JPH07216400A - Method for ink jet coloring of natural leather and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the method and apparatus for quickly dyeing a natural leather in multiple colors at a low cost by a simple process by using a means which jets an ink to a part of the leather. CONSTITUTION:A natural leather, optionally after subjected to the step of degreasing, is colored by jetting an ink to at least a part of the leather. Wore specifically, the ink is jetted to a part degreased partially or slightly. Further, an ink-accepting layer is formed on the degreased part before it is colored by ink jetting. The apparatus for this process comprises a host which outputs the information of multiple colors in which the leather is colored, a color-ink jet means, a means for changing the amt. of ink jetted depending on the information of the colors, and a means for transporting the leather to the coloring area of the ink jet means without allowing the leather to get in touch with the ink jet means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coloring method and device for dyeing and painting leather, and more particularly to an improvement in a dyeing method which can be carried out easily and at high speed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Treatment of leather generally proceeds in the following steps. First of all, the raw leather is made into leather through a preparatory process consisting of immersing and rinsing, lining, lime pickling, depilation, back strain splitting, exfoliation and rinsing, then a tanning process consisting of deashing, rinsing, soaking, and tanning After that, the dyeing and greasing process consisting of water squeezing, back-cutting, neutralization, dyeing, and greasing is completed, and finally the water squeezing,
The finishing process consists of stretching, drying, seasoning, stretched leather, edges, silver peeling, gloss coating, polishing and weighing. After these steps, the final product is a leather product.

[0003]

[Technical problem] Among them, dyeing or painting of leather is carried out by dyes or pigments, and these coloring materials are dyes or pigments conventionally used for dyeing fibers. Most are included. And the coloring method suitable for each of the raw leather, the tanning method, and the use is adopted. For example, there are methods such as row dyeing, dip dyeing, and textile printing.

However, the nature of leather varies depending on its type, and it is the reality that actual work still depends on experience. Even if the coloring is only a single color, depending on the type of leather, In some cases, the work for coloring took a long time, or the work process was complicated, and the same process had to be repeated many times. Therefore, it is very difficult to produce the same dyed product in a large amount and dye a high-definition image or a multicolor image.

On the other hand, the surface of leather, especially the surface of natural leather, has irregularities and large dents due to pores and various wrinkles that were already present in the state of raw leather. When this is performed, the dyeing agent is remarkably concentrated on this portion, causing a portion having a high density. Or unevenness,
Even when dyeing after applying a smoothing treatment to a large indentation, it is difficult to achieve complete smoothing,
As a result, color unevenness and color loss are likely to occur in one color addition operation, and in order to solve this drawback, it is necessary to improve many steps and repeat the operations of dyeing and washing a plurality of times. Here, what is important is that it is difficult to obtain a desired dyeing state and color tone, and as a result, there is a problem that only leather products having a change in color tone can be provided.

[0006] In general, in the tendency to desire high-quality products for daily life or ornaments, if a high-definition image dyeing product can be easily obtained for leather, the high-quality image originally possessed by leather can be obtained. If the feeling can be further enhanced and a multicolor image or partial dyeing can be easily performed, the range of application of dyed leather will be expanded.

However, as described above, in the conventionally known methods for dyeing and coating leather, the number of steps and the processing time are long in order to maintain the density and fastness. Further, conventionally, most of the dyeing has been performed by monochromatic dyeing, and in order to express a multicolor image on leather, it is necessary to bond or sew a plurality of leathers colored with different colors. Even if a plurality of colors can be expressed on the same leather to some extent, the number thereof is limited. In any case, the dyeing and painting methods are often different for each color, and the processing is often done manually, so experience was inevitable. In this way, the dyeing of leather has always been dominated by know-how,
It was also difficult to automate, resulting in high costs.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to dye leather at low cost and quickly, and the process is simple, and multicolor dyeing is possible. Is provided. As a result, the field of application of dyed leather, which was not available in the past, will be expanded.

A typical invention of the present invention is a natural leather coloring method for coloring natural leather or natural leather which has been subjected to a degreasing process, and a partial area of the natural leather is colored by ink jetting. The method for coloring natural leather is characterized by including the step of performing. According to the present invention, the problems of the conventional leather coloring method can be eliminated, the partial region can be brought into a desired coloring state, and partial multicolor printing can be performed.
It goes without saying that application of the present invention does not deny that the present invention is applied to the entire leather so that the entire leather to be colored is colored by ink jetting.

Another representative invention of the present invention is to add color by ink jetting to the region of the partially defatted or low-level degreased natural leather which has been partially or low-level degreased. A method for coloring natural leather, characterized by comprising steps. The present invention has an advantage that the color addition by ink ejection can be made highly efficient, and in particular, an area degreased at a low level has an advantage that it can be dealt with in a short time in order to recover the state of the leather.

Another representative invention of the present invention is that after forming an ink receiving layer in a partially degreased or low-level degreased natural leather in the partially degreased or low-level degreased region. It is a natural leather coloring method characterized by performing coloring by ejecting ink. The present invention is capable of comprehensively achieving dyeing on the leather itself and increasing the density thereof due to the presence of the ink receiving layer, and it is easy to fix the ink receiving layer itself to the leather, and therefore, as a whole leather. Higher quality can be achieved. A representative invention of the present invention, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, is a natural leather coloring method for adding color to natural leather or a natural leather that has been subjected to a degreasing process, in which a portion of the natural leather having an ink receiving layer is formed. A method for coloring natural leather, characterized by comprising a step of performing color addition by ink jetting onto an area. That is, it is more preferable in the present invention to provide the natural leather having the ink receiving layer formed thereon, and this natural leather coloring method is a more practical invention.

[0012] A further developed invention of the present invention is a natural leather coloring method for coloring natural leather or natural leather which has been subjected to a degreasing process, the natural leather being heated to a predetermined temperature of 60 ° C or lower. A method for coloring natural leather, characterized by comprising a step of coloring the leather by ink jetting. The present invention is preferable because the colored state can be efficiently obtained without deteriorating the leather itself by heat. In this case, when the ink jet method is performed by the "bubble jet" method proposed by Canon Inc., which utilizes film boiling, the ink temperature is warmed, but 60 degrees or less (57 to 58 degrees). Since it reaches the leather in a state, the color addition state can be further improved.

A practical device invention of the present invention is a device for changing the ink amount by ink ejection according to a color-added signal according to a natural leather to be colored, an ink ejection unit, and the natural leather for the ink. An ink jetting natural leather coloring device, comprising: a transporting means for transporting the ink jetting means in a non-contacting manner to a colored area of the jetting means. According to this invention, in addition to the method invention described above, the amount of ink for the leather can be changed to an appropriate amount, so that the color addition state can be further improved.

As an invention capable of achieving automation and colorization which is an improvement of this device invention, a host for outputting a plurality of color information to be added to natural leather, a color ink ejecting means, and the natural leather to be added are provided. An ink having means for changing the amount of ink ejected according to a plurality of color information, and a conveying means for conveying the natural leather to the color-added area of the ink ejecting means without contacting the ink ejecting means It is an injection natural leather coloring device.

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned invention, but includes intermediate articles and final articles obtained by the above-mentioned invention, and further, any functional combination of the above-mentioned invention and ink-jet to leather. It includes an inkjet dyeing system including the steps from dyeing by (1) to drying and greasing by inkjet.

The term "additive color" used herein is a general term including a single color or a multicolor, which is conventionally used as a general technical term, including dyeing, coating, coloring, and the like. Therefore,
After the operation of adding color, the color material that becomes the color element is a form that has penetrated into the inside of the leather, a form that has adhered or partially penetrated only near the surface layer of the leather, a form that is laminated on the surface of the leather, etc. Both forms are included.

Here, the ink jet system as the ink ejecting means used in the present invention displays an image at 300 dpi.
Or dots of which the density is divided into 360 dpi or more and 600 dpi or more, and these individual dots can be landed on the medium natural leather by colored droplets ejected from fine nozzles. For this reason, it is possible to achieve a clear image by coloring in dot units and obtain a uniform color tone, so that it is possible to obtain a uniform image as a whole. In addition, since the inkjet method is a non-contact recording method, it is not necessary to maintain strict uniformity in smoothness of the leather surface and support of the back surface of the leather. Can be attached in a single step, which leads to a great reduction in time even for the leather processing step performed thereafter.

Further, in the ink jet system, a plurality of nozzle rows of the ink ejecting means are moved relative to the leather while ejecting the ink to perform color addition, thereby further increasing the density and increasing the color addition area. The sharpness can be improved. Furthermore, according to the present invention, an ink jet method can form an image or mark of a single color or a composite color by ink jet in a specific color only in a specific area of the leather surface.
It is also possible to enhance or soften a partial spot color region. In particular, by changing the pretreatment process for only a partial spot color region with a mask or the like, the color-added region by ink ejection can be further emphasized. Furthermore, if the advantage of coloring the leather surface by ink ejection is mentioned, even if there are non-smooth areas such as pores and wrinkles on the leather surface, the ink ejection amount is adjusted only for that area, and other areas are adjusted. It is also possible to prevent color unevenness or color loss with (smooth portion or peripheral area). On the contrary, even if the leather surface is uniform, it is possible to obtain the desired density distribution and gradation by adjusting or changing the ink application amount by image processing on the host of the program or the system. The drawbacks of the color method can be further increased.

When recording is performed using plain paper, the maximum amount of ink that can be ejected is limited in terms of deterioration of resolution, bleeding between colors, strike-through, and increase in fixing time. Indicates that the maximum amount of ink ejected is 16 to 16 in the case of water-based ink.
It is generally designed so as to be contained within about 28 nl / mm ² . However, in the case of the leather coloring method as in the present invention, it is preferable to provide more ink, though it depends on the material / thickness of the base cloth and further pretreatment conditions. 16 to 50 nl / m when doubled or more
About m ² is preferable, and further color addition and stabilization thereof can be achieved by the presence of the ink receiving layer. In particular, high-density recording is performed at a printing speed lower than the printing speed corresponding to the frequency of recording as an additive color, for example, double-density recording is performed at a printing speed of 1/2, or the same recording area is overlapped by a plurality of recording scans. Further improvement can be achieved by controlling the inkjet head drive for printing or increasing the ink ejection amount.

In addition to this, according to the invention that undergoes the fatliquoring step of the present invention, the dyed portion can be made to have a higher concentration and a higher strength, so that the fastness can be achieved as well as the conventional dyeing method. It is a thing. On the other hand, this fatliquoring treatment is often carried out with vegetable oil, but if this treatment liquid is also carried out by an inkjet method, it will lead to further shortening of the process time.

The ink-jet recording liquid (ink) generally contains a large amount of water because it is conventionally used for paper. However, the present invention is not limited to this ink, and the kind of leather is used. Ink having an appropriate component such as an oil-based ink may be used according to different properties depending on the content of the treatment before dyeing or the like. As the ink jet method, a charge control type, an ejection method using a piezo element, an ejection method using a heating element, and the like can be adopted. Among them, the ejection method using a heating element is preferable because it is easy to increase the recording head density. .

A preferred aspect of the present invention is that it further has a constitution, process or means for promoting the fixing of ink in leather. Specific examples thereof include reducing the wettability of the leather surface, increasing the degreasing level in the color-added area, and adding an ink-receptive layer. Color efficiency can be improved. As the ink receiving layer, when the ink solvent used is an aqueous solvent, polyvinyl alcohol,
Water-soluble resins such as polyvinylpyrrolidone and cellulose are suitable. In order to reduce the wettability of the leather surface, it is preferable to provide a heating means, and in the present invention, low temperature heating is preferable in order to suppress decomposition of constituent components such as protein of leather. In particular, the decomposition of collagen, which is said to give the leather a high-grade feeling, is likely to cause shrinkage, deterioration, or deterioration of texture, and heating is required because it is necessary to further improve the quality of leather in a later step. In the above invention, the leather is heated so that the cortex itself before or after the ink jet coloring and during coloring is maintained at a heating temperature of 60 ° C. or less (preferably about 50 ° C.) at the maximum. As the heating means of the present invention, a method of heating from the side opposite to the colored surface of the leather with a heating plate, a method of heating from the colored surface of the leather with a heat roller, or temperature control so that the set temperature can be maintained A heating method provided with a blowing means having a function can be used.

In the present invention in which a protective layer is formed on the colored surface of leather colored by the ink jet of the present invention, a polyamide as a top coat is generally used, and also for the present invention, movement of ink dye is suppressed. However, it is preferable to provide a protective layer capable of exhibiting light resistance and corrosion resistance.

Further, as a coloring material for dyeing, conventional dyes and pigments can be used. Among them, the pigment is generally used in the finishing step in the conventional leather dyeing methods. , Was also effective. Even when dyeing by inkjet coloring, it is not necessary to limit to either dyes or pigments, but in the case of pigments it is usually unnecessary for the solvent and does not show dyeing properties on the leather itself,
It is preferable to use it in a dispersed state in the form of emulsion with a synthetic resin. On the other hand, in the case of dyes, water or alcohol
Many are easy to dissolve in the bottle and easy to use. Various dyes can be used as the dye, and the dyes that are often used for protein fibers are relatively easy to use. For example, acid dyes, metal complex dyes, basic dyes, mordant dyes, acidic mordant dyes, soluble vat dyes, etc. are often used for conventional leather dyeing. In addition to these, direct dyes, cationic dyes, sulfur dyes, naphthol dyes, oxidative dyes, disperse dyes, reactive dyes and the like which are mainly used for cellulose and polyester fibers can also be used. However, when used for dyeing leather, since properties such as water resistance, sweat resistance, solvent resistance, or fastness to sunlight are emphasized, among these dyes, metal salt dyes are particularly preferable, but other In order to satisfy these characteristics, the dye of No. 1 may further be subjected to a dye fixing treatment after dyeing, or a treatment for reducing the activity of the dye may be added. In addition, a dye and a pigment may be mixed and used in order to express these characteristics.

[0025]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows an example of a processing procedure of leather used in the present invention, from a raw leather to a preparation step, a tanning step,
It consists of steps from dyeing and finishing to leather products. Further, FIG. 2 shows a main structure of a dyeing (recording) means in a recording device which can be used for dyeing leather. The leather dyeing process of this embodiment will be briefly described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 as follows.

First, the production of leather as a recording medium is completed by the conventional tanning process. An outline of the steps up to this point is as follows. First, the rawhide, which is the raw hide of animals such as cows, horses, and pigs, is removed to remove contaminants, subcutaneous tie tissue, and hair, and then back strained to divide it to a desired thickness. After the release), it goes through the preparation process of washing with water to clean the bare skin. Subsequently, a tanning process is started. Here, after removing lime (deashing) and washing with water, dipping treatment is performed in a mildly acidic aqueous medium, and then tanning is performed. The tanning methods are roughly divided into chrome tanning and tannin tanning, but each has a different affinity for the ionicity of the dye, and generally after chrome tanning, there is an affinity with the anionic dye and tannin tanning In the latter case there is an affinity with the cationic dye. These kinds of tanning may be appropriately selected depending on the condition of the finished leather and the kind of dye used at the time of dyeing.

In this example, horsehide was used as the hide, and after the above-mentioned preparation steps, it was treated with chrome tanning and then subjected to dyeing pretreatment such as dehydration, backlining and deoxidation neutralization for dyeing. Got leather. Further, in order to secure the dyeing property by the next inkjet dyeing, a filling treatment with a urea solution of casein is performed. Note that the sealing agent used here is generally one used for dyeing leather, and other solutions such as acrylic and urethane can also be used. Then, this was cut into pieces each having a width on the long side of the A3 plate and divided, and then, a form 1 which can be passed through the dyeing medium conveyance path of the inkjet dyeing (recording) device 3 was obtained.

Next, the dyeing performed on this leather will be described. The leather 1 that has been cut as described above is set on the upstream side in the transport direction of the transport roller pair (the transport drive roller 23 and the transport driven roller 24) that is the transport means of the dyeing medium in the inkjet dyeing (recording) device 2. Inkjet dyeing (recording) preparations (inkjet head recovery processing, image data setting, etc.) are performed,
When the dyeing process is started, first, the transport driving roller 23 and the transport driven roller 24 which follows the transport driving roller 23 start to rotate, and the leather 1 having the tip end abutting on the transport driving roller 23 contacts the pressing portion of the rotating transport roller pair. By being pulled in, the leather 1 is automatically attached to the conveying means. Then, in synchronization with the transportation of the leather 1, the inkjet recording unit 22 provided on the transportation path operates to dye (record) the leather 1 according to the image data. After the recording is completed, the dyed leather 1 discharged from the inkjet dyeing (recording) device by the conveying means is naturally dried.
The leather 1 dyed through these steps is then subjected to a fatliquoring treatment using an oil or fat such as fish oil or vegetable oil, and the dyeing step is completed. A conventional method may be used for the greasing step performed here. Here, using drums,
Mix olive oil, and add fat for 30 minutes at 55 ℃.
A leather with added flexibility and strength was obtained.

The dyed leather thus produced is
Furthermore, it shifts to a finishing process such as drawing, edging, and glossing, and after that, necessary processing for various uses is performed to make a leather product.

Next, the ink jet dyeing (recording) device 2 used in the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 shows a main part of a configuration example of the inkjet dyeing (recording) apparatus of the present embodiment. In this figure, four colors of ink of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow are respectively provided on the carriage 26. 4 ink tanks 21 packed
An integrated recording head cartridge 22 in which four inkjet recording heads 3 for ejecting four color inks are integrated is mounted. These ink tanks are filled with the inks (A) to (D) listed below. In the text, parts and parts are based on weight unless otherwise specified.

Production of Ink (A) Acid Dye (CI Acid Brown 13) 2 parts Acid Dye (CI Acid Orange 67) 1.5 parts Acid Dye (CI Acid Blue 92) ) 0.5 parts-thiodiglycol 5 parts-isopropyl alcohol 3 parts-potassium sulfate 0.01 parts-sodium metasilicate 0.001 parts-iron sulfate 0.0005 parts-nickel sulfate 0.0003 parts-zinc sulfate 0.0003 parts ・ Water 59 parts

All the above components were mixed, the mixture was adjusted to pH 8.2 with sodium hydroxide, stirred for 2 hours, and then filtered with Fluoropore Filter FP-100 (trade name, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries), An inkjet dyeing ink (A) was obtained.

Production of Ink (B): Acid Dye (CI Acid Blue 185) 9 parts, Thiodiglycol 23 parts, Triethylene glycol monomethyl ether 6 parts, Potassium chloride 0.05 parts, Sodium metasilicate 0. 001 parts-Iron chloride 0.0005 parts-Zinc chloride 0.0003 parts-Water 62 parts

All the above components were mixed, the mixture was adjusted to pH 8.3 with sodium hydroxide, stirred for 2 hours, and then filtered with Fluoropore Filter FP-100 (trade name, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.), An inkjet dyeing ink (B) was obtained.

Production of Ink (C): Acid Dye (CI Acid Red 266) 7 parts, Thiodiglycol 15 parts, Diethylene glycol 10 parts, Tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether 5 parts, Potassium chloride 0.04 parts, Sodium sulfate 0.01 part-sodium metasilicate 0.001 part-iron chloride 0.0005 part-nickel chloride 0.0002 part-water 63 parts

All the above components were mixed, the mixture was adjusted to pH 7.9 with sodium hydroxide, stirred for 2 hours, and then filtered with Fluoropore Filter FP-100 (trade name, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.), Inkjet dyeing ink (C) was obtained.

Production of Ink (D): Acid Dye (CI Acid Yellow 110) 7 parts, Thiodiglycol 24 parts, Diethylene glycol 11 parts, Potassium chloride 0.004 parts, Sodium sulfate 0.002 parts, Metasilicic acid Sodium 0.001 part ・ Iron chloride 0.0005 part ・ Water 58 part

All the above components were mixed, the mixture was adjusted to pH 8.4 with sodium hydroxide, stirred for 2 hours, and then filtered with Fluoropore Filter FP-100 (trade name, manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.), Inkjet dyeing ink (D) was obtained.

Next, the operation of the inkjet dyeing (recording) apparatus of this embodiment will be described. In FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the leather 1 finished the tanning process and cut into a predetermined size.
An inclined feeding tray 25 is provided in order to stably feed the sheet to the inkjet dyeing (recording) section, and the leather 1 is driven along the feeding tray by the feeding driving roller 23 and the feeding driven roller 2.
It is configured so that it can be inserted correctly between 4 and. In this state, the transport drive roller 23 is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow A, so that the leather 1 is guided by the pressure contact portion of the transport roller pair and is sequentially sent to the inkjet dyeing (recording) unit. The carriage 26 stands by at a home position (not shown) when printing is not performed or when the ink jet recording head is recovered.

Before the start of printing, the carriage 26 at the position shown in the figure (home position) receives a print start command,
While moving along the carriage guide shaft 27, timing is set based on the read signal of the linear encoder, and 4
By ejecting color inks, printing is performed with the dyed width d on the surface to be dyed. By this dyeing (recording) scan, ink is landed in the order of black ink, cyan ink, magenta ink, and yellow ink to form dots on the surface to be dyed. When the printing of the data is completed up to the end of the surface to be dyed, the carriage 26 returns to the original home position and prints the next line again. From the end of the first printing to the start of the second printing, the conveyance driving roller 23 rotates to convey the leather 1 having the dyed width d. In this way, data printing on the surface to be dyed is completed by repeating the printing of the dyeing width d of the inkjet recording head and the leather conveyance for each scanning of the carriage. When the dyeing is completed, the sheet is ejected by the transporting means, and at the same time, the platen 28 forming a flat dyed surface at the time of printing is inclined in the ejecting direction to assist the ejection of the rear end portion. A means such as a spur roller may be provided on the downstream side of the dyeing section to assist the discharge.

In the case of leather, various thicknesses are produced depending on the kind of raw leather or the method of preparation and tanning. Therefore, the integrated recording head cartridge 2
It is more effective to provide a mechanism capable of variously setting the distance between the second ink ejection surface and the platen 28 according to the thickness of the leather to be dyed.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the structure of the recording head 3 for ejecting ink. One end of the wiring board 30 is mutually connected to the wiring portion of the heater board 31, and the other end of the wiring board 30 corresponds to each electric / thermal energy converter for receiving an electric signal from the main body device. A plurality of pads are provided. As a result, the electric signal from the main body device is supplied to each electric / thermal energy converter. The metal support 32 that supports the back surface of the wiring board 30 on a plane serves as a bottom plate of the inkjet unit. The pressing spring 33 is provided on the metal support 32 and a portion formed by bending the area near the ink discharge port of the grooved top plate 34 in a substantially U-shaped section in order to elastically exert a pressing force on the line. It has a claw that hooks using the hole and a pair of rear legs that receives the force acting on the spring by the metal support 32. Due to this spring force, the wiring board 30 is attached by pressure contact with the grooved top plate 34. The wiring board 30 is attached to the support by sticking with an adhesive or the like.

