U.S. patent number 3,586,436 [Application Number 04/710,266] was granted by the patent office on 1971-06-22 for tabletop electrostatic copying machine.
Invention is credited to Joseph H. Jaeger, William B. Jarzembski, Sperry Rand Corporation.
United States Patent |
3,586,436 |
Jarzembski , et al. |
June 22, 1971 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
TABLETOP ELECTROSTATIC COPYING MACHINE
Abstract
A tabletop electrostatic copying machine has a tunnel opening
for the original. The copy paper moves in a path with few bends
past the exposure station synchronized with the moving original.
Liquid toner is applied to only one face of the copy to minimize
drying time. The bottom of the housing is a reservoir for the toner
and excess toner from the copy paper falls there.
Inventors: |
Jarzembski; William B.
(Riverside, IL), Jaeger; Joseph H. (Evanston, IL), Sperry
Rand Corporation (New York, NY) |
Family
ID: |
24853293 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/710,266 |
Filed: |
March 4, 1968 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
399/246; 399/249;
399/251 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G03G
15/28 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G03G
15/00 (20060101); G03G 15/28 (20060101); G03g
015/10 () |
Field of
Search: |
;355/10 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1,206,728 |
|
Dec 1965 |
|
DT |
|
447,815 |
|
Mar 1968 |
|
CH |
|
354,467 |
|
Jul 1961 |
|
CH |
|
Primary Examiner: Matthews; Samuel S.
Assistant Examiner: Harris; Michael
Claims
We claim:
1. A tabletop photocopying machine comprising a housing having a
front operating side, a top, a backside and two ends, mean at the
top of said housing for receiving an item to be copied and
including mean for feeding said item to be copied substantially
horizontally relatively from one end toward the other end through
said housing and out said other end, an exposure station having a
substantially horizontal scanning window within said housing and
past which said item is fed in substantially horizontal position
means in said housing for illuminating said item at said copying
station, a paper safe within said housing adjacent the top thereof
for storing a stack of sheets of paper each having a printing face
thereon, means in said housing for feeding a sheet of paper from
said paper safe substantially horizontally toward said one end of
said housing and then substantially vertically down, and exposing
station in said housing past which said paper is fed substantially
vertically down, an optical system in said housing for projecting
an image of said item at said copying station onto the face of said
paper at said exposing station, developing means below said
exposing station and relatively away from said one end, said
developing means comprising, dispensing means for depositing fluid
developer on only the face of said paper, a reservoir for liquid
developer, and means permitting any excess developer from the
dispensing means to fall downwardly for return to said reservoir,
thus minimizing the wetting of the surface of said paper opposite
said face to which developer is applied, and an exit station
adjacent said developing means and below said paper safe, said exit
station having paper receiving means within said housing and
opening through the front operating side of said housing
substantially at right angles to the end through which the item to
be copied exits, and feeding means within said housing for feeding
said paper down from said exposing station and then substantially
horizontally back away from said one end through said developing
mean to the paper receiving mean at said exit station.
2. A photocopying machine as set forth in claim 1 and further
including a liquid developer in said developing means, and wherein
said exit station includes a grid receiving and supporting said
paper said grid having open spaces above and below it for drying of
both surfaces of said paper.
3. A tabletop photocopying machine as set forth in claim 1 and
further including an electrostatic charger within said housing
above said exposing station and past which said paper is fed
vertically to said exposing station, there being feed roller means
above said charger and below said exposing station, but not
intermediate said charger and said exposing station.
4. A photocopying machine as set forth in claim 1 wherein said
receiving means includes a substantially straight horizontal tunnel
through said housing and a downwardly inclined plate leading to
said tunnel and on which said item is manually fed to said
tunnel.
5. A tabletop photocopying machine as set forth in claim 1 and
further including feed roller adjacent said paper safe and
engageable with a top sheet of paper in said safe to feed said
paper edgewise from a stack thereof in said safe, and further
including means for relatively moving said roller and said stack of
paper vertically from one another to free said top sheet of paper
from said roller as said paper is fed from said paper safe.
6. A part photocopying machine a set forth in claim 1 said
reservoir for liquid developer comprising a par of said housing and
of shallow height and extending substantially the entire horizontal
dimensions of the bottom of said machine.
Description
The general principles of electrostatic printing and developing or
toning are well known and need not be summarized at this point.
Suffice it to say that the present machine is of the type using a
paper having a coating such as zinc oxide capable of receiving an
electrostatic charge which is partially or completely dispelled by
light falling thereon. A toner is used to fix the electrostatic
image.
There are many electrostatic copying machines now on the market. By
and large, these machines are subject to certain deficiencies,
mainly being too expensive and too large. Others are too noisy,
while most take too long to produce a finished print. Man discharge
the finished print and the material to be copied essentially at the
same location thus allowing the possibility of intermixing the
prints and original material.
In accordance with the present invention, it is an object thereof
to provide an inexpensive and compact tabletop electrostatic
copying machine of superior characteristics.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide
such a machine in which the paper on which prints are made to
travels over short path thus making the finished print accessible
at the earliest possible time.
Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a
tabletop electrostatic photocopying machine wherein material to be
copied is fed from side-to-side across the machine, and wherein the
printing paper is fed along a curvilinear path across, down and
across the machine, to be delivered from the front thereof directly
to the operator.
It is a further object of the present machine to provide a liquid
toner reservoir of maximum capacity for the limited size of the
machine.
Yet another object of the present invention is to deliver the
finished liquid toned print to a grid support for air-drying of
both sides of the print.
Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention
will be apparent from the following description when taken in
connection with the drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 comprises a perspective view of a tabletop electrostatic
copying machine constructed in accordance with the principles of
the invention; and
FIG. 2 comprises a longitudinal section therethrough.
Turning now to the drawings in greater particularity a tabletop
copying machine in accordance with the present invention is
designated generally by the numeral 10, and includes an external
housing or casing 12 of generally rectangular configuration. This
housing or casing fits over a frame 14 to which it is held by any
suitable or conventional means, such as screws. The housing is
provided at the upper portion thereof with sloping plate 16 on
which sheet 18 to be copied is placed. The plate 16 is hingedly
secured to the remainder of the housing at 20 for lifting of the
sheet to permit access to a paper safe 22, as will be explained
presently.
Immediately to the left of the plate 16, as viewed in the drawings,
is a tunnel 24 into which the sheet 18 is urged by hand. The sheet
is picked up by a pair of opposed resilient rollers 26, and is fed
between a pair of upper and lower guide plates 28. A switch 30,
shown schematically, is positioned adjacent the guides 28, and
senses the presence of paper fed therethrough. Although many types
of switches could be used including photocell switches, I prefer to
use one having a low travel and operates at a very low pressure.
This switch turns on certain parts of the machine a will be brought
out hereinafter.
From the guide 28, the paper or other sheet 18 to be copied feeds
between exposure guides 32 which are likewise horizontally
disposed. These guides, like the guides 28, are provided with
beveled or flared receiving edges 34 to insure centering of the
paper fed therethrough. The guides 32 alternatively may comprise
metal or plastic side guides with the paper simply supported
therebetween or in some cases they may comprise glass plates
through which exposure is made. From the guides 32 the paper to be
copied passes between roller 36 to be fed of the machine as
indicated by the arrow a 38, from whence it will drop on the
supporting table 40 for subsequent handling.
A light reflector 42 is provided below and to the right of the
exposure guides 32, and has an upper reflecting surface which is
curvilinear in the longitudinal section shown and which is straight
across transversely thereof. The lower reflecting surface is joined
at 44 to an upper reflecting surface 46, which is likewise
curvilinear but which is concave down, whereas the reflecting
surface 42 is concave up. The two surface or members 42 and 46 are
supported from the frame 14 by means such as ears or tab 48 secured
to the frame by any suitable means such as screws or rivets. A
tubular light 50 of known design is supported between the
reflecting member or surfaces 42 and 46, whereby light is directed
upwardly as indicated by the diagonal lines to the area of the
exposure guides 32 for illuminating the sheet 18 as it passes
between the guide.
A mirror 52, preferably of the type having a front-reflecting
surface is supported from the frame a 45.degree. angle directly
below the exposure guides 32. The image illuminated between the
exposure guides is reflected from the mirror 52 through a line
indicated at 54 through a tunnel 55 over to the right end of the
machine to an exposing area 56 including a pair of vertically
disposed guides 58. These guides have beveled receiving upper edges
60 to center paper passing therethrough as will be mentioned
hereinafter, and the guides are similar to the exposure guides
32.
An electric motor 62 is disposed centrally of the machine, and has
electric wires (not shown) connected thereto from unit indicated at
64 as "CONTROLS, POWER SUPPLY, AND PUMP." A flexible line cord of
the usual variety (not shown) lead from the unit 64 to a wall
outlet. The motor drive has an output shaft on which is mounted a
cog unit 66 which, in the illustrative example simply may comprise
two cogs mounted end-to-end with a slight spacing therebetween. The
motor may drive the cogs directly, or through a gear reducing unit
in accordance with the characteristics of the motor. A drive chain
is indicated in broken lines a 68, and passes over cogs 70 and 72
on the upper ones of the roller pair 36 and 26 to drive these
rollers in the proper direction with the cog 66 turning in a
clockwise direction. The lower rollers of the roller pairs 36 and
26 may also be positively driven by any known or suitable means, or
they may be driven frictionally from the opposed rollers of each
pair.
The paper safe 22 mentioned previously includes a supporting plate
74 pivotally mounted at the left-hand end a 76, and spring-pressed
upwardly by a spring 78. A stack OF paper 80 is supported on top of
the plate and the paper is of the type suitable for electrostatic
charging and generally including zinc oxide coating. A rubber drive
roller 80 (which may be two or more axially spaced rollers) overlie
the stack of paper 80, and is engageable with the top sheet 82
thereof to feed it between a diagonally upward lower guide plate
84, and an upper guide plate 86. The upper guide 86, which
preferably is continuous across the machine, progresses from the
horizontal receiving portion to a curved portion 88 turning
slightly back at 90. A cured lower guide 92 underlies the guide 86,
and includes a substantially vertical trailing portion 94 opposed
to the outer guide portion 90.
The guide positions 90 and 94 lead to a pair of horizontally
opposed rollers 96 which feed the sheet 82 down between a pair of
guide 98 having outwardly flared receiving ends 100. As the paper
passes between the guides 98, it activates a switch 102 of the same
type as the switch 30. From the guides 98 the paper passes through
an electrostatic charging unit 104 of known design which is turned
on by the switch 102, power being supplied from the unit 64. The
electrostatically charged paper then progresses down through the
exposure area 56 previously described. At this point the paper is
traveling at exactly the same rate a the copy sheet 18, and an
image is formed electrostatically on the paper 82.
From the exposure area 56, the paper 18 progresses to a toning or
developing unit 106 of the type set forth in some detail in Meyer
L. Sugarman and Joseph H. Jaeger applications Ser. No. 692,234now
abandoned, filed on Dec. 20, 1967 for "Compact Liquid Toner
Apparatus with Straight-Through Feed". In brief summary, the
developer unit 106 includes an outer curved guide 108 for directing
the paper to a pair of infeed roller 110. The paper then progresses
along the path indicated by the arrows 112 to a pair of outfeed
rollers 114. In so doing, the papers passes beneath a distributor
tube or pipe 116 having outlet holes as indicated at 118 along the
bottom thereof, liquid toner being pumped into the distributor tube
116 as through a conduit 120. The liquid toner collects on the
surface of the paper, forming a lake as indicated at 122. The
liquid is squeegeed off of the paper by the roller 114, and falls
into sump 124. The toned or developed paper then passes over a
vertical barrier wall 124 and drops on a gridlike support 126
accessible through a side opening 128 in the housing 12, from which
it can be removed by hand in a dry state.
