Wet recording apparatus

Abstract: A wet recording apparatus, using a developer (7) with a charged colorant dispersed in a dispersion medium, has a plurality of electric field generators (4, 5) to which a voltage is selectively applied, and a developer feeder (9), feeding the developer into a gap formed between said field generators (4, 5) and a recording paper (1) whereby a colo­ rant image is formed on the recording paper according to the electric field established by said field generators. Each field generator comprises a recording electrode and a counter electrode (5) provided on a side of the recording paper (1) of opposite to the recording electrode. The re­ cording electrode may be constructed of a main electrode and an auxiliary electrode. In such construction, a static latent image former is not required, and a charged pigment in the developer moves to stick onto the recording paper through electrophoresis under the electric field formed by the field generators. The quantity of the sticking pigment may be continuously controlled by the intensity of the electric field and voltage impressing time, and since a picture image is reproduced directly on the recording pa­ per, a high picture quality is obtainable.

Description: The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for forming images according to a wet development system by means of a liquid developer. The developer generally comprises a colorant (pigment generally) dispersed in a liquid dispersion medium and transferred by electrophoresis in an electric field. The pigment has a charge control agent for controlling chargeability and fixing property and a pigment coating agent absorbed or attached on the surface. As a prior art wet recording apparatus an electrophotographic recording apparatus is well known which uses a drum photosensitive member. The photosensitive member is electrically charged and then exposed to have a electrostatic latent image formed thereon, which then is developed in a developer into a sensible image. After a surplus developer sticking to the surface of the photosensitive member has been removed, the developed pigment image is transferred to a recording paper and then fixed. In another type of such an electrophotographic recording apparatus the electrostatic latent image is formed on a photosensitive recording paper then developed in a developer and finally fixed. Further, an electrostatic recording apparatus is known. In this apparatus a high voltage is applied to an electrostatic recording electrode and an electrostatic latent image is formed by a corona discharge on an electrostatic recording paper having a high resistance layer. The electrostatic latent image is then developed in a developer and fixed on the recording paper after a surplus developer has been removed. US-A-4,330,788 discloses a method for obtaining images by means of the electrophoresis phenomenon through soaking a conductive recording medium and an electrode movable relative to the recording medium in a developer containing a pigment. In the prior art recording apparatus using a drum photosensitive member, an inherent problem is that the apparatus is complicated and needs a large size, and that the image deteriorates in the transfer process. The apparatus using a photosensitive paper requires an expensive and special recording paper, thus involving a high running cost. In the case of the electrostatic reproducing apparatus, since an electrostatic latent image is formed by a corona discharge, a continuous gradation of the density is hard to control, and the density is binary. That is, area modulation techniques such as a dither technique have been used for achieving tone reproduction. However, these techniques are poor in tone reproduction ability in half tone zones. Further, the electrostatic latent image forming part and the developing part are separate from each other, and hence the apparatus becomes large in size unavoidably. In the prior art according to US-A-4,330,788 the electric lines of force trending from an electrode to an image carrier have a spread, such that an area larger than the sectional area of the electrode is developed, and thus a high resolution cannot be realized. Further, since the construction is such that the electrode also moves in a direction orthogonal to that in which the image carrier is scanned, and electrodes cannot be packed in high density, a long time is required for obtaining a final image, thus setting bounds to a high-speed operation. Further, a conductive recording paper must be used to attain a high resolution, therefore an ordinary paper cannot be employed. The document US-A-3,623,122 discloses a wet recording apparatus according to the prior art portion of claim 1. In this apparatus a recording paper is guided through a trough containing a liquid developer. The counter electrode is disposed in the trough below the recording paper and the recording electrodes are submerged in the liquid developer above the recording paper. The document US-A-4,123,762 discloses a recording apparatus comprising a base electrode in the form of a rotary cylinder, a printing head disposed above the cylinder closely adjacent thereto so that a recording sheet is disposed between the cylinder and the printing head and a developing unit having a developing tank filled with a developing substance which may be in liquid or dry form. The developing unit further comprises an applicator immersed in the developing substance for transferring developing substance to the cylinder. The printing head comprises a plurality of printing electrode units arranged in a rectangular dot matrix form. Each printing electrode unit comprises a shaping electrode which is in the form of a rod orientated perpendicular to the surface of the cylinder. The shaping electrode is surrounded by a ring-shaped bias electrode with a ring-shaped insulator therebetween. An electric field is established between selected ones of the printing electrode units and the base electrode to cause creation of a positive electric field in the form of a narrow tunnel to extend from the shaping electrodes through the recording sheet into the developing substance on the cylinder to attract charged particles from the surface of the cylinder onto the surface of the recording sheet only in the area directly below the shaping electrodes. Between the remaining printing electrode units and the base electrode an electric field is established that repells the negatively charged particles of the developing substance away from the recording sheet against the surface of the cylinder. An object of the invention is to remedy the above problems of the prior art and to realize a recording apparatus small in size, simple in construction and capable of forming a high picture quality surpassing the prior art in tone reproducibility. This object is achieved with a wet recording apparatus as claimed. According to the claimed construction of the invention, an electrostatic latent image forming means is not required, and a charged pigment in a developer moves and sticks onto the recording paper through electrophoresis under an electric field formed by field control means, thus forming an image. The quantity of the sticking pigment is controlled by the intensity of the electric field and/or the voltage applying time. Therefore the density can be controlled continuously, and since an image is reproduced directly on the recording paper, a high quality image free from any deterioration by a transfer process can be recorded. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the diagrammatic drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a printer according to a first embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a printer according to a second embodiment of the invention, Fig. 3 shows an example of the recording electrodes, Fig. 4(a) and (b) show other embodiments of the developing head used with the invention, Fig. 5 shows a printer according to a third embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the developing device of the third embodiment. Fig. 1 is a drawing representing a printer as a first embodiment of the invention. In the drawing a recording paper 1 is delivered from a paper feeder 3 onto a feed roller 2 and passes to a developing device 11 provided with developer feed means and filled with a developer 7 and electric field forming means. The developing device contains a fixed quantity of the developer 7 fed from a developer vessel 10 by way of a developer feed pipe 9 connected thereto, and is provided with a developing head 4 having on opposite sides a plurality of recording electrodes. A predetermined gap is held between the electrodes and the recording paper by a gap holding mechanism 8. After passing the developing device 11, the recording paper 1 is fed via a surplus developer removing device 6 to a fixing device 16 consisting of a heat roller 14 in which a heater lamp 13 is incorporated, and a pressure roller 15. The image forming operation will be described next. Here, a formation of one dot image which is a minimum pixel unit is taken up particularly for description. In Fig. 1, when a voltage is applied to the recording electrodes so as to cause a potential difference against the counter electrode 5 opposite to the recording paper 1 (not indicated) through the developer 7 in the developing device 11, the charged pigment particles migrate along the electric field formed at end surface portions of the recording electrodes of the developing head 4 to stick onto the opposite recording paper 1, thus forming a picture image thereon. That is, in case a voltage is applied by voltage applying means so that the recording electrodes will hold a positive potential relative to the counter electrode 5, and the developer 7 is constituted of a colloid with positive-charged pigment particles dispersed in a solvent, the pigment is subjected to an electrostatic force toward the surface of the recording paper 1 by the electric field formed between the recording electrodes and the counter electrode 5, and is accumulated on the paper surface. To keep the space between the end surfaces of the recording electrodes and the paper surface at high precision, the developing head 4 has a gap holding mechanism 8 having rollers contacting the paper surface. When the recording paper 1 having the pigment stuck selectively thereon passes the surplus developer removing device 6, a squeeze roller running so as to keep a minute gap with the recording paper 1 and holding a relative speed with respect to the recording paper by rotating at a circumferential speed different from the moving speed of the recording paper, the developer 7 in the minute gap is subjected to a force caused by the fluid viscosity and scraped off the surface of the recording paper 1. Accordingly, only the accumulated pigment image and a negligible amount of developer 7 remain on the recording paper 1, thus forming an image free from a stained background. The recording paper 1 has a residual solvent evaporated by the fixing device 16 and the pigment image fixed on the paper. That is, when the recording paper 1 passes between the heat roller 14 heated by a heater lamp 13 (a halogen lamp for example) incorporated therein and the pressure roller 15 having the surface roughened so as not to disturb the image on the recording paper 1, an evaporable component in the developer is evaporated from the recording paper 1 and the pigment image thus fixed thereon. According to the