JP2001224946A - Treating agent dissolution device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the clogging of a ball valve through which the treating agent of a dissolution tank passes. SOLUTION: A filter unit 48 is provided with filter elements 54. The treating liquid formed by dissolving a treating agent in the dissolution tank is passed through the filter elements and is discharged. The filter elements are formed by plane mat weaving using stainless steel in such a manner that >=#50 to <=#110 mesh may be attained. As a result, the particles of the treating agent permeated through the filter elements are prevented from depositing on the ball valve and giving rise to an operation defect, such as clogging, while the occurrence of the clogging in the filter elements themselves is suppressed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a treating agent dissolving apparatus for dissolving a powdery or granular treating agent in a liquid such as water to produce a treating solution. More specifically, the present invention relates to a processing agent dissolving apparatus provided with a filter for filtering out a remaining processing agent that cannot be completely dissolved during or after dissolution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Processing solutions such as a developing solution and a fixing solution used for processing photographic light-sensitive materials are formed by dissolving a powdery or granular processing agent (a developer or a fixing agent) with water. There is. Such a processing agent is enclosed in, for example, a PET exclusive bottle, and can be used as a processing solution for processing a photographic light-sensitive material by dissolving it in water so as to have a predetermined concentration.

There is a dedicated dissolving device for dissolving a treating agent to produce a treating solution. This dissolving apparatus puts the treating agent in the bottle into the dissolving tank that has been supplied with water in advance, and further supplies water so that the amount of water in the dissolving tank becomes an amount corresponding to the amount of the treating agent that has been thrown in, followed by stirring. This promotes uniform dissolution of the treatment agent charged into the dissolution tank.

[0004] In such a dissolving apparatus, after dissolving the treating agent in the dissolving tank, a valve provided on a pipe connected to the bottom of the dissolving tank is opened and transferred to a stock tank disposed below. It is stored or sent to a processing device such as an automatic developing device that uses the generated processing solution.

[0005] By the way, in the generated processing solution, the processing agent may not be completely dissolved in the stirring water and may be in the form of particles and collide with the mesh of the filter. However, in a processing solution such as a developing solution and a fixing solution used for processing a photosensitive material, if the particles of the processing agent remaining in the processing solution are large, the finished quality of the photosensitive material is impaired.

For this reason, in the dissolving apparatus, a filter is disposed at a discharge port of the processing liquid from the dissolving tank, and the processing liquid is discharged through the filter, thereby affecting the finish of the development processing of the photosensitive material. Particles larger than the size are removed from the processing solution.

[0007]

However, even if the particles of the processing agent remaining in the processing liquid are relatively small particles that do not affect the finish of development, a pipe for discharging the processing liquid from the dissolution tank is required. When the valve is closed, it accumulates in the valve, and then interferes with the closing of the valve,
May cause clogging.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to propose a processing agent dissolving apparatus which does not cause clogging or malfunction of a valve for discharging a processing liquid from a dissolving tank. I do.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a photographic processing solution produced by dissolving a powdery or granular processing agent in a liquid in a dissolving tank through a filter. A treating agent dissolving apparatus for discharging the treating agent out of a tank, wherein a filter having a size of # 50 mesh or more is used as the filter.

According to the present invention, a powdery or granular processing agent is dissolved in a liquid in a dissolving tank to generate a processing liquid, and a valve provided on a pipe connected to the bottom of the dissolving tank is opened to dissolve the liquid. When the processing liquid in the tank is transferred through a filter, by using a filter having a mesh size of # 50 or more, particles of the processing agent remaining without being completely dissolved in the liquid can be attached. It is intended to prevent the clogging of the valve caused by this.

By using a filter having more than 50 (# 50 mesh) holes in one inch (25.4 mm) × 1 inch, particles passing through the filter cause problems such as clogging of the valve. It is something that does not happen.

The mesh of the filter is preferably fine, but if the mesh of the filter is fine, the filter itself is clogged due to clogging or foreign matter such as lint, and frequent maintenance is required. Become. For this reason, in the invention described in claim 2, the mesh of the filter is set to # 110 mesh or less.

The particles of the processing agent passing through the # 110 mesh filter are extremely fine and substantially dissolved in the processing liquid, so that no problem occurs in the valve as a matter of course.

Although a resin material such as nylon can be used for the filter, it is more preferable to form the wire from a metal material in terms of durability.

When dissolving the processing material in a liquid such as water in the dissolution tank, stirring is performed to promote the dissolution. When the flow of the liquid generated by this stirring hits the surface of the filter, a large pressure is applied to the filter, and the durability of the filter is reduced. By using a metal material as the wire, the pressure resistance can be increased.

As the metal used for the wire, it is preferable to use stainless steel having high corrosion resistance.

Further, as a filter having high pressure resistance,
What made the wire into plain weave or plain tatami weave is more preferable.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a treatment agent dissolving apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.

The treating agent dissolving apparatus 10 has a frame 12 assembled in a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and two dissolving tanks 1
Stock tanks 18 and 20 are arranged on the lower side, respectively. In FIG. 1, a water supply tank 22 is provided on the back side of the apparatus (on the back side of FIG. 1). A water supply pipe (not shown) is connected to the water supply tank 22, and stores water supplied via the water supply pipe.

Below the water supply tank 22, water supply pumps 24 and 26 are provided. Water supply pumps 24, 26
The suction side is open to the water supply tank 22 and the discharge side is connected to the dissolution tanks 14 and 16. Thus, in the treatment agent dissolving apparatus 10, water is supplied from the water supply tank 22 to the dissolution tank 14 by the water supply pump 24, and water is supplied from the water supply tank 22 to the dissolution tank 16 by the water supply pump 26.

At a predetermined position on the upper surface of the processing agent dissolving device 10, for example, a powdery or granular form as a base of a developing solution or fixing solution used for developing and fixing a photographic photosensitive material such as a photographic film as a processing agent. The respective bottles 28 containing the developer and the fixing agent are loaded. The inside of the bottle 28 is sealed by, for example, sealing the bottle mouth 28A with a sealing material (not shown).

The developer and fixing agent in the bottle 28 are dissolved in water in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 to generate a developing solution and a fixing solution. The developing solution and the fixing solution generated in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 are transferred from the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 to stock tanks 18 and 20 below them and stored therein. That is, the treatment agent dissolving device 10 includes the dissolving tanks 14 and 16
The developer and the fixing agent can be used for dissolving the developer and the water in the water to generate the developing solution and the fixing solution. In the processing agent dissolving apparatus 10, one of the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 generates a developing solution, and the other generates a fixing solution.

The treatment agent dissolving device 10 includes a replenishing pump 3
0 and 32 are provided. The refill pumps 30, 32
Are connected to pipes 34A and 34B inserted into the stock tanks 18 and 20, respectively. On the discharge side of the replenishing pumps 30 and 32, the developing solution or the fixing solution is supplied to each processing tank of an automatic developing device (not shown) using the processing solution (developing solution and fixing solution) generated by the processing agent dissolving device 10. The supply nozzle is connected to the supply nozzle.

With such a configuration, the treatment agent dissolving apparatus 1
0 indicates a replenishing pump 3 according to a request from the automatic developing device.
By operating 0 and 32, the developing solution and the fixing solution stored in the stock tanks 18 and 20 are supplied to the automatic developing device. Further, the processing agent dissolving device 10
Is provided with a water replenishing pump 36. By operating the water replenishing pump 36 in response to a water supply request from the automatic developing device, water can be replenished to the automatic developing device together with the developing solution and the fixing solution. I have.

