EP0134022A2 - Imprimante thermique - Google Patents

Imprimante thermique Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0134022A2
EP0134022A2 EP84109471A EP84109471A EP0134022A2 EP 0134022 A2 EP0134022 A2 EP 0134022A2 EP 84109471 A EP84109471 A EP 84109471A EP 84109471 A EP84109471 A EP 84109471A EP 0134022 A2 EP0134022 A2 EP 0134022A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
thermal
carriage
ribbon
print head
printer
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
EP84109471A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0134022A3 (en
EP0134022B1 (fr
Inventor
Akira Sasaki
Kazuyuki Mashiko
Shouji Saitoh
Akiyoshi Hakoyama
Syozi Yokoyama
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Hitachi Ltd
Original Assignee
Hitachi Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Hitachi Ltd filed Critical Hitachi Ltd
Publication of EP0134022A2 publication Critical patent/EP0134022A2/fr
Publication of EP0134022A3 publication Critical patent/EP0134022A3/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0134022B1 publication Critical patent/EP0134022B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/345—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads characterised by the arrangement of resistors or conductors
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/315—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material
    • B41J2/32—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads
    • B41J2/35—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by selective application of heat to a heat sensitive printing or impression-transfer material using thermal heads providing current or voltage to the thermal head
    • B41J2/355—Control circuits for heating-element selection
    • B41J2/36—Print density control

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a thermal printer capable of printing characters in various sizes.
  • the present invention resides in a thermal printer having a plurality of arrays of thermal elements constituting a print head, each array of thermal elements being provided with a different pitch or size of thermal elements, so that the size of printed characters can readily be changed by selectively activating an array of thermal elements.
  • Fig. 1 includes a controller 1, side boards 2, a carriage drive motor 3, a paper feed knob 4, a carriage drive belt 5, a clamp 6, a frame 7, a carriage 8, a ribbon take-up belt 9, a ribbon cassette 10, a line feed gear 11, a paper release lever 12, a line feed motor 13, a dual print head 14, a platen 15, a motor frame 16, and a shaft 17.
  • the ribbon cassette shown in Fig. 4 contains a ribbon sensor 18, a ribbon drive pulley 19, guide pins 20, an inked ribbon 21, a ribbon take-up rubber 22, and ribbon take-up pulleys 23.
  • the side boards 2 are secured by screws to the motor frame 16 constituting the main frame of the printer, and the frame 7 and shaft 17 are fixed by screws between the side boards 2.
  • the line feed motor 13 is secured by screws to the side board 2
  • the carriage drive motor 3 is secured by screws to the motor frame 16.
  • the platen 15 provided with the line feed gear 11 and paper feed knob 4 is fixed rotatably between the side boards 2.
  • the carriage 8 is mounted slidably on the shaft 17, and the thermal head 14 and ribbon cassette 10 are mounted on the carriage 8.
  • the inked ribbon 21 is taken up by the gear mechanism provided on the carriage 8 and the ribbon drive belt 9.
  • the drive belt 9 is fixed on the side board 2 by the clamp 6.
  • the carriage drive motor 3, line feed motor 13 and thermal print head 14 are operated by the controller 1 as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1.
  • the carriage 8 fixed on the carriage drive belt 5 is moved from left to right by the rotation of the carriage drive motor 3, the inked ribbon 21 in the ribbon cassette 10 is taken up, while it is stationary when the carriage is moved reversely.
  • the ribbon take-up force is produced by the inked ribbon drive mechanism on the carriage 8 and transmitted to the ribbon drive pulley 19.
  • the transmitted force is used to take up the inked ribbon 21 through the ribbon take-up rubber 22 which is pressed to both coiled ribbons 21 as shown in Fig. 4.
  • the ribbon take-up rubber 22 runs between the ribbon take-up pulley 23 and the ribbon drive pulley 19, and the inked ribbon 21 is led by the guide pins 20. Accordingly, when the ribbon drive pulley 19 rotates, the inked ribbon 21 is taken up, while during the movement of the inked ribbon 21, the ribbon sensor 18 checks the presence of the ribbon 21.
  • Fig. 5 shows the external view of the thermal print head 14 used in the thermal transfer printer arranged as described above.
  • a head substrate 34 On a head substrate 34, there are provided arrays of thermal resistor elements 24 and 25, head drivers 28 and 29, shift register 27, and connectors 26.
  • Fig. 6 shows the magnified view of the thermal resistor elements.
  • Each thermal resistor element has a longitudinal dimension of & and a lateral dimension of W, and they are aligned at a pitch of P.
  • the size of characters printed by these thermal resistor arrays can be changed. For example, by making the thermal resistor array 24 to have a pitch Pl for Point-12 characters and the thermal resistor array 25 to have a pitch P2 for Point-10 characters, characters of Point-12 and Point-10 can be printed using these thermal resistor arrays selectively.
  • the controller 1 is provided with a character size switching controller arranged as shown in Fig. 7.
  • reference numbers 24 and 25 denote the above-mentioned thermal resistor arrays
  • 32 is a switch
  • 30 is a memory
  • 31 is a processor
  • 27 is a shift register
  • 28 and 29 are head drivers A and B for energizing the print head
  • 33 is an inverter
  • All - A ln and A 21 -A 2n are AND gates
  • Q ll Q ln and Q 21 -Q 2n are transistors
  • R denotes resistors.
  • the print operation by the thermal resistor array 24 will first be described.
  • the switch 32 is turned off, i.e., the contacts open, one of three inputs of the AND gates A 11 -A 1n becomes high.
  • the AND gates A 21 -A 2n receive the low output of the inverter 33, providing low outputs irrespective of the remaining two inputs, and the driving transistors Q 21 -Q 2n for the thermal resistor array (B) 25 are kept cut off. Namely, the thermal resistor array 24 is selected.
  • the processor 31 sends print data (DATA) in the memory 30 over the data lines (DATA) to the shift register (SR) 27 in synchronism with the clock (CLK), and the data is latched in stages O 1 -Q n of the shift register (SR) 27 by the latch signal (LATCH).
  • the processor 31 issues the print command signal (STRB)
  • the transistors Q 11 -Q 1n operate to drive respective thermal resistor elements R 11 -R 1n in accordance with the print data (DATA) supplied to one input of the AND gates A 11 -A 1n ⁇
  • the switch 32 For the print operation using the thermal resistor array 25, the switch 32 is closed.
  • the signal SELO goes low, causing the transistors Q 11 -Q 1n for the thermal resistor array 24 to be cut off by the same reason as mentioned above, and the AND gates A21-A2n are given the high input so that the thermal resistor array 25 is selected.
  • the relatively simple arrangement as described above allows printing of characters in two sizes.
  • This arrangement fairly meets the needs of extensive applications, and the use of a thermal print head with the capability of two character sizes allows a considerable cost reduction when compared with printers which need several thermal print heads for this purpose.

Landscapes

  • Electronic Switches (AREA)
  • Impression-Transfer Materials And Handling Thereof (AREA)
EP84109471A 1983-08-10 1984-08-09 Imprimante thermique Expired EP0134022B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP58146947A JPS6036177A (ja) 1983-08-10 1983-08-10 感熱プリンタ
JP146947/83 1983-08-10

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0134022A2 true EP0134022A2 (fr) 1985-03-13
EP0134022A3 EP0134022A3 (en) 1985-07-17
EP0134022B1 EP0134022B1 (fr) 1987-11-25

Family

ID=15419170

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP84109471A Expired EP0134022B1 (fr) 1983-08-10 1984-08-09 Imprimante thermique

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0134022B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS6036177A (fr)
KR (1) KR910004966B1 (fr)
DE (1) DE3467734D1 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0159642A2 (fr) * 1984-04-16 1985-10-30 Hitachi, Ltd. Tête d'impression thermique
EP0194528A2 (fr) * 1985-03-15 1986-09-17 Hitachi, Ltd. Imprimante comportant une tête thermique
EP0202866A1 (fr) * 1985-05-23 1986-11-26 International Business Machines Corporation Imprimante avec moyen pour alimentation supplémentaire du ruban encreur en cas de besoin

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS63112645A (ja) * 1986-10-29 1988-05-17 Kanegafuchi Chem Ind Co Ltd 熱可塑性樹脂組成物

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4134696A (en) * 1975-12-05 1979-01-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Printing apparatus
EP0072494A2 (fr) * 1981-08-14 1983-02-23 Mitani Electronics Industry Corp. Imprimante thermique
DE3315257A1 (de) * 1982-04-28 1983-11-03 Canon K.K., Tokyo Thermodrucker

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4134696A (en) * 1975-12-05 1979-01-16 Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Printing apparatus
EP0072494A2 (fr) * 1981-08-14 1983-02-23 Mitani Electronics Industry Corp. Imprimante thermique
DE3315257A1 (de) * 1982-04-28 1983-11-03 Canon K.K., Tokyo Thermodrucker

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0159642A2 (fr) * 1984-04-16 1985-10-30 Hitachi, Ltd. Tête d'impression thermique
EP0159642A3 (en) * 1984-04-16 1986-12-30 Hitachi, Ltd. Thermal head
EP0194528A2 (fr) * 1985-03-15 1986-09-17 Hitachi, Ltd. Imprimante comportant une tête thermique
EP0194528A3 (en) * 1985-03-15 1988-11-09 Hitachi, Ltd. Printer having a thermal head
EP0202866A1 (fr) * 1985-05-23 1986-11-26 International Business Machines Corporation Imprimante avec moyen pour alimentation supplémentaire du ruban encreur en cas de besoin
AU579244B2 (en) * 1985-05-23 1988-11-17 Lexmark International Inc. Ribbon feed with ink depletion compensation

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS6036177A (ja) 1985-02-25
KR910004966B1 (ko) 1991-07-20
KR850002082A (ko) 1985-05-06
EP0134022A3 (en) 1985-07-17
EP0134022B1 (fr) 1987-11-25
DE3467734D1 (en) 1988-01-07

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