ENVELOPE STORAGE TRAY FOR A DOCUMENT FEEDER

Abstract: Particular configurations for envelope storage trays having a sprung floor (86) to support a stack of envelopes and urge them against a lid (78). The lid is slotted to enable e.g. 'D' wheels (34, 35) to engage the top envelope and remove it from the stack to feed it into the printer. The invention also relates to document feeders including a framework and a plurality of trays one at least being an envelope tray.

Description: Envelope storage tray for a document feeder This invention relates to document feeders for printers and the like. The documents can be, for example sheets of paper or envelopes. The printer may be a daisy wheel printer, a line printer, a dotmatrix printer or an electric typewriter having a stationary carriage. For simplicity herein, the term "printer" will be used to cover all these types. Document feeder devices for printers are known. One type comprises a hopper from which individual ■ documents can be supplied which are fed around a platen on the printer, where they are typed on or printed, and from which they are subsequently ejected, For example, after being printed, a sheet of paper or an envelope can be discharged by rotation of the platen to remove it from the printer and deposit it into a reception tray or the like. At the same time, a further envelope or sheet can be drawn into the printer and around the platen ready for printing thereon. " Such known sheet and envelope feeding devices have tended to be dedicated to the feeding of sheets of paper or envelopes, separate feeding apparatus being required for the two different items, requiring a changeover of feeding apparatus to change between the one and the other. This is inconvenient. In addition, envelopes have proved difficult to handle in any way, to such an extent that the problem of handling envelopes has been avoided in some cases by simply feeding sticky labels through the printer and then sticking the labels on envelopes as required, or by using so-called window envelopes, which obviate the need, for printing on the envelope at all. Of the known envelope feeding devices, most require the envelopes to be stacked in a semi-vertical manner, which is inconvenient and requires mechanism for lifting off the leading ' envelope very dif erent from the mechanism for lifting off an uppermost sheet of paper, promoting incompatability between envelope feeding devices and sheet feeding devices. According to a first feature of the present invention there is provided a document feeding device adapted to feed documents, e.g. paper and/or envelopes to a printer, which comprises: . a framework adapted to be mounted on a printer (or forming an integral part of a printer) and including document guides for guiding a document to an input nip and for feeding the document around a printer platen, 2. at least one tray receiving station in the frame- work for receiving a tray containing a stack of documents, 3. a pair of f D' wheels mounted above the or each of the tray receiving stations so as to register with,the document adjacent the forward end of a tray inserted into the station, 4. drive means for selectively rotating the J D ! wheels so as to cause the uppermost document to be moved in a generally forward direction due to friction between the 'D* wheel and the document, 5. at least one tray adapted to contain a stack of paper between side guides at the forward end of each of which is a laterally extending flange, the flange -§JR__ O PI protruding over the leading edge of the stack of sheets of paper so as to provide in known manner a so-called corner trap, the two corner traps so formed co-operating with the , D I wheels to permit the release of the topmost sheet of paper from a stack of paper but inhibiting the simultaneous removal of subsequent sheets of paper below the uppermost sheet, 6. at least one tray adapted to contain a stack of envelopes and having spring means below the front and rear edge regions of the stack to reduce the risk of fanning and a cover or lid which is cut-away to allow the 'D' wheels to protrude therethrough and includes a protrusion between the two cut-away regions to firmly depress the stack of envelopes therebetween and stop bowing, all of the trays being insertable into the or each of the receiving stations. According to a further feature of the present invention there is provided an envelope storage tray for use in a document feeder in which envelopes are to be fed to a printer, and in which envelopes can be stacked one above the other, wherein the tray includes spring means supporting the stack of envelopes and urging the stack in a generally upward direction, and a lid fitted to the tray, the stack of envelopes being trapped between the lid and the spring means, the lid