JPS61274947A - Recording apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent clogging, by constituting the title apparatus so that a recording medium having a large number of small holes is received in an ink supply means and a recording medium cartridge in such a state that a part thereof is exposed and a non-hole part is provided to the exposed part of said cartirdge at the time of non-recording. CONSTITUTION:A film position indexing disc 80 is mounted to the shaft of a motor 52 and first and second film detecting slits 81, 82 showing the start positions of a large number of hole parts 92 provided to a film 2 are provided to detect the position of the film 2. The film 2 having received the replenishment of ink by an ink supply member 39 is moved to an upward direction and excessive ink is scraped of by a scraping member 41. When the non-hole part 91 of the film2passes excessive ink scraping members 41, 42, a paper powder or dust is accumulated to the leading end of the scraping member 42 and moves in an adhered state when the film 2 moves to reach the part of the heating element 2 at the top part of a thermal head 1 and the scraping member 41, 42 are moved several times so as to interpose the heating element 3 and, at the same time, an adsorbing fan 53 is started to suck the paper powder or dust in an air sucking guide 57.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a novel inkjet type recording device applicable to, for example, printers, facsimile machines, and the like.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Conventionally, various non-impact recording methods have been proposed, such as an electrostatic method, a thermal paper heating method, a thermal transfer method, a single-child photography method, and an inkjet method.

Under these circumstances, the inkjet method is an extremely superior recording method that has various advantages such as low noise, low power, small size, easy multi-color printing, and inexpensive components. Various developments are underway from a certain point.

Examples of the inkjet method include a pressure element method, a static pressure acceleration method, and a bubble jet method. However, all conventional inkjet systems eject ink from the tip of a nozzle, and the problem of nozzle clogging has not been completely solved, so they have not been widely used. Furthermore, it has the disadvantage that the recording speed is slow because a large number of nozzles cannot be arranged closely together, making it difficult to record a large number of dots at the same time.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a completely new inkjet method that does not use a fixed nozzle, and has a simple configuration.
The object is to provide a recording device that is free from clogging and capable of high-speed recording.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention fills a recording medium with a large number of small holes with recording ink, and selectively heats the heating element when the small holes filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element. By doing so, the ink in the small holes is ejected toward the recording member by the pressure of the generated bubbles, thereby recording on the recording member, and the recording medium is partially exposed. The ink supply means and the like are housed in the recording medium cartridge and have a non-porous portion located in an exposed portion of the recording medium cartridge when not recording, and the portion exposed outside the recording medium cartridge container in the non-porous portion when not recording. The multi-hole portion is covered to prevent clogging of the multi-hole portion due to evaporation of the recording ink within the multi-hole portion.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained with reference to an illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the recording principle. In the figure, 1 is a thermal head, and 2 is a recording medium made of metal, organic material, etc., with many small holes (orifices>28...) having a diameter of 10 to 200 μL. 3 is a heating element arranged in the head portion of the thermal head 1, 4 is recording ink (hereinafter simply referred to as ink), 5 is a small hole filled with ink, 6 is an ejected ink droplet, 7 shows a small hole from which an ink droplet was ejected.

When the film 2 is transferred in the direction of the arrow, the ink 4 is filled into the small holes 2a of the film 2 that have passed through the ink reservoir section where the ink 4 is stored. Then, when the small holes 5 filled with the ink 4 reach the thermal head 1 where the heating elements 3 are installed, a voltage is selectively applied to the heating elements 3 for rapid heating. let

Then, air bubbles (
Recording is performed by ejecting ink droplets 6 due to the pressure of bubbles.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical side view showing the recording apparatus of the present invention, and 8 in FIG. 1 is a recording paper as a recording member, and this recording paper 8 is attached to a paper feed cassette 49 attached to the main body casing 134 of the apparatus. A large number of recording sheets 8 are stored at once in the recording paper 1, and the lower surfaces of these paper sheets on the take-out side are pushed upward by push-up springs 33, so that the uppermost recording paper 8 can be in contact with the first feed roller 9 at all times. . The paper feed cassette 49 is
When attached to the device main body casing 134, the rubber magnet 47 attached to the tip thereof is magnetically attracted to the plate 48 provided on the device main body casing 134 side, and the device main body casing 13 is attached to the device main body casing 134.
It is fixed at 4.

The shaft 139 to which the first feed roller 9 is attached is
As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed solenoid 51
Paper feed spring clutch 63 and gear 5 turned OFF
6.55, it is configured to be interlocked with the paper conveyance motor 54. Then, the paper feed solenoid 51 is connected to the image/data processing device 133 (15th
The paper feed spring clutch 63 is turned on by being excited in response to a recording command (see figure), thereby causing the movement of the paper conveyance motor 54 to be transferred to the shaft 139 via the gears 55, 56 and the paper feed spring clutch 63. transmitted first
The uppermost recording paper 8 that is in contact with the feed roller 9 is fed.

Also, the paper feed cassette 49 is fed via the first feed roller 9.
The recording paper 8 taken out from the recording paper 8 rises along the first paper feed guide 44, and is further transferred to the first and second paper feeds via a pair of feed rollers 10.10 disposed in the transport direction and rolling into contact with each other. The guides 44 and 45 are sent into the darkness until their tips abut against the contact portion between the suction conveyance belt 15 of the recording member conveyance mechanism 43 and the stopped registration roller 11 that rolls into contact with the suction conveyance belt 15, and waits in this state.

In addition to feeding paper from the paper cassette 49, this device can also feed paper from the manual paper feed tray 138, and record paper such as thick paper set all at once on the manual paper feed tray 138. 8 is the second feed roller 19 and the separation roller 18
As in the case of feeding from the paper feed cassette 49, the sheets are taken out one by one starting from the bottommost one, and are brought into contact with the suction conveyance belt 15 and the stopped registration row 511 that rolls into contact with it. It is fed until the tip hits it and waits in this state.

The registration roller 11 is designed to be interlocked with the paper conveyance motor 54 (see FIG. 3) via a clutch section (not shown), and rotated when the clutch section is turned on. The timing for starting and stopping the rotation of the registration roller 11 is determined by the first LED at the leading edge of the recording paper 8.
After a certain period of time has elapsed after the first photosensor 22 is turned off by blocking the light from the first photo sensor 21, the leading edge of the recording paper 8 hits the contact portion of the registration roller 11, causing an appropriate amount of slack. It is determined.

By doing this, the leading edge inclination (skew) of the recording paper 8 is corrected, and the leading edge of the recording paper 8 is reliably pushed into the rolling contact portion of the registration rollers 11, and the recording paper 8 is It ensures a good bite.

