Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PHOTOGRAPHIC FILM STAMPING DEVICE
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a photographic film stamping device for stamping out
S an end portion of a photographic film strip to a given shape.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, in order to carry an exposed film through an automatic film
processing apparatus for processing, the utili7~tion is made of a flexible leader sheet
10 with the exposed film strip attached at its one end. It is general to attach the film strip
to the film leader sheet by means of various types of splice tape. The utilization of
splice tape does not always provide reliable splice of the leader sheet and the film strip
and, in addition, since the splice tape is not reusable as well as expensive, it is not
economical to splice the leader sheet and the film strip by a splice tape.
In order to elimin~te these problems, there has been proposed by the applicant
of this invention a leader sheet of a type having retainer projections with which one
end of a film strip is detachably engaged. Film strips used in company with a leader
sheet of this type must have coupling holes engageable with the retainer projections.
For preventing the film strip from inclining with respect to the leader sheet, the film
20 strip must have at least two coupling holes and is formed in accurate positions with
respect to the retainer projections of the leader sheet.
In recent years, a new photographic printing system, which is called an
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advanced photographic system, has been developed. In this advanced photographic
system, a film cartridge is equipped with a rotary spool having a pair of retainer
projections to which the film spool is attached and rotation of which causes movement
of the film strip our of and into the film cartridge. Before and after printing, a
5 processed film strip is pulled out of and pushed into the film cartridge by means of
rotation of the spool. For use of a film strip in company with the film cartridge, the
film strip is requiired to have a tapered tongue at an end for convenience of insertion
of the film strip into the film cartridge through an egress/ingress slot as well as
coupling holes itl precise positions at the trailing end of the film strip for reliable
10 attachment. When the film strip is withdrawn out of the film cartridge before
developing or printing, the film strip is apt to be scratched on surfaces if the surfaces
are brought into contact with an interior surface of the film cartridge shell. Japanese
Unex~min~l Patent Publication No. 2 - 272539 teaches a film cartridge which
prevents the film strip from being scratched and provides easy withdrawal of the film
15 strip. This film cartridge has a spool having a flange formed with an annular
peripheral lip at e ach end thereof for controlling expansion in diameter of a roll of the
film strip on the spool with the effect of preventing the film strip from being brought
into contact with the interior surface of the film cartridge shell. Further, for easy
withdrawal of the film strip, the film cartridge is provided with a separator guide
20 therein engageable with the film strip at its tongue formed with a side notch.
Specifically, during rotation of the spool in a direction for withdrawal of the film
strip, the film strip, in particular the tongue formed with a side notch, is brought into
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engagement between the side notch and the annular peripheral lip and is separated
from the major portion of the film roll. With advancement of the withdrawal of the
film strip, the leader of the film strip is guided by the separator guide and certainly
directed to the film egress/ingress slot of the film cartridge.
If a processed film strip has its tongue torn from the side notch and damaged,
it is hard to bring the tongue of the film strip into engagement between the side notch
and the ~nnul~r peripheral lip, which is always undesirable for the film strip to be
smoothly and easily withdrawn from the film cartridge. For this reason, such a film
strip must be reshaped so as to have a flawless tapered end of the tongue and a
faultless side notch. It is also necessitated for the trailing portion of a film strip to be
reshaped so as to have a flawless end and faultless coupling holes.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a photographic film punchingdevice for creating a given shape in an end portion of a photographic film strip or
reshaping an end portion of a photographic film strip to an originally given shape.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a stamping device for
stamping out and creating a given shape of end portion of a film strip or reshaping an
end portion of a film strip to an originally given shape.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a film stamping device for
stamping out an end of a film strip, which device comprises:
a base;
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an anvil attached to a top of said base;
film guide means attached to said top of said base on one side of said anvil forguiding a film toward said anvil;
a stamping handle mounted for pivotal movement on said base;
a cutter holder secured to said base; and
a cutter held for up and down vertical movement relative to said anvil by said
cutter holder, said cutter having a cutting edge in conformity with a given contour for
shaping an end of a film strip to said given contour when said cutter is presseddownward against said anvil by pushing down said stamping handle toward said base.
In plefe,red embodiment, the upper cutter may comprises a cutting blade
shaped in conformity with a given contour of end of a film strip to be shaped or a
cutting template formed with an inner cutting edge in conformity with a given contour
of end of a film strip to be shaped. When the cutting template is used as the upper
cutter, the lower cutter comprises a cutting template formed with an outer cutting edge
in conformity with the same contour as the inner cutting edge of the upper cutting
template.
