Title of Invention

METHOD OF SEPARATING A SHEET OF PRINT MEDIA FROM A STACK OF SHEETS

Abstract The present invention relates to a method of separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets, the sheets being porous and the method comprising the steps of: blowing fluid on to a top surface of a topmost sheet of the print media on the stack so that the fluid passes through at least the topmost sheet of the stack so as to separate at least a part of the topmost sheet from the stack; and capturing at least said part of the topmost sheet for conveyance to a printing station of a printer.
Full Text Method of Separating a Sheet of Print Media from
a Stack of Sheets
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a high speed, photographic quality printer. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets, the sheets being porous.
Background to the Invention
The applicant has developed various printheads which provide high speed, photographic quality printing. The printheads comprise ink jet nozzles arranged in an array. The ink jet nozzles are formed using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The use of MEMS technology results in very high speed printing capabilities where pages can be printed at a rate of up to two pages per second (for double-sided printing).
To facilitate such high speed printing, it is important, firstly, that the paper fed to the printing station of the printer is accurately aligned and capable of the required feed rate with as little likelihood as possible of paper jams or the like, occurring. Secondly, the paper must be able to be fed to the printing station at a rate sufficient to use the high speed printing capabilities of the printing station to its fullest extent
Summary of the Invention
According to the invention, there is provided a method of separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets, the sheets being porous and the method including the steps of:
blowing fluid on to a top surface of a topmost sheet of the print media on the stack so that the fluid passes through at least the topmost sheet of the stack;-and
capturing at least a part of the topmost sheet for conveyance to a printing station of a printer.
The method may include blowing the fluid on to the top surface of the topmost sheet through an aperture means of a pick up means of a print media feed arrangement. The pick up means may be in the form of a pick up bar. The aperture means of the pick up bar may be in any of a number of different forms. For example, the aperture means may be in the

form of a channel extending longitudinally along the bar. Instead, the bar may support a plurality of longitudinally spaced, discrete orifices, the orifices defining the aperture means.
The method may include, initially, prior to capturing said at least part of the topmost sheet, lifting said at least part of the topmost sheet from the stack. The method may include causing said lifting of said at least a part of the topmost sheet by creating a low pressure region between a face of the pick up means and the top surface of the topmost sheet of print media.
Preferably, the method includes maintaining the pick up means in spaced relationship relative to the top surface of the topmost sheet of print media to cause said low pressure region.
The method may include capturing said at least part of the topmost sheet of print media by the pick up means, preferably by reversing a direction of fluid flow through the pick up means to cause a change from a blowing action to a suction action.-
The method may include conveying said topmost sheet of print media in a direction substantially normal to a direction of flow of fluid blown on to the stack.
Brief Description of the Drawings
The invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompan\ing drawings in which:
Figure 1 shows a pan of a printer including a print media feed arrangement operared in accordance with the method of the invention;
Figure 2 shows a three-dimensional view of an input region of the printer including part of the print media feed arrangement;
Figure 3 shows a three dimensional view, on an enlarged scale, of the part of the print media feed arrangement of Figure 2;
Figure 4 shows a schematic, sectional side view of an initial stage of operation of the print media feed arrangement;
Figure 5 shows a schematic, sectional side view of a second stage of operation of the print media feed arrangement;
Figure 6 shows a schematic, secdonaJ side view of a third stage of operation of the print media feed arrangement; and
Figure 7 shows a schematic, sectional side view of a fourth stage of operation of the print media feed arrangement.

