Patent Abstract:
A cup and probe assembly for use in a system for transferring a liquid between two sources in a photographic processor. The probe having body portion having a threaded section that mates with a threaded inlet provided on said cup.

Full Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention is directed to a cup and probe assembly designed to be used in a valve system primarily for transferring liquid from a container or other supply of liquid to a device for using the liquid.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    In photographic processors it is often necessary to provide replenishment solution to the processing liquid being used in the processor. In many situations, replenishment solution is provided in a container that is used in a replenishment system for delivering the replenishment solution in a predetermined manner to the appropriate processing tank. Because of the desire to minimize leaks and/or exposure to the environment of the replenishment solution, various dripless type assemblies have been suggested allowing connection and disconnection of the container containing the replenishment solution with the processor replenishment system. Examples of such valve assemblies are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,694,991 and 5,577,614. The valve assembly typically comprises a two part system, a first valve assembly of the valve system is typically associated with the container having the supply of replenishment solution to be provided to the processor, and a second valve assembly (also referred to as a probe) that is provided with the processor and is designed to mate with the first valve assembly allowing fluid to pass from the container to the replenishment system of the processor. These dripless valve assemblies minimize any leakage between connection and disconnection thereof. However, it has been found that there is a need to provide a cup around the valve assembly provided on the processor so as to capture leaks from the valve assembly that may occur. In addition, during long and repeated use of the valve assemblies, it has been found that it may be necessary to periodically change the second valve assembly provided on the processor. However, due to current construction, this is often a very difficult task and requires much labor including the need to remove air from the replenishment system provided on the processor.  
           [0003]    Applicants have provided a new and improved cup and valve assembly that minimizes or eliminates the problem of the prior art. In particular, the cup and probe assembly provides a system whereby the probe can be quickly and easily changed and avoid the necessity of having to remove air from the replenishment system.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    In accordance with the present invention there is provided a cup and probe assembly for use in a system for transferring a liquid between two sources in a photographic processor, comprising:  
           [0005]    a cup member having an opening and an outlet section having a first threaded inlet section and an outlet section for connection to one of the sources, the inlet section and outlet section being in fluid communication by a first passageway;  
           [0006]    a probe assembly that is one part of a two part valve assembly, the probe assembly having body portion having a second threaded section for mating with the first threaded inlet section.  
           [0007]    These and other aspects, objects, features 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. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    In the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention presented below, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 a  is a perspective view of a cup and probe assembly which comprises one half of a dripless valve assembly in accordance with the prior art;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 1 b  is a cross elevational view of the cup and probe assembly of FIG. 1;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 c  is a cross sectional view of the cup and probe assembly of FIG. 1;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the cup and probe assembly made in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the assembled cup and valve assembly of FIG. 2;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view of the cup and probe assembly of FIG. 2;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the body portion of the probe assembly of FIG. 4; and  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial view of the top portion of the body of FIG. 6 a.   
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0017]    Referring to FIGS. 1 a ,  1   b  and  1   c , there is illustrated a cup and probe assembly  10  made in accordance with the prior art. The cup and probe assembly  10  is mounted, for example, on a processor for processing photosensitive media such as photographic paper and/or film. The cup and probe assembly  10  comprises a cup  12  having an access opening  14  and an outlet opening  16  provided in the base  18 . The probe assembly  20  comprises one half of a two part valve assembly of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,991 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The probe assembly  20  includes a body  22  having lower end  24  that is secured to a replenishment supply system of a processor (see FIG. 8). The probe assembly  20  further includes a slidable cap member  28  that is biased upward by a spring  30 . The cap member  28  includes projections  32  that engage a lip  34  formed at the upper end  36  of body  22 . The lip  34  stops the cap member  28  from sliding off body  22 . A threaded nut  38  is provided for engaging threaded section  40  on body  22  for securing body  22  to cup member  12 . The replenishment supply system includes a connecting tube  42  which is clamped to the lower end  24  of probe body  22  by clamping member  44 . The cup  12  is secured to the process by any desired means. In the embodiment illustrated, the cup and probe assembly  10  is secured to the process by securing mounting flange  48  to the processor by a fastening member (not shown), such as a screw, would pass through the opening  50  and engage a threaded recess in the processor. In the prior art when the probe assembly  20  was in need of replacement, it was necessary to substantially disassemble the cup and probe assembly  10  from the processor by disconnecting it from the replenishment system. This requires a substantial amount of labor in order to remove cup and probe assembly  10  and replace the probe assembly  20 . Since the probe assembly  20  is directly connected to the replenishment system, this replacement would often result in substantial amounts of air entering the replenishment system through the connecting tube  25 . In addition there would typically be a need to clean the cup member  12 , probe assembly  20 , and surrounding hardware of any residual chemistry that may have spilled.  
