Recording devices and attachments

Abstract

To perform recording in an appropriate location on various types of recording medium.SOLUTION: A recording device A includes: a supply roller 11 and a supply roller 12 for conveying a recording medium along a conveyance reference surface 43 of a conveyance path P; a recording part C for performing recording processing for the recording medium conveyed by the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12; and a guide member 46 that comprises a recess 47 having the width of an uppermost stream part in a conveying direction of the recording medium conveyed by the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 larger than a width on a downstream side in the conveying direction, for guiding the recording medium to the recording part C by pressing the recording medium conveyed by the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 toward the conveyance reference surface 43 by the recess 47.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for performing recording processing on a recording medium. and attachments Regarding. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, in a thermal printer, a thin plate medium such as a long name plate or a tube is set in an attachment. record Transports media and record Recording is performed on the media. Such attachments include: record The width of the transport path is adjusted to the thickness of the medium. This allows the printer to print thin media with ease. record When processing, use an attachment designed specifically for thin plates and attach it to the tube. record When carrying out the treatment, an attachment specifically for tubes was used.

[0003] In addition, such attachments are set record It has a pressure mechanism to press the media against the transport reference surface of the device. record The medium is pressed toward the transport reference surface by the pressure mechanism, record The height of the medium is regulated and the medium is conveyed while being maintained at a predetermined height (for example, Patent Document 1). record The media does not rise above the transport reference surface. record When the record in place at the record In addition, conventional thermal printers have attachments. record By providing a transport path with a width that matches the thickness of the media, record It regulates the position in the thickness direction of the medium.

[0004] Furthermore, in recent years, long tubes have become more and more diverse, with tubes being flat or having various inner diameters, wall thicknesses, widths, and the like. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-108681 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] however, Conventional thermal printers have a problem in that different attachments must be used depending on whether recording is performed on a tube or on a name plate.

[0007] This is because when the name plate is set in a conveying path wide enough to accommodate the tube and the pressure mechanism is used to press it, the name plate is tilted in the conveying path and the pressure mechanism The name plate came off the part that pressed the name plate, and it became impossible to press the name plate against the conveying reference surface. For this reason, different attachments were used for recording on the tube and for recording on the name plate.

[0008] The object of the present invention is to provide a recording device that can record at a predetermined position on a tube and a name plate without using different attachments. and attachments The purpose of this invention is to provide [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The recording device of the present invention comprises: Cylindrical Tube and Flat a thermal head capable of performing thermal transfer recording on the tube and the name plate; a conveying path through which the thermal head can pass, the conveying path including two walls spaced apart at a predetermined distance, and a reference portion disposed between the two walls and in a predetermined positional relationship with the thermal head; The tube and the name plate a roller section which presses the tube toward the reference section to bring the tube and the name plate into contact with the reference section, the roller section having a groove section along a circumferential direction to prevent the name plate from coming off the roller section when the name plate is pressed, and when the name plate is set on the transport path, the roller section presses one side end of the name plate with the groove section to bring the other side end of the name plate into contact with the reference section, and a guide which contacts the one side end of the name plate and guides the one side end of the name plate to the groove section when the name plate is set on the transport path, and the reference section and the groove section can support the name plate. It is characterized by the above. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the present invention, Recording can be done at the designated positions on the tube and name plate without using different attachments . [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a state in which a thermal head around a recording unit of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention is in a separated position. [Diagram 3] 5 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a thermal head in the periphery of a recording unit of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention is in contact with a platen roller. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a state in which a tube is attached to the periphery of a recording unit of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 5] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an attachment of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an attachment in a state where a top cover of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention is removed. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an attachment of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention with a pressure mechanism removed. [Figure 9] 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along the line L-L. [Figure 10] FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 5 taken along line MM. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of a pressure mechanism of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 12] 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams illustrating a pressure member of a pressure mechanism of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 13] 5A and 5B are schematic diagrams of roller members of a pressure mechanism of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 14] FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a recording process according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 15] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating operations when a dedicated attachment for thin plates is attached to a conventional recording device for comparison with operations of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 16] 11A and 11B are diagrams illustrating the operation of a conventional recording device when a dedicated attachment for tubes is attached, with a flattened tube tilted, for comparison with the operation of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 17]13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating the operation of a conventional recording device when a dedicated attachment for tubes is attached, in a state where the flattened tube is biased, for comparison with the operation of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 18] 5A to 5C are diagrams illustrating the operation of the recording device according to the embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0013] <Recording device configuration> The configuration of a recording apparatus A according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

