JPH03248156A - Method for drying silver photosensitive material for printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain many kinds of prints different in surface state easily and stably by providing plural heating rollers exchangeable among those as the heating rollers contacting with the surface of the photosensitive material among roller pairs formed in the second half of the conveyance route in a driving step. CONSTITUTION:The conveyance route is provided with the plural heating rollers 15 - 17 different in the surface conditions, such as surface form and surface material, so as to exchange one for another and the contact with the surface of the photosensitive material by pressing it between one of the rollers 15 - 17 and an opposite roller 18 and conveying it, thus permitting the surface of the photosensitive material to be formed into prescribed surface conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a method of drying a silver halide photosensitive material for printing.

<Conventional technology> Silver halide photosensitive materials (hereinafter referred to as photosensitive materials) are widely used in photosensitive materials for photography, such as negative film and reversal film, and photosensitive materials for printing, such as vapor, reversal paper, and auto-positive vapor. Separated.

Photosensitive materials for printing, such as color paper, are exposed from a color negative film to color paper, subjected to various treatments such as color development, desilvering, and water washing, and then subjected to a drying process to produce color prints. obtain.

The color print as the final image has its surface condition (area) changed according to the user's preference.

Surface conditions are divided into glossy and primary (texture), and there are various types of gloss such as glossy, semi-glossy (semi-glossy or semi-matte), and matte. is a smooth surface due to the unevenness of the surface.
Rough Surface Fine Grained Surface Silky (
It is called by various names such as silk.

Then, color vapors with different areas are prepared, and exposure and development are performed according to the user's wishes.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> For this reason, it is necessary to prepare color vapors with different areas, resulting in a large inventory.

Furthermore, it is necessary to replace the color vapor depending on the demand at that time, which makes the work complicated.

Furthermore, since the time required for drying differs depending on the area, it is necessary to set the capacity of the drying section to be suitable for the surface that is most difficult to dry (silk surface), which goes against the trend of miniaturizing the device.

Further, not only in the drying process but also in the processing process using each processing liquid, photographic performance inevitably changes depending on the area, making liquid management complicated.

In particular, on silk surfaces, the processing solution from the pre-bath tends to be brought in, and on color paper, it can be carried into the bleaching solution, bleach-fixing solution, etc., and if it is carried into the bleaching solution, it may cause defective bleaching, or it may cause problems in the bleach-fixing solution. If you bring it in, color restoration defects are more likely to occur.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for drying a silver halide photosensitive material for printing, which can easily and stably produce prints of different areas with good photographic performance.

<Means for Solving the Problems> The above object is achieved by the present invention having the following configuration (1).

(1) In a method in which a silver halide photosensitive material for printing is exposed, developed with a predetermined processing solution, and then dried while being transported in a drying section, a pair of rollers provided at the latter half of the transport path of the drying section is used. A plurality of heating rollers having different surface conditions are replaceably provided as rollers that contact the surface of the photosensitive material, and the photosensitive material is rotatably conveyed while being pressurized by the pair of rollers, and the surface of the photosensitive material is heated to a predetermined level. A method for drying a silver halide photosensitive material for printing, characterized by forming a surface condition.

Effect> In the present invention, a silver halide photosensitive material for printing (hereinafter referred to as
In a drying step of drying a photosensitive material, a plurality of heating rollers having different surface conditions such as surface shapes and surface materials are provided on a conveyance path corresponding to, for example, 75 to 95% of the drying time. These heating rollers are replaceably installed so that each roller contacts the surface of the photosensitive material.

In the above, 75 to 95% of the drying time is a function of the water content of the photosensitive material, and is a value corresponding to (1-moisture content) x 100, expressed in a more physical expression.

For this reason, it is necessary to change the heating roller so that it contacts the surface of the photosensitive material, for example, 100 to 5000 g/cm.
While applying pressure, the photosensitive material can be rotated and conveyed by a pair of rollers with this as the negative side, and thereby the photosensitive material can be brought into a predetermined surface condition.

In this way, the surface condition of the photosensitive material can be made into a predetermined condition during the drying process, so it is possible to prepare a considerable number of photosensitive materials such as vapors with different areas in advance (there is no need to do so, and a large amount of inventory can be saved). No need to grow.

Therefore, it is possible to use a photosensitive material with a glossy surface, which is said to be able to easily obtain the best image in terms of photographic performance and to dry easily in the development process using a predetermined processing solution. Compared to the case of processing using materials, the management of the processing liquid and the drying process can be simplified, which is preferable in terms of processing operations. It also leads to the miniaturization of devices such as automatic processors.

<Specific configuration> Hereinafter, a specific configuration of the present invention will be explained in detail.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a drying apparatus implementing the present invention.

The drying device 1 shown in FIG.
This color paper P is exposed from a color negative film and then developed using a predetermined processing solution such as a color developer according to a predetermined processing step.

As shown in the figure, the drying device 1 includes a plurality of pairs of conveying rollers 12 and 13 that convey color paper P into a housing 31.
has.

And between the 12 conveyance rollers and the 13 conveyance rollers,
A guide plate 14 is installed respectively, and the conveyance path 10 is mainly constituted by the plurality of conveyance roller pairs 12, 13 and the guide plate 14.

At this time, the conveyance roller 12 comes into contact with the surface of the color paper 2.

In addition, some or all of these transport roller pairs 12 and 13 may be used as a heating roller pair (in the case of a heating roller pair, at least one of them may have a built-in heating means such as a heater, etc.). may be configured such that heat from one roller is transmitted to the other roller.

At this time, the material of the roller may be a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum, and the surface temperature of the roller is about 40 to 300°C, preferably about 60 to 150°C.

However, since the air inside the housing 31 will be warmed as will be described later, the pair of conveying rollers 12.1341 does not necessarily have to have a built-in heating means, but at least the pair of conveying rollers 12 located at the front stage .13 is preferably a pair of heating rollers with built-in heating means.

This is because efficient drying can be performed.

Further, when the time during which the color paper P is present in the latter half of the conveyance path 10, for example, the conveyance path 10, is taken as the drying time, 75 to 95% of this drying time, preferably 80 to 90% of the drying time.
As shown in the figure, three heating rollers 15.16.1
7 is installed.

At this time, the predetermined portion is usually the conveyance roller pair 12 at the front stage, assuming that the total length of the conveyance path 10 is 1, since the color paper P is conveyed at the same speed through the conveyance path 10.
．． It corresponds to a part located at a distance of □, which corresponds to 75 to 95% of the length of 2□ from the drying start point near 13.

Heating roller 15.16.1 installed at this predetermined location
Each of 7 has a built-in heating means such as a heater, and as shown in FIG.
51, 161, and 171 are rotatably supported on the support base 2o.

Further, this support stand 20 is configured to be rotatable around a shaft 201, and as it rotates, the surface of one of the heating rollers 15, 16, and 17 is brought into contact with the surface P1 of the color paper P. It is configured to be pressed into contact.

This support stand 2o may be installed, for example, on the outside of a side plate that pivotally supports the transport roller pair 12, 13, the heating rollers 15 to 17, and the like. In addition, two support stands 2o are installed on the outside of both side plates, and the shaft 201 is connected to both support stands 2o.
It may be arranged to span between 0.

Further, these heating rollers 15 to 17 have different surface conditions, for example, different surface shapes and surface materials.

Such roller surfaces may be selected in accordance with the desired predetermined surface condition of the color paper P, and may be installed in combination.

For example, the heating rollers 15, 16, 17 can be installed in a combination configured to provide a glossy surface, a silky surface, and a matte surface, respectively, on the colored paper P.

For glossy painting, it is sufficient to use a metal roller such as stainless steel with a smooth surface. For silk or matte surfaces, the surface of the metal roller is made with unevenness, such as by pre-engraving, and the unevenness is removed. It may be used by changing the degree of processing.

Further, for matte surfaces, there may be mentioned rollers whose surfaces are coated with heat-resistant rubber such as silicone-based or fluorine-based rubber.

Alternatively, a grain-like pattern can be created by dropping fine powder onto a metal surface and melting and adhering it.

Furthermore, you can sandwich a heat-resistant cloth (asbestos, glass fiber, ceramic fiber such as silica) between the heat roller and the photosensitive material, or
A wrapped one may also be used.

In addition, when achieving a glossy surface, silk surface, or matte surface using a roller made of metal such as stainless steel, the roughness of the roller surface is expressed as center line average roughness Ra according to the definition of JIS B12O3 as follows. Become.

Glossy side...1OIJJ11 or less Silk side...
500 to 2000 mat surfaces... 50 to 200 houses Also, the surface temperatures of the heating rollers 15 to 17 having different surface conditions are 40 to 300°C, as in the case of the conveyance roller pair 12.13. The temperature should be approximately 60 to 150°C.

On the other hand, the roller 18 which forms a pair with any of the heating rollers 15 to 17 and comes into contact with the back surface P2 of the color paper P may have the same configuration as the conveying rollers 12 and 13.

Further, when one of the heating rollers 15 to 17 and the roller 18 rotate in a pair to convey the color paper P,
Preferably 100 to 5000 for color paper P
A spring for applying nip pressure to the color paper P is installed between the shaft 201 of the support stand 20 and the shaft 181 of the roller 18 so that a pressure of g/cm 2 can be applied.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, the drying device 1 includes blowers 21 and 22 for blowing air into the housing 31, respectively, at appropriate locations 31A and 31B of the housing 31.
is installed.

Further, heaters 25.26 are installed in the upper space and lower space in the housing 31, respectively, to heat the air blown by the blower 21.22 to 40 to 150°C, preferably 60 to 100°C. ing.

At the downstream side of the conveyance path 10, a conveyance means 19 composed of a pair of rollers and the like is installed for conveying the dried color paper P to a take-out tray.

In the above configuration, the color paper P is carried into the conveyance path 10 by the foremost pair of conveyance rollers 12.13, and is sequentially conveyed by the pair of conveyance rollers 12.13 and the guide plate 14 to a position near the heating rollers 15 to 17. It will be transported to.

During this conveyance, the color paper P is transferred to the housing 31.
Due to the heated air inside, and in particular, because both sides of the color paper P come into contact with the pair of conveyor rollers 12 and 13, which have built-in heating means, moisture is removed to a certain extent and the color paper P becomes dry.

That is, 75 to 95 wt % of the water removed from the color paper P by drying is removed.

In the above, for example, when obtaining a glossy surface, rotation of the support base 20 about the axis 201 causes the heating roller 15 to come into contact with the surface Pi of the color paper P, as shown in FIG. and roller 18
It is controlled so that it rotates in pairs with the

The heating roller 15 should be positioned and rotated before the leading edge of the color paper P reaches at least this position, and usually when the color paper P is carried into the drying device 1 or when the printer processor When used as a drying section, it may be used when processing a sensitive material.

This heating roller 15 is applied to the surface P1 of the color paper P at a thickness of preferably 100 to 5000 g/cm" as described above.
, more preferably at a pressure of 100 to 1000 g/c, rotates in pair with the roller 18, and conveys the color paper P.

Then, again, the color paper P is transported by the pair of transport rollers 12.
13 and the guide plate 14, the color paper P is dried, and the drying is completed when the color paper P is carried out from the conveyance path 10, and is sent out to a take-out tray by the conveyance means 19.

The color paper P delivered to this take-out tray is a glossy print.

In the above, we have described the case of obtaining a color print on a glossy surface, but when printing on a silk surface, the heating roller 16 is set so as to come into contact with the surface Pi of the color paper P by the rotation of the support base 20, and other may be the same.

However, the pressure at the time of contact is 500 to 1000 g/cm"
It is particularly preferable that

Further, in the case of forming a matte surface, the heating roller 17 should be brought into contact with the surface Pi of the color paper P (it is particularly preferable that the pressure at that time be 300 to 1000 g/cm").

In the present invention, the heated roller with a predetermined surface condition is heated during the latter half of the drying process, preferably for a time corresponding to 75 to 95%, more preferably 80 to 90% of the drying time, that is, before complete drying. By pressing it against the surface of the color paper as described above, a color print with a predetermined surface condition can be obtained.

The above time period corresponds to less than 75% of the drying time, and even if the same treatment as above is performed, the surface characteristics will change due to subsequent drying. Also, when the temperature exceeds 95%, it becomes completely dry, so it is necessary to apply an abnormally strong pressure when changing the surface characteristics to the desired one, and in some cases, the resulting color image may move due to the pressure. Therefore, processing only during this time is particularly effective.

In this way, the surface condition of the color print can be made into a predetermined condition in the drying process, so it is possible to achieve a desired surface condition in the drying process. It is possible to use a color paper with a glossy surface, which is said to provide the best photographic performance, and to prevent the occurrence of poor recoloring such as dullness when using a color paper with a silk surface.

Therefore, the present invention can satisfy the user's preferences while maintaining good photographic performance.

In the above explanation, color paper has been applied, but any photosensitive material for printing may be used. In addition, color photosensitive materials such as color reversal paper, color auto-positive paper, etc. It can also be applied to black-and-white photosensitive materials such as black-and-white paper, black-and-white reversal paper, and black-and-white autopositive paper.

Further, the structure of the drying device is not limited to the illustrated example, but may be of various types as long as it embodies the present invention.

For example, the combination and number of heating rollers used to achieve a predetermined surface condition of the photosensitive material for printing can be varied depending on the purpose.

The present invention is applicable to, for example, printer processors, photo print making coin machines, silver halide photocopy machines,
Depending on the case, it can be applied to various photosensitive material processing apparatuses such as beer apartment type instant photo copy machines.

<Example> Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to Examples.

Sample P-2 in Example 2 of JP-A No. 63-70857
The color paper described in the above was prepared with a different support, and three types of samples 101, 102, and 103 were obtained, each having a glossy surface, a silk surface, and a matte surface.

