JPS63154367A - Printing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable high-resolution full color printing with a lower cost and a lower running cost, by scraping off a thin ink layer provided on the surface of a support by a movable piece moved relative to and along the surface of the ink layer and capable of making contact with and separating from the surface of the ink, thereby forming an ink image. CONSTITUTION:An ink layer is provided on the surface of a cylindrical support 101 while controlling the thickness of an ink 104 by a knife edge 104. The ink layer 102 is scraped off by a movable piece 106 moved in parallel with the axis of the support 101 and capable of making contact with and separating from the ink, thereby forming an image 105. The movable piece 106 is moved by a driving body 107. The image 105 thus formed is transferred under pressure onto a paper 108 by an impression cylinder 110 to form a transferred image 109, thereby obtaining a printed matter. Thus, it is sufficient for printing to scrape off the ink, and a stroke of about 10 mum of the movable piece is sufficient enough, so that the quantity of energy required for printing is smaller as compared with that in a conventional printing method in which an ink is applied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a printing method that can obtain high-definition images with simple means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are many types of so-called printers that convert electrical signals into visible images. These items are used depending on their purpose.

High-speed printers include laser printers, and low-speed printers include wire dots, thermal transfer, and inkjet printers.

Wire dots are often used for low running costs. However, laser printers and thermal transfer are best used for output from word processors and other devices that require high quality.

In addition, full-color printers have recently become in demand, and inkjet and thermal transfer printers are now being used.

However, each device is unsatisfactory for each purpose, and improvements are desired. Furthermore, printers for home use, which have recently been in demand, are still extremely unsatisfactory in terms of functionality, price, maintenance, running costs, etc.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention Wire dots are often used as printers for computer terminals and personal computers because of their low price and running cost. However, the printing quality is poor (low resolution), making it difficult to use in word processors, and the noise makes it difficult to use at home. Laser printers are available for similar purposes, but they are expensive and not suitable for personal use.

For full color printers, laser and thermal transfer.

Inkjet etc. are being researched and developed. In the case of full-color printers, there is a problem with halftones, and two methods are known: one is to represent each dot with shading, and the other is to represent it as a set of binary dots. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and in the case of the former, the relationship between the electrical signal and the dot density (optical density) is very strict.

Among currently known printer technologies, the most superior method is one in which silver halide film is exposed and developed using a laser. 1 price 9 It is something that cannot be replaced due to running costs and other factors. The former method has been studied for so-called laser printers and inkjet printers that use electrophotography, but this method has not yielded satisfactory results. A method has been developed to transfer this sublimable dye onto a printed material.

In order to increase the resolution, it is desirable to reduce the number of heating elements, but on the other hand, to obtain a uniform image, it is necessary to reduce the number of heating elements.
I have a dilemma. However, in terms of images, the current amount is also excellent. I think that the. For the transfer paper, a commonly used transfer paper coated with heat-melting ink was used, and a method was also developed to adjust the size of the transferred dots by devising the shape of the heating element of the thermal heater. However, it still suffers from the same problems as those using sublimable dyes.

The latter dot density method, in which one dot is represented by a number of dots of binary gradation, is the one that has been studied the most.

-The concentration of the dots themselves should be constant.

However, compared to the former method, gradations cannot be expressed satisfactorily unless the resolution is as high as the square root of the required number of gradations, and it is said that at least 32 dots/f1 is required. Even if such a thing were currently technically possible, the cost of the equipment would undoubtedly be prohibitive.

In view of these problems, the present invention provides a method that allows high resolution, full color, and low device costs and running costs.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the printing method of the present invention uses a movable piece that moves relatively along the surface of a thin ink layer provided on the surface of a support and that comes into contact with and leaves. The ink layer is scraped off to form an ink image and transferred to obtain a printed matter.

Effects The present invention achieves unprecedented high resolution, low cost, and full-color printing by using the method described above, and by using the present invention, it is possible to easily obtain a printer that is most suitable for home use.

EXAMPLE Hereinafter, an example of the printing method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the printing method of the present invention.

(Example 1) An ink layer is formed on the surface of a cylindrical support 101 by adjusting the thickness of the ink 104 using a knife 104. This ink layer is moved parallel to the axis of the cylindrical support 101, and at the same time, the ink N102 is scraped off by a movable piece 106 that comes into contact with and leaves the ink, thereby forming an image 105. 107
is a driving body that can move the movable piece 106.

The mechanism for moving the movable piece in the axial direction of the support body is not shown.
) 0 to create a transfer image 109 and obtain a printed matter.

