JP2007160809A - Method of applying adhesive to pressure-sensitive adhesive postcard, application apparatus and apparatus for producing pressure-sensitive adhesive postcard - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently apply a powder-adhesive by establishing a method of manufacturing a practical powder-adhesive. <P>SOLUTION: A paper sheet 25b for pressure-sensitive adhesive postcards folded in a Z-shape taken out from a paper-feeding part 16 is delivered from the paper-feeding part 16 into a preliminary paper-folding part 17 and partially folded so as for its rear surface F to be in line with its front surface A and is delivered into an adhesive-applying part 18 where the surface F and surface A are coated with the powder-adhesive 15 at the same time. Then, after the paper sheet 25b is tentatively fixed at a tentative fixing part/actual fixing part 19, the folding is developed at a paper-folding part 21 to be further folded in a reverse direction to be in a Z-shape state with the surface A being folded in, again is delivered into the tentative fixing part/actual fixing part 19 to be finally fixed (pressurized) with its obliqueness being corrected at a shape-arranging part 22 and positioned in the width-conveying direction, and cut at a cutting-separating part 23 to be completed as two independent sheets of pressure-sensitive adhesive postcards folded in a Z-shape. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an adhesive coating method, a coating apparatus, and a crimping postcard making apparatus for a crimping postcard.

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.

  Further, in the technique of Patent Document 3, the softening temperature of the heat-sensitive adhesive is merely set higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner for the electrophotographic method, but it is suggested to the extent of the idea. No specific material formulation or specific usage of toner containing heat sensitive adhesive 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.
Therefore, the present inventor decided to make a prototype of a toner-like adhesive (thermoplastic resin powder) on the premise that it can be applied using a printer, based on the suggestion of the conventional proposed technique. .

  The material formulation of the toner-like adhesive, which was prototyped on the assumption that it can be applied using a printer or copying machine, is about 95% polyester as a binder resin, about 2% LR147 as a charge control agent, and pp as a wax. Was about 2%.

  The above-mentioned material prescription is based on the idea that it satisfies both the requirements of a pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards and that it can be applied with a printer (that is, it has powder properties similar to toner). Polyester is a binder resin material that is currently used mainly as a toner for printers.

  Next, these materials were mixed with a Henschel mixer FM20 manufactured by Mitsui Mine, and kneaded with a biaxial continuous kneader. Thereafter, the mixture was roughly crushed, pulverized, and classified, and finally mixed with hydrophobic silica using a Henschel mixer to obtain a powder similar to a toner having a center particle size of 9 μm.

  This powder was developed on a photosensitive drum as a powder adhesive, transferred to the folding surface of a reciprocating postcard, fixed, taken out of paper, and pasted on a crimping machine. At this time, the setting temperature of the bonding roller to be bonded was set in four stages of 120 ° C., 130 ° C., 140 ° C., and 150 ° C., and the pressure-bonded postcard bonded at each set temperature was created.

  The use of a dedicated crimping machine as described above for pasting this postcard, and the temperature setting of the pasting roller includes a temperature higher than the melting temperature of the normal toner, suggesting that each of the conventional proposed techniques It is a response.

  And although not shown in particular, it decided to evaluate the crimping postcard produced for every said preset temperature. In this evaluation, the variable information printing toner was originally printed when the peel force (strength of the force when peeling the attached part of the crimping postcard) and the character offset (opening (peeling) the stuck part of the crimped postcard). It was determined whether or not it was good or bad by visual observation about the phenomenon that it was detached from the surface that had been removed and then transferred to the adhesive surface and adhered.

  As a result, the adhesive prepared as described above has a problem that character offset occurs in the temperature setting region (140 ° C., 150 ° C.) of the adhesive strength (= peeling force) to which the postcard sticks. There was found.

