JP2012215652A - Dyeing method for plastic lens for spectacles - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a dyeing method for plastic lens for spectacles that achieves dyeing with no unevenness and stable gradations when a plastic lens is dyed by transferring sublimation dye from a transfer base for lens dyeing to the lens.SOLUTION: A lens support holder 5 comprising a support ring 8 supported by a main body 7 is set on a tray, and a lens 2 is set on the support ring 8. Those are enclosed with a sheet holder guide 9. The sheet holder guide 9 has cut-shaped opening parts 10 formed on an upper edge side. A dyeing transfer sheet for gradient color which has adsorbed the sublimation dye is set at an upper edge of the sheet holder guide 9 to face the lens 2. The tray is put in a heating furnace to dye the lens.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for dyeing eyeglass plastic lenses for dyeing eyeglass plastic lenses in which the whole or part of the lens is colored.

  Conventionally, for example, a dyeing method for a plastic lens for spectacles is proposed in which a sublimable dye is adsorbed on a dyeing transfer paper as a dyeing transfer substrate, heated to sublimate the dye, and transferred to a plastic lens placed in close proximity. Patent Document 1 or 2). If it demonstrates more concretely based on patent document 2, the plastic-made lens 10 will be set to the mounting base 11, and the printing base | substrate 2 as a transfer paper for dyeing | staining will be arrange | positioned close to the upper position. Then, the printing substrate 2 is heated by a halogen lamp 15 as a heater disposed on the upper portion of the printing substrate 2, and the dye of the colored layer 2 is sublimated and transferred to the lens 10. With such a sublimation dyeing method using transfer paper, the lens can be partially dyed. For example, it is suitable for dyeing plastic lenses of different densities (gradation) in which the upper half of the lens is dyed darker toward the upper side and the lower half of the lens is not dyed at all. This can be easily realized, for example, by using a semicircular printed substrate 2 on which sublimable dyes having different concentrations are adsorbed as shown in FIG.

JP 2001-59950 A JP 2001-159746 A

By the way, the lens is supported by some support means like the lens support base 11 of Patent Document 2, and is surrounded by a ring-shaped wall portion (base support base 13 in Patent Document 2) that surrounds the entire circumference of the lens. By doing so, a lens housing portion is formed. The dyeing transfer paper is brought into contact with the end of the wall. The dyeing transfer paper is disposed close to the lens in a state of being in contact with the end portion. The lens is sealed and accommodated in the accommodating portion with the dyeing transfer paper covered. When the dyeing transfer paper is heated with the heater in this state, the heated sublimation dye causes the volume in the container to expand, and the gas component mainly expanded from between the dyeing transfer paper and the end of the wall portion is externally exposed. Will leak to the direction. However, the leak position is not constant, and the leak occurs in a state where the internal pressure is increased, so that a relatively high-speed air flow is generated. For this reason, dye that has been sublimated by such an air flow is caused to flow, and uneven gradation may occur. As a result, in this sublimation dyeing method using transfer paper, it may not be possible to dye with the expected gradation, resulting in poor product yield. In particular, since lenses are for eyeglasses, they are generally dyed on the left and right at the same time, but not only unevenness occurs, but the heating conditions and the transfer paper for dyeing are the same, but the gradation of the appearance differs on the left and right. There is a possibility.
The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems existing in the prior art. The object is to provide a method for dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles, which enables dyeing with a stable gradation without unevenness when transferring a sublimable dye from a lens dyeing transfer substrate to the lens for dyeing.

