Polaroid Corporation

Frank M Czumak

Joseph A Stella

Paul B Mason

Joseph H Wright

Michael J Berger

Peter K Fichter

Donald J Sulesky

Robert E Cavallaro

A photographic film assemblage includes a pair of sheets bonded together around their edges and being in liquid communication with a sealed rupturable container of film processing liquid. An aperture in one of the sheets is covered by a film chip which, subsequent to exposure, is exposed to the processing liquid through the aperture after the container is ruptured. An image-receiving portion of the film chip is manually separable from the assemblage after suitable developing has occurred. Preferably, the image-receiving portion is a positive color transparency of a 35 MM size ready for immediate placement in a film mount for subsequent use in a viewer or projector.

Photographic film assemblage

A disposable kit of the type adapted for use in film processing apparatus in the processing of a roll of exposed instant type transparency film, preferably of the 35 mm format. The kit includes a two-section housing which encloses a roll of sheet material, a container of processing liquid and a nozzle dispenser to apply a coating of the liquid to one side of the sheet material as it is being drawn from the housing prior to being laminated to a length of exposed film. After the appropriate length of sheet material is withdrawn from the kit and the processing cycle is completed, the strip of sheet material is retracted into the kit. A fluted idler roller is mounted in the housing to minimize the sideward migration of any processing liquid remaining on the sheet material when it is retracted into the kit.

Film processing kit

Apparatus including a unitary resilient member for ejecting or moving a film frame from a container which houses a plurality of the same. The unitary resilient member is adapted to receive a force from a suitable drive for flexing the unitary resilient member from a first configuration, wherein it is in a relatively unstressed condition, to a second configuration, wherein it is in a stressed condition. During such flexure it moves a film frame at least partially from the container.

Photographic film frame ejector

Apparatus, e.g., a camera back, for locating a film cassette containing a plurality of individual, pre-mounted transparency film frames of the self-developing type in position for exposure. The apparatus includes a lighttight chamber into which the film frames are moved subsequent to their exposure. After the exposure of one or more of the film frames, the apparatus may be coupled to a film processor wherein the exposed film frames are individually removed from the lighttight chamber, processed, and delivered to the operator. The apparatus also includes a film advancing member which automatically removes a dark slide from the film cassette as it is being loaded into the apparatus.

Camera back

A mount for supporting a section of unexposed self-developing film. The mount comprises a substantially rigid member having leading and trailing ends, and an aperture extending between a rear surface, to which the film is to be secured, and a front surface. The aperture is defined in part by first and second surfaces which are (1) parallel with the leading and trailing ends, and (2) inclined outwardly from each other as each surface extends from the rear surface to the front surface. The inclined surfaces facilitate the entry of a laminating roller into and out of the aperture during a film processing cycle and maximize its contact with the film. The rigid member also includes slots in its leading and trailing ends which cooperate with a laminating roller assembly in a processor to assist in the movement of one of the rollers between laminating and non-laminating positions.

Mount for transparency film frame

A disposable kit of the type adapted for use in a film processing apparatus in the processing of a roll of exposed instant type transparency film, preferably of the 35 mm format. The kit includes a two sectioned housing which encloses a roll of sheet material, a container of processing liquid, and a dispenser which is adapted to apply a coating of processing liquid to one side of the sheet material as it is being withdrawn from the housing prior to it being laminated to the exposed film. One of the housing sections is constructed such that a component of the processing apparatus may move it from a closed position to an open position wherein a rupturing mechanism of the processing apparatus may enter the housing and rupture the container of processing liquid. At the end of the processing cycle, the housing section is moved back into its closed position to thereby substantially enclose any residue of the processing operation.

A fluid applicator is provided for depositing a coating of processing fluid on a moving run of photographic film strip which includes a single fluid reservoir which comprises an integrally formed nozzle assembly which includes an opening through which processing fluid may be released and a downwardly facing doctoring conformation for expressing the desired layer of processing fluid upon the film strip emulsion. A processing fluid sealing tear tab is positioned directly upon the downwardly facing surface of the processor and is sealingly engaged therewith by a suitable adhesive material. The tear tab is provided with means attached thereto at one end for assuring removal of substantially all of the adhesive material carried by the doctoring conformation upon removal of the tear tab to thereby assure a substantially clean adhesive free surface to be presented to the film strip during the processing fluid deposition.

Multipurpose photographic film handling cassette having an improved film

A multipurpose film handling cassette of the type in which a photographic film strip is exposed, processed and projected without removal of the film from the cassette is provided with a one-piece indicating element for signaling to the apparatus with which it is to be used the unprocessed or processed condition of the film within the cassette. A contact element is held, prior to processing, against a spring force into a first position wherein it will be engaged by a pair of contacts in the other apparatus when inserted therein. The element is held in this unprocessed position by a slidable element, which element is displaced responsive to film advancement following processing. Such movement of the slidable element permits the biasing force to displace the contact element to a second position wherein it will not be engaged by the contact of the other apparatus, thus signaling the presence of a processed cassette.

Multipurpose film cassette having one-piece process mode switch

A processor usable in a photographic film cassette, which includes a first chamber from which processing fluid is released to a second chamber for eventual flow through a nozzle opening onto a film strip whenever the cassette is in a processing orientation permitting gravity flow through the nozzle opening. An actuator device extends from the processor interior to its exterior through a passage for releasing the stored fluid from the first to the second chamber and a plurality of capillary grooves are formed in the processor in a region at least in or adjacent said passage to trap therein, by capillary adhesion, preselected quantities of any processing fluid residue. For preventing flow of the residue processing fluid remaining in the processor from travelling through the passage whenever the cassette has orientations other than the processing orientation, the grooves are positioned to be above the processing fluid level just after release thereof from the first chamber to prevent the grooves from interfering with the flow of the fluid during the fluid deposition on the film strip.

Film cassette processor having capillary grooves

A doctoring surface conformation for applicator nozzle structures in photographic film cassette contained processors by which a coating of processing fluid may be deposited on a moving run of an exposed film strip. The doctoring surface conformation is defined as a planar surface spaced in parallel relation to the film strip which is urged toward a pair of guide tracks positioned on opposite sides of the planar surface. The sides or edges of the doctoring surface are delimited by vertical walls converging in the direction of film strip travel so as to develop a suitable hydrodynamic force in the processing fluid while minimizing the capture of minute foreign particles such as dust which may be carried on the surface of the film strip to be coated.

Film cassette contained processing fluid applicator having converging

Apparatus is provided for retaining a slideably displaceable valve member in its initial position prior to displacement of the valve to a final position responsive to film movement in a multipurpose film cassette of the type containing a film strip for exposure, processing and viewing without removal from the cassette. A leaf spring member forming a part of the valve member is configured to engage a ramped wall in the cassette housing. The spring force and friction between the spring member and the ramped wall tend to retain the slide valve positively in position until the valve is engaged by the film strip and moved to its final position wherein it seals off the processing fluid nozzle upon termination of the processing mode of operation of the cassette.

Multipurpose film cassette having a processor disabling valve retention

Apparatus is provided for positively retaining a slidably displaceable valve member in its stored position prior to initiation of the processing cycle in a multi-purpose film cassette of the type containing a photographic film strip for exposure, processing and viewing without removal from the cassette. A latching arm forming a part of the valve member is configured to prevent displacement of the valve member at all times prior to the movement of the pressure plate to the position it occupies during high speed continuous advancement of the film. The pressure plate is in operative engagement with the latching arm and movement of the pressure plate to this position results in positive displacement of the latching arm by the pressure plate to a position where the latching arm is no longer operable to prevent displacement of the valve. The valve is then free to be displaced to its final position where it serves to seal off the processing fluid nozzle.

Photographic cassette having pressure plate release of a processor

A method and apparatus for depositing a layer of processing fluid on an exposed film strip contained with the processing fluid and fluid depositing means in a multipurpose film cassette of the type in which the film strip is exposed, processed and viewed by projection without removal from the cassette. The processing fluid is doctored onto the emulsion side of the exposed film strip during rewinding movement of the strip under an applicator nozzle opening. The film strip is supported under a biasing force toward the nozzle approximating in magnitude the hydrodynamic force developed by doctoring the processing fluid against the other side of the film strip thus to achieve a net balance of forces on opposite sides of the film strip so that foreign particles such as dust and the like will pass the doctoring surface without deleterious accumulation of such particles thereon.

Growing community of inventors

Derry, NH, United States of America

Frank M Czumak