Detailed Description of the Drawings
Referring initially to Figure 1 of the drawings, a part of a pnnter is illustrated and is designated generally by the reference numeral 10. The pnnter 10 is a high speed printer which prints both sides of print media at the rate of approximately one sheet per second or two pages per second (i.e. both sides of the sheet). The print media is, in this case, in the form of a stack of sheets. For ease of explanation, the invention will be described with reference to the print media being a stack of A4 sheets of paper and, more particularly, sheets of paper having a predetermined degree of porosity.
The printer 10 uses a pair of opposed page width printheads 12, arranged at a printing station 13, to print on both sides of sheets of paper fed through the printing station
13. Each printhead 12 is in the form of a niicroelectromechanical systems (MEMS) chip
having an array of Inkjet nozzles to achieve the high speed, photographic quality printing
desired.
The printing station 13 includes a set of primary rollers 14, comprising a drive roller 16 and a driven roller 18, arranged upstream of the printheads 12 to convey a sheet of paper to the pnntheads 12,. A secondary set of rollers 20, comprising a first roller 22 and a second roller 24, is arranged intermediate the printheads 12 and the set of primary rollers
14. A paper deflector 26 is arranged between the sets of rollers 14 and 20.
As illustrated more clearly in Figure 2 of the drawings, the print media is, as described above, arranged in a stack 2S. The stack 28 is received in a bin (not shown) of the printer 10 and is retained against a metal bulkhead 30 of the printer 10 in a suitable cabinet (also not shown). A tapping mechanism 32, which is solenoid driven, taps the paper stack 28 to ensure that the sheets of the paper stack 28 are maintained in accurate abutment with the metal bulkhead 30 so that, when a sheet is fed is to the printing station 13, as will be described in sreater detail below, the sheet lifted from the stack 28 is aliwed to be in register with the printheads 12. In other words, the tapping mechanism 32 inhibits skewing of a sheet picked from the stack 28.
The printer 10 includes a paper feed arrangement 34 for feeding a sheet of paper from the stack 28 to the rollers 16 and 18 of the set of primary rollers 14 so that the sheet of paper can be transported to the printing station 13 for printing.
The feed arrangement 34 comprises a pivot rod or axle 36 which is rotatably driven by a drive means in the form of a stepper motor 38. A swing arm 40 is arranged at each end of the axle 36.

The paper feed arrangement 34 includes a pick up bar 42 which is connected to a fluid hose 44. The pick up bar 42 is pivotally attached to the swing arms 40. An am 46, having a bifurcated end (not shown) projects from one end of the bar 42. The arm 46 is slidably received in a sleeve in the form, of a pivot block 48. The arm 46 and, more particularly, its bifurcated end, cooperates with an optica! sensor 50 to determine when the pick up bar 42 is in its home position, the home position of the pick up bar 42 being shown, schematically^ in Figure 4 of the drawings.
As described above, the printer 10 is a high-speed printer which has a capacity to print at the rate of one sheet per second. To make use of this capability, it is important that the sheets of paper are fed individually to the printing station 13 from the stack 28 in an accurate, controlled manner. Consequently, it is necessary for the pick up bar assembly 34 to separate a sheet to be transported to the printing station 13 from the stack 28 accurately. To separate a topmost sheet 28.1 from the stack 28, the fluid hose 44 is connected to a fluid source (not shown). Air is blown down the hose 44 in the direction of arrow 52 as shown in Figure 4 of the drawings. The air exits through an outlet aperture 54 of the pick up bar 42 as shown by the arrows 56. The air is forced between a foot portion 58 of the pick up bar 42 and the topmost sheet 28.1 of the paper stack 28.
The invention is intended particularly for use with print media which is porous such as, for example, SOgsm paper.
Due to the porosity of the paper, air is also driven through the topmost sheet 28.1 and impinges on a sheet of the stack 28 which is second from the top, as shown by arrow 60 in Figure 5 of the drawings. This results in an initial separation of the topmost sheet 28.1 from the remainder of the sheets of the stack 28.
Also, as a result of localised low pressure occurring between a periphery of the foot portion 58 of the pick up bar 42 and the topmost sheet 28.1 of the stack 28, the topmost sheet 28.1 is attracted to the pick up bar 42 as shown in Figure 6 of the drawings. Due to the passage of air through the topmost sheet 28.1 separation of the topmost sheet 28.1 from the remainder of the sheets of the paper stack 28 is aided.
Once the sheet 28.1 has been lifted off the stack 28 and transported a short distance from the stack 28 and when the pick up bar 42 reaches a predetermined altitude relative to the stack 28, the direcdon of flow of the air is reversed so that a suction effect is imparted at the aperture 54 of the pick up bar 42. This is shown in Figure 7 of the drawings by arrows 62.

As the swing arms 40 of the paper feed arrangement 34 continue to rotate in the direction of arrow 64 (Figure 3 of the drawings), the pick up arm 42 moves in the direction of arrow 66 (Figure 7) so that a leading edge of the topmost sheet 28.1 of the paper stack 2S is fed between the rollers 16 and 18 of the set of primary drive rollers 14. The suction is then shut off in the hose 44 so that the sheet 28.1 is released from the pick up bar 42 for onward conveyance by the sets of rollers 14 and 20 to the printing station 13 for printing purposes.
It will be appreciated that the airflow parallel to a surface of the topmost sheet 28.1 of the stack 28 results in a low friction cushion which facilitates translational motion of the sheet 28.1 relative to the pick up bar 42. This allows the sheet 28.1 to be moved by any suitable method in a direction norma] to a face of the pick up bar 42 without hindering the picking action of the pick up bar 42, It also facilitates maintaining a trailing portion of the sheet 28.1 in spaced relationship relative to the stack 28 while the sheet 28.1 is being fed to the set of rollers 14.
The applicant has found that the velocity of air through the fluid hose in the initial, 'blowing" direction is not critical, nor is the spacing between the pick up bar 42 and the topmost sheet 28.1 of the paper stack 28. Further, the weight or grade of the paper of the stack is also not critical provided that the paper in the stack has a degree of porosity.
Typically, a pressure of approximately 5kPa is present in the fluid hose 14 when the air is blown on to the paper stack 28. The air is delivered at approximately ll/s and exits the gap between the foot portion 58 of the pick up arm 42 and the topmost sheet 28.1 at a pressure of approximately IkPa at a velocity of approximately 50m/s. Experimentally, the pick up arm 42 has been held at a spacing of between O.lmm and 0.2mm above the paper stack 28 to pick up the topmost sheet 28.1 and this has been found to be successful. In addition, the paper feed arrangement 34 has been found to operate with paper of a grade from- 40gsm to high resolution, photo-quality ink jet paper.
The aperture 54 of the pick up bar 42 can also be any suitable shape. For example, the aperture 54 could be in the form of a straight or wavy channel extending the length of the pick up bar 42. Instead, the aperture could comprise a plurality of discrete nozzles arranged at spaced intervals along the length of the pick up bar 42.
The applicant has found that, surprisingly, by blowing air on to the paper of the stack 28 separation of the sheets is facilitated. This is an entirely counter-intuitive approach as one would expect that a suction-type mechanism would operate better. However,

provided the paper of the stack 28 is porous, very good separation of the topmost sheet of paper from the stack 28 can be effected.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and nor restrictive.




We claim:
1. A method of separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets, the sheets being
porous and the method including the steps of:
blowing fluid on to a top surface of a topmost sheet of the print media on the stack so that the fluid passes through at least the topmost sheet of the stack; and
capturing at least a part of the topmost sheet for conveyance to a printing station of a printer.
2. The method of claim 1 which includes blowing the fluid on to the top surface of the
topmost sheet through an aperture means of a pick up means of a print media feed
arrangement.
3. The method of claim 2 which includes, prior to capturing said at least part of the
topmost sheet, lifting said at least part of the topmost sheet from the stack.
4. The method of claim 3 which includes causing said lifting of said at least a part of the topmost sheet by creating a low pressure region between a face of the pick up means and the top surface of the topmost sheet of print media.
5. The method of claim 4 which includes maintaining the pick up means in spaced relationship relative to the top surface of the topmost sheet of print media to cause said low pressure region.
6. The method of claim 2 which includes capturing said at least part of the topmost sheet of print media by the pick up means.
7. The method of claim 6 which includes capturing said at least part of the topmost sheet of print media by reversing a direction of fluid flow through the pick up means to cause a change from a blowing action to a suction action.
8. The method of claim 1 which includes conveying said topmost sheet of print media in a direction substantially normal to a direction of flow of fluid blown on to the stack.

10. A method of separating a sheet of print media from a stack of sheets substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.


Documents:

1207-chenp-2003-abstract.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-claims duplicate.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-claims original.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-correspondnece-others.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-correspondnece-po.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-description complete duplicate.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-description complete original.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-drawings.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-form 1.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-form 19.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-form 26.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-form 3.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-form 5.pdf

1207-chenp-2003-pct.pdf


Patent Number 202906
Indian Patent Application Number 1207/CHENP/2003
PG Journal Number 05/2007
Publication Date 02-Feb-2007
Grant Date 31-Oct-2006
Date of Filing 05-Aug-2003
Name of Patentee M/S. SILVERBROOK RESEARCH PTY. LTD.
Applicant Address 393 Darling Street, Balmain, New South Wales 2041
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 JENSEN, David, William Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd, 393 Darling Street, Balmain, New South Wales 2041
PCT International Classification Number B65G59/04
PCT International Application Number PCT/AU2002/000067
PCT International Filing date 2002-01-24
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 PR 2925 2001-02-07 Australia