Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Yoshihisa Fujimori

Nobuyoshi Taguchi

Masanori Yoshikawa

Atsushi Sogami

Kouji Ikeda

A thermal recording method, using a thermal recording apparatus comprising an intermediate recording medium made of silicone rubber layer, of which surface thickness is 1 mm or less, surface roughness is 5 microns or less, contact angle cosine is 0.4 or less, density is 0.90 to 1.15, and rubber hardness is 20 to 50.sup.HS, a fixing roll, and a thermal recording head, and an ink sheet of which viscosity of colored material on the substrate at 100.degree. C. is 500 to 2,000,000 cps, for selectively heating the colored material on the ink sheet by the thermal recording head to transfer the colored material on the intermediate recording medium so as to record characters and images, and passing the image receiving medium such as recording paper between pressing parts of the intermediate recording medium and the fixing roll, and transferring or fixing the characters and images by the colored material transferred on the intermediate recording medium onto the recording paper so as to be recorded, and an ink sheet used therein.

Thermal recording method and ink sheet used therein

A thermal transfer recording apparatus that can arbitrarily perform any one of outputting operations of a sublimable dyestuff image, a thermoplastic ink image, and a mixed picture image which combines a sublimable dyestuff image with a thermoplastic ink image, on a plain recording paper is disclosed. The apparatus employs a dyeable layer which is carried on a substrate sheet usually shared by a plurality of sublimable dyestuff-carrying layers. The dyeable layer is first transferred to a first intermediate transfer medium having a certain mold releasing or parting property. Sublimable dyestuffs are then selectively transferred into the dyeable layer to form a sublimable dyestuff image thereon, which thereafter is transferred to the paper. For obtaining the mixed picture image, the thermoplastic ink image on the second intermediate transfer medium is transferred to the dyeable layer on the first intermediate transfer medium on which the sublimable dyestuff image has already been formed, and thereafter the dyeable layer is transferred to the paper.

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Osaka, Japan

Yoshihisa Fujimori