JPH026171A - Printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the unevenness of an ink ribbon in ink impregnated amount by a method wherein an ink is supplied to an endless ink ribbon formed by shaping a band-form ribbon into a loop, and the ink which is supplied to the ink ribbon and remains after printing is absorbed. CONSTITUTION:With the running of an ink ribbon 2, a supply roller 8 and an absorption roller 9 rotate in directions of arrows, and an ink impregnated material 3 and an ink absorbing material 4 also rotate in directions of arrows. In this manner, the ink in the ink impregnated material 3 is transferred to the ink ribbon 2 through the supply roller 8. Simultaneously, a printing is conducted on paper 17 by a printing head 16, and the ink ribbon2 supplied with the ink is again fed into a cassette case 1. However, the ink impregnated amount therein is ununiform. Then, the ink in the ink ribbon 2 is absorbed into the ink absorbing material 4 through the absorption roller 9, whereby the ink ribbon 2 passing through the absorption roller 9 is made approximately uniform in ink impregnated amount. Therefore, by newly transferring the ink thereto by the supply roller 8, the ink ribbon 2 is made suitable and nearly uniform in ink impregnated amount.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method for an impact printer or the like that prints using an ink ribbon.

2. Description of the Related Art Impact printers have traditionally been the mainstream printers used as output devices for computers and the like because of their practicality and ability to make copies. The printing method of this impact printer has been improved to extend its lifespan and print in color. The conventional printing method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57-128584 will be explained below.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an ink ribbon cassette used in the conventional printing method with the cassette lid open, in which 51 is a cassette case, 52 is an ink ribbon, and 53 is a foamed urethane cassette for replenishing ink to the ink ribbon 52. It is an ink-impregnated body molded with etc. Reference numeral 55 is a driving roller that causes the ink ribbon 52 to travel in the direction of the arrow, 56 is a driven roller, and 58 is a drive roller that moves ink from the ink-impregnated body 53 to the ink ribbon 5.
This is a supply roller that replenishes the 2. 57 is an ink-impregnated body 5
3 is a pressure spring that presses the supply roller 58, 60 is a pack tension spring that prevents the ink ribbon 52 from running loose, and 61 is an ink ribbon pocket that stores the ink ribbon 52.

The operation of the ink ribbon cassette configured as described above will be described below. First, when the driving roller 55 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the ink ribbon 52 held between the driven roller 56 is fed into the ink ribbon pocket 61, and the ink ribbon 52 runs in the direction of the arrow inside the cassette case 51.

As the ink ribbon 52 travels, the supply roller 58 rotates in the direction of the arrow. Then, the supply roller 58 rotates the ink-impregnated body 53 in the direction of the arrow due to the urging force p of the pressing spring 57. As a result, the ink in the ink-impregnated body 53 is transferred and impregnated into the ink ribbon 52 via the supply roller 58.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional configuration, the amount of ink transferred from the ink ribbon to the paper varies depending on the number of characters printed by the printer, so if only a constant ink supply is used, the amount of ink impregnated in the ink ribbon will vary depending on the position. . In other words, even if the ink transferred from the ink-impregnated body to the ink ribbon returns without being printed, the ink will be transferred from the ink-impregnated body again, and the amount of ink on the ink ribbon in this area will become extremely large. It ends up. This caused a change in print density on the paper, resulting in poor print quality.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve this problem, the present invention supplies ink to an endless ink ribbon made of a looped ribbon, and removes the remaining ink after printing of the ink supplied to the ink ribbon. It was made to absorb.

Function Absorbs excess ink that is not used for printing out of the ink supplied to the ink ribbon by the ink supply means,
By making the amount of ink impregnated into the ink ribbon uniform and then supplying a suitable amount of ink again, the unevenness of the amount of ink impregnated into the ink ribbon is reduced.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of the vicinity of the printing section of an impact printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the vicinity of the printing section of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the ink-impregnated body 3 of FIG.
4 is a sectional view of a main part of an ink absorber 4, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an ink ribbon. In FIG. 1, l is a cassette case forming the exterior of the ink ribbon cassette, 2 is an ink ribbon, and as shown in FIG. 4, in the case of color printing, the ink ribbon 2 is a color stripe 2 as
They are colored 2b, 2c, and 2d and are impregnated with ink.

