The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 30, 2006
Filed:
Jul. 14, 2002
Nathan S. Hale, Mt. Pleasant, SC (US);
Ming Xu, Mt. Pleasant, SC (US);
Nathan S. Hale, Mt. Pleasant, SC (US);
Ming Xu, Mt. Pleasant, SC (US);
Abstract
A method of printing a liquid ink which is produced from a heat activated dye which is selected from a limited group of dyes which are capable of transfer at low energy. A printer which uses liquid ink, such as an ink jet printer, prints an image onto an intermediate substrate medium. The dyes contained in the ink are not substantially activated during the process of printing on to the medium. The image formed by the printed ink is transferred from the medium to a final substrate by the application of heat and pressure for a short period of time to activate the ink. The dye and dispersing/emulsifying agent(s) are selected from a limited group to produce an ink which permits thermal transfer at low energy, with the resulting image, as deposited on the final substrate, having an optical density of 1.0 or greater.Liquid ink is produced using heat activated dyes selected from a limited group of dyes that are capable of heat activation. The dyes are not substantially soluble in the liquid carrier, such as water. One or more emulsifying agents stabilize the ink formulation. A printer that uses liquid ink, such as an ink jet printer, is used to print the ink, and the dye is heat activated after printing.