JP2001154546A - Device and method for reproducing recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording medium reproducing device for efficiently performing the reproduction processing of a recording medium. SOLUTION: This reproducing device 1 for supplying an aqueous solvent 22 to a paper sheet 4 whose at least surface layer is water swelling and removing a printing material from the paper sheet 4 is provided with (a) a pre-drying part 10 for performing a drying processing to the paper sheet 4 so as to reduce a water content contained in the paper sheet 4 compared to the paper sheet 4 before the drying processing, (b) a supply part 20 for supplying the aqueous solvent 22 to the surface layer of the paper sheet 4 dried by the pre-drying part 10, (c) a printing material removal part 28 for removing the printing material from the surface layer of the paper sheet 4 supplied with the aqueous solvent 22 and swollen and (d) a dehumidification means arranged between the pre-drying part 10 and the supply part 20 for keeping the paper sheet 4 under a dehumidified environment. The dehumidification means is provided with a dehumidification unit 19 and the reproducing device 1 performs processes to the pre-drying process of the paper sheet 4 beforehand and keeps the paper sheet 4 inside the dehumidification unit 19.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording medium reproducing apparatus and a method for removing a printing material printed on a recording material. Specifically, after a recording medium (eg, copy paper, print paper, OHP sheet) is brought into contact with a liquid, a recording medium reproduction that removes a printing material (eg, toner, ink) fixed on the recording medium is performed. Apparatus and method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art From the viewpoint of resource reuse, an apparatus for reproducing a recording medium by removing a printing material from a recording material (copied or printed) on which an image is formed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer. Various proposals have been made.

[0003] Among such recording medium reproducing apparatuses, an apparatus using a dedicated sheet having a water-swellable surface layer as a recording material is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-7-140554 (here, "water swelling"). The term "property" means that the substance expands by absorbing water or an aqueous solvent, but does not dissolve in the water or aqueous solvent.) In this case, the recording material is immersed in a liquid mainly composed of water, so that the liquid penetrates into the surface layer and the contact force between the printing material and the surface layer is reduced. Subsequently, the printing material is peeled off by a printing material removing means using a mechanical rubbing force such as a brush. Finally, the recording material is dried until the recording material can be reused.

It has also been found that when a recording material having a water-swellable surface layer is not used for a long time, especially when the recording material is left in a high humidity environment, it is difficult to remove the printing material. The present applicant has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 10-240059.
In the recording medium reproducing apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-207, a pre-processing unit for drying the surface layer of the recording material is provided before supplying the liquid to the recording material (pre-drying step).

[0005]

Since the predrying step is a step of drying the recording material to which the printing material has adhered, it must be performed at a temperature at which the printing material does not melt. Therefore, in order to dry the recording material slowly, the pre-drying step requires a longer processing time than the other steps. On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the user, in order to process as much recording material as possible, there is a demand that the reproducing apparatus be operated and the reproducing process be performed for a long time while being away from the recording medium reproducing apparatus for some reason. There is. However, since the reproducing apparatus has an immersion step of immersing the recording material in a liquid, there is a relatively high risk of jamming during transport of the recording material in the reproducing apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording medium reproducing apparatus for efficiently performing a recording material reproducing process.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an aqueous solvent is supplied to a recording material having at least a surface layer that is water-swellable, and a printing material is formed on the recording material. (A) drying means for drying the recording material so that the amount of water contained in the recording material is smaller than that of the recording material before the drying process;
(B) supply means for supplying an aqueous solvent to the surface layer of the recording material dried by the drying means, (c) printing material removing means for removing the printing material from the surface layer of the recording material swollen by supplying the aqueous solvent, (D) a dehumidifying unit that is disposed between the drying unit and the supplying unit and that stores the recording material in a dehumidifying environment.

[0008] In the first embodiment, the dehumidifying section includes:
It has a closing unit for storing the recording material and a dehumidifying unit for dehumidifying the unit.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording medium reproducing method for supplying an aqueous solvent to a recording material having at least a surface layer which is water-swellable and removing a printing material from the recording material.
(A) a drying process of drying the recording material so that the amount of water contained in the recording material is smaller than that of the recording material before the drying process; and (b) dehumidifying the recording material dried in the drying process. (C) a supply step of supplying an aqueous solvent to the surface layer of the recording material placed in the dehumidification environment in the dehumidification step; and (d) a recording medium to which the aqueous solvent has been supplied and swollen. A printing material removing step of removing the printing material from the surface layer of the material.

