JPH11352662A - Photographic processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly deliver an already exposed photosensitive material to the introduction port of a developing processing part in spite of a curved pattern shown by the photosensitive material by providing an interposing means with a shape straightening mechanism giving curved shape to the specified spot of the photosensitive material excepting one end in order to make one end of the photosensitive material held by the interposing means linear. SOLUTION: The end of a pair of guide plates 42 and 43 has such an aperture part that photographic paper 10 is easily received. A projection 42s formed by folding a part of the upper plate 92 downward is provided as the shape straightening mechanism at the trailing edge of the plate 42. In the case of interposing the photographic paper 10B having curling characteristic between the plates 42 and 43, the leading edge part 10r of the photographic paper 10B is folded downward by the projection 42s, so that the curving inclination recognized before it is interposed is eliminated, the trailing edge part 10f of the paper 10B is made linear and the paper 10B is smoothly transferred to a pair of rollers of a receiving unit 210.

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 exposing and developing a photosensitive material such as photographic printing paper, and more specifically, to a photosensitive material processing apparatus from a first region located in a photosensitive material processing apparatus. A transport mechanism for delivering the sheet-shaped photosensitive material to the two areas; the transport mechanism sandwiching and holding the sheet-shaped photosensitive material from both the front and back surfaces thereof; And a drive mechanism for reciprocating the photosensitive material processing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a photosensitive material processing apparatus as described above has been proposed by the same applicant as the present invention in January 1997.
A photographic processing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 9-195 filed on Jan. 6 is known. This photographic processing apparatus is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, a pinching means constituted by a pair of rotating rollers and a pair of guide plates is provided. Here, after the printing paper 10 discharged from an exposure unit (not shown) located on the near side of the paper enters through an opening 142p provided in one of the pair of guide plates 142, 142, a pair of rotation holding rollers By 132, 132, it is taken up to the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. Thereafter, the nipping means is conveyed above the plane of the paper by the driving mechanism 250, and the photographic paper 10 is delivered to a developing processing unit inlet (not shown) located here. Specifically, the photographic paper 10 is delivered to a pair of receiving rotation rollers provided at the development processing unit introduction port, and the holding means is rotated 90 ° by the rotation operation mechanism 260 during the upward conveyance. Since the opening 142p is close to the development processing unit introduction port with the posture facing upward,
The photographic paper 10 is also discharged from the opening 142p when the photographic paper 10 is delivered to the receiving rotary roller.

[0003]

By the way, in order to reliably transfer the photosensitive material from the holding means to the receiving rotary roller, the leading end of the photosensitive material must have a predetermined length in the opening 142p.
Must be protruded. On the other hand, the photosensitive material after exposure may show various pattern bending phenomena (for example, the bending of the photographic paper is based on a property difference between the emulsion coated surface and the photographic paper main body with respect to temperature and humidity conditions). In particular, in the case of a photosensitive material having a cross-section that tends to curve so as to draw an arc when the photosensitive material is cut along the axis of the rotation holding rollers 132, 132, as shown in FIG. Since the end surface at the leading end in the transport direction of the portion protruding from 142p has an arc shape, the arc-shaped end surface collides with the peripheral surface of the receiving rotation roller at the developing processing unit introduction port, and the photosensitive material is brought into a pair. There was a problem that the hand could not be smoothly handed between the rollers, and there was room for improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus capable of smoothly delivering a photosensitive material after exposure to a development processing unit inlet regardless of a curved pattern of the photosensitive material. .

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a first photosensitive material holding device for linearizing one end of a photosensitive material held by said holding means. A feature of the present invention is that the holding means is provided with a shape correcting mechanism for giving a curved shape to a predetermined portion of the photosensitive material except for the above.

[0006] In order to have such a characteristic configuration,
In the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the curved shape is given to a predetermined portion of the photosensitive material by the shape correcting mechanism of the holding means, the direction crossing the direction of the given curved shape is kept linear. A new kind of rigidity (which can be called the "waist" of the paper) is generated in the paper, and this rigidity is such that the cross section of the photosensitive material cut along the axis of the rotation holding roller draws an arc. For a photosensitive material having a tendency to bend, a shape correcting effect of making one end on the front end side straight (approaching a linear shape) is produced. As a result, the photosensitive material is smoothly delivered to the development processing unit introduction port regardless of the curved pattern.

More specifically, the holding means has a pair of opposing surfaces which are opposed to each other and through which the photosensitive material can be inserted, and one end of the opposing surfaces is provided at one end of the photosensitive material where the holding means is close to the second region. An opening that opens to the second area side is formed at the transfer position, and the shape correcting mechanism extends so as to enter one side of the pair of opposing surfaces to the other at the other end located on the side opposite to the opening. What is necessary is just to make it the structure which consists of a protrusion part.

[0008] More specifically, the protrusion is constituted by a roller which can guide a photosensitive material entering between a pair of opposing surfaces through an opening in a predetermined direction while rolling with respect to the photosensitive material. For example, the photosensitive material is smoothly guided into the curved shape, and there is little concern that the surface of the photosensitive material is damaged by friction with the protrusion.

In order to make the structure simpler, the pair of opposing surfaces may be formed by a pair of plate members, and the protrusion may be formed by bending one of the pair of plate members.

Further, if the holding means has a pair of rollers which are driven to rotate so as to draw the photosensitive material from the first area to between the pair of opposing surfaces, the photosensitive material is reliably drawn into the holding means. In addition to this, it is easy to reliably hold the drawn photosensitive material at a predetermined position in the holding means.

More specifically, the first area is an exposure section for exposing and printing photographic paper, and the second area is an introduction section for a developing processing section for developing the exposed photographic paper. be able to.

If the holding means is provided so as to be reversible, the photographic paper discharged horizontally from the exposure unit is held between the holding means through the opening, and the holding means is turned, for example, 90 °, and then introduced into the developing processing unit. In this case, the photographic paper can be discharged vertically upward from the opening, so that the positional relationship between the first area and the second area, that is, for example, the exposure section and the introduction section of the development processing section can be set more freely. .

[0013] Other features and advantages of the present invention include:
The description will become apparent from the description of the embodiment using the drawings.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an exposure section 100 and a transport mechanism 200 of a photographic processing apparatus according to the present invention. Reference numeral 300 indicates the position of the developing unit. As shown in FIG. 2, the exposure unit 100 has a light source 4 and a horizontal exposure table 2 located directly below the light source 4. Exposure table 2
An endless suction belt 3 that is rotated by a motor M1 in the direction of the arrow in the figure is disposed near the upper surface of the suction belt 3.
Roll-shaped photosensitive material (not shown) to cutter (not shown)
The photosensitive material 10 cut out in a sheet shape is disposed at one end of the suction belt 3 and is fed to an exposure position located at the center of the exposure table 2 by the rotation operation of the suction belt 3. I have. The endless suction belt 3 is wound between a total of three pairs of rollers 12, 14, and 16 rotatably arranged at each vertex of an inverted triangle. Since the suction belt 3 is provided with a number of small holes, the photosensitive material 10 can be fixed to an arbitrary position on the surface of the suction belt 3 by evacuating the inside of the triangle. In the printing exposure operation, the light from the light source 4 is irradiated onto the photosensitive material 10 stopped at the exposure position via the film 6 held by a negative mask (not shown), the lens unit 7, and the like. This is achieved by: The photosensitive material 10 subjected to printing exposure is delivered by a transport mechanism 200 to a receiving unit 210 fixed to the main body 1, and is sent to the developing processing unit 300 therefrom.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the transport mechanism 2
Reference numeral 00 denotes a vertically extending plate-shaped holding body 20, a pair of conveyance bodies 40, 40 supported on a front surface of the holding body 20 so as to be vertically movable, and a horizontal direction on each conveyance body 40. Is provided with a holding / conveying unit 60 movably supported by the control unit. Since a slide mechanism 21 composed of a horizontally arranged rail 21a and a ball 21b is provided between the back side of the holding body 20 and the main body 1, inspection is performed as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. For such purposes, the entire transport mechanism 200 can be pulled out of the main body 1 along the holder 20 outward in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of transport bodies 40 are arranged side by side along the pull-out direction of the transport mechanism 200 with the center axis Y of the holder 20 interposed therebetween. Similarly, the pair of nipping and transporting units 60 and 60 are disposed along the pull-out direction of the transporting mechanism 200 with the center axis Y of the holding body 20 interposed therebetween.
60 are juxtaposed. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, each carrier 40 is provided with a motor M2 disposed on the holder 20.
And an upper end of the holding body 20 along a vertical guide rail 24 (an example of a first movement path) disposed on the holding body 20 by an endless vertical drive belt 22 wound around the rotation shaft of the motor M2. And the lower end can be reciprocated vertically. A second sensor 74 for detecting the position on the vertical guide rail 24 of the carrier 40 based on the reciprocating movement is provided on the holder 20.

