JP2001240261A - Sheet feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet feeder capable of guiding the side edge of each sheet while always stabilizing the lateral printing start position of the sheet at a preset position even if the actual sheet width is different from each other when a plurality of stacked sheets are juxtaposed with each other and printed. SOLUTION: This sheet feeder comprises a sheet feed tray 9 capable of loading a plurality rows of sheets S1 and S1' in parallel, and sheet guide means 1 and 2 disposed between the sheets S1 and S1' loaded adjacent to each other on the sheet feed tray 9 and guiding and positioning the opposed side edges S1a and S1a' of the sheets S1 and S1' adjacent to each other. The sheet guide means 1 and 2 varies the position of the side edge S1a of one sheet S1 in the lateral direction of the sheet S1 according to the width of the other sheet S1' determined by positioning the side edge S1a' of one sheet S1' of the sheets adjacent to each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeder,
In particular, the present invention relates to a sheet feeding device capable of simultaneously supplying a plurality of sheets stacked on a sheet feeding tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a paper feeder, it has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI 10-102, in order to freely switch between a single paper feed in which paper is supplied one by one and a plural paper feed in which a plurality of papers are supplied simultaneously.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 218387, 10-258946 and 6-234433 propose a paper feeder and the like.

As an example, the paper feeder described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-258946 can place a large number of relatively small-sized sheets such as postcards without increasing the size of a hopper, and It is configured so that printing can be efficiently performed on paper of a size.

As shown in FIG. 4, in this paper feeder, a plurality of rows of relatively small-sized paper S1 and S1 'can be placed on a tray 10 for pressing paper toward a paper feed roller 20. An intermediate edge guide 13 is formed between the sheets S1 and S1 ', and guides opposing side edges of the sheets. The intermediate edge guide 13 is slidable and foldable on the tray 10, and is provided with edge guide detecting means 10b for detecting that the intermediate edge guide 13 is upright. When a relatively small number of sheets S1 and S1 'are placed in parallel on the tray 10 in a plurality of rows, the print data is developed in a plurality of rows in the sheet width direction and printed on a plurality of rows of sheets simultaneously. can do.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned conventional paper feeder, the intermediate edge guide 13 shown in FIG. 4 is set at a position slid along the side edge S1a of the paper S1, and then the paper S1 '. Of the intermediate edge guide 13 is set.

However, even if the width of the paper S1 is set to the width of the standard paper, the width of the paper may differ from the actual width of the paper by about ± several mm. For example, since the paper width of a government-made postcard is 100 mm, the paper width of a postcard is
Although it is set to 0 mm, in the case of a privately-made postcard, the width may be slightly different from the standard width.

When a private postcard other than the standard size is used, the set position of the side edge S1a of the sheet S1 'in the sheet width direction is shifted from the position of the designated sheet width to the sheet S1'.
1 is different from that of the sheet width of 1 and when printing is performed by the print data input with the fixed sheet width, the print start position in the sheet width direction of the print data developed on the sheet S1 'side is changed. There was a problem that it shifted.

[0008] For example, 95
mm, the first print position of the first postcard and the first print position of the second postcard are printed unless they are processed on the data. There was a problem that it was shifted by 5 mm.

[0009] In the paper feeder described in the other two publications, there is a possibility that a similar problem may occur.

In view of the above, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems in the conventional paper feeding apparatus, and has been made in consideration of the above-described paper width when a plurality of stacked papers are placed in parallel and printed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feeder that can guide the side edge of each sheet while always stabilizing the print start position in the width direction of the sheet at a set position even if the actual dimensions of the sheets differ. I do.

[0011]

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet feeding apparatus, comprising: a sheet feeding tray capable of stacking a plurality of sheets in a plurality of rows in parallel; Paper guide means disposed between adjacent paper sheets stacked on the paper feed tray and guiding the adjacent paper sheets while positioning opposing side edges thereof, wherein the paper guide means comprises The position of the side edge of the other sheet is made variable in the width direction of the sheet according to the width of the one sheet determined by positioning the side edge of the other sheet. .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the sheets stacked on the sheet feed tray are slightly different from the sheet width of the designated standard size, the sheets stacked on the sheet feed tray can be mutually separated. Since the position of the side edge of the other sheet is made variable in the width direction of the adjacent sheet according to the width of one sheet of the adjacent sheet by the sheet guide means arranged between the adjacent sheets, Both can be fixed to the reference position without floating in the paper width direction, and the printing start position of the paper does not fluctuate, and printing can always be started stably at the same position.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, as a preferred embodiment of the paper feeding device, the paper guide means includes two plate-shaped paper guides arranged in parallel with each other, and the two plate-shaped paper guides. It is characterized by comprising a link mechanism that makes the interval between the two paper guides variable while maintaining the parallel state of the paper guides.

[0014]

Next, a specific example of an embodiment of a sheet feeding device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a paper feeder according to the present invention. This paper feeder includes a paper guide 1, a paper sub-guide 2, a tray paper reference wall 6, a guide 7, and a paper feeder. It is composed of a paper tray 9 and the like.

The paper feed tray 9 holds a plurality of sheets S1 and S
1 ′ can be stacked in a plurality of rows in parallel. The sheet feed tray 9 has a side edge S1 of the sheet S1 '.
b 'and a tray paper reference wall 6 for determining the position O of the side edge S1b of the paper S1 placed side by side. The guide 7 is slidable in the paper width direction. The tray paper reference wall 6 is fixed on the paper feed tray 9.

