International Business Machines Corporation

Other

Ernest P Kollar

Donald F Colglazier

Fred R Mares

John L Fallon

George W Brock

Richard E Norwood

Michael L Nettles

Julie Ann Kollar

Documents are inserted into a bin beneath a document stack already in the bin. An air bearing holds the document stack above the floor of the bin. A lifting mechanism lifts the stack along one edge so that a document is driven between the last sheet in the stack and the floor of the bin. A selectively activated drive means positioned on the floor of the bin advances the document into proper registration into the bin. Documents can be fed from the top of the stack simultaneously with the bottom stacking operation.

Bottom-up stacker

An electrophotographic copier having a recirculating automatic document feeder whereby a stack of original documents are top-fed, one at a time, to the copier's platen for copying, and after such copying, rejoin the stack by operation of means which cyclically lift the stack to enable the returning document to be deposited below the stack, and then lowers the stack to cause such a returned document to become the lowermost document of the stack.

Recirculating automatic document feeder

An electrophotographic copier with an endless photoconductor belt adapted to move around a cylindrical drum and a flat platen. A vacuum column is positioned between the cylindrical drum and the platen. The vacuum column creates a concave bend in the photoconductor, enabling a latent image of a document to be placed on a flat run of the photoconductor belt, and enabling charging, developing, transferring and cleaning of the photoconductor belt to occur about a curved run of the photoconductor belt.

Electrophotographic copier configuration

An improved apparatus for successively separating and feeding sheets from a stack of sheets is disclosed. A wave generator wheel, rotating in a plane generally parallel to the stack, and about a tiltable axis generally perpendicular to the stack, is tiltable in a first direction to contact the stack for shingling the stack, and in a second direction to contact the stack for restoring the stack to its unshingled state. Sheets in a stack are driven forward or rearward by simply tilting the rotating wheel. The wave generator wheel is used to first drive the stack's top sheet away from a feed nip, and to then drive the stack's top sheet into the feed nip.

Wave generator to shingle sheets

An electrophotographic copier having a cut sheet, two-bin, paper feed module which is selectively secured in copier-operative position, whereat it is operable to feed sheets to the copier's paper aligner and transfer station, or is removable to a copier-inoperative position whereat the module remains operative to feed sheets for the purpose of examination, analysis, and/or repair and maintenance of the paper feed module.

Copier having removable paper feed module

A multibin, cut-sheet xerographic copier capable of operating in a simplex or a duplex mode, wherein sheets are fed from a selected sheet stack, one at a time, to the copier's transfer station, by a sheet feeding structure which includes a resilient combing wheel. The combing wheel is of a unique resilient construction, such that it exhibits a spring rate and damping factor which minimizes acoustical noise and enhances reliable, repeatable shingling of the top sheet of a stack to a closable sheet drive nip.

Combing wheel

A multibin, cut-sheet xerographic copier capable of operating in a simplex or a duplex copy mode, wherein sheets are fed from a selected sheet stack, one at a time, to the copier's transfer station, by a sheet feeding means which includes a combing wheel. The combing wheel shingles the top few sheets, and particularly the single top sheet's leading edge, to a normally open feed nip. This nip is closed by copier logic to feed the top sheet to the transfer station. The feed nip comprises a fixed position, continuously rotating feed roller adapted to cooperate with the top surface of the top sheet. A solenoid controlled, nip-closing, composite pad is pivotable upward to press the top sheet against the feed roller. This composite pad includes a first low friction, nonresilient pressure pad cooperating with the feed roller, and a second, reduced thickness, resilient pad cooperating with the leading edge of the shingled sheets under the top sheet. A spring biases all shingled sheets away from the feed roller and toward the solenoid controlled composite pad.

Combing wheel feed nip with second sheet restraint

A false tenon structure for use in 'split log' structures of various cross-sectional configurations, the tenon being of the appropriate cross-section and having at an end a cradle shaped to accept an adjacent tenon in an end portion thereof and transversely therethrough, and planar interfacing surfaces at the end thereof with one of the interfacing surfaces defining a projection such that left hand and right hand, i.e., mirror image alternatives, of the tenon may be stacked with one tenon in the cradle of the adjacent tenon and, secured to a building corner by fasteners driven through the projection, and abutted against split log facades to present a realistic appearance of conventional full log mortise and tenon structures, or of stacked members of other cross-sections.

False tenon structure

A multibin, cut-sheet xerographic copier capable of operating in a simplex or a duplex copy mode, wherein sheets are fed from a selected sheet stack, one at a time, to the copier's transfer station, by a sheet feeding means which includes a combing wheel. The combing wheel shingles the leading edge of the stack's top sheet to an open feed roller nip, to be sensed thereat by a pneumatic sensor. Sensing of this leading edge causes the combing wheel to be lifted off the stack. Subsequently, at a time determined by the copier's control logic, the drive nip closes to thereby feed the top sheet to the copier's paper registration gate, and then to its transfer station. As soon as this sheet's trailing edge has cleared the pneumatic sensor, and the drive nip has opened, the next sheet is staged at the shingled position, in the open drive nip. Means are provided to deshingle the stack when the copier's paper supply drawer is opened, as for reloading paper. The combing wheel, drive nip and associated assemblies are supported by a single frame member, and are thus removable as a unit for replacement or repair.

Multibin, cut-sheet xerographic copier

A helical scan magnetic recording device is provided with a folded mounting plate in order to permit a tape wrap on the circumference of a tape support mandrel which is intermediate the conventional 180.degree. and 360.degree. tape wraps. Specifically, the device is provided with a folded mounting plate comprising a body having a substantially planar reference surface for supporting a tape entry guide and a non-parallel, substantially planar exit reference surface for supporting a tape exit guide. The two non-parallel surfaces are coupled together to define a V-block mounting support for the mandrel. In a preferred embodiment, the entry reference surface and the exit reference surface are each perpendicular to the directions of tape entry onto the mandrel and tape exit off the mandrel, respectively. In addition to permitting the use of intermediate tape wrap angles, this device provides a more efficient and compact structure and permits more precise mounting of critical device components.

Helical scan magnetic recording device having a folded mounting plate

Parallelism between the track on magnetic tape and the path of the rotating head is dynamically adjusted and maintained by adjusting one or both of the entry or exit guides guiding the tape as it helically wraps a mandrel. The mandrel has two halves that flank the rotating head so that as the tape wraps the mandrel, the rotating head traverses the tape at an oblique angle. Skew error is represented by a lack of parallelism between the track on the tape and the path of the rotating head across the tape. The skew error may be corrected by laterally shifting either the entry or exit tape edge guide without distorting the track over a limited lateral range of movement by the guides. The entry and exit edge guides are continuouscompliant air-bearing guides. Similarly, the mandrel that supports the tape adjacent the rotating head is also air bearing.

Growing community of inventors

Longmont, CO, United States of America

Ernest P Kollar