Photography – Fluid-treating apparatus – Having photographic medium feed
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-28
2002-08-13
Rutledge, D. (Department: 2851)
Photography
Fluid-treating apparatus
Having photographic medium feed
C396S627000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06431770
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an automatic processing apparatus for photosensitive materials that is excellent in rapid processing capability and is capable of obtaining prints with stable image quality no matter how the day's amount of processing is small.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As an automatic processing apparatus for photosensitive material exposing a photosensitive material and processing the exposed photosensitive material by a processing solution, there has been one that leads and immerses the photosensitive material to a processing solution tank to process.
In recent years, with a sudden increase of the number of minilabs characterized in rapid finishing, an amount of processing of photosensitive materials per one minilab has been reduced, and a rate of renewal of a processing solution in a processing tank has been lowered accordingly. Therefore, a processing solution tends to be deteriorated, and it also tends to fail in maintaining stable processing performance. In addition, demands for a minilab that does not require maintenance such as cleaning of equipment and daily management are also increasing in recent years.
With the background stated above, TOKKAIHEI Nos. 6-324455, 9-114068, 10-326004 and 11-237724 disclose technologies wherein a processing solution for processing photosensitive materials is housed in a highly-hermetic container (for example, an inkjet head) and the processing solution is supplied to an emulsion side of the photosensitive material through a gaseous phase.
Compared with a method to lead photosensitive materials to a processing solution tank to immerse them therein for continuous processing, the aforesaid method for coating the processing solution has less fluctuation in development finishing, because fresh processing solutions are always supplied for processing. In addition, a processing solution in the processing solution tank is deteriorated through aging, resulting in fluctuation of development finishing caused by the deterioration, but this fluctuation is less for the method for coating the processing solution, because of a system to supply a small amount of fresh processing solution. Furthermore, neither processing solution tank for reserving a processing solution nor rack for conveying a photosensitive material in the processing solution tank is needed, and it is not necessary to take out the rack in maintenance, thus, no processing solution spills over, making maintenance to be easy.
However, when processing by coating a processing solution on the exposed photosensitive material, there has been the possibility that a processing solution flows back in the direction opposite to that for advancement of the photosensitive material to cause processing unevenness, depending on the direction of coating the processing solution.
It is also conducted that a photosensitive material in a specific size is obtained by cutting from a long photosensitive material, and this sheet-shaped photosensitive material obtained through cutting is exposed to light to be subjected to processing. In the case of conducting this processing through the method of coating, when there are plural processing steps, it is necessary to convey a photosensitive material for coating a processing solution for the following step, after coating the initial processing solution on the surface of the photosensitive material. This conveyance caused fluctuation in processing property, resulting in a fear to cause unevenness in processing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention has been achieved in view of the actual conditions stated above, and an object of the invention is to provide an automatic processing apparatus for photosensitive materials that is free from processing unevenness, excellent in rapid processing capability and is capable of obtaining stable image quality with less maintenance and daily management no matter how an amount of processing is small.
The inventors of this invention, therefore, made various studies to solve the problems mentioned above, and found out that the problems are solved by the following structures.
Structure 1
An automatic processing apparatus for processing an exposed photographic light-sensitive material by coating a processing solution on the photographic material, comprising:
a conveying device having a conveying path for conveying the photographic material in a conveying direction while inclining the photographic material downward in the conveying direction; and
a coating device for coating the processing solution on an inclined portion of the photographic material in a line form in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction.
By coating a processing solution on an inclined portion of a photosensitive material conveyed to be inclined downward in its advancing direction in a line form in the direction that is almost perpendicular to the advancing direction of the photosensitive material, it is possible to prevent that the processing solution flows back in the direction opposite to the advancing direction, resulting in uniform finishing without processing unevenness.
Structure 2
The automatic processing apparatus according to structure 1, wherein the conveying device conveys the photographic material while inclining the photographic material within a range of 2 to 20° downward in the conveying direction.
When a photosensitive material is conveyed to be inclined within a range of 2-20°, a processing solution does not flow back in the direction opposite to the advancing direction of the photosensitive material, and it does not flow fast in the advancing direction, resulting in uniform finishing without processing unevenness.
Structure 3
The automatic processing apparatus according to structure 1, wherein the coating device coats the processing solution on the photographic material by jetting the processing solution from a spray nozzle through a gaseous phase.
It is preferable that the method to coat a processing solution by jetting it from a spray nozzle to the photosensitive material through a gaseous phase can conduct processing without giving causes for processing unevenness such as vibration, deformation, conveyance stop and slip to the photosensitive material.
Structure 4
The automatic processing apparatus according to structure 1, further comprising a processing solution removing device to remove the processing solution from the photographic material with a pair of nip rollers on a condition that the photographic material is inclined downward in the conveying direction before the conveying device conveys the photographic material to a succeeding processing section after the coating device has coated the processing solution on the photographic material.
By removing processing solutions with paired nip rollers for the photosensitive material inclined downward in its advancing direction, after the initial processing solution is coated on the surface of the photosensitive material and before the processing solution for the succeeding step is coated, when the automatic processing machine has therein a plurality of processing steps, it is possible to prevent that the initial processing solution is mixed with the processing solution for the succeeding step, and that the processing solution flows back in the direction opposite to the advancing direction of the photosensitive material, resulting in uniform finishing.
Structure 5
The automatic processing apparatus according to structure 4, wherein the conveying device conveys the photographic material while inclining the photographic material within a range of 2 to 20° downward in the conveying direction.
When a photosensitive material is conveyed to be inclined within a range of 2-20°, a processing solution does not flow back in the direction opposite to the advancing direction of the photosensitive material, and it does not flow fast in the advancing direction, resulting in uniform finishing without processing unevenness.
Structure 6
The automatic processing apparatus according to structure 4, wherein the photographic material is a silver halide color p
Hashimoto Hiroyuki
Kobayashi Hiroaki
Kurematsu Masayuki
KonicaCorporation
Rutledge D.
Squire Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P.
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