JPS6135972A - Electric conduction type transfer recording head - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain uniform density in the printing of a figure without generating edge effect, by coating a group of a dot like signal electrode, a parallel plate shaped signal electrode and a return electrode with an insulating material so as to expose the leading end parts of said electrodes. CONSTITUTION:In an electric conduction type transfer system by a recording head having a dot like electrode 1, said electrode 1 and a return electrode 3 are contacted with an ink sheet or ink ribbon 5 and, when voltage based on an image signal is applied between said electrodes 1, 3, a current 1 is flowed as shown by the arrow. In this case, because the size of the dot like electrode 1 is extremely larger than that of the return electrode 3, the current density directly under the electrode 1 is highest. Therefore, the heat generating quantity directly under the electrode 1 is large and the ink at this position is melted to be transferred to a material 6 to be transferred such as paper. The numeral 7 shows transferred ink.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to an improvement in a current transfer recording head, and more particularly to a recording head used in barcode printers, barcode printing printers, etc. that employ the current transfer method.

Known recording methods for conventional barcode printers include a wire dot method, a thermal method, a thermal transfer method, an inkjet method, an electrophotographic method, and an electric transfer method. Barcode printers employing these recording methods each have advantages and disadvantages depending on the method. For example, the wire tod type is inexpensive but has poor image quality. Thermal type or thermal transfer type enlarging method has good image quality, but it is expensive because it uses a thermal head with dot-shaped heating elements arranged in a line, and in addition, the thermal stability of the image is poor. There is.

The inkjet method is relatively inexpensive, but the image density is low and maintenance is required. Also,
The electrophotographic type has good image quality, but is expensive and requires maintenance.

In contrast, no-code printers employing an electrical transfer method have the advantage of being compact, capable of producing images on plain paper, and recording quickly.

However, with conventional barcode printers using the electric transfer method, printing is usually done using a group of dot electrodes, resulting in high costs and problems.
It has often been observed that barcode images with uniform density and good sharpness cannot be obtained, and that long-term recording becomes impossible.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, there has recently been a trend for characters to be printed in addition to barcodes, and it is desired to develop an electrical transfer recording head that can be adapted to such recording.

OBJECTS The present invention provides a recording head for a barcode printer, a barcode input printing printer, etc. used in an electric transfer method, which eliminates the above-mentioned defects or inconveniences.

Structure: The current transfer recording head according to the present invention includes at least one group of dot-shaped signal electrodes, a parallel plate-shaped signal electrode, and a return electrode, the tips of which are exposed and covered with an insulating material. It is characterized by becoming.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in more detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a typical example of the recording head of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line (1)-(1) in FIG. In this example, a group of dot-shaped signal electrodes (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as "dot-shaped electrodes") 1 represents a case, and a parallel plate-shaped signal electrode adjacent to the dot-shaped electrode 1 is used. An electrode 2 and a return electrode 3 are arranged. These electrodes 1, 2 and 3 are covered with an insulating material 4,
The tip portions (where they come into contact with the ink ring or ink sheet) are exposed, and therefore the electrodes 2 and 3 have a perpendicular shape. The tip, as shown in Figure 1,
It is preferable that the cross section is formed into a convex bowl shape.

Both electrodes 2 and 3 have a thickness of about 50 to 200 μm and a width of 5
It is made of a metal plate (conductive material such as Cu, brass, or phosphor bronze) with a thickness of ~30WLWL. The dot-shaped electrode 1 itself is no different from those commonly known in the technical field of current transfer methods.

The number of dot-shaped electrodes 1 is not limited to one, but may be multiple as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, and it is more advantageous in many respects to arrange a plurality of dot-shaped electrodes 1. be.

The positional relationship between the signal electrodes 1 and 2 and the return electrode 3 is shown in FIG. With the condition that electrodes 1 and 2 are almost on the same line, electrode 1
．． 2 and the electrode 3 may be made to face each other.

These electrodes 1, 2, and 3 are fixed and covered with an insulating material (insulating resin such as epoxy or Teflon) 4 as described above, but between the electrodes there is a material such as ceramic, glass, mica, MgO, etc. It is desirable to provide an insulating and heat-resistant material.

The principle of the current transfer method using the recording head having the dot-shaped electrode 1 will now be explained with reference to FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 6 (1), when the electrodes 1.3 are brought into contact with the ink sheet or ink clean 5 and a voltage based on the image signal is applied between these electrodes, the electric current is generated as shown by the arrow. flows. Looking at this state in FIG. 6(b), since the size of the dot-shaped electrode 1 is much larger than the size of the return path electrode 3, the current density directly below the electrode 1 is highest.

Therefore, the amount of heat generated directly below the electrode 1 is large, and the ink there is melted and transferred to the transfer target 6 such as paper. 7 shows the transferred ink.

On the other hand, the principle of the current transfer method using the recording head having the no-shaped electrode 2 will be explained below with reference to FIG. That is, in this case, no concentration of current occurs, and the ink located between the electrodes 2 and 3 is melted and transferred to the paper 6.

Incidentally, the ink-clean or ink sheet 5 is formed on a film (base layer 51) with a thickness of about 10 μm made of 80% by weight of nylon and 2720% by weight of conductive carton.
For example, an ink layer 52 having a thickness of about 5 μm is provided, which is made of 20% by weight of straw, 50% by weight of ethylene-♂yl acetate copolymer, and 730% by weight of conductive curl.

The resistance of the base layer 51 is 100 KQ/fi, the resistance of the ink layer 52 is 10KO/cIL, and the resistance of the entire lysine (or sheet) 5 is 9! Q/ffi.

To put it simply, the recording head according to the present invention has a structure in which two types of recording heads shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are organically combined.

Therefore, by using the recording head of the present invention, it is possible to easily record not only bar codes but also A-codes as well as letters, numbers, and the like.

As mentioned earlier, Figure 3 shows a slip that has a place for printing letters and numbers (Part A), such as a product name such as Abad, a manufacturer name such as Irohaniho, and a price such as 12345 (Part A), and a place to record a bar code (Part B). An example of a form paper is shown.

Part A of this slip is printed using the dot-shaped electrode 1.

The printing operation is performed by transporting the slip paper in a fixed direction at a constant speed, scanning the recording head, and intermittently driving each line. B
The part inputs a signal to the par-shaped signal electrode 2, and thereby, ?
-j- is recorded.

Letters and numbers may be printed not line by line but by a shuttle method. In other words, after printing a fixed number of characters by advancing the paper vertically one line at a time for each character, the paper is returned to its original position and at the same time the recording head and lean are intermittently moved horizontally by one vertical line to print an even more constant number of characters. Print the number of characters. This process is repeated thereafter.

Printing and recording by the recording head of the present invention is generally done using a platen ruler, but instead of using such a platen roller, a plate with a width similar to the par length of the return electrode 8 is used. It may also be carried out using

When electrical transfer recording is performed using a platen roller,
(b) When recording a barcode, make sure that the longitudinal direction of the electrodes 2 and 3 (-longitudinal direction) are aligned with the axial direction of the platen roller, and that the electrodes are printed in the same direction as the circumferential direction of the platen roller. It is desirable to position the recording head and the in-clean so that the in-clean is wound. (b) For recording characters and numbers, the recording head and It is desirable to have an in-clean position.

To change the orientation of the recording head (and ink resin) as described above, the recording head and ink clean move together in the axial direction of the platen roller, and the pressure (1 kP/cd) applied during recording is released each time. It's easy.

The recording head according to the present invention, which is energized as described above, has a dot-shaped electrode 1.
, the plate-shaped signal electrode 2 and the return electrode 3 are covered with an insulating material 4 with the recording surface (the tip of the head) exposed, and these electrodes are arranged in an appropriate direction perpendicular to the surface of the transferred object. It exhibits a structure with a table length. Although not shown in the drawings, these electrodes are provided with terminals for connection to an external power source (signal power source). It is desirable that the tip of the recording head has a bulge (bowl shape) when viewed from a position perpendicular to the ink-clean conveyance direction.

To make the recording head of the present invention, spacers are used to insulate and maintain the electrodes at a constant distance, and then a suitable holder covers the sides of the electrodes from both ends. In addition to the above-mentioned ceramics, glass, etc., spacers include 2-tetrafluoroethylene,
Highly insulating material molded into a plate shape such as acrylic resin.
A thickness of about 0.0.5 to 2 mm is also desirable.

The holder has the effect of increasing the strength of the recording head, and is made of a suitable insulating material (which may be the same material as the spacer).

Advantageously, such recording heads are manufactured using adhesives. The tips are ground so that electrodes 1, 2 and 3 form the same curved surface.

However, the above manufacturing method is only one example of manufacturing the recording head of the present invention, and it goes without saying that any appropriate means may be taken.

By using the recording head having such a specific shape according to the present invention, letters and numbers can be printed and a high-quality image can be obtained, but the electric field tends to concentrate at both ends of the electrodes 2.3. Since the current density increases, there is a possibility that the image becomes thicker and abnormal discharge occurs, which may damage the recording head.

In order to prevent such inconvenience from occurring, it is desirable to provide rounded edges at both ends of the electrodes 2 and 3 so that the electric field changes gradually at both ends. Or the 8th
As shown in the figure, the front surface of the image formed by the electrodes 2, 3 and the insulating material 4 at the end of the recording head (i.e., the surface at both ends located perpendicular to the direction of movement of the transferred object) ) is also effective, and this produces the same effect as the above-mentioned R.

As described above, the recording head of the present invention preferably has a bowl-shaped cross-sectional shape at its tip, but the electrodes 1.2 and 3 may protrude somewhat from the surface of the insulating material 40. However, even if it is outstanding, it must be in the order of several dozen at most.

Effects According to the recording using the recording head of the present invention, not only letters and numbers can be printed, but also a uniform density can be obtained without the barcode thinsel widening edge effect.

Particularly, when recording with a rad with a rounded tip as shown in FIG. 1, the ink sheet is transported smoothly and high-quality images can be obtained even during long-time recording.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

A vertical cross-sectional view showing a typical example of the 8A recording head of the first publication, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line (i)-(1) in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows an example of the transferred object. Figures 4 and 5 are diagrams for explaining the positional relationship between the signal electrode and the return electrode, and Figure 6 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the current transfer method using a recording head having dot-shaped electrodes. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the principle of a current transfer method using a recording head having a seventh square-shaped electrode, and FIG. 8 is a diagram of the recording head of the present invention in a state in which receding angles are provided on both sides of the leading end.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. At least one group of dot-shaped signal electrodes (1), parallel plate-shaped signal electrodes (2), and return electrodes (3), with their tips exposed and covered with an insulating material (4). An electric transfer recording head characterized by: