JP2001122445A - Recording material feeding device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording material feeding device having excellent operability by a simple structure, capable of freely controlling feeding amount of a paper sheet by a rotating body and reducing cost and an image forming device. SOLUTION: A recording material set member 11 to which a recording material 21 is set is provided so that the member 11 may be displaced at a position abutted on a rotating body 1 for feeding the recording material and a separating position and is energized toward an abutting position by an energizing means 12. The recording material set member 11 is held at the separating position by a regulating means 9. As for the regulating means 9 in a state that the recording material set member 11 is held, the holding state is released by a releasing means 5 which is rotatably provided by synchronizing with a shaft 6 rotatably supporting the rotating body 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording material feeding device and an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, a multifunction machine, a plotter and the like equipped with the recording material feeding device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recording material feeding apparatus provided in an image forming apparatus or a similar apparatus, a recording material such as a bottom plate of a sheet feeding section is rotated by rotating a sheet feeding roller or a rotating body having a function similar thereto. A transfer material such as paper set on a material setting member, a thin sheet material (OHP sheet) made of resin, or leaf paper is fed. In the recording material feeding device, a recording material setting member is provided so as to be able to come into contact with and separate from the rotating body, and a bottom plate pressurizing type biased toward the rotating body by a biasing means such as a leaf spring, a coil spring, or an elastic deformation member. Friction pad type. In this friction pad type recording material feeding device, when the recording material is not set, the recording material setting member (bottom plate) and the rotating body are in pressure contact with each other. The transfer material cannot be set unless it is moved in a direction away from the rotating body against the force. In order to solve such a problem, a structure in which a cam provided coaxially with a rotating body is rotated by a one-rotation clutch to raise and lower a recording material setting member is described in, for example, JP-A-11-110133. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-59922 describes that a recording material setting member is moved up and down using the lever.

An image forming apparatus mainly includes a recording material feeding device for feeding a recording material of a fixed size, and a recording material feeding device for setting an arbitrary recording material on a manual feed tray provided in the apparatus main body to be openable and feeding it. A device is provided.

[0004]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the apparatus described in JP-A-33-33, the use of a one-rotation clutch facilitates the setting operation of the recording material with respect to the recording material feeding device, but the rotation transmission to the rotating body is interrupted. There is a problem that the feed amount cannot be freely controlled and the number of parts increases, so that the structure is complicated and the cost is increased. JP-A-11-5
The device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 9922 has a problem that it is difficult for the device user to understand the operation method of the operation lever, and the operation of the device becomes complicated due to an operation error of the operation lever or forgetting to return.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a low-cost recording material feeder and an image forming apparatus which have a simple structure, have good operability, and can freely control the amount of recording material fed by a rotating body. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a rotatable rotator and a recording material setting member for setting a recording material, wherein the recording material setting member comprises a recording material. In the recording material feeding device, which is provided so as to be displaceable between a position where the recording material comes into contact with the rotating body and a position where the recording material is separated, and is urged by the urging means toward the contact position, the recording material setting member is moved to the separated position. And a releasing means for releasing the restricting means from the holding state in which the recording material setting member is held, wherein the releasing means is rotatably provided in synchronization with a shaft rotatably supporting the rotating body. It is characterized by.

According to the present invention, when the release means rotates integrally with the rotating body, the regulating means is released, and the recording material set member regulated at the separated position separated from the rotating body by the regulating means is provided with the urging means. The recording material is displaced toward the contact position by the force, and the recording material is pressed against the rotating body.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording material feeding device according to the first aspect, wherein the restricting member is rotatably supported on the shaft and engages with the recording material setting member to hold the member at a separated position. A release member provided so as to be integrally rotatable with the shaft and capable of coming into contact with the regulating member; these regulating members and the releasing member having contact portions that frictionally engage with each other; and each contact portion has a regulating member. Are provided so as to abut each other when in a member holding state for holding the recording material setting member, and to be in a non-contact state with each other when the regulating member is not in the member holding state.

According to the present invention, when the regulating member rotatably supported on the shaft is engaged with the recording material setting member and holds the member at the separated position, the regulating member and the shaft are integrated. Since the contact portions of the release member rotatably provided and capable of contacting the restriction member are in frictional engagement, when the shaft rotates, the restriction member that freely rotates with respect to the shaft rotates integrally with the release member. Then, the regulating means is released, the recording material setting member is displaced toward the contact position by the urging force of the urging means, and the recording material is pressed against the rotating body.

When the regulating member rotates integrally with the releasing member and is released from the member holding state, the contact portions of the regulating member and the releasing member are brought into a non-contact state, so that the regulating member and the releasing member rotate integrally. Hindered.

According to the present invention, there is provided a recording material feeding apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the restricting member is rotatably supported on a shaft and engages with the recording material setting member to hold the member at a separated position. Releasing means are provided so as to be integrally rotatable with the shaft and provided at portions that can come into contact with the regulating member, and when the regulating member and the recording material setting member are engaged, the regulating member faces the releasing member. The present invention is characterized in that an engagement positional relationship between the regulating member and the recording material setting member is set so as to be inclined and contact the releasing member.

According to the present invention, when the regulating member rotatably supported on the shaft and the recording material setting member engaged with the regulating member and held at the separated position are engaged with each other, the regulating member is moved to the shaft. As the shaft rotates, the restricting member that freely rotates with respect to the shaft rotates integrally with the releasing member because the releasing member that is provided so as to be integrally rotatable is in contact with the releasing member that can contact the restricting member. The regulating means is released, the recording material setting member is displaced toward the contact position by the urging force of the urging means, and the recording material is pressed against the rotating body.

When the regulating member rotates integrally with the releasing member and the engagement between the regulating member and the recording material setting member is released, the inclination of the regulating member is eliminated. The integral rotation of the release member is hindered.

According to the present invention, in the recording material feeding device according to the first aspect, the regulating position of the regulating member with respect to the recording material setting member is near a position where the recording material setting member receives the urging force from the urging member. It is characterized by. For this reason,
Since the distance between the point of application of the urging force to the recording material setting member and the regulation position (fulcrum) by the regulation means becomes shorter,
Even if there are not a plurality of regulating members, twisting and deformation of the recording material setting member can be suppressed.

According to the present invention, in the recording material feeding apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 4, the rotating body is arranged closer to the end of the shaft than the regulating member and the releasing member. I have. Therefore, even when the rotating body is attached to and detached from the shaft, the restricting member and the releasing member do not interfere.

According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising:
The recording material feeding device according to any one of the above-mentioned items is provided.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus to which the recording material feeding device according to the present invention is applied. The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 6 executes an electrophotographic process while using laser light as scanning light for forming a latent image. Examples of the form of the image forming apparatus include a laser printer, a laser copying machine, a laser fax machine, a composite machine thereof, and a laser plotter. Each of the image forming apparatuses is provided with a recording material feeding device described later, or can be additionally set. The image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is a laser printer. The image forming apparatus is not limited to an apparatus using a laser.

The image forming apparatus includes a rotatable drum-shaped photosensitive member 22 having a photoconductive layer on the surface as an image carrier, inside the apparatus body. As the image carrier, a belt-shaped photoconductor, a drum-shaped or a belt-shaped or roller-shaped intermediate transfer body, or the like may be appropriately selected and used in combination.

Around the photoreceptor 22, a charging device 23, an optical device 24, a developing device 25, and a transfer device 26 for executing an electrophotographic process along the rotation direction shown by the arrow.
And a cleaning device 27 are arranged.

In the vicinity of the transfer device 26, a device (hereinafter, referred to as a sheet feeding device) 28 for feeding the sheet 21 as a recording material, and a manual sheet feeding device 2 as a recording material feeding device.
0 is provided. A fixing device 29 is provided in a passage of the sheet 21 that moves after the image is transferred by the transfer device 26.

The main part of the optical device 24 includes a laser light source (not shown), a rotary polygon mirror for scanning the laser light from the laser light source in the main scanning direction, a plurality of reflecting mirrors and a scanning lens. The light emission of the laser light source is controlled by an image signal from an image information processing unit 30 disposed inside the apparatus main body. Image information processing unit 30
Is equipped with a controller board 31 for not only handling image signals, but also for controlling various electrical components provided in the image forming apparatus, and a drive power supply 32 for the image information processing section 30 and the control board 31. I have.

The developing device 25 is a toner tank 25A that frictionally charges while containing a developer mainly composed of toner.
And a developing roller 25C for supplying the developer carried on the surface of the developer to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member 22.

