JPH023389A - Thermal transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the shelf life, fidelity and visibility of a transfer image without changing the quantity of heat energy of transfer by forming an ink image to the hot melt type adhesive layer of original preparation paper or a resin layer for forming a picture image, fast sticking a transparent or semitransparent sheet to the ink-image forming surface and applying beams from the sheet side. CONSTITUTION:Original preparation paper 25 is shaped by forming a hot melt type adhesive layer 25b onto the surface of plain paper 25a, and ink images 24a are shaped onto the surface of the layer 25b. A sheet 19 for an original plate is set onto the underside of transparent glass mounted to the lower section of a light source chamber, and fast stuck onto the ink-image forming surface of an original 24. The original 24 is irradiated with the beams of a discharge lamp through the light source chamber, the transparent glass and the sheet 19 for the original plate. The sections of the ink images 24a absorb beams and are heated, and the ink images 24a are transferred to the sheet 19 for the original plate on the upper side by corresponding melting sections 25c. Accordingly, the shelf life of a color former, etc. is improved, and the image can be transferred accurately and distinctly by the same heat energy.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer method.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, a thermal transfer method has been known in which a heat-sensitive sheet is brought into close contact with the ink image forming surface of a document and thermal energy such as light is applied to the color-forming layer of the heat-sensitive sheet to develop a color corresponding to the ink image of the document. There is.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] This method uses a heat-sensitive coloring layer, so if it is stored for a long time, external light will accumulate and cause the entire coloring layer to develop color, resulting in poor storage stability. There are drawbacks.

In addition, with this method, if there are thick and thin lines in the ink image of the original, the heat energy absorbed by the thick lines is greater, so the coloring layer corresponding to the thick lines is The fidelity is poor because the colors are even colored.

Furthermore, according to the applicant's experiments, the transfer of ink images from manuscripts electrostatically copied using toner such as carbon, for example, can be relatively densely transferred without mentioning the above-mentioned drawbacks, but printed materials such as newspapers and magazines The transcription is so thin that it cannot be read visually.

That is, the transfer density changes depending on the type of in-image on the original, and there is also the troublesome problem that it is necessary to change the amount of thermal energy for transfer.

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal transfer method that has excellent storage stability, can faithfully transfer an ink image of a document, and can obtain a clear transferred image without blurring without changing the amount of heat energy for transfer. It's about doing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The thermal transfer method of the present invention includes forming a hot-melt adhesive or a hot-melt adhesive layer and an image-forming resin layer on one side of plain paper directly or via a release layer. An ink image is formed on the hot-melt adhesive layer or image-forming resin layer of this manuscript preparation paper to create a manuscript, and the ink image forming surface of this manuscript is transparent or translucent. In this method, an ink image is transferred onto the transparent or translucent sheet by placing two sheets in close contact with each other and irradiating light from the sheet side.

[Function] According to the thermal transfer method of the present invention, since the ink image of the document is formed directly on the hot melt adhesive layer or via the image forming resin layer, there is no element that changes over time such as a coloring agent. Therefore, it keeps well.

Moreover, since the ink image of the original is transferred onto a completely transparent or semi-transparent sheet using a hot-melt adhesive layer, it has good fidelity and uses almost the same thermal energy for any type of ink image. Can be clearly transferred. In this case, by providing an image-forming resin layer on the surface of the hot-melt adhesive layer and forming an ink image on this image-forming resin layer, the ink image can be clearly drawn. Furthermore, if a hot-melt adhesive layer is provided on plain paper via a release layer, the hot-melt adhesive layer can be completely peeled off from the plain paper, so that the ink image can be clearly transferred.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9.

1 to 5 show a thermal transfer apparatus for carrying out the thermal transfer method of the present invention. This thermal transfer device 1 has a structure in which a holder 3 is detachably attached to the lower part of the device main body 2 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the device main body 2 has a three-stage box shape, with the upper side (second
The upper case 4 forms two steps on the lower side (in the figure), and the lower case 5 forms the step on the lower side (the upper side in Fig. 2).
are fastened together with screws (not shown), and the holder 3 is mounted so as to cover the lower case 5.

