JPH04168437A - Sensitive material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate a processing unevenness by providing a liquid supplying and applying means for preliminarily supplying and applying a processing solution, water, or a diluted processing solution to a sensitized material on a carrying passage before carrying the sensitive material to a processing solution tank. CONSTITUTION:A processing solution 3 is charged in the inner surface of a cover 6, and an application roller 10 the lower surface of which is dipped in the processing solution 3 is provided on the inside of a carrying-in opening part 7. The side surface of the roller 10 is in contact with the emulsion layer of a sensitized material 1 to be carried through the carrying-in opening part 7 by a roller contact surface 10a situated above the liquid surface of the processing solution 3. As the surface of the roller 10 is hydrophilic, when the roller 10 is rotated in accordance with the carrying speed of the sensitive material 1, the liquid film 3a of the processing solution 3 is formed on the surface, and this liquid film 3a is brought into contact with the sensitized material 1 by the roller contact surface 10a and uniformly applied thereto. The sensitive material 1 is successively dipped in the processing solution 3, carried by a carrying roller 4 followed by processing, and then sent out to a carrying-out roller 1 through a carrying-out opening part 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus that prevents uneven processing of silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials.

[Prior Art] A conventional photosensitive material processing apparatus for developing a tin halide photographic material has a conveyance path formed by a large number of conveyance rollers, and along this conveyance path, for example, a developer tank, a fixer solution, etc. A tank and a washing liquid tank are installed.

Each of these processing liquid tanks stores a predetermined amount of temperature-controlled processing liquid, and the photosensitive material is sequentially immersed in these processing liquids for a predetermined period of time to perform development processing.

[ffo to be solved by the invention] However, for example, in the developer tank where the photosensitive material is first immersed, the surface tension of the developer is low, so slight external vibrations and the photosensitive material are transported inside the developer tank. The vibrations that occur when the liquid is exposed to water can easily cause small waves on the liquid surface. When the crest of this wave comes into contact with the photosensitive material before it is immersed in the developer, development of that portion begins first, resulting in uneven processing.

In other words, development progresses faster in the areas of the photosensitive material that come in contact with the wave crests than in other areas, resulting in too much image density in positive processing and too much image density in negative processing. At the start of processing, chemical reactions begin rapidly and change rapidly, so if there is a time lag in the start of processing, even if it is slight, it will not be possible to eliminate uneven processing no matter how thorough the subsequent processing is. Ta. In particular, as development processing becomes faster, processing unevenness due to the difference in the start of wetting tends to become more noticeable.

In addition, since the temperature of the processing liquid is controlled by a heater, a large amount of water evaporates, making it easy to dry and concentrate. Furthermore,
When the treatment liquid came into contact with air, oxidation was likely to be accelerated. As described above, processing liquids with accelerated concentration or oxidation have led to deterioration of processing performance.

In order to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of conventional photosensitive material processing apparatuses, the present invention provides a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claims 1 and 2 that eliminates the time difference between the start of the development process or the time difference at the start of the development process. The purpose is to alleviate rapid chemical reactions and eliminate uneven processing.

Further, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 3 is capable of suppressing the amount of water evaporation to prevent concentration of the processing liquid, and preventing deterioration of processing performance of the processing liquid by preventing acceleration of oxidation of the processing liquid. It is an object.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to solve the problem n, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1 processes the photosensitive material by immersing it in a processing liquid in a processing liquid tank while transporting the photosensitive material along a transport path. The photosensitive material processing apparatus includes a liquid supply coating means for supplying and applying the processing liquid or water or a diluted processing liquid to the photosensitive material in advance on a conveyance path before the photosensitive material is carried into the processing liquid tank. It is characterized by

Further, in the photosensitive material I4 processing apparatus according to claim 2, the liquid supply U
=The cloth means consists of rollers or nozzles or trays,
The method is characterized in that the photosensitive material is brought into contact with the liquid supply coating means and the processing liquid, water, or diluted processing liquid is supplied and coated in advance.

A photosensitive material processing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a cover is provided on the liquid supply coating means and the surface of the processing liquid to prevent the flow of air.

[Function] The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claims 1 and 2 applies a processing solution uniformly to the photosensitive material by a solution supply coating means provided in the conveyance path before the photosensitive material is immersed in the processing solution in the processing solution tank. Apply,
To eliminate the time lag between the start of the development process, and to supply and apply water or a diluted processing solution in advance to alleviate the rapid chemical reaction at the start of the development process, thereby eliminating processing unevenness.

Further, in the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the liquid supply coating means and the processing liquid surface are covered with a cover to prevent the flow of air, thereby preventing the evaporation of water and the promotion of oxidation of the processing liquid.

[Example 1] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the photosensitive material processing apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the carrying-in opening.

A predetermined amount of temperature-controlled processing liquid 3 is stored in a processing liquid tank 2 of this photosensitive material processing apparatus. A feeding path 5 is formed.

A cover 6 is provided at the upper part of the processing liquid tank 2 to cover the liquid surface 3b of the processing liquid 3, and this cover 6 has a carrying opening 7 for passing the photosensitive material 1 in the carrying path 5 and a carrying pressure. An opening 8 is provided.

The photosensitive material 1 is conveyed from a feed roller 9 disposed immediately in front of the processing liquid tank 2 to a carry-in opening 7 provided in a cover 6 .

This carry-in opening 7 is provided with a guide surface 7a,
The photosensitive material 1 is inserted into the conveyance roller 4 in the processing liquid tank 2 along this guide surface 7a.

The inner surface of the cover 6 is filled with a processing liquid 3, and an application roller 10 whose lower surface is immersed in the processing liquid 3 is disposed inside the carry-in opening 7. The side surface of the application roller 10 is a roller contact surface 10a located above the liquid level of the processing liquid 3.
It is in contact with the emulsion layer of the photosensitive material 1 being conveyed through the carry-in opening 7 .

Since the surface of the coating roller 10 is hydrophilic, when the coating roller 10 is rotated by a drive source (not shown) in accordance with the transport speed of the photosensitive material 1, a liquid film 3a of the processing liquid 3 is formed on the surface. This liquid film 3a is brought into contact with the photosensitive material 1 at the roller contact surface 10a and uniformly coated. This roller contact surface 108 is set at a position higher than the height of waves generated in the processing liquid 3.

The photosensitive material 1 coated with this liquid film 3a is then treated with a processing liquid 3.
After being immersed in the water, transported and processed by the transport roller 4, it is sent out from the transport opening 8 to the transport roller 11.

When using the coating roller 10, the processing liquid 3 adhering to the roller surface is easily oxidized or dried and concentrated, so the upper surface of the coating roller 10 is covered with a recess 6a provided on the inner surface of the cover 6.

This recess 6a prevents outside air from directly touching the coating roller 10, so that the liquid [3a attached to the surface of the coating roller 10 does not dry out and oxidation can be prevented. Further, it is desirable that the outer diameter of the coating roller 10 is 20 mm or less so that the liquid film 3a attached to the surface of the coating roller 10 does not dry out, oxidation is prevented, and uniform coating is possible.

Furthermore, the carry-in opening 7 and the carry-out opening 8 are made as narrow as possible without impeding the conveyance of the photosensitive material 1, so that the area where the processing liquid 3 comes into contact with the outside air is minimized.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 3, when the waves generated in the processing liquid 103 stored in the processing liquid tank 102 are high, the applicator roller 11 is
A dipping roller 12 may be provided separately, which contacts the lower part of the roller 0 and is also immersed in the processing liquid 103. In this case, the dipping roller 1
The liquid 11i 103 a generated in 2 is transferred to the application roller 110, and this transferred liquid II! 103a is applied to the photosensitive material 101.

Further, in the above embodiment, the coating roller 10 is used as a liquid supply coating means for transferring and coating the emulsion layer on one side of the photosensitive material 1.101.
．． 110, but if there are emulsion layers on both sides, another set of coating rollers may be provided for double-sided coating.

Another embodiment in which the coating rollers 10 and 110 are not used as the liquid supply coating means will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the loading opening 207 of the processing liquid tank 202 where the processing liquid 203 is applied in advance using the nozzle 13, and FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the loading opening 307 where the processing liquid 303 is applied using the tray 14 FIG.

