Device for guiding a sheet

Abstract: A device for guiding a sheet (3) at the exit side of a transport nip (6) formed by rollers (1, 4), by means of a movable guide member (12) provided with a thin end (16). In the position of rest of the device the guide member (12) occu­ pies a position in which the thin end (16) is situated close to the transport nip (6). The leading edge of a sheet (3) fed through the transport nip (6) is intercepted by the thin end (16), e.g. by an operative elecrosta­ tic force, whereafter the sheet (3) pushes the guide member (12) ahead of itself, the sheet being separated from the nip-forming roller sur­ faces until the sheet (3) is engaged by a pair of rollers (7, 8).

Description: The invention relates to a device for guiding a sheet, after passing a transport nip formed by nip-forming surfaces, in a direction away from the nip-forming surfaces, said device comprising a movable guide member disposed near the exit side of the transport nip, which guide member without touching the nip-forming surfaces intercepts of the sheet a leading part advanced through the transport nip and detached from the nip-forming surfaces and guides that sheet further away from the nip-forming surfaces. A device of this kind is known from US patent 4 062 631. When a sheet is transported through a nip formed by nip-forming surfaces it is desirable that after passing the nip the sheet could not remain in contact with one of the nip-forming surfaces but should be and remain separated therefrom. Two phases can be distinghuished in such separation: a first phase in which the leading part of the sheet comes out of the nip, and a second phase in which the remainder of the sheet comes out of the nip. The sheet separation during the first phase, i.e. disengagement of the sheet from the nip-forming surfaces at the exit side of the nip, is governed by a number of factors, such as the nip geometry, the bending strength of the sheet and the forces operative on the sheet at the nip. Thus the leading edge of a sheet will readily disengage from a nip-forming surface if it has a small radius of curvature at the exit side, but will disengage with greater difficulty from a nip-forming surface if it has a large radius of curvature at the exit side. Adhesion forces and electrostatic forces operative in the nip will also render separation difficult. With conventional nip-forms sheet separation is readily achieved during the first phase for many types of sheets. When however a larger part of the sheet has passed the nip, that part, since it is limper, may be pulled back to one of the nip-forming surfaces by a small force, so separation achieved in the first phase is destroyed in a subsequent second phase. This may readily occur particularly as a result of forces of electrostatic attraction continuing to be operative between the sheet and the nip-forming surface and particularly when the nip-forming surface has a large radius of curvature at the nip exit side. In the device known from US patent 4 062 631, the nip-forming surfaces are formed by a first roller and by a belt which is pressed against the first roller by a second roller, the belt having a larger radius of curvature at the nip discharge side than the first roller, and the guide member consisting of a guide roller disposed at a fixed location and rotating in one direction, such roller exerting an electrostatic attraction force on a charged sheet coming from the nip. The attracting force exerted by the guide roller tends to keep the sheet separated from the belt in opposition to the attraction which exists between the charged sheet and said belt. Since the guide roller cannot be disposed close to the nip, because of its roller shape, the separation force exerted by the guide roller cannot become operative until a relatively large part of the sheet has left the nip. In addition, this separation force must overcome the force of attraction between the sheet and the belt. This separation force must be generated by the charge present on the sheet, so that the sheet must be capable of receiving a considerable charge for the purposes of separation. This restricts the known device to processing specific types of sheets. US Patents 3 820 776 and 4 004 802 both disclose a device for guiding a sheet, after passing a transport nip formed by nip-forming surfaces, in a direction away from the nip-forming surfaces by means of a movable guide member which touches one of the nip-forming surfaces for intercepting a sheet passed through the nip. These devices suffer the drawback mentioned in US patent 4 062 631 that the guide member may cause any damage onto the nip-forming surface contacting the guide member. The object of the invention is to provide a device of the kind referred to in the preamble, such device being suitable for processing many kinds of sheets. According to the invention this object is attained in a device according to the preamble, in that the nip-forming surfaces are formed by rollers having different radii of curvature, whereby the roller having the largest radius of curvature has a smaller surface hardness than the roller having the smallest radius of curvature, for detaching the leading part of a sheet from the roller surfaces, and in that the movable guide member is movable to and fro between a first position and a second position and is provided with a thin