JPS61286183A - Thermal transfer recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To solidify a melted ink without enlarging the size of a thermal transfer recorder, by providing a cooling roller on the downstream side of a heated roller with respect tothe moving direction of an ink ribbon. CONSTITUTION:The thermal transfer recorder is provided with the cooling roller 21 or 21A on the downstream side of the heating roller 8 or 8A with respect to the moving direction B of the ink ribbon 5. Since the ink ribbon 5 fed from the heated roller 8, 8A is cooled by the cooling roller 21, 21A, it is unnecessary to provide a large spacing between the roller 8 and a thermal printing head 4 or between the roller 8A and a take-up roller 9. Accordingly, a small-type cassette can be used, and the recorder is not enlarged in size.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary] A thermal transfer recording device equipped with a heating means for smoothing the surface of an ink layer by heating an ink supply body capable of repeated thermal transfer recording before or after the transfer recording step. A thermal transfer recording device that is an improvement of the device and includes means for cooling the molten ink layer without increasing the size of the device.

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an improvement of an apparatus that uses heat-melting ink that can be repeatedly transferred and recorded, and that is particularly equipped with heating means for melting and smoothing the surface of the ink layer. The present invention relates to a thermal transfer recording device equipped with means for cooling without increasing the size.

An intermediate adhesive layer made of a polyester resin is provided on a base material such as a polyester film, and an ink layer made of a low melting point material that contains dye and filler and is solid at room temperature is provided on top of this. Then, an ink supply body such as an ink sheet or an ink ribbon is formed. A predetermined heating element presses a selectively heated thermal print head on this ink supply body based on printing information, selectively heating the ink supply body and ink in an ink layer on this ink supply body. A thermal transfer recording device that melts ink and transfers and records the melted ink onto recording paper is well known.

This type of device uses heating to melt the ink layer of the ink supply body that can be repeatedly transferred and smooth the surface before transfer recording to prevent phenomena such as scumming on the recording paper when it is transferred to the recording paper. It is desired to provide a means for cooling the molten ink layer without increasing the size of the apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional thermal transfer recording apparatus equipped with such a heating means will be explained using FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main parts of a thermal transfer recording device using an ink ribbon as an ink supply body as a cassette. As shown in the figure, a recording paper 2 is placed on the surface of a cylindrical platen 1, and The recording paper 2 moves in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface. A thermal print head 4 attached to a base (not shown) installed on a ball screw 3 facing the recording paper 2 and a cassette 6 in which an ink ribbon 5 is installed are indicated by the arrow A.
Move along the direction. The ink ribbon 5 moves from the supply roller 7 in the direction of arrow B along the guide roller 8,
It passes between the thermal printing pad 4 and the recording paper 2 and is wound up by a winding roller 9.

By the way, this ink ribbon 5 has a structure as shown in FIG. 5, and has a base material 1 made of polyester film.
An ink layer 13 containing a mixture of a low melting point material such as a fatty acid amide, a dye, and a filler is provided on the ink layer 13 via an intermediate adhesive layer 12 such as a polyester resin.

Then, the thermal print head 4 having a heating element selectively heated according to the printing information presses the ink ribbon 5, transfers and records the ink in the ink layer 13 of the ink ribbon 5 onto the recording paper 2, and then takes up the winding roller 9. After being wound up, the cassette 6 is turned over again to perform transfer recording.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 6, the ink ribbon after transfer recording is uneven because the ink on the surface of the ink layer 3 is melted and a part of the melted ink is transferred to the recording paper. It is showing the condition.

Therefore, when trying to transfer and record onto a recording paper using an ink ribbon whose surface of the ink layer 13 is uneven, the convex portions of the ink layer 13 may be thermally damaged when the ink is not sufficiently melted. The print head is pressed onto the recording paper, resulting in problems such as background stains on the recording paper, or afterimages where previously transferred characters and symbols are retransferred onto the recording paper. be.

Therefore, a heating element is coated around the guide roller 8 to form the heating roller 8, and by energizing this heating element, the ink layer of the ink ribbon 5 is melted, the surface of the ink layer is smoothed, and the recording paper is This prevents phenomena such as background stains.