Note that the registration roller 11 includes a paper waste removal bra for removing paper waste attached to the peripheral surface. 50 is in sliding contact to prevent the recording surface of the recording paper 8 from becoming dirty.

The recorded member conveyance mechanism 43 includes the first and second rollers 12, 14, these rollers 12.
The suction conveyance belt 15 wrapped around the suction conveyance belt 14 and the air suction duct 30 are integrated into a suction conveyance mechanism section 43a as a first floating section, and the suction conveyance mechanism section #1 as the first floating section. 438 has a belt guide plate 27 as a second floating part, and by displacing the belt guide plate 27, the suction conveyance belt 15 is pushed toward or retreated from the recording section guide 31 side. means 43b.

The belt pressing/retracting means 43b has the following configuration. That is, the belt guide plate 2 as the second floating part
7 is rotatably supported at one end in the air suction duct 30 and housed in a state where the other end is constantly urged downward by the belt guide plate pressing spring 26, and the suction conveyor belt 15 is moved to the recording section. It is pressed against the guide 31.

Further, an adsorption member 141 is attached to the back surface of the pressing plate 27 in a state facing the electromagnetic coil 28, and when the electromagnetic coil 28 is excited, the pressing plate 27
is adapted to be displaced against the urging force of the pressing spring 26.

In addition, the suction conveyance mechanism section 43a as the first floating section is elastically supported by a rolling pressing spring 25 hung on the 10th roller 12, and the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating section is elastically operated by the pressing spring 26. thick recording paper 8
is supplied, it can be displaced by that amount.

In addition, the impact of the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating part is
It is designed to be damped by a high viscosity fluid damper 29.

As described above, the recording member transport mechanism 43, which is composed of the suction transport mechanism section 43a and the belt pressing/retracting means 43b, and is provided floatingly with respect to the heating elements 3...
It is configured to be rotatable about the axis of the roller 12, and can be rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 2 to open the recording paper conveyance path.

As the registration rollers 11 start rotating, the leading edge of the recording paper 8 connects to the registration rollers 11 and the suction conveyance mechanism section 43.
The recording paper 8 is caught between the suction conveyor belt 15 of
is held under appropriate pressure by the urging force of the roller pressing spring 25. Then, the registration roller 11 and the tenth-
The paper is conveyed by the clamping conveyance force of the roller 12 and the suction conveyance force of the suction conveyance belt 15.

At this time, the recording paper 8 is pressed against the recording section guide 31 by the action of the belt pressing/retracting means 43b, and is conveyed while rubbing against the recording section guide 31.

The recording section guide 31 is fixed with respect to the thermal head 1, and the rubbing surface of the recording section guide 31 is maintained at a constant distance from the heating elements 3. The recording surface (lower surface) of the recording paper 8 always maintains a minute gap, for example, 0.2 am, with the surface of the film 2 that moves while being in close contact with the heating element 3 disposed in the head section of the thermal head 1. It is configured so that it can be moved while moving.

In fact, according to the performance test of the example, it was confirmed that the gap between the surface of the film 2 and the recording surface must be between 081 and 043- in order to maintain a resolution of 8 lines/a.

However, if the gap is set to 0.1M or less, the ink 4
It has also been confirmed that when the ink penetrates into the recording paper 8, this portion expands and the recording surface comes into contact with the surface of the film 2, creating a risk that the recording surface will be stained with the ink 4. Therefore, in this embodiment, the arm portion of the recording section guide 31 is pressed against the recording section guide fixing reference protrusion 135 (see FIG. 6) of the thermal head 1, and the gap is set strictly to 0.2±0.05a+. Managed.

When the leading edge of the recording paper 8 moves further forward, it is nipped and transported between the 20th roller 14 of the suction transport mechanism section 43a and the paper discharge roller 13. At this time, the recording surface of the recording paper 8 is supported in a dotted manner by the needle roller section 104 of the paper ejection roller 13, and reference roller sections 105 and 106 are in rolling contact with the suction conveyance belt 15 at both ends. Since the paper is transported without excessive pressure being applied, the undried recorded image is not disturbed. (See FIG. 7) Furthermore, the recording paper 8 moves forward, and its rear end passes through the rolling contact portion of the registration roller 11 and the tenth roller 12. At this time, the rear end portion of the recording sheet 8 receives the full load of the recording member conveyance mechanism 43 and is conveyed while being rubbed against the recording section guide 31. In other words, the basic conveyance force of the recording paper 8 is only the suction conveyance force of the suction belt 15, and since the recording paper 8 is conveyed while being subjected to a large frictional force, the conveyance is accompanied by uncertainty.

However, in this embodiment, the force for pressing the recording paper 8 against the recording section guide 31 is transmitted through the belt pressing/retracting means 43b, and the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating section is used to press the recording sheet 8 against the recording section guide 31. Due to the reaction force from the guide 31, suction conveyance as the first floating part is carried out by the structure part 43 through the high viscosity buffer 29 while resisting the belt guide plate pressing spring 26.
It is pushed upwards relative to the casing part of a.

In this way, after the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 has passed, the registration row 511 and the suction conveyance belt 15, which have been temporarily separated, come into rolling contact again, so that the pressure applied to the recording paper 8 is reduced and the belt guide plate 27 Smooth conveyance of the recording paper 8 is realized with only the total load and the urging force of the belt guide plate pressing spring 26.

Further, the recording paper 8 moves forward, and when the rear end of the recording paper 8 passes the edge portion of the recording unit guide 38 on the thermal head 1 side, the belt guide plate 27 receives no reaction force from anywhere.
Total load on belt guide plate 27 and belt guide plate pressing spring 26
It will be pushed down by the force of.

Therefore, as soon as the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 passes the edge portion of the recording section guide 31, the surface of the film 2 and the recording surface of the recording paper 8 come into contact, and the trailing edge of the recording paper is stained with the ink 4. It has the problem of being stored away.

However, in this embodiment, this problem is solved by the measures described below. First, since the belt guide plate 27 as the second floating part has already been pushed upward through the high viscosity fluid buffer 29 as described above, the recording paper 8
Even if the rear end passes through the edge portion of the recording unit guide 31, the downward movement will slowly descend due to the buffering effect of the high viscosity fluid buffer 29. Therefore, while the recording surface of the recording paper 8 approaches the surface of the film 2, the recording paper 8
The rear end of can be made to pass through the heating element 3.

Further, in this embodiment, the leading edge or trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is folded or bent, and in order to prevent the recording paper 8 from coming into contact with the surface of the film 2, the leading edge or trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is heated. The electromagnetic coil 28 is excited so as to move away from the surface of the film 2 by ±6 am at both ends of the element 3..., and the belt guide plate 27 as a second floating part is moved.
I'm trying to suck the whole thing upwards.

