JPS63145074A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain an ink ribbon in the best run condition and also high printing quality by constituting the title device with a ribbon take-up mechanism which winds a ribbon by almost 1/n (n represents an integer of at least 2, ribbon winding ratio) against the printing length of a single line after completion of printing a single line, and a selection mechanism which selects in steps the elevations for printing of an ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:In a process (a), a printing head is raised after completion of printing, and paper feed and ribbon winding are performed. If a ribbon winding ratio is set as (n) against the printing length (L) of a single line, the ribbon winding amount will be equivalent to L/n. In addition, the position of the ribbon is selected at the same time as the ribbon is wound up. Consequently, in a process (b), the ink ribbon winding amount is equivalent to 1/n of the printing length of a single line (an amount of movement of a carriage by a single line). The frequency of using an ink ribbon for printing in the process (b) is not higher than that in the process (a), because the position of the ribbon has moved by the height of a single character with a thermal head. Consequently, the frequency of mixed use of the ink ribbon for printing on a recording paper in a single line is equivalent to 1/2 of the frequency at the time when printing is performed in a single step. Thus high speed printing becomes possible in an excellent transfer printing quality.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing device that performs transfer recording by pressing a transfer ink ribbon onto a recording paper using a thermal head or a current-carrying head.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of transfer printing devices capable of recording and printing on plain paper using Japanese word processors and the like. In particular, the thermal transfer method is a technological extension of the conventional thermal coloring method.
It is sufficient to simply add a winding mechanism for the thermal transfer ink ribbon to the structure of the thermal type, and it is becoming widespread.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a conventional transfer type printing device as described above, particularly a thermal transfer type printing device, will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a conventional thermal transfer printing device of this type. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a platen, and a recording paper 2 is pressed against the platen 1 by a paper pressing roller (not shown). A carriage 3 is guided by a guide shaft 4 and reciprocates in a direction X perpendicular to a direction Y in which the recording paper 2 moves. Reference numeral 5 denotes a timing belt for reciprocating the carriage, which is wound around a driving pulley 6 and a driven pulley 7 provided near both ends of movement, and a portion of the belt is locked to the carriage 3. 8
is a motor that drives the timing belt 5 via the drive pulley 6. Reference numeral 9 denotes a thermal head disposed on the carriage 3 so as to be movable with respect to the platen 1. 10
The carriage 3 is placed between the recording paper 2 and the thermal head 9.
This is a one-time ink ribbon that is stretched over a moving range. Reference numeral 11 denotes a peeling reel for peeling off the ink ribbon 10 from the recording paper 2 after printing by the force of the reciprocating movement of the carriage. 13 is a take-up reel for winding up the ink ribbon 10 after printing, and 14 is a supply reel around which the ink ribbon 10 is wound when being supplied.

The ink ribbon 10 is secured to a supply reel 14 on the supply side and a take-up reel 13 on the take-up side via guide reels 12 provided near both ends of the carriage and a reel 11 on the carriage, so that it can be wound up. It is set up on.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, in such a conventional configuration, the ink ribbon 10
can perform thermal transfer recording only once, so in order to perform thermal transfer recording each time the carriage 3 moves back and forth, the carriage 3 must be temporarily stopped and the take-up reel 13 must be stopped after each of the forward and backward movements of the carriage 3 is completed. The used ink ribbon 10 was rotated in the direction of arrow CW to wind up one line and update one line. Therefore, it was necessary to wind up the ink ribbon 10 by the length of one line for each printing line. Here, the thickness of the ink ribbon 10 ranges from several microns to 10 microns at the thickest.
around μ, and in order to ensure the winding operation,
It took quite a long time to wind up. For example, in case of A, the recording length of the vertical size, it takes about 2 seconds, and although the configuration is capable of bidirectional printing, there is a drawback that the recording speed cannot be increased as a result. Also, the length of the line,
Since it is necessary to wind the entire tape, there are drawbacks such as a lack of reliability in the winding operation, poor tape running, and poor recording quality. Furthermore, since thermal transfer recording can be performed only once, an ink ribbon length equal to the number of recordings j'T is required, and there is a drawback that the ink ribbon must be replaced frequently.

