JPS60234867A - Heat transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize a multi-level printing by setting the contact angle of a thermal head with the platen at optimum value corresponding to deviation from the widthwise center, the print-wise center of a ribbon, namely, the center of a head pushing force to prevent possible upward or downward slide of the ribbon. CONSTITUTION:It is so arranged that a thermal head 3 is pressed on the platen 1 as tilted by theta in the contact angle. When printing is done only with the upper position of an ink ribbon 3, to counter possible downward slide of the ribbon 3, the contact angle between the thermal head 3 and the platen 1 is so set that it is tilted by theta in such a direction that the ribbon is forced to slide upward. When a printing is performed only with the lower position of the ribbon, to counter possible upward slide of the ribbon, the contact angle between the thermal head 3 and the platen 1 is so set that it is tilted by theta in such a direction that the ribbon is forced to slide downward.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer, and particularly to a technique for aligning and winding an ink ribbon when printing is performed by dividing the ink ribbon into multiple stages.

[Background of the invention]

Traditionally, the ink ribbons used in thermal transfer printers are
Once printed, the ink portion is transferred and cannot be reused, resulting in high running costs.

Therefore, in order to eliminate the above drawbacks,
As described in No. 2, an example is known in which a mechanism for reversing the driving direction of the thermal transfer ribbon and a mechanism for vertically moving the thermal head are provided to perform reciprocating printing on the upper and lower two tracks of the ink ribbon.

However, this example requires a mechanism for moving the head up and down, a mechanism for reversing the driving direction of the ribbon, and the like, making the structure complicated.

Furthermore, because of reciprocating printing, the ribbon travel distance must be the same during forward and return travel. Therefore, even if there is a space that does not require printing during printing on the - line, it is impossible to stop the ribbon from running, which is disadvantageous in terms of the amount of ribbon saved.

Therefore, if the printer itself does not have a mechanism for reversing the driving direction of the ribbon or a mechanism for moving the head up and down, it will be possible to print on two levels of the ribbon by simply reversing the ribbon cassette. The printing process itself is exactly the same as the conventional unidirectional printing method, and the usable length of the ink ribbon can be doubled compared to the conventional method, which has a great effect on reducing running costs for users. Become. However, no literature has been found that mentions a technique for winding the ribbon normally or in alignment, which is a major problem when printing on the same ribbon in two rows, one above the other, or in multiple rows.

[Purpose of the invention]

The purpose of the present invention is to solve the following problems: unstable running of the ink ribbon, misaligned winding, and inability to wind the ink ribbon when realizing a configuration in which one ink ribbon is divided into two upper and lower stages or multiple stages for printing. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer with low running costs, which provides the greatest benefit to users.

[Summary of the invention]

Conventional thermal transfer printers use the central part of the ink ribbon to print. On the other hand, when one ink ribbon is configured to print in two stages, upper and lower, or in multiple stages, in order to reduce the running cost of the ink ribbon, the following technical problems arise.

In contrast to the conventional method of printing on the center of the ink ribbon, in upper and lower row printing or multi-stage printing, the center of the ribbon width and the center of printing do not coincide. For this reason, the stress distribution acting within the ribbon surface while the ribbon is running differs between the upper and lower sides of the ribbon, causing a phenomenon in which the ribbon rises upward or slides down at the head portion. This phenomenon will be explained in detail below using FIGS. 2 to 6.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the platen in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction, showing the relationship between the ribbon position and the print position of the head.

