JP2007119173A - Document loading device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a document loading device for loading automatically carried and read documents enabling the easy unloading of documents from a paper discharge table, capable of having the functional and designing degree of freedom of in the shape of a document tray by automatically closing the document tray so as to cover the document table and a document insertion port when a read document is delivered to the document discharge base without increasing the size of the device and capable of preventing foreign matter from mixing in a document carrying route. <P>SOLUTION: This sheet loading device of a paper feeder comprises a loading table on which sheet-like documents can be loaded, a separating and carrying means separating and feeding sheet documents loaded on the loading table one by one and guiding the sheet documents to a predetermined position, a carrying means carrying the sheet documents to a predetermined position, and a discharge means discharging the sheet documents from a predetermined position. The loading table is so structured that a part thereof is movable so that the shape of the loading table can be changed. The loading table comprises a drive transmitting means transmitting the driving of the discharge means to the movable part of the loading table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an original stacking apparatus for stacking originals that are automatically conveyed and read by a facsimile machine, a copier, a scanner, a printer multifunction machine, or the like.

  FIG. 4 illustrates a conventional document stacking apparatus taking a facsimile document feeder 50 as an example.

  51 is a document table as a mounting table formed on the upper surface of the facsimile apparatus main body, 52 is a document stacked on the document table, 53 is arranged at a position in contact with or close to both side edges of the document 52, and both side edges of the document A document guide 54 for restricting the position of the document is a document auxiliary tray attached to the document table 51 and serving as a part of the document table 52. The document auxiliary tray 54 is pivotally supported on the document table 51 so as to be rotatable from an initial position (54a) in a closed state as indicated by a broken line to an opened state in use. 55 is a document transport mechanism that separates and transports a plurality of documents placed on the document table one by one, 56 is a reading device for reading the image of the document that is transported one by one, and 57 is a document that has been read. This is a document discharge table for stacking and stacking. The document transport mechanism 55 has a U-turn-shaped transport path 58 so that the document discharge table 57 is arranged below the document table 51 due to space saving of the apparatus. Further, since the document table 51 and the document auxiliary tray 54 are inclined so as to be lowered toward the document conveyance mechanism 55 so as to be advantageous for document conveyance, a foreign object such as a clip or a staple is dropped on the document table 51. In some cases, the foreign matter easily enters the conveyance path, and the foreign matter may impede the function of the document conveyance mechanism 55. Therefore, in order to prevent foreign matter from entering when the document feeder 50 is not used, the document auxiliary tray 54 is arranged so as to cover the document conveyance path entrance at the initial position with the document auxiliary tray 54 closed. .

  In such a document feeder 50, first, the closed document auxiliary tray 54 is opened, the document 52 is placed on the document table 51 and the document auxiliary tray 54, and the document guide 53 is set according to the width of the document. To do. Next, when an operation is started by an operation of a copy button (not shown) or the like, the original 52 is separated and conveyed one by one by the original conveying mechanism 55, and the image on the reading position 56a is read through the U-turn-shaped conveying path 58. While being read at 56, it is sequentially discharged onto the document discharge tray 57. When all the documents are discharged to the document discharge table 57, the document feeder stops, so the document auxiliary tray 54 is closed and the document is taken out.

For example, Patent Document 1 can be cited as a conventional example.
JP 2004-173160 A

  However, in the conventional document stacking apparatus, when the document 52a that has been read is taken out from the document discharge tray 57, the document auxiliary tray 54 is in the way and it is necessary to close the document auxiliary tray 54, which is troublesome. There was a problem. Alternatively, in order to simplify the operation, the arrangement is such that the opened document auxiliary tray 54 and the document discharge tray 57 do not interfere with each other, or the document table 51 having a size that does not require the document auxiliary tray 54. In this case, there is a problem that the apparatus becomes large and space saving cannot be achieved. Alternatively, changing the opening angle and shape of the auxiliary document tray 54 when using the document auxiliary tray 54 so as not to obstruct the document take-out affects the function of the document conveyance, thereby narrowing the restrictions on the document conveyance mechanism 55 and, further, the freedom of the device design shape. There was a problem that the degree was limited.

