US1670673A - Automatic film developing, fixing, and drying machine - Google Patents

Description

May 22, 1928.

' w. J. WILLIAMS AUTOIATIG FILI DEVELOPING, FIXIHG, DRYING IAGHINE Fiied Jan. 2, 1925 2 Sheets-sheet 1 s, t a

l Ht. Ce n e sa m2 m m. www Anl mm2.. Inu) www. D m I F C I m 8 2 w. 9 .U l A ....x MW..

7 ma. .w

Patented May 22,' 1928.

UNITED .STATES warm .1.

winnaars, or woonmvmr, imwronx.'

Avremmo nur nnmome, rixme, mi nume momia.

Appunti ma nanny a, im. semi np. 810,296.

The present invention relates to an automatic ilm developing, washing, fixing 'and `drying machine.

The invention has for its main object to provide an automatic, labor saving apparatus-for` developing, VVwashiiigJixing, rinsing and drying sensitized short strips of Afilms as are generell utilized by amateur photographe'rs and ot ers in photographie cameras. Another object of my invention is to provide an improved device wherein a plurality of iilm strips may be passing through the aforesaid process of developing, washing,"

xing and drying at the same time, thereby labor which is incurred with this work. Y A further object in view yis to simphfy the entire construction into one unit wherein the different operations, like developing,

Washing, fixing, rinsing and drying the film strips are carried out successively without interruption and wherein the transfer of the various lilm's from one tank into the other takes place automaticall Still another object oflthe invention is to provide means wherelg1 the various film strips are accompanied uriiig the prmocess of developing, fixing and drying by enveltps or other' identification means, thus still ther reducing andsimplifying the manual.

labor.` A,

With such objects in view, and others which will morefully appear as the nature of the invention isbetteil understood, the same consists in the principle of and in the arrangement` of parts hereinafter described and also pointed out in the appended claims,

it being understood that many changes may be made in the arrangement 'of parts 1n details of ractical construction utilizing said principlle and arran ement wit-hln the scope ofthe appended c aims without departin from the spirit or sacrcing any of the a vantages of the invention. It shall therefore be understood that I do not wishto limit myself to the preferredconstruction herein described and shown 1n the accompanying drawings, but reserve the right 'to make such chan es as may ap r racticable or augment t e eiciency o the evi'c'e.

Referring to the accompanying drawings 'Figi 1 is a side elevation of a machine constructed according to invention;

Fig.2isaplanviewof ig.1;

section;

vtank sections as.will be' At the bottom of th tank sections are pro- .Sprockets 15 and 17 means of the worm 22,me shmg Fig. 6 is a detail view -taken'on line 6-6- of Fig. 5, showing the fihiicarrier in cross showing one of the VFig. 7 is a detail view,

the film strips in a spring clips for holdin lstretched position withinv the film carrier. reducing quite considerably the manual v ike numerals arts throughout all the, the drawings.

f The numeral 1 indicates a lon Awatertight tank, made o`f wood or any ot er suitable material and divided by vertical cross partitions into a series of four separate sections 2, 3, 4 and 5. As shown, the tank 1 rests upon legs or supports 6 and is closed at the ends as indicated at 7 and 8.

,In practice, the first section 2 of this watertight tank 1 contains the developing solution the second section 3 rinsing water, the third section4 4 the fixing solution and the last section 5 water. The short film strips are, during the process of developing'and g, carried siiccessivel throu h all four escribe later.

designate like various views o vided short pipes, closed at each end, and designated 9 and 10. These pi es 9 and 10 have a plurality of small ho es 11. The pipes 9 are communication with an air e 12,' leading to an air compressor, not shown `in the drawings and their purpose is to agitate the developing and fixin solutions, while pipes 10 are connecte to a water main by means of-'the tubing 12 so as to renew the rinsing water, while an over. iiow for the' At the'external sides of tank 1 are ar ranged two endless roller vchainsl 13 and 14, supported by sprockets 15, 16, at one side and 17, 18 at the other side of said tank.

