JPH053581B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention relates to a conveyance mechanism of a film leader for a developing device for feeding a developing film into a processing tank of the developing device by a leader.

[Background Art] The process of developing a film, especially a color film, generally consists of development, bleaching, fixing, washing, and drying, and the number of development steps is usually greater than that for black and white films.

For this reason, developing apparatuses have recently been used in which a continuous conveyor is disposed throughout the entire process of film development, and the conveyor sequentially moves the film to each processing tank.

However, in such a mobile developing device, a large amount of the processing liquid is carried out by the conveyor to the next processing tank, which increases the amount of processing liquid consumed and causes the processing liquid to become contaminated early.

As a countermeasure to this problem, a developing device has been proposed in which endless timing belts are arranged in each processing tank, and a leader attached to the tip of the film is sequentially passed around these timing belts to lead the film. No. 116949).

However, in this developing device, when the leader is bent and folded back at the folded part of the timing belt,
Since the interval between the engagement protrusions protruding toward the outer periphery of the timing belt is increased, conveyance becomes impossible unless the leader is configured to expand and contract in the conveyance direction. As a countermeasure to this problem, the present applicant has already proposed a conveyance mechanism in which the reader is once removed from the timing belt at the folded part of the timing belt, bypassed the folded part, and then reengaged with the timing belt (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1983-1999-1).
No. 191258).

In consideration of these facts, the present invention is designed to be used in a developing device in which an endless timing belt is wrapped around a processing tank, so that the leader that leads the film does not need to be removed from the timing belt at the folded part of the timing belt, and can be expanded and contracted. It is an object of the present invention to provide a conveyance structure for a film leader for a developing device, which allows the leader to be conveyed smoothly and reliably at the folded portion of the timing belt even when a leader having no properties is used.

[Summary and operation of the invention] The present invention provides an endless timing belt that is at least partially immersed in a processing tank of a developing device and has a plurality of protrusions protruding at predetermined intervals on the inside and outside of the belt base, and the timing belt. a plurality of winding foils that are wound and folded back and engaged with inner protrusions of the timing belt to drive the timing belt; and a length that is attached to the leading end of the developing film and is longer than the length of the outer protrusion of the timing belt in the traveling direction. a leader having a plurality of holes and driven by engagement between the periphery of the long hole and an outer protrusion of the timing belt;
and where the thickness of the belt base is the dimension t and the thickness of the leader is the dimension T, the elongated hole is at least (t+T) longer than the length of the outer protrusion in the advancing direction.
It is characterized by being lengthened by ×π.

Therefore, in the present invention, even if a plurality of protrusions protruding from the outside of the endless timing belt at predetermined intervals become longer due to bending of the timing belt at the folded portion of the timing belt, the leader can be inadvertently removed from the endless timing belt. without leaving the
It is designed to be able to move by reliably receiving the driving force from the endless timing belt.

[Embodiments of the Invention] FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional side view of a developing device 12 to which the present invention is applied. The outside of the developing device 12 is constituted by a frame 14, so that all external light is blocked. The lower part of the frame 14 is supported on a floor 18 by a plurality of support legs 16.

The frame 14 has a plurality of processing tanks 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, and 3 extending in the vertical direction.
2 are provided in series, and each is partitioned by a standing wall 33. The processing tank 20 contains a developing solution, the processing tank 22 contains a bleaching solution, the processing tank 24 contains a fixing solution, the processing tanks 26 and 28 contain washing water, and the processing tank 30
The processing tank 32 is filled with a stabilizing liquid, and the processing tank 32 is a drying chamber, and a heater 34 and a fan 35 are arranged below to blow hot air upward.

Further, a supply device 36 is disposed on one side of the processing tank 20, and a pair of drive rollers 37 pull out the developing film 38 from the cartridge 40.
A cutter 41 for cutting the film is arranged in the middle. On the other hand, processing tank 3
A stacking device 42 is disposed on one side of the film 2 to stack the processed films 38.

The film 38 is attached to a spool 44 as shown in FIG.
It is housed in the cartridge 40 in a wound state. In this embodiment, the tips of the two films 38 each pulled out from the spool 44 are fixed to one leader 46 with an adhesive tape 47 or the like. The leader 46 is a flexible synthetic resin sheet that is slightly more rigid than the film 38, and square holes 48 serving as engagement holes are bored in the center at appropriate intervals along the longitudinal direction.

A rack 50 is mounted in each processing tank so that the film 38 guided by the leader 46 is immersed into the processing liquid. These racks 50 have the same structure in each treatment tank, and the third
As shown in the figure, a pair of sprocket wheels 52 and 54 are wound around the shaft 5 vertically between a pair of side plates 51.
5, and an endless timing belt 5
6 can be wrapped around it. The winding sprocket wheel 52 rotates under the driving force of a motor (not shown), and is configured to continuously drive the endless timing belt 56 and guide the leader 46.

On the other hand, at the lower part of the rack 50, a pair of winding rollers 57 are disposed on both sides of the winding sprocket foil 54, and are supported by a shaft 55 which pivotally supports the winding sprocket foil 54. These winding rollers 57
is for folding the film 38 led by the leader 46.

As shown in FIG. 4, the belt base 58 of the endless timing belt 56 is integrally molded with synthetic resin into a narrow and thin wall, and has a plurality of trapezoidal projections 60, which are timing projections, protruding inwardly at equal intervals.
Further, on the other side, engaging protrusions 62 are protruded at equal intervals, the spacing being twice that of the trapezoidal protrusions 60, and the width of which is smaller than the width of the trapezoidal protrusions 60. These engaging protrusions 62 fit into the square hole 4 of the leader 46.
8, thereby driving the retarder 46 along the endless timing belt 56.

In order to facilitate engagement between the leader 46 and the engagement protrusion 62, a guide plate 61 facing the outer periphery of the endless timing belt 56 is disposed to convey the leader 46 while being held between it and the belt base 58. It's becoming like that. This guide plate 6
1 is formed with a groove 63 for accommodating the engagement protrusion 62.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the square hole 48 of the leader 46 has a long hole shape in which the length L in the advancing direction (in the vertical direction in FIG. 5) is larger than the length W in the signal direction of the engaging protrusion 62. 6, the endless timing belt 56 is wrapped around the sprocket foil 5.
The leader 46 is also moved smoothly and reliably at the portion where the leader 46 is wrapped. The effect in this case will be explained in detail later.

Note that a transfer means 64 shown in FIG. 7 is arranged between the upper portions of each processing tank, and the leader 46 is removed from the endless timing belt 56 and transferred between the processing tanks.

That is, this delivery means 64 has a combination of a guide plate 68 having a semicircular guide portion 66 and a roller 70 that faces the guide portion 66 and has an outer diameter smaller than the content of the guide portion 66. . A part of the guide part 66 is placed within the movement trajectory of the leader 46 that has moved up in the processing tank by the endless timing belt 56, and the leader 46 is received by the guide part 66 and the leader 46 is moved between the roller 70 and the guide part 66. It is removed from the endless timing belt 56 while being guided between the two, and is then turned downward and sent to the endless timing belt 56 of the next processing tank.

Further, between the supply device 36 and the processing tank 20, a combination of a guide plate 72 that bends the leader 46 conveyed in the horizontal direction and directs it downward, and a roller 70 is installed between the processing tank 32 and the accumulating device 42. A combination of a guide plate 74 and a roller 70 for bending the raised leader 46 diagonally upward is arranged so as to function similarly to the delivery means 64.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, the leading ends of the two developing films 38 are pulled out from the cartridge 40 and attached to the rear end of the leader 46 with adhesive tape 47 as shown in FIG. 2, and the cartridge 40 is mounted on the supply device 36.

The leader 46 moves to the right in FIG.
0, bent downward, and sent to the endless timing belt 56 in the processing tank 20.

The square hole 48 of the sent leader 46 engages with the engagement protrusion 62 of the endless timing belt 56, and the processing tank 2
The film 38 is guided downward within the film, is bent and reversed around the outer periphery of the winding sprocket foil 54, and moves upward, leading the developing film 38 to be developed.

FIG. 6 shows in detail the state in which the leader 46 is guided in accordance with the endless timing belt 56 bent around the outer periphery of the sprocket wheel 54. In this state, the endless timing belt 56 is bent as the trapezoidal protrusions 60 engage with the winding sprocket wheels 54, so that the pitch P between the plurality of trapezoidal protrusions 60 and the pitch Q between the engaging protrusions 62 in the straight section are were equal and the spacing between the engaging protrusions 62 was twice the spacing between the trapezoidal protrusions 60 (Q=2P), but at the bent portion the spacing between the engaging protrusions 62 increases.

That is, the pitch P of the trapezoidal protrusion 60 is the same both in the straight part and in the part where it wraps around the wrapped sprocket foil 54, and this determines the module of the wrapped sprocket foil 54.
At the winding part, the pitch R of the engaging protrusion 62 is larger in radius from the center of the winding sprocket foil 54 by the thickness of the belt base 58 than the pitch Q (=2P) at the straight part. It is lengthened by the arc length (t×π) corresponding to the wall thickness t of 58. That is, R=Q+(t×π).

In addition, in the square hole 48 of the leader 46 that engages with this engagement protrusion 62, the length of the gap S that exists between the leader 46 and the belt base 58 is equivalent to the thickness T of the leader 46 and the rigidity of the leader 46. The distance between the engaging protrusions 62 must be made larger by the arc length, that is, the length of (T+S)×π.

As a result, the length of the square hole 48 of the leader 46 must be longer than the interval between the engagement protrusions 62 in the straight part by the length of (t+T+S)×π at the bent part. This means that it cannot enter the square hole 48. FIG. 5B illustrates a case where such an inconvenience occurs.
Since the length (l) in the advancing direction of 8 is almost the same as the length (L) in the advancing direction of the engaging protrusions 62, the leader 46 expands and contracts at the U-turn portion B, and the interval between the engaging protrusions 62 increases. Otherwise, there will be a problem that the leader 46 will come off from the engagement protrusion 62.

As an example, the wall thickness t of the belt base 58 is 0.6 mm.
Gap S is 0.2mm, leader 46 wall thickness T is 0.25.
If mm, then (t+T+S)×π=3.29mm. Therefore, the length W of the engaging protrusion 62 in the advancing direction
is 3 mm, the length of the square hole 48 in the advancing direction is 6.29
mm, and as a result, as shown in FIG.
Only one square hole 48 engages with the engagement protrusion 62, and the other square holes 48 are arranged with gaps between them and the engagement protrusion 62.

The engaging protrusion 62A indicated by diagonal lines in FIG. 5A is the position within the square hole 48 when the leader 46 is guided along a straight portion, and is always in contact with one end of the square hole 48.

The length of the square hole 48 in the traveling direction may be determined depending on the dimensions of the endless timing belt 56 and the leader 46.

Next, the leader 46, which is raised inside the processing tank 20, pulls the developing film 38 into the processing tank 20 and turns it around the winding roller 57 to perform the developing process. The elevated leader 46 is delivered to the processing tank 22 by the delivery means 64, and enters the processing liquid in the processing tank 22 again by the endless timing belt 56 in the processing tank 22.

In this manner, the leader 46 moves within each processing tank and reaches the accumulating device 42 after passing through the guide plate 74 from the upper end of the processing tank 32. In addition, developing film 3
8 is pulled out from the cartridge 40 in the maximum amount, the cutter 41 in the supply device 36 pulls out the developing film 38.
Cut off the end of.

[Effects of the Invention] Since the present invention has the above structure, it has an excellent effect in that the leader can be reliably engaged with the outer protrusion of the endless timing belt, and the leader can be conveyed smoothly and reliably even at the bending and reversing portion. .

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the reader conveyance structure according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state in which the film is attached to the reader, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the rack, and FIG. is a partial perspective view showing an endless timing belt, FIG. 5A is a developed view showing the winding part of FIG. 4, FIG. An enlarged view showing the lower end of the timing belt, FIG. 7 shows the delivery means 6
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of No. 4. 38...Developing film, 46...Leader, 4
8...Square hole, 52, 54...Wrap sprocket foil, 56...Endless timing belt, 62...
Engagement protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endless timing belt, at least a portion of which is immersed into a processing tank of a developing device, and in which a plurality of protrusions protrude at predetermined intervals on the inside and outside of the belt base, and the timing belt is wrapped around and folded, and the inside of the timing belt is A plurality of winding foils that engage with the protrusions to drive the timing belt, and a plurality of elongated holes that are attached to the leading end of the developing film and are longer than the length of the outer protrusion of the timing belt in the traveling direction. and a leader driven by engagement with an outer protrusion of the timing belt;
The elongated hole is longer than the length of the outer protrusion in the advancing direction by at least (t+T)×π, where the thickness of the belt base is the dimension t, and the thickness of the leader is the dimension T. Conveyance mechanism of film leader for developing device.