Reference numeral 3 denotes an ink-impregnated body made of urethane foam or the like that supplies ink to the ink ribbon 2, and 4 is an ink-absorbing body that is not impregnated with ink and is also made of urethane foam or the like. Reference numeral 5 represents a drive roller that causes the ink ribbon 2 to travel in the direction of the arrow, and reference numeral 6 represents a driven roller. 8 is a supply roller that supplies ink from the ink-impregnated body 3 to the ink ribbon 2, and 9 is an absorption roller that causes the ink absorber 4 to absorb the ink from the ink ribbon 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the case of color printing, these are inserted into the support shaft 1a of the cassette case 1.
, 30% 3ds or 4d, 4d, 4d.

4d and is constructed in multiple layers for each color. 7 is a supply roller 8 and an absorption roller 9 to the ink impregnated body 3 and the ink absorption body 4.
10 is a back tension spring that prevents the ink ribbon 2 from loosening during running, and 12 is a pressure spring for the driven roller 6 that presses the ink ribbon 2 against the drive roller 5.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an ink ribbon pocket in which the ink ribbon 2 is stored. 13 and 14 are guide rollers for guiding the ink ribbon 2; 15 is a guide roller that holds the cassette case 1 by a holding member 31 of the printer carriage;
This is a spindle that rotates in the direction of the page for color selection.

This support shaft 15 is integrally formed with the cassette case l. A print head 16 prints dots on the paper 17 via the ink ribbon 2 in accordance with print data signals from the computer. A platen 18 serves as a base for the paper 17 and receives the dots of the print head 16. 19 is a cushioning material for the platen 18, and 38 is a paper transport base forming a transport path for the paper 17. In FIG. 2, numeral 26 is a print head base on which the print head 16 and ink ribbon cassette are placed, and 23 is a print head carriage on which this print head base is mounted. Reference numerals 24 and 25 designate carriage shafts that guide the RAD carriage toward this printing in the direction of the paper surface. 28 is a pulley that rotates the drive roller 5 that runs the ink ribbon 2, 29 is this drive shaft, and 30 is a rope that rotates this pulley when the rad carriage runs for printing. 27 is a screw motor that rotates the ink ribbon cassette in the direction of the arrow. Reference numeral 32 denotes a shaft screw of this screw motor, which moves up and down in the direction of the arrow as the screw motor 27 rotates. Due to this vertical movement, the ink ribbon cassette rotates around the support shaft 15 of the horn set case 1, and color switching is performed. 34 is a conveyance roller that conveys the paper 17, and 35 is a driven roller. 36 is a biasing shaft for rotating one set of ink ribbons. A carriage roller 37 presses the paper 17 against the platen 18.

The operation of the impact printer configured as above will be explained. First, in FIG. 2, when the print carriage 23 travels in the direction of the paper, the pulley 28 and drive shaft 29 are rotated by the attached rope 30, and in parallel, the drive roller of the ink ribbon cassette shown in FIG. 5 rotates in the direction of the arrow. At the same time, the ink ribbon 2 held between the driven roller 6 is fed into the ink ribbon pocket 11. At the same time, the ink ribbon 2 runs in the direction of the arrow inside the cassette case 1. As the ink pump 2 runs, the supply roller 8 and the absorption roller 9 rotate in the direction of the arrow, and the ink impregnated body 3 and the ink absorption body 4 also rotate in the direction of the arrow. As a result, the ink in the ink-impregnated body 3 is transferred and supplied to the ink ribbon 2 via the supply roller 8. At the same time, the ink ribbon 2 supplied with ink to the paper 17 by the print head 16 enters the cassette case 1 again, but all of the ink supplied to the ink ribbon 2 by the print head 16 is transferred to the paper 17. (Also, depending on the space, most of the ink may enter the paper 17 without being transferred.Alternatively, most of the ink supplied to the ink ribbon 2 after printing black characters may not be transferred to the paper 17.) In other words, the amount of ink impregnated in the ink ribbon 2 that passes through the print head 16 and returns to the cassette case 1 varies.The ink of this ink ribbon 2 is transferred to the absorption roller 9. The amount of ink impregnated in the ink ribbon 2 that has passed through the absorption roller 9 is almost uniform, and the ink is absorbed by the ink absorber 4 through the absorption roller 9.
When the ink is transferred, the amount of ink impregnated into the ink ribbon 2 becomes approximately uniform at an appropriate amount. Next, the operation of color printing will be explained. In the case of color printing, as shown in Fig. 3, the ink ribbon 2 has 1 last drive 21%2.
b 12 CN 2 d and a predetermined color scheme, each of which is impregnated with ink. When the ink ribbon 2 is loaded into the cassette case 1, as shown in FIG.
Ink-impregnated bodies 3a, 3 impregnated with ink of each color through
b, 3c, and 3d. The ink absorber 4 and the absorbing roller 9 are also 4ai 4b, respectively.
4C% 4, and 9a.

There are four stages of 9b, 9c, and 9d, and the ink ribbon 2
The relationship between the two is also configured in the same manner as in FIG.

Here, the color stripes 2a of the ink ribbon 2 shown in FIG. 4 are yellow, 2b is blue, 2C is red, and 2d is black, and the ink-impregnated body 3 is 3a.

3b, 3c, and 3d will also be described as having the same ink color scheme. When the cassette case 1 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by the shaft screw 32 of the screw motor 27 using the support shaft 15 of the cassette case 1 as a fulcrum shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the print head 16 is attached to the print head base 26 by the support shaft 15 Since it is fixed, a desired color stripe of the ink ribbon 2 is selected and color printing is performed on the paper 17. Next, the relationship between print density and ink impregnation amount will be explained with reference to FIG. First, before printing, the print density is set to about 0°65 in PC3 value to prevent ink from bleeding onto the paper. At the initial stage of printing, ink is transferred and supplied from the ink-impregnated member 3 to the ink ribbon 2, but the ink is absorbed by the ink absorber 4 according to the amount of ink transferred to the paper, as shown in FIG. The print density does not exceed the PC8 value of 0°65 and approaches the appropriate print density (this means that the print density does not exceed the PC8 value of 0°65. 9, the ink is absorbed into the ink absorber 4, and as shown in FIG.
At the point P when the amount of ink impregnation becomes the same, the ink impregnated body 3 and the ink absorber 4 balance each other's ink impregnation amount while repeating supply and absorption of ink to the ink ribbon 2, as in the Qfl region. Can be well controlled. Therefore, it is possible to maintain an appropriate printing density range of 0.55 to 0.45 degrees, and furthermore, it is possible to effectively use the ink impregnated into the ink-impregnated body 3 when loading the cassette case. The ink impregnated into the ink-impregnated body 3 can be effectively used when the cassette case 1 is loaded. As described above, by providing the ink absorber 4 in addition to the ink-impregnated body 3, ink from the ink ribbon 2 is absorbed according to the amount of ink transferred from the ink ribbon 2 to the paper 17. In this way, the amount of ink impregnated into the ink ribbon 2 is made approximately constant over the entire area of the ink ribbon.

Generally, in the case of color printing, most of the ink of the black color stripe 2d of the ink ribbon 2 is transferred to the paper 17, followed by the red 2c, and the least of the blue 2b1 and yellow 2a. Therefore, when the ink ribbon 2 passes through the absorption roller 9, the amount of ink absorbed from the color stripes of yellow 2a%, blue 2b is the largest (the next largest amount is absorbed by red 2C, and the ink absorption from black 2d is the largest). A small amount is absorbed by the ink absorber 4. When used for general office work such as a word processor, the amount of ink transferred from the black stripe 2d of the ink ribbon 2 to the paper 17 becomes extremely large. By impregnating the body 4d with ink from the beginning and making it the same as the ink-impregnated body 3d, it is possible to only supply ink without absorbing ink from the black stripe 2d of the ink ribbon 2.

Effects of the Invention The present invention supplies ink to an endless ink ribbon made of a looped ribbon, conveys this ink ribbon to a paper surface on a platen, transfers the ink to the paper by a print head, and then transfers ink to the ink ribbon. absorbs residual ink,
Since the ink is re-impregnated, the ink from the ink ribbon that has returned without printing is absorbed, and the amount of ink supplied is almost uniform, and then the ink can be supplied to the ink ribbon, thus improving the print density. can perform stable printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the vicinity of the printing section of an impact printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the vicinity of the printing section of FIG. Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an ink ribbon, Fig. 5 is a graph showing a print density characteristic curve, and Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a conventional ink ribbon cassette. be. Fig. 1 1... Cassette case 2... Ink ribbon 3... Ink impregnated body 4... Ink absorber 8... Supply roller 9... Absorption roller agent Name: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao (1 person)

Claims (1)

[Claims] Ink is supplied to an endless ink ribbon made of a looped ribbon, the ink ribbon is conveyed to a paper surface on a platen, the ink of the ink ribbon is transferred to the paper surface by a print head, and then the ink ribbon is transferred to the ink ribbon. A printing method characterized by absorbing residual ink and supplying ink again.