JP2000219346A - Cut paper feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely feed cut paper in a device body one by one. SOLUTION: It is possible to certainly feed only one piece of cut paper 128 to a device by a retard roller 224 as it is possible to feed cut paper in overlapped delivery of about two to three pieces at the most by a stepped part 222 formed in the downstream of a slant face part 220 even when more than specified quantity of the cut paper 128 passes the slant face part 220 as the cut paper 128 on upper layers than an interface reaches the slant face part 220 because frictional resistance of the interface between paper bundles 202 taken out of different packages is low when handling the cut paper 128 stacked on a paper feeding tray 130.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cut sheet feeding apparatus for loading stacked cut sheets in a tray and feeding the cut sheets one by one from the uppermost layer to an apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
For printing devices such as copiers and printers, consider the handling after printing and use a fixed size
(For example, A4 size, B5 size, etc.) cut paper (hereinafter, referred to as cut paper) is often used. The cut sheets are stored in a form stacked in advance on a tray provided in the printing apparatus. When this cut sheet is fed from the tray into the apparatus main body, it is a condition that the cut sheet is reliably fed one by one. If this condition is not met,
It will cause various errors.

That is, if paper cannot be fed, misfeed occurs, and if two or more sheets are fed at the same time, double feed occurs, causing jamming. In addition, when jamming does not occur even in the double feeding, a position shift or a color shift is caused, which may affect the image quality.

Techniques for taking out the uppermost (or lowermost) cut sheets one by one from the above tray and feeding the cut sheets to the apparatus body are disclosed in JP-A-1-294134, JP-A-3-195642, and JP-A-4-195. JP-A-251048, JP-A-61-055039 and JP-A-6-56286, in which a case is taken out one by one from the uppermost layer of cut sheets stacked on a tray or the like. Next, a structure using a feed belt and a retard roller will be described.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional cut sheet supply device 300.
The main part is shown. A stacking plate 304 is arranged in the tray 302, and a sheet bundle 306 is placed on the stacking plate 304. The stacking plate 304 has a structure capable of moving up and down the paper bundle 304, and is controlled such that the uppermost cut paper is always at a predetermined height position.

On the cut sheet take-out side of the tray 302,
Endless feed belt 3 wound around a plurality of rollers
And a tray 3 among the plurality of rollers.
Pulley 308 arranged so as to protrude above
And the leading end of the cut sheet 306C is in contact with the sheet. A drive pulley 312 for driving the feed belt 210 is located on the apparatus main body side, and is provided between the drive pulley 312 and the pulley 308.
A tension roller 316 attached to the tip of the arm 314 is disposed, and the tension roller 316 is pressed against the feed belt 310 by the urging force of the spring 318.
Belt tension is obtained.

A guide plate 320 (entry guide) is provided below the feed belt 310. The guide plate 320 has a slope portion 322, and
6 is opposed to the upper layer.

For this reason, the uppermost cut paper 128 in contact with the feed belt 310 is removed from the feed belt 31.
When the sheet is taken out by a driving force of 0 (the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 4), the movement of a plurality of lower cut sheets 128 to be taken out at the same time can be restricted (see FIG. 5A).

A retard roller 324 is disposed downstream of the guide plate 320 and is in contact with the feed belt 310. The retard roller 324 has a built-in torque limiter, is given a predetermined (relatively large) torque in advance, and maintains a predetermined contact pressure with the feed belt 310. For this reason, one cut sheet 30
When receiving the feed force of the feed belt 310 via 6C, the feed belt rotates without moving relative to the cut sheet 128,
When two or three sheets of cut paper 306C are multi-fed, the frictional resistance between the two or three sheets of cut paper 306C is small, so that only the upper layer of cut paper 306C is fed.
0, the lower cut sheet 306 </ b> C is prevented from being fed by the rotation resistance (non-rotation) of the retard roller 324.

That is, when the cut sheet 306C is sent out, the number of cut sheets sent out is limited to at most two or three sheets by the slope portion 322 of the guide plate 320, and double feed of two or three sheets is performed. If there is, the retard roller 324 prevents the transport of the lower cut paper 306C, so that only one cut paper 306C can be reliably fed into the apparatus main body (see FIG. 5B).

