JPS6256177A - Ink supplyer for ink ribbon of thermal transfer recording - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the running cost of a printer by uniformly supplying ink into the through holes of an ink ribbon base material by a method in which melted ink is raked up on the surface of the base material and packed into the holes by a pressure roller, and unnecessary ink adhered to the surface is scraped away by a scraper. CONSTITUTION:A melted hot ink 11 of a high viscosity is raked up by a rotary roller 13 until reached the upper part of the roller 13. The ink 11 so raked up is adhered to one side of a base material 15, turned in the face of the roller 13, and then pressed into holes 14 by a pressure roller 16 whose surface is coated with a fluororesin or silicone resin for lessening the adherence of ink. The base material 15 is further transported, and an unnecessary ink 18 adhered to the surface of the base material 15 and out of the holes 14 is scraped and removed by fluororesin knife edges 17 provided on both side of the base material 15.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] A heat-resistant thin plate made of stainless steel or the like is provided with many holes, the holes are filled with heat-melting ink to form an ink ribbon, and this ink is directly heated with a thermal head. This is an ink supply device for an ink ribbon used in a thermal transfer recording method in which ink is transferred to recording paper using a rotary roller, and the ink is scraped up and deposited on the surface of the base material made of the heat-resistant thin plate, and this ink is An ink supply device that fills holes with ink that pressurizes the adhered substrate surface from both sides.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an ink supply device for an ink ribbon for thermal transfer recording.

An ink ribbon is formed by providing a heat-melting ink layer on a base material, and recording paper placed on a platen is provided on the ink layer side of the ink ribbon, and selective heating is performed from the base material side of the ink ribbon according to the printed information. A thermal transfer recording device presses a thermal print head to melt the ink on the ink ribbon and transfer the ink onto recording paper.Thermal transfer recording device has a compact structure and does not generate noise when printing, so It is commonly used in printers, etc.

Such ink ribbons have a structure in which an ink layer made of heat-melting ink is coated on a base material such as capacitor paper, and the heat from the thermal print head is inefficiently transferred to the ink layer.

For this reason, methods have been taken to reduce the thickness of the base material or form a thin ink layer, but it is technically difficult to apply a thin layer of ink, and if the base material is thin, the ribbon machine There is a problem that the strength of the objective is insufficient.

Therefore, a large number of holes of a predetermined shape are provided at a predetermined pitch in a base material made of a thin plate with high heat resistance such as a stainless steel plate or polyimide resin, and the holes are filled with heat-melting ink. Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-36879 discloses an ink recording medium in which a thermal print head is directly pressed against this ink to transfer the melted ink onto recording paper.

There is a need for an ink supply device that can uniformly fill ink into the holes of the base material of the ink ribbon used for such thermal transfer recording using a simple mechanism.

[Conventional technology]

Such a conventional ink ribbon ink supply device will be explained using FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional ink supply device includes a metal container 3 made of stainless steel or the like containing a hot-melt ink 1 and a built-in heater 2, and a metal container 3 installed in the container 3. It consists of a rotating roller 4. This container 3 is filled with hot-melt ink 1, heated by a heater 2 to melt the ink 1, and an ink ribbon base material 5 is inserted into this liquid ink 1. This base material 5 has a thickness of 10 to 10
This base material 5 is made of a thin stainless steel plate with a thickness of 0 μm and has a thickness of 1 to 1.
Holes 6 having a diameter of 00 μm are arranged at a predetermined pitch. By conveying this base material 5 using the rotating roller 4, the liquid heat-melting ink 1 enters the inside of the hole 6 by capillary action. Furthermore, the ink protruding from the holes 6 of the base material 5 is scraped off with a blade 7 made of fluororesin provided at the upper part of the container 3.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, the above-mentioned conventional ink ribbon ink supply device utilizes only capillary phenomenon, and there is a problem that the ink 1 is not uniformly supplied into the holes 6 of the base material 5 by this capillary phenomenon alone. If transfer recording is performed using an ink ribbon that is not uniformly filled with ink, a problem arises in that good print quality cannot be obtained.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides an ink supply device that uniformly supplies ink into the pores of the base material forming the ink ribbon.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ink supply device of the present invention includes a container 12 containing liquid ink 11 made of a heat-fusible organic substance and a coloring agent, and a container 12 that is installed inside the container 12 and supplies the ink 11 while rotating. a rotating roller 13 that scrapes up the top;
The ink 11 is moved on the rotating roller and pressurized from both sides of the base material 15 provided with a large number of holes 14 of a predetermined shape, and the ink 11 is scraped up and adhered to the surface of the base material 15.
a pressurizing means 16 for filling the hole 14 with
and a means 17 for scraping off unnecessary ink 18 that is not filled in the inside of the base material 15 and has adhered to the surface of the base material 15.

