Shinko Electric Company, Ltd.

Hitoshi Nakagawa

Junji Kawano

Hayami Sugiyama

Hiromitsu Ogita

Susumu Mitsushima

Hiroaki Fukuoka

Minoru Yamakuni

Kenichi Kawahara

Shigeyuki Kawamura

Kazuhiro Tsuji

Yoshikazu Miyashita

Hideaki Sekiguchi

In a thermal-transfer-type color printer, an ink ribbon and a paper are sandwiched between a thermal head and a platen roller so that a specific image is transferred onto the paper in a specific color. The platen roller is made by a rubber material which has a certain degree of hardness. On the surface of the ink ribbon, plural colors of ink are sequentially and repeatedly painted. Hence, after transferring an image onto the paper in one color, the paper is moved backward; and then, another image is transferred onto the paper in another color. Thus, a multi-color printing is performed. In order to avoid a color shade or an printing error, in which a printing position of one-color image does not accurately match with a printing position of another-color image, the paper should be accurately moved forward and backward. In order to do so, the thermal-transfer-type color printer provides a precise paper-feed mechanism which comprises a pinch roller and a paper-feed roller. Around a surface of the paper-feed roller, micro projections are formed in predetermined size and shape, so that the paper is certainly held between the pinch roller and paper-feed roller. The micro projections can be formed at a selected surface area of the paper-feed roller. Those micro projections are formed by carrying out an etching process using a masking pattern formed at a certain surface area of the paper-feed roller.

Thermal-transfer-type color printer having a feed roller with micro

An image reader is capable of improving the quality of reading a transmission manuscript and of reducing a cost for a luminaire power source compared with the conventional image reader. The image reader comprises a casing having a ceiling of a transparent manuscript plate, the casing further housing therein a read unit provided with a reflection read light source unit, a drive mechanism for reciprocally moving the read unit from its home position and a luminaire power source unit; and a transmission read light source unit provided separately from the casing, wherein the transmitted light which has passed the manuscript or the reflected light which has reflected from the manuscript is focused on the receiving surface of a read sensor of the read unit to thereby produce the image thereon, wherein the transmission read light source unit can be connected to the read unit mechanically and electrically by a connecting mechanism having a releasing function, and cooperate with the read unit, and wherein the casing has recess portions thereon in the scanning direction of the connecting mechanism, and wherein the luminaire power source unit is provided with an inverter power source which is common to the reflection read light source unit and the transmission read light source unit and a light source unit switching device which can switch the output of the inverter power source to the reflection read light source unit or the transmission read light source unit.

Image reader

Growing community of inventors

Ise, Japan

Hitoshi Nakagawa