Prefereably, the upper cutter further comprises a punching rod having a sharing
edge in conformity with a given hole to be formed in a film strip and the lower cutter
is formed with a hole have a sharing edge in conformity with the given hole. Theupper cutter is pressed down against the anvil or the lower cutter by the stamping
handle, the film strip is stamped out and shaped to the given contour at its end and
formed with a hole. A stopper is disposed after the anvil or the lower cutter to restrain
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an end of the film strip guided over the anvil or the lower cutter and position the film
strip relative to the anvil or the lower cutter. The film stamping device may beprovided with a slidable film end clipping means for clipping an end of a film strip
or a film holding means for holding down an end portion of a film strip against the
lower cutter.
With the film stamping device of the invention, a film strip is stamped out to
a desired shape at an end by simply pushing down the stamping handle. When the
upper cutter and the anvil are used, it is not required to set the upper cutter with a
high accuracy which always needs precise assembling work and increases
manufacturing costs. After stamping the end of a film strip, a scrap is left clipped by
the film end clipping means and ripped off from the film end clipping means by aripping hook during slide movement of the film end clipping means. The film holding
means holds down an end portion of a film strip evenly, enabling precise stamping of
a film strip even if the film strip has got curled.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further features and advantages of the present invention will become readily
appa(ent from the following description of preferred embodiments illustrated by way
of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 is a longitu~lin~l-sectional view of a stamping device in accordance
with a preferred embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 is a plan view, partly broken away, of the stamping device;
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Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view along line III-III of Figure 2;
Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view along line IV-IV of Figure 2;
Figure S is an exploded view of the stamping device;;
Figure 6 is a longitu(lin~l-sectional view of the stamping device used to stamp
S out a film strip;
Figure 7A is a plan view of a cutter holder;
Figure 7B is a perspective view of the cutter holder;
Figure 8A is a plan view showing an end portion of a film strip;
Figure 8B is a plan view showing a film strip stamped out;
Figure 9 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a film cartridge;
Figure 10 is a plan view showing a tongue of a film strip;
Figure 11 is a longitu-lin~l-sectional view of a stamping device in accordance
with another plefelled embodiment of the invention;
Figure 12 is a cross-sectional view of the stamping device along line XII-XII
of Figure 11;
Figure 13 is a cross-sectional view along line XIII-XIII of Figure 12;
Figure 14 is a cross-sectional view along line XIV-XIV of Figure 2;
Figure 15 is an exploded view of the stamping device;
Figure 16A is a plan view showing an end portion of a film strip;
Figure 16B is a plan view showing a film strip stamped out;
Figure 17 is a longitu-lin~l-sectional view of a stamping device in accordance
with still another preferred embodiment of the invention;
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Figure 18 is a cross-sectional view of the stamping device along line XIIV-XIIV
of Figure 17,
Figure 19 is a perspective view showing upper and lower cutters;
Figure 20 is a plan view showing a tongue of a film strip, and
Figure 21 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a film cartridge.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS
In the following description, the term "rear" used therein shall means and refer
to a side of the stamping device from which a film is inserted, and the term "front"
10 used herein shall mean and refer to a side opposite to the rear side of the stamping
device.
Referring to the drawings in detail, in particular to Figures 1, 2 and 5 showing
a stamping device in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a
bottomless box-shaped base block 1 is closed by a detachable bottom cover 3 to form
15 a scrap receptacle 2 therein. The base block 1 at the top is formed with a recess 4 in
which a rectangular anvil 5 is installed even with the top of the base block 1. The base
block 1 is provided with a generally U-shaped cutter holder frame 6 mounted on the
top thereof so as to cover the rectangular plate 5. As shown in Figure 5, the cutter
holder frame 6 has a top wall 7 and side walls 8 at opposite ends of the top wall. Each
20 side wall 8 is formed with an integral lateral leg 9 extending outward which is bolted
to fasten the cutter holder frame 6 to the base block 1. The cutter holder frame 6 has
a film guide 10 located on the rear side of the anvil 5 from which a film strip F is
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inserted as will be described later. This film guide 10 at its back is formed with a
guide groove 11 to guide both lateral sides of a film strip F for easy insertion and
movement toward the anvil 5. The base block 1 is further formed with a guide groove
12 extending on the front side of the anvil 5 remote from the guide groove 12 with
5 respect to the anvil 5 and a discharge opening 13 in the guide groove 12. Along
opposite lateral sides of the guide groove 12 the base block 1 is formed with of guide
slots 21 extending in a direction in which the film strip F is inserted. As shown in
Figure 4, a film clip 14 is provided on the guide groove 12 to clip an end of the film
strip F. This film clip 14 comprises a pair, or upper and lower, clip arms 15 and 16.
10 The lower clip arm 16 is fitted in the guide groove 12 and retained at opposite lateral
sides by means of retainer plates 44 fastened by set screws to the base block 1 so as
to be prevented from coming out upward from the guide groove 12.
As clearly shown in Figure 5, the lower clip arm 16 is separated at its rear end
into two arm ends 16a located to surround a transverse row of ripping hooks 17
15 extending on the front side of the discharge opening 13. Each arm end 16a is shaped
to be elastic and formed at its rear end with a claw 19 extending upward. The upper
clip arm 15 has a front half portion increased in thickness with a threaded bore formed
therein and is formed at its rear edge with a claw 18 extending downward and a rear
half portion formed with an opening 25. A fastener bolt 27 is screwed into the
20 threaded bore to fasten the upper clip arm 15 to the lower clip arm 16. When these
upper and lower clip arms 15 and 16 are fastened at their front ends, the claws 18 and
19 of the clip arms 15 and 16 are brought into contact with each other.
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The lower clip arm 16 at the back is provided with a pair of guide pins 20 at
opposite lateral sides thereof, each guide pin 20 being slidably received in the guide
slot 21 in the guide groove 12. The guide slots 21 permits the film clip 14 to shift
back and forth through the slidable engagement with the guide pins 20. In this
5 in~t~nce, a follow spring 22 is mounted between each guide pin 20 and the base block
1 to urge the film clip 14 toward the anvil plate 5. A positioning arm 23, fastened by
the fastener bolt 27 onto the top of the upper claw 14, is formed with a slot 26
extending in a direction in which the film strip F is inserted and has a rear end claw
24 which extends downward through the opening 25 of the upper clip arm 15 and is
10 located at its end between the arm ends 16a of the lower clip arm 16 to stop and
position the end of the film strip F inserted passing between the claws 18 and 19 of
the clip arms 15 and 16. The positioning arm 23 is moved back and forth through
slidable engagement between the slot 26 and the fastening bolt 27 to adjust the rear
end claw 24 in position of the direction of film insertion relative to the anvil 5.
The cutter holder frame 6 holds a cutter head 28. Specifically, the cutter holder
frame 6 is provided with a connecting shaft 30 extending laterally through vertical
guide slots 31 of the side walls 8. The connecting shaft 33 at opposite ends is received
and retained in holes 34 formed in side walls 33 of a stamping handle 32. As clearly
seen in Figure 1, the stamping handle 32 at its front end is hinged for pivotal
20 movement by a hinge shaft 36 extending between side brackets 35 secured to the base
block 1 and urged by a spring 36 mounted on the hinge shaft 36 to turn in a
counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figure 1. The cutter head 28 is mounted on
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the connecting shaft 30 within the cutter holder frame 6 and guided for upward and
dowl,ward slide movement by a pair of guide rods 29 vertically extending from the
anvil 5. By means of slidable engagement between the connecting shaft 30 and thevertical guide slots 31, the cutter holder frame 6 permits the cutter head 28 to be
S moved downward following a clockwise turn of the stamping handle 32.
As shown in Figure 3, the cutter head 28 holds a cutting blade 38 and punching
rods 39 and 40. The cutting blade 38 is made of a steel band and shaped in conformity
with a given contour of the trailing end b of the film strip F such as shown in Figure
8B. The cutting blade 38 is pressed down against the anvil 5 to stamp out and form
a given shape of tongue of a film strip F. The punching rods 39 and 40 have sharing
edges in conformity with given shapes of coupling holes a and c, respectively, to be
formed in a film strip F near the trailing end b and are arranged in the same relative
position as the coupling holes a and c. On the other hand, the anvil S is formed with
holes 41 and 42 have sharing edges in conformity with those of the punching rods 39
and 40, respectively. The punching rods 39 and 40 are pressed down to enter the holes
41 and 42 of the anvil 5, respectively, punching out coupling holes a and c in the
tongue b of a film strip F.
In operation of the stamping device of the invention depicted in Figures 1 and
2, when inserting the trailing end portion of a film strip F shown in Figure 8A into
the guide groove 11 over the anvil 5, it passes through between the claws 18 and 19
of the clip arms 15 and 16 and is stopped and positioned by the rear end claw 24 of
the positioning arm 23. Pushing down the stamping handle 32 moves the cutter head
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28 downward along the guide rods 29 to shove the punching rods 39 and 40 into the
counter holes 41 and 42 of the anvil 5, respectively, punching out holes a and c in the
tongue b of a film strip F as shown in Figure 8B. Immediately after shoving the
punching rods 39 and 40 into the counter holes 41 and 42 of the anvil 5, the cutting
S blade 38 is pressed down against the anvil 5 to stamp out and create the shape tongue
b of the film strip F as shown in Figure 8B. In this manner, the given shape of tongue
b of the film strip F is created.