invention, a colorant is brought to and sticks on the recording paper 1 due to the electrophoresis phenomenon. Accordingly, where the voltage to be applied is constant, the quantity of the colorant accumulated and sticking on the recording paper 1 increases in accordance with the time period during which the voltage is applied (voltage applying time). Alternatively, where the voltage applying time is kept constant, the magnitude of the voltage can be used to control the quantity of the colorant accumulated and sticking on the recording paper 1, since the larger the applied voltage is, the bigger is the electrostatic force and the more of the colorant is accumulated. Thus in an apparatus according to the invention, the density may be controlled by controlling either the magnitude of the voltage or the voltage applying time or both, according to a desired density by a printing control unit. In this way, the density can be controlled in a continuous manner by the quantity of the sticking colorant. To increase the resolution, it is necessary that the area of the end surfaces of the recording electrodes is minimized, and the gap between the recording paper 1 and the recording electrodes is made as small as possible, thereby preventing the electric field from expanding to parts of the recording paper 1 other than those immediately opposite to the recording electrodes. In the embodiment, the aforementioned gap is limited to 0.05 to 0.3 mm to prevent an expansion of the electric field. Further, the interelectrode distance is taken larger than the gap between the recording paper 1 and the recording electrodes, thereby suppressing an influence of the electric field formed between adjacent electrodes. The recording electrodes are arranged in plural rows so as to satisfy the above conditions. A second embodiment of the invention is represented in Fig. 2. In this embodiment the developer 7 is applied to the recording paper 1 from the vessel 10 by a spongy roller 30, and the recording paper carrying route is arranged above the recording electrodes 20, which is different from the first embodiment. As in the case of the first embodiment, the density is controlled by controlling either one or both of voltage magnitude and voltage applying time in this embodiment. In the above-described first and second embodiments, the shape of the recording electrodes may be varied. Other shapes of the recording electrodes that may be employed for the invention are shown in Fig. 3. The recording head comprises a plurality of such recording electrodes arrayed in a zigzag fashion in plural rows. In Fig. 3, the recording electrode 20 has a tapered stylus shape for high resolution efficiency. The counter electrode 5 is provided at a position opposite to the recording electrode 20 and is constructed to have an area almost same as or smaller than the end surface of the recording electrode, thereby avoiding a spread of the electric field. A voltage is applied between the recording electrodes 20 and the counter electrode 5 by voltage applying means 205. In this case, since the areas of the start and end points of the electric lines of force generated between the recording electrodes and the counter electrode are both diminished, the lines of force are contracted to realize a high resolution. Structures of the developing head with the recording electrodes integrated therein are shown in Figs. 4(a) and (b), respectively. Fig. 4(a) represents a developing head 4 wherein a plurality of main electrodes 201 are embedded in an electrode holder 220 consisting of an insulating material, and each main electrode 201 has a voltage selectively applied thereto by voltage applying means (not shown) from the bottom side of the electrode holder 220 in the drawing. That is, a potential for having a pigment in the developer migrate toward the recording paper is applied to the main electrodes 201 used for recording an image, and a potential same as that of the counter electrode (not shown) is applied to the main electrodes 201 not used for recording the image. The top of the electrode holder 220 in the drawing is the surface facing the recording paper, and the common auxiliary electrode 203 is provided to surround each main electrode 201. The auxiliary electrode 203 is electrically connected to the counter electrode (not shown) to have the same potential. The reference numeral 25 denotes a developer delivery groove, and 8 denotes a gap holding mechanism for positioning the recording paper and each electrode relative to each other. Instead of keeping the auxiliary electrode equipotentially with respect to the counter electrode, an arrangement wherein a voltage opposite in polarity to the voltage applied between the main electrode 201 and the counter electrode at the time of image recording is applied between the auxiliary electrode 203 and the counter electrode is conceivable otherwise. Similarly, Fig. 4(b) shows another developing head with the recording electrodes integrated therein, wherein a plurality of the main electrodes 201 are embedded in the electrode holder 220 consisting of an insulating material, and a voltage is selectively applied to each main electrode 201 by voltage applying means (not indicated) from the bottom side of the electrode holder 220 in the drawing. That is, a potential for having a pigment in the developer migrate toward the recording paper is applied to the main electrodes 201 used for recording an image, and a potential same as that of the counter electrode (not shown) is applied to the main electrodes 201 not used for recording the image. Auxiliary electrodes 203 each corresponding to one main electrode 201 are provided on top of the electrode holder 220 in the drawing to surround each main electrode 201. A