[0011] However, the cut paper 3
There is no problem if the replenishment of 06C is performed in units of the wrapped paper bundle. However, when a small amount of cut paper 306C remains, the cut paper 306C for one wrapping may be replenished. Alternatively, two sheets of cut paper 306C may be supplied at a time (see FIG. 6).

[0012] In the stacked paper bundle 306,
Between different packages (interface), the frictional resistance is smaller than the frictional resistance between cut sheets in one package. This is probably because an air layer is formed during stacking.

When the interface is near the upper layer,
When sending out the cut paper 306C by the feed belt 310, a large amount of cut paper 306 above the interface is provided.
C may move. When a large amount of cut paper 306C receives a conveying force at the same time, the guide plate 320 slopes 32
2, the feed belt 310 is pressed and deformed inward by the elastic force, so that the gap between the feed belt 310 and the guide plate 320 is greatly expanded, and a large number of cut sheets 30 are cut.
6C is sent to the retard roller 324 (see FIG. 5C).

For this reason, the retard roller 324 also requires a predetermined number (for example, four) or more of the cut sheets 306.
C cannot be cleared, the cut paper 306C is double fed to the apparatus main body, and a paper jam is detected by a paper jam sensor or the like in the apparatus, and the apparatus stops. In addition, there is a possibility that a paper jam is improperly printed without being detected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a cut sheet supply apparatus capable of reliably feeding cut sheets to the apparatus body one by one.

[0016]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a stack of cut sheets is loaded in a state of being housed in a tray, and the cut sheet is driven by an endless belt, thereby forming a cut sheet. A cut sheet supply device that takes out from the uppermost layer and feeds the cut sheet to the apparatus main body, wherein an entry guide that suppresses double feeding when receiving cut sheets from the tray, And a stepped portion formed on the entry guide for limiting the number of cut sheets sent out to the retard roller on the entry guide.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, there is further provided a pressing member for pressing the endless belt near the step of the entry guide against the step with a predetermined pressure. It is characterized by:

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the belt starts to be driven, the uppermost cut sheet in contact with the belt is sent out in the entry guide direction. At this time, there is no problem if only the uppermost cut sheet is sent out, but usually, a plurality of cut sheets are multi-fed. The plurality of cut sheets stacked on each other come into contact with the slope of the entry guide. Due to this slope, the leading end of the cut sheet gradually shifts, and the cut sheet in the uppermost layer becomes the leading end. At this time, only the cut paper sandwiched between the belt and the entry guide advances, but the cut paper having a protruding tip is easier to be sandwiched. The paper is nipped and conveyed. Next, about two to three sheets of cut paper are sandwiched between the belt and the retard roller. At this time, the retard roller is hard to move due to a predetermined rotational torque. Suppress paper transport. On the other hand, the uppermost cut sheet receives the conveying force from the belt, so that the conveyance is continued.

That is, only the uppermost cut sheet receives the conveying force, and the conveyance of the second and subsequent cut sheets is suppressed by the retard roller. Therefore, the uppermost cut sheet having low frictional resistance and the next layer cut sheet are cut. Relative movement occurs with the paper, and only the uppermost layer of cut paper is sent out and conveyed to the apparatus main body.

By the way, when about two or three cut sheets are formed on the slope, the interface of the cut sheets between the packaging units may approach the upper layer. At this time, since the frictional resistance at the interface is low, a considerably large number of cut sheets may reach the inclined surface than usual. In this case, a bundle of a large number of cut sheets presses the belt inward, a large gap is generated between the belt and the entry guide, and a number of cut sheets that cannot be separated by the retard roller may be conveyed. .

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a step portion is provided for blocking cut paper conveyed downstream of the slope portion. In this step portion, a low portion and a high portion are formed at a vertical wall portion for damping the cut paper, so that even if a large number of cut papers exceed the slope portion, the low portion and the high The conveyance force from the belt is reduced (or suppressed) by entering the gap between the belt and the belt. Therefore, the amount of cut paper fed to the retard roller by the feed roller can be reduced to a small amount (about 2 to 3 sheets in total) from the upper layer, and the separation by the retard roll becomes accurate.

