JPH01165463A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To bring a recording material into contact with an ink layer on an ink roller without distorting the ink layer and obtain an accurate recorded image free of distortion, by disposing a support roller for supporting a transferring means at a position outside a transferring region. CONSTITUTION:Transfer feeding rollers 8 and 9 are disposed on both sides of a transferring region 7 in which a recording material 4 makes contact with an ink layer 2 on an ink roller 1. The recording material 4 is provided with a sufficient contact stroke in the transferring region 7 by the transfer feeding rollers 8 and 9 cooperating with sheet feeding, so that a transfer roller is not required, and the ink layer 2 is not distorted in the transferring region 7. In the case of color recording, a loop form feeding belt 40 to be brought into contact with ink rollers 11, 12 and 13 disposed in parallel, with respective ink rollers therebetween, is stretched between a driving roller 41 and a driven roller 42, and support rollers 81, 82, 83 and 84 for supporting the feeding roller 40 are disposed on both sides of individual transferring regions 71, 72 and 73. The ink layers make contact with the belt 40 over sufficiently long strokes in the transferring regions 71, 72 and 73, so that the ink layers are not distorted.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a recording device that can record on a recording medium at low cost using fluid ink.

(Prior Art) Today, among the recording methods for information processing, various formats have been developed that can record on plain paper, such as impact printers, electrophotography, laser beam printers, and thermal transfer printers. ing.

Among these, thermal transfer type recording devices are widely used because they have low noise and can be miniaturized. This recording method uses an ink ribbon made by coating hot-melt ink on a base sheet, heats the ink ribbon in an image pattern with a recording head, and transfers the molten ink to recording paper. This has advantages such as low noise, relatively small size of the device, and low device cost.

However, in the thermal transfer method described above, when manufacturing the ink ribbon, it is necessary to apply heat-melting ink onto a heat-resistant base sheet in a complicated process, and this ink ribbon is used for one recording. In some cases, it may be necessary to dispose of the product only by using it, which increases running costs.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present applicant has developed a method in which fluid ink is conveyed in the form of a film using an ink transfer means, and a predetermined energy is selectively applied to this ink. proposed a recording device that forms an ink image with adhesive properties in the form of an image pattern and transfers this ink image onto a recording material (Japanese Patent Application No. 1983).
1-175191).

According to this recording device, there is no need to use an ink ribbon as in the conventional thermal transfer method, and only the ink that has formed an ink image is transferred to the recording material, and the ink that does not form an ink image can be repeatedly used. This is something that can be done.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the recording device. Here, 1 is an ink transfer roller (hereinafter simply referred to as an ink roller) that carries a fluid ink layer 2 as described later on its surface and rotates in the direction of the arrow, and 3 is an ink transfer roller that rotates in the direction of the arrow. This is an energy supply means for forming an ink image 2A imparted with tack on the fluid ink layer 2 by selectively supplying, for example, electrical energy to the fluid ink layer 2. Note that fluid ink has fluid film-forming properties and is normally a non-adhesive elastic object that contains ink, but when electrical energy as described above is applied, for example,
It has the property of giving ink stickiness.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a recording material such as ordinary transfer paper or plastic film that maintains contact with the ink layer 2 on the ink roller 1 on the downstream side with respect to the rotating direction of the ink roller 1; Ink roller 1 while pressing the
This is a transfer roller that rotates as the image rotates. Therefore, the ink image 28 formed on the ink layer 2 by the energy supply means 3 is transferred onto the recording material 4 at the position of the transfer roller 5, and the transferred recorded image 2B is obtained on the recording material 4. be able to.

However, when configured as in the example described above, since the transfer roller 5 presses the recording material 4 onto the ink layer 2, the elastic ink layer 2 is deformed as shown in this figure, resulting in If the ink image 2A on the ink layer 2 itself is distorted, there is a risk that the transferred recorded image 2B itself will be distorted, and especially when multiple ink rollers are used as in color recording, it may be difficult to accurately overlap images. There were some points that needed to be improved.

An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus which is a further development of the above-described recording apparatus, and is capable of preventing distortion occurring in an image and obtaining a high-quality transferred image.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ink roller that carries a fluid ink layer around the fluid ink layer, and an ink roller that selectively supplies energy to the fluid ink layer so that it can be transferred. A recording device comprising an energy supply means for forming an ink image, and a transfer means that cooperates with an ink roller to maintain contact with a fluid ink layer in a transfer area, and is capable of transferring from the fluid ink layer to an object to be transferred. The present invention is characterized in that a support roller for movably supporting the transfer means is disposed outside the transfer area, and the support roller brings the transfer means into contact with the fluid ink layer in the transfer area.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, by arranging the support roller that supports the transfer means that cooperates with the ink roller at a position outside the transfer area, the recording material can be inked at the transfer position without distorting the ink layer on the ink roller. It can be brought into contact with the layer, and an accurate recorded image without distortion can be obtained.

(Example) Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail and specifically based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention. This example shows a case where a roll paper is used as the recording material 4, where 6 is the paper roll. That is, the recording material 4 is pulled out from the paper roll 6 by a sheet feeding means that cooperates with the ink roller 1, and in this example, the recording material 4 is drawn out from the transfer area 7 where it contacts the ink layer 2 on the ink roller 1. Transfer rollers 8 and 9 are arranged on both sides of the recording medium 4, and these transfer rollers 8 and 9 can maintain the recording material 4 in the state shown in the figure.

In the recording apparatus configured in this way, the ink image 2A formed by the energy supply means 3 can be transferred onto the recording material 4 in the transfer area 7 by the rotation of the ink roller 1 in the direction of the arrow. , the recording material 4 is continuously fed further leftward from the transfer area 7 by a sheet feeding means (not shown).

During this time, the recording material 4 is provided with a sufficient contact distance in the transfer area 7 by the transfer rollers 8 and 9 that cooperate with the sheet feeding, so that a transfer roller as shown in FIG. 4 is not required. Therefore, the ink layer 2 is not distorted in the transfer area 7.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention. This example is an example in which color recording is performed, and 11.12 and 1.
3 are ink rollers 21, 22 and 23 for transferring cyan, magenta and yellow inks, respectively;
are cyan, magenta and yellow ink layers, 3 carried on ink rollers It, 12 and 13, respectively;
1.32 and 33 are ink rollers 11, 12 and 1
3, respectively.

In this example, an endless conveyance heald 40 that maintains contact with the ink rollers 11, 12, and 13 arranged in parallel through the respective ink layers is placed between the drive roller 41 and the driven roller 42. It is erected in
Further, support rollers 81, 82, 83 supporting the conveyor belt 40 are provided on both sides of the individual transfer areas 71, 72 and 73.
and 84 are provided.

In the recording apparatus configured in this way, the individual ink rollers 11, 12 and 13 cooperate with the conveyor belt 40 to rotate all at once in the direction of the arrow. An ink image is first transferred onto the recording material 4 by the cyan ink roller 11 from the cyan ink layer 21 in the transfer area 71, then from the magenta ink layer 22 in the transfer area 72, and then transferred to the transfer area 73. Then, the yellow ink layer 23 is transferred one after another to obtain a color image. In this example as well, the ink layer remains in contact with the conveyor belt 40 in the transfer areas 71, 72 and 73 over a sufficiently long stroke, so that no distortion occurs in the ink layer.

In such a color recording apparatus, misregistration is an extremely important problem, and in order to prevent this, it is important that the recorded images of each color are not distorted. Therefore, when the transfer interval along the conveyor belt 40 between the lens and customer ink rollers is H1 and the diameter of the drive roller 41 is D, it is preferably n x π x D valve H (where n = integer). With this setting, unevenness in the conveyance speed of the conveyor belt 40 caused by eccentricity of the drive roller can be reproduced in the same state between the respective transfer position covers, contributing to prevention of misregistration.

FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the invention. This example is applied to a color recording device equipped with an intermediate transfer member, and the
are intermediate transfer bodies formed in the shape of an endless belt, 51 and 5;
2 is an intermediate transfer member driving pulley and a driven pulley; 53 is a retransfer roller that comes into pressure contact with the driving pulley 51; Also in this example, the intermediate transfer body 50 has each transfer area 71, 72.
and support rollers 81, 82, 8 on both sides of 73, respectively.
3.84.

In the color recording apparatus configured in this way, ink of each color is transferred from each ink roller to the intermediate transfer body 50 in each transfer area, and the transferred ink image is transferred to the recording material by the retransfer roller 53. The role of the support rollers 81 to 84 is the same as that in the second embodiment, so the explanation thereof will be omitted. In this example, it is preferable to use urethane rubber, silicone rubber, polyimide, polyester, or the like for the intermediate transfer body 50.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, an ink roller supporting a fluid ink layer around the fluid ink layer and an ink image that can be transferred by selectively supplying energy to the fluid ink layer are provided. In a recording device, the recording device has an energy supply means for forming the ink layer, and a transfer means that cooperates with a rotating ink roller to maintain contact with the fluid ink layer in the transfer area and is capable of transferring from the fluid ink layer to the transfer target, A support roller that movably supports the transfer means is disposed at a position other than the transfer area, and the support roller brings the transfer means into contact with the fluid ink layer at the transfer position, so that the fluid ink layer is not placed in the transfer area. Since the ink image is not distorted and therefore the ink image transferred to the transfer object is not distorted, it can contribute to the formation of an accurate recorded image.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a first embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a color recording device as a second embodiment of the wood invention, and Fig. 3 is a block diagram schematically showing a color recording device as a second embodiment of the wood invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a color printing apparatus as a third embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a printing apparatus of the same type and configuration before improvement. 1.11, 12.13... ink roller, 2.2+,
22.23... Ink layer, 2A... Ink image, 2B... Recorded image, 3.31, 32.33... Energy supply means, 4.
...Recording material, 7.71, 72.73...Transfer area, 8.9.81.
82.83.84... Support roller, 40... Conveyance belt, 41.51... Drive roller, 42.52... Followed roller, 50... Intermediate transfer body, 53... Retransfer roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) an ink roller that carries a fluid ink layer around its periphery;
energy supply means for selectively supplying energy to the fluid ink layer to form a transferable ink image; In a recording device having a transfer means capable of transferring from a transparent ink layer to an object to be transferred,
A support roller movably supporting the transfer means is disposed outside the transfer area, and the support roller brings the transfer means into contact with the fluid ink layer in the transfer area. Recording device. 2) The recording apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of ink rollers, each of which carries a fluid ink layer of a different color. 3) The recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the transfer means is a continuous recording material. 4) In the recording apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, the transfer means is an intermediate transfer body, and the image can be retransferred to the recording material via the intermediate transfer body. recording device.