CA1167560A - Facsimile method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the Disclosure A common base unit of facsimile apparatus is adapted to receive a plurality of sheet feeding systems of different configurations. Any one of the systems may be mounted on the base unit at one time by sliding the selected system along an inclined track.

Description

2 This invention relates to the facsimile trans-

3 mitters and/or receivers of the type utilized to transmit

4 and/or receive information-bearing signals representing

5 the dark/light variations on a document located at a

6 transmitter and converting the information-bearlng signals

7 to marks or images on a copy medium located at a receiver

8 50 as to form a copy which is a reasonable facsimile of

9 the original document.
Most facsimile transmitters and receivers in 11 commercial use at the present time are supplied with 12 document or copy medium sheets by hand. In other words, 13 an operator takes an individual sheet of paper, whether 14 the individual document or a blank piece of copy medium, 15 and places that sheet on or in the scanning means of the 16 transmitter or receiver, typically a drum ha~ing a clamp 17 for clarnping one edge of the sheet.
18 In other facsimile transmitters and receivers 19 in commercial use today, provisions are made for automa-20 tically feedin~ a document or copy medium so as to permit 21 the transmitter or receiver to operate in an unattended 22 mode. Such transmitters and receivers are typically 23 extremely expensive and are util:ized only by users of 24 the transmitter or receiver for large numbers of facsimiles.
25 These users are therefore separate and distinct from and 26 require equipment substantlally more elaborate than the 27 hand fed system most often utilized in the facsimile 28 market. Even the more elaborate and expensive facsimile 29 systems vary in their capabilities thus making some systems 30 more attractive to some users and other systems more 31 attracti:ve to other users.

.~

1 SU~ARY OF THE IMVENTION
_ 2 It is an object of this invention to provide a 3 method and apparatus for readily changing the sheet 4 feeding capability of facsimile equipment so as to 5 satisfy the various needs of different customers.
6 It is a more specific object to provide the 7 foregoing capability while minimizing the cost to each 8 o the users.
9 In accordance with the foregoing objects, a

10 preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a facsi-

11 mile apparatus including a common base unit including

12 scanning means for scanning the sheet of material and

13 means for receivin~ a sheet feeding apparatus. The

14 apparatus is adapted to receive sheet feeding systems of

15 different configurations interchangeably on the base unit.

16 In accordance with one important aspect of the

17 invention, the means for receiving comprises a guide

18 means for guiding the various sheet feeding systems.

19 The guide means ~ay comprise at least one track in each

20 of the sheet feeding systems includes at least one member

21 adapted to be received by the track. Electrical interlock

22 means carried by the base unit and the sheet feeding

23 systems may also be pro~ided.

24 BRIEF DESCRIP~ION OF ~HE D~AWING
. _ Figure 1 is a perspecti~e view of a preferred 26 embodiment of the invention Including a base unit and ~7 a plurality o~ sheet feeding systems;
28 ~igure 2 is a sectional view of a track and 29 electrical interlock mechanism associated with a base 30 unit and any one of the sheet feeding systems shown in 31 Figure l;

32 Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 3-3 of Figure 2;
34 Figure 4 is a sectional view of one of the 35 sheet feeding systems shown in Figure l;

1 ~igure 5 is a sectional view of another of the 2 sheet feediny systems shown in Figure 1; and 3 Figure 6 is a sectional view of yet another of 4 the sheet feeding systems shown in Figure 1.

_ 6 Referring to Figure 1, a facsimile apparatus 7 comprises a base unit 10 c~mprising scanning means 8 including a rotatable drum 12 and a head 14 adapted to 9 move in a substantially linear direction parallel with 10 the axis of the drum 12. The head 14 is dri~en by a 11 band 16 which forms a closed loop. One end of the band 12 16 wraps around a pulley (not shown) which is mounted 13 on a support 18.
14 In accordance with this invention, the base 15 unit 10 comprises means for interchangably receiving a 15 plurality of different sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24.
17 The receiving means includes guide means in the form of 18 a paix of tracks 26 located on opposite sides of an 19 opening 28 in which the ~arious sheet feeding systems 20 20, 22 and 24 are mounted as deplcted by arrows 30, 32 21 and 34 associated with respective sheet feeding systems.
22 Each of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24 includes 23 lugs 36 adapted to be received by each of the tracks 26.
24 In accordance with another important aspect of

25 this in~ention, the tracks 26 are inclined with respect

26 to the plane of a base supporting surface 38 since

27 inclIna~ion of the tracks 26 facilitates the mounting of

28 each of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24.

