JPH05301355A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] It is possible to prevent wrinkles caused by the accumulation of the difference in the winding amount on the ink ribbon of the thermal printer, and contribute to the improvement of printing quality and reliability. A tension adjustment mechanism 22 for displaceably supporting and positioningly holding a guide member 19 in a direction intersecting with the surface of the ink ribbon 16 is provided, and the ink ribbon 16 of the other guide member 18 is tilted or has a shape error. Compensate for the difference in the winding amount in the width direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer used for a label printer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, various types of thermal printers are in use. For example, a large thermal printer used for a commercial label printer uses an ink ribbon wound in a roll shape. .. Therefore, in such a thermal printer, for example, an ink ribbon stretched by a plurality of guide members such as a guide roller and a guide plate is placed at a position where a line head and a platen roller are opposed to each other so as to pass through the printer section. And a paper transport path through which print sheets are sequentially transported. Therefore, in such a thermal printer, since the printing paper and the ink ribbon are conveyed in the printer section in an overlapping state, the line head of the printer section performs a selective heating operation to print the ink on the ink ribbon. An image is formed by being transferred to a sheet.

[0003]

In the thermal printer as described above, an image is printed by transferring the ink of the ink ribbon which is sequentially conveyed to the printing paper, but in reality, the ink ribbon is printed. Wrinkles may occur, resulting in poor print quality and ribbon jam. That is, in the above-described thermal printer, since the ink ribbon wound in advance in a roll shape is extremely long, if the winding roller or the guide member that stretches the ink ribbon is inclined in the direction intersecting the surface of the ink ribbon, The difference in the winding amount in the width direction is accumulated to cause wrinkles on the ink ribbon.

[0004]

A printer unit in which a line head and a platen are arranged to face each other is provided, and a ribbon transport path in which an ink ribbon wound in a roll is stretched by a plurality of guide members and printing paper are sequentially transported. And a sheet conveying path formed at a position passing through the printer section, a tensioning member that displaceably supports and positions and holds at least one guide member in a direction intersecting the surface of the ink ribbon. An adjustment mechanism was provided.

[0005]

[Operation] The tension adjustment mechanism adjusts the inclination and position of the guide member and positions and holds it, thereby compensating for the difference in the winding amount of the ink ribbon in the width direction due to the inclination and shape error of other guide members. Therefore, it is possible to prevent wrinkles caused by the accumulation of the difference in the winding amount of the ink ribbon, and to contribute to the improvement of printing quality and reliability.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the thermal printer 1 supplies a paper by a support shaft 4 that rotatably supports a continuous paper 3 which is a printing paper wound in a roll shape on the upper surface of a main body housing 2. The sheet feeding section 5 is provided with a section 5.
An insertion opening 6 for the continuous paper 3 pulled out from is formed on the rear surface of the main body housing 2. Further, in this thermal printer 1, a paper conveyance path 8 is formed by a paper guide 7 or the like at a position communicating with the insertion opening 6 of the main body housing 2, and a printer section 9 is provided at a position where the paper conveyance path 8 passes. It is provided. Here, the printer unit 9
Line head 11 supported by a rotatable bracket 10
Is arranged on the platen roller 12 so as to be in contact with and separated from the platen roller 12.
Is formed on the front surface of the main body housing 2.

The thermal printer 1 is provided with an idling feed roller 14 and a take-up roller 15 connected to a drive motor (not shown) above the paper guide 7, and the feed roller is provided. A ribbon transport path 17 for the ink ribbon 16 from 14 to the take-up roller 15 is formed by a guide roller 18 and a guide plate 19 which are appropriately arranged guide members.

Here, in this thermal printer 1, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the guide plate 19 has a rectangular shape elongated in the main scanning direction, and elongated holes 20 are formed at both ends thereof. As illustrated, a screw 21 penetrating these elongated holes 20 is fastened to the front surface of the bracket 10 so that the guide plate 19 is supported so as to be displaceable in a direction intersecting the surface of the ink ribbon 16. The adjusting mechanism 22 is formed.

In this thermal printer 1, one side plate of the main body housing 2 can be freely opened and closed.
Since the various rollers 15, 16 and 18 and the paper guide 7 which face each other have a cantilever structure, the continuous paper 3
It is extremely easy to set the ink ribbon 16 and the ink ribbon 16.

In such a structure, in the thermal printer 1, the continuous paper 3 and the ink ribbon 16 are conveyed in the printer unit 9 in an overlapping state, so that the line head 11 of the printer unit 9 is selective. By performing the heating operation, the ink of the ink ribbon 16 is transferred to the continuous paper 3 to form an image.

In the thermal printer 1, as shown in FIG. 3, each roller 14 is adjusted by adjusting the position and inclination of the guide plate 19 at the time of shipping and positioning and holding it by the tension adjustment mechanism 22. , 15, 18, etc., the difference in the winding amount of the ink ribbon 16 in the width direction due to the shape error or the like is compensated. By doing so, in the thermal printer 1, it is possible to prevent wrinkles from occurring in the ink ribbon 16 due to the accumulation of the difference in the winding amount in the width direction, so that the print quality is always maintained in a good condition. The occurrence of jams is also prevented.

In the thermal printer 1 of this embodiment, the guide plate 19 is movably mounted on the front surface of the bracket 10 supporting the line head 11 by the tension adjustment mechanism 22 to simplify the above work. However, the present invention is not limited to the above structure, and it is also possible to form a tension adjustment mechanism by movably supporting the guide roller 18 which is another guide member.

[0013]

As described above, the present invention is provided with a printer section in which a line head and a platen are arranged so as to face each other, and a ribbon transport path in which an ink ribbon wound in a roll shape is stretched by a plurality of guide members and printing is performed. In a thermal printer in which a paper transport path for sequentially transporting paper is formed at a position passing through the printer unit, at least one of the guide members is movably supported and positioned in a direction intersecting the surface of the ink ribbon. By providing a tension adjustment mechanism that holds the ink, the tension adjustment mechanism adjusts the inclination and position of the guide member to position and hold it, and the width of the ink ribbon due to inclination and shape errors of other guide members. Since it is possible to compensate for the difference in the winding amount in each direction, it is possible to prevent wrinkles caused by the accumulation of the difference in the winding amount on the ink ribbon to improve the print quality and reliability. Those having an effect of such can contribute to above.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view showing an enlarged main part.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an enlarged main part.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Thermal Printer 3 Printing Paper 8 Paper Conveying Path 9 Printer Section 11 Line Head 12 Platen 16 Ink Ribbon 17 Ribbon Conveying Path 18, 19 Guide Member 22 Tension Adjusting Mechanism

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 35/08 9012-2C

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A printer unit in which a line head and a platen are arranged to face each other, and a ribbon transport path in which a roll-shaped ink ribbon is stretched by a plurality of guide members and a print sheet are sequentially transported. In a thermal printer in which a path is formed at a position passing through the printer section, a tension adjustment mechanism is provided for movably supporting and positioning at least one guide member in a direction intersecting the surface of the ink ribbon. A thermal printer characterized by that.