Apparatus for and method of manufacturing film
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorsChiaki Suzuki, Yasuhiro Sekizawa, Kenichi Imoto, Nobuyasu Akiyoshi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A supply unit supplies a film strip from a film roll, and a winding unit cuts off a film strip into a fixed-length film and winds the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly. An assembling unit introduces the wound-film assembly into a one-open-sided cartridge, and mounts and crimps a cap on the one-open-sided cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge. After a pullout resistance of the film and a film length to be exposed are inspected, the wound-film-loaded cartridge is unloaded as a product.
Claims28
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising:
- a supply unit for supplying a film strip from a film roll;
- a winding unit for cutting the film strip supplied from said film roll into a fixed-length film and winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly;
- an assembling unit for introducing the wound-film assembly into a cartridge and mounting a cap on said cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- a housing for holding said supply unit, said winding unit, and said assembling unit in a light-shielded manner, said housing being movable,
- wherein said winding unit comprises a buffer mechanism for adjusting a rate at which said film strip is supplied, a cutting mechanism for cutting the film strip into said fixed-length film, a spool supply mechanism for supplying said spool, and a winding mechanism for winding said fixed-length film around said spool to produce said wound-film assembly, and
- further comprising a spool feeder for supplying said spool from outside said housing, said spool feeder being connected to said spool supply mechanism, and
- an air-conditioning facility that air conditions said housing by air supplied and discharged through supply ducts connected to said housing, said air-conditioning facility configured to maintain the inside of said housing at a constant temperature and a constant humidity.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising:
- a supply unit for supplying a film strip from a film roll;
- a winding unit for cutting the film strip supplied from said film roll into a fixed-length film and winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly;
- an assembling unit for introducing the wound-film assembly into a cartridge and mounting a cap on said cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- a housing for holding said supply unit, said winding unit, and said assembling unit in a light-shielded manner, said housing being movable,
- wherein said assembling unit comprises a cartridge supply mechanism for supplying said cartridge, a conveyance mechanism for conveying said cartridge and said wound-film-loaded cartridge, a loading mechanism for loading said wound-film assembly into said cartridge, a cap supply mechanism for supplying said cap, a mounting mechanism for mounting said cap on said cartridge, and a removing mechanism for removing said wound-film-loaded cartridge with said cap from said conveyance mechanism, and wherein said conveyance mechanism comprises a plurality of pallets each for positioning and holding said cartridge and said wound-film-loaded cartridge, and a chain belt for circulating said pallets.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising:
- a supply unit for supplying a film strip from a film roll;
- a winding unit for cutting the film strip supplied from said film roll into a fixed-length film and winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly;
- an assembling unit for introducing the wound-film assembly into a cartridge and mounting a cap on said cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- a housing for holding said supply unit, said winding unit, and said assembling unit in a light-shielded manner, said housing being movable,
- wherein said assembling unit comprises a cartridge supply mechanism for supplying said cartridge, a conveyance mechanism for conveying said cartridge and said wound-film-loaded cartridge, a loading mechanism for loading said wound-film assembly into said cartridge, a cap supply mechanism for supplying said cap, a mounting mechanism for mounting said cap on said cartridge, and a removing mechanism for removing said wound-film-loaded cartridge with said cap from said conveyance mechanism, and
- further comprising an air-conditioning facility that air conditions said housing by air supplied and discharged through supply ducts connected to said housing, said air-conditioning facility configured to maintain the inside of said housing at a constant temperature and a constant humidity.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising:
- a supply unit for supplying a film strip from a film roll;
- a winding unit for cutting the film strip supplied from said film roll into a fixed-length film and winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly;
- an assembling unit for introducing the wound-film assembly into a cartridge and mounting a cap on said cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- a housing for holding said supply unit, said winding unit, and said assembling unit in a light-shielded manner, said housing being movable,
