TREATMENT OF HOT MELT INK IMAGES

摘要

In the embodiment described in the specification, a hot melt ink image on a substrate (11) is treated in a continuous manner by moving it along a platen (27) having a heating zone to melt drops (38) of hot melt ink and cause them to spread on the substrate. The platen has a flat central portion (34) and curved portions (33, 35) at each end with curvatures sufficient to prevent formation of cockle. At the output end of the heating zone, the substrate (11) is moved continuously into a quenching zone (36) where a cooling platen (16) cools the substrate (11) by thermal contact at a rapid rate to prevent crystallization or frosting of the hot melt ink image. After the quenching zone, the substrate is moved along a surface having a reverse curvature with respect to the curved portions (33, 35) of the heating platen (27) to eliminate residual curvature of the substrate resulting from the curved portions of the heating platen.