Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to the field of cart-
ridges for containing rolls of photosensitive material.
Rectangular cartridges for containing rolls of photo-
sensitive material have been employed for many years. Such
cartridges include an exit orifice positioned between a pair
of perpendicular side walls, such exit orifice also including
light seal means, such as a strip of felt material, for pre-
venting light from entering the cartridge and fogging film
contained therein.
In view of cost factors, it is often desirable to
manufacture the cartridges out of cardboard as they are thrown
away after the roll of photosensitive material is used up.
After the roll of photosensitive material is inserted within
the opened cardboard cartridges, the walls adjacent the above-
mentioned exit orifice are folded together in order to close
the light seal within the exit orifice. Since the widths
between the wall members are substantially equal to the dia-
meter of the roll of photosensitive material, there is little
room within the cartridge in the neighborhood of the exi~
orifice to add structure for reinforcing or stiffening the
terminal wall portions adjacent the exit orifice. This stiffen-
ing is often desirable in order to strengthen the overall
light seal-exit orifice structure. In accordance with the
present invention, a substantially skewed side wall is provided
which, unlike the conventional rectangular arrangement,
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provides for sufficient empty space within the cartridge to
accommodate such reinforcing means.
With the cartridge orientation of the invention,
the skewed side wall arrangement permits the roll to be inserted
from the top after the elongated top wall adjacent the skewed
side wall is opened. Unlike the prior art cartridge, the
light seal-exit orifice structure at the top portion of the
skewed side wall is displaced further away from the central
core portion due to wall skewing, so that the roll may be
readily dropped in from the top during assembly in the dark
without having the light seal structure get in the way of the
roll. In other words, the cartridge of the present invention
may be loaded merely by opening the one elongated wall to
provide top, or for that matter, side loading, dependlng
upon the location of such ~longated wall. In the rectangular
cartridge of the prior art, this is not possible because the `
ligh~ seal-exit orifice structure would get in the way of
the roll, unless both walls adjacent the light seal structure
are opened. Thus, assembly is considerably simplified. -
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In accordance with preferred embodiments of the pre-
sent invention, the above-mentioned benefits and advantages are
obtained by providing a generally rectangular cartridge having
a substantially skewed side wall adjacent the exit orifice means
of the cartridge. An inexpensive and reliable end of roll detect-
or, employing a movable roller for tripping a microswitch, is
additionally employed.
More specifically, the invention relates to the com-
bination of
a. a cylindrical roll of photosensitive material hav-
ing a predetermined length and diameter before the commencement
of consumption thereof;
b. a cartridge containing said roll having first,
second, and third walls being substantially perpendicular to each
other;
b-l. a fourth skewed wall portion extending along the
length of said roll and configured to form an obtuse angle of
greater than 90 at the intersection of said first and fourth
wall portions at a first cartridge portion thereof, and con-
figured to form an angle of less than 90 at the intersectionof said third and fourth wall portion at a second cartridge por-
- tion thereof, the distance between central portions of said first
and third wall portions and the distance between central por-
tions of said second and fourth wall portions both being slightly
greater than said predetermined diameter of said roll of photo-
sensitive material; and
c. exit orifice means positioned at said second
cartridge portion, the width of said first wall portion being
substantially less than said predetermined diameter of said roll
and the width of said third wall portion being substantially
greater than said predetermined diameter of said roll.
In the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the cart-
ridge of the present invention;
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Fig. 2 illustrates a cartridge lip reinforcing struc-
ture which may be employed in conjunction with the present in-
vention;
Fig. 3 illustrates the placement of two skewed cart-
ridges together during shipment; and
Fig. 4 illustrates peripheral equipment including an
end of roll detector in conjunction with the cartridge of the
present invention.
In Fig. 1, a cylindrical roll 1 of photosensitive mat-
erial is positioned within generally rectangular cartridge 2. A
substantially skewed side wall member 3 is provided, having a -
terminal portion 4 which is parallel to a terminal portion 6 of
side wall 7, the latter having a width substantially greater
than the diameter of the roll of film, in contrast with all side
walls have equal widths slightly longer than the diameter of the
roll in accordance with the prior art. Cartridge 1 is prefer-
ably made of cardboard in view of the desirability of cost sav-
ings and is typically assemblied by folding. Portions 4 and 6
of the cartridge comprise exit orifice means which in turn in-
cludes light seal means such as an elongated strip of felt 8
which may be glued or otherwise fastened to terminal portion 4
of skewed side wall 3. Before insertion of the roll of photo-
sensitive material, only elongated wall 7 need be bent open dur-
ing assembly. A roll of material is dropped into the cartridge ,
and wall 7 is closed.
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After this is accomplished, wall 3 is still substantially
skewed with respect to the overall geometry of the cartridge, .
in contrast with the prior art, so that an additional benefit
is obtained because an empty space 12 results in this novel
arrangement. This empty space is large enough to be able to
readily accommodate the exit orifice reinforcing structure or
Stiffener illustrated in FIG. 2. Unlike the arrangement
illustrated in FIG. 1, the terminal portion of skewed side
wall 3 is bent back on itself as illustrated to produce wall
portions 14 and 16. Portion 16 may be glued, stapled, or
otherwise fastened to wall portion 3 by adhesive 17. As in
F~G. 1, the light seal strip 8 is glued or otherwise fastened
to the terminal portion 4 of side wall 3 or if desired, to
terminal portion 6 of upper wall 7. It should now be appreciated
that the use of the novel skewed side wall member, unlike the
prior art, provides additional empty space 12 for accommodating
the FIG. 2 structure. Furthermore, the lateral displacement
of the light seal away from the central roll portion, due to
the skewed side wall, permits loading by bending open only
the elongated wall portion adjacent the skewed side wall portionto provide for ease of assembly of the roll and cartridge. More
specifically, with the orientation shown in FIG. 1, only the
top wall 7 need be bent open to permit the roll to be readily
dropped into the cartridge. In the absence of the skewed side
wall, the light seal 8 would block insertion of the roll unless
both walls 3 and 7 are simultaneously opened which is more
cumbersome and time consuming during manufacturing.
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It is somewhat surprising that providing the skewed
cartridges of the present invention does not result in the
need for greater shipping space. This fact may be appreciated
by examining FIG. 3 which shows two cartridges having their
skewed sides positioned adjacent one another in complimentary
fashion. The empty space portion 19 at the lower right-
hand section of the cartridge illustrated in FIG. 1 is less
than the corresponding empty space portion of the prior art,
which in turn enables the upper empty space portion 12 to be
made larger to accommodate the reinforcing structure described
above in conjunction with FIG. 2. Yet the total volume of -
the cartridge of the invention need not be greater than the
cartridge of the prior art.
FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred film handling device
which operates in conjunction with the above-mentioned novel
cartridge, Cartridge 2 is positioned so that substantially
skewed side wall member 3 faces in an upward direction in a
machine which consumes the photosensitive material such-as a
phototypesetter. An elongated pivotable arm 24 pivots about
pin 26 so that the arm 24 may assume the positian shown in
dotted lines 24' when the cartridge is inserted into the machine.
The arm is thereafter lowered to the position shown, and the
leader 27 is wrapped about a roller 28 positioned between the
front arm 24 and a similar back arm (omitted for the sake of
clarity) which may be positioned adjacent the opposite end of
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the cartridge. Roller means 28 p~eferably extends across the
length of the cartridge and is rotatably supported between
the pivotable arms. A single arm may be sufficient however.
It is preferred that the roller means 28 be mechanically biased
upwardly and to the left by spring means 31 which is affixed
to frame portions 30, and coupled about the roller shaft at
30' so that the roller assumes a position away from movable
armature 32 of microswitch 33 before the leader is wrapped
about roller 28. When leader 27 is wrapped about roller 28
10 and engaged by roller transport means 34 associated with
exposure platen 36 of the phototypesetter, roller transport
means 28 will be pushed in a direction downwardly and to the
right against the action of spring means 31. This in turn
causes the roller means to push against armature 32 thereby
to close microswitch 33. The microswitch is coupled to an
end of roll detector 37, such as a relay-pilot light combination,
which becomes actuated when the roll is exhausted.
When this occurs, film is no longer present in the
exit orifice, and roller 28 is no longer pushed by the film
20 tension downwardly and to the right, and spring means 31 pulls
the roller 28 upwardly and to the lift to open microswitch 33,
which in turn actuates the end of roll detector to inform the
operator that it is now necessary to replace the cartridge Arm
24 is pivoted to the position indicated at 24' at this time, and
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the cartridge is removed and thrown away. In alternate con-
figurations, it is believed feasible to eliminate spring 31
and utilize the weight of the roller means as the mechanical
biasing means where the film is oriented to support the roller
against gravity.
While preferred embodiments of the invention have
been described above, numerous other embodiments will be readily
apparent to those skilled in the art, and it is intended that
the scope of the invention be limited only by a fair reading
of the claims.
The term "film" is intended to include any photosen-
sitive material.
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