JPH0729409B2 - Plate-making device that doubles as a printer - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a printer / plate making apparatus capable of selectively performing thermal transfer recording and thermal plate making using a heating element such as a thermal head.

"Prior Art" Japanese word processors and computers have been rapidly spread, and a large amount of documents created by various printers have been used. By the way, the dot printer expresses characters such as Chinese characters in dot (pixel) units. Therefore, when trying to express complicated characters such as Japanese in high quality, the number of dots occupied in one page of the document becomes enormous, and those printing speeds are the same except for some expensive printers. It is not possible to support mass production.

For this reason, even if the conventional method requires two or more copies for one document, the printer normally prints one copy.
I was printing out each part. Then, a method was adopted in which the printed document was used as the original and the missing portion was copied by a copying machine.

"Problems to be solved by the invention" However, if such a method is adopted, when a large number of copies are required for one document, there is a disadvantage that the cost of making the document becomes expensive due to various expenses required for copying. It was

Therefore, various low-priced light printing systems have been developed in place of copying machines in preparation for preparing a large number of copies of documents. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-4969 discloses a thermal copying method for stencil printing. In this method, an original master plate is superposed on a heat-sensitive stencil printing master plate obtained by laminating a stretched vinyl-based thermoplastic synthetic resin film and a porous support. Then, an electron flash discharge tube filled with xenon gas is used to irradiate a flash of light having a wavelength of 0.7 to 1.5 μ, thereby forming an image on the heat-sensitive stencil printing plate.

However, according to this heat-sensitive copying method, if the ink or the like used for the original original plate has poor infrared absorption efficiency, heat may not be sufficiently generated even by irradiation of flash light, and perforation may not be clearly performed. There was a drawback.
Further, if the original original plate or the ink or the like described therein is melted by heating, there is a definite defect that the original plate is damaged to the extent that it cannot be reused by irradiation of flash light.

On the other hand, there is also a plate-making machine of the type that directly punches holes using a wire dot printer or a discharge printer.
However, since the former plate-making machine punches holes by using wire dots, there are problems that the processing speed is slow and the sound during plate-making is noisy as in the case of the above-mentioned printer. Further, in the latter case, there is a non-modern problem that not only the plate making processing speed is slow but also a bad odor is generated due to discharge breakdown.

Therefore, as a means for eliminating these defects, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-
No. 103957 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-39457 propose an invention in which a heat pulse is applied to a heat-sensitive stencil sheet or a copy sheet to prepare a stencil. However, even the apparatus embodying these inventions necessarily requires an original plate for plate making. Therefore, when preparing a small number of documents, the price of the original plate greatly affects the cost of preparing the entire document, which is rather uneconomical. Of course, if a plate making apparatus, a printer, and a copying machine are gathered in one place and a system for making a document is made, such a problem can be solved. However, this makes the overall system expensive and bulky.

In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a printer / plate making apparatus for economically producing not only a small number of documents but also a large number of documents.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a plate-making / printing-use apparatus that can be manufactured at low cost by using parts as well.

"Means for Solving Problems" In the present invention, (a) a long ink donor film that melts or sublimates a corresponding portion of an ink layer by selective heating is sequentially fed out from one of the rolls, and a predetermined amount is provided. An ink donor film conveying means for sequentially winding the ink donor film through the path to the other roll, and (b) heat corresponding to the image of each line which is arranged in the width direction of the ink donor film in the above-mentioned predetermined path. A thermal head that is generated in response to movement in the sub-scanning direction of
When the ink donor film is conveyed in a state of being superposed on the recording sheet as a conveying means and the image is transferred to the recording sheet by heating the thermal head, the ink donor film is conveyed in the first direction and the inward donor film is conveyed. Conveyance direction control for conveying the ink donor film in a second direction opposite to the first direction when the base paper for plate making is conveyed as a means and is thermally made by directly heating the thermal head. Means and means are provided in the plate making apparatus that also serves as a printer.

According to the present invention, the printing means can be used when producing a small number of documents, and the plate making means can be used when producing a large number of documents. Can be done on a regular basis. Further, in the present invention, a heating element (such as a thermal head) for image formation can be shared by the printing means and the plate making means. Further, when the ink donor film is conveyed in a state of being superposed on the recording paper as a conveying means and the image is transferred to the recording paper by heating of the thermal head, the ink donor film is conveyed in the first direction, and the ink donor film is conveyed. As the conveying means, the ink donor film is conveyed in a second direction opposite to the first direction when it is conveyed in an overlapping manner with the base paper for plate making and the base paper is thermally made by direct heating of the thermal head. Since the conveyance direction control means described above is provided, the ink donor film can be shared by the printing means and the plate making means. Therefore, not only the cost of the device can be reduced, but also the entire device can be made compact by sharing the cost. Of course, since a heating element such as a thermal head is used, high speed recording is possible, and since an indirect perforation is performed using an electric signal, the original document is not damaged. Further, since the information is processed thermally, no odor like the discharge breakdown method is generated.

[Examples] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 shows the principle configuration of the printer / plate-making device of this embodiment. This apparatus comprises a thermal transfer printing means 1 for printing character information and the like on a recording sheet by a thermal transfer method, and a stencil base paper punching means 2 for punching a stencil base paper. These two means 1, 2
Uses a thermal head 3 as a heating element, and an ink donor film 4 as a stencil base paper and recording paper conveying means. The sub-scanning control means 5 controls the conveying direction of the ink donor film 4 and sets the sub-scanning direction to the opposite direction during plate making and printing.

FIG. 2 shows an essential part of such a plate-making apparatus which also serves as a printer. Stencil base paper 12 is on the top of this device 1.
A stencil base paper insertion opening 13 for inserting the paper is provided. The stencil base paper 12 inserted through the stencil base paper insertion opening 13 through the gate 14 is provided between the thermal head 3 and the platen roll 16, between the base paper resist rolls 17 and 18, and a pair of base paper discharge rolls 19 and 20. The sheets are sequentially passed and discharged to the stencil base paper discharge tray 22. Stencil base paper output tray 22 is stencil base paper 12
The tip end accommodating portion 22A for accommodating the tip end portion is openable and closable by a hinge 23, and is held in a closed state as shown by a broken line 24 in the figure when the stencil base paper 12 is not perforated.

As shown in FIG. 3, the stencil base paper 12 is made by adhering a stretched plastic resin layer 26 on a porous base paper base 25, and is thin and the base paper itself is not so strong. Therefore, in this apparatus, the ink donor film 4 serving as a thermal transfer recording medium carries the stencil base paper 12. The ink donor film 4 is wound around a supply roll paper tube 29, and is sequentially fed out from the supply roll paper tube 29, between the base paper resist rolls 17 and 18, and between the thermal head 3 and the platen roll 16.
Between the roll and the paper separation roll 31, and the take-up roll paper tube 32
It is designed to be wound around. However, in the plate making mode in which the stencil base paper 12 is used, the ink donor film 4 is conveyed in the opposite direction and rewound.

The ink donor film 4 is formed by forming a thermal transferable ink layer 34 on a film base 33 as shown in FIG.
Originally, it is used to perform thermal transfer printing in the print mode. Recording sheets 35 for thermal transfer printing are stacked on a sheet supply tray 36 which is detachably arranged near the bottom of the apparatus. The recording paper 35 is fed one by one by the paper supply roll 37 in the print mode, and the conveyance timing is adjusted by the pair of paper registration rolls 38 and 39. After that, the pair of paper transport rolls 41 and 42, the base paper registration rolls 17 and 18, the thermal head 3 and the platen roll 16, and the pair of paper discharge rolls 43 and 44 are sequentially transported to discharge the recording paper. It is discharged to the tray 45.

