JP2003276887A - Recorded material feeder and recording device therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorded material feeder capable of certainly feeding various recorded materials to the downstream side one by one. <P>SOLUTION: This recorded material feeder 1 has: a feeding roller 11 including an arc part 11a and a linear part 11b, contacting with a topmost recorded material of the plurality of accumulated held recorded materials by a turn, and feeding the topmost recorded material to the downstream side; a separation pad 20 disposed in a position opposite to the feeding roller 11, separating the topmost recorded material from the lower recorded materials by narrowly pressing the recorded materials between the arc part 11a and the separation pad 20 when the feeding roller 11 turns; and an energizing means 13 energizing the separation pad 20 toward the feeding roller 11. The separation pad 20 has: a flat surface part 21 allowing face-to-face-contact of the arc part 11a of the feeding roller 11; and inclined parts 22 provided in sides of the flat surface part 21, inclining to the feeding roller 11 side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording material feeding device for feeding a recording material, and more particularly to a recording material feeding device having a separating pad.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are many types of recording materials that are supposed to be fed, and a recording material feeding device that reliably feeds each of these various types of recording materials to the downstream side is desired. ing. A conventional recording material feeding device has an arc portion and a linear portion, and is rotated to come into contact with the uppermost recording material of the recording materials held in a stacked state of plural sheets, A feeding roller that feeds the uppermost recording material to the downstream side, and a recording material that is urged toward the feeding roller and, when the feeding roller rotates, an arc portion of the recording material. By providing a separation pad for separating the uppermost recording material from the recording materials of the next and higher recording materials by narrowing the pressure, the types of recording materials that can be fed by this recording material feeding device are It is limited, and depending on the type of recording material, double feed, double feed, non-feed, or curl (narrow the recording material between the feeding roller and separation pad Defects such as peeling of the tip of the recording material caused by pressure) Bet there was.

Therefore, depending on the recording material feeding device,
The type of recording material that can be fed is limited, or
Depending on the type of recording material to be fed, it was necessary to attach an auxiliary member separately.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to record various kinds of recording materials one by one reliably and to the downstream side. It is to provide a material feeding device.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention of a recording material feeding device according to claim 1 has a circular arc portion and a linear portion, and a plurality of sheets are accumulated and held by rotating. A feeding roller that comes into contact with the uppermost recording material of the recording material being formed and feeds the uppermost recording material to the downstream side;
The recording material is arranged at a position facing the feeding roller, and when the feeding roller rotates, the recording material is narrowed between the recording material and the arc portion of the feeding roller, so that the recording material at the top is recorded at the next and subsequent recording materials. What is claimed is: 1. A recording material feeding device, comprising: a separation pad for separating from a recording material; and an urging means for urging the separation pad toward the feeding roller, wherein the separation pad is the feeding roller. The circular arc portion has a flat surface portion that comes into surface contact with the flat surface portion, and an inclined portion that is provided on the side of the flat surface portion and that is inclined toward the feeding roller side.

According to this feature, the separation pad has a flat surface portion with which the circular arc portion of the feeding roller comes into surface contact, and an inclined portion provided on the side of the flat surface portion and inclined toward the feeding roller side. Therefore, the uppermost recording material to be fed can be reliably separated from the next and subsequent recording materials and fed one by one to the downstream side.

That is, the recording material is squeezed between the feeding roller and the flat portion of the separation pad to apply the feeding force and the separating force, and on the inclined portion on the side of the flat portion. Even the recording material is not in contact with the feeding roller, but is curved along the shape of the inclined portion, and in combination with the curvature, the rigidity of the recording material itself causes the separation force also in the inclined portion. It seems to occur. As a result, the highest recording material is separated from the second and subsequent recording materials, and
Without causing the situation that the recording material cannot be fed, 1
It is possible to reliably feed the sheets one by one to the downstream side. Then, due to the separation force in the inclined portion of the separation pad,
It becomes possible to reduce the narrow pressure of the recording material between the feeding roller and the flat portion of the separation pad,
It is possible to reduce the risk of problems such as the recording material being turned over at the narrow pressure location.

Further, it has been difficult or impossible to set separation conditions for many kinds of recording materials with a conventional separation pad having a shape composed only of a flat surface portion. In the separation pad having the, since the separation force can be set to the optimum condition by changing the inclination angle of the inclined portion, etc. The separation conditions can be set relatively easily, and the degree of freedom in designing the separation pad can be improved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording material feeding device according to the first aspect, wherein the inclined portions are provided on both sides of the flat portion.

According to this feature, since the inclined portions are provided on both sides of the flat portion, the separating force of the recording material at the inclined portions can be generated on both the left and right sides of the feeding roller, When the recording material is separated, it can be made to act more reliably.

