Xerox Corporation

Thomas Acquaviva

William Brant

James D Rees

Ronald R Wierszewski

Randolph Cruz

Jan Bares

John A Durbin

Richard F Scarlata

James F Matysek

Charles E Smith

Alan G Schlageter

Vittorio R Castelli

Robert P Siegel

Rabin Moser

Thomas N Taylor

Richard E Smith

David G Anderson

Jack Gaynor Elliot

Lam F Wong

Cyril G Edmunds

Paul Windsor Morehouse, Jr

Joseph J Ferrara

John H Looney

Joannes N deJong

Robert L Sklut

Joseph Salvatore Vetromile

Norman David Robinson, Jr

Thomas R Cross

Ermanno C Petocchi

Vinod K Agarwal

David E Damouth

Charles W Spehrley

Stephen A Demchock

Steven W Baldwin

Roger N Albright

Lawrence Dee Dipzinski

Paul F Morgan

Brian F Walsh

James E Britt

Prashant K Phadnis

Michael A Garofalo

Donald W Schaeffer

John Lombino

James M Cassidy, Jr

David N Hawkins

Michael B Tanaka

Robert G Palifka

A system for binding books includes a flexible binding material in the form of a stud having top and bottom caps. The stud is inserted into signature staples that protrude from the body of the signature to form stud holes. The binding material can be any material that is extremely flexible, including silicone, metals, etc., as long as it allows the signatures to open in a lay-flat manner either at the signature interfaces or in the body of any signature. The flexible binding material can also be used to temporarily bind pre-punched pages of a book by inserting the flexible binding material into the pre-punched holes to facilitate lay-flat opening of the book.

Flexibind books

A sheet feeder is provided comprising at least two drives that drive a sheet of material along a paper path and at least two sensors that detect a lateral side of the sheet of material. A controller is connected to the two sensors and at least one of the drives. The controller varies the drive velocity of at least one of the drives to shift the lateral position of the sheet of material in a predetermined direction until one of the sensors detects the lateral side and then varies the velocity difference of the two drives to eliminate the skew of the sheet.

Sheet feeder

A paper conditioner to control image dependent curl in a copier/printer includes a reservoir for storing a quantity of liquid, a pair of rolls in contact with one another so as to define a nip, and a metering roll associated with the reservoir and one of the pair of rolls. The metering roll forms a nip with one of the pair of rolls to direct a controlled flow of liquid from the reservoir to the nip area. Seals located at opposed ends of the metering roll and the roll with which it forms a nip prevent the flow of excess liquid from the ends of the metering roll.

Conditioner rolls end seals

A method and apparatus for determining the properties of roughness and thickness of a substrate to be processed through a machine, and correspondingly adjusting those machine parameters that are affected and which can be optimized based on varying levels of these substrate properties.

Electrostatic process control based upon both the roughness and the thickness of a substrate

An on-line sheet hole punching system for punching holes in sheets outputted by a printing system, to eliminate pre-punched sheets, with a common sheet entrance path, two separate but closely vertically superposed sheet paths, a gating system alternately gating the unpunched sheets into one of said two separate sheet paths having respective separate, but shared components, sheet punching stations with commonly reciprocally vertically driven sheet punches. The sheets are alternatingly stopped and the desired hole patterns are alternatingly punched, and the sheets ejected, in the two separate sheet paths, individually punched, or punched as stacked sets. The separately punched sheets may be remerged in a common output path. Skipped pitches or other printing or output interruptions are avoided. A common vacuum system for waste paper punch-outs collection may service both punching stations.

Dual sheet hole punching system for the output of reproduction apparatus

A post-fusing apparatus is provided in an electrostatographic reproduction machine for adding a controlled amount of moisture to a side of a fused toner image carrying copy sheet to control curl. The sheet conditioning apparatus includes a moisturizing agent supply and splitting assembly, including a supply source containing moisturizing agent and a plurality of rotatable metering rollers forming at least first and second moisture splitting nips, for splitting a layer of supplied moisturizing agent, and forming a thin film of moisture. The sheet conditioning apparatus also includes a rotatable moisture applying roller forming a moisture splitting and receiving nip with the moisture agent supply and splitting assembly, for receiving the thin film of moisture therefrom. The rotatable moisture applying roller also forms a moisture applying nip with a side of the fused toner image carrying copy sheet for applying a desired amount of moisture from the received thin film of moisture thereon onto the fused toner image carrying copy sheet so as to control curl therein. Importantly, the sheet conditioning apparatus includes a control system, including nip pressure adjustment assemblies and a programmable controller, for adjusting nip pressure in the moisture receiving nip and the moisture applying nip to control the desired amount of moisture being applied onto the fused toner image copy sheet. The programmable controller also includes an equilibrium moisture content value (M.sub.f) for copy sheets that are same as the fused toner image carrying copy sheet, and the nip pressure adjustment assemblies are adjusted and controlled such that the desired amount of moisture being applied is about 1.5% greater than the equilibrium moisture content value (M.sub.f).

Post-fusing sheet conditioning apparatus

A device and method for automatically adjusting conditioner metering roll liquid film thickness. The device including a transfer roll that mates with a back-up roll to form a nip through which a sheet passes for wetting a side of the sheet. A metering roll mates with the transfer roll and has a portion thereof positioned in a liquid filled sump for liquid to be added to an outside surface thereof. An optical sensor is positioned to detect the type of reflected light from the liquid on the outside surface of the metering roll and gives off a signal that is received by a controller that actuates a stepper motor to move the metering roll in a predetermined direction until the correct liquid thickness is obtained on the surface of the metering roll.

Apparatus and method for automatically adjusting water film thickness on

A paper conditioner re-moisturizes paper immediately following fusing to restore paper temperature and moisture equilibrium and reduce curl. The paper conditioner has plumbing that includes a pump, supply lines, overflow lines, metering blade lines and return lines. A soaker hose is used to uniformly distribute conditioner agent to a wick. The soaker hose has pin-holes that are evenly spaced adjacent the wick. The wick is a high density material, such as, cotton that contacts and supplies the conditioner agent to metering rolls. These rolls contact donor rolls, which contact moisturizing rolls which contact the paper. Metering blades are used to remove excess conditioning agent from the moisturizing rolls.

Paper conditioning system

A printing apparatus that prints images onto sheets includes a conditioner that scents selected images of a job. For example, the job can be a magazine that advertises a particular fragrance or fragrances. A fragrance or scent is placed in a reservoir which is transferred via a hydrophilic donor-like roll and deposited onto a sheet by way of a nip that is engaged only when scenting is required.

Apparatus for applying scents to paper in a printer/copier

A bottom sheet feeding system for feeding individual image substrate sheets for reproduction apparatus out from under a stack of such sheets by intermittently feeding the bottom sheet out from under the overlying stack of sheets in a sheet stacking tray with a bottom sheet feeder, which may be electrostatic, while that stack of sheets is intermittently at least partially levitated relative to the bottom sheet to substantially reduce the gravitational force of the overlying stack of sheets normally bearing down on the bottom sheet to resist the separation and feeding of the bottom sheet out from under the rest of the stack. This intermittent stack levitation may be accomplished by appropriate cyclical transducer system forces applied to the bottom of the stacking tray at a frequency coordinated with intermittent feeding of the bottom sheet out from under the stack.

Bottom sheet separator-feeder with sheet stack levitation

A paper conditioner to control image dependent curl which uses one or more counter-rotating transfer rollers which are initially spaced from their respective back-up rollers in the intercopy gap, and which come together as the lead edge enters the nip area, and separates when the trail edge is about to pass. This permits the rollers to have a less demanding runout tolerance by bringing the rollers together when the sheet is in the nip, and then articulating the rollers apart in the intercopy gap.

Paper conditioner with articulating back-up/transfer rollers

A vacuum corrugation feeder employs a vacuum feedhead working in conjunction with an air knife to feed sheets from the top or bottom of a stack. A retractable corrugator is included in the vacuum feedhead which prevents smearing of coated sheets due to relative motion between sheet surfaces and the corrugator.

Vacuum corrugation feeder with a retractable corrugator

A ball-on-belt transport includes a belt with a steel ball positioned on top of the belt and a magnet on the back side of the belt with the ball forming a nip with the belt to provide necessary normal force against a conveyed sheet and thereby allowing easy lateral pulling of sheets in clearing jams from the nip. Alternatively, a steel ball is retained while in contact with a belt to apply a normal force to a sheet on the belt equal to the weight of the steel ball. The ball is encased in a housing that is surrounded by a solenoid coil such that when current is applied to the coil, it acts as a solenoid and raises the ball off the belt surface and thus releases the nip pressure.

Magnetic ball-on-belt transport

A top vacuum corrugation feeder includes articulating suction fingers to assist in raising the top sheet of a stack of sheets to the feedhead of the vacuum corrugation feeder. The suction fingers are rotated down from their interleaved position between feed belts to contact the top sheet in the sheet stack and raises the top sheet to the feed belts. As a result, the feeder can handle heavy sheets, curled sheets, and sheets which are edge welded.

Top vacuum corrugation feeder with articulating suction fingers

A paper conditioner re-moisturizes paper immediately following fusing to restore paper moisture equilibrium and reduce curl. The paper conditioner uses moisturizing rollers with a textured elastomeric surface that prevents bead buildup of water at a nip formed between the moisturizing rollers and allows the rollers to conform to the surface texture of a sheet of paper passing therethrough.

Textured rollers for paper conditioning

Growing community of inventors

Penfield, NY, United States of America

Thomas Acquaviva