[0014] 4 illustrates an example in which a flat tube T is mounted as a recording medium. Here, the flat tube T is a tube whose cross section cut along a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is elliptical. Note that the recording device A is not limited to recording onto the flat tube T, but can also record onto a thin plate medium such as a nameplate.

[0015] The recording device A is configured to be portable. Specifically, the recording device A has a supply unit B, a recording unit C, a cutting unit D, a discharge unit E, an operation unit F, a ribbon cassette G, and a display unit H. The recording device A also has a power supply unit 1, a head / cutter motor 2, a thermal head motor 3, a ribbon / transport motor 4, a control unit 5, and an attachment 45.

[0016] An attachment 45 is attached to the supply unit B. The supply unit B includes a supply roller 11 and a supply roller 12. When the attachment 45 is attached to the supply unit B, a flat tube T is attached between the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12.

[0017] The supply roller 11 is connected to a motor (not shown) and is rotated by the driving of the motor to transport the flat tube T to the recording unit C. Note that the motor that rotates the supply roller 11 may be a ribbon / transport motor 4 that drives a platen roller 20, a transport roller 23, and a take-up spool of a ribbon cassette G, which will be described later.

[0018] The supply roller 12 is in pressure contact with the supply roller 11 via the flat tube T, and conveys the flat tube T to the recording section C together with the supply roller 11.

[0019] The recording unit C performs a recording process on the flat tube T conveyed from the supply unit B by the ink ribbon 22 contained in the ribbon cassette G. The recording unit C conveys the flat tube T after the recording process to the cutting unit D.

[0020] Specifically, the recording unit C includes a platen roller 20, a thermal head 21, and a transport roller .

[0021] The platen roller 20 is disposed opposite the thermal head 21 .

[0022] The thermal head 21 includes a heating element (not shown). The thermal head 21 is configured to be movable between a spaced position retracted from the conveying path P shown in Fig. 2 and a position in contact with the platen roller 20 shown in Fig. 3 by being driven by a thermal head motor 3.

[0023] The conveying roller 23 is disposed so as to face the platen roller 20 downstream in the conveying direction of the flat tube T of the platen roller 20 (hereinafter simply referred to as the "conveying direction"), where the conveying direction is the leftward direction in Figs. 2 to 4.

[0024] In the recording unit C having the above configuration, during recording, the thermal head 21 presses against the platen roller 20, sandwiching the ink ribbon 22 and the flat tube T. The thermal head 21 also selectively heats the heating elements under the control of the control unit 5 to melt the ink in the ink ribbon 22 and transfer character strings or the like line by line onto the flat tube T, thereby performing recording.

[0025] The cutting unit D is disposed downstream of the recording unit C in the transport direction, and performs cutting processing such as half-cutting or full-cutting on the flat tube T transported from the recording unit C. The cutting unit D transports the flat tube T that has been cut to the discharge unit E.

[0026] Specifically, the cutting portion D includes a cutter 30 and a blade receiver 31 .

[0027] The cutter 30 moves from the retracted position to the cutting position to perform half-cut processing or full-cut processing by being driven by the head / cutter motor 2. The amount of movement of the cutter 30 from the retracted position to the cutting position differs depending on whether the half-cut processing is performed or the full-cut processing is performed.

[0028] The blade receiver 31 changes its position depending on whether half-cut processing is performed or full-cut processing is performed, and is rotated by the drive of a drive unit (not shown).

[0029] The discharge section E discharges the cut flat tube T conveyed from the cutting section D outside the machine.

[0030] The operation unit F includes a keyboard consisting of multiple keys such as a shift key, letter / number / symbol keys, space key, conversion key, cross directional key, and enter key, and an input control unit (not shown) that outputs signals according to key operations on the keyboard. The type, size, recording characters, recording quantity, whether or not to cut, etc. of the recording medium are input by key operations on the keyboard in the operation unit F. The input control unit of the operation unit F outputs signals to the control unit 5 to set the recording conditions and cutting conditions according to the key operations on the keyboard.

[0031] The ribbon cassette G contains an ink ribbon 22. The ribbon cassette G is attached to the recording device A and transports the contained ink ribbon 22 to the recording unit C.

[0032] The ink ribbon 22 is supplied from a supply spool (not shown) of the ribbon cassette G and taken up by a take-up spool (not shown) of the ribbon cassette G. The platen roller 20 and the transport roller 23 of the recording unit C and the take-up spool of the ribbon cassette G are connected by a drive train (not shown), and are rotated by the ribbon / transport motor 4.

[0033] The display unit H includes an LCD and a display control unit (not shown) that performs display processing on the LCD. The LCD is divided into a recording information display area that displays the recording mode, recording quantity, cutting conditions, etc., a character information display area that displays letters, numbers, symbols, etc. input from the operation unit F, and a parameter display area that displays the character size, number of pages, etc. The user can check the detailed conditions to be recorded on the display unit H.

[0034] The power supply unit 1 supplies power to the control unit 5 .

[0035] The head / cutter motor 2 is driven under the control of the control unit 5 to drive the cutter 30 .

[0036] The thermal head motor 3 is driven under the control of the control unit 5 to drive the thermal head 21 .

[0037] The ribbon / transport motor 4 is driven under the control of the control unit 5 to drive the platen roller 20, the transport roller 23, and the take-up spool of the ribbon cassette G.

[0038] The control unit 5 is composed of a CPU, ROM, and RAM, none of which are shown in the figure. The control unit 5 is driven by power supplied from the power supply unit 1, and controls the driving of the display unit H, head / cutter motor 2, thermal head motor 3, and ribbon / conveyor motor 4 based on signals input from the operation unit F. The control unit 5 also controls the overall operation of the recording device A other than the above, although illustration and description are omitted.

[0039] The attachment 45 is detachably mounted on the recording apparatus A. The attachment 45 guides the set flat tube T to the recording unit C while transporting the tube T along the transport path P via the supply rollers 11 and 12.

[0040] <Attachment configuration> The configuration of the attachment 45 of the recording device A according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Figures 6 to 13. Figure 10 illustrates an example in which a name plate K is attached as a recording medium.

[0041] The attachment 45 includes a guide member 46 , a recess 47 , a roller portion 48 , a groove portion 49 , a pressure member 50 , a pressure portion upper cover 51 , and a transport path width adjustment member 53 .

[0042] 11 is a diagram showing the recess 47 of the guide member 46. The name plate K is transported while contacting the recess 47, and then is transported while contacting the groove 49 of the roller portion 48. When the name plate K is transported, the name plate K is transported without contacting the bottom 54 of the guide member 46.

[0043] In Fig. 12, Fig. 12(a) to Fig. 12(d) each show a different shape of recess 47. In Fig. 13, Fig. 13(a) to Fig. 13(c) each show a different shape of groove 49.

[0044] The guide member 46 guides the name plate K transported by the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 to the recording unit C. The guide member 46 is inclined in the pressing direction (downward in FIG. 10) against the name plate K from the upstream side (right side in FIG. 9) toward the downstream side (left side in FIG. 10) in the transport direction.

