EP0440921B1 - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Paper feeder Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0440921B1
EP0440921B1 EP19900123597 EP90123597A EP0440921B1 EP 0440921 B1 EP0440921 B1 EP 0440921B1 EP 19900123597 EP19900123597 EP 19900123597 EP 90123597 A EP90123597 A EP 90123597A EP 0440921 B1 EP0440921 B1 EP 0440921B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
paper
paper feed
feed roller
power transfer
protrusion
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP19900123597
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0440921A1 (en
Inventor
Yoshiaki Nakajima
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Kodak Digital Product Center Japan Ltd
Chinon KK
Original Assignee
Kodak Digital Product Center Japan Ltd
Chinon KK
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Kodak Digital Product Center Japan Ltd, Chinon KK filed Critical Kodak Digital Product Center Japan Ltd
Publication of EP0440921A1 publication Critical patent/EP0440921A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0440921B1 publication Critical patent/EP0440921B1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Expired - Lifetime legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J13/00—Devices or arrangements of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers, specially adapted for supporting or handling copy material in short lengths, e.g. sheets
    • B41J13/02—Rollers
    • B41J13/03—Rollers driven, e.g. feed rollers separate from platen

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an automatic paper feeder used with a printer or the like.
  • a known paper feeder used with a printer is arranged such that a platen for feeding the paper during printing and an ejection of paper and a paper feed mechanism for automatically feeding the paper to the platen are combined to serve as a driving source.
  • this type of paper feeder having no dedicated driving source as is stated in the foregoing Publication, there has hitherto been adopted a structure in which power is transferred from the driving source to the paper feed mechanism by the use of intricate cam and link mechanisms interlocking with forward and reverse rotations of the driving source for rotationally driving the platen.
  • the platen After ejecting the paper, the platen is rotated in a reverse direction, i.e., in a direction opposite to that during the printing operation, thus driving the cam and link mechanisms.
  • the power is transferred from the driving source to the paper feed mechanism.
  • the paper is fed by rotating the platen forwards, and at the same time the power transfer from the driving source to the paper feed mechanism is discontinued.
  • the platen continues its forward rotation until the printed paper is completely ejected.
  • the platen does not start rotating in the reverse direction until the ejection of the paper has been finished. Since one to two seconds after starting the reverse rotation are utilized for a back feed (the paper is fed back), this short period of time is not employed for change-over of the power transfer to the paper feed mechanism.
  • the cam is initially locked after the platen has reversely rotated a given amount in 1 to 2 seconds, and the link is thereby caused to function, thus effecting change-over to the paper feed mechanism. After the change-over is finished, the platen rotates forwardly, and paper feeding is initiated.
  • the present invention also decreases the number of parts used in a paper feeder.
  • the present invention provides a paper feeder which includes a driven platen which feeds paper sheets, a rotatable paper feed roller mounted on a shaft for feeding the paper sheets to the platen, a first power transfer body, such as a gear, rotatably supported on the paper feed roller shaft and rotating in a rotating direction of the paper feed roller shaft when feeding the paper and interlocking with the platen.
  • a second power transfer body such as a one-way clutch, is supported on the paper feed roller shaft so as to be rotatable only in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the first power transfer body.
  • Protrusions are fixedly provided on the first and second power transfer bodies and are engagably located about the rotary axis of the paper feed roller shaft.
  • the paper feed rate of the paper feed roller is set smaller than the paper feed rate of the platen.
  • the first power transfer body rotatably supported on the paper feed roller shaft is rotated in an interconnecting or interlocking manner with the platen driven by the driving source.
  • the protrusion formed on the first power transfer body impinges on the protrusion shaped on the second power transfer body in the rotating direction.
  • the second power transfer body rotates together with the first power transfer body but is arranged to be rotatable with respect to the paper feed roller shaft only in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the first power transfer body, whereby the paper feed roller shaft and the paper feed roller rotate together with the two power transfer bodies.
  • the paper is fed to the platen by the rotating paper feed roller.
  • the paper feed roller When a paper sheet reaches the platen and is then fed by the platen, the paper feed roller is rotated by this paper at a higher velocity than during the feed of paper by the rotating paper feed roller, because the paper feed rate provided by the paper feed roller is smaller than the paper feed rate provided by the platen.
  • the first power transfer body simply idles with respect to the paper feed roller shaft which is rotating integrally with the paper feed roller, whereas the second power transfer body rotates together with the paper feed roller shaft for a short while.
  • the protrusion of the second power transfer body temporarily separates from the protrusion of the first power transfer body and abuts against the same protrusion, but from the opposite direction to that encountered during the feed of the paper.
  • the second power transfer body rotates idly with respect to the paper feed roller shaft and relatively in the opposite direction to the rotating direction of the paper feed roller shaft but rotates together with first power transfer body.
  • printing is effected on the paper fed by the platen, and the paper which has undergone complete printing is ejected by the platen to the paper ejection stacker, while on the other hand, the paper disengages from the paper feed roller during the printing operation.
  • the paper disengages from the paper feed roller, power is no longer transferred from the paper fed by the platen to the paper feed roller, as a consequence of which the rotating velocities of the paper feed roller, the paper feed roller shaft and the second power transfer body are temporarily lowered.
  • a paper feeder constructed in accordance with the invention which is being utilized with a printer.
  • the printer body 11 supports a printing head 12 for printing on a sheet of paper P by cooperating with a platen 13 in the shape of a roller and a pressing roller 14.
  • a paper guide 16 guides the paper sheets from a paper feed stacker 17 where the sheets abut against a paper holder plate 18 to the platen 13.
  • a pressing plate 19 which is spring biased by a coil spring 20 presses the top sheet of paper in the paper feed stacker 17 against a paper feed roller 23 positioned on shaft 22 which is supported by frame 21.
  • the paper feed stacker 17 serves to provide a pile of sheets of paper P on the paper holder plate 18 for use in printing.
  • the paper feed roller 23 feeds the paper P sheet by sheet via the paper guide 16 by frictional contact while it is being rotated together with platen 13.
  • Each sheet of paper is guided from pressing roller 14 by a paper guide 26 to a paper ejection stacker 27.
  • the platen 13 is rotationally driven by an unillustrated electric motor so that the platen 13 cooperates with the printing head 12 and the pressing roller 14 to seize a sheet of paper P during printing and paper-ejecting operations by frictional contact and send the paper P via the paper guide 26 to the paper ejection stacker 27.
  • sheets of paper P which have been printed upon are stacked on the paper ejection stacker 27.
  • the paper P is fed between the toothed roller 29 and the leaf spring 30 to be positioned under the paper holder 28.
  • Figs. 1-3 illustrate the arrangement utilized to rotate the paper feed roller shaft 22 of the paper feeder.
  • the paper feed roller shaft 22 is rotatably supported on the frame 21, and has a rotary axis which is parallel to the rotary axis of the platen 13.
  • One or a plurality of paper feed rollers 23 are coaxially supported on the paper feed roller shaft 22.
  • the paper feed rollers 23 are fixed to the paper feed roller shaft 22 or arranged to be nonrotatable relative thereto at least in the direction of arrow a , i.e, in the illustrated clockwise direction.
  • the rollers 23 rotate together with the paper feed roller shaft 22.
  • a driven gear 41 which serves as a first power transfer body and is rotatably mounted so that the gear 41 is rotatable both in a forward direction and in a reverse direction.
  • the gear 41 is rotationally driven by a driving source in the arrowed direction a via a gear train 42 meshing with unillustrated gears.
  • the driven gear 41 that is, has an interlocking arrangement with the platen 13, and an end surface of the gear 41 is integrally formed with a protrusion 43.
  • a one-way clutch 44 which serves as a second power transfer body arranged such that a housing is supported to have a unidirectional rotation on an outer periphery of a base body fixed to the paper feed roller shaft 22.
  • the one-way clutch 44 is attached to the paper feed roller shaft 22 so that the housing is rotatable about the rotary axis Of the paper feed roller shaft 22 only in a direction opposite to the rotating direction of the driven gear 41 but is nonrotatably locked in the arrowed direction a .
  • a protrusion 47 is shaped integrally on an outer peripheral or end surface of the housing of the one-way clutch 44.
  • the protrusion 47 and the protrusion 43 formed on the driven gear 41 are disposed on adjacent peripheries about the rotary axis of the paper feed roller shaft 22 so that side surfaces 43a, 43b, 47a, and 47b impinge on each other.
  • a central angle of a fan shape circumscribed by the side surfaces 47a and 47b of the protrusion 47 of the one-way clutch 44 measures 142°, as shown in Fig. 3.
  • the paper P is fed by the paper feed roller 23 at a slower rate than the feed rate provided by the platen 13. This is accomplished by the reduction ratio of the gear train 42 or by the diameter of the paper feed roller 23 which is utilized.
  • the paper feeder operates in the following manner when utilized with a printer.
  • the platen 13 is rotationally driven by an unillustrated power source.
  • the driven gear 41 is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow a in a manner whereby it is interlocked with the platen 13.
  • the protrusion 42 shaped on the driven gear 41 abuts against the protrusion 47 of the housing of the one-way clutch 44 in the rotating direction.
  • the side surface 43a of the protrusion 43 of the driven gear 41 impinges on the side surface 47a of the protrusion 47 of the one-way clutch 44, whereby the housing of the one-way clutch 44 rotates together with the driven gear 41.
