JP2002019988A - Sheet separator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet separator with improved separation performance to certainly prevent overlapped feeding. SOLUTION: In this sheet separator, side wall faces of a sheet cassette 2 are formed with inclined face parts 3. The inclined face part 3 is formed such that the inclined face part 3 is gradually inclined from the vicinity of the topmost face of sheets in a full stacking state of the sheets inside the sheet cassette 2 and that the inclined face part 3 is gradually inclined toward the inside as it goes to the direction of a paper feeding finger unit 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet separating apparatus for separating sheets by suction with air.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, this type of sheet separating apparatus has been used, for example, as an image evaluating apparatus for evaluating an image of a printing paper printed by a printer or a copying machine.

In an image evaluation apparatus or the like, it is necessary to minimize the influence on a print image printed on a printing paper, and the loaded printing paper is separated by air to perform automatic paper feeding.

Here, in the sheet separating apparatus according to the prior art, the suction force of the sheet is adjusted only by the air pressure. Therefore, in order to prevent double feeding of the sheet, the air pressure is adjusted according to the thickness of the sheet. It needed to be adjusted.

[0005]

However, in the case of the above-described prior art, the following problems have occurred.

In the case of the sheet separating apparatus according to the prior art, in order to continuously perform the sheet separating operation, it is necessary to know the thickness and the like of the stacked sheets in advance, or to conduct a test operation several times. , The air pressure had to be adjusted.

Further, when sheets having different thicknesses are stacked in a mixed manner, more troublesome setting has to be performed.

As described above, in the case of the sheet separating apparatus according to the prior art, it has been difficult to prevent double feeding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet separating apparatus which has improved separation performance in order to reliably prevent double feeding. To provide.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a sheet cassette on which sheets are stacked, and a sheet cassette which is movable in a direction in which the sheets are moved toward and away from the sheets stacked on the sheet cassette. And a separating unit that separates the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets by suctioning the air with air, wherein at least a part of a side wall surface of the sheet cassette is provided on the side of the separating unit. And an inclined surface portion to which one end of the sheet to be sucked is slidably contacted.

Therefore, when two or more sheets are sucked by the separating means in an overlapping manner, one end of the sucked sheet is in sliding contact with the inclined surface and is inclined inward.
The frictional resistance gradually increases, and sheets other than the uppermost surface on which the air suction force acts fall due to the frictional force due to the inclined surface.

[0012] It is preferable that the inclined surface portion starts to be inclined from a position corresponding to the vicinity of the uppermost surface of the fully loaded sheet.

The separating means has a contact member with which a sheet to be separated is brought into contact, and the contact member does not come into contact with the inclined surface and substantially along the inner periphery of the side wall surface of the sheet cassette. It is preferable that the shape is as large as the inner circumference.

It is preferable that the contact member has an air suction port provided on substantially the entire contact surface with which the sheet to be separated contacts.

It is preferable that an outlet for blowing air toward the inside of the sheet cassette is provided on a side wall surface of the sheet cassette.

Accordingly, when two or more sheets are suctioned by the separating means, air enters into the gap between the sheets, so that the sheets are more easily separated.

Preferably, the outlet is provided on the inclined surface.

Therefore, when two or more sheets are suctioned by the separating means in a stacked manner, a gap is formed due to friction on the inclined surface, and air enters into the gap, thereby further facilitating separation.

[0019]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the dimensions of the components described in this embodiment,
The materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention only to them unless otherwise specified.

(First Embodiment) A sheet separating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the structure of a sheet separating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the main parts, and FIG. It is a schematic diagram.

As shown in FIG. 1, the sheet separating apparatus according to the present embodiment mainly includes a sheet feeding finger unit 1 as a contact member constituting a separating unit and a sheet cassette 2 for stacking sheets. It is configured.

Here, the sheet feeding finger unit 1 is configured to be movable by a drive mechanism (not shown) in a direction (in a direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1) for coming and coming from the stacked sheets.

Further, the sheet feeding finger unit 1 is provided with a tube member 41 connected to an air suction device (not shown), and suction by air is performed through the air passage 4 of the tube member 41. ing.

The sheet cassette 2 is formed of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped member having an open upper surface, and an inclined surface 3 is provided on each side wall surface.

The inclined surface portion 3 is provided so as to be gradually inclined from the vicinity of the uppermost surface of the sheet when the sheet cassette 2 is full of sheets, and in the direction of the sheet feeding finger unit 1. It is provided so as to gradually inward as it goes.

Here, the size of the rectangle formed on each side wall surface of the sheet cassette 2 is designed to be the same size or slightly larger than the sheets so as to regulate the stacked sheets. ing. Therefore, the sheet sucked by the sheet feeding finger unit 1 always comes into sliding contact with the inclined surface portion 3 that is inclined inwardly from the rectangle formed by each side wall surface.

FIG. 2 shows the positional relationship between the sheet feeding finger unit 1 and the inclined surface 3 and the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the sheet feeding finger unit 1 has a rectangular shape along the rectangle formed on each side wall surface of the sheet cassette 2, and its outer wall surface is slightly inside the inclined surface portion 3. And is configured not to touch the inclined surface portion 3.

FIG. 3 shows a sheet feeding finger unit 1.
The bottom part of FIG. As shown in the figure, a suction port 11 is provided over substantially the entire surface.

With the above configuration, when the sheets are separated, the sheet feeding finger unit 1 moves toward the stacked sheets, and the uppermost sheet is suctioned by the air suction force through the suction port 11. Is sucked into the sheet feeding finger unit 1.

