FILM MAGAZINE

Abstract: A light-tight magazine (10) which comprises a stack of recording sheets (16) which are separated from each other by spacing foils (17), the spacing foils being held in place by means of ear portions (20,21) that protrude laterally from the foils and that are retained by means of fixed retaining walls (27,28) of the magazine.

Description: Field of the invention The present invention relates to the feeding of light-sensitive image recording sheets, in particular the feeding of microfilms in an apparatus for the exposure of documents or other information on a reduced scale onto microfiches. Description of the prior art In the feeding of recording sheets from a stack of such sheets to a given position, e.g. a position in an exposure station for the image-wise exposure of the sheets, it is known to prevent damaging of the recording surface of the sheets and also to exclude double feeding, by keeping the sheets in the stack mutually separated by means of separating sheets (hereinafter called "spacing foils") that usually are made from a flexible material, such as paper, polyethylene and the like, and by fixing the trailing end portions of such spacing foils so that these foils are not fed together with the recording sheets. A method for feeding as described hereinbefore is disclosed in EP-A-0 080 798, and is based on the holding of the trailing ends of the spacing foils extending beyond the image recording sheets, by means of retaining rods passing through corresponding holes in such trailing end portions. The retaining of foils by means of rods is delicate since the rods can easily become bent or misaligned in one or another way whereby the satisfactory fitting of the foils on the rods may become problematic. Further, the staggered position of the trailing ends of the image recording sheets and of the spacing sheets is a disadvantage, since the position of the image recording sheets is not very well controlled thereby in the holder in which the sheets are stacked. Moreover, the reliable loading in the dark of a holder with sheets the edges of which do not coincide is difficult. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objects of the invention An object of the invention is to provide a light-tight magazine comprising a stack of alternately piled light-sensitive image recording sheets and spacing foils, which is easy to load by the manufacturer of the magazine, and which allows the reliable withdrawal of the image recording sheets, one by one. A further object of the invention is to provide a magazine which allows the easy removal of the spacing foils after all the image recording sheets have been withdrawn, so that the empty magazine may be used as a storage box for the processed image recording sheets. A further object of the invention is to provide a method of feeding image recording sheets from a stack with interleaving spacing foils, in which the locking of the position of the spacing foils is simpler than according to the techniques known in the art. Statement of invention According to the present invention, a ligh-tight magazine comprising a stack of alternately piled light-sensitive image recording sheets and spacing foils, the trailing end portions of the spacing foils being held with respect to the magazine whereby said foils are not fed while an image recording sheet is fed, and the leading end portions of the separating foils having a cut portion for enabling contact of a feed means with an image recording sheet for the feeding of such image recording sheet to a given position, is characterized thereby that the trailing end portions of the spacing foils are provided with ear portions protruding laterally of the image recording sheets, and that walls of the magazine are provided with retaining means for retaining said ear portions. In a suitable form of the magazine according to the invention, the retaining means are in the form of small wall sections protruding inwardly from the lateral walls of the magazine. The wall sections may also make part of chambers in the magazine that are arranged for containing a moisture absorbing ingredient. The walls of such subchambers may operate to laterally support the image recording sheets and the separating foils, and in a further suitable embodiment of the invention, the lateral edges of the film sheets and the spacing foils coincide with each other. The present invention includes also a method of feeding interleaved recording sheets. According to the present invention, a method of feeding light-sensitive image recording sheets comprising the steps of piling alternately on a supporting base a plurality of flexible image recording sheets and a plurality of flexible spacing foils, holding portions of the spacing foils whereby said foils are not fed while the image recording sheets are fed, engaging the leading end portion of the upper image recording sheet by a feed means through a cut portion in the leading end portion of the overlying spacing foil(s), and feeding such image recording sheet to a subsequent position, is characterized thereby that the holding of portions of the spacing foils occurs by providing said foils with ear portions protruding laterally of the image recording sheets, and by retaining said ear portions by means of retaining means. The protruding ear portions easily enable the holding of the spacing foils by means of ribs, brackets or the like that may make an integral part of a holder in which the sheets are stacked. According to a preferred feature of the method according to the invention, the leading and trailing edges of the image recording sheets and the spacing foils coincide, which facilitates the handling of a stack of sheets in the manufacturing process. According to another preferred feature of the method according to the invention, also the lateral edges of the image receiving sheets and the spacing foils coincide with each other, except for the protruding ears. This feature ensures a good control of the position of the sheets in an appropriate holder by means of lateral supporting means in the holder. In another suitable embodiment, also the leading and the trailing edges of the film sheets and the spacing foils coincide with each other, so that the sheets and foils may constitute a truely rectangular stack, except for the ears of the foils, which readily lends itself to handling and manipulation for the loading of a magazine. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described hereinafter by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein : Fig. 1 is a front view of one embodiment of a magazine according to the invention, the lid being opened, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the magazine on line 2-2′ of Fig. 3, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the magazine on line 3-3′ of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a top view of the closed magazine, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to that of Fig. 3, wherein a stack of sheets is shown diagrammatically. Referring to Fig. 1 which illustrates one embodiment of a magazine according to the invention, the magazine being located in a horizontal position and the lid being opened and hanging downwardly, and to Fig. 2, which illustrates a horizontal sectional view of the magazine according to line 2-2 of Fig. 3, with the cover removed, the magazine comprises a generally rectangular box 11 and lid 12 which are interconnected by a hinge 13. The magazine is preferably manufactured by injection moulding from suitable plastics, such as black-pigmented polypropylene, ABS, polystyrene, and the like and the hinge may be integrally moulded together with the box and the lid. The box 11 has a separate cover 14 that allows the loading of the box. The cover may be arranged for permanent sealing to the box, but it may also be fitted in a removable way in order to allow the reloading of an empty magazine by the end-user. The lid 12 is provided with a peripheral groove 9 which fits over a peripheral tongue 15 of the box so that the magazine can form a light-tight receptable for unexposed light-sensitive film sheets. These film sheets are illustrated by the uneven lines 16 in Fig. 1, whereas the interleaving spacing foils are illustrated by the even lines 17. A free-movable platen 18 rests freely on top of the stack of sheets. For reasons of clarity, only a section of the sheets and the platen has been illustrated in fig. 1. For the same reason, the clearance between the edges of the sheets and the adjacent walls of the magazine, see also Fig. 2, has been exaggerated. The film sheets 16 are rectangular sheets, as represented by the rectangle in broken lines in Fig.2. The spacing foils 17 have a format that corresponds with that of the platen 18, and thus the foils 17 have ears 20 and 21 which in fact are square lateral extensions of the foils at their trailing end, and a cut portion 51 at their leading end. The magazine is now described in further detail with reference to Figs. 1 to 5. The box 11 has inside walls 23 and 24 that run parallel with the side walls 25 and 26, and that extend over the complete height of the box. The inside walls 23 and 24 are connected with the side walls 25 and 26 by wall sections 27 through 30 whereby two small chambers 31 and 32 are formed. The walls 23 and 24 are provided with large openings 35 and 36 through which the chambers 31 and 32 communicate with the interior of the box. The distance a between the walls 23 and 24 and the distance b from the rear wall 34 up to the leading edge 37 of the bottom wall 85 of the box are related to the length and the width of the film sheets. It should be understood that in practice the corresponding dimensions of the sheets are by some tenths of a millimetre smaller than the corresponding distances a and b . The cover 14 of the box is a separately moulded member which is basically a flat plate having peripheral ribs 38, 39 and 40, and transverse reinforcing ribs such as 41 and 42. The cover light-tightly fits on the open box and may either permanently or removably secured thereto. The lid 12 of the box is provided with two ribs 43 and 44 on the interior surface of its lateral walls. The ribs extend beyond the perimeter of the opening of the lid, as may be seen in Fig. 3 for the rib 44, and the ribs are provided with bevelled faces 45 and 46. The closed position of the lid is indicated in Fig.3 by the broken line 33. The box of the magazine is provided with two locking ridges 47 and 48 moulded on the exterior surfaces of innerside lateral walls 23 and 24. The ridges have slanting faces 49 and 50, and they form the other half of the co-operating locking means of the magazine. The general direction of the described ribs and ridges is parallel with the bottom 85 of the magazine, and in this way they enable the easy unmoulding of the magazine, without having to resort to moulds that comprise different, independently moving parts. More information about the illustrated locking ribs may be found in EP-A-87 200 614.4 relating to an injection-moulded generally rectangular light-tight container. Fig. 5 illustrates in a diagrammatic way the magazine loaded with light-sensitive material. The load comprises a stack of film sheets 16 that are separated from each other by spacing