JPH0538356Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic developing device for developing photosensitive materials, and in particular to an automatic developing device that can remove deposits from conveyance rollers that nip and convey photosensitive materials. It relates to a developing device.

[Conventional technology]

After an image has been recorded, the photosensitive material is sequentially conveyed to a developing tank, a fixing tank, and a washing tank in an automatic developing device, where it is processed, and then sent to a drying section where it is dried and taken out.

The conveyance of the photosensitive material to the developing tank, fixing tank, and washing tank is carried out by rack conveyance rollers arranged in each processing tank. A driving force is transmitted to the conveyance roller via gears, etc., and the roller rotates to convey the photosensitive material.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, the conveying roller that conveys the photosensitive material is prone to dirt such as peeling of the emulsion layer of the photosensitive material and precipitates of developer components, and this adhered dirt can cause the surface of the photosensitive material to be transported. There is a problem in that the quality of the processed photosensitive material deteriorates because it may damage the photosensitive material or cause dirt to adhere to it.

Therefore, each time the developing process is completed, the operator takes out the rack from each processing tank and cleans the conveyance roller, which is a complicated task.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention stores a cleaning sheet in the device and automatically introduces the cleaning sheet into the film transport path according to an instruction to easily clean the transport roller. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic developing device that can use the cleaning sheet without wasting it by selecting whether to store it again or to discharge it.

[Means for solving problems]

An automatic developing device according to the present invention is an automatic developing device that conveys and processes a photosensitive material after image exposure along a predetermined conveyance path, and includes a device for removing deposits adhering to the conveyance path. a storage section for storing a cleaning sheet; an introducing means for introducing the cleaning sheet from the storage section into the conveyance path;
a guide means for selectively guiding the cleaning sheet conveyed along the conveyance path to the storage section or the discharge port; and a drive means for driving the automatic developing device to convey the cleaning sheet along the conveyance path. It is characterized by having

[Effect]

According to the present invention, the cleaning sheet stored in the storage section can be introduced into the film transport path by the introduction means according to an instruction. Therefore, the operator does not have to worry about inserting the film through the usual film insertion slot, and the cleaning sheet can be easily introduced into the conveyance path even when, for example, the automatic developing device is connected to a previous process device. I can do it.

Since the introduced cleaning sheet is conveyed along the film conveyance path, dirt on the rollers and the like is removed. Here, since the cleaning sheet does not become unusable after being conveyed once, but can be reused, the cleaning sheet that has been conveyed once is returned to the storage section by the guide means. Thereby, the cleaning sheet can be used effectively. Furthermore, when the cleaning sheet that has been used several times is to be discarded, it can be discharged from a normal film discharge port using a guide means.

Thus, in the present invention, it is not necessary to disassemble the rack or the like to clean the roller. Alternatively, the rack can be removed from the processing bath to reduce the frequency of cleaning the rollers.

As the cleaning sheet, a developed unexposed film, a sheet having a matte layer on the surface, etc. are used.

[Example of idea]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an automatic developing device 10 to which the present invention is applied.

Inside the automatic developing device 10, a developing tank 14, a fixing tank 16, and a washing tank 18 are fixed to a machine frame 12 via a bracket 13, and a film 22 inserted from an insertion table 20 is placed in these processing tanks. The film is sequentially immersed in conveyor rollers 14A, 16A, and 18A, and then taken out, dried with warm air in a drying section 24, and then taken out to a film stocker 26.

Conveyance racks are arranged in the developer tank 14, the fixing tank 16, and the washing tank 18, respectively, and both ends of the conveyance rollers 14A, 16A, and 18A are pivotally supported on these conveyance racks, and are rotated by a driving means (not shown). The driving force is transmitted to it, causing it to rotate.

A pair of guide rollers 28 are arranged between the developing tank 14 and the fixing tank 16 to guide the film sent out from the developing tank 14 into the fixing tank 16.

Further, guide rollers 30 and 32 are arranged between the fixing tank 16 and the washing tank 18.
The film 22 sent out from the rinsing tank 18 is guided and conveyed into the washing tank 18.

A squeeze rack 34 is arranged between the washing tank 18 and the drying section 24. The squeeze rack 34 is equipped with a plurality of rollers 35, which squeeze and convey the film 22 sent out from the washing tank 18 while squeezing water from the film 22.

Inside the drying section 24, a plurality of transport rollers 36 are arranged vertically in a staggered manner, and the film 22 sent out from the squeeze rack 34 is transported downward from the discharge port 24A. The film is sent to the film stocker 26.

