JPH02162349A - Method for processing front end of photosensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the generation of a jam by adhesion of the cut front end of a heat developable photosensitive material by maintaining the water volume and water temp. in a water applying part to specified values or above. CONSTITUTION:The unnecessary front end part of the heat developable photosensitive material A housed in a magazine 54 is cut and water is applied thereon in the water applying part 17 prior to processing of the image forming part. After the photosensitive material is heated in a heating development transfer part 21, the material is discarded into a discarding tray 118. The processing of the front end part in the water applying part 17 is started after the volume and temp. of the water to be applied attain the specified value or above. Then the front end part of the photosensitive material A is sufficiently swollen and is dropped in the adhesive strength and, therefore, the adhesion to the transfer part 21 thereof is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention involves unwinding a roll-shaped photosensitive material housed in a magazine, exposing it to light, and applying an image forming solvent to the exposed photosensitive material in an image forming solvent coating section. The present invention relates to a method for processing the leading edge of a photosensitive material in an image forming apparatus in which an image is formed on the image-receiving material by applying the coating, overlapping it with an image-receiving material, heating it in a heat development transfer section to perform development and transfer, and then peeling off the two.

[Conventional technology]

Heat-developable photosensitive materials are well known as image-forming materials, and for information on heat-developable photosensitive materials and their processes, see, for example, 24 of Basic Non-Silver Salt Photography of Photographic Engineering (published by Corona Publishing, 1982).
Pages 2 to 255, video information published in April 1978, page 40,
Neblett Handbook of Photography (
Neblett' 5Handbook of Pho
tography and reprography)
7th edition <7thBd,) Van Nostrand Reinhold Campa = - (Van No5trand R
einhold Company), pages 32-33.

Furthermore, many methods have been proposed for obtaining color images by heat development.

A method in which a mobile dye is released in an image-like manner by heating, and this mobile dye is transferred to a dye-fixing material (image-receiving material) with a mordant using a solvent such as water, or a method in which a high-boiling point organic solvent is used to transfer the mobile dye to a dye-fixing material. A method in which the dye is transferred to a dye fixing material using a hydrophilic hot solvent built into the dye fixing material, and a method in which the mobile dye is heat diffusible or sublimable and is transferred to a dye receiving material such as a support have been proposed. ing.

As an apparatus for carrying out this type of image forming method, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5! As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. Q-75247, after a color image is exposed on a photothermographic material using an exposure head in an exposure section, an image forming solvent such as water is applied to the photothermographic material using a roller. An image forming apparatus has been proposed in which the photothermographic material is sent to a heat development section, an image receiving material is brought into close contact with the photothermographic material after heat development, and the image is sent to a transfer section, where the image is thermally transferred to the image receiving material.

Furthermore, an apparatus has been proposed in which a heat-developable photosensitive material and an image-receiving material are superimposed to simultaneously perform development and transfer.

The device that simultaneously develops and transfers the photothermographic material and image-receiving material by overlapping them uses a heating drum and an endless belt wound around a part of the circumferential surface of the heating drum. 2. Description of the Related Art Apparatuses have been proposed that sandwich and heat a developing photosensitive material and an image-receiving material.

The tip of the photothermographic material housed in the magazine protrudes from the magazine so that it can be easily fed out. Therefore, in a bright room, the tip is exposed.

Also, when a jam occurs after loading a magazine into an image forming apparatus and the inside of the image forming apparatus is exposed to a bright room to deal with the jam, the leading edge of the photothermographic material protruding from the magazine will be exposed.

When such a magazine is loaded into an image forming apparatus, the leading end portion exposed in a bright room can be cut off prior to image formation so that it is not used for image formation. In order to simplify the configuration of the image forming apparatus,
The cut unnecessary tip portion is discharged along the same transport route as the photothermographic material during image formation.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, when performing development and transfer after applying water to the photothermographic material as in the image forming apparatus described above, water must also be applied to the cut unnecessary tip of the photothermographic material before applying water. It will be heated and then discharged.

The cut unnecessary tip of the heat-developable photosensitive material does not need to be overlapped with the image-receiving material, so it is heat-treated alone.

However, the amount of water applied to the photothermographic material, ie, the amount of swelling of the photothermographic material, affects the adhesive force when the photothermographic material comes into contact with a heating means. That is, if the amount of swelling is small, the adhesive force increases and the photothermographic material adheres to the heating means during heating, causing dimming.

Therefore, it is necessary to control the water application process so that the amount of swelling greater than a specified amount is obtained in the water application part.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and even if the photothermographic material is heat-treated alone, the photothermographic material will not adhere to the heating means, and jams will not occur in the heating section. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing the leading edge of a heat-developable photosensitive material.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The above object of the present invention is to unwind a roll-shaped photosensitive material housed in a magazine and expose it to light, and apply an image forming solvent to the exposed photosensitive material in an image forming solvent coating section. A photosensitive material tip processing method for photosensitive material during image forming and mounting, in which the image is formed on the image receiving material by being applied, overlaid on the image receiving material, heated in a heat development transfer section to perform development transfer, and then peeled off. This is achieved by a photosensitive material leading edge processing method in which the leading edge of the photosensitive material is transported through each of the processing units and discarded when the solvent temperature and solvent amount in the image forming solvent application section are at predetermined values.

That is, prior to the tip processing of the heat-developable photosensitive material, the solvent temperature and the amount of solvent in the image forming solvent application area are detected,
By performing tip treatment after the solvent temperature and solvent amount reach values that allow a specified swelling amount, an appropriate amount of image forming solvent is applied to the cut and unnecessary tip of the photothermographic material. , it is transported without adhering to the heating means during heating.

In the heat-developable photosensitive material used in the present invention, a mobile dye is released image-wise by heating, and the mobile dye is converted into an image-receiving material (dye-fixing material) having a mordant using an image-forming solvent such as water. Transfer is performed to the image receiving material using a high boiling point organic solvent, transfer is performed to the image receiving material using a hydrophilic heat solvent built into the image receiving material, or the mobile dye is thermally diffusible or transferable to the image receiving material. There are known ones that are sublimable and can be transferred to a dye-receiving material such as a support. Specifically, U.S. Pat.
No. 9, No. 4,474,867, No. 4,478,9
No. 27, No. 4,507,380, No. 4,500,
No. 626, No. 4,483.914, JP-A-58-1
No. 49046, No. 58-149047, No. 59-15
No. 2440, No. 59-154445, No. 59-165
No. 054, No. 59-180548, No. 59=1684
No. 39, same 5! l]-174832, No. 591748
No. 33, No. 59-174834, No. 59-17483
It is disclosed in No. 5, etc.

Further, the image forming solvent includes, for example, water, and this water is not limited to so-called pure water, but includes water in the widely conventional sense. In addition, pure water, methanol, DMF,
A mixed solvent with a low boiling point solvent such as acetone or diisobutyl ketone may be used. Furthermore, a solution containing an image formation accelerator, an antifoggant, a development stopper, a hydrophilic heat solvent, etc. may also be used.

[Embodiment]

Next, preferred embodiments of the image forming method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus in which the method of the present invention is implemented. In this embodiment, the heat-developable photosensitive material is of a type in which an image is transferred and formed on an image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer in the presence of an image-forming solvent such as water.

Inside the housing 12 constituting the image forming apparatus, there is a photosensitive material supply section 13 that stores the photosensitive material A, an image reading section 15 that reads image information carried on the document S, and a latent image formed on the photosensitive material A. an exposure section 16, a water application section 17 that applies water to the photosensitive material A, an image receiving paper supply section 41 that stores the image receiving paper C, a superimposing section 19 that superimposes the image receiving paper C on the photosensitive material A, a photosensitive material A heat development transfer section 21 that heats the photosensitive material A and the image receiving paper C, and a peeling section 23 that separates the image receiving paper C from the photosensitive material A are provided, respectively.

A transparent document support glass plate 14 on which a document S is placed is arranged on the upper surface of the housing 12, and the image reading section 15 is arranged below this document support glass plate 14. That is, the image reading section 15 includes a light source 18 that integrally scans the entire surface of the document supporting glass plate 14, a mirror 2'Oa, and an assembly 30 of an imaging lens/filter unit. Furthermore, mirrors 20b and 20c and fixed mirrors 20d and 20e move in the same direction by Z of the scanning distance of the light source 18 and the like.

2Of, which are surrounded by a partition wall 22,
Optically isolated from other parts. However, in this case, an exposure opening 34 for the exposure section 16 of the photosensitive material A is formed in the partition wall 22 at a portion through which the optical axis 32 of the image reading section 15 reflected by the fixed mirror 2Of passes. A shutter device 35 and a shutter control device 36 are arranged in the exposure opening 34 .

Further, a standard white plate 302 is provided near the original support glass plate 14 so as to be exposed to the light source 18 .

On the other hand, the photosensitive material supply section 13 is provided on the left side of the housing 12 and is kept light-tight. This photosensitive material supply section 13 is loaded with a removable photosensitive material magazine 54 in which photosensitive material A is wound.

The photosensitive material supply section 13 has roller pairs 56a to 56d for conveying the photosensitive material A from the magazine 54 to the exposure section 16. In this case, a cutter 58 for cutting the photosensitive material into predetermined lengths is provided between the roller pair 56a56b. Further, the exposure table 60 disposed between the roller pair 56c56d faces the exposure opening 34 defined on the bottom of the partition wall 22 surrounding the image reading section 15.

In front of the exposure section 16 (hereinafter, the term "front" refers to the downstream side in the direction of travel of the photosensitive material, etc.). ) is provided with a conveyance path consisting of a pair of rollers 56e and a guide plate.

The exposure section 16 performs imagewise exposure on the photosensitive material A to form a latent image, and the photosensitive material A on which the latent image is formed is conveyed to the water application section 17 via the conveyance path.

The water application section 17 is for facilitating the transfer of the latent image formed on the photosensitive material, and is composed of a pair of rollers 56f1, a pair of squeeze rollers 176, a guide plate 172, and a water tank 174. Then, the water tank 174 is filled with water, and the photosensitive material A is transported while being immersed in the water.

The photosensitive material A coated with water is squeezed by a pair of squeeze rollers 176.
It is conveyed to the overlapping section 19 by.

On the other hand, on the right side of the housing 12, a receiving paper supply section 41 for supplying the receiving paper C is provided. The image receiving paper supply section 4
1 is a receiving paper magazine 43 that stores rolled receiving paper C;
is loaded. The image receiving paper C in the magazine 43 is transferred to the roller pair 5.
6h, and cut into a predetermined length by a cutter 44 disposed in front of the pair of rollers 561].

The cut image-receiving paper C is conveyed to the overlapping section 19 by a pair of rollers 561.

In front of the superimposing section 19, a heat development transfer section 21 is provided which heats the superimposed photosensitive materials and the image receiving paper C, develops a latent image on the photosensitive material Δ''2, and transfers it onto the image receiving paper C. .

The heat development transfer section 21 is surrounded by a heat insulating partition wall 62, and is wrapped around a hollow cylindrical heating drum 74 containing a halogen lamp 72 at an angle of about 270° around the outer peripheral surface of the heating drum 74. (The length of the winding is 240mm.
>, an endless belt 84 supported by four belt support rollers 76, 77, 78, 80, and photosensitive material A and image receiving paper C that contact the circumferential surface of the heating drum 74 and are conveyed to the heat development transfer section 21. and a bonding roller 85 for bonding the photosensitive material A and the image receiving paper C before heating.
Heat them while stacking them on top of each other. By this heating, the latent image on the photosensitive material A is developed and transferred onto the image receiving paper C to develop color.

A peeling section 23 is provided within the partition wall 62, and the peeling section 23 includes a first peeling claw 232 for peeling the photosensitive material A from the image receiving paper C, and a first peeling claw 232 for peeling the image receiving paper C from the heating drum 74. It consists of two peeling claws 234 and a roller 56j that discharges the image receiving paper C to the outside of the partition wall 62.

In front of one side of the heat development transfer section 21, there is a waste tray 118 for discarding the heated photosensitive material peeled from the image receiving paper C by the peeling claw 232, and a pair of rollers 56k for supplying the photosensitive material into the waste tray 118. is provided. The waste tray 118 is provided below the heat development transfer section 21 .

Further, in front of the other side of the heat development transfer section 21, there is a take-out tray 120 for storing the heated image receiving paper C and a pair of rollers 56C56m, 56 for conveying the heated image-receiving paper C to the take-out tray 120.
n is provided, and the image-receiving paper C on which the image has been transferred is led out to the take-out tray 120.

Further, a color density detection unit 124 for detecting the color density of the image on the image receiving paper C is arranged between the pair of rollers 56m and 56n. The color density detection unit 124 includes an illumination device 126 that illuminates the image surface of the image receiving paper C, and a color photosensor 128 that receives reflected light from the image receiving paper C due to this illumination.

The apparatus further includes a color density control unit 1 connected to the imaging lens/filter unit assembly 30 and the photosensor 128 and disposed at a suitable location within the housing 12.
50, the color density control unit 150, the photosensitive material supply section 13, the image reading section 15, the drive system for the image reading section 15 (not shown), the receiving paper supply section 41, the cutter 44, 58, the shutter control device 36, A system control device (not shown) is provided which is connected to the water application section 17, the heat development transfer section 21, and the peeling section 23 and controls the entire apparatus.

Next, the tip processing of the photosensitive material will be explained.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a photosensitive material magazine containing photosensitive material A wound into a roll.

The leading end of the stored photosensitive material A protrudes from the magazine 54, and when loaded into the image forming apparatus, the magazine 54
It has become easier to bring out the photosensitive material scientist from within.

Magazine 54 is handled in a bright room, so magazine 5
The tip of the photosensitive material protruding from 4 is exposed.

Further, when a jam occurs in the image forming apparatus and the inside of the image forming apparatus is exposed to a bright room to deal with the jam, the leading end of the photosensitive material protruding from the magazine 54 is exposed to light.

In order to form an image using the image forming apparatus, it is necessary to dispose of the leading end of the photosensitive material protruding from the loaded magazine 54 prior to image formation. Therefore, the photosensitive material A is cut into a predetermined length including the tip of the exposed exposed photosensitive material protruding from the magazine 54, and the cut unnecessary photosensitive material A is conveyed to the water application section 17 and the heat development transfer section 21. After performing each process, the paper is discarded into a waste tray 118. However, this unnecessary photosensitive material A is heat-treated and discarded without being superimposed on the image-receiving paper C.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for performing tip processing,
Control is performed by the control device.

The water application section 17 is equipped with a float sensor that detects the amount of water and a thermistor that detects the water temperature, and tip processing is started based on the water temperature and amount of water in the water application section 17.

First, in step 310, it is determined whether the magazine has been replaced or whether the inside of the image forming apparatus has been opened due to a jam or the like. This determination may be made automatically by providing a sensor in the image forming apparatus, or may be made based on a human input signal from an operation panel. When the magazine is replaced or the image forming apparatus is opened, it is determined that the tip of the photosensitive material A protruding from the magazine 54 needs to be treated.

Next, if tip treatment is required, in step 312, the float sensor detects whether the amount of water in the water applicator 17 is a specified amount. If the amount of water does not reach the specified amount, replenish the water.

Next, after the amount of water in the water application section 17 reaches a specified amount, in step 314, the temperature of the water is detected by a thermistor. If the water temperature in the water application section 17 has not reached the specified temperature, the water is heated to the specified temperature. In the case of the photosensitive material used in this embodiment, the water temperature may be 35° C. or higher.

If it is determined in steps 312 and 314 that the water amount and water temperature exceed the specified values, the photosensitive material A is coated with water in an amount that provides the swelling amount necessary for reliable transportation.
Tip processing then begins at step 316. That is, the driving means for pulling out a predetermined length of the photosensitive material from the magazine 54 and the driving means for the cutter 58 for cutting the photosensitive material A into a predetermined length including the unnecessary portion at the leading end are operated.

As long as the amount and temperature of water in the water application section 17 exceed the specified values, the amount of water applied to the photosensitive material will not be too small. Therefore, even if the photosensitive material A is conveyed alone to the heat development transfer section 21 and subjected to heat treatment, the photosensitive material A will not adhere to the heating drum 74, and will be reliably peeled off from the heating drum 74 after heating and discarded. It is discarded into tray 118.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the amount and temperature of the solvent in the image forming solvent application section are detected, and when these are predetermined values, the leading end of the photothermographic material is transported to each processing section of the image forming apparatus. Since the heat-developable photosensitive material is coated with an appropriate amount of solvent, the heat-developable photosensitive material does not adhere to the heating means when it is heat-treated. It is possible to prevent jamming and ensure reliable tip processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a magazine, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of control for leading edge processing. Reference numbers in the figure: 10 Image recording device 12 Housing 13
Photosensitive material supply section 14 Document support glass plate 15 Image reading section 17
Water application section 18 Light source 19 Overlapping section 21 Heat development transfer section 23 Peeling section 30 Imaging lens/filter unit assembly 32 Optical axis 36 Shutter control device 41 Receiving paper supply section 43 Receiving paper magazine 44.58 Cutter 54 Photosensitive material Magazines 56a to 56n Roller pair 60 Exposure table 72 Halogen lamp 74 Heating drum 76.77.7
8.80 Belt support roller 84 Endless belt 85 Pasting roller 118 Waste tray 120 Take-out tray 124 Color density detection unit 126 Lighting device 128
Color photo sensor 150 Color density control unit 172 Guide plate 180-1! A water-based roller 182 Water-absorbing paper plate 234 Peeling claw A Photosensitive material 181 Roller 183 Guide plate 302 White plate C image-receiving paper

Claims (1)

[Claims] A roll-shaped photosensitive material housed in a magazine is fed out and exposed, and the exposed photosensitive material is coated with an image forming solvent in an image forming solvent coating section, and then overlapped with an image receiving material and heated in a heat development transfer section. A method for processing the leading edge of a photosensitive material in an image forming apparatus for obtaining an image on an image receiving material by peeling off both after development and transfer, wherein the solvent temperature and solvent amount in the image forming solvent application area are set to predetermined values. A method for processing a leading edge of a photosensitive material, in which the leading edge of the photosensitive material is transported through each of the processing units and discarded.