JPH01186956A - Device for applying image forming solvent - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image having good quality and to shorten processing time by providing a coating member, which is directly abutted with a heat development photosensitive material to coat it with an image forming solvent, and a winding guide member which guides the photosensitive material to wind it around a part of the outer periphery of the coating member. CONSTITUTION:A coating member 90 is directly abutted with a heat developable photosensitive material 16 to coat is with the image forming solvent. In this case, the photosensitive material 16 is guided by winding guide members 51A and 51B and is wound around a part of the outer periphery of a coating member 26 and is abutted with this part. Therefore, the width of a bead 70A of the solvent formed on the contacting surface between the coating member 26 and the photosensitive material 16 is extended and the time of contacting between the bead 70A and the photosensitive material 16 is prolonged. Consequently, a required coating quantity is kept even though the carrying speed of the photosensitive material 16 is increased. Thus, the transfer efficiency of the photosensitive material is not degraded and the image having good quality is obtained, and the processing speed is shortened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image recording method for obtaining an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. The present invention relates to an image forming solvent coating device used in a recording device.

[Prior Art] As an image recording device for obtaining a color image using a heat-developable photosensitive material, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 75247/1983, an image recording device is used that exposes an image to a heat-developable photosensitive material and then sends it to a thermal imaging section.
There is known a method in which an image-receiving material is closely attached to a photosensitive material after heat development, and an image is transferred to image-receiving paper through a transfer process.

Before this photosensitive material or image-receiving material is sent to a transfer section, a transfer aid (image forming solvent) such as water is applied in advance to improve transfer efficiency.

For this reason, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-75247, water is applied using a roller holding water. This water is accumulated in a main tank, and the roller is arranged so that a part of its outer periphery is immersed in the water surface in the main tank. When applying water, the roller is rotated to bring out the water around the outer periphery of the roller.
This roller directly contacts the photosensitive material or image-receiving material to apply water.

In this case, a film of water (so-called bead, hereinafter referred to as bead) is formed between the roller and the photosensitive material or image-receiving material that comes into contact with the roller (for example, the bead width is approximately 15 mm for a roller with a diameter of 3 Q mm), and the roller As the light-sensitive material or image-receiving material is rotated (transportation of the photo-sensitive material or image-receiving material), heavy water penetrates into the image-forming surface layer of the photo-sensitive material or image-receiving material (infiltration).
It is supposed to be done. Therefore, the longer the contact time between the bead formed on the contact surface of the roller and the photosensitive material or image-receiving material, the more water permeates into the image forming surface layer (the amount of infiltration), and the more likely it is to reach the saturation amount. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material or image-receiving material is increased in order to shorten the time required for processing, the bead formed on the contact surface of the roller and the photosensitive material or There is a problem in that the contact time with the image-receiving material is inevitably shortened, and as a result, the amount of water that permeates into the image-forming surface layer (infiltration amount) decreases, making it impossible to obtain the necessary amount of water applied. Therefore, it takes time to obtain the required amount of water application.
Furthermore, if an attempt is made to shorten the time required for processing, the transfer efficiency will decrease due to an insufficient amount of water applied, making it impossible to obtain a high-quality image.

Furthermore, simply increasing the outer diameter of the roller will only result in an increase in the size of the device and increase in cost, and will not have any significant effect.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention makes it possible to maintain a sufficient amount of coating even when the transport speed of the photosensitive material or image receiving material is increased, thereby producing high quality images without reducing the transfer efficiency of the photosensitive material or image receiving material. It is an object of the present invention to obtain an image-forming solvent coating device that can reduce the time required for processing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The image-forming solvent coating device according to the present invention obtains an image on the image-receiving material by transferring the image recorded on the heat-developable photosensitive material to the image-receiving material in a heat-developable transfer section. An image-forming solvent coating device used in an image recording device to apply an image-forming solvent to a heat-developable photosensitive material or image-receiving material, the device applying the image-forming solvent by directly contacting the heat-developable photosensitive material or image-receiving material. and a winding guide member that guides the heat-developable photosensitive material or the image-receiving material so that it is wrapped around a part of the outer periphery of the coating member.