[0010]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, “downstream with respect to the paper transport direction” and “upstream with respect to the paper transport direction” are simply referred to as “downstream”, respectively.
Called "upstream".

(1) Recording Medium Reproducing Apparatus FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a recording medium reproducing apparatus (hereinafter, referred to as "reproducing apparatus") 1. The reproducing apparatus 1 reproduces the paper in a reusable state by removing the toner from a copy or printed matter having a toner image formed on the surface of a special paper using an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. Things.

(2) Paper This special paper is composed of a base material layer, an intermediate adhesive layer, and a surface layer.
It has a five-layer structure in which an intermediate adhesive layer and a surface layer are provided on both surfaces of a layer or a base material layer, respectively. As the base material layer, a plastic film, paper, or the like is used. The intermediate adhesive is for bonding the surface layer to the base material layer, and for example, a urethane resin, an acrylic resin, a styrene resin, or the like is used. If the adhesiveness is good, this intermediate adhesive layer can be omitted.
The surface layer is made of a water-swellable resin obtained by crosslinking a water-soluble resin. The paper and the composition of each layer constituting the paper are described in JP-A-11-2189 by the present applicant.
No. 55 describes this in detail.

(3) Paper Feeding Unit Next, the configuration of the reproducing apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG.
The playback device 1 has a housing 2 that forms the appearance of the playback device 1. On the left side wall of the housing 2 on the drawing,
A paper feed unit 3 for storing and feeding the paper before the reproduction process is provided. The paper supply unit 3 includes a paper supply tray 5 or a cassette that supports the stacked papers 4 and a first paper transporter that transports the uppermost papers 4 in the same manner as a paper supply unit attached to a copying machine or a printer. It has a paper feed mechanism 6 for delivery to the mechanism. The paper feed mechanism 6 generally includes a paper feed roller 7 arranged to be in contact with the upper surface of the uppermost sheet 4 and a motor (not shown) for rotating the paper feed roller 7.

(4) First Paper Transport Mechanism The first paper transport mechanism 8 extends from the paper feed section 3 to a dipping section described later. The first paper transport mechanism 8 has a paper guide 9 for supporting the paper 4 to be transported, and a transport roller (not shown) for transporting the paper 4. In order to smoothly supply the sheet 4 to a contact portion of a first roller pair described later, a downstream end of the sheet guide 9 is located near an upstream side of the contact portion of the first roller pair.

(5) Pre-drying section As shown in FIG. 1, a pre-drying section 10 is provided in the middle of the first sheet transport mechanism 8, and the sheet 4 before regeneration is heated and the surface layer is dried appropriately. Thereafter, when the surface layer comes into contact with a liquid, it absorbs moisture in a short time and swells. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the pre-drying unit 10 includes two sheets disposed above and below the sheet conveyance path along the sheet guide 9.
It consists of two rollers 11 and 12. These rollers 11, 1
Of the two, the upper roller 11 has a heater 13 as a heating source inside. The two rollers 11 and 12 are supported in parallel and with their respective outer peripheral surfaces pressed against the other outer peripheral surface, and one roller is connected to a motor (not shown). It is to be noted that the pre-drying time can be shortened, and a five-layer paper 4 having an intermediate adhesive layer and a surface layer on both sides of the base material layer.
Considering the reproduction of the sheet, a heater (not shown) may be provided inside the lower roller 12 so that the sheet 4 is heated from both sides. The configuration of the pre-drying unit 10 is not limited to the rollers 11 and 12 described above. For example, any configuration may be used as long as it removes moisture from the paper, such as hot air drying, dehumidification drying, and vacuum drying.