- wherein said assembling unit comprises a cartridge supply mechanism for supplying said cartridge, a conveyance mechanism for conveying said cartridge and said wound-film-loaded cartridge, a loading mechanism for loading said wound-film assembly into said cartridge, a cap supply mechanism for supplying said cap, a mounting mechanism for mounting said cap on said cartridge, and a removing mechanism for removing said wound-film-loaded cartridge with said cap from said conveyance mechanism, and
- further comprising a cartridge feeder for supplying said cartridge from outside said housing, said cartridge feeder being connected to said cartridge supply mechanism, and
- an air-conditioning facility that air conditions said housing by air supplied and discharged through supply ducts connected to said housing, said air-conditioning facility configured to maintain the inside of said housing at a constant temperature and a constant humidity.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising:
- a supply unit for supplying a film strip from a film roll;
- a winding unit for cutting the film strip supplied from said film roll into a fixed-length film and winding the fixed-length film around a spool to produce a wound-film assembly;
- an assembling unit for introducing the wound-film assembly into a cartridge and mounting a cap on said cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- a housing for holding said supply unit, said winding unit, and said assembling unit in a light-shielded manner, said housing being movable,
- wherein said assembling unit comprises a cartridge supply mechanism for supplying said cartridge, a conveyance mechanism for conveying said cartridge and said wound-film-loaded cartridge, a loading mechanism for loading said wound-film assembly into said cartridge, a cap supply mechanism for supplying said cap, a mounting mechanism for mounting said cap on said cartridge, and a removing mechanism for removing said wound-film-loaded cartridge with said cap from said conveyance mechanism, and
- further comprising a cap feeder for supplying said cap from outside said housing, said cap feeder being connected to said cap supply mechanism, and
- an air-conditioning facility that air conditions said housing by air supplied and discharged through supply ducts connected to said housing, said air-conditioning facility configured to maintain the inside of said housing at a constant temperature and a constant humidity.
A method of manufacturing a film, comprising the steps of:
- winding a film strip fed from an unexposed film roll around a spool supplied by a spool supply mechanism;
- cutting a trailing end of said film strip wound around said spool to produce a fixed-length film;
- housing a wound-film assembly, which comprises said fixed-length film wound around said spool, into a cartridge supplied by a cartridge supply mechanism;
- and
- mounting a cap supplied by a cap supply mechanism on said cartridge housing said wound-film assembly therein to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- said steps being carried out in a movable light-shielded housing,
- wherein, a rate at which said film strip is supplied is adjusted, and
- wherein, said spool is supplied to the spool supply mechanism from outside said housing by a spool feeder, and
- further comprising air-conditioning said housing by air supplied and discharged through supply ducts connected to said housing, and maintaining the inside of said housing at a constant temperature and a constant humidity via said air-conditioning.
A method of manufacturing a film by winding and loading a fixed-length film into a wound-film-loaded cartridge, loading said wound-film-loaded cartridge into a cartridge case, and mounting a case cap on an opening of said cartridge case thereby to produce a packaged product, said method comprising the steps of:
- holding said wound-film-loaded cartridge with a first magnet and winding an end of said fixed-length film protruding from said wound-film-loaded cartridge around an outer circumferential surface of said wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- moving said wound-film-loaded cartridge to said cartridge case while said end of said fixed-length film which is wound around said wound-film-loaded cartridge is held against said outer circumferential surface of said wound-film-loaded cartridge, and loading said wound-film-loaded cartridge into said cartridge case by attracting said wound-film-loaded cartridge with a second magnet having stronger magnetism than said first magnet.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, comprising a packaged product assembling unit for loading a wound-film-loaded cartridge into a cartridge ease and mounting a case cap on an opening of said cartridge case thereby to produce a packaged product, a fixed-length film wound and loaded into said wound-film-loaded cartridge,
- said packaged product assembling unit including a cartridge loading mechanism, said cartridge loading mechanism comprising:
- cartridge holding means for holding said wound-film-loaded cartridge with a first magnet and inserting said wound-film-loaded cartridge into said cartridge case;
- case holding means including a second magnet for holding said cartridge case, said second magnet having stronger magnetism than said first magnet;
- and
- guiding means including a guide tube for guiding said wound-film-loaded cartridge to said cartridge case, said guide tube holding an end of said fixed-length film protruding from said wound-film-loaded cartridge against an outer circumferential surface of said wound-film-loaded cartridge.
