JPH01292342A - Method for washing roller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To keep sufficiently good developing conditions and to reduce the loss of washing liquid by setting the minimum time interval for washing roller for transporting a photographic sensitive material, and performing a succeeding roller washing when a power source is turned OFF when a set time is elapsed after a preceding washing. CONSTITUTION:Surfaces of roller pairs 181-187 for transporting a photographic sensitive material 24 through a developing bath 46, bleach-fix tank 47, water washing tanks 48, 49 are contaminated by the adhesion of liquid after processing when they are dried. The dirts are transferred to a photosensitive material 24 in a succeeding processing stage, and the photosensitive material is contaminated and an adverse influence is caused on the development. So the transporting roller pairs 181-187 are required to be washed appropriately. In a color copying machine of this invention, roller washing is set to be performed when a power source switch is turned OFF. However, useless washing is performed every time when the power source switch is turned OFF frequency for the purpose of saving power. Accordingly, the roller washing is set to be performed only when the power source switch is turned OFF when a specified time is elapsed after a preceding roller washing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method of cleaning rollers for conveying photographic materials to be subjected to processes including wet development.

[Conventional technology]

General (B) When replenishing the developer replenisher into the developer in an automatic developing device using silver halide photographic materials, the amount of replenishment is calculated according to the size of the photographic material to be exposed and the number of sheets to be processed. ing.

That is, the developer replenisher is replenished based on the processed area of the photographic light-sensitive material to maintain predetermined development conditions.

The developed photographic material is bleached, fixed, and
The photographic material is subjected to water washing and the like, and is sequentially conveyed through each liquid tank. Photographic light-sensitive materials are generally processed using a pair of rollers, but when the photographic light-sensitive material after each process is transported, it is an unavoidable problem that the processing liquid adheres to the roller pairs. Then, when the processing liquid adhering to the roller dries, it becomes a stain on the surface of the roller, and the stain is transferred to the photosensitive material being transported, causing a problem that the photosensitive material becomes stained. Therefore,
For example, measures have been proposed in which the roller pair is appropriately cleaned by supplying a cleaning liquid such as water to the circumferential surface of the roller pair.

When processing equipment such as development is operating and the roller surface is not dry, there is almost no effect on the photographic material, so it is not necessary to perform the roller cleaning frequently. Therefore, as one of the above measures, for example, There is a method of cleaning the rollers at the same time that the power of a copying machine or the like equipped with the above-mentioned processing device is turned off.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, if the power of the copier or the like is frequently shut off in order to save power, the rollers will be washed frequently. When the cleaning liquid used to clean the roller pair flows into the processing tank, the processing liquid is diluted, reducing the processing ability of the photographic material and making it impossible to obtain good images.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a roller cleaning method that can clean a pair of photographic material conveying rollers without changing the developing conditions.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The above object of the present invention is to provide a method for cleaning rollers for conveying photographic materials subjected to processing including wet development, which stores the previous cleaning time and performs a process including wet development. This is achieved by a roller cleaning method in which the next cleaning is performed when the power is cut off after a predetermined period of time has elapsed.

In other words, by setting the minimum time between roller cleaning intervals and performing the next cleaning only when the power is cut off after a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the previous cleaning, frequent roller cleaning can be prevented and wastage of cleaning fluid can be prevented. can do. Furthermore, since there are fewer opportunities for the cleaning solution to flow into the developer tank, the developer is not diluted rapidly, and good development conditions can be maintained.

The photographic material used in the present invention may be either a negative photographic material or a direct positive photographic material.

Photographic methods that provide direct positive images without the need for reversal processing steps or negative film are well known.

Excluding special methods, the methods used to create positive images using conventionally known direct positive silver halide photographic materials can be mainly divided into two types, considering their practical usefulness. can.

The first type uses a silver halide emulsion that has been fogged in advance and obtains a positive image directly after development by destroying fog nuclei (latent images) in exposed areas using solarization or the Burschel effect. It is.

The second type uses an internal latent image type silver halide emulsion that has not been fogged in advance and directly obtains a positive image by performing surface development after or while performing fogging treatment after image exposure. .

The above-mentioned internal latent image type silver halide photographic emulsion is a type of silver halide photographic emulsion that has photosensitive nuclei mainly inside the silver halide grains and a latent image is mainly formed inside the grains upon exposure. means.