  In other words, with adhesives created within the range suggested by the prior art (adhesives whose softening temperature is higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner), variable information is printed with normal toner and then applied to the printing surface as a single adhesive. Or when a variable information image is formed with a toner containing a heat-sensitive adhesive, the toner fixed on the paper surface is re-melted by heating to realize the subsequent adhesion by the adhesive, A character offset occurs.

  This character offset phenomenon is caused by the fact that both the variable information printing toner softened and melted by thermocompression bonding and the adhesive are strongly bound together, and when the postcard is opened, the variable information printing toner is strongly pulled by the adhesive on the opposite surface. However, it is considered that this occurs when the adhesive force between the paper and the variable information printing toner exceeds the adhesive force, and the variable information printing toner is transferred to the opposite surface side.

Therefore, it turns out that some kind of further device is necessary for producing a powder adhesive having sufficient adhesive force (= peeling force) and no character offset.
In view of the above-described conventional situation, the object of the present invention is to establish a practical method for producing a powder adhesive, and then efficiently apply the powder adhesive to a paper such as a pressure-sensitive postcard. An agent coating method, a coating apparatus, and a pressure-sensitive postcard creating apparatus are provided.

  First, the adhesive application method of the pressure postcard of the first invention includes a step of folding a part of the pressure-bonded postcard paper before applying the adhesive, and exposing the folded surface and the folded surface side by side. And the step of applying the adhesive to the unfolded surface at a time, and the adhesive is applied to the predetermined surface of the front and back of the pressure-sensitive postcard paper at a time.

  Next, the adhesive postcard adhesive application device according to the second aspect of the invention is a paper folding part for folding a part of the pressure-sensitive postcard paper before applying the adhesive, a surface folded by the paper folding part, and the folding. An adhesive application unit that applies the adhesive at a time to an unfolded surface that is exposed side by side with the applied surface, and applies the adhesive at a time to a predetermined surface on the front and back of the pressure-bonded postcard paper Configured to do.

  Further, the crimping postcard making apparatus of the third invention is a paper folding part for folding a part of the crimping postcard paper before applying the adhesive, a surface folded by the paper folding part and the folded surface. An adhesive application portion that applies the adhesive at a time to the unfolded surfaces exposed side by side, and applies the adhesive after applying the adhesive to the predetermined surfaces of the front and back surfaces of the postcard paper at once. And configured to create a crimped postcard.

  According to the present invention, the adhesive can be applied to both sides of the desired sheet of the paper to be finally bonded as a pressure-sensitive postcard by folding a part of the pressure-bonded postcard paper before applying the adhesive. The work of applying the adhesive is simplified and the efficiency is improved.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
In the adhesive made of the above-mentioned toner-like thermoplastic resin powder, in order to prevent problems such as paper breakage or character transfer due to too strong adhesive force, a variable information printing toner (hereinafter simply referred to as printing) It is considered necessary to prevent the toner) and the adhesive from being integrated when melted.

  For this purpose, it is considered necessary to make the configuration of the adhesive different from that of the variable information printing toner. Based on this idea, the present inventor has developed a toner-like powder having a composition different from that of the printing toner, and a toner-like powder having a composition almost the same as that of the printing toner for comparison, Transparent powders containing no coloring materials such as dyes and pigments were prepared, and their adhesive strength and character offset property were evaluated.

The composition, manufacturing method, and evaluation results of the toner-like powder, that is, the powder adhesive will be described below.
First, the inventors created three types of powder adhesives as Production Example 1, Production Example 2 and Production Example 3. As materials, polyester resin, silica powder, charge control agent, polyethylene wax, acrylic resin, and fine silica were prepared with different content ratios (mass%).

  Of these material formulations, the polyester resin is a binder resin. As a powder adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards, it is possible to use a binder resin used for toner, and examples of such a binder resin include polystyrene resin, styrene acrylic resin, polyester resin, and epoxy resin. It is done.

  Polyester resin, in particular, has a lower softening point than other resins, and can be set to a softening point of 110 ° C. as shown in the figure. When organic materials are mixed as a non-adhesive material used for adhesion adjustment in this example In addition, there is an advantage that the temperature difference of the softening point can be set large.

