JPS63149186A - Thermal transfer printing method and printing sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To achieve speedy thermal transfer onto an ordinary paper, by combining an original printing plate so constructed that heat is transmitted to the back side only at manuscript parts on the face side when the printing plate is irradiated with rays, with a thermal transfer ink sheet and a recording paper, and irradiating the printing plate with rays. CONSTITUTION:An original printing plate A is a metallic sheet constituted of an aluminum foil or the like. A thermal transfer ink sheet B is placed beneath the printing plate A. The sheet B comprises a base B-1 as an upper part and an ink layer B-2 as a lower part. A recording paper C is placed on the lower side of the sheet B, and the printing plate A is irradiated with a flash of IR rays from an IR ray source. At manuscript parts (a) such as black characters and pictures on the face side of the metallic sheet, heat is transmitted to the back side of the metallic sheet, whereby the corresponding parts of the ink sheet B are heated, and the ink layer V-2 at the parts is transferred onto the paper C. Thus, thermal transfer onto an ordinary paper can be performed easily and speedily, with conveniences in terms of handling or maintenance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a thermal transfer printing method and a printing sheet.

[Prior art and problems]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various methods of copying original documents using heat have been developed.

Examples of this method include the following.

(a) Printing method using a heat-sensitive stencil sheet The method related to (a) is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-192355, in which a manuscript and a heat-sensitive stencil sheet are placed closely together and irradiated with a light source. The image area drawn on the original is heated, and this heat is used to punch holes in the heat-sensitive stencil (C) to create an original plate.

Thereafter, ink is applied to this heat-sensitive stencil sheet, and stencil printing is performed on the recording paper placed on the base.

In other words, according to the printing method (B), two steps are required to copy a manuscript: a plate-making process and a printing process, and the workability is poor.Moreover, wet ink is used in the printing process. , there was a problem that it was difficult to handle.

(b) A thermal copying method that uses thermal recording paper with a coloring layer provided on a base layer made of a transparent or translucent synthetic resin sheet.

This (b) was made to improve the printing method of (a) above, and was previously proposed by the applicant (for example, Patent Application No. 241736 of 1985, the invention title "Thermal Sensitive"). Copying Method and Apparatus”).

In other words, in this method, thermal copying is performed by irradiating light onto an original set on a base and thermal recording paper while they are pressed together, and the original is copied onto the thermal recording paper as a mirror image. Therefore, this image can be seen as a normal image by looking through a synthetic resin sheet that is a transparent or semi-transparent base layer.

According to this thermal copying method, all the time-consuming problems caused by the printing method (a) are improved.

However, the printed sheet is based on synthetic resin sheet I-
It is a special sheet with a light-emitting layer on top, and there is a difference in that it cannot be recorded on so-called plain paper.

After all, there is a strong demand for copying or transferring manuscripts onto sheets of any material, recording paper such as notebooks, and moreover,
It is expected that a copying machine will be developed that is smaller, easier to operate, and requires no maintenance than the PPC copying machine that has been used in offices, etc. .

41 In order to meet this kind of demand, the present inventors have made plain paper
I have been researching various ways to easily copy manuscripts.

By the way, with the spread of word processors, it is now possible for any number of people to easily create printed manuscripts, and they can also convert diagrams and pictures into digital signals using image readers, such as C0Ds (charge-coupled devices). It can be recorded in memory. Therefore, it has become possible to print out such diagrams and pictures along with text as manuscripts.

It takes time to print out such characters and figures using a word processor, etc., but to make multiple copies of them, it is easier to create one manuscript and then copy it using some method. After creating an M manuscript containing characters and figures, it is desired to easily and quickly copy it onto plain paper, but as a result of various experiments, we have found that the above The inventor has discovered that it is sufficient to prepare a manuscript and perform thermal transfer using a thermal transfer ink sheet.