An image forming apparatus having such a configuration is
Image formation on the paper 21 is performed by the following procedure. When a laser beam is scanned on the photoconductor 1 from the optical device 24 by the image signal from the image information processing unit 30 on the photoconductor 22 uniformly charged by the charging device 23, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image is formed. It is formed. The electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor 22 is subjected to visible image processing by a developing device 25 and is transferred by a transfer device 26 to a sheet 21 fed from a sheet feeding device 28 or a manual sheet feeding device 20. The sheet 21 onto which the image has been transferred is fixed by a fixing device 29 and is discharged via a discharge roller 34 toward a stacker 33 provided on an upper cover 35 of the image forming apparatus.

The paper feeding device 28 is capable of abutting on the mounting plate 28B dropped into the paper feeding cassette 28A and the paper 21 mounted on the mounting plate 28B, and in the feeding direction of the paper 21. A feed roller 28C rotated by a drive motor (not shown), a separation pad 28D that abuts against the back surface of the fed sheet 21 to apply a frictional force in a direction opposite to the feed direction, and an image on the photoconductor 22. And a registration device 36 for aligning the transfer start position with respect to the sheet 21. A driving motor (not shown) is driven to rotate the payout roller 28C, so that the sheets 21 stacked and mounted on the mounting plate 28B can be transferred. 1 in cooperation with the separation pad 28D
The paper is fed while being separated into sheets.

The image forming apparatus feeds the paper 21 to a paper feeder 28.
Regardless of the side, a manual paper feeder 20 as a recording material feeder for setting and feeding arbitrary paper 21 by manual feed is arranged on a side portion of the apparatus main body.

As shown in FIG. 1, the manual sheet feeding device 20 includes a manual tray 10 having a bottom plate 11 as a recording material setting member for setting sheets 21 and a rotating body for feeding the sheets 21 set on the bottom plate 11. And a paper feed roller 1 as a paper feed roller. The paper feed roller 1 is detachably supported on an end of a shaft 6 rotatably supported by a support member 8 fixed to the apparatus main body via a bearing 2 so as to rotate integrally with the shaft 6. Have been. As shown in FIG. 2, a friction pad 15 is disposed below the sheet feed roller 1. The friction pad 15 is pressed against the surface of the paper feed roller 1 with a predetermined pressure by a coil spring 16 and cooperates with the rotation of the paper feed roller 1 to separate the sheets 21 set on the bottom plate 11 one by one. It has become. In the vicinity of the paper feed roller 1 and the friction pad 15, a paper feed path 19 extending up to the registration device 36 is formed by upper and lower guide plates 18a and 18b.

The bottom plate 11 is housed in a manual feed tray 10 located on the right side of the paper feed roller 1, and one edge of the bottom plate 11 is swingably supported on the upper side of the manual feed tray 10 by a pin 11a. . That is, the bottom plate 11 has a contact position where the sheet 21 to be set abuts on the sheet feed roller 1,
It is provided so as to be displaceable about the pin 11a at a separation position where the pin 11a is separated. The manual feed tray 10 is supported on one side of the apparatus main body so as to be able to be turned up and down between an upright storage position shown in FIG. 6 and a falling sheet feeding position shown in FIG. Between the back side of the bottom plate 11 and the manual feed tray 10, a coil spring 12 for urging the bottom plate 11 toward a contact position with the sheet feed roller shown in FIG. It is provided locked to the tray 10.

On the other side edge of the bottom plate 11 located on the side of the paper feed roller 1, an engagement portion 11b is provided with a manual feed tray 1 as shown in FIG.
0 is formed so as to protrude outside. As shown in FIG. 5, a flat surface 11c that is inclined with respect to the axis O of the shaft 6 is formed in the engagement portion 11b.

As shown in FIG. 1, the recording material feeding device 20 includes a releasing means 5 for releasing the regulating means 9 from the holding state in which the bottom plate 11 is held. The releasing means 5 includes a releasing member 5a which is engaged with a spring pin 7 provided on the shaft 6 and is rotatable in synchronization with the rotation of the shaft 6. The shaft 6 is connected to a drive motor (not shown) via a drive train such as a gear train or a belt and a pulley, and is rotated together with the shaft 6 in the clockwise direction in FIG.

