Electrophotography – Document handling – Copy
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-09
2001-05-08
Braun, Fred L (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Document handling
Copy
Reexamination Certificate
active
06229983
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to an image formation apparatus for forming an image on roll paper or a cut paper sheet.
BACKGROUND TECHNIQUE
Ink-jet type image formation apparatuses for forming images by ink ejection on a printing medium, and electrophotography type image formation apparatuses for forming images by use of a developer on a printing medium are known as the output device of computers and workstations. Some of the image formation apparatuses are of the type which uses selectively cut paper sheets or roll paper as the printing medium. Some of them are of the type which uses roll paper only. An image formation apparatus which uses roll paper is usually equipped with a roll paper holder, and the roll paper is fed to an image formation section to form an image.
The roll paper is delivered usually by pairs of delivery rollers in a paper feed direction to the image formation section. The known delivery roller pairs include roll paper feed rollers which are contained in the roll paper holder and provided above the roll paper, roll paper delivery rollers which are provided on the downstream side of the roll paper feed rollers in the paper feed direction, and registration rollers which are provided on the downstream side of the roll paper delivery rollers. A cutter is provided between the roll paper feed rollers and the roll paper delivery rollers to cut the roll paper into a predetermined size of recording paper sheets by moving in a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction.
In formation of an image on roll paper, the roll paper caught and delivered by the roll paper feed rollers and related members is once stopped and is cut by the cutter into a prescribed size of a recording paper sheet before the image formation. Then the front end of the recording paper of the prescribed size is brought into contact with the registration rollers, and is fed to the image formation section with the timing of image formation to form an image. Therefore, the maximum length of the recording paper in the paper feed direction is limited to be nearly equal to the distance between the cutter and the registration roller.
Accordingly, in order to form an image on a recording paper long in the paper feed direction, an image formation apparatus of a large size should be used in which the cutter and the registration rollers are separated in a long distance. However, the size of the image formation apparatus is limited by the installation space, so that the length of the recording paper is also limited. Therefore, an image is not readily formed on a recording paper sheet longer in the paper feed direction, and the image formation apparatus therefor is not easily handleable.
When the recording paper sheet cut in the prescribed size is delivered to the image formation section, the remaining roll paper is kept uncut and waiting at the position where the delivered paper sheet has been cut. The cutter, when it returns to the home position, may touch the front end of the remaining roll paper to cause cutting of the front end or other inconveniences. The cut front end portion may cause paper jamming or other trouble. This makes the image formation apparatus less handleable.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Under the above circumstances, the present invention intends to provide an image formation apparatus more readily handleable.
A first embodiment of the image formation apparatus of the present invention, for achieving the above object, has a roll paper holder for holding a roll paper, first delivery rollers for delivering the roll paper from the roll paper holder in a paper feed direction, a cutter placed on a downstream side of the first delivery rollers in the paper feed direction for cutting the roll paper, second delivery rollers placed on the downstream side of the cutter in the paper feed direction for delivering the roll paper in the paper feed direction; and forms an image on the roll paper delivered by the first delivery rollers and the second delivery rollers:
The image formation apparatus comprising
(1) a first controlling means which controls the cutter, the first delivery rollers, and the second delivery rollers so as to form a loop of the roll paper between the first delivery rollers and the second delivery rollers, to form an image on the roll paper before cutting, and to cut the roll paper with the cutter with a prescribed timing.
A second embodiment of the image formation apparatus of the present invention, for achieving the above object, has a roll paper holder for holding a roll paper, first delivery rollers for delivering the roll paper from the roll paper holder in a paper feed direction, a cutter placed on the downstream side of the first delivery rollers in the paper feed direction for cutting the roll paper, second delivery rollers placed on the downstream side of the cutter in the paper feed direction for delivering the roll paper in the paper feed direction; and forming an image on the roll paper having been delivered by the first delivery rollers and the second delivery rollers:
The image formation apparatus comprising
(2) a second controlling means which controls the cutter, the first delivery rollers, and the second delivery rollers to stop once the roll paper delivered by the first delivery rollers and the second delivery rollers and to cut the roll paper before image formation on the roll paper, when an image formation portion of the roll paper is not longer than a prescribed length in the paper feed direction; or to form a loop of the roll paper between the first delivery rollers and the second delivery rollers, to form an image on the roll paper before cutting, and to cut the roll paper with the cutter with a prescribed timing, when an image formation portion of the roll paper is longer than the prescribed length in the paper feed direction.
The image formation apparatus may have
(3) a movable guide which is placed between the cutter and the second delivery rollers and guides the roll paper delivered by the first and the second delivery rollers to form a loop in a direction to correct curling inclination of the roll paper.
The image formation apparatus may have
(4) third delivery rollers which are placed on the downstream side in the paper feed direction of the second delivery rollers to form a loop by contact with the recording paper and to deliver the recording paper in the paper feed direction to meet the timing of image formation, and
(5) a third controlling means which controls the second delivery rollers to stop before the roll paper having passed through the second delivery rollers forms a loop by contact with the third delivery rollers.
A third embodiment of the image formation apparatus of the present invention, for achieving the above object, is equipped with a roll paper holder for holding a roll paper, first delivery rollers for delivering the roll paper from the roll paper holder in a paper feed direction, and a cutter placed on the downstream side of the first delivery rollers in the paper feed direction for cutting the roll paper delivered from the first delivery rollers into a prescribed size of a recording paper sheet; and forms an image on the recording paper sheet of the prescribed size: the image formation apparatus comprising
(6) a nipping member placed on the upstream side of the cutter in the paper feed direction to nip the front end of the remaining roll paper separate from the cut recording paper of the predetermined size.
The image formation apparatus may have
(7) a first controlling means which controls the first delivery rollers to move the front end of the remaining roll paper backward, after the cutting of the roll paper by the cutter, to the position where the front end is nipped by the nipping member.
The image formation apparatus may have
(8) a detection sensor which is placed at a reference position between the position of nipping of the front end of the remaining roll paper by the nipping member and the position of the first delivery rollers for measuring the delivery amount of the roll paper and detects the roll pa
Braun Fred L
Copyer Co. Ltd.
Dellett and Walters
LandOfFree
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