Various techniques are known to date in this technical field. For example, U.S. Patent Nos. 2,592.250, 2,466.957, 2.497.875,
Same No. 2,588.982, Same No. 3,317,322, Same No. 3,761.266, Same No. 3,761.276
No. 3,796.577 and British Patent No. 1.15
No. 1.363, No. 1,150.553 (No. 1,0
No. 11.062) The main ones are those described in each specification, etc.

By using these known methods, it is possible to produce direct positive type photographic materials with relatively high sensitivity.

The above-mentioned direct positive type photographic material can be applied to various color photographic materials.

For example, representative examples include color reversal film for slides or television, color reversal paper, and instant color film. It can also be applied to full-color copying machines and color hard copies for storing images on CRTs. The present invention also provides
"Research Disclosure" magazine Nα17123
It can also be applied to black-and-white light-sensitive materials using a mixture of three color couplers, such as those described in J.D. (published in July 1978).

Furthermore, it can also be applied to black and white photographic materials.

Examples of black and white (B/W) photographic materials to which the present invention can be applied include JP-A-59-208540 and JP-A-60-26003.
There are B/W direct positive photographic light-sensitive materials (for example, X-ray light-sensitive materials, duplex light-sensitive materials, micro light-sensitive materials, phototypesetting light-sensitive materials, and printing light-sensitive materials) described in Publication No. 9.

[Embodiment]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a silver salt photographic color copying machine for carrying out the method of the present invention.

The main unit IO of the device has a paper feed section 12 on the right side and an exposure section 1 on the top.
14 and processing 816, and a drying section 18 is provided on the left side. In addition, this silver halide photographic color copying machine can be loaded with a pair of magazines 20° and 22 at the top and bottom, and photosensitive materials 24 and 26 are housed inside these in the form of rolls, and are rolled out from the tip. The paper is taken out to the paper feed section 12. - For example, 24 is a photosensitive material most suitable for copying color photographic originals, and 26 is a photosensitive material most suitable for copying color printed originals.

The photosensitive material 24 or 26 pulled out from the magazine 20.22 is sent to the exposure window 28 through the paper feed section 12, and the image of the color original 32 on the transparent document table 30 provided above the exposure section 14 is displayed. It is meant to be exposed.

The color original 32 is pressed onto the original table 30 by the original holder 34, illuminated by the light source 38 in the light source unit 36, and the image of the color original 32 reflected by the plurality of mirrors 40 is passed through the optical means 42 and sent to the shutter 44. By opening the photosensitive material 24 (26)-1 in the exposure window 28, the photosensitive material 24 (26)-1 is exposed.

A switching guide 50 is provided in the middle of the conveyance trajectory of the photosensitive material 24, 26 (below the exposure window 28 in FIG. 1), and the photosensitive material 24, 26 sent vertically downward is transferred to the processing section 16 when necessary.
It is now possible to change direction to guide you. Note that when the shutter 44 is in the closed state, the reflected light from the reference white plate and the original image is reflected by the shutter 44, and is photometered by a plurality of (six in this embodiment) photosensors 43, and the white level value and Exposure control data is determined by the control device 45 based on the reflection density D'n (see the formula below) obtained from the image photometric value (prescan).

D'n=log(white level value/image photometric value") -,,
(1) This photometric device 45 centrally controls each function of the entire device, has a function to obtain density information for determining the amount of replenishment of developer replenisher, and is a means for achieving the purpose of the present invention. It also has the function of controlling the cleaning of one of the photosensitive material transport rollers.

In the processing 816, a developing tank 46, a bleach-fixing tank 47, and a washing tank 48, 49 are successively provided, and the photosensitive material 24 is developed, bleached, fixed, and washed with the processing liquid filled inside these tanks. (26) is sent to the drying section 18. In addition, the developer tank 46, the bleach-fix tank 47,
Below the four washing tanks 48, there are replenishment tanks 60, 6.
2.64 is installed and the replenishment liquid is sent to multiple tanks as needed? I am preparing myself so that I can recharge myself.

In the drying section 18, the photosensitive material 24 (26) after being washed with water is dried and sent onto the take-out tray 54.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the processing section 16. As shown in FIG.

