JPH08258299A - Serial thermal printer and heater cartridge thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perform the writing and erasure of data even to a sheet like reversible recording material by expanding the adaptation range of a conventional serial thermal printer. CONSTITUTION: When the data written in a reversible recording material is erased, the thermal head 6 attached to a ribbon cassette placing stand 1 for attaching a ribbon cassette 2 through a head support member is entirely heated by the head heater 15 fixed to the rear surface of a head support member and a platen heater 17 is provided to a platen metal fitting 10 to which platen rubber 11 is attached and, when the data of the recording material is erased, the platen rubber 11 is also heated by the heater 17 and the recording material is heated from both surfaces thereof.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal printer,
In particular, the present invention relates to a serial thermal printer, and more particularly to a printer applicable to a sheet-like recording material made of a heat-sensitive material capable of repeatedly writing and erasing information in addition to conventional heat-sensitive paper or plain paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among heat-sensitive materials is a thermochromic recording medium having a heat-sensitive layer having a hysteresis characteristic between a temperature condition and an optical state. That is, this recording material, for example, develops color when heated to the first temperature and erases color when heated to the second temperature. By changing the heating temperature, it is possible to repeat the color development and the color disappearance. Is.

Conventionally, this reversible recording material is formed in the shape of an endless belt, information is written and information is displayed, and thereafter,
There is known a display device that erases information by moving an endless recording medium on which this information is written. Further, as another conventional example, while writing information to a reversible recording material formed in a sheet shape or a card shape by a heating element for printing, the reversible recording is performed by using a separately prepared erasing device. It is known to heat the body to erase information.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to expand the range of application of a conventional serial thermal printer for writing information such as printing on thermal paper or plain paper, and reversible recording as described above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a serial thermal printer and a heater cartridge for the same that can write and erase information on the body.

[0005]

To achieve the above object, in the first aspect of the present invention relating to a serial thermal printer, the thermal transfer ribbon fed from the ribbon cassette is moved together with the ribbon cassette. Assuming a thermal serial printer that writes information on a sheet by heating with a thermal head, the head supporting member that supports the thermal head is heated to heat the entire thermal head by heating the head supporting member. A structure provided with a head heater is adopted.

In the second invention relating to the serial thermal printer, the ribbon cassette mounting table for detachably mounting the ribbon cassette containing the thermal transfer ribbon, and the ribbon cassette mounting table are integrally provided on the ribbon cassette mounting table. And a thermal head attached via a head supporting member, wherein a thermal transfer ribbon is heated by the thermal head while moving the ribbon cassette mounting table, thereby writing information on the paper. As a premise, a heater cartridge detachably attachable to the ribbon cassette mounting table and a head heater attached to the heater cartridge via an elastic member are provided, and the head heater has the elastic member attached thereto. It is pressed against the head support member by the force and the heat generated by the head heater causes It is adopted a configuration to fully heat the thermal head via the head supporting member.

In the heater cartridge of the present invention, the ribbon cassette mounting table for detachably mounting the ribbon cassette containing the thermal transfer ribbon, and the ribbon cassette mounting table are integrally provided. And a thermal head attached via a head supporting member, wherein the thermal transfer ribbon is heated by the thermal head while moving the ribbon cassette mounting table, thereby writing information on a paper passage. A heater cartridge, which is detachably attachable to the ribbon cassette mounting table, has a head heater provided via an elastic member, and when mounted on the ribbon cassette mounting table, It is pressed against the head support member by the urging force of the elastic member, and the heat of the head heater is generated. Via the serial head support member are adopted a configuration in which heating entirely the thermal head.

[0008]

In the serial thermal printer of the present invention, the above-described reversible recording material is formed into a sheet like plain paper applied to the printer, and the sheet-shaped reversible recording material is passed through. By printing on paper, information can be written by the thermal head provided in the serial thermal printer. Further, by heating the head heater, the entire surface of the thermal head is heated via the head supporting member, so that the information written in the reversible recording medium can be erased. In addition, by utilizing the characteristic of the reversible recording material, that is, the temperature difference between the color development and the color erasure, the head heater is heated to control the thermal head to a lower temperature entirely, By controlling the temperature of the information writing portion of the head to a higher temperature, it is possible to write new information at the same time as erasing the information of the sheet-shaped reversible recording medium.

