JPH0557579B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that transfers an image formed by imagewise exposure of a photosensitive material to an image-receiving material to obtain an image on the image-receiving material.

[Prior Art] As shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 75247/1983, an image recording device that uses a heat-developable photosensitive material as a photosensitive material and obtains a color image, after exposing an image to the heat-developable photosensitive material in an exposure area, Developed in the developing section,
A device is known in which an image after thermal development is transferred to an image-receiving material.

Another apparatus using a heat-developable photosensitive material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 124407/1983 filed by the present applicant. In this apparatus, the image-receiving material to which the image has been transferred is peeled from the photosensitive material, passed through a drying device provided above the apparatus, and taken out onto a tray at the top of the apparatus.

In this case, the image-receiving material is guided in the horizontal direction until just before it is peeled off from the photosensitive material, and after it is peeled off, it is wrapped around a reversing roller and abruptly turned approximately vertically (towards the top of the apparatus), and then it is held between transport rollers. The drying equipment is then connected to the drying equipment. That is, the conveyance of the image-receiving material is curved to make the apparatus itself compact and to reduce the installation space.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the image receiving material is curved in this way, there is no problem as long as the radius of curvature is large, but as mentioned above, when the image receiving material is curved from a horizontal state to a vertical state, a small radius of curvature (a sharp curve) When the direction is changed, depending on the properties of the sheet material containing the image-receiving material (rigidity, adhesiveness, etc.), both ends in the width direction may begin to bend first, and sag may occur in the center.

If this slack remains and it is held between the conveyance rollers or the like, the slack portion will be pressurized, causing wrinkles in the image receiving material. Note that such a phenomenon may also occur when other sheet materials such as photosensitive materials are transported, and the magnitude of the curvature is limited.

In consideration of the above-mentioned facts, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording apparatus having a conveyance roller that can eliminate slack that occurs when changing the direction of a sheet material during the conveyance process and change the direction of the sheet material with a desired curvature. It is.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The image recording device according to the present invention is an image recording device that obtains an image on the image receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a photosensitive material to the image receiving material, and is an image recording device that obtains an image on the image receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a photosensitive material to the image receiving material. A pair of conveyance rollers are provided for conveying the photosensitive material or image receiving material whose conveyance direction is changed while the portions are being sandwiched, and after the conveyance direction is changed,
The roller pair is characterized in that a gap is formed at least in a portion through which the photosensitive material or image-receiving material passes.

[Function] Photosensitive material or image-receiving material (hereinafter referred to as sheet material)
is held between conveyance rollers, and is conveyed while changing direction and curving as necessary. Thereby, the image recording apparatus itself can be made compact and the installation space can be reduced.

Here, the conveyance roller of the present invention is arranged on the conveyance path immediately after the sheet material is pinched at both ends and the direction is changed (in particular, the direction is changed with a small radius of curvature).

The sheet material is guided between a pair of rollers that constitute this conveyance roller. In this state, there is slack in the center of the sheet material, but since a gap is formed at least in the portion of this pair of transport rollers through which the sheet material passes, the sheet clamping force of the transport rollers becomes weaker, or It becomes almost 0 (if the gap is larger than the thickness of the sheet material, the sheet material will be conveyed by frictional force), and the sheet material will easily move on the roller surface and sag before wrinkles etc. appear on the sheet material. Therefore, even if the radius of curvature is small, the conveying direction can be changed smoothly.

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

As shown in FIG. 2, in an image recording apparatus 10 showing one embodiment of the present invention, a roll-shaped photothermographic material 16 is accommodated in a magazine 14 accommodated in a machine stand 12. As shown in FIG. 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 arranged corresponding to the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20.
0 is rotated in the direction of arrow A, and an image is exposed onto the wound photosensitive material 16.

The exposed photosensitive material 16 is peeled off from the rotating drum 20 by a scraper 24 by rotating the rotating drum 20 in a reverse direction, and water is applied as an image forming solvent in a water coating section 26, after which the inside becomes a heating section for thermal development. The image is sent to the transfer section 28.

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 and 36 that are in close contact with each other are provided at the entrance section to transfer the photosensitive material 16.
After the image-receiving material 32 is brought into close contact with the image-receiving material 32, it is sent to conveying rollers 38 and 40 at the exit section.
Conveyance rollers 42 and 44 are provided in the intermediate portion, and convey the photosensitive material 16 and image receiving material 32 that are in close contact with each other, which are sent out from the conveyance rollers 34 and 36, to the conveyance roller 3.
It has the role of sending out to 8 and 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. There is.

A peeling means 48 is disposed downstream of the heat development transfer section 28 and separates the photosensitive material 16 sent out from the heat development transfer section 28 into a waste photosensitive material storage box 50 and the image receiving material 32 into a drying device 52. It is now being sent out. The image receiving material 32 is transferred to a drying device 52
After being dried, it is delivered onto a take-out tray 54 formed at the top of the machine stand 12.

When the image-receiving material 32 is sent toward the drying device 52, as shown in FIG. 1, the image-receiving material is wound around a reversing roller 56, changed direction at a substantially right angle, and then sent out. From this reversing roller 56, it passes through the drying device 52 and then passes through the take-out tray 54.
A conveyance roller 58 according to the present invention is installed to nip and convey the image-receiving material 32 upward.

The conveyance roller 58 is a pair of roller bodies 68, 70
The shafts 72 protruding from both ends of the roller bodies 68 and 70 are connected to the side plates 62 and 6, respectively.
It is pivoted on 4.

As shown in FIG. 3, this roller body 68,
A small diameter portion 74 is formed in the intermediate portion of the roller body 70, and a predetermined gap portion 76 is formed when both ends of the roller bodies 68, 70 are in contact with each other.

The axial dimension of this small diameter portion 74 is formed to be slightly longer than the width direction dimension of the image receiving material 32 to be conveyed, and the gap dimension P is formed to be slightly smaller than the wall thickness dimension of the image receiving material 32 in this embodiment. has been done.

Since the conveyance roller 58 is located at a position where the thickness of the image receiving material 3 is conveyed from the inside of the image recording apparatus 10 to the outside, it is not preferable that external light enters into the image recording apparatus through this conveyance path. For this reason, it is desirable that the gap size P be as small as possible.

Immediately after the image receiving material 32 has been peeled off by the peeling means 48 and the direction has been changed approximately at right angles by the reversing roller 56, the image receiving material 32 is separated from the roller bodies 68, 70 in correspondence with this gap 76.
It is designed to be transported between Incidentally, the image receiving material 32 may have slack in the thickness direction (see FIG. 1) after being inverted. This phenomenon tends to occur when only both ends of the image receiving material 32 are held and turned over. In this case, since the clamping force by the roller bodies 68, 70 at the small diameter portion 74 is weak, the rollers are successively clamped while sliding in the width direction. Therefore, the image-receiving material 32 is delivered from the delivery side of the transport roller 58 in a state where there is no slack in the thickness direction.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below.

When the photosensitive material 16 drawn out from the magazine 14 is cut by the cutter 18 and wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20, the rotating drum 20 rotates at high speed and an image is exposed by the exposure head 22.

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.

On the other hand, the image-receiving material 32 in the tray 30 is sent from the smallest layer to the thermal development transfer section 28, where the photosensitive material 16
It is closely followed.

The photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 32 after being brought into close contact with each other pass through the transport rollers 34 and 36 and are transferred to the transport roller 4.
Sent to 2,44. Furthermore, this conveyance roller 4
The paper is sent out from between 2 and 40 through conveyance rollers 38 and 40. In this way, since the plurality of pairs of transport rollers are heated by the heater 46, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 32 are immediately brought to a predetermined temperature.
The image recorded on the photosensitive material 16 is thermally developed and also thermally transferred to the image receiving material 32.

After the transfer, the photosensitive material 16 is removed by the peeling means 48.
Then, the image-receiving material 32 is peeled off, the photosensitive material 16 is placed in the waste photosensitive material storage box 50, the image-receiving material 32 is reversed in a substantially right angle direction (upward in FIG. 2) by a reversing roller 56, and transferred to a drying device 52 and a conveying roller 58. It is then taken out to the takeout tray 54.

Here, the image receiving material 3 is peeled off from the photosensitive material 16 by the peeling means 48 and reversed by the reversing roller 56.
Since the conveyance direction of the image receiving material 3 is changed while both ends of the image receiving material 2 are being held, as shown in FIG.
Due to the properties of the tip 2 itself (rigidity, adhesiveness, etc.), the widthwise central portion of the tip will bend. That is, the image-receiving material 32 is transferred to the conveying roller 58 with its leading end bent.
transported to.

When the leading end of the image receiving material 32 reaches the conveyance roller 58, it enters the small diameter portion 74 of the conveyance roller 58. Since the image-receiving material 32 that has entered is clamped with a weak clamping force, both ends of the image-receiving material 32 in the width direction slide on the outer peripheral surface of the small diameter portion 74 and move in opposite directions, resulting in the bending of the central portion. is resolved. While repeating this one after another, the image receiving material 32 is held between the conveying rollers 58, so that the image receiving material 32 is held by the holding force of the roller bodies 68 and 70.
2 without causing wrinkles etc. on the take-out tray 5.
4 can be transported above.

Note that in this embodiment, the dimension P of the gap 76 is smaller than the wall thickness dimension of the image receiving material 32, but this is applied when the image receiving material 32 has low adhesiveness and is so-called strong. When using an image-receiving material that has a high degree of adhesiveness and is so-called weak, it is preferable that the gap size P is larger than the wall thickness of the image-receiving material.

[Second Embodiment] A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The conveying roller 80 in the second embodiment is a conveying roller at a portion where the photosensitive material 16 is separated after the transfer in the thermal development transfer unit 28 is completed and reversed by the reversing roller 56, as in the first embodiment. 80, the description of the structure of the peripheral portion will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 4, in the conveying roller 80 according to the second embodiment, a small diameter portion 83 is formed only on one roller 82, and the portion other than this small diameter portion 83 is not brought into contact with the other roller 84. As a result, a gap 86 is formed.

In this way, the same effect can be obtained even if the small diameter portion 83 is formed only on one of the rollers.
If applied to cases such as improving already completed equipment, work efficiency will be improved.

[Third Example] Next, a third example will be described. A feature of the conveying roller in the third embodiment is that the small diameter portion shown in the first and second embodiments is not used as a limiting means, and as shown in FIG. The roller 88 itself is pivotally supported on the side plates 62 and 64 with its axis moved in the radial direction.

Therefore, the gap 92 can be formed without any processing on the roller itself, and the clamping force for the image receiving material 32 can be weakened. The rotational force of the separated rollers 88 and 90 is transmitted to the side plate 6.
Connecting means such as gears (not shown) may be provided to the shafts 72 of the rollers 88, 90 that protrude outward from the rollers 2, 64.

In the third embodiment, if one roller 88 is pivotally supported on the side plates 62 and 64 via a bearing (not shown) and this bearing is movable in the radial direction of the other roller 90, the gap 90 can be dimensions can be adjusted, making assembly work easier.

Further, in this case, one roller 88 and the other roller 90 may be connected by a biasing means such as a tension coil spring.

Here, when the image receiving material 32 is not present, the outer peripheral surfaces of these rollers 88 and 90 are as follows.
They are brought into close contact by the urging force of the urging means, and no gap is formed. When the leading end of the image receiving material 32 is conveyed, the rollers 88 and 90 are moved against the urging force of the urging means by this conveying force. They are separated from each other and the image receiving material is held between them by the urging force of the urging means. That is, by predetermining the urging force of the urging means based on the properties of the sheet material, the clamping force on the image receiving material 32 can be weakened to a predetermined value.

Note that the sheet material applied to the present invention is not limited to the image-receiving material 32 applied to the first to third embodiments, but may also be the photosensitive material 16. That is, the conveyance roller of the present invention may be applied to any part inside the image recording apparatus 10, and is particularly effective in parts with a small radius of curvature, such as the water application part 26 and the thermal development transfer part 28. It may also be applied to conveyance rollers that sandwich the photosensitive material 16 therebetween.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the image recording apparatus according to the present invention has an excellent effect in that the slack that occurs when changing the direction of the sheet material can be eliminated during the conveyance process, and the direction of the sheet material can be changed with a desired curvature. has.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conveyance roller in an image recording apparatus according to the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the image recording apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view of the conveyance roller according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a front view of the conveyance roller according to the third embodiment. 10... Image recording device, 56... Reversing roller,
58... Conveyance roller, 74... Small diameter portion, 76...
gap area.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An image recording device that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a photosensitive material to the image-receiving material, wherein the conveying direction is changed with both ends in the width direction being held. A pair of conveying rollers are provided for conveying the photosensitive material or image-receiving material after the conveyance direction is changed, and a gap is formed at least in a portion of the pair of rollers through which the photosensitive material or image-receiving material passes. Image recording device. 2. A small diameter portion is formed in the pair of transport rollers, and the dimension in the axial direction is equal to or larger than the width dimension of the photothermographic material or the image receiving material, and the small diameter portion reduces the gap between the outer circumferential surfaces of the pair of transport rollers. The image recording device according to claim 1, further comprising: