Typewriting machines – Including interposed inking device for record-medium – Package for ribbon facilitating mounting of ribbon on...
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-30
2002-10-01
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Including interposed inking device for record-medium
Package for ribbon facilitating mounting of ribbon on...
C400S224200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06457885
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus, which is used in a manner having detachably mounted a so-called refill type ink film cassette wherein the ink film is replaced or refilled with a new supply, and the refill type ink film cassette, and an ink film reel, which is used in the refill type ink film cassette.
2. Description of the Related Art
The thermal transfer recording apparatus is provided with a platen roller and a thermal head, which is freely pressed against and separated from the platen roller. A recording paper is conveyed through the contacting surface between the platen roller and the thermal head. An ink film, which has an ink with thermally fusible or sublimating properties applied to one surface, is conveyed into the contacting surface between the recording paper and the thermal head. This ink film is drawn out from a reel on the supply side and wound on a reel on the take-up side. When a color image is reproduced by one thermal head on the recording paper, the thermal transfer recording apparatus uses the ink film which has the inks in the colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan applied sequentially in the order on the surface of a thin film base.
The ink film is drawn out from the supply reel and conveyed in conjunction with the motion of the recording paper by friction force between the ink film and the recording paper, which is conveyed between the platen roller and the thermal head in a state of being pressed against the platen roller, during the printing process. The ink film paid out of the supply reel is wound on the take-up reel by rotating the take-up reel with a motor installed in the main body of the thermal transfer recording apparatus.
In recent years, an ink film cassette, which holds a supply reel and a take-up reel and is freely attached to and detached from the main body, is applied to the thermal transfer recording apparatus for improving the efficiency of the setting work of the ink film.
The ink film cassette of a disposable type has been proposed, for example, in consideration of the convenience of use. In this case, the cassette is a consumable good and thus wholly replaced with a newly supplied cassette when the built-in ink film is used up.
From the viewpoint of the global ecology, there has been found growing recognition that an ink film cassette of the so-called refill type with ink film which is replaced or refilled, is desirably used in the place of the disposable cassette.
The refill type cassettes of this class are known in the following various types. In one type of the refill type cassette, a user identifies a type of an ink film and sets the ink film in a cassette corresponding to the type of the ink film. In the thermal transfer recording apparatus that uses this type of ink film cassette, the attachment of the cassette is checked and a type of the ink film is identified by detecting the attached cassette.
The conventional refill type ink film cassette indeed is at an advantage in affording due consideration for the environment. It has the problem, however, that the apparatus is incapable of discerning between the presence and the absence of the film until it starts a printing operation even though a user, while replacing a spent ink film with a new supply, happens to forget to place an ink film in the cassette and set this cassette in the apparatus.
Further, this ink film cassette compels a user to incur the trouble of ensuring coincidence between a type of the ink film and a type of the cassette in case of the replacement of the ink film. It has still another problem that the ink film cassette must be manufactured or owned exclusively for the ink film of the particular type. If the user fails to secure the coincidence between the ink film and the cassette, the thermal transfer recording apparatus cannot detect the failure and the ink film or the recording paper wastefully consumed.
JP-A-05-162,405 discloses a cassette of the disposable type, which is so designed as to identify the type of the ink film. This cassette has a ring with a mark indicative of the type of ink film, which is rotatably disposed at one end of a reel for winding an ink film. It attains identification of the type of the ink film by causing the ring to rotate. Namely, this cassette can acquire the information on the film by only rotating the ring without requiring rotating the reel. However, it inevitably complicates the mechanism for rotational drive because the cassette must exclusively rotate the ring. If this method is applied to the refill type cassette, it requires that a user mounts the ring to the reel or a reel with a built-in ring is manufactured. The attempt results in complicating the work of replacement and increasing the cost.
The conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus is provided in the main body with a supply side torque limiter, which is connected to the supply reel and gives a braking force to the supply reel after the ink film cassette has been set in place. This supply side torque limiter continues to give a braking force to the supply reel while the ink film is being paid out of the supply reel. As a consequence, the limiter fulfills the purpose of transmitting due tension to the ink film and preventing the ink film from forming wrinkles during the printing process.
Further, a take-up side torque limiter, which limits a driving torque of the take-up reel, is disposed between the take-up reel and the motor in the main body of the thermal transfer recording apparatus. This take-up side torque limiter is provided for the following reason besides the reason of transmitting due tension to the ink film during the printing process. The conveying speed of the recording paper and the ink film must be equalized in the printing unit. However, the winding speed of the ink film on the take-up reel is inevitably varied as the roll diameter of the ink film wound in the take-up reel varies even when the supporting shaft of the take-up reel is rotated at a fixed speed. It is, therefore, provided with the take-up side torque limiter for enabling the winding speed to follow the conveying speed of the ink film in the printing unit and winding the ink film without slacking on the take-up reel.
The provision of the supply side and the take-up side torque limiters inside the thermal transfer recording apparatus complicates the arrangement of the recording apparatus, and boosts the cost, and inhibits all efforts to miniaturize the apparatus. The torque limiters provided inside the apparatus are required to possess durability on a par with other components used inside the apparatus, for example the durability to permit normal formation of images on 60,000 recording papers. Namely, the torque limiters must be relatively expensive. And, the use of these torque limiters inevitably results in adding to the cost of the thermal transfer recording apparatus as a whole. The present inventors have proposed an ink film cassette with a built-in supply side torque limiter and a take-up side torque limiter for the purpose of simplifying the main body of a thermal transfer recording apparatus and lowering the cost (JP-A-07-329,385). This ink film cassette is so designed that a user can refill an ink film by a simple procedure. And, the number of disposable components is decreased to the fullest possible extent and due respect is paid to the problem of environment.
The ink film cassette with built-in torque limiters enjoys the above advantage. However, the cassette incurs the possibility that a user forgets the torque limiters, or mistakes the supply side torque limiter for the take-up side torque limiter or vice versa and misplaces the torque limiters, in case of the work of refilling an ink film.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of this invention is to provide a thermal transfer recording apparatus, which is capable of simply and easily discerning between the absence and presence of an ink film prior to the start of the printing operation.
A further object of this invention is to prov
Shimoyama Atsuhiko
Yamamoto Jun-ichi
Hilten John S.
Minolta Co. , Ltd.
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
Sidley Austin Brown & Wood
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