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EP0111297A2 Expired / Lapsed EP ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Thermal printing apparatus

Assignee: Toshiba Corp
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Filing: 1983-12-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2003-12-06
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Abstract

Abstract A thermal printing apparatus is provided with a thermal printing section (22) for selectively heating a heatsensitive color developing printing medium coated with diazonium compound to form an image thereon, and a photo-fixing section (24) for illuminating the printing medium thermally printed with light to fix the image formed. In the photo-fixing section (24), the printing medium is illuminated with normal light, for example, light from a fluorescent lamp, and an amount of normal light is always detected. When the light amount is insufficient, the light amount is compensated for by lighting an auxilliary fluorescent lamp (120), increasing the lamp current, or the like

Inventors

  • 👤 Kimiyoshi Arai
  • 👤 Shigeki Kimata
  • 👤 Hiroyuki Takamatsu
  • 👤 Yuichi Kozuchi

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction EP
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-11-04 19:48
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03C; G03C5/00; G03C5/18; B; B41; B41J; B41J2/00; B41J2/315; B41J2/32; G07; G07B; G07B1/00

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim 85 words
A thermal printing apparatus comprising thermal printing means (22) for selectively heating a printing medium which develops color with heat applied and loses its color developing function by light applied, thereby to form an image on the printing medium, and photo-fixing means (24) for illuminating the printing medium bearing the image formed by said thermal printing means (22) with light, thereby to disable the color development in the portions not heated of the printing medium, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) irradiates normal light.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 85 words
A thermal printing apparatus comprising thermal printing means (22) for selectively heating a printing medium which develops color with heat applied and loses its color developing function by light applied, thereby to form an image on the printing medium, and photo-fixing means (24) for illuminating the printing medium bearing the image formed by said thermal printing means (22) with light, thereby to disable the color development in the portions not heated of the printing medium, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) irradiates normal light.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 31 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said printing medium is coated with diazonium compound sensitive to normal light with a wavelength from 300 to 450 nm.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 30 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim l, characterized in that said printing medium is shielded from light until said printing medium is heated by said thermal printing means (22).
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 54 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said printing medium is shaped like a card, a plurality of said printing medium are stored in a hopper, and supplied sheet by sheet to said thermal printing means (22), and the uppermost of those printing mediums is not used for ordinary printing.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim 35 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) comprises a plurality of fluorescent lamps arranged at an angle with respect to the transfer direction of said printing medium.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim 47 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said fluorescent lamps are disposed orthogonal to the transfer direction of said printing medium, and the portion except the blackened portions when the fluorescent lamp is used for a long time is used for the fixing.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 38 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that the gap between the filaments of said fluorescent lamp is at least 10 mm longer than the dimension orthogonal to the transfer path of said printing medium.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 30 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said fluorescent lamp is of the aperture type having an aperture facing the transfer path of said printing medium.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 41 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim l, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) has photosensing means for sensing the illuminated light, and increases the illuminating light amount when an amount of the detected light is below a predetermined amount.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim 34 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) includes a plurality of fluorescent lamps and increases the lamp current or the power voltage of said fluorescent lamps.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim 32 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) includes regular fluorescent lamps and an auxiliary fluorescent lamp (120) used when the illuminating light amount decreases.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim 28 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 9, characterized by further comprising means (134, 136) for issuing an alarm when the illuminating amount is below a predetermined amount.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim 26 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) includes a plurality of photosensors provided respectively for said fluorescent lamps.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim 31 words
A thermal printing apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that said photo-fixing means (24) includes a photosensor for sensing a total amount of the light from said regular fluorescent lamps.

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