Means for positioning optical components for a variable magnification/reduction copier optics system

Claim 2

A variable reduction optical system for use with a document copier machine comprising; a drive motor means for driving machine components during copy reproduction; a lens assembly; characterized by, an optics positioning system for use in altering the position of said lens in order to achieve a selected reduction ratio, said positioning system including disconnectable coupling means for connecting said lens assembly and said drive motor means for altering the position of said lens in response to rotation of said drive motor means, the connection provided by said coupling means being removed for the normal copying operation.

Claim 3

The system according to claim 1, characterized by, total conjugate length adjustment mechanisms, said mechanisms connected to said lens assembly for adjusting total conjugate length simultaneously with an alteration in the position of said lens.

Claim 4

The system according to claim 2 further comprising: a document glass; a scanning optical system with at least one scanning carriage; and characterized in that said drive motor means drives said scanning carriage and said copupling means is mounted to couple said scanning carriage to said lens assembly.

Claim 5

The system according to claim 3 further comprising: control means, including a processor, for providing signals to cause said drive motor to drive said scanning carriage at a selected speed for altering the position of said lens; and characterized in that said control means also provides signals to place said coupling means in a connecting relationship with said lens assembly.

Claim 6

The system according to claim 5 wherein said drive motor is a servo scan motor, said optics positioning system further, characterized by, a digital scan tachometer connected to said scanning carriage and to said processor for providing feedback information relating to the velocity and position of said scanning carriage.

Claim 8

A document copier machine comprising: a document glass; a photoreceptive surface mounted on a drum; a main drive motor for rotating said drum; an optics module for transmitting irradiation reflected from a document to be copied placed on said document glass to said photoreceptive surface; said optics module containing a lens assembly and at least one scanning carriage driven by a scan drive motor for scanning said document to be copied; command station means for commanding said machine to produce a copy of said document at a reduction ratio; characterized by, control means for receiving said command for signaling said scan drive motor to move said scanning carriage at a speed suitable for positioning said lens assembly at a position consonant with said reduction ratio; and coupling means, operated under control of said control means, for connecting said scanning carriage and said lens assembly during the positioning operation and operating said coupling to disconnect said scanning carriage and said lens assembly during the document scanning operation.

Claim 9

A document copier machine comprising: a document glass; a photoreceptive surface mounted on a drum; a main drive motor for rotating said drum; an optics module for transmitting irradiation reflected from a document to be copied placed on said document glass to said photoreceptive surface; said optics module containing a lens assembly and at least one scanning carriage driven by a scan drive motor for scanning said document to be copied; command station means for commanding said machine to produce a copy of said document at a reduction ratio; characterized by, control means for receiving said command for signaling said scan drive motor to move said scanning carriage at a speed suitable for positioning said lens assembly at a position consonant with said reduction ratio; and coupling means, operated under control of said control means, for connecting said scanning carriage and said lens assembly during the positioning operation and operating said coupling to disconnect said scanning carriage and said lens assembly during the document scanning operation.

Claim 10

The machine according to claim 7, characterized by total conjugate length adjustment mechanism, said mechanisms connected to said lens assembly for adjusting total conjugate length simultaneously with an alteration in the position of said lens.

Claim 11

The machine according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that said control means includes a processor for providing signals for placing said coupling means in a connecting relationship with said lens assembly.

Claim 12

The machine according to claim 9 wherein said scan drive motor is a servo motor, said optics positioning system; characterized by, a digital scan tachometer connected to said scanning carriage and to said processor for providing feedback information relating to the velocity and position of said scanning carriage.

Claim 13

The machine according to any of the claims 8 to 10, characterized in that said optics positioning system is a substantially continuously variable positioning system.

Claim 16

' The method according to claim 12, characterized in that said step of operating said drive motor to move said lens positions said lens in a substantially continuously variable manner.