JPH01128061A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain a recorded image of excellent quality without making scratches on the surface of a photosensitive recording medium by electrostatically maintaining a mask original plate on a carrying belt and carrying it under the condition that it is not touching the surface of the photosensitive recording medium. CONSTITUTION:The carrying belt 35 possessing surface potential given by a crotron 38 closely adheres the mask original plate 22R, etc., which has finished positioning, to the surface with the help of the bonding force of a positioning roller 34, and stops when the mask original plate, etc. is carried to the specified exposure position. Then cams 43 and 44 rotate and bring an exposure table 25 upward, and after the photosensitive recording medium 24 is closely adhered to the mask original plate 22R, etc., a light source 21R, etc. scans and exposes the photosensitive recording medium 24 through the carrying belt 35 and the mask original plate, and a latent image is written. Thus an original and the mask negative plate are carried to the exposing part under the condition that they are separated from the photosensitive recording medium, and the generation of scratches, etc. on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium is prevented and an image of excellent quality is attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that records an image on the surface of a photosensitive recording medium using a light-transmissive original or a photomask original.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, this type of image recording apparatus includes one that directly exposes the surface of a photosensitive recording medium through a light-transmissive original, or
It is already well known that a photomask master is once created from an original and the surface of a photosensitive recording medium is exposed through the mask master.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of an apparatus for obtaining a color image using, for example, a photomask original plate.

In this figure, a transparent drum 50 for exposure is installed inside the main body 20a of the apparatus. A pressure developing device 28° and a heat fixing device 29 are installed,
A roll paper-like photosensitive recording medium 24 is unwound from the storage cassette 23, circulated around the transparent drum 50, sent to the pressure developing device 28, and then wound up by the recoiler 37. The photomask original plate 22 is inserted through an original insertion opening 31 provided on one side of the apparatus main body 20a, and is fed while being sandwiched between the transparent drum 50 and the photosensitive recording medium 24. After being separated from 24, it is discharged onto tray 32. Thus, while the photomask original plate 22 is sandwiched between the translucent drum 50 and the photosensitive recording medium 24 as described above, the light source rung 51 built in the translucent drum 50 is lit, and color separation is performed. The photosensitive recording medium 24 is exposed through the filter 52. In this embodiment, the photosensitive recording medium 24 includes:
For example, a color-compatible photosensitive microcapsule sheet shown in U.S. Pat.
3 sheets for G) and blue (B) are used. Therefore, these plurality of photomask original plates are sequentially inserted into the original plate insertion slot 31.
During this time, the photosensitive recording medium 24 is repeatedly moved back and forth in the direction of arrow AeB in FIG. 2 due to the forward and reverse rotation of the transparent drum 50.

Thereafter, the photosensitive recording medium 24 is sent to the pressure developing device 28, where one sheet of cut paper-like color developer sheet 26 is fed out from the storage cassette 27 in the device book #20a, and is overlapped with the photosensitive recording medium 24. The pressure developing bag is in a state where it is! Sent to 28. The color developer sheet.

Reference numeral 26 is coated with a color developer capable of causing a coloring reaction with the dye precursor contained in the various microcapsules on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium 24. By crushing the hardened microcapsules, a visible color image is realized on the surface of the color developer sheet 26. The color developer sheet 26 is subjected to color development promotion and polishing processing in the heat fixing device 29, and is then discharged onto a tray 30.

According to the image recording apparatus configured as described above, the photomask original 22 (the same applies to the case of a light-transmissive original) and the photosensitive recording medium 24 are brought into close contact with each other, and a clear image with sharp outlines is produced. is obtained.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the image recording apparatus configured as described above, the rotational speed of the transparent drum 50 and the photosensitive recording medium 24 are
It is difficult to match the feed speed perfectly. As a result, a discrepancy occurs in the feeding speed between the photomask master plate 22 that is in contact with the surface of the transparent drum 50 and the photosensitive recording medium 24 on the outside, causing scratches on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium 24 and reducing the image quality. There were some drawbacks.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides an image recording device that can obtain good quality images without causing scratches or the like on the surface of a photosensitive recording medium. It is intended to.

