JPH10337911A - Two-color printer and two-color label - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a two-color printer suitable for small lot variety printing in which the color can be changed easily while reducing the running cost. SOLUTION: The two-color printer 10 has a housing 12. A continuous label 100 is fed out from a holding reel 14 and carried to a first printing station 16. The first printing station 16 is provided with a thermal head 18 performing thermal coloring printing on the surface of the label. A second print station 28 is disposed in the downstream of the first printing station 16. The second print station 28 is provided with a reel 30 for holding a thermal transfer ribbon 150. A thermal head 32 for pressing the thermal transfer ribbon 150 against the label for the purpose of thermal transfer printing is formed in the downstream of the holding reel 30. The thermal transfer ribbon 150 is rolled round a take-up reel 38.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a two-color printer and a two-color label, and more particularly, to a two-color printer having a plurality of printing means for printing objects such as characters, figures, and symbols, and characters, figures, and characters on the surface. The present invention relates to a two-color label in which objects such as symbols are printed in different colors.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional two-color printer as a background of the present invention, there is a printer having two thermal heads for heating a heat-sensitive coloring layer to form a color. The heat-sensitive coloring layer of the material to be printed applied to this apparatus is formed so that the color to be formed differs depending on the amount of heat applied by the thermal head. Therefore, by appropriately operating the two thermal heads, it is possible to obtain a two-color label having characters, figures and symbols of different colors printed on the surface. As another conventional two-color printer,
Some have two sets of thermal transfer devices. Each of the two thermal transfer devices heats and melts a part of the thermal transfer ribbon and transfers it to a printing material to form characters, figures, symbols, and the like on the printing material. Therefore, if the two thermal transfer ribbons are of different colors, different colored characters will appear on the surface,
It is possible to obtain a printed two-color label such as a figure or a symbol.

[0003]

However, in a two-color printer of the thermosensitive coloring system for both colors, the color cannot be changed because the thermosensitive coloring layer is formed integrally with the base material. Further, such a heat-sensitive two-color developing method is inferior to the heat-sensitive transfer method in terms of color clarity. On the other hand, in a two-color printer having two sets of thermal transfer devices, it is easy to change the color by exchanging the thermal transfer ribbon, but the device becomes large and complicated, and the running cost increases. There is an inconvenience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, a main object of the present invention is to provide a two-color printer which is suitable for printing various kinds of small lots, can easily change colors, and can reduce running costs. It is another object of the present invention to provide a two-color label that has good appearance and low cost.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A two-color printer according to the present invention comprises a transfer means for transferring a printing material having a thermosensitive coloring layer, and characters, graphics and symbols on the surface of the printing material transferred by the transfer means. A first printing means for printing a material, etc., and a different character, figure, symbol, etc., provided on the transfer path of the printing material and having a different color from the printing by the first printing means, on the surface of the printing material. And second printing means for performing
A color printer, wherein the first printing means includes a thermal head provided in contact with the surface of the material to be printed and for heating only a portion to be printed to color the thermosensitive coloring layer; Is a ribbon transfer unit for transferring the thermal transfer ribbon, and the thermal transfer ribbon transferred to the transfer position by the ribbon transfer unit is sandwiched between the transfer member and the material to be printed, and is brought into contact with the material to be printed. And a separate thermal head for heating and melting only a portion of the thermal transfer ribbon and transferring the ribbon to a material to be printed. In this two-color printer, characters, figures, symbols, and the like are printed on a print-receiving material by a first printing means of a thermosensitive coloring method. Further, characters, figures, symbols, and the like are printed by the second printing means of the thermal transfer system in a color different from the printing by the first printing means. First and second
Are separately provided, so that characters and the like of different colors can be printed on the material to be printed, and can also be printed over the same portion. In this two-color printer, the color of printing can be easily changed by replacing the thermal transfer ribbon by the second printing means. Further, according to the thermal transfer method, clear printing can be obtained as compared with the thermal two-color developing method. Further, in this two-color printer, since only one set of thermal transfer ribbon is required, the running cost of the apparatus can be reduced. Further, since the thermal color printing by the first printing means and the thermal transfer printing by the second printing means have different impressions to the viewer, it is easy to give a contrast. Therefore, according to the two-color printer, it is possible to obtain a good-looking two-color label.

The two-color label according to the present invention includes a base material, a thermosensitive coloring layer formed on the base material, and a transfer layer formed on the thermosensitive coloring layer by thermal transfer from a thermal transfer ribbon. , Two-color label. In this two-color label, a thermosensitive coloring layer is formed on a substrate, but these are inseparable. On the other hand, the transfer layer formed on the heat-sensitive coloring layer is formed by heat transfer from the heat-sensitive transfer ribbon,
Another color print can be formed on the thermosensitive coloring layer.
It is easy to change the print color by replacing the thermal transfer ribbon. According to this configuration, the color can be easily changed, and a two-color label can be obtained at a lower cost than the conventional one. Further, since the thermal color printing and the thermal transfer printing have different impressions to the viewer, it is easy to give a contrast. Therefore, according to the present invention, a good-looking two-color label can be obtained.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing one example of a two-color printer according to the present invention. The two-color printer 10 shown in FIG. The housing 12 houses a holding reel 14 for winding and holding the label continuous body 100 in a roll shape. The holding reel 14 is rotatably supported by the housing 12. The label continuum 100 is pulled out from the holding reel 14 and sequentially transferred. FIG. 2 is a plan view and a side view of the label continuum 100. The label continuum 100 includes a long strip-shaped support member 102 made of, for example, plastic. A release agent layer 104 coated with silicone or the like is formed on the surface of the support material 102, and a label 106 is temporarily and continuously attached thereon. The configuration of the label 106 will be described later.

The label continuous body 100 pulled out from the holding reel 14 is transferred to the first printing station 16 as first printing means in the housing 12. The first printing station 16 prints characters,
This is for printing a figure or a symbol or a combination thereof by, for example, black in a thermosensitive coloring system. The first printing station 16 has a thermal head 18 for heating the thermosensitive coloring layer 112 on the surface of the label 106 to print characters and the like. The tip of the thermal head 18 comes into contact with the surface of the label 106, and the label
It is formed so as to be pressed in the thickness direction of 0. In addition, a platen roller 20 is provided on the back surface of the label continuum 100 facing the tip of the thermal head 18, and the label continuum 100 is sandwiched between the heat generating portion at the tip of the thermal head 18 and the platen roller 20. You. The platen roller 20 is connected to a drive motor 22 via a pulley or a transmission belt, and is forcibly rotated. The continuous label body 100 is transferred by the rotation of the platen roller 20. That is, the platen roller 20 and the drive motor 22 constitute a transfer unit in this embodiment.

The first printing station 16 includes a label detection sensor. The label detection sensor is for detecting the front end of the label 106 in the transport direction in order to synchronize transport and printing. This label detection sensor is provided near the thermal head 18 on the upstream side in the transport direction. In this case, the label detecting sensor emits light toward the label continuum 100 and
A reflected light sensor 24a that detects a change in reflected light due to the eye mark 120 printed on the back surface of the “0” in advance is used. However, when using the label continuum 100 on which the eye mark 120 is not printed, the transmitted light sensor 24b that detects a change in transmitted light due to the presence or absence of the label 106
However, while the label continuum 100 is interposed therebetween, the reflected light sensor 4
2a. In this case, the light emitted from the reflected light sensor 24a is arranged so as to pass through the label continuum 100 in the thickness direction and enter the transmitted light sensor 24b.

Further, a second printing station 28 as a second printing means is provided downstream of the first printing station 16 in the transport direction of the label continuous body 100.
The second printing station 28 is for printing characters, graphics or symbols or a combination thereof on the surface of the label 106 on the label continuum 100 being transferred, for example, in red by a thermal transfer method. The second printing station 28 has a ribbon holding reel 30 for winding and holding the thermal transfer ribbon 150 in a roll shape. The thermal transfer ribbon 150 is transferred from the ribbon holding reel 30 to the label 10.
6 is pulled up.

The second printing station 28 has a thermal head 32 for heating the thermal transfer ribbon 150 to transfer characters and the like to the surface of the label 106. The heat generating portion of the thermal head 32 contacts the surface of the label 106 while sandwiching the thermal transfer ribbon 150 therebetween, and presses the thermal transfer ribbon 150 in the thickness direction of the label continuous body 100 at a predetermined pressure.
Is formed to press. Further, a platen roller 34 is provided on the back surface of the label continuous body 100 facing the heat generating portion at the tip of the thermal head 32. The label continuous body 100 and the thermal transfer ribbon 150 Sandwiched between.
This sandwiched portion becomes the transfer position. The platen roller 34 is driven by a drive motor 4 via a pulley or a transmission belt.
6 and forcedly rotated. Platen roller 3
By the rotation of 4, the label continuum 100 is transferred. That is, the platen roller 34 and the drive motor 46
Also constitute the transfer means in this embodiment.

Further, the second printing station 28
Take-up reel 38 for taking up thermal transfer ribbon 150
including. The take-up reel 38 is connected to a drive motor 40 via a pulley or a transmission belt, and is forcibly rotated in synchronization with the transfer of the label continuum 100 and the printing of the thermal head 32 to take up the thermal transfer ribbon 150.

