JPH11223913A - Photographic sensitive material automatic developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a device by which the miniaturization of a device is attained and where the evaporation quantity of processing solution is reduced by covering the upper parts of plural carrying racks and plural processing solution tanks and having a carrying guide or the like connecting carrying paths between respective carrying racks immersed in the processing solution tank whose upper part is covered and engaged and held. SOLUTION: The carrying rack 220 is immersed at the inside of the respective processing solution tanks 201-207 of a development processing part 200, and the carrying guide 250 is provided at the upper part of the respective processing solution tanks 201-207. The carrying guide 250 is integrally formed of resin so as to cover the upper parts of all processing solution tanks 201-207. Each carrying rack 220 immersed in the processing solution tanks 201-207 whose upper part is covered is engaged and held by the carrying guide 250, and the carrying paths between respective carrying racks 220 engaged and held are connected by the carrying guide 250. By this constitution, the upper parts of the processing solution tanks 201-207 of developer or the like are covered, so that the variance of the finish quality of a photographic sensitive material develop-processed is reduced though the quantity of the processing solution is reduced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conveying guide in a developing section of an automatic developing apparatus for photographic photosensitive materials such as photographic film and photographic paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the processing section of a conventional automatic processing apparatus for photographic light-sensitive materials, each processing liquid tank such as a developing liquid tank, a bleaching liquid tank, a fixing processing liquid tank, a washing tank or a stable processing liquid tank is arranged in a line. In each of the processing liquid tanks, transport racks for transporting the photosensitive material in the processing liquid at a constant speed were individually mounted so as to be suspended from above the processing liquid tank. For example, the flange portion of the transfer rack is engaged with the upper edge of the processing liquid tank, and a transfer guide having a substantially U-shaped transfer path is provided to connect between the transfer racks of the processing liquid tanks. Was separately provided in the partition part.

[0003]

In the developing processing section of the conventional automatic processing apparatus for photographic light-sensitive materials, transport guides for connecting the respective transport racks are separately provided. In addition, the same number of transport racks and transport guides as the processing liquid tanks had to be removed and attached, respectively, and the position of each transport rack and transport guide had to be adjusted. For this reason, the cleaning work of the development processing section is very troublesome.

Further, since the upper portion of each processing solution tank is not completely covered, water in each processing solution evaporates during the development processing. However, in recent years, automatic processing apparatuses for photographic light-sensitive materials
In order to make it possible to install the apparatus at a store of an E dealer, it is required to reduce the size of the apparatus and to reduce the amount of waste liquid. Therefore, the capacity of each processing solution tank also tends to be reduced in the development processing section. However, since the water in the processing liquid evaporates during the development processing, when the total amount of each processing liquid is small, the concentration of the processing liquid changes due to the evaporation of the water, and the photosensitive film such as a developed film or photographic paper is exposed. There is a problem in that the finished quality of the material varies greatly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the apparatus can be easily disassembled and assembled.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic developing apparatus for a photographic material in which the apparatus can be reduced in size and the amount of the processing solution evaporated is small.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic photographic light-sensitive material developing apparatus according to the present invention comprises a plurality of processing solution tanks and a plurality of transport racks immersed in each processing solution tank. Of the plurality of processing liquid tanks, covers at least two processing liquid tanks, engages and holds each transport rack immersed in the processing liquid tanks covered with the upper part, and engages and holds each of the transport racks. And a transport guide for connecting a transport path between the transport racks.

With such a configuration, the upper portion of a processing solution tank for a developing solution or the like in which a change in the concentration of the processing solution becomes a problem can be covered, and even if the amount of the processing solution is reduced, the finished photosensitive material can be finished. Variations in quality can be reduced. As a result, the size of the developing apparatus can be reduced. In addition, since at least two transport racks are engaged and held by the transport guide, their position adjustment becomes unnecessary, and removal and mounting operations during cleaning are facilitated.

Further, an insertion guide may be provided in a transport guide covering the first processing liquid tank into which the undeveloped photosensitive material is first loaded. Alternatively, a squeeze mechanism for squeezing the processing liquid may be provided in the transport guide covering the last processing liquid tank from which the developed photosensitive material is carried out. Further, the configuration may be such that one transfer guide covers the upper portions of all the processing liquid tanks. With one or a combination of these, for example, a part such as a drawer for drawing out the undeveloped photosensitive material or a drying part for drying the developed photosensitive material is integrated with a transport guide of the developing part. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the automatic photographic material processing apparatus.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an automatic photographic film developing apparatus which is an example of a photographic material automatic developing apparatus. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a transport guide and a transport rack in the automatic photographic film developing apparatus. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transport path configured by a transport guide and a transport rack, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a partial configuration of the transport path in a direction orthogonal to FIG.

The automatic photographic film developing apparatus shown in FIG.
A film drawing unit 100 for drawing out the film 3 from the film container 1, a developing unit 200 for developing the drawn film 3, a drying unit 300 for drying the developed film, and an end of the film to be developed Film end processing section 400 for flattening the section, film drawing section 100, development processing section 200, drying section 3
It comprises a control unit 500 for controlling 00 and the like.

The film drawer 100 includes an outer cover 101 also serving as an exterior of an automatic photographic film developing apparatus, an inner cover 102 functioning as a holder for a film container,
The transport roller 103 and the driven roller 104 that hold the leading end portion of the film 3 exposed to the outside from the film container 1 and pull out the film 3 from the film container 1 and transport the film 3 to the development processing unit 200, and lock the outer cover 101. Lock mechanism 105 for cutting, for example, a cutter 106 for cutting the end portion of the 135-size film and separating the film 3 from the film container 1, and a case where the film drawn from the film container 1 is conveyed to the development processing unit. It is composed of a film detection sensor 107 for detecting.

The developing section 200 includes a developing solution tank 201 filled with a developing solution, a bleaching solution tank 202 filled with a bleaching solution, and fixing processing solution tanks 203 and 204 filled with a fixing solution. A stabilizing solution bath 205 filled with a stabilizing solution,
206, 207 and the like. Each processing liquid tank 20
A transfer rack 220 as shown in FIG. 2 is immersed in each of the insides 1 to 207, and a transfer guide 250 is provided above each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207.

The drying section 300 includes a drying chamber 301 for drying the developed film, a blower 302 for blowing hot air into the drying chamber 301, and a transport path 303 for transporting the film 3. I have.

Next, the transport rack 220 and the transport guide 2
50 will be described in detail. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the present embodiment, the transport guide 250 is integrally formed of resin so as to cover the upper portions of all the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207. Portion 2 of transport guide 250 covering each processing solution tank
51, a portion adjacent to a portion 251a covering the developing solution tank 201 into which an undeveloped film is first loaded is
An insertion guide 26 for guiding a film drawn from the film container 1 by the film drawer 100.
0 is integrally formed. Further, a squeeze mechanism 270 for squeezing the processing liquid (stabilizing liquid) is provided in a part adjacent to the part 251b covering the last stable processing liquid tank 207 to which the developed film is carried out.

Each of the processing solution tanks 201 and 2 of the transport guide 250
An engagement recess 253 for engaging with and positioning the transport rack 220 is formed in a portion 251 that covers the top of 07. Further, the inner wall of the arc-shaped portion 254 facing the partition portion of each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207 functions as a guide wall forming a transport path 210 described later as shown in FIG. A guide roller 255 is provided on the arc-shaped portion 254. The transport guide 250 and the transport rack 220
It is needless to say that a lock mechanism (not shown) is provided for engaging and holding.

On the other hand, in the transport rack 220, a transport roller unit 230 composed of a first drive roller 221 having a large diameter at the center and driven rollers 222 having small diameters provided on both sides of the first drive roller 221 has respective processing liquid tanks 201 to 207. Are arranged at regular intervals in the depth direction. Each first drive roller 221 is connected to a gear, a timing belt, or the like provided inside the frame 223 of the transport rack 220, and is driven to rotate counterclockwise in FIG. The driven roller 222 is for pressing the film 3 against the first driving roller 221, and is rotated clockwise in the drawing according to the rotation force of the first driving roller 221. Frame 223
In the upper part, an engagement portion 224 for engaging with the engagement recess 253 of the transport guide 250 and positioning, and a second drive roller 225 that is in contact with the guide roller 255 are provided. The second drive roller 225 is also connected to, for example, a gear or a timing belt, and is rotated clockwise in the drawing. FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a contact portion between the guide roller 255 and the second drive roller 225.

As shown by hatching in FIG. 3, a guide wall is formed between the rollers so as to form a transport path 210, and the film 3 is provided with first and second transport rollers 2
The paper is conveyed along the conveyance path 210 by the driving forces of the motors 21 and 225. In addition, the guide wall may be convex or concave (that is,
The transport path 210 is a groove formed on the surface of the frame 223)
It may be.

As is apparent from FIG. 1, the length of the transport rack 220 immersed in each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207, that is, the number of the transport roller units 230, depends on whether the film 3 is in each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207. It can be appropriately selected according to the time of passing through 207, and does not necessarily have to be the same number.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. Since the film 3 is generally longer than the length of the transport path 210 in one transport rack 220, for example, when the front end portion of the film 3 is undergoing development processing, the rear end portion may still be in the film container 1. It can happen. Therefore, the leading end portion of the film 3 will be mainly described.

In FIG. 1, with the outer cover 101 and the inner cover 102 opened, the leading end portion of the film 3 previously drawn from the film container 1 is held between the transport roller 103 and the driven roller 104. The film container 1 is placed at a predetermined position, and the inner cover 102 and the outer cover 101 are closed in this order. When the outer cover 101 is closed, the control unit 500 controls the cover lock mechanism 105 based on a cover closing signal from a cover sensor (not shown).
To lock the outer cover 101 so that the outer cover 101 is not easily opened. When the outer cover 101 is locked, the control unit 50
0 drives the transport roller 103 to start drawing the film 3 from the film container 1.

The leading end of the film 3 pulled out of the film container 1 passes through the detection area of the film detection sensor 107 and abuts on the insertion guide 260 (see FIG. 2). Here, along the shape of the insertion guide 260, the traveling direction of the leading end of the film 3 is bent from a substantially horizontal direction to a substantially vertical direction, and the transport rack 2 immersed in the developing solution tank 201.
20 and enters the transport path 210 (see FIG. 3). When the entire film 3 is pulled out from the film container 1,
The cutter 106 operates to cut the vicinity of the rear end of the film 3 and separate the film container 1 from the film 3. Also,
When the rear end of the film 3 passes through the detection area of the film detection sensor 107, the control unit 500
The cover lock is released by 5 so that the next film container 1 can be loaded and the film 3 can be pulled out.

The transport path 210 shown in FIG.
Is the first driving roller 2 by the driven roller 222 on the left side in the figure.
21 and is conveyed downward in the figure by the driving force of the first driving roller 221. When the leading end of the film 3 reaches the lowermost stage, the film 3 is moved to the lowermost first driving roller 2.
21 are wound, the conveyance direction is reversed, and the paper is conveyed upward in the figure. During this time, the emulsion layer of the film 3 undergoes development processing.

When the leading end of the film 3 reaches the uppermost part of the transport rack 220, the arc-shaped portion 2 of the transport guide 250
54, and the conveyance direction is bent along the shape. In the arc-shaped portion 254, the film 3 is transported by the driving force of the second driving roller 225. Arc-shaped portion 254
When the transport direction is reversed, the leading end of the film 3
Next, it enters the transport path 210 of the transport rack 220 immersed in the bleaching solution tank 202, is transported in the same manner as described above, and the emulsion layer of the film 3 undergoes the bleaching process.

Similarly, the film 3 is transferred to the transport path 210 of each transport rack 220 immersed in the fixing processing liquid tanks 203 and 204 and the stable processing liquid tanks 205 to 207, respectively.
And the emulsion layer undergoes a fixing process and a stabilizing process.
Then, when the film 3 is unloaded from the transport rack 220 immersed in the last stable processing liquid tank 207, the processing liquid attached to the surface is squeezed out by the squeeze mechanism 270 and is transported to the drying unit 300. . The film 3 dried by the transport unit 300 is carried out, for example, outside the apparatus,
Alternatively, it is transported to a photographic printing device.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the transport guide 250 substantially functions as a base member and holds a plurality of transport racks 220. By simply lifting, all the processing racks 201 to 207 are removed from all the transport racks 22.
0 can be increased at a time. When the transport rack 220 and the transport guide 250 are attached after the cleaning, all the transport racks 220 are previously mounted on the transport guide 250, and the transport guide 250 is attached to each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 201.
Just by attaching it to the upper part of 207, all transport racks 2
20 can be immersed in all the processing solution tanks 201 to 207. As a result, it is easy to disassemble and assemble the apparatus when cleaning the development processing unit 100.

Also, as shown in FIG.
By engaging 0 with the transport guide 250, a continuous transport path 210 is automatically formed. Therefore, after disassembling and cleaning the development processing section, there is no need to perform positioning adjustment when attaching each transport rack 220 and the transport guide 250.

The structure of each of the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207 is not particularly limited, and the processing liquid tanks individually molded may be arranged in a line at a predetermined interval, or the transfer guide 25 may be provided.
Similarly to 0, at least two or more processing liquid tanks or all the processing liquid tanks may be integrally molded. In the latter case, in particular, the dead space at the partition between the processing solution tanks can be reduced, and the automatic photographic film developing apparatus can be further miniaturized.

Further, in the above embodiment, the upper portion of all the processing liquid tanks 201 to 207 is configured to be covered by one transport guide 250, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the film guide 250 is divided into a plurality. You may. For example, the upper part of the developing tank 201 is covered with a first transport guide,
The upper part of the bleaching solution tank 202 is covered with a second transport guide,
The upper portions of the fixing processing solution tanks 203 and 204 are covered with a third transport guide, and the upper portions of the stable processing solution tanks 205, 206 and 207 are covered with a fourth transport guide. In this case, when each transport guide is removed, the possibility that the processing liquid attached to the transport guide or the like erroneously falls into another processing liquid tank and the processing liquid is mixed can be extremely reduced.

In the above embodiment, the transport guide 25
Although the insertion guide 260 and the squeeze mechanism 270 are integrally provided at both ends of the zero, the present invention is not limited to this. Either one of them may be provided, or the insertion guide 260 and the squeeze mechanism 270 may be provided separately. Transport guide 25
It may be separated from zero. That is, it may be appropriately selected according to the arrangement of each unit such as the film drawer unit 100 and the drying unit 300 of the automatic photographic photosensitive material developing apparatus.

In the above embodiment, the case where the film is developed is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the same effects can be obtained by using the present invention in a photographic printer that develops photographic paper. In addition, a so-called full-auto type automatic photographic photosensitive material development system equipped with both film and photographic paper development processing functions, and a photographic photosensitive material automatic development system with a film development processing line and photographic paper development processing line in parallel The transfer guides for the film and the photographic paper may be partly or entirely formed integrally.

[0031]

As described above, the automatic photographic material developing apparatus of the present invention comprises a plurality of processing solution tanks, a plurality of transport racks immersed in each processing solution tank, and a plurality of processing solution tanks. Among the tanks, at least two processing liquid tanks cover the upper portions of the processing liquid tanks, and engage and hold the respective transport racks immersed in the processing liquid tanks covered with the upper portions, and transport between the engaged and held transport racks. A photosensitive material that has been developed even if the amount of the processing solution is reduced by covering the upper part of a processing solution tank for a developer or the like in which a change in the concentration of the processing solution is a problem because the transport guide connects the path. It is possible to reduce the variation in the finished quality. As a result, it is possible to reduce the size of the automatic developing apparatus for a photo studio material. In addition, since at least two transport racks are engaged and held by the transport guide, their position adjustment becomes unnecessary, and removal and mounting operations during cleaning are facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an automatic photographic light-sensitive material developing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a transport guide and a transport rack in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a transport path including a transport guide and a transport rack in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a partial configuration in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance path illustrated in FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Film container 3: Film 100: Film drawer 200: Developing unit 201 to 207: Processing liquid tank 210: Transport path 220: Transport rack 221: First drive roller 222: Follower roller 223: Frame 224: Engagement section 225: second drive roller 230: transport roller unit 250: transport guide 251: part covering the processing liquid tank 253: engagement concave part 254: arc-shaped part 255: guide roller 260: insertion guide 270: squeeze mechanism

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of processing liquid tanks, a plurality of transport racks respectively immersed in each processing liquid tank, and an upper part of at least two processing liquid tanks among the plurality of processing liquid tanks. An automatic photographic light-sensitive material developing apparatus, comprising: a transport guide that engages and holds each transport rack immersed in a covered processing solution tank and connects a transport path between the engaged and held transport racks. 2. The automatic photographic light-sensitive material developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an insertion guide is provided in a transport guide covering an initial processing liquid tank into which the undeveloped photosensitive material is first carried in. 3. The photograph according to claim 1, wherein a squeezing mechanism for squeezing the processing liquid is provided in a transport guide covering the last processing liquid tank from which the developed photosensitive material is carried out. Automatic photosensitive material development system. 4. The automatic photographic light-sensitive material developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one transport guide covers the upper portions of all the processing liquid tanks.