JP2003295333A - Distributing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a distributing apparatus which can be prevented from deteriorating in distribution precision even when the distributing speed is made fast and has superior durability. <P>SOLUTION: A distribution part 70 used for an image recording device has a sensor 72, a 1st clamping conveyor roller couple 74, a 2nd clamping conveyor roller couple 76, rotary shafts 78a and 78b of the respective rollers of the 1st clamping conveyor roller couple 74 and 2nd clamping conveyor roller couple 76 rotatably, a frame body 94 which supports the rotary shafts 78a and 78b rotatably on both sides and movably in horizontal scanning directions (axial directions of the rotary shafts 78a and 78b), a rotary driving means which rotates the rotary shafts 78a and 78b through a transmission means, and a moving means which moves the rotary shafts 78a and 78b in the horizontal scanning directions together with the 1st clamping conveyor roller couples 74 and 2nd clamping conveyor roller couple 76. This distribution part 70 distributes photosensitive materials P in a plurality of, e.g. two columns. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sorting device for sorting a sheet body into a plurality of rows in a direction orthogonal to a conveying direction, which is used in a photographic printer by digital exposure.
In particular, sandwiching a sheet such as photographic paper with a pair of transport rollers,
The present invention relates to a sorting device that sorts a sheet body into a plurality of rows by moving the rotation axis of each roller of the transport roller pair in a main scanning direction orthogonal to the sheet body transport direction by the transport roller pair.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, when printing an image taken on a photographic film (hereinafter referred to as a film) such as a negative film or a reversal film onto a photosensitive material (photographic paper), the image of the film is projected onto the photosensitive material to be exposed. The so-called direct exposure is the mainstream. On the other hand, in recent years, an image captured on a film is read photoelectrically, the obtained signal is converted into a digital signal, and various image processing is performed to obtain image data for recording. Digital photo printers, which expose a photosensitive material with recording light that has been modulated to output a photographic print, have been put to practical use and are gradually becoming popular.

Such a digital photo printer is basically a scanner (image reading device) that photoelectrically reads an image recorded on a film by making the reading light incident on the film and reading the projected light. Depending on the image data output from the image input device and the input device including the image data for image recording, that is, the image processing device that sets the exposure condition, by performing the predetermined image processing on the image data read by the scanner. , For example, a printer (image recording device) that exposes a photosensitive material (photographic paper) by light beam scanning to record a latent image, and develops the photosensitive material exposed by the printer to output as a (finished) print The output device (printer / processor) is composed of a processor (developing device) that operates.

In a photographic printer (photographing and developing apparatus), a photosensitive material (printing paper) is generally used for printing.
Is wound into a roll, loaded into a printer, pulled out of the roll, exposed and backprinted for recording, then wet-developed, dried and cut into a single print. It is said that That is, in the photographic printer, the photosensitive material is subjected to all the processing while keeping the length, and finally cut to be one print.

However, in such a photo printer, it is necessary to form frame information (punch) for indicating the boundary of each print (each frame), and the photosensitive material in the portion where the frame information is formed is wasted. In addition, a frame information forming means having a punch, a sensor and the like is required. Further, in a digital photo printer, in order to record a high-quality image without unevenness, it is not possible to stop the scanning conveyance of the photosensitive material during the exposure, so that the deflection (loop) of the photosensitive material can occur upstream and downstream of the exposure position. Is required, which complicates the transport path and transport control of the photosensitive material. Therefore, in recent digital photo printers, an apparatus that performs exposure after cutting a photosensitive material into a sheet shape (so-called cut sheet) corresponding to one print is becoming mainstream.

Further, in a photographic printer, the developing process usually takes longer than the exposing process. In contrast,
In a digital photoprinter that exposes a photosensitive material after making it into a cut sheet, the photosensitive material can be distributed into a plurality of rows and supplied to a processor (developing device), which increases the number of development processing sheets per unit time. A highly productive photo printer can be realized.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-329885 (hereinafter referred to as Prior Art 1) discloses a sorting device that sorts exposed photosensitive material into two rows on the downstream side of a transport path. FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing the distribution device disclosed in Related Art 1. As shown in FIG. 5, in the prior art 1, the main carriage 120 and the sub-carriage 121 are arranged to face the transport path. The main carriage 120 is provided with idle rollers 122 and 124 on the upstream side and the downstream side in the transport direction D, and the thrust bushes 130 are provided at both ends of the idle rollers 122 and 124.
Is provided. The guide shaft 110 is inserted through the idle rollers 122 and 124 and the thrust bush 130. The sub-carriage 121 has drive rollers 126, 1 on the upstream and downstream sides in the transport direction D.
28 is provided, and the drive rollers 126 and 128 are provided.
Thrust bushes 130 are provided at both ends of the. The drive shaft 112 is inserted through the drive rollers 126, 128 and the thrust bush 130.

Main carriage 120 and sub carriage 1
A timing belt (not shown) is attached to 21. The main carriage 120 and the sub-carriage 121 are synchronized with each other in the main scanning directions M ₁ and M ₂ which are orthogonal to the transport direction D by a motor (not shown). , Thrust bush 13
It is driven while being guided by 0. Guide shaft 1
Pulleys 114 are provided at the ends of the drive shaft 112 and the drive shaft 112, respectively, and a spring ring 115 is stretched around the pulley 114. As a result, the idle rollers 122, 124 and the drive rollers 126,
When the photosensitive material P is conveyed by reliably abutting with 128,
Slip can be prevented. In this way, the idle rollers 122, 124 and the drive rollers 126, 1
The photosensitive material P can be distributed by rotating 28 and moving it in the main scanning directions M ₁ and M ₂ .

