An apparatus for coating a cylinder with a solution. The apparatus has a coater which includes a body having a circular hole through which the cylinder passes. A coating surface is provided on a wall of the circular hole so as to surround an outer surface of the cylinder as the cylinder passes through the circular hole. A solution chamber is provided in the body for storing the solution, and a slit is provided in the body for distributing the solution from the solution chamber to the coating surface. A feeding port is provided on a periphery of the body, and a feeding conduit is provided in the body for connecting the feeding port and the solution chamber so that the solution is fed from the feeding port to the solution chamber. The solution chamber has a height H2 of 5 mm to 50 mm, the slit has a slit gap distance HI, and a ratio H2/H1 is 10 to 1000. In addition, the apparatus also includes a conveyor for conveying the cylinder through the circular hole of the coater so that the outer surface of the cylinder is coated with the solution when the cylinder passes the coating surface provided on the wall of the circular hole.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a coating apparatus which coats a coating 
solution uniformly on an external circumferential surface of a cylindrical 
base material having a continuous surface formed endlessly, and to a 
coating method. 
With regard to a method for coating a thin layer uniformly on an external 
circumferential surface of a cylindrical base material having a continuous 
surface formed endlessly, there have been studied various methods such as 
a spray coating method, a dip coating method, a blade coating method and a 
roll coating method. In particular, for the coating of a uniform and thin 
layer such as that on an electrophotographic photoreceptor drum, 
development of a coating apparatus which is excellent to be manufactured 
is now studied. 
In the spray coating method, before a drop of coating solution jetted out 
of a spray gun reaches the external circumferential surface of a 
cylindrical base material having a continuous surface formed endlessly, a 
solvent evaporates, and thereby solid body concentration in the drop of a 
coating solution rises and viscosity of the coating solution is raised 
accordingly. Therefore, when the drop of a coating solution reaches the 
surface, the drop of a coating solution does not spread on the surface, or 
a particle dried and solidified sticks to the surface, resulting in an 
impossibility of obtaining those having coated surfaces which are 
excellent in smoothness. Further, the rate of reaching of a drop of a 
coating solution to a cylindrical base material having a continuous 
surface is not 100% resulting in a loss of a coating solution, and it is 
very difficult to control a layer thickness because uniformity is 
partially poor. In addition, in the case of a highly polymerized solution, 
cobwebbing is sometimes caused, and there accordingly are restrictions for 
solvents and resins to be used. 
In the blade coating method and roll coating method, a blade or a roll is 
arranged in the longitudinal direction of a cylindrical base material, for 
example, so that the cylindrical base material is rotated for coating, and 
after the cylindrical base material makes one turn, the blade or the roll 
is retreated. However, when the blade or the roll is retreated, viscosity 
of a coating solution makes a part of a coated layer to be thicker than 
other portions, which is a weak point that a uniform layer can not be 
obtained. 
In the dip coating method, smoothness on the surface of a coating solution 
and poor uniformity of a coated layer are improved. However, control of a 
thickness of a coated layer is very difficult. Further a coating speed is 
low and an amount of solution that is not less than a certain level is 
required for filling a tank for a coating solution. Further weak point is 
that components of lower layers melt out in the case of multi-layer 
coating and the tank for a coating solution is easily contaminated 
accordingly. 
With a background stated above, a circular coating apparatus of an amount 
regulating type (including a coating apparatus of a slide hopper type) as 
described in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection No. 
189061/1983 (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I Publication) 
was developed. Through the use of this coating apparatus of a slide hopper 
type, it is possible to coat with a small amount of solution without 
contamination of a coating solution and a highly productive coating 
wherein control of a layer thickness is easy is feasible. 
However, even when using the coating apparatus of a slide hopper type and a 
coating method employing the same, there have been drawbacks such as 
failure of forming a coating solution layer (mainly caused by eading 
failure), or uneven coating and great variation of layer thickness, 
especially a big difference of layer thickness between that in a position 
near the supply inlet and that in a position farthest therefrom. 
The invention has been achieved in view of the problems mentioned above, 
and its object includes the following points. (a) To prevent failure in 
forming a coated layer (beading failure), uneven coating and layer 
thickness variation, even for a low viscosity coating solution and a high 
viscosity coating solution. (b) To improve coatability for simultaneous 
multi-layer coating wherein plural coated layers are simultaneously formed 
on a cylindrical base material, or for successive multi-layer coating 
wherein coated layers are formed from plural coating apparatus 
successively on a cylindrical base material. 
(c) To improve the function of holding and transporting a cylindrical base 
material to make stable coating for a long time possible. 
(d) To stabilize the function of holding and transporting a cylindrical 
base material to prevent deformation and damage of the cylindrical base 
material. 
(e) To make the production processes of supplying, transporting, coating, 
drying and ejecting a cylindrical base material to be a continuous and 
stable production so that the productivity may be improved. 
(f) To make aforesaid processes to be continuous and full automatic ones 
and thereby to prevent foreign materials such as dust from being mixed so 
that quality products may be obtained. 
(g) To achieve a continuous coating apparatus which does not adversely 
affect image forming on a finished photoreceptor drum even when a 
vibration takes place on a cylindrical base material. 
(h) To prevent, even when a vibration takes place on a cylindrical base 
material, that the vibration is superposed to be intense vibration, by 
causing the vibration to be scattered without being concentrated to the 
same position. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The object mentioned above can be attained by the following constitutions. 
(1) A coating method comprising a supply inlet through cylinder h which a 
coating solution is supplied from the outside while a cylindrical base 
material having its continuous circumferential surface formed to be 
endless is moved, a ring-shaped coating solution distributing chamber, a 
coating solution distributing slit opened to the inside of the coating 
solution distributing chamber, and an endless coating solution flow out 
port provided on a hopper coating surface formed to be close to the entire 
circumferential surface of the cylindrical base material in a way to 
surround the circumferential surface of the cylindrical base material, 
through which a coating solution is caused to flow out to the hopper 
coating surface and thereby to be supplied continuously to the cylindrical 
base material and to the edge portion of the hopper coating surface so 
that the coating solution may be coated, wherein a height of the coating 
solution distributing chamber is 5-50 mm and the ratio of the height of 
the coating solution chamber to the gap size of the slit is 1:10-1:1000. 
A coating apparatus surrounding, in a ring shape, the circumference of a 
cylindrical base material that moves in its longitudinal direction and 
comprising therein a ring-shaped coating solution distributing chamber, a 
supply inlet through which a coating solution is supplied to the coating 
solution distributing chamber from the outside, and a coating solution 
distributing slit that is opened to the inside of the coating solution 
distributing chamber, wherein a height of the coating solution 
distributing chamber is 5 0 50 mm and the ratio of the height of the 
coating solution distributing chamber to the gap size of the slit is 
1/10-1/1000. 
(2) The height of the coating solution distributing chamber located on the 
side of the supply inlet is different from that located on the side 
farthest from the supply inlet. 
(3) A volume of the coating solution distributing chamber is 20-1000 c.c. 
Operations in the constitution mentioned above will be explained as 
follows. 
It may be preferable that the height of the coating solution distributing 
chamber is 5-50 mm and the ratio of the height of the coating solution 
distributing chamber to the gap size of the slit is 1/10-1/1000, no 
failure in forming a coated layer (beading failure) is caused and uneven 
coating in the longitudinal direction is less. When the height of the 
coating solution distributing chamber is less than 5 mm, beading is 
unstable, and when it exceeds 50 mm, a difference between a layer 
thickness at a location closest to the coating solution supply inlet and 
that at a location farthest therefrom is big. Further, when the ratio (H 
ratio) of the height of the coating solution distributing chamber to the 
gap size of the slit is less than 10, the variation of the bead is great. 
When it exceeds 1000, uniformity of a coating solution is lowered, layer 
thickness variation is great and uneven coating becomes severe because of 
an increased dead space. 
It may be preferable that the gap of the coating solution distributing slit 
is 30 mm-1 mm, no failure in forming a coated layer (beading failure) is 
caused and uneven coating in the longitudinal direction is less. Though a 
gap of the slit depends on the moving speed of a base material and the 
flow rate of conveyed solution, the gap of the slit in the range mentioned 
above causes less variation of layer thickness and less uneven coating. 
It may be preferable that the height of the coating solution distributing 
chamber located near the supply inlet is different from that located to be 
farthest from the supply inlet, no failure in forming a coated layer 
(beading failure) is caused and uneven coating in the circumferential 
direction is less. Pressure of a solution in an apparatus is different 
between the position near the supply inlet and that farthest from the 
supply inlet, and two solution flows hit each other at the location 
farthest from the supply inlet (easily understood when consider the 
occasion of only one solution supply inlet). Therefore, the layer 
thickness variation in the circumferential direction is great. Prevention 
of influences of the difference of solution pressure and the solution 
hitting was attained by the difference of a height of the coating solution 
distributing chamber (solution reservoiring chamber) between the position 
near the inlet and the position farthest from the inlet. It is preferable 
that the height near the inlet is shorter, and H ratio is within a range 
of 1.01-5.00 under the assumption of; 
H ratio=Height at position farthest from inlet/Height at position near 
inlet 
It may be preferable that the height of the coating solution distributing 
chamber is increased gradually at the position farthest from the supply 
inlet, failure in forming a coated layer (beading failure) is further 
diminished and uneven coating in the circumferential direction is less. 
It may be preferable that the volume of the coating solution distributing 
chamber is 20-1000 c,c., no failure in forming a coated layer (beading 
failure) is caused, uneven coating is less, and coating is stable against 
pulsation variation of solution feeding. When the volume is smaller than 
20 c.c., solution pulsation caused by a solution feeding system and by 
vibration is picked up, and uneven coating in the longitudinal direction 
and that in the circumferential direction may be caused. When the volume 
is greater than 1000 c.c., a difference of pulsation variation between the 
position near the supply inlet and the position farthest from the supply 
inlet is great, uneven coating in the circumferential direction is severe, 
and uniformity of a coating solution may be lowered and uneven coating may 
occur because of an increased dead space. Incidentally, the preferable 
volume is 30-900 c.c. 
It may be preferable that the speed of flow at the supply inlet is 0.01-1.0 
cm/sec., failure in forming a coated layer (beading failure) is further 
diminished, uneven coating is less, and coating is stable against 
pulsation variation of solution feeding. 
(4) The inlet portion of the supply inlet is positioned at the same height 
as an inner opening of the slit or at the lower position than that for the 
coating solution distributing chamber. When the aforesaid relation is 
reversed, the pressure applied on the surface of a solution flowing to the 
coating solution distributing slit is inclined to become unstable, 
resulting in an unstable solution layer. 
(5) The slit mentioned above is slanted upward by 10.degree.-80.degree. 
from the horizontal level from the solution reservoir chamber. 
The inlet portion of the supply inlet is preferably positioned to be the 
lowest bottom position against the solution reservoir chamber, and the 
height h of the central portion of the inner opening of the slit and the 
height H of the solution reservoir chamber are in the relation of the 
following inequality. 
EQU 1/3 H.ltoreq.h.ltoreq.2/3 H 
(6) At least one air discharging port is preferably provided above the 
coating solution distributing chamber. The air discharging port is 
positioned at the location that is away from the supply inlet for the 
coating solution. 
(7) In order to attain the object of the invention mentioned above, a 
continuous coating apparatus is preferably composed of a coating means in 
which cylindrical base materials are stacked with their axes aligned and 
are pushed up vertically through the inside of a ring-shaped coating 
apparatus to be coated continuously on their outer surfaces, a supply 
means for supplying cylindrical base materials to the coating means, a 
positioning means that aligns the center of the cylindrical base material 
with the center of a ring of the ring-shaped coating apparatus, a means 
that dries or dries and adjusts the coated cylindrical base material, and 
a separating and ejecting means that separates the coated cylindrical base 
material and takes it out, and a continuous coating method is preferably 
conducted by the continuous coating apparatus. 
(8) An operating position for each means mentioned above preferably 
corresponds to the length that is a multiple of an integer. 
