GB1561852A - Stack supporting tray - Google Patents

Description

(54) STACK SUPPORTING TRAY (71) We, XEROX CORPORATION, of Xerox Square, Rochester, New York, United States of America, a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New York, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: - This invention relates to trays for supporting stacks of cut-sheets and is particularly concerned with such trays for use as sheet supply stores in copying or duplicating equipment.

In the modern photocopier it is particularly desirable from a user point of view that the machine be adaptable to several different copy sheet sizes to suit varying user requirements. To this end adjustable copy sheet supply trays of various kinds and construction are widely used in commercial photocopiers. Some trays are adjustable to defined sheet sizes whilst others provide infinitely variable adjustment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet tray which has a simple infinitely variable adjustment.

To this end, the invention consists in a tray for face supporting a stack of sheets including a registration member which is magnetically attachable to the base of the tray for registering at least one edge of a stack of sheets on the base, said registration member including means for adjusting the magnetic attraction between the member and the base.

In a preferred form, the registration member includes at least one magnet rigid therewith and a cam or lever for tilting the member relative to the base so as to reduce the magnetic attraction sufficiently to permit controlled manual sliding movement of the member across the base. In this way the member can be slid into the desired position while tilted and the cam or lever released to lock the member in position on the base.

The registration member may engage a single edge of a stack on the base and for example two such members may provide registration for adjacent edges of a stack.

Conveniently, however, a registration member may be shaped to engage a corner of a stack and, from another aspect, the invention consists in a tray for face supporting a stack of sheets comprising a base, a pair of adjacent datum edges, and a corner piece which is releasably magnetically attachable to the base for registering a stack of sheets relative to the datum edges, the corner piece including at least one magnet and means for adjusting the magnet relative to the base between a first position in which the corner piece is magnetically locked to the base and a second position in which the magnetic attraction to the base is reduced sufficiently to permit controlled manual sliding movement of the corner piece across the base.

The invention has particular application to copiers and duplicators and, from a further aspect, the invention consists in apparatus for reproducing information including a tray as described above. The tray may be a copy sheet supply tray or, in the case of apparatus employing an automatic document feeder, it may be the document supply tray of the feeder.

In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: - Figure 1 is a schematic view illustrating an automatic xerographic machine embodying the present invention, Figure 2 is a perspective view of a paper cassette as used in the machine of Figure I, Figure 3 is a perspective view showing one form of registration member of a cassette like that shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a view taken from the opposite side of the registration member shown in Figure 3, and Figure 5 is a perspective view of another form of registration member.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown for the purposes of explanation an automatic xerographic reproducing machine in accordance with the present invention. The copying machine illustrated in Figure 1 employs an image recording drum-like member 5, the outer periphery of which is coated with a suitable photoconductive material 6 that is well known and used in the art for recording a latent electrostatic image of an original to be reproduced. Drum 5, which is suitably journalled for rotation within a machine frame by means of a shaft 7, rotates in the direction indicated to bring the image retaining surface thereon past a plurality of xerographic processing stations.

Suitable drive means (not shown) is provided to power and coordinate the motion of the various cooperating machine components whereby a faithful reproduction of the original input scene information is recorded upon a sheet of final support material such as paper or the like.

Since the practice of xerography is well known in the art, the various processing stations for producing a copy of an original are herein represented in Figure 1 as blocks A-E. At station A, an electrostatic charge is placed uniformly over the photoconductive surface of the drum preparatory to imaging. The charged drum surface is then passed through an exposure station B for illuminating at least a portion of the charge surface with a light image of the original input scene information whereby the charge is selectively dissipated in the light exposed regions to record the original input scene in the form of a latent electrostatic image.

Next, in the direction of drum rotation, the image bearing plate surface is transported through a developing station C wherein toner material is applied to the surface of the image bearing plate rendering the latent image visible. The developed image is then brought into contact with a sheet of final support material 8, such as paper or the like, within a transfer station D and the toner image transferred from the plate surface to the contacting side of the final sup port sheet. Finally, at cleaning station E, residual toner particles remaining on the drum surface after the transfer operation, are removed from the drum in a manner well known in the art thus placing the photoconductive surface in a condition to be reused in the xerographic recording process.

The sheets of final support material processed in the automatic xerographic reproducing device are stored in the machine within a sheet tray of this invention in the form of a removable paper cassette 10.

Sheets 8 are fed from a stack in the cassette by any suitable sheet feeding mechanism, schematically represented in Figure 1 by roller 9, examples of which, such as forward and reverse buckle feeders and friction retard feeders, are well known in the art.

It is understood that the automatic reproducing machine will have the capability of accepting and processing copy sheets of varying sizes, the size of the copy sheet, of course, being dictated by the size of the original input scene information recorded on the photoconductor. To this end, in accordance with the present invention, the cassette is adjustable whereby sheets of varying sizes can be conveniently accommodated therein. The cassette or tray 10 comprises a base or floor 11, side walls 12, 13, a rear wall 14 and a front wall 15. The base 11 is pivoted at the rear of the tray and in the copying machine is urged upwardly so that the top sheet of a stack Sa of sheets 8 in the tray is positioned against a stationary feeder member 9. In the embodiment of tray illustrated, a pad 9a of a friction retard belt and pad feeder is provided on a ledge 16 contiguous with the top of front wall 15.

The base 11 of the tray is made of or includes a layer of ferrous metal, preferably steel. An L-shaped registration member or corner piece 20 is magnetically attached to the base 11 by two magnets 21, each secured in the lower part of a leg of the "L". A lever 22 mounted in a slot 23 in one or other leg of the member 20 is pivoted at 24. A handle 25 is connected to the upper end of the lever. The lower end of the lever is shaped to form a cam surface 26 which in the position shown in Figure 3 is recessed within the slot 23 and in the position shown in Figure 4 projects beneath the member 20. Thus, in the recessed position of the cam, the member 20 seats against the base 11 and is magnetically secured in position. On the other hand, in the projecting position of the cam, the member 20 is tilted relative to the base so as to reduce the magnetic attraction between the member 20 and the base 11 sufficiently to permit controlled sliding movement of the member 20 across the base. By suitable choice of the magnets and the lift afforded by the cam, the member 20 may be securely locked in position when seated against the base while maintaining a slight attraction to the base when the member 20 is tilted.

For loading the paper tray or cassette 10 illustrated in Figure 2, the member 20 is tilted and slid towards the corner C. A stack 8a of paper sheets 8 is inserted in the tray and moved into position against datum edges formed by the walls 12 and 15. The member 20 is then slid across the base 11 to embrace the free corner of the stack 8a with the legs engaging the unsupported edges of the stack. The lever 22 is then released so that the cam surface 26 is recessed in slot 23 and the member seats against the base 11. Since the member 20 tilts about the free ends of its legs, when the member seats against the base, it backs away slightly from the stack 8a providing a small clearance to allow unrestricted paper feeding.

Instead of registering the stack against walls 12, 15, the stack may be registered against the walls 13, 15 in which case the member 20 will be rotated through ninety degrees.

Figure 5 illustrates another form of registration member 20 in which the lever 22 is operated by a squeeze grip type of action and the member 20 is formed as a moulding of plastics material, such as ABS resin, with the magnets 21 moulded in during the moulding operation.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, although the registration members illustrated are in the form of corner pieces, the invention is not so limited. Nor is the invention restricted to trays having only one registration member.

Thus, the tray may have a registration member configured to engage against one edge of a stack of sheets and register the stack against a single datum edge. Or two registration members may engage opposite edges of a stack and register the stack against each other. Or two corner pieces like those illustrated may register a stack against a single datum edge.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: - 1. A tray for face supporting a stack of sheets including a registration member which is magnetically attachable to the base of the tray for registering at least one edge of a stack of sheets on the base, said registration member including means for adjusting the magnetic attraction between the member and the base.

2. A tray as claimed in Claim 1 in which the registration member includes a magnet and the means for adjusting the magnetic attraction is operable to tilt the member relative to the base.

3. A tray as claimed in Claim 1 or 2 in which the registration member is L-shaped for engaging a corner of a stack of sheets.

4. A tray as claimed in Claim 3, in which the tray includes a pair of datum edges extending from a corner of the base.

5. A tray for face supporting a stack of sheets comprising a base, a pair of adjacent datum edges, and a corner piece which is releasably magnetically attachable to the base for registering a stack of sheets relative to the datum edges, the corner piece including at least one magnet and means for adjusting the magnet relative to the base between a first position in which the corner piece is magnetically locked to the base and a second position in which the magnetic attraction to the base is reduced sufficiently to permit controlled manual sliding movement of the corner piece across the base.

6. A tray as claimed in Claim 5 in which the means for adjusting the magnet position comprises means for tilting the corner piece relative to the base.

7. A tray for supporting a stack of sheets, constructed, arranged and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

8. Apparatus for reproducing information including a tray as claimed in any

Claims (1)

1. preceding claim.