Inked film feeding for a thermal printer

摘要

A thermal printer for transferring ink from an inked film onto paper using a thermal head includes an inked film feeding mechanism for feeding the inked film, a paper feeding mechanism for feeding the paper, and a platen located opposite the thermal head. For printing the thermal head is brought to the platen with a paper positioned between the thermal head and the platen by the paper feeding mechanism. A release mechanism for releasing the thermal head from the platen is provided. Also provided is a control apparatus which responds to the activation of the release mechanism to disable the film feeding mechanism, thereby stopping the feeding of the inked film at the time the thermal head is released from the platen. The control apparatus also operates to enable the paper feeding mechanism to feed the paper between the thermal head and platen when the thermal head is released from the platen. With this apparatus, the inked film is not fed by the film feeding mechanism while the paper is being fed between the thermal head and the platen.