Agfa-gevaert Ag

Erwin Laar

Friedrich Ganser

Thomas Hammer

Wolfgang Viehrig

Werner Sieber

Karl-Heinz Wagner

Josef Spickenreither

Viktor Osegowitsch

Werner Sperber

Josef Glass

Wolfgang Kwiatkowski

Hans Dieter Frick

Siegfried Krauss

Karl Heinz Ritter

A web of photographic paper is trained over several rollers so that it can be advanced along a meandering path through successive chambers in a developing machine. At least one of the rollers is mounted on a driven shaft with the interposition of a coupling which engages the shaft with the roller when the tension of the running web which is trained over such roller exceeds a certain value. The roller is normally held against rotation under the action of the web and/or under the action of the bearing which is rotatable on the shaft and yieldably maintains the roller in a position of coaxiality with the shaft. A braking device for holding the roller against rotation has a first plastic ring which is rotatably mounted on the shaft and is connected to or made integral with the bearing for the roller, and a second plastic ring which surrounds and is in frictional engagement with the first ring. The second ring is held against rotation with the first ring by a partition or by another stationary part of the machine.

Apparatus for treatment of webs of photographic material

An arrangement for transporting strip-shaped material, particularly photographic paper, includes a one-piece elongated holding element which extends along a triple-turn hairpin course to form four holding sections which are substantially parallel to one another and define with each other three spaces for strip-shaped material. Two brackets which are welded to the end portions of the two outer sections of the holding element and are bent at right angle to the remainder of the respective outer sections support the holding element on a conveyor belt for travel therewith. The four sections of the holding element resiliently contact one another to clamp the strip-shaped material therebetween when such strip-shaped material is received between neighboring sections.

Arrangement for transporting strip-shaped material

The film developing machine includes a tank containing developing fluid, to which a dosing device continually adds regenerating fluid received from a regenerating-fluid supply tank. To prevent the gradual emptying of the supply tank from producing an accuracy-reducing gradual decrease in the pressure applied to the input side of the dosing device, the latter is connected to the supply tank via a buffer vessel provided with an internal valve mechanism serving automatically to keep the volume of regenerating fluid in the buffer vessel substantially constant despite variations in the amount of regenerating fluid contained in the supply tank.

Accurate dosing of regenerating fluid to processing-fluid-tank in film

Apparatus for drying webs of photographic paper has a drying unit which has an inlet for admission of wet webs. Such webs advance along discrete paths having V-shaped portions and are dried by hot air which is circulated by blowers. The temperature of air is maintained at a constant value by a control system which adjusts one or more air heaters in the drying unit. The latter has a portion which is adjacent to and is located at a level below the inlet and wherein the moisture content of air is higher than in other parts of the drying unit. Such moisture content is measured and the signals denoting the measured moisture content are used to control the operation of a device which withdraws moisture-laden air from the aforementioned portion of the drying unit. The withdrawn air is replaced with relatively dry atmospheric air entering the drying unit via outlet opening for the webs.

Apparatus for drying webs of photographic paper or the like

Fluid is withdrawn from plural fluid-filled tanks via respective outflow conduits leading into a common mixing conduit which includes a mixing pump, and then branches off through respective inflow conduits for return of intermixed fluid back to the individual tanks. Each inflow conduit is provided with a valve unit comprising a vessel-like housing having an inlet port and an outlet port. The flow from the inlet port to the outlet port is regulated in dependence upon the height of fluid in the respective tank. The fluid height is sensed indirectly by sensing the height or pressure of fluid in the interior of the vessel-like housing, the latter being at least partly lower than the height of fluid in the respective tank. Thus, the return of fluid into each tank is regulated to maintain a respective fluid height therein independently of the other tanks.

Intermixing of fluid in plural tanks while maintaining the fluid levels

A continuous processor for exposed webs of photographic paper has several tanks and a system of hoses which connect the outlets in the lower portions with the inlets in the upper portions of the tanks. The liquid developer is circulated by a pump and is heated by a heater before it reaches the inlets. The pressure of liquid in the system of hoses is monitored by two pressure responsive switches which cause a control unit to arrest the motor of the pump and to deactivate the heater when the pressure drops below or rises above a range of acceptable pressures. The pressure drops in response to leakage of developer, and the pressure rises in response to clogging of a filter which is installed in the system of hoses between the heater and the inlets of the tanks.

Apparatus for continuously processing photographic films or the like

Apparatus for simultaneously winding several webs of developed photographic paper on the cores of reels whose flanges rest on pairs of supporting rollers one of which is driven by a discrete variable-speed motor has a loop former for each web. Each loop former adjusts a potentiometer in dependency on changes of tensional stress upon the corresponding web, and the potentiometers cause control circuits for the corresponding motors to reduce the speed of the driven supporting rollers as the diameters of convoluted portions of the webs increase. The webs are fed at a constant speed. The supporting rollers consist of rubber to reduce the noise as a result of contact with the flanges of the respective reels, and to reduce the likelihood of slippage of the reels.

Apparatus for winding webs of photographic paper of the like

A photographic processor wherein parallel webs consisting of photosensitive material and/or other material and having identical or different widths are transported lengthwise through one or more liquid baths each of which receives identical quantities of replenishment chemicals at a frequency which insures that the activity of the baths remains unchanged. The device which feeds replenishment chemicals is controlled by a circuit having two inputs one of which receives first signals at a frequency corresponding to the rate of transport of unit lengths of the webs through the bath or baths and the other of which receives cyclically second signals, one for each photosensitive web and each persisting for a period of time which is proportional to the width of the respective photosensitive web. The control circuit causes the feeding device to admit a predetermined quantity of replenishment chemicals in response to the generation of each first signal during the persistence of a second signal. First signals are generated on closing of a microswitch which is actuated by a loop former associated with one of the webs and moving up and down at a frequency which is proportional to the speed of the corresponding web. Second signals are generated by a photoelectric cell which is moved at a constant speed back and forth transversely of the paths of webs and whose transducer reacts only to light which is reflected by a photosensitive web.

Method and apparatus for feeding replenishment chemicals in film

A continuous developing machine for exposed photographic material has a vessel with one or more outlets close to its bottom and one or more inlets at its top, conduits which connect the outlets with the inlets, a pump which circulates the developing solution from the outlets to the inlets, and a heating device which is installed in the conduits downstream of the pump and has a primary heater which is activated with a first delay whenever the temperature of developed solution downstream of the heating device drops below and is deactivated with a second delay whenever the temperature of developing solution rises above a preselected value, and an adjustable auxiliary heater which is actuated during each interval of admission of a liquid replenisher into the conduits upstream of the pump. The auxiliary heater is adjusted in dependency on changes in temperature and/or rate of admission of the replenisher. The temperature of the mixture of developing solution and replenisher is monitored immediately downstream of the heating device for the purpose of activating or deactivating the primary heater. A heat exchanger preheats the replenisher prior to admission into the conduits upstream of the pump.

Continuous processor for photographic films or the like

A reel for photographic paper has a hollow cylindrical core and two disk-shaped flanges having centrally located extensions received in the respective end portions of the core. The inner side of each flange tapers outwardly in a direction from the periphery of the core toward the periphery of the respective flange. The extensions have ribs which penetrate into the inner surface of the core, and the core is further coupled to each flange by a rubber hose which surrounds the respective extension and is biased against the inner surface of the core by an endless helical spring which surrounds a conical end face of the corresponding extension.

Growing community of inventors

Taufkirchen, Germany

Erwin Laar