[0045] The recess 47 is recessed in the bottom surface of the guide member 46. The width H1 of the most upstream portion in the conveying direction of the recess 47 is larger than the width H3 of the most downstream portion in the conveying direction (H1>H3), and the width H3 of the most downstream portion in the conveying direction is larger than the thickness of the name plate and the minor axis of the flat tube. The recess 47 presses the name plate K toward the conveying reference surface 43 of the conveying path P of the name plate K to guide the name plate K to the recording unit C. The recess 47 may have any of the shapes of the recess 47a shown in FIG. 12(a), the recess 47b shown in FIG. 12(b), the recess 47c shown in FIG. 12(c), and the recess 47d shown in FIG. 12(d).

[0046] The roller portion 48 is provided between the guide member 46 and the recording unit C, and transports the name plate K to the recording unit C. The roller portion 48 is disposed such that a center Q2 of the groove portion 49 in the width direction coincides with a center Q1 of the guide member 46 in the width direction.

[0047] The groove portion 49 is provided in the roller portion 48 along the circumferential direction of the roller portion 48. The groove portion 49 is provided at the same position as the recessed portion 47 in the width direction (the up-down direction in FIG. 6) by disposing the roller portion 48 so that the center Q2 in the width direction coincides with the center Q1 in the width direction of the guide member 46.

[0048] The groove 49 has a width H4 that is larger than the width H3 of the most downstream portion of the recess 47 and smaller than the width H1 of the most upstream portion of the recess 47 (H1>H4>H3). The groove 49 may have any of the shapes of the groove 49a shown in FIG. 13(a), the groove 49b shown in FIG. 13(b), and the groove 49c shown in FIG. 13(c). The groove 49 presses the name plate K guided by the guide member 46 toward the conveying reference surface 43. The groove 49 is not limited to having a width larger than the width H3 of the most downstream portion of the recess 47, and may have the same width as the width H3 of the most downstream portion of the recess 47 (H4=H3).

[0049] In addition, the widthwise center Q2 of the groove portion 49 and the widthwise center Q1 of the guide member 46 do not necessarily have to be positioned so as to coincide with each other, and may be misaligned as long as the width H3 of the downstreammost portion of the recess 47 is within the width H4 of the groove portion 49.

[0050] The pressure member 50 is an elastically deformable spring member, which is provided between the guide member 46 and the pressure unit upper cover 51, and urges the guide member 46 downward when the name plate K passes and presses the guide member 46 upward. When the name plate K is not set in the recording device A, the guide member 46 is installed so as to be inclined. At that time, the distance between the most downstream part in the transport direction of the recess 47 of the guide member 46 and the transport reference surface 43 is shorter than the distance between the most upstream part in the transport direction of the recess 47 and the transport reference surface 43. Note that instead of providing a spring member, the guide member 46 may be configured to be urged by its own weight.

[0051] The pressure unit upper cover 51 covers a part of the guide member 46 .

[0052] The transport path width adjustment members 53 are erected from the transport reference surface 43 on both sides in the width direction of the transport path P. The distance H2 between the pair of transport path width adjustment members 53 is smaller than the width H1 of the most upstream part in the transport direction of the recessed portion 47 (H1>H2) (see FIG. 9). Note that the distance H2 between the pair of transport path width adjustment members 53 is not limited to being smaller than the width H1 of the most upstream part in the transport direction of the recessed portion 47, and may be the same as the width H1 of the most upstream part in the transport direction of the recessed portion 47 (H1=H2).

[0053] <Recording Processing> The recording process according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

[0054] The recording process shown in FIG. 14 is started when the operation unit F is operated and the control unit 5 starts executing a print job.

[0055] First, the control unit 5 drives the conveying roller 23 to rotate in the forward direction, thereby conveying the recording medium in the conveying direction (S1).

[0056] Next, the control unit 5 determines whether or not the leading edge of the recording medium in the transport direction has been detected based on the detection result of a leading edge detection sensor (not shown) provided between the recording unit C and the cutting unit D (S2).

[0057] When the control unit 5 does not detect the leading edge of the recording medium in the transport direction (S2: NO), the process returns to step S1.

[0058] On the other hand, when the control unit 5 detects the leading edge of the recording medium in the transport direction (S2: YES), it stops driving the transport roller 23 (S3).