  In addition, silica powder having a particle size of 3 μm is selected as a representative of inorganic non-tacky materials and is used as an adhesive strength modifier. An acrylic resin having a particle size of 4 μm and a softening point of 200 ° C. or higher has been selected as a representative organic non-tacky material and is used as another adhesive strength adjusting agent.

  In addition, a charge control agent LR-147 manufactured by Nippon Carlit Co., Ltd., a polyethylene wax NP-056 manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals as a wax, and a fine particle manufactured by Nippon Aerosil Co., Ltd. as an external additive as a fluidity improver. Silica RY-50 is used for applying a powder adhesive to a sheet using electrophotography as in the case of printing toner.

  In Production Example 1, first, 70% by mass of a polyester resin as a binder resin, 30% by mass of silica powder, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax are prepared as non-adhesive resins.

  These are mixed with a chemical mixer, the mixture is melt-kneaded with a twin screw extruder and then crushed. Further, the crushed product is pulverized with an I-type jet mill, and the pulverized product is classified to obtain an average volume particle size. 9 μm powder particles are prepared.

Then, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica were mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture was sieved to obtain a desired pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.
Next, in Production Example 2, first, 70% by mass of a polyester resin as a binder resin, 30% by mass of an acrylic resin, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax are prepared as non-adhesive resins.

  Then, as described above, these are mixed with a chemical mixer, the mixture is melt-kneaded with a twin-screw extruder, and then roughly crushed. Thus, powder particles having an average volume particle diameter of 9 μm are prepared.

Then, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica were mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture was sieved to obtain a desired pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.
In Production Example 3, 100% by mass of a polyester resin, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax were used in the same manner as in Production Example 1 or 2 as in the case of the printing toner. After producing powder particles having a diameter of 9 μm, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica are mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture is sieved to obtain a desired pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards. It was.

  The adhesive prepared in this way is applied to the paper by an adhesive application machine. This adhesive is a powder adhesive and is solid at room temperature. And it melts by heating, and adhesiveness is exhibited by being pressurized.

  By the way, in the application of the powder adhesive, for example, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that performs printing (or printing, the same applies hereinafter) using toner is used, and the powder adhesive is accommodated in the image forming unit instead of the toner. Thus, a method of selectively applying the powder adhesive to the adhesive application surface of the postcard is considered.

  In application of such a powder adhesive, it is usually easier to apply it to a solid. Then, if it is applied to the solid, it is considered that there is no problem even if it is applied directly only with the developing roller of the developing device without using the photosensitive drum used for selective image formation in the image forming unit.

  FIG. 1 (a) is a configuration principle diagram of a pressure-bonding postcard creation system including the powder adhesive application device according to Embodiment 1 configured based on such an idea, and FIG. 1 (b), (c), (d), (e) is a figure which shows the application | coating procedure of a powder adhesive. FIGS. 3C and 3D are a plan view and a rear side view showing a state where the powder adhesive is transferred.

  In this pressure-sensitive postcard creation system, variable information is printed in advance with a printing toner on the surface of the pressure-bonded postcard paper, and the above-described powder adhesives of Preparation Examples 1 to 3 are applied to the surface of the paper. It was.

  In addition, in this example, since the amount of secret information can be described more as the number of pages increases in recent years, a Z-fold crimping postcard will be described as an example in view of the fact that Z-fold crimping postcards are widely used. I will decide.

In FIG. 2A, the pressure-sensitive postcard creation system comprises, from right to left, a paper feeding device 1, a powder adhesive coating device 2, a folding device 3, a pressure bonding device 4, and a final pressure-bonded postcard storage device 5.
The powder adhesive application device 2 includes a paper transport device 6, an adhesive application unit 7, a fixing device 8, and a double-sided printing reversing device 9.