[0009]

However, in the prior art 1, sliding of the thrust bush 130 and the guide shaft 110 and the drive shaft 112 cannot be avoided. Therefore, the thrust bush 13
There is a problem that the inner surface of No. 0 is scraped and durability is poor.
Further, when the slidability of the thrust bush 130 is deteriorated, the photosensitive material P is conveyed obliquely, and it is impossible to stably and accurately distribute the photosensitive material P. Further, if the driving speed of the main carriage 120 and the sub-carriage 121 is increased, there is a problem that a step-out phenomenon occurs due to the slip resistance of the thrust bush 130. As described above, in the related art 1, in addition to the problem that the conveyance accuracy is deteriorated and the durability is deteriorated, such as the oblique conveyance (skew) of the photosensitive material, the distribution speed is increased in order to improve the production efficiency. In that case, there is a problem in that the above-mentioned problems occur, and the speed is insufficient when the speed is increased.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the sorting accuracy even when the sorting speed is set to be high, and the sorting is excellent in durability. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a first drive roller and a first driven roller, and a first transport roller pair for sandwiching and transporting a sheet body therebetween. A rotary shaft of the first drive roller and the first driven roller, a drive unit that rotationally drives the rotary shaft of the first drive roller, and both rotary shafts of the first drive roller and the first driven roller. The first drive roller and the first driven roller, and a support means for supporting both rotary shafts of the first drive roller and the first driven roller so as to be rotatable and movable in the axial direction. In the state where the rotation of the pair of conveying rollers is stopped and the sheet body is sandwiched between the pair of first conveying rollers, both the rotating shafts of the first driving roller and the first driven roller are moved in the axial direction by the moving means. Move So it is intended to provide a sorting device, characterized in that for distributing the sheet in a plurality of rows.

In the present invention, further, a second pair of conveying rollers which comprises a second driving roller and a second driven roller, and which sandwiches and conveys the sheet member therebetween, and the second pair of conveying rollers.
The rotary shaft of the drive roller and the second driven roller, and the support means for supporting the rotary shaft of the second drive roller and the second driven roller so as to be rotatable and movable in the axial direction. The rotating shaft of the driving roller is rotationally driven by the driving unit, and the rotating shafts of the second driving roller and the second driven roller are movable in the axial direction by the moving unit. Of the first and second conveying roller pairs is stopped by the moving means in a state where the rotation of the second conveying roller pair is stopped and the sheet body is sandwiched between the first and second conveying roller pairs. It is preferable that the two driving rollers and the first and second driven rollers are moved in the axial direction to distribute the sheet body into a plurality of rows.

Further, in the present invention, the rotating shaft is
During the rotation and the movement in the axial direction, it is preferable that the supporting means come into point contact with each other. Further, it is preferable that at least one driven roller of the first and second conveying roller pairs can be brought into contact with and separated from the drive roller.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a distribution device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on a preferred embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an image recording device using a distribution device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The image recording apparatus 10 constitutes an output device (printer and processor) of the above-mentioned digital photo printer. The image recording apparatus 10 basically includes a photosensitive material supply unit 12, a cutter 14, a back printing unit 16, and
The skew correction unit 18, the exposure unit 20, the distribution unit 70,
A transport means 22 for transporting the photosensitive material P (sheet body) such as photographic paper along a predetermined transport path, and these are arranged at a predetermined position in the housing 24. The distribution unit 70 corresponds to the distribution device according to the present invention.

The image recording apparatus 10 shown here cuts the long photosensitive material drawn out from the magazine 30 of the photosensitive material supplying section 12 into a predetermined print size by the cutter 14, and then cuts the photosensitive material P in a sheet form. Is conveyed by the conveying means 22 along the conveying path indicated by the dotted line. The back side printing means 16 performs back side printing on the photosensitive material P in the middle of this conveying path, and the skew correcting section 18 performs the photosensitive material P. Is changed from vertically upward to horizontal, the skew of the photosensitive material P is corrected, and the front end of the photosensitive material P is aligned (registered).
The image is exposed at 0 to record a latent image, the photosensitive material P on which the latent image is recorded is sorted by the sorting unit 70 according to the print size, and then supplied to the developing device (processor) 26 for development. It is output as a photographic print by fixing, washing with water and drying. The image recording device 1
0 and the developing device 26 are arranged in a common housing 24 separated by a partition wall 24a.

In the photosensitive material supply section 12, a magazine 30 for accommodating a roll 34 of a long photosensitive material formed by winding a long photosensitive material with the emulsion surface outside is provided in a predetermined magazine chamber 32. Is loaded in the position. The magazine 30 for accommodating the roll 34 of the photosensitive material is a light-shielding housing, and in the illustrated example, two magazines 30 are provided.
However, the present invention is not limited to this and one magazine 30 may be arranged, or three or more magazines 30 may be arranged. May be. Here, the magazine chamber 32 shows a predetermined space in which the magazine 30 is loaded, and does not necessarily have to be an independent storage chamber.

