Photographic film cleaning apparatus and method

A cleaning assembly for photographic film, the cleaning assembly comprising:

• a plate member;
• and
• a leaf spring mounted on said plate member in a cantilevered manner and extending from said plate member, said leaf spring having a cleaning surface thereon and being bent at an angle which causes a deflection of the leaf spring when the cleaning surface abuts against a film surface to be cleaned, said cleaning surface removing residue from a magnetic surface of said film as said film is conveyed past said cleaning surface.

A magnetic head and cleaning unit for an imaging assembly, the unit comprising:

• at least one magnetic head provided in said imaging assembly relative to a film conveying path to contact a surface of film as said film travels along the conveying path;
• and
• at least one leaf spring provided in said imaging assembly relative to said film conveying path at a position upstream of said at least one magnetic head with respect to a direction of travel of said film along the conveying path, said leaf spring having a cleaning surface thereon and being bent at an angle which causes a deflection of the spring when the cleaning surface abuts against the film, to remove residue from a magnetic surface of said film prior to the film reaching the magnetic head.

A method of cleaning photographic film in a film conveying path of an imaging assembly, the method comprising the steps of:

• mounting a leaf spring having a cleaning surface thereon on a plate member of a magnetic head unit of an imaging assembly, said leaf spring being mounted upstream of a magnetic head of said unit with respect to a direction of travel of film along the conveying path;
• and
• bending the leaf spring at an angle which causes a deflection of the leaf spring when the cleaning surface abuts against film in said film conveying path, to remove residue from a magnetic surface of said film prior to the film reaching the magnetic head.