JPH0319873A - Thermal transfer printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To clean the surface of a printing head by providing a printing head part with a head cleaning lever, and driving said lever every time one line or a plurality of lines are completely printed. CONSTITUTION:When a retraction solenoid 10 is released from driving after a line is printed, a printing head 11 together with a head base 14 is separated from a platen 12, and a carrier frame 5 is returned to the start position. When the head is to be cleaned, the carrier frame 5 is driven further to the side of a side frame 20 from the start position. Subsequently, a pushing lever 18 butts against the side frame 20 and slides to the left. Thus, a head cleaning lever is with the lever 18 cleans the surface of the printing head 11. Accordingly, the heat can be correctly transmitted to a film ribbon 1 from a heat generating body of the printing head 11.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] During printing, the present invention applies constant pressure to the print head and prints on the printing paper sandwiched between the platen and the print head via a heat-sensitive film ribbon. The present invention relates to head cleaning of a thermal transfer printing device.

[Conventional technology]

Thermal film ribbons used in thermal transfer printing devices use mylar film as the base layer, and ink is coated on one side.By applying voltage to the heating element arranged in the print head, the ink layer is melted by heat. Ink is transferred to printing paper to print characters, symbols, etc.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Conventionally, there was no mechanism to clean the surface of the heating element, so the ribbon layer generated during the manufacturing of the heat-sensitive film ribbon caused friction between the contact surface of the heating element and the heat-sensitive film ribbon, and the ribbon layer adhered to the surface of the heating element. Even when a voltage is applied, the heat generated by the heating element is not transferred to the heat-sensitive film ribbon, so printing cannot be performed normally.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the present invention, after one line or multiple lines of printing are completed and the print head returns to the start position (first printing position) with separation from the platen, when the print head is further moved toward the side frame side, the print head By abutting the spouting rod mounted on the side frame against the side frame, the surface of the heating element of the print head is swept away by the head cleaning lever, and the ribbon layer adhering to the surface of the heating element is removed. According to the present invention, in a thermal transfer printing device having a head retraction mechanism that moves the print head away from the platen when not printing and presses the print head against the platen during printing, a head cleaning lever is provided near the head and a protrusion that engages with the head cleaning lever is provided. By moving the carrier frame further from the start position (first printing position) toward the side frame each time one line or multiple lines of printing are completed, the ejector lever can be brought into contact with the side frame for cleaning. The lever can be actuated to clean the print surface and provide accurate heat transfer from the print head heating element to the film ribbon.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In Figures 1, 2, and 3, the film ribbon l
is housed in a ribbon cassette 4 which is integrated with a ribbon spool 2 on the take-up side and a ribbon spool 3 on the feed-out side. The ribbon cassette 4 is mounted on a carrier frame 5 and is scanned in the direction of the arrow by two carrier guide shafts 6 by a drive source (not shown). The carrier frame 5 includes a ribbon drive motor 7. A torque gear 8 and a torque bead 9 are attached to wind up the film ribbon 1 that is fed out by printing. The retraction lens 10 is located on the back side of the print head 11.
is pressed against the platen 12 to sandwich the film ribbon 1 and printing paper 13 during printing.

The print head 11 is fixed to a head base l4 that is guided by the carrier guide shaft 6, and rotates back and forth around the carrier guide shaft 6 by the drive of the retraction lens 10. A head cleaning lever l5 according to the present invention is supported on the base 14 by a center pin 16, and the engagement pin 17 is engaged with the elongated hole of the lever 18.

The ejecting lever 18 is guided by a guide groove of the head base l4, and is slidable left and right, and is normally positioned toward the side frame 20 by a return spring 19, as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be explained.

When printing starts and the print head 11 is pressed against the platen 12 by the drive of the retraction solenoid 10 and starts scanning in the right direction, a voltage is applied to the dot rows on the surface of the print head 11, and the ink layer of the film ribbon 1 is heated due to heat generation. is melted and the characters or symbols are transferred to the printing paper l3. A used film ribbon 1 is wound up by a ribbon drive motor 7 via a torque gear 8 and a torque bead 9.

When one line of printing is completed and the drive of the traction solenoid 10 is released, the printing head 11 rotates counterclockwise together with the head base 14 about the carrier guide shaft 6 and leaves the platen 12. Here, a drive source (not shown) moves the carrier frame 5 to the start position (
The printer returns to the first printing position) and prepares to print the next line. Normally, multiple lines of printing are performed by repeating the above operation, but when performing head cleaning, by driving the carrier frame 5 further toward the side frame 20 from the star 1 position, the ejecting lever l8 is moved to the side frame 20. Slide to the left at the hit point.

The head cleaning lever 15 engaged with the ejecting lever 18 rotates clockwise about the center bin 16 as a fulcrum.
Clean the surface of print head l1.

A cleaning brush is embedded in the surface of the head cleaning repper 15, and the print head 11 is cleaned by sweeping the surface thereof. When the head cleaning is completed and the carrier frame 5 moves away from the side frame 20, the ejecting lever 18 is moved by the return spring 19.
slides to the right and returns to its initial state, and at the same time, the head cleaning lever 15 also returns to its initial state.

By performing the above operations every time one line or multiple lines are printed, the surface of the print head is always kept clean, and the heat from the heating element of the print head 11 is accurately transferred to the film ribbon 1, resulting in a clean image without missing dots. Can print.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a head cleaning lever in the print head portion of a thermal transfer printing device, and operates the head cleaning lever every time one line or multiple lines are printed to clean the print head surface and improve heat transfer from the heating element. It has a precise effect on the film ribbon.

Bin, 18...Extrusion lever turn spring.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a thermal transfer printing device that has a head retraction mechanism that moves the print head away from the platen when not printing and presses the print head against the platen when printing, a head cleaning lever is provided near the print head.
A thermal transfer printing device further comprising a head cleaning mechanism having an ejecting lever engaged with the head cleaning lever.