JPH0655833A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a recording apparatus capable of efficiently recording in a short time in the case of recording a large number of copies from a large number of originals. A recording material (1) having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when heated and brought into contact with a liquid, and a contact material (6) made of a liquid or vapor or a solid which becomes a liquid by heating on the surface of the recording material (1). To form a latent image on the heating portion by a method of forming a receding contact angle corresponding to the heating temperature, and contacting the latent image with a recording material 8 containing a developer. In the recording apparatus that forms a visible image by developing and transfers the visible image onto the recording paper P and records the image, the length of the recording body 1 is set to a length that can accommodate a plurality of originals.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus which uses a recording medium or recording medium having a surface whose receding contact angle is reduced when heated and brought into contact with a liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has previously used a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid. Selectively heated in a state of being in contact with a contact material selected from solids that generate liquid or vapor or become liquid at a temperature below the temperature at which the receding contact angle of the recording medium decreases, or
A region (a so-called pattern region, referred to as a latent image or a development region) in which the surface of the recording body is brought into contact with the contact material in a state of being selectively heated to exhibit a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature. ) Is formed, and the recording material containing the developer and the surface of the recording material whose receding contact angle decreases when it comes into contact with a liquid under heating are selected. A recording method has been proposed in which a visible image corresponding to the heating temperature is formed on the surface of the recording material by heating the recording material or bringing the surface of the recording material into contact with the recording material in a selectively heated state ( See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-178478).

The invention described in the above publication uses, as a recording body, a member having a surface that has a receding contact angle that is low (increases liquid adhesion) when heated and brought into contact with a liquid,
A recording method capable of selectively or selectively and reversibly forming a so-called pattern area (latent image area) on the surface of a recording medium is provided. Further, a developing material is provided on the pattern area. By providing a recording agent containing (for example, liquid ink), a good visible image can be obtained from the beginning,
Either fix this visible image on the surface of the recording medium as it is, or transfer it to plain paper without fixing it and fix it.
It is intended to provide a recording method capable of obtaining a clear image having gradation.

Further, according to the above invention, a plurality of reversible recording media are used in a reversible manner by using a recording medium which is excellent in storability and stability in all steps of forming, erasing, visualizing and transferring so-called pattern areas. A recording method is provided by which the above-mentioned steps of times can be performed.

As described in detail in the above-mentioned publication, the recording medium has a small receding contact angle when heated and brought into contact with a contact material such as liquid or vapor (liquid adhesion increases). ) Has a surface, the surface of the recording material returns to its original receding contact angle when heated in the absence of a contact material, since the interaction with the contact material does not occur (liquid adhesion is reduced). ) The latent image is erased (deimaged). Therefore, by providing a means for heating in the state of contact with the contact material and a means for contact heating in the absence of the contact material, it is possible to form a recording device capable of easily recording and erasing.

A conventional example of a recording apparatus using the recording method described in the above publication is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 21 is a recording body in which a recording layer having the above-mentioned properties is formed on the surface of a drum-like support, and 22 is a container 2 for containing a latent image forming liquid 23
4, a thermal head which is a heating element disposed outside the recording body 21, 25 is a transfer roller, 26 is recording paper, 2
Reference numeral 7 denotes a recording material 21 stored in a case 28.
, 30 is a cleaner for cleaning, and 31 is an image removing heating means including an infrared heater.

In this recording apparatus, a latent image forming liquid 23 (for example, a liquid such as water) is selectively heated by a thermal head 24 while the surface of the recording medium 21 is in contact with the surface of the recording medium 21 to form a receding contact angle at the heating portion. A latent image is formed by the method described above, and the latent image is developed by contacting the latent image with a recording agent (water-based ink) using a roller 27 to form a visible image on the surface of the recording body 21 according to the heating temperature. The visual image is transferred and recorded on the recording paper 26, and the surface of the recording body 21 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaner 30 and then heated by the image removing heating means 31 to erase the latent image (image removal). ) Will be done.

When the latent image formed in this manner is used in a printing press mode, the formed latent image is stored in the memory without being removed, and development and cleaning are repeated.
On the other hand, when used in the printer mode, the latent image formed is removed after transfer and is formed again on the recording medium.
Development, transfer and cleaning are performed.

[0009]

By the way, in the recording apparatus having such a structure, there are some uses for recording a large number of copies from one original, and some uses for recording a large number of copies from a large number of originals. In the former case, that is, in the case of recording a large number of copies from one original, the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIG. 3 is suitable. However, in the latter case, that is, in the case of printing a large number of copies from a large number of originals, the configuration shown in FIG. 3 is not necessarily suitable. Because each time required for latent image formation, development and image removal is
When recording a large number of copies from a large number of originals in the order of development, the configuration shown in FIG. 3 needs to repeat latent image formation, development of a large number of sheets, and removal of images, resulting in a long recording time. There's a problem.

