US3405568A

US3405568A - Jam release lever

Info

Publication number: US3405568A
Application number: US537515A
Authority: US
Inventors: Howard W Aubrey
Original assignee: Nashua Corp
Current assignee: Nashua Corp
Priority date: 1966-03-25
Filing date: 1966-03-25
Publication date: 1968-10-15
Anticipated expiration: 1985-10-15

Description

Oct. 15, 1968 H. w. AUBREY 3,405,568

JAM RELEASE LEVER Filed March 25. 1966 INVENTOR.

BY HOWARD W. AUBREY KM? I jw- ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,405,568 JAM RELEASE LEVER Howard W. Aubrey, Westwood, Mass., assignor to Nashua Corporation, Nashua, N.H., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 537,515

4 Claims. (Cl. 74522.5)

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention is a lever that may be attached to copying machines of the type which use a drive roll working against a spring-biased slave roll for driving paper through the machine. The lever is a plate having an outwardly extending projection for enabling the plate to be manipulated, a finger lying in the plane of the plate and extending outwardly therefrom which is insertable be- This invention relates to release levers, and in particular to a release lever which may readily be attached to existing copying machines in order to spread apart the paper feed rolls thereof in order to remove paper that has become jammed therebetween.

In several copying machines on the market, rubber rolls are used to convey the copy paper through the machines, these rolls being generally pressed tightly to gether. One of these rolls is generally chain driven, and drives the other (slave) roll by means of gears on the drive shafts of the rolls which interengage. In the use of such machines, occasionally a paper will jam between the rolls (in some cases even to the extent of becoming wrapped around one of the rolls, generally the slave roll) and needs to be removed. Customarily, what is done 'is to remove a cover on the copying machine in order to gain access to the rolls, and then the jammed paper is forcibly pulled out from between the rolls, the rolls being held against any rotation because of the interengaged gears. In view of the fact that the rolls tightly grip the paper, the paper often tears during attempts to remove it, and this necessitates a lengthy job of removing all of it. Also, the jamming is often so bad as to necessitate a service call in which a'section of the machine is dismantled in order to free the rolls to permit removal of the paper.

In these machines, one of the rolls (the slave) is customarily biased by spring tension against the drive roll. Therefore, a need has arisen for a simple means to be incorporated on the machine as it is manufactured, or which can be attached to machines by the users thereof, which will enable theoperator to, move the biased roll away from its companion roll' in order to relieve the interengagement of the rolls and their gearing, and thus to free the paper for easy removal. It is the general object of this invention to provide such a means.

Therefore, among the several objects and advantages of the invention may be noted the provision of a simple jam release lever for copying machines, which may readily be incorporated on the machines; the provision of a release lever of the aforesaid class which is simple and economical to make by punching and bending operations; the provision of a release lever which incorporates means to prevent the lever from being locked in place on the machine in such manner that parts of it will bear against rotating parts of the machine, thus causing undesired wear of these rotating parts while the machine is being used; and the provision of a jam release lever of any of the above kinds which can be left in place on the machine without harm to the machine. Other objects and advantages will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the elements and combinations of elements, features of construction, and arrangements of parts which will be exemplified in the structures hereinafter described, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims. I

In the accompanying drawings, in which the dimensions of certain details may have been exaggerated for purposes of clarity: I

FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a release lever of this invention mounted in place on a copy machine, the latter being shown only schematically, and with custom ary roll gearing removed;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation of a portion of the FIG. 1 combination, showing the release lever in place and illustrating details of mounting the lever in place;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of the release lever of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1, but showing interengaging gearing on the rolls of the machine as spread apart.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 4, there is shown schematically a side view of a copy machine 2 with a cover thereof removed in order to gain access to the ends of the feed rolls 4 and 6 thereof. The release lever of this invention is indicated generally by numeral 8, and is attached to side member 36 of the machine by means of the

mounting screws

10 and 12. Roll 4 is biased against roll 6 by a spring 7, and customarily each roll is provided with a gear, indicated by

numerals

40 and 42, which interengage.

Referring now to FIG. 3, in which is illustrated a view of the release lever, the latter comprises a plate 14 of sheet metal, the plate in this embodiment being of generally rectangular shape having a top edge 16, a bottom edge 18, side edge 20, and side edge 22. Projecting from the top edge is a finger extension 24, this being conveniently formed when the release lever 8 is punched from a sheet of metal in a conventional punching press. It will be noted that the finger 24 is located at or adjacent the side edge 20, and its plane is preferably in the plane of the body 14. For adaptation to certain machines, finger 24 may need to be offset from the plane of the plate 14 in order to have the finger bear properly at its intended location as will be described below.

Near the other side edge 22 is positioned a finger piece 26 which projects outwardly from the plane of the plate 14. In this instance, the finger piece is formed by providing an extension of the top edge 16 (preferably during the punching operation which makes extension 24), and then bending the top portion of this extension at an angle to the plate in order to provide the flange 28 which may conveniently be grasped by the user of the lever. Flange 28 may be formed of conventional practices in a separate bending operation, or by using a suitable progressive die in a press so that the bending is performed sequentially after the punching.

Provided in the body of the plate 14 is an aperture 30, this aperture being located remotely from the finger 24 and generally in that end portion of the plate from which the finger extends. In the particular embodiments, aperture 30 is located near both the bottom edge 18 and the side edge 20. Another aperture 32 is provided, in this instance, a slot positioned generally in that end portion of the plate from which the finger piece 26 is formed, and in the particular embodiment is located at or adjacent the 3 I v side edge22 and the bottomedge 18. These apertures are also punched when the finger and finger piece are blanked out.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown an end view, in section, of the plate 14 and a portion of the side member 36 of the machine, taken in the direction of sight lines 2-2 on FIG/l. It will be seen that a pair oftubular eyelets 34 are provided, one each being fastened in the aperture 30 and slot 32 by upsetting the ends of the eyelet. The fastening is such that the upset ends of the eyelets are relieved from the surfaces of the plate (as shown), so that the eyelets are movable in their respective aperture and the slot, one being rotatable and the other being slidable. The eyelets are dimensioned so that they will receive the mounting screws and 12 therethrough with preferably, but not necessarily, a snug fit. It is to be noted that when the plate 14 is fastened to the side member 36, the heads of the screws bear against the eyelets which in turn bear against the side member 36. Since the eyelets can move in their respective aperture and slot, the plate is thus free to be rotated about, the eyelet in aperture 30 as a pivot point, this rotation being permitted by the sliding of the other eyelet in slot 32.

Referring again to FIG. 1, it will be noted that the finger extension 24 is fitted between the rolls 4 and 6 of the machine. (In these machines, each roll is generally a cylindrical shaft on which is mounted a rubber sleeve with a portion of the shafts being exposed at each end. This provides a spacing between the ends of the shafts into which the finger extension 24 may be inserted.)

With the lever 2 thus inserted, it will be observed that by lifting upwardly on the finger piece 26-28, the finger extension 24 is caused to move to the right (as viewed in FIGS. 1 and.4) thus forcing the end 38 of roll 4 and the roll itself away from roll 6 and against its spring bias 7. Such motion will disengage the

gears

40 and 42 to permit the slave roll 4 to turn freely. With the rolls separated and roll 4 being relatively free to turn, any paper that is jammed therebetween may be readily removed without tearing. Having removed the paper, the finger piece 26-28 is released, thus allowing the bias of roll 4 to move the roll back against its companion roll 6. However, it is to be noticed that since the lever 2 is mounted slidably on eyelets 34, then when the finger piece 26-28 is released, the lever will drop back to its normal position in which the finger extension 24 does not bear against roll 4 with any force, thus eliminating deleterious wear of either the roll or the finger piece itself.

In view of the above it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

As many changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the ace ompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense, and it is also intended that the appended claims shall cover all such equivalent variations as come within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

Having thus describedthe invention, what is claimed is:

1. A release lever. for" separating one rotary member from another rotary member comprising a plate of sheet metal, a finger, extending from an edge thereof in the plane of the plate and adjacent one end thereof; a finger piece projecting from the plate at an angle to the plane thereof; and the plate being provided with a pair of apertures therethrough, one of the apertures being circular and positioned remotely from said finger but adjacent said one. end, and the other aperture being a slot positioned remotely. from said finger but in the plate portion from which said finger piece projects.

2. The lever of claim 1 in which said plate is approximately rectangular in shape and having side, top and bottom edges, said finger projecting from one of the top edges near one side of the plate, said finger piece being an extension of the plate material itself projecting from said top edge near the other side edge of the plate, said one aperture being located nearboth said one side edge and the bottom edge of the plate, and said slot being located near both said other side edge and said the bottom edge of the plate, the length of the slot being approximately parallel to said other side edge.

3. The lever of claim 1 including an eyelet having spaced flanges thereon and being movably fastened in each of said apertures, with the flanges of the eyelets slidably enclosing the plate therebetween, the eyelets being adapted to receive mounting screws therethrough whereby, when said plate is fastened to a fixture by means of said screws, the plate is adapted to be swung about the screw in the circular aperture as a pivot point, the eyelet in the slot riding therein as the plate is swung, and said finger being adapted to be fitted between the rotary memers.

4. The lever of claim 2 including an eyelet having spaced flanges thereon and being movably fastened in each of said apertures, with the flanges of the eyelets slidably enclosing the plate therebetween, the eyelets being adapted to receive mounting screws therethrough whereby, when said plate is fastened to a fixture by means of said screws, .the plate is adapted to be swung about the screw in the circular aperture as a pivot point, the eyelet in the slot riding therein as the plate is swung, and said finger being adapted to be fitted between the rotary memers. I

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 670,416 3/1901 Cronk 74-523 1,672,220 6/1928 Hughes 74-523 2,886,095 5/1959 Heyl 308--3.6

OTHER REFERENCES Gehrung: Hollow Point Bearing, August 1965,, RCA, Technical Notes, RCA TN 639, 308-2, Scientific Library.

FRED C. MATIERN, 1a., Primary Examiner.

W. S. RATLIFF, Assistant Examiner.