US2501251A

US2501251A - Paper conveyer for photographic developing devices

Info

Publication number: US2501251A
Application number: US683878A
Authority: US
Inventors: Zollinger Ernst
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1945-07-30
Filing date: 1946-07-16
Publication date: 1950-03-21
Anticipated expiration: 1967-03-21
Also published as: CH245702A; GB628970A

Description

March 1950 E. ZOIJ INGER 2,501,251

PAPER CONVEYER OR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES Filed July 16, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ERNST ZOLLINGEIIZ ATTOKNE).

March 21, 1950 E. ZOLLINGER 2,501,251

7 PAPER CONVEYER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES Filed July 16, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eramsr ZOLLINGEE.

l1 7 OKNEY INVENTOR. ERNST Z0144 NGER.

Ki A WORN/5k 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ZOLLINGER E. PAPER CONVEYER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES March 21, 1950 Filed July 16, 1946 Patented Mar. 21, 1950 PAPER CONVEYER FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DEVELOPING DEVICES Ernst Zollinger, Zurich, Switzerland Application July 16, 1946, SerialNo. 683,878

In Switzerlandluly 30, 1945 9 Claims.

Thepresent invention. relates, to a paper conveyor for photographic developing. devices with several adjoining bath troughs such as for instance described in the. Swiss Patent No. 168,749.

In these devices, of course,v no conveyorcan be used in which the paper. sheets would be held continuously. The conveyor must be a separate one for each trough asotherwise'the various baths would be soiled; and mixed. by the liquid carried by the conveyor, whereas on the transfer from one bath to the other liquid adhering to the paper must be removed as far as possible.

In the device according to the patent mentioned above chains passing over sprocket wheels and carrying pins extending perpendicularly to the plane of the paper are provided in each trough. However, the wet and slippery paper sheets are not seized at all by those driver pins if the pins are wrongly adjusted, or the. sheets are damaged by piercing. The present invention overcomes this drawback.

The conveyor according to the invention is as regards its operation independent of any adjustment in that in'every bath trough, at either side of the paper sheet, an elastic cord passing over an upper driving pulley and a lower reversing pulley and providedwith pivoting driving members is arranged and the driving members exert a clamping action in the direction of the plane of the paper sheet so that they take the sheet with them and pass it between an upper reversing cylinder and four counter cylinders cooperating therewith for the purpose of transferring itinto the next bath trough, and a supporting cylinder for the paper is arranged between the two pulleys at the top and also between the two pulleys at the bottom.

Due to this design the paper sheet is gripped at the edges and carried forward by the driving members by means of friction so that the driving members which are closely adjoining one another cannot fail to grip the paper nor can damage to the paper result due to it being. pierced.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the drawings, in which Fig. l is a vertical section through a bath trough and the conveyor through the line ll of Fig. 2 and the cylinders there shown;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the cylinders of the conveyor;

Fig. 3 is a view of a lateral guide plate and Fig. 4 of an intermediateguide plate;

Fig. 5 shows a section through the lateral guide. plate along line V-V of Fig. 3,

50 of 90 to the first.

i denotes the walls. of the bath trough which together with a number of corresponding bath troughs are inserted in arow side by side in a common case 20f which only the doublefwall on the driving side is shown. On top of this wall the driving shafts 3 are supported, centrally arranged with respect to each bath trough. A sprocket wheel 4 is keyed on to each shaft 3, and all sprocket wheels are driven in the same direction of rotation by a common plate link chain. At the left hand side of the wall 2 the crank arm 5 is keyed on the shaft 3. in the bath trough l near itsend walls guide plates; 5 are inserted which are .held by threaded transverse rods 7! and which have the shape shown in Figs. 2 and 3. At. the

5 top and the bottom bushes 8 are inserted in the plates 6., and the shaft. 9 of the. upper bearing cylinder ii and the shaft ill of the lower bearing cylinder 12 rotate in these bushes. Each of the cylinders l l' and i2 hasa rubber coating and is of alength corresponding to the width 01" the paper to be developed.

A driving, pulley i3 is fixed on the upper driving cylinder shaft on each side of the cylinder H. The pulley l3 has a conical surface with a groove 63a of a semi-circular cross section and a collar or marginal portion 31) provided with axial grooves l3" around its circumference.

A reversing pulley M having a circumferential groove it?) with its bottom inclined inwardly is fixed on the lower cylinder shaft on each side of the cylinder l2.

Both pairsof pulleys serve for the reception of the driving chain and the driving members I5 (Figs. 6 and '7'). Each driving member has a bush to which a pin l5'a is laterally attached.

The in has a spherical extension ISbat its lower end and at its upper end an extension 150 inclined at an angle of about 30 on the bush side and a second extension lid at an angle The driving members lying alongside one another are joined to form a chain by means of an endless steel spiral wire it passing through the bores of their bushes, and they lie as can be seen from Fig. 1 on the circumference of the pulleys l3 and I' l. On the upper 3 pulleys l'3 the bushes of the driving members rest in the grooves 13a and the driving members lie on the collars upwardly inclined at an angle of about 30 with respect to the axes of the cylinders, so that the spherical projections 15b extend laterally beyond the collars. The extensions I50 of the driving members l5 then lie in the longitudinal grooves of the collars 13b so that the driving members are rotated by the pulleys. The bushes of the driving members l5 lie on the lower pulleys in the grooves Nb, and the driving members are upwardly inclined with respect to the axis of the cylinder at about and the spherical projections extend beyond the rim of the pulley. Due to the slope of the bottom of the grooves Mb the driving members endeavour to slide inwards, i. e. towards the inner flange of the pu11eys M, under the pull of the wire spiral i6 and, accordingly, to clamp between themselves and to carry with them the paper sheet P whose edges are located approximately along the bisectrix between the two extensions 150 and End, as the sheet held between the bearing cylinder i2 and the intermediate plates 22 can not crumple or fold. As is to be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 guide rails H of U-shaped cross section are fixed on the inner side of each guide plate 5 by sheet iron strips i8; these guide rails extend below and up to the pulleys l3 and at their lower ends a little beyond the shaft of the lower cylinder, and they are divergent from top to bottom. The spherical extensions ifib slide within these guide rails, whereby the drivers when leaving the upper pulleys it are forcedly conveyed into the clamping position which they assume on the lower pulleys It so that they jam the paper sheets over the whole length of the guide rails and carry them along. In order that the spherical extension shall be properly engaged, the guide rails ll are bent outwards at their ends and their flanges widened so that the spherical extensions i519 passing along the bent parts Ila of the guid rails transfer the driving members into the clamping position in which they remain for the whole length of the guide rails.

The intermediate guide plates 22 have a central cut away portion serving as a guide for the paper sheet, as can be seen from Fig. 4.

A pulley I to is fixed on the upper cylinder shaft 9 outside the bath trough, and a link IS in releasable engagement with the crank arm 5 is fixed on the pulley Him. This pulley has also teeth (Fig. l) on its circumference.

The two outer guide plates 6 have upper extensions 8] (Fig. 2) between which a bearing frame 24 of Ushape is removably fixed by means of stay bolts 23 situated in slots. The shaft 25 of the reversing cylinder 26 is supported by the extensions 51 of the side plates and over it four counter cylinders 2'! are supported by the bearing frame 24. The two outward cylinders are fixed and the two inner cylinders are movable upwards and downwards in radial slots. The drive for the reversing cylinder 26 is effected from the spur wheel Eta (Fig. l) by means of a spur wheel 2! of double the size and having twice as many teeth, as the diameter of the reversing cylinder 26 is twic as great as the diameter of the pitch circle of the driver bush on the pulleys IS. The paper sheet P passing between the cylinder 2B and the counter cylinders 21 is carried forward by friction, squeezed at the same time and passes into the next bath trough. There it first passes between the vertical extensions 15d whereby a lateral displacement is prevented, and the driving members l5 passing from the upper pulleys l3 and pivoted when entering the guide rails I1, clamp the paper sheet due to the fact that the distance between the two chains of driving members is smaller than the width of the paper when the driving members on the pulleys 13 hav been swung into the clamping position, and this distance is maintained by the elastic tension of the spiral spring l6 during the further movement.

I do not limit my invention to the structure shown and described as modifications, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention. Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a continuous treating device for photographic paper of the type having a plurality of independent bath troughs disposed side by side in parallelism, a paper drive roller in the upper portion of each trough and a paper travel reversing roller at the bottom of each trough, a pulley at each end of each roller and rotating therewith, two elastic cords, each cord forming a loop extending around the pulleys at the same side of the two rollers of one trough, and paper transport members pivotally strung on said cords, each of said members having a forked end receiving a side edge of the paper and exerting pressure on the paper in the direction of its plane and toward the longitudinal center line of the paper.

2. In a device as defined in claim 1, spaced guide plates disposed in each trough parallel to one another and at a right angle to the axis of rotation of said rollers, each of said plates having a marginal portion extending along the desired path of travel of the paper.

3. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having a sleeve portion, and said elastic cord consisting of a spiraled wire extending through said sleeve portions.

4. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having a sleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portion connected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a right angle thereto, a prong portion extending from said stem portion at an angle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from said stem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portion and at an angle of substantially 60.

5. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having a sleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portion connected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a right angle thereto, a prong portio extending from said stem portion at an angle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from said stem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portion and at an angle of substantially 60, the pulleys at the end of the drive roller having a circumferential groove accommodating said sleeve portions and having a marginal portion provided with grooves extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation of the pulley and adapted to receive one of said prong portions.

6. In a device as defined in claim 1, said transport members having a sleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portion connected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at a right angle thereto, a prong portion extending from said stem portion at an angle of substantially 30, and another prong portion extending from said stem portion at substantially the same point as said first prong portion and at an angle of substantially 60, the pulleys at the end of the reversing roller having a circumferential groove accommodating said sleeve portions and rim portions at both sides of said groove, the rim portion nearer the end of the reversing roller being of smaller diameter, said stem portion of said transport members resting on said rim portions and forming an angle of substantially 15 with the axis of rotation of the roller.

7. I a device as defined in claim 1, a shaft for each of said rollers and its adjacent pulleys, support members comprising channel means and being inserted in said troughs at the ends of, and supporting said shafts, said transport members having a sleeve portion through which said elastic cord extends, a stem portion connected tangentially with said sleeve portion and extending at substantially a right angle thereto and beyond said sleeve portion and into and being guided by said channel means.

8. In a continuous treating device for photographic paper of the type having a plurality of independent bath troughs disposed side by side in parallelism, a shaft in the upper portion of each trough, a paper drive roll connected with and driven by said shaft, a shaft at the bottom of each trough. carrying a paper travel reversing roller, support members in each trough supporting the ends of said shafts and having an extension extending upward from one trough and toward the adjacent trough, a second paper reversing roll supported by said extensions and being disposed above and between two adjacent troughs and parallel to said drive roller, a spur gear wheel connected with said first shaft, and another spur gear wheel having twice as many teeth as the first wheel connected with said second reversing roll and driving it at half the speed of said drive roll.

9. In a device as defined in claim 8, a bearing frame supported by the extensions of the support members of one trough, two outer rollers rotatably supported by said frame and being disposed parallel to and adjacent said second reversing roller, and two inner rollers disposed substantially between said outer rollers and parallel to and adjacent said reversing roller and being supported by said frame rotatably and slidably in a direction substantially radial as to the axis of rotation of said second reversing roller.

ERNST ZOLLINGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,472,902 Bulkeley Nov. 6, 1923 1,641,437 Jones Sept. 6, 1927 1,991,137 Case et a1 Feb. 12, 1935 2,342,780 Zollinger Feb. 29, 1944