(9) When a coating solution comes in contact with a joint of the 
cylindrical base materials, it may be preferable that the supply means, 
the step-adjusting and transporting means and the separating and ejecting 
means are operated simultaneously. 
(10) When a coating solution comes in contact with a portion corresponding 
to a non-image area on the cylindrical base material, the supply means, it 
may be preferable that the step-adjusting and transporting means and the 
separating and ejecting means are operated on a staggered basis within the 
portion corresponding to a non-image area. 
(11) For the purpose of coating continuously a coating solution on the 
circumferential surface of the cylindrical base material by means of the 
coating means while pushing upward vertically plural cylindrical base 
materials stacked with their axes aligned from their lower position to 
upper position, it may be preferable that there are provided a cylindrical 
base material push up means attached on a cylindrical base material supply 
means that pushes up a cylindrical base material vertically from its lower 
position to its upper position and a positioning guide member that is 
capable of being mounted on and dismounted from the cylindrical base 
material when pushing up the cylindrical base material with the 
cylindrical base material push up means, and is positioned between the 
cylindrical base material push up means and the cylindrical base material. 
(12) A holding device used in the case of coating a coating solution 
continuously on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical base 
material, is preferably provided with two or more holding shoes an outer 
portion of each of which comes in contact with the outer surface of the 
cylindrical base material and with a hand portion holding the holding 
shoes mentioned above, and buffer member that operates when the holding 
shoes grasp the cylindrical base material is provided on a part of the 
holding device. 
(13) In a separating/ejecting/holding device that separates and ejects 
while holding the inner surface of the coated cylindrical base material 
after coating a coating solution continuously with a vertical coating 
apparatus on the outer circumferential surface of each of the cylindrical 
base materials stacked with their axes aligned and after drying, the 
holding device mentioned above is preferably provided with a holding shoe 
whose outer portion comes in contact with the inner surface of the 
cylindrical base material and with a buffer mechanism that operates when 
the cylindrical base material is grasped.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Next, the invention will be explained as follows, referring to the examples 
to which the invention is not limited. 
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an example of a coating apparatus of the 
invention, and it shows cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B each being 
formed endlessly and staked vertically along center line Y and a coating 
apparatus which coats light-sensitive coating solution 2 successively on 
the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B. As shown in the drawing, hopper 
coating surface 4 for coating solution 2 is formed to surround the 
cylindrical base materials 1A so that coating solution 2 supplied to the 
hopper coating surface 4 can be coated successively on the cylindrical 
base materials 1A. In the coating method, the coating head 3 mentioned 
above is fixed so that it may coat on the cylindrical base materials 1A 
starting from its top end, while the cylindrical base materials 1A is 
moved upward in the arrowed direction along the center line Y. The coating 
solution 2 is coated by coating head 3 which is a portion surrounding the 
cylindrical base material and relating directly to coating on the outer 
circumferential surfaces of the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B by 
the coating apparatus. On the coating head 3, there is arranged 
horizontally narrow coating solution distributing slit (hereinafter 
referred to as a slit) 8 having coating solution flow out port 9 that is 
opened to the side of the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B. This slit 
8 is communicated with ring-shaped solution distributing chamber 7 to 
which the coating solution 2 in coating solution tank 5 is supplied by 
coating solution supply section 6A of solution supply pump 6 through a 
supply pipe. On the other hand, under the coating solution flow out port 9 
of the slit 8, there is formed sliding surface 4 that is inclined downward 
continuously and is formed so that a diameter of its end portion is 
slightly greater than the outside diameter of the base material. There is 
further formed lip-shaped section that extends downward beyond the end 
portion of the sliding surface 4. In the course of coating by means of 
such coating apparatus, when coating solution 2 is pushed out from the 
slit 8 and is caused to flow down along the sliding surface 4 in the 
course of drawing up the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B, the coating 
solution arriving at the end portion of the sliding surface forms a bead 
between the end portion of the sliding surface and the external 
circumferential surface of the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B, and 
then is coated on the surface of the cylindrical base material. 
Incidentally, as cylindrical base material, a hollow drum such as, for 
example, an aluminum drum or a plastic drum, or a base material of a 
seamless belt type may also be used. In FIG. 1, G1 represents a clearance 
of the slit and H2 is a height of the solution distributing chamber. When 
the height of the solution distributing chamber H2 is 5-50 mm and the 
ratio of the clearance of the slit to the height of the solution 
distributing chamber H2 is 1:10-1:1000, it is possible to reduce blurs of 
coated layers and uneven coating in the longitudinal direction, which is 
preferable. 
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a coating apparatus 
shown in FIG. 1, and in particular, a perspective view showing a part of 
the coating apparatus that is cut open. 
FIG. 3 is a sectional view of another coating apparatus of the invention, 
wherein the height H3 of the solution distributing chamber 7 at the supply 
inlet side is different from the height H4 of the solution distributing 
chamber 7 at the side farthest from the supply inlet side. Incidentally, 
items identical to those in FIG. 1 are given the same symbols and 
explanation for the items which are the same mechanically and functionally 
as those in FIG. 1 will be omitted. 
The aforementioned solution distributing chamber 7 is slanted by an angle 
.alpha. as shown in the drawing at the inlet side and the side farthest 
from the inlet side. The range of the angle .alpha. depends on a diameter 
of a cylindrical base material and a size of a coating apparatus, and the 
angle that makes the ratio of H=H4/H3 to be 1.01 to 5 is preferable. hen 
is coated on the surface of the cylindrical base material 1. Since the end 
portion of the sliding surface and the cylindrical base material are 
arranged to have a clearance between them, the base material is not 
damaged in the course of coating, and even when many layers each differing 
in nature from others are formed, layers already coated are not damaged. 
Further, even in the case of multi-layer coating of layers which are 
different in nature each other and are dissolved in the same solvent, the 
time of existence in the solvent is much less compared with that in the 
dip coating method. Therefore, components in the lower layers hardly flow 
out to the upper layer side and they do not flow out to the coated layer 
in the coating. A coating method of the invention can be used for an 
electrophotographic photoreceptor requiring a thin and uniform coated 
layer, manufacture of electrostatic recording material, coating on the 
surface of a roller, and layer forming on the external circumferential 
surface of an endless belt or the like, and there is no restriction for 
application. Namely, it is used as a coating method for coating on an 
external circumferential surface of a base material having a continuous 
surface formed endlessly. In the course of coating, a base material itself 
may move, a coating apparatus may move, or a cylindrical base material may 
further rotate. 
FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another example of a coating apparatus 
related to the invention. Incidentally, items identical to those in FIG. 1 
are given the same symbols and explanation for the items which are the 
same mechanically and functionally as those in FIG. 1 will be omitted. It 
is preferable that a volume of the solution distributing chamber 7 is 
20-1000 cc. 
There will be shown below the examples and comparative examples wherein 
coating solutions 2 were coated on the cylindrical base materials 1A and 
1B by the use of the coating apparatus mentioned above. 
EXAMPLE 1-1 
As a conductive support for cylindrical base materials hereinafter (which 
may be called a coated drum) 1A and 1B, a support of a mirror-finished 
aluminum drum having a diameter of 80 mm and a height of 355 mm was used. 
Coating was conducted on the aforesaid support by the use of a coating 
apparatus of a slide hopper type as shown in FIG. 1 after adjusting 
coating solution composition UCL-1 as shown below and adjusting the height 
and dimension ratio of the solution distributing chamber as shown in Table 
1, and thereby, coated drums No. A1-1-No. A1-3 were obtained. 
______________________________________ 
UCL-1 coating solution composition 
Copolymer nylon resin (CM-8000, made by 
2 g 
Toray) 
Methanol/n-butanol = 10/1 (ratio by volume) 
1000 g 
Coating Condition 
Volume of solution chamber 
150 cc 
Flow velocity at a feeding port 
0.26 cm/sec. 
Viscossity of solution 
3 milipascal .multidot. sec 
Coater gap 100 .mu.m 
Slit gap 50 .mu.m 
Coating speed 20 mm/sec 
______________________________________ 
The results are shown in Table 1. 
TABLE 1 
______________________________________ 
Coating solution drum No. 
A1-1 A1-2 A1-3 
______________________________________ 
Solution reservoir 
5 30 50 
chamber height H2 (mm) 
Slid gap H1 (.mu.m) 
150 100 50 
Dimension ratio 33 300 1000 
Coatability A A A 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 1-2 
Coating was conducted on the cylindrical lease materials used in Example 
1-1 (not coated) in the same manner as Example 1-1 except that coating 
solution composition CGL-1 as shown below in stead of UCL-1 coating 
solution was coated, and thereby, coated drums No. A2-1-No. A2-3 were 
obtained. 
______________________________________ 
CGL-1 coating solution composition Y 
______________________________________ 
Fluorenone type disazo pigment (CGM-1) 
25 g 
Butyral resin (Eslec BX-L, made by Sekisui Kagaku) 
10 g 
Methyl ethyl ketone 1430 ml 
______________________________________ 
The aforesaid coating solution compositions were dispersed by a sand mill 
for 20 hours. 
A chemical formula of the aforementioned CGM-1 is shown below. 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
##STR1## 
Coating Condition 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Volume of solution chamber 
150 cc 
Flow velocity at a feeding port 
0.48 cm/sec. 
Viscossity of solution 
5 milipascal .multidot. sec 
Coater gap 100 .mu.m 
Slit gap 50 .mu.m 
Coating speed 20 mm/sec 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 2. 
TABLE 2 
______________________________________ 
Coating solution drum No. 
A2-1 A2-2 A2-3 
______________________________________ 
Solution reservoir 
5 30 50 
chamber height H2 (mm) 
Slid gap H1 (.mu.m) 
150 100 50 
Dimension ratio 33 300 1000 
Coatability A A A 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 1-3 
Examples and comparative examples 
Coating was conducted on the cylindrical base material used in Example 1-1 
in the same manner as Example 1-1 except that solution composition CTL-1 
as shown below in stead of UCL-1 coating solution was coated and adjusting 
the height and dimension ratio of the solution distributing chamber as 
shown in Table 3, and thereby coated drums No. A3-1-No. A3-7 were 
obtained. 
______________________________________ 
CTL-1 coating solution composition 
______________________________________ 
CTM-1 500 g 
Polycarbonate (Z-200, made by Mitsubishi Gas) 
560 g 
1,2-dichloroethane 2800 ml A 
______________________________________ 
chemical formula of the aforementioned CTM-1 is shown below. 
______________________________________ 
##STR2## 
Coating Condition 
______________________________________ 
Volume of solution chamber 
150 cc 
Flow velocity at a feeding port 
1.0 cm/sec. 
Viscossity of solution 
100 milipascal .multidot. sec 
Coater gap 100 .mu.m 
Slit gap 300 .mu.m 
Coating speed 20 mm/sec 
______________________________________ 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 3. 
TABLE 3 
______________________________________ 
Coating solu- 
tion drum No. 
A3-1 A3-2 A3-3 A3-4 A3-5 A3-6 A3-7 
______________________________________ 
Solution res- 
5 30 50 4 60 30 5 
ervior chamber 
height H2(mm) 
Slid gap H1 
500 600 50 200 600 25 1000 
(.mu.m) 
Dimension 
10 50 1000 20 100 1200 5 
ratio 
Coatability 
A A A B B B B 
Occurrence 
Same Same Same 
of uneven 
as the 
as the 
as the 
coating left left left 
Great Same Same Same 
change in 
as the 
as the 
as the 
layer left left left 
thickness 
in 
circumfer- 
ential 
direction 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
FIG. 9 shows a layer thickness profile in the circumferential direction for 
the coated drums Nos. A3-2 and A3-5, wherein FIG. 9(A) shows A3-2, and 
FIG. 9(B) shows A3-5. In the drawing, the position of 90.degree. 
represents a supply inlet. As is shown in FIG. 9, the results of the 
samples of the invention are excellent. 
EXAMPLE 1-4 
Coating was conducted on cylindrical base material of Example 1-1 (not 
coated) in the same manner as Example 1-1 except that coating solution 
composition CGL-3 and CGL-4 as shown below are coated respectively in 
stead of UCL-1 coating solution, and thereby, coated drums No. A4-1-No. 
A4-6 were obtained. 
______________________________________ 
CGL-3 coating solution composition 
______________________________________ 
Y-type titanylphthalocyanine (CGM-3) 
10 g 
Silicone resin (KR-5240, made by Shin-etsu Kagaku) 
10 g 
T-butyl acetate 1000 ml 
______________________________________ 
The aforesaid coating solution compositions were dispersed by a sand mill 
for 20 hours. 
______________________________________ 
CGL-4 coating solution composition 
______________________________________ 
Perylene type pigment (CGM-4) 
50 g 
Butyral resin (Eslec BX-L, made by Sekisui Kagaku) 
50 g 
Methyl ethyl ketone 2400 ml 
______________________________________ 
The aforesaid coating solution compositions were dispersed by a sand mill 
for 20 hours. 
Chemical formulas of the aforementioned CGM-3 and CGM-4 are shown below. 
##STR3## 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 4. 
TABLE 4 
______________________________________ 
Coating solu- 
tion drum No. 
A4-1 A4-2 A4-3 A4-4 A4-5 A4-6 
______________________________________ 
Coating solu- 
CGL-3 CGL-3 CGL-3 CGL-4 CGL-4 CGL-4 
tion compo- 
sition 
Solution reser- 
50 30 5 40 20 30 
voir chamber 
height H2(mm) 
Slid gap H1 
50 100 150 50 150 100 
(.mu.m) 
Dimension 
1000 300 33 800 133 300 
ratio 
Coatability 
A A A A A A 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
As apparent from Table 1 to 4, the coating method of the invention proved 
to be excellent to be free from a failure of beading of a coating 
solution, unevenness of coating, color unevenness and layer thickness 
variation, especially unevenness of coating in the circumferential 
direction. 
Further, the solution reservoir chamber height and dimension ratio were 
adjusted as shown in Table 5, and CTL-2 coating solution compositions 
described below were coated on coated drums Nos. A4-1-A5-6, so that coated 
drums Nos. A5-1-A5-6 were obtained. 
______________________________________ 
CTL-2 coating solution composition 
______________________________________ 
CTM-2 500 g 
Polycarbonate (Z-200, made by Mitsubishi Gas) 
560 g 
1,2-dichloroethane 2800 ml 
______________________________________ 
A chemical formula of the aforementioned CTM-2 is shown below. 
##STR4## 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 5. 
TABLE 5 
______________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
A5-1 A5-2 A5-3 A5-4 A5-5 A5-6 
______________________________________ 
Lower layer 
Lower layer 
A4-1 A4-2 A4-3 A4-4 A4-5 A4-6 
coated drum No. 
Drying of Drying Same Drying 
Same Same Same 
lower layer as the in as the 
as the 
as the 
left drying 
left left left 
zone 
Upper layer 
Height of solution 
20 30 50 50 20 30 
reservoir chamber 
H2 (mm) 
Slid gap H1 (.mu.m) 
250 300 250 100 200 250 
Dimension ratio 
80 100 200 500 100 120 
Coatability 
A A A A A A 
Excellent Same Same Same Same Same 
multi-layer 
as the as the 
as the 
as the 
as the 
with uniform 
left left left left left 
layer 
thickness 
______________________________________ 
A: Good, B: bad 
Actual photographing tests made by the use of a multi-layer organic 
photoreceptor incorporated as shown in Table 5 showed that excellent 
images without any image unevenness caused by uneven coating can be 
obtained in the coating method of the invention. 
Examples and comparative examples 
As a conductive support for cylindrical base materials (which may be called 
a coated drum) 1A and 1B, a support of a mirror-finished aluminum drum 
having a diameter of 80 mm and a height of 355 mm was used. Coating was 
conducted on the aforesaid support by the use of a coating apparatus of a 
slide hopper type (H ratio) as shown in FIG. 3 after adjusting coating 
solution composition UCL-1-3 as shown below and adjusting as shown in 
Table 6, and thereby, coated drums No. B1-1-No. B1-7 were obtained. 
______________________________________ 
UCL-1 coating solution composition 
UCL-2 coating solution composition 
Vinylchloride-vinylacetate copolymer (Eslec MF-10, made 
5y g 
Sekisui Kagaku) 
Acetone/cyclohexanone = 10/1 (ratio by volume) 
700 g 
UCL-3 coating solution composition 
Ethylene-vinylacetate copolymer (Elbax 4260, made by Mitsui 
50 g 
Dupont Chemical) 
Toluene/n-butanol = 5/1 (ratio by volume) 
2000 ml 
______________________________________ 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 6. 
TABLE 6 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
B1-1 
B1-2 
B1-3 
B1-4 
B1-5 
B1-6 
B1-7 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coating solution 
UCL-1 
UCL-1 
UCL-2 
UCL-2 
UCL-3 
UCL-3 
UCL-2 
composition 
H ratio (H4/H3) 
1.01 
1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 5.0 1.00 
Coatability 
A A A A A A B 
Unevenness 
of coated 
layer in 
circumfer- 
ential 
direction 
observed 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 2-2 
Examples and comparative examples 
Coating was conducted on the cylindrical base materials of Example 2-1 (not 
coated) by the use of a coating apparatus of a slide hopper type (H ratio) 
as shown in FIG. 3 after adjusting coating solution composition CGL-1, -3 
and -4 and adjusting as shown in Table 7, and thereby, coated drums No. 
B2-1-No. B2-7 were obtained. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 7. 
TABLE 7 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
B2-1 
B2-2 
B2-3 
B2-4 
B2-5 
B2-6 
B2-7 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coating solution 
CGL-1 
CGL-1 
CGL-3 
CGL-3 
CGL-4 
CGL-4 
CGL-3 
composition 
H ratio (H4/H3) 
1.01 
1.0 1.5 2.5 3.5 5.0 1.00 
Coatability 
A A A A A A B 
Unevenness 
of coated 
layer in 
circumfer- 
ential 
direction 
observed 
Color 
unevenness 
observed 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 2-3 
Examples and comparative examples 
Coating was conducted on cylindrical base materials of Example 2-1 (not 
coated) by the use of a coating apparatus of a slide hopper type (H ratio) 
as shown in FIG. 3 after adjusting coating solution composition CTL-1 and 
adjusting as shown in Table 8, and thereby, coated drums Nos. B3-1-B3-3 
were obtained. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 8. 
TABLE 8 
______________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
B3-1 B3-2 B3-3 
______________________________________ 
H ratio (H4/H3) 
1.02 2.5 1.0 
Coatability A A B 
Unevenness of 
coated layer in 
circumferential 
direction observed 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
As apparent from Table 6 to 8, the coating method of the invention proved 
to be excellent to be free from unevenness of coating, color unevenness, 
blurred coated layers (failure of beading), and layer thickness variation, 
especially its unevenness in the circumferential direction. Further, FIG. 
10 shows profiles of layer thickness in the circumferential direction of 
coated drums Nos. B3-1 and B3-3, in which FIG. 10(A) shows B3-1 and FIG. 
10(B) shows B3-3. A3-5, wherein FIG. 9(A) shows A3-2, and FIG. 9(B) shows 
A3-5. In the drawing, the position of 90.degree. represents a supply 
inlet. As is shown in the drawing, the results of the samples of the 
invention are excellent. 
EXAMPLE 2-4 
On the coated drums in Example 2 from No. B2-1 to No. B2-6, coating 
solution compositions CTL-1 in Example 2-3 were coated on a multi-layer 
basis successively as shown in Table 9 by the use of a slide hopper type 
coating apparatus (H ratio) shown in FIG. 3. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 9. 
TABLE 9 
______________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
B2-1 B2-2 B2-3 B2-4 B2-5 B2-6 
______________________________________ 
H ratio (H4/H3) 
1.01 1.2 1.7 2.0 2.5 3.0 
Coatability 
A A A A A A 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good 
As shown in Table 9, coatability was excellent and no unevenness in coated 
layer thickness in the circumferential direction was observed. 
EXAMPLE 3-1 
Examples and comparative examples 
As a conductive support for cylindrical base materials (which may be called 
a coated drum) 1A and 1B, a support of a mirror-finished aluminum drum 
having a diameter of 80 mm and a height of 355 mm was used. Coating was 
conducted on the aforesaid support by the use of a coating apparatus of a 
slide hopper type (with changed volume of solution distributing chamber) 
as shown in FIG. 4 after adjusting coating solution composition UCL-1-3 
and adjusting as shown in Table 10, and thereby, coated drums Nos. 
C1-1-C1-7 were obtained. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 10. 
TABLE 10 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
C1-1 
C1-2 
C1-3 
C1-4 
C1-5 
C1-6 C1-7 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coating solution 
UCL-1 
UCL-1 
UCL-2 
UCL-2 
UCL-3 
UCL-1 UCL-1 
composition 
Volume of solution 
20 100 750 1000 
750 10 1200 
reservoir chamber (cc) 
Flow rate (cm/sec) 
0.01 
0.05 
0.7 1.0 1.0 0.005 0.7 
Coatability 
A A A A A B B 
Uneven 
Uneven 
coated 
coated 
layer layer 
observed 
observed 
Circumfer- 
Circumfer- 
ential and 
ential and 
longitu- 
longitu- 
dinal dinal 
direction 
direction 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 3-2 
Examples and comparative examples 
Coating was conducted on the cylindrical base materials of Example 3-1 (not 
coated) by the use of a coating apparatus of a slide hopper type (with 
changed volume of solution distributing chamber) as shown in FIG. 4 after 
adjusting coating solution composition CGL-1, -3 and -4 and adjusting as 
shown in Table 11, and thereby, coated drums Nos. C2-1-C2-7 were obtained. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 11. 
TABLE 11 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
C2-1 
C2-2 
C2-3 
C2-4 
C2-5 
C2-6 C2-7 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Coating solution 
CGL-1 
CGL-1 
CGL-3 
CGL-3 
CGL-4 
CGL-1 CGL-1 
composition 
Volume of solution 
20 750 1000 
750 750 10 1200 
reservoir chamber (cc) 
Flow rate (cm/sec) 
0.05 
0.1 0.5 0.8 1.0 0.1 1.5 
Coatability 
A A A A A B B 
Uneven 
Same as the 
coated 
left 
layer 
observed 
Circumfer- 
ential and 
longitu- 
dinal 
direction 
__________________________________________________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
EXAMPLE 3-3 
Coating was conducted on the cylindrical base materials of Example 3-1 (not 
coated) by the use of a coating apparatus of a slide hopper type (with 
changed volume of solution distributing chamber) as shown in FIG. 4 after 
adjusting coating solution composition CTL-1 and adjusting as shown in 
Table 12, and thereby, coated drums Nos. C3-1-C3-4 were obtained. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 12. 
TABLE 12 
______________________________________ 
Coated drum No. 
C3-1 C3-2 C3-3 C3-4 
______________________________________ 
Volume of solution 
25 950 5 1200 
reservoir chamber (cc) 
Coatability A A B B 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good, B: bad 
As apparent from Table 10 to 12, the coating method of the invention proved 
to be excellent to be free from blurred coated layers (failure of 
beading), unevenness of coating, color unevenness, and layer thickness 
variation, especially its unevenness in the circumferential direction and 
longitudinal direction. FIG. 11 shows layer thickness profiles in the 
longitudinal and circumferential directions for coated drums Nos. C3-1 and 
C3-3, wherein FIG. 11(A-1) shows the longitudinal direction of C3-1, FIG. 
11(A-2) shows the circumferential direction of C3-1, FIG. 11(B-1) shows 
the longitudinal direction of C3-1 and FIG. 11(B-2) shows the 
circumferential direction of C3-1. As in the drawings, good results were 
obtained in those of the invention. 
