JPH0345229Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to 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 the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. .

[Conventional technology]

As shown in JP-A-59-75247, an image recording device that obtains a color image using a heat-developable photosensitive material exposes an image to the heat-developable photosensitive material in an exposure section and then sends it to a heat developing section. It is known that an image receiving paper is closely attached to a photosensitive material, and an image is transferred to the image receiving paper through a transfer process.

Before this image receiving paper is sent to the transfer section, an image forming solvent such as water is applied in advance to improve transfer efficiency.

For this reason, in the apparatus disclosed in JP-A-59-75247, water is applied using a roller impregnated with water, but the water application tends to be uneven, which causes uneven transfer.

Also, a device has been proposed in which the image receiving paper is passed through a water tank and coated with water before being sent to the transfer section.
When the image-receiving paper is passed through a water tank, water is also applied to the back side of the image-receiving paper, which may cause the image-receiving paper to curl or increase the amount of heat required during thermal transfer. Furthermore, at this position, water is applied to the entire area of the image receiving paper, so when it is in close contact with the photosensitive material during transfer, excess water spills out along with the emulsion in the image area, causing stains on the transport roller, developing roller, etc. becomes.

[Purpose of invention]

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention has been developed to provide an image recording system that can appropriately control the amount of the image forming solvent applied and that can apply the image forming solvent only to the necessary portions of the photothermographic material or image receiving material. The purpose is to obtain equipment.

[Summary and operation of the device]

The image recording apparatus according to the present invention is an image recording apparatus that forms 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, and The method includes a coating roller that contacts a photosensitive material or an image-receiving material, and a water-absorbing coating body that is arranged so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the coating roller, and apply an image forming solvent by bringing the coating body into contact with the coating roller. The image-forming solvent is applied to a roller, and the image-forming solvent is applied by bringing the coating roller into contact with a photothermographic material or an image-receiving material.

For this reason, in the present invention, the image forming solvent is first applied to the coating roller via the coating body, and then applied to the photosensitive material or image receiving material via this coating roller. There is no uneven coating, and the image forming solvent can be applied uniformly. Furthermore, the application area of the image-forming solvent applied to the heat-developable photosensitive material or image-receiving material can be easily adjusted by controlling the dimensions of the applicator and the movement of the applicator toward and away from the applicator roller. The imaging solvent can be applied only to the required portions of the material or image-receiving material.

The image recording apparatus of the present invention also includes a heat developing section that heat-develops the exposed heat-developable photosensitive material, and a transfer section that heats the heat-developed photosensitive material and image-receiving material by overlapping them and transferring the image to the photosensitive material. The heat development section and the transfer section may be provided separately, or the heat development section and the transfer section may be provided at the same place, that is, the exposed photothermographic material and the image receiving material may be overlapped and heated. However, it may be provided with a thermal development/transfer section that performs thermal development and thermal transfer at the same time.

In the present invention, the coated body may be any material as long as it is capable of retaining even a small amount of an image forming solvent such as water and is made of a water-absorbing material, for example,
Porous materials such as sponges and foams, felts,
A brush or the like can be used.

In addition, in the present invention, the image forming solvent is
Solvents required for image formation, such as:
Water, low-boiling organic solvents (alcohols, kettles, amides, etc.) or these solvents with surfactants,
These include those containing various additives such as development accelerators and development stoppers.

[Example of idea]

The image recording apparatus of the present invention will be described below, taking as an example a case where thermal development and thermal transfer are performed simultaneously.

FIG. 1 shows an image recording apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this image recording apparatus 10, a magazine 14 is mounted on a machine stand 12 and absorbs a photothermographic material 16. This photosensitive material 16 is pulled out from the magazine 14, cut to a required length by a cutter 18, wound around the outer periphery of an exposure drum 20 installed in the machine base 12, exposed by an exposure head 22, and then cut by a scraper 24. It is configured to be peeled off and sent to the overlapping section 26.

Further, the image receiving paper 32 stored in layers in the cassette 30 is supplied via the water application section 34, superimposed on the photosensitive material 16 in the overlapping section 26, and sent to the thermal development/transfer section 28. There is. A stripping section 36 is provided downstream of the thermal development/transfer section 28 , the photosensitive material 16 is sent to a stacking device 38 downstream of the stripping section 36 , and the image-receiving paper 32 is transferred to a take-out section 40 .
It is now being sent to

The image-receiving paper 32 received in the cassette 30 receives a driving force from a conveyance roller 42 which is pivotally supported on the machine base 12, and is sent from the lowest layer to the water coating section 34.

The water application section 34 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4.