Rubber platen roller 1 wrapped with transfer paper 2
The thermal head 3 is pressed perpendicularly through the ink ribbon 4. As a result, the head pressing force, platen rubber hardness, and head It is common to set the width, etc. Next, the ribbon width R is set so that the ink ribbon 4 can be divided into two stages, upper and lower, for printing. This figure shows an example in which only the upper half of the ink ribbon is used for transfer, and after the upper half of the ribbon has been transferred, the ribbon cassette 5
The image is flipped upside down and transferred onto the remaining half (unused portion). Therefore, the center of the crest of the ribbon and the center of printing are shifted by ΔL as shown in the figure.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the thermal head 3 seen from the back.
It schematically shows how the thermal head 3 transfers using the upper half of the ink ribbon while moving to the right in the figure (in the direction of the arrow). In this figure, the shaded areas indicate unused parts.
The white area indicates the area where the ink has been removed after transfer. FIG. 4 shows the tension distribution acting on the ribbon when configured as described above.

The head 3 presses only the upper part of the ribbon (the shaded part in the figure) against the platen. In this state, a winding tension To acts on the ribbon in the direction of the arrow due to winding of the ribbon winding core 6 in the ribbon cassette. At the same time, a tension force TI is applied in the opposite direction via the head from a back tension applying section 9 for stably running the ribbon.

Tension To and T+ try to act uniformly and evenly across the ribbon width R, but since the ribbon pressing position of the head is biased upwards, the ribbon tension distribution is shown by the arrow in the figure. As a result, the tension acting on the lower side of the ribbon is greater than the tension acting on the upper side.

That is, a force W is generated in the head portion that tends to push the ribbon downward.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the ribbon is lowered by the thermal head section. Here, since the ink ribbon is generally composed of an extremely thin base film of about 4 to 8 μm, the ink ribbon itself has no rigidity. Therefore, once the ink ribbon is pushed down by the thermal head section and misaligned, it has no ability to correct its position by itself, and is wound up onto the ribbon winding core 6 while being pushed down. That will happen.

As described above, when the ribbon is wound up while hanging down, the ribbon 4 wound around the winding core 6 becomes unaligned, as shown in FIG. This will cause a problem in which the lipon will not be able to be wound. The example explained above is about the ribbon sliding phenomenon that occurs at the head when printing on the upper half of the ribbon, but on the other hand, when printing on the lower half of the ribbon, the ribbon rising phenomenon occurs. Of course, similar problems will occur. Further, the rising and falling phenomena of the ribbon cause problems other than the inability to wind the ribbon, as will be explained below.

When one ribbon is printed in two stages, upper and lower, or in multiple stages, the margin for vertical deviation of the ribbon position is smaller than when printing is performed using the center part of the ribbon. Therefore, if the rising or falling phenomenon occurs in the head section, the ribbon may come off from the heating resistor on the thermal head, or the ink may be removed and left on the transfer mark where one side has already been transferred. The position of the heating resistor causes a fatal defect called missing printing.

As mentioned above, in order to realize a configuration in which the ink ribbon is divided into two layers (top and bottom) or multiple layers for printing in order to reduce running costs, it is essential to prevent the ribbon from rising and falling. Become.

Therefore, for the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides the contact angle of the thermal head to the platen, or
By optimally setting the inclination angles of the guide section, row 2 section, post, etc. arranged on the ribbon running path in the cassette,
This prevents the rise and fall of the ribbon and realizes two-stage printing or multi-stage printing on the ribbon.

Although it was not mentioned in the above explanation, if a flat contact area is formed on the platen surface that allows two-level printing (top and bottom) or multiple levels printing at the same time, and if the entire width of the ribbon is pushed by the head, it will be possible to prevent the ribbon from rising or lifting. Although the drop-down phenomenon does not occur, the required flattening of the platen is more than twice that of the conventional method, and it is necessary to greatly increase the head pressing force and the platen diameter, which makes it difficult to configure the printer set. This is extremely disadvantageous and difficult to implement.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 7 shows an external view of the thermal transfer printer.

A shaft 12 is fixed between the side plates 10 and 11.

Further, a carriage 13 is arranged to be slidable on the shaft 12,
A ribbon cassette 5 and a thermal head 3 are mounted on the carriage 13, and an ink ribbon 4 is stored in the ribbon cassette 5.

The carriage 13 is configured to be movable in the left-right direction in the figure via a carriage motor 14 and a timing belt 15. A line feed motor 16 transmits driving force to a gear 17 fastened to the shaft of the platen 1 to feed the transfer paper 2. Paper can also be fed in the same way by turning the platen knob 18 by hand. 19 is a paper guide. By moving the linoleum lever 20 in the front and back direction, the paper pressing row 22 is slidably arranged on the shaft 21.
2 can be pressed against the paper surface or separated from the paper surface. 23 is a home position sensor, and 24 is a flat cable for supplying electricity to the thermal head 3 and the like.

This printer uses a unidirectional printing method that prints only when the carriage 13 moves in the left-right direction.When moving in the right direction, the ink ribbon 4 is wound up, and when moving in the left direction, the ink ribbon 4 is wound up. This is a non-winding type printer. Further, it is assumed that the carriage motor 14, line feed motor 16, home position sensor 23, thermal head 3, ribbon sensor (not shown) for detecting the end of the ribbon, etc. are controlled by the CPU 25 related to the controller.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the internal structure of a ribbon cassette embodying the present invention, and is a plan view seen from above with the sea urchin case of the cassette removed.

FIG. 9 shows a cross section taken along the line AA in FIG. 8.

The ribbon cassette 5 is constructed by connecting a cassette case 7 and a case 8 to form a hollow case using fixing screws (not shown). Pack tension adding sections 9 and 36 are incorporated to provide constant pack tension. Further, the cassette case 7 and the cassette case 8 are provided with insertion notches X and Y for the thermal head 3 mounted on the carriage 13. 6
is a ribbon winding core, and a plurality of protrusions 6a provided on its inner periphery engage with a ribbon winding shaft provided on a carriage, which will be described later, when the entire cassette 5 is mounted on the carriage. It has become. This cassette 5 is configured to support printing in upper and lower rows of the ribbon 4, and when the cassette 5 is mounted on the carriage, only the upper half of the ribbon 4 is used for printing. .

That is, when only the upper half of the unused transfer film wound around the ribbon delivery core 26 is transferred and the winding metal is wound around the take-up core 6, the entire ribbon cassette 5 is turned upside down. Then, reinstall it on the carriage.

Therefore, before the ribbon cassette 5 is reversed, the untransferred portion located in the lower half of the ribbon 4 is located on the upper side due to the reversal, so that transfer can be made to this portion. At the same time, the winding core 6, which was used for winding Lipo/4 before the reversal, is changed to the ribbon feeding core 26 by the reversal.
used as. On the other hand, the ribbon delivery core 26, which was used for feeding out the ribbon before reversal, is used as the winding core 6 by reversing and engages with the winding shaft of the carriage. Therefore, the ribbon winding core 6 and the ribbon delivery core 26
are set to the same shape. As shown in FIG. 9, there is a slight gap between the ribbon winding core 6 and the ribbon delivery core 26, between the boss portion 8a provided on the cassette case 8 and the boss portion 7a provided on the cassette case 7. The structure is such that the cores 6 and 26 are supported in a sandwiched manner at intervals, so that the upper Y position of the core 6.26 does not shift when the cassette 5 is reversed. 27 is a screw hole for fastening the J cassette case 7 to the case 8. 28 is a peephole for viewing the remaining amount of the transfer film wound around the ribbon delivery core 26. Guide rollers 29 and 30 are arranged along the running path of the ribbon 4, and are used to position the ribbon running path and to reduce running resistance when the ribbon runs. Due to the inverted use of cassette 5,
Guide rollers 29 and 30 are provided at substantially symmetrical positions. 31 is mounted on the carriage, and is used to detect when the ribbon on the delivery side is missing, or when the ribbon comes off from the thermal head due to some reason, or when the cassette is installed when the printer starts operating. This is a sensor insertion hole for inserting a ribbon sensor 32 into the cassette 5 for detecting any defects or the like. In order to use the cassette 5 inverted, the cassette sea urchin case 7 is also provided with an insertion hole (not shown). Reference numeral 33 denotes a ribbon running guide part. In order to reduce the ribbon running resistance, only two protrusions 33a and 33b are in contact with the ribbon. When the cassette is reversed, the protrusions 33a and 33b are almost symmetrical. Configure it so that it is in the position of Reference numerals 34 and 35 are ribbon position guides for preventing malfunction of the ribbon sensor 32 when the ribbon starts running, stops, and when the ribbon sag due to the head pressing against or pulling away from the platen. .

