Patents Assigned to Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
  • Patent number: 5950951
    Abstract: A device for positioning the spool of a cartridge for a roll of photographic film. The film is provided with holes, at its end, that interact with catches attached to the spool. Detachment from, or attachment to, the spool, is only possible at a particular orientation of the spool. A shaft is provided which can be interlockingly connected with the spool in a predetermined orientation. A guide block is displaceable, being operative, directly or indirectly, for contacting with the shaft. It reorients the shaft to the desired position during displacement so that the film can be detached from the spool or attached to the spool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 14, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Juergen Brunner, Reinhart Wuerfel, Guenter Doemges
  • Patent number: 5943120
    Abstract: The present invention concerns a method of making photographic prints on stock from negatives that differ in density range. The appropriateness of the exposure gradient of the stock for the particular negative is ensured by employing stock with a definite "contrast-Schwarzchild-effect" and by so varying the intensity of the light that the negative is exposed to during printing that the gradient is adapted to the characteristics of the particular negative as a function of the accordingly varied printing time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1999
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Matthias Maendl, Manfred Fuersich
  • Patent number: 5933585
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for the processing of images which are stored on a medium, having images which are electronically raster scanned and then subject to signal processing. The image signals for each image are processed electronically at least two times, with different parameters, and each of the processed image signals is sent to a single printing device. For example, the parameters may describe size, orientation, format, or composite printing, e.g., of an index print.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 3, 1999
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Eduard Wagensonner, Freidhrich Hujer
  • Patent number: 5899590
    Abstract: The invention relates to a photographic recording or reproducing device, preferably a camera, with a transportation device for the frame-by-frame transportation of a film along a film transportation path and with a film measuring device with an engagement member rotatable about an axis for engaging in perforation holes of a peripheral perforation of the film, the film transportation device being locked when the film reaches a position during its transportation which is provided for the recording or reproduction of an image, and the engagement member comprising an advancing engagement element in relation to its rotational movement and a trailing support element and being adjustable transversely to the film transportation path as a function of the abutment of the support element upon a surface extending parallel to the film transportation path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignee: AGFA Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Rolf Schroder, Claus Steiner
  • Patent number: 5869224
    Abstract: In reversal processing, washing between the first development and the reversal bath can be avoided without any loss of photographic quality if the reversal bath is operated in countercurrent over at least two stages and hydroquinone sulfonic acid is used as the first developer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1993
    Date of Patent: February 9, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventor: Herbert Mitzinger
  • Patent number: 5858631
    Abstract: The processing of exposed colour photographic materials by at least the steps of colour developing and bleach-fixing, with electrolytic desilvering of the spent bleach fixative solution, results in better utilisation of the processing chemicals and in a reduced amount of liquid to be disposed of, when bleach-fixing is effected in 2 steps, wherein a pH of .gtoreq.7.4 is set in the 1st step and a pH of .ltoreq.7 is set in the 2nd step, the bleach fixative from the 1st step is electrolytically desilvered and acid for maintaining the pH is fed to the 2nd step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 12, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Udo Quilitzsch, Herbert Mitzinger
  • Patent number: 5856076
    Abstract: A color photographic recording material having a film support and, arranged thereon, at least one red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a cyan coupler, at least one green-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a magenta coupler, at least one blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a yellow coupler and optionally further non-photosensitive layers contains, in addition to conventional sensitizing dyes, in at least one of the red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers thereof and in at least one of the green-sensitive emulsion layers thereof at least one cyanine dye in each layer having an absorption maximum in a methanolic solution in the range from 515 to 550 nm, wherein the absorption maxima of the additional cyanine dye in the red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer and of the additional cyanine dye in the green-sensitive layer, in each case measured in a methanolic solution, are no more than 10 nm and preferably no more than 5 nm apart.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 1997
    Date of Patent: January 5, 1999
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Joerg Siegel, Hans-Ulrich Borst, Peter Bell, Ralf Buscher, Johannes Willsau
  • Patent number: 5842077