end, which thin end in the first position extends to a short distance from the transport nip, short enough to intercept the leading edge of a sheet advanced through the transport nip and detached from the nip forming surfaces, and in the second position is situated at a greater distance from the transport nip and the nip-forming surfaces. Consequently, a sheet in the immediate vicinity of the transport nip is catched and is thus reliably separated from the nip-forming surfaces. In an attractive embodiment of a device according to the invention, the guide member is freely rotatable about and axis situated a level above the transport nip so as to be readily displaceable from the first position to the second position by the intercepted and advanced sheet. Consequently, no extra drives means are required to move the guide member from the first position to the second position. In another or further embodiment of a device according to the invention, in the first position of the guide member the distance between the thin end of the guide member and the nip-forming roller having the largest radius of curvature is smaller than the distance between the thin end and the nip-forming roller having the smallest radius of curvature. Consequently, in the first phase of the sheet separation the leading part of the sheet can readily be guided between the guide member and nip-forming surface having the smallest radius of curvature, whereafter in the second phase of the sheet separation the leading part is pulled in the direction of the thin end of the guide member partly by the electrostatic attraction force exerted by the nip-forming surface having the largest radius of curvature, and is held fast thereon. As a result, even sheets which can only receive a small charge can reliably be separated from nip-forming surfaces by electrostatic forces. Other features and advantages of the invention will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is diagrammatic cross-section of a device according to the invention in a position of rest, and Fig. 2 shows the device according to Fig. 1 in a different position. The device shown in the drawings comprises a horizontally extending roller 1 having a diameter of 100 mm, which is covered with a layer of silicone rubber 2. Roller 1 can be driven in a direction indicated by an arrow by drive means (not shown). Roller 1 acts as an image transfer roller which can receive on its silicone rubber layer 2 a powder image from a photoconductive drum (not shown), the powder image then being transferred from the image transfer roller 1 to a receiving sheet 3. To this end, receiving sheet 3 is pressed by a pressure roller 4 against the underside of the image transfer roller 1, e.g. in a manner described in applicants' Netherlands Patent Application No. 8802644. (EP-A-036 9507) Pressure roller 4 has a diameter of 25 mm and is covered with a layer 5 of material which is abhesive to powder, e.g. silicone rubber or fluoroethylenepropylene. Layer 5 has a hardness such that when the image transfer roller 1 and pressure roller 4 are pressed against one another, the layer of silicone rubber 2 on the image transfer roller 1 is pressed in more than the layer 5 on the pressure roller 4. Consequently, a receiving sheet 3 fed through the transport nip 6 formed between the image transfer roller 1 and the pressure roller 4 is compelled to deflect its leading portion from the image transfer roller 1 without such leading portion of the receiving sheet being able to follow the surface of the considerably curved pressure roller 4. A pair of cooperating transport rollers 7 and 8 is disposed at some distance from the transport nip 6. This pair of transport rollers 7, 8 is used to discharge a receiving sheet 3 fed through the transport nip 6. A guide plate 9 is disposed in the zone between the transport nip 6 and the pair of transport rollers 7, 8 and is used to guide that side of the receiving sheet 3 which is remote from the image transfer roller 1. For this purpose guide plate 9 extends from near the surface of the pressure roller 4 as far as the bottom transport roller 7 of the pair 7, 8. At roller 7, guide plate 9 is provided with projections which fit into continuous grooves 10 formed in the transport roller 7. A guide member formed by a number of bent strips 12 situated in one plane is secured at one end to a block 13 freely rotatable about a shaft 14 which extends in parallel to the axes of rotation of the rollers in a location situated approximately 100 mm above the transport rollers 7 and 8. The strips 12 extend from block 13 about the transport roller 8 to near the nip 6, each strip being freely movable between continuous grooves 10 and 11 formed respectively in the rollers 7 and 8. The centre of gravity of guide member 12 is so located that the guide member in the position shown in Fig. 1 rests against an abutment 15 disposed on that side of the guide member 12 which faces the image transfer roller 1. The free ends of the strips form a thin end 16 of the guide member, which thin end 16 in the position of rest of the device is situated at a distance of about 1 mm from the surface of the image transfer roller 1 and at a distance of about 3 mm from the surface of the pressure roller 4, the thin end 16 extending substantially parallel to the surface of the pressure roller 4. The guide member 12 consists of