System for optical dry processing of spooled photographic film

A method for processing a photographic film housed in a film cartridge and detachably secured onto a spool caddy having a plurality of processing spools mounted thereon, said method comprising the steps of:

• (A) providing a light-tight, temperature controlled enclosure for processing;
• (B) mounting and keying the spool caddy onto a turntable in the enclosure, said turntable having a spiral shaped wall thereon;
• (C) rotating said turntable about a rotational axis;
• (D) sequentially removing and unwinding from, and replacing and rewinding to, the spool caddy each of the processing spools and the film cartridge, respectively, in a preset order so that the film is combined with processing webs from the processing spools along said spiral shaped wall for preset periods of time;
• and
• (E) securing unwound processing spools and the film cartridge along a channel formed by said spiral shaped wall during step (D).

A light-tight, temperature controlled system for processing a photographic film, housed in a film cartridge detachably secured upon a spool caddy having a plurality of processing spools mounted thereon, said system comprising:

• a turntable mounted on a housing, said turntable having both a spiral shaped wall defining a channel and an interface for mounting the spool caddy in positional alignment thereon;
• an overhead structure mounted on said housing and extending over said wall;
• a spool retrieval mechanism mounted upon said overhead structure and movable along said overhead structure in cooperation with cam follower rollers engaged with said wall and mounted upon said spool retrieval mechanism, said spool retrieval mechanism including means for removing and replacing each of the processing spools and the film cartridge from and to the spool caddy, unwinding and rewinding processing webs from and to the processing spools, and unwinding and rewinding the film from and to the film cartridge;
• a brake pad mounted upon said wall for securing the film cartridge and the processing spools during processing;
• means for rotating said turntable upon said housing;
• and
• means for controlling said system.

A photographic processing system comprising:

• means for disposing at least two spools having a processing web imbibed with a photographic processing material within the system;
• means for sequentially juxtaposing an emulsion side of a film from a film cartridge with each of the processing webs in a preset order, unwinding and rewinding each processing web from and to the corresponding spool, and unwinding and rewinding the film from and to the film cartridge;
• a spiral shaped wall disposed within the processing system;
• and
• means for securing the processing spools and the film cartridge along a channel formed by the spiral shaped wall while said emulsion side of the film is being sequentially combined with one of said processing webs.