The entire bottom of the copying machine comprises a reservoir as
indicated at 130. Thus, a large volume of liquid toner can be
stored without the necessity of an appreciable vertical height.
Liquid toner passing from the sheet as it goes through the
developing unit 125 drops gravitationally into a sump 132 which
communicates with the reservoir 130, such as by means of drain
holes 134, or any other suitable mean.
A drain or pickup tube or conduit 136, shown somewhat schematically
at the lower right-hand corner of FIG. 2, is provided for draining
fluid from the reservoir 130, from whence it passes to the unit 64
including pump. The liquid so pumped then passes from the unit
through the tube or conduit 120 back to the distributor 116.
A cog 138 on a shaft on the unit 64 is driven from the motor drive
cog 66 by means such as a chain indicated by the broken line 140.
This chain also passes over a cog 142 on the leftmost of the roller
pair 96, over a cog 144 on the uppermost of the roller pair 110,
and over a cog 146 on the uppermost of the roller pair 146. As will
be understood suitable idlers or tensioning cogs would be provided
necessary. The cog 138 is a double cog, and an additional chain 148
passes over the second cog and over a cog 150 to drive the roller
or rollers 80. The chain 148 also passes over a cog 150 to drive a
cam 152 for lowering the paper safe plate 74 to drop the stack of
paper 80 out of engagement with the roller 80 after the paper 82
has been engaged by the rollers 96. As will be set forth shortly
hereinafter the roller 80 is only driven part of the time, and in a
preferred embodiment of the invention, it is connected to the cog
150 by means such as a well-known electric clutch (not shown).
Similarly, the cam 152 can be driven from the cog 150 by an
electric clutch or this can be handled simply by the design of the
cam and the speed at which it is driven.
OPERATION
The pivoted plate 16 is lifted at some time to place a supply of
paper 80 in the paper safe 22, after which the plate is returned to
its normal position and this need not be considered a part of the
operation each time the machine is used. The machine is turned on
by means of a switch of well known character (not shown) connected
to the "CONTROLS, POWER SUPPLY, AND PUMP" unit 64.
Turning on of the switch, as just indicated, starts the motor drive
62. Placing of a sheet 18 to be copied on the support plate 16 and
moving it manually to the left causes it to be picked up by the
roller 26 which are now rotating. The switch is activated by the
sheet, and this acts through the unit 64 to turn on the light 50,
whereby the sheet is illuminated as it passes through the guides
32, and between the rollers 70 and at of the machine. The light
turns off with a predetermined time delay after the switch 30 no
longer senses the sheet to be copied.
Meanwhile, during the last previous copying application, the roller
80 has fed the top sheet of paper 82 approximately to the position
shown in FIG. 2, with the lower end of the paper between the
rollers 96. At the start of an operation, the rollers 80 are not
activated, and the cam 152 holds the plate 74 somewhat down so that
the sheet 82 is not arrested in a manner by the roller 80.
Preferably the cog 142 is connected to the rollers 96 by means such
as an electric clutch, and operation of the switch 30 thus starts
the rollers 96 into operation to lower the sheet 82 to the exposure
location or station 56.
Passage of the paper 82 past the switch 102 turns on the charging
unit 104 to charge the paper as it passes therethrough. The
charging unit 104 turn off shortly after the switch 102 is
deactivated. The charge is practically dispelled from the paper in
the exposure station 56 in accordance with known principles and the
paper then passes through the developer or toner unit 124 for
development of the image thereon the paper then being dropped at
the copy exit 126, 128.
The specific example of the invention as herein shown and described
is for illustrative purpose. Various changes in structure will no
doubt occur to those skilled in the art, and will be understood as
forming apart of the present invention insofar as they fall within
the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
* * * * *