Electrophotographic copier configuration
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsErnest P. Kollar, Richard E. Norwood
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electrophotographic copier with an endless photoconductor belt adapted to move around a cylindrical drum and a flat platen. A vacuum column is positioned between the cylindrical drum and the platen. The vacuum column creates a concave bend in the photoconductor, enabling a latent image of a document to be placed on a flat run of the photoconductor belt, and enabling charging, developing, transferring and cleaning of the photoconductor belt to occur about a curved run of the photoconductor belt.
Claims9
An improved electrophotographic copier comprising in combination:
- a support frame;
- a flat document platen mounted on the support frame;
- full-frame illumination means for simultaneously illuminating all portions of a document positioned on said document platen;
- a cylindrical drum rotatably mounted to the frame;
- said drum rotating about an axis which is parallel to the plane of the document platen;
- said drum being positioned below the document platen and laterally disposed from the document platen;
- a flat image platen parallel to said document platen, disposed below and in optical alignment with the document platen;
- said image platen being fixed in position and displaced horizontally from the cylindrical drum and below the drum's axis;
- an endless photoconductor belt mounted to the image platen and the cylindrical drum;
- and
- bending means positioned below the drum's axis and horizontally from the image platen;
- said bending means being operable to create a concave bend in the photoconductor belt so that said photoconductor belt is configured into a flat run about the image platen whereat full-frame imaging occurs, and into a cylindrical run about the cylindrical drum, said cylindrical run accommodating a charging station, a development station, a transfer station and a cleaning station.
An improved electrophotographic copier comprising:
- a support frame;
- a flat document glass positioned at the top of said frame;
- a flat image projection platen, parallel to said document glass, and fixed in position directly below the document glass and in optical alignment therewith;
- a cylindrical drum rotatably mounted to the frame;
- said drum being vertically and laterally displaced from the image platen;
- said drum rotating about an axis which is parallel to both the document glass and the image platen;
- an endless photoconductor belt operably mounted to the drum and platen;
- and
- a vacuum means positioned relative to the drum and the image platen, and operable for configuring and tensioning said photoconductor belt so that the photoconductor belt forms a flat run at the image platen and forms a wrap greater than 270.degree. about the cylindrical drum;
- said vacuum means being of a general V-shape in the direction of belt movement, and having a first wall whose extension is tangent to said drum at the drum surface whereat the belt leaves the drum, and having a second wall whose extension is tangent to said image platen at the surface where the belt first engages the image platen.
Means for supporting a photoconductor belt in an electrophotographic device comprising:
- a support frame;
- a rotatable cylindrical drum mounted to said frame;
- an elongated, V-shaped container having a first and a second wall and operable to contain a bight of the photoconductor belt;
- said container being mounted downstream of said drum in the direction of belt movement, and being mounted so that its elongated axis runs parallel to the axis of said cylindrical drum;
- a flat support platen mounted downstream from said elongated container;
- means for supplying vacuum to the elongated container;
- said first wall of said container receiving said belt tangent to the portion of the drum whereat said belt leaves the drum, and said second wall of said container thereafter discharging the belt in a plane which is tangent to the belt's line of initial contact to said support platen;
- and
- means for producing a latent image on said belt as the belt traverses said support platen.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.