Sheet feeding or delivering – Feeding – Pack holders
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-18
2001-09-11
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Feeding
Pack holders
C271S147000, C271S157000, C206S556000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06286827
ABSTRACT:
Disclosed is an improved copy or print sheets loading and feeding system for a reproduction apparatus. In particular, for improved ease and convenience of loading a large and heavy stack of a large number of sheets of paper or other image substrate material into a high sheet capacity input for a reproduction apparatus, for providing uninterrupted or continuous feeding of a large number of sheets.
In reproduction apparatus, such as xerographic and other printers or multifunction machines, it is increasingly important to provide easier, faster, more reliable and more automatic handling and feeding of the physical sheets to be printed with images, with reduced printing interruptions for sheet reloading, and the disclosed system is an improvement therein.
The disclosed system is particularly suitable for integration into or use with what is known in the art as a high capacity or “high-cap” feeder. It can enable uninterrupted feeding of the sheets to be printed from a large stack thereof, by automatic lifting of, and maintaining the vertical position of, the top of the stack with the sheet feeder which is feeding the sheets sequentially to the printer as the stack is depleted by that sheet feeding. It can provide high capacity sheet feeding without having to manually remove the sheets from their container and then manually restack the sheets into a “high-cap” feeder input.
Some examples of “high cap” sheet feeders, with or without elevator trays lifting and maintaining large stacks of copy sheets into engagement with a sheet feeder input to a copier or printer with various stack elevator systems, are disclosed in Xerox Corp. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,436,406; 4,718,658; 5,152,520; and 5,328,167.
In the disclosed system a large, heavy, stack of sheets may be loaded directly into the printer sheet input while still held in their shipping and storage container, yet those sheets, or that novel container, does not have to be thereafter lifted or moved. Rather, the stack may be automatically lifted vertically up from inside that container towards the sheet feeder by a novel stack lifting system. As disclosed in the embodiment herein, that may be provided by supporting the entire stack of sheets on a liftable false bottom stack supporting tray, which tray may be lifted by lift rods extending upwardly through apertures in the bottom of the shipping and storage container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,210 may also be of background interest, as to a large sheet stack receptacle loading system.
Other disclosed features include a reusable copy sheet shipping and storage container which can also be used as an output sheet stacker and transporter for the printed sheets.
Also, this container may have a transparent vertically extending side window showing the stack level therein, and/or showing any identifying or marking idicia on the edges of the sheets, before or after printing. After printing and finishing, this same window can also be used to view tape, colored banner sheets, or other print job or shared users jobs separator sheets, or other set separation indicia which is visible at the edges of sheets inside this container.
Thus, the disclosed container embodiment is especially suitable for use as a printed sheets output stacker and temporary removal, transport, and/or storage container for the sets of printed sheets. In particular, it can be effectively used with a system of output set temporary binding and edge identification, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,676, issued Nov. 9, 1999 to the same Murray O. Meetze, Jr., from allowed U.S. App. Ser. No. 08/128,929 (D/90136D). The published European Patent Office equivalent application is Number EP 0 547 788, published on Jun. 23, 1993. It describes and shows plural sheet print jobs with separating and edge identifying indicia such as individually bar coded removable tapes which would be readily visible through the container side window system of the disclosed embodiment here. That is, as described in that patent, small removable print job and/or printer user labeling and set-holding tapes extending around opposing edges of each distinct print job or printed document stacked into the subject exemplary container, with the bar codes or other indicia for each taped document or print job set of sheets being visible though the window in the side of the box.
A specific feature of the specific embodiment disclosed herein is to provide in a high capacity copy sheet supplying system for a reproduction apparatus, with a sheet feeder for feeding copy sheets into said reproduction apparatus, and with a sheet supply input into which a large and heavy stack of a large number of copy sheets may be loaded, and with an elevator system for lifting the stack of copy sheets in said sheet supply input into sheet feeding engagement between the top of said stack and said sheet feeder, and for maintaining the top of said stack in said sheet feeding engagement with said sheet feeder as said stack is depleted by said feeding of said copy sheets by said sheet feeder into said reproduction apparatus, the improvement in said high capacity copy sheet supplying system comprising: a sheet supplying container insertable into said sheet supply input of said high capacity sheet supplying system, said sheet supplying container having sheet stack confining side walls and a bottom wall with plural spaced apertures, a false bottom tray insert loosely overlying said bottom wall of said sheet supplying container, said large and heavy stack of copy sheets being supported on said false bottom tray insert in said sheet supplying container, plural spaced apart lift rods operatively connecting with said elevator mechanism for substantially vertical movement, said lift rods being respectively spaced in alignment with respect to said plural spaced apertures in said bottom wall of said sheet supplying container, said lift rods extending substantially parallel to one another and having rod ends in substantially the same plane, said plurality of spaced apart lift rods being movable by said elevator system to extend up through said plural spaced apertures in said bottom wall of said sheet supplying container to engage and lift said false bottom tray insert and said large and heavy stack of copy sheets supported thereon by lifting engagement of said rod ends of said lift rods with said false bottom tray insert, so as to lift said large and heavy stack of copy sheets relative to said sheet supplying container and into engagement with said sheet feeder.
Further specific features disclosed herein, individually or in combination, include those wherein said sheet supply input includes a supporting surface for said sheet supplying container and an input alignment system for said sheet supplying container for aligning said plural spaced apertures in said sheet supplying container with said plural spaced apart lift rods; and/or wherein said sheet supplying container has at least one said side wall with a vertical transparent window through which the height of said stack of copy sheets in said sheet supplying container is visible from outside of said sheet supplying container; and/or wherein said plural spaced lift rods comprises four such rods; and/or wherein said elevator system includes a sheet stacking elevator tray for manually stacking sheets thereon for feeding said sheets with said sheet feeder without said sheet supplying container; and/or wherein said sheet supplying container is a reusable container adapted to be alternatively placed at the output of a reproduction apparatus for the stacking therein of printed sheets outputted by said reproduction apparatus; and/or wherein said sheet supplying container has at least one said side wall with a vertical transparent window through which the edges of printed sheets in said sheet supplying container are visible from outside of said sheet supplying container; and/or a high capacity sheet supplying system for a reproduction apparatus with an input sheet feeder and a sheet supply input, said sheet supplying system comprising: a sheet supplying container which is inser
Gramlich John D.
Meetze, Jr. Murray O.
Deuble Mark A.
Ellis Christopher P.
Xerox Corporation
LandOfFree
High capacity automatic sheet input system for a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with High capacity automatic sheet input system for a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and High capacity automatic sheet input system for a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2538698