JP2003287867A - Drying equipment for photosensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve efficiency of maintenance work by preventing a belt for holding and transporting photographic paper cut by one picture unit from meandering. <P>SOLUTION: One rotation shaft 64A of a belt 60-wound tension roller 64 for exerting tension to the belt 60 is movably supported in the tension-providing direction; the other rotation shaft 64A is in a loosely engaged state. As a result, the one rotation shaft 64A is movable in the moving direction based on belt reaction force except the tension-providing direction. Restricting the adjustment of the degree of moving direction caused by the belt reaction by means of an adjustment plate 78 inclines the axis of the tension controller 64 with respect to a reference orthogonal to the belt transportation direction to correct the meandering. Therefore, the meandering is corrected by only adjusting the adjustment plate 78. Thus, adjustment is possible by a non-expert to improve maintenance work efficiency. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material drying device for drying a photosensitive material processed by a processing liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the problems to be solved by the invention
In the light-sensitive material processing apparatus, when a light-sensitive material such as a sheet of photographic printing paper (printing paper after latent image recording of a film image, color development, bleach-fixing, and water treatment) is dried, It is placed on a mesh belt, and the belt is driven to convey the photographic paper and blow dry air.

The belt is wound around a plurality of rollers, and at least one of the rollers is used as a drive source to rotate so that the belt can be repeatedly rotated.

Ideally, the belt moves so as to be orthogonal to the axes of the plurality of rollers, but it may meander due to slippage between the belt and the rollers. In order to prevent the meandering, the belt is usually tensioned, and the meandering is prevented by rotating around the belt with a predetermined tension.

However, even if the belt is tensioned, it is possible to completely eliminate the meandering due to the dimensional accuracy of the belt, the manufacturing accuracy of peripheral parts such as rollers, and the relative positional relationship of each part during assembly. I can't. For this reason, regular maintenance was required, but this maintenance work is complicated and requires skill, such as adjusting the overall relative positional relationship of the components that make up the drying unit. Therefore, there is a problem in that maintenance workability is poor because all parts need to be attached and detached.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention makes it possible to adjust the belt to eliminate the meandering when the belt meanders and to improve the maintenance workability by a simple operation. The purpose is to obtain.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention according to claim 1 is a photosensitive material drying device for drying a photosensitive material processed by a processing liquid, which is provided when the processed photosensitive material is received. An endless belt that supports and conveys the photosensitive material, and a plurality of rollers around which the belt is wound, and a belt conveyer that conveys the belt by the rotational driving force of the at least one roller, and the axis of the roller. Inclining means for inclining the axis with respect to the reference with reference to a state orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the belt.

Normally, a roller, which has a theoretical positional relationship in which the axis is orthogonal to the belt conveying direction, is inclined with respect to the theoretical position. When the belt is wound around the tilted roller, the belt tries to move in the tilted direction. Therefore, the meandering can be canceled by tilting the belt in a direction opposite to the direction in which the meandering occurs.

In this case, since at least one roller has a structure in which the axis of the roller can be tilted in advance, even an unskilled person can easily perform the meandering correction work by a simple work, so that the maintenance workability is improved. To do.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the plurality of rollers are provided with tension rollers for applying tension to the belt by moving in a direction perpendicular to the axis by an urging force, It is characterized in that the tilting means is intended for this tension roller.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the tension roller is used as the roller for inclining the axis by the inclining means. By using the tension roller as a target, the adjustment is performed in a place where the frictional force with the belt is generated most, and the resolution of the correction amount of the meandering with respect to the inclination angle can be finely obtained, and the meandering adjustment can be performed with high accuracy.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to the second aspect, one rotation shaft of the tension roller is supported so as to be movable only in the tension applying direction, and the tension roller is provided. The other rotation shaft is loosely fitted to adjust the position of the member that restricts the movement in the reaction force direction from the belt when tension is applied to the belt, thereby inclining the axis with respect to the reference. It is characterized by that.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the tension roller receives a reaction force from the belt when tension is applied to the belt. The direction of this reaction force is the belt conveyance direction. Here, one rotation shaft of the tension roller (the other rotation shaft in the above case) is loosely fitted, so that one rotation shaft of the tension roller tries to move according to the direction of the reaction force. By adjusting the position of the member that limits this movement,
The tension roller can be tilted by a required amount.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 schematically shows a photosensitive material processing apparatus 10 according to this embodiment.

