EP0970818B1 - Dispositif d'impression par stencil - Google Patents

Dispositif d'impression par stencil Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0970818B1
EP0970818B1 EP19990113175 EP99113175A EP0970818B1 EP 0970818 B1 EP0970818 B1 EP 0970818B1 EP 19990113175 EP19990113175 EP 19990113175 EP 99113175 A EP99113175 A EP 99113175A EP 0970818 B1 EP0970818 B1 EP 0970818B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ink
drum
printing
stencil
stencil printing
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19990113175
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0970818A1 (fr
Inventor
Hideo c/oRISO KAGAKU Co. R & D Center Watanabe
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Riso Kagaku Corp
Original Assignee
Riso Kagaku Corp
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Riso Kagaku Corp filed Critical Riso Kagaku Corp
Publication of EP0970818A1 publication Critical patent/EP0970818A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0970818B1 publication Critical patent/EP0970818B1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41L—APPARATUS OR DEVICES FOR MANIFOLDING, DUPLICATING OR PRINTING FOR OFFICE OR OTHER COMMERCIAL PURPOSES; ADDRESSING MACHINES OR LIKE SERIES-PRINTING MACHINES
    • B41L13/00—Stencilling apparatus for office or other commercial use
    • B41L13/18—Inking units

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an apparatus for stencil printing, and more particularly relates to an apparatus for stencil printing which employs an ink that changes in phase from solid state to liquid state to improve drying of ink and inhibit occurrence of offset or seep through on prints, and in which a time required for warm-up before starting of printing is shortened and heat energy efficiency is improved.
  • Stencil printing is utilized in a wide range of fields since it is easy to make masters.
  • a considerable time is needed for drying of ink after stencil printing, and thus there are problems that when a printed paper is taken in hands just after printing, the ink transfers to hands or when papers printed by continuous printing are superposed, seep through of ink occurs and this phenomenon is especially conspicuous on papers inferior in permeability to ink, such as postal cards.
  • drying of conventional stencil printing inks depends on only penetration of oil phase components and evaporation of water phase, and, therefore, drying properties of ink are considerably deteriorated on papers of the type inferior in ink permeability.
  • thermosetting component to an oil phase and/or a water phase (JP-A-6-128516, JP-A-6-172691) and to add solid fine particles to an emulsion ink (JP-A-6-116525), but satisfactory results have not yet been obtained.
  • viscosity of ink varies depending on the environmental temperature, and, for example, ink becomes soft at high temperatures to cause seep through of ink or side or end leakage of ink, which is a phenomenon of leakage of ink from an end portion of a stencil sheet wound round a printing drum.
  • the object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for stencil printing, which employs an ink that changes in phase from solid state to liquid state to improve drying of the ink and inhibit occurrence of offset or seep through on prints as well as the side or end leakage of ink and which can shorten the time required for warm-up before starting of printing and can efficiently utilize heat energy.
  • a stencil printing device is known from EP-A-0 805 048 which comprises a heating device for heating and liquefying a solid ink fed into the plate printing cylinder.
  • the object can be attained by a stencil printing apparatus as defined in the above prior art document, further characterized as specified in present independent claim 1.
  • a hot-melt ink is used, which reversibly changes in phase from solid state to liquid state at a given temperature.
  • This hot-melt ink becomes liquid having a certain viscosity by a heating device at the time of stencil printing, and, hence, it can be transferred onto a material to be printed through the perforations of the stencil sheet.
  • the liquid ink transferred onto the material instantaneously changes in phase to solid state while the material is conveyed, and thus can be fixed on the material in a short time. Therefore, even when a print obtained by the present stencil printing apparatus is touched with hand, the hand is not soiled with the ink, and, besides, no seep through occurs when continuous printing is carried out.
  • the peripheral wall of the printing drum is made of an ink-permeable porous member which generates heat upon passing an electric current therethrough.
  • the peripheral wall of the drum through which the ink passes comprises a porous member which generates heat upon passing an electric current therethrough, and the porous member is connected to a suitable electric source and generates heat upon passing an electric current. Therefore, the hot-melt ink present inside or in the vicinity of the peripheral wall can be heated in a short time. As a result, the hot-melt ink in the vicinity of the stencil sheet first changes in phase from solid to liquid, and, thus, printing can be started immediately.
  • the temperature of not only the hot-melt ink but also the members contacting with the drum preferentially rises due to the heating energy of the porous member through which an electric current has been passed. Therefore, the temperature gradient of the present stencil printing apparatus is such that the temperature of the drum is the highest and the temperature lowers with increase of the distance from the drum, resulting in a smaller loss of energy due to heat conduction and heat radiation.
  • the hot-melt ink used in the present invention instantaneously changes in phase from liquid to solid, it does not penetrate into the material to be printed and no seep through of ink occurs. Therefore, according to the present invention, printing can be performed not only on usual printing papers and postal cards inferior in ink permeability, but also on films or metals.
  • the hot-melt ink is preferably one which reversibly changes in phase from solid state to liquid state at 30-150°C, preferably 40-120°C.
  • the solid state means a state of ink losing fluidity to such an extent that the ink does not adhere to a finger when the ink is touched with the finger
  • the liquid state means a state of ink higher in fluidity than in the solid state, preferably, a state of ink having a viscosity to such an extent that the ink can flow out through the perforations of the stencil sheet.
  • the phase changing temperature means the maximum temperature at which the ink keeps the solid state.
  • phase changing temperature is lower than 30°C, the ink is fluidized when the inside temperature of the stencil printing apparatus or the environmental temperature reaches 30°C, and this often causes stain of the printing apparatus and side or end leakage of the ink. If the phase changing temperature is higher than 150°C, the heating device for ink must be made larger, which needs a great energy, and, besides, longer time is required for changing the phase of ink to liquid state, and, thus, the waiting time before starting the printing becomes longer.
  • the hot-melt ink can be prepared by mixing a necessary amount of a colorant with the component reversibly changing in phase from solid state to liquid state at a specific temperature.
  • waxes, fatty acid amides, fatty acid esters, resins and the like are used, and examples thereof include carnauba wax, microcrystalline wax, polyethylene wax, montan wax, paraffin wax, candelilla wax, shellac wax, oxidized wax, ester wax, bees wax, Japan wax, spermaceti, stearic acid amide, lauric acid amide, behenic acid amide, caproic acid amide, palmitic acid amide, low molecular weight polyethylene, polystyrene, ⁇ -methylstyrene polymer, vinyltoluene, indene, polyamide, polyproylene, acrylic resin, alkyd resin, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer, and vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer.
  • Melting point or softening point of the reversibly phase-changing component is preferably 30-150°C, especially preferably
  • colorant examples include organic and inorganic pigments such as furnace carbon black, lamp black, cyanine blue, lake red, cyanine green, titanium oxide, and calcium carbonate, and dyes such as azo, anthraquinone and quinacridone dyes.
  • the hot-melt ink may contain anionic, cationic and nonionic dispersants such as sorbitan fatty acid esters, fatty acid monoglyceride and quaternary ammonium salts.
  • the hot-melt ink may be in the form of an oil ink and a W/O emulsion ink.
  • the oil ink is prepared by mixing and dissolving the reversibly phase-changing component, the colorant, the dispersant, etc.
  • the emulsion ink capable of changing in phase is prepared by dissolving and mixing the reversibly phase-changing component, the colorant, the dispersant and the like, and then adding thereto water phase components with stirring to emulsify the above components.
  • the colorant may be contained in the water phase.
  • viscosity of the ink is usually 10-1,000,000 cps, preferably 100-100,000 cps. If the viscosity of the ink in printing is lower than 10 cps, side or end leakage of ink, which is a phenomenon of ink leaking from the end or edge portion of a stencil sheet wound round a drum) occurs and furthermore the ink rapidly penetrates into the inside of a printed paper from the surface thereof to cause seep through. If the viscosity of the ink in printing is higher than 1,000,000 cps, the ink can hardly pass through the perforations of the stencil sheet, sometimes resulting in low printing density and unevenness in printing.
  • the stencil sheet and the printing paper are pressed together under a pressure of 0.01-10 kg/cm 2 , preferably 0.05-5 kg/cm 2 and the printing is carried out for 0.001-10 seconds, preferably 0.005-5 seconds. If the pressure is lower and the time is shorter, the ink in liquid state hardly passes through the perforated stencil sheet and, as a result, amount of the ink transferred onto the printing paper is small to cause low printing density and unevenness in prints.
