EP0908767A2 - Traitement de matériau photographique - Google Patents

Traitement de matériau photographique Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0908767A2
EP0908767A2 EP98202933A EP98202933A EP0908767A2 EP 0908767 A2 EP0908767 A2 EP 0908767A2 EP 98202933 A EP98202933 A EP 98202933A EP 98202933 A EP98202933 A EP 98202933A EP 0908767 A2 EP0908767 A2 EP 0908767A2
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
ramp
processing
solution
guide means
photographic material
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP98202933A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0908767A3 (fr
Inventor
Anthony Earle
Henry Harper Adam
Leslie Robert Well
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Eastman Kodak Co
Original Assignee
Eastman Kodak Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Eastman Kodak Co filed Critical Eastman Kodak Co
Publication of EP0908767A2 publication Critical patent/EP0908767A2/fr
Publication of EP0908767A3 publication Critical patent/EP0908767A3/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D5/00—Liquid processing apparatus in which no immersion is effected; Washing apparatus in which no immersion is effected
    • G03D5/06—Applicator pads, rollers or strips
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D3/00—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion
    • G03D3/02—Details of liquid circulation
    • G03D3/04—Liquid agitators
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D3/00—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion
    • G03D3/08—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material
    • G03D3/13—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly
    • G03D3/132—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly fed by roller assembly
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D5/00—Liquid processing apparatus in which no immersion is effected; Washing apparatus in which no immersion is effected
    • G03D5/003—Liquid processing apparatus in which no immersion is effected; Washing apparatus in which no immersion is effected film surface only souching the liquid

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the processing, and particularly but not exclusively the washing or stabilising, of photographic material, usually already exposed, in which the material passes through a plurality of stages, preferably in a counter-current mode.
  • Photographic material as referred to herein is understood to be generally planar, may comprise film or paper, may produce a black-and-white or colour image, and may be in a continuous web form or may comprise discrete sheets.
  • Silver halide photographic materials are well-known, and are processed to generate a silver or dye image via a development stage followed by a series of baths to stabilise and provide permanence to the image.
  • Such baths convert and remove unwanted materials from the coated photographic layers which would either interfere with the quality of the final image or cause degradation of the image with time.
  • the development stage is followed by a bleach stage to oxidise the developed silver to a form which can be dissolved by a fixing agent in the same or a separate bath.
  • Such silver removal stages are then followed by a washing stage using water, or other wash solution, or a stabilisation stage using a stabiliser solution.
  • this last-mentioned stage will hereinafter be referred to generically as "washing”.
  • Such stages remove residual chemicals and may also include conversion reactions between stabiliser solution components and materials within the coated layers. These stages are required to provide the required degree of permanence to the final image.
  • the wash stage is performed in a multi-tank arrangement.
  • the replenishment of this stage which keeps the concentration of substances removed from the photographic material at a constant and sufficiently low level, is carried out by adding fresh wash solution to the final tank of the sequence and arranging over-flow from the final tank to flow into the previous tank and so on, the overflow from the first tank of this stage being then discarded as effluent.
  • This is referred to as a “counter-current "mode.
  • This arrangement allows significantly lower amounts of solution to be used compared with one or two tanks especially when these are replenished separately.
  • processing is carried out with the photographic material immersed in a tank of solution, even though many, though not all, photographic materials are sensitised with an emulsion only on one side thereof.
  • a typical wash replenishment system might use around 200 cm 3 of replenisher per m 2 of sensitised material processed in a three or four-tank counter-current arrangement.
  • the time the processed material spends in each tank is typically 20 to 25 seconds during which time an equilibrium is established between the concentration of substances in the coated material and the seasoned (steady-state) concentrations in the wash solution.
  • the total time for this stage typically varies from 60 to over 100 seconds.
  • US-A-5 365 300 discloses a process for the treatment of photographic material with a bath containing at least one processing material, in which, after the treatment bath, the photographic material is guided upwards through an ideally preferably vertical compartment which closely surrounds the material which is washed from above by water flowing under gravity in counter-current to the material.
  • the wash water is arranged to carry chemicals off the material into the bath for re-cycling.
  • apparatus for processing photographic material comprising a ramp that defines a surface inclined to the horizontal, first and second guide means spaced apart along the length of the ramp for guiding the material along the inclined surface, means for supplying processing solution to the ramp such that it flows along said surface, wherein the material is arranged to move along the ramp such that the solution is forced between the inclined surface and the adjacent side of the material, thereby to effect the processing.
  • the angle of inclination of the surface to the horizontal is preferably between about 10° and 80°, more preferably between about 30° and 50°, and most preferably is between about 40° and 45°.
  • each guide means comprises a set of rollers through which the material is arranged to pass, and the first set of rollers may be located substantially at the lower end of the ramp and the second set of rollers may then be located substantially at the upper end of the ramp.
  • the processing solution is applied to the upper end of the ramp and allowed to flow down under gravity, with the photographic material being driven up over the surface.
  • a method of processing photographic material wherein the material is passed through first guide means and urged towards an inclined planar surface of a ramp and is subsequently urged away from the surface through second guide means, the second guide means being spaced from the first guide means along the ramp, and wherein processing solution is supplied to the surface beneath the material so as to effect processing thereof.
  • the method may be carried out on the apparatus of the invention, and may effect washing, or developing, bleaching, or fixing of the photographic material.
  • a particularly simple processing arrangement is thus provided, which facilitates, for example, counter-current washing in a photographic processor.
  • the length of the ramp surface can be arranged to be sufficient to effect total processing of the material. For example, washing can take place for a time such that at the top of the ramp the residual concentration of chemicals in the material has reached a practical minimum value, before the material is removed to a drying stage.
  • the inclined surface of the ramp may be textured so as to agitate the solution in contact with the photographic material.
  • the emulsion side of the photographic material is arranged to face the surface of the stage through which it is transported. In this way, the material itself acts as a cover to reduce evaporation of the solution.
  • Some processing solutions have hydrophobic properties, and to encourage a capillary action between the solution and the material to be processed, a thin cover of plastics material may initially be placed over the surface of the stage, with the photographic material subsequently being fed underneath.
  • the apparatus 10 is arranged to carry out washing of a continuous strip of exposed photographic film 12 after it has passed through developing, bleaching and fixing stages (or bleach/fix stage).
  • Figure 6 shows the film 12 passing through developing fluid 70 in the developer tank 80 and then through a bleach/fix solution 90 in a bleach/fix tank 95 before it reaches the wash stage.
  • the wash stage comprises a ramp 14 having an upper surface 16 inclined at 45° to the horizontal.
  • the film 12 arrives from the preceding stage and is fed into the nip of a lower pair of rollers 18.
  • the film 12 is driven, emulsion side downwards, by the rollers 18 up the inclined surface 16 and removed from the ramp 14 by means of an upper pair of rollers 20 and passed on to the drying stage (not shown).
  • Washing solution is directed onto the ramp 14 through jets 22 that extend cross the surface 16 at its top end, such that the greater part, if not all, of the solution flows down the surface 16 beneath the ascending film 12.
  • the speed of movement of the film 12 and the length of the inclined surface 16 are such that the film emulsion is washed for a time sufficient substantially to achieve equilibrium of the concentration of chemicals by the time it arrives at the clean solution issuing from the jets 22 at the top of the ramp.
  • the counter-current mode of operation means that the film 12 is cleaned as it moves up the ramp 14 and the wash solution becomes dirtier as it flows downwards.
  • the washing of the film 12 is enhanced by texturing of the ramp surface 16, which provides agitation in the capillary layer of processing solution pressed by the film 12 against the ramp 14.
  • Figure 2 shows one example of this, in which part of an inclined surface is indented orthogonally.
  • Figure 3 shows a surface with random indentations, and in Figure 4 the surface has a diamond configuration. Other texturing may be applied.
  • slots 60 are cut in transversely-extending ribs 62 of the surface.
  • the depth of the troughs 64 between the ribs 62, the number, frequency and width of the slots 60, and their degree of stagger in successive ribs 62, can all be selected to give the required effect on the flow of the solution in the layer beneath the photographic film 12, as well as on the flow rate of replenisher counter-current to the material.