According to the invention of a recording material feeding device described in claim 3, in claim 1 or 2, the flat surface contacting surface of the flat surface portion which comes into contact with the recording material and the inclined portion. The inclined contact surface that contacts the recording material is configured to be flush with each other.

According to this feature, the flat contact surface of the flat portion which comes into contact with the recording material and the inclined contact surface of the inclined portion which comes into contact with the recording material are flush with each other. Therefore, the recording material that is narrowed between the feeding roller and the separation pad is flush, that is, continuous, along the contact surface including the inclined contact surface and the flat contact surface. It is smoothly curved, and no unnecessary action is exerted on this recording material. Further, almost the entire contact surface composed of the inclined contact surface and the flat contact surface can be used as the separation action surface of the recording material, and thus the unused surface can be minimized.
Utilization efficiency can be increased. It should be noted that it is sufficient to form the inclined portion on the side of the flat portion, and the manufacturing thereof is easy.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording material feeding device according to the first or second aspect, wherein the inclined contact surface of the inclined portion which comes into contact with the recording material is the flat portion. It is characterized in that it is located above a plane contact surface that contacts the recording material, and that the inclined contact surface and the plane contact surface are not flush with each other.

According to this feature, the inclined contact surface of the inclined portion for contacting the recording material is located above the flat contact surface of the flat portion for contacting the recording material, and the inclined contact surface is Since the flat contact surface and the flat contact surface are not flush with each other,
Separation in which the recording material that is narrowed between the feeding roller and the separation pad bends more greatly along the inclined contact surface and separates the uppermost recording material from the next and subsequent recording materials. Power can be obtained more reliably. Further, the flat surface portion and the inclined portion can be configured by separate members, the design is easy, and the manufacturing is easy.

According to the invention of a recording material feeding device described in claim 5, in any one of claims 1 to 4, the separation pad has a bilaterally symmetrical structure. Characterize.

According to this feature, since the separation pad has a bilaterally symmetrical structure, the recording material that is narrowed between the feeding roller and the plane portion of the separation pad acts on the inclined portion. Evenly, and the recording material is free from defects such as folds.

According to the invention of a recording material feeding device described in claim 6, in any one of claims 1 to 5, the flat portion and the inclined portion have different friction coefficients. It is characterized in that it is composed of a member having.

According to this feature, since the flat portion and the inclined portion are made of members having different friction coefficients, for example, the flat portion and the inclined portion can be made of different members. This makes it possible to optimize the separation conditions for various kinds of recording materials relatively easily, and improves the degree of freedom in design. Further, with respect to various kinds of recording materials, it becomes possible to separate the recording materials to be fed from the other recording materials and reliably feed the recording materials one by one to the downstream side.

The invention of a separation pad described in claim 7 is characterized in that it is described in any one of claims 1 to 6. According to this feature, it is possible to obtain the same operational effect as that described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

Further, the invention of a recording apparatus according to claim 8 is a recording apparatus having a recording section for recording on a recording material and a recording material discharging apparatus for discharging the recorded recording material. Therefore, the recording material feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is provided.

According to this feature, recording can be surely performed on the recording material fed one by one. In addition, the recording material feeding device of the present invention can be provided in various types of recording devices provided with the conventional recording material feeding device, and the applicability is very high.

[0022]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of a recording material feeding apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. <Regarding Recording Material Feeding Device> First, each component of the recording material feeding device 1 will be outlined. Here, FIG.
FIG. 2 is a partially omitted perspective view of an embodiment of the recording material feeding device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the recording material feeding device.

The recording material feeding device 1 includes a feeding roller 11
A separation pad 20 and a separation pad biasing spring 13 as a biasing means for biasing the separation pad 20 toward the feeding roller 11.

The feeding roller 11 is axially supported by the feeding roller shaft 18 and is formed into a substantially D shape in a side view having an arc portion 11a and a straight portion 11b. The arc portion 11a and the straight portion 11b are formed. It is composed of a high friction member. The feeding roller 11 is rotated by a driving unit (not shown) to come into contact with the uppermost recording material of a plurality of recording materials accumulated and held, and can feed the recording material to the downstream side. It is like this. It should be noted that the feeding roller 11 is rotationally driven by exactly one rotation during the feeding operation of the paper P.

The separation pad 20 has a separation pad holder 29.
It is fixed at a position facing the feeding roller 11, that is, on the rotational path of the arc portion 11a of the feeding roller 11. Then, when the feeding roller 11 rotates, the recording material at the uppermost position can be separated from the recording materials at the next and lower positions by narrowing the recording material between the feeding roller 11 and the arc portion 11a. It has become. The separation pad 20 has a flat surface portion 21 that comes into contact with the arcuate portion 11a of the feeding roller 11, and an inclined portion 22 provided on the side of the flat surface portion 21 and inclined toward the feeding roller 11 side. However, these will be described later.

Further, as a biasing means for biasing the separation pad 20 toward the feeding roller 11, the separation pad biasing spring 1 is used.
Equipped with 3.

A plurality of sheets of paper P as a recording material are accumulated and held in the hopper 16 in an inclined posture, and the leading end portion thereof is
By contacting the contact surface 28, they are aligned. This hopper 16 has a swing fulcrum 16a on the upstream side.
It is possible to perform pressure contact and separation operations with respect to the feeding roller 11 by swinging.

A friction member 17 is disposed on the downstream side of the hopper 16, and the paper P, which is stacked and held in the hopper 16 in an inclined posture and is in contact with the friction member 17, has a holding force ( The sheet P is held in that position by a frictional force or the like), and based on this, a holding force is applied to the entire sheet P accumulated and held therein to hold the sheet P in an inclined posture.

Here, the feeding operation of the paper P by the recording material feeding device 1 will be outlined. First, the sheets P piled up and held in the hopper 16 in an inclined posture are pushed up by the pressure contact operation of the hopper 16 toward the feeding roller 11, and the leading end of the sheet P is disengaged from the contact surface 28 and the sheet P is discharged.
Of the feeding roller 11 whose tip is driven to rotate
It enters between a and the separation pad 20, and is narrowed.

In this state, the feeding roller 11 continues to rotate, so that the uppermost sheet of the narrowly compressed sheets becomes
Be sure to separate from the second and subsequent papers, that is, the next and subsequent papers will be in that position without descending, only the topmost paper will descend, and only this paper will be fed downstream. It has become so. Therefore, it is possible to reliably feed the sheets one by one from the uppermost one of the sheets held in the hopper 16 without causing the sheets to be unable to be fed or to be double-fed.

<Regarding Separation Pad> The separation pad 20 having characteristics will be described below with reference to the drawings.
Here, FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of the feeding roller and the separation pad viewed from the downstream side, and FIG. 4 is a schematic front perspective view showing a separation pad of an embodiment different from FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the separation pad of the present invention.

The separation pad 20 has a flat surface portion 21 on which the circular arc portion 11a of the feeding roller 11 comes into surface contact, and an inclined portion 22 which is inclined toward the feeding roller 11 side. With such a configuration, the uppermost sheet to be fed can be reliably separated from the next and subsequent sheets, and the sheets can be fed one by one to the downstream side.

That is, the sheet P is narrowed between the feeding roller 11 and the flat surface portion 21 of the separation pad 20 to be applied with the feeding force and the separating force, and is near the side of the flat surface portion 21. The sheet P on the inclined portion 22 is not in contact with the feeding roller 11, but is curved along the shape of the inclined portion 22 and, together with the curvature, the rigidity of the sheet itself causes the inclined portion to be bent. It is considered that separation force is generated also in No. 22. As a result, the uppermost sheet is separated from the second and subsequent sheets, and the sheets can be reliably fed one by one to the downstream side without causing a situation in which the sheets cannot be fed.

Then, the inclined portion 22 of the separation pad 20
By utilizing the new separating force in the sheet, it is possible to reduce the narrow pressure in the portion between the sheet feeding roller 11 and the flat surface portion 21 of the separation pad 20, and the sheet is pressed in this portion. It is possible to reduce the risk of curling. Therefore, the separation conditions can be set relatively easily for many types of paper, and the degree of freedom in designing the separation pad 20 can be improved.

Further, by changing the inclination angle θ of the inclined contact surface 22a of the inclined portion 22 that abuts against the sheet P with respect to the planar contact surface 21a of the flat portion 21 that abuts against the sheet P, the separation force in the inclined portion 22 is changed. Can be changed, and the magnitude of the separating force in the inclined portion 22 can be changed by changing the distance from the flat surface portion 21 to the inclined portion 22.

It is also possible to form the flat portion 21 and the inclined portion 22 with members having different friction coefficients, and by constructing members having different friction coefficients in this way, one sheet of paper is obtained. Conditions to carry only,
In other words, it is easier to set paper separation conditions and transport conditions.
Moreover, it is possible to set conditions corresponding to various types of paper.

Thus, the separation pad 20 is provided with the flat surface portion 21.
By providing the inclined portion 22 and the inclined portion 22, it is possible to finely set the separation action of the sheet in the separation pad 20, and thus it is possible to easily set the optimum separation condition for various types of sheets. is there.

Here, the embodiment of the separation pad 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the separation pad 20 is configured symmetrically, and has a flat contact surface 21a that contacts the sheet P of the flat portion 21a and an inclined contact surface 22a that contacts the sheet P of the inclined portion 22. , Can be made flush, that is, can be a continuous and uniform surface. The flat contact surface 21a and the inclined contact surface 22a may be continuous surfaces, and the boundary between them may be a smoothly changing curved surface or a structure in which the respective surfaces intersect.

With this structure, the sheet P compressed between the feeding roller 11 and the separation pad 20 is smoothly curved along the flat contact surface 21a and the inclined contact surface 22a, An unnecessary action does not act on the paper P.
Further, almost the entire contact surface composed of the inclined contact surface 22a and the flat contact surface 21a can be used as the separation action surface of the paper, and the unused surface can be minimized.
Utilization efficiency can be increased. The flat portion 21a
Since it is sufficient to form the inclined portion 22a on the side of, it can be easily manufactured.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the separation pad 20 is constructed symmetrically, and the inclined contact surface 22a of the inclined portion 22 which comes into contact with the paper P is a flat surface of the flat portion 21a which comes into contact with the paper P. The inclined contact surface 2 is located above the contact surface 21a.
It is also possible that the flat surface 2a and the flat contact surface 21a are not flush with each other.

With such a configuration, the sheet P that is narrowed between the feeding roller 11 and the separation pad 20 is curved more greatly, and the separating force for separating the uppermost sheet from the next and subsequent sheets is provided. It can be obtained more reliably. The inclined portion 2
In order to prevent the end of the slanted contact surface 22a in 2 from the so-called edge portion from coming into contact with the back surface of the sheet that is under pressure and scratching, the chamfered edge portion or the slanted portion
It is configured to bend itself along the bending posture of the sheet.

The above-mentioned separation pad 20 is constructed in a bilaterally symmetrical structure, but the construction is not limited to this and, of course, may be bilaterally asymmetrical. It is also possible to provide only at one end of the side of the part.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, the separation pad is provided on the flat surface portion with which the arc portion of the feeding roller is in surface contact, and is provided on the side of the flat surface portion, and is inclined toward the feeding roller side. Since the uppermost sheet to be separated is reliably separated from the next and subsequent sheets, the sheet is fed one by one to the downstream side without causing the feeding failure. be able to. Also, due to the separability in the inclined part
It is possible to suppress the pressure contact force of the sheet between the feeding roller and the flat surface portion to a low level, and thus possible to reduce the risk of causing a problem such as turning over that may occur at the pressure contact point. Therefore, according to the recording material feeding device of the present invention,
It is possible to set the feeding condition for feeding various kinds of sheets one by one to the downstream side relatively easily.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially omitted perspective view of an embodiment of a recording material feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the recording material feeding device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a feeding roller and a separation pad of the same device as seen from the downstream side.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing a separation pad of an embodiment different from that of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the separation pad of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Recording material feeding device 11 Feed roller 13 bias spring 16 hoppers 17 Friction member 18 Feed roller shaft 20 Separation Pad 21 Plane 21a Flat contact surface 22 Inclined part 22a inclined contact surface 28 Contact surface 29 Separation pad holder P paper

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Nonaka             Seiko, 3-3-3 Yamato, Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture             -In Epson Corporation F-term (reference) 2C059 AA04 AA05 AA26                 3F343 FA02 FB01 GA03 GB01 GC01                       GD01 HD17 JA03 JD08 JD32                       KB05 KB18

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A circular arc portion and a linear portion, which are brought into contact with the uppermost recording material of a plurality of recording materials accumulated and held by rotating, and the uppermost recording material is brought into the downstream. A feeding roller that feeds to the side, and the feeding roller is disposed at a position facing the feeding roller, and when the feeding roller rotates, the recording material is narrowed between the arc portion and the uppermost position. A recording material feeding device comprising: a separation pad for separating the recording material from the next and subsequent recording materials; and an urging means for urging the separation pad toward the feeding roller. The separation pad has a flat surface portion with which the circular arc portion of the feeding roller comes into surface contact, and an inclined portion provided on the side of the flat surface portion and inclined toward the feeding roller side. The recording material feeding device. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the inclined portion is provided on both sides of the flat surface portion.
Recording material feeding device. 3. The flat surface contact surface of the flat surface portion, which contacts the recording material, and the inclined contact surface of the inclined portion, which contacts the recording material, are flush with each other. A recording material feeding device, characterized in that: 4. The inclined contact surface of the inclined portion that abuts the recording material according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inclined contact surface of the planar portion that is abutted against the recording material is located above the planar contact surface. The recording material feeding device, wherein the inclined contact surface and the flat contact surface are configured to be non-coplanar. 5. The recording material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the separation pad has a bilaterally symmetrical structure. 6. The recording material according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the flat surface portion and the inclined portion are made of members having different friction coefficients. Feeding device. 7. A separation pad according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 8. A recording apparatus having a recording section for recording on a recording material and a recording material discharging device for discharging the recorded recording material, wherein any one of claims 1 to 6 is provided. A recording apparatus, comprising: the recording material feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.