Typewriting machines – Sheet or web – Including friction-feed means
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-10
2002-11-05
Hirshfeld, Andrew H. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Sheet or web
Including friction-feed means
C400S617000, C400S618000, C400S636000, C226S195000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06474886
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a color printer for printing a full color image with plural thermal heads, and further relates to preventing the shear of the colors in printing, such as errors in dot positioning. Also, the present invention generally relates to paper feeding of color printers with plural thermal heads so as to prevent shear of the colors in printing.
Also, the invention generally relates to thermal heads, which are very useful for the above mentioned color printers, and which can be used in double-line thermal heads or preheat-type thermal heads. The present invention also generally relates to methods of making the thermal heads.
Furthermore, the invention generally relates to a lamp reflection board which reflects light from a lamp to thermal paper, and further relates to a small instrument such as the above mentioned color printer, in which it is very difficult to secure a sufficient optical path length.
2. Description of Related Art
Color Printer
There are many types of color printers, such as thermal transfer printers, ink-jet printers, and so on. Thermal transfer printers transfer ink from an ink ribbon onto recording paper by placing the ink ribbon against the recording paper, heating the thermal head and pressing it against the ink ribbon.
Recently, customers have required high speed printing from thermal transfer color printers. But the maximum printing speed is limited by four elements, i.e., as the characteristics of the ink ribbon dye, development of wrinkles, data transfer speed, and the response speed of the thermal head.
FIG. 1
illustrates a general block diagram of a conventional color printer. A conventional color printer has three thermal heads for three colors of ink ribbons, which are yellow, magenta, and cyan ribbons. The conventional color printer uses roll paper or cut paper of a long length for recording paper
3
. This color printer
1
has four print portions
1
a
,
1
b
,
1
c
, and
1
d
. The first print portion la prints yellow ink onto the recording paper
3
. The second print portion
1
b
prints magenta ink onto the recording paper
3
. The third print portion
1
c
prints cyan ink onto the recording paper
3
. The fourth print portion
1
d
overcoats the recording paper
3
after yellow, magenta, and cyan ink are printed onto the recording paper
3
.
The recording paper
3
is conveyed from paper roll
2
by feed roller
4
and pinch roller
5
. The feed roller
4
has a small protuberance on its surface, and is driven by a pulse motor (not shown in FIG.
1
). Downstream of the fourth print portion id, there is a paper discharging roller
6
for discharging the recording paper
3
, and cutter
8
for cutting the recording paper
3
to a pre-determined length.
Each print portion
1
a
,
1
b
,
1
c
has thermal heads
9
a
,
9
b
,
9
c
, platen rollers
10
a
,
10
b
,
10
c
, ink ribbon supply rollers
12
a
,
12
b
,
12
c
, ink ribbon take-up rollers
13
a
,
13
b
,
13
c
, tension rollers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
, and pinch rollers
15
a
,
15
b
,
15
c
. The platen rollers
10
a
,
10
b
,
10
c
are located opposite the print portions
1
a
,
1
b
,
1
c
, respectively. The ink ribbon supply rollers
12
a
,
12
b
,
12
c
supply each color of ink ribbon
11
a
,
11
b
,
11
c
to the respective thermal heads
9
a
,
9
b
,
9
c
. The ink ribbon take-up rollers
13
a
,
13
b
,
13
c
respectively take up each color of ink ribbon
11
a
,
11
b
,
11
c
. The tension rollers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
are located downstream of the respective thermal heads
9
a
,
9
b
,
9
c
. The pinch rollers
15
a
,
15
b
,
15
c
are located opposite the tension rollers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
, respectively.
Similar to each print portion
1
a
,
1
b
,
1
c
, the overcoat portion
1
d
has thermal head
9
d
, platen roller
10
d
, overcoat ribbon
11
d
, overcoat ribbon supply roller
12
d
, overcoat ribbon take-up roller
13
d
, tension roller
14
d
, and pinch roller
15
d
. The overcoat ribbon supply roller
12
d
supplies overcoat ribbon
11
d
to the thermal head
9
d
. The overcoat ribbon take-up roller
13
d
takes up the overcoat ribbon
11
d
. The tension roller
14
d
is located downstream of the thermal head
9
d
. The pinch roller
15
d
is located opposite the tension roller
14
d.