Also, when the ribbon starts running and the thermal head 3 moves to contact the platen, the thermal head 3 moves to the ink ribbon 4.
In order to pull out the ribbon at a high speed, the delivery core 26 rotates too much due to its inertia, and a longer amount of ribbon is delivered from the ribbon delivery core 26 than during steady running. Therefore, the winding amount of the winding core 60 cannot correspond to the feeding amount, and the ribbon becomes slack. This slack occurs between the delivery core 26 and the back tension applying section 9. Therefore, the ribbon sensor 32 detects a part where ribbon slack does not occur, □ In other words, the back tension application part 9 of the ribbon traveling path.
and the thermal head 3.

Next, the structure of the back tension applying portion 9 and '36 will be explained using FIG. 10.

A friction material (1) 38 such as felt is pasted on the outer peripheral wall surface of the boss 37 that is integrally formed with the case 8. On the other hand, a leaf spring 40 is attached using the boss 39 as a support shaft. Then, another friction material (2) 1 such as felt is attached to the flat surface of the leaf spring 40. Friction material (1) 38
The ink ribbon 4 is sandwiched between the friction material (2) 41 and the friction material (2) 41. Here, the width dimension T of the friction materials U) 38 and (2) 41 is set to be larger than the width R of the ribbon 4. With the above configuration, even if the ribbon tries to shift in the vertical direction, since there are contact parts between the friction materials at both ends, there is resistance to the ribbon shifting, and the ribbon 4 at the back tension applying section 9 or 36
positional shift can be prevented.

40a is an ejector pin contact portion provided integrally with the leaf spring 40, and when this portion tray is pushed in the direction of the arrow W in the figure, the force of the friction material pressed by the leaf spring 40 is released; This is for releasing back tension. Note that when the cassette is mounted on the carriage, the ejection pin contact portion 40a comes into contact with the outer periphery of an ejection pin provided on the carriage to release back tension. ) is provided at a position where the back tension of the back tension applying section 36 on the winding side is released. Therefore, referring to FIG. 8, the back tension of the back tension applying section 9 on the feeding side +7) is acting on the ribbon, but the back tension of the back tension applying section 36 on the winding side is released. Therefore, if the same back tension is applied to both the back tension adding sections 9 and 36, only the back tension on the feeding side will be applied both when the ribbon is traveling forward and when the ribbon is traveling backwards due to reversal of the cassette. acts, and their magnitudes are also the same, resulting in stable ribbon running properties.

In the above-described cassette configuration, the ribbon running path is explained. The ink ribbon 4 unwound from the ribbon delivery core 26 passes through the back tension applying section 9, the guide roller 29, the ribbon running guide section 33, the thermal head 3, and the guide. The ribbon passes through the roller 30 and the back tension applying section 36 in this order, and is then wound around the ribbon winding core 6.

Next, the thermal head 3 and the platen 1, which are the subject matter of the present invention, will be described.
The contact angle θ° will be explained using FIG. 1. A reversible ribbon cassette 5 is mounted on the carriage 13, and a ribbon winding core 6 housed in the cassette 5 engages with a ribbon winding shaft 42 provided on the carriage 13. The rotational force is transmitted to the ribbon take-up shaft 42 by the carriage 1.
3 moves laterally, the timing belt 15, the pulley gear 43 that engages with the timing belt 15, and the pulley gear 43
This is done via a winding power intermittent mechanism 44 that engages with the winding force.