  • Any stencil sheets of pressure-sensitive stencil sheets, heat-sensitive stencil sheets and soluble-type stencil sheets can be used for the stencil printing apparatus of the present invention.
  • the pressure-sensitive stencil sheets can be perforated directly by a stencil pen, dot printer, and the like to form an image.
  • the heat-sensitive stencil sheets can be perforated by superposing a light-absorbing original image and a stencil sheet one upon another and exposing them to flash light or by melting a stencil sheet by a thermal head to reproduce an image.
  • the soluble-type stencil sheet can be perforated by transferring a solvent onto the stencil sheet by means of a solvent ejecting device to reproduce an image and dissolve the stencil sheet at the image portions.
  • the peripheral wall of the drum of the present stencil printing apparatus comprises an ink-permeable porous member which generates heat upon passing an electric current therethrough. That is, the peripheral wall comprises a porous member which has many pores pierced so as to pass the ink from the inner surface to the outer surface of the drum and which generates heat upon passing an electric current by connecting with a suitable electric source.
  • Such heat generating porous members can be prepared by using heat generating resistance elements such as reticulate heaters comprising a reticulate fabric such as a woven fabric, a nonwoven fabric or a gauze which is impregnated or coated with an electroconductive resin such as carbon black graft polymer, porous ceramics mainly composed of barium titanate or the like and having PTC (positive temperature coefficient) characteristics, and glass-like (amorphous) carbon porous body. Preferred are those which are of self-temperature-controlling type.
  • This heat generating resistance element alone may be molded into a porous molded article and this may be used as the peripheral wall of a cylindrical drum, but in order to maintain mechanical strength, a porous layer of said heat generating resistance element may be laminated on a cylindrical porous structure such as a punching metal, a metal sintered body having communicating pores, a polymer porous body having communicating pores, or the like. Furthermore, if necessary, ink-permeable materials used for drums of conventional stencil printing apparatuses, such as metal fibers, synthetic fibers, screen meshes, and polymeric porous sheets are wound round said porous members to make a peripheral wall of multi-layer structure.
  • the peripheral wall of the cylindrical drum may be previously impregnated with a hot-melt ink. That is, during the drum being not heated, the hot-melt ink which is solid is in the state of being present on the surface of the porous member and filled in the pores of the porous member, but when an electric current is passed through the porous member, the inside of the porous member is heated to make the hot-melt ink liquid. At this time, if a perforated stencil sheet is mounted on the porous member, immediately, it becomes possible to carry out printing with the liquid ink.
  • the hot-melt ink is heated to make liquid, a cylindrical drum is immersed in this liquid ink to fill the pores of the porous member with the ink, and then the drum is taken out from the liquid ink.
  • the liquid ink filled in the pores of the porous member becomes solid when cooled to lower than the phase changing temperature.
  • a drum filled with a solid ink is obtained.
  • it can also be obtained by heating the peripheral wall under rotating the drum, and coating the peripheral wall with solid or liquid hot-melt ink.
  • the peripheral wall of the drum generates heat upon passing an electric current therethrough whereby the ink in the vicinity of the peripheral wall is heated to become liquid, and is squeezed out of the peripheral wall by a squeezing means disposed inside the rotating drum in contact with the inner peripheral surface of the drum and transferred onto the stencil sheet always in liquid state.
  • the ink which is present in the vicinity of the squeezing means in the drum and does not reach the peripheral wall need not be necessarily liquid. That is, when the ink previously filled in the peripheral wall of the drum is consumed for printing and becomes insufficient, hot-melt ink in solid state may be supplied into the drum to continue the printing. The supplied solid ink shortly becomes liquid with heating by the peripheral wall of the drum and is used for printing.
  • a perforated stencil sheet is wound round the outer peripheral surface of the drum which rotates around its central axis as in the case of conventional rotary stencil printing apparatuses, and, in the state of a printing paper being moved synchronously with the rotation of the drum, at least one of the drum and the printing paper is pressed by a pressing mechanism to bring them into close contact with each other, whereby the hot-melt ink which has changed in phase from solid state to liquid state by heat inside the drum is allowed to pass through the perforations of the stencil sheet and transferred onto the printing paper.
  • a pressing mechanism to bring them into close contact with each other
