US3435539A - Dryer for a film processing machine - Google Patents

Dryer for a film processing machine Download PDF

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Publication number
US3435539A
US3435539A US566690A US3435539DA US3435539A US 3435539 A US3435539 A US 3435539A US 566690 A US566690 A US 566690A US 3435539D A US3435539D A US 3435539DA US 3435539 A US3435539 A US 3435539A
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United States
Prior art keywords
film
air
rollers
tubes
sheet
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Expired - Lifetime
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US566690A
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English (en)
Inventor
Leo Paul Van Bouwel
Willy Pieter Tack
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Agfa Gevaert NV
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Agfa Gevaert NV
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D15/00—Apparatus for treating processed material
    • G03D15/02—Drying; Glazing
    • G03D15/022—Drying of filmstrips

Definitions

  • the air tubes have a longitudinally extending air discharge slit therein which is located at a locus on the curved wall section which lies downstream from that locus on the wall section which lies nearest the sheet path, so that the air discharge slit is protected from contact by the leading edge of any sheet which
  • This invention relates generally to processing machines and more specifically to an improved drying apparatus for drying gelatin-coated film which is processed in a self-threading machine.
  • Driers for gelatin-coated film are known in which the film is transported by rollers and is subjected to oppositely disposed uniform and symmetrical air streams extending across the width of the film.
  • a drawback of the said known driers resides in the deflecting or guide means which must be provided in order to avoid that the film would deviate from its course between the rollers and become damaged in abutting against or striking along some parts of the drier, or even in entering the slits of the air-directing means through which the streams of air are directed towards the film.
  • the mentioned deviation of the film from its course may be caused by the adhering of the tacky film surface to the roller surfaces, or by the vibration of the front portion of the film which is originated by the air streams impinging irregularly on both its surfaces.
  • the deflecting or guide means generally consists of a plurality of small fingers, wires or the like, which become bent or distorted easily. They decrease the accessibility of the various parts for cleaning the drier or for occasionally removing a jammed film. They may even be responsible for a non-uniform air distribution.
  • the present invention provides a drier comprising transport rollers and air-directing tubes arranged to avoid the provision of additional deflecting or guide means.
  • drying apparatus suitable for drying photographic film sheets comprises successive spaced sets of co-operating rollers for conveying sheets through the drier, and comprises between such successive sets of rollers, on opposite sides of and spaced from the intended course of conveyance of sheets by such rollers, air tubes for discharging warm air against opposite sides of said sheets, the shape of each tube and the location thereon of its air discharge opening or openings being such that if the leading end of a sheet should follow, from the nip of the preceding roller set, a course which deviates from the correct course by the minimum angle necessary to bring such sheet into contact with said tube, such leading sheet end will touch said tube before passing its air discharge opening or openings and will then pass such opening or openings at a spacing therefrom.
  • each air tube has a single slot-like discharge orifice having a length at least equal to the maximum sheet width to be encountered.
  • a series of closely spaced slots or other orifices can be used.
  • Preferred embodiments of the present invention comprise a self-threading drier for gelatin-coated film, said drier comprising means defining a drying chamber having an inlet at one side and an outlet at the opposite side for unobstructed passage of gelatin-coated film into and out of the chamber, a film transport mechanism disposed in said chamber between the inlet and the outlet comprising two rows of horizontal and parallel rollers having surfaces for engaging the opposite sides of the film so as to transport the film in substantially one direction through the drier, air-directing tubes running parallel to said rollers and located between the rollers of each of said rows of rollers and spaced from the film course between said rows, each of said tubes having at least one longitudinal slit for directing a layer of warm air onto the film and extending across the entire width of each side of the film transported between the rollers, said longitudinal slit being located behind the line of contact between the film and the periphery of the tube, in the direction of film travel, when the film if deviating from its course upon leaving a previous roller surface
  • rollers of the film-transport mechanism disposed in the chamber may be in pairs located in horizontal planes so as to perform also the function of squeegeeing the film.
  • Each of the rollers can be uniform of diameter and extend fully or for the greater part over the width of the film course in the drying chamber.
  • all the rollers or some of them may be composed of several sections mounted side by side on a common shaft for making contact with the film at spaced positions.
  • the drying chamber is located vertically with the inlet at the top and the outlet near the bottom, one wall of the drying chamber runs closely parallel to the film transporting rollers and to the air-directing tubes situated at one side of the film course, the opposite wall of the drying chamber is located at a distance from the corresponding rollers and tubes which distance is a multiple of the distance over which the said one wall is spaced from the corresponding rollers and tubes, a baffie is vertically provided in the drying chamber at the side of said opposite wall which separates a substantial part of the space extending between the said opposite wall and the corresponding rollers and tubes.
  • the bafile is provided with a plurality of openings the area of which increases from the bottom upwardly, and the exhaust opening through which at least part of the air of the chamber is exhausted, is provided near the lower part of the chamber at the side of said opposite Wall and communicates at least partly with the space comprised between the bafile and the said opposite wall.
  • FIG. 1 is the upper half of a longitudinal sectional view of a photographic processing apparatus embodying the invention.
  • FIG. 2 is the lower half of the view according to FIG. 1.
  • FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic longitudinal sectional view showing the air paths in the drier.
  • FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view on line 4-4 of FIG. 3.
  • FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an air-directing tube.
  • the apparatus for processing X-ray film comprises a film loading section 10, a wet processing section 11 and a drying section 12.
  • the film loading section is the only portion of the processing apparatus that is situated in a darkroom set ofi by wall partition 13.
  • the loading section 10 has a platform 14 upon which a sheet of exposed film is placed for feeding to the driven inlet pressure roller pair 15.
  • a microswitch 18 which is provided at the entrance of the apparatus and the contact lever of which protrudes through the supporting platform 14, is actuated by each film sheet which is introduced into the apparatus, and this microswitch controls the regeneration of the developing and the fixing solutions of the apparatus by means of the regeneration solutions contained in the small tanks 16 and 17.
  • the wet processing section 11 is light-tight enclosed and it has three tanks disposed in side-by-side relation, viz. the tank 21 containing a developing solution, the tank 22 containing a fixing solution, and the tank 23 containing the rinsing water.
  • the developing solution may be of any known type such as the commercially available Gevaert G125 developer for X-ray film.
  • the fixing bath is a relatively low pH formula such as the Gevaert G334 acid fixer for rapid fixing and for hardening to some extent the gelatin coating of the film.
  • the tackiness of the film is sufiiciently reduced to avoid damaging of the film sheet when it is conveyed between the roller pairs and when it is deflected by the guide plates for reversing the direction of travel of the sheets through an angle of 180.
  • Each of the tanks 21, 22, 23 of the wet processing section 11 is provided with two roller sections 24 and 25 which are removably insertable in the tank.
  • the rollers When inserted in the tank, the rollers constitute a plurality of cooperating driven pressure roller pairs for transportin g the film downwardly and upwardly within each tank. Between the different roller pairs of each section are provide guide plates such as 26 and 27 for preventing the film sheet, conveyed by the different roller pairs, from diverging from its course. Further deflecting plates such as 28 and 29 are provided for turning the film through an angle of so as to change the downward movement of the film in an upward movement.
  • a similar function of turning the film through 180 is performed by the cross-over roller transport sections which are located at the top of the tanks and interposed between adjacent tanks to transport the film from one tank through an angle of 180 into the adjacent tank and to remove the surface liquid from the film.
  • a cross-over roller transport section comprises two arcuate guide plates 32, 33 with a driven pressure roller pair 34 therebetween.
  • rollers and roller pairs of the wet processsing section 11 described hereinbefore and the rollers and the roller pairs of the drying section 12 which will be described hereinafter, are drivingly connected by means of gears, wormwheels and worms, chainwheels and chains, or the like, for rotation at equal peripheral speed.
  • roller system 35 comprising a number of driven squeegee roller pairs.
  • the drying section is defined by a front wall 38, a rear wall 39, and two lateral wall portions 40 and 41.
  • the front wall 38 consists for the greater part of a glass panel, permitting the observation of the interior of the drying section and the arrival of film sheets.
  • Beneath the drying section is provided a chute 42 wherein the film sheets fall down when they leave the drying section through the opening 58. Through the opening 43 the film sheets may be removed by the operator.
  • the rollers are preferably made of a material that minimizes damage to the gelatin coating of the film caused by the rollers adhering to the coating 'when in contact therewith.
  • Materials of this type are butyl rubber, polyethylene, hard paper, or the like.
  • the air-directing tubes may consist of aluminium, stainless steel, or the like. In the present embodiment they are made out of aluminium, they have a cross-section as enlargedly seen in FIG. 5 and they are provided with a longitudinal slit 44.
  • the wall thickness of the tubes is 2 mm. and the width of the slit amounts to 1 mm.
  • each of the tubes has a portion of reduced outside diameter adapted to be inserted through corresponding openings which are provided in the vertical walls 53, 54 (FIG. 4).
  • the tubes have a non-circular cross-section, no means need further be provided for securing them against rotational displacement.
  • FIGURES 3 and 4 are diagrammatic views only wherein the exact geometrical location of some parts of the drying chamber has slightly been changed in order to facilitate the representation and the understanding of the air circulation in the device. For the same reason the direction of the air flow and the exit of the air in the blower casing have been changed in FIG. 3.
  • the walls 53, 54 form part of the air plenums 51, 52, respectively, which are disposed vertically at either side of the drying section.
  • the upper end of each plenum is closed whereas the lower end is connected to a tangential blower 46 by means of a main duct 48, forming two branches 49, 50'.
  • the air paths from the main duct towards the air-directing tubes are indicated in broken lines.
