JPH06337520A - Plate making device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a plate making device which does not need an intermediate medium required for making a machine plate and which copes with the difference of a machine plate size caused by the difference of the specification of a rotary press. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a plate material supply part 1 capable of supplying two or more kinds of electrophotographic sensitive plate material having different size, an electrification part 3 performing specified electrification processing to the electrophotographic photoreceptor plate material on an optimum condition corresponding to the machine plate size by receiving plate material size control information on the electrophotographic photoreceptor plate material from the supply part 1, a plotting part 2 exposing image information by performing raster scanning to the electrified electrophotographic photoreceptor plate material, a developing part 4 developing the exposed electrophotographic photoreceptor plate material with liquid toner, etc., and a fixing part 5 eluting a non-exposed part and performing offset printing feasible processing to an exposed part. Furthermore, it is provided with a punch part 6 and a bender part 7 for working the electrophotographic photoreceptor printing plate material so that it can be put in the rotary press.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate making apparatus, which can automatically supply a sheet-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive plate material based on a metal such as aluminum and continuously perform a predetermined process. Regarding the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a sheet-shaped electrophotographic photosensitive member, a so-called electronic plate-making photographic system is used which produces a printing original plate (PS plate in the case of offset printing) from a master copy original by a camera system. Was there. This block copy document is created by directly or indirectly exposing the image of the block copy document to a silver salt characteristic light-sensitive material to form an image containing fine dots, and by using an exposure light source such as a laser to electronically print silver. There is a method of directly creating an image containing fine dots by digitally exposing a salt characteristic light-sensitive material.

Among them, the first method for directly or indirectly exposing an image of a master copy original to a silver salt characteristic light-sensitive material to form an image containing fine dots, first, includes a sticking operation, create. After that, a printing original is prepared by this blank printing original, and a silver salt photosensitive material having a transmission characteristic is used for the original printing plate. The processing of a photograph having a continuous tone density in a printed document is performed by a so-called screen method (the density difference is expressed by the size of a halftone dot area). Then, a method of making a PS plate by using an original plate made of the above silver salt photosensitive material as a printing original plate has been adopted.

In the second method, a copy copy original is created by a computer. In this, a halftone image or a character image input by a scanner or the like is electronically edited by a computer to produce a proof corresponding to one page. After that, a master copy of the silver salt photosensitive material is output from the image recording device (plotter) via the communication circuit.

In any of the methods, it is necessary to have an original copy (generally, a silver salt photosensitive material is mainly used) as an intermediate medium.

[0006]

However, in order to create a PS plate in the conventional example, a block copy document as an intermediate medium is required. Therefore, the image recording apparatus (plotter) for creating the block copy document is mainly used. An image recording subsystem that
A printing manuscript subsystem composed of an electronic plate-making device for PS plate production is required, resulting in high production cost, and to meet the demands of printers and the like who want to obtain a printing master plate easily and at low cost. It was hard to say that they were satisfied.

In order to satisfy the above requirements, simple and direct plate making apparatuses are being devised, but these apparatuses have problems in printing durability performance, and in many cases, they conform to rotary press specifications. It has been a characteristic that it is impossible to make two or more kinds of plate making with different plate sizes.

[0008]

It is an object of the present invention to improve the disadvantages of the above-mentioned conventional examples, in particular, to use an OPC plate having photoconductive characteristics, to eliminate the need for an intermediate medium required for making a printing plate, and to have different rotary press specifications. It is an object of the present invention to provide a plate making apparatus capable of coping with a difference in plate size due to the above.

[0009]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In the present invention, a plate material supplying section capable of supplying two or more kinds of electrophotographic photosensitive plate materials having different plate material sizes formed in accordance with the specifications of a rotary press, and the plate material are provided. A charging unit that receives plate material size control information of the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material from the supply unit and performs a predetermined charging process on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material under optimum conditions corresponding to the plate material size, and is charged. A drawing section that exposes image information on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material by raster scanning, a developing section that develops the exposed electrophotographic photosensitive plate material with liquid toner, etc., and a non-exposed section is eluted to offset print on the exposed section. It is equipped with a fixing unit that performs possible processing.

Further, a punch section and a vent section for processing the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material for incorporation into a rotary press are provided.
It takes the structure. This aims to achieve the above-mentioned object.

[0011]

[Operation] Next, when a "plate material set signal" from the outside (not shown) is input to the plate material supply unit, one of multiple types of plate materials is automatically operated according to a predetermined "plate material size selection signal". And is supplied to the drawing section by a plate material suction mechanism (not shown). The plate material supplied to the drawing unit is positioned with high accuracy by a plate material setting mechanism (not shown), moves in a predetermined direction at a high speed and at a constant speed, and its surface is uniformly charged by the charger to return to the original position. An image signal from the outside (not shown) is input to the image processing unit in synchronization with this series of movement operations. Then, the laser light source is turned on / off by the image signal optimized for the lightning condition, whereby a latent image is formed on the plate material.

The plate material on which the latent image is formed is sent to the developing section by a plate material discharging mechanism (not shown). The developing portion is irradiated with the liquid toner, and in the case of the reversal developing method, the liquid toner is attached to the exposing portion and becomes in a visible state. After that, processing is performed on the toner application section and the non-application section in the fixing section to make a printing plate capable of offset printing, and the punching section and the bending section are subjected to perforation and edge bending processing that can be set on the rotary press. , The plate material is automatically and continuously stored in the plate material stock section.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a plate material supply unit 1 capable of supplying two or more kinds of electrophotographic photosensitive plate materials 13 or 14 having different plate material sizes, which are formed according to the specifications of a rotary press, and the plate material. Charging for receiving plate material size control information of the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 from the supply unit 1 and performing a predetermined charging process on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 under optimum conditions corresponding to the plate material size. Part 3, a drawing unit 2 that exposes image information to the charged electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 by raster scanning, and development that develops the exposed electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 with liquid toner or the like. The apparatus includes a section 4 and a fixing section 5 that elutes the non-exposed area and performs offset printing on the exposed area.

Further, a punch section 6 and a vent section 7 for processing the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 so as to be incorporated in a rotary press are provided.

The drawing unit 2 also receives an image information from the outside, performs a predetermined signal processing, and outputs the image processing unit 21.
And a laser beam which is activated by an output signal from the image processing section 21 to convert the output signal into a laser beam and expose predetermined image information on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material 13 or 14 by raster scanning. And a conversion output unit 22.

This will be described in more detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the plate material supply unit 1 has plate material loading platforms 11, 1 at two locations, for example.
2 are provided, and a plurality of plates 13 (or 14) of a predetermined size (in this case, for example, an OPC plate) are set on each of the loading platforms 11 and 12 (usually about 100). .

Next, when a "plate material set signal" from the outside (not shown) is input to the plate material supply section 1, either plate material 13 or 14 is automatically operated according to a predetermined "plate material size selection signal". And is supplied to the drawing unit 2 by a plate material suction mechanism (not shown). The plate material 13 (or 14) supplied to the drawing unit 2 is mounted on the plate table 24.

The plate material 13 (or 14) thus mounted is
It is positioned with high precision by a plate material setting mechanism (not shown) which is mounted on the plate stand 24 in advance, and vacuum suction is performed. Then, the plate stand 24 on which the plate material 13 (or 14) is set is
It moves to the left in FIG. 1 at a high speed and at a constant speed. At that time,
Since the charger 31 mounted on the charging unit 3 is corona-discharged at a high pressure, the surface of the plate material 13 (or 14) is uniformly charged. When the charging operation is completed, the platen 24 immediately moves in the direction opposite to the charging operation (rightward in FIG. 1). This moving speed can be changed according to the sub-scanning density of drawing. (For example, in the case of 909 [dpi], about 38
[Mm / sec]).

In synchronization with this moving operation, an image signal from the outside (not shown) is input to the image processing unit 21 (generally, an image storage unit is provided to realize the multi-printing function). The laser light source (semiconductor laser or the like) 22A is turned on / off (ON / OFF) by the image signal optimized for the lightning condition. The laser light output from the laser light source 22A is a rotary polygon mirror 22B (or a galvano mirror may be used).
The plate material 13 is deflected by the folding mirror 22C.
(Or 14) is exposed to thereby expose the plate material 13 (or 1).
4) A latent image is formed on it. Plate material 13 on which a latent image is formed
(Or 14) is sent to the developing unit 4 by a plate material discharging mechanism (not shown).

In the developing section 4, the liquid toner 41 is irradiated onto the plate material 13 (or 14) by the ejection means 42,
In the case of the reversal developing method, the liquid toner 41 is attached to the exposed portion and becomes visible. After that, processing is performed on the toner application section and the non-application section in the fixing section 5 to form a plate capable of offset printing, and punching and edge bending processing that can be set on the rotary press by the punch section 6 and the bender section 7. The plate material is automatically and continuously stored in the plate material stock portion 8.

According to this method, since the production process is entirely fully automated, it is possible to obtain an OPC plate having extremely high quality and excellent printing durability. In addition, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to store two or more kinds of electrophotographic photoreceptor plate materials (OPC plates) having photoconductive characteristics and having different sizes in the plate material supply unit. Furthermore, even if there are differences in the specifications of the rotary press, they can be used in common, so the device configuration is simple, compact, and highly versatile. Further, since the OPC plates of the same size can be stored, more than twice as many OPC plates as the conventional one can be continuously produced without the plate material replenishment, and the complicated work such as the plate material replenishment work is reduced.

Furthermore, since a metal material such as aluminum is used as the base material of the OPC plate, it is possible to obtain a high-quality printing original plate while having high printing durability. Further, the base material such as aluminum is relatively lightweight and has excellent workability even when set on a rotary press.

[0023]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention is constructed and functions as described above. Therefore, according to this, two or more kinds of electrophotographic photosensitive plate materials (OPC plates) having photoconductive characteristics and having different sizes are used. Since it can be stored in the plate material supply section, it can be used in common even if there are differences in the specifications of the rotary press, so the device configuration is simple and, therefore, versatility can be improved and the same size OPC plates can also be stored, making it possible to continuously create OPC plates that are more than twice the conventional OPC plates without the need to replenish plate materials, thus reducing the need for complicated work such as plate material replenishment work. A device can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Plate Material Supply Section 2 Drawing Section 3 Charging Section 4 Developing Section 5 Fixing Section 6 Punch Section 7 Bender Section 8 Stock Section 21 Image Processing Section 22 Laser Light Conversion Output Section 13, 14 Electrophotographic Photosensitive Plate Material

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plate material supply section capable of supplying two or more kinds of electrophotographic photosensitive plate materials having different plate material sizes formed in conformity with rotary press specifications, and an electrophotographic photosensitive plate from the plate material supply section. A charging unit that receives plate material size control information of the material and performs a predetermined charging process on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material under optimum conditions corresponding to the plate material size, and a raster for the charged electrophotographic photosensitive plate material. A drawing unit that exposes image information by scanning, a developing unit that develops an exposed electrophotographic photosensitive plate material with liquid toner or the like, and a fixing unit that elutes a non-exposed region and performs offset printable processing on the exposed region. And a punch section and a vent section for processing the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material so that it can be incorporated into a rotary press. 2. An image processing unit in which the drawing unit receives image information from the outside, performs predetermined signal processing and outputs the image signal, and the output signal from the image processing unit is activated by the image processing unit. 2. The plate making apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a laser light conversion output unit that converts the light into laser light and exposes predetermined image information on the electrophotographic photosensitive plate material by raster scanning.