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From: lbafrin@TECNET-CLEMSON.ARPA
Newsgroups: comp.laser-printers
Subject: Laser Printer Tractor Feeder?
Message-ID: <8711242046.AA22061@brillig.umd.edu>
Date: Sat, 14-Nov-87 11:14:30 EST
Article-I.D.: brillig.8711242046.AA22061
Posted: Sat Nov 14 11:14:30 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Nov-87 10:56:39 EST
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Approved: laser-lovers@brillig.umd.edu

Hi,

   I don't tune in very often to Laser-Lovers, but I've got a question that's
been bugging me for some time.  I would love to get a laser printer for my
office (something in the $1500-$4000 range) for the speed and print quality,
but I have yet to find any laser that's as versatile as my high-end Diablo
D80-IF daisywheel printer.  With my Diablo (loaded with dual-bin sheet feeder,
envelope feeder, and tractor feeder), I can print a typical office job
(first page on letterhead, subsequent pages on matching non-letterhead
stationery, and then a letterhead envelope) without any attendance to the
printer, no need for manual feeding of any paper (and thus no wasting of my
secretary's time if she's involved in other jobs while the printing is going
on).  I can also print continuous-form jobs with no problems because of the
tractor feeder.

   But with laser printers, there don't seem to be any envelope feeders.  Some
of the more expensive models can accommodate two cut-sheet bins at the
same time (which I would use for letterhead and non-letterhead), but it
looks like you always have to feed envelopes manually.  And I've never seen
a laser printer for a PC that could handle continuous forms, and that's
what's been bugging me the most.  So many lasers claim, nay, brag about their
paper transport paths being "straight-through," which I guess is supposed to
make me believe that there's less chance of a paper jam.  So if the
paper path is straight-through, why can't you put a tractor at the paper
entrance slot and another tractor at the paper exit slot?  The
manufacturer could design the tractors so that when you want to run a
continuous forms job, you remove the cut-sheet bin(s) and detach the output
tray, and attach in their places the entry and exit tractors.  It seems like
such a simple idea, but I've never seen such an option advertised.

   So if it's such a simple idea but I've never seen one marketed, I guess
I must be missing something fundamental about how laser printers are built
and/or work.  Would somebody out there in netland please clue me in?  Thanks!

-- Larry Afrin
   Dept. of Computer Science
   Clemson University
   lbafrin@tecnet-clemson.arpa

P.S. And if you know of any laser printers that have an envelope feeder
option, please let me know about that, too.