Further, in the serial thermal printer, a platen member for heating the platen member, which is arranged at a position facing the thermal head and supports the back surface of the paper passage, is provided with a platen heater to heat the sheet-like reversible recording medium. Since it can be heated from the back side, it is possible to erase information without unevenness.

Among the present invention, the heater cartridge for the thermal serial printer is a person who purchases the heater cartridge by selling the heater cartridge as an optional part while keeping the basic structure of the conventional thermal serial printer as it is. In addition to plain paper, the range of application can be expanded to sheet-like reversible recording materials. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the embodiments below.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to that, the reversible thermosensitive material, that is, a thermochromic recording material capable of repeatedly writing and erasing information, will be described. The characteristics will be described based on two specific examples.

FIG. 1 is a characteristic diagram of a reversible recording medium which changes between a transparent state and a cloudy state depending on the heating temperature condition. The vertical axis shows the optical state of the reversible recording medium and the horizontal axis shows the temperature. Indicates. When the reversible recording material in the cloudy state A is heated from room temperature to the temperature T1 and heated, the recording material changes to the transparent state B. The recording medium that has risen to the temperature T1 and is in the transparent state B retains the transparent state B when the temperature of the recording medium is lowered to room temperature. When the temperature of this recording medium is lowered after further heating the temperature of the recording medium heated to the temperature T1 and raising the temperature to the temperature T2, it changes to the cloudy state A at a temperature of T0 or less, and at room temperature, this cloudy state A is changed. Hold.

By utilizing this characteristic, if the temperature of the reversible recording medium is raised to the temperature T1 or the temperature T2 and then lowered to the room temperature, two optical states which can be visually confirmed, that is, the transparent state B or the cloudy state A, can be selectively selected. Can be obtained. The temperature at which the recording medium can be changed to the transparent state B has a range from the temperature T11 to the temperature T12 with the above-mentioned temperature T1 sandwiched between them and is called a first state change temperature range. Further, the temperature at which the recording medium can be changed to the cloudy state A has a range from the temperature T21 to the temperature T22 with the above-mentioned temperature T2 sandwiched therebetween, and is referred to as a second state change temperature range. In the figure, broken lines indicate changes in the optical state of the heated recording medium as it cools to room temperature. Further, when the recording material is heated to a temperature higher than the temperature T22, the thermosensitive layer contained in the recording material loses its reversible property.

As another example, FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram of a reversible recording medium which changes between a colored state and a decolored state depending on the heating temperature condition, and the vertical axis represents the optical state of the reversible recording medium. The horizontal axis represents temperature. When the temperature of the reversible recording material in the erasing state D is raised from room temperature to T2 'exceeding the temperature T1', the recording material changes to the coloring state C. The recording medium which has risen to the temperature T2 ′ and is in the coloring state C retains the coloring state C as it is when the temperature thereof is lowered to room temperature. The recording medium in the color-developed state C at room temperature to the temperature T0 'changes to the decolored state D when the temperature is raised to the temperature T1', and maintains the decolored state D when the temperature of the recording medium is lowered.

By utilizing this characteristic, if the reversible recording material having the characteristic shown in FIG. 2 is heated to the temperature T1 'or the temperature T2' and then cooled to room temperature, the decolored state D or the colored state C can be visually confirmed. The two possible optical states can be selectively obtained. It should be noted that the temperature at which the recording medium can be changed to the decolored state D is set to the temperature T, with the above temperature T1 'interposed therebetween.
It has a range from 11 'to a temperature T12' and is called a first 'state change temperature range. Further, the temperature at which the recording medium can be changed to the coloring state C has a range from the temperature T21 'to the temperature T22' with the above-mentioned temperature T2 'sandwiched between them, and is called a second' state change temperature range. . When the recording material is heated to a temperature higher than the temperature T22 ', the thermosensitive layer contained in the recording material loses its reversible property.

Although the reversible thermosensitive recording medium has been exemplified above, the recording medium is not limited to this, and other recording materials such as a side chain type polymer liquid crystal, beside one long chain, and a low molecular weight compound are used. A material having a structure in which a plurality of liquid crystals are bonded is known, and a material in which a part of the liquid crystal is replaced with a low molecular acrylic monomer instead of the low molecular liquid crystal is known. The thermal printer of the present invention has a shape similar to plain paper or thermal paper applied to conventional printers, that is, the reversible thermosensitive recording material described above in sheet form (hereinafter referred to as reversible thermosensitive paper). The writing and erasing of information is carried out.

FIG. 3 shows a part of the internal structure of the serial thermal printer, and shows the vicinity of the ribbon cassette mounting table for installing the ribbon cassette. The ribbon cassette mounting table 1 has a ribbon shaft 4 that enters the ribbon hole 3 of the ribbon cassette 2 and a guard plate 5 that abuts the side surface of the cassette 2 as in the conventional case. The thermal head 6 is integrally provided. The cassette mounting table 1 is moved along with the thermal head 6 in the direction of arrow 9 by being guided by the rail 8 by the rotation of the feed gear 7. Further, a platen metal fitting 10 and a platen rubber plate 11 attached to the metal fitting 10 are provided in a portion where the thermal head 6 faces each other.
Reference numeral 11 extends along the moving direction of the thermal head 6. In the figure, reference numeral 12 is a flexible signal line. The process up to this point is the same as that of the conventional serial thermal printer, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a head heater 15 is provided on the back surface of the head support member 14 that supports the thermal head 6, and this head heater 15 is provided.
A flexible heater lead wire 16 connected to is provided. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the platen metal fitting 1
The platen heater 17 is provided at 0. FIG. 5 shows an outline of an electric circuit of the head heater 15 and the platen heater 17.
The necessary electric power is supplied through the heater lead wire 16 and the necessary electric power is supplied to the platen heater 17 through the wiring 18, and the temperature detection circuit or the drive necessary for controlling the heaters 15 and 17 is supplied. Circuit is circuit box 1
It is stored in 9. Reference numeral 20 shown in FIG. 5 is a plug.

As the heaters 15 and 17, it is desirable that a thin plate material or a film material is used as a substrate and a heat generating material is provided on this substrate. According to this, since the heaters 15 and 17 can be made thin, even if the heaters 15 and 17 are attached to the head supporting member 14, the ribbon cassette 2 is not hindered from being attached.

In the above arrangement, when printing on plain paper, the ribbon cassette 2 may be mounted, the head heater 15 and the platen heater 17 may be stopped, and they may be operated in a conventional manner. The ink of the transfer ribbon 2a sent from the ribbon cassette 2 is
It is transferred to plain paper by the heat of the thermal head 6 which is pressed against.

As a method of using the serial thermal printer for reversible heat-sensitive paper, for example, when printing on new reversible heat-sensitive paper, the ribbon cassette 2 may be used with it removed. In this case, for example, if a reversible thermosensitive paper made of the material shown in FIG. 1 is used, and the background color of the paper is transparent, the temperature of the printed portion of the thermosensitive paper will be increased by contact with the thermal head 6. It may be controlled so as to be near the temperature T2. As a result, when the reversible thermosensitive paper is passed, the information written on the transparent paper appears in a cloudy state. On the other hand, if the paper has a cloudy white background, it may be controlled so that the temperature of the paper becomes close to the temperature T1 by contact with the thermal head 6. As a result, when reversible heat-sensitive paper is passed,
The information written on the cloudy white paper appears in a transparent state. The same applies to the paper made of the material shown in FIG.

As a method of controlling the temperature of the reversible thermosensitive paper, the contact time between the thermosensitive paper and the thermal head 6 may be adjusted. That is, the length l of the thermal head 6
(See FIG. 4) is the running speed v (mm / sec) of the thermal head 6.
The value 1 / v divided by is the heating time of the thermal paper, but the temperature of the thermal paper may be controlled by controlling the traveling speed of the thermal head 6, for example.

The graph of FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the heating temperature t of the thermosensitive paper and the temperature T of the surface layer or all layers of the thermosensitive paper. The temperature T in the figure corresponds to the temperature T on the horizontal axis of FIGS. The saturation temperature Ts is determined by the heating conditions of the thermal head 6. For example, there is a simulation result that the heating time t1 required for setting Ts = T11 to T12 = 90 ° C. to 100 ° C. is about 10 msec when the temperature of the surface layer of the thermal paper is up to 10 μm. Therefore, when the temperature of the thermal head 6 is set to T11 to T12 and l / v is set to 10 msec or more, the thermal paper made of the material shown in FIG. 1 becomes transparent. This is because the thermal head 6 and the thermal paper are in close contact with each other.

When erasing the information from the reversible thermosensitive paper on which the information has already been written, for example,
Head heater 1 with ribbon cassette 2 removed
5 and the platen heater 17 may be operated. In this case, if the reversible thermosensitive paper made of the material shown in FIG. 1 is taken as an example, the thermal head 6 is heated by the head heater 15 so that the entire surface of the paper returns to the background color according to the background color.
The platen rubber plate 11 may be entirely heated by the platen heater 17. As a result, the reversible heat-sensitive paper is sandwiched between the thermal head 6 and the platen rubber plate 11, and the temperature of the parts pressed against the elements 6 and 11 becomes about T1 or about T2. The information written on the reversible heat-sensitive paper is erased, and the paper is entirely returned to the background color. In particular, the paper is loaded from the back of the platen heater 1
Since the sheet is heated by 7, it is possible to return the sheet entirely to the background color without causing unevenness in erasing, as compared with the case where the sheet is simply heated by the head heater 15.

The temperature state of the above-described reversible thermosensitive paper will be described. In the graph shown in FIG. 7, the vertical axis is the temperature rise temperature of the minute portion of the heat-sensitive paper, and the horizontal axis is the time t for heating the minute portion of the heat-sensitive paper. The thermal head 6 is heated to Ts by the head heater 15 and scans the reversible thermosensitive paper. This heating heats the thermal paper to Ts.
The heating time te is a time required to finish heating the minute portion of the thermal paper of the thermal head 6 and is a time obtained by 1 / v. The time ts is the time when heating of the print portion 6a (see FIGS. 10 and 13) downstream of the thermal head 6 in the scanning direction is started. By this heating, the temperature of the thermal paper reaches Tk. Tk
Is the temperature corresponding to T11 to T22 in the reversible thermosensitive paper of FIG. The portion of the printed portion 6a that is not heated holds the temperature Ts indicated by the broken line and reaches te after passing through the thermal head 6. After te, the temperature is lowered by natural cooling. Therefore, when the thermal head 6 sequentially scans the thermal paper at the temperature of Ts, the total scanning area of the thermal paper is Ts, that is, T11 to T12.
The temperature can be raised to. The temperature can be raised from T21 to T22 at the printed part 6a,
A new cloudy part can be formed. As a result, it becomes possible to erase and rewrite information at the same time.

In the above control example, the "heater" is
The head heater 15 entirely heats the thermal head 6, and the platen heater 17 entirely heats the platen rubber plate 11. This means the temperature of the paper heated by this. The "thermal head" is
It means the temperature of the sheet of paper printed by the thermal head 6. Since the thermal head 6 is wholly heated by the head heater 15, the temperature of the print portion 6 a of the head 6 may be adjusted so as to generate a heat amount less the heating amount of the head heater 15.

8 and 9 show an example in which the head heater 15 can be attached and detached. The heater cartridge 20 shown in these drawings is used by being attached to the ribbon cassette mounting table 1 instead of the ribbon cassette in the thermal printer. In the description of this embodiment, the same elements as those of the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. Of the two ribbon holes 3 of the heater cartridge 20, one of the ribbon holes 3a is a long hole, and the heater cartridge 20 moves the head heater 15 back and forth (moves in a direction to move away from and contact the fed paper). It is possible. The head heater 15 is fixed to the free end side of a leaf spring 21 having a U-shape with respect to the cassette 20. FIG. 8 shows the operating state of the head heater 15, and FIG. 9 shows the state when the heater cartridge 20 is attached and detached.

To activate the head heater 15,
The heater cartridge 20 is brought into the state shown in FIG. As a result, the U-shaped leaf spring 21 is released from the stopper 22, and the head heater 15 is urged by the leaf spring 21 in a direction in which it comes into pressure contact with a thermal head (not shown) as shown by the broken line in FIG. On the other hand, when removing the heater cartridge 20 from the ribbon cassette mounting table 1, the heater cartridge 20 is brought into the state shown in FIG. As a result, the U-shaped leaf spring 21 is fixed by the stopper 22. According to this, in its operating state, the head heater 15 is entirely pressed into contact with the back surface of the thermal head (more specifically, the head support member 14) not shown by the U-shaped leaf spring 21, The same operation as that of the first embodiment described above can be performed.

10 and 11 show another example in which the head heater 15 can be attached and detached. The heater cartridge 25 shown in these drawings is used by being attached to the ribbon cassette mounting table 1 instead of the ribbon cassette for the thermal printer. In the description of this embodiment, the same elements as those of the first and second embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted as appropriate. The heater cartridge 25 has a shape obtained by dividing the ribbon cassette 2 illustrated in the description of the first embodiment in half, has a pair of recesses 26 for receiving the pair of ribbon shafts 4 of the ribbon cassette mounting table 1, and has a head. The heater 15 is attached to a pair of leaf springs 27 extending from both sides thereof. FIG. 10 shows the operating state of the head heater 15, and FIG. 11 shows the state when the heater cartridge 25 is attached and detached.

To activate the head heater 15,
The head heater 15 is made to project outward as shown in FIG. This causes the head heater 15 to move the leaf spring 2
It is urged by 7 in the direction in which it comes into pressure contact with the back surface of the support member 14 of the thermal head 6. On the other hand, heater cartridge 2
When removing 5 from the ribbon cassette mounting table 1, the head heater 15 is brought close to the cassette 25 as shown in FIG. Thereby, the cassette 25 can be detached from the cassette mounting table 1 or attached to the cassette mounting table 1 without interfering with other members.

FIG. 12 shows a wiring diagram of the second and third embodiments by representatively illustrating the second embodiment. In this case, the circuit box 19 shown in FIG. 5 may be housed in the heater cartridge 20 (25).

13 and 14 show the head support member 1
A method for simply attaching the head heater 15 to the No. 4 is presented. In the example shown in FIG. 13, both sides of the substrate of the head heater 15 are folded back to form a pair of claws 30, and the claws 30 are utilized to engage the side surfaces of the head support member 14. In this case, it is preferable to form a groove on the side surface of the head support member 14 to receive the tip of the claw 30. In FIG. 14, an adhesive 31 is applied to one side surface of the head heater 15 in advance, and the head heater 15 is bonded to the back surface of the head support member 14 with this adhesive 31. In this case, it is preferable that the portion of the adhesive 31 of the head heater 15 is covered with the protective sheet 32 and the protective sheet 32 is peeled off when the head heater 15 is attached to the head supporting member 14.

As described above, it is necessary to control the temperature of the head heater 15 and the platen heater 17. As a method of arranging the temperature sensor for that purpose, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, a spring 35 extending from the head heater 15 is used.
The temperature sensor 36 may be provided via the temperature sensor 36 so that the temperature sensor 36 comes into contact with the head support member 14 when the head heater 15 comes into pressure contact with the head support member 14. As another method, the head heater 15 and / or the platen heater 17 and the temperature sensor may be integrated. FIG. 16 shows an example of the case where the head heater 15 is used as a representative. Reference numeral 40 shown in the drawing is a heater electrode, 42 is a thermistor, 43 is a heater electrode contact, and 44 is a thermistor. It is a contact point. These elements are formed on the heater substrate 45.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a drive circuit for the head heater 15 and the platen heater 17. Heater 15
When the thermistor 42 integrated with (17) becomes overheated, the resistance becomes small and the diac 46 is turned off, whereby the gate potential of the triac 47 becomes "zero" and the triac 47 is turned off. The power supply to the heater 15 (17) is stopped. Heater 15 (1
The control temperature of 7) is adjusted by adjusting the variable resistor 48. Since the drive circuit 49 having such a structure has a simple circuit configuration, the heater cartridge 2 described above is used.
It is possible to fully store in 0,25. In addition,
AC100V power line of the drive circuit 49, AC100
A switch for turning on / off the power supply of V is incorporated.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the serial thermal printer of the present invention, normal plain paper,
In addition to thermal paper, information can be written and erased on a sheet-shaped reversible recording medium. Further, according to the heater cartridge for the serial thermal printer of the present invention, by incorporating the heater cartridge in the serial thermal printer, the printer applicable to the sheet reversible recording material can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a characteristic diagram of a reversible recording material.

FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram of another reversible recording material.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of a main part of the serial thermal printer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partial plan view showing a thermal head portion of the printer of FIG. 3 in an enlarged manner.

5 is a wiring diagram of a heater incorporated in the printer of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the heating time of the thermal paper and the temperature of the surface layer or all layers of the thermal paper.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a temperature state of heat-sensitive paper.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a heater cartridge presented as a second embodiment, and is a diagram showing an operating state of a head heater by a broken line.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of the heater cartridge corresponding to FIG. 8, showing a state in which the heater cartridge is mounted or removed.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a heater cartridge presented as a third embodiment, and is a view showing an operating state of a head heater.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the heater cartridge corresponding to FIG. 10, showing a state when the heater cartridge is removed or attached.

