This application claims the priority of Chinese patent application No. 201710525768.4, filed on Jun. 30, 2017, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure generally relates to the field of printing apparatus technology and, more particularly, relates to an auxiliary device and a printing apparatus containing the auxiliary device.
After a printing of paper sheet by a printer is complete, the printed paper sheet is outputted into a paper output tray through an eject roller. Because a rotational speed of the eject roller is low, a speed of the paper sheet outputted from the eject roller is low and the paper sheet outputted from the eject roller stays at a position close to the eject roller. Because the stay position of the outputted paper sheet from the eject roller is close to the eject roller, the outputted paper sheet from the eject roller will be in contact with subsequent paper sheet that is being outputted, and exert a resistance force to the paper sheet that is being outputted. Accordingly, the paper sheet that is being outputted stays at a position closer to the eject roller and continues to affect the paper sheet to be subsequently outputted.
As the number of the paper sheets outputted from the eject roller increases, the outputted paper sheet gets closer and closer to the subsequent paper sheet that is being outputted, the contact area between sheets of the paper becomes larger and larger, and the resistance to the subsequent paper sheet that is being outputted becomes larger and larger. Accordingly, a paper jam will occur.
In addition to printers, other printing apparatus such as copiers also have same paper jam issues. The disclosed print output auxiliary device and printing apparatus are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems in the art.
One aspect of the present disclosure includes a printing apparatus. The printing apparatus includes a print output device, including a print exit. The printing apparatus also includes an auxiliary device disposed at the print exit of the print output device and having a first position state and a second position state. During a transition of the auxiliary device between the first position state and the second position state, the auxiliary device pushes print outputted from the print exit to move in a direction away from the print exit.
Other aspects of the present disclosure can be understood by those skilled in the art in light of the description, the claims, and the drawings of the present disclosure.
To more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings will be briefly described below. The drawings in the following description are certain embodiments of the present disclosure, and other drawings may be obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings provided without creative efforts.
Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of the disclosure, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or the alike parts. The described embodiments are some embodiments but not all of the embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein. Based on the disclosed embodiments, persons of ordinary skill in the art may derive other embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, all of which are encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.
The disclosed embodiments in the present disclosure are merely examples for illustrating the general principles of the invention. Any equivalents or modifications thereof, without departing from the spirit and principle of the present disclosure, fall within the true scope of the present disclosure.
Moreover, in the present disclosure, the terms “include” and “contain” and their derivatives mean inclusion but not limitation. The term “or” is inclusive and means “and/or”. The term “and/or” may be used to indicate that two associated objects may have three types of relations. For example, “A and/or B” may represent three situations: A exists, A and B coexist, and B exists.
The present disclosure provides an auxiliary device and a printing apparatus. For example, an auxiliary device may be a print output auxiliary device and may be configured at a print exit of a print output device of a printing apparatus. As used herein, the term “prints” or “print” may refer to a printed matter processed by and exited from the printing apparatus through the print output device via the print exit. In some embodiments, the prints/print may include a printed paper sheet, a printed plastic film, a printed glass plate, etc., printed by the printing apparatus.
In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may have a first position state and a second position state as illustrated in
Referring to
As shown in
As shown in
In response to the auxiliary device 001, in some case, only including the output auxiliary member 004, the output auxiliary member 004 is used as the auxiliary device 001.
As shown in
The output auxiliary member 004 may be at least partially made of an elastic material. The elastic material may provide elastic deformation to switch the output auxiliary member between the first auxiliary position state and the second auxiliary position state. In some embodiments, there are many types of the elastic material, e.g., metal, plastic, and wood, etc.
In some embodiments, a distance from the first terminal 008 of the output auxiliary member 004 to the print exit 002 may be greater than a distance from the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 to the print exit 002.
In some embodiments, the distance from the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 in the first auxiliary position state to the print exit 002 may be smaller than the distance from the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 in the second auxiliary position state to the print exit 002. Accordingly, during the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state, the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 may move in the direction away from the print exit 002, to push the prints 003 to move in the direction away from the print exit 002.
The elastic part 007 may have a certain amount of deformation. In response to the elastic part 007 being deformed, the weight body 006 may be driven to move. A weight of the weight body 006 may be a first weight, and the first weight may be in a range of approximately 10 grams-100 grams. Because the weight body 006 has a certain weight, the weight body 006 may have a high momentum in response to being driven by the elastic part 007. Further, in response to the weight body 006 being in contact with the prints 003, a large pushing force may be exerted on the prints 003 to push the prints 003 to move in the direction away from the print exit 002.
Further, the elastic part 007 may be an arc-shaped elastic piece. Referring to
To enable the output auxiliary member 004 to better push the prints 003, as shown in
The first notch 012 of the output auxiliary member 004 may “jam” the prints 003 to a certain extent, to prolong a contact time between the output auxiliary member 004 and the prints 003. Therefore, the output auxiliary member 004 may push the prints 003 for a longer period of time, such that the prints 003 may be fallen in a position farther away from the print exit 002 to ensure smooth output of the prints. The first acting surface 013 is not limited to a vertical surface illustrated in
In some embodiments, the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state may be driven by an elastic force of the output auxiliary member 004. For example, the output auxiliary member 004 may be in a bending energy storage state in the first auxiliary position state. As the bending amount of the output auxiliary member 004 decreases, the output auxiliary member 004 may release energy and change to the second auxiliary position state (e.g., a natural state) after pushing the prints 003.
