International Business Machines Corporation

Richard E Norwood

Ernest P Kollar

Donald W Schaefer

Randall Clement Bauck

Raymond E Kellow, Sr

Karl Jooss

An electrophotographic copier with an endless photoconductor belt adapted to move around a cylindrical drum and a flat platen. A vacuum column is positioned between the cylindrical drum and the platen. The vacuum column creates a concave bend in the photoconductor, enabling a latent image of a document to be placed on a flat run of the photoconductor belt, and enabling charging, developing, transferring and cleaning of the photoconductor belt to occur about a curved run of the photoconductor belt.

Electrophotographic copier configuration

A linear motor actuator particularly adaptable to position a magnetic transducer in a magnetic disk storage system including a modular stator assembly and a modular carriage assembly. The stator assembly includes a frame with a first pair of spaced parallel guide rails; configured to have two flat guide surfaces adjacent to the carriage assembly and running in a direction parallel to the stroke of the actuator. A magnetic flux return path is integrally connected with a guide shaft and positioned between the guide rails. The carriage assembly includes a self supporting cantilevered coil positioned about the return path and guide rail, and offset from the flat surface. The carriage assembly is supported by a first set of angled ball bearings which ride on the guide shaft and a second set of spaced ball bearings which ride on the guide rails to preload the carriage assembly and prevent rotation. A linear tachometer strip is attached to the carriage assembly and associated with a light emitting/light receiving assembly to produce electrical signals indicative of the carriage assembly position.

Linear actuator

A cantilevered beam assembly with a maximum resonance frequency is adaptable for supporting a transducer for use with a random access flexible disk file. The cantilevered beam assembly includes a first cantilevered member and a second elongated member coupled at one end by a flexible joint to the free end of the first cantilevered member. When used with a flexible disk file system, a magnetic transducer is seated on the second end of the elongated member while said elongated member is restricted to flex in one plane only. A relatively thin, tapered, elongated protective structure having a relatively sharp, elongated leading edge contiguous with a relatively sharp front edge is rigidly connected to the first cantilevered member and surrounds the second elongated member in a plane orthogonal to the plane of flex.

Growing community of inventors

Boulder, CO, United States of America

Richard E Norwood