The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks and provides a transfer recording printing device that is capable of bidirectional printing, high-speed printing, excellent ink ribbon running performance, ensuring high printing quality, and excellent handling. be.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve this object, the present invention uses a multi-strike (printing multiple times) transfer ink ribbon as a transfer ink ribbon, and - after finishing printing for a line - the print length for a line A ribbon winding mechanism that winds the ribbon at approximately 1/n (n is an integer of 2 or more: ribbon take-up ratio), and a switching mechanism that changes the printing position height of the ink ribbon with respect to the print head in stages. configured.

Effect: This configuration reduces the winding time and winding length of the ink ribbon to 1/n. In addition, the difference in print density due to the difference in the number of times of use that appears in one line of the multi-strike transfer ink ribbon is the value obtained by dividing the ribbon winding ratio n by the number of steps at which the print position height of the ink ribbon is switched (rounded up to the nearest whole number)
is essentially the number of times it appears in one line, so it is possible to keep the density difference to a very small level.

Example Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of main parts in an embodiment of the present invention.

Components that are the same as those in FIG. 1 of the conventional example are given the same reference numerals, and redundant explanation thereof will be omitted. In FIG. 1, between the recording paper 2 and the thermal head 9, a multi-strike transfer ink ribbon (hereinafter simply referred to as ink ribbon) 21, which can perform transfer recording many times without replenishing ink, is installed on a reel 23.
24 so that it can be wound up. reel 23
24 rotate in the same direction and wind up the ink ribbon by l/n (n: ribbon winding ratio) of one line printing length when the carriage 3 reciprocates one line. Also, the reels 23 and 24 can be rotated in reverse, and the supply reel can be up to 8! Near the end, the reel 23, 24 reverses its winding direction. Thereafter, the winding direction is sequentially changed. 22 is the ink ribbon 2
This is a ribbon position switching mechanism that supports the ribbon 1 and reels 23 and 24 and moves the ribbon position in steps in the character height direction with respect to the thermal head 9.

The operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained using the main timing chart of FIG. 2 and the ink ribbon of FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart of the main parts in an embodiment of the present invention. In the step (A) in FIG. When feeding and ribbon winding is performed, the ribbon winding amount is L /
It is n. Also, the ribbon position is changed at the same time as the ribbon is wound up. Therefore, in the process (b) in the figure, the ink ribbon winding is 1/H of the printing length of one line (carriage - line movement distance).
However, since the ribbon position has moved by one character height relative to the thermal head, in the step (b), the ribbon position is moved by one character height.
The number of mixed uses of the ink ribbon that appears in one line of the ink ribbon printed on the recording paper without exceeding the number of uses of the ink ribbon due to printing in the printing process is 2 in the case of one stage. It is obvious that this becomes smaller as the number of stages relative to the ink ribbon width increases.

Next, in the process of (c) in the figure, the position of the ink ribbon with respect to the thermal head is again the same as in (a).Next, the multi-strike is printed along the timing chart shown in Figure 2. A diagram showing the positional relationship between the number of recordings of the transfer ink ribbon 21 and the thermal head 9 is shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows a case where the ribbon winding ratio n is 4 and the number of ribbon switching stages is 2. Figure 3 (al.
11 to (61 correspond to (11 to (61) in FIG. 3 (bl). In FIG. ' or one line printing length. As shown in Figure 3 (bl), the position of the thermal head 9 is located at the b step shown at +11 with respect to the ink ribbon 21. The part with the middle hunting is the part that has been transferred and recorded when viewed from the ink ribbon 21, and the number written inside the hunting indicates the number of times of recording.In (1), the number of times of recording is one.Next In (2), the fi+ ink ribbon 21 is wound up by L/n (n=4 in the explanation) in the X direction.
1 is simultaneously lowered in the X direction, and the printing position is switched to the C step section.