In other embodiments, the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state may be driven by the gravity of the output auxiliary member 004, and the first terminal 008 of the output auxiliary member 004 may be hinged to the printing apparatus. In response to the gravity, the output auxiliary member 004 may rotate around the first terminal 008 of the output auxiliary member 004 along with the falling of the output auxiliary member 004. The rotation process of the output auxiliary member 004 may be the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state, and the output auxiliary member 004 may push the prints 003 during the rotation process.
In other embodiments, the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state may be driven by a magnetic force. For example, the output auxiliary member 004 may contain a ferromagnetic substance, and an electromagnet may be provided under the output auxiliary member 004. At power on, the electromagnet may attract the output auxiliary member 004 to move downward by the magnetic force. Because the first terminal 008 of the output auxiliary member 004 is disposed on the printing apparatus and cannot move downward, the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 may rotate around the first terminal 008 of the output auxiliary member 004, and push the prints 003 during the rotation process.
Because the printing apparatus can continuously output a plurality of prints, in some embodiments, every outputted prints may be pushed once. Because the output auxiliary member 004 may be in the second position state after pushing the print every time, the output auxiliary member 004 may desire to be in the first auxiliary position state again to push prints to be subsequently outputted. A manner of the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the second auxiliary position state to the first auxiliary position state may include the following.
In response to the printing apparatus outputting first prints, the first print outputted from the print exit 002 may be in contact with the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 to enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the first auxiliary position state. After outputting of the first prints is complete, the output auxiliary member 004 may be switched from the first auxiliary position state to the second auxiliary position state.
To avoid the occurrence of a “paper jam” phenomenon during the process in which the prints 003 forces the second terminal 009 of the output auxiliary member 004 to be raised, as shown in
In the disclosed auxiliary device, the auxiliary device may be disposed at the print exit of the printing apparatus. The auxiliary device may have the first position state and the second position state. In the first position state, the auxiliary device may have the first relative-position relationship with the print outputted from the print exit. In the second position state, the auxiliary device may have the second relative-position relationship with the print outputted from the print exit. During the transition of the auxiliary device from the first position state to the second position state, the auxiliary device may push the print outputted from the print exit to move in the direction away from the print exit. In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may be disposed at the print exit to assist outputting of the prints. By controlling the position state of the auxiliary device, the auxiliary device may push the prints to move during the transition of the position states, such that the output speed of the prints may be improved, and the print jam may be avoided.
Another manner of the transition of the output auxiliary member 004 from the second auxiliary position state to the first auxiliary position state may include the following. As shown in
At power on, the electromagnet 015 may attract the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the first auxiliary position state. At power off, the electromagnet 015 may stop attracting the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the second auxiliary position state.
In other embodiments, the disclosed electromagnet 015 may attract the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the second auxiliary position state by the magnetic force. In other words, at power on, the electromagnet 015 may attract the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the second auxiliary position state. At power off, the electromagnet 015 may stop attracting the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the first auxiliary position state.
In response to the electromagnet 015 attracting the output auxiliary member 004 by the magnetic force and changing the auxiliary position state of the output auxiliary member 004, the output auxiliary member 004 may store energy (e.g., elastic potential energy, or gravitational potential energy). Accordingly, in response to the electromagnet 015 being powered off, the energy stored in the output auxiliary member 004 may restore the auxiliary position state of the output auxiliary member 004. That is, in response to the electromagnet 015 being powered off, the output auxiliary member 004 may restore to the auxiliary position state before being attracted by the electromagnet 015.
In other embodiments, a plurality of electromagnets may be simultaneously disposed on the upper and lower sides of the output auxiliary member 004. To place the output auxiliary member 004 in the first auxiliary position state, the plurality of electromagnets on one side (e.g., the upper side) of the output auxiliary member 004 may be energized to attract the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the first auxiliary position state. To place the output auxiliary member 004 in the second auxiliary position state, the plurality of electromagnets on the other side (e.g., the lower side) of the output auxiliary member 004 may be energized to attract the output auxiliary member 004 and enable the output auxiliary member 004 to be in the second auxiliary position state. Accordingly, the energy storage process described above may be eliminated.
The present disclosure also provides a printing apparatus.
In some embodiments, the print output device 200 may be an eject roller driven by a power shaft 210. The auxiliary device 001 may be disposed on the housing 005. The disclosed printing apparatus may include at least one auxiliary device 001. In some embodiments, as shown in
In the disclosed printing apparatus, the auxiliary device may be provided at the print exit. The auxiliary device may have the first position state and the second position state. In the first position state, the auxiliary device may have the first relative-position relationship with the print outputted from the print exit. In the second position state, the auxiliary device may have the second relative-position relationship with the print outputted from the print exit. During the transition of the print output auxiliary device from the first position state to the second position state, the auxiliary device may push the print outputted from the print exit to move in the direction away from the print exit. In some embodiments, the auxiliary device may be disposed at the print exit to assist outputting of the prints. By controlling the position state of the auxiliary device, the auxiliary device may push the prints to move during the transition of the position states, such that the output speed of the prints may be improved, and the print jam may be avoided.
The various embodiments in the present specification are described in a progressive manner. Each embodiment mainly describes in terms of differences from other embodiments, and the same or similar parts between the various embodiments may be referred to each other.
The device and method described in the above embodiments may be realized through other approaches. That is, the description on the methods and devices in the above embodiments may only be schematic examples.
The description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to illustrate the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
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