Abstract: A dual buffer internal to an imaging device uses a one-way, over-running clutch system to buffer multiple sheets of media between an internal drum recorder and a processor. The one-way over-running clutch system is incorporated into a drive system of a plurality of rollers that transport the media. An input set of rollers and an output set of rollers are driven independently to allow for two sheets of media to be buffered simultaneously and at different speeds if desired. The buffer is mounted pivotally within the imaging device to allow access into the imaging device and to allow installation of a take-up cassette as an alternative to the buffer.

Abstract: An automatic paper feed apparatus includes a sheet stacking device for stacking and storing a plurality of sheets, a rotary paper feed device brought into contact with the sheet to feed it, a biasing device for biasing the sheets stacked toward the rotary paper feed device, a separator having an inclined surface for bringing the sheet fed into contact with the inclined surface to separate only one sheet and supply the separated one sheet to the downstream side, and a maintaining device, brought into contact with the uppermost surface for maintaining the uppermost sheet at a position corresponding to the inclined surface against a biasing force of the biasing device.

Abstract: A paper transport apparatus that can reliably transport sheets of paper without the sheets overlapping or skewing, regardless of the type, size, thickness or condition of the sheets of paper. The paper transport apparatus includes a feed roller for feeding a sheet of paper along a transport path in a transport direction, and a retard roller for moving sheets of paper, other than a sheet to be transported by said feed roller, in a direction opposite to that of the transport direction. The feed roller and the retard roller are arranged in contact and in mutual opposition relative to the transport path. A rotational member is rotatably supported in opposition to the feed roller relative to the transport path. The rotational member is urged against the feed roller such that the rotational member can be moved away from the feed roller, at a location upstream of the position of contact between the retard roller and the feed roller, relative to the transport direction.

Abstract: A sheet aligning and registration device for a printing machine. In a stalled roll registration device there is provided a drive mechanism preceding the stalled roll which allows a sheet to move while within the drive nip. The drive mechanism uses a drive roll and an eccentric idler roll in contact therewith. The idler is biased against the drive roll by a compression spring such that as the eccentric idler roll rotates, the spring is alternately compressed and relaxed. When a sheet is driven through the drive mechanism and into the stalled nip, a buckle is formed which causes a force to be exerted on the drive nip which causes the eccentric roll to stall in the horizontal position in which little normal force is exerted on the sheet. The sheet is then free to deskew and align in the stalled nip. Once the sheet is aligned and deskewed, the stalled nip is actuated and the sheet is forwarded to a process station.

Abstract: A device for depositing folded products onto a conveyor belt utilizes a paddle wheel to receive the products from a folder. If the paddle wheel becomes overloaded, a guide device that has sheet metal guide plates is shifted away from the paddle wheel. This shifting is initiated automatically. The movement of the guide device creates a space or pocket for the accumulated folded products.

Abstract: A belt feeding device including a plurality of elastic rolls each having a plurality of disklike elastic fins arranged in an axial direction, and a belt member wrapped around a plurality of rolls inclusive of the elastic rolls and adapted to be circularly moved. Each elastic roll is formed by finishing the outer circumferential surfaces of the elastic fins to a given outer diameter with a given directionality from one axial end to the other axial end of the roll, and the given directionality of finishing of at least one of the elastic rolls is opposite to that of the other elastic rolls. Accordingly, the walk of the belt member due to the incompleteness of forming of the elastic roll around which the belt member is wrapped can be prevented to reduce an edge force acting on the side edge of the belt member.

Abstract: A sheet transporting device for use in an image forming apparatus includes a first and second sheet transporting members movable in widthwise directions of sheet to be transported, the first sheet transporting member for transporting the sheet in a lengthwise direction of the sheet in contact with one side end portion of the sheet, the second sheet transporting member for transporting the sheet in the lengthwise direction in contact with the other side end portion of the sheet; a moving mechanism for moving the first and second sheet transporting members in widthwise directions of the sheet: a sheet feeder provided at an upstream of the first and second sheet transporting members for holding the sheet temporarily and feeding the sheet to the first and second sheet transporting members; and a controller for controlling the moving mechanism and the sheet feeder to move the first and second sheet transporting members until they come into contact with the sheet while rendering the sheet feeder hold the sheet.

Abstract: A shelf aid dispensing device for periodic inventory control of commodity units in a displayed row. A rectangular panel with an elongated groove forms part of the device, the panel being adapted to be supported in horizontal condition over a flat bed. A draw bar is slidingly engaged into the groove for sliding displacement axially thereof, and is adapted for grasping engagement by an operator's hand. A slider plate is, slidingly carried to the panel and defines a flat abutment face for abutment by a rearwardmost commodity unit in the row. The slider plate may include ears in axial register with the draw bar rear rear portion, wherein the slider plate and the draw bar releasably interconnect and slidingly move together whenever the slider plate and the draw bar rear enlarged member come in abutting contact.

Abstract: Information indicating whether or not the current sorting operation is the final one is preset in a control section. Then, a bar code reader recognizes sorting information of paper objects by reading respective bar codes printed on the paper objects that are supplied one by one from a paper object supply section. A bar code erasing section erases the bar codes after the bar codes have been read, if the information indicating the current sorting operation is the final one is preset in the control section. If the current sorting operation is not the final one, the bar codes are not erased. The paper objects are sorted based on the sorting information recognized by the bar code reader, and stacked in stores. Being capable of erasing the bar codes printed on the paper objects before they are distributed to users, a paper object sorting apparatus of the present invention has an advantage that it is free from a possibility of giving the users uncomfortable feeling.

