Sensor Located At The Conveyor And Controls The Separator Patents (Class 271/10.03)
  • Patent number: 7976009
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method of controlling sheets in a digital printing machine, wherein the arrival of at least one sheet in a transport path is detected at least once at at least one marked location of said transport path to improve the control of the sheets themselves during the printing operation. This is achieved in that at least one signal having a countable pulse is generated, in that a freely selectable but then fixed start of these pulses is assigned to the position of at least one frame (occupiable field) of frames—into which the minimum of one transport path segment is divided—relative to said marked location, and in that the minimum of one sheet is controlled with the use of this pulse at at least one other marked location of the transport path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2011
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventors: Martin Ruhk, Dieter Dobberstein, Uwe Weinlich
  • Patent number: 7959147
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a switchable transmission mechanism disposed between a pickup roller and a driving source, and switches the driving source between a first state for rotating in the forward direction to rotate the pickup roller, and a second state for not rotating the pickup roller, the forward direction is opposite to a direction in which the driving source is rotated to rotate a feeder roller in a sheet feed direction. The sheet feeding apparatus also includes a control portion rotating the driving source in the forward direction to rotate the pickup roller in a sheet supply direction, and switches the switchable transmission mechanism between the first state, when a sheet is supplied from a sheet holding portion, and the second state, when the sheet is fed by the feeder roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2011
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masatoshi Izuchi, Yuji Koga
  • Publication number: 20110133390
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device includes a controller having a processing unit to cause a first detector to detect an uppermost sheet, an elevator to lift and stop a sheet stack at a reference position, and a second detector to detect and store the position. In a primary operation of the controller, the uppermost sheet is attracted and conveyed for a given number of times while the second detector contacting it, a variation amount of angle is calculated and converted to a thickness of M sheets. With a driven contact roller retracted in a secondary operation, the sheet stack is lifted each time the uppermost sheets by a thickness of N sheets are attracted and conveyed based on the stored thickness of M sheets under N=XM (“M” represents a positive number, “N” represents a positive integer, and “X” represents a positive number of 1 or greater).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2010
    Publication date: June 9, 2011
    Inventor: Tetsuya Ohfuchi
  • Patent number: 7954805
    Abstract: A feeding device for feeding each of accumulated mail items P onto a conveyance path includes a pickup belt which runs along a pickup position, and a negative-pressure chamber opposing the pickup position with the pickup belt interposed therebetween. When each mail item is picked up from the pickup position and reaches a nip between conveyance belts, air is introduced into the negative-pressure chamber to eliminate negative pressure therein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Yusuke Mitsuya, Yoshihiko Naruoka
  • Patent number: 7950655
    Abstract: An apparatus for controlling reception of various kinds of paper media includes a reception unit to allow the various kinds of paper media to be received, a pick-up unit to pick up the paper media from the reception unit one sheet by one sheet, a transport unit to transport the picked up paper media, a separation control sensing unit mounted on the transport unit to sense whether the paper media is passing through a predetermined transport path, a skew sensing unit mounted on the transport unit to sense skew of the paper media, and a control unit to operate the pick-up unit when the separation control sensing unit senses the paper media passing, and to suspend a forward operation of the transport unit and operate the transport unit backwards when the skew sensing unit senses the skew of the paper media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Nautilus Hyosung Inc.
