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:
Nov. 23, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 28, 1997
Applicant:
Inventors:
Kazuyuki Tomishige, Toyohashi, JP;
Tatsuya Shinno, Toyokawa, JP;
Assignee:
Minolta Co., Ltd., Osaka, JP;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B65H / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
271201 ; 271300 ; 271302 ; 270 5813 ;
Abstract
A staple sorter comprising a large-capacity non-sort tray. Sheets are stacked one by one on a plurality of bins so as to make collated sets of sheets (sort mode), and each set is stapled by a staple unit. A sheet conveyer gate has rollers and is capable of moving vertically. The sheet conveyer gate takes a stapled stack of sheets out of a bin with the rollers when lowered, and ejects the stack onto the non-sort tray after elevated. When ejecting, the gate is elevated to a position which is higher than the uppermost surface of the sheets stacked on the non-sort tray.