The filter 3 is provided at the end of the ink supply pipe 35.
6 is provided. The ink supply member 37 is formed by molding, and the grooved top plate 34 is also integrally formed with the orifice plate portion 341 and a flow path leading to each ink supply port. To fix the ink supply member 37 to the support 32, two pins (not shown) on the back surface side of the ink supply member 37 are projected through the two holes 38 and 39 of the support 32, respectively, and heat-sealed. This is easily done by doing. At this time, the gap between the orifice plate portion 341 and the ink supply member 37 is sealed, and further, the gap between the orifice plate portion 341 and the front end portion of the support substrate 32 is completely sealed by passing through the groove 40 provided in the support substrate 32. Stop.

In FIG. 4, the ink tank of the four-head integrated ink jet cartridge 22 in which the above four heads 3 capable of ejecting inks of four colors of black, cyan, magenta, and yellow are integrally assembled with the frame 50 is removed. The structure of the part is shown. The four recording heads are mounted in the frame 50 at predetermined intervals, and the resists in the nozzle array direction are fixed in an adjusted state. In this embodiment, the mechanical reference surface of the head is used for adjustment to improve the mutual landing position accuracy between colors.However, after temporarily fixing the recording head to the frame, the recording head is actually ejected to set the landing position. The mutual impact positions between the colors may be directly adjusted based on the measured data to further improve the accuracy. 51
Is a cover of the frame, and 53 is a connector for connecting an electric signal from the recording apparatus main body to a pad provided on the wiring substrate 30 of each of the four recording heads. Four
Assembling the heads together is effective not only in handling advantages but also in improving the mutual landing position accuracy between the heads as described above, but it is possible to reduce the number of signal line connections with the recording apparatus main body. But it has a big effect. For example, the signal line common to the four heads such as the GND line can be shared on the connector substrate 52 to reduce the number of lines as it is. Further, if an integrated circuit substrate is provided and time-division driving is performed for each head. It is also possible to share the recording signal line. Such a reduction in the number of electrical connections is effective in a device having a large number of signal lines such as a color machine and a multi-nozzle high speed machine.

As described above, since the dyeing process is carried out by the ink jet dyeing (recording) apparatus, dyeing including dehydration after tanning, back-shading, and deoxidation neutralization, which conventionally took nearly one day, is performed. -Of the greasing process, the dyeing that requires the most time can be completed in only a few tens of minutes, and multicolor dyeing is possible without using a plate.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 5 is a view showing another form of an ink jet dyeing (recording) apparatus, and shows an example of an apparatus which does not require a leather to have a regular size. The size of leather varies depending on the type of raw leather, and even after the tanning process, many leathers have a larger area than the A3 size as described in Example 1 above. In view of this, the present example provides an inkjet dyeing (recording) device 6 capable of dyeing regardless of the size of leather as a dyeing medium.

In this figure, the basic dyeing operation is the same as that of the dyeing apparatus described in the first embodiment, but the ink jet dyeing (recording) unit is provided so as to be compatible with a large-sized dyeing medium (leather). A large ink jet head 60 having many nozzles, and a large ink supply device 61 capable of supplying a large amount of ink are provided on a carriage 62 and a carriage 63, respectively. These are connected via a tube 64 to supply ink from the ink supply device 61 to the inkjet head 60, and a signal sent from the electrical system 65 to the inkjet head 60 causes the two carriages to have a frame 66. Guide rail 6 attached to
7 and the guide rail 68, the ink is jetted from the inkjet head 60 according to an image signal while reciprocating in the direction of arrow C in the figure for scanning, and the leather 9 can be dyed.

The operation of dyeing leather using this inkjet dyeing (recording) device will be described below. First, cowhide is used as the raw leather, and the leather is subjected to the treatment up to the pre-dyeing stage in the same manner as in Example 1 to obtain leather for dyeing. One end of the back surface of this is attached to the platen 69 (a mounting portion is not shown). After that, an ink ejection timing signal for each nozzle of the inkjet head is generated from the image signal supplied from the separately prepared image signal generator to the electrical component system 65, and the ink for dyeing is ejected onto the leather 9. Then, each time the inkjet head completes one scan, the leather is moved in the direction of the arrow B by the width dyed at that time. By repeating this operation thereafter, the dyed portion 91 appears in sequence on the leather 9, and finally the entire surface of the leather 9 is dyed.

The leather that comes out of the tanning process generally does not have a uniform shape, and its ends do not have a linear shape. Therefore, if the ink-jet dyeing (recording) apparatus of FIG. 5 is passed through with this shape, the ink jet for forming an image may protrude from the leather surface. As a result, ink is ejected onto the platen 69, and the surface of the platen is contaminated. When such a symptom occurs, the back surface of the dyed surface is contaminated when passing through the leather to be dyed subsequently, and the ink jetted onto the platen dries and accumulates, causing the leather on the platen to This may hinder the slippage and cause poor leather conveyance. To avoid this, when attaching the leather to the inkjet dyeing (recording) device, a paper coated with an adhesive that can be easily peeled off after dyeing is attached to the non-dyed surface of the leather, It is also effective to detect the edge of the leather on the platen each time the carriage is scanned during the dyeing operation and add a process to delete the image data from the portion deviated from the edge.

Further, the leather 9 which has been dyed can be subjected to a greasing treatment in the same manner as in Example 1, and can be transferred to a finishing step to be processed into a leather product.

According to the example described above, it is not necessary to cut the leather after tanning into a regular shape, and the efficiency and speed of the dyeing process can be further increased. In addition, it is possible to realize processing of a free shape.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a process in the case where the greasing treatment after dyeing is carried out by using the ink jet recording apparatus according to the present invention. Here, the steps up to the pre-dyeing step, that is, the preparation step, the tanning step, and the dehydration, back-shading, and deoxidation neutralization are the same as in Example 1, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. The leather for dyeing that has been deoxidized and neutralized is A3
It is cut to the size of a plate and guided to the dyeing section 10 by inkjet recording. For dyeing the leather in the dyeing section 10, the same device as in Example 1 can be used. Dye with this inkjet dyeing (recording) device,
The sent-out leather then enters the drying device 11, where it is dried at 50 ° C. for 1 minute and fixed.

After this, the leather is transferred to the greasing device 12 and enters the greasing process. However, when ink jet is used, it is necessary to fly oil and fat, and the dot density is different from that at the time of image formation. From the viewpoint that it is not necessary to make fine settings, the inkjet method using the electromechanical converter, that is, the inkjet method in which droplets are ejected by a piezoelectric element is preferable to the inkjet method using the electrothermal converter described in the above dyeing. In this greasing device, the drum treatment is performed after the oil and fat are attached. According to the present example, it is preferable that the treatment liquid used for this greasing treatment has a relatively low viscosity in consideration of the characteristics during injection.
Here, castor oil having a viscosity at 25 ° C. of 100 cP was used. The leather that has been subjected to this fatliquoring process then enters the finishing process and leads to leather products.

As described above, since the steps of dyeing and greasing are carried out by the inkjet dyeing (recording) device, the time required for dyeing and greasing can be shortened, and the steps involved in dyeing can be performed in a series of steps. It is also easy to automate the process, which leads to a reduction in processing cost.

(Embodiment 4) FIG. 7 shows an example of a system in which various kinds of leather can be treated by the same apparatus in the dyeing process by applying the present invention. In this example, three types of inkjet dyeing (recording) devices are incorporated so that various types of leather can be processed in one system. First, for the leather to be dyed, the data required for dyeing the leather by the leather characteristic setting unit 13, namely, the type of raw leather, the method when tanned in the tanning process, the thickness of the leather, the dyeing Data such as the treatment method (sealing treatment) of the surface to be dyed before, the size or area of the surface to be dyed, the temperature and humidity during dyeing,
The user sets the device using the keyboard and switches on the panel. Based on this set data,
An optimum method is automatically obtained for dyeing in the arithmetic unit 14. A CPU 141 is connected to the arithmetic unit 14 to manage the processing. The data previously set in the leather characteristic setting unit 13 is RAM1.
An operation is performed by the contents of the ROM 142, which stores the data of an appropriate processing method which is stored in the memory 43 and which is predetermined by the conditions of various kinds of leather, and the data of the dyed image storage unit. The result is output to the staining method determination unit 15. In the dyeing method determination unit 15, a method of attaching leather at the time of dyeing, driving conditions including the type of inkjet head used for dyeing and the number of times of scanning of the inkjet head, a dyeing scanning method (in the case of multicolor dyeing, color order and each color). And the like), the basic constitutional unit of the dyed image, the type of coloring material (type of dye or content and type of dyeing solution containing them) for dyeing, and the like are determined and output. These decisions are transmitted to the power source necessary to operate the inkjet dyeing device, and the contents are also displayed on the CRT 146 to ask the user for confirmation. If it is necessary for the user to change the staining method, the data is further input from the keyboard 146,
A feedback circuit is incorporated to change the setting. Based on the dyeing method determined as described above, a signal is sent from the inkjet dyeing device 161 to any one of 163. By setting the leather on the determined inkjet dyeing apparatus by each appropriate method, the leather is dyed by the best method.

Each of these inkjet dyeing devices has the following configuration. The inkjet dyeing device 161 is performed by the method described in the first and second embodiments, and details thereof will be omitted here. The inkjet device 162 fixes the leather, moves the inkjet head on the surface to be dyed, and dyes it while scanning, and can cope even if the surface to be dyed has a complicated shape or is not flat. . The inkjet device 163 is suitable for the case of large-sized leather, and is a device that fixes the leather three-dimensionally outside the device and moves the device after making it into a dyeable form. It can also be used when you cannot do it enough. Note that these devices can be similarly applied in any case of monochromatic dyeing or multicolored dyeing, and a series of inkjet dyeing steps can be performed on the same leather a plurality of times. Good.

Inkjet dyeing devices 161 to 163
With any of the above, the leather that has been subjected to inkjet dyeing is passed through the drying section 17 and the greasing section 18 and then transferred to the finishing step to be processed into a final product.

In the above-mentioned example, since the dyeing method can be automatically discriminated, it is possible to arbitrarily dye a wide variety of leathers, and the production in a small lot according to the demand is low. It can be realized at cost.

Further, in some of the embodiments described above, it is possible to further carry out dyeing treatment after ink jet dyeing, and a dye fixing agent or the like used in the textile printing field can be used from the end of dyeing to the greasing. May be used for. Further, in order to quickly perform the drying after dyeing, a heating means or a warm air sending means may be provided together with the dyed leather discharging portion of the inkjet dyeing (recording) device. And in order to promote the adhesion of the dye before dyeing, it is also an effective means to combine it with the characteristics of the dye such as cationization treatment or alkali treatment that is generally performed, or to moisten the leather immediately before dyeing. is there.

In addition, in the ink jet dyeing section,
It is also effective to be able to adjust and select the amount of ink to be ejected according to the type of leather. Further, the ink-jet dyeing process has exemplified one head scan so far, but it is not particularly limited to this, and the same process may be repeated a plurality of times to overlap the color on the same portion of the leather. Also included in the present invention.

[0061]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to achieve a leather coloring method that is easy to automate, as it is possible to shorten the processing time, as well as to increase the number of colors, in contrast to the coloring of leather, which has been difficult to make in multiple colors in the past, which required labor and time. did it. This is a large amount of processing,
It is possible to produce a wide variety of products in small quantities, and it is possible to meet the demands of the market.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the procedure of leather treatment in the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a main configuration diagram of an inkjet dyeing device in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of an inkjet recording head applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a color inkjet recording head applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a main configuration diagram of an inkjet dyeing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram of inkjet dyeing in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of an inkjet dyeing system in a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of Codes] 1, 9 Leather 2, 6 Inkjet dyeing device 3 Inkjet recording head

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Hiromitsu Hirabayashi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yuji Akiyama 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor, Miyuki Matsubara, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor, Tokuya Ota, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A natural leather coloring method for adding color to natural leather or natural leather that has been subjected to a degreasing step, the method comprising the step of applying color to at least a partial region of the natural leather by ink jetting. Characteristic natural leather coloring method. 2. A step of performing color addition by ink jetting in a region of the natural leather that has been partially degreased or low-level degreased, where the partial degreasing or low-level degreasing has been performed. How to add natural leather. 3. A natural leather which has been partially degreased or low-level degreased is provided with an ink receiving layer in the partially degreased or low-level degreased region, and then color is added by ink jetting. A method for coloring natural leather, which is characterized in that 4. A natural leather coloring method for adding color to natural leather or a natural leather that has been subjected to a degreasing process, wherein color is applied by ink jetting to a partial region of the natural leather on which an ink receiving layer is formed. A method for coloring natural leather, which comprises the steps of: 5. A natural leather coloring method for coloring natural leather or a natural leather which has been subjected to a degreasing process, the method comprising adding ink to the natural leather heated to a predetermined temperature of 60 ° C. or lower. A method for coloring natural leather, which comprises the step of: 6. A means for changing the amount of ink ejected in accordance with a color-added signal in accordance with the color-added natural leather,
An ink jet natural leather coloring device comprising: an ink jetting means; and a transporting means for transporting natural leather to a colored area of the ink jetting means without contacting the ink jetting means. 7. A host for outputting a plurality of color information to be added to natural leather, a color ink ejecting means, and an ink amount for ejecting ink according to the plurality of color information is changed according to the natural leather to be added. An ink jetting natural leather color adding device comprising: a means for carrying the natural leather to a coloring area of the ink jetting means without any contact with the ink jetting means. 8. A leather and a leather product to which ink jet coloring is applied according to any one of claims 1 to 7. 9. A leather and a leather product having a protective layer on a color-added surface of natural leather, which is ink-jet-colored according to any one of claims 1 to 7.