JPS6280094A - Thermal printer and printing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-quality printing to be performed even when using a rough paper, by providing a thermal transfer medium for a recording paper, the medium being constituted of an overcoat layer having a low melting point, an ink layer comprising a binder having a melting point higher than that of the overcoat layer and a coloring agent, and a base layer. CONSTITUTION:An overcoat layer 21 comprises a wax having a melting point of not more than 100 deg.C, and an ink layer comprises a binder having a melting point (120 deg.C or above) higher than that of the overcoat layer 21 and a coloring agent. A base layer 23 to be supplied with printing energy consists of a plastic film. In printing, the energy consists of a plastic film. In printing, the overcoat layer 21 of a printing ribbon 6 is opposed to a recording paper 1a, and low printing energy is applied to a thermal head 4, whereby the overcoat layer 21 is transferred onto then recording paper 1a. Even in the case of a rough paper, only that part to which the overcoat layer 21 is transferred is made smooth. Then, the ribbon 6 is opposed to the recording paper 1a with the overcoat layer 21 transferred thereto, and high energy is applied to the head 4, whereby the ink layer 22 is melted, and is transferred onto the smooth overcoat layer 21 on the recording paper 1a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermal printer and a printing method thereof, and in particular to a thermal printer and a printer that can perform high-quality printing well even on recording paper with a rough surface. Regarding the printing method.

[Background of the Invention 11] In general, a thermal printer has a thermal transfer medium, that is, an ink ribbon, having a coloring agent made of a heat-melting material placed between a recording paper and a thermal head, and a plurality of heat generating units provided in the thermal head. By heating the element, the coloring agent of the ink ribbon is melted, thereby transferring or printing the desired characters, number 2, etc. onto the recording paper, and compared to other types of printers, there is no tapping noise etc. when recording. This has the advantage that printing can be performed without producing any noise.

However, the conventional ink ribbon equipped with this thermal printer does not have an overcoat layer formed thereon, but simply heats and melts the ink layer to transfer and print onto the recording paper, so the surface smoothness of the recording paper is affected. Beck's smoothness is 4
When recording on rough paper (hereinafter referred to as rough paper) for 0 to 50 seconds or less, there are problems such as the ink layer not being completely transferred, resulting in cuts, chips, etc., or the inability to print at all. Ta.

[Objective of the Invention 1 The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional printing method, and its object is to provide a thermal printer capable of printing with high quality even when using rough paper, and its purpose. The purpose is to provide a printing method.

[Summary of Fl Light] In order to achieve this object, the thermal printer of the present invention interposes a thermal transfer medium having a colorant between the recording paper and the thermal head, and transfers the sensitivity according to the printing energy of the thermal head. In a device that performs printing by transferring a colorant from a thermal transfer medium to recording paper, the above-mentioned thermal transfer medium is provided so as to be able to face the recording paper, and is connected to an overcoat layer having a low melting point and this A-barcode layer. an ink layer having a binder and a colorant having a melting point higher than the melting point of the overcoat layer;
The structure includes a base layer to which printing energy f1 is applied.

Further, in the printing method of the present invention carried out in the above-mentioned thermal printer, high printing energy and low energy are set in advance, and first, low printing energy is applied to the thermal transfer medium, and the overcoat layer is transferred to the recording paper. The ink layer is transferred and recorded on the overcoat 1 by applying higher printing energy to the thermal transfer medium.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Hereinafter, a thermal printer and a printing method thereof according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the thermal printer of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and (b) are side views showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. be. In Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 (a>, (b)), 1 is a platen, 2
1 is a platen rubber that defines the printing position, and 1a is a recording paper wound around the platen 1 and the platen rubber 2. 3 is a paper guide that guides the recording paper 1a along the platen rubber 2 of the platen 1; 4 is a thermal head that is arranged so as to be able to face the platen rubber 2 and has a plurality of heating elements;
Reference numeral 5 denotes a carriage on which this thermal head is mounted and which is movable along the platen 1 in the left-right direction in FIG. 6 is a thermal transfer medium (to be described later) having a colorant, which is interposed between the thermal head 4 and the recording paper 1a, that is, a printing ribbon; 7 is a ribbon in which this printing ribbon 6 is accommodated and which is attached to the above-mentioned carriage 5. It's a cassette.

A carriage holder 8 movably holds the carriage 5 and is rotatably provided with respect to the platen 1. As shown in FIG. 2(a), the carriage holder 8 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. biased in the direction.

A bottle 10 is provided on the platen 1 side of the carriage holder 8, and a cam 11 is engaged with the bottle 10.

Further, 13 shown in FIG. 1 is a drive source, that is, a pulse motor, 15 is a gear group that transmits the rotational force of the pulse motor 13, and 16 is a gear group that transmits the rotational force from the pulse motor 13 via the gear group to the carriage 5. Mobile li structure and recording paper 1a
This is a clutch mechanism that selectively transmits information to the paper feed shaft 140 rotation mechanism.

The cam 11 shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) is movable in the left-right direction in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) as the pulse motor 13 rotates.

Next, the schematic structure of the printing ribbon 6 mentioned above will be explained with reference to an enlarged side view of the main parts shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 is an overcoat layer which is provided so as to be able to face the recording paper 1a, and which has a melting point of, for example, 100° C. or lower, and is made of, for example, wax with a thickness of 1 to 10 μm, and is almost transparent. There is. 22 is connected to the overcoat layer 1 and 21, and has a binder and a colorant such as carbon black, which have a melting point higher than that of the overcoat layer 21, for example, 120° C. or more, and has a thickness of, for example, 1 to 5 μm. This is the ink layer. The ratio of the binder to the colorant in this ink layer 22 is set to a predetermined ratio such that, for example, the amount of the n colorant is larger than that of the colorant. A base layer 23 is connected to the inks 11 and 22 and to which printing energy is applied, and is made of, for example, a plastic film with a thickness of 3 to 12 μm.

Next, an embodiment of the printing method in the above-mentioned thermal printer will be described with reference to FIGS. 4(a), (b), and (C). 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a printing operation performed in the thermal printer shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, the pulse motor 13 is driven, the gear group 15 and the clutch mechanism 16 are driven to rotate the single paper feed shaft 14 and set the recording paper 1a at the printing position. At this time, as shown in FIG. 2(b), the pin 10 provided on the carriage holder 8 is pushed against the cam 1 against the force of the slope 9.
1, thereby keeping the thermal head 4 separated from the platen rubber 2.

When the pulse motor 13 is driven from this state, 6
The cam 11 moves to the left in FIG. 2(b) via the ig vehicle group 15, and as a result, as shown in FIG. 2(a),
The bottle 10 comes to engage the lower part of the cam 11, and the force of the spring 9 causes the key 1! The ridge holder 8 rotates counterclockwise in the figure, and the thermal head 4 comes into contact with the platen rubber 2 with the print ribbon 6 in between, and is ready for transfer to the recording paper 1a, that is, a printing operation. When a printing operation is performed in this preparation state, as shown in FIG. 4(a), the overcoat layer 21 of the stamp ribbon 6 is
It is arranged so as to oppose i1a. and pre-set low printing energy e.g. about 20~35mj
By applying printing energy of /mm2 to the thermal head 4, the overcoat layer is transferred onto the recording paper 1a. As a result, even in rough paper, only the portion to which the overcoat layer has been transferred has smoothness.

Next, the printing ribbon 6 is placed so as to oppose the recording paper 1a onto which this overcoat layer has been transferred, and a preset high energy, for example 45 to 55 mj/mm, is applied.
By applying printing energy of 2 to the thermal head 4, the ink M22 is melted and transferred onto the overcoat layer. At this time, since the surface of the overcoat layer is smooth, the ink layer is also transferred uniformly, and since the ink hardly permeates into the recording paper 1a, a recording with clear printing edges can be obtained.

Furthermore, if a thermal head in which two heating elements are formed as shown in FIG. 5 is used as another embodiment, it becomes possible to further increase the speed. In the figure, the direction toward the arrow is the printing direction. First, low printing energy is applied to the heating element 4a to transfer the overcoat layer to the recording paper, and then high energy is applied to the next heating element 4b to transfer the ink layer, thereby moving the kill ridge in one direction only. Since printing can be done with At this time, it is better to always apply energy to the heating element 4a in order to completely transfer the overcoat layer to the printing area. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 6, by making the area of the heating element 4a larger than that of 4b, the outline of the printed dot becomes clearer, and higher quality printing can be achieved. Since it has the above-mentioned structure, even if rough paper is used, the overcoat layer provides smoothness in advance, and the ink layer is transferred and printed on top of it, so the high-quality stamp 1 is used. It provides a remarkable effect of being able to perform.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the thermal printer of the present invention, FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) are operation diagrams showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. The figure is an enlarged side view of the main part showing the schematic structure of the thermal transfer medium provided in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating a printing operation to be performed, and are configuration diagrams of heating elements of a thermal head used in other embodiments. 1... Platen 2... Platen rubber 3... Paper guide 4... Thermal head 5... Carriage 6... Print ribbon 7... Ribbon cassette 8... Carriage holder 9... Spring 10...Bin 11...Cam 13...Pulse motor 14...Paper feed shaft 15...Gear group 16...Clutch mechanism 21...Overcoat layer 22...Ink layer 23 ...Base layer Fig. 2 (b) rp

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A thermal method in which a thermal transfer medium containing a colorant is interposed between the recording paper and the thermal head, and the colorant of the thermal transfer medium is transferred to the recording paper according to the printing energy of the thermal head to perform printing. In the printer, the thermal transfer medium is provided facing the recording paper, and includes an overcoat layer having a low melting point, and a binder continuous to the overcoat layer and having a melting point higher than the melting point of the overcoat layer. , an ink layer having a colorant, and a base layer connected to the ink layer and to which the printing energy is applied. (2) A thermal transfer recording medium containing a colorant is interposed between the recording paper and the thermal head, and the colorant of the thermal transfer medium is transferred to the recording paper according to the printing energy of the thermal head for printing. The thermal transfer medium is provided so as to be able to face the recording paper, and includes an overcoat layer having a low melting point, and an overcoat layer continuous with the overcoat layer and having a melting point higher than that of the overcoat. A printing method for a thermal printer comprising: a binder having a binder having a colorant; an ink layer having a coloring material; and a base layer connected to the ink layer and to which the printing energy is applied; is applied to the thermal transfer medium to transfer the overcoat layer onto the recording paper, and then a lower printing energy is applied to the thermal transfer medium to transfer the overcoat layer onto the recording paper. A printing method using a thermal printer characterized by transfer recording.