JP2003040460A - Document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To favorably handle documents by a document separator by forming a document abutment surface of a shutter member into an inclined surface and projecting the upper side of the tip part of a sheet type document stacked on a document tray in the document carrier direction in an ADF(Automatic Document Feeder). SOLUTION: The shutter member 30 is disposed in a document set position of the ADF to regulate the tip surface when setting the document and when feeding paper by a pickup roller, the shutter member 30 is retreated to a non- operation position. The lower end portion of a shutter part 31 of the shutter member 30 regulating the document tip surface is stopped with its projected into a recessed part 6a provided in an inner guide 6 to be connected to the document tray and regulates the inclined angle θ of the shutter part to an acute angle or an angle θ2 of the lower surface relative to a support board to an obtuse angle so as to regulate that the upper document first enters into the document separator, when setting the documents.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device of an automatic document feeder which is used in a facsimile machine or an electrophotographic copying machine and which carries out an operation of feeding sheet originals one by one toward a reading section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an electrophotographic copying machine or a facsimile machine, in order to feed a document toward a reading section,
A document feeding device is provided, and a paper feeding device is provided for separating and feeding sheet-like documents to be set on a document tray one by one. In the paper feeding device, the documents set on the document tray are sequentially picked up by the pickup roller from the top, and further separated one by one by the document separating device, conveyed toward the reading section, and fed to the scanning device. Then, the image of the original is read. In the document feeding device, when a large number of documents are stacked and set on a document tray, in order to align the sheets by regulating the leading end of the documents, the document feeding device is placed at a position between the pickup roller and the document separating device. A shutter is provided so that when the paper feeding operation is performed, the shutter is opened in association with the operation of the pickup roller. A lock mechanism operated by a solenoid is provided to hold the shutter in the lowered position and the raised position.

[0003]

Generally, when a large number of originals are set on the original tray and fed by a pickup roller, one sheet of paper is placed on the accumulated originals.
It is often the case that a plurality of originals are fed not only to the originals but also to the original separating device in a state of being overlapped. Therefore, with respect to the originals sent to the original separating device in the double feeding state, only the upper one sheet is separated by the original separating device and sent out toward the original conveying path, and the image is read by the scanning device. ing. However, even when the front end surface of the document in the piled state is regulated by the shutter, if the regulation state of the front end surface is not good, the upper document fed in the multi-feed state is delayed from the lower document and the document is separated. May plunge into the nip position of the device. Then, when the original below enters the nip portion of the original separating device first, the separating action is not performed well, and the two originals remain in the overlapping state and remain in the double-feeding state toward the original conveying path. Since the document is sent in a sheet, if the document is separated during document transportation, it may cause a jam. In addition, as described above, if a misaligned document is conveyed while being conveyed, a sensor provided in the document conveyance path may erroneously detect that the document is long, and trouble may be detected based on the detected information. There is a problem that the generation signal is output and the operation of the device is stopped.

In order to prevent the above-mentioned troubles in document conveyance, the present invention allows an original to be fed to reach the nip position of the original separating device first when set on the original tray. Another object of the present invention is to provide a manuscript restricting means capable of restricting the leading end of a manuscript to be sent.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a document separating device in which a separate roller arranged on a drive shaft and rotating in a document conveying direction and a retard roller which is in pressure contact with the separate roller are vertically combined and arranged, and the drive unit. A pickup arm that is swingably provided about a shaft, a pickup roller that is rotatably provided at the tip of the pickup arm, and a regulation position that is located between the pickup roller and the separate roller and that regulates the end surface of the document. The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device that includes a shutter that is swingable from the shutter and a drive member that drives the shutter.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, the document contact surface of the shutter is an inclined surface such that the upper side of the document protrudes in the sheet feeding direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the sheet feeding device includes a document tray on which a document is placed, and a groove is formed on a surface of the document tray with which the shutter member abuts, and the shutter is lowered. In this state, a constant gap is formed between the wall surface of the groove and the shutter, and the shutter elastically contacts the wall surface of the groove when a document is set.

