JPH02147374A - Woven-fabric printing ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To avoid mixing of colors even if the fabric of a ribbon is not discontinuous on the boundary of difference color of inks by employing flushed pigments as a coloring matter. CONSTITUTION: Flushed pigments are employed as the coloring matter of a fabric ribbon having multicolored regions of coloring matter dispersed into a liquid vehicle. In general, the pigment has grain size of less than 2 μm and nominal mean grain size of 1/2-1 μm, preferable of 3/4 μm. Flushed pigments do not migrate between colored regions under normal conditions and therefor mixing of the colors is avoided without alteration of the fabric or use of a fabric with special characteristics or regions. Flushed pigments exhibit a sufficient fluidity in a region where ink is used up for printing and supplements pigments to the used regions of a ribbon thus realizing a ribbon having a long service life.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a woven ribbon that prints two or more colors under the impact of a printing element. The printing elements are generally images of characters formed on a daisy wheel or one or more rows of individual wires.

Transferable colors are retained on the fabric and transferred onto paper or other print media by printing pressure. The colors are typically arranged on the ribbon in the form of strips extending along the length of the ribbon, or with blocks of one color alternating with blocks of other colors along the length of the ribbon.

Such ribbons become nearly unusable if the colors mix during storage or use.

B. Prior Art Prior to the present invention, multicolored woven ribbons typically used common pigments as colorants or dyes as part of the colorant, with the different colors separated by some physical barrier or gap. Manufactured by The average particle size of common pigments is nominally 4 to 5 μm, while dyes are the size of molecules.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 of US Patent No. 3,853, no ribbon differences in color boundaries are specified. In other embodiments of the above patent, the way the ribbon is woven or formed creates a barrier to color mixing. The nature of the colorant in the example of FIG. 2 is only generally described and there is no suggestion of the use of flash pigments. U.S. Pat. No. 2,590,200 teaches a ribbon in which the fibers of the ribbon are oriented primarily toward the boundaries of different colors to prevent color mixing.

Although flash pigments are not widely used, they are known and readily available. Flash pigments have been used in woven ribbons. However, no multicolored ribbon using flash pigments is known. US Patent No. 457
No. 4,823 is cited merely to illustrate that flash pigments are known.

GB 885,813 teaches a multicolored ribbon in which the weave of the ribbon is not altered to prevent color mixing. Instead, the ink's liquid vehicle is selected to be immiscible. According to the present invention, the color vehicle is not important for preventing color mixing, and the same color vehicle may be used for each color.

It has been found that flash pigments are manufactured in such a way that the pigment never becomes a dry solid. The dye obtained is
Particle size is much smaller compared to general pigments. The nominal average particle size is between 1/2 and 1 μm, although the agglomerates in flash pigments can be as large as 2 μm. On the contrary,
The nominal average particle size of common pigments is 4 to 5 μm.

C1 Problem to be Solved by the Invention Inks containing only common pigments do not mix during normal storage and use. This is because pigment particles are large compared to dye molecules, and the surrounding energy (including heat, osmotic pressure, capillary action, Brownian motion, and other forces) can significantly displace such pigment particles. This is thought to be because it is insufficient. Inks of different colors containing only common pigments are applied side-by-side to a woven ribbon without intermixing, but such ribbons do not adequately replenish ink to used areas.

In contrast, dye molecules dissolved in a typical ink vehicle are very small and are carried by the ink vehicle, causing the ink vehicle to move under the pressure of normal ambient heat and other ambient forces. Then, the dye also moves. To limit this movement, the ribbon had to be designed to prevent color migration.

In general, the texture or continuity of the ribbon is at the boundaries of the colors;
It had to be interrupted by the addition of adhesive to harden or by crushing or melting the ribbon.

Means to solve D0 problems With the present invention, no changes to the ribbon texture are required.

According to the invention, a specific coloring agent is used, namely a flash pigment (nominal average particle size 1/2 to 1 μm 1 agglomerate 2 μm or less). This pigment has an extremely small particle size, but
Even though the weave of the ribbon is not discontinuous at the boundaries of different colored inks, there is no tendency for them to intermingle. This extremely small particle size has been found to improve ribbon life and limit particle mobility sufficiently to provide good color reproduction near the location where impact printing occurs.

E. EXAMPLE The present invention is directed to a woven ribbon having multicolored regions of colorant dispersed in a liquid vehicle.

