JP2007038142A - Method for applying powder adhesive - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for applying an powder adhesive comprising preparing a practically-usable powder adhesive formed of a specific material formulation and applying the powder adhesive practically and specifically. <P>SOLUTION: The method for applying an powder adhesive comprises: preparing 100% by mass of a polyester resin having a softening point of 120°C, 1% by mass of a charge control agent and 3% by mass of a polyethylene wax, then mixing, melt-kneading, cooling, granulating, grinding and classifying them to form a powder particle having an average volume particle diameter of 9 μm, mixing 100% by mass of the powder particle with 1% by mass of particulate silica used as an external additive, and sieving the mixture to obtain the powder adhesive; disposing a dielectric roller 34 in place of a photoreceptor drum of an image forming unit capable of performing monochrome printing of a printer and removing an optical writing head, thereby converting the image forming unit so as to contain the powder adhesive in a developing unit 9; solid-developing the powder adhesive on the dielectric roller 34 charged by a charging roller 8 by a developing roller 11; and transferring the solid-developed portion to a paper 18, fixing it by a fixing unit 26 to complete an application of the powder adhesive to the paper 18. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a powder adhesive application method, and more particularly to a powder adhesive application method in which a toner-like powder adhesive is applied to a paper surface.

Conventionally, in order to transmit character information only to a specific individual, generally, the character description is in a sealed form so that the individual can confirm the character information only after opening.
In recent years, personal information protection has become a strict question, and various business establishments, for example, personal information such as various personal data, gradebooks, salary statements, etc., are printed on the printed part of the written text. It is recorded and distributed in the form of envelopes or cards by bonding or crimping the peripheral edge of the printed part or the entire surface of the written text.

  Among these, postcard-sized cards are called crimped postcards and can be used at the same charge as regular postcards. Therefore, as a printing information concealment system that is highly convenient for information providers, advertising It is also widely used for advertising direct mail.

  In order to use such a printing information concealment system for crimping postcards, etc., secret information has conventionally been created by entrusting it to a specialized manufacturer or introducing an expensive crimping postcard or other manufacturing / printing device. .

  There are two methods for creating confidential information using a manufacturing / printing device such as a crimping postcard, such as a method of applying adhesive after information printing or a method of applying adhesive before information printing. The premise of creating a large amount of information is essential and expensive.

Further, such outsourcing to a manufacturer is not a preferable method for creating confidential information because there is a potential problem of leakage of personal information.
By the way, in recent years, along with the development of personal computers and printers, there has been proposed one that can easily create a crimp postcard even in a small unit so that it can be used by small-scale offices and individuals.

  For example, postcard paper with release paper pre-applied with a pressure sensitive adhesive is on the market. In this method, after printing predetermined character information or the like on the printing surface inside the two-fold, the pressure-sensitive adhesive portion is crimped to complete a postcard for postage.

  For example, a set of adhesive film and postcard paper is sold. In this method, after printing predetermined character information or the like on the printing surface inside the double fold, the adhesive film is pressure-bonded with the adhesive film sandwiched inside the double fold so that a postcard for posting can be created.

  However, this is unavoidable, and it is inevitable that handling is complicated, and it is better to make several crimping postcards personally, but it is cheap, quick, and responsive to demand in a certain number of sheets. It can not be created with.

Therefore, a toner-like adhesive composed of microcapsules containing an adhesive is transferred onto the surface of the substrate by electrostatic printing and flash-fixed. During adhesion, the microcapsules are destroyed by pressure and the adhesive in the capsule is leached. In this way, a proposal has been made that it is possible to easily create a pressure-bonded postcard. This proposal also suggests a pulverized toner obtained by melting, kneading, and pulverizing an adhesive. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)
In addition, the pressure-bonding substance is put in a replacement printing cartridge for an office printer or copying machine, and the pressure-bonding substance is applied to a government-made postcard or envelope by the same operation as the printing operation by the office printer or copying machine. After that, a proposal has been made that it is applied to a dedicated crimping machine, and up to the crimping dedicated machine can be performed by a single printer or copying machine. In addition, this proposal suggests that a crimping substance is applied to one side of a fold and one side of a center of a fold. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)
In addition, a method has been proposed in which an image is created on demand by an electrophotographic method using toner containing a heat-sensitive adhesive. In this proposal, the softening temperature of the heat-sensitive adhesive is configured to be higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner for electrophotography, and the ratio of the heat-sensitive adhesive to the toner for electrophotography is 5 to 5. It has been proposed that the composition be 60% by weight and that the composition of the heat-sensitive adhesive contains at least one selected from the group consisting of a heat-adhesive resin, a hot melt, and waxes. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3.)
JP 09-104849 A (paragraphs 0005, 0014, FIG. 1, FIG. 3, FIG. 6) JP 2000-006553 A (summary, no figure) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-126231 (paragraphs 0085 to 0087, not shown)

  However, although the technology of Patent Document 1 describes the configuration and composition of the microcapsule toner, the pulverized toner is merely suggested to the extent that it is conceived, and the specific composition, production method, There is no description about the usage, and this makes it possible for even those skilled in the art to produce useful pulverized toners and, of course, not even make prototypes.

  In addition, the technology of Patent Document 2 is to create a print information concealment document by a public postcard or envelope before being applied to a dedicated crimping machine, and it is convenient in that it must be applied to the dedicated crimping machine to complete for posting. It must be said that it is lacking in performance and economy and is far from being responsive to demand.

  In the technique of Patent Document 3, the softening temperature of the heat-sensitive adhesive is simply set higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner for the electrophotographic system. There is no explanation of prescription.

  By the way, as a method of creating a pressure-sensitive postcard that is responsive to demand, a powder adhesive that can be used by being housed in a toner cartridge of a small electrophotographic printer that can be used personally is specifically realized. It is considered that the powder adhesive may be applied to the paper surface on which variable information is printed (or printed, the same applies hereinafter) by the same printer by developing, transferring and fixing.

  However, if the adhesive is applied to the paper after printing using an electrophotographic printer, the powder adhesive must be applied as an adhesive unless it is of the same form as a normal toner ( Development, transfer, and fixing) are considered impossible.

  However, although the powder adhesive for toner-like pressure-adhesive postcards is suggested to the extent of conceiving in the above-mentioned patent documents, which are the conventional proposed technologies, the specific material formulation is also specific as described above. Neither usage is disclosed.

Also, such a toner adhesive powder adhesive for postcards has not been distributed to the market to date. The pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards in circulation is only liquid or adhesive sheet.
An object of the present invention is to provide a practical and specific coating method by preparing a practical powder adhesive made of a specific material formulation in view of the above-described conventional situation.

  First, the powder adhesive application method of the first invention is a powder adhesive application method in which a toner-like powder adhesive is applied to a sheet, and an electrostatic latent image is generated on a dielectric by static electricity. The electrostatic latent image is developed with the powder adhesive, the developed powder adhesive image is transferred onto a sheet, and the transferred powder adhesive image is fixed on the sheet with a fixing device. It is comprised so that a process may be included at least.

  In this powder adhesive application method, for example, a charging roller is used to generate the electrostatic latent image on the dielectric due to static electricity, and a developing roller is used to develop the electrostatic latent image. The transfer of the powder adhesive image to the paper is performed while controlling the transfer applied voltage polarity in both forward and reverse directions.

  In this case, for example, the dielectric roller is composed of two rollers, a two-segment roller corresponding to both end portions of the sheet and a roller corresponding to the width of the central portion excluding the full width or both end portions of the sheet. It may be configured.

  In addition, for example, the control of the transfer applied voltage polarity is controlled to a voltage polarity opposite to the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive when the transfer target portion of the paper conveyed to the transfer portion is in the transfer portion. When the transfer portion of the sheet conveyed to the transfer portion is not in the transfer portion, it is preferable to control the voltage polarity to the same polarity as the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive.

  In this powder adhesive application method, for example, the electrostatic latent image due to static electricity is generated on the dielectric using a corona discharge generator and a grid plate, and the voltage applied to the grid plate is divided into a plurality of locations. It may be performed by controlling the application.

