JP2813841B2 - Photosensitive material processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus characterized by a replenishment system for a processing solution used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in the case of a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material, a color photographic material is exposed to light, developed with color,
It is processed by steps such as desilvering, washing and stabilization. Color developing solution for color developing process, bleaching solution, fixing solution, bleach-fixing solution for desilvering process, tap water, well water, chemically or physically treated water or ion exchanged water, distilled water for water washing, stable processing Are used respectively. On the other hand, the black-and-white photographic material is processed by black-and-white development, fixing and washing with water instead of color development. The temperature of each processing solution is usually adjusted to 20 to 50 ° C., and the color or black-and-white photographic material is immersed in these processing solutions for processing.

In order to commercialize such a photosensitive material, it is necessary to reduce the cost and manual labor, reduce the pollution load, make the processing apparatus compact, and further improve the commercial value of the photosensitive material. It is required to obtain stable and excellent processing performance with the processing liquid, and it is desired to reduce the amount of replenisher required together with the processing. Under such a demand, a method of increasing the concentration of the replenisher has been adopted to reduce the amount of the replenisher, but the solubility of the treating agent is limited and the concentration of the replenisher is limited.

Here, in order to further reduce the replenisher, it is effective to add a powdery processing agent directly to the mother liquor of the processing liquid to perform replenishment. For example, in the case of the second processing tank, the swelling of the photosensitive material in the first processing tank is large.
Since the amount of liquid brought into the processing tank increases and the pH of the processing liquid brought in is high, the salt concentration of the processing liquid in the second processing tank where the pH of the processing liquid is low increases. In addition, since the amount of the processing liquid taken out of the second processing tank is small, a substantial decrease in the liquid amount is small. For this reason, especially in the second processing tank, direct addition of the powdery processing agent is demanded.

However, when a powdery treating agent is directly added, every time several kinds of treating agents are added to the mother liquor, they must be weighed at a predetermined ratio. In addition, it is preferable to automatically mix and add a powdery treating agent at a predetermined ratio when adding the treating agent. However, since the treating agent itself has a strong water absorption, the treating agent is clogged at an outlet or the like and cannot be used. There was.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus which solves the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art, enables addition of a powdery processing agent, and requires a small amount of replenisher. It is in.

[0007]

This and other objects are achieved by the present invention described below. That is,

[0008]

(1) In a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing tank filled with a processing solution for immersing a photosensitive material and an auxiliary tank for the processing tank, the processing solution is obtained by dissolving a powdery processing agent in a solvent. There is provided an addition device for adding the powdery processing agent to the auxiliary tank, the addition device,
A tank having a discharge port for the powdery processing agent separately containing a different type of the powdery processing agent at a predetermined ratio, a transport unit for quantitatively transporting the powdery processing agent discharged from the tank, A photosensitive material processing apparatus, comprising: an openable and closable discharge unit for discharging the powdery processing agent conveyed by a conveyance unit, wherein the discharge port and the conveyance unit are provided in a closed dehumidified space.

(2) In a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing tank filled with a processing solution for immersion processing of a photosensitive material and an auxiliary tank of the processing tank, the processing solution is obtained by dissolving a powdery processing agent in a solvent. There is provided an addition device for adding the powdery processing agent to the auxiliary tank, the addition device,
A tank having different types of the powdery processing agents separately stored at a predetermined ratio and having an outlet for the powdery processing agent, a table for receiving the powdery processing agent discharged from the outlet of the tank, And a rotator provided between the discharge port and an openable and closable discharge portion opened on the table, and the rotator rotates the powdery processing agent received by the table by rotation to the discharge portion. A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising a transfer section for transferring a fixed amount, and a processing agent transfer system from a discharge port of the tank to a discharge section is provided in a closed dehumidified space.

[0011]

The photosensitive material is processed by being immersed in a processing solution in a processing tank. The processing liquid is prepared by dissolving a powdery processing agent in a solvent, and replenishment of the processing liquid is performed by directly adding the powdery processing agent to the processing liquid. The powdery processing agent is measured and added by an adding device.

When the powdery processing agent is added, it is added to an auxiliary tank provided in the processing tank. Since the ribbed tank is capable of communicating with the processing tank, the dissolved processing agent mixes with the processing liquid in the processing tank to compensate for the disappearance or fatigue of the processing liquid composition.

The tank for storing the powdery processing agent of the adding device is appropriately divided and stored for each component of the powdery processing agent, and when discharged from the outlet of the tank, each component is stored. Contact. The transport unit transports the powdery processing agent discharged from the tank by a fixed amount and transfers it to the discharge unit. Here, since the discharge port of the tank and the transfer section are in a sealed dehumidifying space, troubles such as clogging of the powdery processing agent at the discharge port are reduced.

The discharge port of the tank is closed by a rotating body. When the rotating body rotates and the transfer section of the rotary body comes to a position corresponding to the discharge port, the powdery processing agent is transferred from the tank to the transfer section. Is discharged. The discharged powdery processing agent accumulates on a table that supports the rotating body, and the transfer unit sends the powdery processing agent to the discharging unit by the rotation of the rotating body.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a bleaching tank of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view of the processing tank. The photosensitive material processing apparatus of this embodiment has a plurality of processing tanks for sequentially immersing the photosensitive material S, which is a color negative film. In the example of FIG. 2, a developing tank 20 and a bleaching tank 21 are shown. Each of the processing tanks is filled with a developing solution and a bleaching solution, respectively.
Are sequentially conveyed while being subjected to the rinsing process.

As shown in the figure, the developing tank 20 and the bleaching tank 21 are provided with an auxiliary tank 3 to which a powdery processing agent from an adding device 4 described later is added. It is in fluid communication with the tank 20 and the bleach tank 21.

An adding device 4 is arranged above the auxiliary tank 3. Hereinafter, the adding device 4 will be described in detail. FIG.
7 show the adding device 4, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main portion of the adding device 4, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main portion showing a transport portion 41 and a discharge portion 43, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing the transport unit 41 and the discharge unit 43, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a stored state of a powdery processing agent in 0.

The addition device 4 mainly includes a tank 40 for storing the powdery processing agent, a transport section 41 for transporting the powdery processing agent discharged from the tank 40 in a fixed amount, and a powdery processing transported by the transport section 41. And a discharge section 43 for discharging the agent to the rib cage tank 3.

The tank 40 is formed in the shape of a hopper, and has a fan-shaped outlet 404 at the bottom. The lower portion is tapered toward the outlet 404. Tank 4
The inside of 0 is divided in the vertical direction, and the three storage portions 401 and 40
2 and 403, and the powder storage agents A, B, and C having different compositions are separately stored in the storage sections 401, 402, and 403, respectively. The discharge port 404 of the tank 40 is located in the sealed case 42, and the bottom surface of the case 42 is a table 46 for receiving the powdery processing agent discharged from the discharge port 404. A substantially rectangular opening 461 is formed in the table 46, and a discharge duct 44 is connected below the opening 461. In the discharge duct 44, there is provided a discharge portion 43 for performing an opening and closing operation.

On the table 46, the tank 40
A disc-shaped rotating body 47 is disposed between the rotating body 47 and the discharge port 404. The rotating body 47 has substantially the same thickness as a gap formed between the table 46 and the outlet 404, and the outlet 404 is closed by the rotating body 47. The rotating shaft 470 of the rotating body 47 is inserted through the table 46, and a gear 50 is provided at the tip of the rotating shaft 470. A drive mechanism 5 for rotating the rotating body 47 is disposed below the table 46. The drive mechanism 5 of the device of the present embodiment includes a drive motor 51 and gears 50 and 52. A drive motor 51 is fixed to the lower side of the table 46, and a gear 52 attached to a drive shaft of the drive motor 51 meshes with the gear 50, and a mechanism that rotates the rotating body 47 by driving the drive motor 51. Has become.

On the other hand, the rotary body 47 is formed with a transfer section 471 punched in a fan shape. The shape and size of the transfer section 471 are substantially the same as those of the discharge port 404 of the tank 40. Usually, the discharge port 404 of the tank 40 is closed by the rotating body 47. However, when the rotating body 47 rotates and the transfer unit 471 is positioned below the discharge port 404, as shown in FIG. The powdery processing agents A, B, and C are discharged into the transfer unit 471 as shown in FIG. The discharge amount of the powdery processing agent is defined by the thickness of the rotating body 47 (the distance between the table and the discharge port). At this time, since the transfer section 471 is formed by punching, the amount of the discharged powdery processing agent can be accurately defined without spilling out, for example, by the outer edge section 472.

Further, when the rotating body 47 rotates, the powdery processing agents A, B, and C are transferred together with the rotating body 47 while being accommodated in the transfer section 471. When the transfer unit 471 reaches the opening at the upper end of the discharge duct 44, the powdery processing agents A, B, and C in the transfer unit 471 fall to the discharge unit 43. As described above, the conveying section 41 of the powdery processing agent is constituted by the table 46 and the rotating body 47.

Next, the discharge section 43 will be described. The discharge part 43 is inside the discharge duct 44. An inclined surface 431 is provided in the discharge duct 44, and an opening / closing body 48 is supported on the opposed surface side of the discharge duct 44 so as to be vertically swingable facing the inclined surface 431. The opening / closing body 48 is plate-shaped, and contacts the tip side of the inclined surface 431 in the closed state. An urging mechanism 491 composed of a rod and a spring provided around the rod is provided on the lower surface of the opening / closing body 48. The biasing mechanism 491 moves the opening / closing body 48 to the inclined surface 431.
, So that the inside of the case 42 becomes a sealed space. A rod 492 is further connected to the lower surface of the opening / closing body 48, and a rack is provided on the rod 492, which penetrates the hole 441 and reaches the outside of the discharge duct 44. A pinion 493 that meshes with the rack of the rod 492 and a motor 494 that drives the pinion 493 are provided outside the discharge duct 44.
A roller 495 is supported on the opposite side of the pinion 493, and guides the rod 492 while supporting it from below.

The drive mechanism 5 and the motor 494 are linked to each other. When the drive mechanism 5 is driven to start transferring the powdery processing agent to the discharge section 43, the motor 494 is driven to open and close the opening / closing member 4.
Release 8. The powdery processing agents A, B and C dropped from the table 46 pass through the discharge section 43 and are discharged from the discharge duct 44.
Fall inside. The lower end of the discharge duct 44 is located above the auxiliary tank 3, and the powdery processing agent is added from the lower end of the discharge duct 44. A dehumidifier 45 is provided on the ceiling of the case 42 to make the inside of the case 42 a sealed dehumidifying space. Thereby, the discharge port 4 of the tank 40
04 is prevented, and smooth conveyance of the powdery processing agent by the rotating body 47 is ensured.

The replenishment of the powdery processing agent by the adding device 4 configured as described above will be described. The developing tank 20
As shown in FIG. 2, the transport of the photosensitive material S causes the developing solution to adhere to the photosensitive material S and is carried out, thereby reducing the amount of the processing solution. Here, if a high-concentration replenisher is added as in the prior art, the processing components also flow out together with the overflow, so that the processing components are wasted and a drainage process is required.

Therefore, the addition device 4 is used to add the ribs 3
, And replenish with the same amount of water as was removed and evaporated. Therefore, a water supply port 34 is provided on the auxiliary tank 3 of the developing tank 20. In this way, the processing components in the processing liquid are only replenished and are not discharged, and there is no need for drainage processing.

Here, a specific example of the powdery processing agent stored in the tank 40 will be described. The composition of the powdery processing agent A stored in the storage section 401 is about 5 to 20% by weight of sodium sulfite and potassium carbonate. About 60 to 95 wt%, about 0.5 to 3 wt% of potassium bromide, 3 to 20 wt% of nitrile triacetic acid
%, The powdered processing agent B stored in the storage unit 402 is a preservative such as hydroxylamine sulfate, and the powdered processing agent C stored in the storage unit 403 is 4- [N- Ethyl-N-β-hydroxyethyl amino] -2-methylaniline sulfate. And the weight mixing ratio of these powdery processing agents A, B, C is A: B: C = 6 ~
It is about 10: 0.3 to 1: 1. Each storage section 401,
The area ratio of the discharge ports 402 and 403 is formed to be the same as the mixing ratio, so that the powdery processing agent can always be transported and discharged at the above ratio. The reason that the powdery processing agent is separately stored in the tank 40 as described above is to prevent a reaction before the powdery processing agent is added.

In the present invention, the powdery form may be not only primary particles but also granulated secondary particles.
It refers to powder having a particle size of about 2 to 2 mm. Also,
Such a powdery treating agent may contain a small amount of a liquid component.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bleaching tank 21 carries the processing material from the developing bath 20 in the preceding bath and takes out the processing solution to the subsequent bath by transporting the photosensitive material S.
The processing liquid in the bleaching tank 21 becomes slightly thinner without replenishment. To compensate for this, it is possible to add a high-concentration replenisher to keep the concentration of the solution constant. Becomes larger. Therefore, a powdery processing agent, which is a component of the processing liquid, is directly added without adding a replenisher. Thus, by directly adding the powdery processing agent, it is not necessary to replenish the replenisher, the amount of water used for processing the photosensitive material can be reduced, and the processing agent can be used effectively.

Here, a specific example of the powdery processing agent stored in the tank 40 will be described. The composition of the powdery processing agent A stored in the storage section 401 is as follows. A bleaching agent and a chelating agent of about 85 to 95 wt% and about 5 to 15 wt% of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt, and the composition of the powdery treating agent B stored in the storing section 402 is 85 to 95 wt% of ammonium bromide.
%, About 5 to 25% by weight of ammonium nitrate, and about 0.05 to 0.5% by weight of a bleaching accelerator such as bis (dimethylaminoether) disulfide dihydrochloride.

The powdery processing agent added as a bleaching agent is divided into two and stored in the tank 40 as described above.
And the weight mixing ratio of these powdery processing agents A and B is A:
B = 1: 1. The area ratio of the outlets of the storage sections 401 and 402 is formed to be the same as the mixing ratio. When two types of powdery processing agents are added as in this case, the discharge part of the storage part 403 is closed by a lid material or the like. As described above, each of the adding devices 4 is filled with the powdery processing agent corresponding to each processing tank, and is appropriately added as needed.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of a processing tank showing another example of the configuration of the rib carrier tank 3. As shown in FIG. The auxiliary tank 3 is vertically arranged by a partition plate 33 and divided into a plurality of chambers. Each of the chambers has a flow hole formed on an inner wall surface facing the chamber, thereby preventing smooth flow of the processing liquid. The structure is designed to dissolve the processing liquid added to the substrate. Channels 30 and 31 communicating with the processing tank 21 are connected to the auxiliary tank 3, and the processing liquid Q below the processing tank 21 flows to the upper part of the auxiliary tank 3 through the channel 30, It is returned from the lower part of the ribbed tank 3 to the vicinity of the processing liquid level of the processing tank 21 through the flow path 31. A circulation device 32 is mounted in the auxiliary tank 3 and circulates the processing liquid Q in the processing tank 21 by the device. The circulation device 32 includes a motor 321 and a screw 322 attached to a tip of a drive shaft of the motor 321. As shown, the auxiliary tank 3
The screw 322 is immersed in the uppermost chamber inside, and the processing liquid in the rib cage tank 3 is sent from above to below by rotation of the screw 322. Further, when the powdery processing agent is added from the addition device 4, the dissolution of the powdery processing agent in the processing liquid is promoted by the stirring action of the screw. Further, as described above, the powdery processing agent can be completely dissolved in the process of sequentially passing through the chamber in the auxiliary tank 3.

In the addition device 4 described above, a so-called table type feeder is adopted as a supply mechanism of the powdery processing agent. However, if the mechanism is a mechanism capable of quantitatively transporting the powdery processing agent, a screw type feeder or the like may be used. A feeder of another mechanism may be used.

It goes without saying that the adding device 4 described above can be used even in a processing device other than the color negative film processing device.

Further, even in the case where the replenishing solution is replenished, if the replenishing solution is prepared by using the adding device 4, the powdery processing agent can be dissolved in water immediately before the replenishing. It is not necessary to provide a space for accommodating a tank for a replenisher in the processing apparatus as in the related art, and the apparatus can be downsized. In this case, what is required is supply and distribution of water as a solvent, and it is preferable to provide a distributor for distributing replenishing water in each treatment tank.