The colorant in the above region is essentially only flash pigment in the examples, the particle size of which is generally less than 2 μm, with a nominal average particle size of 1/2 to 1 μm. In particular, it is preferable that the average particle size is on the order of 374 μm. (In contrast, the nominal particle size of common pigments is 4 to 5 μm.) Flash pigments do not move between colored areas in their normal cane form, and therefore cannot be used to change fabrics or have special properties or Color mixing can be avoided without using a woven fabric with areas.

The flash pigment does not migrate with the vehicle, so the vehicle in the different colored areas is not important for preventing migration. However, flash pigments have sufficient fluidity in areas where the ink is depleted from printing and replenishes the used areas of the ribbon with pigment, resulting in a ribbon with a long service life.

Although IJ blobs (containing essentially only general pigments) do not tend to mix together, such ribbons containing only general pigments do not have sufficient ink replenishment in used areas, resulting in insufficient ribbon life. It is. Flash pigment is
Since the particle size is extremely small, a sufficient lifespan can be obtained. Moreover, no barrier is required to prevent color mixing between colored regions. The present invention also has the potential to prevent color mixing between opposing surfaces of the ribbon when the ribbon is packed into a conventional cartridge-type chamber.

The three subtractive colors in a preferred embodiment of the invention are as follows.

Flash 5ICO Yellow MO49,7%12-Mo
-1434 (BASF Corporation brand name) Butoxyethyl oleate 44.7% (vehicle) Castor oil (vehicle, thickener) 5.6% 12-M
O-1434, according to the manufacturer's instructions, contains 25% yellow flash pigment and treated mineral oil as a vehicle. Therefore, the approximate ratio of pigment and vehicle in the yellow ink is 12.5% by weight of pigment and 87.5% by weight of vehicle.

Blade d group Hiroitsu J and Ei Flash Resol Lupine 53.7% 45-
Mo-1998 (trade name of BASF Corporation Silon) Butoxyethyl oleate 40.3% (vehicle) Castor oil (vehicle, thickener) 6.0% 45-
Mo-1988, as described by the manufacturer, contains 35% red flash pigment and treated mineral oil as a vehicle. Therefore, the approximate ratio of pigment and vehicle in red ink is:
The pigment was 19% by weight and the vehicle was 81% by weight.

Miell! fitλ atomic weight% flash
Heliosien Blue M070-MO-2324 (trade name of BASF Corporation) 37% butoxyethyl oleate (vehicle) 56% castor oil (vehicle, thickener) 7% 70-Mo-2324
According to the manufacturer's instructions, the blue flash pigment is 37%.
and a vehicle solids content of 58% and treated mineral oil as a vehicle. Therefore, the approximate ratio of pigment and vehicle in the blue ink is 14% by weight pigment, 86% solid content of vehicle and vehicle.
Weight%.

Each formulation is homogenized using a high speed mixer. These formulations are applied to adjacent areas of the fabric using conventional methods such as an inverted roll coater. The woven fabric may be a conventional woven nylon fabric commonly used in impact printer ribbons. In detail, the woven fabric used in this example was a top quality filament of 6.6 nylon; direction) about 68.5 threads per 1 cm, and weft (width direction) about 45.7 threads per 1 cm.

The details of the woven fabric are not limited thereto (although woven fabrics of other materials, such as cotton or other synthetic polymers, are considered alternatives for use in the present invention). However, if the gaps are very large, for example due to a very loose felt weave, the boundaries between colors will be uneven.

The fabric is completely continuous, with no changes in the boundaries between ink areas. Arrange each ink area along the length of the ribbon to
The red and blue strips can be adjacent and each extend the entire length of the ribbon. Ribbon is typically packed into the chamber of a ribbon cartridge or wound onto a spool.

Under normal use, no mixing of ribbon colors occurs.

Flash pigments perform similarly to dyes in terms of ribbon longevity, resulting in widely reusable ribbons that are characteristic of ribbons using dyes as colorants. Moreover, due to the characteristics of pigments, the colors of the ribbon do not mix with each other.

F1 Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, even if the woven fabric of the ribbon is not discontinuous at the boundaries of different colors, the colors will not mix. Moreover, a ribbon with a long service life can be obtained.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Flowable inks of a plurality of colors are arranged in a woven multicolor printing ribbon positioned in adjacent areas, wherein the colorant of the flowable ink contains a flash pigment, and the colorant of the flowable ink contains a flash pigment; A woven multicolor printing ribbon characterized in that the woven fabric at the boundary of the areas is not discontinuous.