JP2008247606A - Roller cleaning mechanism and feeding mechanism, and roller cleaning method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance removing performance for removing foreign matter deposited on a roller for conveying a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A gear 140 provided on a rotary shaft 132 of a feed roller 130 is rotated as the feed roller 130 is rotated. When the gear 140 is rotated, a signal generation unit 154 of a blade 150 abutted on a tooth 142 of the gear 140 is vibrated. When the vibration generation unit 154 is vibrated, the vibration is transmitted to cleaning units 156A, B to vibrate the cleaning units 156A, B. When the cleaning units 156A, B are vibrated, the cleaning units 156A, B remove foreign matter deposited on a circumferential surface of the feed roller 130 (rollers 130A, B) in a knock-off manner. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a roller cleaning mechanism, a feeding mechanism, and a roller cleaning method.

  The sheet feeding device of the printing apparatus feeds the recording sheet by rotating a sheet feeding roller in contact with the uppermost surface of the recording sheets stacked and accommodated in the accommodating case. A conveyance unit having a feed roller and a retard roller is provided on the upstream side in the conveyance direction of the recording sheet of the paper feed roller. When two or more recording sheets are fed from the paper feed roller and there are two or more sheets between the feed roller and the retard roller, this transport unit adds to the retard roller because the frictional resistance between the recording sheets is small. The rotational force is reduced, and the retard roller is rotated in the opposite direction to the feed roller to suppress double feeding of recording sheets.

  The recording medium transported from the paper feeding device is transported along a transport path by a plurality of transport rollers, prints an image, and is finally discharged to a paper discharge unit of the paper feeding device.

  Now, if foreign matter such as paper dust or dusting powder adheres to various rollers such as feed roller, paper feed roller, and transport roller, for example, the friction coefficient of the roller will decrease, causing problems such as poor transport. There was something to do.

Therefore, in order to prevent or suppress the problem, a roller cleaning mechanism that removes foreign matters attached to the roller has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).
JP-A-7-11283 JP 2004-18159 A

  However, it is desired to improve the removal performance for removing the foreign matter adhering to the roller as compared with the prior art.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a roller cleaning mechanism and a feeding mechanism, and a roller cleaning method with improved removal performance for removing foreign matters adhering to a roller that conveys a recording medium. Is the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, the roller cleaning mechanism according to claim 1 is a roller cleaning mechanism that removes foreign matter adhering to a roller that conveys a recording medium, the blade being in contact with the roller, and the rotation of the roller. And vibration generating means for vibrating the blade.

  In the roller cleaning mechanism according to the first aspect, the foreign matter adhering to the roller for conveying the recording medium is removed so as to be knocked down by the blade vibrated by the vibration generating means.

  Accordingly, the removal performance for removing the foreign matter adhering to the roller that conveys the recording medium is improved as compared with a configuration that does not have this configuration, for example, a configuration in which the blade is simply brought into contact with the roller.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the roller cleaning mechanism according to the first aspect, the vibration generating means is a gear provided on the rotation shaft of the roller, and the blade generates vibration that contacts the gear. And a cleaning unit that contacts the roller, and the rotation of the gear with the rotation of the roller causes the vibration generating unit in contact with the gear to vibrate, and vibration of the vibration generating unit Is transmitted to the cleaning unit, and the cleaning unit vibrates.

  In the roller cleaning mechanism according to the second aspect, the vibration generating portion of the blade is vibrated during the rotation of the roller by the gear provided on the rotation shaft of the roller. And the vibration of a vibration generation part is transmitted to the cleaning part. As a result, the cleaning unit in contact with the roller vibrates during the rotation of the roller, and the foreign matter attached to the roller is removed.

  That is, with such a simple mechanism, the blade in contact with the roller is vibrated while the roller is rotating.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the roller cleaning mechanism according to the second aspect, the roller includes a pair of roller pairs arranged at intervals on the rotation shaft, and the gear includes the pair of gears. The blade is provided between a pair of rollers, and the blade has one end fixed and a pair of recesses formed at the other end with an interval in the rotation axis direction. The convex part formed between comprises the said vibration generation | occurrence | production part, and the rotation-axis direction both outer side part of a pair of said recessed part comprises the said cleaning part.

  In the roller cleaning mechanism according to the third aspect, the vibration generating portion and the cleaning portion are easily formed by forming a pair of recesses in the blade.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the third aspect, the pair of concave portions are V-shaped.

  In the roller cleaning mechanism according to claim 4, since the pair of recesses are V-shaped, for example, the vibration of the vibration generating unit is efficiently transmitted to the cleaning unit and vibrates as compared with the rectangular recess. .

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a feeding mechanism in which sheet-like recording media are stacked and accommodated, a feeding unit that feeds the sheet-like recording medium accommodated in the housing unit, and a feeding unit that sends the sheet-like recording medium. 5. The conveyance unit having a feed roller and a retard roller for nipping and conveying the sheet-like recording medium, and a foreign matter attached to the feed roller of the conveyance unit is removed. And a roller cleaning mechanism according to item 1.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the roller cleaning mechanism according to any one of the first to fourth aspects removes the foreign matter adhering to the feed roller with improved removal performance. Therefore, problems such as conveyance failure caused by foreign matter adhering to the feed roller are prevented or suppressed.

  A roller cleaning method according to a sixth aspect of the invention is characterized in that a blade that is in contact with a roller that conveys a recording medium is vibrated during rotation of the roller to remove foreign matter adhering to the roller.

  In the roller cleaning method according to the sixth aspect, the foreign matter adhering to the roller for conveying the recording medium is removed by being knocked down by the vibrating blade.

  Therefore, the removal performance for removing the foreign matter adhering to the roller is improved as compared with a method that does not have this method, for example, a method in which the blade is simply brought into contact with the roller and scraped off.

  As described above, according to the roller cleaning mechanism of the first aspect, it does not have this configuration, for example, it adheres to the roller that conveys the recording medium as compared with a configuration in which the blade is simply brought into contact with the roller. It has the outstanding effect that the removal performance which removes the foreign material which improved is improved.

  According to the roller cleaning mechanism of the second aspect, there is an excellent effect that it is possible to vibrate the blade abutted during rotation of the roller with a simple mechanism.

  According to the roller cleaning mechanism of the third aspect, there is an excellent effect that the vibration generating portion and the cleaning portion can be easily formed.

  According to the roller cleaning mechanism of the fourth aspect, there is an excellent effect that the vibration of the vibration generating unit can be efficiently transmitted to the cleaning unit.

  According to the feeding mechanism of the fifth aspect, there is an excellent effect that it is possible to prevent or suppress problems such as conveyance failure caused by foreign matters adhering to the feed roller.

  The roller cleaning method according to claim 6 does not have this method, for example, removes foreign matter adhering to the roller as compared with a method of simply removing the blade by abutting the roller against the roller. It has an excellent effect that the performance is improved.

  A feeding mechanism including a roller cleaning mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. The width direction refers to a direction (sheet width direction) orthogonal to the recording sheet conveyance direction (arrow X direction in FIG. 1). The upstream and downstream conveyance directions are upstream and downstream of the recording sheet conveyance direction. Point to.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a large number of recording sheets P, which are sheet-like recording media, are stacked (stacked) and stored in a storage case 10 configured in a box shape.

  The housing case 10 is attached to an apparatus body (not shown) of a printing apparatus (not shown) that prints an image on the surface of the recording sheet P. Further, the storage case 10 is detachably attached to the apparatus main body from the storage case insertion port formed in the apparatus main body like a drawer.

  The recording sheet P stored in the storage case 10 is sent out by the feeding mechanism 100 and is transported by a plurality of transport rollers provided in a transport path provided in the apparatus main body. Then, an image is printed during conveyance and finally discharged to a discharge unit (not shown), and printed recording sheets P are stacked on the discharge unit.

  The feeding mechanism 100 includes a pickup roller (nudger roll) 102 serving as a feeding unit that feeds the uppermost recording sheet P, and a conveyance unit 110 that conveys the fed recording sheet P. A pickup roller 102 is disposed above the housing case 10, and a transport unit 110 is disposed on the downstream side of the pickup roller 102 in the transport direction. Further, the pickup roller 102 is disposed at a substantially central portion in a direction (sheet width direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the recording sheet P (see FIG. 2).

  A plate (not shown) is mounted on the bottom of the storage case 10, and the recording sheet P is stacked on the upper surface of the plate. The plate is lifted by a motor (not shown), and the upper surface of the uppermost recording sheet P is held at a position where it abuts against the pickup roller 102.

  The transport unit 110 includes a feed roller 130 made of an elastic material such as rubber or sponge, and a retard roller 120 installed so as to be in rolling contact therewith. The retard roller 120 is pressed against the feed roller 130 by a spring (not shown) and is in rolling contact.

  The retard roller 120 is provided with a motor, a torque limiter and the like (not shown) so that a driving force acts in a direction opposite to that of the feed roller 130. When the feed roller 130 rotates, the retard roller 120 rotates with the rotation of the feed roller 130 when a rotational force (torque) equal to or greater than a preset torque limiter is applied.

  Accordingly, when the recording sheet P does not exist between the feed roller 130 and the retard roller 120, or when only one recording sheet P exists, the retard roller 120 rotates with the rotation of the feed roller 130. One recording sheet P is carried out. However, when two or more recording sheets P are fed out and conveyed, and there are two or more sheets between the feed roller 130 and the retard roller 120, the friction resistance between the recording sheets P is small, so the retard roller The rotational force applied to 130 is reduced, and the retard roller 120 rotates in the direction opposite to that of the feed roller 130 to prevent the recording sheet P from being double fed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the feed roller 130 is provided on a rotating shaft 132 arranged with the width direction as an axial direction. As shown in FIG. 1, the feed roller 130 is arranged with a gap in the axial direction (width direction) of the rotating shaft 132 and is composed of a pair of rollers, that is, a roller 130A and a roller 130B. Similarly, the retard roller 120 is also composed of a pair of rollers arranged at intervals in the axial direction so as to correspond to the rollers 130A and 130B.

  Next, the roller cleaning mechanism S that removes foreign matters attached to the feed roller 130 provided in the feeding mechanism 100 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a gear 140 is provided between the feed roller 130, that is, between the pair of rollers 130A and 130B. The gear 140 is also provided on the rotating shaft 132, and when the feed roller 130 rotates, the gear 140 also rotates. The diameter of the tooth tip circle of the gear 140 is smaller than the diameter of the feed roller 130. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the gear 140 is configured not to protrude more than the feed roller 130 in a side view in the rotation axis direction (width direction).

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the blade 150 has a conveyance direction downstream end 150A as a fixed end joined to a mounting portion 12 provided in the apparatus body, and a conveyance direction upstream side as a free end. Yes. In the present embodiment, the downstream end 150A in the conveyance direction of the blade 150 and the attachment portion 12 are joined with a double-sided tape.

  1, 2, and 3, the free end side of the blade 150 is provided so as to contact the peripheral surface of the feed roller 130 (the rollers 130 </ b> A and 130 </ b> B) and the teeth 142 of the gear 140. It has been. In this embodiment, the blade 150 is made of an elastically deformable Mylar sheet and has a thickness of 125 ± 25 μm (see FIG. 4).

  As shown in FIG. 1, the blade 150 has two V-shaped concave portions 152 </ b> A and 152 </ b> B formed at an end portion on the upstream side in the transport direction with a gap in the width direction in a plan view. And the convex part between the recessed part 152A and the recessed part 152B is made into the vibration generation part 154, and the width direction both outer side of the recessed part 152A and the recessed part 152B is made into the cleaning part 156A and the cleaning part 156B.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the blade 150 includes a horizontal portion 150 </ b> B that is joined to the attachment portion 12 and extends in a substantially horizontal direction from the upstream end 150 </ b> A in the transport direction to the upstream in the transport direction in a side view in the width direction. The shape is composed of a vertical portion 150C bent upward in the vertical direction from the portion 150B and a tip portion 150D extending in the substantially horizontal direction from the vertical portion 150C.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the above-described recesses 152A and 152B are formed in the tip portion 150D, and the upstream portion of the tip portion 150D constitutes the cleaning portions 156A and B and the vibration generating portion 154. The front ends (edges) of the cleaning units 156A, B are in contact with the peripheral surfaces of the feed rollers 130 (the rollers 130A and 130B), and the front ends (edges) of the vibration generating unit 154 are in contact with the gear 140. It is contact | abutting so that it may enter between the tooth | gear 142 and the tooth | gear 142 (refer FIG. 4).

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, the vibration generation part 154 of the front-end | tip part 150D of the braid | blade 150 is inclined below. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the inclination angle of the vibration generator 154 is in the range of 120 ° ± 40 °.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

  Foreign matter may adhere to the feed roller 130 (the peripheral surface thereof). Examples of the foreign material include dust or the like, or paper dust in the case where the dust or recording sheet P is made of paper.

  Note that the dusting means that the printed recording sheet P is stuck to the printed recording sheet P because the printed ink is not completely dried when the printed recording sheet P is discharged and stacked on the discharge unit of the printing apparatus. In order to prevent smearing with ink, it refers to powder applied on a printed recording sheet P. An application device that automatically applies dusting powder is provided on the upper portion of the printing device. As a coating method, a spray type is often used.

  When the printed recording sheet P is additionally printed (reprint printing), the dust is attached to the recording sheet P stored in the storage case 10, and this dust is transported by the transport unit 110. At this time, it adheres to the feed roller 130.

  Alternatively, the dusting powder flies in the air (in the apparatus) and adheres to the feed roller 130 as a foreign substance.

  Note that the amount of dust applied to the feed roller 130 is generally very large, about 1000 times that of paper powder.

  If a predetermined amount or more of foreign matter adheres to the feed roller 130, for example, a defect such as a conveyance failure due to a decrease in the frictional resistance of the feed roller 130 may occur.

  However, in the present embodiment, the foreign matter adhering to the peripheral surface of the feed roller 130 (rollers 130A and 130B) is effectively removed by being knocked down by the cleaning portions 156A and 156B of the vibration blade 150. (See arrow K in FIG. 2).

  Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, the gear 140 provided on the rotation shaft 132 of the feed roller 130 rotates as the feed roller 130 rotates. When the gear 140 rotates, the vibration generating portion 154 of the blade 150 that is in contact with the teeth 142 of the gear 140 is vibrated (see arrow K in FIG. 3). When the vibration generating unit 154 is vibrated, the vibration is transmitted to the cleaning units 156A and 156B, and the cleaning units 156A and B are vibrated. Then, the cleaning units 156A and 156B vibrate (see the arrow K in FIG. 2), so that the foreign matter adhering to the peripheral surface of the feed roller 130 (rollers 130A and B) is removed by being knocked off. .

  That is, with such a simple mechanism, the blade 150 in contact with the feed roller 130 is vibrated during the rotation of the feed roller 130 (rollers 130A and 130B), thereby effectively removing foreign matter adhering to the feed roller 130. The mechanism to do is realized.

  This prevents or suppresses problems such as conveyance failure due to foreign matter adhering to the feed roller 130. It will be described later that the performance of removing foreign matter attached to the feed roller 130 is improved by vibrating the blade 150 in contact with the feed roller 130 while the feed roller 130 is rotating.

  As shown in FIG. 1, vibration is easily generated by forming a pair of V-shaped recesses 152A and B on the blade (by simply cutting the V-shaped recesses 152A and B from a substantially rectangular Mylar sheet). A portion 154 and cleaning portions 156A, B are formed.

