Image-forming apparatus

Details Image-forming apparatus Image-forming apparatus

1996-12-20

2001-04-10

Barlow, John (Department: 2853)

Incremental printing of symbolic information

Ink jet

Ejector mechanism

C347S095000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06213593

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus capable of forming an image by applying an image-forming solvent appropriately on an image-recording material such as a light-sensitive material or an image-receiving material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image-forming apparatuses, which record images by using two types of image-recording materials such as a light-sensitive material and an image-receiving material, are known.
The image-forming apparatus of this type includes therein an image-forming solvent application section having a tank for storing an image-forming solvent to be applied to a light-sensitive material, and a thermal development-transfer section including a heating drum and a pair of endless pressure belts adapted to rotate with the heating drum in pressure-contact with the outer periphery of the heating drum.
The light-sensitive material, on which an image has been exposed while the material is held and conveyed through the image-forming apparatus, is immersed in the water stored in the image-forming solvent tank of the image-forming solvent application section. After being coated with water in this way, the light-sensitive material is sent into the thermal development-transfer section. The image-receiving material is also sent into the thermal development-transfer section in a manner similar to the light-sensitive material.
In the thermal development-transfer section, the light-sensitive material coated with water is superposed with the image-receiving material, and the superposed light-sensitive material and image-receiving material are wound in close contact on the outer periphery of the heating drum. Further, the two materials are held and conveyed between the heating drum and an endless pressure belt. The light-sensitive material thus is thermally developed, while at the same time, the image is transferred to the image-receiving material so as to form (record) a predetermined image on the image-receiving material.
After the light-sensitive material is immersed in and coated with the water which is provided as an image-forming solvent in the tank, the water that has contacted the light-sensitive material still remains in the tank. As a result, bacteria propagate in the tank by using the slight amount of organic materials, which has eluted from the light-sensitive material, as a source of nutrition. Consequently, the water is liable to be contaminated, which may deteriorate both the image-forming apparatus and the image quality.
A possible solution to this drawback is to keep the water supplying elements such as the tank out of contact with the light-sensitive material and to eject and apply water drops to the light-sensitive material from the water supply. The mere ejection of water drops, however, causes uneven application of atomized water to the light-sensitive material, with the result that the portions of the water drops contacting each other coalesce whereas there are portions of the light-sensitive material to which water is not applied, so that it is difficult to achieve uniform application.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the aforementioned, an object of the present invention is to provide an image-forming apparatus capable of forming a uniform coat (film) of a solvent on an image-forming material.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image-forming apparatus having an application device for applying an image-forming solvent onto an image-recording material, wherein the application device includes a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting and applying the image-forming solvent onto the image-recording material, and the application device applies the image-forming solvent such that sets of three drops of the image-forming solvent, which are ejected from the plurality of nozzle holes and applied onto the image-recording material adjacent to one another, are applied onto the image-recording material so as to contact each other without any spaces therebetween.
The image-forming apparatus according to this aspect has the following effects.
The application device includes a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting and applying the image-forming solvent to the image-recording material. Each set of three drops of the image-forming solvent, which are ejected from the nozzle holes and applied to the image-recording material adjacent to one another, are applied onto the image-recording material so as to contact each other without any spaces therebetween.
In this way, the image-forming solvent can be ejected from the nozzle holes of the application device and drops of the image-forming solvent can adhere to the image-recording material uniformly and without any spaces therebetween. Therefore, a uniform coat (film) of solvent can be formed on the image-recording material even by an application device which does not contact the image-recording material.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image-forming apparatus having an application device for applying an image-forming solvent onto an image-recording material, wherein the application device includes a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting and applying the image-forming solvent onto the image-recording material, the diameter D of each drop of the image-forming solvent adhering to the image-recording material is expressed as
D
=
2
·
sin
⁢
 
⁢
θ
⁢
 
[
3
·
V
π
·
{
2
-
3
·
cos
⁢
 
⁢
θ
+
(
cos
⁢
 
⁢
θ
)
3
}
]
1
/
3
(
1
)
where V is the volume of a drop of the image-forming solvent ejected from a nozzle hole and &thgr; is the contact angle at which a drop of the image-forming solvent adheres to the image-recording material, and the pitch P between adjacent nozzle holes of the application device is less than or equal to (3)·D/2.
The image-forming apparatus according to this aspect has the following effects.
The application device includes a plurality of nozzle holes for ejecting and applying the image-forming solvent to the image-recording material, and the pitch P between adjacent nozzle holes is set to less that or equal to (3)·D/2.
The diameter D of each drop of the image-forming solvent attached to the image-recording material is obtained from the above equation (1).
Water drops can be made to uniformly adhere to the image-recording material without any spaces therebetween on the basis of the relation between the pitch P between adjacent nozzle holes and the diameter D of each drop of the image-forming solvent. In the same way as in the previously-described aspect of the invention, therefore, it is possible to form a uniform film (coat) of solvent on the image-recording material even by an application device which does not contact the image-recording material.


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patent: 5361084 (1994-11-01), Paton et al.
patent: 5574530 (1996-11-01), Sanada
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patent: 5635969 (1997-06-01), Allen
patent: 5689751 (1997-11-01), Ueda

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