Further, the magazine 30 is provided with an outlet (not shown) for the photosensitive material on the lower left side in the drawing, and a shutter (not shown) is provided inside the outlet to close the outlet and block light. And a delivery roller pair 36 are arranged. The delivery roller pair 36 is for delivering the long-sized photosensitive material wound in the magazine 30 and stored to the transport path. For example, one end of the rotation shaft of one roller is the magazine 3
No. 0, and the magazine 30 is placed in the magazine chamber 3
By loading the roller at a predetermined position of 2, the transmission means such as a pulley and a gear provided at one end of the rotary shaft of the one roller and the transmission means such as a pulley and a gear provided on the driving side in the magazine chamber 32. Are engaged with each other via a belt or directly and are rotated by a command from a control means (not shown) to feed the leading end of the long photosensitive material toward the outside of the magazine 30 toward the cutter 14. There is.

The conveying means 22 uses the photosensitive material sent from the magazine 30 by the sending roller pair 36 to the cutter 1.
4, it is conveyed to the exposure position z of the exposure unit 20 via the back printing unit 16 and the skew correction unit 18, and then the exposed photosensitive material after the exposure processing is conveyed from the exposure position z to the distribution unit 70, A plurality of rows of exposed photosensitive material are conveyed to the developing device 26. The conveying means 22 feeds the feed roller 38 which is rotationally driven by a command from a control means (not shown) in the conveying direction of the photosensitive material fed out horizontally from the magazine 30 by the feed roller pair 36. Three nip rollers 4 pressed
0 (40a, 40b, 40c in the drawing), the photosensitive material is moved upward along the transport path, and the photosensitive material is transported along the transport path by a well-known roller array or transport guide. The conveying means 22 used in the present invention may be a known sheet conveying means constituted by a conveying roller pair, a conveying guide and the like. In the image recording apparatus 10, the conveying roller pair and the conveying roller are used. The guides and the like are appropriately arranged continuously in addition to the illustrated ones. At this time, the adjacent conveyance roller pairs are arranged at intervals shorter than those of the cut sheet-shaped photosensitive material P used in the image recording apparatus 10 having the shortest length in the conveyance direction.

In this embodiment, the feed roller pair 36 in the magazine 30 serves as a reference roller for conveying the photosensitive material for cutting the long photosensitive material into a predetermined size by the cutter 14, and the control means ( In accordance with a command from (not shown), the delivery roller pair 36 is rotated by a predetermined angle according to the print size of the photosensitive material while the delivery roller pair 36 is sandwiching the photosensitive material. The cut sheet is fed out by a predetermined length and cut by the cutter 14 to form a cut sheet having a predetermined print size. In the illustrated example, the cutter 1
A guillotine type cutter is provided as 4, but it is needless to say that various known cutting means such as a rotary cutter can be used.

In the illustrated example, the cutter 14 is preferably provided as close as possible to the photosensitive material feed opening of the magazine 30. In this way, the conveying distance until the long photosensitive material delivered from the magazine 30 is cut by the cutter 14 is shortened as much as possible, so that the photosensitive material is exposed by the delivery roller pair 36 provided at the photosensitive material delivery port of the magazine 30. Keeping the accuracy of feed length of material, cutter 14
It is possible to maintain the precision of the size of the cut sheet cut in step 1 with high precision and reduce the time for feeding the photosensitive material from the magazine 30. In the illustrated example, the feed roller 38 may be used as a reference roller for conveying the photosensitive material for cutting the photosensitive material into a predetermined size. In this case, the nip roller 40 (40a, 4a in the figure) is instructed by a command from a control means (not shown).
0b, 40c), the feed roller 38 is rotated by a predetermined angle according to the print size of the light-sensitive material while sandwiching the light-sensitive material between them, and the light-sensitive material is fed out by a predetermined length according to the print size. It may be configured as follows.

Here, the cut photosensitive material magazine 3 is used.
The leading end on the 0 side remains stopped by the cutter 14 until it is rewound into the magazine 30 by the feed roller pair 36 in accordance with a command from a control means (not shown). By doing so, when the next photosensitive material is cut, the photosensitive material is sent out by a predetermined length with reference to the position cut by the cutter 14, and the photosensitive material is once rewound into the magazine 30 and then again. It is more accurate than when it is sent out, and when cutting the next photosensitive material, it is not necessary to pull it out from the magazine 30, so the response becomes faster,
More efficiently cutting by the cutter 14 and the delivery roller pair 36
Is carried out (sent out).

The back printing means 16 prints back printing on the back surface of the photosensitive material, which has been cut by the cutter 14, while being transported by the transportation means 22, and is an inkjet printer or dot impact printer. A printer or the like is used. However, the back printing means 1
In No. 6, it is necessary that the print does not blur or flow due to the subsequent development processing (usually wet development is performed). In this embodiment, the two magazines 3 arranged above and below are arranged in order to reduce the cost and the device configuration.
Although one back printing means 16 common to 0 is provided, the present invention is not limited to this, and two back printing means 16 arranged one above the other may be used.
The back printing means 16 is provided for each magazine 30.
May be provided.

The skew correction section 18 corrects the inclination of the photosensitive material P so that the leading edge in the transport direction coincides with the main scanning direction described later (hereinafter referred to as skew correction).
In this embodiment, the skew correction section 18 includes two pairs of sensors 42 and 43, a pair of conveyance rollers 44 and 48, a pair of skew correction rollers 46, and a pair of guide plates arranged between the pair of conveyance rollers 44 and 48. (Not shown), and a skew correction roller pair 46 and a control unit (not shown) for the guide plate pair. The skew correction unit 18 is provided in the sensor 4
The skew (skew) of the photosensitive material P is detected by 2 and 43, and the skew of the photosensitive material P is corrected by changing the tilt angles of the skew correction roller pair 46 and the guide plate pair according to the detected skew state. To do.

The pair of conveying rollers 44 and 48 are a pair of conveying rollers for conveying the photosensitive material P in a direction (sub-scanning direction) orthogonal to the main scanning by aligning a main scanning direction and a rotation axis, which will be described later, and skew correction. It is arranged in the upstream part and the downstream part of the part 18, respectively.

The sensors 42 and 43 are optical sensors for detecting the presence or absence of an object by shielding light, and the light emitting elements 42a and 43.
a and the light receiving elements 42b and 43b are paired and configured. Light emitting elements 42a and 43a and light receiving element 42
b and 43b are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the conveying path, and the light emitting elements 42a and 43a are arranged on the non-recording surface side of the photosensitive material P. In the present embodiment, since the detection target is the photosensitive material P, the sensors 42 and 43 that use light of a wavelength that does not cause fogging, such as a blinking infrared sensor, are suitable.

These sensors 42 and 43 are arranged on the upstream side of the conveying roller pair 44 along the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction (main scanning direction) and detect the leading edge of the conveyed photosensitive material P. To do. The sensors 42 and 43 may be arranged at intervals such that two different points on the leading edge side can be detected in the minimum size of the photosensitive material P.

When the photosensitive material P is conveyed in an inclined (skewed) state, one of the sensors 42 and 43 first detects one point on the leading edge of the photosensitive material P, and the other one is delayed and the other. 1 point of is detected. This sensor 42 and sensor 4
The skew angle of the photosensitive material P can be obtained from the difference between the detection times at 3. That is, the skew angle of the photosensitive material P (angle of inclination with respect to the transport direction) is the difference between the distance between the detection points by the sensors 42 and 43, the transport speed of the photosensitive material P, and the detection time of the left and right leading edge portions of the photosensitive material P. Required by. Since the distance between the detection points by the sensors 42 and 43 and the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material P are known, the skew angle of the photosensitive material P can be obtained from the difference between the detection times of the sensor 42 and the sensor 43.

The skew correction roller pair 46 and the guide plate pair are arranged between the transport roller pairs 44 and 48. The skew correction roller pair 46 is a pair of transport rollers having the same operation as the pair of transport rollers 44 and 48, and can change the angle in the direction of the rotation axis with respect to the transport surface. The pair of guide plates are respectively arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side of the skew correction roller pair 46, and the angle with respect to the transport surface is changed in accordance with the change of the angle of the skew correction roller pair 46, and the pair of transport rollers 44 is formed. A conveyance path connecting the skew correction roller pair 46, and the skew correction roller pair 46 and the conveyance roller pair 4
In the conveyance path connecting with the photosensitive material P, the photosensitive material P is less burdened and the skew is appropriately corrected.
To guide you. These skew correction roller pairs 4
The angle adjustment of 6 and the guide plate pair is performed by a known method such as connecting an air cylinder to a roller shaft or a holding portion of the guide plate and operating the air cylinder by an actuator.

As described above, in the skew correction section 18, by tilting the skew correction roller pair 46, the length of the conveying path from the roller pair 44 to the roller pair 48 via the skew correction roller pair 46 is increased. A difference occurs in the width direction, and the skew of the photosensitive material P is corrected when the photosensitive material P enters the roller pair 48, and the leading edge of the photosensitive material P is conveyed to the exposure section 20 in a state parallel to the main scanning direction of exposure in the exposure section 20. To be done.

The exposure unit 20 arranged on the downstream side of the skew correction unit 18 basically has a sensor 54 and an exposure unit 5.
6 and the sub-scanning conveyance means 58. The exposure unit 20 conveys the photosensitive material P in the conveyance direction D (sub-scan conveyance direction).
While being transported to the substrate, scanning exposure is performed by the light beam L deflected in the main scanning direction orthogonal to the transport direction, whereby the photosensitive material P is two-dimensionally imagewise exposed to record an image (latent image). Is.

The photosensitive material P may be displaced in the main scanning direction when the skew is corrected by the skew correcting section 18. Therefore, in order to perform proper image recording, it is necessary to correct the position of the photosensitive material P in the main scanning direction (hereinafter referred to as offset correction).

In the present embodiment, the position of one side edge of the photosensitive material P in the main scanning direction is detected by the sensor 54, and the image in the main scanning direction by the light beam L in the exposure unit 20 is detected according to the detection result. Offset correction is performed by adjusting the recording start position. As the sensor 54, an optical sensor similar to the above-described sensors 42 and 43 can be used. As a detection method by the sensor 54, there is a known method such that the sensor 54 moves in the vicinity of the temporarily stopped photosensitive material P in parallel with the main scanning direction to detect the position of one side edge of the photosensitive material P. Used.

