GB2078558A

GB2078558A - Cleaning Automatic Film Developing Apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2078558A
Application number: GB8117765A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 1980-06-18
Filing date: 1981-06-10
Publication date: 1982-01-13
Also published as: KR830006718A; DK154179B; NL8102949A; DK265581A; DK154179C; ES8303726A1; IT1137902B; DE3123470A1; KR840001603B1; ES503037A0; GB2078558B; FR2485218A1; DE3123470C2; FR2485218B1

Abstract

A method for cleaning rollers or other film-conveying members in a treatment bath of an automatic film developing apparatus. The rollers or other conveying members are cleaned by passing a cleaning sheet (34) therethrough, instead of the film, to transfer materials attached to the rollers or other conveying members to the cleaning sheet. Selectable guide means (21) [Figure 1] may be set either to recycle the cleaning sheet through the treating bath, or to transfer the sheet to a subsequent bath. The cleaning sheet has a length shorter than the entire length of its circulation path but longer than the distance between the most remote two adjacent rollers and is made of a sponge sheet material (34a), desirably with a relatively stiff leader film (34b). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A Method of Cleaning Rollers or Other Filmconveying Members in an Automatic Film Developing Apparatus and a Cleaning Sheet Therefor The present invention relates to a method of cleaning rollers or other film-conveying members in an automatic film developing apparatus, and more particularly, to a method of cleaning rollers, endless belts, and the like, arranged in the respective treatment baths of an automatic film developing apparatus in which a cleaning operation is conducted by means of a special cleaning sheet. This invention also relates to a cleaning sheet for the above method.

Most conventional developing apparatus in which an exposed sheet film, roll film or printing paper is automatically developed, are constructed of a plurality of treatment baths comprising a developing bath, fixing bath, water washing bath and drying compartment which are successively arranged one after another in an end-to-end relation. The exposed film or printing paper is conveyed through each treatment bath or compartment by means of a number of rollers so that all the intended treatments are accomplished during the conveyance through the respective treatment baths and compartment. After a developing apparatus has been operated for a long time period, it is found that the materials are deposited on the rollers, endless belts, and the like, resulting in deleterious effects on the developed film or printing paper.

It is known for the rollers and the like to be rotatably disposed in respective racks, which racks are removably mounted in the respective treatment baths. In order to remove the deposited material from the rollers it has been conventional to draw the whole rack assemblies, with the rollers and other elements incorporated therein, out of their respective treatment baths and carry them to a sink or similar facility where water washing is manually conducted, with the assistance of a cloth, brush or the like. However, such manual cleaning requires considerable labour and time.

Hence it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of cleaning rollers and other elements in an automatic film developing apparatus free from the aforementioned disadvantages of conventional cleaning methods, which method requires no manual work, during the cleaning operation and is simple and quick to carry out.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a cleaning sheet for practising the above method.

According to the present invention we provide a method of cleaning rollers or other filmconveying members in an automatic film developing apparatus in which an exposed film is developed while it is passed through a number of conveying members arranged in a treatment bath, wherein a cleaning sheet is circulated instead of the film through the conveying members in the treatment bath at least once in order to transfer materials attached to the conveying members onto the cleaning sheet, thereby cleaning the conveying members.

The invention also extends to a sheet for cleaning a plurality of rollers or other film conveying members arranged in a treating bath of an automatic film developing apparatus by causing said sheet to circulate instead of an exposed film through the plurality of conveying members and causing materials attached to the conveying members to be transferred onto the sheet in which the overall length of said sheet is shorter than the entire length of the circulation path in the treatment bath but longer than the distance between the sheet contacting point of the most remote two adjacent conveying members.

During the cleaning operation in accordance with the method of the present invention no manual work is required.

The invention will be better understood from the following description of specific embodiments of apparatus in accordance therewith, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a fragmentary central vertical section of an automatic film developing apparatus according to the invention; Figure 2 is a side view of a film guide member seen in the direction Il-Il of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a side view of an actuator for the film guide member seen in the direction Ill-Ill of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a cleaning sheet according to the present invention; Figure 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a cleaning sheet according to the present invention; and Figure 6 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of a cleaning sheet according to the present invention.

In order to make a selective decision as to whether the cleaning sheet is to circulate repeatedly through a single treatment bath or it is to be transferred to the next treatment bath film guide means is arranged in the vicinity of the film take-out section of the single treatment bath.

