JPH0825287B2 - Thermal transfer method and apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a thermal transfer method and apparatus capable of quickly responding to markings such as a small number and various kinds of personal identification marks such as writing instruments such as pencils and ballpoint pens.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a thermal transfer film such as hot stamping has a release layer 16, a metal layer (pigment, vapor deposition, etc.) formed on the upper surface of a base film 15 such as polyester or nylon as shown in FIG. 4 as an example. Layer) 17, aluminum vapor deposition layer 1
8, the transfer material layer 14 including the adhesive material layer 19 and the like, and the transfer material layer is positioned on the surface (transferred surface) of a writing instrument such as paper, resin molding, or pencil, and the bottom surface of the base film. From the (back side), a gold stamp (printed stamp) with the printing part engraved
It is so-called that the adhesive layer immediately below the printing portion is melted by appropriately heating and pressing, and the pigment or the metal layer is transferred (peeled) from the film to the transferred surface by printing (peeling) from the film. Commonly known as hot stamping.

The same applies when the transfer material layer is an ink layer made of carbon black or pigment mixed with a solvent.

On the other hand, in a heat-sensitive transfer material composed of a heat-meltable ink layer provided on the upper surface of the base film, the ink layer is melted by a heat pulse applied from the heating head from the lower surface (back surface) of the film, and the transferred material such as paper is transferred. There is known a so-called thermal transfer device of a thermal printer that transfers images onto a surface.

There is known a print head of a so-called wire dot printer in which a plurality of printing wires are advanced and retreated at high speed by an electromagnetic driving device to print on a paper or the like through an ink ribbon impregnated with ink.

Further, a so-called typewriter is also known in which an engraved printing element is also printed on paper or the like via an ink ribbon.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Various resin moldings such as paper and daily necessities, or pencils, ballpoint pens, and other writing implements, on the surface of which are a small amount of each, but various names such as personal names, companies, schools, etc. Is needed. There are various measures to deal with this, but hot stamping is used because of its quality, cost, and convenience.

However, the conventional method using hot stamping or the like is convenient when a large amount of the same print pattern is printed, but has the following problems when performing a small amount of various prints.

(1) When changing the print pattern, it is necessary to replace the gold plate on which the print is engraved, and the work including the adjustment of the setting is not necessary. As an improvement, there is one in which printing is engraved on the peripheral surface of the disk, but the actual situation is that the difference is not improved.

(2) Since the gold plate is heated, it is necessary to take safety precautions when replacing it.

(3) The gold stamp with markings engraved on the peripheral surface of the disk rotates to determine the required markings, but hiragana, katakana,
It is a limited group of characters such as alphanumeric characters, and it is not possible to include the kanji that you want to print or change the print size.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to print various kinds in small amounts, without touching a heated gold plate, and arbitrary characters including Chinese characters regardless of size. It is an object of the present invention to provide a thermal transfer method and apparatus capable of hot stamping.

[Means for solving the problem]

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have focused on a wire dot printer or typewriter printing that can print various characters, symbols, figures, etc. without exchanging them in gold, and We have studied the application to hot stamping and found that this application is possible by instantly heating the printing part, and completed the present invention.

1. Provide a transfer material layer including a metal thin layer, a pigment and / or a metal thin layer, which is engraved and transferred in a concave shape on a transfer target by pressurization and heating on the upper surface of the base film, and the printer head pin of the printer head pin is provided on the lower surface of the film. A thermal transfer film provided with a heat-generating material layer made of a metal that has strength and cushioning force when a concave portion is formed on a transferred body by contact pressure and that generates heat when a voltage is applied between the head pin and the head transfer layer. The transfer material layer is positioned substantially in contact with the surface to be transferred, and the print wire composed of a print wire of a wire dot printer or a print element of a typewriter is positioned so as to face the heat generating material layer, and the print wire is Immediately after contact-pressurizing the heat-generating material layer to form a concave portion on the transfer target, a voltage is applied between the heat-generating material layer and the printing portion to heat the pressure portion, and this heat is applied to the transfer material layer. By reached, a thermal transfer method characterized by transferring a transfer material layer which is melted in the concave to form a recess on the transfer surface.

