JPH0518756Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a drying device of a photosensitive material processing apparatus for drying photographic material after developing it.

[Prior art] A photosensitive material processing device that processes photographic material is
Typically, processing tanks for development, fixing, washing, stabilization, etc. are arranged, and after the photosensitive material passes through these processing tanks, it is dried in a drying section and discharged outside the machine.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the exposed photographic material (photographic film, photographic paper, etc.) S fed through the insertion port 1 is transported to a developing tank 2, a fixing tank 3, and a stabilizing tank 4A, which are equipped with transport rollers. , 4B, and is subjected to development processing using processing solutions of developer CD, bleach-fix solution BF, and stabilizer solution SR, and then sent to drying section 5, where it is dried, and discharged from the discharge port 6 to the outside of the machine.

The drying section 5 includes a group of rotating rollers (rack) 5A for conveying photosensitive material within a wall, a drying fan 5B, a drying heater, an exhaust fan 5C, etc., and the air inside the drying section is heated by the drying heater. This hot air is blown onto both sides of the photosensitive material. At this time, moisture is removed from the surface of the photosensitive material to dry it.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] In the above-mentioned drying section, a large number of sets of conveying rollers for conveying the photosensitive material are driven and rotated to sandwich both sides of the photosensitive material, so the structure of the device is This increases the complexity and reduces the drying efficiency of the drying fan. Furthermore, the gear train and support member that drive and rotate the multiple sets of conveying rollers are complicated, which inevitably increases costs. Further, both the upper and lower conveyance rollers are driven and rotated by gears, etc., and are further biased by a spring. in this case,
The pressing force on the left and right sides of each roller in the axial direction becomes uneven,
Problems such as the direction in which the photosensitive material is ejected are bent and the flatness of the photosensitive material is poor occur. Further, if the circumferential speeds of the upper and lower rollers that are driven and rotated are slightly different, slips may occur on the surface of the photosensitive material being conveyed under pressure, causing scratches on the photosensitive surface.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a drying device with a compact and simple mechanism and configuration that has good drying efficiency. In addition, this technology completely prevents scratches on the photosensitive surface without causing wrinkles or distortions on the drying or already dried photosensitive material, making it possible to obtain high-quality recorded images. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drying device for a photosensitive material processing apparatus that can completely prevent scratches on a photosensitive surface without causing wrinkles or distortions, and can obtain high quality recorded images.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The object of the present invention is to dry the photosensitive material after photographic processing in a drying device of a photosensitive material processing apparatus that dries the photosensitive material and discharges the photosensitive material outside the machine from a discharge port. A pair of conveyance rollers are arranged on the entrance side of the drying device that pinches and conveys the drying device, and a pair of paper discharge rollers that discharge the dried photosensitive material to the outside of the machine are arranged on the exit side, and the upper conveyance rollers form the pair. and/or both ends of the axially supported portion of the paper ejection roller are fitted into elongated holes of the frame body, and are brought into pressure contact with the lower transport roller and paper ejection roller connected to a drive source by the weight of each of the upper rollers; Each upper roller can be driven to rotate, and a plurality of guide rollers are arranged in the upper part and a photosensitive material guide member in the lower part between the pair of transport rollers and the discharge roller to form a photosensitive material transport path. Drying of a photosensitive material processing apparatus, characterized in that the guide rollers are arranged so as not to come into pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive material to be transported, and the photosensitive material is transported within the photosensitive material transport path with the photosensitive surface facing upward. This could be achieved using a device.

[Example] Hereinafter, the drying apparatus of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the illustrated example. Note that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an overall configuration diagram of a copying machine equipped with a drying device according to the present invention. The copying apparatus includes a document image exposure section 10 at the top, a paper feed section 20 and a photosensitive material transport section 30 on the right side, a development processing section 40 below the image exposure section 10, and a drying section 50 on the left side thereof. It is configured.

The photosensitive materials used in the above copying device are:
A silver halide photographic material is used as a photographic material in which a positive image is formed on the surface of the material through exposure and development processing, and is used to obtain a high quality copy image. Suitable examples of such silver halide photographic materials include internal latent image type or other direct reversal type silver halide photographic materials, and reversal type (reversal development type) silver halide photographic materials. Further, the support (base) of the silver halide photographic light-sensitive material may be opaque paper or the like or a transparent film.
Further, either color or monochrome photosensitive materials may be used. Furthermore, it can be applied to various light-sensitive materials other than these silver halide photographic light-sensitive materials.

The above-mentioned silver halide photographic light-sensitive material is in the form of a roll and is housed in a (R) magazine 21 and installed in the paper feed section 20.
The sheet is pulled out from the sheet, cut into a sheet shape (S) in the conveying section 30, and then fed. During this feeding process, while the sheet-like photosensitive material S is being fed and passing through the imaging position 18 of the original image exposure section 10, the light source 12, mirrors 13, 14, 15
An exposure scanning member consisting of the following exposes and scans the original image on the original platen glass 11 with a predetermined width. This exposure scanning light flux passes through a lens 16 and a shutter 17 to form a latent image on a sheet-like photosensitive material S that is being fed to an imaging position 18. Thereafter, the photosensitive material S is sent to a developing tank 41 of a developing processing section (automatic processing device) 40, and is sequentially transferred to a developing tank 42, a bleach-fixing tank 43, and a first
After being conveyed through the stabilizing tank 44 and the second stabilizing tank 45 and subjected to development processing, the sheet is inserted into the drying section 50 with the photosensitive surface facing upward, dried there, and discharged onto the paper discharge tray 51.

Next, an embodiment of the drying section (drying device) will be described in detail based on FIGS. 1 to 5.

Figure 1 is a central sectional view of the drying device, Figure 2 is a side view, Figure 3 is a front view of the main components as seen from the paper ejection side with the exterior removed, and Figure 4 is the drive system of the photosensitive material transport section. FIG. FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the drying apparatus showing a state in which the lower transport unit is swung downward to open the photosensitive material transport path.

The conveyance member of the drying device 50 has a unit construction built into a frame 101 consisting of left and right side plates, columns, reinforcing plates, and the like. The unit is positioned by fitting a pin 102 installed in a frame 101 into a reference hole on the copying machine side. On the other hand, 2 consisting of a motor, fan, heater, etc.
The sets of hot air drying means each form an integral unit structure, and are detachably attached to the frame 101 so as to be positioned above and below the conveying member.

Between the left and right side plates of the frame 101 are a guide roller R0, squeeze rollers R1, R2, intermediate guide rollers R3, R4, R5, a conveyance roller R6,
A paper discharge roller R9 is rotatably supported.

Gears G1, G2, G4, G6, and G8 are fixed to the shaft ends of these rollers R1 to R5, respectively. The gear G1 meshes with a gear G0 connected to a drive source on the automatic development processing apparatus side and is driven and rotated, further rotating the gear G2. In addition, the gear G2,
Idle gear G is located between G4, G6, and G8.
3, G5, G7 mesh and rotate freely frame 1
It is attached to one side plate of 01. As a result, rollers R2, R3, R4, and R5 all rotate in the same direction.

Each rotating shaft 11 of the squeeze rollers R1 and R2
There are small pulleys 111 and 1 near both shaft ends of 0 and 120.
21 is fitted, and a ring-shaped coil spring 112 is wound between these two small pulleys to bias and compress the two small pulleys. As a result, the squeeze roller R made of chloroprene rubber
1 and R2 are pressed together to form a predetermined nip. Note that the outer periphery of the upper squeeze roller R2 in contact with the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material has a straight cylindrical shape;
A plurality of grooves are formed on the outer periphery of the lower squeeze roller R1, and wires to be described later are fitted into these grooves.

The intermediate rollers R3, R4, and R5 are each comprised of a plurality of rollers attached to rotating shafts having gears G4, G6, and G8 fixed to their shaft ends, and each roller has a curved outer circumferential surface.

The guide roller R0 is arranged at a plurality of locations on the support shaft 103 and is rotatable. The support shaft 1
03 is a support plate 104 fixed to the frame 101
It is supported by the erection.

Two movable side plates 1 are installed near both ends of the rotating shaft 110 that forms the center of the lower squeeze roller R1.
One ends (upper ends) of the movable side plates 13 and 114 are rotatably supported, and the movable side plates 113 and 114 are swingable about the rotating shaft 110. The movable side plate 1
Rotating shafts 130 and 140 are rotatably supported near the other ends (lower ends) of the rollers 13 and 114, respectively, and are integral with the transport roller R7 and the discharge roller R8. A toothed pulley 1 is attached to one end of the rotating shaft 130.
31 and gear G10 are integrally fixed.
Since a toothed belt 132 is wound between this toothed pulley 131 and a toothed pulley 115 fixed to the rotation shaft 110 of the roller R1, the rotation shaft 130 is driven to rotate by the driving force of the rotation shaft 110. It's becoming possible. 133 is the movable side plate 11
3, 114 is a support that is installed and fixed near the lower end, and an idle gear G11 is rotatably supported on one end of the support. Further, each of the plurality of conveying rollers R7 fixed to the rotating shaft 130 has a groove formed therein, which corresponds to the groove of the squeeze roller R1. A metal wire 134 is installed between the corresponding grooves of the rollers R1 and R7. Note that the wire 134 is connected to the roller R
1 and R7, it rubs against the rotating shafts 110 and 130 and always remains stationary.

A plurality of paper discharge rollers R8 and a gear G12 at the end of the shaft are fixed to a rotatable shaft 140 installed on the movable side plates 113 and 114. The gear G1
2 meshes with the idle gear G11. In this way, the rotational driving force of the gear G0 connected to the drive source on the copying machine side rotates the conveying roller R7 via the toothed pulleys 115, 131 and the toothed belt 132, and then discharges the paper via the gears G10, G11, G12. Rotate roller R8.

On the other hand, both ends of the support shaft of the upper conveyance roller 6 are inserted into elongated holes provided in the left and right side plates of the frame 101, so that they can be moved approximately vertically. It is pressed against the circumferential surface of R7 evenly on both sides due to its own weight. Here, when the conveyance roller R7 is driven and rotated by the toothed belt 132, the conveyance roller R6 that is in pressure contact with the toothed belt 132
rotates at the same circumferential speed. Further, the upper paper ejection roller R9 is also installed in the same way as the above-mentioned R6, and is in pressure contact with the lower paper ejection roller R8 so that it can be driven and rotated.

As for the materials used for each of the above rollers, nonwoven fabric is used on each surface of squeeze rollers R1 and R2, and nonwoven fabric is used on the surfaces of squeeze rollers R1 and R2, and nonwoven fabric is used on the surfaces of squeeze rollers R1 and R2.
Although polyacetal was used for the materials No. 3, R4, and R5, and chloroprene was used for the transport rollers R6, R7 and the discharge rollers R8, R9, they are not limited to these materials.

In addition, guide plates 116 and 117 are attached near both left and right ends inside the movable side plates 113 and 114, and have a necessary maximum width (W) that can place only the vicinity of both end surfaces of the photosensitive material S to be transported. For example, if the paper width of photosensitive material S is A4 size 297 mm on the long side, W
They are arranged on the left and right so that the distance is approximately 270mm, and the central part without a guide plate allows ventilation.

An elevating means for elevating and lowering the lower end portions of the movable side plates 113 and 114 is provided below the frame 101. The elevating means includes a frame 10
A rotating shaft 1 is rotatably installed on the left and right side plates of 1.
60, and a swing plate 16 fixed to the rotating shaft 160.
1, bosses 162 and 163 fixed to the left and right upper ends of the swing plate 161, an operating lever 164 fixed to one end of the rotating shaft 160, and a lever wound around the other end of the rotating shaft 160 with both ends thereof frame 1 each
01 and a torque spring 165 hooked to a swing plate 161. This torque spring 1
Due to the biasing force of the spring 65, the rocking plate 161 stands up counterclockwise and pushes up the lower ends of the movable side plates 113, 114. As a result, the movable side plate 11
3 and 114 swing clockwise about the rotating shaft 110, and stop when the lower rollers R7 and R8 are pressed against the upper rollers R6 and R9 with a predetermined pressure. This stop position is a position where the bosses 162 and 163 enter the V-groove 113V at the lower end of the movable side plate 113.