    Inventors: Chang Ho Park, Jin Yong Hwang
  • Patent number: 7950649
    Abstract: When two or more sheets of paper P are fed in an overlapped manner to a nip where a paper feed roller and a separation roller are in pressure contact with each other, a sub-CPU of a sheet feeding unit rotates the paper feed roller in a paper feeding direction and rotates the separation roller in a direction opposite to the feeding direction, so as to separate overlapping, and thereafter, it rotates the paper feed roller and the separation roller again in the feeding direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Norichika Katsura, Tadasu Taniguchi, Masahiko Fujita, Masaharu Kimura
  • Publication number: 20110122189
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a line-type recording head including a plurality of recording elements formed thereon, a holding unit configured to hold a sheet, a conveyance mechanism configured to convey the sheet held by the holding unit to a position of recording by the recording head, a shift mechanism capable of relatively shifting a position of the sheet in a sheet width direction with respect to the recording head while the sheet is fed from the holding unit to the recording position, and a control unit configured to control the conveyance mechanism and the shift mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2010
    Publication date: May 26, 2011
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenji Shigeno, Yasuhiko Ikeda, Masahito Yoshida, Koichiro Kawaguchi, Toshiki Takeuchi, Masato Izumi, Ryosuke Sato, Kengo Nieda
  • Patent number: 7922168
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method and a device for transporting a sheet, in particular after a sheet has been picked off a stack and separated therefrom, preferably for the feeder-side use in a printing machine, wherein the sheet is brought to a transport speed, preferably for transfer to another transport path. The object of the invention is to provide a more controlled method of the aforementioned type and a device allowing this method. In accordance with the invention, considering the method, this object is achieved in that the sheet is initially accelerated to a speed that is greater than the desired transport speed and only later, after a phase of this higher speed, said sheet is slowed to the desired transport speed, in which case the phase of the higher speed is dimensioned such that the affected sheet is in a nominal position at the appropriate time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Eastman Kodak Company
    Inventor: Stefan Schluenss
  • Patent number: 7913991
    Abstract: To achieve a high-speed feeder, improvement of a rotational rate is required similarly in a feed motor and a conveyance motor, resulting in high costs. Moreover, in simultaneous control of paper feed and discharge, improvement of a conveyance rate leads to a high discharge rate to deteriorate alignment of discharged paper sheets. To solve the problems, the rate of the feed roller is set higher than the rate of the conveyance roller. The rate of the feed roller is determined based on the rate of the conveyance roller and an allowable amount of a loop formed by a rate difference between the two rollers. In the simultaneous control of paper feed and discharge, a distance between pages is detected by a sensor to determine whether the distance is sufficient, from the relation between current feed and conveyance rates. In the case of insufficient distance, the conveyance roller is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Akira Okamoto
  • Patent number: 7909320
    Abstract: A feeding apparatus including a feeding roller for conveying a sheet, a separation roller for conveying the sheet in a reverse direction, a transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotational force to the feeding roller, a limited force reverse transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotational force to the separation roller through a torque limiter, a forced reverse transmission mechanism for directly transmitting the rotational force to the separation roller, a temperature detector and a controller, wherein the controller controls the separation roller to receive rotational force through the forced reverse transmission mechanism after the limited force reverse transmission mechanism transmits the rotational force to the separation roller, then allows the limited force reverse transmission mechanism to transmit the rotational force to the separation roller, or to rotate the feeding via the transmission mechanism and the limited force transmission mechanism to transmit the rotational force to the separ
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 22, 2011
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daisuke Ueda, Akira Kosugi, Shigeru Okazaki, Takanori Kanda, Kenichi Hosoi
  • Publication number: 20110062650
    Abstract: A sheet take-out apparatus includes a first separation unit, a second separation unit, a drawing roller for drawing sheets from a nip of the second separation unit, and a pinch roller rotating in contact with it. Overlapping sheets which pass the first and second separation units and are not separated are detected to be overlapped in a state that they are clamped by the nip of the drawing roller and pinch roller. When overlapping is detected, in a state that the rear ends of the overlapping sheets in the conveying direction are restricted by the nip, the drawing roller and pinch roller are stopped and the overlapping sheets are re-separated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 19, 2010
    Publication date: March 17, 2011
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Yusuke Mitsuya, Yukio Asari
  • Patent number: 7905484