In this way, the recording paper 8 does not come into contact with the film 2 and get dirty, and also maintains an extremely small gap between the recording paper 8 and the film 2.
The paper passes through the arrangement section 13 and is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 16 with the recording intact.

Also, when the paper is ejected, the trailing edge of the recording paper 8 is placed in the second LE.
The tip of D23 is blocked and the rising signal of the second photosensor 24 is detected to detect that the recording paper 8 has been reliably ejected.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, ink capacity B64
The supply of ink to the film cartridge 40 as a BTS body cartridge and the supply of ink from the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40 to the film 2 will now be described.

The film cartridge 40 and the ink container 64 are separable. The ink 4 is stored in an ink container 64, and this ink container 64 is attached to the film cartridge 40.
The ink container attachment is screwed into the part 65 and fixed. At this time, the transparent ink supply tube 71 of the ink container 64
pushes up the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40, which is in close contact with the ink container attachment seal 73, against the biasing force of the cartridge valve spring 69.

On the other hand, the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40 pushes up the ink container opening/closing rod 70, and therefore pushes up the valve 67 of the ink container 64 against the valve spring 66, causing the ink 4 in the ink container 64 to flow out. The ink 4 that has flowed out from the ink container 64 flows out until the diagonally cut tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71 is filled, and the ink 4 flows out until it fills the obliquely cut tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71, and then flows through the small hole and ink supply conduit formed around the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40. 94 into a fine ink supply channel 72.93 (see FIG. 6) formed at the bottom of the container portion 77 of the film cartridge 40.

The ink 4 soaks into an ink supply member 37, 39 made of rough felt, and is passed through the ink supply member 37, 39 to the film 2.
The ink 4 is applied to the film 2, thus filling the small holes 2 of the film 2.
The ink 4 is filled in the ink 4, and is used as recording ink droplets 6 by the movement of the film 2 and the rapid heating of the heating elements 3, which create bubbles in the ink 4.

In this way, when the ink 4 is consumed and the level of the ink 4 falls below the diagonally cut portion at the tip of the transparent ink supply tube 71, air is sucked in from the air suction passage 74 provided in the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40. ,
This air flows into the ink container 64 through the diagonally cut portion of the transparent ink supply tube 71, causing new ink 4 to flow out.

By the way, the air suction passage 74 is located at the upper part of the ink supply section, and the air volume within the ink supply section is as shown in FIG. As can be seen from Figure 3, the ink is supplied as small as possible by a first surplus ink scraping member 41.90 and a second surplus ink scraping member 42.89 made of elastic rubber as described later. Air can enter and exit the film 2 only when the small holes 2a of the film 2 pass through the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41.90.42.89. Replenishment of the ink 4 from the ink container 64 to the ink supply section is possible only when the film 2 is being moved, and is not performed when the film cartridge 40 is not in operation, such as when it is being replaced or being moved. There is.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent the problem of ink 4 being excessively supplied to the film cartridge 40, leaking from the film cartridge 4o, and scattering.

Furthermore, since the ink 4 is supplied to the film 2 through an ink supply member 37, 79 made of felt as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the free surface as a liquid within the ink supply is Since the ink 4 is captured by the force of surface tension between the film cartridges, leakage of the ink 4 to the outside of the film cartridge 40 can be easily prevented.

Next, the operation for removing the ink container 64 from the ink container mounting section 65 of the film cartridge 40 will be described.

When the ink 4 in the ink container 64 is consumed by the above-described replenishment of the ink 4, the level of the ink 4 further decreases and reaches the transparent ink supply tube 71. At this time, the light from the ink detection LDE 75 begins to pass through and the ink detection photosensor 76 starts to be turned on.The rising edge of this signal is detected to detect the absence of ink in the ink container 6.1. 2゜The device is also used for the ink out detection signal, and if the display portion of the device or the display portion of the image/data processing device F, 133 connected to the device, as described later, If there is ink 4 in the thermal head 1, a message is displayed indicating that there is no ink in the ink container 64, that is, indicating that the ink container 64 should be replaced.

In this way, the ink container 64 is replaced. In this embodiment, the removal procedure and the valve 64 of the ink container 64 are replaced.
7. The operation of the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40 is exactly the opposite of that during installation.

That is, the valve 68 of the film cartridge 40 is raised, and the ink container mounting portion is brought into close contact with the lower surface of the seal 73 by the force of the cartridge valve spring 69, and the ink 4 in the film cartridge 40 is released from the ink container mounting portion 65 to the outside. It is designed to prevent leakage and scattering.

By the way, the ink container 64 has a capacity of 100c in this embodiment.
Ink 4 except for the ink supply tube 71 mentioned above in c.
The container is opaque in consideration of its weather resistance, and the normal recording density is 2000 to 50 on A4 sheet recording paper.
On the other hand, the film cartridge 40 records approximately 100,000 sheets/A4 due to problems such as clogging due to paper dust, mold, and dried ink in the small hole 2a of the film 2, and has to be replaced every 3 years. Is required. For this reason, the film cartridge 40 and the ink container 64 are separable, and the structure is such that leakage and evaporation of the ink 4 in each container can be easily prevented.

The attachment of the film cartridge 400 to the recording apparatus will now be described.

In this apparatus, the thermal head 1 is fixed to the main body housing 134, and the film cartridge 40 is shown in FIG.
) and a container located in the film exposed portion 86 of the cartridge 40 shown in FIG.

That is, in FIG. 3, when the first film cartridge support part 60 is inserted into the main body casing 134 and the second film cartridge support part 61 provided at the other end is pushed down, the cartridge fixing spring 62 is moved to the right. The head of the fixing spring 62 falls into the recess of the second film cartridge support part 61, and the film cartridge 40 is fixed.

As described above, since the container portion of the film cartridge 40 has a window shape, the film cartridge 40 has a structure that provides sufficient strength.

Furthermore, since the mounting is as described above, the film cartridge 40 can be easily attached and detached, and the ink container 64 can be easily attached and detached.
It can be easily attached and detached even if it is still attached. In other words, the color of the ink 4 can be easily changed. When the film cartridge 40 is attached or removed, the recording member 43 rotates as shown by arrow A in FIG. is wide open, and paper jams in the recording section, removal of paper waste from the film 2, replacement of the film cartridge 40, etc. can be easily performed.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the ink 4 remaining in the film cartridge 4o from leaking or evaporating when the film cartridge 40 is removed, the film cartridge 40 is provided with a cartridge lid 85 as shown in FIG.
The projecting portion 185 rotates as shown by the arrow to cover the exposed film portion 86, and the protrusion 185 is attached to the first surplus ink scraping member 41 of the film cartridge 40.
．． 90 and the second surplus ink scraping member 42.89 to tightly seal the film cartridge 40.

Further, the ink absorbing members 34 and 35 shown in FIG. There is a problem in that when the ink cartridge 40 is attached or removed, the surplus ink 4 accumulated in the upper part of the thermal head 1 flows down through the wall surface of the thermal head 1 and is scattered inside the apparatus. Ink absorbing members 34 and 35 are attached to the thermal head 1 and absorb the ink 4 that is about to run down and scatter, thereby preventing the above-mentioned problem.

Next, the operation when driving the film 2 will be described.

FIG. 4(a) is a side view of a drive section of a film moving mechanism serving as a recording medium moving mechanism, and FIG. 4(b) is a plan view of the same portion. The film 2 rotates clockwise and counterclockwise as viewed from the side of the film drive motor gear 58 as a recording medium drive motor gear of the film drive motor 52 as a recording medium drive motor, as shown in FIG. 4(a). ), move upward and downward, respectively.

When the film drive motor tooth width 58 rotates clockwise, the film drive gear 78 as a recording medium drive gear moves as shown in FIG. 4(a).
> Rotates clockwise when viewed from the side.

Drive shaft 8 for moving the film as a drive shaft for moving the recording medium
Since one end of the left-handed spring 84 fitted in the left-handed spring 84 is engaged with the recess of the gear 78, the clockwise rotation of the gear 78 is caused by using the left-handed spring 84 as the drive shaft for moving the recording medium. It acts in the direction of winding the film roughly, and the power of the gear 78 is transferred to the drive shaft 87 for moving the film.
to communicate.

At this time, the film drive gear 59 as a recording medium drive gear also rotates clockwise, but the right-handed spring 83 fitted on the film movement drive shaft 88 as a recording medium movement drive shaft is relatively driven. It acts in the direction of loosening from the shaft 88. However, in the case of the embodiment, the drive shaft 8
Since the right-handed spring 83 and the right-handed spring 83 are rotating in the same direction, the drive shaft 88 and the cloth-bound spring 8 are substantially the same.
A slip with 3 will occur.

By the way, when attaching and detaching the film cartridge 40, the film drive gear 59, 78 is connected to the motor gear 5.
8, there is a risk that the interlocking film 2 will remain loose or remain under too much tension. However, regarding the latter, in the configuration of this embodiment, the drive shaft 88 and the right-handed spring 83 slip, and such excessively strong tension can be alleviated.

Roughly speaking, as shown in the perspective view of the moving mechanism of the embodiment in FIG. 6, the film cartridge 40 has a film tension mechanism 142 as a recording medium tensioning mechanism on the side opposite to the drive shafts 87 and 88 for film movement. Since the film 2 is provided, there is no loosening of the film 2, and the film 2 can be formed while rubbing against the tip heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 with appropriate pressure. A ladder wheel 100 is fixed to one end of the film moving drive shaft 87 by a bin 101, and a left-handed torsion spring 95 with one end engaged with a torsion spring fixing portion 96 is fitted to one end of the drive shaft 88. , the other end of the torsion spring 95 engages with the recess 98 of the rudder wheel 97, and the rudder wheel 97
is connected to the ladder wheel 10 via the ladder chain 99.
Connected to 0.

By the way, when the ladder chain 99 is hung on the ladder wheels 97, 100, the recording medium is wound around the shaft 36 via the torsion spring 95, and the film is wound around the shaft 36 in the counterclockwise direction. For winding, the shaft 38 is attached by suitably twisting the torsion spring 95 in advance so as to bias it clockwise. Therefore, an appropriate tension can be applied to the film 2 according to the torsional force and torque of the torsion spring 95.

In this way, when the film cartridge 40 is attached to the apparatus, the problem of the film 2 coming loose is eliminated, and the film 2 always slides in close contact with the tip of the thermal head 1 with appropriate pressure.

Next, referring to FIG. 4(a), the driving gear 58 is
The installation of item 8 will be explained assuming that it rotates counterclockwise when viewed from the side.

At this time, the drive gear 59 rotates counterclockwise, and the right-handed spring 83 acts to become entangled with the film drive shaft 88. Thus, in this case, the film 2 is directed downwardly, and thus the clockwise direction of the film drive motor 52,
The film 2 can be moved back and forth according to the counterclockwise rotation, and the right-hand spring 83 and the left-hand spring 8
4 and the film tension mechanism 142 prevent the film 2 from loosening when the film cartridge 40 is attached or removed, and prevent damage to the film 2 or the thermal head 1 due to excessive tension.

In any case, the film 2 is reciprocated by the operation of the film drive motor 52 described above, and the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 is filled with the ink 4 in the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 to perform recording. is now possible.

Roughly speaking, the film 2 is guided by guide means consisting of side guides for the film 2, which are shown at 102 and 103 in FIGS. 6 and 7, located at both ends of the thermal head 1, thereby preventing the film 2 from shifting laterally. It looks like this.

By the way, it is necessary to know where the beginning and end of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 are, and at the start of recording, the heating element When you reach point 3, you need to be able to start recording. In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4(a) and 4(b), a film position indexing board 80 as a recording medium position indexing board is attached to the drive shaft of the film drive motor 52.
A film first position detection slit 81 as a recording medium first position detection slit indicating the starting position of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 and a film second position detection slit 82 as a recording medium second position detection slit. By setting up
The position of the film 2 is detected by a film position detector 79 serving as a recording medium position detector.

When the film drive motor 52 rotates, the film position detector 79 senses the short and long light pulses generated by the slits similar to the slit 81 and the long slits, and in response, the film position detector 79 detects the short and long light pulses generated by the slits 81 and 81, and responds to this by detecting a constant period built in the electric control circuit 32. It is determined at the rear end of the long slit in the clockwise direction that the slit 81 is a slit for detecting the first position of the film, and the single optical pulse of the slit 82 is used for detecting the film position. Detector 79 detects this and determines that this is the slit for detecting the second position of the film. In this way, the film drive motor 52 detects the film first position detection slit 81 and stops.

At this time, the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 (see FIG. 12)
The film exposed portion 86 as a recording medium exposed portion of the film cartridge 40 is covered, and the multi-hole portion 92 is connected to the first and second surplus ink scraping members 8 of the film cartridge 40.
It is stored in the ink supply section below the 9.90. For this reason, the film cartridge 40 is held by the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2, so that the film cartridge 40 is sealed from the outside air.

Therefore, the ink 4 in the film cartridge 40 evaporates, the viscosity of the ink 4 increases, and the speed at which the ink 4 flies out from the small holes 2a of the film 2 decreases, or the viscosity is too high to eject, which adversely affects recording. This problem can be prevented from occurring.

