JP2000344372A - Sheet material feeding device and sheet material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent many paper sheets (a paper sheet bundle) from entering a retard separation conveying means to surely separate paper sheets by the retard separation conveying means. SOLUTION: This paper feeder is provided with a tray 1 for loading and housing paper sheets P, a paper feeding roller for sequentially sending out the paper sheets P loaded on and housed in the tray 1 from the paper sheet of the top, a paper sheet guide 15A (attached on a tray housing) for guiding the paper sheets sent out by the paper feeding roller, and a retard separation conveying means for conveying by separating a paper sheet bundle sent out from the tray 1 and guided by the paper sheet guide 15A to one piece. The paper sheet guide 15A has a slope 156-3 standing up in a downstream direction. A linear recessed and projecting pattern for controlling a tip end of the paper sheet bundle struck in the slope 156-3 is formed on the slope 156-3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus provided in a sheet processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on sheet materials fed one by one.

A typical example of the sheet material processing apparatus referred to here is, for example, an image forming apparatus (a printer, a copying machine, a copier, etc.) for forming an image on a recording material (sheet material) fed one by one. Facsimile) and a document information reading device that reads information of a document (sheet material) fed one by one.

[0003] In such a sheet material processing apparatus, the sheet material feeding apparatus of the present invention separates the stacked sheet materials one by one and separates the stacked sheet materials into a sheet material processing section (image forming section, document reading section, etc.). It works to feed.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art A tray type sheet feeding device (sheet material feeding device) can set a large amount of cut sheets (sheet material).
Since refilling can be easily performed, laser beam printers used in offices are the mainstream.

A sheet fed from a tray (sheet material stacking means) by a paper feed roller (sheet material feeding means) is separated by a retard separating and conveying means provided in the apparatus.
Only the sheets are taken out and sent into the printer body.

[0006] The retard separating / conveying means includes a separating roller (retard roller) that is driven and transmitted to the reverse rotation side, and a conveying roller (feed roller) pressed against the separating roller. A paper guide (sheet material guide means) is provided at the leading end of the tray on the delivery side to guide the leading end of the sheet to the nip portion of the roller pair. The paper guide has a slope rising in the downstream direction. For this reason, when the leading edge of the paper rises along the slope of the paper guide, the slope separation function works,
Some separation is also performed in the paper guide portion.

[0007]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned paper feeder, if the number of sheets entering the retard separating / conveying means is too large, separation may not be performed properly. Such a rush of a bundle of sheets occurs, for example, when the friction between the sheets is high, when the sheets are united by the entanglement of burrs generated at the time of cutting, or when static electricity is generated between the sheets. Easy to happen. In addition, when paper is added to the tray when it is added, the sheet is likely to occur at the added portion.

If the paper guide is changed to a material having a high coefficient of friction, such as rubber, to prevent this, there is a problem that buckling occurs when thin paper is fed, which is not preferable in practical use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is capable of handling a sheet bundle sent from a sheet material stacking and storing means and guiding the sheet bundle without buckling even with a thin sheet material. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material feeding device having a sheet material guiding means that can be used.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a sheet material storing means for storing and storing sheet materials, and a sheet material storing and storing means which is located at a front end portion of the sheet material storing and storing means on a sheet material feeding side. Sheet material guide means for guiding the sheet material sent from the sheet material stacking and storing means on a slope rising in the downstream direction and guiding the sheet material to a predetermined downstream position. .

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a groove-shaped sheet bundle separating means for separating the leading end of a sheet bundle sent from the sheet loading and storing means is provided on the slope of the sheet material guiding means. It is characterized by being formed in.

This will be described in more detail.

[0014] The sheet bundle separating means comprises a large number of grooves continuous at predetermined intervals. The groove is inclined in a direction crossing the paper passing direction. This tilt angle is 30 degrees to 6
It is set between 0 degrees. The width of the groove is set between 0.2 mm and 5 mm. A corner falling into the groove from the slope is set to have a radius of curvature of 0.1 mm or less.

The sheet material guide means is provided so as to be swingable in the direction of the front and back surfaces of the sheet material. The sheet material guide means is pushed by the sheet material and swings in a direction to reduce the angle of the slope.

There is provided a regulating means for conveying the sheet material stored and stored in the sheet material storing means on a one-sided conveyance basis. The groove is inclined in a direction to guide the sheet material toward the restricting means.

There is provided a sheet material feeding means for sequentially feeding the sheet materials stored and stored in the sheet material storing means in order from the uppermost sheet material. The sheet material feeding means is, for example, a roller for feeding a sheet material by frictional force due to rotation.

There is provided a retard separating / conveying means for separating the sheet material bundle sent from the sheet material stacking / storage means into one sheet and conveying it. The sheet material guiding means guides the sheet material to the nip of the retard separating and conveying means.

A sheet material feeding apparatus according to the present invention is a sheet material processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on sheet materials fed one by one, and separates and feeds the stacked sheet materials one by one. Used as a means for sending.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams of a sheet feeding device (sheet material feeding device) 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention (FIG. 1 is an overall sectional view, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part). FIG. 1 shows a state in which the tray is mounted on the paper feeding unit and the paper feeding is standby. At this time, the sheet placing plate 2 provided in the tray housing 1 is lifted by a spring (coil spring) 3, and the upper surface of the sheet bundle P is pressed against the sheet feeding roller 5. Feeding is performed by driving the feed roller 5 in the direction of arrow a.

Reference numeral 6 denotes a separation roller as separation means.
The driving force is transmitted by a driving unit (not shown) in the direction of arrow b-1, that is, in the direction opposite to the sheet feeding direction. Reference numeral 9 denotes a transport roller as transport means, which is driven in the direction of arrow c by drive means (not shown).

The separation roller 6 is pressed against the conveyance roller 9, and the rotation of the conveyance roller 9 is transmitted to the separation roller 6 by friction between the rollers, and exceeds the torque of a torque limiter provided in a power transmission system of the separation roller 6. And the separation roller 6 rotates in the direction of the arrow b-2. Thus, when a plurality of sheets enter the nip portion of the roller pair 6, 9, only the top sheet is conveyed by the conveying roller 9, and the other sheets are pushed back by the separation roller 6.

Reference numeral 15A denotes a paper guide, the leading end of which is close to the nip of the roller pair 6, 9. The paper guide 15A is separate from the tray housing 1,
It is formed of a wear-resistant material such as POM and is detachably attached to the tray housing 1.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a support portion (see FIG. 2) provided on both sides of the paper guide 15A (integral with the tray housing 1), and has a strength on the side closer to the separation roller 6 than the paper guide 15A. Paper guide 1
Supports 5A. The shaft portion 151 (see FIG. 3), which is the center of the movement of the paper guide 15A, is engaged with the depression 21 of the support portion 16. The paper guide 15 </ b> A is centered on the shaft 151, and a position 15-1 illustrated by a solid line and a position 15-illustrated by an imaginary line are illustrated.
2 can be swung. The paper guide 15A is provided with a spring portion 154 (see FIG. 3). The paper guide 15A holds a position 15-1 that has risen due to the elastic force of the spring portion 154. Then, when pushed by the paper, the swinging movement is made around the shaft 151 to the position 15-2,
It returns when the paper is no longer pushed.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a sheet regulating plate serving as a one-sided conveyance reference. The sheet P is set at a correct position by the spring 51 abutting the sheet P against the sheet regulating plate 50.

FIG. 3 shows only the paper guide 15A detached from the tray housing 1. The paper guide 15A will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 155 denotes a claw for attachment to the tray housing 1.
(Not shown).

The paper guide 15A has three guide slopes 156-1, 156-2, and 156-3 having different inclination angles. On these slopes, a linear uneven pattern that is obliquely oriented and intersects the paper passing direction is formed. This uneven portion will be described with reference to FIG. 4 in which the paper guide 15A is viewed from the front.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the linear unevenness is inclined upward by 45 degrees with respect to the paper passing direction. FIG.
(B) shows a cross-sectional shape in which the uneven portion is enlarged. 157-1
Is a convex portion, and 157-2 is a concave portion (groove). FIG.
As shown in (c), here, the convex portion 157-1 has a width of 0.5 mm, and the concave portion 157-2 has a width of 0.2 mm. The surface of the convex portion 157-1 is the paper passing guide surface, and the corner 15 of the drop from this surface to the concave portion 157-2.
7-3 is a curved surface (R shape) having a radius of 0.05 mm.

