Patent ID: 8558859

Claim:
Apparatus for drawing an image on laser-radiation-sensitive tape, the image including a plurality of rows of image-elements, the apparatus comprising: a tape-drive arranged to drive the tape incrementally in a first direction; a carriage translatable over the tape in a second direction transverse to the first direction; a plurality of lasers remote from the carriage, each thereof arranged to deliver a beam of laser-radiation modulated in accordance with a row of image-elements of the image to be drawn, and a corresponding plurality of optical fibers arranged to transport the modulated laser-radiation beams to the carriage with modulated laser beams being delivered from distal ends of the optical fibers which are in a predetermined alignment on the carriage and spaced apart by a first predetermined distance; an optical arrangement mounted on the carriage for focusing the laser-radiation beams delivered from the distal ends of the optical fibers on the tape, with the optical arrangement cooperative with the alignment of the distal ends of the optical fibers such that each focused, modulated laser-radiation beam draws an image-element during an “on” period thereof , the beam-foci being spaced apart in the second direction by a second predetermined distance corresponding to the first predetermined distance, and wherein said optical arrangement includes a first common lens for collimating the light emitted from the distal ends of each of the optical fibers and a second common lens for focusing the collimated light onto the tape; and whereby, when the carriage is translated over the tape with the modulated laser-beams focused thereon, a plurality of second-direction spaced-apart rows of the image-elements are drawn with each translation of the carriage over the tape, the plurality of rows corresponding to the plurality of laser-beam sources.