  • the blower 46 is located in a thermically insulated chamber 45 which is located under the wet processing section 11. The heating of the air occurs by means of the heating element 47.
  • the air As the air is evacuated from the chamber 45 through the main duct 48, a vacuum develops at its entrance opening 55, so that the air, moistened by the wet film sheets passing between the air-directing tubes, is removed from the drying section along the paths indicated in drawn lines.
  • the removal of the air occurs through the openings 56 provided in a baffie 57.
  • the said bafille runs parallel to the front wall 38 and the rear wall 39 of the drying section, and separates a substantial part of the space comprised between the right vertical row of air-directing tubes 37 (FIG. 3) and the wall 39.
  • Through a plurality of openings 56 in the bafile the spaces at either side of the baffle communicate with each other. ⁇ In increasing the area of said openings from the bottom upwardly, the underpressure which prevails at the right side of the film course may be substantially equal over the complete height of the drying chamber.
  • the warm air circulates through the drier and becomes still more laden with moisture removed from the film surfaces.
  • a certain amount of the air is continuously vented and replaced by fresh air.
  • the venting of the air occurs in part through the slot-like opening 5 8 through which the dried film sheets leave the drying chamber and in part through the adjustable opening 59 in the main duct 48.
  • the said opening 59 may communicate with the open air so that the air laden with moisture does not enter the room where the apparatus is disposed.
  • the introduction of fresh air for replacing the vented air occurs through an opening 65 in the rear wall of chamber 45.
  • each pair of air-directing tubes 37 which are in register with one another direct unobstructed symmetrical sheets of warm air normal to and extending across the entire width of the fihn.
  • any difference in adherence of the tacky surfaces of the film to the roller surfaces will make the front edge of the film diverge from its rectilinear course through the drying chamber.
  • the divergence of the film sheet may be increased by turbulences in the air-streams, by the vibration effect of the front portion of the film, etc.
  • the deviation of the film sheet from its course generally will be greatest towards the side of the blower since at that side of the film course an underpressure exists. In its most extreme deviations, the film may follow a course 62 as is shown in FIG. 5, and touch the air-directing tube 37 in a point 63.
  • the distance between the tubes 37 and the rollers 36 may be too considerable for preventing the abutment of the front edge of the film to the upper curved part of the tube when the film deviates considerably from its course.
  • an exposed film sheet is removed in the darkroom by the operator or by an automatic cassette unloading mechanism, and fed over the platform 1-4 to the inlet pressure roller pair 15 which directs the film to the wet processing section 11.
  • the film is transported by the rollers through the developing, fixing and washing tanks, and thence through the squeegee rollers 35 which remove most of the remaining surface liquid from the film.
  • the film is then transported by the rollers 36 through the drying chamber where the gelatin coating or coatings of the film are subjected to oppositely disposed sheets of warm air extending across the width of the film.
  • novel sheet conveying apparatus comprising rollers and means for supplying streams of air may be applied otherwise than in drying apparatus for films and the invention includes such conveying apparatus per se.
  • Drying apparatus suitable for drying photographic film sheets, comprising successive spaced sets of cooperating rollers for conveying sheets through the dryer, and comprising between such successive sets of rollers, on opposite sides of and spaced from the intended path of the sheets through such rollers, air tubes for discharging warm air against opposite sides of said sheets, each of said air tubes including a wall section adjacent said sheet path which bends away from said sheet path in the direction of sheet movement, each such tube having a transversely extending air discharge slit therein, said slit being located at a locus on said bending wall section spaced downstream from the locus on said wall nearest said sheet path, so that if the leading end of a sheet should on emerging from the nip of the preceding set of rollers deviate from the normal sheet path at an angle such that the sheet would collide with one of said tubes, the leading end of such sheet would be obstructed from entering the air discharge slit by the intervening wall section projecting nearer the sheet path.
  • Drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air discharge slits extend over at least a distance corresponding to the relevant dimension of the largest sheet to be dried.
  • Drying apparatus wherein said underpressure is developed at substantially one side of the film path and closer to one end of the film path than to the other end, and wherein means is provided for controlling the underpressure along the film path so as to obtain a substantially uniform underpressure at the side of the film path where the underpressure is developed.
  • Drying apparatus wherein said means consists of a battle which extends over substantially the length and the width of the film path in the drier, and which is located aside the rollers and the air tubes at the side of the film path where the underpressure is developed, the bafile being provided with a plurality of openings the area of which decreases towards 1 the place where the air is discharged from the housing.
  • the film transport rollers are arranged in pairs opposite to each other.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Drying Of Solid Materials (AREA)
  • Advancing Webs (AREA)
  • Photographic Processing Devices Using Wet Methods (AREA)
US566690A 1965-07-20 1966-07-20 Dryer for a film processing machine Expired - Lifetime US3435539A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB3087665 1965-07-20
GB39816/65A GB1157281A (en) 1965-07-20 1965-07-20 Dryer for a Film Processing Machine

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US3435539A true US3435539A (en) 1969-04-01

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Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US566690A Expired - Lifetime US3435539A (en) 1965-07-20 1966-07-20 Dryer for a film processing machine
US566691A Expired - Lifetime US3438140A (en) 1965-07-20 1966-07-20 Drier for photographic layer supports in sheet form

Family Applications After (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
US566691A Expired - Lifetime US3438140A (en) 1965-07-20 1966-07-20 Drier for photographic layer supports in sheet form

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US (2) US3435539A (enEXAMPLES)
BE (1) BE684359A (enEXAMPLES)
DE (1) DE1497394A1 (enEXAMPLES)
FR (1) FR1560219A (enEXAMPLES)
GB (1) GB1157281A (enEXAMPLES)
NL (1) NL6610172A (enEXAMPLES)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3771239A (en) * 1970-12-30 1973-11-13 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd Apparatus for drying a web by use of an air jet flow
US3771235A (en) * 1970-12-29 1973-11-13 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd Method for floating and drying a web
EP0126255A1 (de) * 1983-04-16 1984-11-28 Agfa-Gevaert AG Vorrichtung zum Trocknen von fotografischen Schichtträgern

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4135312A (en) * 1977-04-21 1979-01-23 Hope Henry F Film dryer

Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1214712A (en) * 1916-03-06 1917-02-06 Charles E Pope Paper-machine.
US2767485A (en) * 1953-12-09 1956-10-23 Coe Mfg Co Veneer dryer
US3147090A (en) * 1957-09-17 1964-09-01 Eastman Kodak Co Dryer for a film processing machine
US3318017A (en) * 1967-05-09 Heat treating method and apparatus
US3324571A (en) * 1964-07-29 1967-06-13 Moore Dry Kiln Company Dryer for sheet material

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE218770C (enEXAMPLES) *
DE612366C (de) * 1933-03-31 1935-04-18 Hans H Brendel Belueftungsvorrichtung fuer Trockner mit Umluftstroemung
US2229921A (en) * 1938-04-23 1941-01-28 Warren S D Co Method of and apparatus for coating sheet material
US3316657A (en) * 1965-10-23 1967-05-02 Huyck Corp Air deflector utilizing coanda effect

Patent Citations (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3318017A (en) * 1967-05-09 Heat treating method and apparatus
US1214712A (en) * 1916-03-06 1917-02-06 Charles E Pope Paper-machine.
US2767485A (en) * 1953-12-09 1956-10-23 Coe Mfg Co Veneer dryer
US3147090A (en) * 1957-09-17 1964-09-01 Eastman Kodak Co Dryer for a film processing machine
US3324571A (en) * 1964-07-29 1967-06-13 Moore Dry Kiln Company Dryer for sheet material

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3771235A (en) * 1970-12-29 1973-11-13 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd Method for floating and drying a web
US3771239A (en) * 1970-12-30 1973-11-13 Fuji Photo Film Co Ltd Apparatus for drying a web by use of an air jet flow
EP0126255A1 (de) * 1983-04-16 1984-11-28 Agfa-Gevaert AG Vorrichtung zum Trocknen von fotografischen Schichtträgern

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
BE684359A (enEXAMPLES) 1967-01-20
NL6610172A (enEXAMPLES) 1966-12-27
US3438140A (en) 1969-04-15
FR1560219A (enEXAMPLES) 1969-03-21
GB1157281A (en) 1969-07-02
DE1497394A1 (de) 1969-05-29

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