Patent ID: 7701609

Claim:
A thermal transfer type image recording apparatus for forming an image on a sheet-shaped recording medium using a thermal head, the image recording apparatus comprising: a frictional carrier drum that is rotated in synchronous relation with a thermal transfer process, the entire surface of at least a portion thereof with which the recording medium comes in contact being covered with an elastic member, such as rubber; a recording medium guiding mechanism for guiding the recording medium toward the frictional carrier drum; and one or more auxiliary carrier members for feeding the recording medium with rotation of the frictional carrier drum in such a way at least a part of the recording medium comes into close contact with the frictional carrier drum, wherein a friction coefficient between the frictional carrier drum and the recording medium and a friction coefficient between the recording medium and the auxiliary carrier members is set such that a ratio of the friction coefficient between the recording medium and the auxiliary carrier members to the coefficient between the frictional carrier drum and the recording medium is set to be 35% or less, wherein the contact length between the recording medium and the frictional carrier drum is a quarter or more of an outer circumference of the frictional carrier drum, and wherein an allowable deviation amount of a slip generated between the recording medium and the frictional carrier drum is kept within 75 μm.