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus capable of obtaining a sufficient conveying force for pulling back double-fed overlapping sheets to a stacking tray side. A sheet feeding member feeds sheets incoming from a stacking tray which stacks the sheets into a conveying pass. A separating member separates the sheets fed to the conveying pass by the sheet feeding member one by one. A double feed detection sensor generates an output for detecting double feed of sheets fed to the conveying pass. A rotatable member contacts the fed sheet. A driving unit rotationally drives at least the rotatable member in a rotational direction for reverse feeding of sheets. A control unit controls the driving unit when the double feed of sheets is detected based on the output of the double feed detection sensor, such that the rotatable member is rotationally driven in the rotational direction for reverse feeding of sheets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Denshi Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroshi Komuro
  • Patent number: 7891648
    Abstract: An apparatus for gathering and/or assembling print products or supplements comprises a conveying section on a conveyor, along which feeding devices for supplying different types of print products are arranged. The feeding devices are driven with synchronous timing and are connected by respectively one drive to the conveyor. The conveyor and at least one feeding device are driven separately. A first measuring device is detects the position of a print product conveyed on a conveying section of the conveying track. A second measuring device is detects the position of a different print product located on a feed conveyor of one of the feeding devices. The measuring devices are connected to a control unit with computing capacity that is arranged to control the drives of the feeding devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Mueller Martini Holding AG
    Inventor: Christian Abegglen
  • Patent number: 7883083
    Abstract: A recording apparatus including feeding unit that feeds a medium, conveying unit that conveys the fed medium, recording unit that performs recording on the medium, and controlling unit that controls the feeding unit and the conveying unit, a measuring unit that measures a distance between the previous medium and the next medium after completing the preparatory feeding; and determining unit that determines whether or not the measured distance is a predetermined distance or greater, wherein, if the distance is the predetermined distance or greater, the controlling unit completely feeds the next medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Jun Fukasawa
  • Patent number: 7871068
    Abstract: A medium conveying apparatus for conveying a recording medium includes an apparatus body and a conveying control unit. A paper feeding unit is detachable mounted to the apparatus body and includes a record medium enclosing section and a paper feeding section. First and second conveying sections are downstream from the paper feeding section. A third conveying section is between the paper feeding section and the first conveying section. The conveying control unit controls the third conveying section to convey the record medium before the front edge of the record medium arrives at the first conveying section, controls the first and the third conveying sections to convey the record medium before the front edge of the record medium arrives at the second conveying section and stops the third conveying section from operating after the front edge of the record medium arrives at the second conveying section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Masato Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7866665
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device includes: a feed unit that feeds sheets from a predetermined position; a conveying unit that conveys the sheets fed by the feed unit toward an image forming position at which images are to be formed on the respective sheets; and a registration unit that is provided at an upstream of the image forming position and positions the sheets by being bumped with the sheets conveyed by the conveying unit, wherein the feed unit and the registration unit are configured to operate so that a first timing at which a precedent sheet is bumped to the registration unit and a second timing at which a subsequent sheet is fed by the feed unit matches when a plurality of sheets are consecutively fed by the feed unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2011
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Masaki Takahashi, Akihiko Enamito
  • Patent number: 7845629
    Abstract: To provide a sheet take-out apparatus for preventing double feed of sheets and controlling gaps to a desired value, a sheet processing apparatus, and a sheet take-out method. A take-out apparatus includes a supply structure for supplying postal matter to a take-out position, a take-out structure for taking out the postal matter from the take-out position, and a conveying structure for receiving and conveying the postal matter taken out on a conveying path. When a leading edge of the postal matter is held by the conveying structure, an absorbing operation of a vacuum pump is stopped and a moving speed of a take-out belt is reduced. Furthermore, when the postal matter is detected by a sensor, the take-out belt is stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 7, 2010
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Yusuke Mitsuya, Yukio Asari, Naruaki Hiramitsu, Tetsuo Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7810808
    Abstract: A register roller conveys a recording sheet to a transfer position. A sheet feed roller conveys the recording sheet toward the register roller. A conveyance control unit controls rotation-start timings of the register roller and the sheet feed roller in such a manner that a rotation-start timing of the sheet feed roller is prior to a rotation-start timing of the register roller at a time of starting a registering process to convey the recording sheet to the transfer position at a right timing with the image formed on the image carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunsuke Hamahashi
  • Patent number: 7806401
