JPH01103454A - Printing method by thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce a printing time and to enhance a printing efficiency by simultaneously conducting two or more actions which are allowed to be synchronously parallelly performed among a plurality of actions. CONSTITUTION:When a heating part 7a of a thermal head 7 reached the lowest digit with the progress of a return action, a carriage drive motor 6 and a ribbon take-up motor 15 are brought to a halt. If an ink ribbon 8 is a single color ribbon such as Black, a paper carry motor 84 is electrically conducted during the return action, a carry roller 82 and a paper discharge roller 83 are rotated, and simultaneously a paper S is fed by the amount of one line. In addition, a carriage 3 is brought to a stop for preventing the stain on the paper S at the moment that the thermal head 7 comes into contact with or separates from the ink ribbon 8, the paper S, and a platen 1. The carriage 3 is moved simultaneously with the DOWN action before the contact or the UP action after the separation of the thermal head 7. Furthermore, in ribbon saving, returning, and initial state, the thermal head 7 is set to the UP small position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a printing method using a thermal transfer printer in which ink formed on an ink ribbon is transferred to paper using heat.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, this type of thermal transfer printer is used in various information processing
F! It is often used as an output device for devices, and the ink ribbon is pressed against the paper by a thermal head equipped with a heat generating section in which a large number of heat generating elements are arranged in a row, and the thermal head is moved in the direction of the row of the heat generating elements. While moving in a direction substantially perpendicular to , each heating element selectively generates heat according to a printing command, thereby performing serial printing and printing.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In this thermal transfer printer, each component thereof is driven in accordance with a printing command to perform the above-described printing. For example, by moving the carriage in the carry up/down direction, the thermal head mounted on the carriage can be moved in the carry up/down direction together, or by moving the thermal head towards the platen and bringing the ink ribbon into pressure contact with the paper. or away from the paper. In addition, the ink ribbon is supplied to the printing area, the ink ribbon is peeled off from the paper after printing is completed, and the paper is fed by one new line after printing of one line is completed.

However, in conventional thermal transfer printers, multiple operations required for printing by driving each component are performed in one step.
Since printing was performed by sequentially performing vJ printing, the time required for printing was long and the printing efficiency was poor.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and provides a printing method using a thermal transfer printer that can shorten printing time and increase printing efficiency by simultaneously performing multiple operations that can be performed in parallel. The purpose is to provide.

[Means for solving problems]

A printing method using a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention is a printing method using a thermal transfer printer that performs printing by combining a plurality of operations performed by driving each component of the thermal transfer printer, in which a plurality of operations that can be performed simultaneously in parallel among the plurality of operations are provided. It is characterized in that the following operations are performed simultaneously.

[For production]

According to the printing method using the thermal transfer printer of the present invention, for example, the paper feeding operation after printing one line, the return operation of the thermal head to the initial position, and the operation of separating the thermal head from the paper, etc., can be performed in parallel at the same time. Operations that can be performed simultaneously are performed simultaneously, thereby shortening printing time and improving printing efficiency.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12.

Fig. 1 shows an entire embodiment of a thermal transfer printer that implements the printing method using a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, in which a flat platen 1 whose top surface is a bonding surface is disposed at the bottom of the printer body. has been done. A carriage 3 is supported by a guide rod 2 provided parallel to the longitudinal direction of the platen 1 so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction of the platen 1 . An endless driving bell 1-5 wound around a pair of pulleys 4, 4 is attached to the inside side of the carriage 3, and the pulleys 4, 4 are driven by a carriage driving motor, Taro. The carriage 3 is configured to move back and forth by rotating in both opposite directions. Further, a thermal head 7 that presses an ink ribbon 8 toward the guide rod 2 to print on the paper S is mounted on the carriage 3 so as to face the platen 1. Further, on the front side of the carriage 3, a pinch roller 9 and a driven pinch roller 1° opposing the pinch roller 9 are mounted below the beam of the thermal head 7 in order to guide the ink ribbon 8. A ribbon guide 11 is mounted on the carry side. These thermal heads 7,
The pinch roller 9 and the ribbon guide 11 are connected to a state control mechanism 13 (described later, not shown in FIG. 1) whose driving source is one state switching motor 12 mounted on the carriage 3.
The relative position to platen 1 is set to 17J! ! !
! Furthermore, the pinch roller 9 is formed so as to be able to be switched between a rotatable state and a rotationally locked state.

Further, ribbon winding bobbins 14 and 14 are respectively disposed at both ends of the guide rod 2 so as to be rotatable in forward and reverse directions. Both of these ribbon winding bobbins 14.14 are 1
Each ribbon winding machine m 16 (described later) uses a ribbon winding motor 15 as a drive source to rotate the ribbon winding machine m 16 . Further, a ribbon storage case 17 consisting of a case body 17A having a cutout at its lower part is attached to both ribbon winding bobbins 14°14. Winding cores 18.18 are built into both ends of the case body 17A so as to be attached to the respective ribbon winding bobbins 14.14, and the winding cores 18.18 are installed at both ends of the case body 17A. The ink ribbon 8 is pulled out downward from the case main body 17A, and is moved by a pair of small-diameter stretching rollers 19 disposed above both ends of the platen 1.
19 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) is wound around the lower outer peripheral surface of the ribbon guide 11, the lower part of the thermal head 7, and the pinch rollers 9 and 10. Ru. The tips of the pinch roller 9, driven pinch roller 10, ribbon guide 11, and both stretching rollers 19, 19 are tapered conical portions 9a, 10, respectively.
a, 11a.

