| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 271090000 | Pneumatic | 74 |
| 20090039589 | Feed apparatus for printing press - A feed apparatus for a printing press includes a first sucker device and a second sucker device. The first sucker device includes a guide nozzle, a sucker which is supported by said guide nozzle to be vertically movable and includes a chuck hole at a bottom for chucking the sheet, and a spring which biases said sucker toward a distal end of said guide nozzle. The guide nozzle includes a first air passage for drawing the sheet and a second air passage for drawing said sucker. The sucker includes a closing portion which closes said second air passage when said sucker is located at an upper limit against a biasing force of said spring. | 02-12-2009 |
| 20090194933 | Printer With Reversible Air Flow Sheet Picker - A printer for sheets of porous media supplied from a stack of such sheets. The printer has a printhead, a sheet pick-up assembly having a conduit connected to a reversible air supply, the conduit having an outlet directed towards a top sheet of the stack for directing an airstream onto the top sheet such that air penetrates the top sheet and generates an air cushion lifting the top sheet from a second sheet, the reversible air supply configured to suck air into the outlet after the top sheet has lifted from the second sheet to hold the top sheet against the outlet and a sheet feed mechanism for displacing the conduit to draw the top sheet away from the stack. | 08-06-2009 |
| 20100032892 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FLUFF MANAGEMENT IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for fluff management in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include fluffing a stack of media with a predetermined amount of air flow, sensing sheet separation in the media stack, determining if the sheet separation meets predetermined criteria, wherein if the sheet separation does not meet the predetermined criteria, adjusting the air flow used for fluffing the media stack. | 02-11-2010 |
| 20100066007 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SHEETS TO A PROCESSING MACHINE - A method and an apparatus for conveying and aligning sheets being fed to a processing machine, include conveying a sheet which has been separated from an overlapping stream back into the overlapping stream in the case of a machine “stop,” wherein a rear sheet edge is raised by a mechanical or pneumatic device. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20100181717 | SHEET-CONVEYING DEVICE AND IMAGE-FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A sheet-conveying device designed to feed a sheet fed thereto through a fixing device toward a discharge unit includes first and second conveyance guides facing each other so as to define a sheet conveyance path and each having a conveying member designed to feed the sheet. The first conveyance guide includes a blower opening facing the sheet conveyance path for blowing air onto the sheet conveyance path, an exhaust opening provided on a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction with respect to the blower opening for removing air that has been blown onto the sheet conveyance path and discharging it outside the device. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20110031679 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An upper limit detection sensor detects that a top face position of a sheet stack on a tray reaches an upper limit position which enables feeding of sheets one by one by a sheet feeding portion and a lower limit detection sensor detects that the top face position of the sheet stack on the tray reaches a lower limit position which enable feeding of sheets one by one. When the sheet stack is loosened by blowing air against a side face of the sheet stack on the tray with an air spouting nozzle provided on an air loosening device, if a sheet floated by air from the air loosening device exceeds an upper limit position of a feeding enabled range, the lowering amount of the tray is controlled so that at least a sheet next to the sheet to be fed is not lower than a lower end position of the air spouting port of the air loosening device. | 02-10-2011 |
| 20110084439 | EDGE ALIGNMENT CONTROL APPARATUS FOR SHEET MATERIAL - An edge alignment control apparatus for correcting vertical alignment of sheet members is disclosed to include two base units each having multiple first power drives controllable to reciprocate a respective horizontal reciprocating member, and adjustment units arranged between the base units, each adjustment unit having two holder blocks connected to the horizontal reciprocating members of the base units at one same elevation and movable by the respective horizontal reciprocating members horizontally, sheet-transfer rollers pivotally connected between the holder blocks, a bearing board connected between the holder blocks for receiving a sheet member from the sheet-transfer rollers and a suction hood suspending above the bearing board and defining with the bearing board a passage for the passing of a sheet member and controllable to suck up a sheet member from the bearing board for allowing adjustment of the position of the sheet member horizontally subject to the operation of the first power drive. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110140345 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding apparatus is constituted from a sheet loading section having a raising and lowering plate, sheet side surface regulating members that regulate side surfaces of sheets, and an air blowing section that blows air towards the side surface of sheets in a top part, a sheet suction and conveying section, a reflection type sensor which detects the upper limit position of the sheets in the sheet loading section, a control section which, when an output of the reflection type sensor becomes an output indicating the state between the sheets that are put in the floating state due to the air flow blown out from an air blowing section and the sheets that are maintaining the stacked state, carries out control so as to raise the raising and lowering plate. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110175278 | AIR BLOWING APPARATUS AND AIR BLOWING METHOD - An air blowing apparatus includes: a paper stack accommodating section which forms a paper stack accommodating space for accommodating a stack of paper; and an air blowing device which blows air toward an edge of each sheet of paper of the stack of paper accommodated in the paper stack accommodating space, wherein the paper stack accommodating section includes a curved surface which faces a paper surface of the stack of paper, and the curved surface extends in an air blowing direction of the air blowing device and has a curvature in a direction perpendicular to the air blowing direction of the air blowing device. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110227276 | FLOW CHANNEL OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE AND SHEET HANDLING APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, a flow channel opening and closing device includes a first rotating plate provided rotatably along a face which crosses two adjacent flow channels, having a first fluid passing hole which overlaps with each of the two flow channels midway during rotation, which fully opens the one flow channel and blocks the other flow channel at a region except the first fluid passing hole by making the first fluid passing hole overlap with the one flow channel, and a second rotating plate provided adjacent to the first rotating plate and rotatably along a face which crosses the two flow channels, having a second fluid passing hole which overlaps with each of the two flow channels midway during rotation, which rotates to a position where the second fluid passing hole overlaps at least partially with the one flow channel when the first rotating plate rotates to a position where the first fluid passing hole fully opens the one flow channel. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20120056367 | Paper feeder - This paper feeder brings the uppermost paper sheet of a plurality of stacked paper sheets into contact with paper feed rollers and feeds out the paper sheet in a paper feeding direction by the drive thereof. Side fences for guiding both side edges of the paper sheet on a paper feeding table are provided with a pair of blowing units for blowing air to both side edges of the paper sheet, whose air quantity can be controlled independently of each other. When skewing occurs, the blowing units are controlled to blow a larger quantity of air to the paper side edge having larger friction against a lower paper sheet as compared with the quantity of air to the other paper side edge. In paper feeding, problems such as skewing, multi-feeding and idle feeding can be addressed. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120119433 | PICK UNIT - A pick unit is described. The pick unit comprises: a frame and a picking assembly. The frame comprises (i) one or more guides for receiving a currency cassette, (ii) a tortuous pathway for guiding and supporting a cam follower, and (iii) a detent. The picking assembly comprises: (i) a guide edge configured to abut the detent when the picking assembly is moved to an initial alignment position, (ii) a cam follower configured to align with the pathway when the removable picking assembly is moved from the initial alignment position to an engagement position, and (iii) a gear train configured to engage with an upper gear external to the pick unit when the removable picking assembly is moved to an engaged position at which the cam follower has reached an end of the tortuous pathway. | 05-17-2012 |
| 20120205857 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MEDIA SHEETS IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for feeding media sheets in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include applying air downward to a top of a trailing edge of a media sheet located at a top of a media stack that is to be fed to an image production section of the image production device, the applied air causing the top media sheet to separate from the media stack, and feeding the separated top media sheet to the image production section. | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120223473 | SHEET LOADING UNIT AND SHEET HANDLING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - A sheet loading and handling apparatus that suppress anomalies in sheet supply operation and feed sheets in a stable manner is disclosed. The sheet loading unit includes a supply mechanism that moves a plurality of stacked sheets in a direction toward a feeding position located at an end of the loading unit, a feeding mechanism that individually feeds sheets to the feeding position, and a control unit controlling a plurality of sensors, which detect whether there is a sheet at the feeding position. The supply mechanism operates based on detection information of the sensors. The control unit monitors a relationship between signal information of the optical sensor and that of another sensor, and if a signal relationship that is not normal as compared to that of normal feeding occurs, the unit retracts the signal information of the optical sensor and uses only the signal information of the other sensor. | 09-06-2012 |
| 20130285307 | DEVICE FOR HANDLING SINGLE SHEETS, FOR INTRODUCING AND DISTRIBUTING RECTANGULAR SINGLE SHEETS, ESPECIALLY BANK NOTES, RESPECTIVELY INTO AND OUT OF A CONTAINER - A single sheet handling device ( | 10-31-2013 |
| 271091000 | Plural, relatively-moving suction members | 6 |
| 20080308999 | Sheet feeding device - According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet feeding device including: a tray holding sheets; a chamber having an opening and generating a negative pressure thereinside; a suction belt that suctions and conveys a first sheet from the sheets and that is configured to be rotatable along with the chamber and deformable into a concave shape along with the opening; a regulating member disposed inside the opening to regulate a concaving amount of the suction belt; a sheet gate disposed in a sheet feeding passage to be opposed to the suction belt and configured to retreat when contacted by the suction belt; and a nozzle that blows air toward the sheet and toward the suction belt. | 12-18-2008 |
| 20120181740 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RECEIVING, HOLDING AND/OR HANDLING TWO-DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS - A receiving, holding and/or handling device for two-dimensional objects, with at least two controllable suction grippers. The suction grippers are arranged and connected to free ends of movable cantilever arms, which are elastically deformable at least in some sections. The cantilever arm are mounted and supported on a bridge. The cantilever arms each include at least one lower pull and one upper pull which meet at the free end of the cantilever arm and are connected there. An actuating device is assigned to the upper pull. The actuating device generates a pulling force with at least one horizontal direction component which is approximately parallel to the longitudinal extension direction of the cantilever arm. A method is also disclosed. | 07-19-2012 |