Hereinafter, the main parts of the treatment agent dissolving apparatus 10 will be described. The developer and the fixing agent are expressed as processing agents without particular distinction, and the description will be made on the assumption that this processing agent is dissolved in water to generate a processing liquid. Further, the processing agent developing device 1
0, the melting tank 14 and the stock tank 18 side,
The dissolving tank 16 and the stock tank 20 have substantially the same configuration. Hereinafter, the dissolving tank 14 and the stock tank 18 will be mainly described as examples, and the description of the dissolving tank 16 and the stock tank 20 will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, the melting tank 14 is a blow-molded hollow container having a substantially cubic outer shape, and has a substantially rectangular opening 38 formed on the upper surface. Supported by the frame 12 (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
A part of the side wall of the projection 4 is projected, and a filter unit loading section 40 having a semi-cylindrical inner surface shape is formed at the tip of the projected side wall. Further, the bottom of the dissolving tank 14 is inclined downward of the filter unit loading section 40,
Further, an opening 42 is formed at the bottom of the filter unit loading section 40 so as to protrude downward in a tubular shape so as to discharge the processing liquid generated in the dissolving tank 14 from the dissolving tank 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, the melting tank 14 has
One end of a pipe 44 is connected to the opening 42. The other end of the pipe 44 is open at the top of the stock tank 18, and the pipe 44 is provided with an electric ball valve 46. Thus, in the treatment agent dissolving apparatus 10, the ball valve 46 is opened, so that the dissolving tank 1
The processing liquid in 4 passes through the filter unit loading section 40 and flows down to the stock tank 18.

In the stock tanks 18 and 20, a liquid level sensor 58 is provided. The liquid level sensor 58 includes a pair of electrodes 60A arranged in the stock tanks 18 and 20,
60B. In the treatment agent dissolving device 10,
Each of the pair of electrodes 60A and 60B detects whether or not the level of the processing liquid (developing liquid and fixing liquid) in the stock tanks 18 and 20 has dropped below a predetermined level. In addition, the generation of the fixing solution is promoted, and the shortage of the developing solution and the fixing solution supplied to the automatic developing device is prevented.

In the treatment agent dissolving apparatus 10, an upper plate 62 is provided at the upper end of the frame 12. As shown in FIG. 3, a rectangular hole 62A wider than the opening 38 is formed in the upper plate 62 at a position above the opening 38 of the melting tank 14. With such a configuration, the opening 38 of the dissolution tank 14 is opened in the treatment agent dissolution apparatus 10.

The upper plate 62 is provided with a lid 64 that can take a position for covering the rectangular hole 62A and a position for not covering the rectangular hole 62A. As shown in FIG. 4, one end of the lid 64 has a hinge 10.
The upper end 62 is rotatably connected to the upper plate 62, and the other end is fixed to the upper plate 62 so as to be appropriately detached by a screw (not shown). In addition, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
4 is a rectangular hole 6 of the upper plate 62 when the rectangular hole 62A is covered.
2A to cover the opening 38.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
Are provided with two loading ports 66 in which the bottles 28 are loaded. In the treatment agent dissolving device 10, the loading port 6
6, the bottle 28A is loaded with the bottle opening 28A facing downward, so that the processing agent in the bottle 28 is filled in the opening 3
8 can be put into the melting tank 14. In the present embodiment, two loading holes 66 are provided on the lid 64.
For example, in one of the loading ports 66, only the bottle 28 containing the developer can be loaded,
The other loading port 66 has a bottle 2 containing a fixing agent.
Only 8 can be loaded.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a support bar 106 is attached to the lid 64. One end in the longitudinal direction of the support bar 106 is pivotally supported by the lid 64 via a pin 108. As shown in FIG. 3, when the cover 64 covers the rectangular hole 62A, a receiving hole 110 for receiving the support bar 106 is formed. The support bar 106 moves together with the cover 64 by rotating the cover 64 in a direction to open the opening 38 of the melting tank 14, and is pulled out from the storage hole 110.

As shown in FIG. 4, a notch 112 is formed in the support bar 106 at the end opposite to the pin 108, and the inner portion of the notch 112 is
It is 4. The support bar 106 has an accommodation hole 110.
When the cover 64 is pulled out of the lock member 114, the not-shown hook portion formed on the peripheral edge portion of the housing hole 110 facing the notch 112 enters the lock portion 114 from the notch 112, and the weight of the lid body 64 increases. The downward movement is the upper plate 62
Is blocked. As a result, the lid 64 is held at a predetermined rotation position by the support bar 106.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a cover 68 is further provided on the upper surface of the treatment agent dissolving device 10 to further cover the upper part of the lid 64. An insertion port 70 is formed in the cover 68 at a position facing the loading port 66 provided in the lid 64. Each bottle 28 is loaded into the loading port 66 of the lid 64 by being inserted from the insertion port 70 of the cover 68 with the bottle port 28A facing downward.

As shown in FIG. 3, the lid 64 is provided with a punching mechanism 72 for each of the loading ports 66 (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 4). This piercing mechanism 72
Is provided with a piercing blade 74, and the sealing member closing the bottle opening 28A is broken by swinging the piercing blade 74 toward the bottle opening 28A by an actuator (not shown). When the sealing material breaks, the loading port 6
The treatment agent falls into the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 from the bottle opening 28A of the bottle 28 loaded in 6.

The piercing blade 74 has a shape such that the sealant is broken while leaving a part of the sealant. Before the sealant is broken, the sealant is used to dissolve the treating agent in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16.
To prevent it from falling inside. A conventionally known configuration can be used as the perforation mechanism 72 and the perforation blade 74, and a detailed description is omitted in the present embodiment.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the lid 64 is provided with a bottle washing nozzle 76 toward the inside of the bottle 28 loaded in the loading port 66. As shown in FIG. 1, a bottle cleaning pump 78 is provided in the frame 12. The bottle cleaning pump 78 has a suction side connected to the water supply tank 22 and a discharge side connected to the bottle cleaning nozzle 76.
The bottle cleaning nozzle 76 is configured to eject water toward the inside of the bottle 28 by the operation of the bottle cleaning pump 78.

A predetermined amount of the processing agent is sealed in the bottle 28, and the processing agent for one bottle is dissolved in the dissolving tank 14
By dissolving with a predetermined amount of water supplied to the inside, a processing solution having a predetermined concentration is generated. For this purpose, after the treatment agent in the bottle 28 is dropped into the dissolution tanks 14 and 16, the bottle cleaning pump 78 is operated at a predetermined timing,
Water is spouted from the bottle washing nozzle 76 into the inside of the bottle 28 to wash the inside of the bottle 28. As a result, the processing agent remaining in the bottle 28 without dropping is removed from the dissolving tank 1
4 and 16, and when the sealing material of the bottle opening 28A is closed without blocking the hole 28A, the sealing material is pushed into the bottle 28 with water jetted from the bottle washing nozzle 76. The entire amount of the processing agent in the bottle 28 is surely dropped into the dissolving tanks 14 and 16.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4,
The lid 64 is provided with a stirring device 80 together with the liquid level sensor 82. The liquid level sensor 82 includes a plurality of electrodes 92
The upper ends of these electrodes 92 are attached to brackets (not shown), and the brackets are attached to the lid 64 so that the lid 64 covers the opening 38 of the melting tank 14. When, the tip of each electrode 92 is located at a predetermined position in the melting tank 14.

As shown in FIG. 4, for example, the electrode 92
It consists of two electrodes 92C, 92L, 92M and 92H. The electrode 92M operates the water supply pump 24 (or water supply pump 26) before the treatment agent is dropped into the dissolution tank 14, and the amount of water supplied to the dissolution tank 14 (or dissolution tank 16) is adjusted to a predetermined value. This is for detecting whether or not the level has been reached. The electrodes 92C and 92L have a length reaching the vicinity of the bottom surface of the melting tank 14. Electrode 92
H, when the water level (liquid level) in the dissolution tank 14 reaches a necessary and sufficient amount to dissolve the processing agent contained in one bottle 28 and obtain a processing solution of a predetermined concentration, The length of the tip is in contact with the liquid surface of the water.

In the processing agent dissolving apparatus 10, the detection sensor 82
Water is supplied to the dissolving tank 14 while confirming the detection state of, and the treating agent is dissolved in an appropriate amount of water. As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the bottom surface of the lid 64
A cylindrical electrode cover 96 that integrally surrounds the electrode 92 is attached. In the detection sensor 82, since the electrode 92 is surrounded by the electrode cover 96, even if the periphery of the electrode cover 96 is wavy due to water supply to the dissolving tank 14, agitation, or the like, the fluctuation of the liquid level is surrounded by the electrode cover 96. The influence on the liquid surface around the electrode is minimized.