19a to facilitate the mounting operation of the ink ribbon 8. Furthermore, the pinch roller 9 is used as the I! of the ink ribbon 8 consisting of a base layer and an ink layer. j! It is formed so as to be in contact with the lower ink layer side, which has a large coefficient of friction, and its outer circumferential surface is made of a rubber material, etc., which has a large coefficient of friction.

Next, the state control mechanism 13 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2(a), 3, and 4.

FIG. 2(a) shows that the thermal head 7, both pinch rollers 9 and 10, and the ribbon are connected to the ink ribbon 8 at the idler 11.
shows a free state in which they are not in contact, and the left direction in the figure is the carry direction (same in FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12). The state control mechanism 13 transfers the driving force of the state switching motor 12 provided at the upper corner of the carriage 3 to the thermal head 7 using a cam, a link, etc.
, transmitted to the pinch roller 9 and the ribbon guide 11,
It is formed so that each state can be switched. That is, above the thermal head 7, a substantially cylindrical cam block 21 is rotatably mounted on a fixed central shaft 20 fixed to the carriage 3. A driven gear 23 that meshes with a drive gear 22 fixed to the output shaft of the state switching motor 12 is formed on the back side of the cam block 21 .

A full-cam-shaped first switching cam 24 for switching the relative position of the thermal head 7 with respect to the platen 1 is carved on the surface of the cam block 21, and a pinch roller 9 and a platen of the ribbon guide 11 are carved on the back surface of the cam block 21. a grooved second switching cam 25 that switches the relative position with respect to 1;
is carved on the inner side of the radius of the driven gear 23, and a third switching cam 26 in the form of a side cam is formed on the outer periphery of the cam block 21 to enable or lock the pinch roller 9. There is. Further, on the propensity side of the cam block 21, a fixed shaft 27 fixed to the carriage 3 is provided.
A head drive lever 28 whose end in the carry direction is pivotally connected to
is provided so as to cross the cam block 21 from side to side, and a pin 29 protruding from the back side of the intermediate portion of the head drive lever 28 is connected to the first switching cam 2 of the cam block 21.
4. At the end of the head drive lever 28 in the lowering direction, a head pressing member 31 that presses the head mounting base 30 to which the thermal head 7 is fixed from the back side passes through a bearing portion 32 and is movable in the axial direction. It is provided. The head suppressing member 31 is given elasticity to constantly press the head mounting base 30 toward the platen 1 by a pressure contact spring 33 interposed between its tip and the bearing portion 32. The head handle (N1 unit 30) is pivoted to the carriage 3 at both ends in the carry up/down direction with horizontal shafts 34 and 34 parallel to the guide rod 2, and as shown in Fig. 4. The thermal head 7 is formed to move closer and closer to the platen 1 by rotating around a shaft 34.The thermal head 7 has an end in the carry direction with respect to the head mounting base 30, and an end in the carry direction It is spaced further away from the platen 1 so that only the heat-generating portion 7a formed at the end in the downward direction comes into contact with the platen 1 (see FIGS. 5 and 6).

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the head pressing member 31 is configured to press the head mount 3o with the rear position of the heat generating part 7a of the thermal head 7, so that the heat generating part 7a can be pressed well. Also, Fig. 10(a)(b)
As shown in FIG. 2, the thermal head 7 has an electrode group 7b for energizing the heat generating part 7a extending in the carrying direction where the thermal head 7 is far away from the platen 1, and At the end of the head 7 in the carry direction, there is an electrode group 7b and a flat flexible printed circuit (hereinafter referred to as FPC) 8 with high elasticity.
7 are welded together.

Further, on the back side of the cam block 21, a pin and a guide drive lever 36 are provided on a fixed shaft 35 fixed to the carriage 3 to drive the pinch roller 9 and the ribbon guide 11.
is pivotally attached at its longitudinally intermediate portion, and the second switching cam 25 of the cam block 21 is connected to the second switching cam 25 of the cam block 21.
It is engaged inside. Further, a fixed shaft 38 is fixed to the back of the thermal head 7 of the carriage 3, and a ribbon guide drive lever 39, to which the ribbon guide 11 is rotatably attached at one end, is attached to the fixed shaft 38 in the longitudinal direction. A pin 40 is pivotally mounted at the intermediate portion and protrudes from the surface side of the other end of the ribbon guide drive lever 39.
is engaged with a groove 41 provided on the carry-up side of the pin and guide drive lever 36. The thermal head 7 at the lower end of the carriage 3 positions the carriage in the lowering direction.
Pinch roller support lever 42 that supports pinch roller 9
is pivotally connected to a fixed shaft 43 fixed to the carriage 3, and the end of the pinch roller support lever 42 and the end of the pin and guide drive lever 36 in the downward direction connect a connecting link 44 to pivot shafts 45 and 46, respectively. They are connected by pivoting with. Therefore, as the pin and guide drive lever 36 swings around the fixed shaft 35, the ribbon guide drive lever 39 and the pinch roller support lever 42 swing around the fixed position @38°43, and the ribbon Ribbon guide 11 and pinch roller support lever 4 attached to guide drive lever 39
The relative position of the pinch roller 9 attached to the platen 2 can be changed. This pinch roller 9 is connected to a pivot shaft 46 attached to a pinch roller support lever 42.
The gear 47 is rotatably loosely fitted into the gear 47 via a frictional engagement member (not shown) such as Noelt so that the gear 47 can rotate integrally with the gear 47. This gear 47 meshes with a gear 49 rotatably attached to the connecting link 44 with a central shaft 48, and the gear 49 meshes with teeth 1150 rotatably attached to the pivot shaft 45. This gear 50
A small tooth medium 51 is formed coaxially and integrally. Further, a fixed shaft 52 is fixed to the lower end side of the cam block 21 at the upper end of the carriage 3, and this fixed shaft 52 has a third lever 53a, a second lever 53b, and a third lever.
A drive lever group 53, which is integrally formed with levers 53C substantially radially, is pivotally mounted. A roller 54 is attached to the tip of the first lever 53a of this drive lever group 53.
The roller 54 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the third switching cam 26 of the cam block 21 in a freely rolling manner by the elasticity of the tension spring 55, and is formed to move along with the third switching cam 26. A pivot shaft 45 is attached to the second lever 53b of the drive lever group 53.
A stopper 56 is provided which meshes with the gear 50 pivotally connected to the stopper 56 to lock the rotation of the gear 50, that is, the rotation of the pinch roller 9. Further, a pinion 59 is rotatably mounted on the fixed shaft 52 and engages with a rack 58 formed on a guide rail 57 that guides the movement of the carriage 3, and is coaxially and integrally formed with the pinion 59. The small pinion 60 is meshed with a gear 62 rotatably attached to the tip of the third lever 53C of the drive lever group 53 with a pivot 61. This gear 62 meshes with the small gear 51 integrated with the gear 50 and acts to transmit rotational force to the pinch roller 9. Further, above the pinch roller support lever 42 of the carriage 3, a driven pinch roller support lever 64, which rotatably supports the driven pinch roller 10 at one end thereof, is pivotably mounted with a fixed shaft 63. This driven pinch roller support lever 64 is given elasticity in the direction approaching the pinch roller 9 by a tension spring 65, and a stopper lever 66 extends from the base end of the driven pinch roller support lever 64.
By bringing the bent piece 66a into contact with the end surface of the carriage 3, the carriage 3 is stopped at the stop position shown in FIG. 2(a).

Further, a cam position detection sensor 67 is provided below the drive gear 22 fixed to the state switching motor 12. This cam position detection sensor 67 is connected to the cam block 21
The position of each cam 24, 25, 26 formed on the cam block 21 is detected by contacting one protrusion 68 protruding from the cylindrical outer circumference of the cam block 21.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the ribbon winding mechanism 16
Explain.

The ribbon winding mechanism 16 of this embodiment uses one ribbon winding motor 15 to operate two ribbon winding bobbins 14.1.
Selectively rotate 4. A driving flJlfI wheel 70 is fixed to the output shaft 69 of the ribbon winding motor 15, and a swinging arm 71 is rotatably attached thereto, and a pendulum that meshes with the driving gear 70 is attached to the tip of the swinging arm 71. A gear 72 is rotatably mounted. This swinging arm 71 rotates in the same direction as the drive gear 70 rotates clockwise in FIG. It meshes with the supply side gear 73 that is present. On the other hand, swinging arm 7
Reference numeral 1 denotes a winding gear which rotates in the same direction as the drive gear 70 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing, and which connects the pendulum gear 72 to the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the ribbon winding side provided on the lowering side. It meshes with the side gear 74. One supply side gear 7
3 and the ribbon winding bobbin 14, as shown in FIG. 9, is formed so that rotation can be transmitted through a felt 75, which is a type of frictional engagement member. That is, the ribbon winding bobbin 14 rotatably passes through the center of the supply side gear 73 with a shaft 14a.
The felt 75 fixed to the flange 14b formed at the intrusive end of a is attached to the supply side gear 73.
and a head 14C formed at the tip of the shaft 14a so as to be brought into elastic contact by the elasticity of a compression spring 76 interposed between the head 14C and the head 14C formed at the tip of the shaft 14a. A coaxial wheel 77 is attached to the other winding side gear 74 in the same manner as described above, and a friction engagement member (
(not shown), and this wheel 77
An endless transmission belt 79 is wound between the ribbon winding bobbin 14 and a wheel 78 fixed to the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the winding side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, a supply cassette 80 loaded with sheets S is removably installed at the upstream end position of the printer main body. A feeding roller 81 is provided that feeds out the sheets S in the supply cassette 8° one by one from above. Also, at a position upstream of the platen 1, there is a 1 that is connected to each other from above and below.
A pair of conveyance rollers 82 (only the lower side is shown in FIG. 1) is provided, and a pair of paper ejection rollers 83 .
83 are arranged. This paper discharge roller 83 is formed to be rotationally driven by a paper conveyance motor 84. Further, the paper ejection roller 83 is connected to the transport roller 82 via a transmission belt 85, and the paper ejection roller 83 and the transport roller 82 are formed to be driven synchronously and at the same transport speed. . Furthermore, an insertion opening 86 for manually feeding the sheets S one by one is formed upstream of the conveyance roller 82 in the main body of the printer.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, when the power switch (not shown) of the printer is turned on, the state switching motor 12 rotates, and the cam block 21 rotates clockwise in FIG. Position detection sensor 67 is turned on by protrusion 68
As a result, the position of the cam block 21 is detected, and the state switching motor 12 is stopped. At the same time, the carriage drive motor 6 is also energized, and the carriage 3 is returned to the home position (in this embodiment, the lowest digit position) and stopped.

Next, the ink ribbon 8 is attached. When the lid for inserting the ribbon storage case 17 of the printer main body is opened, a sensor (both not shown) detects this, the state switching motor 12 is rotated, and the cam block 21 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
It stops when the state a> is reached. As a result, the thermal head 7, the pinch roller 9, and the ribbon guide 11 are moved away from the horizontal position where the ink ribbon 8 is mounted by a large distance upward and downward, as shown in the figure. Hereinafter, the position of the thermal head 7 in this case will be referred to as the UP large position. In that case, the ink ribbon 8 wound around the winding core 18.18 was installed in the case body 17A of the ribbon storage case 17, and the ink ribbon 8 was pulled out downward from the case body 17A.
is passed through the lower outer circumferential surfaces of a pair of spreading rollers 19° 19 disposed at both ends of the platen 1, and passes through the lower pair of pinch rollers 9 and ribbon guide 11 and the upper thermal head 7 and driven pinch roller. Attach it by inserting it between the 10 sets.

At this time, the thermal head 7, the pinch roller 9, the driven pinch roller 10. and the ribbon guide 11 is the ink ribbon 8
Since the ink ribbon 8 is located far away from the ink ribbon 8, the ink ribbon 8 can be mounted quickly and reliably with a simple one-touch operation. Further, the ink ribbon 8 is attached to the pinch roller 9, the driven pinch roller 10, the ribbon guide 11, and the spreading roller 19, each of which has a tapered conical portion 9a.

10a, 1.1a, and 19a, the ink ribbon 8 can be carried out extremely smoothly without getting caught on each tip. Further, even when trying to insert the sheet S from the front between the pinch roller 9 and the ribbon guide 11 and the platen 1, the sheet S can be inserted smoothly without getting caught. Also, a skeleton representation of the state in which the ink ribbon 8 is attached is shown in Figure 2 (
b) (Fig. 5(b), Fig. 6(b), Fig. 7(b)
), the same in FIGS. 11 and 12).

The ink ribbon 8 is then removed by reversing the above-described mounting operation.

Next, in this state, the feeding roller 81 is driven to rotate to introduce the uppermost sheet S in the supply cassette 80 into the printer main body. Then, the paper transport motor 84 drives the transport roller 82 to transport the paper S until a predetermined position of the paper S reaches the printing section, and then the transport roller 82 is stopped.

Next, the printing operation is started.

In other words, the paper S that has been carried to the printing position and has stopped.
If the paper is made of high-quality paper with a uniform thickness, the cam block 21 is rotated clockwise from the state shown in FIG. 2(a) by the state shown in FIG. The state is switched to the state shown in Figure (a). This figure 5 (a
), as shown in FIG. 7B, the paper S is pressed against the platen 1 by the thermal head 7, and the ink ribbon 8 is pushed by the pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller in the downward direction from the thermal head 7. 10, and is lifted upward by a ribbon guide 11 in the carrying direction from the thermal head 7.

To explain further, while the cam block 21 rotates by the center angle α, the head drive lever 28 moves so that its bin 29 is in the first position.
From the small radius portion 24a of the switching cam 24 to the large radius portion 2
4b, it rotates clockwise in FIG. 2(a) about the fixed shaft 27. As a result, the head suppressing member 31 disposed at the tip of the head drive lever 28
lowers, gradually lowering the head mounting base 30 centering on the horizontal #34, and finally the ink ribbon 8 is heated by the heat generating part 7a provided at the lowermost part of the thermal head 7.
from its back against the platen 1, and further press the pressure contact spring 33.
As the head drive lever 28 rotates slightly clockwise against the elastic force, the heat generating portion 7a of the thermal head 7 is pressed against the paper S with a predetermined elasticity. Hereinafter, the position of the thermal head 7 at this time will be referred to as the DOWN position.

At this time, the head suppressing member 31 is formed so as to press the back of the heat generating portion 7a of the thermal head 7 toward the paper S and the platen 1, as shown in FIG.
A uniform and large pressure contact force acts on the entire heat generating part 7a,
Beautiful, even printing is achieved.

