JPH0781110A - Printer and ink cartridge - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a printer with an ink applicator, and a replaceable ink cartridge wherein replenished hot-melt ink can be immediately used. CONSTITUTION:A cartridge body 7 equipped with an air inlet 6 at a specific position and an ink discharge opening 5 in its lower part, hot-melt ink 1 contained in the cartridge body 7, and an ink bag 2 which contains the hot-melt ink 1 and is equipped with a passage for melt ink at a part abutting against the ink discharge opening 5 are provided. A heater which melts the hot-melt ink 1 by heating as occasion demands is provided in the cartridge body 7. Then, a cartridge 8 which is constituted thus is freely detachably attached inside an ink applicator of a printer.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type printer device, and more particularly to an ink cartridge and a printer device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A recording apparatus having an ink coating unit is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 3-51164.
Various types have been conventionally developed. Then, in such a conventional example, a method of reusing the ink ribbon with the hot-melt ink melted in the ink application unit is adopted.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional example, since the ink ribbon is regenerated by the heat-meltable ink melted in the ink application unit, the heat-meltable ink is always melted inside the ink application unit. There is. Therefore, when the heat-meltable ink is newly supplied, if the heat-meltable ink is supplied in the state of an unmelted solid, the heat of fusion for phase change from the solid to the liquid is required. Therefore, when the hot melt ink is replenished, there is a disadvantage that the refilled hot melt ink cannot be used immediately.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to improve the disadvantages of the prior art, particularly to facilitate ink exchange in a printer having an ink application unit, and to immediately use the refilled hot-melt ink. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device using this.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a cartridge body having an air hole at a predetermined position and an ink discharge port at a lower portion, a heat-melting ink contained in the cartridge body, and the heat-melting property. An ink bag having a passage for the melted ink is provided in a portion that stores the ink and contacts the ink discharge port, and a heater that heats and melts the heat-meltable ink as necessary is provided in the cartridge body. It has a configuration of doing. Further, the ink cartridge thus configured is detachably mounted on an ink application unit of a printer having an ink application unit. This is intended to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0006]

According to the above-mentioned means, when the ink cartridge is mounted on the recording apparatus, it is instantly heated by the heater in contact with the bag filled with the heat-meltable ink, and the melted heat-meltable ink remains in the bag. It is supplied to the inside of the ink application unit through the hole.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of the ink cartridge.
FIG. 2 shows an external perspective view. Further, FIG. 3 shows an overall configuration diagram of a printer device having an ink application unit according to this embodiment. Further, FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of the ink application unit disclosed in FIG.

The ink cartridge 8 shown in FIG. 1 has air holes 6, 6 and 6 at predetermined positions and an ink discharge port 5 at the bottom.
A cartridge body 7 having the above, a heat-meltable ink 1 accommodated in the cartridge body 7, and a passage 4 for the melted ink in a portion for accommodating the heat-meltable ink 1 and abutting the ink discharge port 5 described above. And an ink bag 2 provided with.

The cartridge body 7 is provided with a heater 3 on the cartridge side for heating and melting the hot-melt ink 1 as necessary. This cartridge body 7 is
It is made of a heat resistant resin (for example, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, etc.), and an ink discharge port 5 is provided at the center of the lower end portion of FIG. Furthermore, three air ports 6 (shown in FIG. 2) are provided so that a certain pressure is applied to the ink bag 2 (here, the air port 6).
May be provided in one place or three or more places).

The ink bag 2 is made of a material having good thermal conductivity, for example, aluminum or a laminated material of aluminum, and the thickness thereof is set to 0.1 to 1 [mm]. The portion of the ink bag 2 facing the ink discharge port 5 is smaller than the outer shape of the heat-meltable ink 1,
A large number of holes having a diameter of about 1 to 3 [mm] are provided. The ink bag 2 is filled with about 30 [g] of the granular heat-meltable ink 1 as an individual having a diameter of about 5 [mm].