The upper case 4 has a thin hollow box shape, and as shown in FIG. 1, operating levers 6.6 are provided on both sides of the middle step, and an AC adapter connection portion 7 is provided on the front side. ing. The upper part of the upper case 4 has a box shape that is slightly smaller on both sides than the middle part, and as shown in FIG. A battery storage chamber 9 is provided inside this, and a charging switch Sa, a discharging switch Sb, and a light emitting diode IO are provided on the top surface. The lower case 5 has a box shape that is smaller in circumference than the intermediate stage part, and as shown in FIG. is formed, and a discharge lamp (light source lamp) 1 is installed in this light source chamber 12.
3 and a reflecting plate 14 are provided, and a holding member 1 is provided on both sides.
5.15 is provided so as to be slidable in the vertical direction.

Each member will be explained in order below.

The battery storage chamber 9 stores the battery 16, and a battery lid ja is provided on the upper left side of the upper case 4.
An electrode plate 9b is provided on the side a, and an electrode spring 9 is placed on the back side (right side).
C is provided. The charging switch Sa is a slide switch, and charges the discharge lamp 13 to flash. The discharge switch Sb is a push button switch or the like, and when operated after charging is completed, the discharge lamp 1
Flash 3. The light emitting diode 10 lights up when charging is completed to warn that the discharge lamp 13 is in a flashable state.

The light source chamber 12 is a space formed within the lower case 5,
Its lower part is open, and a transparent glass (transparent member) 13 is provided in this open part. The discharge lamp 13 is made of a xenon lamp or the like used as a strobe for a camera, and is flashed by operating two discharge switches Sb. This flash energy may be the same during document creation and during recording paper transfer, which will be described later, or may be variable. The reflector 14 is placed above the discharge lamp 13 and directs the light from the discharge lamp 13 to the transparent glass 1 below.
Reflect to the 3rd side.

The operating levers 6.6 are provided from both sides of the intermediate stage section to the lower surface, and are for vertically moving a holding member 15.15, which will be described later, each consisting of an operating button 6a and a rotating arm 6b, and a pin 6C. It is rotatably attached to the two-part case 4. That is, the operation button 6a is arranged in the button insertion hole 4a formed on both sides of the upper case 4, and its lower part is rotatably attached by a pin 6C, and the operation button 6a is rotated about the pin 6C to open the upper case. It appears inside and outside of 4, and usually a part of it protrudes to the outside. The rotating arm 6b is a plate-shaped member bent in an rLJ shape, and is arranged in a notch 11a formed in the lower partition plate 11 in the upper case 4 in correspondence with the button insertion hole 4a, and its tip is It is divided into two parts and extends and abuts on the lower surface of the lower partition plate 11. Therefore, when the operating button 6a of the operating lever 6 is pressed from the outside, the rotating arm 6b rotates about the pin 6C in the direction of the arrow X, as shown in FIG. 4, and its tip moves downward.

The holding member 15.15 moves up and down in conjunction with the operation of the operating lever 6.6, and when pushed down by the operating lever 6.6, the ink sheet 18, which will be described later, becomes transparent as shown in FIG. It is pushed down and separated from the glass 17 to enable the setting of a transparent original sheet 19 (described later), and when it is pulled up, the original sheet 19 is placed on the lower surface of the transparent glass 17 as shown in FIG. It is configured to hold. That is, each of the holding members 15 has a flat plate shape, and a locking part 15a is bent at the lower end in an "L" shape in opposite directions, and a kite part is provided at both ends as shown in FIG. 15b, 15b are provided, and contact portions 15c, 15 are provided at the upper end (lower end in FIG. 2).
c is provided, and the whole is constantly pulled upward (downward in FIG. 2) by a coil spring 20. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the locking part 15a at the lower end holds the edge of the original sheet 19 in the four parts 17a formed at the edge of the transparent glass 17, so that the original sheet 19 is attached to the lower surface of the transparent glass 17. hold down.

Note that the concave portion 17a of the transparent glass 17 holds the original sheet 19 with the locking portion 15a sandwiching the original sheet 19.
The locking portion 15a is formed deeper than the center so as not to protrude downward. The guide portions 15b, 15b at both side ends are provided in respective guide grooves 5a, 5a formed on both side surfaces of the lower case 5, respectively, so as to be movable downward. The upper end contact portions 15c, 15c are each bent slightly outward and inclined, and each upper end is always connected to the upper operating lever 6.
The rotating arm 6b is in contact with the rotating arm 6b. The coil spring 20 is
The lower end of the holding member 1 is located between the contact portions 15c and 15c.
5, and the upper end is attached to the mounting hole 11b of the lower partition plate 11 above it by passing between the bifurcated tips of the rotating arm 6b of the operating lever 6, so that the holding member 15 is always kept upward. is being raised to.

The holder 3 is used to attach the ink sheet 18 to the apparatus main body 2, and is removably attached to the lower part of the apparatus main body 2, covering the lower case 5. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the holder 3 has a substantially rectangular box shape with an open top, and an opening 3a is provided at the bottom of the holder 3 in correspondence with the transparent glass 17 of the light source chamber 12. On both sides thereof, there are provided wall storage portions 3b, 3b, and hook portions 3c, 3c are provided on the upper portions of the front and rear walls to protrude upward. Therefore, the hook parts 3c, 3c of the holder 3 are removably engaged with the locking recesses 11c, 1lc (one not shown) provided on the lower surface of the device main body 2, that is, the lower partition plate 11 in the middle stage. By doing so, it is attached to the lower part of the device main body 2. In this case, the bottom opening 3a is formed larger than the transparent glass 17 of the light source chamber 12, and when the holder 3 is attached to the device main body 2, the opening 3a is opened as shown in FIG.
The lower surface of a is flush with the lower surface of the transparent glass 17, and when the holding member 15.15 is pushed down as shown in FIG. 4, the holding member 15.15 protrudes downward through the opening 3a. The reel storage parts 3b and 3b on both sides rotatably store the reels 21 and 21, and are separated from the inside of the holder 3 by a partition wall 3d, and the outer walls are inclined downwardly to become narrower. , an opening 3 is provided in the outer wall of this inclined portion to expose a part of the reel 21 to the outside.
e is formed, and shaft supports 3f, 3f for pivotally supporting each shaft portion 21a, 21a of the reel 21 are provided at the front and rear parts of the inside. In this case, the partition wall 3d is configured so as not to hinder the vertical movement of the holding member 15 and the operating lever 6 when the holder 3 is attached to the lower part of the apparatus main body 2.

Further, the shaft supports 3f, 3f have a certain degree of frictional resistance so that the reel 21 does not rotate by itself.
a, and when the holder 3 is attached to the lower part of the device main body 2, the shaft parts 21a, 2
Press 1a so that it does not wobble in the vertical direction. The reels 21 and 21 are each wound with an ink seal 18 from each reel storage part 3b, 3b through the lower side of the opening 3a, and the reel part 2 exposed from each reel storage part 3b, 3b.
By turning 1b... with your fingers etc. against frictional resistance,
Wind up Inksy) 18 on either side. In addition, since the reels 21.21 are each supported by the shaft supports 3f, 3f with frictional resistance, the ink sheet 18 wound around each reel 21.21 does not sag in the middle, and the transparent glass of the light source chamber 12 It is stretched over the bottom surface of 17.

Next, using the thermal transfer device l configured as described above,
The case where the original plate 22 is created and transferred onto the recording paper 23 will be explained.