EXAMPLE 3-4 
On the coated drums in Example 2 from No. C2-1 to No. C2-5, coating 
solution compositions CTL-1 in Example 3 were coated on a multi-layer 
basis successively as shown in Table 13 by the use of a slide hopper type 
coating apparatus (with changed volume of solution distributing chamber) 
shown in FIG. 4. 
The results of the coating are shown in Table 13. 
TABLE 13 
______________________________________ 
Coated drum No. of lower layer 
C2-1 C2-2 C2-3 C2-4 C2-5 
______________________________________ 
Volume of solution reservoir 
25 25 750 750 950 
chamber (cc) 
Coatability A A A A A 
______________________________________ 
Note: A: good 
As shown in Table 13, coatability was excellent and no unevenness in coated 
layer thickness in the circumferential and longitudinal directions was 
observed. After the actual photographing tests made by the use of a 
multi-layer organic photoreceptor incorporated, excellent images without 
any image unevenness caused by uneven coating were obtained. 
FIG. 5 is a sectional view of another coating apparatus of the invention 
which, in particular, is one modified from the coating apparatus shown in 
FIG. 1 for the simultaneous multi-layer coating. As is shown in the 
drawing, hopper coating surface 4 for coating solutions 2 and 2A is formed 
to surround the aforesaid cylindrical base material 1A so that coating 
solutions 2 and 2A supplied to the hopper coating surface 4 may be coated 
on the cylindrical base material 1A in succession. In the coating method, 
the aforesaid coating head 3 is fixed, and it coats, starting from the 
upper end portion of the cylindrical base material 1A while the 
cylindrical base material is moved upward along center line Y in the 
arrowed direction. For the purpose of supplying coating solutions 2 and 2A 
to the hopper coating surface 4 of the coating head 3, coating solution 
supply portion 6A of solution supply pump 6 is attached on the lower 
position and coating solution supply portion 6B of solution supply pump 61 
is attached on the upper position, both on the coating head so that 
coating solution tanks 5 and 51 provided outside may be respectively 
connected to the coating head 3 for supplying coating solutions 2 and 2A. 
Then, with regard to the supplied coating solutions 2 and 2A, the coating 
solution 2 is supplied to ring-shaped solution distributing chamber 7 
formed in the coating head 3, while the coating solution 2A is supplied to 
ring-shaped solution distributing chamber 71 formed in the coating head 3. 
The coating solution 2 thus supplied is further supplied continuously to 
the hopper coating surface 4 from coating solution distributing slit 8 
through endless coating solution flow out port 9, first, thus the coating 
solution 2 is coated on the entire surface of the cylindrical base 
material 1A. 
The coating solution 2A is further supplied to the coating solution 
distributing chamber 71. The coating solution 2A thus supplied is further 
supplied continuously on the surface of the coated coating solution 2 from 
coating solution distributing slit 81 through endless coating solution 
flow out port 91, thus coating solution 2A is multi-layer-coated on the 
surface of coating solution 2 coated on the entire surface of the 
cylindrical base material 1A, first. Incidentally, H1 and H11 represent a 
slit gap and H21 and H22 represent a height of a solution distributing 
chamber, wherein a ratio of H2 to H1 takes a prescribed value. 
FIG. 6 is a sectional view of another coating apparatus of the invention 
which is, in particular, a coating apparatus wherein two of the coating 
apparatus shown in FIG. 1 are arranged vertically to coat in succession on 
a multi-layer basis. In the same manner as in FIG. 1, coating solution 2 
supplied to hopper coating surface 4 is coated successively on the 
cylindrical base material 1A. 
Coating head 32 is further provided above the coating head 3, and coating 
solution 2 for the first layer is coated, and then is dried by heat source 
H, and cylindrical base material 1A is moved upward in the arrowed 
direction to enter the coating surface 42 of the coating head 32. Coating 
solution 42 supplied to the hopper coating surface 42 is coated on the 
coating solution 2 coated already on the cylindrical base material 1A on a 
multi-layer basis in succession. The aforesaid coating head 32 is fixed, 
at it coats, starting from the upper end portion of the cylindrical base 
material 1A while the cylindrical base material is moved upward along 
center line Y in the arrowed direction. For the purpose of supply coating 
solution 2A to the hopper coating surface 42 of the coating head 32, 
coating solution supply portion 6C of solution feeding pump 62 (0026) is 
attached on the coating head so that coating solution tank 52 provided 
outside may be connected to the coating head 32 for supplying coating 
solution 2A. Then, the coating solution 2A thus supplied is further 
supplied to ring-shaped solution distributing chamber 72 formed in the 
coating head 32, and is supplied continuously to the hopper coating 
surface 42 from the coating solution distributing slit 82 through endless 
coating solution flow out port 92, thus, the coating solution 2A is coated 
on the entire surface of the coating solution 2 coated already on the 
cylindrical base material 1A. Incidentally, H1 and H12 represent a slit 
gap, and H2 and H22 represent a height of the solution distributing 
chamber. 
FIG. 7 is a sectional view of an example of another coating apparatus of 
the invention. Incidentally, members in the drawing which are the same as 
those in FIG. 3 are given the same symbols, and explanation of those 
remaining unchanged from those in FIG. 3 mechanically and functionally may 
be omitted. FIG. 7(A) shows an apparatus obtained by changing the coating 
apparatus in FIG. 3 so that simultaneous and multi-layer coating can be 
conducted. Coating solutions which become photoreceptors are coated on 
cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B simultaneously on a multi-layer 
basis. Ring-shaped solution distributing chambers 7 and 71 are 
respectively arranged to surround the cylindrical base material in a shape 
of a ring. H3 and H31 represent a height of a solution distributing 
chamber on the supply port side, while H4 and H41 represent a height of a 
solution distributing chamber on the side farthest from the supply port 
side. 
H3 is different from H31 and H4 is different from H41. FIG. 7(B) shows a 
coating apparatus obtained by arranging two of the coating apparatus in 
FIG. 3 vertically so that multi-layer coating can be conducted. Coating 
solutions which become photoreceptors are coated on cylindrical base 
materials 1A and 1B simultaneously on a multi-layer basis. Ring-shaped 
solution distributing chambers 7 and 71 are respectively arranged to 
surround the cylindrical base material in a shape of a ring. Incidentally 
H3 and H32 represent a height of a solution distributing chamber on the 
supply port side, while H4 and H42 represent a height of a solution 
distributing chamber on the side farthest from the supply port side. H3 is 
different from H32 and H4 is different from H42. 
FIG. 8 is a sectional view of another example of a coating apparatus of the 
invention. Incidentally, members in the drawing which are the same as 
those in FIG. 4 are given the same symbols, and explanation of those 
remaining unchanged from those in FIG. 4 mechanically and functionally may 
be omitted. FIG. 8(A) shows an apparatus obtained by changing the coating 
apparatus in FIG. 4 so that simultaneous and multi-layer coating can be 
conducted. Coating solutions which become photoreceptors are coated on 
cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B simultaneously on a multi-layer 
basis. Ring-shaped solution distributing chambers 7 and 71 are 
respectively arranged to surround, in a shape of a ring, the circumference 
of the cylindrical base material that moves in its longitudinal direction. 
It is preferable that each of volumes V and V.sub.1 of the solution 
distributing chambers is 20-1000 c.c. FIG. 8(B) shows a coating apparatus 
obtained by arranging two of the coating apparatus in FIG. 4 vertically so 
that multi-layer coating can be conducted. Coating solutions which become 
photoreceptors are coated on cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B 
simultaneously on a multi-layer basis. Ring-shaped solution distributing 
chambers 7 and 72 are respectively arranged to surround, in a shape of a 
ring, the circumference of the cylindrical base material that moves in its 
longitudinal direction. It is preferable that each of volumes V and 
V.sub.2 of the solution distributing chambers is 20-1000 c.c. 
The dimension ratio, H ratio and volumes of solution distributing chambers 
mentioned above can offer the following effects. 
Neither blurred coated layer (failure of beading) nor longitudinal uneven 
coating occurs in coating. 
Even in the simultaneous and multi-layer coating, the effects identical to 
the foregoing can be offered. 
Even in the successive and multi-layer coating, the effects identical to 
the foregoing can be offered. 
An explanation will be offered as follows on how the coating solution 
supply portion is structured. In a coating apparatus in FIG. 12, coating 
solution supply section 6A from the aforementioned solution supply pump 6 
is provided to be positioned at the same height as coating solution 
distributing chamber 7, or it is positioned to be lower than the coating 
solution distributing chamber 7 so that communicating hole 3A is formed 
obliquely between the coating solution supply section 6A and the coating 
solution distributing chamber 7. When the supply of coating solution 2 to 
endless coating solution flow out port 9 from coating solution 
distributing slit 8 is started after the coating solution 2 is supplied to 
the coating solution distributing chamber 7, for the purpose of coating 
the coating solution 2 for photoreceptor on cylindrical base materials 1A 
and 1B successively, it is most preferable that the flow rate of the 
coating solution 2 from the coating solution supply section 6A is made to 
be 1-12 m/sec. Owing to the communicating hole 3A provided in the 
aforesaid manner, no bubbles are formed, at the start of coating, in the 
above-mentioned ring-shaped coating solution distributing chamber 7, the 
coating solution distributing slit and endless coating solution flow out 
port 9. It is therefore possible to prevent occurrence of failure of 
beading and uneven coating. 
Each of FIGS. 13(A), (B), (C), (D) and (E) indicates communicating hole 3A 
provided between coating solution distributing chamber 7 and aforesaid 
coating solution supply section 6A, and positional relating between the 
communicating hole 3A and the coating solution distributing slit 8, 
wherein FIGS. 13(A), (C), (D) and (E) represent examples and FIG. 13(B) 
represents a comparative example. 
In FIG. 13(A), the uppermost position of the communicating hole 3A is made 
to be lower by +.DELTA.H than the uppermost position of the coating 
solution distributing slit 8. FIG. 13(B) shows a comparative example whose 
structure is opposite to that in FIG. 13(A), and the uppermost position of 
the communicating hole 3A is higher than the uppermost position of the 
coating solution distributing slit 8 by -.DELTA.H. In this case, stability 
of a coated surface to the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B tends to 
be poor, resulting in failure of beading, layer thickness variation and 
air inhaling, thus, coating unevenness tends to happen, and uneven layer 
thickness occurs in the longitudinal direction and circumferential 
direction of the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B. In FIG. 13(C), the 
communicating hole 3A is formed to be slightly lower than the coating 
solution distributing slit 8. In FIG. 13(D), the communicating hole 3A is 
formed to be aslant upward to the coating solution distributing chamber 7 
toward the coating solution distributing slit 8. In FIG. 13(D), the 
communicating hole 3A is formed to be aslant upward to the coating 
solution distributing chamber 7 toward the coating solution distributing 
slit 8, as in FIG. 13(D), and the communicating hole 3A is opened to both 
the coating solution distributing chamber 7 and the coating solution 
distributing slit 8. Incidentally, .DELTA.H represents a difference 
between the uppermost position at an inlet of the coating solution 
distributing slit 8 and the uppermost position of a pipe of the 
communicating hole 3A. 
In the comparative tests made by the inventors of the invention, when the 
coating solution supply section 3A is provided to be the same in height as 
an opening of the coating solution distributing slit 8, or provided to be 
lower by .DELTA.H as illustrated, coating unevenness of a coated layer in 
its circumferential and longitudinal directions does not occur, and it was 
possible to obtain excellent effects in coating. 
How the slit section is structured will be explained as follows. In the 
coating apparatus in FIG. 14, aforesaid slit 43 connecting the top of the 
slide surface 45 mentioned above, namely aforesaid coating solution flow 
out port 42 and the bottom portion of said coating solution distributing 
chamber 44 is formed to be inclined upward from the coating solution 
distributing chamber 44 by inclination angle .theta. on horizontal plane X 
that is perpendicular to aforesaid vertical center line Z--Z. The. 
inclination angle .theta. of aforesaid slit 43 is within a range of 
10.degree.-80.degree.. When the inclination angle .theta. of aforesaid 
slit 43 is smaller than 10', an effect for pulsation variation is reduced. 
When the inclination angle .theta. is larger than 80.degree., a coating 
solution at hopper coating surface 41 foams excessively, and layer 
thickness variation rather becomes larger. Taking characteristics of a 
coating solution and conditions for supplying the coating solution into 
consideration, the inclination angle .theta. is preferably within a range 
of 20.degree.-70.degree.. The numeral 49 is a feeding path through which 
coating solution L introduced from aforesaid supply inlet 48 is fed to the 
coating solution distributing chamber 44. 
FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing another example of coating means 40 of 
the invention. In the drawing, slit 43 connecting coating solution flow 
out port 42 and the top of the coating solution distributing chamber 44 is 
formed to be inclined upward from the coating solution distributing 
chamber 44 by inclination angle .theta. on horizontal plane X. 
FIG. 16 is a sectional view showing still another example of coating means 
40 of the invention. Slit 43 is composed of a vertical path portion rising 
almost vertically from the top portion (the ceiling portion) of coating 
solution distributing chamber 44 and an inclined path portion that is 
inclined by angle .theta.. 
FIG. 17 is an enlarged sectional view showing various examples of coating 
means 40 of the invention. In FIG. 17(A), coating means 40 shown in 
aforesaid FIG. 14 is enlarged and inclination angle .theta. of slit 43 is 
shown in detail. FIG. 17(B) shows in detail the inclination angle .theta. 
of slit 43 in aforesaid FIG. 15. FIG. 17(C) shows in detail the 
inclination angle .theta. of slit 43 in aforesaid FIG. 16. In all of the 
FIGS. 17(A), (B) and (C), feeding path 49 is provided both at the bottom 
portion of coating solution distributing chamber 44 and at the end portion 
which is farthest from an inlet portion of slit 43. Only difference 
between FIGS. 17(D), (E) and (F) and FIGS. 17(A), (B) and (C) is a 
position of the feeding path 49. 
FIG. 18 is a sectional view showing an example of coating means 40 of the 
invention. In the drawing, an inlet portion of the feeding path 49 leading 
to coating solution distributing chamber 44 is positioned at the lowermost 
portion of the coating solution distributing chamber (solution reservoir 
chamber) 44. Namely, the lowermost portion 49A with a pipe inside diameter 
of the inlet portion of the feeding path 49 is arranged to be on the same 
horizontal plane on which the lowest portion 44A of the coating solution 
distributing chamber 44 is located, or to be lower than the horizontal 
plane. 
Owing to the arrangement mentioned above, pulsation variation of a coating 
solution taking place in the course of feeding thereof is eliminated, 
thus, layer thickness unevenness is reduced, resulting in no occurrence of 
uneven density of images in multi-sheets copying. 
FIG. 20 is a partial sectional view wherein enlarged coating solution 
distributing chamber 44 and its surroundings are shown. 
In the drawing, it is arranged so that the relation of height h of center 
portion 43A of an inner opening of the slit 43 from the lowermost portion 
44A of the coating solution distributing chamber 44 and height H of the 
coating solution distributing chamber 44 is satisfied by the following 
inequality. 
EQU 1/3H.ltoreq.h.ltoreq.2/3H 
Namely, the center portion 43A of an inner opening of the slit 43 is 
provided within a range o vicinity of the center excluding the upper 1/3 H 
and lower 1/3 H f 1/3 of height H of the coating solution distributing 
chamber 44, the range being located in the (see FIG. 20(A)). 
When the center portion 43A is provided at the position lower than 1/3 H, 
there may occur the pulsation variation of a coating solution. When the 
center portion 43A is provided at the position higher than 2/3 H, small 
bubbles mixed in a coating solution enter the slit 43, and they tend to 
flow on the coating surface of cylindrical base material 1, causing 
coating defect, and when such cylindrical base material 1 coated is used, 
image defects tend to be caused. 
Taking characteristics of a coating solution and conditions for supplying 
the coating solution into consideration, it is preferable that aforesaid 
heights H and h are set to satisfy the following relation (see FIG. 20(B)) 
. 
EQU 2/5 H.ltoreq.h.ltoreq.3/5 H 
FIG. 19 is a sectional view showing another example of coating means 40 of 
the invention. In this coating apparatus 40, volume of the coating 
solution distributing chamber 44 is expanded, and an outlet of feeding 
path 49 is provided at the position slightly close to the slit 43 on the 
bottom portion of the coating solution distributing chamber 44. Even in 
the case of such coating apparatus, the same effect as the foregoing can 
be obtained when the lowermost portion 49A with a pipe inside diameter of 
the inlet portion of the feeding path 49 is arranged to be on the same 
horizontal plane on which the lowest portion 44A of the coating solution 
distributing chamber 44 is located, or to be lower than the horizontal 
plane. Further, even in this coating solution distributing chamber 44. the 
same effect as the foregoing can be obtained when the aforesaid heights H 
and h are set to satisfy the relation mentioned above. In each of coating 
apparatuses mentioned above, it is preferable that air discharging member 
10 that discharges air from a part of aforesaid ring-shaped coating 
solution distributing chamber 7 is provided, at the position farthest from 
coating solution supply section 6A of the solution supply pump 6, to be 
communicated to the outside of the coating solution distributing chamber 
7, then, opening/closing valve 11 is provided on a part of the air 
discharging member 10 for foam-discharging as shown in FIG. 21, and air in 
the coating solution distributing chamber 7 is discharged by the air 
discharging member 10 when coating solution 2 is supplied to the coating 
solution distributing chamber 7 and the supply from coating solution 
distributing slit 8 to endless coating solution flow out port 9 is 
started. 
It is further preferable that air reservoir chamber 7A is provided between 
the coating solution distributing chamber 7 and the air discharging member 
10 so that bubbles may be reservoired in the air reservoir chamber 7A and 
flowing out of bubbles from the coating solution distributing chamber 7 
and the coating solution distributing slit 8 can be prevented, if the 
amount of bubbles is small. Incidentally, in the case of a multi-layer 
coating apparatus in FIG. 22, air discharging member 10 is provided on 
each coating apparatus for each layer. 
When using a coating solution having viscosity of 1-10 
millipascal.multidot.sec. in aforesaid coating apparatus, it is preferable 
that a gap (hereinafter referred to also as a coater gap) between the 
surface of the base material and the tip portion of the hopper coating 
surface is made to be 30-200 .mu.m and a gap of the coating solution 
distributing slit is made to be 50-200 .mu.m. When the coater gap is less 
than 30 .mu.m, it tends to be unstable to control to an appropriate layer 
thickness, resulting in great variation of layer thickness, because stable 
beading is not assured. Further, a coater tends to hit a base material 
because there is no room in a gap. When the coater gap is greater than 200 
.mu.m, beading failure tends to occur and layer thickness variation is 
great. When a gap of the coating solution distributing slit is smaller 
than 50 .mu.m, layer thickness variation is great, resulting in lack of 
reliability. When the gap is greater than 200 .mu.m, layer thickness 
variation is great because a solution layer on the solution slide surface 
tends to be disturbed. 
The coating speed in using the coating solution with low viscosity can not 
be determined unconditionally because it depends on a moving speed of a 
base material and a layer thickness of a coating solution. However, it is 
preferable that the coating speed is determined to be within a range of 
20-50 mm/sec., because that coating speed makes it possible to coat more 
stably. 
When using a coating solution having high viscosity of 10-600 
millipascal.multidot.sec., it is preferable that a gap between the surface 
of the base material and the tip portion of the hopper coating surface is 
made to be 50-500 .mu.m and a gap of the coating solution distributing 
slit is made to be 50-500 .mu.m. When the coater gap is less than 50 
.mu.m, it tends to be unstable to control to an appropriate layer 
thickness, resulting in great variation of layer thickness, because stable 
beading is not assured. When the coater gap is fluctuations of layer 
thickness are great. When the gap of the coating solution distributing 
slit is less than 50 .mu.m, layer thickness fluctuations are great, 
resulting in a lack of reliability. When the gap is greater than 500 
.mu.m, layer thickness fluctuations are great because a solution layer on 
the solution slide surface tends to be disturbed. 
The coating speed in using the coating solution with high viscosity can not 
be determined unconditionally because it depends on a moving speed of a 
base material and a layer thickness of a coating solution. However, it is 
preferable that the coating speed is determined to be within a range of 
5-30 mm/sec., because that coating speed makes it possible to coat more 
stably. 
Aforesaid viscosity of a coating solution is one at a temperature of 
22.degree. C. With regard to a viscometer, there are used arbitrary 
viscometers used commonly in laboratories and processes of work, and those 
called the so-called B-type viscometer are preferable because they are 
handy. 
A coating method of the invention can be applied to a simultaneous 
multi-layer coating and a successive multi-layer coating equally. In the 
successive multi-layer coating method, it is possible to coat successively 
either under the condition that a lower layer is not dried, namely the 
lower layer is not passed through a drying zone, or under the condition 
that the lower layer is passed through a drying zone and is dried. 
FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing a total construction of a continuous 
coating apparatus of the invention to which aforesaid coating apparatus 
can be applied. In the drawing, the numerical 10 is a feeding means which 
feeds cylindrical base material 1 to a predetermined position just under a 
coating means and then pushes it up, 20 is a transport means that holds an 
outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical base material 1 fed for 
stacking cylindrical base materials after aligning the cylindrical axes 
thereof and pushes them upward vertically from the bottom, 30 is a 
positioning means which positions the aforementioned cylindrical base 
material 1 to the center of a ring-shaped coating section of the coating 
apparatus, 40 is a coating means that coats a coating solution 
continuously on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical base 
material 1, 50 is a drying means that dries the coating solution coated on 
the cylindrical base material 1, and 60 is a separation/ejection means 
that separates plural stacked cylindrical base materials which are dried 
and transported vertically and takes them one by one to eject. 
This continuous coating apparatus is of a constitution wherein the 
above-mentioned means are arranged continuously on vertical center line 
Z--Z, and it can accomplish highly accurate full-automatic production 
requiring no manual labor. Namely, the above-mentioned feeding means 10 is 
composed of turn table 12 equipped with a plurality of mounting means 11 
on each of which the cylindrical base material 1 is placed, driving means 
13 that rotates the turn table 12 to feed into a vertical line leading to 
the transport means 20, elevating means 14 that pushes up the cylindrical 
base material 1 which has already been held and transported upward by the 
transport means 20 so that is can be stacked, hand means 15 which is 
provided on the upper end of the elevating means 14 for feeding the 
cylindrical base material, and an unillustrated control means that 
controls the timing for the driving means 13 to rotate and for the 
elevating means 14 to push up. Incidentally, feeding of the cylindrical 
base material 1 onto the turn table 12 is conducted by a robot handle. 
The transport means 20 provided above the feeding means 10 is equipped. 
with two paired holding means 21 and 22 which can be brought in pressure 
contact with and released from an outer circumferential surface of the 
cylindrical base material 1 and can move vertically, thus it has functions 
for positioning and holding the cylindrical base material 1 and 
transporting it upward. Details of the above-mentioned means 20, 30, 40, 
50 and 60 will be stated later. 
FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing a stepwise and continual coating 
apparatus that is another example of the invention. On the vertical center 
line Z--Z above the aforesaid transport means 20 in this example, there 
are vertically arranged plural sets of unit UA composed of positioning 
means 30A, coating means 40A and drying means 50A, unit LIB composed of 
positioning means 30B, coating means 40B and drying means 50B, and unit UC 
composed of positioning means 30C, coating means 40C and drying means 50C. 
On the uppermost step, there is provided the aforesaid separation/ejection 
means 60. Coating solutions jetted respectively from coating means 40A, 
40B and 40C form multiple coated layers on the cylindrical base material 1 
stepwise which are dried respectively by drying means 50A, 50B and 50C, 
then, cylindrical base material 1A located in the upper most position is 
held by the separation/ejection means 60 and is separated from the lower 
cylindrical base material 1B to be placed on a pallet outside the 
apparatus. 
FIG. 25 is a sectional view showing positioning means 30 and coating means 
40, while FIG. 26 is a perspective view of the coating means 40. 
A plurality of cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B (hereinafter referred 
to as cylindrical base materials 1) stacked vertically along vertical 
center line Z--Z as shown in FIG. 25 are moved upward continuously in the 
arrowed direction, and a coating solution (light-sensitive solution) L is 
coated on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical base 
materials 1 by portion (hopper coating surface) 41 related directly to 
coating in coating apparatus of a slide hopper type 40 surrounding the 
cylindrical base material. Incidentally, as cylindrical base material 1, a 
hollow drum such as, for example, an aluminum drum or a plastic drum, or a 
base material of a seamless belt type may also be used. On the hopper 
coating surface 41 mentioned above, there is formed horizontally narrow 
coating solution distributing slit (hereinafter referred to simply as a 
slit) 43 having coating solution flow out port 42 that is opened to the 
side of the cylindrical base material 1. This slit 43 is communicated with 
ring-shaped coating solution distributing chamber (coating solution 
reservoir chamber) 44, and coating solution L in reservoir tank 2 is 
supplied by force feeding pump 3 to the ring-shaped coating solution 
distributing chamber 44 through supply pipe 4 after being introduced from 
supply port 48. On the other hand, under the coating solution flow out 
port 42 of the slit 43, there is formed coating solution sliding surface 
(hereinafter referred to as a sliding surface) 45 that is inclined 
downward continuously and is formed so that a diameter of its end portion 
is slightly greater than the outside diameter of the cylindrical base 
material 1. There is further formed lip-shaped section 46 that extends 
downward beyond the end portion of the sliding surface 45. In the course 
of coating by means of such coating means (coating apparatus of a slide 
hopper type) 40, when coating solution L is pushed out from the slit 43 
and is caused to flow down along the sliding surface 45 in the course of 
drawing up the cylindrical base material 1, the coating solution arriving 
at the end portion of the sliding surface 45 forms a bead between the end 
portion of the sliding surface 45 and the external circumferential surface 
of the cylindrical base material 1, and then is coated on the surface of 
the cylindrical base material 1. Since the end portion of the sliding 
surface 45 and the cylindrical base material 1 are arranged to have a 
clearance between them, the cylindrical base material 1 is not damaged in 
the course of coating, and even when many layers each differing in nature 
from others are formed, layers already coated are not damaged. 
On the other hand, on a part of the coating solution distributing chamber 
44 located at the farthermost position from a coating solution supply 
section of the aforementioned force feeding pump 3, there is provided air 
escape means 47 for extracting bubbles in the coating solution 
distributing chamber 44. When coating solution L in the reservoir tank 2 
is supplied to the coating solution distributing chamber 44 and is further 
supplied to the coating solution flow out port 42 from the coating 
solution distributing slit 43, an opening/closing valve is opened so that 
air in the coating solution distributing chamber 44 may be extracted by 
the air escape means 47. 
Under the coating means 40 mentioned above, there is affixed positioning 
means 30 which positions a cylindrical base material in its 
circumferential direction. On positioning means main body 31 of the 
positioning means 30 for the cylindrical base material 1, there are formed 
a plurality of air inlets 32 and a plurality of air outlets 33. These 
plural air inlets 32 are connected to an unillustrated air supply pump to 
force-feed a fluid such as air. An end of each air inlet 32 positioned on 
the side facing the external circumferential surface ice of the 
cylindrical base material 1 is connected to orifice 34. The orif34 faces 
the external circumferential surface of the cylindrical base material 1 
while keeping a predetermined clearance between them. The clearance is 20 
.mu.m-3 mm, and preferably is 30 .mu.m-2 mm. When this clearance is 
smaller than 20 .mu.m, even a small deviation of cylindrical base material 
1 makes itself to come into contact with an inner wall of main body 31, so 
that the cylindirical base material tends to be damaged. When the 
clearance is greater than 3 mm, accuracy of positioning cylindrical base 
material 1 is lowered. The orfice 34 mentioned above is a nozzle with a 
small diameter of 0.01-1.0 mm, and its diameter is preferably 0.05-0.5 mm. 
An internal circumferential surface at the bottom of an inner wall of the 
positioning means main body 31 is formed to be tapered surface 35 whose 
inlet side is greater in diameter. This tapered surface 35 is a conical 
surface whose length in its axial direction is, for example, 50 mm and its 
inclination angle at one side is 0.5 mm. Due to this tapered surface 
provided, a tip portion of the cylindrical base material 1 is prevented 
from touching an inner circumferential surface of the inner wall when the 
cylindrical base material 1 enters the inner wall of the main body 31. 
A fluid that is force-fed from the air supply pump is introduced to the 
inside of the positioning means main body 31 from a plurality of air 
inlets 32, and then is jetted from a plurality of orifices 34 to form a 
uniform fluid layer together with the external circumferential surface of 
the cylindrical base material 1A (1B). The fluid after being jetted is 
ejected out of an apparatus through a plurality of air outlets 33. 
A diameter of an opening of the aforesaid orifice 34 is 0.01-1 mm and 
preferably is 0.05-0.5 mm, and for example, it is formed to be a circle of 
0.2-0.5 mm. An opening of the air outlet 33 is 1.0-10 mm, preferably is 
2.0-8.0 mm, and it is formed to be a circle with a diameter of 3-5 mm, for 
example. 
A preferable fluid to be supplied to the air inlet 32 is air and an inert 
gas such as nitrogen gas. The fluid is preferably clean gas ranked at 
class 100 or higher in Federal Standard 209D (Clean Room and Work Station 
Requirments Controlled Evironments). 
Incidentally, as a vertical coating apparatus connected to the positioning 
means of the invention, various apparatuses such as those of a slide 
hopper type, an extrusion type and a ring coater type are used. 
Above the aforementioned coating means 40, there is provided drying means 
50 composed of drier hood 51 and drier 53. 
FIG. 27 is a sectional view of the drying means 40 and the drier hood 51 
provided above the drying means 40. The drier hood 51 has a ring-shaped 
wall surface on which a large number of openings 51A are formed. While the 
cylindrical base material 1 is raised in the arrowed direction, coating 
solution L is coated by hopper coating surface (coating head) 41 of the 
coating means 40, and thereby light-sensitive layer 5 is formed. The 
light-sensitive layer 5 formed on the cylindrical base material 1 passes 
through the inside of the drier hood 51 to be dried gradually. This drying 
is attained when solvents contained in the coating solution L are 
discharged out of the wall surface through the aforesaid numerous openings 
51A. The light-sensitive layer 5 formed by coating solution L on the 
cylindrical base material 1 with coating means 40 is surrounded, 
immediately after coating, by the drier hood 51, and solvents are 
discharged through only openings 51A. Therefore, the speed of drying the 
light-sensitive layer 5 immediately after coating is mostly proportional 
to the total area of the openings 51A. 
FIG. 28 shows a sectional view of drier 53 of the invention. In the drier 
53, cylindrical member 535 and cylindrical member 536 are connected on a 
coaxial basis respectively to the upper side and the lower side of suction 
slit member 534 having thereon suction slit 531, suction chamber 532 and 
suction nozzle 533. 
Suction is conducted through the plural suction nozzles 533, and suction 
air uniformalized in its circumferential direction by suction chamber 532 
that is uniform in its circumferential direction and suction slit 531 that 
is uniform in its circumferential direction flows, and further, 
disturbance of an air flow between the inner surfaces of suction slit 
member 534 and its upper and lower cylindrical members 536 and 535 and the 
outer surface of the coated cylindrical base material 1 is minimized by 
buffer space 537, thus, a uniform flow of suction air shown with 538 for 
drying is created. 
When the coated cylindrical base material 1 is transported to this drying 
zone in the arrowed direction, the coated layer on the coated cylindrical 
base material is dried. 
Next, the steps in the continuous coating apparatus mentioned above will be 
explained as follows. 
The cylindrical base material 1 is moved by an unillustrated supply robot 
from a cylindrical base material housing chamber to the position of base 
drum 1A located on turn table 12, and is placed. The drum 1A advances to 
the position of 1B when the turn table 12 rotates in the arrowed 
direction. In this case, elevating means (supply arm) 14 pushes up 
cylindrical base material 1B which is fed to the position of hand means 
15. It is preferable that when the supply arm 14 finishes pushing up, a 
buffer mechanism operates and thereby shock generated by connection with 
cylindrical base material 1B is eliminated. Through the aforesaid step, 
the cylindrical base material 1B is brought into the position of a holding 
and transporting means of 1C. 
The numeral 20 shows a transport means. By means of holding means 
(transport hands) 21 and 22, the joint portion between cylindrical base 
material 1C and that 1D is held and is transported upward to be brought to 
positioning means 30. 
The numeral 30 shows a positioning means, and ring-shaped positioning 
devices disclosed in Japanese Application Nos. 125230/1991 and 125231/1991 
as well as those disclosed in Japanese Patent O.P.I Publication No. 
280063/1991 are preferably used. 
The cylindrical base material positioned accurately as in the foregoing is 
moved to coating means of a vertical type 40 to be coated thereon. The 
numeral 40 shows a coating means any types such as (1) slide hopper type, 
(2) a protrusion type, (3) a ring coater type and (4) a spray coater type 
can be used provided that the coating means is one wherein drums are 
stacked and moved upward or downward relatively to be coated thereon. 
However, a coater of the (1) slide hopper type is preferable because 
highly reliable, continuous and stable coating can be obtained, and its 
details are disclosed in Japanese Patent O.P.I Publication No. 
189061/1983. 
In the following method, coating composition (1) UCL-1 is coated on 
cylindrical base material 1. The coated cylindrical base material 1 is 
moved to drying means 50. In the drying means 50, both drier hood 51 and 
suction type drier 53 may be stacked to be used together as shown in FIG. 
23, or only the hood or only the suction type drier may be used alone 
depending on solvents in a coating solution or a layer thickness. These 
are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 216495/1993 or in 
Japanese Patent Application No. 99559/1993. Further, for a certain coating 
solution, natural drying can be employed without providing the 
aforementioned drying means in particular. 
After this, the cylindrical base material is moved to the 
separation/ejection means 60. Those described in Japanese Patent O.P.I 
Publication No. 43917/1995 in detail are preferable. In addition, those 
described in Japanese Patent O.P.I Publication Nos. 120662/1986 and 
120664/1986 are also preferable. 
Steps for separating the cylindrical base materials (base drums) 1A, 1B, 1C 
. . . on which coating and drying of the coated layers have been conducted 
will be explained as follows, referring to the state drawings of 
separating processes in FIG. 29. 
The separation/ejection means 60 is composed of vertical movement robot 
stage 61, air cylinder 62, upper chuck (upper holder) 63 and lower chuck 
(lower holder) 64. 
The coated cylindrical base materials 1 are stacked upward from the bottom 
to the top, and are moved upward to arrive at the position for separation 
as shown in FIG. 29(A). At this occasion, a vertical robot starts 
operating to move the total separating means which is coaxial with 
cylindrical base materials 1 to be separated and moved at the speed 
identical to that of the cylindrical base material. First, at the position 
shown in FIG. 29(B), the lower holder 64 holds cylindrical base material 
1B that is adjacent to cylindrical base material 1A to be separated. Next, 
at the position shown in FIG. 29(C), the upper holder 63 holds cylindrical 
base material 1A to be separated. Owing to air cylinder 62, the upper 
holder 63 moves upward while holding the cylindrical base material 1A to 
be separated to be located at the position shown in FIG. 29(D). At this 
moment, a coated layer covering the cylindrical base material 1B that is 
adjacent to cylindrical base material 1A to be separated is torn off, 
thus, the cylindrical base material 1A and the cylindrical base material 
1B are separated from each other as shown in FIG. 29(D). For ejecting the 
separated cylindrical base material 1A, the lower holder 64 is released as 
shown in FIG. 29(E), and then, the vertical movement robot stage 61 rises 
promptly with the cylindrical base material 1A to be separated held by the 
upper holder 63 as shown in FIG. 29(F) so that the separated cylindrical 
base material 1A may be placed at a separating means located far above the 
position of adjacent cylindrical base material 1B, then, the upper holder 
63 is released and the step ends. Then, for separating the following 
cylindrical base material 1B, the vertical movement robot stage 61 goes 
down and the air cylinder 62 goes down to return to the position of the 
initial condition in FIG. 29(A). 