         [0018]    Referring to FIGS.  2 - 6  there is illustrated a cup and probe assembly  100  made in accordance with the present invention. In particular, the cup and probe assembly  100  includes a cup  102  having an access opening  104  and an outlet section  106  having a threaded inlet section  108  and an outlet portion  110  for connection to a destination source such as the replenishment system of a typical photographic processor. The inlet section  108  is fluidly connected with the outlet section  110  by passageway  112 . The cup and probe assembly  100  further includes a probe assembly  114  that is one part of a two part valve assembly such as described in the &#39;991 patent previously referred to herein. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the probe assembly  114  comprises a body portion  116  having a lower end  118  having an external threaded section  120  which is designed to mate with a threaded inlet section  108  of cup  102 . The body portion  116  includes a passageway  122  which communicates with a plurality of inlet passages  124  at its upper end  126 . The passageway  122  communicates with the passageway  112 . The probe assembly  114  includes a sealing member  128  that is designed to engage a recess  130  provided in base  132  of cup  102 . In the particular embodiment illustrated, sealing member  128  comprises a rubber O-ring. The probe assembly  114  further includes a cap member  140  which is slidable along body portion  116 , a spring  142  and a retaining member  144  for retaining sealing member  128  in recess  130  and provides a surface against which the lower end  146  of spring  142  exerts a biasing force. The upper end  148  of spring  142  exerts a biasing force against cap member  140  so as to cover inlet passages  124  when the valve assembly is non engaged with respect to the other valve half (not shown). A sealing tip  143  is provided for providing a sealing engagement with the other mating half of the valve assembly (not shown).  
         [0019]    As illustrated by FIG. 6, the cap member  140  has a plurality of lip members  150  which engage a rib/projection  152  on the outer surface  154  of body portion  116  for preventing the cap member  140  from sliding off body portion  116 .  
         [0020]    Referring to FIG. 5, the outer surface  154  of body portion  116  is also provided with a plurality of longitudinal ribs  160  that form longitudinal passageways  162  which retains lip members  150  and guides the cap member  140  as it slides along body portion  116 . The upper end  164  of longitudinal ribs  160  are reinforced and sized so that when cap member  140  is rotated, the lip members  150  will firmly engage upper end  164  of body portion  116  so that the body portion  116  can be screwed in or out of engagement with threaded inlet section  108  of cup  102 . The distance between adjacent longitudinal ribs  160  is preferably such that the lateral sides of the lip member substantially abuts the two adjacent longitudinal ribs  160 . Preferably the outer surface of cap member  140  is provided with a plurality of facets  166  (see FIG. 3) so as to allow the cap member  140  to be easily rotated by hand or through the use of a tool.  
         [0021]    The lower end of outlet section  106  is connected to conduit  170  of the replenishment system of photographic processor. The conduit  170  in the particular embodiment is a plastic tube and is secured to the outlet portion  110  by an appropriate means which in the particular embodiment illustrated is a circular clamp  172 . The cup  102  includes a mounting member  178  having an opening  180  used to mount the flange.  
         [0022]    As can be seen, the probe assembly  114  is threadingly engaged to the cup member  102 . Thus, probe assembly  114  is engaged or disengaged by simply unthreading the probe assembly  114 . Since the probe assembly  114  is simply unthread from threaded inlet section  108 , there is no chance of having air inadvertently entering the system as a result of changing of the probe assembly. Additionally, there is no need to disassemble the cup  102  from the processor or replenishment system as one simply manually, or through the use of the tool, unthreads the old probe assembly and inserts a new replaceable probe assembly.  
         [0023]    The invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention, the present invention being defined by the claims set forth herein.  
       Parts List  
       [0024]    [0024] 10  cup and probe assembly  
         [0025]    [0025] 12  cup member  
         [0026]    [0026] 14  access opening  
         [0027]    [0027] 16  outlet opening  
         [0028]    [0028] 18  base  
         [0029]    [0029] 20  probe assembly  
         [0030]    [0030] 22  body  
         [0031]    [0031] 24  lower end  
         [0032]    [0032] 25  connecting tube  
         [0033]    [0033] 26  mounting member  
         [0034]    [0034] 28  slidable cap member  
         [0035]    [0035] 30  spring  
         [0036]    [0036] 32  projections  
         [0037]    [0037] 34  lip  
         [0038]    [0038] 36  upperend  
         [0039]    [0039] 38  nut  
         [0040]    [0040] 40  threaded section  
         [0041]    [0041] 42  connecting tube  
         [0042]    [0042] 44  clamping member  
         [0043]    [0043] 48  mounting flange  
         [0044]    [0044] 50  opening  
         [0045]    [0045] 58  inlet section  
         [0046]    [0046] 60  outlet section  
         [0047]    [0047] 100  cup and probe assembly  
         [0048]    [0048] 102  cup  
         [0049]    [0049] 104  access opening  
         [0050]    [0050] 106  outlet section  
         [0051]    [0051] 108  inlet section  
         [0052]    [0052] 110  outlet portion  
         [0053]    [0053] 112  passageway  
         [0054]    [0054] 114  probe assembly  
         [0055]    [0055] 116  body portion  
         [0056]    [0056] 118  lower end  
         [0057]    [0057] 120  external threaded section  
         [0058]    [0058] 122  passageway  
         [0059]    [0059] 124  inlet passages  
         [0060]    [0060] 126  upperend  
         [0061]    [0061] 128  sealing member  
         [0062]    [0062] 130  recess  
         [0063]    [0063] 132  base  
         [0064]    [0064] 140  cap member  
         [0065]    [0065] 142  spring  
         [0066]    [0066] 143  sealing tip  
         [0067]    [0067] 144  retaining member  
         [0068]    [0068] 146  lower end  
         [0069]    [0069] 148  upperend  
         [0070]    [0070] 150  lip members  
         [0071]    [0071] 152  rib/projection  
         [0072]    [0072] 154  outer surface  
         [0073]    [0073] 160  longitudinal ribs  
         [0074]    [0074] 162  longitudinal passageway  
         [0075]    [0075] 164  upperend  
         [0076]    [0076] 166  facets  
         [0077]    [0077] 170  conduit  
         [0078]    [0078] 172  circular clamps  
         [0079]    [0079] 178  mounting member  
         [0080]    [0080] 180  opening

Technology Classification (CPC): 1