Xerox Corporation

Thong H Vo

Eugene A Swain

William A Hammond

Robert S Foltz

John K Williams

Richard C Petralia

Warren F Brydges

Ismael R Sanchez

A hollow cylindrical electrostatographic imaging member supporting end flange including a disk shaped member, a supporting hub extending axially from the disk shaped member and a metal disk coaxially secured to the hub, the disk comprising a plurality of rectangular tabs extending radially from the disk in a direction away from an imaginary axis of the hub for engagement with the hollow cylindrical electrostatographic imaging member upon insertion of the hub and disk shaped member into one end of the hollow cylindrical electrostatographic imaging member. When this end flange is inserted into one end of the hollow cylindrical electrostatographic imaging member, the plurality of rectangular tabs extending radially from the disk engage the inner surface of the hollow cylindrical electrostatographic imaging member.

Imaging member end flange and end flange assembly

A reusable photoreceptor assembly has a gear assembly removable from a photoreceptor. A square leaf spring or ring is used to secure and remove the gear assembly to and from the photoreceptor, thereby avoiding damage to both the gear assembly and photoreceptor during the removal of the gear assembly. The undamaged gear assembly and photoreceptor may then be reused.

Method and apparatus for reusing a photoreceptor and gear assembly

An end effector for a robotic assembly for acquiring and manipulating articles having a substantially cylindrical aperture therein. The end effector has a cylindrical gripping portion having radially expandable fingers and a collar portion adapted to bear on the article. When the fingers are inserted into the aperture in the article and expanded the object is gripped over a large portion of the circumference of the aperture. The article is then translated from a vertical to horizontal position. The gripping portion is provided with a flat portion to allow the article to be contacted against a stop for easy withdrawal of the fingers. The entire cylindrical gripping portion is flexibly mounted to the robotic assembly to allow acquisition of an article presented to the gripping portion of the end effector in an off vertical alignment.

Robotic end effector

An apparatus for processing cylindrical and belt-like substrates includes: a support structure for supporting a planetary array of substrates about a central horizontal axis of the support structure, each substrate defining an offset horizontal axis radially spaced from and parallel to the central horizontal axis of the support structure; an array of processing modules each having a processing chamber for receiving the support structure therein for processing the substrates, each chamber defining a central horizontal axis parallel to the central horizontal axis of the support structure and parallel to the central horizontal axis of an adjacent processing chamber; and a transport vehicle for transporting the support structure in a first direction parallel to the central horizontal axis for insertion into and withdrawal from any one of the processing chambers, in a second direction perpendicular to the central horizontal axis for movement among adjacent processing chambers, and in a third direction perpendicular to the plane of the first and second directions. The array of modules is preferably a multi-level array.

Growing community of inventors

Webster, NY, United States of America

Thong H Vo