As an another method, it is also effective that the cylindrical base 
material 1A to be separated is lifted while it is rotated when the 
cylindrical base material 1A to be separated is separated from adjacent 
cylindrical base material 1B. In this method, a force applied to a layer 
to be separated is not a tensile force but a shearing force, and thereby, 
there can be lessened a phenomenon that a coated layer profile in the 
vicinity of separation in a wet layer is thinned. The phenomenon is also 
lessened by scattered small pieces of a coated layer produced in cutting 
of the coated layer drawn into an inner surface of the cylindrical base 
material 1. 
In FIG. 23, let it be assumed that HO represents the position where the top 
end of cylindrical base material 1C pushed up by elevating means 14 of 
supply means 10 is jointed with the bottom end of cylindrical base 
material 1B held by holding means 21 and 22 of transport means 20. When 
the cylindrical base material 1C and the cylindrical base material 1B are 
jointed with each other at this position of HO, holding means 22 grasps at 
this position of HO, and the holding means 21 holding both cylindrical 
base materials 1B and 1A at position H1 is released. The expression of 
H1-H0=D (length of cylindrical base material) is naturally satisfied. 
The cylindrical base material 1A is moved up by the holding means 22 in 
FIG. 23 in the manner mentioned above. For enhancing the accuracy, it is 
preferable to provide positioning means 30. As this positioning means 30, 
a ring-shaped positioning device is used preferably in addition to a 
positioning means described in Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication No. 
280063/1991. 
The cylindrical base material 1 positioned accurately in the aforesaid 
manner is moved to a coating apparatus of a vertical type 40 and then is 
coated thereon. When assuming that the H2 represents the position where 
the cylindrical base material 1 is coated, the relation of 
H2-H1=n1.times.D (n1 is an integer satisfying n1 ?? 1) is satisfied. In 
the present example, n1=3 was used in the slide hopper type coating 
apparatus 40 described below. 
When assuming that the H3 represents the position where separation is 
started by separating and ejecting means 60, the relation of 
H3-H2=n2.times.D (n2 is an integer satisfying n2.gtoreq.3) is satisfied. 
In the present example, n2=10 was used. The separated cylindrical base 
material 1 is moved by an ejecting robot to a containing chamber, a drying 
chamber or to the next step. 
By positioning various means (10-60) of the invention respectively at H0, 
H1, H2 and H3 (each of them being a multiple of cylindrical base material 
length D and an integer) as in the foregoing, there was no coating defect 
such as uneven coating, uneven layer thickness, scratches, dust and drum 
damages caused by vibration and shock generated mainly in the course of 
jointing, holding, coating and separating, and coated drums properly 
coated were obtained. Moreover, it has becom possible to produce quality 
products which are free from entrance of dust and motes, because of 
ability of stable and continuous coating for many materials for a long 
time and full automation. 
FIG. 30 is a detail drawing of cylindrical base material supply means 10 of 
the invention. The symbol 1M represents cylindrical base materials, and a 
plurality of cylindrical base materials 1M are placed on supply stand 72 
of a pallet type on which each cylindrical base material 1M can be placed 
independently, so that they may be supplied to the cylindrical base 
material supply means 10. The cylindrical base material 1M is conveyed by 
conveyance member 70 which is provided on automatic conveyance apparatus 
71 and holds and conveys the cylindrical base material 1M, and the 
conveyance member 70 is provided so that it can move vertically and can 
rotate. By the automatic conveyance apparatus 71, on the other hand, there 
is arranged turn table 12 that rotates clockwise. and on the turn table 
12, there are provided, in the rotary circumferential direction of the 
turn table 12, a plurality of spacers 11 which are guide members for 
placing a cylindrical base material (hereinafter referred to as a spacer) 
on each of which cylindrical base material 1M is placed. A piece of 
cylindrical base material 1M is held by the conveyance member 70 and is 
moved by the rotation thereof to the position of the cylindrical base 
material 1 as shown in the drawing, and is placed on the spacer 11. 
Detection means S2 detects how the cylindrical base material 1 is placed, 
and when the cylindrical base material 1 is placed correctly, control 
means C1 sends to conveyance member 70 of the automatic conveyance 
apparatus 71 the retreat signals which make the conveyance member 70 to 
retreat from the cylindrical base material 1. When the retreat is 
completed, the control means C1 starts servo-motor M through rotation 
control means C2. At this moment, cylindrical base material 1 is already 
placed on each of spacers 11A, 11B and 11C. Being actuated by the start of 
the servo-motor M mentioned above, pinion 142 starts lifting elevating 
mender 14 through rack 141. On the top of the elevating member 14, there 
is provided pushing up member 15 through spring S which is a 
shock-absorbing means. and the pushing up member 15 pushes up bottom 
portion 113 of the spacer 11. In order for the spacer 11 to be pushed up 
accurately, the cylindrical base material pushing up member 15 is formed 
to be in a cone shape, and the bottom portion 113 of the spacer 11 is 
formed to be concave so that it may be engaged with the cone of the 
cylindrical base material pushing up member 15. 
Further, on the upper portion of the spacer 11, there is formed circular 
groove 111 which can be engaged loosely with cylindrical base material 1. 
Procedures of operations for pushing up the bottom portion 113 of the 
spacer 11 by the use of the pushing up member 15 formed in aforesaid 
manner will be explained as follows, referring to FIG. 31. In FIG. 31(A), 
the bottom portion 113 starts rising in the Z--Z direction in FIG. 1 
together with cylindrical base material 1B which is caused by the rise of 
the elevating member 14 to be engaged loosely with the circular groove 111 
on the spacer 11C. Next, FIG. 31(B) shows how the leading edge of the 
cylindrical base material 1 is in contact with the cylindrical base 
material 1 which has been lifted first at constant speed, to be coated 
with a coating solution while that cylindrical base material is rising. 
With regard to the rising speed of the elevating member 14, the rotation 
of the servo-motor M is controlled by the control means C1 and the 
rotation control means C2 so that the speed in the start of rising is 
1.5-5 times the speed for coating, and immediately before the leading edge 
of cylindrical base material 1 hits the cylindrical base material 1 which 
has risen in advance, aforesaid speed in the start of rising is lowered to 
the speed that is 1.0-1.5 times the speed for coating. When the leading 
edge of the following cylindrical base material 1 hits the preceding 
cylindrical base material 1 which has risen in advance, even in the case 
that the elevating member 14 keeps on rising slightly, the movement is 
absorbed by spring S and thereby no shock is given to a plurality of 
cylindrical base materials 1 which are rising at the coating speed to be 
coated as shown in FIG. 1, resulting in no occurrence of uneven coating. 
Incidentally, under six spacers 11, 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E arranged in 
the rotary circumferential direction of the turn table 12, there are 
formed holes for pushing up. For the spring S, a metal spring, an air 
spring, a rubber spring and an oil pressure spring can be used, and those 
preferable in particular are springs among which a metal coil spring is 
preferable for accurate coating used for the invention and for the natural 
frequency and durability of the supporting system. 
After aforesaid operations are completed, cylindrical base material 1B is 
held first by conveyance holding member 22 as shown in FIGS. 31(B) and 
(C). Then, as shown in FIG. 31(B), descending motion by means of 
servo-motor M is started by the control made by control means C1 and 
rotation control means C2, and pinion 142 and rack 141 make the elevating 
member 14 to go down together with the spacer 11C. In that case, the 
cylindrical base material 1 can easily be disengaged from circular groove 
111 of the spacer 11, in the arrangement. The elevating member 14 goes 
down to the position of the turn table 12 and stops there to stand ready 
for the following rising action, while the spacer 11C stays on the turn 
table 12. Then, after detecting member S1 detects that the cylindrical 
base material 1 is held firmly by aforesaid conveyance holding member 22, 
control means C2 actuates drive motor M1 so that it rotates the turn table 
12 clockwise together with shaft 13 through gears 132 and 131, and stops 
after moving following cylindrical base material 1 and spacer 11B onto 
cylindrical base material pushing up member 15. Aforesaid operations are 
repeated in succession so that cylindrical base materials 1 are supplied 
to coating means 40. Incidentally, for stopping the turn table 12 
accurately, notches 12A, 12B, 12C, 12D, 12E and 12F for stop use are 
formed at positions where six spacers 11, 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E are 
placed on the turn table so that click 121 for stop use can stop the turn 
table to the supplying position and pushing up position for the 
cylindrical base materials. Further, aforesaid control motor M1 may also 
be controlled for stopping. Materials which do not cause scratches and 
damages on the cylindrical base material 1 and can hold it vertically are 
preferable for the spacers 11, 11A, 11B, 11C, 11D and 11E used in the 
invention. Among them, engineering plastic is preferable. Due to this, 
cylindrical base materials 1 can be held vertically and supplied. 
Therefore, the cylindrical base materials 1 can surely and easily be held 
and conveyed, resulting in no occurrence of erroneous operations. Further, 
it is possible to cope with a change in a diemeter of cylindrical base 
materials 1 easily and quickly. 
Holding and transporting devices 21 and 22 of transporting means 20 will be 
explained as follows, referring to FIG. 32. First of all, holding section 
214 of transporting hand 211 of the holding and transporting device 21 
provided at an upper position and holding section 215 of transporting hand 
212 are supported to be able to rotate freely around shaft 213. Both of 
them hold cylindrical base material 1 lifted first to the upper position 
and cylindrical base material 1 lifted first similarly at the position 
where both cylindrical base materials are jointed, by adjusting the step 
of the joint, and they lift both cylindrical base materials at the coating 
speed in the arrowed direction. Holding section 224 of transporting hand 
221 of the holding and transporting device 22 provided at a lower position 
and holding section 225 of transporting hand 222 are supported to be able 
to rotate freely around shaft 223. Both of them hold cylindrical base 
material 1 and cylindrical base material 1 lifted newly at the position 
where both cylindrical base materials are jointed, by adjusting the step 
of the joint, Then, after completion of holding, the cylindrical base 
materials are lifted in the arrowed direction at the coating speed which 
is the same as that of the holding and transporting device 21. The 
numerals 216 and 226 represent respectively an antislipping member glued 
on the tip of the holding section and a pressure absorbing member for 
protecting the surface of cylindrical base material 1. 
Next, transporting means 20 for the holding and transporting devices 21 and 
22 will be explained as follows, referring to FIG. 33. The transporting 
mean 20 is provided for each of the holding and transporting devices 21 
and 22, and there is provided vertical movement member 23 that engages 
with screw rod 221 which is provided in the longitudinal direction of the 
transporting means 20 to be able to rotate freely. Each of the holding and 
transporting devices 21 and 22 is connected with the vertical movement 
member 23. In the constitution, when the screw rod 221 is rotated at the 
constant speed by the use of a rotation drive unit such as a motor and 
reduction gears, for example, the vertical movement member 23 makes the 
holding and transporting devices 21 and 22 to move upward at the constant 
speed, namely the coating speed with which coating solutions are coated on 
a plurality of cylindrical base materials 1. 
