JPH08192548A - Thermal material feed mechanism for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To peel a thermal material wherein an image receiving sheet and a colorant sheet are closely bonded after an image is recorded. CONSTITUTION: A thermal material 16A is taken up by a rotary drum 18 rotated in an A-direction (A). At this time, a peeling pawl 62 falls and a gap is formed between the peeling pawl 62 and the rotary drum 18. When the rotary drum 18 is rotated in the direction B opposite to the A-direction (B), no gap is formed between the leading end part of the peeling pawl 62 and the rotary drum 18. The leading end of the thermal material 16A is pulled by a pulling roller 64 and cut into an image receiving sheet 96 and a colorant sheet 98 in different shapes by a Byk blade. The rotary drum 18 is reversed in the A-direction to separate the thermal material 10A from the leading end part of the peeling pawl and, thereafter, the rotary drum 18 is again rotated in the B-direction (C). At this time, a slight gap is formed between the peeling pawl and the rotary drum 18 and the image receiving sheet 96 passes under the peeling pawl 62 and the colorant sheet 98 is peeled from the image receiving sheet 96 by the peeling pawl 62.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive material conveying mechanism for an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a coloring material sheet provided with a predetermined coloring material layer and a coloring material of the coloring material sheet transferred thereto. The heat-sensitive material is wound up into a roll in close contact with the image-receiving sheet on which the image is recorded, and is drawn out sequentially from the outermost layer and conveyed. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive material conveyance mechanism for an image generation device, which conveys the heat-sensitive material in an image generation device that generates an image on the material.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, to produce an image on a heat sensitive material,
A so-called silver salt generation method in which an image is recorded on a single film (heat-sensitive material) by a laser and the film is developed by an automatic processor, and an image is generated by directly applying heat to the heat-sensitive material A so-called heat-sensitive generation method in which an image receiving sheet for recording and a color material sheet coated with a color material are separately conveyed and brought into close contact with each other and heat is applied to the color material sheet by a thermal head or the like to generate an image on the image receiving sheet. There were two methods.

However, in the case of the silver salt producing method, since an automatic developing machine is required, the image producing apparatus becomes complicated and expensive. Further, in the case of the heat-sensitive generation method, since the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet are separately conveyed, the conveyance path of the image generating apparatus becomes complicated, and dust and the like are generated when the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet are brought into close contact with each other. It is easy to cause a defective image.

In recent years, in order to solve these problems, a sheet-shaped heat-sensitive material in which an image receiving sheet and a color material sheet are adhered in advance has been developed. Print area 1 of the heat-sensitive material shown in FIG.
In No. 12, the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet are bonded with a weak adhesive force. A strong adhesion area 114 in which an image receiving sheet and a color material sheet are adhered to each other with strong adhesion around the printing area 112.
Is provided. A peeling area 11 for peeling the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet is provided at one end of the strong adhesion area 114.
6 is provided. In this heat-sensitive material, after the image is recorded on the image receiving sheet, the connection end portion of the strong adhesion region 114 and the peeling region 116 is triggered to be folded and peeled off, and the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet are peeled off manually. .

[0005]

However, in the above heat-sensitive material, since the peeling has to be done manually, it is very troublesome and it is difficult to make the peeling speed and the peeling force constant by the manual peeling. Therefore, there is a problem that streaks occur on the image receiving sheet.

Further, the heat-sensitive material cannot be peeled off unless a peeling area is provided, so that there is a problem that the heat-sensitive material becomes larger by the peeling area which is originally unnecessary.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a heat-sensitive material in which an image receiving sheet and a color material sheet are in close contact is automatically conveyed to peel off the image recorded image receiving sheet. It is an object of the present invention to provide a heat-sensitive material conveying mechanism for an image recording apparatus.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 transfers a color material sheet provided with a predetermined color material layer and a color material of the color material sheet. By using a heat-sensitive material that is closely wound with the image-receiving sheet on which an image is recorded and wound in a roll shape, and is sequentially drawn from the outermost layer and conveyed, the heat-sensitive material is wound around a drum and heated while rotating. In an image generating apparatus for generating an image on a heat-sensitive material, there is a heat-sensitive material conveying mechanism for image-forming apparatus for conveying the heat-sensitive material, and a heat-sensitive material feeding means for pulling out the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material from the outermost layer and feeding it. A main cutting means for cutting the heat-sensitive material drawn out by the heat-sensitive material delivering means at a predetermined position; a winding means for winding the heat-sensitive material cut by the main cutting means around the drum; Is provided with a blade capable of cutting at least one of the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet at one end in the transport direction of the heat sensitive material wound around the drum, and a step is formed between the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet at the cut end. The sub-cutting means for cutting in this way, and the peeling means for peeling the heat-sensitive material into the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet with the end portion cut by the sub-cutting means at the head.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the heat-sensitive material conveying mechanism for an image generating apparatus according to the first aspect, the edge of the image-receiving sheet cut by the sub-cutting means is removed so as to eliminate the edge. An image receiving sheet end portion cutting means for cutting the entire portion is provided.

[0010]

According to the invention described in claim 1, the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material is pulled out from the outermost layer and conveyed by the heat-sensitive material delivery means. The main cutting means cuts the heat-sensitive material drawn by the heat-sensitive material feeding means at a predetermined position. The heat sensitive material cut by the main cutting means by the winding means is wound around the drum. The sub-cutting means is provided with a blade capable of cutting at least one of the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet at one end in the transport direction of the heat-sensitive material wound around the drum. After the image is generated, the sub-cutting unit cuts the cut end at one end in the transport direction of the heat-sensitive material so that a step is formed between the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet. The heat-sensitive material is peeled off between the coloring material sheet and the image receiving sheet with the end portion cut by the sub-cutting means as the leading end by the peeling means. In this way, since the cut end at one end in the transport direction of the heat-sensitive material is cut so that a step is formed between the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet, the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet can be easily peeled by the peeling means. At the same time, since it is not necessary to provide a peeling region in the heat-sensitive material, the width of the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material can be shortened.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the image receiving sheet edge cutting means cuts the entire edge portion of the image receiving sheet cut by the auxiliary cutting means so as to eliminate the cut portion of the edge portion, Unwanted edges can be removed from the image receiving sheet.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image generating apparatus 10 is formed in a box shape, and a machine base 12 is provided with front and side doors (not shown). By opening the front door and the side door (not shown), maintenance of each component in the machine base 12 can be performed. The front door and the side door (not shown) are provided with a safety device (not shown) by an interlock mechanism so that the power source connected to a predetermined component in the machine base 12 can be turned off at the same time as opening.

At the top of the machine base 12 of the image generating apparatus 10,
As will be described later, an automatic heat-sensitive material which conveys the cut heat-sensitive material 16A by pulling out a predetermined amount of the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material 16 in which the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are adhered (see FIG. 2 (B)) and cutting. The material transport unit 14 is arranged. A rotary drum 18 that winds up the heat-sensitive material 16 </ b> A conveyed from the automatic heat-sensitive material conveyer 14 is arranged below the lateral side of the automatic heat-sensitive material conveyer 14. Below the rotary drum 18, a drum rotation motor 20 for rotating the rotary drum 18 in the direction of arrow B or in the opposite direction at a constant rotational speed is arranged. Further, below the automatic heat-sensitive material conveying section 14, to the side of the rotary drum 18, the heat-sensitive material 1 wound around the rotary drum 18 by emitting a laser from the recording head 22A.
A laser emission unit 22 for recording an image on 6A is arranged. The laser emission unit drive motor 2 which is a power source for moving the laser emission unit 22 in parallel to the main scanning direction (side surface direction of the rotary drum 18) is in front of the laser emission unit 22 on the paper surface.
4 are arranged.

On the other hand, the laser emitting portion 22 of the rotary drum 18
A peeling cut portion 26 is arranged on the side opposite to the peeling cut portion 26 (details will be described later), and below the peeling cut portion 26 is a color material sheet receiver that receives the color material sheet 98 peeled and discharged by the peel cut portion 26. 28 are arranged. Rotating drum 18
The image receiving sheet 96 is provided on the side of the upper side of the peeling cut portion 26.
An image receiving sheet take-out section 80 for taking out the image is arranged. To the side of the image receiving sheet take-out portion 80, a pair of conveying rollers 74, 75, 76 and 77 for conveying to an image receiving sheet receiver 78 and a velocutter 38 for cutting the end portion of the image receiving sheet 96.
Are arranged in order. Further, below the transport roller 74, a tongue piece receiver 40 for receiving the tongue piece cut by the tongue cutter 38 is disposed, as described later.

A CPU, an RO
It consists of M, RAM and I / O interface,
A controller 30 for controlling each of the above components is arranged. An operation panel (not shown) is arranged outside the upper part of the machine base 12, and the controller 30 controls each component by receiving a signal from the operation panel.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material 16 (the heat-sensitive material 16A cut in FIG. 2 is used.
Indicates a color material sheet 98 to which a color material of a predetermined color (for example, black) is uniformly applied and the color material of the color material sheet 98 is transferred by the heat of the laser emitted from the recording head 22A to record an image. The image receiving sheet 96 is adhered with a uniform adhesive force.

As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic heat-sensitive material conveying section 1
At the conveyance start end of No. 4, the heat-sensitive material 16 in which the color material sheet 98 is wound into a roll with the color material sheet 98 facing the outside of the roll.
Is loaded. A pair of nip rollers 32 are provided in the vicinity of the heat-sensitive material outlet of the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material 16, and a pair of conveying rollers 34 and a cutter 36 are sequentially arranged on the downstream side of the nip rollers 32.

Conveying rollers 46 and 52 are arranged at the horizontal position (at the same height) corresponding to the rollers of the pair of conveying rollers 34 on the downstream side of the cutter 36. One end of the plurality of endless belts 50 is wound around the carrying roller 46, and the other end of the plurality of endless belts 50 is arranged at a horizontal position corresponding to the carrying roller 46.
It is wrapped around 8. Further, the transport roller 52 has
One end of each of the plurality of endless belts 56 is wound around, and the other end of each of the plurality of endless belts 56 is wound around a conveying roller 54 arranged at a horizontal position corresponding to the conveying roller 52.

As shown in FIG. 3, the peeling cut portion 26 is provided with a pinch roller 60 for sandwiching the heat-sensitive material 16A with the rotary drum 18. A plurality of peeling claws 62 for peeling the heat-sensitive material 16A into the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are arranged above the pinch roller 60. A rotating roller 66 that rotates in the direction of arrow A or in the opposite direction is arranged above the peeling claw 62. A fixing belt 68 is wound around the rotating roller 66, and both ends of the fixing belt 68 are attached to the tips of the thin plate-like metal fittings 62B and 62C that are longer than the thin plate-like metal fittings 62B and 62B protruding from both sides of the peeling claw 62 at an acute angle. It is stuck. The nip roller 5 that sandwiches the heat-sensitive material 16A or the image receiving sheet 96 with the rotary drum 18 is provided on both sides of each peeling claw 62.
8 are arranged.

A pair of pulling rollers 6 for pulling the heat-sensitive material 16A are provided on the sides of the pinch roller 60 and the nip roller 58.
4 are arranged. On the side of the pair of nip rollers 64, a so-called big blade for cutting the end portion of the heat-sensitive material 16A so as to form a step between the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 (for cutting a predetermined thickness such as half blanking) A pair of Victoria molds 70 equipped with cuffing blades are arranged. A pair of conveying rollers 72 is arranged on the side opposite to the pulling roller 64 of the Victoria mold 70, and the above-described color material sheet receiver 28 is arranged on the lower side of the conveying rollers 72.

In the image receiving sheet take-out section 80, the rotary drum 1
An image receiving sheet take-out claw 82 for taking out the image receiving sheet wound around 8 is arranged. A brim 82A is provided on a back portion 82C of the image receiving sheet takeout claw 82.
An image receiving sheet take-out pawl rotating shaft 82B which is a shaft for rotating the image receiving sheet take-out pawl 82 in the direction of arrow C or in the opposite direction is provided near the center of the brim 82A. Conveying rollers 84 and 86 for conveying the image receiving sheet 96 taken out by the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl 82 are arranged in front of the abdomen 82D of the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl 82, and these rollers are provided with a plurality of endless belts. 88 is wrapped around. Further, a conveyance roller 90 that conveys the image receiving sheet 96 to the velocutter 38 in cooperation with the conveying roller 86 is disposed on the side of the top portion 82E of the image receiving sheet take-out claw 82.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4A, the nip roller 32 draws the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material 16 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 by a predetermined length, and the cutter 36 cuts it into a predetermined length. For this predetermined length, the length of the heat-sensitive material 16 fed in the direction of arrow A may be measured, or a mark, a punch hole, or the like may be provided on the heat-sensitive material 16 to detect it. The cut heat-sensitive material 16A is conveyed while being sandwiched between the endless belts 50 and 56 toward the rotary drum 18, as shown in FIG.
It is wound around the rotary drum 18 that rotates in the direction of arrow A in FIG. At this time, the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl 82 is rotating around the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl rotating shaft 82B in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 3, and the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl 82 is tilted with respect to the rotary drum 18. Therefore, a gap is formed between the rotary drum 18 and the bottom portion 82F of the image receiving sheet guide claw 82, which does not become an obstacle in winding the heat-sensitive material 16A on the rotary drum 18. Further, the rotary roller 66 has the thin plate-shaped metal fitting 62B in the direction opposite to the arrow A direction in FIG.
It rotates until it comes into contact with 6, and the peeling claw 62 is in a state of falling with respect to the rotating drum 18. Therefore, a gap is formed between the rotary drum 18 and the peeling claw 62. Therefore, the peeling claw 62 does not hinder the winding of the heat-sensitive material 16A on the rotary drum 18, and the heat-sensitive material 16A is wound in the rotating direction of the rotary drum 18, as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the rotary drum 18
Further rotates in the direction of arrow A (sub-scanning direction). The tip of the heat-sensitive material 16A is the recording head 22A of the laser recording unit 22.
When the recording head 22A reaches, the recording head 22A starts emitting laser while moving in the main scanning direction. When the laser is irradiated, the coloring material of the coloring material sheet 98 is strongly adhered to the image receiving sheet 96 and an image is recorded. The image receiving sheet take-out claw 82 and the peeling claw 62 are in the tilted state as described above, which does not hinder the image recording.

As shown in FIG. 4C, the image receiving sheet 96
When the image recording onto the rotary drum 18 is completed,
The rotation is started in the direction of arrow B opposite to the direction. At this time, the rotating roller 66 is rotating in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 until the thin plate-shaped metal fitting 62C comes into contact with the rotating roller 66,
The peeling claw 62 is in a standing state with respect to the rotary drum 18. Therefore, there is no gap between the rotary drum 18 and the claw tip portion 62A of the peeling claw 62. Therefore, FIG. 6 (B)
As shown, when the rotary drum 18 rotates in the B direction, the heat-sensitive material 16A is lifted by the claw tip portion 62A of the peeling claw 62 with the rear end portion as the front end and peeled from the rotary drum 18. The tip of the peeled heat-sensitive material 16A is conveyed by the nip roller 58 and pulled by the pulling roller 64 in the arrow A direction. When the heat-sensitive material 16A is pulled for a predetermined length, the rotary drum 18 stops rotating. The predetermined length may be detected, for example, by measuring the rotation angle of the rotating drum 18. The pair of Victoria molds 70 described above are arranged at the tip of the arrow A direction in FIG. 6B, and the rear end portion of the heat-sensitive material 16A is moved by applying a predetermined pressure in the arrow B direction in FIG. The image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are cut so as to form a step.

As shown in FIG. 7, in the Victoria mold 70 provided with the blade, the portion where the image receiving sheet 96 has a concave shape has the coloring material sheet 98 having a convex shape and the image receiving sheet 96 has a convex shape. The colored material sheet 98 is cut in a concave shape at the portion where the image receiving sheet 96 is formed (hereinafter, the end portion formed in this manner is referred to as a tongue, and the image receiving sheet 96 is formed in a direction orthogonal to the conveying direction of the image receiving sheet 96).
The tip line on which the tongue is not formed is referred to as a tip line 96B. ). Further, at the position where the peeling claw 62 is provided, a tongue is formed so that the image receiving sheet 96 has a concave shape (see FIG. 6C). The tongue 96A of the image receiving sheet 96 and the tongue 98A of the color material sheet 98 are still bonded to the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98, respectively. In addition, Vero 96
To form a step between A and Velo 98A,
The shape is not limited to the concavo-convex shape, but may be, for example, a triangular shape, an inverted triangular shape, or a dovetail groove shape.

When the tongue is formed by the Victoria mold 70, the Victoria mold 70 is opened in the direction opposite to the arrow B direction in FIG. Tension roller 64 and pinch roller 60
Is reversed, and the rotary drum 18 is also reversed in the direction of arrow A (see FIG. 4D). In addition, these rollers 64,
The reverse rotation of 60 and the rotating drum 18 is performed at least until the tip of the heat-sensitive material 16A no longer contacts the claw tip portion 62A of the peeling claw 62.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the rollers 64 and 6 are
0 and the rotating drum 18 further start reverse rotation. At this time, the respective tip portions of the thin plate-shaped metal fittings 62B and 62C stop at substantially the same distance from the rotary roller 66, and a slight gap is formed between the rotary drum 18 and the claw tip portion 62A of the peeling claw 62. (Hereinafter, this state is referred to as a half-gap state.) Therefore, the image receiving sheet 96 passes between the rotary drum 18 and the peeling claw 62, but the color material sheet 98 is lifted by the claw tip portion 62A of the peeling claw 62. Therefore, the color material sheet 98 is separated from the image receiving sheet 96 (see FIG. 6C). At the time of this peeling, an image is formed on the image receiving sheet 96 because the coloring material in the portion irradiated with the laser strongly adheres to the image receiving sheet 96. The peeled coloring material sheet 98 is pulled by the pulling roller 64, and is discharged to the coloring material sheet receiver 28 via the Victoria mold 70 and the conveying roller 72 in the opened state. The image receiving sheet take-out claw 82 remains in the collapsed state. Therefore, the image receiving sheet 96 is wound around the rotary drum 18.

As shown in FIG. 5B, the color material sheet 98
After being discharged to the color material sheet receiver 28, the rotary drum 18 further rotates in the direction of arrow B. At this time, the peeling claw 62 is in a state of falling from the half gap state. Further, the image receiving sheet taking-out pawl 82 is shown in FIG.
It rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow C direction, and the claws are set up on the rotary drum 18. Therefore, the image receiving sheet 96 wound around the rotary drum 18 is separated from the rotary drum 18 by the claw tip of the image receiving sheet take-out claw 82 with the rear end as the tip. Further, the front end of the image receiving sheet 96 is guided by the endless belt 88, and is conveyed by the velocutter 38 and the conveying roller 74 in the direction of arrow D in FIG. When the tip line 96B reaches the center 38A of the cutter of the velocutter 38, the rotary drum 18 and the conveying rollers 84, 86 and 90 stop rotating, and the velocutter 38 cuts the veloc 96A. The cut tongue 96A is discharged to the tongue piece receiver 40 via the transport roller 74 (see FIG. 5C). Whether the tip line 96B has reached the center 38A of the cutter may be detected, for example, by providing a sensor in the velocutter 38 for detecting the tip line 96B.

As shown in FIG. 5D, the velocutter 38 is used.
When the tongue 96A is cut at, the rotary drum 18 is indicated by the arrow B.
Rotating in the same direction and carrying rollers 84, 86 and 90.
Also starts rotating. The image receiving sheet 96 is formed by the transport roller 8
The sheet is conveyed by 4, 86, 90, 74, 75, 76 and 77 and discharged to the image receiving sheet receiver 78. The upper side of the image receiving sheet receiver 78 is open on the machine base 12 side, and the operator can take out the image receiving sheet 96 from the image generating apparatus 10.

As described above, in this embodiment, the image receiving sheet 9 is used.
Since 6 and the color material sheet 98 are adhered and simultaneously conveyed and wound around the rotary drum 18, the conveyance path can be simplified as compared with the case where the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are separately conveyed.

Further, since the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are conveyed as a heat-sensitive material which is adhered in advance, and dust or dust does not enter between the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 in the conveying path. Therefore, an image without image defects can be obtained.

Further, since a step is formed between the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 at the end portion of the heat-sensitive material 16A, the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 can be easily separated.

Furthermore, since it is not necessary to provide a peeling region in the cut heat-sensitive material 16A, the width of the roll-shaped heat-sensitive material 16 can be shortened and resource saving can be achieved.

Further, the peeling claw 62 and the image receiving sheet take-out claw 8
2 is a heat-sensitive material 16A that rotates (falls) in the above-described predetermined direction
Is provided, and when the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are peeled off or the image receiving sheet 96 is taken out, the nail rotates by rotating in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction, so that the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material are The sheet 98 can be smoothly peeled off and taken out.

Further, since the rotary drum 18 rotates at a constant speed and the peeling speed by the peeling claw becomes constant, it is possible to obtain the image receiving sheet 96 free from the streaks and the like generated in the manual peeling.

Further, the image receiving sheet 9 is provided by the velocutter 38.
Since the tongue 96A of No. 6 is cut, the image receiving sheet 96 free of unnecessary tongue 96A can be obtained.

In this embodiment, the Velo 96A and 98A are used.
Are formed in a concavo-convex shape and have an image receiving sheet 96 and a color material sheet 98.
Although the and were kept bonded, as shown in FIG. 8 (A), after the half blanking process was performed to cut only the image receiving sheet 96 by using a large blade, the tongue piece 96C was pulled in the direction of the arrow B and Alternatively, the end portion of the color material sheet 98 may be pulled in the direction of arrow A opposite to the direction of arrow B, and the tongue piece 96C may be peeled from the color material sheet 98. The heat-sensitive material from which the tongue piece 96C is peeled off is shown in FIGS. 8 (B) and 8 (C). In this way, since a step is formed between the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98, the peeling with the peeling claw 62 becomes easier.
Note that the pulling direction may be the C and D directions instead of the vertical directions A and B.

Although the tongue is formed after the image is recorded in this embodiment, the image may be recorded after the tongue is formed.
Although the tongue is formed at the rear end of the heat-sensitive material 16 in this embodiment, the tongue may be formed at the tip of the heat-sensitive material 16 by reversing the rotating direction of the rotary drum 18.

Further, in this embodiment, the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 are uniformly adhered to each other, but they may be adhered only at a plurality of positions. If you do this,
The use of adhesive can be reduced. Also,
You may heat-weld the width direction edge part of a roll-shaped heat sensitive material. By doing so, it is possible to secure the close contact between the image receiving sheet 96 and the color material sheet 98 without using an adhesive.

[0041]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the cut end at one end of the heat-sensitive material in the conveying direction is cut so that a step is formed between the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet. The color material sheet and the image receiving sheet can be easily peeled by the peeling means, and since there is no need to provide a peeling region in the heat sensitive material, the width of the roll-shaped heat sensitive material can be shortened. be able to.

According to the second aspect of the invention,
The image receiving sheet edge cutting means cuts the edges of the image receiving sheet cut by the auxiliary cutting means so as to cut the entire edges of the image receiving sheet, so that unnecessary edges can be removed from the image receiving sheet. The effect can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image generating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention viewed from a front door side.

FIG. 2A is a plan view of a cut heat-sensitive material, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the cut heat-sensitive material.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of a peeling cut portion and an image receiving sheet takeout portion.

FIGS. 4A to 4D are diagrams showing an operation of the image generating apparatus before the image receiving sheet and the color material sheet are separated from each other.

5A to 5D are diagrams showing a peeling operation of an image receiving sheet and a color material sheet by the image generating apparatus and an operation after the peeling.

6A to 6C are diagrams showing states of a peeling claw.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a heat-sensitive material in which a tongue is formed with a Victoria mold.

FIG. 8A is a diagram showing a concept when half-cutting a heat-sensitive material with a sharp blade, FIG. 8B is a plan view of the heat-sensitive material after half-cutting, and FIG. 8C is after half-cutting. 3 is a sectional view of the heat-sensitive material of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a heat-sensitive material in which a conventional sheet-shaped color material sheet and an image receiving sheet are bonded together.

[Explanation of symbols]

 16 Heat Sensitive Material 18 Rotating Drum (Drum) 32 Nip Roller (Heat Sensitive Material Conveying Means) 36 Cutter (Main Cutting Means) 38 Velocutter (Image Cutting Sheet Edge Cutting Means) 48 Conveying Rollers (Winding Means) 62 Peeling Claws (Peeling Means) 70 Victoria mold (sub-cutting means) 96 image receiving sheet 98 color material sheet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A color material sheet provided with a predetermined color material layer and an image receiving sheet on which an image is recorded by transferring the color material of the color material sheet are in close contact with each other and wound into a roll. Using a heat-sensitive material that is sequentially drawn from the outermost layer and conveyed,
An image generating apparatus for generating an image on a heat sensitive material by winding the heat sensitive material around a drum and heating while rotating the drum, wherein a heat sensitive material transport mechanism for the image generating apparatus for transporting the heat sensitive material, A heat-sensitive material feeding means for pulling and feeding the heat-sensitive material from the outermost layer, a main cutting means for cutting the heat-sensitive material drawn by the heat-sensitive material feeding means at a predetermined position, and a heat-sensitive material cut by the main cutting means for the drum. Winding means for winding around, and a blade capable of cutting at least one of the color material sheet and the image receiving sheet at one end in the transport direction of the heat-sensitive material wound around the drum after the image is generated, and the color material at the cut end. A sub-cutting unit that cuts a sheet and an image-receiving sheet so that a step is formed between the sheet and the image-receiving sheet; Image generation apparatus for heat-sensitive material transport mechanism comprising a peeling means for peeling the heat-sensitive material and the image receiving sheet and the color sheet, the. 2. An image receiving sheet edge cutting means for cutting the entire edge portion of the image receiving sheet cut by the sub cutting means so as to eliminate a cut portion of the edge portion of the image receiving sheet. Item 1. A heat-sensitive material transport mechanism for an image generating apparatus according to Item 1.