Here, it is better for the ink 104 to have a certain degree of viscosity and to be easily formed into a thin layer.For example, there is a commonly used printing ink (offset printing ink), and there are many other line-based inks. .

As the driver 107, a generally well-known one can be used.

For example, an electromagnetic solenoid can be used, and a piezoelectric actuator can also be used.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating another method of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, a thin ink layer 102 is formed on a cylindrical support 101 by restricting ink 104 with a knife 103 in the same manner as in FIG. Similarly, a cylindrical support 1
The ink layer 102 is scraped off by a movable piece 106 that moves parallel to the axis of 01 and simultaneously contacts and leaves the ink.
An image 105 is formed. 107 is a driving body that can move the movable piece 106. The mechanism for moving the movable piece in the axial direction of the support is not shown.The ink image 105 thus formed is transferred to a transfer roller 201, which is an intermediate transfer medium, and the ink image 202 on this transfer roller 201 is transferred to an impression cylinder. 1) 0 is used to press and transfer onto the cover 108 to obtain a printed matter. If a resilient rubber-like material is used as the transfer roller, the image quality will be much better than the method shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which a sheet-like support is used. A sheet-like support 301 is made like an endless belt and is applied to a heat roller 305 and a drive roller 302 for a heat transfer roller 30B. Here, a thermofusible ink is used as the ink 312. The ink 304 is pumped by the heat of the heat roller 305 and a thin ink layer 303 is formed using the knife 304. This ink layer is scraped off by the movable piece 306 to form an image 307. At this time, the ink layer may be in a molten state, or it may be in a solid state after cooling; a finer image can be drawn in a solid state. The ink image formed in this way is superimposed on the cover 310 and sandwiched between the impression cylinder 309 and the thermal transfer roller 308, and the ink is melted again and the image is transferred to obtain a printed matter.

(Example 2) A device as shown in FIG. 5 was assembled. Using a knife, ink the surface of a 5-diameter iron cylindrical support 501 with offset ink (Ricoh's offset ink 0F70).
9) was applied thinly to obtain an ink layer 502 with a thickness of about 20 μm. As a driving body, a bimorph type piezoelectric body (manufactured by Hiromi Denki) is used.
PCM33 width 1.5x length 8. Ox thickness 0.5m) 50
3 was used, and a tungsten needle 504 was attached to the tip to make it a movable piece. The piezoelectric body 503 was fixed with a holder 505, and the winding property of 1HI506 (DC voltage 150 V) was switched at about 800 Hz using a changeover switch 507 to drive the piezoelectric body. The circumferential speed of the cylindrical support 501 is approximately 1
At 0 mouths/second, the width is about 120μ and the length is about 80μ.
A trace of 20 μm of ink was scraped off. When I pressed this onto paper and transferred it, I was able to print white dotted lines on a black background.

(Example 3) A cylindrical support and a movable piece were arranged in the same manner as in Example 1, and the second
A transfer roller was installed as shown in the figure. After making the ink layer thinner than in Example 1 (approximately 3 to 4μ) and scratching the ink layer in the same way, the image on the transfer roller is transferred by pressing it against a resilient transfer roller made of silicone rubber. I pressed it and transferred it again.

The finished printed matter was sharper and had higher density than that of Example 1.

(Example 4) A device as shown in FIG. 3 was assembled. The diameters of the heat roller 305, drive roller 302, and impression cylinder 309 were set to 2 cIl, and that of the heat transfer roller 308 was set to a value of 1.5. A 25 μm polyethylene terephthalate sheet was used as the endless belt 301 as a support. The heat roller and thermal transfer roller were heated to about 100° C., and the drive roller was rotated such that the speed of the endless belt was about 51/sec. The same drive body and movable piece as in Example 1 were used for scraping off ink. The hot-melt ink used had a composition of 3.5 parts by weight of carnauba wax, 3.5 parts by weight of paraffin wax, and 1 part by weight of carbon. Naifetsuji 3
04 was adjusted so that the thickness of the ink layer 303 was approximately 5 to 7 μm. The ink at the - of the movable piece 306 had cooled and become solid.

As a result of driving the driving body (piezoelectric body) in the same manner as in Example 1, when a sheet of paper with a dotted line of approximately 150 μm in width and 40 μm in length and 80 μm pitch at a period of 80 μm was inserted between the impression cylinder 309 and the thermal transfer roller, the paper Good printing was obtained.

(Example 5) In Example 3, the application of the hot-melt ink was stopped, and a similar experiment was conducted using an already applied ink sheet (manufactured by Fuji Kagaku Paper). That is, in FIG. 3, an ink sheet was wound around the drive roller instead of the endless belt, and the ink layer was scraped off to form an ink image, which was transferred to paper between the thermal transfer roller and the impression cylinder. The results were similar to those in Example 3. In this case, the trouble of regenerating the ink layer can be saved, but there is a disadvantage that the ink sheet is consumed.

In the above embodiment, a piezoelectric body is used as the driving body, but it is easily understood that the driving body is not limited to this. For example, it is clear that a solenoid actuator can be used.

Further, in the above embodiments, only a limited number of inks were used, but from the content of the present invention, it can be inferred that any ink that satisfies the requirements can be used. In the example, only one line was drawn, but by making the ink layer application part into a unit, it is separated after ink application, and a movable piece is drawn parallel to the axis of the cylinder of the support body as shown in Fig. 4. In Figure 0, which can be moved to draw a planar image, the ink application unit etc. are not depicted, but 401 is a support;
02 is a driving body and a movable piece.

403 is a moving belt for moving the movable piece parallel to the axis of the cylindrical support. In order to increase the recording speed, a plurality of driving bodies and movable pieces can be provided as shown in the figure. 404 is a drive shaft for moving the moving belt. In addition, although color was not described in the embodiment, as is well known in the past, by preparing the above-mentioned units for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black and repeating the same process as in the embodiment, color A surface image can be obtained. Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain a color image by removing the remaining ink after the transfer and repeating the above process with another color.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, the printing method of the present invention involves scraping off the ink layer with a movable piece that moves relatively along the surface of the thin ink layer provided on the surface of the support and comes into contact with and leaves the ink layer. , an ink image is formed and transferred to obtain printed matter, and for this purpose, compared to the conventional printing method in which ink is applied, 10) it is only necessary to scrape off one ink, and there is no need to move the movable piece. Since the stroke only needs to be 10μ, the energy required for printing is small. (2) By making the feeding pinch of the movable piece finer (and also making the signal given to the drive body finer, the resolution can be improved) It has the characteristics that images can be easily obtained.Of course, colorization is also possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a principle diagram showing one embodiment of the printing method of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a principle diagram showing another embodiment of the printing method of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a principle diagram showing another embodiment of the printing method of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention using a plurality of drive bodies and movable pieces, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the drive bodies and movable pieces. 101.301,401,501...Support,
102.303,502...Thin ink layer, 1
03.304... Naifetsuji, 104°31
4...Ink, 105,307...Ink image, 106,306,504...Movable piece, 107°503...Driver, 108. 310
...Paper, 109...Transfer image, 1)0
, 309... Impression cylinder, 201... Transfer roller, 202... Ink image, 302...
...Drive roller, 305...Heat roller, 30B
... Thermal transfer roller, 31) ... Transferred ink image, 402 ... Movable piece and driver,
403...Moving belt, 404...Moving belt drive shaft, 505...Holding body, 506...
...Power supply, 507...Switch switch. tH--・J8/Muray・°・#phrase 4 German RiU) Yun 耘

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An ink image is formed by scraping off the ink layer with a movable piece that moves relatively along the surface of a thin ink layer provided on the surface of a support and comes into contact with and leaves the ink layer. , a printing method that obtains printed matter by transferring. (2) The printing method according to claim (1), wherein the ink is heat-fusible and the printed matter is obtained by thermal transfer. (3) The support body is a cylindrical body, and is a rotating body rotating around an axis, and the movable piece is configured to move in the axial direction of the cylinder and in the direction perpendicular to the axis. No. (2nd
) The printing method described in any of the above. (4) The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the support is in the form of a sheet and is wound around a rotating cylinder that rotates around an axis, and the ink layer is scraped off with a movable piece. Printing method. (5) Claim No. 1 (5) Repeating image formation and transfer for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks
The printing method according to any one of items 1) to (4). (6) An ink image is formed by scraping off the ink layer with a movable piece that moves relatively along the surface of the thin ink layer provided on the surface of the support and comes into contact with and leaves the ink layer, and this ink image is transferred. A printing method in which the ink image is transferred to an intermediate medium, and then the ink image on the intermediate transfer medium is transferred again to obtain a printed matter. (7) The printing method according to claim (6), wherein the ink is heat-fusible and the printed matter is obtained by thermal transfer. (8) The support body is cylindrical, and is a rotating body rotating around an axis, and the movable piece is configured to move in the axial direction of the cylinder and in the direction perpendicular to the axis. No. 7
) The printing method described in any of the above. (9) The support according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the support is in the form of a sheet and is wound around a rotating cylinder that rotates around an axis, and the ink layer is scraped off with a movable piece. Printing method. (10) The printing method according to any one of claims (6) to (9), in which image formation and transfer are repeated for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks.