ELECTROSTATIC COPYING METHOD

Abstract: A master charge retaining medium (2) carrying electrostatic information and a charge retaining medium (3) for copying are arranged in such a manner as to face each other (as shown in Fig. 2(b)). A voltage is applied between the electrodes of both charge retaining media to cause discharge and form a reverse image of electrostatic information onto the charge retaining medium for copying. The capacitance of the master charge retaining medium may be greater sufficiently than that of the charge retaining medium for copying so that the master medium can be copied any number of times with enough contrast maintained. In Fig. 7, a master charge retaining medium having an insulation layer having a high softening point and a charge retaining medium for copying having a thermoplastic resin layer (4a) are arranged in such a manner as to face each other. The thermoplastic resin layer is charged corresponding to the electrostatic image of the master charge retaining medium (2), and it is heated and softened to form corrugation. In this manner, the transfer and development of an image can be repeated any number of times without causing the leak of the static charge.

Description: Technical Field The present invention relates to a method of reproducing (transferring) electrostatic charge information formed on an electric charge retaining medium on another electric charge retaining medium. Background Art Transfer or reproduction of an electrostatic charge image is generally conducted in such a manner that a photoconductive layer, which is stacked on an electrode, is fully charged by corona charging in the dark and then exposed to intense light to thereby turn the exposed areas of the photoconductive layer electrically conductive, and the charge in the exposed areas is removed by leaking, thereby optically forming an electrostatic charge image on the surface of the photoconductive layer, and thereafter toner that has electric charge which is opposite in polarity to (or the same as) the residual charge is attached thereto, thereby developing the electrostatic charge image. This electrophotographic technique cannot generally be used for photographing because of low sensitivity, and it is common practice to carry out toner development immediately after the formation of an electrostatic latent image because the electrostatic charge retaining time is short. In the meantime, an image recording method by exposure under voltage application as been developed in which a photosensitive member that comprises a photoconductive layer stacked on an electrode is disposed face-to-face with an electric charge retaining medium that comprises an insulating layer stacked on an electrode, and in this state, image exposure is effected with a voltage being applied Between the two electrodes, thereby recording an electrostatic charge image of extremely high resolution on the electric charge retaining medium and also enabling the electrostatic charge image retaining time to be lengthened extremely. To transfer such an electrostatic charge image as in the conventional practice, image exposure must be effected for each transfer process and the operation is therefore troublesome. Since the electric charge retaining medium has an extremely long electric charge retaining time, the medium itself can be utilized as an information medium, and it has been demanded to enable the electrostatic charge information on the electric charge retaining medium to be directly transferred or reproduced. There is another known developing method wherein a thermoplastic resin layer having an electrostatic charge image formed thereon is heated to form a dimple pattern image and then cooled to fix the image, thereby developing the electrostatic charge pattern. According to this developing method, a photoconductive member 10, which comprises an electrode 10b and a thermoplastic resin layer 10a that are formed on a substrate 10c, is uniformly charged by corona charging with a charger 11, as shown exemplarily in Fig. 1(a). Then, image exposure is effected to form an electrostatic charge pattern in the shape of the image, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Thereafter, the photoconductive member is heated with a heater 12, with the electrode 10b grounded, as shown in Fig. 1(c). In consequence, the thermoplastic resin layer 10a is plasticized, and the electric surface charge and the electric charge of the opposite sign that is induced on the electrode 10b in correspondence to the electrostatic charge pattern attract each other. As a result, a dimple pattern image 10a, that is, a frost image, is formed on the surface of the thermoplastic resin layer, as shown in Fig. 1(d). After the formation of the frost image, the photoconductive member is cooled to fix the dimple pattern image, thus enabling development of the electrostatic charge pattern. However, the conventional developing method shown in Fig. 1 is inferior in the electric charge retaining performance because the electrostatic latent image is formed on the photoconductive member. For this reason, a method has been proposed wherein an electrostatic charge pattern is formed on an electric charge retaining medium which has a thermoplastic resin layer of high insulation quality, to thereby form a frost image. With this method, however, it is impossible to transfer a particular electrostatic charge image many times because the electrostatic charge leaks each time a frost image is formed by heating. There is further known, see EP-A-0,354,688, published on 14.02.90, a method having the features of the preamble to claim 1. It is an object of the present invention to enable an electrostatic charge pattern formed on an electric charge retaining medium many times without performing toner development. In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved by the features of the characterising clause of claim 1. Brief description of the drawings Fig.1 is a view for explanation of a conventional method of forming a frost image; Fig.2 is a view for explanation of the image exposure method and reproducing method of the present invention; Fig.3 is a diagram showing an equivalent circuit; Fig.4 is a graph showing the relationship between the potential before transfer and the potential after transfer; and Fig.5 is a graph showing the relationship between the exposure energy on the one hand and, on the other, the potential before transfer and the potential after transfer. Best mode for carrying out the invention Fig.2 is a view for explanation of one embodiment of the image exposure method and reproducing method according to the present invention, and Fig.3 is a diagram showing an equivalent circuit. In these figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a photosensitive member, 1a a glass substrate, 1b a transparent electrode, 1c a photoconductive layer, 2 a master electric charge retaining medium, 2a an insulating layer, 2b a transparent electrode, 2c a substrate, E a power supply, 3 a reproductive electric charge retaining medium, 3a an insulating layer, 3b an electrode, and 3c a substrate. Referring to Fig. 2(a), the photosensitive member 1 comprises the glass substrate la having a thickness of about 1 mm, the transparent electrode 1b formed thereon with a thickness of 1000 Å (100 nm) from ITO, and the photoconductive layer formed thereon with a thickness of about 10 µm, wherein areas that are exposed to light become electrically conductive. The master electric charge retaining medium 2, which is disposed face-to-face with this photosensitive member across a gap of about 10 µm, comprises the transparent electrode 2b formed on the substrate 2c having a thickness of about 100 µm to 1000 µm, and the insulating layer 2a formed on the transparent electrode, with a thickness of 1 to 10 µm. When image exposure is effected with a voltage being applied between the respective electrodes of the photosensitive member and the master electric charge retaining medium 2 disposed face-to-face with each other, the regions of the photosensitive member which are irradiated with light become electrically conductive, so that a high voltage is applied across the gap between the photosensitive member and the electric charge retaining medium, thus inducing an electric discharge. On the other hand, the regions of the photosensitive member which are not irradiated with light remain insulating. In these regions, therefore, no voltage that exceeds the discharge breakdown voltage is applied across the gap between the photosensitive member and the electric charge retaining medium and hence no electric discharge occurs. As a result, electrostatic charge pattern information corresponding to the image is formed on the insulating layer 2a. Next, the electric charge retaining medium 2 formed with the electrostatic charge pattern information, which is defined as a master, is disposed face-to-face with the reproductive electric charge retaining medium 3 which is similar in arrangement to the master, as shown in Fig. 2(b), and a predetermined voltage is applied between the two electrodes 2b and 3b from the power supply E. This state may be expressed in the form of an equivalent circuit such as that shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 3, C1 denotes the electrostatic capacity of the master electric charge retaining medium, C2 the electrostatic capacity of the reproductive electric charge retaining medium, Ca the electrostatic capacity of the gap, and Vap the power supply voltage. Assuming that Va denotes the discharge breakdown voltage at the gap, V0 the potential measured when the electric charge is formed on the master electric charge retaining medium by exposure under voltage application in Fig. 2(a), V1' the potential of the master electric charge retaining medium that results from the electric discharge reproduction in Fig. 2(b), and V2' the potential of the reproductive electric charge retaining medium that results from the electric discharge reproduction, since the electric charge that is supplied to the master electric charge retaining medium from the power supply by the electric discharge is equal to the quantity of electric charge stored in the gap and on the reproductive electric charge retaining medium, the following equations hold for each of the opposing regions of the two electric charge retaining media: V1'+Va+V2'=Vap C1V1'-C2V2'=C1V0 Equations (1) and (2) are solved as follows: V1'= C1 C1+C2 V0+ C2 C1+C2 (Vap-Va) V2'=- C1 C1+C2 V0+ C1 C1+C2 (Vap-Va) In addition, the air layer is charged at the upper and lower sides thereof as follows: ±Qa=±CaVa The two electric charge retaining media are charged respectively as follows: Q1'=C1V1' Q2'=C2V2' When the two electric charge retaining media are separated from each other, the positive and negative charges stored on the air layer are attracted to the respective electric charge retaining media which are closer thereto. As a result, the two electric charge retaining media are charged as follows: Q1=Q1'-Qa=C1V1'-CaVa Q2=Q2'+Qa=-C2V2'+CaVa At this time, the potentials V1 and V2 of the electric charge retaining media 2 and 3 are given by V1= C1 C1+C2 V0+ C1 C1+C2 (Vap-Va)- CaVa C1 V2=- C1 C1+C2 V0+ C1 C1+C2 (Vap-Va)- CaVa C1 Fig. 4 is a graph showing the relationship between the potential of the master electric charge retaining medium before the transfer and the potentials V1 and V2 of the two electric charge retaining media after the transfer. In Fig. 4, the straight lines that extend upward to the right are graphic representation of equation (5), while the straight lines that extend downward to the right are graphic representation of