JP3895660B2 - Photosensitive material processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a processing apparatus for applying a processing solution to a photosensitive material.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Photosensitive materials such as films, photographic papers, and printing plates are processed with a processing solution such as a developer, a fixing solution, a stabilizing solution, and washing water after an image is recorded. As a processing apparatus for a photosensitive material that performs such processing, the photosensitive material is transported into a processing tank in which a processing liquid is stored by a transporting means constituted by a plurality of pairs of transporting rollers, and the photosensitive material is immersed in the processing liquid. An immersion type processing apparatus that performs processing by doing so is known.
[0003]
In such an immersion type processing apparatus, the processing solution deteriorates due to processing fatigue associated with the processing of the photosensitive material or fatigue with time due to carbon dioxide or oxygen in the atmosphere. The deterioration of the processing solution is restored. For this reason, the components of the treatment liquid at the start of the treatment are different from the components of the treatment liquid when the treatment is continued thereafter, and it is impossible to perform a strictly uniform treatment. In addition, such an immersion type processing apparatus has a problem that the amount of processing liquid used and the amount of waste liquid are large, the running cost is high, and the maintainability of the apparatus is poor.
[0004]
As a photosensitive material processing apparatus for solving such problems, for example, JP-A-62-237455, JP-A-6-8956, JP-A-6-27677, JP-A-2001-174970. As described in JP-A-2001-312036, instead of immersing the photosensitive material in the processing solution, a processing solution necessary for processing the photosensitive material is applied to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material. 2. Description of the Related Art A coating type processing apparatus that performs the above-described process is known.
[0005]
In particular, the processing apparatus using the slot die disclosed in the above-mentioned JP-A-2001-174970 and JP-A-2001-312036 can be applied uniformly and stably even with a small amount of processing liquid, and substantially no waste liquid is generated. (Patent Documents 1 and 2).
[0006]
In this processing apparatus, it is necessary to keep the gap between the tip of the slot die and the photosensitive material constant in the width direction. For this purpose, a support member for the photosensitive material is disposed below the slot die. Since this support member is in contact with the photosensitive material, it is preferable to use a structure in which a resin and a metal such as stainless steel having high rigidity are combined in order to obtain linearity. However, simply fixing materials having different properties, such as resin and metal, causes distortion in both due to changes in environmental temperature and the like, resulting in a problem that high-precision linearity cannot be obtained.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-174970 A (first page to second page, FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-312036 (first to third pages, FIG. 1)
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing liquid coating means and a photosensitive material supporting member at a position opposite to the coating means, and the photosensitive material is not damaged, and distortion is caused by changes in environmental temperature. An object of the present invention is to provide a processing apparatus using a photosensitive support member that does not occur and can obtain high linearity.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing liquid coating means and a photosensitive material supporting member at a position facing the coating means, wherein the supporting member is made of a resin member and a metal member. The member made of resin is provided with a screw hole having a screw groove, the member made of metal is not provided with a screw groove and has a screw hole having a diameter larger than the diameter of the screw, and a compression spring is provided. The invention is achieved by a photosensitive material processing apparatus characterized in that a screw is inserted into and fixed to a screw hole of a member made of resin and a member made of metal.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a photosensitive material processing apparatus which is an embodiment using the photosensitive material support member of the present invention. The photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention has a processing liquid coating means and a photosensitive material support member at a position facing the coating means. The application means in the present invention is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use a slot die having at least a manifold and a slit. FIG. 1 shows a processing apparatus when a slot die is used as a coating means.
[0011]
12 is a slot die. The material is not particularly limited as long as the corrosion resistance and mechanical accuracy with respect to the treatment liquid can be satisfied. For example, stainless steel is preferable. In addition, chrome-plated general plastics and plastics can be used. In addition, when manufacturing with a metal, in order to exclude the stress distortion at the time of machining, you may anneal beforehand.
[0012]
The structure of the slot die 12 will be described. A processing liquid supply port 13 is connected to the manifold 14. The manifold 14 is for extending the inflowing processing solution in the width direction, and is provided across the width direction of the slot die 12. After the processing liquid is once filled in the width direction with the manifold 14 and supplied to the slit portion 15, the outflow flow rate from the slit portion 15 can be made uniform in the width direction. The processing liquid supply port 13 may be normally provided at one center in the width direction of the slot die 12, but may be provided at a plurality of locations in the width direction of the slot die 12. The cross-sectional shape of the manifold 14 is circular in this embodiment, but is not limited to this and may be any shape. Further, the cross-sectional area of the manifold 14 does not have to be constant in the width direction of the slot die 12. For example, in order to further improve the flow rate uniformity in the width direction of the outflowing processing liquid, the cross-sectional area is gradually decreased toward the end. May be.
[0013]
Although not shown in FIG. 1 for convenience, both ends of the manifold 14 of the slot die 12 in the coating width direction and the same ends of the slit portion 15 are plugged so that the processing liquid does not flow out. In this case, the stopper is applied so that the effective length in the width direction of the slit portion 15 is the same as or slightly larger than the application width of the photosensitive material to be processed.
[0014]
P is a photosensitive material and is conveyed from the left to the right in the drawing by a driving device (not shown). The leading end of the photosensitive material P being conveyed is detected by a photosensitive material detector or the like, the pump 18 is driven by the signal, the valve 19 is opened, and the processing solution 17 is supplied to the slot die 12, and the end portion of the photosensitive material Is detected, the pump 18 is stopped, and the valve 19 is closed. By performing such control, a certain amount of processing solution can be uniformly applied to the photosensitive material P.
[0015]
When the application amount to the photosensitive material requires extremely high accuracy, a flow meter may be arranged in the processing solution pipe and the above pump and metering valve may be feedback controlled based on the flow meter signal. it can.
[0016]
The supply flow rate of the processing liquid to the slot die 12 can be determined by multiplying the desired wet coating amount of the processing liquid, the photosensitive material coating width, and the photosensitive material conveyance speed, respectively.
[0017]
The photosensitive material support member 11, which is a feature of the present invention, is provided at a position vertically opposite the slit portion 15 of the slot die 12. The photosensitive material support member 11 includes a member A made of resin having a flat surface on the upper side, a member B made of metal for reinforcing the member A, a compression spring 3 and a screw 4.
[0018]
The support member 11 of the photosensitive material is set to be equal to or larger than the coating width of the slot die 12 in the coating width direction, and the portion facing the tip of the slit portion 15 is a horizontal plane. The length L in the conveyance direction of the photosensitive material on the horizontal plane is preferably 3 mm or more, more preferably 5 mm or more, and the upper limit is about 30 mm. Further, it is preferable to provide an inclined surface upstream of the member A in the transport direction so that the photosensitive material P can be easily transported.
[0019]
The distance H between the upper horizontal surface of the photosensitive material support member 11 and the tip of the slit portion 15 (tip of the slot die 12) is preferably within 3 mm, more preferably within 2 mm, and even more preferably within 1.5 mm. Particularly preferably, it is within 1.0 mm. The lower limit of the distance H is a distance at which the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material P does not contact the tip portion of the slit portion 15 (tip portion of the slot die 12). This distance H is the most important point for uniformly applying the treatment liquid. When this distance becomes non-uniform in the application width direction, the treatment liquid is similarly non-uniformly applied. Therefore, it is necessary to always maintain a constant distance in the coating width direction.
[0020]
The support member 11 of the photosensitive material is provided with a screw hole having a screw groove in the member A made of resin, and provided with a screw hole having no screw groove and a diameter larger than the diameter of the screw in the member B made of metal. Are inserted into the screw holes of the member A made of the resin and the member B made of the metal, and fixed. The material of the member A made of resin is not particularly limited as long as it does not damage the processing solution and does not damage the photosensitive material. For example, vinyl chloride, polyethylene, nylon, polyacetal, fluorine, and the like can be used. The member B made of metal is preferably stainless steel, but a general structural steel chrome-plated can also be used.
[0021]
FIG. 2 is a side view showing a fixing method of the member A and the member B of the photosensitive material support member 11, and Z in the figure is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a part thereof. FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view showing another embodiment of the photosensitive material supporting member 11 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable that at least two or more portions to be fixed are the surfaces where the members A and B abut. In FIG. 2, the dotted line portion shows a structure when the inside is seen through, and represents the screw 4 and the screw holes 1 and 2.
[0022]
The thicknesses of the member A and the member B are not particularly limited, but at least the surface that requires accuracy of linearity and the surface that the members A and B are in contact with are preferably flat, and the member B made of metal is It is preferable that the member has at least the required linear accuracy.
[0023]
As shown in FIG. 2, the photosensitive material supporting member 11 of the present invention is fixed in the order of member A, member B, and compression spring 3, and a screw 4 is inserted into these holes and tightened to tighten members A, B. Is fixed. The screw hole 1 having the screw groove of the member A made of resin is provided with a screw hole 1 having a depth of at least 1/2 of the thickness of the member A so as not to penetrate. The screw hole 2 which does not have the screw groove of the member B made of metal is penetrated, and the screw hole 2 larger than the outer diameter of the screw 4 is provided. The diameter of the screw hole 2 is equal to or larger than the dimension obtained by adding the maximum comparison difference due to different expansion / contraction of the members A and B to the outer diameter of the screw 4 and is determined by the relationship between the thermal expansion coefficient of the members A and B and the environmental temperature. be able to.
[0024]
Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the hole of the member B can be stepped, and the compression spring 3 and the screw 4 can be embedded and fixed inside the member B. In this case, the diameter of the screw hole 2 indicates both R1 and R2, and R1 and R2 add the above-mentioned dimensions to the diameter of the screw, respectively. That is, R1 is larger than the diameter of the screw portion of the screw 4, and R2 is larger than the diameter of the head portion of the screw 4.
[0025]
The compression spring 3 is interposed between the member B and the screw 4 and is compressed by tightening the screw 4. Accordingly, the outer diameter of the compression spring 3 needs to be larger than the inner diameter of the screw hole 2 (R1 in FIG. 3) of the member B and smaller than the outer diameter of the head of the screw 4, but even if this condition is not met, the washer Etc., the compression spring 3 can be interposed. The material of the compression spring 3 is preferably a metal such as stainless steel, and the wire diameter, outer diameter, length, and spring constant of the compression spring 3 can be set by selecting a necessary load depending on the member to be used. .
[0026]
The outer diameter of the screw 4 is determined by the thickness and material of the member A, and the length of the screw 4 is the length obtained by adding the length when the compression spring 3 is contracted by the necessary load to the length of each screw hole. To do. The material of the screw 4 is preferably a metal such as stainless steel.
[0027]
The interval between the screws in FIG. 2 can be arbitrarily determined.
[0028]
Further, since the load of the compression spring 3 varies depending on the distance to be compressed, as shown in FIG. 4, a nut 5 is further interposed between the compression spring 3 and the previously elongated screw 4, and the load is changed depending on the position of the nut 5. You can also make adjustments.
[0029]
As described above, since the compression spring 3 is used for fixing the member A made of resin and the member B made of metal, the members A and B are not firmly fixed while being tightened with an appropriate force. Even if it changes, it can respond to the shift | offset | difference in the joining surface of the horizontal direction of the members A and B by the difference in expansion / contraction. Further, the deviation in the lateral dimension of the members A and B due to the difference in expansion and contraction caused by the change in the environmental temperature is the screw hole 2 of the member B (the gap with the screw 4) whose size is calculated and determined in advance. By compensating for the occurrence of distortion, the occurrence of distortion can be suppressed. In this way, highly accurate linearity can always be maintained without being affected by changes in the environmental temperature.
[0030]
In the conventional fixing method, as shown in FIG. 5, the member A made of resin and the member B made of metal are firmly joined with a screw, an adhesive, or the like. FIG. 5a shows a state immediately after joining, and maintains linearity. Next, as the environmental temperature rises from the state shown in FIG. 5a, distortion gradually occurs as shown in FIG. 5b due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the two members, and linearity cannot be maintained. This is because the members A and B are firmly fixed to each other, so that no lateral displacement occurs at the joint surface.
[0031]
In the photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing liquid coating unit and a photosensitive material supporting member at a position opposite to the coating unit, the supporting member includes a resin member and a metal member fixed to each other. The resin member is provided with a screw hole having a screw groove, the metal member is not provided with a screw groove and has a screw hole having a diameter larger than the screw diameter, and a compression spring is interposed. By supporting the photosensitive material by fixing the two members having different thermal expansion coefficients by scratching the photosensitive material by inserting screws into the screw holes of the resin member and the metal member and fixing them. It can be seen that the conventional concern that the distortion of the member 11, that is, the distance H between the support member 11 of the photosensitive material and the slit portion 15 becomes non-uniform, and the uneven development is likely to occur, can be solved. It was.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible to stably apply a processing solution by always maintaining the linearity of the photosensitive material support member with high accuracy without causing scratches on the photosensitive material.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a processing apparatus showing an example of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view and an enlarged cross-sectional view of a fixing method showing an example of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side view showing a conventional general fixing method.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Screw hole which has a screw groove 2 Screw hole which does not have a screw groove 3 Compression spring 4 Screw 11 Support member of photosensitive material

Claims (1)

In a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing liquid coating means and a photosensitive material support member at a position facing the coating means, the support member is a member made of resin and a member made of metal fixed by screws. The member made of resin is provided with the screw hole having a screw groove, the member made of metal is not provided with a screw groove and has a screw hole having a diameter larger than the diameter of the screw, and a compression spring is interposed. A photosensitive material processing apparatus, wherein a screw is inserted into a screw hole between the resin member and the metal member.

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