JPS5898276A - Thermal printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To preheat a transfer medium with good efficiency from the back of recording paper without the need to enlarge the device by providing a heater inside the rotary platen of a thermal printer in which the rotary platen is provided at the place facing the transfer head. CONSTITUTION:A rotary platen 5 is rotatably attached to a rotary platen supporter 1, facing a transfer head 4 putting between a recording paper 3 and a transfer medium 6. The inside of the rotary platen 5 is provided with a heater 7 fixed to the supporter 1, by which the rotary platen 5 is preheated. The rotary platen 5 turns as a transfer head 4 moves while pressing the back of the recording paper on the transfer head 4, whereupon the transfer medium 6 is heated through the recording paper 3. The temperature of the heater 7 is controlled to be a temperature at which the transfer layer of the transfer medium 6 does not melt.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a thermal printer capable of high-speed printing.

In the transfer-type thermal recording method, the ink is melted in a heat bath and transferred onto plain paper, but rapid heating by the transfer head is difficult. By increasing the voltage of the head and shortening the energization special specification 1, the durability of the head will deteriorate and the durability of the head will deteriorate. The shortcomings of using Shorenkakinmesasu were that the equipment was bulky and that preheating was not efficient because preheating and ball distribution were not carried out at the same time.

The present invention aims to provide a printer with a preheater l# that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks.

This will be explained below according to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a button taken perpendicular to the moving direction of the rotary platen support 1 of a thermal printer according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the rotary platen support 1 and transfer head support 2 of the thermal printer according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the state in which the recording paper 3 is sandwiched between the transfer head support 2 in FIG.
．． This is a front view seen from the transfer head side showing the rotating platen support tt with the recording paper 3 removed. The transfer head 4 is in a closed state I, and thermal recording is performed according to signals sent to the transfer head 4. By the way, as mentioned above, if the transfer head 4 is rapidly heated or preheated in order to perform high-speed printing, undesirable freezing will occur. This is an attempt to enable high-speed printing by heating the transfer medium 6 through the transfer medium 6.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Further, a heating element 7 fixed to the rotating platen support l is provided inside the rotating platen 5, and the rotating platen 5 is heated via the heating element 7. When the heating element 7 generates heat, the heating element 7 faces the transfer head 4.
The transfer layer of the transfer medium 6 is heated all the way through the recording paper 3 that is in contact with the rotating platen 5 for tN5, but the M temperature of the heating element 7 is The temperature is controlled so that it will not melt by heating (preheating) in step 5 alone. In the third embodiment shown in FIG. xi, the rotary platen 5 is heated from the inside, but as shown in FIG.
It may also be heated by appropriately providing the outer periphery of the heating element.

The outline of the thermal printer according to the present invention has been described above, and embodiments thereof will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary platen support 1 is configured to be moved left and right by a distance corresponding to the width of the recording paper 3 along a guide 9 by a platen moving belt 1O. The rotary platen support IKFi and the rotary platen 5 are rotatably provided on the support shaft 11 so as to be close to and wrap around the outer periphery of the heating element 7 attached to the support shaft 11. A friction roller 12 is integrally provided on the upper part of the rotating platen 5, and a support shaft 11 is attached to the rotating platen support l.
The support shaft 13 provided adjacent to the friction roller 12 and the ll! The friction roller 14 is fixedly attached to the thermogrint machine base at the upper part of the friction roller 14.
A transmission member 17 provided with a gear 16t that engages with the belt 15 with Ii is rotatably supported. Therefore, the rotating platen support 1 is rotated by the platen moving bell) 10 (the bell with a fixed tooth mold) 15
The gear 16 engaged with the body #b8 is therefore -wheel 1
Since the rotational force is transmitted to the friction roller 12 that is in frictional engagement with the friction roller 14 that is integrated with the friction roller 6, the rotating platen 5 that is integrated with the friction roller 12 rotates. This platform,
Rotating platen support book lt - When moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2, the platen 5 rotates once in the direction of arrow B. And the diameter ratio of gear 13 and friction roller 14 and friction roller 1
By appropriately determining the diameter ratio of 2 and the rotating platen 5 (
In the figure, if the movable type of the rotary platen support l and the rotational outer circumference length of the rotary platen 5 are matched, the rotary platen 5 can rotate without rubbing on the recording paper 3. It turns out.

one! Further, the transfer head number support 2 facing the rotating platen 5 with the recording paper 3 in between is also synchronized with the transfer head support moving belt 18 (platen moving bell) 10 in synchronization with the rotating platen support l. The rotary platen 5 and the transfer head 4 are always faced to each other with the recording paper 31 sandwiched between them, and the transfer head support 2 has a structure in which the transfer head 4 and the transfer head 4 are moved by An endless belt-like transfer medium 6 is supported by three rollers 19, 20, and 21 so as to be positioned between the recording sheets, and an ink tank 22 is provided near the roller 21. The transfer medium 6 is replenished with ink.

Therefore, in the thermal printer shown in FIG. 2, a rotating platen 5 containing a heating element 7 is provided at a position facing the transfer head 4, and rotates while holding a transfer medium 6 and a recording paper 3 between them. As the transfer head 4 moves, the platen 5Fi rotates toward the back side of the recording paper t-transfer head number while pressing it without rubbing. The rotating platen S uses a heating element F to heat the transfer medium 1 through the recording paper 3 to such an extent that the ink on the transfer medium 6 does not melt, so the transfer head 4 further heats the recording paper by a small temperature change at. 6 allows transfer recording to be performed on the transfer medium. Therefore, the change in temperature f of the transfer head 4 during recording can be reduced, and high-speed printing is therefore possible.
Moreover, the durability of the transfer head 4 is also improved.

In this embodiment, the transfer medium 6 is shown to be driven by frictional engagement with the recording paper 3, but like the rotating platen 5, it is not actively driven. You may also do so. Further, although it may be driven by frictional engagement between the rotating platen 5t and the recording device 3, active driving as shown in this embodiment is preferable.

As explained above, according to the present invention, since the transfer layer of the transfer medium is preheated by the rotating platen, the temperature increase of the transfer head during recording can be reduced, high-speed printing is possible, and the transfer head Not only is durability improved, but (b) the rotary platen itself serves as a preheating device, making it easy to downsize the device, and preheating and recording can be performed at the same time, increasing preheating efficiency. It is also easy to control the fcm degree. Although the apparatus i1 of the present invention has been described as a thermal transfer type, it can be similarly used as a preheating mechanism for a coloring type printer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure m1 is a view of the area of the rotary platen support of the thermal printer according to the present invention, scattered at right angles to the 8@ direction, and Figure 2 is a view of the distribution paper 3 with the rotary platen support and transfer head support of the thermal printer. FIG. 3 is a side view as seen from the left hook of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing another embodiment. l... Rotating platen support, 2... Transfer head support, 3... Recording paper, No.... Transfer head, 5... Rotating platen, 6... Recording medium, 7, 8...・Heating element. Agent Patent Attorney Makoto Kon

Claims (1)

[Claims] A heating element is provided to heat the rotating platen provided at a position facing the transfer head, and the transfer layer of the transfer medium is preheated from the back side of the recording paper via the rotating platen. thermal printer.