Single/double sheet stacker
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorJason P. Rider
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A sheet-stacking apparatus capable of receiving two sheets at substantially the same time, which includes a disk unit including four substantially identical rotatable disks, each disk including a receiving slot for receiving a portion of a sheet therein. The disk unit is arranged so that two of the four disks receive portions of a first sheet and the remaining two disks receive portions of a second sheet. Embodiments also include a bin into which the first sheet and the second sheet are deposited and a selectively extendable separator that separates the first sheet and the second sheet into two separate stacks. The apparatus can also include a tamping mechanism.
Claims20
A stacking apparatus, comprising:
- four substantially similar, rotatable disks having a common axis, wherein each disk includes a receiving slot for receiving a portion of a sheet therein;
- a disk rotation system that rotates the four disks;
- a selectively extendable separator;
- and
- an actuator for selectively extending the separator when at least two sheets enters the stacker at substantially the same time and retracting the separator when a single sheet enters the stacker.
A method for stacking sheets arriving in a two-up manner comprising:
- rotating a first sheet of paper with a first pair of disks until the first sheet is inverted;
- rotating a second sheet of paper with a second pair of disks until the second sheet is inverted, wherein the first sheet and the second sheet are rotated substantially simultaneously;
- separating the first sheet from the second sheet with a selectively extendable separator.
A stacking apparatus, comprising:
- first, second, third, and fourth substantially similar, rotatable disks, each disk having a substantially common axis of rotation with the others, wherein each disk includes a receiving slot for receiving a portion of a sheet therein, and wherein said first, second, third, and fourth disks are coaxial;
- a disk rotation system that rotates said first, second, third, and fourth disks;
- a selectively extendable separator;
- and
- an actuator for selectively retracting the separator when at least one sheet having a first width enters the stacker and extending the separator when at least one sheet having a second width enters the stacker.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.