Furthermore, if you place plain paper as a document on a thermal transfer ink sheet and apply infrared light as a flash, all parts of the document, including the areas where letters and figures are written, as well as the areas of blank paper, will receive heat on the underside. It was also found that the heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet was changed in quality and stuck to both the original document and the recording paper placed under the heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet, making printing impossible.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention has been made based on the above circumstances and research results, and includes a thermal transfer printing method that can easily and quickly thermally transfer a created manuscript onto plain paper, and a useful printing method using this printing method. The purpose is to provide sheets.

[Key points of the invention]

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention has developed a printing original plate that does not transmit light and in which only the document portion formed on the front surface is heated by the irradiation of light and the heat is transmitted to the back surface. Place the recording paper on top of the thermal transfer ink sheet, place the recording paper under the thermal transfer ink sheet, and irradiate the printing plate with a light beam while the printing original plate, the thermal transfer sheet, and the recording paper are at least in pressure contact and electrically aligned. The key point is that a portion of the thermal transfer ink sheet corresponding to the document portion is thermally transferred onto the recording paper to perform thermal transfer printing.

[Basic principle of the invention]

As described above, this invention is characterized in that a metal sheet (made of aluminum foil or the like) is preferably used as the printing original plate.

That is, this type of metal sheet can absorb light, e.g.
When irradiated with η light, no heat is transferred to the back surface, and even if a heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet is placed on the bottom surface, there will be no change in quality.

However, text and pictures written on the surface of this metal sheet with a pen such as black, or printed characters and diagrams written with a word processor, etc., can be read with an image IJ-da, etc.
A part of the manuscript 7, such as a picture printed on it, generates heat when irradiated with infrared rays, and the heat is transmitted only to that part to the back side.If you place a thermal transfer ink sheet on the bottom side, only the part corresponding to the original part will be transmitted. is further transferred to a recording paper placed below it.

In other words, the original printing plate and thermal transfer ink sheet will exhibit different physical (or chemical) changes when irradiated with infrared rays depending on the area where the original is drawn and the area where the original is plain. Printing can be done easily and quickly.

Further, the principle of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, the reference numeral A indicates a printing original plate made of metal foil such as aluminum, and the reference numeral a indicates the manuscript portion.

Then, a thermal transfer ink sheet B is placed on the lower surface of this printing original plate. The upper part of this thermal transfer ink sheet B is the support B-1, and the lower part is the ink M B-2. Then, appropriate recording &
Place C.

The above is the first step of the present thermal transfer printing method.

Thereafter, with the printing original plate A, the thermal transfer ink sheet B1, and the recording paper C in pressure contact at least, a light source, preferably an infrared source, is used as a closed light source to irradiate (the first
The arrow in the figure indicates infrared light. ).

As a result, as shown in FIG. 1(B), heat is transmitted to the back side of the document part a, heating the corresponding part of the thermal transfer ink sheet B, and transferring the ink layer B-2 to the recording paper C. do.

The flow of this heat is shown by the dashed arrow in Figure 1 (Bl).The heat irradiated to the plain area other than the document section a is partially absorbed by the original printing plate A; Most of the other heat is dissipated as shown in Figure 1 (B
It will be reflected as shown by the solid arrow of l. This completes the second step of the present thermal transfer printing method.

As a result, printing is completed as shown in FIG. 1 (C1).

That is, in FIG. 1 (C1 is the printing original plate A and the thermal transfer ink sheet B after being irradiated with infrared rays as described above.

This shows a state in which the recording paper C is separated, and a recording section C is formed in a portion of the recording paper C corresponding to the above-mentioned document section a. That is, the ink is transferred from the ink layer B-2 of the thermal transfer ink sheet B to form the recording area C.

The box in the figure is a defective part caused by running out of ink.

In this way, printing original plate A, thermal transfer ink sheet B
If the recording papers C are overlapped at least and irradiated with a light beam such as infrared rays as a closed light, printing can be completed in an instant, which is extremely simple and speedy, and does not stain hands or clothes. No problem, it's preferable.

Furthermore, as the thermal transfer ink sheet B, those having a black ink layer, but also those having various ink layers such as red, blue, etc. have been put into practical use, and the printing original plate A is used as the thermal transfer ink sheet of each color. When used in combination with B, multi-color printing can be performed extremely easily, printing can be performed clearly, and good printed matter can be obtained.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the present invention in which printing is actually performed using the above-mentioned basic principle of the present invention will be specifically described.

FIG. 2 shows a state in which an address is printed on a postcard as a recording paper C, and a light source device 1 for irradiating infrared light is used to print a transparent sheet D, on which the address is recorded in advance. The device is placed on printing original plate A, thermal transfer ink sheet B, and recording paper C, and by pressing from above the main body of the device, flash light is irradiated onto printing original plate A and thermal transfer ink sheet B to perform thermal transfer. Do printing.

On the other hand, the transparent sheet D is placed on the surface of the printing original plate in order to prevent staining of the glass plate 12 and to protect the printing original plate, which will be described later.

That is, FIG. 3 shows that the transparent sheet D and the original printing plate A are releasably adhered at one edge of each at the adhesive part d so that they can be handled as one unit.

That is, when writing predetermined characters, etc. on the original printing plate A using a word processor or by hand, use the transparent sheet D with the transparent sheet D turned up as shown by the dotted line in the figure.

After that, when the original part a is formed and the actual printing process begins, the transparent sheet D is placed so as to face the top of the original printing plate, and the original part a is properly aligned from above as shown in Fig. 2. It is placed so that it can be seen as a statue.

Next, the internal structure of the light source device ti will be explained with reference to FIG.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4, the portable device main body 5 of light source device #1 has a housing-like outer casing 6 having an opening at one end.
and an inner cylinder 7 which is housed inside the outer casing 6 and is movable up and down.
The light source housing case 8 is attached to the - mark. A lamp 9 (for example, a xenon lamp) that emits flash light for a predetermined period of time is arranged in the light source housing case 8 via a lamp mounting plate 8a. Protrusions 10 are formed on both sides of the light source housing case 8 to facilitate gripping, and on the inner wall thereof,
In order to increase the light irradiation efficiency from rung 9 to printing original plate A,
A reflective plate 11 made of aluminum foil or the like is stretched. A transparent glass plate 12 forming a light-transmitting part is attached to the lower surface of the light source housing case 8. This glass plate 12 transmits the light from the lamp 9, and also includes a transparent sheet D and an inkuri original plate A.
, heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet B to recording paper C
It works as a holding plate.

On the other hand, a power supply unit 14 used for lighting and driving the rung 9 is housed within the device main body 5.

This power supply unit 14 is composed of a dry battery or a charger that can be charged using a commercial power source. Further, a predetermined position of the device main body 5, specifically, an upper position of the inner cylinder 7, is turned on when the device main body 5 is gripped and pressed with a pressing force of a predetermined pressure or more. , a pressure-sensitive switch mechanism 15 is provided which drives the lamp 9 to be turned on using a power supply current from the power supply unit 14. This pressure sensitive switch machine s1
5 is one spring piece 15a of a pair of spring pieces 15a and 15b formed by forming a substantially U-shaped notch 7a in the upper wall portion of the inner cylinder 7, and the inner wall of the inner cylinder 7. The pressure sensitive switch 15c attached to the
A suppressing portion 15f is provided on the inner wall of the outer casing 6 to turn on and off a pair of contact springs 15d and 15e forming the contact spring 15c. Note that the suppressing section 1
5f is a guide hole 7b formed in the center of the earthen wall of the inner cylinder 7.
It is inserted into the inner cylinder so as to be able to move up and down, and a stopper 70 for preventing the outer N6 from coming off from the inner cylinder 7 is fitted at its tip.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, a copying process for copying characters, etc. from a printing original onto a recording paper C using the light source device 1 having the above-described configuration will be described.

First, a recording paper C and a thermal transfer ink sheet B are placed on a base, a printing original plate A is set thereon with the document portion a facing up, and a transparent sheet D is superimposed thereon.

As shown in the figure, the ink layer B-2 of the thermal transfer ink sheet B is brought into contact with the surface of the recording paper C.

