JPH02214669A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To give a beautiful finish to a recording paper discharged and eliminate the need for a time for lustering by providing a heater for heating a recording paper after an image is recorded on the paper and before the paper reaches a discharging roller, between an image recording means and the discharging roller. CONSTITUTION:When recording in the third color is finished, a discharging sector 29 is rotated to a position 29a, and when the leading end of a recording paper 13 is fed to a lower position, chucking is released. The paper 13 is thereby fed into a discharging passage 31. When the discharging sector 29 is rotated to the position 29a, a metallic roller 32 and an elastic roller 33 are started rotating. As the paper 13 is moved through the discharging passage 31, an image recording surface 13a of the paper 13 is heated by a heater 36 already set into heat generation. The paper 13 is fed by being clamped between the roller 32 and the roller 33, and is discharged to the exterior through a discharging port 17. During the discharge, the image recording surface 13a is pressed by the metallic roller 32, whereby the surface is made glossy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer that records images, characters, etc. on recording paper.

[Conventional technology]

In thermal transfer printers that record image information, recording paper is wrapped around the outer periphery of a cylinder called a platen, and while the platen rotates once, an ink film (sublimable dye, etc. A thermal transfer method is known in which image information is recorded by pressing and heating a thermal head with an ink (applied with ink) in between.

When an image is recorded using a thermal transfer printer such as the one described above, when the dye on the ink ribbon is heated by the thermal head and transferred to the recording paper, the image receiving surface of the recording paper becomes soft due to the heat of the thermal head. , a richness occurs on the image receiving surface depending on the shape of the thermal head. To deal with this, a device for glossing the print surface (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-1326
No. 80) is known. In this device, in order to make the surface of the recording paper glossy, a heating roller with a built-in heater is placed close to the outer peripheral surface of the platen, and after recording, the surface of the recording paper is heated and pressurized to make it glossy. . A method has also been published in which a belt placed near the platen is heated with a heater, and the belt is used to heat and pressurize the recording paper.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described method, the heater is placed near the platen, and the platen is heated via the heating roller or belt, so there is a problem in that the density of the next print is increased more than necessary. In addition, in color image recording, three-color separation printing of cyan, magenta, and yellow is performed, but each time each color is printed, it becomes glossy, and the platen must be rotated to make it glossy after printing the three colors. There was a problem that the overall processing time became long.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer in which discharged recording paper has a beautiful finish and does not require time for glossing. do.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an image recording means for recording an image on recording paper using a thermal head, a pair of discharge rollers for discharging the recording paper out of the main body of the apparatus while pressurizing the recording paper after recording the image, and The thermal transfer printer includes a heater that is provided between the image recording means and the ejection roller to heat the recording paper after recording the image and before it reaches the ejection roller.

In addition, an image recording means for recording an image on recording paper using a thermal head, a pair of ejection rollers that eject the recording paper outside the apparatus main body while pressurizing the recording paper after the image has been recorded, and an ejection roller built in at least one of the ejection rollers. An effective solution is to provide a heater that heats the recording paper that has been fed up to that point.

[Effect]

According to the above, the recording paper on which the image has been recorded is heated by the heater while being transported to the ejection roller, so when it reaches the ejection roller, the surface of the recording paper becomes glossy due to the pressure of the ejection roller, and is ejected from the thermal transfer printer. Ru. According to this, since the heater is located far from the platen,
Since the platen is not heated unnecessarily and ejection and glossing can be performed at the same time, the processing time required for the entire process of image recording and glossing can be shortened.

Moreover, if a heater is built into the discharge roller, pressurization and heating can be performed at the same time. Thereby, the recording paper conveyance path can be shortened by the length of the heater.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

In FIG. 2 showing a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, a thermal transfer printer 10 consists of a main body 11 and a back cover 12. By opening 12, the ink film described later can be replaced. The main body part 11
A recording paper insertion slot 14 into which a recording paper 13 is inserted is provided on the front surface 11a, and a power switch 16 is further provided.

Further, the back surface 11b of the main body 11 is provided with an ejection port 17 (see FIG. 2) through which the recording paper 13 on which an image has been recorded is ejected.

In FIG. 1 showing the internal structure of the thermal transfer printer 10,
The outer peripheral surface 39 of the platen 18 is wider than the recording paper 13 in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper, and the recording paper 13 can be chucked at the outer peripheral surface 39 by a chuffing mechanism (not shown).

A thermal head 19 is provided above the platen 18, and between the platen 18 and the thermal head 19, three colors of yellow, magenta, and cyan are placed on one surface of the thin film.
An ink film 21 is provided in which sublimable dyes of different colors are sequentially applied in a predetermined width in the longitudinal direction. This ink film 21 is wound around a supply reel 22 , and is unwound from the supply reel 22 and wound onto a take-up reel 23 .

Note that the sublimable dye of the ink film 21 may be of four colors, including the above three colors plus black, and a color tone sensor 2 is provided near the thermal head 19 to detect the color tone of the dye.
4 is provided.

At the center of the thermal head 19, a required number (for example, 512) of heating elements 26 are attached in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. When this heating element 26 is caused to generate heat by passing a current (for example, 64 steps) corresponding to the image information,
The dye layer of the ink film 21 in contact with the dye layer is sublimated and adheres to the surface of the recording paper 13, and recording is performed at, for example, 64th floor 11 (density per color). After recording one line, when the platen 18 is rotated in the direction of arrow A,
The recording paper 13 and the ink film 21 move, and the next line can be recorded. The number of lines is, for example, 490 for each color, and in this case, the time required to record an image on one sheet of recording paper is about 1.0 to 1.5 minutes.

The inserted recording paper 13 is located at the back of the recording paper insertion slot 14.
A sensor 27 is provided to detect the leading edge of the recording paper 13 and start a series of recording operations. A transfer roller 28 is provided.

An ejection sector 29 is rotatably provided at the back of the ejection port 17, and when it is rotated to a position f29a as indicated by a broken line, the recording paper 13 on which printing has been completed is ejected via the ejection conveyance path 31. Guide you to exit 17. Further, a heater 36 having a length approximately equal to the width of the recording paper 13 is disposed perpendicular to the paper surface in the discharge conveyance path 31, and heats the recording paper 13 in the discharge conveyance path 31. Further, two rollers, a metal roller 32 and an elastic roller 33, are provided to sandwich the recording paper 13 from above and below and send it out toward the discharge port 17. The metal roller 32 and the elastic roller 33 press the entire area of the image recording surface 13a of the recording paper 13.
It has a width equal to or greater than that. An elastic portion 34 made of an elastic body is provided on the outer circumference of the elastic roller 33.

The elastic roller 33 discharges the recording paper 13 from the discharge port 17 while applying pressure to the recording paper 13 using the elastic portion 34 . A coil spring 35 is applied to the shaft portions of the metal roller 32 and the elastic roller 33, which biases both rollers in a direction that attracts them to each other, and contributes to pressurizing the recording paper 13. Pressing rollers 37 and 3B are provided around the platen 18 to bring the recording paper 13 into close contact with the outer peripheral surface 39 of the platen 18.

Hereinafter, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be explained.

First, the power switch 16 of the thermal transfer printer 10 is pressed to turn on the power to the thermal transfer printer 10, and the recording paper 13 is inserted with the image recording surface 13a facing downward. The transport roller 28 transports the recording paper 13, and the sensor 27 detects this. When detected by this sensor 27, the heater 36
The supply of power to will begin. Recording paper 13 is platen 1
When the platen 18 is chucked to the outer peripheral surface 39 of the
rotates in six directions. This rotation continues, and the recording paper 13
is brought into close contact with the outer peripheral surface 39 of the platen 18 by the pressing roller 38. During this time, the color tone of the first color dye (for example, yellow) is confirmed by the color tone sensor 24 in synchronization with the rotation of the platen 18, and the color tone of the first color dye (for example, yellow) is prepared below the heat-sensitive electrode 19. Thereafter, the heating element 26 is pressed against the image recording surface 13a of the recording paper 13 via the ink film 21. At the same time, a thermal head drive circuit (not shown) is driven, and recording of image information is started while the recording paper 13 is brought into close contact with the first color dye of the ink film 21. Ink film 21
is fed by the width of the heating element 26 each time recording of one line is completed, and recording of the first color is completed.

