JPS60110456A - Matrix type multi-thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To produce large sizes of thermal transfer type plotters by arranging plural thermal heads in a horizontal and vertical matrix form. CONSTITUTION:Thermal heads 5 are connectly arranged in such a way as to be leveled with the dummt head 6 of the same length. The thermal head 7 connected in the same way and the dummy head 8 are arranged in parallel with the thermal heads 5. In this case, since the thermal heads 5 and 7 are set by biasing them by half phase, the thermal head 5 contacts with the left half of a recording paper 9 and the thermal head 7 contacts with the right half of the paper 9. By arranging these plural thermal heads of limited length in a matrixed state, printing or picture drawing can be made on the whole width of recording paper of a width more than the length of the thermal head.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a head for a printer or a printer in which a plurality of thermal heads are arranged in a matrix.

Conventionally, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the thermal head 1 is of a line type, and is engaged with the platen 2 in parallel to the platen 2, with the recording paper being placed between the two. 3 and the transfer ink sheet 4 are fed in close contact with each other. Then, selective printing is performed by electronic control pulses applied to the thermal head IIC, and thermal transfer is performed.

With the current technology, the maximum length of an i-thermal head is about 80 cm, and anything longer than that is extremely difficult to manufacture and has not been put into practical use as a commercial product. Therefore, a thermal transfer type plotter with a larger Al or AO size could not be realized.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a matrix-type multi-head in which a plurality of thermal heads are arranged in a matrix in order to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and realize a large-sized thermal transfer plotter.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the plan view of FIG. 8 and the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, reference numeral 5 denotes a thermal head having an electrode portion, which is connected to a dummy head 6 of the same length so as to be on the same plane. . A thermal head 7 and a dummy head 8 are similarly connected and arranged parallel to the thermal head 6.

In this case, since the thermal heads 5 and 7 are arranged half out of phase, the pair of platens 11 and 124
When the recording paper 9 and the thermal transfer ink sheet 10 are fed in the direction of the arrow 18, the left half of the recording paper 9 has a thermal head 5 and the right half has a thermal head 7.
is correct. Therefore, the thermal head uniformly hits the recording paper.

Note that it is not possible electronically to print in a straight line by correcting the front and back positions of the thermal heads 5 and 7 by electronically detecting the position that corresponds to the spacing between the platens 11 and 12, or by setting it in advance. It's easy.

FIG. 5 shows four thermal heads 14, 15 with electrodes.
, 16 and 17 are arranged in parallel, each with recording paper 1
If the length of the thermal head is the same, it can handle wider recording paper. In other words, it is possible to handle a sheet whose width is four times the length of the thermal head. Note that the portion other than the thermal head having electrodes is a dummy head and is formed on a straight line while maintaining the same plane.

Although the embodiment in which the thermal head is arranged diagonally has been described above, it is possible to apply this to an 8-color plotter by arranging the thermal head in a staggered manner and electronically controlling the forward and reverse rotation of the recording paper repeatedly. not,
Furthermore, although the plurality of thermal heads are arranged in a plane in the embodiment, the same effect can be obtained even if the thermal heads are arranged on a curved line.

As described above, according to the present invention, by arranging a plurality of thermal heads of limited length in a matrix, it is possible to print across the entire width of recording paper having a width greater than the length of the thermal head. It has effects such as being able to draw.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 is a plan view showing a conventional embodiment, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of FIG. 1, FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 1, 5, 7, 14, 15, 16, 17:
Thermal head 2, 11, 12 Nibraten 8.9, 18: Recording paper 4, 10: Ink sheet (to)

Claims (1)

[Claims] A matrix type multi-thermal head, which is a thermal transfer type thermal head, is characterized in that a plurality of thermal heads are arranged in a matrix.