In this case, first, the original 24 is prepared. This manuscript 2
4 is a manuscript preparation paper 2 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
An ink image 24a is formed on the surface (upper surface) of 5. That is, the original paper 25 is formed by forming a hot-melt adhesive layer 25b on the surface (upper surface) of plain paper 25a, and an ink image 24a is formed on the surface of this hot-melt adhesive layer 25b. Hot melt adhesive layer 25b
The ink image 24a is adhered to the original plate sheet 19, which will be described later, by its adhesive force, and is almost unaffected by light rays. The ink image 24a of the original 24 may be printed by electrostatic copying using carbon toner, printed using a thermal printer using a heat-sensitive ink sheet, printed using carbon ink, or printed using a pencil, ballpoint pen, or ink. It may be formed by any method such as by writing with a used writing instrument.

Next, an original plate 22 is created using such a manuscript 24. In this case, first, the original sheet 19 is placed in the light source chamber 12.
It is set on the lower surface of the transparent glass 17 provided at the bottom of the. As the original sheet 19, a transparent resin film such as polyester or a translucent thin paper such as tracing paper can be used. When the original sheet 19 is to be set on the lower surface of the transparent glass 17, the holder 3 is first removed from the lower part of the apparatus main body 2 as shown in FIG. In this state, when the operating button 6a of the operating lever 6 is pressed from the outside, the rotating arm 6b moves in the direction of the arrow X around the pin 6C, as shown in FIG. The tip of the rotating arm 6b pushes down the contact portions 15c, 15c of the holding member 15 against the coil spring 20. Then, the guide portions 15b, 15b at both ends of the holding member 15 fit into the respective guide grooves 5 of the lower case 5.
a, moves downward guided by 5a, and engages 1 at the lower end.
The portion 15a is pushed out downward from the transparent glass 17 provided at the bottom of the light source chamber 12.

In this state, the original sheet 19 is inserted between the locking portion 15a of the holding member 15 and the transparent glass 17. and,
When the control lever 6 is released, each holding member 15 is pulled up by the coil spring 20, as shown in FIG. The edge of the sheet 19 is sandwiched within four parts 17a provided at the edge of the transparent glass 17. Thereby, the original sheet 19 is attached in close contact with the lower surface of the transparent glass 17. After the original sheet 19 is attached in this way, set the original sheet 19 to r and place the main body 2 on top of the original 24 (see Figure 7). It is brought into close contact with the ink image forming surface of the document 24.

In this case, since the holder 3 is not attached to the lower part of the apparatus main body 2, the original sheet 19 mounted under the transparent glass 17 directly contacts the ink image forming surface of the original 24. This makes it possible to create the original 22.

Then, the charging switch Sa provided on the top surface of the device main body 2 is set to the on state. Then, charging starts,
When charging is completed, the light emitting diode 10 lights up. In this state, when the discharge switch Sb is operated, the discharge lamp 13 emits a strong flash of light. When the discharge lamp 13 emits a flash of light in this way, the light rays are irradiated onto the original 24 through the transparent glass 17 provided at the bottom of the light source chamber 12 and the original sheet 19 below it, as shown in FIG. Ru.

When the original 24 is irradiated with a light beam in this way, the light passes through the parts of the original 24 other than the ink image 24a, so there is no heat, but the part of the original 24 that has the ink image 24a absorbs the light and generates heat. Motsu. That is, since the ink image 24a contains carbon contained in the ink, it sufficiently absorbs light rays. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The hot-melt adhesive layer 25b in the portion corresponding to 4a melts, and the ink image 24a becomes 1-
The image is transferred to the original sheet 19 on the side. In this case, the hot-melt adhesive layer 25b is not affected by the irradiated light beam, and only the portion corresponding to the ink image 24a, which absorbs the light beam and generates heat, is melted, so that the ink image 24a can be faithfully and clearly formed. Transfer to the original plate sheet) 19. As a result, the transfer ink image 22a having a two-layer structure of the ink image 24a and the hot-melt adhesive layer 25b is transferred onto the original sheet 19, and the original 22 is created.

