JPH0655832A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recorder which records a visible image formed by a latent image and a development forming means on both surfaces of a recording medium by a simple structure. CONSTITUTION:An latent image and a development forming means C, D are provided as follows ; a recording material 1 having a surface of which a receding contact angle is decreased when the surface is brought into contact with a liquid under a heating state, is provided ; the recording material 1 is selectively heated under a state wherein a contact material 5 consisting of a liquid or steam or a solid becoming a liquid by heating comes in contact with a surface of the recording material 1; a latent image is formed at a heating part by a method which forms the recording contact angle according to heating temperature; a visible image is formed by bringing a recording agent 7 containing a developer in contact with the latent image. A recorder is constructed so that the latent image forming means C and the development forming means D are respectively arranged by opposing them to both surfaces Pa, Pb of a recording medium P in the recorder S wherein a visible image is recorded by transferring it to the recording medium P.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus using a recording medium or recording medium having a surface which has a receding contact angle which is reduced when heated and brought into contact with a liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has previously used a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid. Selectively heated in a state of being in contact with a contact material selected from solids that generate liquid or vapor or become liquid at a temperature below the temperature at which the receding contact angle of the recording medium decreases, or
A region (a so-called pattern region, referred to as a latent image or a development region) in which the surface of the recording body is brought into contact with the contact material in a state of being selectively heated to exhibit a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature. ) Is formed, and the recording material containing the developer and the surface of the recording material whose receding contact angle decreases when it comes into contact with a liquid under heating are selected. A recording method has been proposed in which a visible image corresponding to the heating temperature is formed on the surface of the recording material by heating the recording material or bringing the surface of the recording material into contact with the recording material in a selectively heated state ( See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-178478).

The invention described in the above publication uses, as a recording body, a member having a surface that has a receding contact angle that is low (increases liquid adhesion) when heated and brought into contact with a liquid,
A recording method capable of selectively or selectively and reversibly forming a so-called pattern area (latent image area) on the surface of a recording medium is provided. Further, a developing material is provided on the pattern area. By providing a recording agent containing (for example, liquid ink), a good visible image can be obtained from the beginning,
Either fix this visible image on the surface of the recording medium as it is, or transfer it to plain paper without fixing it and fix it.
It is intended to provide a recording method capable of obtaining a clear image having gradation.

Further, according to the above invention, a plurality of reversible recording media are used in a reversible manner by using a recording medium which is excellent in storability and stability in all steps of forming, erasing, visualizing and transferring so-called pattern areas. A recording method is provided by which the above-mentioned steps of times can be performed.

As described in detail in the above-mentioned publication, the recording medium has a small receding contact angle when heated and brought into contact with a contact material such as liquid or vapor (liquid adhesion increases). ) Has a surface, the surface of the recording material returns to its original receding contact angle when heated in the absence of a contact material, since the interaction with the contact material does not occur (liquid adhesion is reduced). ) The latent image is erased (deimaged). Therefore, by providing a means for heating in the state of contact with the contact material and a means for contact heating in the absence of the contact material, it is possible to form a recording device capable of easily recording and erasing.

A conventional example of a recording apparatus using the recording method described in the above publication is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 is a recording body in which a recording layer having the above-mentioned properties is formed on the surface of a drum-like support, and 22 is a container 2 for containing a latent image forming liquid 23.
4, a thermal head which is a heating element disposed outside the recording body 21, 25 is a transfer roller, 26 is recording paper, 2
Reference numeral 7 denotes a recording material 21 stored in a case 28.
, A cleaning cleaner for cleaning, and an image removing heating means 31 composed of an infrared heater.

In this recording apparatus, a latent image forming liquid 23 (for example, a liquid such as water) is selectively heated by a thermal head 24 while the surface of the recording medium 21 is in contact with the surface of the recording medium 21 to form a receding contact angle at the heating portion. A latent image is formed by the method described above, and the latent image is brought into contact with a recording material (water-based ink) using a roller 27 to develop the latent image on the surface of the recording body 21 to form a visible image corresponding to the heating temperature. The visual image is transferred and recorded on the recording paper 26, and the surface of the recording body 21 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaner 30 and then heated by the image removing heating means 31 to erase the latent image (image removal). ) Will be done.

[0008]

However, in such a structure, in order to transfer the visible image on both sides of the recording paper, the visible image formed on the recording body is recorded once on one side of the transfer paper. After that, the recording paper must be reversed to form a visible image on the recording medium again, and then the visible image formed on the recording medium must be recorded on the non-transfer side of the recording paper. However, there is a problem that the device configuration becomes complicated and the device becomes expensive at the same time.

[0009]

Therefore, in the present invention, a recording medium having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid is provided. A latent image is formed on the heating part by a method of selectively heating a contact material composed of a solid that becomes a liquid by heating in a state of contacting, and forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature. Of a recording material having a latent image and a development forming means for forming a visible image by contacting a recording material containing a material, and transferring the visible image to a recording medium for recording, and the recording material of the recording material after the transfer. A recording device having a removing means for erasing the latent image by heating at the existing portion, or selectively in a state where a contact member made of a liquid or vapor or a solid which becomes a liquid by heating is in contact with the surface of the recording medium. Heating A latent image is formed on the heating part by a method of forming a receding contact angle according to the heat temperature, and a latent image is formed by contacting a recording agent containing a developer with the latent image to form a visible image. In the recording apparatus using the means, the latent image and development forming means are arranged at the portions facing both sides of the recording medium.

[0010]

A recording device for transferring and recording a visible image formed by the latent image and the developing and forming means on a transfer medium, or recording a visible image formed by the latent image and the developing and forming means directly on the transfer medium. In the recording apparatus, since the latent image and development forming means are provided on both sides of the recording body or recording medium, visible images are formed on both sides of the recording medium at one time.

[0011]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below. Figure 1
1 shows a recording apparatus S that is a first embodiment of the present invention. The recording apparatus S has two sets of recording units A and B, a transfer section T is formed between the recording units A and B, and a transfer sheet P as a recording medium is conveyed to the transfer section T.

The structure of the recording unit A will be described below. In the figure, reference numeral 1 indicates a recording medium 1. When the recording medium 1 is heated on the surface of an endless belt-shaped substrate while being in contact with a liquid, the receding contact angle thereof becomes low after cooling and the liquid does not exist. A thin surface layer is formed by applying a recording material having a function of increasing the receding contact angle by heating below, and is wound around a pair of rollers 2A and 2B. One of the rollers 2A and 2B is rotationally driven counterclockwise in the drawing by a driving unit (not shown) to move the recording body 1 in a predetermined direction.
Move it (counterclockwise). The base material and recording material of the recording body 1 will be described below.

(A) Substrate of recording medium: Seamless film made of a heat-resistant resin such as polyimide, with a plate thickness of 12.5 to
25 μm (b) Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material Above the recording body 1, a cleaner 3 for removing ink and the like remaining on the surface of the recording body 1 after transfer and a latent image formed on the recording body 1 are heated. Infrared heaters 4 serving as removing means for erasing by erasing are respectively arranged from the downstream side to the upstream side in the traveling direction of the recording body 1.

Below the recording body 1, a container 6 containing a latent image forming liquid 5 as a contact material and a container 8 containing a developing solution 7 as a recording material are provided outside the recording body 1 with respect to the traveling direction of the recording body 1. Are arranged in order from the upstream side, and in each container 6, 8,
The latent image roller 9 and the developing roller 10 are rotatably arranged. A solution containing a wetting agent such as glycerin or diethylene glycol and a preservative in water is used as the latent image forming solution 5, and a water-based ink is used as the developing solution 7.

Both the latent image roller 9 and the developing roller 10 are made of porous foamed urethane, and the recording medium 1
Touches. Inside the recording body 1 facing the latent image roller 9, a thermal head 11 which is a latent image forming and heating unit that generates heat according to an image signal is arranged. The thermal head 11 is positioned at a position where the heating element 12 is brought into contact with the area of the recording body 1 in contact with the latent image roller 9. That is,
Thermal head 11, latent image roller 9 and latent image forming liquid 5
Is a latent image forming means C, and the developing roller 10 and the developing solution 7
Serves as the development forming unit D.

On the other hand, the recording unit B has the same structure as the recording unit A having the above-described structure, and is arranged in parallel so as to be in contrast to the recording unit A, and its constituent elements are used by the unit A. The numbers that have been added are indicated by adding "'".

In the recording apparatus S having such a structure, for example, when the recording unit A side is operated, the thermal head 11 together with the latent image forming liquid 5 contained in the latent image roller 9 causes the thermal head 11 to form a dot-shaped latent image corresponding to an image signal. Is formed on the surface of the recording body 1. On the formed latent image, the developing roller 1
When 0, the aqueous ink which is the developer 7 is supplied to develop the latent image and the latent image is visualized.

The formed visible image is transferred between the roller 2B and the roller 2B ', that is, at the transfer portion T, to the one surface Pa side of the transfer paper P supplied at a predetermined timing. The ink remaining on the surface of the recording body 1 after the transfer is removed by the cleaner 3, the latent image formed on the recording body 1 is removed by the irradiation of the infrared heater 4, and the unit A enters the next recording cycle. It becomes possible to record new image information.

Further, when the image signal is transmitted to both the recording units A and B, a visible image corresponding to the image signal is formed on both the recording bodies 1 and 1 ', and the visible image can be formed on the recording body 1. The visual image is transferred to one side Pa of the transfer paper P, the visible image formed on the recording body 1 ′ is transferred to the other surface Pb of the transfer paper P, and recording is performed on both sides of the transfer paper P. Be seen.