    Abstract: A medium feeding apparatus includes a feeding roller for picking up a sheet member, a separating member pressed against the feeding roller by a predetermined pressing force, for separating the sheet members sheet by sheet, a conveyance roller for conveying the separated sheet member, a sheet member detector for detecting the sheet member, disposed at an upstream side with respect to the conveyance roller in a direction of conveying the sheet member, and a pressing force varying processor for varying a pressing force during a period after the sheet member detector detects the sheet member before the conveyance roller starts conveyance of the sheet member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Oki Data Corporation
    Inventor: Moriaki Fukao
  • Patent number: 7798484
    Abstract: A sheet feeder including: a storing unit that stores a plurality of sheets of recording medium; a retaining unit provided at an edge of the recording medium that is stored in the storing unit, and having an inclined surface that is inclined to a surface of the recording medium and a protrusion member that retains the edge of the recording medium in a state being protruded from the inclined surface to be in contact with the edge of the recording medium; a sheet feeding mechanism that conveys the recording medium stacked in the storing unit toward the retaining unit and feeds the recording medium; and a protrusion amount adjusting mechanism that adjusts a protrusion amount of the protrusion member from the inclined surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Koji Takito, Singo Ito
  • Patent number: 7797078
    Abstract: There is provided a sticky note supply device that separates an uppermost sticky note from a stacks of sticky note one by one so as to discharge to the outside of the device from a discharge section. The sticky note supply device includes a transport unit that separates the sticky note to discharge the sticky note to the outside of the device from the discharge section, a control unit that controls the drive of the transport unit, and a detecting unit that is provided in the discharge section so as to detect whether the sticky note is present or not. When a next sticky note starts to be transported after the sticky note is completely transported by the transport unit and the detecting unit detects the presence, the control unit prohibits the transport unit from being driven.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hideki Sakano
  • Patent number: 7775519
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacking section configured to stack a number of sheets, a sheet feeding mechanism configured to feed the sheet stacked on the sheet stacking section one by one, and an intermediate conveying device configured to convey the sheet fed from the sheet feeding mechanism to an image forming apparatus. The intermediate conveying device includes a plurality of sheet conveying devices arranged in an intermediate sheet conveying path at certain intervals to convey the sheet fed from the sheet feeding mechanism, at least one driving device configured to drive each of the plurality of sheet conveying devices, and a plurality of sheet detecting devices arranged in the intermediate sheet conveying path at certain intervals to detect a sheet length by detecting at least one of a leading edge and a trailing edge of the conveyed sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 17, 2010
    Assignee: Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mituru Takahashi, Tomotaka Osada
  • Patent number: 7748694
    Abstract: A sheet carrying device includes: a pickup roller sending out a sheet on a sheet mounting tray into a carrying path one sheet at a time; a sheet carrying device rotating the pickup roller; a control section controlling a roller first driving motor; and a carrying delay detecting section detecting delay in sheet carrying carried out by the pickup roller. The control section controls the roller first driving motor, in a case where the delay in the sheet carrying is detected by the carrying delay detecting section, so that (i) the pickup roller once stops and then restarts rotating and (ii) a start-up acceleration of the pickup roller, which start-up acceleration is an acceleration from the restart of rotation to arrival at a predetermined speed, becomes lower than a first start-up acceleration from start of rotation of the pickup roller to arrival at the predetermined speed in a case where there is no delay in the sheet carrying.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazutaka Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 7748693
    Abstract: A sheet carrying device includes a pickup roller sending out a sheet to a carrying path one by one from a document mounting tray, a roller first driving motor rotating the pickup roller, a control section controlling the roller first driving motor, and a slip detecting device detecting whether the pickup roller slips in an amount not less than a predetermined amount in carrying the sheet. Detecting that the pickup roller slips, the control section controls the roller first driving motor to perform a slip-settling operation for decreasing a start-up acceleration of the pickup roller from a time when starting to rotate to a time when reaching a predetermined speed. This allows reliably carrying a sheet and suppressing a decrease in a carrying speed of the sheet in order to prevent a decrease in a speed of a process including sheet carrying, even when the pickup roller slips in feeding the sheet from the sheet mounting tray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2010
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazutaka Matsumoto
  • Publication number: 20100148423
    Abstract: An original-feeding device includes an original tray, a pickup roller configured to be lowered onto originals stacked on the tray and to feed one of the originals, the pickup roller configured to be lifted up after the feeding, a conveyor configured to convey the fed original, a length detector configured to detect a length of the conveyed original, an original sensor configured to detect a trailing edge of the conveyed original, and a controller configured to control the pickup roller either in a first mode in which the pickup roller is lowered in accordance with a detected length of the original or in a second mode in which the pickup roller is lowered at the detection of a trailing edge of the original. The controller changes the first mode to the second mode if lengths of the originals detected by the length detector vary.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2009
    Publication date: June 17, 2010
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventors: Kenji Morita, Shigemichi Hamano, Nobuo Sekiguchi, Akiko Kanno, Satoshi Seki
  • Publication number: 20100117290
    Abstract: A sheet feeding unit includes a side warm-air mechanism that blows air toward a side surface of a sheet stack S from a warm-air outlet. The sheet feeding unit controls the lift mechanism so as to perform a sheet separating operation every time a predetermined number of sheets P are fed during a continuous sheet feeding operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2009
    Publication date: May 13, 2010
    Applicant: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Sachio Izumichi
  • Publication number: 20100066004
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes: a sheet loading unit configured to load a plurality of sheets; a sheet feeding unit configured to feed the sheets loaded on the sheet loading unit; a light emitting unit configured to irradiate a sheet loaded on the sheet loading unit; an image sensor disposed at a position opposing the sheet loaded on the sheet loading unit and configured to sense an image reflected with light irradiated by the light emitting unit; and a trailing edge detection unit configured to cause the image sensor to repetitively perform sensing during sheet conveyance by the sheet feeding unit, compare images sensed by the image sensor, and detect a trailing edge of the sheet currently being conveyed from the sheet feeding unit based on a determination of an area where a pattern remains unchanged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2009
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Applicant: CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA
    Inventor: Mitsuo Shiraishi
  • Patent number: 7677554
    Abstract: A recording medium transfer apparatus includes a motor control unit for controlling the motor to rotate at higher speed when the recording medium is fed to the liquid ejection area than that when the recording medium is discharged out of the liquid ejection area, and a feed control unit for controlling a next recording medium to be fed simultaneously with discharge of the recording medium, if a position of a rear end of the recording medium when recording or printing has been finished is situated upstream of a predetermined position, which is upstream of the discharge roller as much as a distance between a feed start position of the recording medium and the liquid ejection area, whereas controlling the next recording medium to start to be fed after discharge of the recording medium has been finished, if the position of the rear end of the recording medium when recording or printing has been finished is situated downstream of the predetermined position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Yasuhiko Yoshihisa, Kosaku Nobuta
  • Patent number: 7673869
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet mounting part for mounting plural sheets thereon, a sheet feeding part having a sheet feeding roller for feeding one of the plural sheets mounted on the sheet mounting part to a sheet conveying path by rotating the sheet feeding roller, a sheet detecting part for detecting the sheet fed by the sheet feeding part on the sheet conveying path, and a control part for controlling the rotation of the sheet feeding roller. The sheet feeding roller repeats an operation of rotating and stopping in a predetermined interval in accordance with the control of the control part during a period which begins when starting the feeding of the sheet and ends when detecting the sheet on the sheet conveying path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Shunsuke Hamahashi
  • Publication number: 20100044950
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, a sheet transport apparatus is provided with a registration roller, a sheet transport path, a first optical sensor, a second sensor that detects the presence or absence of a sheet at an upstream side of the first optical sensor in a sheet transportation direction Xd, and a sheet transportation control unit that stops the driving of the registration roller after an elapse of a transportation time after the detection of sheet absence following sheet presence by the first optical sensor, wherein the sheet transportation control unit does not perform control with sheet detection by the first optical sensor within a detection restricted time after predetermined sheet detection by the second sensor when the sheet is of a specific type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2009
    Publication date: February 25, 2010
    Inventors: Norichika KATSURA, Toshiki Ohgita, Yasuaki Fukada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi
  • Publication number: 20100013142
    Abstract: A method of singulating overlapping items includes receiving the overlapping items in a singulation device, the device including a first transport element configured for rotation in a first direction and a second transport element in opposing relation to the first transport element, wherein the second transport element is configured for rotation in a second direction opposite to the first direction. The method further includes rotating the first transport element at a first transport speed, rotating the second transport element at a second transport speed substantially equal to the first transport speed, conveying the overlapping items between the transport elements along a transport path, decreasing the second transport speed to singulate the overlapping items, decreasing the first transport speed to reduce a speed of a lead item, and transporting the lead item away from the singulation device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 26, 2008
    Publication date: January 21, 2010
    Applicant: Pitney Bowes Inc.
