JPH04147259A - Carrying rack for photosensitive materal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily change the height of a rack according to the change of the processing time of a photosensitive material by optionally combining a unit provided with a carrying roller, a unit provided with a width guide and a unit provided with a returning roller group. CONSTITUTION:The carrying racks 10 of developing tanks D1 and D2 are obtained by combining an upper width guide unit 104, a middle roller 106 unit and a lower width guide unit 108 under a state that they are coupled in order between an upper roller unit 102 and a lower roller unit 112. Besides, a bleaching/fixing tank F1 and washing tanks W1 and W2 are constituted by coupling the unit 112 to the lower end part of the unit 104 and a washing tank W3 is set under a state that the upper end part of the unit 108 is coupled to the lower end part of the unit 102. At the time of the processing, the photosensitive material is interposed by the carrying rollers 24 and inverted in the unit 112. Besides, it is successively moved to the tank W3 from the tank D1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a photosensitive material transport rack that is inserted into a processing solution such as a developer tank and is equipped with transport rollers and the like that nip and transport the photosensitive material.

[Conventional technology]

When a photosensitive material is transported and developed in a developing device, a transport rack is inserted into each processing tank such as a developer tank, and transport rollers provided on this transport rack drive and nip the photosensitive material. It has become.

In addition to the transport rollers, this transport rack is generally equipped with a width guide for guiding the widthwise end of the photosensitive material and a group of folding rollers for folding the photosensitive material at the bottom of the processing tank.

On the other hand, this transport rack is designed to transport the photosensitive material at a constant speed, and since the processing time of each processing tank needs to be changed depending on the processing conditions, the transport length of the photosensitive material is changed. In other words, the height of the transport rack is changed depending on the developing tank, bleaching tank, washing tank, etc. to obtain a desired processing time.

For this reason, it is necessary to manufacture a large number of transport racks with different dimensions in one automatic developing device, which hinders the standardization of parts.
This causes an increase in costs.

Furthermore, the heights of processing tanks such as developing tanks are different between models with different specifications, which also prevents common parts and causes an increase in costs.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide a transport rack whose height can be changed very easily in accordance with changes in the processing time of photosensitive materials.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention provides a processing tank that is provided with a transport roller that pinches and transports the photosensitive material in the processing tank, a width guide that guides the widthwise end of the photosensitive material, and a group of folding rollers that folds back the photosensitive material at the lower part of the processing tank. A photosensitive material transport rack inserted into the
a first unit including the conveyance roller; a second unit including the width guide; and a third unit including the folding means.
It is characterized by having a unit and a connecting means that connects any plurality of these units to each other so that the length of conveyance of the photosensitive material can be changed.

[Function] Therefore, in the present invention, when a plurality of transport racks are installed in an automatic developing device, transport racks with different heights are
can be easily assembled.

That is, a first unit including a conveyance roller, a second unit including a width guide, and a third unit including a folding roller group.
By combining the units in an arbitrary manner using the connecting means, transport ranks with different heights can be easily manufactured using one or more necessary units.

There are basically three types of units to be manufactured: the first unit to the third unit, and any of these units may be connected to each other as necessary. This connection may be made by connecting units of the same type or different units.

For example, if a second unit having a width guide is connected below a first unit having a conveyance roller, and a third unit is further connected to the lower end of the second unit, the photosensitive material receives a downward driving force from the first unit. is guided by the widthwise end in the second unit, is reversed by a group of folding rollers in the third unit, reaches the top, and passes through the second unit and the first 22/t to the next processing tank. will be sent to. If a first unit and a second unit are additionally provided between the third unit and the second unit, the combination of the first unit and the second unit is formed in two stages, and a long conveyance path is formed. can get. When using a plurality of second units in this way, the conveyance lengths, that is, the heights of these units are not the same, and the second unit with a long conveyance length and the second unit with a short conveyance length are combined. It may also be used.