voltage opposite in polarity to the voltage between the main electrode 201 and the counter electrode is applied between the auxiliary electrodes 203 surrounding those main electrodes 201 used for recording an image and the counter electrode. A voltage equivalent to that of the counter electrode is applied to the auxiliary electrodes 203 surrounding those main electrodes 201 not used for recording the image. The reference numeral 25 denotes a developer delivery groove, and 8 denotes a gap holding mechanism for positioning the recording paper and each electrode relative to each other. In the construction of the above described first and second embodiments, a colorant sticking process can be completed without changing the relative positions of the recording electrodes and the recording paper. In this way the problem is solved that the shift of the recording paper 1 within the voltage applying time causes an easy gradient in density of a formed dot and thus a deterioration of the resolution of an image. That is, the colorant can be stuck while the recording paper stops in the course of a discontinuous paper transport. Repeated intermittent stops of carrying the recording paper are synchronized with the voltage applying timing. It is particularly preferable that a satisfactory quality be realized by the aforementioned intermittent carrying where the image forming rate is governed by an electrophoresis caused by a mobility of the developer. Next, the construction of a printer according to a third embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 5 is described. In the drawing when the recording paper 1 is delivered from the feeder (not shown) to pass the developing device 11, a pigment image is formed on the recording paper 1 by the developing head 4 arranged on the back of the recording paper 1. The recording paper 1 is then fed to the fixing device 16, where the pigment image is fixed on the paper. As shown in Fig. 6, the developing device 11 is provided with rollers 27 for carrying a recording paper and the developer delivery hole 25, the developer suction hole 26, a conducting member 5.1 functioning as a counter electrode and disposed across a gap on the recording side of the recording paper, the squeeze roller 23 rotating at a relative speed with respect to the recording paper 1, the scraper 24 and the stirring roller 28. The developing head 4 having the recording electrodes 20 ready for independent voltage applying is provided at a position opposite to the conducting member 5.1 through the recording paper 1, and thus the recording electrodes 20 are provided on the back of the recording paper 1, which is different from the previous embodiments. Accordingly, a pigment image is stuck on the recording face (face on the conducting member side) of the recording paper by controlling a field from the back of the recording paper 1. For example, when the recording electrodes 20 are negative in potential, and the conducting member is positive in potential, the pigment formed of a colloid with positively charged pigment particles dispersed in a solvent is subjected to an electrostatic force toward the recording face of the recording paper by an electric field, and accumulated on the paper surface. In the third, embodiment, since the recording electrodes 20 are disposed on the back of the recording paper 1, they will never be soaked in the developer 7. Thus, the recording electrodes 20 are prevented from being stained by the developer 7. In the third embodiment, the recording electrodes may also be designed in various structures as mentioned hereinbefore. In this embodiment, too, the recording paper 1 may be carried intermittently, thereby preventing deterioration of the resolution. Further, in all the embodiments described above, the recording system allows to add a development of second and third colors after development of the first color. Accordingly, a color recording apparatus for successively forming and fixing a color picture on a recording paper through a plurality of developing devices having developers of various colors may be constructed. Where a recording paper with low smoothness or osmotic effect of a developer is used, since a pigment is easy to stick on a portion not intended for image, a recording paper having its surface treated for retarding wettability of a solvent may be used as prevention. A construction for development on a developing device provided with a process for applying only a solvent beforehand may also be employed therefor. As described in detail above, according to the invention, a spread of electric lines of force will be suppressed, and a recording with high resolution may be realized on an ordinary paper. A process such as charging, transferring, cleaning or the like is not required unlike the system using a photosensitive member. And since the construction is not for an optical writing system, a shading is not required. Instead a simple construction is effective in realizing a small-size recording or reproduction apparatus. A turbulence will not arise on the images since there is no transfer process to pass. Further a density can be controlled by adjusting a voltage to be applied to field applying means or the voltage applying time, thus realizing a picture quality high in tone reproducibility. Since the construction is not for the system wherein a latent image formed beforehand is developed, a solvent for the developer need not be of high resistance for retaining a static latent image, and a range for selecting the developer can be expanded to a lower resistance side. Since a function to retain a static latent image and a photosensitive characteristic are not particularly required, the recording paper may lead advantageously to a low running cost.

