Patents Examined by Richard A. Schacher
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Patent number: 5165678Abstract: A paper feed device for holding a stack of printing paper sheets, has a paper holder box, a paper support bed on which the paper sheets are adapted to be placed and an elevator mechanism for moving the paper support bed upward and downward, a sensor detects the height of the paper sheets, whereby at the time of supply of the paper sheets, the paper support bed is moved downward so that the level of the paper sheets can be at a predetermined height relative to an upper end of the paper holder box.Type: GrantFiled: May 16, 1991Date of Patent: November 24, 1992Assignee: Hitachi Koki Co., Ltd.Inventors: Masaaki Koseki, Makoto Kurosawa
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Patent number: 5165679Abstract: An apparatus for conveying sheets having various widths. The apparatus includes a hollow drum having a plurality of holes disposed on the outer circumferential surface thereof, a suction device for sucking air through the plurality of holes toward an interior of the drum, and a plurality of conveying belts wound on the hollow drum and adapted to be conveyed around the drum and in sliding contact therewith. The conveying belts are spaced apart from one another in the widthwise direction of the sheets so as to define gaps therebetween. Additionally, a plurality of spaced apart pressing belts are alternatingly disposed with respect to the conveying belts such that the pressing belts oppose the gaps between. In this manner, the widthwise ends of the sheets are contacted by the inside edges of a pair of conveying belts so as to convey the sheets in the proper direction.Type: GrantFiled: August 7, 1991Date of Patent: November 24, 1992Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Inventor: Noboru Kinomoto
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Patent number: 5163671Abstract: A ticket processing system in which a single ticket drive cylinder drives a ticket on a circular ticket guide path past stations for visibly printing and for magnetically encoding or bar encoding the ticket. A passive ticket inverter adjacent the circular ticket guide receives a ticket and guides a first end of the ticket into an inverting space while the drive cylinder rotates the second end of the ticket past the first end and draws the ticket, second end first and inverted, back into the circular ticket guide.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 1992Date of Patent: November 17, 1992Assignee: International Totalizator Systems, Inc.Inventor: James T. Walters
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Patent number: 5163672Abstract: An improved bill transport and stacking mechanism is provided for currency handling machines and is adapted for efficient transport and stacking of curled currency bills, documents and the like. The bill transport path is provided with members for exerting transverse bending forces on opposed side edges of a bill immediately before the bill moves away from positive contact with the transport path surface. The transverse bending forces effectively "stiffen" the leading longitudinal bill edge so as to counteract any tendency the bill has to curl away from sustained contact with the transport path. The arrangement prevents curled bills from conforming to their original curled shape and forces such bills to be positively relayed from the bill transport path onto stacker blades positioned immediately downstream thereof.Type: GrantFiled: August 15, 1991Date of Patent: November 17, 1992Assignee: Cummins-Allison Corp.Inventor: Douglas U. Mennie
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Patent number: 5163670Abstract: A dual bin paper feed tray is removably insertable into the standard height tray-receiving housing opening of an image reproduction machine such as a printer or copier. The tray has adjacent front and rear paper holding bin areas each configured to hold a stack of approximately 250 cut paper sheets, the overall tray thus being adapted to hold the entire contents of a standard one ream package of cut paper sheets. In operation, the loaded tray is inserted, front end first, into the housing opening and the machine's paper feed system operates to sequentially feed paper sheets from the front tray bin into the machine. When the machine's paper sensing system detects that the front bin has been emptied, a shift structure incorporating a motor-driven gear train and associated cam/follower apparatus is automatically operated to move the rear paper stack into the front tray bin for infeed to the machine.Type: GrantFiled: January 3, 1992Date of Patent: November 17, 1992Assignee: Compaq Computer CorporationInventors: Charles A. Sellers, David P. Eichberger, Steven J. Lau, Mark H. Ruch, Nicholas G. Forlenza, Roger Q. Paulsel
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Patent number: 5163527Abstract: A driven shaft is provided having a free end portion upon which a drive wheel is mounted for rotation relative to the driven shaft and for shifting longitudinally therealong between first and second positions. Drive structure is provided for drivingly connecting the driven shaft to the wheel when the wheel is in the first position thereof and which ineffective to maintain the drive connection between the shaft and the wheel when the wheel is in the second position thereof. Structure is provided for yieldingly biasing wheel the wheel toward the first position thereof and the wheel shaft include axially spaced abutment surfaces between which the narrow end of an elongated wedge is disposed, the elongated wedge being mounted from the shaft for longitudinal shifting of the wedge radially of the shaft.Type: GrantFiled: April 8, 1991Date of Patent: November 17, 1992Inventor: Kempton A. Eveleth