The regulating means 9 includes a regulating member 4 rotatably supported on the shaft 6 and engaging with the bottom plate 11 to hold the bottom plate 11 at a separated position, and a torsion coil spring 3 as an urging member. I have. As shown in FIG. 3, the torsion coil spring 3 has one end locked to a spring hook 13 of the apparatus main body, and the other end hooked to a spring hook 17 formed on the regulating member 4, respectively. 11 is urged by an extremely weak force in the direction in which it is engaged. Here, the spring force is a spring force that allows the regulating member 4 to swing in the paper feed direction X when the paper 21 is fed by the paper feed roller 1.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, and FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3C, the end portion 4a has a shape protruding long downward, and the tip portion 4a is an inclined surface that makes surface contact with the inclined flat surface 11c of the engagement portion 11b.
When a is engaged with the engagement portion 11b, the bottom plate 11 is held at the separated position. A cylindrical boss portion 4 through which the shaft 6 is inserted is provided on a side of the regulating member 4 facing the sheet feeding roller 1.
d is formed. On the opposing surface 4e of the regulating member 4 opposite to the side on which the boss 4d is formed, an uneven portion 4b as a contact portion is formed radially about the axis O.
In the part of the regulating member 4 located on the opposite side to the tip part 4a,
The projection 4c is formed outward from the regulating member 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the protruding portion 4c abuts a stopper 14 provided on the apparatus main body to regulate the rotation of the regulating member 4 so that the tip end portion 4a and the engaging portion 11b engage with each other. Is provided so that the regulating member 4 is located at the position.

The release member 5a is, as shown in FIG.
Above, it is opposed to the regulating member 4, and is loosely fitted to the shaft 6 so as to be tiltable. The release member 5a has a cylindrical boss portion 5d formed on the side facing the opposing surface 4e, and a ring-shaped friction engagement plate as a contact portion that frictionally engages with the uneven portion 4d on the outer periphery of the boss portion 5d. 5b are integrally provided. The thickness of the friction engagement plate 5b in the direction of the axis O is smaller than that of the boss portion 5d, and the boss portion 5d is configured to protrude from the end surface 5c of the friction engagement plate 5b toward the regulating member 4. ing. The end face 5c forms a friction engagement surface.
When the regulating member 4 occupies the regulating position where the regulating member 4 engages with the bottom plate 11 to be in the member holding state shown in FIG. 3, the concave and convex portion 4b and the end face 5c engage in pressure contact with each other, and the regulating member 4 is in the member holding state shown in FIG. Are provided so that they do not come into pressure contact with each other when they occupy other release positions, preferably they come into a non-contact state.

The positional relationship between the regulating member 4 and the engaging portion 11b of the bottom plate 11 is as shown in FIG.
1b, the concave / convex portion 4b of the regulating member 5 is formed so that the regulating member 4 is inclined toward the release member 5 with respect to a line L perpendicular to the axis O when the engaging surface 5c is engaged with the end surface 5c of the friction engaging plate 5b. (Frictional engagement surface).
That is, both are provided so that the regulating member 4 is pushed in the direction of arrow F by the engaging portion 11b when the regulating member 4 and the engaging portion 11b are engaged.

A regulating position of the regulating means 4 with respect to the bottom plate 11,
That is, the engagement position between the engagement portion 11a and the regulating member 4 is
The bottom plate 11a is provided near a position where the bottom plate 11a receives the urging force from the coil spring 12. In the case of this embodiment, the coil spring 1
2 acts on the center of the other side edge of the bottom plate 11, and the engagement position between the engaging portion 11b and the regulating means 4 is slightly supplied from the other side edge of the bottom plate 11 in FIG. The right side is set in the paper direction X.

According to the manual paper feeder 20 having such a configuration, when the paper 21 is first set, the bottom plate 11 placed at the contact position shown in FIG. The engaging portion 11b integral with the bottom plate 11 moves inside the regulating member 4 urged toward the regulating position by the action of the torsion coil spring 3, and the engaging portion 11b
When the is lowered below the distal end portion 4a, the regulating member 4 tends to move further toward the manual feed tray 10 than the engaging portion 11b by the urging force of the torsion coil spring 3. The restricting member 4 is loosely fitted to the shaft 6 so as to be tiltable, and the distal end portion 4 a has a flat surface 11.
c, and the engaging portion 11b is provided with an inclined flat surface 11c corresponding to the distal end portion 4a, so that the distal end portion 4a is guided by the flat surface 11c of the engaging portion 11b. Lock. As a result, the distal end portion 4a is pushed in the direction of arrow F by the engaging portion 11b, and the restricting member 4 is in a restricting state as shown in FIG.
Are held at the separated positions shown in FIG. For this reason, the bottom plate 1
The sheet 21 can be set on the bottom plate 11 without holding the sheet 1a by hand.