The adhesive application unit 7 includes a powder adhesive container 11 in which a powder adhesive is accommodated, and an application roller 12 rotatably disposed in a lower end opening of the powder adhesive container 11. ing.
Although not particularly shown, a transfer device is provided that is disposed opposite to the application roller 12 via the conveyance belt 13 of the sheet conveyance device 6.

  In FIG. 1A, first, a sheet 14 for Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard is accommodated in the sheet feeding device 1. Next, the sheets 14 are taken out from the sheet feeding device 1 one by one by a sheet feeding roller (not shown) or the like and fed to the powder adhesive application device 2 as indicated by an arrow a.

FIG. 2B is a view of the paper 14 fed from the paper feeding device 1 to the powder adhesive application device 2 as seen from above.
In the powder adhesive application device 2, the application roller 12 of the powder adhesive container 11 rotates while forming a uniform powder adhesive layer on the peripheral surface thereof. The application roller 12 cooperates with a transfer unit (not shown) on the surface P1 of one end page of the surface of the paper 14 that passes immediately below the application roller 12, as shown in FIG. The body adhesive 15 is electrostatically transferred (applied).

  Here, the surface configuration of the Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard paper 14 is defined. As shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D, in this example, the surface of the sheet 14 is a surface P2 on one end page of the cover before Z-folding, and a surface P3 on the other end page. The back surface of the surface P1 is referred to as surface P4, the back surface of the cover surface P2 as surface P5, and the back surface of the cover surface P3 as surface P6.

  The sheet 14 having the powder adhesive transferred (applied) to the surface P1 as shown in FIG. 11B is conveyed toward the fixing device 8 as indicated by the arrow b in FIG. Heat and pressure are applied to the paper 14 by the fixing device 8, and the powder adhesive 15 transferred to the surface P1 is melted and fixed on the paper surface.

  Thereafter, the paper 14 is conveyed toward the double-sided printing reversing device 9 as indicated by arrows c and d. The paper 14 is turned upside down by the double-sided printing reversing device 9 and is turned upside down. The paper 14 is conveyed in the first paper feeding direction as indicated by arrows e, f, and g. As shown by a, it is fed to the powder adhesive applicator 2.

  The paper 14 on which the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the back surface by the powder adhesive applicator 2 is fixed on the paper surface by the fixing device 8 and then folded as indicated by an arrow h. It is conveyed toward the device 3.

  FIG. 4D shows a plan view and a rear side view showing a state where the powder adhesive 15 is transferred to the back surface 6 of the paper 14. That is, as shown in FIG. 4D, the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the surface P1 on the front surface of the paper 14 and the surface P6 on the back surface.

  In this state, the paper 14 carried into the folding device 3 is Z-folded by the folding device 3 (see FIG. 5E), conveyed to the crimping device 4, and the surface P1 and the surface P2 by the crimping device 4. And the surface P5 and the surface P6 are crimped | bonded, and the crimping postcard which can be thrown is completed. Note that a generally known Z-folding device can be used as the Z-folding device.

  2A is a diagram showing a state of the sheet 14 folded by the folding device 3 for reference, and FIG. 2B shows the sheet 14 folded by Z as indicated by an arrow H. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state penetrated by the crimping | compression-bonding apparatus. The paper 14 that has been Z-folded by the folding device 3 is bonded by the crimping device 4 to form one postcard. This coating process was performed on a predetermined number of sheets on which confidential information was printed.

  Subsequently, the operator replaces the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 of Production Example 1 with the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ′ of Production Example 2. And the application | coating process of powder adhesive 15 'similar to the above was performed.

  Further, the operator replaces the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ′ of Production Example 2 with the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ″ of Production Example 3. The same powder adhesive 15 ″ as above was applied.

Here, the peelability of the pressure-bonded postcard created as described above and the state of transfer of the variable information (character offset property) are evaluated.
In this evaluation, the peelability was confirmed by manually opening the adhesive portion of the postcard paper after the pressure bonding. Moreover, the evaluation of the transfer state of the variable information was confirmed visually by checking the presence or absence of the transfer when the adhesive part was opened.

