JPS58179664A - Thermal transfer type multicolor printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make unnecessary the providing of a thermal head and an ink film system per color by a system wherein a transfer ink ribbon and a transfer film are provided according to a special configuration and, after multicolor ttransfer is carried out for the film by means of a thermal transfer mechanism, the thernal head is employed for multicolor printing. CONSTITUTION:A pluraliry of transfer ink ribbons 4-7 carrying different colors are arranged at preselected intervals in parallel to each other so that they can be taken up by winding. Then a transfer film 10 is provided perpendicular to the plurality of transfer ribbons 4-7. Moreover, the transfer film 1, 10 that can be wound and a thermal transfer printer 3 sandwiching the film 10 on the ribbons 4-7 and printing paper 11 and the film 10 are provided on a platen. A thermal head 8 made movable by the amount as wide as the wide of the paper 11 is also provided. After multicolor transfer is carried out on the film 10 by the thermal transfer machanism, the multicolor transfer portion on the film is moved to the head 8 and subjected to multicolor printing by means of the head 8.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer multicolor printing device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a conventional device of this type.

In the figure, ■ is printing paper, 28, 2B, and 20 are ink film supply reels, 3A, 3B, and 30 are ink films of different colors, 4A, 4B, and 40 are thermal heads, and 5A, 5B, and 50 are ink films. A take-up reel and 6 are a platen.

With such a configuration, for example, 3A is yellow, 3B is red,
When 3C is blue and the thermal head 4A is heated and energized, yellow is printed on the printing paper 1 with the ink on the yellow ink film 3A. Similarly, the thermal head 4B printed red and the thermal head 4C printed blue, and these were superimposed to print in multiple colors. However, such conventional devices require a thermal head and an ink film system for each color, which has the disadvantage of being complicated and expensive.

The present invention aims to overcome the drawbacks of such conventional devices. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of a three-page example according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the vicinity of the thermal transfer mechanism 3 in FIG. In the figure, 1 is the transfer film 1
00" winding device, 2 is a winding device for the transfer ink ribbons 4 to 7. 3 is a thermal transfer mechanism with thermal heads 12~]5
and thermal head pressure welding solenoids 16-19. 4 to 7 are ink ribbons for transfer of different colors, 8 is a thermal head 9 is a slider for moving the thermal head 8 and moves the thermal head 8 by Ill of the printing paper 11, 10 is a transfer film, 11 is printing paper. That is, the configuration of the present invention is such that a plurality of transfer ink ribbons 4 to 7 of different colors are arranged in parallel at regular intervals, and can be wound up by the winding device 2. A transfer film 10 is provided on the ribbons 4 to 7 so as to be perpendicular to the length direction of the ink ribbons 4 to 7, and the transfer film 10 can be wound up by a winding device 1. Then, the thermal transfer mechanism 3 is placed on the transfer film 10.
(12-19) are provided. Furthermore, ink ribbon 4～゛/
A platen (not shown) and a thermal head 8 are provided beside the transfer film 1o in the length direction, and a part of the transfer film 10 and the printing paper 11 are placed between the platen and the thermal head 8. It has a structure that allows it to pass through.

With the above configuration, multicolor printing is performed as follows.

1. As shown in FIG. 4, the transfer film 10 is divided into sections each having a length of one character, and each section corresponds to each transfer ink ribbon. 4
It is divided so that one section can be arranged at each position of 7 to 7, and one section can be arranged between each ink ribbon. 1. For example, if ink ribbons 4 to 7 are red, blue, yellow, and black, respectively, in the state shown in FIG. The blue ribbon 5 is located at the position of the red ribbon 4, and the section ■ is located at the red ribbon 4 position.

The column at timing T1 in Table 1 indicates the positional relationship at this time. If, for example, the solenoids 16 and 18 are driven in this state, the thermal heads 12 and 14 will press the parts 1 and 2 of the transfer film 10 against the ribbons 4 and 6, respectively. The red page 5 is colored and transferred to the place marked, and the yellow color is colored and transferred to the place marked ■.

Table 1 'rl T2 T3 'Il'4 T5 T6':l
:'7 T8 T'9 ■7 ■ 7 ■67 ■ 67 ■567 ■ 56 ■4567 ■ 4567 ■ 4567 In other words, in general, it can be handled by driving any of the solenoids 16 to 19. The colored color can be colored and transferred to the section on the transfer film 10 located at that location at that time.

Next, the transfer film 10 is rolled up and moved to one section by the twisting device t1. Then, section 2 will be at the position of black ribbon 7, section 2 will be at the position of yellow ribbon 6, section 2 will be at the position of blue ribbon 5, and section 2 will be at the position of red ribbon 4 for 6 pages. The column of timing T2 in Table 1 indicates this positional relationship. At this position, when any one of the solenoids 16 to 19 is driven at timing T1, the corresponding color will be applied to the driving solenoids in sections ■, ■, ■, and ■ on the transfer film 10. The color will be transferred to the designated area. After the color transfer, the transfer film 10 is again moved one section to the right by the winding device 1. Then, the relative positions of the sections 1 to 2 of the transfer film 10 and the ribbons 4 to 7 become as shown at timing T3 in Table 1. Thereafter, by repeating the color transfer and movement of the sections alternately in the same manner, the corresponding color can be colored and transferred to each section as shown at timings T4 to T9 in Table 1. In this way, when only [1] of the printing paper 11 is colored and transferred to the transfer film 10, the winding device 1 moves the gradually colored part to the printing paper 110.
The thermal head 8 prints on the printing paper 11 via the colored portion of the transfer film. Therefore mark (11) paper 11
One line of multicolor printing will be performed. After that, the printing paper 11 is moved to -L by one line, and after 7 pages, the ink ribbons 4 to 7 are wound up by the vertical length of the thermal transfer heads 12 to 15 by the winding device 2, so that the next transfer can be carried out with the ink. Make sure that it is done in that part. After that, if color transfer and printing are performed in the same manner as described above, the printing paper 11
is printed in multiple colors on the next line.

If the same operation is repeated thereafter, all lines will be printed in multiple colors. As can be understood from the following explanation, the present invention does not require as many thermal heads and ink film systems as the number of colors to be used, unlike in the past.
The device is simple and inexpensive.

By simply adding and removing ink ribbons, you can freely change the colors used.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an example of a conventional multicolor printing device, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the vicinity of the thermal transfer mechanism 3 in FIG. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the color transfer procedure. Applicant Shinko Electric Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Haruya Saito

Claims (1)

[Claims] l Ink ribbons for transfer of different colors (4 to 7)
A transfer ink ribbon section (2, 4 to 7) in which a plurality of transfer ink ribbons (4 to 7) are arranged in parallel at regular intervals and can be wound up: a transfer film (10
) are provided perpendicularly to each other and can be wound up; the transfer ink ribbon (4);
~7) Thermal transfer section (3) provided with the above-mentioned transfer film (10) sandwiched thereon; provided on the platen so as to sandwich the printing paper (11) and the above-mentioned transfer film 00; ) The thermal head can be moved by the width of (
8); After the multicolor transfer is performed on the transfer film (10) by the thermal transfer mechanism (3), the multicolor transferred portion of the transfer film is transferred to the thermal head (8). A two-page multicolor printing device characterized in that the printing paper (11) is moved and multicolor printing is performed on the printing paper (11) by a thermal head (8).