In FIG. 4, a photosensitive material 'J-4201 fed from a feed roller (not shown) is guided by a conveyance guide 15 to a carry-in opening 207 provided in a cover 206 of a processing liquid tank 202.
inserted into. Since this cover 206 also prevents drying and oxidation of the processing liquid 203, the carry-in opening 207 is made as narrow as possible without interfering with the conveyance of the photosensitive material 201. The nozzle 13 provided between the conveyance guide 15 and the carry-in opening 207 is provided with a blow-off port +3a at its tip that matches the width of the photosensitive material 201, and the processing liquid 203 is pumped through the pump 16. is uniformly applied to the emulsion layer of the photosensitive material 201. As the processing liquid 203 to be applied, the processing liquid 203 stored in the coating liquid tank 17 may be used, or the processing liquid 203 stored in the processing liquid tank 202 may be used.

When using the coating liquid tank 17, water 18 or diluted processing liquid 19 may be stored instead of the processing liquid 203 and applied.

When a photosensitive material 20 is coated with water 18 or diluted processing liquid 19 in advance and then immersed in processing liquid 203, the applied water 1
Since the treatment liquid 203 permeates through the diluted treatment liquid 19 and the diluted treatment liquid 19 and a chemical reaction occurs thereafter, a rapid initial reaction can be alleviated.

Similarly, as shown in FIG.
The processing liquid 303. Water 318 or diluted treatment liquid 31
9 to the tray 14 that matches the width of the photosensitive material 301 using the pump 316. Aperture 1 that matches! A20a is provided so that these liquids flow out uniformly over the entire surface of the tray 14.

When applying using the tray 14, since it does not have the outlet 13a, clogging due to solidification of the liquid does not occur.

Note that the embodiments described above are based on the processing liquid tank 2.102.20.
Although this is a photosensitive material processing apparatus in which processing liquids 3,103, 203, and 303 are filled in a chamber 2,302, the present invention is not limited to this, and any type of processing method in which a photosensitive material is immersed in the processing apparatus may be used. Alternatively, a small amount of treatment liquid may be added to the soaked seeds.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1 is capable of eliminating processing unevenness by eliminating the time difference in the start of the development process by uniformly supplying and applying the processing liquid to the photosensitive material in advance. Furthermore, by uniformly supplying water or a diluted processing liquid to the photosensitive material in advance, rapid chemical reactions at the start of the development process can be alleviated and processing unevenness can be eliminated.

Further, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 2 has a simple structure by configuring the liquid supply coating means with a roller, a nozzle, or a tray, and furthermore, the processing liquid is preliminarily applied to the photosensitive material with the 38-immersion liquid, water, or diluted processing liquid. Can be applied evenly.

Furthermore, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 3 is provided with a cover for preventing the flow of air over the liquid supply coating means and the surface of the processing liquid, thereby suppressing the amount of water evaporation and preventing concentration of the processing liquid. By preventing the acceleration of oxidation of the processing liquid, deterioration of the processing performance of the processing liquid can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photosensitive material processing apparatus, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the inlet opening of the processing liquid tank, and Fig. 3 is another embodiment of the inlet opening with a dipping roller attached below the coating roller. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the carry-in opening in which a treatment liquid etc. is applied in advance using a nozzle according to another embodiment;
The figure is an enlarged sectional view of a carry-in opening for applying a processing liquid using a tray according to another embodiment. Codes 1.101, 201.301 in the figure are photosensitive materials, 2,
102, 202, 302 are processing liquid tanks, 3.103.20
3, 303 is the processing 31 liquid, 5 is the transport path, 6, 206 is the cover, 6a is the recess, 207, 307 is the carry-in opening, 1
0 is an application roller, 12 is a dipping roller, 13 is a nozzle, 1
4 is a tray, 17.317 is a tank for coating liquid, 18,3
18 indicates water, and 19.319 indicates a diluted treatment liquid. 1rXJ Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a photosensitive material processing apparatus that processes a photosensitive material by immersing it in a processing liquid in a processing liquid tank while conveying it along a conveyance path,
A conveyance path before carrying the photosensitive material into the processing liquid tank,
A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising a liquid supply coating means for supplying and coating the processing liquid, water, or a diluted processing liquid on the photosensitive material in advance. 2. The liquid supply application means is composed of a roller, a nozzle, or a tray, and the processing liquid, water, or diluted processing liquid is supplied and applied in advance by bringing the photosensitive material into contact with the liquid supply application means. A photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising a cover for preventing the flow of air over the liquid supply coating means and the processing liquid surface.