The Mead Corporation

Erik K Nelson

David A Boyer

Edward J Saccocio

Michael E Demarchi

Jack Beery

Joseph G O'Connor

Donald L Head

John J Shelton

Benjamin C Stone

Karl A Kintz

T Kay Kiser

Russell K Messer, Ii

Carl W McCrary, Jr

An apparatus is for glossing a sheet having a thermoplastic resin on the surface thereof. The thermoplastic resin is capable of forming a film which imparts gloss upon the application of heat. The apparatus includes a sheet support, a first pair of rollers for feeding the sheet onto the sheet support wherein the resin side of the sheet is away from the sheet support, heating elements, a blower for blowing air through the heating elements to generate hot air which is blown onto the sheet, and a second pair of cold rollers for receiving the sheet after passage over the sheet support.

Hot air apparatus for glossing sheets

A two roll pressure developer for a microencapsulated web or medial material includes rolls which have a support shaft through the center, a hollow annular shell, and load-bearing elastomer material between the shaft and the shell supporting the shell and controlling the deflection of the shaft under development loads. The elastomer material is formed as a plurality of discrete annular segments with inside diameters mounted on the shaft and outer diameters mounted in the shell. The segments are distributed along the length of the shaft so as to provide the roll with a variable modulus of elasticity which is highest at the axial center of the shaft and lower at the ends. In one embodiment, the segments are identical in width and are varied in pitch or axial spacing. In another embodiment, the segments are spaced at the same pitch but are varied in axial thickness. In a third embodiment, the segments are of equal size and spacing and are formed with a modulus of elasticity which is greatest at the axial center of the roll, and progressively lower toward the roll ends.

Pressure developer and rolls therefor having segments of elastomeric

A method and apparatus for color correction while exposing a photosensitive material are disclosed. The material comprises a supportive substrate which is at least partially transmissive and has a layer of microcapsules on the surface thereof. The microcapsules contain a color precursor and a photohardenable or photosoftenable composition. The substrate is positioned on or near a reflective surface having greater reflectivity within a selected wavelength band. An exposure beam is directed onto the substrate, whereby at least a portion of the beam passes through the substrate to the reflective surface. Since the surface reflects a greater portion of the light within the selected band, color correction is achieved.

Color-correcting exposure system for a photosensitive media

A pressure roll is disclosed particularly for fixing and developing sheet material which is treated by passing through a high pressure nip defined by a pair of the rolls. The roll includes a support shaft and a cylindrical roll body secured to the shaft. To produce a uniform force along the pressure nip when a pair of the rolls are placed under load, the body is formed from a body material having a modulus of elasticity which varies as a function of position along the length of said body. The body is encased in a cylindrical shell.

Pressure development roll for imaging sheets employing photosensitive

A laser-addressed liquid crystal cell is disclosed for recording image information in the form of a plurality of marks selectively positioned in accordance with a predefined pattern of pixels. The cell includes a layer of a liquid crystal material, and an infrared radiation absorbing material for producing heat in response to infrared radiation to create the marks by forming scattering regions in the liquid crystal material. A mark positioning layer is included, having infrared transmissive material and infrared non-transmissive material. These material are arranged within the mark positioning layer such that one of these two materials defines a series of discrete elements corresponding to the pattern of pixels. Such material is surrounded within the positioning layer by the other of the two materials.

Laser-addressable liquid crystal cell having mark positioning layer

The present invention provides an imaging process wherein the pressure application developer means is not contaminated during pressure development. The process involves an imaging web including a support having a layer on the surface thereof of photosensitive microcapsules including an internal phase of a photohardenable photosensitive composition and a color former. The imaging web is image-wise exposed to a first source of actinic radiation to form an image area; this exposure defines a border area in the web comprising the areas of the imaging web surrounding the image area. The image area of the imaging web is contacted with an opaque receiver sheet. The border area is then uniformly exposed to a second source of actinic radiation to harden the microcapsules in the border area. The entire surface of the imaging sheet is then subjected to a uniform rupturing force such that the microcapsules rupture and release the internal phase in accordance with the image-wise exposure to react with the developer material associated with the imaging sheet or the receiver sheet to produce an image.

Imaging process involving hardening of imaging web border area

The present invention relates to a high resolution full color exposure device using electronically generated masks, from computer output, for color separations which yield full color hard-copy. A blue color separation is electronically generated and a photosensitive material is exposed to a first wavelength through the blue color separation. A green color separation is then electronically generated and the same photosensitive material is exposed to a second wavelength through the green separation. A red color separation is electronically generated and the same photosensitive material is exposed to a third wavelength through the red color separation. Upon development of the photosensitive material, a full color image is formed.

High resolution full color exposure device using an electronically

A three-roll press for a web including a pair of pressing rolls forming a nip and a pressure roll bearing on one of the pressing rolls in which the deflection curve of one of the pressing rolls is matched to that of the other pressing roll by the application of a biasing force to the one pressing roll urging its end toward the pressure roll by an amount which is proportional to the internal moment in the one pressing roll at locations corresponding to the edges of a web in the nip therebetween. A compensating spring is employed to urge the one pressing roll toward the pressure roll. The pressing roll may be a crowned roll or a skewed roll.

Pressure compensated single nip three-roll press

A web transport and metering system provides the continuous delivery of a web to a developer while providing intermittent delivery of the web to an exposure station. An exposure station is defined between a pair of spaced-apart rolls, and a supply of web material leads to the exposure station over a loop-forming roller carried on a movable carriage or truck. A second loop-forming roller on the carriage receives the web from the second roll of the exposure station and delivers the web to a continuously running developer. The carriage is movable on guides or tracks parallel to the plane of the exposure station between first and second positions, which positions are defined by limit switches which operate a controllable brake on one of the exposure station rolls to interrupt movement of the web at the exposure station. During such interrupted movement, the developer draws web material from the second loop, and the movement of the carriage pulls web material into the first loop. A tension or return spring on the carriage causes the carriage to return to its first movement, when the brake at the exposure station is released, thereby causing translation of the web material through the exposure station and out of the first loop into the second loop. A tension drag or brake on the supply roll assures a desired tension in the web throughout the loops, and permits continuous feed through the loops to the continuous developer, when the exposure station brake is released. The invention further includes a means of reversing the system to reduce the material usage on single exposure runs.

Web transport system

Methods and apparatus for pressure developing imaging sheets are described. In a three roll embodiment, first and second rolls are journaled into a housing to form a nip for rupturing microcapsules on the surface of an imaging sheet as it is passed through the nip. Such rolls are aligned at a slight skew angle and are resiliently pressed into one another by means of a third roll supported at a skew angle relative to the roll it contacts. In a two roll embodiment, the first and second rolls are crowned and pressed into contact with one another to present a uniform nip. In a four roll embodiment, the first and second rolls are aligned in parallel with each other, while a skewed roll backs up each of the first and second rolls. The backup rolls may alternatively be crowned. In any embodiment, the imaging sheet is directed into the nip to contact one roll at an angle of arc along the roll ahead of the nip. The nip may be defined partially open in the absence of a sheet, and the pressure rolls may be formed from hardened and chrome plated steel.

Pressure development apparatus for imaging sheets employing

A method and apparatus for cutting imaging sheets including a layer of photohardenable microcapsules without discoloring along the cut edge wherein the line along which the sheet is to be cut is exposed to actinic radiation.

Method for cutting imaging sheets containing photosensitive microcapsules

Imaging sheets having a coating containing chromogenic material and a photosensitive composition with at least the photosensitive composition encapsulated in rupturable microcapsules as an internal phase are processed by contacting the imaging sheets with a traveling pile formed by magnetically attractable free particles on a magnetic brush to rupture the microcapsules coating the surfaces of the imaging sheets by means of a soft pliable brushing action of the pile against the imaging sheets.

Growing community of inventors

Centerville, OH, United States of America

Erik K Nelson