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AssigneeGerber Scientific Products, Inc.
InventorDavid J. Logan
Estimating the term…
In a machine, such as a plotter or sign maker, wherein the web is fed longitudinally of itself by a pair of feed sprockets two corresponding pins of the two sprockets are visually distinguished from the other pins and at intervals along the length of the web corresponding holes on opposite sides of the web are visually distinguished from the other holes to enable a pair of such distinguished web holes to be loaded onto the pair of distinguished sprocket pins, thereby assuring proper loading of the web onto the machine and eliminating the possibility of subsequent faulty operation of the machine due to web misloading. The distinguished pairs of web holes are so distinguished by extra holes in the web and the distinguished pair of pins of the two sprockets are so distinguished by extra pins on the sprockets or by causing the two distinguished pins to have a color or other visual characteristic different from that of the other pins.
A web loading and feeding system for a machine wherein a web is fed longitudinally of itself by a pair of feed sprockets cooperating with holes in the two longitudinal side edge portions of the web and wherein improper loading of the web onto the sprockets is inhibited, said system comprising a pair of web feed sprockets spaced from one another along a common axis of rotation and supported for driven rotation in unison about said axis, each of said sprockets having a series of radially outwardly extending pins uniformly spaced from one another circumferentially of the sprocket, the spacing of the pins on one of said sprockets being identical to the spacing of the pins on the other of said sprockets and each pin of one sprocket having a corresponding pin on the other sprocket which pin and its corresponding pin are located at least approximately in the same plane containing said axis, means visually distinguishing one pin of one of said sprockets and its corresponding pin on the other of said sprockets from the remaining ones of said pins, and a web to be loaded onto and fed by said two sprockets, said web having a length many times greater than its width, having longitudinally extending side edges and having a first row of first holes in one side edge portion of the web and a second row of second holes in the other side edge portion of the web, said first holes being located on a first line parallel to said side edges and said second holes being located on a second line parallel to said side edges, and said web having a work area located between said side edge portions which work area is completely uniform along the entire length of the web so as to be adapted to have a graphic generated thereon along any selected longitudinal portion thereof, said first holes being uniformly spaced from one another along the length of said web and said second holes being likewise uniformly spaced from one another along the length of said web, the spacing of said first holes and the spacing of said second holes being equal to the spacing between said pins of said sprockets and each of said first holes having a corresponding one of said second holes located at least approximately on the same line extending perpendicular to the side edges of said web, and indicator holes appearing periodically along the lengths of said first and second lines to visually distinguish certain of said first and second holes from other of said first and second holes, there being no holes on said first line between said indicator holes except for a plurality of said first holes and there being no holes on said second line between said indicator holes except for a plurality of said second holes, said indicator holes comprising a third row of third holes in said one side edge portion of said web located on said first line and a fourth row of fourth holes in said other side edge portion of said web located on said second line, said third holes being spaced from one another along the length of said web and said fourth holes also being spaced from one another along the length of said web by a distance S=Nd, where S is the spacing between said third holes and is also the spacing between said fourth holes, d is the spacing between said first holes and is also the spacing between said second holes and N is an integer greater than two, said first, second, third and fourth holes all being of similar size and shape, each of said third holes being located between two of said first holes on said first line and each of said fourth holes being located between two of said second holes on said second line, each of said third holes having a corresponding one of said fourth holes located at least approximately on the same line perpendicular to the side edges of said web so that each third hole and its corresponding fourth hole visually distinguish from other of said first and second holes an associated pair of first and second holes located on approximately the same line perpendicular to the side edges of said web and which distinguished pair of first and second holes may be placed on said distinguished pair of pins of said two sprockets to assure a proper loading of said web onto said sprockets.
A web for use with a machine wherein it is fed longitudinally of itelf by a pair of drive sprockets rotatable about a common axis and cooperating with holes in its two longitudinal side edge portions, the drive sprockets each having a circumferential series of uniformly spaced and radially outwardly extending pins with two of said pins, one on each sprocket and both located in approximately the same plane containing said common axis, being visually distinguished from the other of said pins, said web comprising an elongated sheet-like member having parallel side edges and a length many times greater than its width, said web having a first row of first holes in one side edge portion thereof and a second row of second holes in the other side edge portion thereof, said first holes being located on a first line parallel to said side edges and said second holes being located on a second line parallel to said side edges, and said web having a work area located between said first and second edge portions which work area is completely uniform along the entire length of the web so as to be adapted to have a graphic generated thereon along any selected longitudinal portion thereof, said first holes being uniformly spaced from one another along the length of said web and said second holes being likewise uniformly spaced from one another along the length of said web, and indicator holes appearing periodically along the lengths of said first and second lines to visually distinguish certain of said first and second holes from other of said first and second holes, there being no holes on said first line between said indicator holes except for a plurality of said first holes and there being no holes on said second line between said indicator holes except for a plurality of said second holes, said indicator holes comprising a third row of third holes in said one side edge portion of said web located on said first line and a fourth row of fourth holes in said other side edge portion of said web located on said second line, said first, second, third and fourth holes all being of similar size and shape, said third holes being spaced from one another along the length of said web and said fourth holes also being spaced from one another along the length of said web by a distance S=Nd, where S is the spacing between said third holes and is also the spacing between said fourth holes, d is the spacing between said first holes and is also the spacing between said second holes and N is an integer greater than two, each of said third holes being located between two of said first holes on said first line and each of said fourth holes being located between two of said second holes on said second line, each of said third holes having a corresponding one of said fourth holes located at least approximately on the same line perpendicular to the side edges of said web so that each third hole and its corresponding fourth hole visually distinguish from other of said first and second holes an associated pair of first and second holes located on approximately the same line perpendicular to the side edges of said web, a pair of such visually distinguished first and second holes when placed on the visually distinguished pins of said sprockets during the placement of said web onto the sprockets therefore establishing a predetermined relationship between the sprockets and said web.