The sub-scanning conveying means 58 is provided with conveying roller pairs 58a and 58b sandwiching the recording position z in the conveying direction, and the conveying roller pairs 58a and 58b are arranged such that their rotation axes coincide with the main scanning direction. Has been done. The sub-scanning conveyance means 58 conveys the photosensitive material P to the recording position z, and conveys it at a predetermined sub-scanning speed. As the sub-scanning conveying means 58, other than such a pair of conveying rollers, for example, a platen roller that supports and conveys the photosensitive material P and a platen roller sandwiching the recording position z (scanning line) are pressed. Various known transporting means such as a sub-scanning transporting means including a nip roller can be used.

The exposure unit 56 is a known light beam scanning unit which deflects the light beam L modulated according to the image to be recorded in the main scanning direction and makes it incident on a predetermined recording position z. As described above, the photosensitive material P is transferred to the sub-scanning conveyance means 58.
Since it is transported in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, the latent image is recorded by being two-dimensionally exposed by the light beam L modulated according to the recorded image. here,
The photosensitive material P has the skew corrected by the skew correction unit 18, and the exposure unit 56 includes the sensor 5
Since the offset is corrected by adjusting the recording position in the main scanning direction according to the side edge position of the photosensitive material P supplied from No. 4, the photosensitive material P can record an image at an appropriate position without inclination.

In the image recording apparatus 10 using the sorting apparatus of this embodiment, the exposing means for the photosensitive material P is not limited to the above-mentioned light beam scanning exposure. In addition to this, various exposure means such as an exposure means combining a light source and a spatial modulation element, or an exposure means using an array light source in which point light sources are arranged in a one-dimensional direction can be used. Is. As the exposure means, for example, PDP (plasma display) array, ELD (electroluminescent display) array, LED (light emitting diode) array, LCD (liquid crystal display) array, DM
A (digital micromirror array), a laser array, etc. are mentioned.

The distribution unit 70 is conveyed in a single row and exposed to the exposure unit 2.
The photosensitive material P on which a latent image is recorded at 0 is distributed into a plurality of columns in the main scanning direction. 2 is a plan view showing a distribution device (distribution unit 70) according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a rear view of the distribution device (distribution unit 70) according to the present embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of a distribution device (distribution unit 70) of the present embodiment. The distribution unit 70 includes a sensor 72, a first nipping / conveying roller pair 74, a second nipping / conveying roller pair 76, a first nipping / conveying roller pair 74, and a second nipping / conveying roller pair 7.
6, rotation shafts 78a and 78b of each roller, a frame body 94 that rotatably supports these rotation shafts 78a and 78b on both sides and is movable in the main scanning direction (axial direction of the rotation shafts 78a and 78b), Rotational drive means for rotating the shafts 78a, 78b via the transmission means, and the first nipping and conveying roller pair 7
4 and the second nip-conveying roller pair 76 together with the rotating shaft 7
8a and 78b are moved in the main scanning direction. In the present embodiment, the distribution unit 70 distributes the photosensitive material P into a plurality of rows, for example, two rows.

The first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76 nips and conveys the photosensitive material P. The driving roller 74a and the driven roller 74b, and the driving roller 76a and the driven roller 76b, respectively. Consists of. The driven roller 7 is attached to both ends of the rotary shafts 78a and 78b of the drive roller 74a and the driven roller 74b.
A contact / separation unit 80 is provided for contacting and separating 4b with respect to the drive roller 74a. Further, the rotation shafts 78a and 7 of the drive roller 76a and the driven roller 76b are
At both shaft ends of 8b, the driven roller 76b is connected to the drive roller 76b.
A contact / separation unit 80 for contacting and separating from a is provided. These contacting / separating means 80 are used for the driven roller 7
The rotating shafts 78b of 4b and 76b are moved (that is, approaching and separating) with respect to the rotating shafts 78a of the drive rollers 74a and 76a, respectively.

As described above, the rotary shaft 78a is rotatably supported by the bearings 96 on both sides of the rotary shaft 78a and is movable in the main scanning direction. Bearing 96
Holds the rotating shaft 78a in rolling contact with the rotating direction and the main scanning direction. Examples of the bearing 96 include a slide rotary bush and the like. The rotating shaft 78b is provided with contacting / separating means 80 (details will be described later) provided at both ends of the rotating shaft 78b.
It is supported so that it can come into contact with and separate from a, but the frame 9
4 are inserted into the long holes 97 provided on both end faces of the frame body 94.
Is movable with respect to both ends of the rotary shaft 78a supported by bearings 96 on both sides thereof. Drive roller 74
a, 76a of each rotating shaft 78a and the driven roller 74b,
The rotary shafts 78b of the frame 76b project from the respective end faces of the frame 94 by the distribution width for distributing the photosensitive material P.
That is, the total length of the drive rollers 74a and 76a and the driven rollers 74b and 76b of the first and second conveying roller pairs including the rotary shafts 78a and 78b is at least the photosensitive length as compared with the total length of the conveying rollers that need not be distributed. Material P
It becomes twice as long as the distribution width of.