including cut-away regions to allow 'D 1 wheels to engage the surface of the uppermost envelope and draw the latter from the stack, the tray including an inclined surface up which the envelopes are pushed as they are removed from the stack ' by the 'D' wheels and ■ wherein the lid includes a thickened region between the cut-out regions which serves to compress the stack of envelopes to a greater extent over the central region of the leading edges of the envelopes relative to the external edges thereof so as to prevent arching. Such a tray is pre erably used for the envelope tray in the document feeding device as described above. To this end, such a tray when fitted with its lid, should be completely interchangeable with a tray accommodating a stack of paper which is adapted to be removed sheet by sheet by the same 'D' wheels within the document feeding device. According to a further feature of the invention, there is provided an envelope storage tray for use in a document feeder in which envelopes are to be fed to a printer, in which tray a stack of envelopes is supported on a sprung platform within the tray and trapped below a lid, the lid being adapted to allow rotatable means in a document feeding device to draw off the uppermost envelope from the stack and cause the drawn off envelope to slide up an inclined exit surface formed in the tray, wherein, the springing acting on the underside of the stack near to the leading edge of. the stack (i.e. the edge from which envelopes are removed) is greater than the springing acting on the trailing edge of the stack (i.e. the edge opposite from that to which envelopes are removed from the stack) so as to reduce the tendency for envelopes to fan. The differential springing in such an envelope tray should preferably be selected so that the spring force acting on the envelopes at the trailing edge is just sufficient to support the stack of envelopes and maintain the latter in contact with the lid whilst the stronger spring force at the leading edge of the stack is preferably selected so as to be sufficient to • compress the envelopes, against the underside of the lid and against the rotatable draw off means so as to improve the reliability of draw off. The rotatable draw off means conveniently comprises 'D* wheels, as in the document feeder device of the invention, and in order to allow such t D' wheels to engage the uppermost envelope, apertures or cut-away regions are pre erably provided in the lid. In combination with the differential springing, the provision of a thickened region on the underside of the lid between the cut-out regions through which the rotatable draw off means such as *D T protrude, as described above presents ' the stack of envelopes from bowing when depressed by the draw off means. Thus an envelope storage tray having both features is highly preferred as it reduces the likelihood of fanning of the envelopes (by the use of differential springing) and reduces the tendency of the stack to bow convexly between the ! D T wheels (by the use of the thickened section of lid between the apertures through which the 'D' wheels protrude). As noted above, such an envelope tray preferably comprises the feature that it is adapted to fit into the same tray receiving aperture in a document feeder as can receive a tray containing a stack of paper. The 'D' wheels either remove paper sheet by sheet or envelopes one at a time from the top. The protrusion below the lid section of the preferred envelope tray of the invention, which protrusion extends between the 'D* wheels for securing the envelopes in place, may be formed by simply bending the material from which the lid is formed in a downward direction so as to form a downwardly protruding tongue. However the protrusion may be constituted by the material forming the lid being thicker in the region of the section which extends between the 'D' wheels when the tray is inserted in the framework. In a -further arrangement the protruding or thickened region may be formed by bonding, sticking or riveting a laminar member below the section of the lid whic extends between the 'D* wheels. In envelope trays, the leading wall of the tray over which the envelopes will be passed as they are removed from the stack of envelopes to the rear of the wall, is 5 preferably formed with an inclined lip at its upper end which extends forwardly from the tray and constitutes an inclined surface up which the envelope which is to be removed by the rotating 'D' wheels is to be slid. Such an inclined surface provides a ramp which, whilst allowing 10 the uppermost envelope to be slid and removed up the ramp, creates a wedging effect on the remaining stack of envelopes so as to prevent any envelopes other than the uppermost one from being simultaneously removed. Alternatively, the whole of the leading wall may be 15 inclined outwardly away from the base of the tray. In use the two tray-receiving stations in the frame¬ work may be fitted with two trays both containing stacks of paper, for example to provide for the selected printing of headed or plain paper or two different letter headings, 20 or one of the trays can contain paper and the other envelopes, to allow paper or envelopes to be selectively printed. Such an arrangement is distinctly advantageous compared with prior arrangements in which a document 25. feeder dedicated to the feeding of sheets of paper into the printer needed to be removed and replaced by an envelope feeder or types in which a special envelope feeding station is provided in-a document feeder for feeding sheets of paper. 30 It should be mentioned that the provision of three trays, two for paper and one for envelopes in a printer feeder is not an impossible combination but the size and weight of the document feeder is quite considerable even when only handling a single stack of paper; to 35 provide for the feeding of sheets from two separate stacks of paper and of envelopes from an envelope stack in a single document feeder would OMPI normally result in the printer becoming top heavy. The trays preferably include adjustable lateral guides to provide for different widths of documents. The invention is further illustrated by way of example with ' reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of a document feeding apparatus for feeding separate sheets of paper or envelopes into a printer, Figure 2 is a plan view of a tray on which sheets of paper can be stacked and which form part of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a side view of the tray shown in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a plan view of a tray adapted to hold envelopes and forming part of the apparatus shown in Figure 1, " Figure 5 is a side view of the tray shown in Figure 4 and, Figure 6 is a view of the tray shown in Figures 4 and 5 viewed in the direction of the arrow 'A 1 of Figure 5. Referring first of all to Figure , a document feeder mechanism is contained within a housing generally designated 10 adapted to be mounted on the upper surface of a printer the rear upper corner of the cross-section of which is shown at 12. Within the printer is a platen 14 with a paper guide 16 for ensuring that sheets of paper or envelopes are wrapped around the platen and presented accurately for printing at a printing station generally designated 'B 1 . In advance of the platen, there is a pair of rollers 18 and 20 forming an inlet nip to which guides 22, 24 and 26 guide sheets of paper or envelopes O.fPI removed from two trays 28 and 30 which are itted into the housing 10. The envelopes or sheets of paper are removed by means of 'D' wheels 32 and 34 which rotate in order to transmit drive to the uppermost envelope or sheet in the stack contained in the tray respectively to feed the latter into the guides 22, 24, " 26 and thence to -the nip formed between rollers 18 and 20. The printed sheet or envelope is removed by continued rotation of the platen 14 and is received by a reception guide 36. One such sheet of paper is illustrated at 38. The sheets or envelopes are fed by rotation of the platen to an exit nip formed between two rollers 40 and 42, which forwards the sheet or envelope, and releases it into a reception tray 44. Preferably "the roller 42 is ribbed or castellated or formed with axially parallel ridges 46 so that the lower edge of a sheet of paper ejected from the nip formed by rollers 40 and 42 is flicked in the direction of the arrow ! C' to come to rest on the lower edge of the tray 44, leaning against the tray base or a stack of material previously fed to the tray. In order to provide for single sheets or envelope insertion a further nip is formed between roller 40 and another roller 48 and guide means 50, 52 and 54 are provided to ensure that singly inserted sheets- or envelopes find their way into the inlet nip between the printer platen 4 and the paper guide 16. The ridges, serrations or castellations 46 need not extend over the whole of the roller 42j for example they can be present only at one end or both ends thereof. If a particularly positive impact on an exiting sheet or envelope is required, the castellations or protrusions such as 46 may be sprung fingers. CMPI 4 WIP Turning now to Figures 2 and 3, there is shown a tray 28 for holding a stack of paper (shown in dotted outline in Figure 3 at 56). The tray 28 includes a fixed side wall 58 and a laterally movable side wall 60 which between them de ine an area within which a stack of paper can be located. The stack is supported on the floor 62 of the tray towards the rear of the tray (the left-hand end as shown in Figure 2) but at the right-hand end is carried by a platform or ramp- " 64 which may be sprung at the portion indicated by a dashed circle in an upward direction so as to push the stack of paper generally upwards into contact with a pair of 'D' rollers 32 and 33. Rotation of a roller in the direction of the arrow shown in Figure 3 will cause the curved surface of the roller to engage the uppermost sheet of paper and draw the latter off the stack. The sheets of paper below the uppermost sheet are prevented from leaving the stack with the uppermost one as it is drawn off by means of corner plates 66 and 68 provided at the forward ends of the side walls 58 and 60. The plates 66 and 68 form corner traps which essentially-prevent all but the uppermost sheet being drawn off the stack with the rotation of the rollers 32 and 33. A second tray 30 is shown in Figures 4, 5 and -6. This second tray is compatible with the tray 28 so that trays containing paper or envelopes can be fitted into either of the tray positions in housing 10. In general the upper position as shown in Figure 1 will always contain a tray containing a stack of paper W hilst the lower position will contain either a tray containing envelopes or a tray containing a stack of paper. A lid is fitted to the tray 30 and is best seen in Figure 4. The lid includes a first cut-out region at 70 which accommodates a first 'D* wheel 34 and spaced therefrom, a larger cut-out region 72 which accommodates the other ! D' wheel 35. The tray includes a fixed guide 74 and an adjustable guide 76 forming side walls between which a stack of envelopes can be fitted. Between the two cut-out regions 70 and 72, the tray lid protrudes forwardly to form a rectangular tongue 78 which on its underside is formed with a thickened region, e.g. by using double thickness of material in that region, denoted by reference numeral 80. The tray is of rigid non-deformable material so that the extra thickness below the tongue 78 presses down on a stack of envelopes denoted 82 in Figure 4. The reason for including the additional thickness material below the tongue 78 is demonstrated in Figure 6. This is a view of the tray shown in Figure 5 in the direction of the arrow ' '. If the ' double thickness section 80 were not provided, the stack of envelopes would tend to bow between the two 'D' wheels 34 and 35 as illustrated in dotted outline at 84. The bowing of the stack of envelopes would prevent them from being reliably removed one at a time; the presence of the double thickness 80 keeps the stack relatively flat so ensuring reliable t __ake-up by the 'D' wheels. Also shown in Figure 6 are the adjustable and fixed side walls 74 and 76. It will be seen that the upper ends of these side walls are turned over and inwards at 75 and 77 to provide retaining lips for the edge of the stack of envelopes. A further feature of the envelope tray is the sprung loaded platform 86 visible in Figures 5 and 6. The platform is adjustable in width to correspond to changes in spacing between the walls 74 and 76 and is _ O PI carried by four springs, two springs 90 at the back and two springs 88 at the front. In order to give the correct force of compression between the envelopes at the exit end of the tray, the springs 88 are made stronger than the springs 90 which latter are required just to support the weight of the platform 86 and the stack of envelopes thereon. The exit end of the tray is additionally formed with an inclined lip 92. This serves a very important purpose in that it is this inclined lip 92 against which the 'D' wheel traps the leading edge of the uppermost envelope and causes it to be withdrawn from the top of the stack. This is clearly seen from the relative position of the 'D 1 wheel and lip 92 in Figure 5. The opposite side of each of the trays 28 and 30 are similarly formed with overhanging sections 94 and 96. These are contained within parallel guides 98 and 100 (see Figure 6) which form part of or are included in the housing 10. By arranging that the overall dimensions of each tray are substantially the same and that each includes the overhanging ledges 94 and 96, a similar method of fixing and retaining the trays in position can be used which allows them to be completely interchangeable. -W ETξ OMPI I

Claims: CLAIMS 1. An envelope storage tray for use in a document feeder in which envelopes are to be fed to a printer, and in which envelopes can be stacked one above the other, wherein the tray includes spring means supporting the stack of envelopes and urging the stack in a generally upward direction, and a lid fitted to the tray, the stack of. envelopes being trapped between the lid and the spring means, the lid including cut-away regions to allow 'D' wheels to engage the surface of the uppermost envelope and draw the latter from the stack, the tray including an inclined surface up which the envelopes are pushed as they are removed from the stack by the *D' wheels and wherein the lid includes a thickened region between the cut-out regions which serves to compress the stack of envelopes to a greater extent over the central region of the leading edges of the envelopes relative to the external edges thereof so as to prevent arching. 2. An envelope storage tray according to claim 1 wherein the protrusion which extends between the 'D 1 wheels for securing the envelopes in place, is formed by simply bending the material from which the lid is formed in a downward direction -so as to form a downwardly protruding tongue or by forming the lid thicker in the region of the section which extends between the 'D' wheels. 3. An envelope storage tray for use in a document feeder in which envelopes are to be fed to a printer, in which tray a stack of envelopes is supported on a sprung platform within the tray and trapped below a lid, the lid being adapted to allow rotatable means in a document feeding device to draw off the uppermost envelope from the stack and cause the drawn off envelope to slide up an inclined exit surface formed in the tray, wherein the springing acting on the underside of the stack near to the leading edge of the stack (i.e. the edge from which envelopes are removed) is greater than the springing acting on the trailing edge of the stack (i.e. the edge opposite from that to which envelopes are removed from the stack) so as to reduce the tendency for envelopes to fan. 4. An envelope storage tray according to any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the spring force acting on the envelopes at their trailing edge is just sufficient to support the stack of envelopes and maintain the latter in contact with the lid whilst the stronger spring force at the leading edge of the stack is selected so as to be sufficient to compress the envelopes against the underside of the lid and against the rotatable draw off means so as to improve the reliability of draw off. 5. An envelope storage tray according to any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the leading wall of the tray over which the envelopes will be passed as they are removed from the stack of envelopes to the rear of the wall, is formed with an inclined lip at its upper end which extends forwardly from the tray and constitutes an inclined surface up which the envelope which is to be removed is to be slid. 6. An envelope tray according to any one of claims 1 to 5 and including adjustable lateral guides to provide for different widths of envelopes. CMPI V WIPO 7. A document feeding device adapted to feed documents, e.g. paper and/or envelopes to a printer, which comprises: 1. a framework adapted to be mounted on a printer (or forming an integral part of a printer) and including document guides for .guiding a document to an input nip and for feeding the document around a printer platen, 2. at least one tray receiving station in the frame- work for receiving a tray containing a stack of documents, 3. a pair of 'D 1 wheels mounted above the or each of the tray receiving stations so as to register with the document adjacent the forward end of a tray inserted into the station, 4. drive means for selectively rotating the 'D' wheels so as to cause the uppermost document to be moved in a generally forward direction due to friction between the 'D' wheel and the document, 5. at least one tray adapted to contain a stack of paper between side guides at the forward end of each of which is a laterally extending flange, the flange protruding over the leading edge of the stack of sheets of paper so as to provide in known manner a so-called corner trap, the two corner traps so formed co-operating with the 'D* wheels to permit the release of the topmost sheet of paper from a . stack of paper but inhibiting the simultaneous removal of subsequent sheets of paper below the uppermost sheet, and 6. at least one tray adapted to contain a stack - of envelopes and having spring means below the front and rear edge regions of the stack to reduce the risk of fanning and a cover or lid which is cut-away to allow the 'D' wheels to protrude therethrough and includes a protrusion between the two cut-away ^K regions to firmly depress the stack of envelopes therebetween and stop bowing, all of the trays being insertable into the or each of the receiving stations. 8. A document feeder device according to claim 7 wherein the envelope tray is an envelope tray according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

Inventors: OWEN STEVEN, WIGLEY RICHARD SIMON, OWEN, STEVEN, WIGLEY, RICHARD, SIMON
Applicants: PRUTEC LTD, PRUTEC LIMITED
Application year: 1984
Main classification: B41J13
IPC codes: B41J13