Abstract: A sorter for receiving sheets supplied from a sheet supply machine is formed of a sheet distributing section for distributing sheets supplied from the sheet supply machine, a plurality of bins situated near the sheet distributing section for receiving the sheets from the sheet distributing section, and a positioning device for positioning the bins to a home position, a sheet receiving position and a sheet taking position. The bins are arranged adjacent to each other and are movable relative to the sheet distributing section. The home position is located at one side of the sheet distributing section, wherein the bins are stacked adjacent to each other with a distance (L1) away from each other. All the bins may be located in the home position. The sheet receiving position faces the sheet distributing section to receive the sheet onto the bin, wherein a sheet receiving bin except a top bin is situated away from a bin located above the sheet receiving bin with a distance (L2).

Abstract: The seed metering method and apparatus utilizes a bank of individual metering discs within a pressurized singulating chamber wherein the seed cups around the peripheral edge of each disc are communicated with an air exhaust port through internal passages in the discs, thus, causing the seeds to cling to the seed cups as the discs rotate upwardly through the collection of seeds from the pressurized tank. As the seeds reach the far side of their circular path of travel on the discs, the access of the seed cups to the exhaust ports is terminated, allowing the seeds to release from the discs and drop into strategically located venturies associated with powerful conveying air streams. The venturies have the effect of sucking the released seeds instantly into the air streams so that the regular seed spacing established by the metering discs is maintained as the seeds enter the air transferring portion of the system.

Abstract: The present invention provides a sheet convey apparatus having a conveyor for conveying a sheet, a guide device for guiding the sheet conveyed by the conveyor along a passage, a detector for detecting thickness of the sheet conveyed by the conveyor, and a control for controlling a conveying speed of the conveyor in accordance with the thickness of the sheet detected by the detector.

Abstract: A dual drive document deskew and sheet feeder. Paper sheets of various sizes and thicknesses are joggled and aligned into a stack relative to one side and a top of the documents, for example, and the stack is placed in a hinged hopper which is pivoted to be raised relative to left and right special picker rollers. Left and right drive rollers located downstream in a feeding direction from the picker rollers are independently driven by left and right drive stepper motors. Sensors which interact with the leading edge of a document are used to sense whether the document is skewed relative to the feeding direction. A controller receives the outputs from the sensors, and the outputs are used to dynamically deskew the document so that it can be fed into a document receiving apparatus in a deskewed or aligned orientation. The special picker rollers subject the top document being fed to alternating high and low friction forces which minimizes double feeds.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sheet feeder unit with a suction head unit whereby sheets are removed individually from a sheet pile, fed to a belt table, and conveyed by the belt table to a sheet-processing machine. The suction head unit and the belt table are driven in phase with the sheet processing machine. Further, the belt table is driven in a periodic manner so that the transfer of sheets from the suction head unit to the belt table occurs at the slowest conveying speed of the belt table. The actual time of reaching the transfer position to the sheet-processing machine is recorded by the respectively foremost sheet located on the belt table and is compared with a reference time. Furthermore, the operating cycle of the suction head unit is corrected to be advanced or retarded in accordance with the deviation of the reference time from the actual time.

Abstract: A sheet feeding roller holding mechanism includes a sheet feeding roller which is detachably mounted on one end of a sheet feeding shaft. A body frame holds the other end of the sheet feeding shaft. The sheet feeding shaft is supported by a supporting member at the end of the shaft proximate the body frame, and a plate part is mounted to the body frame to support the supporting member. The body frame further supports a vibration preventive member. A part of the vibration preventive member abuts on a predetermined portion of the plate part, the supporting member or the sheet feeding shaft in a manner so as to prevent deformation. The vibration preventive part may include an elastic member. This roller holding mechanism may be used in an image forming apparatus.

Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus for a recording apparatus in which recording sheets set on a sheet insertion section are fed to a recording section and recording is effected, has, in the sheet insertion section, a sheet feeding roller formed into a cylindrical shape and having a circumferentially extending groove portion formed in the lengthwisely intermediate portion thereof, a guide having a guide surface for guiding the recording sheets to the sheet feeding roller, and a projected member formed projectedly from the guide surface of the guide toward the groove portion of the sheet feeding roller for separating and feeding the recording sheets one by one by the sheet feeding roller.

Abstract: 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.

Abstract: Paper regulating mechanism in a paper feed cassette for accommodating paper sheets , has: a regulation guide plate disposed below a bottom plate, on which are placed the paper sheets, and formed with a slit having a predetermined width; upper plate-shaped portions against which the paper sheets come into abutment; lower guided portions disposed at the lower ends of said upper plate-shaped portions and so loosely fitted in said slit as to easily move; rollers connected to said upper plate-shaped portions or said lower guided portions and rotatably abutting against said regulating guide plate; and lock members for fixing said upper plate-shaped portions in arbitrary positions with respect to said regulation guide plate.

Abstract: A sheet feed roller that rotates intermittently has a contact face for contacting with the surface of a sheet and a non-contacting face that does not contact with the surface of a sheet. A holder opposed to a circumferential face of the sheet feed roller has a recess on the surface thereof. A separation pad made of a material having a high coefficient of friction is disposed in a portion of the recess upstream in a feeding direction of a sheet, while a PET film serving as a noise deadening control element made of a material having a low coefficient of friction is disposed in another portion of the recess adjacent to the separation pad downstream in the feeding direction such that the surface thereof has a height substantially equal to that of the surface of the separation pad. The sheet feed roller is disposed such that the contact face thereof extends over both the separation pad and the noise deadening control element.

Abstract: An integrated holder/sifter for cleaning litter comprising: a container; a holding area in the container for receiving litter to be cleaned, and a sifting area containing openings positioned adjacent to the holding area where the container, the holding area, and the sifting area are integrated as a single component.