JPH07168140A - Method for dyeing plastic lens and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To avoid the unevenness of dyeing by fixing a plastic lens to a lens holder and rotating the holder in one direction and in the reverse direction in a dyeing soln. CONSTITUTION:This device consists of a plastic lens 3 dipped in a dyeing soln. in a dyeing pot 1, a lens holder 2 to fix the lens 3 and a means 4 for rotating the holder 2 in one direction and in the reverse direction. For example, a magnet is fixed at the lowermost part of the holder 2, a magnet outside the pot contg. the dyeing soln. is rotated in one direction and in the reverse direction, hence the holder 2 is rotated in one direction and in the reverse direction by the rotating means 4. Consequently, since the lens 3 is fixed to the holder 2 and rotated in one direction and in the reverse direction in the dyeing soln., the soln. is sufficiently agitated, the uniformity in the temp. distribution of the dyeing soln. is improved, the disperse dye is more uniformly dispersed, and the unevenness of dyeing is avoided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plastic lens dyeing method and a dyeing apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a plastic lens dyeing method and a dyeing apparatus, which are effective for dyeing optical plastic lenses, particularly eyeglass plastic lenses.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, optical lenses, particularly spectacle lenses, have many advantages such as ease of molding, lightness and resistance to breakage, and easy dyeing. Therefore, it is well known that plastic lenses are widely and commonly used instead of glass lenses.

[0003] Among these advantages, the advantage of a plastic lens that can be easily dyed is preferred as an eyeglass lens from the viewpoint of fashionability, light-shielding property, etc. Therefore, most of the eyeglass plastic lenses are dyed. It is offered to the market. Based on these circumstances,
In dyeing a plastic lens, a technique of uniformly dyeing with various colors is required.

As a method of uniformly dyeing a plastic lens, a disperse dye is dispersed in water together with a surfactant to prepare a dyeing solution, and the dyeing solution is heated to give the plastic lens. A dip dyeing method of dipping is used. Recently, instead of the dipping method, a method of sublimating an organic pigment to dye a plastic lens (Japanese Patent Publication No. 35-13).
No. 84), and a method of sublimating a sublimable dye to dye a plastic lens (Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-153321, Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-159376, Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-277814).

In any case, in the method for dyeing a plastic lens using a surfactant as described above, a disperse dye, which is originally insoluble in water, is bound with a surfactant molecule to form a colloid, and thereby a colloid is formed. The dye can be uniformly dispersed in water. However, if the dyeing solution prepared in this way is left for a long time, the colloid of the dye and the surfactant will settle down, and a uniform dyeing solution cannot be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary to dye the plastic lens uniformly. Is impossible.

In order to prevent such a phenomenon and keep the dyeing liquid physically uniform for a long time, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the dyeing liquid is stirred by a stirrer (10) such as a magnetic stirrer. Have tried a method of keeping a dyeing solution uniform and dyeing. That is, the stirrer (10) such as a magnetic stirrer does not uniformly diffuse the dye molecules in the vicinity of the lens surface, which causes uneven dyeing of the plastic lens (11), and the dye adsorbed on the lens surface. It is possible to avoid to some extent that the diffusion speed of the molecules when diffusing inside the lens varies depending on the location of the lens.

However, even in a dyeing device using a stirrer such as a magnetic stirrer, it has been impossible to completely avoid unevenness. The reason is,
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, in the dyeing method using this dyeing device, the liquid flow velocity under the lens is considerably higher than the liquid flow velocity above the lens on both the convex surface and the concave surface of the plastic lens. This is because the up and down flow of the dyeing solution is small and the temperature distribution above and below the dyeing solution is not sufficiently uniform.

Therefore, the dye is not uniformly dispersed only by stirring with a stirrer (10) such as a magnetic stirrer, so that the dye is not uniformly diffused on the lens surface. Also, with this method, the vertical flow of the dyeing solution is small,
Since the temperature distribution is not uniform, the diffusion rate inside the lens also differs depending on the location. For these reasons, plastic lenses have uneven dyeing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a plastic lens dyeing method and a dyeing apparatus capable of solving the drawbacks of the prior art and avoiding uneven dyeing. There is.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a plastic lens dyeing method characterized by rotating a plastic lens impregnated with a dyeing solution in one direction and reversing. Still further, according to the present invention, there is provided a plastic lens dyeing device comprising a plastic lens impregnated with a dyeing solution, a lens holder for fixing the plastic lens, and rotating means for rotating the lens holder in one direction and in the reverse direction. In addition, there is also provided a plastic lens dyeing device characterized in that a plastic lens impregnated with a dyeing solution is rotated in one direction and inverted.

