Sheet feeding or delivering – Delivering – Rotary conveyor
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-15
2002-04-16
Ellis, Christopher P. (Department: 3651)
Sheet feeding or delivering
Delivering
Rotary conveyor
C271S185000, C271S186000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06371481
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a mechanism for discharging a sheet and more particularly to a mechanism applicable to, e.g., a printer for discharging a sheet after reversing it.
To better understand the present invention, brief reference will be made to a conventional printer shown in FIG.
10
. As shown, the conventional printer includes paper or similar recording medium implemented as a roll
101
. A print head
102
prints an image on the paper paid out from the roll
101
. A cutter
103
cuts off the printed part of the paper. The cut paper or sheet is directly driven out of the printer. The print head
102
is affixed to a retraction mechanism
106
movable up and down. Moreover, the print head
102
and retraction mechanism
106
are fixed to an upper unit
104
, which is movable around a turn axis X toward and away from a lower unit
105
.
The problem with the retraction mechanism
106
including the print head
102
is that it is heavy and has a number of signal cables and power feed cables connected thereto. Therefore, when considering its weight and cable wiring, it is unsuitable to mount the retraction mechanism
106
on the upper unit
104
.
In light of the above, the print head
102
maybe mounted on the lower unit
105
underlying the roll
101
. This, however, brings about another problem. That is, the sheet is driven out of the printer face down, i.e., with its printed surface facing downward. Therefore, its print condition cannot be easily confirmed.
To discharge a sheet face up, a mechanism for reversing the sheet before discharging it has been proposed in various forms in the past. Referring to
FIG. 11
, it shows a specific conventional sheet reversing mechanism. As shown, the conventional mechanism includes a picker roller
110
and a belt
111
for nipping sheets
109
stacked on the belt
111
face down. A drive section, not shown, drives the picker roller
110
, the belt
111
and a belt
112
contacting the downstream side of the belt
111
at the same speed in a direction indicated by an arrow. As a result, the sheet
109
is fed to a nip between the belts
111
and
112
while being pressed by the picker roller
110
against the guide
115
. The belts
111
and
112
reverse the sheet
109
little by little along the contour of a guide member
113
while conveying it to a guide
114
. Consequently, the sheet
109
is positioned on the guide
114
face up.
However, in the configuration shown in
FIG. 11
, the sheet
109
is conveyed in one direction, turned down, and then conveyed in the other direction different from the above direction. When this configuration is applied to the layout shown in
FIG. 10
, the paper
109
cannot be discharged in an opposite side to the input side in which it is input. That is, the paper
109
must be output in the same side in which it is input.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism capable of reversing a sheet on a sheet conveyance path and then discharging it, and capable of outputting the sheet in a side opposite to an input side by conveying it in substantially the same direction. A mechanism for reversing and discharging a sheet of the present invention includes a first roller for conveying the sheet and a second roller for nipping the sheet with the first roller. After an image has been printed on the sheet, a drive mechanism causes the first and second rollers to convey the sheet until the trailing edge of the sheet arrives at a position spaced from the first roller by a preselected distance. Subsequently, the drive mechanism rotates the first roller in the reverse direction and moves the second roller along the circumference of the first roller by a preselected angle in the reverse direction, thereby conveying the sheet to an outlet section.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4252309 (1981-02-01), Garrison et al.
patent: 4858909 (1989-08-01), Stemmle
patent: 5031893 (1991-07-01), Yoneda et al.
patent: 5183249 (1993-02-01), Ichikawa
patent: 5201517 (1993-04-01), Stemmle
patent: 5210616 (1993-05-01), Kawasaki et al.
patent: 5215298 (1993-06-01), Stemmle et al.
patent: 5263703 (1993-11-01), Derrick
patent: 5449163 (1995-09-01), Wong et al.
patent: 6070869 (2000-06-01), Kim
Ellis Christopher P.
NEC Corporation
Ridley Richard
LandOfFree
Mechanism for discharging a sheet in an output side... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Mechanism for discharging a sheet in an output side..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Mechanism for discharging a sheet in an output side... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2872069