Apparatus for justifying a reproduced line of characters

Claim 2

Justifying apparatus for producing a copy having uniform length lines of characters from an original document having character lines of an unequal length comprising: a lens supported for planar movement between a document holder adapted to support an unjustified original document containing unequal length lines of characters and a copy holder adapted to support a copy material upon which a justified copy having uniform length lines of characters is to be produced, cyclically operable scan means operative in a prescan portion of a cycle to traverse said original document holder for determining the variation of an unjustified line of characters from a predetermined standard line length to transmit a control signal indicative of the degree of variation determined, and operative in a projection portion of the cycle to transverse said original document holder for projecting an unjustified line of characters through said lens to said copy holder as a justified line of characters, control means for receiving said control signal operatively connected to said lens to effect planar movement thereof in synchronism with the traversal of said scan means during the projection portion of said cycle in a direction and at a speed relative thereto as determined by said control signal, and means for varying the conjugate distances of said holders relative to said lens for varying the magnification ratio by which the image characters are to be reproduced.

Claim 3

Justification apparatus for producing a copy having uniform length lines of characters from an original document having character lines of an unequal length comprising; a lens supported for planar movement between a document holder adapted to support an unjustified original document containing unequal length lines of characters and a copy holder adapted to support a copy material upon which a justified copy having uniform length lines of characters is to be produced, cyclically operable scan means operative in a prescan portion of a cycle to traverse said original document holder for determining the variation of an unjustified line of characters from a predetermined standard line length to transmit a control signal indicative of the degree of variation determined, and operative in a projection portion of the cycle to transverse said original document holder for projecting an unjustified line of characters through said lens to said copy holder as a justified character line, said scan means including an elongated member overlying said document holder and having an aperture therein for exposing restricted portions of said original unjustified document supportable on said document holder and a photosensor and illumination source, said illumination source being positioned to direct a beam of light through said aperture into said photosensor for varying an output control signal emitted from said photosensor in accordance with the intensity of the light beam directed there into, thereby determining the variation of an unjustified line of characters from a predetermined standard line length as indicated by said varying output control signal emitted from said photosensor, and control means for receiving said varying output control signal and operatively connected to said lens to effect planar movement thereof in synchronism with the traversal of said scan means during the projection portion of said cycle in a direction and at a speed relative thereto as determined by said varying output control signal.

Claim 4

Justification apparatus for producing a copy having uniform length lines of characters from an original document having character lines of an unequal length comprising; a lens supported for planar movement between a document holder adapted to support an unjustified original document containing unequal length lines of characters and a copy holder adapted to support a copy material upon which a justified copy having uniform length lines of characters is to be produced, cyclically operable scan means operative in a prescan portion of a cycle to traverse said original document holder for determining the variation of an unjustified line of characters from a predetermined standard line length to transmit a control signal indicative of the degree of variation determined, and operative in a projection portion of the cycle to transverse said original document holder for projecting an unjustified line of characters through said lens to said copy holder as a justified character line, said scan means including an elongated member overlying said document holder and having an aperture therein for exposing restricted portions of said original unjustified document supportable on said document holder and a photosensor and illumination source, said illumination source being positioned to direct a beam of light through said aperture into said photosensor for varying an output control signal emitted from said photosensor in accordance with the intensity of the light beam directed there into, thereby determining the variation of an unjustified line of characters from a predetermined standard line length as indicated by said varying output control signal emitted from said photosensor, and control means for receiving said varying output control signal and operatively connected to said lens to effect planar movement thereof in synchronism with the traversal of said scan means during the projection portion of said cycle in a direction and at a speed relative thereto as determined by said varying output control signal.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the output signal from said photosensor is coupled to said control means for presetting the movement of said lens during the prescan portion of said scan means cycle and effecting said lens movement during the projection portion of said scan means cycle.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said illumination source directs said light beam through said aperture to project a character of an original unjustified document supportable on said document holder through said lens onto said copy holder during the projection portion of said scan means cycle.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said lens includes a shutter operable to intercept said light beam to prevent a character from being projected to said copy holder during the prescan portion of said scan means cycle and movable out from interference with said light beam to allow a character to be projected to said copy holder during the projection portion of said scan means cycle.

Claim 8

Justification apparatus for producing a copy having uniform length lines of characters from an original document having character lines of unequal length comprising; a document holder for supporting an unjustified original document containing character lines of unequal length, a copy holder for supporting a copy material upon which a justified copy having uniform length lines of characters is to be produced, line scanning means for scanning a line of the unjustified original document and for generating a control signal representing the length of the line so scanned and for transmitting said control signal to a control means, a lens supported in a plane between said document holder and said copy holder for scanningly projecting a line of characters of said original document through a slit aperture onto said copy material and normally positioned in said plane for reproducing an image of a line of original characters of predetermined length, slit aperture means movable with said line scanning means and movable with said lens, for scanning said line of the unjustified original document in synchronism with said line scanning means during the line scanning operation of said line scanning means and for rescanning the same line of the unjustified original document in synchronism with said lens during the projection operation of said lens, and control means for moving said lens in its plane at a controlled rate of speed correlated to the degree of justification and parallel with the line of characters to be copied, in one direction for compressing the length of the image of the original line of characters when the control signal indicates the line of original characters is longer than said predetermined length and for moving said lens in the opposite direction for increasing the length of the image of the original line of characters when the said control signal indicates the line of original characters is shorter than said predetermined length for producing a copy of an original document having lines of characters of uniform length.

Claim 9

Justification apparatus for producing a copy having uniform length lines of characters from an original document having character lines of unequal length comprising; a document holder for supporting an unjustified original document containing character lines of unequal length, a copy holder for supporting a copy material upon which a justified copy having uniform length lines of characters is to be produced, line scanning means for scanning a line of the unjustified original document and for generating a control signal representing the length of the line so scanned and for transmitting said control signal to a control means, a lens supported in a plane between said document holder and said copy holder for scanningly projecting a line of characters of said original document through a slit aperture onto said copy material and normally positioned in said plane for reproducing an image of a line of original characters of predetermined length, slit aperture means movable with said line scanning means and movable with said lens, for scanning said line of the unjustified original document in synchronism with said line scanning means during the line scanning operation of said line scanning means and for rescanning the same line of the unjustified original document in synchronism with said lens during the projection operation of said lens, and control means for moving said lens in its plane at a controlled rate of speed correlated to the degree of justification and parallel with the line of characters to be copied, in one direction for compressing the length of the image of the original line of characters when the control signal indicates the line of original characters is longer than said predetermined length and for moving said lens in the opposite direction for increasing the length of the image of the original line of characters when the said control signal indicates the line of original characters is shorter than said predetermined length for producing a copy of an original document having lines of characters of uniform length.

Claim 10

Justification apparatus as in claim 6 wherein said line scanning means scans a line of characters of said original document with said control means holding said lens in its normal position, said lens images the line of characters during movement of said lens by said control means and said control means further includes, means for returning said lens to its normal position in its said plane after having imaged said line of characters on said copy.

Claim 11

Justification apparatus as in claim 7 and said lens further includes, shutter means for opening said lens only after receipt of said control signal by said control means and for closing said lens prior to return of said lens to its said normal position.

Claim 12

Justification apparatus as in claim 6 in which said document holder and said copy holder are supported in optically aligned position in parallel planes and said apparatus further includes, means cyclically operated for incrementally advancing said document holder and said copy holder in unison codirectionally for producing a copy of each sequentially positioned line of characters of the original document.