A pair of conveyance rollers 44 and 46 which sandwich the image receiving paper 32 being conveyed are installed in the water application section 34 and the cassette 30 is connected to the water application section 34 .
These transport rollers 44,
A pair of transport rollers 48 and 50 are arranged downstream of the image receiving paper 32 so as to nip and transport the image receiving paper 32.
These rollers are configured to receive the driving force of a motor (not shown) and send out the image receiving paper 32 to the overlapping section 26. Further, a guide plate 51 is provided between these transport rollers, corresponding to the back surface (the side opposite to the emulsion) of the image receiving paper 32 being transported.

As shown in FIG. 4, conveyance rollers 44, 48
In between, a bracket 52 is stretched over the image transfer surface, ie, the emulsion surface, of the image receiving paper 32 being conveyed. A pair of bearings 5 are mounted on this bracket 52.
A rotating shaft 58 is pivotally supported by 4 and 56.
A rotating arm 60 is fixed to this rotating shaft 58. The rotating arm 60 is formed of a plate material, has both ends bent at right angles, extends parallel to each other, and is fixed to the rotating shaft 58 at the extended portions.

The end of the rotating shaft 58 protruding from the bearing 56 is connected to a motor 64 via a joint 62, and receives the rotational force of the motor 64 to move the rotating arm 60 between the state shown in FIG. 2 and the state shown in FIG. It is possible to rotate between the two.

A clip 68 whose one end is fixed to the side wall of the tank 66 is fitted into the center of the rotating arm 60.
This allows the tank 66 to be attached to the rotating arm 60. A handle 70 is provided at the top of the tank 66, and when an operator grasps the handle 70 and lifts it upward from the state shown in FIG. It's summery. For this reason, clip 68 is preferably made of leaf spring material.

As shown in FIG. 2, water 72, which is an image forming solvent, is injected into the tank 66, and the water is applied to the surface of the image receiving paper 32 through a porous felt 74. That is, one end of the felt 74 is inserted into the tank 66, and the distal end protruding from the tank 66, that is, the application part contacts the image receiving paper 32, so that in the state shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. This is the application position where the impregnated water can be applied to the area. Furthermore, in the state shown in FIG. 3, the felt 74 is separated from the image-receiving paper 32, so no water application is performed, and this is the retracted position, and the felt 74 is separated from the water 72 in the tank 66. .

Note that in order to accurately stop the tank 66 at the application position shown in FIG. 2 and at the retracted position shown in FIG. Bye.

The application roller 75 is pivotally supported on the machine base 12,
The surface opposite the felt 74 is in contact with the receiver paper 32. An application roller 7 is placed on the back side of the image receiving paper 32.
A back-up roller 75A is provided to maintain the contact pressure between the image receiving paper 32 and the image receiving paper 32. This application roller 75 is driven by a motor 76 and has the role of feeding out the image receiving paper 32 and applying the water applied by the felt 74 to the image receiving paper 32.

The shaded area shown in FIG. 4 shows the application water 77 applied by the felt 74. The width W of the coating water 77 can be arbitrarily adjusted by adjusting the width of the felt 74. In addition to this, the felt 74 is applied to the image-receiving paper 3 through a plate-like mask that covers parts of the image-receiving paper 32 that do not require water application.
It may be made to abut against the surface of 2. The conveying roller 4 is
8 has a small-diameter portion 48A in the middle, and is configured to sandwich only the widthwise ends of the image-receiving paper 32.

A guide rod 78 whose axis is vertical at the water application position shown in FIG. 2 is installed in the tank 66, along which the float 80 can move. A magnet 82 is attached to a part of the float 80, so that the float 80 and the float 80 follow changes in the liquid level of the water 72 in the tank 66.

Rotating arm 60 corresponds to this magnet 82.
A magnetic sensor 88 is fixed to the magnetic sensor 88 via a mounting plate 86.
When the magnet 82 reaches a predetermined height at the water application position shown in FIG. 2, it is detected, and an alarm device (not shown) or the like is used to notify that the amount of water 72 in the tank 66 is insufficient. In this case, the operator can supply the required amount of water into the tank 66 or replace the tank 66 with another tank 66.

Note that various sensors can be used to detect the amount of liquid in the tank 66, and the tank 66 may be made transparent so that the liquid level can be visually observed from the outside.

As shown in FIG. 1, a reversing section 90 is provided downstream of the water application section 34 for making the image surface of the photosensitive material 16 correspond to the emulsion surface of the image receiving paper 32 coated with water. In this reversing section 90, the water application section 34
The image receiving paper 32 sent from the guide rollers 92, 9
4, extrude it from the tip onto the tray 96. In this case, the guide roller 92 is separated from the guide roller 94 and rotated in the same direction as the guide roller 94. After extrusion, the guide roller 92 is brought into contact with the guide roller 94, and the tail of the image receiving paper 32 is sandwiched between them, and conversely, the paper is fed from the tail to the stacking section 26, so that the water-applied surface corresponds to the image surface. There is.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Photothermographic material 1 taken out from magazine 14
6 is wound around the exposure drum 20, exposed by the exposure head 22, and then sent to the overlapping section 26.

On the other hand, the lowest layer of the image receiving paper 32 accommodated in the cassette 30 is transferred to the water application section 3 by the conveyance roller 42.
Sent to 4.

In the water application section 34, a motor 76 rotates in synchronization with the conveyance of the image receiving paper 32, and the image receiving paper 32 is transferred to the coating roller 75.
and the back up roller 75A.

When water application is required, motor 64 rotates to place tank 66 in the application position as shown in FIG. In this application position, the felt 74 is attached to the tank 6.
The water 72 in 6 is applied to the surface of the application roller 75. Therefore, when the application roller 75 rotates halfway, the applied water is transferred to the image receiving paper 32. When this water is applied from the felt 74 to the application roller 75, even if there is uneven application such as streaks in the rotational direction of the application roller 75, when the water is applied to the image receiving paper 32, it is pressed by the application roller 75. Therefore, uniform coating water 77 can be obtained.

When the required amount of water has been applied as the image-receiving paper 32 advances, the motor 64 may be reversed again to rotate the tank 66 to the retracted position shown in FIG. 3. As a result, when the final portion of the water applied to the application roller 75 is transferred to the image receiving paper 32, the application of water to the image receiving paper 32 is completed.

The water applied to the applicator roller 75 and transferred by rotation is transferred to the image receiving paper 32 after the applicator roller 75 rotates half a rotation from the state where it was applied to the applicator roller 75. Although a delay occurs between the operation and the application operation to the image-receiving paper 32, by calculating this delay amount in advance, the application length L can be applied only to the required amount of the image-receiving paper 32.
The application water 77 can be applied.

Moreover, since the width dimension W of the coating water 77 is controlled by the width dimension of the felt 74, the coating water 77 can be applied only to the image transfer portion. Since the coated water 77 passes through the small diameter portion 48A of the conveyance roller 48, the coated water 77 is not adversely affected by the conveyance roller 48.

The image receiving paper 32 coated with water in the water coating section 34 is reversed in the reversing section 90 and sent to the overlapping section 26 where it is overlaid on the image surface of the photosensitive material 16, and then transferred to the thermal development/transfer section 28. sent to. Here, heat development is carried out in the presence of water, and at the same time the formed dye image is heat-transferred to the emulsion surface of the image-receiving paper 32. In this transfer state, the necessary amount of water has already been appropriately applied to the image receiving paper 32, so that an extremely good transfer operation can be performed.

After the transfer, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 that remain in close contact are transferred from the thermal development/transfer section 28 to the peeling section 36.
The photosensitive material 16 is stored in a stacking device 38, and the image receiving paper 32 is sent to a take-out section 40 and taken out.

In the above embodiment, the present invention describes a case in which water is applied to the image-receiving paper 32, but the photosensitive material 16
It can be similarly applied to the case where water is applied to the skin.
Further, in the above embodiment, when the felt 74 is moved from the application position to the retracted position, the tank 66 is moved while being rotated by the arm 60. It is also possible to have a configuration in which the Alternatively, only the felt 74 may be movable relative to the tank 66 so as to be separated from the application roller 75.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, the image recording apparatus according to the present invention is an image recording apparatus that forms an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a photothermographic material to the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. a coating roller that contacts a heat-developable photosensitive material or an image-receiving material, and a water-absorbing coating body that is disposed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the coating roller, and form an image by bringing the coating body into contact with the coating roller. The image-forming solvent is applied to the coating roller, and the coating roller is brought into contact with the heat-developable photosensitive material or the image-receiving material to apply the image-forming solvent, so the amount of the image-forming solvent applied can be appropriately controlled. , and has the excellent effect of uniformly applying the image forming solvent only to the necessary areas.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the image recording device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged view showing the application position of the water application section, Fig. 3 is an operation diagram showing the retracted position, and Fig. 4 is a It is a perspective view of the application position of an application part. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Image recording device, 16... Photothermographic material, 32... Receiving paper, 34... Water application part, 60...
...Rotating arm, 66...Tank, 72...Water, 7
4...Felt, 75...Applying roller, 77...
Application water.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An image recording device that forms 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,
A coating roller that contacts a heat-developable photosensitive material or an image-receiving material, and a water-absorbing coating body disposed so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the coating roller, and by bringing the coating body into contact with the coating roller, an image forming solvent can be applied. An image recording apparatus characterized in that an image forming solvent is applied to a coating roller, and the coating roller is brought into contact with a heat-developable photosensitive material or an image-receiving material to coat an image forming solvent.