Note that the first unit used at the top preferably forms an attachment part for attaching a transport rack to the upper end of the processing tank. Furthermore, a drive transmission portion can be provided on the side of each unit arranged vertically in series to extend from the upper end to the lower end of these units. Specifically, this drive transmission part is a rotating shaft, one end of which is connected to a drive source, and a gear that transmits rotational force to the conveyance roller can be attached to the intermediate part or the other end. Further, a rotation shaft may be provided as this drive transmission portion for changing the width guide of the second unit according to the width dimension of the photosensitive material.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows an automatic developing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. This developing device is provided with two developing tanks D1 and D2, a bleaching/fixing tank F1, and three washing tanks W1, W2, and W3, and the photosensitive material is sequentially inserted from the developing tank D1 to the washing tank W3, immersed, and developed. It is supposed to be processed. FIG. 2.3 shows the transport rank 10 inserted into the developer tank DI. In this transport rank lO, the upper roller unit) 102,
Upper width guide unit IOC middle roller unit 1 [16,
Lower width guide unit 108 and lower roller unit 112
are provided and these are connected vertically in series.

In the upper roller unit 102, the upper end portions of a pair of side plates 14, 16 that are erected in parallel to each other are connected to each other by a horizontal plate 17. Further, these side plates 14, 16 are mounted on a bracket 20 whose arms 18 project horizontally in directions away from each other and are fixed to the side wall 19 of the developer tank D1.

A rotating shaft 22 is attached to the side plate 14, 16 as shown in FIG.
is supported with its axis horizontal, and a conveyance roller 24 is fixed to the axially intermediate portion of this rotating shaft 22. Adjacent to this conveyance roller 24, a rotating shaft 25 is connected to the side plate 14.
16, and a pressure roller 2 is connected to each of these.
3 is fixed. These pressing rollers 23 have the role of sandwiching and conveying the photosensitive material between them and the conveying rollers 24. That is, the suppression roller 23 on the left side of the conveyance roller 24 in FIG. It has the role of sandwiching the photosensitive material between them and feeding it upward.

A helical gear 26 is fixed to the tip of the rotating shaft 22 protruding from the side plate 14. A helical gear 28 whose axis is perpendicular to this helical gear 26 meshes with it.
The axis of the helical gear 28 is vertical and is integrally fixed to the roller drive shaft 32.

The middle roller unit 106 and the lower roller unit 112 are also provided with side plates 14B and 16B and side plates 14D and 16D that stand parallel to each other, and the side plates 14B and 16B have a rotating shaft 22. 25 is pivotally supported, and a conveying roller 24 and a pressing roller 23 are fixed to these for pinching and conveying the photosensitive material.

The roller drive shaft 32 has an intermediate portion pivotally supported by a bracket 34 protruding from the side plate 16B, and a lower end portion pivotally supported by a bracket 34 protruding from the side plate 16D. Further, the upper end of the roller drive shaft 32 is pivotally supported by the arm 18 after passing through the liquid level 29 of the developer. A rotary handle 36 is attached to the upper end of the roller drive shaft 32 that protrudes onto the arm 18.
is fixed, and by rotating this rotary handle 36, the operator transmits this rotational force to each conveyance roller 24,
The conveyance roller 24 can be rotated manually.

A helical gear 3 is located in the middle of the roller drive shaft 32 outside the liquid.
8 is fixed and meshes with a helical gear 44 fixed to the roller drive shaft 42.

A motor (not shown) is connected to this roller drive shaft 42, and the conveyor roller 24 is connected to the roller drive shaft 42 via a helical gear 44.38.
can be rotated.

A conveyance roller 24 is also fixed to a rotary shaft 22 supported by side plates 14D and 16D facing each other in the lower roller unit 112, and receives the driving force of a roller drive shaft 32 like the other conveyance rollers 24. It can be rotated. Furthermore, a rotating shaft 2 is provided on both sides of this conveying roller 24.
A pressure roller 23 supported by a shaft 5 is disposed, and the photosensitive material is sandwiched between the pressure roller 23 and the conveyance roller 24 and conveyed. Further, in this lower roller unit 112, a folding roller 31 is pivotally supported below the conveyance roller 24 and abuts against the conveyance roller 24, and together with the conveyance roller 24 constitutes a folding means. A folding plate 31A is provided between these pressing rollers 23 and folding rollers 31,
This allows for smooth movement of the photosensitive material during folding.