When the film guide means is actuated to assume the first position, the cleaning sheet is repeatedly circulated through the single treatment bath, whereas when it is actuated to assume the second position, the cleaning sheet is transferred to the next treatment bath. Typically, the film guide means is constructed in the form of a film guide member which is pivotally mounted on a shaft horizontally extending across the rack. The film guide means may be constructed into any other suitable structure, as far as it properly functions for the intended purpose.

The cleaning sheet which is an essential component for practising the method of the present invention comprises, in a preferred embodiment, a combination of a sponge sheet and a leader film. Preferably the leader film is connected to the leading end of the sponge sheet.

Alternatively, the cleaning sheet may comprise a combination of two sponge sheets and a backing film, the former being attached to both faces of the latter. In a modified embodiment the cleaning sheet comprises a combination of a single sponge sheet and a backing film. In another modified embodiment the cleaning sheet merely comprises a single layer of sponge sheet having a considerably high rigidity.

Figure 1 shows an inlet portion of a belt-roller type automatic film developing apparatus, including a developing bath 1 and a fixing bath 2 having the same construction as the developing bath 1, which baths are so designed that an exposed film can be transferred by holding it between a thin, narrow endless belt disposed vertically in its respective bath, and a set of rollers arranged in a vertical row and in parallel with the corresponding endless belt.

In the developing bath 1 , there is mounted a developing rack 3 in which a driving sprocket wheel 4 and follower sprocket wheel 5 are rotatably disposed at central upper and lower positions respectively. The sprocket wheels 4 and 5 have axes parallel to each other and extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing sheet.

Between both sprocket wheels 4 and 5 in the rack 3 are arranged a number of guide rollers 6 in two vertical rows. The axis of each of said rollers 6 extends in parallel to the shaft 4' of the driving sprocket wheel 4. Each of the guide rollers 6 is provided with a sprocket wheel (not shown) fixedly secured thereto at one end thereof, allowing the guide rollers 6 to be driven by means of a chain 7 which travels in a direction indicated by arrows.

Driving rollers 8 are rotatably arranged respectively at lower right and left positions relative to the driving sprocket wheel 4, and follower rollers 9 are rotatably arranged at lower right and left positions relative to the follower sprocket wheel 5. The driving rollers 8 as well as said follower rollers 9 have axes parallel to the shaft 4' of the driving sprocket shaft 4.

Belt tension rollers 10 are rotatably arranged between each driving roller 8 and its corresponding follower roller 9, the tension rollers 10 being in vertical alignment and spaced one from another. The belt tension rollers 10, whose axial lengths are equal to that of the driving sprocket wheel 4, are located slightly outside their corresponding guide rollers 6 and have axes extending parallel to the shaft 4' of the driving sprocket wheel 4.

Around each set of the aforesaid rollers 8,9 and 10 are extended a suitable number of narrow endless belts 11, which belts 11 are adapted to travel in the directions indicated by arrows.

At both right and left sides of the driving sprocket wheel 4 in the rack 3 are rotatably arranged respectively a pair of film take-in lower and upper rollers 12 and 13 which serve asa driving roller and a follower roller as well asa pair of film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5, said film takein rollers 12 and 13 as well as film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5 having axes parallel to the shaft 4' of the driving sprocket wheel 4, and being rotatable in the directions indicated by arrows. It is to be noted that the film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5 serve also to remove the developing liquid from the surfaces of each film conveyed therethrough.

Film guide members 1 6 and 17 are secured to the rack 3 respectively at a position rightward and downward of the driving sprocket wheel 4 but above the uppermost guide roller 6 in the right row and at a position leftward and downward of the driving sprocket wheel 4 but above the uppermost guide roller 6 in the left row. The film guide members 1 6 and 1 7 have the same axial length as the driving sprocket wheel 4 and extend parallel to the axis of the wheel 4. The respective film guide members 1 6 and 17 present respectively arcuate film guide faces 1 6a and 1 7a at the outside walls thereof.

A lower film guide member 1 8 is secured to the rack 3 in a position directly above the follower sprocket wheel 5, which guide member 1 8 extends parallel to the axes of guide rollers 6 and is equal in axial length to the guide rollers 6. The lower film guide member 18 is also provided with an arcuate film guide face 1 8a on the upper wall thereof.

It is to be noted that the guide member 18 has two fins 1 8b protruding outward from both left and right side walls thereof so that the endless belts 11 may be guided by their respective fins 18b.

In addition, a film take-in member 19 is fixedly secured to the rack 3 in a position rightward and upward of the film take-in rollers 12 and 13. The member 1 9 has the same axial length as the rollers 12 and 1 3 and extends parallel to the axes of the rollers 12 and 13. The film take-in member 19 defines an arcuate film guide face 1 9a in the lower wall thereof and a slight clearance 20 is formed between the film take-in member 19 and upper film take-in roller 13.

A film guide member 21 is pivotally secured to the rack 3 by means of a horizontal shaft 22 in a position leftward and upward of the film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5 in the developing bath 1 but rightward and upward of the film take-in rollers 12' and 13' in the next fixing bath 2. The member 21 has the same axial length as the rollers 14,15, 12' and 13' and extends parallel to the axes of said film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5 as well as of film take-in rollers 12' and 13'. The film guide member 21 presents an arcuate guide face 21 a at the lower well thereof.

As illustrated in Figures 2 and 3, the horizontal shaft 22 extends through the side walls of the rack 3 and carries a lever 23 fixed thereto at the rear end thereof, said lever 23 extending upward and its upper free end being connected via a connecting rod 24 to an actuating rod 25a of a solenoid 25 which is horizontally mounted on the respective side wall of the rack 3.

Normally, the guide face 21 a of the film guide member 21 is biased substantially in the horizontal direction, as shown by a solid line in Figure 1, thereby forming a clearance 26 between the film guide member 21 and film take-out roller 1 5 and another clearance 27 between the film guide member 21 and film take-in roller 13'.

When the solenoid 25 is energized, the film guide member 21 is turned into the position shown by a phantom line in Figure 1, causing the guide face 21a of the film guide member 21 to assume a position upper left of the film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5. This causes the clearance 26 to be broadened and the lower end of the guide face 21 a of the film guide member 21 to approach the left face of the lower film take-out roller 14.

Guide rollers 28 are rotatably arranged in positions above the driving sprocket wheel 4 and at both left and right sides thereof, said guide rollers 28 being located symmetrically relative to said driving sprocket wheel 4. The guide rollers 28 have the same axial length as the wheel 4 and extend parallel to the axis of the wheel 4. A guide body 29 is fixedly secured to the rack 3 in a position above said guide rollers 28, said body 29 having the same axial length as the guide rollers 28 and extending parallel to the axes of those rollers. A wide arcuate guide face 29a is formed in the lower wall of the guide body 29.

A pair of film feed-in rollers 30 formed of a combination of a driving roller and a follower roller are rotatably arranged in a position to the right of the film take-in member 19 in the rack 3.

The rollers have an axial length equal to that of the member 19 and extend parallel to the member 1 9. They are rotatable in surface contact with each other in directions indicated by the arrows. A film insert opening 31 is located in the vicinity of the pair of film feed-in rollers 30 at the right side thereof.

It is to be noted that a water washing bath and drying compartment are arranged following the fixing bath 2 in an end-to-end relation, said water washing bath and drying compartment, neither of which-are shown, being constructed similarly to the developing bath 1 and fixing bath 2. In Figure 1 , the reference numeral 32 designates a developing liquid while the reference numeral 33 indicates fixing liquid.

Operation of the above automatic developing apparatus will now be described. An exposed film is introduced into the developing apparatus through the film insert opening 31, and is driven by means of the pair of film feed-in rollers 30. It is conveyed along the guide face 1 9a of the film take-in member 19, through the pair of film takein rollers 12 and 13 and along the guide face 16a of the film guide member 1 6.It then passes down between the guide rollers 6 and the right endless belt 11 to be gradually immersed in the developing liquid 32, moving along the guide face 1 8a of the lower guide member 1 8, coming up between the left endless belt 11 and its corresponding guide rollers 6 to be gradually raised up therethrough, and then is taken out of the developing bath 1 by means of the pair of film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5 after being guided by the guide face 1 7a of the guide members 17.

During this passage the developing operation is completed. The film then passes along the guide face 21a of the guide member 21 and is introduced into the fixing bath 2 by means of the pair of film take-in rollers 12' and 13'.

While a number of films are treated in the automatic developing apparatus in the abovedescribed manner, contaminants and foreign substances tend to stick on the rollers and endless belts and gradually to build up thereon, thereby adversely affecting films to be processed.

Figure 4 illustrates a typicai example of a cleaning sheet 34 which may be used to clean these rollers and endless belts. In the drawing, the cleaning sheet 34 comprises a combination of a sponge sheet 34a made of a foamed material such as foamed chloroprene rubber, polyvinyl or the like and a leader film 34b made of polyethylene, polyester or the like, the latter being adhered to the leading end of the former.

The cleaning sheet 34 has a width not greater than the axial length of each roller and preferably has the same width as that axial length, whereas it has an overall length which is suitably determined in accordance with dimensions of the developing bath 1 such that as the sheet passes through the rollers, firstly, no overlapping takes place between the leading and trailing ends of the cleaning sheet 34 due to excessively great length, and secondly no stoppage takes place due to excessively short length causing the sheet to be disengaged from some of the rollers, so resulting in failure of transmission of driving power to the sheet 34. Thus, the overall length of the sheet must be shorter than the overall length of the circulation path in the treatment bath but longer than the distance between the sheet-contacting parts of the most remote two adjacent rollers.

The cleaning operation for the rollers using the cleaning sheet 34 will now be described in more detail. When it is found that the rollers and endless belts in the automatic developing apparatus have become too dirty, film processing is stopped, and the solenoid 25 is actuated so as to turn the film guide member 21 into the phantom line position of Figure 1 so that its guide face 21 a is located opposite to the pair of film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5.

Then, the cleaning sheet 34 is introduced into the automatic developing apparatus by inserting its leader film 34b through the insert opening 31, while the automatic developing apparatus is running.

The cleaning sheet 34 passes through the developing bath 1 in much the same manner as an exposed film to be processed and then passes between the pair of film take-out rollers 14 and 1 5. It is then deflected back to the right along the guide face 21 a of the film guide member 21, which is located opposite to the upper film takeout roller 1 5. The cleaning sheet 34 then moves rightward along the guide face 29a of the guide block 29 above the guide rollers 28, passes through the clearance 20, further passes between the pair of film take-in rollers 12 and 13 and then is introduced into the developing bath 1 again, whereby it automatically circulates on the circulation path as indicated by the reference numeral 35.

By repeating the above-described circulation of the cleaning sheet 34 several times, materials deposited on the rollers and endless belts are completely transferred to the sponge sheet 34a of the cleaning sheet 34, so cleaning the rollers.

When the solenoid 25 is deenergized after the completion of cleaning operation for the rollers in the developing bath 1, the film guide member 21 is turned back to its original position and then the cleaning sheet 34 when it reaches guide member 21 is automatically transferred to the fixing bath 2. The cleaning operation is thus performed for the rollers and endless belts in the fixing bath 2 in the same manner as in the case of the developing bath 1, the corresponding guide member in fixing bath 2 being in the recirculating position, and being moved when cleaning is completed to transfer the sheet to the subsequent bath.

As will be readily understood from the above description, the cleaning sheet makes it possible automatically to clean the rollers in the developing bath as well as in the fixing bath and following baths without the need for removing the rack 3 therefrom, resulting in substantially reduced labour and time required for the cleaning operation. Further, it is pointed out that an additional advantage of a cleaning sheet according to the present invention is that it can be easily inserted into the automatic developing apparatus, as it has a leader film attached thereto.

It is to be noted that the cleaning operation is separately conducted for each bath in the automatic developing apparatus in such a manner that after the completion of the cleaning operation in the first bath, a cleaning operation is initiated in the second bath, whereby the loss in treatment liquid caused by transfer of the same between the adjacent treatment baths may be minimized.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate respectively cleaning sheets according to modified embodiments of the present invention. Specifically, the cleaning sheet 34 in Figure 5 is formed of a combination of two sponge sheets 34a and a leader film 34b, the latter being clamped between the former and adhered thereto, whereas the cleaning sheet 34 in Figure 6 is made of a combination of a single sponge sheet 34a and leader film 34b, the latter being adhered to the former at their entire surfaces.

Alternatively, the present invention may be practised with such a leader film removed, provided that the sponge sheet itself has a sufficiently high rigidity or the sponge sheet contains a core material which has a high rigidity.

As described above, the cleaning sheet 34 is adapted automatically to circulate through each treatment bath in an automatic film developing apparatus, with the aid of a combination of the guide block 29 and guide rollers 28. Alternatively, the above-described combination of the guide block and rollers may be replaced by two guide means with a groove recessed thereon, said guide means being located opposite to one another in a spaced relation. In some cases, the cleaning sheet 34 may be manually brought back to the film take-in side, after having been directed toward the film take-in side by means of the film guide member 21.

In the above-described embodiment of the present invention, the film guide member 21 is pivotally mounted, but it may be displaced for the intended purpose in any suitable manner other than turning the same. Alternatively, two film guide members may be replaceably used for the same purpose, one of them being provided with a guide face which is designed suitably for transferring a film to the next bath, while the other is provided with a guide face which is designed for returning a cleaning sheet back to the film take-in side. In a further embodiment either or both of the take-out rollers 1 4 and 1 5 may be mounted so that a plane containing the axes of these rollers may be displaced to direct the nip exit either towards the following treatment bath as shown in Figure 1 or towards a return path to the same treatment bath.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the case where rollers in a belt-roller type automatic developing apparatus are cleaned in accordance with a method of the present invention, but it should be of course understood that the present invention is not limited to this and is also applicable to a roller type automatic developing machine.

Claims

1. A method of cleaning rollers or other filmconveying members in an automatic film developing apparatus in which an exposed film is developed while it is passed through a number of conveying members arranged in a treatment bath, wherein a cleaning sheet is circulated instead of the film through the conveying members in the treatment bath at least once in order to transfer materials attached to the conveying members onto the cleaning sheet, thereby cleaning the conveying members.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein film guide means are arranged in the vicinity.of a film take-out portion, the guide means being selectable either to return the cleaning sheet leaving the treatment bath to a film take-in portion of the same treatment bath, or to transfer the cleaning sheet leaving the treatment bath to the following treatment bath.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the film guide means comprises a film guide member which is pivotable to a first or a second position: in the first position the film guide member returns the cleaning sheet to the same treatment bath, in the second position the film guide member transfers the cleaning sheet to the following treatment bath.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the film guide means comprises a film guide member which is movable along a line to a first or a second position: in the first position the film guide member returns the cleaning sheet to the same treatment bath, in the second position the film guide member transfers the cleaning sheet to the following treatment bath.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the film guide means comprises a pair of film take-out rollers whose orientations are changed between a first and a second position with respect to a plane containing both axes of the film take-out rollers: in the first position the film guide member returns the cleaning sheet to the same treatment bath, in the second position the film guide member transfers the cleaning sheet to the following treatment bath.

6. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the film guide means comprises interchangeable first and second film guide members, the first member having a guide surface along which the cleaning sheet leaving the treatment bath is returned to the film take-in portion thereof, and the second member having a guide surface along which the cleaning sheet leaving the treatment bath is guided to the following treatment bath.

7. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the overall length of said sheet is shorter than the entire length of the circulation path in the treatment bath but longer than the distance between the sheet contacting points of the most remote two adjacent conveying members.

8. A sheet for cleaning a plurality of rollers or other film conveying members arranged in a treatment bath of an automatic film developing apparatus by causing said sheet to circulate instead of an exposed film through the plurality of conveying members and causing materials attached to the conveying members to be transferred onto the sheet, in which the overall length of said sheet is shorter than the entire length of the circulation path in the treatment bath but longer than the distance between the sheet contacting points of the most remote two adjacent conveying members.

9. A cleaning sheet as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cleaning sheet comprises a combination of a sponge sheet and a relatively stiff leader film, the latter projecting forwardly from the leading end of the former.

10. A cleaning sheet as claimed in claim 8, or claim 9, wherein the cleaning sheet comprises a combination of two sponge sheets and a backing film, the former being attached to both faces of the latter.

11. A cleaning sheet as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, wherein the cleaning sheet comprises a combination of a single sponge sheet and a backing film.

12. A cleaning sheet as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cleaning sheet comprises a single layer of sponge sheet having a high rigidity.

13. A cleaning sheet as claimed in claim 8, wherein the cleaning sheet comprises a single layer of sponge sheet which contains a core member having a high rigidity.

14. A method of cleaning rollers or other film conveying members in an automatic film developing operation, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 5. A cleaning sheet substantially as herein described with reference to any one of Figures 4 to 6 of the accompanying drawings.