[Function] The ink supply device of the present invention scrapes up molten ink onto the surface of the base material 15 having the holes 14, and places the base material 15 with the ink adhered to the surface of the base material 15 against the above-mentioned rotary lawn 13 facing thereto. Pressure roller 16 arranged with base material 15 in between
The ink is pressurized to fill the holes 14, and unnecessary ink 18 that is not filled in the holes 14 and is attached to the surface of the base material 15 is scraped off by the scraping means 17. can be filled uniformly and reliably into the holes 14.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, dye is placed in a stainless steel container 12.
Alternatively, a heat-melt ink 11 that is solid at room temperature is filled with a mixture of a pigment coloring agent and a heat-melt fat such as paraffin wax or carbana wax, and a heater (not shown) built in the container 12 is used. Therefore, the ink is melted and becomes liquid.

A metal rotating roller 13 whose surface is coated with fluororesin or the like is provided inside the container 12.
The high viscosity melted hot melt ink 11 is scraped up and reaches the second part of the rotating roller 13.

A pressure roller 16 is provided on the rotating roller 13, facing the rotating roller 13, rotating in the opposite direction to the rotating roller 13, and having a surface coated with fluororesin. A base material 15 made of a thin stainless steel plate having a thickness of 10 to 100 μm and having a number of holes 14 with a diameter of 1 to 100 μm in a predetermined pinch is conveyed between the pressure rollers 16 .

The ink 11 scraped by the rotating roller 13 adheres to one side of the base material 15, and the adhered ink 11 rotates facing the rotating roller 13.
The holes 1 are pressed by a pressure roller 16 whose surface is coated with fluororesin or silicone resin to reduce ink adhesion.
It is press-fitted into 4.

After this base material 15 is further conveyed, a fluororesin knife 17 provided on both sides of the base material 15 removes unnecessary substances that remain and adhere to the surface of the base material 15 without being filled into the holes 14. Ink I8 is scraped off and removed.

In this way, ink can be supplied to the base material 15 that forms an ink ribbon reliably and uniformly with a simple mechanism, and if this device is built into the printer, ink can be supplied to the ink ribbon after use. Ink ribbons can be used repeatedly, reducing printer running costs.

As another example, as shown in FIG. 2, the base material 15 is
Ink 1 is placed at a predetermined position apart along the moving direction of
are arranged opposite to each other so as to sandwich the base material 15 to which 1 is attached,
Pressure rollers 21, 22 are provided which rotate in opposite directions. After the ink 11 adhering to the surface of the base material 15 is press-fitted into the through hole 14 by the pressure rollers 21 and 22, unnecessary ink 18 adhering to the surface of the base material 15 without filling the through hole 14 Alternatively, the knife 17 may be used to scrape it off.

By doing this, compared to the first embodiment, the base material 15
Since the ink adhering to the top becomes semi-solid, it becomes easier to scrape off with the knife 17.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, as a base material used in the apparatus of the present invention, holes 32 are formed in the base material 21 like the illustrated base material 31.
It may not be provided through the.

In this example, a thin stainless steel plate was used as the base material, but
Organic materials such as polyimide resins that are resistant to heating may also be used. In addition, ink forming materials include hot-melt resins such as ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer,
V3 like the wax mentioned above! The meltable oil and fat and the heat-meltable resin may be used in combination.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the ink supply device of the present invention, ink can be uniformly supplied into the through holes of the base material of the ink ribbon with a simple mechanism, and this device can be built into the printer to apply the ink to the ink ribbon after transfer. Supplying ink has the effect of reducing printer running costs.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment of the ink supply device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a second embodiment of the ink supply device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the ink supply device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a state when the base material of another embodiment is used in the supply device, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional ink supply device. In the figure, 11 is an ink particle, 12 is a container, 13 is a rotating roller, 1
4.32 is a hole, 15.31 is a base material, 16.21.22 is a pressure roller, 17 is a knife, and 18 is an unnecessary ink. a! 1 Figure Not it et al.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A container (12) containing liquid thermofusible ink (11), and a rotating roller (13) installed in the container (12) and rotating to scrape up the ink (11). and moves on the rotating roller (13) to form a hole (1) of a predetermined shape.
A base material (15) on which a large number of
a pressurizing means (16) for filling the holes (14) with the ink (11) that has been scraped up and adhered to the surface of the base material (15); and a scraper for removing unnecessary ink (18) that has adhered to the base material (15). An ink supply device for an ink ribbon for thermal transfer recording, characterized in that it is equipped with a taking means (17). (2) The pressurizing means (16) is configured such that the rotating roller (13
2. The ink supply device for an ink ribbon for thermal transfer recording according to claim 1, characterized in that the ink supply device for an ink ribbon for thermal transfer recording is provided on the substrate (15) so as to be opposed to each other with the substrate (15) interposed therebetween. (3) The pressurizing means (16) is provided at a position apart from the rotating roller (13) along the conveyance direction of the base material (15) and facing each other with the base material (15) in between. An ink supply device for an ink ribbon for thermal transfer recording according to claim (1).