Agfa-gevaert Ag

Hanns Blochl

Gunther Schnall

Erich Schlick

Klaus Aldenhoven

Georg Fryda

Josef Pfeifer

Ludwig Mullritter

Peter Lischinski

Wolfgang Ebner

A copying apparatus has imaging equipment provided along the upstream end of a transport path for a copying sheet through its housing, and a fuser assembly including a fuser casing and a fuser heater downstream of this imaging equipment along the path. The entire fuser assembly is pivotal about a horizontal pivot in the housing from an operative position with the heater facing downwardly toward the conveyor path to a servicing position with the fuser assembly completely outside the housing and the fuser heater facing upwardly for servicing.

Pivotal swing-out fuser assembly for copying apparatus

The cleaning arrangement of an electrophotographic copying machine scrapes off the machine's copying drum residual toner clinging to the surface of the copying drum subsequent to image transfer, and the residual toner is conveyed generally horizontally into a toner-collection compartment. The toner-collection compartment accommodates a generally rigid but collapsible fold-up cardboard toner-collection container which is thrown away after one use. The throw-away toner-collection container, when in collapsed condition, is flat so that a sizable number of such throw-away containers can be kept on hand without requiring an inconvenient amount of storage space. The bottom of the container projects forwards beyond the top, in the direction opposite to the generally horizontal direction of toner conveyance into the collection compartment, and is furthermore provided with an upright standing rim, the forwardly projecting bottom ledge and such rim preventing inadvertent spilling of toner from the collection container as the latter is in the process of being removed from the cleaning arrangement by the machine attendant, i.e., before the container can be tilted upwards to a position in which its inlet opening faces upwards.

Cleaning arrangement in an electrophotographic copying machine

An electrostatic copier has a rotatable copy drum and a developing unit which can be inserted and removed from the copier in toto. The developing unit is provided with bearing members which at least partly and loosely embrace the shaft of the copy drum.

Electrostatic copier with insertable developer module

An optical copier has a transparent exposure plate which supports a portion of an original document to be copied and exposes the latter to light rays during the copying operation. The transparent plate extends across an opening of a frame, being inwardly offset with respect to a support surface of the frame. A lid is mounted on the frame for pivoting between a closed position in which the lid covers the transparent plate, and fully open position. A marginal portion of the frame holds the lid in its fully open position so that the lid serves to support another portion of the original document. A hinge which mounts the lid on the frame may include a connecting link and two pivots which respectively connect the link to the lid and to the frame. The hinge may be mounted either on the lid or on the frame for an easy detachment therefrom, for instance, by resiliently yieldable bearing blocks which engage with snap action behind an edge portion which surrounds an orifice. The easy detachment may also be achieved by providing bifurcated connecting members whose prongs yieldably embrace and engage an axle.

Arrangement for supporting original documents on an optical copying

An arrangement for transporting toner from a supply to a latent-image developing station of an electrostatic copier. The arrangement includes a rotatable transporting element having a shaft, an eccentric cam spaced from the shaft, a pivot arm pivotable into and out of contact with the cam and a freewheel drive connecting it with the shaft, and an adjustable stop which determines the extent to which the pivot arm can pivot towards the cam.

Toner dispensing device for an electrostatic copier

Relative movement is effected between an original to be copied and an optical projection system. During such movement, the projection system projects the image of successive strip-shaped portions of the original onto successive strip-shaped portions of a recording medium, to form a gap-free reproduction of the original. The projection system includes a plurality of optical elements at least two of which are of positive refractive power and project an image of a strip-shaped portion of the original into an intermediate image plane and from there onto the recording medium. At least one of the optical elements of the projection system comprises an element having a lenticular layer of positive refractive power and a reflective layer combined therewith.

Optical projection system for copying apparatus

A copying machine has a scanner movable in a forward direction to scan a master sheet and in a reverse direction to return to its starting position. A drive shaft of the machine rotates similarly forwardly and backwardly to displace this scanner and is connected to a pair of cams, one of which controls a pickup arm for sliding the uppermost sheet off a paper supply stack and the other of which is connected to a pair of pinch rollers which advance the picked up sheet through the imaging mechanism of the machine. Each of these cams has an operating portion which actuates the respective machine element during forward rotation of the cams, but which is brought out of engagement with the respective cam follower during reverse operation of the machine so that during return of the scanner to the starting position the pickup arm and pinch rollers are not operated.

Paper feed for copying machine

A drum assembly for an electrostatic copier having a stationary frame comprises a cylindrically tubular drum whose outer surface carries a light-sensitive coating. A pair of rings are snugly engaged with the outer ends of the drum and are mounted via roller bearings on the frame for rotation about a common ring axis. A support sleeve is non-rotatably fixed to the frame between the rings and within the drum and has an outer surface which normally lies out of contact with the drum and only serves to support the drum as it is being fitted into the machine, so as to protect its delicate light-sensitive coating. One of the rings can be removed from the frame so as to allow axial withdrawal of the drum.

Drum assembly for electrostatic copier

A sheet-holding cassette for a copying machine is formed as a box containing a stack of copy sheets. This box is adapted to be held in the machine with the uppermost sheet of the stack engageable with the paper-advance roller of the machine. A slot is provided in the upper wall of this cassette as well as a guide next to this slot and a deflector in back of this slot so that an extra sheet can be slid along the upper wall of the machine and into the cassette to lie at least at its front edge on top of the stack of sheets in the cassette. Thus as the paper-advance roller is reciprocated down onto the stack it will pick up this extra sheet rather than the top sheet of the stack, allowing a copy to be made on a single extra copy sheet without having to reload the machine.

Growing community of inventors

Unterhaching, Germany

Hanns Blochl