JP2002154690A - Automatic paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic paper feeder for easily selecting paper, and reducing the number of part items of a paper feeding part and a paper carrying part. SOLUTION: In this automatic paper feeder having a hopper for storing the paper in a stacking state and a paper feeding roller for sending out the paper in the hopper, the automatic paper feeder is formed as a structure that a first paper feeding tray for accumulating the first paper and a paper feeding tray for accumulating the second paper are arranged in layers in the hopper, and a paper feeding tray for feeding the paper to the paper feeding roller can be changed between the first paper feeding tray and the second paper feeding tray by changing an inclination of the second paper feeding tray.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic paper feeder used mainly in an image forming apparatus such as a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image forming apparatus such as a printer generally includes an automatic paper feeder for feeding paper stored in a hopper to a front image forming apparatus by a paper feed roller. is there.

[0003] In such an apparatus, for example, when printing is to be performed on two types of paper having different paper sizes, the paper in the hopper is replaced if necessary.
Alternatively, each sheet is generally stored in advance in a paper feed tray, and these paper feed trays are generally replaced in a hopper as needed.

As a technique for eliminating the need for such replacement, a hopper for storing each sheet and a transport mechanism such as a paper feed roller corresponding to the hopper are separately provided, and the sheet is selected according to an operator's selection. Is selected for printing.

[0005]

However, the provision of components such as hoppers for individual sheets as described above causes a problem that the number of components increases and the cost increases.
Further, the mechanism of the paper transport path becomes complicated, and problems such as a decrease in reliability of paper transport and a complicated maintenance are likely to occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic sheet feeder which can easily select a sheet and has a small number of parts in a sheet feeding portion and a sheet conveying portion.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided an automatic sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a hopper for storing sheets in a stacked state; and a sheet feed roller for feeding the sheets in the hopper. In the apparatus, a first paper feed tray for storing first paper and a paper feed tray for storing second paper are stacked in a hopper, and the second paper feed tray is provided. By changing the tilt angle of the paper tray,
The paper feed tray for feeding paper to the paper feed roller is configured to be changeable between the first paper feed tray and the second paper feed tray. This facilitates paper selection. In addition, it is possible to share parts such as a sheet feeding roller and a sheet conveying unit between the first sheet feeding tray and the second sheet feeding tray, thereby simplifying the apparatus configuration.

Further, in the automatic paper feeder according to the present invention, the first paper feed tray is provided on a lift plate provided on an end face on the paper feed roller side, and is provided below the lift plate. The second paper tray compresses the elastic body via the lift plate when the inclination angle of the second paper tray is changed. The first paper tray is detached from the predetermined paper feed position, and at the same time, the second paper tray is held at the predetermined paper feed position to the paper feed roller. Features.
This makes it possible to freely attach and detach the paper in the first paper supply tray from a predetermined paper supply position, and facilitate paper selection.

Further, in the automatic paper feeder according to the present invention, the second paper feed tray has a regulating plate at a lower end on the paper feed roller side, and when the inclination angle of the second paper feed tray is changed,
The restriction plate compresses the elastic body via the lift plate. By using such a regulating plate, it is possible to more reliably attach and detach the paper in the first paper supply tray from the predetermined paper supply position.

In the automatic paper feeder of the present invention, the second paper feed tray has shafts on both sides for fixing the paper feed tray to the hopper by inserting the paper feed tray into the groove provided in the hopper. The position and the angle of the second sheet feed tray are changed by moving the shaft along the groove. With such a structure, the angle of the second paper tray can be easily changed.

Further, in the automatic paper feeder according to the present invention, the second paper feed tray is provided on a lift plate provided on an end face of the paper feed roller side, and the second paper feed tray is provided below the lift plate. An elastic body for holding the supply at a predetermined position, and a second regulating plate fixed to the shaft, and the second regulating plate is configured such that the first paper tray is in a paper feeding state. At one time, the elastic body is compressed through the lift plate of the second paper feed tray, and when the second paper feed tray is in the paper feed state, the compression is released to thereby reduce the pressure of the second paper feed tray. The lift plate is configured to be held at a predetermined sheet feeding position. With such a structure, when the second paper feed tray is set in the paper feed state, the paper in the tray can be reliably held at the predetermined paper feed position, and the reliability of the apparatus can be improved. it can.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration example of an image forming apparatus having an automatic sheet feeder. Referring to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 includes an EP cartridge 111, an OP
The image forming unit 110 including the C drum 112, the transfer roller 113, the fixing device 114, and the transport roller 115, the hopper 121, the first paper tray 122, the second paper tray 123, and the paper roller 124. And an automatic paper feeder unit 120.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the paper 131 in the first paper feed tray 122 is fed to the paper feed roller 124. This state will be described in detail. In the first paper feed tray 122, a lift plate 125 is provided at an end on the paper feed roller 124 side, and the lift plate 125 is further supported by an elastic body 126 provided thereunder. And paper 13
1 is held at a predetermined position for feeding paper. When the feed roller 124 rotates in this state, the sheets 131 in the first feed tray 122 are fed one by one,
Then, the image is transferred by the transfer roller 113 and the image is fixed by the fixing device 114, and then discharged outside the apparatus by the conveying roller 115 as shown by the arrow A.