The formation of the uneven portions 157-1 and 157-2 can be realized by graining by etching generally performed in plastic molding. Convex part 157-
Reference numeral 1 denotes a portion processed into a mold by etching. After forming a basic plane as the shape of the paper guide 15A, the irregularities 157-1 and 157-2 are etched.
Is formed, the projection 157-1 is formed, and the beginning of the projection 157-1 becomes a step, so that the slope 156-
1, 156-2, 156-3, linear projections 157 over the entire area.
It is better to form -1.

Next, referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG.
The operation of the sheet feeding device 100 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, the paper feed roller 5 is
Is fed to the sheet P in the direction of arrow d, and the sheet P advances toward the sheet guide 15A. Here, since the sheet bundle P2 has been added to the upper part of the sheet bundle P1, the sheet bundle P
2 shows a case in which the two have progressed in a bundle. At this time, the lower corner of the leading end of the sheet bundle P2 abuts the guide slope 156-3 of the sheet guide 15A.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing this state as viewed from the paper guide 15A. The leading end of the sheet bundle P2 is pressed in the direction of arrow e. When the leading end of the sheet is pressed in the direction of arrow e, it tries to move along the guide slope 156-3, that is, in the direction of arrow f. At this time, since the cut fibers form irregularities of about 0.05 to 0.1 mm at the leading end of the sheet P, the convex portion of the leading end of the sheet P
The paper P is given a resistance by being slightly caught by the concave portion 157-2 of the C-3.

Here, the resistance to the sheet P is determined by the corners 157 that fall from the convex portions 157-1 to the concave portions 157-2.
−3 is a curved surface (R shape) with a small radius. If the radius of the curved surface is larger than 0.2 mm, the unevenness of the leading end of the sheet is hard to be caught. The paper guide 15A is made of POM made of a material which is hard to wear, and the contact pressure of the paper P is small.
Although there is no remarkable abrasion, the progress of the abrasion prevents the convex portion 157-1 of the guide slope 156-3 as well as the corner portion 157-3 from being worn, thereby preventing the curved surface of the corner portion 157-3 from becoming large.

If the width of the concave portion 157-2 is too narrow, the convex portion at the leading end of the paper is difficult to enter. Therefore, the leading edge of the paper P may be turned over, so it is preferable to set the thickness to about 0.1 mm to 5 mm.

Further, since the concave portion 157-2 is inclined, the sheet P receives a force moving in the direction of arrow g as it advances while receiving resistance. This direction is on the side where the sheet regulating plate 50 is located, and the sheet P abuts on the sheet regulating plate 50. That is, since the paper P is guided to a correct position, highly accurate paper feeding can be performed. Further, since the contact position of the sheet P with the concave portion 157-2 moves as the movement of the sheet P in the direction of the arrow f progresses, there is an effect that the sheet P is immediately released even when a strong local catch occurs. The inclination angle of the concave portion 157-2 is preferably set between 30 degrees and 60 degrees in order to appropriately apply resistance to the leading edge of the sheet. This recess 157-
The inclination angle of 2 is determined by the inclination angle of the paper guide 15A and the recess 15.
The size is set in consideration of the size of the R shape of the corner 157-3 of 7-2, the type of paper to be used, and the like.

Subsequently, the guide slope 1 of the paper guide 15A
The behavior of the sheet bundle P2 after hitting the sheet bundle 56-3 will be described.

Since the leading end of the sheet bundle P2 is aligned, the bottom sheet of the sheet bundle P2 first comes into contact with the guide slope 156-3. When the lowermost sheet of the sheet bundle P2 receives resistance on the guide slope 156-3, the upper sheet bundle exits forward, leaving that sheet. This is sequentially repeated, and the upper sheet gradually comes forward, and the leading end of the sheet bundle P2 is
6-3. This is shown in FIG. Once the sheet bundle P2 is misaligned once the leading ends of the sheet bundle P2 are exactly aligned, the sheets are easily separated from each other, and only the uppermost sheet P directly fed by the sheet feed roller 5 is retarded and separated and conveyed. Transport roller 9 and separation roller 6
Nip. This is shown in FIG. Even when the conditions are poor, only a small number of sheets are fed into the nip, and the sheets can be reliably separated by the retard separating and conveying means.

