Xerox Corporation

Raymond E Poehlein

Franklin S Reese

Robert F Romanowski

John A Adamek

A system to support a moving photoreceptor belt in an electrophotographic printing machine while minimizing lateral forces applied thereon. Pairs of idler rolls are located in contact with the inner surface of the belt in an arrangement in which the axes of rotation of the idlers are skewed in substantially equal but opposite angles from a direction perpendicular to the direction of belt motion. As the resultant lateral forces between the belt and rolls act in a direction nearly parallel to the axes of rotation of the idlers, the opposing skew essentially cancels the side force of each pair of idlers which promotes good belt tracking. As the idlers are freely rotating, drag and tensioning forces on the belt are also minimized.

Neutral side force belt support system

A mechanical drive system with different load requirements is enabled by a motor whose input is varied in response to known changes in output torque requirements during various time segments of the duty cycle. In one example a fuser roll in a copier is driven by a DC stepper motor during a period in which a copy sheet is in the fusing area at a first speed V.sub.1. Upon completion of the fusing portion of the cycle, the fuser load requirements increase requiring a higher torque to be delivered by the motor. The change in fuser operation is determined by timing and an appropriate signal is sent to the control circuit reducing the motor speed, and allowing the motor to produce the additional torque required.

Stepper motor control to vary output torque

In a document copier/printer wherein copy sheet is of a length which exceeds the distance between a transfer station and a fusing station, a velocity differential is established between the two stations so that the copy sheet forms a buckle therebetween which varies from an initial position, and in a predetermined direction, during operation. A sensor detects when the buckle reaches a predetermined configuration and sends a signal to one of the two stations to change the media speed at that location for a length of time sufficient to restore the buckle to the original configuration. The cycle may be repeated several times during a process run.

Buckle control for reducing interactions between media drive systems

A copy media feed system includes two pair of feed rolls which are horizontally aligned to form nip areas to engage the media. Each feed roll pair comprises one drive roll and one idler roll. For one pair, the drive roll is an elastomer-covered, high friction roll and the idler roll is a hard, roll. For the second pair the drive roll is a hard, high friction roll and the idler roll is an elastomer-covered roll. This arrangement provides accurate control of the media velocity.

Roll media feed roll system

A media roll supply assembly for a large document printer is disclosed which permits simplified loading and unloading of a media roll. Two end support assemblies are mounted in an axial alignment position. Each end assembly includes a spindle shaft, a hub assembly and a compressible spring. The media roll support core is seated on tapered surfaces of the hub assemblies; the compression spring allows one end to be urged outward so that, once fully seated against the hub member, one spring predominates and serves to maintain the roll in a precisely aligned axial position.

Roll media supply mounting system

A copying/printing machine is adapted for rolling up copies of large size documents such as engineering drawings and the like by incorporating a roll-up apparatus into the machine. An output copy is guided along a circular interior space formed by a combination of curved baffle members. The copy is propelled along a spiraling inward path by a combination of feed rollers and nudging rollers spaced along the width of the baffle members. A portion of the roll-up apparatus is pivotable downward to permit the rolled-up output document to be removed.

Apparatus for automatically rolling up output sheets from a document

Apparatus for driving a sheet into a corner registration with registration members defining two orthogonal registration lines, including a sphere mounted to overly and drivingly engage a sheet being so registered, said sphere being rotatable on variable axes and vertically and laterally movable relative to the sheet, including a drive engaging the sphere for rotatably driving said sphere and a sheet in an initial direction of rotation towards both orthogonal registration lines, but allowing changes in the direction of rotation of the sphere and lateral movement of the sphere relative to its retainer and different positions of engagement thereagainst in response to the different reaction forces on the sphere from a sheet being driven by said sphere, and including a normal force control system associated with the retainer for automatically varying the normal force between the sphere and the sheet being driven in response to the lateral movement of the sphere and the reaction force, this normal force control preferably being provided by selected non-uniform (higher frictional rolling resistance or differently sloped) sectors of the sphere retainer interior surface.

Document corner registration

In an electrostatographic copier wherein the fuser rolls are positioned closer than the dimensions of the copy sheet from the image transfer area, speed mismatch compensation between the fuser roll nip and the initial image support surface is provided by intentionally driving the fuser roll nip at a different velocity to form a buckle in the intermediate portion of the copy sheet controlled by selective cyclic reductions in the vacuum applied to a configured manifold guide surface. The guide surface may be divided into segments, through one of which the vacuum is continuously maintained.

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Fairport, NY, United States of America

Raymond E Poehlein