By virtue of the above-mentioned structure, in the invention of claim 1, when the original is inserted into the original separating device, the upper original can be pushed into the separating portion of the original separating device first, and the original can be inserted. Since the state of performing the separating operation is excellent, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of double feeding and conveyance failure. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, even when the document to be set on the document tray is strongly pushed, the shutter hits the wall surface of the groove and is locked, so that the shutter can be held at the regulation position with respect to the document and the regulation of the end surface of the document is performed. Can be done accurately.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The configuration of the apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated example. ADF shown in FIGS.
1 is provided in combination with a general image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine, a copying machine, or a combined machine of a facsimile machine and a copying machine, and reads an image while transporting sheet originals one by one, It is configured as a document feeder for outputting as a digital signal. The ADF 1 includes a sheet feeding device 3 for feeding the documents set on a document tray 2 connected to the upper part one by one, and a document transport path 5 provided inside the apparatus main body by being curved in a substantially U-shape in a horizontal direction. Further, a platen 9 provided below the document conveying path 5 corresponding to the scanning device, and a discharge unit 18 for discharging the read document via a discharge roller device 17 are provided.

As the scanning device arranged under the platen 9, a known reading device similar to the scanning device of the conventional image forming apparatus can be used. For example, the scanning device 60 as shown in the drawing. Can be used in combination with ADF1. In the scanning device 60, a reading unit is installed in the frame 61 so as to correspond to the platen 9 provided in the lower portion of the document feeding path 14.
A lamp 62 for irradiating the image surface of the document with light, a lens member 63, and a photoelectric conversion element (CCD) 64 for outputting the light as an electric signal are provided. Then, the light from the lamp 62 is applied to the image surface of the original, the reflected light is reflected through the plurality of mirrors m1 to m3, and the lens member 63 forms an image on the CCD 64 to output it as a digital signal. To do. The scanning device 60 shown in FIG. 1 is shown as an example in which it is fixedly arranged at a position corresponding to the platen 9, but the scanning device 60 is configured as a movable device like a general reading device. However, it may be a device that shares the flatbed scanner (FBS) and the ADF.

In the ADF 1, the document conveying path 5 provided by being curved in a substantially horizontal U shape is provided with curved inner guides 8, 8a, 8b ... And outer guides 7, 7a, 7.
b ... And are arranged with a space allowing the document to travel. The transport roller device for transporting a document in the document transport path 5 has drive rollers 15, 15a, 15b and pinch rollers 16, 16a, 16b facing each other, and transports the document at a constant speed. While reading, the platen 9 is read. In the embodiment described below, the state in which the document insertion port is closed by the shutter member 30 is shown in FIG. 2, and the insertion port 4 is communicated with the document member conveyance path 5 by opening the shutter member 30 in FIG. The state in which a document is taken in by the pickup roller 10 is shown, a part of the configuration of the ADF shown in FIG. 1 is omitted, and the configuration of the sheet feeding device and the related operation of each component are described in detail.

An inner guide 6 connected to the original tray 2 is provided on the original insertion side of the original conveying path 5 provided in the ADF 1.
An insertion opening 4 for positioning and setting the leading end of the original is provided in a state in which the document is largely curved downward, and the leading end of a shutter member 30 described later is locked at a predetermined position of the guide 6. To form a recess 6a for the purpose. The document D set in the insertion port 4 is positioned with its tip end abutting against the shutter portion 31 of the shutter member 30, and the one above the document D accumulated is directed by the pickup roller 10 to the document separating device. Be transported. The document separating device is configured by combining a separate roller 13 that is rotated in the upper paper feeding direction and a retard roller 14 that is rotated in the lower returning direction, and the documents are conveyed to the document separating device in a multi-feed state. At this time, only the upper one sheet is separated and fed toward the document feeding path 5.

