Active copy sheet catch and stacking device
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsConrad J. Bell, Ronald G. Buckner
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A catch tray for a copier/printer holds and stacks copies of a wide variety of sizes exiting a copier/printer without operator involvement. The copies are allowed to fall into a funnel type baffling device with flexible friction paddles that drive the incoming copies into the catch tray and holds them in place while simultaneously allowing a major portion of each copy sheet to flip and hang down over a curved portion of the outer wall of the catch tray.
Claims16
An active copy sheet catch tray for a copier/printer, comprising:
- upstanding stationary front and rear walls with upper portions thereof forming a funnel like entrance to the catch tray that is wider than the remaining portions of said upstanding walls;
- side walls connected to said front and rear walls;
- a copy sheet support surface connected to said front, rear and side walls;
- and
- paddle wheel means positioned at a predetermined location within said front and rear walls and adapted for driving copy sheets exiting the copier/printer onto said copy sheet support surface, while simultaneously holding the copy sheets and allowing trail edges of the copy sheet to fall due to gravity over said front wall and hang downward.
A copier/printer including an active copy sheet catch tray that is adapted to easily stack a wide variety of copy sheet sizes without operator involvement comprising:
- upstanding stationary front and rear walls with upper portions thereof forming a funnel like entrance to the catch tray;
- side walls connected to said front and rear walls;
- a copy sheet support surface connected to said front, rear and side walls;
- and
- paddle wheel means positioned at a predetermined location within said front and rear walls and adapted for driving copy sheets exiting the copier/printer onto said copy sheet support surface, while simultaneously holding the copy sheets and allowing trail edges of the copy sheet to fall due to gravity over said front wall and hang downward.
An active copy sheet catch tray that is adapted to easily stack a wide variety of copy sheets sizes simultaneously without operator involvement, comprising;
- upstanding stationary front and rear walls with upper portions thereof forming a funnel like entrance to the catch tray;
- side walls connected to said front and rear walls;
- a copy sheet support surface connected to said front, rear and side walls;
- and
- paddle wheel means positioned at a predetermined location within said front and rear walls and adapted for driving copy sheets exiting the copier/printer onto said copy sheet support surface, while simultaneously holding the copy sheets and allowing trail edges of the copy sheet to fall due to gravity over said front wall and hang downward.
An active catch tray for catching document/copy sheets exiting a reproduction machine, comprising:
- upstanding front and rear walls with upper portions thereof that are wider than the remaining portions of said upstanding walls;
- side walls connected to said front and rear walls;
- a document/copy sheet support surface connected to said front, rear and side walls;
- and
- at least one paddle wheel positioned at a predetermined location within said front and rear walls and adapted for driving document/copy sheets exiting the reproduction machine onto said document/copy sheet support surface, said paddle wheel including flexible blades that as they are rotated tip portions thereof conform to an inside surface of said front wall in order to simultaneously drive each individual sheet onto said document/copy sheet support surface and hold the document/copy sheets within the catch tray.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.