  Further, since the concave portions 152A and B are V-shaped, when the vibration generating portion 154 is vibrated, only the vibrating portion 154 is not flexed, and the cleaning portions 156A and B on both outer sides in the width direction are efficiently vibrated. Is transmitted and vibrates.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the thickness of the blade 150 is 125 ± 25 μm. If the blade 150 is thinner than this thickness (less than 100 μm), the rigidity is too small and the vibration of the vibration generating unit 154 is not efficiently transmitted to the cleaning units 156A and B (the cleaning units 156A and B vibrate efficiently). Not) Further, if the rigidity is small, the removal performance for removing the foreign matter adhering to the feed roller 130 by hitting it down also deteriorates. On the other hand, if it is thicker than this (thickness greater than 150 μm), the rigidity is too high and the vibration of the vibration generating portion 154 is hindered. As a result, the cleaning portions 156A and 156B are not sufficiently vibrated. Therefore, the thickness of the blade 150 is desirably 125 ± 25 μm.

  Furthermore, the inclination angle of the vibration generating unit 154 is 120 ± 40 °. If it is smaller than this angle range (less than 80 °), the angle with the tooth 142 of the gear 140 is too tight and the gear 140 is not vibrated smoothly. On the contrary, if it is larger than this angle range (greater than 160 °), the angle with the tooth 142 of the gear 140 is too shallow to vibrate sufficiently. Therefore, the inclination angle of the vibration generator 154 is desirably 120 ± 40 °.

  Next, the relationship between the vibration frequency of the blade 150 (frequency at which contact and separation with the feed roller 130 are repeated) and the foreign substance removal performance will be described.

  The graph of FIG. 5 shows the relationship between the vibration frequency (Hz) of the blade 150 and the foreign substance removal performance. As can be seen from this graph, the removal performance is better when the blade 150 is vibrated than when the vibration is zero, that is, when the blade is not vibrated at all (when the blade is kept in contact with the feed roller). It turns out that it is improved.

  However, it can be seen that the removal performance decreases with the frequency of the blade 150 peaking at a predetermined frequency (Hz).

  Therefore, in order to obtain a predetermined removal performance, the pitch of the teeth 142 of the gear 140 may be set so that the used frequency band becomes a frequency within a predetermined range. For example, in order to obtain performance of 8000 sheets or more, the operating frequency band may be set to about 180 Hz or more and about 570 Hz or less. In addition, the frequency at which the removal performance is highest (peak value) of about 310 Hz and the vicinity thereof is most desirable from the viewpoint of improving the removal performance.

  Now, the configuration in which the blade (mylar sheet) is simply brought into contact with the feed roller without vibrating, not only has a low foreign substance removal performance, but also the blade is always in contact with the feed roller and rubs. The damage that Laura takes is great. For this reason, the life of the feed roller is reduced.

  On the other hand, in this embodiment, the blade (mylar sheet) 150 is vibrated to improve the foreign matter removal performance as described above, and the blade 150 is not always in contact with the feed roller 130. Therefore (because of repeated contact and separation), damage to the feed roller 130 is reduced, and a reduction in the life of the feed roller 130 is suppressed.

  Therefore, the relationship between the life of the blade 150 and the feed roller 130 and the vibration frequency (Hz) of the blade 150 will be described next.

  As can be seen from the graph of FIG. 6, when the frequency is low, the life of the blade 150 is lengthened, but the life of the feed roll 130 is shortened. Conversely, when the frequency is high, the life of the blade 150 is shortened, but the life of the feed roll 130 is lengthened.

  Therefore, it is desirable that all the lifetimes be in the frequency range that is equal to or longer than the predetermined lifetime. For example, when any lifetime is about 180 k or more, the use frequency band may be 200 Hz or more and 400 Hz or less.

  Note that a frequency of about 310 Hz, which is the frequency at which the respective lifetimes coincide, and a frequency in the vicinity thereof are most desirable from the viewpoint of improving the lifetime of both the blade 150 and the feed roll 130.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a printing apparatus having a mechanism for adhering dust to a printed recording sheet, but the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention can also be applied to a printing apparatus that does not have a mechanism for attaching dust to a printed recording sheet. For example, the present invention can also be applied to printers and copiers such as ink jet systems and electrophotographic systems.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the roller cleaning mechanism S was applied to the removal of the foreign material adhering to the feed roller 130 of the conveyance part 110 of the feeding mechanism 100, it is not limited to this (refer FIG.1 and FIG.2). . For example, you may apply in order to remove the foreign material adhering to the pick-up roller 102 or the retard roller 120. FIG. Alternatively, the present invention can be applied to any of various other transport rollers that are transported in contact with the recording sheet before being discharged to the discharge unit.

  That is, the roller for which the roller cleaning mechanism according to the present invention removes foreign matters is a general roller that abuts against a recording medium on which an image is printed in a printing apparatus or the like.

  In the above-described embodiment, the recording sheet P (sheet-like recording medium) is conveyed. The recording sheet P means sheet-like paper and thin paper-like flexible medium. It also includes envelopes. Furthermore, it may be a long strip-shaped recording medium (for example, continuous paper) that is wound in a roll shape instead of a sheet shape.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the gear 140 is provided between the roller 130A and the roller 130B, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the rollers 130A and 130B may be provided on the outer side in the axial direction. The gear 140 may be provided on the rotation shaft 132 of the feed roller 130. Note that the shape of the blade 150 (such as the positions where the vibration generating unit 154 and the cleaning unit 156 are formed) is determined according to the positional relationship between the feed roller 130 and the gear 140.

  Further, for example, the roller cleaning mechanism that removes the foreign matter attached to the roller by vibrating the blade that is in contact with the roller while the roller is rotating is not limited to the roller cleaning mechanism S described in the above embodiment. Any mechanism may be used as long as it is a mechanism that vibrates the blade that is in contact with the roller while it is rotating and removes foreign matter adhering to the roller. For example, a mechanism that vibrates the blade by hitting it with a plunger, or a mechanism that vibrates the blade by another electrical mechanism or method may be used.

It is the top view which planarly viewed the feeding mechanism concerning an embodiment of the present invention. It is the side view which looked at the feeding mechanism shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing of the AA cross section of FIG. It is sectional drawing of the BB cross section of FIG. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the removal performance of a foreign material, and the vibration frequency (Hz) of a blade. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the lifetime of a roller and a blade, and the vibration frequency (Hz) of a blade. It is the graph which synthesize | combined the graph of FIG. 5 and the graph of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

10 Storage case (storage part)
102 Pickup roller (feeding means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Feed mechanism 110 Conveying part 120 Retard roller 130 Feed roller (roller)
132 Rotating shaft 140 Gear (vibration generating means)
150 Blade 152A Concave part 152B Concave part 154 Vibration generating part 156 Cleaning part
P Recording sheet (recording medium)
S roller cleaning mechanism

Claims (6)

A roller cleaning mechanism for removing foreign matter adhering to a roller for conveying a recording medium,
A blade that contacts the roller;
Vibration generating means for vibrating the blade during rotation of the roller;
A roller cleaning mechanism comprising: The vibration generating means is a gear provided on the rotation shaft of the roller,
The blade has a vibration generating unit that contacts the gear, and a cleaning unit that contacts the roller,
As the gear rotates with the rotation of the roller, the vibration generating unit in contact with the gear is vibrated, and the vibration of the vibration generating unit is transmitted to the cleaning unit to vibrate the cleaning unit. The roller cleaning mechanism according to claim 1. The roller has a pair of rollers arranged with an interval on the rotating shaft,
The gear is provided between the pair of rollers,
The blade has a pair of recesses that are fixed at one end and formed at the other end with an interval in the direction of the rotation axis.
The convex part formed between the pair of concave parts constitutes the vibration generating part, and both outer side parts in the rotation axis direction of the pair of concave parts constitute the cleaning part. Roller cleaning mechanism.   The roller cleaning mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the pair of recesses are V-shaped. A storage section in which sheet-like recording media are stacked and stored;
Sending means for sending out the sheet-like recording medium accommodated in the accommodating portion;
A transport unit having a feed roller and a retard roller for sandwiching and transporting the sheet-like recording medium sent out by the sending means;
The roller cleaning mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein foreign matter attached to the feed roller of the transport unit is removed.
A feeding mechanism comprising:   A roller cleaning method, wherein a blade that is in contact with a roller for conveying a recording medium is vibrated during rotation of the roller to remove foreign matter adhering to the roller.

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