When the photosensitive material S encounters a paper jam or other trouble in the transport path from the squeeze rollers R1, R2 to the discharge rollers R8, R9, the boss of the swing plate 161 can be removed by tilting the operating lever 164 clockwise. 162 and 163 escape from the V-groove 113V and retreat, so the movable side plates 113 and 114 swing counterclockwise under their own weight, and the rollers R7 and R8, the guide plates 116 and 117, and the wire 134, which form an integral unit therewith, are swung down as one, and the conveyance path is opened, so that the jammed photosensitive material S can be taken out.

Next, hot air drying units are installed above and below the photosensitive material transport path consisting of the rollers, etc., respectively.
It is attached to the frame 101. The hot air drying unit includes an AC motor 171, a wind tunnel 172 having an opening slightly wider than the width of the conveying path, and the wind tunnel 1.
An impeller 17 consisting of a large number of blades housed in an AC motor 172 and rotated by a drive shaft of an AC motor 171.
3. A heating element 174 provided inside the opening of the wind tunnel 172 is composed of, for example, a sheathed heater that emits high heat. Here, the heat generation amount of the heating element 174A of the upper drying unit facing the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material S is set to be larger than that of the lower heating unit 174B. For example, 174A is 450 watts,
The 174B uses 250 watts of each sheathed heater.

Next, a wire mesh member 181 is fixedly installed in front of the heating element 174A of the upper hot air drying unit 170A to protect the front surface. On the other hand, there is another wire mesh member 1 near the lower side of the movable side plates 113, 114.
82 has been constructed. This lower wire mesh member 18
2 approaches the heating element 174B of the lower hot air drying unit 170B when the movable side plates 113, 114 are swung downward by the rotating shaft 110.

When photosensitive material becomes jammed in the conveyance path of the drying device, the conveyance path is opened by tilting down the operating lever 164 and swinging the movable side plates 113, 114 downward, so that the photosensitive material can be easily removed. can be removed. At this time, the upper and lower heating elements 174A, 174B are wire mesh members 181, 18
2 prevents the fingertips from touching the high-temperature heating elements 174A and 174B and causing burns.

Wind direction regulating plates 183 and 184 are fixedly installed on both sides of the opening of the upper hot air drying unit 170A, and serve to uniformly and efficiently flow the air blown by the fan 173A in the direction of the conveyance path.
Wind direction regulating plate 185 and movable side plates 113 and 11 fixedly installed above the lower hot air drying unit 170B
Wind direction regulating plates 186, 187 installed and fixed on 4
Similarly, the fan 173B serves to uniformly and efficiently flow the air in the direction of the conveyance path.

The paper discharge rollers R8 and R9 provided at the downstream end of the conveyance path of the drying device 50 are a pair of roller shafts made up of a plurality of rollers distributed and arranged on each of the rotating shafts 140 and 150. The outer diameters of the two rollers R9B closer to the outside of the upper roller shaft are slightly larger than the outer diameters of the two rollers R9A closer to the center. Furthermore, the two rollers R8A closer to the center of the lower roller shaft are in pressure contact with the roller R9A, but the two rollers R8B closer to the outside are arranged at positions where they do not come into contact with the upper roller. Furthermore, these rollers R8
A flange portion having a slightly larger outer diameter is formed at one end of A and R8B.

