JPH0277062A - Rack for photographic sensitive material processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniform liquid temperature without providing any driving device for an agitating function by providing a power transmission means which connects the rotations of plural rollers constituting a roller transport mechanism and an agitation member which is driven by it. CONSTITUTION:The conveyor roller group 8 which constitutes the roller transport mechanism is coupled by gears 30 supported pivotally on the respective rollers outside a side plate 6, and the gear ratio of the gears is so set that the rotational speeds of the peripheral surfaces of the rollers of the conveyor roller group 8 are constant. Further, an agitation part gear 32 which rotates the shaft 14 of the agitation member 12 is arranged outside a support plate 18 corresponding to the side where the gears 30 are arranged. Therefore, when a rack 4 is inserted into a tank 2 and the side plate 6 and support plate 18 abut on each other, the lowermost gear 30a among the gears 30 and the agitation part gear 32 engage each other to transmit driving force to the conveyor roller group 8 even to the agitation member 12, so that the agitation member 12 also begins to rotate as the conveyor roller group 8 begins to rotate. Consequently, the temperature of the whole processing liquid is uniformed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method for immersing a photographic material that has been exposed to image light from a manuscript or an original image in a processing solution to perform development processing, etc. The present invention relates to a rack for processing photographic materials.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an automatic developing device using a silver halide photographic material, the photographic material after exposure is developed by being immersed in a developer contained in a developer tank for a predetermined time, and then further developed. , bleaching, fixing, washing, etc. are performed as necessary.

In order to effectively immerse and transport the photosensitive material into the tanks containing these processing solutions, for example, the tanks containing each processing solution are arranged in parallel. Further, in order to effectively immerse the photographic material in each processing liquid, each processing tank has a vertically elongated shape, and the photographic material is conveyed in the direction of gravity within each processing tank. That is, the photographic light-sensitive material is placed vertically downward in the developer solution in the developer tank.

After being transported, placed right at the bottom of the developing tank and inverted, it is transported vertically upward and sent to the next processing tank, and the same processing is performed in the other processing tanks as well.

The mechanism for conveying the photosensitive material includes a plurality of conveyance rollers arranged alternately in two rows through a conveyance path in a non-contact manner, and the photosensitive material is brought into contact with the circumferential surface of the conveyance rollers. A roller transport mechanism for transporting photographic light-sensitive materials is the most ideal mechanism for transporting photographic light-sensitive materials.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

A heater is installed in the processing tank to keep the temperature of the processing liquid constant, and a stirring function such as a stirrer or nitrogen gas insertion is also installed in order to uniformly distribute the temperature inside the processing tank. ing.

However, in the case of a stirrer, in addition to the drive device for the roller transport mechanism, the stirrer drive device must be installed outside the processing tank, and when inserting nitrogen gas, the insertion pump and pipe must be installed separately on the outside of the processing tank. This required space for these stirring functions.

Further, as a roller transport mechanism provided with an agitation member, Utility Model Application No. 47-25039 and Utility Model Application No. 53-8
Publication No. 1037 is known.

In the former design, specificity is lacking throughout the specification, and what is expected is that the part actually being treated will be insufficiently stirred.

In addition, in the latter idea, the stirring member is simply attached to the roller of the roller transport mechanism.
If the conveyance speed is slow, the stirring effect will be very small.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to provide a photographic photosensitive material that can achieve uniform liquid temperature without providing a space for a drive device for a stirring function in a mechanism for transporting photographic photosensitive materials using a roller transport mechanism. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a material processing rack.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The above object of the present invention is to provide a rack for processing photosensitive materials having a roller transport mechanism for transporting photosensitive materials by immersing them in a processing solution filled in a tank. This is achieved by a photographic material processing rack having a power transmission means for connecting the rotations of a plurality of rollers constituting the roller transport mechanism, and a stirring member rotated by the power transmission means.

That is, by connecting the power transmission means of the roller transport mechanism to the stirring member, the driving source of the roller transport mechanism is shared with the stirring member, and there is no need to provide a dedicated drive device for the stirring function.

Further, the same effect can be obtained by providing a stirring blade directly on the power transmission means.

Furthermore, by changing the power transmission ratio between the power transmission means and the stirring member, the stirring rotation can be set arbitrarily.

The photographic material used in the present invention may be any photographic material that can be processed by immersing it in a processing solution.

For example, it is effective in a configuration in which a long length of photographic film or photographic paper is immersed in a developing solution for development, and sheet form 1; a configuration in which a cut photographic film or photographic paper is immersed in a developing solution for development. It is also effective for

〔implementation! ! l1l) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In the above-mentioned automatic developing device, each processing tank has a similar structure, so this structure will be explained using the developing tank.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a photographic material developing tank.

A rack 4 for guiding the photosensitive material A into the tank is loaded in the tank 2 containing the developer. Between the two side plates 6 of the rack 4, there are a plurality of conveying roller groups 8 for conveying the photosensitive material A.
are arranged in a substantially U-shape to constitute a roller transport mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a photographic material developing tank.

The rollers of the transport roller group 8 are arranged alternately so that their peripheral surfaces are in contact with the photosensitive material transport path, and furthermore, the rollers are not in contact with each other. In other words, the transport roller group 8
The rollers are in contact with the photosensitive material A, and the photosensitive material A is transported by friction with the circumferential surface of each roller of the transport roller group 8.

The conveyance roller group 8 is connected by a gear 30 that is pivotally supported by each roller on the outside of the side plate 6, and each gear ratio is set so that the rotation speed of the peripheral surface of the roller of the conveyance port-ra group 8 is constant. Therefore, the photosensitive material A is transported between the transport roller group 8 without loosening.

A heater 10 for heating the developer in the tank to an appropriate temperature and two stirring members 12 for stirring the developer are provided at the bottom of the tank 2. The stirring member 12 has a structure in which a plurality of blades 16 are provided along the axis of a shaft 14.

As mentioned above, the transport roller group 8, which is a roller transport mechanism, is arranged in a U-shape inside the tank, so that the photosensitive material is carried into the tank from above to below by the transport roller group 8. A is inverted at the bottom of the tank, transported upwards, and taken out.

A gap is provided in the arrangement of the conveying roller group 8 at a portion where the liquid level is set near the population 3 and exit 5 of the photosensitive material A, and a moving shutter 20 and a fixed shutter 22 are provided close to the liquid level and the liquid surface. is used to block air and the processing liquid.

Further, a fixed shutter 24 is provided on the outside of the side plate 6 close to the processing liquid to block air and the processing liquid.

FIG. 3 is an arrow view of the x-x' plane shown in FIG. 2.

The shaft 14 of the stirring member 12 is supported between two support plates 18 at the bottom of the processing tank, and the support plate 18 is supported by the side plate 6.
It is fixed to the bottom of the processing tank.

A stirring member 1 is provided on the outside of the support plate 18 corresponding to the side where the gears 30 connecting the conveying roller groups 8 are disposed.
A stirring unit gear 32 for rotating the second shaft 14 is provided.

When the rack 4 is inserted into the tank 2 and the side plate 6 and the support plate 18 come into contact with each other, the lowermost gear 30a of the gear 30 and the stirring part gear 3
2 mesh with each other, and the driving force to the conveying roller group 8 is transferred to the stirring member 1.
2, and when the transport roller group 8 starts rotating, the stirring member 12 also starts rotating, which helps to equalize the temperature of the entire processing liquid.

Note that the number of stirring members 12 is not limited to two, and it is possible to provide a plurality of stirring members as long as space allows. In order to give the direction of flow, it is more effective to configure it with a curved surface.

Furthermore, by integrating the side plate 6 and the support plate 18,
The stirring member 12 can also be inserted into and removed from the tank 2 at the same time as the rack 4.

Furthermore, the conveyance roller group 8 may be driven not only by a combination of gears, but also by drive transmission by a chain or belt.
By changing this transmission ratio, stirring ability can be improved.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of the rack 4 viewed from the gear 30 side.

Note that the same reference numerals are used for the same elements as in the embodiment described above.

A blade 34 is disposed on all (or a part) of the gear 30 that is supported by the shaft of the conveyance roller group 8, and the processing liquid is stirred when the conveyance roller group 8 starts rotating. At this time, since the blades 34 become small, the conveying roller group 8 is rotated at high speed before the start of development to help equalize the temperature of the entire processing liquid.

Furthermore, by providing the blades 34 on a gear on a shaft provided separately from the gear 30, it becomes possible to arbitrarily change the gear ratio, and the stirring by the blades 34 can be performed more effectively.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the photographic material processing rack of the present invention, the drive transmission means (for example, a gear) for the stirring member disposed in the processing liquid tank
By connecting the power transmission means (e.g., gear) that connects the rotation of each of the plurality of rollers that constitute the roller transport mechanism arranged in the rack, the drive source becomes the same, and a drive device dedicated to the stirring member can be used. And without providing that space (the entire treatment liquid can be sufficiently stirred and the temperature inside the tank can be made uniform).

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of the developer tank, Figure 2 is a schematic sectional view of the developer tank, and Figure 3! ! 4 is another embodiment of the present invention, and is a view of the rack 4 viewed from the gear 30 side. Symbols in the figure: 2 tank 4- rack 6 side plate 8 transport roller group lO heater
12 Stirring member 14 - shaft 16 Blade 18 Support plate 20 - Moving shutter 22 Fixed shutter 30. - Drive transmission gear 32 - Stirring unit gear 34 - Vane A Photosensitive material Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A photographic material processing rack having a roller transport mechanism for transporting a photographic material by immersing it in a processing liquid filled in a tank, wherein the rotation of each of the plurality of rollers constituting the roller transport mechanism is A rack for processing photographic light-sensitive materials, comprising a connecting power transmission means and a stirring member rotated by the power transmission means. (2) Claim (1) wherein the power transmission means has a stirring blade.
) photosensitive material processing rack.