Apparatus and method for deskewing media in a printer

A print media conveying apparatus in a printer for transporting and deskewing a sheet of print media, said sheet of print media having a leading edge, the print media conveying apparatus comprising:

• a paper path through which the sheet of print media travels, said paper path having a buckle cavity that allows a buckle to form in the sheet of print media;
• a plurality of pairs of transport rollers positioned upstream from said buckle cavity, each said pair of transport rollers including a transport dive roller and a transport idler roller, each said transport drive roller affixed to a common transport drive shaft, said plurality of pairs of transport rollers forming a plurality of transport nips within a nip plane through which the leading edge of said sheet of print media is fed;
• at least one stand alone transport drive roller affixed to the common transport drive shaft and positioned on either side of the plurality of pairs of transport rollers, the stand alone transport drive rollers allowing outer portions of the sheet of media to advance unconstrained across the stand alone transport drive rollers to allow for unequal forces across a width of the sheet without wrinkling;
• a plurality of pairs of deskew rollers positioned downstream from said buckle cavity said plurality of parts of deskew rollers forming a plurality of deskewing nips, each of the plurality of pairs of deskew rollers including a deskew idler roller, each of the deskew idler rollers being affixed to a common rotatable shaft so as to rotate at a common speed;
• a deskewing bias element extending into said buckle cavity for contacting and biasing the buckle in the sheet of print media to urge the leading edge of said sheet of print media into at least a portion of the deskewing nips said deskewing bias elements including a plurality of articulated segmented surfaces for distributing a biasing force across a full width of the buckle in the sheet of print media so that a full length of the leading edge of the sheet is urged into the deskew nip:
• and
• a middle portion of the plurality of articulated segmented surfaces comprising plurality of primary articulated segmented surfaces, each of the primary articulated segmented surfaces having an equal width that is greater than a width of each of the articulated segmented surfaces on either side of the middle portion, said primary articulated segmented surfaces cooperating with the plurality of pairs of transport rollers to transport the sheet of media without wrinkling.