Claims: A wet recording apparatus, using a developer (7) with an electrically charged colorant dispersed in a liquid dispersion medium, comprising electric field forming means (4) comprising a plurality of recording electrodes (20) arranged in a row that extends perpendicular to the direction of travel of a recording paper (1), the recording electrodes (20) being disposed with each having its one end face in a plane parallel to the recording paper, and a counter electrode (5; 5.1) provided on the side of the recording paper opposite to said recording electrodes, the counter electrode extending perpendicular to the direction of travel of said paper and facing the row of recording electrodes (20), voltage applying means (205; 205, 206) for selectively applying at recording a voltage between said plurality of recording electrodes (20) and said counter electrode, and developer feed means (9; 30; 25; 25'; 5.2; 5.3), wherein the developer (7) and the recording paper (1) are exposed to the electric field established by said field forming means to form a colourant image on said recording paper (1) according to said electric field, characterized in that the width of the counter electrode (5; 5.1) in the direction of movement of said recording paper (1) is equivalent to or less than the corresponding width of said end face of each recording electrode (20), and developer feed means (9; 30; 25; 25'; 5.2; 5.3) are provided for feeding developer (7) to the recording paper. The wet recording apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein either one or both of the magnitude of the voltage selectively applied to said field forming means and the voltage applying time are controlled. The wet recording apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the recording paper (1) is supported by a support member (5) and the developer (7) is delivered toward the recording paper (1) so as to push said recording paper onto said support member. The wet recording apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the recording paper (1) is intermittently carried . The wet recording apparatus as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said recording electrode comprises a main electrode (201) and an auxiliary electrode (203), said auxiliary electrode is disposed around said main electrode through an insulating material (202), the counter electrode (5) and the auxiliary electrode are kept on the same potential, and said voltage applying means (205) applies a voltage between the main electrode (201) and the counter electrode (5). The wet recording apparatus as claimed in any of the claims 1 to 4, wherein said recording electrode comprises a main electrode (201) and an auxiliary electrode (203), said auxiliary electrode is disposed around said main electrode through an insulting material (202), and said voltage applying means comprises first voltage applying means (205) for applying a voltage between the counter electrode (5) and the main electrode (201) and second voltage applying means (206) for applying a voltage between the counter electrode (5) and the auxiliary electrode (203), voltages being applied by said first and second voltage applying means such that the direction of the electric field formed between the counter electrode and the main electrode is opposite to the direction of the electric field formed between the counter electrode and the auxiliary electrode.

Inventors: FUJINO MAKOTO, MIYAZAWA YOSHINORI, YAMAZAKI HIDEO, FUJINO, MAKOTO, MIYAZAWA, YOSHINORI, YAMAZAKI, HIDEO
Applicants: SEIKO EPSON CORP, SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION
Application year: 1989
Main classification: G03G17
IPC codes: G03G15