The second printing station 28 includes a label detection sensor. The label detection sensor is for detecting the front end of the label 106 in the transport direction in order to synchronize transport and printing. This label detection sensor is provided near the thermal head 32 and upstream in the transport direction. In this case, as the label detection sensor, a reflected light sensor 42 for detecting a change in reflected light due to the eye mark 120 printed on the back surface of the label continuum 100 in advance.
a is used. However, when the label continuum 100 on which the eye mark 120 is not printed is used, the transmitted light sensor 42b that detects a change in transmitted light due to the presence or absence of the label 106 is reflected light while the label continuity 100 is interposed therebetween. It is provided to face the sensor 42a. In this case,
The light emitted from the reflected light sensor 42a is the label continuum 1
00 is transmitted in the thickness direction and is incident on the transmitted light sensor 42b.

The label continuous body 100 that has passed through the second printing station 28 is sent out of the housing 12. The user can use the label 10 temporarily attached to the surface of the label continuous body 100.
6 is used by peeling it off and attaching it to the product. In addition,
Although not shown, a guide roller or the like may be appropriately provided in the transfer path of the label continuous body 100 to change the transfer direction.

The two-color printer 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a power supply device 50 and a control circuit 52. Power supply 50
Is for supplying power to each of the above-described devices, and conventionally known devices can be used. The control circuit 52
Is for forming the desired two-color label by controlling each of the above-described devices in accordance with a preset program. The operation according to the present invention is applied to those conventionally used for this type of device. Used by programming to

Next, the label continuum 100 and the label 106 will be described with reference to FIGS. It should be noted that the thickness of each layer shown in FIG. 3 is exaggerated for easy understanding of the description, and is different from the actual thickness ratio. The label continuum 100 includes a support 102 made of a long strip of paper or synthetic resin. On the surface of the support material 102, a release agent layer 104 formed by applying, for example, silicone or the like is formed. A label 106 is temporarily attached on the release agent layer 104. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the plurality of labels 106 are spaced apart from each other by a certain distance (label gap).
Are temporarily and intermittently attached in the longitudinal direction.

The label 106 includes a substrate 108. The substrate 108 is formed from paper or a plastic film or sheet such as polyethylene terephthalate. An adhesive layer 110 for attaching the label 106 is formed on the entire back surface of the substrate 108. Adhesive layer 1
As the pressure-sensitive adhesive for forming 10, a known one such as an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive is used.

On the entire surface of the base material 108, a heat-sensitive coloring layer 112 that develops a black color when heated, for example, is formed. By heating only a necessary portion of the heat-sensitive coloring layer 112 to form a color, characters and the like can be expressed on the surface of the label 106. The heat-sensitive coloring layer 112 is formed by applying a material obtained by dispersing a color former, a color developer, and the like in a binder on a substrate and drying the substrate. As the color former, for example, those known as thermosensitive color developing materials such as triallylmethane dye, diphenylmethane dye, thiazine dye, spiro dye, lactam dye and fluoran dye are used. As the developer, a known inorganic acidic substance in combination with the selected thermosensitive coloring material,
Those such as phenolic compounds are used. Further, as the binder, a known binder such as polyvinyl alcohol, methylcellulose, and methoxycellulose is used.

A protective layer 114 is formed on the entire surface of the heat-sensitive coloring layer 112 to prevent blocking of the thermal head, protect the heat-sensitive coloring layer, and improve the adhesion of a transfer layer 118 described later. The protective layer 114 is made of, for example, a mixture of a synthetic resin and an additive,
12 and dried. As the synthetic resin, for example, vinyl chloride / vinyl acetate copolymer resin, butyral resin, acrylic copolymer resin, polyester resin, polyvinyl alcohol and the like are used alone or in combination. As the filler as an additive, for example, calcium carbonate as an inorganic filler, calcined kaolin, silica and the like can be used,
As a stick preventing material, zinc stearate, polyethylene wax and the like can be used.

On the surface of the protective layer 114, the label continuum 1
The pre-printed layer 116 is formed in advance at the time of the manufacture of the substrate. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, the pre-printed layer 116 includes fixed characters, figures, patterns, symbols, and the like that do not need to be changed after wording such as a shop name or “price” or a diagram. The connection is printed by a known method such as offset printing or gravure printing. Note that the pre-print layer 116 is formed as needed, and is not always necessary.

The transfer layer 118 is formed on the surface of the protective layer 114 by thermal transfer from the thermal transfer ribbon 150. The transfer layer 118 is for expressing, for example, chromatic characters such as red, characters, figures, and symbols on the protective layer 114. The thermal transfer ribbon 150 is formed, for example, by applying a thermal transfer ink on a support material made of plastic and drying it. As the thermal transfer ink, an ink in which a pigment is dispersed in a binder is used. As the binder, known materials such as carnauba wax, microcrystalline wax, and paraffin wax are used. Known pigments such as Fast Yellow G, Toluidine Red, and Phthalocyanine Blue are used as the pigment. Transfer layer 11
No. 8 is not only capable of expressing characters and the like in a portion where the heat-sensitive coloring layer 112 is not colored, but also capable of expressing characters and the like by being overlapped with the colored portion of the heat-sensitive coloring layer 112. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, transfer printing can be performed by overlapping the pre-printed layer 116. Note that an intermediate layer may be provided between the base material 108 and the thermosensitive coloring layer 112 to improve adhesion between the two.

