The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 24, 1996
Filed:
Feb. 03, 1995
Roger A King, Sandpoint, ID (US);
Other;
Abstract
A system for transporting film through photographic-type processing uses a pair of flexible belts which have grooves to receive and guide the edges of the film in loose frictional engagement, and a drive and support system for moving the belts and film through a processing step. The groove in the belts is larger than the thickness of the film such that a particular place on a film edge is not tightly contacted, yet there is enough contact, and varying points of contact along the film, so that over an extended length of film there is sufficient frictional engagement to control and transport the film. Multiple stage processes have separate belt-drive systems, with aligned take-up and unload zones wherein the belts are moved into or away from contact with the film, to effect automatic handoff of the film to succeeding stages. An accumulator is provided at the end of the process, to receive and hold the film(s) on a first in, first out basis. A pair of flexible belts move the film between a pair of hoops in a loose roll, and older films can be removed from the open center.