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, 2002
Filed:
Apr. 12, 2001
Christine J. Landry-Coltrain, Fairport, NY (US);
Linda M. Franklin, Rochester, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
A photographic element is disclosed comprising a support, at least one silver-halide emulsion layer superposed on the support and a processing-solution-permeable overcoat overlying the silver-halide emulsion layer that becomes water resistant in the final product. In particular, the overcoat comprises an open-pore membrane of a water-insoluble polymer, the membrane layer being made by dissolving homogeneously the polymer in a solvent mixture, the solvent mixture comprising at least one solvent which is a relatively good solvent for the water-insoluble polymer and at least one solvent which is a relatively poor solvent for the water-insoluble polymer, wherein the relatively poor solvent has a higher boiling point than the relatively good solvent, coating the dissolved mixture onto the at least one silver halide light-sensitive emulsion layer, and then drying to remove approximately all of the solvents to obtain the open-pore membrane. The invention is also directed to a method of processing the above-described photographic element, in which a latent image in the imaging element is developed to provide an imaged photographic element, and the porous-membrane layer is fused to form a water-resistant protective overcoat.