JP2019163127A - Document conveyance auxiliary device, automatic document conveyance apparatus, document reading apparatus and image formation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a document conveyance auxiliary device in which skew of a document hardly occurs when conveying the document compared to the prior art and which can suitably perform skew correction of the document when delivering to an automatic document conveyance apparatus.SOLUTION: A document conveyance auxiliary device 100 for assisting card conveyance by an ADF 5 includes a gate component 120 which opens/closes an outlet 115 in accordance with delivery of a card C. A document conveyance mechanism 160 includes a card rear end pushing-out component 113 which conveys the card C by pushing it out and delivers the card C to a card insertion port 7. The opening/closing component 120 closes the outlet 115 by being in contact with a card placement part 112. The card rear end pushing-out component 113 is provided with a bent pushing-out surface 163 which pushes out the card rear end being the rear end of the card C in the card conveyance direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 21

Description

  The present invention relates to a document conveyance auxiliary device, an automatic document conveyance device, a document reading device, and an image forming apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a carry-out port for carrying out a document to be delivered to a feeding port of an automatic document feeder, a conveying means for carrying the delivered document toward the feeding port, and a document placement on which the delivered document can be placed. There is known a document conveyance assisting device that includes a unit and assists document conveyance by the automatic document conveyance device.
For example, Patent Document 1 describes the following transport and stacking device (card processing device) that can transport a document such as a card that is difficult to bend and can be applied to a document transport auxiliary device.

Provided with a feeding outlet (card insertion outlet) that serves both as a feeding port for loading (accommodating) a document (card) on a document placement section (card stacker) and a carry-out port for carrying the document outside. The original is stacked on the original placement portion so as to overlap the original conveyance surface in the thickness direction of the original.
And as a conveying means for conveying the document between the feeding discharge port and the document placing portion, a first conveying roller on the side near the feeding discharge port, a second conveying roller facing the document placing portion, A document end pushing member for separating and pushing out the document on the document transport surface loaded on the document placement unit is provided.
Also, a document push-up member that can move in the contact / separation direction with respect to the document conveyance surface, a biasing member that urges the document push-up member toward the document conveyance surface, and at least the document 1 from the document conveyance surface to the document push-up member side A pressing member is also provided that is movable between the document pressing position protruding by the thickness of the sheet.
When the push-down member protrudes, a gap is formed between the stacked originals and the original conveying surface so as to send the originals from the feed / discharge port side.
With this configuration, a mechanism for retracting a loaded document in the direction away from the document conveyance surface can be configured with a small number of parts, and the installation space can be reduced, which is extremely advantageous for downsizing the conveyance stacking device. It is said that there is.

  However, in the document transport auxiliary device to which the configuration of the conventional transport stacking device is applied, the skew of the document is likely to occur when the document is transported, and the skew correction of the document is performed when the document is transferred to the automatic document transport device. There was a problem that (skew correction) could not be performed sufficiently.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a carry-out port for carrying out a document delivered to a feeding port of an automatic document feeder, and conveying the delivered document toward the feeding port. An opening / closing mechanism that opens and closes the carry-out port according to the delivery of the document in the document transport assisting device that includes a transport unit and a document placement unit on which a document to be delivered can be placed and assists the document transport by the automatic document transport device. A conveying member that pushes out a document and conveys the document to the feeding port, and the opening / closing member abuts on the document placing portion to contact the document placing portion. The carry-out port is closed, and the document end pushing member is provided with a curved surface portion that pushes out the rear end of the document in the document conveyance direction.

  According to the present invention, it is less likely that document skew will occur when the document is transported than before, and a document transport assist device that can suitably perform document skew correction when delivered to the automatic document transport device. Can provide.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copier according to an embodiment. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a basic configuration of a reading device provided in an image forming apparatus. Explanatory drawing of a card insertion slot and a manual feed tray. Explanatory drawing of the structure which conveys a card | curd by a user manually placing in a card insertion slot or a manual feed tray, without providing a document conveyance auxiliary device. Explanatory drawing of the malfunction of the conventional conveyance loading apparatus applicable to a document conveyance auxiliary device. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when a document is brought into contact with a roller in a conventional configuration that does not use a document conveyance auxiliary device. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram when a document is conveyed by a document conveyance auxiliary device provided with a large document push-out surface manually operated by a user and the document is brought into contact with a roller. FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view of a configuration in which a user places a card on a document conveyance auxiliary device attached to an ADF and conveys the card manually according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is an explanatory cross-sectional view in which the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 is attached to the ADF 5. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a basic configuration of a document conveyance assist device and a positional relationship with an ADF. Explanatory drawing of the card | curd conveyance procedure by a document conveyance auxiliary | assistance apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the hole for access to the bottom face of the card | curd provided in the stacking case. Explanatory drawing about the outline | summary of a pressurization mechanism. Explanatory drawing of the procedure when pressurizing a card or a card bundle with a pressurization mechanism. Explanatory drawing about the flow of operation when conveying a card | curd. Explanatory drawing of the separation mechanism of the card | curd C by a document conveyance assistance apparatus. Explanatory drawing of the force which generate | occur | produces on the 2nd card | curd when a several card | curd is loaded. Explanatory drawing of the structure using the small extrusion surface 163b. Explanatory drawing of the structure which matches the center position of a small extrusion surface, and the rear end part center position of a card | curd. Position between the center position of the small extrusion surface and the roller contact position where the card first contacts the conveyance roller in the main scanning direction when the card pushed out to the small extrusion surface contacts one conveyance roller in the ADF Explanatory drawing of a relationship. Explanatory drawing of the structure which made the extrusion surface which extrudes a card | curd into the curved surface shape. Explanatory drawing of the structure which provides an elastic member and rotates a small extrusion surface according to a card | curd rear end surface. Explanatory drawing of the relationship between the height a of the extrusion surface which extrudes a card | curd, and the curvature amount b of a card tip rear end part based on Example 2. FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional configuration in which a placement surface on which a card C is placed becomes a height reference of the curved extrusion surface, and the curved extrusion surface is orthogonal to the placement surface. Cross-sectional explanatory drawing of the structure which made the card | curd mounting surface the reference | standard for an inclined surface, and made a curved extrusion surface 90 degrees or less with respect to a card | curd mounting surface based on a present Example. Explanatory drawing of the card | curd (original) conveyance height position in the curved extrusion surface side, and the height position of the nip part N when conveying a card | curd to the nip part of the conveyance roller of ADF.

Hereinafter, as an image forming apparatus provided with an automatic document feeder (hereinafter simply referred to as “ADF”) to which the document feeder auxiliary device 100 to which the present invention is applied is attached, an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine 1). Will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine 1 according to the present embodiment.
The copying machine 1 according to the present embodiment mainly includes an image forming unit 3, an image reading unit 4, and an ADF 5. The reading device 6 of the present embodiment is mainly composed of an image reading unit 4 and an ADF 5.

  The image forming unit 3 of the present embodiment includes, for example, an exposure unit as a latent image forming unit, a photosensitive drum as a plurality of latent image carriers, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), An electrophotographic image forming apparatus including a developing device using black (K) toner of four colors, an intermediate transfer portion, a secondary transfer portion, and a fixing portion. Note that an image forming apparatus of another method such as an ink jet method may be used.

  The image forming unit 3, for example, exposes the photosensitive drum of each color by an exposure unit based on image data obtained by reading the image of the reading device 6 or image data transmitted from an external device such as a personal computer. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the drum, and toner is supplied to the latent image on each photosensitive drum by a developing device of each color for development. Further, the image forming unit 3 primarily transfers the toner images on the photosensitive drums of the respective colors so as to overlap each other on the intermediate transfer belt of the intermediate transfer unit, and then performs secondary transfer onto the recording paper as a recording material in the secondary transfer unit. The toner image on the recording paper is fixed by heating and pressurizing at the fixing unit to form a color image.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a basic configuration of the reading device 6 provided in the image forming apparatus. 2A is a schematic explanatory diagram of one-pass double-sided simultaneous reading for reading a bundle of documents loaded on a document tray 51 (document table) in the flatbed scanner mode and the DF scanner mode, and FIG. It is an outline explanatory view of 1-pass double-sided simultaneous reading in the DF scanner mode.
The reading device 6 includes a DF scanner mode (conveyed original reading mode) for reading an original image during automatic conveyance, and a flat bed scanner mode (placed original reading mode) for reading an image of an original placed on a flat contact glass. It can be switched to.
In the DF scanner mode, one-pass double-sided scanning for reading a bundle of documents loaded on the document tray 51 and card documents loaded (mounted) on a manual feed tray (manual feed table) 61 (hereinafter referred to as appropriate). There is a straight one-line manual reading that reads and conveys a sheet document S that is not folded.

In the flatbed scanner mode, the image reading unit 4 irradiates light on an image surface of a document (for example, a document sheet, cardboard, book, etc.) on the flatbed contact glass 41, and reflects the reflected light from the image surface as an image signal. The original image can be read by converting to.
Here, when reading a document image, the reading is performed by moving the surface reading CIS 45a moving from the left in the figure under the flat bed contact glass 41 while being guided by the guide 46.

In the DF scanner mode, in one-pass double-sided simultaneous reading that reads a bundle of documents stacked on a document tray 51 that is a sheet placement table, reading is performed as follows.
The ADF 5 is a sheet feeding / separating mechanism 54 disposed at the entrance of the first feeding port 52 for each sheet document S from a bundle of documents stacked on a document tray 51 whose width direction is regulated by an end fence. The paper is separated and carried into the original conveyance path 55, and is conveyed along the original conveyance path 55. During the conveyance, the front side of the sheet document S partially faces the surface side contact glass 42a of the image reading unit 4 sequentially from the upstream side in the conveyance direction, and is read by the surface reading CIS 45a. Yes. On the other hand, the back side of the sheet document S partially faces the back side contact glass 42b of the image reading unit 4 sequentially from the upstream side in the conveying direction and is read by the back side reading CIS 45b.

  Specifically, first, an original is placed on the original tray 51, and the first sensor 53 detects the sheet original S. When scanning is selected on the operation panel 200, the uppermost sheet document S is called from the document placed on the document tray 51 by the paper feed / separation mechanism 54, and the sheet document S is separated into one sheet and conveyed by a roller. The While the original is transported by the first document transport mechanism 203 and the second document transport mechanism 204, the image is read by the front surface reading CIS 45a and the back surface reading CIS 45b, transported by the third document transport mechanism 205, and finally discharged. A document is discharged onto the tray 56.

On the other hand, in the DF scanner mode, in the straight one-sheet manual reading for reading the sheet document S such as the card C stacked on the manual feed tray 61 that is not bent, the reading is performed as follows.
The ADF 5 feeds an unfolded sheet document S such as a card C stacked on a manual feed tray 61 that can be opened and closed near the middle of the document transport path 55 from the manual feed port 62 into the manual document transport path 64. It is carried in along a manual document feed path 64 (a straight portion on the substantially same plane downstream of the document feed direction in the middle of the document feed path 55). During the conveyance, the front side of the sheet document S partially faces the surface side contact glass 42a of the image reading unit 4 sequentially from the upstream side in the conveyance direction, and is read by the surface reading CIS 45a. Yes. On the other hand, the back side of the sheet document S partially faces the back side contact glass 42b of the image reading unit 4 sequentially from the upstream side in the conveying direction and is read by the back side reading CIS 45b.

Specifically, first, the manual detection sensor 63 detects a document by inserting the document on the manual feed tray 61 into the manual feed port 62. About 1 second later, the roller of the second document transport mechanism 204 rotates by a minute amount, the document is nipped at the nip portion, and the document is pre-fed. Then, when scanning is selected on the operation panel 200, the second document transport mechanism 204 rotates to feed the document. After both sides of the original are read by the front side reading CIS 45 a and the back side reading CIS 45 b, the original is conveyed by the third original conveying mechanism 205, and the original is discharged onto the discharge tray 56.
Further, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 1, the manual feed tray 61 is provided with a card insertion slot 7 for inserting a card C or the like even when the manual feed tray 61 is closed. The card C and the like can be transported.

Here, it is often the case that patients are crowded as the patients line up in a row when a medical ticket is renewed or a new medical ticket is issued at the hospital. There is a need to scan a plastic card (hereinafter card) in a short time. In spite of these needs, in the conventional ADF, the user must insert a card into the manual entry port one by one and press the “scan start button” each time one scan is performed. There was a problem that the card could not be scanned in a short time.
For some document scanners, there are some models that can scan the card continuously for about 5 sheets, but it is considered that the effect is weak with about 5 sheets, and the document scanner has only a scanning function, and has an ADF function. It is hard to be.
In other words, the conventional ADF has a problem that a sufficiently large number of cards cannot be scanned in a short time.

In response to the need to scan plastic cards such as examination tickets and identification cards, particularly in medical work, the inventor has developed the following two concepts.
(1) “Straight one-sheet manual feed” function Scans important documents without bending them. In other words, the document can be scanned without tilting by using the side fence of the manual feed tray during document conveyance.
(2) “One-pass double-sided simultaneous scanning” function Even if the document does not bend, both sides can be scanned once without opening the pressure plate to expose the flatbed contact glass.

Here, regarding the above “(1)”, a conventional configuration will be described with reference to the drawings.
3 is an explanatory view of the card insertion slot 7 and the manual feed tray 61. FIG. 3 (a) is an explanatory view of the card insertion slot 7, and FIG. 3 (b) is an explanatory view of the manual feed tray 61. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the user carries the card C while manually placing it on the card insertion slot 7 or the manual feed tray 61 without providing the document conveyance assisting device 100. 4A is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the user manually inserts (conveys) the card C into the card insertion slot 7 in the card insertion slot 7, and FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the structure which mounts C and conveys.

There are two conventional methods for scanning the card C and the like.
(1-1)
As shown in FIG. 3A, the card C is inserted into the card insertion slot 7 provided in the manual feed tray 61 without opening the manual feed tray 61. As shown in FIG. The card C is inserted (conveyed) into the card insertion slot 7.
(1-2)
As shown in FIG. 3B, the manual feed tray 61 is opened, the side fence is adjusted to the size of the original, and the card C is inserted into the insertion slot. As shown in FIG. The user manually places the card C on the manual feed tray 61 and conveys it.

However, none of the methods described with reference to FIG. 3 cannot solve the problem that a sufficiently large number of cards C cannot be scanned in a short time.
Therefore, when the document transport auxiliary device 100a to which the configuration of the transport stacking device (card processing device) described in Patent Document 1 is connected to the card insertion slot 7, a sufficiently large number of cards can be scanned in a short time. The following problems were found.
In the document transport auxiliary apparatus 100a to which the configuration of the conventional transport stacking apparatus is applied, the skew of the card C7 is likely to occur when the card C7 is transported, and the skew correction of the card C7 is sufficiently performed when the card C7 is transferred to the ADF 5. It is a problem that cannot be done.

The reason why the above problem occurs will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a problem of the document transport assisting apparatus 100a when the conventional configuration is applied.
Here, the configuration, reference numerals, and member names used for the description of the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100a shown in FIG. 5 are different from those used in Patent Document 1.

As shown in FIG. 5, the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100a has two conveyance rollers 190a disposed between the vicinity of the card C7 loaded on the pressure plate 118 of the card stacking unit 170a and the card insertion / discharge port 115a. ing. In addition, the card stacking portion 170a is arranged away from the card insertion / discharge port 115a that transfers the card C ′ to the feeding port of the ADF 5.
For this reason, when the card C ′ is transported to the card insertion / discharge port 115a by the two transport rollers 190a, skew (skew) is likely to occur in the card C ′.
Further, at the time of delivery to the feeding port, the card C ′ is sandwiched between at least the conveying roller 190a on the card insertion / discharge port 115a side and the opposing roller 191b facing this. For this reason, even if the delivered card C ′ abuts against the transport roller of the ADF 5 with which the delivered card C ′ abuts first, the skew of the card C ′ is difficult to be corrected.

  For these reasons, in the document conveyance auxiliary device 100a to which the configuration of the conventional conveyance stacking device is applied, the card C ′ is likely to be skewed when the card C ′ is conveyed, and the card C ′ is not easily transferred to the ADF 5. There was a problem that skew correction (skew correction) could not be performed sufficiently.

Here, when the user manually inserts the card C into the card insertion slot 7 provided in the manual feed tray 61 provided in the ADF 5 without using the document conveyance auxiliary device 100a to which the configuration of the conventional conveyance stacking device described above is applied. The skew that is corrected to be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram when a document is brought into contact with a roller in a conventional configuration that does not use a document transport auxiliary device. FIG. 6A shows a skewed card C first transported by a transport roller (transport of ADF 5). (Roller) 207b is shown in a contact state. FIG. 6B shows a state in which the skewed card C comes into contact with another transport roller 207b to correct the skew of the card C, and FIG. 6C shows that the skew is corrected. It is explanatory drawing of the force added to the card | curd C when it reads.

As shown in FIG. 6A, the user manually inserts a document into the manual entry port of the automatic document feeder, and abuts the leading end of the document against the manual entry roller. At this time, since the card C is not fixed and is free, it is assumed that the card C is obliquely inserted into the card insertion slot 7 and contacts only the one-side transport roller 207b as shown in FIG. .
Even in such a case, as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, the rightward rotation (clockwise) in the figure is performed by the hand conveying force and the reaction force of the conveying roller 207b as shown in FIGS. Rotation), the card C rotates and straightens, and skew is corrected. And since it can be made to contact | abut to both the conveyance rollers 207b, there is no problem.

In addition, a document conveyance auxiliary device that is manually operated by the user to the card insertion slot 7 provided in the manual feed tray 61 provided in the ADF 5 without using the document conveyance auxiliary device 100a to which the configuration of the conventional conveyance stacking device described above is applied. The skew that occurs when it is used will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram when the card C is conveyed by the document conveyance auxiliary device provided with the large extrusion surface 163a which is a large document extrusion surface manually operated by the user, and the card C is brought into contact with the conveyance roller 209b. FIG. 7A shows a state when the skewed card C first comes into contact with the transport roller 207b of the ADF 5. FIG. 7B shows a state in which the card C is skewed and abutted against the other transport roller 207b. FIG. 7C shows a slant when the card C first abuts on one of the transport rollers. It is explanatory drawing of the force added to the card | curd C which performed.

In the configuration using the document conveyance auxiliary device that is manually operated by the user, the card C is conveyed as follows.
A large pushing surface 163a for pushing out the card C in conjunction with the movement of the card carrying lever or the like pushes the rear end portion of the card C, so that one side of the carrying roller 207a of the ADF 5 as shown in FIG. Touch the end of the card.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, when the card C is transported to the feeding port in a skewed state and only the transport roller (transport roller) 207b on one side comes into contact, the large extrusion surface 163a is main-scanned. When the direction is sufficiently large, the pushing force generates both the right and left rotation moments as shown in FIG. 7C with respect to the reaction force of the conveying roller 207b. For this reason, since they cancel each other, the card C may be conveyed in the ADF 5 as shown in FIG. 7B without rotating.
Hereinafter, the problem of the document conveyance auxiliary device 100a to which the configuration of the conventional conveyance stacking device described above is applied and the problem of the skew of the card C in the configuration using the document conveyance auxiliary device manually operated by the user are solved. The configuration will be described with reference to a plurality of examples.

(Example 1)
First, a diagram of Example 1 of the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 that conveys the card C toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle of the document conveyance path 55 of the ADF 5 (reading device 6) of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. It explains using.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory perspective view of a configuration in which the user places the card C on the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 attached to the ADF 5 and manually conveys it according to the present embodiment. 8A is an explanatory diagram before placing the card C on the placement surface of the card stacking portion 112 provided in the document transport assisting apparatus 100, and FIG. 8B is a placement surface of the card stacking portion 112. It is explanatory drawing when a user conveys, after mounting the card | curd C and pressing it. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram in which the document conveyance assisting device 100 is attached to the ADF 5.

As shown in the perspective explanatory views of FIGS. 8A and 8B, the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 of this embodiment includes a card insertion slot 7 with the manual feed tray 61 of the ADF 5 closed, It is attached to the ADF 5 (manual feed tray 61) so that the position thereof coincides with the position (the carry-out port 115).
Then, as shown in FIG. 8A, the pressure mechanism 101 of the attached document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 is opened so as to rotate from the stacking case 102, and the card stacking unit 112 for stacking the cards C is opened. The placement surface is exposed, and a desired number of cards C are stacked. Thereafter, the pressurizing mechanism 101 is rotated and closed to pressurize the card C, and then the card transport lever 111 (card rear end pushing part 113) is moved so that the user transports the card C stacked at the lowermost position. Slide to ADF5 side.

Further, when the card C is transported in this manner, the card insertion slot 7 of the closed manual feed tray 61 as shown in FIG. 9 serves as a feeding slot for transporting the card C by the document transport auxiliary device 100.
As shown in FIG. 9, the stacking case 102 of the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 attached to the ADF 5 (card insertion slot 7) has a substantially linear conveyance path that is inclined so as to become higher along the downstream of the conveyance path. Since the stacking case 102 has a function of continuously transporting the cards C to the entrance of the transport path, the document transport assisting device 100 has a linear shape having the same inclination as the manual document transport path 64 of the ADF 5 as shown in FIG. It has the conveyance route.
Then, it is attached so that the position of the carry-out port 115 of the auxiliary document conveyance device 100 (see FIG. 10) coincides with the position of the card insertion slot 7 which is the conveyance inlet in the state where the manual feed tray 61 of the ADF 5 is closed.

Next, the basic configuration of the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 and the positional relationship with the ADF 5 (reading apparatus 6) will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of the basic configuration of the document transport assisting apparatus 100 and the positional relationship with the ADF 5. 10A is an explanatory diagram of a basic configuration of the document conveyance assisting device 100, FIG. 10B is an explanatory diagram of the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction in the ADF 5, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a main scanning direction and a sub-scanning direction in the apparatus 100. FIG.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the procedure for transporting the card C by the document transport assisting device 100. FIG. 11 (a) shows a state in which the placement surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112 is exposed, and FIG. FIG. 11C shows a state in which C is loaded, and FIG. 11C shows a state in which the loaded card C is pressurized. FIG. 11D shows a state where the card carrying lever 111 is slid (moved) and the card C is carried out from the carry-out port 115 provided in the guide portion 130.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the document transport assisting apparatus 100 includes a stacking case 102 having a card stacking unit 112 for stacking cards C, and an adder that is rotatably supported so as to open and close the stacking case 102. A pressure mechanism 101 is provided.
Further, the card rear end pushing part 113 for pushing the card C in the carrying direction, the card carrying lever 111 that the user holds and slides to move the card C, and the closed pressure mechanism 101 are unlocked. A pressure mechanism release button 114 is also provided.
Further, on the downstream side of the card conveying direction, which is the document conveying direction of the stacking case 102, a carry-out port 115 for carrying out the card C is provided, and opening / closing of the gate component 120 that opens and closes the carry-out port 115 is guided (guided). A guide portion 130 is formed. The guide portion 130 is formed with a rectangular carry-out port 115 through which the card C to be conveyed passes, and is configured so that the placement surface 105 of the card stacking portion 112 is substantially flush with the lower portion of the carry-out port 115. ing.
The pressurizing mechanism 101 has a pressurizing plate 118 that pressurizes the card C stacked on the mounting surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112 when closed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10B, the main scanning direction and the sub scanning direction in the ADF 5 (reading device 6) are the transport direction in which the card C is inserted from the card insertion slot 7 of the closed manual feed tray 61. The document width direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning is the main scanning direction. In other words, the conveyance direction of the card C inserted from the card insertion slot 7 corresponds to the sub-scanning direction, and the width direction of the card C corresponds to the main scanning direction.
On the other hand, when these directions are applied to the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 attached to the ADF 5, the card conveyance lever 111 is slid and moved to extrude the card C to move the card rear end extrusion component 113 or the card C. The conveyance direction corresponds to the sub-scanning direction. A direction parallel to the placement surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112 and perpendicular to the card C transport direction corresponds to the main scanning direction.

  The procedure for transporting the card C by the document transport assisting apparatus 100 is as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 11A, the pressurizing mechanism 101 is rotated and opened to expose the mounting surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112. As shown in FIG. 11B, the card C is stacked on the mounting surface 105 of the exposed card stacking unit 112. When the card C is loaded, the pressure mechanism 101 is closed and the card C is pressurized as shown in FIG. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11D, the card carrying lever 111 is slid to carry out the card C from the carry-out port 115 provided in the guide portion 130.

Next, the accessibility to the card C loaded in the loading case 102 will be described with reference to FIG.
12A and 12B are explanatory views of the hole 109 for accessing the bottom surface of the card C provided in the stacking case 102. FIG. 12A is a perspective explanatory view from above, and FIG. FIG.
A plurality of cards C are stacked (hereinafter referred to as a card bundle as appropriate), and the cards remaining in the stacking case 102 are stopped while the cards C are sequentially transported and read. There are times when you want to remove a bundle.
In such a case, there is no space for inserting a finger in the gap between the card C and the inner side surface of the stacking case 102 only with a tapered shape, which will be described in detail later, and it is very difficult to take out the card C.
Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 12 (a) and 12 (b), by providing a hole 109 in the stacking case 102 so that the bottom surface of the card can be accessed, the bottom surface of the card bundle can be easily supported by a finger. Can be taken out.

Next, an outline of the pressurizing mechanism 101 will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of the outline of the pressurizing mechanism 101. FIG. 13A shows a state in which a plurality of cards C, for example, 10 cards are pressed by the pressurizing mechanism 101, and FIG. b) shows a state where one card C is pressed by the pressing mechanism 101. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of a procedure when the card C or the card bundle is pressurized by the pressurizing mechanism 101, and FIG. 14 (a) is an explanatory diagram when the card bundle or the like is set, and FIG. The state after pressurization is shown.

In order to be able to transport even a warped card, as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b), the card bundle is pressed from above to reduce warpage, and as a mechanism for transporting the card C without problems, A pressure mechanism 101 was added.
By having the pressurizing mechanism 101 for pressurizing the card C in the thickness direction as described above, even when the card is warped, the warp can be reduced by pressurizing the card C in the thickness direction by the pressurizing mechanism 101 and transported. Can do.
Further, when the pressure is applied, a pressure compression spring 172 is installed inside the pressure mechanism 101 in order to maintain the pressing force even if the card bundles have different thicknesses, so that the pressure plate 118 according to the thickness of the card bundle. Can move up and down.

In other words, the pressure plate 118 that presses the card C is configured to be in contact with the uppermost surface of the stacked card C and move in the thickness direction of the card C according to the thickness of the stacked card C. Has been.
With this configuration, even when the card C is conveyed or newly added and the thickness of the stacked card C is changed, pressure can be applied.
Further, the elastic force of the pressure compression spring 172 is used as a pressure force for pressing the card C.
With this configuration, the card C can be moved and pressed in the thickness direction according to the cards C stacked with a simple configuration, so that the cost is low and the layout is improved.

Further, the pressurizing mechanism 101 includes at least one pressurizing plate support member 171 having a pressurizing function, and a pressurizing guide portion 173 that regulates the displacement direction of the pressurizing plate support member 171 in the thickness direction of the card C. The sliding portion between the pressure plate support member 171 and the pressure guide portion 173 is made of a POM material.
With such a configuration, the use of a POM material having good slidability can reduce the resistance during displacement, and the pressing operation can be performed stably.

  As an operation procedure, as shown in FIGS. 14 (a) and 14 (b), the card bundle is stacked (set) in a state where the pressurizing mechanism 101 is opened, and the pressurizing mechanism 101 is manually closed to set the card. The bundle is pressurized and an arbitrary number of cards are conveyed. Thereafter, when pressurizing by the pressurizing mechanism 101 is released, when the pressurizing mechanism release button 114 is pressed, the pressurizing mechanism 101 is automatically opened by the torsion coil spring and returned to the opened state again.

Next, the card transport mechanism will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of the flow of operations when transporting a card. FIG. 15A shows a state where the card transport lever 111 is in a home position (hereinafter referred to as HP as appropriate). Yes. FIG. 15B shows the state where the card transport lever 111 is moved and the card C is transported. FIG. 15B shows the state where the card transport lever 111 returns to HP after the card C is transported. It shows the state.

As a series of operations for transporting the card C, as shown in FIG. 15A, the user moves the card transport lever 111, and accordingly, the card rear end push-out part 113 including the push-out surface for pushing out the card is interlocked. The card C is conveyed by pushing the rear end of the card with the surface. After the card transport lever 111 is moved to the maximum and then released, the card transport lever 111 is automatically returned to the home position by a spring.
Here, the pressurizing mechanism 101 is closed during the series of operations described above, but the pressurizing mechanism 101 is omitted in FIG. 15 for easy understanding.
Further, the card exit of the card stack case is connected to the manual document entrance inside the ADF 5, and the card C conveyed in the stacking case 102 is pressed against the nip of the manual entry roller inside the ADF 5, and then inside the ADF 5 main body. Card C is pre-feeded.

Next, a card separation mechanism using an opening / closing mechanism (shutter) including a gate part 120 and the like to be opened and closed will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of a card C separation mechanism by the document conveyance assisting device 100. FIG. 16A is a perspective explanatory view of the pressurizing mechanism 101 being opened, and FIGS. 16B and 16C. ) Is an explanatory diagram when one card C is placed. FIGS. 16D and 16E are explanatory diagrams when a plurality of cards C are stacked. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of the force generated in the second card when a plurality of cards C are stacked.

  In the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 of this embodiment, the card C pushes up the gate component 120 by the conveyance force of the card C as shown in FIGS. 16A to 16E in order to cope with various card thicknesses. I opened it. Further, a compression spring 140 is provided on the upper part of the gate part 120 so that a closing force is generated when the card C pushes up the gate part 120 to open the gate part 120.

Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 16B and 16C, when only one card C is placed on the placement surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112 and conveyed in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the card C The front end of the second end 122 abuts on the second surface 122 of the gate component 120 on which the oblique chamfered shape is formed. The gate component 120 is pushed up by the component force of this contact, and is lifted obliquely upward in the figure to open the gate.
Here, until the card C comes into contact with the gate component 120, the first surface 121 parallel to the placement surface 105 is placed on the card stacking unit 112 by the weight of the gate component 120 and the urging force of the compression spring 140. It is in contact with the mounting surface 105 and closed.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 16D and 16E, when a plurality of cards C are placed on the placement surface 105 of the card stacking unit 112 and conveyed in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the first The leading end of the card C comes into contact with the second surface 122 which is an oblique corner cut portion of the gate component 120, and the gate component 120 is raised.
However, when the first card C at the bottom is transported, a frictional force with the first card C is generated on the second card that is immediately above it, so the first card C In conjunction with this, there is a possibility that the second card is also conveyed by pushing up the gate part 120 together to cause double feeding.
In order to prevent this double feed, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 17, the design value of the closing force of the gate component 120 is “the component of the frictional force between the second card and the first card C”. The closing force of the gate component 120 is set to 0.2 N including the tolerance so as to exceed 0.08 N ″.

Next, an example in which a small small extrusion surface 163b that contacts only a part of the rear end portion of the card C is provided as an extrusion surface for extruding the card of the card rear end extrusion component 113 will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration using the small extrusion surface 163b, and FIG. 18 (a) shows a state when the skewed card C abuts against one of the conveying rollers 207b in the ADF 5. . 18B shows a state in which the skew-corrected card C is in contact with both the transport rollers 207b in the ADF 5, and FIG. 18C shows that the skewed card C is in one side of the ADF 5. It is explanatory drawing of the force added to the card | curd C, when it contact | abuts to the conveyance roller 207b.

  FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the center position of the small extrusion surface 163b and the center position of the rear end portion of the card C are matched, and FIG. The state when contacting 207b is shown. FIG. 19B shows a state in which the skew-corrected card C is in contact with both transport rollers 207b in the ADF 5. FIG. 20 shows the center position of the small extrusion surface 163b in the main scanning direction when the card C pushed out to the small extrusion surface 163b contacts one of the conveyance rollers 207b in the ADF 5, and the card C first on the conveyance roller 207b. Explanatory drawing of the positional relationship with the roller contact position which contacts. FIG. 20A is an explanatory diagram of the positional relationship when the card C first abuts, and FIG. 20B is a diagram showing a state after the skew is corrected.

As a basic configuration of the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 that can suitably include the small extrusion surface 163b illustrated in FIG. 18, the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG.
Specifically, the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 includes a carry-out port 115 for carrying out the card C delivered to the card insertion slot 7 of the ADF 5, and a document conveyance mechanism 160 for conveying the delivered card C toward the feeding port. And a card stacking unit 112 on which a card C to be delivered can be placed. And card conveyance by ADF5 is assisted.
In addition, a gate part 120 that opens and closes the outlet 115 according to the delivery of the card C is provided, and the document transport mechanism 160 transports the card C by pushing it out, and receives the card C at the card insertion slot 7 (feeding slot). It has a card trailing edge extrusion part to hand.
Then, the gate component 120 abuts the card stacking portion 112 to close the carry-out port 115, and the card rear end pushing component pushes out the card rear end portion _CE which is the rear end portion of the card C in the card transport direction. A small extrusion surface 163b is provided.

In order to correct the skew of the card C, a small small extrusion surface 163b is used as shown in FIG.
With this configuration, unlike the case where the large extrusion surface 163a having a large contact surface that contacts the card C described above is used, when the skewed card C contacts the transport roller 207b, the inclination is reduced. Can be corrected.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 18 (a), if the extrusion surface is made sufficiently small, only a clockwise rotation (clockwise) moment is generated as shown in FIG. 18 (c). Therefore, by rotating the card C by the moment right rotation becomes straight as shown in FIG. 18 (b), those of the tip portion C _F is the tip portion of the card conveying direction of the card C in both of the conveying roller 207b Can be touched. That is, the skew of the card C can be corrected.

However, the skew of the card C can be corrected by simply reducing the extrusion surface, compared to the case of using the large extrusion surface 163a described above, but the skew of the card C cannot be sufficiently corrected. There is also.
For this reason, the positional relationship with the card C and the positional relationship with the transport roller 207b that comes into contact first was examined.

(Position relationship with card C)
First, the positional relationship between the card C to be extruded and the small extrusion surface 163b will be described with reference to FIG.
As for the positional relationship with the card C, as shown in FIG. 19A, a small extrusion in the main scanning direction is provided at the center position of the rear end portion _CE of the card C (original) to be pushed out in the card conveying direction (sub scanning direction). The center of the surface 163b is configured to come.
With this configuration, it is possible to correct the skew of the card C more favorably as shown in FIG. 19B than when the configuration is not configured as described above.

(Position relationship with conveyance roller 207b)
Next, the positional relationship with the transport roller 207b that contacts first will be described with reference to FIG.
The positional relationship with the transport roller 207b that contacts first is preferably configured as follows.
As shown in FIG. 20A, the distance from the central position in the main scanning direction of the small extrusion surface 163b to the small extrusion surface 163b in contact with the card C (original) is the central position in the main scanning direction of the small extrusion surface 163b. To the main scanning direction of the conveying roller 207b with which the card C abuts.
With this configuration, it is possible to correct the skew of the card C more favorably as shown in FIG. 20B than when the configuration is not configured as described above.

However, with only the configuration described above, the ease of rotation of the card C when correcting the skew of the card C to be pushed out may be increased depending on the skew state of the card C.
Therefore, further investigations are made on the preferable configuration of the extrusion surface for extruding the card C, and the extrusion surface for extruding the card C is formed into a curved surface, and an elastic member is provided to rotate the small extrusion surface according to the card rear end surface. A plurality of preferred configurations such as configurations have been found.

(Configuration with curved surface shape)
First, the configuration in which the extrusion surface for extruding the card C is a curved surface will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the extrusion surface for extruding the card C has a curved shape.
As shown in FIG. 21, the above-described problem can be solved by setting the extrusion surface for extruding the card C to a curved extrusion surface 163 having a curved shape.
Specifically, by setting the extrusion surface for extruding the card C to be a curved extrusion surface 163 having a curved surface shape, the rear end portion _CE of the card C can be easily rotated along the curved surface. It becomes easy to contact _CF to all the conveyance rollers 207b.

(Configuration with elastic member)
Next, the structure which rotates the small extrusion surface 163b which extrudes the card | curd C according to a card | curd rear end surface by providing an elastic member is demonstrated using figures.
FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a configuration in which an elastic member is provided to rotate the small extrusion surface 163b in accordance with the rear end surface of the card, and FIG. 22 (a) shows one of the transport rollers in the ADF 5 with the skewed card C. The state when contacting 207b is shown. FIG. 22B shows a state in which the skew-corrected card C is in contact with both conveying rollers 207b in the ADF 5, and FIG. 22C supports the small extrusion surface 163b so as to be rotatable. It is explanatory drawing of the structure to perform.

As shown in FIG. 22C, the card rear end pushing part 113b on which the small pushing surface 163b is formed is rotatably supported by an elastic member 167, and the movement is guided in the card conveying direction (sub scanning direction). It is restricted by the member 166.
Further, in order to displace as described above, the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 is configured as follows.
A first part including a card transport lever 111 that is operated and moved by a user to give a force when pushing out the card C in the card transport direction, and a card rear end pushing part 113 that moves when the card C is pushed out are included. The second part is a separate part. In addition, the second part is disposed so as to contact the first part and the other parts via an elastic member 167 provided at the approximate center of the card rear end pushing part 113 in the main scanning direction. The moving direction of the second part is regulated by the guide member in the card conveying direction.
And the clearance gap of the grade which accept | permits rotation of a 2nd component is formed between 2nd components and a guide member.

By configuring in this way, the following effects can be achieved.
Since the small extrusion surface 163b to push the rear end portion C _E of the card C is certain extent, even the loaded card C is inclined, pressing the entire small extrusion surface 163b on the rear end portion C _E of the card C This makes it easier to convey the conveying force to the rear end portion _CE of the card C.
Here, the configuration described above can be applied not only to the card rear end extrusion part 113 provided with the small extrusion surface 163b but also to the card rear end extrusion part 113 provided with the curved extrusion surface 163.
However, any portion of the curved extrusion surface 163 can be pressed against the rear end portion _CE of the card C.
Moreover, as the elastic member 167 used for the structure mentioned above, a compression spring is preferable.
With this configuration, it is possible to provide the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 that has a simple configuration and is low in cost and space-saving.

Further, in the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 of the present embodiment, the card V to be conveyed is a resin card. According to this, resin is a general card document material, and many card documents are automatically documented. Can be suitably delivered.

In the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 of the present embodiment, it is preferable that the thickness of the card C to be conveyed is set to 0.48 [mm] or more and 0.78 [mm] or less.
By comprising in this way, the card | curd C of various thickness of 0.48 [mm] or more and 0.78 [mm] or less can also be conveyed reliably.
More specifically, with a thickness of about 0.4 mm [mm] and 0.78 [mm] in conformity with JIS II standards, a thickness of about 0.5 [mm], which is often found in hospital examination tickets. Can also handle manuscripts.

In the document conveyance auxiliary device 100, the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the card C to be conveyed are preferably 53.98 [mm] and 85.60 [mm], respectively.
By configuring in this way, the following effects can be achieved.
The size of the card C described above is a card size that conforms to the JIS II standard and is often conveyed toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle portion of the document conveyance path 55 of the ADF 5.
For this reason, many of hospital examination tickets, credit cards, cash cards, driver's licenses, my number cards, and the like can be suitably transported.

Further, in the document conveyance auxiliary device 100, the document to be conveyed is at least one of “carrier sheet”, “plastic card”, “postcard”, “envelope”, “form”, “clear file”, and “business card”. It is preferable.
With this configuration, even a document having a thickness larger than that of a general sheet document S is preferably directed toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle portion of the document transport path 55 of the ADF 5. Can be transported.

Further, it is preferable that the document conveyance assisting device 100 is configured to be detachable from the ADF 5.
With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the size of the ADF 5, the reading device 6, and the copying machine 1 that are removed from the ADF 5 and attached when the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 is not used.

Further, the document conveyance assisting device 100 is configured to be detachable from the ADF 5.
With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the size of the ADF 5 and other devices (ADF 5, the reading device 6, and the copying machine 1) that are removed when the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 is not used.

Further, the ADF 5 of the present embodiment uses one of the above-described document transport assisting devices 100 as document transport assisting means for transporting the card C toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle of the document transport path 55. Prepare.
With this configuration, it is possible to provide the ADF 5 that can achieve the same effects as any of the document transport assisting devices 100 described above.

Further, the reading device 6 of the present embodiment is one of the above-described document transport assisting devices as document transport assisting means for transporting the card C toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle portion of the document transport path 55. ADF 5 provided with 100 is provided.
With this configuration, it is possible to provide the reading device 6 that can achieve the same effects as the ADF 5 provided with any of the document transport assisting devices 100 described above.

Further, the copying machine 1 of the present embodiment is one of the above-described document transport assisting devices as document transport assisting means for transporting the card C toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle of the document transport path 55. ADF 5 provided with 100 is provided.
With this configuration, it is possible to provide the copying machine 1 that can achieve the same effects as the ADF 5 provided with any of the document transport assisting devices 100 described above.

(Example 2)
Next, Example 2 of the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 that conveys the card C toward the card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of the middle portion of the document conveyance path 55 of the ADF 5 (reading device 6) of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Will be described.
The document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment has the same basic configuration as that of the first embodiment described above, but is more suitable for the configuration of the extrusion surface that pushes out the card C related to the non-feed of the card C in card conveyance. Only the point relating to the configuration example is different.
Therefore, the configuration similar to that of the first embodiment and the effects thereof will be omitted as appropriate, and the same members will be described with the same reference numerals unless particularly distinguished from each other.
In addition, the characteristic configuration of the present embodiment is applicable not only to the curved extruded surface 163 but also to the large extruded surface 163a and the small extruded surface 163b, but in the following description, an example applied to the curved extruded surface 163 Will be described.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of the relationship between the height a of the curved extrusion surface 163 that pushes out the card C and the warpage amount b of the front end portion _CF and the rear end portion _CE of the card C according to the present embodiment. 24 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional configuration in which the placement surface 105 on which the card C is placed serves as the height reference of the curved extrusion surface 163, and the curved extrusion surface 163 is orthogonal to the placement surface 105. FIG. 24A is a cross-sectional view of the stacking case 102, and FIG. 24B is an enlarged cross section around the curved extrusion surface 163. FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram of a configuration in which the placement surface 105 of the card C is based on an inclined surface and the curved extrusion surface 163 is 90 ° or less with respect to the placement surface 105 of the card C according to the present embodiment. is there.

  FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram of the card (document) conveyance height position on the curved extrusion surface 163 side and the height position of the nip portion N when the card C is conveyed to the nip portion of the conveyance roller 207 of the ADF 5. . FIG. 26A is a cross-sectional explanatory diagram when the card conveying height position is lower than the height position of the nip portion N. FIG. 26B is an explanatory diagram obtained by simplifying FIG. 26A, and FIG. 26C is a simplified diagram in the case where the card conveyance height position is higher than the height position of the nip portion N. FIG.

Card non-payment may occur when carrying cards.
As a cause thereof, when a card whose end is warped in the card thickness direction is conveyed, as shown in FIG. 23, the height of the curved pushing surface 163 from the mounting surface 105: a is the amount of warpage. : When a <b with respect to b, the curved extrusion surface 163 does not catch on the rear end portion _CE of the card C. For this reason, the curved pushing surface 163 sinks into the lower part of the card C, and the card C is not fed.
Further, as shown in FIG. 24B, as the amount of warp upward of the card C increases, the contact height of the curved pushing surface 163 that contacts the rear end portion _CE of the card C decreases, and the card C escapes. It becomes easy.
Conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 24 (a) and 24 (b), the mounting surface 105 on which the cards C are stacked becomes the height reference of the curved extrusion surface 163 (extrusion surface), and the curved extrusion surface 163 ( The extrusion surface) is configured to be orthogonal to the placement surface 105 on which the card C is placed.

When the structure for suppressing the occurrence of card non-payment was examined, the following improvements were found.
(1) By attaching an inclined surface and setting the angle between the curved extrusion surface 163 and the inclined surface to 90 [°] or less, the curved extrusion surface 163 for pushing out the card C can be easily caught on the rear end portion _CE of the card C, The conveying force is transmitted to the card C in the direction of pressing the rear end portion _CE of the card C from above. For this reason, it becomes difficult for the card C to escape on the curved pushing surface 163.

(2) In the configuration of the conventional figure, the placement surface 105 of the card C is at the reference position of the height of the curved extrusion surface 163, and the components of the placement surface 105 of the card C and the components of the curved extrusion surface 163 are The height accuracy is not good because they are not the same parts.
Therefore, the height accuracy of the curved extrusion surface 163 can be improved by making the reference of the height of the curved extrusion surface 163 and the curved extrusion surface 163 the same part. For this reason, by making the ridge line between the curved extrusion surface 163 and the slope higher than the card placement position, the slope can be used as the height reference of the curved extrusion surface 163, and the height reference of the curved extrusion surface 163 is obtained. And the curved extrusion surface 163 can be made the same part.

Here, in the configuration in which the rear end portion _CE of the card C is pushed out one by one, the height accuracy of the curved pushing surface 163 is important. This is because the height of the curved extrusion surface is used to prevent multiple feeding of two or more cards at a time when cards of card thickness (for example, a typical thickness of 0.76 [mm]) are conveyed one by one. However, if the height of the curved extrusion surface 163 is too low, there will be less catching on the rear end portion _{CE of the} card C, resulting in non-feeding. It becomes easy.
Therefore, it is ideal that the height of the curved extrusion surface 163 is as high as possible while not exceeding the card thickness.
For the card C warped downward in the thickness direction, the rear end portion _CE of the card C is on the placement surface 105 of the card C (= the warp amount of the rear end portion _CE is 0). It is considered that no non-feed will occur.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the configuration is as shown in FIG.
Specifically, the curved extrusion surface 163 provided on the card rear end extrusion component 113 has an angle substantially orthogonal to the inclined surface portion having a downward gradient from the curved extrusion surface 163 in the card conveying direction, or the inclined surface portion. And an angle of less than 90 [°]. The height position of at least a part of the ridge line between the inclined surface portion and the curved pushing surface 163 with respect to the card transport surface that transports the card C by the document transport assisting device 100 is higher than the placement surface 105 of the card C. Configured.
By configuring in this way, it is possible to prevent non-feeding of the card C when the warped card C is conveyed.

Further, in the document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 of the present example, the configuration related to the card rear end extrusion component 113 provided with the curved extrusion surface 163 is configured as follows.
The conveyance height position of the card C with respect to the card conveyance surface that conveys the card C by the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 is the height position of the nip portion N of the conveyance roller 207b disposed in the vicinity of the feeding opening of the ADF 5. It was comprised so that it might exist between the base height position of the curved extrusion surface 163 provided in the card | curd rear end extrusion component 113. FIG.
Thus, as shown in FIG. 26 (a), when the height position of the nip N is at a position higher than the card transport height position, when the tip portion C _F of the card C abuts against the nip portion N The rear end portion _CE is pressed against the root portion of the curved extrusion surface 163. Therefore, with this configuration, the floating amount of the rear end portion _CE of the card C can be reduced, and non-feeding is less likely to occur.