  Next, the powder adhesive application method of the second invention uses a printer capable of selectively switching between full-color mode printing and monochrome mode printing using color toner and black toner. In the image forming unit capable of monochrome mode printing of the printer, the optical writing head is removed, a dielectric roller is disposed in place of the photosensitive drum, the powder adhesive is accommodated in the developing unit, and the dielectric roller is electrostatically applied to the dielectric roller. An electrostatic latent image is generated, the electrostatic latent image is developed with the powder adhesive at the developing unit, and the developed powder adhesive is transferred to a predetermined pressure-bonding region of the paper at the transfer unit. The transferred powder adhesive is fixed to the sheet by a fixing unit.

  According to the present invention, an electrostatic latent image generated on a dielectric by static electricity is developed with a powder adhesive, and the developed powder adhesive image is transferred onto a sheet and fixed by a fixing device. It is possible to provide a practical and specific method for applying a powder adhesive that can be easily applied to paper.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
First, a material prescription and a specific manufacturing method of a powder adhesive made of a toner-like thermoplastic resin powder will be described.

  100% by mass of a polyester resin having a softening point of 120 ° C. as a binder resin, 1% by mass of a charge control agent LR-147 made by Nippon Carlit as a charge control agent, and 3% by weight of polyethylene wax NP-056 made by Mitsui Chemicals as a wax. Prepare%.

  These were mixed with a chemical mixer, the mixture was melt-kneaded by a twin screw extruder, cooled, and coarsely crushed. Further, the coarsely pulverized product is pulverized by an I-type jet mill, and the pulverized product is classified to obtain powder particles having an average volume particle size of 9 μm.

  Then, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica RY-50 manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd., which is an external additive as a fluidity improver, are mixed by a Henschel mixer, and the mixture. And a toner-like powder adhesive was obtained.

Next, an apparatus for applying the above powder adhesive will be described.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal configuration of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a coating / printing printer) as a powder adhesive coating apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the application / printer printer 1 includes an image forming unit 2, a duplex printing conveyance unit 3, and a paper feeding unit 4. The image forming unit 2 has a configuration in which four image forming units 5 (5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4) are arranged in a multistage manner.

  Of the four image forming units 5, the three image forming units 5-1, 5-2, and 5-3 on the upstream side in the paper conveyance direction (right side in the drawing) are magenta (M ), Cyan (C), and yellow (Y) color toners are formed, and these three colors are overlaid on the paper to form a full-color image.

  The image forming unit 5-4 at the most downstream side in the sheet conveying direction originally forms a monochrome image using black (K) toner such as dark portions of characters and color images. However, since a black image can be obtained by recoating three colors of MCY with solid coating, in this example, the image forming unit 5-4 is applied with powder adhesive without using black (K) toner. Renovated exclusively. This will be described in detail later.

  Each of the image forming units 5-1, 5-2, and 5-3 has the same configuration except for the developer (color) accommodated in the developing unit. Therefore, hereinafter, the configuration of the image forming unit 5-3 will be described as an example.

  The image forming unit 5 is assembled to the photosensitive drum 6, the cleaner 7 disposed along the circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum 6, the charging roller 8, the developing unit 9, and the opening on the lower side surface of the developing unit 9. The developing roller 11 is provided.

  An optical writing head 12 on the main body side is disposed close to the upper surface located between the charging roller 8 and the developing unit 9 of the photosensitive drum 6, and a conveying belt 13 is disposed close to the lower surface of the photosensitive drum 6. It is installed. The transfer device 14 is pressed toward the lower surface of the photosensitive drum 6 with the conveying belt 13 interposed therebetween.

The conveyor belt 13 is stretched between the driving roller 15 and the driven roller 16 and driven by the driving roller 15 to circulate in the counterclockwise direction in the figure.
In the full-color printing mode, this application / printer printer 1 is not affected by the above-described refurbishment, and the upper circulating movement unit of the conveyor belt 13 is the photosensitive drum 6 of the four image forming units 5 (in this example, the image drum 6). In the forming unit 5-4, a dielectric roller 34 is provided in place of the photosensitive drum 6).

  In the monochrome printing mode, the upper circulation moving unit of the conveyance belt 13 moves downward so as to be separated from the photosensitive drums 6 of the three upstream image forming units 5-1, 5-2, and 5-3. The photosensitive drum 6 of the image forming unit 5-4 responsible for the black toner image formation (in this example, the dielectric roller 34 of the image forming unit 5-4 responsible for the application of the powder adhesive) is in contact with the photosensitive drum 6 only. Has been.