On the other hand, each of the nipping and conveying units 60 is formed by a motor M3 disposed on the conveying body 40 and an endless horizontal drive belt 28 wound around the rotation shaft of the motor M3.
The horizontal guide rail 30 (second
It can reciprocate horizontally along an example of a movement path). Each of the nipping and conveying units 60 includes a horizontal guide rail 3
It has a sliding body 60a supported so as to be able to reciprocate on the upper side, and a pair of holding rollers 32 and 33 (an example of a holding means) rotatably supported on the sliding body 60a for holding the photosensitive material. Further, a first sensor 72 for detecting the position of the sliding body 60a on the horizontal guide rail 30 based on the reciprocating movement is provided on the transport body 40.
One of the nipping roller pairs 32, 33, one nipping roller 33
Is a transmission shaft 36 rotatably supported on a sliding body 60a.
The input gears 34 are also connected to the other end of the transmission shaft 36 so as to be integrally rotatable. The other nipping roller 32 is freely rotatably supported. A one-way clutch is interposed between the input gears 34, 34 and the nipping roller 32.

More specifically, as shown best in FIG. 4, the freely rotatable gripping roller 32 is rotatably supported on a swing arm 38 which is swingably supported on a transmission shaft 36. A pair of guide plates 42a and 42b for guiding the photosensitive material 10 between the gripping roller pairs 32 and 33 are fixed on the swing arm 38. As a result, the gripping rollers The pair 32 and 33 can hold the photosensitive material 10 in a correct posture. As shown in FIG. 5, in the swing arm 38, the pair of nipping rollers 32 and 33 are arranged horizontally, and the guide plates 42a and 42b are vertically
0), and a pair of nipping rollers 3
The guide plates 42a and 42b are swingable between receiving positions in which the guide plates 42a and 42b extend horizontally. The swing arm 38 is further urged to the transport position by the restoring force of a torsion coil spring 50 interposed between the swing arm 38 and the sliding body 60a. On the other hand, a pair of plate-like operating members 62 extend from the holding body 20 in parallel with the holding body 20, and the swing arm 38
In accordance with the position of Oa, the plate-like operation member 62 is operated in contact with the plate-like operation member 62, and is held in the receiving posture against the restoring force of the torsion coil spring 50.

Returning to FIG. 2, a delivery section for delivering the photosensitive material 10 to the transport mechanism 200 is provided at the downstream end of the exposure table 2. The transfer section has an intermediate gear 52 that rotates integrally with the roller pair 16 on the downstream side of the exposure table 2, and an output gear 54 that meshes with the intermediate gear 52. The output gear 54 can mesh with one of the input gears 34 of the nipping and conveying unit 60 according to the position of the sliding body 60a. The output gear 54 and the input gear 34 constitute an example of an interlocking connection mechanism. The delivery unit,
One photosensitive material 10 is disposed on the central axis Y of the holder 20 and discharges the photosensitive material 10 in a line to the transport mechanism 200.
On the other hand, for the receiving unit 210 provided at the upstream end of the developing section 300, the center axis Y
A pair of receiving units 210R and 210L are arranged side by side along the pulling-out direction of the transport mechanism 200 with the. A third sensor 76 for detecting the leading end of the photosensitive material 10 conveyed between the pair of gripping rollers 32 and 33 is provided at a position on the holding body 20 close to the transfer section.
76 are provided.

Next, the operation of the transport mechanism 200 will be described. FIG. 6A shows an initial state. Here, the right transport body 40R is at a position (the transport body is at the third position) lowered to the lowermost end of the holding body 20, and
The nipping conveyance unit 60R of the right conveyance body 40R is at the left end on the conveyance body 40R (the nipping means is at the loading position and the first position). The output gear 54 on the right side of the transfer section is engaged with the input gears 34 of the right sandwiching and conveying unit 60R. On the other hand, the left transport body 40L is at the home position slightly above the lowermost end of the holding body 20, and the nipping transport unit 60L of the left transport body 40L is at the left end position on the transport body 40L (the nipping means is: At the carry-out position).