[0011]

The dyeing method of the present invention is characterized in that the conventional dyeing solution is not agitated by a stirrer such as a magnetic stirrer but the plastic lens itself impregnated with the dyeing solution is rotated in one direction and inverted. There is. Then, in order to realize this dyeing method, the lens holder to which the plastic lens impregnated with the dyeing solution is fixed is rotated in one direction and rotated in reverse by using a rotating means.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples.

[0013]

Embodiment 1 The plastic lens dyeing apparatus of the present invention can be shown as one embodiment, for example, the one illustrated in FIG. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a plastic lens (3) impregnated with the dyeing solution in the dyeing pot (1), a lens holder (2) for fixing the plastic lens (3), and the lens holder ( Rotating means (4) for unidirectionally rotating and reversing 2)
Consists of.

The rotating means (4) has, for example, a magnet (41) attached to the lowermost part of the lens holder (2), and a magnet (42) outside the container containing the dyeing solution is rotated in one direction and inverted. Lens holder (2)
May be rotated in one direction and rotated in reverse. Of course, in this invention, the mounting position of the magnet of the lens holder is not limited to the lowermost position.

Furthermore, in the present invention, by using the bearing (8) for the bearing of the lens holder (2), the lens holder (2) can be rotated with minimum friction. Furthermore, the magnet (41) provided on the lens holder (2) may be covered with Teflon or the like to prevent corrosion, or a lid (9) may be attached to the upper part of the dyeing pot.

Regarding the rotating means (4) in the present invention, the number of rotations may be controllable, and although the appropriate number of rotations varies depending on the lens substrate and the dye, it is generally in the range of 10 to 60 rpm. Is desirable. Further, since the rotating means (4) is rotated by a magnetic force, for example, the lens can be arbitrarily taken out or dipped during the dyeing.

Further, in the present invention, heat supply means (6) for supplying heat from the sheath heater (61) to the dyeing pot (1) using the aluminum block (62) as a heat medium may be provided. In this invention, since the dyeing solution is sufficiently agitated, the time required to reach the temperature of the dyeing solution can be shortened as compared with the conventional apparatus, and highly efficient dyeing is possible. Example 2 A plastic lens made of a diethylene glycol bisallyl carbonate polymer was dyed using the following dyeing solution.
Dyeing was performed with the dyeing apparatus of the present invention. As a result, a high-quality plastic lens with almost no unevenness was obtained.

Dyeing liquid composition Disperse dye, MLP YELLOW 2 (manufactured by Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals) / 1g MLP RED 2 (manufactured by Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals) / 1g MLP BLUE 2 (manufactured by Mitsui Toatsu Chemicals) / 1g Surfactant Nikkasan Salt # 7000 Staining conditions Staining temperature 90 ° C. Staining time 10 minutes However, when the plastic lens was dyed using the conventional dyeing apparatus under the same conditions, unevenness was observed on the front surface of the plastic lens.

[0019]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to rotate the dye solution in one direction and in the reverse direction with the plastic lens attached to the lens holder, so that the dye solution is sufficiently stirred. The uniformity of the temperature distribution of the dyeing solution is improved, and the dispersibility of the disperse dye is made more uniform, so that uneven dyeing can be avoided. In addition, it is possible to shorten the time required to reach the reached temperature of the dyeing solution, and it is possible to perform highly efficient dyeing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the present invention.

2A and 2B are schematic views showing an outline of a conventional dyeing apparatus, and FIG. 2A shows a convex side of a lens,
(B) shows the concave side of the lens.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Dyeing Pot 2 Lens Holder 3 Plastic Lens 4 Rotating Means 41 Magnet 42 Magnet 6 Heat Supply Means 61 Sheath Heater 62 Aluminum Block 8 Bearing 9 Lid 10 Stirrer 11 Plastic Lens

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for dyeing a plastic lens, which comprises rotating a plastic lens impregnated with a dyeing solution in one direction and reversing. 2. A plastic lens dyeing device comprising a plastic lens impregnated with a dyeing solution, a lens holder for fixing the plastic lens, and a rotating means for rotating the lens holder in one direction and inversion rotation. A plastic lens dyeing device characterized in that a plastic lens impregnated with a liquid is rotated in one direction and inverted. 3. The plastic lens dyeing device according to claim 2, wherein a magnet is attached to a part of the lens holder and is a magnet corresponding to the magnet attached to the lens holder, the magnet existing outside the container containing the dyeing solution. A plastic lens dyeing device comprising rotating means for rotating a lens holder in one direction and inversion by rotating the magnet in one direction and inversion.