FIG. 5 shows the plate making apparatus 11 which also functions as a printer having the above-mentioned configuration.
FIG. 3 shows a part of the operation panel in FIG. The operation panel 47 is the stencil base paper insertion slot 13
It is arranged in the vicinity of (Fig. 2) and is set to be operable by turning on a power switch (not shown) arranged on the side panel of the apparatus. That is, when the power is turned on by operating the power switch, the leading end accommodating portion 22A of the stencil base paper ejection tray is
With (Fig. 2) closed, the print mode is automatically set and the print mode lamp 48 is turned on. Further, when the tip end accommodation portion 22A is open, the plate making mode is set and the plate making mode lamp 49 is turned on. The ready lamp 51 is lit when the apparatus is ready for printing or plate making, and the in-process lamp 52 is lit when printing or plate making is in process. The start button 53 is a button for instructing the start of printing or the like, and the stop button 54 is a button for forcibly stopping the processing for some reason.

The ten keys 55 are used to set the number of copies to be printed in the print mode. The set number of sheets and the current number of printed sheets are displayed in a dot pattern on the display unit 56. If the set number of prints is more than a certain number, the displayed number will blink,
You are prompted to change to plate making mode. In this state, if the operator opens the front end accommodating section 22A of the stencil base paper ejection tray, the word "mode change" is displayed on the display section 56,
The set number will be cleared automatically. Numeric keypad 55
By operating in combination with other button switches, it is possible to perform self-diagnosis of the device and set the operation to a special mode.

FIG. 6 shows an outline of a circuit configuration of the plate making apparatus which also serves as the printer. This device has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 6
1 is mounted and is connected to each part through a bus line 62 such as a data bus. Of these, ROM (Read Only Memory) 63 is a memory in which a program for circuit control is written. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 64 stores image data for printing or plate making, while temporarily storing other processed data. The operation panel input unit 65 is a data input unit for inputting various data on the operation panel 47, and includes an image data input unit 66.
Is a circuit portion which receives image data 67 from a host computer (not shown). The sensor input port 68 is a circuit portion that inputs and processes data 69 output from various sensors, which will be described later, and outputs the data 69 to the bus line 62. The display driver 71 is a drive circuit for displaying characters and numbers on the display 56. The gate driver 72 is a drive circuit that closes the gate 14 in the print mode and opens it in the plate making mode. This is a stencil base paper
This is to prevent 12 from being carelessly supplied to the thermal head 3. The first motor driver 73 is the first motor
74 and the second motor driver 75 are circuits that drive the second motor 76, respectively. The first motor 74 drives the paper supply roll 37 (FIG. 2), and the second motor 76 drives the base paper registration roll 17, the take-up roll paper tube 32, and the like.
The second motor 76 has a feature that the rotation directions are opposite in the print mode and the plate making mode. The solenoid driver 77 is a circuit that controls the excitation of the head solenoid 78. When the head solenoid 78 is excited, the thermal head 3 moves a few mm.
It is designed to move upwards. A thermal head driver 79 for driving the thermal head 3 is also connected to the bus line 62.

The operation of the plate-making machine that also serves as a printer will be specifically described below with reference to the flowchart.

When the apparatus is powered on, the CPU 61 determines whether or not the tip accommodation portion 22A is closed (step in FIG. 7). This is done by checking whether or not the magnet (not shown) attached to the tip end accommodation portion 22A is detected by the magnetic sensor (not shown) arranged on the apparatus main body side by the data 69 as the detection output. Done. If the front end accommodating portion 22A is closed (Y), the print mode is executed (step). If it is in the open state (N), the plate making mode is executed (step). In the print mode, the print mode lamp 48 is turned on by driving the display driver 71, and in the plate making mode, the plate making mode lamp 49 is also turned on by the display driver 71.

Outline of print mode Figure 8 shows the plate-making machine that also serves as a printer in print mode.
11 shows an outline of the operation of 11. When the device 11 is set to the print mode, the CPU 61 determines whether or not the ink donor film 4 is present (step), the presence or absence of the recording paper 35 (step), the presence or absence of jam (paper jam) (step), and the image. Whether or not the data reception is completed (step) is sequentially determined. Other matters except the presence / absence of the reception of the image data will be determined by the data 69 as the detection output of various sensors provided inside the device 11.

When the ink donor film 4 does not exist or the remaining amount is small (step; N), the display driver 71 is driven and the display 56 displays "sheet replenishment" (step). When there is no recording paper 35 in the paper supply tray 36 (step; N), the display unit 56 is similarly operated.
"Paper supply" is displayed on the screen (step). When the ink donor film 4 or the recording paper 35 is jammed (step; N), the display unit 56 is similarly operated.
An instruction for "jam removal" is displayed on the screen (step).
The image data 67 is demodulated by the image data input unit 66 and is stored in the RAM 64.
However, until the acquisition of one page is completed (step; N), the display unit 56 displays "Receiving" (step).

On the other hand, when all the conditions for printing are provided (step ~; Y), the display driver 71 turns on the ready lamp 51 (step). In this state, the CPU 61 determines whether or not the set number N input by the ten keys 55 and displayed on the display unit 56 is smaller than the predetermined reference number N ₀ (step). Reference number here
N ₀ means stencil stencil plate making and thermal transfer recording 1
The number of economical border lines between prints one by one. This reference number N ₀ is, for example, the start button
It can be set in the device by pressing the 53 and stop button 54 at the same time and inputting a numerical value from the numeric keypad 55.

If the reference number N ₀ is, for example, 40 and the set number N exceeds 50 (step; N), the set number “50” displayed on the display unit 56 is displayed blinking. (Step). This is to prompt the operator to shift to the plate making mode, as already described. In this situation, if the operator opens the leading edge storage section 22A and sets the stencil raw paper discharge tray 22 according to the instruction (step; Y), the set number is cleared, and instead, "mode change" is displayed for a certain period of time (step). . After this, the device will transition to platemaking mode (step).

On the other hand, when the user wants to force the print mode for various reasons, the operator does not set the stencil base paper ejection tray 22 (step; N) and presses the start button 53 (step
; Y). As a result, the apparatus prints the set number N (step). The set number N is the reference number N ₀
Also in the case of the following (step; Y), the press of the start button 53 (step; Y) causes printing of the set number of sheets. During these printing operations, the processing lamp 52 is turned on.

Outline of plate making mode On the other hand, FIG. 9 shows an outline of the operation of the apparatus in the plate making mode. When the printer / plate-making device 11 is set to the plate-making mode, the CPU 61 sequentially determines the presence / absence of the ink donor film 4 (step), the presence / absence of a jam (step), and the presence / absence of completion of image data reception (step). As described above, the apparatus 11 reverses the conveying direction of the ink donor film 4 in order to reverse the sub-scanning direction in the print mode and the plate making mode. Therefore, the presence or absence of the ink donor film 4 in this plate making mode has a different meaning from that in the print mode, and it means that a sufficient amount of the ink donor film 4 has not yet been wound around the take-up roll paper tube 32 (FIG. 2). . In such a state, the ink donor film 4 is transferred to the device 11.
This may occur not only at the beginning of setting, but also when the plate making mode occurs frequently.

When the CPU 61 detects this on the basis of the data 69 (step; N), it controls the display driver 71 to display the "sheet skipping" instruction on the display 56 (step). As a result, the sheet idle feed flag in the RAM 64 is turned on (step), and the idle feed of the ink donor film 4 is enabled.

FIG. 10 shows this sheet idling operation for plate making preparation. With the sheet skipping flag turned on (step; Y), the operator presses the start button.
When 53 is pressed (step; Y), the second motor 76 starts forward rotation (step). In this state, the carry amount of the ink donor film 4 by the base paper resist rolls 17 and 18 is sequentially detected by a rotary encoder (not shown), and is sent to the sensor input port 68 as data 69. The CPU 61 counts this pulse-shaped conveyance data with a built-in counter, and normally rotates the second motor 76 until the length of one stencil base paper 12 is conveyed (step). When the idling of one sheet is completed in this way (Y), the sheet idling flag is turned off (step), and the sheet idling operation is completed.