2. A transfer material layer containing a thin metal layer, a pigment and / or a thin metal layer is provided on the upper surface of the base film, and strength and strength are provided when a concave portion is formed on the transfer target body by contact pressure of a printer head pin on the lower surface of the film. A thermal transfer film having a buffering force and provided with a heat generating material layer made of a metal that generates heat when a voltage is applied is positioned such that the transfer material layer is in substantially contact with the surface to be transferred and is movable in the film length direction. The printing portion of the printing device including the printing wire of the wire dot printer or the printing element of the typewriter is positioned so as to face the heating material layer, and the guide roller is provided in contact with the heating material layer. , The print wire and the print head were configured so that a voltage could be applied so that a current could flow, and the print device was operated, and the print wire contacted and pressed the heat generating material layer. After applying a voltage, the pressure portion is heated, configured thermal transfer device to transfer the transfer material layer which is melted in a recessed marking portion of the transferred surface.

On the upper surface of the thermal transfer film used in the present invention, a transfer material layer including a metal thin layer, a pigment and / or a metal thin layer, which is to be imprinted in a concave shape on a transfer target by pressure and heating, is provided. On the lower surface of the film, when a concave portion is formed in the transferred body by contact pressure of a printer head pin, strength and buffering force are applied so that the pin does not stick through the film, and a voltage is applied between the head pin and the film. A heat generating material made of a metal that sometimes generates heat is provided.

The heat transfer film used in the present invention also provides strength and cushioning force so that the pins do not stick out of the film when forming a recess in the transferred body by contact pressure of a printer head pin on the lower surface of the base film, and a head pin. A heat generating material layer made of a metal that generates heat when a voltage is applied is provided between and. The heat generating material layer is a layer formed by vapor-depositing a metal such as aluminum or a layer formed by laminating a metal foil, and is therefore conductive. Although one pole of the voltage is brought into contact with this heat generating material layer, it is preferable that the heat generating material layer be (+) in consideration of electrolytic corrosion wear. The film is movable in the length direction, and the film on which the transfer material layer has been transferred once and which has a peeled portion is wound up so that a new transfer material layer faces the transferred surface.

Therefore, since the film moves, it may be energized by a sliding piece or a fixed guide to apply a voltage to it.
In consideration of the maintenance of the heat generating material layer of the film, it is preferable to energize with a guide roller. If this voltage is applied before the printing wire contacts the heating material layer, it will spark between them and the tips of the printing wires will wear out greatly, affecting the life of the heating material layer. Immediately after the wire comes into contact with and pressurizes the material to be transferred so as to form a concave portion, the voltage is applied immediately after which the resistance heating is controlled to be stable.

In the printing part of the wire of one wire dot printer or the printing element of the typewriter, the other pole [normal (-) pole] is attached to the print head electrically connected to them.
Connect. That is, the current flows from the driver circuit (Fig. 1) to the guide roller, the heating material layer, the print wire, and the print head to return to the driver circuit.

[Action]

When the printing device is not operating, the printing portion is separated from the heat generating material layer of the film, so that no current flows through the heat generating material layer. When the printing device is activated and the wire advances and pressurizes the heating material layer, for example, a current flows from the heating material layer to the wire immediately after that, and the current density increases due to point contact at the contact point. The most heat is generated in the pressure section. Since the heat generating material layer is thin and the pressing portion has an extremely small area, the heat capacity is small and the temperature rises instantaneously. This heat is conducted to the transfer material layer through the base film, the ink or the adhesive material layer is melted, and the transfer material layer is transferred to the surface to be transferred by the pressing force. A wire dot printer that combines characters at the tip of the wire to draw characters or symbols is known. Since the wire repeatedly pressurizes the print pattern in accordance with the scanning of the print head 8, the desired pattern is printed on the transfer surface.

In the case of a printing element such as a typewriter engraved, an electric current is applied between this and the heating material layer 4 in the same manner as described above to generate heat,
Transfer can be performed by melting the ink of the transfer material layer or the adhesive material layer.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Examples, but the present invention is not limited to these Examples.

1 and 2 are side sectional views of the device of the present invention,
The control circuit 11, its keyboard 10 and driver circuit 12 are shown in a block diagram.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the thermal transfer film 1 used in the present invention.

The thermal transfer film 1 is shown in an enlarged thickness for the purpose of explaining the structure, but the actual thickness is about 100 μm.

In this thermal transfer film 1, a transfer material layer 3 is provided on the upper surface of a base film 2 made of nylon or polyester. The transfer material layer contains oleic acid, sorbitan trioleate mixed with a solvent such as mineral oil, carbon black,
The adhesive layer 19 may be used as an ink layer made of a pigment or the like.
With the medium as an intermediary, an aluminum vapor deposition layer 18 in which a metal such as aluminum is vapor deposited is provided on a colored layer 17 made of a metal layer such as a pigment or vapor deposition, and a peeling layer 16 is provided under the colored layer for peeling off the metal foil. Those provided are most preferable. When the transfer material layer is locally pressed and heated, the ink or the adhesive material layer is melted and the ink or the foil portion can be transferred to the transfer surface.

On the lower surface of the base film 2, there is provided a heat generating material layer 4 made of a layer in which a metal such as aluminum is deposited or a layer in which a metal foil is laminated.

The heat generating material layer is electrically conductive because it is made of a thin metal layer.

When the tip of the wire of the wire dot printer or the printing element of the nypreter touches this layer, the area of the contact point is small and the current density becomes large, so this pressure part is resistance-heated and instantly generates heat. This heat is conducted to the transfer material layer to melt the ink or the adhesive material layer.

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are side sectional views of an apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, which is a side sectional view of a name imprinting thermal transfer apparatus for a pencil to which a wire dot printer is applied. FIG. 1 shows the position where the tip of the wire presses the thermal transfer film to transfer it, and FIG. 2 shows the state after the transfer operation.

In FIG. 1, when a character to be transferred is input with the keyboard 10, the driver circuit 12 is actuated by the command of the control circuit 11, the solenoid 9 is excited, and the tip of the extruded printing wire 5 is transferred to the thermal transfer film 1. Is strongly pressed against the transferred surface 7 of the pencil 6. (Pressure for forming concave portion) With this, an energization path is formed from the driver circuit 12 to the guide roller 13 of the thermal transfer film 1, the heating material layer 4, the print wire 5, the print head 8, and the driver circuit 12 again.

In this state, immediately after this, when the driver circuit 12 is activated by the command of the control circuit 11 and energized, the printing wire 5
Since the current density of the pressurizing portion of the heat generating material layer 4 which is in point contact with is high, heat is generated only in this portion (electric heating). Since the heat generating material layer is thin and the pressing portion has an extremely small area, the heat capacity is small and the temperature rises instantaneously. This heat is conducted to the transfer material layer through the base film to melt the ink or the adhesive material layer, and since the transfer material layer is strongly pressed by the tip of the printing wire 5, the transfer surface 7 of the pencil 6 is It is deeply transferred and transcribed. Since the thermal transfer film has a thickness of about 100 μm, the shape of the tip of the printing wire 5 is transmitted to the transferred surface 7.

FIG. 2 shows the state after the transfer operation. The operation of the driver circuit 12 is restored by the command of the control circuit 11, and the power supply to the heating material layer 4 and the solenoid 9 is cut off,
The extruded printing wire 5 also returns to the origin.

As seen on the transferred surface 7 of the pencil 6, the printing wire 5
The transfer material layer 3 of the thermal transfer film 1 is transferred to the transfer surface 7 of the pencil 6 in a concave shape only in the area where the is extruded.

Before the next print transfer operation is performed, the thermal transfer film 1 is guided by the guide roller 13 and a new portion is set in front of the transfer surface 7.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the method and apparatus of the present invention, printing can be performed by an input method similar to that of a personal computer, a word processor, etc., and there is no need to replace a high temperature gold stamp unlike the conventional hot stamping. Can respond quickly. Further, since it is not necessary to heat the gold plate, it is possible to expect an effect that the gold plate can be easily replaced even when it is used for conventional hot stamping.

Also, a thermal transfer method using a thermal head still exists, but this is transfer to the surface of the transfer target, and there is a possibility that it will disappear if the surface is rubbed.

The present invention, the transfer material together with the heat of the tip of the printing wire,
Since the transferred object is transferred in a concave shape like engraving, an aesthetic feeling is obtained, and even if the transfer surface is rubbed, the printing is not erased.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view (during transfer operation) of an example of the thermal transfer device of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a state after the transfer operation in FIG. FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional explanatory view of the thermal transfer film used in the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional explanatory view of a thermal transfer film used for conventional hot stamping or the like. 1 ... Thermal transfer film, 2 ... Base film, 3 ...
Transfer material layer, 4 ... Heating material layer, 5 ... Printing wire, 6 ...
… Pencil, 7 …… Transfer surface, 8 …… Print head, 9 …… Solenoid, 10 …… Keyboard, 11 …… Control circuit, 12 …… Driver circuit, 13 …… Guide roller, 14
…… Transfer material layer, 15 …… Base film, 16 …… Release layer,
17 …… Metal layer (colored layer) made of pigment or vapor deposition, 18 …… Aluminum vapor deposition layer, 19 …… Adhesive layer.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical display location B41M 5/20 5/26 B41J 3/10 108 (72) Inventor Mineo Ikeda 4 Izumi, Suginami-ku, Tokyo Chome 51-15 15 Japan Technato Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP 62-290562 (JP, A) JP 57-201694 (JP, A) JP 1-123766 (JP, A) Open Sho 63-81074 (JP, A) Actual Open Sho 62-90143 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transfer material layer including a metal thin layer, a pigment and / or a metal thin layer, which is engraved and transferred in a concave shape on a transfer target by pressing and heating, is provided on the upper surface of a base film, and the transfer material layer is provided on the lower surface of the film. A thermal transfer film provided with a heat generating material layer made of metal that has strength and buffering force when a concave portion is formed on a transfer target by contact pressure of a printer head pin and that generates heat by applying a voltage between the head pin and the transfer head. With the transfer material layer positioned substantially in contact with the surface to be transferred, and facing the heat generating material layer with a printing portion composed of a printing wire of a wire dot printer or a printing element of a typewriter, and the like. Immediately after the printing wire contacts and pressurizes the heat-generating material layer to form the concave portion on the transfer target, a voltage is applied between the heat-generating material layer and the printing portion to heat the pressure-applying portion, and this heat is generated. By transferred to copy material layer, a thermal transfer method characterized by transferring a transfer material layer which is melted in the concave to form a recess on the transfer surface. 2. When a transfer material layer containing a metal thin layer, a pigment and / or a metal thin layer is provided on the upper surface of a base film, and a concave portion is formed on a transfer medium by contact pressure of a printer head pin on the lower surface of the film. A thermal transfer film having a heat generating material layer made of a metal that generates heat when a voltage is applied and has strength and a buffering force is positioned so that the transfer material layer is substantially in contact with the transfer surface and is movable in the film length direction. Then, facing the heat generating material layer, a printing portion of a printing device comprising a printing wire of a wire dot printer or a printing element of a typewriter is positioned, and a guide roller that comes into contact with the heat generating material layer is provided. It is configured to apply a voltage so that current flows to the heat generating material layer, the print wire, and the print head, and the printing device is operated to bring the print wire into contact with the heat generating material layer. Pressure was applied a voltage immediately after the pressing by heating, constituting the thermal transfer device to transfer the transfer material layer which is melted in a recessed marking portion of the transferred surface.