[Function] In the image-forming solvent coating apparatus having the above configuration, the coating member directly contacts the heat-developable photosensitive material or the image-receiving material to apply the image-forming solvent.

In this case, the winding of the photothermographic material or the image-receiving material is guided by the guide member, and is wound around and abuts on the outer periphery of the application member. Therefore, the width of the bead of image forming solvent formed on the contact surface between the coating member and the photothermographic material or image-receiving material becomes longer, and the contact time between the bead and the photosensitive material or image-receiving material becomes longer.

Therefore, even when the transport speed of the photosensitive material or image-receiving material is increased, the required coating amount can be maintained.
As a result, high-quality images can be obtained without reducing the transfer efficiency of the photosensitive material or image-receiving material, and the time required for processing can be shortened.

The image recording apparatus applied to the present invention includes a heat developing section that heat-develops the exposed heat-developable photosensitive material, and a heat-developable photosensitive material and an image-receiving material that are overlapped and heated to form an image on the image-receiving material. The transfer section for transferring is provided separately.
It is also possible to use a device in which the heat development section and the transfer section are provided at the same place, that is, the exposed heat development section/light material and image receiving material are overlapped and heated to perform heat development and heat transfer at the same time. It may be provided with a heat development transfer section for carrying out thermal development transfer.

Further, in the image recording device applied to the present invention, for example,
U.S. Patent No. 4430415, U.S. Patent No. 4483914,
4500626, 4503137, JP 59-154445, JP 59-165054,
JP-A-59-180548, JP-A-59-21844
No. 3, JP 60-120356, Patent Application 1982-20
No. 9563, Patent Application No. 79709, Patent Application No. 1988-
1695'85, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-244873, etc.
dye-fixing elements) can be used.

In the present invention, the image-forming solvent is a solvent required for image formation, such as water, a low-boiling organic solvent (
(alconopeketones, amides, etc.) or those obtained by adding various additives such as surfactants, development accelerators, and development stoppers to these solvents.

[Example code] An image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 2 shows an image recording apparatus 10 to which an image forming solvent coating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is applied.

The image recording device 10 has a magazine 14 housed in the machine base 12.
A heat-developable photosensitive material 16 in the form of a ferrode is housed therein. The photosensitive material 16 is pulled out from its outer periphery, cut into a predetermined length by a cutter 18, and then wound around the outer periphery of a rotating drum 20. An exposure head 22 is disposed corresponding to the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20, and the rotating drums 1 and 20 are rotated in the six directions of arrows to expose an image onto the wound photosensitive material 16.

After exposure, the photosensitive material 16 is rotated in the reverse direction of the rotating drum 20.
After being peeled off from the rotating drum 20 by the scraper 24 and applied with water as an image forming solvent in a water application section 2G, which is an image forming solvent coating device, it is transferred to a thermal development transfer section 28 whose interior is a heating section. is sent.

On the other hand, the uppermost layer of the plurality of image receiving materials 32 accommodated in the tray 30 is sent to the thermal development transfer section 28 .

In the thermal development transfer section 28, conveyance rollers 34 are in close contact with each other.
36 is provided at the inlet portion, and the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 32 are connected to each other.
After the sheets are brought into close contact with each other, they are sent to the conveyance rollers 38 and 40 at the exit section.

Conveyance rollers 42, 44 are provided in the intermediate portion, and the adhered photosensitive material 16 is sent out from the conveyance rollers 34, 36.
and the image-receiving material 32 to the transport rollers 38, 40. Each conveyance roller is configured to receive rotational force by transmitting the driving force of a motor (not shown).

Each conveyance roller has a heater 46 arranged on the opposite side of the conveyance path for the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 32, and is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heating element constituted by an energized heating element.