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Patent number: 5161793Abstract: Rolls of individual plastic bags are formed on apparatus that overlaps the bags before the bags are fed into the roll to provide a compact roll of individual bags. The apparatus overlaps portions of the bags so that a plurality of bags can be continuously fed into the roll even though the bags are not mechanically connected end-to-end to adjacent bags on the roll.Type: GrantFiled: February 6, 1991Date of Patent: November 10, 1992Assignee: FMC CorporationInventors: Ronald L. Lotto, Ernest H. Teske, Peter Hatchell
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Patent number: 5160130Abstract: A stripper finger separates a substrate from a fuser member in an electrophotographic printing apparatus. The stripper finger is a member defining an edge in the form of a symmetrical convex arc across the width of the member. The thickness of the member decreases from a chord through the convex arc perpendicular to the axis of symmetry of the arc, to the edge.Type: GrantFiled: November 25, 1991Date of Patent: November 3, 1992Assignee: Xerox CorporationInventors: Paul M. Fromm, Timothy R. Jaskowiak
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Patent number: 5158276Abstract: The invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus comprising a first mounting position for mounting a first accommodating device accommodating sheets therein, a second mounting position for mounting a second accommodating device accommodating sheets therein, a first sheet feeding device for feeding the sheet from the first accommodating device mounted to the first mounting position, a second sheet feeding device for feeding the sheet from the second accommodating device mounted to the second mounting position, and a support means for supporting the first accommodating device or for supporting a third accommodating device accommodating sheets therein and having such a size as to occupy the first and second mounting positions in a position where the sheet can be fed by the first sheet feeding device from the first or third accommodating device.Type: GrantFiled: July 31, 1991Date of Patent: October 27, 1992Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Akihiro Toma
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Patent number: 5156391Abstract: An apparatus and method to deskew sheets in a short paper path in an electrophotographic printing machine by differentially driving two sets of rolls so as to create a paper buckle buffer zone in the sheet and then differentially driving a roll set to correct the skew while the sheet is still within the nips of multiple drive roll sets. Contrary to stalled roll techniques, leading edge damage to sheets is eliminated as the deskewing rolls are initially traveling at the same velocity as the sheet.Type: GrantFiled: November 4, 1991Date of Patent: October 20, 1992Assignee: Xerox CorporationInventor: George J. Roller
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Patent number: 5156387Abstract: A sheet feed mechanism for attracting and feeding stacked sheet-like members such as photographic films, one by one from a magazine, has a suction cup for developing a vacuum to attract the sheet-like members under suction. The suction cup comprises a base body including a panel member having an opening extending from one surface to another surface thereof, the opening being adapted to be connected to a vacuum source. The base body further includes a peripheral wall, joined to the other surface of the panel member and having wavy edges. The suction cup has a flexible suction skirt attached to and extending from the wavy edges of the peripheral wall, the flexible suction skirt being pressable against a sheet-like member.Type: GrantFiled: October 10, 1990Date of Patent: October 20, 1992Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Inventor: Yoshihiro Seto
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Patent number: 5156386Abstract: An invention document feeder is provided with a first sheet path for guiding a document from stacker to below after inversion, a second sheet path branched from the first sheet path in a switchback fashion for guiding the sheet to a process position, and a third sheet path branched from the first sheet path in a switchback fashion for discharging the sheet, discharged from the process position, to a receiver after inversion.Type: GrantFiled: January 15, 1992Date of Patent: October 20, 1992Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tadayuki Kitajima, Makoto Kitahara
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Patent number: 5154405Abstract: Translatable registration apparatus in an envelope turning machine. The apparatus includes: a deck for transporting a plurality of envelopes from an upstream location to a downstream location; a translatable carriage mounted to the deck and adjustable for upstream and downstream movement to accommodate different size envelopes; a yoke pivotably mounted at its upstream end to the carriage, the yoke having a stopping finger projecting upwardly at its downstream end; a solenoid located beneath the finger and mounted to the carriage; and a device engaging the solenoid and the yoke for moving the finger up above the deck and down below the deck, wherein, when the solenoid raises the finger above the deck, the stopping finger is locked in a raised position with no pressure bearing on the solenoid.Type: GrantFiled: August 1, 1991Date of Patent: October 13, 1992Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.Inventors: Sandra J. Graveson, Joseph H. Marzullo, Christopher DeBarber, Michael D. Ballard, Curtis L. Mrozinski
