JPH0424636A - Image forming device using heat developable sensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deterioration of the sensitivity or heat developable characteristic a part where an image is not exposed by incorporating a mechanism so that a sensitive material where the image is not exposed is not heated by a thermal developing part. CONSTITUTION:This image forming device is provided with the mechanism so that the heating device 2 of the thermal developing part is covered with a heat insulating material. In other words, the part where the image is exposed of the heat developable sensitive material 7 is heated and developed by the heating device for thermally developing 2 through the hollowed hole part of the heat insulating material 3. However, the part where the image is not exposed following to the heated and developed part is prevented from being heated by the unhollowed part of the heat insulating material 3. Thus, the deterioration of the sensitivity or heat developable characteristic of the part where the image is not exposed of the heat developable sensitive material 7 is prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming images using a continuous photothermographic material.

[Technical Background and Problems of the Invention] As an example of a heat-developable photosensitive material having a photosensitive layer on a support that includes a photosensitive element whose transfer characteristics of a color image-forming material change depending on exposure upon exposure and heat development. contains at least a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color image forming substance on a support, as described in, for example, JP-A No. 61275742; Examples include photosensitive materials having a photosensitive composition characterized in that the forming substances are contained in the same microcapsules.

A method of forming an image using such a heat-developable photosensitive material is described in JP-A-61-278849. In this method, a heat-developable photosensitive material is first subjected to imagewise exposure to form a latent image of silver halide, and then heated to develop the silver halide in the area where the latent image was formed, and at the same time, a polymerizable compound is The microcapsules are cured by polymerization, and then the microcapsules are layered with an image-receiving material and pressurized to transfer the color image-forming substance together with the polymerizable compound to form an image on the image-receiving material. An imaging substance is transferred onto an image-receiving material to form an image.

On the other hand, a method of forming an image by transferring the color image-forming material of the exposed portion onto an image-receiving material is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-81635, Japanese Patent Application No. 1-54101, etc. has been done.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Regarding image forming apparatuses that obtain images according to such a method, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 62-147461 and 62-2491 disclose
As described in each publication No. 63, when continuous heat-developable photosensitive materials are processed using these devices, the photosensitive material that has not been image-exposed following the image-exposed area is heated by the heat-developing section. Since it is heated by the device, the photosensitivity or heat developability deteriorates, and even if image exposure and heat development are performed, only poor images can be obtained, which has been a problem.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that forms images using a continuous heat-developable photosensitive material, the image forming apparatus incorporating a mechanism that prevents the photosensitive material that has not been image-exposed from being heated in a heat developing section. It is to provide.

[Means to solve the problem]

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention uses a continuous heat-developable photosensitive material having a photosensitive layer on a support, which includes a photosensitive element whose transfer characteristics of a color image-forming material change depending on the exposure, by exposure to light and heat development. In an image forming apparatus for continuous heat-developable photosensitive materials, the image-exposed photosensitive material is heated and thermally developed after exposure, and the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material are overlapped and pressed to form an image on the image-receiving material. Immediately after the image forming apparatus passes through, the heating device of the heat developing section is covered with a heat insulating material to prevent the subsequent photosensitive material that has not been image-exposed from being heated. The objectives of the invention have been achieved.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus using the photothermographic material of the present invention. The support has a photosensitive layer containing a photosensitive element whose transfer characteristics of a color image-forming material change depending on the exposure upon exposure to light and heat development, and a continuous heat-sensitive layer wound around a heat-developable photosensitive material delivery roller 5. The developing photosensitive material 7 is exposed to the light from the light source 1, and the original image 14 placed on the original image stand 13 is exposed to the light from the light source 1.
The image is exposed by the exposure device 12 using the reflected light from the image. Next, the image-exposed photothermographic material 7 is heated and thermally developed by the heat development heating device 2, and is overlapped with the image receiving material 8 and pressed by the pressure transfer device 4, so that the photothermographic material 7 is contained in the photothermographic material. The color image-forming material is transferred to the image-receiving material 8 in response to exposure to form an image. The heat-developable photosensitive material 7 and the image-receiving material 8, which are compatible with each other, are separated by a separating device 9, and the image-receiving material 7 on which the image has been formed is transferred to the output image tray 10, and the used photothermographic material 7 is transferred to the output image tray 10. The used photothermographic material is taken up by a take-up roller 6.

In such an image forming process, the image-exposed portion of the heat-developable photosensitive material 7 is heated by the heat-developing heating device 2 through the hollow hole portion of the heat insulating material 1 shown in FIG. 2, and is thermally developed. However, the subsequent image-unexposed portions are protected from heating by the unperforated portions of the heat insulating material 1.

This mechanism prevents deterioration of the photosensitivity or heat developability of the portions of the heat-developable photosensitive material 7 that have not been image-exposed, so that the photosensitive material 7 that has been image-exposed and heat-developed can be prevented from deteriorating. Immediately after the end passes through the pressure transfer device 4 and the image-formed image-receiving material 7 is completely separated by the separation device 9, the photothermographic material delivery roller 5 is reversed to wind the photothermographic material 7. It is now possible to return the photothermographic material 7 and use the portion that has not been image exposed, and the photothermographic material 7 can be used effectively without waste.

Note that FIG. 2 shows the structure of the heat insulating material 3 in FIG. 1 in more detail, and the heat insulating material 3 in FIG. 1 and the heat insulating material 1 in FIG. 2 are the same.

Although specific examples of the image forming apparatus of the present invention have been shown in the embodiments above, the present invention is not limited thereto.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a more detailed basic configuration of an embodiment of the heat insulating material which is a feature of the present invention. The numbers in the figure mean the following. 1. Light source 2. Heating device for thermal development 3, heat insulating material 4. Pressure transfer device 5, photothermographic material delivery roller 6, used photothermographic material take-up roller 7, continuous photothermographic material 8, image receiving material 9. Separation device 10, output image tray 12. Exposure device 13, original picture stand
14. Original picture 21, insulation material 22. Roller 23, roller 24. Roller 25, Roller Patent Applicant Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. Procedural Amendment (Voluntary) Date 1990 1゜Indication of the Case 1990 Patent Application No. 128708 2゜Name of the Invention Image forming apparatus using heat-developable photosensitive material 3゜Relationship with the case of the person making the amendment

Claims (1)

[Claims] A continuous heat-developable photosensitive material having a photosensitive layer on a support that includes a photosensitive element whose transfer characteristics of a color image-forming material change depending on exposure upon exposure and thermal development is heated after image exposure and thermally developed. Immediately after the image-exposed photosensitive material passes through an image forming apparatus for a continuous heat-developable photosensitive material that forms an image on the image-receiving material by overlapping the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material and applying pressure, the following image is formed. An image forming apparatus characterized by having a mechanism for covering a heating device in a heat developing section with a heat insulating material so as to prevent unexposed photosensitive material from being heated.