Shinko Electric Company, Ltd.

Junji Kawano

Hiroaki Fukuoka

Susumu Mitsushima

Fumio Takahashi

Kiyoshige Ishiyama

Takeshi Okuno

Satoshi Iwata

Hitoshi Nakagawa

Takeshi Kubo

Hideaki Sekiguchi

Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Yoshikazu Miyashita

A compact thermal color printer enables the use of a thermal type printing medium having heat sublimation type inks for a multiple-print use and a heat melting type ink for a single-print use. In the process of printing characters or symbols, using the two types of inks, by pressing the printing medium against a print object through a thermal head, the transport distances for the thermal print medium and the print object are adjusted, depending on whether a heat sublimation type ink is being printed or a heat melting type ink is being printed. This arrangement for the transport distance adjustments enables to simplify the printer drives to make the apparatus more compact, and enables to reduce consumption of the sublimation type inks for color printing and increases the service life of the printing ribbon to reduce the operating cost.

Thermal color printer

A compact color printer having a Y head (2), an M head (9), a C head (16), platen rollers (8, 15, 22) and a multi-time ink ribbon (23) wherein yellow ink (23y), magenta ink (23m) and cyan ink (23c) each having effective lengths B are sequentially on a substrate (23o) with a pitch P. When a line L1 of the printing paper (1) and an edge (23ya) of the yellow ink (23y) are positioned over a line position y1, the Y head (2) prints the color yellow; when a line L1 of the printing paper 1 and an edge (23ma) of the magenta ink (23m) are positioned over a line position y2, the M head (9) prints the color magenta; and when a line L1 of the printing paper (1) and an edge (23ca) of the cyan ink (23c) are positioned over a line position y3, the C head (16) prints the color cyan.

Color printer and ink ribbon therefor

A thermal sublimation printer is disclosed. A pile of blank paper is inserted into a paper cassette 10, and a donor ribbon 21 coated with sublimation dyes is mounted on a supplying rotational axis 22 and a furl rotational axis 23 on bearings. The heating of a plurality of heating elements 4a, 4a, . . . , 4a of a thermal head 4, the movement of a platen roller 3, etc., are controlled by a control device as sublimation printing is carried out. The printed papers are then placed in the paper cassette 10, and exchanges the donor ribbon 21 for a fade preventive donor ribbon 27 coated with an over coating material. The over coating material is transferred on the printed paper by heat of the thermal head 4.

Thermal sublimation printer for use with different ribbons

An image reader is capable of improving the quality of reading a transmission manuscript and of reducing a cost for a luminaire power source compared with the conventional image reader. The image reader comprises a casing having a ceiling of a transparent manuscript plate, the casing further housing therein a read unit provided with a reflection read light source unit, a drive mechanism for reciprocally moving the read unit from its home position and a luminaire power source unit; and a transmission read light source unit provided separately from the casing, wherein the transmitted light which has passed the manuscript or the reflected light which has reflected from the manuscript is focused on the receiving surface of a read sensor of the read unit to thereby produce the image thereon, wherein the transmission read light source unit can be connected to the read unit mechanically and electrically by a connecting mechanism having a releasing function, and cooperate with the read unit, and wherein the casing has recess portions thereon in the scanning direction of the connecting mechanism, and wherein the luminaire power source unit is provided with an inverter power source which is common to the reflection read light source unit and the transmission read light source unit and a light source unit switching device which can switch the output of the inverter power source to the reflection read light source unit or the transmission read light source unit.

Image reader

A thermal transfer type printer prints a desirable dot pattern on a printing paper by heating heating cells within a thermal head which is pressed against the printing paper via a transfer ribbon, the surface of which is painted by thermal melting ink. A memory stores two kinds of current-on time data, each of which represent specific current-on time characteristics designating a relation between the current-on time and a surrounding temperature of the thermal head. This surrounding temperature is detected by a thermistor mounted on the thermal head. One of two current-on time characteristics can be arbitrarily selected, and desirable current-on time is read from the selected current-on time characteristics based on the detected surrounding temperature. Some heating cells are selected in accordance with the desirable dot pattern and the selected heating cells are heated for the desirable current-on time. In addition, the current-on time can be arbitrarily set longer or shorter by increasing or decreasing the value of the current-on time data, whereby the printing density can be arbitrarily varied.

Thermal transfer type line printer capable of setting printing density

A thermal transfer type multicolor printer including: a frame; a sprocket wheel, rotatably mounted to the frame, for feeding a printing paper, having feeding holes, in one of both a forward direction and a reverse direction in a selective manner, the sprocket wheel having sprocket pins mounted thereon adapted to engage feed holes of the printing paper for feeding the printing paper, the feed holes each having a trailing edge, and the sprocket wheel being adapted to rotate at a first foward peripheral speed when the printing paper is fed in the forward direction for printing and at a first reverse peripheral speed when the printing paper is fed in the reverse direction; a platen roller, rotatably mounted on the frame and adapted to rotate at a second forward peripheral speed for feeding the printing paper in the forward direction and at a second reverse peripheral speed for feed the printing paper in the reverse direction; a thermal head for transferring a heat dissolving ink of an ink ribbon, set over the platen roller through the printing paper, to the printing paper, and a rotation mechanism, mounted to the frame, for simultaneously rotating both the platen roller and the sprocket wheel for feeding the printing paper.

Thermal transfer type multicolor printer

A method for making a thermal transfer type multicolor printing. An ink ribbon is set over a platen roller with a printing paper being interposed between them, the ink ribbon having at predetermined intervals a plurality of ink zones each carrying one of heat-dissolving inks of different colors. Then, one of the ink zones is positioned at a printing position on the platen roller, the one ink zone being of a predetermined color. A thermal head is placed at the printing position against the positioned one ink zone, and drived for transferring a first dot line of the ink of the one ink zone to the printing paper so that one picture component, for the predetermined color, of a picture to be printed is reproduced by the use of the ink of the one ink zone. Thereafter, the printing paper and the ink ribbon are advanced for a subsequent printing when unreproduced portion of the picture component exists. The procedures of the driving of the thermal head and the advancing of the printing paper and the ink ribbon are repeated until the whole picture component for the predetermined color is reproduced on the printing paper. Then, the procedures after the setting of the ink ribbon are repeated with respect to the other ink zones of different colors for reproducing the remaining picture components of the different colors on the printing paper, so that a multicolor picture is reproduced on the printing paper.

Method of making thermal transfer type multicolor printing

A method and apparatus for detecting an error such as a cutoff or the like of an ink ribbon used in a thermal transfer type multicolor printer, wherein the ink ribbon is provided with sets of ink zones containing heat dissolving inks, each set of the ink zones including ink zones, disposed in a predetermined order, of different colors. A timer is preset for providing an electric signal representative of detection of the error at an end of a predetermined timing interval equal to a time period necessary in an ink detection mode, in which one of the ink zones having a specified color is detected, for passing at least one ink zone through a printing position where a multicolor printing is made by means of a thermal head. The ink ribbon is then wound at a predetermined speed in the ink detection mode, and the timer is set at the winding of the ink ribbon. A sensor mark, which is provided to each of the ink zones for indicating its color, is detected to provide a color signal representative of the color indicated by the sensor mark. The timer is reset according to the color signal. The error detection signal is provided when the timer become operative because no color signal is supplied to the timer within the timing interval.

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Ise, Japan

Junji Kawano