US 4,055,340 AGranted

Assisted pneumatic transport and registration apparatus

AssigneeXerox Corporation

InventorsKlaus K. Stange, Richard E. Smith, Thomas J. Hamlin, James R. Cassano

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Abstract

In a first embodiment, a stop having a plurality of ports is connected to and covers an end of a bent rectangular sleeve. In a region near the stop, a narrow wall of the sleeve also has a plurality of ports. The sleeve includes at each bend a pair of oppositely disposed openings, a driven roller, a drive roller cooperating with the driven roller to provide a nip in the sleeve, and a pair of shrouds covering the rollers and openings. A nozzle coupled to a pump provides a flow of air into the other end of the sleeve and the air exits through the ports. With this arrangement, a rectangular sheet inserted into said other end of the sleeve is fluidly brought into registration with the narrow wall and stop, the rollers assisting movement of the sheets through the bends. In a second embodiment, similar to the first, the narrow wall and stop include internal projections against which an inserted sheet is registered. In a third embodiment, similar to the first, a manifold is coupled to the ports and a vacuum pump is coupled to the manifold to accelerate registration. In a fourth embodiment, similar to the third, the pumps are replaced with a reversible pump to register and discharge a sheet.

Claims14

Dependent claims

Apparatus for transporting a sheet through at least one curved path and for registering the sheet with respect to perpendicularly related axes, the sheet having a length and width within predetermined ranges, comprising:

a. a sleeve for internally accomodating said sheet, said sleeve extending along the curved path, at least one point on an inner narrow wall of the sleeve being aligned in parallel with one of the axes;
b. a stop located at one end of the sleeve, the stop having at least one point aligned in parallel with the other of the axes;
c. means for guiding the sheet past corners of said at least one curved path;
and
d. means for providing in the sleeve a fluid stream having velocity components normal to each of the axes, whereby when a sheet is placed in the sleeve the stream moves the sheet into said means (c) and into abutment with each of said points;
said means for guiding including a first opening at a corner of a curved path in the top wide wall of the sleeve, a second opening, located opposite the first opening on the bottom wide wall of the sleeve, a first rotatably mounted roller extending into the sleeve through one of the openings, a second rotatably mounted roller extending into the other opening of the sleeve and engaging the first roller to provide a nip, and means for driving one of the rollers.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.