  As a result of the evaluation, the powder adhesive of Production Example 1 was able to peel well (evaluation was good), and there was no character transfer when the open surface was seen (evaluation was good). Similarly, the powder adhesive of Production Example 2 could be peeled well (evaluation was good), and when the open surface was seen, there was no transfer (evaluation was good).

On the other hand, the powder adhesive of Production Example 3 does not peel off well, and the paper is torn (evaluation is x). Moreover, when the open surface was seen, the character transfer had occurred (evaluation was x).
As described above, according to the above evaluation, it was found that Production Examples 1 and 2 have excellent peelability and no transfer of characters, and are extremely good pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.

  And in Production Example 3, it was found that the adhesive force was too strong, the peeling did not go well, and the partially peeled part was also transferred, and as a result, it was not practical as an adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards. .

  Although it has already been proposed to use toner as a powder adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards, as described above, the powder adhesive of Preparation Example 3 is composed of almost the same material as the toner, and is the main component of the toner. A certain binder resin has high adhesiveness, and when used as a powder adhesive, the peel strength is too strong to open easily, resulting in paper breakage or partial transfer of the open portion. It became clear that it would not be practical.

  On the other hand, as in Preparation Example 1 or 2, an adhesive strength is obtained by mixing an inorganic or organic resin such as silica or acrylic resin as a non-adhesive component that does not melt at the time of fixing to a polyester resin having adhesive strength. It has been proved that the reduced one is practical as an adhesive for a good pressure-bonding postcard having good peelability and no transfer of characters.

  In Embodiment 1 described above, a non-adhesive substance is added to the binder resin having a strong adhesive force to weaken the adhesive force. Conversely, the binder resin having a weak adhesive force has a strong adhesive force. You may make it adjust an adhesive force by adding a thing.

  For example, an adhesive that adheres well can be formed by mixing adhesive components and strengthening the adhesive force mainly by using a wax system having a weak adhesive force. An adhesive that does not cause transfer can be obtained.

  In the above embodiment, the non-adhesive component silica or acrylic resin is first made into fine particles and added to the binder resin, but the shape of the non-adhesive component is not limited to particles. For example, when an acrylic resin is added and then melt-kneaded with the binder resin, the acrylic resin is refined and dispersed.

(Embodiment 2)
By the way, in Embodiment 1 described above, the front and back of the paper 14 are reversed by the double-sided printing reversing device 9 and the powder adhesive is applied to the front and back surfaces.

  As described above, when the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard paper 14 by the same powder adhesive application machine, that is, the processing time for applying the powder adhesive 15 to both surfaces of the paper 14 is V-folding. Compared to the case where the powder adhesive only needs to be applied to one side as in the case of a pressure-bonded postcard, it takes twice or more in terms of time to include reversal conveyance.

That is, in the case of the most popular Z-folding postcards, the application process of the powder adhesive per sheet is delayed as compared with the V-folding postcards, and the production efficiency of the crimping postcards is lowered.
This problem can be solved if the powder adhesive can be applied to the front and back sides by a single paper conveyance. A powder adhesive applicator for applying the powder adhesive to the front and back sides of this single paper conveyance will be described below as a second embodiment.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the configuration of the crimping postcard creation apparatus as the second embodiment. As shown in the figure, the pressure-sensitive postcard creating device is configured to feed the paper feeding unit 16, the spare paper folding unit 17, the adhesive application unit 18, from the upstream side (right side in the drawing) to the downstream side (left side in the drawing), It comprises an assumed landing part / main fixing part 19, a paper folding part 21, a shape adjusting part 22, a cutting / separating part 23, and a paper discharge storage part 24.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the size of the paper used for the crimping postcard in the above-mentioned crimping postcard making apparatus. The figure shows an A3 size paper 25. In this example, one end in the longitudinal direction of the paper 25 is cut off in advance by a length portion 25a of 10.5 cm, and the remaining portion is used as the paper 25b.