The stirring means 80 is driven by a stirring motor 84.
It is attached to the upper surface of. The drive shaft 84A of the stirring motor 84 extends to the opposite side via the lid 64, and the upper end of a shaft 86 to which the stirring fin 88 is attached at the lower end is fixed.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
When the end of the drive shaft 84A is pivotally supported by the lid 64 and the lid 64 is at a position covering the opening 38 of the melting tank 14, the end extends into the melting tank 14 through the opening 38. The stirring fin 88 attached to the shaft 86 is located at a position near the bottom of the dissolving tank 14.

A disk-shaped suppression plate 98 is attached to the shaft 86 below the liquid level above the stirring fins 88. If the suppression plate 98 is not attached, when the stirring motor 84 is driven, the stirring fin 88 rotates, and the liquid level fluctuates or bubbles when stirring the inside of the dissolution tank 14. When the suppression plate 98 is attached, it is possible to suppress the water in the vicinity of the liquid surface from being sucked by the stirring fins 88, and to reduce the fluctuation or bubbling of the liquid surface.

The cover 64 is provided above the shaft 86.
Is provided in the vicinity of. The flange 90 is located above the liquid level when a predetermined amount of water for dissolving the processing agent is introduced into the dissolving tank 14, and when the shaft 86 rotates, water near the liquid level is 86 is prevented from rising.

By the way, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 6, the dissolving tank 14 has a side wall 120 on the filter unit loading portion 40 side protruding in a substantially mountain shape in plan view. A filter unit housing section 122 that constitutes the filter unit loading section 40 is formed at the distal end. The inner surface of the filter unit housing section 122 is a concave surface having a substantially semi-cylindrical shape, and is formed so that the axial direction is the vertical direction. An opening 42 is provided at the bottom of the filter unit accommodating portion 122, and the upper portion is a filter unit insertion portion 124 in which a circular insertion opening 40A is formed.

The filter unit 48 is inserted into the filter unit loading section 40 from the insertion port 40A. FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the filter unit 48 has a substantially cylindrical outer shape, and one end in the axial direction is the filter portion 126 and the other end is the cylindrical portion 1.
28, and the insertion port 40 is
A and inserted into the filter unit loading section 40.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 5A and 5B, the filter unit 48 has a bracket 138 attached to the upper end thereof via a packing 136 formed of an elastic member or the like. Filter unit 48
Is loaded in the filter unit loading section 40,
The bracket 50 is fixed to the upper plate 62 via the bracket 138 (not shown), and the protrusion 50 fits into the opening 42. At this time, the packing 13 attached to the protrusion 50
0 fixes the protrusion 50 to the opening 42,
Liquid leakage from the periphery of the protrusion 50 to the opening 42 is prevented.

In the filter unit 48, a plurality of ribs 132 are formed on the cylindrical body 128, and these ribs 132 are formed in the opening 3 of the filter unit insertion portion 124.
The filter unit 48 is in contact with the inner surface 124 </ b> A on the
Close to 2A.

As shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 (A), FIG. 5 (B) and FIG.
26 has a substantially semicircular cross-sectional shape, and the plane portion 52 formed by the substantially semicircular shape is directed toward the inside of the melting tank 14. The filter element 54 is attached to the flat portion 52. At this time, the filter element 54 is arranged so as to cover the filter unit housing part 122 which is a semi-cylindrical concave part because the filter part 126 of the filter unit 48 is formed in a semi-cylindrical shape.

As shown in FIGS. 7 (A) and 7 (B), the filter element 54 includes a wire 54 having a predetermined wire diameter.
The mesh is formed by plain weave. In the present embodiment, the wire rod 54A has a wire diameter of about 0.1 mm to about 0.3 mm.
mm stainless steel (for example, SUS316) is used.

