JPH03235935A - Image recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability by providing a rotatable transparent guide plate between a 1st and a 2nd conveyance paths. CONSTITUTION:When a photosensitive recording body 50 is loaded newly, a user rotates a lever 37 to slant a glass plate 34. At this time, the right end of the glass plate 34 is positioned at the height of a roller couple 33a. The tip of the photosensitive body 50 is inserted to a driving roller and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is drawn out of a cartridge in order by the driving roller and conveyed on the glass plate 34. Then the photosensitive recording medium 50 slips on the glass plate 34 and is inserted into between the roller couple 33a and taken-up around a take-up roller after passing through a buffer, a separation roller, a pressure developing device, and the driving roller. Thus, the long-sized photosensitive recording medium which is wound around the take-up roller can be loaded automatically with the simple constitution.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that records an image using a mask original.

[Prior Art] The present applicant has previously proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-97958 a color image recording device in which a monochrome laser printer is coupled to the upper portion.

This color image recording apparatus is configured to form a color image using a mask original created by the monochrome laser printer.

In the color image recording device, the mask original brought in from the monochrome laser printer is conveyed to the alignment device, and the photosensitive recording medium is held tightly against the belt of the alignment device while sandwiching the mask original. In this state, the exposure device is operated to transfer the image of the mask original onto the photosensitive recording medium. Then, by performing this operation for each color mask original using red, green, and blue filters, a latent image is formed on the photosensitive recording medium. Thereafter, the photosensitive recording medium is conveyed to the pressure developing device, which heats the color developer sheet and the photosensitive recording medium in a superimposed state to form a color image on the color developer sheet. We are trying to form a

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in an image recording apparatus having such a configuration, when loading a long photosensitive recording medium wound around a take-up roller into the image recording apparatus, an alignment device and an alignment device are required. However, it was difficult to automatically load the part that was held in the exposure table, and it was necessary to pull out the lower part from the exposure table and load that part by the user. This resulted in extremely poor operability for the user.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to enable automatic loading of a long photosensitive recording medium wound around a take-up roller with an extremely simple configuration. It is said that

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the image recording device of the present invention includes a mask original created based on image information, a long photosensitive recording medium wound around a take-up roller, and In an image recording apparatus that performs transmission exposure by closely contacting a photosensitive recording medium on a transparent guide plate to obtain an image, a first conveyance path for conveying the photosensitive recording medium and a portion shared with the first conveyance path near the transparent guide plate. a second transport path having a space and for transporting the mask original; and a second transport path having an entrance side of the shared space as a fulcrum and an exit side of the shared space between the first transport path and the second transport path. a rotatable transparent guide plate, and when inserting a photosensitive recording medium, the exposure table is rotated to the position of the first transport path;
A long photosensitive recording medium wound around a take-up roller is inserted into the first conveyance path through the shared space, and at the time of exposure, the transparent guide plate is rotated to the position of the second conveyance path, and the mask The original is discharged through the second conveyance path.

[Function] The present invention having the above configuration rotates the transparent guide plate to the position of the first conveyance path when inserting the long photosensitive recording medium wound around the take-up roller, and A wound long photosensitive recording medium is inserted into the first conveyance path through a shared space, and during exposure, the transparent guide plate is rotated to the position of the second conveyance path, and the mask original is passed through the second conveyance path. It is being discharged.

[Example 1] Hereinafter, an example embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a monochrome laser printer and a color image recording device 20 combined and arranged.

First, the monochrome laser printer is mounted on top of the color image recording device 20. Inside the monochrome laser printer, a polygon scanner 2 is placed on a charged photoreceptor 3.
An electrostatic latent image is drawn by irradiation with laser light. The photoreceptor 3 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is developed in a developing device 4, and is then developed on plain paper or O2 supplied from a paper feed cassette 5.
The toner image is transferred onto the HP sheet and fixed by a fixing device 6. Monochrome laser printers typically record data transmitted from a host computer.

The output from the monochrome laser printer is fed to the paper path switching unit 10 if a black and white image is required, to a monochrome output tray 11 or to an automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as ADF) tray 12, and if a color image is required In this case, the image is sent to the ADF tray 12 and then taken into the color image recording device 20.

The sheets sent to the ADF tray 12 are taken one by one into the color image recording device 20 by the ADF paper feed roller 3, and a set of three sheets of monochrome printed paper output from the monochrome laser printer 1 is formed. The mask original plate 15 (15R, 15G) of the color image recording device 20
, 15B).

