JP2003081473A - Sheet feeder and recording device equipped therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet feeder allowing accurate separation of sheets one by one without receiving the influences of the thickness or hardness of sheets or curls at the ends of the sheets. SOLUTION: A plurality of separating plates (sloping members) 19 are provided at the end of sheet storage means 10 on its downstream side in the direction of delivering the sheets. Each of the separating plates 19 has a slope in contact with the sheets P to be delivered by sheet feeding means 15 for separating them one by one. The surface roughness of a separating plate 19a opposed to a feed roller 15, out of the separating plates 19, is greater than the surface roughness of other separating plates 19. Other separating plates 19b are provided on both sides of the separating plate 19a.

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 and a recording apparatus including the same, and more particularly to a structure for separating sheets stored in a sheet storing means one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, recording apparatuses such as printers, copying machines, and facsimiles are usually equipped with a sheet feeding device for feeding sheets to an image recording section. In such a sheet feeding device, for example, a slope member is provided at the downstream end of the sheet storage unit in the sheet feeding direction, and the sheet is brought into contact with the sheet fed by the sheet feeding unit to feed the sheet 1
There is a configuration in which a separation slope is formed for separating the sheets one by one.

FIG. 8 shows the construction of a recording apparatus provided with a conventional sheet feeding device of the type in which sheets are separated by such a separation slope (slope member). As shown in FIG. 8, this sheet feeding device includes a sheet feeding cassette 110 that is a sheet storing unit and a sheet feeding roller 115 that is a sheet feeding unit.
, A paper feed arm 114, and a slope member 119. The paper feed cassette 110 stores the recording paper P which is a sheet. The paper feed arm 114 has one end rotatably holding the paper feed roller 115 and the other end rotatably held by the paper feed arm shaft 114a. The slope member 119 is provided at the downstream end of the sheet feeding cassette 110 in the sheet feeding direction, and contacts the recording sheet P fed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 115 to separate the recording sheets P one by one. To do. Then, the paper feed roller 11
The uppermost recording sheet P1 sent out by the sheet No. 5 is separated by the slope member 119, then passes through the sheet conveying path R and is conveyed to an image recording unit (not shown).

[0004]

In such a conventional sheet feeding device, as the slope member 119, for example, stainless steel (S having a low surface friction coefficient and a small surface roughness) is used.
A sheet metal member such as a US) plate is used.

However, when the leading edge of the sheet P stored in the sheet feeding cassette 110 comes into contact with the slope member 119 and is separated, a thin sheet or a sheet without stiffness is liable to be bent because the leading edge of the sheet is easily bent. You may not be able to handle the sheet. As a result, there is a problem that double feeding occurs. Further, the sheets P stored in the paper feed cassette 110
There is also a problem that double feeding is likely to occur even when the tip of the sheet is curled.

Further, in recent years, a high image quality equivalent to a photographic image is required for print recording, and in order to meet this demand, a special medium which is a special paper having a coating layer on its surface is used as a recording paper. There is.

However, since the surface of such a special medium is formed of a soft coat layer, in the structure in which the sheets are separated one by one by the slope member formed by the sheet metal member as described above, when passing through the slope member. There is a problem that the edge of the end surface of the slope member causes scratches and rubbing on the surface of the sheet, resulting in deterioration of print recording quality.

Therefore, in view of the above situation, the present invention is a sheet feeding device that can reliably separate sheets regardless of the thickness and stiffness of the sheet and without being affected by the curl of the leading edge of the sheet. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus including the same and a sheet feeding apparatus capable of separating sheets without causing scratches or rubbing on the surface, and a recording apparatus including the same.

[0009]

The first feature of the present invention is to:
In a sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet stored in a sheet storing means by a sheet feeding means, a sheet fed by the sheet feeding means is brought into contact with an end portion of the sheet storing means on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction to feed the sheet 1 A plurality of slope members that form slopes for separating the sheets are provided, and the surface roughness of the slope member at the position facing the sheet feeding unit is higher than the surface roughness of the slope members at other positions. It's in a rough place.

It is preferable that other slope members are provided adjacent to both sides of the slope member facing the sheet feeding means.

The sheet feeding means may be a feeding roller.

A second feature of the present invention is that in a sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet accommodated in a sheet accommodating means by a sheet feeding means, a sheet is fed to an end portion of the sheet accommodating means on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction. A plurality of slope members that form a slope for coming into contact with the sheet sent out by the means to separate the sheets one by one are provided, and the ends of the slope member that come into contact with the sheet are all curved surfaces. Where it is.