    Inventors: David W. PURCELL, Steven J. Dacunha, Richard F. Stengl
  • Patent number: 7635127
    Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus for separating and feeding stacked sheets one by one, includes a separation roller which rotates and applies a feeding force to a sheet of stacked sheets, a friction member which opposes the separation roller and which applies friction against the feeding force, and a rotation speed controller which controls a rotation speed of the separation roller. The rotation speed of the separation roller varies between a first speed and a second speed. The separation roller rotates at the first speed when separating a first one of the stacked sheets. The separation roller rotates at the second speed when separating sheets after separating a predetermined number of the stacked sheets. The first speed is slower than the second speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 22, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kazutoshi Kuse
  • Patent number: 7621523
    Abstract: A feeding apparatus including a feeding roller for conveying a sheet, a separation roller for conveying the sheet in a reverse direction, a transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotational force to the feeding roller, a limited force reverse transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotational force to the separation roller through a torque limiter, a forced reverse transmission mechanism for directly transmitting the rotational force to the separation roller, a temperature detector and a controller, wherein the controller controls the separation roller to receive rotational force through the forced reverse transmission mechanism after the limited force reverse transmission mechanism transmits the rotational force to the separation roller, then allows the limited force reverse transmission mechanism to transmit the rotational force to the separation roller, or to rotate the feeding via the transmission mechanism and the limited force transmission mechanism to transmit the rotational force to the separ
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Daisuke Ueda, Akira Kosugi, Shigeru Okazaki, Takanori Kanda, Kenichi Hosoi
  • Patent number: 7597313
    Abstract: A sheet transporting device includes: a sheet feeding cassette; a transporting unit that transports the sheet from the sheet feeding cassette; a swing member including a swing position, which changes among a first state in which the sheet feeding cassette is separated, a second state in which the sheet feeding cassette is mounted and the sheet is not transported, and a third state in which the sheet is transported; a detecting unit that detects whether the swing position of the swing member is in the second state; and a control unit, wherein when the detecting unit detects that the swing position of the swing member is in a state other than the second state within a predetermined time interval from the time that the transporting unit extracts the sheet from the sheet feeding cassette, the control unit determines that the swing position is in the third state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Kenichi Dan
  • Patent number: 7591457
    Abstract: A printing medium transport apparatus and method and printing apparatus which is capable of properly transporting a printing medium by the cooperation of two rollers under independent drive without incurring the complication, size increase and price increase of the apparatus. In the course of transporting a sheet by the cooperation of feed and transport rollers, deceleration/stop control is made on feed and transport motors to be respectively driven such that the rollers are simultaneously stopped from rotating. When the transport roller stops from rotating that is located downstream side on a transport path of a printing medium in case the feed roller is rotating that is located upstream side on the transport path, the feed motor driving the feed roller is forcibly stopped.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masahito Yoshida, Atsushi Shimizu, Koji Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20090224461
    Abstract: To provide a sheet take-out apparatus for preventing double feed of sheets and controlling gaps to a desired value, a sheet processing apparatus, and a sheet take-out method. A take-out apparatus includes a supply structure for supplying postal matter to a take-out position, a take-out structure for taking out the postal matter from the take-out position, and a conveying structure for receiving and conveying the postal matter taken out on a conveying path. When a leading edge of the postal matter is held by the conveying structure, an absorbing operation of a vacuum pump is stopped and a moving speed of a take-out belt is reduced. Furthermore, when the postal matter is detected by a sensor, the take-out belt is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Yusuke Mitsuya, Yukio Asari, Naruaki Hiramitsu, Tetsuo Watanabe
  • Patent number: 7584954
    Abstract: A sheet feeder device includes a sheet accommodating section for accommodating a stack of sheets. There is a sheet pick-up section which can operate to feed each of the sheets toward a sheet feed path when abutting against the stack. A sheet separating section is also provided and it has a feed roller and a reverse roller which are located downstream of the sheet pick-up section and abut against each other. The reverse roller is supported on a rotation support shaft in a manner to allow the reverse roller to be fitted around and removed from the rotation support. The rotation support has opposite ends supported by a device body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Nagao
  • Patent number: 7584951
