JPS63134264A - Thermal transfer serial printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continue a printing operation for a long time, by providing a ribbon cassette enclosing two thermal transfer ink ribbons, a thermal transfer printing head comprising heat generating elements at two stages, and two ribbon motors for feeding the ink ribbons. CONSTITUTION:A printing operation is performed by moving a carrier frame 1 in one direction (e.g., rightward) while pressing one of ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2 between a printing head 7 and a printing paper by the head 7. In this case, the ink ribbon 9-1 is fed by a ribbon motor 4-1. When printing in one line is finished, an end signal is generated, and the rightward printing operation stops. Then, the next printing operation is conducted in the other direction (leftward). Namely, while moving the carrier frame 1 leftward, heat generating elements 8-2 of the head 7 perform a printing operation by using the ink ribbon 9-2. In this case, the ink ribbon 9-2 is driven by a ribbon motor 4-2. Namely, continuous printing can be performed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] 15th summer The present invention relates to thermal transfer serial printers.

Various printers are widely used as output devices for computer systems used in the information processing field. Among these, printers that use a printing method that expresses character patterns using a dot matrix have become rapidly popular in recent years because they are more flexible than type printers when it comes to adding or changing printing types. In particular, thermal transfer serial printers have a simple structure, low noise, and are inexpensive, so demand is expanding for personal use such as terminal systems and personal computers.

However, such thermal transfer serial printers (
When trying to maintain good print quality in printers (hereinafter referred to as printers), there is a problem in that the running time of the ink ribbon becomes short.

That is, in such printers, the ink applied to the ribbon is applied to the printing paper by the heated bottle of the print head, so that part of the ink ribbon is devoid of ink. Therefore, the ink ribbon is driven by the ribbon motor so that the inked portion is always adjacent to the pin position of the print head.

Such in-ribbon is usually stored in a ribbon cassette and mounted on a printer carrier. The carrier is provided with a ribbon motor, and the ink ribbon of the attached ribbon cassette is wound from one spool to the other spool to print by thermal transfer.

The width of the ink ribbon is greater than the width of the print line, that is, the length of the heating element of the print head, and is usually used in one direction. That is, while the printer continues printing, the ink ribbon is wound from one spool to the other, leaving a leader portion of the ink ribbon behind.

When the ink ribbon is wound onto the other spool, the printer detects the ribbon end and stops printing. At this time, a new ribbon cassette is manually attached to the carrier and the printing operation is restarted. Furthermore, since it is unidirectionally printed, it takes time to print out.

As described above, conventional thermal transfer serial printers have disadvantages in that ink ribbons must be replaced frequently and it takes time to print out data from a host device for unidirectional printing.

1. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer serial printer that can continue printing operations for a longer period of time by reducing the frequency of replacing ribbon cassettes due to ribbon ends, and is capable of reciprocating printing. .

According to the present invention, there is provided a ribbon cassette containing two thermal transfer ink ribbons, a thermal transfer print head having heating elements configured in two stages at the same interval as the ink ribbons, and two ribbon motors for feeding each of the ink ribbons, and a printing operation in one direction is performed using a corresponding heating element while feeding one of the ink ribbons, and the printing operation in one direction is performed. When this is completed, a thermal transfer serial printer is obtained, which is characterized in that it prints in the other direction using the corresponding heating element while feeding the other ink ribbon.

1 Immediately above Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment of the present invention, a carrier frame 1 includes ink ribbons 9 (9-1 and 9-
It supports the holder 5 to which the ribbon cassettes 6 with the ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2 set in two stages (upper and lower) are mounted.
Ribbon motor 4 (4-1 and 4-
2). Further, the print head 7 has heating elements 8 (8-1 and 8-2) at positions corresponding to the positions of the ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2, respectively. Note that 2 indicates a guide and 3 indicates a support.

The operation of the printer configured as described above will be explained.

First, the ribbon cassette 6 in which two new ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2 are set one above the other is attached to the holder 5. Next, turn on the printer and insert the ink ribbon 9.
-1 and 9-2 are driven by the ribbon motors 4-1 and 4-2 to wind up the lead portions of the ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2, and the ink is inked until the ink-applied portions of the print head 7 are adjacent to each other. Feed ribbons 9-1 and 9-2. The above operation completes the start-up operation for printing, and the printer is ready to start printing at any time. That is, the ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2 are in a state where they can be adjacent to the heating elements 8-1 and 8-2 of the print head 7, respectively.

In the printing operation, the print head 7 presses one of the ink ribbons 9-1 and 9-2 between it and the print paper (not shown) while moving the carrier frame 1 in one direction (for example, rightward) along the print line. It is carried out by moving to.

During this rightward movement, the ribbon motor 4-1 feeds the ink ribbon 9-1 so that the surface coated with new ink is always adjacent to the print paper. When the rightward printing operation progresses and the ink ribbon 9-1 is simultaneously fed and one line is completed, an end signal is generated and the rightward printing operation is stopped.

When the print operation for one line in the right direction is completed and an end signal is generated, the print operation for the next line is started in the other direction (to the left).
It will be held in That is, while moving the carrier frame 1 to the left, the heating element 8-2 of the print head 7 performs a printing operation using the ink ribbon 9-2. At this time, the ink ribbon 9-2 is driven by the ribbon motor 4-2.

As explained above, in the present invention, continuous printing and back-and-forth printing are possible, so printing can be done in half the time compared to the conventional method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of the main parts of a thermal transfer serial printer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Explanation of symbols of main parts 4-1.4-2...Ribbon motor 6...
・Ribbon cassette 7...Print head

Claims (1)

[Claims] A ribbon cassette containing two thermal transfer ink ribbons,
A thermal transfer print head has a heat generating element configured in two stages at the same interval as the ink ribbons, and two ribbon motors that feed each of the two ink ribbons, and one of the ink ribbons. A printing operation is performed in one direction using the corresponding heating element while feeding, and when the printing operation in one direction is completed, printing is performed in the other direction using the corresponding heating element while feeding the other ink ribbon. A thermal transfer serial printer that performs printing.