(6) Standby Mechanism A downstream side of the predrying section 10 is a standby position 1 for a predetermined time before the paper 4 dried in the predrying section 10 is sent to the immersion section.
5 is provided with a standby mechanism 16 for waiting. Standby mechanism 1
6 has a regulating member 17. The regulating member 17 advances on the paper guide 9, contacts the leading end of the paper 4, regulates the paper 4 to the standby position 15, and the paper guide 9.
It can be moved between the evacuation position 17b and the evacuation position 17b. The standby mechanism 16 further includes a supply roller 18 arranged so as to contact the upper surface of the uppermost sheet of the sheets 4 stacked at the standby position 15 and a motor (not shown) for rotating the supply roller 18. .

The pre-drying section 10 and the standby mechanism 16 include the dehumidifier 1
00 and is closed by a dehumidifying unit 19 which is closed except for the path of the paper 4, so that it is placed in a dehumidifying (low humidity) environment. More specifically, the dehumidifier 100
Is connected to the dehumidifying unit 19 through the intake pipe 101 and the air supply pipe 102, whereby the humid air in the dehumidification unit 19 is taken in through the intake pipe 101, and the air dried by the dryer 100 is supplied to the air supply pipe 102. And is fed into the dehumidifying unit 19 through the Although not shown, the moisture in the humid air is stored in the dehumidifier 100 in the same manner as a general household dehumidifier. However, it is also possible to use the water thus trapped for replenishing the liquid used in the immersion step described below.

(7) Immersion Unit The immersion unit 20 has a container 21 having a predetermined shape and size, and the container 21 contains a liquid 22. The liquid 22 is usually composed of water and a surfactant that increases the penetration of water into the surface layer of the paper 4. However, the surfactant is not an essential material, and the liquid 22 may contain only water. Further, another material may be added to the liquid 22 as needed.

Liquid 2 for peeling toner or eluting ink
In the regenerating apparatus 1 using the liquid 2, the temperature of the liquid 22 is set to about 5 to 65 ° C., preferably about 25
It is desirable to maintain it at ~ 45 ° C, most preferably about 35 ° C. If the temperature is low, the releasability of the toner and the dissolution of the ink are inferior, which is not preferable.

In the container 21, a second paper transport mechanism 23 is provided to transport the paper 4 supplied from the upstream side of the container 21 to the downstream side of the container 21 while maintaining the paper 4 in the liquid 22. Is provided. The second paper transport mechanism 23 includes a first roller pair 24A arranged on the upstream side of the container 21;
Second roller pair 24B disposed downstream of container 21
And a paper guide 25 disposed between the first and second roller pairs 24A and 24B. One of the first roller pair 24A is connected to a motor (not shown), and the first roller pair 24A is arranged in parallel with each other and pressing one outer peripheral surface against the other outer peripheral surface. And
Thus, the sheet 4 is transported between the first pair of rollers 24A. Similarly, one of the second roller pair 24B is connected to a motor (not shown), and the second roller pair 24B pushes one outer peripheral surface to the other outer peripheral surface in parallel with each other. The paper 4 is conveyed through the space between the second roller pair 24B. On the other hand, the paper guide 25
Contact portion of first roller pair 24A and second roller pair 24B
Of the first roller pair 24
The sheet 4 sent out from the contact portion A of the second roller pair 2
It is designed to be guided toward the contact portion of 4B.

In this embodiment, only one container 21 is provided in the immersion section 14. However, in order to always maintain a constant amount of liquid 22 in the container 21, a liquid replenisher is provided in addition to the container 21. And the container 21 and the liquid replenisher may be appropriately connected by a liquid supply pipe.

In order to collect foreign matter (for example, printing material separated from paper) in the liquid 22, a foreign matter collecting filter, a pipe connecting the foreign matter collecting filter and the container 21, and a pipe in the middle of the pipe are provided. It is also possible to provide a liquid circulating unit having a pump provided and collect foreign matter with a foreign matter collecting filter while circulating the liquid along the pipe.

(8) Third paper transport mechanism The third paper transport mechanism 26 is a paper guide 27 extending from the second roller pair 24B to the vicinity of the right side wall of the housing 2.
It has. Further, in order to smoothly transfer the paper 4 passing through the contact portion of the second roller pair 24B to the paper guide 27, the upstream end of the paper guide 27 is located downstream of the contact portion of the second roller pair 24B. It is located near.