foils 17. The peripheral edges of the film sheets coincide with the edges of the spacing foils, except for the ears 20, 21 (see Fig. 2). In this way the film sheets and the spacing foils form a rectangular block with flat side faces, which can readily be manipulated for its transport from a stacking mechanism into the opened magazine. The right-hand broken line sections of the spacing sheets stand for the rectangular cut out portions 51 of the sheets. The stack of film sheets and spacing foils is laid in the open magazine, the ear portions 20 and 21 of the spacing foils fitting in the spaces between the rear wall 34 and the corresponding inner walls sections 27 and 28 of the magazine. Then the platen 18 is placed on top of the stack of sheets, the ear portions of the platen fitting likewise behind the walls 27 and 28. The platen creates a bias which causes a straightening of occasionally curved film and spacing sheets, and produces also a certain friction between each film sheet and the adjacent spacing sheets. The cover 14 is placed on the box, the lid 12 is closed and sealed with a tape or the like to avoid inadvertant opening of the magazine, and finally the magazine may be packed together with a number of magazines in a dispatch container. The end-user of the magazine removes the seal from the lid, and carefully places the magazine in an apparatus in which the opening of the lid by a hook or similar means engaging a recess 52 in the lid, and the dispensing of the sheets one-by-one may occur automatically in view of the image-wise exposure of the sheets. A suitable apparatus for carrying out the imagewise exposure of the film sheets and for processing them, is disclosed in EP-A-0 271 610 . The dispensing of the film sheets from the magazine may occur by any system known in the art. Common dispensing mechanisms comprise a resilient finger, roller, or the like which is moved cyclically over the front portion of the upper film sheet which is accessible through the opening 51 in the platen 18, and which is operated to frictionally engage said front portion and to urge thereby the top film sheet forwardly. As the film sheet has been advanced over some centimeters, it may be engaged by one or a plurality of drive roller pairs for further transport to an exposure station, etc. During the dispensing of the film sheet, a bias is performed by the dispensing member also on the next, or on some of the next film sheets at the area corresponding with the opening 51. Yet such next film sheet(s) is (are) not dispensed together with the first one, since the spacing foils 17 have a frictional engagement with the film sheets 16 that exceeds the frictional engagement of the film sheets with each other at their leading ends. For the dispensing of the next film sheet, the dispensing member reaches through the opening 51 of the platen 18 and through the corresponding opening of the first spacing foil, in order to contact such next film sheet. This operation is repeated for every next film sheet, it being understood that the number of spacing foils on top of the remaining film sheets increases during the dispensing of the film sheets. The platen 18 keeps the stack of spacing foils 17 well flat, even after the relatively stiffer film sheets have been removed. The filmless magazine may then be removed from the exposure apparatus, and the stack of the remaining spacing foils 17 may be removed by a simple pull on the leading ends of such sheets, which causes the ear portions of these sheets to become deflected and to slip from behind the walls sections 27 and 28. The sheet ears are capable of undergoing such flection, because the removal of the film sheets caused an increased flexibility of the spacing foils since now also their areas adjacent to the ears are capable to become flexed. The described removal of the spacing foils may occassionally also be done in two or more sub-packets. The film sheets that in the meantime have been exposed and processed to provide an image, may occasionally be re-introduced into the magazine which at that moment may operate as a storage magazine for the exposed film sheets. The presence of the platen 18 does not interfere with such use. On the contrary, the opening at the leading end of the platen may facilitate even the gripping of a stack of re-introduced film sheets by allowing access to a fingertop or -nail at the underside of the stack. A magazine was produced in accordance with the described embodiment , which comprised 100 microfilm sheets, with a polyethylene terephthalate filmbase with a thickness of 0.17 mm, measuring 10.5 by 14.8 cm, and which were separated by spacing foils made from black-pigmented polyethylene terephthalate with a thickness of 0.110 mm. The present invention is not limited to the described embodiment. The ear portions of the spacing foils may have other shapes than the illustrated ones, and they may also be located at other positions than the illustrated ones, e.g. halfway the length of the foils, or at two or more locations at each foil side. The dispensing of the light-sensitive sheets may occur by means of sucker cups, sucker rollers and the like. The ears of the spacing foils may be arranged for facilitating their yielding when the stack of spacing foils is to be pulled out from the magazine. According to one embodiment, the ears may be partially slitted in order to promote their flexing. According to another embodiment the ears may have rounded-off corners at positions indicated by A and A′ in Fig. 2, in order to produce a contact pressure that gradually increases up from the basis of the ears, as the spacing foils are pulled off.

Claims: A light-tight magazine (10) comprising a stack of alternately piled image light-sensitive recording sheets (16) and spacing foils (17), the trailing end portions of the spacing foils being held with respect to the magazine whereby said foils are not fed while an image recording sheet is fed, and the leading end portions of the spacing foils having a cut portion (51) for enabling contact of a feeding means with an image recording sheet for the feeding of such image recording sheet to a subsequent position, characterized in that the trailing end portions of the spacing foils (17) are provided with ear portions (20,21) protruding laterally of the image recording sheets, and that walls (23,24) of the magazine are provided with retaining means (27,28) for retaining said ear portions. A magazine according to claim 1, wherein the trailing edges of the image receiving sheets coincide with the trailing edges of the separating foils. A magazine according to claim 1, wherein a rigid plate (18) is placed on top of the stack of interleaved sheets and spacing foils, for biasing said stack. A magazine according to claim 3, wherein the shape of said plate (18) corresponds generally with that of the flexible foils. A magazine according to claim 1, wherein the format of the image receiving sheets (16) corresponds with that of the spacing foils (17), except for the protruding ear portions (20,21). A magazine according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the protruding ear portions (20,21) have a rectangular form. A magazine according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the retaining means are in the form of small wall sections (27,28) projecting inwardly from the lateral walls of the magazine. A magazine according to claim 7, wherein said small wall sections (27,28) make part of the walls of hollow chambers (31,32) in the magazine containing a moisture absorbing means. A magazine according to claim 8, wherein said chambers (31,32) have wall sections (23,24) for laterally supporting the image recording sheets (16) and the separating foils (17). A magazine according to any of claims 1 to 9, which comprises a plurality of light-sensitive microfiche-type sheets (16), and which has a light-tight lid (12) which is arranged for being automatically opened as the magazine has been inserted in an image processing apparatus. A method of feeding light-sensitive image recording sheets comprising the steps of piling alternately on a supporting base (35) a plurality of flexible image recording sheets (16) and a plurality of flexible spacing foils (17), holding portions of the spacing foils whereby said foils are not fed while the image recording sheets are fed, engaging the leading end portion of the upper image recording sheet by a feeding means through a cut portion (51) in the leading end portion of the overlying spacing foil(s), and feeding such image recording sheet to a subsequent position, characterized in that the holding of portions of the spacing foils (17) occurs by providing said foils with ear portions (20,21) protruding laterally of the image recording sheets (16), and by retaining said ear portions by means of retaining means (27,28). A method of feeding according to claim 11, wherein the leading and the trailing edges of the image recording sheets and the spacing foils coincide with each other. A method of feeding image recording sheets according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the lateral edges of the image recording sheets (16) coincide with the lateral edges of the spacing foils (17), except for the protruding ear portions. A method according to any of claims 11 to 13, comprising removing the spacing foils (17) after the last image recording sheet (16) has been removed, by pulling the spacing foils (17) altogether in the direction of their leading ends. A method according to any of claims 11 to 14, comprising increasing the resistance against upward flexing of the ear portions of the spacing foils, by superposing on the top foil a rigid plate (18) of a silimar shape as the flexible foils.

Inventors: BUELENS, EDWARD, HACKENBERG, HUBERT, VAN GEYTE, DANNY
Applicants: AGFA-GEVAERT NAAMLOZE VENNOOTSCHAP
Application year: 1989
Main classification: B65H3
IPC codes: G03B27, B65H1, G03B17, B65H3