JPH03227254A - Recording and recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a good quality image to be recorded at high speed even on recording paper of low surface smoothness by a method wherein an ink image is formed on an intermediate transfer medium by using it and the ink image is transferred to the recording paper. CONSTITUTION:When a colour ink image 20 has been formed on a transfer drum 1, a pressure contact roller 16 is pushed onto the transfer drum 1 putting recording paper 30 on the colour ink image 20, and the recording paper 30 is successively sent in the arrow direction. When the recording paper 30 is pushed onto the transfer drum 1 with the pressure contact roller 16, the ink image 20 heated at 70 deg.C in insulation temperature of the transfer drum 1 is softened to have adhesion and therefore, is stuck to the recording paper 30. Then, when the recording paper 30 is separated from the transfer drum 1, the ink image 20 is peeled off from the surface of the transfer drum 1 and is transferred to the recording paper 30. Since a silicone rubber layer 2 formed on the surface of the transfer drum 1 at that time has flexibility and good mould releasability, the ink image 20 follows sufficiently irregularity of the paper surface and ink is stuck excellently thereto. Besides, the ink image 20 is almost 100% peeled off and is transferred faithfully to the recording paper 30.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field The present invention is used in printers, digital copiers, facsimiles, etc., and is a recording method and recording device for recording desired images or characters on recording paper in response to electrical signals. In particular, it relates to a recording method advantageous for color recording and a recording device using the same.Regarding recording methods used in kite printers, etc., Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-47717 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-50198 refer to Although a thermal transfer recording method using a thermal head and an ink sheet as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, 51 is a thermal head having a large number of heating resistive elements 59 arranged in rows in the width direction of the recording paper 53, and 54 is an ink sheet with a film-like base material. Thermal head 5
1 presses the ink sheet 54 against the platen 52 with the ink surface of the ink sheet 54 aligned with the recording paper 53. In this state, the platen 52. Recording paper 53. While moving the ink sheets 54 and 54 in the directions of the arrows, the heating resistive elements 59 are made to generate heat in accordance with the recording signals to melt or soften (hereinafter referred to as melting) the ink in the portions facing it, and adhere to the recording paper 53. The problem to be solved by the present invention is that the ink sheet 54 is separated from the recording paper 53 and an ink image 55 is formed on the recording paper 53.However, in such a conventional recording apparatus, the ink does not reach the surface of paper with poor surface smoothness. Difficult to adhere and many ink dropouts and poor image quality L% Especially, Special Publication No. 63-50198
When recording overlapping colors as shown in the above publication, it is difficult for the color to be added later to adhere to the recording paper due to the unevenness created by the ink itself (also, the recording paper is likely to shift and the accuracy of color alignment is However, as a method for improving the recording characteristics on plain paper, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-16932, a -H ink image is formed on an intermediate medium. There is also a method of transferring the ink onto the recording paper again. In this case, the transfer rate of the ink on the intermediate medium to the recording paper is low, and as a result, a large amount of untransferred ink remains on the intermediate medium, which must be cleaned. In addition, there are problems such as poor energy efficiency since it is necessary to repeatedly heat and cool the intermediate medium between the recording and transfer processes. Our goal is to provide a recording method that can record high-quality images on paper at high speed, requires almost no cleaning, and requires no maintenance, and a recording device that uses the same. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a color recording method and a recording device that can perform good color overlapping and positioning of each color with high precision, and can record high-quality color images with a simple configuration. An object of the present invention is to provide a recording method and a recording device that are more energy efficient than those using an intermediate transfer medium. (This intermediate transfer medium is heated and kept at a predetermined temperature at which the heat-melting or heat-softening ink can be pressed and adhered to the recording paper, and the ink is brought into contact with the heated and kept warm intermediate transfer medium. The resistor further selectively heats the ink at the position by the thermal image forming means.
By separating the ink at the contact area from the intermediate transfer medium, the ink is divided and an ink image is formed on the intermediate transfer medium.Then, by pressing the heated intermediate transfer medium against the recording paper, the ink on the intermediate transfer medium is separated. It is a device that transfers an image onto recording paper, and it also uses multiple colors of ink.
Using an intermediate transfer medium 1. X.