In order to solve the above problem, in the invention of claim 1, the lens is accommodated in the accommodating portion surrounded by the bottom portion and the wall portion, and the sublimable dye is adsorbed in an area corresponding to a predetermined dyeing region of the lens. The wall of the gradient color dyeing substrate is brought into contact with the entire circumference of the end portion formed at the same height of the wall portion with a slight sublimation space between the lens and the wall. An opening communicating with the inside and outside of the wall is formed in a part of the portion so as to face a space region between the transfer substrate and the lens, and heat treatment is performed from the transfer substrate direction to remove the transfer substrate from the transfer substrate. The gist is that the dye is sublimated to transfer the sublimable dye to a predetermined dyeing region of the lens.
The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration of the invention of claim 1, the opening is formed by cutting out a part of the end of the wall in a stepped shape.
Further, the gist of the invention of claim 3 is that, in addition to the configuration of the invention of claim 1, the opening is formed at a plurality of different locations along the circumferential direction of the wall.
Further, the gist of the invention of claim 4 is that, in addition to the configuration of the invention of claim 3, the plurality of openings are arranged at positions that are symmetrical in the circumferential direction of the wall.
In addition, in the invention of claim 5, in addition to the structure of the invention of claim 3, the number of the openings is two, and the two openings are arranged at positions facing each other by 180 degrees in the circumferential direction of the wall. The gist of this is.
In the invention of claim 6, in addition to the structure of the invention of claim 4 or 5, when the opening is axisymmetric, the axis of symmetry is the portion of the transfer substrate where the sublimable dye is adsorbed. The gist is that it is arranged in a direction orthogonal to the direction along the boundary line of the part that is not formed.
According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in addition to the configuration of the fifth aspect of the invention, the two openings are in a direction along a boundary line between a portion where the sublimable dye is adsorbed and a portion where the sublimation dye is not adsorbed on the transfer substrate. The gist is to be arranged in
Further, the gist of the invention of claim 8 is that, in addition to the structure of any one of claims 1 to 7, the transfer substrate is adhered to the end of the wall.

In the configuration as described above, the lens is housed in the housing portion surrounded by the bottom portion and the wall portion, and is slightly sublimated between the lens with respect to the entire circumference of the end portion of the wall portion configured at the same height. In a state where a space is provided, a gradient color dyeing transfer substrate on which a sublimation dye is adsorbed in an area corresponding to a predetermined dyeing region of the lens is brought into contact as if it were covered. Next, heat treatment is performed to sublimate the dye from the transfer substrate. At this time, an opening communicating with the inside and outside of the wall is formed in a part of the wall so as to face the space region between the transfer substrate and the lens. As a result, the internal pressure of the housing portion is not increased by the sublimated dye that has been sublimated, so that the gas component expanded from between the contact surfaces of the transfer substrate for dyeing and the wall portion leaks outward. This reduces the possibility of uneven dyeing.
Here, in the housing portion for housing the lens, the bottom portion and the wall portion may be integrated or separate. In addition, the housing part may be arranged so that the bottom part does not place below and is reversed upside down.
The transfer substrate for dyeing is a thin paper-like appearance adsorbed with a sublimation dye, for example, transfer paper, and any material can be used as long as the present invention is applicable.
Further, the shape and position of the opening are not limited as long as they face the space region between the transfer substrate and the lens.

In the above configuration, the shape of the opening is not particularly limited, but it is more preferable that a part of the end of the wall is cut out in a step shape.
More preferably, the openings are formed at a plurality of different locations along the circumferential direction of the wall. This is because a plurality of openings provides better air circulation and less uneven dyeing. In addition, when there are a plurality of openings, it is preferable that the openings are arranged symmetrically.
Moreover, when there are two openings, it is preferable from the balance of the flow of the air flow that they are arranged at positions facing each other by 180 degrees in the circumferential direction of the end of the wall.
Further, when the opening is line symmetric, the axis of symmetry is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the direction along the boundary line between the portion where the sublimable dye is adsorbed and the portion where the sublimation dye is not adsorbed. It is preferable. That is, it is effective for a well-balanced dyeing without unevenness that the flow of the air current is as perpendicular as possible to the gradation direction.
Similarly, when there are two openings, it is preferable that the two openings are arranged in a direction along the boundary line between the portion where the sublimation dye is adsorbed and the portion where the sublimation dye is not adsorbed on the transfer substrate. This is also because the flow of the airflow is as orthogonal as possible to the direction of gradation progression, which is effective for a well-balanced and uniform dyeing.
Further, the transfer substrate may be adhered to the end of the wall. Although the gas component expanded by heating as described above is basically discharged to the outside from the opening, when the gas component in the portion near the transfer substrate expands, it does not move toward the opening due to the air current, and is the same as the conventional one This is to prevent discharge from between the transfer base and the end of the wall.

  In the inventions of the above claims, it is possible to provide a plastic lens for spectacles that is dyed with a stable gradation without unevenness in a sublimation dyeing method using a lens dyeing transfer substrate.

The schematic diagram of the heating furnace for dyeing used for embodiment of this invention. Explanatory drawing explaining the mounting method of the sheet | seat for lens dyeing | staining to a sheet | seat holder. Explanatory drawing explaining the procedure which mounts a plastic lens on a lens support stand, and surrounds this with a sheet holder guide from the outside. Sectional drawing of the state which enclosed the lens support stand in which the plastic lens was mounted with the sheet holder guide, and this was covered with the sheet holder. The top view of the state which set the lens support stand of the state covered with the sheet holder orderly on the tray. (A)-(e) is a top view for demonstrating the opening part direction of the sheet holder guide arrange | positioned in a pair for right and left lenses. (A) is explanatory drawing explaining the area of the opening part of a sheet holder guide, (b) is explanatory drawing explaining the direction of the plastic lens dye | stained with the lens dyeing | staining sheet | seat.

