JP4894394B2 - Crimp sheet manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing a pressure-bonding sheet represented by a so-called pressure-bonded postcard.

Conventionally, in order to transmit character information only to a specific individual, generally, the character description is in a sealed form so that the individual can confirm the character information only after opening.
In recent years, personal information protection has become a strict question, and various business establishments, for example, personal information such as various personal data, gradebooks, salary statements, etc., are printed on the printed part of the written text. It is recorded and distributed in the form of envelopes or cards by bonding or crimping the peripheral edge of the printed part or the entire surface of the written text.

  Among these, postcard-sized cards are called crimped postcards and can be used at the same charge as regular postcards. Therefore, as a printing information concealment system that is highly convenient for information providers, advertising It is also widely used for advertising direct mail.

  In order to use such a printing information concealment system for crimping postcards, etc., secret information has conventionally been created by entrusting it to a specialized manufacturer or introducing an expensive crimping postcard or other manufacturing / printing device. .

  There are two methods for creating confidential information using a manufacturing / printing device such as a crimping postcard, such as a method of applying adhesive after information printing or a method of applying adhesive before information printing. The premise of creating a large amount of information is essential and expensive.

Further, such outsourcing to a manufacturer is not a preferable method for creating confidential information because there is a potential problem of leakage of personal information.
By the way, in recent years, along with the development of personal computers and printers, there has been proposed one that can easily create a crimp postcard even in a small unit so that it can be used by small-scale offices and individuals.

  For example, postcard paper with release paper pre-applied with a pressure sensitive adhesive is on the market. In this method, after printing predetermined character information or the like on the printing surface inside the two-fold, the pressure-sensitive adhesive portion is crimped to complete a postcard for postage.

  For example, a set of adhesive film and postcard paper is sold. In this method, after printing predetermined character information or the like on the printing surface inside the double fold, the adhesive film is pressure-bonded with the adhesive film sandwiched inside, so that a postcard for posting can be created.

  However, this is unavoidable, and it is inevitable that handling is complicated, and it is better to make several crimping postcards personally, but it is cheap, quick, and responsive to demand in a certain number of sheets. It can not be created with.

Therefore, a toner-like adhesive composed of microcapsules containing an adhesive is transferred onto the surface of the substrate by electrostatic printing and flash-fixed. At the time of adhesion, the microcapsules are destroyed by pressure and the adhesive in the capsule is leached. In this way, a proposal has been made that it is possible to easily create a pressure-bonded postcard. This proposal also suggests a pulverized toner obtained by melting, kneading, and pulverizing an adhesive. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1.)
In addition, the pressure bonding substance is put into a replacement printing cartridge for an office printer or a copying machine, and the pressure bonding substance is applied to a government postcard or envelope by the same operation as the printing operation by the office printer or copying machine. After that, a proposal has been made that it can be applied to a dedicated crimping machine, and a single printer or copying machine can be used to reach the dedicated crimping machine. In addition, this proposal suggests that a crimping substance is applied to one side of a fold and one side of a center of a fold. (For example, see Patent Document 2.)
In addition, a method has been proposed in which a toner containing a heat-sensitive adhesive is used, and an image is created in a demand-responsive manner by an electrophotographic method. In this proposal, the softening temperature of the heat-sensitive adhesive is configured to be higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner for electrophotography, and the ratio of the heat-sensitive adhesive to the toner for electrophotography is 5 to 5. It has been proposed that the composition be 60% by weight and that the composition of the heat-sensitive adhesive contains at least one selected from the group consisting of a heat-adhesive resin, a hot melt, and waxes. (For example, refer to Patent Document 3.)
JP 09-104849 A (paragraphs 0005, 0014, FIG. 1, FIG. 3, FIG. 6) JP 2000-006553 A (summary, no figure) Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-126231 (paragraphs 0085 to 0087, not shown)

  However, although the technology of Patent Document 1 describes the configuration and composition of the microcapsule toner, the pulverized toner is merely suggested to the extent that it is conceived, and the specific composition, production method, There is no description about the usage, and this makes it possible for even those skilled in the art to produce useful pulverized toners and, of course, not even make prototypes.

  In addition, the technology of Patent Document 2 is to create a print information concealment document by a public postcard or envelope before being applied to a dedicated crimping machine, and it is convenient in that it must be applied to the dedicated crimping machine to complete for posting. It must be said that it is lacking in performance and economy and is far from being responsive to demand.

  Further, in the technique of Patent Document 3, the softening temperature of the heat-sensitive adhesive is merely set higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner for the electrophotographic method, but it is suggested to the extent of the idea. No specific material formulation or specific usage of toner containing heat sensitive adhesive is disclosed.

Also, such a toner adhesive powder adhesive for postcards has not been distributed to the market to date. The pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards in circulation is only liquid or adhesive sheet.
Therefore, the present inventor decided to make a prototype of a toner-like adhesive (thermoplastic resin powder) on the premise that it can be applied using a printer, based on the suggestion of the conventional proposed technique. .

  The material formulation of the toner-like adhesive, which was prototyped on the assumption that it can be applied using a printer or copying machine, is about 95% polyester as a binder resin, about 2% LR147 as a charge control agent, and pp as a wax. Was about 2%.

  The above-mentioned material prescription is based on the idea that it satisfies both the requirements of a pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards and that it can be applied with a printer (that is, it has powder properties similar to toner). Polyester is a binder resin material that is currently used mainly as a toner for printers.

  Next, these materials were mixed with a Henschel mixer FM20 manufactured by Mitsui Mining Co., Ltd. and kneaded with a biaxial continuous kneader. Thereafter, the mixture was roughly crushed, pulverized, and classified, and finally mixed with hydrophobic silica using a Henschel mixer to obtain a powder similar to a toner having a center particle size of 9 μm.

  This powder was developed on a photosensitive drum as a powder adhesive, transferred to the folding surface of a reciprocating postcard, fixed, taken out of paper, and pasted on a crimping machine. At this time, the setting temperature of the bonding roller to be bonded was set in four stages of 120 ° C., 130 ° C., 140 ° C., and 150 ° C., and the pressure-bonded postcard bonded at each set temperature was created.

  The use of a dedicated crimping machine as described above for pasting this postcard, and the temperature setting of the pasting roller includes a temperature higher than the melting temperature of the normal toner, suggesting that each of the conventional proposed techniques It is a response.

  And although not shown in particular, it decided to evaluate the crimping postcard produced for every said preset temperature. In this evaluation, the variable information printing toner was originally printed when the peel force (strength of the force when peeling the attached part of the crimping postcard) and the character offset (opening (peeling) the stuck part of the crimped postcard). It was determined whether or not it was good or bad by visual observation about the phenomenon that it was detached from the surface that had been removed and then transferred to the adhesive surface and adhered.

  As a result, the adhesive prepared as described above has a problem that character offset occurs in the temperature setting region (140 ° C., 150 ° C.) of the adhesive strength (= peeling force) to which the postcard sticks. There was found.

  In other words, with adhesives created within the range suggested by the prior art (adhesives whose softening temperature is higher than the softening temperature of the binder resin of the toner), variable information is printed with normal toner and then applied to the printing surface as a single adhesive. Or when a variable information image is formed with a toner containing a heat-sensitive adhesive, the toner fixed on the paper surface is re-melted by heating to realize the subsequent adhesion by the adhesive, A character offset occurs.

  This character offset phenomenon is caused by the fact that both the variable information printing toner softened and melted by thermocompression bonding and the adhesive are strongly bound together, and when the postcard is opened, the variable information printing toner is strongly pulled by the adhesive on the opposite surface. However, it is considered that this occurs when the adhesive force between the paper and the variable information printing toner exceeds the adhesive force, and the variable information printing toner is transferred to the opposite surface side.

Therefore, it turns out that some kind of further device is necessary for producing a powder adhesive having sufficient adhesive force (= peeling force) and no character offset.
Also, in the above experiment, since it was performed to investigate the offset property of the adhesive, it is crimped using a dedicated crimping machine, but when it becomes possible to apply the adhesive using a printer, the crimping device However, there is a grudge that is not convenient unless it is a small device that can be connected to or incorporated in a printer.

However, the above Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3 do not disclose or suggest a compact crimping device that can be connected to or incorporated in such a printer.
In view of the above-described conventional situation, the problem of the present invention is that, after establishing a practical method for producing a powder adhesive, printing variable information, applying a powder adhesive, and pressing the application surface It is to provide a compact and high-performance crimp sheet producing apparatus that performs the above.

The pressure-bonding sheet producing apparatus of the present invention includes a paper supply unit that takes out a paper having an area that is approximately an integral multiple of the area allowed as a postcard size and is not coated with an adhesive from the paper feeding unit, and a powder adhesive applying mechanism which secret information is applied a thermally fusible powder adhesive only on the surface of the hand of the facing surfaces when folded surface to be printed on the inside, by ejecting ink An ink jet printing mechanism having an ink jet head for printing, and printing information including secret information to be concealed; a paper folding mechanism for folding the paper; and the powder by applying heat and pressure to the folded paper A heat-fixing mechanism that melts and presses through an adhesive ;
Is configured to create a crimped sheet .

  In this pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus, the ink jet printing mechanism unit is disposed, for example, on the upstream side in the paper transport direction from the powder adhesive application mechanism unit, and, for example, the paper than the powder adhesive application mechanism unit. It is configured to be arranged on the downstream side in the transport direction.

  In the pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus, the ink jet printing mechanism may be configured to include a line type ink jet head, for example, or may be configured to include a serial type ink jet head, for example.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to provide a compact and high-performance pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus that performs printing of variable information, application of a powder adhesive, and pressure bonding of the coated surface.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
In the adhesive made of the above-mentioned toner-like thermoplastic resin powder, in order to prevent problems such as paper breakage or character transfer due to too strong adhesive force, a variable information printing toner (hereinafter simply referred to as printing) It is considered necessary to prevent the toner) and the adhesive from being integrated when melted.

  For this purpose, it is considered necessary to make the configuration of the adhesive different from that of the variable information printing toner. Based on this idea, the present inventor has developed a toner-like powder having a composition different from that of the printing toner, and a toner-like powder having a composition almost the same as that of the printing toner for comparison, Transparent powders containing no coloring materials such as dyes and pigments were prepared, and their adhesive strength and character offset property were evaluated.

The composition, manufacturing method, and evaluation results of the toner-like powder, that is, the powder adhesive will be described below.
First, the inventors created three types of powder adhesives as Production Example 1, Production Example 2 and Production Example 3. As materials, polyester resin, silica powder, charge control agent, polyethylene wax, acrylic resin, and fine silica were prepared with different content ratios (mass%).

  Of these material formulations, the polyester resin is a binder resin. As a powder adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards, it is possible to use a binder resin used for toner, and examples of such a binder resin include polystyrene resin, styrene acrylic resin, polyester resin, and epoxy resin. It is done.

  Polyester resin, in particular, has a lower softening point than other resins, and can be set to a softening point of 110 ° C. as shown in the figure. When organic materials are mixed as a non-adhesive material used for adhesion adjustment in this example In addition, there is an advantage that the temperature difference of the softening point can be set large.

  In addition, silica powder having a particle size of 3 μm is selected as a representative of inorganic non-tacky materials and is used as an adhesive strength modifier. An acrylic resin having a particle size of 4 μm and a softening point of 200 ° C. or higher has been selected as a representative organic non-tacky material and is used as another adhesive strength adjusting agent.

