US 5,168,286 AGranted

Electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a thermal printer for such apparatus for adding supplemental data

AssigneeMita Industrial Co., Ltd.

InventorsYoshifumi Okauchi, Hideo Umezawa, Satoshi Yano, Yutaka Shigemura, Takashi Kondo, Yukihiro Ito, Mitsuharu Yoshimoto, Junichi Oura, Seiichi Shirasaki, Yoshitake Miyoshi, Takashi Miyake

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Abstract

An image forming apparatus having a main body with an opening portion provided in one face of the main body, and a thermal transfer printer. The thermal transfer printer records desired information additively on paper on which a toner image has been fixed. The printer uses a thermal head to press an ink-ribbon on the paper. The thermal transfer printer includes a casing in which a cassette for housing the ink-ribbon is detachably mounted, a thermal head support for supporting the thermal head, and an interlocking mechanism. The interlocking mechanism retracts the thermal head with the thermal head support in response to retraction of the casing. Thus, it is possible to detach the cassette from the main body through the opening portion. This facilitates replacement of cassettes and clearing of paper jams.

Claims44

Dependent claims

An image forming apparatus comprising:

a main body member having a side face, with an opening portion formed in said side face;
opening and shutting means for opening and shutting said opening portion;
a platen roller rotatably mounted in said main body member;
fixing means within said main body member for fixing a toner image on a paper;
a paper discharge portion mounted adjacent said side face for receipt of a paper discharged from said main body member after fixing of a toner image on the paper;
and
a thermal transfer printer for recording desired information additively on a paper on which a toner image has been fixed by said fixing means and which is positioned on the platen roller, said thermal transfer printer including:
(i) a cassette for housing an ink-ribbon,
(ii) a casing having said cassette detachably mounted thereon, said casing being movable between a predetermined set position in the main body member and a retracted position retracted from the set position so as to allow said cassette to be removed from said image forming apparatus through said opening portion when said opening portion is kept open by said opening and shutting means,
(iii) a thermal head;
(iv) thermal head supporting means for supporting said thermal head so that said thermal head is movable between a pressuring position, in which said thermal head presses an ink-ribbon housed in said cassette against the paper on said platen roller while extending the ink-ribbon from said cassette, and a retracted position retracted from the pressuring position so as to allow said cassette to be detached from said casing, and
(v) an interlocking mechanism for causing said thermal head supporting means to retract said thermal head to the thermal head retracted position in response to movement of said casing to the casing retracted position.

9 more elements

A thermal transfer printer for an image forming apparatus, for recording desired information additively on a paper on which the image forming apparatus has fixed a toner image, the image forming apparatus having a platen roller, said thermal transfer printer comprising:

(i) a cassette for housing an ink-ribbon and including a feed reel for feeding the ink-ribbon and a winding reel for taking up the ink-ribbon,
(ii) a thermal head movable to a pressuring position in which said thermal head extends a portion of the ink-ribbon, located between said feed reel and said winding reel, from said cassette to press the portion on paper on the platen roller, for the purpose of thermal transferring and responsive to completion of the thermal transferring, to move to a pressure release position to release pressure from the portion of the ink-ribbon,
(iii) ribbon-slack eliminating means responsive to said thermal head moving to the pressure release position for actuating said winding reel to wind the portion of the ink-ribbon thereon, thus eliminating slack in the ink-ribbon brought about by said thermal head moving to the pressure release position, and for releasing said winding reel following the winding of the portion of the ink ribbon thereon,
(iv) a torque limiter for restraining said ribbon-slack eliminating means from transmitting more than a predetermined amount of torque to said winding reel, and
(v) resistance loading means for loading on said feed reel an amount of braking torque greater than said predetermined amount of drive torque,
whereby as slack is taken up after thermal transferring is completed, the braking torque inhibits ink-ribbon from being drawn out from said feed reel to said winding reel and when further desired information is recorded by subsequent moving of said thermal head to the pressuring position, a part of the portion of the ink ribbon wound on said winding reel in the eliminating of the slack is drawn out from said winding reel.

3 more elements

(i) a cassette for housing an ink-ribbon and including a feed reel for feeding the ink-ribbon and a winding reel for taking up the ink-ribbon,
(ii) a thermal head movable to a pressuring position in which said thermal head extends a portion of the ink-ribbon, located between said feed reel and said winding reel, from said cassette to press the portion on paper on the platen roller, for the purpose of thermal transferring and responsive to completion of the thermal transferring, to move to a pressure release position to release pressure from the portion of the ink-ribbon,
(iii) ribbon-slack eliminating means responsive to said thermal head moving to the pressure release position for actuating said feed reel to wind the portion of the ink-ribbon thereon, thus eliminating slack in the ink-ribbon brought about by said thermal head moving to the pressure release position, and for releasing said winding reel following the winding of the portion of the ink ribbon thereon,
(iv) a torque limiter for restraining said ribbon-slack eliminating means from transmitting more than a predetermined amount of torque to said feed reel, and
(v) resistance loading means for loading on said winding reel an amount of braking torque greater than said predetermined amount of torque,
whereby as slack is taken up after thermal transferring is completed, the braking torque inhibits ink-ribbon from being drawn out from said winding reel and when further desired information is recorded by subsequent moving of said thermal head to the pressuring position, a part of the portion of the ink ribbon wound on said feed reel in the eliminating of the slack is drawn out from said feed reel.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 07/569,019Filed 17 Aug 1990
Priority: JP 1-21340218 Aug 1989
Granted: 1 Dec 1992
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification10 codes

G03G 15/6582
Apparatus which relate to the handling of copy material: special processing for irreversibly adding or changing the sheet copy material…
B41J 17/32
Mechanisms for manipulating page-width impression-transfer material, e.g. carbon paper: detachable carriers or holders for impression-transfer…
B41J 25/316
Bodily-movable mechanisms for print heads or carriages movable towards or from paper surface: with tilting motion mechanisms relative to paper surface
G03G 2215/00426
Post-fixing device: post-treatment device adding qualities to the copy medium product

Family

No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.

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