JPH07121068A - Reproducing device for recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely adsorb a printing material on a recording medium and to perfectly eliminate it by a recovery means by forming the surface of a transfer means brought into contact with the printing material of a specified material. CONSTITUTION:An upper part open type box-shaped container 11 housing cleaning solution 10 is housed inside a cleaning chamber 3 and the wall 11a thereof on an discharge side is provided with a cleaning solution recovery plate 11b covering the lower part of a press roller type carrying device 9 at the upper end part thereof. A transfer body, that means, a transfer roller 16 transferring the printing material 101 from the recording medium 100 is constituted of a substrate and a coat 17 consisting of the excellent material in the adsorptivity and the desorptivity of the material 101 whose outside circumferential surface is swollen. Then, the coat 17, that means, the surface of the roller 16 brought into contact with the material 101 is constituted of the material selected from a polyolefinic resin, polyester-based resin, nitrogen-contained resin, sulfer- contained resin, fluorocarbon resin, silicone-based resin, polyacetal-based resin, epoxy-based resin, polyether etherketone-based resin and phenolic resin.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for reproducing a recording medium by removing a printing material from a recording medium such as paper on which an image is printed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a reproducing apparatus for removing toner from a recording paper image-printed by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine,
A heating roller that heats the recording paper containing the toner image, a roller to which the liquefied toner that is heated is transferred, and a blade that removes the toner transferred to this roller, or the recording paper is a wet developer. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-174454 discloses a method in which a toner image is released by immersing it in a dispersant.

[0003]

However, the former reproducing device has a technical problem that the roller must be capable of transferring all the liquefied toner.
The latter reproducing device has a technical problem that the released toner must be prevented from adhering to the recording medium again.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above technical problems and providing a novel reproducing apparatus. In the reproducing method, a printing material is removed from a recording medium on which an image is printed. The apparatus has a liquid for swelling the printing material, a means for applying the liquid to the printing material, a transfer means for contacting and receiving the printing material swollen by the application of the liquid, and a transfer means for transferring to the transfer means. And a recovery means for recovering the printing material, the surface of the transfer means in contact with the printing material, polyolefin resin, polyester resin, nitrogen-containing resin, sulfur-containing resin, fluorine resin,
It is made of at least one material selected from a silicone resin, a polyacetal resin, an epoxy resin, a polyether ether ketone resin, and a phenol resin.

[0005]

In the reproducing apparatus, the liquid for swelling the printing material is applied to the recording medium on which the image is printed. This application method may be either dipping or coating. The printing material to which the liquid is applied swells and is ready to be easily removed from the recording medium. next,
The swollen printing material is transferred to the transfer means and is recovered from the transfer means by the recovery means. Here, the surface of the transfer means that comes into contact with the printing material is formed of at least one material selected from the above-mentioned plurality of resins, and these are excellent in adsorption and desorption of the printing material. Therefore, the printing material on the recording medium is surely adsorbed and completely removed by the collecting means.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 shows the paper or OHP on which the image is printed.
1 shows an entire apparatus for removing a printing material 101 such as a toner from a recording medium 100 such as a film and reproducing the recording medium 100 in a reusable state. This reproducing apparatus 1 removes the printing material 101 from the recording medium 100. And a dryer 36 for drying the recording medium from which the printing material has been removed and discharging it in a reusable state.

The structure of the cleaner 2 is shown in FIG. 2, and the charging side wall 4 in the cleaning chamber 3 which is a box-shaped container.
Horizontally extending openings 6 and 7 are formed in the discharge side wall 5 and the discharge side wall 5, respectively, and a roller type conveying device 8 is arranged in the vicinity of the loading side opening 6 and in the vicinity of the discharge side opening 7. A squeezing roller type conveying device 9 including a pair of rollers having an elastic material such as rubber on the outer peripheral portion is arranged, and the rollers of the conveying devices 8 and 9 are rotated in a direction shown by a drive source (not shown). .

An upper open type box-shaped container 11 for containing the cleaning liquid 10 is housed inside the cleaning chamber 3, and a discharge side wall 11a covers the lower side of the squeezing roller type conveying device 9 at the upper end thereof. A liquid recovery plate 11b is provided. The cleaning liquid 10 contains a swelling agent that swells the printing material 101, and its components and the like will be described in detail later.

The cleaning liquid circulation device 12 is provided with a liquid feed pipe 15 in which a liquid feed pump 13 and a filter 14 are connected in series, and both ends of the liquid feed pipe 15 are connected to the container 11. Although the circulation device 12 is shown outside the cleaning chamber 3 in the drawing, the cleaning chamber 3
It is desirable to install it inside the.

A transfer member, that is, a transfer roller 16 for transferring the printing material 101 from the recording medium 100 is made of polyurethane.
Elastic materials such as silicone rubber and fluororubber, aluminum,
The base 17a is made of a rigid body such as stainless steel, and the coating 17b is made of a material having excellent adsorption and desorption properties for the swollen outer peripheral surface of the printing material 101. The material of the coating film 17b will be described in detail later. This transfer roller 16 is
The cleaning device 10 is immersed in the cleaning liquid 10 approximately in the middle of the transfer devices 8 and 9 in parallel with them, and preferably from about 1/3 to about 1/2 from the bottom, and is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a drive source (not shown). is there. Note that the transfer body may be one in which the belt is wound around at least two rollers arranged above and below without having the base body 17a, and in this case, the coating film 17b is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the belt.

Recording medium 1 introduced into cleaning chamber 3
The guide unit 18 that guides 00 to the cleaning liquid 10 includes a guide plate 19 and a sheet 26 that is a winding preventing unit that prevents the recording medium 100 from winding around the transfer roller 16. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the guide plate 19 is a member in which the central portion of a rectangular plate material made of metal or synthetic resin is uniformly curved downward along the width direction (the arrow X direction shown in FIG. 3). A plurality of openings 21 extending in the vertical direction (direction of arrow Y shown in FIG. 3) are formed in the central curved portion 20. The opening 21 supplies the cleaning liquid 10 to the upper region of the guide plate 19, and the shape and arrangement of the opening 21 can be freely changed. Further, the central curved portion 20 is preferably designed so that the curvature at the lowermost portion thereof is substantially equal to the curvature of the transfer roller 16 and the curvatures on both sides are gradually reduced. In addition, 24 and 25 are seats 2
It is an upper guide plate that faces the guide plate 19 via 6.

The winding prevention sheet 26 comprises a mesh net formed by knitting metal or synthetic resin threads, is arranged on the guide plate 19, and the ends 27 and 28 on the loading side and the discharging side are not shown in the drawing. Is supported by the guide plate and both ends 22, 23 of the guide plate
There is a gap between and. An opening 29 extending in the width direction is formed in the central portion of the sheet 26 facing the lower surface of the transfer roller 16 including the base 17a and the coating film 17b, and the transfer roller 16 faces the guide plate 19 through the opening 29. is doing.

The collecting means 31 for collecting the printing material such as toner from the coating film 17b has a collecting container 32, and the collecting container 32 is arranged in parallel with the transfer roller 16. The collection container 32 has an opening 3 facing the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller 16.
3, and the scraper 34 on the downstream side in the rotational direction of the transfer body and the fall prevention sheet 3 on the upstream side, which constitutes the opening 33.
The tip ends of the rollers 5 are in pressure contact with the outer peripheral surface of the transfer roller 16. The scraper 34 is preferably formed of an elastic material such as rubber or a thin metal plate. The fall prevention sheet 35 is preferably formed of a soft sheet such as synthetic resin.

The structure of the dryer 36 is shown in FIG.
The wall 38 on the charging side and the wall 39 on the discharging side in the drying chamber 37 formed of a box-shaped container are each the opening 4 that extends in the horizontal direction.
0 and 41 are formed, and roller type conveying devices 42 and 43 are arranged in the vicinity of the openings 40 and 41, respectively, so that the rollers of these conveying devices 42 and 43 rotate in the direction of the arrow by a drive source (not shown). I am doing it.

The heating and drying means are heaters 46 and 47, respectively.
The heating rollers 44 and 45 having a built-in heater are provided between the conveying devices 42 and 43 with one of the heating rollers 44 and 45 in contact with the upper surface of the other.
The heating rollers 44 and 45 are rotatable, and the heating rollers 44 and / or 45 are connected to a drive source (not shown). In addition, it is desirable to provide guide plates 48 and 49 of the recording medium between the heating rollers 44 and 45 and the conveying devices 42 and 43 as shown in the figure. The heating rollers 44 and 45 may be made of a metal cylinder such as stainless steel, or may be made of an elastic material such as silicon rubber or fluororubber.

In the reproducing apparatus 1 having the above-mentioned structure, the recording medium 100 such as paper or OHP film having the printing material 101 such as toner is cleaned from the loading side opening 6 of the cleaner 2 by the conveying device 8 to the cleaning chamber. The printing material 101 is introduced into the nozzle 3 and passes through between the guide plate 19 and the roll-in prevention sheet 26, and is immersed in the cleaning liquid 10, so that the printing material 101 is swollen and easily peeled off. Then, the swollen printing material 101 comes into contact with the transfer roller 16 rotating in the direction of the arrow in the vicinity of the closest portion between the transfer roller 16 and the guide plate 18 at the sheet opening 29, and is adsorbed and transferred to the coating film 17b. . Note that the sheet opening 2 is provided on both sides of the recording medium 100.
It moves while being guided by both edge portions 30, 30 that surround 7. Therefore, the recording medium 100 is reliably separated from the transfer roller 16 and is not wound around the transfer roller 16.

Printing material 101 transferred to coating 17b
Is transported with the rotation of the transfer roller 16, removed from the coating film 17b by the scraper 34, and recovered in the recovery container 32. At this time, the outer peripheral coating 1 of the transfer roller 16
7b is excellent in the detachability of the printing material 101, and is easily removed by the scraper 34. Subsequently, the recording medium 100 from which the printing material 101 has been removed is continuously conveyed along the guide plate 19, the cleaning liquid 10 impregnated by the pressing roller type conveying device 9 is squeezed out, and the dryer 36 is removed from the cleaning chamber 3. Is supplied to. The cleaning liquid 10 squeezed from the recording medium 100 is captured by the cleaning liquid recovery plate 11b and recovered in the container 11. On the other hand, the printing material 101 that has melted into the cleaning liquid 10 without being transferred to the coating film 17b is captured by the filter 14 when passing through the filter 14 together with the cleaning liquid 10 circulated by the pump 13 through the liquid supply pipe 15. Be recovered. Therefore, the cleaning liquid 10 can be used for a long period of time.

The recording medium 100 supplied to the dryer 36.
Is introduced into the drying chamber 37 by the conveying device 42, heated and dried while being nipped and conveyed by the rotating heating rollers 44 and 45, and is discharged onto a tray (not shown) by the conveying device 43.

In the above embodiment, the mesh sheet 26 is used as a means for preventing the recording medium 100 from being wound around. However, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of wires and synthetic resin threads are provided along the guide plate 19. The cord-like body 51 made of and the rod-shaped bodies 52 and 53 for fixing these end portions may constitute the winding preventing means.

The drying means in the dryer 36 is
As shown in FIG. 6, the recording medium 1 introduced into the drying chamber 37
A pair of plate meshes 54 or perforated plates for guiding 00, a dryer 55 having a suction port 56 below the mesh 54 and a hot air exhaust port 57 above the mesh 54 may be provided. In this case, as shown in the figure, it is desirable to provide a pair of rolling rollers 58 on the downstream side of the mesh 54 for removing wrinkles of the recording medium 100 dried by the dryer 55.

FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the cleaner in the regenerator. In this cleaner 102, a cylindrical transport roller 160 is arranged in a container 111 containing the cleaning liquid 110, and is rotated in the arrow direction by a drive source (not shown). The bottom of the conveying roller 160 is slightly in contact with the central curved portion 120 of the downwardly curved guide plate 119, or faces the recording medium 110 with a gap substantially the same as the thickness of the recording medium 110, and the conveying roller 160 and the guide plate 119. The conveying force of the conveying roller 160 is applied to the recording medium 110 inserted between the recording medium 110 and the recording medium 110.

The base rollers 161 and 163 are rotary rollers made of an elastic body, and the outer peripheral surfaces of the base rollers 161 and 163 are the printing material 10.
1 is covered with coatings 162 and 164 having excellent adsorbability and desorption, and one base roller 161 is pressed against the upper part of the other base roller 163 and is arranged on the downstream side of the squeezing roller type conveying device 121. The rollers constituting the transport device 121 are rotated in the directions of the arrows shown by a drive source (not shown). In addition, the base rollers 161, 16
A heater may be provided in 3 to assist the adsorption not only with the attraction force but also with heat. At that time, the base roller is 50 to 200
It is good to raise the temperature to ℃, preferably about 120 to 180 ℃.

The collecting devices 165 and 168 are arranged on the sides of the base rollers 161 and 163, respectively, and the tips of the scrapers 167 and 170 provided in the collecting containers 166 and 169 are in pressure contact with the coatings 162 and 164, respectively. .

In FIG. 7, 171 is a guide plate for guiding the recording medium 100 from the squeezing roller type conveying device 121 to the base rollers 161, 163, and 172 is the base roller 16.
1,163 to the discharge side opening 1 of the cleaning chamber 103
It is a guide plate for guiding to the roller type conveying device 173 provided in 07. Other than the above, the same members used in the cleaner 2 shown in FIGS.
The reference numeral (numerical value) with 0 added is attached and the description thereof is omitted.

In this cleaner 102, the transfer device 108
Thus, the recording medium 100 introduced between the guide plate 119 and the roll-in prevention sheet 126 is dipped in the cleaning liquid 110, and the printing material 101 is swollen. The recording medium 101 moving in the cleaning liquid 110 is further transported to the downstream side by the rotation of the transport roller 160, and when the recording medium 101 is sent out from the cleaning liquid 110, the cleaning liquid 110 is squeezed by the pressing roller type transport device 121. The squeezed excess cleaning liquid 110 is guided to the recovery plate 111b of the container 111 and recovered. The recording medium 100 that has passed through the squeeze roller 121 is covered with the coating material 162 on the front and back surfaces of the printing material 101 at the nip portion between the base rollers 161 and 163.
After being adsorbed by 164 and removed, it passes through a guide plate 172 and is sent to a dryer (not shown) by a conveying device 173. The printing material 101 transferred to the coatings 162 and 164 is scraped by the scrapers 167 and 170 and collected in the containers 166 and 169.

