US3809476A

US3809476A - Two-stage copier

Info

Publication number: US3809476A
Application number: US00282837A
Authority: US
Inventors: S Fader
Original assignee: ROBIN INT Inc
Current assignee: ROBIN INT Inc
Priority date: 1972-08-22
Filing date: 1972-08-22
Publication date: 1974-05-07
Anticipated expiration: 1991-05-07

Abstract

A two-stage copier has a housing in which there are located side-by-side exposure station and a heating station. The exposure station has a light source and a flat light-transmissive panel over the light source, with a cover member being hinged on the housing so that it can be pivoted onto the exposure station. The heating station has a heating member an upper surface of which is convex from the rear towards the front of the housing, and a frame element which is hinged in the region of the rear of the housing and which can be pushed down towards the convex surface. A relatively stiff web of synthetic plastic mesh is mounted on the frame element.

Description

[451 May 7,1974

[ TWO-STAGE COPIER [75] Inventor: Seymour Fader, Paramus, NJ.

[73] Assignee: Robin International, Inc., New

York, NY.

[22] Filed: Aug. 22, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 282,837

[52] US. Cl....'. 355/113, 355/115, 355/118 [51] Int. Cl. G03b 27/04 [58] Field of Search 355/97, 99, 100, 104, 106,

1,084,032 9/1967 Great Britain 355/113 Primary Examiner-Richarcl M. Sheer Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Michael S. Striker [5 7] ABSTRACT A two-stage copier has a housing in which there are located side-by-side exposure station and a heating station. The exposure station has a light source and a flat light-transmissive panel over the light source, with a cover member being hinged on the housing so that it can be pivoted onto the exposure station. The heating station has a heating member an upper surface of which is convex from the rear towards the front of the housing, and a frame element which is hinged in the region of the rear of the housing and which can be pushed down towards the convex surface. A relatively stiff web of synthetic plastic mesh is mounted on the frame element.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDm (1914 saw a nr 2 TWO-STAGE COPIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a copier and, more particularly, to a copying apparatus. Still more particularly, the invention relates toa two-stage copying apparatus.

There is known in the art the so-called dual-spectrum copying process, and apparatus for carrying this out.

' This involves the exposure of material to be copied through a light-sensitive intermediate sheet, whereupon the exposed intermediate sheet is placed in contact with a copy sheet and the two are subjected to heating. An apparatus of this type is disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,428,400 to which reference may be had for the general concept involved.

The problem with the prior art is, however, that the apparatus heretofore known does not permit entirely convenient operation nor does it permit ready copying of pages from books or other bound material, without distortion of the printed material due to binding pull and page curvature. It is, therefore, desirable to provide further improvements in the field.

SUMMARY OF THE'INVENTION Accordingly, it is a general object of the invention to provide such improvements.-

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved two-stage copier of the type here under discussion which affords the aforementioned improvements.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an improved two-stage copier which is simple in its construction and use, and highly reliable in its operation.

An additional object of the invention is to provide such a copier which is particularly suited for making copies from books and other bound materials without distortion of the copied material due to binding pull or page curvature.

In pursuance of these objects, and of others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention resides, in a two-stage copier, in a combination which, briefly stated, comprises a housing having a rear side and a front side, and an exposure station in the housing. The exposure station includes a light source, a flat light-transmissive panel over the light source, and a cover member hinged adjacent the rear'side of the housing for pivoting movement to and from a first position overlying the panel. There is further provided a heating station in the housing laterally adjacent the exposure station and including a heating member having an upper surface which is convex in direction from the front side towards the rear side. A frame element is hinged in the region of the rear side and movable to and from a second position surrounding a second member, and a web of taut but yieldable sheet material is mounted in the frame element so as to overlie and exert pressure upon an object on the upper surface when the frame element is in its second position.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation,

together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top-perspective view illustrating a copier according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF. THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail, it will be seen that in FIGS. 1 and2 I have illustrated one embodiment of a copier according to my invention. The copier is designated in toto with reference numeral 1. It has a housing 2 whose configuration need not be that which has been illustrated. The housing 2 has two operating stations provided in it, namely an exposure station and a heating station. As the drawing shows, the exposure station comprises a planar plate 3, preferably of synthetic plastic material. The plate 3 is light-transmissive, and mounted in the housing, underneath the plate 3, is a light source, here illustrated as a light bulb 15. It will be appreciated, of course, that the light bulb I5 is representative of any suitable light source, including two or more light bulbs, which may be arranged as required in order to obtain proper transmission of light through the plate 3. Reference numeral 5 identifies a cover which is hinged to the rear side of the housing 2, so that it can be moved from the illustrated position to a position overlying and covering the plate 3. The inner side of the cover, which will face the plate 3 when the cover is in its closed position, is provided with a pressure pad here illustrated as a pad 6 of synthetic plastic foam material or other materials which are suitable. The purpose is to exert pressure upon copying material which is disposed on the plate 3 in order to prevent such material from changing its position inadvertently.

Laterally adjacent and separated from the exposure station is the heating station of the novel apparatus. As illustrated, the heating station comprises a curved plate or panel 4, with the curvature being such as to extend from the front toward the rear side of the housing 2. In other words, the upper surface of the plate 4 is convex. As FIG. 2 shows, the plate 4 in the illustrated embodiment utilizes two layers 13 of asbestosor a similar material with an electrically resisting material 14 being embedded and sandwiched between the layers 13. Other arrangements can also be utilized, and the type of sandwich-like plate 4 illustrated in the drawing is well known in the art and requires no further discussion.

The heating station is also provided with a cover 7 which is of course, movable between an open and a closed position. The cover 7 is preferably hinged on the rear side of the housing 2 by means of one or more separable hinges so that by separating the hinges, usually by sliding them apart, the cover 7 can be completely removed from the housing 2. This could also be done with the cover 5, but advantageously the cover 5 will normally be mounted with non-separable hinges.

The heating station further comprises a frame 8 so configurated that it can surround the plate 4 and also being hinged to the housing 2 at the rear side thereof. The frame 8 is movable between the illustrated upright position and a position in which it surrounds the plate 4, that is, in which it is pivoted forwardly and downwardly in FIG. 1. A web 9 of taut relatively stiff but still yieldable synthetic plastic material, advantageously a woven plastic fabric, is mounted on or in the frame 8. The purpose is that when the frame 8 is moved to its position surrounding the plate 4, the fabric 9 will engage copying material on the upper surface of the plate 4 and hold it in position, pressing it against the plate 4. This is, of course, possible only if the size of the copying material is such as to permit such an operation.

Reference numeral 10 designates an on-off switch of known construction which initiates or terminates the supply of electrical energy to the light bulb and the heating station. Reference numeral 11 is a timer of any known construction and by means of which the time for exposure of copy material on the plate 3 can be set. Reference numeral 12 designates an indicator light which indicates the readiness state of the heating station.,The electrical circuit and connections of the components just, mentioned do not form a part of the invention and are not described in detail. Reference may be had, however, to the aforementioned U.S. patent for details. The heat supplied by the plate 4 is thermostatically controlled in known manner but this also is not a part of the invention. The supply of power can be anywhere from between substantially 95 volts and 240 volts AC, and the apparatus is provided with a nonillustrated line cord for connection with the power supply.

in operationof the novel apparatus an intermediate, light-sensitive sheet is placed against that side of the original which is to be copied. Together, the original and the light sensitive sheet are then placed face down on the plate 3, whereupon the cover is closed and advantageously locked in position. Now the timer is set for the appropriate time and when it returns to zero, the cover is lifted to the'pos ition shown in FIG. 1 and the original and the light-sensitive sheet are removed. The light-sensitive sheet is then separated from the original and placed against a positive'or copy sheet with which it is then placed onto the plate 4. The frame 8 is then brought down so that the web 9 presses the sheets against the plate 4. When the desired image appears,

. the plastic web and the frame 8 are lifted and the sheets if books or other bound materials are used from which a useful application in other types of constructions'differing from the types described above.

While' the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a two-stage copier, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist, of the present invention that others can,

by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics of the generic or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected .by Letters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a two-stage copier, a combination comprising a housing having a rear side and a front side; an exposure station fixedly mounted in said housing and having a light source including a light bulb, a flat lighttransmissive panel over said light source, and a first cover member hinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivoting movement to and from a position in which it overlies said panel in pressureexerting relationship; a heating station fixedly mounted in said housing laterally adjacent said exposure station and including a heating member having an upper surface which is convex in direction. from said front side towards said rear side, said heating member comprising an upper and a lower layer of asbestos and a heating layer sandwichedbetween said upper'and lower layers, said heating station further including a frame hinged at one end adjacent said rear side, said frame being movable to and from a position wherein the frame surrounds and extends below the upper surface of said heating member, and a web of yieldable material tautly mounted on said frame so as to overlie and exert pressure upon an object on said upper surface when said frame is in said surrounding position; and a second cover member hinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivoting movement to and from a position overlying said upper surface, said second cover member having a side which faces said upper surface and is upwardly spaced therefrom and from said web when said second cover member is in said overlying position and said frame is in said surrounding positron.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1 wherein said panel is of synthetic plastic material.

3. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said web is a synthetic plastic textile material.

4. A combination as defined in claim 1; further comprising a disengageable hinge releasably hinging said second cover member to said housing adjacent said rear side thereof.

5. A combination as defined in claim 1; and further comprising a pressure pad at a side of said first cover member which is juxtaposed with said panel when said first cover member is in said first position thereof.

6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said pressure pad is of resiliently compressible synthetic

Claims

1. In a two-stage copier, a combination comprising a housing having a rear side and a front side; an exposure station fixedly mounted in said housing and having a light source including a light bulb, a flat light-transmissive panel over said light source, and a first cover member hinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivoting movement to and from a position in which it overlies said panel in pressure-exerting relationship; a heating station fixedly mounted in said housing laterally adjacent said exposure station and including a heating member having an upper surface which is convex in direction from said front side towards said rear side, said heating member comprising an upper and a lower layer of asbestos and a heating layer sandwiched between said upper and lower layers, said heating station further including a frame hinged at one end adjacent said rear side, said frame being movable to and from a position wherein the frame surrounds and extends below the upper surface of said heating member, and a web of yieldable material tautly mounted on said frame so as to overlie and exert pressure upon an object on said upper surface when said frame is in said surrounding position; and a second cover member hinged at one end to said housing adjacent said rear side for pivoting movement to and from a position overlying said upper surface, said second cover member having a side which faces said upper surface and is upwardly spaced therefrom and from said web when said second cover member is in said overlying position and said frame is in said surrounding position.

2. A combination as defined in claim 1, wherein said panel is of synthetic plastic material.

6. A combination as defined in claim 5, wherein said pressure pad is of resiliently compressible synthetic plastic foam material.

7. A combination as defined in claim 1; further comprising timer means operatively associated with said light source, and switch means for energizing and de-energizing said light source.

8. A combination as defined in claim 7; and further comprising indicating means for indicating the temperature status of said heating member.