The sheet guide 1 is formed in a plate shape, and adjacent sheets S 1 and S 1 ′ stacked on a sheet feed tray 9.
And between the side edges S1 of the sheets S1 and S1 '.
a, S1a 'are guided so as to be separated and positioned so as not to overlap.

The sheet guide 1 has a width x of the sheets S1 and S1 '.
Is slidable on the paper feed tray 9 in the width x direction in accordance with the width O of the sheets S1 and S1 'placed on the paper feed tray 9, and the position O of the side edge S1a' of the paper S1 'in accordance with the width x. 'Is provided with a mark (not shown) which determines in advance. Then, the side edge S1a 'of the sheet S1' is set at the determined position O 'by the sheet guide 1 without fail. Here, the position O 'of the side edge S1a' of the sheet S1 'is x' more than the sheet size width x.
It has a long margin.

In this embodiment, a link mechanism is adopted for the paper guide 1 and a plate-shaped paper sub-guide 2 is provided separately from the paper guide 1. A fulcrum 4 is provided on the paper guide 1 side, and a fulcrum 4 is provided on the paper sub guide 2 side. It has a fulcrum 5 and is connected by a link 3. Further, in order to make the paper sub-guide 2 movable while maintaining the parallel state with the paper guide 1, another fulcrum 4 'and another fulcrum 5' are provided on each side of the paper guide 1 and the paper sub-guide 2, and these are linked. It is linked at 3 '. And
The centers of the links 3 and 3 ′ are rotatably supported by the paper feed tray 9. As a result, the sheets S1 and S1 'are separated from each other by the paper feed tray 9 so that the side edges S1a and S1a' thereof are spaced apart in parallel.
Is set to

Incidentally, as shown in FIG.
Is configured to be stored inside the paper guide 1 when the actual size of the paper width is y (= x + x ′) or when paper is not stacked in parallel.

As shown in FIG. 3, the paper sub-guide 2 is configured to be able to guide the side edge S1a of the paper until the actual width of the paper is z (= x−z ′).

Next, the operation of the paper feeder having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the paper guide 1 is slid and fixed at a position O 'determined on the paper feed tray 9 according to the width of the paper to be stacked, and the paper S is attached to the left edge of the paper guide 1.
Align right edge S1a 'of 1'. Next, in order to prevent the sheet S1 'from floating in the sheet width direction, the guide 7 is slid and fixed to the left edge S1b' of the sheet S1 '.

Next, the paper S1 'is placed on the tray paper reference wall 6.
To the right edge S1b of the sheet S1 placed in parallel with. Then, in order to prevent the sheet S1 from floating in the sheet width direction, the sheet sub-guide 2 is pulled out by the link mechanism attached to the sheet guide 1, and the left side of the sheet S1 is adjusted to the actual sheet width x of the sheet S1. It is fixed to the edge S1a.
At this time, the paper sub-guide 2 is pulled out by the length of x 'in the paper width direction. Thus, the stacking of the sheets S1 and S1 'on the sheet feeding tray 9 is completed.

FIG. 2 shows the case where the actual width of the sheets S1 and S1 'is y (= x + x'), and the operation for setting the sheet is the same as described above. 2
There is no need to pull out and secure.

Also, as shown in FIG.
When the actual size of the width 1 ′ is z (= x−z ′), the operation for setting the sheet is the same as described above, but the sheet width dimension z in this case is the left edge of the sheet S1. This is the minimum width at which S1a can be fixed.

In the above embodiment, the paper guide 1
The paper sub-guide 2 is pulled out from the fulcrums 4, 4 ', 5
And a link mechanism comprising a link 3 and a link 3 ', the fixed position O' of the mechanism is determined according to the sheet width of the sheet guide 1, and from this position, the fixed position O 'is adjusted to the actual size of the sheet width. A mechanism other than the link mechanism may be used as long as it has a function of fixing the left edge S1a of the sheet S1.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Even if the paper loaded on the paper tray is slightly different from the specified standard size paper width, both adjacent papers can be fixed to the reference position without floating in the paper width direction, and printing of paper starts. It is possible to provide a sheet feeding device capable of always starting printing stably at the same position without changing the position.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a sheet feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining the operation of the sheet feeding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining the operation of the sheet feeding device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a conventional sheet feeding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper guide 2 paper sub guide 6 tray paper reference wall 7 guide 9 paper feed tray 13 intermediate edge guide O paper setting reference position O 'paper guide setting position S1, S1' paper S1a, S1a 'side edges of paper S1b, S1b '' Paper edge

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding tray capable of stacking a plurality of sheets in a plurality of rows in parallel, and disposed between adjacent sheets of paper stacked on the sheet feeding tray, and opposing the adjacent sheets of paper. Paper guide means for guiding while positioning the side edge to be formed, the paper guide means according to the width of one of the adjacent sheets determined by positioning the side edge of the one sheet. And a position of a side edge of the other sheet is variable in a width direction of the sheet. 2. The paper guide means comprises: two plate-shaped paper guides arranged in parallel with each other; and a variable interval between the two sheet guides while maintaining the two plate-shaped paper guides in a parallel state. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a link mechanism.