Coating and cleaning method using a thermo-plastic material

Abstract: Coating of heat-soluble material on a substrate or cleaning is performed by supplying a heat-soluble material in heated and melted condition onto a substrate, laying a remover on the heat-soluble material, cooling the heat-soluble material to solidify, and peeling off the remover.

Description: 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a coating method for making a coat of thermo-plastic material and a coating apparatus, as well as a cleaning method of the coating of the thermo-plastic material, and further a printer, printed matter, and a display apparatus made by utilizing them. 2. Description of the Prior Art At present, as a personal and handy printer, there is a thermal transfer printer. The defects of this apparatus are slow recording speed and high running cost, i.e., high unit price per sheet. In a thermal printer using a line head (thermal head made by arranging the heating elements in full width of a sheet of paper), there is required a sheet of thermal ink-transfer ribbon [a ribbon made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) having a thickness of 3 ∼ 6 µ coated with heat-soluble ink in 3 ∼ 5 µ] per sheet of A4 size print. Accordingly, the printing cost is very high. On the other hand, in the serial type printer, the ribbon is used only for the portions to be printed, so that the consumption of ribbon is relatively small. In reality, however, in the latter system, the ribbon requires to be housed in a cassette so as to facilitate the ribbon handling, and it costs higher than the line head type printer. In order to solve the above problems, study was made on the method of regenerating the ribbon of thermo-plastic material in the printer. (cf. Isamu Nose, et al., "A Color Transfer Printer with Recoating Mechanism" International Symposium Digest of Technical Papers, pp 143 - 145 (1985)). However, for the reasons that no uniform coating is obtainable and the thermo-plastic material is deteriorated, the above study has not been practically materialized. GB-A-2044473 discloses a multi-layer, dry, peel-apart imaging sheet for use in a thermographic copier process. The sheet consists of a backing member coated on one surface with a vapourisable dye source material. A graphic original is placed in contact with the sheet and the combination is exposed to radiation which causes portions of the dye to adhere to the backing member forming a copy of the original image. The non-adhering dye source material can be simply peeled from the backing member. JP-A-62/130881 discloses a multi-layer thermal recording medium which can be used both for printing and correction. This effect is achieved by causing the ink layer to have different relative affinities for the backing layer and for paper depending on whether or not it is in a melted condition. JP-A-62/264994 discloses a method for manufacturing a heat transfer sheet. A resin layer is laid down first on a carrier after which a layer of basic material is placed on the resin and pressed so as to adhere to the resin. The carrier is then peeled away leaving a heat transfer sheet comprising the resin and basic material layers. SUMMARY OF INVENTION: The present invention provides a method for making a coating on a substrate comprising the steps of supplying heated molten thermo-plastic material onto said substrate, laying a sheet member on said thermo-plastic material, cooling said thermo-plastic material such that it solidifies, and peeling off said sheet member. The present invention also provides apparatus arranged to form a coating on a substrate comprising means for supplying heated and molten thermo-plastic onto said substrate, means for laying a sheet member on said thermo-plastic material, and means for peeling off said sheet member after said thermo-plastic material has cooled and solidified. With the above method and apparatus a coating of thermo-plastic material (e.g. thermo-transfer coating) can be easily produced. The present invention further provides a method for removing an image-forming material formed on a surface of a substrate from said surface of said substrate, comprising the steps of: supplying heated molten thermo-plastic material onto said surface of said substrate; laying a sheet member on said thermo-plastic material; cooling said thermo-plastic material such that it solidifies; and separating said substrate and said sheet member from each other such that said image-forming material is moved from said surface of said substrate to said sheet member together with the solidified material. The present invention yet further provides apparatus arranged to remove an image-forming material formed on a surface of a substrate from said surface of said substrate, comprising: means for supplying a heated and molten thermo-plastic material onto said surface of said substrate; means for laying a sheet member on said thermo-plastic material; and means for separating said substrate and said sheet member from each other, after said thermo-plastic material has cooled and solidified, such that said image-forming is moved from said surface of said substrate to said sheet member together with the solidified thermo-plastic material. Therefore with this method and apparatus the present invention allows printed matter soiled with thermo-plastic material to be cleaned. The method and apparatus for removing image-forming material from the surface of a substrate can also, according to this invention, be incorporated into printing apparatus as erasing means so as to change the printed image or as cleaning means for an intermediate image carrier within a printing apparatus. Therefore this invention makes it possible to re-generate thermal ink transfer ribbon in an apparatus, therefore reducing the running costs of a printer. The invention can also be used to obtain an erasable paper. Further the apparatus can be used to provide a display apparatus in which successive images are printed and removed from a single substrate. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS: Figs. 1 a), b) are illustrative views of a coating method according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a construction view of a coating apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is a construction view of a printing apparatus according to the present invention; Figs. 4 a), b) are illustrative views of a cleaning method according to the present invetion; Fig. 5 is a construction view of a cleaning apparatus according to the present invention; Fig. 6 is a construction view of a display apparatus according to the present invention; and Fig. 7 is a construction view of a printer according to the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the coating method and apparatus, cleaning method and apparatus, etc. of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figs. 1 a), b) are illustrative views of a coating method according to the present invention. In Fig. 1 a), the part 101 is a substrate or support member. The substrate 101 may be composed of a generally available material which does not permeate liquid such as plastics, rubber, metal, paper having no liquid permeability, ceramics, or the like. Onto this substrate a thermo-plastic material 102 which has been heated to melt as in Fig. 1 a) is supplied, and on this molten material a sheet member 103 is laid. As a thermo-plastic material for the purpose of regenerating the thermal ink-transfer ribbon which is an object of the present invention, a material comprising as the main components wax and color pigment can be used. Other thermo-plastic resins (e.g., epoxy resin, acryl resin, etc.) and their mixtures with color pigments or dyes may also be usable. With respect to the sheet member 103, almost all flexible, sheet-form materials having no liquid permeability are usable. Preferred material is a plastic sheet. From the points of cost and strength, a sheet of polyethylene terephthalate is most preferred. Next, the product is cooled as in Fig. 1 b) (this may be forced cooling or natural cooling), and after the thermo-plastic material is solidified, the sheet member 103 is peeled off. At this time, the thermo-plastic material 102 remains on the substrate 101 to become a coat. Whether the thermo-plastic material attaches to the sheet member 103 or to the substrate 101 depends on the adhesion of each material at the contact surface, cohesion of the thermo-plastic material, and whether to effect removing by bending the substrate 101 or by bending the sheet member 103. Assuming that the sheet member and the substrate are of the same materials and in the same surface conditions, and where the cohesion of the thermo-plastic material is larger than the adhesion (when the thermo-plastic material is in solid state), the thermo-plastic material is separated from the bent side and remains on the flat side. Such relations are well known in the field of the adhesion. If the cohesion of the thermo-plastic material is smaller than the adhesion (when the thermo-plastic material is in liquid state), the thermo-plastic material is separated into two parts to attach to both the sheet member 103 and the substrate 101. In the present invention, the reason why peeling is made after cooling is to employ the full force of cohesion of the thermo-plastic material to transfer the thermo-plastic material to the substrate. It is possible to adjust the relation of adhesion between the parts so that the thermo-plastic material attaches to the substrate side. However, if, for example, the adhesion between the substrate and the thermo-plastic material is strengthened so that a coating of thermo-plastic material is unexceptionally formed on the substrate, adhesion of the thermo-plastic material to the substrate tends to be too strong, leading frequently to undesirale results in performing thermal transfer. What is interesting in the present invention is that the thermo-plastic material does not remain on the sheet member 103. This is because the thermo-plastic material is removed in the solid state in which it has large cohesion, which is a feature of the present invention. From this, it is known that when the relation between the substrate and the sheet member is reversed, the substrate can be cleaned. This procedure will be explained in detail later. Fig. 2 is an illustrative view of a coating apparatus of the present invention. A substrate 201 moves in the direction of arrow mark A to come into contact with a thermo-plastic material feeder 207. The thermo-plastic material feeder 207 comprises a heat roller 204, a sheet member 203 (in the illustrated case, an endless belt) and a block of thermo-plastic material 205. The block of thermo-plastic material 205 is melted by the heat of the heat roller 204 and laid on the substrate 201. Under this condition, the product is moved in the direction of arrow mark A, and when cooled, the sheet member 103 is peeled off from the substrate by a removing unit comprising a removing roller 206. At this time, a coating 202 of thermo-plastic material remains on the substrate 201. Fig. 3 is a construction view of a printer comprising the above coating apparatus additionally incorporated with a transfer unit (write-in unit). The printer includes a thermo-plastic material supply unit comprising a heat roller 306, a sheet member 303, a thermo-plastic material 305 and a peeling unit comprising roller 304, with which a coating 302 of thermo-plastic material is formed on a substrate 301 of an endless belt form wound on belt rollers 307, 308. By the transfer unit (write-in unit) (e.g., thermal head), a coating of this thermo-plastic material is transferred on a material to be transferred 310. The part 311 is a coating of the transferred thermo-plastic material, and 309 a platen. The part 312 is a coating of thermo-plastic material remaining on the substrate side without being transferred. The coating of thermo-plastic material thus remaining in a negative form again becomes a uniform film of thermo-plastic material by the coating unit (comprising a thermo-plastic material supply unit and the peeling unit). In the above description of the apparatuses, each part has been concretely shown, but the apparatuses of the present invention are not to be limited to them. Various methods of realizing the object of each part will come up to the mind of one skilled in the art of printing field. Further, for controlling the thickness of the thermo-plastic material coating, a coating thickness sensor may be provided, with which the thermo-plastic material supply unit may be adjusted to perform coating thickness control and the like. With respect to the transfer unit (write-in unit), it is also possible to include formation of image signals of an image scanner and the like. When such element is incorporated, the printer may have a function of copying machine. Example 1 On a substrate formed of a PET film (polyethylene terephthalate) of about 100 µ, a black thermo-plastic material wax mixture [carbon powder (0.5 part by weight), carnauba wax (3.5 parts by weight), paraffin wax (3.5 parts by weight), melting point about 70 ∼ 75 °C] was placed, which was heated to melt on a hot plate at about 100 °C. A sheet member (PET sheet of 25 µ) was laid thereon, which was drawn with a rubber roller to spread thinly the wax mixture and foams were removed. Under that condition the product was cooled to room temperature (about 25 °C) and the sheet member was peeled off from the substrate as in Fig. 1b) in the state where the thermo-plastic material was solid state. A shaded coating of thermo-plastic material remained on the substrate. On measurement, the coating thicknesses were about 1 µ at a thin portion and about 3 µ at a thick portion. Example 2 The operation to lay the sheet member on a hot plate in Example 1 was carried out with a fixer (for copying machine FP-1000 made by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.) at about 100 °C, followed by peeling off as shown in Fig. 1 b) to give a uniform coating of 5 ∼ 8 µ. Example 3 When, in Example 1, a commercialized sheet already coated with an adhesive for laminate (TORAMI-FILM made by Tokyo Laminex) was used as a sheet member, there was obtained a uniform coating of thermo-plastic material of 5 ∼ 10 µ. Example 4 Using a PET of 9 µ, by the procedure of Example 3, a coating of thermo-plastic material was prepared. The coating surface of the thermo-plastic material was laid on a sheet of paper, and the laminate was inserted in the printer of a word processor (FW-20 made by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.). Excellent result was obtained. Then, the cleaning method and cleaning apparatus, display method and display apparatus, and printing method and printer, which are other objects of the present invention, will be described with reference to the drawings. Figs. 4 a) and b) are the views to illustrate a cleaning method of the present invention. In Fig 4 a), the materials of an image-carrying substrate 403 include plastics, metal, non-liquid permeable paper, ceramics, etc. The image-carring substrate 403 is to carry an image-forming material 402 thereon. As the image-forming material presently used for office automation, there are the toner for electrophotography, wax ink for thermal transfer, etc. Onto this image-carrying substrate, a thermo-plastic material 404 is supplied as in Fig. 4 a), and a cleaning sheet member 405 is laid on the molten thermo-plastic material. Then, the resulting product is cooled and the image-carrying substrate 403 is peeled off as in Fig. 4 b). At this time, the image-forming material 402 is moved to the cleaning sheet member together with the thermo-plastic material 404 as in the drawing, and the image-carrying substrate is cleaned. The thermo-plastic material includes, for example, wax, resins, or their mixture. In Fig. 4 a) and Fig. 4 b), a border line is drawn between the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material. However, if the image-forming material is the same one as the thermo-plastic material or the one having the composition nearly similar to it, the two materials are cosolubilized to dissolve the border line. Practically, it is more economical for the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material to be the same, because the recovered thermo-plastic material can be re-utilized. The cleaning sheet member includes many usable materials such as, for example, metal, resins, etc. Whether the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material attach to the cleaning sheet member or to the image-carring substrate depends on the adhesive force at the contact surface of each material, cohesion of the image-forming material and thermo-plastic material, and further, whether to perform peeling off by curving the image-carring substrate or by curving the cleaning sheet member. Assuming that the cleaning sheet member and the image-carrying substrate are of the same materials and in the same surface conditions, and in case that the cohesion of the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material is larger than the adhesive force (where the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material are in solid state), the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material are separated from the curved side and remain on the flat side. If the cohesion of either the image-forming material or the thermo-plastic material is smaller than the adhesive force (where any or either one of them is in liquid state), the image-forming material or the thermo-plastic material is separated into two parts and attaches to both the cleaning sheet member and the image-carrying substrate. In the present invention, the sequence of cooling and then removing is in order to obtain an increased cleaning effect by increasing the cohesion of the image-forming material and thermo-plastic material. Even by practising peeling off with the cleaning sheet member side curved, it is possible to adjust the relations of adhesion of each part so that the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material attach to the cleaning sheet member side. However, if it is so practised, the fixation force of the image-forming material to the image-carrying substrate is weakened (image fixation becomes poor) and undesirable result may occur. Fig. 5 is a construction view of a cleaning apparatus of the present invention. An image-carrying substrate 507 carrying an image-forming material 502 moves in the direction of the arrow mark A to come into contact with a thermo-plastic material supply unit 505. The thermo-plastic material supply unit comprises a heat roller 503, a roller 508, a cleaning sheet member 501 (in the illustrated case, an endless belt) and a thermo-plastic material 504. The thermo-plastic material 504 is cleaned and removed, and then supplied again. In the drawing, the part to be cleaned and removed is not illustrated, but in practice it is provided. The thermo-plastic material 504 is molten by the heat-roller 503 and laid on the image-carrying substrate 507. Under this condition, the resulting product moves in the direction of arrow mark A, and after cooling, the substrate is peeled off by a peeling unit 506 comrising a roller 502. At this time, the image-forming material attaches to and is carried by the thermo-plastic material which has been solidified or elevated in cohesion. In this way, the image-forming material on the image-carrying substrate can be readily cleaned. Therefore, if an image is formed by placing a thermo-plastic material on the cleaned image-carrying substrate again by heat transfer or the like, a display method as described hereinafter can be obtained. Fig. 6 is a construction view of a display apparatus for displaying information and data by carrying out writing and cleaning. An image-carrying substrate 607 is brought into contact with a thermo-plastic material supply unit 605 similar to that shown in Fig. 5, cleaned by a peeling unit 606, and on it again new information and data are written in (image-forming material is laid) with a transfer unit (write-in unit) 601. The transfer unit 601 comprises a thermal head 602, a thermal ink-transfer ribbon 603 and a platen 604. The part 608 is a newly laid image-forming material. The thermal ink-transfer ribbon 603 may be made by using the aforementioned coating method (coating method as shown in Fig. 2). In this case, the running cost is reduced. The image-carrying substrate may be endless or cut sheet form. In the case of a cut sheet, it can be utilized as erasable paper. In case of producing the erasable paper, use of plastic material, especially a polyethylene terephthalate sheet, is preferred in the points of economization, strength, etc. Further, when a releasing layer of silicon resin or the like, which has good releasing property, is formed on the surface of such sheet, removal of the image forming material is assured, and clean surface condition is easily maintained for a long duration. In case of providing a releasing layer, it is preferred to give marking on either the surface or the reverse side by printing or the like so as to show in which side practically the releasing layer lies. There may be adopted a printing method which comprises repeating steps of placing an image-forming material on an image-carrying substrate, transferring the image-forming material to a material to be printed, and cleaning the image-forming material which remained not-transferred. The superior point of this printing method to the ordinary printing method of thermal transfer system is that the beautiful printing can be made on rough paper, if an elastic image-forming material substrate (blanket) is used. Fig. 7 is a construction view of a printer. An endless image-carrying substrate 708 (blanket) is run in the direction of arrow mark A in the drawing with a roller 707 and a peeling roller 706. By means of a first transfer unit (write-in unit) 701, an image 705 by the image-forming material is made, which is transferred to a material to be printed 704 by a second transfer unit 702. The part 712 is a transferred image. The second transfer unit 702 comprises a pressure roller 703 and a heat roller 709. The image-forming material 710 which remained without being transferred is cleaned by a thermo-plastic material supply unit 711 and the peeling roller 706. Variations to the specific parts of the apparatus are possible within the present invention. For instance, with respect to the transfer unit (write-in unit), it is possible to include formation of the image signal such as with an image scanner. In such a case, the printer may have a function of copying machine. Example 5 On an image-carrying substrate of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film having a thickness of about 100 µ, letters of wax ink [image-forming material (melting point, about 70°C)] were written using a thermal transfer printer (word processor FW-20 used in Example 4). A black thermo-plastic material wax mixture (carbon powder 0.5 part by weight, carnabau wax 3.5 parts by weight, paraffin wax 3.5 parts by weight; melting point about 70 ∼ 75°C) was placed thereon, and melted under heating on a hot plate of about 100°C. On the resulting product, a cleaning sheet member (25 µ PET sheet) was placed, which was squeezed from above with a rubber roller to extend the wax mixture into thin form to remove foams. Under this condition, the resulting product was cooled to room temperature (about 25°C), and, in the state where the image-forming material and the thermo-plastic material were in solid state, both the image-forming substrate and the thermo-plastic material were removed from the substrate. Example 6 In Example 5, instead of making the image on the image-carrying substrate by thermal transfer, the image was made by copying a magazine with a copying machine (FP-2520 made by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.). That is to say, an OHP was made. When the subsequent process was performed in entirely the same manner as in Example 5, the image-carrying substrate could be satisfactorily cleaned. Example 7 In Example 5, a commercialized sheet coated with an adhesive for laminate (article name: TORAMI-FILM made by Tokyo Laminex) was used as the cleaning sheet member and thermo-plastic material by which good cleaning could be performed as in Example 5. Example 8 Using a 25 µ PET, the operation was made in the same manner as in Example 5 to obtain an image-carrying substrate by thermal transfer. The resulting image on the image-forming material (heat-soluble ink) side was laid on paper (smoothness, 40 seconds) and passed through a space between the heat roller (metal) at about 105°C and the pressure roller (silicon rubber). Although blur was formed, clear printing could be obtained. At that time, the image-forming material partly remained on the image-carrying substrate, without being fully transferred. On the resulting product, a commercialized thermal ink-transfer ribbon (made by Fuji Kagakushi Kabushiki Kaisha; melting point of ink about 70°C) was laid as a cleaning sheet member, and the layer was heated and squeezed with a roller to expel foams. The resulting product was cooled. With the thermal ink-transfer ribbon side kept flat and the image-carrying substrate curved, peeling was performed, by which the image-carrying substrate was cleaned.

Claims: A method for removing an image-forming material formed on a surface of a substrate (507) from said surface of said substrate, comprising the steps of: supplying heated molten thermo-plastic material (504) onto said surface of said substrate; laying a sheet member (501) on said thermo-plastic material; cooling said thermo-plastic material such that it solidifies; and separating said substrate and said sheet member from each other such that said image-forming material is moved from said surface of said substrate to said sheet member together with the solidified thermo-plastic material. A method according to claim 1, wherein said thermo-plastic material is the same material as said image-forming material. Apparatus arranged to remove image-forming material formed on a surface of a substrate (507,607,708) from said surface of said substrate, comprising: means for supplying heated and molten thermo-plastic material (504) onto said surface of said substrate; means for laying a sheet member (501) on said thermo-plastic material; and means for separating said substrate and said sheet member from each other, after said thermo-plastic material has cooled and solidified, such that said image-forming material is moved from said surface of said substrate to said sheet member together with the solidified thermo-plastic material. Apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said thermo-plastic material is the same material as said image-forming material. Printing apparatus having a printing means (601) arranged to form image-forming material on a surface of a sheet according to image data, further comprising erasing means (605) in the form of apparatus according to claim 3 arranged to remove said image-forming material from said surface of said sheet. Printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said sheet member is in the form of an endless belt. Printing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein said printing means (601) is arranged for forming a new image-forming material on said surface of said erased image-carrying sheet according to an image data. Printing apparatus comprising means (701) arranged to form image-forming material on a surface of a first substrate (708) according to image data, and means (702) arranged to transfer said image-forming material formed on said surface of said first substrate to a second substrate (704) and cleaning means (711) in the form of apparatus according to claim 3 arranged to remove remaining untransferred image-forming material from said surface of said first substrate. Printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said sheet member is in the form of an endless belt. Printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said first substrate is in the form of an endless belt. A method for making a coating on a substrate (101) comprising the steps of supplying heated molten thermo-plastic material (102) onto said substrate, laying a sheet member (103) on said thermo-plastic material, cooling said thermo-plastic material (102) such that it solidifies, and peeling off said sheet member (103). Apparatus arranged to form a coating on a substrate (101) comprising means for supplying heated and molten thermo-plastic material (102) onto said substrate, means for laying a sheet member (103) on said thermo-plastic material, and means for peeling off said sheet member (103) after said thermo-plastic material (102) has cooled and solidified.

Inventors: FUKUI YASUO, NISHIMURA YUTAKA, TSUKAMOTO MASAHIDE, FUKUI, YASUO, NISHIMURA, YUTAKA, TSUKAMOTO, MASAHIDE
Applicants: MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC IND CO LTD, MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B41M5
IPC codes: B41J31, B41J17, B44C1, B41M5