Photography – Fluid-treating apparatus – Having photographic medium feed
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-14
2002-04-02
Rutledge, D (Department: 2851)
Photography
Fluid-treating apparatus
Having photographic medium feed
C396S615000, C271S287000, C271S302000, C399S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06364548
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for transferring pre-processed sheets discharged from an outlet of a sheet-processing apparatus such as a photographic processing apparatus and a copying apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
According to a conventional photographic processing apparatus, a strip of photosensitive material is cut to sheets of a predetermined length by a cutter or the like. After cutting operation, film images on a negative film are respectively exposed onto the photosensitive material sheets, which are then transferred to a developing station to be developed, bleached, fixed and stabilized. These processes will be generically named “developing process”. The developed photosensitive material sheets are transferred to a drying unit to be dried, and subsequently to a collecting unit such as a tray to be properly collected or stacked thereon.
For collecting on the collecting unit, the photosensitive material sheets are usually sorted and held in a pile for every size, or every customer's order. Customer's orders generally include a simultaneous printing order and an extra printing order. The simultaneous printing order means that one or several prints in service sizes or the like for all frame images on a film are ordered simultaneously with the development of the film, and the extra printing order means that one or several prints for a film image in a particular frame on a negative film are ordered. With a recently developed camera using an APS film, images can be shot in various size frames, such as standard size frame, panoramic size frame and high-vision size frame in a single film.
To array photosensitive material sheets (objects to be transferred) according to a size or order thereof on the collecting unit, it is necessary to transfer the objects or dried photosensitive material sheets (i.e., pictures) to the collecting unit by a transfer apparatus having some type of a transfer mechanism.
FIG. 5
illustrates a schematic perspective view of a photographic processing apparatus equipped with a conventional transfer apparatus.
FIG. 6
is a schematic perspective view of the transfer apparatus and its proximity in the photographic processing apparatus of FIG.
5
. Specifically, the conventional transfer apparatus illustrated in
FIGS. 5 and 6
includes a transfer unit
101
, a first collecting unit
102
and a second collecting unit
103
, in which the transfer unit
101
is constructed by employing a belt conveyor
101
a
that is rotatable in a predetermined direction, and the first collecting unit
102
is constructed by employing a plurality of trays
102
a
. The plurality of trays
102
are rotated in the direction of arrow C′ to introduce a new tray into a sheet-receiving position for receiving the photosensitive material sheets for a new order, etc.
According to the arrangement of
FIGS. 5 and 6
, after being subjected to the drying process, the dried photosensitive material sheets are sorted according to their sizes, and discharged from different outlets, namely a first outlet
111
for a smaller size (e.g., the size of not more than 102 mm (4 inches)) and a second outlet
113
for a larger size (e.g., the size of not less than 127 mm (5 inches)).
The photosensitive material sheets of the smaller size discharged from the first outlet
111
and moved onto the belt conveyor
101
a
of the transfer unit
101
in the direction of arrow A′ are transferred to the first collecting unit
102
by rotating the belt conveyor
101
a
in the direction of arrow B′. The photosensitive material sheets in each order are basically placed on each tray of the plurality of trays
102
a
of the first collecting unit
102
, and therefore those in a new order is collected on a different tray which has been introduced into the sheet-receiving position by rotating the first collecting unit
102
in the direction of arrow C′.
The photosensitive material sheets of the larger size discharged in the direction of arrow D′ from the second outlet
113
are collected on the second collecting unit
103
located right below the second outlet
113
.
With the photographic processing apparatus employing the above transfer arrangement, the photosensitive material sheets as the objects to be collected can be properly sorted and collected on the collecting units according to a size, order, etc.
In the photographic processing apparatus with the transfer apparatus as mentioned above, the photosensitive material sheets are subjected to the sorting operation as they are transferred, thereby properly collecting them in the first collecting unit
102
closer to the first outlet
111
and the second collecting unit closer to the second outlet
113
according to their sizes, orders, etc. This conventional transfer arrangement or photographic processing apparatus using the same, however, requires a sorting mechanism to be provided inside of the photographic processing apparatus for sorting the photosensitive material sheets either to the first outlet
111
or the second outlet
113
according to their sizes. This leads to a complicated structure of the apparatus, and therefore increase the manufacturing costs, since a limited inner space of the photographic processing apparatus results in a complicated formation of paths of the photosensitive material sheets, which requires a lot of associated parts, such as a path-switching device, feeding rollers and driving rollers. Moreover, such a limited inner space results in a narrowed path of the photosensitive material sheets, which is likely to cause “chewing up” of the path of the sorting mechanism with the photosensitive material sheets.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer apparatus that is capable of sorting the objects to be transferred according to their sizes, orders, etc., by employing a relatively simple structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a photographic processing apparatus having the transfer apparatus of a relatively simple structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above objects, there is provided a transfer apparatus for transferring pre-processed sheet materials discharged from an outlet of a sheet processing apparatus including a transfer unit provided outside of the outlet for receiving the sheet materials discharged from the outlet and transferring the sheet materials to a plurality of collecting sites, in which the transfer unit is capable of selectively shifting the transfer direction thereof in such a manner as to transfer each of the sheet materials to a predetermined collecting site.
According to the transfer apparatus of the above arrangement, even in the case where the sheet materials are to be collected at a plurality of collecting sites, it is not necessary to provide a corresponding number of outlets for discharging the sheet materials of different sizes, orders, etc., since the transfer unit capable of transferring the sheet materials to a plurality of collecting units is provided outside of the outlet of the sheet processing apparatus. Specifically, the transfer apparatus of the present invention enables the sheet processing apparatus to omit parts for making up an additional discharging mechanism, which may include feeding rollers, a path switching device, etc., and therefore can obtain a sheet processing apparatus with a relatively simple structure as compared with a conventional apparatus.
The transfer unit of the sheet transfer apparatus preferably includes a belt conveyor for transferring the sheet materials to the plurality of collecting sites located at both sides of the belt conveyor, a driving means for driving the belt conveyor to be rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and a control means for controlling the driving means to selectively shift the rotational direction of the belt conveyor, thereby shifting the transfer direction of the transfer unit.
The above transfer unit allows the sheet transfer apparatus to be effectively arr
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd.
Rutledge D
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