This intermediate transfer medium is heated and kept at a temperature at which the ink is pressed against the recording paper and can be attached and transferred, and each color is recorded on this intermediate transfer medium to form ink images of multiple colors one on top of the other.This intermediate transfer medium A color ink image is transferred onto the recording paper by pressing it against the recording paper.Furthermore, in the above method, silicone rubber is used as the intermediate transfer medium! ζ The present invention uses an ink having a viscosity of 10,000 cp or more at the heating and keeping temperature of this intermediate transfer medium and at a temperature 20°C higher than this heating and keeping temperature. This is a method of forming an ink image on paper and transferring it to recording paper.During transfer, the ink image can be transferred to paper with a rough surface, resulting in good image quality with few voids. The structure is such that multicolor ink images are recorded overlappingly on the transfer medium and then transferred onto the recording paper one at a time, so it is possible to record good color images with little color shift, but it also simplifies the mechanism related to paper feeding. Even if it can be transformed into
Furthermore, since the ink image is recorded on an intermediate transfer medium that is heated and kept warm, it is possible to record with a small amount of energy.The intermediate transfer medium is only kept warm throughout the recording process and transfer process, so repeated heating and cooling is necessary. Because there is no energy loss, the device configuration can be simplified.Also, by using silicone rubber for the intermediate transfer medium, the ink releasability during transfer is good, and the ink that remains untransferred on the intermediate transfer medium is removed. The cleaning of the intermediate transfer medium can be almost completely eliminated, and the frequency of cleaning the intermediate transfer medium can be extremely reduced, making maintenance unnecessary.Example: An example of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. This is an external view of a color ink sheet. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a rotatably held transfer drum, which has a width and circumference approximately equivalent to one screen of recording paper 30, and is an aluminum tube. A silicone rubber layer 2 is formed on the outer periphery of 4. A known example of silicone rubber is the one described in U.S. Pat.
L Desirably, the rubber thickness is 0.2 mm or more (in this example, the rubber hardness is 50 degrees and the rubber thickness is 1 mm).
+ later is used. Inside the transfer drum 1, there is an infrared lamp 6 having a length corresponding to almost the entire length of the transfer drum 1.
A silicone rubber layer 2 is placed on the outer periphery of the transfer drum 1.
A thermistor 8 for detecting the surface temperature of the infrared lamp 6 and the thermistor 8 may be installed in contact with the outside of the image forming part.
4, and the temperature control circuit 24 is connected to the thermistor 8.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, the infrared lamp 6 is turned on and off in accordance with the detected temperature to maintain the surface temperature of the silicone rubber layer 2 at a predetermined constant temperature.
3 is an ink sheet, in which a heat-melting ink 33 is uniformly applied to a base material 31 made of a plastic film having a thickness of about 3 to 9 μm via a release layer 32; Although waxes with relatively low melt viscosity and good mold releasability are used, natural or synthetic waxes and thermoplastic resins such as polyamide resins and polyacrylic resins, which have traditionally been used as heat-melt inks, are used as binders. It uses carbon black and other colorants dispersed in it, and as shown in Figure 3, the three primary colors of geos magenta and yellow (including black as necessary) are repeatedly applied in sequence. The melting point of the heat-melting ink is preferably 50 to 160t,
For ink using a binder with an unclear melting point, one with a softening point of about 40 to 180 tons according to the ring and ball method is used. S
melting peak temperature according to C), melt viscosity at melting point 10
4 10 is a thermal head, which has a large number of heating element rows 13 arranged in the width direction of the transfer drum 1 and is held so as to be able to approach and separate from the transfer drum 1 with the ink sheet 3 in between. Thermal head 1 when recording
1 is a pressure roller for transfer; Lever 18
The roller 19 is rotatably held by the pressure roller 16.
The pressure roller 16 is a spring for pressing the transfer drum 1 against the transfer drum 1.
It is held in a position away from the recording paper 3 during transfer.
0 is inserted, the recording paper 30 is pressed against the transfer drum 1 on which the ink image 20 has been formed, with the recording paper 30 in between, and the recording paper 30 is sequentially fed out in the direction of the arrow as the transfer drum 1 rotates. First, when the power of the device is turned on, the temperature control circuit 24 starts operating, the infrared lamp 6 is turned on, and the transfer drum 1 starts heating the silicone rubber layer 2. When the surface temperature of the transfer drum 1 reaches a predetermined temperature, the infrared lamp 6 is turned on and off as appropriate to keep the surface temperature of the transfer drum 1 constant at all times. characteristics, the material of the surface of the transfer drum 1,
The appropriate value varies depending on recording conditions, but in this example, it is maintained at 70°C.4 Next, when a recording command is input, the thermal head 10 presses the transfer drum 1 with the ink sheet 3 in between, and at the same time the transfer drum 1 and ink sinide 3 begin to move in the direction of the arrows. In this state, when recording signals are sequentially input to the heating element array 13, the ink in contact with the heated part is more noticeably molten (low viscosity) than other parts.