  • the pressing mechanism is provided, for example, outside the drum in opposition thereto, and can be a pressing means comprising a rigid body or an elastic body which presses the outer peripheral surface of the drum, such as a metal roller, a rubber roller or the like, or can be a means which presses outwardly the squeezing means comprising a rigid body or an elastic body such as a metal roller, a plastic roller or the like to expand the peripheral wall of the drum.
  • the stencil printing apparatus of FIG. 1 has an ink-permeable cylindrical printing drum 1, and the peripheral wall of the drum 1 is made of a porous member comprising a cylindrical punching metal 1 a and a reticulate heat generating resistance element 1 b wound round the outer surface of the peripheral wall.
  • This reticulate heat generating resistance element 1 b is an ink-permeable reticulate heater comprising a glass cloth coated and impregnated with an electroconductive resin, and is connected to an electric source (not shown) through an electrode (not shown) and generates heat upon passing an electric current therethrough.
  • a perforated stencil sheet 2 is wound round the outer peripheral surface of the drum 1 comprising the porous member.
  • the stencil printing apparatus has as a squeezing means a squeeze roller 3 disposed internally contacting with the inner surface of the cylindrical punching metal 1 a .
  • a press roller 4 as a pressing mechanism which presses a printing paper 5 to the stencil sheet 2 and simultaneously rotates synchronously with the rotation of the drum 1 to carry the printing paper 5.
  • the peripheral wall of the drum upon passing an electric current through the reticulate heat generating resistance element 1 b , the peripheral wall of the drum generates heat and the hot-melt ink present in the peripheral wall and in the vicinity of the wall is changed in phase from solid to a liquid ink 6.
  • the liquid ink 6 is squeezed out of the drum 1 by the squeeze roller 3 and the liquid ink which passes through the stencil sheet 2 is transferred onto the printing paper 5, and, thus, printing is performed.
  • the transferred ink is exposed to room temperature during carrying of the printing paper 5, the ink instantaneously becomes solid ink 7 and is fixed.
  • the stencil printing apparatus of FIG. 2 is the same as that of FIG. 1, except that the peripheral wall of the drum 1 is made of an ink-permeable cylindrical porous member comprising a foamed and molded body of electroconductive carbon.
  • the electrode and electric source for passing an electric current through the porous member are not shown. According to this construction, the drum of the present invention can be manufactured easily at a low cost.
  • Stencil printing was carried out in the following manner using the stencil printing apparatus of FIG. 1.
  • An ink-permeable reticulate heat generating resistance element 1 b comprising a glass cloth coated and impregnated with an electroconductive resin of a carbon black graft polymer was wound round the outer peripheral surface of a cylindrical punching metal 1 a of 10 cm in diameter having pores of 1 mm in pore diameter (opening ratio 25%), and slidable electrodes were provided at both ends of the heat generating resistance element to form a drum 1.
  • a metal roller of 2 cm in diameter disposed so as to slidably contact with the inner peripheral surface of the drum 1 by a pressing mechanism not shown was used as the squeeze roller 3.
  • a perforated stencil sheet 2 was wound round the outer periphery of the drum 1.
  • Stencil printing was carried out using the stencil printing apparatus of FIG. 2 in the following manner.
  • Electrodes were provided at both ends of a cylindrical foamed body that was molded out of electroconductive carbon (average pore size: 10 ⁇ m, porosity: 60%) of 5 cm in inner diameter, 6 cm in outer diameter, and 20 cm in length, and this was employed as the drum 1. Then, an electric current was passed through the drum 1 to heat the drum while the same hot-melt ink as in Example 1 is supplied to the drum 1.
  • temperature of the squeeze roller 3 reached 70°C at its surface contacting the drum 1
  • the hot-melt ink changed in phase from solid state to liquid state, and upon carrying out stencil printing in the same manner as in Example 1, clear images were printed. Even if the print was rubbed with hands, the hands were not stained with ink.
  • the peripheral wall of the cylindrical printing drum of the stencil printing apparatus comprises an ink-permeable porous member which generates heat by passing an electric current
  • warm-up time before starting the printing can be shortened, and, furthermore, heat energy can be efficiently used for printing.
  • a hot-melt ink is used, clear prints free from set-off or seep through can be obtained, and, besides, even if the prints just after printed are touched, the prints are not stained and printing can be efficiently performed.
  • the ink instantaneously changes in phase from liquid to solid on the printing paper printing can be performed not only on normal printing papers or postal cards inferior in ink permeability, but also on films or metals.

