Storage Technology Corporation

Documation, Inc.

Leonard G Ward

Ronald R Reidenauer

Donald J Kleinschnitz

T Craig Nelson

James DeJager

George Darnofall

Joseph M Ross

Michael K Wagster

Arthur D Prior

Silas Ray Halbert

A developer roll adjustment indicator device for use in association with a xerographic printer has an indicator plate with a collar that is removably secured to the end of the print drum shaft. A pointer made of a material having a magnetic attraction to the magnetic brushes in the developer roll is attached to the collar to permit the distal end of the pointer to freely rotate with respect to the axis of the print drum in response to the relative angular position of the magnetic brushes. The indicator plate has a number of visual indicia to measure the angular relationship of the pointer with respect to the axis of the print drum. Proper angular orientation of the indicator plate on the print drum shaft during installation is verified by means of a bubble level which provides a fixed point of reference for angular measurements.

Developer roll adjustment indicator device

A smear test machine for diagnosing problems associated with reader sorters used to process documents having magnetic ink characters printed thereon includes read heads which are closely juxtaposed to a document transport subsystem adapted to move the document past the read head a preselected number of times as controlled by a solenoid-operated gate.

MICR document smear test machine

This magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) character coating system makes use of the application of an inexpensive lubricant that is selectively applied to the document, solely in the area where the MICR characters are printed. The lubricant of choice used in this apparatus is sodium stearate (soap). The lubricating apparatus includes a pair of rollers, between which the printed documents are fed. One of the rollers is a drive roller that advances the documents. Opposite of and spring loaded against the drive roller is a free running lubricating roller that is manufactured from a solid lubricant, which lubricating roller is of length equal to the length of the MICR character field that is printed on the document. In the printing of the document, a sensor mark is printed on the document and is used to indicate the beginning of the MICR character field. A sensor circuit detects the presence of the sensor mark and activates a solenoid to stop the lubricating roller from rotating as the document is fed past the lubricating roller. This causes the documents to be dragged across the lubricating roller, thereby applying a thin film of lubricant from the lubricating roller solely to the area of the document that contains the printed MICR characters. Thus, this MICR character printing apparatus both applies a lubricant only to the MICR character field on the printed surface of the document without coating the entire document and uses an inexpensive lubricant to extend the useful life of the printed MICR characters.

MICR character coating system

A method and apparatus for locking the drive hubs of a forms overlay station in a laser electrographic printer to its transparent forms overlay drum includes counterboring a plurality of holes through the drum into the hubs, inserting a resilient member such as an O-ring into each counterbored hole, and compressing the resilient member to form an interference fit among the compressed resilient member and an interface formed within the counterbored hole by the drum and hubs.

Cylinder and hub locking method and apparatus

A method and apparatus for splicing a fresh stack of continuous pin-feed forms in a high-speed printer having fed therethrough an expended stock of continuous pin-feed forms, where the printer includes an input station at a recessed area. A slidable tray for supporting the fresh stack is pulled out of the printer, and a splicing station which is hingedly coupled to an upright wall portion attached to the tray is deployed external to the printer for splicing ease. The splicing station includes a spool of splicing tape which is disposed within a locating groove of a controlled depth, the forms being registered on locating pins on either side of the groove for accurate splicing upon pressing them centered on the tape. When the splice is complete, the spliced stack is fan-folded upon the tray, the splicing station folded back against the upright wall portion, and the tray returned within the recessed area.

Method and apparatus for splicing continuous pin-feed forms

This invention relates to a system for positioning a high-speed endless loop printing band of the type used on impact band printers. The band positioning apparatus includes a first sensor for being placed adjacent the edge of the endless loop band for detecting the drift of the edge to one side of a reference line. A second sensor is provided adjacent an area of the endless loop printing band for detecting the drift of the edge to the other side of the reference line. A microprocessor is coupled to the first and second sensors for generating a correcting output signal to a step motor. The step motor is coupled to a pulley in guiding communication with the endless loop printing band for displacing the pulley toward the reference line, thereby correcting the undesired movement of the edge of the endless loop printing band.

Band positioning apparatus

A high speed printer is provided having a plurality of aligned hammer assemblies for directing hammers at a moving character band for printing characters responsive to the hammer's driving against the character band. The hammer assembly has a striker arm pivotly mounted to a striker assembly frame and which acts as an armature when driven by a pair of magnets. The magnets are attached to the striker assembly frame on opposite sides of the striker arm and on opposite sides of the pivot point for the striker arm so that simultaneously actuating both magnets pulls the striker arm for actuating the hammer. Each magnet has a single coil, with one of the magnets having a reverse polarity from each adjacent magnet on an adjacent assembly, while the other magnet has the same polarity to avoid cross-talk and to increase the speed of the printer. A pressure-sensitive tape is bonded to the striker armature to provide a residual air gap between the armature and magnet poles and improvements are made in the hammer guide combs, return plunger, and the platen.

Growing community of inventors

Melbourne, FL, United States of America

Leonard G Ward