Roll Holder for Photographic Processors

With present day high speed processing equipment it is necessary to provide a roll holding device which is particularly adapted to facilitate quick and easy dark room loading of the supply rolls while also facilitating adjustment thereof to accommodate rolls of different width materials.

The specific invention disclosed herein constitutes a dark room loader for holding rolls of photographic strip material to be processed which loader includes a pair of roll holding brackets mounted for quick and easy adjustment of the spacing therebetween and which are particularly designed to facilitate dark room loading of the supply rolls thereon by providing pin receiving slots having guiding approach surfaces leading into the slots whereby the roll mounting pins of the supply rolls may be inserted into the slots by a blind operator or in a dark room atmosphere.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the loading end of a processing machine which embodies this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 2--2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of one pair of spool mounting brackets embodying the invention.

FIG. 1 shows the loading or supply end of a photographic processor such as a paper processor P. A plurality of conveyor or leader belts B are shown which are designed to transport strips of film S through the processor. The strips are anchored to the belt by cantilevered support clips C which are attached to the leader belt by the operator in a conventional manner.

The processor P is provided with a mounting bar 10 on which a plurality of spool holding brackets 11, having hub elements H, are slidably and rotatably mounted to permit the spacing therebetween to be easily adjusted. Anchoring means for positively holding each of the brackets in the desired spaced apart relation are provided. These anchoring means include an apertured anchoring bar 12 mounted in fixed rearwardly spaced parallel relation to the mounting bar 10. Each of the brackets has an anchoring arm 11a extending rearwardly therefrom with a locking hook 11b formed on the inner end thereof which is adapted to be received in a selected aperture 12a of the anchoring bar 12.

The supply rolls of strip material R, such as exposed photographic print paper, are mounted on mounting spools 14 having mounting pins or spindles 15 fixed to the ends thereof. The rolls R are mounted on a suitable core element C', the inside diameter of said core being somewhat larger than the outside diameter of the spool 14 as best shown in FIG. 2. Each of the mounting pins 15 has a retaining flange 15a on the outer portion thereof to positively prevent the outer ends of the pins 15 from sliding out of G-shaped mounting slots 11c formed in the outwardly extending mounting arms 11d of the brackets 11. Each slot 11c has a relatively wide mouth entrance opening 11c and a sloping guiding surface 11f leading into the lower mounting portion 11g thereof. The width of said mounting portion 11g is slightly less than the width or outer diameter of the flange 15a of each mounting pin 15 as best shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The "G-shape" of said slot provides an upper overhanging retaining 11h element 11h as best shown in FIG. 2 which positively retains and captures the flanged spindles 15 therein during the dispensing of the strip material S from the supply rolls R. It will be noted that the mass of the mounting arm 11d of each bracket is substantially greater than the mass of the rearwardly extending anchoring arm so that the weight of mounting arm 11d positively holds the locking hook 11b in its selected aperture.

The leader clips C are initially attached to the leading end of the strips S in a conventional manner and are thereafter applied to the loading portion B-1 of the leader belts B which are in most cases in continuous operation into the processor. It must be kept in mind that this entire roll mounting and clip attaching operation is conducted by "feel" by a blind person or in a dark room atmosphere. It is, therefore, essential that the mounting pins 15 with a roll R mounted thereon can be quickly and easily inserted through the entrance 11e and down into the mounting portions 11g of the slots in each pair of adjacent brackets 11. It is also essential that the spaces between adjoining brackets be quickly and easily adjustable for rolls of different width materials.

The wide mouth 11e entering into the "G-shaped" slot 11g and the sloping surfaces 11f combine to facilitate the loading of the rolls in the brackets without requiring the operator to actually see the operation.

The slidable and rotatable mounting of the brackets on the stationary mounting bar 10 permits the locking hook 11b to be quickly and easily removed from its aperture 12a in the anchoring bar 12 and shifted into the desired adjusted position on the adjustment bar 10, and thereafter re-anchored in the aligned aperture.

It will be seen that this invention provides an adjustable dark room loading rack which greatly facilitates the loading of rolls of photographic material in a processing machine in a dark room atmosphere while also permitting quick and easy adjustment of the spacing between the mounting bars to accommodate strips of varying widths.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of this invention, which generally stated is set forth in the appended claims.