Thereafter, the apparatus main body 5 is held, and the transparent sheet D1 printing original plate A and the thermal transfer ink sheet B1 and the recording paper C on the base are pressed against each other using the glass plate 12 as a presser. More than the specified force,
When the main body 5 of the device is pressed against the elastic force of the pair of spring pieces 15a and 15b formed on the earthen wall of the inner holder 7, the inner holder 7
The outer casing 6 moves downward while being guided by the side wall surface. Then, as the outer casing 6 moves downward, at the suppressing part 15f formed on the earthen wall of the outer casing 6, as shown in FIG. , upper position contact spring 1
Since the tip of 5e is moved downward, its contact point is 1
5e and the contact point 15d at the lower position come into electrical contact. As a result, the pressure-sensitive switch mechanism 15 is turned on and a trigger signal is applied to the lighting circuit.
A driving voltage suitable for flash lighting is applied to the lamp 9. As a result, the lamp 9 automatically opens and the light is transmitted to the glass plate 12.
, the printing original plate A is irradiated through the transparent sheet D.

Due to this irradiation, only the fjjLm portion a generates heat to a sufficiently higher temperature than the other portions, and this thermal energy causes the document portion a of the printing original plate A to be transferred to the recording paper C according to the above-mentioned operating principle.
The image is then copied onto the thermal transfer ink sheet B by thermal transfer.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the portable light source device 1
The device is equipped with a light source, a power supply unit, and a pressure-sensitive switch mechanism, so the pressure-sensitive switch and structure can be turned on by simply pressing the main body of the device, and based on this ON operation, the power supply current is transferred from the power supply unit to the light source. This allows for easy and quick thermal transfer printing.

Further, according to this embodiment, a transparent sheet (D) is removably adhered to one end of the original printing plate A on which the document portion a is formed via the adhesive portion d, thereby forming a printing sheet. ing. Therefore, when writing predetermined characters, etc. on the surface of the printing original plate A using a word processor or handwriting, the transparent sheet D is folded from the adhesive part d formed at one end edge of the printing original plate A. is placed on the back side of the printing original plate A, and on the other hand, when copying the original portion a such as characters formed on the front surface of the printing original plate A to the recording paper cV-h via the thermal transfer ink sheet B, , by turning over the transparent sheet a and immediately covering the entire surface of the original printing plate A with the transparent sheet a, the original portion a is placed on the glass plate 1 during transfer.
2 and staining the glass surface.

Therefore, it is not a scale that can quickly and reliably transfer the document portion a onto the recording paper C via the thermal transfer ink sheet B, but the printing original plate A and the transparent sheet) D are in contact with the contact portion d. Since they are integrally bonded together via a , it is extremely convenient for handling and storage management.

Note that the heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet) B may be made into a roll, and when printing is performed one after another, a new sheet surface may be taken out automatically or by manual operation of a drawer. This makes it suitable for continuous printing.

[Example of modification of original printing plate]

Next, a modification of the printing original plate that can be used in the present thermal transfer printing method will be described.

That is, in the example described above, the metal foil itself was used as the printing original plate, but various examples shown in FIG. 6 can be realized.

That is, in FIG. 6 (4), printing original plate A is metal sheet 8-1.
and a coating layer A-2 provided thereon, and this coating layer A-2 covers the original part a such as characters.
is easier to form. This coating layer A-2
is formed by applying a predetermined coating liquid.

Same figure (Example of Bl is film sheet such as resin film)
A printing original plate A is formed by using A-3 as a support and pasting or coating a metal foil or the like on the lower surface thereof to provide a metal sheet A-1. The film sheet A-3 in FIG. 6 (Bl) is preferably a transparent or semi-transparent material. Then, the original Qia is formed on the surface of this film sheet A-3.

In addition, FIG. 6 (C1 is an example of another printing original plate,
It is a laminated S structure opposite to that shown in Figure (B), and the film sheet A-3 serves as a support, and the metal sheet A-1 is placed on the top surface.
is provided. Then, a document portion a is formed on the surface of this metal sheet A-1. This figure 6 (C1
The film sheet A-3 may be a transparent material or an opaque material.