[0010]

Therefore, in the present invention, a recording medium having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid is provided. A latent image is formed on the heating part by a method of selectively heating a contact material composed of a solid that becomes a liquid by heating in a state of contacting, and forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature. A recording device that forms a visible image by contacting and developing a recording material containing a material, and transfers the visible image to a recording paper for recording, or after transferring the visible image to the recording paper, In a recording apparatus for erasing the latent image by heating at the portion where the contact material is absent, the length of the recording body is adapted to accommodate a plurality of originals, and more specifically, the recording body is endless. The film or the edge of the recording Or combine its ends to come up means respectively provided, or provided with a driving means for reversing the driving direction of the recording member during development the latent image formation.

[0011]

The function of the recording medium is an endless film, the recording medium has an end and a winding means is connected to the end, or the driving direction of the recording medium is reversed during latent image formation and development. Since the means is provided so that the length of the recording body can correspond to a plurality of originals, a visible image corresponding to the plurality of originals is formed on the recording body at a time.

[0012]

EXAMPLE A first example of the present invention will be described below. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a recording body 1. When the recording body 1 is heated on a surface of an endless belt-shaped substrate while being in contact with a liquid, its receding contact angle becomes low after cooling and the liquid is A thin surface layer is formed by applying a recording material having a function of increasing the receding contact angle by heating in the absence of the recording material. The recording body 1 has a structure in which it is wound around a drive roller 2 and a plurality of tension rollers 3 and woven, and the total length thereof is long enough to record about 3 to 6 A4 size sheets. And is moved by the drive roller 2 in the direction of arrow A in the figure.

The drive roller 2 is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow A in the figure by a motor M1 as a drive means and has a structure in which the rotation speed can be adjusted. be changed. Recording body 1
The substrate and the recording material will be described below.

(A) Substrate of recording medium: Seamless film made of a heat-resistant resin such as polyimide, with a plate thickness of 12.5 to
25 μm (b) Recording material: Fluorine-containing acrylate material Above the recording body 1, a cleaner 4 for removing ink and the like remaining on the surface of the recording body 1 after transfer and a latent image formed on the recording body 1 are heated. Infrared heaters 5 serving as removing means for erasing by erasing are arranged respectively from the downstream side to the upstream side with respect to the progress of the recording body 1 in the A direction.

A container 7 containing a latent image forming liquid 6 which is a contact material and a container 9 containing a developer 8 which is a recording agent are arranged in the lower direction of the recording body 1 in the traveling direction A of the recording body 1. On the other hand, the latent image roller 10 and the developing roller 11 are rotatably arranged in the respective containers 7 and 9 in order from the upstream side. A solution containing a wetting agent such as glycerin or diethylene glycol and an antiseptic agent in water is used as the latent image forming solution 6, and a water-based ink is used as the developing solution 8.

The latent image roller 10 and the developing roller 11 are
Both of them are made of porous foamed urethane and are supported so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the recording body 1, and at the time of latent image formation, the latent image roller 10 is in contact with the recording body 1 and the developing roller 11 is In the separated state, the latent image roller 10 is separated from the recording body 1 and the developing roller 11 is in contact with the recording body 1 during development. Well-known means such as a motor, a solenoid, and a piezoelectric actuator are used for the contacting / separating means of the latent image roller 10 and the developing roller 11, and each position is controlled.

Inside the recording body 1 facing the latent image roller 10, a thermal head 12 that generates heat in response to an image signal is provided.
Are placed. The thermal head 12 has its heating element 13
Is brought into contact with the area of the recording body 1 in contact with the latent image roller 10. That is, the thermal head 12,
A latent image is formed in the latent image forming portion such as the latent image roller 10 and the latent image forming liquid 6, and the latent image is developed in the developing portion such as the developing roller 11 and the developing liquid 8 to form a visible image.

On the other hand, the recording body 1 located between the infrared heater 5 and the portion where the developing roller 11, which is the developing portion, is disposed.
A transfer roller pair 14 is disposed near the recording medium 1 in the vicinity of, and a transfer portion T is formed therebetween. The transfer sheet P is conveyed to the transfer section T from a paper supply section (not shown), the visible image formed on the recording body 1 is transferred, and the transfer sheet P is discharged to the discharge tray 15.

In such a structure, for example, when recording a plurality of originals, the driving roller 2 is rotationally driven in the direction A along with the operation of the motor M1, and the recording body 1 moves in the same direction. Then, a plurality of originals are read by an original reading unit such as a scanner (not shown), and the thermal head 12 generates heat in combination with the latent image forming liquid 6 contained in the latent image roller 10 to form a dot-shaped latent image corresponding to the image signal. An image is formed on the surface of the recording body 1. At this time, the developing roller 12 is separated from the recording body 1 by a contacting / separating unit (not shown).

When the latent image formation is completed, the latent image roller 10
Is separated from the recording medium, and instead of this, the developing roller 1
1 is pressed against the recording medium 1. When the developing roller 11 is brought into pressure contact, the formed latent image is supplied with the aqueous ink that is the developer 8 to develop the latent image, and the latent image is visualized. At this time, the drive roller 2 rotates at a higher speed than that at the time of latent image formation, and moves the recording body 1 in the A direction.

The formed visible images are transferred and recorded on the transfer paper P supplied at a predetermined timing in the transfer section T in the order drawn on the recording medium 1, that is, in the order in which the originals are read, and then discharged. It is discharged to the paper tray 15.

The ink remaining on the surface of the recording body 1 after the completion of transfer is removed by the cleaner 4, and the latent image formed on the recording body 1 is removed by irradiation of the infrared heater 5 to complete the recording cycle and complete a new recording cycle. It is possible to record an image from a document.

As described above, since the length of the recording body 1 can accommodate a plurality of originals, and the moving speed of the recording body 1 at the time of development and transfer is faster than that at the time of latent image formation, a plurality of sheets can be printed at a time. The image information corresponding to the original document can be formed on the recording body 1 as a visible image, and the image recording time can be significantly shortened.

Further, since the recording body 1 is constructed so as to be woven into the driving roller 2, the tension roller 3 and the like,
Although the total length of the recording body 1 is long, it is possible to prevent the apparatus from increasing in size.

In this embodiment, since the speed of the recording medium in the recording state becomes high, there is a concern that the heat quantity of the infrared heater 5 may be insufficient at the time of removing the latent image. By increasing the applied power or increasing the number of heaters 5, it is possible to secure the image removing function when the recording body 1 moves at a high speed.

Further, since the drive roller 2 described above is rotated in one direction, a visible image is transferred and recorded on the recording paper P in the order of the read originals, so that the transfer paper P discharged to the paper discharge tray 15 is transferred. Are ejected from the first transferred one.
That is, the order of arrangement of original pages and the transfer paper Pa to be discharged
The order of (printed matter) is reversed.

In such a case, the motor M1
Is to be able to rotate normally and reversely, and the rotational directions at the time of latent image formation and at the time of development are changed. That is, when the latent image is formed, the motor M1 is rotated in the forward direction to drive the drive roller 2 and
To move in the direction of arrow B to form a latent image, and at the time of development, the opposite, that is, reverse rotation of the motor M1 drives the driving roller 2 to rotate the recording medium 1 in the direction of arrow A to perform development and transfer. And eject the paper. With this configuration,
Since the latent image formed last is developed and transferred and discharged to the paper discharge tray 15, the transfer paper Pa (printed matter) stacked on the paper discharge tray 15 can be in the same order as the originals. it can.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
The feature of this embodiment is that the recording paper 1 in the first embodiment is of a winding type. The second embodiment will be described below, but those having the same operation as in the first embodiment are shown in FIG.
The same reference numerals as those used in step 1 are given and the description thereof is omitted.

In FIG. 2, the recording medium 1 has a length capable of accommodating a large number of documents, for example, a document capable of accommodating 10 or more A4 size sheets, and both ends thereof have
Rollers 16 and 17 that are winding means are rotatably supported by motors M2 and M3 that are drive means, and are wound around a plurality of tension rollers 3. The motors M2 and M3 are configured to move in the direction of arrow B in the figure when a visible image is formed, and to move in the direction of arrow A during development and transfer, and so that one is stopped while the other is driven. It is configured.

The latent image roller 10 corresponding to the visible image forming section is immersed in the developing solution 6 and the thermal head 1 is located above it.
2 is positioned, and the developing roller 11 corresponding to the developing section is immersed in the developing solution 8. The latent image roller 10 comes into contact with the recording body 1 at the time of latent image formation and is separated at the time of development.
It is the same as in the first embodiment that the sheet is separated from the recording body 1 at the time of latent image formation and comes into contact with it at the time of development.

According to this structure, when a plurality of originals are read and the latent image is formed, the motor M2 is actuated to move the recording medium 1 in the direction of arrow B and the latent image corresponding to the image signal. Are formed on the recording medium 1. When the latent image formation is completed, the motor M2 is stopped, and the motor M3 is driven instead, and the recording medium 1 on which the latent image is formed is indicated by an arrow A.
Move in the direction.

