JPH06347975A - Photosensitive material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To realize stable development processing by preventing the liquid fatigue by idling of rollers of the photosensitive material processing device on a processing liquid surface and the damage of squeezing rollers by the crystals of the processing liquid sticking thereto. CONSTITUTION:The fatigue of the processing liquid and the adhesion of the crystals to the transporting rollers 3, 8 are prevented by intermittently executing driving for transportation without stopping the revolution of the respective rollers 3 to 6, 8 overall at the time of stopping the development processing. On/off of driving motors are properly changed over at adequate intervals according to the compsn. of the processing liquid, the scale of the device, etc. The liquid evaporation by idling of the rollers to be wetted on the processing liquid surface is suppressed and, therefore, the useless evaporation of the processing liquid does not arise. The precipitation of the liquid crystals generated in the squeeze rollers 4 to 6 is uniformalized and the damage and unequal pressure contact of the rollers by the crystal precipitation are eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus for continuously performing processing such as development and fixing using a processing solution such as a developing solution and a fixing solution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a photosensitive material processing apparatus for collectively performing a series of processing such as printing and development processing on a photosensitive material, a CPU which is composed of an exposure section, a development processing section, a drying section, etc., and gives a control command to each section. Photosensitive material processing devices incorporating the are widely used.

In such a general apparatus, a roll-shaped photosensitive material is stored in a magazine or the like, cut, sent to an exposure table, exposed, and then conveyed to a development processing section. In the development processing section, the development processing is performed by transporting the photosensitive material in the processing solution. The transfer of the photosensitive material in the apparatus is performed by rollers.

[0004]

When the driving of the rollers is stopped after the development processing of the light-sensitive material is temporarily stopped, the processing liquid adhered to the rollers on the liquid surface and in charge of the conveyance between the processing tanks. Will collect on the bottom of the roller and dry, causing crystallization on the roller surface.

In order to prevent the processing solution from crystallizing when the roller is stopped, the processing solution can be prevented from evaporating when the roller is run idle after the development processing of the photosensitive material is temporarily stopped. However, with the roller located on the surface of the treatment liquid, wetting and evaporation of the treatment liquid are repeated as the roller rotates. For this reason, when the time period during which the rollers run idle increases, the amount of evaporation of the processing liquid increases, which causes a problem that the processing liquid is damaged and fatigue progresses.

That is, in the apparatus as shown in FIG. 2, if the rotation of the conveying roller 3 and the squeeze rollers 4, 5, 6 is stopped after the development processing of the photosensitive material 2 is once stopped, the evaporation of the processing liquid is reduced. But the squeeze roller 4,
In the rollers such as 5 and 6 which are not in contact with the treatment liquid, the treatment liquid remaining on the surface is collected in the lower part and evaporated to be in a state where the treatment liquid is crystallized in a part of the roller. When the crystallization of the roller is resumed, the photosensitive material is damaged by crystals partially attached to the surface of the roller.

As shown in FIG. 3, the processing liquid adhering to the photosensitive material 2 remains on the surfaces of the squeeze rollers 4, 5, 6 in the overrack 9 after the photosensitive material 2 has passed. When the photosensitive material 2 to be processed is sent one after another, the processing liquid on the surface of the squeeze rollers 4, 5, 6 is added one after another, and when it cannot be stopped on the surface, it drips downward.

When the photosensitive material 2 is exhausted and each roller is in a state of idling, the surface of the roller, such as the transport rollers 3 and 8, a part of which is in contact with the processing liquid, is not actually processed. Nevertheless, the evaporation of the processing liquid does not stop.

In particular, among the processing solutions, the developing solution has a great influence on the development quality, and therefore it is an important subject to suppress the processing solution fatigue. Moreover, since the composition is complicated, crystallization is likely to occur. The present invention, in the photosensitive material processing apparatus, liquid fatigue due to idle rotation of the roller on the processing liquid surface,
It is an object of the present invention to prevent the photosensitive material from being damaged by crystals of the processing liquid adhering to the squeeze roller and to realize stable development processing.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a photosensitive material processing apparatus for performing a developing process, which comprises means for intermittently driving a roller in the processing device when the developing process is stopped. Is. The intermittent drive of the drive motor is set at an appropriate interval depending on the composition of the processing liquid, the scale of the apparatus, and the like.

[0011]

EXAMPLES The photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention will be described below based on Examples. Figure 1 shows development, bleaching, fixing, etc.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the entire development processing section that sequentially processes photosensitive materials through processing solutions having different components. The photosensitive material 10 sent from the printing section is processed by sequentially moving the processing liquid tanks 11 to 16 filled with the processing liquid. The processing liquid tanks are successively fed via squeeze rollers in the over racks 17 to 21.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a transport roller which takes charge of the movement of the photosensitive material between the processing tanks in the developing processing section. The photosensitive material 10 that has passed through the processing liquid tank 1 is nipped by the conveyance rollers 3 and conveyed upward. Squeeze roller 4,
Reference numerals 5 and 6 squeeze the processing liquid on the photosensitive material 10 and send it to the next processing liquid tank 7.

Since the rollers 3 and 8 in the processing tank and the rollers in the overrack 9 work together, the photosensitive material 1
When the development processing of 0 is stopped, a mechanism that drives each roller intermittently works. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of intermittent drive used in the apparatus of the present invention.

When the developing process is completed, the drying section and then the
The drive stops automatically. In this example, after the driving is stopped, driving and stopping are repeated at appropriate intervals, and 1 minute driving and 4 minutes rest are repeated 11 times, and then the apparatus is completely stopped. Although not explicitly shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, if the developing process is reunited during this period, the power of each unit is turned on and the process is restarted.

[0015]

As described above, in the light-sensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention, by intermittently driving at appropriate time intervals when the development processing is stopped, liquid evaporation due to idle rotation of the roller wetted on the processing liquid surface is achieved. It is possible to suppress the above, and therefore, it becomes difficult for wasteful evaporation of the processing liquid to occur, so that liquid fatigue can be prevented.

Further, the precipitation of the crystals of the processing liquid generated on the squeeze roller in the air is made uniform, which has the effect of eliminating damage to the photosensitive material due to the crystals and uneven development.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an entire development processing section of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a development processing section of the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an overrack of a development processing unit of the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an example of control of conveyance drive of the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Processing Liquid Tank 2 Photosensitive Material 3 Conveying Roller 4 Squeeze Roller 5 Squeeze Roller 6 Squeeze Roller 7 Processing Liquid Tank 8 Conveying Roller 9 Overrack 10 Photosensitive Material 11 Processing Liquid Tank 12 Processing Liquid Tank 13 Processing Liquid Tank 14 Processing Liquid Tank 15 Processing Liquid tank 16 Treatment liquid tank 17 Over rack 18 Over rack 19 Over rack 20 Over rack 21 Over rack

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A photosensitive material processing apparatus for performing a developing process, comprising means for intermittently driving a roller in the processing device when the developing process is stopped.