Claims
- 1. A process comprising:
depositing a colorless toner onto a substrate; depositing at least one ink image onto the colorless toner and substrate; and fixing the resulting ink image onto the substrate.
- 2. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the non-image side of the substrate is substantially completely charged by a corona discharge while depositing the colorless toner to the image side of the substrate.
- 3. A process in accordance with claim 2, wherein the colorless toner has a charge polarity opposite the charge polarity being applied to the non-image side of the substrate.
- 4. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the colorless toner and the combination of ink image and colorless toner adhere to the substrate prior to fusing.
- 5. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the colorless toner is deposited completely and uniformly on the substrate.
- 6. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the colorless toner is selectively and partially deposited on the substrate.
- 7. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein said at least one ink image comprises from about 2 to about 100 ink images.
- 8. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein depositing the ink image is accomplished by jetting.
- 9. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the ink used to form the ink image is comprised of at least one colorant selected from the group consisting of pigments, dyes, and mixtures thereof.
- 10. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the substrate is selected from the group consisting of paper, transparency materials, plastics, polymeric films, treated cellulosics, wood, and mixtures thereof, and optional additives thereon; and wherein the colorless toner comprises substantially colorless resin particles.
- 11. A process in accordance with claim 10, wherein the optional additives include lightfastness improving compounds, stability enhancing compounds, anti-curl compounds, hydrophilic compounds, ink gellation agents, and mixtures thereof.
- 12. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the ink jet image formed on the colorless toner treated substrate exhibits substantially reduced or eliminated image defects selected from the group consisting of edge acuity and intercolor bleed repression.
- 13. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the fusing is accomplished with heat, light, pressure, or combinations thereof.
- 14. A process in accordance with claim 1, wherein the colorless toner is deposited on the image side of the substrate simultaneously with the charge deposition on the non-image side of the substrate
- 15. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a charging device adapted for charging the non-image side of a receiver substrate; a non-imaging developer housing for depositing charged colorless toner onto the image side of the substrate during charging by said charging device; an ink image forming device for depositing colored ink images onto the colorless toner residing on the receiver substrate; and a fuser member for fusing the deposited ink image residing on the colorless toner to the receiver substrate.
- 16. An image forming apparatus in accordance with claim 15, further comprising a conveyor and conveying path for sequentially conveying the receiver substrate to the colorless toner depositing device area, thereafter to the ink image forming apparatus area, and thereafter to the fuser area.
- 17. An image forming apparatus in accordance with claim 15, wherein the charged colorless toner deposited on the image side of the receiver is oppositely charged to the charge on the non-image side of the receiver substrate.
- 18. An image forming apparatus in accordance with claim 15, wherein the ink image forming device comprises ink-jet image formation by discharging ink or inks from at least one nozzle.
- 19. A printing machine comprising:
a charger which charges an image substrate; a developer housing which deposits colorless toner onto the substrate during charging of the substrate, wherein the toner is deposited on the side opposite of the side charged by the charger, and wherein the colorless toner is of opposite polarity or sign from the charge polarity or sign on the non-image side of the substrate; an ink jetting assembly which controllably delivers ink to the colorless toner layer on the substrate; a fixing device which causes the ink image and the colorless toner to be substantially permanently attached to the substrate; and a conveyor for conveying said image substrate between said charger, developer, ink jetting assembly, and fixing device.
- 20. A printing machine in accordance with claim 19, wherein the ink jetting assembly comprises an ink reservoir in communication with one or more jet nozzles.
REFERENCE TO COPENDING APPLICATIONS
[0001] Attention is directed to commonly owned and assigned copending application Number, U.S. Ser. No. 08/107,581 (D/96671), entitled “INK COMPOSITIONS AND IMAGING PROCESSES THEREOF,” and copending Application Number, U.S. Ser. No. 08/216,774 (D/98343), entitled “INK COMPOSITIONS AND IMAGING PROCESSES THEREOF.”
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09282318 |
Mar 1999 |
US |
Child |
09894629 |
Jun 2001 |
US |