At this time, the pair of nipping rollers 32 and 33 as the nipping means on the nipping and conveying unit 60R on the right side approach the central axis Y most, and the photosensitive material 10 in the horizontal posture sent out from the transfer unit of the exposure unit 100 is transferred. Has begun to pinch. As described above, at the position where the transport body 40R is at the lower end, the swing arm 38 is brought into contact with the plate-shaped operation member 62 so that the receiving posture, in other words, the pair of nipping rollers 32 and 33 are arranged vertically. Operation is maintained. The motor M1 is driven by the suction belt 3 and the exposure table 2.
The guide plate 42a of the conveying unit 60R for nipping the photosensitive material 10 through the rotation operation of the roller pair 16, 16 on the downstream side of
42b, the intermediate gear 52 and the output gear 5
4 through the input gear 3 of the right nipping transport unit 60R.
4 and 34 are also rotated, whereby the right pair of nipping rollers 32 and 33 are rotated to guide the guide plates 42a and 42a.
The photosensitive material 10 that has entered during 42b is
0 is pulled in until the third sensor 76 detects the tip of 0 (the emulsion surface of the light-sensitive material 10 is facing up).

When the third sensor 76 detects the leading end of the photosensitive material 10, the motor M2 and the motor M3 start to rotate at the same time, and as shown in FIG. Then, the nipping conveyance unit 60R starts moving on the conveyance body 40R toward the right side of the paper surface.
At the initial stage of the upward movement of the carrier 40R, the swing arm 38
Is released from the contact with the plate-shaped operation member 62, and is switched to the transporting posture by the restoring force of the torsion coil spring 50 (as understood from FIG. 2, the photosensitive material 10).
The emulsion side faces the support 20 side).

FIG. 7 (a) shows that the carrier 40R is
(The transport body is at the fourth position), and at the same time, the nipping transport unit 60R has reached the right end position (the nipping means is the second position and the unloading position) on the transport body 40R. Here, the holding means of the holding / conveying unit 60R carries out the photosensitive material 10 to the right receiving unit 210R, and the receiving unit 210R sends the photosensitive material 10 to the developing unit 3R.
Send to 00. In the state shown in FIG. 7A, the pair of nipping rollers 32 and 33 of the nipping and conveying unit 60L on the left already start nipping the next photosensitive material 10 at the transfer section (the nipping means is in the first position and the carry-in position is in the first position). )

In FIG. 7B, the delivery of the photosensitive material 10 from the holding means of the right holding / conveying unit 60R to the receiving unit 210R is about to be completed, and at the same time, the left holding / conveying unit 60L receives the next photosensitive material. 1
0 has started to be conveyed toward the receiving unit 210L.

As shown in FIG. 8A, at the timing when the pair of nipping rollers 32, 33 of the nipping and conveying unit 60L on the left side starts transferring the next photosensitive material 10 to the receiving unit 210L on the left side, the nipping and conveying side on the right side. Unit 6
0R again starts to be conveyed toward the transfer section (first position) to pinch and convey the next photosensitive material 10, and before reaching the transfer section, as shown in FIG. 8B. , The nipping transport unit 60R is the transport body 40
It moves to the left end position on R, and then arrives at the transfer section. That is, for each of the output gears 5 of the transfer section of the input gears 34, 34 of the respective nipping and conveying units 60R, 60L.
The engagement operation with the gear 4 is performed from the circumferential direction of these gears.

As described above, the right and left holding / conveying units 60
L, R are alternately provided, and the delivery unit and the receiving unit 2
By reciprocating up and down between 10L and 10L, the photosensitive material 10 discharged in a line from the delivery unit is alternately distributed and supplied to two receiving units 210L and 210R.

9 and 10 show details of the holding means (the holding means supported on the right holding / conveying unit 60R is shown). Ends of the pair of guide plates 42 and 43 on the near side on the paper surface are formed as openings P that are largely opened so that the printing paper 10 can be easily received. Also, the guide plate 42,
Windows 42w and 43w for accommodating the gripping roller pairs 32 and 33 are formed at the center of each of the 43. Therefore, the peripheral surfaces of the pair of gripping rollers 32 and 33 are arranged in close contact with each other without being obstructed by the guide plates 42 and 43. At the rear end of the upper guide plate 42, a projection 42s formed by bending a part of the guide plate 42 downward is provided as a shape correcting mechanism. The curl characteristics (holding rollers 32, 3) as shown by the solid line in FIG. 9 and FIG.
The photographic paper 10 </ b> B having a cross section when the photographic paper is cut along the axis of No. 2 is curved so as to draw an arc) is formed on the guide plate 4.
2 and 43, the leading end portion 10r of the photographic paper 10B is bent downward by the projections 42s as shown in FIGS. 9 and 11B, and as a result, before being sandwiched. The observed curving tendency is eliminated and the printing paper 10
The rear end portion 10f of B is linearized as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 9, so that the receiving unit 210 can be smoothly transferred to the pair of rollers.

[Alternative Embodiment] As the holding means, an embodiment shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 can be used. Here, a part of the rear end of the guide plate 45 is bent upward to form a pair of support plates 45c, 45c, and the remaining part of the rear end of the guide plate 45 is bent downward to form an auxiliary guide portion. 45d is formed. A horizontal shaft 47 is passed between the pair of support plates 45c, 45c, and three correction guide rollers 49, 49, 49 are rotatably supported on the horizontal shaft 47. Then, the photographic paper 10B having the curl characteristic is moved from the opening P to the pair of guide plates 45 and 4.
6, the printing paper 10B is first sandwiched between the pair of gripping rollers 32, 33, and then the pair of gripping rollers 32, 33 further fold the printing paper 10B into the state shown in FIG. In this guiding operation, the leading end of the printing paper 10B is directed downward by the correction guide rollers 49, 49, 49 provided as a shape correction mechanism, as illustrated in FIG. It is guided and corrected into a curved shape that opens downward as a whole. As a result, the curving tendency seen before being pinched is eliminated, the rear end portion 10f of the printing paper 10B is straightened, and the receiving unit 210 can be smoothly transferred to the pair of rollers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an entire photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an exposure unit and a transport mechanism of the photosensitive material processing apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main part of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side view of a main part of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a view for explaining the movement of the transport mechanism of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the movement of the transport mechanism in FIG. 2 in another state.

8 is a view for explaining the movement of the transport mechanism in FIG. 2 in still another state.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a holding means.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of the holding means.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the holding means corresponding to FIG. 9;

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a holding unit according to another embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a side view of the holding means of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a side view of a holding means according to the prior art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 photographic paper 12 roller pair 32, 33 gripping roller pair 42, 43 guide plate 42s protrusion 49 straightening guide roller 200 transport mechanism

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A transport mechanism for delivering a sheet-like photosensitive material from a first area to a second area, wherein the transport mechanism sandwiches and holds the sheet-like photosensitive material from both front and back surfaces thereof, A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising a driving mechanism for reciprocating the holding means between the first area and the second area, wherein one end of the photosensitive material held by the holding means is linearized. A photosensitive material processing apparatus, wherein a shape correcting mechanism for giving a curved shape to a predetermined portion of the photosensitive material except the one end is provided in the holding means. 2. The photosensitive material according to claim 1, wherein said holding means has a pair of opposed surfaces facing each other and through which a photosensitive material can be inserted. At the delivery position, an opening that opens to the second area side is formed, and the shape correction mechanism enters the other from one side of the pair of opposing surfaces at the other end located on the opposite side to the opening. 2. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a protruding projection. 3. The roller according to claim 1, wherein the protrusion is configured to guide a photosensitive material entering between the pair of opposing surfaces through the opening in a predetermined direction while rolling with respect to the photosensitive material. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 2. 4. The device according to claim 2, wherein the pair of opposing surfaces are formed by a pair of plate members, and the protrusion is formed by bending one of the pair of plate members. Photosensitive material processing equipment. 5. The holding device according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit includes a pair of rollers that are driven to rotate so as to draw the photosensitive material from the first region to between the pair of opposing surfaces. Photosensitive material processing equipment. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first area is an exposure section for exposing and printing photographic paper, and the second area is an introduction section for a development processing section for developing the exposed photographic paper. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1. 7. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding means is provided to be reversible.