Further, Fig. 6) shows another example in which the metal sheet A-1 is combined with the film sheet A-3 and another film sheet A-3.
-3' in a sandwich shape to form printing original plate A.

In addition, the film sheet A-3 on the top surface of this Figure 6 Φ)
may be used as a coating layer. Then, a document portion a is formed at a predetermined location on this uppermost film sheet A-3.

In any of the examples shown in FIG. 6 (4) to Φ), a light beam is irradiated from a light source to heat the original part a, the heat is transmitted to the bottom layer through each layer, and then , the corresponding part of the thermal transfer ink sheet disposed on the lower surface thereof is thermally transferred to the recording paper.

In this way, the printing original plate can take the form of ridges, and the point is that a metal material or a material similar to it is provided inside the printing original plate, and the material is used to form a pattern on the surface. It is only necessary to heat only the exposed original portion by irradiating the light beam, and to transmit the heat to the back side.

In addition, various configurations of the light source device and printing original plate may be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, the present invention is capable of thermal transfer of a printing original plate that does not transmit light and in which only the document portion formed on the front side is heated by the irradiation of light and the heat is transmitted to the back side. The printing original plate, the thermal transfer ink sheet, and the recording paper are placed on an ink sheet, and a light beam is irradiated with the printing original plate, the thermal transfer ink sheet, and the recording paper brought into contact with each other at least in pressure, so that the portion of the thermal transfer ink sheet that corresponds to the document area is irradiated with light. I decided to perform thermal transfer printing by thermally transferring it to recording paper, so the created stamp #ljy!
It is convenient because it allows thermal transfer from a plate to plain paper easily and quickly.

Further, according to the present invention, since the printing sheet is formed by releasably adhering the transparent sheet to one end edge of the printing original plate, the transparent sheet is bent from the edge of one end of the printing original plate, and the printing is performed. The document portion formed on the surface of the original plate can be immediately covered. Therefore, during transfer by light irradiation, it is possible to prevent the document portion from transferring to the light source side and staining the light source side. In addition, since the printing original plate and the transparent sheet are integrally bonded through the -@ details of the printing original plate, it is extremely convenient in terms of handling and storage management.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings illustrate the present invention. Fig. 1 shows the basic principle of the invention, Fig. 2 shows an example in which the invention is applied to a platform for printing addresses, etc., and Fig. 3 shows the basic principle of the invention. FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams showing specific examples of thermal transfer printing using a light source device, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing various configurations of printing original plates. A... Original printing plate, A-1... Metal sheet, A-2.
...te coating layer, A-3, A-3°... film sheet), B... heat-sensitive transfer ink sheet, C... recording paper,
D... Transparent sheet, a... Original part, b... Missing part, C... Recording part, A7 adhesive part, 1... Light source device, 9
... Lamp 15 ... Pressure-sensitive switch mechanism / Figure 6

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A printing original plate that does not allow light to pass through between the light source and the recording paper, and only the document portion formed on the front side is heated by the irradiation of the light beam, and the heat is transmitted to the back side;
a first step of arranging at least a thermal transfer ink sheet, and driving the light source to perform the printing in a state in which the printing original plate, the thermal transfer ink sheet, and the recording paper are overlapped with at least pressure contact. Irradiating the original plate with a light beam to generate heat only in the original portion, transmitting the heat to the thermal transfer ink sheet, and thermally transferring the portion of the thermal transfer ink sheet corresponding to the original portion onto the recording paper. A thermal transfer printing method comprising: a second step; (2) The thermal transfer printing method according to claim 1, wherein the printing original plate is made of a metal sheet, and the document portion is formed on the surface of the metal sheet. (3) A printing original plate that does not allow light to pass through and only the document portion formed on the front side is heated by the irradiation of the light beam, and the heat is transmitted to the back side, and a printing plate that covers the surface of this printing original plate. and a transparent sheet releasably adhered to one end edge of the original printing plate. (4) The printing sheet according to claim 3, wherein the printing original plate is made of a metallic sheet.