Xerox Corporation

Gregory P Miller

Erwin Ruiz

Paul Michael Fromm

Carl William Holland

Kenneth R Rasch

David R Kamprath

William D Milillo

Steven J Fiore

Richard C Benton

Stephen D Cipolla

Mark Stevens

Bruce A Winship

Gerard R Sturnick

David J Fish

Mark S Gibson

David Lalley

Gerald M DeVito

Kenneth Wayne Luff

Roger G Bennett, Ii

A method and apparatus that automatically advances fuser web material in an image production unit is disclosed. The method may include receiving a signal to advance fuser web material, retrieving stored fuser web material position information, automatically advancing the fuser web material a predetermined amount to expose unused fuser web material, and storing updated fuser web material position information.

Method and apparatus for automatic fuser web material advancement in an image production unit

An image forming device includes one or more flexible fingers to simulate a narrow gap baffle and provide a baffle-like support for different document media. These flexible fingers help guide the documents from one subsystem to another, for instance, entering into the decurler nip on the host image forming device decurler assembly. These flexible fingers act as two baffles. For heavy weight documents, the flexible fingers deflect and move out of the way. For medium to light weight documents, the flexible fingers control the document position during its trajectory.

Flexible media travel adjusting means and an image forming device including the same

A stripper assembly strips a media sheet from a photoreceptor belt. A support bracket supports a stripping finger base which includes a multiplicity of attached stripping fingers. The support bracket is fixed proximate to the photoreceptor belt in a media stripping position. Each stripping finger has a protruding distal stripping end extending toward the photoreceptor belt to form a gap therewith. The magnitude of the stripping finger-photoreceptor belt gap is controlled by adjusting the position or spacing of the finger base with respect to the support bracket. The support bracket pivots about an inboard pivot axial. The opposite support bracket outboard end is releasable, thus enabling the support bracket to pivot away from the photoreceptor belt.

Stripper assembly and a printing machine including the same

A photoreceptor module for an electrophotographic device that includes a tension roller, a photoreceptor belt, which wraps around a plurality of backing members and the tension roller, and a rotatable handle. When the handle is in a first position it engages at least one other module within the device to maintain proper spacing between the at least one other module and the photoreceptor module. When the handle is in a second position, the tension roller is retracted so that the belt may be removed more easily.

Photoreceptor module with multi-functional handle

An apparatus for connecting two devices includes a pin connected to a portion of a first device, the pin having first and second conical ends, and a bushing connected to a second device, the bushing having first and second sides and a perimeter. The bushing has an opening in its perimeter that is large enough to allow the pin and the portion of the first device connected thereto to pass completely through the bushing.

Pin and bushing

Media removal apparatus having a stripper finger structure for separating the lead edge of an imaging media such as plain paper from a heated fuser roll and a stripper baffle for separating the portion of the imaging media beyond the lead edge of the imaging media from the heated fuser roll. The stripper finger structure is supported for movement between a home or standby position and an active position, with the finger tips in constant contact with the heated fuser roll, for effecting separation of the media's lead edge from the heated fuser roll. Likewise, the stripper baffle structure is supported for movement between home or standby positions to its active position where it effects separation of a portion of the imaging media beyond its lead edge.

Intermittent stripper fingers and baffle for stripping copy media from a heated fuser roll

A high capacity, high reliability cassette tray sheet feeding assembly for supporting a high capacity stack of sheets, and for feeding such sheets with a high degree of reliability, one at a time, in a sheet using machine. The high capacity, high reliability cassette tray sheet feeding assembly includes a cassette frame for removing and reinstalling into a sheet supply station of the sheet using machine. The cassette frame has a front end over which sheets are fed into the machine, and a forward feed corner snubber that is mounted to one corner of the front end of the cassette frame for preventing the feeding of multiple sheets at a time. The cassette frame includes a fixed position stationary base plate within the cassette frame for supporting a high capacity stack of sheets having a topmost sheet. The high capacity, high reliability cassette tray sheet feeding assembly further includes a variable position sheet receiving path, and a pivotable feed wheel assembly for reliably feeding topmost sheets seriatim from the fixed position stationary base plate into the variable position sheet path. The pivotable feed wheel assembly has a first position for a full stack of sheets, and a second position for an empty base plate. Importantly, the pivotable feed wheel assembly has a constant sheet feeding angle, and a constant sheet feeding normal force, for enabling continuous high reliability feeding of sheets from the first through to the second position thereof.

Document production machine having a high capacity, high reliability

A one piece molded flexible drive shaft assembly of a hardened moldable material has an elongated flexible drive shaft core having a shaft drive input end, a shaft drive output end and integrally molded therewith at each end a coupling member of a hardened moldable material to connect the input end and the output end to a drive input and a drive output respectively.

One piece integral flexible drive shaft

An adjustable sheet cassette for use in apparatus feeding sheets and being movable in the apparatus from a sheet feeding position to a nonsheet feeding position, the adjustable cassette having a sheet stack support platform capable of supporting stacks of sheets of a plurality of length and width dimensions, at least one sheet edge guide movable in a path in the cassette to accommodate stacks of sheets of different length or width dimensions, the sheet edge guide having attached thereto an actuator arm having a plurality of switch actuators for selectively actuating a plurality of switches on a circuit board on the main body of the apparatus when the cassette is in sheet feeding position in the apparatus, the actuators being located to selectively actuate the switches on the main body of the apparatus which represent one of a plurality of sheet sizes, whereby when each of the switches is actuated it generates a unique resistance in the circuit on the circuit board, the resultant of these unique resistances determining a resultant voltage signal to the main controller on the main body of the apparatus which allows the controller to interpret the length or width dimension of the sheets in the sheet cassette.

Auto paper size sensing mechanism for an adjustable cassette

A sheet feeder with single sheet bypass sheet feeding capability has a sheet support platform for supporting a stack of sheets, at least one sheet feed roll fixedly mounted on a rotatable shaft and having a segmented feed portion for contacting and feeding the top sheet in a stack of sheets and defining therewith a sheet feeding path, sheet registration rolls downstream of the feed roll, at least one sheet bypass registration finger upstream of the registration rolls and downstream of and freely mounted about the feed roll shaft in the sheet feeding path, a sheet bypass guide rotatably mounted about the sheet registration rolls, the bypass guide having an angled sheet entrance throat to center a sheet and guide the leading edge into said bypass registration finger, the feed roll being rotatable through an opening in the bypass guide from a nonfeeding, standby position where the segmented portion is on the side of the shaft opposite the sheet support platform and a sheet feeding position where the segmented portion is between the shaft and the sheet support platform, the feed roll including a device to move the bypass registration finger out of the sheet feeding path.

Sheet feeder with single sheet bypass

A substantially U-shaped universal fastener for cooperative association with a pair of leg receptor slots in a substrate to fasten an elongated body therebetween, said fastener comprising two separated substantially parallel elongated flexible leg members joined at one end by a tying member, each of said elongated leg members having an interior and an exterior side, and on each of said interior and exterior sides, and a plurality of flanged flexible stop members vertically inclined toward said tying member.

Universal fastener

A sheet transport apparatus has opposed sheet transport guide baffles defining a sheet transport path having an upstream and downstream direction and, a switch adjacent the path to detect the presence of a sheet in the path, the switch having a main switch body fixedly mounted adjacent the path, a switch actuator movable between a rest position and a switch actuated position including an actuator arm having a free end and being pivotally mounted on an actuator pivot at the other end to the main switch body and movable between a position associated with the said rest position and switch actuated position, a switch actuator tip pivotally mounted to the free end of the actuator arm and movable between a first position extending the length of the arm into said path detecting the presence of a sheet in the path and a second position pivoted toward the sheet transport upstream direction out of the sheet transport path, the actuator tip being spring biased to the first position enabling positive switch actuation by the passage of a sheet in the downstream direction of the path and passively movable to the second position against the bias by the removal of a sheet from the path in the upstream direction.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, NY, United States of America

Gregory P Miller