Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Separators
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-14
2003-07-01
Mackey, Patrick H. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Separators
C271S126000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06585250
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This application incorporates by reference Taiwanese application Serial No. 89117960, Filed on Sep. 1st, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a document separating mechanism, and more particularly to a document separating mechanism for an automatic document feeder capable of being applied to the fax machine, scanner, or printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to
FIG. 1
, a lateral view of a traditional Automatic Document Feeder is shown. The feeding roller
102
carries the fed documents
100
to move forward. The fed documents
100
are sequentially pressed in between the feeding roller
102
and the rubber friction pad
106
with the elasticity of the spring unit
108
below the rubber friction pad
106
. The input tray
110
for positioning the fed documents
100
has an inclined plane descending toward the feeding roller and friction pad.
While the fed documents
100
are placed on the input tray
110
, the fed documents
100
are slid along the surface of the input tray
110
for positioning by the force of the gravity or the conveyance of the pick roller (not shown in FIGs). Generally speaking, the coefficient of friction for the feeding roller
102
and the fed documents
100
is greater than that between the fed documents
100
themselves and greater than that of the rubber friction pad
106
and the fed documents
100
. The &mgr;
1
, is assumed to be the coefficient of friction for the feeding roller
102
and the fed documents
100
, the &mgr;
2
is assumed to be the coefficient of the fed documents
100
themselves, and the &mgr;
3
is assumed to be the coefficient of the rubber friction pad
106
and the fed documents
100
, wherein &mgr;
1
>&mgr;
2
>&mgr;
3
.
As the feeding roller
102
starts to rotate on its axis
104
, the first document
100
a
moves forward by the frictional force between the feeding roller
102
and the first document
100
a
, since the coefficient of friction for the feeding roller
102
and the fed documents
100
&mgr;
1
is greater than that of the fed documents
100
themselves &mgr;
2
. The first document
100
a
departs away from the other fed documents
100
b
and then comes into contact with the rubber friction pad
106
. Since the coefficient of the fed documents
100
&mgr;
1
is greater than that of the rubber friction pad
106
and the fed documents
100
&mgr;
3
, the first document
100
a
carried by the feeding roller
102
proceeds to move forward and is consequentially delivered. However, this caused the multiple feeding condition by utilizing the traditional Automatic Document Feeder due to the inadequate arrangement of the documents.
Referring to
FIG. 2
, a multiple feeding condition of the
FIG. 1
arrangement is shown. When the fed documents are not sequentially arranged in order as shown in FIG.
1
and fail to be pressed by the feeding roller
102
, the coefficient of friction of the documents
200
a
and the other fed documents
200
b
is smaller than that of the fed documents
200
b
themselves so that the documents
200
a
depart away together from the other fed documents
200
b
. Thus, the documents
200
a
are all pressed in between the feeding roller
102
and the rubber friction pad
106
with the elasticity of the spring unit
108
below the rubber friction pad
106
. Thus, the documents
200
a
move forward and it comes into multiple feeding condition. Other conditions caused by the inadequate arrangement of the documents, such as the position of the backward document is ahead of the forward document or the inadequate thickness of the document—too thick or too thin, are likely to result in the multiple feeding condition or a jam condition.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a document separating mechanism for the Automatic Document Feeder, which can improve the multiple feeding condition caused by the variation of the documents and prevent the multiple feeding or jam condition as result of the inadequate arrangement of documents.
The invention achieves the above-identified objects by providing a document separating mechanism for an Automatic Document Feeder. The document separating mechanism is an elastomer with the features of having a vertical plane and an arc surface, wherein the vertical plane is perpendicular to the main plane and capable of resisting the leading edges of the documents directly or indirectly. The arc surface is a turning plane for joining the vertical plane and the main plane.
The invention achieves the above-identified objects by providing a document separating mechanism for an Automatic Document Feeder. The document separating mechanism is an elastomer with the features of having a vertical plane and an arc surface, wherein the document separating mechanism includes the first document guiding incline and the second document guiding incline which are linked to the main plane with the same slope respectively and capable of making the documents being pressed by the feeding roller and arranged in order initially.
The invention achieves the above-identified objects by further providing an Automatic Document Feeder. The Automatic Document Feeder includes an input tray, a document separating mechanism, a feeding roller, and a rubber friction pad, wherein the feeding roller for carrying the document to move forward. The rubber friction pad along with a spring unit below makes the document being pressed in between the feeding roller and the rubber friction pad with the elasticity of the spring unit. The input tray has an inclined plane descending toward for positioning the fed documents. The document separating mechanism is an elastomer for providing a resistance to restrain the second or the latter document from moving along.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4575068 (1986-03-01), Kato
patent: 5707057 (1998-01-01), Oyama
patent: 5727782 (1998-03-01), Okada
patent: 5764384 (1998-06-01), Wilcox et al.
patent: 6010126 (2000-01-01), Mou et al.
patent: 6017031 (2000-01-01), Oosawa et al.
patent: 6151140 (2000-11-01), Wilcox et al.
patent: 6290224 (2001-09-01), Lin
Mackey Patrick H.
Rabin & Berdo P.C.
Silitek Corporation
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