| 271093000 | Including members for separating and members for forwarding sheet | 4 |
| 20090102114 | SHEET FEEDING METHOD AND MECHANISM WITH DOUBLE SHEET DETECTOR - A feeder head includes suction belts to sequentially feed top sheets from a stack of sheets (e.g., paper). Before the belts receive suction and drive power, a suction cup raises the top sheet at a location between the belts to produce a corrugated shape in the top sheet which induce separation of a second sheet that might be adhered to the top sheet. A double sheet detector includes a pair of rollers forming a nip through which a fed sheet passes, causing the rollers to separate. The amount of separation is transmitted to a transducer which generates a signal proportional to the sheet thickness. Signals from the transducer are frequently sensed and averaged, so that signal variations resulting from irregularities in the shape of the rollers are canceled out. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090134565 | Sheet Stabilizer with Suction Nozzle having Center Protrusion - This invention is related to suction nozzles having a center protrusion for stabilizing a continuous web for various web property measurements. Suction nozzles blow air out of the nozzle, yet produce a vacuum proximate thereto. Two nozzles are disclosed, a single sided sheet-contact stabilizer and a non-contact sheet stabilizer. An air-bearing may be formed between the end surface of the center protrusion and the moving web. | 05-28-2009 |
| 20120025447 | RECORDING DEVICE - A recording device includes a plurality of holes formed in the medium support part, a suction unit configured to suck out air via the holes, closing members configured and arranged to move in a direction away from the holes, an urging unit configured to urge the closing members toward the holes, and a sliding member configured and arranged to slide in a direction intersecting a moving direction in which the closing members move. The holes to be put into an opened state are selected by changing a position of the sliding member in the sliding direction. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20190144219 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | 05-16-2019 |
| 271094000 | Unidirectionally-moving suction member or surface | 9 |
| 20080230978 | HIGH SPEED SHINGLED SHEET COMPILER - A high speed sheet stacker includes a plurality of vacuum transport sub-assemblies interdigitated with an adjacent sub-assembly and provided with a spatial pitch that is less than or equal to a predetermined shingle distance. The collective vacuum transport assembly can thus acquire shingled sheets and transport the shingled sheets as a set, with each sheet being offset by at least one shingle distance. As a result, speed and acceleration requirements for the vacuum transport and the sheets being transported are greatly reduced compared to conventional vacuum transports that essentially transport sheets singularly. A shingled transport zone may be provided upstream of the vacuum transport system to accommodate sheets of varying size. In various embodiments, three to five vacuum transport sub-assemblies are provided to transport three to five sheets as a set. | 09-25-2008 |
| 20090236795 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS, HOUSING INCORPORATING THE SAME AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding apparatus including a sheet tray for storing a plurality of sheets of paper, the sheet tray capable of being pulled out in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feed direction; a pair of side regulating members for regulating both lateral surfaces of the sheets, the regulating members being provided over the sheet tray and perpendicular to the sheet feed direction; a vacuum type belt to suck a sheet of paper from above and feed the sheets; and a moving mechanism for moving one of the belt and one of the regulating members that is provided on a back side in the direction of pulling out the sheet tray in the vertical directions, in such a way that, when the sheet tray is pulled out, the uppermost end of the regulating member is lower than the lowermost surface of the vacuum type belt. | 09-24-2009 |
| 20100207315 | VALVE UNIT AND PAPER SHEET TAKEOUT DEVICE - A valve unit which circulates and blocks air has a first block connected to upstream suction tubes, a second block facing this first block and connected to downstream suction tubes, a shield plate disposed in a space S between the first block and the second block, and a motor which rotates this shield plate. The shield plate is provided with a connection hole which connects the upstream suction tube to the downstream suction tube, and a connection hole which connects the upstream suction tube to the downstream suction tube. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20130106047 | FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH THE FEEDER | 05-02-2013 |
| 20130168918 | VACUUM ROLLER ASSEMBLY - A vacuum roller assembly adapted to singulate a sheet from a stack of sheets. The vacuum roller assembly comprising a stationary inner plenum having a substantially linear plenum slot disposed in fluid communication with the vacuum source and a rotating vacuum roller disposed over the stationary inner plenum and rotating about a rotational axis. The vacuum roller includes a plurality of apertures disposed in fluid communication with the substantially linear plenum slot and about the periphery in at least one region of the roller. Furthermore, each of the apertures is substantially slot-shaped and defines a major axis. The major axis is off-axis with respect to the substantially liner plenum slot of the inner plenum to reduce audible noise levels produced by the rotating vacuum roller as air flows through each rotating aperture into the stationary linear plenum slot. | 07-04-2013 |
| 271095000 | Having additional movement | 1 |
| 20080296829 | SHEET TAKEOUT DEVICE - A sheet takeout mechanism has a takeout roller that rotates in contact with a sheet located at a takeout position, and a motor that intermittently rotates the takeout roller. A triangular suction port is formed on a suction surface of the takeout roller and has a vertex located downstream in a rotation direction of the takeout roller. When a negative pressure is exerted on the sheet via the suction port, the suction force is weak at the beginning of suction and then increases gradually. | 12-04-2008 |
| 271096000 | With means to adjust suction | 3 |
| 20110101599 | SHEET TAKE OUT APPARATUS AND SHEET PROCESSING APPARATUS - According to one embodiment, a sheet take out apparatus includes a supply table on which sheets are stacked; a detecting portion configured to detect a state of a top surface of the stacked sheets; a cylindrical take out rotor which is rotatably provided so as to face an end portion on a take out side of a top sheet and partially includes a suction hole to attract the sheet, the take out rotor taking out the sheets one by one by attracting the end portion on the take out side of the sheet with rotation; a suction portion which is provided inside the take out rotor and includes an air hole to attract the sheet through the suction hole, the suction portion provided so as to allow the air hole to rotationally move between a first opening position and a second opening position, the first opening position having a first distance away from the end portion on the take out side of the sheet, the second opening position having a second distance, which is longer than the first distance, away from the end portion on the take out side of the sheet; and a drive structure configured to rotationally move the suction portion to any of the first opening position and the second opening position based on state information detected by the detecting portion. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20120299236 | PAPER FEEDER AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING THE SAME - In a paper feeder, an air hole that allows air to pass through is formed on a paper transport belt, a fan for breathing and exhausting air and an exhaust duct having an opening for exhausting air. Air is exhausted from the fan through the exhaust duct, the fan and an air intake duct for breathing air are connected to each other, and air is breathed from the air hole through the air intake duct towards the fan. This paper feeder includes: an air state detection unit for detecting at least one of an air pressure and an air flow rate in the air intake duct; an opening and closing unit provided to the air intake duct for opening and closing the opening; and a control unit for opening and closing the opening based on a result of detection by the air state detection unit. | 11-29-2012 |
| 20130147109 | NON-CIRCULAR SUCTION WHEEL AND SHEET FEEDER - A suction wheel attracts sheets by suction and transports them. The suction wheel contains a suction wheel body rotatable about an axis of rotation and provided with a plurality of suction openings formed in the circumferential surface of the suction wheel body. Accordingly, the suction wheel body is of a non-circular shape. In particular, the suction wheel includes an attraction area for attracting a sheet, a retaining area for retaining and conveying a sheet, and a release area for releasing a sheet. A sheet feeder ideally incorporates such a suction wheel. | 06-13-2013 |
| 271097000 | Sheet removal by pressurized gas | 25 |
| 20080217838 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING ENVIRONMENT WITHIN MEDIA FEED STACK - A method maintains an environment within an interior of a sheet feeder during dead-cycling of an image forming device to which the sheet feeder is operatively connected. The method jets pulses of air into the interior of the sheet feeder that houses two or more pieces of media therein while the image forming device is dead-cycling. By the method, the attractive forces between two pieces of adjacent media. In a stack are reduced or minimized, and feeding of multiple sheets can be reduced or eliminated. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20080277862 | SHEET FEEDING UNIT, SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A feeding unit is detachably attached to a sheet cassette in which sheets are loaded. The feeding unit includes a sheet tray on which sheets are loaded, and a fan for blowing air against the side surface of a stack of sheets loaded on the sheet tray, the sheet tray and the fan being held in a case. | 11-13-2008 |
| 20090121411 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding device, having: a sheet feeding tray which stacks a paper sheet bundle formed by a plurality of sheets; a first blower which blows air to a side edge of the paper sheet bundle stacked on the sheet feeding tray; a second blower which blows air to a leading edge of the paper sheet bundle in a sheet conveyance direction from a forward side of the paper sheet bundle in the sheet conveyance direction; and an adsorption conveyance section which adsorbs a topmost sheet of the paper sheet bundle stacked on the sheet feeding tray and conveys the topmost sheet, wherein a first area in which the adsorption conveyance section is provided, and a second area in which a ventilation port of the first blower is provided, respectively includes an overlapping area in which the first area and the second area overlap on the sheet conveyance direction. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090127768 | SHEET SEPARATING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR SEPARATING STACKED SHEETS - A sheet separating device includes: an air blowing unit that is configured to blow air toward a side face of stacked sheets being stacked with a plurality of sheets to separate the sheets by forming an air layer between the sheets; and a sheet pressing unit that is configured to apply a pressing force on the uppermost sheet in the stacked sheets while the uppermost sheet is separated from other sheets, the pressing force having a downward component and a component in a direction along the uppermost sheet. | 05-21-2009 |
| 20090289410 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding apparatus is provided with a sheet feeding device | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090322013 | MEDIA STACK SHEET FLUFFER METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND A MEDIA PROCESSING DEVICE ARRANGED WITH THE SAME - A media stack sheet media stack fluffer jet flow is provided to a first plurality of media stack sheets in a media stack. The media stack sheet media stack fluffer jet flow then is provided to a second plurality of media stack sheets in the media stack. The second plurality of media stack sheets are positioned either above or below the first plurality of media stack sheets. Also, a sequence of momentary jet flows form a media stack sheet fluffer jet flow, which is then provided to a plurality of media stack sheets in a media stack. | 12-31-2009 |
| 20100001454 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS INCLUDING SHEET FEEDING DEVICE - A sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet-form recording medium includes: a sheet accommodating portion for accommodating a sheet stack constituted by a plurality of sheets of the sheet-form recording medium; and a first warm air unit having a first blowing port for blowing warm air toward an upper face of the sheet stack accommodated in the sheet accommodating portion. The sheet feeding device preferably further includes a second warm air unit having a second blowing port for blowing warm air onto a side face of the sheet stack that is parallel to a sheet feeding direction. | 01-07-2010 |
| 20100194032 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A FLUFFER PORT IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A fluffer section and method for controlling a fluffer port in an image production device is disclosed. The fluffer section may include a variable port configuration device that contains a plurality of fluffer port configurations, a stepper motor that moves the variable port configuration device, a variable-speed pressure blower that blows air to fluff a media stack, and a fluffer port control unit that receives an input from one or more sensors that sense at least one of media type, media weight, temperature, and humidity, selects a fluffer port configuration from a plurality of fluffer port configurations based on the received sensor input, sends a signal to the stepper motor to move the variable port configuration device to the selected fluffer port configuration, and sends a signal to the variable-speed pressure blower to blow air to fluff a media stack using the selected fluffer port configuration. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20130087967 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding device includes a stacking unit configured to allow sheets to be stacked thereon; side end regulating members configured to make contact with both side ends of the stacked sheets so that positions of the side ends are regulated; a feeding unit configured to feed one sheet at a time from the stacked sheets; an air supply unit; and an air blow unit including a blow port from which air supplied from the air supply unit is blown against a side end of the stacked sheets, the air blow unit being housed in each of the side end regulating members. Each side end regulating member has an opening for exhausting the air that is blown from the blow port unit to the stacked sheets. An orientation of the blow port is adjustable about an axial line perpendicular to a plane corresponding to a surface of the stacked sheets. | 04-11-2013 |
| 20130292896 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE, SHEET CONTAINING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding device includes a loading section on which sheets are loaded, a delivery section that sequentially delivers the sheets from a top of a stack of the sheets having a side surface loaded on the loading section, a blowing section that has a blowing opening, which opens opposite the side surface of the stack of sheets loaded on the loading section, and that blows air toward the side surface of the stack of sheets through the blowing opening, an inclination section that causes the stack of sheets loaded on the loading section to be inclined in accordance with the quantity of the sheets loaded on the loading section, and a setting section that sets a position of the blowing opening of the blowing section in accordance with an amount of inclination of the stack of sheets that are inclined by the inclination section. | 11-07-2013 |
| 20160107853 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE, IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS, AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - Provided are a floating restricting member restricting the floating position of a bundle of sheets; and a holding mechanism holding the floating restricting member relative to a side fence. The floating restricting member includes a sheet contact section being brought into contact with the sheets from above; and a sheet-floating restricting section restricting the floating position of the floating sheet that is floated while air is blown thereto. The holding mechanism sets the floating restricting member in the initial state where the sheet-floating restricting section restricts the floating position of the sheet, in the sheet-placing time retracted state where the sheets are pushed against the sheet contact section so that the floating restricting member is retracted, and in the sheet-ejecting time retracted state where, when the sheets are to be removed, the sheet is pushed against the sheet contact section from below so that the floating restricting member is retracted. | 04-21-2016 |
| 271098000 | And suction means | 14 |
| 20080237968 | SHEET SUPPLYING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet supplying device which supplies a sheet, including: a sheet supplying tray which stacks a bundle of sheets; a first air blowing section which blows air against a side of the bundle of sheets stacked on the sheet supplying tray; a second air blowing section which blows air from downstream of the bundle of sheets in a sheet conveyance direction, onto a leading section of the sheets; a vacuum conveyance section which vacuums an uppermost sheet of the bundle of sheets and conveys the sheets one by one; a shielding member which shields air blown from the first air blowing section; a vacuum detection sensor which detects that a sheet has been vacuumed by the vacuum conveyance section; and a control section which controls the shielding member to open so that air generated by the first air blowing section is blown to the bundle of sheets. | 10-02-2008 |
| 20080246209 | Method and Device for Separating Printing Plates from a Stack - In order to separate printing plates and intermediate layers present in pairs, suckers having a delimiting device are known which, on the basis of the different flexibility of intermediate layers and printing plates, permit these to be separated from one another. For particularly thin intermediate layers, this configuration reaches its limits. Accordingly, by moving a suction element slowly downward at a speed V | 10-09-2008 |
| 20080251987 | Printer incorporating rotatable pick-up assembly of air nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080251988 | Printer incorporating interposed air expulsion and air suction nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said expulsion nozzles are interposed with said suction nozzles. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080251989 | Printer Incorporating Pick-up Assembly of Air Nozzles - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said pick-up assembly includes an axle pivotally mounted with respect to the support structure, a pair of arms extending from either end of the axle, and a pick-up bar extending between the arms and along which said array is aligned. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080251990 | Printer Incorporating Air Displacement Mechanism - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein each suction nozzle has a suction cup mounted to said pick-up bar. | 10-16-2008 |
| 20080258375 | Printer Incorporating Opposed Printhead Assemblies - A printer comprising: a support structure; a feed arrangement positioned on the support structure and configured to feed an endmost sheet of print media from the stack and including a movable pick-up assembly, the pick-up assembly having an array of spaced apart nozzles configured to direct air on to respective locations along said topmost sheet so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly; a pair of rollers configured to engage with said endmost sheet fed from said feed arrangement; a printing station configured to print ink upon said endmost sheet engaged by said rollers; and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles, wherein said printing station has a pair of opposed printhead assemblies between which said endmost sheet can be fed so that concurrent duplex printing can be performed on the endmost sheet. | 10-23-2008 |
| 20080303203 | PAPER FEED MECHANISM FOR A PRINTING STATION - A paper feed mechanism for a printing station. The mechanism includes a primary set of rollers and a secondary set of rollers for feeding a sheet of paper past a printhead, and a pivot rod rotatably driven by a drive means. Also included is a pick-up bar pivotally connected to the pivot rod via swing arms, the pick-up bar having a foot portion to facilitate pick-up of a sheet of paper from a stack. The mechanism further includes a fluid hose attached to the foot portion, said fluid hose operatively delivering pressurised air to the foot portion to facilitate pick-up of a sheet from the stack, wherein the pick-up bar delivers the sheet to the rollers. | 12-11-2008 |
| 20090008864 | Method of Separating Plate Material - A method which is capable of completely separating a plate member with a large area without using a peeling member and eliminating a possibility of permanent deformation on the plate member. A plurality of suction pads are suckingly disposed on a surface of a topmost plate member in a substantially lattice shape. Then, while the topmost plate member is held by the suction pads disposed in a zigzag shape among the suction pads disposed in the substantially lattice shape, the topmost plate member is lifted by the remaining suction pads. Finally, the suction pads holding the topmost plate member are lifted. | 01-08-2009 |
| 20090115121 | PRINTER HAVING SHEET DISPLACEMENT NOZZLES - A printer is provided having a movable pick-up device which has a one dimensional array of nozzles configured to direct air onto a topmost sheet of a print media stack so that said topmost sheet can be picked-up from the stack by moving said pick-up assembly, rollers configured to engage the picked-up topmost sheet, a printhead configured to print on the engaged sheet, and an air displacement mechanism connected to the nozzles to displace air out of some expulsion nozzles and into some other suction nozzles. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20110062652 | VACUUM LEVEL SWITCH FOR A VACUUM CORRUGATED FEEDER - This invention provides a simple vacuum level switch to be used inside the feedhead's vacuum plenum to detect when the vacuum level exceeds a predefined threshold. This switch is composed of an opening in the plenum that is covered by a cap which is in turn spring-loaded against the opening. The mechanical properties of the spring are such that the cap is pushed away from the opening by ambient air pressure at the point when the vacuum threshold has been reached during sheet acquisition. A Hall Effect or optical sensor is used to detect this motion and the corresponding signal is sent to the feeder controller. This enables more intelligent control of the feeder while also providing an inexpensive method for tracking sheet acquisition times. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110187044 | Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus - A sheet feeding device includes an air separating unit includes a floating air blowing unit and a separating air blowing unit that blow air to leading edges of a bundle of sheets in a paper feeding direction to float and separate upper sheets, and a side air blowing unit that blows air to both side edges of the sheet bundle to separate each of the sheets in the bundle, an air suctioning unit that suctions the air to suction a top sheet thus separated, a sheet feeding unit that feeds the sheet thus suctioned and retained, and a control unit that controls to blow floating air, to blow separating air, to blow side air, and to suction the air all at different operational timings. | 08-04-2011 |
| 20130001862 | MEDIUM FEED DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A medium feed device includes a suction member that sucks a medium on a stack member; a surrounding member supported movably in directions toward and away from the stack member together with the medium by suction; a stack-member moving mechanism; a suction-member moving mechanism; a transport member that transports the medium; a detected part associated with the surrounding member; a detecting part that is supported at the suction-member body and detects the detected part; a detector that detects a medium surface position based on a detection result of the detected part detected by the detecting part if the surrounding member moves toward the suction-member body from a state in which the medium contacts the surrounding member. The stack-member moving mechanism moves the stack member based on the medium surface position. | 01-03-2013 |
| 20150035225 | Printing Apparatus and Methods - Printing apparatus comprise a printing table, a loader to load sheets of print media to the printing table, and a moveable tray on which at least one row of media sheets can be placed, the tray being moveable between a position in which it is accessible to an operator for placing media sheets thereon and another position in which at least part of the tray is accessible to the loader for picking the print media sheets but inaccessible to the operator. | 02-05-2015 |
| 271099000 | Suction member acting on bottom of pack | 1 |
| 271102000 | Suction member reciprocating perpendicularly to sheet | 1 |
| 20140035220 | MACHINE FOR SEPARATING SHEETS OF CARTONS - A sheet separator machine for cartons for packaging from a warehouse, typically a well warehouse, in which the cartons are stacked. More particularly, a machine for separating sheets of cartons. The machine includes a frame on which a handling station of the cartons, a warehouse for at least one stack of cartons, and a gripping station of the cartons, are mounted, in an operatively contiguous position. The gripping station includes a pair of counter-rotating motorized rolls for withdrawing a carton from the stack of cartons. | 02-06-2014 |
| 271103000 | Sheet-moving action of suction member results from engagement with sheet | 1 |
| 20130300053 | IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An image forming apparatus includes a suction fan unit, a conveyor belt, a plurality of sheet-pressing rollers, and a control unit. The conveyor belt conveys a recording sheet suctioned by the suction fan unit, to a printer part. The sheet-pressing rollers are arranged at intervals in a main scanning direction orthogonal to a conveying direction of the recording sheet by the conveyor belt, and press the recording sheet onto the conveyor belt before the recording sheet is conveyed to the printer part. When a type of the recording sheet is a type meeting a predetermined condition, the control unit controls a suction strength of a suction fan unit such that a suction strength at both end portions of the suction part in the main scanning direction is higher than a suction strength at a central portion of the suction part in the main scanning direction. | 11-14-2013 |
| 271104000 | With means to restrain feed of next sheet | 4 |
| 20110278787 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An upper air blowing portion that blows air from above a sheet held by a tray is provided above the portion between a trailing end restricting plate and an absorption conveyance portion. A controlling portion drives the upper air blowing portion so as to restrict the movement of the sheet in the direction reverse to the sheet feeding direction, when the sheet held on the tray moves in the direction reverse to the sheet feeding direction with the air blown by the air blowing portion. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20120086163 | STACK FEEDING AERATION DEVICE AND METHOD - An aeration device adapted to aerate one or more sheets of a stack of sheets includes a side blower configured to selectively provide an air stream at an outlet thereof along an airstream direction so as to impinge against at least a portion of the stack. A height detecting device is configured to detect a height of an uppermost sheet of the stack. A side blower adjustment device is configured to adjust a height of the side blower and/or an angle of the airstream direction so as to track, by the air stream, the uppermost sheet of the stack based on an input from the height detecting device. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120133092 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A sheet feeding device includes: a sheet storage unit that stores a sheet stack of a plurality of sheets; and a plurality of nozzles configured to generate air currents blown out to the sheet stack, the air currents separate an uppermost sheet from the rest of stack of the plurality of sheets including a next sheet, the next sheet being situated immediately below the uppermost sheet. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120292847 | Feed Mechanism for Laminating Machine | 11-22-2012 |
| 271105000 | Means effecting preliminary operation on sheets in pack | 3 |
| 20100059927 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A FLUFFER PORT IN AN IMAGE PRODUCTION DEVICE - A method and apparatus for controlling a fluffer port in an image production device is disclosed. The method may include receiving an input from one or more sensors; the one or more sensing at least one of media type, media weight, temperature, and humidity, selecting a fluffer port configuration from a plurality of fluffer port configurations based on the received sensor input, and sending a signal to fluff a media stack using the selected fluffer port configuration. | 03-11-2010 |
| 20110012301 | SHEET FEEDING DEVICE, AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE - There is provided a sheet feeding device in which a sheet is discriminated at preliminary loosening before feeding, and is set to be controlled according to the type of the sheet by a simple configuration without requiring a special configuration. In the sheet feeding device in which air is blown onto a sheet stack, and a sheet floating at the uppermost level by the blowing is absorbed and conveyed, a sheet type is discriminated, based on a moving amount of the tray, at preliminary loosening before sheet feeding after setting the sheet in a tray. | 01-20-2011 |
| 20130134651 | SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS AND IMAGE FORMING SYSTEM - A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacking unit, a suction conveyance unit configured to convey an uppermost sheet stacked on the sheet stacking unit, a suction unit configured to adsorb the sheets onto the suction conveyance unit, and an adsorption completion detection unit. In the sheet feeding apparatus, when the tab-attached sheets are stacked on the sheet stacking unit and fed such that their tab portions are on the downstream side in a sheet feeding direction, the suction unit starts to adsorb the sheet and the suction conveyance unit starts to convey the sheet immediately after the adsorption completion detection unit detects the completion of the adsorption. When the sheets other than the tab-attached sheets are fed, the suction unit previously adsorbs the sheet onto the suction conveyance unit, and the suction conveyance unit starts to convey the sheet in response to the sheet feeding signal. | 05-30-2013 |
| 271108000 | Controlled by valve means | 7 |
| 20100270730 | PAPER SHEET PICKUP DEVICE - A paper sheet pickup device includes a pickup belt configured to run along one of accumulated paper sheets, which is positioned at the most downstream side with respect to a direction of accumulation, and a negative pressure chamber provided inside the pickup belt. The negative pressure chamber is connected to a pump, and a valve unit is interposed therebetween. Further, an air inlet tube is connected to the negative pressure chamber for supplying air therein. | 10-28-2010 |
| 20100276868 | MULTIPLE SEQUENCED ROTATIONAL AIR VALVES FOR VACUUM TRANSPORT - A vacuum control assembly for use in an image production device is provided. The assembly has a plenum, a perforated plate, a plurality of valve assemblies, and a controller. Each valve assembly has a rotating valve having a vacuum passage, and a chamber body having a plurality of chambers. Each valve is rotatable between a first position that fluidly connects the vacuum passage with at least one of the chambers to complete a fluid path between the plenum and the perforated plate, and a second position at which the vacuum passage connects the plenum with none of the chambers. The controller controls the plurality of valve assemblies to provide vacuum to a first predetermined portion of the perforated plate while also providing no vacuum to a second predetermined portion of the perforated plate. | 11-04-2010 |
| 20110042886 | VALUE DEVICE AND PAPER SHEET PICKUP APPARATUS - A valve device is provided with a first block connected to an upstream-side suction tube that is connected to a negative-pressure chamber, a second block connected to a downstream-side suction tube that is connected to a pump, first and second shielding plates rotatably interposed between the first and second blocks, and servo motors for rotating the shielding plates. Each of the shielding plates has a plurality of air passing holes, and are rotated in opposite directions. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20120025448 | PAPER SHEET PICKUP DEVICE - A paper sheet pickup device includes a pickup belt configured to run along one of accumulated paper sheets, which is positioned at the most downstream side with respect to a direction of accumulation, and a negative pressure chamber provided inside the pickup belt. The negative pressure chamber is connected to a pump, and a valve unit is interposed therebetween. Further, an air inlet tube is connected to the negative pressure chamber for supplying air therein. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20130020755 | MEDIUM FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A medium feeding device includes a medium-accommodating container, a loading member supported within the container and loading a medium thereon, a holding member, and a blocking unit. The holding member has a holding member body, gas suction openings, a peripheral member, a chamber surrounded by the peripheral member, and a suction unit connected to the gas suction openings and performing gas suction. The holding member holds the medium by suction. The gas suction openings include a gas suction opening disposed inside an edge of the peripheral member and outside an edge of the medium. The blocking unit blocks the suction of gas through the aforementioned gas suction opening. | 01-24-2013 |
| 20130241137 | DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING A PNEUMATIC CONSUMER IN A SHEET-PROCESSING MACHINE, IN PARTICULAR A ROTARY PRINTING PRESS OR DIECUTTER, AND ROTARY PRINTING PRESS OR DIECUTTER HAVING THE DEVICE - A device for controlling a pneumatic consumer in a sheet-processing machine, for example a printing press or a diecutter, includes a rotary valve supplying a fluid, such as suction air, to the pneumatic consumer to be driven in a sinusoidal manner in accordance with a cycle of the sheet-processing machine. The rotary valve is drivable by an electric motor for increased flexibility. A rotary printing press or diecutter having the device is also provided. | 09-19-2013 |
| 20140239572 | PAPER SHEET PICKUP DEVICE AND PAPER SHEET PROCESSING APPARATUS - A paper sheet pickup device including a valve device is disclosed. The valve device includes a first air hole configured to be formed in a main body block to extend through it, have one end communicating with an air chamber and the other end connected to the negative pressure side of an air drawing source, a second air hole configured to be formed in a main body block to extend through it, have one end communicating with the air chamber and the other end connected to the positive pressure side of the air drawing source, and a rod-shaped valve member configured to be arranged in the main body block to cross the first air hole and the second air hole. | 08-28-2014 |
| 271300100 | Pack advancer | 3 |
| 20120326380 | RECORDING-MATERIAL-FEEDING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - A recording-material-feeding device includes a stacking portion that holds a stack of recording materials, a lifting member that moves the stacking portion up and down between a feeding position at which a recording material is fed and a refilling position at which refill recording materials are supplied, a suction member that draws one or more recording materials by suction with a negative pressure, a negative-pressure-generating member that generates the negative pressure, and a stopping member that stops an edge of the stack of recording materials on the stacking portion and includes a sealing member that maintains the level of the negative pressure. The sealing member moves up and down between a retracted position at which refill recording materials are supplied and a sealing position at which the level of the negative pressure is maintained, the sealing member moving with the up-and-down movement of the stacking portion. | 12-27-2012 |
| 20190144221 | BAIL ARM | 05-16-2019 |
| 271031000 | Feeler control | 1 |
| 20130106045 | RECORDING MEDIUM SUPPLYING DEVICE AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS | 05-02-2013 |
