JPH02105150A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformly and closely superpose a photosensitive material and an image receiving material without involving air by providing an electrostatic charging means for causing the photosensitive material and the image receiving material to generate electric fields with which both materials are attracted to each other at the time of superposing them. CONSTITUTION:The photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 supplied to a superposing roller 52 are superposed by the roller 52 and guided to be supplied between a heating drum 40 and an endless press-contacting belt 42 in a state where they are still superposed. In such a case, the image receiving material 48 supplied to the superposing roller 52 is directly electrostatically charged by an electrostatic charger 70. Therefore, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 generate the electric fields with which they are attracted to each other at the time of being superposed. Thus, both materials are attracted to each other without involving the air when they are superposed by the superposing roller 52, thereby uniformly and closely superposing them.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that transfers an image to an image-receiving material by overlapping a photosensitive material to which an image has been exposed and an image-receiving material.

[Prior Art] For example, a heat-developable photosensitive material is used as a photosensitive material, and after an image is exposed to the photothermographic material, it is overlapped with an image-receiving material and heated, whereby the photothermographic material is thermally developed and the image-receiving material is heated. 2. Description of the Related Art Image recording devices are known in which an image is transferred to a material to obtain an image on an image-receiving material.

Some image recording apparatuses of this type include a heating drum and an overlapping roller that presses against the outer periphery of the heating drum. After the image has been exposed, the photothermographic material coated with an image forming solvent such as water is removed by a squeeze roller to remove excess water, and is conveyed to a superimposing roller, where it is superimposed on an image-receiving material. It has become so.

The superimposed photothermographic material and image receiving material are wound around the outer periphery of a heating drum in the superimposed state, and are conveyed while being held by a suppressing means such as an endless pressure belt, and are heated at this time to form a photothermographic material. As the material is thermally developed,
The image is adapted to be transferred to the image receiving material.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional image recording apparatus, the photothermographic material and the image-receiving material were simply conveyed and fed to the overlay roller, so when they were overlaid by the overlay roller, It traps air and does not overlap evenly,
This causes a problem in that image unevenness (so-called white spot unevenness) may occur on the image-receiving material after transfer.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device that can uniformly and closely overlap a photosensitive material and an image-receiving material, thereby forming a uniform and high-quality image. It is.

[Means for Solving the Problems] An image recording device according to the present invention is an image recording device that transfers an image to the image-receiving material by overlaying an image-exposed photosensitive material with an image-receiving material. and charging means for generating an electric field in each of the image-receiving materials that attracts them to each other.

[Function] In the image recording apparatus having the above configuration, the photosensitive material on which the image has been exposed is superimposed on the image receiving material.

In this case, the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material that are superimposed are charged by the charging means, thereby creating an electric field between the two materials that attracts each other to each other. Therefore, the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material are attracted to each other and can be overlapped uniformly and in close contact without entraining air when they are overlapped. Therefore, the image transferred to the image-receiving material after the superimposition is a uniform and high-quality image.

The photosensitive material used in the present invention basically has a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-donating compound, and a reducing agent (the dye-donating compound may also serve as a reducing agent) on a support. Furthermore, organic silver salts and other additives may be contained as necessary.

The above-mentioned photosensitive material may be one that gives a negative image or one that gives a positive image upon exposure.

There are two methods for producing a positive image: a direct positive emulsion as a silver halide emulsion (a method using a nucleating agent, and a method using a light fogging method).
A method using a dye-donating compound that emits a positively diffusible dye image can be adopted.

In the present invention, this diffusible dye is transferred to an image-receiving material having a dye-fixing layer, and this transfer is performed simultaneously with thermal development.

There are various methods for transferring diffusible dyes, such as transferring to the dye fixing layer using an aqueous solvent such as water, transferring to the dye fixing layer using a high boiling point organic solvent, and transferring to the dye fixing layer using a hydrophilic hot solvent. A transfer method and a method of transferring to a dye fixing layer having a dye-receiving polymer by utilizing the thermal diffusivity or sublimation of a diffusible dye have been proposed, and the present invention may be applied to any of these methods.

Listed below are documents specifically describing light-sensitive materials and image-receiving materials that can be used in the present invention. U.S. Patent No. 4.463.0
No. 79, No. 4.474.867, No. 4.478.
No. 927, No. 4.507゜380, No. 4,500
, No. 626, No. 4゜483.914, JP-A-58-
No. 149046, No. 58-149047, No. 59-1
No. 52440, No. 59-154445, No. 59-16
No. 5054, No. 59-180548, No. 59-168
No. 439, No. 59-174832, No. 59-1748
No. 33, No. 59-174834, No. 59-17483
No. 5, No. 62-65038, No. 61-23245,
European Patent Publication No. 210.660A2, European Patent Publication No. 220.746
A2 etc.

Embodiment FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus 10 according to the present invention.

