JP2019006528A - Loading device, feeding device, image forming apparatus, image forming system, and control method - Google Patents

Abstract

To solve the problem in which: it is impossible to change the posture of a paper sheet in a state where the paper sheet is held by conveyance means (a roller or the like) after feeding the paper sheet, according to the prior art.SOLUTION: There is provided an apparatus comprising: a loading base on which sheets are stacked; feeding means for feeding the sheets in a first direction; and regulation means that regulates movement of the sheets loaded on the loading base, in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the regulation means being movable in the second direction. Next, a control is performed by the foregoing apparatus. That is, inclination in the first direction of the sheets loaded on the loading base is detected with a sensor, and the inclination is corrected by moving the regulation means in the second direction, based on the detection results.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to a stacking apparatus that stacks sheets, a feeding apparatus that feeds the stacked sheets, an image forming apparatus including the feeding apparatus, an image forming system, and a control method.

  An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer includes a sheet storage unit and a feeding mechanism such as a feeding roller that feeds out a sheet stored in the sheet storage unit, and the sheet stored in the sheet storage unit is fed by the feeding mechanism. One having a configuration for feeding to an image forming unit is known. In recent years, among such image forming apparatuses, an apparatus having a large capacity sheet storage unit capable of supplying thousands of sheets has been increasing.

  Further, in the recent printing industry, there is an increasing need (for example, a book cover, a catalog spread page, and a POP advertisement) for printing on a long paper that is longer than plain paper such as A3 and A4.

  Now, since long paper is longer in the feeding direction than regular regular size paper, the inclination of the paper when it is set on the paper stacking base is the leading edge of the paper and the back of the paper with respect to the feeding direction. This greatly affects the position of the image printed at the edge and the amount of margin in the paper width direction at the leading edge and the trailing edge.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image printing position and a margin when a long sheet is conveyed obliquely in the feeding direction. As shown in FIG. 6, when long paper is transported obliquely in the feeding direction, the image is inclined to the feeding direction and printed on the long paper, and the margin width at both ends in the paper width direction. However, the leading edge and the trailing edge of the long paper are different. As a result, the quality of the printed matter obtained cannot be said to be good.

  In order to prevent this, a sheet feeding apparatus has been proposed that detects the inclination of the set paper and corrects the inclination of the paper by blowing air based on the detection result (Patent Document 1). ).

JP2015-147625A

  However, in the above-described conventional example, the correction effect can be obtained only for a limited sheet on the upper side of the stacked sheets, and the sheet feeding is started while the portion where the correction effect is not obtained is inclined. . When the sheet feeding is started in this way, when the portion where the correction effect is not obtained has risen to the feeding position, the state where the sheet is held by the conveying unit with the inclination is generated, and the air is discharged. There is a problem that the posture of the sheet cannot be changed even if sprayed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional example. A stacking apparatus, a feeding apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image forming system, and a control method capable of feeding sheets well and outputting high-quality printed matter. The purpose is to provide.

  In order to achieve the above object, the loading apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration.

That is, a stacking device for stacking sheets to be fed on a stacking unit,
Restricting means movable in the width direction for restricting movement of the sheets stacked on the stacking means with respect to the width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction in which the sheets are fed;
Detecting means for detecting the inclination of the sheets stacked on the stacking means in the width direction;
Control means for moving the restricting means in a direction in which the inclination is reduced with respect to the width direction based on a detection result by the detecting means.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a feeding device including the stacking device configured as described above and a feeding unit that feeds the sheets stacked on the stacking unit.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus includes the feeding device having the above-described configuration, and an image forming unit that forms an image on the sheet fed from the feeding device. Equipment.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, the image includes the feeding device having the above-described configuration, and an image forming device that forms an image on the sheet fed from the feeding device. With a forming system.

  According to still another aspect of the present invention, the stacking unit is configured to stack a sheet to be fed on the stacking unit, and the stacking unit is perpendicular to a feeding direction in which the sheet stacked on the stacking unit is fed. A control method for a stacking apparatus, comprising: a restricting means movable in the width direction for restricting the movement of the sheets stacked on the sheet, wherein the inclination of the sheets stacked on the stacking means with respect to the feeding direction is detected. And a control step of correcting the inclination by moving the regulating means in a direction in which the inclination is reduced with respect to the width direction based on a detection result in the detection step. A control method is provided.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that a sheet can be fed well and a high-quality printed matter can be output.