Now, when recording, images and
Upon receiving a recording command from the processing device 133 (see FIG. 15) for processing character data, etc., the film 2 is held for a certain period of time, that is, before driving the first feed roller 9 to feed the recording sheet 8 to the recording section. The film drive motor 52 is moved by rotating it counterclockwise as shown by the arrow in FIG. The film 2 is moved in synchronization with the leading edge of the recording paper 8 upon arrival of the paper 8. At this time, the moving speed of the film 2 is 20 am/sec, which is half of the moving speed of the recording paper 8 of 40 g/sec.

In fact, even when the speed of the recording paper 8 is varied between 10 and 100 m/sec, when the recording density of the recording paper 8 is 75%, the relative movement direction of the film 2 and the recording paper 8 is in the same direction. Regardless of the reverse direction, as long as the moving speed of the film 2 is V/4 or more, the image is Dl, O (black solid, coverage rate 7).
5%) or more.

The pattern of this experiment is shown in FIG. Therefore, the movement width of the film 2 can be made shorter than the recording length (recording direction) of the recording paper 8, and therefore the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2
The area of the film 2 could be reduced, and the production of the film 2 could be made easier. That is, if the area of the multi-hole portion 92 is large, it is difficult to make the diameter of the small hole 2a (25 to 30 μm) uniform over the entire area, and therefore, the problem that the diameter of the small hole 2a becomes smaller near the periphery, for example, can be solved. This causes uneven recording density. In this embodiment, since the area can be reduced, such problems can be prevented.

Now, as the film 2 moves in this manner, the rear ends of the multi-hole portion 92 on the side of the first and second surplus ink scraping members 89 and 90 reach the portion of the heating element 3. At this time, the film position detector 79 detects the second film position detection slit 82. Of course, in order for the positions of each part of the film 2 and the relative positions of the first and second position detection slits g1. During initial setting, the film 2 is used as the first and second surplus ink scraping members 89
．． 90 side, and the film drive motor 52 detects the position of the long slit of the film first position detection slit 81 and the similar slit among the long slit and the similar slit pair. It is necessary that it is stopped.

This embodiment is based on this assumption.

Now, when the recording paper 8 is continuously fed and an even numbered recording paper 8 is recorded, the first one of the multi-hole portion 92,
After the end of the second excess ink distribution member 89 and 90 side reaches the film winding shaft 38 and the ink 4 is supplied, the film 2 is moved in the opposite direction to the above-mentioned moving direction of the film 2. After a certain period of time for the end to reach the heating element 3, recording is performed in synchronization with the leading edge of the recording paper 8.

In addition, in continuous recording, when recording on odd-numbered recording sheets 8, the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41
．． The end of the multi-hole portion 92 on the 42 side is the film winding shaft 36
After the ink 4 is supplied to the heating element 3.
... and film 2 in synchronization with the leading edge of recording paper 8.
It is supposed to move.

Since recording is continued by such reciprocating movement of the film 2, continuous recording is possible even if the film is not endless.

Now, next, the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41.
90 and 42.89 are arranged such that the contact positions with the film 2 are staggered as shown in FIG. It is located above 90. The necessity of this arrangement will be explained with reference to the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41 and 42.

First, the film 2 must be wound so that the axes 36 and 38 reach the apex of the thermal head 1 and are directed downwards, so that the recording area can be stored compactly and the recording paper 8 must be placed in a tight gap to the heating element 3. It is impossible to keep them close and transport them.

For this reason, if the first surplus ink scraping members 42 and 89 are positioned below the film 2 on the thermal head 1 side, the second surplus ink scraping members 82 and 89 The distance between and the area of the film exposed portion 86 of the film cartridge 40 of the film 2 can be reduced.

Therefore, the film cartridge 40 can be formed compactly. The effect of scraping off excess ink during movement of the film 2 is as follows.

First, the case where the film 2 moves in the direction of arrow G in FIG. 6 will be described. The film 2 supplied with ink 4 by the ink supply member 39 moves upward, and the first surplus ink scraping member 41 scrapes the surplus ink from the film 2. However, during recording, since the multi-hole portion 92 passes through the excess ink scraping member 41, the excess ink 4 moves by a certain amount to the side opposite to the thermal head 1 through the multi-hole portion 92.

Further, the ink 4 that has moved to the opposite side is scraped off by the second surplus ink scraping member 42, and moves to the thermal head 1 side again. In this way, when the film 2 moves in the G direction and the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 passes the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41, 42, the film 2 has only the small holes 2a... Not film 2
A sufficient amount of ink 4 is applied and replenished over the entire surface.

Therefore, this makes it possible to reduce the film speed to 1/4 of the speed of the recording paper 8, as described above.

Now, let's consider a case in which the multi-hole portion 92 moves downward through the first and second surplus ink scraping members 41, 42.

In this case, the recording side surface of the film 2 is first scraped off by the second surplus ink scraping member 42.

Therefore, the excess ink 4 adhering to the surface of the film 2 is scraped off, and the dust and paper dust adhering to the film 2 are also scraped off. In this way, the ink 4 accumulated at the tip of the surplus ink scraping member 42 moves to the thermal head 1ffll through the small holes 2a of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2, and then moves to the first surplus ink scraping member 41. The surplus ink is scraped off again by the ink, and accumulates at the tip of the first surplus ink scraping member 41.

This scraped and accumulated surplus ink 4 is returned to the small holes 2 of the multi-hole portion 92 on the opposite side of the thermal head 1.
Move through a... In this way, the surplus ink 4 during recording is removed from the ink 4 of the film cartridge 40.
is collected in the supply section.

On the other hand, the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 moves in the F direction, that is, downwardly toward the first and second surplus ink scraping members 4.
The state when passing 1.42 will be described. At this time, the surface of the film 2 opposite to the thermal head 1 has already been cleaned by the second surplus ink scraping member 89, so the second
There is no need to scrape off ink using the surplus ink scraping member 42.

However, paper dust and rubber accumulate at the tip of the second surplus ink scraping means 42.

On the other hand, since the film surface on the thermal head 1 side has also been cleaned in advance by the first surplus ink scraping member 90,
There is also almost no need for ink scraping by the first surplus ink scraping member 41.

In this way, when the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2 covers the exposed film portion 86 of the film cartridge 40, the exposed portion of the film 2 is cleaned, and the exposed portion 86 of the film cartridge 40 is cleaned.
There is also no risk of getting your hands dirty when putting on and taking off.

Further, since the lengths M and N (see FIG. 12) of the non-hole portion 91 in the moving direction are longer than the film exposure width E (see FIG. 6) of the film cartridge 40, etc., the first surplus ink scraping member 41.90, second surplus ink scraping member 4
It is possible to prevent air from entering and exiting through a gap of 2.89 mm.