    Abstract: A conveying device which can determine whether an error occurred therein. When a transmission unit is in a transmission state, a sheet feed roller is driven by a DC motor to perform first driving for conveying a sheet up to a conveying roller. The occurrence of an error with respect to the sheet feed roller is determined based on information obtained from an encoder during the first driving. When the occurrence of an error is determined, second driving is performed. A conveyance error is determined based on a count value during the first driving and a count value during the second driving, which are both obtained from the encoder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2009
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Tsuyoshi Otani, Hiroyuki Kakishima, Shinya Sonoda
  • Publication number: 20090189332
    Abstract: An apparatus for separating overlapping parcels in a vertical position has separating sections arranged along a transport path immediately behind one another, and a drive controller for the separating sections. Drives of those separating sections, in which the most advanced upstream parcel is located are stopped immediately as soon as its front edge is detected in a reception position and a slip-free further transport is securely guaranteed. Number and length of the separating sections are selected in accordance with the range of parcel lengths and the rated transport speed so that a subsequent parcel located at a minimum gap distance is not yet located in the upstream rearmost stopped separating section. The drive of each stopped separating section is started again as soon as the rear edge of the preceding parcel has left this separating section or as soon as the subsequent parcel is located before a free separating section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 27, 2005
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Applicant: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Michael Schwarzbauer, Hauke Luebben, Oliver Kutzer
  • Publication number: 20090184457
    Abstract: There is provided a sheet feeding apparatus including a first feeding member that feeds at least one of the sheets from a discharge tray; a second feeding member that feeds the sheet fed by the first feeding member; a separating member, wherein a nip portion is formed between the separating member and the second feeding member, and when two sheets are entered the nip portion, the separating member separates one of the entered sheets from the other; an adjusting unit that changes a force of the separating member; a detecting unit that detects at least one of a distance by which the other of the entered sheets is transported beyond the nip portion and an advancing speed of the other of the entered sheets at the nip portion; and a controller that controls the adjusting unit based on a detection value of the detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2008
    Publication date: July 23, 2009
    Inventors: Kazuyuki Tsukamoto, Shin Takeuchi, Katsumi Sakamaki
  • Patent number: 7556253
    Abstract: An auto document feeder cooperated with an image processing machine defines a feeding path and has a base, a frame and a sensor device. The base has a background under the feeding path. The frame is mounted on the base. The sensor couples with the frame and has a sensor arm. The sensor arm has an optical sensor located in the feeding path and faced to the background of the base. The sensor device recognizes a sheet is present in the feeding path or not by that the optical sensor recognizes the energy of the light reflected from the background and the sheet. The sensor device also recognizes characteristic of the sheet by that the optical sensor recognizes the energy of the light reflected from the sheet. Therefore, the image processing machine executes different processes for the sheet according to the characteristic of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2009
    Assignee: Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Wei-Yuan Peng, Min-Hsi Liu, Wei-Fong Liu
  • Patent number: 7537207
    Abstract: In a device for singulating vertically positioned flat mailings from a stack of mail, at least two discharge rockers are disposed on top of one another, wherein the discharge rockers are adjacent to revolving second discharge belts that are arranged in a fixed manner along the path of travel. A supporting element in relation to which the stack of mail is aligned ends at a defined distance from the undeflected discharge rockers. A flexible, elongated retaining element is arranged in a resiliently pressed manner from the end of the supporting element to the beginning of the second discharge belts located downstream of the discharge rockers and further on to the discharge rockers and to further discharge belts of successive singulating stages. The distance of the supporting element from the leading end of the second discharge belts relative to the direction of travel is greater than the maximum permissible length of a mailing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2009
    Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft
    Inventors: Oliver Kutzer, Hauke Lübben, Michael Schwarzbauer
  • Patent number: 7537213
    Abstract: An individual sheet member output control method used in a sheet member dispenser to control reversing of a transferring roller set for a secondary dispensing by a dispensing roller set when a sensor detected delivery of overlapped sheet members toward a sheet member outlet. The reversing and re-dispensing procedure is repeated to have overlapped sheet members be separated, and the transferring roller set is reversed to move overlapped sheet members backwards and then the machine is shut down for examination if overlapped sheet members still cannot be separated after the reversing and re-dispensing procedure has been repeated a predetermined number of times.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2009
    Assignee: International Currency Technologies Corp.
