Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a device for opening the
filmrinsertion slot of a slide frame.
~escription of the prior art
The slide frame for which the opening device of the
invention is intended is o e the type particularly described in
Applicants' Canadian patent No. 1,245,891 issued 6 December 1988 and
its U.S. counterpart No. 4,607,442 issued 26 August 1986. It is a
three-layered frame, constructed like an envelope, having a through
aperture at the center for allowing viewing of a film picture and
being formed with the grooves along three sides of the aperture into
which three corresponding edges of the film are slid. The fourth side
of the top layer of the frame and portions of the two sides adjacent
the fourth side form a U-shaped insertion slot. This slot thus
defines, in the top layer of the frame, a border strip along the
fourth side and a flap parallel to and located inwardly of the border
strip. Opening of the slot of the envelope is obtained by lifting the
flap and this is done by means of a~ially retractable pins extendable
through holes formed on either side of the central viewing aperture
across the other two layers of the frame. Such retractable pins
mechanism is provided however only on the more expensive slide-frame
making machines intended for large scale production. The slide frame
described above is not suited, for that reason, for slot opening
thereof by smaller machines such as those identified by the trademarks
PAKON AM501 and AM301 and NURITSU MO~-l which do not have such an
expensive retractable pin mechanism.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an
improved slot opening device, as a replacement part on the above
mentioned machines or like machines not provided with a slidable pin
mechanism, which device is particularly adapted for opening the
insertion slot of the slide frame described in Applicant's prior
patents mentioned above.
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1 3 ~
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More specifically, the object of the present invention lies
in the provision of such a device which comprises:
- a film-guiding member having an elongated passage for
transversally guiding a film and an insertion-slot opening portion
located forwardly of the passage, and
- a slot-opening combination, on the slot-opening portion,
including a downwardly inclined border-strip ramp leading toward the
bottom of the film passage and an upwardly inclined flap ramp leading
toward the top of the film passage, the border-strip ramp being
located forwardly of the flap ramp with respect to the passage;
- the device being so constructed that, as a slide frame is
displaced linearly edgewi æ with respect to said film-guiding member
and in the direction of the film passage, its border strip is bent
down as it slides along said border-strip ramp and its flap is bent up
as it slides along said flap ramp thereby opening the insertion slot
of the slide frame.
In another preferred embodiment, the device further
conprises a flap bead on the film-guiding member, the flap bead having
a bottom surface formed with a channel defining the film-guiding
passage, the flap bead further having a top surface parallel with the
film passage, the top surface merging, at one end, with the top end of
the flap ramp.
This slot-opening combination may comprise a pin projecting
from the lower end of the flap ramp in a direction parallel to and
away from the passage, the pin having a bevelled edge at the free end
thereof defining the border-strip ramp and having a bottom face
parallel to the filmrguiding passage.
The slot-opening combination may further comprise a wedge
member having an upwardly inclined surface definig the flap ramp and a
lower surface parallel with the film passage.
A better understanding of the invention will be afforded
from the non restrictive description that follows of two preferred
embodiments, having reference to the appended drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF T~E DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a NU~ITSU slide-making
machine;
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~ Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the insertion-slot opening
portion of the machine shown in Fig. l;
Figs. 3 and 4 are, respectively, a side and a front
elevation view of an insertion-slot opening device according to a
first e~bodiment of the invention, for use in the machine shown in
Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 5 is a rear elevation view of the device of Figs. 3 and
4 shown secured of a slide-frame feeding table;
Figs. 6, 7, 8 and 9 are perspective views of the device of
Figs. 3 to 5, showing it in four successive steps of a slot opening
operation;
Fig. lO is a cross-sectional view in a plane along lines X-X
of Fig. 9;
Fig. ll is a side elevation view of an insertion-slot
opening device according to a second embodiment of the invention, a
tablesupport of a PAKON machine being shown in broken lines;
Fig. 12 is a front elevation view of the device of Fig. 11;
Figs. 13, 14, 15 and 16 are perspective views of the device
of Figs. 11 or 12J showing it in four successive steps of a
slot-opening operation; and
Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view along line XVII-XVII of
Fig. 16.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In machines of the NURITSU type, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2~
the slide fra~es 1 are stacked along an arbor 3 extending through the
frame apertures 5 or viewing windows. The stack rests on a table 7
and the frames are pushed by a reciprocating lever 8 successively over
a square hole 9 (Fig. 2) through the table, the hole having the same
dimensions as those of the apertures 5 of the frames. Once in position
over the hole 9, a band 11 of films is m~ved through a film passage 13
across a plate 15, fixed to the table 7, until one film 17 is
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partially inserted into the frame 1. This film 17 is then cut off from
the band 11 by a pivoting knife 19 and thereafter drawn fully into the
frame 1 by grippers of a not-shown device acting through the table
aperture 9. After complete insertion of the film, the slide is pushed
into an attending receptacle 21.
The plate 15 is removable and is that part of the machine
which is to be replaced by a filmrinsertion slot-opening device made
according to the teaching of the present invention.
Referring to Figs. 3 through 9, the slide frame 1 for which
the insertion slot-opening device of the invention is adapted is of
the type disclosed in Applicants' Canadian and U.S. patents mentioned
above. As said beforeS it is a three-layered plastic frame constructed
sonewhat like an enveiope having a through central viewing window or
aperture 5 and being formed with grooves along three sides into which
the edges of the film 17 are slid. The fourth side of the top layer
only and portions of the two sides adjacent to it form a U-shaped
insertion slot 23, as clearly shown. This slot thus defines, in the
top layer of the frame, a border strip 25 along the fourth side and a
flat 27, parallel to and located to inwardly of the border strip. The
outer edge 2~ of the flap 27 stands inwardly of the outer edge 31 of
the border strip 25 a predetermined distance a to which reference is
made hereinafter.
As e~plained in Applicants' prior patents mentioneed above,
opening of the insertion slot 23 is obtained by lifting the flap 27
and this is done by means of axially retractable pins extendable
through holes (not shown) formed across the bottom and central layers
of the frame 1 and located on either side of the central viewing
aperture 5. For use on a smaller and less expansive slide-making
~achines, the invention proposes an insertion-slot opening device 33
shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5.
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Device 33 comprises a film-guiding plate 35 having an
elongated film passage 37 and an insertion-slot opening portion 39
located forwardly of the passage. Plate 35 is fixed to the table 7 of
the machine by bolts 36. The device 33 further comprises, on its plate
portion 39, a slot-op~ning combination made up of a downwardly
inclined border-strip ramp 41 leading toward the bottom of the film
passage 27 and an upwardly inclined flap ramp 23 leading toward the
top of the film passage; the ramp 41 being located forwardly of the
ramp 43 with respect to the passage.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, when a
slide frame 1 is displaced linearly edgewise with respect to the plate
35 and in the direction of the film pssage, its border strip 25 is
first bent down as it slides along the ramp 41 and then its flap 27 is
bent up as it slides along the ramp 43 thus allowing the insertion
slot 23 to open, as a study of Figs. 6 to 9 renewals.
In this embodiment, the plate 35 has a thick upper section
45 and a thin lower section 47, the two being separated, in the plate
portion 39, by an inclined shoulder which acts as the ramp 41. The
flap ramp 43 is constituted, on the other hand, by a straight tongue
which projects outwardly perpendicular of the thick upper section 41.
As clearly illustrated in Fig. 3, the ramps 41, 43 cut across the
longitudinal axis 49 of the film passage 37 and the ramp 43 terrninates
short of the ramp 41.
To guide the border strip 25 and flap 27 during opening
operations of the insertion slot 23 and to keep the latter open, the
plate 35 is provided with a straight elongated bead 51 projecting
outwardly perpendicularly of the plate upper section 45 along the top
edge of the film passage 37 and merging with the upper end of the flap
ramp 43. Another similar elongated bead 53 extends along the lower
edge of the passage 43, merging with the strip ramp 41.
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Referring now to Figs. 5 to 10, the slide frame l is slid
flatly over the table 7 of which tne top surface 59 is slightly lower
than the longitudinal axis 49 of the film passage 37 (Figs. 5 and 10).
It slopes down, at 55, toward the plate section 47 to terminate, away
S from the lower bead 53, a distance at least equal to the thickness of
the slide frame 1. The other end of the table turns up and back over
itself to form groove 57 for guiding the slide frame during its
displacement.
Pushed by the lever 8 (Fig. 2), the slide frame 1 first hits
the ramp 41 at about mid-height (Figs. 3 and 6). From then on, the
border strip 25 bents down toward the slope 55 (Figs. 5 and 7) while
the flap 27 remains horizontal until it reaches the ramp 43 at which
time, because the ramp 43 reaches pst the longitudinal axis 49 (Fig.
3), the ramp 43 forces the flap up as shown in Fig. 8. Further
leftward movement of the slide frame causes the border strip 25 and
the flap 27 to ride on the beads 43, 51, respectively (Fig. 9).
~eferring to Figs. 5 and 10, the beads project from their respective
plate section 43, 45 distances that are selected in relation to the
aforesaid distance a (Fig. 6). Distances are such as to ensure that
the border strip 25 and flap 27 rest safety on them to hold te
insertion slot 23 open to allow insertion of a film into the slide
frame. After the frame has moved away from the film passage 37, the
border strip 25 and flap 27 spring back to their original coplanar
positions under the resiliency of the plastic material of which the
frame is made.
During the opening operation, the frame is held flat on the
table 7 due to the insertion of its rightward edge in the groove 57
(Figs. 5 and 10).
In a second embodiment shown Figs. 11 to 16, the
filmrguiding member, to be mounted on a PAKON type machine, has the
general shape of a elongated square block 61 having a lengthwise
groove 63 along îts lower edge; the groove defining a bead 65 formed
with a channel 67 on its bottom face and with a top surface 69
131~2~
parallel with the channel 67, surface 69 merging with a border-strip
ramp 71, at one end. The filmrguiding member 61 is adapted to
cooperate with a table support 73, of the known machine, intended to
hold the table 7 (which is the same as in the first embodiment) along
one of its lateral edges, the other edge of the table being held by a
channel member 75 fixed to it by bolts 77 and having an upper flange
79 defining a groove receiving the said other table edge, as shown in
Fig. 17. The table support 73 is formed with an upper bead 81 and a
lower bead 83 between which the table 7 is held.
As in the former NURITSU machine, a space is provided
between the upper bead 81 and the lower end of the table slope 55
(Fig. 17) for the slidable guiding and holding of the down-bent border
strip 25.
The upper bead 81 is formed with a top channel 85 facing and
fully registering with the channel 67 so that the two define together
a filmrguiding passage 87.
Solid with the flap bead 65, at its forward end, is a
wedge-shaped member 93 of which the inclined upper face defines the
ramp 71 for the flap 27. Projecting forwardly away from the lower end
of the ramp 71 is a pin 95 having a bevelled edge at its free end
which defines a border-strip ramp 97; the latter with the ramp 71
constituting a slot-opening combination. The pin 95 has a lower face
97 which is coplanar and which merges with the lower face 99 of the
support bead 81. On the other hand, the lower face 101 of the wedge 93
stands slightly above the face 99 of the pin 95. This is to ensure
that the tip of the wedge does not butt against the edge 103 of the
border strip 25 when the slide frame 1 moves toward the pin 95.
As can be seen from Figs. 14 to 16, the slot-openin~
combination 97-71 works in the same manner as the like combination
41-43 of the first embodiment of Figs. 3 to 9. The border strip 25 is
first drawn down by the pin ramp 97 and the flap 27 thereafter drawn
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wedge ramp 71; the two thereafter riding on their respective bead 81,
6g. It is also of course necessary, as best appreciated from Fig. 17,
that the horizontal distance between the tips of the beads 65 and 81
be at least large as the distance a between the outer edges 29, 31, of
the flap 27 and border 25 in order that the latter rest safely against
their respective beads.
Referring again to Fig. 17, the block 7 is fixed to one end
of a lever arm 105 by bolts 107, the other other end being mounted on
a mechanism (not shown) on the PAKON ~achine which is adapted to lift
or lower it and in turn lift and lower it and in turn lift and lower
the block 61 so that the size of the slot 87 may be adjusted and the
wedge 93 and pin 95 properly located with respect to the slide frame
1.