equation (6), in which: A and A' are obtained when Vap=800V; B and B' when Vap=700V; C and C' when Vap=650V; D and D' when no electric discharge occurs; and ○ and  express experimental values corresponding to each straight line (○ is equivalent to a case where an electric discharge occurred, whereas  is equivalent to a case where no electric discharge occurred). A region of the reproductive electric charge retaining medium which faces a high-potential region of the master electric charge retaining medium has a low potential, whereas a region of the reproductive electric charge retaining medium which faces a low-potential region of the master electric charge retaining medium has a high potential. Accordingly, a negative image of the electrostatic charge image on the master electric charge retaining medium is reproduced on the reproductive electric charge retaining medium. Fig. 5 shows the relationship between the exposure energy on the one hand and, on the other, the potential V0 of the master electric charge retaining medium and the potentials V1 and V2 of the two electric charge retaining media after the transfer. It should be noted that in the figure V2 is expressed in absolute value with the polarity changed. Fig. 5 shows that the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the curve representing the potential V1 after the transfer, i.e., the contrast of the master electric charge retaining medium, is smaller than the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the curve representing the potential V0 before the transfer and that the image undesirably changes in the process of repetition of reproduction. The rate of change is C1/(C1+C2), as will be understood from equation (3). Therefore, the degree of lowering in the contrast can be minimized by making C1 larger than C2, and the lowering of the contrast can be substantially prevented by making C1 adequately larger than C2. In consequence, it becomes possible to effect reproduction many times. It is an effective way of increasing C1 to reduce the film thickness of the master electric charge retaining medium or use an inorganic master electric charge retaining medium with a large specific dielectric constant. Examples of the method shown in Fig. 2 will next be explained. [Example 1] A 7wt% fluorine solution (manufactured by Asahi Glass Company, Ltd.) of fluorocarbon resin (Cytop, trade name, manufactured by Asahi Glass Company, Ltd.) was coated on a glass substrate having an ITO electrode evaporated thereon by use of a spin coater at 1500 rpm and then dried for about 1 hour at 150°C to obtain a thin Cytop film of 2.6 µm thick. [Example 2] The medium obtained in Example 1 and an organic photoconductive material stacked on a transparent electrode were disposed face-to-face with each other across an air gap defined by a spacer comprising a polyester film of 9 µm. Next, image exposure was effected by projecting an image from the transparent electrode side of the photoconductive material under the application of 700 V for 0.1 sec between the two electrodes, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the medium. Thereafter, the medium I formed with the electrostatic latent image was disposed face-to-face with another medium II shown in Example 1 across an air gap defined by a spacer comprising a polyester film of 9 µm. In this state, a voltage of 800 V was applied between the two electrodes to induce an electric discharge, so that it was possible to form of an electrostatic latent image on the medium II, which was inversely copied from the electrostatic latent image on the medium I. Thus, by inducing an electric discharge between the master electric charge retaining medium and the reproductive electric charge retaining medium, which are disposed face-to-face with each other, electrostatic charge information can be inversely reproduced on the reproductive electric charge retaining medium. At this time, it is possible to effect reproduction any number of times while preventing the lowering in the contrast of the master electric charge retaining medium by making the electrostatic capacity of the master electric charge retaining medium adequately larger than the electrostatic capacity of the reproductive electric charge retaining medium. Accordingly, reproduction can be effected without the need for toner development as in the prior art, and it is possible to further improve the function of the electric charge retaining medium itself as an information medium.

Claims: An electrostatic charge pattern reproducing method wherein a master electric charge retaining medium having an electrostatic charge pattern formed on an insulating layer stacked on an electrically conductive layer is disposed face-to-face with, and with a gap from, a reproductive electric charge retaining medium having an insulating layer stacked on an electrically conductive layer, and a voltage is applied between said conductive layers of said two electric charge retaining media, thereby allowing said electrostatic charge pattern on said master electric charge retaining medium to be inversely reproduced on said reproductive electric charge retaining medium, characterised in that the electrostatic capacity of said master electric charge retaining medium is larger than the electrostatic capacity of said reproductive electric charge retaining medium.

Inventors: AONO TAKASHI, IIJIMA MASAYUKI, OKABE MASATO, AONO, TAKASHI, IIJIMA, MASAYUKI, OKABE, MASATO, AONO, TAKASHI DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD., IIJIMA, MASAYUKI DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD., OKABE, MASATO DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.
Applicants: DAINIPPON PRINTING CO LTD, DAI NIPPON PRINTING CO., LTD.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: G03G13
IPC codes: G03G16, G03G15, G03G5