Hereinafter, embodiments in which the method of the present invention is implemented will be described.
In the plastic lens dyeing method of the present embodiment, as an example, dyeing is performed in a heating furnace 1 as shown in FIG. First, the support structure of the plastic lens 2 to be dyed and the holding structure of the lens dyeing sheet 3 as a lens dyeing transfer substrate for gradient color will be briefly described.
The plastic lens 2 is supported on a lens support 5 made of aluminum die cast and disposed on a tray 6 serving as a bottom. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, as an example, a total of 20 lens support bases 5, 4 in length and 5 in width, are arranged on the tray 6. In this embodiment, since the pair of left and right lenses when attached to the spectacle frame is considered as one set, here, the plastic lenses 2 supported by two adjacent lens support bases 5 in the vertical direction form a pair, and a total of 10 pairs. The plastic lens 2 can be dyed at the same time. In FIG. 5, the illustration of the positioning member of each lens support 5 is omitted.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lens support 5 includes a main body 7 formed in a flat cylindrical shape and a support ring 8 supported by the main body 7. The main body 7 is a ring body having the same width in the vertical direction. The outer diameters of the main body 7 and the support ring 8 are configured to be the same diameter. The support ring 8 is a ring having a bowl-like cross-sectional shape including a first projecting portion 8a projecting outward along the outer peripheral upper edge and a second projecting portion 8b projecting inward along the inner peripheral lower edge. Is the body. The support ring 8 is installed on the upper end 7a of the main body 7 by the first overhanging portion 8a. As shown in FIG. 4, the plastic lens 2 is supported on the support ring 8 with the surface (convex surface) side facing downward and the peripheral portion of the surface abutting on the second projecting portion 8 b. Become.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each lens support 5 arranged on the tray 6 is provided with a sheet holder guide 9 made of aluminum die casting. The sheet holder guide 9 as a wall portion has a cylindrical shape, and its inner diameter is configured to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the lens support 5 and surrounds the lens support 5 from the outside. The sheet holder guide 9 is configured to have a height that is greater than that of the lens support 5 and is surrounded by the sheet holder guide 9 so that the lens holder 5 cannot be viewed from the side of the lens support 5. An opening 10 is formed in the upper edge of the sheet holder guide 9 in a cutout shape. In the present embodiment, as an example, a pair of openings 10 facing each other by 180 degrees are illustrated. As will be described later, the size, number, and position of the opening 10 of the sheet holder guide 9 can be changed as appropriate.

As shown in FIG. 2, the lens dyeing sheet 3 according to the present embodiment has an application region P to which a sublimation dye corresponding to the plastic lens 2 is applied. The application region P has a half-moon shape for dyeing the upper half of the plastic lens 2 and is set to a predetermined concentration.
The lens dyeing sheet 3 is held by a sheet holder 11. The sheet holder 11 is a rectangular frame body, and has a large opening 11 a corresponding to the shape of the lens dyeing sheet 3. Supporting claws 12 that are curved outwardly are formed at the outer positions of the sheet holder 11 on the four sides. The lens dyeing sheet 3 is not removed from the sheet holder 11 because the four sides are held by the support claws 12 when the sheet holder 11 is turned downward.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the sheet holder 11 is disposed together with the dyeing sheet 3 with respect to the pair of lens support bases 5 (and the sheet holder guide 9). The sheet holder 11 is placed on the upper edge 9a of the sheet holder guide 9 so that the application region P of the dyeing sheet 3 faces downward, and the sheet holder 11 (dyeing sheet 3) is thus placed. In this state, the space above the plastic lens 2 is a passage where only the opening 10 communicates the inside and the outside. In a state where the sheet holder 11 is placed on the sheet holder guide 9, the application region P is just opposite to the staining region to be dyed of the plastic lens 2 set on the support ring 8 with a slight interval. This interval is set to a distance of several millimeters where the sublimated dye that has been sublimated can be sufficiently dispersed and does not diffuse too much.