Next, the case where this original plate 22 is used to transfer to the recording paper 23 will be described. In this case, first, the reels 21 and 21 on which the ink sheet 18 is wound are stored in the respective reel storage portions 3b, 3b of the holder 3, and the holder 3 is attached to the lower part of the main body 2 of the apparatus. That is, each end of the ink sheet 18 is wound around the reel 21, 21, and
As shown in FIG. 2, the intermediate ink sheet 18 is placed below the holder 3, and the reels 21 and 21 on both sides are respectively inserted through the sides of the holder 3 from above the reel storage parts 3b and 3b. Each shaft portion 21a of the reel 21.21...
- is rotatably supported on the shaft support 3f... In this state, the holder 3 is made to correspond to the lower part of the apparatus main body 2, and each hook part 3c provided at the front and rear of the holder 3 is engaged with the locking recess 11c on the apparatus main body 2 side. Thereby, the holder 3 is attached to the lower part of the device main body 2. When the holder 3 is attached in this way, the light source chamber 12 is opened as shown in FIG.
Only the original 22 held on the lower surface of the transparent glass 17 protrudes downward from the opening 3a of the holder 3, and the ink sheet 18 is stretched over the lower surface. Ink sheet 1 like this
8 is stretched over the recording paper 23, and the ink sheet 18 is brought into close contact with the recording paper 23. This makes it possible to transfer the image onto the recording paper 23. In this case, the ink sheet 18 is used to transfer the transferred ink image 22a of the original plate 22 onto the recording paper 23 such as plain paper, and as shown in FIG.
Around 0ILm, base film such as polyester 18
Nickel (Ni), aluminum (AI) on the top surface of a,
A light reflecting layer 18b made of a vapor-deposited metal layer such as copper (Gu) is formed, and a heat-melting ink layer 18 made of heat-melting color ink or the like is formed on the lower surface of the base film 18a.
It has a configuration that forms c.

When transferring to the recording paper 23 in such a state, first set the charging switch Sa to the on state and turn on the charging, as in the case of creating the original plate described in [7] above. After charging is completed, the discharging switch S is turned on.
b to cause the discharge lamp 13 to flash. Then, as shown in FIG. 9, the light beam passes through the original plate 22 and irradiates the ink sheet 18 below it. When the original plate 22 is irradiated with a light beam in this way, the light beam passes through the parts other than the transfer ink image 22a formed on the lower surface of the original plate 22, but the light does not pass through the part of the transfer ink @ 22a, and the light beam absorbs and generates heat. Since the light beam transmitted through the original plate 22 is reflected by the light reflection layer 18b of the ink sheet 18, this part of the ink sheet 18 does not have heat, but the part of the transferred ink image 22a of the original plate 22 is not irradiated. This heat is transmitted to the heat-melting ink layer 18c via the light-reflecting layer 18b and base film 18a of the ink sheet 18, and only this portion of the heat-melting ink layer 18c is melted. This melted portion 18d is thermally transferred to the lower recording paper 23 as shown in FIG. As a result, the image corresponding to the transferred ink image 22a of the original plate 22 can be reliably and clearly transferred to the recording paper 23. In addition, when transferring again to another recording paper 23, rotate either one of the reels 21 and 21 exposed from the holder 3 with your fingers, and transfer the ink sheet 18 necessary for one transfer to the original plate. All you have to do is pull out a new one under the tube 22, insert it, and flash the discharge lamp 13 in the same way as described above. By repeating this process, it is possible to transfer the image to any number of sheets, and it is also possible to easily transfer the image to a sheet of recording paper that has not yet been bound together, such as paper sheets.