Although the ink sheet 3 is then immediately separated from the transfer drum 1 as shown in FIG. 2, the part that is not heated by the thermal head 10 contacts the transfer drum 1 and reaches near its melting point. The surface of the transfer drum 1 is made of silicone rubber and has weak adhesion to the ink.The cohesive force of the ink near its melting point and the adhesion force to the base material 31 side are stronger than this adhesion force. The ink does not transfer to the drum 1 side.The ink in the part heated and melted by the thermal head 10 maintains a sufficiently lower viscosity than other parts, so the cohesive force of the ink is overcome by the adhesive force and the ink is easily transferred. The ink transferred to the surface of the transfer drum 1 separated from the sheet 3 as an ink image 20 may cohesively fail within the layer. The mold release layer 32 is made of a material that exhibits a mold release effect by rapidly decreasing its viscosity when heated by the thermal head 10 to a temperature higher than the heat retention temperature of the transfer drum 1. There is.

With this configuration, even if the adhesion between the ink and the silicone rubber is weak, the ink can be easily transferred to the transfer drum 1 side, and even minute dots can be easily recorded.
Furthermore, although the film thickness of the ink image 20 becomes uniform and a stable density is obtained, the ink heated by the thermal head 10 has a force that causes the temperature to rapidly drop after heating is completed (while the ink temperature is as high as possible, the ink sheet In this embodiment, the heating element row 13 is 160 μm away from the right end surface of the thermal head 10 (the position where the ink can be separated from the transfer drum 1).
[L (approximately 2 line pitch) The ink image 2 is formed on the left upper end surface with a recording speed of 50 mm/sec and is configured so that it can be separated in approximately 3 m5ec after heating.
The transfer drum 1 rotates once and the image of the first color (
After recording the second color (cyan), start recording the second color (cyan).
When the ink reaches the position of the thermal head 10 and recording begins, the ink image of the second color is sequentially recorded on the transfer drum 1 on which the ink image 20 of the first color was formed using the same process as the first color. . After the transfer drum 1 rotates twice and finishes recording the second color, a multicolor ink image 20 is formed on the transfer drum 1 to record the third color (yellow) and, if necessary, the fourth color (black). After the color ink image 20 is formed on the transfer drum 1 in this way, the recording paper 30 is supplied and the recording paper 30 is sandwiched over the color ink image 20. The pressure roller 16 is pressed against the transfer drum 1, and as the transfer drum 1 rotates, the recording paper 30 is sequentially fed in the direction of the arrow. When the recording paper 30 is pressed against the transfer drum 1 by the pressure roller 16, the ink image 20 heated to the heat retention temperature of the transfer drum 1 of 70° C. softens and adheres to the recording paper 30 due to its adhesive strength. When the recording paper 30 is separated from the transfer drum 1, the ink image 20 is peeled off from the surface of the transfer drum 1 and transferred to the recording paper 30.
At this time, the silicone rubber layer 2 formed on the surface of the transfer drum 1 has flexibility and good releasability. The ink image 20 adheres well, and almost 100% of the ink image 20 is peeled off and faithfully transferred to the recording paper 30.
In addition, in this example, in the recording of the second and subsequent colors,
Ink image 20 that has already been recorded and is on the transfer drum 1
At this time, the ink image 20 on the transfer drum 1 should not adhere to the ink sheet 3 and be transferred to the ink sheet 3 side. In order to obtain sufficient fixing force, a difference is made between the contact pressure between the recording paper 30 and the transfer drum 1 in the transfer section and the contact pressure between the thermal head 10 and the transfer drum 1 in the recording section. The adhesion force of ink varies depending on the object to be bonded, but in general, the adhesion force to recording materials such as paper and PET film is very large and is almost the same as the adhesion force to the ink itself. The adhesion force varies depending on the mutual contact pressure between the ink and the object to be adhered, and the higher the contact pressure, the higher the adhesion force.If the contact pressure is lowered to a certain level or less, the ink image 20 already adhered to the transfer drum will be bonded. The adhesive force on the surface of 1 is lower than that of ink image 2.
