JPH04361Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Field of industrial application) This invention is an automatic exposure machine that sucks and holds the original film drawn into the exposure section, overlaps the original film on the top surface of the plate material and exposes it, and then the exposure ends. The present invention relates to a device for lifting a printed original film from the upper surface of a printing plate.

(Prior Art) The present applicant previously proposed an automatic exposure device for obtaining printing plates for offset printing, letterpress printing, etc. by photolithography in Japanese Patent Application No. 175,675/1983.

Such an automatic exposure device is equipped with a cassette containing a plurality of original films near the exposure section, and in addition to a light source and a vacuum surface plate for suctioning and placing the printing plate, the exposure section also has a device for loading and unloading the original films. and an original film suction lifting device, the original film loading/unloading device pulls a predetermined original film from a standby cassette into the exposure section, and the drawn original film is held by a suction vacuum pad of the suction lifting device; By lowering the suction device, the original film is placed on the photosensitive layer on the upper surface of the plate placed on the vacuum surface plate, and a squeegee roller presses the original onto the upper surface of the plate to bring it into close contact.In this state, exposure is performed from above. The photosensitive layer on the top surface of the plate is selectively exposed to light corresponding to the image area of the original film, and in the case of a negative type photosensitive layer, the exposed areas are cured, and after the exposure is completed, For example, the suction elevating device is raised to separate the document film from the upper surface of the plate material, and the document film is returned to its original cassette by the loading/unloading device.

(Problem to be solved by the invention) In the exposure process described above, in order to press the original film onto the top surface of the printing plate using the squeegee roller, only one side of the original film is initially lowered and placed on the top surface of the printing plate, and then the squeegee roller As the other side is scanned, the other side is gradually lowered so that it overlaps the top surface of the plate material.
In this way, when the squeegee roller makes a close contact, the contact does not occur with air intervening, and it is possible to prevent blurring.

By the way, in order to initially lower only one side of the original film and then gradually lower the other side, for example, as a suction lifting device, a total of four vertical shafts, one pair on the front side and one pair on the rear side, are installed, each with a vacuum pad on the upper end that can be raised and lowered. In this case, the front vertical shaft is lowered and the rear vertical shaft is maintained at an elevated position. As a result, the original film becomes oblique, and the distance between the front and rear vacuum pads increases, causing the original film to be stretched. As a result, there is a risk that the original film may come off from the vacuum pad.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a plurality of vertical shafts that can be raised and lowered around the vacuum surface plate of the exposure section, and at the top of these vertical shafts. The provided vacuum pad is made of a flexible material such as rubber, and even when the document film is pulled by lowering one vertical shaft, the vacuum pad deforms in response to the tension, and the vacuum pad The original film was prevented from coming off.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic exposure apparatus to which a suction lifting device according to the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the automatic exposure apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the automatic exposure apparatus.

The automatic exposure apparatus 1 is provided with a holder 3 that is open in the front-rear direction (perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1) on a support plate 2a attached to a frame 2. A vacuum surface plate 6 is provided on the support plate 2a in the holder 3, and a light source 7 for exposure is provided above it.
has been set up.

The vacuum surface plate 6 has a groove connected to a vacuum pump or the like on its upper surface, and the plate material carried onto the vacuum surface plate 6 via the conveyance roller 8 is positioned and fixed by suction through the groove. Further, the light source 7 can be stopped at a predetermined height position by fitting an arm 10 onto a guide rod 9 fixed inside the case 3 and connecting the arm 10 to a weight 11.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a cassette 12 is attached to the front of the exposure section for holding a large number of original films vertically shifted, and a cassette 12 is attached to the front of the exposure section (second
Support plates 13, 13 are provided at the lower part in the figure) and the rear part (upper part in Fig. 2), and a guide rod 1 extends in the front-rear direction between these support plates 13, 13.
4, 14, and these guide rods 14, 14.
A movable plate 15 is slidably attached to. A through hole with a female thread is formed in the moving plate 15, and a bar screw 16 parallel to the guide rod 14 is inserted into the through hole.
Screw them together. By rotating this rod screw 16 with a motor 17, the movable plate 15 is moved in the front and back direction along the guide rods 14, 14.

Further, the movable plate 15 is provided with a chucking device 18 and a retractable piece 19. The chucking device 18 grips the hanger portion of the holder that holds the upper end of the original film set in the cassette 12. At the position where the moving plate 15 moves forward, the chucking device 18 grips the hanger portion of the original film. By moving the gripping and moving plate 15 backward,
The original film is drawn into the exposure section. The protruding/retracting piece 19 is for keeping the holder that holds the upper end of the original film in a horizontal state when the original film is pulled in.

On the other hand, on the support plate 2a is a cylinder unit 20 that constitutes a part of the suction lifting device according to the present invention.
...is being established. A total of four cylinder units 20 are arranged, one pair each on the left and right sides of the front part and the left and right sides of the rear part of the vacuum surface plate 6, and the rods 21 of each cylinder unit 20 move forward and backward in the vertical direction as shown in FIG. A vertical shaft 22 extending in the vertical direction is fixed to the upper end of each rod 21.
A vacuum pad 23 connected to a vacuum device is provided at the upper end of the vacuum pump 2. The vacuum pad 23 is made of a flexible material such as rubber, and when some force is applied to the vacuum pad 23, it deforms in response to the force, and returns to its original shape when the force is no longer applied.

