JP3101182B2 - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal printer and, more particularly, to a thermal transfer printer capable of copying and printing on two superposed sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Thermal printers are widely used in Japanese word processors because they are easy to handle and easy to maintain and have low noise.

[0003] In this thermal printer, so-called copy printing for performing the same printing on two superposed sheets has not been performed. Further, by reducing the printing speed, it has become possible to copy and print on two sheets of thermal paper (thermal copying machine) or on a sheet of thermal paper and plain paper. However, if a copy sheet in which two sheets are simply stacked is used, the two sheets are not completely integrated in the printer and the two sheets are not fed (difference in coefficient of friction with a paper feed roller or a small roller, and Due to the difference in the coefficient of friction between the upper paper that directly contacts the thermal head and the lower paper that does not directly contact the thermal head due to the pressure contact / movement of the thermal head), use these two papers together with adhesive such as glue, It must be peeled off after recording.

[0004]

However, it is not easy to peel off the above-mentioned bonded paper after printing, and there is a problem that it takes much time and effort.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem. In a thermal printer, after recording two sheets of paper through an adhesive, the recording is performed after the recording. The portion where the two sheets are to be peeled off is traced a plurality of times by a thermal head.

The plurality of traces are performed in a state where the thermal head is down and in a non-energized state or an energized state where the thermal paper does not develop color.

[0007]

The above means operates as follows.

By tracing the position where the copy sheet is to be peeled off a plurality of times by the thermal head, wrinkles are formed in the traced portion of the copy sheet, and the separation of the two sheets becomes extremely easy.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic structure of a serial type thermal printer 1, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a sectional structure of a side portion thereof. As shown in the drawing, a thermal head 4 is provided on a carriage 3 which is reciprocated along a platen 2 having a flat plate shape, and further stores an ink ribbon when printing on recording paper such as plain paper. The loaded ribbon cassette (not shown) is mounted. When printing using thermal paper, the ribbon cassette is removed from the carriage 3 and the thermal head 4 acts directly on the thermal paper to perform printing. The thermal head 4
A head up / down mechanism (not shown) is configured to move between a position where the platen 2 is pressed against the platen 2 (down position) and a position away from the platen 2 (up position). Printing is performed by driving the thermal head 4, and printing is not performed in the up state.

A paper insertion port 5 is formed behind the platen 2 and serves as an introduction section for feeding a paper forward of the platen 2. The recording section (the platen 2 and the thermal head 4) is inserted through the paper insertion port 5. A paper feed roller 6 for carrying the paper, which is rotationally driven by a stepping motor (not shown) via a transmission mechanism, is provided in the paper feed path up to the portion facing the paper feed roller 6). Below the paper feed roller 6, a pressure roller 7 that is pressed against the paper feed roller 6 is rotatably disposed. A paper insertion port 5 is provided between the paper feed roller 6 and the pressure roller 7. The paper is transported while nipping the paper inserted from.

A paper detection sensor (not shown) for detecting the presence or absence of a paper is provided between the paper insertion slot 5 and the paper feed roller 6, and aligns the leading and trailing ends of the paper. And detect it. The paper inserted from the paper insertion slot 5 is conveyed to a recording unit by a paper feed mechanism 8 including a paper feed roller 6 and a pressure roller 7 and printed, and then is sent out of the printer main body by a discharge roller (not shown). Is discharged.

Next, the operation will be described.

First, the user selects, using a switch or the like, whether the sheet to be used is a copy sheet or a single sheet of paper. Here, the case where the copy paper is selected will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the copy paper 15 to be used is formed by laminating two sheets of paper 12 and 13 with an adhesive material such as glue. In some cases, plain paper is used as the paper 12 and only the paper 13 on the lower surface is heat-sensitive paper. This copy paper 1
When the sheet 5 is inserted from the sheet insertion slot 5 and conveyed by the sheet feed mechanism 8, the leading end thereof is detected by the sheet detection sensor. Since the distance between the paper detection sensor and the recording unit is fixed, the paper feed roller 6 is rotated by the stepping motor so that the paper is conveyed by the distance, and the paper is moved so that the leading end of the paper is positioned at the recording unit. send. In this state, the thermal head 4 is set to the down state, and the carriage 3 is moved (traced) a plurality of times without energizing the thermal head 4. Thereafter, the sheet is fed to a predetermined printing start position, and normal copy printing is performed. In this copy printing, the moving speed of the carriage 3 is about half as compared with normal printing, and the energizing energy applied per dot is controlled to be about twice. If the copy sheet to be used is a cut sheet having a predetermined length set in advance, the sheet on which printing has been completed is discharged to the outside by a discharge roller.

Before the paper is discharged, the trailing edge of the paper may be traced a plurality of times while the thermal head 4 is pressed against the paper.

The thermal head may be supplied with energizing energy such that the thermal paper does not develop color.

Furthermore, when the copy paper 15 is continuous paper such as roll paper, the tracing operation is performed a plurality of times after the cutting position of the cutter or the like (not shown) is opposed to the thermal head 4, and then the paper is removed. The traced portion may be sent and cut by a cutter or the like.

In the above embodiment, a serial thermal printer has been described. Next, a line thermal printer according to a second embodiment will be described.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a main part of a line-type thermal printer. As shown, in this line-type thermal printer, a thermal head 20 having a heating element for a printing width is formed on a paper 21. The printing is performed by driving the thermal head 20 while rotating the platen 22 and feeding the paper in a state of being pressed against the platen 22 also serving as a paper feed roller via the printer. Further, a paper transport roller 23 and a discharge roller 24 are provided on the upstream and downstream sides of the thermal head 20 and the platen 22 in the paper feed direction.

When printing on copy paper with this line type thermal printer, the thermal head 20 is first set to the down state when the leading end of the paper is positioned at the recording section.
In the non-energized state, the platen 22 and the sheet transport roller 23 are rotated in the forward and reverse directions in synchronization with each other to reciprocate the sheet and perform a trace operation. Thereafter, copy printing is performed from the printing start position at a printing speed slower than normal printing and a large energizing energy. Then, the printed paper is discharged to the outside of the main body by the discharge roller 24. In this case, as in the case of the above-described serial type thermal printer, the trailing edge of the sheet or the portion serving as the cutting position may be traced.

In both the serial type and the line type, when using a copy sheet in which two sheets of thermal paper are stacked and a copy sheet in which thermal paper and plain paper are overlapped, the type of copy sheet depends on the copy sheet to be used. It is only necessary to select whether to remove the ink ribbon cassette or to perform printing with the ink ribbon cassette attached.

[0022]

As described above, in the present invention, the above-described tracing operation causes a wrinkle in the traced position and the two sheets are separated from each other, so that the sheets can be easily peeled off therefrom.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a serial type thermal printer.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view for explaining a main configuration of a serial type thermal printer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a copy sheet.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of a copy sheet.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a main part of a line type thermal printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Platen 3 Carriage 4 Thermal head 15 Copy paper 20 Thermal head 22 Platen

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A thermal head for tracing a portion of a copy sheet obtained by sticking two sheets of paper through an adhesive material, where the two sheets of paper are to be peeled off after recording. A thermal printer, characterized in that: 2. The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of tracings are performed with the thermal head down and in a non-energized state. 3. The thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of traces are performed in a state where the thermal head is down and in an energized state where the thermal paper is not colored. 4. The thermal printer according to claim 2, wherein said copy paper is a thermal copy paper on which two thermal papers are adhered. 5. The thermal printer according to claim 2, wherein the copy sheet is a layered sheet in which plain paper is stuck on a heat-sensitive surface of a heat-sensitive paper via an adhesive.