As shown in FIG. 1, a halogen lamp 15 as a heating means is disposed inside the heating furnace 1. The heating furnace 1 is provided with a pump device 16 for degassing the inside.
In such a configuration, dyeing is performed as follows.
In the heating furnace 1, the plastic lens 2 supported on the lens support 5 together with the tray 6 and the sheet holder 11 (staining sheet 3) placed on the sheet holder guide 9 are set, and the door 1 a is closed. Then, deaeration is performed by the pump device 16 so as to obtain a predetermined degree of vacuum. The reason for degassing the inside of the heating furnace 1 is that the higher the internal atmospheric pressure, the higher the temperature for sublimating the sublimable dye. Therefore, by reducing the internal atmospheric pressure and lowering the sublimation temperature, wasteful heat energy is reduced. This is also for eliminating unevenness in dyeing. The heating temperature needs to be a temperature at which the sublimable dye is transferred with a desired color, gradation, and darkness, and does not damage the plastic lens 2. Generally, it is between 100-200 degreeC.
In the present embodiment, the sublimable dye sublimes with heating and diffuses into the housing portion. Moreover, the air remaining inside after deaeration expands by heating, and convection occurs. At this time, in the present embodiment, since the opening 10 is formed facing the accommodating portion constituted by the support ring 8 and the sheet holder guide 9, the airflow circulates in and out through the opening 10. . Since the flow of airflow is not constant depending on the number and position of the openings 10, it is preferable to set the number and position of the openings 10 to be optimal in order to obtain unevenness and stable gradation.

Since the sheet holder guide 9 is located at exactly the same position of the opening 10 for the pair of plastic lenses 2 as described above, the pair of plastic lenses 2 has the same dyeing conditions, so the same dyeing is performed on the left and right. And there is no variation in staining. Further, the provision of the opening 10 reduces the occurrence of unevenness in which the boundary line (so-called half line) between the stained and non-stained portions deviates from the planned position.
It should be noted that the present invention can be modified and embodied as follows.
The above is merely an example of the configuration of the heating furnace 1 and the configuration of the lens support 5 or the sheet holder guide 9 that surrounds it. For example, the halogen lamp 15 can also be heated from a direction other than the upper side.
The materials for the lens support 5 and the sheet holder guide 9 are not limited to the above.
In the above description, the sheet holder guide 9 is ring-shaped, but it may be configured in a petri dish with a bottom.
In the above-described embodiment, the opening 10 is formed at a line-symmetrical position (mirror image symmetry), but the opening 10 does not necessarily have to be line-symmetric.
The size, number, and position of the opening 10 may be changed as appropriate.
The position of the opening 10 may not be on the upper end 9 a side of the sheet holder guide 9.
-The shape of the opening part 10 does not need to be notched in the above squares. For example, the hole may be formed in a tunnel shape.
The arrangement as shown in FIG. 5 is an example, and other arrangements may be used.

Next, some specific examples of the plastic lens 2 that has been dyed by the apparatus of the embodiment will be described. In the following examples and comparative examples, the positions and numbers of the opening portions 10 of the sheet holder guide 9 are indicated by patterns as illustrated in FIGS. The direction of the arrow is the upper side (upper side when worn) with respect to each plastic lens 2. The application region P of the lens dyeing sheet 3 is arranged facing this arrow direction. Assuming that the opening 10 is a straight line extending in the vertical direction, the opening 10 is located at a position (mirror image symmetry) that is symmetric with respect to the line with reference to the straight line L1 passing through the center as shown in FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (e). Will be formed. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the straight line L1 is also a direction orthogonal to the boundary line between the application region P and the non-application region of the lens dyeing sheet 3, and extends vertically through the geometric center of the plastic lens 2. It also matches the minute. The size of each opening 10 is expressed by the width W and depth D of the opening 10 as shown in FIG. The opening area is represented by the product of width W and depth D.
The dyeing image of the paired plastic lens 2 is as shown in FIG. The lower body of the plastic lens 2 is not colored in the vertical direction, is gradually dyed with gradation from the vicinity of the equator position, and the entire upper body is stained corresponding to the application region P.
As an evaluation method of the example and the comparative example, a difference in transmittance (%) between two predetermined positions of the paired lens 2 is calculated, and the difference in transmittance between the paired near side and the far side plastic lens 2 is calculated. Was determined as “variation”. Further, when there was a half-line shift visually, it was determined that there was “unevenness”. The result is ◎ if there is neither “variation” nor “unevenness”, ○ if there is only “unevenness”, Δ if only “unevenness”, and x if both “variation” and “unevenness”. Although some unevenness is allowed, since the variation in the transmittance of the paired lenses 2 is regarded as an evaluation criterion, the case where there is “variation” is set to Δ.

