JP2607719B2 - Photosensitive material developing device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a photosensitive material developing apparatus for developing a photosensitive material such as a film.

[Conventional technology]

A developing device for developing a photosensitive material such as a film or a photographic paper has a processing unit such as a developing tank, a bleaching tank, and a fixing tank arranged at one end in series and linearly. The photosensitive material is inserted from the other side and taken out from the other side. For this reason, the portion for inserting the photosensitive material into the developing device and the take-out portion after the development is completed are arranged on the opposite side of the developing device. Is low.

On the other hand, conventionally, a drying unit is arranged above a developing tank, a bleaching tank, etc., and after developing and bleaching, the photosensitive material taken out of the washing tank is returned to the upper part of the developing tank while being dried while the photosensitive material is inserted. There is also used a device in which the and the take-out unit are brought close to each other. However, in this case, since the photosensitive material take-out part for accumulating the photosensitive material after drying is disposed at the upper part of the developing device, the photosensitive material in a long state in which images of many exposures are continuously recorded is used. When used, the photosensitive material in the take-out section will prevent the insertion of new photosensitive material into the developing tank,
Work efficiency has been reduced, such as waiting for the insertion of a new photosensitive material until removal is completed. Further, since the drying unit and the collecting unit are arranged above the developing tank, it is necessary to remove the drying unit and the collecting unit from the upper part of the developing device when the developing tank is repaired, which complicates the operation.

Conventionally, each processing tank is placed vertically one above the other, and a developing device that sequentially lifts the photosensitive material from a lower processing tank to an upper processing tank, and a vertically disposed sheet-like photosensitive material operating section. A developing device having a processing tank arranged in an arc shape has also been proposed, but it has disadvantages such as the incorporation of processing liquid between the processing tanks and the inability to continuously transport the photosensitive material.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to provide a developing device for automatically transporting a photosensitive material, wherein a photosensitive material developing device in which an insertion portion and a removal portion of the photosensitive material can be arranged close to each other. It is.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, there is provided a developing method for a photosensitive material in which a leader attached to the tip of a photosensitive material guides the photosensitive material and is immersed in a processing tank, and the photosensitive material is not arranged in parallel at an outlet of a pretreatment unit and an inlet of a next processing unit. A guide plate disposed outside the bent conveyance path between the outlet and the entrance and formed with an inner circumferential circle for guiding the leader; and a photosensitive material guide disposed inside the bent conveyance path. And a plurality of wrapping rollers.

In the present invention, since the photosensitive material from the exit of the pre-processing section to the entrance of the next processing section is not arranged in parallel at the exit and the entrance, the leader and the photosensitive material are processed in a planar view at the crossover section. The transport direction is bent with respect to the transport direction in the tank. The leader moves along the inner circumferential surface of the arc of the guide plate to guide the photosensitive material, and when the leader passes, the photosensitive material moves while being guided by a plurality of winding rollers. Therefore, even if the transport path of the reader and the photosensitive material is bent, the transport is reliably performed at the crossover portion.

(Example of the invention)

1 and 2 show a developing device 10 to which the present invention is applied.

In the developing device 10, a developing tank 14, a bleaching tank 16, a fixing tank 18, and washing tanks 22 and 24, which are processing units, are radially arranged around the drive unit 12 at regular intervals with respect to the drive unit 12. Each of these processing tanks is formed in a box shape with an open upper end, and has a trapezoidal planar shape which is adjacent to each other as shown in FIG. Has become.

In this embodiment, the direction of inserting the photosensitive material into the developing tank 14 (the direction of arrow A) and the direction of taking out the photosensitive material from the washing tank 24 (the direction of arrow B) are parallel and opposite to each other.
If the operator is positioned leftward facing the drive unit 12 in FIG. 2, the operator can face both the developing tank 14 as an insertion section of the photosensitive material F and the washing tank 24 as an extraction section.

