JPH0456956A - Photosensitive material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the cross-over time of a photosensitive material and to prevent processing soln. mixed in different kind of processing soln. due to the splash of the soln. by pouring the soln. provided with a cleaning function between first and second blades. CONSTITUTION:A pair of first blades 8 are provided in the neighborhood of the entry 71 of the photosensitive material S of a communication path so as to block the entry 71, while, a pair of second blades 9 are provided in the neighborhood of the exit 72 of the photosensitive material S of the communication path 7 so as to block the exit 72. Cleaning soln. 10 is packaged in the communication path 7 between the first blades 8 and the second blades 9. The cleaning soln. 10 can clean, eliminate, or inactivate a developing component that is the processing soln. component in a pre-processing tub 2 from the surface of the photosensitive material S and an emulsion layer. Thereby, it is possible to shorten the cross-over time of the photosensitive material and also, to prevent the processing soln. mixed in the different kind of processing soln. between neighboring treatment tubs.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus applied to automatic processors, wet-type copying machines, and the like.

<Prior art> A photosensitive material processing device such as an automatic processor or a wet-type copying machine processes exposed silver halide photosensitive material (hereinafter referred to as photosensitive material) using a processing solution in a plurality of processing tanks arranged in parallel. An image is obtained by sequentially immersing the film in water, developing, desilvering, and washing with water, and then drying it.

For example, in an apparatus for processing color photosensitive materials, a developing tank,
A bleach/fix tank, a washing tank, and a dryer are installed in this order, and in these, development, bleaching/fixing, washing, and drying are performed in this order.

By the way, in such a photosensitive material processing apparatus, there are the following three problems to be solved.

■ Shorten the processing time of photosensitive materials, especially the time (distance) required for crossover of photosensitive materials between adjacent processing tanks.

■ Minimize the amount of processing liquid adhering to the photosensitive material carried into the next processing tank as much as possible.

For example, if the developer is brought into the bleach/fix tank, the bleach/fix solution may deteriorate, leading to problems such as poor color recovery and poor desilvering.

■ To prevent the processing liquid from scattering or splashing due to the entering of the photosensitive material into the processing liquid or the movement of pulling it out of the processing liquid, and from mixing into adjacent different types of processing liquids.

In particular, if the scattered bleach/fix solution gets mixed into the developer,
The developer becomes contaminated and deteriorates, causing color development fog, uneven processing, and poor color gradation balance, and the photographic properties of the resulting images are significantly reduced.

To solve the above problem (2), adjacent processing tanks are separated by a single partition wall, and the photosensitive material is crossed over in a horizontal state at the top of the partition wall, thereby shortening the crossover path length ( An invention has been disclosed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-302253).

However, in this invention, it is not possible to prevent the processing liquid from being brought in or mixed in due to scattering, etc. as shown in (1) and (2) above.

As a solution to the above problem (1), an invention has been disclosed in which the tip of a blade is pressed against the surface of a photosensitive material to squeeze out the attached processing liquid, and the processing liquid is sprayed onto that part to clean it (JP-A-1999-1120). -30251 publication).

However, in this invention, since only one side of the photosensitive material is squeezed by the blade, it is not possible to sufficiently reduce the amount carried into the primary tank, and furthermore, the problems shown in (1) and (2) above are not solved. . In particular, since the processing liquid is sprayed, it is easy for the processing liquid to scatter (,
In fact, it is worse than before in terms of issues.

As a solution to the above problem (2), an invention has been disclosed in which the upper opening of the processing tank is covered with a flat plate, and this flat plate is provided with a slit (narrow width) inlet opening and outlet opening through which the photosensitive material passes (particularly Publication No. 1-302252).

However, in this invention, the photosensitive material lifted up from the processing liquid faces upward, passes through the exit opening formed in the flat plate in a vertical state, and then rises further, forming an arched shape at a position considerably higher than the liquid level. Since it turns and descends toward the processing liquid in the next tank, the crossover time shown in (2) above is long, and furthermore, it is impossible to prevent the processing liquid from being brought in as shown in (2) above.