The slope member is preferably formed by drawing a sheet metal member.

A third feature of the present invention is that in a sheet feeding device for feeding the sheets stored in the sheet storing means by the sheet feeding means, the sheet feeding is performed at the downstream end of the sheet storing means in the sheet feeding direction. A plurality of slope members that contact the sheet sent by the means to form a slope for separating the sheets one by one are provided, and a coating coating film is provided on the upper surface of the slope member that contacts the sheet. It is in the middle of being.

It is preferable that the end portion of the coating film is smoothly joined to an inclined surface for separating the sheet having a gradually changing thickness.

The coating film is preferably made of urethane.

The recording apparatus of the present invention is characterized by comprising an image recording section and a sheet feeding apparatus having any one of the above-mentioned configurations for feeding sheets to the image recording section.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an inkjet printer 1 which is a recording device including the paper feeding device of the embodiment. The inkjet printer 1 has an inkjet printer main body (hereinafter referred to as “main body”) 1A.

Image recording unit 3 of ink jet printer 1
A has a recording head 3 and a carrier 2 on which the recording head 3 is placed. The recording head 3 is provided with a plurality of nozzle rows (not shown) along the sub-scanning direction (moving direction of the sheet P) on the surface facing the sheet P to be fed, as described later. The recording head 3 has an ink tank 4 for each color nozzle via each supply tube 5 so as to eject a different color ink for each nozzle row.
Ink of each color is supplied.
The carrier 2 is slidably supported by a guide shaft 7 and a guide rail 8, both ends of which are fixed to the frame 6 of the main body 1A and arranged in parallel with each other.

While the carrier 2 is reciprocally moved (main scanning) by a belt driving device and a motor (not shown), the recording head 3 causes an image recording portion 3A to be described later.
An image is recorded on the sheet by ejecting ink toward the sheet P fed to the sheet.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the schematic arrangement of the ink jet printer 1. As shown in FIG.
B includes a sheet feeding cassette 10 that is a sheet storing unit that is detachably attached to the main body 1A, and a sheet feeding roller 15 that is a sheet feeding unit that sends out the sheet P stored in the sheet feeding cassette 10.

The sheet feeding cassette 10 is a slope member for contacting the sheet P fed by the rotation of the sheet feeding roller 15 and separating the sheets P one by one at the end portion on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction. It has a separating plate 19. In addition,
The sheet P is stored in the paper feed cassette 10 with the image recording surface side facing down.

The paper feed roller 15 is provided above the paper feed cassette 10 and is swingably supported by a fulcrum 14a located upstream of the paper feed roller 15.
In addition, the sheet P is rotatably held and can be contacted with and separated from the sheet P stored in the sheet feeding cassette 10. As shown in FIG. 2, in the vicinity of the paper feed cassette 10, the transport roller 9
A U-turn roller 21 and a roller guide 20 provided at a position facing the U-turn roller 21 are provided.

During image recording, the paper feed roller 15 comes into contact with the uppermost sheet P1 of the sheets P stacked in the paper feed cassette 10 due to its own weight and the downward swing of the arm 14. It is rotated by a driving force from a driving source (not shown) transmitted via the pulley 16, the belt 17, and the gear 18 shown in FIG. Then, the sheet P1 sent out by the rotation of the paper feed roller 15 is transferred to the U-turn roller 21.
The sheet passes through a sheet conveying path R formed between the roller guide 20 and the roller guide 20, and moves toward the conveying roller 9.

The head recovery means 11 shown in FIG. 1 is provided at a position where it can face the recording head 3 when the carrier 2 moves to a home position provided near one end of its movement range. Then, during the standby, before and after the recording operation, or between the recordings for each line, the head recovery means 11 is operated to perform the capping, suction, wiping, etc. operations on the recording head 3 to thereby perform the recording head. 3 is configured to prevent clogging of the recording head 3 and maintain the performance of the recording head 3.

Next, the image recording operation of the ink jet printer 1 having such a configuration will be described.

When the image recording operation is started, first, the arm 14 swings downward, and due to this swing and its own weight, the sheet feeding roller 15 causes the sheet P stacked in the sheet feeding cassette 10 to move to the uppermost position. It abuts on the upper sheet P1. Then, in this state, the paper feed roller 15 rotates, the sheet P is sent out from the paper feed cassette 10, and thereafter, the uppermost sheet P1 is separated (slope separation) by receiving a resistance force by the separation plate 19. The roller guide 20 while abutting on the separation plate 19
Be transported to.

Further, the uppermost sheet P1 enters the sheet conveying path R, is guided between the conveying roller 9 and the pinch roller 12 by the rotation of the U-turn roller 21, and is sandwiched between the conveying roller 9 and the pinch roller 12. In this state, the sheet is conveyed to the platen 31 provided at the recording position facing the recording head 3.

Next, the printing (image recording) operation by the recording head 3 mounted on the carrier 2 is performed on the sheet P1 thus conveyed to the platen 31. In the present embodiment, when printing of one scan by the recording head 3 is completed while moving the carrier 2 along the guide shaft 7, the movement of the carrier 2 and the printing operation are once interrupted, and the sheet positioned on the platen 31 is stopped. P1 is conveyed by the conveying roller 9 by a predetermined amount, and then the carrier 2 is moved again along the guide shaft 7 to form an image for the next one scan.

After the printing by the recording head 3 is sequentially performed on the platen 31 in this way, the sheet P1 is printed.
Is ejected to the cassette cover 13 by the ejection roller 11a and the ejection spur 11b.

The sheet P is separated from the separation plate 19 by the rotation of the paper feed roller 15 until the separation plate 19 is released from the contact, that is, in the series of sheet feeding operation.
Receive a considerable amount of 9 resistance. For this reason, the separating plate 19 is preferably made of a sheet metal member such as a stainless steel (SUS) plate having a small surface friction resistance and a small surface roughness. Further, in the present embodiment, the separating plates 19 are provided at a plurality of places according to the size of the sheet P to be fed, and thus the sheets P having different sizes can be separated.

However, in the conventional structure, a thin sheet or a sheet without stiffness is liable to be bent at the leading end of the sheet, so that when the leading end of the sheet P comes into contact with the separation plate 19 and is separated, the separation is insufficient. Double feed may occur.
Further, double feeding may occur even when the leading edge of the sheet P is curled.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, in order to prevent the skew of the sheet P regardless of the sheet size, the two separating plates 19 facing the sheet feeding roller 15 are provided.
The surface of a is blasted and has a rougher surface than other separation plates. As a result, the leading edge of the sheet P can be reliably brought into contact with the separation plate 19, the separation performance can be improved, and the double feeding of the sheets P can be prevented.

Separation plates 19b are provided on both sides of the separation plate 19a having a rough surface facing the paper feed roller 15.
It is arranged so as to be located on the same plane as 9a. As a result, it is possible to prevent the sheet P from being scratched, bent, or defectively fed. That is, when the separation plates 19b are not provided on both sides of the separation plate 19a, a thin sheet or a sheet P without stiffness is likely to be damaged or broken at the tip end portion thereof that is pressed against the separation plate 19a during separation. In the thick sheet P, the leading end portion easily bites into the separation plate 19a, which causes a feeding failure. However, in the present embodiment, since the separating plates 19b are arranged on both sides of the separating plate 19a, it is possible to prevent the sheet P from being scratched, bent, or being defective in feeding.

[Second Embodiment] Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, each separation plate 29
The end portions 29a to 29e that come into contact with the sheet P are all formed into a curved surface having a predetermined curvature (R = 2 mm or more). Figure 5
FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the separating plate 29, FIG. 5B is a top view thereof, and FIG. 5C is a front view thereof. As shown in FIG. 5, the separation plate 29 is provided with a mounting portion 29f for mounting on the downstream end of the sheet feeding cassette 10 in the sheet feeding direction.

Particularly, the sheet P is made of a coating layer having a soft surface (for example, a glossy film), and the sheet feeding cassette 10 with the coating layer serving as an image recording surface facing down.
In the case of the conventional separation plate having an edge shape when stored in, the soft coat layer on the surface of the sheet P may come into contact with the separation plate to cause scratches or scratches. However, in the present embodiment, the end portion 29a of the separation plate 29 is
.. 29e are all curved surfaces, and when the sheet P contacts the separating plate 29, as shown in FIG. Therefore, even a sheet P having a soft coat layer on its surface can be separated without damaging or rubbing the surface by the edge and without damaging the sheet P. Therefore, the print recording quality does not deteriorate.

In the present embodiment, the separation plate 29
Since it is formed by drawing, the separation plate 29 can be easily
The end surfaces 29a to 29e of can be curved.

[Third Embodiment] Next, the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
Will be described. The same parts as those in the first and second embodiments are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The separating plate 39 of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 7. FIG. 7A is a perspective view thereof, FIG. 7B is a top view thereof, and FIG. 7C is a front view thereof. 7 (d) is a side sectional view thereof. The separating plate 39 has an upper portion coated with a coating film 22 made of a soft material such as urethane. According to this configuration, when the sheet P having the coating layer having a soft surface is brought into contact with the separation plate 39 and conveyed to the roller guide 20, the upper portion of the separation plate 39 is also soft, so that the sheet P is scratched or rubbed. It is possible to more effectively prevent damage such as. Moreover, since the soft coating film 22 is applied only to the upper portion of the separation plate 39 that is in contact with the sheet P, the separation action of the sheet P is not affected.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7D, since the coating film 22 has a gradually changing thickness, there is no step at the boundary between the coating film 22 and the separating plate 39, and the sheet P is At the time of separation by the separation plate 39, the leading edge of the sheet P does not get caught at the boundary between the coating film 22 and the separation plate 39, and there is no risk of skewing, bending, or scratches.

[0043]

According to the present invention, of the plurality of slope members forming the slope for separating the sheets one by one, the surface roughness of the slope member at the position facing the sheet feeding roller is changed to another separation plate. By making it coarser, it is possible to prevent double feeding. Further, by providing other slope members close to both sides of the slope member having a rough surface facing the sheet feeding means, the thickness and stiffness of the sheet and the curl of the leading end portion are affected. Can be reliably separated.

Further, by forming all the end portions of the slope member that come into contact with the sheet with curved surfaces, the sheet can be separated without causing scratches or rubbing on the surface.

By forming a coating coating film made of urethane on the surface of the upper surface of the slope member which comes into contact with the sheet, the sheet can be conveyed more effectively while preventing scratches and rubbing on the surface. This prevents the sheet from being damaged and prevents the print recording quality from deteriorating.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inkjet printer which is an example of a recording apparatus including a paper feeding device according to a first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the inkjet printer of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a paper feed cassette portion of the paper feed device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the configuration of the paper feed cassette shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a shape of a separation plate provided in a paper feed cassette according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a sheet passes while abutting on the separation plate shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a shape of a separation plate provided in a paper feed cassette according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view of a recording apparatus including a conventional paper feeding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Inkjet Printer 1A Inkjet Printer Main Body 1B Paper Feeding Device 2 Carrier 3 Recording Head 3A Image Recording Section 4 Ink Tank 5 Supply Tube 6 Frame 7 Guide Shaft 8 Guide Rail 9 Conveying Roller 10 Paper Feed Cassette (Sheet Storage Means) 11 Head Recovery Means 12 Pinch Roller 13 Cassette Cover 14 Arm 14a Support 15 Feeding Roller (Sheet Feeding Means) 16 Pulley 17 Belt 18 Gear 19 Separation Plate (Slope Member) 19a Separation Plate 19b Opposing the Paper Feeding Roller Separation Opposing the Paper Feeding Roller Separation plates 20 located on both sides of the plate 20 Roller guides 21 U-turn rollers 22 Coating 29 Separation plates (slope members) 29a to 29e Ends 29f of separation plates Attachment parts 31 Platens 39 Separation plates (slope members) P, P1 sheets ( Recording paper) R sheet Feed passage

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Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet stored in a sheet storing means by a sheet feeding means, the sheet being fed by the sheet feeding means to an end portion of the sheet storing means on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction. Is provided with a plurality of slope members for contacting the sheet to separate the sheets one by one, and the surface roughness of the slope member at a position facing the sheet feeding means is
A sheet feeding device characterized by being rougher than the surface roughness of the slope member at another position. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein another slope member is provided adjacent to both sides of the slope member facing the sheet feeding unit. 3. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding unit is a feeding roller. 4. A sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet stored in a sheet storing means by a sheet feeding means, and a sheet fed by the sheet feeding means at an end portion on the downstream side of the sheet feeding direction of the sheet storing means. A plurality of slope members that form a slope for abutting against each other and separating the sheets one by one are provided, and all the end portions of the slope member that contact the sheet are formed of curved surfaces. Characteristic paper feeding device. 5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the inclined surface member is formed by drawing a sheet metal member. 6. A sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet stored in a sheet storing means by a sheet feeding means, wherein a sheet fed by the sheet feeding means is provided at an end portion of the sheet storing means on a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction. Is provided with a plurality of slope members that form a slope for separating the sheets one by one, and a coating film is provided on the surface of the slope member that contacts the sheet. A paper feeding device characterized in that 7. The paper feeding device according to claim 6, wherein the end portion of the coating film is gradually changed in thickness and is smoothly joined to an inclined surface for separating the sheets. 8. The paper feeding device according to claim 6, wherein the coating film is made of urethane. 9. A recording apparatus comprising: an image recording section; and the sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, which feeds a sheet to the image recording section.