  In addition, a charge control agent LR-147 manufactured by Nippon Carlit Co., Ltd. which is a charge control agent, polyethylene wax NP-056 manufactured by Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. as a wax, and Japan which is an external additive as a fluidity improver. The fine silica RY-50 manufactured by Aerosil Co., Ltd. is used for applying a powder adhesive to paper using electrophotography as in the case of printing toner.

  In Production Example 1, first, 70% by mass of a polyester resin as a binder resin, 30% by mass of silica powder, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax are prepared as non-adhesive resins.

  These are mixed with a chemical mixer, the mixture is melt-kneaded with a twin screw extruder and then crushed. Further, the crushed product is pulverized with an I-type jet mill, and the pulverized product is classified to obtain an average volume particle size. 9 μm powder particles are prepared.

Then, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica were mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture was sieved to obtain a desired powder adhesive for a pressure-bonding sheet.
Next, in Production Example 2, first, 70% by mass of a polyester resin as a binder resin, 30% by mass of an acrylic resin, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax are prepared as non-adhesive resins.

  Then, as described above, these are mixed with a chemical mixer, the mixture is melt-kneaded with a twin screw extruder and then crushed, and the crushed product is pulverized with an I-type jet mill, and the pulverized product is classified. Thus, powder particles having an average volume particle diameter of 9 μm are prepared.

Then, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica were mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture was sieved to obtain a desired pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.
In Production Example 3, 100% by mass of a polyester resin, 1% by mass of a charge control agent, and 3% by mass of polyethylene wax were used in the same manner as in Production Example 1 or 2 as in the case of the printing toner. After producing powder particles having a diameter of 9 μm, 100% by mass of the powder particles and 1% by mass of fine silica were mixed with a Henschel mixer, and the mixture was sieved to obtain a desired pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.

  The adhesive prepared in this way is applied to the paper with an adhesive applicator. This adhesive is a powder adhesive and is solid at room temperature. And it melts by heating, and adhesiveness is exhibited by being pressurized.

  By the way, in the application of the powder adhesive, for example, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus that performs printing (or printing, the same applies hereinafter) using toner is used, and the powder adhesive is accommodated in the image forming unit instead of the toner. Thus, a method of selectively applying the powder adhesive to the adhesive application surface of the postcard is considered.

  In application of such a powder adhesive, it is usually easier to apply it to a solid. Then, if it is applied to the solid, it is considered that there is no problem even if it is applied directly only with the developing roller of the developing device without using the photosensitive drum used for selective image formation in the image forming unit.

  FIG. 1 (a) is a configuration principle diagram of a pressure-bonding sheet creating system including the powder adhesive application device according to Embodiment 1 configured based on such an idea, and FIG. 1 (b), (c), (d) is a diagram showing a procedure for applying a powder adhesive, and (e) is a diagram showing how to fold during pressure bonding. FIGS. 3C and 3D are a plan view and a rear side view showing a state where the powder adhesive is transferred.

  In this pressure-bonding sheet creating system, variable information is printed in advance on the paper surface of the pressure-bonding sheet by an appropriate image forming apparatus (for example, an electrophotographic printer using toner), and the information is superimposed on the print surface of the paper surface as described above. The powder adhesives of Production Examples 1 to 3 were applied.

  Further, in this example, since the amount of secret information can be described more as the number of pages increases in recent years, the Z-fold pressure-bonded postcard will be described as an example in view of the fact that Z-fold pressure-bonded postcards are widely used. I will decide.

In FIG. 2A, the pressure-bonding sheet producing system comprises, from right to left, a paper feeding device 1, a powder adhesive coating device 2, a folding device 3, a pressure bonding device 4, and a finished pressure sheet storage device 5.
The powder adhesive application device 2 includes a paper transport device 6, an adhesive application unit 7, a fixing device 8, and a double-sided printing reversing device 9.

The adhesive application unit 7 includes a powder adhesive container 11 in which a powder adhesive is accommodated, and an application roller 12 rotatably disposed in a lower end opening of the powder adhesive container 11. ing.
Although not particularly shown, a transfer device is provided that is disposed opposite to the application roller 12 via the conveyance belt 13 of the sheet conveyance device 6.

  In FIG. 1A, first, a sheet 14 for Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard is accommodated in the sheet feeding device 1. Next, the sheets 14 are taken out from the sheet feeding device 1 one by one by a sheet feeding roller (not shown) or the like and fed to the powder adhesive application device 2 as indicated by an arrow a.

FIG. 2B is a view of the paper 14 fed from the paper feeding device 1 to the powder adhesive application device 2 as seen from above.
In the powder adhesive application device 2, the application roller 12 of the powder adhesive container 11 rotates while forming a uniform powder adhesive layer on the peripheral surface thereof. The application roller 12 cooperates with a transfer unit (not shown) on the surface P1 of one end page of the surface of the paper 14 that passes immediately below the application roller 12, as shown in FIG. The body adhesive 15 is electrostatically transferred (applied).

  Here, the surface configuration of the Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard paper 14 is defined. As shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D, in this example, the surface of the sheet 14 is a surface P2 on one end page of the cover before Z-folding, and a surface P3 on the other end page. The back surface of the surface P1 is referred to as surface P4, the back surface of the cover surface P2 as surface P5, and the back surface of the cover surface P3 as surface P6.

  The sheet 14 having the powder adhesive transferred (applied) to the surface P1 as shown in FIG. 11B is conveyed toward the fixing device 8 as indicated by the arrow b in FIG. Heat and pressure are applied to the paper 14 by the fixing device 8, and the powder adhesive 15 transferred to the surface P1 is melted and fixed on the paper surface.

