Dual Input Bump Alignment Assembly for an Imaging Device

摘要

A bump alignment assembly using at least two input media feeds for use in an imaging device. Two spaced apart media guides form a tunnel-shaped bubble chamber about a media path. Two media feed roll pairs are positioned adjacent to the entrance of the bubble chamber. The width of the entrance to the bubble chamber is equal to or greater than the separation of the feed nips of the two media feed roll pairs allowing two or more media paths to be accommodated without the use of media path extensions. A bump alignment roll pair is adjacent the exit of the bubble chamber. Entry, exit and biasing surface features of the media guides provide for buckling and bubble formation of media being fed into the bubble chamber.

主权项

1. An alignment assembly for aligning a media sheet to a media teed path in an imaging device, the alignment assembly comprising:
a first and a second media guide spaced apart from each other along the media path allowing a media sheet to pass therebetween, the first and second media guides having opposed first and second media guide surfaces, respectively, forming a bubble chamber therebetween; the bubble chamber having an entrance having a predetermined width W1 and an exit having a predetermined width W2 positioned downstream of the entrance in a media process direction; a first and a second media teed roll pair positioned upstream of the entrance to the bubble chamber along respective first and second input portions of the media path and positioned immediately adjacent to the entrance of the bubble chamber, the first and second media feed roll pairs forming a first and a second feed nip, respectively, separated from one another by a distance D that is equal to or less than the width W1, allowing a media sheet travelling along each of the first input portion and the second input portion of the media path and received at the respective first and second feed nip to be red directly into the bubble chamber and toward the exit thereof; and, a bump alignment roll pair positioned along the media path downstream of and adjacent to the exit of the bubble chamber and forming a bump align nip adjacent to the exit for receiving the leading edge of the received media sheet, wherein, as the received media sheet is fed from the one of the first and second feed nips into the bubble chamber and into contact with the bump align nip, one of the first and the second media guide surfaces contacts and hackles a portion of the received media sheet disposed inside the bubble chamber forming a bubble in the portion of the media sheet within the bubble chamber allowing the leading edge of the received media sheet to be aligned with the bump align nip.