Next, the operation of the drying device will be explained. The photosensitive material S, which has undergone color development, bleach-fixing, and stabilization processing in the development processing section 40, is sent to the drying section 50 with the photosensitive surface facing upward, and is driven to rotate along a freely rotatable guide roller R0. The rollers R1 and R2 are inserted into the nip position where they come into pressure contact.
At this nip position, the processing liquid adhering to the photosensitive material S is absorbed and removed by the nonwoven fabric on the surfaces of the squeeze rollers R1 and R2. Subsequently, the photosensitive material S is sent along the transport path in the direction of the transport rollers R6 and R7, but during this transport, the lower surface of the photosensitive material S near both sides in the width direction is placed on guide plates 116 and 117, and The intermediate portion other than the above is placed on a plurality of wires 134 and sent.

During this transportation, the upper photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material S is
It is dried by a hot air stream from the upper hot air drying unit 170A. The upward curling of the photosensitive material S that occurs during drying is regulated by partial contact with the intermediate guide rollers R3, R4, and R5 which are driven and rotated, and is inserted into the transport rollers R6 and R7 without leaving the transport path.

Simultaneously during the above-mentioned conveyance, the hot air flow from the lower hot air drying unit 170B dries the lower surface of the photosensitive material S. At this time, a portion of the hot air that has removed moisture from the surface of the photosensitive material and dried it is sent to the suction side of the drying fan for heat preservation, and at the same time, it is heated together with fresh air from outside and used for circulation. Ru.

The dried photosensitive material S is pressed against the roller R8.
A, R9A, and non-pressure rollers R8B, R9B, and are discharged onto the external paper discharge tray 51.

[Effects of the invention] Since the drying device of the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, it has an excellent drying effect, a compact structure, and stable drying and conveyance processing of the photosensitive material. Almost no paper jams occur, making troubleshooting and maintenance work safe and easy.
It's easy. In particular, it completely prevents scratches that occur on the photosensitive surface without causing wrinkles or distortions on the drying or already dried photosensitive material, and provides high-quality recorded images. It has become possible to completely prevent scratches on the photosensitive surface without causing distortion, and to obtain high-quality recorded images.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a central sectional view of the drying device according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a side view, FIG. 3 is a left side view, and FIG. 4 is a developed view showing the drive system of the photosensitive material conveying section. Fifth
The figure is a cross-sectional view of the drying device showing a state in which the photosensitive material conveying path surface is open. FIG. 6 is an overall configuration diagram of a copying machine equipped with a drying device according to the present invention. 7th
The figure is a configuration diagram of a conventional photosensitive material processing apparatus. 50...Drying device, 101...Frame, 11
0,120,130,140,150...Rotating shaft, 113,114...Movable side plate, 116,11
7... Guide plate, 134... Wire, 161...
Swing plate, 164...operation lever, 170A, 17
0B...Hot air drying unit, 174A, 174B
... Heat generating element, 181, 182 ... Wire mesh member, 1
83,184,185,186,187... Wind direction regulating plate, R0... Guide roller, R1, R2...
...Squeeze roller, R3, R4, R5... Intermediate guide roller, R6, R7... Conveyance roller, R8,
R9, R8A, R8B, R9A, R9B... Paper discharge roller, G0 to G13... Gear.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a drying device of a photosensitive material processing device that dries the photosensitive material that has undergone photographic processing and discharges it outside the machine from a discharge port, there is a pair of conveyor rollers on the inlet side and a pair of conveyor rollers on the outlet side of the dryer that clamps and conveys the photosensitive material. A pair of paper ejection rollers for ejecting the dried photosensitive material to the outside of the machine are arranged, and both ends of the shaft portions of the upper transport roller and/or paper ejection roller forming the pair are the length of the frame. The upper rollers are fitted into the holes and pressed by the weight of each upper roller to the lower conveyance roller and paper ejection roller connected to a drive source, so that each of the upper rollers can be driven to rotate, and the pair of conveyance rollers Between the discharge rollers, a plurality of guide rollers are arranged in the upper part and a photosensitive material guide member in the lower part to constitute a photosensitive material conveying path,
A drying device for a photosensitive material processing apparatus, wherein the guide rollers are arranged so as not to come into pressure contact with the surface of the photosensitive material being conveyed, and the photosensitive material is conveyed within the photosensitive material conveying path with the photosensitive surface facing upward.