[Means for solving the problem] In order to achieve this objective, the image recording device of the present invention has the following features:
It is equipped with an exposure means that irradiates the surface of a photosensitive recording medium with light from a light source through a light-transmissive manuscript or a photomask master, and exposes the medium surface. A dielectric conveyor belt is interposed between the light source and the photosensitive recording medium, and the light-transmitting original or photomask original is electrostatically attracted to the surface of the conveyor belt and conveyed. ing.

[Operation] According to the image recording device of the present invention configured as described above,
Light transmission type I! An X draft or a photomask original is electrostatically attracted to a conveyor belt and sent to the exposure section. Therefore, the original or mask original can be transported to the exposure section while being separated from the photosensitive recording medium, thereby avoiding scratches or the like on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a color image recording apparatus in which a monochrome laser printer is used to create a photomask original, and the mask original is used to transmit and expose the surface of a color-forming photosensitive recording medium. In this figure, the same components as those of the conventional device described above will be described with the same reference numerals. In the monochrome laser printer 1, an electrostatic latent image is drawn by irradiating a photosensitive drum 3 with laser light via a polygon scanner 2. The photoreceptor drum 3 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is developed with toner by a toner developer 4, and then the toner image is transferred onto plain paper or OHP sheet fed from a paper feed cassette 5, and then transferred to a fixing device 6. By fixing, a photomask original plate is created. Normally, the monochrome laser printer 1 records data transmitted from a host computer, and three types of mask originals, R, G, and B, are sequentially created based on color image information and sent to a paper output tray 11 or 12. It looks like this.

On the other hand, this color image recording device 20 uses mask original plates 20 (22R, 22
G, 22B) is supplied to the exposure unit 36 of the main body of the apparatus. An exposure table 25 that brings the mask original plate 22 into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 24, light sources 21R, 21G, and 21B of three primary colors for exposure, a storage cassette 27 that stores the color developer sheet 26, and a storage cassette 27 that stores the color developer sheet 26 and the photosensitive recording medium 24. A pressure developing device 28 that superimposes the recording medium 24 and develops it under pressure, a heat fixing device 29 that promotes color development, a discharge tray 30 for the color developer sheet 26, and an original insertion slot into which each mask original 22 is inserted from the outside. 31 and the exposed mask master plate 22
It is provided with a discharge tray 32 for discharging color developer sheets, and a manual feed tray 33 for color developer sheets.

The transport mechanism for the mask original 22 and the exposure system will be explained in more detail. The conveyor belt 35 is made of a dielectric material having light-transmitting properties, and for this purpose, for example, a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film having a thickness of 100 μm and a light transmittance of 90% or more is used.

Further, this conveyor belt 35 is provided with a corotron 38 in order to charge the belt. Instead of the corotron 38, a brush-like charger using conductive fibers may be used.

The support shafts 39a and 39b on which the conveyor belt 35 is stretched are made of a conductive material such as metal and are grounded in order to transfer electric charges from the corotron 38 to the conveyor belt 35. The support shaft 39b has a small diameter to facilitate peeling off the mask original 22.

A positioning roller 34 is provided on the support shaft 39a on the entrance side of the conveyor belt.
are arranged opposite to each other, so that the mask original 22 is once oriented straight in the transport direction by the positioning roller 34 and then sent to the exposure system.

On the other hand, the exposure system includes cams 43 and 44 for moving the exposure table 25 up and down, a spring 45, and a fixed pad 47 for holding the photosensitive recording medium 24 still for the amount of vertical movement of the exposure table.
is provided.

Next, each photomask master plate 22 <22R, 22G, 2
The operation of recording a color image using 2Bj will be explained.

A red (R) photomask original 22R is created by the monochrome laser printer 1, and the mask original 22R passes through the switching conveyance path 10 and is sent to the contact portion between the positioning roller 34 and the conveyance belt 35. The positioning roller 34 is
Initially, the mask original 22H is stopped, and the tip position of the mask original 22H is determined by temporarily stopping after correcting the skew of the mask original 22H.