When the image forming apparatus operates to form an image, the drive motor (not shown) is driven to rotate the shaft 6 in a clockwise direction, and the release member 5a is integrated with the shaft 6 and the sheet feeding roller 1. And rotate. At this time, the concavo-convex portion 4b of the regulating member 4 held at the separated position is released by the release member 5a.
Is pressed against the friction engagement plate 5b, the regulating member 4 rotatably supported on the shaft 6 is rotated clockwise together with the shaft 6 by the release member 5. Therefore, the regulating means 4 occupying the regulating position shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 rotates clockwise as shown by the imaginary line, and the regulating state of the bottom plate 11 by the regulating member 4 is released. Therefore, the bottom plate 11 is displaced toward the contact position by the urging force of the coil spring 12, and the paper 21
Is pressed against. Since the feed roller 1 is rotating, the bottom plate 1
The uppermost one of the sheets 21 set on 1 is fed.

When the regulating member 4 rotates integrally with the release member 5a and is released from the member holding state, the force of the engaging portion 11b in the direction of the arrow F with respect to the distal end 4a of the regulating member 4 disappears. As shown in FIG. 8, the state becomes substantially orthogonal to the axis 8, and the inclined state of the regulating member 4 is released. For this reason, the pressing state between the concave-convex portion 4b of the regulating member 4 and the frictional engagement plate 5b of the releasing member 5 is released, preferably the contact state is released, and the non-contact state is established.
Even if a rotates integrally with the shaft 6, the rotation force is not transmitted to the regulating member 4 and becomes free with respect to the shaft 6. Control member 4
The shaft 6 is driven by its own weight and the urging force of the torsion coil spring 3.
Pivoted counterclockwise around the center, as shown in FIG.
It is returned to the manual feed tray 10 side. At this time, since the bottom plate 11 has already occupied the contact position, the engaging portion 11b is
8 and overlaps the regulating member 4 as shown in FIG. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 7, the regulating member 4 returned to the braking position comes into a mere contact state with the engaging portion 11b. Therefore, when the sheet feeding operation is performed after the sheet is set, the holding state of the bottom plate 11 by the regulating member 4 is released, and the sheet 21 is pressed against the sheet feeding roller 1. Therefore, the feed amount of the paper 21 by the paper feed roller 1 can be freely controlled.

When image formation is continued and the shaft 6 rotates and the paper feed roller 1 rotates clockwise, the paper is fed to the paper feed path 19 in order from the uppermost paper 21. When the paper 21 is fed, the regulating member 4 is located on the transport path.
As shown by a virtual line in FIG. For this reason, it does not hinder the sheet 21 from being fed and conveyed.

A regulating position of the regulating means 4 with respect to the bottom plate 11,
That is, since the engagement position between the distal end portion 4a and the engagement portion 11b is near the position where the bottom plate 11 receives the urging force from the coil spring, the point of application of the urging force to the bottom plate 11 and the restriction position ( (A fulcrum), the twisting and deformation of the bottom plate 11 can be suppressed even with a single regulating member 4, and a stable sheet feeding operation can be performed.

The feed roller 1 includes a regulating member 4 and a release member 5.
Since it is disposed closer to the end of the shaft 6 than a, and is detachably provided, when the paper feed roller 1 is attached to / detached from the shaft 6, that is, when the paper feed roller 1 is replaced, The workability is good without the release member 5a being in the way.

In this embodiment, the bottom plate 11 is connected to one regulating member 4.
, The number of parts can be reduced, the configuration can be simplified, and the cost of the apparatus can be reduced.
Since the bottom plate 11 can be held in the separated state by the defining member 4 by a simple operation of moving the bottom plate 11 from the contact position to the separated position, operation errors are extremely reduced. Also,
Since the holding state of the bottom plate 11 by the regulating member 4 is performed in synchronization with the shaft 6 rotated by the drive motor, the regulation of the bottom plate 11 can be automatically released while using the existing drive source, and complicated operations are not required. In addition, it is possible to suppress an increase in cost while reducing operation errors.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, one regulating member 4 is engaged with the substantially central portion of the other side edge of the bottom plate 11 to temporarily hold the bottom plate 11 at the separated position. It is not limited to such a form. For example, the bottom plate 11
In order to prevent twisting and deformation of the manual feeding tray surely, in FIG. 1, engaging portions 11c are formed on both sides of the other side edge of the bottom plate 11 located in the width direction W of the manual feed tray 10, and each engaging portion 11c is formed. The restricting means 9 and the releasing means 5 are arranged on the shaft 6 corresponding to. With such a configuration, both sides of the bottom plate 11 are held at the separated positions by the plurality of regulating members 4, so that twisting and deformation of the bottom plate 11 in the holding state can be reduced. In this case, since the regulating means 9 and the releasing means 5 are located on both sides of the paper feed roller 1, it is preferable that the shaft 6 is not cantilevered but supports both ends.