When the original is picked up and sent to the original conveying path, the pickup roller 10 is lowered to a position where the original is pressed, the driving force is transmitted by the drive shaft 21, and the original is arranged on the downstream side. When the drive roller 15 and the pinch roller 16 are nipped, the one-way clutch is loosened and the pickup arm 11 is swung upward by the spring 28, as described later, so that the pickup roller 10 is separated from the original. In addition, a pick-up arm 11 that supports the pickup roller 10
As will be described later, the up and down movements and the rotation operations of the one-way clutch cause a difference between the rotation speed of the drive shaft 21 and the rotation speed of the separate roller 13 as the document is conveyed, and the one-way clutch 22 is tightened and loosened. The action and the action of swinging the pickup arm 11 are performed. When the document is set in the insertion port 4, the shutter portion 31 of the shutter member 30 positions the front end of the document by abutting the shutter portion 31 stopped at the lowered position as shown in FIG. The shutter unit 31 is raised in conjunction with the operation of lowering the pickup roller 10, and as shown in FIG. 3, the insertion opening 4 is opened to enable the operation of feeding the document. A drive mechanism as shown in FIG. 4 can be used to control the drive of the pickup roller 10 and the operation of the shutter member 30.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the drive shaft 21 is drive-transmitted by a drive source (not shown), supports the separate roller 13 via a one-way clutch 22, and rotates the drive shaft 21 in the sheet feeding direction. When the drive shaft 21 is rotated in the opposite direction, the separate roller 13 is not driven. Further, the drive shaft 21 has a pair of pickup arms 11 and 11a whose one ends are supported at the distal ends thereof.
The pickup roller 10 is supported via the roller shaft 10a, and a transmission mechanism 23 is provided between the drive shaft 21 and the roller shaft 10a. The transmission mechanism 23 includes a drive shaft 21.
The belt 25 is stretched over a gear 24 provided so as to be interlocked with the separate roller 13 and a gear 26 provided on the roller shaft 10a.
A torque limiter 27 is provided between the roller shaft 6 and the roller shaft 10a. A spring 28 is arranged between the pickup arm 11a and the pivot 40 so as to urge the pickup roller 10 in a direction of raising it.

Between the drive shaft 21 and the roller shaft 10a,
By providing a transmission mechanism including the transmission mechanism 23, the one-way clutch 22, and the torque limiter 27, the rotation of the separate roller 13 and the rotation of the pickup roller are controlled. When the drive shaft 21 is rotated in the paper feeding direction during the operation of feeding a document, the separate roller 13 and the gear 24, via the one-way clutch 22,
A rotational force is transmitted between the gears 26 to try to rotate the gear 26, but the rotation of the gear 26 is limited by the load torque of the torque limiter 27. The rotational force of the drive shaft 21 acts on the pickup arms 11 and 11a that support the pickup roller 10, swings the pickup arm 11 so as to lower the pickup roller 10, and moves the pickup roller 10 onto the original. Press strongly against. While the pickup roller 10 is pressed against the original, the rotational force of the drive shaft 21 exceeds the load torque of the torque limiter 27, and the operation of rotating the pickup roller 10 via the transmission mechanism 23 is performed to scan the original. It is taken out by the pickup roller 10, and the separate roller 13 and the retard roller 1 of the document separating device are used.
The operation for feeding the originals one by one is started after the sheet is judged between 4 sheets.

In order to perform the swing motion of the shutter member 30 in conjunction with the swing motion of the pickup roller 10, the arm member 11 is provided so as to project from the support portion of the drive shaft 21 toward the pivot shaft 40 side. An engaging member 51 is provided on the pivot 40 by providing an engaging piece 51 on the arm protrusion 12.
It is provided so that it can come into contact with. Further, swinging arms 35, 35a for swinging the shutter members 30, 30a are attached to the pivot shaft 40, and the shutter member 30, via the swinging arms 35, 35a by the swinging of the pivot shaft 40. The shutter 30a is swung so that the shutter portions 31 and 31a are operated between the position where the insertion port 4 is closed and the position where the insertion port 4 is opened.

A pivot 40 for supporting the swinging arm 35.
A locking member 42 is fixed to the locking member 42, and a spring 41 is provided between the locking member 42 and the fixed frame 43 to raise the tip of the swing arm 35, 35a for operating the shutter member 30. Is urged to. Further, a rack portion 39 is formed at an end portion of the swing arm 35 on the base portion side, and a tooth member 48 engaging with the rack portion 39 is provided.
It is provided at the tip of the plunger 46 of the solenoid 45 and holds the swinging arm 35 in a fixed position when the solenoid is turned off. In the solenoid 45,
An operating piece 47 having a long hole 47a through which the pivot 40 is passed is provided at the tip of the plunger 46, and a tooth member 48 is formed at the base of the operating piece 47.

When the operating position of the solenoid 47 is restricted by the operating piece 47, that is, when the tooth member 48 is positioned with respect to the rack portion 39 of the swing arm 35 and the power supply to the solenoid 45 is stopped, the elastic body is stopped. The plunger 46 is projected by 49. Then, the tooth member 48 can be engaged with the rack portion 39 of the swinging arm 35, and the shutter member 30 can be held at the open position by the swinging swinging arm 35. Further, when the solenoid 45 is energized, the plunger 46 opposes the biasing force of the elastic body and is pulled into the main body of the solenoid 45, so that the tooth member 48 is locked to the rack portion 39 of the swing arm 35. Is released. Therefore, the urging action of the spring 41 and the swing motion of the pickup arm 11 rotate the pivot 40 to swing the swing arm 35 so that the shutter member 30 can be operated.

The shutter member 30 has an end portion of a shutter arm 33 supported by a support shaft 32 provided at a predetermined position of the apparatus frame.
The shutter portion 31 is attached via an intermediate shaft 34 provided at the other end of the shutter arm 33 and the shutter portion 3
1 is formed in a substantially L shape. The intermediate shaft 34 of the shutter member 30 is inserted into the long groove portion 36 of the swing arm 35 so that the long groove portion 3 can be moved when the swing arm 35 is swung.
Within 6, the movement of the intermediate shaft 34 is allowed. Then, when the swing arm 35 is swung upward by the rotation of the pivot 40, the shutter member 30 is swung to the non-actuated position as shown in FIG. 6, and the regulation on the leading end of the document D is released. To do.

In the sheet feeding device 3 constructed as described above, the document D is set at the sheet feeding position and the shutter member 30 is set.
By the operation of regulating the tip end portion and the pickup roller 10
The sheet feeding operation and the conveying operation toward the scanning unit according to (4) will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 and FIGS. First, when setting the document D on the document tray,
The shutter portion 3 of the shutter member 30 is inserted into the insertion opening 4.
1 is placed in the lowered state. Then, when a large number of sheet-shaped documents D are set in a stacked state, the leading end of the document D is set against the shutter section 31.
At this time, even if a strong pressing force is applied to the shutter portion 31, the shutter portion 31 bends, and the lower end thereof abuts the wall surface of the recess 6a of the inner guide 6 of the insertion port 4, so that the shutter member It is possible to prevent the 30 from being pushed up. Therefore, the state in which the leading end of the document D on the insertion side is aligned is not disturbed, and moreover, the upper part of the document D is inclined by the shutter portion 31 in the sheet feeding direction, so that the separability of the document is improved.

After the document D is set as shown in FIG. 5, when a start button (not shown) on the operation panel is pressed, a motor (not shown) as a drive source starts rotating,
Since the drive shaft 21 rotates in the sheet feeding direction, the one-way clutch 22 provided on the drive shaft 21 and the torque limiter 27 and the transmission mechanism 23 provided on the roller shaft 10a cause
The pickup arm 11 is swung downward, and the pickup roller 10 at the tip of the arm 11 directly presses the document. The swinging arm 35 is swung upward around the pivot 40 in conjunction with the operation of swinging the pickup arm 11 downward around the drive shaft 21 to lift the intermediate shaft 34 of the shutter member 30. To Then, the shutter member 30 is swung upward around the support shaft 32 that supports the end portion of the shutter arm 33, so that the shutter portion 31 causes the insertion port 4 to serve as a document conveyance path, as shown in FIG. Open towards. Therefore, the shutter unit 3
Since 1 is rotated upward with being separated from the front end of the document, it is possible to prevent the alignment state of the front end portion of the insertion side of the document D from being disturbed.

In the state shown in FIG. 6, the pickup roller 10 and the separate roller 13 are rotated in the paper feeding direction,
By driving the retard roller 14 in the returning direction,
The original sent by the pickup roller 10 is the roller 1
After being separated between 3 and 14, only one document is sent out toward the document transport path and transported toward the scanning unit. When the original is picked up and sent to the original conveying path, the pickup roller 10 is lowered to a position where the original is pressed, the driving force is transmitted by the drive shaft 21, and the original is arranged on the downstream side. When the nip is nipped by the pinch roller 16, the one-way clutch is loosened and the pickup arm 11 is swung upward by the spring 28, as will be described later, so that the pickup roller 10 is separated from the document.