Next, the state of the second paper feed tray 123 at this time will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which is a partially enlarged sectional view of FIG. The second paper feed tray 123 has shafts 201 on both side surfaces, and is fixed to the hopper 121 by inserting the shaft 201 into the groove 202 provided in the hopper 121 and fixing the shaft position by the hold bush 203. ing. As shown in FIG. 1, when the first paper supply tray 122 is in the paper supply state, the shaft 201 is fixed at the shaft position A, whereby the second paper supply tray 123 is held in the paper supply release state. You.

Referring to FIG. 3, a procedure for setting the first paper feed tray to the paper release state and setting the second paper tray 123 to the paper feed state from this state will be described. FIG. 3 (A)
Rotate the hold bush 203 as shown in FIG.
01 is released and the inside of the groove 202 is moved to the axial position B, and the second paper feed tray 123 is rotated with the shaft 201 as a fulcrum, and pushed down to the first paper feed tray 122 side. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the regulating plate 301 provided below the second paper feed tray 123 is moved by the elastic body via the paper 131 in the first paper feed tray 122 and the lift plate 125. 126 is compressed, and the first paper supply tray 122 is set in the paper supply release state. At this time, axis 1
With the movement of the regulating plate 302 attached to the sheet feeding tray 27, the regulation of the lift plate 303 and the elastic body 304 provided in the second sheet feeding tray 123 similarly to the first sheet feeding tray 122 is released, and the sheet 132 Is held at the predetermined position of the sheet feeding. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the entire device at this time.

To return from the state of FIG. 4 to the state of FIG. 1 (the state in which the first paper feed tray is in the paper feed state), the procedure reverse to that described above may be performed.

By adopting such a structure, sheets of different sizes are stacked on the respective paper feed trays, and these paper feed trays are switched between a paper feed state and a paper feed release state, so that the paper can be easily selected. It can be performed. Further, by sharing parts such as a paper feed roller, the apparatus configuration and the paper transport path can be simplified, and the reliability of the apparatus can be improved.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an automatic paper feeder in which the paper can be easily selected and the number of parts in the paper feed portion and the paper transport portion is small.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of a device configuration of an image forming apparatus including an automatic sheet feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the automatic sheet feeder in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view for explaining a procedure of changing a paper feed tray selection in the automatic paper feeder shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the device configuration after a change of a paper feed tray selection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 image forming apparatus 110 image forming unit 111 EP cartridge 112 OPC drum 113 transfer roller 114 fixing device 115 transport roller 120 automatic paper feeding unit 121 hopper 122 first paper feeding tray 123 second paper feeding tray 124 paper feeding roller 125 Lift plate of one paper feed tray 126 Elastic body of first paper feed tray 131 Paper in first paper feed tray 132 Paper in second paper feed tray 201 Axis 202 Groove 203 Hold bush 301 First regulation Plate 302 Second regulating plate 303 Lift plate of second paper tray 304 Elastic body of second paper tray

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An automatic paper feeder comprising: a hopper for storing sheets in a stacked state; and a paper feed roller for feeding out the sheets in the hopper, wherein a first paper supply for accumulating a first sheet in the hopper is provided. A paper tray and a paper feed tray for accumulating the second paper are stacked and arranged, and the paper is fed to the paper feed roller by changing the inclination angle of the second paper tray. An automatic sheet feeding device, wherein a sheet feeding tray to be performed can be changed between the first sheet feeding tray and the second sheet feeding tray. 2. The sheet feeding tray according to claim 1, wherein the first sheet feeding tray is provided on a lift plate provided on an end face of the sheet feeding roller, and is provided at a lower portion of the lift plate to hold the sheet feeding roller at a predetermined position. The second paper feed tray compresses the elastic body via the lift plate when the inclination angle of the second paper feed tray is changed. 2. The structure according to claim 1, wherein a paper tray is detached from the predetermined paper feed position, and at the same time, the second paper tray is held at a predetermined paper feed position to the paper feed roller. Automatic paper feeder. 3. The second sheet feeding tray has a regulating plate at a lower end portion on the sheet feeding roller side. When the inclination angle of the second sheet feeding tray is changed, the regulating plate moves the lift plate. 3. The automatic sheet feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the elastic body is compressed through the elastic member. 4. The second paper feed tray has, on both sides, shafts for fixing the paper feed tray to the hopper by being inserted into grooves provided in the hopper, and the shafts being provided in the grooves. The automatic paper feeder according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the automatic paper feeder has a structure in which a position and an angle of the second paper feed tray are changed by moving the second paper feed tray. 5. The second paper feed tray is provided on a lift plate provided on an end face on the paper feed roller side, and is provided below the lift plate, and holds the second paper feed tray at a predetermined position for supplying the paper feed roller. An elastic body for, and a second regulating plate fixed to the shaft, and the second regulating plate,
When the first paper tray is in the paper feeding state, the elastic body is compressed through the lift plate of the second paper tray, and when the second paper tray is in the paper feeding state, the compression is performed. 5. The automatic sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the lift plate of the second sheet feeding tray is held at a predetermined sheet feeding position by releasing the sheet.