Typewriting machines – Typing by other than type-face or type-die – Thermal
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-23
2003-06-17
Hirshfeld, Andrew H. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Typing by other than type-face or type-die
Thermal
C400S120160, C400S232000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06579020
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the technique of producing a printing on a foil by means of a thermal transfer ribbon in an ink transfer operation.
The present invention relates in particular to the technique of producing a printing on a foil in a thermal printing operation during a packaging operation in which the foil is used as a packaging foil or as an information foil sheet to be applied to or below a wrap around or packaging foil for packaging a product being an organic or inorganic product. The examples of products relevant in the present context are unlimited ranging from toys, cosmetics, consumer products, foodstuffs, drugs etc. In general, any product which is to be packed in a foil or to be applied with an information printing after the product has been included in a separate package may be relevant in the present context. The invention in general relates to high speed printing and packaging operations in which the foil on which the printing is to be applied is moved at a speed up to several hundred millimeters per second.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to print continuous packaging materials constituting foil materials and other continuous printing media such as paper materials for producing labels with alfanumeric information and symbols, information, logos etc. while using a thermal printing or thermal transfer technique. According to the thermal transfer technique, a thermal transfer ribbon including an ink is heated at specific locations to an elevated temperature causing the ink to be fluid and at the same time, the thermal transfer ribbon is contacted with the print media such as the foil or paper material in question for causing the transfer of the fluid ink to the foil material or paper material. In the ink transfer operation, the thermal transfer ribbon is moved in synchronism with the print media or foil to which the printing is to be applied and the amount of thermal transfer ribbon material which is used in a high speed printing and packaging operation performed at a speed of several hundred millimeters per second may, as will be readily understood, be extremely high as the thermal transfer ribbon is also moved at the same high speed as the foil material amount to a speed of transportation of the order of several hundred metres per second.
Examples of prior art thermal printers of the above kind are described in EP 0 157 096, EP 0 176 009, EP 0 294 633, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,297,879, 3,984,809, 4,650,350, 4,642,655, 4,650,350, 4,712,115, 4,952,085, 5,017,943, 5,121,136, 5,160,943, 5,162,815, 5,372,439, 5,415,482, 5,576,751, 5,609,425 and 5,647,679 to which reference is made and which US patents are hereby incorporated in the present specification by reference.
From the technical field of paper recorders, it is known to utilize a thermal transfer ribbon and produce a printing on a piece of paper by sandwiching the thermal transfer ribbon between a printing head or recorder head and the paper sheet on which the printings are to be produced. It is known in paper recorders of this kind to reduce the speed of the thermal transfer ribbon relative to the speed of the paper sheet for saving the amount of thermal transfer ribbon used and consequently obtain a reduction in costs and improve the economical efficiency of the paper recorder. Examples of paper recorders of this type are shown in Japanese patent publication (Kokoku) No. 62-58917), Japanese patent application laying open (Kokai) No. 63-165169, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,121,136, 5,372,439 and 5,415,482. Reference is made to the above patent applications and patents and the above U.S. patents are hereby incorporated in the present specification by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel technique of producing high speed printings on a print media such as a foil allowing substantial material savings as far as the thermal transfer ribbon is concerned without to any substantial extent deteriorating the quality of the printing produced as compared to the prior art thermal printing techniques. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel thermal printing technique rendering it possible with a substantial ribbon material saving to establish an even improved printing quality as compared to the prior art thermal printing technique by providing an im-proved utilization of the thermal transfer ribbon material as compared to the utilization of the thermal transfer ribbon material in accordance with the prior art thermal printing technique.
An advantage of the present invention relates to the fact that a thermal transfer ribbon material saving up till 80% may be obtained without to any substantial extent deteriorating the printing quality as compared to the prior art thermal printing technique.
The above objects and the above advantage together with numerous other objects, advantages and features which will be evident from the below detailed description of preferred embodiments of the present invention are in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention obtained by means of a method of producing a printing on a surface of a foil by means of energizable printing means and a thermal transfer ribbon including an ink which is transferable in an ink transfer operation at specific locations of the thermal transfer ribbon by heating the specific locations to an elevated temperature by means of the energizable printing means causing the ink to be fluid, comprising the following steps:
arranging the thermal transfer ribbon in facial contact with the surface of the foil,
arranging the energizable printing means in contact with the thermal transfer ribbon opposite to the foil,
moving the foil and the energizable printing means relative to one another at a specific speed while pressing the energizable printing means and the foil together so as to sandwich the thermal transfer ribbon there-between in a constrained state, and while energizing the energizable printing means, and
moving the thermal transfer ribbon relative to the energizable printing means at a reduced speed as compared to the specific speed of the foil relative to the energizable printing means and consequently moving the thermal transfer ribbon relative to the foil for causing the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon to be transferred at the specific locations to the foil at specific areas thereof constituting the printing so as to smear the ink of the thermal transfer ribbon at the specific locations onto the foil through the motion of the thermal transfer ribbon relative to the foil.
Contrary to the prior art thermal printing technique in which the thermal transfer ribbon is moved in synchronism with the foil to which the printing is to be applied in the relative motion of the foil relative to the energizable printing means, it has been realized that the speed of motion of the thermal transfer ribbon relative to the energizable printing means may be reduced as compared to the speed of motion of the foil relative to the energizable printing means providing a substantial saving of thermal transfer ribbon material without reducing or deteriorating the quality of the printings produced. According to the prior art thermal transfer printing technique, the ink is transferred from a thermal transfer ribbon in a process of establishing facial contact between the thermal transfer ribbon and the foil during the process of moving the foil without causing any mutual movement between the thermal transfer ribbon and the foil as it has been considered mandatory to the obtaining of a high quality printing that no deviation between the movement of the thermal transfer ribbon and the foil should be allowed which mutual movement inevitably would deteriorate the printing quality. According to the teachings of the present invention, it has been realized that the quality of the printing process is by no means deteriorated provided the thermal transfer ribbon and the foil are moved relative to one another as the ink transfer process is converted from a facial contact trans
Jørgensen Christian
Jørgensen Kristian Vang
Nielsen Tim
Olesen Ernst R. Thorsager
Svensson Torben
Chau Minh
Easyprint A/S
Hirshfeld Andrew H.
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