Eastman-kodak Company

Eugene H Barbee

Wilbur S Gaugh

Thomas C Arter

Robert Cushman Brown

William Arthur Torpey

Christopher J Klasner

William J Soules

Gifford James Lewis

Avonelle L Leonard

Jon R Carlberg

Daniel G Ocorr

John Dallas Lang

Kathleen A Bonsignore

Method and apparatus are described for setting liquid photographic materials which have been applied as a coating on a support web, while the coated web is moving substantially horizontally with the liquid materials on the underside of the web. Chilling of the liquid materials may be commenced while the web is moving upwards or downwards after coating, but any setting is not permitted to occur until the web has been turned to move substantially horizontally with the liquid materials on the underside. In this way, gravity and surface tension forces act in opposition to one another where the coating lies adjacent surface non-uniformities in the web and tend to retain the uniformity of coating thickness achieved at the time of coating.

Horizontally chill-setting a downwards facing liquid photographic

The present invention is an apparatus for detecting iron based particulate matter in air/gas streams. The sensor 10 includes a flow through sensor body 11 having an interior surface. A high power magnet 12 for use in attracting airborne iron particulate matter is formed as part 13 of the interior surface of the sensor body. A high contrast photoelectric sensor 14 coupled to a fiber optic bundle 15 is used for detecting changes in the contrast of the magnetic surface.

Nonintrusive airborne iron based particle detector

Photographic materials, such as films and papers, include a support and coatings on the support. The coatings often contain hardeners which cause gelation cross links in the binder in the coating. The extent to which the cross-links have formed at the time of processing of the film or paper affects the appearance of the image produced by processing. Conventionally the cross-links have been allowed to form with time in normal atmospheric conditions. According to the invention, the formation of the cross links is accelerated to substantial completion by a process including incubating the material at a temperature above the glass transition temperature of the coating and below the melting point of the coating in an atmosphere having a relative humidity which causes a moisture content of the coating of 0.1 to 0.25 for a period of time sufficient to substantially complete the hardening, that is, the formation of the cross-links. Such period of time is less than ten minutes and can, with some materials and conditions, be as short as a minute or less. After the incubation step, the temperature of the coating is reduced below its glass transition temperature, the moisture content is reduced and the coating is then cooled prior to windup of the support with the coating thereon. The incubation and related steps of the invention may be performed after the coating and drying of the material and prior to windup into a roll or they may be performed in a rewind situation. A rewind situation is one in which a support has been coated and the coated support has been dried, cooled and wound up into a roll. The roll is subsequently unwound, operated upon in accordance with the invention and then rewound into a roll. After treatment in accordance with the invention, the roll of photographic material may immediately be tested and certified and passed to further operations in which it is cut into sizes usable by the consumer. Apparatus for performing the invention is also disclosed.

Method for manufacturing photographic material

In the drying of sheet materials which have been coated with a layer, or with two or more superposed layers, of liquid coating composition, improved drying conditions which result in less formation of mottle are provided by the use of a foraminous shield, such as a screen or perforated plate, located in close proximity to the coated surface. The sheet material, for example a web of paper or polymeric film or a succession of discrete sheets of paper or polymeric film is conveyed through a drying zone, along a predetermined path, while a gaseous drying medium, such as air maintained at an elevated temperature, which serves to promote evaporation of the liquid medium in the coating composition, is directed through the foraminous shield onto the coated surface. The foraminous shield functions to promote uniform heat transfer conditions and restricts the extent to which spent gaseous drying medium, which is discharged from the drying zone, comes into contact with the surface of the coating, thereby minimizing mottle formation. While the foraminous shield is useful in any drying operation in which mottle formation is a problem, it is especially advantageous in the drying of photographic materials, particularly those comprising one or more layers formed from coating compositions that contain volatile organic solvents.

Method and apparatus for drying coated sheet material

Apparatus including a chamber within which are mounted spaced rollers and an elongated housing interposed between a pair of rollers for heating or cooling a web transported over the rollers. A suction device in fluid communication with the chamber establishes a pressure differential on opposite sides of the web for assisting in producing a predetermined angle of contact of the web with the rollers, and for drawing fluid from the housing along the surface of the web for heating or cooling the web.

Apparatus and method for uniformly heating or cooling a moving web

Bubbles are eliminated from a liquid such as a photographic emulsion by passing the emulsion through a horizontal tubular container while pulling a vacuum on the container and subjecting the emulsion to ultrasonic vibrations from an ultrasonic transducer having a horn located in a well in the bottom of the container. Emulsion is pumped out of the container and delivered through a conduit to the point of use. The delivery circuit can include a secondary gas separation chamber which also has a transducer horn therein. Provision is made for selectively recycling part or all of the emulsion back into the well. The container can be operated either partly full or completely full of liquid. Provision is also made for cleaning the internal walls of the apparatus by injecting a swirling stream of liquid into the tubular container to flow through the container and downstream portions of the system.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

Eugene H Barbee