The gear 8 is attached to one end of each rotary shaft 78a.
6 is provided. The gear 86 meshes with a drive gear 88 extending in the main scanning direction. Gear 86
Is movable in the main scanning direction while meshing with the drive gear 88, and the length of the drive gear 88 in the main scanning direction is
It is at least twice the distribution width of the photosensitive material P. here,
The gear 86 and the drive gear 88 are one of the above-mentioned transmission means, and constitute a gear transmission means. One end of the rotary shaft 88a of the drive gear 88 is connected to a rotary drive means, for example, a motor 92, via a winding transmission means such as a belt 90. The rotation of the motor 92 is performed by rotating the rotating shaft 92a, the belt 90,
Rotating shaft 88a, drive gear 88, gear 86, rotating shaft 78a
Is transmitted to the drive roller 76a via. At this time, the rotary shaft 78a rotates in rolling contact with the bearing 96, and as a result, the drive roller 76a rotates. here,
The gear transmission means including the gear 86 and the drive gear 88 and the winding transmission means such as the belt 90 and the pulley (not shown) rotate the rotation drive means such as the motor 92 by the rotation shaft 78a.
However, the conductive means is not limited to these, and known conductive means can be appropriately applied.

As described above, the drive rollers 74a, 76
Contacting / separating means 80 is provided on both sides of the rotating shafts 78a and 78b of the a and the driven rollers 74b and 76b. These contacting / separating means 80 are configured so that the bearing 81b supporting both shaft ends of the rotating shaft 78b can be moved with respect to the bearing 81a supporting both shaft ends of the rotating shaft 78a, and the driven rollers 74b and 76b are respectively moved. Drive rollers 74a, 76
It can be brought into contact with or separated from a. As the contacting / separating means 80, a known rotating shaft contacting / separating means can be used, and although its specific configuration is not shown,
For example, the bearing 81b of the rotary shaft 78b (the mounting side plate thereof) is biased toward the bearing 81a of the rotary shaft 78a (the mounting side plate thereof) by a biasing means such as a spring, and the bearing 81a of the rotary shaft 78a is mounted. For the side plate), a contacting / separating means or the like that can be moved by a cam mechanism or a link mechanism may be used.
Further, the contacting / separating means 80 may include means for rotating the rotary shaft 78b in synchronization with the rotation of the rotary shaft 78a.

A moving means such as an actuator 84 is attached to (the housing of) the contacting / separating means 80 on the side where the gear 86 is provided on the rotary shaft 78a, via a rod 82 extending in the main scanning direction. There is. The actuator 84 may be, for example, a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder. This actuator 84 expands and contracts the rod 82, thereby rotating the rotary shaft 78a.
To make rolling contact with the bearing 96, and at the same time to rotate the rotating shaft 7
8b through the long hole 97 to rotate the rotating shafts 78a and 78
b can be moved together in the main scanning direction, and the first and second nipping and conveying roller pairs 74 and 76 can be moved in the directions M ₁ and M ₂ which coincide with the main scanning direction.

The sensor 72 detects the timing at which the exposed photosensitive material P transported by the transport roller 60 from the exposure section 20 is transported to the first nip transport roller pair 74 and the second transport roller pair 76. Is. The sensor 72 is preferably arranged at a central position of the photosensitive material P along the main scanning direction. Note that a plurality of sensors may be used instead of the single sensor 72.

The sensor 72 comprises a light emitting element 72a and a light receiving element 72b, and the same sensor as the above-mentioned sensors 42 and 43 can be used. In the image recording apparatus 10, since the width of the photosensitive material P is known in advance depending on the type of the magazine 30, it is not necessary to measure whether or not the photosensitive material P needs to be sorted. It suffices to know the timing of conveyance to the conveyance roller pair 74 and the second conveyance roller pair 76.

Next, the operation of the distribution unit 70 will be described. At this time, the driving rollers 74a and 76a of the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76 are
The photosensitive material P is rotationally driven by the motor 92 synchronously so that the photosensitive material P is conveyed at a predetermined conveying speed. In the pair of first and second nipping and conveying rollers 74 and 76, the driven rollers 74b and 76b are the corresponding driving rollers 74a and 74b.
76a, that is, the rotating shafts 78a, 78
b is rotating together. First, the photosensitive material P exposed by the exposure unit 20 is transported by the transport roller pair 60.
At this time, the tip of the photosensitive material P is detected by the sensor 72, and the timing at which the photosensitive material P reaches the drive rollers 74a and 76a is predicted.

Next, the leading end portion of the photosensitive material P conveyed by the conveying roller pair 60 has a first nipping and conveying roller pair 74.
It is conveyed and nipped between the driving roller 74a and the driven roller 74b. Subsequently, the photosensitive material P is nipped and conveyed by the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74, and the leading end portion of the photosensitive material P is between the driven roller 76b and the driving roller 76a of the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76. It is transported to and pinched. Then, subsequently, the photosensitive material P is nip-conveyed by the first and second nipping-conveying roller pairs 74 and 76 for a predetermined time according to the size thereof, and then the first and second nipping-conveying roller pairs 74. The rotation of the drive rollers 74a and 76a of the motors 76 and 76 is stopped. The pair of first and second nipping and conveying rollers 74 and 76 whose rotation is stopped
Holding the photosensitive material P between them, each actuator 84
Drive synchronously. The rod 82 is extended by the actuator 84, and the rotary shaft 78a is moved through the contacting / separating means 80.
And 78b are moved in a direction M ₁ coinciding with the main scanning direction to move the first and second nipping and conveying roller pairs 74 and 7
6 is moved in the direction M ₁ . As a result, the photosensitive material P
Are distributed in the direction M ₁ .

