Abstract: A belt drive module and a corresponding method includes or employs a belt that moves along a path, at least one support roller or other structure that supports the belt as it moves along the path, a drive roller that effects movement of the belt along the path, a tension roller that applies a tension force to the belt in order to maintain engagement of the belt with the drive and/or support rollers, at least one processing station (e.g., an image processing station) disposed along the path that performs a process relative to a predetermined position of the belt, and a torque assist drive that applies a torque assist force Td at a location between the drive roller and the tension roller. Torque assist may be provided by a current limited DC motor or by a constant torque friction clutch applied to a roller, e.g., a stripper roller of an electrophotographic imaging system. Advantageously, the torque assist force Td facilitates accurate positioning of the belt (e.g.

Abstract: A belt drive module and a corresponding method includes or employs a belt that moves along a path, at least one support roller or other structure that supports the belt as it moves along the path, a drive roller that effects movement of the belt along the path, a tension roller that applies a tension force to the belt in order to maintain engagement of the belt with the drive and/or support rollers, at least one processing station (e.g., an image processing station) disposed along the path that performs a process relative to a predetermined position of the belt, and a torque assist drive that applies a torque assist force Td at a location between the drive roller and the tension roller. Torque assist may be provided by a current limited DC motor or by a constant torque friction clutch applied to a roller, e.g., a stripper roller of an electrophotographic imaging system. Advantageously, the torque assist force Td facilitates accurate positioning of the belt (e.g.

Abstract: An apparatus for controlling velocity variations in a belt wrapped about at least a first driven roller and a support structure, including a drive for driving the first driven roller so as to provide torque to the belt; and a dampener, in contact with the belt, for minimizing variations of the velocity of the belt, the dampener including a power supply for applying an electrical bias to generate a drag force on the belt.

Abstract: Manufacturing a drive system with a mating gear set with substantially reduced gear axis misalignment drive motion non-uniformity error with half-crowned gear teeth, crowned on only one side, to allow for simple and low cost gear molding, but with the mating gears mounted to oppositely mesh their respectively half-crowned sides. The amount of crowning may be in the range of approximately 75-100 microns.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing electrostatically charged particles from a surface such as the backside of an image bearing belt of the type found in an electrostatographic printing apparatus or a drive roller supporting an image bearing belt. The apparatus includes an electrically biased cleaning blade, a supporting device, and a housing for storing the particles removed from the surface by the cleaning blade.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing electrostatically charged particles from a surface such as the backside of an image bearing belt of the type found in an electrostatographic printing apparatus or a drive roller supporting an image bearing belt. The apparatus includes an electrically biased brush having a substrate and a multiplicity of conductive fibers extending outwardly to contact the surface to be cleaned, a supporting device, and a cleaning device for removing collected particles from the brush. The supporting device for the brush rotates, thereby moving the brush and causing clean fibers to contact the surface to be cleaned.

Abstract: An apparatus for removing electrostatically charged particles from a surface such as the backside of an image bearing belt of the type found in an electrostatographic printing apparatus or a drive roller supporting an image bearing belt. The apparatus includes an electrically biased foam pad having a conductive substrate and conductive foam material extending outwardly therefrom to contact the surface to be cleaned, a supporting device, and a cleaning device for removing collected particles from the foam pad. The supporting device for the foam pad rotates, thereby causing clean foam material to contact the surface to be cleaned.

Abstract: In a printing apparatus with a component such as an imaging surface having critical drive motion uniformity, there is provide a drive system with at least one meshing pair of rotatable first and second drive gears, with at least one gear having gear teeth with a crowned outer engagement edge, with crowning sufficient to substantially increase the drive motion uniformity of the drive system in spite of alignment variations of said first and second gear axes of gear rotation. Preferably each meshing gear has all its gear teeth only half-crowned, on only one side, to allow for simple and low cost gear molding, but the gears are mounted to oppositely mesh their respectively half-crowned sides. The amount of crowning may be in the range of approximately 75-100 microns.

Abstract: A device for encoding the position of a moving web, particularly a continuous photoreceptor belt in an electrophotographic printing apparatus, incorporates an encoding wheel for engaging an edge portion of the web, in combination with a long support member for supporting the remaining span of the web. Because the wheel is of a small width, the composite runout may be kept within acceptable limits for a lower cost compared to the long rollers of the prior art. The support member may include another roller for supporting the remaining span of the web or it may include a skid plate. The wheel can be manufactured within the required eccentricity and composite runout tolerances at a lower cost compared to prior art devices. The wheel can also be made with a larger diameter while the support roller can be of a compact construction to facilitate placement within the limited space in the printing device.

Abstract: A system of mounting a raster output scanner relative to a photoreceptor such that deskewing, focusing, and pitch adjustment of the aerial image are possible. A spring isolated ROS assembly having at least two ROS arms attaches to a backer bar assembly that locates the position of the photoreceptor. The backer bar assembly and the ROS assembly connect at one end using a ball and socket and at the other end using a ball and fork such that the center line of the balls form a scan line plane. The ball and socket form a reference connection at one end. At the ball and socket end the photoreceptor backer bar has a mounting arm that is flexible in one plane but rigid in a perpendicular plane. A deskew mechanism, beneficially a motor driven cam, flexes the backer bar mounting arm as required to deskew the scan line.

Abstract: A single pass, multi-color electrophotographic printing machine architecture uses a vertically oriented photoconductive belt. Transfer of the toner powder images occur at the lowermost portion of the photoconductive belt. The photoconductive belt is elliptically shaped, having a major and a minor axis. N image recording stations are positioned adjacent an exterior surface of the photoconductive belt on one side of the major axis thereof. N-1 image recording stations are positioned adjacent the exterior surface of the photoconductive belt on the other side of the major axis thereof. The image recording stations record electrostatic latent images on the photoconductive belt. This architecture optimizes image registration while minimizing the overall height of the printing machine.

Abstract: An encoder interface for interfacing an encoder having a first part defining a first axis to a structure having a second part defining a second axis substantially parallel to the first axis includes a portion for translating the first part with respect to the second part in a direction transverse to the first axis and a portion for rigidly rotationally stabilizing the first part with respect to the second part against a rotation of the first part about the first axis induced by a translation of the first part with respect to the second part in the direction transverse to the first axis.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a color printer which forms multiple latent images on the surface of a belt type photoreceptor in a single pass. The invention enables the placement of imaging stations on both a tensioned and non-tensioned side of the belt. On the non-tensioned, an asynchronous line at a time printer such as an LED print bar is used to form the latent image in response to video data signals. On the tensioned side of the belt, either synchronous type imagers, such as laser ROSs or asynchronous imagers such as LED print bars may be located to form the latent image. The leading edges of each image frame are registered according to known methods. Each scan line within an image frame is registered by comparing the belt speed beneath each of the imagers and generating a correction signal to the asynchronous print bar.