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:
Jan. 02, 2001
Filed:
May. 26, 1998
Tsuyoshi Asahara, Yamanashi-ken, JP;
Hirofumi Kaneko, Kofu, JP;
Kazuaki Sano, Yamanashi-ken, JP;
Takashi Saito, Sakaigawa-mura, JP;
Hideki Mimura, Yamanashi-ken, JP;
Abstract
A sheet handling device for accommodating, aligning and storing sheets fed from an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine is provided with front-side and rear-side aligning members for pressing the sheets stacked on a first storage means between the aligning members to stably and exactly align the stacked sheets. The front side aligning member is movable vertically or rotatable to open a sheet transferring passage so as to enable a sheet aligning mechanism in the sheet handling device to be operated in a small space, and thus, made compact. While transferring the aligned sheets from the first storage means to a second storage means, the aligned sheets are stably held by the front-side aligning member being in soft contact with the upper surface of the sheets being transferred.