In this photosensitive material processing apparatus 10, a processing liquid processing section 14 for processing a printing paper (illustrated as a transport path P) carried in from the side wall 12 on the left side of FIG. 1 with a processing liquid.
And a drying unit 16 (see FIG. 2 for details) that dries the printing paper processed by the processing liquid processing unit 14. The printing paper that has been dried by the drying unit 16 is provided on the upper surface of the apparatus. It is designed to be sorted by a sorter (not shown).

The photographic paper processed in this embodiment is a sheet of photographic paper cut into a predetermined size at the stage of recording a film image.

The processing liquid processing section 14 is provided with a processing liquid tank 18 and is divided into six processing tanks by a partition wall 20.

The leftmost processing tank in FIG. 1 is a color developing tank 22.
The processing rack 2 stores the color-developing solution and the developing solution, and guides and conveys the photographic paper through a predetermined conveyance path (substantially U-shaped).
4 are provided.

The processing tank adjacent to the color developing tank 22 is a bleach-fixing tank 26, which stores the bleaching / fixing solution and
A processing rack 24 that guides and conveys the photographic paper along a predetermined conveyance path (substantially U-shaped) is provided.

The processing tanks adjacent to the bleach-fixing tank 26 are four washing tanks 28, 30, 32, and 34, each of which stores the washing water and conveys the photographic paper in a predetermined transport path (approximately U).
A processing rack 24 that guides and conveys in a letter shape is provided.

The four washing tanks 28, 30, 32, 34
In the above, since the photographic printing paper is successively dipped, the washing (washing) effect is gradually increased, and the washing bath 34 at the final stage can always be washed with relatively clean washing water.

The color developing tank 22 and the bleach-fixing tank 26 have a deep processing tank structure.
30, 32 and 34 have a shallow processing tank structure.

Further, a crossover rack 36 is arranged above each processing tank, and has a role of transferring the printing paper to the next tank.

On the upper end of the crossover rack 36, there is mounted a gear 42 which receives the driving force of a chain 40 which rotates by the driving force of a motor 38.
The rotation of 2 applies a driving force to the roller 44 that is a component of the crossover rack 36 and the roller 46 that is a component of the processing rack 24.

The printing paper discharged from the final-stage washing tank 34 is designed so that the conveying direction is upward, and is sent to the drying section 16 standing upright at the right end of the apparatus.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the drying section 16
Includes a housing 50 having a substantially triangular shape when viewed from the front in FIG.
An opening 52 is formed over almost the entire surface of the housing 50 corresponding to the slope.

Rollers 54 and 56 are attached to the upper and lower ends of the opening 52, and are pivotally supported on the side surface of the housing 50. Further, the roller 54 at the upper end has a stepped gear 58 attached to one of the rotating shafts, and a gear 58 on the large diameter side is provided.
The driving force is received from A and the roller 54 is rotated. The gear 58B on the small diameter side is for transmitting a driving force to a transport roller for feeding the printing paper to a sorter (not shown).

A mesh belt 60 is wound around the rollers 54 and 56. The belt 60 has an endless structure, and a winding roller 62 is disposed on the back side of the roller 56 at the lower end, and the belt 60 is wound in a winding direction opposite to the winding direction of the rollers 54 and 56 at the upper and lower ends. The tension roller 64 is wound around the winding roller 62, and a tension roller 64 is disposed on the back side of the winding roller 62.
The belt 60 is wound in the winding direction (the same direction as 6). That is, the belt 60 is made up of the roller 56 at the lower end, the winding roller 62, and the tension roller 64.
Can take a substantially S-shaped transport path. In this state, when the roller 54 is rotated by the driving force, the belt 60 repeats a predetermined circulation, and the opening 52 moves from the bottom to the top of FIGS. 2 and 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drying section 16 is provided with a chamber 68 of the warm air blowing unit 66 facing the opening 52 of the casing 50. Chamber 6
The outlet 8 is provided at 8 in a region substantially the same as the region of the opening 52.

A duct 7 is provided at the inlet of the chamber 68.
One end of 0 is attached. The other end of the duct
It is attached to the discharge port of the fan 72. In addition, a heater 74 is provided in the middle of the duct 70, whereby hot air heated to a predetermined temperature is supplied to the chamber 68.

