Xerox Corporation

James A Solomon

Richard L Forbes, Ii

Donald J Weikel, Jr

James J Franzen

An apparatus for transporting and tracking a belt arranged to move in a predetermined path and for controlling lateral movement of the belt from the predetermined path comprises a stationary non-rotating arcuate tracking shoe with a belt defining surface for supporting a belt thereon and including vertically oriented flanges at each side of said path defining surface and extending from said path defining surface outwardly to provide belt edge guides. When driving the belt around the tracking shoe the velocity of the belt in the axial direction of the tracking shoe is zero when the belt touches an edge guide. Therefore, the friction force acting on the belt from the tracking shoe in the axial direction approaches zero, thereby helping to keep the total system force applied at the edge guide less than the minimum force necessary to produce buckling of the side of the belt. In a preferred embodiment the belt tracking shoe comprises a first substantially planar path defining surface, an arcuate path defining surface and a second substantially planar path defining surface wherein one of the planar surfaces provides a transfer planten and the arcuate surface provides a copy sheet stripping means in an electrostatographic printing apparatus.

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

James A Solomon