In FIG. 8, the paper guide 15A is pressed by the paper P sandwiched between the rollers 6, 9, and swings downward about the shaft 151. Thus, the paper guide 15
A is configured to oscillate with a predetermined force, and has a function of releasing the paper P from being caught by the oscillating when the leading end of the paper P is particularly sharp and strongly caught in the concave portion 157-2. .

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 9 shows another configuration example of the paper guide.

In the present paper guide 15B, linear irregularities are provided only on the guide slope 156-3 at the leading end.
A plurality of jump tables 15 are provided in front of the linear irregularities.
8 are provided at predetermined intervals. Thus, the sheet P is prevented from being caught on the step at the beginning when the convex portion of the concave / convex portion is formed by etching. Guide slopes 156-1 and 156-2 other than guide slope 156-3
If it is desired to reduce the resistance of the sheet P in the above, this may be done.

<Third Embodiment> FIG. 10 shows still another configuration example of the paper guide.

In the case of the present paper guide 15C, the guide slope 1
56-1 and 156-2 are formed with uneven portions in the paper passing direction,
The guide slope 156-3 has an uneven portion inclined in a direction intersecting the sheet passing direction. The uneven portion of the guide slope 156-3 is a straight portion (a) extending in the paper passing direction.
And a curved portion (b) continuous with this and an inclined portion (c) continuous with the curved portion (b).

By doing so, the guide slope 1
It is possible to change the resistance at 56-1, 156-2, and 156-3. That is, it is possible to increase the resistance at the leading end portion of the guide slope 156-3 to actively loosen the sheet bundle, and to reduce the resistance at the guide slope before this so that unnecessary jamming of the sheet can be prevented.

The sheet material fed by the sheet material feeding device of the present invention is not limited to paper (paper). Plastics and the like are also targets.

FIG. 11 shows an overall configuration example of a laser beam printer (sheet material processing device) provided with the paper feeding device (sheet material feeding device) 100 of the present invention.

The photosensitive member 201 serving as an image bearing means is provided with a photoconductive layer such as an organic optical semiconductor or amorphous silicon on a cylindrical conductive substrate, and rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure. After the photosensitive member 201 is uniformly charged to a predetermined potential by the primary charger 202, the photosensitive member 201 receives an image exposure 203 to form an electrostatic latent image. Developing device 2 containing toner (developer)
04 develops the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 201 to form a toner image (developer image).

On the other hand, the sheets P stacked and stored in the tray 1 are separated one by one by retard separation and transfer means 6 and 9, and are fed along the sheet transfer path so as to be in contact with the toner image on the photosensitive member 201. Then, the toner image is transferred onto the sheet P by the transfer charger 205. Thereafter, the paper P is separated from the photoconductor 201 by the separation charger 206, and
13, the toner image is sent to the fixing device 207 and fixed by heating to obtain a print image.

When printing is performed only on the front side of the sheet P, the sheet P after fixing is discharged to the discharge unit 210. After the transfer step, the photoconductor 201 rotates as it is, and the cleaning device 212 removes residual toner on the photoconductor surface.

At the time of double-sided printing, the sheet P, the surface of which has been fixed, advances in the direction of arrow A on the sheet conveying path 208-1 immediately after fixing and enters the reversing path 208-2, where it moves in the directions of arrows B and C. Then, the sheet is reversed and then travels along the conveyance path 208-3 in the direction of arrow D, is sent again to the transfer section through the paper conveyance path 211, transfers the toner image to the back surface of the paper, and is discharged after being separated and fixed. Then, the printing process ends.