[0059] Next, the control unit 5 drives the conveying roller 23 in the reverse direction to convey the recording medium in the opposite direction to the conveying direction (S4).

[0060] Next, the control unit 5 determines whether or not the recording medium has been transported to the recording position (S5).

[0061] When the recording medium has not been transported to the recording position (S5: NO), the control unit 5 returns to the process of step S4.

[0062] On the other hand, when the recording medium has been transported to the recording position (S5: YES), the control unit 5 stops driving the transport roller 23 and starts the recording operation (S6).

[0063] Next, the control unit 5 drives the transport roller 23 to rotate in the normal direction (S7), thereby performing a recording process at a predetermined position on the recording medium.

[0064] Next, the control unit 5 controls the driving of the head / cutter motor 2 to perform a cutting operation to cut the recording medium at a predetermined position (S8), and then ends the recording process.

[0065] <Attachment Operation> The operation of the attachment 45 of the recording apparatus A according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

[0066] In Figure 15, Figure 15(a) shows a schematic cross-section of a conventional name plate attachment 41 corresponding to the LL cross-section of Figure 6, and Figure 15(b) shows a schematic cross-section of a conventional name plate attachment 41 corresponding to the MM cross-section of Figure 6.

[0067] In Fig. 16, Fig. 16(a) is a schematic cross-section of conventional tube attachment 40 corresponding to the LL cross-section of Fig. 6, showing a state in which flat tube T2 is tilted and laid down on its side, and Fig. 16(b) is a schematic cross-section of conventional tube attachment 40 corresponding to the MM cross-section of Fig. 6.

[0068] 17, Fig. 17(a) is a schematic cross-section of conventional tube attachment 40 corresponding to the LL cross-section of Fig. 6, showing the state where flat tube T2 passes through the gap beside pressure member 42. Also, Fig. 17(b) is a schematic cross-section of conventional tube attachment 40 corresponding to the MM cross-section of Fig. 6.

[0069] In Fig. 18, Fig. 18(a) shows a state in which the corner 52 of the name plate K abuts against the upstream side of the conveying direction of the recess 47 of the guide member 46. Fig. 18(b) shows a state in which the name plate K is conveyed toward the downstream side in the conveying direction while pushing the guide member 46 upward. Fig. 18(c) shows a state in which the name plate K is guided by the recess 47. Fig. 18(d) shows a state in which the name plate K is perpendicular to the conveying reference plane 43.

[0070] First, the operation of a conventional attachment will be described for comparison with this embodiment.

[0071] As shown in Fig. 15, a conventional name plate attachment 41 has a pressure member 42 that presses the name plate K toward the transport reference surface 43. The name plate attachment 41 conveys the name plate K by passing it under the pressure member 42, and as it passes, the pressure member 42 presses the name plate K toward the transport reference surface 43. The pressure member 42 presses the name plate K toward the transport reference surface 43 by the biasing force of a leaf spring (not shown). At this time, the pressure member 42 has a width that is sufficiently larger than the width H11, so that the pressure member 42 can maintain the pressurized state on the name plate K. The name plate K conveyed in this manner is recorded when it arrives at the recording section C.

[0072] Here, when the name plate attachment 41 is used, only the name plate K can be used as a recording medium, and the width H11 of the medium transport path is set to a width that allows only one name plate K to pass through, and recording media thicker than the width H11 cannot pass through. Therefore, the name plate attachment 41 cannot transport recording media other than the name plate K. For example, in the past, when recording on a flat tube T2, which has been used more frequently in recent years, the only way to record was to replace it with the tube attachment 40 shown in Fig. 16, which has a wider transport path width, but this causes the following problems.

[0073] When the flat tube T2 is set on the tube attachment 40 having a wide transport path, it becomes slanted in the transport path as shown in FIG. 16(a).

