PRINTER

Abstract: A printer capable of simultaneously forming planographic printing surface and printing ink images. The printer comprises a control unit, a plate feeding unit for continuously feeding a printing plate (3) formed by coating an oil-repellent sheet (3a) with a fusible lipophilic thermal film (3b), a plate making unit having a thermal head (7) for locally and selectiveley heating lipophilic thermal film (3b) according to electric signals to remove portions of the lipophilic thermal film (3b) to make a planographic printing surface (31) having a printing area, an inking unit having an inking roller (8) for applying a liquid ink (13) to the planographic printing surface (31) of the printing plate (3), and a transfer unit comprising a platen roller (9) for continuously feeding a recording medium (11), and a pressure roller (6) for pressing the planographic printing surface (31) of the printing plate (3) against the recording medium (11) to transfer the inked pattern of the printing area to the recording medium (11).

Description: The present invention relates to a printer which forms a printing surface by heating a base sheet coated with a lipophilic thermal film, applies a liquid ink to the printing surface, and presses a recording medium against the printing surface to transfer an inked image to the recording medium and, more particularly, to a printer capable of simply and continuously making a dry planographic printing plate in a short time by means of electric signals without requiring any lineal drawing, and capable of continuously performing a printing operation through a step of applying a liquid ink to the planographic printing plate to form an inked image and a step of pressing a recording medium against the planographic printing plate to transfer the inked image to a recording medium. Printers used as the output equipments of information processing systems are classified roughly into impact printers and nonimpact printers. Recently, demand for nonimpact printers, which are capable of operating silently, printing pictures and graphs and high extendability, has increased greatly. Typical nonimpact printers are electrophotographic printers using toner as a visible image forming medium, ink-jet printers which jet ink particles electrostatically and thermal printers which use a fusible or sublimable thermal transfer ribbon. The accessibility of the printer is dependent on facility in handling consumable articles, such as toner, ink, ribbons and recording sheets. That is, toner which is liable to scatter, ink which is liable to spill, the transfer ribbon having difficulty in printing in natural color, thermal print papers having difficulty in multicolor printing, and recording sheets having trouble with electrostatic charging, blotting and smoothness are principal factors adversely affecting the accessibility of the printer. Accordingly, those consumable articles also are required to meet specific quality conditions. Furthermore, in addition to accessibility, capability of printing in natural color in satisfactory print quality and capability of printing on ordinary paper sheets are principal demands on the printer. Particularly, the printer is required to be able to print in a print quality equal to that of prints printed with a traditional printing plate. Thermal printers are evaluated favorably in respect of accessibility. However, the preparation of a conventional printing plate requires many steps of processing a plate, such as a zinc plate, aluminum plate or a plastic plate, including drawing, transferring, engraving, cutting, forming a photsensitive film over the plate, optical exposure, developing, etching and/or rubber application. The photographic plate making process, in particular, includes chemical processes, such as washing and etching. Accordingly, it has been difficult to construct a single compact printer capable of carrying out the photographic plate making process and the printing process. The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing problems in the conventional printers. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer capable of simply and continuously making planographic printing medium without requiring complicated traditilnal plate making processes, such as a washing process and and etching process, and continuously performing a printing operation simultanelusly with the plate making operation. To achieve the object of the invention, the present invention provides a printer capable of performing a series of processes from a planographic printing plate making process to a printing process, comprising a plate feeding unit which feeds a continuous thermal plate formed by coating an oil-repellent base sheet, such as an oil-repellent silicon resin sheet, with a fusible or sublimable lipophilic thermal film, a planographic printing plate making unit having a thermal head which heats the thermal plate locally and selectively accroding to electric signals to make a dry planographic printing plate carrying a printing area, an ink applying unit which applies ink to the printing area of the planographic pinting plate, and a transfer unit which transfers the inked image of the printing area to a recording medium. According to the present invention, the lipophilic thermal film coating the oil-repellent base sheet is fused or sublimed locally and selectively by the thermal head to form a planographic printing surface having a printing area including a pattern or characters of the lipophilic thermal film and exposed portions of the oil-repellent sheet, ink is applied to the printing area, and then, the image of the inked printingg area is transferred clearly to a recording medium. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic side elevation showing an essential portion of a printer embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic side elevation of assistance in explaining a manner of making a planographic printing plate; and Fig. 3 is a schematic side elevation of assistance in explaining a manner of applying a liquid ink to a planographic printing surface. Referring to Fig. 1, a printer has a plate supply roller 1 mounted with a roll of a continuous printing plate 3. The printing plate 3 is extended through a planographic printing surface making unit, an inking unit and a transfer unit to a winding roller 2 for winding the printing plate 3. The planographic printing surface making unit includes a thermal head 7 and a backup roller 4 disposed opposite to the thermal head 7 to press the printing plate 3 against the thermal head 7. The inking unit includes an inking roller 8 and a pressure roller 5 disposed opposite to the inking roller 8 to press the printing plate 3 against the inking roller 8. The transfer unit includes a platen roller 9 and a pressure roller 6 disposed opposite to the platen roller 9 to press a recording sheet 11 against the printing plate 3. A very thin continuous absorptive sheet 10 is extened so as to be pressed against the printing plate 3 by the thermal head 7. The circumference 81 of the inking roller 8 is pressed against the planographic printing surface 31 of the printing plate 3 to apply a liquid ink to the planographic printing surface 31. The recording sheet 11 is pressed against the inked planographic printing surface 31 of the printing plate 3 by the platen roller 9 to transfer a pattern of the liquid ink from the planographic printing surface 31 to the recording sheet 11. Referring to Fig. 2, the printing plate 3 is formed by coating a base sheet 3a, such as oil-repellent silicon resin sheet or a sheet coated with an oil-repellent silicon resin film, with a hard, smooth, dry lipophilic thermal film 3b of a thickness in the range of 2 to 3 µm. The lipophilic thermal film is a fusible film or a heat-sublimable film. In forming the planographic printing surface 31, the thermal head 7 is pressed on the effective surface of the printing plate 3, namely, the surface coated with the lipophilic thermal film, and then a control unit, not shown, applies electric signals to the thermal head 7 to heat the lipophilic thermal film locally and selectively accoriding to the electric signals so that oil-repellent portions 3c are formed in the lipophilic film 3b. Thus, the planographic printing surface 31 is formed on the printing plate 3. The portions of the lipophilic thermal film fused or sublimed by the selective heating operation of the thermal head 7 are absorbed by the absorptive sheet 10 extended in between the thermal head 7 and the effective surface of the printing plate 3. Fig. 3 shows an inking unit having an ink tank 12 containing a liquid ink 13 to be applied to the planographic printing surface 31. A planographic printing surface 31 having a pattern of the lipophilic thermal film 3b and the oil-repellent portions 3c formed by locally and selectively removing the lipophilic thermal film 3b by heating the lipophilic thermal film 3b by the thermal head 7 to expose portions of the oil-repellent base sheet 3a is formed on the printing plate 3. The inked circumference 81 of the inking roller 8 partially dipped in the liquid ink 13 contained in the ink tank 12 is pressed against the planographic printing surface 31 of the printing plate 3 to apply the liquid ink 13 to the pattern of the lipophilic thermal film 3b, and then the inked pattern of the lipophilic thermal film 3b is transferred to the recording sheet 11. Ordinarily, the circumference 81 of the inking roller 8 is provided with pits of a predetermined diameter and a predetermined depth, matt-finished or coated with felt so that the inking roller 8 is able to pick up the liquid ink 13 and to retain a predetermined quantity of the liquid ink 13. The dry planographic printing plate making operation and printing operation of the printer will be described hereinafter. As shown in Fig. 1, the printing plate 3 extended between the plate supply roller 1 and the winding roller 2 is unwound from the plate supply roller 1 by feed rollers, not shown, and is wound on the winding roller 2. The feed of the absorptive sheet 10, the rotation of the inking roller and the rotation of the platen roller 9 for feeding the recording sheet 11 are controlled in synchronism with the feed of the printing plate 3. While the printing plate 3 is being fed in such a manner, the thermal head 7 is pressed against the printing plate 3 to heat the lipophilic thermal