Furthermore, a squeegee roller 24 is disposed near the rear of the vacuum surface plate 6. This squeegee roller 24
The outer periphery is made of raw rubber or the like, and it rolls forward while being in pressure contact with the upper surface of the vacuum surface plate 6, and also rolls from the front to the rear and returns.

The operation of the automatic exposure apparatus 1 constructed as described above will be described below, focusing on the operation of the suction lifting device.

First, the moving plate 15 moves to the forward limit position,
The chucking devices 18, 18 grasp the hanger portion at the upper end of the original film 25, and then the movable plate 15 moves to the backward limit position, thereby drawing the original film 25 into the exposure section. In this state, a predetermined space is secured between the original film 25 and the vacuum surface plate 6.

From this state, all four cylinder units 20 are operated, the shafts 22 are raised, the vacuum pads 23 are brought into contact with the lower surface of the periphery of the original film 25, and the original film 25 is attracted. At the same time, the gripping state of the chucking device 18 is released. This state is shown in FIG.

Next, the plate material 26 (see FIG. 5) is fed onto the vacuum surface plate 6 via the conveyor belt 4, the opening 5, and the conveyor roller 8, and the plate material 26 is placed in the recess formed on the top surface of the vacuum surface plate 6. It is positioned and fixed on the vacuum surface plate 6 via the suction groove.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, only the cylinder unit 20 on one side (rear side) is operated, the shaft 22 and the vacuum pad 23 are lowered, and the original film 2 is lowered.
5 is brought into contact with the vacuum surface plate 6. Then, one end of the original film 25 is suctioned by a suction groove formed in the vacuum surface plate 6, and is attracted to the vacuum surface plate 6. At this time, the front and rear vacuum pads 23, 23
Due to the large distance between them, a tensile force acts on the original film 25. However, as mentioned above, since the vacuum pad 23 is made of a flexible material such as rubber, the vacuum pad 23 follows the tensile force and acts on the document film 25. The original film will not deform and come off the vacuum pad.

Thereafter, the front cylinder unit 20 is operated in accordance with the rolling of the squeegee roller 24, and the front end of the document film 25 is gradually lowered. In this way, when the original film 25 is pressed against the upper surface of the plate material 26 by the squeegee roller 24 and the original film 25 is brought into close contact with the upper surface of the plate material 26, by lifting the front part of the original film 25 from the part pressed by the squeegee roller 24, the original film 25 and the plate material are 26 is eliminated, and blurring during exposure can be prevented.

After the original film 25 is stacked and brought into close contact with the photosensitive layer on the upper surface of the plate material 26 in the manner described above, exposure is performed for a predetermined time, and when the exposure is completed, all of the cylinder units 20 are operated to remove the original film. 25 is raised from the plate material 26, this raised original film 25 is grasped again by the chucking device 18, the suction state by the vacuum pad 23 is released, the movable plate 15 is advanced, and the original film 25 is returned into the cassette 12. .

Further, the plate material 26 that has been exposed is transferred to a transport roller 27.
When the photosensitive layer is a negative type, the portions of the photosensitive layer that are not exposed to light are eluted to create uneven areas corresponding to the image areas of the original film. Get a printing plate.

(Effects of the invention) As explained above, according to the invention, the vacuum pad of the suction lifting device that lowers the original film to the top surface of the printing plate during automatic exposure and lifts the original film from the top of the printing plate is made of rubber or the like. Since it is made of a flexible material, there is no disadvantage that the original film comes off from the backing pad even if the original film is brought into close contact with the printing plate by a squeegee roller in an inclined state to prevent blurring.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a front view of an automatic exposure device to which the suction lifting device according to the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same automatic exposure device, Fig. 3 is a side view of the same automatic exposure device, and Fig. 4 is a suction FIG. 5 is a side view of the lifting device. FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating the operation of the suction lifting device. In addition, in the drawing, 1 is an automatic exposure device, 6 is a vacuum surface plate,
7 is a light source, 12 is a storage cassette for original film,
15 is a movable plate, 18 is a chucking device, 20 is a cylinder unit, 22 is a vertical shaft, 23 is a vacuum pad, 24 is a squeegee roller, 25 is an original film, and 26 is a plate material.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] At first, only one side of the original film is lowered and stacked on the top surface of the plate material, and as the squeegee roller scans, the other side is gradually lowered and overlapped on the top surface of the plate material for exposure. After exposure, the original film is placed from the top surface of the plate material. In a film adsorption lifting device of an automatic exposure device, a plurality of vertical shafts are arranged around a vacuum surface plate on which a printing plate is placed, which can be raised and lowered, and which descend independently of each other in the scanning direction of a squeegee roller. A document film suction/elevating device characterized in that a vacuum pad is provided at the upper end of the vertical shaft to attract the bottom surface of the document film, and the vacuum pad is made of a flexible material such as rubber.