JPH0582932B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image recording device that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. .

[Conventional technology]

As shown in JP-A-59-75247, an image recording device that obtains a color image using a heat-developable photosensitive material exposes an image to the heat-developable photosensitive material in an exposure section and then sends it to a heat developing section. It is known that an image receiving paper is closely attached to a photosensitive material, and an image is transferred to the image receiving paper through a transfer process.

Before this image receiving paper is sent to the transfer section, a transfer aid (image forming solvent) such as water is applied in advance to improve transfer efficiency.

However, when transferring an image by overlapping a heat-developable photosensitive material and an image-receiving material, if the amount of image-forming solvent such as water applied is less than a certain amount, the adhesive force between the two becomes large, making it difficult to separate them. . In other words, if a sufficient amount of image forming solvent is applied to the image areas of the heat-developable photosensitive material and the image-receiving material in advance, the adhesion between the film surfaces of the two materials will not increase and peeling will become difficult. , since the amount of coating solvent is smaller in areas other than the image area, the adhesion between the film surfaces becomes stronger.
Peeling becomes difficult. In addition, the solvent that leaks out to areas other than the image area causes the film surface of the photothermographic material to adhere to the image-receiving material during peeling, causing stains on the image-receiving material.

In consideration of the above-mentioned facts, the present invention aims to provide an image recording device that can weaken the adhesive force between the photothermographic material and the image-receiving material in areas other than the image-forming area to facilitate peeling.

[Summary and operation of the invention]

The present invention is an image recording device that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. The heat roller that holds the image-receiving material is characterized in that a small-diameter portion is formed in a portion other than the vicinity of the transferred image portion.

Therefore, in the present invention, in the transfer step, the small diameter portion of the heat roller corresponds to the portion other than the vicinity of the image area, so that the photothermographic material and the image receiving material are not subjected to large pressure and heat. The small diameter portion of the heat roller is not limited to the image area, but by making it wider than the image area with some margin, the image area can be accurately transferred. In the peripheral areas other than the image area, there is a tendency for membrane surface adhesion to occur because the amount of image forming solvent applied is small, but since there is little heating and pressure, there is almost no membrane surface adhesion and peeling becomes easy. .

The image recording apparatus of the present invention includes a heat development section that heat-develops the exposed heat-developable photosensitive material, and a transfer section that heats the heat-developed photosensitive material and image-receiving material by overlapping them and transferring the image to the image-receiving material. The heat development section and the transfer section may be provided separately, or the heat development section and the transfer section may be provided at the same place, that is, the exposed photothermographic material and the image receiving material may be overlapped and heated. However, it may be provided with a thermal development/transfer section that performs thermal development and thermal transfer at the same time.

Further, in the present invention, the image forming solvent is a solvent required for image formation, and includes, for example,
Water, low-boiling organic solvents (alcohols, ketones, amides, etc.) or these solvents with surfactants,
Those containing various additives such as a development accelerator and a development stopper can be used.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The image recording apparatus of the present invention will be explained below.

FIG. 1 shows an image recording apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the invention.

In this image recording apparatus 10, a magazine 14 is mounted on a machine stand 12 and stores a photothermographic material 16. The photosensitive material 16 is pulled out from the magazine 14, cut into a required length by the cutter 18, and then wound around the outer periphery of the exposure drum 20 installed in the machine base 12 (in the direction of arrow A), and then placed in the exposure head 22.
After being exposed to light, it is rotated in the opposite direction (in the direction of arrow B) and peeled off with a scraper 24 to form a water-applied portion 25.
This is the configuration sent to.

In the water application section 25 , the water in the tank 66 is applied to the photosensitive material 16 , and the photosensitive material 16 coated with water is sent to the overlapping section 26 .

On the other hand, the image-receiving paper 32 is supplied in a state housed in the cassette 30, receives a driving force from a conveying roller 42 which is pivotally supported on the machine stand 12, and is sent from the lowest layer to the stacking section 26.

In the overlapping section 26, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 are overlaid and then sent to a thermal development/transfer section 28. A stripping section 36 is provided downstream of the thermal development/transfer section 28, and the photosensitive material 16 is sent to a storage device 38 downstream of the stripping section 36, and the image receiving paper 32 is sent to a take-out section 40. ing.

In the overlapping section 26, as shown in FIG. 3, the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 are fed so that their central portions overlap. That is, both front and rear ends of the photosensitive material 16 and both sides of the image-receiving paper 32 are overlapped with each other, leaving unoverlapping portions.

As shown in detail in FIG. 2, in the thermal development/transfer section 28, a pair of first heat roller 46 and second heat roller 48 are disposed adjacent to each other on the entrance side. In addition, a pair of conveyance rollers 50 are provided on the exit side.
A pair of conveyance rollers 52 is disposed at an intermediate portion between the second heat roller 48 and the conveyance roller 50 .

Furthermore, the second heat roller 48 and the conveyance roller 52
A heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and a receiver paper 32 are provided between
A guide plate 54 is disposed on both sides of the pass line, and a guide plate 56 is similarly disposed between the conveyance roller 50 and the conveyance roller 52. 1st
The heat roller 46, the second heat roller 48, the conveyance roller 50, and the conveyance roller 52 are all configured to be driven and rotated synchronously by a drive device (not shown).