In this case, the ink image 24 transferred to the original sheet 19
When a is transferred to the recording paper 23 via a normal ink sheet, the ink image 24a is transferred to the ink sheet little by little, so the ink image 24a is transferred onto several sheets of recording paper 23 and becomes unusable. It becomes possible. However, in this invention, the ink sheet 18 in which the light reflection layer 18b made of a metal vapor deposition layer is formed on the upper surface of the base film 18a is used, and the ink image 24a on the original sheet 19 is formed on the light reflection layer 18b.
Since the light is in contact with the light reflecting layer 18b, it is not transferred at all to the light reflecting layer 18b, and can be transferred to an extremely large number of recording sheets 23.

Note that this invention provides a manuscript preparation paper 25 that has a double series.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be configured as shown in FIG. 11 or 12, for example. That is, the manuscript preparation paper 26 shown in FIG. 11 has a release layer 25 on the -L side of plain paper 25a.
d is provided, and a hot melt adhesive layer 25b is provided via this peeling layer 25d. In such manuscript preparation paper 25, the hot-melt adhesive layer 25b is completely peeled off from the plain paper 25a by the release layer 25d during manuscript preparation, so that the hot-melt adhesive layer 25b is formed on the "-" side of the hot-melt adhesive layer 25b. The ink image 24a is transferred to the original plate sheet 19.
can be clearly transferred to

The manuscript preparation paper 27 shown in FIG. 12 has a hot-melt adhesive layer 25b-t on the upper surface of a plain paper 25a, and an image-forming resin layer 25e on the real-melt adhesive layers 25b and 25-h. It has been established. In this case, the image forming resin layer 25e is made of a heat-melting resin on which the ink image 24a is clearly formed. In such a document preparation paper 27, the ink image 24a can be clearly formed on the image forming resin layer 25e, so that clear transfer is possible.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the original plate sheet 19 is used as the original plate 2.
However, this invention is not limited to this.
The original plate sheet 19 onto which the ink image 24a has been transferred can also be used as a copy as it is.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained in detail above, according to the thermal transfer method of the present invention, since an ink image of a document is formed on a hot melt adhesive layer directly or via an image forming resin layer, color forming agent is used. Since there are no elements that change over time, it has a good shelf life.

Moreover, since the ink image of the original is transferred to the entire transparent or semi-transparent sheet using a hot melt adhesive layer, the fidelity is good, and any type of ink image can be transferred using the same high-quality energy. Can be clearly transferred. In this case, if an image-forming resin layer is provided on the surface of the hot-melt adhesive layer and an ink image is formed on this image-forming resin layer, the ink image can be drawn clearly. Also, what if we put a hot melt adhesive layer on plain paper with a release layer in between? The hot-melt adhesive layer can be completely peeled off from one sheet of paper, making it possible to transfer an ink image more clearly.

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view of the state in which the original plate is set, Figure 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the main part of the manuscript creation paper, and Figures 7 and 8 are the state in which the original is created. FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part in a state where thermal transfer is performed on the recording paper using the original plate; FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part of the transferred recording paper; FIG. 11 is an enlarged sectional view of the main part shown in FIG. and FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part showing another embodiment of the manuscript preparation paper.

19...Original plate sheet, 24...Original plate, 24a...Ink image, 25...Manuscript preparation paper, 25a...Plain paper , 25b...
...Hot melt adhesive, 25d...Peeling layer, 25e...Resin layer for image formation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 12 show an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 1 is an external perspective view of the thermal transfer device, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the holder removed from the device body, and Figure 3 is the thermal transfer device. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the operating patent applicant Casio Computer Co., Ltd.] Fig. Fig. Fig. 8d Fig. 8d Fig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A step of preparing a manuscript paper in which a hot-melt adhesive or a hot-melt adhesive layer and an image-forming resin layer are formed on one side of plain paper directly or via a release layer; forming an ink image on a hot melt adhesive layer or an image forming resin layer of the manuscript preparation paper to create a manuscript; and closely adhering a transparent or translucent sheet to the ink image forming surface of the manuscript; A thermal transfer method comprising: irradiating a light beam from the sheet side to transfer the ink image to the transparent or translucent sheet.