In the above operation, since the peripheral speed of the drive roller 15 of the conveying roller device arranged on the downstream side of the separate roller 13 is higher than the peripheral speed of the separate roller 13, the leading edge of the document is pinched with the drive roller 15. When nipped by the roller 16, the separate roller 13 is pulled by the document and tries to rotate at the same speed as the drive roller 15. Since the separate roller 13 rotates faster than the drive shaft 21, the drive shaft 21 and the separate roller 13 are rotated.
The one-way clutch 22 that connects to is loosened, and the separate roller 13 is in a state of idling with respect to the drive shaft 21. At the same time, the drive shaft 21 is separated from the separate roller 13
Since the driving of the pickup arm 11 is cut off, the pickup arm 11 that has been pushed down by the frictional force with the gear 24 is also rotated upward by the spring 28, and the pickup roller 10 is separated from the document. Further, when the document is conveyed and the trailing edge of the document comes out of the document separating device, the loose one-way clutch 22 starts to be tightened because the drive of the drive shaft 21 is transmitted to the separate roller 13. Until the one-way clutch 22 is closed and the drive of the drive shaft 21 is transmitted to the separate roller 13, the separate roller 13 rotates around the retard roller 14 and pushes back the original, so that the original is continuously fed. Even in the case of performing the above, it is possible to allow a sufficient space between the originals.

By the way, when the originals are continuously sent out from a large number of originals D, when the pickup roller 10 is moved to and away from the originals, the pickup arm swings. The shutter member 30 is swung each time in conjunction with. Then, by repeating the operation of moving the shutter part 31 of the shutter member 30 up and down, for example, in the case where the one on the remaining document that has been cut out comes out before the regulated position by the shutter part 31. Presses the leading end of the document from which the lower end of the shutter unit 31 projects. As a result, the leading edge of the document may be damaged, and when the folded document is transported in the document transport path, the leading edge of the document does not enter the gap between the guides in the document transport path. It is not preferable because it may get in and cause a jam.

Therefore, in order to prevent the operation of the shutter member 30 from interlocking with the vertical movement of the pickup roller 10 while continuously feeding the large number of originals, as will be described later. The locking means by the solenoid 45 is provided. When the solenoid 45 is energized, the elastic body 49 is compressed to hold the plunger 46 by suction, and the tooth member 48 provided at the tip of the plunger 46 is a rack portion of the swing arm 35. It is not engaged with 39 and allows the swinging arm 35 to swing.

When the swinging of the swinging arm 35 is restricted, when the power supply to the solenoid 45 is stopped, the plunger 46 is urged by the elastic body 49 to cause the solenoid 4 to move.
5, the tooth member 48 is engaged with the rack portion 39 of the swinging arm 35, and the swinging arm 35 is fixedly held at that position. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the shutter portion 31 of the shutter member 30 is fixedly held at the lowered position to cope with the setting operation of the document D, when the energization of the solenoid 45 is turned off, the tooth member 48 causes Since the rack 39 is fixed, the swinging arm 35 is stopped at the position swung downward, and the long groove portion 3 at the tip thereof is stopped.
Since the intermediate shaft 34 held by 6 is fixed, the shutter member 30 is held so that it cannot swing.

At the time of continuous feeding, the shutter member 30
In order to stop the above operation, as shown in the example of FIG. 6, when the originals are continuously sent out from the original tray, the shutter member 30 is picked up until all the originals D set in the paper feed section have been sent out. It suffices to keep the shutter member 30 in the non-operating position without being interlocked with the swing of the arm 11. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the pickup roller 10 is first moved to the original document D when continuous feeding is performed.
When the shutter member 30 is swung upward around the support shaft 32 in synchronism with the upward pressing operation, the energization of the solenoid 45 is turned off and the tooth member 48 is moved to the rack of the swing arm 35. By engaging with the portion 48, the swinging arm 35 is locked and fixed.

As described above, when the tip end of the swing arm 35 is swung in the direction of raising it and the pick-up arm 11 is swung in the rising position and fixedly held, the operation of swinging the pickup arm 11 is repeated for each original, Pickup roller 10
With this, it is possible to repeatedly send out the document.
When swinging the pickup arm 11,
Since the swinging arm 35 is fixedly held in the raised position, the engaging piece 51 provided on the arm protrusion 12 of the pickup arm 11 is the engaging member 5 provided on the pivot 40.
It is held at a position where it does not contact 0. Therefore, even when the pickup arm 11 is swung every time the document is sent out, the swing arm 3 is held at the raised position.
5 is not rocked. When the feeding of all the originals set in the paper feed unit is completed, the solenoid 45 is energized to release the lock on the swing arm 35, and the swing arm 35 swings in synchronization with the swing of the pickup arm. The shutter member 30 is movable.
Can be rocked.

The shutter member 30 is constructed as shown in the side view of FIG. 7 and the plan view of FIG. 8, but the shutter member 31 and the arm member 33 have the intermediate shaft 34. They are indirectly connected to each other through and are arranged in a substantially L shape in a side view. The shutter member 30 is swingably provided about a support shaft 32 that supports the tip of the arm member 33, and the shutter arm 31 is vertically moved by swinging of the swing arm 35. In the swinging arm 35, a base portion 38 is supported by a pivot 40, and the arm end portion is formed in a two-forked shape so that the long groove portion 36 is cut, and the long groove portion 36 has a shutter. The intermediate shaft 34 of the member 30 is inserted, and the intermediate shaft 34 is slid along the long groove.

The shutter member 30 is integrally formed by using a hard plastic material having a good sliding property, and the arm member 33 and the shutter which are arranged in a substantially L shape with the intermediate shaft 34 as a center. The part 31 and the part 31 are integrally formed using a plastic material. As will be described below, the arm member 33 and the shutter portion 3
Since the condition of the mounting angle with respect to 1 is strictly defined, the mounting positions of the two members with respect to the intermediate shaft 34 are fixed so that they cannot be easily changed even when the members are individually created and combined. It is necessary.

For the original D set in the state where a large number of sheet-like objects are stacked in the paper feeding section, the original D
It is desirable that the front end surface of the paper feed side be inclined at an angle as shown in FIG. Then, by setting the upper originals accumulated in the paper feed unit to protrude before the lower originals, when the originals are fed by the pickup roller, two or more originals are fed. Even if the sheets are fed in the double feeding state, they are separated into one sheet by the document separating apparatus and are conveyed to the downstream side. That is,
When the originals have entered the nip portion of the original separating device in the double-fed state, the upper originals are first contacted with the separate rollers and fed, and the lower originals are returned by the retard rollers. As a result, the paper separating operation is performed well.

In the shutter member 30, the mounting angle θ between the arm member 33 and the shutter portion 31 is set to (90 ° -α) corresponding to the above-mentioned purpose. The angle will be further described. If the angle θ2 is considered as a supplementary angle with respect to the angle θ, 90 ° + with respect to the plane of the inner guide 6 arranged on the lower surface of the insertion port.
The angle α is set as α, and the angle α can be defined in the range of 5 to 10 ° with respect to the angle θ2 with which the shutter portion 31 is tilted. In addition, the shutter unit 31
With respect to the inclination angle of, the angle θ2 is 90 ° + α with respect to the support plate member (the support surface of the leading end of the document connected to the document tray) on the lower surface of the paper feeding unit, and It can be formed correspondingly. In the example shown in FIG. 8, a concave portion 6a is formed in a portion of the inner guide 6 where the lower surface of the shutter portion 31 is located, and the lower end of the shutter portion 31 of the shutter member 30 is located at the lower portion of the concave portion 6a.
It is formed so as to have a gap H with respect to the sheet feeding side end of a.

Next, the document D is released by the shutter member 30.
The case where the front end surface of the sheet is regulated will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in (a), the front end of the document D is placed on the shutter section 31.
When the document is set so as to be pressed against, the shutter portion 31 is pressed against the document. Then, due to the elasticity of the shutter member 30 as a whole, the shutter portion 31 is bent toward the sheet feeding side, and the lower end portion is pressed against the wall portion on the sheet feeding side of the recess 6a. However, when the original is set and the pushing force is released, the restoring force due to the elasticity of the shutter member is set to be larger than the weight of the original D or the friction resistance value with the supporting surface. As shown in (), the document is pushed back and stands still in a state where the gap H is restored in the recess 6a.

