JPH0858061A - Heat pressing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To stably, simply obtain an image transfer product at a high quality level. CONSTITUTION: When the surface 29a of a heating pressing plate 29 is formed in a protruding shape on the surface 25a of a tile 25 and an image A heat transferred to a printing sheet 4 is heated and pressed by the surface 29a of the plate 29 to be retransferred to the tile 25, the air introduced between the sheet 44 and the tile 25 is automatically extracted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat press machine for retransferring an image thermally transferred onto a printing paper to an object to be transferred such as a tile or a mug.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image captured by an image input means such as a video camera or a video scanner is thermally transferred onto a printing paper by a color printer such as a sublimation type thermal transfer system, and the image thermally transferred onto the printing paper is tiled or a mug. An image transfer system has been developed in which a heat press machine is used to retransfer the surface of an object to be transferred.

At this time, at the time of retransfer by a conventional heat press machine, the printing paper is preliminarily adhered to an object to be transferred by an adhesive tape and positioned, and the printing paper is pressed from the back side by an elastic heat-pressing plate of the heat press machine. By the heat press process of heating and pressure bonding, the image thermally transferred to the front surface side of the printing paper is again thermally transferred to the surface of the transfer object such as a tile or a mug.

[0004]

However, conventionally, during the heat pressing process by the heat press machine, air enters between the printing paper and the transferred material to form large bubbles,
Wrinkles often occur on photographic paper.

Therefore, conventionally, the heat press process is temporarily interrupted in the middle, and the photographic printing paper is rubbed with a spatula so as to be leveled from the back side to remove air bubbles and wrinkles, and then the heat press. Currently, the process is restarting.

Therefore, conventionally, a skilled technique is required to perform the heat pressing process, and the working time becomes long. In addition, when the photographic printing paper is rubbed from the back side with a spatula or the like to remove air bubbles and wrinkles, double transfer of the transferred image or image blurring is likely to occur due to the displacement of the printing paper.
In addition, there is a problem that a high-quality product cannot be obtained due to variations in the finished product such as a decrease in the heating temperature of the printing paper and the transferred material due to the interruption of the heat press process. there were.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a heat press machine capable of stably and easily obtaining a high-quality image transfer product. .

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the heat press of the present invention is designed to re-transfer an image thermally transferred onto a photographic printing paper to an object to be transferred by heating and press-bonding with an elastic heating press plate. In the heat press machine described above, the surface of the thermocompression bonding plate is formed in a convex shape with respect to the surface of the transferred material.

[0009]

In the heat press machine of the present invention constructed as described above, the surface of the thermocompression bonding plate is formed in a convex shape with respect to the surface of the material to be transferred, so that the image thermally transferred onto the photographic paper is thermocompression bonded. When heated and pressed by the convex surface of the plate to retransfer to the transfer target, the air entering between the printing paper and the transfer target can be automatically removed.

[0010]

Embodiments of the image transfer system to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Overview of Image Transfer System] First, this image transfer system is a printing process in which a thermal transfer method is used to print out on a printing paper taken in by an image input means, and a large number of needle holes are formed on the printed printing paper. And a heat press step of retransferring the image of the photographic paper on which the needle holes have been made to the transfer target.

[Description of Printing Process] Then, first, referring to FIG.
The printing process will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, in the printing step shown in FIG. 16, a sublimation-type thermal transfer is performed in which the image captured by the video camera 1 or the scanner 2 which is an image input means is printed (printed) by a thermal transfer method using, for example, a sublimable dye. The image A is printed out on the photographic printing paper 4 by the color printer 3 of the method.

Next, in the printing process shown in FIG. 15, the image A in which the subject A ₁ and the superimposed image A ₂ are combined is printed out on the printing paper 4. That is,
The subject A ₁ in front of the screen 6 is photographed by the video camera 1. Then, an arbitrary image is selected from a plurality of types of superimposing images A ₂ prepared in advance, and the superimposing device 7 causes the image A captured by the video camera 1 to be selected.
_The composite image A superimposed on ₁ is printed out on the photographic paper 4 by the color printer 3. At this time, while confirming the superimposed state of the images A ₁ and A _{2 on} the monitor 8, the desired image A is printed on the photographic paper 4
It can be printed out.