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Photographic Processing Devices Using Wet Methods (AREA)
  • Silver Salt Photography Or Processing Solution Therefor (AREA)
EP98202933A 1997-10-09 1998-09-02 Traitement de matériau photographique Withdrawn EP0908767A3 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GBGB9721464.7A GB9721464D0 (en) 1997-10-09 1997-10-09 Processing photographic material
GB9721464 1997-10-09

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0908767A2 true EP0908767A2 (fr) 1999-04-14
EP0908767A3 EP0908767A3 (fr) 1999-06-16

Family

ID=10820326

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP98202933A Withdrawn EP0908767A3 (fr) 1997-10-09 1998-09-02 Traitement de matériau photographique

Country Status (3)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0908767A3 (fr)
JP (1) JPH11194466A (fr)
GB (1) GB9721464D0 (fr)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1394609A1 (fr) * 2002-08-31 2004-03-03 Eastman Kodak Company Méthode et appareil de lavage
US7018115B2 (en) 2002-08-31 2006-03-28 Eastman Kodak Company Washing method and apparatus

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB423857A (en) * 1933-07-10 1935-02-11 Halden & Co Ltd J Improvements in and relating to apparatus for treating paper, cloth and like materials with liquids
US3721175A (en) * 1969-05-21 1973-03-20 S Needleman Photographic processing apparatus
EP0606195A2 (fr) * 1993-01-05 1994-07-13 Picture Productions Limited Partnership Méthode et dispositif de développement pour feuilles photosensibles

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB423857A (en) * 1933-07-10 1935-02-11 Halden & Co Ltd J Improvements in and relating to apparatus for treating paper, cloth and like materials with liquids
US3721175A (en) * 1969-05-21 1973-03-20 S Needleman Photographic processing apparatus
EP0606195A2 (fr) * 1993-01-05 1994-07-13 Picture Productions Limited Partnership Méthode et dispositif de développement pour feuilles photosensibles

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1394609A1 (fr) * 2002-08-31 2004-03-03 Eastman Kodak Company Méthode et appareil de lavage
US7018115B2 (en) 2002-08-31 2006-03-28 Eastman Kodak Company Washing method and apparatus

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EP0908767A3 (fr) 1999-06-16
JPH11194466A (ja) 1999-07-21
GB9721464D0 (en) 1997-12-10

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