Therefore, even if the ribbon is wound up at L/n, the number of times the printed surface is recorded is one. Similarly, ribbon winding L/n is performed and the ribbon position is switched to y', resulting in (3) in the figure. In this case, the number of recording times is 2 and 1 on the printed surface, but
This is halved compared to the conventional case.

In the state (3), the printing position has returned to stage b. The same operation is repeated and the number of recordings that appear on the print surface is n/
2 (in the case of two-stage position switching in this description), good printing with very little difference in printing density can be obtained, and the winding time is 1/n of that of the conventional method, making high-speed printing possible.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the winding length of the ink ribbon is 1/n (n: winding ratio), so the winding time of the ink ribbon is also 1/n of the conventional length, which is shorter than the conventional method. This allows high-speed printing to be achieved, and also eliminates various problems that occur when winding the ink ribbon, such as the ribbon not being wound up sufficiently due to unstable running, and wrinkles or double folds in the ribbon that may cause the print head to fail. This can solve the problem of not being able to transfer the image sufficiently. In addition, the ink ribbon position relative to the print head is changed every - line printing, and the ink ribbon winding is set to 1/n (n:
The number of times the ink ribbon appears in the - line is the value obtained by dividing the ink ribbon take-up ratio n by the number of ink ribbon printing position changes (rounded up to the nearest whole number). Therefore, the difference in printing 4 degrees that appears in one line is much smaller than in the past, and high printing quality can be ensured.

Also, the winding length of the ink ribbon is -line printing length.

Since the ratio is 1/n (n: winding ratio) and printing is performed in multiple stages, the frequency of ink ribbon crossing FA is much lower than in the past, and transfer printing is extremely easy to handle.
can be provided.

In the above embodiment, an ink ribbon having a length of at least one line is stretched through a reel, but an ink ribbon stored in a cassette may also be used.

In addition, if the ink ribbon winding ratio n is selected as an integer multiple of the number of switching stages of the ink ribbon printing position height, the number of multiplications (recording times) of the ink ribbon that appears in one line relative to the winding length is most efficient. Needless to say, it can be used well.

Further, in the embodiment, 9 is a thermal head, but it goes without saying that this may also be a current-carrying head used in current-carrying transfer.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention uses a multi-strike (printing multiple times) transfer ribbon as an ink ribbon, and the winding amount of the ink ribbon after printing is 1/n (n: j
! I take-up ratio), and because the structure is such that the ink ribbon position relative to the print head is changed at the same time as winding,
It is possible to provide a printing device that is capable of high-speed printing and has excellent transfer printing quality, and it is also possible to realize a transfer printing device that is extremely easy to handle and requires less frequent replacement of the transfer ink ribbon, which has great effects. .

[BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of the main parts in an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a timing chart of the main parts shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 +a
+ is a schematic diagram showing the number of recordings on the ink ribbon printing surface shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 (bl is a diagram showing the positional relationship between the ink ribbon and the thermal head, and Figures 4U and J are the configuration of a conventional thermal transfer printing device) 3... Carriage, 9... Thermal head, 21... Multi-strike transfer ink ribbon, 22... Ribbon position switching mechanism, 23.
24...Reel. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1 person) Figure 1? Recording paper Figure 2 Figure 3 (ω <b> Figure 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a printing device that uses a multi-strike transfer ink ribbon as a transfer ink ribbon and winds up the ink ribbon after printing, the ink ribbon is printed against the print head every time one line of printing is completed. A ribbon position switching mechanism that changes the position height in stages, and a ribbon winding mechanism that winds the ribbon to a length of approximately 1/n (n is an integer of 2 or more) relative to the printing length of one line. Printing device equipped with (2) The printing device according to claim 1, wherein n is configured to be an integral multiple of the number of switching stages of the printing position height of the ink ribbon.