29 Moreover, the ~nclination of the tracks 26 allows a

30 sheet feeding path to be inclined with respect to the

31 plane of the supporting surface 38 which is of assistance

32 in automated sheet feedin~.

33 In accordance with another important aspect of

34 this invention, the base unit 10 as well as the ~arious

35 sheet feedin~ systems 20, 22 and 24 include electrical 5~
d~ --1 interlocking means. The base 10 comprises interlocking 2 means including a switch ao located adjacent one of the 3 tracks 26. Each of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 4 24 include cam members 42 which are adapted to engage 5 a small roller 44 on the end of a spring arm 46 as 6 best shown in Figures 2 and 3. As also shown in Figures 2 7 and 3, the lugs 36 are adapted to move through the tracks 8 26 just above the interlock switch 40. As also shown in ~ F~gures 2 and 3, the lugs 35 are mounted on a side wall 48 10 of one of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24. In 11 FIgures 2 and 3, a sheet feeding system 20 has been illus~
12 trated.
13 In accordance with another important aspect 14 of this invention, the base un~t 10 includes a receptacle 1~ 50 which is adapted to mate with a plug 52 of one of the 16 sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24. Once the plug 52 for 17 one of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24 is mated 18 with the receptacle 50, electrical energy in control 19 signàls are applied from the base unit 10 to the parti-20 cular interconnected sheet feeding system. Of course, 21 the plug 52 could just as well be mounted on the base 22 10 and the receptacle 50 mounted on the various sheet 23 feeding systems 20, 22 and 24.
24 Each of the sheet feeaing systems 20, 22 and 24 25 applies a sheet to a rotatable drum 21 prior to scanning 26 the sheet by the head 14. Once scanning is completed, 27 the sheet is stripped ~rom the drum 12 and is then free 28 to exit through a slot 54 on the inclined forward facing 29 surface 56 of the base 10.
The system shown in Figure 1 is capable of 31 operating as a facsimile transmitter or receiver regard-32 less of which of the particular sheet feeding systems 20, 33 22 and 24 is inserted in the tracks 26. Accordingly, 34 each of the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24 must be 35 capable of supplying documents to the drum 12 o.r copy

36 medium to the drum 12 depending upon the mode of operation

37 required by the user. Details of how the various sheet 7'~ feeding systems 20, 22 and 24 supply documents and~or 1 copy medium to the drum 12 the vaxious configurations of 2 the sheet feeding systems 20, 22 and 24 will now be 3 described in more detail.
4 Referring first to Figures 1 and 4, the sheet 5 feeding systems 24 will be described in detail. The 6 system 24 comprises a sheet storage ares bO which is 7 adapted to receive a stack of copy media sheets 62 which 8 are supported on a plate 64. The stack 62 is housed 9 with a cassette-like container 66.
The upper most sheet in the stack 62 is engaged 11 by a scuff roller 68 in the forward area of the stack 12 64 so as to pull the upper most sheet from a stack 24 in 13 a direct~on directly parallel with the upper most plane 14 of the stack 62. In order to assure that the upper 15 most sheet in the stack 62 is in engagement with the 16 scuff roller 68 at all times, plate 64 is driven upwardly 17 by a roller 70 mounted on the end of an arm 72 which is 18 rotated about a mounting 74 as a result of a bias 19 supplied by a spring 76 attached to a stationary peg 78.
Once the upper most sheet of the stack 62 is 21 pulled in the forward direction to a point of engagement 22 between drive rollers 80 and 82, the opposite rotation 23 of the rollers 80 and 82 as depicted by the arrows 24 located on the rollers in the drawing of Figure 4 will 25 advance the sheet down a shute 84. When the sheet 26 xeaches the roller 86 which is canted such that th~
27 axis of the roller 86 ~orms an angle with a line 28 perpendicular to the travel of the sheet, the roller 86 29 will advance the sheet down into the segment 88 of the 30 shute to an open clamp 90 secured to the drum 10. During 31 the travel of the sheet from the sheet storage area 60, a 32 gate 92 (shown in Figure 4 as closed) is opened.
33 In order to feed documents to be transmitted 34 to the drum 12, the document storage area 94 is provided 35 with a document cassette 96. The cassette 96 contains a 1 bundle of documents 98 which may be separated by 2 plastic sheets ha~ing openings adapted to permit scuff 3 roller 100 to contact the document 98, one at a time, 4 to advance those documents between a one guide 102 and 5 another guide 104 toward the segment 88 of the shute 84.
6 The documents 98 continue to be driven by the roller 100 7 past an open gate 92 to the open clamp 90.
8 In addition, sheet feeding system 24 provides a 9 single sheet feeding capability for an operator who may 10 insert a sheet into an opening 106 and push the sheet along 11 a~~uide 108 toward the cammed roller 86. Canted roller 86 12 may then advance the sheet ~o the closed gate 92 until 13 the drum 12 is ready to receive the sheet with the clamp 14 open. At that time, the gate 92 is r.aised by a solenoid 15 110 mounted on the guide 102 by means of a suitable 16 linkage 112.
17 Shown in Figure 4, sheets 98 are supported on 18 a plate 114 which is biased upwardly by spriny 116 so as 19 to assure that the upper most document in the cassette 20 96 is in contact with the roller 100. A spring 118 is 21 moun~ed on the guide No. 104 so as to assure substantial 22 and ~rictional engagement of a sheet between the cammed 23 roller 86 the contact point 120 mounted on the end of 24 the lease spring 118.
As also shown in Figure 4, a roller 122 is 26 locate~ adjacent ~o the surface of the dr~m 12 and driven 27 by a belt 124 connected to a driven pulley 126. Roller 28 122 is adapted to move into and out of engagement with a 29 s~heet supported by the surface of the drum 12 so as 30 to strip the sheet from the drum 12 when scanning has 31 been completed to allow the sheet to pass through the 32 slot 54 the base unit 10 is shown in ~igure 1. Also 33 shown in Figure 1, a pair of rollers 100 is provided 34 For engagement with the upper most sheet in the cassette 35 96. The rollers 100 a~e driven by a motor 128 which is 1 coupled to a sha~t 130 supporting the rollers 100 by a 2 belt 132.
3 It will therefore be appreciated that the 4 sheet ~eeding system 24 shown in Figures 1 and 4 is a 5 particularly configuration capable of ~eeding documents 6 in a stack from a cassette 96 in an unattended manner, 7 a copy media in a stack from a cassette 66 in an unattended 8 manner and a single document or a single copy medium hand-9 fed by an operator through the opening 106. In the 10 configuration of the system of Figure 4, a substantial 11 volume of documents and copy media may be handled in a 12 variety of ways so as to provi~e a particular user with 13 a particular type of equipment.
14 Reference will now be made to Figures 1 and 5 15 for a discussion of yet another sheet feeding configu-16 ration. To some extent, various components of the sheet 17 feeding system shown in Figures 1 and 5 are substantially 18 identical to certain components of the sheet feeding 19 system of Figures l~and 4 such components will therefore 20 be identified with the same reference characters for the 21 sake of clarIty. Only those components and functions 22 which differ from those described with reference to 23 the sheet ~eeding system 12 of Figures 1 and 4 will be 24 described hereafter.
As shown in Figure 5, a document transmitting 26 casse~te 200 is provided for documents which are adapted 27 to be engaged by the roller 100. A receiving or copy 28 media cassette 202 is provided immediately below the 29 cassette 200. Each of the cassettes 200 and 202 are 30 oriented opposite directionsj i.e., cassette 200 is 31 ~acing upwardly such that the upper most sheet 204 32 faces downwardly such that the lower most sheet 206 in 33 the cassette 202 ~s engaged by a scuff roller 208. Each 34 of the sheets 2Q4 and 206 may be separated by a plastic 35 divider so as to assure that a single sheet at a time is 36 adYanced by the rollers 100 and 208. Sheets 204 and 206 1 are backed respectively by plates 210 and 212 which are 2 baised toward the rollers 100 and 208 respectively.
3 Leaf spring 118 is mounted on an abbre~iated member 222 4 above the cammed xoller 86.
In addition to the unattended multi-sheet 6 feed capability from the cassettes 200 and 202, a single 7 sheet or hand-fed capabili~y is provided through an 8 open~ng 224 between the cassette 200 with the associated 9 member 218 and the member 220. When inserting sheeks 10 through the opening 224, gate 92 is in the closed position 11 similar to that illustrated in Figure 4.
12 It would, therefore, be appreciated that the 13 sheet ~eeding system 24 has now been described as 14 characterized by a particular configuration which allows 15 a certain amount of unattended sheet feeding from docu-16 ment and copy media cassette while also permitting 17 single sheet feeding of documents and copy media for 18 transmitting or receiving purposes. While some of the 19 same functions are provided by the sheet feeding system 20 24 as are provided by the sheet feeding system 22, it ~1 will be understood that the sheet feeding system 22 has 22 a substantially greater capacity for copy media sheets 23 and ~eeds the copy media sheets :Erom a different position 24 than does the sheet feeding system 24 of Figure 5.
Reference will now be made to Figures 1 and 6 26 ~or a description of a single sheet or hand-fed sheet 27 ~eeding system. Shown in Figure 6, the system 20 includes 28 the canted roller 86 which cooperates with a eontact 29 area 300 carried by a spring 302 mounted on a guide mem-30 ber 304. As a sheet in the form of a document or a copy 31 media is inserted between the member 304 and the guide 32 306 so as to be contacted by the roller 86 at the 33 contact area 302, the sheet is advanced to a close gate 34 92 under the control of a solenoid 110. The gate 92 is 35 then opened so as to permit the sheet to advance to an 36 open clamp 90 when the open clamp 90 is in the position 37 shown in Figure 6. Clamp 90 then closes and wraps the 116 ~56~

1 sheet around the drum 12 at which time the gate 92 also 2 closes to prevent a document from passing the gate 92.
3 From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the 4 sheet feeding system 20 is capable of feeding a single ~.
sheet at a time and at the same time providing the 6 capability of maintaining a sheet in a state of 7 readiness at the gate 92 for feeding to drum 12 as 8 soon as the clamp 90 is opened and in the position g shown in Figure 6. This configuration,ofcourse, substantially differs from the configuration of the 11 sheet feeding systems 22 and 24 shown in detail in 12 Figures 4 and 5.
13 Although specific sheet feeding systems have 14 been described, it will be apprec.iated that a variety Of sheet feeding systems of differing configurations may 16 be employed in connection with the base 10 in accordance 17 w;`th this invention. Other modifications and alternatives 18 will occur to those of ordinary skill of the art which 19 fall within the true spirits and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims (11)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Facsimile apparatus comprising:
a common base unit including scanning means for scanning a sheet of material and means for receiving a sheet feeding apparatus;
a first sheet feeding system having a first sheet feeding configuration;
a second sheet feeding system having a second sheet feeding configuration differing from said first sheet feeding configuration;
said first system and said second system being interchangeable mounted on said means for receiving a sheet feeding apparatus.

2. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said means for receiving comprises a guide means for guiding said first system and said second system.

3. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 2 wherein said guide means comprises at least one track, said first system and said second system each including at least one member adapted to be received by said track.

4. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 1 further comprising electrical interlock means including a first interlocing means carried by said base unit and a second interlocing means carried by said first system and said second system.

5. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 4 wherein said base unit, said first system and said second system include guide means, said interlocking means being located adjacent said guide means when said first system and said second system are mounted on said base unit.

6. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 5 wherein said guide means include a track carried by said base unit, a switch carried by said base unit, a member received by said track carried on said first sheet feeding system and said second sheet feeding system and a means cooperating with said switch means carried on said first system and said second system.

7. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 2 wherein said guide means are inclined when said base unit rests on a horizontal plane.

8. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 7 wherein said guide means include at least one inclined track carried by said base unit.

9. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 1 wherein said first configuration of said first system includes means for feeding a single sheet to said system.

10. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 9 wherein said second configuration of said second system includes means for feeding a plurality of sheets stored in said second system.

11. The facsimile apparatus of Claim 10 wherein said feeding means includes cassette means removable from said second system.