  Then, as shown in the figure, when cutting along the cutting line 26 and folding along the two folding lines 27 into three by mountain fold and valley fold, the length is 14.85 cm and the width is 10.5 cm, respectively. Two Z-fold crimped postcards can be made. The vertical and horizontal dimensions of this crimped postcard are the allowable dimensions of the postcard approved by the Postal Service.

  In the crimping postcard making apparatus shown in FIG. 3 of this example, the maximum size paper that can be applied is A3 size paper, and the maximum paper width that can be conveyed and processed is the lateral width of A3 size paper, that is, 29.7 cm. is there. The paper feed unit 16 shown in FIG. 3 accommodates a large number of sheets 25b shown in FIG.

FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (d) and FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (d) show a plan view, a perspective view, and a side cross-sectional view of the state of the paper 25b in the order of the steps of making a postcard in the postcard making apparatus shown in FIG. FIG.
In FIGS. 5A to 5D and FIGS. 6A to 6D (same as in FIG. 4), the conveyance direction of the paper 25b in the crimping postcard making apparatus is indicated by an arrow i. In other words, the paper 25b is completed as a Z-fold pressure-bonded postcard through processing of adhesive application including special intermediate steps, tri-folding, pressure bonding, cutting and separation while being conveyed in the direction of arrow i.

Hereinafter, a method for producing a pressure-bonded postcard including a method for applying a pressure-bonded postcard adhesive in the pressure-bonded postcard making apparatus of this example will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, the paper 25 b is fed from the paper feeding unit 16 to the spare paper folding unit 17. In this paper feeding, FIG. 5 (a) shows only one postcard paper to be conveyed in the direction of the arrow i in order to avoid the complexity of illustration, but in practice, FIG. As shown, the two sheets 25b of the crimping postcards that are still continuous with the cutting line 26 are conveyed in the longitudinal direction as indicated by the arrow i.

  In the spare paper folding unit 17, the paper 25b is folded so that a part of the paper (the part of the C surface and the F surface on the front and back sides) is indicated by an arrow j, as shown in FIG. The paper 25 b in which a part of the paper is folded is conveyed to the adhesive application unit 18.

  The adhesive application unit 18 includes a powder adhesive storage unit 28, an adhesive application roller 29 provided at the lower end opening of the powder adhesive storage unit 28, a transfer roller 31, a cleaner 33, and the like. Yes.

  The paper 25b carried into the adhesive application unit 18 is sandwiched between the adhesive application roller 29 and the transfer roller 31 and conveyed, and the folded surface (see the surface F in FIG. 5 (c)) and this fold. The powder adhesive 15 is applied at a time (see FIG. 5 (d)) to the unfolded surface (see surface A in FIG. 5 (c)) exposed side by side with the formed surface.

  In this way, the sheet 25b having the powder adhesive 15 applied to the front and back predetermined surfaces (surface F and surface A) at a time is conveyed to the assumed attachment portion / main fixing portion 19. A hypothetical landing part / main fixing unit 19 includes a lower endless thermal belt 34 and press rollers 35 and 36 arranged so as to sandwich the lower endless thermal belt 34 from above and below to form a hypothetical landing part. .

  The pressure roller 35 located on the lower surface (outside) of the lower endless heat belt 34 is always in contact with the lower surface of the lower endless heat belt 34, and the pressure roller 36 disposed opposite the pressure roller 35 is in the downward direction when it is assumed to be worn. And the lower endless heat belt 34 is pressed toward the pressing roller 35.

As a result, the paper 25b is sandwiched and conveyed by the lower endless heat belt 34 and the pressing roller 35, and heat and pressure are applied, so that the powder adhesive 15 is put on the paper surface.
The paper 25 b on which the powder adhesive 15 is assumed on the paper surface is subsequently conveyed to the paper folding unit 21. First, the folded surface of the paper 25b carried into the paper folding unit 21 is first widened.