The processing section 16 includes a developing tank 46 for developing the exposed photosensitive material 24 or 26, and a bleach-fixing tank 4 for performing bleaching and image fixing on the developed photosensitive material 24 or 26.
7, and washing tanks 48 and 49 for washing the photosensitive material 24 or 26 after image fixing processing. Multi tank 46, 47, 48
．． 49 is a shutter 200, 202, 204, 206 to prevent the liquid in the bath and the photosensitive material 24 or 26 from being exposed.
It is equipped with The processing section 16 also includes a tank 601 for replenishing the developer tank 46 with a developer, a tank 166 for replenishing the bleach-fix tank 47 with bleach solution, and a tank 601 for replenishing the bleach-fix tank 47 with a bleach solution.
tank 62 for replenishing the fixing solution, washing tank 48.4
9 is provided with a tank 64 for replenishing the washing liquid (water),
The liquid is replenished into each tank as appropriate. And each tank 60.
The liquid in 62, 64, 166 is filtered through filters 170, 172.
Pump 171゜1 arranged through ゜174.176
73.175, 177, multi-tank 46 as shown by the solid line
．． 47, 48. Replenished at 49. Here, the tanks 60, 62, and 64 for replenishing the developer, fixer, and water are:
Each replenisher is contained in deformable bags 161, 163, and 165 made of vinyl or the like. Then, the overflow liquid from each type is as shown by the dotted line (each tank 60.62
．． 64 and the bags 161, 163.16'5.

The tank 64 containing water replenishes water to the washing tanks 48 and 49, and is connected to transport roller pairs 181, 182, 183, and 187 among transport roller pairs 180 to 187 that transport the photosensitive material 24 or 26 over various areas. Water is supplied to cleaning devices 190 to 198 for cleaning the roller pairs shown. −
The supplied water is supplied to the roller pairs 181, 182, 183, and 187 by the cleaning devices 190 to 198 to clean the roller surfaces.

Next, the control device 45 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of photosensors 43 that receive light reflected by a shutter 44 (reflected light from a color original) are connected to a multiplexer 70 via a current-voltage conversion circuit 66 and a voltage amplification circuit 68. has been done. The output side of multiplexer 70 is connected to control device 45 via A/D converter 72 .

The control device 45 includes a CPU 74, a RAM 76, and a ROM 78.
, an input/output port 80, and a bus 82 such as a data bus or a control bus that connects them, and an output signal line from the A/D converter 72 is connected to a human output port 80. Further, the input/output boat 80 is connected to the multiplexer 70 and controls switching of the human output signal of the photosensor 43 in the multiplexer 70.

Furthermore, signal lines from various setting switches (not shown) on the operation panel 84 are connected to the human output port 80, such as ■magnification setting, ■copy number setting, ■paper size setting, ■photosensitive material selection, ■Density adjustment setting, 0 color adjustment value setting,
■Various setting conditions such as start settings can be entered.

Also, from this input/output boat 80, ■exposure unit control signal (
(scan control signal, color density control signal), ■Paper feed section control signal (photosensitive material transport control signal, photosensitive material cutting control signal),
(2) Processor section control signals (replenishment liquid replenishment signal, temperature control signal, photosensitive material transport signal within the processing section) and other control signals that control the operation of each section of the apparatus are output.

Therefore, the control device 45 scans the color original 32 according to the setting conditions set by the operation panel 84.
The conveyance and development process of the photosensitive material 24 or 26 are centrally controlled, a series of operations are synchronized, and the work is performed accurately.

Here, the control device 45 also controls the amount and timing of replenishment of the replenisher to the developer tank 4G. That is, the control device 45 performs normal replenishment that replenishes each time the photosensitive material 24 or 26 is processed, evaporative replenishment that replenishes the amount of developer that has evaporated when adjusting the temperature of the developer, and replenishment that replenishes the amount of developer that has evaporated when adjusting the temperature of the developer. During idle replenishment, the level of developer in the developer tank 46 drops below the specified level when the power is turned on, or when the level of the developer drops below the specified level during operation. Controls liquid level detection replenishment.

Although the calculation of the amount of developer replenishment to the developing tank 46 has been described above, the calculation of the amount of replenishment of the bleach solution and fixer to the bleach-fix tank 47 is also performed in the same manner.