film 3b locally and selectively. The thermal head 7 is of a known type widely employed in thermal printers and facsimile equipments, having a plurality of heating elements arranged in a matrix and heated selectively according to electric signals. The application of the electric signals to the heating elements of the thermal head 7 also is controlled in synchronism with the feed of the printing plate 3. The thermal head 7 is thus controlled to fuse or sublimate the lipophilic thermal film 3b locally and selectively. Then, the fused or sublimited lipophilic thermal material is absorbed by the absorptive sheet 10 extended in between the thermal head 7 and the lipophilic thermal film 3b, and hence the fused or sublimed lipophilic thermal material is not scattered. Thus, the thermal head 7 fuses or sublimate the lipophilic thermal film 3b locally and selectively according to electric signals applied thereto by the control unit to expose desired oil-repellent portions 3c so that the planographic printing surface 31 is formed. Then, the liquid ink 13 is applied to the planographic surface 31 by the inking roller 8. The liquid ink 13 adheres to the planographic printing surface 31 excluding the exposed oil-repellent portions 3c. Then, the recording sheet 11 is pressed against the inked planographic printing surface 31 by the platen roller 9 to transfer the liquid ink applied to the planographic printing surface 31 excluding the exposed oil-repellent portions 3c to the recording sheet 11. Thus, desired characters and patterns are printed on the recording sheet 11. The backup roller 4 and the pressure rollers 5 and 6 can be separated respectively from the thermal head 7, the inking roller 8 and the platen roller 9 to facilitate changing the absorptive sheet 10, cleaning the thermal head 7 and changing and cleaning the inking roller 8. As is apparent from the foregoing description, the printer in accordance with the present invenion is capable of printing characters and patterns in a satisfactory print quality on ordinary recording media and does not need any special recording medium and is capable of economically producing a comparatively small number of copies. Since the printing surface can easily and continuously be formed, each document can be printed in a reduced time. Furthermore, the printer incorporating the unit for forming the dry planographic printing plate can be formed in a compact construction. Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity, obviously many changes and variations are possible therin. It is therefore to be understood that the present invention may be practiced otherwise than specifically described herein.

Claims: A printer capable of simultaneously forming a planographic printing surface and printing ink images, comprising: a control unit; a plate feeding unit for continuously feeding a printing plate (3) formed by coating an oil-repellent sheet (3a) with a fusible or heat-sublimable lipophilic thermal film (3b); a plate making unit (7) comprising a thermal head for locally and selectively heating the lipophilic thermal film (3b) according to electric signals applied thereto by the control unit, and a backup roller (4) for pressing the printing plate (3) against the thermal head (7) to locally and selectively remove portions of the lipophilic thermal film to make a planographic printing surface (31) having a printing area; an inking unit comprising an ink tank (12) containing a liquid ink (13), an inking roller (8) partially dipped in the liquid ink (13) contained in the ink tank (12), and a pressure roller (5) for pressing the printing plate (3) against the circumference of the inking roller (8) to ink the printing area of the planographic printing surface (31); and a transfer unit comprising a platen roller (9) for continuously feeding a recording medium (11), and a pressure roller (6) for pressing the planographic printing surface (31) of the printing plate (3) against the recording medium (11) being fed by the platen roller (9) to transfer the inked pattern of the printing area to the recording medium (11). A printer according to Claim 1, wherein the thermal head (7) heats locally and selectively the effective surface of the printing plate (3) from the side of the lipophilic thermal film (3b). A printer according to Claim 1, wherein an absorptive sheet (11) capable of absorbing the fused or sublimed lipophilic thermal film (3b) is passed in between the effective surface of the printing plate (3) and the thermal head (7). A printer according to Claim 1, wherein the printing plate (3) is a long sheet wound in a roller on the plate supply roller (1) of the plate feed unit and extended through the plate making unit, the inking unit and the transfer unit so as to be taken up on the winding roller (2) of the plate feed unit, and the control unit controls the plate feeding unit, the plate making unit, the inking unit and the transfer unit for synchronous operation.

Inventors: ISOBE, MINORU C/O OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO. LTD.
Applicants: OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY COMPANY, LIMITED
Application year: 1988
Main classification: B41C1
IPC codes: B41J2, B41C1, B41M5