Silver complex diffusion transfer process

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING AN IMAGE ON AN IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF: (1) EXPOSING TO A LIGHT IMAGE A LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL COMPRISING A SILVER HALIDE EMULSION LAYER AND AN EXTERNAL WATER-PERMEABLE COLLOID LAYER, SAID COLLOID LAYER BEING ADAPTED TO HAVE AN IMAGE FORMED THEREIN BY DIFFUSION OF A COMPLEXED SILVER HALIDE FROM SAID EMULSION LAYER, SAID LAYER BEING FURTHER ADAPTED TO ADHESIVELY TRANSFER AT LEAST A STRATUM THEREOF TO SAID IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL WHEN THE MATERIALS ARE BROUGHT INTO CONTACT, (2) IN ORDER TO DEVELOP THE LIGHT SENSITIVE MATERIAL AND PRODUCE THE DIFFUSION TRANSFER IMAGE, WETTING AT LEAST ONE MEMBER OF THE LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL AND THE IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL WITH AN AQUEOUS PROCESSING LIQUID CONTAINING DEVELOPMENT NUCLEI OR NUCLEI-ENGENDERING SUBSTANCE FOR PROMOTING REDUCTION TO METALLIC SILVER OF SAID DIFFUSED SILVER HALIDE AND BEING AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF FILM-FORMONG MATERIAL, AND PRESSING THE WETTED MATERIAL WHILE STILL MOIST AND THE OTHER MATERIAL TOGETHER IN THE PRESENCE OF A DEVELOPING AGENT AND A COMPLEXING AGENT FOR SILVER HALIDE, AND (3) SEPARATING THE LIGHT SENSITIVE MATERIAL FROM THE IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL TO CAUSE A PHYSICAL TRANSFER OF AT LEAST A STRATUM OF SAID COLLOID LAYER WITH THE DIFFUSION TRANSFER SILVER IMAGE FORMED THEREIN FROM SAID LIGHT-SENSITIVE MATERIAL TO SAID IMAGE-RECEIVING MATERIAL.