John
Kevin
John
Kevin
| 1. | : A stand for continuous stationery comprising an upper support surface for a computer printer and lower rotatable 8 support means for holding a plurality of supplies of continuous stationery. |
| 2. | A stand as claimed in claim 1 wherein the rotatable support means is associated with a retaining mechanism for selectively retaining the support means at a plurality of rotational positions. |
| 3. | A stand as claimed in claim 2 wherein the retaining mechanism comprises a spring loaded ball selectively locatable in a plurality of recesses disposed on a circular locus. |
| 4. | A stand as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the paper support unit comprises a plurality of paper trays mounted on a collar rotatably supported around a fixed boss. |
| 5. | A stand as claimed in claim 4 wherein the boss in mounted on a vertical rod. |
| 6. | A stand as claimed in claim 1 having a paper feed opening associated with the support surface. |
| 7. | A stand as claimed in claim 1 comprising two rotatable support means positioned one above the other. |
| 8. | A stand as claimed in claim 1 provided with a paper guide. |
| 9. | A stand as claimed in claim 1 provided with a paper collection tray. |
| 10. | A computer printer system comprising a computer printer associated with a rotatable support means for supporting a plurality of supplies of continuous stationery. |
| 11. | A method of changing a computer printer from a first supply of continuous stationery located at a feed position to a second supply of such stationery located at a waiting position, the method comprising interrupting the first supply of stationery to the printer, moving the second supply around a circular path from the waiting position to the feed position and feeding the second supply to the printer. |
The present invention relates to a stand for continuous stationery and particularly (although not exclusively) to one which also serves as a printer stand.
Many small businesses now have computers and associated table-top printers for producing "print-outs" from the computer. Such printers are generally fed with continuous (e.g. fanfold stationery and it is frequently the case that any one company requires several different formats of pre-printed stationery. Thus, for example, the company may have separate stationery for wages, accounts, orders etc. It is obviously desirable that the stationery is. stored in such a manner- that the printer may be changed quickly from one --form .of stationery to another.
Various types of apparatus • have already been proposed for storing different types of stationery. Generally such apparatus comprises a trolley or the like which holds several different stationery formats. There is however a problem that the trolleys must be wheeled to the printer each time it is required to use stationery of a particular format.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a stand for continuous stationery which allows a printer to be changed quickly and easily between one form of continuous stationery and another. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a stand for continuous stationery comprising an upper support surface for a computer printer and a lower rotatable support means for holding a plurality of supplies of continuous stationery.
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Preferably a retaining mechanism is provided for selectively retaining the rotatable support means at any one of a plurality of rotational positions. The use of such a retaining mechanism prevents unwanted rotation of the paper support means resulting from printer vibration. Preferably also the printer support surface is associated with a paper feed opening through which paper may be fed from the paper support means to the printer. According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer printer system comprising a computer printer associated with a rotatable support means for supporting a plurality of supplies of continuous stationery. According to a third aspect of the present invention' there is provided a method of changing a computer printer- from a first supply of continuous stationery located at a feed position to a second
" supply of such stationery located at a waiting position, the method comprising interrupting the first supply of stationery to the printer, moving the second supply around a circular path from the waiting position to a feed position, and feeding the second supply to the printer. The invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of printer support unit in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 illustrates a second embodiment of printer support unit;
Figs. 3 and 4 are details to an enlarged scale showing the mounting of the paper support units.
As shown in the drawing, a printer support unit l comprises an upper printer support table 2 and two
lower shelves 3 and 4 on each of which are mounted respective paper support carousels 5 and 6 each rotatable about a vertical axis.
Each carousel 5 and 6 is sub-divided (as illustrated in the inset drawing) into three sections, in each of which a different supply of fanfold continuous stationery 7 may be located. Obviously, the carousels may be sub-divided into a number of sections other than three. Within each section, there are provided locating means (not shown) for precisely locating fanfold stationery in that section in position. Alternatively, locating marks may be provided in the sections.
Each of the shelves 3 and 4 are provided with detent means 8 (e.g. a ball catch), and each carousel 5 and 6 has a plurality of-dimples (only -one shown) arranged on its undersurface in a circular locus and into which the detent means may locate. The number of such dimples on each carousel 5 and 6 corresponds to the number of sections into which the carousel is divided and, as will be appreciated from the subsequent description, these dimples are positioned such that the respective carousels 5 or 6 may be releasably arrested at a plurality of rotational positions such that, at each position, one of the stationery supplies 7 is at the correct position for supply to the printer 12.
The printer stand further comprises a paper feed slot 9 provided in the upper support table 2, a paper guide 10, and a paper collection tray 11.
In use, a printer 11 is positioned on the table 2 and each section of the carousels 5 and 6 is loaded with continuous stationery of the desired formats. As illustrated in the drawing, paper 7 on upper carousel 5 is located beneath the paper feed
slot and is fed therethrough to the printer 11, from which it passes over guide 9 to collection tray 10.
Assume now that it is desired to change the continuous stationery to another type on upper carousel 5. For this purpose, the stationery 7 being fed to the printer 11 is severed, and carousel 5 is rotated so that the desired stationery is now located beneath the feed slot. At this position, the carousel 5 is retained in position by the detent means 8 locating in an appropriately positioned dimple in the undersurface of carousel 5. The new stationery may now be fed through the feed slot .to the printer, and the printing operation commenced.
Stationery supported on the lower carousel 6 may be supplied to the printer in a manner analogous to that fro' - carousel 5, save that • it . is not passed though the paper feed slot 9 but is passed outwardly of the shelf 3 and over the support, table 2 to the printer. A further embodiment of stand 20 is illustrated in Fig. 2 and comprises an upper frame 21 supported on side legs 22 above an H-shaped base 23. Mounted on the top of frame 21 is a board 24 positioned such that a paper feed opening 25 is defined between an edge of board 24 and a side of frame 21.
The stand additionally comprises two vertically spaced paper support units 26 each rotatably mounted around a vertical rod 27. This rod 27 is fixed at its lower end to the centre of the 'bar* of H-shaped base 23 and at its upper end to a cross-member (not shown) extending between legs 22 just below the level of frame 21.
Each paper support unit 26 comprises a collar 28 (illustrated as being generally octagonal with a central circular aperture 29 - see Figs. 3 and 4)
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having two projecting rods 30 which are spaced 180° from each other around the collar and which each support on open-work paper tray 31. Each collar 28 is rotatable around a respective circular boss 32 fixed to rod 27 and is supported on a plate 33 mounted on rod 27 beneath boss 32.
Collar 28 is provided with a retaining mechanism in the form of a spring-loaded ball 34 projecting partly into its central aperture 29 and additionally boss 32 has four part spherical recesses 35 equiangularly spaced around its circumference.
It will thus be seen that collar 28 is rotatable around boss 32 and may be selectively retained at any one of four rotational positions by virtue of ball 34 locating in an appropriate recess 35. Clearly the recesses 34 are shaped such that ball 34 is releasably retained therein thus permitting rotation of collar 28 from one rotational position to the next.
The location of two of the recesses 35 around boss 32 is such that either of the trays 31 associated with the collar 28 may be selectively retained below paper feed opening 25. This is the position illustrated for the upper of the two paper support units 26 illustrated in Fig. 1. Additionally the other two recesses 35 are positioned such that the paper support units may be located at the 'transverse' position as shown in Fig. 1 for the lower of such units.
As illustrated in Fig. 1 continuous stationery 36 is being fed to a printer 37 from one of the upper paper trays 31 via paper feed opening 25. Clearly, any one of paper trays 31 may be positioned below opening 25 for the supply of appropriate stationery to the printer 37. If paper is being fed from a lower one of the trays 31 then the upper unit 26 is
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in the 'transverse' position so as to avoid hindrance by upper trays 31.
The use of the location mechanism ensures that during a printing operation, vibrations from the printer do not cause the paper support units 26 to be moved around rod 27 in a manner which would adversely affect the supply of paper to the printer.
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