JPH0476467B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus that processes a photosensitive material by applying a processing liquid to the photosensitive material using a coating roller.

[Prior Art] This type of photosensitive material processing apparatus is, for example, an automatic processing apparatus that processes a photosensitive material such as an exposed film by spraying a processing liquid when the photosensitive material passes through a processing section provided inside the main body of the apparatus. There is a developing machine. Further, as an apparatus equipped with an exposure system, for example, an ID card production apparatus or an apparatus using a photosensitive material copying method for forming a copied image on a photosensitive material, such as the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-73010, is used. be.

Furthermore, after developing the lithographic printing plate (generally PS plates are often used), an erasing liquid is used to remove the film alignment marks and other stains left on the non-image areas of the plate. At times, the paper is erased to prevent stains from appearing on the paper, then washed with water, and a gum solution is applied using a gum coater to prevent the adhesion of oil from hands and fingers, dust in the air, and other oils. There is something to do. This takes advantage of the fact that the lithographic printing plate is oleophilic (hydrophobic) in the image area and hydrophilic (oleophobic) in the image area, so if oil adheres to the non-image area, ink will be applied to that area during printing. , preventing it from becoming dirty.

As a means for applying a processing liquid such as a developing solution or a gum solution to a photosensitive material, for example, in a gum coater, as shown in FIG.
A pair of conveyance roller 82 and a coating roller 83 are arranged in the processing section 81 of No. 0, and a liquid circulation nozzle 84 having an injection hole 84a is arranged between the two. This liquid circulation nozzle 84 is connected to a circulation pump 86 via a hose 85, and pressure-feeds the gum liquid stored in a processing liquid tank 87 arranged below the processing section 81 to the liquid circulation nozzle 84, and transfers the gum liquid to the transport roller 82 and The gum liquid is sprayed in the direction of the coating roller 83 to coat the flat printing plate 89 inserted from the insertion table 88 . This planographic printing plate 89 is conveyed by a guide roller 91 of a drying section 90 arranged after the processing section 81, and during this conveyance, it is dried by a hot air blowing nozzle 92, and is discharged via a Molton roller 93. .

By the way, depending on the pitch of the injection holes 84a of the liquid circulation nozzle 84, in the device that applies this gum liquid, there are places where the liquid hits directly and places where the liquid is spread indirectly by the conveying roller 82 and application roller 83. Unevenness may occur.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, a liquid circulation nozzle 84
The coating is applied directly to the lithographic printing plate 89 from the coating roller 8.
3 is used to even out the coating uniformly, but the application roller 83
The gum liquid adhering to the lithographic printing plate 89 may dry over time, and if the lithographic printing plate 89 is processed at time intervals, there is a possibility that coating unevenness may occur.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
There is one in which a lead groove 94a is provided in the circumferential direction, which is supported in contact with the application roller 83, and a liquid bucket 95 for storing gum liquid is arranged below the rubber roller 94. This device collects gum liquid in the lead groove 94a of the rubber roller 94 and guides it to the application roller 83.
Although the coating is applied from the coating roller 83 to the lithographic printing plate 89, uneven coating may occur due to the pitch of the lead grooves 94a, and since the amount of gum liquid supplied is relatively small, low-speed feeding is used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, a rubber roller 94 having a lead groove 94a is arranged in contact with the application roller 83, and a liquid supply vibrator 96 supplies gum liquid between the two to form a liquid pool, and the rubber roller 94 The gum liquid is supplied to the lithographic printing plate 89 from the lead groove 94a and is uniformly applied by the application roller 83. In this case, depending on the size, pitch, depth, etc. of the lead groove 94a of the rubber roller 94, the liquid may not accumulate or overflow, making it difficult to maintain a balance with the amount of gum liquid supplied. Additionally, since it forms a liquid pool, it tends to be used in low-speed feeding processes.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 10, the coating roller 83 disposed on the lower side is immersed in the gum liquid of the liquid vat 95, and when the lithographic printing plate 89 is not conveyed, it is transferred to the coating roller 83 disposed on the upper side. There is something that is applied to the planographic printing plate 89 by this upper application roller 83 . In this case, a soft roller such as Molton is used as the application roller 83.
In order to apply the gum liquid contained in step 3 onto the lithographic printing plate 89, the process is performed with the photosensitive layer facing upward to avoid scratches on the image area, but the gum liquid is continuously applied to the upper application roller 83. Since the gumming liquid is not supplied to the lithographic printing plate 89, the film thickness of the gum liquid changes between the leading end and the end of the planographic printing plate 89. Further, since a soft roller is used as the coating roller 83, thin coating cannot be performed and it is not suitable for high-speed processing.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As described above, various means for applying gum liquid to the planographic printing plate 89 are used, but it is difficult to uniformly apply the gum liquid to the planographic printing plate 89, resulting in uneven coating. . Further, according to this type of processing method using the application roller 83, it is difficult to apply the gum liquid thinly and uniformly from low-speed processing to high-speed processing.

The present invention has been made based on this background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus that can thinly and uniformly apply a processing liquid such as a gum solution to a photosensitive material such as a lithographic printing plate in low-speed processing to high-speed processing. It is said that

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a photosensitive material processing apparatus that guides a processing liquid to a coating roller and uses the coating roller to apply the processing liquid to a photosensitive material for processing. , a liquid supply means for temporarily storing the processing liquid and supplying it to the application roller is disposed along the application roller, and the liquid supply means is rectified by a regulation guide for rectifying the overflowing processing liquid, and a regulation guide for rectifying the overflowing processing liquid. and a transfer roller that guides the applied treatment liquid to the surface of the application roller.

[Function] In this invention, the processing liquid is temporarily stored, and the processing liquid overflows from the regulation guide and is rectified.
This rectified processing liquid is guided by a transfer roller to the surface of the application roller in the form of a uniform film.

In this way, the processing liquid is guided to the surface of the coating roller, so that it forms a uniform film on the surface of the coating roller, and the coating roller uniformly coats the photosensitive material with the processing liquid. Furthermore, it is possible to smoothly coat the entire surface during low-speed processing, and sufficient processing liquid is supplied to the coating roller during high-speed processing, reducing the occurrence of uneven coating on the photosensitive material.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a gum coater will be described in detail based on FIGS. 1 and 2. Reference numeral 1 indicates a gum coater, and this gum coater 1 is equipped with a processing section 2 and a drying section 3.

A pair of application rollers 4 and 5 are arranged horizontally in the processing section 2, and a guide roller 6 and a pair of Molton rollers 7 are arranged horizontally in the drying section 3, respectively. These rollers 4, 5, 6, and 7 form a transport path for the lithographic printing plate 9, which is a photosensitive material carried in from the insertion table 8, and the coating rollers 4, 5, guide rollers 6, and Morton arranged below A drive gear (not shown) is provided on the roller shaft portion of the roller 7, and is driven in conjunction with the drive shaft.

A liquid supply means 10 is disposed between the upper coating roller 4 and the coating roller 5 of the processing section 2 located above the conveyance path, along the coating rollers 4 and 5, and is connected to the guide roller 6 of the drying section 3. A hot air blowing nozzle 11 is arranged between the Molton roller 7 and the hot air blowing nozzle 11 . This liquid supply means 10 has a liquid supply nozzle 12, a liquid vat 13, and a transfer roller 21. This liquid vat 13 is arranged horizontally along the width direction of the application rollers 4 and 5, and this liquid vat 13, a pipe-shaped liquid supply nozzle 12 is arranged substantially parallel to the application rollers 4 and 5.

Injection holes 12a are formed on the lower side of the liquid supply nozzle 12 at predetermined intervals in the axial direction. The gum liquid stored in the treated liquid tank 16 is pumped by the circulation pump 15.

The gum liquid supplied from the liquid supply nozzle 12 is temporarily stored in a liquid vat 13, and on both sides of the liquid vat 13 in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction, regulation guides 13a and 1 are provided which extend close to the application roller 4 and the application roller 5.
3b is formed.

These regulation guides 13a, 13b are the application roller 4.
and is formed to have the same length as or longer than the coating roller 5, and its tip is slightly inclined downward so that the coating roller 4 and coating roller 5 sides are lower,
Care is taken to prevent the gum liquid from spilling onto the back side of the liquid vat 13.

The regulation guides 13a, 13b and the roller surfaces of the coating roller 4 and coating roller 5 are, for example, 1 to 3
They are arranged at intervals of about mm, and this interval can be freely adjusted according to the viscosity of the gum liquid by loosening the tightening bolt 18 and rotating the liquid vat 13 with respect to the liquid supply nozzle 12.

The liquid vat 13 disposed between the applicator roller 4 and the applicator roller 5 has a V-shaped cross section, and a bracket 19 is fixed to the end of the plate 17 of the liquid vat 13 on the applicator roller 4 side. There is. A long hole 20 in the vertical direction formed in this bracket 19
Roller shafts 21a formed at both ends of the transfer roller 21 are supported by the roller shafts 21a, and the roller shafts 21a are restrained so as to be able to move freely within these ranges. The transfer roller 21 is in contact with the application roller 4 under its own weight.

A mounting portion 22a of a transfer guide 22 is rotatably provided on the liquid supply nozzle 12.
The tip end portion 22b of No. 2 is in contact with the transfer roller 21 under its own weight.

Therefore, the application roller 5 is supplied with the rectified gum liquid from the regulation guide 13a of the liquid vat 13.

On the other hand, the gum liquid that has swelled up due to the surface tension of the liquid vat 13 is placed on the application roller 4 by the regulating guide 13b.
The transfer roller 21 is rectified by the capillary development in the gap between the regulation guide 13b and the transfer guide 22.
guided by. The gum liquid on the coating roller 4 in contact with the transfer roller 21 is supplied as a thin, uniform liquid film, and the entire surface of the coating roller 4 is uniformly wetted.

In this way, the entire surface of the application roller 4 is uniformly wetted, and moreover, no more gum liquid is supplied than necessary. Therefore, it is most suitable for supplying a small amount of gum liquid necessary to prevent the surface of the application roller 4 from drying.

The transfer guide 22 may be arranged at one or more locations as necessary, thereby making it possible to accommodate various conveyance rollers 4 of different lengths.

Furthermore, depending on the viscosity of the gum liquid, regulation guide 1
The distance between the transfer guide 3b and the transfer guide 22 is appropriately adjusted as necessary.

For example, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the liquid bucket 13 is tilted clockwise around the 0 point (from the position along the
tilt to a position along line M). As a result, the regulation guide 13b is raised by D by the regulation guide 13a, but the gap between the regulation guide 13b and the transfer guide 22 is narrowed, and the amount of gum liquid supplied to the transfer roller 21 by capillary action is controlled.

At this time, the transfer roller 21 moves to the regulation guide 13b.
However, the roller shaft 21a of the transfer roller 21 is guided by the elongated hole 20 and falls downward, and rotates in synchronization with the circumferential speed of the application roller 4 while in contact with the conveyance roller 4.

Therefore, the application roller 4 and the application roller 5 are
The surface of the plate is covered with a uniform liquid film, and the planographic printing plate 9 is conveyed by the rotation of the coating roller 4 and the coating roller 5.
It can be applied evenly over the entire surface without uneven coating on the upper side.

Then, this planographic printing plate 9 is sent by a guide roller 6 arranged on the lower side where the photosensitive layer is not formed, and warm air is sent by a hot air blowing nozzle 11 to the front and back sides of the planographic printing plate 9 being transported. . After the drying process, it is squeezed with a Molton roller 7 and discharged from the discharge port.

In this operating state, even if the time interval for processing the lithographic printing plate 9 becomes long, the applicator roller 4
As the coating roller 5 rotates, the gum solution is introduced to the surface and is evenly wetted, thereby preventing uneven coating caused by the gum solution clumping on the surface.

Further, the supply amount of the gum liquid is controlled by the supply amount from the injection hole 12a of the supply nozzle 12, and by balancing the two, it is possible to supply a small amount of the gum liquid to the application roller 5.

Then, by creating a pool of liquid on the lithographic printing plate 9 in front of the coating roller 5 and squeezing it uniformly by rotation of the coating roller 5, it is possible to coat evenly even during high-speed processing. .

Note that in this embodiment, the liquid supply nozzle 12
The number and position of the injection holes 12a can be formed arbitrarily, but the positions should be such that convection does not occur in the gum liquid supplied from the regulation guides 13a and 13b.

Further, the cross-sectional shape of the liquid vat 13 is not limited to the above-described one, but may be U-shaped or square box-shaped.

In FIG. 5, in addition to the transfer roller 21 on the application roller 4 side, a transfer roller 23 is arranged on the application roller 5 side. The transfer guide 24 supported by the liquid supply nozzle 12 has its tip end connected to the transfer rollers 21 and 2.
3 is being touched by its own weight.

As a result, the gum liquid rising in the liquid vat 13 due to surface tension is caused by capillary action due to the gap between the regulation guide 13a and the transfer guide 24.
Smoothly guided to the transfer roller 23, the transfer roller 23
Wet the entire surface of the application roller 5 that is in contact with the surface uniformly.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the application of a gum liquid in a gum coater, but is similarly applicable to, for example, a case in which a processing liquid is applied to film or photographic paper for development processing in an automatic processor.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, in the present invention, a liquid supply means for temporarily storing a processing liquid and supplying it to the application roller is disposed along the application roller, and this liquid supply means liquid rectifies the overflowing processing liquid. Since it has a regulation guide that directs the processing liquid rectified by the regulation guide and a transfer roller that guides the processing liquid rectified by the regulation guide to the surface of the application roller, the processing liquid that has been stored once overflows from the regulation guide and is rectified, and this rectified processing liquid is It is guided in a uniform film form onto the surface of the application roller by the transfer roller.

Therefore, since the processing liquid is guided to the surface of the coating roller, it forms a uniform film on the surface of the coating roller, and the coating roller allows the processing liquid to be evenly applied to the photosensitive material, making it easy to apply evenly during low-speed processing. In addition to being able to coat the entire surface smoothly, sufficient processing liquid is supplied to the coating roller during high-speed processing, and uneven coating of the photosensitive material is reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a gum coater to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part, Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the main part, and Fig. 4 is a cross section of the main part showing the state in which the liquid vat is adjusted. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of another embodiment, FIG. 6 is a general schematic diagram of a conventional gum coater, and FIGS. 7 to 10 are cross-sectional views of a main part showing a conventional gum liquid application means. be. 1...Gum coater, 2...Processing section, 3...Drying section, 4, 5...Applying roller, 9...Lithographic printing plate,
10...liquid supply means, 12...liquid nozzle, 13...
...Liquid butt, 13a, 13b...Regulation guide, 2
1...Transfer roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a photosensitive material processing apparatus that guides a processing liquid to a coating roller and uses the coating roller to apply the processing liquid to a photosensitive material for processing, a liquid supply means for temporarily storing the processing liquid and supplying it to the coating roller is connected to the coating roller. a regulating guide disposed along the liquid supply means for rectifying the overflowing processing liquid;
A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising a transfer roller that guides the processing liquid rectified by the regulation guide to the surface of the application roller.