US2996969A - Photocopying machine - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 22, 1961 A. KAUFMAN PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 17, 1959 INVENTOR. AARON KAUFMAN M4447 MM ATTORNEY Aug. 22, 1961 A. KAUFMAN PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 17, 1959 FIG.2

FIG.3

INVENTOR.

AARON KAUFMAN ATTORNEY Aug. 22, 1961 A. KAUFMAN PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 17, 1959 JNVENTOR AARON KAUFMAN V M ATTORNEY Aug. 22,1961 A. KAUFMAN PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 1'7, 1959 'lil FIG.9

INVENTOR.

AARON KAUFMAN ATTORNEY Unite Patented Aug. 22, 1961 ice 2,996,969 PHOTOCOPYING MACHINE Aaron Kaufman, 2705 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor of thirty percent to Ronald Frohman, Howard Beach, thirty percent to Arthur Frohman, Brooklyn, and ten percent to Walter Peyser, New York, N.Y. Filed Feb. 17, 1959, Ser. 'No. 793,734 8 Claims. (Cl. 95-77.5)

This invention relates to photocopying apparatus and, more particularly, to an improved and simplified photocopying machine having novel constructional features improving its efficiency of operation.

In one type of photocopying operation, an original copy and a light sensitive sheet are progressively exposed to a light source over a pre-set time interval. The resultant negative is then developed and positive prints are made therefrom. As presently carried out, this operation is largely manually performed, and difficulty is experienced in maintaining the superposed sheets in properly spaced and timed relation to the light source, and in passing the sheets in proper timed relation through the developing solution.

Generally, the exposing, developing and printing operations are performed by independent units and frequently at spaced locations. All of hose factors contribute to the time and labor cost in making the prints, and there is a demand for compact automatic or semi-automatic apparatus for performing and properly coordinating the operations, as well as assuring uniform handling of successive operations.

One of the difliculties in providing such apparatus has resided in the provision of practical means for automatically pro-setting the light exposure and developing times, as well as in the provision of suitable means for accurately positioning and maintaining the sheets relative to the light source.

In accordance with the present invention, these difficulties are obviated by a novel photocopying machine which provides for copying, developing and printing in a single unit provided with common drive and control means for all the operations to be performed. This unit is subdivided into a copying and printing section and a developing section, with a separate section or compartment being provided for the common drive and control means.

The printing and copying compartment or section has an elongated tubular light source, such as a fluorescent lamp mounted therein between a pair of rotatable lamp sockets having novel commutator means for continuously supplying current to the lamp. One of these sockets is fixed to a shaft carrying a driven gear entrained with the output or drive gear of an electric motor in the drive and control compartment.

The sheets, such as a copy interposed between a positive and a negative are guided around the lamp bulb and maintained pressed thereagainst by a friction roll spring biased toward the lamp bulb. End guides for the sheets and their circumferential guide means are swingable about the axis of the friction roll and rotatably support auxiliary rolls holding the sheets in conforming engagement with the lamp bulb. Control of the exposure time may be effected by variation of the lamp current or variation of the motor speed, or conjointly by both expedients.

The developing compartment is provided with a removable tank containing the developing solution. This tank has a cover supporting curved guides for guiding the separated positive and negative through the tank and forming, with the cover, a spill inhibiting structure for the tank. The guides feed the positive and negative to a pair of friction pull out rolls geared together and driven by gearing from the motor. The speed of the motor governs the developing time.

The printing and copying compartment and the developing cornpartment are provided with covers hinged together by a piano type hinge for lifting either cover or removing both covers as a joined assembly. The motor and control compartment has a separate cover on which the controls may be mounted. The various guides are preferably formed of plastic composition material, and the friction rolls are preferably covered with natural or artificial rubber.

For an understanding of the invention principles, reference is made to the following description of a typical embodiment thereof as illustrated in accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View, partly broken away, of a photocopying machine embodying the invention;

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 are sectional views on the correspondingly numbered lines of FIG. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the machine with the covers removed;

FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the machine with the covers removed;

FIG. 7 is an inside elevation view of the rotatable housing or socket for the lamp;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are sectional views on the correspondingly numbered lines of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the contact spring retainer plate;

FIG. 11 is a sectional view on the line 11-11 of FIG. 10;a11d

FIG. 12 is a plan view of one of the dual contact springs.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 6, the photocopying machine comprises a base plate 13 of lightweight metal, such as aluminum or an alloy thereof, on which is mounted a bracket 14 supporting a driving motor 15 having a drive shaft 16 carrying a driving pinion or gear 17, the motor being provided with a cooling fan 18.

In longitudinally spaced relation to bracket 14 is a partition member having an elongated longitudinal wall 21, a pair of apertured end walls 22 normal to Wall 21, and a base-engaging flange 23 extending inwardly from wall 21 and walls 22, flange 23 being rivetted, bolted, or otherwise secured to base plate 13. The apertures in walls 22 have mounted therein the bulb socket assemblies 40, described more fully hereinafter, supporting a fluorescent bulb 25 rotatable by a gear 26 meshing with gear 17 and fixed to a shaft 27 associated wi h one socket assembly 40.

The developing compartment 30 is separated from the printing compartment 20 by wall 21, and is enclosed on one side by this wall and on two ends by walls 31 having flanges 32. secured to base 13 and flanges 33 secured to wall 21. A U-shaped bracket 34 on one wall 31 rotatably supports an idler gear 36 meshing with gear 17 and with a driven gear 37 on a shaft 38 which drives, in a manner described more fully hereinafter, the retracting rollers in the developing compartment.

Each of the socket assemblies 40 comprises, as best seen in FIGS. 49, a mounting member 41, of dielectric plastic material such as nylon, including a generally cylindrical body 42, extending through the aperture in the associated wall 22, and a flange 43 secured to the outer surface of such wall. Body 42 is axially apertured to freely receive shaft 27, and its inner face is formed with concentric circular recesses 44 seating contact rings 45 and 45' of copper or other electrically conductive metal or alloy. Outside of recesses 44, the inner face of body 42 is formed with a circular rib 46 having a concave inner periphery.

and through tray 80 by plastic The inner periphery of rib 46 anti-friction bearings 47 on which 51 on a socket 50 of the same The outer surface of rib 51 is bearings 48 held in position by an angular cross-sect1on retaining ring 52 of the same material as. socket t), seated over rib 46. By means of bearings 47, 48, socket 50 is freely rotatable on member 41. Shaft 27 has a threaded inner end engaged in one socket 50 so that gear 26 drives sockets 50 when interconnected by lamp 25.

The inner face of socket 50 has an annular recess which seats a retainer plate 53 for dual contact springs 55, plate 53 being seen best in FIGS. and 11. Each contact spring (FIG. 12) comprises a pair of coil spring sections 54 interconnected by a cross member 56, and is made of a suitable electrically conductive metal or alloy.

To seat springs 55, each socket has a pair of diametrically opposite recesses with a second recess 58, 5 extending inwardly from the outer surface of the socket and each aligned with a contact ring 45. The springs are retained in place by plate 53 which seats the spring sections in recesses 57 and has cross openings 59 (FIG. 11) receiving cross members 56. The coil spring sections 54 in recesses 57 contact the pins on the ends of bulb 25, and the coil spring sections 54 in recesses 58 bias contact plungers 60, 60 into engagement with contact rings 45, 45' respectively. Springs 55 and plungers 60, 69 thus connect the bulb connector pins to the respective cont- act rings 45, 45 to supply electric current to bulb 25 during rotation of the bulb.

The original copy, interposed between a positive and a negative having their emulsion surfaces contacting the copy, is fed into printing compartment 20 over a front paper guide 64, of plastic composition material, acting also as a trim member and a return guide. The stacked paper or sheet assembly is maintained in contact with rotating lamp bulb 25 by a rubber covered roller having a shaft 66 mounted in anti-friction bearings in blocks 67 slidably supported in support brackets 68 mounted on wall 21. Springs bias blocks 67 toward lamp 25.

Shafts 66 serve as the pivotal mounting for end walls 71 of curved plastic composition paper guides extending in radially spaced relation along bulb 25. A pair of plastic composition in- feed rollers 72, 72 are rotatably mounted in and extend between the end walls 71. Thus, the paper guiding assembly including guides 70 and rollers 72 is mounted to oscillate about the axis of roller 65, providing a free floating guiding assembly offering a minimum of resistance to rotation of bulb 25.

The original copy, positive, and negative are guided around lamp bulb 25 by guides 70, rollers 72, and spring biased roller 65, and emerge over front guide 64. The copy is then removed from between the positive and negative and the latter are then developed in section 30.

Referring to this section, as best seen in FIGS. 1-6, shaft 38 extends rotatably through a bearing bracket 73 on one wall 31 and has its other end rotatably mounted in a similar bracket 73 on the opposite wall 31, brackets 73 being fixedly secured to walls 31. Just inside the first bracket 73, shaft 38 has fixed thereto a gear 74 meshing with a gear 76 on a second shaft 77 rotatably mounted in brackets 73. Shafts 38 and 77 oarry rubber covered drive rollers which withdraw the developed prints from a plastic composition tray 80 removably positioned in compartment 30 and coating the developing solution.

The positive and negative are separately guided into composition material tray guides 81, 82, 83 secured to plastic composition material cover 84 having a snap fit over the upper edges of tray 80. Guide 81 feeds the positive and negative to rollers 75 which withdraw the developed prints from compartment 30. The combination of the tray guides with cover 84, having a baffle 86 in tank 80, provides a spill-proof acts as a raceway for is seated a rib or flange material as member 41. engaged by anti-friction tank for the developing solution.

The tray guides extend through a trim member 87 the duration of the printing which conceals a piano type hinge 88 interconnecting cover 91 for compartment 20 and cover 92 for compartment 30. These covers bear against extensions 93 on a cover 94 for the compartment containing motor 15 and ballast resistor or transformer 95 for bulb 25. A rheostat or potentiometer 96 on cover 84 controls the intensity of bulb 25 for proper printing and, if the range of control afforded thereby is insufllcient, the printing time can be controlled by varying the speed of motor 15 in a known manner. If desired, such motor speed control may be used without the light intensity control.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the invention principles, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.

What is claimed is:

1. A photocopying machine comprising, in combination, a printing compartment having a pair of opposite walls; a pair of lamp sockets each rotatably mounted in a base secured to one of said walls and each having a pair of lamp contacts, the lamp sockets being rotatable on a common axis and axially spaced from each other; cooperating brush and commutator means on each socket and the associated base for continuously connecting said contacts to a source of electric potential; a relatively elongated cylindrical lamp bulb seated in and interconnecting said sockets; drive means connected to an axle secured to one ofe said sockets to rotate the latter; guide means directing copy into engagement with said lamp bulb; and freely rotatable pressure roll means maintaining copy in embracing relation with said lamp bulb; said lamp bulb constituting the drive means for drawing copy through said printing compartment.

2. A photocopying machine comprising, in combination, a printing compartment having a pair of opposite walls; a pair of lamp sockets each rotatably mounted in a base secured to one of said to one of said walls and each having a pair of lamp contacts, the lamp sockets being rotatable on a common axis and axially spaced from each other; cooperating brush and commutator means on each socket and the associated base for continuously connecting said contacts to a source of electric potential; a relatively elongated cylindrical lamp bulb seated in and interconnecting said sockets; drive means connected to an axle secured to one of said sockets to rotate the latter; guide means directing copy into engagement with said lamp bulb; freely rotatable pressure roll means maintaining copy in embracing relation with said lamp bulb; said lamp bulb constituting the drive means for drawing copy through said printing compartment; a developing compartment adjacent said printing compartment; a developing tank in said developing com artment; means for guiding prints into and through said tank; a pair of pressure rolls in said developing compartment geared together to grasp and withdraw prints guided through said tank; and a driving connection between said pressure rolls and said drive means.

3. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 1 including a circuit controller operably associated with said lamp to control the current supplied thereto to vary the effective illumination of said lamp to control the printing of the copy.

4. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 1 including speed control means for said drive means to vary time.

5. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 1 including a circuit controller operably associated with said lamp to control the current supplied thereto to vary the effective illumination of said lamp to control the printing of the copy; and speed control means for said drive means to vary the duration of the printing time.

6. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 1 in which each lamp contact includes a first coil spring seated in a first recess in the socket opening into the socket and integral with a second coil spring parallel to said first coil spring and seated in a second socket recess opening toward the associated base, the second recesses of each socket being at difierent radial distances from the socket axis; and said brush and commutator means comprises concentric circular contact strips on said base and brushes each seated in a second coil spring and biased thereby to engage a contact strip.

7. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 2 including a cover releasably engaged with said tank; said print guiding means comprising spaced parallel guide elements extending through said cover and forming therewith an antispill arrangement for said tank 8. A photocopying machine as claimed in claim 1 in which said pressure roll means comprises a cushioned surface roller on axial means engaged in bearing blocks mounted in bearing block guides on said walls, the bearing blocks being spring biased toward said lamp bulb; said guide means comprising :arouate guides extending around said lamp bulb and mounted between end guide walls swingably mounted on said axial means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,740,293 Funtan Dec. 17, 1929 1,951,113 Wiegand Mar. 13, 1934 2,401,203 Trump May 28, 1946 2,559,159 Hruby "a July 3, 1951 2,616,344 Patience Nov. 4, 1952 2,732,778 Limburger Jan. 31, 1956 2,743,653 Kennedy May 1, 1956 2,783,697 Eisner Mar. 5, 1957 2,875,677 Ellis Mar. 3, 1959

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