electrically conductive material and is earthed. Good results are obtained with a guide member whose thin end is situated at a distance of 3 to 12 mm from the transport nip when the device is in the position of rest. The above-described device operates as follows: After passing the transport nip 6 the leading part of a receiving sheet 3 fed through the transport nip 6 is automatically separated from the surfaces of the image transfer roller 1 and pressure roller 4 as a result of the shape of the transport nip, said leading part being fed to the discharge side of the transport nip 6 in the space bordered, on the one hand, by the surface of the pressure roller 4 and, on the other hand, by the underside of the thin end 16 of guide member 12. As a result of the charge present on the receiving sheet 3, which charge can be generated by tribo-electric forces operative in the nip, mirror charges are generated in the adjacent thin end 16 of the earthed guide member 12 and pull the leading part of the receiving sheet 3 against the underside of the thin end 16 and hold it thereon with some force. Charges present on the image transfer roller 1 may intensify this attracting action. The receiving sheet 3 moving on through the transport nip 6 then pushes the guide member 12 ahead of itself, said member rotating about shaft 14 and the receiving sheet 3 being transported in the direction of the transport rollers 7 and 8. When the leading part of the receiving sheet 3 has been fed into the nip between the transport rollers 7 and 8, which situation is shown in Fig. 2, these transport rollers 7 and 8 pull the receiving sheet 3 away from the guide member 12 and the latter falls by its own weight back into the starting position shown in Fig. 1, awaiting a subsequent receiving sheet 3 transported through the transport nip 6. The receiving sheet may also be held on the movable guide member by mechanical forces instead of electrostatic forces. In that case the thin end of the guide member is provided with a notch, into which, in the first position of the guide member, the leading edge of the receiving sheet runs and is retained therein during the following pushing ahead of the guide member into the second position. In this embodiment the guide member need not be electrically conductive and earthed.

Claims: A device for guiding a sheet (3), after passing a transport nip (6) formed by nip-forming surfaces (2, 5), in a direction away from the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5), said device comprising a movable guide member (12) disposed near the exit side of the transport nip (6), which guide member (12) without touching the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5) intercepts of the sheet (3) a leading part advanced through the transport nip (6) and detached from the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5) and guides that sheet (3) further away from the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5), characterised in that the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5) are formed by rollers (1, 4) having different radii of curvature, whereby the roller (1) having the largest radius of curvature has a smaller surface hardness than the roller (4) having the smallest radius of curvature, for detaching the leading part of a sheet from the roller surfaces, and in that the movable guide member (12) is movable to and fro between a first position and second position and is provided with a thin end (16), which thin end (16) in the first position extends to a short distance from the transport nip (6), short enough to intercept the leading part of a sheet (3) advanced through the transport nip (6) and detached from the nip forming surfaces (2,5), and in the second position is situated at a greater distance from the transport nip (6) and the nip-forming surfaces (2, 5). A device according to claim 1, characterised in that the movable guide member (12) is freely rotatable about an axis (14) situated at a level above the transport nip (6) so as to be readily displaceable from the first position to the second position by the intercepted and advanced sheet (3). A device according to claim 1 or 2, characterised in that a cooperating pair of rollers (7, 8) is disposed near the place where the thin end (16) is situated in the second position, at least one roller (7; 8) of said pair having at least one continuous recess (10; 11) through which recess (10; 11) the guide member (12) can move freely from the first position to the second position. A device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that the guide member (12) is rotatable about a shaft (14) extending parallel to the transport nip (6) and in that an abutment (15) is provided which holds the guide member (12) in the first position when the device is in the position of rest. A device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that in the first position of the guide member (12) the distance between the thin end (16) of the guide member (12) and the roller (1) having the largest radius of curvature is smaller than the distance between the thin end (16) and the roller (4) having the smallest radius of curvature.

Inventors: VAN DER STERREN MARTIN LEONARD, VAN DER STERREN, MARTIN LEONARD
Applicants: OCE NEDERLAND BV, OCE-NEDERLAND B.V.
Application year: 1990
Main classification: B65H29
IPC codes: G03G15, B65H5, B65H29