Next, the platen 18 starts continuous rotation in the A direction. Then, when the ink film 21 is sent to the position of the heating element 26 again, the ink film 21 is wound up by the take-up reel 23.
The feeding operation is stopped when the second color (for example, magenta) is detected by the color tone sensor 24. Thereafter, recording of the second and third colors is performed in the same manner as the first color.

When the recording of the third color is completed, the ejection sector 29 moves to position 29.
When the recording paper 13 is rotated to the position a and the leading edge of the recording paper 13 is fed down to the lower side in the figure, the chucking is released at that point. As a result, the recording paper 13 is sent to the ejection conveyance path 3I. When the ejection sector 29 rotates to the position 29a, the metal roller 32 and the elastic roller 33 start rotating. As the recording paper 13 moves along the discharge conveyance path 31, its image recording surface 13a is heated by the heater 36, which is already generating heat. The recording paper 13 is conveyed while being held between a metal roller 32 and an elastic roller 33, and is discharged to the outside from the discharge port 17. During this discharge, the image recording surface 13a is pressed by the metal roller 32 and becomes glossy. Ru.

Note that instead of placing the heater at a location separate from the metal roller 32, a cylindrical heater 45 may be placed concentrically with the metal roller 32 as shown in FIG. 31 can be shortened and the thermal transfer printer can be made more compact.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the lid 51 may be opened by rotating around the hinge portion 52, the metal roller 32 may be removed, and replaced with another metal roller or the like. You can have it.

For example, a matte surface treatment can be achieved by using a metal roller with a large number of minute protrusions distributed on its circumferential surface.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention includes: an image recording unit that records an image on a recording paper using a thermal head; a pair of discharge rollers that discharge the recording paper after the image is recorded to the outside of the apparatus main body while pressurizing the recording paper; A heater is provided between the image recording means and the ejection roller to heat the recording paper after recording the image and before it reaches the ejection roller. Therefore, images can be recorded at appropriate density without unnecessary heating of the platen, and furthermore, since no time is required for glossing processing, the overall processing time can be shortened.

Furthermore, if the heater is built into at least one of the pair of discharge rollers, the discharge conveyance path can be shortened.
The entire printer can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of essential parts schematically showing a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external view of the thermal transfer printer shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment. 32 ・ 33 ・ 34 ・ 36°51 ・・Metal roller・Elastic roller・Elastic part 45・・Heater・Lid. 10 ・ 13 ・ 3a l 4 ・ 16 ・ l 7 ・ 18 ・ l 9 ・ 2 l ・ 22 ・ 23 ・ 24 ・ 26 ・ 31 ・ ・Thermal transfer printer・Recording paper・・Image recording surface・Recording paper insertion slot・Power switch・Discharge port, platen, thermal head, ink film, loss supply reel, take-up reel, color sensor, heating element, discharge conveyance path

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An image recording means that records an image on a recording paper using a thermal head, a pair of ejection rollers that ejects the recording paper outside the main body of the apparatus while pressurizing the recording paper after the image has been recorded, and a space between the image recording means and the ejection roller. After recording the image,
A thermal transfer printer comprising: a heater that heats recording paper before it reaches a discharge roller. (2) An image recording means that records an image on recording paper using a thermal head, a pair of ejection rollers that ejects the recording paper outside the apparatus main body while pressurizing the recording paper after the image has been recorded, and A thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is equipped with a heater that heats recording paper that has been fed to a roller.