Patent Grant
9857744
This disclosure relates to machines that process stacked objects and output the processed items in a stack. For example, printing industry systems commonly stack blank recording mediums and feed them into printing processors and stack printed outputs. This type of stacking/processing/stacking sequence may also be found in common office equipment, such as, xerographic copiers or printers.
Feeding media that stacks unevenly presents a common challenge in reproduction devices. Common media types include stocks with cards attached to one end of the page (documents with insurance cards attached), stocks with labels on one side of the page, such as, shipping labels and envelopes where the flap creates an extra layer of paper. Typically, the maximum amount of this type of media is around 100 pages before the stack becomes to lopsided and pages miss-feed at the initial point of take up from the stack. This is particularly a problem in production environments where large capacity feeders remain largely unused and require frequent reloading.
An attempt at solving this problem is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,087 issued Nov. 15, 1994 to Richard A. Schieck, et al, entitled “Tilting Tray for Feeding and Stacking Specialized Forms which describes a modular insert for a print media sheet elevator tray for providing a substantially level top sheet surface for a variable height stack of multiple specialized forms having peelable labels in a marginal area thereof which causes these specialized sheets to have a greater thickness in that area than in the rest of the sheets. As may be seen from this patent, this is provided there by making approximately half of the stack bottom supporting surface 209 pivotable downward with the weight of the stack in that thicker area against the force of springs 212, 214, as described in Col. 8, for example. This disclosed counter-spring partial stack support pivoting system apparently assumes consistent correlation of stack height to stack end area weight downward force, minus sheet beam strength, versus spring upward force. Col. 8, lines 39-45 of this patent also incidentally mentions, but does not show, that: “ . . . instead of using a spring mounted support for the thicker marginal region, a ratchet arrangement of a rack and pinion may be used wherein the support is moved down the requisite distance to insure that the leading and trailing marginal regions of the uppermost sheet of the stack of copy sheets are substantially level.” However, even if the latter suggestion were enabled (which would seem to require some sort of additional controlled drive, not disclosed), all of the bottom-most sheets of the stack of sheets will still be variably significantly bent, as shown in this patent, because only one portion of the stack support tilts while the other portion remains fixed horizontally. In contrast, inter alia, the embodiment disclosed herein can desirably maintain most of the stacked special sheets substantially planar irrespective of the number of multiple sheets being stacked (the stack height) or the stack weight.
Other known tilting trays include a spring loaded hinged stacking tray for the output of stapled sets of printed sheets (sets that are thicker on their stapled side) that is hinged downstream to tilt down upstream (adjacent the sheet exit tray entrance area) to reduce uneven stack growth due to the staples or other set bindings. However, spring pivoting trays in general typically have a limited capacity of stacking height as compared to elevator stacking trays, as well as only an approximated appropriate amount or degree of pivoting, as noted above.
In answer to the above-mentioned shortcomings of previous attempts at feeding media that stacks unevenly, a method of feeding uneven media is disclosed that includes rotating the pages of media in a stack 180° every 100-250 pages. This is only done with non-flat pages (envelopes, DocuCards®, etc.) which create tilted stacks and limit the number of pages that can be placed in the feeder. Rotating the pages 180° distributes the uneven build-up and creates a relatively flat stack, allowing the feeder to be filled to capacity. A camera placed in the feeder will detect the orientation of the stack on the fly so the images can be rotated accordingly.
The disclosed system may be operated and controlled by appropriate operation of conventional control systems. It is well known and preferable to program and execute imaging, printing, paper handling, and other control functions and logic with software instructions for conventional or general purpose microprocessors, as taught by numerous prior patents and commercial products. Such programming or software may, of course, vary depending on the particular functions, software type, and microprocessor or other computer system utilized, but will be available to, or readily programmable without undue experimentation from, functional descriptions, such as those provided herein, and/or prior knowledge of functions which are conventional, together with general knowledge in the software or computer arts. Alternatively, the disclosed control system or method may be implemented partially or fully in hardware, using standard logic circuits or single chip VLSI designs.
The term “reproduction apparatus” or “printer” as used herein broadly encompasses various printers, copiers or multifunction machines or systems, xerographic or otherwise, unless otherwise defined in a claim. The terms “sheet” or “print media” herein interchangeably refer to a usually flimsy physical sheet of paper, plastic, or other suitable physical substrate for images.
As to specific components of the subject apparatus or methods, or alternatives therefor, it will be appreciated that, as is normally the case, some such components are known per se in other apparatus or applications, which may be additionally or alternatively used herein, including those from art cited herein. For example, it will be appreciated by respective engineers and others that many of the particular component mountings, component actuations, or component drive systems illustrated herein are merely exemplary, and that the same novel motions and functions can be provided by many other known or readily available alternatives. All cited references, and their references, are incorporated by reference herein where appropriate for teachings of additional or alternative details, features, and/or technical background. What is well known to those skilled in the art need not be described herein.
Using the method of feeding discussed above, documents having non-uniform thicknesses such as DocuCards®, for example, may be stacked in a tray so that the uppermost recording medium may be maintained at a particular position for proper feeding of the recording medium into a processor such as a printer or to accept processed recording mediums into a stacker.
Various of the above-mentioned and further features and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the specific apparatus and its operation or methods described in the example below, and the claims. Thus, they will be better understood from this description of this specific embodiment, including the drawing figures (which are approximately to scale) wherein:
As discussed above, many types of machines process objects that are stacked in an input tray, and each object of the stack may be input into the processing machine, processed and output to an output stacker. For ease of discussion, a print machine such as a xerographic copier or printer is used as an example to illustrate various features related to the input and output trays.
Recording medium 104 may have substantially uniform thickness and tray lift 106 lifts the stack of recording mediums 104 upwards so that a belt assembly 112, for example, of feeder 110 may separate a top recording medium from the stack and feed the top recording medium into print machine 108 for processing.
Feed tray 102 shown in
DocuCard® is an example of such a document having non-uniform thicknesses across its surface. As shown in
In accordance with the present disclosure,
In recapitulation, the embodiment of the present disclosure addresses a problem encountered when feeding uneven stock into a printer or other device and solves the problem by alternately stacking of the paper in a high capacity feeder. This is accomplished by rotating as a set every 100-150 pages 180°. Detection of each alternately stacked number of pages is by use of a paper thickness sensor or a camera strategically placed to monitor change in either the trail or lead edge of pages in the stack.
The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others. Unless specifically recited in a claim, steps or components of claims should not be implied or imported from the specification or any other claims as to any particular order, number, position, size, shape, angle, color, or material.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5364087 | Schieck et al. | Nov 1994 | A |
| 5993367 | Hattori | Nov 1999 | A |
| 6305281 | Aizawa | Oct 2001 | B1 |
| 6353726 | Murata | Mar 2002 | B1 |
| 7889362 | Tsukuba | Feb 2011 | B2 |
| 7980553 | Haflinger | Jul 2011 | B2 |
| 20030053834 | Suzuki | Mar 2003 | A1 |
| 20100025915 | Amano | Feb 2010 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20170285544 A1 | Oct 2017 | US |
