This invention relates to a high-speed, high-efficiency image recording apparatus and system, for recording images o photo-sensitive material, and to an image recording roll magazine loaded in an image recording apparatus for recording a color image on photo-sensitive material.
When color images have been recorded by optically applying electrical image signals to a photo-sensitive material, a so-called "drum type image recording system" has been employed. In this image recording method, a drum on which a photo-sensitive material of a predetermined size has been wound is rotated, and the photo-sensitive material is scanned by a modulated point light source in a direction parallel to the drum.
However, since the speed of rotation of the drum has an upper limit, it is rather difficult to improve the image recording speed. Furthermore, it takes a relatively long time to attach the photo-sensitive material to the drum or to detach it from the drum, and the mechanism for doing so is relatively intricate. Thus, the image recording apparatus is necessarily bulky and complicated. In addition, the photo-sensitive materials are of a predetermined size and are processed batchwise one at a time, so that the number of photo-sensitive materials which could be processed per unit time is relatively small.
One example of the above-described image recording apparatus (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 279,973/87) now will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. As shown in FIG. 4, a thermal developing photo-sensitive material 16 is accommodated in a magazine 14 which is loaded in a housing 12. The photo-sensitive material 16 is pulled out of the magazine 14 and then is cut to a predetermined length by a cutter 18. The cut photo-sensitive material 16 is wound around an exposure drum 20 (in the direction of the arrow A). An exposure head 22 having three color point light sources made up of light emitting elements faces the exposure drum with the material 16 disposed therebetween. After one optical image exposure, the exposure drum 20 is turned in the opposite direction, so that the photo-sensitive material 16 comes off the drum by a scraper 24. The material then is conveyed through a water applying unit 26 to a developing and transferring unit 28.
Image receiving sheets 32 stacked on a tray 30 are delivered to the developing and transferring unit 28 one at a time. In the unit 28, each image receiving sheet 32 is combined with a corresponding piece of photo-sensitive material 16, and then the image receiving sheet 32 and the photo-sensitive material 16 are heated by a heater in the unit 28. Thus, the photo-sensitive material is developed, and the developed image is transferred onto the image receiving sheet 32. Thereafter the photo-sensitive material 16 and the image receiving sheet 32 are separated from each other by a scraper 36, and the photo-sensitive material 16 is delivered into a disposal tray 38, while the image receiving sheet 32 is conveyed through a drying unit 40 to a take-out tray 42.
As shown in FIG. 5, the photo-sensitive material 16 wound on the exposure drum 20 is rotated around the axis (in the direction of the arrow A), thus permitting the main scanning operation of the exposure head 22. The exposure head 22 has three primary color light-emitting elements 44, and is moved along a guide 46 arranged parallel to the axis of the exposure drum 20 to perform an auxiliary scanning operation in the direction of the arrow B. In order to move the exposure head 22 in the direction of the arrow B, a pair of pulleys 48 and 50 are arranged in a line which also is parallel to the axis of the exposure drum and a wire 52 is laid over the pulleys 48 and 50, with one end secured to one side of the exposure head 22 and with the other end secured through a tension means 54 to the other side of the exposure head 22.
The photo-sensitive material 16 cut to the predetermined length by the cutter 18 is wound on the exposure drum 20, and the drum 20 is rotated in the direction of the arrow A by an electric motor (not shown). As the pulley 48 is turned, the exposure head 22 is moved in the direction of the arrow B to carry out the auxiliary scanning operation. In the auxiliary scanning operation, the light emitting elements 44 perform exposure only when the pulley 48 is driven clockwise (in the direction of the arrow C).
After exposure, referring again to FIG. 4, the exposure drum 20 is turned in the opposite direction, and the photo-sensitive material 16 is removed from the exposure drum 20 by the scraper 24 and then is delivered through the water applying unit 26 to the developing and transferring unit 28. The image receiving sheet 32 taken out of the tray 30 is delivered to the developing and transferring unit 28, where it is combined with the photosensitive material 16 such that the emulsion surfaces of the image receiving sheet 32 and the photo-sensitive material 16 are kept in close contact with each other. Under this condition, the heater in the developing and transferring unit 28 is energized, as a result of which the latent image on the photo-sensitive material 16 is thermally developed, and the image thus developed is transferred onto the image receiving sheet 32. In this case, the image is positively transferred onto the image receiving sheet 32 because water has been applied to the emulsion surface of the thermal developing photo-sensitive material 16 by the water applying unit 26. After the image transferring operation, the photo-sensitive material 16 is removed from the image receiving sheet 32 by the scraper 36 and is then delivered into the disposal tray 38, while the image receiving sheet 32 is delivered into the take-out tray 42.
As described above, in an image recording apparatus using thermal developing photo-sensitive material, the photo-sensitive material 16 cut to a certain length is subjected to optical exposure and other treatments after being wound on the exposure drum 20. The operations of cutting the photo-sensitive material, of attaching the photo-sensitive material to the exposure drum, and of removing it from the exposure drum take a relatively long period of time, and require an intricate mechanism. Furthermore, in the image recording apparatus, an image is recorded on the photo-sensitive material 16 by the main and auxiliary scanning operations which are effected with the three light emitting elements 44 provided on the exposure head 22 to give exposure in three colors according to the photo-sensitivity characteristic of the photo-sensitive material 16, and therefore the image recording time is considerably long. In addition the image recording size is limited by the diameter of the exposure drum 20. Furthermore, since it is necessary to provide the scraper 36 for removing the image receiving sheet 32 from the photo-sensitive material 16, and the disposal tray 38 for receiving the photo-sensitive material 16 used, the apparatus is unavoidably bulky.