Diazotype multicolor reproduction process

Claim 1

In a process for diazotype multi-color reproduction which comprises A. exposing image-wise to actinic light a diazotype photosensitive material having a photosensitive layer containing at least one photosensitive diazonium salt (c) through an original sheet having opaque image areas and transparent or semi-transparent non-image areas; and B. heating a layer containing at least one thermovolatile or sublimable azo coupler (a), which is disposed in face-to-face contact with the photosensitive layer of said photosensitive material, at a preselected area corresponding to an opaque image area of the original sheet desired to be reproduced in a different hue, to thereby heat-transfer said layer of the azo coupler (a) to the corresponding position on the surface of said photosensitive layer; said steps (A) and (B) being performed simultaneously or in the time sequence of (A) to (B) or (B) to (A); and C. developing the exposed photosenstive material in the presence of an azo coupler (b) having a substantially lower rate of coupling with the diazonium salt (c) under the developing condition than that of the azo coupler (a), to thereby develop said photosensitive material, whereby in the unexposed latent image area of the portion to which the coupler (a) has been heat-transferred, a dye (c)-(a) having a certain hue or color is formed by the selective reaction of the heat-transferred coupler (a) with the diazonium salt (c) and at the same time, in the unexposed latent image areas to which the coupler (a) has not been heat-transferred, a dye (c)-(b) having a different hue or color from said dye (c)-(a) is formed by the reaction of the coupler (b) with the diazonium salt (c), thus producing a multi-colored copied image, the improvement which comprises: using as said diazotype photosensitive material, that which has a continuous thermoplastic resin layer between a base paper and a photosensitive layer containing at least one photosensitive diazonium salt, in which said thermoplastic resin is selected from at least one of the group consisting of polyvinyl acetate, polyacrylic acid ester, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polystyrene, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, styrene/butadiene copolymer and vinyl acetate/acrylic acid copolymer said continuous thermoplastic resin layer having the property that when completely dried it exhibits a water-repellant property uniformly throughout the surface.