Even if the ink sheet 3 is superimposed on the ink sheet 3, it is possible to create a condition in which the ink image 20 is not transferred to the ink sheet side. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned ink was used, and the contact pressure between the thermal head 10 and the transfer drum l was set at a maximum value of 3.
kg/cm2, and by setting the contact pressure between the compression roller 16 and the transfer drum 1 to a maximum value of 16 kg/cm', it is possible to achieve both good transfer and fixing properties and overwriting of ink images on the transfer drum 1. The contact pressure of this transfer section is 10 kg/cm when using recording paper with a smooth surface (for example, paper with a Beck smoothness of about 300 seconds).
It is sufficient that the value is as high as possible, but in order to transfer to recording paper with low smoothness such as bond paper with a transfer rate close to 100%, it is desirable that the value is as high as possible. When the contact pressure exceeds 5 kg/CmQ, the ink image 20 begins to be partially peeled off to the ink sheet 3 side. In order to stably record overlapping color ink images and transfer and fix them onto recording paper, it is necessary to set the contact pressure between the two at a ratio of 1:2 or more. After forming the ink image 20 on the transfer drum 1, the pressure roller 16 transfers it to the recording paper 3.
0 with a pressure of about 16 kg/cm" and the transfer speed is 5.
At this time, KE951 manufactured by Shin-Etsu Polymer Co., Ltd. was used as the silicone rubber layer 2. Experimental results: The ink image 20 was transferred to the transfer drum 1 at a temperature of 0 mm/sec. At a temperature around 55°C, the ink becomes adhesive to the recording paper 30 and begins to partially transfer, but when the insulating temperature reaches 60°C, the adhesive force with the recording paper 30 becomes completely greater than the adhesive force with the silicone rubber layer 2, and the ink All of the image 20 may be transferred to the recording paper 30 side.
At this time, the fixing power of the ink image 20 transferred to the recording paper 30 is almost within the practical range.When the heat retention temperature is 65°C or higher, sufficient results are obtained for both transfer and fixing. This is not preferable because the strength of the ink becomes too low, the ink easily runs out, and the transfer rate of the ink to the recording paper 30 is significantly reduced. Based on the above results, the heat retention temperature of the transfer drum 1 was set at 70° C. in this example. It is applicable if the temperature is in the range of 60°C to 80°C.The transferability and fixing performance of the ink image varies depending on the characteristics of the ink used, therefore, the heat retention temperature of the transfer drum 1 is within the above range. It goes without saying that the temperature is not limited to this value, but should be set to an appropriate value depending on the ink used.If practicality is taken into consideration, it is desirable that the temperature be within the range of 50℃ to 120℃. The temperature range ζ of the transfer drum 1 that allows this transfer varies depending on the surrounding environmental temperature. This is because the ink is cooled by the recording paper the moment it touches the recording paper, and the temperature of the recording paper is When the temperature is low, the appropriate temperature range shifts to the higher side; when the temperature rises, the appropriate temperature range shifts to the lower side.4 Next, we conducted an experiment on overwriting.9 When performing overwriting, if the temperature of the transfer drum 1 is too high, In the above experiment, it was better to lower the contact pressure with the ink sheet 3 to prevent the ink image 20 from adhering to the ink sheet side and being reversely transferred. Environmental temperature 25℃
In this case, overwriting was possible up to a temperature of 75°C (the upper limit temperature at which overwriting is possible also varies depending on the environmental temperature).