FIG. 8 shows a modification of the cleaner shown in FIG. 7. In this apparatus, a pair of brush rollers 174 are provided between the base rollers 161, 163 and the discharging roller 174 so as to sandwich the recording medium conveying path. , 175 are arranged so as to rotate in the directions of the arrows. Therefore, the recording medium 100 that has passed through the nip portions of the base rollers 161 and 163 has its front and back surfaces brush rollers 174 and 175.
The residual printing material 101 on the recording medium 100 is removed. The printing material 101 captured by the brush rollers 174 and 175 is transferred to the brush rollers 174 and 175.
Is dropped into the collection containers 178 and 179 due to the vibration when the rods are engaged with the rods 176 and 177.

FIG. 9 shows another modification of the cleaner. In this modification, the recording medium 100 is contained in the cleaning liquid 110.
As a means for transporting the cleaning liquid, a pair of brush rollers 180 and 181 facing each other is used.
The recording medium 100 conveyed into the recording medium 10 is conveyed based on the transfer force of the brush rollers 180 and 181 contacting the front surface and the back surface thereof. In this process, a considerable portion of the printing material is removed, and then the cleaning is completed by adsorption of the coatings 162, 164. In this modification, since the recording medium 100 does not wind around the brush rollers 180 and 181, it is not necessary to provide a winding prevention sheet between the guide plates 119 and 124.

Base roller 17a, base rollers 161,1
The materials of the coating films 17b, 162, 164 for coating the outer peripheral surface of 63 are polyolefin resin, polyester resin, nitrogen-containing resin, sulfur-containing resin, fluorine resin, silicon resin, polyacetal resin, epoxy resin. resin,
At least one material selected from polyether ether ketone-based resins and phenol-based resins is used. The "...- based resin" means a polymer, a copolymer or a mixture containing a resin monomer.

The above polyolefin resin includes polyethylene, polypropylene, ethylene / vinyl alcohol /
Included are copolymers, ethylene / propylene / diene terpolymers, and poly-4-methylpentene-1. The polyester-based resin includes vinyl ester resin, polyarylate, oxybenzoyl polyester, diallyl phthalate resin, polyethylene terephthalate, and polycarbonate. The nitrogen-containing resin includes polyamide, polyparabanic acid, bismaleide triazine, polyetherimide resin and guanamine resin. The sulfur-containing resin includes polyphenylene sulfide and polysulfone. The fluororesin includes tetrafluororesin and polyvinylidene fluoride. Silicon resin includes silicone resin, polyacetal resin includes polyacetal, epoxy resin includes epoxy resin, polyether ether ketone resin includes polyether ether ketone, and phenol resin includes phenol resin.

That is, these resins have a property of adsorbing a swelled product obtained by swelling a generally used toner resin described later with a cleaning liquid, and the adsorbed swelled product chemically reacts with the coating material. The composition was selected by the present inventors as a result of diligent research from the viewpoint that two different properties of being detached by physical force without fusion are required to be satisfied at the same time. Further, when a heater is built in the base roller, a composition having excellent heat resistance is preferable. From this viewpoint, a polyolefin resin such as polyethylene or polypropylene, or a sulfur-containing resin such as polyphenylene sulfide resin is most suitable.

Further, when cleaning is performed under a strong pressure with the substrate as a rigid body, a composition excellent in strength is desirable, and from this viewpoint, a nitrogen-containing resin such as a polyamide resin is preferable. Further, the toner contains various additives, and even if the cleaning liquid itself is neutral, by swelling these with the cleaning liquid,
May exhibit acid or alkali properties. For example, carbon black widely used as a colorant for toner generally exhibits strong acidity. Therefore, solvent resistance is desired for the coating material of the present invention, and from this point of view, polyolefin resins such as polyethylene and polypropylene, and sulfur-containing resins such as polyphenylene sulfide resin are optimal. In the present invention, these resins may be used as a transfer roller by injection molding.
As in each of the above-described embodiments, it is desirable to obtain a coating layer on a substrate made of an appropriate elastic body or rigid body. When the substrate is formed of an elastic body, it is preferable from the viewpoint of improving the adhesion to the printing material and adsorbing the printing material such as toner swollen by the cleaning liquid, but if the conveying accuracy is not high, the recording medium will not be printed on paper. In some cases, wrinkles are more likely to occur.

On the other hand, when a rigid body is used as a substrate, in comparison with an elastic body in terms of adsorbing the printing material printed deep inside the recording medium (for example, the printing material printed deep inside the mesh structure of paper). Although a slight deterioration in performance is possible, a high pressure can be applied due to the rigid body, and when the recording medium is paper, a secondary effect of stretching the wrinkles of the paper with cleaning can be obtained. The elastic body that can be used as the substrate is not particularly limited as long as it has a composition that is not easily attacked by the cleaning liquid, and examples thereof include fluorine rubber, silicon rubber, and polyurethane rubber. Further, as a rigid body, when the cleaning liquid is water-based, stainless steel,
Aluminum or the like is preferable. In the present invention, as a method of bringing the above resin into close contact with the substrate, there can be used a method in which the above resin is formed into a heat-shrinkable tube, fitted onto the substrate, and then heated. Further, as described above, when the substrate is not used, a method of forming into a roll or a film by a method such as injection molding can be applied.

The cleaning liquid used in the present invention is not particularly limited, but preferably, this cleaning liquid is compatible with water and water, and the above-mentioned printing material 101.
It contains a swelling agent for swelling. When the recording medium or the like is plain paper or the like, water has a function of swelling the pulp fibers of the paper and efficiently adsorbing the printing material, for example, the toner composed of resin particles, which has entered the network structure, to the coating film. The content of water is 10 to 90% by weight, preferably 20 to 88% by weight, based on the entire cleaning liquid. However, if the water content is less than 1% by weight, the effect of spreading the fibers may not be sufficient. On the contrary, when the content of water is too large, the time for swelling the toner and the like becomes long, the time required for cleaning greatly increases, and the cleaning processing efficiency per unit time decreases. Although it depends on the kind of toner, if the amount of water exceeds 90% by weight, the cleaning time will be drastically increased, which is not preferable. As described above, when the amount of water is large, the binding force (hydrogen bond) between the paper fibers is weakened, and when cleaning is performed by applying a physical treatment, the paper surface is damaged due to the pressure contact with the transfer roller 16 or is severe. In some cases, the fibers of the paper may break and the paper may be destroyed, so the water content is 30 to 85% by weight.
Is preferred. In addition, since the cleaning liquid contains water, the boiling point is increased and the nonvolatility is improved as compared with the conventional organic solvent deinking agent. This reduces the generation of toxic gas, reduces toxicity, and reduces flammability.
The effect that the quality of the cleaning liquid is stable and the concentration of the other components of the cleaning liquid is stable is obtained.

The swelling agent contained in the cleaning liquid basically does not dissolve the toner resin component of the toner fixed on the paper or the OHP film, the dye component such as the charge control agent, and the colorant component such as the facial dye. However, it is essential to mainly swell the resin component to make the toner into a gel-like plastic polymer and to make the film easily adsorbed. As such a component, specifically, a component containing at least a higher fatty acid ester, water and a surfactant, and further an organic acid is preferable.

Although the function of this component is not always clear, when the printed recording medium is immersed in the cleaning liquid, the action of the swelling agent causes the paper or OH to react.
The resin component of the toner fixed on the P film absorbs the swelling agent, and changes into a highly plastic viscous gel polymer that extends 0.5 mm to several cm. This viscous gel-like polymer has a significantly reduced binding force to paper fibers and OHP films, and can be easily released by applying a little physical (mechanical) stress, adsorbed to the film and cleaned. I found it. Cleaning action is p of liquid
Depending on H, especially when the toner resin is a polyester resin,
By making the pH of the solution weakly alkaline around 8 to 10, the ester bond is broken and decomposed into a fine powder,
It is easier to remove. Furthermore, the cleaning action depends on the temperature of the liquid. Therefore, by combining these, the liquid pH,
Although the temperature should be determined, the pH is 3.0 to 11.
0, it is preferable to adjust the liquid temperature in the range of 20 to 60 ° C. In order to obtain a stable cleaning effect, it is more preferable to maintain the pH at an optimum constant value by using various pH buffer solutions and the like. If the pH is weakly acidic below 3.0 or strongly alkaline above 11.0, the swelling action of the toner resin by the swelling agent and the peeling action also decrease. Further, when the liquid temperature is 20 ° C. or lower, the swelling action of the swelling agent also decreases, and it is difficult to obtain sufficiently practical cleaning efficiency. Furthermore, the liquid temperature is 60
Above ℃, evaporation of the liquid becomes violent and heating power is too large, resulting in poor economy.

The fatty acid of the higher fatty acid ester is a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid such as lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid,
Linoleic acid, erucic acid, ricinoleic acid, abietic acid,
Examples include rosin acid, coconut oil, linseed oil, beef tallow, whale oil and the like. The higher fatty acid ester is a fatty acid and a hydroxy compound, for example, alcohols such as ethanol and n-butanol, polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol and glycerin pentaerythritol sorbitol, glycols such as diethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol and polyethylene glycol, and ethyl. It refers to an ester with cellosolves such as cellosolve and butyl cellosolve, and tall oil fatty acid ester is particularly preferable.

Tall oil fatty acid means that it contains oleic acid and linoleic acid in a ratio of about 6: 4, and also contains palmitic acid, stearic acid, and a small amount of unsaponifiable matter. As the alcohol for esterifying tall oil fatty acid, ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, ethoxyethanol, butoxyethanol, etc., preferably butoxyethanol, ethylene glycol, ethoxyethanol are used. Further, the cleaning liquid of the present invention preferably contains a surfactant. The surfactant surrounds the printing material made of the organic component such as the cleaned resin component, and the swollen printing material does not fuse with the coating film, and has a function of ensuring releasability. Alternatively, when the recording medium is paper such as plain paper, it also has an action of entering the mesh structure of the paper to surround the printing material and facilitating the adsorption of the printing material into the coating film of the printing material that has penetrated deeply into the fiber.

In the cleaning liquid, the higher fatty acid ester accounts for 60 to 5% by weight, preferably 40% by weight of the total amount of the cleaning liquid.
Used in the range of up to 20% by weight. If it is used in an amount of more than 60% by weight, the solubility in the toner is high and it becomes difficult to adsorb,
If it is used in a range of less than 5% by weight, the swelling property on the toner is poor and the adsorbing power to the coating film is reduced, resulting in a small cleaning effect.

Further, it is desirable that the cleaning liquid contains a surfactant. As the surfactant, anionic surfactant, nonionic surfactant, cationic surfactant and amphoteric surfactant can be used. Examples of the anionic surfactant include fatty acid salts, alkyl sulfate ester salts, alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkylnaphthalene sulfonates, alkylsulfosuccinates, alkyldiphenyl ether disulfonates,
Examples thereof include alkyl phosphates, polyoxyethylene alkyl sulfate ester salts, naphthalene sulfonic acid formalin condensates, and polycarboxylic acid polymer surfactants.

As the nonionic surfactant, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkyl allyl ether, oxyethylene-oxypropylene copolymer, sorbitan fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene fatty acid ester, glycerin. Examples thereof include fatty acid esters and polyoxyethylene alkylamines.

As the ionic surfactant and amphoteric surfactant, alkylamine salts, quaternary ammonium salts,
Examples include alkyl betaine and amine oxide.
A particularly preferred surfactant has the chemical formula: RO (CH ₂ CH ₂
O) nH (wherein R represents a C _{12 to} C ₂₂ alkyl group or an alkylphenyl group, n represents an integer of 1 to 10), and is an ethylene oxide addition-type nonionic surfactant. The above surfactants can be used alone or as a mixture of two or more kinds. Moreover, it is desirable that the amount of addition thereof be approximately 0.01 to 10% by weight with respect to the entire cleaning liquid. If it is less than 0.01% by weight, the deinked toner is apt to be fused to the coating film. On the other hand, if it is more than 10% by weight, the adsorptivity to the coating film decreases.

Furthermore, the cleaning liquid preferably contains an organic acid. When the printing material contains a resin component, the cleaning liquid needs to penetrate into the toner resin. The present inventors have found that organic acids enhance this penetration effect. Further, the cleaning time can be shortened by improving the penetration effect. Organic acids that are preferably added are various carboxylic acids, such as formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, pivalic acid, methacrylic acid, acrylic acid, lactic acid, oxalic acid, tartaric acid, and benzoic acid, or two types. The above mixtures can be mentioned. The amount of these organic acids added is preferably about 2 to 15% by weight based on the entire cleaning liquid. If it is less than 2% by weight, the deinking rate may be low, and if it is more than 15% by weight, the residual organic acid may act on the recording medium to cause deterioration in quality.

Further, the cleaning liquid may be, for example, methanol, ethanol or n as long as the effect of the present invention is not impaired.
-Butanol, isopropanol, ethoxyethanol, etc., and xylene, toluene, acetone, T
An organic solvent that swells the toner, such as a mixture of HF, dioxane, and dichloromethane, may be contained.

As such a cleaning liquid, Toscreen D (manufactured by Choso Sangyo Co., Ltd.) is available. Tos Screen D is a water-based detergent with an acid value of about 2.1 mgKOH /
g, specific gravity: 1.020 (20 ° C.), pH: 7 ± 0.5
It is a pale yellow transparent liquid having physical properties of (15 ° C).
This cleaning liquid does not contain any compounds of fluorine and chlorine carbon, which are pointed out to destroy the ozone layer,
It can be used without deteriorating the global environment. Further, since it has low toxicity to human body and is nonflammable (no flash point), it is extremely suitable for use in a paper recycling apparatus in a normal office environment like the present invention.

The recording medium to which the cleaning liquid is applied is not particularly limited, but in addition to resin film (OHP paper) and the like, paper such as plain paper or recycled paper having a mesh structure which has been difficult to clean conventionally as described above. The cleaning effect is remarkable. Similarly, the printing material that is the target of the cleaning liquid of the present invention is not limited to water-soluble, oil-soluble ink, red ink, markers, etc., but especially for toner particles containing a resin component that has been conventionally difficult to clean. Also has an excellent cleaning effect.

In the present invention, as a printing material, conventionally known toner can be cleaned without limitation, but as the resin component to be used, for example, styrene resin, acrylic resin, methacrylic resin, styrene-acrylic resin can be used. Examples thereof include thermoplastic resins and thermosetting resins such as polymerized resins, styrene-butadiene copolymer resins, polyester resins, and epoxy resins. Alternatively, a copolymer, a block polymer, a graft polymer composed of two or more of these resins may be used, or a mixture of these resins may be used.
In such a resin, the number average molecular weight M
n is 1000 ≦ Mn ≦ 20000, preferably 200
0 ≦ Mn ≦ 15,000 and the weight average molecular weight Mw is 2
It is desirable to use one having ≦ Mn ≦ 80. Further, it is preferable to use a resin having a glass transition point of 55 to 70 ° C. and a softening point of 80 to 140 ° C.

As the colorant, various known pigments and dyes can be used. However, if a dye is used as a colorant, the dye may start to dissolve in the deinking agent and re-adhere to the recording medium, reducing the cleaning effect. Such inconvenience is not a serious problem when a resin film or the like is used as a recording medium, but becomes a very serious problem when a paper having a mesh structure is used. Therefore, it is desirable to use a pigment as the colorant of the toner to be cleaned so that the colorant does not melt during cleaning. As such a coloring pigment, carbon black, copper oxide, manganese dioxide, aniline black, activated carbon, ferrite, magnetite or the like can be used as a black pigment.

Examples of yellow pigments include yellow lead, zinc yellow, cadmium yellow, yellow iron oxide, mineral fast yellow, nickel titanium yellow, navel yellow, naphthol yellow S, bunzer yellow G, bunzer yellow 10G, and benzidine yellow G. Benzidine yellow GR, quinoline yellow lake, permanent yellow NCG, tartrazine lake, etc. can be used.

Examples of red pigments include red yellow lead, molybdenum orange, permanent orange GTR, pyrazolone orange, vulcan orange, induslen brilliant orange RK, benzidine orange G, induslen brilliant orange GK, red iron oxide, cadmium red and red lead. , Permanent Red 4R, Resole Red,
Pyrazolone Red, Watching Red, Lake Red C, Lake Red D, Brilliant Carmine 6B, Eosin Lake, Rhodamine Lake B, Alizarin Lake,
Brilliant Carmine 3B, Balkan Fast Orange GG, Permanent Red F4RH, Permanent Carmine FB, etc. can be used.

Examples of blue pigments include navy blue, cobalt blue, alkali blue lake, Victoria blue lake,
Phthalocyanine blue or the like can be used. These pigments or colorants are used as the resin component 10 in the toner.
It is desirable to add 1 to 20 parts by weight, preferably 3 to 15 parts by weight, relative to 0 parts by weight.

The toner may include a charge control agent. As the positive charge control agent for positively charging the toner, nigrosine base EX, quaternary ammonium salt, polyamine compound, imidazole compound and the like can be used. As the negative charge control agent for negatively charging the toner, chromium complex salt type azo dye, copper phthalocyanine dye, chromium complex salt, zinc complex salt, aluminum complex salt and the like can be used.

These charge control agents are used in an amount of 0.1 to 10 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the resin component in the toner.
It is preferable to add 0.5 to 5 parts by weight. In addition, the above-mentioned various charge control agents can be used. However, when a dye-based dye is used as the charge control agent, the dye may be dissolved in the cleaning liquid and redeposited on the recording medium from the transfer body, as described for the colorant, and the cleaning effect may be reduced. Therefore, it is desirable to use a non-dye-based charge control agent for the toner to be cleaned, or to have a configuration that does not include a charge control agent at all. Alternatively, it is preferable to use a colorless or white charge control agent even if it melts. Alternatively, it is preferable that the resin of the toner has a polar group or a functional group, and the resin component itself is configured as a charge control resin having a charge control function.

The toner may contain an anti-offset agent. As the anti-offset agent, a low molecular weight polyethylene wax, a low molecular weight oxidized polyethylene wax, a low molecular weight polypropylene wax, a low molecular weight oxidized polypropylene wax, a higher fatty acid wax, a higher fatty acid ester wax, a sazol wax, or the like, or 2
It can be used as a mixture of two or more species. It is desirable to add 1 to 15 parts by weight, preferably 2 to 8 parts by weight, of these offset preventing agents to 100 parts by weight of the resin component in the toner. Further, the toner according to the present invention may be configured as a magnetic toner. Magnetic toner
Cobalt, iron, nickel, aluminum,
Lead, magnesium, zinc, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cadmium, calcium, manganese, selenium,
Metals showing magnetism such as titanium, tungsten, vanadium, oxides and sintered bodies of these metals, and 2 of these metals
It is constituted by adding an alloy of at least one kind or a mixture of these metals, oxides, sintered bodies, alloys and the like.

It is desirable to add 1 to 80 parts by weight, preferably 5 to 60 parts by weight, of these magnetic materials to 100 parts by weight of the resin component in the toner. Further, the toner according to the present invention may contain a fluidizing agent. As the fluidizing agent, silica fine particles, titanium oxide fine particles, alumina fine particles, magnesium fluoride fine particles, silicon carbide fine particles, boron carbide fine particles, titanium carbide fine particles,
Various inorganic material particles such as zirconium carbide particles, titanium nitride particles, zirconium nitride particles, magnetite particles, molybdenum difluide particles, aluminum stearate particles, magnesium stearate particles, and zinc stearate particles can be used. It should be noted that these fine particles of inorganic material are preferably used after being hydrophobized with a silane coupling agent, a titanium coupling agent, a higher fatty acid, silicone oil or the like.

Further, styrene-based, acrylic-based, methacrylic-based, benzoguanamine, silicone, Teflon, polyethylene, polypropylene, etc. granulated by a wet polymerization method such as emulsion polymerization, soap-free emulsion weight, non-aqueous dispersion polymerization or a gas phase method. Various organic materials can be used. And it can also be used in combination with the above-mentioned inorganic material fine particles.
These fluidizing agents are used in an amount of 0.05 to 5 parts by weight, preferably 0.1 to 100 parts by weight of the resin component in the toner.
It is desirable to add 1 to 3 parts by weight.

Experimental examples in which the composition of the film and the substrate are changed will be shown below. The composition used is as shown in Table 1. In Experimental Examples 1 to 3, after fitting a heat-shrinkable tube made of the resin described in each Experimental Example on the substrate, 200 to 300 °
It was molded into an integral roller shape by heating to c. The diameter of the substrate was about 40 mm, and the thickness of the coating was about 2 mm. On the other hand, in Experimental Examples 4 to 10, the resin shown in Table 1 was molded by injection molding into a cylindrical roller having a thickness of about 3 mm, and in Experimental Example 11, the substrate was aluminum. The device used for the experiment is the device described in FIG. 7. The recording medium is A4 with a basis weight of 64 g / m ² .
It was decided to use a size plain paper and clean the test chart of 7% of character portion with the following toner and cleaning liquid. Further, the moving speed of the plain paper in the apparatus was set to 20 mm / sec, and the rotation speed of the base roller was adjusted so as to conform to this. The peeling of the swollen toner from the coatings 162 and 164 is caused by scrapers 167 and 17 made of polyimide.
It depends on 0.

The toner used in this experiment was prepared by mixing the following materials with a Henschel mixer, mixing with a biaxial extrusion kneader, and then cooling. Polyester resin (Mn: 4500, M
w: 158000, Tg: 66 ° C., Tm: 118 ° C.):
100 parts by weight, carbon black (Mogull: manufactured by Cabolac): 10 parts by weight, offset inhibitor (Viscor Ts200: manufactured by Sanyo Kasei Co., Ltd.): 3 parts by weight, charge control agent (Bontron E-84: manufactured by Orient Industry Co., Ltd.):
3 parts by weight, and then the cooled product was roughly pulverized and finely pulverized with a jet pulverizer, and then treated with an air classifier to obtain a volume average particle size of 8.
3 μm toner was obtained.

The cleaning liquid used in this experiment has the following composition. Fatty acid ester (tall oil fatty acid ester): 25 parts by weight, water (ion-exchanged water): 50 parts by weight, surfactant (sodium dialkylsulfosuccinate): 2 parts by weight, organic solvent (CH ₄ H ₉ OC)
H ₂ CH ₂ OH): 18 parts by weight

The results of Experiments 1 to 11 are shown in Table 1. In Table 1, "adhesiveness" indicates that the toner is sufficiently adsorbed on the coating film even after 100 sheets are processed. ○ indicates that the adsorption capacity was slightly decreased. X indicates that the toner is hard to be adsorbed. Further, the releasability ⊚ indicates that the toner was sufficiently adsorbed on the coating even after processing 100 sheets, and the toner adsorbed by the scraper was almost peeled off, and ○ indicates that the coating was slightly soiled. Show things. On the other hand, x indicates that the toner is fused and is difficult to detach. From the results of the experiments shown in Table 1, it is understood that, among the resins according to the present invention, a particularly preferable type of resin is a polyolefin resin or a polyacetal resin.

[0060]

[Table 1]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a playback device.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a cleaner.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a recording material guide unit inside the cleaner.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a dryer.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the guide means.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the dryer.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the cleaner.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a modified example of the cleaner.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing another modification of the cleaner.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Regeneration device, 2 ... Cleaner, 10 ... Cleaning liquid,
11 ... Container, 16 ... Transfer roller, 17a ... Substrate, 17b
... film, 31 ... recovery means, 100 ... recording medium, 101 ...
Printing material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reproducing apparatus for removing a printing material from a recording medium on which an image is printed, a liquid for swelling the printing material, a means for applying the liquid to the printing material, and a swelling by applying the liquid. A transfer means for contacting and receiving the printing material and a collecting means for collecting the printing material transferred to the transfer means are provided, and a surface of the transfer means in contact with the printing material has a polyolefin resin or a polyester resin. , Nitrogen-containing resin, sulfur-containing resin, fluorine resin, silicon resin, polyacetal resin, epoxy resin, polyether ether ketone resin, phenol resin, at least one material selected from A reproducing apparatus for a recording medium characterized by the above.