Abstract: Under the present invention, componentized costs for providing/producing an item are collected from a plurality of suppliers. The componentized costs include the fixed and variable costs associated with raw materials and production for providing the item according to various specifications and order quantities. When a buyer wishes to obtain the item, a particular order specification and a demand forecast for the item will be provided. Based on the particular specification, the demand forecast and the componentized costs, an optimal order quantity for the item will be calculated. Then, a total (lifetime) cost for providing the item will be calculated for each supplier. The supplier having the lowest total cost for the projected lifetime of the item will be identified to the buyer.

Abstract: Under the present invention, componentized costs for providing/producing an item are collected from a plurality of suppliers. The componentized costs include the fixed and variable costs associated with raw materials and production for providing the item according to various specifications and order quantities. When a buyer wishes to obtain the item, a particular order specification and a demand forecast for the item will be provided. Based on the particular specification, the demand forecast and the componentized costs, an optimal order quantity for the item will be calculated. Then, a total (lifetime) cost for providing the item will be calculated for each supplier. The supplier having the lowest total cost for the projected lifetime of the item will be identified to the buyer.

Abstract: Under the present invention, componentized costs for providing/producing an item are collected from a plurality of suppliers. The componentized costs include the fixed and variable costs associated with raw materials and production for providing the item according to various specifications and order quantities. When a buyer wishes to obtain the item, a particular order specification and a demand forecast for the item will be provided. Based on the particular specification, the demand forecast and the componentized costs, an optimal order quantity for the item will be calculated. Then, a total (lifetime) cost for providing the item will be calculated for each supplier. The supplier having the lowest total cost for the projected lifetime of the item will be identified to the buyer.

Abstract: Under the present invention, componentized costs for providing/producing an item are collected from a plurality of suppliers. The componentized costs include the fixed and variable costs associated with raw materials and production for providing the item according to various specifications and order quantities. When a buyer wishes to obtain the item, a particular order specification and a demand forecast for the item will be provided. Based on the particular specification, the demand forecast and the componentized costs, an optimal order quantity for the item will be calculated. Then, a total (lifetime) cost for providing the item will be calculated for each supplier. The supplier having the lowest total cost for the projected lifetime of the item will be identified to the buyer.

Abstract: Image defining toner is transferred to cut sheets and fused at one of two fuser stations. One station is positioned to fuse the image on one side when duplex copying or printing is selected. The other fuser station performs fusing when simplex copying is selected but fuses the second side copy for duplexing. When flash lamps are employed for the fuser station, the lamps are composed of multiple bays with a single power source coupled to each bay in sequence so that the power source size need only accommodate the power level demand of one bay. The time between trigger pulses is extended by commencing fusing with an intermediate bay followed by the initial bay and then the final bay as the image area requiring fusing passes along its path in proximity to the faces of the flash lamp bays.

Abstract: Universal sorting device for collating face-up, face-down, simplex and duplex copies outputted from a copier, offset press, or similar device. The sorting device includes a plurality of bins configured with a fixed module and a movable module. The fixed module includes a plurality of side walls orientated in a generally vertical direction. The movable module includes a throat plate having a plurality of openings with bottom walls orientated in a substantially horizontal direction. A mechanism shifts the movable module to align the bottom walls with the side walls to form the integral bins with associated openings to insert the copies.

Abstract: An electrophotographic apparatus of the two-component, dry developer and reusable photoconductor type, having a developer unit, and replenisher for supplying toner to the developer unit. The replenisher includes a first supply of virgin toner, and a second supply of used toner. A toner feed device operates to simultaneously feed toner to the developer unit from the first and second replenisher supplies. The proportion of toner fed from the first and second supplies is variable; however, such proportion requires that virgin toner must always be fed. Used toner is provided by collecting toner at the apparatus' cleaning station. Toner-low indication is provided for only the first supply, so as to prevent the feeding of only used toner. A toner concentration sensor signals the need to feed the combination of virgin/used toner to the developer unit.

Abstract: A movable self-contained deflector unit for directing sheets into the paper bin of a multi-bin collator. A first motor is mounted on the frame of the deflector unit to drive transport rolls also mounted thereon. The transport roll provides the final impetus for moving the sheets into the collator bin. A second motor is mounted on the frame of the deflector unit to drive the unit to a selected bin. The motor may be reversible in order to approach a selected bin from either direction. Alternatively, movement of the deflector unit in the second direction may be obtained through a spring motor wound through deflector unit movement in the first direction. Speed of the spring-driven deflector unit is controlled by dynamic braking of the second motor. This collator may interact with a copier machine to provide semi-automatic duplexing and the speed of the transport rolls may be synchronized with the speed of the copier for moving copy sheets into bins while the sheet is still in the final processing station.

Abstract: An electrophotographic machine of the transfer type wherein a modular construction is provided including a main slide-out drawer upon which the entire paper path is mounted as well as the transfer corona. Included in the main drawer are the paper supply bins, paper feeding mechanisms, transport guides and conveyors, the transfer corona, detach means, and the fuser. The paper supply bins are mounted in individual mini-drawers separate from but located within the main drawer.

Abstract: A rotating head magnetic tape recording apparatus wherein a helical wrap of magnetic recording tape is formed about a cylindrical mandrel and the headwheel. The headwheel is of a larger radius than the mandrel; thus the headwheel protrudes or penetrates beyond the adjacent mandrel surfaces. This headwheel penetration operates to (1) compensate for mandrel misalignment, if any, and (2) stress the tape in the localized track coincident with the headwheel's path. A magnetic head is mounted on the headwheel to protrude or penetrate radially outward therefrom. The head includes a surface profile causing; th head to fly relative to the tape's recording surface, i.e., a thin air film surrounds the head. The combination of the protruding headwheel and the protruding head produces a stable recording platform at the tape/head interface. The headwheel produces localized tape stress coincident with the headwheel's path. The head produces a moving tent of additional localized tape stress at the tape/head interface.