JPS5962165A - Transfer type heat-sensitive printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a transfer type heat-sensitive printer suitable for colored printing and consuming lesser amounts of power by using a system in which a developing ink carrier is held by a heat-sensitive ink roll and a thermal head and a heat-developing pattern is transferred and fixed to a recording medium by a transfer heater. CONSTITUTION:A developing ink carrier 3 is held by a heat-sensitive ink roll 1 and a thermal head 2, and a pattern is formed on the carrier 3 according to printing signals. When a developing pattern comes to a position facing a recording medium 6, the rotation of a pulley 4 is stopped, a transfer heater 5 is pushed down, and the developing pattern is heat-transferred and fixed to the recording medium 6. By using plural head-sensitive ink rolls 1 of different colors and heating elements of the same numbers as the ink rolls 1 in combination, colored printing is made easier.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printer that thermally develops a developing ink conveying member such as a printer using a thermal head, and thermally transfers the thermally developed patterns onto a recording medium using a transfer heater.

As a method of a known transfer type thermal printer, thermal ink, which is solid at room temperature, is uniformly melted over the entire required area of a heat-resistant thin film endless tape, which is then thermally developed and fixed onto a recording medium using a thermal head. There is. Compared to methods that use thermal ink ribbons, thermal ink sheets, etc., this method reapplies ink to the endless tape.
The advantage is that it does not require consumables such as thermal ink ribbons or thermal ink sheets.

However, since the above ink reapplying method applies thermal ink to the entire surface of an ink conveying member such as a wireless ribbon, a considerable portion of the thermal ink generally remains on the ink conveying member even after printing. Therefore, especially in the case of color printing, thermal inks of different colors cannot be easily replaced, and a printing mechanism must be prepared for each color, resulting in a large-scale device.

Further, thermal ink re-coating has drawbacks such as large energy consumption due to the entire surface coating. The present invention has been made in view of this problem, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer type thermal printer that overcomes the disadvantages with a simple structure without losing the advantage of thermal ink reapplication. The details of the embodiment will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. The heat-sensitive ink roll 1, the heat-resistant ink roll 1, the heat-resistant ink roll 1, the heat-resistant ink film such as polyimide sandwiched between the rollers 1, 2 and 0, and the developing ink conveying member 6, such as an entresive tape, are used.
Heating element 9 buried in the thermal head shown in the figure
selectively generates heat according to the print signal, and the heat causes the heat-sensitive high roller 1 to melt and adhere to the developing ink conveying section 3, thereby forming a pattern according to the pre/1 signal.

During this process, the rotation of the pulley 4 causes the developing ink conveying unit 3 to move in the direction of the arrow, forming a developing pattern, Jt
To go. When this developing process is finished, IJ-
4 further rotates, the development pattern faces the recording medium 6 (
・Come to a matching position. Therefore, the rotation of pulley 4 is II-
Then press down the transfer heater 5 and move it to the developing/transporting section 6.
is brought into pressure contact with the recording medium 6, and the developed pattern is thermally transferred and fixed onto the recording medium 6.

At this time, all of the thermal ink on the developing ink transport member 6 is transferred to the recording medium B, and there is no thermal ink on the developing ink transport member B at all. This point is significantly different from the conventional ink reapplying method described earlier. The transfer heater 5 is, for example, something like an island film of a metal resistor deposited on an insulator with poor thermal conductivity, and can instantaneously raise the temperature by applying a short electric pulse only during pressure bonding. Energy efficient.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a transfer heater 50
is shaped like a cylinder or a cylinder, and as the developing ink conveying member 6 and the recording medium 6 move through the rotation of the pulley 4, the developing ink conveying member 6 is brought into pressure contact with the developing ink conveying member B, and then the thermal ink is sequentially transferred and fixed onto the recording medium by being rotated in a driven manner. To go.

In any case, after printing on the recording medium 6, no thermal ink remains in the developing ink conveying member B as described above. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, by using a plurality of thermal ink rolls 1 of different colors and the same number of heat-generating elements as tags in +1-1 colors, colorization is facilitated.

Also, unlike FIG.
Of course, this is true.

This method 4';1. Compared to the thermal ink reapplying method, the amount of movement of the thermal ink is small, as shown below, so it saves energy. Therefore, it is suitable not only for color printing but also for single-color printing such as black.

Another feature of the present invention is that a transparent endless ribbon is used in the developing ink transport section AA as shown in FIG.
For example, the developed pattern "Al3C" can be checked before it is thermally transferred onto the recording medium 6 by the transfer heater 5. When correcting 4j, the 413th part of the ink can be heated with the erasing heater 7, and the heated and melted thermal ink can be sucked up with a porous body, surface σ11, or blotting paper-like erasing roller 8, and then written again. stomach).

Therefore, the developing turn on the developing ink conveying section 4'A before being thermally transferred and fixed onto the recording medium B is shown in 2).
).

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to create a transfer-type thermal printer that is suitable for color printing and consumes less power than the ink reapplying method, without using consumables such as thermal ink ribbons and thermal ink sheets. . It also has the advantage that it can be used as an indicator before thermal transfer.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are model diagrams showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a model diagram showing the structure of an embodiment suitable for colorization of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view schematically showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention that also serves as a display device. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the thermal head 2. 1... Thermal ink roll, 2 °°° Thermal head, 6... Developing ink transport member, 4111. Pulley, 5.50... Transfer heater, 6... Recording medium, 7... Erasing heater, Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (+1) In a printer of a type that prints thermal ink onto a recording medium by thermal transfer, the thermal ink and a thermal head are provided in a developing ink conveyance section to obtain a thermal development pattern of the thermal ink. A transfer type thermal printer, comprising: the developing ink conveying member sandwiched therebetween; and a transfer heater for thermally transferring and fixing the thermally developed pattern onto a recording medium. (2) Developing ink conveying member. Claim 1, characterized in that the development turn on the part is used as an indicator.
The transfer type thermal printer described in Section 1.