1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding device according to a representative embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating a main part of the sheet feeding device with a cover removed. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of a paper deck. FIG. 3 is a top view of a sheet feeding device illustrating a configuration for sheet feeding control. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a sheet feeding control process. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an image printing position and a margin when a long sheet is conveyed while being skewed in a feeding direction.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described more specifically and in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the examples described below, and there may be changes and additions within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention.

  In this specification, “recording” (sometimes referred to as “printing”) is not limited to the case of forming significant information such as characters and graphics, but may be significant. Furthermore, it also represents a case where an image, a pattern, a pattern, or the like is widely formed on a recording medium or a medium is processed regardless of whether or not it is manifested so that a human can perceive it visually.

  The “recording medium (sheet)” is not only a recording paper used in a general image forming apparatus, but also a wide range of materials such as cloth, plastic film (OHP), metal plate, glass, ceramics, wood, leather, etc. It also includes media that can be transported.

<Outline of Image Forming Apparatus (FIGS. 1 to 3)>
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming system 1000 that forms an image in accordance with an electrophotographic system as a typical embodiment of the present invention.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1000 includes an image forming apparatus (LBP) 900 and a paper deck 3000 connected to the image forming apparatus 900. The paper deck 3000 is provided with a control unit 41 having a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM for controlling the paper deck 3000 in accordance with commands from the controller 120 that controls the entire image forming system 1000.

  The image forming apparatus 900 also feeds the sheet S, the first to fourth sheet feeding apparatuses 1001 to 1004 having the same configuration, and the sheet S fed by the sheet feeding apparatuses 1001 to 1004 as an image forming unit. A sheet conveying apparatus 902 that conveys the sheet to 901. The controller 120 provided in the image forming apparatus 900 includes a CPU, a RAM, and a ROM in order to control each unit of the image forming system 1000. Further, the controller 120 receives image data from the outside (for example, a PC or the like), generates an image signal, and outputs this to the image forming unit.

  Each of the first to fourth sheet feeding apparatuses 1001 to 1004 includes a sheet feeding cassette 10 that stores sheets S, a pickup roller 11, and a separation conveyance roller pair 25 including a feed roller 22 and a retard roller 23. ing. The sheets S stored in the sheet feeding cassette 10 are separated and fed one by one by a pickup roller 11 and a separating and conveying roller pair 25 that are rotated up and down at a predetermined timing. A feed sensor 24 is disposed in the vicinity of the downstream side of the feed roller 22 and the retard roller 23 in the sheet feeding direction, and the passage of the sheet S is detected by the feeding sensor 24, and the detection signal is used as the controller 120. Sent to.

  The sheet conveyance device 902 includes a conveyance roller pair 15, a pre-registration roller pair 130, and a registration roller pair 110. The sheet S fed from the first to fourth sheet feeding apparatuses 1001 to 1004 is passed through the sheet conveying path 108 by the conveying roller pair 15 and the pre-registration roller pair 130 and then guided to the registration roller pair 110. It is burned. Thereafter, the sheet S is sent to the image forming unit 901 by the registration roller pair 110 at a predetermined timing.

  The image forming unit 901 includes a photosensitive drum 112, a laser scanner 111, a developing device 114, a transfer charger 115, a separation charger 116, and the like. At the time of image formation, the laser beam from the laser scanner 111 driven by the image signal from the controller 120 is folded back by the mirror 113 and applied to the photosensitive drum 112 rotating in the clockwise direction. An electrostatic latent image is formed. Further, the electrostatic latent image thus formed on the photosensitive drum is thereafter visualized as a toner image by the developing device 114.

  Thereafter, the toner image on the photosensitive drum is transferred to the sheet S by the transfer charger 115 in the transfer unit 112b. Further, the sheet S on which the toner image is transferred in this manner is electrostatically separated from the photosensitive drum 112 by the separation charger 116 and then conveyed to the fixing device 118 by the conveyance belt 117 to fix the toner image. Thereafter, the paper is discharged by a discharge roller 119. The image forming unit 901 and the fixing device 118 form an image on the sheet S fed from the sheet feeding device 30 (or the sheet feeding devices 1001 to 1004).

