Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Identifying – composing – or selecting
Reexamination Certificate
1998-08-18
2001-06-05
Adams, Russell (Department: 2851)
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Identifying, composing, or selecting
C355S027000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06243157
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographic printer with an improved processing performance enabling no waste of photosensitive material, and to a photographic printer exposure method.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a well known technique of temporarily storing image data of each frame of a negative film scanned by a scanner in an image memory, and reading the image data from the image memory and displaying it on a liquid crystal panel, and thus, exposing the displayed images, equivalent to several frames, on photographic paper which is used as a photosensitive material.
Moreover, there has been developed a photographic printer which can make an index print. The index print is made in such a way that each frame is arranged in a matrix using the image memory and the liquid crystal panel, and then, is scaled-down and printed, and thus, it is possible to readily check what photographs were taken in a roll of developed negative film.
The photographic printer is provided with a conventionally existing primary exposure section for directly exposing an image recorded on a negative film onto a photographic paper, and a secondary exposure section for exposing an image stored in an image memory onto the photographic paper. These primary and secondary exposure sections are arranged parallel with each other along a feeding path of the photographic paper. The index print is arranged on the photographic paper rearward of all the frames of the negative film.
In the primary exposure section, various size prints are made. For this reason, when exposing an ordinary size print in the final frame, there is a gap between the final frame and the index print, in essence wasting the photographic paper in this gap portion.
Accordingly, when making an index print, for example, of six exposures that make up a sheet of an index print, two or three exposures are printed before the final frame exposure, and the final frame is then printed. Thereafter, the remaining portion of the index print is exposed, resulting in there being no waste of the photographic paper.
However, when starting the exposure of the index print after the final frame has been exposed, it is possible to perform replacement processing of a negative film during the exposure of an index print, so that processing performance can be improved. This serves to improve the performance of the photographic printer when carrying out continuous processing. Namely, in order to improve processing performance without wasting the photographic paper, it is very effective to enable the photosensitive material to be transported in reverse so that the exposure of the indexprint is started after the final frame has been previously exposed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made taking the above-mentioned circumstances into consideration. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a photographic printer which can transport a photosensitive material in reverse by the use of a drive source for automatically loading and rewinding a photosensitive material so as to improve the processing performance without wasting the photosensitive material, and can prevent a reduction in the precision with which the photosensitive material is fed during reverse transporting, and photographic printer exposure method thereof.
The first aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer, having a first exposure section which exposes images recorded on a negative film onto a long photosensitive material fed from a magazine, and a second exposure section situated on the upstream side in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material from the first exposure section which exposes the images stored in memory onto the photosensitive material, comprising a drive source which generates a driving force for feeding the photosensitive material; a first pair of transporting rollers which feed the photosensitive material from the magazine to the exposure sections through the driving force of the drive source; a second pair of transporting rollers which are disposed between the first pair of transporting rollers and the exposure sections so as to hold the photosensitive material, and freely rotates with respect to the photosensitive material fed from the first pair of transporting rollers toward the exposure sections while being rotated by the drive source and transporting the photosensitive material so that the photosensitive material is returned toward the first pair of transporting rollers; and a third pair of transporting rollers which are situated on the downstream side in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material from the exposure sections so as to hold the photosensitive material.
The second aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer according to the first aspect, wherein the nip pressure of the third pair of transporting rollers is higher than that of the second pair of transporting rollers.
The third aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer according to the first aspect, wherein the photographic printer further includes a gear train which is provided between the drive source and the second pair of transporting rollers and transmits the driving force from the drive source to the second pair of transporting rollers.
The fourth aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer according to the third aspect, wherein the nip pressure of the third pair of transporting rollers is higher than that of the second pair of transporting rollers.
The fifth aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer according to the third aspect, wherein the photographic printer further includes a motor used as the drive source, and a clutch which is provided in the gear train and stops the transmission of the driving force.
The sixth aspect of the present invention provides the photographic printer according to the fifth aspect, wherein the nip pressure of the third pair of transporting rollers is higher than that of the second pair of transporting rollers.
The seventh aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer, having a first exposure section which exposes images recorded on a negative film onto a long photosensitive material fed from a magazine, and a second exposure section situated on the upstream side in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material from the first exposure section and which exposes the images stored in memory onto the photosensitive material, comprising a second pair of transporting rollers which is situated on the upstream side in the transporting direction of a photosensitive material with respect to the exposure sections so as to hold the photosensitive material; and a third pair of transporting rollers which is situated on the downstream side in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material with respect to the exposure sections so as to hold the photosensitive material.
The eighth aspect of the present invention provides the photographic printer according to the seventh aspect, wherein the nip pressure of the third pair of transporting rollers is higher than the nip pressure of the second pair of transporting rollers.
The ninth aspect of the present invention provides a photographic printer exposure method, which is applied to a photographic printer having a first exposure section which exposes images recorded on a negative film onto a long photosensitive material fed from a magazine, and a second exposure section situated on the upstream side in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material from the first exposure section which exposes the images stored in memory onto the photosensitive material, comprising the steps of transporting the photosensitive material in the transporting direction of the photosensitive material while successively exposing frames of a negative film onto the photosensitive material in the first exposure section; subsequently transporting the photosensitive material in the reverse dir
Adams Russell
Fuji Photo Film Co. , Ltd.
Nguyen Hung Henry
Sughrue Mion Zinn Macpeak & Seas, PLLC
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