Curtain coater for photographic elements

In combination with a curtain coater for coating a layer of liquid coating composition on a continuous web in the manufacture of photographic material, which comprises a coating hopper for producing a free-falling curtain of coating composition extending across the web, a backing roller for supporting the moving web along an arcuately curved path underneath said hopper to receive at a coating locus on the web said curtain from said hopper, and an air shield plate that is concavely curved about a segment of said arcuately curved path with its downstream end in the direction of the coating locus in close spaced proximity to said locus and that defines with said roller a gap that forms a substantial resistance for air entrained with the moving web the improvement wherein downstream of the downstream end of the air shield and upstream of the curtain is located an elongated brush arrangement extending across the width of the web, said arrangement comprising flexible bristles having their ends in resilient contact with the web at a distance not larger than 25 mm upstream of the coating locus, said brush arrangement being mounted on a beam arranged for pivotation between an operative position with the bristles in contact with the web and inoperative position with the bristles removed from the web, said beam being provided with heating means.