    Abstract: A device for the automatic removal of a photographic film from a cartridge in which the film has been wound onto a spool. A guide opening for the cartridge has a cross-section which allows the receiving of the cartridge in only one orientation is provided so that the cartridge moves through the opening in the direction of its spool axis by its own weight. A system for simultaneously linearly displacing and rotating the axis of the spool is provided, to rotate the spool axis from vertical to horizontal and to reposition the cartridge for unwinding the film from the spool. The system holds the cartridge in a spool receptacle, and repositions and rotates the cartridge with a single actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 24, 1998
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Helmut Zangenfeind, Jurgen Brunner, Reinhart Wuerfel, Gunther Domges, Raimund Kugel
  • Patent number: 5821044
    Abstract: A spectrally sensitised photographic silver halide emulsion which is super-sensitised with an aromatic complex having a central transition metal atom which is present in a valence state which is not the highest possible for the metal concerned and which complex contains at least one non-aromatic complex ligand, is distinguished by increased sensitivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Peter Bergthaller, Jorg Siegel, Hans-Ulrich Borst, Michael Missfeldt
  • Patent number: 5781819
    Abstract: A device for feeding film cartridges into a processing and/or handling apparatus, having a first feed channel so laid out that the cartridge moves by its own weight in the direction of its longitudinal axis through the channel. The cartridges lie one behind another in the direction of their longitudinal axis. To separate them, an apparatus is provided that holds one cartridge secure by frictional engagement, while the lower cartridge beneath moves down to a second feed channel. Cartridges which enter the second channel are displaced, one by one, along this channel and supplied at a feed point to the film processing and/or handling apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1998
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Jurgen Brunner, Helmut Zangenfeind, Reinhart Wuerfel, Peter Effenberger
  • Patent number: 5767947
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for the production of individual prints and index prints from films which contain recorded data regarding the circumstances surrounding the exposure of the individual pictures stored on the film. Recorded data on the film is read, the data being associated with an individual picture and concerning a desired print format for the individual picture. The recorded data is preferably stored magnetically, but may also be stored optically. The system produces an individual print of the individual picture having a format based on the read data. The system also identifies, by modification of an image of the individual picture formed on the index print, the region of the film printed on the individual print and of the regions not printed, based on the read data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hans-Georg Schindler, Hans-Juergen Rauh, Lothar Prause
  • Patent number: 5767943
    Abstract: Photographic printing apparatus is disclosed with a common guidance and transport device for the films. Several entry points are adapted in size and shape to various films and/or cartridges. Each of these input points has a separate guidance and transport device. A transfer station is provided which transports the films from the guidance and transport devices of the entry points into the common guidance and transport device through the printing apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: June 16, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Knut Oberhardt, Edmund Mangold, Bernhard Lorenz
  • Patent number: 5748286
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for producing prints of different formats from negatives in the form of strips. The negative images are printed in one reproduction scale on one section of a strip of stock during a first pass of the strip through the printing mechanism, the printing mechanism is readjusted, and the negative images are then printed in another, different scale on a subsequent section of the strip of stock during another pass of the strip through the printing mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 1995
    Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hans-Georg Schindler, Hans-Jurgen Rauh, Manfred Fursich, Magos Vasilios, Wilhelm Nitsch, Rainer Deutsch, Klaus-P. Hartmann, Leonhard Huber, Gerhard Benker, Reimund Munch
  • Patent number: 5745261
    Abstract: A printer has a scanning station where the negatives of a film are scanned zone-by-zone. One or more of the negatives are subsequently printed at a printing station by directing a beam of light through the negatives and onto a first photographic copy material. An exposure control unit adjusts the color composition and intensity of the light beam on the basis of data from the scanning station. Once a negative at the printing station has been printed in this manner, a reflector is moved into the path of the light beam between the negative and the copy material. The reflector deflects the light beam to a video camera which scans the negative line-by-line and point-by-point to generate a series of electrical signals representing an image of the negative. The signals are sent to a memory where they are combined with information about the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: April 28, 1998
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Jork Hebenstreit, Wilfried Reichel, Helmut Bock
  • Patent number: 5745252
    Abstract: A method of printing regular photographic prints on a strip of paper along with index prints--that is, prints with images that are smaller than those in the regular prints--from series of negatives on rolls of film. The smaller images are projected next to and one after another along the strip to produce an index print as wide as the strip. The regular prints and the index prints are printed at different points along the strip. The results of area-by-area measurements of the negatives obtained while the regular prints are being printed are exploited to control light quantities while the index prints are being printed. The distance the strip of paper advances from one printing point to the other is regulated to ensure that paper is advanced to the index print printing point once the last negative in a series has been projected onto the strip until the trailing edge of the last print arrives at the margin of the exposure area in the index print printing point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 28, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hans-Juergen Rauh, Helmut Treiber, Hans-Georg Schindler
  • Patent number: 5717975
    Abstract: A filmstrip consisting of a series of coherent frames is passed through a copying station where images of the frames are projected onto an elongated band of copying paper to make proofs of the frames. The images are projected in such a manner that the relative orientations of the images are the same as the relative orientations of the frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1998
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takahashi, Hans-Juergen Rauh, Hans-Georg Schindler
  • Patent number: 5708905
    Abstract: A device for automatic removal of a photographic film from a cartridge, in which the film is rolled up on a spool. The feed channel for the cartridge is disposed so that the cartridge moves through the channel by its own weight in the direction of its spool axis. The channel has a cross section that permits admission of the cartridge in only one direction. The device includes a mechanism to turn the cartridge into a position in which the spool axis is aligned horizontally. The devices also includes a mechanism for unwinding and separating the film from the spool in a light-impervious housing. A mechanism turns the empty cartridge so that its spool axis is vertical, with a prescribed orientation. A replaceable magazine sequentially collects and orders a plurality of empty cartridges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 13, 1998
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Helmut Zangenfeind, Reinhart Wuerfel, H. Peter Mihm, Vasile Gherasoiu, Juergen Brunner
  • Patent number: 5703700
    Abstract: A transparency to be printed is scanned to generate density values which are used to determine the degree of exposure of the transparency. The transparency is further scanned to generate signals representing an image of the transparency. The scanner which is employed for the latter scanning procedure and produces the signals has a linear scanning range and, based on the degree of exposure of the transparency, the illumination intensity or integration time of this scanner is controlled such that the master is scanned within the linear range. The signals generated by the scanner are corrected using a characteristic line selected in dependence upon the degree of exposure of the transparency, the color temperature and/or the film type. The corrected signals are processed to additionally enhance the image of the transparency and are then used to print the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 1995
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1997
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Klaus Birgmeir, Hermann Waibel
  • Patent number: 5699451
    Abstract: The gray balance of a color copying apparatus is adjusted by generating three sets of test signals respectively representing red, green and blue components of a test image. The test image is modified by operating on each set of signals with a respective characteristic line. The characteristic lines are stored in look-up-tables constituting part of the apparatus. Each characteristic line has a first point corresponding to a first location of the modified test image and a second point corresponding to a second location of the modified test image. A first copy of the test image is made and the red, green and blue densities of the copy at the first location determined. If any of these densities deviates from a reference value, the corresponding characteristic line is adjusted so that the respective density assumes the reference value. A second copy of the test image is now made and the red, green and blue densities of the copy at the second location determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1993
    Date of Patent: December 16, 1997
    Assignee: AGFA-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Klaus Birgmeir, Hermann Waibel
  • Patent number: 5679504
    Abstract: A color photographic silver halide material which contains as photosensitive layers on a support at least one red-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing at least one cyan coupler, at least one green-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing at least one magenta coupler and at least one blue-sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing at least one yellow coupler, in which, above a photosensitive layer (seen from the support outwards), at least one further layer is provided which contains a colorless compound or combination of colorless compounds, which under processing conditions after exposure gives rise to a uniform, slight color density of a predetermined color and predetermined density over the entire surface, allows correction of the print densities without sensitivity being reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 21, 1997
    Assignee: Agfa-Gevaert Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Ralf Buscher, Peter Bell, Johannes Willsau, Hans-Ulrich Borst