JPH07129046A - Recycling device for recorded material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To recycle a recyclable recorded material high in whiteness without an image noise such as a black spot with a simple operation by preventing toner floated and precipitated in a cleaning liquid from being stuck again onto the recorded material as much as possible, without shredding the recorded material. CONSTITUTION:This recycling device 1 is provided with a feeding means 2 for feeding the recorded material into a device, a cleaning liquid 30 for swelling a printed part, a dip coating tank 3 for housing the cleaning liquid 30 and dipping the recorded material for a specific time and a print removing means 4 for additionally and physically processing the surface of the recorded material and removing the printed part and fluidizing means 5 and 51-55 for fluidizing the cleaning liquid 30 in the direction nearly prependicular to the direction of carrying the recorded material in the dip coating tank 30. The device is constituted so that print removing processing is executed under the fluidization of the cleaning liquid 30.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus for removing a printed portion of a recording material obtained by a printing apparatus such as an electrophotographic printer, a printer or a facsimile and reproducing the recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recycling technology has been attracting attention as an earth-friendly technology from the viewpoint of resource conservation. 2. Description of the Related Art Today, copying machines have spread to all fields such as companies and offices, and a technique for recycling used copying paper has been studied, and effective use of resources is desired.

Printed copy paper often has to keep its confidentiality, and in general, the copy paper is once cut and then regenerated into pulp. In this method, since the pulp fibers are short, the obtained recycled paper is very fragile. In addition, the recycling device is complicated and huge, and there is no choice but to rely on a specific specialist for recycling the waste paper.

As a reproducing technique for solving such a problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-89271 discloses a print removing device for removing a printing portion without cutting the paper. This device applies cleaning liquid to the surface of waste paper with a roller,
The surface of the used paper is subjected to a physical treatment to remove the printed portion.

[0005]

However, in the above apparatus, the peeled toner floats in the cleaning liquid,
There is a problem that this is re-adsorbed on the waste paper and the print is not sufficiently removed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a reproducing apparatus for a recording medium which can be easily and surely reproduced without cutting the recording medium.

[0007]

That is, the reproducing apparatus of the present invention contains a supplying means for supplying a recording medium, a conveying means for conveying the recording medium, and a cleaning liquid for swelling the print, and immersing the recording medium. A dipping tank for removing the print by applying a physical treatment to the surface of the recording medium to remove the print, and a flow means for flowing the cleaning liquid in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium in the dipping tank. It is characterized by having.

[0008]

In the reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the printed portion lifted from the recording material is scraped with a brush or the like by preliminarily immersing the recording material in the cleaning liquid. Can be removed. Furthermore, the cleaning liquid is caused to flow in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium, so that the suspended and suspended toner in the cleaning liquid is rapidly moved to both ends of the recording medium, so that the floating toner is transferred to the surface of the recording medium. The purpose of the present invention is to provide recycled paper with high whiteness, which prevents re-adhesion as much as possible and withstands reuse sufficiently.

[0009]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The reproducing apparatus (1) shown in FIG. 1 has a construction in which the printing on the recording material is scraped in the cleaning liquid in the dipping tank, and a paper feeding means (2) for feeding the recording material into the reproducing apparatus. Two
1), a cleaning liquid is stored in the immersion tank for swelling the printing portion in advance for a predetermined time by immersing the recording material for a predetermined time, and a physical treatment is applied to the surface of the recording material in which the printing portion is raised. Print removing means (4) for removing the print portion, flow means (5, 51-55) for flowing the cleaning liquid in a direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium in the immersion tank,
Drying means for drying the recording material to which the cleaning liquid is attached
(60), a paper discharge means (7) for discharging the dried recording material as recycled paper, and a conveying means for conveying the recording material.

Reference numeral (10) in the drawing denotes a recording body, which is a so-called OHP sheet such as a paper or a polyester film on which a toner image Ta containing at least a resin component is recorded. These recording bodies are printed by so-called OA devices such as conventionally known copying machines, printers, and facsimiles.

The sheet feeding means provided in the upper left portion of the reproducing apparatus in the figure conveys the recording body (10) to the opening (I) into which the recording body (10) is introduced. It is composed of a paper feed tray (2) provided as described above. Paper tray (2)
The recording medium (10) may be manually fed by an operator, or by using an automatic document feeder (ADF) used for automatically feeding a document in a copying machine or the like,
Paper may be fed continuously.

The recording body (10) pulled out from the paper feed tray (2) by the paper feed roller (21) is stopped by the front end thereof being sandwiched between the feed roller pair (9a) and (9b). In the figure, the sensor (S1) sends a start signal when one end of the recording body (10) placed on the paper feed tray (20) enters the inside of the apparatus (1) through the opening (I). It is set so that the feed rollers (9a) to (9e) are rotated and driven by driving means (motor or the like) not shown based on the output. In addition, the start signal may be output only when the operator's input to the separately provided switch (S2) is detected.

The feed roller (9a) is pressed against the feed roller (9b) with a constant pressure by sandwiching a conveyor belt (8a) described later. In the present invention, the feed roller pair
At least one of (9a) and (9b) is preferably composed of an elastic body, for example, a urethane roller having a roughened surface.

Conveyor belts are provided on the feed rollers (9b) and (9c).
(8a) has a conveyor belt on the feed rollers (9d) and (9e)
The conveyor belt (8c) is stretched over (8b) and the feed rollers (9f) and (9g). Conveyor belt (8a), (8
b) and (8c) are rotationally driven at a predetermined speed in the direction of the arrow in the figure with the rotation of the feed rollers (9b) to (9g).
The restraining rollers (91a), (91
b) and (91c), and pressing rollers (91d) and (91e) are pressed against the conveyor belt (8b). still,
The holding roller (91e) is set so that a part thereof protrudes from the cleaning liquid. The recording body is an immersion tank
Conveyor belt in cleaning liquid (30) stored in (3)
While being transferred between (8a) and (8b) and the restraining roller at a predetermined speed, after the print is removed by the print removing means (4), it is pulled obliquely upward from the cleaning liquid by the conveyor belt (8c). Then, it is conveyed to a pair of calender rolls (11a) and (11b) through a drying means.

The rotation drive of the feed roller pairs (9a) and (9b) and the feed rollers (9c) to (9e) in the dipping tank is controlled by a sensor (S3), and the recording medium (10) is set to a calendar roll pair ( It is configured to drive until 11a) and (11b) are reliably reached. Alternatively, the sensor (S3) may not be provided, and a predetermined time may be managed by a timer to drive the rotation.

By moving the conveyor belt (8a), the immersion tank (3)
The recording body (10) transferred therein is temporarily stopped here and immersed in the cleaning liquid (30) for a predetermined time. The fixing toner (Ta) on the recording medium swells due to the action of the cleaning liquid. The cleaning liquid used does not dissolve the dye component such as the charge control agent and the colorant component such as facial dye in the toner, but swells the resin component that constitutes the toner to make the toner plastic and the surface from the inside of the recording medium. Use the one that has the property of raising the toner image. As the cleaning liquid used in the present invention, for example, Tosclean D (manufactured by Choso Sangyo Co., Ltd.), which is commercially available as an aqueous cleaning agent, can be used. Tos Screen D contains a tole oil fatty acid ester, a tole oil fatty acid and a surfactant, and has an acid value of about 2.1 mgKOH / g, a specific gravity of 1.020 (20 ° C.), p.
H: A light yellow transparent liquid having physical properties of 7 ± 0.5 (15 ° C.). Toscreen does not contain any compound of fluorine and chlorine carbon, which is said to destroy the ozone layer. Further, since it is harmless to the human body and nonflammable (no flash point), it is extremely suitable for use in a paper recycling apparatus in a normal office environment like the present invention.

The recording medium is immersed in the cleaning liquid under the following conditions.
It may be appropriately set in consideration of the types of the recording material, the printing material (toner), the cleaning liquid, and the like. In any case, the fixing toner (Ta) on the recording material is recorded by the printing removing means described later. Make it easy to detach from above. The dipping time varies depending on the type of the recording medium (10), the printing material, the cleaning liquid, etc., but it is generally preferable to soak for several tens of seconds to several minutes. In this embodiment, Toclean D (manufactured by Choso Sangyo Co., Ltd.), which will be described later, is used as the cleaning liquid, and is fixed at 30 seconds in order to use this under optimum conditions. After the lapse of 30 seconds, each feed roller is driven and the recording material is transferred to a step of removing print.

Then, a physical force is applied to the surface of the recording medium by the print removing means (4) to scrape the printed portion. In this embodiment, a rotary brush is provided as the print removing means.
As shown in FIG. 2, while rotating the brush bristles of the rotating brush so as to slide on the surface of the recording medium in the dipping tank (3), the recording medium is conveyed in the conveying direction (arrows a and b directions) or in a straight line. It is reciprocated along the direction (directions of arrows c and d).
As a result, the printed portion can be scraped off efficiently without damaging the surface of the recording body (10).

As the material for the bristles of the rotary brush, polymer fibers such as nylon, acryl and polyester, or fibers such as wool are preferably used.

The form of the print removing means (4) is not limited to the above rotary brush form. For example, a cloth belt (web) stretched between driving rollers can be used. Use a cloth woven of fibers,
The removal effect can be further enhanced by pressing the blade against the surface of the web to scrape the swollen toner or other dirt adhering to the web into the collection box. Further, an elastic blade made of metal, rubber or the like can be used as the print removing means. These are configured to scrape off the toner from the surface of the recording body (10) by combining a pressure contact means (spring or the like). Further, the print removing means is not limited to the solid friction method as described above, and may be a method in which the cleaning liquid is strongly sprayed as a jet stream from the slit nozzle onto the recording medium to release the toner. The above means can be used in combination as appropriate.

In the present embodiment, the recording material is temporarily stopped in the dipping tank, sufficiently immersed in the cleaning liquid, and then the print removing process is performed by the print removing means. However, the recording material is not stopped. The print removing means may simultaneously perform the print removing processing while conveying the inside of the immersion tank at a predetermined speed. The moving speed of the recording material in the dipping tank is appropriately determined from the balance between the print removal efficiency and the reproducing speed of the recording material.

On the other hand, the toner (Tb) peeled off from the surface of the recording medium by the print removing treatment is suspended and suspended in the cleaning liquid in the dipping tank, or is precipitated as large plastic particles. If these are left in the cleaning liquid, they will proceed to the next step while remaining on the surface of the recording medium that has been cleaned, and will be re-adhered to and re-adsorbed on the surface of the recording medium, resulting in image noise such as black spots. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a flow means for circulating the cleaning liquid at the bottom of the immersion tank (3) to keep the cleaning liquid in the immersion tank always clean.

In the figure, (5) is a circulation path for circulating the cleaning liquid, and a pump (53) is provided in the middle of the transfer path so that the cleaning liquid (30) taken from the inlet (51) is discharged from the outlet. ) Is provided. A filter (54) is provided on the upstream side of the pump (53) with respect to the circulation direction of the cleaning liquid. Since the filter collects the toner (Tb) and other impurities floating in the immersion tank (3), the cleaning liquid in the immersion tank (3) is always kept clean. Filter material
(55) is constructed so that it can be replaced appropriately. Examples of the material of the filter substance include glass wool, activated carbon,
Natural fiber cloth or the like can be used.

In FIG. 1, an outlet nozzle (52) discharges a clean cleaning liquid near the central portion of the recording medium at a position where the recording medium is pulled up obliquely upward from the cleaning liquid by a conveyor belt (8c). It has been fixed to. The surface of the recording medium is washed away with a clean cleaning liquid that is vigorously ejected from the nozzle. On the other hand, the pressing roller (91e) is located on the upstream side in the recording medium conveyance direction with respect to the vicinity of the blowout portion of the outlet nozzle (52). The liquid pool (31) is formed by configuring a part of the roller so as to come out of the cleaning liquid surface.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of the flow means in the reproducing apparatus of FIG.