F
1
, F
2
, F
3
, and F
4
indicate the thrust tension of each of tension rollers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
, and
14
d
. W
1
, W
2
, W
3
, and W
4
indicate the frictional forces of each thermal transfer mechanism. T
0
indicates the tension of the feed roller
4
, and T
1
, T
2
, T
3
, and T
4
indicate the tension of the paper
3
between the tension rollers
14
a
,
14
b
,
14
c
,
14
d
and the thermal heads
9
a
,
9
b
,
9
c
,
9
d
at the print portions
1
a
,
1
b
,
1
c
and overcoat portion
1
d.
At the above mentioned color printer
1
, the front edge of paper
3
pulled out from paper roll
2
is conveyed between feed roller
4
and pinch roller
5
by a paper feeding mechanism (not shown in FIG.
1
). Then the front edge of paper
3
is caught between feed roller
4
and pinch roller
5
, passes between the thermal head
9
a
and platen roller
10
a
, and is conveyed to a location between tension roller
14
a
and pinch roller
15
a.
At this point, the thermal head
9
a
is pressed against platen roller
10
a
sandwiching the paper
3
, and pinch roller
16
a
is pressed against tension roller
14
a
sandwiching the paper
3
. Then, tension roller
14
a
is driven by a DC motor (not shown in
FIG. 1
) with constant tension, and at the same time yellow ink is transferred onto paper
3
by the heat of the thermal head
9
a
. Yellow ink ribbon
11
a
wound around the ink ribbon supply roller
12
a
is moved downstream of the printer in synchronization with the printing speed. The ink ribbon take-up roller
13
a
takes up the transferred ink ribbon
11
a.
After the yellow image printing is over, the front edge of paper
3
reaches a location between tension roller
14
a
and pinch roller
15
a
. At this point, the thermal head
9
b
is pressed into platen roller
10
b
sandwiching the paper
3
, and pinch roller
15
b
is pressed into tension roller
14
b
sandwiching the paper
3
. Then, tension roller
14
b
is driven by a DC motor (not shown in
FIG. 1
) with constant tension, and at the same time magenta ink is transferred onto paper
3
by the heat of the thermal head
9
b
. Magenta ink ribbon
11
b
wound around the ink ribbon supply roller
12
b
is moved downstream of the printer in synchronization with the printing speed. The ink ribbon take-up roller
13
b
takes up the transferred ink ribbon
11
b
. When a first magenta image is printed on a first portion of the paper
3
at the thermal head
9
b
, a second yellow image is printed on a second portion of the paper
3
at the thermal head
9
a.
After the magenta image printing is over, the front edge of paper
3
reaches the location between tension roller
14
c
and pinch roller
15
c
. At this point, tension roller
14
c
is driven by a DC motor (not shown in
FIG. 1
) with constant tension, and at the same time cyan ink is transferred onto paper
3
by the heat of the thermal head
9
c
. Then the front edge of paper
3
reaches the location between tension roller
14
d
and pinch roller
15
d
. When the first cyan image is printed on first portion of the paper
3
at the thermal head
9
c
, the second magenta image is printed on a second portion of the paper
3
at the thermal head
9
b
, and the third yellow image is printed on a third portion of the paper
3
at the thermal head
9
a.
When the front edge of paper
3
reaches the location between tension roller
14
d
and pinch roller
15
d
, the thermal head
9
d
is pressed against platen roller
10
d
sandwiching the paper
3
, and pinch roller
15
d
is pressed against tension roller
14
d
, sandwiching the paper
3
. Then, tension roller
14
d
is driven by a DC motor (not shown in
FIG. 1
) with constant tension, and at the same time an overcoat print is executed with h
Kawahara Kenichi
Kawamura Sigeyuki
Kubota Takasi
Masukawa Kazunori
Matsuda Hiroshi
Chau Minh H.
Darby & Darby
Hirshfeld Andrew H.
Shinko Electric Co. Ltd.
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