upper width guide unit) 104, lower width guide unit 108
A width guide body 48 is provided for guiding both ends of the photosensitive material in the width direction between the conveyance rollers 24. As shown in FIG. 4, this width guide body 48 corresponds to both ends of the photosensitive material in the width direction, and has a U-shaped plate 48A having a U-shaped planar shape to accommodate and guide both ends of the photosensitive material in the width direction. is fixed. As shown in FIG. 3, these U-shaped plates 48A have a downward moving section where the photosensitive material is guided downward, and an upward moving section where the photosensitive material is folded back by the lower roller unit 112 and guided upward. A corresponding pair is provided.

A sleeve 53 is fixed to the width guide main body 48 and is threadedly engaged with a threaded shaft 52 that extends over and is supported by the side plates 14A, 16A and the side plates 14C, 16C. This screw shaft 5
Reference numeral 2 is a screw whose opposite direction is opposite with respect to the axially intermediate portion as a boundary, and by rotating in one direction, the pair of width guide bodies 48 are brought closer to each other, and by rotating in the opposite direction, they are separated. It has become.

A helical gear 54 is fixed to the tip of the screw shaft 52 protruding from the side plates 14A, 14C. This helical gear 5
4 meshes with a helical gear 56 whose axis is vertical, and this helical gear 56 is fixed to a width guide drive shaft 58. This width guide drive shaft 58 is the roller drive shaft 32
Similarly, the axis is vertical, and the lower end and middle part are on the side plate 1.
It is pivotally supported by a knob 62 protruding from the side plate 4B and a bracket 62 protruding from the side plate 14D, and its upper part passes perpendicularly through the liquid level 29, and its upper end is pivotally supported by the arm 18. A rotary handle 64 is fixed to the upper end of the width guide drive shaft 58, and the operator can rotate the screw shaft 52 by rotating the rotary handle 64.

A spur gear 60 fixed to an intermediate portion of the width guide drive shaft 58 outside the liquid meshes with a spur gear 61 pivotally supported on the arm 18. This spur gear 61 is a connecting pin 66A that protrudes from a worm wheel 66 that is pivotally supported on the bracket 20.
are connected via. That is, the connecting pin 66A projects axially parallel to the worm wheel 66 and is inserted into a circular hole formed in the spur gear 61. When the ladle transport rack 10 is inserted into the developer ffD1 as shown in FIG. 2, the worm wheel 66 is connected to the spur gear 61, but when the transport rank 10 is lifted upward from the developer tank D1, the connection is interrupted. be done. At the time of reconnection, the spur gear 61 is connected to the worm wheel 66 at the same rotational position, so there is no phase shift.

A worm gear 72 of a motor drive shaft 68 is engaged with the worm wheel 66 . This motor drive shaft 68
A motor 69 connected to the motor 69 is rotated by receiving a driving force from a control device.

Here upper width guide unit) 104 side plate I4Δ, 16A
The upper end is fixed to the lower end of the side plate 14.16 with a screw 74, and the lower end is fixed with a screw 76 to the side plate 14B, 16.
It is fixed to the upper end of B.

The upper ends of the side plates 14C and 16C of the lower width guide unit 108 are fixed to the lower ends of the side plates 14B and 16B by screws 74, and the lower ends are fixed to the upper ends of the side plates 14DS and 16D by screws 76, respectively. This screw 74.7
6, each side plate is fixed at two points separated by the same length in the horizontal direction, as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the lower ends of the side plates 14A and 16A are the same as those of the side plates 14B and 16A.
The lower roller unit 112 can be fixed not only to the side plates 14D and 16D, but also to the side plates 14D and 16D, so that the lower roller unit 112 can be fixed to the lower part of the upper width guide unit 104 as shown in the bleaching/fixing tank Fl, washing tank W1, and washing tank W2 in FIG. can be directly fixed.

In addition, the upper ends of the side plates 14C and 16C are connected to the side plates 14B and 16B.
Since it can be fixed not only to the lower end of the side plate 14.16, the upper roller unit 102 can also be fixed to the lower end of the side plate 14.
It is also possible to arrange the lower width guide unit 108 and the lower roller unit 112 to be connected to the lower end of the roller.

