Smudge-free sheet material handling apparatus and method

A smudge-free sheet material handling apparatus and method are disclosed. The device moves sheet material by only pushing on the edges of the sheet material. Since there is no toner or ink at these locations, the sheet material can be fed without risk of smudging the toner material on the sheet surfaces. Furthermore, since no high friction parts come into relative contact/movement with the surfaces of the sheet material, smudging is even further reduced.

TECHNICAL FIELD 
This invention is generally directed to the field of sheet material 
handling. In particular, the invention is directed to an apparatus and 
method for handling sheet material to a downstream location in which a 
minimum of moving or high friction parts come into contact with or move 
relative to the sheet material. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the field of sheet material handling, it is important to not damage 
sheet material as it is being handled. Besides obvious sheet material 
damaging, such as dog-ears, curls, or the like, a serious, but less 
obvious problem concerns toner smearing. Typically, sheet material will be 
fed a short time after it has been printed on and therefore the toner will 
not be completely set on the sheet material and may smudge if contacted. 
Smudging can even occur on set toner. Furthermore, in sheet material 
collecting or accumulating applications, after the sheet material is 
collected or accumulated into a stack, in the prior art, the sheet 
material stack has been fed out of the collector/accumulator area by 
either a lugged belt or clamping the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet 
material stack between a non-lugged belt and an idler roller or belt. 
A problem faced by these prior art solutions concerns the fact that the 
sheet material contacting surfaces of belts and rollers, which are 
typically made of rubber, must have a high coefficient of friction so that 
they can grip and move the sheet material stack. Accordingly, as the belts 
and rollers accelerate, de-accelerate, or merely come into any type of 
relative movement with the sheet material, the tendency will be to smear 
toner. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, this smearing 
is unacceptable. 
Accordingly, there is room for improvement within the art of sheet material 
handling and collecting. 
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of the invention to provide a sheet material handling 
apparatus and method in which sheet material damage due to toner smearing 
is minimized. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sheet material 
handling apparatus and method in which sheet material damage due to toner 
smearing is minimized due to the sheet material coming into contact and/or 
relative movement with a minimum number of high friction components. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sheet material 
handling apparatus and method in which sheet damage due to toner smearing 
is minimized and can be used as a sheet material collector or accumulator 
or sheet material stacker. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sheet material 
handling apparatus and method in which sheet material damage due to toner 
smearing is minimized and can be used as a sheet material diverter. 
It is a further object of the invention to provide a sheet material 
handling apparatus and method in which sheet material damage due to toner 
smearing is minimized and can be used with sheet material of different 
sizes. 
These and other objects of the invention are achieved by use of a method of 
handling sheet material, comprising: feeding a sheet having a leading edge 
and a trailing edge from a first location to a second location; properly 
positioning the leading edge of the sheet; providing the sheet with a way 
to exit the second location; and causing the sheet to exit the second 
location by pushing the trailing edge of the sheet towards a downstream 
location. 
Additionally, these and other objects of the invention are achieved by a 
smudge-free sheet material handling apparatus, comprising: an infeed area; 
a collection area; and a registration area; and wherein the collection 
area has: (a) a collection plate that is lower than the infeed area and 
(b) registration members for registering sheet material collecting on the 
collection plate into a squared stack; and a kicker mechanism, the kicker 
mechanism pushing the squared stack out of the collection area by 
contacting the trailing edges of the sheet material forming the stack.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
With reference to the drawings, a sheet material handling apparatus and 
method that meets and achieves the various objects of the invention set 
forth above will now be described. In its first form, the sheet material 
handling apparatus is in the form of sheet material sheet material kicker 
collector 5. However, it is equally plausible for sheet material sheet 
material kicker collector 5 to comprise a sheet material kicker 
accumulator and it should be understood that as discussed herein, 
"collector" means either sheet material collector or accumulator. 
A perspective view of an exemplary embodiment of a sheet material kicker 
collector apparatus 5 according to the invention is shown in FIG. 1. 
Sheet material kicker collector 5 is made up of three general portions or 
areas, namely: infeed area 10, collector area 100, and registration/front 
stop area 200. Each one of these three areas will be separately described 
in detail below. 
Sheet material is fed in the direction of arrow P from an upstream location 
to the collector area 100, via infeed area 10. The upstream location may 
comprise a printer or other source of printed sheet material. The printed 
sheet material is fed across infeed plate 15 of infeed area 10 by infeed 
mechanism 20. Infeed plate 15 will preferably be made of a very low 
friction material such as TEFLON to reduce the friction between the sheet 
material and the infeed plate 15. Infeed mechanism 20 can generally 
comprise any of a number of conventional sheet feeding mechanisms. In the 
exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 1, infeed mechanism 20 comes in the 
form of a lower driven infeed conveyor belt 25 and an overhead pair of 
infeed idler rollers 30. Infeed conveyor belt 25 is driven by a 
conventional motor (not shown) located under infeed plate 15. Infeed idler 
rollers 30 are positioned above infeed conveyor belt 25 and are constantly 
driven by infeed conveyor belts 25. Infeed idler rollers 30 ride up over 
the top of sheet material it is driving into collection area 100. Because 
sheet material is fed continuously through infeed area 10, i.e., there is 
no stop and start sheet movement, there will be minimal relative movement 
between the high friction surfaces of infeed conveyor belt 25 and overhead 
idler rollers 30 and therefore toner smearing is minimized as the sheet 
material moves through the feed nip. Infeed idler rollers 30 are supported 
above the infeed conveyor belt 25 by a spring-loaded cantilever arm 40. 
The cantilever arm 40 is supported by vertical infeed supports 26 and 
horizontal infeed support 27. Finally, a sheet counter or other sensor 45 
can be supported to infeed horizontal support 27 by support 35. 
Sheet material or pre-collected sub-sets of sheet material is fed from 
upstream and stacked one-upon-the-other in collection area 100 to form a 
stack of sheet material for feeding further downstream as a single unit. 
Collection area 100 comprises a collection plate 115, also preferably made 
of a very low friction material such as TEFLON. Collection plate 100 is at 
a lower elevation that infeed plate 15 so that incoming sheet material S 
is unobstructed by the stack of sheet material that is forming in the 
collection area 100 (see FIG. 2). Rising in a direction normal to the 
collection plate 115 are transversely adjustable side guides 120. 
Adjustable side guide 120 not only register the forming sheet material 
stack S' to keep its side edges square but are adjustable so that 
different sized sheet material can be accommodated in the collection area 
100. 
In the rear of collection area 100 and located under infeed plate 15 are 
kicker members in the form of one or more paddles 110. Paddles 110, as 
will be described in more detail below, are used to push the sheet 
material stack from the rear and out of collection area 100, as will be 
described below. Paddles 110 are rotatable and rotated by, for example, a 
motor/gear drive system 130 and shaft 135 located under infeed area 10. 
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the position of paddles 110 under infeed area 10 
are adjustable. Paddles 110 can telescope in direction T-T' as a single 
unit adjusting the size of the collection area 100 for various lengths of 
sheet material. Conventional mechanisms, such as but not limited to a rack 
and pinion, can be used to allow the telescoping of paddles 110 in 
direction T-T'. 
Located at the very front of apparatus 5 is front stop/registration 
mechanism 200. Mechanism 200 front registers the sheet material stack 
forming in collection area 100. The structure of front stop mechanism 200 
can take any number of conventional forms and is not critical to meeting 
the objects of the invention. For purposes of describing the overall 
operation of sheet material kicker collector 5 only, front 
stop/registration mechanism 200 is shown in the form of a generic and 
conventionally vertically movable wall 205. In one position, wall 205 
blocks the exit from collection area 100. In its other position, wall 205 
is moved out of the exit area from collection area 100 to allow the sheet 
material stack to be ejected. As shown in FIG. 2, wall 205 can be moved 
either up or down in this situation. However walls with other modes of 
movement are equally applicable to the invention. 
Having described the structure of sheet material kicker collector 5, its 
method and mode of operation will now be described with reference to the 
drawings. In particular, this description will be made with reference to 
FIGS. 4A-C. 
Sheet material S in the form of printed sheet material is fed in direction 
P from an upstream location towards sheet material kicker collector 5 via 
conventional technology. The upstream source of printed sheet material may 
comprise either sheet material coming directly out of a printer or a 
supply of previously printed sheet material. In either case, the sheet 
material will have toner thereon which, if comes into contact with the 
high friction, materials such as rubber, which typical sheet conveying 
elements are constructed, will be smudged. 
As these sheet material is fed into infeed area 10, they are captured 
between infeed conveyor 25 and overhead idler rollers 30. Infeed conveyor 
25 will be constantly operating at a speed very close if not identical 
with the speed by which the printed sheet material is being fed from the 
upstream location. Since the printed sheet material will not undergo any 
change in speed, there should be no relative movement between the sheet 
surfaces and the high friction surfaces of infeed conveyor 25 and idler 
rollers 30. Since there will be no relative movement, there should be no 
toner smudging due to these sheet moving elements. Furthermore, since 
infeed plate 15 is made from a very low friction material such as TEFLON, 
it will not smudge the lower sheet surfaces as they are fed across the 
infeed plate. 
As the printed sheet material or pre-collected subsets of sheet material is 
fed through infeed conveyor 25 and overhead idlers 30, they may be counted 
by using sheet sensor 45. After a certain number of sheet material or 
pre-collected subsets of sheet material are detected or counted, a signal 
can be sent to the machine controller (not shown) to activate the kicker 
as will be described. 
Sheet material or pre-collected subsets of sheet material fed through 
infeed conveyor 25 and overhead rollers 30 then start to collect on 
collection plate 115 to form a stack. Again, since collection plate 115, 
like infeed plate 15, is made from a very low friction material such as 
TEFLON, it will not smudge the lowermost sheet's surface as it is fed 
across and onto collection plate 115. As the sheet material stack forms, 
it is front registered by vertically movable wall 205, which will be in 
its registration position blocking the front exit to collection area 100. 
As the sheet material stack forms, it will be side registered by 
adjustable side guides 120 and rear registered against paddles 110 that 
telescope in feed direction P, adjusting the size of collection area 100 
for various material lengths. The stack formed will therefore be 
substantially registered along all sheet surfaces. 
After a predetermined number of sheet material has been collected in the 
stack forming on the collection plate 115 in collection area 100, a signal 
to eject the stack will be given. The predetermined number of sheet 
material can be detected by sensor 45. Upon the determination that a 
predetermined number of sheet material is within collection area 100, as 
shown in FIG. 4C, a signal will be given to move vertically movable wall 
205 out of the sheet path. A signal will then be sent to kicker motor 130 
to initiate rotation of paddles 110. The rotation of paddles 110 is quite 
fast (maximum speed approximately 80 inches per second). Paddles 110, 
which will typically be as tall as the sheet material stack formed in 
collection area 100, then hit the rearmost edge of the sheet material 
stack and start to push the sheet material stack out of collection area 
100. Because paddles 110 are typically as tall as the sheet material 
stack, the sheet material stack will not become unregistered by the 
pushing of paddles 110, i.e., all the sheet material will be pushed at the 
same time. 
Paddles 110 then continue with their rotation. The momentum that they 
provide to the sheet material stack in combination with the slipperiness 
of collection plate 115 will cause the sheet material stack to be entirely 
ejected outside of collection area 100 and towards a downstream location. 
That downstream location can be any of a number of conventional 
operations, such as feeding the stack into another stack or another 
transport mechanism, or stuffing the stack into an envelope. Furthermore, 
because paddles 110 never come into contact with a printed surface of a 
sheet, as the sheet material is ejected their printed portions are not 
contacted, thereby reducing smear. 
While sheet material kicker collector 5 has been described as useful in the 
collection/accumulation of printed sheet material into a stack and then 
ejecting the stack from the collection area, other uses of kickers 110 are 
possible. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, kickers 310 can be used to 
eject an insert from an inserter raceway. In particular, as shown in FIG. 
5, inserts or other documents M are moving from upstream to downstream in 
the direction of arrow F. Side guides 305 keep the documents M in proper 
registration. When a faulty document reaches a divert area 400, a control 
signal is sent to the motors (not shown) connected to paddles 310. The 
paddles 310 are then rotated, thereby kicking the faulty document out of 
sheet path F and in the direction of a divert path 410. Through use of 
this structure, documents M can be diverted with a minimal chance of being 
damaged. 
The above description is given with reference to a smudge-free sheet 
material handling apparatus and method. However, it will be understood 
that various details of the invention may be changed without departing 
from the scope of the invention. Furthermore, the foregoing description is 
for purpose of illustration only, and not for purpose of limitation, as 
the invention is defined by the following, appended claims.