The operation of this embodiment will be explained below according to the flowchart of FIG.

Magazines 20 and 22 in which photosensitive materials 24 and 26 of different types are wound up in layers are loaded into the paper feed section 12. When the opening/closing lid is closed after loading the magazine 20.22, the leading end of the photosensitive material 24.26 is clamped. First, at step 100, copying conditions are set by operating each operating section installed on the operating panel. The copying conditions include the number of copies, paper size, color density adjustment, magnification setting, and selection of photosensitive material. Next, when a start button (not shown) is pressed in step 102, the photosensitive material 24 or 26 is selected, whichever is fed out to the required length, and the photosensitive material 24 or 26 is cut to the required length. Thereafter, it is driven again and the photosensitive material 24 is sent to the exposure window 28, where it waits until the start of exposure.

In the next step 104, prescan control is performed.

That is, the light source 38 is turned on, the white level value is first photometered, and then the original is photometered by the six photosensors 43, and the reflection density D'n is determined according to equation (1). Based on this reflection density D'n, the control device 45 obtains density adjustment data, and the process proceeds to step 106.

In step 106, calculation control of the replenishment amount P of the developer replenisher is performed.

In the next step 108, the color density adjustment mechanism using a light control filter or the like is activated, and the optical means 42 is activated according to the magnification.
The lens position of is changed. Exposure is started in step 110, and the image from the color original 32 on the original platen 30 is exposed to the photosensitive material 24 passing through the exposure window 28 via the mirror 40 and the optical means 42. During exposure, a light control filter is inserted into the optical path for a predetermined period of time to control the exposure amount of each color, thereby improving the color reproducibility of the photosensitive material.

As this exposure progresses, the photosensitive material 24 is sent downward in FIG. In this case, the switching guide 50 is in the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, and the photosensitive material 24 sent from the exposure window 28 moves vertically downward. Therefore, the photosensitive material 24 after exposure
There is no slack in the intermediate portion of the photosensitive material 24 due to the speed difference between the paper feed section 12 and the processing section 16 due to the feeding of the photosensitive material 24 to the processing section 16.

When all exposure is completed in step 110, the process moves to step 112 and the photosensitive material 24 or 26 is temporarily moved in the opposite direction. This movement in the opposite direction is stopped when the leading end of the photosensitive material 24 reaches the upstream side of the switching guide 50. Thereafter, it is moved again in the same direction as the initial conveyance direction. In this case, the switching guide 50 is in the imaginary line state shown in FIG. 1, the leading end of the photosensitive material 24 is sent to the processing section 16, and the process moves to step 112, where the development process is started.
In step 112, the photosensitive material y that has reached the processing section 16 is
/424 or 26 is transferred to the processing unit 16, if it is determined that the transfer is completed, it moves to Stella 1118,
It is determined whether the number of copies has reached the set number,
If the number of copies has not been reached, the process moves from step 118 to step 108, and from step 108 to step 1.
14 is repeated. In addition, in the case of multiple copies of the same original, the data from the first prescan is applied.

If it is determined in step 118 that all the set number of copies have been completed, the process ends.

Next, cleaning of the photosensitive material conveying roller in the processing section 16 will be explained.

A pair of conveying rollers 18 that conveys the photosensitive material 24 or 26 across the developing tank 46, the bleach-fixing tank 47, and the washing tanks 48 and 49.
In Nos. 1 to 187, when the liquid after processing adheres and dries, the roller surface becomes dirty, and this dirt is transferred to the photosensitive material 24 or 26 during the next processing, staining the photosensitive material and adversely affecting the image. Therefore, it is necessary to appropriately clean the conveyor roller pairs 181 to 187 after processing.

Therefore, this color copying machine is set to perform roller cleaning when the power 1 OFF switch is operated. However, considering the case where the power is frequently turned off to save power, cleaning the rollers every time the power OFF switch is operated may result in unnecessary cleaning. Therefore, the roller cleaning is performed only when the power switch is operated after a predetermined 9 hours have elapsed since the last time the power OFF switch was operated to clean the rollers.

The roller cleaning method will be explained below based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

The time when the last roller cleaning was performed is stored in the RAM 76 of the control device 45, and when the power OFF switch is operated, the elapsed time is determined from the previous roller cleaning time and the current time in step 160. If n hours have not elapsed since the last cleaning, the color copying machine is turned off and its operation is stopped without cleaning the rollers.

When it is determined in step 160 that n hours have elapsed since the previous cleaning, it is determined in step 162 whether processes such as development, bleach-fixing, washing, etc. have been performed up to that time. If power is simply being supplied to the color copying machine without any processing being performed, the color copying machine is turned off and its operation is stopped without performing roller cleaning.

On the other hand, if some processing has been performed, roller cleaning is performed in step 164. Further, in step 166, the time at which the main roller cleaning was performed is loaded from the RTC 75, which is a clock means, to the RAM 76 and stored, and the power of the color copying machine is turned on.

to stop operation. In this embodiment, the time for determining roller cleaning is n=6 to 8 hours.

Further, in this embodiment, the RTC 75 and RAM 76 are powered by a battery, and continue to operate even when the power is turned off.

The silver salt photographic color copying machine described in this embodiment is often used in offices, etc., and the liquid immersed in the developer tank, bleach-fix tank, etc. can be replaced in a short period of time, and the finished state can be checked periodically. This eliminates the complication of having to manually check the process, making it easier for operators to manage processing liquids, which are relatively avoided, and achieving workability similar to that of copiers that copy originals using commonly used toner. I can do it.

In this way, this embodiment maintains stable developing conditions over a long period of time even when processing photosensitive materials that have been exposed to light under various conditions (especially unbalanced originals), and prevents variations in optimal copying (printing). can be finished with less. This is particularly effective for a wide variety of objects to be exposed, such as text originals, image originals, and three-dimensional objects, such as color copying machines.

Note that in this embodiment, a photosensor is used in common with the photometric system for pre-scanning, but a simple silicon sensor may be arranged separately from the photometric system. Alternatively, a line sensor such as a CCD or an area sensor may be used.

In addition, in the silver halide photographic color copying machine applied in this embodiment, the document table 30 is of the center register type, so the characteristic image is near the center area, so slit photometry was performed for that area, but the entire document screen and other It is also possible to sample a characteristic part of the image and apply it to the photometric data.

Further, in this embodiment, the density reflected from the color original 32 is measured, but if the color original is a negative film or the like, the density of the image can be obtained by photometry of the transmitted light. In the case of such a device (printing device), the exposure section and the processing section may be separated, but in this case, for example, a communication means such as R3-2320 communication or a memory medium such as a floppy disk or paper tape may be used. All you have to do is transfer the data and control it.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the minimum cleaning interval for the rollers that convey photographic material is set, and the next roller cleaning is performed only when the power is cut off after the set time has elapsed since the previous cleaning. is not done often. Therefore, there is little chance that the cleaning solution will flow into the developing tank and be diluted, making it possible to maintain good development conditions and prevent waste of the cleaning solution.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a silver halide photographic color copying machine to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the processing section, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control device, and Fig. 4 is the actual implementation. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing flow of the silver halide color photocopying machine applied to the example. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the roller cleaning/processing routine. Reference numbers in the figure: 10 - Main body 12 - Paper feed section 14 Exposure section 16 - Processing section 18... Drying section 20, 22 - Magazine 24. 26 Photosensitive material 28 Exposure window 30 Original table 32 - Original 34 - Original Presser 36・
...Light source unit 38...Light source 40--Mirror 42...Optical means 43...Photo sensor
44 - Shutter 45 - Photometer 46 - Developer tank 47 - Bleach-fix tank 48. 49 - Washing tank 5
0...Switching guide 54. Take-out tray 60.62
, 64.166 tank 66 current-voltage conversion circuit 68 voltage amplification circuit 70 multiplexer 72-,
,,, A/D converter 74-CPU
75- RT C76-RAM 78,,,,,, ROM 80 Person output boat 82 Bus 84 Operation panel 1.6
1.163.165 bags 170.172, 174, 176 filters 171.
173,175,177 Pump 180-187
m feed o-5 190~198 cleaning means 200~206 shutter

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for cleaning rollers for transporting photographic materials subjected to processing including wet development, the method comprising: memorizing the previous cleaning time;
A roller cleaning method in which the next cleaning is performed when the power is cut off after a predetermined period of time has elapsed from that time.