JPH01293344A - Photosensitive material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the exchange rate of a processing liquid by a decrease in the volume of the processing liquid in a tank and to prevent unequal processing by adapting inner guides to substantially occupy the space enclosed by the transporting route for a photosensitive material to the above device. CONSTITUTION:The inner guides 61 and 62 installed in the inner space S occupy the greater part of the space S to decrease a dead space. The guides 61, 62 are formed to block shapes having the prescribed volume to occupy the space S and are spanned as one continuous body between side plates 41 and 42. Further, the guides 61, 62 are formed as hollow members in order to reduce the material cost and to reduce the weight. The exchange rate of the processing liquid by a decrease in the volume of the processing liquid in the processing tank is thereby improved and the defects such as unequal processing are prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention <Industrial Application Field> The present invention is applicable to photosensitive material processing, such as developing, bleaching/fixing, washing, etc. of photosensitive materials in, for example, silver halide photocopiers, automatic processors, etc. The present invention relates to an apparatus and a photosensitive material processing method.

<Prior Art> A silver halide photocopying machine copies an original image onto a photosensitive material, and has the advantage of being able to make high-quality copies compared to an electrophotographic copying machine.

Generally, in this copying machine, a photosensitive material is sent from a magazine to an exposure section to expose an original image, and the exposed photosensitive material is sent to a processing section where it is developed and made into a product.

This processing section is equipped with a developing tank, a bleaching/fixing tank, and a washing tank, and the developing process is carried out by supplying predetermined processing solutions into each tank and passing the exposed photosensitive material in sequence. It will be done. In such a processing tank, the photosensitive material carried into the tank is lowered, then turned over at the bottom of the processing tank so that the emulsion side of the material is on the inside, raised, and transported out of the tank. Transport along a route that will

By the way, for example, in development, it is required to perform uniform development in a short time and further to reduce the amount of processing liquid (developer) used as much as possible.

However, in conventional photosensitive material processing equipment, dead space is created in the processing tank due to the structure of the transport path, and the dead space is particularly large in the area surrounded by the photosensitive material transport path, so the processing solution in the processing tank is The amount increases. the result,
Unless the replenishment amount is increased, the liquid exchange rate of the processing liquid will be low.
Components in the processing solution, especially tar in the developer, tend to adhere to the conveyance roller, resulting in deterioration of stability.

Furthermore, since the processing liquid is supplied from the bottom of the processing tank toward the area surrounded by the conveyance path of the photosensitive material, turbulence of the process liquid flow occurs in this area, causing attachments such as conveyance rollers and guides to Due to this, the processing liquid does not come into uniform contact with the photosensitive material, resulting in uneven development.

These problems occur not only in the development of photosensitive materials, but also in bleaching and
The same applies to fixation, etc.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> The purpose of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, improve the exchange rate of the processing liquid by reducing the amount of processing liquid in the tank, and suppress processing unevenness. The object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus capable of processing.

Means to solve problems〉 Such objects are achieved by the present invention as described below.

That is, the present invention provides a processing tank for processing a photosensitive material by immersing it in a processing solution, and in the processing tank, the loaded photosensitive material is lowered and is processed into an emulsion of the photosensitive material near the bottom of the processing tank. A group of conveyance rollers that are reversed so that the surface side is inside and conveyed along a lifting path, and an inner guide and an outer guide that are respectively installed on the emulsion side of the photosensitive material and the back side of the photosensitive material along the path. A photosensitive material processing apparatus having the following features: The inner guide substantially occupies a space surrounded by a conveyance path of the photosensitive material.

Further, the occupancy rate of the inner guide in the space is 7.
It is preferably 0% or more.

Further, it is preferable that a guide surface of the inner guide facing the emulsion surface is substantially smooth.

<Embodiments> Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the photosensitive material processing apparatus and photosensitive material processing method of the present invention will be described in detail as shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view showing an example of the configuration of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the photosensitive material processing apparatus 1 of the present invention has a vertically long processing tank 2.
(or more may be arranged in parallel), and the processing liquid 3 is put therein to a predetermined level. The type of processing liquid 3 is determined by the use of the photosensitive material processing apparatus 1, which will be described later.
Examples include a fixing solution and a cleaning solution (washing water, etc.). However, the photosensitive material processing apparatus 1 of the present invention can also be applied to processes other than development, bleaching/fixing, and cleaning (for example, reversal, adjustment, stabilization, stop, etc.).

The processing tank 2 has a shape and dimensions that allow it to removably house a rack 4, which will be described later, and has a liquid supply port 21 at the bottom for supplying the processing liquid 3 into the tank, and a liquid supply port 21 at the top of the processing tank. A waste liquid port 22 for discharging the processing liquid 3 is provided near the liquid level.

A portion (approximately half of the rack) of a rack 4 that supports a transport roller, a guide, etc. is immersed in the processing liquid 3 in the processing tank 2.

The rack 4 includes a pair of side plates 41 and 42, and these side plates 41 and 42 are supported parallel to each other at regular intervals by stays (not shown) placed at the four corners between the side plates. There is.

Between these side plates 41, 42 are six pairs of transport rollers 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, immersed in the processing liquid 3.
A pair of transport rollers 51 and 58 are provided on the photosensitive material insertion side and discharge side, respectively, above the processing tank.

Furthermore, guides 91 and 92 are installed above the pair of transport rollers 51 and 58, respectively.

One end of the rotating shaft of one or both of the conveying rollers of each pair of conveying rollers 51 to 58 is extended to the outside of the side plate 16 or 18,
Gears are attached (not shown). These gears are meshed through predetermined relay gears, and are connected to a photosensitive material conveyor including a motor, a transmission, a power transmission member, etc. installed outside the processing tank 2. A drive means (not shown) allows the transfer port to be
When a rotational force is applied to the conveyor roller, the conveyance rollers of each conveyance roller pair rotate in a predetermined direction at a predetermined speed.

A lid body 8 composed of lid pieces 81, 82 and 83 fixed between side plates 41, 42 is installed near the liquid level of the processing liquid 3. An entrance 84 and an exit 85 for the photosensitive material 200 are formed between the lid pieces 81 and 82 and between the lid pieces 82 and 83, respectively.

In addition, in order to prevent the processing liquid from evaporating from the carrying-in port 84 and the carrying-out port 85 or from deteriorating the processing liquid in the processing tank due to contact with outside air, a shutter ( As an example of the configuration of this shutter, a movable lid that can be driven in the left-right direction in FIG. An example is one in which the loading inlet 84 and the unloading outlet 85 are opened and closed by driving in synchronization with the drive.

Between the conveyance rollers 52 to 57 is a guide 61.6 which will be described later.
2.71.72.73.74.75 is installed,
The photosensitive material 200 is conveyed along a predetermined path by each conveyance roller pair and guide. That is, the photosensitive material 200 that has passed through the guide 91 and the pair of conveyor rollers 51 is carried into the processing liquid 3 through the inlet 84, and is successively held between the pair of conveyor rollers 52, 53 and 54, and the inner guide 61, the outer guide 71 and Guided by the inner guide 62 and outer guide 72, it descends inside the processing tank 2. The photosensitive material 200 sent out from the pair of conveyor rollers 54 is reversed by a reversing guide 73 installed near the bottom of the processing tank 2, and is successively held between the pair of conveyor rollers 55, 56 and 57, and also between the inner guide 62 and the outer side. Guided by the guide 74, the inner guide 61, and the outer guide 75, it ascends in the process 4!2.

The photosensitive material 200 sent out by the transport roller pair 57 is pulled up from the processing liquid 3, transported out of the processing tank through the exit port 85, and sent to the next process via the transport roller pair 58 and the guide 92.

A space (
Hereinafter referred to as "inner space") is S, then the photosensitive material 2
00 is transported with its emulsion side facing the inner space S side.

The present invention provides an inner guide 61. installed in the inner space S.
62 features. That is, the inner guides 61 and 6
2 occupies most of the inner space S to reduce dead space.

This reduces the amount of processing liquid in the processing tank 2 and increases the exchange rate of the processing liquid, thereby stabilizing the processing liquid.

Note that the occupation rate of the inner space S by the inner guides 61 and 62 is preferably 70% or more. The reason for this is that if the occupancy rate is less than 70%, the dead space will not be sufficiently reduced, and depending on the type of processing, the effects of the present invention may not be fully exhibited.

As shown in FIG. 2, these inner guides 61 and 62 are in the form of a block having a predetermined volume to occupy the inner space S, and are preferably formed by side plates 41 and 42.
Kake is passed as a continuum between . Further, the inner guides 61 and 62 may be hollow or solid, but from the viewpoint of reducing material cost and weight, a hollow member is preferable.

These inner guides 61 and 62 are also used as guides for lowering and raising the photosensitive material 200, and on opposite surfaces there are a guide surface 65 for lowering the photosensitive material 200 and a guide surface for raising the photosensitive material 200. Guide surface 66 for
is formed. These guide surfaces 65 and 66 are
The tapered surface is used to guide the photosensitive material 200 between the pair of conveying rollers on the downstream side.

Preferably, guide surfaces 65 and 66 are substantially smooth. The reason for this is that if the guide surfaces 65 and 66 have, for example, unevenness (particularly linear unevenness parallel to the transport direction), the uniformity of processing of the photosensitive material 200 will be impaired and uneven development will occur. This is because there are things. However, the present invention does not exclude those in which the guide surfaces 65 and 66 have irregularities or the like.

The inner guides 61 and 62 are preferably continuous in the longitudinal direction, that is, in the width direction of the photosensitive material 200, but may be divided into a plurality of pieces in this direction.

Further, in the illustrated example, the inner guides 61 and 62 are separate members, but they may be connected or formed as a single piece.

An outer guide 71 installed on the back side of the photosensitive material 200.
Reference numerals 72, 74, and 75 denote plate-shaped guides, and as shown in FIG. 3, slit-like openings parallel to the width direction of the photosensitive material 200 and convex portions 77 protruding toward the guide surface are alternately formed. ing. The openings 77 play the role of promoting flow and stirring of the processing solution by allowing the processing solution to pass through the outer guide, and the convex portions 77 play the role of reducing the contact resistance between the photosensitive material and the guide surface. fulfill.

The reversing guide 73 has a curved surface curved in an arc shape.1. The photosensitive material 200 is turned over along this curved surface.

The constituent materials of the inner guide, outer guide, and reversing guide have durability and chemical resistance to the processing liquid 3 (no deformation, expansion, strength reduction, etc.), and they do not change the quality of the processing liquid during development. It is preferable that the material does not have an adverse effect on the properties, such as various resins such as nylon, Teflon, hard vinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene, etc.
Ceramics such as alumina, metals having corrosion resistance such as stainless steel, titanium, and Hastelloy, or a combination thereof can be used.

Note that, from the viewpoint of ease of molding, the inner guides 61 and 62 are preferably made of the resin described above. In this case, the inner guides 61, 62 are formed by methods such as injection molding, extrusion molding, blow molding, etc., or by a combination of molded products obtained by these methods (for example,
(adhesion between the guide body and the lid).

Further, the guide surfaces 65, 66 of the inner guides 61, 62 may be subjected to the following various treatments depending on the purpose.
For example, the guide surfaces 65 and 66 can be coated with Teflon, nylon, fluororesin, etc.
5. If 66 is made of metal, electrolytic polishing,
Smoothing treatments such as electrolytic plating and Teflon coating, and when the guide surfaces 65 and 66 are made of ceramics, fluorine treatment, etc. can be performed.

Furthermore, the materials constituting each of the conveyance roller pairs 51 to 58 are the same as those of the guide, and the shapes (such as whether they are continuous in the axial direction) and the configurations of the conveyance rollers in the inner space S and the other conveyance rollers are the same. Materials etc. may be different.

Function> Next, the function of the photosensitive material processing apparatus 1 of the present invention will be explained.

The processing liquid 3 is supplied into the processing tank 2 from the liquid supply port 21 at the bottom of the processing tank and circulates within the processing tank 2 .

At the upper part of the processing tank, the processing liquid 3 overflows and is discharged from the waste liquid port 22.

When conveying the photosensitive material 200, each conveyance roller is rotated by the operation of the aforementioned photosensitive material conveyance driving means (not shown), the photosensitive material 200 is conveyed along a predetermined path, and is immersed in the processing liquid 3 for processing. . That is, the photosensitive material 200 that has passed through the guide 91 and the pair of conveyance rollers 51 is carried into the processing liquid 3 from the inlet 84, is held between the pair of conveyance rollers 52, and is transferred between the guides 61 and 71, between the pair of conveyance rollers 53, and the guide 62. .7
It passes through the two rollers and the pair of transport rollers 54 in order, and then descends inside the processing tank 2 .

The photosensitive material 200 sent out from the conveyance roller pair 54 is
It is reversed by the reversing guide 73, held between the pair of conveyance rollers 55, and ascends inside the processing tank 2 through the guides 62 and 74, between the pair of conveyance rollers 56, between the guides 61 and 75, and between the pair of conveyance rollers 57. The photosensitive material 200 sent out from the conveying roller pair 57 is pulled up from the processing liquid 3,
It is carried out from the processing tank through the carrying out port 85, and is transported to the conveying roller pair 58.
Then, it is sent to the next process via a guide 92.

The inner guides 61 and 62 installed in the inner space S surrounded by the conveyance path of the photosensitive material 200 occupy most of this inner space S, so that the dead space in the processing tank 2 can be reduced and the processing liquid Quantity decreases. This increases the exchange rate of the processing liquid, stabilizing the processing liquid and promoting the processing.

Also, due to the presence of the inner guides 61 and 62, the inner space S
Since no turbulent flow of the processing liquid (such as a vortex) occurs within the processing liquid and the flow of the processing liquid hitting the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material 200 is constant, uneven development of the photosensitive material 200 is prevented.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention, by providing an inner guide that substantially occupies the space surrounded by the photosensitive material conveyance path, it is possible to reduce the dead space in the processing tank and improve the processing speed. Since the amount of liquid is reduced, the exchange rate of the processing liquid is increased, thereby stabilizing the processing liquid.

In addition, defects such as uneven development of the photosensitive material can be prevented, especially when the guide surface of the inner guide is a substantially smooth surface.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view showing an example of the configuration of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of an inner guide used in the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example of the structure of the outer guide used in the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention. Explanation of symbols 1... Photosensitive material processing device, 2... Processing tank, 21... Liquid supply port, 22... Waste liquid port, 3... Processing liquid, 411 racks, 41 .42...Side plate, 51.52.53.54.55.56.57.58...
...Conveyance roller pair, 61.62.1.Inner guide, 65.66..Guide surface, 71.72.74.75-..Outer guide, 73..
- Reversing guide, 76 -e opening, 77... Convex portion, 8... Lid body, 81.82.83 -... Lid piece, 84... Carrying inlet, 85... ...Outlet, 91.92...Guide, 200...Photosensitive material, S...Inner space

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A processing tank for processing the photosensitive material by immersing it in a processing solution, and in the processing tank, the loaded photosensitive material is lowered and placed near the bottom of the processing tank with the emulsion side of the photosensitive material facing inside. A photosensitive material comprising: a group of conveyance rollers that are conveyed along a path that is reversed and raised so that the photosensitive material is reversed so that 1. A photosensitive material processing apparatus, wherein the inner guide substantially occupies a space surrounded by a photosensitive material conveyance path. (2) The occupancy rate of the inner guide in the space is 7
The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount is 0% or more.