  Also, if the document auxiliary tray is slightly rotated to an angle that does not interfere when the document is removed, and if the document is opened after the document is removed, there is a possibility that foreign matter may enter the document conveyance path, impairing the document conveyance function. There was a problem that the fear of giving.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and when a document that has been read without being increased in size is discharged to a document discharge tray, the document auxiliary tray is moved to the document table and the document insertion tray. By automatically closing so as to cover the mouth, it is easy to take out the original from the paper discharge tray, and it is possible to obtain functional and design freedom in the shape of the auxiliary document tray, and the original transport path An object of the present invention is to provide a document stacking apparatus that can prevent foreign matter from entering the document.

  In order to achieve this object, the document stacking apparatus according to claim 1 separates and feeds a placing table on which a sheet-like document can be placed, and a plurality of sheet documents placed on the placing table one by one. In a sheet placing device of a sheet feeding device, comprising: a separating and conveying unit that leads to a predetermined position; a conveying unit that conveys the sheet document to a predetermined position; and a sheet discharging unit that discharges the sheet document from the predetermined position. A part of the mounting table is configured to be movable so that the shape of the mounting table can be changed, and includes a drive transmission unit that transmits the driving of the paper discharge unit to the movable part of the mounting table.

  The document stacking apparatus according to claim 2 is the document stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mounting table includes a document detecting means for detecting presence / absence of a sheet document placed on the front and back of the sheet document conveyed at the predetermined position. Document edge detection means for detecting the presence or absence of the edge is provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the original stacking apparatus according to any one of the first and second aspects, wherein the mounting table is large from a closed state so as to cover a part of the mounting surface on which the sheet-shaped original is placed. A document auxiliary tray that is pivotally supported so as to be rotated to an open state so as to expand a placement area so that a sheet-like document can be placed is provided.

  The document stacking apparatus according to claim 4 is the document stacking apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the document auxiliary tray of the mounting table is closed from the state where it covers the entire surface on which the sheet-shaped document is placed. The document auxiliary tray is rotatably supported so that the loading surface is exposed and the sheet-like document is opened so that it can be placed.

  The document stacking device according to claim 5 is the document stacking device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the document auxiliary tray biases the closed state so as to cover the entire surface on which the sheet-shaped document is placed. And a holding member that is locked in a state where the auxiliary tray is rotated to an open state so that the placement surface is exposed and a sheet-like document can be placed thereon.

  The document stacking apparatus according to claim 6 is the document stacking apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the drive transmission means rotates the discharge means when the discharge means rotates in the direction of discharging the sheet document. A clutch member that does not interfere with the locking state of the holding member by sliding, and that releases the locking state of the holding member by transmitting a reverse rotation drive when the paper discharge means rotates reversely. .

  The document stacking device according to claim 7 is the document stacking device according to claim 5, wherein the drive transmission means rotates the discharge means when the discharge means rotates in the direction of discharging the sheet document. And a pendulum member for connecting the reverse rotation drive when the paper discharge means rotates reversely.

  According to the present invention, the document auxiliary tray automatically returns to the initial position when all the originals are discharged to the paper discharge tray, so that the manual auxiliary tray is not interfered with when the operation for taking out the original is performed. Therefore, it is possible to improve the operability of the apparatus without increasing the size of the apparatus. In addition, it is not necessary for the open document auxiliary tray to be in the shape of a document auxiliary tray that does not interfere with the document take-out operation of the document discharge tray, and this increases the degree of freedom in apparatus design and the function of the document transport mechanism. Can be spread.