By providing a pressing member for pressing the belt in the direction of the step of the entry guide with a predetermined pressure, when a large number of cut papers pass through the slope and move to the step, this is limited. Therefore, in the entry guide, it is possible to perform more accurate separation (the probability of passing one cut sheet is high).

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG.
28 are stacked and accommodated in the paper feed trays 130 and 132 for different sizes. Paper tray 130, 1
Reference numeral 32 is detachable from the apparatus main body, and cut sheets 128 having different sizes are stored in advance for each sheet feed tray, and can be replaced as needed. In FIG. 2, the sizes of the paper feed trays 130 and 132 (the capacity of the cut paper 128) are different, but the generally used cut paper size (for example, A4 size) is different from that of the large paper feed tray 130. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the trouble of supplying cut paper. Note that above the paper feed tray 130,
An intermediate tray 134 is provided, and the cut 28 printed on one side is once retracted into the intermediate tray 134, fed again, and printed on the other side, thereby enabling double-sided printing. The following description is made with reference to an A4 size cut sheet 128 as an example.

Each of the paper feed trays 130 and 132 is provided with a paper feed device 138 which constitutes a part of the cut paper feed device 136. Is available.

The paper feed tray 130 (or the paper feed tray 13)
The cut sheet 128 taken out from 2) is hung down by the transport belt 140 whose transport direction is vertical, and is then transferred to the transport belt 142 whose transport direction is horizontal, and the exposure unit 144 is horizontally moved. The paper is transported in the direction in which it is provided (leftward in FIG. 2).

The exposing section 144 includes an endless photosensitive belt 152 wound around a plurality of rollers (in the present embodiment, two large-diameter rollers 146 and 148 and one small-diameter roller 150). Exposure unit (hereinafter referred to as ROS) 15
4.

A large-diameter roller 148 on the right side of FIG. 2 of the photoreceptor belt 152 has a function as a driving roller that rotates with a driving force from a driving unit (not shown), and is further provided with an encoder 156. Photoreceptor belt 152
Is transported counterclockwise in FIG. 2 (in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 2) by the driving force of the driving roller 148.

The number of rotations of the driving roller 148 is
It can be recognized by an output signal from the encoder 156.

A hole 152A is provided in a part (preferably near the end in the width direction) of the photoreceptor belt 152, and the optical axis of the belt hole sensor 158 is provided on the movement locus of the hole 152A. Intersect. The belt hole sensor 158 has a hole 15 for each rotation of the photoreceptor belt 152.
2A, and outputs a signal different from that when the hole 152A is not opposed.

Further, on the outer periphery of the photosensitive belt 152,
A cleaner 160 and a developing device 162 are provided with the exposure unit 154 interposed therebetween. For this reason, the outer peripheral surface (electrostatic exposure surface) of the photoreceptor belt 152 is
After the cleaning, the image is exposed by the exposure unit 154, and the toner is adhered by the developing unit 162 to be visualized. The photoreceptor belt 152 corresponding to the visualized image area is sent to a transfer unit 164 that comes into contact with the transport path of the cut sheet 128.

When the cut paper 128 is horizontally conveyed by the conveyance belt 152 and approaches the photosensitive belt 152,
Is turned upward to reach the transfer unit 164. A cut sheet detection sensor 166 is provided immediately before the transfer section 164, and can detect the presence or absence of a cut sheet immediately before the cut sheet 128 reaches the transfer section 164.

In the transfer section 164, the cut sheet 128 is bonded to the photoreceptor belt 152, and the image is transferred. The cut sheet 128 on which the image has been transferred is directly conveyed by the conveyance belt 152 substantially vertically upward in FIG. 2 and sent to the fixing unit 170 including a pair of rollers 168. In the fixing section 170, the pair of rollers 168 is heated to a predetermined temperature, and the heated pair of rollers 168 is heated.
, The cut sheet 128 is heated and the transferred image is fixed. The fixing unit 170
As a heating source, one or both of the pair of rollers 168 may be a heat roller, or hot air may be sent and heated using a separate hot air generating means.

Cut paper 128 that has passed through fixing section 170
Is sent to the stacker unit 176 by being guided by the plurality of transport rollers 172 and the guide plate 174.

The stacker section 176 is provided with a plurality of discharge trays 172 and 174, which can discharge to a predetermined discharge tray 172 (or discharge tray 174).

In this embodiment, the discharge tray 17
2 and 174, the status of which is monitored by a control unit (not shown), and a discharge tray 17 usable according to the information.
2 (or 174), and the point switching unit 176 is controlled so as to be guided by the selected discharge tray 172 (or discharge tray 174).

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
Reference numeral 38 is provided on each of the paper feed trays 130 and 132. Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the sheet feeding device 138 will be described. However, since the sheet feeding devices 138 of the sheet feeding trays 130 and 132 have the same structure,
The description will be made taking the 0 side as an example, and the description of the other side will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 2, a stacking plate 200 is arranged in the paper feed tray 130. The stacking plate 200 can be moved up and down in the paper feed tray 130 by a lifting means (not shown).

On this laminated plate 200, a paper bundle 202
(This is a state in which the cut sheets 128 are stacked, and the cut sheets 128 and the sheet bundle 202 are selectively used as necessary.) Here, as the stacking plate 200 moves up and down, the uppermost layer of the cut paper 1
28 is controlled to be at a predetermined height position.

An endless feed belt 210 wound around a plurality of rollers (drive pulley 204, pulley 206, tension roller 208) corresponds to the cut sheet take-out end side of the paper feed tray 130. The pulley 206 is arranged so as to protrude above the paper feed tray 130, so that the feed belt 210
Near the portion where the paper is wound around the pulley 206 and the cut paper 12
8 is in contact with the tip.

A drive pulley 204 for driving the feed belt 210 is located on the apparatus main body side. When the drive pulley 204 is rotated by a driving force (not shown), the drive pulley 204 moves from above the paper feed tray 130 to the apparatus main body. The feed belt 210 is configured to be conveyed.

A tension roller 208 attached to one end of an arm 212 is disposed between the drive pulley 204 and the pulley 206. The other end of the arm 212 is supported by a shaft of the pulley 206. A hook portion 212 </ b> A is formed at a longitudinal middle portion of the arm 212, and one end of a compression coil spring 214 is attached to the hook portion 212 </ b> A. The other end of the compression coil spring 214 is engaged with a stopper 216 projecting from a casing (not shown) covering the sheet feeding device 138, and the arm 212 is actuated by the urging force of the compression coil spring 214. 3 around the axis of the pulley 206 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. Accordingly, the tension roller 208 presses the inner surface of the feed belt 210, so that a predetermined tension is applied to the feed belt 210.

An entry guide 218 is provided below the feed belt 210. The entry guide 218 is provided for the bundle of papers 202 placed on the paper supply tray 130.
, And the facing surface is a slope 220. A lower surface portion 222L and a higher surface portion 222H are respectively formed on the downstream side of the slope portion 220 along the front and rear directions in the feed belt conveyance direction, and the step portion 22 is formed as a whole.
2 are formed.

Here, when the sloped portion 220 takes out the uppermost cut paper 128 in contact with the feed belt 210 by the driving force of the feed belt 210 (in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3), the slope portion 220 may be taken out at the same time. The movement of a plurality of lower cut sheets 128 can be restricted.
That is, when a plurality of cut sheets 128 try to move, the leading ends of the cut sheets 128 come into contact with the inclined surface 220, and therefore the leading ends protrude as the upper layers are formed. For this reason, cut sheets sandwiched between the feed belt 210 and the lower portion 222L adjacent to the slope portion 220 are restricted.

The limited number of cut sheets 128 is usually at most about two or three, and the cut sheets 128 are all sandwiched between the high-order surface portion 222H and the feed belt 210, or some of the lower layers are stepped portions 222H. As a result, the movement is prevented, and only the upper cut sheet 128 (3 sheets or less) is sent to the downstream side.

At the downstream side of the entry guide 218, a retard roller 224 is provided.
It is in contact with 0. The retard roller 224 has a built-in torque limiter, is given a predetermined (relatively large) torque in advance, and maintains a predetermined contact pressure with the feed belt 210. Therefore, when receiving the conveyance force of the feed belt 210 via one cut sheet 128, the sheet rotates without moving relative to the cut sheet 128, but when two or three cut sheets 128 are multi-fed, Since the frictional force between the two or three cut sheets 128 is small, only the upper cut sheet 128 is
0, the lower cut paper 128 is prevented from being fed by the rotation resistance of the retard roller 224.

