APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING EXPOSED PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM OR THE LIKE

• US 3,724,355 A
• Filed: 06/11/1971
• Issued: 04/03/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Erwin Schon, Hans-Dieter Frick, Herbert Bruck, Josef Busch, Karl-Wilhelm Schranz
• Original Assignee: Erwin Schon, Hans-Dieter Frick, Herbert Bruck, Josef Busch, Karl-Wilhelm Schranz
• Inventors: Busch, Josef, Bruck, Herbert, Schranz, Karl-Wilhelm, Schon, Erwin, Frick, Hans-Dieter
• Primary Examiner(s): Matthews, Samuel S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Braun, Fred L.
• Application Number:
  US05/152,269
• Time in Patent Office: 662 Days
• Field of Search: 95/89R,89A,94R 226/190
• US Class Current: 396/604
• CPC Class Codes: G03D 5/006 Liquid supply by means of a split or a capillarity G03D5/04 takes precedence

Abstract

A system of guide rollers for transporting exposed photographic film past one or more stations where the exposed surface of the film is coated with a viscous adhesive has a set of upper guide rollers and a set of lower guide rollers. The film is caused to travel along an elongated winding path which has vertical sections each extending between an upper guide roller and a lower guide roller, and at least one guide roller of each pair of successive guide rollers has a convex peripheral surface. The central line of each vertical section of the winding path coincides with tangents to the central portions of peripheral surfaces on the respective upper and lower guide rollers. The planes which are normal to the axes of pairs of successive guide rollers make an angle which exceeds zero degrees but is less than 91*.

Claims

1. In an apparatus for treating travelling flexible band- or strip-shaped bodies with flowable agents, particularly for applying viscous agents to coated sides of carriers provided with coats of photosensitive material and having a relatively low tensile strength, a combination comprising at least two sets of guide rollers having axes located in at least two different planes and peripheral surfaces defining an elongated meandering path for a travelling flexible body, said path having elongated sections each extending between a given guide roller of a first set and a given guide roller of a second set, the axes of said given guide rollers being inclined with reference to each other with attendant twisting of the flexible body in the respective path section and the resulting tendency of the marginal portions of said flexible body to increase their length relative to the central portion of said flexible body, at least one of each pair of given guide rollers having a convex peripheral surface configurated to counteract said tendency of said marginal portions to increase their length relative to said central portion so that the tensional stressing of said flexible body in the path sections between said pairs of given guide rollers is at least substantially uniform across the entire cross section of said flexible body, the degree of convexity of said convex peripheral surface being a function of the width of said flexible body and of the distance between the rollers of said pairs of given guide rollers the central line of each of said sections of said path coinciding at least substantially with the tangents to the central portions of peripheral surfaces of the respective given guide rollers.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein the planes which are normal to the axes of said pairs of given guide rollers make an angle of less than 91*.

3. A combination as defined in claim 2, wherein said planes make an angle which at least approximates 90* and the guide rollers of one of said sets have a common axis of rotation.

4. A combination as defined in claim 3, wherein the guide rollers of the other set form two rows of coaxial rollers and the guide rollers of one of said rows are staggered sideways with reference to the guide rollers of the other row.

5. A combination as defined in claim 4, wherein the guide rollers of each of said rows are separated from each other by distances approximating the diameter of a roller in said one set.

6. A combination as defined in claim 2, wherein the guide rollers of one of said sets form pairs of coaxial rollers and the neighboring guide rollers of the other set have mutually inclined axes.

7. A combination as defined in claim 6, wherein the axes of guide rollers in at least one of said sets are located in a common plane.

8. A combination as defined in claim 2, wherein the convexity of said convex peripheral surfaces is also a function of the magnitude of said angle.

9. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein at least one guide roller in one of said sets has a circular cylindrical peripheral surface of constant diameter.

10. A combination as defined in claim 9, wherein said one set of guide rollers is located at a level below the other set.

11. A combination as defined in claim 9, further comprising an adjustably mounted nozzle having an elongated orifice adjacent to the peripheral surface of said one guide roller and means for supplying to said nozzle a viscous material for the application of such material to the adjacent surfaces of successive increments of a flexible body which is trained over said one guide roller, the width of said orifice exceeding the desired thickness of viscous material on the surface of the flexible body.

12. A combination as defined in claim 11, wherein said orifice is located at a level below the axis of said one guide roller.

13. A combination as defined in claim 1, further comprising a pair of advancing rolls located past said guide rollers as considered in the direction of lengthwise travel of the flexible body and arranged to pull the body along said path.

14. A combination as defined in claim 13, wherein the body is trained over one of said advancing rolls and said one advancing roll has a friction generating peripheral surface, and further comprising means for biasing the other advancing roll against those increments of the flexible body which contact the peripheral surface of said one advancing roll.

15. A combination as defined in claim 1, further comprising corrosion-resistant antifriction bearing means for at least some of said guide rollers.

16. A combination as defined in claim 15, wherein said antifriction bearing means comprises rolling elements of a material selected from the group consisting of vitreous and synthetic plastic substances.

17. In an apparatus for treating travelling flexible band- or strip-shaped bodies with flowable agents, particuLarly for applying viscous agents to coated sides of carriers provided with coats of photosensitive material, a combination comprising at least two sets of guide rollers having axes located in at least two different planes and peripheral surfaces defining an elongated meandering path for a travelling flexible body, said path having elongated sections each extending between a given guide roller of a first set and a given guide roller of a second set, the axes of said given guide rollers being inclined with reference to each other and the planes which are normal to the axes of said pairs of given guide rollers making an angle of less than 91*, the guide rollers of one of said sets having a common axis of rotation and being equidistant from each other and the diameter of each guide roller of the other set constituting the diagonal of a rectangle one side of which equals the diameter of a guide roller of said one set and the other side of which equals the distance between the centers of two neighboring rollers of said one set, at least one of each pair of given guide rollers having a convex peripheral surface and the central line of each of said sections of said path coinciding at least substantially with the tangents to the central portions of peripheral surfaces of the respective given guide rollers.

18. A combination as defined in claim 17, wherein the diameters of guide rollers of said other set are parallel to each other.