When the stamping handle 23 is fully pushed down, the punching rods 39 and
40 push out scraps cut off from the tongue b of the film strip F directly from the
counter holes 41 and 42 of the anvil 5, letting the scraps fall into the scrap receptacle
2 of the base block 1. On the other hand, a scrap A cut off from the tongue b of the
film strip F is left gripped between the claws 18 and 19 of the clip arms 15 and 16.
When moving the clip 14 forward, the scrap A gripped by the clip 14 is brought into
abutment against ripping hooks 17 and then removed from the clip 14 as shown in
15 Figure 6. The removed scrap A falls into the scrap receptacle 2 of the base block 1.
The positioning arm 23 is adjusted to desirably change a stamping distance from an
end of a film strip F.
The stamping device described above may be used to reshape the trailing end
b of a film strip F in the case where the trailing end b of the film strip F is
20 unavailable due to damage or tears of the trailing end b and/or holes a and c in the
film strip F other than creation of a given shape at the trailing end b of a film strip
F.
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Figure 7 shows a cutting blade 50 for creating or reshaping a tongue with a sidenotch of a film strip F. This cutting blade 50 made of a steel band and held by a cutter
head 28 has two sections, namely a tapered end cutting blade section 51 and a side
notch cutting blade section 52, which may be either separated or integrated. The cutter
head 28 is pressed down ~g~in~t the anvil 5, stamping out to create or reshape atrailing end b of a film strip F having a tapered end and a side notch 64 as shown in
Figure 10.
Figures 11, 12 and 15 showing a stamping device in accordance with another
ple~erred embodiment of the invention, a bottomless box-shaped base block 101 isclosed by a detachable bottom cover 103 to form a scrap receptacle 102 therein. The
base block 101 is provided with a film guide 104 attached to the top to form a film
path 109. This film guide 104 has a positioning bank 105 and a pair of side guide lip
106 extending from the positioning bank 105 and separated at a distance approximately
equal to the width of a film strip F for guiding insertion of the film strip F. Each
guide lip 106 is formed with a lip 107 to prevent the film strip F from rising upward.
As clearly seen in Figure 15, a lower cutter 108 formed as a template is
secured to the base block 101 between the guide lips 106. The lower cutter 108 has
a front end section 110 tapered at corners and formed with an outer cutting edge 111.
The lower cutter 108is further formed with two holes 112 having shearing edges in
the front end section 110 and a hole 113 having a shearing edge at its rear side. An
upper cutter holder frame 114 secured to the base block 101 has a pair of side walls
115 and upper and lower top walls 116 and 117 between the side walls 115. The
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lower top wall 117 has an extension formed with an open-ended box-shaped pipe 118
at its rear end. These upper and lower top walls 116 and 117 are formed with two sets
of holes 119, each set of holes 119 formed in the upper and lower top walls 116 and
117 being in alignment with each other. These holes 119 receive guide pins 121
S extending upward from an upper cutter head 120 therein and allow upward and
downward slide movement of the guide pins 121. Each guide pin 121 is formed witha diametrical bore 122 through which a connecting pin 123 is inserted. This
connecting pin 123 at opposite ends extends into slots 24 formed in the side walls 115
of the upper cutter holder frame 114 so that the upper cutter head 120 is supported for
u~ward and downward slide movement by the upper cutter holder frame 114. The
upper cutter holder frame 114 at its lateral side is provided with an arm 125. The arm
125 is formed with an slot 142 (see Figure 14) at its rear end and a slot 126 extending
in a lengthwise direction at the middle.
A stamping handle 127 having side walls 128 is hinged at its ends by a hinge
shaft 131 ~u~ol~ed by brackets 130 of the base block 101. The side walls 128 have
slots 129 extending in the lengthwise direction in which opposite ends of the
connecting pin 123 are received for slide movement. The arm 125 at its front end is
pivotally mounted on one end of the connecting pin 123. A coil spring 132 is mounted
on the hinge shaft 131 to urge the stamping handle upward. Pushing the stamping
handle 127 downward causes pivotal movement of the arm 125 downward around the
hinge shaft 131, forcing the upper cutter head 120 downward.
As shown in Figures 13 and 15, the upper cutter head 120 holds an upper cutter
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134 and punching rods 135 cooperative with the lower cutter 108 to stamp out thetrailing end of the film strip F. The upper cutter 134 is formed as a template with an
outer cutting edge shaped complimentarily to the internal cutting edge 111 of the lower
cutter 108 which are in conformity with a given shape to be formed at an trailing end
133 of the film strip F such as shown in Figure 16B. The punching rods 135 have
sharing edges complimentary to the cutting edge of the holes 112 of the lower cutter
108 in conformity with given shapes of the coupling holes 36 to be formed in the film
strip P in close proximity to the trailing end 133.
As shown in Figures 11, 14 and 15, The open-ended box-shaped pipe 118 is
formed with holes 137 in its top and bottom walls in which a punching pin 138 formed
with a diametrical bore 139 is received for upward and downward slide movement.
A pivot pin 140, which is received in vertical side slots 141 of the open-ended box-
shaped pipe 118, passes through the diametrical bore 139 of the punching rod 138having a sharing edge complimentary to the cutting edge of the hole 113 of the lower
cutter 108 in conformity with a given shape of a side hole 143 shown in Figure 16B
to be formed in the film strip F near the trailing end 133 and is received for slide
movement in the slot 142 formed in the rear end of the arm 125. Pushing the stamping
handle 127 downward causes downward movement of the punching pin 138, forcing
the p~nching pin 138 to punch out a side hole 143 in the film strip F near the trailing
end 133 as shown in Figure 16B. This side hole 143 is used to detect the trailing end
portion of the film strip F. Specifically, when the side hole 143 is detected during
movement of the film strip F out of a film cartridge 50 shown in Figure 21, rotation
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of the spool 51 is interrupted.
As shown in Figures 12 and 14, the film guide 104 is provided with a pair of
brackets 144 for supporting a hinge pin 145 on either one of the guide lips 106. A
film holding pad 146 is mounted for pivotal movement on the hinge pin 145 and urged
5by a coil sprint 147 mounted on the hinge pin 145 to turn in a clockwise direction as
viewed in Figure 14 so as to press down the film strip F against the lower cutter 108.
On the front side of the lower cutter, the base block 101 is formed with an opening
around the cutting edge 111 of the lower cutter 108, through which a scrap cut off
from the film strip F halls into the scrap receptacle 102.
10In operation of the stamping device of the invention depicted in Figures 11 and
12, while turning upward the film holding pad 146 in a counterclockwise direction,
a film strip F shown in Figure 16A is inserted into the film path 109 until it abuts
~g~in~t the positioning bank 105 of the film guide 104. When the film holding pad 146
is returned, it presses down the film strip F in position. Thereafter, when the stamping
15handle 127 is pushed downward, the upper cutter head 120 is forced downward topress the upper cutter 134 against the lower cutter 108 and shove the punching rods
135 into the holes 112 of the lower cutter 108, respectively, stamping out an tapered
end and coupling holes 136 in the film strip F as shown in Figure 16B.
Simultaneously, pushing the stamping handle 127 downward causes pivotal movement20in the same direction of the arm 125, shoving the punching rod 138 into the hole 113
of the lower cutter 108 to punch out a side hole 143 in the film strip F near the
trailing end 133. Scraps cut off from the film strip F fall into the scrap receptacle 102
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through the opening 148. Since, even if a film strip F has strongly curled, it is guided
in the film path 109 and held down by the film holding pad 146, the stamping device
stamps out accurately a desirably shaped film strip F.
Figures 17 to 20 show a stamping device in accordance with s further prere~rcd
S embodiment of the invention for stamping out a tongue with a side notch of a film
strip F as shown in Figure 20. Because punching rods for punching out coupling holes
133 and a side hole 134 in the trailing end portion of a film strip are unnecessary, the
stamping device is not provided with a mechanism for c~u~ing u~ward and downward
movement of the punching rods and is almost similar in construction to the stamping
10 device shown in Figure 11 and 12, excepting the use of a different shape of upper and
lower cutters.
As shown in Figure 19, an upper cutter 162 held by a cutter head 120 has two
inner cutting edge sections, namely a tapered end cutting edge 163a and a side notch
cutting edge 163b. Correspondingly, a lower cutter 160 has two outer edge sections,
namely a tapered end cutting edge 161a and a side notch cutting edge 161b.
After inserting the tongue of a film strip F into the film path 109, the stamping
handle 127 is pushed down to force the cutter head 120 downward. Following the
downward movement of the cutter head 120, the upper cutter 162 is pressed against
the lower cutter 160 to shear off an end margin A from the tongue of the film strip,
20 shaping the tongue to a given contour.
16