Furthermore, apart from this, a heating roller may be provided behind the thermal print head 4 when viewed from the moving direction of the ink ribbon 5 to melt and smooth the ink layer of the ink ribbon after transfer recording.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in a device that is equipped with a means to heat the ink ribbon before the transfer process, if the ink layer on the ink ribbon is not sufficiently solidified when the ink ribbon enters the subsequent transfer process, thermal printing may occur. There is a problem in that the ink is pressure-transferred onto the recording paper due to the pressure contact of the head, causing background stains on the recording paper.

In addition, when the ink ribbon 5 after transfer recording is taken up by the take-up roller 9, even if the ink layer of the ink ribbon 5 is melted and smoothed by a heating roller (not shown), the take-up roller If the ink layer is not sufficiently solidified when the ribbon 9 is wound up, the ink may adhere to the back surface of the ribbon 5, causing a problem of staining the thermal print head when the ribbon 5 is used next time.

Therefore, in conventional devices, the distance between the heating roller 8 and the thermal print head 4, or between the heating roller (not shown) and the take-up roller 9 is maintained long enough to provide sufficient time for the molten ink layer to solidify. It was set up.

However, in such an apparatus, there is a problem that the cassette becomes large, which causes a problem that the entire thermal transfer recording apparatus becomes large.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention aims to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and provide an apparatus in which a molten ink layer can be sufficiently solidified without increasing the size of the apparatus.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention has a cooling roller 21.
21A is attached.

[Effect]

The thermal transfer recording device of the present invention has a cooling roller 21 or 21A for cooling the heated ink ribbon behind the heating roller 8 or 8A when viewed from the moving direction of the ink ribbon.
The ink layer of the heated and melted ink ribbon can be sufficiently coated without increasing the size of the apparatus by increasing the distance from the heating roller 8 to the thermal print head 4 or from the heating roller 8A to the take-up roller 9. It can be cooled and solidified.

〔Example〕

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention has a heating roller 8 or 8A inside the cassette 7) when viewed from the moving direction of the ink ribbon 5 shown by the arrow B. It is characterized by the fact that a cooling roller 21 or 21^ is attached to the rear side.

The cooling rollers 21 and 21A are made of a cylindrical metal with a diameter of about 3 fl, such as aluminum, which has good thermal conductivity. In order to prevent heating, the lower part of the roller protrudes from the bottom of the cassette toward the base (not shown) as shown in Figure 3, and the cooling roller is made of a metal with good thermal conductivity similar to the cooling roller 21. It is even more effective if it is attached so that it can be attached to the fins 22.

In this way, the ink ribbon 5 sent out from the heating rollers 8, 88 can be transferred to the cooling rollers 21, 21A with good heat conduction.
Since it is cooled by do not have.

In addition, when the cassette 6 is used repeatedly after the ink ribbon 5 has been used for transfer recording as described above,
The heating rollers 8, 8A and cooling rollers 21, 21A shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be integrated into a cassette.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, according to the thermal transfer recording apparatus of the present invention, the distance that the ink ribbon after heating reaches the thermal print head, and the distance that the ink ribbon after heating is taken up by the take-up roller. Even if the distance is not kept long, the molten ink layer after heating can be sufficiently solidified, so the cassette for storing the ribbon can be made small, which has the effect of making the apparatus small and compact.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are plan views showing the main parts of the thermal transfer recording device of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the cooling means of the device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a main part of the conventional thermal transfer recording device. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of the ink ribbon, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an inconvenient state of the ink ribbon used in the conventional apparatus. In the figure, 4 is a thermal print head, 5 is an ink ribbon, 7 is a supply roller, 8, 88 are heating rollers, 9 is a take-up roller,
21 and 21A are cooling rollers, 22 is a radiation fin, and B is an arrow indicating the moving direction of the ink ribbon in FIG. Tsukinobi/-) Zero f15 flat 1 breakthrough nutami E "P' titanium J tan 611 two 1 door 144!i
llFigure 3: The life of a military recording device

Claims (1)

[Claims] Layer the heat-melting ink supply body (5) and the recording paper (2),
A thermal print head (4) is brought into pressure contact with the back surface of the heat-melting ink supply body (5) to perform transfer recording, and the surface of the ink layer of the supply body (5) is coated before or after the transfer recording. In an apparatus equipped with heating means (8, 8A) for smoothing, a heat-melting ink supply member (8, 8A) is provided behind the heating means (8, 8A) when viewed from the moving direction of the ink supply member (5).
5) A thermal transfer recording apparatus characterized in that a cooling means (21, 21A) for cooling is attached.