Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Case 998
RM/ll
EACSIMILE APPARATU~ HAVING PIVOTAL~Y SUPPORTED IMAGE
~EADING SYSTEM
The present invention relates to facsimile apparatus,
and in particular to the manner in which image reading
systems are mounted within facsimile apparatus. The
present invention is suitable for use in facsimile
apparatus having optical image reading systems which may
include a light source, a light detector, a mirror and an
optical lens, and it will be convenient to hereinafter
disclose the invention in relation to that exemplary
application. It is to be appreciated, however, that the
invention is not limited to this application and may be
used with facsimile apparatus having other image reading
systems.
~ onventional facsimile apparatus include a receiver
for receiving electrical signals from a telephone line
representative of graphic material, and a printer for
printing a reproduction of this received graphic material
on a recording medium, such as a stored roll of paper.
Such apparatus also include an image reading system for
reading similar graphic material from a recording medium,
such as typed characters on a sheet of paper, and
producing electrical signals corresponding to this read
graphic material. A transportation system is provided to
transport the recording medium past a reading location in
order that the graphic material thereon can be read by the
image reading system. A transmitter transmits the
electrical signals produced by the image reading system to
a remote facsimile apparatus via the telephone line.
The transmitter, receiver and other portions of these
facsimile apparatus are constituted as electronic
components. A printed circuit board is provided onto which
these electronic components are mounted for
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interconnection. This printed circuit board is generally
connected to the body of the facsimile apparatus in a
structurally rigid manner. For example, the base of the
facsimile apparatus may be provided with moulded
projections onto which the printed circuit board is glued
or otherwise fixed.
It is known to also mount the image reading system of
the facsimile apparatus on this printed circuit board. The
image reading system is oriented on the printed circuit
board with respect to the reading location of the
tranportation system, in order that it can read the
graphic material on a record medium transported past the
reading location.
However, many facsimile apparatus are subject to
deformation when in use. Deformation may arise when, for
example, a book or other object is placed under one corner
of the facsimile apparatus and someone leans or places a
heavy object on top of the facsimile apparatus. As a
result, the body of the facsimile apparatus and thus the
printed circuit board fixed to the body is caused to bend
or otherwise deform. Many similar situations can easily be
envisaged. Deformation of the printed circuit board also
occurs when the facsimile apparatus experiences
temperature variation, leading to the expansion or
contraction of various internal components. Such
deformation of the printed circuit board can alter the
orientation of the image reading system with respect to
the reading location, and so cause the image reading
system to not correctly read the graphic material on the
recording medium.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a
facsimile apparatus which overcomes or alleviates the
disadvantages of known facsimile apparatus.
With that object in mind, the present invention
provides a facsimile apparatus comprising a main body, an
image reading system for reading graphic material on a
recording medium, transportation means for transporting
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said recording medium past a reading location at which
said graphic material is read by said image reading
system, and support means onto which said image reading
system is mounted, characterised in that said support
means and said main body have cooperating pivot members
enabling said support member to pivot about an axis
adjacent said reading location between a normal position,
in which said image reading system is supported in a
reading relation with said reading location, and a
displaced position, such that said image reading system is
maintained in said reading relation in said displaced
position.
Thus, the orientation of the image reading system
with respect to the reading location at which the graphic
information on the recording medium is read is maintained,
in spite of displacement of the image reading system
caused by the deformation of the body of the facsimile
apparatus.
The following description refers in more detail to
the various features of the facsimile apparatus of the
present invention. In order to facilitate an understanding
of the invention, reference is made in the description to
the accompanying drawings where the facsimile apparatus is
illustrated in a preferred embodiment. It is to be
understood that the facsimile apparatus of the present
invention is not limited to the preferred embodiment as
illustrated in the drawings.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is a side view of one embodiment of a
facsimile apparatus having an image reading system mounted
according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a side view of the image reading system
of figure 1; and
Figure 3 is a plan view of the image reading system
of figure 1.
