JPH0664196A - Thermal transfer recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a thermal head from being contaminated due to run of ink to an opposite face of a film by providing blades which come into contact with a heat resisting film and make heat melting ink at both edges of the film move to the center of the film or winding a thick wire on an outer periphery of the central part of an auxiliary inking member. CONSTITUTION:Blades 16 are provided obliquely with respect to the proceeding direction of a heat resisting film 2 between an ink replenishing member 5 and an auxiliary inking member 6. The blades 16 come in contact with both edges of the film 2 and make heat melting ink 4 at the both edges to the center of the film 2. The auxiliary inking member 6 has a wire 17 wound firmly on its outer periphery on which the film 2 passes being contacted, so that the thickness of the ink 4 coated by the replenishing member 5 is made constant. In a thermal transfer recording device of such a structure, the ink 4 coated on the both edges of the film 2 by the replenishing member 5 is moved by the blades 16 to the center and the ink becomes thin, so that the ink will not run on the opposite face of the film 2.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording apparatus using a thermal head and an ink film, and more particularly to a thermal transfer recording apparatus using a reproducible ink film.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A thermal transfer recording apparatus using a thermal head and an ink film is widely used in various fields due to its low price, low noise and high resolution. Along with this, there has been a demand for reducing the running cost of the ink ribbon.

As a countermeasure for this, an apparatus provided with an inking means, which uses an endless film and which is semipermanently used by applying a hot-melt ink after printing on the film by an ink replenishing member, has been put into practical use. There is.

In a conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus of such a system, a heat-melting ink is applied to one surface of a heat-resistant film by an ink replenishing member having a rough surface, and a sub-inking having a length equal to an effective print width is applied. A smooth ink layer is formed on the heat-resistant film by rubbing the heat-meltable ink of the heat-resistant film with a member.

[0005]

In the conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus as described above, the thickness of the heat-meltable ink applied on the heat-resistant film is not uniform and becomes thick at both ends of the effective print width. Therefore, when the number of recording papers to be printed increases, the heat-meltable ink wraps around the opposite surface of the heat-resistant film,
It has a drawback that the thermal head and other parts are contaminated and eventually good print recording cannot be obtained.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention includes an ink containing portion for containing a heat-meltable ink which is solid at room temperature and whose fluidity is increased by heating, and the heat of the ink containing portion. From the ink replenishing member that contacts the heat-resistant film by contacting the meltable ink and one surface of the endless heat-resistant film to supply the heat-melting ink to the heat-resistant film, A sub-inking member for making the applied amount of the supplied heat-meltable ink constant and the heat-resistant film are brought into contact with each other to locally heat the heat-meltable ink to transfer the heat-meltable ink onto a recording paper to record the same. In a thermal transfer recording apparatus equipped with a thermal head for performing contact with both edges of the heat-resistant film provided between the ink replenishing member and the sub-inking member. The heat-meltable ink of both edges of the heat-resistant film is provided with a blade that moves toward the center of the heat-resistant film, or the diameter of the outer circumference of the center part excluding both end parts of the sub-inking member. It is a thick wire wound.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the embodiment of FIG.

1 and 2, the drive roller 1
Drives the circulating motion of the endless heat-resistant film 2. An ink replenishing member 5 is in contact with the outer surface of the heat resistant film 2, and the ink replenishing member 5 is also in contact with the hot melt ink 4 contained in the ink containing portion 3. The meltable ink 4 is an ink that is solid at room temperature and increases in fluidity by heating, and is heated by a heater 15 attached to the ink containing portion 3 to be a melted body. The amount of the meltable ink 4 applied to the heat resistant film 2 by the ink replenishing member 5 is regulated by the sub inking member 6. That is, the sub-inking member 6 is provided in front of the ink replenishing member 5 in the traveling direction of the heat-resistant film 2 (direction of arrow A), and contacts the outer surface of the heat-resistant film 2 to make contact with the ink replenishing member 5. Acts so that the amount of the meltable ink 4 applied to the heat resistant film 2 becomes constant. The heat resistant film 2 is wound around the drive roller 1 and the wrinkle removing roller 10 and circulates, and is given a constant tension by a tension roller 7 having a spring 8 provided therebetween.
The skew correction roller 9 corrects the shift (skew) in the width direction. The wrinkle removing roller 10 has a function of removing wrinkles from the heat resistant film 2. On the other hand, the paper 11 is conveyed by the platen roller 12 to reach the position of the thermal head 13, and the thermal melting ink of the heat resistant film 2 is locally heated and transferred by the thermal head 13 to transfer the recording. Is going. The heat-resistant film 2 to which the heat-melting ink 4 has been locally transferred by the thermal head 13 is replenished with the heat-melting ink 4 by the ink replenishing member 5, and the next printing is performed. The paper 11 on which recording has been completed is discharged to the outside by the paper guide 14.

As shown in FIG. 2, the blade 16 is provided between the ink replenishing member 5 and the sub-inking member 6 obliquely with respect to the traveling direction of the heat resistant film 2.
The heat-resistant film 2 is brought into contact with both edges of the heat-resistant film 2
It has a function of bringing the heat-meltable inks 4 at both edges to the center side of the heat-resistant film 2. The sub-inking member 6 has a wire 17 closely wound around its outer periphery,
The heat-resistant film 2 passes over this while coming in contact with it, so that the thickness of the heat-meltable ink 4 applied by the ink replenishing member 5 is made constant.

The thermal transfer recording apparatus configured as described above is
The heat-melting ink 4 applied to both edges of the heat-resistant film 2 by the ink replenishing member 5 is drawn to the center side by the blade 16 and becomes thin, so that it does not wrap around to the opposite surface of the heat-resistant film.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a sub inking member according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In the sub-inking member 26 of FIG. 3, a wire 27 having a large diameter is closely wound around the outer periphery of the central portion of the effective printing width L, and a wire 2 having a small diameter is provided on the outer side thereof.
8 is closely wound. These have the same outer diameter. The thickness of the coating film of the heat-meltable ink increases as the diameter of the wire wound around the outer periphery of the sub-inking member increases, so that the heat-resistant film effective printing that has passed through the sub-inking member 26 of FIG. 3 is performed. The thickness of the heat-fusible ink in the portion outside the width is thinner than that in the central portion. Therefore, FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing the sub-inking member of the third embodiment of the present invention, which can prevent the hot melt ink from wrapping around to the opposite surface of the heat resistant film.

In the sub-inking member 36 of FIG. 3, a wire 37 having a large diameter is closely wound only on the outer periphery of the central portion of the effective printing width L, and the wire is not wound around the outer portion of the sub-inking member 36. The material of the king member 36 is exposed. The operation and effect of this embodiment are almost the same as those of the embodiment of FIG.

[0015]

As described above, in the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, between the ink replenishing member and the sub-inking member, both edges of the heat resistant film are brought into contact with both edges of the heat resistant film. Provide a blade that draws the heat-meltable ink from the center of the heat-resistant film, or wind a thick wire around the center of the effective print width excluding the ends of the sub-inking member. This has the effect that the thickness of the heat-meltable ink on both edges of the heat-resistant film can be made thinner than that of the central part, thus preventing the heat-meltable ink from wrapping around to the opposite surface of the heat-resistant film. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the thermal head and other parts from being contaminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a sub inking member according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a sub inking member of a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Drive roller 2 Heat resistant film 3 Ink accommodating portion 4 Thermal melting ink 5 Ink replenishing member 6, 26, 36 Sub inking member 7 Tension roller 8 Spring 9 Skew correction roller 10 Wrinkle removing roller 11 Paper 12 Platen roller 13 Thermal head 14 Paper Guide 15 Heater 16 Blade 17, 27, 28, 37 Wire

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B41J 31/14 9012-2C

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ink containing portion that contains a heat-melting ink that is solid at room temperature and that increases in fluidity when heated, and one of an endless heat-resistant film with the heat-melting ink in the ink containing portion. The ink replenishing member that supplies the heat-meltable ink to the heat-resistant film by contacting the surface of the heat-resistant film, and the application amount of the heat-meltable ink supplied from the ink replenishing member that contacts the heat-resistant film. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising: a sub-inking member that makes constant, and a thermal head that contacts the heat-resistant film and locally heats the heat-meltable ink to transfer the heat-meltable ink to a recording sheet for recording, It is provided between the ink replenishing member and the sub-inking member and comes into contact with both edges of the heat-resistant film so that the heat-melting property of both edges of the heat-resistant film is increased. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising a blade for bringing the ink closer to the center of the heat resistant film. 2. One of an ink containing portion that contains a hot-melt ink that is solid at room temperature and that increases in fluidity when heated, and an endless heat-resistant film with the hot-melt ink in the ink containing portion. The ink replenishing member that supplies the heat-meltable ink to the heat-resistant film by contacting the surface of the heat-resistant film, and the application amount of the heat-meltable ink supplied from the ink replenishing member that contacts the heat-resistant film. A thermal transfer recording apparatus comprising: a sub-inking member that makes constant, and a thermal head that contacts the heat-resistant film and locally heats the heat-meltable ink to transfer the heat-meltable ink to a recording sheet for recording, A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a wire having a large diameter is wound around an outer periphery of a central portion excluding both end portions of the sub-inking member.