Next, the driving rollers 74a and 76a are rotated to convey the photosensitive material P to the conveying roller pair 62. When the length of the photosensitive material P in the transport direction D is longer than the distance between the first sandwiching transport roller pair 74 and the second sandwiching transport roller pair 76 in the transport direction D, the second sandwich transport roller pair. Rotating the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 while the photosensitive material P is nipped by 76 to form a loop between the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76. Can be sorted by. Further, by forming a loop between the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76 in this manner, the conveying path can be shortened and the distribution unit 70 can be miniaturized. You can also

Next, as described above, the rod 84 is retracted by the actuator 84 to move the rod 82 of the photosensitive material P, which is conveyed and nipped by the first and second nipping and conveying roller pairs 74 and 76, in the direction opposite to the direction M _1. Allocate to the direction M ₂ . In this way, the photosensitive material P is directed in the directions M ₁ and M ₂
By repeating the operation of distributing the photosensitive material P to the developing device 26, the photosensitive material P can be distributed to a plurality of rows and conveyed to the developing device 26.

In the distribution unit 70, the positions of the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76 for nipping the photosensitive material P are not always the same, but are successively conveyed. It may be sorted by changing the holding position for each incoming photosensitive material P. In this way, by changing the nipping position for each photosensitive material P, the driving rollers 74a and 76a and the driven roller 7 are moved.
It is possible to prevent the 4b and 76b from being scraped.

Further, for each sorting operation, as shown in FIG. 2, the center of the frame 94 in the main scanning direction and the main scanning direction of the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76 are not necessarily required. It is not necessary to move the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76 to a position where the center thereof coincides with the center (hereinafter, referred to as a neutral position). _It may be sequentially distributed to ₁ and the direction M ₂ . When the amount of conveyance from the exposure unit 20 is small, the distribution may be performed by returning to the neutral position for each distribution operation.

Further, in this embodiment, the distribution width of the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76 does not necessarily have to be the maximum distribution width, and is less than the maximum distribution width. May be In the above-mentioned distribution operation, the origin may be determined in advance and the movement amount of the distribution may be defined from the origin, or the origin may be determined for each distribution operation and the movement amount of the distribution may be defined from the origin. Good.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the total length of the drive rollers 74a and 76a including the rotary shaft 78a and the driven rollers 74b and 76b including the rotary shaft 78b is
It is twice as long as the distribution width. Therefore, the drive roller 74
It is preferable that the sorting unit 70 can be taken out from the image recording apparatus 10 regardless of the positions of the a, 76a and the driven rollers 74b, 76b. Further, a fixing member for fixing the movements of the drive rollers 74a and 76a and the driven rollers 74b and 76b is provided, and the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76 are brought to the neutral position and then taken out. You may do it.

Photosensitive material P distributed by distribution unit 70
Is conveyed by a conveying means including a pair of conveying rollers 62 and the like, and is supplied to the pair of carry-in rollers 64 of the developing device 26 by the entry roller pair 28 through the opening 24b. The photosensitive material P on which the latent image is formed is subjected to development processing (developing, fixing, washing with water) by the developing device 26. Then, the photosensitive material P is output as a print through a predetermined process such as a drying process.

In this embodiment, only the first nipping / conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping / conveying roller pair 76 including the rotating shaft 78a provided on the bearing 96 are used as the actuator 8
4 to move the photosensitive material P into a plurality of columns in the main scanning direction. In this embodiment, the distribution unit 70 can be made lighter by reducing the mass of the moving object. As a result, the sorting operation can be speeded up. In addition, in the present embodiment, since the mass of the object to be moved is small, the output of the moving means required for sorting can be reduced, so that the device can be downsized, and the manufacturing cost and running cost can be reduced. it can. Further, since the rotating shaft 78a is held in rolling contact with the rotating direction and the axial direction (main scanning direction) by the bearing 96, even if the rotating shaft 78a is rotated and moved, the rotating shaft 78a slides in a sliding state. Since this is not the case, scraping of the member does not occur. For this reason, it is possible to prevent deterioration of the sorting accuracy as compared with the sliding type, and the durability is high.

Further, in the present embodiment, the gear transmission means of the gear 86 and the drive gear 88 is used as one of the transmission means. The gear 86 and the drive gear 88 relatively slide in the main scanning direction, and scraping occurs between the gear 86 and the drive gear 88 as the distribution is repeated. Therefore, play (backlash) occurs between the gear 86 and the drive gear 88. However, this play affects the rotation direction and does not affect the distribution in the main scanning direction. Further, in the present embodiment, the first nipping and conveying roller pair 74 and the second nipping and conveying roller pair 76 are provided with the rotating means and the moving means which are independent of each other. Nip and transport roller pair 74 and second nip and transport roller pair 76
It is also possible to connect the contacting / separating means 80 provided in the above and move them by one actuator. In addition, the drive roller 74a,
The drive gear 88 of 76a may be rotated by one motor 92.