On the other hand, when the cam block 21 rotates by the center angle α, the bin 37 protruding from the bin and guide drive lever 36 is located at an intermediate position between the small radius portion 25a and the large radius portion 25b, and is still in the pinch roller. 9 and the driven pinch roller 10 are spaced apart, and the ink ribbon 8 is in a free state. Therefore, the thermal head 7 moves from the UP large position to the DOWN position.
When moving to the position, at least the ink ribbon 8 on the lower side than the thermal head 7 is in a free state, and the contact device between the heat generating part 7a of the thermal head 7 and the ink ribbon 8 is not relatively displaced. Even at the moment when the ink ribbon 8 is brought into contact with the paper S by the heat generating part 7a, there is no relative positional shift between the ink ribbon 8 and the paper S, so that the paper S is not stained by the ink ribbon 8. It is assumed that there are no

Then, as the cam block 21 further rotates by the central angle β, the bin 3 of the bin and guide drive lever 36 is rotated.
7 reaches the large radius portion 25b of the second switching cam 25. During this time, the bin and guide drive lever 36 is moved to the fixed shaft 35.
The pinch roller support lever 42, which is connected to the bin and guide drive lever 36 via the connecting link 44, rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 2(a) about the fixed shaft 43. The ink ribbon 8 is pinched by the pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller 10, and the tension spring 65 is rotated counterclockwise.
The secondary pinch roller support lever 64 is rotated slightly upward against the elastic force of the ink ribbon 8 to be moved between both pinch rollers 9
, 10. At the same time, as the pin and guide drive lever 36 rotates, the ribbon guide drive lever 39, which engages the pin 40 with the pin 41 of the bottle and guide drive lever 36, rotates clockwise about the fixed shaft 38. The ink ribbon 8 is lifted upward by the ribbon guide 11, and the ink ribbon 8 is spread out along the lower surface of the thermal head 7. Also, at this time, the small gear 51 attached to the pivot shaft 45 connecting the bottle and guide drive lever 36 and the connection link 44 is connected to the gear 62 attached to the third lever 53c of the drive lever group 53.
It is made to mesh with. When the cam block 2] rotates by the central angle α and β, the roller 54 attached to the third lever 53c of the drive lever group 53 rotates the third switching cam 2
It remains in contact with the maximum radius portion 26a of No. 6 and remains immobile.

Next, stop the cam block 21 in this state,
At the same time, the carriage drive motor 6 is energized to move the carriage 3 in the carry-up direction, and at the same time, F is applied to the thermal head 7.
By applying electricity through the PC 87, the ink ribbon 8
Printing is performed by thermally transferring the ink to the paper S.

In this case, the carriage 3 is moved in the carrying direction (leftward in FIG. 5(a)), and the drive lever group 53
Five binions rotatably attached to a fixed shaft 52 to which is pivotally attached rotate clockwise in the figure. This pinion 59 is connected to a small pinion 60, a gear 62, a small gear 51, a gear 4 connected to the pinion 59 via a gear 50, and a gear 49.
7 rotates clockwise in the figure. A pinch roller 9, which is coaxial with the gear 47 and connected via a g-friction engagement member (not shown) such as felt, moves clockwise in the figure and has a circumferential speed higher than the moving speed of the carriage 3. It can be enlarged and rotated. The pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller 10 pinch the ink ribbon 8 with the elasticity of the tension spring 65. As the pinch roller 9 rotates, the heat generating section 78 of the thermal head 7 The ink ribbon 8 immediately after being printed is pulled with a certain tension to forcibly peel the ink ribbon 8 from the surface of the paper S.

In this embodiment, the pinch roller 9 is connected to the gear 47 and
Since the ink ribbon 8 is engaged with Jta, when the attractive force by the pinch roller 9 for peeling off the ink ribbon 8 becomes larger than the maximum frictional force between the pinch roller 9 and the gear 47,
A slip occurs between the pinch roller 9 and the gear 47 to prevent excessive tensile force from acting on the ink ribbon 8. Therefore, in this embodiment, the printed ink ribbon 8 can be smoothly peeled off from the paper S by the pinch roller 9 without sagging.

In addition, in this embodiment, the outer peripheral surface of the pinch roller 9! ? : The pinch roller 9 is made of a rubber member with a large friction coefficient, and is in contact with the ink layer side of the ink ribbon 8, which is the side with a large friction coefficient.
The frictional force between the ink ribbon 8 and the ink ribbon 8 is large, and the ink ribbon 8 can be reliably peeled off from the paper S.

In addition, in this embodiment, the ribbon winding motor 15 is energized, and the output shaft 69 and drive gear 7 are
0 clockwise in FIG. 8, the ink ribbon 8 is pulled toward the supply side as shown in FIG. 5(b). That is, in FIG. 8, when the drive gear 70 rotates clockwise, the pendulum gear 72 meshing with the drive gear 70 moves clockwise in the same figure around the output @69 together with the swinging arm 71. As shown by the solid line in the figure, it meshes with the supply side gear 73 that drives the ribbon winding bobbin 14. The rotation of the supply side gear 73 in the clockwise direction in the figure is transmitted to the flange 14b of the ribbon winding bobbin 14 through the winding side gear 74, which is a type of we engagement member, as shown in FIG. As shown in Figure (b), the ink ribbon 8 is placed between the supply side ribbon winding bobbin 14 and the thermal head 7.
is rotated in the winding direction, and the ink ribbon 8 is pulled in the carrying direction. When the rotational driving force of the supply side gear 73 by the pendulum gear 72 becomes larger than the maximum frictional force between the supply side gear 73 and the felt 75, the supply side float 73 and the felt 75 slip, and the ink ribbon 8 A constant tensile force corresponding to a friction load valve is applied. In this way, in this embodiment, during printing, the ink ribbon 8 on the carry direction side of the thermal head 7 is pulled in the carry direction to prevent the ink ribbon 8 from sagging.
The thermal head 7 moves to a predetermined position relative to the ink ribbon 8, which reliably prevents misalignment between the thermal head 7 and the ink ribbon 8 that would result in an inappropriate positional relationship, resulting in always beautiful and high-quality images. can be printed.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 10(a) and 10(b), the electric current #AI! for energizing the heat generating portion 7a of the thermal head 7 is used! T7b is extended in the carry direction where the thermal head 7 is spaced apart from the platen 1 by a larger distance;
Since the electrode group 7b and the FPC 87 are welded at the end of the thermal head 7 in the carrying direction, the FPC 87
is always kept far away from the platen 1 and the paper S, and even if the paper S is flat-fed in the horizontal direction on the upper surface of the platen 1, the FPC 87 and the paper S do not come into contact with each other, and beautiful printing is always possible. m is done. Also, Nermal Head 7
Since the length of each pattern of the electrode group 7b for each element of the heat generating part 7a within the heat generating part 7a is long, the resistance value becomes uniform, and the temperature of each element of the heat generating part 7a can be easily controlled.

In addition, if the paper S carried in is so-called rough paper with uneven thickness compared to high-quality paper, the state switching motor 12 moves the cam block 21 further to the center angle from the state shown in FIG. 5(a). γ to move the pin 29 of the head drive lever 28 to the maximum radius portion 24c of the first switching cam 24 as shown in FIG. 6(a), and further rotate the pin 29 clockwise to move the head By further elastically compressing the pressure contact spring 33 attached to the pressing member 31, the pressing force for pressing the paper S of the thermal head 7 is strengthened, and even if the paper S is rough paper, the heat generation of the thermal head 7 is suppressed. Part 7a
To perform high-quality printing by always bringing the paper S into proper contact with the paper S. In this case as well, the lever 5 of the drive lever detail 53
The roller 54 attached to the third switching cam 26
remains engaged with the largest radius portion 26a of the.

The pressure force applied to the thermal head 7 by the head suppressing member 31 is adjusted not only according to changes in the paper thickness of the paper S as in the above embodiment, but also according to the characteristics of the ink ribbon 8, for example, for a single color of black. It is preferable to print with an appropriate pressing force depending on the ribbon, color printing, multi-ribbon, etc.

Next, the ribbon save operation will be explained.

While printing is progressing in the state shown in Fig. 5 or 6, there is a part that does not require printing, and the process of not using the ink ribbon 8 in that part is called ribbon save operation. .

In this case, first, the carriage 3 is stopped, and then the state switching motor 12 is energized to move the cam block 21 to the fifth position.
From the state in figure (a), the center angle γ + δ + ε is set clockwise in the figure.
From the state shown in FIG. 6(a), the state shown in FIG. 7(a) is changed to the state shown in FIG. 7(a) by rotating the state shown in FIG.

In this case, in this embodiment, when the cam block 21 rotates by the central angle δ from the state shown in FIG. When the thermal head 7 is engaged with the ink ribbon 8 and presses the ink ribbon 8 against the paper S and /Latin 1, the bin 37 provided on the bin and guide drive lever 36 is engaged with the intermediate radius portion 25c of the second switching cam 25. The pinch roller support lever 42, which is engaged with and rotates clockwise in the figure around the fixed shaft 35, and which is connected to the bin and guide drive lever 36 via a connecting link 44, holds the fixed @43. Since the ink ribbon 8 is also rotated clockwise around the center, the pinch roller 9 provided at the tip of the pinch roller support lever 42 is lowered and separated from the driven pinch roller 10, leaving the ink ribbon 8 in a free state. At this time, the ribbon guide 11 also descends to some extent. After that, when the cam block 21 further rotates by the central angle ε,
While one pinch roller 9 is away from the driven pinch roller 10, the pin 29 of the other head drive lever 28 reaches the intermediate radius portion 24d of the first switching cam 24 first, so that the head drive lever 28 is fixed. It rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 6(a) about the shaft 27, and the head suppressing member 31 provided at the end of the head drive lever 28 in the lowering direction moves upward, and accordingly, the head Mounting stand 3
0 is raised by the elasticity of a return spring (not shown), and the thermal head 7 is slightly separated from the paper S and the platen 1 and stops in the state shown in FIG. 7(a). Hereinafter, the position of the thermal head 7 at this time will be referred to as the LJP small position. after that,
The pin 37 of the pin and guide drive lever 36 reaches the large radius portion 25b of the second switching cam 25, and as shown in FIG. 7(a), the ink ribbon 8 is moved from above and below by the pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller 10. to hold. Furthermore, until the cam block 21 completes its rotation by the center angle ε, the roller 54 attached to the lever 53a of the drive lever group 53 moves toward the maximum radius portion 26a of the third switching cam 26.
7 to the small radius portion 26b, and the entire drive lever group 53 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 7 about the fixed shaft 52. Therefore, when the pinch roller 9 pinches the ink ribbon 8 again with the driven pinch roller 10, one gear 5° of the integrated tooth width 50 and small gear 51 rotatably attached to the pivot shaft 45 is rotated to the second It engages with a stopper 56 formed at the tip of the lever 53b, making it unrotatable. The other small gear 51 is spaced apart from the gear 62. As a result, the pinch roller 9, which is connected to the gear 50 through the gears 49 and 47, is also locked in rotation.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the thermal head 7 moves from the DOWN position U to the UP small position, the pinch roller 9 separates from the driven pinch roller 10 and leaves the ink ribbon 8 in a free state. No unreasonable tension is applied to the ink ribbon 8, the ink ribbon 8 is not unnecessarily rubbed against the paper S when the thermal head 7 is separated from the ink ribbon 8, and the paper S is prevented from being stained. This figure 7(a)
While maintaining this state, the carriage drive motor 6 is energized to move the carriage 3 in the carry direction, and at the same time, the ribbon winding motor 15 is energized to move the output shaft 69 and drive gear 70 as shown in FIG. Rotate clockwise. As a result, the ink ribbon 8 is held between the rotation-locked pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller 10, so that it is conveyed in the carrying direction with the movement of the carriage 3, and is also conveyed on the right side in FIG. The ribbon is unwound from the take-up core 18 attached to the ribbon take-up bobbin 14 on the take-up side, and wound by the amount of slack onto the take-up core 18 attached to the ribbon take-up ribopin 14 on the supply side on the left side of the figure. It will be taken away. The ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the supply side is connected to the supply side teeth through the felt 75! I73, and the winding speed of the ribbon winding bobbin 14 is set higher than the moving speed of the carriage 3, so the ribbon winding bobbin 14 rotates while slipping with the felt 75, and the ink is The ribbon 8 is wound up securely.

In this way, when the bon save operation progresses and the heat generating part 7a of the thermal head 7 faces the printing position again, the carriage driving motor 6 and the ribbon winding motor 1
5 is stopped, and then the state switching motor 12 is energized, the state switching motor 12 rotates in the reverse direction, and the cam block 21 changes from the state shown in FIG. 7(a) to the state shown in FIG. 6(a) or the state shown in FIG. 5 The printing state is returned to that shown in FIG. 5(a). In this case, first, after the pinch roller 9 separates from the driven pinch roller 10, the thermal head 7 moves from the UP small position to the DOWN position, and then the pinch roller 9 moves back to the driven pinch roller 10.
The ink ribbon 8 is sandwiched between the ink ribbon 8 and the ink ribbon 8 to prevent the ink ribbon 8 from staining the paper S.

When printing is performed on the paper S up to the most significant digit in this state, the carriage drive motor 6 and the ribbon winding motor 15 are stopped, and then the carriage 3 is returned.

That is, the state switching motor 12 is energized and the cam block 21 is rotated clockwise in FIGS. 5(a) and 6(a), resulting in the state shown in FIG. 7(a). Next, the ribbon winding motor 15 is energized to rotate the output shaft 69 and the drive flJ gear 70 counterclockwise in FIG. 8, and at the same time the carriage drive motor 6 is turned on.
The carriage 3 is moved in the lowering direction (FIG. 11). The output shaft 69 and the drive gear 70 are the eighth
When rotating in the counterclockwise direction in the figure, the pendulum gear 7-
2 rotates counterclockwise in the figure together with the swinging arm 71, and meshes with the winding side gear 74 as shown by the chain line in the figure. The rotation of the winding side gear 74 is transmitted to the wheel 77 via a friction engagement member (not shown), and further transmitted to the wheel 78 via a transmission belt 79, and the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the winding side is rotated at the winding speed. is rotated at a speed greater than the moving speed of the carriage 3. As a result, the ink ribbon 8 sandwiched between the rotationally locked pinch roller 9 and the driven pinch roller 10 moves in the downward direction as the carriage 3 moves. As a result, the unused portion of the ink ribbon 8 is fed out in the downward direction from the winding lower 18 attached to the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on one supply side, and is attached to the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the other winding side. The used portion of the ink ribbon 8 is reliably wound onto the winding lower 18 in the same manner as described above, corresponding to the loosened portion.

As this return operation progresses and the heat generating part 7a of the thermal head 7 reaches the lowest digit as shown in FIG.
5 is stopped. Hereinafter, the state shown in FIG. 12 will be referred to as an initial state.

Further, when the ink ribbon 8 is of a single color, for example, black, during the return operation, the paper conveyance motor 84 is energized to rotate the conveyance roller 82 and the paper ejection roller 83 to move the paper S by one line. Improve printing efficiency by feeding paper at the same time. Also, for the same reason, the carriage 3 is stopped to prevent staining of the paper S at the moment when the thermal head 7 contacts or separates from the ink ribbon 8, the paper S, and the platen 1, but the thermal head 7 The carriage 3 is moved simultaneously during the DOWN operation before welding and during the initial UP operation after separation.