Returning to FIG. 9, the explanation will be continued. Ink donor film 4
However, even if there is a sufficient amount, if the jam has occurred (step; N) or if the image data for one page has not been received (step; N), the plate making cannot be performed. In such a case, "jam removal" or "receiving" is displayed as described above (step,).

By the way, in the plate making mode, the operator sets the stencil base paper 12 in parallel with such an internal operation of the apparatus. The stencil base paper 12 is its stretched plastic resin layer.
It is manually inserted from the stencil base paper insertion slot 13 with the 26 side facing up. Gate 14 is open in this state. Stencil base paper
When 12 passes through the gate 14, a photo sensor (not shown) disposed at the rear of the gate 12 detects this. The CPU 61 controls the solenoid driver 77 by the data 69 based on this detection to excite the head solenoid 78.

FIG. 11 shows the vicinity of the thermal head 3 in this state. Stencil base paper 12 manually fed by being guided by the guide plate 81 connected from the stencil base paper insertion port
Passes through the gap between the thermal head 3 and the ink donor film 4 and hits the base paper resist roll 18. An optical sensor 82 for detecting the stencil base paper 12 is arranged in front of the base paper resist roll 18, and other data based on this detection is provided.
The CPU 61 causes the head solenoid 78 to be demagnetized by 69. As a result, the heating resistor 3R of the thermal head is pressed against the stencil base paper 12.

When the setting of the stencil base paper 12 is completed as described above (step; Y), if other conditions for operating the apparatus are satisfied (steps ~; Y), the ready lamp 51 is turned on (step). . Thereafter, when the operator presses the start button 53 (step; Y), the set stencil base paper 12 is punched (step). During the plate making operation, the in-process lamp 52 is turned on.

The outline of the print mode and the plate making mode has been described above.
Next, how the printing operation or punching operation is performed in these modes will be specifically described.

Printing operation in the print mode First, when the start button 53 is pressed in the print mode (see step), the first motor 74 starts rotating,
The paper supply roll 37 sends out only one recording paper 35. The recording paper 35 hits the paper registration rolls 38, 39 and stops with a slight loop formed. The conveyance of the sheet supply roll 37 is stopped after a lapse of a predetermined time t ₁ after the sheet sensor 84 arranged in front of the sheet registration rolls 38, 39 detects the leading edge of the recording sheet 35. This time control is performed by the time management of the CPU 61 based on the data 69 like other control.

At the same time when the rotation of the paper supply roll 37 stops, the second motor 76 starts forward rotation, and the paper registration rolls 38 and 39, the paper conveyance rolls 41 and 42, the platen roll 16, the base paper registration rolls 17 and 18, and the take-up roll. The paper tube 32 starts rotating.
In this state, a predetermined braking force is applied to the supply roll paper tube 29 by a slip clutch (not shown) or the like, so that the ink donor film 4 is fed out with a constant tension. This is to prevent the ink donor film 4 from slackening or overtensioning. When the leading edge of the recording paper 35 is detected by the paper sensor 85 arranged between the base paper registration rolls 17 and 18 and the platen roll 16, the reading of image data from the RAM 64 is started, and the thermal head driver 79 drives the thermal head 3 Drive is performed. The thermal head 3 is provided with a line type heating resistor 3R, and the printing operation is performed line by line. In addition, even in the case of copying a large number of sheets or the like, if the host computer can be used exclusively for a long period of time, the image data 67 is transferred from the host computer when the paper sensor 85 detects the leading edge of the recording paper 35, and these are transferred. It is also possible to supply the thermal head driver 79 to perform the printing operation.

FIG. 12 shows the principle of printing in the thermal transfer recording method. In the ink donor film 4 superposed on the recording paper 35, the film base 33 side is in contact with the heating resistor 3R, and a heat pulse according to image information is supplied. The ink layer 34 is sublimated or melted at the portion to which the heat pulse is applied, and is transferred to the recording paper 35 and then solidified.

After this, the recording paper 35 is conveyed in a state of being superposed on the ink donor film 4, but when passing through the vicinity of the paper separating roll 31, its stiffness acts to separate the recording paper 35 from the ink donor film 4. . The separated recording paper 35 is discharged onto the recording paper discharge tray 45 by the paper discharge rolls 43 and 44. When the printing of the set number of sheets is completed in this way, all the printing operations are completed and the in-process lamp 52 is turned off.

Punching operation in plate making mode Next, the plate making mode will be described. When the start button 52 is pressed in the plate making mode (see step), the reading of the image data from the RAM 64 is started. As described above, the image data 67 may be fetched line by line from the host computer at this point. The image data is read from the RAM 64 in the writing order for each line.

By the way, the image for plate making needs to be a "mirror image" of the image to be printed. However, in the printer / plate-making device 11 of the present invention, since the ink donor film 4 is conveyed in the opposite directions in the print mode and the plate-making mode, a special mirror image conversion circuit for this is unnecessary. This will be explained with reference to FIG. FIG. 3A shows an image forming state at the time of plate making by the thermal head 3, and FIG. 3B shows that at the time of printing. Stencil base paper 12 and recording paper 35
Since the sub-scanning directions (conveyance directions) S _A and S _B are opposite, it is possible to perform plate-making as a mirror image without changing the image data set on the thermal head 3.

When the image data to be supplied to the thermal head 3 is ready, the second motor 76 starts reverse rotation, and the conveyance of the ink donor film 4 and the stencil base paper 12 in the reverse direction of the print mode is started. In this way, punching work is performed line by line according to the image data.

Figure 14 shows the principle of plate making using stencil base paper. The stencil base paper 12 passes between the thermal head 3 and the platen roll 16 so that the stretched plastic resin layer 26 contacts the heating resistor 3R. At this time, the ink donor film 4 is used only as a carrier for the stencil base paper 12.

Now, the stretched plastic resin layer 26 of the stencil base paper 12 is, for example, vinylidene chloride-based copolymer resin, polyvinyl chloride and vinyl chloride-based copolymer resin, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, polyethylene, or polyethylene and ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. It is a layer having a thickness of 5 to 250 μ, which is obtained by stretching a synthetic resin such as the above two times or more by an inflation method or a biaxial stretching method. Also base paper base 25
Is made of a porous sheet with a relatively high melting point, such as gauze made of fibers such as Tetron, nylon, silk, rayon, and cotton, and non-woven fabric made of glass fiber, asbestos, natural or artificial fiber. ing. Stretched plastic resin layer 26
For bonding the base paper base 25 and the base paper base 25, a thermoplastic synthetic resin solution such as a vinyl acetate-based copolymer, a vinyl chloride-based copolymer, or a vinylidene chloride-based copolymer that is generally used as an adhesive is used. ing.

Therefore, the portion of the stretched plastic resin layer 26 to which the heat pulse is applied by the heating resistor 3R opens a hole by heating, contracts and is entangled with the surrounding fibers or the like, and perforation is performed. Therefore, no residue is generated in the portion where the holes are formed.

The stencil base paper 12 is separated from the ink donor film 4 when passing through the base paper resist roll 18, and the base paper discharge rolls 19 and 20.
Is discharged onto the stencil base paper discharge tray 22.
Since almost no thermal energy is transferred from the thermal head 3 to the ink donor film 4 used as the carrier of the stencil base paper 12, it can be reused in the print mode as long as the ink layer 34 in that portion is unused. is there. As in the case of the supply roll paper tube 29, a predetermined braking force is applied to the take-up roll paper tube 32 so as not to cause “wrinkles” in the ink donor film 4 and the stencil base paper 12.

When the plate making process is completed in this way, the in-process lamp 52
Turns off. When the plate making is further continued, the tip receiving section 22
With A kept open, another stencil base paper 12 may be inserted through the stencil base paper insertion opening 13.

According to the printer / plate-making apparatus of this embodiment described above, the plate-making is prohibited in the print mode and the printing is prohibited in the plate-making mode by the control of the gate 14 and the first motor 74. Thereby, for example, even if the stencil base paper 12 is inserted from the stencil base paper insertion port 13 during printing,
It is possible to avoid a situation where the print image is partially erased or the stencil base paper 12 is wasted.

In the above embodiments, the printing on the recording paper and the punching on the stencil base paper have been described, but the plate-making apparatus combined with the printer of the present invention can be used for the following purposes.

(I) Creation of OHP sheet.

When a vinyl chloride sheet having fine holes inside is inserted through the stencil base paper insertion port 13, an OHP (over head projector) sheet can be produced by selective heating of the thermal head 5.

(Ii) Making a plate for gravure printing.

Heat-shrinkable vinyl chloride / vinyl acetate copolymer film coated with diisooctyl phthalate is used as the plate material, and instead of the stencil base paper, the stencil base paper insertion slot 13
By inserting from, it is possible to create a gravure printing plate (frost plate).

(Iii) Creation of heat sensitive color print.

By removing the ink donor sheet and setting a thermosensitive coloring type recording paper instead of the recording sheet (plain paper), a thermosensitive coloring type print can be obtained. The recording paper may be removed, and a thermosensitive coloring type thermosensitive paper roll may be set instead of the ink donor sheet.

[Advantages of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, not only the thermal head that generates heat corresponding to an image is used by one device, but also the transporting means of the base paper for plate making and the ink donor film are used. Since it is possible to perform both printing and plate making at the same time, it contributes to environmental hygiene and office efficiency as a device that is lower in price and noise than a multi-function device with equivalent functions, and is odorless and faster. You can Further, since the apparatus of the present invention inputs an image signal to perform printing or plate making,
Not only is the document not damaged, but it can be connected to a communication means such as a telephone line or communication hygiene, and information can be received from a remote place and printing or platemaking can be performed immediately. Further, in the plate making apparatus which also functions as the printer of the present invention, the sub-scanning direction is opposite between the plate making and the printing, so that a special circuit for scanning the mirror image conversion means and the thermal head in the opposite direction is unnecessary.

[Brief description of drawings]

The drawings are for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle configuration of a printer / plate making apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the printer / plate making apparatus. FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a stencil base paper, FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of an ink donor sheet, FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a main part of an operation panel, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a main part of an electric circuit. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the mode selection operation, FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation of the apparatus in the print mode, FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the apparatus in the plate making mode, and FIG. Flow chart, Fig. 11 is a layout drawing near the thermal head when inserting the stencil base paper, and Fig. 12 is a principle diagram showing the principle of thermal transfer printing,
FIG. 13 (A) is a plan view showing a state in which a mirror-image converted image is formed on the stencil base paper 12, and FIG.
FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a state of forming an image on 35, and FIG. 14 is a principle view showing a principle of perforation. 1 ... Thermal transfer printing means, 2 ... Stencil base paper punching means, 3 ... Thermal head, 3R ... Heating resistor, 4 ... Ink donor film, 12 ... Stencil base paper, 35 ... Recording paper, 61 ... CPU, 63 ... ROM, 76 ... Second motor.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location B41M 5/26

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A long ink donor film, which melts or sublimes corresponding portions of an ink layer by selective heating, is sequentially fed out from one of the rolls and sequentially wound around the other roll through a predetermined path. An ink donor film conveying means, a thermal head which is arranged in the width direction of the ink donor film in the predetermined path and generates heat corresponding to the image of each line in correspondence with the movement of the ink donor film in the sub-scanning direction, When the ink donor film is conveyed as a conveyance means in a state of being superposed on a recording sheet and an image is transferred to the recording sheet by heating of the thermal head, the ink donor film is conveyed in the first direction, and the ink donor film is conveyed. As a conveying means, it is conveyed on top of the base paper for plate making, and this base paper is directly heated by the thermal head. Printer combined plate making apparatus characterized by comprising a conveying direction controlling means for conveying in a second direction opposite the first direction of the ink donor film when the plate making thermally Te.