After exposure using each of these samples 101 to 103,
The paper was processed in the following processing steps using Fuji Color Paper Processing Machine PP600.

Color development 38℃ 1 minute 40 seconds 290
mj bleach fixing 35℃ 60 seconds 180mj
Rinse ■ 33-35℃ 20 seconds rinse 0 33
～35℃ 20 seconds rinse ■ 33～35℃ 20 seconds 364mj
Drying: 70 to 80°C for 50 seconds *per 1 m2 of photosensitive material (3 tank countercurrent method for rinsing ■-■).

The composition of each treatment liquid is as follows.

) Left "Hiji 1" E solution Water diethylene triamic acid nitrilotriacetic acid Penta vinegar 2] Di and solution Supplementary "L solution 800ml 1 800mj 1.0g 2.0g 1.0g 2.0g 1-Hydroxyethylidene 1. 1-diphosphonic acid benzyl alcohol diethylene glycol sodium sulfite potassium bromide potassium carbonate 2.0g 6ml 0mA 2.0g 0.5g 0g 2.0g 2IIlj 1011I11 2.5g 0g N-ethyl-N-(β-methanesulfonamidoethyl)- 3-Methyl-4-aminoaniline sulfate Hydroxylamine sulfate 5.5g 2.0g 7.5g 2.5g Fluorescent brightener (WHITEX 4 manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical) 1.5g 2.0g Add water to pH (25 ℃) 000mj 000mj to, 20 10.60 1 old';
[Liquid water 400
m1 400mj ammonium thiosulfate (70%) 80mQ95mj ammonium sulfite 24g 32g ethylenediaminetetraacetate iron (II+) ammonium 30g 40g
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium 5g 10g water 10100O1000mQ p100O℃＞6.50
6.00 yen LL released ion exchange water (3 pp each of calcium and magnesium
m or less) Samples 101.102.103 using such treatment
Processes IA, IB, and 1C are performed accordingly.

In addition, in the processing IA, the drying section of the processing machine used is
The drying equipment shown in the figure was replaced with the same treatment except for the drying equipment shown in the figure. In this case, the processing ID, IE, and IF are set according to the heating rollers 15, 16, and 17 used. The heating roller was installed at a position corresponding to 75 to 80% of the drying time, and this setting was made when receiving a photosensitive material processing signal.

Further, the heating rollers 15 to 17 were made of stainless steel, and the surface temperature of the rollers was about 95°C.

Regarding each roller 15 to 17, the surface roughness expressed by Ra and the pressure applied to the sample were as follows according to the definition of JIS B12O3.

Surface roughness Pressure (Ra) Roller 15 1-5 scales 200g/cm' (smooth surface) Roller 15 1000-900g/cm" (silk surface) Roller 15 120-500g/cm" (matte surface) Treatment IA~ID The prints obtained were examined for the occurrence of defective color restoration, drying condition, and surface condition (area).

The results are shown in Table 1.

The above characteristics were investigated as follows.

Poor color restoration: After measuring the reflection density with red light, further bleaching and fixing.
After rinsing and drying, the sample was evaluated based on the increase in red color density around 1.5 degrees of density, and when the density change was large, it was evaluated as poor color recovery.

Drying: The weight after drying was measured, and the weight was measured again after drying until it became super dry, and the change in weight over a fixed area was examined.

The surface condition was observed with two eyes.

As is clear from Table 1, in the treatments ID to IF of the present invention, the desired area is achieved in the drying process using glossy colored paper, so there is no occurrence of defective color restoration and the drying condition is good. You can get a good print.

In this way, the area can be changed during the processing process, so
There is no need to prepare colored papers with different areas as in the past. Furthermore, since color paper with a glossy surface, which is the easiest to dry, is used, the drying time can be shortened, and the apparatus can also be made smaller.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the present invention, prints with a predetermined surface condition (area) can be easily obtained while maintaining good photographic performance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a drying apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a heating roller portion in FIG. 1. Explanation of symbols 1...Drying device 10...Conveyance path 12.13...Conveyance roller 15.16.17...Heating roller P...Color paper patent attorney University Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. Professor Hiroshi Ishii

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a method in which a silver halide photosensitive material for printing is exposed, developed with a predetermined processing solution, and then dried while being transported in a drying section, a pair of rollers provided at the latter half of the transport path of the drying section is used. Among them, a plurality of heat rollers having different surface conditions are replaceably provided as rollers that contact the surface of the photosensitive material, and the photosensitive material is rotatably conveyed while being pressurized by the pair of rollers, and the surface of the photosensitive material is heated to a predetermined surface. A method for drying a silver halide photosensitive material for printing, the method comprising: