Thermal expansile sheet

摘要

Hiragana characters and Chinese characters, as well as a Braille pattern, are formed on a thermal expansile sheet by the use of a thermal transfer ribbon by a thermal transfer unit. When only the portions of the thermal expansile sheet corresponding to a Braille pattern is exposed to light, only portions of the thermal expansile sheet corresponding to the Braille pattern are raised, whereby a Braille pattern is produced and the characters remain flat. The characters represent the meaning of the Braille pattern and function to discriminate the orientation of the thermal expansile sheet. Thus, it becomes easier for those who have no knowledge of Braille to discriminate the orientation of the sheet where Braille is formed. $$