  FIG. 6 (a) shows the surface (surface A, surface B, surface C) of the paper 25b that has been spread in this manner, and the above-mentioned powder adhesive 15 is presupposed on the surface A. FIG. FIG. 6B shows the back surface (surface D, surface E, surface F) of the spread paper 25b, and the powder adhesive 15 is assumed on the surface F. .

  Thereafter, in the paper folding section 21, as shown in FIG. 6 (c), the surface F is folded to the surface E side as indicated by the arrow k, and then continuously folded to be doubled with the surface F. B is folded to the surface A side as indicated by an arrow m. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6D, the sheet 25b is Z-folded.

  The Z-folded paper 25 b is conveyed again to the assumed landing part / main fixing part 19. However, this time, the sheet 25b is carried into the main fixing unit in which the lower endless heat belt 34 and the upper endless heat belt 37 are arranged to face each other.

  Four pressing rollers including the above-described pressing roller 36 are disposed inside the lower endless heat belt 34, and the four pressing rollers inside the lower endless heat belt 34 are disposed inside the upper endless heat belt 34. Four pressing rollers are disposed at positions facing the rollers.

  Each of these pressing rollers presses the endless heat belt toward the facing portion. As a result, the Z-folded paper 25b is nipped and conveyed by the lower endless heat belt 34 and the upper endless heat belt 37, and the coated surface (surface A, surface F) of the powder adhesive 15 and its opposite surface. (Surface B, Surface E) are pressure-bonded.

  Subsequently, the sheet 25 b is conveyed to the shape adjusting unit 22, the skew is corrected, the conveyance width direction is aligned, and further conveyed to the cutting and separating unit 23. The cutting / separating unit 23 is cut by the splitter along the cutting line 26 shown in FIG. 4, and is completed as two independent Z-fold crimping postcards 25c. The completed two Z-fold crimping postcards 25 c are stored in the paper discharge storage unit 24.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a V-fold pressure-bonded postcard can be produced using the same process as that for producing the Z-fold pressure-bonded postcard. This will be described below as a third embodiment.

  FIGS. 7A to 7H are views showing the state of the paper in a plan view, a perspective view, a side cross-sectional view, and the like in the order of the manufacturing process of the V-fold pressure-bonded postcard. FIG. 2A shows the pressure-bonded postcard paper before V-folding, which is stored in the paper supply unit 16 after the confidential information is printed. In this case as well, only one V-fold pressure-bonded postcard paper is shown in order to avoid the complexity of the illustration, but actually, in this case as well, two sheets of pressure-bonded postcards that remain continuous with the cutting line are used. Is conveyed in the longitudinal direction as indicated by arrow i.

  FIGS. 7B and 7C show a state where the paper is fed from the paper supply unit 16 to the spare paper folding unit 17 and temporarily folded into two as indicated by an arrow n. FIG. 4D shows the assumption that the powder adhesive 15 is transported to the adhesive application unit 18 and the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the folded surface D. It shows the state that was done.

  FIG. 6 (e) shows a state where the paper is unloaded from the assumed landing part, conveyed to the paper folding part 21, and then temporarily folded and unfolded at the paper folding part 21, and FIG. The back side is shown. As shown in FIG. 5 (f), a powder adhesive 15 is presupposed on the surface D of the developed rear surface.

  Next, in the paper folding section 21, the surface D is folded over the surface C as shown in FIG. 5G, and a V-fold crimping postcard is formed as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the sheet is transported to the main fixing section of the assumed landing section / main fixing section 19 and is subjected to pressure finishing by the main fixing, the skew is corrected by the shape adjusting section 22, the transport width direction is aligned, and the cutting / separating section 23. And is completed as two independent V-fold crimping postcards.

(Embodiment 4)
In the case of V-fold pressure-bonded postcards, there is a method in which the adhesive is applied efficiently at one time without using the same steps as in the case of Z-fold pressure-bonded postcards as described above.

  FIGS. 8A, 8B, and 8C are diagrams showing a method for efficiently applying the adhesive of such a V-fold pressure-bonded postcard at one time. In this method, as shown in FIG. 1A, first, a plurality of sheets (four sheets in the example of FIG. 1A) are stacked with the V-fold pressure-bonding postcards shifted, and the surface D is lined up and exposed upward. Like that.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5B, the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the surface D at once and is assumed. Then, as shown in FIG. 6C, the four sheets are separated, each folded into V and flowed through the main fixing step, and then crimped to complete four V-fold crimped postcards.

(a) is a block diagram showing the principle of the construction of a pressure-bonding postcard including the powder adhesive applicator according to the first embodiment, and (b), (c), (d), and (e) are procedures for applying the powder adhesive. FIG. (a) is a figure which shows the state of the paper Z-folded by the folding apparatus for reference, (b) is a figure which shows the state by which the paper Z-folded is inserted into a crimping | compression-bonding apparatus as shown by the arrow h. It is a block diagram of the configuration of a crimping postcard creation device as a second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the size of the sheet | seat used for crimping postcards in the crimping postcard production apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a)-(d) is the figure (the 1) which shows the state of a paper with a top view, a perspective view, a side sectional view, etc. in order of the production process of the crimping postcard in the crimping postcard production apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a)-(d) is the figure (the 2) which shows the state of a sheet | seat with a top view, a perspective view, a side sectional view, etc. in order of the production process of the crimping postcard in the crimping postcard production apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a)-(h) is a figure which shows the state of a sheet | seat with a top view, a perspective view, a side sectional view, etc. in order of the production process of the V folding crimping postcard as 3rd Embodiment. (a), (b), (c) is a figure which shows the other method of performing the application | coating of the adhesive agent of V folding crimping postcard as 4th Embodiment efficiently at once.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feeder 2 Powder adhesive coating device 3 Folding device 4 Crimping device 5 Finished crimping postcard storage device 6 Paper transport device 7 Adhesive application part 8 Fixing device 9 Double-sided printing reversing device 11 Powder adhesive container 12 Coating roller 13 Conveying belt 14 Paper for Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard 15 Powder adhesive 16 Paper feeding unit 17 Spare paper folding unit 18 Adhesive application unit 19 Assumed attachment / main fixing unit 21 Paper folding unit 22 Shape trimming unit 23 Cutting separation unit 24 Paper discharge compartment 25 A3 size paper 25a Paper (cut-off part)
25b Paper (used part)
25c Completed Z-fold crimping postcard 26 Cutting line 27 Folding line 28 Powder adhesive container 29 Adhesive application roller 31 Transfer roller 33 Cleaner 34 Lower endless heat belt 35, 36 Pressing roller 37 Upper endless heat belt

Claims (3)

A process of folding a part of the pressure-bonded postcard paper before applying the adhesive;
Applying the adhesive at once to the folded surface and the unfolded surface exposed side by side with the folded surface;
A method of applying an adhesive for a postcard, wherein the adhesive is applied to a predetermined surface on both sides of the postcard paper at once. A paper folding part that folds a part of the pressure-bonded postcard paper before applying the adhesive,
An adhesive application unit that applies the adhesive to the surface folded by the paper folding unit and the unfolded surface exposed side by side with the folded surface;
An adhesive application device for a postcard, wherein the adhesive is applied to a predetermined surface on both sides of the postcard paper at once. A paper folding part that folds a part of the pressure-bonded postcard paper before applying the adhesive,
An adhesive application unit that applies the adhesive to the surface folded by the paper folding unit and the unfolded surface exposed side by side with the folded surface;
A pressure-sensitive postcard creating apparatus comprising: a pressure-sensitive postcard paper, wherein the adhesive is applied to the front and back surfaces of the pressure-bonded postcard paper at a time and then pressure-bonded to create a pressure-bonded postcard.