In holding and transporting devices 21 in FIG. 34(A), an antislipping 
member and pressure member 21H and 21J are provided on V-shaped holding 
shoes 21F and 21G provided on hand section 21A through coil spring S, and 
further, pressure buffer members 21K and 21L are provided on V-shaped 
holding shoes 21D and 21E provided on hand section 21B through coil spring 
S having buffer function, The hand section 21A and hand section 21B are 
supported to be able to rotate freely around shaft 21C. Thus, the pressure 
buffer members 21H, 21J, 21K and 21L provided on the V-shaped holding 
shoes 21F and 21G and V-shaped holding shoes 21D and 21E through coil 
springs S hold cylindrical base material 1 by adjusting the step of the 
joint of the cylindrical base materials 1 and thereby by sandwiching them. 
In holding and transporting devices 21 in FIG. 34(B), hand section 21Q is 
provided on mounting section 21N of base portion 21M with shaft 21P, and 
on V-shaped holding shoes 21R and 21S provided on the hand section 21Q, 
there are provided pressure members 21U and 21T through leaf springs S1 
each having buffer function, and further, plate-shaped pressure member 21W 
is provided on the end portion of hand section 21V arranged movably on the 
mounting section 21N through leaf spring S1. The aforementioned V-shaped 
holding shoes 21R and 21S as well as holding shoe 21W hold cylindrical 
base material 1 with the pressure members 21U, 21T and 21W through leaf 
springs S1 by adjusting the step of the joint of the cylindrical base 
materials 1 and thereby by sandwiching them, 
In holding and transporting devices 21 in FIG. 34(C), hand sections 22C and 
22D each having a V-shaped portion formed on one end thereof are movably 
attached on mounting section 22B of base portion 22A. Pressure members 22H 
and 22G are provided on the V-shaped portions of the aforementioned hand 
section 22C through elastic sponges S2 each having buffer function, and 
further, pressure members 22E and 22F are provided on the V-shaped 
portions of the hand section 22D provided movably on the mounting section 
22B through elastic sponges S2. The pressure members 22E, 22F, 22G and 22H 
hold cylindrical base material 1 through the elastic sponges S2 by 
adjusting the step of the joint of the cylindrical base materials 1 and 
thereby by sandwiching them. 
When buffer means such as the aforementioned coil springs S, leaf springs 
S1 and elastic sponges S2 are used as stated above, holding actions are 
stable and neither deformation of the cylindrical base material 1 nor 
scratch on the surface thereof is caused. 
FIG. 35 is a sectional view showing another example of a drier hood. This 
drier hood 52 is obtained by extending the upper portion of drier hood 51 
(A section) in FIG. 27 so that portion B is formed on this drier hood. On 
section A, there are formed a plurality of 52A, and on section B, there 
are formed a plurality of 52B. When this drier hood 52 is provided over 
coating means 40, solvent vapor density of coating solution L coated on 
the external surface of cylindrical base material 1 is controlled. 
Therefore, it is possible to realize uniform coated layers through 
controlled coated layer drying speed. Further, when the aforesaid drier 
hood 52 is provided, solvent vapor density at the beading portion is high. 
Therefore, rapid cooling is prevented and thereby failure in beading can 
be prevented. 
FIG. 36 represents an exhaustion drying apparatus 54 as another example of 
a drier means in FIG. 23. As stated above, a coating solution 
(light-sensitive solution) L is coated on cylindrical base materials 1A 
and 1B by cylindrical coating apparatus of a slide hopper type 40, and 
thus, light-sensitive layer LA is formed. The aforesaid exhaustion drying 
apparatus 54 sucks in solvent evaporating from light-sensitive layer LA 
immediately after coating, and further dries, and it is located right 
above the coating apparatus 40. The numeral 541 is a suction duct formed 
in a ring shape, and suction inlet 542 is formed toward the aforementioned 
light-sensitive layer LA from the suction duct 541. On a part of the 
suction duct 541, there is connected exhaustion pipe 543, thus, solvent 
evaporated from the light-sensitive layer LA is sucked by exhaustion fan 
544 provided in the exhaustion pipe 543 to be ejected forcibly to the 
outside for drying. Since solvent vapor evaporated from light-sensitive 
solution L is exhausted immediately after light-sensitive solution L is 
coated by coating apparatus 40 as stated above, it is possible to stop the 
flowing down of a large amount of light-sensitive solution L coated on 
cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B. In that case, it is preferable that 
exhausted air speed caused by the exhaustion fan 544 is 0.5-5 m/sec, and 
the suction inlet 542 is deviated from the position of the coating head 41 
by 300 mm or less. Then, the cylindrical base materials 1A and 1B are kept 
to be jointed until the solvent in the light-sensitive solution L 
evaporates by 30% or more, and after they are separated, light-sensitive 
layer LA is dried completely. By operating aforesaid exhaustion drying 
apparatus 54, it is possible to eject quickly the solvent from the 
neighborhood of light-sensitive layer LA even when coating solution L is 
coated on a large number of cylindrical base materials jointed, and it is 
possible to control forcibly the flow down of light-sensitive solution L 
on coated layer and thereby to prevent an occurrence of the thin layer and 
a solution pool on the light-sensitive layer LA. Incidentally, a plurality 
of the exhaustion fans 544 may also by provided on the suction duct 541. 
FIG. 38 shows another example of a position adjusting means, wherein FIG. 
38(A) is a top view of position adjusting means 80, while FIG. 38(B) is a 
front view of the position adjusting means 80. 
As illustrated, on stand 81, there is provided supporting shaft 82 with 
which first arm 83 is engaged, and one end of the first ann 83 is linked 
with flange portion 40a of coating apparatus 40. On the other hand, on the 
stand 81, there is arranged X-axis control table 84 so that it may move 
freely in both X-axis direction and Y-axis direction, and second arm 85 
and third arm 86 are linked with the X-axis control table 84, and the 
third arm 86 is linked with the first arm 83. 
Due to the position adjusting means in the present example, it is possible 
to move the coating apparatus 40 as the X-axis control table 84 moves in 
the X-axis direction or in the Y-axis direction. 
FIG. 39 is a perspective view of the separating/ejecting means shown in 
FIG. 24, and its concrete structure will be explained as follows. 
A separating/ejecting/holding equipment of the invention has a buffer 
device which operates when a holding shoe grasps a cylindrical base 
material. FIG. 9 shows an example wherein a reduction mechanism is 
provided as a buffer device. On the internal surface of air-cylinder 62A 
or on the axis thereof, there are provided two servomotors 65A which each 
of which makes each of upper holding shoe 63A and lower holding shoe 64A 
to grasp or to be released, and on axis 66A of each servomotor 65A, there 
is provided bevel gear 67A. On the same circumference of a circle of the 
air-cylinder 62A, there are arranged holding shoe guides 621A each of 
which guides longitudinal movement of each of upper upper holding shoe 63A 
and lower holding shoe 64A in the radial direction, at equal intervals of 
3-6 divisions. There is further provided distance-changing means 622A on 
the air-cylinder 62A so that the distance between the upper holding shoe 
63A and lower holding shoe 64A can be changed. This distance-changing 
means 622A can alsc be structured so that the distance can be changed with 
an addition of a returning motion, in spite of the linear distance change. 
In the function of the bevel gear 67A mentioned. above, there is provided 
rotation-transmitting member 68A which penetrates the holding shoe guide 
621A and is provided, on its one end, with bevel gear 681A engaging with 
the belvel gear 67A and with screw portion 682A on the other end, and the 
screw portion 682A is in the relation of screw engagement with a screw 
portion provided inside holding arm 631A or 641A provided on the upper 
holding shoe 63A or lower holding shoe 64A, thus the upper holding shoe 
63A or lower holding shoe 64A is moved forward or backward in the radial 
direction by the right-handed rotation or left-handed rotation of the 
servomotor 65A. Further, in the present example, each of two servomotors 
65A is provided, on its axis, with torque meter 69A. 
In the present example, drive control of servomotor 65A is made in 
accordance with output from torque meter 69A, and since a torque is 
generated when the upper holding shoe 63A or lower holding shoe 64A comes 
in touch with the inner surface of a cylindrical base material, the torque 
is detected for speed control. ling of the servomotor 65A, and speed 
reduction control is made in a way wherein the servomotor 65A is stopped 
when the torque arrives at a predetermined value. Incidentally, though the 
torque meter 69A is used in the present example, it is also possible to 
use a motor having characteristics wherein servomotor 65A changes its 
rotation speed in accordance with load variation and it stops at the 
certain load, without using a torque meter. It is further possible to use 
a pulse motor capable of being digital-controlled and thereby to reduce 
the speed immediately before the holding shoe comes in contact with the 
inner surface of the cylindrical mase material under the predetermined 
condition. 
FIG. 41 shows an example in which a spring buffer mechanism is provided as 
a buffer mechanism that operates when the holding shoe grasps a 
cylindrical base material, wherein a sponge member is used in each of 
holding arms 631A and 641A provided on holding shoes 63A and 64A explained 
in FIG. 40, as spring buffer mechanisms 632A and 642A. In this example, a 
pulse motor is used in place of servomotor 65A in FIG. 40, and by 
establishing conditions in advance that spring buffer mechanisms 632A and 
642A are compressed slightly, and the motor stops when appropriate contact 
conditions are attained, the holding shoe does not scratch the cylindrical 
base material when the holding shoe hits it, and when releasing that 
holding, the chock therefrom is not given to the lower cylindrical base 
material. 
Incidentally, as a spring buffer mechanism, a metallic spring, an air 
spring and others are available, and a metallic coil spring or a sponge is 
preferable. It is also preferable that the spring buffer mechanism shown 
in FIG. 41 is used in combination with a reduction mechanism shown in FIG. 
40. 
Next, there will be explained an example wherein a pin portion is provided 
on a holding shoe of a holding device whose outer surface comes in contact 
with a inner surface of a cylindrical base material. As shown on a 
perspective view in FIG. 42, pin portions 631B and 641B operating in their 
pushing out direction are provided, as a pushing pin, respectively on 
upper chuck (upper holding shoe) 63 and lower chuck (lower holding shoe) 
64 of separating/ejecting/holding means 60 explained already, and a 
sectional view of the aforesaid portion is shown in FIG. 43. At the 
portion on the holding shoe 63B (64B) where cylindrical base material 1A 
(1B) comes in contact with the holding shoe, there are provided singular 
or plural pin portions 631B capable of operating in pushing out direction, 
pin guide portion 632B that guides the pin portion 631B in the radial 
direction, spring 633B that urges the pin portion 631B in its pushing out 
direction, and slip-prevention ring 634B that prevents the pin portion 
631B from slipping out in the pushing out direction. In the holding shoe 
63B (64B) having the constitution mentioned above, when the holding shoe 
63B (64B) holds cylindrical base material 1A (1B), the pin portion 631B 
comes in contact slightly with the inner surface of the cylindrical base 
material 1A (1B) first, and then, the holding shoe 63B (64B) touches and 
holds the cylindrical base material. Therefore, it is possible to avoid a 
shock. In the case of releasing the holding of the holding shoe 63B (64B), 
even when the inner surface of the base material is sticking to the 
contact surface of the holding shoe 63B (64B), they are easily separated 
by the spring force of spring 633B that urges the pin portion 631B, thus 
the releasing of holding can be performed smoothly. 
In this case, hard materials such as ceramic, metal and hard polymer are 
preferable as materials used for the pin portion 631B. As materials used 
for a holding portion of the holding shoe 63B (64B), polymers such as 
polycarbonate, PBT, urethane rubber, natural rubber and synthetic rubber, 
for example, are preferable, and among them, elastomer such as rubber is 
preferable. Owing to the pin portion used, it is possible to use an 
adhesive elastomer, resulting in advantages such as transmission of a 
holding force, absorption of a shock and a buffer function. For the 
separating/ejecting/holding device of the invention, it is necessary to 
cut a coated layer at the joint portion between adjoining drums, and for 
this purpose, it has become possible to obtain both sufficient holding 
force and buffer function needed for cutting the coated layer, because it 
has become possible to use elastomer material which trnasmits surely the 
holding force for the holding portion. FIG. 44(A) shows an example wherein 
a separating device is structured with a 3-direction chuck, while FIG. 
44(B) shows an example of the structure of a 4-direction chuck.