GB965387A - Methods and apparatus for transporting film strip - Google Patents

Abstract

965, 387. Film processing apparatus. HOUSTON SCHMIDT Ltd. March 25, 1963 [March 27, 1962], No. 11778/63. Heading G2A. Strip material such as a film strip 21 is transported through a compartment 19, Fig. 2, and kept out of contact with the walls thereof by fluid pressure, the fluid being expelled through openings 14 in the side walls of the compartment. In the form shown in Fig. 2, the film strip 21 passes downwards between slotted plates 15, 16. These plates extend between two walls 13 of a housing 10, parallel to the other two walls 12. Thus besides the film-receiving compartment 19 there are also formed two outer compartments 17,18, into which the fluid (e.g. processing liquid) is introduced under pressure. The liquid is forced through the slots 20 in plates 15, 16 to impinge against the film on each side, and so cushions the wet film out of contact with any conveying or guiding means as it is pulled down through compartment 19. Although the slots 20 may be normal to the surface of plates 15, 16 (Fig. 1, not shown) they may also be inclined in the direction of travel of the film, as shown in Fig. 2, so that there is a component of force assisting the movement of the film. The liquid is expelled through a series of apertures 14 in the side walls 13, adjacent the two edges of the film. Fig. 3 shows an apparatus for successive treatment of a film strip, which passes in succession through a developing tank 24, a "stopping" tank 25, fixing tank 26, washing tank 27, and drying chamber 29. The film 21 enters between rollers 31, and is progressed in a sinuous path into and out of each tank in turn by the means described above in connection with Fig. 2. At the upper parts of the film path, as it passes from one tank to the next, it is enclosed in a tank 28, in which the fluid progressing means is air. After leaving the last liquid tank 27, the film passes up into a guide portion 32 conveying it through a housing 29, in which the progressing means is heated air, so drying the film. The whole apparatus may be enclosed in a light-tight housing 35. U.S.A. Specifications 2,008,439, 2,248,056 and 2,651,245 are referred to.