That is, when the cut sheet 128 is sent out, the slope 220 of the entry guide 218 causes
In order to limit the number of cut sheets to be sent out to at most 2 to 3 sheets, and to prevent the conveyance of the lower cut sheet 128 by the retard roller 224 when there is a double feed of 2 to 3 sheets, Only one cut sheet 128 can be reliably fed into the apparatus main body.

Here, as shown in FIG. 6, when the interface of the paper bundle 202 of the packaging unit is close to the upper layer, a larger amount of cut paper 128 than usual is caused due to low frictional resistance at this interface. May be sent to the slope 220.

When the large amount of cut paper 128 comes, the feed belt 210 is pushed up by the pressing force, and the gap between the feed belt 210 and the lower surface portion 222L becomes large. , May enter the gap. However, in the present embodiment,
Since the step portion 222 is formed, even if a large amount of cut paper enters the gap, the feed belt 210 is supported by the high-order surface portion 222H, and thus the force for holding the cut sheet 128 between the feed belt 210 and the low-order surface portion. And the movement of the lower cut sheet 128 is prevented by the step, and as a result, the cut sheet 128 can be sent to the retard roller 224 with a limit of two or three sheets.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the compression coil spring 2 is attached to the base of the hook 212A of the arm 212 supporting the tension roller 208.
26 is attached to one end, and a bracket 228 is attached to the other end.
The pressing roller 230 is attached via a shaft 232. For this reason, the pressing roller 230 presses the feed belt 210 in the direction of the lower surface portion 222L of the entry guide 218 by the urging force of the compression coil spring 226.

That is, the pressing roller 230 has a function of suppressing the feed belt 210 from being pushed up by a large amount of the paper bundle 202.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described below.

When there is a print command, the designated cut sheet 1
The paper feeding device 138 corresponding to the size of 28 operates.

First, the cut paper 128 is
Rises, and the uppermost cut paper 128 is
10 is contacted with a predetermined pressure.

Next, the drive of the drive pulley 204 is started, and the feed belt 210 is conveyed counterclockwise in FIG.

When the feeding of the feed belt 210 is started, the uppermost cut sheet in contact with the feed belt 210 is taken out by frictional force and sent to the slope 220 of the entry guide 218. At this time, if only the uppermost cut paper 128 is conveyed, there is no problem at all, but usually, several lower sheets are taken out together. The removed lower-layer cut paper 128 also comes into contact with the slope 220 of the entry guide 218.

Here, if the conveyance by the feed belt 210 is continued even after the contact with the slope 220, the leading end of the taken-out cut sheet 128 is shifted so as to slide on the slope of the slope 220. At this time, since the leading end moves closer to the uppermost layer, about two to three sheets of cut paper 128 are sandwiched between the feed belt 210 and the entry guide 218 and further downstream. Sent.

Two or three sheets of cut paper 128 sent to the downstream side of the entry guide 218 are fed to the feed belt 210.
And the retard roller 224. The retard roller 224 is rotated by the conveying force from the feed belt 210, but hardly rotates by the setting of the torque limiter. Therefore, this feed belt 21
0 and the retard roller 224, one cut sheet 12
When the sheet 8 is pinched, the sheet rotates with the conveyance of the feed belt 210. However, when two or more (up to three sheets) cut sheets 128 are pinched, the frictional resistance between the cut sheets becomes low. , The conveyance force of the feed belt 218 is absorbed. Therefore, the uppermost cut paper 128 continues to be transported along with the feed belt 218, but the lower cut paper 128 stops at that position in response to the non-rotation of the retard roller 224. As a result, one cut sheet 12
Only 8 can be sent into the device.

Here, in the present embodiment, the paper feed tray 1
There is no problem if the paper bundle 202 placed on the unit 30 is in a unit of one package, but when it extends over two packages, its interface has a small frictional resistance.

Therefore, when this interface comes near the upper layer, a large amount of cut paper 128 in the upper layer from the interface may be sent out to the entry guide 218 by the conveying force of the feed belt 210.