Therefore, the evaporation of the ink 4 can be prevented, and the viscosity of the ink 4 can be prevented from changing, so that the quality of recording and printing can be maintained constant.

Next, the operation for removing paper waste adhering to the film 2 will be described.

As described above, when the film 2 is moved in the G direction, the paper scraps and dust accumulated on the tip of the second surplus ink scraping member 42 are moved together with the film 2 while remaining attached to the film 2, and the paper scraps and dust accumulated on the tip of the second surplus ink scraping member 42 are moved together with the film 2 while remaining attached to the film 2, and are removed from the thermal head 1. It comes to the heating element 3 part at the top of . At this time, transfer film 2 to thermal head 1.
The suction belt 15 is moved back and forth several times with the heating element 3 in between, and at the same time the suction fan 53 shown in FIG.
Paper scraps and dust on the film 2 described above are sucked into the air suction guide 57 through the suction port 107 .

In this way, paper powder and dust attached to the film 2 can be removed, so that the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2 can be removed.
This prevents the small holes 2a from becoming clogged with paper powder and dirt.

In this embodiment, the paper waste removal process is carried out after a certain period of time after a series of continuous recording is completed, so that the problem of reducing the recording speed does not occur.

In addition, since the paper waste removal process is carried out in the non-porous portion 91 of the film 2 as described above, the ink 4 on the film surface is r It is also possible to prevent problems such as the ink 4 being sucked in or adhering to the suction belt 15.

Here, the operation of the film 2 when a series of recording operations is completed will be described.

After a series of recording operations is completed, the film 2 is moved for a certain period of time at a speed slower than the moving speed during recording.

This is done in order to prevent the ink 4 from being depleted from the heating elements 3 of the thermal head 1 until the series of recording operations is completed. after that,
The paper waste removal process described above is continued for a certain period of time, and then the exposed film portion 86 of the film cartridge 40 is covered with the non-perforated portion 91 of the film 2.

By the way, the first surplus ink scraping member 41.90 is made of an elastic member, and its edge toward the thermal head 1 is located on the lower surface of the film 2 and comes into close contact with the thermal head 1. The ink 4 flowing down through the wall surface is transferred to the small holes 2 in the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2.
a... so that it can be collected into the ink supply section of the film cartridge 40. -1, 2nd above
The surplus ink scraping members 41.90 and 42.89 are made of a non-breathable material that prevents air and ink 4 from entering and taking out the inside and outside of the film cartridge 40.

Next, the relationship between the diameter of the small holes 2a of the film 2 and the pitch between the small holes 2a will be explained with reference to FIG.

Arrow I in the figure indicates the moving direction of the film 2, and the line connecting the centers of the small holes 2a is an equilateral triangle with one side perpendicular to the arrow ■. In the figure, 81V is the shape and size of the heating element 3, which is 100 μm to 125 μm. The diameter of the small hole 2a in the figure is 25 μm in the example.
The center-to-center distance P is 45 μm, and the minimum distance between the small holes 2a is 20 μm. According to experiments, using the above-mentioned symbols and assuming that the maximum distance between adjacent small holes 2a is P, the relational expressions H≧2P and V≧2P+D are satisfied, and the resolution is 8 lines/m as in the example. In this case, in order to obtain good print quality, it was necessary to set the diameter of the small hole 2a to be in the range of D-15 to 35 μm and P to be in the range of P-40 to 50 μm.

Special considerations are required to achieve good print quality and improve thermal efficiency during recording, regardless of the shape of the heating element 3.

FIG. 14 shows the cross-sectional shape of the heating element.

Here, the heating element 3 and the electrical conductor 108.121 are A
It is covered with a thin wear-resistant insulating film 136 such as 203. Now, a voltage is applied to the heating element 3 and it is rapidly heated, bubbles are generated, and due to this pressure, the ink 4 in the small hole 2a filled with ink 4 is rapidly ejected and recorded. In the example, the resistance of the heating element 3 is selected to be 3000, and 24 cm is applied with a pulse width of 10 μsec to eject recording ink and perform recording.

At this time, the energy consumed is approximately 21008 rg/element.

This energy is approximately constant when the thickness T of the gap 124 between the heating element and the film 2 is 3 μm or more, but when T is 1
When the thickness exceeds 0 μm, the jetting force becomes poor and the printing quality deteriorates. It was also found that when ■ is 3 μm or less, the ink energy consumption per heating element 3 becomes 2100 or more, and it was found that the smaller ■ is, the more energy is required. In this example, it was set to -3 μm by hand.

In the figure, 122 indicates a glass gelase layer.

Next, the following improvements have been made in terms of the durability of the heating element 3.

That is, as proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 59-11851, the heating element (heating resistor) is mainly composed of ruthenium oxide, M (M is Ca13r, 13a, p
A metal oxide thin film containing an oxide of at least one selected from bSB i and T in an M/Ru (atomic ratio) of 0.6 to 2 is used.

By using a metal oxide thin film in this way, there is no need to consider changes in resistance due to oxidation, as in the past, and it becomes possible to apply large amounts of power and reach high temperatures.
It also increases stability during long-term use. Further, since this metal oxide thin film has a relatively high sheet resistance value, a relatively small current is required to obtain a high heat generation density. Therefore, less current flows through the conductive layer connected to the heat generating resistor as in the conventional case, and heat generation from this portion can be reduced.

Therefore, so-called print blurring that occurs during printing can be reduced. Further, since such a thin film has a positive resistance temperature coefficient, it can improve the drawbacks of 5n02-based materials, and has the advantage of being able to apply a large amount of power from the initial stage, and being suitable for increasing speed.

Next, the structure of the thermal head will be described based on FIG. 11.

The structure of the heating element 3 was described in FIG. 14, but in this embodiment, the heating element 3 and the electrical conductor 108, 121 are formed on a polyimide film 123 of about 15 μm, which is made of metal made of aluminum. Support body 137
It has a structure that is fixed with adhesive. It is estimated from the calculation of the consumption energy distribution that most of the energy consumed by the pulsed heating of the heating element 3 (more than 70%) is not used for ejecting the ink 4, but is used for ejecting the polyimide film 123 or the film. etc. are accumulated. Note that the driver 120 of the thermal head 1 is an insurance cover.

In this way, if the A4 vertical feed line printer has a resolution of 8 lines/lead and a recording speed of 40 m/V as in the embodiment, the thermal head 1 can be used for high coverage recording such as graphic recording. The maximum value of the total energy consumption is about 120 W, of which about 107 W is accumulated in the polyimide film 123 and the film.

