JPH0591854U - Thermal head cleaning device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a cleaning device for surely cleaning a thermal head with a simple operation. A cleaning device 6 is composed of a housing 3 having a shape capable of engaging with an ink sheet cassette mounting portion 5 of a printer body 1, and a cleaning member 10 attached to the housing 3, The thermal head 8 is cleaned by mounting or demounting the ink sheet cassette mounting portion 5.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal head cleaning device, and more particularly to a thermal head cleaning device capable of easily and reliably cleaning the thermal head without damaging the thermal head.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 FIG. 5 shows an example of a general thermal transfer printer. A thermal head (not shown) is provided inside the printer body 1, and a housing 3 in which an ink sheet 2 is housed therein. A mounting portion 5 for mounting the ink sheet cassette 4 is formed.

In such a thermal transfer printer, the thermal head is pressed against a recording medium such as paper through the ink sheet 2, and the thermal head is energized to melt or sublimate the ink on the ink sheet 2. The desired image is printed by selectively transferring the image onto a recording medium.

By the way, in such a thermal transfer printer, when foreign matter such as dust adheres to the head surface of the thermal head, a space is formed between the head and the ink sheet, resulting in a dot-shaped print screen. Since white spots may occur and the pressure contact pressure of the thermal head to the print screen may become uneven locally, scratches or unevenness may occur on the print screen. Need to be cleaned properly.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, since the conventional cleaning device has a cleaning member attached to the tip of a rod-shaped object, it is necessary to disassemble the printer body to expose the head surface of the thermal head when performing the cleaning work. There was a problem that was extremely complicated. In addition, there is a problem that the head surface is exposed during cleaning work, which may cause the head surface to be accidentally damaged during the work.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the thermal head can be reliably cleaned by a simple operation, and there is no risk of damaging the thermal head. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a thermal head cleaning device of the present invention is a thermal head cleaning device for a thermal transfer printer that prints using an ink sheet contained in an ink sheet cassette. It is characterized in that it has a casing having a shape capable of engaging with the ink sheet cassette mounting portion and a cleaning member attached to this casing.

[0008]

[Action]

 According to the above-described thermal head cleaning device of the present invention, the housing of the cleaning device is shaped to engage with the ink sheet cassette mounting portion of the printer body, and the cleaning member is attached to this housing. Due to this structure, the head surface of the thermal head is cleaned by mounting or removing the cleaning device on the ink sheet cassette mounting part of the printer body.

[0009]

【Example】

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same parts as those in FIG. 5 described above are designated by the same reference numerals in the following description.

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of a thermal head cleaning device according to the present invention, in which a housing 7 of the cleaning device 6 is an ink sheet cassette mounted on the printer body 1. The ink sheet cassettes have almost the same shape and can be attached to and detached from the attachment portion 5 of the ink sheet cassette formed in the printer body 1. A cleaning member 10 for cleaning the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 is attached to the upper surface of the housing 7, that is, the surface facing the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 attached to the printer body 1. ing.

The cleaning member 10 is formed by bending a thin metal plate, and has an attachment portion 11 attached to the housing 7, an elastic arm portion 12, and a tip of the arm portion 12. And a cleaning unit 13 that comes into contact with the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 to clean the thermal head 8.

The cleaning member 10 is positioned at a predetermined position of the housing 7, that is, a position where the cleaning portion 13 and the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 can be brought into good contact with each other during the cleaning work, and then the cleaning member 10 is mounted. The part 11 is attached to the housing 7 by being adhered thereto with a double-sided tape or an adhesive. The cleaning member 10 may be attached to the housing 7 by screwing, fitting, or the like other than adhesion, and is not limited to this embodiment.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the thermal head 8 is cleaned using the cleaning device 6 of this embodiment, first, the ink sheet cassette 4 is pulled out from the printer body 1 and the mounting portion 5 thereof is opened.

Next, the arm 12 of the cleaning member 10 attached to the cleaning device 6 is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow A in FIG. 2A against the elastic force, and attached to the tip thereof. The arm 12 is pushed down to a position where the cleaning unit 13 can pass through the opening of the mounting unit 5, and in this state, the cleaning device 6 is moved in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 2 and inserted into the mounting unit 5 of the printer body 1. ..

When the cleaning device 6 is slightly inserted into the mounting part 5 and the cleaning part 13 attached to the arm 12 of the cleaning member 10 passes the side end part 8a of the thermal head 8, the arm 12 is pushed down. 2 and the cleaning unit 13 is brought into contact with the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8. In this state, the cleaning device 6 is moved further in the direction of arrow B in FIG. The head surface 9 of the head 8 is slid by the cleaning portion 13 to clean the head surface 9.

When the cleaning device 6 is inserted to the end (state of FIG. 2B), the cleaning device 6 is moved in the opposite direction in the direction of pulling out from the mounting portion 5 to clean the head surface 9 again. The head surface 9 is cleaned by being slid by the portion 13. This insertion and withdrawal operation may be performed once, but if it is performed a plurality of times as necessary, the cleaning of the head surface 8 becomes more complete.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the cleaning device 6 is configured such that the cleaning member 10 is attached to the upper surface of the housing 7 having substantially the same shape as the ink sheet cassette 4 mounted in the printer body 1. Since the cassette 4 can be mounted on the mounting portion 5, it is possible to clean the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 according to the insertion and withdrawal operations of the cleaning device 6 into the mounting portion 5, and an extremely simple operation is possible. Can reliably clean the thermal head. There is also no risk of damaging the head surface of the thermal head.

Next, FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the cleaning device 13 in this embodiment is the casing 3 of the ink sheet cassette 4 shown in FIG. The cleaning member 14 is attached to the cleaning member 14, and the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 is simultaneously cleaned by the operation of mounting the cleaning member 14 on the printer body 1 as an ink sheet cassette.

That is, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B and FIGS. 4A and 4B, a predetermined position on the upper surface of the housing 3 in which the ink sheet 2 is housed, that is, the printer. At a position facing the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 attached to the main body 1, an attachment portion 15, an arm portion 16 and a cleaning portion for cleaning the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 as in the above-described embodiment. A cleaning member 14 composed of 17 is attached, but its position is different from that of the above-described embodiment at the side end portion of the housing 3, and the cleaning device 13 is attached to the mounting portion 5 of the printer body 1 to the end. When the cleaning member 14 is inserted, the cleaning member 14 is detached from the other end 8b of the thermal head 8 so that the thermal head 8 can perform the printing operation.

According to this embodiment, the head surface 9 of the thermal head 8 is cleaned by the operation of mounting the cleaning device 13 on the ink sheet mounting portion 5 of the printer body 1, and after the mounting is completed, It can be used as it is as an ink sheet cassette, and when the ink sheet cassette in the housing 3 is used up and the ink sheet cassette is replaced, the head surface of the thermal head 8 is again pulled out by the pulling operation. 9 is to be cleaned.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to separately manufacture a cleaning device, and it is not necessary to carry out the cleaning operation independently, so that the cleaning operation can be significantly simplified.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and for example, even if the housing of the cleaning device does not have the same shape as the housing of the ink sheet cassette, it is attached to the ink sheet cassette mounting portion of the printer body. Any shape is acceptable as long as it can be inserted and removed, and various changes can be made as necessary.

[0024]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the cleaning device has a housing that is configured to be engageable with the ink sheet cassette mounting portion of the printer body and has a cleaning member attached to the housing. The head surface of the thermal head can be cleaned by attaching or detaching the cleaning device to the ink sheet cassette mounting part of the main body, and the thermal head can be cleaned surely with a simple operation. It has a practical effect that there is no risk that the thermal head will be damaged by the cleaning work.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of a thermal head cleaning device of the present invention.

2A and 2B are explanatory views showing a usage state of the thermal head cleaning device in FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 2A shows a state before being attached to the printer body, and FIG. Side view.

3A and 3B are explanatory views showing a second embodiment of the thermal head cleaning device of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a top view thereof, and FIG. 3B is a side view thereof.

4A and 4B are explanatory views showing a usage state of the thermal head cleaning device in FIG. 3, wherein FIG. 4A shows a state before being attached to the printer body, and FIG. Side view.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a printer body and an ink sheet cassette of a general thermal transfer printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Printer Main Body 2 Ink Sheet 3 Housing 4 Ink Sheet Cassette 5 Mounting Part 6 Cleaning Device 7 Housing 8 Thermal Head 9 Head Surface 10 Cleaning Member 11 Mounting Part 12 Arm Part 13 Cleaning Part

Claims (3)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cleaning device for a thermal head in a thermal transfer printer that prints by using an ink sheet contained in an ink sheet cassette, and a housing having a shape capable of engaging with an ink sheet cassette mounting portion of a printer body. A cleaning device for a thermal head, comprising: a cleaning member attached to the housing. 2. The thermal head cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the housing has substantially the same shape as the ink sheet cassette mounted in the ink sheet cassette mounting portion of the printer body. 3. The thermal head cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein an ink sheet is housed in the housing and also serves as an ink sheet cassette.