The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 22, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 25, 1997
David G Anderson, Ontario, NY (US);
John H Looney, Fairport, NY (US);
Thomas Acquaviva, Penfield, NY (US);
Randolph Cruz, Harbor Beach, FL (US);
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, CT (US);
Abstract
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.