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:
Oct. 30, 2001
Filed:
Jan. 27, 1999
Franz Allmendinger, Aichwald, DE;
Joachim Buck, Laichingen, DE;
Jochen H. Graeber, Bissingen, DE;
Volker H. Koenig, Ebersbach, DE;
Heinz Michels, Wolfschlugen, DE;
NexPress Solutions LLC, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to a device (,) for detecting a stack height of sheets (,) stacked in an input and/or output tray (,) of an apparatus, said device comprising a feeler (,) cyclically controlled and driven by means of a drive unit (,) and a control unit toward the sheet stack (,) in the stacking direction into a sensing position, and a sensor (,) detecting the sheet stack height and recognizing the sensing position of the feeler. To create a device which on the one hand has a simple, compact design along with freely selectable measurement steps and high measurement accuracy at each stack height, and on the other hand allows quiet and vibration-free operation, a controllable stepping motor (,) is provided, by means of which the feeler (,) is movable from a predeterminable initial position (y, z′) toward the sheet stack (,) and into the sensing position (y′, z), such that the stack height can be determined on the basis of the number of motor steps detected from the initial position until the sensing position of the feeler is recognized.