JPS6141580A - Serial thermal transfer printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to increase memory capacity as compared with the diameter of a ribbon spool, by obliquely forming the used part of a thermal transfer recording medium to the longitudinal direction of said medium. CONSTITUTION:A thermal transfer recording medium 20 is moved in integral relation to a thermal head 10 and heat-meltable ink is melted to perform serial thermal transfer. Because a rail 16 is arranged so as to provide a certain oblique angle to the running surface of a carrier 11, a feed member 17 is run obliquely to the horizontal movement of the carrier 11. Therefore, the used part corresponding to one line on the recording medium 20 generated by the driving of the thermal head 10 is formed obliquely and, when the thermal head 10 reaches the printing finish position corresponding to one line of printing paper 1, a motor 12 is reversely rotated, as the carrier 11 and the feed member 17 receive directional reversal to run while perform thermal transfer according to recording information. As mentioned above, because printing can be obliquely applied to the thermal transfer recording medium, recording capacity can be increased without increasing the length of the recording medium.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a serial thermal transfer printer that is capable of increasing recording capacity without increasing the length of a thermal transfer recording medium such as an ink donor film.

[Conventional technology]

For example, as a conventional serial thermal transfer printer, the one shown in FIG. An ink donor is stretched across the printing paper 1 wound around the platen 2 in the sub-scanning direction (longitudinal direction of the platen 2) with a predetermined gap and is wound up according to the amount of printing. A thermal transfer recording medium 3 using a film (IDF) or the like, a ribbon spool 4 for feeding the thermal transfer recording medium 3, and a winding bobbin 5 for winding up the used thermal transfer recording medium 3, which reciprocate in the sub-scanning direction. , a thermal head 6 that melts the thermal transfer recording medium 3 by heating a heating resistor according to recorded information and serially thermally transfers ink to the print paper 1;
It is composed of toyoυ.

In the above configuration, the thermal head 6 moves in the A direction at the start of printing (the paper remains stopped), and thermal transfer is performed sequentially based on the recorded information while moving, and at the same time as the transfer of a portion is completed, the platen 2 is moved. Rotate by the specified amount (
(equivalent to the print line spacing), the paper is fed. Further, the thermal head 6 reverses and starts running in the B direction, and thermal transfer based on the recorded information is performed again.

In the thermal transfer recording medium 3, when the thermal head 6 moves in the A direction, an unused area with a length of one line is set in advance in front of the print paper, and then the thermal head 6 moves from the A direction to the B direction. It is wound onto the take-up reel 5 so that the length of one line is set in synchronization with the conversion. By such winding operation and printing, a used transfer area 7 is formed on the thermal transfer recording medium 3, as shown in FIG. By repeating the above operations for each print line, one sheet of print can be obtained.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in conventional serial thermal transfer printers, the ribbon-shaped thermal transfer recording medium is stretched parallel to the moving direction of the head, so the used portion is continuous and cascaded line by line, as shown in Figure 5. The problem is that the ribbon spool diameter increases in proportion to the recording capacity.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and in order to increase the storage capacity compared to the diameter of the ribbon spool, the present invention has been made in view of the above. The thermal transfer recording medium is supported so that the level changes, and if necessary, the thermal transfer recording medium is set diagonally with respect to the scanning direction of the head so that the used portion is formed diagonally with respect to the longitudinal direction of the medium. A serial thermal transfer printer is provided.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a serial thermal transfer printer according to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. A spatula 10, a carrier 11 to which the thermal head 10 is fixed and reciprocated in the sub-scanning direction by a drive mechanism, and a motor 1 serving as a drive source for moving the carrier 11.
2, a wire 13 that is wound one or more turns around the rotating shaft of the motor 12 and whose both ends are connected to both sides of the end of the carrier 11 in the moving direction; and a plurality of wires 13 that form a running path for the wire 13. a pulley 14, a rail 15 on which the carrier 11 is placed and moves the carrier 11 to a fixed position, a rail 16 disposed above the carrier 11 at a predetermined angle with respect to the sub-scanning surface; Conveying member 1 installed on rail 16 and moving on rail 16 following carrier 11
7, and a rail 16 provided at the bottom of the conveying member 17.
A guide 4-218 that slides on the surface, a bottle 19 provided at one end of the moving side of the surface of the conveying member 17 and around which an unused thermal transfer recording medium 20 is wound, and a thermal head 10. The take-up reel 21 that winds up the used thermal transfer recording medium 20 on which transfer has been performed by The thermal transfer recording medium 20 is constructed of a pair of guide pins 22a and 22b arranged perpendicularly to the longitudinal direction of the thermal transfer recording medium 20. Use one that is sufficiently wider than the tape width.
In the above configuration, the carrier 11 is on the left side of the print paper l at the start of printing each line.

