Eastman-kodak Company

Evan P Carmichael

John J Niedospial, Jr

Roger G Covington

Bruce R Muller

Kenneth W Oemcke

A processor for sheets of x-ray film has racks of rollers for transporting the film sheets sequentially through a series of stations including a washing station and a drying station. A pair of squeegee rollers located where the film leaves the washing station and enters the drying station squeezes most of the wash liquid from the sheet of film. However, a bead of water may remain on the tail end of the film as it leaves the squeegee rollers, and this bead of water can be deposited onto rollers in the drying station and then be deposited onto the next sheet of film to form water spots on the film after it is dried. In order to greatly reduced these water spots, an absorbent roller is located between the squeegee rollers and the rollers in the drying station so that after the film leaves the squeegee rollers it contacts the abosrbent roller which removes the bead of water from the tail end of the film.

Film processor with absorbent roller to eliminate water spotting

A cover latch mechanism is disclosed for a photographic cassette, such as an x-ray film sheet cassette. Such cassettes typically have side walls, end walls and opposing front and rear cover walls in which one of the cover walls is rigidly secured to the end walls and side walls. The other cover wall is slidably moved along grooves in the side walls from a normally closed position to an open position for allowing easy access to the inside of the cassette for cleaning and maintenance. A latch mechanism is disclosed for releasably latching the other cover wall in its normally closed position.

Cover latch mechanism for a photographic cassette

A film sheet presence indicating mechanism is disclosed for use in a photographic cassette, such as an x-ray cassette having one end wall with a slot therein through which a film sheet is moveable therethrough between screens along an inlet path to a loaded position adjacent an opposite end wall. The x-ray cassette has front and rear cover walls joined to the end walls in which the rear cover wall has an inner side facing an inner surface of the front cover. The film sheet presence indicating mechanism comprises a housing secured to the inner side of the rear cover adjacent the opposite end wall to define a cavity. The mechanism further comprises a film sheet presence indicator member that is mounted within the housing cavity for slidable movement between a normal first position indicating the absence of a film sheet in the x-ray cassette, and a second position indicating that a film sheet is loaded in the cassette.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

Evan P Carmichael