As described above, after the document D is set, the elasticity of the shutter member 30 causes the front end of the document to be returned by the shutter unit 31.
As shown in (c), the shutter member can be opened. For example, when the shutter portion 31 which does not have elasticity is regulated, the shutter portion 31 is provided at the end of the recess 6a.
The tip of the shutter remains in contact with the shutter 3
Since the lower end portion of No. 1 abuts, the shutter member 30 cannot be opened and closed. In order to prevent such an inconvenience from occurring, in the present embodiment, the shutter portion 31 or the entire structure of the shutter member 30 can exhibit elasticity. When the document D is set, it corresponds to the pressure of the leading end of the document while being bent by the pressing force, and when the pressing force is released, the leading end of the document feeding side is regulated. However, it is possible to provide a gap that allows opening and closing (swing) of the shutter portion 31.

The shutter member described in each of FIGS. 8 to 10 is arranged in the sheet feeding portion of the ADF as shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, and the leading end surface of the set document D is inclined at a predetermined angle. So that it can be accommodated. Further, even when the document fed by the pickup roller enters the separating section between the separating roller and the retard roller in the double feeding state, the separating operation can be performed in a good state. Become. The AD shown in the above embodiment
F can be provided in combination with any conventionally known reading device, and can be positioned with an arbitrary inclination of the leading end surface of the document regulated by the shutter member. In addition, the entire shutter member or only the plate of the shutter portion can be configured to have elasticity, and the magnitude of the restoring force after being pressed is such that the originals that can be set in the original tray at one time. It can be configured according to conditions such as the number of sheets.

[0035]

Since the apparatus of the present invention is configured as described above, in the invention of claim 1, when a document is inserted into the document separating apparatus, the upper document is the document separating apparatus first. Since the document can be pushed into the separation section and the document is properly separated, it is possible to prevent double feeding and conveyance failure. Further, according to the second aspect of the present invention, even when the document to be set on the document tray is strongly pushed, the shutter contacts the wall surface of the groove, so that the shutter can be held at the regulation position with respect to the document and the edge face of the document can be regulated accurately. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an ADF and a scanning device.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an ADF.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a positional relationship of each constituent member during paper feeding.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an ADF drive mechanism.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a positional relationship of each member when a document is set.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram corresponding to FIG. 5 at the time of sheet feeding.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a combination of a shutter member and a swing arm.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a shutter member.

FIG. 9 is a side view of a shutter member.

10A to 10C are explanatory views of the operation of the shutter member.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ADF, 2 document tray, 3 paper feed unit,
4 Insertion Port, 5 Document Conveyance Path, 6/8 Inner Guide, 7 Outer Guide, 9 Scanning Section, 1
0 pickup roller, 11 pickup arm, 12 arm protrusion, 13 separate roller, 14 retard roller, 15 transport roller device, 20 drive device, 21 drive shaft, 22
One-way clutch, 23 transmission mechanism, 27 torque limiter, 28 spring, 30 shutter member, 31 shutter part, 32 support shaft, 3
3 Arms, 34 Intermediate Shafts, 35 Swing Arms, 37 Lower Arm Pieces, 38 Bases, 39
Rack part, 40 pivots, 41 springs,
42 locking member, 43 fixed frame, 45
Solenoid, 49 elastic body, 60 scanning device,
63 lenses, 64 CCDs.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document separating device which is arranged on a drive shaft and rotates in a document transport direction, and a document separating device in which a retard roller which is in pressure contact with the separate roller are vertically combined, and which is swingable about the drive shaft. A pick-up arm provided at the pickup arm, a pick-up roller rotatably provided at the tip of the pick-up arm, an intermediate position between the pick-up roller and the separate roller, and swingably provided from a restricting position for restricting the end face of the document. In a sheet feeding device including a shutter and a driving member that drives the shutter, an original contact surface of the shutter has an inclined surface such that an upper side of the original protrudes in a sheet feeding direction. Paper equipment. 2. The paper feeding device includes a document tray on which a document is placed, and a groove is formed on a surface of the document tray with which the shutter member abuts. When the shutter is lowered, the groove is formed. 2. The shutter according to claim 1, wherein a constant gap is formed between the wall surface of the shutter and the shutter, and the shutter elastically contacts the wall surface of the groove when a document is set. Paper feeder.