As described above, the present embodiment has been described with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the configuration including the above-described document conveyance assisting apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, and the scope does not depart from the gist. The design may be changed.
In this embodiment, the example applied to the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 attached to the ADF 5 (manual feed tray 61) included in the reading device 6 of the electrophotographic copying machine 1 has been described. However, the present invention is limited to such a configuration. is not. For example, the present invention can be applied to an ink jet type (gel jet type) copying machine.
In addition, although the example applied to the document conveyance auxiliary device 100 that assists the document conveyance of the ADF 5 included in the reading device 6 has been described, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. For example, the present invention can also be applied to a configuration that assists sheet conveyance of a sheet conveying apparatus that conveys a sheet including a card or the like.

What was demonstrated above is an example, and there exists an effect peculiar for every following aspect.
(Aspect 1)
An unloading port such as an unloading port 115 for unloading a document such as a card C delivered to a feeding port such as a card insertion port 7 of an automatic document feeder such as an ADF 5 and a document to be delivered are conveyed toward the feeding port. A document conveyance assisting device 100 that includes a conveyance unit such as a document conveyance mechanism 160 and a document placement unit such as a card stacking unit 112 on which a document to be delivered can be placed, and assists document conveyance by the automatic document conveyance device. The document conveyance auxiliary device includes an opening / closing member such as a gate part 120 that opens and closes the carry-out port according to the delivery of the document, and the conveyance unit conveys the document by pushing the document, and delivers the document to the feeding port. A document edge pushing member 113 such as a card rear edge pushing part 113 is provided, and the opening / closing member closes the carry-out port by abutting against the document placing portion. Wherein the curved portion such as a song extrusion face 163 to push the trailing edge of the document portion, such as of a rear end of the document trailing edge portion C _E is provided.

According to this, the following effects can be produced.
In the document conveyance auxiliary device to which the configuration of the conventional conveyance stacking device is applied, two conveyance rollers such as 190a are arranged between the vicinity of the carry-out side of the document loaded on the document placing portion and the carry-out port. The document placing portion is arranged away from the carry-out port that delivers the document to the feeding port. For this reason, when the document is transported to the carry-out port by the two transport rollers, the document is likely to be skewed.
Further, when the document is transferred to the feeding port, the document is sandwiched between at least the conveyance roller on the carry-out side and the opposed roller such as the opposed roller 191b facing the conveyance roller. For this reason, even if the delivered document comes into contact with the transport roller of the automatic document transport device with which the delivered document first comes into contact, skewing of the document is difficult to be corrected.
For these reasons, in the document transport auxiliary device to which the configuration of the conventional transport stacking device is applied, the skew of the document is likely to occur when the document is transported, and the skew of the document is corrected when the document is transferred to the automatic document transport device ( There is a problem that the skew correction cannot be performed sufficiently.

On the other hand, in the document conveyance auxiliary device of this aspect, the document placement unit and the carry-out port are disposed closer to each other as the opening / closing member contacts the document placement unit to close the carry-out port, and the document is pushed out and fed. A document end pushing member for delivering the document to the feeding port is also provided. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the document placement portion and the carry-out port, or to provide two transport rollers and a counter roller between the document placement portion and the carry-out port, as in the conventional configuration in which document skew is likely to occur. There is no.
The center position of each of the document rear end portion and the curved surface portion in the length direction of the ridge line of the document rear end portion when the curved surface portion that abuts and pushes against the document abuts the document rear end portion may be substantially matched. it can. In addition, since the abutting portion that abuts the trailing edge of the document is a curved surface portion, the trailing edge of the document is easy to rotate along the curved surface, and is provided in the vicinity of the feeding port of the automatic document conveying device. all of conveying rollers document to be transferred from the device to first contact, which makes it easy to contact the distal end portion of such tip C _F of the document passing.

For these reasons, when a document is transported from the document placement section to the transport roller of the automatic document transport device, it is difficult for the document to skew, and when the transported document comes into contact with the transport roller of the automatic document transport device. In addition, the skew of the original can be corrected.
Therefore, compared to the prior art, it is less likely that document skew will occur when the document is transported, and a document transport auxiliary device that can suitably perform document skew correction when delivered to the automatic document transport device is provided reliably. it can.

(Aspect 2)
In (Aspect 1), in a state where a part of the document is in contact with a transport roller provided in the vicinity of the feeding port of the automatic document transport device, which first contacts when the document is delivered, in the document transport direction. The center of the curved surface portion from the abutting position of the curved surface portion that abuts on the rear end portion of the document in the orthogonal document width direction, rather than the distance from the abutting position of the conveying roller and the document to the central position of the curved surface portion. It is characterized by a short distance to the position.

  According to this, there is provided a document conveyance auxiliary device that is less likely to cause document skew when transporting a document and that can suitably perform document skew correction when delivered to an automatic document transport device. Can be reliably provided.

(Aspect 3)
In (Aspect 1) or (Aspect 2), the curved surface portion is formed on the curved surface portion substantially at the center of the document rear end portion of the document stacked on the document placement portion in the document width direction orthogonal to the document conveyance direction. The structure is such that the substantially center is in contact.
According to this, it is possible to reduce the inclination of the document that occurs when the document is pushed out.

(Aspect 4)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 3), the feeding port is provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of the conveyance path of the automatic document conveyance device, and the document is directed toward the document conveyance surface of the document placement unit. A pressurizing mechanism for pressurizing is provided.
According to this, the following effects can be produced.
The automatic document feeder that provides a feeding port in the vicinity of the middle of the conveyance path can assist in document conveyance, and even a slightly warped document can be corrected by pressurizing it with a pressure mechanism. Good delivery to the feeding port of the transport device can be performed.

(Aspect 5)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 4), the first part including an original conveying lever that is operated and moved by an operator to apply a force for extruding an original in the original conveying direction, and the original are extruded. The second part including the original end pushing member that moves sometimes is configured as a separate part, and the second part is provided at a substantially center of the original end pushing member in the original width direction orthogonal to the original conveying direction. An elastic member such as an elastic member 167 is disposed so as to contact the first part and other parts, and the moving direction of the first part and the second part is determined by a guide member such as a guide member 166. The second part is restricted in the conveying direction, and the second part is formed with a gap to allow the second part to rotate.

According to this, the following effects can be produced.
Since the curved part that pushes out the trailing edge in the document transport direction becomes somewhat free, even if the stacked document is tilted, any part of the curved part can be pressed against the trailing edge in the document transport direction. It becomes easy to convey the conveyance force to the.

(Aspect 6)
In (Aspect 5), the elastic member is a compression spring.
According to this, it is possible to provide a document conveyance auxiliary device that has a simple configuration and is low in cost and space-saving.

(Aspect 7)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 6), the curved surface portion provided on the document end pushing member is substantially orthogonal to an inclined surface portion having a downward gradient from the curved surface portion in the document conveying direction. Or at least a part of a ridge line between the inclined surface portion and the curved surface portion with respect to the document conveyance surface that conveys the document with the document conveyance auxiliary device. Is higher than the document placement surface such as the placement surface 105.
According to this, it is possible to prevent the non-feeding of the original when the warped original is conveyed.

(Aspect 8)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 7), a document conveyance height position with respect to a document conveyance surface that conveys a document by the document conveyance auxiliary device is in the vicinity of the feeding port of the automatic document conveyance device. The present invention is characterized in that it is between the height position of the nip portion of the disposed conveying roller pair and the height position of the base of the curved surface portion provided on the document end pushing member.
According to this, the following effects can be produced.
If the height position of the nip portion of the pair of conveyance rollers is higher than the document conveyance height position, when either of the leading edge portions of the document comes into contact with the nip portion, the trailing edge portion of the document is one of the curved surface portions. Pressed against the root.
Therefore, according to the configuration of this aspect, the floating amount of the trailing edge of the document can be reduced, and non-feeding is less likely to occur.

