A REPROGRAPHIC APPARATUS

Abstract: A reprographic apparatus with a copyboard for maintaining a document to be produced in a plane position on a projecting surface, said copyboard comprising a supporting plate, a glass plate or a similarly transparent plate hinged at its one edge, and a releasable mechanism adapted to let down the glass plate into an active position in which it maintains the document in close contact with the supporting plate is with a view to allowing of the handling of documents larger than the glass plate characterized in that the letting-down mechanism is adapted to be placed in a second position in which it is completely located on one side of the plane through the projecting surface, that the mechanism includes a movable push rod (20) parallel to the hinged edge of the glass plate and having at its ends lateral plates (23, 24) movably and pivotally connected with a housing (26) for the supporting plate and that the rod has a locking mechanism (27, 28).

Description: A REPROGRAPHIC APPARATUS. 1 The invention relates to a reprographic appara¬ tus comprising a copyboard for holding a document to be exposed in a flat position in an explosure plane, said copyboard including a support plate, a glass or other¬ wise transparent plate that is pivotally mounted along one edge thereof, and a releasable hold-down mechanism to lock the glass plate in an operative position in which it holds the document in pressurized contact with the support plate. Such an apparatus is known for instance from the EP 0 085 862. After a document has been placed in the exposure plane between the two plates of the reprogra¬ phic apparatus, a hold-down mechanism (or lock) presses the transparent plate against the document on the sup¬ port plate, and air still present between the two pla¬ tes can be extracted by suction in order to achieve a flat exposure position of the document. A disadvantage of the described system is that it can only handle documents with a size smaller than that of the transparent plate as, otherwise, the hold- down mechanism would damage or destruct the document. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a reprographic apparatus comprising a copy¬ board without the above described disadvantage. For this purpose a reprographic apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the hold-down mecha¬ nism can be brought into a second position in which it is completely on one side of the explosure plane, and that said mechanism comprises a movable pressure bar that extends parallel to the pivotally mounted edge of the glass plate, the bar being provided at its ends with side plates, which are displaceably and rotatably connected to a housing of the support plate, and that said bar is provided with a locking mechanism. With such an apparatus even documents of a large size com¬ pared to the transparent plate may be reproduced becau¬ se it is possible to expose a document part-by part without any risk of damaging the remainder of the docu¬ ment. Other particulars and advantages of the appara¬ tus according to the invention will be apparent from the following description with reference to the dra¬ wings, wherein Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention. Fig. 2 a similar view of a second embodiment, Fig. 3 a side view of the second embodiment with the copyboard in a first or operative position, Fig. 4 a similar view with the copyboard in a second or released position, and Fig. 5 again a similar view with the transparent plate of the copyboard in a third or open position. The copyboard shown in Fig. 1 comprises a hou¬ sing 26 which carries the support plate 19 consis¬ ting of a transparent flexible material, e.g. acrylic plastic. The glass plate 22 rests in its first posi¬ tion on the support plate 19 and is rotatable around axis 21 with respect to support plate 19 and housing 26. A hold-down mechanism 16, 17 consisting of two hinged elements are capable of holding the glass plate 22 into its first position in pressurized contacat with the support plate 19. The copyboard shown in Fig. 2 comprises the same housing 26, support plate 19 and rotatable glass plate 22 as in Fig. 1. The hold-down mechanism here consists of a bar 20 rotatable around axis 25. At its ends the bar is provided with side-plates 23, 24 which are rotatable around axis 25. The bar 20 also comprises a locking mechanism 27, 28 consisting of a plate 27, which is an integral part of the bar 20, and a handle 28 which can be either in an open or clo¬ sed, locked position. A push button 29 is provided to fix the locking mechanism in either the open or closed position. The handle 28 activates, in its closed po¬ sition, a switch which switches on the vacuum system. In its open position the handle 28 deactivates the switch and releases the vacuum system. Two pins 30 which are integral parts of the sideplates 23, 24 are provided as lift-up means for the glass plate 22. In Fig. 3 the glass plate 22 with the hold- down mechanism is shown in its first position with the glass plate in pressurized contact with the support plate 19 by means of the bar 20. The handle 28 is in the locked position and the switch means is activa¬ ted with the vacuum system switched on. To reach its third position as shown in Fig. 5 the handle is moved upwards deactivating the vacuum switch means and in one continous movement brought into its third stable posi¬ tion for replacement of the document from the copy¬ board. The glass plate 22 follows the movement of the bar 20 by means of the pins 30. A reprographic camera, which the invention is related to, consists of a stationary film holder, a mo¬ vable lens system and a movable copyboard. When the handle 28 is moved from its first closed position the lens system moves quickly away from the copyboard into a certain position and moves back into its original po¬ sition when the handle 28 is brought back into its first or second position. To bring the hold-down mechanism into its second position as shown in Fig. 4, the handle 28 is moved ' upwards deactivating the vacuum switch means and moving the lens system away from the copyboard. The bar 20 is extended parallel to the rotatable side 21 of the glass plate 22 and lowered into its second position in which it is completely on one side of the exposure plane, making it possible to manipulate documents lar¬ ger than the support plate 19 and the glass plate 22. When the handle 28 is brought into locked posi¬ tion in its second position the vacuum switch means is activated and the lens system moves back into its ori¬ ginal position.

Claims: P A T E N T C L A I M S 1. A reprographic apparatus comprising a copy¬ board for holding a document to be exposed in a flat position in an exposure plane, said copyboard including a support plate, a glass or otherwise transparent plate that is pivotally mounted along one edge thereof, and a releasable hold-down mechanism to lock the glass plate in an operative position in which it holds the document in pressurized contact with the support plate, c h a ¬ r a c t e r i z e d in that the hold-down mechanism (16, 17) can be brought into a second position in which it is completely on one side of the exposure plane, and that said mechanism comprises a movable pressure bar (20) that extends parallel to the pivotably mounted ed¬ ge of the glass plate, the bar (20) being provided at its ends with side plates (23, 24), which are displa- ceably and rotatably connected to a housing (26) of the support plate (19), and that said bar is provided with a locking mechanism (27, 28). 2. A reprographic apparatus according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the pressure bar (20) is displaceable between a first position, in which it holds the glass plate (22) in its operative posi¬ tion, and a second position in which it rests against the housing (26) of the support plate. 3. A reprographic apparatus according to claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the locking mecha¬ nism comprises a handle (28) provided with a push¬ button (29) to fix the locking mechanism either in its open or its closed position, or in both its open and closed position. 4. A reprographic apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that switch means are provided to switch on a vacuum system when the locking mechanism is in its closed position. 5. A reprographic apparatus according to claim 2, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the side plates (23, 24) of the pressure bar are provided with lift-up means (30) (pins), with the function to move the glass plate (22) away from the support plate (19) when the hold-down mechanism is moved to a third position allo¬ wing replacement of the document. 6. A reprographic apparatus provided with a mo¬ vable lens system, a stationary film holder and a mova¬ ble copyboard according to claim 5, c h a r a c t e ¬ i z e d in that the lens system moves quickly a cer¬ tain distance away from the copyboard when the hold- down mechanism is moved to the third position, and whe¬ reby the lens system moves back to its former position when the hold-down mechanism is put in its first or se¬ cond position.

Inventors: HAGEDORN-OLSEN JENS, HAGEDORN-OLSEN, JENS
Applicants: OCE HELIOPRINT AS, HELIOPRINT A/S
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G03B27
IPC codes: G03B27, G03G15