As described above, the recording units A and B having the same latent image and developing and forming means C and D are disposed at the portions facing the respective surfaces Pa and Pb of the transfer paper P which is the recording medium. Therefore, the visible images can be transferred onto both sides of the recording paper P at the same time, and the recording speed can be greatly improved. Further, since the units A and B have the same structure, common parts can be used, and the recording device S can be provided with a complicated device structure and a reduced cost.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the second embodiment, the recording paper P1 which is a recording medium is used.
A visible image is directly formed and recorded on. The first
The same reference numerals as those used in the first embodiment are given to those having the same operations as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In FIG. 2, both sides of the recording paper P1 are coated with a fluorine-containing acrylate material. When heated in contact with a liquid, the receding contact angle of the recording paper P1 becomes low after cooling and the liquid does not flow. It is said that the receding contact angle is increased by heating in the presence. The recording paper P1 is fed by the paper feed roller 13, is conveyed in the direction of the arrow by the conveyance rollers 14 and 15, and is reversed by the reversing section E during the conveyance.

In the recording apparatus S1 of this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, two sets of latent image and development forming means C, D and C ', D'having the same structure are arranged. Ie 1
The latent image forming means C and the development forming means D of the set include a container 6 containing a latent image forming liquid 5 with a thermal head 11 and a container 8 containing a developing liquid 7 and a developing roller 10.
In addition, the latent image forming means C is arranged on the upstream side with respect to the transport direction of the transfer sheet P1, and is arranged on the upstream side (lower side in the drawing) of the reversing section E.

Second set of latent image and development forming means C ', D'
Is arranged on the downstream side (upper side in the drawing) of the reversing section E, and the latent image forming means C ′ is arranged in the vicinity of the reversing section E which is on the upstream side with respect to the transport direction of the transfer sheet P1. In the construction of the second set of latent image and development / development means C ′, D ′, “′” is added to the numeral reference used in the construction of the first set of latent image / development / formation means C, D for illustration. did.

Further, a solution containing a wetting agent such as glycerin and diethylene glycol and an antiseptic agent in water was used as each of the latent image forming solutions 5 and 5 ', and an aqueous ink was used as each of the developers 7 and 7'.

According to the recording apparatus S1 thus constructed, when an image signal is input to the thermal heads 11 and 11 'of the two sets of latent image and development forming means C, D, C', D ',
A latent image is formed on the one surface P1a side of the transfer paper P, and the developer 7 is attached to the latent image by the developing roller 10 to form and record a visible image. Then, on the other surface P1b side which is the non-recording side of the transfer paper P1 reversed by the reversing section E, the latent image and the development and formation are performed by the second set of latent image and development and forming means C ′ and D ′. And the visible image is recorded directly.

By configuring the recording device S1 in this way, it is possible to record a visible image on both sides of the transfer paper P1. Further, when a plate or the like is manufactured by using a resin material such as polyethylene or polyinide as a recording medium instead of the transfer paper P1, the used plate should be passed through the cleaner and the means having an image removing function shown in FIG. Therefore, it can be repeatedly used.

[0028]

According to the present invention, a visible image is formed on both surfaces of the recording material and the recording medium in one cycle by the latent image and the development forming means which are respectively disposed on the opposite surfaces of the recording material and the recording medium. Can be recorded, the recording speed can be increased with a simple configuration, the complexity of the device can be suppressed, and the cost can be suppressed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a conventional recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 recording material 4,4 'removing means (infrared heater) 5,5' contact material (latent image forming liquid) 7,7 'recording material (development forming liquid) 9,9' latent image roller 10,10 'developing roller 11 , 11 'Thermal head C, C'Latent image forming means D, D'Development forming means S, S1 Recording device P, P1 Recording medium (transfer paper)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Fumio Kumakura 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A contact material comprising a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when heated and brought into contact with a liquid, wherein the surface of the recording body is a liquid or vapor or a solid material which becomes a liquid by heating. Is selectively heated in a state of contacting with, and a latent image is formed on the heating portion by a method of forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature, and a recording agent containing a developer is brought into contact with the latent image. In a recording device having a latent image and development forming means for forming a visible image and transferring the visible image to a recording medium for recording, the latent image and development forming is performed at a portion facing both sides of the recording medium. A recording apparatus, characterized in that each means is provided. 2. A contact material comprising a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid, and the surface of the recording body is a liquid or vapor or a contact material made of a solid which becomes a liquid by heating. Is selectively heated in a state of contacting with, and a latent image is formed on the heating portion by a method of forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature, and a recording agent containing a developer is brought into contact with the latent image. A latent image forming a visible image and a developing and forming means, and after the visible image is transferred to a recording medium and recorded, the latent image is erased by heating in the absence of the contact material. A recording apparatus having a means, wherein the latent image and development forming means are provided at portions facing both sides of the recording medium, respectively. 3. A method of forming a receding contact angle according to a heating temperature by selectively heating a surface of a recording medium in contact with a liquid or vapor or a solid contact material which becomes a liquid by heating. In a recording device using a latent image and a developing / forming means, a latent image is formed on a heating portion, and a visible image is formed by contacting the latent image with a recording material containing a color developing material. A recording apparatus, wherein the latent image and development forming means are provided at opposing portions.