In addition, as a way to simultaneously solve the above ■ and ■,
An invention is disclosed in which two processing tanks whose upper openings are covered with upper lids or floating lids are installed at a predetermined distance apart, and a pair of blades are provided in the portions of the side walls of the image processing tanks through which the photosensitive material passes ( (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-319040).

However, in this invention, since a space is provided between the two processing tanks, the crossover time shown in (2) above takes a long time.

Further, in this invention, although the blade can be expected to have a certain degree of wiping effect of the processing liquid, since the photosensitive material is not actively cleaned when the photosensitive material passes through the space, the blade may not be able to wipe it completely. The processing liquid, particularly the processing liquid components that have permeated into the emulsion layer of the light-sensitive material, remain in the emulsion layer as they are and are transferred to the next tank.

In this case, if the emulsion layer is immersed in the bleach/fix solution with developer components remaining in the emulsion layer, the bleach/fix solution will deteriorate, and if the bleach blade is strong, the pH will be high in the emulsion layer.
If the bleaching blade is weak due to the oxidation of the developing agent, problems such as poor desilvering and poor bleaching may occur due to the reducing action of the developing agent and the deterioration of the bleaching blade due to high p)I. The drawback is that staining occurs in the photosensitive material during storage after processing, resulting in poor storage stability.

Therefore, at present, a photosensitive material processing apparatus that can simultaneously solve the above-mentioned problems (1), (2), and (2) has not yet been developed.

In addition, in the above four conventional inventions, it was extremely difficult to combine all of these inventions due to the structure such as the arrangement pattern of the rollers required to obtain the effects of those inventions, and it was also possible. However, the structure would be extremely complex and the effects would be presumed to be insufficient.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> It is an object of the present invention to shorten the cross-over time of photosensitive materials, carry the processing liquid that has adhered to and permeated the photosensitive material to the next tank, and eliminate dissimilar processing liquids due to scattering of the processing liquid. An object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus that prevents contamination of the photosensitive material.

Means for Solving the Problems> Such objects are achieved by the present invention as described in (1) to (3) below.

(1) It has two adjacent processing tanks filled with different processing solutions, and means for conveying the photosensitive material installed in these processing tanks, and the photosensitive material is placed on the partition wall between the two processing tanks. A communicating passage is formed, and at least one pair of first blades are installed on the photosensitive material inlet side of the communicating passage, and at least one pair of second blades are installed on the photosensitive material outlet side of the communicating passage, and the first blade and the second blade are disposed on the photosensitive material outlet side of the communicating passage. A photosensitive material processing apparatus characterized in that a liquid having a cleaning function is inserted between the blade and the blade.

(2) Among the processing tanks, one is a processing tank containing a developing solution, and the other is a processing tank containing a processing solution having a bleaching function, and the liquid having a cleaning function is a processing tank containing a pl(4 The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to (1) above, which uses the following liquid.

(3) The communication path is formed at a position higher than the liquid level of either of the processing liquids in both processing tanks.
) or (2).

In the present invention, when the photosensitive material crosses over, the photosensitive material does not go out of the processing tank first. , the crossover path length is short and the crossover time can be shortened.

Furthermore, the processing liquid adhering to the surface of the photosensitive material is wiped off by a pair of first blades provided on the photosensitive material entrance side of the communication path. In this case, a pair of first blades are provided so that their tips are in close contact with each other, and since the photosensitive material passes between this pair of blades, the processing liquid is wiped from both sides of the photosensitive material (the emulsion side and the back side). taken.

Furthermore, a liquid having a cleaning function (hereinafter referred to as cleaning liquid) is provided between the first blade and the second blade.
is contained therein, and since the photosensitive material comes into contact with this cleaning liquid when passing through the communication path, the processing liquid components of the preprocessing tank adhering to the photosensitive material are further cleaned and removed.

In particular, processing liquid components that have penetrated into the emulsion layer of the light-sensitive material can also be washed out.