FIGS. 9 and 10 are a plan sectional view and a side sectional view of the distributor 6, respectively. As shown, the distributor 6 is provided inside a circular outer container 60 with a similarly circular switch body 6.
1 is a structure provided rotatably. Branch pipes 601, 602, 603, and 604 are provided on the peripheral surface of the outer container 60 in four directions, and different flow rates of water are distributed and flow out from the branch pipes 601, 602, 603, and 604, respectively. Flow-through holes 611 a and 611 b having different diameters are formed in the ring-shaped peripheral surface of the switching body 61. In the distributor 6 of this embodiment, the diameter of the flow hole 611a is １ ／ of the diameter of the flow hole 611b. Further, a cylindrical operating portion 62 protrudes from the center of the switching body 61 and projects outward from the center of the outer container 60. A connection pipe 63 is provided at the tip of the operation section 62.
Are connected in a liquid-tight and rotatable manner,
A water supply pipe 64 is connected to the distal end of 3. The water supplied to the photosensitive material processing apparatus is supplied to the distributor 6 from the operation unit 62 side.
Get in.

The switching body 61 rotates inside the outer container 60 by pinching and turning the operation section 62. Then, the above-mentioned flow holes 611 are connected to the respective branch pipes 601, 602, 603, 604.
, A desired flow rate can be supplied to each branch pipe. In addition, the part of the flow hole 611 is connected to the branch pipe by 601 and 6.
If it does not match 02, 603, 604, it is possible to stop the water distribution. If such a distributor 6 is provided,
The number of water supply systems can be reduced, and the size of the processing apparatus can be further reduced.

[0039]

As described above, according to the light-sensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention, a powdery processing agent can be added at an accurate ratio, and a small or almost no replenisher is required. There is an effect that the agent can be used with high efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a bleaching tank of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of a processing tank.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a main part of an adding device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part showing a transport unit and a discharge unit of the adding device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a transport unit of the adding device.

FIG. 6 is a side cross-sectional view showing a transport unit and a discharge unit of the adding device.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a storage state of a powdery processing agent in a tank in the addition device.

FIG. 8 is a side sectional view of a bleaching tank, showing another embodiment of the auxiliary tank.

FIG. 9 is a plan sectional view of the distributor.

FIG. 10 is a side sectional view of a distributor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photosensitive material processing apparatus 2 Processing tank 20 Developing tank 21 Bleaching tank 3 Auxiliary tank 30 Flow path 31 Flow path 32 Circulating device 321 Motor 322 Screw 33 Partition plate 34 Water supply port 4 Addition device 40 Tank 401-3 Storage section 404 Discharge port 41 Conveying part 42 Case 43 Discharge part 431 Inclined surface 44 Discharge duct 441 Hole 45 Dehumidifier 46 Table 47 Rotating body 470 Rotating shaft 471 Transfer part 472 Outer edge part 48 Opening and closing body 49 Opening and closing operation part 491 Urging mechanism 492 Rod 493 Pinion 494 Motor 495 Roller 5 Drive mechanism 50 Gear 51 Drive motor 52 Gear 6 Distributor 60 Outer container 601-4 Branch pipe 61 Switching body 611 Flow hole 62 Operation part 63 Connection pipe 64 Pipe A, B, C Powder processing agent Q Processing liquid S photosensitive material

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing tank filled with a processing solution for immersing a photosensitive material and an auxiliary tank for the processing tank, wherein the processing solution is obtained by dissolving a powdery processing agent in a solvent. An adding device for adding the powdery processing agent to the auxiliary tank, wherein the adding device separately stores the different types of the powdery processing agents at a predetermined ratio, and discharges the powdery processing agent. A tank having an outlet, a transport unit for quantitatively transporting the powdery processing agent discharged from the tank, and an openable and closable discharge unit for discharging the powdery processing agent transported by the transport unit, The photosensitive material processing apparatus, wherein the discharge port and the transport section are provided in a closed dehumidifying space. 2. A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising: a processing tank filled with a processing solution for immersion processing of a photosensitive material; and an auxiliary tank for the processing tank, wherein the processing solution is obtained by dissolving a powdery processing agent in a solvent. An adding device for adding the powdery processing agent to the auxiliary tank, wherein the adding device separately stores the different types of the powdery processing agents at a predetermined ratio, and discharges the powdery processing agent. A tank having an outlet, a table for receiving the powdery processing agent discharged from the discharge port of the tank, a rotating body provided between the table and the discharge port, and a freely openable and closable discharge opened on the table The rotating body has a transfer unit that transfers the powdery processing agent received by the table to the discharge unit by rotation, and a processing agent transport system from the discharge port of the tank to the discharge unit. In a closed dehumidifying space Photosensitive material processing apparatus characterized by digit.