Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser – Synthetic resins – Processes of preparing a desired or intentional composition...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-17
2003-12-30
Shosho, Callie (Department: 1714)
Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser
Synthetic resins
Processes of preparing a desired or intentional composition...
C106S031600, C347S037000, C347S100000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06670409
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ink set for use with ink jet recording, and more particularly to an ink set for use with ink jet recording, ink jet recording method, and recording apparatus that are capable of forming a text and/or an image exhibiting excellent color production and smear resistance, whether using an ordinary paper or a special ink jet recording paper, and to a recording image made thereby.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the revolutionary advances being made in ink jet recording technology in recent years, it has become possible to output a full-color image comparable to a photograph, and a color ink jet recording apparatus has come to dominate the consumer market for the recording apparatus. In general, an ink set having at least four colors, namely black, yellow, magenta, and cyan, is loaded into the color ink jet recording apparatus, with most of the inks in these ink sets being a dye ink. A pigment ink is superior to the dye inks in terms of printed image fastness, that is, light resistance, gas resistance, and water resistance, and there exists a demand for the ink set that takes full advantage of those properties. Ink set has recently come on the market, which employs a pigment (carbon black) only for the black ink and uses dyes in the color inks, but no color pigment ink sets comprising all pigment inks have been marketed to date, which are capable of forming the text and/or image which excel in color production and smear resistance.
The recording media used in ink jet recording technology include the ordinary paper, typified by a PPC paper (and in the present invention means paper in which no particular consideration has been taken into ink jet recording properties), and a special ink jet recording paper (hereinafter referred to merely as “special paper”) wherein an ink receiving layer is provided on a substrate comprising a high-quality paper or the like.
In general, there is a long-felt demand for the formation of the text and/or images exhibiting excellent color production and smear resistance on recording media such as the ordinary paper and the special paper. The ordinary paper is superior to the special paper in terms of shear resistance, but inferior in terms of color production. For this reason, for such a ordinary paper, the ink has been required to have large amounts of the pigment added, while needing only small amounts of additives such as a fine polymer particle to enhance smear resistance. The special paper, on the other hand, while superior to the ordinary paper in terms of color production, is inferior in terms of smear resistance. For the special paper, therefore, the ink has been required to have large amounts of additive for enhancing smear resistance, while needing only small amounts of the pigment added. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H4-18462/1992 discloses, for example, an ink which is suitable for use with the ordinary paper, and which is made to contain a micro-emulsion wherein the smear resistance enhancer (fine polymer particle) is made a dispersion. With this ink, however, the text and/or image having adequate smear resistance in practice could not be formed on the special paper.
For an ink jet recording system capable of forming the text and/or image showing excellent color production and smear resistance on either the ordinary paper or the special paper, one is conceivable that has one ink set configured only from inks suitable for the ordinary paper, and another ink jet configured only from inks suitable for the special paper, wherewith the ink set is changed according to the recording media to be recorded. Given the troublesomeness of having to change the ink set, however, such a system is not fully practicable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to provide an ink jet recording ink set, together with an ink jet recording method and a recording apparatus therefor, capable of forming a text and/or an image having excellent color production and smear resistance, using either the ordinary paper or the special paper, with the same system (that is, a system that does not require the operation of changing the ink act to match the recording media to be used), thus broadening the range of recording media that can be selected, as well as a recording image made therewith.
The above object is attained with an ink jet recording ink set comprising: light color inks of a plurality of colors, each of the light color inks having at least a pigment, a solvent and a fine polymer particle; and dark color inks of a plurality of colors, each of the dark color inks having at least a pigment and a solvent, wherein said each of the dark color inks either do not contain a fine polymer particle or contain a fine polymer particle in smaller quantity than said light color inks, and the ink jet recording method and the recording apparatus that use the above ink set, together with the recording image made therewith.
According to the ink jet recording ink set of the present invention, the text and/or the images showing excellent color production and smear resistance can be formed therewith, with the same system, whether using the ordinary paper or the special ink jet recording paper as the recording media.
According to the ink jet recording ink set of the present invention, moreover, the viscosity and solid part density of each of the inks of different colors can be adjusted so that they become almost identical between the inks of different colors, thereby making it easy to effect discharge control in terms of frequency dependence and discharge volume dependence, etc., in ink discharges of different inks.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
A detailed description is now given of the ink jet recording ink set of the present invention.
The ink jet recording ink set of the present invention, as described above, has light color inks of a plurality of colors and dark color inks of a plurality of colors.
By “light color ink” is herein meant an ink of light color, and, when there are inks of two colors having the same hue but the different color density in the ink set, refers to the ink of lighter color. These light color inks form the text and/or the image exhibiting excellent color production, and are capable of producing a brilliant print, particularly on the special paper.
By “dark color ink,” on the other hand, is herein meant an ink of dark color, and, when there are inks of two colors having the same hue but the different color density in the ink set, refers to the ink of darker color. These dark color inks are inks that form the the text and/or the image having excellent color production and are capable of producing a dark print, on the ordinary paper as well as on the special paper.
By “ordinary paper” is herein meant, moreover, a paper wherein no particular consideration has been taken into ink jet recording properties, typified by the PPC paper. By “special paper” is herein meant a recording media for ink jet recording wherein an ink receiving layer is provided on a substrate comprising a high-quality paper or the like. These special papers include so-called “swelling type paper” that has a water-soluble resin such as a polyvinyl alcohol contained in the ink receiving layer, and “absorbing type paper” that has a porous material such as an amorphous silica contained in the ink receiving layer.
A favorable combination of the light color inks of a plurality of colors and dark color inks of a plurality of colors according to the ink jet recording ink sets of the present invention is described below.
When making an ink jet recording ink set having inks of 6 colors, the light color inks of the plurality of colors include light cyan, light magenta, and yellow inks, while the dark color inks of the plurality of colors include black, cyan, and magenta inks.
When printing using this ink jet, the three colors of dark color inks and the yellow ink are mainly used for the ordinary paper. For the special paper, however, the three colors of light color inks are
Ladas & Parry
Seiko Epson Corporation
Shosho Callie
LandOfFree
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