JPH04201475A - Inking apparatus for printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously reuse an ink ribbon by almost horizontally arranging the rotary shaft of an inking roller and bringing an ink ribbon tape into contact with the upper region of the inking roller and always bringing the lower part of the inking roller into contact with the ink in an ink tank. CONSTITUTION:The rotary shaft of an ink supply member 3 as an inking roller is almost horizontally arranged and an ink ribbon tape is brought into contact with the upper region of the ink supply member 3 and the lower part of the ink supply member 3 is always brought into contact with the ink in an ink tank. A blade 4 as a blade mechanism setting the thickness of the ink bonded to the ink supply member 3 constant and an ink smoothing member 5 uniformly setting the thickness of the ink bonded to the ink ribbon tape are respectively provided in the vicinity of the inking roller 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an inking device for a printer, and in particular,
The present invention relates to an inking device for a printer used for a recyclable ink ribbon.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in the thermal transfer recording method that allows recording on plain paper using a thermal head, as shown in FIG. 4, a heat-melting material is placed on a polyester film.

For example, an ink ribbon 30 coated with an ink having a relatively low melting point, such as a binder material such as ester wax and a colorant such as a pigment added thereto, is used. This ink ribbon 30 is previously wound on a first reel 3.
4A and sent via guide rollers 32, 32 to a thermal head 35 having a plurality of heating resistors arranged in series.

Here, in a state where the thermal head 35 and the paper 33 are sandwiched, an appropriate pressure is applied to the platen 31 and the thermal head 3.
5, the heating element is heated in response to the print signal applied to the thermal head 35, melts the ink on the ink ribbon 30, and transfers the ink onto the paper to perform recording. The recorded ink ribbon 30 is wound onto the second reel 34B.

Furthermore, such a thermal transfer recording method can print not only on plain paper but also on polyester resin materials such as OHP films as a recording medium.

[Problem B to be Solved by the Invention] However, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink ribbon 30 has a disadvantage in that it cannot be used again after the ink has been transferred to the recording medium. Furthermore, there is an uneconomical aspect in that the ink is left on the ink ribbon 30 other than the thermally transferred portion and is discarded without being used. There was the inconvenience of making it into something. In addition, a reel 34B is required to wind up the ink ribbon 30, and space is required inside the device to provide the reels 34A and 34B, which has the disadvantage of increasing the size of the printer. Ta. In addition, the characters printed on the used ink ribbon 30 remain in an inverted form, which can be easily read by a third party.
There is a problem with confidentiality. Another disadvantage is that the number of characters that can be printed at one time is extremely small compared to other printing methods such as wire dot printers.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an inking device for a printer that improves the disadvantages of the prior art and, in particular, makes it possible to continuously reuse and reuse ink ribbons.

[Means for Solving the Problems] According to the present invention, in an inking device for a printer equipped with an inking roller that adheres ink to an ink ribbon tape, the rotation axis of the inking roller is disposed approximately horizontally, and the inking roller is arranged substantially horizontally. The ink ribbon tape is brought into contact with the upper part of the king roller, and the lower part of the inking roller is always brought into contact with the ink in the ink tank.
It has this configuration. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned purpose.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the rotating shaft of an ink supply member 3 serving as an inking roller is arranged approximately horizontally, and an ink ribbon tape is brought into contact with the upper part of the ink supply member 3. At the same time, the lower part of the ink supply member 3 is configured to be in constant contact with the ink in the ink tank.

Near the inking roller 3, there is a blade 4 as a blade mechanism that sets the thickness of the ink that adheres to the ink supply member 3 constant, and a blade 4 that sets the thickness of the ink that adheres to the ink ribbon tape to be uniform. An ink smoothing member 5 is provided respectively.

To explain this in more detail, first, the ink supply member 3 is formed of, for example, an aluminum alloy into a rotatable cylindrical shape, and its length is approximately the same as the width of the ink holder, that is, approximately the same as the recording width. It has a length. Further, the surface of the ink supply member 3 is treated to have a satin finish by sandblasting or the like so that the ink can be easily applied to the surface. Also,
Regarding this, for example, a narrow groove may be formed along the lengthwise direction or the circumferential direction over the entire outer peripheral surface of the ink supply member 3. The ink supply member 3 is provided in a housing 7 as shown in the figure, and a heater 1 is provided in the housing 7.
1 is fixed. The ink 10 melted by the housing 7 heated by the heater 11 is adhered to the surface of the rotating ink supply member 3, and excess ink on the surface of the ink supply member 3 is scraped off by the blade 4. Then, the ink 10 on the surface of the ink supply member 3
The guide roller 13 transfers the ink onto the recording surface of the ink holder 2 which runs in contact with the upper part of the ink supply member 3.