Referring now to figure 1, there is shown a side view
of a facsimile apparatus 1 consisting basically of a main
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body 2, an image read.ng system 3, a paper transportation
system 4 and a printing head 5. Other parts needed for the
proper functioning of the facsimile apparatus 1, such as a
receiver, a transmitter and a dialling circuit, have been
omitted from figure 1 for the sake of clarity.
The main body 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1 includes
a series of keys 6 for the dialling of the telephone
number of a remote facsimile apparatus to which it is
desired to send a facsimile message, and for controlling
the operation of the facsimile apparatus 1. The main body
2 also provides a guide surface 7 onto which are placed
sheets of paper bearing typed or otherwise inscribed
graphic material that a user of the facsimile apparatus 1
wishes to send to the remote facsimile apparatus.
The paper transportation system 4 comprises a main
drive roller 8, a paper feed roller 9, a printing roller
10 and an internally stored roll of paper 11. The paper
feed roller 9 engages and is driven by the main drive
roller 8. The motor/s and gear-trains needed to enable the
rotation of the rollers 3, 9 and 10 have also been omitted
from figure 1.
The printing head 5 is fixed to the main body 2 of
the facsimile apparatus 1 by a resilient arm 12 which
biases the printing head towards the printing roller 10.
When electrical signals corresponding to a facsimile
message are received by the facsimile apparatus 1, the
printing roller 10 is caused to rotate in a clockwise
sense as shown in figure 1. A web of paper 13 is thus
drawn past the printing head 5, in order that the printing
head S can print the received facsimile message onto the
web 13. The main body 2 is provided with an opening (not
shown) by which the portion of the web 13 bearing the
printed facsimile message leaves the facsimile apparatus
1.
When a user of the facsimile apparatus 1 wishes to
send a facsimile message to a remote facsimile apparatus,
sheets of paper having graphic information on one side are
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placed on the guide surface 7. The sheets of paper are
held by friction between the paper feeding roller 9 and a
paper separation member 14. When the user depresses one of
the keys 6 to instruct the facsimile apparatus 1 to send a
facsimile message, the drive roller 8 is caused to rotate
in an anti-clockwise sense, as indicated in figure 1. The
paper feeding roller 9 is driven by the drive roller 8 and
thus caused to rotate in a clockwise sense. The upper-most
sheet of paper which has been placed on the guide surface
7 is drawn by the paper feeding roller 9, as it rotates,
along a path 15 between the paper feed roller 9 and the
drive roller 8.
The paper transportation system 4 also comprises two
guide members 16 and 17. The sheet of paper thus taken
from the guide surface 7 is caused to continue along the
path 15 by frictional contact with the drive roller 8, to
pass between the two guide members 16 and 17, around the
rest of the main drive roller 8, and finally to leave the
body 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1. As best seen in
figure 2, the guide member 17 is spaced from the drive
roller 8 and has a surface facing the guide member 16
which causes the paper passing around the drive roller 8
to follow a path tangential to the circumference of the
drive roller 8 at a location 18. The paper following the
path 15 is thus relatively flat at this location 18 in
order to more easily facilitate the reading of the graphic
material on the paper by the image reading system 3. Other
embodiments of the facsimile apparatus, however, may cause
the paper to follow a different trajectory at this
location 18.
Referring now to figures 1 to 3, the image reading
system 3 comprises basically an LED (Light Emitting Diode)
array 19, a light detecting unit 20, and a mirror 21. The
image reading system 3 is mounted on a support 22. The
mirror 21 is fixed to a rotatably adjustable member 23
which is connected to the support 22 via two mounting
brackets 24 and 25. Shafts 26 and 27 are provided at
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either end of the member 23 for location in corresponding
holes of the mounting brackets 24 and 25. The light
detecting unit 20 comprises a housing 28 fixed to the
support 22, in which housing 28 is lccated an optical lens
29 and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) array 30. The LED
array 19 is mounted on the housing 28 of the light
detecting unit 20.
When in use, the LED array 19 emits yellow-green
light onto the surface of paper passing the location 18.
This emitted light is deflected by the surface of the
paper, with variations in the intensity of the light being
produced by the graphic material on the paper. The mirror
21 is positioned on the support 22 so as to reflect the
yellow-green light from the surface of the paper to the
light detecting unit 20. In the embodiment shown in figure
1, additional mirrors 37 and 38 are used to modify the
path followed by the yellow-green light, whereas in the
embodiment shown in figure 2 the yellow-green light is
directly reflected by the mirror 21 to the light detecting
unit 20.
The optical lens 29 causes the yellow-green light
received by the light detecting unit 2~ to be focused onto
the CCD array 30. The yellow-green light striking the
surface of the CCD array 30 is converted into electrical
signals. Variation in the electrical signals resulting
from the variation in the intensity of the yellow-green
light detected is then used by the transmitter within the
facsimile apparatus 1 to transmit the read graphic
~aterial to a remote facsimile apparatus.
The support 22 comprises a mounting plate 31 having
reinforcing webbing 32 to increase its rigidity,.so that
the mounting plate 31 retains its shape when in use. The
interrelation between the parts of the image reading
system 3 mounted on the support 22 is therefore retained.
The support 22 also comprises brackets 33 and 34 fixed to
the mounting plate 31. The brackets 33 and 34 have
respective projections 35 and 36 adjacent the reading
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portion 18 for location in corresponding apertures (not
shown) in the body 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1. The
projections 35 and 36 cooperate with their corresponding
projections to allow the support 22 and the image reading
system 3 mounted thereon to pivot about an axis parallel
to the plane of the paper at the reading location 18. In
other embodiments of the invention, other cooperating
members which allow such pivotting may be used.
The body 2 of the facsimile apparatus 1 is provided
with a stop member 39 against which the support 22 abuts
when in normal use, as shown in figures 1 and 2. The stop
member 39 prevents the support 22 from pivotting in one
sense, whilst freely allowing it to pivot in the other
sense. The support 22 is supported so as to be spaced from
an interior surface 40 of the body 2 of the facsimile
apparatus 1 so that in normal use the support 22 is in
contact with the body 2 only by means of the projections
35 and 36, and the stop member 39.
In another embodiment, the support 22 engages an
interior surface of the body 2 in normal use. The body 2
may include one or more spacers projecting from the
interior surface 40 or other of its interior surfaces.
These spacers may engage the support 22 when in normal use
and may be made from rubber or other resilient material.
The stop member 39 may be omitted from this arrangement so
that the support 22 is engaed only by the spacers when in
a normal use position. Alternatively, the support 22 may
engage the stop member 39 in normal use and may engage the
spacers when the body 2 is deformed. AS will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art, other
arrangements which maintain the support 22 in a normal
position, but allow it to pivot when the body 2 deforms
are possible.
A force applied to the body 2 of the facsimile
apparatus 1 which causes it to twist, bend, warp or
otherwise deform, may be insufficient to cause a force to
be applied the support 22. However, if such deformation is
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sufficiently large to cause such a force to be applied to
the support 22, the projections 35 and 36 and their
cooperating apertures in the body 2 enable the support to
pivot about its pivotting axis so that the support 22
retains its form. The relation between the LED array 19,
the mirror 21 and the light detecting unit 20 is thus
maintained.
Further, the placement of the projections 35 and 36
and their corresponding apertures so as to locate the
pivotting axis of the support 22 adjacent to the location
18 at which the graphic material on the paper is read,
enables the support 22 to pivot whilst maintaining the
relation between the image reading system 3 and the
reading location 18 necessary for the proper operation of
the image reading system 3. It will be appreciated that
the distance of the pivoting axis to the reading location
18, the exact dimensions of the support 22, the size of
the reading location 18 and the relative placement of the
parts of the image reading system 3 will determine the
angular distance through which the support 22 may pivot
whilst the image reading system 3 remains operable.
Finally, it is to be understood that various
modifications and/or additions may be made to the
facsimile apparatus without departing from the ambit of
the present invention as defined in the claims appended
hereto.