Next, the configuration of the color image recording device 20 will be explained.

An alignment device 31 is located at the bottom of the main body of the color image recording device 20.
The space between them is connected by a mask original transport path 21. On both the left and right sides of the alignment device 31 are roller pairs 22 whose rotational direction can be controlled. 23. 24, 25, 26, 27, gates 28, 29, and mask original storage section 102 are arranged. A pair of glue curler rollers 101 is arranged in the middle of the mask original transport path 21 to remove curls from the mask original 15 discharged from the laser printer 1.

The used mask original plate 1 is placed on the outside of the roller pair 26 and 27.
There is a mask original discharge tray 30 for discharging the mask original plate 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the alignment device 31 includes an alignment frame 35 provided on both sides, a pair of rollers 34 provided near the device entrance for carrying the mask original 15 into the alignment device 31, and a mask. A pair of rollers 33 provided near the exit of the apparatus for carrying out the original 15, a glass plate 34 that can rotate between the position indicated by the solid line and the position indicated by the broken line with the shaft 36 as a fulcrum, and the glass plate 34 rotated. Lever 3 for moving
7. This glass plate 34 normally remains in a horizontal state, and the right end of the glass plate 34 is located at the roller pair 33 near the exit of the apparatus. When lifted upward by the lever 37, the right end of the glass plate 34 rises to the height of the roller pair 33a using the shaft 36 as a fulcrum, allowing the glass plate 34 to tilt.

An exposure device 41 is arranged below the alignment device 31, and the exposure device 41 is movable in the left-right direction along the alignment device 31.

The exposure device 41 includes a linear white light source (hereinafter referred to as a lamp) 42, a reflector 43 that reflects light from the lamp 42, and a filter unit 44 that includes a red filter 44R, a green filter 44G, and a blue filter 44B. ing.

The photosensitive recording medium 50 is, for example, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-14304.
The main material is a photocurable resin using a photopolymerization initiator known in Publication No. 4, and includes a photocurable resin that cures with light of each wavelength of red, green, and blue, and cyan, magenta, Microcapsules containing yellow dye precursors are coated on a base sheet. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is wound around a take-up roller 54a within the cartridge 51, and is housed so as not to be exposed to light. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is transferred from inside the cartridge 51 through the driving roller 33b, between the glass plate 34 and the exposure table 52, through the roller pair 33a1 buffer 55, the separating roller 64, the pressure developing device 70 and the driving roller 57, and then wound. It is routed up to the take-up roller 54. The exposure table 52 is lowered by a cam 53 and is configured to bring the mask original 15 conveyed onto the glass plate 34 and the photosensitive recording medium 50 into close contact. The fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52 when the exposure table 52 is lowered to a predetermined position, and is arranged so as to fix the photosensitive recording medium 50 to the exposure table 52 during exposure of the mask original 15. has been done.

The developer sheet 60 is constructed by coating a base paper with a developer described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-88739, and is placed in the cassette 61 so that the developer-coated surface faces downward. It is set.

At the top of the cassette 61, a suction cup 62 for feeding the developer sheets 60 one by one is arranged.

The pressure developing device 70 is composed of a photosensitive recording medium 50 on which a latent image has been formed by exposure, and a pair of pressure rollers 71 for overlapping a color developer sheet 6o and developing the image under pressure.

The heat fixing device 80 is constructed between a casing 83 containing a heater 81 and an impeller 82 in the upper part, rubber rollers 84, 85, 86 for conveying the color developer sheet 60 in the lower part, and rollers 87 and 88. A paper ejection tray 63 is attached to the outside of the heat fixing device 80.

In the apparatus configured as described above, the operation when obtaining a plurality of color images from one set of mask originals will be described next.

First, a red mask original plate 15R is created by the monochrome laser printer 1. This mask original plate 15R is a mask original plate in which toner, which is a light-shielding image, is placed on other parts of the O microcapsules coated on the photosensitive recording medium 5o in order to harden the microcapsules containing a cyan dye precursor. It is. At this time, the mask original 15R outputted from the monochrome laser printer 1 is sent to the ADF tray 12 and fed into the color image recording device 20 by the ADF paper feed roller 13.

Mask original plate 15 fed into color image recording device 20
R passes through the mask original transport path 21 and passes through the roller pair 24°22.
It is sent to the alignment device 31 by.

On the way, the curl of the mask master plate 15R is corrected by the curler roller 101. At this time, the gate 28 is at the position indicated by the solid line.

Next, the alignment device 31 transports the mask original 15R to an appropriate exposure position by the roller pair 32, and then uses a drive source (not shown) to move the mask original 15R while reading the alignment mark printed on the mask original 15R with a sensor.
Move R to a predetermined position.

Immediately before alignment, the exposure table 52 is lowered by the cam 53 to a predetermined position 1 , and the fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52 to fix the photosensitive recording medium 50 to the exposure table 52 . After the alignment is completed, the exposure table 52
3, the mask original plate 15R and the photosensitive recording medium 5 are further lowered to contact the glass plate 34 of the alignment device 31.
0 in close contact.

When the exposure table 52 comes into close contact with the alignment device 31, the lamp 42
is turned on, and the exposure device 41 performs scanning exposure in the direction of arrow A in order to expose the photosensitive recording medium 50 with red light via the red filter 44R and the mask original 15R. When the exposure is completed, the lamp 42 is turned off and the exposure device 4 is turned off.
1 moves back in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the filter unit 44 of the exposure device 41 is moved by a drive source (not shown), and the green filter 44G is positioned above the lamp 42.

While the exposure device 41 moves backward, the exposure table 52 is raised by the rotation of the cam 53, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is separated from the alignment device 31 and the mask original 15R. At this time, pack tension is applied to the photosensitive recording medium 50 at the center of roll rotation of the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the cartridge 51, and the exposure stage 5
When the exposure table 52 is lowered, a length corresponding to the amount of descent of the exposure table 52 is pulled out from the storage cartridge 51, and when the exposure table 52 is raised after exposure, a length corresponding to the amount of descent of the photosensitive recording medium 50 is pulled out. It's about to be rewound.

Even after the exposure of the red mask master plate 15R is completed, the exposure table 52 only rises to a predetermined position, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is moved to the exposure table 52 by a fixed roller 56 pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52. remains fixed.

Next, the green mask original 15G created by the monochrome laser printer 1 is placed in the ADF tray 12,
When the sheet passes through the F paper feed roller 13, recurler roller 101, and mask original transport path 21, and reaches just before the roller pair 24,
Laura vs. 22. 2425.27, the roller pair 3233 of the alignment device 31 is rotated in the direction of conveying the mask original 15R to the right, and at the same time the mask original 15R is sent out from the alignment device 3 position 31, the mask original 15G is conveyed to the exposure position. and stop it. At this time, the gates 28 and 29 are located at the positions indicated by solid lines, the exposed mask original 15R is held between the pair of rollers 27, and with the rear end passing through the gate 29, the rotation of the pair of rollers 27 is stopped. It is maintained by this.

The mask original 15G guided to the alignment device 31 is a mask original], and as in the case of 5R, after alignment is performed with respect to the photosensitive recording medium 50, by lowering the exposure table 52, the photosensitive recording medium It is brought into close contact with 50. Thereafter, the lamp 42 is turned on and exposure to green light is performed via the green filter 44G. After the exposure is completed, the exposure table 52 is raised to a predetermined position. Exposure device 41
is moved back to the original position, and the filter unit 44 is moved so that the blue filter 44B is located above the lamp 42.

Next, the blue mask original plate 15B created by the monochrome laser printer 1 is similarly fed to the color 4-image recording device 20, and is conveyed just before the roller pair 24, 22°. 25, 26 and the pair of rollers 32 and 33 of the alignment device 31 are rotated in the direction of conveying the mask original 15G to the right, sending out the mask original 15G from the alignment device 31 and conveying the mask original 15B to the exposure position. and stop it. At this time, the gate 28 is located at the position shown by the solid line, the gate 29 is located at the position shown by the broken line, and the exposed mask original 15G is placed at the position shown by the roller pair 26.
It is held by stopping the rotation of the pair of rollers 27 with its rear end passing through the gate 29.

The mask original 15B guided by the alignment device 31 is brought into close contact with the photosensitive recording medium 50 by a similar operation. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is exposed to blue light through the mask original 15B.

Through the above operations, a latent image of a desired color image is recorded on the photosensitive recording medium 50.

Next, the exposure table 52 is raised to the initial position, the fixed roller 56 and the left end of the exposure table 52 are separated 5, and the buffer 55 is moved in the direction of the arrow E, thereby removing the unexposed portion of the photosensitive recording medium 50. The location is exposure table 5
2 is pulled out from inside the cartridge 51.

The drive roller 57 transports the photosensitive recording medium 50 and stops the photosensitive recording medium 50 when the leading edge of the latent image reaches the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 .

In synchronization with the movement of the photosensitive recording medium 50, the developer sheet 60 is fed out from the cassette 61 by a suction cup 62 until the tip of the developer sheet 60 corresponds to the tip of the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50. It stops after being transported.

Next, the pressure developing device 70 is driven by a drive device (not shown).
The pressure roller 71 is pressed while being rotated in the direction of the arrow. At this time, by lowering the exposure table 52 to a predetermined position again, the fixed roller 56 is pressed against the left end of the exposure table 52, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is fixed to the exposure table 52. The photosensitive recording medium 50 is overlapped with the color developer sheet 60 and fed while being pressurized.
The upper uncured microcapsules 6 are destroyed by pressure, and a color image corresponding to the latent image on the photosensitive recording medium 50 is developed on the color developer sheet 60.

By rotating the pressure roller 71 of the pressure developing device 70 in the direction of the arrow, the buffer 55 is moved in the direction of the arrow F. The color developer sheet 60 is peeled off from the photosensitive recording medium 50 by a separation roller 64 and guided toward a heat fixing device 80 .

In the heat fixing device 80, the color developer sheet 60 is connected to the heater 8.
1 and heated by the air circulating in the casing 83 by the impeller 82, thereby promoting color development of the color image. At the same time, the binder polymer (binder resin) for fixing the color developing medium to the base paper of the color developer sheet 60 is thermally melted, and the surface becomes smooth and the surface of the color developer sheet 60 has a moderate gloss. can get. The color developer sheet 60 that has been subjected to the color development and gloss treatment is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 63. During the above-described series of development and color development and gloss treatment, the color developer sheet 60 is transferred to the photosensitive recording medium 50.
is clamped and fixed between the exposure table 52 and the fixed roller 56, so that while the development process for one screen is being performed, the exposure process for the latent image of the next color image can be performed at the exposure location.

The operation when loading the photosensitive recording medium 50 in the color image recording apparatus 20 as described above will be explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 3(a) shows the state before the photosensitive recording medium 50 is loaded, and FIG. 3(b) shows the state when the photosensitive recording medium 50 is loaded. When loading a new photosensitive recording medium 50,
The user rotates the lever 37 in the direction of the arrow to tilt the glass plate 34.

At this time, the right end of the glass plate 34 is located at the height of the roller pair 33a.

The leading end of the photosensitive recording medium 50 is inserted into the drive roller 33b in advance, and the photosensitive recording medium 50 is inserted into the drive roller 53b.
b, the cartridges are sequentially pulled out from the cartridge 51 and conveyed onto the glass plate 34.

Next, the photosensitive recording medium 50 slides on the glass plate 34 in the direction of arrow G, is inserted into the roller pair 33a, and is inserted into the buffer 55,
Separation roller 64, pressure developing device g! , 708 and the drive roller 57, and then wound onto the winding roller 54.

Next, after loading the photosensitive recording medium 50, the user rotates the lever 37 in the opposite direction of the arrow to remove the glass plate 30.
return to its original position. At this time, the right end of the glass plate 34 is located at the height of the roller pair 33.

Therefore, during exposure, the mask original 15 is conveyed by the pair of rollers 32, exposed on the glass plate 34, and discharged from the pair of rollers 33 after the exposure is completed.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically load a long photosensitive recording medium wound around a roller with an extremely simple configuration, and the operability is improved. It is possible to provide an extremely good image recording device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 show embodiments embodying the present invention. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall structure of the image recording device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the alignment device, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing before and during loading of a photosensitive recording medium. In the figure, 15 is a mask original, 20 is an image recording device, 32.
33, 33a are roller pairs, 34 is a glass plate, and 50 is a photosensitive recording medium.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image in which a mask original created based on image information and a long photosensitive recording medium wound around a take-up roller are brought into close contact with each other through a transparent guide plate, and transmitted exposure is performed to obtain an image. In the recording apparatus, a first conveyance path for conveying the photosensitive recording medium, and a second conveyance path having a common space with the first conveyance path near the transparent guide plate and for conveying the mask original. and a transparent guide plate that is rotatable between a first conveyance path and a second conveyance path on the exit side of the shared space, with the entrance side of the shared space as a fulcrum, and when the photosensitive recording medium is inserted, The transparent guide position is rotated to the position of the first conveyance path, and the elongated photosensitive recording medium wound around the take-up roller is inserted into the first conveyance path through the shared space. An image recording apparatus characterized in that a guide plate is rotated to a position of a second conveyance path, and the mask original is discharged through the second conveyance path.