Continuous form positioning device with control of rollers in response to a tip sensor

A device for positioning a tip portion of a continuous form provided in a laser printer, said laser printer having a photosensitive drum on which a printed image is exposed and which transfers said printed image to said continuous form, said device comprising:

• a pair of rollers feeding said continuous form, said rollers being provided near an outlet mouth of said laser printer at a distance from said photosensitive drum which equals one page length of said continuous form;
• means for applying a tension to said continuous form, said tensioning means being provided upstream of said rollers with respect to a feeding direction of said continuous form;
• a feed sensor for sensing a predetermined amount of said continuous form that has been fed and having means for outputting feeding pulses, a portion of said feed sensor being rotated by movement of said continuous form in response to said feeding means, in association with said tensioning means, to output said feeding pulses, wherein said means for outputting said feeding pulses outputs a feeding pulse each said predetermined amount of feeding of said continuous form passes said feed sensor, wherein a number of said feeding pulses equal a value representative of a length of said continuous form that has been fed;
• a tip sensor, located between said photosensitive drum and said pair of rollers, for sensing a tip portion of said continuous form, said tip sensor outputting a signal indicative of a position of said continuous form;
• means for controlling said rollers in response to said output signal of said tip sensor and said feeding pulses;
• and
• means for preliminary feeding of a preliminary amount of said continuous form prior to controlling said rollers in response to said feeding pulses until said tip sensor detects said continuous form;
• wherein said control means controls said rollers by rotating said pair of rollers in response to said output signal of said tip sensor, and then stopping said rotation of said rollers in response to a number of said feeding pulses equal to a value representative of one said page length of said continuous form, to discharge a page length of said continuous form from said rollers.

A device for positioning a tip portion of a continuous form provided in a laser printer, said laser printer having a photosensitive drum on which a printed image is exposed and which transfers said printed image to said continuous form, said device comprising:

• a pair of rollers feeding said continuous form, said rollers being provided near an outlet mouth of said laser printer at a distance from said photosensitive drum which equals one page length of said continuous form;
• means for applying a tension to said continuous form, said means for applying tension being located upstream of said rollers with respect to a feeding direction of said continuous form;
• a feed sensor for sensing a predetermined amount of said continuous form that has been fed, said sensor comprising means for outputting feeding pulses, wherein one of said feeding pulses is outputted each time said predetermined amount of feeding of said continuous form passes said feed sensor, wherein a number of said feeding pulses equal a value which represents of a length of said continuous form that has been fed;
• a tip sensor, located between said photosensitive drum and said pair of rollers, for sensing a tip portion of said continuous form, said tip sensor outputting a signal indicative of a position of said continuous form;
• means for controlling said rollers in response to said output signal of said tip sensor and said feeding pulses;
• and
• means for preliminary feeding of an amount of said continuous form prior to controlling said rollers in response to said feeding pulses until said tip sensor detects said continuous form;
• wherein said means for controlling controls said rollers by rotating said rollers in response to said output signal of said tip sensor, and then stopping said rotation of said rollers in response to a number of said feeding pulses equal to a value representative of one said page length of said continuous form, to discharge a page length of said continuous form from said rollers.