Path guide for selectively corrugating an output medium
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorsShinji Asami, Yoshiaki Ushirogata, Hiroyuki Ishizaki, Minoru Hattori, Terumitsu Azuma
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for corrugating the output of a reproduction device such as a photocopier includes a guiding arm for guiding an image carrying medium in a predetermined path towards a destination output bin and a projection for corrugating the image carrying medium as it is being guided by the guiding arm. The current corrugation device is suitable for a multiple tray sorter unit since it does not require additional corrugation members.
Claims12
A corrugating device for corrugating a sheet of paper traveling in one of a plurality of predetermined paper paths, comprising:
- a movable guiding arm portion for guiding the sheet in one of the predetermined paths, said guiding arm having a first outer surface and a second outer surface, the sheet being guided by said first outer surface when said guiding arm is adjustably positioned substantially near a first position, the sheet being guided by said second outer surface when said guiding arm is positioned at a second position;
- and
- a projection located on said first outer surface of said guiding arm for adjustable applying a pressure on the sheet so as to corrugate the sheet, wherein the sheet is selectively corrugated when said guiding arm is substantially near said first position.
A selective corrugation system for delivering an output sheet, comprising:
- a plurality of bins for temporarily storing the output sheet;
- a controller unit for determining one of said plurality of bins as an output bin and generating a signal indicative of sending the output sheet to said output bin;
- transferring rollers in response to said signal for transferring said output sheet in a predetermined path towards said output bin;
- a plurality of guides movably located in said predetermined path adjacent to said transferring rollers for adjustably guiding the output sheet to said output bin in response to said signal, one of said guides substantially at a delivery position delivering the output sheet onto said output bin, others of said guides at a substantially guiding position adjustably guiding the output sheet towards said output bin, each of said guides further comprising a corrugating projection for causing a desired amount of corrugation on said output sheet when said one of said guides is adjustably positioned substantially near said delivery position.
A method of corrugating an output medium before delivering to a selected output bin using guides, each guide having a projection, comprising the steps of:
- a) adjustable placing the guides in a predetermined position so as to select a path to the selected output bin, one of said guides adjacent to the selected output bin being adjustably positioned in a delivery position and defining a corrugation guide;
- b) transferring the output medium according to the selected path towards the selected output bin;
- and
- c) selectively corrugating the output medium at the projection as the output medium is adjustably guided by said corrugation guide and a desired amount of corrugation force is applied by the projection.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.