JPH0156678B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a transfer type color printer.

As a conventional color printer, there was a device as shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a recording head, which is mounted on a carriage 2,
It is designed to be able to slide along the guide rod 3. 4 is an ink ribbon, which is a cyan layer 4
It consists of three layers: C, mazein layer 4M, and yellow layer 4Y. The ink ribbon 4 is wound around a guide wheel 5. Further, the shaft 5a of the guide wheel 5 is inserted into the plunger 6,
When the shaft 5a is not energized, it is pushed upward by a spring (not shown) within the plunger 6. Further, a shaft 6a fixed to the plunger 6 is inserted into the plunger 7, and like the shaft 5a, the shaft 6a is pushed upward when not energized. Further, the plunger 7 is fixed.

Next, the operation will be explained.

First, when the plungers 6 and 7 are de-energized, the magenta layer 4M of the recording paper 4 is transferred to the recording head 1.
Since the dots are facing each other, dots corresponding to magenta are recorded on the recording paper 24 while main scanning the recording head 1 in the horizontal direction in FIG. Then, when the recording head 1 is returned to its original position and only the plunger 6 is energized, the ink ribbon 4 moves downward to the recording head 1 and the yellow layer 4Y
Since the dots face each other, dots corresponding to yellow can be recorded on the recording paper 24 on which magenta has been recorded. Then, dots corresponding to cyan are recorded in the same manner as above. After overprinting the three colors in three main scans in this way, the recording paper 24 is sent upward in the figure by the length of the recording head, and the unused portion of the ink ribbon 4 is placed on the recording paper 24. Wind up the ink ribbon 4 as shown. Then, repeat the above steps to record one screen in color.

Conventional transfer type color printers are configured as described above, and because the same area is repeatedly main scanned three times, it requires multiple head scans to record one screen of color, which increases the recording time. Moreover, a complicated mechanism is required in which the ink ribbon 4 is moved in the recording paper feeding direction using plungers 6 and 7, and furthermore, when recording black, which is frequently used, it is necessary to overprint all three colors. However, the recording paper 24 and the head 1 must be moved many times before one screen is recorded, resulting in poor image quality due to misalignment.

The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional ones as described above, and includes a plurality of recording heads having a head length equal to the width of one recording screen, which are fixedly installed at equal intervals. An ink ribbon sheet in which a plurality of monochrome portions of different colors having an external shape are repeatedly formed is provided so as to be transportable in the same direction as the recording paper at the same speed, and the length of the ink ribbon sheet between the adjacent recording heads is determined. By providing a routing mechanism for routing the ink ribbon sheet so that the ink ribbon sheet is the sum of the length of the recording paper between the recording heads and the length of one recording screen, it is possible to record multiple colors simultaneously and shorten the recording time. The object of the present invention is to provide a transfer type color printer that can improve image quality without causing misalignment due to alignment.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention, and in the figure, each component has a length commensurate with the width of the recording paper 17. 8 to 11 are heat sensitive heads,
Each of these has a fixed length equal to the line length which is the width of one recording screen. Reference numerals 12 to 15 indicate rear rollers for heating elements (not shown) of each of the four heat-sensitive heads 8 to 11. Reference numeral 16a denotes a roll on which an ink ribbon sheet 16 is wound, and the shape of the ink ribbon sheet 16 is, as shown in FIG. It is a band-shaped thing formed repeatedly in sequence. The width X of each monochrome section is equal to the length of each of the thermal heads 8 to 11, and the length Y and width X of each monochrome section are equal to the length and width of one recording screen. 1
Reference numeral 7a denotes a roll on which a recording paper 17 is wound, and the recording paper 17 and the ink ribbon sheet 16 are fed together by a feed roller 18 at a constant speed. Further, after the ink ribbon sheet 16 passes below the heating element of the thermal head 8, it is sent along a different route from that of the recording paper 17. That is, it passes under the heating element of the thermal head 9 via the guiding roller 19, and then sequentially passes through the guiding roller 20, the thermal head 10, and the guiding roller 2.
1. The ink ribbon is sent by a feed roller 18 through a thermal head 11 and wound onto a take-up reel 22.

Here, each of the back rollers 12 to 15 is connected to the adjacent thermal heads 8 and 9, 9 and 10, 10 and 11.
The length of the recording paper 17 between each heating element is
They are all arranged to have a constant length d, and are constructed so that the length d is as small as possible. In addition, each of the above-mentioned pulling rollers 19 to 2
1 is the adjacent thermal head 8 and 9, and 9 and 1.
The length of the ink ribbon sheet 16 between the heat generating elements 0, 10 and 11 is the sum of the length d between each heat generating element of the recording paper 16 and the length Y of the monochromatic portion of the ink ribbon sheet. It is located in Sho 23
is an adhesive removing member that separates the ink ribbon sheet 16 and the recording paper 17.

In addition, the transfer type color printer of this example has the following features:
Although not shown, a recording head drive circuit is provided, and this circuit selectively drives the heating elements of the thermal heads 8 to 11 or simultaneously drives them to a desired position on the recording paper 17. The color of the ink ribbon sheet 16 is transferred thereto.

Next, the operation of this invention will be explained.

First, before starting recording, the yellow layer 1 of the ink ribbon sheet 16 is placed on the heating element part of the thermal head 8.
Set it so that the beginning of 6Y is on. Then, the heating head 8 is made to generate heat to record dots corresponding to the first line of yellow on the recording paper 17. At this time, the other heat-sensitive heads 9, 10, and 11 do not generate heat. When the first line is recorded, feed roller 1
8, the recording paper 17 and the ink ribbon sheet 16 are fed by one line, and then only the second line of yellow is recorded. In this way, the recording paper 17 is sequentially fed one line at a time, and the recording paper 17 is moved between the heating heads.
When the recording paper 17 is fed by the length d, the first
Since the yellow recorded portion of the line is located below the heating element of the thermal head 9 and together with the beginning of the mazein layer 16M of the ink ribbon sheet 16, recording of dots corresponding to the magenta of the first line starts from here. . Then, after further feeding the recording paper 17 by the above-mentioned length d, recording of the first cyan line begins, and then by further feeding the recording paper by d, the first line of black
Recording of lines is started, and each of the four heads sequentially records dots corresponding to each line of a different color at the same time. Then, when the recording paper 17 is fed by Y after the start of recording, the yellow recording is completed, and when it is further fed by d, the magenta recording is completed, and when the recording paper 17 is sequentially fed by d, the cyan and black recording are completed. In this way, move the recording paper 17 to Y+3d.
By simply sending the paper by the length of , all four colors are overprinted and a color hard copy that can be displayed in seven colors (black, cyan, magenta, yellow, red, green, and blue) can be obtained. When one screen has been recorded, the recording paper 17 is sent out, the used part of the ink ribbon sheet 16 is wound up, and the yellow layer 16 is rolled up.
Wind it up until the beginning of Y is below the heating element of the thermal head 8.

In the above embodiment, each head has four back rollers.
However, depending on the relative size of the recording head and recording screen, if the ink ribbon can be routed between each head, one back roller may be provided and used in common. Similar effects can also be obtained using the wire dot method.

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of one-line length recording heads are independently fixed, and one ink ribbon sheet is routed so that each adjacent recording head can print a different color. This eliminates the need for a mechanism for scanning the recording head, significantly shortens the recording time, and produces color hard copies with high precision in overprinting.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a conventional color printer, Fig. 2 is a side view showing a color printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an external view of an ink ribbon sheet used in the above embodiment. It is. 8-11...recording head (thermal head), 16...
Ink ribbon sheet, 16Y, 16M, 16C,
16K...Single color part (yellow, magenta, cyan,
(black), 17...Recording paper, 19-21... Routing mechanism (routing roller).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A recording paper fed by a recording paper feeding mechanism, and a plurality of monochromatic portions of different colors having the outer shape of one recording screen to be recorded are sequentially and repeatedly formed in the longitudinal direction of the recording paper in the same direction and at the same speed. The ink ribbon sheet to be fed, a plurality of recording heads having head lengths equal to the width of the one recording screen and fixedly installed in parallel at equal intervals along the recording paper feeding direction, and the adjacent recording heads. an ink ribbon routing mechanism for routing the ink ribbon sheet so that the length of the ink ribbon sheet between the adjacent recording heads is the sum of the length of the recording paper between the adjacent recording heads and the length of one recording screen; A transfer type color printer comprising a recording head drive circuit capable of simultaneously driving recording heads.