Such heat accumulation raises the temperature of the film 2 and the ink 4 to near the boiling point of the ink 4, and therefore, the situation in which the ink 4 is ejected changes depending on whether there is heat accumulation or not. In other words, the thermal history of recording causes a problem in that the density of the recorded image becomes uneven.

In this embodiment, the heating element 3 is placed on the polyimide film 123 having a thickness of approximately 15 μm, and the heating element 3 is placed on the electrical conductors 108, 12.
1 is formed and bonded to a metal support 137 made of aluminum, so that the heat energy generated and accumulated in the heating element 3 is quickly transferred to the metal support 137.
Transmit and spread to.

The thermal energy diffused into the metal support 137 conducts heat very quickly because the support is made of metal, and acts to cool the heating element 3. thus,
The heating cycle of the heating element 3 can be shortened and the recording speed can be increased.

Next, the structure of the ink presence/absence detection elements 109 and 112 of the thermal head 1 will be described according to FIGS. 9 and 10(a) and (b). In this embodiment, there are exposed conductor parts 1, 1o, 111 of the ink presence/absence detection element, which have electrical conductors abutted against each other at both ends of the thermal head 1.
10.111 does not have wear resistance/insulation 11136 and comes into direct contact with the ink 4.

By the way, the conductivity of the ink is 10'3 s/ca, and if a voltage is applied, a small amount of current can flow through the ink. This state is shown in FIG. 10(a). The exposed conductor portion 110.
When a voltage pulse of 0N-OFFL is sent to the thermal head 111 by the switch sW, if the ink 4 is at the top of the thermal head 1 as shown in FIG. The voltage is applied to the exposed conductor portion 110.
Since a current flows between 111 and 111, it temporarily decreases. This signal is amplified to detect the presence of ink (+N
Ru. As shown in FIG. 10(b), when there is no ink 4, no current flows even if the switch SW operates as described above, so the voltage drop as described above does not occur.

With this, it is possible to detect that there is no ink 4, and it is possible to prohibit the recording operation. As described above, in this embodiment, ink presence/absence detection elements 109 and 112 are further attached to both ends of the row of heating elements 3... of the thermal head 1, so that when there is no ink 4, the heating elements 3... It is possible to eliminate the problem of damaging the heating element 3 by heating and dry cooking.

In other words, even if there is ink 4 at one end of the heating element row 3 and no ink 4 at the other end, the presence or absence of ink can be detected by ANDing the signals of the ink presence detection elements 109 and 112. Therefore, it is possible to detect when there is no ink.

In this embodiment, as described above, the thermal head 1 is provided with the ink presence/absence detection elements 109 and 112, and the ink container 64 is also provided with replenishment ink presence/absence detection means consisting of an ink detection LED 75 and an ink detection photosensor 76. That's what happened.

As described above, these ink presence/absence detection means each have their own roles, and at the same time, as described below, they can cause the recording apparatus of this embodiment to perform various operations depending on the combination of their respective states. .

First, in this embodiment, if a voltage is constantly applied to the ink presence/absence detection means 109 and 112 of the thermal head 1 described above,
There is a problem in that the ink 4 is electrolyzed and gases such as hydrogen and oxygen are generated and the exposed conductor parts 110 and 111 are corroded. The presence or absence of ink is detected by applying a voltage.

Furthermore, by doing this, it is possible to stop the recording operation during recording after the start of the recording operation, for example, after feeding the recording paper 8, and after a while has passed, that is, after the ink 4 has reached the thermal head 1. When the recording operation is restarted, the problem of the accurate position of the recording paper being shifted due to the inertia of the feed roller or the like can be prevented in advance.

Further, in this embodiment, when the absence of ink is detected by the ink presence detection operation of the thermal head 1, the film drive motor 52 is driven to move the film 2 for a certain period of time as shown by arrows G and F in FIG. After the reciprocating operation, the ink presence/absence detection operation of the thermal head 1 described above is performed again to detect the presence or absence of ink.

Therefore, even if the ink 4 evaporates from the heating element array 3 of the thermal head 1 due to a temporary stop, the ink reaches the inside of the film cartridge 40 by restarting the ink presence/absence detection operation. 4 is missing, it can also detect whether a new film cartridge 40 is missing or not.
It is also possible to check whether the ink 4 has reached the ink supply member 37, 39 inside the film cartridge 40 from the ink container 64 just after setting the film cartridge.

In this way, when it is detected that the thermal head 1 is out of ink, a status display regarding the out of ink is displayed on the display section of the processing bag @ 133 for images, characters, data, etc. to which the recording device is connected, and the operator can take appropriate action. It is designed to give instructions.

Incidentally, the ink presence/absence detection operation of the thermal head 1, the ink presence/absence detection signal, the replenishment ink presence/absence detection signal of the ink container 64, and the operation of the recording apparatus are closely related. In fact, in this embodiment, only when the detection signal indicating the presence of ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal indicating the presence of ink in the ink container 64 are generated simultaneously, the recording member, that is, the recording paper 8
is fed toward the heating element 3. This can prevent the risk of running out of ink 4 during recording and having to interrupt the recording operation.

Further, as described above, when the detection signal indicating that there is no ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal indicating that the ink container 64 is refilled are generated at the same time, the film drive motor 52, film movement drive shaft 87, 88, etc. By operating the film moving mechanism, the ink 4 can be prevented from reaching the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1.

At this time, the film is moved at a speed of 20 mm/V during normal recording, but it is operated at a slower speed, 5 mm/V in the embodiment.

As a result, when there is no ink 4, the electrical conductor 108.12 is caused by the friction between the thermal head 1 and the film 2.
This prevents the wear-resistant insulating film No. 1 from being damaged.

In this way, the film moving mechanism is operated to move the film 2 back and forth until the ink-absence detection signal of the thermal head 1 changes to an ink-present signal.

Then, the image or character or data processing device 13 described above
The "holding" state is displayed in the display area 3 to notify that the ink 4 is being supplied to the thermal head 1.

By the way, when a detection signal indicating that there is ink in the thermal head 1 and a detection signal indicating that there is no replenishment ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time, an ink replenishment signal is sent to the display section of the recording device or the image, character, or data processing device 133. An instruction is displayed to prompt the operator to replace the ink container 64 and replenish new ink 4. In this way, a new ink container 64
is attached and the detection signal indicating that there is no refill ink in the ink container 64 changes to the detection signal indicating that there is ink, the recording operation is stopped for a certain period of time, that is, the recording paper 8 is transferred toward the heating element 3. It is also prohibited to do so. This is the ink supply member 37 in the film cartridge 40.
．． This ensures that a sufficient amount of ink 4 permeates the film 39 and that the ink 4 is always supplied to the film 2 in the same state.

Further, in this embodiment, the film cartridge 4o is set in the recording apparatus by the means for detecting that the detection signal indicating that there is no ink in the thermal head 1 and the detection signal that there is no replenishing ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time. It is detected that it is not. This pattern is shown in FIG.

In fact, in the above-mentioned state, both when the film cartridge 40 is not set and even when the film cartridge 40 is set, there is no ink capacity 16 in the thermal head 1.
4 also shows that there is no ink 4, but,
In either case, the operator is instructed to replenish ink in a major sense.

As a result, even if there is no means for detecting whether or not the film cartridge 40 is set in the recording apparatus, it is possible to detect whether there is no ink in the thermal head 1 or not in the container 6.
No.4 refill ink occurs. In most cases, this means that the film cartridge 40 is not actually set. In this manner, in this embodiment, it is detected that the detection signals of no ink in the thermal head 1 and no replenishment ink in the ink container 64 are generated at the same time, and it is detected whether the film cartridge 40 is attached or detached.

Next, the overall structure of the thermal head 1 will be described according to FIG.

In the figure, 137 is a metal support made of aluminum, and the thermal head 1 has metal cooling members 114 and 115 on both sides of the metal support 137. It has sensing elements 117 and 118. In the figure, reference numerals 113 and 116 indicate heating elements of the thermal head 1, which are arranged in parallel with and near the heating element 3.

In this embodiment, the heating elements 113 and 116 of the thermal head 1 are turned ON or OFF by the output signals of the temperature detection elements 117 and 118 according to changes in the environment and the thermal history of the heating element 3, so that the apex portion of the thermal head 1 is turned on or off. It is controlled to maintain a constant temperature.

First, the metal cooling members 114 and 115 are in direct contact with the film 2, and can effectively cool down the temperature rise of the thermal head 1 due to rise in outside temperature or thermal history, suppress evaporation of the ink 4, and The thermal history of the apex portion of the head 1 is quickly conducted to the temperature detection element, and the temperature in the vicinity of the heating element 3 of the thermal head 1 can be controlled to be always constant.

Also, the metal cooling members 117 are provided on both sides of the heating element 3.
118 and heating elements 113 and 116 of the thermal head 1 are arranged, and the ink 4 and the ink-filled small holes 2a are conveyed to the surface of the heating element 3 even when the film 2 moves back and forth.
, the energy supplied by the voltage pulse applied to the heating element 3 in advance is reduced.

In FIG. 15, 119 is a thermal head driver, and 126 to 132 are drive circuit sections.

As explained above, according to the above embodiment, by providing the film 2 with the non-perforated portion 91 which is longer than the length of the film 2 in the portion exposed outside the container 77 of the film cartridge 40, the non-perforated portion 91 is provided in the film 2 during non-recording. The hole portion 91 covers the film exposed portion 86 of the film cartridge 40, thereby preventing clogging due to evaporation of the recording ink 4 filled in each of the small holes 2a in the multi-hole portion 92.

For this purpose, it is necessary to determine whether there is a next recording command after a certain period of time has elapsed after a series of recordings has been completed, and to cover the exposed film portion 86 of the film cartridge 40 with the non-perforated portion 91. . In other words, if the recording is only temporarily interrupted and the temporary interruption does not have a large effect on the evaporation of the recording ink 4 within the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 2, then the film There is no need to cover the exposed film portion 86 of the cartridge 40 with the non-perforated portion 91. If this operation were to be performed at every interruption, the duration of the temporary interruption would be extended by the film operation time, reducing the overall recording speed. That is, after a certain period of time has elapsed, the overall recording speed is determined by diagnosing whether the recording interruption is temporary, an interruption of a length that affects the evaporation of the ink 4, or whether the recording has ended. (Also, clogging of the multi-hole portion 92 of the film 4 due to evaporation of the ink 4 can be prevented.)

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in the present invention, a recording medium having a large number of small holes is filled with recording ink, and when the small holes filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element, the heating element is heated. By selectively heating the ink, the pressure of the generated bubbles causes the ink in the small holes to be ejected toward the recording member, thereby performing recording on the recording member, and the recording medium is one of the recording members. The ink supply means and the like are housed in the recording medium cartridge in a state where the ink supply means and the like are exposed, and the non-porous part is located in the exposed part of the recording medium cartridge when not recording. The portion exposed to the outside is covered to prevent clogging of the multi-hole portion due to evaporation of recording ink within the multi-hole portion. Therefore, although the configuration is simple, it is possible to provide a recording device that is free from clogging and capable of high-speed recording.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the recording principle, FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical side view, FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical front view, and FIG. 4(a) 4(b) is a plan view of the driving portion of the film moving mechanism, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the film cartridge, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the film moving mechanism and the ink supply section.
8 is a diagram showing the relationship between the diameter and pitch of the small holes and the shape of the heating element. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the ink presence/absence detection means of the thermal head. a
) is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ink presence/absence detection means when there is ink, FIG. 10(b) is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the ink presence/absence detection means when there is no ink, FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the thermal head, and FIG. Figure 13 is a diagram showing the relationship between film speed and recording density, Figure 14 is a diagram showing the structure near the heating element, and the 15th factor is the electronic control circuit. It is a schematic diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Thermal head, 2... Recording medium (film), 2a... Small hole, 3... Heating element, 4... Recording ink, 5... Small hole filled with ink , 6...
- Ejected ink droplets, 7... Small holes from which ink droplets were ejected, 8... Recording member (recording paper), 32... Electronic control circuit 36. 38... Film winding axis, 3
7.39... Ink supply means (ink supply member), 4
0...Film cartridge, 43...Recorded member conveyance mechanism, 86...Film exposed portion of cartridge,
92...Multi-hole portion of the film. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Engraving of drawings (
No change in content) Figure 1 (a) (b) Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 8 Figure 9 (a) (b) 1st Q v! J Figure 11 Figure 12 Figure 13 Figure 14 Procedure amendment

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) By filling a recording medium with many small holes with recording ink and selectively heating the heating element when the small holes filled with ink reach the surface of the heating element. A recording device that performs recording on a recording medium by ejecting ink in the small holes toward the recording medium using the pressure of air bubbles, the ink supplying means What is claimed is: 1. A recording device comprising a non-hole portion that is housed in a recording medium cartridge and is located in an exposed portion of the recording medium cartridge when not recording. (2) The recording device according to claim 1, wherein the non-porous portion of the recording medium is longer than the exposed portion of the recording medium cartridge. (3) The non-porous portion of the recording medium is positioned at the exposed portion of the recording medium cartridge after a certain period of time has elapsed after the recording operation is completed. Recording device.