  The photosensitive drum 6 rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure. First, by applying charge from the charging roller 8, the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 6 is uniformly charged and initialized. Next, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 6 by optical writing from the optical writing head 12 based on the print information.

The electrostatic latent image is converted into a toner image (development) by the toner stored in the developing unit 9 by the developing process by the developing roller 11.
The toner image developed on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 6 in this way reaches a transfer portion where the photosensitive drum 6 and the transfer device 14 face each other as the photosensitive drum 6 rotates.

  On the other hand, a large number of cut sheets 18 are accommodated in the sheet feeding cassette 17 of the sheet feeding unit 4. The sheet 18 is unloaded from the sheet feeding cassette 17 by one rotation of the sheet feeding roller 19, and is fed to the standby roller pair 22 through the conveyance guide path 21. Alternatively, the paper is fed to the standby roller pair 22 by the paper feed roller 25 from the MPF tray 24 mounted on the opened mounting portion 23.

  The standby roller pair 22 feeds the paper 18 onto the transport belt 13 at a timing when the print start position of the paper 18 coincides with the front end of the toner image on the photosensitive drum 6 of the image forming unit 5-1 at the most upstream in the paper transport direction.

  The sheet 18 is electrostatically attracted to and conveyed by the upper surface of the circulating conveyor belt 13 and moves together with the conveyor belt 13 directly below the photosensitive drum 6 from the upstream side to the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction.

  Then, the first color toner image is transferred to the sheet 18 by the transfer unit of the image forming unit 5-1, and the next color toner image is transferred by the transfer unit of the image forming unit 5-2. The third toner image is transferred at the transfer section -3.

  In the printing process in the full color printing mode in this example, the image forming units 5-1, 5-2, and 5-3 are set to the printing state, and the image forming unit 5-4 is set to the non-printing state. Is done.

  The sheet 18 on which the three color toner images are transferred as described above is carried into the fixing unit 26. The fixing unit 26 includes a heat roller 26a, a pressure roller 26b, and a cleaner 26c. While the paper 18 is nipped and conveyed between the heat roller 26a and the pressure roller 26b, the toner image is melted and pressed onto the paper surface. To settle. The cleaner 26c removes the toner remaining on the heat roller 26a.

  As described above, the sheet 18 on which the toner image is fixed by the fixing unit 26 is discharged out of the apparatus with the image forming surface facing upward by the carry-out roller 28 when the switching plate 27 is rotated upward. When the plate 27 is rotated downward, it is guided upward by the conveying roller 29 and is discharged to the paper discharge unit 32 by the paper discharge roller 31 with the image forming surface down.

  The duplex printing conveyance unit 3 is configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body, and is a unit that is mounted when performing duplex printing by the application / printing printer 1 of this example. The duplex printing transport unit 3 has a plurality of transport rollers 33a to 33e disposed therein.

  In the case of duplex printing, the sheet 18 is once sent upward by the switching plate 27. For example, when the rear end of the sheet 18 reaches the conveying roller 29, the conveyance of the sheet 18 is stopped and the sheet 18 is moved in the reverse direction. Transport to.

  By this control, the paper 18 is conveyed downward on the left side of the switching plate 27 set at the position indicated by the dotted line, is carried into the paper conveyance path of the duplex printing conveyance unit 3, and the paper is returned by the conveyance rollers 33a to 33e. The

  The returned paper 18 again passes through the conveyance guide path 21 and reaches the standby roller pair 22 and is sent to the transfer unit at the same timing as the toner image as described above, and the toner image is transferred to the back surface of the paper.

  In the application of the powder adhesive, the monochrome printing mode is set, and the conveyance belt 13 contacts only the dielectric roller 34 of the image forming unit 5-4 that is responsible for the application of the powder adhesive.

A circuit board on which such a control device for controlling the operation of each component is mounted is mounted on the electrical unit 35 between the duplex printing conveyance unit 3 and the paper feeding unit 4.
Although not specifically shown, the control device includes a printer controller and an engine controller. The printer controller includes a CPU (central processing unit) composed of a microprocessor and the like, and a program ROM (Read Only Memory), page buffer, image memory, video transfer circuit, I / F (interface) controller, etc. connected to the CPU. Composed.

