JPH0284374A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To erase the mark of printing by again heating the transfer end part of a film, and removing ink remaining on the film by removing means. CONSTITUTION:An erasure head 17 having a heating mechanism and a scraping pawl 18 for scraping ink heated on an ink ribbon film 12 are provided on the way of feeding line of the film 12 fed through a printing head 16. The head 17 and the pawl 18 are mounted at the front and rear of the line through the feeding line of the film 12, and the head 17 and the pawl 18 are so disposed on the film 12 fed between both as to be brought into contact under pressure by a predetermined force. The transferred film is reheated by the head 17, the remaining ink on the surface is removed by the pawl 18, and then contained in a winding reel 14. The ink removed by the pawl 18 is separated as ink chip 20 from the film 12.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to thermal transfer printers.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional thermal transfer printers form images by bringing a printing medium into partial contact with a film coated with ink, and selectively heating the contact areas to transfer the ink from the film to the printing medium.

The portion of the film that has been transferred is separated from the printing medium, and then the untransferred portion of the film is newly brought into contact with the printing medium to perform continuous printing. On this occasion,
The transferred portion of the film is stored as is in the storage section.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the above-described thermal transfer printer, the film that has been transferred is stored as it is, so as shown in FIG. 2(b), a transfer mark 23 is left on the film base 21 due to the residual ink 22, which cannot be read as characters. This poses a problem in that if a third party were to obtain the discarded used film, the contents of the printed documents would be known.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer that solves the above problems.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the thermal transfer printer of the present invention includes:
In a thermal transfer printer that partially contacts a film coated with ink with a print medium, selectively heats the contact portion, and transfers the ink from the film to the print medium to form a print medium image. It is equipped with means for heating the film and means for removing ink on the heated film.

[Effect]

By heating the transfer end part of the film again and removing the ink remaining on the film by the removing means,
Erase print marks.

〔Example〕

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a mechanical diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a film coated with ink is installed in a ribbon case 11 as an ink ribbon film 12 in the form of an elongated ribbon. Ink ribbon film 1
2 is one supply reel 13 provided in the ribbon case 11
While being guided by the roller 15 and moving toward the other take-up reel 14, it is pressed by the printing head 16 and comes into contact with the printing medium 19, where it is selectively heated and the image created by the ink transfer is transferred. It is formed. The present invention is equipped with an erasing head 17 equipped with a heating mechanism and a scraping claw 18 for scraping the heated ink on the ink ribbon film 12 in the middle of the transition line of the ink ribbon film 12 via the printing head 16. It is something. Erase head 17
The scraping claw 18 is installed before and after the line across the transition line of the ink ribbon film 12, and the erasing head 17 and the scraping claw 18 apply the required force to the ink ribbon film 12 passed between the two. It is arranged so that it can be pressed.

In the embodiment, the transferred film portion is erased by erasing head 1.
7, the residual ink on the surface is removed by a scraping pawl 18, and then the paper is stored on a take-up reel 14. The residual ink removed by the scraping pawl 18 is separated from the ink ribbon film 12 as ink scum 20.

FIG. 2(a) is a diagram of a used ink ribbon film in a thermal transfer printer according to the present invention. In the ink ribbon film used in the thermal transfer printer according to the present invention, only the ink ribbon film base 21 remains, and no transfer marks due to residual ink are observed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, no transfer trace remains on the ink film after printing, and the secret of the print content can be maintained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a mechanical diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 (a) is a diagram of a used ink ribbon film produced by a thermal transfer printer of the present invention, and (b) is a diagram of a used ink ribbon film produced by a conventional thermal transfer printer. It is a diagram. 11... Ribbon case 12... Ink ribbon film 13... Supply reel 14... Take-up reel 15... Roller 16... Print head 17... Erasing head 18... Scraping claw 1
9... Printing medium 20... Ink scum 21.
... Ink ribbon film base 22 ... Residual ink 23 ... Transfer trace Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A thermal transfer printer that partially contacts a film coated with ink with a print medium, selectively heats the contact portion, and transfers ink from the film to the print medium to form a print medium image, A thermal transfer printer comprising means for heating a film after transfer and means for removing ink on the heated film.