Room light load film magazine bag and cover loading system

The present invention provides a load bag and carrier board design that will allow the user to load film in a darkroom load magazine in room light. This is accomplished by tearing the bag open along the perforations and pulling off the outer bag. The bag and film are loaded into the magazine; as the access door is closed, the outer bag is pulled off. A label is placed at the bottom panel of the outer bag to identify package orientation and alert the user when the end of the bag is reached. At this point the package allows film to be loaded in room light conditions with a high risk of light fog on the edge (1/8") of the film. The fog is concentrated on the top edge of the film closest to the cassette door. With the addition of the cassette cover, the end user can load film in white light with no fog concerns.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
The invention relates generally to the field of room light load packaging 
for film intended for cassettes. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Currently, laser imagers have darkroom load magazines available to load 
film. Such systems require that the user load the magazine with film in a 
darkroom. The user takes the empty magazine, into the darkroom, loads the 
film into the magazine and returns back to the imager. With this invention 
the magazine would be loaded at the imager in room light. From the 
foregoing discussion it is apparent that there remains a need within the 
art for a film load bag that can be used with film magazines in room 
light. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems 
set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the 
present invention, A room light load magazine bag is provided comprising: 
a carrier board having light tight means formed on essentially half the 
carrier board near a first end of the carrier board; an outer bag made of 
opaque material formed to contain the carrier board, the outer bag having 
perforations contained at the first end of the carrier board. 
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be 
more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following 
detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and 
by reference to the accompanying drawings. 
Advantageous Effect Of The Invention 
The present invention has the following advantages: 
Ease of opening--perforations allow the user to open the outer bag without 
a cutting tool. 
Label on the outer bag indicates proper orientation (top and bottom). 
Carrier board on one end is light tight. 
Carrier board allows the imager to detect for out of film, and 
User can load package in room light.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, 
where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the 
figures. 
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Referring to FIG. 1, a perspective view of the room light load bag 10 as 
envisioned by the present invention is illustrated. It has been discovered 
that light sensitive film can be loaded effectively into cassette without 
the necessity of a darkroom by supplying the outer bag room load bag 10 
with particular internals to prevent enclosed film from fogging. As seen 
in FIG. 1 there is an outer bag 12 with perforations has an outer bag 12 
with perforations 14 near one end of the outer bag 12. approximately 1 
inch from the sealed end of the bag 10. 
Referring now to FIG. 2A in conjunction with FIG. 1, the details the 
internals used within the outer bag 12 are shown in FIG. 2A, a carrier 
board 20 made from cardboard or carton stock is used to add rigidity to 
the package. The user tears away the perforations 14 remove the bottom 
portion 15 of outer bag 12 to gain access to the package inside outer bag 
12. Once the bottom portion 15 is torn away, the bottom portion 25 of 
inner bag 24 is exposed to ambient room light. This does not fog film 40 
contained within carrier board 20 because the remaining portion of outer 
bag 12 and inner bag 24 create a light tight seal for enclosed film 40. 
The user then takes the load bag 10 with bottom portion 15 removed and 
inserts it into a load magazine that was originally intended to be loaded 
with film inside a darkroom environment. This has the advantage of 
allowing the user to operate in normal room light conditions with the 
inner bag 24 and outer bag 12 absent bottom portion 15 providing as a 
light tight environment. Typically there is a mechanism within the 
internals to load bag 10 that informs the imager using the enclosed film 
when the film supply has run out. A cut-out (not shown) in the bottom of 
carrier board 20 would be such a mechanism. 
Referring now to FIG. 2A in conduction with FIG. 1, a second preferred 
embodiment of the invention is shown having a carrier board 30 that has a 
bottom portion 35 shaped to perform the function of the bottom portion 25 
of inner bag 24 seen in FIG. 2A. This bottom portion 35 to carrier board 
30 will then provide the light tight seal when bottom portion 15 to outer 
bag 12 is removed in ambient light conditions. Again, the carrier board 30 
is made of cardboard or carton stock only in the embodiment shown in FIG. 
2A, the carrier board 30 is dye cut and scored, so when assembled encloses 
half of the film stack and prevents light from exposing the film. The user 
tears away the perforations 14 to gain access to the enclosed package. At 
this point the light tight bottom portion 35 the carrier board 30 is 
exposed. The user would take the whole package and insert it into the 
darkroom load magazine. Typically a cut-out 42 is placed on the bottom of 
the carrier board 30 that allows the imager to sense when the film has run 
out. 
The present invention provides a load bag and carrier board design that 
will allow the user to load film in a darkroom load magazine in room 
light. This is accomplished by tearing the bag open along the perforations 
and pulling off the outer bag. The bag and film are loaded into the 
magazine; as the access door is closed, the outer bag is pulled off. A 
label is placed at the bottom panel of the outer bag to identify package 
orientation and alert the user when the end of the bag is reached. At this 
point the package allows film to be loaded in room light conditions with a 
high risk of light fog on the edge (1/8") of the film. The fog is 
concentrated on the top edge of the film closest to the cassette door. 
With the addition of the cassette cover, the end user can load film in 
white light with no fog concerns. 
The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment; 
However, it will be appreciated that variations and modifications can be 
effected by a person of ordinary skill in the art without departing from 
the scope of the invention. 
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TS LIST 
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10 load bag 
12 outer bag 
14 perforations 
15 bottom portion 
20 carrier board 
24 inner bag 
25 bottom portion 
30 carrier board 
35 bottom portion 
40 film 
42 cut-out 
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