Did You Know...
...that in the early 1940s GE engineer James Wright was charged with a task of utmost importance to the war effort: develop a cheap substitute for rubber that could be used to produce tires, gas masks and a whole host of military gear. Wright tackled the task diligently -- and wound up inventing Silly Putty.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7823876 | Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus including sheet feeding device with rear end detection portion A sheet feeding device includes a sheet accommodating portion for accommodating a sheet stack. A sheet carrying plate carries the sheet stack and has an upstream end supported in the sheet accommodating portion for rotation. A pickup roller contacts an upper face of... | 11/02/2010 |
| 7441767 | Sheet feeder with stacking member lifted by planetary gear system To reduce the number of components and further to provide a downsized sheet feeder, a shaft is arranged to a lower side of a sheet receiver stacking sheets, and gears are respectively attached to each opposite end of the shaft to mesh with rack portions. The gears m... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7267337 | Sheet curl correction method and feeder apparatus A pneumatic sheet feeder is selectively actuable to acquire a sheet from a stack and transport the sheet towards a take-away nip. The feeder includes a feedhead having an acquisition surface substantially aligned with the take-away nip. A sensing apparatus detects t... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7264238 | Feed paper apparatus A paper feed has a door and a paper carrying tray, and raises the tray as paper is fed. A first detector that detects the presence of paper is located below a paper feed position by a margin corresponding to a given number of paper sheets, and second detector that d... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7197273 | Sheet feeding apparatus, image reading apparatus, and image forming apparatus In a sheet feeding apparatus, a contact-type sensor for detecting sheet-like documents stored in document tray is separated into upper document detector and a lower document detector arranged at upper and lower sides of the document tray, respectively. The sheet-lik... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7140605 | Sheet feeding apparatus and image forming apparatus equipped with this sheet feeding apparatus It is one objective of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding apparatus that can steadily separate and feed individual sheets without causing an image detect, such as a transfer failure. The sheet feeding apparatus, for employing a sheet feeding portion to... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7073786 | Feed paper apparatus A paper feed has a door and a paper carrying tray, and raises the tray as paper is fed. A first detector that detects the presence of paper is located below a paper feed position by a margin corresponding to a given number of paper sheets, and second detector that d... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7066462 | Method of and apparatus for stacking sheets of paper and the like A stream of successive sheets of paper, foil or the like is converted into a series of piles at a stacking station where successive sheets are caused to descend onto a pallet which is adjacent a monitoring device serving to transmit signals denoting the levels of su... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7062213 | Sheet feeder, image reading apparatus, and image forming apparatus In accordance with the state of a document tray upon powering on a power source, the elevation operation of a document tray is controlled. In the case that the document tray is located not at the highest position, not at the lowest position, but at a middle position... | 06/13/2006 |
| 7048273 | System and method for monitoring grouped resources System and method for monitoring grouped resources. A system and method of monitoring resource units in a stack is provided. The system and method includes providing a group of resource units and determining a thickness of one or more of the resource units. The syst... | 05/23/2006 |
| 6994341 | Sheet feeding device and image forming apparatus equipped with the same A sheet feeding device in which sheets contained in a sheet container detachably attached to an apparatus main body are fed by a sheet feeder, including a sheet support member provided in the sheet container to vertically move while supporting the sheets, a lifter f... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6908082 | Method and system for providing sheet stack level control A system and method for providing the ability to more effectively control a paper stack in a reproduction apparatus. The level control behavior of the paper stack is characterized, and accordingly, additional lift commands are signaled when the behavior indicates th... | 06/21/2005 |
| 6896255 | Sheet extracting device with a cassette for receiving a stack of sheets The invention relates to a cassette for receiving a stack of sheets, with a pressing element which bears against a first end face of the stack of sheets and is movable in the pressing direction, with a drive motor for displacing the pressing element so that a second... | 05/24/2005 |
| 6874780 | Device for controlling the means delivering sheets to a machine A device for controlling delivery of sheets from a stack includes a lift for a stack of sheets. A sheet inserter removes sheets from the top of the stack to move them. A detector detects the front top level of the stack and measures the extent of variations in the l... | 04/05/2005 |
| 6824133 | Stack monitoring method and system Disclosed herein is a stack monitoring system for an imaging apparatus for monitoring media reserves. ... | 11/30/2004 |
| 6612565 | Presentation control for flat article singulation mechanism and sensors suitable for use therewith An apparatus and method are provided for controlling the presentation of articles to the singulation head of a system for singulating a stack of edge-mounted articles, for example mixed mail, which mechanism senses the instantaneous pressure at which the ... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6505832 | Variable acceleration take-away roll (TAR) for high capacity feeder A variable acceleration TAR. The properties and dimensions of the sheets in a stack are entered by a user or determined automatically. Since it is known from either customer provided input or automatic sensing what sheet length and resulting pitch size ar... | 01/14/2003 |
| 6460846 | Reproduction machine having a safe tiltable paper tray A safe tiltable sheet feeding apparatus including a tiltable sheet support tray having a lead edge and a trail edge, for supporting a stack of sheets to be fed lead edge first from the stack. The tiltable sheet feeding apparatus also includes a feed head ... | 10/08/2002 |
| 6349936 | Device for measuring the height of a sheet pile by using a reflectively operating radiation detector A device for measuring the height of a sheet pile by using a reflectively operating radiation detector, a sheet separating device and a device for conveying separated sheets to a printing machine being assigned to the pile, comprising a system for measuri... | 02/26/2002 |
