Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Regenerating image processing composition
Patent
1992-05-29
1994-01-18
Bowers, Jr., Charles L.
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Regenerating image processing composition
430399, 430400, G03C 531, G03C 5395
Patent
active
052799301
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to replenishment systems and is more particularly concerned with the replenishment of photographic processing solutions in photographic processing apparatus.
Developers, and other solutions, used for photographic processing, suffer from depletion fog two principal reasons. The first is that components involved in the photographic process are used up as sensitized material is passed through the solution, while the second depends on losses which occur without any processing taking place. The latter may be due, for instance, to aerial oxidation, evaporation, or an interaction between components in the processing solution itself.
In a continuous photographic process, it is good practice to replenish solutions, by replacing a proportion of the original solution with another which has been formulated to replace those components which have been lost while reducing the level of unwanted by-products of the process.
Replenishment is normally carried out by adding a specially formulated solution to the bulk tank. This displaces a similar quantity of the used solution, at a rate which is calculated on the basis of the amount of material which has been processed. The assumption is made that other losses may be roughly accounted for at the same time.
For processes which have a low relative rate of usage, however, such an assumption is scarcely valid, and those losses which are independent of material throughput become very important. This means that adequate replacement must be provided separately.
One solution to the problem has been to use a second replenisher delivered at a rate which is proportional to elapsed time. Such systems are disclosed in Japanese Patent Specifications 57-195245, 57-195246, 57-195247, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,228,234, 4,245,043, 4,293,211, 4,295,729, 4,329,042, 4,346,981, 4,372,665, and 4,372,666.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,293,211, 4,295,729, 4,346,981, 4,372,665 and 4,372,666, replenishment of anti-oxidants is disclosed. In particular, replenishment is carried out at two rates, a first rate which compensates for use of the processing apparatus, and a second lower rate which compensates for non-use of the apparatus. However, in each case, the replenishment is a function of expired time and is related to the particular apparatus used.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,245,043 and 4,329,042, the use of two replenishers and water is disclosed. The replenishers are added to the processing apparatus at one rate in accordance with the throughput of material being processed. The same replenishers are used to replenish at a second rate to compensate for non-use of the apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,234, describes a time-dependent replenishment system in which the rate of replenishment is dependent on time, ambient temperature and a constant which is related to the specific apparatus being replenished. This means that before being able to use the disclosed system for other apparatus, the constant has to be determined through experiment.
Furthermore, the systems described above do not accurately allow for differences in temperature between start-up conditions and operating conditions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a replenishment system which allows for the replenishment of solutions used in processing apparatus which suffer losses due to evaporation or oxidation, and which overcomes the problems associated with known replenishment systems.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of replenishing photographic processing solutions in photographic processing apparatus in which one or more components are lost from the processing solution by oxidation or evaporation, characterized in that the replenishment rate for a particular component in a given solution is determined as a function of water evaporation rate from the apparatus.
Advantageously, the function for any given solution is determined by measuring component loss rates for that solution for different water evaporation rates.
By this method, once the loss rate for a particula
REFERENCES:
patent: 4228234 (1980-10-01), Okutsu et al.
patent: 4245034 (1981-01-01), Libicky et al.
patent: 4245043 (1981-01-01), Lund
patent: 4293211 (1981-10-01), Kaufmann
patent: 4295729 (1981-10-01), Kaufmann
patent: 4329042 (1982-05-01), Libicky et al.
patent: 4346981 (1982-08-01), Kaufmann
patent: 4372665 (1983-02-01), Kaufmann
patent: 4372666 (1983-02-01), Kaufmann
Carter Susan
Green Andrew
Twist Peter J.
Bowers Jr. Charles L.
Eastman Kodak Company
Huff Mark F.
Roberts Sarah M.
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