A peeling means 48 is disposed downstream of the heat development transfer section 28, and a peeling means 48 is arranged downstream of the heat development transfer section 28, and removes the photosensitive material 16 sent out from the heat development transfer section 28.
The image receiving material 32 is separated and sent to a waste photosensitive material storage box 59 and an image receiving material 32 to a drying device 52. After the image-receiving material 32 is dried in a drying device 52, it is delivered onto a take-out tray 54 formed at the top of the machine stand 12.

As shown in FIG. 1, a pair of conveyance rollers 56 and 58 are disposed in the water application section 26 and serve as guide members for sandwiching and winding the photosensitive material 16 being conveyed.
．． A pair of conveying rollers 60 and 62, which are similarly used as guide members, are disposed downstream of the photosensitive material 16 so as to sandwich and convey the photosensitive material 16 therein.

These rollers are rotated by the driving force of a motor (not shown) and send out the photosensitive material 16 in the direction of arrow B to the thermal development transfer section 28.

A coating roller 64 as a coating member is disposed between the conveyance rollers 56 and 58 and the conveyance rollers 60 and 62, corresponding to the center of the back surface (emulsion side) of the photosensitive material 16. The coating roller 64 is formed to have an outer diameter of 30 mm, and further projects above the position where the photosensitive material 16 is held by the conveyance rollers 56, 58 and 60, 62, so that its rotating shaft 65 is connected to the machine base 12. It is pivoted. In other words, one day the photosensitive material transported in the horizontal direction is transported by the transport roller 56.5 times.
After being held by the rollers 8 and 8, the coating material is conveyed while being tilted upward by approximately 30 degrees, changing direction, and being wrapped around a part of the upper outer circumference of the coating roller 64. After being further wrapped, the coating material is tilted downward again, changing direction, and being conveyed. It has a configuration in which it is held between transport rollers 60 and 62.

Moreover, between these conveyance rollers, the photosensitive material 1 to be conveyed is
A guide plate 51 is provided corresponding to the upper surface of the coating roller 6 (that is, corresponding to the upper outer periphery of the application roller 64).

Projections 51A and 51B projecting toward the application roller 64 are formed at both ends of the guide plate 510.
These protrusions 51A and 51B are designed to directly contact the upper surface of the photosensitive material 16 that is wrapped around a part of the outer circumference of the application roller 64. Therefore, when winding the photosensitive material 16 around the outer periphery of the application roller 64, there is a point at which the tip of the photosensitive material 16 is not clamped by the conveying rollers 60, 62 (the winding starts).
, or the rear end of the photosensitive material 16 is the conveyor roller 56,58
When the photosensitive material 16 is not held between the
The winding around the application roller 64 guides the front and rear ends of the photosensitive material 16 so that the angle does not change.

A motor (both not shown) is connected via a shaft coupling to the rotating shaft 65 of the coating roller 64, which is pivotally supported on the machine base 12, and the coating roller 64 moves in the direction of arrow C (photosensitive material 16).

A portion of the coating roller 64 is immersed in a main tank 72 filled with water 70, which is an image forming solvent, so that the water 70 is brought out on its circumferential surface when the coating roller 64 rotates.

The water 70 taken out by the application roller 64 is applied to the photosensitive material 16.
A bead 70A is formed between the
In this state, the photosensitive material 16 is
Water is applied to the back side of the

A supply pipe 74 for supplying the water 70 and a discharge pipe 76 for discharging the water 70 from the main tank 72 are attached to the main tank 72 filled with water 70 . One end of the supply pipe 74 and one end of the discharge pipe 76 are connected to a spare tank housing section 77 (see FIG. 2) provided at the bottom of the machine base 12, respectively.
It is connected to the reserve tank inside.