(Aspect 9)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 8), the document to be conveyed is a resin card.
According to this, resin is a general material for card originals, and many card originals can be suitably delivered to the automatic original conveying apparatus.

(Aspect 10)
(Aspect 1) to (Aspect 9) are characterized in that the thickness of a document to be conveyed is 0.48 [mm] or more and 0.78 [mm] or less.
According to this, documents with various thicknesses of 0.48 [mm] or more and 0.78 [mm] or less can be reliably conveyed. More specifically, with a thickness of about 0.4 mm [mm] and 0.78 [mm] in conformity with JIS II standards, a thickness of about 0.5 [mm], which is often found in hospital examination tickets. Can also handle manuscripts.

(Aspect 11)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 10), the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the document to be conveyed are 53.98 [mm] and 85.60 [mm], respectively.
According to this, the following effects can be produced.
It is a card size that conforms to the JISII standard and is often transported toward a feeding port located near the middle of the transport path of the automatic document transport device. It is a hospital examination ticket, credit card, cash card, driver's license. Many of my number cards etc. can be conveyed suitably.

(Aspect 12)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 11), the document to be conveyed is “carrier sheet”, “plastic card”, “postcard”, “envelope”, “form”, “clear file”, and “business card”. It is at least one of them.
According to this, even a document such as a card C that is thicker than a document such as a general sheet document S is directed to a feeding port provided near the middle of the transport path of the automatic document transport device. Therefore, it can be transported suitably.

(Aspect 13)
In any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 12), the automatic document feeder is configured to be detachable.
According to this, it is possible to reduce the size of an apparatus such as an automatic document conveyance device that is removed and attached when the document conveyance auxiliary device is not used.

(Aspect 14)
In an automatic document conveying apparatus such as an ADF 5 provided with a document conveying auxiliary means for conveying a document such as a card C toward a feeding port such as a card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of a conveying path such as a document conveying path 55 The document transport assisting unit includes a document transport assisting device such as the document transport assisting device 100 according to any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 13).
According to this, it is possible to provide an automatic document feeder that can achieve the same effects as the document feeder auxiliary device of any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 13).

(Aspect 15)
In an original reading apparatus such as a reading apparatus 6 provided with an original conveying auxiliary means for conveying an original toward a feeding port such as a card insertion slot 7 provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of the conveying path such as the original conveying path 55, A document transport assisting device such as the document transport assisting device 100 of any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 13) is provided as the document transport assisting means.
According to this, it is possible to provide a document reading device that can achieve the same effect as the automatic document transport device provided with the document transport auxiliary device of any one of (Mode 1) to (Mode 13).

(Aspect 16)
In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine 1 provided with a document conveyance auxiliary unit that conveys a document toward a feeding port such as a card insertion port 7 provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of a conveyance path such as a document conveyance path 55, the document The conveyance assisting device includes a document conveyance assisting device such as the document conveyance assisting device 100 according to any one of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 13).
According to this, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that can achieve the same effect as the automatic document feeder provided with any one of the document feeder auxiliary devices of (Aspect 1) to (Aspect 13).

1 Copier 4 Image Reading Unit 5 ADF
6 Reading Device 7 Card Insertion Port 64 Manual Document Conveyance Path 100 Document Conveyance Auxiliary Device 101 Pressing Mechanism 102 Loading Case 105 Loading Surface 111 Card Conveying Lever 112 Card Loading Unit 113 Card Rear End Extrusion Component 113b Card Rear End Extrusion Component ( Small extrusion surface)
115 Unloading port 118 Pressure plate 120 Gate part 130 Guide unit 140 Compression spring 150 Opening / closing mechanism 160 Document conveying mechanism 163 Curved extrusion surface 163a Large extrusion surface 163b Small extrusion surface 167 Elastic member C Card N Nip portion

JP 2012-230485 A

Claims (16)

A carry-out port for carrying out a document to be delivered to the feeding port of the automatic document feeder, a conveying means for carrying the delivered document toward the feeding port, and a document placing unit on which the delivered document can be placed. A document conveyance assisting device for assisting document conveyance by the automatic document conveyance device,
An opening and closing member that opens and closes the carry-out port according to the delivery of the document;
The conveying means conveys the original by extruding it, and has a document end pushing member that delivers the original to the feeding port,
The opening / closing member closes the carry-out port by contacting the document placing portion,
A document conveyance assisting device, wherein the document edge pushing member is provided with a curved surface portion that pushes out a document trailing edge portion that is a trailing edge portion of a document in a document conveying direction. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to claim 1,
In a state where a part of the document is in contact with a transport roller provided in the vicinity of the feeding port of the automatic document transport device, which first contacts when the document is delivered.
In the document width direction orthogonal to the document conveyance direction,
Than the distance from the contact position of the conveying roller and the document to the center position of the curved surface portion,
An apparatus for assisting document conveyance, wherein a distance from a contact position of the curved surface portion contacting the document rear end portion to a center position of the curved surface portion is short. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to claim 1 or 2,
The curved surface portion is configured such that the approximate center of the curved surface portion is in contact with the approximate center of the document trailing edge of the document stacked on the document placement portion in the document width direction orthogonal to the document conveyance direction. An auxiliary apparatus for conveying a document. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The feeding port is provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of the conveyance path of the automatic document conveyance device,
A document transporting assisting device, comprising: a pressurizing mechanism that pressurizes a document toward a document transporting surface of the document placing unit. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A first part including a document transport lever that is operated and moved by an operator in order to apply a force for pushing the document in the document transport direction, and a second part including the document edge pushing member that moves when the document is pushed out. Consists of separate parts,
The second part is disposed so as to contact the first part and the other parts via an elastic member provided at a substantially center of the document end pushing member in the document width direction orthogonal to the document conveying direction.
The moving direction of the first part and the second part is regulated by the guide member in the document conveying direction,
A document conveyance assisting device, wherein a gap is formed between the second component and the guide member to allow the second component to rotate. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to claim 5,
The document conveyance assisting device, wherein the elastic member is a compression spring. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The curved surface portion provided on the document end pushing member has an angle substantially orthogonal to an inclined surface portion having a downward gradient in the document conveying direction from the curved surface portion, or less than 90 [°] from the inclined surface portion. Formed at an angle,
A document transport assist, wherein a height position of at least a part of a ridge line between the inclined surface portion and the curved surface portion with respect to a document transport surface that transports a document with the document transport assisting device is higher than a document placement surface. apparatus. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The document transport height position relative to the document transport surface that transports the document with the document transport auxiliary device is:
Between the height position of the nip portion of the conveyance roller pair disposed in the vicinity of the feeding port of the automatic document conveying device and the height position of the base of the curved surface portion provided on the document edge pushing member An apparatus for assisting document conveyance, In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
A document conveyance auxiliary device, wherein a document to be conveyed is a resin card. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A document transport assisting device, wherein a thickness of a document to be transported is 0.48 [mm] or more and 0.78 [mm] or less. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
An apparatus for assisting document conveyance, characterized in that the vertical and horizontal dimensions of a document to be conveyed are 53.98 [mm] and 85.60 [mm], respectively. In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 11,
Document transport assisting device, wherein the document to be transported is at least one of “carrier sheet”, “plastic card”, “postcard”, “envelope”, “form”, “clear file”, and “business card” . In the document conveyance auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 12,
A document transport assisting device configured to be detachable from the automatic document transport device. In an automatic document feeder provided with a document conveyance auxiliary means for conveying a document toward a feeding port provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of a conveyance path,
An automatic document conveyance device comprising the document conveyance assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 13 as the document conveyance assistance unit. In an original reading apparatus provided with an original conveying auxiliary means for conveying an original toward a feeding port provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of the conveying path,
An original reading apparatus comprising the original conveying auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 13 as the original conveying auxiliary means. In an image forming apparatus including a document conveyance assisting unit that conveys a document toward a feeding port provided in the vicinity of a middle portion of a conveyance path,
An image forming apparatus comprising: an automatic document conveying device provided with the document conveying auxiliary device according to any one of claims 1 to 13 as the document conveying auxiliary means.

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