Figure 1-3. Floor model processor
7.
Print processors are versatile in what they can do and accomplish in a short time. By far the greatest
speed and efficiency is achieved by processing materials in continuous lengths. Commercial labs utilize print
paper in rolls up to several hundred feet long; short rolls may be spliced together to form greater lengths.
Similarly, roll and cartridge-load films are spliced into continuous lengths. Motion picture film is handled in the
same way. A leader strip or a roller-transport is used to pull/transport the material through the various solution
tanks, washing and drying stations. The material is moved at a constant speed; the size of the tank and the
length of the path through it, which is established by a multiple series of rollers, determine how long the material
remains in each solution. As the dry processed material emerges from the processor and moves past an
inspection of station, there may be attached to the processor equipment that will automatically trim, mount, sort,
and even package the results.
8.
It is important to know that mission requirements may differ from one Army photo lab to another
causing different equipment to be used from lab to lab. One lab may have a need for a large continuous print
processor for processing roll-type paper, i.e. a unit that gathers information, another may
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