Image forming apparatus having intermediate medium
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsTakeshi Asano, Naoki Katayama
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Abstract
An ink jet head unit is provided above a rotating intermediate transfer device such that nozzle surfaces face to the intermediate transfer device. A release oil jet head and a blade are provided on the upstream side of the ink jet head unit relative to the direction of rotation. Fine oil is ejected from the release oil jet head onto the intermediate transfer device and the fine oil is smoothed using a tip of the blade. Since the release oil is ejected using the ink jet method, the most suitable thickness of release oil film can be formed by controlling the area and the amount of the application. As a result, evenly transferred high quality images can be obtained.
Claims20
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of ink jet heads, each ink jet head ejecting hot melt ink;
- an intermediate medium having formed thereon an ink image using the hot melt ink ejected from each of the ink jet heads on the surface thereof;
- a transfer unit that transfers the image formed on the intermediate medium onto a recording medium;
- and
- a release oil jet head, that ejects release oil onto the intermediate medium where an image is to be formed, is positioned upstream of the ink jet heads relative to a direction of movement of the intermediate medium such that the ink jet heads eject hot melt ink over the release oil deposited on the intermediate medium.
A method of printing using heat sensitive inks, comprising the steps of:
- determining whether there is data to be printed;
- establishing the amount of data to be printed;
- moving an intermediate medium to a predetermined position;
- ejecting release oil onto the intermediate medium as it transits to a recording position;
- forming an image on the intermediate medium using at least one color of ink;
- and
- transferring the image to a recording medium.
A printing apparatus using heat sensitive inks, comprising:
- means for determining whether there is data to be printed;
- means for establishing the amount of data to be printed;
- means for moving an intermediate medium to a predetermined position;
- means for ejecting release oil onto the intermediate medium as it transits to a recording position;
- means for forming an image on the intermediate medium using at least one color of ink;
- and
- means for transferring the image to a recording medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.