EP 1419888 A2 20040519 - Thermal head printer and process for printing substantially light-insensitive recording materials.
Title (en)
Thermal head printer and process for printing substantially light-insensitive recording materials.
Title (de)
Thermokopfdrucker und Verfahren zum Drucken auf thermographischen Aufzeichnungsmaterialien
Title (fr)
Imprimante à tête thermique et procédé d'impression sur materiaux d'impression thermographiques
Publication
Application
Priority
- EP 03103788 A 20031014
- EP 02102569 A 20021113
Abstract (en)
A thermal head printer for printing but not perforating a substantially light-insensitive thermographic material, the thermal printer comprising: a transport system having a transport direction, n thermal heads, where n is an integer, each of the thermal heads comprising an array of substantially rectangular energizable heating elements, the heating elements having a length Ln in the transport direction and a pitch Pn between adjacent heating elements, and a means for supplying electrical energy to each of the substantially rectangular energizable heating elements in at least one of the thermal heads, the transport system being capable of transporting the light-insensitive thermographic material in contact or proximity with at least one of the thermal heads, characterized in that at least one of the thermal heads comprises heating elements for which Ln/Pn is between 0.25 and 0.88; a first process for printing a substantially light-insensitive thermographic material with the above-described thermal head printer; a second process for printing a substantially light-insensitive thermographic material at different printing speeds with a thermal head comprising heating elements without significant variation in image tone, characterized in that the length of the heating elements in the transport direction of the substantially light-insensitive thermographic material decreases with decreasing printing speed; and a third process for printing a substantially light-insensitive thermographic material at different printing speeds with a different thermal head at each printing speed without significant variation in image tone, characterized in that each of said different thermal heads comprises heating elements with a different length in the transport direction of the substantially light-insensitive thermographic material and the length of the heating elements in the transport direction of the substantially light-insensitive thermographic material decreases with decreasing printing speed. <IMAGE>
IPC 1-7
IPC 8 full level
B41J 2/32 (2006.01); B41J 2/335 (2006.01)
CPC (source: EP)
B41J 2/32 (2013.01); B41J 2/33545 (2013.01); B41J 2/3357 (2013.01)
Citation (applicant)
- US 5825395 A 19981020 - FUKUDA HIROSHI [JP]
- US 5559546 A 19960924 - SATO MITSUO [JP]
- JP S5889385 A 19830527 - CANON KK
- US 4841120 A 19890620 - YAGINO MASAMORI [JP], et al
- JP S6186271 A 19860501 - MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP
- US 5485193 A 19960116 - INOUE NOBUHIRO [JP], et al
- US 5483274 A 19960109 - INOUE NOBUHIRO [JP], et al
- US 4970530 A 19901113 - TAKEDA YUSUKE [JP]
Designated contracting state (EPC)
DE FR GB
DOCDB simple family (publication)
EP 1419888 A2 20040519; EP 1419888 A3 20040728; EP 1419888 B1 20070704
DOCDB simple family (application)
EP 03103788 A 20031014