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Patent number: 5154412Abstract: A switch is located near a pair of register rollers for feeding a document sheet toward a platen glass. A pair of document-feeding rollers are located near a platen glass. When the switch detects the rear edge of the document sheet being fed by the register rollers, it generates a signal. Upon receipt of this signal, the document-feeding rollers rotate, thus feeding the sheet for a prescribed distance and placing it at a predetermined position on the platen glass. The image on the sheet, thus positioned, is copied. An upper roller and a lower roller contacting each other are arranged at the exit side of the register rollers. The document sheets are braked as they pass, one after another, through the gap between the upper and lower rollers and are fed at the same speed, thus reducing their speeds to one and the same speed in spite of their different inertias.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 1990Date of Patent: October 13, 1992Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha ToshibaInventor: Ken Iseda
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Patent number: 5154409Abstract: A film storage device for storing films fed by a feed system in a magazine includes a pressing mechanism, angularly displaced with respect to a direction in which a film is fed, for pressing the film into the magazine, a film feeder coupled to the pressing mechanism and angularly movable for forcibly delivering the film into the magazine along the direction, and a drive mechanism for moving the pressing means into the magazine. The film storage device also has a system for storing and displaying the number of films stored in the magazine, and also for detecting a mismatch between the types of the cassette and the magazine.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 1990Date of Patent: October 13, 1992Assignee: Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.Inventor: Masahiko Kondoh
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Patent number: 5154411Abstract: An image forming apparatus having a sorter, includes a plurality of bins for accommodating sheet materials, the bin each having sheet material sheet inlet portion, a discharging device movable along the inlet portions of the bins to discharge the sheet material to selected one of the bins, a sheet material accommodating tray other than the bins to accommodate the sheet materials, a guiding device switchable to direct the sheet material selectively to the bin or to the sheet material accommodating tray, and a device for switching the guiding device to direct the sheet material to the discharging device when the discharging device is at a position for discharging the sheet material to the bin, and the sheet material to the accommodating device when the discharging device is not at the position.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 1992Date of Patent: October 13, 1992Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Jun Saito, Tomoyuki Araki, Hironori Shido, Junichi Kimizuka, Toshiyuki Itoh, Kaoru Sato, Toshihiko Inuyama
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Patent number: 5152522Abstract: A sheetlike article conveying roller assembly comprises at least one rotary shaft, a plurality of rollers mounted on the rotary shafts at an optional positions, and a plurality of rings held on the rollers. The rollers on one of a pair of shafts are axially arranged in staggered position with those on the other shaft. The rings of the rollers on one of the pair of the rotary shaft and those on the rollers on the other rotary shaft overlap axially. A sheetlike article is conveyed by the rollers through a travelling path defined between the rotary shafts.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 1991Date of Patent: October 6, 1992Assignee: Hirakawa Kogyosha Co., Ltd.Inventor: Miyuki Yamashita
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Patent number: 5152520Abstract: A recording apparatus includes a two-piece universal non-dedicated high capacity feeder. The high capacity feeder has separate paper storage/handling and interface modules that enhance easy adaptation to most recorders by modification of only the interface module. Easy removal of the interface module from the cassette insertion slot of the recorder is made without disconnection of the paper handling module in order to make the slot available for any number of conventional cassettes.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 1990Date of Patent: October 6, 1992Assignee: Xerox CorporationInventors: Grant D. Farrell, Peter A. Sardano, Douglas W. Gates, David J. Fish, Gerald R. Sturnick
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Patent number: 5152514Abstract: In a universal document feeder with which either conventional cut sheet documents or computer form (CF) web fan-folded documents may be fed to an imaging station, with an upper document loading tray with an associated feeder, but also having a separate side feeding entrance for feeding computer form web to the imaging station, there is provided a CF guide such as a bail pivotally mounted to the document feeder with a web guide surface positionable substantially above the upper document loading tray and adjacent the side of the document feeder having the side feeder entrance. This forms guide provides a path thereover for unfolding and upwardly feeding out CF which is fan-fold stacked in the upper document tray, and then downwardly in a path to the side entrance feeder, defining a web slack loop.Type: GrantFiled: December 16, 1991Date of Patent: October 6, 1992Assignee: Xerox CorporationInventor: Murray O. Meetze
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Patent number: 5152519Abstract: Apparatus for singulating documents seriatim. The apparatus includes: a frame; a device for feeding documents from an upstream position to a downstream position; a separating roller rotatably mounted in the frame; a lower, take-away roller rotatably mounted in the frame situated downstream of the separating roller; and a pivotable housing pivotably mounted in the frame. The housing includes an upper, take-away roller situated above and adjacent the lower, take-away roller, and a separating stone situated above and adjacent the separating roller.Type: GrantFiled: January 24, 1992Date of Patent: October 6, 1992Assignee: Pitney Bowes Inc.Inventor: Edward M. Ifkovits, Jr.
