JPH10232478A - Control method of photographic sensitive material processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the time from turning on power to starting development processing by attaining only initial driving, at the time of starting the supply of power from the second time, after a data is changed. SOLUTION: When 'the supply of the power is started', it is discriminated whether 'the interval between guides in an underliquid rack part and a drying rack part is OK' or not with an output signal from a detector. When the width between the guides is OK, 'the width between the guides is calibrated' by using a width change operating circuit. Then, 'the initial driving' of a carrying mechanism is attained for a specified time and photographic printing papers remaining in the underliquid rack part and the drying rack part are ejected. It is discriminated whether a change in the initial width between the guides at this time is for 'the first time after the date is changed' or not by a timer circuit, during 'the OFF of the initial driving'. When it is judged that the change in the initial width between the guides is after the first time, the next step of 'the change in the initial width between the guides' is skipped and normal 'development processing' is stared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for controlling a photographic material processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a photographic processing apparatus). More specifically, the present invention relates to a control method of a photographic processing apparatus capable of shortening the time from power-on to the start of processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 4, a conventional photographic processing apparatus draws out a photographic paper S wound in a roll 101 around a magazine 101, and then exposes an image of a developed photographic film F by an exposure mechanism 102. A printing unit 103 for printing on the photographic paper S, a developing unit 104 for passing the photographic paper S printed by the printing unit 103 through various processing tanks for developing, and a developing process by the developing unit 104 Drying unit 105 for drying the printed photographic paper S, and drying unit 1
And a print cut unit 106 for separating the photographic print P of the photographic paper S dried by the use of the image printing unit 05 for each image. The developing unit 104 and the drying unit 105 are provided with a submerged rack unit 107 and a drying rack unit 108 for guiding and transporting the printing paper S. Also,
As shown in FIG. 5, each of the racks 107 and 108 has a pair of rollers 109 for transporting the printing paper S,
The distance between the pair of guides 110 for guiding the both width side edges of the printing paper S is set to be a feed screw shaft 1 in which opposite screws are formed.
There is provided a guide width changing mechanism 112 which can be adjusted by the control unit 11.

Usually, when the guide width is changed, the guide is moved from the widest one to the designated guide position and stopped. This is to absorb the backlash of the guide width driving gear, and when changing from a narrow set value to a wide width, the width is slightly widened and returned to the set width.

In such a photographic processing apparatus, if the developing operation is performed without operating the guide width changing mechanism in the submerged rack for a long period of time, the support of the feed screw shaft, the surface of the feed screw shaft, the inner surface of the nut, etc. In some cases, impurities such as crystals of the processing liquid are fixed, and the guide may not move even if the guide width is changed. Therefore, it is necessary to periodically clean the submerged rack, etc.
There is a problem that maintenance is very troublesome.
In addition, although a friction unit is provided in the drive motor to prevent damage to components due to overload, the movement torque of the guide is similarly increased by impurities such as crystals, so that the slip function of the friction unit operates. Therefore, there is a problem that the guide width cannot be changed.

Therefore, conventionally, a guide width changing operation (hereinafter referred to as a guide width change) is performed after the initial drive at every power-on. Specifically, each time the power is turned on, the transport mechanism is operated to perform an initial drive for discharging the photographic paper remaining in the rack to the outside. Then, the guide width changing mechanism is operated to change the guide width so that the pair of guides reciprocate about twice between the minimum width and the maximum width, and stop the guide at the designated guide position.
Thus, it is possible to prevent impurities of the developer from sticking to the feed screw shaft or the like for moving the guide, and as a result, it is possible to smoothly change the guide width.

[0006]

As described above, in the prior art, during initial drive and subsequent guide width change each time the power is turned on, printing is performed in order to prevent clogging of photographic paper inside the developing unit. It is necessary to prohibit the sending of the photographic paper from the printing section to the developing section.

For this reason, when it is necessary to restart the power supply of the apparatus, for example, when some trouble such as jamming of the film or photographic paper occurs in the transport path or the like, the initial drive and the change of the width of the initial guide are required. ,
It is necessary to wait for a relatively long time of about 5 to 10 minutes before starting the development processing. Therefore, there is a problem that a substantial processing time is reduced due to a long waiting time. In addition, there are many requests for shortening the waiting time from users of the processing apparatus such as a print shop.

On the other hand, if the initial guide width is not changed after the initial drive, there is a case where the proper guide width cannot be changed. For example, if the guide width is reduced and returned when the submerged rack in the developing unit is taken in and out, the guide width may be reduced due to the backlash of the guide width drive gear, and photographic paper may be jammed. There is.

Specifically, photographic paper is jammed in the following cases.

For example, if the power is turned off and the submerged rack is removed from the machine body during the processing of a 127-width (127 mm-wide photographic paper; the same applies hereinafter) processing, the guide of the rack itself becomes free. When this rack is returned to the machine main body, the guide width after the machine is assembled may be narrower than the guide width of the rack that is not extracted due to the guide width states (1) and (2) of the rack described later. Paper may be jammed.

(1) When the rack is returned to the 127 width from the narrow side (89 width side), when the rack is returned, the rack is set on the slide plate of the machine body with a variable guide width. 127 width), but due to the backlash of the guide width driving gear, it is 2 to 2
It may be 3 mm narrower, causing photographic paper to jam.

(2) When the width is returned from the wide side (165 width side) to the 127 width, the operation becomes the same as the normal guide width changing operation, and there is no influence of backlash.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a photographic processing apparatus capable of shortening the time from power-on to the start of development processing. I do. Another object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a photographic processing apparatus which can solve the problem that the printing paper is jammed in the guide even if the initial guide width change is omitted.

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a photographic processing apparatus, comprising: a conveying mechanism for conveying a photographic material; and a pair of guides for guiding both side edges of the photographic material. An initial drive means for driving the transport mechanism for a fixed time, and an initial guide for driving the guide width change mechanism for a fixed time; and a rack portion provided with a guide width changing mechanism capable of adjusting an interval. A method for controlling a photographic light-sensitive material processing apparatus comprising a width changing unit, comprising: performing an initial drive and an initial guide width changing operation in order when a first power-on after a date change is performed; When starting up, only the initial drive is performed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of a photographic processing apparatus, wherein a conveying mechanism for conveying a photographic material and a guide capable of adjusting a distance between a pair of guides for guiding both width side edges of the photographic material. A rack portion provided with a width changing mechanism, further comprising an initial drive means for driving the transport mechanism for a fixed time, and an initial guide width changing means for driving the guide width changing mechanism for a fixed time. A method of controlling a photographic photosensitive material processing apparatus, comprising: performing an initial drive and an initial guide width changing operation in order when performing a first power-on after a date change; and performing a second or subsequent power-on. Performing only the initial drive, and setting the guide to such an extent that the photographic material does not come off from the guide before the initial drive is performed. Is characterized in that only widened, then returned to the original position.

It is preferable that the predetermined amount is about 5 to 8 mm.

If the guide width differs before and after the power is turned on, it is preferable that the initial drive and the operation of changing the initial guide width are prohibited.

According to the control method of the photographic processing apparatus according to the first aspect, the change of the initial guide width is stopped after the initial drive every time the power is turned on, and is performed only after the first initial drive after the date change. Therefore, only the initial drive is performed at the time of the second or subsequent power-on, so that the time from power-on to the start of the developing process can be reduced.

According to the control method of the photographic processing apparatus of the second aspect, similarly to the control method of the first aspect, the change of the initial guide width is stopped after the initial drive at every power-on, and the date is changed. Since it is performed only after the first initial drive later, only the initial drive is performed at the second and subsequent power-on, so that the time from the power-on to the start of the development process can be reduced. it can.

According to the control method of the present invention, the guide is widened by a predetermined amount so that the photographic material does not come off from the guide before the initial drive, and then the guide is returned to the original position. Even when the submerged rack is taken in and out for maintenance, the guide width is calibrated (that is, the backlash of the guide width driving gear is absorbed) after the power is turned on and before the initial drive is performed. The width can be maintained, and as a result, the problem that the printing paper is jammed in the guide is eliminated.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a control method of a photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a photographic processing apparatus to which the method for controlling a photographic processing apparatus of the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a method for controlling a photographic processing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 and FIG. 3 are explanatory views schematically showing the guide width change of FIG.

The photographic processing apparatus according to the present embodiment includes a printing unit for printing an image recorded on a developed photographic film onto photographic paper, and developing the photographic paper by passing the printed photographic paper through various processing tanks. It comprises a developing section for processing and a drying section for drying photographic paper developed by the developing section.

As shown in FIG. 1, a submerged rack unit 1 and a drying rack unit 21 for guiding and transporting the photographic paper S are installed in each processing tank of the developing unit and in the drying unit. I have.

A guide width changing means 3 provided between a pair of upright side plates 2a and 2b is connected to the submerged rack 1 via a first transmission shaft 4 to the guide width changing means 3. A guide width changing mechanism A including the first slide connecting means 5 is provided. Although not shown, the printing unit is also provided with a guide width changing mechanism similar to the submerged rack unit 1.

The guide width changing means 3 includes a pair of side plates 2.
a feed screw shaft 7 erected on both sides a, 2b and having oppositely oriented male screws 6a, 6b engraved on both sides, and nuts 8a, 8b screwed to the male screws 6a, 6b of the reverse feed screw shaft 7.
And a pair of guides 9a and 9b each having a U-shaped cross section and attached to the nuts 8a and 8b.
By rotating the feed screw shaft 7 forward and backward,
The distance (guide width) between the pair of guides 9a and 9b can be adjusted so as to match the width of the photographic paper S by increasing or decreasing the interval (guide width).

The first slide connecting means 5 comprises a rack gear 10.

The first transmission shaft 4 is rotatably provided upright in the submerged rack portion 1, and a bevel gear 12 meshing with a bevel gear 11 formed on the feed screw shaft 7 is formed at a lower portion. A pinion gear 13 meshing with the rack gear 10 is formed on the upper part. The horizontal movement of the first slide connecting means 5 can be transmitted to the guide width changing means 3 as a rotational movement by the first transmission shaft 4.

On the other hand, the drying rack 21 has a guide width changing means 3 similar to the submerged rack 1 and a second transmission shaft 24 connected to the guide width changing means 3.
Guide width changing mechanism B including the slide connecting means 25
Is provided.

The second slide connecting means 25 includes a slide rack gear 29 having a convex piece 27 on one side and teeth 28 formed on the other side, a pinion gear 30 meshing with the teeth 28 at one end, and a bevel gear at the other end. And a rotating shaft 32 formed with the same.

The second transmission shaft 24 is rotatably provided in the drying rack portion 21, and a bevel gear 33 that meshes with the bevel gear 11 formed on the feed screw shaft 7 is formed below the second transmission shaft 24. A bevel gear 34 that meshes with the bevel gear 31 of the rotating shaft 32 is formed at an upper part.

A pair of guides 9a, 9b for guiding the both side edges of the photographic printing paper S between the guide width changing mechanisms A, B in the developing section and the drying section. Is provided with a guide width synchronization mechanism C for synchronizing the width movement of the guide.

The guide width synchronization mechanism C is connected to the first slide connection means 5 and the second slide connection means 25 of the guide width change mechanisms A and B, respectively.

The guide width synchronizing mechanism C comprises a guide width synchronizing means 43 and a driving means 44 for driving the means 43.
It is composed of

The guide width synchronizing means 43 includes a pinion shaft 4 on which two pinion gears 45a and 45b are formed.
5, and width adjusting rack gears 46 and 47 meshed with the pinion gears 45a and 45b, respectively.

The width adjusting rack gear 46 is connected to a slide plate 49 having a rectangular notch 48 into which the rack gear 10 is fitted.
For example, it is slidably guided and supported by a member that regulates the guide width. Further, a stopper pin 51 for restricting the movement of the rack gear 46 outside the allowable range is fitted in the long groove 50 formed at the upper end of the rack gear 46. On the other hand, the rack gear 47 is formed with a concave portion 52 for inserting the convex piece 27 of the slide rack gear 29 in the second slide connecting means 25, and is slidably guided and supported by a stationary member as described above. ing.

The driving means 44 includes a width changing motor 53.
A friction unit 54 for preventing damage to each component due to overload, a detection plate 56a and a sensor 56 connected to an output shaft 55 having the pinion shaft 45 extended.
b and the friction unit 5
4 and a worm 57 and a worm wheel 58 connecting the output shaft 55.

Therefore, when the distance between the pair of guides 9a and 9b of the guide width changing means A and B in the submerged rack portion 1 and the drying rack portion 21 is increased to a predetermined size,
By the rotation of the width changing motor 53, the output shaft 55 and the pinion shaft 45 are rotated in the direction a shown in FIG. Thus, the rotation of the motor 53 is controlled by the pinion gear 45.
The linear motion of the slide plate 49 and the rack gear 10 is changed by the a and the rack gear 46. In the submerged rack unit 1, this linear motion is converted into a rotary motion again by the first transmission shaft 4, which drives the feed screw shaft 7 to rotate, and moves the pair of guides 9a and 9b in the direction b shown in FIG. spread.

On the other hand, also in the drying rack section 21, by the rotation of the width changing motor 53, the rotational movement of the motor 53 is changed to the linear movement of the second slide connecting means 25 by the pinion gear 45b and the rack gear 47. This linear motion is converted into a rotary motion again by the second transmission shaft 24, which drives the feed screw shaft 7 to rotate, and the pair of guides 9
a, 9b are spread in the direction b shown in FIG. As a result, the photographic paper S conveyed from the submerged rack unit 1 is reliably transferred and guided by the guides 9a and 9b of the drying rack 21.

In the photographic processing apparatus of FIG. 1, a control means 60 for moving the pair of guides 9a and 9b is connected to the driving means 44.

The control means 60 includes a timer circuit 6 for detecting, for example, the first power-on after the date is changed.
1, a cycle circuit 62 for setting the number of times of reciprocating the interval between the pair of guides 9a and 9b from the minimum width to the maximum width during the operation, and a transport mechanism 70 for discharging the photographic paper S remaining in the rack. For a fixed time (ie,
And an initial drive circuit 63 for performing control for initial drive.

The control means 60 is incorporated in the CPU together with a guide width detection circuit and an emergency stop circuit of a safety device.

The control circuit 60 controls the operation of the width change motor 53 when the timer circuit 61 detects the date change and the initial drive circuit 63 controls the initial drive after the date change. On the other hand, when the initial drive circuit 63 controls the second or subsequent initial drive on the day, the width change motor 53
Is provided with a width changing operation circuit 64 for prohibiting the operation of.

Further, the width changing operation circuit 64 extends the guide by a predetermined amount so that the printing paper S does not come off from the guides 9a and 9b before performing the initial driving, and then returns the guide to the original position. The width changing motor 53 is controlled for this purpose.

The transport mechanism 70 initially driven by the initial drive circuit 64 includes a pair of side plates 2a, 2a,
b, a pair of rollers 73a, 73b
And a sprocket 7 provided at the shaft end of the roller 73a.
4 and a chain 75 wound around the sprocket 74
It is composed of The chain 75 is connected to a drive motor 76, and the photographic paper S sandwiched between the pair of rollers 73a, 73b is fed by the drive motor 76 along the pair of guides 9a, 9b. In the present embodiment, the transport mechanism 7 using a pair of rollers 73a and 73b
Although 0 is adopted, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a transport mechanism in which rollers are arranged in a staggered manner. Note that the initial drive means in the present invention is an initial drive circuit 63 and a drive motor 76 in FIG.
It is composed of

As the initial drive circuit 63, a timer circuit which is connected to the drive motor 76 and drives the drive motor 76 for a predetermined time when the power is turned on can be used.

In the photographic processing apparatus of FIG. 1, the initial drive means is driven (specifically, the drive motor 76 is being driven) and the guide width changing mechanism is limited to stop the operations of A and B. Means 72 are provided.

As the limiting means 72, an electromagnetic relay or an electronic switch operated by an output signal of a timer circuit used in the initial driving circuit 63 is used to turn off the power of the width changing motor 53 of the driving means 44. be able to.

When a CPU is used for controlling the photographic processing apparatus, the software incorporated in the CPU is partially modified, and when a power-on signal is input to the CPU at power-on, The drive signal of the drive motor may be output for a predetermined period, and a prohibition signal for prohibiting the drive of the width changing motor may be output.

Next, control at the time of turning on the power of the photographic processing apparatus of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(1) First, when the power supply is turned on, the distance (width) between the guides 9a and 9b in the submerged rack unit 1 and the drying rack unit 21 is determined by the output signal of the detector 56.
Is OK (the designated guide width is the same as the guide width of the printing unit).

(2) When the guide width is OK, the guide width is calibrated using the width changing operation circuit 64.

If the guide width is not OK, the guide movement is instructed by the guide width error clear, and the guide is moved to the regular position. At this time, the guide width change performs the same operation as the initial guide width change of reciprocating the pair of guides about two times between the minimum width and the maximum width, and then moves the guides to a regular position. after that,
Perform normal development processing.