This is because the temperature of O differs depending on the environmental temperature, and the moment the ink sheet 3 contacts the ink image on the transfer drum L, it has the effect of slightly lowering the temperature of the ink image. The upper limit temperature of the drum 1 is high. Therefore, in this embodiment, the insulating temperature is kept constant regardless of the environmental temperature, and a detection means is installed to detect the ambient humidity temperature. By controlling the heat retention temperature of the transfer drum 1, there is a margin in the temperature range in which both transfer and overwriting can be performed, and stable overwriting and transfer can be performed even if some temperature unevenness occurs in the transfer drum 1 due to heating. In this example, the ink sheet 3 is coated with three or four colors of ink sequentially, and the transfer drum is rotated multiple times using a thermal head to print the color. The force that made the recording (
It is also possible to use multiple color ink sheets, each coated with a single color, and arrange a thermal head for each color ink sheet around the transfer drum to record multiple colors at the same time.Mana Intermediate Transfer The transfer drum l as a medium can be not only shaped like a drum but also shaped like an endless belt wound between rollers.Furthermore, the thermal head 10 is not limited to this, but can also include a resistive sheet and a multi-stylus. The current recording method with a head is also capable of heating with a laser beam.Also, in the case of monochromatic recording, the diameter of the transfer drum 1 is set to about 30 to 50 mm, and the transfer is performed immediately after recording, making the device compact. (L) It is possible to improve thermal efficiency, but when performing color recording with this configuration (
A color ink image can be formed on the recording paper without overwriting the ink image on the transfer drum 1 by moving the recording paper back and forth for each color recorded. The recording method and recording device of the present invention are as follows:
The intermediate transfer medium is heated and kept in advance at a temperature at which the ink softens and becomes adhesive to the paper, and the ink is brought into contact with the heated and kept warm intermediate transfer medium, and the ink in this contact area is transferred to a thermal head, etc. After selectively heating the ink with a thermal image forming means, the ink is separated to form an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium, and a recording paper is pressed against the ink image, thereby transferring the ink image from the intermediate transfer medium to the recording paper. Therefore, compared to the method of recording ink directly onto paper, since the ink is transferred by tracing the paper using an elastic intermediate transfer medium, it can be transferred even to paper with low surface smoothness. Although a good image can be recorded, the image forming part of the intermediate transfer medium and
There is no need to create a temperature difference between the image transfer section and the paper transfer section, and it is only necessary to heat and keep the intermediate transfer medium warm, making it possible to realize a very simple device configuration. Since there is no need to periodically repeat heating and cooling of the medium, energy efficiency is extremely high.In addition, since the ink is preheated by the intermediate transfer medium to a temperature at which it becomes soft, the energy input to the thermal head can be extremely reduced. In the ink image forming section, once the ink is heated by the thermal head, it is difficult to cool down, so it is advantageous to separate the ink from the intermediate transfer medium while the viscosity of the ink is low. By using silicone rubber with excellent properties, even if the ink softens and becomes sticky in the image forming section where the ink comes into contact with the intermediate transfer medium, it will not stick to the intermediate transfer medium unless it is further heated by the thermal head. The ink image can be formed on the heated intermediate transfer medium, and the ink image can be easily peeled off from the intermediate transfer medium at the transfer section, increasing the stability of the recording process.
A transfer rate of nearly 0% can be obtained, and cleaning of the intermediate transfer medium can be eliminated.Also, by using a method of recording ink of different colors overlappingly on the intermediate transfer medium, it is easy to align each color. becomes, or
The image is transferred to the recording paper only once, making the operation stable and simple.The contact pressure between the recording paper and the intermediate transfer medium at the transfer section is L.The contact pressure between the ink at the image forming section and the intermediate transfer medium By setting the ink to a low value, it is possible to further overwrite ink on the intermediate transfer medium on which a softened and adhesive ink image has been formed. Viscosity at insulation temperature is 10
Viscosity is preferably 10,000c in the temperature range from the insulating temperature to 20°C higher than the insulating temperature.
In the 1'L image forming section, the cohesive force of the ink is strong in the areas that are not heated by the thermal head, and the image forming process can be carried out stably. , the ink does not easily flow when it is sandwiched between the recording paper during transfer, and a faithful image is obtained; 4 Furthermore, by forming the release layer 32 between the ink 33 and the base material 31, it is possible to obtain an ink image with a constant ink film thickness and a uniform density, and even if an ink with a considerably high melt viscosity is used, can be easily separated from the base material 31, which is very advantageous in forming an ink image on silicone rubber with good mold releasability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of a recording apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is an explanation of the image forming process section of the recording apparatus shown in Fig. 1. @ Fig. 3 is an embodiment of the recording apparatus according to the present invention. Appearance of a color ink sheet as shown in Figure 4 is a block diagram of a conventional recording device.
...Ink sheet, 6..Infrared lamp, 8.
...Thermis Ku 10...Thermal spatula)',
13... Heating element arm 16... Pressure roller,
20... Ink image 30... Recording section 31...