<Example 1>
As shown in FIG. 6A, in the first embodiment, each sheet holder guide 9 forms a pair of openings 10 at positions facing each other by 180 degrees, and the center of the width W of the opening 10 is orthogonal to the straight line L1. In this case, it is substantially the same as a straight line L2 passing through the center of the sheet holder guide 9. That is, the sheet holder guide 9 is in a state of being line symmetric not only on the straight line L1 but also on the straight line L2. The results for Example 1 are as shown in Table 1. In each example, there was no variation in the lens on the near side and the far side as a pair. Examples 1-1 and 1-3 were good results. Here, the result of Example 1-2 is considered to be that the lens dyeing sheet 3 was not sealed with the bond on the upper surface of the sheet holder guide 9 in Example 1-2. For this reason, the half line extends slightly downward visually, resulting in unevenness.

<Example 2>
As shown in FIG. 6B, in the second embodiment, the position of the pair of openings 10 of the sheet holder guide 9 is slightly shifted upward. It is line symmetric only on the straight line L1. The results for Example 2 are as shown in Table 2. Both Examples 2-1 and 2-2 were good results. Even in Example 2-2, the upper surface of the sheet holder guide 9 was not sealed with a bond. However, since the accuracy of the sheet holder guide 9 was high, the lens dyeing sheet 3 and the upper edge 9a of the sheet holder guide 9 were particularly limited. It can be determined that no gap was formed.
<Example 3>
As shown in FIG. 6C, in the third embodiment, the position of the pair of openings 10 of the sheet holder guide 9 is slightly shifted downward. This is also line symmetric only on the straight line L1. The results for Example 3 are as shown in Table 3. Although the half line is slightly lowered, there is no variation in the front and back lenses.
<Example 4>
As shown in FIG. 6D, in the fourth embodiment, each sheet holder guide 9 forms a pair of opening portions 10 at positions facing each other by 180 degrees, and the center of the width W of the opening portion 10 is orthogonal to the straight line L1. Furthermore, another set of openings 10 is formed at a position closer to the upper part that is symmetric with respect to the straight line L1. The results for Example 4 are as shown in Table 4. Both Examples 4-1 and 4-2 were good results.

<Comparative example>
As shown in FIG. 6E, in the comparative example, the sheet holder guide 9 had the same outer shape, and the opening 10 was not provided. The results of the comparison are as shown in Table 5. In the comparative example, the difference in transmittance was greatly different between the near side and the far side, and visual unevenness was also observed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 ... Plastic lens, 3 ... Transfer paper for dyeing, 6 ... Tray which comprises a bottom part, 9 ... Sheet holder guide which comprises a wall part, 10 ... Opening part.

Claims (8)

A transfer substrate for dyeing a gradient color, in which a lens is housed in a housing part surrounded by a bottom part and a wall part, and a sublimable dye is adsorbed in an area corresponding to a predetermined dyeing region of the lens, The entire circumference of the end portion having the same height is brought into contact with the lens in a state where a slight sublimation space is provided between the lens and a part of the wall portion between the transfer base and the lens. Forming an opening communicating with the inside and outside of the wall so as to face the space area of the lens, and sublimating the dye from the transfer substrate by heat treatment from the direction of the transfer substrate so that the predetermined dyeing region of the lens A method for dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles, wherein a sublimation dye is transferred. 2. The method of dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles according to claim 1, wherein the opening is formed by cutting out a part of the end of the wall in a stepped shape. The method for dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the opening is formed at a plurality of different locations along the circumferential direction of the wall. 4. The method for dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of openings are arranged at positions that are symmetrical in the circumferential direction of the wall. The said opening part is two and the said two opening part is arrange | positioned in the position which opposes 180 degree | times in the circumferential direction of the said wall part, The dyeing | staining of the plastic lens for spectacles of Claim 3 characterized by the above-mentioned. Method. When the opening is axisymmetric, the axis of symmetry is arranged in a direction perpendicular to the direction along the boundary line between the portion where the sublimable dye is adsorbed and the portion where the sublimation dye is not adsorbed. The method for dyeing a plastic lens for spectacles according to claim 4 or 5, characterized by the above. The two openings are arranged in a direction along a boundary line between a portion where the sublimable dye is adsorbed and a portion where the sublimation dye is not adsorbed on the transfer substrate. The dyeing method of the plastic lens for spectacles as described. The dyeing method for a plastic lens for spectacles according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the transfer substrate is adhered to a peripheral edge of the wall portion.

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