Winding – tensioning – or guiding – Unwinding and rewinding a machine convertible information... – Unwinding from coil center
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-22
2001-08-07
Nguyen, John Q. (Department: 3653)
Winding, tensioning, or guiding
Unwinding and rewinding a machine convertible information...
Unwinding from coil center
C242S328200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270029
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a storage for a strip-shaped photographic printing material as known from EP 0 730 199 A1. Such a storage is described by the features listed in the preamble of claim
1
.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This generic storage arrangement is used, for example, in large labs in order to overcome the enormous space requirement of conventional storage. Conventional storage arrangements include an arrangement of vertically or horizontally moveable rollers around which the photographic material is guided, whereby printing material is temporarily stored by way of the horizontal or vertical displacement of the rollers.
The above generic storage should now be used here as replacement for the prior art storage arrangement. However, the generic storage arrangement has problems which can impede its use. A photographic paper is fed to the generic storage arrangement from the outside. It is initially automatically threaded from the outside into the output which is located in the center of the storage As soon as the threading-in process is successfully completed, the support disk of the storage arrangement commences to rotate with a preset speed, while photographic paper is fed thereinto from the outside. The photographic material is stored under formation of a loop in an inner belt and an outer belt, A free space remains between the inner belt and the outer belt wherein the loop can travel, whereby the photographic paper, which originally was fed from the outside and is wound onto the outside of the outer belt, is transferred through the traveling loop from the outer belt to the inner belt, whereby the winding direction is reversed. Correspondingly, when photographic paper is to be removed from the known generic storage, it can be removed from the inner circumference of the inner belt.
This now creates the problem that the radius of the outer photographic paper belt can get too large so that the storage only then works reliably when it is at least initially mainly loaded and, subsequently, at least mainly unloaded again. Problems can also be encountered with this storage in intermediate conditions, whereby it is significant that large forces may act on the photographic paper during unloading of the storage, which can cause it to rip, since large friction forces must be overcome when the photographic paper is removed from the inner belt of the storage through the pullout.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art as much as possible, or at least partly removes the mentioned problems,
This object is achieved with a storage with the features recited in claim
1
. Practical embodiments of the storage are apparent from the dependent claims. An especially advantageous aspect of the invention is apparent from claim
6
.
The advantages to be achieved in accordance with the invention are based on that the support platform, which is here also referred to as base, can be divided into two sections, whereby one section surrounds the other section. In this embodiment, it is possible to rotate the inner section as well as the outer section, if desired, with different speeds, whereby both sections can also be locked with one another, for example, by way of a clutch, in order to be synchronously rotatable. During filling of the storage, the outer section and the other section, i.e., the inner section, can be locked with one another to form the inner belt as well as the outer belt of photographic material by forming the loop. If the storage is to be unloaded, the inner section is uncoupled from the outer section and can be rotated according to the pullout speed for the photographic material, whereby the forces acting on the photographic material can be quite significantly reduced.
The storage is thereby used, according to the invention, as follows, especially for intermittent storage: initially the base or supporting disk is rotated in a preselected feed direction of the photographic paper, wherein the photographic paper is fed, so that the outer belt forms on the supporting disk. On the pullout arrangement or discharge arrangement adjacent side of the base or the supporting disk, the photographic paper is held stationary for at least some time relative to the discharge arrangement, namely when only photographic paper for filling of the storage is fed thereto. The feeding of the photographic paper is thereby carried out in such a way that a loop is formed on the base between the intermittently held stationary photo paper section, i.e., the inner belt, and the photographic paper section being fed to the base, i.e., the outer belt Together with the supply of photographic paper, the loop is guided around the discharge arrangement at the center of the base, or close to the axis of the base. The temporarily fixed photographic paper section, i.e., the inner belt, is thereby wound around the discharge arrangement or the center axis or rotational axis of the base. Upon discharge of the storage, the at least temporarily fastened photographic paper section, i.e., the inner belt, is removed through an inner region of the base or through the discharge arrangement, whereby the discharge arrangement, for example, includes rollers over which the temporarily fastened photographic paper section, i.e., the inner belt, is transported in a discharge direction. The discharge can thereby be carried out downward through an opening in the base, as well as upward, depending on whether or not a cutout is provided in the base in the center of the base close the axis of the base, through which the photographic paper can be removed. In order to prevent that the radius of the outer belt increases too much and, thereby, the photographic paper on the inside of the belt is forced inward towards the axis of the base, the feeding could be done for special uses from the inside and removal on the outside. With this reversal, problems in the region of the inner belt or winder can appear when the photographic paper must be pushed from its inner region to its outer region.
As mentioned above, the inner section of the base is uncoupled from the outer section of the base during removal from the inner belt. Correspondingly, during fitting through the middle of the base and removal at the periphery of the base, the outer section of the base is uncoupled from the inner section and runs with the photographic paper to be removed according the removal speed and uncoupled from the inner section of the base.
It is, of course, further possible to rotate the inner section as well as the outer section of the base at different speeds. Differences in diameter of the inner and outer belts can hereby be compensated, for example, when, while the inner circumference of the outer belt is about four times the outer circumference of the inner belt, the inner section is rotated with correspondingly more rotations in order to allow a sufficient transfer of photographic material from the outer belt to the inner belt
A further very advantageous embodiment of the storage, in accordance with the invention, is achieved when one of the sections, especially the section on which the feeding takes place, for example, the outer section, is sloped towards the axis of rotation of the base. The other section, especially the inner section, can thereby be constructed flat, whereby it can also be advantageous for the outer section to be sloped in only a region so that, for example, a slope of any type is provided between the periphery of the outer section and the middle of the outer section which extends radially inwardly and then merges with a planar section which essentially corresponds with the plane of the inner section. In that at least part of the outer section is sloped radially inwardly, the fed photographic material or photo paper tends to slide down the slope. The outer belt generated during loading of the storage is thereby kept away over a long period of time from a border which may surround the outer section. Furthermore, because of the
Dunner Albert
Fendt Edmund
Frei Hans
Gassmann Werner
Burns Doane , Swecker, Mathis LLP
Gretag Imaging AG
Nguyen John Q.
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