The video transfer circuit is connected to a printer engine which is an external circuit, and the I / F controller is connected to a host computer or the like.
The program ROM stores a program for operating the control device in cooperation with the host computer, and the CPU executes control of print processing based on print information transmitted from the host computer based on the program.

  The I / F controller inputs print information transmitted from the host computer. The page buffer temporarily stores print information for a plurality of pages input from the host computer in units of pages, and the image memory develops a bit image for one sheet (one page).

  The video transfer circuit transfers the bit image data developed in the image memory to the engine controller line by line, and outputs an interrupt signal to the CPU for each line transfer. Thereby, the CPU recognizes the transferred area of the image memory and develops the image data of the subsequent page.

Further, the CPU changes the processing method to the processing described later during the powder adhesive application processing.
On the other hand, the engine controller is also provided with a CPU and a program ROM (not shown). An image formation execution command is input from the CPU of the printer controller to the CPU of the engine controller.

When the CPU of the engine controller receives the image formation execution command, it controls the motor engine (drive driver), not shown in FIG. 1, to rotate the motor.
The power of the motor is supplied through a gear system (not shown) to the sheet feeding roller 19 or 25, the photosensitive drum 6 or the dielectric roller 34, each part of the developing unit 9 (developing roller 11, supply roller, stirring member, etc.), fixing unit. 26 heat rollers 26a and pressure rollers 26b, carry-out rollers 28, transport rollers 29, and the like. Thereby, driving of the above-described image forming process is started.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of the image forming unit 5-4 on the most downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction and the vicinity thereof. In FIG. 2, parts having the same configuration or the same functions as those in FIG. 1 are given the same numbers as in FIG. FIG. 2 also shows a cleaning blade 36 of the cleaner 7, a doctor blade 37 in the developing unit 9, and a supply roller 38 that are not illustrated in FIG. 1. Further, the transfer device 14 is shown as a transfer roller 14 '.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the configuration of the image forming unit 5-4 and the vicinity thereof, a dielectric roller 34 is disposed instead of the photosensitive drum 6, and is disposed between the charging roller 8 and the developing unit 9. The optical writing head 12 has been removed.

  In the developing unit 9, the above-described powder adhesive is accommodated. The powder adhesive is supplied to the developing roller 11 by the supply roller 38, and the powder adhesive supplied to the developing roller 11 is regulated to a constant layer thickness by the doctor blade 37.

  In this configuration, the dielectric roller 34 is formed with a predetermined potential pattern by the charge applied from the charging roller 8. In this potential pattern, the image of the powder adhesive is developed by the developing roller 11.

  The developed powder adhesive image is transferred onto the paper 18 by the transfer roller 14 '. In the transfer of the powder adhesive onto the paper 18, the polarity of the transfer applied voltage applied to the transfer roller 14 'is the paper conveyed to the transfer portion (the portion facing the dielectric roller 34 and the transfer roller 14'). When 18 transferred portions are present in the transfer portion, the voltage polarity is controlled to be opposite to the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive.

When the transfer portion of the paper 18 conveyed to the transfer portion is not in the transfer portion, the voltage polarity is controlled to the same polarity as the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive.
In this way, by changing the voltage polarity applied to the transfer roller 14 ′, the powder adhesive can be appropriately transferred to the paper 18, and when there is no paper 18, the powder adhesive is applied to the transport belt 13. Can be prevented from being transferred.

  In addition, when creating a three-fold crimped postcard, it is necessary to form a portion to which the powder adhesive is applied and a portion to which the powder adhesive is not applied on both sides of the crimped postcard. This can be dealt with by setting the fold of the folding / crimping postcard at a right angle to the conveying direction and changing the polarity of the voltage applied to the transfer roller 14 '.

  The powder adhesive image transferred onto the paper 18 as described above is sent to the fixing unit 26 and fixed. In this fixing, the powder adhesive transferred to the paper 18 is melted by heating from the heat roller 26 a and fixed to the paper 18.

The paper 18 on which the powder adhesive image has been fixed is discharged out of the machine. That is, the application of the powder adhesive is completed.
The powder adhesive remaining on the dielectric roller 34 without being transferred is removed from the dielectric roller 34 by the cleaning blade 36 of the cleaner 7.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of the image forming unit 5-4 and the vicinity thereof as the second embodiment. In FIG. 3, only parts necessary for the description and components different from those in FIG. 2 are given numbers, and the numbers of other components are omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, in this example, the charging roller contacting the dielectric roller 34 is divided into a charging roller 8a and a charging roller 8b.
Further, in this example, the powder adhesive removed from the dielectric roller 34 by the cleaning blade 36 is recovered from the cleaner 7 to the developing unit 9 by the recovery transfer mechanism 39 including a pipe having a transfer screw incorporated therein. ing.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the charging roller 8a and the charging roller 8b divided into the above two. In this example, the charging roller 8a is set to have a ground potential, and a voltage of +600 V is applied to the charging roller 8b. A developing bias of +100 V is applied to the developing roller 11 shown in FIG.

  As a result, the central portion of the dielectric roller 34 in contact with the charging roller 8a has a negative potential with respect to the developing bias of the developing roller 11, and both end portions of the dielectric roller 34 in contact with the charging roller 8b are in contact with each other. Therefore, the potential becomes positive with respect to the developing bias of the developing roller 11.

  In this example, since the powder adhesive is configured such that the charge polarity is negative by the charge control agent, the powder adhesive is applied to both end portions of the dielectric roller 34 corresponding to the charging roller 8b. Developed.

The powder adhesive developed on both end portions of the dielectric roller 34 is transferred to both end portions of the paper 18 by the transfer roller 14 to which a transfer bias of +500 V is applied.
FIG. 5 shows the powder adhesive 41 transferred to both end portions of the paper 18. The powder adhesive 41 transferred to the paper 18 is fixed to the paper 18 by the fixing unit 26.

If the sheet 18 is folded in half at the central portion a and the portion of the powder adhesive 41 is crimped, a paper bag container is completed.
In the above embodiment, the charging roller 8a, 8b is used to charge the dielectric roller 34. However, the method of applying the charge to the dielectric roller 34 is not limited to the charging rollers 8a, 8b. A corotron or scorotron may be used.

  Further, the charging roller 8a is applied to the ground potential and the voltage of + 600V is applied to the charging roller 8b so that the powder adhesive is applied to both end portions of the paper 18, and the coating pattern of the powder adhesive is changed to the dielectric roller 34. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a voltage of +600 V may be applied by changing the voltage application timing to both charging rollers.

Thereby, the application pattern of a powder adhesive agent can be changed. This will be described below as a third embodiment.
(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of the charging potential applied to the charging roller 8a and the charging roller 8b divided into two parts. FIG. 6 shows the application timing of the charge applied to the charging roller 8a as H (+600 V) and L (ground potential), and shows the application timing of the charge applied to the charging roller 8 b below as H (+600 V) and L ( (Ground potential).

  As shown above, the charging roller 8a corresponds to a narrow range portion of the trailing end portion of the paper 18 between time t1 and time t2 corresponding to a narrow range portion of the leading end portion of the paper 18. The charged charge of H (+600 V) is applied only during the time t3 to time t4.

  On the other hand, as in the second embodiment, the charging roller 8b has H (+600 V) for a time t1 to a time t4 corresponding to the entire range from the front end to the rear end of the both sides of the paper 18. ) Is applied.

  FIG. 7 shows a transfer state of the powder adhesive 41 transferred to the paper 18 by the above method. As shown in FIG. 7, the powder adhesive 41 is transferred to the narrow portion of the front end portion and the rear end portion of the paper 18 and the narrow range portion of both side end portions, that is, around the paper 18.

The powder adhesive 41 transferred to the paper 18 is fixed to the paper 18 by the fixing unit 26.
If the sheet 18 is folded in half at the center portion a and the portion of the powder adhesive 41 is pressure-bonded, an envelope with the entire periphery sealed is completed.

  If a perforation 42 is previously placed inside the portion where the powder adhesive 41 on each of the four sides of the paper 18 is transferred, the recipient of this envelope can easily cut and remove the crimped portion. You can read confidential information for your own use.

(Embodiment 4)
In any of the above-described embodiments, the dielectric roller 34 is charged by the charging roller. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the charger may be constituted by a corona discharge wire and a grid plate.

  FIG. 8 (a) shows a charger composed of a corona discharge wire and a grid plate, and a three-fold crimped postcard in which a powder adhesive is transferred from a dielectric roller having a charged charge formed by the charger. FIG. 4B is a diagram showing an example of a voltage applied to the charger.

  The grid plate 44 of the charger 43 shown in FIG. 8A, which is disposed in the vicinity of the peripheral surface of the dielectric roller 34 in place of the charging roller 8 in FIG. 2, has a plurality of regions (in this example, divided regions). 4-5 to 44-5), and the voltage applied to each is individually controlled.

  As shown in FIG. 8 (a), the surface having the surface 45-1 on which the postcard 45 is attached and the address is written on the surface of the three-fold crimped postcard 45 is powdered on the surface 45-2 which is the inner side when the sheet is folded in three. The body adhesive 41 is applied. In this case, a pulsed charging voltage as shown in FIG. 8B is applied to the divided regions 44-3 and 44-4 of the grid plate 44.

  By applying this pulse-shaped charging voltage, a halftone dot-shaped electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the left side 2/3 of the dielectric roller 34 when viewed in the paper conveyance direction. Then, the halftone dot electrostatic latent image is developed with the powder adhesive 41, and the developed halftone dot powder adhesive image is shown in FIG. Are transferred and fixed.

  Subsequently, the back surface having the surface 45-3 describing the non-confidential information of the three-fold folded postcard 45 is coated with the powder adhesive 41 on the inner surface 45-4 when being folded in three. . In this case, a pulsed charging voltage as shown in FIG. 8B is applied to the divided regions 44-2 and 44-3 of the grid plate 44.

  By applying this pulsed charging voltage, a halftone dot electrostatic latent image is formed on the peripheral surface of the right side 2/3 of the dielectric roller 34 when viewed in the sheet conveying direction. Then, the halftone dot electrostatic latent image is developed with the powder adhesive 41, and the developed halftone dot powder adhesive image is shown in FIG. Are transferred and fixed.

  By changing the size of the holes in the grid plate 44, the size and density of the halftone dots of the electrostatic latent image formed on the dielectric roller 34 can be easily changed. Adhesive strength and peel strength can be adjusted.

(Embodiment 5)
FIG. 9A shows the application of the powder adhesive 41 as it is without changing (renovating) the image forming unit 5-4 at the most downstream side in the sheet conveying direction of the application / printer 1 shown in FIG. FIG. 9 (b) is a diagram in which the configuration of FIG. 2 is further configured exclusively for pressure-bonding postcards.

  In FIG. 9A, the same components as those of the image forming units 5-1 to 5-3 shown in FIG. The developing unit 9 is divided into a toner hopper 9-1 and a developing unit 9-2, and the paper transport direction is indicated by an arrow b. The toner hopper 9-1 contains a powder adhesive 41 in place of the black toner.