At this time, the latent image roller 10 is separated from the recording medium, and the developing roller 11 is brought into contact with the contacting / separating means (not shown) to perform the development. With the movement of the recording body 1, the development reaches the transfer roller pair 14, and the transfer paper (printed matter) on which the development is transferred is sequentially discharged and recorded on the transfer paper P and discharged onto the discharge tray 15, and remains on the recording body 1. The ink and latent image are removed by the cleaner 4 and the infrared heater 5.
By adopting such a configuration, the transfer speed of the recording device can be increased.

Further, the recording body 1 on which the transfer is completed is wound around the roller 17, and in order to form the development again using the latent image formed on the recording body 1, the latent image is formed after the transfer is completed. It is necessary to rewind the recording body 1 on the roller 16 without removing the image. Therefore, when performing such redevelopment,
It is possible to rewind the recording body 1 by activating the motor M2 during redevelopment and deactivating the infrared heater 5, but there is a problem at this time.

That is, at the end of the transfer, the latent image roller 10 is in a state of being separated from the recording body 1 so that there is no problem, but the developing roller 11 is in a state of being in contact with the recording body 1, so in this state. When the recording body 1 is rewound,
Ink, which is the developer 8, adheres to the recording medium 1 to stain it. Although this problem can be solved by removing the developing roller 11 from the recording body 1 at the time of rewinding, frequent removal of the developing roller 11 takes time.

Therefore, as another means, when the recording body 1 is returned along with the redevelopment of the recording body 1, the developing roller 1 is moved in the direction opposite to the arrow B direction corresponding to the moving direction of the recording body 1.
1 is rotated so that the rotation speed thereof is the same as the moving speed of the recording body 1 at the time of returning, and the cleaner 4a is provided near the recording body 1 located on the roller 16 side.
To arrange.

With this structure, the roller 1
When the recording medium 1 is rewound on the recording medium 6, the relative speed between the developing roller 11 and the recording medium 1 moving in the arrow B direction disappears,
Although the developing roller 11 is in contact with the recording body 1, the adhesion of the ink which is the developing solution 8 is reduced. what if,
Even if a little ink adheres to this part, the cleaner 4
Since it can be removed by a, it is possible to prevent the recording body 1 from being soiled, and it is possible to form a good visible image at the time of redevelopment.

In this embodiment, the individual rollers 16 and 17 and the motors M2 and M3 are used as the winding means. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, one roller and a motor having a clutch mechanism may be used. It does not matter even if you use such as. Further, in the configuration of the recording apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, for the purpose of recording a large number of sheets from one original, a plurality of the same originals are read and the same latent image corresponding to the originals is recorded on the recording medium 1. It is possible to deal with it by forming images and developing a large number of them.

[0038]

According to the present invention, since a latent image corresponding to a plurality of originals can be formed on a recording medium by one reading, when a large number of originals are recorded, The time required for image removal, latent image formation, etc. can be significantly shortened as compared with a recording apparatus which reads each original one by one, and the time required for recording many copies from many originals is reduced. It can be shortened and work efficiency can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus that is a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording apparatus that is a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional recording apparatus using a drum-shaped recording body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Recording Medium 1A, 1B Edge of Recording Medium 6 Contact Material (Latent Image Forming Liquid) 8 Recording Agent (Developer) P, Pa Recording Paper 16,17 Winding Roller M1, M2, M3 Driving Means (Motor) 16, 17, M2, M3 winding means

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuo Watanabe 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo ・ Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A contact material comprising a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when heated and brought into contact with a liquid, wherein the surface of the recording body is a liquid or vapor or a solid material which becomes a liquid by heating. Is selectively heated in a state of contacting with, and a latent image is formed on the heating portion by a method of forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature, and a recording agent containing a developer is brought into contact with the latent image. In a recording apparatus that forms a visible image by developing and transfers the visible image to a recording sheet for recording, the recording medium has a length that can accommodate a plurality of originals. Characteristic recording device. 2. A contact material comprising a recording body having a surface whose receding contact angle decreases when it is heated and brought into contact with a liquid, and the surface of the recording body is a liquid or vapor or a contact material made of a solid which becomes a liquid by heating. Is selectively heated in a state of contacting with, and a latent image is formed on the heating portion by a method of forming a receding contact angle according to the heating temperature, and a recording agent containing a developer is brought into contact with the latent image. In a recording apparatus that develops a visible image, transfers the visible image to a recording paper, and then erases the latent image by heating in a non-existing portion of the contact material, A recording apparatus having a length that allows a plurality of originals to be accommodated. 3. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording body is in the form of an endless film having no edges. 4. A recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording body is in the form of a film having an end, and each end is connected to a winding means. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a driving unit that reverses a driving direction of the recording body during latent image formation and development.