Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd.

Ichiro Watanabe

Makoto Hirosawa

Hiroshi Okamoto

Hideaki Ogawa

Koichi Isono

Hiroyuki Fujisawa

Yuji Kurokawa

Keisuke Hirayama

An image recording apparatus () causes a recording head () to move through a distance corresponding to one half of the recording width of the recording head () in a sub-scanning direction each time a recording drum () makes one rotation. This, light emitting devices () record two line data in advance, and thereafter following light emitting devices () record the same line data repeatedly at the same position. This increases the energy of laser light beams given to a recording position on a printing plate (P) to accomplish the recording of an image with reliability. The recording speed is not extremely decreased because not all light emitting devices (to) are used to make the repeated recordings at the same position on the printing plate (P). Further, the construction of optical systems and driving systems in the image recording apparatus is not complicated.

Apparatus for and method of recording image

A plate fixed to a recording drum is irradiated with a laser beam emitted from an objective lens of a recording head, to generate gas. The recording head has a gas diffusion/suction unit forming an air stream in front of the objective lens. Further, a second suction unit elongated along the rotational axis of the recording drum is arranged between a transport unit supplying the plate to the recording drum and the recording head. Thus, it is possible to prevent the gas not only from contaminating the objective lens but also from diffusing in a housing following rotation of the recording drum. Consequently, an image recorder employing a photosensitive material generating gas in reaction to heat resulting from the laser beam emitted from the recording head can minimize contamination of the recording head, the transport unit etc. arranged in the housing of the apparatus with the gas.

Image recorder

Growing community of inventors

Kyoto, Japan

Ichiro Watanabe