A warm air blowing pipe 37 is disposed outside the conveying roller 36 in the drying section 24. The hot air blowing pipe 37 is connected to a drying fan 40 through a conduit 38, and hot air is supplied to the drying section 24 so that the conveying roller 36 Hot air is blown onto the surface of the film 22 being conveyed downward.

Further, a temperature detector 42 is arranged within the drying section 24. This temperature detector 42 is adapted to detect the temperature of the drying air in the drying section 24 and is connected to a control device 44 provided in the automatic developing device 10.

A heat exchanger 46 is disposed on the machine frame 12 below the developer tank 14, the fixing tank 16, and the washing tank 18. This heat exchanger 46 has a circulation pump 48 installed on the way.
It communicates with the developer tank 14 via a conduit 50. Further, the heat exchanger 46 is communicated with the developer tank 14 through a conduit 52.

Therefore, the developer in the developer tank 14 is sent to the heat exchanger 46 by the operation of the circulation pump 48, cooled by the heat exchanger 46, and returned to the developer tank 14.
It is beginning to be sent inward. Further, a developer temperature detector 54 is disposed within the developer tank 14 to detect the temperature of the developer. This developer temperature sensor 54 is connected to the control device 44 .

Further, at the bottom of the automatic developing device 10, a developer replenishment tank 56 and a fixer replenishment tank 58 are placed. These replenishment tanks contain a developer replenisher and a fixer replenisher, and are supplied to the developer tank 14 and the fixer tank 16 by a supply device (not shown).

Further, in the automatic developing device 10, a film detector 60 is disposed downstream of the insertion table 20 in the film transport direction, and detects the insertion of the film.

An upper chamber 62 is provided in the upper part of the automatic developing device 10, and a tray 66 is arranged on a bottom plate 64. A plurality of cleaning sheets 68 are stored in this tray 66. This cleaning sheet 68 is placed above the tray 66,
Suction cup 70 driven by a driving means (not shown)
The sheets are taken out one by one from the tray 66 and inserted between the conveyance rollers 72.

As shown in FIG. 2, a guide 74 is disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance roller 72 in the direction in which the cleaning sheet 68 is conveyed. This guide 74 bends and guides the cleaning sheet 68 downward, and inserts it between conveyance rollers 76 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the developer tank 14
A conveyance path switching means 78 is arranged above the conveyance path switching means 78 . This conveyance path switching means 78 is connected to the rack side plate 80.
(However, the opposite side plate is not shown) A rotary shaft 82 is supported by a rotary shaft 82, a plate 84 is extended from the rotary shaft 82, and a pair of conveyance rollers 8
6,88.

The plate 84 is formed with an arcuate cross section,
It is designed to be rotated back and forth by a drive means (not shown) such as a solenoid.

In the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 2, this plate 84 blocks the conveyance path of the film 22 and hangs the cleaning sheet 68 between it and the fixed guide 90, and
At the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.
The film fed into the developer tank 14 is bent downward and guided to the uppermost transport roller 14A of the developer tank 14.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a plate 92, which is a means for collecting the cleaning sheet 68, is disposed on the film lifter 26. This plate 92 is similar to the plate 84 of the conveyance path switching means 78.
The structure is similar to that shown in FIG. 1, where the conveyance path of the film 22 is blocked and the cleaning sheet 6 sent out from the discharge port 24A is
8 to the conveyance roller 94, and this conveyance roller 9
4 to be conveyed upward and collected into a tray 66 in an upper chamber 62. 1st
At the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in the figure, the film 22 is guided to the film stocker 26.

Driving means (not shown), plate 92 and suction cup 70 for driving these conveyance path switching means 78 are connected to the control device 44 as shown in FIG. 3.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the automatic developing device 10 is powered on, it is initialized in step 100. At this time, the automatic developing device 10 is in a state where the film 22 is transported to each processing tank.

That is, the plate 84 of the conveyance path switching means 78
is located at the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, and the plate 92, which is a collection means, is located at the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

From this state, in step 102, it is determined whether or not to perform cleaning. In this case, the operator selects whether or not to perform cleaning by inputting from a button or the like. Alternatively, the cleaning sheet 68 may be automatically fed when the temperature of the drying air reaches a predetermined temperature with the main switch turned on.

If cleaning is not to be performed, steps from step 124 to be described later are executed.

When performing cleaning, follow the steps below.
At 104, the temperature of the drying air is detected by the temperature detector 42, and it is determined whether this temperature is the set temperature. If the answer is negative, this determination is repeated until the temperature of the drying air reaches the set temperature.

When the temperature of the drying air reaches a predetermined value, the suction cup 70 is activated by a drive means (not shown), and the tray 66 is activated.
The cleaning sheet 68 inside is adsorbed (step 106). Next, the number of times I that the suction cup 70 is actuated is counted (step 108).

