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(11) | EP 0 603 952 A3 |
(12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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(54) | Photographic processing apparatus |
(57) It is known to use continuous belts for transporting photographic material through
large multi-stranded photographic processing machines so that the material is pulled
and guided through each of the processing stages in the machine. The belt is arranged
to run on one side of the material path and special spring clips are used to attach
the material to the belt. However, the spring clips tend to damage the belt and reduce
its operational life. Described herein is a belt arrangement for which clips are not
required. A continuous belt (60) having a plurality of slots (68) formed therein is
arranged to travel in the material processing path, the belt extending across substantially
the entire width of the processing path. Material (70, 72) to be processed is threaded
through one of the slots (68) in the belt (60) and folded over. This belt arrangement
allows unstable chemistries, such as redox amplification chemistry, to be used in
large processing machines by reducing the volumes of processing solutions required. |