Patents Examined by Michael C McCullough
  • Patent number: 7954813
    Abstract: A sheet conveying device that is capable of performing a stable sheet conveying operation without being influenced by a characteristic of a sheet. A sheet conveying device includes lots of conveying roller pairs configured to convey a sheet by nipping the same and conveying motors configured to drive the respective conveying roller pairs. A downstream conveying roller pair and an upstream conveying roller pair cooperate with each other to convey the sheet by nipping the same. A CPU controls the conveying motors such that the circumferential speed of the downstream conveying roller pair becomes lower than that of the upstream conveying roller pair. The speed difference in circumferential speed between the downstream conveying roller pair and the upstream conveying roller pair is changed according to a characteristic of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yuzo Matsumoto
  • 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: 7954812
    Abstract: An image processing apparatus stops the transport of a sheet when an access cover is opened to prevent the damage of the sheet, without additionally providing a sensor and has a transport member for transporting a sheet through an image processing unit; a driving mechanism for transmitting a driving force to the transport member; an access cover for opening a portion of a sheet transport path; and a driving switching unit for transmitting the driving force of the driving mechanism or cuts off the transmission of the driving force in operative association with the opening or closing of the access cover. The driving switching unit cuts off the transmission of the driving force to the transport member when the access cover is opened.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Masaya Shimmachi, Haruo Ishizuka, Tadashi Hanabusa, Kenkichi Sakuragi
  • Patent number: 7954815
    Abstract: A vacuum transport includes a segmented, rigid or solid articulated belt combined with a vacuum plenum in each segment of the belt. Using a rigid segmented belt with a vacuum plenum connected to each segmented belt section eliminates ordinarily encountered drag friction in conventional vacuum transports by reducing the force necessary to move the belt with media thereon while simultaneously improving the motion quality of the move by driving the articulated rigid belt from the top side of the belt in a flat section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Henry T Bober, Frank A Porter, James L Giacobbi, Adam D Ledgerwood, Aaron M Moore, Kenneth P Moore, Gregory A Ludgate
  • Patent number: 7954807
    Abstract: A sheet-feeding device includes a sheet-feeding cassette with a sheet holding surface for holding a sheet. A side wall extends up from the sheet holding surface. A sheet-restricting plate is in the cassette on a downstream side in the sheet-feeding direction for setting a position of the sheet in a width direction perpendicular to the sheet-feeding direction. A cassette accommodating section accommodates the sheet-feeding cassette drawably in a direction parallel to the sheet-feeding direction. A projection is on an upstream side in the sheet-feeding direction from the position of the sheet-restricting plate. The projection is formed by partially projecting the side wall of the cassette upward. A height of the projection exceeds a maximum height of a sheet stack that can be accommodated in the cassette, and a height of parts of the side wall other than the projection is lower than the maximum height of the sheet stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Yoshihiro Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 7954809
    Abstract: A sheet post-processing apparatus 100 includes bundle discharge rollers 6, a sheet detection sensor 31, a main tray 11, and a sheet hold device 32 having a plurality of hold portions 34a to 34c. When a sheet bundle is discharged from the bundle discharge rollers 6, the hold portions 34a to 34c rotate to a release position where the hold portions 34a to 34c stop holding the sheet bundle P stacked on the main tray 11, the main tray 11 moves downward to a wait position H2, and then, the hold portions 34a to 34c rotate to the lowest position, then the main tray 11 moves up to a hold position H1.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2011
    Assignee: Kyocera Mita Corporation
    Inventor: Takashi Kotani
  • 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
  • Patent number: 7950650
    Abstract: A feeding device includes a mounting portion which mounts media thereon, a feeding roller which feeds the mounted media, an edge-guide which moves in a widthwise direction of the mounted media which traverses a feeding direction of the mounted media and aligns both sides of the mounted media, and a curve-imparting portion which imparts a curve to the mounted media in a direction which intersects a moving direction of the edge-guide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Noriyuki Koyanagi
  • Patent number: 7946571