For this reason, the amount of processing liquid brought into the post-processing tank from the pre-processing tank is significantly reduced, and deterioration of the processing liquid in the post-processing tank is prevented. Moreover, the processing solution components in the pretreatment tank, especially the developer components, are washed out from the emulsion layer, leaving only a small amount of them (thus, bleaching blade smudges and desilvering defects occur during subsequent bleaching or bleaching/fixing processing). and color recovery defects are significantly reduced.
Improves photographic quality.

Furthermore, since the pair of first and second blades provided on the photosensitive material inlet and outlet sides of the communication path, respectively, shield the communication path almost liquid-tightly, even if the processing liquid is splashed or splashed, The flow of the processing liquid through the communication path is blocked,
Mixing of different types of processing liquids, especially into the pre-treatment tank, is prevented.
Further, leakage of the cleaning liquid hardly occurs.

In particular, since it is possible to prevent the bleach/fix solution (or bleach solution) from getting mixed into the developer solution in the front tank, there is no deterioration due to contamination of the developer solution, and images with good photographic properties can be obtained. It will be done.

Further, since the tip ends of the first blade and the second blade are in close contact with each other, even if the blades are deformed, the liquid wiping effect and the communication path sealing effect are unlikely to deteriorate.

<Configuration of the Invention> Hereinafter, the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail based on a configuration example shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional side view showing an example of the configuration of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the photosensitive material processing apparatus 1 has at least two adjacent processing tanks 2 and 3, and a partition wall 4 separates the processing tanks 2, 3 from each other.

The photosensitive material S is processed in the processing tank 2 and then in the processing tank 3.
is called post-treatment tank 3.

The pre-treatment tank 2 and the post-treatment tank 3 contain treatment liquids 20 and 30 having different compositions, respectively. In this case, the combinations of processing solutions 20.30 include developer and bleach/fix solution, developer and bleach solution, developer and fixer, bleach/fix solution,
fixing solution and washing water, bleaching solution and fixing solution, fixing solution and washing water, washing water and stabilizer, first developer and washing water, washing water and reversal solution,
Examples include reversal solution and color developer, developer and stop solution, stop solution and bleach solution, stop solution and bleach/fix solution, stop solution and fix solution, etc. Among them, developer solution, bleach/fix solution, and developing solution. In order to effectively exhibit the deterioration prevention effect of the processing solution, it is preferable to apply it to a combination of a developer such as a bleaching solution and a processing solution with a bleaching function, or a combination of a reversal solution and a color developer. .

Therefore, hereinafter, the processing liquid 20 will be representatively described as the developer 20 and the processing liquid 30 as the bleaching/fixing liquid 30.

Note that the formulation of the treatment liquid 20.30 is not particularly limited.

Pre-processing tank (developing tank) 2 and post-processing tank (bleaching/fixing tank)
3 includes a conveying means 5 for conveying the photosensitive material S along a predetermined path.
is installed.

This conveying means 5 includes rollers 5 that pinch and convey the photosensitive material S.
1, and a guide 52 arranged along the transport path of the photosensitive material S and guiding the photosensitive material S between rollers 51 and 51 at the tip thereof and to a communication path 7 to be described later.

Note that each roller 51 is rotated in the direction of an arrow in FIG. 1 by a drive system (not shown), and conveys the photosensitive material S.

Further, the guide 52 may be of a rail shape into which both end portions of the photosensitive material S are respectively inserted.

A lid 6 is installed at the upper openings of the pre-treatment tank 2 and the post-treatment tank 3 to cover them. As a result, the developer 20
Also, evaporation and scattering of the bleaching/fixing solution 30 can be prevented.

The partition wall 4 has an upper space 2 of the pre-treatment tank 2 and the post-treatment tank 3.
1. A communication path 7 is formed that communicates between 1.31 and 31 meters.
This communication path 7 is one through which the photosensitive material S passes, and has a width as narrow as possible (for example, a radius of about 5 to 30 mm).
It has an elongated shape in the width direction of the photosensitive material S.

In the present invention, the photosensitive material S does not move over the upper end of the partition wall 4 to the post-processing tank 3, but moves to the post-processing tank 3 via the communication path 7 formed in the partition wall 4. The crossover length, that is, the transport path length from when the photosensitive material S is pulled up from the developer 20 until it is immersed in the bleach/fix solution 30 is short (thereby, the crossover time is shortened).

This communication path 7 is preferably formed at a position higher than the liquid level of either the developer 20 or the bleach/fixer 30. As a result, the photosensitive material S passes through the communication path 7 in the air, and the effect of wiping off the processing liquid and the sealing effect of the communication path 7, which will be described later, are enhanced.

In this case, the height difference between the liquid level (standard liquid level) of the higher level of the developer 20 and the bleach/fixer 30 and the passage position of the photosensitive material S in the communication path 7 is 5 to 25 mm.
It is preferable to set the thickness to about 10 to 15 mm.
If the height difference between these is less than 5II1m, the processing liquid is 20.30m.
This is because the cross-over length tends to flow into the communication path 7, and if it exceeds 25 mm, the crossover length cannot be shortened sufficiently.

A pair of first blades 8 are installed near the input lower 1 of the communication path 7 for the photosensitive material S so as to block the upper lower 1.

The first blade 8 is composed of a flange portion 81 which does not substantially deform, and a thin portion 82 whose thickness gradually decreases toward the tip and which can be easily deformed by the entrance of the photosensitive material S.

At the flange portion 81 of the first blade 8,
For example, they are attached to both opposing edges of the lower entrance 1 of the communication passage 7 by fixing devices (not shown) such as bolts.

On the other hand, a pair of second blades 9 are installed near the output lower 2 of the photosensitive material S in the communication path 7 so as to block the output lower 2.

This second blade 9 is also composed of a flange portion 91 and a thin-walled portion 82 as described above, and the flange portion 91 is fixed to the opposite side of the inside of the communication path 7 by a fixing device (not shown) similar to that described above. attached to each surface.

A communication path 7 between the first blade 8 and the second blade 9 is filled with a cleaning liquid 10. This cleaning liquid 10 has a cleaning function, that is, it can wash, remove, or deactivate the developer component, which is the processing solution component of the pretreatment tank 2, from the surface of the photosensitive material S and the emulsion layer. It is.

The cleaning liquid 10 may be water such as tap water, distilled water, or ion-exchanged water, but it is preferably a liquid whose pH has been adjusted to 4 or less, particularly about pH 0.2 to 3.5, by adding an acid.

Specifically, it contains one or more of various inorganic acids or organic acids such as sulfuric acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid, butyric acid, oxalic acid, citric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfamic acid, benzenesulfonic acid, or their salts. Cleaning solution 10
It can be used as Alternatively, various buffer compositions may be used.

As described above, when the cleaning liquid 1o has a pH of 4 or less, there are the following advantages.

First, the developing reagent contained in the emulsion layer of the light-sensitive material S is neutralized, and the developing reagent that has entered the oil is more easily eluted, so defective desilvering and defective color recovery can be more effectively prevented. In addition, the occurrence of staining and bleaching force brittleness is also prevented, and the storage stability of the photosensitive material S after processing is also improved.

Second, since the cleaning efficiency is high, the cleaning time is short (thereby contributing to shortening the crossover time).

Further, a liquid supply port 11 is provided in the lower part of the communication path 7 between the first blade 8 and the second blade 9, and a liquid drain port 12 is provided in the upper part. A new cleaning liquid 1o is replenished through the liquid supply port 11, and exhausted cleaning liquid approximately equal to this replenishment amount is discharged from the liquid drain port 12.

Although the timing of replenishing the cleaning liquid 10 is not particularly limited, it is preferable to replenish the cleaning liquid 10 when or immediately before the photosensitive material S passes through the communication path 7.

The amount of replenishment of the cleaning liquid IO depends on its composition, but in general, the amount of cleaning liquid IO to be replenished is 5 to 10
It is preferably about 0 ml, particularly about 5 to 60 ffij.

Note that the lower the po of the cleaning liquid 10, and the greater the developer wiping effect by the first blade 8, the more the replenishment amount can be reduced. For example, when the pH of the cleaning liquid IO is 1.0 or less, The amount of replenishment can be about 5 to 30 ml per 1 m 2 of photosensitive material passing through.

Further, in the present invention, the installation positions of the liquid supply port 11 and the liquid drain port 12 are not limited to the illustrated example;
1. Both of the drain ports 12 may be installed near the upper part of the communicating lower.

In this way, by installing the first blade 8 and the second blade 9 and putting the cleaning liquid 10 between them, the amount of the developer 20 brought into the bleach/fixer 30 is significantly reduced, and moreover, One of the liquid 20 and the bleaching/fixing liquid 30 is prevented from flying off and mixing into the other through the communication path 7. In particular, if the scattered bleaching/fixing 1 shallow 30 mixes into the developer 2o in the pre-processing tank 2, the developer will be contaminated and deteriorated, causing color development fog, processing unevenness, and poor color gradation balance. However, the present invention eliminates such drawbacks.

The first blade 8 and the second blade 9 are made of various rubbers such as natural rubber, chloroprene rubber, nitrile rubber, butyl rubber, fluororubber, inbrene rubber, butadiene rubber, styrene-butadiene rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, silicone rubber, etc. , elastic materials (elastomers) such as soft polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, ionomer resins, fluororesins, and soft resins such as silicone resins, or a combination of two or more of these.

When the photosensitive material S is not passing through the first blade 8 and the second blade 9, the tips of their thin parts 82 and 92 are in close contact with each other, and the communication path 7 is blocked.

When the photosensitive material S passes through, the photosensitive material S enters between the thin portions 82 and 92 of the first blade 8 and the second blade 9, and the thin portions 82 and 92 that are in close contact with each other pass through the photosensitive material S. It can be expanded by the thickness of . In this state, the photosensitive material S advances in the direction of the arrow in the figure and passes through the communication path 7 while its both surfaces are in contact with the inner surfaces of the thin-walled portions 82 and 92.

At this time, the first blade 8 first wipes off the developer from the surface (emulsion surface and back surface) of the photosensitive material S. Note that the developer wiped off from the surface of the photosensitive material S flows along the thin portion 82 of the first blade 8 on the lower side and is returned to the pretreatment tank 2 .

Next, the photosensitive material S is brought into contact with the cleaning liquid lO, and the first
The developer components present in the emulsion layer that could not be removed by the blade 8 are washed and removed.

In this case, the contact time of the photosensitive material S with the cleaning liquid 10 depends on the composition and pH of the cleaning liquid 10, but
．． It is preferable to set it as about 2 to 10 seconds, and especially when the pH of the cleaning liquid 10 is 4 or less, a sufficient effect can be obtained even with about 0.2 to 4 seconds.

Next, the second blade 9 wipes the cleaning liquid 10 off the surface of the photosensitive material S.

After the photosensitive material S passes through the communication path 7, the first blade 8
Then, the second blade 9 returns to its original state, and the thin parts thereof come into close contact with each other, thereby blocking the communication path 7 again.

The contact pressure between the thin parts 82 of the first blade 8 is 0,
01~0, 1 kg/cm'', especially 0.02~
It is preferable to set it to about 0.05 kg/cm", and the second
The contact pressure between the thin parts 92 of the blade 9 is 0.001
~O.1kg/cm'', especially 0.005~0.05
It is preferable to set it to about kg/c+a”. In this case,
It is preferable that the contact surface pressure between the thin wall portions 82 of the first blade 8 is set to a larger value than the contact surface pressure between the thin wall portions 92 of the second blade 9.

Further, the length of the contact surface of the inner thin wall portion 82 in the photosensitive material traveling direction when the photosensitive material S does not pass through is 0.5+ to 10 m.
It is preferable to set it to about m, especially about 1 to 5 m111,
The length of the thin portions 92 in the direction in which the photosensitive material advances is 0.5 to
It is preferably about 20 mm, particularly about 1 to 10 mm.

Thin portion 82 of the first blade 8 relative to the surface of the photosensitive material S
The average inclination angle is about 30 to 60 degrees, especially 40 to 55 degrees.
The average inclination angle of the thin part 92 of the second blade 9 with respect to the surface of the photosensitive material S is preferably about 30 to 6.
It is preferably about 60°, particularly about 40 to 551 degrees.

By setting the contact surface pressure, the contact surface length, and the average inclination angle as described above, the wiping effect of the developer 20 and the sealing effect of the communication path 7 become higher. In particular, even if deformation (for example, wave-like deformation) occurs in the thin portions 82 and 92, the wiping effect of the developer 20 and the sealing effect of the communication path 7 are maintained.

Note that, normally, the adhesion force between the thin-walled portions 82 and 92 is provided by the elastic force of the thin-walled portions, but if a magnetic material is mixed in the thin-walled portions 82 and 92, for example, a rubber magnet, etc. ), it is also possible to create or increase adhesion by attracting thin-walled parts to each other.

Furthermore, even if the light-sensitive material S slides on the thin-walled portions 82, 92, there will hardly be any adverse effects such as scratches on the emulsion surface, but if this cannot be ignored, or if the sliding resistance is to be reduced, This may be dealt with by performing a surface treatment such as smoothing the inner surface of the thin wall portion 82, 92 or coating the inner surface with a lubricant such as silicone or Teflon.

If the first blade 8 and the second blade 9 become dirty or deteriorated, they can be easily cleaned or replaced by attaching and detaching the fixture.

In the illustrated configuration example, for the communication path 7.

Although the configuration is such that a pair of first blades 8 and a pair of second blades 9 are installed, in the present invention, two or more pairs of first blades 8 and/or The second blades 9 can also be installed in multiple stages.

In this case, the effect of wiping off the developer 20, the sealing effect of the communication path 7, and especially the effect of preventing leakage of the cleaning liquid 10 are enhanced.

It is also considered that a cleaning tank filled with a similar cleaning liquid is provided between the pre-processing tank 2 and the post-processing tank 3, and the photosensitive material S is passed through the pre-processing tank 2, the cleaning tank, and the post-processing tank 3 in this order. In this case, the same cleaning effect as in the present invention can be obtained for the photosensitive material S. However, providing a separate cleaning chamber in this way increases the processing time due to the passage through the bath, which is not the object of the present invention. It's outside.

That is, in the present invention, the cleaning process can be carried out in the communication path 7 formed in the partition wall 4 between adjacent processing tanks 2.3, and the time required for this is short, so that the crossover time can be shortened. It is characterized by what it can do.

In the present invention, the type of photosensitive material S to be processed is not particularly limited, and examples include color negative film, color reversal film, color photographic paper, color positive film, color reversal photographic paper, photosensitive material for plate making, and X1il photosensitive material. , black-and-white negative film, black-and-white photographic paper, and microphotosensitive materials.

Further, the form of the photosensitive material S is not particularly limited, and may be sheet-like,
It may be in the form of a long strip.

Further, the present invention can be applied to, for example, an automatic developing machine, a wet type copying machine,
It can be applied to various photosensitive material processing devices such as printer processors, video printer processors, coin machines for making photo prints, and color paper processing machines for plate inspection.

<Example> Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described.

(Comparative example) Anal plate fork 1 A vapor processor PP 1040 model for Champion 23 manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. was used.

The cross-over time of the photosensitive material between the developing tank and the bleach-fixing tank in this processing apparatus is 15 seconds.

4 Riyu 1 The treatment liquid formulation and treatment steps shown in Example 1 of JP-A No. 63-70857 were followed.

A photosensitive material shown in Example 1 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-70857 was used.

The above-mentioned photosensitive material (E size), which had been exposed to a predetermined image with one light, was type-processed in the above-mentioned processing apparatus at a rate of 10,000 sheets per day, and this process was carried out for 5 consecutive days.

(Examples 1 to 4 of the present invention) Shika Pressure 11 A vapor processor PP1040 type for Champion 23 manufactured by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. was used and modified to create a structure between the developer tank and the bleach-fix tank as shown in Fig. 1. And so.

In addition, the crossover time of the photosensitive material between the developing tank and the bleach-fixing tank in this processing apparatus is 15 seconds, and the contact time with the cleaning liquid is 3 seconds as shown in Table 2 below.
seconds and 8 seconds.

Further, the conditions for the first blade and the second blade are as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 The occurrence of stains on the emulsion surface was investigated after storage for 1 day.

These results are shown in Table 2 below.

The symbols in Table 2 are as follows.

0: Not generated at all ○: Rarely generated Δ: Slightly generated ×: Considerably generated The composition, pH, and amount of replenishment of the cleaning solution were varied as shown in Table 2 below. did.

Regarding processing steps, photosensitive materials, and processing methods, please refer to
It was the same as the comparative example.

Experimental Results> The photosensitive materials after processing were examined for defects in desilvering, defects in recoloring, and occurrence of bleaching edge blur.

In addition, in order to examine the storage stability, the photosensitive materials after processing were tested in an environment with a temperature of 60°C and a humidity of 80% RH. There was no occurrence of color defects or bleaching blade blur, and in particular, in Examples 3 to 5 of the present invention in which the pH of the cleaning solution was 4 or less, there was no occurrence of these at all despite the short cleaning time. It also has excellent storage stability (occurrence of stains).

Furthermore, in Examples 1 to 5 of the present invention, there was no contamination of the developer (color development fog, processing unevenness, and poor color gradation balance did not occur).

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention, the cross-over time when the photosensitive material moves between adjacent processing tanks is shortened, and moreover, the cross-over time when the photosensitive material moves between adjacent processing tanks is shortened, and moreover, It is possible to prevent the processing liquid from being brought into the next tank and from being mixed into different processing liquids between adjacent processing tanks due to scattering, splashing, etc. of the processing liquid.

Therefore, processing time can be shortened, and images with good photographic properties can be obtained by preventing deterioration of the processing solution due to contamination and reducing the amount of residual developer components in the emulsion layer.

Furthermore, the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention can exhibit the above effects with a simple structure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional side view showing an example of the configuration of a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. Explanation of symbols 1...Photosensitive material processing device 2...Pre-treatment tank 20...Processing solution (developer) 21...Upper space 3...Post-processing tank 30...Processing solution (bleaching/developer) Fixer) 31... Upper space 4... Partition wall 5... Conveying means 51... Roller 52... Guide 6... Lid body 7... Communication path 71... Inlet a 2. ...Outlet 8...First blade 9...Second blade 81.91...Flange portion 82.92...Thin wall portion 10...Cleaning liquid 11...Liquid supply port 12... Drain port S...photosensitive material

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) It has two adjacent processing tanks filled with different processing solutions, and means for conveying the photosensitive material installed in these processing tanks, and the photosensitive material is placed on the partition wall between the two processing tanks. A communicating passage is formed, and at least one pair of first blades are installed on the photosensitive material inlet side of the communicating passage, and at least one pair of second blades are installed on the photosensitive material outlet side of the communicating passage, and the first blade and the second blade are disposed on the photosensitive material outlet side of the communicating passage. A photosensitive material processing device characterized in that a liquid having a cleaning function is inserted between the blade and the blade. (2) Among the processing tanks, one is a processing tank containing a developing solution, and the other is a processing tank containing a processing solution having a bleaching function, and the solution having a cleaning function has a pH of 4 or less. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive material processing apparatus is a liquid. (3) Claim 1, wherein the communicating path is formed at a position higher than the liquid level of either of the processing liquids in both processing tanks.
or 2. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to 2.