JPH0248952A - Printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a low noise printing device of which nozzle clogging scarecely occurs without decreasing resolution by a method wherein microcapsule ink is colored on a surface of paper. CONSTITUTION:A printing color is determined, and microcapsule ink is conveyed from a tank 1 to a feeder 3. When a character string to be printed is inputted 14, a control means 12 takes an initial one character out from a character generator 13, and selects to which dot the ink is adhered. The ink is stuck to printing paper 7 from a nozzle 5 corresponding to said dot. Then, an ink coloring means 10 travels applying pressure, destroys the microcapsule of ink, and colors a surface of the paper in ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a so-called dot matrix type printing device that forms an image by depositing colored material in dots on a paper surface.

[Conventional technology]

As dot matrix type printing devices, inkjet type, thermal transfer type, wire dot type, etc. have been put into practical use.

The inkjet type jets liquid ink as droplets from a micro-diameter nozzle onto the paper surface.Charged ink droplets are passed between deflection plates, and the ink droplets are transformed by the electric potential applied to the deflection plates. There are those that draw letters, etc. by deflecting the ink, and those that draw letters, etc. on paper by moving the nozzle horizontally while selectively ejecting ink droplets from multiple micro-diameter nozzles arranged vertically. It is something.

In the thermal transfer type, a film ribbon coated with wax-like ink or dye is layered on paper, and a large number of microelectrodes are held down by a head arranged close to each other in the horizontal direction, while selectively energizing the electrodes. This process generates heat, melts or sublimates the ink or dye, and transfers and prints onto the required area of the paper surface.

In the wire dot type, a ribbon impregnated with ink is superimposed on paper, and a mechanical impact is applied from above with a wire of a minute diameter to cause the ink or dye to adhere to the paper surface. Wires are generally arranged vertically in the number of pixels that make up a character, etc. to form a head, which selectively emits only the necessary wires and moves them horizontally while applying an impact to the paper surface. ing.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, each of the above-mentioned types of printing devices has its own problems.

For example, in inkjet printers, although nozzle clogging due to ink has been considerably improved, it is still a fundamental problem, and the cost of countermeasures is hindering cost reduction of inkjet printers.

In the thermal transfer type, in order to improve the quality of printing, it is necessary to coat the paper surface with resin, and special paper is generally used. Therefore, there is a problem that running costs are high.

In addition, the basic problems with the wire dot type are slow printing speed and noise.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a printing device according to the present invention forms an image by depositing a coloring material in dots on a paper surface, and includes one or more storage tanks for storing microcapsule ink. and a nozzle head for attaching the above-mentioned microcapsule ink to the paper surface,
It is characterized by comprising a coloring means for causing the microcapsule ink attached to the paper surface to develop color on the paper surface.

[For production]

According to the printing device configured as described above, the microcapsule ink (hereinafter referred to as MC ink) stored in the storage tank is supplied to the nozzle head as necessary. The nozzle head is a nozzle with a small diameter arranged vertically, and is sized to form the first column of characters, facing close to the surface of the printing paper wrapped around a rotating drum. , so that it can move parallel to the surface of the drum.

The MC ink is ejected only from specific nozzles of the nozzle head and adheres to the paper surface depending on the characters to be printed.

Once the nozzle head has deposited the MC ink on the necessary portions of the first column, it moves to the next second column and deposits the MC ink only on the necessary dots of this second column.

In this way, the nozzle head sequentially applies MC ink to the columns that make up the characters. After applying MC ink to the last character of the first line, the nozzle head is returned to the left end of the line in order to apply MC ink to the next character. At this time, the coloring means, e.g. A pressurizer applies pressure to the first row on which MC ink has already been applied, causing the ink to develop color.

MC ink is sufficiently dried and turned into a non-viscous powder, so it does not clog the nozzle unlike inkjet printing devices, and the microcapsule diameter is 10 mm.
Since it is about μm or less, the resolution can be made sufficiently large. Furthermore, since the MC ink can be charged and its operation can be electrically controlled, the printing speed can be sufficiently increased. Furthermore, since plain paper can be used, the cost will not increase.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below based on FIGS. 1 to 4.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, microcapsule ink (hereinafter referred to as MC ink) is stored in separate storage tanks 1' for each color, and transport pipes 2, 2'..., it is supplied to the supply device 3. The supply device 3 supplies M of the required color from the MC ink inside each storage tank 1'...
Only the C ink is selected and taken in, and is supplied to the nozzle head 5 via the supply vibrator 4.

The nozzle head 5 has printing paper 7 wrapped around a drum 6.
As shown in FIG. 3, on the surface facing the printing paper 7, there are dots corresponding to dots that divide one vertical row, that is, one column, that constitute characters to be printed. Nozzles 5a, 5b with a diameter of 20 to 60 μm at equal intervals.
- 5n is provided, and the distance between nozzles 5a and 5n is the height of the printed character.

The drum 6 is rotatable by a drum drive means 8, and a guide 9 is provided in parallel to the drum 6. This makes it possible to move parallel to the drum 6 along the guide 9. Further, all of the above elements are controlled by a control means 12 having a microcomputer, and a character generator 13 and a character input means 14 are also connected to the control means 12.

The procedure for printing characters in the printing apparatus having the above configuration will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG. 4.

First, the color to be printed is determined, and a predetermined MC ink is transported from the storage tank 1 to the supply device 3 via the transport pipe 2 (Sl).

Microcapsule ink is, for example, ink encapsulated in microscopic capsules made of gelatin and gum arabic and dried sufficiently, and the diameter of the capsule is 5 to 10 am.
The diameter is 1/2 to 115 of the ink droplet diameter in a normal ink shared type printing device.

When the character string to be printed is input using the input means 14 (S2
), the control means 12 extracts the first character from the character string from the character generator 13 (S3), and injects MC ink into which dot among the dots forming the first column at the left end of this first character. It is selected whether to attach it (S4).

As mentioned above, once the position of the dot in the column to which the MC ink is to be attached is determined, the required amount of MC ink is ejected from the necessary nozzle of the nozzle head 5 corresponding to that dot, and the MC ink is attached to the printing paper 7 ( S5). As for the adhesion force in this case, a method can be used in which the MC ink particles and the printing paper 7 are charged to opposite polarities using a charging means (not shown).

When the MC ink is deposited on the printing paper 7, the nozzle head 5 is moved to the right by one column of characters by the nozzle head feeding means 11 (S6), and the control means 12 moves the ink to the next second column. Select a dot (S7).

Thereafter, the same operation as for the first column is performed on the second column, and when the MC ink has been adhered to the last column (S8), the nozzle head feeding means 11 moves the nozzle head 5 to the second column in the right direction. It is moved by one character to the character position (S9), and MC ink adhesion to the second character is started (SIO). Then, for all characters in one line, M
When the adhesion of C ink is completed (Sll), the nozzle head 5 is moved to the left end position by the nozzle head feeding means 11.
, and at the same time, the pressurizer, which is the MC ink coloring means 10, runs to the left while applying pressure over the first row on which the MC ink has finished adhering, destroying the MC ink microcapsules. , coloring the ink on the paper (31
2).

In this case, the pressure can be applied using, for example, a roller made of a hard material that rolls closely against the printing paper 7 wound around the drum 6, and the surface where the roller contacts the printing paper 7 is coated with fine particles. It is effective to provide unevenness. In this way, the MC ink can be pressurized in a short time and without noise using a simple mechanism.

As mentioned above, when the printing of the first line is completed, the drum 6 is rotated by one line of characters by the drum driving means 8 (513).
, the process moves to the next line printing operation (S14).

Note that when printing other colors at the same time, the control means 12 selects which dot is of which color based on the input color information, and controls the supply device to take in the corresponding MC ink. 3, and the supplier 3 controls the MC of the specified color.
Only the necessary MC ink is taken in from a storage tank 1', etc. that stores ink, and only the necessary amount is supplied to the nozzle corresponding to the required dot position of the nozzle head 5.

As described above, it is possible to realize a dot matrix type printing device in which nozzle clogging of the nozzle head 5 is unlikely to occur, the printing speed is high, and the running cost is low.

Note that the coloring means 10 is not necessarily limited to mere pressurization, but may also include a method of pressurizing and heating the MC ink capsules by applying pressure and heating using a heating electrode in which many thin electrodes are arranged, such as the electrodes of a thermal transfer printing device. You can also take

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, the printing device according to the present invention is a printing device that forms an image by depositing a colored material in dots on a paper surface, and includes one or more storage tanks for storing microcapsule ink, and the above-mentioned storage tank. It has a configuration including a nozzle head for attaching microcapsule ink to the paper surface, and a coloring means for destroying the capsules of the microcapsule ink attached to the paper surface and coloring the ink on the paper surface.

As a result, it is possible to realize a low-noise printing device with extremely little clogging of ink nozzles without lowering the resolution (and also to electrically control the microcapsule ink at high speed).

Furthermore, since plain paper can be used, it is possible to realize a printing device with low running costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the general configuration of a printing device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram thereof, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the nozzle arrangement on the printing paper side of the nozzle head, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the printing procedure of the printing apparatus according to the present invention. 1, 1', . . . are storage tanks, 5 is a nozzle head, 6 is a drum, 7 is printing paper, and 10 is a coloring means. Suzu Meizu Diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A printing device that forms an image by depositing colored material in dots on a paper surface, comprising one or more storage tanks that store microcapsule ink, and a printing device that deposits the microcapsule ink on the paper surface. What is claimed is: 1. A printing device comprising: a nozzle head for causing microcapsule ink to adhere to a paper surface; and a coloring means for destroying microcapsule ink capsules adhered to a paper surface and causing the ink to develop color on the paper surface.