  Thereafter, the paper 14 is conveyed toward the double-sided printing reversing device 9 as indicated by arrows c and d. The paper 14 is turned upside down by the double-sided printing reversing device 9 and is turned upside down. The paper 14 is conveyed in the first paper feeding direction as indicated by arrows e, f, and g. As shown by a, it is fed to the powder adhesive applicator 2.

  The paper 14 on which the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the back surface by the powder adhesive applicator 2 is fixed on the paper surface by the fixing device 8 and then folded as indicated by an arrow h. It is conveyed toward the device 3.

  FIG. 4D shows a plan view and a rear side view showing a state where the powder adhesive 15 is transferred to the back surface 6 of the paper 14. That is, as shown in FIG. 4D, the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the surface P1 on the front surface of the paper 14 and the surface P6 on the back surface.

  In this state, the paper 14 carried into the folding device 3 is Z-folded by the folding device 3 (see FIG. 4E), conveyed to the crimping device 4, and the surface P1 and the surface P2 by the crimping device 4. And the surface P5 and the surface P6 are crimped | bonded, and the crimping postcard which can be thrown in is completed. Note that a generally known Z-folding device can be used as the Z-folding device.

  2A is a diagram showing a state of the sheet 14 folded by the folding device 3 for reference, and FIG. 2B shows the sheet 14 folded by Z as indicated by an arrow H. FIG. It is a figure which shows the state penetrated by the crimping | compression-bonding apparatus. The paper 14 that has been Z-folded by the folding device 3 is bonded by the crimping device 4 to form one postcard. This coating process was performed on a predetermined number of sheets on which confidential information was printed.

  Subsequently, the operator replaces the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 of Production Example 1 with the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ′ of Production Example 2. And the application | coating process of powder adhesive 15 'similar to the above was performed.

  Further, the operator replaces the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ′ of Production Example 2 with the powder adhesive container 11 containing the powder adhesive 15 ″ of Production Example 3. The same powder adhesive 15 ″ coating process as described above was performed.

Here, the peelability of the pressure-bonded postcard created as described above and the state of transfer of the variable information (character offset property) are evaluated.
In this evaluation, the peelability was confirmed by manually opening the adhesive portion of the postcard paper after the pressure bonding. Moreover, the evaluation of the transfer state of the variable information was confirmed visually by checking the presence or absence of the transfer when the adhesive part was opened.

  As a result of the evaluation, the powder adhesive of Production Example 1 was able to peel well (evaluation was good), and there was no character transfer when the open surface was seen (evaluation was good). Similarly, the powder adhesive of Production Example 2 could be peeled well (evaluation was good), and when the open surface was seen, there was no transfer (evaluation was good).

On the other hand, the powder adhesive of Production Example 3 does not peel off well, and the paper is torn (evaluation is x). Moreover, when the open surface was seen, the character transfer had occurred (evaluation was x).
As described above, according to the above evaluation, it was found that Production Examples 1 and 2 have excellent peelability and no transfer of characters, and are extremely good pressure-sensitive adhesive for postcards.

  And in Production Example 3, it was found that the adhesive force was too strong, the peeling did not go well, and the partially peeled part was also transferred, and as a result, it was not practical as an adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards. .

  Although it has already been proposed to use toner as a powder adhesive for pressure-bonding postcards, as described above, the powder adhesive of Preparation Example 3 is composed of almost the same material as the toner, and is the main component of the toner. A certain binder resin has high adhesiveness, and when used as a powder adhesive, the peel strength is too strong to open easily, resulting in paper breakage or partial transfer of the open portion. It became clear that it would not be practical.

  On the other hand, as in Preparation Example 1 or 2, an adhesive strength is obtained by mixing an inorganic or organic resin such as silica or acrylic resin as a non-adhesive component that does not melt at the time of fixing to a polyester resin having adhesive strength. It has been proved that the reduced one is practical as an adhesive for a good pressure-bonding postcard having good peelability and no transfer of characters.

  In Embodiment 1 described above, a non-adhesive substance is added to the binder resin having a strong adhesive force to weaken the adhesive force. Conversely, the binder resin having a weak adhesive force has a strong adhesive force. You may make it adjust an adhesive force by adding a thing.

  For example, an adhesive that adheres well can be formed by mixing adhesive components and strengthening the adhesive force mainly by using a wax system having a weak adhesive force. An adhesive that does not cause transfer can be obtained.

  In the above embodiment, the non-adhesive component silica or acrylic resin is first made into fine particles and added to the binder resin, but the shape of the non-adhesive component is not limited to particles. For example, when an acrylic resin is added and then melt-kneaded with the binder resin, the acrylic resin is refined and dispersed.

Here, Z folding by a generally known Z folding apparatus will be described. Since the Z-folding device can be used as it is for the V-folding device, the V-folding and the Z-folding will be described in this order.
FIGS. 3A to 3E are diagrams showing a method of bending a V-fold (crimp) postcard. The state before the V-folding of the V-folding postcard is a state in which the front surface is composed of only the surfaces P1 and P2 in FIG. Here, this sheet is referred to as a sheet Pv.

  First, as indicated by an arrow e in FIG. 3A, the paper Pv is carried into the folding entrance 16 shown in FIG. 3A of the folding device 3 shown in FIG. Therefore, the primary conveyance roller 17 and the primary secondary conveyance roller 18 are paired to grip and rotate the sheet Pv and operate to send the sheet Pv to the primary drawing path 19 as shown in FIG. To do.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 3 (b), the paper Pv is stretched between the folding carry-in entrance 16 and the primary drawing-in path 19. A primary folding device 21 is disposed between the folding entrance 16 and the primary drawing path 19, and the primary folding device 21 includes a folding plate 22.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (c), the primary folding device 21 folds the folding portion of the paper Pv stretched between the folding inlet 16 and the primary drawing path 19 as shown in FIG. It protrudes and is folded into the opposing part of the primary secondary conveyance roller 18 and the secondary tertiary conveyance roller 23.

  Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3 (d), the primary / secondary conveyance roller 18 and the secondary / tertiary conveyance roller 23 are paired and rotate while gripping the folded leading end of the sheet Pv. It operates to send out in the direction of the next drawing-in path 24.

A secondary folding device 25 is disposed between the secondary drawing path 24 and the primary secondary conveying roller 18, and the secondary folding device 25 includes a folding and guiding plate 26.
The secondary folding device 25 projects the folding and guiding plate 26 at a timing when the folded front end of the paper Pv slightly passes the facing portion between the secondary and tertiary transport rollers 23 and the tertiary transport roller 27, and the paper Pv The leading end that is folded and protruded is guided in the direction of the opposing portion between the secondary and tertiary conveyance rollers 23 and the tertiary conveyance roller 27.

  A pair of secondary and tertiary conveyance rollers 23 and a tertiary conveyance roller 27 sandwich and rotate the leading end of the sheet Pv that is folded and protruded. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3 (e), the paper Pv is sent out to the delivery path 28 to the crimping device 4 shown in FIG.

  4 (a) to 4 (e) are diagrams showing a method of bending a Z-fold (tri-fold) pressure-bonding sheet. The Z-fold (tri-fold) pressure-bonding sheet Pz described here is the same sheet as the sheet 14 shown in FIG.

First, FIG. 4 (a) shows a state where the sheet has been folded up to two as in the case of FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (d).
Thereafter, the primary conveyance roller 17 and the primary secondary conveyance roller 18 are paired to send out the rear portion of the paper Pz, and the primary secondary conveyance roller 18 and the secondary tertiary conveyance roller 23 are paired to form the above-mentioned paper Pz. The two folded portions are gripped and rotated, and the paper Pz is sent out in the direction of the secondary pull-in path 24 as shown in FIG.

  At the timing when the mating portion Pz-12 of the first sheet Pz-1 and the second sheet Pz-2 folded into the two of the paper Pz comes to the opposing portion of the secondary and tertiary transport roller 23 and the tertiary transport roller 27. As shown in FIG. 4C, the secondary folding device 25 projects the folding / guide plate 26 and folds the third sheet Pz-3 at the end of the sheet Pz.

  As shown in FIG. 4 (d), the second and third transport rollers 23 and 27 are paired, and the third sheet Pz-3 at the end of the sheet Pz is folded and protruded in a triple manner. Rotates with the folded part sandwiched.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 4 (e), the paper Pz is sent out to the delivery path 28 to the pressure bonding device 4 while being folded in three by the secondary / tertiary transport roller 23 and the tertiary transport roller 27.
Returning to FIG. 1, the two-folded paper Pv or the three-folded paper Pz sent out to the crimping device 4 as described above is immediately carried into the crimping device 4 and is crimped by applying heat and pressure.

(Embodiment 2)
By the way, in Embodiment 1 described above, a sheet on which variable information is printed using an electrophotographic printer using toner is V-folded or Z-folded. However, printing of variable information is not limited to this. Needless to say, an inkjet printer may be used.

In the first embodiment, the front and back surfaces of the paper 14 (paper Pz) are reversed by the double-sided printing reversing device 9 and the powder adhesive is applied to the front and back surfaces.
As described above, when the powder adhesive 15 is applied to the Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard paper 14 by the same powder adhesive application machine, that is, the processing time for applying the powder adhesive 15 to both surfaces of the paper 14 is V-folding. Compared to the case where the powder adhesive only needs to be applied to one side as in the case of a pressure-bonded postcard, it takes twice or more in terms of time to include reversal conveyance.

  That is, in the case of the most popular Z-folding postcards, the application process of the powder adhesive per sheet is delayed as compared with the V-folding postcards, and the production efficiency of the crimping postcards is lowered. This problem can be solved if the powder adhesive can be applied to the front and back sides by a single paper conveyance.

A pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus that performs printing with an ink-jet printer as described above and applies a powder adhesive to the front and back sides by a single paper conveyance will be described below as a second embodiment.
In this example, in consideration of the fact that the printing surface is not an electrophotographic toner image but an ink-jet liquid ink image, the composition of the powder adhesive used is more than that of the first embodiment. Somewhat changed.

  That is, as a binder resin material of the powder adhesive of this example, 50 to 70 parts of polyolefin resin, 30 to 50 parts of hydrogenated petroleum hydrocarbon resin, a charge control agent, and wax are used as a raw material in a Henschel mixer. And then kneaded in a twin screw kneader.

  This was coarsely crushed to 2 mm, finely pulverized to a particle size of 9 μm using a jet pulverizer, and classified so as to have a CV value of 20. Furthermore, the fine particles obtained as described above were mixed with 1 to 3% of hydrophobic silica by a Henschel mixer, and external addition of hydrophobic silica was performed.

  The main body adhesive is 70-90 parts of a polyethylene resin having a THF insoluble content of 15-30%, a charge control agent, and a wax as a raw material. And kneading.

  After coarsely pulverizing this to 2 mm, it was finely pulverized to a particle size of 9 μm using a jet type pulverizer and classified so as to have a CV value of 20. Furthermore, the fine particles obtained as described above were externally added by mixing 1 to 3% of hydrophobic silica with a Henschel mixer.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the configuration of the pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus as the second embodiment. As shown in the figure, the pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus 30 is configured such that a paper feeding unit 31, an ink jet printing mechanism unit 32, and a preliminary paper folding unit 33 from the upstream side (right side in the figure) to the downstream side (left side in the figure) in the paper transport direction. , A powder adhesive application mechanism section 34, a fixing mechanism section 35, a sheet folding mechanism section 36, a shape ordering section 37, a cutting / separating section 38, and a paper discharge storage section 39.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the size of paper used for Z-fold (tri-fold) pressure-bonding postcards in the above-described pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus. The figure shows an A3 size paper 40. In this example, one end in the longitudinal direction of the paper 40 is cut off in advance by a length portion 40a having a length of 10.5 cm, and the remaining portion is used as the paper 40b.

