JPS6127542A - Apparatus for correcting image on photographic film - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention This invention relates to the production of reproducible plates, and more particularly to an apparatus for modifying images on photographic film.

In the field of so-called graphic arts as well as in the printed circuit industry, it is desirable and/or necessary to modify photographic film 19 images for the purpose of facilitating the production of finished products, as described below. is often the case.

Two similar modifications that are often required are those that "add" a given amount of the total image area to the defining edge of the image to be reconstructed, or "remove" said given amount from the defining edge. . Such modifications are generally referred to as "expansion, dilation, or positive image" or "deflation, reduction, or negative image," respectively.
It is called.

In color printing of graphic arts, where an image of one color touches an image of another color on the finished printed sheet, one of the It is required that the image be slightly superimposed with respect to the other image, either overlapping or underlapping. Such overlap or underlap is accomplished by creating a plus or minus image in a photographic processing step prior to making the printing plate.

In the printed circuit industry field, "photo tools"
The circuit image bearing film known as OTOOL J requires some modification to compensate for the gains or losses in image area or area that inevitably occur during the circuit board printing and etching process. Therefore, K needs to accurately modify the phototool in increments of 1/100th of 1n or smaller. Another application is the production of a plus image film, called a "Braze is a Mask" phototool, from a master film that carries an image of a circuit pad, called a Pad Master (TL) J phototool. The "pad master" can be modified to a plus image of 10508snt, for example, and used as a "rolling mask" photo tool necessary for manufacturing circuit boards.

Although the apparatus disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,489 generally operates satisfactorily, there may be certain disadvantages when making micro-modifications to the film being reproduced. understood. For example, in the device of the above-mentioned patent, a pair of wire-like rods connect the film or copy carrying sheet by a pair of pins to a rocker or acid arm supported on a chassis and can be bent back to a rest position. is used, in which a driving movement drive guide, also connected by an eccentric pin, generates a driving movement of the carrying sheet with respect to the unexposed film located below. This arrangement requires the copy carrying sheet to be engaged and separated each time the film is loaded and exposed, which accelerates wear of the carrying sheet and the pin receiving holes provided in the eccentric dial. The focus-to-hole communication becomes inaccurate, resulting in inaccurate results even when setting predetermined dimensions to form a reduction or expansion. Additionally, the apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned patent utilizes an alignment bar provided with alignment pins for positioning the original film in alignment with the optical film. In this case, the alignment rod supporting the pin must be lowered down before starting the orbital movement of the device. If the operator or user does not lower the alignment rod out of the carriage path of motion, not only will the results be unsatisfactory, but the device itself may be damaged.

Furthermore, it requires that the chassis be made of heavy and rigid materials and that desired tolerances be maintained during movement of several elements, which is undesirable from an economic point of view.

Object and Structure of the Invention The present invention is directed to a lower carriage which is pivotably mounted on a chassis by hinge pins with zero tolerance and which is supported by the chassis and caused to orbitally move by a motor-driven eccentric dial which carries a lower carriage. The above-mentioned and other disadvantages are overcome by making the film-carrying sheet vertically rotatable so as to be able to move toward and away from the adjacent film plate. The film plate is connected to the lower carriage and chassis by a spherical bearing assembly. Alignment or registration pins are mounted on the film plate in forwardly spaced relation to the film carrying seat (K). This configuration allows the entire drive train to remain permanently engaged, minimizing wear and aligning the alignment pins to achieve greater precision and ease of movement. The undesirable effects of chassis sagging are considerably reduced, allowing the chassis to be formed from sheet metal material. Furthermore, this configuration greatly increases the accuracy of the trajectory setting without requiring high tolerances on the eccentric dial mechanism due to the reduction ratio provided by the spherical bearing assembly, resulting in a homogeneous and consistent positive or negative An image can be exposed onto a photosensitive film from a film carrying an original image, and the magnitude of the motion can be visually observed during film exposure prior to activating the apparatus; The process can be easily and accurately repeated.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements throughout the drawings.

With reference to the drawings, in particular figures 1 to 6, reference number 1
6 shows the device in a generally rectangular box-like form with a characteristically upright back plate 18 at the rear.

The device includes a base or chassis 20 formed by a horizontal top wall 22 joined to a front wall 24 and a rear wall 26, with depending end portions of the front and rear walls having horizontal adjustment screws or feet. To receive the portions 30, they are bent horizontally inwardly toward each other, as indicated by the reference numeral 28. The rear end wall 26 is expanded upward to form the back plate 1.
B may also be formed. The box-like structure is completely realized with the chassis top wall 22 and the interspaced opposing side panels 52 and 34. The side panels 32 and 54 preferably extend a selected distance above the plane of the top wall for purposes that will become apparent.

A rectangular flat film plate 36 preferably formed of sheet metal material with a glass panel 40 bonded to the upper side and having dimensions smaller than the top wall 22 of the chassis,
A plurality of vertically spaced parallel poles 42 of selected diameters are provided on the top wall of the chassis to permit orbital movement of the film plate 36 relative to the top wall, as described below. Supported by relationships. The poles 42 are pushed into selected positions on the chassis TjAm by a plurality of similar washer-like stops 44 fixed to the upper surface of the top wall 22 of the chassis so as to coaxially receive the spherical portion of each pole. held.

An orbital drive guide mechanism 46, to be described in more detail below, depends from the top wall of the chassis adjacent the front wall 24 and is connected to a lower carriage mechanism 48 for imparting drive motion to the film plate 36. ing. The lower carriage mechanism is
comprising a substantially triangular sheet material panel 50;
The panel 50 has a base edge 52 that extends at least as far as the lateral dimension of the film plate 36 and is disposed in a downwardly spaced parallel relation to the top wall 22 of the chassis. Each end portion of the base edge 52 of the lower carriage panel is connected to a vertically oriented drive rod 54 by conventional spherical bearings 56.

The drive rods 54 project through the top wall 22 of the chassis and have similar spherical bearings 58 forming a fulcrum for each drive rod.
is attached to the top wall 22 of the chassis. The upper end of each drive rod 54 projects through the opposing side edge portions of a film plate 660 and is fixed to the film plate 56 by another spherical bearing 60 . The apex portion of the lower carriage panel 50 is provided with a hole 62 that snugly receives an eccentric drive shaft or pin 64 depending from the eccentric dial movement drive guide mechanism 46.

The purpose of using a spherical bearing is to allow each end portion of the drive rod 54 to trace a trajectory as shown by the arrow 66, so that the eccentric pin 6
4, when the lower carriage panel 50 is moved, allows the rod to orbit and thus drive the film plate 56, as will be explained later.

A countershaft 68 connects side panels 32 and 3 inwardly of rear wall 26.
4 and is supported by pillow block bearings 70 at each end.

A pair of strap-like arms 74 are each secured at one end to a corresponding end of lower carriage 50 adjacent base edge 52 and rearwardly in parallel relationship below each end portion of countershaft 68. It stands out. The rear end portion of each arm or rod 74 is connected to a short shaft 76 by a ball bearing. The minor shaft 76 depends from a collar 78 which surrounds and is secured to each end portion of the minor shaft 68. Lower carriage panel 500 base edge 52
, countershaft 68 and arm 74 thus engage chassis end wall 24 insulator 26 and side panel 32 during drive movement of the film plate and movement of drive rod 54 and arm 72 in the directions shown by arrows 80 and 82. or 34
Each side edge of the film plate 56 is kept parallel to form a parallelogram. During such movement, countershaft 68 is reversibly rotated in the direction of arrow 84.

Film plate 36 is provided adjacent its leading edge with a row of conventional lower profile film registration pins 860 for aligning the film as described below.

The film plate 66 further includes a plurality of rectangular block areas defining different rectangular block areas of different dimensions corresponding to standard sized film sheets to be secured during operation of the apparatus.
88 is engraved or printed in black. Similarly, the front surface of the back plate 18 is also marked with lines 88 on the film plate for purposes described below.
A plurality of lines 90 are provided defining block areas of the same size and location.

A conventional motion indicator 92 is mounted to the top wall 22 of the chassis between the film plate 56 and the side panel 32. The indicator 92 is provided with a contact 94 which abuts an adjacent edge of a bracket secured to an adjacent edge of the film plate and which biases an indicator arm or pointer 98 to a one inch or 1/1000th or 1000 of a senna meter
The magnitude of the movement of the film plate is visually displayed in units of 1/0. The purpose of indicator 920 is to visually preset the magnitude or amplitude of film plate motion prior to film exposure, as will be explained below.

A transparent film carrier sheet 100, at least as wide as the film plate 360, is mounted on the film plate at its rear side corners and adjacent to the side plates 32 and 34 by a pair of hinges 102. connected to the shark. The pair of hinges have zero-tolerance hinge pins to permit pivoting movement of the film carrier sheet in the vertical direction between the front surface of the back plate 18 and the upper surface of the film plate 36. It is something. The film carrier sheet 100 extends forwardly and terminates in a leading edge 104 in parallel spaced relation to the row of alignment pins 86.

Referring also to FIGS. 6-9, eccentric movement guide means 46 (shown upside down in FIGS. 7 and 9)
is equipped with a dial guide 106, and the dial guide 1
06 is composed of a perfectly circular cylindrical body 108 having a vertically disposed center axis, and is horizontally disposed on the body 108 and is coaxially fixed to the upper surface of the body 108 and attached to the periphery of the body 108. It has a disc or dial plate 110 protruding from it. The peripheral portion of the dial guide projects forwardly from the end wall 24 of the chassis through an opening 111 (see FIGS. 2 and 3). Dial board 11
0 has a zero position printed or stamped in alignment with dial plate zero position line 112 (FIG. 2) stamped on the outer front surface of chassis end plate 24. A sliding or slider plate 114 is provided below body 108 across body 108 for diametrical movement. The body 108 is provided with an upwardly and downwardly open radial slot 116 through which a threaded shaft 118 extends horizontally and has a 70mm inner end. and is connected to the slider plate 114 by a nut 120 disposed in a recess provided in the slider plate 114. A manually rotated screw 122 is provided in the axial direction at the other end of the screw shaft 118, and the screw 122 allows the slider plate 114 to reciprocate in the direction shown by an arrow 124. The slider plate 114 is connected to the body 108 by an annular bottom ring 126 having a diameter equal to that of the body 108 and fixed thereto.
It is maintained in continuous contact with 08.

The ring 126 is provided with a pair of inwardly projecting ears 128, the oppositely spaced ends of which are located on tongue and groove sides 130 on opposite sides of the slider plate. There is. These ears 128 are screws or bolts 13
2, it is held in contact with the slider plate. The slider plate is
Elongated V-shaped hanging ears 134 integral with the main body 108
diametrical movement is guided by. The ears 134 are complementarily received by cooperating ears 136 formed on the top surface of the slider plate 114. The other longitudinal edge portion of the slider plate is slidably supported by the body 108 and a pair of elongated depending ears 138.

When assembling the dial guide 106, slider plate 1
The slider 114 is moved away from the thumbscrew 122 until the fourteen nut support ears contact the inner end of the slot 116 at a central location on the slider plate. Slider plate 114 and body 108 are then drilled with holes aligned at the center of the body. The hole in the main body has a dial shaft or mandrel 1.
Receive 40. The core dial shaft or mandrel projects a selected distance above the dial plate 110. The drive pin 64 is then press fit into the hole in the slider plate 114 and depends downwardly from the slider plate 114 a selected distance to connect with the lower carriage panel 50.

The drive guide 106 is secured to the depending surface of the top wall 22 of the chassis by bracket means 142 adjacent the front wall 24 at the widthwise center of the top wall 22 of the chassis.

The bracket means 142 depends from the top wall 22 of the chassis and has upper and lower bracket plates 144 and 146 secured thereto by bolts and spacers 148. Bracket plates 144 and 146 are drilled with vertically aligned holes and provided with a pair of bearings 150 surrounding the drive axle or six shafts 140 with zero tolerance. The mandrel or dial shaft 140 is attached to a bracket plate 144
ear 1 having a set screw interposed between and 146;
52 in the bearing.

The hanging bracket plate 146 is connected to the drive guide means 46.
The motor 154 is supported on the side of the motor 154. A dual pulley, idler shaft 156 passing through and supported by the bracket plate is provided between the motor and the dial guide.

Belts 15B and 160 are provided around the idler shaft pulley, motor drive shaft and dial guide body 108, respectively, through which rotation within the dial guide is effected.

The top wall 22 of the chassis further includes a power change switch 162.
, a motor opening/closing control switch 164 and a motor step switch 166 are provided. Furthermore, an exposure lamp switch 168 and a lamp brightness control device 170 are mounted on the top wall of the chassis.
and a light species separator control panel 172.

Motion and Effect The drive guide 46 is set to a zero position in which movement of the guide does not cause movement of the film plate 36, as indicated by the indicator dial pointer 98 remaining in the zero position. This zero position is achieved when the dial plate 110 is in the zero position (aligned with line 112) and the eccentric drive pin 64 is axially aligned with the dial shaft or centerpiece 140. This zero setting is performed by operating the motor advance switch 166 until the dial plate zero position is at the indicator line 112.
This is accomplished by partially or incrementally rotating the dial guide until it is aligned. Then, tighten the thumbscrew 1 until the slider plate comes into contact with the stopper.
Rotate 2 counterclockwise. Motor 154 is then energized to ensure that indicator 98 remains in the null position.

Thumbscrew 122 is then rotated clockwise to move slider plate 114 and eccentric pin 94 the desired amount. The motor is reenergized and the indicator 98 visually determines the magnitude of the orbital movement of the film plate.

Referring also to FIGS. 10-14, alignment pin receivers are punched and formed with holes in the unexposed film sheet 174 in a conventional manner to receive alignment pins 86 on the negative side thereof. Positioned on the upper surface of film plate 36. Thin cellophane tape 176 that is adhesive on both sides
are placed on the film plate and the relevant corners of the film 174 are secured. The adhesive on the upper surface of the tape 176 is rubbed with the operator's fingers to weaken the adhesive for purposes described below.

In order to align and arrange the original film 178 to be reproduced or copied, the film carriage 100 is moved to the back plate 1.
Lifting toward B, a length of tape 180, adhesive on both sides, is placed on the underside of the film carrier sheet adjacent the leading edge of the film carriage. Drive guide 46
While running at the zero position and lifting the film carrier sheet, the original film 17B, which also has holes punched to receive the alignment pins, is placed on the alignment pins 86, and the film 178 and the film plate 36 are placed on the alignment pins 86. The air existing between the two is removed by hand, and the corners of the original film are pressed by hand to bring them into contact with a 1 inch (25.4 cm) long adhesive tape 176. The film carrier sheet is then lowered onto the film plate and the tape strip 180 is secured to the original film 178 by pressing it against the top surface of the film carrier sheet 100. Then, the film carrying sheet 100 is lifted toward the back plate. film 17
8 leaves the tape strip 176 and remains fixed to the carrier sheet. Then a length of film consisting of (
(not shown) to the adjacent surface of the original film 178 using adhesive tape on both sides, lining the alignment holes, and
This prevents the original film from becoming caught on the alignment pins 86 during subsequent orbital movement of the film plate.

Unexposed film 174 is placed on alignment pin 86 and its corners are manually pressed into contact with tape strip 176.

The film carrier sheet 100 is then lowered and placed on the film plate 36. Manually set the drive guide to the desired amount of orbital motion. The film 174 is then passed through the optical integrator 17.
Exposure is performed at a predetermined setting amount of 2. Following this exposure, the drive guide is stopped, the film carriage 100 is lifted, and
The exposed film 174 is removed and developed.

Figure 12 line, the positive image of the type formed on the film 174 when the film 174 is developed, or the film 1
740 shows a negative print of a plus image of type that would be formed when copying film (not shown) was used instead of 740;

FIG. 13 shows a negative negative image of type formed on film 182 by the same operation of the device.

FIG. 14 shows a portion of film with an image such as star 184. This image is modified to form a plus image. This plus image is converted into a contour image. The amount of correction in that case is indicated by 186 (FIG. 15). In the star of FIG. 15, a solid line with curvature is generated at its acute angle or tip.

The apparatus described above is particularly adapted for use in the modification of microcircuit patterns where air gaps or air gaps between adjacent conductors are a problem.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a top view of the device according to the invention, FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the device of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a substantially similar view of FIG. a vertical cross-sectional view at line 6-6;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the lower carriage imparting orbital motion;
5 is a partial vertical section taken substantially along line 5--5 of FIG. 3, and FIG. 6 is a vertical section taken substantially along line 6--6 of FIG. 1 shown on a larger scale and partially in elevation. FIG. 7 is a bottom view showing the orbital eccentric dial drive guide at another scale;
8 and 9 are cross-sectional views taken substantially at lines 8-8 and 9-9 of FIG. 7, and FIGS. 10 and 11 are cross-sectional views of the film on the film plate and film carrier, respectively. a diagram illustrating the preferred way to
12 and 13 are exploded perspective views of the film to illustrate the two basic functions of the device of the invention;
The figure is a top view of a film portion having a graphic image to be corrected, and FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a plus image formed from the graphic image formed on the film of FIG. 14. 18: Back plate 20 Rainbow 22: Top wall 24: Front wall 26: Rear wall 30: Foot portion 32.34: Side panel 36: Film plate 40 Niglass panel 42: Ball bearing 44: Stopper 46: Drive motion drive Guide mechanism 48 Two lower carriage mechanisms 50: Sheet panel 52: Base edge 54: Drive rod 56, 58, 60: Spherical bearing 62: Hole 64: Pin 68: Countershaft 70: Below block bearing 74: Arm 76: Short Shaft 78 Two collars 86 : Alignment pin 92 : Indicator 94 : Contactor 98 : Pointer 100 : Film carrying sheet (film carrier) 102 :
Hinge 106: Dial guide 108 Two cylindrical body 110: Dial plate 111: Opening 112: Dial plate zero position line 114 Varnish slider plate 116: Slot 118: Screw shaft 120: Nut 122: Nut 126: Ring 128.152: Ear 132 : Bolt 156: @ 140: 6 shafts 142 Bracket means 144.146: Bracket plate 148 Ni spacer 150: Bearing 154: Motor 156: Shaft 158.16o: Belt 162.164.166.168: Switch 170: Lamp brightness control device

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A chassis defining a horizontal top wall and a rear end upright backboard, a movable film plate located on the top of the chassis, and a transparent film plate typically placed on the film plate. and a film carrier, wherein opposing edge portions of the film plate are supported in a hanging relationship by a drive rod that passes through the top of the chassis and is supported on a fulcrum by the top of the chassis so as to be capable of orbital movement in a horizontal path. an eccentric supported by the chassis and connected to the lower carriage means for moving the lower carriage means and the film plate in respective predetermined trajectory paths; A figure correction device comprising: a motion guide means having a pin; and a motor means drivably connected to the motion guide means. 2. The lower carriage means includes a lower carriage panel parallel to the top of the chassis, spherical bearing means for connecting the drive rod with the lower carriage panel, the chassis top and the film plate, respectively, and the rear end of the chassis. a countershaft supported laterally by the chassis adjacent to the countershaft and extending between portions of the lower carriage panel and the countershaft to maintain the edge of the film plate parallel to the edge of the film carrier; 2. A figure modification device according to claim 1, further comprising arm means having a pair of parallel arms, each arm being pivotally connected at each end portion to an end portion of the lower carriage panel and the countershaft. . 3. The figure correction device according to claim 2, further comprising a ball bearing interposed between the top of the chassis and the film plate. 4. a generally cylindrical body having a shaft coaxially projecting from one end and supported for angular movement by the chassis; a dial plate having a peripheral scale indicating the zero position of the movement guiding means, and slidable on the end of the body opposite to the central axis so as to be movable diametrically towards and away from the zero position; an attached slider, an eccentric pin protruding outwardly from the slider coaxially with the axle when the slider is at the limit of movement in one direction; 4. The figure modification device according to claim 3, further comprising screw means connected to said slider so that the axis of the pin is positioned to the side of the axis of said center shaft. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising movement indicating means supported by the chassis adjacent to one side edge of the film plate for visually indicating the magnitude of the movement of the film plate. Shape correction device. 6. The figure correction device according to claim 5, further comprising hinge means for connecting the film carrier to the chassis so as to be vertically rotatable in directions toward and away from the back plate.