The number of these processing tanks can be arbitrarily changed, and the inserting direction and the removing direction of the photosensitive material F are not necessarily required to be arranged in parallel, as long as they are arranged close to the front of the worker. Good. Further, as a pre-processing device for the developing tank 14 and a post-processing device for the washing tank 24, a printing device for photosensitive material,
A loading device, a drying device and the like can be arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, the photosensitive material F is attached to a reader L with an adhesive tape 27, and the leader L leads the photosensitive material F. Openings P are formed at regular intervals in the center of the reader L in the width direction, and two photosensitive materials F are connected to the reader L in this embodiment.

A transport rack 26 as a transport device is disposed inside each processing unit. As shown in FIG. 3, these transport racks 26 are erected in parallel with a pair of side plates 28 and 32 connected to each other by a bottom plate 34. The upper rotating shaft 36 is attached to these side plates 28 and 32.
And a lower rotating shaft 38, and a transport belt 44 is wound around a sprocket wheel 42 arranged at the center.

The transport belt 44 is endless, and projections 44A projecting from the inner peripheral surface at regular intervals mesh with the sprocket wheel 42, receive rotational driving force from the sprocket wheel 42, and project from the outer peripheral surface at regular intervals. Engages with an opening P of a reader L provided at the front end of the photosensitive material F to apply a driving force for transporting the photosensitive material to the reader L.

At the lower end of the transport rack 26, the reader L and the photosensitive material F
Are inverted, thereby drawing a U-shaped movement trajectory. A reversing roller 47A is pivotally supported at the reversing portion of the U-shaped locus,
Along with the guide plate 47B, the reader L is separated from the transport belt 44, is wound around the reversing roller 47A, is inverted, and then engages with the projection 44B of the transport belt 44 and rises again.

Guide plates 46 are attached to the side plates 28 and 32, and various components for smoothly guiding the photosensitive material in the processing section are attached to these guide plates. Both ends of the upper rotating shaft 36 are inserted into cutouts 48 formed in the respective processing tanks for positioning, and one end of the upper rotating shaft 36 protrudes from each processing unit toward the driving unit 12 and has a leading end. A bevel gear 52 is fixed. As shown in FIG. 2, these upper rotating shafts 36 are arranged so as to extend in the radial direction from the drive unit 12.

In the drive unit 12, a motor 54 is disposed at a lower portion, and an output shaft 56 has a vertical axis, and a large-diameter bevel gear 58 is fixed thereto. The large-diameter bevel gear 58 is formed such that the pitch conical angle is larger than the pitch conical angle of the bevel gear 52, and the bevel gears 52 whose axes are horizontal are each a large-diameter bevel gear.
Meshing with part of 58. Therefore, the driving force of the motor 54 is changed to a substantially right angle through the large-diameter bevel gear 58 and the bevel gear 52 constituting the transmission means and transmitted to the upper rotation shaft 36 of each processing unit at the same rotation speed. Has become.

As shown in FIG. 1, a crossover section 62 for transferring the bevel gear 52 between the processing sections and closing the open upper end of each processing section is disposed above each processing section.
As shown in FIG. 4, the crossover portion 62 is accommodated in a cover body 64. This cover body 64 is a drive unit
Leg plates 66 and 67 hang down from the 12-side end and the opposite end, and the lower ends of these leg plates 66 and 67 are placed on the upper end of the adjacent processing unit, and the crossover unit 62 is adjacent. The processing units are arranged between the processing units.

Notches 66A, 67A are formed near both sides of the leg plates 66, 67, and flexible portions 66B, 67B are provided between these notches and both sides. The protrusion 66 formed inside the flexible pieces 66B and 67B
C, 67C are circular holes 28 formed in the side plates 28, 32 of the transport rack 26.
The cover body 64 is positioned and fixed on the upper part of each processing tank by entering into the insides A and 32A.

On the lower surface of the cover body 64, four guide plates 68, a guide plate 69,
The guide plate 71 and the guide plate 72 are vertically fixed. These guide plates are bent around the drive unit 12 as viewed in plan. In addition, guide notches 68A, 69A, 71A and 72A are formed on the lower surfaces of these guide plates for feeding the leader L drawn from the previous processing tank to the next processing tank. Each of these notches has an arc shape, and has different radii of curvature.