  Then, as shown in the figure, when cutting along the cutting line 41 and folding along the two folding lines 42 into three by mountain fold and valley fold, the length is 14.85 cm and the width is 10.5 cm, respectively. Two Z-fold crimped postcards can be made. The vertical and horizontal dimensions of this crimped postcard are the allowable dimensions of the postcard approved by the Postal Service.

  In the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 5 of this example, the maximum size paper that can be applied is A3 size paper, so the maximum paper width that can be conveyed and processed is the same as the lateral width of A3 size paper, 29.7 cm. It is. The paper feed unit 31 shown in FIG. 5 accommodates a large number of sheets 40b shown in FIG.

  7 (a) to (d) and FIGS. 8 (a) to (d) are a plan view, a perspective view, and a side view of the state of the sheet 40b in the order of the steps of making the crimping postcard in the crimping sheet producing apparatus 30 shown in FIG. It is a figure shown with sectional drawing etc.

  7A to 7D and FIGS. 8A to 8D (also in FIG. 6), the conveyance direction of the paper 40b in the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus is indicated by an arrow i. That is, the sheet 40b is completed as a Z-fold pressure-bonded postcard through the printing process, adhesive application including a special intermediate process, tri-folding, pressure bonding, and cutting / separating processes while being conveyed in the direction of arrow i.

Hereinafter, with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 8, a method for producing a pressure-bonding sheet including a method for applying a pressure-bonding sheet adhesive in the pressure-bonding sheet producing apparatus of this example will be described.
First, the paper 40 b is fed from the paper feeding unit 31 to the inkjet printing mechanism unit 32. In FIG. 5 (a), only one postcard sheet conveyed in the direction of the arrow i is shown in FIG. 5 (a) for this paper feeding. As shown in the figure, two sheets of crimping postcards 40b that are still connected by the cutting line 41 are conveyed in the longitudinal direction as indicated by an arrow i.

  The inkjet printing mechanism unit 32 includes an inkjet head 43 and a double-sided printing reversing device 44. As the ink jet head 43, a line type ink jet head is preferable from the viewpoint of the printing speed, and a serial type ink jet head is preferable from the viewpoint of cost.

Ink jet heads include an ink ejection method such as a piezo method and a thermal bubble method, but any ink ejection method may be used as long as printing is possible.
The print head may be monochrome, but an inkjet head capable of full-color printing consisting of four colors of black, yellow, magenta and cyan, or four or more colors including intermediate tones such as light magenta and light cyan. It can be said that it is preferable.

In the inkjet printing mechanism section 32, the inkjet head 43 and the duplex printing inversion device 44 are used to perform duplex printing on the paper 40b.
In the example shown in FIG. 7A, in the printing of the first surface, the confidential information is printed on the surface A and the surface B, and the address is printed on the surface C. Then, it is reversed by the double-sided printing reversing device 44, and in the printing of the second surface, the confidential information is printed on the surface F and the surface E, and the sender information is printed on the surface D.

Subsequent to the above, the paper 40b is conveyed to the spare paper folding unit 33 shown in FIG. In preliminary sheet folding section 33, the sheet 40b, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), a portion of the paper (part of the C face and the F face at the front and back) is folded as indicated by arrow j.

  The preliminary paper folding of the paper 40b is performed by the same method as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) to 3 (e). The paper 40b in which a part of the paper is folded is then conveyed to the powder adhesive application mechanism 34.

  The powder adhesive application mechanism 34 includes a powder adhesive container 45, an adhesive application roller 46 provided in the lower end opening of the powder adhesive container 45, a transfer roller 47, a cleaner 48, and the like. It is configured.

The sheet 40b carried into the powder adhesive application mechanism 34 is nipped and conveyed by the adhesive application roller 46 and the transfer roller 47 while being folded (see the surface F in FIG. 7 (c)). in the not folded exposed alongside the folded sides of Toko plane (see plane a in FIG. 7 (c)), is coated with a powder adhesive 15 at a time (see FIG. 7 (d)).

  In this way, the paper 40b having the powder adhesive 15 applied to the predetermined front and back surfaces (surface F and surface A) at a time is conveyed to the fixing mechanism section 35. A lower endless heat belt 51 and pressure rollers 52 and 53 are arranged in the paper carry-in portion of the fixing mechanism portion 35 so as to sandwich the lower endless heat belt 51 from the inside and outside of the upper and lower sides to form a hypothetical wearing portion.

  The pressure roller 52 located on the lower surface (outside) of the lower endless heat belt 51 is always in contact with the lower surface of the lower endless heat belt 51, and the pressure roller 53 disposed opposite the pressure roller 52 is assumed to be worn. When it moves downward, the lower endless heat belt 51 is pressed toward the pressure roller 52.

  A heating roller 54 is disposed on the downstream side (left side in the drawing) of the pressure roller 53 disposed inside the lower endless heat belt 51. An electromagnetic wave generating portion 55 is disposed opposite to the heat generating roller 54 with the lower endless heat belt 51 interposed therebetween.

  The electromagnetic wave generation unit 55 irradiates the heat generating roller 54 with an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined frequency. The heat generating roller pair 54 is made of a metal body having a predetermined electric resistance value, and generates electromagnetic induction heat inside by the electromagnetic wave irradiated from the electromagnetic wave generating unit 55. The generated heat is transmitted to the lower endless heat belt 51.

As a result, the paper 40b is sandwiched and conveyed by the lower endless heat belt 51 and the pressure roller 52, and heat and pressure are applied, and the powder adhesive 15 is put on the paper surface.
The paper 40b on which the powder adhesive 15 is presupposed on the paper surface is then conveyed to the paper folding mechanism 36. First, the folded surface of the paper 40b carried into the paper folding mechanism 36 is first widened.

FIG. 7 (a) shows the surface (surface A, surface B, surface C) of the paper 40b that has been spread in such a manner, and the powder adhesive 15 is assumed on the surface A. FIG. Further, FIG. 7 (b), the back surface of the sheet 40b that has been widened above (surface D, surface E, surface F) shows a, on the surface F above the powder adhesive 15 is temporarily fixed .

Thereafter, in the sheet folding mechanism 36, as shown in FIG. 7 (c), the surface F is folded to the surface E side as indicated by the arrow k, and then continuously folded to be doubled with the surface F. The surface B is folded to the surface A side as indicated by the arrow m. Thus, as shown in FIG. 7 (d), the sheet 40b is the folded Z.

  The Z-folded sheet 40b is conveyed again to the fixing mechanism unit 35. However, this time, the sheet 40b is carried into the main fixing unit in which the lower endless heat belt 51 and the upper endless heat belt 56 are arranged to face each other.

  Inside the lower endless heat belt 51, three pressure rollers including the pressure roller 53 are disposed upstream from the pressure roller 53 described above. Three pressure rollers are disposed at positions facing the three pressure rollers inside the heat belt 51 in pairs.

  Inside the upper endless heat belt 56, a heat generating roller 57 is disposed on the downstream side of the three pressure rollers. An electromagnetic wave generating portion 58 is disposed opposite to the heat generating roller 57 with the upper endless heat belt 56 interposed therebetween.

  The electromagnetic wave generator 58 irradiates the heat generating roller 57 with an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined frequency. The heat generating roller pair 57 is made of a metal body having a predetermined electric resistance value, and generates electromagnetic induction heat inside by the electromagnetic wave irradiated from the electromagnetic wave generating unit 58. The generated heat is transmitted to the upper endless heat belt 56.

  The total of six pressure roller groups press the upper endless heat belt 56 and the lower endless heat belt 51, respectively, toward the facing portion. This pressing action is configured to gradually and strongly act from the upstream side in the transport direction to the downstream side (in this main fixing, from the left side to the right side in the figure).

  As a result, the Z-folded paper 40b is nipped and conveyed by the lower endless heat belt 51 and the upper endless heat belt 56, and the coated surface (surface A, surface F) of the powder adhesive 15 and its opposite surface. (Surface B, Surface E) are pressure-bonded by heat and pressure.

As described above, when the paper 25b is thermocompression bonded, the pressure is gradually and strongly applied by the plurality of pressure roller pairs, so that it is possible to prevent the Z-folded paper 40b from being displaced and wrinkles.
In addition, since the pressure is applied by a plurality of pressure roller pairs (three pairs in this example) while being heated for a long time by the upper endless heat belt 56 and the lower endless heat belt 51, it is possible to effectively contribute to the improvement of the adhesive strength.

  Subsequently, the sheet 40b is conveyed to the shape adjusting unit 59, the skew is corrected, the conveyance width direction is aligned, and further conveyed to the cutting / separating unit 38. The cutting / separating unit 38 is cut by the splitter along the cutting line 41 shown in FIG. 6 and is completed as two independent Z-fold crimping postcards 40c. The completed two Z-fold crimping postcards 40 c are stored in the paper discharge storage unit 39.

  Thus, according to this example, variable information can be printed by ink jet printing to create a pressure-bonding sheet. Since the variable information and the information management for creating the crimping sheet are integrated, there is an advantage that the operation is easy.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus in Embodiment 3 will be described. In the configuration of the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus in this example, the position where the inkjet printing mechanism unit 32 is arranged in the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus 30 of the second embodiment shown in FIG.

That is, in the order of the crimping postcard production process shown in FIG. 8, the inkjet printing mechanism 32 is arranged between the process of FIG. 8B and the process of FIG.
That is, the preliminary paper folding part 33, the adhesive application part 34, the fixing mechanism part 35 (assumed wearing), the paper folding mechanism part 36 (opening the preliminary folding surface), the ink jet printing mechanism part 32, the paper folding mechanism part 36 (Z folding) ), The order of the fixing mechanism 35 (Z-fold fixing).

  In this example, the powder adhesive is blended with a resin for fixing the ink jet ink. For example, a resin composed of a cationic compound having a quaternary ammonium group or a tertiary amino group, or a cationic polyamide resin is used as the resin for the powder adhesive.

As a result, after application of the powder adhesive, the ink fixing property can be maintained even when printing is performed on the application surface by the ink jet printing mechanism 32.
(Embodiment 4)
Further, a pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus in Embodiment 4 will be described. The configuration of the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus in this example is the position between the adhesive application unit 7 and the fixing device 8 and in contact with the transport belt 13 of the paper transporting device 6 in the pressure-bonding sheet manufacturing apparatus of Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. In addition, the inkjet head 43 shown in FIG. 5 is arranged.

In this example, the powder adhesive 15 is coated on the entire surface of the paper 14 to coat the surface of the paper 14, and then ink jet printing is performed on the coated surface.
Also in this example, the powder adhesive is composed of, for example, a cationic compound having a quaternary ammonium group or a tertiary amino group, or a cationic polyamide resin as a resin for fixing the ink jet ink. Blended resin.

  Further, by adding a glossy resin, for example, an acrylic resin, a polyester resin, or the like, the powder adhesive can be given glossiness such as plain paper or coated paper.

  The powder adhesive is a Henschel mixer using 70 to 90 parts of polyethylene resin having a THF insoluble content of 15 to 30%, 10 to 30 parts of cationic polyamide resin, a charge control agent, and wax as raw materials. Mix and knead in a twin screw kneader.

  This is roughly crushed to 2 mm, finely pulverized to a particle size of 9 μm using a jet type pulverizer, and classified so as to have a CV value of 20. Further, the fine particles are mixed with 1 to 3% of hydrophobic silica by a Henschel mixer to externally add hydrophobic silica.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams simply showing the steps of applying the powder adhesive and inkjet printing in the fourth embodiment.
In FIG. 6A, the powder adhesive 15 prepared as described above is applied to the entire surface of the paper 14, and is fixed by the fixing device 8 to form an image receiving layer 61 of the inkjet ink on the paper 14. An image is formed on the image receiving layer 61 by ink jet printing indicated by ink droplets 62 by the ink jet head 43.

  FIG. 5B shows fixing by the fixing device 8, and the ink droplet 61 is fixed to the image receiving layer 61 by the powder adhesive 15, and the image receiving layer 61 by the powder adhesive 15 is the protective layer of the ink droplet 61. It has become.

Thereafter, the sheet 14 is V-folded or Z-folded, and is finally fixed by the fixing device 8, so that the pressure-bonded postcard is completed.
According to this example, the image receiving layer 61 made of the powder adhesive 15 serves as a protective layer for ink for ink jet printing, and there is an advantage that water resistance is improved.

  Further, since the glossiness can be given to the paper surface, the appearance is improved. In addition, since the image receiving layer 61 made of the powder adhesive 15 serves as an ink protective layer, it has a function of preventing a transfer when the pressure-bonded postcard is opened (re-peeling), and improves the secret information transmission function of the pressure-bonded sheet. To do.

  In addition to the pressure-bonded sheet, the fixing property of the ink for ink jet printing was improved (the printing speed was improved) at the stage where the image receiving layer 61 of the powder adhesive 15 was formed on the paper for normal use as described above. It may be supplied to the market as coated paper.

  That is, the pressure-bonding sheet producing system of this example can be used as a paper precoat printing machine.

(a) is a configuration principle diagram of a pressure-bonding sheet producing system including a powder adhesive application device in Embodiment 1, (b), (c), (d) are diagrams showing a procedure for applying a powder adhesive, (e ) Is a diagram showing how to fold when crimping. (a) is a figure which shows the state of the paper Z-folded by the folding apparatus for reference, (b) is a figure which shows the state by which the paper Z-folded is penetrated by a crimping device as shown by the arrow H. (a)-(e) is a figure which shows the bending method of a V-fold (two fold) crimping | compression-bonding sheet | seat. (a)-(e) is a figure which shows the bending method of a Z-fold (tri-fold) press-bonded sheet. It is a block diagram of the configuration of the pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus as the second embodiment. It is a figure which shows the size of the paper used for Z fold (tri-fold) crimping postcards in the crimping sheet manufacturing apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a)-(d) is the figure (the 1) which shows the state of a sheet | seat by a top view, a perspective view, a side sectional view, etc. in order of the production process of the crimping postcard in the crimping sheet production apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a)-(d) is the figure (the 2) which shows the state of a paper with a top view, a perspective view, a side sectional view, etc. in order of the production process of the crimping postcard in the crimping sheet manufacturing apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. (a), (b) is the figure which shows simply the process of application | coating of the powder adhesive and inkjet printing in Embodiment 4. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feeder 2 Powder adhesive coating device 3 Folding device 4 Crimping device 5 Finished crimping sheet accommodation device 6 Paper transport device 7 Adhesive application part 8 Fixing device 9 Double-sided printing reversing device 11 Powder adhesive container 12 Application roller 13 Conveying belt 14 Z-fold pressure-bonding postcard paper 15 Powder adhesive Pv V-folding postcard paper 17 Primary conveying roller 18 Primary secondary conveying roller 19 Primary pulling path 21 Primary folding device 22 Folding plate 23 Secondary tertiary conveying roller 24 Secondary Pull-in path 25 Secondary folding device 26 Folding and guiding plate 27 Tertiary transport roller 28 Delivery path 31 Paper feed section 32 Inkjet printing mechanism section 33 Preparatory paper folding section 34 Adhesive application section 35 Fixing mechanism section 36 Paper folding mechanism section 37 Shape keeping Section 38 Cutting / separating section 39 Paper discharge storage section 40 A3 size paper 40a Paper (cut-off portion)
40b Paper (used part)
40c Completed Z-fold pressure-bonded postcard 41 Cutting line 42 Folding line 43 Inkjet head 44 Double-sided printing reversing device 45 Powder adhesive container 46 Adhesive application roller 47 Transfer roller 48 Cleaner 51 Lower endless heat belt 52, 53 Pressure roller 54 Heat generating roller 55 Electromagnetic wave generating part 56 Upper endless heat belt 57 Heat generating roller 58 Electromagnetic wave generating part 59 Shape trimming part 61 Image receiving layer 62 Ink droplet for ink jet printing

Claims (5)

A paper supply unit for taking out paper from the paper supply unit, which is an area approximately an integral multiple of the area allowed as a postcard size and not coated with adhesive;
And a powder adhesive applying mechanism for applying a thermally fusible powder adhesive only on the surface of the hand faces the secret information is opposite when folded surface to be printed on the inside of the paper,
An inkjet printing mechanism that includes an inkjet head that performs printing by discharging ink, and that prints print information including secret information to be concealed;
A paper folding mechanism for folding the paper;
A heat-fixing mechanism that applies heat and pressure to the folded paper and melt- presses it through the powder adhesive ;
Crimping sheet creation apparatus characterized by creating a bonding sheet includes a.   The pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inkjet printing mechanism unit is located upstream of the powder adhesive application mechanism unit in the paper conveyance direction.   The pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet printing mechanism is located downstream of the powder adhesive application mechanism in the paper transport direction. The pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink-jet printing mechanism includes a line-type ink-jet head. The pressure-bonding sheet creating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink jet printing mechanism includes a serial type ink jet head.