  In addition, a discharge sensor 122 is disposed in the conveyance path between the fixing device 118 and the discharge roller 119, and the controller 120 detects the passage of the discharged sheet S based on a detection signal of the discharge sensor 122.

  Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, a single-function image forming apparatus (printer apparatus) has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The present invention can be applied to, for example, a copier system in which an image reading apparatus (scanner apparatus), an image forming apparatus, and an ADF apparatus are integrated, or a combined system in which a facsimile function is added to the copier system.

  Furthermore, although it has been described that the image forming unit of the image forming apparatus includes a mechanism for forming an image according to an electrophotographic method, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, an image forming unit that forms an image according to an inkjet method may be used.

  Next, as a sheet feeding device 30 of the image forming system 1000 having the above-described configuration, a paper deck 3000 that is a large-capacity deck is taken as an example, and an embodiment relating to the paper deck 3000 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of the paper deck 3000 according to the first embodiment with the cover removed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the paper deck 3000 includes an apparatus main body 3000a, a large-capacity deck storage 62 accommodated in the apparatus main body 3000a, and a sheet feeding apparatus 30. The sheet feeding device 30 sends out the sheets S stacked and stored in the large-capacity deck storage 62 toward the image forming unit 901.

  The sheet feeding device 30 includes a sheet stacking table (sheet stacking table) 61 on which normal sheets S are stacked, a pickup roller 51 that feeds the sheets S stacked on the sheet stacking table 61, a feed roller 12, and a retard roller 13. The separation / conveying roller pair 31 is provided. The pickup roller 51 is disposed in the vicinity of the leading end in the sheet feeding direction (arrow b direction) so as to be able to be pressed against the uppermost sheet on the sheet stacking table 61 with an appropriate force. Accordingly, the pickup roller 51 is provided above the sheet stacking table 61 and abuts on the uppermost sheet of the sheet S stacked on the raised sheet stacking table 61 and feeds it in the direction of arrow b.

  The sheet stacking table 61 is capable of stacking sheets and is supported so as to be moved up and down by a drive mechanism (not shown) including a lifting motor (not shown). An upper surface detection sensor 50 is disposed on the upstream side of the pickup roller 51 on the upper side of the sheet stacking table 61. The upper surface detection sensor 50 is located above the paper stacking table 61 and detects the upper surface 68 of the sheet S on the paper stacking table. When the sheet stacking table 61 is lowered most, the sheet stacking table 61 comes into contact with the base plate 63 of the sheet feeding device 30. As indicated by a dotted line 81 in FIG. 1, when the amount of stacked sheets decreases, the sheet stacking table 61 moves up.

  The sheet feeding apparatus 30 includes a sheet stacking table 61 and two pairs of side regulating members 80 and 83. With respect to the feeding direction of the sheets S stacked on the sheet stacking table 61 (the direction of the arrow b in FIG. 2), the side regulating member 80 uses the center of the maximum length sheet that can be stacked on the sheet stacking table as a reference line. It is provided downstream from the line. On the other hand, the side regulating member 83 is provided on the upstream side of the reference line with the center of the maximum length sheet that can be stacked on the paper stacking table 61 as a reference line. Further, the side regulating members 80 and 83 regulate the side end position in the width direction (arrow h direction in FIG. 2) orthogonal to the feeding direction (arrow b direction in FIG. 2) of the sheets S stacked on the paper stacking table 61. Both are configured to be movable in the width direction. In particular, the pair of side regulating members 83 on the upstream side with respect to the feeding direction is configured to be movable by a drive motor in the orthogonal width direction (the direction of the arrow h in FIG. 2). Movement is controlled.

  In this embodiment, as described above, the pickup roller 51 is configured to be able to press-contact with the uppermost sheet of the sheet S on the sheet stacking base with an appropriate force. The sheets S on the sheet stacking table 61 are separated and fed one by one by a pickup roller 51 and a separation conveying roller pair 31 that rotate by moving up and down at a predetermined timing.

  A connection conveyance path 32 for sending the sheet S from the paper deck 3000 side to the pre-registration roller pair 130 on the image forming apparatus 900 side is disposed at the connection portion 14 of the paper deck 3000 with the image forming apparatus 900.

