JPS61262170A - Thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to effectively erase an erroneous printing part, by a method wherein a recording transfer ribbon is arranged at a recording position at the time of recording and the pressure contact force of a thermal head is set to certain magnitude while an erasing transfer ribbon is arranged at the recording position at the time of erasion and the pressure contact force of the thermal head is set to different magnitude. CONSTITUTION:When usual transfer recording is applied to recording paper 13, the rotation of a ribbon selector 14 is controlled to allow a recording transfer ribbon 6 to oppose to the heat generating part of a thermal head 4 and take-up driving force is applied only to the recording transfer ribbon 6 to perform desired transfer recording. When erroneous printing was generated, the rotation of the ribbon selector 14 is controlled to hold a cassette to an inclined state. The spring pressure applied to the thermal head 4 is changed over to one different from that at a usual printing time by a change-over cam 5 and the thermal head 4 is contacted with the recording paper by said different pressure contact force. In this state, the erasing transfer ribbon 7 is opposed to the heat generating part of the thermal head 4 and, at this time, take-up driving force is applied only to the erasing transfer ribbon 7 to perform desired lift-off.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printer suitable for use in word processors, typewriters, and the like.

[Background of the invention]

A thermal transfer printer, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-26245, for example, uses a thermal transfer ribbon containing reversible heat-melting ink between a recording paper and a thermal head, and uses the heat generated by the thermal head to Characters, symbols, etc. are recorded on recording paper by melting ink on a thermal transfer ribbon.

This type of thermal transfer printer has recently become widely used as an output device for office equipment, and is also being applied to word processors, electronic typewriters, and the like. Such word processors and typewriters are required to correct the characters and symbols recorded on the paper, but conventional general thermal transfer printers are required to correct the characters and symbols that have been recorded on the paper. - It is difficult to erase symbols, etc. to correct them, and if a mistake is made, there is a drawback that the incorrectly printed part must be corrected by hand or reprinted.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer printer capable of effectively erasing erroneously printed portions of erroneously recorded characters, symbols, etc., while eliminating the drawbacks of the prior art described above.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a recording transfer ribbon carrying a heat-melting ink for recording a desired printed area on a recording paper, and a recording transfer ribbon for recording a desired printed area on a recording paper. An erasing transfer ribbon carrying a thermoadhesive resin for lift-off, ribbon selection means for selectively arranging the recording transfer ribbon and the erasing transfer ribbon at a recording position, and a recording paper for the thermal head. During normal recording, the recording transfer ribbon is placed at the recording position, and the thermal head's pressure is set to either high or low. The desired printing is performed using one of the pressure contact forces, and when erasing erroneous printing, the erasing transfer ribbon is placed at the recording position, and the pressure contact force of the thermal head is set to a pressure contact force that is different from the pressure contact force during printing. It is characterized by lifting off erroneous printing by applying force.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

FIGS. 1 and 2 are side views schematically showing a thermal transfer printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, with FIG. 1 showing a normal recording state and FIG. 2 showing a state where erroneous printing has been erased. There is.

In these figures, 1 is a frame, 2 is a guide shaft fixed to a side bracket (not shown) attached to this frame l, and 3 is a reciprocating drive along this guide shaft 2 in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. This carriage 3 has a thermal head 4 erected thereon and a cassette 5 mounted thereon. Inside the cassette 5, a recording transfer ribbon 6 carrying heat-melting ink and an erasing transfer ribbon 7 carrying a heat-adhesive resin are wound around a pair of hubs (not shown), respectively. The recording transfer ribbon 6 and the erasing transfer ribbon 7 are each independently transported by a drive shaft (not shown) that rotates the hub.

8 is a platen fixed to the side bracket, and an elastic body 9 such as neoprene rubber is stuck to the platen 8 facing the heat generating part of the thermal head 4. lO is a platen fixed to the side bracket. 11 is a paper guide attached to the frame 1, and 12 is a small-diameter driven roller that is supported by the paper guide 11. Further, 13 is a recording paper, and after the recording paper 13 is inserted along the paper guide 11, a paper feed roller 10 that is rotationally driven and a driven roller 12 that rotates in conjunction with this paper feed roller 1O. While being held between
It is designed to be transferred along a predetermined path between the thermal head 4 and the platen 8.

14 is a ribbon selection device installed on the carriage 3, and this ribbon selection device 14 is composed of, for example, a cylindrical cam having an oblique cam groove around the cylindrical cam and a cam pin that engages with the cam groove. The cylindrical cam is provided on the carriage 3 side, and the cam bin is provided on the cassette 5 side. With this configuration, when the cylindrical cam is rotated in either the forward or reverse direction by a drive motor (not shown), the cassette 5 reciprocates within a predetermined angular range, and as a result, the recording transfer ribbon 6 and the recording transfer ribbon 6 are erased. One of the transfer ribbons 7 is selectively placed at the heat generating portion of the thermal head 4, that is, at the recording position.

Further, the pressing force of the thermal head against the recording paper can be changed by switching the spring pressure applied to the thermal head 4 between high and low using a cam or the like.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

When performing normal transfer recording on the recording paper 13, the ribbon selection device 14 is rotationally controlled by a drive motor (not shown),
The cassette 5 is held horizontally as shown in FIG.

In this state, the recording transfer ribbon 6 of both ribbons 6° 7 faces the heat generating part of the thermal head 4, and winding driving force is applied only to this recording transfer ribbon 6 to perform desired transfer recording. . That is, the recording paper 13 inserted into the apparatus along the paper guide 11 is transferred between the recording transfer ribbon 6 and the elastic body 9 of the platen 8 by the rolling of the paper feed roller 1o and the driven roller 12. The heat-melting ink on the recording transfer ribbon 6 is instantaneously melted and transferred onto the recording paper I3 by the heat generated by the thermal head 40. Therefore, by selectively controlling the heat generating portion of the thermal head 4 and controlling the movement of the carriage 3 along the guide shaft 2, desired characters, symbols, numbers, etc. are printed on the recording paper 13.

On the other hand, if erroneous printing occurs, the ribbon selection device 14 is rotationally controlled to hold the cassette in an inclined state as shown in FIG. Then, the spring pressure applied to the thermal head 4 is switched by a switching cam 5 to a spring pressure different from that for normal printing, so that the thermal head is pressed against the recording paper by the different pressure contact force. In this state, the erasing transfer ribbon 7 faces the heat generating portion of the thermal head 4, and a winding driving force is applied only to this erasing transfer ribbon 7 to perform a desired lift-off.

That is, the thermal adhesive resin on the erasing transfer ribbon 7 is melted and adhered to the erroneously printed area recorded on the recording paper 13 by the heat generated by the thermal head 4, and after the thermal adhesive resin is cooled, the erroneously printed area is removed. is deleted by releasing @.

The transfer of the erasing transfer ribbon 7 at the time of erasing described above calls back the signal at the time of erroneous printing stored in a storage section (not shown), and applies heat only to the erroneous printing part recorded on the recording paper 13. It is also possible to lift off the erroneously printed portion by transferring an adhesive resin, or it is also possible to lift off the erroneously printed portion by transferring a thermal adhesive resin to the entire character surface including the erroneously printed portion.

Further, in the above embodiment, as an example of a selection means for selecting the recording transfer ribbon 6 and the erasing transfer ribbon 7 as recording positions, a cylindrical cam whose rotation can be controlled and an inclined cam groove of this cylindrical cam are used. Although the ribbon selection device 14 comprising a cam bin that engages with the ribbon selection device 14 has been described, the present invention is not limited to such a ribbon selection device 14, and gears may be used to move the cassette 5 up and down. The movement of the cassette 5 is not limited to the rotation movement using one end as a fulcrum as in the above embodiment, but may also be moved up and down while remaining in a parallel state.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the erroneously printed portion of the recording paper can be transferred to the recording paper of the thermal head without the need for complicated operations such as manual correction or reprinting. It is possible to provide a thermal transfer printer that can be easily and reliably erased simply by switching the pressure contact force.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings all relate to one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing a normal recording state of a thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a state of erasing erroneous printing of a thermal transfer printer. 3... Carriage, 4... Thermal head, 4
a... Resistance heating element, 5... Cassette, 6...
... Transfer ribbon for recording, 7... Transfer ribbon for erasing,
8...Platen, 10...Paper feed roller, 12
...Followed roller, 13...Recording paper, 14...
・Ribbon selection device, 15...pressure force switching cam (
switching means).

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer printer in which a thermal transfer ribbon carrying heat-fusible ink is interposed between a recording paper and a thermal head, and the heat-fusible ink is melted by the heat generated by the thermal head to transfer and record onto the recording paper. A recording transfer ribbon carrying a thermofusible ink for recording a desired print area on paper, and an erasing ribbon carrying a thermoadhesive resin for lifting off an erroneous print area that is erroneously recorded on the recording paper. a transfer ribbon, a ribbon selection means for selectively arranging the recording transfer ribbon and the erasing transfer ribbon at the recording position, and setting the pressure force of the thermal head to the recording paper to either large or small. and switching means for switching, and during normal recording, the recording transfer ribbon is placed at the recording position, and the pressure contact force of the thermal head is set to either a large or small pressure contact force to perform desired printing, When erasing erroneous printing, the erasing transfer ribbon is placed at the recording position, and the erroneous printing portion is lifted off by using a pressure contact force of the thermal head that is different from the pressure contact force during printing. Features of thermal transfer printer.