are journaledoii` a horizontal shaft 19, and sprockets 16 and 18 n shaft 20 and the latter is driven `from an electric or any suitable other motor 21 by with a worm so v latter is provided as indicated vat 12 in Fig. 2. A i

f clips 38 may hold en'velopesfor the various gear 23, and further througha second worm f, resigby gravity onl are film carriers 26,

which thus are cause to travelslowly over tank 1. Each of said film carriers;l as shown,

consists mainly of a slottevdgtubegdhavingfgllgwin t at one end an outwardly-projecting shaft 28, and atthe other en d'an outwardly-projecting shaft 2 9, by whichA shafts said carriersr are supported on theupper section of the chains 13 and 14. v.

Within the slotted tube 27. are provided two' cylindrical members 30,31, one of which is xed and the other slidablyarranged and pressed'laterally away from the fixed memer by means of a coil spring 32. From the members -31, extending downwardly through the slot 33,. are vertical rods 34 and to which the film strips 36 may be attached by spring7 clips or clamps 37, as illustrated in Fig. n

The shaft 29 isinserted into and-connected with the fixed member 31, while the second shaft 28 is connected to a vshorter member ai 308 xed in the tube 27 totclose. the end thereof. The slidable member `30 follows easily andA freelythe pressureof coil spring 32 and retains under the tension of the same the film strips 36,- inserted between rods 34 se and 35 in a horiaontally 'stretched position,

as clearl shown 1n Figs. 3 and 5.

The, carriers 26`have`on 'their up er edge a plurality of springclipsBS identi ed bg numerals, corresponding `to similar. i entifying numbers on theclips 37. ,The

films or -`otheridenticatio'n means for the.,

atter.

To provide a'means for-'timing the .develo'ping'( of Lthe sensitized in tank section 2," have shown' onftop of the edge of this section 'preferably' atfboth' sides .a subdivided scale. having. 2*- for,` indieatingl the 4 subdivisio-ns -2*. which "de, an Vplaced.

-ubdivi'slo'ns. subdivision re reof AchainA sp it 1s ev1dentthatja, lmrc y ,which is placed upon chains 133.1 y'14 fat'tlie numerals Y5, will travel live before vijrreaches a'second sto 40 at`theend-o`f tank section 2A or said end'while it travel 10 minutes, if placed 'further awa from! such end u 'n the` nu meralsly 10" Stops @only facilitate quick Ainsertion of carriers 26- atf a .point andare not absolutelyes'sential. Upon, their arrivall at the end'of tank sec-e tion 2, and engagingthe stop-40, the film carriers, are transferredl over the ro er chains '59, -which pass over sp 60, driven by the common motor 21 as showny 'carriers 26 and nemers i endless rollerfchain's. 41and 42 respectively,n

driven by theysame motor21`through'ian endless, third-chain 43 as shown in Figs. 1

and 2, moving however at a much higher, predetermined speed and passing overy sprockets v44,45 and 46 which' operate the transfer mechanism: to each shaft of said time sprockets is pivoted a lever 47, connected to an-arm 48 by means of which a bar 49, guided within a channel 50 is moved Y vertically up and down;

Said bar 49 carries at its upper endv a balancer orswinging lever 51 having hook-s like, upwardly ourydfeiids'5`3Jfifd53kandVLH a laterally extending hook 54v which will strike during upward movementagainst'a vertically arranged rod 54a and cause the balancer 51 to tiltover, whereby' the film carrier,lifted by said balancers from .the

-chains 13,- 14 will slide forward by gravity as indicatedl in Fig. 4 and remain inthis position during downward motion of bar 49 and thusA be again deposited upon roller chains 13, 14 beyond the. dividing partition between tank sections 2 and 3. The film strips carried by' said carrier 26 are'at the same time' submerged in the rinsing water, lillingsection 3. While the balancers 51 are pivoted as indicated at 52, the hook-like endv 53 may be independentlypivoted be tween said end 53 an pivot 52 in a'manner to permitsaid hook-like end to swing upwardlywhen lowered upon the edge of' the tank and stri-kin there eventually upon the next following carrier 26 and thus passing the same and again assuming la normal, horizontal position as shown in- Fig. 1 bevloo low the stretch ofv chain carrying said'secf ondfilmcarrie 26, so as to grip thesamg and lift it up during the ,next following up- .ward motion ot)bar 49. P The samemanner of transferringthe carriers 26 iromone tank section into ani other is repeated until the'reach the end of tank 1 where a-hotair orrying chamber 55 is provided. The same is shown here heated obvious that also any other suitable heating means may be employed instead. Under the hood. 57. of said hot airA or'drying chamber 55 the vfilm carriers'26 will be automatically gri ped by the hooks 58 ofa pair of endle:

'or in any :other preferred mannen-1' Said hooks 58 engage the shafts 28, 29 ofxlm r, carry the latter-at aslow speed through the hot airor drying chamber 55 whereupon the 'inay be removed from the 'roller cha1ns59 y an operator or .un I

n by electr-ical resistance elements 56 but it is Y automatically upon' an inclined double nl rack as indicated at 61 and come there to a rest.

It is -obvious that the envelopes or .other identification means, accompanying the film stripsas described and held by the numbered clips 38, will much facilitate the sortingv and packing of the nished ilms.

The modus operandi-of the machine is also uite clear and lobvious from the foregoing escription and easily understood by one versed in the art, but it-m'ay be added that the u and downward moving bar 49 makes' a su cient number of movements to take care ofthe maximum` number of film carriers 26 which may beinserted into the tank section 2 and .slowly 'carried forward b roller chains 13 and 14 and that the Speed of chains 41 and 42 has .to be properly timed to correspond with the speed of chains 13, 14 and the distance "between the ilm carriers resting upon the latter. l

Whlle one operat'orhmay be placing lilni strips 36 into the ifilm .carriers 26' and depositing the latter upon-.chains 13, 14 with the 'said lm strips subrferged in the fle-I.

veloper contained in'ftan'l secten 2, another operator may remove thej -carriers after a the process ofdeveloping,. rinsing, fixing,

washing and dryin has been completed in succession as` descr1bedfrom hooks 58 of chains 59 and place the nished ilmsinto the accompanying envelopes and pass the empty film carriers 26 onto the first operator.

Thus it is obvious that' with this machine considerable manual labor will be saved as compared with the present rocess wherein many of\ the various .operations have to be done separately by hand. A

Many and. various lchanger-rin form, construction details, size, shape and other minor details may be made without departin from the spirit of the appended claims an from `the scope of'my invention, ofA which I havel v lng the opposite ends ofa sensitized embodiment only.

herein described and illustrated a preferred I claim l 1. Apparatus ofthe character described embodying, in combination, a plurality of separate containers, each adapted to contain a liquid, a carrierhaving means for engagunit to retain the same in submerged osition, means fOr SuCCGSSlVIy movln'g Sal Cal'rlel' through each of said containers with the sensitized unit submerged in said liquids and means in the tanks for agitating the said liquids.

2. Apparatus of the character described embodying, in combination, a plurality of separate containers, one of which is adapted to -veontain a developing solution, another a fixing solution, and still another a washing liquid, a carrier having means for engaging a sensitized-unit to hold the' same in submergencein said liquids, means for successively moving said carrier through y each of said containers with the sensitized tainers and unsubmerged means`on said carrier identified with each of said film engaging-devices.

4. Apparatus of the character described embodying, in combination, a series of separate containers, each adapted to contain a liquid, a film-carrier having a plurality of pairs of` engagin devices for holdin at their opposite en s a plurality of sensitlzed films' and retaining the same in submergence -in the said liquid-as, means for successively moving Vsaid carrier through each of said containers, an identifying symbol on` each pair of said en aging devices, and unsubmergedmeans ao connected with said carrier v`'having Hidentification symbols correspending to the identifying symbols on the engaging devices.

Signed at Woodhaven, L. I., in the county of Queens and State of New York, this 29th day of December, A. D. 1922.

WALTER J. WILLIAMS.

locV

Images