A method of manufacturing a film by winding a fixed-length film around a spool to make a wound-film assembly, loading said wound-film assembly into a cartridge, and mounting a cap on said cartridge for producing a wound-film-loaded cartridge, said method comprising the steps of:
- supplying a pallet with said cartridge for positioning said cartridge, said pallet being conveyed along a circulatory path;
- loading said wound-film assembly into an opening of said cartridge positioned and held in said pallet while an end of said fixed-length film is positioned with said end protruding from said spool by a predetermined length;
- mounting said cap on said opening of said cartridge positioned and held in said pallet, said wound-film assembly being loaded into said cartridge;
- fixing said cap on said opening of said cartridge positioned and held in said pallet;
- inspecting a winding condition of said fixed-length film in said cartridge positioned and held in said pallet with said cap fixed on said cartridge;
- and
- removing said wound-film-loaded cartridge from said pallet after said winding condition of said fixed-length film in said cartridge is inspected.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, said apparatus including a case supply unit, said case supply unit comprising:
- a hopper for storing a plurality of cartridge cases, said hopper having a groove for arranging said cartridge cases in an array along a circumferential line;
- an arm angularly movable along said circumferential line and having a pin insertable into an opening of one of said cartridge cases;
- a rotor for angularly moving said arm;
- and
- a feed passage for feeding said cartridge case with said pin inserted therein.
A method of manufacturing a film by winding a fixed-length film around a spool and loading said wound film into a cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge, comprising the steps of:
- gripping a trailing end of said fixed-length film using clamps, said trailing end protruding from said wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- moving a bracket at a substantially constant speed such that said clamps connected to said bracket through a spring are displaced for pulling said trailing end of said fixed-length film away from said wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- inspecting a winding condition of said fixed-length film based on a positional relationship between said bracket and said clamps.
A method according to 23, wherein a spring constant of said spring is selected such that said spring extends by at least a predetermined length when a force which is larger than an allowable maximum pullout resistance in pulling said fixed-length film from said wound-film-loaded cartridge is applied to said spring, and a pullout resistance in pulling said fixed-length film is inspected based on said positional relationship between said bracket and said clamps, said positional relationship being related to extension of said spring.
A method according to 23, further comprising the step of inspecting a position of said trailing end of said fixed-length film gripped by said clamps when said bracket moves away from said wound-film-loaded cartridge by a predetermined distance.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film by winding a fixed-length film around a spool and loading said wound film into a cartridge to produce a wound-film-loaded cartridge, said apparatus comprising:
- clamps for gripping a trailing end of said fixed-length film, said trailing end protruding from said wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- a bracket coupled to said clamps through a spring;
- means for moving said bracket at a substantially constant speed such that said clamps connected said bracket through said spring are displaced for pulling said trailing end of said fixed-length film away from said wound-film-loaded cartridge;
- and
- means for detecting positional relationship between said bracket and said clamps.
A method of manufacturing a film, comprising the steps of:
- calculating an amount r of rotation of a file roll
- measuring a number N of perforations formed in a film strap fed out by the rotation of said film roll, said film strip having a length corresponding to said amount r of rotation of said film roll;
- and
- calculating a diameter D of said film roll based on a following equation:
- (π·D)·r=n·N
- wherein n represents a pitch of said perforations.
An apparatus for manufacturing a film, said apparatus comprising:
- means for calculating an amount r of rotation of a film roll;
- means for measuring a number N of perforations formed in a film strip fed out by the rotation of said film roll, said film strip having a length corresponding to said amount r of rotation of said film roll;
- and
- means for calculating a diameter D of said film roll based on a following equation:
- (π·D)·r=n·N
- wherein n represents a pitch of said perforations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.