Eastman-kodak Company

Douglas J Pfaff

Robert S Jones

James Douglas Shifley

Terrence Lee Fisher

Michael W LaCourt

Tomi Lahcanski

Ensley E Townsend

Frederick J Schwab

Richard H Berg

James W Gunn

A variable torque device for maintaining constant tension in a web of material as the web is unwound from a supply roll. The variable torque device includes a lead screw attached to the shaft of the supply roll via an appropriate gear ratio. A coil spring is located between a hub on the lead screw and a set of rings and friction pads. As the lead screw rotates, the hub translates, thus changing the displacement of the coil spring, which in turn changes the loading of the rings and friction pads. With a full supply roll the coil spring is compressed so as to create an amount of torque to create the desired web tension. As the supply roll unwinds, the rotation of the lead screw translates the hub to expand the coil spring, reducing the torque and maintaining the web tension constant.

Variable torque device for maintaining constant web tension

A printer includes a print head for printing from a donor medium to a receiver medium, a platen member for holding the donor medium in a printing relation with the receiver medium at said print head, a pair of steering and drive rollers for feeding the receiver medium from between the steering and drive rollers, and a movable support for the platen member and the steering roller that moves the platen member towards the print head to hold the receiver medium in the printing relation with the donor medium and away from the print head to release the receiver medium from the printing relation with the donor medium and that moves the steering roller to vary a feeding angle at which the receiver medium is fed from between the steering and driver rollers. The support is movable to three positions, a print position in which the platen member is moved towards the print head to hold the receiver medium in the printing relation with the donor medium and the steering roller is moved to change the feeding angle to one for advancing the receiver medium, a feed-only position in which the platen member is moved away from the print head to release the receiver medium from the printing relation with the donor medium and the steering roller is moved to change the feeding angle to one for returning the receiver medium, and an exit position in which the platen member is moved away from the print head farther than in the feed-only position and the steering roller is moved to change the feeding angle to one for exiting the receiver medium.

Medium-handling in printer for donor and receiver mediums

A take-up chamber for receiving an elongated filmstrip having a predetermined width between the longitudinal edges thereof and an image area less than the width. The take-up chamber has a chamber housing for accommodating the filmstrip within the chamber. The housing has first and second side walls spaced apart to accommodate the width of the filmstrip, a lateral wall extending between the first and second side walls, and a slit extending through the lateral wall and between the first and second side walls through which the filmstrip may be introduced or withdrawn from the chamber. Two parallel laterally spaced generally circular guides extend the inside of said chamber from adjacent one side of the slit to the other side of the slit. Each guide has a substantially continuous inner surface, to contact only respective longitudinal edges of a filmstrip and cause the filmstrip to wind into a roll within the chamber as the filmstrip is advanced through the slit. A scanner having using such a take-up chamber is also provided.

Filmstrip take-up chamber

Filmstrip receiving apparatus for receiving an elongated filmstrip, comprising:

Filmstrip receiving apparatus

A protection device for a lens used in a scanning apparatus for imaging data on photographic film, comprises a plate and having a finger gripping portion, a member slidably retained in the plate, a glass piece removably carried by the member, and a biasing member operatively associated with the member for selectively permitting secure holding of the glass piece on the member and easy removal of the glass piece from the member. The plate is provided with a biasing device for securely retaining the member in a desired location such that the glass piece is in a predetermined lens protecting position. A switch is associated with the plate such that the switch is moved to an open position upon movement of the member away from the plate. The biasing member is a pivotally mounted spring configured to hold the glass piece in a desired location on the member and has V-shaped portions to engage portions of the member for positive locking of the spring in the member.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, NY, United States of America

Douglas J Pfaff