(9) Printing Material Removal Unit A printing material removal unit 28 is disposed in the middle of the third paper transport mechanism 26 to remove toner from the paper 4 in which the liquid 22 has penetrated into the surface layer. In the present embodiment, the printing material removing unit 28 is configured by a pair of brush rolls 29 arranged vertically above and below a paper transport path along the paper guide 27. Each of these brush rolls 29
It comprises a central shaft connected to a motor (not shown), and a number of brushes implanted around the central shaft. The brush tips can contact the opposing surface of the paper 4 conveyed along the paper guide 27. It is like that.

(10) Washing Unit In order to wash the paper 4 from which the toner has been removed by the printing material removing unit 28 and wash away foreign substances remaining on the paper 4, a cleaning unit is provided downstream of the printing material removing unit 28. The part 31 is arranged. The cleaning unit 31 has a tank 32 disposed above the paper guide 27, and a cleaning liquid 33 is stored in the tank 32. One end of a liquid supply pipe 34 is connected to the bottom of the tank 32. The other end of the liquid supply pipe 34 is on the downstream side of the printing material
The cleaning liquid 33 is disposed at a watering position 35 above the printing material removing portion 28 at the watering position 35 on the paper 4 that has passed through the printing material removing section 28. The cleaning liquid 33
The liquid supply pipe 34 is provided with a suitable valve (not shown) to adjust the amount of water sprayed.

As the cleaning liquid 33, it is preferable to use the same liquid as the liquid 22 contained in the container 21. In this case, below the paper guide 27, a liquid returning means (for example, a plate arranged at a downward slope toward the container 21) for collecting the cleaning liquid 33 sprinkled on the paper 4 and returning it to the container 21 may be provided. Good. Further, a pipe connecting the tank 32 and the container 21, a pump for sending the liquid 22 (the cleaning liquid 33) from the container 21 to the tank 32 or from the tank 32 to the container 21 through this pipe, and a liquid level of the container 21 is measured. A detector or the like is provided, and the pump is driven according to the output of the detector, whereby the liquid level of the container 21 can be maintained constant.

In this embodiment, the cleaning liquid tank 32
Is provided above the paper guide 27, and the cleaning liquid 33 flows down naturally through the liquid supply pipe 34 by gravity, whereby the cleaning liquid 33 is sprinkled on the upper surface of the paper 4. However, the above-described five-layered paper 4 is regenerated. In consideration of this, an apparatus for spraying the cleaning liquid 33 on the lower surface of the paper 4 may be further provided.

(11) Liquid removing unit The cleaning unit 31 removes the liquid 2 from the paper 4 sprayed with the cleaning liquid 33.
In order to remove 2 (the cleaning liquid 33), a liquid removing unit 36 is provided downstream of the watering position 35. In the present embodiment, the liquid removing unit 36 employs a method in which the paper 4 is compressed by sandwiching the paper 4 from the front and back surfaces, thereby squeezing out moisture, and is vertically moved across the paper transport path along the paper guide 27. A pair of squeezing rollers 37 are provided. These squeezing rollers 37 are arranged in parallel with each other and with one outer peripheral surface pressed against the other outer peripheral surface. Further, in order to squeeze out the liquid 22 contained in the paper 4 as much as possible, the pressing force between the squeezing rollers is set to be larger than that of another pair of rollers which merely transports the paper 4.

(12) Post-Drying Unit A post-drying unit 38 is provided downstream of the liquid removing unit 36 in order to dry the paper 4 from which the liquid 22 has been squeezed out so that it can be reused by a copying machine or the like. preferable. After drying section 38
May be a blower that simply blows air at room temperature to the paper 4, a blower with a built-in heater that can blow hot air, or a pre-dryer. The heating roller type heater used in the section 10 may be used.

(13) Discharge Unit The discharge unit 39 is provided on the right side wall of the housing 2 in the post-drying unit 38.
And a tray 40 for receiving the sheet 4 that has passed through.

(14) Control Unit FIG. 2 shows a part of the control unit of the reproducing apparatus 1 of FIG. The controller 50 of the playback device 1 includes a start key 51 for starting the playback operation of the playback device 1, a sheet number input key 52 for inputting the number of sheets 4 to be processed by the playback device 1,
It is connected to a pre-drying processing command input key 53 for performing only pre-drying of the paper 4, and a user instructs a desired processing to the controller 50 through these keys 51, 52, 53.

The controller 50 also controls the paper detecting means 54 for detecting whether or not the paper 4 on the paper feed tray 5 remains, and the regulating member 17 of the standby mechanism 16 to the regulating position 17a.
Drive means (for example, a solenoid) 55 for moving between the first position and the retreat position 17b.

(15) Reproduction Operation Step 1 The reproduction operation of the reproduction apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the paper 4 to be reproduced by the reproducing device 1 is stacked on the paper feed tray 5 of the paper feed unit 3.

Step 2 Next, the number of sheets 4 to be reproduced is input to the controller 50 via the sheet number input key 52.

Step 3 If only the pre-drying is performed on the sheets 4 remaining in the paper feed tray 5 after the inputted number of sheets are reproduced in step 4 described below, a pre-drying processing command input key 53
push.

Step 4 Press the start key 51 to start the reproduction process. The stacked paper 4 is sent out from the uppermost paper contacted by the paper feed roller 7 onto the paper guide 9 of the first paper transport mechanism 8 and supplied to the predrying unit 10. In the pre-drying unit 10, the paper 4 is pre-dried to increase the liquid penetration into the surface layer.

The regulating member 17 is usually arranged at the retracted position 17b. Therefore, the paper 4 preheated in the pre-drying section 10 is sent through the standby section 16 to the container 21 of the immersion section 20. It is immersed in the liquid 22.

The paper 4 immersed in the liquid 22 is delivered to the second paper transport mechanism 23 and supplied onto the paper guide 25 by the first roller pair 24A. If necessary, the paper 4 waits on the paper guide 25 until the liquid 22 has completely penetrated the entire surface of the paper 4. When the liquid 22 penetrates into the surface layer of the paper 4, the surface layer swells, the adhesive force between the toner fixed on the surface and the surface layer is lost, and the toner is separated by applying a mechanical force to the toner. It is possible.

Paper 4 with sufficient liquid 22 permeating the surface layer
Is sent out onto the paper guide 27 of the third paper transport mechanism 26 by the second roller pair 24B of the second paper transport mechanism 23. Next, in the printing material removing unit 28, the front and back surfaces of the paper 4 contact the bristle tips of the rotating brush roller 29, and the toner attached to the front surface or the back surface or both of them is scraped off. Subsequently, the cleaning liquid 33 is sprayed on the paper 4 at the water spraying position 35 of the cleaning unit 31 to remove foreign matter remaining on the front surface and the back surface.
, The liquid is squeezed out, further dried in the post-drying section 38 and discharged onto the tray 40 of the discharge section 39.

In step 3, a pre-drying process command input key 53
If is not pressed, the reproduction operation ends when the reproduction processing for the input number has been performed.

Step 5 When the pre-drying processing command is issued in Step 3, after performing the reproduction processing (Step 4) of the paper 4 by the inputted number of sheets,
The paper detection means 54 detects whether or not the paper 4 remains on the paper feed tray 5.

When no paper 4 remains on the paper feed tray 5, the reproducing operation is terminated.

Step 6 If the paper 4 remains on the paper feed tray 5, only pre-drying of the paper 4 is performed. Specifically, the regulating member 17 is moved from the retracted position 17b by the driving means 55 to the regulated position 17a.
The paper 4 that has passed through the pre-drying unit 10 is stopped at the standby position 15. When all the sheets 4 remaining in the sheet feed tray 5 are stacked at the standby position 15, the reproducing operation ends. Since the inside of the dehumidifying unit 19 is in a dehumidifying environment, the surface layer of the sheet 4 arranged at the standby position 15 does not absorb moisture again.

Therefore, when the regenerating apparatus 1 is used again, the paper 4 which has been pre-dried and stored in the standby position 15 is sent to the dipping section 20 by the supply roller 18 so that the paper 4 is first supplied. A larger number of sheets can be processed as compared with the case where the reproducing operation is performed by arranging on the tray 5.

(16) Other Embodiments Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to them, and can be variously modified. For example, the input of the pre-drying process command (Step 3 in FIG. 3) may be performed after a predetermined number of sheets have been regenerated (Step 4).

Further, without providing the pre-drying processing command input key 53, if the paper 4 remains in the paper feed tray 5 after the predetermined number of sheets are processed, the paper 4 may be automatically pre-dried and placed at the retreat position 15. .

Further, after the pre-drying process in step 6, by closing the portion of the dehumidifying unit 19 that is open for paper passing, the inside of the dehumidifying unit 19 is kept in a dehumidifying environment even when the dehumidifier 100 is turned off. It is economical to maintain Alternatively, as shown in FIG.
Is configured such that one end is fixed to the side wall of the dehumidifying unit 19 and the other end is closed by a film-shaped seal 61 abutting on the paper guide 9, whereby the dehumidifying unit 19 is always sealed. (Note that FIG. 4 shows only the opening on the upstream side of the dehumidifying unit 19, but the opening on the downstream side may have the same configuration.) Alternatively, a pair of rollers abutting on each other may be provided in the paper passage opening so that the dehumidifying unit 19 is sealed, and the sheet 4 may be transported through the contact portion of the roller pair.

When the start key 51 is pressed after a lapse of a predetermined time (for example, the next morning) after the dehumidifying unit 19 is closed, the temperature of the liquid 22 in the immersion section 20 rises to the above-mentioned desired temperature. Since it takes time to raise the liquid temperature, it is preferable that the paper 4 be kept in the closed dehumidification unit 19 during that time. Alternatively, the regeneration treatment may be performed while the liquid temperature is low.
It is necessary to lengthen the immersion time at 0. By doing so, the start-up time of the apparatus can be shortened without wasting the startup time of the apparatus.

Further, for example, when the switch of the main body of the reproducing apparatus 1 is turned off for a long time, when this switch is turned on, it takes some time until the liquid 22 in the immersion section 20 reaches the above-mentioned desired temperature. . Therefore, the liquid 22
A method may be adopted in which only pre-drying is performed while the temperature of the liquid 22 reaches a desired temperature, and thereafter, the treatment after the immersion step is performed after the liquid 22 reaches a predetermined temperature.

[0050]

According to the regenerating apparatus of the present invention, the pre-drying step is performed in advance, whereby the regenerating processing time can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of a recording medium reproducing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a part of a control unit of the reproducing apparatus 1 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a reproducing operation.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a paper passage opening of the dehumidifying unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: reproduction apparatus, 4: paper, 10: pre-drying section, 15: standby position, 16: standby mechanism, 17: regulating member, 19: dehumidifying unit, 100: dehumidifier.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium reproducing apparatus for supplying a water-based solvent to a recording material having at least a surface layer which is water-swellable and removing a printing material from the recording material, comprising: Drying means for drying the recording material so as to reduce the amount of water contained in the recording material; (b) supply means for supplying an aqueous solvent to the surface layer of the recording material dried by the drying means; (D) a printing material removing means for removing the printing material from the surface layer of the swollen recording material to which the aqueous solvent has been supplied, and (d) being disposed between the drying means and the supplying means, and allowing the recording material to be removed in a dehumidifying environment. A recording medium reproducing apparatus having a dehumidifying unit for storing. 2. The recording medium reproducing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dehumidifying section has a closing unit for accommodating a recording material and dehumidifying means for dehumidifying the unit. 3. A recording medium reproducing method in which an aqueous solvent is supplied to a recording material having at least a surface layer that is water-swellable to remove a printing material from the recording material. A drying step of drying the recording material so that the amount of water contained in the recording material is reduced; (b) a dehumidifying step of storing the recording material dried in the drying step in a dehumidifying environment; A supplying step of supplying an aqueous solvent to a surface layer of the recording material placed in a dehumidifying environment in the dehumidifying step; and (d) removing a printing material from the surface layer of the recording material swollen by supplying the aqueous solvent. And a recording medium reproducing method.