In this case, the cut paper 128 is sent out of the inclined portion 220 in an amount (four or more) that cannot be separated by the retard roller 224. However, in the present embodiment, the step portion 222 is provided downstream of the slope portion 220, and the lower surface portion 222L and the higher surface portion 222H are sequentially formed.

For this reason, most of the cut paper 128 that could not be separated by the slope 220 enters between the lower surface 222L and the feed belt 210 by pushing up the feed belt 210. At this time, since the feed belt 210 is pressed from the inside by the pressing roller 230, the amount of pushing up of the feed belt 21 by the pushing force of the cut paper 128 is smaller than when there is no pressing roller 230.

Here, the pinching force on the cut sheet that has entered the lower surface portion 222L is small because the feed belt 210 is supported by the higher surface portion 222H. For this reason, when the cut sheet 128 moves to the high surface portion 222H, a part of the lower layer cannot cross the step and remains on the low surface portion 222L. Thus, the number of cut sheets 128 reaching the high-order surface portion 222H can be reduced to about two to three.

The cut sheet 128 taken out by the sheet feeding device 138 is hung down by the conveyor belt 140, and is then transferred to the conveyor belt 142 whose conveyance direction is horizontal, and the exposure unit 144 is disposed in a horizontal state. Is transported in the direction (left direction in FIG. 2).

In the transfer section 164 of the exposure section 144, the cut paper 128 is bonded to the photoreceptor belt 152, and the image is transferred. The cut sheet 128 on which the image has been transferred is directly conveyed by the conveyance belt 152 substantially vertically in the upward direction in FIG. 2, and the fixing unit 17 including a pair of rollers 168 is provided.
It is sent to 0. In the fixing unit 170, a pair of rollers 1
68, the cut paper 128
Is heated and the transferred image is fixed.

The cut paper 128 that has passed through the fixing unit 170
Is sent to the stacker unit 176 by being guided by the plurality of transport rollers 172 and the guide plate 174.

As described above, in the paper feeder according to the present embodiment, when the cut paper 128 stacked on the paper feed tray 130 is separated by the inclined surface 220 of the entry guide 218, the paper taken out of a different package is used. Since the frictional resistance at the interface between the bundles 202 is small, the cut paper 128 above the interface reaches the slope 220, and even if a predetermined amount or more of the cut paper 128 passes through the slope 220, By the step part 222 formed on the downstream side,
Since at most about two or three sheets can be fed to the retard roller 224 by double feeding, only one cut sheet 128 can be reliably fed to the apparatus by the retard roller 224.

In this embodiment, the pressing roller 230 is pressed from the inside of the feed belt 210 by the compression coil spring 226 in order to suppress the feed belt 210 from being pushed up by the sheet bundle 202. As shown in FIG. 7, the fixed belt 234 may prevent the feed belt 210 from being pushed up.

[0068]

As described above, the cut sheet supply apparatus according to the present invention has an excellent effect that cut sheets can be reliably fed one by one to the apparatus main body.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the vicinity of a sheet feeding tray.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a sheet feeding device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing a sheet feeding procedure in a conventional example.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view showing a state in which a sheet bundle taken out of a second package is placed on a sheet bundle taken out of a stacked first package, and FIG. FIG.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the vicinity of a sheet feeding tray when a plate is used instead of a pressing roller as a pressing member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 130, 132 Paper feed tray 138 Paper feeder 222L Lower surface 222H Higher surface 224 Retard roller 226 Compression coil spring 230 Press roller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A cut sheet supply device which loads stacked cut sheets in a tray, and takes out the cut sheets from the uppermost layer of the tray by driving an endless belt, and feeds the cut sheets to an apparatus main body. An entry guide that suppresses double feed when receiving cut sheets from the tray; and a retard roller that is provided downstream of the entry guide and that suppresses transport of lower-layer cut paper with respect to double feed. A cut sheet supply device formed on the entry guide and having a step portion for limiting the number of sheets of cut paper on the entry guide sent to the retard roller. 2. The cut sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pressing member that presses the endless belt against the step portion with a predetermined pressure near the step portion of the entry guide.