    Abstract: A method for controlling the feed of sheets to a sheet-fed printing press is provided for a sheet feeder unit comprising an individual drive assigned to each of a plurality of components provided for supplying the sheets in a stack, separating the sheets from a stack and supplying the sheets to the press. The method includes stopping at least two of the individual drives in a predefined position in a targeted manner when shutting down the feeder unit. The individual drives are operated in synchronization with one another during printing operation. The synchronization between the at least two individual drives is canceled when the sheet feeder unit is shut down. These drives are shut down individually and synchronized with one another when the sheet feeder unit is started up again such that in shutdown, each individual drive assumes a predefinable position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2011
    Assignee: Koenig & Bauer AG
    Inventor: Hans-Peter Weiss
  • Patent number: 7942406
    Abstract: A roll feeder reliably produces sheets obtained by cutting a web, as a pack of sheets arranged in a partially overlapping fashion with a quantity of overlap margin of the sheet suitable for use with a printing press and capable of easily controlling overlap. A roll feeder includes a rotary cutter for cutting a web to obtain cut sheets, a lower suction and conveyance belt element for sucking and conveying the sheets cut by the rotary cutter, a lift member for raising upwardly the tail edge of the cut sheet sucked and conveyed by the lower suction and conveyance belt element, and an upper suction and conveyance belt element for sucking the tail edge of the cut sheet raised by the lift member from above and conveying the cut sheet at a speed lower than the speed at which the lower suction and conveyance belt element conveys the cut sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Hinix Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Youichi Ootaki
  • Patent number: 7942401
    Abstract: The invention provides an ATM that can stably stack paper money by preventing the rotation of stack rollers when paper money is deposited. The ATM includes feed rollers, stack rollers, and elastic members. The feed rollers convey paper money separated one-by-one by pickup rollers onto a money withdrawal path, or convey paper money conveyed along a money deposit path into a recyclebox. Peripheries of the feed rollers are formed of rubber. Each of the stack rollers includes wings. When paper money is deposited, the stack rollers come in contact with the feed rollers. Peripheries of the stack rollers are formed of synthetic resin. The elastic members push the stack rollers against the feed rollers, and apply elastic forces to the stack rollers such that a frictional force between paper money and the stack rollers is smaller than that between paper money and the feed rollers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Nautilus Hyosung Inc.
    Inventor: Yun Seok Jeong
  • Patent number: 7942412
    Abstract: A drive control method for a sheet processing machine includes the steps of operating a driving motor of a sheet feed device which feeds a sheet to a sheet processing device that processes the sheet, in synchronism with a rotary member of the sheet processing device, and adjusting a rotary phase of the rotary member of the sheet processing device and a rotary phase of the driving motor of the sheet feed device relative to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2011
    Assignee: Komori Corporation
    Inventor: Toshiyuki Sato
  • Patent number: 7938390
    Abstract: A document feeding device comprises a document input tray, a document output tray placed above the document input tray, and a feeding mechanism provided for a feeding path (connecting the document input tray and the document output tray via a scanning position) to feed each document along the feeding path. The document output tray includes a reference tray and a pivoting tray (on the downstream side of the reference tray) pivotable with respect to the reference tray around a pivot shaft on the upstream side of the pivoting tray. The pivoting of the pivoting tray is restricted at a retracted position by a pivot restricting part when the pivoting tray has pivoted from a document stacking position to the retracted position. The pivot shaft is situated above an upstream end of a stacking surface of the pivoting tray when the pivoting tray is placed at the document stacking position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Shingai
  • Patent number: 7938394
    Abstract: A recording medium feeding device includes a recording medium cassette that is detachable from a main body and a recording medium retracting unit that retracts a recording medium lying on a recording medium feeding path back to the recording medium cassette. The recording medium cassette includes a lower tray that accommodates a recording medium, and an upper tray that accommodates a recording medium and is provided to be slidable with respect to the lower tray along a transport direction of the recording medium. The recording medium feeding device is provided with a unit for performing a retracting operation of the recording medium using the recording medium retracting unit in accordance with sliding of the upper tray in the transport direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroki Chino
