JPH1124411A - Fixing device for plate making machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a fixing device for a plate making machine without futile dissipation of internal air heated with ceramic heaters by sufficiently utilizing the heat of in-machine air heated in the plate making machine. SOLUTION: This plate making machine has a fixing device provided with an upper housing and a lower housing 91B arranged on the upper and lower sides of a path for a master sheet and constituted to heat/fix a toner image on the master sheet in a fixing unit housing extended in the width direction of the master sheet. In such a case, fan motors 92 for taking in the in-machine air from a position proximate to the wall surface 1b of a machine frame, ceramic heaters 93 for heating the in-machine air and flow straightening plates 94 for straightening the heated in-machine air are arranged in both end parts in the width direction of the fixing unit housing respectively and vents 94 for detouring a part of air heated in the fixing unit housing to the side of the wall surface are formed in the edge plates 91C of the fixing unit housing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate making machine for producing an original printing plate, and more particularly to a fixing device for a wet plate making machine for drying a master sheet developed with a developer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, in a wet plate making machine for producing an original plate for printing, a developer is supplied to a fixing device called a so-called "oven heater" by supplying a master sheet on which a toner image has been developed to a toner image. In some cases, fixing of the toner image and drying of the master sheet are performed.

In such a conventional "oven heater" type fixing device, since the master sheet is heated and dried by the radiant heat of the ceramic heater, a considerable amount of time is required to quickly dry the master sheet. Requires heat.

[0004]

However, there is a limit to the drying speed of the master sheet due to such radiant heat. For example, when the plate making machine having a low ambient temperature is started or when it is cold, the master sheet cannot be sufficiently dried. There is a possibility that the paper will be discharged without being processed.

That is, if the master sheet is discharged without being sufficiently dried, the remaining sheets adhere to each other due to residual moisture, and the image quality of the completed toner image is deteriorated. Numerous obstacles are caused, such as difficulty in peeling between master sheets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem of the heating capacity of the conventional "oven heater" type fixing device, and to make full use of the calorific value of the heated internal air of the plate making machine, thereby making it possible to use ceramics. An object of the present invention is to provide a fixing device for a plate making machine in which internal air heated by a heater is not wasted.

[0007]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention provides a fixing device having an upper housing and a lower housing arranged above and below a passage of a master sheet and extending in the width direction of the master sheet. In a fixing device of a plate making machine having a fixing device for heating and fixing a toner image of a master sheet in a housing, a fan motor for taking in internal air from a position close to a wall surface of a body frame, a ceramic heater for heating internal air, heating A rectifying plate for rectifying the blown internal air is disposed at both ends in the width direction of the fixing device housing, and a ventilation hole for diverting a part of heated air inside the fixing device housing to the wall surface side is formed at an end of the fixing device housing. A fixing device of a plate making machine formed on a plate is proposed. In the following description of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a structure is described in which the air holes are a pair of through holes formed in the upper portion of the end plate before and after the moving direction of the master sheet.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a digital plate making machine DS of the present invention used for a communication network system,
Image information of the plurality of local computers RC coupled to W is supplied to the host computer HC via the same communication network NW.

The host computer HC capable of controlling the digital plate making machine DS calculates the transmitted image information, that is, the position and size of the image and the length of the master sheet X to be used, and performs digital plate making via the server SV. Machine DS. That is, the server SV exchanges image information with the digital plate-making machine DS via the data bus DB, and transmits the image information together with the synchronization signal to the laser scanning unit 10 of the digital plate-making machine DS, which will be described in detail later, at a necessary timing. Send out. Note that the digital plate making machine DS according to the present invention includes a side door 4 that can be opened with the front door 2 and the lower hinge 3 of the left hinge located on the front of the body frame 1 as fulcrums. By opening the photosensitive sheet roll SR, the photosensitive sheet roll SR can be loaded.

FIG. 2 shows an entire digital plate making machine DS according to the present invention, and a roll paper supply section 20 for pulling out a sheet from a photosensitive sheet roll SR and cutting it to a required length is arranged at the lower right of the machine frame 1. The cut master sheet X waits in a master supply unit 40 provided above the roll paper supply unit 20 and is then charged on the surface by a charger 5 and strictly rotates synchronously with a stepping motor (not shown). Is supplied to the peripheral surface of the feed roller 6.

A laser scanning unit 10 to which image information is sent from the server SV is provided above the body frame 1. Inside the laser scanning unit 10, a polygon mirror 11 rotated by a synchronization signal is provided. , A condensing lens 12 and a reflection mirror 13, and a feed roller 6 is disposed immediately below the laser scanning unit 10. The laser beam from the reflection mirror 13 is scanned by a plurality of pressing rollers 7 on the surface of the master sheet X which is brought into close contact with the peripheral surface of the feed roller 6. The master sheet X, on the surface of which the image information has been made into a latent image, is conveyed to the developing unit 60 adjacent to the left side of the feed roller 6, where the image information is developed by the developing unit 60 and then sent to the fixing device 90. The toner image is heated and fixed by the fixing device 90,
The sheet is collected by the sheet discharge tray 9 by the function of the sheet discharge roller 8 located on the left side of the body frame 1.

FIG. 3 shows the details of the roll paper supply unit 20 and the master supply unit 40 described above.
Is provided with a tiltable hanger 21 on which a photosensitive sheet roll SR can be mounted.
The suspended hanger 21 suspended by the photosensitive sheet roll S
The center bar 23 has a jaw portion 21a on which the center bar 23 of R is hung. When the tilting hanger 21 is at the position shown by the two-dot chain line, both ends of the center bar 23 passing through the center of the photosensitive sheet roll SR through the jaw portion 21a. Can be multiplied. A gas stay 24 is provided between the bottom wall 1a of the body frame 1 and the tilt hanger 21 for applying a lift to the heavy tilt hanger 21. The gas stay 24 connects the lower bracket 25 and the support shaft 22 to each other. When the dead center is exceeded, a counterclockwise rotation moment about the tilt hanger 21 about the support shaft 22 is applied to the tilt hanger 21 to maintain the heavy tilt hanger 21 at the position indicated by the two-dot chain line.

A link arm 26 is provided between the middle portion of the side door 4 and the middle portion of the tilt hanger 21. The link arm 26 is connected to the support shaft 22 when the side door 4 is opened. The tilt hanger 21 is rotated about. In addition, the middle part of the side door 4 and the body frame 1
An extensible door arm 27 is fixed between the right and left sides of the door arm by mounting brackets 28 and 29.
Determines the maximum opening angle of the side door 4 when the side door 4 is released.

The roll paper supply unit 20 includes an intake roller 31, an intake guide 32, a cutter 33 for cutting the sheet drawn from the photosensitive sheet roll SR, and a master supply for the sheet. A relay roller 34 for shifting to the section 40 and a transitional mylar sheet 35 are provided. The amount of rotation of the intake section roller 31 is strictly monitored by the rotation of an attached encoder 36, and the cutter 33 is required by the intake section roller 31. When a long sheet is pulled out, the sheet is cut by a command signal. When the tilt hanger 21 is at the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the front end of the elastic transition portion Mylar sheet 35 whose base is fixed to the tilt hanger 21 is pressed against the surface of the standby guide plate 41 of the master supply unit 40. Therefore, the master sheet X fed from the relay roller 34 is smoothly guided on the standby guide plate 41. In addition,
Since the above-described relay roller 34 is rotated for a fixed time according to the support of the server SV, the long master sheet X
Are on standby in a state of being bent on the surface of the standby guide plate 41.

The master supply section 40 includes a standby guide plate 41 extending obliquely upward toward the charger 5, and an intermediate portion of the standby guide plate 41 can be pressed against the first transport roller 42 as necessary. A holding roller 43 is provided. The holding roller 43 operated by the electromagnetic solenoid 44 sandwiches the middle portion in the length direction of the master sheet X when the widthwise edge of the front end of the master sheet X is aligned by the front end alignment unit 45 described later. Since the master sheet X is pressed against the first transport roller 42 in this state, the master sheet X can stand by on the surface of the standby guide plate 41 while maintaining this alignment state.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show the standby guide plate 41 described above.
3 shows the details of a leading end alignment unit 45 provided at the upper portion of the standby guide plate 41. The leading end alignment unit 45 has a rotatable alignment shaft 46 extending in the width direction of the standby guide plate 41.
6 is controlled in rotation by an aligning actuator 47 constituted by an electromagnetic solenoid. That is, a pair of aligning pieces 48 facing in the width direction of the standby guide plate 41 are fixed to an intermediate portion of the aligning shaft 46, and these aligning pieces 48 pass through the cutout holes 41 a formed in the standby guide plate 41. Can be interposed in the path of the master sheet X. Further, an urging spring 52 for giving one-way rotation to the aligning shaft 46 and an operating rod 47a of an aligning actuator 47 are engaged with the rotating disk 51 at the shaft end of the aligning shaft 46. By exciting the aligning actuator 47, the aligning shaft 46 can be forcibly rotated against the force of the biasing spring 52.

Since the leading end aligning unit 45 has such a structure, when the master sheet X moves along the standby guide plate 41, the aligning piece 48 is temporarily inserted into the notch hole 41a by the excitation of the aligning actuator 47. Even if the leading edge of the master sheet X is inclined as shown in the figure due to friction or the like between the standby guide plate 41 and the like, the leading edge of the master sheet X is still ,
The state is adjusted to be exactly perpendicular to the moving direction, and the inclination of the latent image with respect to the master sheet X is prevented.
That is, when the leading edge of the master sheet X comes into contact with each of the alignment pieces 48, the tilted inclination of the master sheet X is absorbed by the deflection of the master sheet X on the standby guide plate 41, and the absorbed state is the same as that described above. The holding roller 43 is kept in a holding state by pressure contact between the conveyance roller 42 and the holding roller 43.

On the other hand, at the exit of the standby guide plate 41,
Second movement of the master sheet X toward the charger 5
A transport roller 53 is disposed, and a driven roller 55 operated by a roller actuator 54 composed of an electromagnetic solenoid can be in rolling contact with the second transport roller 53. This roller actuator 54
Since the master sheet X fed by the second transport roller 53 is demagnetized after being taken up by the feed roller 6 regulated by the synchronization signal, the master sheet X bent on the standby guide plate 41 is While returning to the shape, the sheet advances at a constant speed by the feed roller 6, and during this time, the image information is formed into a latent image on the surface of the master sheet X.

FIG. 6 shows the details of the developing section 60 following the feed roller 6. The developing section 60 has a master sheet on which image information is converted into a latent image via a transition portion guide plate 61 and a transition portion roller 62. X is supplied. That is, the developing unit 60 includes an inlet roller 63A that is arranged in the moving direction of the master sheet X, a spray nozzle 63 that sprays a developing solution on the surface of the master sheet X, and squeezes the excess developing solution attached to the master sheet X. A pair of squeezing rollers 64
A, 64B are provided, and a scraping blade 65 for scraping the developer adhered to the peripheral surface of one of the squeezing rollers 64A, 64B is contacted as necessary.

FIG. 7 shows the details of the scraping blade 65 and its operating mechanism.
Are dropped into mounting grooves 66 formed in the upper wall 1b of the body frame 1. A blade actuator 67 for operating the scraping blade 65 is configured by an electromagnetic solenoid,
The base of a tilting rod 69 is pin-connected to the distal end of an operating rod 67a of the blade actuator 67 by a connecting pin 68, and between the distal end of the tilting rod 69 and the anchor pin 71 of the upper wall 1b. , A return spring 72 consisting of a tension spring is engaged. A blade support member 73 for supporting the scraping blade 65 is provided at an intermediate portion of the tilt rod 69.
Are supported by a driven pin 74, and the driven pin 74 is located in a “U” -shaped cam groove 75 formed in the upper wall portion 1b.

Since the operating mechanism of the scraping blade 65 has such a structure, in the demagnetized state of the blade actuator 67, the tilting rod 69 is pulled leftward by the return spring 72, so that the blade supporting member 73 and The scraping blade 65 is at the position shown by the solid line, and the tip of the scraping blade 65 is in a state of being separated from the peripheral surface of the squeezing roller 64A. When the developing unit 60 develops the master sheet X, the blade actuator 67 is temporarily excited, so that the operating rod 67 a and the tilt rod 69 are returned by the return spring 7.
2 is moved rightward against the force of
Then, the blade supporting member 73 is slightly rotated to the position shown by the one-dot chain line, and the tip of the scraping blade 65 is brought into contact with the peripheral surface of the squeezing roller 64A, and the surplus developer on the peripheral surface is written off. Then, in order to clean the dirty aperture rollers 64A and 64B, the aperture rollers 64A and 64B
To remove the finger hook 7 in the middle of the blade support member 73.
It is only necessary to hang a fingertip on 3a and lift it upward. That is, when the blade support member 73 is lifted upward, the driven pin 74 moves downward in the cam groove 75, so that the blade support member 73 and the scraping blade 65 are inverted as shown by a two-dot chain line, Is opened above. As a result, the scraping blade 65 and the blade supporting member 73 do not obstruct the work, so that the squeezing rollers 64A and 64B can be easily taken out from the mounting groove 66.
Of course, to return the squeeze rollers 64A and 64B after cleaning,
Maintenance can be easily performed simply by re-attaching the squeezing rollers 64A and 64B in the mounting groove 66 and tilting the blade support member 73 in the state shown by the two-dot chain line clockwise.

Returning to FIG. 6, immediately below the inlet roller 63A, the spray nozzle 63, and the squeezing rollers 64A and 64B, a developer vat 76 for collecting the developing solution flowing down is located. The collected developer is collected in a developer tank 77 located below the developer vat 76. A pump table 82 on which a developer pump 79 and a toner liquid pump 81 are mounted is located immediately below a mount 78 on which the developer tank 77 is provided.
A bottle stand 83 on which a developer bottle EB, a toner bottle TB, and a collected bottle RB can be installed at the lower part of the machine facing
Is provided.

Developing solution pump 79 and toner solution pump 81
And the relationship between the developer bottle EB, the toner bottle TB, and the collection bottle RB.
The two suction ports 79a and 79b are respectively connected to a circulation line 83A controlled by a liquid level gauge not shown and a developer supply line 84 from the developer bottle EB, and a discharge port of the developer pump 79. Is connected to the spray nozzle 63 described above. Further, since the recovery pipe 85 connected to the bottom of the developer tank 77 has an opening / closing cock 86 at an intermediate portion, the opening / closing cock 86 is opened as needed, so that the developer tank is placed in the recovery liquid bottle RB. 77 can be recovered.

The toner liquid pump 81 is driven under the control of a densitometer (not shown).
1a is connected to a toner liquid bottle TB via a toner line 87, and its discharge port is connected to a toner supply line 88.
Through the developer tank 77. Therefore, the developer tank 77 is driven by the driving of the toner liquid pump 81.
The concentration of the developer therein is always kept substantially constant.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a fixing device 90 according to the present invention.
The identification attaching device 90 includes a fixing device housing extending in the width direction of the master sheet X to be passed, and the identification attaching device housing includes an upper housing 91A and a lower housing located above and below the passing master sheet X. 91B
have. As can be understood from FIG. 8, the in-machine air is taken into both ends of the fuser housing inside the upper wall portion 1 b (wall surface) of the body frame 1 from the position facing the corresponding upper wall portion 1 b. The fan motors 92 are respectively mounted, and the casings 9 of these fan motors 92 are mounted.
On the discharge side of 2a, that is, on the inner side, a ceramic heater 93 capable of heating the discharged internal air and a honeycomb rectifying plate 94 for rectifying the heated internal air are arranged.

Further, an end plate 91 of the fixing device housing is provided.
Vent holes 94 and 95 are formed in C to divert a part of the heated air inside the fixing device housing to the upper wall portion 1b side. The drying of the master sheet X at the time is promoted.

That is, as can be understood from FIG. 7, the vent holes 94 and 95 are opened above the end plates 91C in a state where they are arranged in the front and rear directions of movement of the master sheet X. A portion of the upper hot air that has been heated and blown into the interior of the fuser housing passes through these ventilation holes 94 and 95 and is collected on the suction side of the fan motor 92. As a result, these ventilation holes 94, 9
5, the heat amount of the ceramic heater 93 can be effectively recirculated, so that the inconvenience of unnecessarily increasing the heat capacity of the ceramic heater 93 can be solved.

Since the fixing device 90 of the illustrated embodiment has such a structure, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 8, heated air is blown into the interior of the fixing device housing, and the master passed through the heated air. The sheet X is dried, and the toner image on the surface of the master sheet X is fixed. In this case, the inside of the fixing device housing is sucked into the inside of the fixing device housing from the vicinity of the upper wall portion 1b of the body frame 1 by the rotation of the fan motor 92, but the ventilation holes 94 and 95 are formed in the end plate 91C of the fixing device housing. Since it is formed, a part of the air heated by the ceramic heater 93 is blown out from the air holes 94 and 95, and the air blown out from the air holes 94 and 95 is mixed into the suction air. Therefore, even at the time of start-up or cold when the temperature of the air inside the apparatus is low, the temperature of the heated air in the fixing device housing can be increased and the master sheet X can be sufficiently dried.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a digital plate making machine DS. However, the present invention can be applied to a developing device of another type of wet plate making machine.

[0030]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a fan motor for taking in internal air from a position close to the wall surface of the airframe, a ceramic heater for heating the internal air, Rectifying plates for rectifying the in-machine air are arranged at both ends in the width direction of the fixing device housing, and a vent hole for diverting a part of the heated air inside the fixing device housing to the wall surface side is provided at an end plate of the fixing device housing. Therefore, the master sheet X can be sufficiently dried by increasing the temperature of the heated air in the fixing device housing even at the time of start-up or cold when the temperature of the internal air is low.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the high-temperature air inside the fixing device housing, which tends to be discharged to the outside, can be effectively used, the heat capacity of the ceramic heater can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a communication network incorporating a digital plate making machine according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an overall sectional view of the digital plate making machine.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a roll paper supply unit and a master supply unit of the digital plate making machine.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a leading edge alignment unit of the digital plate making machine.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the tip alignment unit.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a developing section of the digital plate making machine.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of the developing unit and the fixing device of the digital plate making machine.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of a main part of a fixing device of the digital plate making machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DB data bus DS digital plate making machine NW communication network HC host computer RC local computer SR photosensitive sheet roll SV server X master sheet 1 body frame 1a bottom wall 1b top wall 2 front door 3 bottom hinge 4 side door 5 charger 6 Feed roller 8 Discharge roller 9 Discharge tray 10 Laser scanning unit 20 Roll paper supply unit 40 Master supply unit 60 Developing unit 90 Fixing device 91A Upper housing 91B Lower housing 91C End wall 92 Fan motor 93 Ceramic heater 94 Honeycomb rectifying plate 94, 95 vent

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A fixing device having an upper housing and a lower housing disposed above and below a passage of a master sheet and heating and fixing the toner image of the master sheet in a fixing device housing extending in a width direction of the master sheet. In the fixing device of a plate making machine, a fan motor that takes in the internal air from a position close to the wall surface of the body frame, a ceramic heater that heats the internal air, and a rectifying plate that rectifies the heated internal air are provided in the fixing device housing. A fixing device for a plate making machine, wherein ventilation holes are provided at both end portions in the width direction, and ventilation holes are formed in an end plate of the fixing device housing so as to divert a part of heated air inside the fixing device housing to the wall surface side. 2. The digital plate making machine according to claim 1, wherein the ventilation holes are a pair of through holes formed respectively on upper portions of the end plates before and after the moving direction of the master sheet.