  Furthermore, since the document auxiliary tray always returns to the initial position, it is possible to reliably prevent foreign matter from entering the document conveyance path.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a document stacking apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 to 3 are drawings showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a rear view of the apparatus showing a drive system, and FIG. Reference numeral 1 denotes a document table as a mounting table formed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body, 2 a document placed on the document table, 3 is arranged at a position in contact with or close to both side edges of the document 2, A document guide 4 for regulating the position is a document auxiliary tray attached to the document table 1 and serving as a part of the document table 2. The document auxiliary tray 4 is rotated about the shafts 4a and 4b so as to rotate about 135 degrees from the initial closed position when not shown in FIG. 3 to the open position when used shown in FIGS. Is provided and is pivotally supported on the document table 1. 5 is a separation roller of a document separation and conveyance mechanism that separates and conveys a plurality of documents loaded on the document table 1 one by one, 6 is a preliminary conveyance roller for assisting document separation and conveyance of the separation roller 5, and 7 is one sheet at a time. A transport roller of a document transport mechanism that transports a separately transported document downstream of the transport path, 8 is a reading device for reading an image of the transported document, and 9 is a document for discharging a scanned document from the transport path. A discharge roller 10 of the discharge mechanism is a document discharge table for stacking discharged documents. The separation roller 5, the preliminary transport roller 6, the transport roller 7, and the paper discharge roller are driven by a drive motor M. The document conveyance mechanism has a U-turn-shaped conveyance path 11 so that the document discharge table 10 is disposed below the document table 1 due to space saving of the apparatus. The document table 1 and the document auxiliary tray 4 are inclined so as to become lower toward the separation roller 5 so as to be advantageous for document separation and conveyance. As a result, when a foreign object such as a clip or a staple is dropped on the document table 1, the foreign object easily enters the conveyance path. In order to prevent the possibility that these foreign matters may impede the function of the document separating / conveying mechanism, when the apparatus is not used, the document assisting tray 4 is placed at the document transport path entrance 12 (FIG. 3) at the initial position when the document assisting tray 4 is closed. This arrangement prevents the entry of foreign matter into the apparatus.

  A torsion coil spring 13 is attached to one side of the rotation shaft 4a of the document auxiliary tray 4, and an elastic force acts so as to urge the document auxiliary tray 4 in the direction of the initial position. The elastic force of the torsion coil spring 13 exerts a reaction force when the document auxiliary tray is opened. However, in this embodiment, the torsion coil spring 13 is set so as to rotate and bias the document auxiliary tray weight of about 100 g. Even if the latch operation force described later is combined, it can be opened with an operation force of about 200 g, so that the operability is not impaired.

  A protrusion 14 is formed near the rotation axis 4a of the document auxiliary tray 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the protrusion 14 rotates on an arc indicated by a one-dot chain line 15 from 14a to 14b. Here, the protrusion 14a is an initial position when the document auxiliary tray 4 is closed, and the protrusion 14b is a position when the document auxiliary tray 4 is open when in use. Reference numeral 16 denotes a crank rod which is rotatably supported on the rotation shaft 17 by the device. A tension spring 19 is attached to one end 18 of the crank rod 16, and the elastic force of the tension spring 19 acts on the crank rod 16 in a direction in which the one end 18 contacts the rotation stopper 20. A latch portion 21 formed in a hook shape is formed at the tip of the other end portion of the crank rod 16 to lock the boss 14. The crank rod 16 is configured such that the latch portion 21 is in the vicinity of the protruding portion 14b on the rotational arc 15 in a state where the end portion 18 is in contact with the rotation stop portion 20 by the elastic force of the tension spring 19. . Accordingly, when the document auxiliary tray 4 is opened about 135 degrees from the initial position of FIG. 3 to the use state of FIG. 2, the protrusion 14 rotates from the position indicated by 14a to the position indicated by 14b, and the protrusion 14 latches in the middle. By abutting and sliding on the inclined surface 21 a of the portion 21, the crank rod 16 is rotated against the elastic force of the tension spring 19, and the latch portion 21 is avoided. When the protrusion 14 rotates beyond the latch 21, the latch rod 21 locks the protrusion 14 by the elastic force of the tension spring 19. In this state, the projection auxiliary portion 4 biases the latch portion 21 by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring 13 in the document auxiliary tray 4, but the rotational force applied to the crank rod 16 by the tension spring 19 is applied to the crank rod by the torsion coil spring 12. By setting the crank rod shape and the tension spring force so as to be larger than the reverse rotational force, the document auxiliary tray 4 is held in an open state.