Further, in this embodiment, the distribution unit 70
To the first and second nipping and conveying roller pairs 74 and 76.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any one of the first and second nip-conveying roller pairs 74 and 76 is disposed. Alternatively, the photosensitive material P may be divided by only one pair of conveying rollers, and the photosensitive material P sandwiched by only one pair of conveying rollers may be distributed.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the distribution unit 70 is arranged on the downstream side of the exposure unit 20, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the distribution unit 70 is arranged in the skew correction unit 18. It may be arranged on the upstream side of. In this case, the photosensitive material P sorted by the sorting unit 70 into a plurality of columns is skew-corrected by the skew correction unit 18 and then subjected to multi-row exposure by the exposure unit 20. The distribution unit 70 and the skew correction unit 1
8 may be integrated and provided on the upstream side of the exposure unit 20. In this case, since the distribution and the skew correction can be performed at the same time, the device can be downsized.

The skew correction section 18 is not particularly limited to the one shown in the above embodiment. As the skew correction unit 18, for example, a method using a so-called top resist for correcting the skew by bringing the leading edge into contact between the rollers of the conveying roller pair in the sandwiched state, and preferably forming a loop of a photosensitive material, or a side Various correction means that can realize a known correction method such as a so-called side resist method for correcting skew by abutting an edge (an end side in a direction orthogonal to the width direction) on a guide plate can be used.

In this case, there is a possibility that the position of the photosensitive material in the main scanning direction may change depending on a skew correction method such as skew correction by abutting the leading edge (so-called top resist). Therefore, it is necessary to correct the position of the photosensitive material in the main scanning direction. As a method of offset correction without the possibility of skewing the photosensitive material P again, the position of the side edge of the photosensitive material after skew correction in the main scanning direction is detected, and the position in the main scanning direction is detected in accordance with the detection result. There is an offset correction method for correcting the exposure position. In this way, the distribution unit 7 is provided on the upstream side of the exposure unit 20.
By providing 0, multi-row exposure can be performed in the exposure unit 20, and productivity can be improved.

Although the distribution apparatus of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course, it's good.

[0061]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, at least one nipping / conveying roller pair, preferably,
Since only the rotating shafts provided on the respective rollers of the first and second nip conveying rollers are moved in the main scanning direction by the moving means while the rotation of the respective rollers is stopped, they are moved in the main scanning direction. It is possible to reduce the mass. For this reason, even if the distribution speed is increased, deterioration of the distribution accuracy can be prevented, and the durability is excellent. Furthermore, since the mass to be moved in the main scanning direction is small, the power required for movement can be reduced,
The manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an image recording device using a distribution device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a distribution device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of the distribution device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic side view of the distribution device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view showing a distribution device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-329885 (Prior Art 1).

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Image recording device 12 Photosensitive material supply section 14 cutter 16 Back printing means 18 Skew correction unit 20 Exposure section 22 Transporting means 24 housing 24a partition wall 24b opening 26 Developing Device (Processor) 28 Entry roller pair 30 magazines 32 magazine room 34 rolls 36 Delivery roller pair 38 Feed roller 40, 40a, 40c, 40b Nip rollers 42, 43 sensor 42a, 43a light emitting element 42b, 43b Light receiving element 44, conveying roller pair 46 nip transport rollers 48 Delivery roller pair 54 sensor 56 Exposure unit 58 Sub-scanning transporting means 58a, 58b Conveying roller pair 60, 62 Conveyor roller pair 64 Carry-in roller pair 70 distribution unit 72 sensors 74 first nipping and conveying roller pair 76 Second nipping and conveying roller pair 78a, 78b, 88a, 92a Rotating shaft 80 Contact and separation means 82 rod 84 actuator 86 gear 88 drive gear 90 belt 94 frame P photosensitive material L light beam D transport direction (sub-scan transport direction) z recording position

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first conveying roller pair, which comprises a first driving roller and a first driven roller, and sandwiches and conveys a sheet between them, and a rotary shaft of the first driving roller and the first driven roller. Drive means for rotationally driving the rotary shaft of the first drive roller, moving means for moving both rotary shafts of the first drive roller and the first driven roller in an axial direction thereof, the first drive roller, Supporting means for supporting both rotary shafts of the first driven roller so as to be rotatable and movable in the axial direction, the rotation of the first conveying roller pair is stopped, and the first conveying roller pair is stopped. In the state where the sheet body is sandwiched between the first and second drive rollers and the first driven roller, the rotating means is moved in the axial direction by the moving means to sort the sheet body into a plurality of rows. And the distribution device. 2. The distribution device according to claim 1, further comprising a second driving roller and a second driven roller, and a second pair of conveying rollers for nipping and conveying the sheet body therebetween. A rotation shaft of the second drive roller and the second driven roller, and a support unit that supports the rotation shaft of the second drive roller and the second driven roller so as to be rotatable and movable in the axial direction. A rotary shaft of the second drive roller is rotationally driven by the drive unit, and rotary shafts of the second drive roller and the second driven roller are movable in the axial direction by the moving unit, The rotation of the pair of first and second conveying rollers is stopped, and the sheet member is sandwiched between the pair of first and second conveying rollers, and the moving unit moves the pair of the first and second conveying rollers to each other. First And a second driving roller and the first and second driven rollers is moved in the axial direction, the sorting apparatus characterized by distributing said sheet in a plurality of rows. 3. The distribution device according to claim 1, wherein the rotating shaft comes into contact with the supporting means at a point of contact when the rotating shaft rotates and moves in the axial direction. 4. The distribution device according to claim 1, wherein at least one driven roller of the first and second conveying roller pairs is capable of coming into contact with and separating from a driving roller.