At the start of printing, the carrier 11 is pulled by the wire 13 and moves in the entry direction, and the carrier 11 and the guide pin 22a,
The conveyor member 17, which is integrally constructed, moves together via 22b. Therefore, the thermal transfer recording medium 20 moves integrally with the thermal radar 10. In the course of this movement, the thermal head 10 is driven according to the recorded information, melts the heat-melting ink on the thermal transfer recording medium 20, and performs serial thermal transfer. By the way, since the rails 16 are installed at an inclination angle with respect to the running surface of the carrier 11, the conveying member 17 runs diagonally with respect to the horizontal movement of the carrier 11. Therefore, the used portion 23 on the thermal transfer recording medium 20 generated by driving the thermal head 10 is
As shown in the figure, a thermal transfer recording medium 20 set diagonally
Compared to the case where the thermal transfer recording medium 20 is simply moved horizontally, an effect equivalent to increasing the inclination angle of the thermal transfer recording medium 20 can be obtained.

Even if a thermal transfer recording medium with a relatively narrow width is used, -
This means that the used portion of the material can be formed diagonally.

When the thermal radar 10 reaches the print end position for one line of the print paper 1, the motor 12 reverses, the carrier 11 and the conveyance member 17 reverse direction, and travel in the B direction.
It travels while performing thermal transfer with the thermal head 10 according to recorded information. Note that when running in reverse, the thermal transfer recording medium 20 is fed in the direction of the arrow by the print width t (that is, wound up by the take-up reel 21) as shown in FIG.
, ready for the next transcription. This operation is A-+B and B→A
This is done for any direction change.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which the same parts as in FIG. A winding wheel 21 is provided on the installed conveyance device 24.

The take-up reel 21 provided in the conveyance device 24 does not move upward, downward (unlike the device shown in FIG. 1), nor in the horizontal direction, but is fixed in position.

However, since the head 10 is close to the installation position of the ribbon spool 19, the ribbon spool 19 only moves up and down, and as in the case of FIG. 1, the thermal transfer result shown in FIG. 2 can be obtained. be able to.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the serial thermal transfer printer of the present invention, the thermal transfer recording medium is supported so that its level changes according to its consumption, and the thermal transfer recording medium is set diagonally as necessary. Since printing can be performed diagonally on the thermal transfer recording medium, the recording capacity can be increased without increasing the length of the thermal transfer recording medium.

Therefore, even if the recording capacity is kept the same as before, the diameter of the ribbon spool can be reduced, and the printer can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view of a used thermal transfer recording medium obtained by the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a front view showing another embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a perspective view showing the main parts of a conventional serial thermal transfer printer, and FIG. 5 is a front view of a used thermal transfer recording medium obtained by the conventional serial thermal transfer printer. Explanation of symbols 1...Print paper, 10...Thermal head,
11...Carrier, 12...Motor, 13
...Wire, 14...Pulley, 15.16
... Rail, 17 ... Conveyance member, 18 ... Guide roller, 19 ... Ribbon spool, 20 ...
Thermal transfer recording medium, 21-... Winding reel, 22a
, 22 b - guide pin, 24... conveyance device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a serial thermal transfer printer that stretches a thermal transfer recording medium over a printing position and serially prints on the print paper while heating the thermal transfer recording medium according to recorded information by scanning the print paper with a thermal head, the thermal transfer recording medium is A support means for supporting the medium so as to sequentially supply unused areas as the medium is consumed; and a support means for running the support means on an inclined surface as the thermal head scans the print paper for recording, and the running causes the thermal transfer recording to be performed. A serial thermal transfer printer characterized in that it is provided with inclined running rail means for changing the level of the medium. (2) Claim 1, wherein the support means supports the thermal transfer recording medium by tilting it in the direction of the inclined surface.
Serial thermal transfer printer as described in section.