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(11) | EP 0 421 173 A3 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION |
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| (54) | Paper stacking arrangement |
| (57) In a paper stacking arrangement in which a length of prefolded printer paper (16)
with series of spaced-apart apertures (26) adjacent the opposite edges (28; 30) thereof
is driven through a printer (10) by opposite tractor drives (12; 14) and then pulled
from the printer (10) by paper-pulling rollers (74; 84) and then dropped into a paper
basket (52) where the paper (16) folds to form a stack (63), a paper ironing mechanism
(82) presses the paper (16) flat at the opposite series of apertures (26) prior to
stacking to avoid paper jams and to provide a flatter stack of the paper (16) within
the paper basket (52). Portions of the edges (38) of the apertures (26) in the paper
(16) which are often bent out of the plane of the paper (16) by the pins (36) of the
tractor drive (12, 14) are ironed flat by the paper ironing mechanism (82) which includes
an arrangement of rollers (74, 84) disposed on opposite sides of the paper (16) at
the series of apertures (26) and biased toward one another. In a preferred embodiment of a paper ironing mechanism (82), the paper pulling rollers (74) of an arrangement for pulling the length of paper (16) out of the printer (10) are disposed on one side of the paper (16) at the opposite series of apertures (26). Idler rollers (84, 90) disposed on the opposite side of the paper (16) are biased against the paper (16) and the opposite paper puller rollers (74) by leaf springs (86) on which the idler rollers (84, 90) are rotatably mounted. |