Further, as the filter element 54,
1 inch (25.4 mm) on one side in the vertical or horizontal direction
Is 50 to 110 (# 50 mesh to # 11 mesh).
0 mesh). Filter element 54
When the processing liquid remains in the ball valve 46 among the particulate processing agents remaining undissolved in the processing liquid, the ball valve 4
Particles of a size that accumulates in 6 and cause clogging or the like are filtered off.

Also, the filter element 54 has
When the mesh size is equal to or less than 0 mesh, particles having a size that is not likely to be deposited when remaining in the ball valve 46 are allowed to pass, and the filter element 54 itself is easily clogged by making the mesh finer than necessary. Is suppressed.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described below.

The loading port 66 of the lid 64 provided opposite to the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 and the bottle 28 containing the developer and the fixing agent are loaded. At this time, the bottle 28
Inserts the bottle opening 28A closed by the sealing material from the insertion opening 70 formed in the cover 68.

When the bottle 28 is loaded into the loading port 66 and the process is started, the punching mechanism 72 is operated at a predetermined timing, and the sealing material closing the bottle opening 28A is broken by the punching blade 74. As a result, the developer and the fixing agent contained in the bottle 28 respectively fall into the dissolving tanks 14 and 16.

When the sealing material is determined by the perforating mechanism 72, the bottle cleaning pump 78 is operated at a predetermined timing, and water is spouted out of the bottle cleaning nozzle 76 into the bottle 28 to adhere to the inner surface of the bottle 28. The remaining developer and fixing agent are flowed down into the dissolving tanks 14 and 16. The water used to wash the bottle 28 is supplied to the dissolving tank 1
Nos. 4 and 16 are collected and used as water for dissolving the processing agents (developer and fixing agent).

On the other hand, when the developer and the fixing agent are supplied to the dissolving tanks 14 and 16, the water supply pumps 24 and 26 are operated, and the developer stored in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 in one bottle 28 is supplied. And an amount of water necessary for dissolving the fixing agent. As a result, the processing agent dissolving apparatus 10 dissolves a predetermined amount of the processing agent contained in one bottle 28 in a predetermined amount of water to generate a processing solution having a predetermined concentration.

When the developer and the fixing agent are dissolved in water in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 to generate the developing solution and the fixing solution, the ball valve 46 is opened. As a result, the developing solution and the fixing solution in the dissolving tanks 14 and 16 pass through the filter element 54 of the filter unit 48 and flow down to the stock tanks 18 and 20, and the stock tank 1
Stored at 8,20.

When discharging the processing liquid from the dissolving tank 14, the ball valve 46 is opened, and when discharging of the processing liquid is completed, the ball valve 46 is closed. At this time, the processing liquid adhering to the inner surface of the filter unit 48 and the inner surface of the pipe 44 accumulates in the ball valve 46. If the processing agent remaining in the processing liquid accumulated in the ball valve 46 remains in the form of particles without being completely dissolved, the processing agent accumulates in the ball valve 46 to cause clogging or prevent the ball valve from being completely closed. Operation failure such as occurs.

For this purpose, a filter unit 48 is provided in the dissolving tank 14, and the filter unit 48
The filter element 54 removes particles of the processing agent remaining without being dissolved.

For the filter unit 48, a fine filter element 54 having a mesh size of # 50 mesh or more is used. Even if particles of the processing agent passing through the filter element 54 remain in the ball valve 46, they are deposited on the ball valve 46. Filtering out particles of a size that may cause malfunctions such as clogging.

In the filter unit 48, since the filter element 54 has meshes of # 110 mesh or less, fine particles of the processing agent adhere to the filter 54 element 54, and the filter element 54 is clogged. Has been prevented.

That is, particles passing through meshes smaller than # 110 mesh are substantially dissolved in the processing liquid. Further, when the size of the filter element 54 becomes finer, the amount of the processing agent adhering to the surface of the filter element 54 increases, causing clogging. For this,
Frequent maintenance such as cleaning and replacement of the filter element 54 needs to be performed.
The frequency of the maintenance can be reduced by not making the eyes too fine.

