JP2003019820A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a thermal transfer printer ensuring good printing on a medium which causes to crease a ribbon due to difference of thickness or hardness of the medium. SOLUTION: A sheet 18 having a hardness different from that of the platen 3 of a thermal transfer printer is laid on the platen and a fixing/removing/ securing mechanism is disposed at a position causing no trouble in the traveling of a medium being printed. A ribbon 10 is prevented from being creased by altering the amount of a thermal head 12 biting into the medium 15 at the time of printing thus ensuring good printing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer that carries a thermal head of 1 inch or more and prints by using an ink ribbon. What is the hardness of a platen that is standardly attached to the thermal transfer printer? The present invention relates to a large-sized thermal transfer printer that provides high-quality printing by laying a different removable sheet on a platen and fixing the sheet, so that the standard platen can cope with media that cannot be printed well.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional large-scale thermal transfer printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer). This printer is equipped with a carriage 5 having a thermal head of 1 inch or more, and is shown in FIG. In addition, the thermal head 12 of the printer has an ink ribbon 10 (hereinafter referred to as ribbon).
The medium 15 is pressed against the platen 3 via the thermal head 12, and the thermal head 12 generates heat to melt the ribbon 10 to transfer dots to the medium 15 to form characters and pictures.

In order to print with a thermal transfer printer, pressure must be applied from the thermal head 12 to the ribbon 10 and the medium 15. Basically, the platen having a high hardness allows the printing from the thermal head 12 to concentrate on the printing portion of the ribbon 10 and the medium 15, so that the printing can be performed neatly. However, in the case of a thermal transfer printer using the thermal head 12 of 1 inch or more, it is difficult to make the height of the surface of the thermal head 12 uniform due to the warp of the thermal head 12 itself and the variation in component mounting.

When a platen having a high hardness is used, uneven pressure is generated by hitting the thermal head 12,
The print results vary. On the contrary, if a platen with a low hardness is used, the thermal head 12 will be
Since it cuts into the ribbon, there is a problem of ribbon running and insufficient pressure applied to the ribbon and media, and it is not possible to print neatly.

As a result, the platen 3 mounted on the printer is selected to have a hardness that allows variation in the height of the thermal head 12 in accordance with the medium 15 used in the market, and this is the standard.

In other words, when printing on the medium 12 which requires a hardness deviating from the standard hardness of the platen, a good printing result cannot be obtained. Since the medium 15 used for the banner as an example is thicker and softer than the normal medium, the thermal head 12 bites into the medium 15 in the platen 3 having the standard hardness, causing distortion in ribbon running and causing wrinkles in the ribbon. Therefore, there is a problem that good printing cannot be performed.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention is intended to provide a thermal transfer printer device capable of excellent printing on a medium in which wrinkles are likely to occur on the ribbon due to different thickness and hardness of the medium. is there.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in order to change the hardness of a platen attached to a thermal transfer printer, a hardness different from that of the platen is provided on the platen. A seat is laid, and a mechanism is provided for easily attaching and detaching and fixing the seat. In addition, a mechanism for attaching and detaching the seat is fixed between the seat and the platen so that the carriage travels without hindrance, and a U-shaped metal fitting is used as a means for easily attaching and detaching and fixing the seat. However, there are some that are arranged.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The invention will be described below based on an embodiment of a mechanism of laying a sheet having a hardness different from that of the platen on the platen of the thermal transfer printer, and attaching and detaching and fixing the sheet.

[0010]

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 3 shows a sheet according to the present invention. This sheet 18 is made of a plastic material having a vinyl chloride content of about 100 μm, and is made of a material whose hardness is harder than that of the platen to which it is attached.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing the attachment of the sheet 18 having holes at both ends and the platen base 20. The sheet 18 is formed by inserting the holes of the sheet 18 into the pins 19 standing on the platen base 20 of the printer. It is fixed by attaching the rubber cap 21 from above the pin. At the time of attachment / detachment, the sheet can be easily removed by removing the rubber cap 21.

As a result, when printing on a soft and thick medium, by attaching the sheet 18, the thermal head does not bite into the medium and ribbon running is stabilized, so that good printing can be obtained.