The cleaning liquid discharged near the central portion of the recording medium flows into the liquid pool, and then the roller (91e).
When the recording medium (10) collides with the recording medium (10), the recording medium (10) flows in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the recording medium (10), and flows substantially evenly along the surface of the recording medium. Impurities such as toner particles, which are separated from the surface of the recording medium by the print removing means and are suspended or suspended in the cleaning liquid, quickly move to both ends of the recording medium along with the flow of the cleaning liquid, and the downstream side in the recording medium conveying direction. It flows to. Thereafter, the cleaning liquid containing impurities is taken into the conveyance path from the inlet and then passes through the filter portion (54) to be cleaned and discharged again from the outlet nozzle. Due to this action, the dirty cleaning liquid (30b) containing floating toner particles (Tb) does not flow in the moving direction of the recording medium in the print removed portion. On the other hand, the portion of the recording material that has been cleaned moves to the nozzle (52) which is the outlet of the clean cleaning liquid (30c), so that it hardly touches the floating toner particles (Tb). . Even if the toner particles are reattached to the surface of the recording medium, the surface of the recording medium is washed away by the rinse from the outlet nozzle (52), and the cleaning liquid containing impurities moves to both ends of the recording medium, It flows quickly downstream in the transport direction. Therefore,
It is possible to prevent the toner particles from remaining on the recording medium from proceeding to the drying in the next step. Further, the cleaning liquid can be repeatedly used until its action is reduced, which is very economical.

Further, in this embodiment, the pressing roller (91
In step e), the cleaning liquid in which the toner separated by the print removing means is suspended from flowing into the rinse portion. Therefore, it is possible to prevent re-adhesion or re-adsorption of the toner or the like suspended or precipitated in the cleaning liquid on the recording material, and it is possible to obtain a reproduced recording material having higher whiteness.

In this embodiment, in order to cause the cleaning liquid discharged from the outlet nozzle (52) to flow in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the recording medium, a part of the restraining roller (91e) is used as described above. Although it is projected from the liquid surface, it is not limited to this. For example, when a holding roller having a small diameter is used, a blocking plate member may be separately provided.

Conveyor belt for transferring the recording material in the immersion tank
As (8a), (8b), and (8c), for example, a thin film, an elastic body, a non-woven fabric, a cloth in which fibers are knitted, or a plate-like material made of metal, polymer, or steel is preferably used. It is necessary to select a material that is not easily corroded by the cleaning liquid. Further, the conveyance force of the recording medium (10) can be improved by roughening or meshing the belt surface.

Holding roller (91a) and holding roller (91b)
Distance, distance between holding roller (91b) and holding roller (91c), distance between holding roller (91d) and print removing means (4), distance between print removing means (4) and holding roller (91e) However, when the length of the recording body 10 to be regenerated is longer than that of the recording body 10, the recording body 10 is lifted in the dipping tank 3 and the print is not sufficiently removed. Therefore, record each distance
It is desirable to set the length shorter than the length in the conveyance direction of (10). That is, in the reproducing apparatus in which B5 size vertical feed, A4 size vertical feed, B4 size vertical feed, and A3 size vertical feed can be selected at any time as the paper feed size of the recording medium, the distance between the respective restraining rollers is set to B5 size. Make it shorter than the vertical length. However, the recording medium (10) is a cleaning liquid.
When it is wet by (30) and is in close contact with the conveyor belts (8a), (8b), it is not necessary to set the distance between the respective restraining rollers as described above in order to prevent lifting.

In the dipping tank (3), ultrasonic vibrating means or heater may be appropriately provided in order to enhance print removal. The cleaning liquid often causes a difference in the print removing effect depending on the temperature thereof, and appropriately adjusting the temperature of the cleaning liquid with a heater leads to the improvement of the removing effect. The optimum temperature varies depending on the type of the cleaning liquid (30) and cannot be specified unconditionally, but it is generally preferable to keep it at about 30 to 50 ° C.

The recording medium on which the print removal processing has been completed as described above is transferred to a drying means via a conveyance guide plate (not shown) and is dried there. The drying means (6) is composed of a pair of rubber rollers (6a) and (6b) which are in pressure contact with each other, and a heater (60) which heats the rollers (6b) from the inside.

The drying means is not necessarily in the form of heating by heat transfer, but may be in the form of blowing warm air or utilizing radiant heat from a xenon lamp or the like. The heating temperature varies depending on the cleaning liquid (3) used and the type of the recording medium (10), but is generally 40 to 90 ° C.
The temperature is preferably 50 to 60 ° C. If the heating temperature is lower than this, the drying time becomes long and not suitable for practical use. On the other hand, if the heating temperature is too high, the OHP may be deformed or the recording medium may be damaged such as yellowing of the paper.

The recording medium (10) which has passed through the drying means is conveyed to a pair of calender rolls (11a) and (11b). The calender roll pair is a pair of metal rolls pressed against each other. By passing the recording medium (10) between the rolls, fine scratches on the surface of the recording medium received during the printing process,
For example, a fine defect is repaired by a stapler or the like, and a habit such as bending is removed to some extent. Further, in the case of paper, gloss treatment can be performed by this treatment.

A heater may be included in the calendar roll so that it also has a drying function. As a result, it is not necessary to separately provide a drying means, and the process can be simplified.

The recording medium (10) that has passed through the pair of calender rolls (11a), (11b) is discharged as recycled paper (100) from the discharge section (O) onto the discharge tray (7), and a series of reproduction processing is performed. The operation ends.

As described above in detail, in this embodiment, the recording medium is pre-immersed in the cleaning liquid in the dipping tank to swell the toner sufficiently, and then the toner is peeled off by the print removing means. ing. Therefore, the print removing means
By (4), the physical force applied to the surface of the recording medium can be made as small as possible, and the printing process can be reliably performed without damaging the recording medium (10). In addition, the print removal process is performed in the flow of the cleaning liquid, and since the fresh cleaning liquid is constantly supplied to the surface of the recording material, it is necessary to provide recycled paper with high whiteness that can be sufficiently reused. You can Further, in the reproducing apparatus of the present invention, by appropriately selecting the cleaning liquid, not only the printed output but also the ball-point pen written on the recording medium,
It is also possible to simultaneously remove highlighter pens, magic ink, red ink, pencils, and other inks.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, inlets (51a) and (51b) for taking in the cleaning liquid are provided near both ends of the print processing means in the immersion tank. The cleaning liquid taken in from the inlet is the filter part (54) in the transfer path.
A pump (53) is provided so that the impurities are collected by the outlet nozzle and then discharged from the outlet nozzle. The outlet nozzle in the present embodiment is a form in which the outlet nozzle in the reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1 is branched into two (52a) and (52b), and the print removing means (4) and the restraining roller (91e) other than the rinse portion. Between the outlet nozzle (52
b) is provided and the cleaning liquid is discharged from here.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the rinse section of the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG.

The cleaning liquid ejected from the outlet nozzle (52a) basically flows in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the recording medium as in the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and is almost along the surface of the recording medium. Flow evenly on the left and right. Further, the clean cleaning liquid (30c) discharged from the outlet nozzle (52b) removes the cleaning liquid contaminated by the toner (Tb) separated from the surface of the recording medium by the print removing means toward the inlets (51a, 51b). It promptly flushes away. The floating toner particles (Tb) are immediately taken in from the inlet, passed through the conveying path, cleaned, and ejected again from the outlet nozzles (52a) and (52b). Even if the floating toner particles (Tb) are re-attached to the recording body in the immersion tank, the nozzle (52
A strong rinse of a clean cleaning liquid is applied from a) toward the surface of the recording medium (10), and the re-adhered toner is sufficiently washed off. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the toner particles (Tb) from remaining on the recording material (10) and proceeding to the drying step of the next step. Further, in this embodiment, the outlet nozzle (5
By discharging the cleaning liquid from 2b), it is possible to minimize the diffusion of the toner, the paper powder or the like separated from the surface of the recording body to the entire processing layer. Therefore, it is possible to keep the entire cleaning liquid in a clean state for a long period of time and to provide a reproducing / recording medium having an excellent whiteness for a long period of time.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

The reproducing apparatus of this embodiment comprises two dipping tanks containing a cleaning liquid, that is, a first dipping tank for preliminarily swelling the printing portion by dipping the printing material for a predetermined time, and a printing material by the printing removing means. It has a second immersion tank for removing the printed portion by applying a physical treatment to the surface.

Paper feed tray provided in the upper left part of the playback device
The recording medium (10) fed from (20) is fed with the guide (8d),
By the action of (8e) and the feed roller pair (9h), the first immersion tank (3
00). Then, the recording body is guide (8f), (8
g) and the feed roller pair (9i), (9j), (9k) are conveyed in the cleaning liquid, and the printed portion of the recording medium is swollen by the action of the cleaning liquid. In addition, when the printed portion is difficult to swell with the cleaning liquid or when the immersion time is shortened, a planar heating means such as a silicon rubber heater is provided at the bottom of the immersion tank (300). A method of providing (310) and raising the temperature of the cleaning liquid is effective.

The recording medium once pulled out of the cleaning liquid by the guide (8h) and the roller (9l) is sent to the second immersion layer (301). Inside the second immersion tank,
A pair of rotating brushes (40a, 40b) as a print removing means
Is provided. The rotating brushes are respectively rotating in the forward direction with respect to the conveying direction of the recording body, and the recording body passes between the rotating brushes, whereby the printed portions on both sides are scraped at the same time. The number of brush pairs is not limited to one, and two or three pairs may be provided in multiple stages as needed.

Further, a recording medium conveying guide above the second immersion tank
An outlet (52) for ejecting a clean cleaning liquid is provided in the vicinity of (8i), and an inlet (51) for the cleaning liquid is provided at the bottom of the wall surface of the immersion tank facing the outlet. In the figure, (5) is a transfer path for circulating the cleaning liquid, and a pump (53) is provided in the transfer path so that the cleaning liquid taken in from the inlet (51) is discharged from the outlet (52). Has been.
As a result, the cleaning liquid inside the second immersion layer flows so as to be substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the recording body. As described above, by causing the cleaning liquid to flow in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the recording medium, the toner separated from the surface of the recording medium by the print removing means moves promptly to the discharge port as the cleaning liquid flows. A filter (55) is provided in the transport path on the upstream side of the pump in the circulation direction of the cleaning liquid. Impurities such as toner taken in from the discharge port are recovered by the filter and then ejected from the outlet (52) again, so that the cleaning liquid in the second immersion tank is always kept at a constant cleanliness. . Therefore, even in the reproducing apparatus shown in this embodiment,
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of image noise such as black spots, because the next step of drying does not proceed while the floating toner particles in the cleaning liquid remain on the recording medium (10).

When a magnetic material such as a magnetic powder toner is used as the printing material, a magnetic generating means such as a magnetic sheet is provided near the printing processing means (40a, 40b) in the second immersion tank (301).
It is preferable to provide (311). The floating toner (Tb) containing magnetic powder in the cleaning liquid is sucked and adsorbed by the magnetic generation means (311) provided near the print removal means,
It is easily separated and removed from the cleaning liquid. The magnetic sheet can be periodically pulled up, and the adsorbed toner can be wiped off or replaced and used again.

Further, when the printing material (toner) contains a dye such as nigrosine, the dye may dissolve into the cleaning liquid, and the liquid may be colored like an ink. Then, the melted dye penetrates into the fibers of the recording material from which the print has been removed, and recycled paper with high whiteness cannot be obtained. Therefore, as a method for removing the coloring component, for example, the filter in FIG.
On the upstream side of (55), a second filter filled with particles or pellets having sufficient adsorption activity such as activated carbon or molecular sieve is provided to adsorb and remove the dye component dissolved in the cleaning liquid. Can be mentioned.

In this embodiment, the inner wall of the first immersion tank (300) is also provided with the outlet (520) and the inlet (510) for the cleaning liquid. The toner separated from the surface of the recording material inside the first immersion tank is collected from the inlet and then trapped in the filter. The cleaning liquid thus cleaned is returned to the first immersion tank through the outlet (520) again.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing the flow state of the cleaning liquid in the second immersion tank.

As described above, the cleaning liquid ejected from the outlet flows so as to be substantially orthogonal to the moving direction of the recording medium. However, by further setting the positions of the outlet and the inlet, the cleaning liquid is ejected from the outlet. It is also possible to divide the cleaning liquid into a flow along the front surface side of the recording body and a flow along the back surface side so that both surfaces of the recording body are rinsed at the same time.

The recording material from which the print has been removed in the dipping tank is pulled up from the cleaning liquid and then squeezed.
Excess cleaning liquid is squeezed when passing through (9 m). Then, the liquid is configured to be recovered again in the dipping tank (301), and the consumption of the cleaning liquid is minimized, which is very economical. After that, the recording medium is dried.
A pair of calender rolls after being dried by (6a, 6b)
After passing through (11a, 11b), the paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray (7). This completes a series of reproduction processing operations.

The cleaning liquid contained in the first immersion tank (300) shown in FIG. 6 flows so as to face the recording medium in the conveying direction. However, the cleaning liquid may be made to flow in the first dipping tank as well as in the second dipping tank (301) so as to be substantially orthogonal to the recording medium conveyance direction. For example, by providing several inlets on the wall surface along the recording medium transport direction in the first immersion layer and providing several outlets on the wall surface facing this, the cleaning liquid in the first immersion tank can be removed. It is possible to cause the fluid to flow in a direction substantially orthogonal to the carrying direction.
Further, similarly to the first and second embodiments of the present invention, even in the vicinity of the position where the recording medium is dipped in the cleaning liquid to swell the toner, the cleaning liquid is substantially removed in the conveying direction of the recording medium. You may make it flow so that it may cross at right angles.

The cleaning liquid used in the above-mentioned regenerating apparatus of the present invention will be described below.

In the case of removing the printed portion without pulping the paper, even if the surfactant alone is directly applied to the recording material, the effect of removing the print is very low and the toner is lifted from the surface of the paper. A substance having a function of swelling the toner is used together. Therefore, it is preferable to use a cleaning liquid containing at least a higher fatty acid ester, a surfactant and water.

Specific examples include the following.

The fatty acid of the higher fatty acid ester is a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid such as lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid,
Linoleic acid, erucic acid, ricinoleic acid, abietic acid,
Examples include rosin acid, coconut oil, linseed oil, beef tallow, whale oil and the like. The higher fatty acid ester is a fatty acid and a hydroxy compound, for example, alcohols such as ethanol and n-butanol, polyhydric alcohols such as ethylene glycol, glycerin pentaerythritol sorbitol, glycols such as diethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol and polyethylene glycol, and Ethyl cellosolve,
Refers to esters with cellosolves such as butyl cellosolve. Among them, tall oil fatty acid containing oleic acid and linoleic acid in a ratio of about 6: 4, and in addition, palmitic acid, stearic acid, and some unsaponifiables Esters are particularly preferred. As the alcohol for esterifying tall oil fatty acid, ethylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, ethoxyethanol, butoxyethanol, etc., preferably butoxyethanol, ethylene glycol, ethoxyethanol are used.

The content of the higher fatty acid ester in the cleaning liquid is 60 to 5% by weight based on the total amount of the cleaning liquid,
It is desirable to use it in the range of preferably 40 to 20% by weight. If it is used in an amount of more than 60% by weight, the solubility of the toner becomes too high, and the dissolved toner tends to redeposit on the paper. On the other hand, if the amount is less than 5% by weight, when used in the range, the swelling property with respect to the toner becomes poor and the effect of removing the print becomes low.

As the surface active agent, an anionic surface active agent, a nonionic surface active agent, a cationic surface active agent and an amphoteric surface active agent can be used. The addition of the surfactant serves to surround the toner after printing removal so that the toner does not redeposit on the paper surface.

Specific examples of the surfactant include anionic surfactants such as fatty acid salts, alkyl sulfate salts, alkylbenzene sulfonates, alkylnaphthalene sulfonates, alkyl sulfosuccinates, and alkyl diphenyl ether disulfonates. , Alkyl sulfosuccinates, naphthalene sulfonic acid formalin condensates, polycarboxylic acid polymer surfactants and the like. Examples of the nonionic surfactant include polyoxyethylene alkyl ether, polyoxyethylene alkyl allyl ether, oxyethylene-oxypropylene copolymer, sorbitan fatty acid ester, polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, and polyoxyethylene alkylamine. Examples of the cationic surfactants and amphoteric surfactants include alkylamine salts, quaternary ammonium salts, alkylbetaines, amine oxides and the like. These surfactants may be used alone or in admixture of two or more.

Particularly preferred surfactants have the formula: RO
An ethylene oxide addition type nonionic surfactant represented by (CH ₂ CH ₂ O) _n H (wherein R represents an alkyl group or an alkylphenyl group, n represents an integer of 1 to 10).

The amount of the surfactant used in the cleaning liquid is 0.1 to 10% by weight, preferably about 1 to 3% by weight based on the total amount of the cleaning liquid. If it is used in an amount of more than 10% by weight, bubbles and the like increase and handling becomes difficult. If the amount is less than 0.1% by weight, the toner once removed from the surface of the recording material may reattach to the paper.

Water is preferably added to the cleaning material of the present invention. Pulp fibers are hydrogen-bonded to paper, but the addition of water has a function of breaking this bond, which makes it easier to remove the toner entangled between the fibers.

Water is contained in the cleaning substance in an amount of 1 to 80% by weight, preferably 20 to 70% by weight, more preferably 30 to 60% by weight, based on the whole cleaning substance. If too much water is used, weaken the binding force between paper fibers,
When rubbing the paper surface with a rotating brush, web, blade, etc., it damages the paper surface or destroys the fibers of the paper. Further, it is not preferable because it takes too much labor to dry after removing the print. If the amount of water used is less than 1% by weight, the effect of spreading the fibers of the paper is not obtained, and the cleaning substance is not properly permeated into the paper.

Further, by incorporating an organic acid in the cleaning substance, it is possible to improve the permeability to toner, paper and the like. Examples of such an organic acid include higher fatty acids that can be used to previously synthesize higher fatty acid esters. In addition, formic acid, acetic acid, benzoic acid and the like are exemplified.

Further, as a cleaning material, for example, methanol, ethanol, n-butanol, isopropanol, ethoxyethanol and the like and xylene, toluene, acetone, THF, dioxane, dichloromethane and the like are mixed with the cleaning material within a range not impairing the effect of the present invention. An organic solvent that swells the toner such as the above may be contained.

[0068]

According to the reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the reproducing process can be performed by a simple operation without shredding the recording medium. Further, by lifting the printed portion from the recording medium and scraping it off, it is possible to reliably perform the printing process without damaging the surface of the recording medium. Furthermore, according to the reproducing apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning liquid is caused to flow substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction of the recording medium, so that the floating and precipitated toner in the cleaning liquid is swiftly discharged to the downstream side to the recording medium. It is possible to obtain a reproduced recording material having a high whiteness without image noise such as black spots by preventing the re-adhesion of the recording material as much as possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a first embodiment of a reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a print removing unit of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a rinse unit of the first embodiment of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a second embodiment of a reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a rinse section of the second embodiment of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a third embodiment of a reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a flow state of a cleaning liquid of a third embodiment of the reproducing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 reproduction | regeneration apparatus 2 paper feed tray 4 print processing means 5 conveyance path 51 inlet 52 outlet 55 pump 9a conveyance belt 9b conveyance belt 9c conveyance belt 10 recording body

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A supply means for supplying a recording medium, a conveying means for conveying the recording medium, an immersion tank for accommodating a cleaning liquid for swelling prints and immersing the recording medium, and a physical treatment on the surface of the recording medium. A print removing means for removing print by adding
A reproducing device for a recording medium, comprising: a flow unit that causes the cleaning liquid to flow in a direction substantially orthogonal to a recording medium conveying direction in the immersion tank.