JPS63314517A - Image recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely execute focusing by a simple operation, by inserting and holding a spacer between an optical system and a loading base of a photosensitive material, and positioning the optical system. CONSTITUTION:In case of exposing an image to a photosensitive material by an optical system 22 constituted of a holder for containing a light emitting element and a condensing lens, positioning of the optical system is executed by inserting and holding a spacer 88 between said optical system and a loading base of the photosensitive material. That is, the spacer 88 is inserted and held between the loading base and the optical system 72, this spacer is set in advance to the dimension corresponding to an interval between the optical system and the loading base, which has been designed, and when the optical system is set in this state, focusing can be executed surely without necessitating a repeated work. In such a way, positioning of the optical system can be executed exactly at a simple operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording method for recording an image on a photosensitive material by exposure using a light emitting element.

[Conventional technology]

JP-A-59-7524 discloses an image recording apparatus for producing color images using a photosensitive material such as a heat-developable photosensitive material.
As shown in No. 7, a thermally developed photosensitive material is known in which an image is exposed in an exposure section and then developed in a developing section, and the image after thermal development is transferred to an image-receiving material.

Such image recording apparatuses often use semiconductor light emitting elements such as light emitting diodes for image exposure.These light emitting elements have a short focal length of several tens of micrometers and a very small depth of focus of several tens of micrometers. For this reason, it is difficult to attach the light emitting element to the photosensitive material so that its image plane is accurately focused. Since the light emitting element in the compact disk device has a servo mechanism using a focus monitor that measures the reflected light, adjustment is easy. However, when exposing photosensitive materials such as color printers and color hard copies, images are actually exposed to these photosensitive materials, developed, and then the image formation state of the beam is evaluated. You have to repeat the process of fine-tuning the mounting position of the element and exposing the image again! Therefore, complicated work is required to obtain the optimal mounting position.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording method that enables reliable focus adjustment with simple operations.

[Summary and operation of the invention]

The present invention provides an image recording method in which an image is exposed onto a photosensitive material using an optical system comprising a holder that accommodates at least a light emitting element and a condensing lens, wherein the optical system and the mounting table for the photosensitive material are provided with a It is characterized by positioning the optical system by sandwiching a spacer.

Therefore, in the present invention, a spacer is sandwiched between the mounting base and the optical system, this spacer is sized in advance to correspond to the designed distance between the optical system and the mounting base, and the optical system is fixed in this state. For example, the focus can be reliably achieved without the need for repeated operations.

The dimensions of the spacer should be the length between the optical system and the photosensitive material plus the thickness of the photosensitive material when the spacer is brought into contact with the mounting base and the condensing lens. can. In addition, when interposing this spacer between the holder and the mounting base, it is necessary to determine the dimensions of the spacer in advance, taking into account the length deviation in the optical system axis direction between the tip of the holder and the condensing lens. .

The light emitting elements used in the present invention are light emitting diodes (LEDs),
Various types of laser diodes (LDs), light emitting diode arrays, halogen lamps, etc. can be applied. Further, the image surface formed by the optical system may be a flat surface, a cylindrical surface, or a spherical surface. The photosensitive material may be any photosensitive recording material such as color film/paper or black and white film/paper.

Furthermore, as a means of fixing the holder, the holder can be fixed to the exposure head using screws, or the holder itself can be screwed to the exposure head, and the distance between the mounting base and the holder can be changed by adjusting the position of the screws. You can do it like this.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An image recording method showing an embodiment of the present invention will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the image recording apparatus 10 to which the present invention is applied, a magazine 14 is housed in a machine base 12, and a roll-shaped photothermographic material 16 is housed therein. This photosensitive material 1
6 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 disposed corresponding to the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20, and rotates the rotating drum 20 in the direction of arrow A to expose an image 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 reverse rotation, and after water is applied as an image forming solvent in a water coating section 26, a developing transfer means whose inside is used as a heating section. Sent to 28.

On the other hand, the plurality of image receiving materials 32 accommodated in the tray 30 are
The top layer is sent to development transfer means 28.

In the developing and transferring means 28, conveyance rollers 34 are brought into close contact with each other.
36 is provided at the inlet portion, and the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving material 32 are connected to each other.
After the sheets are brought into close contact with each other, they are sent to the conveyance rollers 38 and 40 at the exit section.

Conveyance rollers 42, 44 are provided in the intermediate portion, and the adhered photosensitive material 16 is sent out from the conveyance rollers 34, 36.
and the image-receiving material 32 to the transport rollers 38, 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.

A peeling means 48 is disposed downstream of the developing and transferring means 28, and removes the photosensitive material 16 sent out from the developing and transferring means 28.
The photographic material 16 is separated and sent to a waste box 50 and the photosensitive material 16 to a drying device 52. After the image-receiving material 32 is dried in a drying device 52, it is delivered onto a take-out tray 54 formed at the top of the machine stand 12.

Next, the exposure head 22 and its related parts will be explained in detail.

As shown in FIG. 1, the exposure head 22 is rotatable around a support shaft 60, and the clockwise rotation in FIG. .

This exposure head 22 has three holders 64, 66, 68.
are attached in the radial direction of the rotating drum 20. That is, these holders have a cylindrical shape, and the exposure head 22
is inserted into the mounting hole 22A formed in the exposure head 22.
When screwed together in the radial direction of the mounting hole 22A, it is fixed with a cross section 0.

Holders 641, 66 and 68 have the same shape, and each holds the three primary colors (cyan, yellow, magenta) of a color image.
It houses a light-emitting element that has a light emission wavelength to generate color. - As an example, an optical system consisting of a holder 64 will be explained according to FIG. A condenser lens 72 is attached to one end of the holder 64 in the axial direction, and a base plate 76 is fixed to a pedestal 74 formed at the other end.

A support shaft 78 connects to the condensing lens 7 from this head plate 76.
It protrudes in two directions, and a light emitting element 80 is attached to the tip of this support shaft. The support shaft 7B and the light emitting element 80 are embedded in a transparent synthetic resin 82 that is fixed to the pedestal 74. A light-shielding paint 8 is applied to the outer periphery of the transparent synthetic resin 82.
4 is applied, and an effective beam 86 of the light emitted from the light emitting element 80 is sent to the condenser lens 72.

Next, the procedure for positioning the holders 64, 66, and 68
6 will be explained as an example.

As shown in FIG. 1, the holder 66 is inserted into the mounting hole 22A, and a spacer 88 is interposed between the condenser lens 72 of the holder 66 and the rotating drum 20. The spacer 88 has a disk shape as shown in FIG. 4, and an arm 90 protrudes from a portion of the outer periphery to be gripped by an operator.

The thickness of the spacer 88 is larger than the distance between the condenser lens 72 and the photosensitive material surface of the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20 when the condenser lens 72 is properly arranged. The thickness of the developing photosensitive material 16 is larger than the thickness of the bone.

That is, if the designed distance between the condensing lens 72 and the photothermographic material 16 wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20 is L, the photothermographic material 16 is not attached to the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20. In order to position the holder 66 in this state, the dimension is the sum of this interval and the thickness W of the photothermographic material 16.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, one end of the spacer 88 is brought into contact with the condensing lens 72, and the other end is brought into contact with the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20. Here, the holder 66 can be fixed to the exposure head 22 by tightening the screw 70 while lightly pressing the holder 66 in the direction of the rotating drum 20.

At this point, the spacer 88 can be pulled out from between the holder 66 and the rotating drum 20, but since the spacer 88 is held between the holder 66 and the rotating drum 20, the exposure head 22 can be moved counterclockwise in FIG. Rotate a little and spacer 8
8 may be drawn out.

When the holders 64 and 68 are similarly positioned and fixed with the screws 70, the condensing lens 72 of each holder is accurately placed at the designed mounting position.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

By operating a control button (not shown), the photothermographic material 1 is
6 is cut to a predetermined length by a cutter 18, and then wound around the outer periphery of the rotating drum 20. Here, the rotating drum 20 rotates at high speed, the exposure head 22 moves in the axial direction of the rotating drum, and the light emitting element assembly 64, 66, 68 of the exposure head 22 performs exposure of the three primary colors, and the color image is thermally developed. The photosensitive material 16 is exposed.

At the time of this exposure, the holders 64, 66, and 68 are in the correct mounting position, so an accurate color image is printed on the surface of the photothermographic material 16 wound around the outer circumference of the rotating drum 2°. .

After exposure, the photothermographic material 16 is peeled off by a scraper 24, coated with water by a water coating section 26, and sent to a development transfer means 28.

Part of the image receiving material 32 in the tray 30 is sent from its uppermost layer to the development transfer means 28 and brought into close contact with the photothermographic material 16 .

The heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and image-receiving material 32 after being brought into close contact with each other are conveyed to conveyance rollers 42.44 through conveyance rollers 34.36. Furthermore, it is sent out from between the transport rollers 42, 40 and through the transport rollers 38, 40. When the material is transported by multiple pairs of transport rollers in this way, since these transport rollers are heated by the heater 46, the photothermographic material 16 and the image-receiving material 32 are immediately brought to a predetermined temperature.
The image fogged onto the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 is thermally developed and thermally transferred to the image-receiving material 32.

After the transfer, the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving material 32 are separated by the peeling means 48, and the heat-developable photo-sensitive material 16 is taken out to the waste box 50, and the image-receiving material 32 is taken out via the drying device 52 onto the take-out tray 54. .

In this embodiment, since the spacer 88 is used for positioning the condenser lens 72, each light emitting element 80 is actually energized for exposure and development as conventionally done, and the out-of-focus of the exposure beam can be visually checked. There is no need for the complicated work of repeatedly performing fine adjustments after evaluation and then exposing and developing again.

In the above embodiment, the spacer 88 was positioned in contact with the condensing lens 72, but as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, one end of the holder 66 may be brought into contact with the end of the holder 66. In this case, the end face of this holder 66 and the condensing lens 72
It is necessary to manufacture the spacer 88 in consideration of the dimensional deviation between the two.

In this case, it is not necessary to bring the spacer 88 into contact with the condensing lens 72, so that damage to the condensing lens 72 can be prevented.

In the above embodiment, the holder 64 is attached to the exposure head 22 with the screw 70.
As explained above, the means for fixing the holder 66 to the holder 66 can be made by forming a female thread on the outer periphery of each holder, forming a female thread in the mounting hole 22A, and screwing the holder 66 into the mounting hole 22A. You may also do so.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides an image recording method for exposing an image onto a photosensitive material using an optical system including a holder that accommodates at least a light emitting element and a condensing lens, the method comprising: a mounting table for the optical system and the photosensitive material; Since the optical system is positioned by sandwiching a spacer between the two, it has an excellent effect of being able to accurately position the optical system with a simple operation.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of FIG. 2 showing the mounting state of a holder mounting head, etc. to which the present invention is applied; FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the entire image recording apparatus to which the present invention is applied; 3rd, 3rd
The figure is a sectional view showing the optical system, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the spacer. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Image recording device, 16... Photothermographic material, 22... Exposure head, 32... Image receiving material, 64.66.68... Holder, 70... Screw, 72... - Condensing lens, 80...Light emitting element, 88.88A...Spacer.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) An image recording method in which an image is exposed onto a photosensitive material using an optical system composed of a holder that accommodates at least a light emitting element and a condensing lens, wherein a spacer is provided between the optical system and a mounting table for the photosensitive material. An image recording method characterized by positioning an optical system by sandwiching the two. (2) The image recording method according to claim 1, wherein one end of the spacer is brought into contact with the mounting table and the other end is brought into contact with the condenser lens. (3) The image recording method according to claim (1), wherein one end of the spacer is brought into contact with the mounting table and the other end is brought into contact with the holder.