US3590148A

US3590148A - Variable ratio scanning means for a facsimile system

Info

Publication number: US3590148A
Application number: US767164A
Authority: US
Inventors: Heinz Taudt; Ewald Lifferth
Original assignee: HELL RUDOLF DR ING KG
Current assignee: DR ING RUDOLF HELL KG; HELL RUDOLF DR ING KG
Priority date: 1967-10-18
Filing date: 1968-10-14
Publication date: 1971-06-29
Anticipated expiration: 1988-06-29
Also published as: GB1247036A

Abstract

Apparatus for changing the scale of reproduction in an engraving machine employs a curved frame for holding the object to be reproduced and means for reciprocating the object before a photoscanner traveling relative to the object at a rate equal to the rate of travel of a recording head across a recording medium which is receiving a reproduction of the object.

Description

f f, United States aient Inventors Heinz Taudt Kiel; Ewald Liiferth, Kiel-Kronshagen, both of, Germany Appl. No. 767,164 Filed Oct. 14, 1968 Patented June 29, 1971 Assignee Dr. lug Rudolf Hell Kommanditgesellschaft Priority Oct. 18, 1967 Germany VARIABLE RATIO SCANNING MEANS FOR A FACSIMILE SYSTEM 7 Claims, 1 Drawing Fig.

US. Cl A. 178/6, 178/66, 178/67, 178/76 Int. Cl H04n 1/24 501 Field of Search 178/66, 6.6 A, 6.6 B, 6.7, 7.6

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,109,888 11/1963 Moe .r 178/6.7 3,382,318 5/1968 Levine 178/6.7

Primary Examiner-J. Russell Goudeau Altorneyl-lil1, Sherman, Meroni, Gross, and Simpson ABSTRACT: Apparatus for changing the scale of reproduction in an engraving machine employs a curved frame for holding the object to be reproduced and means for reciprocating the object before a photoscanner traveling relative to the object at a rate equal to the rate of travel of a recording head across a recording medium which is receiving a reproduction ofthe object.

VARIABLE RATIO SCANNING MEANS FOR A FACSIMILE SYSTEM BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to reproduction apparatus, and in particular to apparatus for providing a plurality of reproduction scales for drum to drum-type engraving machines.

2. Description of the Prior Art Engraving machines and color scanners of the drum type are much simpler in construction and are therefore correspondingly less expensive than flatbed machines, but as is well known, drum-type machines have the disadvantage that it is only possible to change the scale of reproduction by exchanging the picture drum or the reproduction drum for a drum of another diameter. The scale of reproduction can therefore only be varied in a finite number of steps, and consequently, a corresponding number of drums of different diameters must be kept available. Furthermore, in addition to the provision of various sizes of drums, a true-to-scale gear increase or decrease of the advance of scanning and recording members must also be provided.

In engraving machines or color scanners wherein at least the scanning movement is a reciprocal movement (e.g. machines of the mixed flatbed type) the scale of reproduction may be varied continuously and much more easily than in the aforementioned drum to drum-type machines in that reciprocal movements may be transmitted through the aid and expediency of levers and the scale of transmission may be continuously altered by altering the leverage ratio, that is by shifting the pivot point ofa lever.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the above scale-changing problems for drum to drum-type machines by providing for such machines apparatus which employs the advantages of levers in changing the scale of reproduction to provide combination table-drum reproduction apparatus.

According to the invention, reproduction apparatus comprising a carriage including a baseplate which is rigidly connected to the scanning head of the engraving machine and a slide on which is mounted an auxiliary shaft parallel to the drum shaft and which is shiftable with respect to the carriage but immovable with respect to the bench or frame of the machine. The auxiliary shaft extends at least over the range of advance movement of the scanning head and means are connected between the drum shaft and the auxiliary shaft for transmitting movement therebetween. The last-mentioned means derives an altering rotation for the auxiliary shaft from the unidirectional rotation of the drum shaft. The auxiliary shaft carries a picture frame which is arranged to be movable on the auxiliary shaft, but which is fixed with respect to the slide of the carriage and a coulisse is arranged to be coupled to the scanning head and supported on a fixed guide rail and against the carriage slide in such a manner as to cause the carriage slide to move in the direction of advance movement of the scanning head and at a slower rate than the advancement of the scanning head.

Advantageously, a rotary cam arrangement is coupled between the drum shaft and the auxiliary shaft including a longitudinally movable rod for following a cam disc coupled to the drum shaft and engaging one arm of the two-armed lever mounted on a fixed pivot point, the other arm of said lever being articulated via a second longitudinally movable rod to a circular disc segment secured to the auxiliary shaft, the leverage ratio being variable by shifting the position of the pivot point along the lever.

In the particular embodiment of the invention illustrated herein, the coulisse includes a follower rail which is secured to the slide of the carriage and a rod for bearing against said follower, and means for movably mounting the rod to the scanning head in such a manner that the rod is movable at approximately right angles to the direction of advancement of the scanning head. A fixed guide rail for supporting the other end of the rod is mounted at an adjustable angle, the angle being acute with respect to the direction of advancement of the scanning head.

The pivot point of the two-armed lever may be shifted to alter the scale of reproduction of the picture height, while the scale of the picture width may be altered by adjusting the angle of the fixed guide rail.

The apparatus according to the present invention may be attached to a drum type machine and disassembled from the machine in a comparatively short time and with simple means, and in particular without special tools. The advantages of the apparatus according to the invention will immediately be apparent in that the invention saves the purchase of the much more expensive table-drum machine, or at least the purchase of an assortment of different drums to enable a drum machine to be usable for a number of different reproduction scales.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The invention, its organization and construction will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the single drawing which illustrates a particular embodiment thereof by a pictorial and schematic representation of apparatus for converting a drum type machine into a table-drum machine.

In the drawing, a drum shaft 1 is shown partly broken away. A recording drum 30 is schematically shown as being carried for rotation on shaft 1, it will be understood that means for driving the shaft are arranged on a part of the shaft which is not represented, but which is symbolized by the curved arrows of rotation 36. Also, only a portion of the frame or frame supplement 35 is shown for clarity.

A photoelectric scanning head 2 is mounted for movement as is usually practiced, substantially transverse of the drawing. A scanning light beam emerges from a tube 4 and falls on an objective sensor 3 of the scanning head 2. The tube 4 is attached to another tube 5 in which the scanning light beam is guided and reflected along the axis thereof from a source, referenced by jagged arrow 34. The movement of the tube 5 conforms exactly to the advance movement of the scanning head 2.

A carriage comprising a baseplate 6 which is secured to the scanning head 2, and a slide 7 which is shiftable with respect to the baseplate 6 in the direction parallel to the direction of the advance of scanning head 2. Mounted on the slide 7 are two trunnions 8, 9 in which an auxiliary shaft 10 is rotatably mounted parallel to the drum shaft 1 and which is axially shiftable with respect to the slide 7. The shaft 10, however, is prevented from moving axially with respect to the base 6 by a thrust bearing (not shown). An arm 11 is secured to the auxiliary shaft 10 by means of a slot and key so as to be axially movable, but nonrotatable on the shaft 10. The arm II is, moreover, trapped between the trunnions 8, 9 so that it is prevented from moving in a direction parallel to the slide 7. A curved picture support or frame 12 is carried by the arm lit for concentric reciprocation about axis of the auxiliary shaft 10. Picture support l2 has a picture gate 13 formed therein.

The arm 11 enables a transparency attached to the picture gate 13 to be reciprocated up and down across the optical axis between the objective sensor 3 and the tube 4, whereby the transparency is vertically scanned. The alternating rotation of the auxiliary shaft necessary for this purpose is derived from the unidirectional rotation of the drum shaft 1. After the normal scanning drum has been removed in a drum-type machine, a cam disc 14 is mounted on the drum shaft 1 for causing a longitudinal reciprocating movement of rod 15. The movement of rod 15 is transmitted, by means of a two-armed lever 16, to a further rod 17 which is articulated to a circular disc segment 18 mounted on the auxiliary shaft 10. In order to render the articulation free from slipping and slackening, a tie embracing the segment 18 and connected to the rod 17 may be provided for each direction of movement of the rod in a known manner. The segment 18 and the rod 17 could also be provided by a segment-rack gear arrangement.

Since the rods and 17 are longitudinally movable, it is necessary to have a length compensation on the lever 16. This is effected by providing a slot 32 at one end joint and a slot 33 in a region about the point of rotation. Slot 33 is also necessary in order for the fixed pivot bearing 19 to be made adjustable for altering the leverage ratio of lever 16.

A coulisse or camming structure 20 is attached to the lower surface of the slide 7. A rod 21, which is slidable along the coulisse 20 by means of a roller 22 is provided to move the slide 7. The rod 21 is movable longitudinally in

bearings

23, 24 secured to the scanning head 2 (i.e. at right angles to the direction of advance of the scanning head 2). Spring 26 biases the slide 7 so that coulisse 20 is urged against roller 22 of rod 21. With such a coulisse arrangement, as the scanning head 2 is advanced, roller 27 which is attached to rod 21 rides the angularly fixed rod 28, and rod 21 moves at right angles through the path of advancement of the sensor head 2. The rod 21 in turn has its roller 22 riding against the coulisse 20, therefore, the slide 7 moves in the direction of advancement of the scanning head 2. The tensioned spring 26 which is connected between the slide 7 and an angle member secured to the baseplate 6 maintains the slide 7 by way of its coulisse arm 20 to always respond to movements of rod 21. The picture original is therefore scanned horizontally due to the relative movement of slide 7 and scanning head 2.

As mentioned above, the other end of the rod 21 carries a roller 27 which rests on a guide rail 28. This guide rail is assumed to be fixed, but adjustable, at an acute angle with respect to the direction of advance of the scanning head 2. Pivot bearing 29 illustrates the capability of changing the acute angle.

In operation, the drum shaft 1 together with the recording drum 30 is rotated in a unidirectional and uniform manner and a similar movement is imparted to the scanning head 2 and the recording head, symbolized by schematic connection 31. The auxiliary shaft 10 is then rotated alternatively in one direction and then in the other direction due to the shape of cam disc 14 so that the arm 11 moves the picture support 12 up and down between the light beam from tube 4 and the objective sensor 3 of the scanning head 2.

The scale of reproduction for the scanning direction, that is to say the ratio between scanning speed and peripheral speed of the recording drum 30 is determined by the leverage ratio of the two-armed lever 16 and the adjustment ofits pivot point at bearing 19. For a transmission scale of l:l the advance of the scanning head is the same as the advance of the recording head. The selection of another scale is carried out by a suitable adjustment of the acute angle formed between the guide rail 28 and the direction of advancement of the scanning head 2. When the scanning head 2 moves in the direction of advancement, a longitudinal movement is imparted to the rod 21 sliding along the inclined guide rail 28. The sliding of the roller 22 along the coulisse arm 20 effects a relative movement of the slide 7 with respect to the baseplate 6, the arrangement being such that the movement of the slide 7 is in the same direction and at a different speed with respect to that of the baseplate 6. The advance of the scanning head 2 with respect to the picture support 12 is therefore the same as this relative movement or the same as the difference between the two movements with respect to the machine bench.

Although the invention has been described herein by reference to a specific illustrative embodiment, many changes and modifications of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art and should be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for attachment to an engraving machine or color scanner having a frame and a scanning head and normally employing a pair of rotatable drums for supporting the picture original to be scanned and the recording medium respectively, both drums being driven by a common drum shaft, whereby said machine is convertible into a machine of the table-drum type to allow for reciprocal scanning movement, said apparatus comprising:

a carriage including a baseplate connected to said scanning head,

a slide carried on said baseplate, and an auxiliary shaft mounted on said slide for rotational motion and axial motion with respect to said slide,

means connected between said drum shaft and said auxiliary shaft for translating rotation motion of said drum shaft into alternating rotational motion for said auxiliary shaft, means carried by said auxiliary shaft for holding a picture original, and

means connected to said frame and coupled to said scanning head and said slide for causing said slide to move in the direction of advance movement of, and at a different speed than, said scanning head.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said means for transmitting motion between said drum shaft and said auxiliary shaft comprises a cam mounted on said drum shaft for rotation therewith, a longitudinally movable cam follower for riding on said cam, a lever having a fixed pivot point and two lever arms, one of said lever arms being coupled to said cam follower, a longitudinally movable rod connected to said auxiliary shaft and coupled to said longitudinally movable rod for imparting movements of said rod to said auxiliary shaft.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said fixed pivot point of said two-armed lever is adjustable to vary the leverage ratio thereof for varying the ratio of scanning speed to recording speed.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for moving said slide comprises a first guide rail secured to said frame at an acute angle with respect to the path of travel of said scanning head, a second guide rail carried by said slide and disposed at an angle to the path of travel of said slide, and a rod movably mounted on said scanning head for movement in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the path of travel of said scanning head and in contact with said first and second guide rails.

55. Apparatus according to claim 4, comprising biasing means for urging said second guide rail against said rod.

6. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said second guide rail is adjustable to various acute angles with respect to the direction of travel of said scanning head for varying the relative speed between said scanning head and the slide-carried object to be scanned.

7. Scanning apparatus comprising means for holding an object to be scanned, a shaft mounted for rotation, a drum carried by said shaft, a recording medium carried on said drum for recording the information content of said object, means for rotating said shaft, scanning means, means mounting said scanning means for movement along a predetermined path, means for moving said scanning means relative to said object including guide means angularly positionable with respect to the direction of travel of said scanning means, means mounted on said scanning means for movement perpendicular to the path of travel of said scanning means and bearing on said guide means, means carrying said holding means mounted for movement parallel to the path of travel of said scanning means including a camming member secured thereto and means urging said camming means against said perpendicularly movable means, the angle of said guide means with respect to said path of travel of said scanning means determining the relative movement of said scanning means with respect to said object.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION 3,590,148 Dated June 29, 1971 Patent No.

In ento It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 29, read "longitudinally movable rod connected to said auxiliary shaft" as longitudinally movable rod connected to the other of said lever arms, a circular disk segment connected to said auxiliary shaft Signed and sealed this L th day of January 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD PLFLETOHEmJR. ROBERT GOTTSGHALK Acting Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer FORM PO 1OS0 [10-69) USCOMNPDC 503764359 9 u 5 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE was O366-334

Claims

1. Apparatus for attachment to an engraving machine or color scanner having a frame and a scanning head and normally employing a pair of rotatable drums for supporting the picture original to be scanned and the recording medium respectively, both drums being driven by a common drum shaft, whereby said machine is convertible into a machine of the table-drum type to allow for reciprocal scanning movement, said apparatus comprising: a carriage including a baseplate connected to said scanning head, a slide carried on said baseplate, and an auxiliary shaft mounted on said slide for rotational motion and axial motion with respect to said slide, means connected between said drum shaft and said auxiliary shaft for translating rotation motion of said drum shaft into alternating rotational motion for said auxiliary shaft, means carried by said auxiliary shaft for holding a picture original, and means connected to said frame and coupled to said scanning head and said slide for causing said slide to move in the direction of advance movement of, and at a different speed than, said scanning head.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, comprising biasing means for urging said second guide rail against said rod.