Next, it is determined whether the number of actuations I of the suction cup 70 is greater than or equal to a predetermined number of times P (step 110). this is,
The top cleaning sheet 68 in the tray 66
After being conveyed and cleaned within each processing tank and drying section, the cleaning sheet is returned to the top stage within the tray 66, so it is necessary to discharge it every predetermined number of times in order to replace it with a new cleaning sheet. Therefore, the number of times one cleaning sheet is used is counted. This number of times is counted by counting the number of times the suction cup is activated. When the number of times the cleaning sheet 68 is used is equal to or greater than the predetermined number P, the conveyance path switching means 78 is activated and the plate 84 is
moves to the position shown by the solid line in Figure 2 (step
112), and in step 114, the number of times the suction cup is used I is cleared to 0. Next, in step 122, the cleaning sheet 68 is conveyed, and the cleaning sheet 68 sent out from the tray 66 is transferred to the developer tank 14,
The toner is sequentially sent into the fixing tank 16 and the washing tank 18 to clean the conveying rollers 14A, 16A, and 18A in each processing tank. Furthermore, cleaning sheet 6
8 moves downward in the drying section 24 while moving the conveying roller 3
6 is cleaned and discharged into the film stocker 26 from the discharge port 24A. In this case, since the plate 92 has moved to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

In step 108, if the number of times I of use of the cleaning sheet 68 is less than the predetermined number of times P, that is, if the cleaning sheet 68 on the uppermost stage in the tray 66 has not been used for the predetermined number of times P, in step 116, the plate 92 of the collecting means is removed. moves from the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 1 to the position indicated by the solid line.

Next, the conveyance path switching means 78 is activated and the plate 84 is moved to the position shown by the solid line in FIG.
Then, in step 120, the number of actuations I of the suction cup 70 is stored in the backup memory within the control device 44.

At step 122, the cleaning sheet 68 is conveyed toward the developer tank 14. The cleaning sheet 68 conveyed toward the developer tank 14 is sequentially sent to the fixing tank 16, the washing tank 18, and the drying section 24, and is discharged from the discharge port 24A. The cleaning sheet discharged from the discharge port 24A is sent to the upper chamber 62 and is stored again in the uppermost stage of the tray 66. By conveying the cleaning sheet 68, the conveying rollers 14A, 16A, and 18A in each processing tank are cleaned. Therefore, it is possible to easily clean the racks and the like without taking them out from inside each processing tank.

Next, the temperature of the developer is detected by the developer temperature detector 54, and it is determined in step 124 whether the detection result is the set value.

If the temperature of the developer has not reached the set value, this determination is repeated until the temperature of the developer reaches the set value. When the set value is reached, in step 126, the plate 84 of the conveyance path switching means 78 moves to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 2, and the plate 84 of the collecting means moves to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. do. At the same time, a lamp (not shown), which indicates that the film 22 can be processed, lights up to inform the operator that the film 22 can be processed.

As explained above, in this embodiment, the film 2
Since the cleaning sheet 68 is automatically conveyed into the conveyance path No. 2 to clean the conveyance rollers in each processing tank, the conveyance rollers can be easily cleaned.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, the automatic developing device according to the present invention is capable of storing a cleaning sheet in the device and automatically introducing the cleaning sheet into the film transport path according to an instruction to easily clean the transport roller. By selecting whether to store the cleaning sheet again or to discharge it as necessary, an excellent effect can be obtained in that the cleaning sheet can be used without wasting it.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing an automatic developing device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged view of Fig. 1 showing the conveyance path switching means, and Fig. 3 shows the connection between the control device and other equipment. The block diagram shown in FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention. 10... Automatic developing device, 14... Developer tank, 16
... Fixing tank, 18 ... Washing tank, 24 ... Drying section,
44... Control device, 62... Upper chamber, 64... Bottom plate, 66... Tray, 68... Cleaning sheet, 70... Suction cup, 72, 76, 86, 88...
Conveyance roller, 74... Guide, 78... Conveyance path switching means, 82... Rotating shaft, 84... Plate, 90... Fixed guide, 92... Plate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An automatic developing device that transports and processes a photosensitive material after image exposure along a predetermined transport route, the storage unit storing a cleaning sheet for removing deposits adhering to the transport route; introducing means for introducing the cleaning sheet from the storage section into the conveyance path; guiding means for selectively guiding the cleaning sheet conveyed along the conveyance path to the storage section or the discharge port; An automatic developing device comprising: a driving means for driving the automatic developing device to convey the automatic developing device along the same direction.