Automatic platemaking process and apparatus

Apparatus for making a photopolymer printing plate from a photo transparency comprising:

• a transparent plate;
• at least one photo transparency positioned on said transparent plate;
• carriage means movable over said transparent plate in one pass, said carriage means including cover film applicator means to cover said photo transparency with a continuous transparent cover film, photopolymer resin applicator means to apply photopolymer resin evenly over the continuous cover film, backing sheet supply means to roll a continuous transparent backing sheet onto said photopolymer resin at a predetermined height above said transparent plate, and back exposure lamp means to provide actinic radiation to polymerize the photopolymer resin adjacent said continuous backing sheet;
• a vertically movable flattening platen connected to said carriage means, said flattening platen being vertically movable with respect to said transparent plate and floatable upon said continuous backing sheet to maintain a constant thickness of said continuous backing sheet and photopolymer resin when said flattening platen is in its lowered position;
• main exposure lamp and reflector means positioned below said transparent plate to provide actinic radiation through said transparent plate and photo transparency to selectively polymerize the photopolymer resin when said flattening platen floats upon said continuous backing sheet;
• movable gripper means connected to said flattening platen to grip and move said continuous backing sheet and photopolymer resin from said transparent plate;
• cover film stripper positioned adjacent said transparent plate to strip said continuous cover film away from said photopolymer resin and said continuous backing sheet as they are moved from their position on said transparent plate;
• severing means connected to said carriage means to sever said continuous backing sheet and photopolymer resin;
• spray washout means positioned adjacent said transparent plate to receive said continuous backing sheet and photopolymer resin after they are severed by said severing means and moved by said movable gripper means to remove nonpolymerized photopolymer resin;
• and
• postexposure means positioned adjacent said spray washout means to further expose to actinic radiation said continuous backing sheet and photopolymer resin after severing and washout.