In this way, any combination of the upper roller unit 102 and the lower roller unit 112 can be constructed using the screws 74 and 76. In this case, the roller drive shaft 32 and the width guide drive shaft 58 can be handled by preparing in advance shafts with lengths corresponding to these vertical heights. In addition, these roller drive shafts 32 and width guide drive shafts 58 are cut into predetermined lengths in advance and fixed to each other using joints or the like at the ends in the axial direction, so that changes in the height of the transport rack 10 can be accommodated. You can also do this.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 2, the transport rack 10 shown by developer tanks D1 and D2 in FIG. The middle roller unit 106 and the lower width guide unit 108 are used in a connected state.

In addition, the bleaching/fixing tank Fl and the washing tanks W1 and W2 have a structure in which the middle roller unit 10G and the lower width guide unit 108 in FIG. 2 are removed, and the lower roller unit 112 is connected to the lower end of the upper width guide unit 104. It becomes. Further, in the washing tank W3, the upper width guide unit 104 and the middle roller unit 106 in FIG. 2 are omitted, and the upper end of the lower width guide unit 108 is connected to the lower end of the upper roller unit 102.

During the development process, the roller drive shaft 42 is driven, and the photosensitive material is stirred in each processing tank while being held between the transport rollers 24, reversed by the lower roller unit 112, and then moved upward, thereby performing development, bleaching, and fixing. etc. are performed sequentially. The photosensitive material drawn out from each of these processing tanks is sent to the next processing tank by a transfer roller group 78 arranged between the processing tanks.

When the width dimension of the photosensitive material to be guided is changed, the width guide body 48 is automatically adjusted in the width direction by the rotation of the motor 69, so that each U-shaped plate 48A corresponds to both ends of the photosensitive material in the width direction. let

Furthermore, if jamming occurs while the photosensitive material is being held between the conveying rollers 24, the motor 69 is driven to move the width guide body 48 apart by the maximum amount. At the same time, the transport rack 10 is lifted up by a slight amount, the engagement between the spur gear 61 and the worm wheel 66 and between the helical gear 38 and the roller drive shaft 42 is released, and the rotation handle 36 is released.
The photosensitive material is removed from between the transport rollers 24 by manually rotating the transport rollers 24. Alternatively, the width guide body 48 may be moved by manually rotating the rotary handle 64 before and after lifting the transport rack 10 by a certain amount. After the transport rank 10 has been used for a predetermined period of time, it is brought into a cleaning tank and cleaned. In this case, too, the rotary handles 36 and 64 can be manually rotated to clean the transport rollers 24 and the width guide body 48 while moving them. , you can clean every corner.

In the above embodiment, each unit is connected using screws 74.7.
6, but other connecting means such as rivets can also be applied, and side plates 14A, 14C, 116A, 16C
It is also possible to make changes such as providing an engaging pawl at the end of the plate and providing an engaging hole into which the pawl enters in the corresponding side plate 14.14B114D, 16.16B, 16D.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention has the above-described configuration, it has an excellent effect that it is possible to reduce the number of parts and reduce costs in order to obtain transport racks of various heights.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a developing device to which the present invention is applied;
Figure 2 shows the carriers W1, Fl, Dl, which are inserted into the developing tank shown in Figure 1. ] 0, 74, W2, W3...Washing tank, D2...Bleaching/fixing tank,...Developing tank,...・Transport rank, 76... screw (connecting means),... upper roller unit (first unit),... upper width guide unit (second unit)... middle o-ra unit) ($rl unit) (7),...Lower width guide unit (second unit)...Lower roller unit (third unit).

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Conveyance rollers that pinch and convey the photosensitive material within the processing tank;
A photosensitive material transport rack that is inserted into a processing tank and is provided with a width guide that guides the widthwise end of the photosensitive material and a group of folding rollers that fold back the photosensitive material at the bottom of the processing tank, and includes the transport rollers. a first unit, a second unit including the width guide, a third unit including the folding means, and a connecting means for connecting any plurality of these units to each other to change the length of conveyance of the photosensitive material. A photosensitive material transport rack characterized by having the following.