Reference numeral 45 denotes a ribbon winding solenoid for arbitrarily driving the ribbon winding power intermittent mechanism 44 depending on whether ribbon winding operation is necessary or unnecessary.

On the other hand, the pressing ff operation of the thermal head 3 against the platen 1 is given by a head pressing solenoid 46. That is, the head support plate can be rotated using the outer periphery of a bearing 47 provided integrally with the carriage on the outer periphery of the shaft 3 for supporting the entire carriage 13 and moving the carriage 13 laterally parallel to the platen axis. 48 will be installed. The thermal head 3 is mounted on the head support plate 48. The thermal head 3 is pressed against the platen 1 by the head pressing solenoid 46 sucking the plunger 49, turning the solenoid lever 50 that engages with the plunger 49, and the head pressing pin 51 This is provided by pressing the thermal head 3 through the head support plate 48.

Here, when the thermal head 3 is pressed against the platen 1, the width P of the flat part formed on the platen surface is as follows:
The head pressing force, platen diameter, platen rubber hardness, etc. are set so that the width H of the heating resistor 3a provided on the thermal head 3 is slightly larger. Then, the mounting position of the thermal head 3 is set so that the center of the flat portion P and the center of the width H of the heating resistor 3a, that is, the printing center, are substantially aligned. The ink ribbon 4 width R is set to be more than twice the flat part width P so that printing on the upper and lower stages of the ribbon 4 is possible, and the center of the ribbon 4 width and the printing center are set as shown in the figure. The configuration is such that only the upper row of the ribbon 4 is printed by shifting by Δt. When configured in this way, as detailed in the section of the summary of the invention,
The tension distribution acting within the ribbon surface becomes uneven between the upper and lower stages of the ink ribbon 3, and the tension on the lower side becomes larger than the tension on the upper side, causing the ink ribbon 3 to fall downward at the contact area with the head 3. It will be done. Therefore, the contact angle θ when the thermal head 3 is pressed against the platen 1.

Instead of pressing the ribbon at right angles to the platen 1, as in the case of the conventional method of printing in the center of the ribbon, it is pressed at an angle of θ° as shown in the figure.

It is composed of

FIGS. 11 and 12 schematically show the main points of the invention. Fig. 11 shows a case where printing is performed only on the upper stage of the ink ribbon 3. In this case, since the ribbon 3 slides down, the contact angle between the heat-sensitive spatula, the platen 1, and the platen 1 is set in the direction in which the ribbon rises as shown in the figure. Set by tilting it by θ°. 1st
Figure 2 shows the case where only the lower row of the ink ribbon is printed.
In this case, since the ribbon rises, the contact angle between the thermal head 3 and the platen 1 is set to be tilted by θ° in the direction in which the ribbon slides down, as shown in the figure. According to experiments, the above tilt angle θ°
is preferably set so that approximately θ'=(1/4 to +o/4)Δt, where Δ is the amount of deviation between the center of the ribbon width and the center of printing.

FIG. 13 shows another embodiment from the embodiment shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 above. In this example, when printing only on the upper row of the ribbon 4, the thermal head 3 is pressed perpendicularly to the platen without changing the contact angle, and the inclination angle of the guide roller 3o in the cassette is changed from the conventional inclination angle of 0. hand,
This is an example of tilting in the upward direction by θ°. Of course ribbon 4
In the case of printing in the lower row of , it is sufficient to tilt it in the opposite direction to this example.

Furthermore, although this example shows an example in which the inclination angle of the guide roller 3o in the cassette is changed, it is also possible to arbitrarily incline guide sections, post sections, etc. arranged in other ribbon running paths.

Further, it is optional to use both the tilting of the contact angle of the thermal head to the platen and the tilting of the guide roller section, guide section, and boss section arranged in the ribbon traveling path.

With the above configuration, it is possible to prevent the ribbon from rising and falling when performing two-stage printing on the top and bottom of the ribbon, or printing in multiple stages, and it is possible not only to prevent the ribbon from being unable to be wound, but also to It is also possible to prevent defects such as missing prints due to misalignment.

FIG. 14 shows another embodiment of the above embodiment.

As explained in detail in the summary of the invention, the reason why the ribbon rises and falls during two-stage printing or multi-stage printing occurs when the thermal head 3 is placed not in the center of the ribbon but on one side. This is to press only the close areas. Therefore, if the thermal head presses the ribbon with approximately the same width as the ribbon width R, the ribbon can be prevented from rising and falling. However, when using a platen with a circular cross section, which is currently the mainstream, the flattened area formed by the head pressing against the platen is more than twice that of the conventional one, resulting in an increase in the head pressing force, an increase in the platen diameter, etc. This is extremely disadvantageous in terms of printer configuration. Therefore, the example shown in FIG. 14 is an example in which a platen 52 having a flat center P approximately equal to the ribbon width R is used from the beginning, without using a platen having a circular cross section. With this configuration, the tension distribution acting in the plane of the ink ribbon 4 will be the same on the top and bottom of the ribbon, as shown in FIG. 15, without taking measures such as increasing the head pressing force. , the body will not rise or fall.

FIG. 16 shows an applied variation of the present invention. As in the previous example, instead of printing upper and lower rows on one ribbon, the ribbon is divided into upper and lower parts, and the width R' of each ribbon 54 and 55 is slightly larger than the printing height H. It is made smaller and wound around one winding core 6. In this way, the center of the ribbon width R' and the printing center do not shift, and the tension distribution does not become uneven above and below the ribbon width, thereby preventing the ribbon from rising or falling. In this example, a plurality of ribbons are wound around one ribbon winding core 6, but the ribbon winding core 6 may also be divided and stacked on the ribbon winding shaft 42 as desired.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, for configurations in which the center of the ribbon width and the center of printing are misaligned, such as printing in two stages above and below or printing in multiple stages, the phenomenon of the ribbon rising and falling at the head portion can be prevented. This has the following effects.

(1) Since it is possible to print in two stages, upper and lower, or in multiple stages on one ribbon, the service life of the ink ribbon can be greatly extended, and running costs can be significantly reduced. This is the biggest advantage for printer users.

(2) With almost the same printer configuration as in the case of conventional one-stage printing, the usable life of the ribbon can be greatly extended.

(3) For multi-stage printing, the ribbon width margin can be reduced, and defects such as transfer defects can be prevented.