A photosensitive material magazine 14 is arranged on the machine stand 12 of the image recording apparatus 10, and a photosensitive material 16 is wound up into a roll and stored therein. The photosensitive material 16 has a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-donating substance, and a reducing agent on a support.

A cutter 18 is arranged near the photosensitive material magazine 14, and is adapted to cut the photosensitive material 16 pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 into a predetermined length. The cut photosensitive material 16 is conveyed to an exposure section 20.

An exposure device 22 is provided directly above the exposure section 20.

The exposure device 22 includes a light source 14, a plurality of mirrors 26a, 2
6b and the lens unit 28 are arranged, and furthermore, a mounting plate 30 is provided on the upper part of the machine stand 12 above these parts. The light source 14 and the plurality of mirrors 26a are movable along the mounting plate 30, and scan and expose the image of the original 32 placed on the mounting plate 30 onto the photosensitive material 16 located in the exposure section 20. It looks like this.

A reversing roller 34 is arranged on the side of the exposure section 20, and a water application section 36 is further arranged on the side of the reversing roller 34. Photosensitive material 1 with an image exposed in the exposure section 20
6 is reversed and conveyed by a reversing roller 34, and is coated with water as an image forming solvent by a water coating section 36.

A squeeze roller 37 is arranged in the water application section 36, and a heat development transfer section 38 is arranged on the side of the squeeze roller 37, which removes excess water applied to the photosensitive material 16. There is. The thermal development transfer section 38 is composed of a heating drum 40 and an endless pressure belt 42, and a halogen lamp 44 is disposed within the heating drum 40.

The surface of the heating drum 40 is coated with Teflon, and further heated to approximately 90°C by a halogen lamp 44.
is heated to.

Furthermore, the endless pressure welding belt 42 is made of aromatic polyamide fiber (for example, Kevlar or Nomex: both du
It is composed of a heat-resistant material such as Pont Co., Ltd. (registered trademark) coated with carbon-containing silicone rubber.
It has electrical conductivity.

On the other hand, a receiving material magazine 46 is arranged on the machine base 12 on the opposite side of the photosensitive material magazine 14, and an image receiving material 48 is wound up into a roll and stored therein. The image forming surface of the image receiving material 48 is coated with a dye fixing material having a mordant.

A cutter 50 is also arranged near the receiving material magazine 46, and the image receiving material 4 pulled out from the receiving magazine 46 is cutter 50.
8 to a predetermined length. The cut image receiving material 48 is conveyed to the thermal development transfer section 38.

As shown in FIG. 1, a stacking roller 52 as a stacking means is arranged near the heating drum 40 on the upstream side of the endless pressure belt 42 in the material supply direction. The overlapping roller 52 overlaps the transported photosensitive material 16 and image receiving material 48 and presses them against the outer periphery of the heating drum 40, and then transfers them to the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure contact belt 4 in the overlapping state.
It is designed to guide and supply between the two.

In the middle of the conveyance path of the image-receiving material 48 conveyed to the overlapping roller 52, a distributing device 70 serving as a charging means is arranged at a distance of 5 mm from the image-receiving material 48 being conveyed. The charger 70 is composed of five wire electrodes 72, each of which is applied with a voltage of 1 to 10 KV. Therefore, the image-receiving material 48 supplied to the overlapping roller 52 is directly charged by the charger 70, and as a result, an electric field is generated that attracts the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 to each other when they are overlaid. There is.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 which are overlapped by the overlapping roller 52 and supplied between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42 are wound around the heating drum 40 while remaining overlapping and in close contact with each other. heating drum 4
The heating drum 40 is sandwiched and conveyed between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42 over approximately 2/3 of the circumference of the heating drum 40.

At this time, the photosensitive material 16 is heated and thermally developed and releases a mobile dye, and at the same time this dye is transferred to the image receiving material 4.
The image is transferred to the dye fixing layer 8 and an image is obtained on the image receiving material 48.

In this case, since the endless pressure contact belt 42 is electrically conductive, generation of unnecessary static electricity due to friction between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure contact belt 42 or the photosensitive material 16 or the image receiving material 48 is prevented. There is.

A peeling claw 56 is arranged below the heating drum 40 on the downstream side of the endless pressure belt 42 in the material supply direction. Further, a peeling roller 5 is provided between the peeling claw 56 and the endless pressure belt 42.
8 is placed.

The tip of the peeling claw 56 is normally in contact with the heating drum 40, and when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed, it engages with the tip of the photosensitive material 16 and separates the photosensitive material 16 from the image receiving material 48.
Further, the peeling roller 58 presses the photosensitive material 1416 onto the heating drum 40, and the peeling claw 56 wraps the peeled photosensitive material 16 around it and bends it downward. It is supposed to be done.

The separated photosensitive material 16 is sent to a waste photosensitive material storage box 60 provided below the heating drum 40.

On the other hand, a peeling roller 62 and a peeling pawl 64 are arranged above the peeling pawl 56 and near the heating drum 40, and peel the image receiving material 48, which is separated from the photosensitive material 16 and moves together with the heating drum 40, from the outer periphery of the heating drum 40. It looks like this. The image receiving material 48 peeled off from the outer periphery of the heating drum 40 is collected on a tray 66.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the photosensitive material 16 pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 is cut by the cutter 18 and conveyed to the exposure section 20, the exposure device 22 is activated to remove the original 3 placed on the placement plate 30.
2 images are scanned and exposed onto the photosensitive material 16 located in the exposure section 20.

After exposure, the photosensitive material 16 is reversed and conveyed by a reversing roller 34, water is applied as an image forming solvent by a water coating section 36, excess water is removed by a squeeze roller 37, and then the photosensitive material 16 is transferred to a thermal development transfer section. 38.

On the other hand, the image receiving material 48 is also pulled out from the receiving material magazine 46 and cut into a predetermined length by the cutter 50, and then sent to the thermal development transfer section 38, overlapping with the photosensitive material 16.

In the thermal development transfer section 38, a superimposing roller 5 is installed near the heating drum 40 on the upstream side of the endless pressure belt 42 in the material supply direction.
2 is arranged, and the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 are supplied to this overlapping roller 52.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 supplied to the overlapping roller 52 are overlapped by the overlapping roller 52, and guided and supplied between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42 in the overlapping state. .

In this case, the image-receiving material 48 supplied to the overlapping roller 52 is directly charged by the charger 70, so that an electric field is generated that attracts the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 to each other when they are overlaid. Therefore, when the two materials are stacked together by the stacking roller 52, they are not attracted to each other and air is drawn in, and are stacked uniformly and in close contact with each other.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48, which are overlapped by the overlapping roller 52 and supplied between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42, are wound around the heating drum 40 and held between them while remaining overlapping and in close contact with each other. transported. At this time, the photosensitive material 16 is heated to release a mobile dye, and this dye is transferred to the dye fixed layer of the image receiving material 48 to obtain an image.

In this case, the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 are overlapped uniformly and in close contact with each other without entraining air, so that the image transferred to the image-receiving material 48 is an even and high-quality image.

Furthermore, since the endless pressure welding belt 42 has conductivity,
Generation of unnecessary static electricity due to friction between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42 or the photosensitive material 16 or the image receiving material 48 is prevented, and the image obtained on the image receiving material 48 is prevented from fogging.

When the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 are sandwiched and conveyed and reach the lower part of the heating drum 40 , the peeling claw 56 engages with the tip of the photosensitive material 16 and separates the photosensitive material 16 from the image-receiving material 48 . While peeling from the outer periphery, the peeling roller 5
8 presses the photosensitive material 16 onto the heating drum 40, wraps the photosensitive material 16 in a peeled state with the peeling claw 56, and bends and guides it downward.

The separated photosensitive material 16 is sent to a waste photosensitive material storage box 60 provided below the heating drum 40.

On the other hand, the image receiving material 48, which is separated from the photosensitive material 16 and moves together with the heating drum 40, is separated from the photosensitive material 16 by a peeling roller 62 and a peeling claw 64.
The tray 6 is peeled off from the outer periphery of the heating drum 40 by
6.

In this embodiment, the image receiving material 48 supplied to the overlapping roller 52 is directly charged by the charger 70, thereby creating an electric field between the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 that attract each other to each other. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and as shown in FIG.
2, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 are
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which a charge is applied to the . In this case as well, an electric field that attracts each other is generated between the two materials, and the photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 48 are attracted to each other and are superimposed in close contact with each other.

Further, in this embodiment, an image recording apparatus 10 has been described which includes a heating drum and obtains an image by wrapping the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 around the outer periphery of the heating drum, but the present invention is not limited to this. The photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 48 are provided with a plurality of pairs of rollers that are in pressure contact with each other.
It can also be applied to an image recording device that obtains an image by pinching and conveying the image.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the image recording device according to the present invention can uniformly and closely overlap the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material, thereby forming a high-quality image without unevenness. It has excellent effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view showing the configuration of a superimposing roller and a charger according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing the configuration of an overlapping roller and a charge applying device according to an example. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Image recording device, 16... Photosensitive material, 38... Thermal development transfer section, 40... Heating drum, 42... Endless pressure contact belt, 48... Image receiving material, 52... Overlapping rollers, 54... Charge applying device, 70... Charger, 72... Wire electrode.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an image recording device that transfers the image to the image-receiving material by overlaying the photosensitive material on which the image has been exposed with the image-receiving material,
An image recording apparatus comprising charging means for generating an electric field in each of the materials so that the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material attract each other at least when superimposed.