-Base material, 32...Mold release layer 33...Ink.

Claims (16)

[Claims] (1) The intermediate transfer medium is heated and kept at a predetermined temperature at which the heat-melting or heat-softening ink can be pressed and adhered to the recording paper, and the ink is brought into contact with the heated and kept warm intermediate transfer medium. , after selectively heating the ink at the contacting position by a thermal image forming means, separating the ink from the intermediate transfer medium by separating the ink and forming an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium; A recording method in which the ink image is transferred to a recording paper by pressing the heated intermediate transfer medium against the recording paper. (2) The recording method according to claim 1, wherein an ink having a cohesive force at an insulating temperature of the intermediate transfer medium is larger than an adhesion force with the intermediate transfer medium at that temperature. (3) The recording method according to claim 1, wherein an intermediate transfer medium whose ink image forming surface is made of silicone rubber is used. (4) A step of forming an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium using ink of multiple colors is performed for each color of ink, and after forming the ink images of the multiple colors on the intermediate transfer medium in an overlapping manner, the intermediate transfer medium is 2. The recording method according to claim 1, wherein the color image is transferred onto the recording paper by pressing the color image onto the recording paper. (5) At least in the formation of ink images of the second and subsequent colors,
5. The recording method according to claim 4, wherein recording is performed by setting the contact pressure between the intermediate transfer medium and the ink to be smaller than the contact pressure between the intermediate transfer medium and recording paper during transfer. (6) The recording method according to claim 5, wherein recording is performed with the contact pressure between the intermediate transfer medium and the ink being 1/2 or less of the contact pressure between the intermediate transfer medium and the recording paper. (7) A heat-melting or heat-softening ink, an elastic intermediate transfer medium, a heating and warming means for heating and keeping the intermediate transfer medium at a predetermined temperature, and bringing the ink into contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer medium. and a thermal image forming means for selectively heating the ink at a position in contact with the intermediate transfer medium; the intermediate transfer medium is heated and kept warm at a temperature at which the ink image is softened and can be attached to the recording paper; The ink is brought into contact with the transfer medium by the ink transfer means, the ink is selectively melted or softened by the thermal image forming means, and the ink is deposited on the intermediate transfer medium, and then the ink is separated from the intermediate transfer medium. A recording device configured to form an ink image on the intermediate transfer medium by sequentially performing operations, and to press a recording paper to the ink image by the pressure transfer means to adhere and transfer the ink image onto the recording paper. . (8) The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the ink image forming surface of the intermediate transfer medium is formed of silicone rubber. (9) The ink is in the form of an ink film thinly applied on a film-like base material, and the viscosity at the temperature of the intermediate transfer medium and at a temperature 20°C higher than the temperature is 1.
9. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, which has a recording power of 0,000 cp or more. (10) The ink is applied onto the film-like base material via a release layer, and the cohesive force of the release layer is greater than the adhesive force between the intermediate transfer medium and the ink at the temperature at which the intermediate transfer medium is kept warm; Claim 9: The temperature at the time of separation from the intermediate transfer medium after being heated by the thermal image forming means is a value smaller than the adhesive force between the intermediate transfer medium and the ink.
Recording device as described. (11) Claim 7 wherein the thermal image forming means is a thermal head.
Recording device as described. (12) Temperature retention of intermediate transfer medium is from 50℃ to 120℃
8. The recording device according to claim 7, which is within the range of . (13) The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the heating and heat-retaining means includes means for detecting environmental temperature, and is configured to control the heat-retaining temperature of the intermediate transfer medium to a predetermined value according to the environmental temperature. (14) A plurality of inks of two or more different colors are provided, and after forming ink images of the plurality of colors on the intermediate transfer medium, the pressure transfer means is operated to transfer the color ink onto the recording paper. 8. The recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the recording apparatus is configured to adhere and transfer an image. (15) The recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the intermediate transfer medium is an endless hollow body whose surface is made of silicone rubber, and a heating and heat-insulating means is arranged inside. (16) The ink is in the form of an ink film thinly applied on a film-like base material, and the thermal image forming means is a thermal head, and the thermal head presses the ink against the intermediate transfer medium. 15. The recording apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the pressure contact stress is set to 1/2 or less of the pressure contact stress between the recording paper and the intermediate transfer medium applied by the pressure transfer means.