When the warm air is introduced from the inlet, the warm air is blown to the mesh belt 60 exposed from the opening 52 with a substantially uniform pressure distribution.

The belt 60 is coated with silicon on the surface thereof, has a high frictional force, and closely holds the moist photographic paper sent from the final-stage washing tank 34 (see FIG. 1), and has an opening. 52 is conveyed from the bottom to the top.

That is, the wetness of the printing paper, the surface frictional force of the belt 60, and the blowing pressure of warm air interact with each other, so that the sheet-shaped printing paper is conveyed while being securely held by the belt 60. In addition, the structure is such that the drying is completed by the time it reaches the top.

As shown in FIG. 4, the tension roller 6
One end of a tension coil spring 76 is engaged with each of the four rotating shafts 64A. Also, this tension coil spring 7
The other end of 6 is engaged with the back wall surface of the housing 50. As a result, the tension roller 64 is urged by the urging force of the tension coil spring 76 in the direction substantially orthogonal to the conveying direction of the belt 60 (direction of arrow A in FIG. 4), so that the tension is applied to the belt 60. You can By applying this tension, the belt 60 is always driven in a tensioned state.

As shown in FIG. 5, the tension roller 6
4 is guided by the guide portion 50A so that one rotating shaft 64A moves only in the direction of the biasing force of the tension coil spring 76.

The other end of the rotary shaft 64A of the tension roller 64 projects from a rectangular hole 50B provided in the side wall of the housing 50. The relationship between the rotary shaft 64A and the rectangular hole 50B is a loose fit state, and therefore the rotary shaft 64A of the tension roller 64 is movable in any direction.

Here, the tension roller 64 moves in the direction of the urging force of the tension coil spring 76 as described above, but the reaction force from the belt 60 tensioned separately causes the tension roller 64 to move. A force that moves in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the urging force (upward direction indicated by arrow B in FIG. 4) acts. At this time, one rotating shaft 64A (guide portion 5
Since the movement in this direction is restricted on the side supported by 0A, the axis of the tension roller 64 is inclined with respect to the conveyance direction of the belt 60.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, on the side wall of the housing 50 in which the rectangular hole 50B is formed, an adjusting plate 78 bent in a crank shape in the thickness direction is provided. The adjusting plate 78 has an elongated hole 78B formed in an adjusting portion 78A, which is an upper side in which a step is formed in the thickness direction, and is screwed to a side wall of the housing 50 via a screw 80. Further, the lower stopper portion 78C is in contact with the tip of the rotary shaft 64A of the tension roller 64. In this abutting state, the movement of the rotating shaft 64A due to the reaction force of the belt 60 is restricted. The axis of the long hole 78B is in the same direction as the moving direction of the belt 60 due to the reaction force, and by loosening the screw 80, the position of the adjusting plate 78 can be changed along the moving direction of the belt 60 due to the reaction force. Has become.
This position change is tilt adjustment of the axis of the tension roller 64.

The adjustment of the inclination of the axis of the tension roller 64 is executed when the belt 60 is meandering during conveyance. That is, in the state of FIG. 7A, the tension roller 64 is in the reference position state, and its axis is orthogonal to the belt conveyance direction. The initial assembling is performed in this state, but when the belt 60 is actually conveyed, as shown in FIG.
7B, the rotation shaft 64A at the right end of the tension roller 64 (on the side where the adjusting plate 78 is provided) is lowered as shown in FIG. 7B. That is, screw 80
The adjustment plate 78 is lowered and fixed so that the position is toward the upper end of the long hole 78B. As a result, the belt 60 moves to the right along the axis of the tension roller 64 as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 7B to cancel the meandering.

When meandering occurs in the right direction of FIG. 7 (A), the tension roller 6 is moved as shown in FIG. 7 (C).
Rotating shaft 64A at the right end of 4 (side where the adjusting plate 78 is provided)
Raise. That is, the adjusting plate 78 is lifted and fixed so that the screw 80 is directed toward the lower end of the elongated hole 78B. As a result, the belt 60 moves to the left along the axis of the tension roller 64 as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 7C to cancel the meandering.

The inclination of the tension roller 64 imparts tension to the belt 60 by the tension roller 64, so that it can contribute to the conveyance of the belt 60 more than the other rollers 54 and 56 or the winding roller 62. is there. That is, the resolution of the meandering correction based on the adjustment amount of the adjusting plate 78 is high, and fine adjustment is possible.

A scale plate 82 is attached to the side wall of the housing 50 so as to be adjacent to the adjusting plate 78. Also,
A pointer 78D is provided above the elongated hole 78B of the adjustment plate 78, and the adjustment is further facilitated by reading the scale of the scale plate 82 indicated by the pointer 78D.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

When the latent image is recorded (exposed) on the photographic printing paper cut in units of one image, it is immersed in the color developing tank 22 of the processing liquid processing section 14, and is transferred in a substantially U-shaped transport path in the tank. Color development processing is performed by passing through. When the printing paper is discharged from the liquid surface of the color developing tank 22, it is guided by the crossover rack 36 and sent to the bleach-fixing tank 26.

In the bleach-fixing tank 26, the photographic printing paper is dipped in a bleaching / fixing solution and passed through a substantially U-shaped transport path in the tank to be bleach-fixed. When the printing paper is discharged from the liquid surface of the bleach-fixing tank 26, it is guided by the crossover rack 36 and sent to the first-stage washing tank 28.

Washing tanks 28, 30, 32 provided in four rows
In 34, the photographic paper is used in the respective washing tanks 28, 30, 3
At 2, 34, they are transported in a substantially U-shape, and are successively delivered by the crossover rack 36 to be washed with water. As described above, by performing the washing process stepwise, the treatment liquid is almost washed away from the photographic printing paper before reaching the final washing bath 34. Therefore, the washing water in the final washing bath 34 is
It can be kept clean for a long time.

The photographic printing paper, which has been washed with water in the final washing tank 34, is discharged upward from the liquid surface and dried in the drying section 16
Sent to.

In the drying section 16, the printing paper sent from the processing liquid processing section 14 is supported by the mesh belt 60. Since the surface of the mesh-shaped belt 60 is coated with silicon, the frictional force at the time of contact with the printing paper is high, and the printing paper sent to the drying unit 16 is wet. Therefore, the sheet-shaped printing paper is securely held in close contact with the belt 60.

The photographic paper held in close contact with the belt 60 is conveyed from the bottom of the opening 52 to the top. At this time,
It is gradually dried by the warm air blown out from the outlet 68A of the chamber 68 in the warm air blowout unit 66 arranged opposite to the opening 52, and is completely dried by the time reaching the upper end of the opening 52.

The photographic paper after drying is discharged to the sorter at the upper part of the apparatus, and is sorted, for example, in the unit of one film or in the unit of order.

Here, the belt 60 in the drying section 16
Is wound around the rollers 54 and 56, the winding roller 62, and the tension roller 64, and is driven to rotate,
May meander. This meandering interferes with the conveyance of the belt 60, and the photographic printing paper held may fall off or, at worst, the belt 60 may be damaged.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the belt 60 has meandering, a mechanism for correcting the meandering with a simple operation is provided. That is, of the rollers 54 and 56 around which the belt 60 is wound, the winding roller 62, and the tension roller 64, the axis of the tension roller 64 that applies tension to the belt 60 has the greatest influence on the conveyance direction of the belt 60. .

One rotation shaft 64A of the tension roller 64 is set in a loosely fitted state, and not only the direction in which tension is applied by the tension coil spring 76, but also the direction in which the reaction force acts from the belt 60 due to the tension applied to the belt 60. Also made movable. This reaction force acting direction is an inclining direction when the tension roller 64 is based on a direction orthogonal to the belt conveying direction.

An adjusting plate 78 is attached to the reaction force acting direction, and by adjusting the position of the adjusting plate 78, the movement in the reaction force acting direction is restricted and the inclination of the axis line of the tension roller 64 can be adjusted. it can.

To adjust the position of the adjusting plate 78, the screw 80 housed in the elongated hole 78B and screwed into the housing 50 is loosened and the adjusting plate 78 itself is slid.
Stopper portion 78C that substantially abuts the rotating shaft 64A
The position of is changed and the rotating shaft 64A can be held at a desired position.

The procedure for adjusting the inclination of the axis of the tension roller 64 will be described below.

In the state shown in FIG. 7A, the tension roller 64 is
Is the reference position state, and its axis is orthogonal to the belt conveyance direction. Although the initial assembling is performed in this state, the belt 60 is actually conveyed to recognize the meandering direction.

When meandering occurs to the left in FIG. 7A, the adjusting plate 78 is lowered to lower the rotary shaft 64A at the right end of the tension roller 64. That is, the adjusting plate 78 is lowered and fixed so that the screw 80 is located in the upper end direction of the elongated hole 78B. As a result, the belt 60 moves to the right along the axis of the tension roller 64 as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 7B to cancel the meandering.

When meandering occurs in the right direction in FIG. 7A, the adjusting plate 78 is raised to raise the tension roller 6
The rotary shaft 64A at the right end of 4 is raised. That is, screw 80
The adjustment plate 78 is lifted and fixed so that the position is toward the lower end of the long hole 78B. As a result, the belt 60 moves to the left along the axis of the tension roller 64 as indicated by the solid line in FIG. 7C to cancel the meandering.

Here, if the correlation between the amount of movement of the adjusting plate 78 and the amount of meandering can be obtained by learning, the pointer 78D provided on the adjusting plate 78 is adjusted to a predetermined position on the scale of the adjacent scale plate 82. Adjustment can be made even easier with such a simple operation.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the belt 60 is wound, and the one rotation shaft 6 of the tension roller 64 for applying tension to the belt 60.
4A is movably supported in the tension applying direction, and the other rotating shaft 64A is in a loosely fitted state, so that it can be moved in a moving direction due to a belt reaction force other than the tension applying direction. Adjustment plate 7 is used to adjust the amount of movement in the direction of the belt reaction force.
By restricting the tension roller 64 by 8, the axis of the tension roller 64 is inclined with respect to the reference orthogonal to the belt conveyance direction,
Correct the meander. Since the meandering can be corrected only by adjusting the adjusting plate 78, even an unskilled person can make the adjustment.
The maintenance work efficiency can be improved.

In this embodiment, the inclination of the axis is targeted for the tension roller 64.
6, another roller such as the winding roller 62 may be used.
Alternatively, a combination of a plurality of rollers may be used.

[0063]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the belt is meandered, it is possible to make an adjustment for eliminating the meandering with a simple work and improve the maintenance workability. Have an effect.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a processing liquid processing unit of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a drying unit of the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a housing arranged in a drying unit.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the tension roller and its periphery as seen from the axial direction.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the tension roller and its periphery as viewed from the opening side of the housing.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view near an adjustment plate.

FIG. 7 shows the adjustment of the axis of the tension roller, (A)
Shows a reference position, (B) shows an adjustment state when correcting the belt to the right, and (C) shows an adjustment state when adjusting the belt to the left.

[Explanation of symbols]

P photographic paper transport path (photosensitive material transport path) 10 Photosensitive material processing device 16 Drying unit (dryer) 44 Roller 46 Laura 50 housing 50A guide section 50B rectangular hole 52 opening 54 Laura 56 Laura 60 belt 62 Rolling roller 64 tension roller 64A rotating shaft 78 Adjustment plate (tilting means) 78A adjustment unit 78B The long hole 78C stopper 78D pointer 80 screws 82 Scale plate

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A photosensitive material drying device for drying a photosensitive material processed by a processing liquid, which comprises an endless belt for supporting and conveying the photosensitive material when the processed photosensitive material is received. A belt conveying means for circulating the belt by the rotational driving force of the at least one roller, and a state in which the axis of the roller is orthogonal to the conveying direction of the belt. A light-sensitive material drying apparatus having, as a reference, an inclining means for inclining the axis with respect to the reference. 2. The plurality of rollers are provided with a tension roller that applies tension to the belt by movement in a direction perpendicular to the axis by an urging force, and the inclining means targets the tension roller. Item 1
The light-sensitive material drying apparatus described. 3. One of the tension rollers has a rotation shaft supported so as to be movable only in the tension applying direction, and the other rotation shaft of the tension roller is loosely fitted to apply tension to the belt. The photosensitive material drying apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the axis is inclined with respect to the reference by adjusting the position of a member that restricts the movement of the belt in the reaction force direction.