Eastman-Kodak Company

Nexpress Solutions, Inc.

Tsutomu Miura

Muhammed Aslam

Shigeomi Koshimizu

Atsushi Hatakeyama

Tomonori Sato

Fangsheng Wu

Masaki Izumi

Wayne F Niskala

Eiichi Shimizu

Tetsuo Ohara

Hideyuki Sakaizawa

Hidehiro Nishiguchi

Shinichi Hagiwara

Masamichi Yumino

A fuser apparatus having a pair of rollers in nip relation to transport a receiver member therebetween to permanently fix a marking particle image to such receiver member, and a skive mechanism for stripping a receiver member adhering to a fuser apparatus roller from the said roller. The skive mechanism includes a frame located in spaced relation with one of the rollers of the pair of fuser apparatus rollers. A plurality of skive assemblies, mounted on the frame, each include a skive finger and a support body for supporting such skive finger in operative relation to such one of the rollers. The skive fingers are elongated, thin, flexible members to substantially prevent damage to such associated fuser apparatus roller. Further, an air plenum is provided in operative relation to the other of the pair of rollers of the fuser apparatus rollers. The air plenum has a nozzle arrangement directed at an angle to the fuser apparatus roller associated with the air plenum so as to provide a positive air flow to substantially assure that a receiver member adhering to such fuser apparatus roller is stripped therefrom.

Skive mechanism for reproduction apparatus fuser rollers

A fuser apparatus having a pair of rollers in nip relation to transport a receiver member therebetween to permanently fix a marking particle image to such receiver member, and a dual function air skive assembly for stripping a receiver member adhering to a fuser apparatus roller from the said roller. The dual function air skive assembly includes a frame engageable with a roller of the pair of rollers of the fuser apparatus. An air plenum is supported by the frame in operative relation to the fuser roller nip. The air plenum has a first nozzle arrangement directed at an angle to the roller so as to provide a positive air flow to strip a receiver member adhering to the roller therefrom, and a second nozzle arrangement directed substantially normal to the first nozzle arrangement to provide a positive air flow to cool a stripped receiver member and keep such receiver member from contacting the plenum.

Dual function air skive assembly for reproduction apparatus fuser rollers

An image marking device adapted to reduce an exterior envelope thereof. The image marking device comprises a housing having an exterior surface and a slot formed through the exterior surface. An image forming location, such as a print head, is disposed in the housing for printing an image on a recorder medium supplied from a supply tray received in the slot. The tray and the housing define the exterior envelope. The tray is inwardly slidable in the slot from an extended position to an inserted position. A guide ramp is disposed in the housing for guiding the recorder medium from the supply tray to the print head and extends from near the tray to near the print head. The guide ramp has a hinged end portion disposed adjacent the tray in a first position as the tray is extended and inwardly movable to a second position to allow the tray to be fully inserted into the slot. The exterior envelope of the image marking device is reduced as the hinged end portion is moved to the second position to allow the tray to travel to the fully inserted position in the slot.

Image marking device adapted to reduce an exterior envelope thereof

A sheet transport apparatus capable of applying a predetermined force for transporting any kind of paper, including a sheet of thin paper, without forming transport wrinkles in the paper caused by a nipping pressure. The apparatus includes a hard roller 114 and a soft roller 112 for nipping a sheet of paper 10 therebetween. The soft roller is driven to transport the sheet using a frictional force generated from the nipping pressure applied by the soft and hard rollers. The hard roller is in a barrel-shape having a predetermined radial curvature 'R', such that the nipping pressure decreases gradually along its axis from the center toward the periphery of a nipping face between two rollers. This causes a compressive stress against the sheet to shift smoothly from a portion of the sheet nipped by the soft and hard rollers to a portion free from the nipping pressure. Thus, the formation of transport wrinkles in the sheet can be prevented.

Sheet transport apparatus

A paper transport apparatus has an inclinable feed-in tray. Documents are drawn from the feed-in tray with a feed roller operating in conjunction with a retard roller. The rollers and the feed-in tray are supported on a pivotable frame. Pivoting of the frame permits the feed-in tray to be inclined to a desired angle to facilitate feeding of documents that do not readily slide while resulting in the documents being fed to the rollers at a constant entry angle irrespective of the angle of inclination of the feed-in tray.

Paper transport system

A rotational speed switcher which employs a synchronous motor which is low-cost, long-lasting and quiet, and when applied to a printer or document scanning apparatus or the like enables documents to be transported at either of two speeds selected by switching the motor between forward and reverse operating modes without changing the direction of rotation of the drive shafts.

Rotational speed switcher

A color printer according to the present invention includes a clutch means, an urging member and a positional alignment mechanism. The clutch means is used for engaging and disengaging a driving force used to move a paper holder means. The urging member (e.g., a spring) is used to urge the paper holder means in a direction opposite to the printing direction. The positional alignment mechanism is used for mechanically determining the position at which printing is to start on the paper when the paper holder means is disengaged from the driving force by the clutch means and is urged by the urging member in the direction opposite to the printing direction.

Color printer

A thermal recording apparatus is provided with a recording head and a sheet of recording paper shiftable relative to each other in a direction parallel to a row of heating elements through a distance which is smaller than the pitch of the heating elements, whereby the transfer process which has in the past been completed in one step is carried out in a multiplicity of steps. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain an image of higher density than can be obtained in the prior art.

Growing community of inventors

Nagoya, Japan

Tsutomu Miura