleaning member 12. In addition, in this cleaning mode, the print head 1 remains deenergized, so that there is no hindrance to the cleaning, and damage to the print head 1 can be prevented, and cleaning is reliable.

Further, according to the present invention, the main body 8a of the cleaning tool 8 is formed in the same shape as the main body 36 of the cartridge 6, so that the cartridge 6 and the cleaning tool 8 can be smoothly attached to and detached from the main body 50 of the printing apparatus. The excellent effect that can be achieved is achieved.

Further, according to the present invention, the brush 10 and the cleaning member 12 can be brought into sliding contact with the printing portion 1a and the platen 4 by the elastic force of the brush plate 9 and the plate 11, respectively. By using, the effect that the cleaning can be reliably performed is also achieved.

Further in accordance with the present invention, the brush plate 9 and the brush
10 is arranged on the surface of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a on the side of the print head 1. On the contrary, the plate 11 and the cleaning member 12 are the platen 4 of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a. Since it is arranged on the side surface, it is possible to freely perform the flexural displacement for exerting the elastic force of the brush plate 9 and the plate 11, and it is certain that the elastic force is generated respectively. . This also achieves the effect that the large deflection displacement of the brush plate 9 and the plate 11 is possible even if they are projected into the second window 44.

Further, according to the present invention, the plate 11 is provided on the platen 4 side of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a, that is, on the platen 4 side where the supply portion 37 and the collecting portion 38 of the cartridge 6 are bulged. Then, it is the same as the side where the first and second bulging portions 41, 42 of the cleaning tool body 8a are bulging. Therefore, the first and second bulging portions 41, 42 are placed on the surface of a table or the like. At this time, the cleaning member 12 can be arranged above the table surface to prevent the cleaning member 12 from coming into contact with the table surface, thereby preventing the cleaning member 12 from being soiled.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 is a perspective view of a cleaning tool 8 for a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cleaning tool 8 for a printing apparatus, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are cleaning tools 8 for a printing apparatus. 6 is a perspective view of the cartridge 6, FIG. 7 is a side view showing the configuration of the thermal transfer type printing apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a configuration of the thermal transfer type printing apparatus. A plan view and FIG. 9 are block diagrams showing an electrical configuration of the thermal transfer printing apparatus. 1 ... Thermal head, 1a ... Printing section, 4 ... Platen, 8 ...
Cleaning tool for printing device, 8a ... Cleaning tool body, 10 ... Brush, 12
... felt

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A printing apparatus main body 50 comprising: (a) a platen 4; and (a2) a motor for rotating the platen 4 around its axis.
26, and (a3) a print portion 1a facing the platen 4, and the print portion 1a
The printing head 1 is provided with a plurality of printing elements in parallel with the axis of the platen 4, and (a4) the printing head 1 is attached to the front end, and the base end rotates parallel to the axis of the platen 4. It is angularly displaceable around the shaft 3, and the printing position where the printing part 1a is pressed against the platen 4 in the printing mode and the printing part 1a in the cleaning mode
A lever 2 for displacing the lever 2 to a standby position away from the platen 4, and (a5) a print head moving means 24 for displacing the lever 2 to the print position in the print mode and displacing the lever 2 to the standby position in the cleaning mode, a6) Key input section for setting the print mode and cleaning mode
23, and (a7) in response to the output of the key input unit 23, in the printing mode, the lever 2 is displaced to the printing position by the printing head moving means 24, the platen 4 is rotated by the motor 26, and the printing head 1 prints. Information is printed, and in the cleaning mode, the printing head moving means 24 displaces the lever 2 to the standby position and the motor 26
The printing apparatus main body 50 having the control section 21 for rotating the platen 4 and keeping the printing head 1 in the deenergized state, (b) the cartridge 6, (b1) the sheet-like ink film 5, (b2) ) Cartridge body 36, which is a supply unit that stores and supplies the ink film 5 in a roll shape
37 and a collecting section for collecting the printed ink film 5 in a roll shape
38, and a support section 40 having a first window 39 for stretching the ink film 5 between the recording section 7 on the platen 4 and the print head 1 between the supply section 37 and the collection section 38. And the supply unit 37 and the recovery unit 38 are connected to the platen 4 with respect to the support unit 40.
(B3) The cartridge main body 36 is formed to bulge to the side, and (b3) moves in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the platen 4 and is attached to the printing apparatus main body 50, and moves in the direction opposite to the insertion direction 47. The cartridge 6 that can be detached from the cartridge 6, and (c) the cleaning tool 8, and (c1) a first bulge portion 41 corresponding to the supply portion 37, the collection portion 38, and the support portion 40 of the cartridge body 36, respectively. Second bulge 42
And the connecting portion 43 are formed in the same shape as the cartridge body 36, and the connecting portion 43 has the first window of the cartridge body 36.
Cleaning tool main body 8a in which a second window 44 corresponding to 39 is formed, and (c2) the surface of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool main body 8a on the side of the print head 1 at the end of the second window 42 in the ink film moving direction 45. To 46,
A brush plate 9 that is a leaf spring having a base end portion 9a fixed to the downstream side in the insertion direction 47 and protruding to the second window 47, and (c3) the other end portion 9b of the brush plate 9 has an axis line of the platen 4. The brush 10 slidably contacts the printing portion 1a of the printing head 1 in the standby position, which is fixed in the direction of extension, and (c4) the platen 4 side of the connecting portion 43 of the cleaning tool body 8a. On the end 48 of the second window 44 in the ink film moving direction 45,
The plate 11 which is a plate spring having the base end portion 11a fixed and extending over the entire width direction of the platen 4 and protruding to the second window 44
And (c5) a cleaning member (12) fixed to the other end portion (11b) of the plate (11) so as to extend over the entire length in the axial direction of the platen (4) and slidably contact the platen (4) by the elastic force of the plate (11). The cleaning tool 8 that moves in the insertion direction 47 parallel to the axial direction of the cartridge is mounted on the printing apparatus main body 50, can be removed in the opposite direction of the insertion direction 47, and can be replaced with the cartridge 6. A transferable printing apparatus which can be cleaned, including: