JPS63122586A - Recording medium housing cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the keeping of a transfer recording medium generating reaction by the irradiation of light and to simply set a take-up member, by providing a holding means for holding the take-up part in the vicinity of the feed-out port of a receiving part, which receives the transfer recording medium wound in a roll form in a light blocking state, in a detachable manner. CONSTITUTION:A cassette C has a light blocking hosing part 1 formed into a cylindrical container shape and the feed-out port C2 of a transfer recording medium 1 is provided to the cassette C in the longitudinal direction thereof and a light blocking material C3 composed of a nonwoven fabric is provided to the feed-out port C2 so as to grasp the transfer recording medium 1 to prevent the penetration of light from the outside. A leader 15 painted white is connected to the leading end of the transfer recording medium 1 received in the cassette C and the leading end of said leader 15 is adhered to the take-up shaft 6a connected to the take-up joint of an apparatus main body. Further, bosses C4 for holding both ends of the take-up shaft 6a in a freely detachable manner are provided to both end parts of the take-up shaft 6a in the longitudinal direction to hold the take-up shaft 6a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a recording medium accommodating cassette for accommodating a transfer recording medium used in a recording device that can be used for a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like.

<Prior Art> In recent years, with the rapid development of the information industry, various information processing systems have been developed, and recording devices suitable for each information processing system have also been developed.

One of the above-mentioned recording devices is a thermal transfer recording device. In this method, recording is performed on a recording paper using an ink ribbon made by coating a ribbon-shaped support with a heat-melt ink made by dispersing a colorant in a heat-melt binder.

That is, the ink ribbons are stacked so that their heat-melting ink layers are in contact with the recording paper, and the ink ribbon and the recording paper are conveyed between the thermal head and the platen, and the ink ribbon is transferred from the support side of the ink ribbon to the thermal head. By applying pulse-shaped heat according to the image signal and pressing the two together and transferring the molten ink to the recording paper, an ink image corresponding to the heat application is recorded on the recording paper. .

The above recording apparatus has been widely used in recent years because it is small and lightweight, makes no noise, and can record on plain paper.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, conventional thermal transfer recording devices are not without problems.

The reason is that in conventional thermal transfer recording devices, the transfer recording performance, that is, the image quality, is greatly affected by the surface smoothness of the recording paper.
Although good image recording can be performed on recording paper with high smoothness, there is a risk that the quality of image recording will deteriorate when recording paper with low smoothness is used.

Furthermore, when attempting to obtain a multicolor image with a conventional thermal transfer recording device, it is necessary to repeat transfer to overlap the colors. For this purpose, it is necessary to provide multiple thermal heads or to make complicated movements such as stopping and reversing the recording paper, which not only makes color misalignment unavoidable, but also makes the entire device large and complicated. There is a problem with this.

<Means for solving the problem> Therefore, the applicant used a photothermally sensitive polymer material, and when thermal energy and light energy were applied, the reaction of the polymer was 2. We proposed a recording device that uses a transfer recording medium whose transfer characteristics change rapidly and irreversibly, forms an image based on the difference in the characteristics according to the image signal, and transfers it to the recording medium (patent application). (Sho 60-150597).

According to this recording device, it is possible to record high-quality images even on recording media with low surface smoothness, and when applied to multicolor recording, it is possible to make complex movements on the recording medium. This allows you to obtain multicolor images without any problems.

The present invention aims to provide a transfer recording medium accommodating cassette for facilitating the handling and storage of transfer recording media used in the recording apparatus and the like.

The means for this purpose is a cassette that accommodates a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose transfer characteristics change when applied with light energy and thermal energy, and which shields the transfer recording medium wound into a roll from light. The transfer recording medium is characterized by having a storage part for storing the transfer recording medium in the state, and a holding means for removably holding a winding member connected to the transfer recording medium directly or via a leader near the delivery port of the storage part. It will be as follows.

<Function> According to the above means, it is easy to store the transfer recording medium that reacts with light irradiation, and when loading the transfer recording medium into the recording device, the cassette is loaded into the transfer recording medium supply section of the recording device, It can be easily set by simply loading the winding member held near the delivery port into the transfer recording medium winding section of the apparatus.