  • the housing of the one-way clutch 44 is rotatable relative to the paper feed roller shaft 22 only in the direction opposite to the rotating direction a of the driven gear 41, viz., it is nonrotatable relative to the paper feed roller shaft 22 in the rotating direction a .
  • the paper feed roller shaft 22 rotates together with the driven gear 41 and the housing of the one-way bearing 44, and simultaneously the paper feed roller 23 likewise rotates together with the roller shaft 22.
  • the rotating paper feed roller 23 feeds a sheet of paper P located in the paper feed stacker 17 to the platen 13.
  • the paper feed roller 23 together with the paper feed roller shaft 22 rotates at a higher velocity than the driven gear 41, and it follows that the driven gear 41 idly rotates relatively in the opposite direction to the direction a with respect to the paper feed roller shaft 22.
  • the housing of the one-way clutch 44 rotates together with the paper feed roller shaft 22 by dint of friction between the housing itself and the base body, with the result that the side surface 43a of the protrusion 43 of the driven gear 41 gradually moves away from the side surface 47a of the protrusion 47 of the one-way clutch 44.
  • the sheet of paper P on which printing has completely been effected is ejected by the platen 13 directly to the paper ejection stacker 27.
  • each sheet of paper P is initially fed by passing under the paper feed roller 23 during the printing process.
  • the paper feed roller 23 is no longer rotated by the sheet of paper P being fed by the platen 13.
  • the paper feed roller 23, the paper feed roller shaft 22 and the housing of the one-way clutch 44 temporarily stand stationary.
  • the driven gear 41 goes on rotating.
  • the side surface 43a of the protrusion 43 of the driven gear 41 again impinges on the side surface 47a of the protrusion 47 of the one-way clutch 44, whereby the paper feed roller shaft 22, as explained earlier, rotates together with the driven gear 41.
  • the paper feed roller 23 resumes feeding the paper, and the subsequent sheet of paper P is thereby fed out.
  • Sheets of paper P are automatically consecutively supplied by repeating the above-mentioned operations.
  • the driven gear 41 alone rotates until the side surface 43a of the protrusion 43 of the driven gear 41 impinges on the side surface 47a of the protrusion 47 of the one-way clutch 44. Since the paper feed roller 23 is not driven when there is no engagement of the protrusions, paper feeding is not performed at this time. An interval of time between the feeding of sheets of paper P is obtained depending on the widths of the protrusions 43 and 47 of the one-way clutch 44 and of the driven gear 41 and also the selected diameter of the paper feed roller 23. Therefore, the successive sheets of paper P are positively fed out at a constant interval.
  • the prior art paper auto-feeder requires a good number of components because of the use of complicated cam and link mechanisms.
  • the paper feed roller shaft 22, the paper feed roller 23 and the gear 41 are, as in the case of the prior art devices, necessary for the paper auto-feeder of the present invention.
  • no special component is added thereto in contrast to the conventional devices. Hence, the manufacturability is enhanced, while the costs can be reduced.
  • the paper auto-feeder is simply constructed and can therefore be made compact.
  • the device can readily be incorporated into a printer which is required to be miniaturized.
  • the change-over is effected by utilizing the forward and reverse rotations of the platen.
  • the reverse rotation can not be made until after the paper has completely been ejected, and hence it takes a relatively long time to feed the next paper.
  • a sheet of paper can be fed simultaneously while another sheet of paper is ejected. It is therefore possible to save a considerable amount of time during the subsequent feeding of sheets of paper.
  • time interval between the first and second sheets of paper P can be easily varied by changing the widths of the protrusions 43 and 47 of the driven gear 41 and of the one-way clutch 44 and also the diameter of the paper feed roller 23.
  • the illustrated embodiment of the present invention shows the paper feeder incorporated into a printer, however, the paper feeder of the invention can be used with other machines such as a facsimile transmitter/receiver or a copying machine.
EP19900123597 1990-02-09 1990-12-07 Paper feeder Expired - Lifetime EP0440921B1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP3030390A JPH03238242A (ja) 1990-02-09 1990-02-09 給紙装置
JP30303/90 1990-02-09

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0440921A1 EP0440921A1 (en) 1991-08-14
EP0440921B1 true EP0440921B1 (en) 1995-03-29

Family

ID=12299987

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP19900123597 Expired - Lifetime EP0440921B1 (en) 1990-02-09 1990-12-07 Paper feeder

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0440921B1 (ja)
JP (1) JPH03238242A (ja)
DE (1) DE69018239T2 (ja)
HK (1) HK162996A (ja)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5678815A (en) * 1996-03-25 1997-10-21 Avision Inc. Sheet feeder
US6024357A (en) * 1997-03-24 2000-02-15 Avision Inc. Document sheet feeding mechanism

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3121661A1 (de) * 1981-05-30 1982-12-16 Olympia Werke Ag, 2940 Wilhelmshaven Einzelblattzufuehrvorrichtung zur schreibwalze einer bueromaschine
CH673322A5 (ja) * 1985-11-19 1990-02-28 Rutishauser Data Ag

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69018239T2 (de) 1995-07-27
EP0440921A1 (en) 1991-08-14
HK162996A (en) 1996-09-06
DE69018239D1 (de) 1995-05-04
JPH03238242A (ja) 1991-10-24

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