Agfa-Gevaert Ag

Gerald Pietsch

Helmut Schausberger

Adolf Fleck

Hans Ketterer

Ernst Leithenmair

A dark box which has at least one sealable opening and whose internal chamber can be divided into a desired number of compartments for stacks of identical or differently dimensioned and/or shaped sheets of exposed radiation sensitive material such as X-ray films, photographic paper, photographic film or others. The dark box can be inserted into the dark room of an apparatus which is designed to simultaneously withdraw two or more sheets from the inserted dark box and to transport the withdrawn sheets toward or into a developing machine of the type capable of simultaneously processing two or more rows of sheets. If the machine must be confined in a dark chamber, the apparatus is equipped or combined with an adapter which prepares simultaneously withdrawn sheets for admission into the developing machine.

Dark box for storage of exposed light sensitive sheets

Discrete light sensitive exposed but undeveloped sheets which are stacked in a dark box are transferred toward or into one or more developing machines by one or more suction cups which can jointly attract a single sheet at a time or each of which can attract the uppermost sheet of one of two or more stacks of sheets in the dark box. A suction cup which attracts a portion of the uppermost sheet of a stack in the dark box is caused to flex the attracted portion above and away from the sheet below the uppermost sheet in order to promote separation of the uppermost sheet from the remainder of the stack. The flexed uppermost sheet is then at least partially extracted from the dark box and is monitored to ascertain whether or not its underside adheres to one or more sheets. If the at least partly extracted uppermost sheet carries or entrains one or more additional sheets, all extracted sheets are returned into the dark box and the procedure is started anew but the interval and/or the extent of flexing is increased to further reduce the likelihood of adherence of one or more sheets to the underside of the extracted uppermost sheet. A visible or audible signal is generated if a certain number of successive extractions of one and the same uppermost sheet still results in simultaneous extraction of two or more sheets.

Method of transferring discrete light sensitive sheets from a dark box

A conveying arrangement in a developing apparatus for photographic material has pairs of conveying rollers as well as guiding and/or deflecting sheets which extend between two opposite sidewalls. Fastening elements are provided on both sidewalls and are adapted to hold the ends of a guiding and/or deflecting sheet against movement in all directions except for an unlocking direction. A removable, deformable locking element is further provided and is adapted to prevent movement of the sheets in the unlocking direction. The fastening element for a guiding and/or deflecting sheet includes a cutout in each of the sidewalls and a positioning pin in at least one of the cutouts. The positioning pin cooperates with an opening in the corresponding guiding and/or deflecting sheet.

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Kaufbeuren, Germany

Gerald Pietsch