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  • Manufacture Or Reproduction Of Printing Formes (AREA)
  • Printing Methods (AREA)
  • Inks, Pencil-Leads, Or Crayons (AREA)

Claims (4)

  1. Dispositif d'impression par stencil comprenant
    un tambour (1) cylindrique d'impression qui peut tourner par rapport à son axe central, alors qu'une feuille (2) perforée de stencil est enroulée sur sa surface périphérique extérieure,
    un moyen (3) d'exprimage qui est disposé en contact intérieur avec une surface périphérique intérieure du tambour (1a), une encre (26) d'impression au stencil apte à changer de manière réversible de phase en passant de l'état solide à l'état liquide étant fournie et chauffée à son point de liquéfaction par un dispositif (1b) de chauffage, et
    un mécanisme (4) de compression qui presse le tambour et un papier (5) d'impression, le tambour et le papier d'impression étant, alors que le papier d'impression est déplacé en synchronisme avec la rotation du tambour, mis en contact étroit l'un avec l'autre et l'ancre (6) à l'état liquide étant transférée de la surface (1a) intérieure du tambour au papier (5) d'impression à travers la feuille (2) de stencil, caractérisé en ce que le dispositif (1b) de chauffage comprend une membrane poreuse et perméable à l'encre, qui engendre de la chaleur lorsqu'un courant électrique y passe, et qui est disposé sur la paroi périphérique du tambour (1a).
  2. Dispositif d'impression par stencil suivant la revendication 1, dans lequel la paroi périphérique du tambour comprend une matière poreuse cylindrique sur laquelle est appliquée une couche poreuse d'un élément résistant engendrant de la chaleur.
  3. Dispositif d'impression par stencil suivant la revendication 1, dans lequel la paroi périphérique du tambour comprend un corps poreux moulé d'un élément résistant engendrant de la chaleur.
  4. Dispositif d'impression par stencil suivant la revendication 1, dans lequel l'encre d'impression par stencil change réversiblement de phase en passant de l'état solide à l'état liquide à une température comprise entre 30 et 150°C.
EP19990113175 1998-07-10 1999-07-07 Dispositif d'impression par stencil Expired - Lifetime EP0970818B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP21198698A JP3561152B2 (ja) 1998-07-10 1998-07-10 孔版印刷装置
JP21198698 1998-07-10

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0970818A1 EP0970818A1 (fr) 2000-01-12
EP0970818B1 true EP0970818B1 (fr) 2003-04-16

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EP19990113175 Expired - Lifetime EP0970818B1 (fr) 1998-07-10 1999-07-07 Dispositif d'impression par stencil

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EP (1) EP0970818B1 (fr)
JP (1) JP3561152B2 (fr)
DE (1) DE69906889T2 (fr)

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US2731912A (en) * 1956-01-24 Welsh
GB2050946B (en) * 1979-05-30 1983-02-16 Tdk Electronics Co Ltd Hot melt screen printing machine and process for producing a screen printing plate
JPH06116525A (ja) 1992-10-02 1994-04-26 Toyo Ink Mfg Co Ltd 孔版印刷用インキ組成物
JP3314962B2 (ja) 1992-10-14 2002-08-19 理想科学工業株式会社 孔版印刷用エマルジョンインクおよび孔版印刷方法
JP3245627B2 (ja) 1992-12-10 2002-01-15 株式会社リコー 孔版印刷用エマルジョンインキ
JPH09295452A (ja) * 1996-05-01 1997-11-18 Riso Kagaku Corp 孔版印刷装置

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JP3561152B2 (ja) 2004-09-02
EP0970818A1 (fr) 2000-01-12
DE69906889D1 (de) 2003-05-22
JP2000025323A (ja) 2000-01-25
DE69906889T2 (de) 2004-02-26

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