Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Ink jet stock for printing – Plural ink receptive layers
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-17
2004-04-13
Kelly, Cynthia H. (Department: 1774)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Ink jet stock for printing
Plural ink receptive layers
C428S032310, C428S032180, C428S032210, C428S032340
Reexamination Certificate
active
06720041
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a recording medium suitable for recording with the aid of ink, more particularly an ink-jet recording medium, which is high in optical density of image, bright in color tone and high in ink absorptivity, while a surface thereof keeps a touch feeling of plain paper, a method for producing an image using the recording medium, and printed matter produced by the method.
Advanced ink-jet recording methods, which eject minute droplets of ink by various working principles onto recording media, such as paper or the like, to record images, letters or the like thereon, are characterized by, e.g., high speed, low noise, easiness in multi-coloration, large flexibility of recorded patterns, and needing no development or fixation step. They are rapidly coming into wide use for various purposes, e.g., information devices and other recording devices to produce various types of images. The images produced by the multi-color ink-jet method compare favorably with those produced by the color plate making or color photographic system. They are less expensive than those produced by the ordinary color printing or photography, when the number of copies is fairly small, and are going even into the area of full-color image recording.
2. Related Background Art
Ink-jet recording devices and methods have been advanced to improve recording characteristics, e.g., increased speed of recording, increased precision and full coloration. The recording media have been also required to have improved characteristics. Variety types of recording media have been proposed to solve the problems involved in the conventional media. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-5830 proposes an ink-jet recording paper provided with an ink-absorptive coating layer on the base. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-51583 proposes the coating layer containing amorphous silica as a pigment. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,879,166 and 5,104,730, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2-276670, 5-32413 and 5-32414 propose a recording sheet coated with an ink-receiving layer comprising alumina hydrate of pseudo-boehmite structure. These media have an ink-receiving layer containing a pigment, e.g., alumina or silica, on the base. They carry no touch feeling of plain paper, even when a paper is used as a base, because of the ink-receiving layer covering the base. In order to obtain a recording medium like a plain paper, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-312572, 7-25131 and 7-25132 propose a recording medium comprising a paper base coated with trace quantities of ultrafine particles, the recording surface of which keeps a fibrous form of pulp and is covered with ultrafine particles of pigment at least 70%.
On the other hand, a medium with a filler incorporated in paper is proposed. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-49113 proposes a recording medium comprising a sheet incorporated with urea-formalin resin particles, on which a water-soluble polymer is applied and impregnated. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-8685 proposes a recording medium comprising a sheet incorporated with synthetic silicate or glass fibers, on which a water-soluble polymer is applied and impregnated. These media have improved ink absorptivity by incorporating specific fine particles in a non-sized paper sheet. There are proposed media comprising a sheet incorporated with a fine sizing agent. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-27588 proposes a recording medium comprising a sheet having a Stöckigt sizing degree of 3 seconds or less, incorporated with a wet strength-enhancing agent and coated with a surface coating material. Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-50795 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-57177) proposes a recording paper coated with a saponified-type sizing agent. In these media dot diameters are controlled by suppressing an ink absorptivity by subjecting them to a sizing treatment. Japanese Patent Nos. 2,714,350, 2,714,351 and 2,714,352 (corresponding to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-232473, 7-232474 and 7-232475, respectively) propose a recording paper incorporated with an amorphous alumina hydrate.
A paper medium of multi-layered structure is another type of paper incorporated with an additive. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-118287 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,336 propose a non-coated paper comprising a support layer of pulp fibers and surface layer composed of a filler such as silica and fibers, placed one on another. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 1-78877, 2-243381, 2-243382 and 5-106197 propose a multi-layered paper prepared by a multi-layer paper-making process, in which the base layer or interface between the base and surface layers is subject to a sizing treatment. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-219043 proposes a multi-layered paper having a surface layer impregnated with an inorganic compound sparingly soluble or insoluble in water. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 6-287886, 7-54300 and 8-258400 propose a multi-layered paper produced from specific pulp, such as bulky cellulose, mercerized pulp, bleached broadleaf sulfite pulp and the like. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-170190 proposes a multi-layered paper comprising a surface layer and base layer, the former composed of hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers as the major ingredients, and the latter mainly composed of cellulosic fibers.
However, the conventional recording media involve the following problems:
(1) In the recording medium comprising a base coated with the ink-receiving layer, no touch feeling of paper remains, even when paper is used as the base, because it is coated thickly with a pigment or the like. Decreasing coating thickness can bring about touch feeling of paper, but an absorption of an ink or a coloristic performance may be impaired.
(2) The recording medium comprising the non-sized paper incorporated with a specific fine powder shows a good ink absorptivity, but may cause strike-through of an ink, when it is used for multi-color printing. This will result in broadened printing dots or insufficient optical density. On the other hand, the recording medium comprising a sheet incorporated with a fine sizing agent, although free of the strike-through problems, involves problems of insufficient ink absorptivity, flooding or bleeding of the ink when the medium is used for multi-color printing, and an insufficient optical density of prints.
(3) The multi-layered recording medium can be free of problems of ink strike-through or show-through from the back side, when the base layer is incorporated with a sizing agent or the interface between the surface and base layers is subjected to a sizing-treatment. This, however, limits penetration of ink into the base layer, which may cause flooding of the ink when the medium is used for multi-color or high-speed printing. The pigments to be incorporated include calcium carbonate, clay, kaoline, acidic clay, talc, synthetic silica and titanium dioxide, which, however, are difficult to satisfy required ink absorption, coloration or resolution. The multi-layered paper produced from specific pulp, such as bulky cellulose, mercerized pulp and bleached broadleaf sulfite pulp, is highly water absorptive and diffusive, but poorly fixes coloring agents, when used in an ink-jet system, tending to widen printed dot diameter or allow the ink to bleed, causing insufficient optical density. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-258400 proposes a multi-layered recording medium with each layer having different sizing degree to improve ink absorptivity and also incorporated with a filler, e.g., silica, calcium carbonate or titanium dioxide. However, incorporation of the filler tends to deteriorate a resolution and an optical density. The recording medium having hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers has good electrophotographic characteristics and is suitable for an ink-jet system, b
Kondo Yuji
Miura Kyo
Yoshino Hitoshi
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Kelly Cynthia H.
Shewareged B.
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