That is, as shown in FIG. 5, the leader L and the photosensitive material F are moved from the liquid level C, which is the outlet of the previous processing tank, until they are inserted into the liquid level D, which is the inlet of the next processing tank. The lengths must be equal at both ends in the width direction for uniform development processing. However, the exit C and the entrance D are not parallel to each other but inclined about the drive unit 12 (narrow angle θ), and the movement trajectories of the reader L and the photosensitive material F are viewed in a plan view by the second arrows FD, It is bent like FC. Accordingly, in the crossover section 62, when the reader L or the photosensitive material F is conveyed with the same radius of curvature at the widthwise inner end G and the widthwise outer end H, the photosensitive material F passes through the exit C and the entrance D. And the developing time of the photosensitive material in the next processing tank is different between the width direction inner end G and the width direction outer end H.

For this reason, the radius of curvature RG of the width direction inner end G is smaller than the radius of curvature RH of the width direction outer end H, and the degree of bending is large, and the height J of the width direction inner end G is the width direction outer end. H
Notch of each guide plate 68-72 so that it is larger than height K of
68A to 72A have been determined. As a result, the widthwise inner end G and the widthwise outer end H of the reader L and the photosensitive material F move the same distance from the exit C to the entrance D.

As shown in FIG. 4, between the guide plate 69 and the guide plate 71, a meandering prevention plate 74 for preventing the photosensitive material F from meandering is fixed via a mounting plate 75. The mounting plate 75 is formed of a flexible material and enters the movement trajectory of the reader L. However, when the reader L moves, the mounting plate 75 bends to allow the reader L to pass therethrough. It enters between the materials F and prevents the photosensitive material F from meandering in the width direction.

In the crossover section 62, a guide roller group 82 is provided below the guide plate for guiding the photosensitive material. In these guide rollers 82, an inner guide roller 86 and an outer guide roller 88 are supported by a support shaft 84 arranged in a radial direction about the drive unit 12. The support shaft 84 is arranged higher in the side closer to the drive unit 12 and lower in the side farther from the drive unit 12 so as to form a circular hole 64 formed in the cover body 64.
A and 64B are inserted and supported. The inner guide roller 86 and the outer guide roller 88 have the support shaft 84 inclined from the horizontal plane (angle φ) such that the side closer to the drive unit 12 has a small diameter and a high position, and the far side has a large diameter and a low position. Also these rollers 8
Numerals 6 and 88 denote drum-shaped rollers whose axial middle part is concave as shown in FIG.

At both axial ends of the inner guide roller 86 and the outer guide roller 88, flange portions 86A, 86B and flange portions 88A, 88B are provided.
Are provided to prevent the photosensitive material F wound around these flange portions 86A and 88B from meandering in the width direction. The inner guide roller 86 has a small diameter and a high position, and the outer guide roller 88 has a large diameter and a low position, as shown in FIG. This corresponds to a small radius of curvature at a high position at a high position and a large radius of curvature at an outer end H in the width direction and a low position. Therefore, the same moving distance can be secured between the exit C and the entrance D not only in the reader L but also in the photosensitive material F.

Auxiliary support shafts 92 and 94 are provided before and after the support shaft 84, and an inner guide roller 96 and an outer guide roller 98 are respectively supported by the support shafts.
Although these auxiliary support shafts 92 and 94 have substantially horizontal axes, they are arranged in the radial direction from the drive unit 12 like the inner guide roller 84, and move the photosensitive material F along the movement locus of FIG. You will be guided. Also these inner guide rollers 9
8. The outer guide roller 98 also has a small-diameter drum-shaped roller at the axially intermediate portion so that the central portion in the width direction of the photosensitive material F, that is, the image surface does not contact the roller.

 Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

After each processing tank is filled with a predetermined amount of a processing liquid such as a developer, a bleaching liquid, or a fixing liquid, a crossover section 62 is mounted and maintained in a light-shielded state.

As shown in FIG. 2, the photosensitive material F is attached to the leader L with an adhesive tape 27, and the leader L is inserted into the developing device 10 and led to sequentially develop the pair of photosensitive materials F. That is, the opening P of the reader L inserted into the developing tank 14 is engaged with the projection 44B of the conveyor belt 4. Since the transport belt 44 is rotated by receiving the driving force of the motor 54, the leader L is drawn into the developing tank 14 along the transport belt 44 and is inverted at the lower end to be raised. After ascending, it is fed between each guide plate and the guide roller group 82.

Since the leader L has a higher rigidity than the photosensitive material F, it is guided along the inner peripheral surface of each guide plate in an attempt to maintain a linear state. In this case, since the radius of curvature of the notch 68A of the guide plate 68 is the smallest and the radius of curvature of the notch 72A is the largest, the leader L moves as shown in FIG. A locus is drawn, and as a result, the widthwise inner end G and the widthwise outer end H have the same moving distance between the exit C and the entrance D.

When the leader L is inserted into the bleaching tank 16 and receives a tensile force on the conveyor belt 44 in the bleaching tank 16, the photosensitive material F connected to the reader L also receives a tensile force. Since the photosensitive material F has a lower rigidity than the leader L, the photosensitive material F is guided while being wound around the guide roller group 82.

Also in this guide roller group 82, the inner guide roller 86 is arranged at a higher position than the outer guide roller 88, and the inner guide roller 96 and the outer guide roller 98 are arranged in the radial direction of the drive unit 12, so The material F also draws the movement trajectory shown in FIG. 5 similarly to the leader L, and moves by the same movement distance between the exit C and the entrance D.

As a result, even if the transport trajectory between the reader L and the photosensitive material F moves while bending in a substantially semicircular shape as shown in FIG. The photosensitive material F placed in each of the processing tanks is inserted in each processing tank at the same time, and the same developing processing is performed.

In this way, the reader L and the photosensitive material F pass through each processing tank, are sent out from the washing tank 24, and are sent to the next step such as a drying unit.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, three developing tanks 14A, 14B, 14C are used as developing tanks, and three washing tanks 24A, 24B, 24C are used as washing tanks.
C is provided to improve processing capacity. A driving force is transmitted between the developing tank and the washing tank by a chain 182. A bleach-fixing tank 18A is located between the bleaching tank 16 and the fixing tank 18B.
have. Further, a photosensitive material insertion processing section 184 is provided upstream of the developing tank 14A, and a post-processing section 186 such as drying is provided downstream of the washing tank 24C.

In addition, the temperature control devices 192, 194, 196, and 198 for these processing tanks may be arranged between the processing tanks arranged radially.

In the present invention, the configuration of the transport rack in each processing tank is not limited to the above embodiment, and various configurations can be applied.
The combination of the drive unit 12 and the large-diameter bevel gear 58 for transmitting the driving force of the motor 54 to the upper rotary shaft 36 in the drive unit 12 is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the meshing pitch circle is a cone or a plane. Combinations of bevel gears or spur gears, each meshing with a portion of a gear, can be used. As an example, a crown gear can be used as a large gear, and a spur gear can be used as a small gear.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, even if the transport path of the reader and the photosensitive material is bent in a plan view, they are surely guided along the bent transport path, and the photosensitive material is inserted into and removed from the insertion section. It has an excellent effect that the parts can be arranged close to each other.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a developing device to which the present invention is applied, with a crossover portion removed, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state with the crossover portion removed, and FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing a transport rack. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the crossover section, FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the movement trajectory of the leader and the photosensitive material in the crossover section, and FIG. 6 is a guide roller in the crossover section. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing a second embodiment. 10: developing device, 12: drive unit, 14: developing tank, 16: bleaching tank, 18: fixing tank, 22: washing tank, 24: washing tank, 26: transport rack, 62 ... … Crossover part, 68, 69, 71, 72… Guide plate, 68A, 69A, 71A, 72A… Notch, 82… Guide roller group, 86, 96… Inner guide roller, 88, 98… Outside Guide roller.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A photosensitive material which is immersed in a processing tank with a leader attached to the tip of the photosensitive material leading the photosensitive material, wherein the photosensitive material is not arranged in parallel at the exit of the pre-treatment section and the entrance of the next processing section. A developing plate, wherein a guide plate disposed outside the bent conveyance path between the outlet and the entrance and formed with an inner circumferential circle for guiding the reader; and a photosensitive material disposed inside the bent conveyance path. A photosensitive material developing apparatus comprising: a plurality of guide rollers;