(3) Then, using the initial drive circuit 63, the transport mechanism 70 is initially driven for a certain period of time to discharge the photographic paper S remaining in the submerged rack unit 1 and the drying rack unit 21.

(4) During the initial drive OFF, the timer circuit 61 determines whether or not the current initial guide width change is the first time after the date change. If it is determined to be the second time or later (not the first time), the next step of changing the initial guide width is skipped.

(5) When the date is changed for the first time, the initial guide width is changed. Specifically, the cycle circuit 62
, The width changing motor 53 is rotated forward and reverse to move the guides 9a and 9b to the position of the minimum width (for example, 89 mm) of the photographic paper to be used.
Move to the maximum width (for example, 165 mm) position side,
The width is changed to about two reciprocations to the original positions of the guides 9a and 9b.

When the width of the initial guide is changed, first, as shown in FIG.
mm). This is the gear for driving the guide width (bevel gears 11, 12, etc.) by stopping from the widest one when finally stopping at the original guide position.
This is to absorb the backlash of the
In the case of (b), extra guide movement is required to stop from a wide side, which takes time.)

(6) After changing the initial guide width, the position of the regular guide width is confirmed again, and it is determined whether or not the final stop is OK.

(7) After confirmation, if the final stop is OK,
The photographic paper is sent out and the normal developing process is started. If NO, an error message is displayed and the process is stopped.

As shown in the above steps (4) and (5), only the initial drive is performed at the second and subsequent power-on times, and the initial guide width change is omitted. Can be reduced to about 2 seconds to 4 minutes.

Further, as in the step (2), the guide width of the rack is increased by about 5 to 8 mm before the initial drive, and a guide width calibration operation for setting again is performed. For example,
Backlash in the bevel gears 11 and 12) can be absorbed. Therefore, the photographic paper S is
The risk of clogging of a and 9b is eliminated. Actually, since the deviation of the guide width caused by the backlash of the drive gear is about 4 mm at the maximum, 5 to 8
A proper guide width can be maintained by calibrating the guide width of mm.

At power-on, if the guide width is not OK, the guide is reciprocated about twice between the minimum width and the maximum width by the guide width error clear to move the guide to a regular position. Therefore, the initial guide width is not changed again.

[0063]

According to the present invention, when the power supply is turned on for the second time or later, only the initial drive is performed, and the change in the width of the initial guide is omitted. Time can be reduced.

Even if the change of the initial guide width is omitted, the guide width is calibrated before the initial drive.
An appropriate guide width can be maintained, and as a result, the problem that the photographic paper is jammed in the guide is eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a photographic material processing apparatus to which a control method of the photographic material processing apparatus of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing one embodiment of a control method of the photographic material processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a guide width changing operation in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a photographic material processing apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a rack section of the photographic material processing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Submerged rack part 9a, 9b Guide 21 Drying rack part 60 Control means A, B Guide width change mechanism S Printing paper

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A rack section provided with a transport mechanism for transporting a photographic photosensitive material and a guide width changing mechanism capable of adjusting a distance between a pair of guides for guiding both width side edges of the photographic photosensitive material. And an initial driving means for driving the transport mechanism for a fixed time, and an initial guide width changing means for driving the guide width changing mechanism for a fixed time. The initial drive and the initial guide width changing operation are sequentially performed when the first power-on after the date is changed, and only the initial drive is performed when the second and subsequent power-ons are performed. A control method for a photographic material processing apparatus. 2. A rack section provided with a transport mechanism for transporting a photographic photosensitive material and a guide width changing mechanism capable of adjusting a distance between a pair of guides for guiding both width side edges of the photographic photosensitive material. And an initial driving means for driving the transport mechanism for a fixed time, and an initial guide width changing means for driving the guide width changing mechanism for a fixed time. When the first power-up after the date change is performed, the initial drive and the initial guide width change operation are sequentially performed. When the second and subsequent power-ups are performed, only the initial drive is performed, and the initial drive is performed. Before performing, spread the guide by a predetermined amount so that the photographic material does not come off from the guide, and then return to the original position. A method for controlling a photographic material processing apparatus. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined amount is about 5 to 8 mm. 4. The control method according to claim 1, wherein if the guide width is different before and after power-on, the initial drive and the operation of changing the initial guide width are prohibited.