    Inventors: Hung-Yi Chang, Chih-Ching Liao
  • Publication number: 20090115120
    Abstract: A sheet take-out apparatus includes a first separation unit, a second separation unit, a drawing roller for drawing sheets from a nip of the second separation unit, and a pinch roller rotating in contact with it. Overlapping sheets which pass the first and second separation units and are not separated are detected to be overlapped in a state that they are clamped by the nip of the drawing roller and pinch roller. When overlapping is detected, in a state that the rear ends of the overlapping sheets in the conveying direction are restricted by the nip, the drawing roller and pinch roller are stopped and the overlapping sheets are re-separated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2009
    Publication date: May 7, 2009
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Yusuke MITSUYA, Yukio Asari
  • Patent number: 7527256
    Abstract: In a friction sheet feeder for feeding sheets to an inserting machine, paper guide extensions are provided, connected to paper guides on the feeder and positioned and adapted to guide each sheet both laterally and vertically to the necessary position for the inserting machinery to which it is attached. The extensions are mounted to the paper guides so as to be adjustable up and down to allow for precise delivery of the sheets being fed. Paper hold downs are attached to the paper guide extension and a sheet stop photo cue is attached permanently to at least one of the paper guide extension to stop sheet in precise position until the inserting equipment pulls the sheet away. Preferably, the paper guide extensions are mounted to the paper guides with a single locking bolt and nut.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2009
    Inventor: James C. Kaiping
  • Patent number: 7523932
    Abstract: In a facsimile device, a CPU determines whether or not a recording sheet is conveyed normally based on the conveyance state detected by a detecting portion. When the CPU determines that the recording sheet has been conveyed normally, the CPU increases the conveying speed in a stepwise manner based on the current conveying speed until the conveying speed reaches maximum speed. Therefore, according to the present facsimile device, when conveyance of the recording sheet is normally performed at a specified conveying speed, the number of failures of conveyance of the recording sheet can be reduced compared to a facsimile device, in which the conveying speed is set at maximum speed of conveyance by a sheet feed roller. Also, the recording sheet can be conveyed at as high speed as possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Hiroshi Morisaki, Jun Morikawa, Kazuhiro Hayamizu, Jun Okajima
  • Patent number: 7513501
    Abstract: Paper feeding device (33) for ink jet photographic printers, comprising a paper feeding motor (83) for preparing and feeding sheets to be printed (26) for printing. The feeding device (33) is characterized in that it comprises a changeover mechanism (149) disposed downstream of the paper feeding motor (83) and suitable for activation in response to predetermined operating conditions of the printer for moving a sheet (26) at high speed in the preparation stage and at high resolution in association with printing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2009
    Assignee: Telecom Italia S.p.A.
    Inventors: Claudio Vernetti, Riccardo Nicolari, Fabio Dondi, Mauro Mondino, Mario Manzone
  • Publication number: 20090057984
    Abstract: A sheet carrying device includes: a pickup roller sending out a sheet on a sheet mounting tray into a carrying path one sheet at a time; a sheet carrying device rotating the pickup roller; a control section controlling a roller first driving motor; and a carrying delay detecting section detecting delay in sheet carrying carried out by the pickup roller. The control section controls the roller first driving motor, in a case where the delay in the sheet carrying is detected by the carrying delay detecting section, so that (i) the pickup roller once stops and then restarts rotating and (ii) a start-up acceleration of the pickup roller, which start-up acceleration is an acceleration from the restart of rotation to arrival at a predetermined speed, becomes lower than a first start-up acceleration from start of rotation of the pickup roller to arrival at the predetermined speed in a case where there is no delay in the sheet carrying.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2008
    Publication date: March 5, 2009
    Inventor: Kazutaka MATSUMOTO
  • Patent number: 7497430
    Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes image forming and sheet feeding mechanisms. The sheet feeding mechanism includes a bottom plate, a first roller, a separator including second and third rollers, and a sensor. The bottom plate loads sheets. The first roller feeds an uppermost sheet of the sheets loaded on the bottom plate. The separator separates the uppermost sheet from the other sheets when a plurality of sheets are fed by the first roller. The sensor is disposed between heads of the sheets loaded on the bottom plate and the separator and detects the uppermost sheet fed by the first roller. The image forming apparatus further includes a controller for driving the first roller to feed a next uppermost sheet loaded on the bottom plate when the sensor does not detect the next uppermost sheet when a tail portion of the previous sheet passes the separator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2009
    Assignee: Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tadashi Kusumi
  • Publication number: 20090039588
    Abstract: In a paper feed system where a first paper feed mechanism takes out and transfers one by one a plurality of papers placed on a paper feed table in a stack and a second paper feed mechanism transfers the papers transferred by the first paper feed mechanism to an image forming section at a predetermined timing. A paper edge detector is provided between the first and second paper feed mechanisms to detect an edge of the paper, and the first paper feed mechanism is controlled to transfer the papers at a first speed and then at a second speed not higher than the first speed when the paper edge detector detects the leading edge of the paper, the second speed being determined on the basis of the timing at which the leading edge of the paper is detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2008
    Publication date: February 12, 2009
    Inventors: Masao SUZUKI, Hitoshi Arai