[0051]

As described above, according to the sheet material feeding device of the present invention, the grooved sheet material provided on the slope of the sheet material guide means is provided with the sheet material bundle sent out from the sheet material stacking and storing means. It can be separated by a bundle separating means. For this reason, a large number of sheet materials (sheet material bundles) are not sent to the retard separation / conveyance means, and the separation of the sheet materials by the retard separation / conveyance means is ensured.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a sheet material feeding device (feeding device) of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a main part of the sheet feeding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a paper guide provided in a tray housing of the paper feeding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view ((a) view) and a cross-sectional view ((b) view, (c) view) showing the configuration of the uneven portion formed on the guide slope of the paper guide of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the operation of the sheet feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the leading end of the sheet bundle sent from the tray in the operation of FIG. 5 has hit the guide inclined surface of the sheet guide.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view illustrating an operation following FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view illustrating an operation following FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing another configuration example of the paper guide.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing still another configuration example of the paper guide.

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an overall configuration example of a laser beam printer (sheet material processing device) including a sheet feeding device (sheet material feeding device) of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tray (sheet material loading / storing means) 5 Paper feed roller (sheet material sending means) 6 Separation roller (retard separating / conveying means) 9 Transport roller (retard separating / conveying means) 15A, 15B, 15C Paper guide (sheet material guiding means) 50 sheet regulating plate (regulating means) 156-1, 156-2, 156-3 guide slope (slope) 157-2 recess (groove, sheet material bundle separating means) 157-3 corner portion P sheet (sheet material)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Takuma Kanno, Inventor 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Seiji Inada 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon In-house F term (reference) 2H072 BA03 BA08 BA12 BA17 BA20 CA01 JA05 JB03 3F343 FA02 FB02 FB03 FB04 FC01 GA03 GB01 GC01 GD01 HA14 HB03 HD18 JA01 JD03 JD09 JD15 JD33 LA04 LA15 LC19 LD25

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A sheet material stacking and storing means for stacking and storing sheet materials, and a sheet material delivered from the sheet material stacking and storing means, which is located at a front end of the sheet material stacking and storing means on a sheet material sending side. A sheet material feeding device comprising: a sheet material guiding device that guides the sheet material on a slope rising in the downstream direction and guides the sheet material to a predetermined position on the downstream side. A sheet material feeding device, wherein a groove-shaped sheet material separating means for separating sheets is formed on the slope of the sheet material guiding means. 2. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein said sheet material bundle separating means comprises a large number of grooves continuous at predetermined intervals. 3. The sheet feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the groove is inclined in a direction intersecting a sheet passing direction. 4. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the inclination angle of the groove is set between 30 degrees and 60 degrees. 5. The groove according to claim 2, wherein the width of the groove is set between 0.1 mm and 5 mm.
3. The sheet material feeding device according to any one of 1. 6. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a corner of the groove that falls into the groove from the slope has a radius of curvature of 0.1 mm or less. 7. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein said sheet material guide means is installed so as to be swingable in the front and back direction of the sheet material. 8. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 7, wherein the sheet material guide means is pressed by the sheet material and swings in a direction to reduce the angle of the slope. 9. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a regulating device for conveying the sheet material stored in the sheet material storing device on a one-sided conveyance basis. Feeder. 10. The sheet feeding device according to claim 9, wherein the groove is inclined in a direction to guide the sheet toward the restricting means. 11. A sheet material feeding means according to claim 1, further comprising a sheet material feeding means for feeding the sheet materials stored and stored in said sheet material stacking and storing means in order from the uppermost sheet material. Sheet material feeding device. 12. The sheet feeding device according to claim 11, wherein the sheet feeding unit is a roller that feeds the sheet by frictional force generated by rotation. 13. A retard separating / conveying means for separating and conveying a sheet material bundle sent from said sheet material stacking / storage means into one sheet.
3. The sheet material feeding device according to any one of 2. 14. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 13, wherein said sheet material guiding means guides the sheet material to a nip of said retard separating and conveying means. 15. A sheet material processing apparatus for performing predetermined processing on sheet materials fed one by one, as means for separating and feeding the stacked sheet materials one by one. 15. A sheet material processing apparatus comprising any one of the sheet material feeding apparatuses according to any one of items 14 to 14.