Abstract: Processing apparatus for photographic film, particularly intraoral xray film, in which the various processing stations are positioned in a circle about a central rotatable column. The column has an external spiral groove in which rides a pin carried by, and extending into the bore of, a hub which fits around the column. Rotation of the column moves the hub up or down, depending upon the direction of rotation. The hub carries a plurality of arms equal in number to the number of stations, seven in the apparatus disclosed. Each arm has a magnet for attaching a novel film holder which is detachable at the unloading station. After loading a film holder with film to be processed, the holder is loaded into the machine through a spring-pressed loading door onto a loading platform which moves the film holder upwardly to engage it with one of the arms when the door is closed.

Abstract: A skip-field guard-bandless video tape recorder records and plays back adjacent tracks on a video tape with two closely adjacent heads of opposing head gap azimuth angles (to suppress cross-talk), only during alternate (odd) half-rotations of the head drum. Unavoidable cross-talk of synchronization pulses from adjacent tracks does not create visible interference or timing errors during playback by virtue of a special offset angle .theta..sub.1, between the adjacent recording heads, proportional to the linear offset distance between adjacent tracks. During playback, skipped fields are "filled-in" by a repetition of each recorded field through a second (duplicate) pair of closely adjacent heads of opposing azimuth positioned to retrace the recorded tracks during the other alternate (even) half-rotations of the head drum. An offset angle .theta..sub.2 between the two head pairs (i.e.

Abstract: A film video player/printer allows an operator to display a video image of a photographic film in a normal orientation while magnifying and composing the magnified image according to a desired format (vertical or horizontal) portrayed by the display. Reticle-generating circuitry selectively rotates a rectangular reticle centered on the display, the reticle portraying the border and thereby the format of a print to be made. A turntable serves for selectively rotating the film about an optical centerline of the film video player/printer, to provide for the display of the film image in the normal viewing orientation and to provide for a print corresponding to the image and format displayed. With the film being rotated about the optical centerline and with the aspect ratio of a vertical reticle being the reciprocal of the aspect ratio of a horizontal reticle, an optical print is made without any need to compose or magnify the image to compensate for any rotation of the film for printing.