A lithographic printing plate precursor is disclosed including a support and a coating comprising (i) a photopolymerisable layer including a polymerisable compound and a photoinitiator, and a toplayer provided above the photopolymerisable layer;characterized in that the toplayer includes a hydrophobic binder, and hydrophobic discrete particles having a melting and/or softening temperature above 50? C.

Provided are a thermal fusion-type lithographic printing plate precursor in which the visibility is excellent, ablation during laser exposure is suppressed, and the contamination of dampening water and printing ink during on-machine development is suppressed by a lithographic printing plate precursor having a support and an image-recording layer, in which the image-recording layer is capable of forming an image by infrared laser exposure, a non-exposed portion of the image-recording layer is removable by at least one of dampening water and printing ink on a printer, and the image-recording layer contains (1) a color developing system in which a hue change generated by infrared laser exposure is a/b0.6 and (2) 70% by mass or more of a thermoplastic polymer particle with respect to a solid content of the image-recording layer and a plate-making method in which the thermal fusion-type lithographic printing plate precursor is used.

Please replace the Abstract of the Disclosure originally filed with the above-identified patent application with the following amended Abstract of the Disclosure:

Thermoplastic polymer particles including at least one polymer including monomeric units derived from the monomers selected from ethylene, (vinyl)chloride, methyl(meth)acrylate, ethyl (meth)acrylate, vinylidene chloride, (meth)acrylonitrile, vinylcarbazole and/or styrene, characterized in that the polymer further includes at least one monomeric unit including an oxalylamido moiety.

Provided are a planographic printing plate precursor for furnishing a planographic printing plate in which edge stain does not occur, adhesion to interleaving paper is prevented, and the water width with respect to edge stain at the time of printing is wide; a method of producing the same, and a printing method using the same. The planographic printing plate precursor including: a support; an image recording layer formed on the support; and a water-soluble compound having a molecular weight in a range of 60 to 300 and a solubility of 10 g/L or greater in water at 20 C., in which a content of the compound per unit area in a region on the image recording layer side from an end portion of the planographic printing plate precursor to a portion inside the end portion by 5 mm is greater than a content of the compound per unit area in a second region other than the first region by an amount of 50 mg/m.sup.2 or greater.

The present invention provides a printing plate precursor including a layer which includes a polymer and is provided on a printing surface side of an aluminum support, and a layer which includes particles and is provided on a side opposite to the printing surface side, in which a modulus of elasticity of the particles is 0.1 GPa or more, and in a case where a Bekk smoothness of an outermost layer surface on the side opposite to the printing surface side is denoted by b second, a specific expression (1) is satisfied; a printing plate precursor laminate; a method for making a printing plate; and a printing method.

An on-press development type lithographic printing plate precursor including a support and an image-recording layer on the support, in which the image-recording layer contains a polymerizable compound, a polymerization initiator, and an infrared absorber, and a color forming substance precursor, and a color forming substance generated from the color forming substance precursor has a maximal absorption wavelength in a wavelength range of 380 nm or more and less than 580 nm, at which an absorbance difference with respect to the color forming substance precursor is 0.1 or more, and a maximal absorption wavelength in a wavelength range of 580 nm or more and 750 nm or less, at which an absorbance difference with respect to the color forming substance precursor is 0.07 or more, and a method of preparing lithographic printing plate or a lithographic printing method, using the on-press development type lithographic printing plate precursor.

Provided is a planographic printing plate precursor including: a support; and an image recording layer formed on the support, in which a region on the plate surface on the image recording layer side from an end portion of the planographic printing plate precursor to a portion inside the end portion by 5 mm contains a polymer containing a functional group represented by the following Formula (A), and the content of the polymer per unit area in the region is greater than the content of the polymer per unit area in a region other than the above-described region by an amount of 10 mg/m.sup.2 or greater.
Si(X).sub.m(R.sup.3).sub.n(A)

A method of making a lithographic printing plate includes the steps of a) image-wise exposing a lithographic printing plate precursor including a hydrophilic support and a coating containing a colorant precursor to form a lithographic image consisting of printing areas and non-printing areas, b) developing the plate precursor to remove the coating in the non-printing areas from the support, and c) drying the plate precursor, and d) subjecting the plate precursor to heat or radiation to induce a colour change of the coating in the printing areas, wherein before step b) the coating in the non-printing areas and the support are characterised by a CIE 1976 colour difference E.sub.1 which is 5.0 or less, and after step d) the CIE 1976 colour difference E.sub.2 between the coating in the printing areas and the non-printing areas is more than 6.8.

Provided are a planographic printing plate precursor for furnishing a planographic printing plate in which edge stain does not occur, adhesion to interleaving paper is prevented, and the water width with respect to edge stain at the time of printing is wide; a method of producing the same, and a printing method using the same. The planographic printing plate precursor including: a support; an image recording layer formed on the support; and a water-soluble compound having a molecular weight in a range of 60 to 300 and a solubility of 10 g/L or greater in water at 20 C., in which a content of the compound per unit area in a region on the image recording layer side from an end portion of the planographic printing plate precursor to a portion inside the end portion by 5 mm is greater than a content of the compound per unit area in a second region other than the first region by an amount of 50 mg/m.sup.2 or greater.

A source of actinic radiation for curing printing plates. The source includes a base with a heat sink and has a length greater than its width. One or more circuit boards mounted on the base provide a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs) distributed over the length of the base. A transparent or translucent cover together with the base defines an enclosure for the plurality of LEDs. The source provides the radiation at an emission angle greater than the emission angles of a single LED in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the base, in a plane containing the axis of the base or parallel to the axis of the base and perpendicular to the target illumination plane, or a combination thereof. The source may be configured to replace a fluorescent bulb. Methods and systems for bank exposure of printing plates using such sources are also described.