In the above embodiment, the regulating member 4 is provided with the uneven portion 4b and the release member 5a is provided with the frictional engagement plate 5b.
The uneven portion 4b may be provided radially around the shaft 6 on the entire end surface on the release member 5 side, and the friction engagement plate 5b may be provided in a fan shape on the opposing surface 4e side of the regulating member 4. Alternatively, instead of the uneven portion 4b, an engaging friction plate 5b is provided on the regulating member 4 side, and the regulating member 4 is temporarily moved to the shaft 6 or the sheet feeding roller 1 by partial frictional engagement between the engaging friction plates. Or it may be rotatable integrally with the release member 5a.

[0044]

According to the present invention, when the release means rotates integrally with the rotating body and the regulating means is released, the recording material setting member regulated to the separated position separated from the rotating body by the regulating means. Is naturally displaced toward the contact position by the urging force of the urging means, and the recording material is pressed against the rotating body. Therefore, the operability is good with a simple structure, and the amount of feeding of the recording material by the rotating body can be freely adjusted. A controllable recording material feeder and image forming apparatus are provided. The cost is reduced because the structure is simplified.

Since the distance between the point of application of the urging force to the recording material setting member and the restricting position (fulcrum) by the restricting means is short, twisting and deformation of the recording material setting member can be suppressed even if there are no plural restricting members. Durability and paper feeding accuracy can be improved.

Even when the rotating body is attached to and detached from the shaft, the workability can be improved because the regulating member and the releasing member do not interfere.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of a recording material feeding device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a configuration of a main part of a recording material feeding device.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a state of a recording material feeding device in which a recording material is set.

FIG. 4A is a front view showing a configuration of a regulating member, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a configuration of the regulating member, and FIG. 3C is a rear view illustrating a configuration of the regulating member.

FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing an assembled state and a regulated state of a regulating member and a release member, which are main parts of the recording material feeding device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating one embodiment of an image forming apparatus including the recording material feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing a sheet feeding operation of a recording material feeding device and an operation of a regulating member.

FIG. 8 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state at the time of release of a restriction state by a restriction member.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 rotating body 3 urging means 4 regulating member 4b, 5c contact portion 5 releasing means 5a releasing member 6 shaft 9 regulating means 11 recording material setting member 20 recording material feeding device 21 recording material

Claims (6)

[Claims] A recording material setting member for setting a recording material;
A rotating body for sending out the recording material set on the recording material setting member, wherein the recording material setting member is provided so as to be displaceable between a position where the recording material contacts the rotating body and a position where the recording material separates therefrom. And a recording material feeding device urged by urging means toward the contact position, wherein the regulating member holds the recording material set member at the separated position, and the holding member holds the recording material set member. A release means for releasing the regulating means, wherein the release means is rotatably provided in synchronization with a shaft rotatably supporting the rotating body. 2. A regulating member according to claim 1, wherein said regulating means is rotatably supported on said shaft and engages with said recording material setting member to hold said member at a separated position. The release means has a release member provided so as to be integrally rotatable with the shaft and provided opposite to the restriction member, wherein the restriction member and the release member have contact portions frictionally engaged with each other, The contact portions are provided so as to abut each other when the regulating member is holding the recording material setting member, and to be in a non-contact state when the regulating member is not holding the recording material setting member. Recording material feeder. 3. The recording material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein said restricting means is rotatably supported on said shaft and engages with said recording material setting member to hold said member at a separated position. The release means has release members provided so as to be integrally rotatable with the shaft and provided at a portion that can come into contact with the regulating member. When the regulating member and the recording material set member are engaged, A recording material feeding device in which an engagement positional relationship between the regulating member and the recording material setting member is set such that the regulating member is inclined toward the releasing member and comes into contact with the releasing member. 4. The recording material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the restricting position of the restricting means with respect to the recording material setting member is near a position where the recording material setting member receives the urging force from the urging member. A recording material feeder. 5. A recording material feeding apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said rotating body is disposed closer to an end of said shaft than said regulating member and said release member. . 6. An image forming apparatus comprising the recording material feeding device according to claim 1.