Microfilm apparatus

In a microfilm apparatus employing film which is in roll form and which includes at least one layer of a silver halide emulsion, and said apparatus includes means for exposing said film to image-wise reflected light from documents to be microfilmed and means for development processing of said exposed film, whereby microfilm copies of said documents may be obtained, the improvement wherein said apparatus comprises:

• a main housing including outer walls,
• partition wall means mounted within said main housing outer walls and defining with said outer walls said main housing into an upper, exposure compartment and a compact, easily accessible lower, development processing compartment separate from said exposure compartment to one side thereof and below said exposure compartment, said partition wall means defining an entry opening at the top of said development processing compartment at one end thereof and said outer wall means at the opposite end of said development processing compartment carrying an exit opening remote from said entry opening and communicating the interior of said development processing compartment to the exterior of said apparatus;
• an exposure system within said exposure compartment including a horizontal, transparent document rest provided within the top of said main housing at the upper portion of said exposure compartment, a first mirror mounted below and inclined relative to said document rest and positioned with said exposure compartment, a smaller, second mirror disposed parallel to said first mirror and to one side of said exposure compartment, a focussing lens system provided within a lower portion of said exposure compartment to the same side as said second mirror and overlying said development and processing compartment for focussing the image of a document placed on said document rest at an exposure station within said exposure compartment;
• microfilm unit production means including drive roll means which may be alternately actuated to advance said film intermittently to bring sucessive film frames thereof to said exposure station whereby said successive film frames are exposed to said image-wise light for advancing said film a certain number of frames unexposed and past said exposure station subsequent to exposure of a set number of said frames in intermittent fashion, and cutter means located downstream of said exposure station in terms of film advance and actuable to cut said film subsequent to said continuous movement thereof, whereby the leading end portion of said film constituting an exposed microfilm unit is detached from the remainder of said film and there is produced an unexposed portion which precedes a subsequent microfilm unit, and wherein said film is divided into successive independent microfilm units each including an exposed portion and a set number of exposed frames;
• development processing means provided in said development processing compartment and including at least one bath containing developer solution, rinsing means and drying means, and film forwarding means for moving successively detached microfilm units through said entry opening and through said development processing compartment, whereby said film units may be processed by said development processing means, and for moving said processed microfilm units through said exit opening to the exterior of said apparatus;
• and
• blower means provided in an upper portion of said exposure compartment such that said entry opening and said exit opening acting in conjunction with said blower means effects air flow in sequence through said exposure compartment through said entry opening across said development processing means and through said exit opening to the exterior of said apparatus to prevent harmful vapors from passing from said development processing compartment back through said exposure station to said exposure compartment, while at the same time ready access may be had to said separate, compact development processing compartment to facilitate film loading, replenishment or change of processing solution and cleaning of said development processing means therein.