JPS62111789A - Thermal transfer type copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a copying image to be obtained under low energy emission, especially to be stably obtained when the temperature of atmosphere and a wax layer are extremely low, by applying heat bias in exposure. CONSTITUTION:Emission members such as a xenon lamp 51 and a reflecter 52 etc. are contained inside a side plate 12 of a copying machine 1. A platen portion 6 consists of a transmittable platen plate 61, a transmittable pressure elastic member 62 filled with a fluid, and the like. A current-passing heating unit 63 is provided inside the pressure elastic member 62 along the periphery so as not to obstruct the light in exposure. Emission of the flash lamp 51 heats a printing area on an original due to light absorption, thus the heat is transferred to a wax layer through a base of an ink film to melt the wax thereon. The melted wax is fused to an intermediate transfer material to be a wax image corresponding to the printing area of the original. Application of heat bias in exposure by the heating unit 63 of the platen portion (in the vicinity of an exposed portion) enables the image to be obtained under low energy emission.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type copying device, and more particularly to a structure of an exposure section in a thermal transfer type copying device.

Prior art (i) Electrophotographic copying machines, such as the Carlson method, are widely used, but they are large, heavy, noisy, and expensive, and they are not suitable for miniaturization or portability. It is not suitable for lowering prices, etc. In addition, even if the material to be transferred is designated paper or general plain paper is possible, if it is sheet-like and has folds or missing parts, problems will occur mainly in paper transportation, and booklets such as notebooks and notebooks will It was not possible to obtain copies of the originals, and attempts were made to cut and paste them, but these had the disadvantages of being unsightly and becoming thicker.

(ii) In addition, a small copying device for plate making and printing using a flash bulb has been proposed, but the amount required to obtain copies is often one or several, and the cost of clothing and
Including the cost of bulb lamps, etc., the unit cost of copying becomes very expensive and is not practical. Furthermore, many of these plate-making and printing machines have the disadvantage that, due to their structure, the original must be in the form of a sheet or a single-sided original.

(ni) Furthermore, in recent years, small digital copying machines that use a document reading reader and a recording printer have been proposed, but in order to maintain a high level of image quality, the pixels must be made extremely fine. People are crying out about expensive things.

Copying machines have been widely used as office machines, but they are all installed on the floor, on a desk, or on a dedicated stand.

When I wanted to make a copy, I had to go to the place where the copy machine was located.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present applicant first proposed a device that can be easily carried around and can be stored in a bag or pocket. We have proposed a portable copying machine that is small, very inexpensive compared to conventional copying machines, and has high quality copied images.

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view for explaining an example of a portable copying device previously proposed by the applicant.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a portable copying machine, and the copying machine 1 is, as shown in the figure, viewed from the top of the machine, including an electrical control unit 2 with electronic components incorporated on a board, an operation unit 3 such as an indicator lamp, a switch, etc. A charging section 4 mainly consisting of a capacitor that stores the light emitted energy of the flash lamp, a flash lamp 51,
A light emitting unit 5 consisting of a reflector 52, etc., a translucent platen plate 61 that brings the original and copy sheet into close contact, and a translucent buffer member 62
Translucent platen portions 6 and the like are arranged in a substantially laminated manner.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing an example of a copy sheet suitable for use in the portable copying device, and FIG. 8 is a partially exploded perspective view. In the figure, 7 is a copy sheet; is a wavelength-selective transparent and heat-melting material in which coloring agents such as dyes and pigments are dispersed on a transparent plastic film 71 which is an intermediate transfer member, and a base 72 similar to the transparent plastic film 71. It consists of an ink film 74 provided with a wax layer 73 in close contact with it, and a frame 75 is used as necessary.

Examples of the plastic film include polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, nylon, etc., and examples of the wax include beeswax.

Candelilla wax, carnauba wax, montan wax, etc., as well as paraffins, low-molecular synthetic resins, etc. can be used. In addition, as an extreme example, a glass plate several meters thick can be used as the intermediate transfer body, but the thickness of the film may vary depending on practicality (operability).

10 to 200 μm and even 40 to 60 μm in terms of cost, etc.)
A plastic film of about μm size is used. Since the ink film base is used as a heat transfer layer during copying, a thin layer is preferable; if it becomes thick, not only high energy is required, but also the sharpness of the image deteriorates. Practically speaking, a thickness of 3 to 6 μm is used including the production of the ink film. If the ink film wax layer is thin, it will not be possible to obtain a sufficient image, and if it is too thick, the transmittance will be poor, high energy will be required, and "bleeding" will occur easily.
2 to 6 μm is suitable. As a light source, a halogen lamp, a tungsten lamp, etc. can also be used. However, since the shorter the heating time of the wax layer, the sharpness of the image is maintained, flash exposure using a high-output xenon lamp for a short time (e.g., light emission time of 2 to 3 m5 ec or less) is desirable. If the heating time is too long, the heat will be transmitted to parts of the document that do not correspond to the printed lines, resulting in poor sharpness. However, halogen lamps, tungsten lamps, etc. have the advantage of simplifying the electrical system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a copying method when information (image area 81) on a document 8 is copied using the copying apparatus 1 and the copy sheet 7. The copy sheets 7 are stacked on top of each other with the ink film side facing the original, and the copying apparatus 1 is placed on top of the copy sheets 7 with the platen portion 6 in close contact with the copy sheets 7. The copying apparatus 1 is connected to a commercial 100V power source or a charging battery, and the flash charging capacitor is charged to a preset potential level.

The platen, the copy sheet, and the original are uniformly pressed against the surface of the copy sheet by the weight of the device 1 and the pressure applied through the device 1. When the flash lamp trigger switch is turned on in this state, the flash lamp emits light and the original is exposed to light through the platen and the copy sheet. At this time, some of the light is also absorbed by the copy sheet, especially the ink film wax layer, and generates heat, which is used as a thermal bias. The image area 81 on the document generates heat due to light absorption.

This heat is transferred through the base of the ink film to the wax layer and melts the wax. The melted wax is fused to the intermediate transfer member 71, and when the device 1 is removed and both films 71 and 72 of the copy sheet are peeled off, a wax image corresponding to the image area of the original is obtained on the intermediate transfer member 71. This image is a normal image when viewed from the intermediate transfer body side, and this film may be used as a copy image as it is, or may be pasted on a notebook or the like as necessary. The energy of light emission varies depending on the spectral characteristics of the platen, copy sheet, etc., and the light emission characteristics of the lamp, but it also varies depending on the type of original. For example, it is low in the case of line images using pigments such as carbon or long wavelength absorption colors. Energy is sufficient, but high energy is required for dye-based colorants and long-wavelength reflective colors. Furthermore, if more energy than necessary is applied, the periphery of the image may melt, resulting in poor sharpness, or the wax may flow due to surface tension, causing hollow spots in the image. Therefore, the charging energy for light emission is, for example, 0.8
-2, 5 Joule/cl. Furthermore, since the image on the intermediate transfer member obtained is heat-fusible, it can also be thermally transferred to notebooks, notebooks, cloth, etc. using an iron or other heat source. These papers, cloth guide, 715
There is no problem with transferring to materials that can be impregnated with molten wax, but when transferring to glass plates, plastic films, etc., heating and pressing with an iron, hot roller, etc. will cause the molten wax to leak between the intermediate transfer body and the transferred body. It was leaked and one image was blurred. In such a case, flash exposure is still effective, and it is sufficient to stack the intermediate transfer bodies so that the ink image faces the side of the transferred body, place the device 1 in the same manner as above, and emit light while applying pressure. However, in this case, since the heat generated by light absorption of the wax layer itself is utilized, energy 1.5 to 2 times higher than in the above case is required, for example.

As described above, in the copying apparatus, the image area on the original document absorbs light when the flash lamp emits light and generates heat, and this heat is transmitted to the wax layer through the base of the ink film and melts the wax. The melted wax is fused to the intermediate transfer body, and a wax image corresponding to the image area of the original is obtained.The luminous energy required to melt the wax layer is shown by curve A in Figure 5. As shown in the figure, it is related to the temperature of the platen part, and the higher the temperature, the lower the emission energy, so the platen part (near the exposed part)
By providing a heating element and applying a thermal bias during exposure, images can be obtained with low-energy light emission.

Further, even when the atmosphere and the temperature of the wax layer are extremely low, images can be stably obtained.

Purpose The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances.
In particular, by applying a thermal bias to the platen,
The purpose of this invention is to provide a thermal transfer type copying device that can reduce the energy of emitted light.

Configuration In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a flash light emitting section and a buffer member disposed between the flash light emitting section and the exposed surface, and the buffer member is pressed against the exposed surface. In a thermal transfer type copying device that performs copying, the ia impact member flexible plastic film is formed into a bag shape and is made of a light-transparent pressure elastic member filled with fluid,
It is characterized by having an energized heating element inside the buffer member or near the outside of the buffer member. Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on examples.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of main parts for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, that is, a light emitting section 5. This is a cross-sectional view of the exposure section consisting of the platen section 6. In the figure, reference numerals 11 and 12 are the side plates of the copying device 1, and inside the side plate 12 there are xenon lamps 512 and reflection plates 5.
A second class light emitting member is housed. In addition, the platen section 6
It consists of a translucent platen plate 61, a translucent pressure elastic member 62 filled with fluid, and the like. Reference numeral 63 denotes an energizing heating element, which is fixed along the outer periphery inside the pressure elastic body 62 so as not to block light during exposure.

Note that the current-carrying heating element 63 does not have to be installed inside the pressure elastic member, and if it is a thin heating element such as a piano wire, it will not block the light during exposure even if it is installed anywhere. .

2 to 4 are perspective views showing other embodiments of the present invention, and the example shown in FIG. 2 is an example in which an energizing heating element 63 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of a pressure elastic member 62.

The example shown in FIG. 3 is an example in which thin linear energizing heating elements 63 are provided approximately evenly on the entire outer circumferential surface or inner surface of the pressure elastic member 62, and the example shown in FIG. This is an example in which an energizing heating element 63 is provided on the surface of the .

In addition, in the above-mentioned copying apparatus, if the wax layer is heated with thermal bias more than necessary, the entire surface will melt, for example,
In the case of the ink film shown in FIG. 5, the boundary value is approximately 70°C. Therefore, by arranging a temperature sensing element such as a thermistor along with the heating element to maintain the temperature of the pressure elastic body 62 within a range of, for example, about 50 to 55 DEG C., more stable copying conditions can be obtained.

Effects As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, by applying a thermal bias during exposure, images can be obtained with low-energy light emission, especially when the temperature of the atmosphere or wax layer is extremely low. Copy images can be stably obtained even in the case of

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of main parts for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 to 4 are perspective views for explaining other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. , a diagram showing the melting temperature characteristics of wax; FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway perspective view for explaining an example of a portable copying device previously proposed by the present applicant;
FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing an example of a transfer sheet, FIG. 8 is a partially exploded perspective view of the transfer sheet, and FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining how to use a copying apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is a diagram. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Copying device, 2... Electrical control section, 3... Operation section. 4...Charging part, 5...Light emitting part, 6...Platen part, 7...Copy sheet, 8...Original, 11.12...
- Side plate, 51...Flash lamp, 52...Reflector plate, 61...Platen plate, 62...Buffer member, 63
...Electric heating element. Figure 1 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] A thermal transfer type copying device that includes a flash light emitting section and a buffer member disposed between the flash light emitting section and the exposed surface, and performs copying by pressing the buffer member against the exposed surface,
The buffer member is made of a flexible plastic film formed into a bag shape and is made of a light-transparent pressure elastic member filled with fluid, and has an energized heating element inside the buffer member or near the outside of the buffer member. A thermal transfer type copying device comprising: