Fuji Photo Film Company, Limited

Atsuhiro Doi

Hiroyuki Kohda

Kohji Uchida

Yasuhiro Endo

Hiroshi Inoue

Shigeru Tanaka

Toshiya Kojima

Tomonori Nishio

Takatoshi Otsu

An image forming apparatus includes a heating drum image forming material supply device that feeds the image forming material in the form of a roll and winds the image forming material to the heating drum, a photosensitive material supply device that feeds the photosensitive material in the form of a roll and conveys the photosensitive material to an exposure section, and a laminating section which laminates the photosensitive film and image forming film onto the heating drum, and a take up device for the used photosensitive material.

Image forming apparatus having a compact size

A sheet material supplying apparatus having a low-cost sucker adsorbing unit of a simple structure is provided for the carrying of sheet materials that are used under a high-humidity environment or that include humidity, to ensure a proper separation of each sheet material. Sheet materials accommodated in a tray are being sandwiched between a push-up panel and an engagement claw. At the time of taking out the sheet materials from the tray, the push-up panel is pressed down by a cam to cancel the state of sandwiching between the engagement claw and the push-up panel. Accordingly, only the top layer sheet material is taken out from the tray, with the rest of the lower layer sheet materials being dropped by their self-weight. Further, the sheet materials are carried by the sucker adsorbing unit. When a sucker adsorbing a sheet material by a negative pressure has moved to a carrying roller, a sucker supporting section is elastically deformed by a sucker pressing unit, so that the negative pressure within the sucker can be cancelled. Accordingly, a complex control system is not required for cancelling the negative pressure.

Sheet material supplying apparatus

An image recording apparatus, in which a necessary place can be suitably exposed by simple operation and the workability of inspection, maintenance and the like improves, is obtained. In the image recording apparatus, an upper cover is rotatably connected to and supported at a base stand by an intermediate hinge. Accordingly, there are a first stage opened/closed state, in which the upper cover opens and closes around a supporting shaft, and a second stage opened/closed state, in which the upper cover integrally opens and closes along with the intermediate hinge around another supporting shaft. In the second stage opened state, the inner portion of the base stand is exposed by a large amount, the distal end portion of a stage is lifted, and further, the holding of a supply magazine and a take-up magazine is released. As a result, the innermost place within the apparatus is exposed and the workability of inspection and maintenance, such as replacement of the supply magazine or the take-up magazine, improves.

Image recording apparatus

An image recording device in which an image is exposed onto a photosensitive material, and an image forming solvent is applied thereto, and an image receiving material is superposed thereon, and then heat development transfer is carried out so as to obtain an image on the image receiving material, comprising: a fixed stage which holds the photosensitive material; an application unit which applies the image forming solvent to the photosensitive material; a superposing unit which superposes the image receiving material on the photosensitive material; a connecting tool which connects the application unit and the superposing unit such that the units are moved integrally with one of the units in front of the other; and a squeeze roller which is disposed between the application unit and the superposing unit and is moved in accordance with the integral movement thereof, wherein as the application unit and the superposing unit are moved such that the application unit is positioned in front of the superposing unit, the image forming solvent is applied to the photosensitive material by the application unit, the applied photosensitive material is squeezed by the squeeze roller, and the image receiving material is superposed by the superposing unit on the squeezed photosensitive material. Since the stage is used in common for application and superposition in this way, the image recording device can be made more compact.

Image recording device

An exposure device includes: at least three light-emitting elements for respectively emitting light of mutually different colors and forming a slit beam; an optical shutter array in which a plurality of optical shutter elements for allowing the slit beam incident thereupon to be transmitted therethrough or shut off as the optical shutter elements are opened or closed, and being provided in a number corresponding to the number of pixels constituting a row of pixels in a scanning line of the photosensitive material along a direction corresponding to the cross-sectionally longitudinal direction of the slit beam; and a control member for controlling the light-emitting elements and the optical shutter array such that an amount of exposure applied to a predetermined pixel on the photosensitive material becomes substantially equal to an amount of exposure of a corresponding pixel of color image data. Since the light-emitting elements and the optical shutter array are controlled by the control member such that the amount of exposure applied to a predetermined pixel on the photosensitive material becomes substantially equal to the amount of exposure of a corresponding pixel of the color image data, it is unnecessary to provide a movable portion such as a filter cylinder for converting the white light into R light, G light, and B light.

Exposure device utilizing differently colored light emitting elements

An image recording apparatus is designed to decrease the size of an exposure unit, thereby allowing the exposure unit to move within a narrow space between an original document and a photosensitive material, to facilitate color adjustment and density adjustment, to provide a high resolution at low costs, and to prevent light fogging. The exposure unit is moved between a stage and a document table which hold a photosensitive material and an original document, respectively, so as to copy the image of the original document onto the photosensitive material by scanning exposure. An LED light source comprises three groups of light emitting elements which respectively emit blue, green and red colors, and a light beam from the LED light source is irradiated such that the light beam extends in a direction parallel to the original document and perpendicular to the direction of movement of the exposure unit (the forward and backward direction of the stage). The irradiated light is reflected by the original document and is caused to reach to a slit-like area of the photosensitive material through a SELFOC lens for exposure. Further, a mask member is moved together with the exposure unit so as to provide a light shield on both sides off the exposure unit in the direction of movement thereof, thereby preventing light fogging.

Image recording apparatus having a mask member moving together with an

An image forming solution applicator which is formed of a flexible, porous material, and which can absorb and hold an image forming solution supplied from an external portion, and from which absorbed and held image forming solution flows out due to the applicator contacting an image recording material, and which applies the image forming solution to the image recording material by moving while contacting the image recording material. An average porosity of a portion of the applicator to which the image forming solution is supplied is greater than an average porosity of a portion of the applicator which contacts the image recording material. Accordingly, supplied image forming solution smoothly penetrates into the applicator, and is quickly absorbed and stably retained by the applicator.

Image forming solution applicator, image forming solution application

An exposure head for use in an image recording apparatus includes a plurality of light-emitting elements such as LEDs or LDs supported on a support for emitting respective light beams, and a single optical system for focusing the light beams onto a recording medium. The support and the optical system are movable in unison in an auxiliary scanning direction along an image recording drum which is rotatable in a main scanning direction transverse to the auxiliary scanning direction and carries the recording medium wound therearound.

Exposure head for image recording apparatus

An exposure head for use in a an image recording apparatus includes a plurality of light-emitting elements such as LEDs or LDs supported on a support for emitting respective light beams, and a single optical system for focusing the light beams onto a recording medium. The support and the optical system are movable in unison in an auxiliary scanning direction along an image recording drum which is rotatable in a main scanning direction transverse to the auxiliary scanning direction and carries the recording medium wound therearound.

A belt meandering motion correcting device includes a belt tension enhancer for enhancing the tension of a side of the belt which undergoes a deviation, and a control roller around which the belt is wound and which allows a side portion of the belt where tension has increased to be displaced toward the downstream side in the moving direction of the belt. Accordingly, a side portion of the control roller on the side where tension has been enhanced, i.e., the side where a deviation has occurred, is displaced toward the downstream side in the moving direction of the belt, and is thereby guided in an opposite direction to the deviating direction of the belt.

Belt meandering motion correction device

An exposure head for use in an image recording apparatus records a two-dimensional image on a photosensitive medium by scanning the photosensitive medium with light beams modulated by image information in a main scanning direction while the photosensitive medium is being moved in an auxiliary direction transverse to the main scanning direction. The exposure head has a light source for emitting the light beams, and an aperture member disposed between the light source and the photosensitive medium and having a plurality of apertures defined therein for passing the light beams respectively therethrough, each of the apertures being shorter in the main scanning direction and longer in the auxiliary scanning direction. Each of the apertures has a width smaller than that of a corresponding one of light-emitting areas of the light source. The light source comprises a plurality of light-emitting devices for emitting the light beams, respectively, and a light-shielding member is disposed between adjacent two of the light sources. Each of the apertures is progressively tapered from one of the light sources toward the photosensitive medium. Alternatively, a plurality of optical filters may be positioned respectively over open ends of the apertures closer to the photosensitive medium for selectively passing the light beams of respective wavelengths emitted from the light sources aligned respectively with the apertures.

Exposure head

An image recorder which requires a smaller amount of space for installation and which employs a simplified structure and eliminates moving parts in an image recording section. A recording head is provided having three linear arrays of light-emitting elements, such as light-emitting diodes, emitting light in the three primary colors RGB and arranged in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which a color photosensitive material is conveyed. The light-emitting elements of each array may be mounted on a respective flat plate base along side edge faces thereof. The side edge faces of the various bases are arranged opposite to one another.

Image recorder using recording head

The relation between an input energy at a thermal head and recording density in a thermographical recording system varies inconveniently by the ambient temperature or the head temperature, and moreover, the slope of the relation varies by the temperatures. Therefore, even if the input energy at the thermal head alone is precisely and minutely controlled, it is heretofore difficult to obtain the desired recording density if the temperature fluctuates. Even if the temperature at the thermal head is detected by a temperature sensor, and compensation is made based on the detected temperature, it is still difficult to achieve recording of high quality because there inevitably arise a time lag between the detected temperature and the real temperature of a heating resistor which is recording images. This invention method enables high quality recording by estimating a real temperature at the heating resistor out of detected temperatures obtained with a temperature sensor and compensating the temperature based upon the estimated temperature.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Atsuhiro Doi