Thickness sensor comprising a leaf spring means, and a light sensor
AssigneeRecognition Equipment Incorporated
InventorsRichard I. Bennet, Guy H. Berthiaume, Michael F. Haw, Joseph G. Melber, Jr., Jimmie Neill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A typical printing device has a document feeder, a printer, and a document transport mechanism for transporting documents from the document feeder to the printer. In accordance with the invention, there is provided a thickness measurer which measures the thickness of a document prior to the transport of the document to the printer, a controller which receives the thickness information and which provides a gap-adjustment signal, and an adjuster which receives the gap-adjustment signal and adjusts the gap accordingly.
Claims4
A thickness sensor for sensing thickness of a series of documents moved sequentially therethrough, comprising:
- a leaf spring having first and second ends;
- a wear plate disposed adjacent said leaf spring;
- said leaf spring being biased toward said wear plate, such that said first end of said leaf spring is deflected in response to documents moving between said leaf spring and said wear plate;
- a light source disposed adjacent said first end of said leaf spring;
- and
- a light sensor for detecting light generated by said light source and being positioned with respect to said light source to define a light path disposed between said light source and said light sensor, said light sensor being responsive to changes in the amount of light impinging upon said light sensor due to deflection of said first end of said leaf spring into said light path resulting in a reduction in the amount of light impinging upon said light sensor based upon the thickness of documents moving between said leaf spring and said wear plate.
A thickness sensor for sensing thickness of a series of documents moved sequentially therethrough, comprising:
- a leaf spring having first and second ends;
- a wear plate disposed adjacent said leaf spring;
- said leaf spring being biased toward said wear plate, such that said first end of said leaf spring is deflected in response to documents moving between said leaf spring and said wear plate;
- a light source disposed adjacent said first end of said leaf spring;
- a first light sensor for detecting light generated by said light source and being positioned with respect to said light source to define a first light path disposed between said light source and said first light sensor, said first light sensor being responsive to changes in the amount of light impinging upon said first light sensor due to deflection of said first end of said leaf spring into said first light path resulting in a reduction in the amount of light impinging upon said first light sensor based upon the thickness of documents moving between said leaf spring and said wear plate;
- and
- a second light sensor for detecting light generated by said light source and being positioned with respect to said light source to define a second light path disposed between said light source and said second light sensor, said second light sensor being responsive to changes in the amount of light generated by said light source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.