Patent GB-977079-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to photocopying devices
IPC: G03B27/30
Filed: 1963-01-22
Abstract: 977,079. Photocopying apparatus. W.ZINDLER, [trading as LUMOPRINT ZINDLER KOMM. GES.]. Jan. 22, 1963 [March 31, 1962], No. 2747/63. Heading G2A. A photocopying apparatus containing a processing bath, with an inlet and an outlet opening for the exposed copy sheets, has a movable cover which covers or exposes the said openings, and is also connected by a linkage to perform at least one of the operations of switching on or off an exposure device, a control circuit, or compressing and releasing a reserve container for processing liquid. As shown, the apparatus is enclosed in a box-like housing 1 divided into two compartments by a wall 2. A separate exposure station is provided by a transparent cylinder 11, within which is a light source 13 and shield 12. The exposure is made by passing the paper sheets through an opening 17, whence they are carried round the cylinder 11 by belts 10, and delivered through opening 17 again. A lid 34 acts as a cover for the apparatus when not in use, and pivots open on a spindle 35 to allow access. The exposed sheet is inserted through an opening 22 in a stepped portion 25, 26 of the housing. It is guided by plates 20, 21 into a developing bath 5, and then by a curved guiding plate to pass between squeezing and transport rollers 6, 7 and so out of the apparatus through an opening 23. The processing liquid is stored in a plastic bag 8 housed within a tray 27 at the bottom of the apparatus, and is forced upwards through a pipe 29 into the bath 5 only when the apparatus is actually in use. This is effected by a metal plate 28 which can be moved downwards to compress the bag. A lug 38 on a projecting part 37 of the cover engages and slides in a slot 42 in an angle lever 43, the latter being formed as a swinging plate pivoting about a fixed pin 44. At the opposite end of lever 43 to the slot 42 is a lug 45 which projects through an arcuate slot 46 in wall 2 to the other side. Here it engages against a link lever 52 centrally pivoted at 47. The other end of the lever is pivotally connected at 53 to a bar 48; a spring 49 is attached at one end to a fixed point 51 and at the other to a lug 50 on bar 48. At the other end of bar 48 from pivot 53 is a pivoted arm 54, which passes through an opening in wall 2 and extends there as a lever 56, which is connected to the pressure plate 28. When the cover is closed, and the apparatus inoperative (Fig. 1), the angle lever 43 is inclined as shown, so that lever 52 is upwardly inclined to the right. The lower end of lever 52 thus pulls bar 48 to the left, against the tension of spring 49, so that levers 54, 56 are turned clockwise. Pressure plate 28 is thus lifted, and the processing liquid can run back into bag 8 and fill it. When the cover is opened (Fig. 2), angle lever 43 is tilted clockwise, so that lever 52 is allowed to tilt anticlockwise under the action of the spring. Bar 48 moves to the right, and consequently levers 54, 56 turn anticlockwise. This depresses plate 28, and so exerts pressure on bag 8 to empty it by forcing the liquid through pipe 29 into the bath 5. At the same time, a contact 66 on lever 43 closes a switch 67 which energizes the transport rollers and the light source.