An example of how to use the two-color printer 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be described below with reference to FIG.
FIG. 4A is a plan view illustrating an example of a state before printing on the label 106 on the label continuum 100. At this time, only the pre-printed layer 116 formed in advance exists on the surface of the label 106. Next, in the first printing station 16, for example, a black thermosensitive color printing is performed on a product name such as “Fried white fish”, a price, and a barcode obtained by coding them. Then, the label is sent out of the housing 12 without performing printing by the second printing station 28. The obtained label 106 in the state shown in FIG. 4B can be attached to a product and used. That is,
The two-color printer 10 can be used as a single-color printer. Then, a two-color label is formed as shown in FIG. 4C to indicate that the price of the product is discounted during the so-called time service.
This two-color label is a label 1 which has been subjected to thermosensitive coloring printing in the state shown in FIG.
06 is obtained by thermal transfer printing in the second printing station 28 subsequently. In the second printing station 28, for example, a red thermal transfer ribbon is used, and characters such as “discount”, “bargain chance”, and the discounted price “$ 400”, an explosion pattern that attracts the attention of the customer. Are printed by thermal transfer. In this case, in order to make it easy to recognize that the discount has been made, a red double line is displayed at the second printing station 28 over the original selling price at which the thermal color printing was performed at the first printing station 16. Thermal transfer printing.

Since the two-color printer 10 according to the present invention is a hybrid printer having printing means of different systems at the same time, clear printing can be obtained even when printing is performed over the same portion of the surface of the label 106. . Moreover, since the thermal color printing and the thermal transfer printing have different impressions to the viewer, it is easy to give a contrast. Therefore, according to the two-color printer 10, a good-looking two-color label can be obtained. The two-color printer 1
0 can also be used as a monochrome printer by using only one of the first printing station 16 and the second printing station 28. Further, by replacing the thermal transfer ribbon, the printing color can be changed relatively easily at low cost. In addition, the two-color printer 10 according to the present invention requires only one set of thermal transfer ribbon, and thus has a low running cost. Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described as having two sets of printing means as described above, a plurality of sets of printing means may be provided in the same manner.

[0025]

According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a two-color printer which is suitable for label printing of a large variety of small lots, can easily change colors, and can reduce the running cost. Cheap two-color label can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an illustrative view showing one example of a two-color printer according to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a plan view showing an example of a label continuum, and FIG. 2B is a side view thereof.

FIG. 3 is an illustrative sectional view showing one example of a two-color label according to the present invention.

FIG. 4A is a plan view illustrating an example of a state before printing on a label, FIG. 4B is a plan view illustrating an example of a state in which one color is printed on the label, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an example of a state in which two colors are printed on the label.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 two-color printer 12 housing 14 holding reel 16 first printing station 18 thermal head 20 platen roller 22 drive motor 24a, 42a reflected light sensor 24b, 42b transmitted light sensor 28 second printing station 30 ribbon holding reel 32 thermal head 34 platen roller 38 take-up reel 40 drive motor 46 drive motor 100 label continuous body 102 support material 104 release agent layer 106 label 108 base material 110 adhesive layer 112 thermosensitive coloring layer 114 protective layer 116 pre-printing layer 118 transfer layer 120 eye mark

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transfer means for transferring a printing material having a thermosensitive coloring layer, a first printing means for printing characters, graphics, symbols, etc. on the surface of the printing material transferred by the transfer means, A second path for printing another character, figure, symbol, or the like in a different color from the printing by the first printing means on the surface of the printing medium, the second printing apparatus being provided on a transfer path of the printing medium.
A two-color printer including a printing unit, wherein the first printing unit is provided in contact with the surface of the material to be printed, and heats only a portion to be printed to color the thermosensitive coloring layer. A second transfer unit for transferring a thermal transfer ribbon, and the second transfer unit sandwiches the thermal transfer ribbon transferred to a transfer position by the ribbon transfer unit between the print target material and the second transfer unit. And a separate thermal head for heating only a portion to be printed and heating and melting a part of the thermal transfer ribbon to transfer it to the material to be printed. Printer. 2. A two-color label comprising: a substrate; a thermosensitive coloring layer formed on the base material; and a transfer layer formed on the thermosensitive coloring layer by thermal transfer from a thermal transfer ribbon.