The position of the pin 19 for fixing the seat is
It is arranged outside the maximum media width 25 shown in FIG. 4 and is attached at a position where it does not hinder the running of the media.

The sheet 18 has a pin 19 and a rubber cap 21.
In the method of pressing the sheet, only the end portion of the sheet 18 is pressed, so that the sheet 18 may cause a printing failure due to slack. In addition, the pin 19 which is a pressing mechanism
Since the rubber cap 21 is provided on the platen, there is a problem that the carriage is obstructed and the reciprocating movement width is narrowed.

There is a need to improve the prevention of sheet slack that causes printing problems, and to remove and fix the sheet above the platen, which interferes with carriage travel, and to provide a fixing mechanism.

In the second and third aspects of the invention, the seat is not loosened and the seat attaching / detaching / fixing mechanism is not provided above the platen. FIG. 5 is an embodiment showing these inventions.

Sheet 1 laid on the platen shown in FIG.
A U-shaped metal fitting holder A22 is attached to the rear surface of 8, and a holder B23, which is a U-shaped metal fitting, is attached to the platen base 20.
Attach.

The holder A22 attached to the seat is
It is arranged in the direction shown in FIG. 6, and is fitted and attached to the holder B23 on the platen base. When the printer prints, as shown at 24 in FIG.
The holders B23 come into contact with each other to prevent the sheet from shifting.

Since the holder is arranged and pressed at several positions on the sheet, the sheet and the platen are integrated, and the sheet can be fixed without causing slack in the sheet. Also, when attaching or detaching, the carriage can be easily removed by pulling it in the opposite direction to the printing direction.

Since the holder for the mechanism for attaching / detaching and fixing the sheet is not provided on the upper surface of the sheet, it does not hinder the running of the carriage or the medium for printing.

Although not shown, a similar effect can be obtained by using a snap-in mechanism, a magnet mechanism, or a fitting mechanism other than the U-shape for such a mechanism for attaching and detaching the seat.

[0022]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the platen hardness is changed by attaching a sheet to a medium which is likely to have wrinkles on the ribbon because the hardness of the platen does not match. As a result, good printing without wrinkles can be obtained. Further, claim 2
According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide the printer device in which the slack of the sheet does not occur at the time of printing and the sheet attaching / detaching / fixing mechanism is not provided on the platen, so that the traveling of the carriage is not hindered.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a conventional thermal transfer printer device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing principle of a thermal transfer printer.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a sheet of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the present invention in which a pin and a rubber cap are used to attach a seal.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the seat attachment of the present invention using a holder.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing fitting of holders A and B.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Large thermal transfer printer 2 Operation panel 3 Platen 4 Carriage drive unit 5 carriage 6 pinch rollers 7 Paper feed roller 8 Paper winding shaft 9 Ink ribbon winding side 10 Ink ribbon 11 head plate 12 Thermal head 13 Print direction 14 head base 15 media (paper) 16 Ink ribbon supply side 17 Ribbon shaft 18 sheets 19 Seat mounting pin 20 Platen base 21 rubber cap 22 Holder A 23 Holder B 24 Holder A, B hit 25 maximum print media width

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Manabu Muto             182 Shinmitsu, Shinjuku, Iruma-shi, Saitama Co., Ltd.             In YEE data F-term (reference) 2C065 AF01 DA07 DA20 DA29

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A thermal transfer printer in which a thermal head of 1 inch or more is mounted on a carriage that reciprocates along a platen, and the thermal head is heated by using an ink ribbon to perform printing, and the standard platen hardness is obtained. A medium for printing a mechanism that detachably lays a sheet having a hardness different from that of the platen attached to the thermal transfer printer on the platen, and attaches and detaches and fixes the sheet. A thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is configured so as not to affect the passage of paper. 2. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1, wherein a mechanism for attaching and detaching the sheet is provided between the sheet and the platen, and the attaching and detaching mechanism is not provided on the upper surface of the sheet. 3. A U-shaped metal fitting is used for a mechanism for attaching / detaching / fixing the sheet, and is arranged between the sheet and the platen to facilitate the attachment / detachment of the sheet and prevent the sheet from being displaced. The thermal transfer printer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the thermal transfer printer is arranged so that