The first heat roller 46 and the second heat roller 48 are made of hard rubber, and the conveyance rollers 50 and 52 are also made in the same manner. Also, the guide plate 5
4. On the surface of the guide plate 56 opposite to the pass line, a heating plate for temperature control or a heat insulating material is provided for heat retention effect. A heating plate 58 is arranged to face each of the pair of first heat rollers 46 . A heating plate 60 is similarly arranged on the outer periphery of the second heat roller 48. heating plate 5
8. The heating plate 60 is heated to an arbitrary temperature by a temperature control device (not shown). Further, a heating plate 62 is arranged to face the conveying roller 52, and the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 are
It is designed to maintain a constant temperature during transportation.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first heat roller 46 and the second heat roller 48 have a small diameter portion 64 and a small diameter portion 65 formed in their intermediate portions. These small diameter portions 64 and 65 are the heat-developable photosensitive material 16,
The interval has a dimension M larger than the width dimension L of the transferred image portion P of the image-receiving paper 32 . This dimension M is narrower than the width of water application by the water application section 25. Therefore, the dimension M between the small diameter portions is slightly larger than the dimension P, and the dimension P portion can be sufficiently clamped. Further, since the dimension Q between the outside of the small diameter portion is larger than the width dimension N of the photothermographic material 16, the photothermographic material 16 not coated with water and the image receiving paper 32
There is no need to pinch the

A winding drum 68 is provided in the peeling section 36, and when the photosensitive material 16 and the image paper 32 arrive, the distributing roller 70 shown in FIG. The leading end of the image receiving paper 32 that is subsequently fed is wound around the outer periphery of the winding drum 68.

The image receiving paper 32 wound around the winding drum 68 is sandwiched and conveyed between the winding drum 68 and a pair of conveying rollers 72 that are in contact with the winding drum 68 . These conveyance rollers 72 are preferably rotated by the driving force of a drive source (not shown) or by the driving force of the winding drum 68.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

Photothermographic material 1 taken out from magazine 14
6 is wound around the exposure drum 20, exposed by the exposure head 22, and then sent to the water application section 25.

On the other hand, among the image-receiving sheets 32 housed in the cassette 30, the lowest layer of the image-receiving sheets 32 is sent to the stacking section 26 by a conveying roller 42.

Photosensitive material 16 coated with water in the water coating section 25
is sent to a superimposing section 26 where the image surface of the photosensitive material 16 and the transfer surface of the image receiving paper 32 are superimposed, and then sent to a thermal development/transfer section 28 .

In the thermal development/transfer section 28, a heating plate 58 and a heating plate 6 are used.
0 is energized to raise its temperature, and the first heat roller 46 and second heat roller 48 are thereby heated. The second heat roller 48 has a temperature at or slightly higher than the transfer temperature of the photothermographic material 16 and the image receiving paper 32. Further, the first heat roller 46 is heated to a higher temperature than the second heat roller 48.

As shown in FIG. 3, the photothermographic material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 are superimposed and enter between the first heat rollers 46 from their leading ends, and are conveyed while being held therebetween. As a result, the heat-developable photosensitive material 1
6 is heated and developed, and the image is transferred to receiver paper 32.
Transfer to. In this transfer state, the required amount of water has already been appropriately applied to the photothermographic material 16, so that an extremely good transfer operation is performed.

In this case, the water has a width dimension M in the water application section 25.
Since it is applied over a slightly wider area than the above, both image portions P are reliably covered.

However, the part other than this water application part is the small diameter part 6.
4. Since large pressure is not applied by the small diameter portion 65, the heating pressure is weak on the film surfaces of the photothermographic material 16 and the image receiving paper 32, and there is no adhesion between the film surfaces. Further, the applied water is applied to the photothermographic material 16 and the image receiving paper 32.
Even if the film protrudes outside the vicinity of the image area between the two, since the pressure and heating force is weak, there is no adhesion to the film surface.

The heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 further pass between conveying rollers 52 and 50, where a reliable transfer operation is performed, and then reach the peeling section 36. It is desirable that this conveyance roller 52 also be provided with a small diameter portion like the first heat roller 46 and the second heat roller 48 .

The heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving paper 32 that remain in close contact with each other after transfer are transferred to the separating unit 36, and the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 is transferred to the storage device 38 by the distribution roller 70.
Then, the sorting roller 70 swings in the opposite direction and sends out the receiving paper 32 to the take-out section 40.

In this case, the heat-developable photosensitive material 16 and the image-receiving paper 32 are not pressurized and heated in the peeling section 36 except for the area near the image area.
It is easy to separate the image-receiving paper 32 from the image-receiving paper 32, and there is no possibility that the two will come into close contact with each other and cause a separation failure. Since water is sufficiently applied to both ends P, there is no film surface adhesion and peeling is easy.

The image-receiving paper 32 taken out from the take-out section 40 has a good image formed thereon since the film surface of the photothermographic material 16 is not adhered to any part other than the image area.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides an image recording apparatus that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a heat-developable photosensitive material to the image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent. The heat roller that holds the material and the image-receiving material is formed with a small diameter portion corresponding to the area other than the vicinity of the transferred image, which is an advantage in that the heat-developable photosensitive material and the image-receiving material do not peel off after image transfer. It has a good effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a thermal development transfer section, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line taken along the line shown in FIG. 2. 10... Image recording device, 16... Heat-developable photosensitive material, 28... Heat development/transfer section, 32... Image-receiving paper,
36...Peeling part, 46...First heat roller, 4
8...Second heat roller, 64...Small diameter portion, 65
...Small diameter section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an image recording device that obtains an image on an image-receiving material by transferring an image recorded on a photothermographic material to an image-receiving material in the presence of an image-forming solvent, the photothermographic material and the image-receiving material are sandwiched during the transfer. An image recording apparatus characterized in that the heat roller has a small diameter portion formed in a portion other than the vicinity of the transferred image portion.