| 6293539 | Rotating or pivoting apparatus and medium feeding apparatus A medium feeding apparatus comprises a driving motor for moving a backup plate to press a medium against a pickup roller, piezoelectric elements for sensing slippage between the pickup roller and the medium which occurs while the roller rotates, and a con... | 09/25/2001 |
| 6290225 | Systems and methods for dynamically setting stack height and sheet acquisition time A sheet feeder feeds sheets separated from a stack to a feed head which is translatable toward take away nip rolls. The sheets are separated from the stack by fluffers and acquired by an acquisition surface of the feed head which is in communication with ... | 09/18/2001 |
| 6270070 | Apparatus and method for detecting and correcting high stack forces The present invention is directed, in a general aspect, to a nudger for a mixed mail feeder and in particular to an apparatus and method for detecting high stack forces in a stack of mixed mail. The apparatus generally comprises an anti-lean sensor for de... | 08/07/2001 |
| 6260841 | Automatic document feeder hopper flag force control A document feeder includes a nudger located at a first side of a document stack. The nudger applies a nudger force to the first side of the document stack. An adjustable hopper positions the document stack next to the nudger. The adjustable hopper has a h... | 07/17/2001 |
| 6182962 | Device and process for separating a sheet article from a stack In an apparatus for separating sheet material from a stack, the latter rests on a movable pressure plate, by adapted to feed the stack to a withdrawal device. The pressure under which the stack is urged against the withdrawal device is dependent upon the ... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6123330 | Method of feeding flat mail for separation by suction of material input The invention relates to a method for the steady feeding of flat items for separation by suction of material input into a distribution unit by using a feeding device, preferably comprising a separating blade and a conveyor belt underneath it. In accordanc... | 09/26/2000 |
| 6102248 | Card type structures A dispensing apparatus module for a vending machine is provided that enables stacked articles to be lifted off of the stack and translated from a loading station to a discharge station. An elevator apparatus is provided for progressively moving articles t... | 08/15/2000 |
| 6102389 | Sheet feeding device A sheet feeding device is provided with a sheet feeding unit for feeding sheets supported on a sheet support means, and sheet separator means provided downstream of the sheet feeding unit with respect to the sheet feeding direction, the sheets fed by the ... | 08/15/2000 |
| 6036186 | Feeding device for printed products A feeding device for printed products including a conveyor for conveying the printed products on a front conveying section in the form of a stack and on a rear conveying section in the form of a bar and in the form of a loosened zone between the stack and... | 03/14/2000 |
| 5971391 | Nudger for a mail handling system A nudger including apparatus for applying a feed force to a lead mailpiece of the stack of mixed mail to feed the lead mailpiece of the stack along a mailpiece feed path, the applying apparatus being moveable between first and second positions; structure ... | 10/26/1999 |
| 5954327 | Paper-feeding apparatus Paper sheets are fed through a printing machine by a compact apparatus including a feeding mechanism having a paper-fetching gear set, a toothed bar meshed with the gear set, a motor driving the feeding mechanism, a paper tray, a support shaft axially cou... | 09/21/1999 |
| 5934666 | In-feed magazine apparatus and method for loading documents An in-feed magazine apparatus for loading documents includes a magazine feed ramp having one or more document conveyor belts disposed along a bottom surface, the belts being arranged to engage the bottom boundary of the documents. The conveyor belts are c... | 08/10/1999 |
| 5908188 | Apparatus for feeding original document with improved speed and reliability In an apparatus for feeding an original document, the time which is needed until the first original document is transported onto a transportation path after storing original documents is shortened. The original documents stacked on an original document su... | 06/01/1999 |
| 5899448 | Sheet feeding apparatus and method Sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet feed device which operates to feed sheets towards or away from a sheet store. The sheet feed device has at least one resilient portion which flexes against its resilience relative to the remainder of the sheet feed... | 05/04/1999 |
| 5893555 | Sheet feeding apparatus A sheet feeding apparatus includes: a sheet feeding table on which sheets are stacked, the sheet feeding table being vertically movable; a sheet feeding roller mechanism provided in a vertical movement path of the sheet feeding table, the sheet feeding ro... | 04/13/1999 |
| 5882005 | Large capacity paper feeder for an image forming apparatus In an image forming apparatus, a large capacity paper feeder has a single pick-up roller capable of selectively feeding papers from an LCT (Large Capacity Table) or from a cassette removably mounted to the apparatus. The paper feeder, therefore, does not ... | 03/16/1999 |
| 5732307 | Imaging apparatus having an imaging operation controlled in coordination with a sheet storage operation An image forming apparatus has an imaging portion; a sheet storage portion including a sheet support member on which a stack of copy sheets are placed, the sheet support member being movable between a sheet replenishing position where copy sheets are repl... | 03/24/1998 |
| 5716046 | Apparatus for feeding original document with improved speed and reliability In an apparatus for feeding an original document, the time which is needed until the first original document is transported onto a transportation path after storing original documents is shortened. The original documents stacked on an original document su... | 02/10/1998 |
| 5653434 | Stack height control remote from feedhead A stack height control assembly that is remote from the feedhead. A floating coupler and sensor flag arrangement is mounted so that it is engaged with a paper supply drawer as the drawer is moved into an operative position. The feedhead acts as the stack ... | 08/05/1997 |
| 5556252 | Stack lifting apparatus and method A method and apparatus for feeding sheets from a top of a sheet stack supported on a stack lifting table to a sheet processing machine. The stack lifting table supporting the sheet stack is raised by a motor until the top of the sheet stack has reached a ... | 09/17/1996 |
| 5518230 | Stack height sensing machanism An active stack height sensing mechanism that operates through a cam off a disc stacker which performs one cycle per sheet stacked. After a sheet is stacked, a stack height clamp contacts the stack and stops. If the stack height is too low or within a pre... | 05/21/1996 |