  • Patent number: 7938391
    Abstract: An apparatus for feeding print products, conveyed in a flow, to a processing device. The apparatus includes a feeding device including a first conveyor and a downstream-connected second conveyor. A guide arrangement is provided with side-adjustable guide members having a longitudinal center axis which constitutes the longitudinal center axis relative to the conveyed flow of print products. The print products are aligned along the guide arrangement, and the guide arrangement is configured relative to the longitudinal center axis so that it can be adjusted transverse to the conveying direction of the print products.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Müller Martini Holding AG
    Inventors: Thomas Schober, Peter Geiser
  • Patent number: 7938395
    Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a driven roller that rotates in response to movement of a sheet, and a rotary encoder that detects a moving distance of the sheet based on rotation of the driven roller. The driven roller and the rotary encoder are connected by a gear unit having backlash. When the sheet moves in a reverse direction and thereby the driven roller rotates in reverse, the rotary encoder does not detect the moving distance of the sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: PFU Limited
    Inventors: Shoji Yoshida, Takeshi Kimura
  • Patent number: 7938398
    Abstract: A paper feeding apparatus used in a state where the apparatus accumulates paper sheets for an image forming apparatus to form images thereon and the paper feeding apparatus is attached to a main body of the image forming apparatus, wherein an engaging-holding member is provided for an exterior wall face of the paper feeding apparatus, and the engaging-holding member engages and holds the paper feeding apparatus with an exterior housing of the image forming apparatus so as to enable the paper feeding apparatus to move into/from the exterior housing of the image forming apparatus, is provided for an exterior wall face of the paper feeding apparatus, and wherein the engaging-holding member is provided for a specific one of the exterior wall faces of the paper feeding apparatus corresponding to the moving direction determined according to the specification of the image forming apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Kohichi Yamauchi, Nobuo Manabe, Kohichi Nakamura, Shinichi Takeda, Ayumu Oda
  • Patent number: 7938393
    Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a facsimile receiving function and one of a copy function and a printer function. On a shared sheet conveying path, sheets fed from a manual feed port and a cassette feed port are conveyed, and conveying rollers hold the sheet from the manual feed port in a removable state and is capable of conveying the sheet from the cassette feed port when no sheet from the manual feed port is being held. A memory is operable when image formation is not possible for an image received by the facsimile receiving function, to store the received image. It is detected that a sheet from the manual feed port is being held on the sheet conveying path when image formation for the received image is to be carried out on a sheet in the cassette feed port, a warning is given to have the held sheet removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2011
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yasuhiro Yako
  • Patent number: 7934718
    Abstract: A printing system with a pre-determined printing rate, in which a modular print media sheets feeding system feeds unprinted sheets to the printing system from at least two separate sheet separator/feeders and sheet stacks under the control of a programmed sheet feeding algorithm which alternately feeds the sheets into at least two separate fed sheet streams at a sheet feeding cycle time for each separator/feeder of approximately one-half or less of the printing system printing rate and with sheet feeding commands such that the separate sheet separator/feeders feed their respective sheets into their respective fed sheet streams at programmed times which allow the fed sheet streams to interleave into a single fed sheet stream at a sheet merging position at the full pre-determined printing rate of the printing system before being fed to the printing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventor: Robert A. Clark
  • Patent number: 7931263
    Abstract: A sheet feed apparatus, e.g., coupled to an image forming apparatus, can include: a main frame; a storage unit mounted on the main frame and configured with a capacity to store a large quantity of sheet-like material; a transporter mounted on the main frame and configured to supply the sheet-like material to the image forming apparatus; an additional unit adapted to be mounted on the main frame and operable to enhance a functionality of at least one of the sheet feed apparatus and an image forming apparatus; and a supporting frame mounted on the main frame in place of the additional unit, and further adapted such that the additional unit is mountable thereon; the additional unit being mounted on the supporting frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takahagi, Yutaka Shoji, Junji Shirakawa