(4) Since the ribbon can be wound in an aligned manner, the winding load can be reduced, accidents in which winding is impossible can be prevented, and the ribbon winding tension can also be set low, allowing the carriage itself to be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of a printer embodying the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view as seen from a direction perpendicular to the platen axis.
It is an explanatory view of a ribbon position and a printing position. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of upper and lower tier printing seen from the back side of the head, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of ribbon tension in FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the ribbon sliding down in FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the ribbon winding state in the cassette. FIG. 7 is an external view of the printer, and FIG. 8 is a diagram of the internal structure of a cassette implementing the present invention. FIG. 9 is a cross section taken along the line AA in FIG. 8. FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing the flap/john addition section of FIG. 8. FIGS. 11 and 12 are explanatory diagrams in a direction perpendicular to the platen axis, illustrating the inclination angle of the head embodying the present invention. FIG. 13 is a perspective view illustrating the inclination of the guide roller in the cassette. FIG. 14 is a side view of the head section showing an applied modification example. FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing the ribbon tension distribution of FIG. 14, and FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional structural diagram of a cassette showing another modified example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Platen, 2...Transfer paper, 3...Thermal head, 3a...Heating resistor, 4...Ink ribbon,
5... Ribbon cassette, 6... Ribbon winding core, 6
a... Ribbon winding core protrusion, 7... Cassette sea urchin case, 7a... Boss part, 8... Casseritonta case, 8a... Boss part, 9... Park tension addition part, 10...Side plate, 11...Side plate, 12...Shaft, 1
3... Carriage, 14 carriage motor, 15...
...Timing belt, 16...Line feed motor, 17...Gear, 18...Platen knob, 19
...Paper guide, 2o...Suji lease lever, 21.
...Axis, 22...Paper pressing roller, 23...Home position sensor, 24...Flat cable, 25
...CPU, 26...Ribbon delivery core, 26a...
・Protrusion of ribbon delivery core, 27...Screw hole, 28・
... Peephole, 29... Guide roller, 3o... Guide roller, 31... Sensor insertion hole, 32... Ribbon sensor, 33... Ribbon running guide section, 33a
...Protrusion, 33b...Protrusion, 34...Ribbon position deviation guide, 35...Ribbon position deviation guide, 3
6... Back tension addition part, 37... Post,
38...Friction material (1), 39...Post, 40...
・Flat spring, 4o! l Ejection pin contact portion, 41...Friction material (2), 42...Ribbon winding shaft, 43...Pulley gear, 44... Winding power intermittent mechanism, 45... Ribbon winding solenoid , 46... Head pressing solenoid, 47... Bearing, 48... Head support plate, 49
... Plunger, 50 ... Solenoid lever, 5
1... Head pressing pin, 52... Platen, 54...
... Ink ribbon, 55... Ink ribbon. - Punishment 2 Kuchi Atsushi 4 [l] b Not Sz Not Ko Kuchi -1st Kuchi 8th Kuchi 9th Kuchi 10 Day Bay 11 Kuchitsuri 12 Kuchi% 13 (21 Rafu 1be

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A thermal transfer printer comprising a thermal head, a platen against which the thermal head is pressed, an ink ribbon whose surface is coated with solid ink, a carriage on which the thermal head is mounted and which moves laterally, etc. A thermal transfer printer characterized in that the contact angle of the thermal head with respect to the platen is set in accordance with the amount of deviation between the center of the ink ribbon width and the center of printing. λ The inclination angle of the guide part, roller part, post, etc. arranged on the ribbon running path in the ribbon cassette with respect to the vertical line is set in accordance with the amount of deviation between the widthwise center of the ink ribbon and the printing center. A thermal transfer printer featuring 3. In claim 1 or 2, when the printing center is set above the center of the ink ribbon width, the contact angle of the thermal head with respect to the platen or the ribbon traveling path in the ribbon cassette is The thermal transfer printer is characterized in that the inclination angle of the guide part, roller part, post, etc. is set at such an angle that the ribbon rises up, and on the other hand, when it is set downward, it is set at such an angle that the ribbon slides down. 4. When one ink ribbon is configured to print in two stages, upper and lower, and the upper stage of the ink ribbon is set to print, the contact angle of the thermal head with respect to the platen, or
When the inclination angle of the guide section, roller section, post, etc. placed in the ribbon traveling path in the ribbon cassette is set at an angle that causes the ink ribbon to rise up, and conversely, when the ink ribbon is set to print on the lower stage of the ink ribbon, the ink A thermal transfer printer characterized by being set at an angle so that the ribbon slides down. 5. In the above items 1 to 4, the contact angle of the thermal head with respect to the platen, the guide part arranged on the ribbon traveling path in the ribbon cassette, or , the inclination angle θ° of the roller part or the post, etc. is approximately θ' = (1/4 ~ to
/'4) A thermal transfer printer configured to have Δt and characterized by the following features. 6. When the thermal head is pressed against the platen via the ink ribbon and transfer paper, the width of the flat part formed at the contact area of the platen with the thermal head is the same or almost equal to the ribbon width (which is A thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is configured so that it can be large (even if it is large). 7. Arrange multiple stages of ink ribbon in one ribbon cassette, and use other stages of ink ribbon after one stage is used for ink ribbon transfer by reversing the ribbon cassette or moving the ribbon and cassette up and down. A thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is configured to