US3575100A - Film developing apparatus - Google Patents

Film developing apparatus Download PDF

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Publication number
US3575100A
US3575100A US685747A US3575100DA US3575100A US 3575100 A US3575100 A US 3575100A US 685747 A US685747 A US 685747A US 3575100D A US3575100D A US 3575100DA US 3575100 A US3575100 A US 3575100A
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United States
Prior art keywords
film
spools
shaft
drive roll
speed
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Expired - Lifetime
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US685747A
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English (en)
Inventor
Edward B Krause
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Individual
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Individual
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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
    • G03D3/00—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion
    • G03D3/08—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material
    • G03D3/13—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly
    • G03D3/135—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly fed between chains or belts, or with a leading strip
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
    • G03D—APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS; ACCESSORIES THEREFOR
    • G03D3/00—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion
    • G03D3/08—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material
    • G03D3/13—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly
    • G03D3/14—Liquid processing apparatus involving immersion; Washing apparatus involving immersion having progressive mechanical movement of exposed material for long films or prints in the shape of strips, e.g. fed by roller assembly with means for taking into account of elongation or contraction of films

Definitions

  • a primary object of the invention is to provide film developing apparatus which automatically maintains the film tension within prescribed limits.
  • a further object is to provide apparatus of the above character wherein a minimum lower tension on the film is assured by normally pulling the film through the apparatus with a capstan pacer roll mechanism.
  • a further object is to provide apparatus of the above character wherein the film being processed is guided by a series of normally freely rotatable spools.
  • a further object is to provide apparatus of the above character wherein means responsive to excessive film tension automatically drives some of the normally freely rotatable spools so as to reduce excessive film tension.
  • FIG. 11 is atop plan view of an exemplary first embodiment invention.
  • FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the FIG. I apparatus, partly broken away;
  • FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of the upper left corner of FIG. 2, showing the preferred embodiment of the takeup capstan arrangement;
  • FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG. '3, showing the rear of the takeup capstan arrangements;
  • FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6-6 in FIG. 5, showing the suspension of the upper spool shaft and the construction of the preferred film guide spools, and the relation of the guide spools t0 the auxiliary drive roller;
  • FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the upper spools and auxiliary drive assembly, showing a particular arrangement of stops for limiting the movement of certain spool shafts;
  • FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view similar to FIG. 7, showing a different arrangement of stops for limiting the movement of certain spool shafts;
  • FIG. 9 is a sectional view, similar to FIG. 6, showing an alternative embodiment of stop mechanism
  • FIG. I0 is a sectional view taken along line 10-10 in FIG. 9;
  • FIG. I1 is a perspective view, partly 'broken away, of the stop mechanism shown in FIG. 9;
  • FIG. 12 is a rear elevation view of an alternative embodiment wherein the spool shafts are mounted inside the tank for easier adjustment and maintenance;
  • FIG. 13 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of the embodiment shown in FIG. 12;
  • FIG. 14 is a rear elevation view of a further altemative embodiment of the inventionwherein the upper spools are immersed in a liquid bath;
  • FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken along line 15-I5 in FIG. 14;
  • FIG. I6 is a sectional view taken along line 16-16 in FIG. 14;
  • FIG. 17 is a sectional view taken along line 17-17 in FIG.
  • film 20 is fed from a supply reel 22 at the front of the apparatus and is taken up on a takeup reel 24 at the rear of the apparatus.
  • a series of processing tanks 26 between supply reel 22 and takeup reel 24 are filled with the various desired fluids for processing film 20.
  • the leftmost tank 26, as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be the usual drybox, for drying the film prior to winding on reel 24.
  • a plurality of generally horizontally upper shafts 28 are provided, supporting freely rotatable upper guide spools 30. The ends of shafts 28 are supporting in bearing assemblies attached to the sidewalls of tanks 26, as will be more clearly disclosed below.
  • each upper shaft 28 Underlying each upper shaft 28 is a corresponding lower shaft 32, supporting lower guide spools 34. As is best illustrated in FIG. 14, the center of each lower guide spool 34 is preferably aligned with a vertical plane halfway between adjacent spools 30. Spools 30 on a given upper shaft in cooperation with spools 34 on the corresponding lower shaft 32 provides means for guiding film 20 in a helical path transversely across the tanks.
  • film 20 when film 20 has completed a helical path from one side of a tank to the opposite side, film 20 passes over the endmost upper spool 30 on a given shaft 28 to the endmost upper spool 30 on the adjacent upper shaft 28, so that the film feeds back and forth laterally across the tanks as it proceeds from supply reel 22 to takeup reel 24.
  • capstan assembly 38 includes driven pacer roll 40 for frictionally forwarding film 20 to takeup reel 24.
  • Roll 40 is driven from motor 36 by belt 42 and transmission 44.
  • a nip roll 46 squeezes film 20 against the periphery of driven roll 40, to increase the traction for forwarding film 20.
  • Idler wheel 45 is positioned to increase the contact of film 20 on the periphery of roll 40, further increasing the traction.
  • auxiliary drive means are provided for automatically driving the appropriate normally freely rotatable spools 30 so as to maintain the tension within predetermined limits.
  • FIGS. 1, 3, 5 and 6 A first embodiment for achieving this result is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3, 5 and 6.
  • FIG. 6 which affords a rear view of shaft 28, the left end of shaft 28 extends through vertical slot 48 in sidewall 50 of its tank 26.
  • the end of shaft 28 is joumaled in bearing housing 52, which is mounted for vertical sliding movement between outwardly extending tabs 54 on mounting plate 53 attached to wall 50.
  • Bolt 56 is threaded into bearing housing 52 and secured by locknut 58, and extends upwardly through an aperture in upper tab 54.
  • Coil spring 60 is mounted between upper tab 54 and locknuts 62 on the upper end of bolt 56, whereby bolt 56, bearing housing 52, and shaft 28 are resiliently urged upwardly.
  • the opposite end of shaft 28 is similarly resiliently mounted.
  • an auxiliary drive shaft 64 underlies each shaft 28, and has its left end supported in bearing 66 mounted in wall 50.
  • the opposite or right end of shaft 64 extends through the opposite tank wall to right angle drive unit 68 (FIGS. 1 and 3) driven from motor 36.
  • a sleeve 70 which may be of rubber or the like, is mounted on shaft 64 to provide for frictional drive of the flanges of spools 30, as will be described.
  • each shaft 28 is prevented from lowering.
  • FIGS. 7 and 8 are merely illustrative of preferred arrangements which have been found to operate well under particular conditions: selection of other arrangements to suit different processing conditions is well within the scope of one skilled in the art. Springs 60 and other details have been omitted in FIGS. 7 and 8 for simplicity of illustration.
  • FIGS. 9 through 11 illustrate a camming arrangement as an alternative to the collars 72 with which one or more ends of a selected shaft 28 may be easily blocked from vertical movement.
  • cam shaft 74 is mounted through frame member 76 so that its inner or leftmost end as viewed in FIG. 9 is somewhat lower than bearing housing 52.
  • a simple cam surface 78 is mounted on shaft 74 to underlie housing 52.
  • the opposite end of shaft 74 may be fitted with handle 80 to manually rotate shaft 74 to the desired position. In the position illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 1], bearing 52 is permitted to move vertically. If handle 80 and shaft 74 were rotated 180, the high portion of end 78 would be positioned beneath bearing 52, thus preventing bearing 52 and the end of shaft 28 from lowering in response to film tension.
  • FIG. 10
  • FIGS. 12 and I3 illustrate an alternative embodiment of the invention, wherein the mounting assemblies for upper shafts 28 are mounted inside the tank for easier adjustment and maintenance.
  • plate 53 is provided with a mounting bracket 82 which is attached to the inner surface of wall 50 by a pair of screws 84.
  • bracket 82 has slots 86 for receiving screws 84, so that upon loosening screws 84, brackets 82 and the entire shaft assembly 28 including plate 53 and bearings 52 can be lifted from the apparatus.
  • FIGS. 14 through 17 illustrate a further alternative embodiment of the invention wherein upper spools 30 are immersed in the liquid bath.
  • output drive shaft 88 of right-angle drive 68 extends through wall 50 above the liquid level.
  • Sprocket wheel 90 is mounted on the end of shaft 88, and by means of chain 92 drives sprocket 94 on shaft 64. Accordingly, drive 68 is positioned above the liquid level, and the problems of providing sealing around shaft 64 are avoided.
  • FIGS. I4 and 15 The mounting of the right end of shaft 28 is shown in FIGS. I4 and 15.
  • Drive housing 96 is mounted on the inside of wall 50, and encloses sprocket 90 and chain 92.
  • Opposed brackets 98 are attached to the sides of housing 96 and define therewith opposed vertical slots for slideably receiving laterally extending portions 100 on plate 53.
  • the upper ends of brackets 98 are bent horizontally to form supporting fingers I02 extending away from housing 96.
  • the upper tab 54 on plate 53 overhangs supporting fingers 102, and has adjusting screws 104 threaded therethrough to rest on the upper surfaces of fingers I02. Accordingly, the lower limit of movement of plate 53 may be adjusted by means of screws 104.
  • FIGS. l4, l6 and 17 The mounting of the left end of shaft 28 is shown in FIGS. l4, l6 and 17.
  • a vertical C-shaped frame member 106 is mounted within the opposite sidewall 50, and includes horizontally extending supporting finger 108.
  • Mounting plate 53 is slideably received within frame member 106, and includes adjusting screws 110 threaded through a portion 112 of upper tab 54 which overhangs supporting finger I08, so that the lower limit of movement of plate 53 and bearing 52 may be controlled by adjustment of screw I10.
  • Shaft 28 and plates 53 in the FIGS. 14-I7 embodiment can be removed from the apparatus merely by lifting.
  • spools 30 and 34 are adapted for handling at least two film widths, while contacting only the edges of the film. This may be achieved by forming the spools with axially aligned circumferential grooves which are successively narrower and deeper near the center of the spools, as best shown in FIG. 14. The grooves thus define pairs of shoulders such as 114 for supporting a film of given width, and such as 116, for supporting a film of narrower width.
  • the diameter of pacer roll 40 When the diameter of pacer roll 40 is selected to the optimum value for a given diameter of shoulders 116, as when processing narrow film, a changeover to wider film can be directly achieved by merely splicing the wider film to the end of the narrow film. The wider film will then be threaded through the apparatus on shoulders 114 without further intervention, although the effective overdrivefor the wider film will be higher than would be normally selected, resulting in more than the usual amount of engagement of spools 30 and sleeve 70. When the wider film has been threaded through the entire machine, the small pacer roll 40 may be replaced with one of larger diameter, resulting in smoother operation of the apparatus, at which time the speed of motor 36 may be reduced to maintain a constant film speed in the apparatus. It should be understood that the apparatus may include the customary elevators or film reserve supply units adjacent the supply reel 22 and the takeup reel 24. Since these devices are conventional in the art, they have not been illustrated. Exemplary film reserve supply units are disclosed in US. Pat.
  • the overdrive provided by shaft 64 and sleeve 70 automatically compensate for substantial tolerance variations among the diameters of shoulders H4 and 116, and among the spool flanges which engage shaft 64 or sleeve 70.
  • the spool flange diameters may be as much as nearly 5 percent smaller than the correct value, while still providing useful overdrive. This automatically compensates for wear of the apparatus, and permits considerable economies in production of the original parts.
  • the disclosed apparatus automatically maintains the film tension within prescribed limits.
  • a minimum amount of film tension is assured by pulling film through the several stations by means of capstan assembly 38.
  • shaft 28 at that station moves downwardly under the urging of the increased film tension until the peripheries of spools 30 are engaged and driven by sleeve 70 on shaft 64.
  • the amount of film tension necessary to produce engagement between spool 30 and sleeve 70 may be adjusted by locknuts 62.
  • Film processing apparatus comprising:
  • an auxiliary driven drive roll mounted parallel to said first shaft and adjacent said first spools, and said drive roll when in contact with said first spools adapted to drive film engaged therewith at a greater rate than film is drawn by said film drawing means;
  • G means independently resiliently mounting each end of said first shaft, whereby each end thereof is capable of independent movement towards said drive roll while the other end remains fixed and whereby upon occurrence of excessive film tension at one of said first spools, it and said first shaft will be pulled toward said drive roll until said one of said first spools contacts and is driven by said drive roll to thus relieve said excessive film tension condition.
  • said blocking means includes a camming surface selectively positionable beneath at least one end of said upper shaft.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Photographic Processing Devices Using Wet Methods (AREA)
  • Registering, Tensioning, Guiding Webs, And Rollers Therefor (AREA)
  • Photographic Developing Apparatuses (AREA)
US685747A 1967-11-27 1967-11-27 Film developing apparatus Expired - Lifetime US3575100A (en)

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Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US68574767A 1967-11-27 1967-11-27

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GB (1) GB1232490A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Cited By (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3691926A (en) * 1969-09-10 1972-09-19 Agfa Gevaert Ag Apparatus for treating roll film or the like in liquid baths
US3724355A (en) * 1970-06-12 1973-04-03 K Schranz Apparatus for processing exposed photographic film or the like
US3776118A (en) * 1972-04-24 1973-12-04 Polaroid Corp Photographic film processing apparatus
US4012753A (en) * 1975-05-02 1977-03-15 Cubic Productron, Inc. Film processor
US4101325A (en) * 1974-07-19 1978-07-18 Eastman Kodak Company Conduit and method for processing webs with a liquid solution
DE2814912B1 (de) * 1978-04-06 1978-11-30 Arnold & Richter Kg Maschine zum Behandeln,insbesondere Entwickeln,von Filmbaendern
US4141480A (en) * 1976-06-21 1979-02-27 O.M.A.C. Caprara S.A.S. Friction film driving device for developing machine
US4198994A (en) * 1977-12-30 1980-04-22 Union Siderurgique Du Nord Et De L'est De La France (Usinor) Device for mounting rollers in a machine for treating metal sheets or the like
US4726503A (en) * 1985-08-12 1988-02-23 Bowker Thomas B Movable artist canvas
US5152474A (en) * 1991-02-19 1992-10-06 Ray Hicks Self-centering guide spindle
US5447170A (en) * 1993-10-27 1995-09-05 Magnasonics, Inc. Apparatus for cleaning film
EP1186954A1 (en) * 2000-09-08 2002-03-13 Technicolor S.p.A. Apparatuses for developing films, particularly movie films

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1882413A (en) * 1930-07-12 1932-10-11 Paramount Publix Corp Film spool
US2210880A (en) * 1938-03-15 1940-08-13 Eastman Kodak Co Film processing machine
US2435298A (en) * 1944-07-01 1948-02-03 John F Van Leuven Portable film rack
US2579741A (en) * 1946-11-18 1951-12-25 Houston Fearless Corp Motion-picture film developer feeding device
US3261278A (en) * 1963-12-09 1966-07-19 Ram Engineering Corp Film processing apparatus
US3380678A (en) * 1966-06-06 1968-04-30 Eastman Kodak Co Web transport system

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US1882413A (en) * 1930-07-12 1932-10-11 Paramount Publix Corp Film spool
US2210880A (en) * 1938-03-15 1940-08-13 Eastman Kodak Co Film processing machine
US2435298A (en) * 1944-07-01 1948-02-03 John F Van Leuven Portable film rack
US2579741A (en) * 1946-11-18 1951-12-25 Houston Fearless Corp Motion-picture film developer feeding device
US3261278A (en) * 1963-12-09 1966-07-19 Ram Engineering Corp Film processing apparatus
US3380678A (en) * 1966-06-06 1968-04-30 Eastman Kodak Co Web transport system

Cited By (14)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3691926A (en) * 1969-09-10 1972-09-19 Agfa Gevaert Ag Apparatus for treating roll film or the like in liquid baths
US3724355A (en) * 1970-06-12 1973-04-03 K Schranz Apparatus for processing exposed photographic film or the like
US3776118A (en) * 1972-04-24 1973-12-04 Polaroid Corp Photographic film processing apparatus
US4101325A (en) * 1974-07-19 1978-07-18 Eastman Kodak Company Conduit and method for processing webs with a liquid solution
US4012753A (en) * 1975-05-02 1977-03-15 Cubic Productron, Inc. Film processor
US4141480A (en) * 1976-06-21 1979-02-27 O.M.A.C. Caprara S.A.S. Friction film driving device for developing machine
US4198994A (en) * 1977-12-30 1980-04-22 Union Siderurgique Du Nord Et De L'est De La France (Usinor) Device for mounting rollers in a machine for treating metal sheets or the like
DE2814912B1 (de) * 1978-04-06 1978-11-30 Arnold & Richter Kg Maschine zum Behandeln,insbesondere Entwickeln,von Filmbaendern
FR2422190A1 (fr) * 1978-04-06 1979-11-02 Arnold & Richter Kg Machine pour traiter et notamment developper des films
US4726503A (en) * 1985-08-12 1988-02-23 Bowker Thomas B Movable artist canvas
US5152474A (en) * 1991-02-19 1992-10-06 Ray Hicks Self-centering guide spindle
US5447170A (en) * 1993-10-27 1995-09-05 Magnasonics, Inc. Apparatus for cleaning film
EP1186954A1 (en) * 2000-09-08 2002-03-13 Technicolor S.p.A. Apparatuses for developing films, particularly movie films
US6630983B2 (en) 2000-09-08 2003-10-07 Technicolor S.P.A. Apparatuses for developing films, particularly movie films

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