The main tank 72 contains water 7 that is filled into the main tank 72.
An overflow pipe 78 is attached to discharge the surplus amount. Opening 7 of this overflow vibe 78
8A is arranged at a predetermined height from the bottom surface 72A of the main tank 72, and when the water 70 supplied from the supply pipe 74 reaches above this opening 78A, the water 70 is transferred to the outside of the main tank 72 ( The amount of water (water surface height) in the main tank 72 can be kept constant. This overflow vibe 7
8 is also connected to the reserve tank in the reserve tank housing section 77.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The photosensitive material 16 pulled out from the magazine 14 is cutter 1
8 and then wrapped around the outer circumference of the rotating drum 20, the rotating drum 20 rotates at high speed and the exposure head 2
2, the image is exposed.

After exposure, the photosensitive material 16 is peeled off by a scraper 24, coated with water at a water coating section 26, and sent to a thermal development transfer section 28.

Part of the image receiving material 32 in the tray 30 is sent from its uppermost layer to the thermal development transfer section 28 and brought into close contact with the photosensitive material 16.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 32 after being brought into close contact with each other are sent to the transport rollers 42.44 through the transport rollers 34.36. Furthermore, it is sent out from between the transport rollers 42, 40 and through the transport rollers 38, 40. In this way, since the plurality of pairs of conveyance rollers are heated by the heater 46,
The photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 32 are immediately brought to a predetermined temperature, and the image recorded on the photosensitive material 16 is thermally developed and thermally transferred to the image receiving material 32.

After the transfer, the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 32 are separated by a peeling means 48, and the photo-sensitive material 16 is transferred to a waste photo-sensitive material storage box 59, and the image-receiving material 32 is transferred by a reversing roller 56 in an approximately right angle direction (upper part of FIG. 2). It is inverted and taken out to a takeout tray 54 via a drying device 52.

Next, in the procedure of applying water to the photosensitive material in the water application section 26, first, the photosensitive material 16 is transported (then, the transport roller 56...
58, and apply roller 64 and guide plate 51.
I will guide you to the room. The photosensitive material 16 is wound around the outer periphery of the application roller 64 while contacting the protrusion 51A of the guide plate 51, and is further guided while contacting the protrusion 51B, and is held between conveyance rollers 60 and 62.

When the photosensitive material 16 is completely wrapped around the applicator roller 64 and sandwiched between the transport rollers 56, 58 and 60, 62, the photosensitive material 16 is wrapped around the upper outer periphery of the applicator roller 64 at a 60 degree angle. It will be wrapped around.

At this time, the coating roller 64 is rotating in the direction of arrow C in FIG.
A is formed and applied to the photosensitive material 16.

Here, since the photosensitive material 16 is wrapped around the upper outer periphery of the coating roller 64, the coating roller 64 simply wraps around the photosensitive material 16.
The width of the bead 70A formed between the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material 16 and the coating roller 64 is longer than that in the case where the bead 70A is in contact with the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material 16. The winding length is approximately 30m when the angle is 60 degrees.
m), therefore, the contact time between the bead 70A and the photosensitive material 16 becomes longer.

Therefore, the amount of water 70 that permeates into the emulsion surface of photosensitive material #+16 (infiltration m) increases, making it easier to reach the saturation amount. Therefore, even if the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material 16 is increased, a sufficient amount of cloth can be maintained, and as a result, the transfer efficiency of the photosensitive material 16 is not reduced, a high quality image can be obtained, and the time required for processing is shortened. be able to.

The application roller 64 is moved in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 (photosensitive material 1
The same effect can be obtained not only by rotating in the direction along the conveying direction of the photosensitive material 16, but also by rotating in a direction opposite to the conveying direction of the photosensitive material 16.

When the rear end of the photosensitive material 16 passes through the application roller 64 and is transported to the next process (image transfer processing in the thermal development transfer section 28) by the transport rollers 60, 62, the bead 7OA is transferred to the main tank 72 by its own weight. be returned to.

Next, other embodiments of the present invention will be described. Note that parts that are basically the same as those in the first embodiment are given the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment, and their explanations are omitted.

As shown in FIG. 3, the guide plate 51 in the first embodiment is omitted in the water coating section 80 which is a solvent coating device for image formation, and the photosensitive material 16 is wound around a conveyance roller serving as a guide member. 56.58 and conveyance roller 60.6
2 and is guided to be pinched and wound around the application roller 64. In this case as well, bead 7O of water 70
Since the width of A is increased, the contact time with the photosensitive material 16 is increased, and the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained, and the structure is simplified.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 4 or 5, it is not necessary that both the conveyance rollers 56, 58 or 60, 62 be located below the applicator roller 64, and only one of them must be located below the photosensitive material. 16 may be wound around a part of the outer periphery of the application roller 64.

FIG. 6 shows a water coating section 9 which is a solvent coating device for image formation.
0 is shown. No guide roller is arranged in the water application section 90, and only a guide plate 51 serving as a winding guide member is arranged directly above the application roller 64. Therefore, the photosensitive material 16 is always pressed by the protrusions 51A and 51B of the guide plate 51 and wound around the outer periphery of the application roller 64. In this case as well, the width of the bead 70A of the water 70 becomes longer and the photosensitive material 1
The contact time with 6 is increased, and the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained.

Furthermore, in this case, the guide plate 51 may be configured to be movable in the direction toward and away from the application roller 64, as shown in FIGS. 7(a) to 7(C). That is,
As shown in FIG. 7(a), when the leading edge of the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed, the guide plate 51 is separated from the applicator roller 64 so that it enters smoothly. Figure 7 (b) or Figure 7 (
As shown in C), the guide plate 51 approaches the application roller 64, presses the photosensitive material 111416, and guides it reliably.

Further, the guide plate 51 in each of the above embodiments is the eighth
As shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 9, a configuration may be adopted in which free rollers 92.94 are provided and the photosensitive material 16 is pressed and guided by the free rollers 92.94. In this case, the permeability of the photosensitive material 16 is further improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the image forming solvent coating apparatus according to the present invention transfers an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to an image-receiving material in a heat-developable transfer section, thereby obtaining an image on an image-receiving material. An image-forming solvent coating device used in a recording device to apply an image-forming solvent to a heat-developable photosensitive material or an image-receiving material, and which applies the image-forming solvent by directly contacting the heat-developable photosensitive material or image-receiving material. Since the coating member includes a coating member and a guide member that guides the heat-developable photosensitive material or image-receiving material so as to be wrapped around a part of the outer periphery of the coating member, the conveyance speed of the photosensitive material or image-receiving material can be increased. It has the excellent effect of being able to maintain a sufficient amount of coating even when the photosensitive material or image-receiving material is transferred, thereby obtaining high-quality images without reducing the transfer efficiency of the photosensitive material or image-receiving material, and shortening the time required for processing. are doing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a water application section according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an image recording apparatus to which this water application section is applied, and FIG. 4 and 5 are cross-sectional views showing a modified example of the water application part according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 shows a water application part according to the third embodiment. 7(a) to 7(C) are operational diagrams showing the correspondence between the guide plate and the photosensitive material in the third embodiment, and FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the guide plate according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line IX-IX in FIG. 8. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Image recording device, 16... Photosensitive material, 51... Guide plate, 51A, 51B... Protrusion, 56.58... Conveyance roller, 60.62... Conveyance roller, 70 ...Water, 70A...Bead, 72...Main tank, 80...Water application section, 90...Water application section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Used in an image recording device that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to an image-receiving material in a heat-developable transfer section; The image-forming solvent coating apparatus includes a coating member that applies the image-forming solvent by directly contacting the heat-developable photosensitive material or the image-receiving material, and a coating member that applies the image-forming solvent by directly contacting the heat-developable photosensitive material or the image-receiving material. 1. An image forming solvent coating device, comprising: a winding guide member that guides the winding around the image forming solvent coating device.