However, the surface of the ink film 15 formed by the ink supply member 3 becomes rough due to a phenomenon called tack due to the roughness of the surface of the ink supply member 3 and the viscoelasticity of the ink 10 during ink transfer. , density unevenness,
This may cause deterioration in recording quality such as blurred characters due to poor transfer. Therefore, by squeezing the surface of the ink film 6 with the ink smoothing member 5 provided adjacent to the ink supply member 3 and supplied with heat from the housing 7, the ink film 6 is smoothed and the film thickness is made uniform. do.

Next, a detailed explanation will be given with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, the remaining transferred ink film 21 is present on the recording surface of the ink holder 2. Ink supply member 3
As a result, the ink film 21 in contact with the portion 14 is dissolved and simultaneously mixed with the ink 10 attached to the surface of the ink supply member 3 to form a new ink film 15.

At this time, the amount of ink in the ink supply member 3 is controlled by the blade 4.

Then, the thickness of the ink film 15 becomes uneven due to the surface roughness of the ink supply member 3 and the pulling of the ink 10 due to the tack phenomenon indicated by the reference numeral 16. This is fixed to the housing 7 and comes into contact with the ink smoothing member 5, whereby the ink film 15 is melted again and a uniform molten ink layer 18 is formed in the area between the ink holder 2 and the ink smoothing member 5. be done. Then, the excess ink 19 is scraped off by the ink smoothing member 5 and collected into the housing 7. In addition, the ink 10 moved to the ink supply member 3
The ink 20 that has not been transferred to the ink holder 2 is also collected into the housing 7 by the blade 4. As a result, an ink film 6 with a smooth surface and a uniform thickness is formed on the ink holder 2.

According to the inventor's experiments, by applying an appropriate tension to the ink holder 2, it was possible to form a smooth ink film with a thickness of 8 [μm] and a uniform film thickness.

Inking device 29 shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1 described above
As shown in FIG. 3, the line printer using the ink holder 2 has a feed roller 28. multiple guide rollers 22
．． The recording paper 26, which is stretched by the above-mentioned inking device 29 and set in advance in the hopper 27, is sent out sheet by sheet by the pickup roller 24 during recording, and is first rotated along the path shown by the two-dot chain line. The ink holder 2 is moved to the thermal head 23 by the platen roller 36.
and the ink holder 2 and the recording paper 2.
Needless to say, the running speed is the same as that of 6. Furthermore, if the feed roller 28 is made of a metal roller that has good thermal conductivity and is easy to emit heat to the outside, cooling and solidification of the ink on the ink holder 2 supplied by the inking device 29 can be promoted. Therefore, a line printer capable of high-speed running of the ink holder 2, that is, high-speed recording is obtained.

Note that the above description of the embodiment of the inking device is applicable even if the embodiment is changed to a different recording format depending on the recording format of the printer, such as a serial printer or a line printer.
It is clear that the objectives of the invention are achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently apply ink to the used part of the ink ribbon tape while printing is being performed, and the problems of economic efficiency and printing speed of conventional thermal transfer printers can be solved. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an inking device for a printer that is capable of efficiently transferring ink to recording paper and capable of economically efficient high-speed recording.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a printer equipped with the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional example. 2... Ink holder forming the main part of the ink ribbon tape, 3... Ink supply member, 5
... Ink smoothing member, 10 ... Heat-melting ink, 23 ... Thermal head, 26 ...
... Recording paper, 29 ... Inking device. Applicant Nippon Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Isamu Takahashi Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 (S9', 717)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In an inking device for a printer equipped with an inking roller that adheres ink to an ink ribbon tape, the rotation axis of the inking roller is arranged approximately horizontally, and the ink is placed above the inking roller. An inking device for a printer, characterized in that it has a structure in which a ribbon tape is brought into contact with the inking roller and a lower portion of the inking roller is brought into constant contact with ink in an ink tank. (2) In the vicinity of the inking roller, there is a blade mechanism that sets the thickness of the ink that adheres to the inking roller to be constant, and an ink smoothing mechanism that sets the thickness of the ink that adheres to the ink ribbon tape to be uniform. 2. The inking device for a printer according to claim 1, wherein the inking device is equipped with a member.