[Explanation of perforating process] Next, the perforating process for making a large number of needle holes in the photographic printing paper 4 on which the image A is printed will be described with reference to FIG.

Drilling machine 10 used in this drilling process
Is a base 12 made of an elastic material such as rubber or urethane foam that is horizontally installed above the lower horizontal portion 11 a of the main body frame 11, and a pressing plate 13 that is horizontally arranged above the base 12. And a plurality of downwardly directed needles 14 vertically planted on the lower surface 13a of the pressing plate 13, and an elevating shaft 1 vertically fixed to the central portion of the upper surface 13b of the pressing plate 13.
5, a support portion 16 formed integrally with the upper end portion 11b of the main body frame 11 and holding the elevating shaft 15 slidably in the vertical direction, and an upper portion of the supporting portion 16 is inserted into the outer periphery of the elevating shaft 15. And a return spring 17 formed of a compression coil spring that urges the pressing plate 13 upward through the lifting shaft 15.
And a handle 19 attached to the end 11b of the body frame 11 via a fulcrum shaft 18 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction.
And a pin 2 for connecting the handle 19 and the lifting shaft 15
It is constituted by 0 and the long hole 21.

The diameters of the many needles 14 are, for example, 0.
A thickness of about 1 to 0.3 mm is preferable. And these many needles 14 are planted on the lower surface 13a of the pressing plate 13 at a rate of at least one per unit area of 5 to 30 mm ² .

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14A, the photographic printing paper 4 is placed horizontally on the upper surface 12a of the base 12,
When the handle 19 is rotated in the downward direction of arrow a, the lifting shaft 15 and the pressing plate 13 are lowered together in the downward direction of arrow c against the return spring 17 through the pin 20 and the elongated hole 21. . Then, as shown in FIG. 14 (B), a large number of needles 14 on the lower surface of the pressing plate 13 are vertically inserted into the photographic printing paper 14, and the photographic printing paper 4 has at least one per unit area of 5 to 30 mm ² . The needle hole 23 can be opened.

After that, when the handle 19 is released, the return spring 17 raises the elevating shaft 15 and the pressing plate 13 together in the upward arrow d direction, and the handle 19 is also upward arrow b. The needles 14 can be lifted in the direction, and a large number of needles 14 can be pulled out from the photographic printing paper 4 in the upward direction of arrow d.

[Heat Pressing Step] Next, the printing paper 4 on which the image A is printed and which has a large number of needle holes 23 formed therein.
The heat press process of retransferring the image A of the image to the transfer target will be described.

[Description of First Embodiment of Heat Pressing Process]
In this heat press process, a heat press machine according to the shape of the transferred material is used. Therefore, first, referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 8, a tile 2 which is an example of a flat-shaped transferred object is shown.
The heat pressing process to 5 will be described.

First, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the heat press machine 26 used in the heat pressing process for the tile 25 is a heating unit horizontally mounted on the lower horizontal portion 27 a of the main body frame 27. The plate 28, the thermocompression-bonding plate 29 horizontally arranged at the upper position of the heating plate 28, the spindle 30 vertically attached to the central portion of the upper surface of the thermocompression-bonding plate 29, and the spindle 30 up and down. And a guide groove 32 that is vertically formed along the vertical portion 27b of the main body frame 27 and that guides the lift table 31 slidably in the vertical direction. A handle 34 rotatably attached to the upper end of the vertical portion 27b of the main body frame 27 via a fulcrum shaft 33 in a vertical direction, a pin 35 and an elongated hole 36 connecting the handle 34 and the lifting table 31, and a hand. 34 bridged passed in between the free end and the body frame 27, the spring 37 returns consists spring tension rotates urging the handle 34 upwards, lifting table 31
Is inserted into the outer periphery of the support shaft 30 at the lower part of the
Is composed of a compression spring 38 composed of a compression coil spring for urging the lifting base 31 downward.

The heating plate 28 and the thermocompression bonding plate 29 are constructed so as to be replaceable by an attachment method according to the shape of the transferred material.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermocompression bonding plate 29 includes a metal base 29a and a base 29a.
The thickness attached to the lower surface 29b of a by adhesion or the like is 1 to
The surface material 29c is made of an elastic material such as rubber or urethane foam having a thickness of about 5 mm. A heater 39 is embedded in both the heating plate 28 and the thermocompression bonding plate 29. The heating plate 28 may be composed of a base and a surface plate made of an elastic material, like the thermocompression bonding plate 29.

The thermocompression-bonding plate 29 has a downwardly facing surface 29d, which is the surface of the surface 29c, formed in a convex shape with respect to the surface of the horizontal printing paper 4. At this time, the surface material 29
As the shape of the surface 29d of c, it is possible to form a partially cylindrical shape (chamfered shape) as shown in FIG. 3A or a partially spherical shape as shown in FIG. 3B.

In FIG. 1, the lower surface 29b of the base plate 29a is horizontally formed, and a partially cylindrical or partially spherical surface material 29c is attached to the lower surface 29b of the base plate 29a. Further, in FIG. 2, the lower surface 29b of the base plate 29a is
Is formed into a partial cylindrical shape or a partial spherical shape, and its lower surface 29b is formed.
A surface material 29c having a constant thickness is attached to the.

When heat-pressing the tiles 25, first, as shown in FIG. 6A, the printing paper 4 on which the image A is printed is changed to the one shown in FIG. 6B. As shown, it is cut to a required size and the unnecessary area 4a on the outer periphery of the photographic printing paper 4 is discarded. The cutting process of the photographic printing paper 4 may be performed before or after the punching process.

Next, as shown in FIG. 7A, the image A is printed on the image surface side 4b, a large number of needle holes 23 are formed, and the photographic paper 4 is cut into a required size. To
As shown in FIG. 7B, the image surface side 4 b is tile 25.
The photographic paper 4 is placed on the surface 25a of the
The photographic printing paper 4 is affixed to the front surface 25a of the tile 25 by the tape 41 adhered to the back surface side 4c of the above and is positioned.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the tile 25 to which the printing paper 4 is adhered is attached to the heat press 26.
After being placed horizontally on the upper surface 28a of the heating plate 28, the handle 34 is rotated against the return spring 37 in the downward arrow e direction. Then, the heating temperature preset from the built-in timer (200 ℃ ~
The heating plate 28 and the thermocompression bonding plate 29 are heated by the heater 39 at 250 ° C.) and the heating time (1 to several seconds) to heat the tile 25 and the printing paper 4.

Then, with the rotation of the handle 34 in the direction of the arrow e, the lifting table 31 is moved through the pin 35 and the elongated hole 36.
Is lowered along the guide groove 32 in the direction of an arrow g, which is a downward direction, and the thermocompression bonding plate 29 resists the squeezing force of the pressure bonding spring 38 and the back surface 4c of the photographic printing paper 4 via the elastic surface material 29c.
Then, the photographic printing paper 4 is heated on the surface 25a of the tile 25 with a constant force from the direction of the arrow g, and heat pressing is performed by pressure bonding.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B) and FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B), a large number of needle holes 23 are preliminarily formed in the photographic printing paper 4, so that the thermocompression bonding is performed. When the surface material 29c of the plate 29 heats and press-bonds the photographic printing paper 4 to the surface 25a of the tile 25, the air entering between the photographic printing paper 4 and the tile 25 is automatically extracted from the many needle holes 23. be able to.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 1 (A) and 1 (B) and FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B), the surface 29d of the surface material 29c of the thermocompression bonding plate 29 is placed on the surface of the printing paper 4. On the other hand, since the surface material 29c is formed in a convex shape, the surface material 29c has a time difference from the central portion of the convex surface 29d protruding downward to the periphery, and the photographic printing paper 4 is moved from the central portion. It will be crimped toward the periphery one by one.

Therefore, the convex surface 29d of the surface material 29c of the heat-pressing plate 29 is heated and pressure-bonded so that the photographic printing paper 4 is evenly leveled from the central portion toward the periphery. The air that has entered between the paper 4 and the tile 25 can be automatically extracted from the central portion toward the periphery.

As a result of the above, (A) (B) of FIG. 1 and FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), the photographic paper 4 is placed on the surface 25 of the tile 25 without leaving large air bubbles between the photographic paper 4 and the tile 25 or generating wrinkles on the photographic paper 4.
It can be heated and pressure-bonded in a state in which it is stably and closely adhered to a.

Then, by heating the photographic printing paper 4 on the surface 25a of the tile 25 by the heating and pressure bonding plate 29 and keeping the pressure bonding state for a certain period of time, as shown in FIGS. 1 (C) and 2 (C). In addition, the image A that has been thermally transferred on the photographic printing paper 4 can be stably retransferred onto the surface 25a of the tile 25.

After the heat pressing process is completed, if the handle 34 is released, the return spring 37 returns the handle 34 in the upward direction of the arrow f, and the elevating table 31 and the thermocompression bonding plate 29 are put together. In the direction of the arrow h, which is upward. Therefore, if the tile 25 is taken out from the heating plate 28 and the printing paper 4 is peeled from the tile 25, the image A remains on the upper surface 25a of the tile 25 as shown in FIG.

As described above, in this heat pressing process, in order to remove air bubbles and wrinkles as in the conventional case, the photographic printing paper 4 is flattened from the back side with a spatula or the like once during the heat pressing process. There is no need to rub it evenly.

Therefore, this heat pressing process does not require any skill, and the work can be completed with one press, so that the working time can be greatly shortened. In addition, unlike the conventional case, double copying of the transferred image A, image blurring, etc. due to the positional deviation of the photographic printing paper 4 when the photographic printing paper 4 is rubbed from the back side with a spatula or the like does not occur at all. Furthermore, since the heat pressing step can be performed once and there is no need to interrupt the work in the middle, the heating temperature of the photographic printing paper 4 and the tile 25 never drops during the process, and the surface 25a of the tile 25 does not fall at all. The image A can be re-transferred onto the top with high accuracy, and the finished product does not vary, so that the high-quality image transfer tile 25 can be obtained constantly.

The plate-shaped transfer target is not limited to the tile 25 described above, and may be, for example, (A) or (B) of FIG.
As shown in (C), plate 42, hat 43, T-shirt 44
For example, the present invention can be applied to a flat member made of various materials such as wood, glass, earthenware, synthetic resin, metal, cloth and the like. Then, the heating plate 28 and the thermocompression bonding plate 2 of the heat press machine 26 shown in FIGS.
The image A can be re-transferred to these various flat-plate-like transferred objects just as in the case of the tile 25 described above by simply exchanging 9 and 9 by an attachment method. Further, the heat press machine 26 may be configured to automatically move the thermocompression bonding plate 29 up and down in the directions of arrows g and h by operating the handle 34 or the like.

[Description of Second Embodiment of Heat Pressing Process]
Next, a heat pressing process for the mug 45, which is an example of a cylindrical transfer target, will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, as shown in FIG. 12, in the heat press machine 46 used in the heat pressing process for the mug 45, the mug 4 is placed in the mug insertion portion 46a.
Corresponding to the cylindrical surface 45a of No. 5, a heating plate 47 having a partially cylindrical shape obtained by just dividing a cylinder into two and a thermocompression bonding plate 48 are arranged so as to face each other in the horizontal direction. The heating plate 47 is fixed at a fixed position, and by operating the handle 49, the thermocompression bonding plate 48 is moved in the horizontal direction with respect to the heating plate 47 by the arrows i, j.
It is configured to open and close in any direction.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11,
The partially cylindrical thermocompression bonding plate 48 is a metal base 48a.
And a surface material 48c made of an elastic material such as rubber or urethane foam having a thickness of about 1 to 5 mm, which is attached to the inner surface 48b of the base 48a having a partially cylindrical shape by adhesion or the like. . A heater 50 is embedded in both the heating plate 47 and the thermocompression bonding plate 48. The heating plate 47 may be composed of a base and a surface material made of an elastic material, like the thermocompression bonding plate 48.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12,
Partial cylindrical inner surface 4 of the surface material 48c of the thermocompression bonding plate 48
The radius R ₁ of 8d is set on the cylindrical surface 4 of the mug 45.
By making it larger than the radius R _{2 of} 5a, the inner surface 48d is made convex with respect to the surface 45a. The radius R ₃ of the inner surface 47a of the heating plate 47 having a partially cylindrical shape is equal to the radius R _{2 of the} surface 45a.

The heating plate 47 and the thermocompression bonding plate 48 are constructed so that they can be replaced by an attachment method according to the size of the diameter of the mug 45.

When heat pressing the mug 45, first, as described above, the image surface side 4
13B, the image A is printed on b, a large number of needle holes 23 are formed, and the photographic paper 4 cut into a required size is placed on the image surface 4b side in the mug 45 as shown in FIG. The photographic printing paper 4 is affixed and positioned on the front surface 45a of the mug 45 with the adhesive tape 41 adhered to the front surface side 4c of the photographic printing paper 4 so as to be superposed on the front surface 45a.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 10, the mug 45 is inserted into the mug insertion portion 46a of the heat press machine 46 from above in the direction of arrow k, and the mug 45 is thermocompression bonded to the heating plate 47. The photographic printing paper 4 is positioned between the plate 48 and the inner surface 48d of the surface member 48c of the thermocompression bonding plate 48 so as to face the photographic printing paper 4.

The handle 4 of the heat press machine 46
When 9 is operated, as shown in FIG. 11, an arbitrary heating temperature (20
Heating plate 4 at 0 ° C to 250 ° C and heating time (1 to several seconds)
7 and the thermocompression-bonding plate 48 are heated by the heater 50, and the thermocompression-bonding plate 48 is pressure-bonded to the back side 4c of the printing paper 4 from the direction of the arrow i with a constant force through the elastic surface material 48c. The photographic printing paper 4 is heated on the surface 45a of 45 and heat pressed by pressure bonding.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11,
Since a large number of needle holes 23 are formed in the photographic printing paper 4 in advance, when the surface material 48c of the thermocompression-bonding plate 48 heats and press-bonds the photographic printing paper 4 to the surface 45a of the mug 45,
The air entering between the mug 45 and the mug 45 can be automatically withdrawn from the large number of needle holes 23.

At this time, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the radius R ₁ of the surface 48d of the surface material 48c of the thermocompression bonding plate 48 is made larger than the radius R ₂ of the surface 45a of the mug 45 to make the surface 48d. Is formed so as to have a convex shape with respect to the surface of the photographic printing paper 4, the surface material 48c of the convex surface 48d has a time difference from the central portion in the circumferential direction toward both ends in the circumferential direction. While having the above, the photographic printing paper 4 is sequentially pressed from the central portion in the circumferential direction toward both ends in the circumferential direction.

Therefore, the convex surface 48d of the surface member 48c of the thermocompression-bonding plate 48 is exactly along the surface 45a of the mug 45 from the central portion in the circumferential direction of the printing paper 4 toward both ends in the circumferential direction. Heat it so that it is level and level.
By pressure bonding, the air that has entered between the printing paper 4 and the mug 45 can be automatically extracted from the central portion in the circumferential direction toward both ends in the circumferential direction.

As a result of the above, as shown in FIG. 11, the photographic printing paper 4 is placed in the mug 45 without leaving large bubbles between the photographic printing paper 4 and the mug 45 or generating wrinkles in the photographic printing paper 4. The surface 45a can be heated and pressure-bonded so as to be in close contact with the surface 45a with good stability.

Then, by heating and press-bonding the photographic printing paper 4 onto the surface 45a of the mug 45 by the hot press plate 48, as shown in FIG. 15, the image A thermally transferred onto the photographic printing paper 4 is transferred onto the surface of the mug 45. It is possible to stably retransfer onto 45a.

After the end of this heat pressing process,
When the handle 49 is operated again, the thermocompression bonding plate 48 is separated from the mug 45 in the direction of arrow j. Therefore, if the mug 45 is taken out from the inside of the mug insertion portion 46a in the direction of the arrow m, which is the upper side, and the photographic printing paper 4 is peeled from the mug 45, an image is formed on the surface 45a of the mug 45 as shown in FIG. A will be left as it is.

As described above, in the heat pressing process for the mug cup 45, in order to remove air bubbles and wrinkles as in the conventional case, the photographic printing paper 4 is temporarily interrupted during the heat pressing process and the photographic paper 4 is removed with a spatula or the like. There is no need to perform work such as rubbing from the back side 4c so as to be leveled.

Therefore, no skill is required in the heat pressing process for the mug 45, and
Since the work can be completed with one press, the work time can be significantly shortened. Further, as in the conventional case, the printing paper 4 when the printing paper 4 is rubbed from the back side 4c with a spatula or the like.
Double transfer of the transferred image A, image blurring, etc. due to the positional deviation of the image does not occur at all. Further, since the heat press process can be performed once and there is no need to interrupt the work in the middle, the heating temperature of the photographic printing paper 4 and the mug 45 never drops, and the image on the surface 45a of the mug 45 is not imaged. High-accuracy retransfer of A can be performed, and the finished product does not vary, and a high-quality image transfer mug 45 can always be obtained stably.

The cylindrical transfer object is not limited to the above-mentioned mug 45, but may be made of wood, glass, earthenware, synthetic resin, metal, cloth or other various materials. Like cylindrical or polygonal shape,
It can be applied to a true cylindrical shape or a member similar thereto. Then, according to the shape, size, etc. of these various types of cylindrical transferred objects, the heating plate 47 and the thermocompression bonding plate 48 of the heat press machine 46 shown in FIG. The image A can be retransferred to these various cylindrical objects to be transferred, just as in the case of the mug 45.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

For example, in order to facilitate the thermal transfer of the sublimable dye or the like to the surface of various transferred objects such as the tile 25 and the mug 45, the underlayer of epoxy resin or the like (sublimable dye is applied to the surface of the transferred object. An underlayer to be received) is coated in advance, and the image A of the photographic paper 4 is thermally transferred onto the underlayer by heat pressing. Then, in order to improve the weather resistance, solvent resistance, and chemical resistance (prevent fading and discoloration by ultraviolet rays, discoloration and discoloration by detergent, etc.) of the heat-transferred image A, heat transfer to the transfer target is performed. It is preferable to laminate or coat a transparent protective layer such as a transparent acrylic film containing an ultraviolet absorber (Kanefuchi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., trade name Sunduren) on the obtained image A.

[0059]

The heat press machine of the present invention constructed as described above has the following effects.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the surface of the thermocompression-bonding plate is formed in a convex shape with respect to the surface of the transferred material. Therefore, the image thermally transferred to the printing paper is heated by the convex surface of the thermocompression-bonding plate.
When re-transferring to the transfer object by pressure bonding, it was possible to automatically remove the air that entered between the printing paper and the transfer object, so during the heat press process of re-transferring, It is possible to stably and closely adhere the printing paper to the surface of the transferred material without leaving large bubbles between the printing paper and the transferred material or generating wrinkles on the printing paper. Therefore, the work is simple, and no skill required for work is required.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in the middle of the heat-pressing process for retransfer, the process is temporarily interrupted, and a spatula or the like is used to rub the photographic paper so that it is leveled from the back surface side. Since it is not necessary to remove the large air bubbles and the wrinkles of the printing paper that have entered in between, the retransfer operation can be completed by one pressing operation, and the working time can be greatly shortened.

The first aspect of the present invention is, in the middle of the heat-pressing process for re-transferring, a double copy or image blurring of a transferred image due to a displacement of the printing paper when the printing paper is rubbed from the back side with a spatula or the like. Occurs at all, and the image can be retransferred to the transfer target material with high accuracy, so that a high-quality image transfer product can be stably obtained without a work failure.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is not necessary to interrupt the heat press process for retransfer and temporarily rub the photographic paper evenly with a spatula from the back side. It is possible to stably obtain a high-quality image transfer product without variations in the finished product due to a decrease in the heating temperature of the printing paper and the transfer target due to the interruption of the heat press process.

According to the second and the third aspects, a convex surface material having elasticity is attached to the base of the thermocompression bonding plate,
Since the base of the thermocompression bonding plate is formed in a convex shape and the surface material having a constant thickness and elasticity is attached to the convex base, the thermocompression bonding plate can be easily manufactured.

According to the fourth and fifth aspects, the surface of the thermocompression bonding plate is partially cylindrical, or the surface of the thermocompression bonding plate is partially spherical. The air that has entered between the transfer target and the transfer target is automatically pushed out from the central part to the peripheral part,
This air can be extracted reliably and easily.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a heat press machine for re-transferring an image thermally transferred onto a printing paper to a surface of a substantially cylindrical transfer object by heating and pressing with a substantially partially cylindrical heating and press plate. Since the radius of the inner surface of the substantially cylindrical shape of the plate is configured to be larger than the radius of the substantially cylindrical surface of the transfer target, the image thermally transferred to the printing paper is substantially cylindrical by the substantially pressure-bonding plate of the cylindrical shape. When retransferring to the surface of the transfer target, the air that has entered between the printing paper and the substantially cylindrical transfer target can be automatically removed. Therefore, the work is easy,
No skill required for work is required, and work time can be significantly shortened. Then, it is possible to perform highly accurate transfer of the image to the transfer target having a substantially cylindrical shape, and it is possible to stably obtain a high-quality image transfer product without failure and without variations in product finish.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A, 1B, and 1C are first heat-pressing steps in an image transfer system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
1A and 1B are sectional side views showing a sectional shape of a first example of a thermocompression bonding plate of a heat press machine, and FIG. 1C is a heat press thereof. It is a cross-sectional side view of the tile after a process.

2 (A) and 2 (B) are cross-sectional side views showing a cross-sectional shape of a second example of the thermocompression bonding plate of the heat press machine in the first embodiment of the heat pressing step, and FIG. (C) is a cross-sectional side view of the tile after the heat pressing step.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the surface shape of the surface material of the thermocompression bonding plate.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the above heat press machine.

FIG. 5 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining the cutting of the printing paper before the heat pressing step of the above.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view for explaining the attachment of the printing paper on the tile before the start of the heat pressing process of the above.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an image thermally transferred onto a tile by the above heat pressing process.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of heat pressing on a transfer target having a planar shape other than tiles.

FIG. 10 shows a second embodiment of the heat pressing process in the image transfer system which is the embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional plan view of the main part of the heat press machine before the start of heat pressing.

11 is a cross-sectional plan view showing a heat press state of a main part of the heat press machine shown in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the above heat press machine.

FIG. 13 (A) is a perspective view for explaining the attachment of the printing paper to the mug before the start of the heat pressing step, and FIG. 13 (B) is the thermal transfer to the mug by the heat pressing step. It is the perspective view which showed the image produced.

FIG. 14A shows a punching machine in an image transfer system which is an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view showing the processing of needle holes in photographic paper by the punching machine.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view illustrating a first example of a printing process in the image transfer system that is the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view illustrating a second example of the above printing process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A image 4 photographic paper 4b image surface side of photographic paper 4c back side of photographic paper 25 tiles (transferred object in a flat shape) 26 heat press machine 28 heating plate 29 heating and pressing plate 29a heating and pressing plate base 29b heating and pressing plate Lower surface of base 29c Surface material of thermocompression bonding plate 29d Surface of surface material of thermocompression bonding plate 39 Heater 42 Dish (plate-shaped transfer target) 43 Hat (plate-shaped transfer target) 44 T-shirt (plate-shaped transfer target) 45) Mug cup (cylindrical transferred object) 46 Heat press machine 47 Heating plate 48 Thermocompression bonding plate 48a Thermocompression bonding plate base 48b Thermocompression bonding plate base inner surface 48c Thermocompression bonding plate surface material 48d Thermocompression bonding plate surface Inner surface of material 50 Heater

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Satoshi Nakamura 6-735 Kita-Shinagawa, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo Inside Sony Corporation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A heat press machine for re-transferring an image thermally transferred onto a photographic paper to a transfer object by heating and pressing with an elastic heat press plate, wherein the surface of the heat press plate is applied to the surface of the transfer object. A heat press machine characterized by a convex shape. 2. The heat press machine according to claim 1, wherein a convex and elastic surface material is attached to the base of the thermocompression bonding plate. 3. The base of the thermocompression bonding plate is formed in a convex shape,
The heat press machine according to claim 1, wherein a surface material having elasticity and having a constant thickness is attached to the convex base. 4. The heat press machine according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the surface of the thermocompression bonding plate has a partially cylindrical shape. 5. The heat pressing machine according to claim 1, wherein the surface portion of the thermocompression bonding plate is formed into a spherical shape. 6. A heat press machine for retransferring an image heat-transferred onto a photographic printing paper to the surface of a substantially cylindrical transfer object by heating and press-bonding by a substantially partially cylindrical thermocompression-bonding plate. A heat press machine characterized in that the radius of the inner surface of the partially cylindrical shape is made larger than the radius of the substantially cylindrical surface of the transfer target.