<Embodiment> Next, an embodiment of a cassette to which the above means is applied will be described together with a recording device.

Figure 1 (^) is a perspective explanatory view of the transfer recording medium storage cassette, Figure 1 (B) is the arrow A view, and Figures 2 (^) and 2 (B) are the cassettes loaded with the cassette. FIG.

In the figure, l is a long sheet-like transfer recording medium, which is wound into a roll and stored in a transfer recording medium storage cassette C as a supply roll 2, and the cassette C is assembled into the main body M of the apparatus. There is. That is, this cassette C is removably loaded into a cassette loading section 14 provided in the main body M of the apparatus.

To explain the above cassette C here, the cassette +
-C has a light-shielding storage section CI formed in the shape of a cylindrical container, and a delivery port C2 for the transfer recording medium 1 is provided in the longitudinal direction of the storage section C1. Further, a light shielding material C3 made of non-woven fabric is provided at the outlet C2 so as to sandwich the transfer recording medium 1, and is configured to prevent light from entering from outside.

Further, a leader 15 made of a white-painted polyethylene terephthalate film with a thickness of about 6 μm is connected to the leading end of the transfer recording medium l housed in the cassette C, and the leading end of the leader 15 is connected to a winding joint, which will be described later. The winding shaft 6a is bonded to the winding shaft 6a.

Furthermore, bosses C4 for removably holding both ends of the winding shaft 6a are provided near the delivery port C2 and at both ends in the longitudinal direction, and as shown in FIG.
4 holds the winding shaft 6a.

Next, a recording apparatus using the transfer recording medium 1 housed in the cassette C will be described. As shown in FIG. When the leader 6a is pulled out from the boss C4, the leader 15 and the transfer recording medium 1 are pulled out.

Then, the leader 15 and the transfer recording medium 1 that have been pulled out are transferred to the guide roller 12a, the recording pad 3a, and the guide roller 1.
2b, the peeling roller 5 and the guide roller 12c change the direction from between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b, and lock the winding shaft 6a to the winding joint 6.

Thereafter, the transfer recording medium 1 is fed out from the cassette C in the direction of arrow a by driving and rotating the take-up joint 6 by a known driving means, and is sequentially wound around the circumferential surface of the take-up shaft 6a.

Note that during the winding, a constant back tension run is applied to the supply roll 2 by, for example, a hysteresis brake (not shown), and this tension run and the guide rollers 12a and 12b cause the transfer recording medium 1 to move toward the recording head. It is configured to be conveyed while being in pressure contact with 3a at a constant pressure and at a constant angle.

Next, the configuration of each part of the recording apparatus will be individually explained.

First, as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer recording medium 1 has a transfer recording layer 1 having the property of forming an image when both thermal energy and light energy are applied on a sheet-like support la.
It is formed by attaching b.

To explain an example thereof, as shown in FIG. 3, the transfer recording layer 1b uses the components shown in Tables 1 and 2 as cores lc and ld, and forms microcapsule-shaped image forming elements by the following method. It forms.

In other words, the ingredients lag shown in Tables 1 and 2 are first mixed with 20 parts by weight of methylene chloride, then a surfactant such as a cationic or nonionic surfactant with an HLB value of at least 10 or more and 1 g of gelatin are mixed. Mix with 200ml of dissolved water and mix a, oo with a homomixer while heating at 60°C.

Stir at ~10,000 rpm to emulsify, with an average particle size of 26
．． Obtain oil droplets.

Stirring was further continued at 60° C. for 30 minutes, and methylene chloride was distilled off to give an average particle size of 104. Add 20 sd of water in which gum arabic Ig was dissolved, cool slowly and then add NH4OH (ammonia) water to pH 11.
By doing the above, a microcapsule slurry is obtained, and a 20% aqueous solution of glutaraldehyde (1.0%) is slowly added to harden the capsule walls.

After that, solid-liquid separation was carried out using a Nutsche filter, and 35
C. for 10 hours to obtain a microcapsule-shaped image forming element.

This image forming element has cores lc and l shown in Tables 1 and 2.
d is a microcapsule covered with a shell le, and is formed to have a particle size of 7 to 15-1 and an average particle size of 10n.

The image forming element formed as described above is adhered onto a support la with an adhesive 1f to constitute a transfer recording medium l.

To explain this in more detail, the adhesive If is prepared by dissolving 3 cc of toluene in the polyester adhesive Polyester LP-022 (solid content 50%) lee manufactured by Nippon Gosei Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd., to a thickness of 6 mm. The mixture is coated on a support la made of a polyethylene terephthalate film. after that,
When the solvent was removed by drying and the thickness was measured, it was about 1 nm. Since this adhesive 1f has a glass transition point of 115°C, a slight tack remains even at room temperature, making it possible to easily adhere the image forming element formed as described above to the support 1a. .

Thereafter, a pressure of about 1 kg/cd and thermal energy of about 80° C. are applied to firmly fix the image forming element onto the support la, thereby forming a transfer recording medium l.

The photoinitiator in the image forming element shown in Table 1 absorbs light in the band of graph A in the light absorption characteristics shown in FIG. 4, starts a reaction, becomes magenta during image formation, and The photoinitiator in the image-forming element shown in Table 2 absorbs light in the band shown in graph B in FIG. 4 and starts a reaction, resulting in a blue color during image formation.

Next, the recording section 3 will be explained. The recording section 3 is composed of heating means and light irradiation means.

The heating means is an A-4 size 8 dot/dragon with a width of 0.2 that generates heat in accordance with the image signal on the surface of the recording head 3a.
Line-type heating element arrays 3b are arranged, and as described above, the support La side of the transfer recording medium 1 is configured to be pressed against the heating element array 3b with a predetermined pressure by the back tension controller during conveyance. . Note that both of the above-mentioned signals are emitted from a control unit (not shown) of, for example, a facsimile, an image scanner, or an electronic whiteboard, depending on the purpose.

On the other hand, on the transfer recording JWxb side facing the recording head 3a, a light irradiation means 2 having spectral characteristics as shown in FIG.
Fluorescent lamps 3c and 3d are arranged, and a slit with an opening width of 0.5fi is provided so that the light irradiates the area directly above the heating element row of the transfer recording medium 1 that is in pressure contact with the recording head 3a. It is housed in a housing 3e arranged at a distance of Q, 5su from the transfer recording medium l.

In this embodiment, one fluorescent lamp 3C having the spectral characteristics shown in graph A in FIG.
Using fluorescent lamp PL203E for W health line, graph B
As the other fluorescent lamp 3d having the spectral characteristics shown in FIG. 1, a 20W fluorescent lamp FL10A70E39 manufactured by Toshiba is used.

Next, the transfer section 4 will be explained. The transfer section 4 is disposed on the downstream side of the recording section 3 in the conveyance direction of the transfer recording medium l, and includes a transfer roller 4a that is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow as shown in FIG. and a pressure roller 4b. The transfer roller 4a is composed of an aluminum roller whose surface is coated with silicone rubber having a hardness of 70 degrees and has a thickness of 1 square inch, and is maintained at a temperature of 90 to 100 degrees Celsius by a built-in 800W halogen heater 4C. It is composed of

The pressure roller 4b is an aluminum roller coated with 1m1PL of silicone rubber with a hardness of 70 degrees, and the pressing force with the transfer roller 4a is set to 6 to 1 ktf/cs by a pressure means (not shown) such as a spring. has been done.

Furthermore, recording paper 8 as a recording medium loaded in the cassette 7
is the feed roller 9. The register roller pair 10a and tab are configured to feed the transfer recording medium 1 to the transfer section 4 in synchronization so as to overlap the image area of the transfer recording medium 1. A one-way clutch is provided on the shaft of the pair of registration rollers 10a so that the rollers can freely rotate in the direction of the transfer section 4.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the recording apparatus includes a cassette loading section 14, a recording head 3a, and a recording head 3a, which constitute a conveyance path for the transfer recording medium l.
, guide rollers 12a, 12b, transfer roller 4a, peeling roller 5, and take-up joint 6 are provided in a unit 16, and the unit 16 is rotated about 95 degrees in the direction of arrow C with respect to the apparatus main body M around a shaft 17. movably mounted.

Next, a case will be described in which the transfer recording medium 1 is conveyed and an image is recorded. In the embodiment described below, an example will be shown in which heat is applied in accordance with an image signal and light is applied uniformly.

First, when loading the transfer recording medium 1 into the apparatus, the unit 16 is rotated in the direction of arrow C as shown in FIG. 6 to open it. In this way, the space between the recording head 3a and the housing 30 in the recording section 3 and between the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b in the transfer section 4 are wide open. Then, load the transfer recording medium storage cassette C by inserting it from the front side to the back side in FIG. 16 in the direction of arrow e to close it.

Next, a motor (not shown) is driven to sequentially feed out the transfer recording medium 1 from the cassette C, and an image is formed by applying light and heat to the transfer record Nlb of the transfer recording medium l in the recording section 3 according to the image signal. be done.

That is, the transfer recording layer 1b has a property that when light and heat of a predetermined wavelength are applied, the softening point temperature increases and it is no longer transferred to the recording paper 8. In addition, when recording magenta color, the heating element corresponding to magenta of the image signal in the heating element row 3b is not energized.
A portion corresponding to the white of the image signal (recording paper 8 is white) is energized for 25 times, and the fluorescent lamp 3C is uniformly irradiated with a delay of 5+ss. The irradiation time at this time is 45 years old.

Next, when recording blue, after 5011R has passed after the end of the irradiation, that is, 100W after the energization time, the heating element corresponding to the blue of the image signal in the heating element array 3b is not energized, and both signals are A portion corresponding to white is energized for 25 m, and after SMS, a fluorescent lamp 3d is uniformly irradiated. The irradiation time at this time was also 45 m as described above.

In the manner described above, the recording head 3a is controlled according to the blue, magenta, and white image signals to form a negative image on the transfer recording layer tb, and transfer recording is performed synchronously at a repetition period of 20 (1ws/1ine). Transport the medium l.

When the transfer recording medium 1 is conveyed to the transfer section 4 together with the recording paper 8, the transfer record 151b and the recording paper 8 are heated while being in pressure contact, and the two-color image of blue and magenta is transferred to the recording paper 8. . Furthermore, the transfer recording medium l and the recording paper 8 that have passed through the transfer section 4 are peeled off by a peeling roller 5, and the recording paper 8 on which the image of the desired color has been recorded is transferred to a pair of discharge rollers 13a, 1.
3b, the transfer recording medium 1 is discharged onto the discharge tray 11, and the transfer recording medium 1 is wound onto a winding roll.

Two-color recording is completed in one shot as described above.

Other Embodiments> It should be noted that the configuration of the recording apparatus that uses the transfer recording medium 1 accommodated in the transfer recording medium storage cellar 1-C is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

For example, in the above embodiment, light of a predetermined wavelength corresponding to a desired color is uniformly irradiated from the transfer recording layer 1b side of the transfer recording medium 1, and heat corresponding to the image signal is applied from the support 1a side. However, as another embodiment, heat may be applied uniformly and a predetermined light may be irradiated in accordance with an image signal.

Furthermore, if the support 1a is made of a translucent material, the support 1a can be made of a transparent material.
A configuration may be adopted in which light is irradiated from the a side and heat is applied from the transfer recording layer 1b side.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, light irradiation and heat application were performed with the support 1a in between, but image formation is also possible by performing both light irradiation and heat application from one side of the support 1a. .

Further, as the heating means, in addition to the method using the recording head 3a described above, 3, a method of selectively heating using a YAG laser and a polygon mirror, etc. may be used.

Further, as the light irradiation means, the above-mentioned fluorescent lamp 3c is used.

In addition to the method using 3D, for example, a method using an LED array, a method using a xenon lamp and a filter matching the light absorption characteristics of the material, etc. can be used.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, light energy and thermal energy were applied to the transfer recording layer 1b at the same time. However, even if the optical energy and thermal energy are applied separately, the result is that both energies are applied separately. Any configuration that is given is acceptable.

Furthermore, although the above-mentioned embodiment has been explained using an example of two-color recording, the types of colorants and photoinitiators constituting the image-forming element can be appropriately selected as described by the applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-128814. However, by selecting a light source with a wavelength that causes the photoinitiator to react and using the process disclosed in the above-mentioned application, it is also possible to obtain monochromatic, multicolor (three or more colors), or full-color recorded images.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the transfer record Nl of the polymeric material containing the colorant is created by the use of light energy and thermal energy.
Although an example has been shown in which the image is transferred and recorded onto the recording paper by changing the softening point temperature of b, it is also possible to transfer and record the image depending on the difference in adhesive properties or sublimation properties to the recording paper.
Alternatively, by providing a transfer recording medium with a layer that imparts color development to the recording paper and changing the color development characteristics of the recording paper, and transferring the image formed on the transfer recording medium to the recording paper,
It may be arranged to obtain an image record.

In addition to the above-mentioned polyethylene terephthalate, for example, polyamide, polyimide, capacitor paper, cellophane paper, etc. can also be used as the material for the support 1a.

Further, as the transfer record 11b, it is possible to appropriately select and use a material having properties such as heat melting property, heat softening property, or heat sublimation property.

Furthermore, the recording medium is not limited to the above-mentioned recording paper, but can be used, for example, with an overhead projector (OH
Of course, plastic sheets for P) can also be used.

Next, the transfer section 4 is not limited to roller-shaped rollers like the transfer roller 4a and the pressure roller 4b, but may be of any configuration that can provide a desired pressure, such as a rotating belt.

Further, if necessary, a fixing means for fixing the image on the recording medium onto which the image has been transferred by the transfer section 4 is provided in the conveyance direction of the recording medium, and! 11 may be provided on the downstream side of the separation roller 5.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, in the present invention, a transfer recording medium that reacts with light energy is housed in a light-shielding cassette, so that the reactivity of the transfer recording medium can be stored without being deteriorated by external light. I can do it. Therefore, when performing multicolor recording using the transfer recording medium housed in the power center, it is possible to obtain a clear recorded image.

Furthermore, when loading the transfer recording medium into a recording apparatus, it can be loaded without directly touching the transfer recording medium, making the loading operation extremely easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(A) is a perspective explanatory view of the transfer recording medium storage cassette, FIG. 1(B) is an explanatory view from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1(^), and FIGS. 2(A) and (B). 3 is an explanatory diagram of a recording apparatus loaded with the cassette, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a transfer recording medium, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the light absorption characteristics of a photoinitiator in the transfer recording medium, and FIG. An explanatory diagram showing the spectral characteristics of the light irradiation means, FIGS. 6 and 7 are cross-sectional explanatory diagrams of the unit opened from the main body of the apparatus, and FIG. 8 is a timing chart for applying heat and light. C is a transfer recording medium storage cassette, C1 is a storage section, C2 is a delivery port, C3 is a light shielding material, C4 is a boss, M is a recording device main body, 1 is a transfer recording medium, la is a support, ib is a transfer recording layer, lc, ld are core, le is shell, 1 [ is adhesive, 2
3 is a supply roll, 3 is a recording section, 3a is a recording head, 3b is a heating element array, and 3c. 3d is a fluorescent lamp, 3e is a housing, 4 is a transfer unit, 4a is a transfer roller, 4b is a pressure roller, 4c is a heater, 5 is a peeling roller, 6 is a winding joint, 6a is a winding shaft, 7 is a cassette, 8 is recording paper, 9 is a feeding roller, 10a
, 10b is a register roller, 11 is a discharge tray, 12
a, 12 b, 12 c are guide rollers, 13
a, 13b are discharge rollers, 14 is a cassette loading section, 15
is the leader, 16 is the unit, and 17 is the axis.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A cassette that accommodates a transfer recording medium having a transfer recording layer whose transfer characteristics change when light energy and thermal energy are applied thereto, and a housing section that accommodates the transfer recording medium wound into a roll in a light-shielded state. and a holding means for detachably holding a winding member connected to the transfer recording medium directly or via a leader near the delivery port of the storage section. .