  If the operation is interrupted in the middle of document conveyance due to a document conveyance jam or the like, the document tray will be in an open state, but the manual operation exceeding the operating force of the tension spring 19 holding the crank rod will result. It is possible to return the document tray to the initial position by operating force.

  As shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 22 denotes a latch release mechanism which is disposed on the same device where the crank rod 16 is disposed, and releases the latch portion 21 which locks the projection 14 of the document auxiliary tray. Thus, in cooperation with the torsion coil spring 12, the document auxiliary tray held in an open state is returned to the initial position. The latch release mechanism 22 includes an input gear 23, a drive gear 24, a driven gear 25, a one-way spring clutch 26 that connects the drive gear 24 and the driven gear 25, a load spring 27 that applies a sliding load to the driven gear 25, an intermediate gear 28, 29 and cam gear 30. The cam portion 31 of the cam gear 30 interferes with the one end portion 18 of the crank rod 16, and the crank rod 16 is positively driven around the rotation shaft 17 by the rotation of the cam gear 30 shown in FIG. The projection 14 is detached from the latch 21 by the positive movement of the crank rod 16, and the auxiliary document tray 4 is rotated to the initial position by the elastic force of the torsion coil spring 13.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a gear portion 32 composed of a part of a gear tooth surface is integrally formed in the vicinity of the rotation shaft 4 a of the document auxiliary tray 4. Reference numeral 33 denotes a control gear, and 34 denotes a compression spring that applies a rotational load of the control gear. As shown in FIG. 2, when the document auxiliary tray 4 is opened, the gear portion 32 is formed in a state where the gear portion 32 is not engaged with the tooth surface of the control gear 33. As shown in FIG. When the tray 4 is closed, the gear portion 32 is formed so as to mesh with the tooth surface of the control gear 33. Since the gear portion 32 starts to engage with the control gear 33 while the document tray 4 is being closed, by appropriately providing the shape of the gear portion 32 and the elastic force of the compression spring 34, The resultant force of the elastic force of the torsion coil spring can be alleviated, and the impact when the document tray 4 is closed is reduced.

  Next, drive transmission from the latch release mechanism 22 to the input gear 23 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when all the documents 2 have been discharged to the document discharge table 10 by the discharge rollers 9, the document table is detected by the document presence / absence sensor 35 and the document edge detection sensor 36 provided near the document insertion opening. 1 and the absence of a document in the transport path 11 are detected. Here, the drive motor M is reversely driven to rotate the paper discharge roller 9 in the B direction. Then, the rotation drive in the B direction of the document discharge gear 37 of the discharge roller 9 is transmitted to the input gear 23 of the latch release mechanism 22. Since the one-way spring clutch 26 in FIG. 1 is a clutch in a direction in which the rotation drive is transmitted to the driven gear 25 only in the rotation direction of the document discharge gear 37, the cam gear 30 shown in FIG. Communicated. Further, the document discharge gear 37 is provided so that the crank rod 16 is positively moved even when the phase of the cam portion 31 of the cam gear 30 is moved from a predetermined position, which will be described later, due to vibration of the apparatus or manual operation of the document auxiliary tray described above. The reverse rotation amount and the reduction ratio of the latch release mechanism 22 are set in advance. In FIG. 3, while the paper discharge roller 9 is discharging the original, the normal rotation of the original discharge gear 37 (the direction opposite to the B direction) rotates the input gear 23 of the latch release mechanism 22 and the cam gear 30 is in the C direction ( 2, the cam portion 31 comes into contact with the end portion 18 of the crank rod 16 and starts to slide. Therefore, even if the paper discharge roller 9 further rotates, no further rotational drive is transmitted from the driven gear 25 to the cam gear 30.

  As described above, by configuring the document stacking device, all the sheet-shaped documents stacked on the document table are transported and discharged to the document discharge table disposed under the opened document tray. Due to the reverse rotation of the drive motor, the crank rod moves positively and automatically returns the document auxiliary tray to the initial position. Therefore, the operation of taking out the document is facilitated, and the document tray is covered with the document tray, so that the effect of preventing foreign matter from being mixed can be obtained.

  In the above-described embodiment, a pendulum gear is provided between the input gear 23 and the intermediate gear 29 instead of the one-way spring clutch 26 of the latch release mechanism 22, and the pendulum gear and the intermediate gear 29 are rotated by rotating the document discharge gear 37 in the B direction. Even if the pendulum gear is arranged so that the connection is released and the pendulum gear and the intermediate gear are connected by the reverse rotation of the document discharge gear 37, the crank rod 16 can be driven in the same manner.

It is a perspective view which shows the sheet | seat mounting apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is a rear view which shows the sheet | seat mounting apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the sheet | seat mounting apparatus of the Example of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional sheet | seat mounting apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document stand 4 Document auxiliary tray 9 Paper discharge roller 16 Crank rod 21 Latch part 22 Latch release mechanism 26 One-way spring clutch 30 Cam gear

Claims (7)

  A placing table on which a sheet-like document can be placed; a separating and conveying unit that separates and feeds a plurality of sheet documents placed on the placing table one by one to a predetermined position; and thereafter, the sheet document is placed at a predetermined position. In a sheet placing apparatus of a sheet feeding apparatus having a conveying means for conveying and a sheet discharging means for discharging a sheet document from a predetermined position, the placing table is configured such that a part of the placing table is movable and the shape of the placing table can be changed. A document stacking apparatus comprising drive transmission means for transmitting the drive of the paper discharge means to the movable portion of the mounting table.   2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mounting table includes document detecting means for detecting presence / absence of a placed sheet document, and document edge detecting means for detecting presence / absence of front and rear ends of the sheet document conveyed at the predetermined position. 1. Document stacking device.   From the state where the mounting table is closed so as to cover a part of the mounting surface on which the sheet-like document is placed, to the state where it is opened to enlarge the placement area so that a large sheet-like document can be placed, 3. The document stacking apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a document auxiliary tray rotatably supported by the document.   The document auxiliary tray of the mounting table rotates from a closed state so as to cover the entire surface on which the sheet-like document is placed to an open state so that the placement surface is exposed and the sheet-like document can be placed. 3. The document stacking apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a document auxiliary tray that is pivotally supported.   The sheet placing device includes a spring member that urges the document auxiliary tray to close so as to cover the entire placement surface on which the sheet-like document is placed, and the document auxiliary tray exposes the placement surface. 5. The document stacking apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a holding member that is locked in a state of being rotated to an open state so that a document can be placed thereon.   The drive transmission means does not interfere with the holding state of the holding member by sliding the rotational drive of the paper discharge means when the paper discharge means rotates in the direction of discharging the sheet original, and the paper discharge means 6. The document stacking apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a clutch member for releasing a locking state of the holding member by transmitting a reverse rotation drive when the reverse rotation is performed.   The drive transmission means releases the connection of the rotation drive of the paper discharge means when the paper discharge means rotates in the direction of discharging the sheet original, and connects the reverse rotation drive when the paper discharge means rotates reversely. 6. The document stacking apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a pendulum member for performing the operation.

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