Eastman-kodak Company

Ronald C Holzhauser

James A McGlen

Gary P Lawniczak

Matthew J Russel

Ralph E Williams

Vincent J O'Brien

Richard T O'Marra

Carl H Zirngibl

Glenn Seymour

A replaceable development station usable for developing electrostatic images in apparatus having a toner monitor and a device for slidably receiving the development station includes a chamber containing a supply of a development mixture of toner and carrier particles. A recess is defined in one wall of the chamber for receiving the toner monitor, the recess being defined by a thinned region of the wall such that the toner monitor is separated from the developer mixture by a wall region substantially thinner than the general wall thickness. A device is provided for camming the development station tightly against the toner monitor and clamping it there such that the resilient force needed to maintain contact is minimized.

Development station engageable with toner monitor

Multiple sets of copies are produced of a document made up of a plurality of document sheets having pages to be copied arranged in a predetermined order. The pages of the document sheets are presented at a position for copying, and each page of the document is illuminated once each time the page is presented for copying. An optical system provides a plurality of optical paths from a page being illuminated to a photoconductor so that duplicate latent images are formed on the photoconductor each time a page of the document sheet is illuminated. In this manner, the photoconductor receives a plurality of images of one page of the document followed by a plurality of images of a second page of the document. The latent images are developed and transferred to copy sheets, and the resulting duplicate copy sheets are collected at a plurality of stations. Duplicate copy sheets are directed to different stations so that the stations each receive a set of copies of the document.

Method and apparatus for producing multiple sets of copies of a document

A document feeder is mounted for pivotal movement about a side edge portion of a copier/duplicator between a first position over an exposure station or platen of the copier/duplicator and a second position away from the exposure station so that individual documents sheets, books or the like can be manually placed directly on the exposure station for copying. As the feeder moves from its first position to its second position the feeder first pivots about one axis and then, subsequently, about a second axis offset further from the platen than the first axis. Thus the feeder is stepped away from the edge of the copier exposure station to provide a relatively large area that is available for receiving a book or large document on the exposure station for copying. A counterbalancing arrangement is provided for balancing the weight of the feeder as it moves between its two positions.

Apparatus for mounting a document feeder on a copier/duplicator

In copier/duplicators lamps provide high intensity illumination of a document at an exposure station, and an image of the illuminated document is processed and transferred to a copy sheet. The copier/duplicator can have a combination recirculating document feeder and document positioner located at a first position over the exposure station for delivery to the station of a document sheet to be copied. The feeder can be mounted for movement to a second position spaced from the exposure station so that books or other documents can be manually placed directly on the exposure station. When the feeder is in its second position it is desirable to shield the machine operator from such high intensity illumination. For this purpose, an auxiliary cover is movable between a storage position adjacent the exposure station and a second position over the exposure station. Sheet guide members on the auxiliary cover are located relative to the document positioner so that when the positioner is in its position over the exposure station and the cover is in its storage position adjacent the exposure station the guide members are effective to guide a sheet into the document positioner.

Auxiliary platen cover

An improved receiver sheet transport for use in apparatus for transferring related transferable marking particle images seriatim, from spaced areas on a member onto a receiver sheet. The apparatus moves a receiver sheet successively into transfer relation with the related transferable images on the member. The receiver sheet is attached to the apparatus with a portion of such sheet intermediate the lead and trail edges being self-supporting. An aligning mechanism engages the lead edge of the receiver sheet so that the sheet is aligned with an area on the member. A guiding member guides the receiver sheet into engagement with the aligning mechanism. Transfer of such related images onto the sheet in accurate superimposed register is effected when such self-supporting portion is in transfer relation with related transferable images on the image-carrying member. The guiding member and the aligning mechanism are mounted for movement to a first position at which an aligned receiver sheet is urged by the guiding member into clamped engagement with the apparatus, or to a second position at which such receiver sheet is out of clamped engagement with the apparatus and the guiding member and aligning mechanism are remote from such receiver sheet.

Receiver sheet transport with a guiding member and aligning mechanism

Document feeding apparatus feeds document sheets to an exposure position along a recirculating sheet path or along a non-recirculating sheet path. The feeding means has a vacuum belt for moving a sheet traveling along either sheet path past the exposure position. A document sheet can be fed to the belt for advancement to the exposure position through a slot located in a generally vertically disposed orientation and having an opening at the lower end thereof adjacent to the belt. Preferably, registration means are provided adjacent the belt at the lower end of the slot for preregistering the lower edge of a document sheet being fed through the slot to the belt. Rollers are provided for urging the document sheet against the belt, both when sheets are fed to the belt in a non-recirculating (document positioner) mode and when sheets are fed in the recirculating feeder mode of operation. One set of rollers, which is used for holding a sheet against the belt when in the non-recirculating mode of operation, is held in a retracted or disengaged position when the apparatus is operating in the document positioner mode of operation.

Sheet feeding apparatus

Document sheets are removed seriatim from the bottom of a stack of sheets by an oscillating vacuum feeder having a plurality of spaced tube sections. The feeder delivers a removed sheet to a sheet transport mechanism, which transports it to the platen for copying and then removes the sheet from the platen. The sheet transport mechanism has at least one vacuum belt that passes between two adjacent sections of the feeder and picks up a sheet as it leaves the feeder so that the sheet is tacked to the feeder or the vacuum belt throughout its path of travel from the stack of sheets to the platen. After the sheet is removed from the platen it is returned to the stack of sheets on top of other sheets in the stack. A sheet inverter can be provided for inverting duplex document sheets so that both sides of such sheets can be copied. Sheets also can be fed to the platen along a non-recirculating path by a document positioner apparatus. Sheets fed by the document positioner also are advanced across the platen by the vacuum belt.

Document sheets are fed to a platen of a copier from two feeding apparatus, one of which is a recirculating feeder adapted to sequentially feed a plurality of document sheets of one document to the platen for copying information on one or both sides of each sheet. The sheets are circulated in a manner that results in the production of collated sets of copies. The platen also can receive one or more sheets of another document fed from a document positioner. The positioner can be used to feed a document that is too large to be accommodated by the recirculating feeder, or it can feed a document that may not be reliably handled by the recirculating feeder (such as a document made by assembling pieces of copy onto a backing sheet), or the positioner can feed documents comprising a single sheet. Also, the positioner can be used for making document masters that are then copied using the recirculating feeder.

Growing community of inventors

Holley, NY, United States of America

Ronald C Holzhauser