On the other hand, the stirring fin 88 is
Is disposed at a substantially central portion of the dissolving tank 14.
When the stirring fin 88 is rotationally driven (for example, rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 6), water is circulated so as to convect along the shaft 86, and the rotation of the stirring fin 88 around the stirring fin is performed. Water flows along the direction. When the water flowing due to the stirring hits the surface of the filter element 54, pressure is applied to the surface of the filter element 54, and the durability of the filter element 54 decreases.

On the other hand, the filter element 54
Is formed by plain tatami weave, so that the pressure resistance is high. That is, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, in the plain tatami weave, for example, two horizontal lines (FIG.
7A and the wire rod 54 along the vertical direction of the drawing of FIG.
A) are arranged so as to be in contact with each other, whereby a fine mesh with a large wire diameter is obtained, and the pressure resistance is increased.
Therefore, even if the water pressure generated by the agitation works, a decrease in the durability of the filter element 54 is suppressed.

Further, the filter element 54 is
Since stainless steel is used for 4A, it does not corrode even when immersed in a processing solution such as a developing solution or a fixing solution used for processing a photosensitive material, and can be used for a long time.

As described above, in the processing agent dissolving apparatus 10 applied to the present embodiment, since the filter element 54 of # 50 mesh or more and # 110 mesh or less is provided in the dissolution tank 14, the ball valve 46 is provided. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of operation failures such as poor opening / closing due to clogging and clogging.

The present embodiment does not limit the configuration of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, stainless steel is used as the wire 54 of the filter element 54 in consideration of corrosion resistance and pressure resistance. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other metal materials may be used. It may be formed of a material.

Further, in the present embodiment, the filter element 54 is formed by a plain weave, but is not limited thereto, and may be formed by a plain weave, such as a twill weave, a twill tatami weave, a cedar twill weave, and a stranded wire weave. Any of conventionally known weaving methods such as satin weave, reverse tatami weaving, roll weaving, chain-like vertical triple weaving, and sudare weaving can be used.

Further, the present embodiment does not limit the configuration of the dissolving tank to which the present invention is applied and the configuration of the treating agent dissolving apparatus using the dissolving tank. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a dissolving tank and an apparatus for dissolving a processing agent having an arbitrary configuration that generate a processing solution by dissolving a processing agent such as a developer or a fixing agent in a liquid such as water.

[0073]

As described above, in the present invention, although the finish of the photographic material is not affected, particles of the processing agent having a size causing clogging of the valve are discharged from the dissolving tank. Therefore, there is an excellent effect that no malfunction occurs in the valve opened when the processing liquid is discharged from the dissolving tank.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a processing agent dissolving apparatus to which the present embodiment is applied.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a dissolving tank applied to the present embodiment and a filter unit mounted on the dissolving tank.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an upper portion of a melting tank showing a drilling mechanism provided on a lid body.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the dissolving tank viewed from a direction different from FIG. 3 of the dissolving tank.

FIG. 5A is a schematic front view of a filter unit viewed from a filter element side which is an inner side of a melting tank;
FIG. 5B is a schematic sectional view of the filter unit taken along line 5B-5B in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the dissolving tank cut along a horizontal direction and viewed from above.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic diagrams showing a mesh of a filter element applied to the present embodiment; FIG.
Is an enlarged view of the main part of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Processing agent dissolution apparatus 14, 16 Dissolution tank 40 Filter unit loading part 46 Ball valve 48 Filter unit 54 Filter element 54A Wire 80 Stirrer 84 Stirrer motor 88 Stirring fin 126 Filter part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A processing agent dissolving device for discharging a photographic processing solution generated by dissolving a powdery or granular processing agent into a liquid in a dissolving tank through a filter to the outside of the dissolving tank. A treatment agent dissolving apparatus characterized by using a mesh of # 50 mesh or more. 2. The processing agent dissolving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a filter having a size of # 110 mesh or less is used as the filter. 3. The processing agent dissolving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the filter is made of a metal wire. 4. The treatment agent dissolving apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the filter is made of stainless steel. 5. The processing agent dissolving apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the filter is a wire made of a plain weave or a plain tatami weave.