The hot melt ink 1 used in this embodiment is composed of pigment, carnauba wax, ester wax, oil and the like, and has a melting point of 70 to 75 [° C.] and a viscosity of 9
It is a black ink of 200 to 1000 [cps] at 0 [° C.]. A cartridge-side heater 3 for heating and melting the heat-meltable ink 1 is provided in contact with the ink bag 2. In addition, the heater terminal plate 14 of the heater 3
As shown in FIG. 2, a and 14b are provided on a part of the outside of the ink cartridge 8 so as to face each other. Here, the heater terminal plates 14a and 14b may be provided in parallel at one place.

In the printer having the ink application unit 9 shown in FIG. 3, the thermal head 16, the platen roller 17, the paper feed system of the pick roller 18 for feeding the recording paper 19, and the feed roller for feeding the ink ribbon 25. 23 and a tension roller 22 for applying a tension to the ink ribbon 25, a film traveling system having a guide roller 21 and a skew feed correction mechanism 20 for the ink ribbon 25, and further, an ink containing portion 13 and the heat-meltable ink 1. , The main body side heater 15 and the ink replenishing roller 10
And an ink application unit 9 including a sub ink member 11.

The endless ink ribbon 25 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the thermal head 16, the skew feeding correction mechanism 20, and each roller are arranged inside and set in the apparatus. The ink ribbon 25 is conveyed by the platen roller 17 and the feed roller 23, and is brought into close contact with the recording paper 19 and pressed by the thermal head 16 and the platen roller 17.

The tension roller 22 is the ink ribbon 2
It works to give the 5 a certain amount of tension. Furthermore,
When the endless ink ribbon 25 is driven by a roller, the ink ribbon 25 is perpendicular to the traveling direction due to a dimensional error of the driving mechanism, a dimensional error of the ink ribbon 25, or an uneven frictional resistance acting on the ink ribbon 25. Is gradually shifted (skew) in the direction (width direction), the ink ribbon 25 is 1 to 5 [mm] by the skew correction mechanism 20.
The amount of skew can be limited within. In this configuration, the roller on which the ink ribbon 25 of the skew feeding correction mechanism 20 is stretched is tilted according to the deviation of the ink ribbon 25 in the width direction so that the deviation can be returned.

Here, the ink ribbon 2 used in this embodiment.
5 is 10 to 20 [μ which is obtained by adding 5 to 50 wt% of carbon having a particle diameter of several μm as a heat conductive substance to aramid or polyimide which is a polymer component.
m] is formed into an endless film. The surface resistance of the manufactured ink ribbon 25 is 0.3 to 1 [K
Ω].

The ink containing portion 13 is made of a metal such as aluminum having good heat conductivity, and contains the heat-meltable ink 1 therein. A heater 15 on the main body side, which maintains a certain temperature slightly higher than the melting point of the heat-melting ink 1, is fixed to the bottom surface of the ink containing portion 13, and the heat-melting ink 1 in the ink storage portion 13 is fixed. It is melted in liquid form. The roller 10 for replenishing ink is made of stainless steel or aluminum (a tube having a wall thickness of 1 to 2 mm), and the surface thereof is roughened by sandblasting or knurling.

The ink replenishing roller 10 includes a gear 12 connected to the ink replenishing roller 10 and a guide roller 21.
Driven by a gear (not shown) connected to, the ink ribbon 25 rotates in the same direction and at the same peripheral speed. Immediately after the ink replenishing roller 10, the guide roller 21
A sub-ink member 11 that does not rotate is provided in front of.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the ink container 1
A recess is provided in the upper rear part of the cartridge 3 so that the ink cartridge 8 can be mounted therein. In this depression,
A hole having the same size as the ink discharge port 5 of the ink cartridge 8 and the heater terminal plate 14 of the ink cartridge 8.
heater sockets 26a,
26b are provided so as to face each other.

Next, the operation of the printer having the ink application unit will be described. In FIG. 3, the pickup roller 18 is rotated by a gear (not shown) connected to the motor 24, and the recording paper 19 is moved to the platen roller 1.
Send to 7. Then, a drive signal from a control circuit (not shown) is applied to the thermal head 16, part of the ink ribbon 25 is heated by the heat of the thermal head, and the melted heat-meltable ink 1 is transferred to the recording paper 19. .

On the other hand, the ink ribbon 25 is conveyed to the ink application unit 9 through the thermal head 16. In the ink application unit 9, the ink ribbon 25 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 3, and the ink 10 is supplied with the heat-meltable ink 1 on one surface of the ink ribbon 25 by the ink replenishing roller 10. The ink layer on the surface of the ink ribbon 25 supplied by the ink replenishing roller 10 has unevenness in the transferred ink layer because the surface of the ink replenishing roller 10 is grainy or knurled.

Therefore, a round bar (made of stainless steel or aluminum) having a smooth surface, a wire-wound round bar, or a lathe having a predetermined groove formed by a chemical treatment or the like so that the heat-meltable ink 1 does not solidify. A smooth ink layer is formed on the ink ribbon 25 by rubbing the surface of the ink layer with the sub-ink member 11 (which is also controlled to have a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the heat-meltable ink 1) formed of a rod.

When the amount of the heat-meltable ink 1 in the ink containing portion 13 becomes less than a predetermined amount, the ink end sensor (not shown) indicates the ink end on the operation panel, and the ink cartridge 8 is replaced. First, the used ink cartridge 8 is removed, and then a new ink cartridge 8 is mounted in the recess at the upper rear portion of the ink containing portion 13 of the ink application unit 9.

Heater terminal 14 of ink cartridge 8
a, 14b and heater socket 26a (not shown), 2
Heater 3 heats up when 6b is put together,
Warm at 0 to 90 ° C for 1 to 5 seconds. The heat-meltable ink 1 filled in the heated bag 2 is turned into a liquid from granular particles, and is supplied to the ink containing portion 13 of the ink application unit 9 through the hole 4 of the bag 2 and the ink discharge port 5. To be done.

The heat-meltable ink 1 may be in the form of a lump, a plate, or a rod, in addition to the granular form as in this embodiment.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the heat-meltable ink, the bag filled with the heat-meltable ink, and the heater for heating and melting the heat-meltable ink are provided, the melted heat-meltable ink can be applied easily and quickly. It is possible to provide an ink cartridge which is excellent in the past and which can be supplied to the inside of the unit, and a printer device using the ink cartridge.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an ink cartridge showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the ink cartridge disclosed in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a printer device equipped with the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the ink application unit disclosed in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Heat-meltable ink 2 Ink bag 3 Cartridge side heater 4 Passage 5 Ink discharge port 6 Air hole 7 Main body case 8 Ink cartridge 9 Ink application unit 10 Ink replenishing roller 13 Ink storage part 15 Main body side heater 16 Thermal head 17 Platen roller 19 Recording paper 21 Guide roller 23 Feed roller 25 Ink ribbon

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cartridge body having an air hole at a predetermined position and an ink discharge port at a lower portion, a heat-meltable ink contained in the cartridge body, the heat-meltable ink contained therein, and the ink discharge An ink bag having a passage for molten ink is provided at a portion in contact with the outlet, and a heater for heating and melting the hot-melt ink as needed is provided in the cartridge body. ink cartridge. 2. An endless ink ribbon, which is in contact with a platen via a recording paper and runs while being guided by a feed roller and a guide roller, and an appropriate heat-melting ink is continuously provided on the outer surface side of the ink ribbon. In a printer device including an ink applying unit for applying and a thermal head for printing output, which is provided in the platen portion and is arranged inside the ink ribbon, the ink applying unit is provided with thermal melting in the ink applying unit. Ink cartridge that supplements the basic ink, is detachably equipped, and the ink cartridge is equipped with an air hole in the upper part and an ink discharge port in the lower part, and a heat-melting ink contained in the cartridge main body. And the heat-meltable ink is stored and melted in the portion that contacts the ink discharge port. An ink bag provided with a passage for ink, the printer apparatus characterized by being configured by a heater for melting by heating if necessary the hot melt ink is mounted on the cartridge body.