Apparatus of storing and feeding film leaders in photographic process

Abstract: An apparatus of storing and feeding film leaders in photographic process is provided comprising guide rollers 4 for guiding the leaders 2 to a leader storage 3, transfer rollers 7a and 7b for transferring the leaders from the leader storage, a leader direction sensor 8 disposed at the entrance of the leader storage, a horizontal conveyor device 9 located in the leader storage, a plurality of leader holders 10 mounted at equal intervals on the horizontal conveyor device for holding the leaders loaded by the guide rollers and the transfer rollers, and a lifting device 11 for unloading the leaders from the leader holders and delivering one by one through the entrance of the leader storage.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders to a location where they are joined to corresponding sheets of undeveloped film for guiding them through an automatic development processor during the photographic processing of undeveloped film in the automatic development processor. In a previously proposed apparatus for subjecting undeveloped film to the development process, each sheet of undeveloped images bearing film is drawn out by hand from its cartridge and manually joined at the leading end by a piece of adhesive tape with a film leader made of a flat strip for guiding the film. This action may be carried out using a splice gage in which the leaders are taken out one by one from its stack and placed on a table of the splice gage for joining to the films. The leader is directed and has always to be set on the splice gage table in a correctly directed state without misplacing. However, it often happens that the leader is set directed incorrectly on the splice gage table. There is so far provided no such an automatic leader feeder as feeding a plurality of the leaders sequentially and correctly from its storage. GB-A-2265992 discloses film feeding apparatus feeds the films in cartridges secured to leaders into a film developing section. A film insertion box provided adjacent to the film developing section has a film setting chamber and a film feeding chamber. An inlet slit is formed in the film feeding chamber. Mounted in the film feeding chamber are a first carrier device for feeding downwards the leaders inserted into the slit with the cartridges disposed thereunder, a second carrier device for intermittently feeding the leaders laterally toward a deep area of the film feeding chamber, and a third carrier device for feeding the leaders up into the film setting chamber. In the chamber are provided leader guides for guiding the leaders toward the film developing section, the cartridge being held on shelf whilst film and leader is fed into the film developing section and then end of film cut by cutters. The present invention has been developed in view of the foregoing aspect and its object is to provide an apparatus of storing and feeding a plurality of film leaders which are aligned in direction and stored neatly in a stack for the photographic process. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided, an apparatus of storing and feeding film leaders in photographic process as defined in claim 1. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic plan view of a primary part of an apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a schematic cross sectional view of the primary part of the apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is an explanatory view showing action 1 of the apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders; Fig. 4 is an explanatory view showing action 2 of the apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders; Fig. 5 is an explanatory view showing action 3 of the apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described referring to the accompanying drawings. As shown in Figs. 1 to 5, a leader storing and feeding apparatus 1 for use in a photographic process allows a plurality of film leaders 2 to be supplied and stored temporarily in a leader storage 3 and to be delivered one by one from the storage 3 to a joint station where each leader 2 is joined to a sheet of undeveloped film (not shown). There are a pair of guide rollers 4 provided adjacent to the entrance of the leader storage 3 for supplying and guiding the leaders 2. The leaders 2 are driven to the leader storage 3 as pinched between the two guide rollers 4. A leader detecting sensor 5 is provided before the guide rollers 4 for detecting the leading edge of the leader 2 and driving the guide rollers 4 to rotate and transfer the leader 2 into the leader storage 3. Provided adjacent to the guide rollers 4 are two pairs of transfer rollers 7a and 7b for feeding the leader 2 temporarily stored in the storage 3 to the next step. There is a leader direction sensor 8 provided on the leader storage 3 side of the transfer rollers 7a for detecting the orientation of the leader 2 transferred to the leader storage 3 by the guide rollers 4 and the transfer rollers 7a. If the leader 2 received is in a correctly orientated state, it is loaded to the leader storage 3. If not, the leader 2 is discharged by reverse rotation of the guide rollers 4 and the transfer rollers 7a. The leader storage 3 includes a horizontal conveyor 9, leader holders 10, and a lifting device 11. The horizontal conveyor 9 has two rotary shafts 12 extending vertically at both, front and rear, ends of the leader storage 3. Each the rotary shaft 12 has two sprockets 13 mounted on upper and lower portions thereof. An endless chain 14 is mounted between the two corresponding sprockets 13 on their respective rotary shafts 12 located at the front and the rear. A pair of the endless chains 14 are aligned in parallel to each other and carry the leader holders 10 arranged at equal intervals therebetween. The endless chains 14 are driven by a single drive device 16. The leader holder 10 extending between the two endless chains 14 has two longitudinal slits 15 provided therein for holding a couple of the leaders 2. More particularly, the longitudinal slits 15 extends from the uppermost end to near the lowermost end 10a of the leader holder 10. When the two endless chains 14 are driven by the drive device 16 in a reverse direction, the leader holders 10 on the endless chains 14 travel in the same direction. The drive device 16 comprises a drive motor 17, two pulleys 18 mounted to the lower ends of their respective rotary shafts 12, a tension pulley 19, a motor pulley 20 mounted on a drive shaft 17a of the drive motor 17, and a belt 21. The belt 21 is arranged to run from the motor pulley 20 through the pulleys 18 of their respective rotary shafts 12 and the tension pulley 19 as best shown in Fig. 1. Referring to Fig. 1, when the belt 21 is driven in one direction by the drive motor 17, the endless chains 14 travel to convey the leader holders 10 in the direction denoted by the arrows. If the drive motor 17 is rotated in a reverse direction, the leader holders 10 move back in an opposite direction to the arrow denoted direction towards the entrance of the leader storage 3. The lifting device 11 is located at the entrance of the leader storage 3 for transferring the leaders 2 to and from their respective leader holders 10. The lifting device 11 is driven by a drive device (not shown) so that its lifting table 23 having a V slot 22 can move upward and downward along a guide shaft 23a. As the leader 2 stored in the longitudinal slit 15 of the leader holder 10 is lifted with its lowermost edge engaging with the V slot 22 of the lifting table 23, it is unloaded from the leader storage 3 and delivered to the transfer rollers 7a. The lifting device 11 includes a detecting sensor 24 for detecting the location of each longitudinal slit 15 in the leader holder 10. Upon the sensor 24 detecting that the target leader holder 10 carrying a pair of the leaders 2 and driven intermittently by the endless chains 14 comes into the lifting device 11, the lifting table 23 is actuated to lift up one of the leaders 2 on the leader holder 10. The leader storing and feeding apparatus 1 of the present invention is arranged with the above mentioned construction for carrying out a film feeding action in the photographic process. The film feeding action of the leader storing and feeding apparatus 1 will now be explained referring to Figs. 3 and 4. For storage in the leader storage 3, a group of the leaders 2 are supplied one by one from a leader inlet 6. Upon each the leader 2 being detected by the leader detecting sensor 5, it is advanced to the leader storage 3 by the rotating actions of the guide rollers 4 and the transfer rollers 7a. The orientation of the leader 2 is then detected by the leader direction sensor 8 disposed before the entrance of the leader storage 3 and when it is correct, the leader 2 is advanced into the leader storage 3. If not, the leader 2 is discharged by the reverse rotating actions of the guide rollers 4 and the transfer rollers 7a. Before the leader 2 in the correctly orientation state arrives at the leader storage 3, the horizontal conveyor 9 is actuated to locate the leader holder 10 at the position for receiving the leader 2, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. As the leader 2 is advanced into the leader storage 3, it moves into corresponding one of the two longitudinal slits 15 of the leader holder 10 at the receiving position. Meanwhile, the lifting table 23 stays beneath the leader holder 10. After the leader 2 is placed in the corresponding longitudinal slit 15 of the leader holder 10, the horizontal conveyor 9 is actuated to move the endless chains 14 a bit for locating the other of the two longitudinal slits 15 of the leader holder 10 to the leader receiving position. The leader holder 10 loaded with two of the leaders 2 are then conveyed inwardly of the leader storage 3. By repeating the above action, a desired number of the leaders 2 are stored in the leader holders 10. When required for feeding, the leader 2 at the receiving position or entrance of the leader storage 3 is lifted by the lifting table 23 as seated in the V slot 22 of the lifting table 23 and delivered to the transfer rollers 7a and 7b. The leader 2 is then driven by the transfer rollers 7a and 7b to the location for joining with a sheet of undeveloped film. Accordingly, a group of the leaders 2 are stored in the leader storage 3 and if required, automatically unloaded in a sequence from the leader storage 3 by repeating the foregoing action.

Claims: An apparatus for storing and feeding film leaders in photographic process comprising:- a leader storage (3) having a leader storage entrance; guide rollers (4) for guiding the leader (2) into the leader storage (3); transfer rollers (7a) for transferring the leaders into and from the entrance of the leader storage (3); a leader orientation sensor (8) disposed at the entrance of the leader storage (3) for detecting if the incoming leaders are set in a correct or incorrect orientation; a conveyor device (9) located in the leader storage (3); a plurality of leader holders (10) mounted at equal intervals on the conveyor device (9) for holding the leaders (2) loaded by the guide rollers (4) and the transfer rollers (7); a lifting device (11) for unloading the leaders (2) from the leader holders (10) and delivering them one by one through the entrance of the leader storage (3); the transfer rollers (7a) supplying a leader (2) by a direct rotating action through the entrance of the leader storage (3) into respective leader holders (10) when the leader orientation sensor (8) senses that the leader is set in a correct orientation and discharging the leader (2) by an opposite rotating action when the leader orientation sensor (8) detects that the leader is set in an incorrect orientation.

Inventors: KOBAYASHI MASAYUKI, KOBAYASHI, MASAYUKI
Applicants: NORITSU KOKI CO LTD, NORITSU KOKI CO., LTD.
Application year: 1996
Main classification: G03D13
IPC codes: G03D13, G03D3