Then, the sheet feeding finger unit 1 moves in a direction away from the stacked sheets, and the sheet sucked by the sheet feeding finger unit 1 is kept in contact with the sheet feeding finger unit 1 while maintaining a predetermined state. Transported to the location.

When the sheet separating apparatus is applied to an image evaluation apparatus, a sheet means a printed printing paper to be measured, and the separated printing paper is sent to a measuring unit for image evaluation. Will be carried.

Here, the case where a plurality of sheets are sucked into the sheet feeding finger unit 1, that is, the case where the sheets are multi-fed will be described.

As described above, in the sheet separating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the sheet sucked by the sheet feeding finger unit 1 is moved while the side edge thereof is in sliding contact with the inclined surface portion 3. Together with the upper surface, the frictional force of the inclined surface portion 3 acts in a direction (downward) opposite to the moving direction.

This force increases as the inclined surface portion 3 moves because the inclined surface portion 3 is inclined inward.

Therefore, even when a plurality of sheets are sucked, the top sheet to be separated, which is being suctioned by the air, is not the top sheet to be separated due to the frictional force of the inclined surface portion 3. And fall apart.

As described above, in the sheet separating and feeding apparatus according to the present embodiment, the separating performance is improved.

Further, in the present embodiment, in order to further enhance the separating performance, an outlet 51 is provided on the side wall surface of the sheet cassette 2, and the outlet 51 is provided via a pipe member 5 connected to an air outlet (not shown). Air was blown into the cassette.

Thus, when a plurality of sheets are sucked by the sheet feeding finger unit 1, the end of the sheet is curved along the inclined surface at the inclined surface portion 3, so that the space between the sheets is provided. A gap is formed, and the air blown from the outlet 51 enters the gap, and the sheet is more easily separated.

In the above description, the sheet cassette 4
Although the case where the inclined surface portions are provided on all of the side wall surfaces has been described, it goes without saying that the predetermined object can be achieved by providing the inclined surface portions on at least one side wall surface.

In the above description, the configuration in the case where the inclined surface portion is provided in a part near the center in the width direction of the side wall surface is described. However, the position where the inclined surface portion is provided is not limited. Alternatively, it is effective to provide an inclined surface portion in the vicinity thereof.

As described above, regarding which side wall surface is to be provided with the inclined surface portion, the number of the inclined surface portion, the position and size of the inclined surface portion, etc., even the sheet to be separated is determined by friction. What is necessary is just to set suitably so that it may not fall and a sheet which has been multi-fed can be dropped.

Further, since the frictional force varies depending on the material of the sheet cassette, it is preferable to consider each element of the inclined surface portion according to the material. Furthermore, in order to make the frictional force by the inclined surface portion appropriate, some processing may be performed on the surface of the inclined surface portion, or another member may be attached.

(Second Embodiment) FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second embodiment. In the first embodiment, the configuration in which the outlet for blowing air toward the inside of the cassette is provided at a position other than the inclined surface is described. However, in the present embodiment, the outlet is provided on the inclined surface. The structure in the case of providing is described.

Since other structures and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic structural perspective views of a sheet separating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, in the case of the sheet separating apparatus according to the present embodiment, the outlet 52 for blowing air toward the inside of the cassette is provided with the inclined surface 3.
It is provided in.

As a result, the end of the sheet is curved along the inclined surface 3 at the inclined surface 3, so that a gap is most likely to be formed between the sheets at the position of the inclined surface 3, and the outlet 52 is located at this position. Is provided, it is possible to more reliably separate the sheets.

In the illustrated example, the outlet 52 is provided on only one of the inclined surfaces 3, but it is needless to say that the separation performance can be further improved by providing the outlets 52 on a plurality of inclined surfaces 3.

As shown in FIG. 5, it is preferable to provide one of the side walls so as to be openable and closable, whereby sheets can be stacked without being obstructed by the inclined surface portion 3. Becomes

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the inclined surface is provided, it is possible to separate and drop the multi-fed sheet by the frictional force of the inclined surface, thereby improving the separating performance. Becomes possible.

By providing an outlet for blowing air toward the inside of the cassette on the side wall surface of the sheet cassette, when two or more sheets are overlapped and the sheets are sucked, the air can enter the gap between the sheets. Thus, the separation performance can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration perspective view of a sheet separating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an arrangement relation diagram of a main part of the sheet separating apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a bottom surface of a main part of the sheet separating device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration perspective view of a sheet separating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration perspective view of a sheet separating apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 sheet feeding finger unit 11 suction port 2 sheet cassette 3 inclined surface section 4 air path 41 pipe member 5 pipe member 51, 52 outlet

Claims (6)

[Claims] A sheet cassette on which sheets are stacked; and a sheet cassette which is provided so as to be movable in a direction approaching and separating from the sheets stacked on the sheet cassette, and sucks the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets by air. And a separating unit that separates the sheet cassette from the sheet cassette. One end of the suctioned sheet is slidably contacted with at least a part of the side wall surface of the sheet cassette inwardly toward the separating unit. A sheet separating device provided with an inclined surface portion to be formed. 2. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the inclined surface portion starts to incline from a position corresponding to the vicinity of the uppermost surface of the full sheet. 3. The sheet separating means has a contact member with which the surface of the sheet to be separated comes into contact, and the contact member does not contact the inclined surface and is formed in the side wall surface of the sheet cassette. 3. The sheet separating device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet separating device has a shape substantially along a circumference and a size substantially equal to the inner circumference. 4. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the contact member has an air suction port provided on substantially the entire contact surface with which the sheet to be separated contacts. . 5. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an outlet for blowing air toward the inside of the cassette is provided on a side wall surface of the sheet cassette. 6. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the outlet is provided on the inclined surface.