[0074] In particular, the flat tube T2, which has a weak stiffness, is not pushed open even when pressed by the pressure member 42. As a result, the flat tube T2 has nowhere to escape and passes through the gap to the side of the pressure member 42 as shown in Fig. 17(a), or passes through the gap below the pressure member 42 in a fallen state as shown in Fig. 16(a). If the flat tube T2 is sandwiched between the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 in this state, it will slip through the gap between the pressure member 42 and the transport path, and will not be pressed toward the transport reference surface 43 and will float up from the medium transport path.

[0075] Therefore, when recording is performed in this state, the flat tube T2 is not recorded in the correct position.

[0076] Also, if the name plate is set on the tube attachment 40 by mistake, the name will not be recorded in the correct position on the name plate, just like the flat tube T2.

[0077] It should be noted that the name plate attachment of Patent Document 1, like the conventional name plate attachment described above, is configured in such a way that it cannot transport any media other than name plates.

[0078] In contrast, in the attachment 45 mounted on the recording device A of the present embodiment, when the set name plate K is transported along the transport reference surface 43 of the transport path P, the corners 52 of the name plate K come into contact with the recesses 47 of the guide member 46. At this time, the name plate K is adjusted by the transport path width adjustment member 53 so that the corners 52 always come into contact with one of the recesses 47 (FIG. 18(a)).

[0079] Because the guide member 46 is inclined from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the conveying direction, the name plate K is conveyed toward the downstream side in the conveying direction while the corners 52 push the guide member 46 upward (FIG. 18(b)). During this time, the name plate K is conveyed toward the downstream side in the conveying direction while being pressed toward the conveying reference surface 43 by the recesses 47 of the guide member 46.

[0080] The name plate K transported downstream in the transport direction is guided (rectified) to the downstream side of the narrow recess 47 (FIG. 18(c)). At this time, the name plate K is pressed from above by the recess 47 of the guide member 46, so it is pulled into the groove 49 of the roller portion 48 without falling out of the recess 47. In addition, by making the width of the groove 49 wider than the width of the recess 47 at the most downstream part in the transport direction, the name plate K can be smoothly transferred from the guide member 46 to the roller portion 48.

[0081] Thereafter, when the name plate K reaches the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 while maintaining the state of being pressed by the groove 49 of the roller portion 48, the name plate K is transported so as to follow the surface of the groove 49 and is pressed by the groove 49 toward the transport datum surface 43. As a result, the name plate K, which was transported in an inclined state on the transport path P, becomes perpendicular to the transport datum surface 43 (FIG. 18(d)), and while maintaining this perpendicular state, it is transported to the recording section C and recorded.

[0082] In this way, by constantly pressing the name plate K toward the transport reference surface 43 with the guide member 46, it is possible to stably guide the name plate K toward the recording unit C. In addition, by pressing the name plate K toward the transport reference surface 43 with both the recessed portion 47 of the guide member 46 and the groove portion 49 of the roller portion 48, it is possible to stably guide the name plate K toward the recording unit C.

[0083] The operation of the attachment 45 described above with reference to FIG. 18 is not limited to the case where the name plate K is set on the attachment 45, but is similar to the case where the flat tube T is set on the attachment 45.

[0084] Specifically, in the attachment 45, when the set flat tube T is transported along the transport reference surface 43 of the transport path P, the flat tube T comes into contact with the recesses 47 of the guide member 46. At this time, the flat tube T is adjusted by the transport path width adjustment member 53 so that it always comes into contact with one of the recesses 47.

[0085] The flat tube T is transported downstream in the transport direction while pushing upward the guide member 46. During this, the flat tube T is kept pressed toward the transport reference surface 43 by the recess 47 of the guide member 46 and transported downstream in the transport direction.

[0086] The flat tube T transported downstream in the transport direction is guided (rectified) to the downstream side of the narrow recess 47. At this time, the flat tube T is pressed from above by the recess 47 of the guide member 46, and is therefore pulled into the groove 49 of the roller portion 48 without falling out of the recess 47.

[0087] Thereafter, when the flat tube T reaches the supply roller 11 and the supply roller 12 while maintaining the state of being pressed by the groove 49 of the roller portion 48, it is transported so as to follow the surface of the groove 49 and is pressed by the groove 49 toward the transport reference surface 43. As a result, the flat tube T, which was transported in an inclined state on the transport path P, becomes perpendicular to the transport reference surface 43, and is transported to the recording unit C while maintaining this perpendicular state and recorded there.

[0088] Incidentally, the attachment 45 can be used as is even when a cylindrical tube is used as the recording medium for recording device A. In this case, the bottom 54 of guide member 46 also comes into contact with the tube, pressing the tube against transport reference surface 43. Furthermore, by making transport path width adjustment member 53 detachable from attachment 45, it becomes possible to guide even a tube having an outer diameter larger than width H11.

[0089] According to the recording device A, in addition to the cylindrical tube, the attachment 45 can guide both the name plate K and the flat tube T toward the recording section C while stably pressing them toward the transport reference surface 43. This makes it possible to improve the recording accuracy when recording on recording media of various shapes.

[0090] In this embodiment, a guide member 46 having a recess 47 whose width at the most upstream portion in the transport direction of the recording medium is wider than that at the most downstream portion in the transport direction presses the recording medium against the transport reference surface 43 by the recess 47, and guides the recording medium to the recording unit C. This makes it possible to perform recording at the correct position on various types of recording media.

[0091] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0092] Specifically, in the above embodiment, the guide member 46 is provided with the recess 47, but in the case where the recording medium is guided to the recording unit C by the main body of the recording device A, the recess 47 may be provided in the main body of the device. [Explanation of symbols]

[0093] A Recording device B Supply section C Recording section D Cut section F Operation section G Ribbon Cassette H display K name plate P Transport path T Flat tube 5. Control section 11 Supply roller 12 Supply roller 20 Platen roller 21 Thermal head 22 Ink ribbon 23 Conveyor roller 45 Attachment 46 Guide member 47 Recess 47a Recess 47b Recess 47c Recess 47d Recess 48 Roller 49 Groove 49a Groove 49b Groove 49c Groove 50 Pressure member 51 Pressurizing unit upper cover 53 Conveyor path width adjustment member

Claims

1. A thermal head capable of recording on a cylindrical tube and a flat name plate by thermal transfer; a conveying path through which the tube and the name plate can pass, the conveying path including two walls provided at a predetermined interval, and a reference portion provided between the two walls and in a predetermined positional relationship with the thermal head; a roller section which presses the tube and the name plate toward the reference section to bring the tube and the name plate into contact with the reference section, the roller section having a groove section along a circumferential direction for preventing the name plate from coming off the roller section when the name plate is pressed, and which presses one side end of the name plate with the groove section to bring the other side end of the name plate into contact with the reference section when the name plate is set on the transport path; a guide that contacts the one side end of the name plate and guides the one side end of the name plate to the groove when the name plate is set on the transport path; Equipped with A recording device, characterized in that the name plate can be supported by the reference portion and the groove portion.

2. The guide has a recess whose width narrows toward the groove, 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the name plate is transported while the recess and the one side edge of the name plate are in contact with each other, and the one side edge is guided to the groove.

3. An attachment that can be attached to and detached from a recording device capable of recording on a tube and a name plate by a thermal transfer method, a transport path through which the tube and the name plate can pass, the transport path including two walls spaced at a predetermined interval and a reference portion provided between the two walls and having a predetermined positional relationship with a thermal head when the attachment is attached to the recording device; a roller section which presses the tube and the name plate toward the reference section to bring the tube and the name plate into contact with the reference section, the roller section having a groove section along a circumferential direction for preventing the name plate from coming off the roller section when the name plate is pressed, and which presses one side end of the name plate with the groove section to bring the other side end of the name plate into contact with the reference section when the name plate is set on the transport path; a guide that contacts the one side end of the name plate and guides the one side end of the name plate to the groove when the name plate is set on the transport path; Equipped with An attachment capable of supporting the name plate with the reference portion and the groove portion.

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