FIG. 12 is a wiring diagram of heaters according to second and third embodiments.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of an assembly with a thermal head or the like showing a specific example of a simple attachment method of a head heater.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a head heater showing another specific example of a simple attachment method of the head heater.

FIG. 15 is a side view of an assembly with a thermal head and the like showing a specific example of a simple attachment method of the temperature sensor together with the head heater.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing an example in which a heater and a thermistor are incorporated in one substrate.

FIG. 17 is a control circuit diagram of the assembly shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ribbon cassette mounting table 2 ribbon cassette 6 thermal head 10 platen metal fitting 11 platen rubber 14 head support member 15 head heater 17 platen heater 20 heater cartridge 21 U-shaped leaf spring 22 stopper 25 heater cartridge 27 leaf spring 35 spring 36 temperature sensor 42 thermistor 45 heater substrate

Front page continued (72) Inventor Shin Kei Hara Ina City, Nagano Prefecture 3672 Ina Coa Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Makoto Inoue Ina City Ina City 367 Ina Coa Co., Ltd.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A serial thermal printer for writing information on paper by heating a thermal transfer ribbon sent from a ribbon cassette with a thermal head that moves together with the ribbon cassette, wherein a head supporting member for supporting the thermal head is used. A serial thermal printer comprising a head heater for heating the thermal head entirely by heating the head support member. 2. A ribbon cassette mounting base for detachably mounting a ribbon cassette containing a thermal transfer ribbon, and a thermal head mounted via a head supporting member integrally provided on the ribbon cassette mounting base. In a serial thermal printer that writes information on paper by heating the thermal transfer ribbon with the thermal head while moving the ribbon cassette mounting table, the ribbon cassette mounting table can be detachably attached to the ribbon cassette mounting table. A heater cartridge, and a head heater attached to the heater cartridge via an elastic member, the head heater being pressed against the head support member by the urging force of the elastic member, The thermal head is entirely heated by the heat generation through the head supporting member. A serial thermal printer characterized in that 3. The serial thermal printer according to claim 2, wherein the head heater can take an operating position where the head heater can be pressed against the head supporting member and a second position which is separated from the head supporting member. 4. A platen member, which is arranged at a position facing the thermal head and supports the back surface of the sheet passing therethrough, is provided with a platen heater for heating the platen member. Item 3. The serial thermal printer according to Item 1 or 2. 5. The serial thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the head heater comprises a substrate made of a thin plate material or a film material and a heat generating material provided on the substrate. 6. A temperature sensor is provided via a spring member extending from the head heater, and the temperature sensor is connected to the head support member by an urging force of the spring member when the head heater takes an operating position. The serial thermal printer according to claim 1, wherein the serial thermal printer abuts elastically. 7. The serial thermal printer according to claim 4, wherein the platen heater comprises a substrate made of a thin plate material or a film material and a heating material provided on the substrate. 8. A head heater for heating a thermal head is used to raise and control the temperature of the thermal head to a first state change temperature range of the reversible thermosensitive paper.
The serial thermal printer according to 5, 6, or 7. 9. The serial thermal printer according to claim 4, wherein the platen heater for heating the platen member raises and controls the temperature of the platen member in the first state change temperature range of the reversible thermosensitive paper. 10. A ribbon cassette mounting table for removably mounting a ribbon cassette containing a thermal transfer ribbon, and a thermal head mounted via a head supporting member integrally provided on the ribbon cassette mounting table. In a serial thermal printer that writes information on paper by heating the thermal transfer ribbon with the thermal head while moving the ribbon cassette mounting table, the ribbon cassette mounting table can be detachably mounted on the ribbon cassette mounting table. And a head heater provided via an elastic member, and when mounted on the ribbon cassette mounting table, the head is pressed against the head support member by the urging force of the elastic member, It is possible to heat the thermal head entirely through the head support member by the heat generated by the heater. The heater cartridge for serial thermal printer according to symptoms. 11. A heater cartridge for a serial thermal printer according to claim 10, wherein the head heater for heating the thermal head raises and controls the temperature of the thermal head in the first state change temperature range of the reversible thermosensitive paper. .