The conveyor belt 35 is moved approximately 1500 times by the corotron 38.
The mask original 22R, which has been given a surface potential of V and has been positioned, is brought into close contact with the surface using the pressure contact force of the positioning roller 34, and is conveyed to a predetermined exposure position and stopped.

Next, the cams 43 and 44 are rotated by a drive source (not shown), the exposure table 25 is lifted upward, and the photosensitive recording medium 24 is rotated.
is brought into close contact with the mask original plate 22H, the light source 21゛R that emits red light scans, and the conveyor belt 35 and the mask original plate 2
The photosensitive recording medium 24 is exposed through 2R. As a result, a latent image corresponding to the mask original 22R is written on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium 24.

After exposure, the cams 43 and 44 rotate, and the exposure table 25 returns to its original position due to the return force of the spring 45, and the photosensitive recording medium 24
and the mask original 22R are separated from each other.

Next, the conveyor belt 35 starts moving, and the mask original 22R
is discharged to the discharge tray 32.

Next, from the monochrome laser printer 1, the mask original plate 22 is
G and the mask original 22B are conveyed, and latent images corresponding to each mask original are written in a superimposed manner on the surface of the photosensitive recording medium 24 by the same action.

During this time, the photosensitive recording medium 24 is held stationary by the fixed pad 47, so that the exposure position of each mask original does not shift during the close exposure due to the vertical movement of the exposure table 25.

After the exposure of each mask original is completed and the mask original 22B is discharged, the fixed pad 47 releases the photosensitive recording medium 24. Thereafter, the photosensitive recording medium 24 is overlapped with a color developer sheet 26 and developed by a pressure developing device 28. The color developer sheet 26 passes through a heat fixing device 29 and is discharged to a color paper discharge tray 30. The used photosensitive recording medium 24 that has been subjected to pressure development is wound up by a recoiler 37.

Note that the monochrome laser printer 1 is not limited to a laser printer, and may be an LED printer, liquid crystal printer, or other thermal transfer printer as long as it can produce a three-color separated document of R, G, and B.

In addition, a desktop type printer can be mounted on the top of this image recording device and docked, and in the case of a larger printer, color images can be easily created by inserting the prepared three-color separation master into the device through the master insertion slot 31. is obtained.

The photosensitive recording medium 24 used in the above embodiment is a so-called transfer type that requires a color developer sheet, but a so-called self-coloring type in which microcapsules and a color developer are applied to the same sheet surface is used. A photosensitive recording medium may also be used.

Further, a photosensitive recording medium coated with microcapsules encapsulating a dye precursor of a single color among black, yellow, magenta, cyan, etc. is used and configured to operate as a monochrome image recording device; Also, 3
A light-transmissive color original may be used instead of the color separation mask original plate, and a color image may be recorded on the photosensitive recording medium in one scan using white light without performing color separation exposure.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above with respect to the embodiments, according to the image recording apparatus of the present invention, a mask original or a light-transmissive original is electrostatically held on the conveyor belt, and the surface of the photosensitive recording medium is touched in a non-contact manner. Since the photosensitive recording medium surface is conveyed in this state, the surface of the photosensitive recording medium is not damaged during the movement of the mask original, and therefore, a recorded matter with good image quality can be obtained. Also, the occurrence of jamming of the original mask can be avoided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional image recording apparatus. In the figure, 20 is an apparatus main body, 21 is an exposure light source, 22 is a photomask original, 24 is a photosensitive recording medium, and 35 is a conveyor belt.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim] An image recording apparatus equipped with an exposure means for irradiating the surface of a photosensitive recording medium with light from a light source through a light-transmissive original or a photomask original to expose the medium surface, comprising: and a dielectric conveyor belt is interposed between the light source and the photosensitive recording medium, and the light-transmissive original or photomask original is electrostatically attracted to the surface of the conveyor belt and conveyed. An image recording device characterized by being configured as follows.