  The two pairs of side regulating members 80 and 83 are configured to be capable of guiding the sheet S on the sheet stacking table 61 by sliding to all sheet size widths corresponding to the specifications. That is, the two pairs of side regulating members 80 and 83 are supported so as to be movable in the width direction of the sheet, and abut both ends of the stacked sheets S to regulate both side positions of the sheets S. Note that reference numeral 86 in FIG. 2 denotes a front end regulating unit that regulates the front end of the sheet S on the sheet stacking table 61.

  Further, a trailing edge regulating member 87 is disposed so as to regulate the trailing edge of the sheet S on the sheet stacking table 61. The trailing edge regulating member 87 is supported so as to be movable in a direction parallel to the sheet feeding direction (arrow b direction) and regulates the trailing edge position of the sheet S. The rear end regulating member 87 is moved along a positioning slot 61 a (FIG. 2) formed in the center of the sheet stacking table 61.

  Further, a sheet end position detection sensor 84 for detecting whether or not the sheet feeding direction is inclined in the sheet feeding direction is provided on the upper part of the sheet feeding apparatus 30. The detection by this sensor will be described in detail later. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the sheet end position detection sensor 84 is provided between the positions where the upstream side regulation member 83 and the downstream side regulation member 80 are provided in the sheet feeding direction.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the pickup roller 51 is driven by a drive motor (not shown) and rotates in the sheet feeding direction (arrow a direction), the uppermost sheet S is fed in the arrow b direction. . As a result, the sheet S comes into contact with the nip portion of the separation conveyance roller pair 31 adjacent to the exit side of the pickup roller 51.

  Now, when double feeding occurs in the sheet S sent out by the pickup roller 51, the following occurs. That is, the retard roller 13 driven and rotated in the opposite direction to the feed roller 12 rotating in the same direction as the arrow a (the direction of the arrow c) is the same as the feed roller 12 because two or more sheets S are interposed in the nip portion. Rotate in the direction. Then, the second and subsequent sheets S in the nip portion are pushed back in the direction of the paper stacking table 61 by the retard roller 13, and only the uppermost sheet S is sent out in the direction of arrow b by the feed roller 12.

  When the sheet S is fed from the paper deck 3000 having the above-described configuration, or when the sheet S is fed from any of the first to fourth sheet feeding apparatuses 1001 to 1004 described above, the leading edge of the sheet S becomes the pre-registration. It strikes against the nip portion of the roller pair 130. The pre-registration roller pair 130 includes a pair of opposed rollers, and is arranged on the conveyance path of the sheet S so as to be rotatable in the direction of an arrow d in FIG. 2 by a drive motor (not shown). The sheet S that once hits the nip portion of the pre-registration roller pair 130 is conveyed into the image forming apparatus 900 by the pre-registration roller pair 130 that rotates in accordance with the feeding timing.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of the paper deck 3000.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, in the paper deck 3000, the image forming apparatus 900 receives an instruction from the user via the operation panel 40, and transmits a signal (for example, a print instruction PRT) indicating the instruction to the control unit 41. It works by. Further, when the user presses the storage open / close button 74 for opening / closing the large-capacity deck storage 62, the request signal REQ is transmitted to the control unit 41, and the door of the large-capacity deck storage 62 is opened / closed. That is, the control unit 41 operates the storage solenoid 46 via the driver 45 in response to the reception of the request signal REQ, and locks or unlocks the door of the large-capacity deck storage 62.

  Further, in response to receiving a print request PRT from the image forming apparatus 900, the control unit 41 feeds the sheets S stacked on the sheet stacking table 61 to the image forming apparatus 900. For this feeding / conveying operation, the control unit 41 drives various motors 44 via the I / O port 42 and the motor driver 43 to pick up and feed the sheets S one by one. Further, as the amount of sheets stacked on the sheet stacking table 61 is reduced by the feeding operation, the control unit 41 drives the lifting motor 55 via the I / O port 42 and the motor driver 53 to drive the driving mechanism. 54 is operated to raise the paper stacking table 61.

  Furthermore, during the sheet S feeding operation, the middle plate standby position sensor 48, the storage detection sensor 49, and the upper surface detection sensor 50 are in a state of the paper stacking base 61, a state of the amount of sheets stacked on the paper stacking base 61, Always monitor the condition of the upper surface of the stacked sheets. Then, detection signals DCT1, DCT2, and DCT3 from these sensors are transmitted to the control unit 41. The control unit 41 receives these detection signals, controls the driving of the motor described above, and transmits a signal FEED indicating the state of the feeding operation to the image forming apparatus 900.

  Next, a skew correction operation for a long sheet performed by the sheet feeding apparatus 30 having the above configuration will be described.

<Skew correction operation (FIGS. 4 to 5)>
FIG. 4 is a top view of the sheet feeding apparatus illustrating a skew correction operation for a long sheet.

  4A shows a state in which the long sheet S is skewed. In this case, among the pair of side regulating members 80 arranged on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction, the sheet S contacts on the front end side (broken line A) of the member positioned on the front side of the apparatus, and the rear side of the apparatus In the member positioned at the position S, the sheet S contacts on the rear end side (broken line B). On the other hand, among the pair of side regulating members 83 arranged on the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction, the member located on the front side of the apparatus is not in contact with the sheet S due to skew, and is located on the rear side of the apparatus. The sheet S contacts only on the rear end side (dashed line D) of the member.

Now, the sheet edge position detection sensor 84 disposed above the position where the sheet S is fed detects the position of the sheet edge in the direction orthogonal to the feeding direction at at least two places with respect to the sheet feeding direction. To do. Accordingly, the inclination θ of the sheet S is calculated according to the following expression (1). That is,
θ = tan ⁻¹ {(x ₂ −x ₁ ) / (y ₂ −y ₁ )} (1)
It is. Here, each of x ₂ and x ₁ is a coordinate value indicating a detection location regarding the sheet feeding direction. Further, y ₂ and y ₁ are coordinate values indicating the sheet end position in the direction orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction. The origin in these two directions may be a predetermined location, for example, a location indicated by a point P.

If the absolute value | θ | of the inclination θ is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the control unit 41 moves the side regulating member 83 in a direction in which the absolute value | θ | Note that the comparison with the predetermined threshold value may be performed by simply comparing the value of (y ₂ −y ₁ ) with another predetermined threshold value instead of the inclination θ.

  Further, the sheet edge position detection sensor 84 may be a photo-interactive type sensor or an area sensor using laser light.

  4B shows a state after the side regulating member 83 is moved in the direction of the front side of the apparatus and the skew of the sheet S is corrected.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the skew of the sheet S is corrected by the control as described above.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the skew correction process.

  First, in step S10, the user sets a sheet on the sheet stacking table 61, and moves the side regulating members 80 and 83 to fit the width of the sheet. Thereafter, when the storage is closed, the output of the storage detection sensor 49 is turned on. This is transmitted to the CPU of the control unit 41 as the detection signal DCT2.

  In response to this, in step S <b> 20, the control unit 41 drives the lifting motor 55 via the motor driver 53 and raises the sheet stacking table 61 using the drive mechanism 54. Then, when the upper surface detection sensor 50 detects the upper surface of the sheet S, the ascent of the sheet stacking table 61 is stopped.

  Next, in step S30, it is checked whether the length (FL) of the sheet S in the feeding direction is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. Here, 600 mm is used as the predetermined threshold (TH1). Note that this value may be a different value depending on the specifications of the apparatus. If FL ≧ 600 mm, it is determined that the sheet is a long sheet and skew correction is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S40. On the other hand, if FL <600 mm, it is determined that the sheet is not a long sheet and skew correction is not necessary, and the process ends as preparation for feeding is completed.

  In step S40, the sheet end position detection sensor 84 measures the sheet inclination θ. The method for measuring the inclination is as described above. In step S50, the measured absolute value | θ | of the sheet inclination θ is compared with a predetermined threshold value (TH2). Here, 0.1 ° (degrees) is used as the predetermined threshold (TH2). This value may be a different value depending on the specifications of the apparatus (for example, the size of a long sheet that can be accommodated). Here, when | θ | ≦ 0.1 °, it is determined that the inclination of the long sheet is in a range where there is no problem, and it is determined that skew correction is not necessary, and the processing ends as preparation for feeding is completed. On the other hand, if | θ |> 0.1 °, it is determined that skew correction is necessary, and the process proceeds to step S60.

  In step S60, with respect to the sheet feeding direction, the side regulating member 83 provided on the upstream side is moved in a direction in which the inclination of the sheet is reduced. For example, if the sheet inclination θ is a positive value, it is assumed that the sheet S is in a state as shown in FIG. 4A, and as shown in FIG. The restriction member 83 is moved. If the sheet inclination θ is a negative value, an operation opposite to the above operation is performed. At this time, the correspondence relationship between the positive / negative of the seat inclination θ and the moving direction of the side regulating member 83 is not limited to the above-described correspondence relationship, as long as the absolute value | θ | Thereafter, the processing returns to step S40, and the above-described measurement is performed again. When the absolute value | θ | of the sheet inclination θ is 0.1 ° or less, the processing is terminated as preparation for feeding is completed.

  Therefore, according to the embodiment described above, even if the long sheets are stacked in the feeding direction, if the inclination is detected and the inclination exceeds a threshold value, the side regulating member is moved. The inclination can be corrected. As a result, an image is formed on the sheet that has been corrected and fed in this way, and the printed matter that has been output has a high quality without the image being inclined and the margins being unbalanced vertically and horizontally. It becomes.

  In addition, in order to enable the sheet stacking base to feed, for example, a long sheet such as an A3 sheet, a side regulating member provided at the extended portion as a configuration that can be extended upstream in the sheet feeding direction. May be movable.

  In the embodiment described above, only a sheet having a certain length or more in the sheet feeding direction is subjected to skew correction, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, skew correction may be performed when a large size sheet having a width equal to or greater than a certain value is stacked in the sheet width direction. The size may be determined based on a value designated by the user from the operation panel, or may be determined based on a detection value by a sheet size sensor provided in the sheet stacking table or the sheet feeding device. good.

  Furthermore, the sheet end position detection sensor may be controlled so as to perform skew correction every time a sheet is mounted without detecting the inclination of the sheet.

30 sheet feeding device, 51 pickup roller, 61 paper stacking table,
62 Large capacity deck storage, 80, 83 Side regulating member,
84 Sheet end position detection sensor, 86 Front end regulating member, 87 Rear end regulating member

Claims (13)

A stacking device for stacking sheets to be fed on a stacking means,
Restricting means movable in the width direction for restricting movement of the sheets stacked on the stacking means with respect to the width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction in which the sheets are fed;
Detecting means for detecting the inclination of the sheets stacked on the stacking means in the width direction;
And a control unit configured to move the regulation unit in a direction in which the inclination is reduced with respect to the width direction based on a detection result by the detection unit.   The stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the restricting unit is a pair of restricting members provided on both sides of the sheet in the width direction, and is provided in a plurality of locations in the feeding direction.   In the feeding direction, the regulating member has a first regulating member upstream of the reference line and a second regulating downstream of the reference line with the center of the maximum length of sheets that can be stacked on the stacking unit as a reference line. The loading device according to claim 2, wherein each member is provided.   The stacking means can be extended upstream of the feeding direction with respect to the feeding direction in order to stack long sheets, and the first restricting member is disposed in the extended portion. The loading device according to claim 3, wherein:   5. The stacking apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control unit moves the first restricting member in a direction in which the inclination decreases with respect to the width direction. 6.   The said detection means is provided between the position of the said 1st control member and the position of the said 2nd control member regarding the said feeding direction, The Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. Loading device.   The control means detects the inclination by the detection means after the sheets are stacked on the stacking means, and when the detected inclination exceeds a predetermined inclination, the control means moves the first restricting member to the first restriction member. The stacking apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the stacking device is moved in a direction in which the inclination is reduced with respect to a width direction.   The inclination correction is executed when a length of the sheet stacked on the stacking unit in the feeding direction is equal to or longer than a predetermined length. The loading apparatus according to item 1.   The tilt correction is performed when the size of the sheet is equal to or larger than a predetermined size with respect to the feeding direction and the width direction. Loading device as described in. A loading device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
And a feeding unit that feeds the sheets stacked on the stacking unit. A feeding device according to claim 10;
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet fed from the feeding device. A feeding device according to claim 10;
And an image forming apparatus for forming an image on the sheet fed from the feeding apparatus. The sheets to be fed are stacked on the stacking unit, and the movement of the sheets stacked on the stacking unit is regulated with respect to the width direction orthogonal to the feeding direction of feeding the sheets stacked on the stacking unit. A control method for a loading device comprising a regulating means movable in the width direction,
A detecting step of detecting a tilt of the sheets stacked on the stacking unit with respect to the feeding direction by a detecting unit;
And a control step of correcting the inclination by moving the restricting means in a direction in which the inclination is reduced with respect to the width direction based on a detection result in the detection step.

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