In addition, in this embodiment, when saving the ribbon in FIG.
The thermal head 7 is positioned at the small UP position during the return shown in Fig. 11 and the initial state shown in Fig. 12, thereby shortening the time required for UP-DOWN of the thermal head 7 and improving printing efficiency. I have to. Therefore, the distance between the small UP position of the thermal head 7 and the platen 1 is set to the minimum necessary size to prevent the ink ribbon 8 from staining the paper S.

For example, when performing color printing using the ink ribbon 8 on which three colors of ink, cyan, yellow, and magenta, are sequentially and repeatedly applied in the length of one line each, the printing range is one line. There are times when it is less than a solid body. At this time, it is necessary to wind up the unused portion. In this embodiment, after the return operation shown in FIG. 11 is completed and the initial state shown in FIG. 12 is reached, the state switching motor 12 is energized to move the cam block 21 as shown in
From the state shown in FIG. 2, it is further rotated clockwise by a center angle ζ to obtain the state shown in FIG. 2(a). In this way, the ink ribbon 8 is transferred to the thermal head 7, the pinch roller 9, and the driven pinch roller 1.
0 and the ribbon guide 11, and then use the ink part of the color used in the previous printing to remove the unused part remaining in the carry direction position from the thermal head 7. As shown in FIG. 2(b), the ribbon winding bobbin 14 on the winding side is rotated to wind the ribbon, and is stopped with the predetermined position of the ink portion of the next new color facing the lowest digit. Thereafter, printing is performed using ink of a new color in the same manner as described above. By performing this operation for three colors, beautiful color printing is achieved. and. At the time of return shown in FIG. 11 after the printing of the final color is completed, the paper S is simultaneously fed by one line.

In addition, in this embodiment, the rotational driving direction of the cam block 21 by the state switching motor 12 is as shown in FIGS. 2(a), 5(a), 6(a), and 7(a). Either a clockwise direction or a counterclockwise direction may be used, but it is preferable to select a direction that can shorten printing time.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
It can be changed as necessary.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In this way, the printing method using the thermal transfer printer of the present invention is as follows:
In a printing method using a thermal transfer printer in which printing is performed by combining a plurality of operations performed by driving each component of the thermal transfer printer, a plurality of operations that can be performed simultaneously among the plurality of operations are performed at the same time. , printing time can be reliably shortened and printing efficiency can be improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer that implements the printing method using a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration, and FIG. 2(a) is a thermal head UF).
Front view of the carriage section showing the state in the large position, Figure 2 (b
) is a skeleton diagram that does not show the relationship between the constituent parts in Figure 2(a), and Figure 3 is a skeleton diagram showing the main parts of the state-based iti structure.
a) is a plan view, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the positional relationship between the thermal head and a head suppressing member that presses it, and FIG.
Figures a) and (b) are similar to Figures 2(a) and (b), but do not show printing on high-quality paper, and Figure 6(b) is similar to Figures 2(a) and 6(b).
Figures a) and (b) are similar to Figures 2 (a) and (b), showing the state in which printing is performed on rough paper, respectively, and Figure 7 (
a) and (b) are views similar to FIGS. 2(a) and (b) showing the state of the thermal head in the UP small position, respectively; FIG. 8 is a front view showing the ribbon winding mechanism; and FIG. 9 is a front view showing the ribbon winding mechanism. ■ in figure 8
- Enlarged sectional view along line ■, Figures 10(a) and (b)
) are respectively a front view and a plan view showing the connection relationship between the thermal head and the FPC, FIG. 11 is a view similar to FIG. 2(b) showing the return state, and FIG. 12 is FIG. 2(b) showing the initial state. It is a figure similar to b). DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Platen, 3... Carriage, 7... Thermal head, 7a... Heat generating part, 7b... Electrode group, 8
... Ink ribbon, 9... Pinch roller, 10...
・Followed pinch roller, 11... Ribbon guide, 12.
...state switching motor, 13...state control [1 mechanism,
14... Ribbon winding ribbin, 15... Ribbon winding motor, 16... Ribbon winding mechanism, 18...
Winding core, 21... cam block, 24... first
Switching cam, 25... Second switching cam, 26... Third switching cam, 28... Head drive lever, 31... Head □ pressing member, 36... Bin and guide drive lever, 39... ... Ribbon guide drive lever, 42... Pinch roller support lever, 53... Drive lever group, 54.
... Roller, 58 ... Rack, 64 ... Driven pinch roller support lever, 70 ... Drive gear, 71 ... Swing arm, 73 ... Supply side gear, 74 ... Winding side gear ,
75...Felt, 76...Compression spring, 87...
FPC, '2''Applicant's agent Shunsuke Nakao Figure 3 Figure 8 Figure 950 Figure 10 (a) (b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a printing method using a thermal transfer printer in which printing is performed by combining a plurality of operations performed by driving each component of the thermal transfer printer, a plurality of operations that can be performed simultaneously among the plurality of operations are performed at the same time. Printing method using a characteristic thermal transfer printer.