A web for use with a machine wherein it is fed longitudinally of itelf by a pair of drive sprockets rotatable about a common axis and cooperating with holes in its two longitudinal side edge portions, the drive sprockets each having a circumferential series of uniformly spaced and radially outwardly extending pins with two of said pins, one on each sprocket and located in approximately the same plane containing said common axis, being visually distinguished from the other of said pins, said web comprising an elongated sheet-like member having parallel side edges and a length many times greater than its width, said web having a first row of uniformly spaced and uniformly shaped first holes located on a first straight line spaced slightly laterally inwardly from and extending parallel to one side edge of said web, a second row of uniformly spaced and uniformly shaped second holes located on a second straight line spaced slightly laterally inwardly from and extending parallel to the other side edge of said web, said web having a work area located between said first and second rows of holes which work area is completely uniform along the entire length of the web so as to be adapted to have a graphic generated thereon along any selected longitudinal portion thereof, and means appearing periodically along the lengths of said first and second rows of holes for visually distinguishing from the other of said first and second holes pairs of said first and second holes located on approximately the same line perpendicular to the side edges of said web so that a pair of such visually distinguished first and second holes may be placed on said two visually distinguished sprocket pins to obtain a predetermined relationship between the sprockets and said web, said means for visually distinguishing pairs of said first and second holes being for each such visually distinguished pair of first and second holes no more than two extra holes in said web located on said first line adjacent the distinguished one of said first holes and no more than two extra holes in said web located on said second line adjacent the distinguished one of said second holes, said extra holes being of the same size and shape as said first and second holes, there being no holes on said first line between the periodic appearances of said extra holes other than a plurality of said first holes and there being no holes on said second line between the periodic appearances of said extra holes other than a plurality of said second holes.
A method of loading a web onto a machine wherein it is fed longitudinally of itself by a pair of feed sprockets cooperating with holes in the web's two longitudinal side edge portions, said method comprising the steps of:
An elongated web having parallel side edges, a length many times greater than its width, two longitudinally extending side edge portions each located adjacent a respective one of said side edges, a longitudinally extending work area located between said side edge portions and completely uniform along the entire length of said web so as to be adapted to have a graphic generated thereon along any selected longitudinal portion thereof, two rows of feed holes each located in a respective one of said side edge portions of said web, the feed holes of each of said rows being located on a straight line parallel to said side edges of said web and being continuously regularly spaced from one another along said line by a uniform distance d so that one of said feed holes appears in each of said rows for each increment of length d of said web, and a plurality of appearances of indicator holes in each of said side edge portions which indicator holes are located on the same straight line as said feed holes of that side edge portion, said appearances of indicator holes in each side edge portion being spaced from one another by a distance at least three times greater than said distance d and there being no holes other than a plurality of said feed holes on either of said straight lines between said appearances of said indicator holes so that each appearance of said indicator holes visually distinguishes one of said feed holes from other of said feed holes, and each of such visually distingiushed feed holes of one side edge portion being located substantially directly opposite a visually distinguished one of the feed holes of the other side edge portion so that the line defined by the centers of said two visually distinguished feed holes extends substantially perpendicularly to said side edges.
An elongated web having parallel side edges, a length many times greater than its width, two longitudinally extending side edge portions each located adjacent a respective one of said side edges, a longitudinally extending work area located between said side edge portions and completely uniform along the entire length of said web so as to be adapted to have a graphic generated thereon along any selected longitudinal portion thereof, two rows of feed holes each located in a respective one of said side edge portions of said web, the feed holes of each of said rows being located on a straight line parallel to said side edges of said web and being continuously regularly spaced from one another along said line by a uniform distance d so that one of said feed holes appears in each of said rows for each increment of length d of said web, and a plurality of pairs of indicator holes in each of said side edge portions which indicator holes are located on the same straight line as said feed holes of that side edge portion, the two indicator holes of each of said indicator hole pairs being located on opposite sides of an indicated one of said feed holes with each of said indicator holes further being located between said indicated one of said feed holes and the next adjacent one of said feed holes, said pairs of indicator holes of each side edge portion being spaced from one another by a distance at least three times greater than said distance d, there being no holes other than a plurality of said feed holes on said straight lines between said pairs of indicator holes, and each of said pairs of indicator holes of one side edge portion being located substantially directly opposite a pair of indicator holes of the other side edge portion so that the line defined by the centers of the two feed holes indicated by said two pairs of susbtantially directly opposite indicator holes extends substantially perpendicularly to said side edges.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.