  In this case, an electrostatic latent image of a halftone dot image is formed on the photosensitive drum 6 by the optical writing head 12, the halftone dot image is developed by the developing roller 11, and powder adhesion of the developed halftone dot is performed. The agent 41 is transferred to the paper 18 and fixed.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 9B is set so that the fold of the crimping postcard 45 is set to be perpendicular to the sheet conveying direction, and the developing roller having the configuration shown in FIG. 11, the width of the dielectric roller 34 and the charging roller 8 are made narrow. In FIG. 9B, the charging roller 8 is not shown. When refurbishing the image forming unit 5-4 on the most downstream side in the sheet conveying direction for the application of the crimping postcard 45, such a configuration is economical because the members are reduced in size.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of an application / printing printer as the powder adhesive application device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an image forming unit on the most downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction of the application / printing printer in the first embodiment and the vicinity thereof. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of an image forming unit on the most downstream side in the paper conveyance direction and its vicinity as Embodiment 2. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a charging roller divided into two image forming units at the most downstream side in the paper conveyance direction in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a powder adhesive transferred to both side end portions of a sheet in an image forming unit on the most downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction in the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of a charging potential applied to the charging roller divided into two in the image forming unit on the most downstream side in the sheet conveyance direction according to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a transfer state of a powder adhesive transferred to a sheet by a charging potential application method to a charging roller in Embodiment 3. (a) is a diagram showing a three-fold crimped postcard in which a powder adhesive is transferred from a charger composed of a corona discharge wire and a grid plate, and a dielectric roller charged with the charger, (b) ) Is a diagram showing an example of the voltage applied to the charger. (a) is a diagram schematically showing a case where the image forming unit at the most downstream side in the sheet conveying direction of the application / printing printer in FIG. 1 and the configuration in the vicinity thereof are used as they are for application of powder adhesive without modification (renovation). (B) is the figure which further comprised the structure of FIG. 2 only for crimping postcards.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Application | copier printer 2 Image formation part 3 Duplex printing conveyance unit 4 Paper feed part 5 (5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4) Image formation unit 6 Photosensitive drum 7 Cleaner 8, 8a, 8b Charging roller 9 Developing unit 11 Developing roller 12 Optical writing head 13 Conveying belt 14 Transfer device 14 'Transfer roller 15 Driving roller 16 Driven roller 17 Paper feeding cassette 18 Paper 19 Paper feeding roller 21 Conveying guide path 22 Standby roller pair 23 Mounting section 24 MPF tray 25 Paper feeding roller 26 Fixing unit 26a Heat roller 26b Pressing roller 26c Cleaner 27 Switching plate 28 Unloading roller 29 Conveying roller 31 Discharging roller 32 Discharging unit 33a to 33e Conveying roller 34 Dielectric roller 35 Electrical unit 36 Cleaning blade 37 Doctor blade 38 Supply roller 3 Collection conveyance mechanism 41 powdery adhesive 42 perforation 43 charger 44 grid plate 45 three folding pressure-bonded postcard

Claims (6)

A powder adhesive application method that applies toner-like powder adhesive to paper, and generates an electrostatic latent image on a dielectric by static electricity.
Developing the electrostatic latent image with the powder adhesive;
Transfer the developed powder adhesive image to paper,
Fixing the transferred powder adhesive image on a sheet by a fixing device;
A powder adhesive coating method comprising at least each of the above steps. The electrostatic latent image due to the static electricity is generated on the dielectric using a charging roller, and the electrostatic latent image is developed on the dielectric using a developing roller.
Transfer of the powder adhesive image to the paper is performed while controlling the transfer applied voltage polarity in both forward and reverse directions,
The method of applying a powder adhesive according to claim 1.   2. The charging roller according to claim 1, wherein the charging roller is composed of two rollers, a two-segment roller corresponding to both side edge portions of the paper and a roller corresponding to the full width of the paper or the width of the central portion excluding both side edge portions. 3. The powder adhesive coating method according to 2. The transfer applied voltage polarity is controlled by
When the transferred portion of the paper conveyed to the transfer portion is in the transfer portion, it is controlled to a voltage polarity opposite to the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive,
When the transferred portion of the paper conveyed to the transfer portion is not in the transfer portion, the voltage polarity is controlled to the same polarity as the electrostatic polarity of the powder adhesive,
The method for applying a powder adhesive according to claim 2 or 3, wherein:   The generation of the electrostatic latent image by the static electricity on the dielectric is performed by using a corona discharge generator and a grid plate and dividing and controlling the voltage applied to the grid plate at a plurality of locations. The method for applying a powder adhesive according to claim 1. Using a printer that can selectively switch between full-color mode printing and monochrome mode printing using color toner and black toner,
In the image forming unit capable of monochrome mode printing of the printer, the optical writing head is removed, a dielectric roller is disposed instead of the photosensitive drum, and a powder adhesive is accommodated in the developing unit,
An electrostatic latent image is generated on the dielectric roller by static electricity,
The electrostatic latent image is developed with the powder adhesive in the developing unit,
The developed powder adhesive is transferred to a predetermined pressure-bonding area of the paper at a transfer portion,
Fixing the transferred powder adhesive on the paper in a fixing unit;
A powder adhesive coating method characterized by the above.

Images