JP2022011009A - Sheet feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

To constitute a sheet feeder such that a roller part 231b of a pickup roller 231 can be easily replaced.SOLUTION: A storage box is provided with pickup roller 231 and a guide member 240A. A roller part 231b of the pickup roller 231 is supported on a rotary shaft 231a to be drawn out from one end side. The guide member 240A is arranged on one end side of a roller part 231b supported on the rotary shaft 231a. The guide member 240A and the rotary shaft 231a can relatively move between mutually adjacent first positions and second positions where a space is formed which is large enough to retract the guide member 240A from the first position relative to the rotary shaft 231a and draw the roller part 231b from one end side of the rotary shaft 231a.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 24

Description

The present invention relates to a seat feeding device provided with a storage that can store the seat.

As a sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet, there is a device in which a pickup roller for feeding the sheet to a storage for storing the sheet can be replaced. For example, in a configuration including a pickup roller and a guide member that guides the upper surface of the sheet conveyed by the pickup roller, a configuration is proposed in which the roller portion of the pickup roller can be pulled out from the shaft by sliding the guide member. (Patent Document 1).

In the case of the configuration described in Patent Document 1, the feeding unit for feeding the sheets in the storage such as the pickup roller and the guide member is provided on the device main body side into which the storage can be inserted and pulled out. Then, an opening is formed in the main body of the device so that the feeding unit including the pickup roller can be accessed, and the guide member can be slid and the pickup roller can be replaced from the opening.

JP-A-2015-221707

In the case of the configuration described in Patent Document 1, when the pickup roller (feeding means) is replaced, a hand or the like is put through the opening provided in the apparatus main body (housing) to move the guide member, and further, the guide member is moved. The roller portion of the pickup roller must be moved along the shaft. Therefore, it is difficult to remove and attach the roller portion.

An object of the present invention is to provide a configuration in which a roller portion of a feeding means can be easily replaced.

The sheet feeding device of the present invention is provided in a housing, a storage that can be inserted into and pulled out from the housing, and can store sheets, and is provided in the storage and stored in the storage. The feeding means is provided with a feeding means for feeding the sheet, and a guide member provided in the storage and guiding the upper surface of the sheet fed by the feeding means, and the feeding means comes into contact with the sheet. The guide member is arranged on the one end side of the roller portion supported by the shaft, and has the roller portion and the shaft that supports the roller portion so as to be pulled out from one end side. The shaft is a first position adjacent to each other in the extending direction of the shaft, and the guide member is retracted from the first position with respect to the shaft, and the roller portion is moved from the one end side of the shaft. It is characterized by being relatively movable with respect to a second position forming a pullable space.

Further, the sheet feeding device of the present invention is provided in a housing, a storage that can be inserted into and pulled out from the housing, can store the seat, and is provided in the storage to load the seat. A first roller portion that is provided in the storage tray and is a feeding means for feeding the sheet loaded on the loading tray, and the first roller portion that comes into contact with the sheet, and the first roller portion from one end side. A feeding means having a first shaft that supports it so as to be pullable, and a feeding means provided in the storage for transporting a sheet fed by the feeding means, the second of which is in contact with the sheet. The transport means having a roller portion and a second shaft arranged substantially parallel to the first shaft and supporting the second roller portion so as to be able to be pulled out from one end side, and provided in the storage. It is arranged on one end side of the first roller portion supported by the first shaft and the second roller portion supported by the second shaft, and guides the upper surface of the sheet fed by the feeding means. The guide member, the rotation support portion that rotatably supports the guide member with respect to the feeding means in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the second shaft, and the guide member with respect to the conveying means. The second shaft is provided with a slide support portion that supports the second shaft so as to be slidably movable in the extending direction.

According to the present invention, the roller portion of the feeding means can be easily replaced.

The schematic block diagram of the image formation system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration sectional view of an image forming system according to another example of the first embodiment. The front view of the multi-stage storage apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The side view which shows the storage | storage of the multi-stage storage apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment in the pull-out state. An enlarged side view showing a state in which the storage of the multi-stage storage device according to the first embodiment is pulled out. An enlarged perspective view showing a state in which the storage of the multi-stage storage device according to the first embodiment is pulled out. The schematic diagram of the storage which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The front view which shows a part of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The perspective view which shows a part of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The perspective view which shows the structure which locks the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment to the 1st retracting position. (A) A perspective view showing a feeding position of the sheet feeding section according to the first embodiment, and (b) a perspective view showing a first retracting position of the sheet feeding section according to the first embodiment. (A) side view, (b) perspective view which shows the feeding position of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. (A) side view, (b) perspective view which shows the 1st evacuation position of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. (A) A perspective view showing a state in which the urging spring of the pickup roller according to the first embodiment is assembled in the storage, and (b) a perspective view showing the urging spring taken out from the storage. The plan view which shows the drive path from the motor to the pickup roller which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The perspective view which shows the drive path from the motor to the pickup roller which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The perspective view which shows the state which the seat feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment is locked to the 1st retracting position. The perspective view which shows the unlocked state of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. (A) side view, (b) perspective view which shows the 2nd retracting position of the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The plan view which looked at the sheet feeding part which concerns on 1st Embodiment from above. (A) An enlarged view showing a part of the central part or the right side part of FIG. 20, and (b) an enlarged view showing a part of the central part or the left side part of FIG. 20. (A) A perspective view of the guide member and the slide support portion according to the first embodiment, and (b) a perspective view showing a state in which the guide member is slid from the state of (a). (A) Schematic sectional view showing the lowest position of the sheet feeding section according to the first embodiment, (b) Schematic sectional view showing the feeding position of the sheet feeding section according to the first embodiment, (C) Schematic configuration sectional view showing a first retracted position of the sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment. (A) A partial perspective view showing a first retracted position of the seat feeding unit according to the first embodiment, and (b) a perspective view showing a state in which the pickup roller is moved to the lowest position from the state of (a). (C) A perspective view showing a state in which the roller portion of the pickup roller is pulled out in the state of (b). (A) A perspective view showing a state in which the guide member is further slid from the state of FIG. 24 (c), and a perspective view showing a state of pulling out the roller portion of the transport roller in the state of (b) and (a). (A) Schematic cross-sectional view showing the first retracted position of the sheet feeding unit according to the second embodiment, (b) A perspective showing a state in which the guide member is moved to a second predetermined position from the state of (a). figure.

<First Embodiment>
The first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 25. First, the image forming system of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

[Image formation system]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing an example of an image forming system including a multi-stage storage device and an image forming device according to the present embodiment. In the following description, as an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit, a laser printer system using an electrophotographic method (hereinafter, simply referred to as a printer) will be described as an example. The image forming apparatus constituting the image forming system may be a copying machine, a facsimile, a multifunction device, or the like, in addition to the printer. Further, the image forming apparatus may be configured by another method such as an inkjet method regardless of the electrophotographic method.

The image forming system 1000 of the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 100, a multi-stage storage device 200 as a sheet feeding device connected to the image forming apparatus 100, and a feeding deck 500. As will be described in detail later, the multi-stage storage device 200 has a plurality of storages, each of which can store a plurality of sheets, and the sheets can be supplied from each storage to the image forming apparatus 100. Further, the feeding deck 500 also has a storage storage capable of storing a plurality of sheets, and is arranged on the upstream side of the multi-stage storage device 200 in the sheet transport direction. Further, the sheet fed from the feed deck 500 is transported to the image forming apparatus 100 via the relay transport device 400 provided in the multi-stage storage device 200. Examples of the sheet include plain paper, thin paper, thick paper and the like, and a plastic sheet.

The image forming apparatus 100 is a toner image (image) according to an image signal from a host device such as a personal computer communicably connected to the document reading device 102 connected to the image forming apparatus main body 101 or the image forming apparatus main body 101. ) Is formed on the sheet. In the case of the present embodiment, the document reading device 102 is arranged on the upper side of the image forming device main body 101.

When reading a document, the document reading device 102 irradiates the document placed on the platen glass 103 with light by a scanning optical system light source, and inputs the reflected light to the CCD to read the document image. I have to. Further, the document reading device 102 includes an automatic document transporting device (ADF) 104, and the document placed on the tray 105 is automatically transported by the ADF 104 to the reading unit of the document reading device 102 to obtain a document image. It is also possible to read. Then, the read original image is converted into an electric signal and transmitted to the laser scanner 113 of the image forming unit 110, which will be described later. As described above, the laser scanner 113 may input image data transmitted from a personal computer or the like.

The image forming apparatus 100 includes an image forming unit 110, a plurality of sheet feeding devices 120, a sheet conveying device 130, and the like. Each unit of the image forming apparatus 100 is controlled by the control unit 140. The control unit 140 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). The CPU controls each part while reading a program corresponding to the control procedure stored in the ROM. Further, work data and input data are stored in the RAM, and the CPU controls by referring to the data stored in the RAM based on the above-mentioned program or the like.

The plurality of seat feeding devices 120 include a cassette 121 for accommodating the seat S, a pickup roller 122, and a separate transfer roller pair 125 composed of a feed roller 123 and a retard roller 124, respectively. The sheets S housed in the cassette 121 are separated and fed one by one by a pickup roller 122 that moves up and down and rotates at a predetermined timing and a separation and transfer roller pair 125.

The sheet transfer device 130 includes a transfer roller pair 131 and a resist roller pair 133. The sheet S fed from the sheet feeding device 120 is guided to the resist roller pair 133 after being passed through the sheet transport path 134 by the transport roller pair 131. After that, the sheet S is fed to the image forming unit 110 at a predetermined timing by the resist roller pair 133.

The sheet conveyed from the multi-stage storage device 200 and the feeding deck 500, which will be described later, via the transfer roller pair 201 is conveyed into the image forming apparatus 100 via the connection path 202 with the image forming apparatus 100. The sheet conveyed from the multi-stage storage device 200 or the feeding deck 500 into the image forming apparatus 100 is via the resist roller pair 133 in the same manner as the sheet conveyed from the sheet feeding device 120 in the image forming apparatus 100. It is sent to the image forming unit 110 at a predetermined timing.

The image forming unit 110 includes a photosensitive drum 111, a charger 112, a laser scanner 113, a developer 114, a transfer device 115, a cleaner 117, and the like. At the time of image formation, the photosensitive drum 111 is rotationally driven, and first, the surface of the photosensitive drum 111 is uniformly charged by the charger 112. Then, the charged photosensitive drum 111 is irradiated with the laser beam from the laser scanner 113 that emits light in response to the image signal, so that an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 111. Further, the electrostatic latent image thus formed on the photosensitive drum 111 is subsequently visualized as a toner image by the developer 114.

After that, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 111 is transferred to the sheet S by the transfer device 115 in the transfer unit 116. Further, the sheet S to which the toner image is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 150 to fix the toner image, and then is discharged to the discharge tray 152 outside the machine by the discharge roller 151.

When forming a toner image on the back surface of the sheet S, the sheet S discharged from the fixing device 150 is conveyed to the reversing transfer path 160. Then, the sheet S is conveyed again to the transfer unit 116 of the image forming unit 110 in a state where the front and back sides are inverted by the inversion transfer path 160. The sheet S on which the toner image is transferred on the back surface is conveyed to the fixing device 150, the toner image is fixed, and then the sheet S is discharged to the discharge tray 152 by the discharge roller 151. The transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 111 after transfer is removed by the cleaner 117.

The image forming system 1000 described above includes the multi-stage storage device 200 and the feeding deck 500 as the seat feeding device, but even if only the multi-stage storage device 200 or the feeding deck 500 is used. good. Further, another feeding deck or the like may be provided.

Further, the sheet feeding device is not limited to the one provided with a multi-stage storage. For example, FIG. 2 shows an image forming system 1000A according to another example of the present embodiment. The image forming system 1000A includes an image forming device 100 similar to that in FIG. 1 and a feeding deck (storage device) 500A as a sheet feeding device. Unlike the multi-stage storage device 200, the feeding deck 500A is provided with one storage. Further, the feeding deck 500A has a configuration for supplying sheets to the storage, a configuration for feeding the stored sheets to the image forming apparatus 100, and a configuration for transporting sheets due to a plurality of storages, which will be described later. The configuration is basically the same as that of the multi-stage storage device 200 except that the relay transfer device is provided. Therefore, the multi-stage storage device 200 will be described in detail below.

[Multi-stage storage device]
An outline of the multi-stage storage device 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3 to 7. The multi-stage storage device 200 includes a plurality of storages 210, a relay transfer device 400, and the like. In the present embodiment, three storages 210 are arranged vertically in three stages, and a relay transfer device 400 is arranged between the bottom storage 210 and the second storage 210 from the top.

The sheet fed from the top storage 210 is transported to the transport path 212, and the sheet fed from the second storage 210 from the top is transported to the transport path 213 and stored at the bottom. The sheet supplied from the storage 210 is transported to the transport path 214. Further, the sheet conveyed from the relay transfer device 400 is conveyed to the transfer path 215. The transport path 213 joins the transport path 212 on the way. Further, the transport paths 212, 214, and 215 merge at the confluence point 216, are transported to the transport roller pair 201 through the transport path 217, and are transported to the image forming apparatus 100 via the connection path 202.

Further, a double feed detection sensor for detecting double feed of the sheet is arranged in each of the transport path 212 after merging with the transport path 213, the relay transport device 400, and the transport path 214. Then, the sheet whose double feed is detected by the double feed detection sensor is transported to the transport path 217. Below the transport path 217, a double feed sheet accommodating portion (escape tray) 218 for accommodating the sheet in which double feed is detected is arranged. When the double feed is detected and the sheet is conveyed to the transfer path 217, the transfer path is switched by the switching member 219 provided in the transfer path 217, so that the sheet is conveyed to the double feed sheet accommodating section.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the multi-stage storage device 200. As described above, the multi-stage storage device 200 has a plurality of storages 210, each of which can store a plurality of sheets. Each storage 210 is arranged in a plurality of stages in the vertical direction, and can be pulled out and inserted into the housing (device main body) 204 of the multi-stage storage device 200, respectively. The basic configuration of each storage 210 is the same except that the number of sheets that can be stored is different. However, each storage 210 may have the same number of sheets that can be stored.

The sheets supplied from each storage 210 are conveyed to the connection path 202 (see FIG. 1) via the transfer paths 212, 213, 214. Further, each unit of the multi-stage storage device 200 is controlled by the control unit 203 (see FIG. 1). The control unit 203 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). Further, the control unit 203 can communicate with the control unit 140 of the image forming apparatus 100, and controls the feeding timing of the sheet by communicating with the control unit 140.

The multi-stage storage device 200 has a drawer button 205 as an operation unit for pulling out the storage 210. The drawer button 205 is provided on the front surface of each storage 210. For example, when the operator presses the drawer button 205, the lock mechanism that locks the storage 210 to the mounting position is released, and the storage 210 is pushed out from the housing 204 by a spring (not shown). As a result, the operator can pull out the storage 210 to a position where the seat can be stored, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. By pressing the drawer button 205, the storage 210 may be automatically moved to a position where the seat can be stored by a motor or the like.

As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the storage 210 has a sheet storage unit 220 capable of storing the sheet S, and a sheet feeding unit 230 that feeds the sheet S from the sheet storage unit 220 to the image forming apparatus 100. And have. As shown in FIG. 6, the seat storage portion 220 has a loading tray 221 on which the seat S is loaded, a butt portion 222, a rear end regulation plate 223, a side regulation plate 224, and the like. As shown in FIG. 7, the loading tray 221 can be raised and lowered in the vertical direction by the raising and lowering mechanism 226.

The elevating mechanism 226 has an elevating motor 227, a drive pulley 228a, a guide pulley 228b, a wire 228c, and a rail 229 as a drive source. The wire 228c is connected to the loading tray 221 and the drive pulley 228a via the guide pulley 228b. The loading tray 221 is supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction along the rail 229. By rotationally driving the drive pulley 228a by the elevating motor 227, the wire 228c is wound or pulled out, and the operation of the wire 228c is transmitted to the loading tray 221 via the guide pulley 228b. As a result, the loading tray 221 moves up and down along the rail 229. That is, the loading tray 221 descends to a predetermined position when the seat S is loaded, and gradually rises when the loaded seat S is fed. The elevating motor 227 may be provided in the storage 210 or in the housing 204. When the elevating motor 227 is provided in the housing 204, a mechanism is provided that can connect and disconnect the power from the drive pulley 228a when the storage 210 is installed and pulled out. In the present embodiment, the elevating motor 227 is provided in the storage 210 so that electric power can be supplied to the elevating motor 227 from the housing 204 side by a cable.

As shown in FIG. 6, the abutting portion 222 is arranged on the downstream side in the sheet transport direction in the accommodation space 225 in which the seat is accommodated, and the downstream end (tip) of the sheet loaded on the loading tray 221 in the transport direction abuts. You can guess. The rear end regulation plate 223 is arranged on the upstream side in the sheet transport direction in the accommodation space 225, and the upstream end (rear end) of the sheet loaded on the loading tray 221 in the transport direction is abutted against the rear end position of the seat. To regulate. The rear end regulation plate 223 can be moved in the seat transport direction, and the rear end regulation position of the seat can be adjusted according to the seat size. The side regulation plates 224 are arranged on both sides in the width direction orthogonal to the sheet transport direction of the accommodation space 225, and regulate the positions of both ends in the width direction of the sheet. The side regulation plate 224 can be moved in the width direction, and the regulation position in the width direction of the seat can be adjusted according to the seat size.

As shown in FIG. 7, the sheet feeding unit 230 includes a separate transport roller pair 234 composed of a feeding means and a pickup roller 231 as a feeding roller, a transport roller (transport means) 232 and a retard roller 233, and a transport roller. It has a pair of 235 and the like. As shown in FIG. 6, the pickup roller 231 and the separation transfer roller pair 234 are arranged at the downstream end in the sheet transfer direction above the accommodation space 225 and substantially in the center in the width direction.

The pickup roller 231 is provided in the storage 210, and feeds (feeds) the sheet stored in the storage 210. Specifically, the pickup roller 231 is provided above the loading tray 221 and abuts on the uppermost sheet of the sheet S loaded on the raised loading tray 221 for feeding. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 7, the pickup roller 231 can be pressed against the top sheet on the loading tray 221 in the vicinity of the tip of the sheet S in the sheet transport direction (arrow α direction) with an appropriate force. Is located in. Then, by rotating by driving the feed motor 301 as a drive source, the top sheet is sent out in the direction of the arrow α.

The separate transfer roller pair 234 separates and conveys only one sheet when two or more sheets are overlapped and fed from the pickup roller 231. That is, the transport roller 232 of the separate transport roller pair 234 rotates in the direction of transporting the sheet in the arrow α direction by the drive of the feed motor 301, and transports the sheet fed from the pickup roller 231. On the other hand, the retard roller 233 rotates in the direction opposite to that of the transport roller 232, and pushes back the sheets other than the top sheet among the two or more sheets sent from the pickup roller 231 to the loading tray 221 side. The retard roller 233 has a built-in torque limiter (not shown), and when only one sheet is sent to the separate transfer roller pair 234, it is rotated by the sheet conveyed by the transfer roller 232. It has become.

The sheet separated and conveyed to the separate transfer roller pair 234 is conveyed to a transfer path (not shown) in the multi-stage storage device 200 by the transfer roller pair 235 rotationally driven by the transfer motor 235a, and is conveyed to the connection path 202 (FIG. It is conveyed to the image forming apparatus 100 via 1).

In the case of the present embodiment, the sheet feeding unit 230 is provided in the storage 210 as described above. Therefore, when the storage 210 is pulled out and inserted into the housing 204 of the multi-stage storage device 200, it moves together with the storage 210. In this way, by configuring the seat feeding section 230 so that it can be pulled out together with the storage 210, maintenance such as replacement of each roller of the sheet feeding section 230 is facilitated.

[Sheet feeding section]
Next, the detailed configuration of the sheet feeding unit 230 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 14. It should be noted that FIGS. 8 to 10 show a part of the sheet feeding unit 230, and the above-mentioned retard roller 233 and the transfer roller pair 235 are omitted. 11 (a) and 11 (b) are perspective views of the seat feeding unit 230. FIG. 11A shows a state in which the pickup roller 231 is in the feeding position, and FIG. 11B shows a state in which the pickup roller 231 is in the first retracting position as the retracting position. 12 (a) and 13 (a) show a view seen from the right side of FIG. 8 with a part omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 8 to 11B, the seat feeding unit 230 includes a feeding unit 230A, a detaching device 255 as a moving means, and the like. The feeding unit 230A has a pickup roller 231 and a separate transfer roller pair 234, and guide members 240 and 240A (see FIGS. 11A and 11B). As described above, the separate transfer roller pair 234 includes a transfer roller 232 for transporting the sheet fed by the pickup roller 231. The guide member 240 as the second guide member is a support means and a support member that support the pickup roller 231 and, in the present embodiment, is also a member that guides the upper surface of the sheet fed by the pickup roller 231.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the guide member 240A as the first guide member relates to the rotation axis direction of the rotation shafts 231a and 232a described later, and the rollers of the pickup roller 231 and the transfer roller 232. It is arranged on the opposite side of the guide member 240 with the portions 231b and 232b interposed therebetween. Such a guide member 240A is a member that guides the upper surface of the sheet fed by the pickup roller 231 together with the guide member 240. As will be described in detail later, the guide member 240A is rotatable and slidable as shown in FIG. 11A when the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 are replaced. In FIGS. 8 to 10, 12b, 13b and the like, the guide member 240A is omitted.

The disengagement device 255 moves the pickup roller 231 in contact with the seat and moves it between the feeding position or the lowest position for feeding the seat and the first retracting position where the pickup roller 231 separates from the seat. It is a means. As shown in FIGS. 23 (a) to 23 (c) described later, in the present embodiment, the pickup roller 231 can move to the lowest position further below the feeding position. That is, the detaching device 255 can move the feeding unit 230A including the pickup roller 231 between the lowest position shown in FIG. 23A and the first retracting position shown in FIG. 23C. Then, with the pickup roller 231 in the lowest position, the loading tray 221 on which the sheet is loaded rises (see FIG. 7), and by pushing up the pickup roller 231, the pickup roller 231 is supplied as shown in FIG. 23 (b). It will be located at the feed position. However, the pickup roller 231 may be directly moved to the feeding position without moving to the lowest position. For example, the loading tray 221 may be raised before the pickup roller 231 moves to the feeding position, and the pickup roller 231 may come into contact with the sheet on the loading tray 221 to be positioned at the feeding position.

The disengagement device 255 of the present embodiment moves the pickup roller 231 to the first retracted position by rotating the feeding unit 230A around the rotation shaft 232a of the transport roller 232. Such a detaching device 255 includes a retracting device 250 for retracting the pickup roller 231 from the feeding position or the lowest position, a holding device 260 for holding the pickup roller 231 in the second retracting position described later, and the like. In the case of a configuration in which the loading tray 221 rises after the pickup roller 231 is positioned at the lowest position and the pickup roller 231 is positioned at the feeding position by pushing up the pickup roller 231, the movement to the second retracted position is omitted. Then, the pickup roller 231 may be directly moved to the first retracted position. In this case, the configuration for restricting the position at the second retracted position may be omitted.

The guide member 240 is rotatably supported with respect to the rotation shaft (second shaft) 232a of the transfer roller 232 as the transfer roller rotation shaft. That is, the guide member 240 can swing around the rotation shaft 232a (swing shaft) of the transport roller 232. The rotation shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232 is arranged substantially parallel to the rotation axis of the pickup roller 231 which is also a rotating body. That is, the rotating shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 and the rotating shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 are arranged substantially parallel to each other. Further, the rotating shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 is rotatably supported by the frame 211 of the storage 210.

As shown in FIG. 10, the rotation shaft (first shaft) 231a of the pickup roller 231 is rotatably supported by the rotation support portion 241 of the guide member 240. Therefore, when the guide member 240 swings around the rotating shaft 232a of the transport roller 232, the pickup roller 231 also swings around the rotating shaft 232a. That is, the pickup roller 231 and the guide member 240 are arranged on the downstream side of the pickup roller 231 with respect to the sheet transport direction of the pickup roller 231, and the present embodiment is centered on a rotation axis substantially parallel to the rotation axis direction of the pickup roller 231. Then, the transfer roller 232 can be rotated as a unit around the rotation shaft 232a. As a result, the pickup roller 231 moves in the vertical direction. That is, the pickup roller 231 moves up and down with respect to the seat loaded on the loading tray 221. Specifically, the pickup roller 231 is located between the feeding position shown in FIGS. 12A and 12 or the lowest position described above and the first retracting position shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B. It can be raised and lowered with. A detailed description of such an ascending / descending operation will be described later.

As described above, the feeding position is a position where the pickup roller 231 comes into contact with the uppermost sheet loaded on the loading tray 221 and the sheet can be fed. In the feeding position, as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, 11 (a) and 12, the guide members 240 and 240A are also located at positions facing the seat in the storage 210, and are fed by the pickup roller 231. Guide the top surface of the sheet to be made.

The first evacuation position is a position where the seat can be stored in the storage 210, and is a position where the pickup roller 231 is retracted from the storage space 225 rather than the feeding position when the seat is stored in the seat storage unit 220. That is, in the present embodiment, the sheet feeding unit 230 is provided in the storage 210 and is pulled out together with the storage 210. At this time, when the pickup roller 231 is located at the feeding position or the lowest position, the pickup roller 231 and the sheet are likely to interfere with each other when the sheet is loaded on the loading tray 221, and it is difficult to load the sheet. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the storage 210 is pulled out, the pickup roller 231 is moved to the first evacuation position, which is a position that does not easily interfere with the loading of the seats.

In such a first retracted position, as shown in FIGS. 10, 11 (b) and 13, the guide surface 240B that guides the seats of the guide members 240 and 240A is the seat feeding direction by the pickup roller 231 (FIG. Stand up with respect to the arrow α direction of 7. That is, the guide surface 240B is substantially parallel to the seat feeding direction at the feeding position, but moves in a direction closer to the vertical direction than the feeding position at the first retracting position.

As described above, the movement of the pickup roller 231 from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position is performed centering on the rotation axis of the rotation axis 232a of the transfer roller 232. That is, as shown in FIGS. 23 (a) or 23 (b) described later, by swinging the feeding unit 230A around the rotation shaft 232a from the lowest position or the feeding position in the direction of arrow β, FIG. 23 ( The pickup roller 231 moves to the first retracted position shown in c). As shown in FIG. 23 (c), at least a part of the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 231 overlaps with the transport roller 232 when viewed from the vertical direction at the first retracted position. The pickup roller 231 may have the entire outer peripheral surface overlapped with the transport roller 232 when viewed from the vertical direction at the first retracted position, but in the present embodiment, a part of the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 231 is transported. It protrudes toward the accommodation space 225 from the roller 232.

This will be described in detail. First, the downstream end of the seat loading area of the seat storage portion 220 in the feeding direction is the abutting portion 222. In the present embodiment, when the virtual line in which the abutting surface of the sheet of the abutting portion 222 is extended in the vertical direction is γ, a part of the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 231 is larger than the virtual line γ in the first retracted position. It protrudes toward the seat loading area. In this way, even if a part of the outer peripheral surface of the pickup roller 231 protrudes into the seat loading area at the first retracting position, the pickup roller 231 itself retracts above the feeding position or the lowest position. It is easy to store the seat in the seat storage unit 220. At the first retracting position, the entire pickup roller 231 may be retracted from the seat loading area. That is, in the first retracted position, the pickup roller 231 may be located on the side opposite to the seat loading area with respect to the virtual line γ.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the guide member 240 serves as a seat detecting means capable of detecting the seat stored in the seat storage unit 220 (FIG. 6) when the pickup roller 231 is located at the feeding position. The detection sensor 290 is swingably supported. The detection sensor 290 has a contact portion 291 capable of contacting the top sheet loaded on the loading tray 221 (FIG. 6). The detection sensor 290 can detect the sheet when the contact portion 291 comes into contact with the sheet, and the pickup roller 231 sends out the sheet when the detection sensor 290 detects the sheet.

Such a detection sensor 290 makes it possible to retract the seat from a position in a detectable state when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 moves to the first retracted position. That is, when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is in the feeding position, the detection sensor 290 has a contact portion in a state where the seat stored in the seat storage portion 220 is not in contact with the pickup roller 231. 291 is located at the position of the first sensor protruding toward the seat side from the pickup roller 231. On the other hand, the detection sensor 290 is located at the second sensor position where the contact portion 291 does not protrude from the pickup roller 231 from the first sensor position when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is in the first retracted position. do.

Therefore, the retracting lever 292 is swingably supported on the guide member 240. The retract lever 292 has an end on one end in the longitudinal direction below the detection sensor 290 with respect to the swing axis, and an end on the other end in the longitudinal direction projects upward at the feeding position. Then, when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 moves to the first retracting position, the other end of the retracting lever 292 comes into contact with the frame 211 and swings around the swing axis. , The end of the retract lever 292 on one end side lifts the detection sensor 290. As a result, the detection sensor 290 swings so that the contact portion 291 is located at the second sensor position.

Further, a guide member side engaging portion 242 is integrally formed at the end portion of the guide member 240. The guide member side engaging portion 242 is formed so as to project from the rotation support portion 241 on one side in the direction of the rotation axis of the rotation shaft 232a, and the retracting engagement portion 254 of the retracting device 250 described below (FIG. 13A) and the like. ) Can be engaged.

As shown in FIGS. 10, 12 (a), 12 (b) and 13 (a), (b), the retracting device 250 is provided around the rotating shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 and outside the guide member 240. It has a retracting member 251 as an retracting means arranged in the above, and a one-way clutch (clutch) 252 arranged between the retracting member 251 and the rotating shaft 232a. The retracting member 251 is composed of a support portion 251a, a lock engaging portion 253, a retracting engaging portion 254, and the like.

The support portion 251a is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape and is a portion supported by the rotation shaft 232a as the transfer roller rotation shaft via the one-way clutch 252. The one-way clutch 252 has a rotation shaft when the rotation shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232 rotates in the direction opposite to the direction in which the transfer roller 232 conveys the sheet (clockwise in FIGS. 12 (a) and 13 (a)). The drive of 232a is transmitted to the support portion 251a. At this time, the feed motor 301 (FIGS. 15 and 16) for rotationally driving the transport roller 232, which will be described later, rotates in the reverse direction.

On the other hand, in the one-way clutch 252, when the rotation shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232 rotates in the same direction as the direction in which the transfer roller 232 conveys the sheet (counterclockwise direction in FIGS. 12A and 13A). It slips and the drive of the rotation shaft 232a is not transmitted to the support portion 251a. At this time, the feed motor 301 (FIGS. 15 and 16) for rotationally driving the transport roller 232, which will be described later, rotates in the forward direction.

The lock engaging portion 253 is formed so as to project from the outer peripheral surface of the support portion 251a, and as shown in FIG. 10, the lock mechanism 270 capable of locking the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 to the first retracted position is possible. To configure.

As shown in FIG. 13B, the retractable engaging portion 254 is formed in a substantially fan shape, and is provided integrally with the support portion 251a on the guide member 240 side of the support portion 251a with respect to the rotation axis direction of the rotation shaft 232a. There is. The retracted engaging portion 254 is an engaging portion that can be engaged with the guide member side engaging portion 242 that is a part of the guide member 240 described above.

When the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is moved from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position, the feeding motor 301 is rotated in the reverse direction to retract the member 251 via the rotating shaft 232a. Is rotated clockwise in FIGS. 12 (a) and 13 (a). Then, the retracting side engaging surface 254a of the retracting engaging portion 254 of the retracting member 251 engages with the guide member side engaging portion 242. Further, when the retracting member 251 rotates, the guide member 240 and the pickup roller 231 move to the first retracting position as shown in FIGS. 13A and 13B. The fact that the pickup roller 231 has moved to the first retracted position means that the flag 243 (see FIG. 9) provided on the guide member 240 passes through the slit formed in the frame 211 and is not shown on the back side of the frame 211. The sensor of No. 243 detects the flag 243 so that it can be grasped.

The lock mechanism 270 as a locking means has a swing lever 271 and a lock engaging portion 253 of the retracting member 251. The swing lever 271 can swing in the vertical direction about a swing shaft 272 supported by a frame of the storage 210 (not shown in FIGS. 8 to 10). Further, the swing lever 271 is formed with a lever-side engaging portion 273 that can be engaged with the lock engaging portion 253. Then, as described above, the lock engaging portion 253 of the retracting member 251 that has moved the pickup roller 231 to the first retracting position engages with the lever-side engaging portion 273 of the swing lever 271, whereby the pickup roller 231 is released. Locked to the first retracted position.

The outer peripheral surface on the clockwise downstream side of the lock engaging portion 253 of the retracting member 251 is an inclined surface 253a that is inclined in a direction away from the rotation shaft 232a from the downstream side to the upstream side. On the other hand, an engaging surface 273a is formed below the lever-side engaging portion 273 of the swing lever 271. The engaging surface 273a engages with the inclined surface 253a when the retracting member 251 rotates to move the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position. , The swing lever 271 is formed so as to swing upward around the swing shaft 272. Then, when the inclined surface 253a gets over the engaging surface 273a, the swing lever 271 swings downward so that the lever side engaging portion 273 engages with the lock engaging portion 253.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the holding device 260 has a solenoid 261 and a holding lever 262 driven by the solenoid 261. The solenoid 261 is turned on by energization and the plunger 261a retracts, and when the solenoid 261 is not energized (OFF), the plunger 261a protrudes. The holding lever 262 can swing in the vertical direction about the swing shaft 262a in the direction orthogonal to the advancing / retreating direction of the plunger 261a. Further, on the upper surface of the tip end portion of the holding lever 262, a first engaging portion 263 that can engage with the guide member side engaging portion 242 of the guide member 240 is provided, and the first engaging portion 263 and the swing shaft 262a are provided. A second engaging portion 264 that can be engaged with the lower surface of the swing lever 271 is provided on the upper surface between the two.

A link mechanism 265 is provided between the plunger 261a of the solenoid 261 and the holding lever 262. When the solenoid 261 is turned on, the plunger 261a retracts and the holding lever 262 swings upward around the swing shaft 262a. do. On the other hand, when the solenoid 261 is turned off, the plunger 261a protrudes and the holding lever 262 swings downward about the swing shaft 262a.

As will be described in detail later, such a holding device 260 has a holding position in which the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 can be held in the second retracted position by turning the solenoid 261 on and off, and a pickup roller. It is possible to switch to a holding / releasing position where the holding / releasing position of the guide member 240 that supports 231 can be released. The holding position is the position where the holding lever 262 is moved upward by turning on the solenoid 261, and the holding release position is the position where the holding lever 262 is moved downward by turning off the solenoid 261.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, the seat feeding unit 230 attaches the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 from the first retracting position toward the feeding position or the lowest position. It has an urging spring 280 as an urging means. The urging spring 280 is a coil spring and has a hooking portion 281 and a coil portion 282. The hook portion 281 is hooked on a part of the frame 211, and the coil portion 282 is arranged between the circumference of the rotating shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 and the spring receiving portion 244 integrally formed with the guide member 240. There is. As a result, the urging spring 280 urges the guide member 240 downward about the rotation shaft 232a via the spring receiving portion 244, that is, in the direction in which the pickup roller 231 toward the feeding position or the lowest position. There is.

As described above, in the retracting member 251 that moves the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 toward the first retracting position, the rotation shaft 232a is rotated in the direction opposite to the sheet conveying direction of the conveying roller 232 by the one-way clutch 252. In this case, the drive is transmitted from the rotating shaft 232a. On the other hand, when the rotating shaft 232a rotates in the opposite direction, the drive is not transmitted from the rotating shaft 232a to the retracting member 251. In this case, the one-way clutch 252 slips, and the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 moves in the direction from the first retracting position to the feeding position or the lowest position due to its own weight and the urging force of the above-mentioned urging spring 280. Swing. Therefore, the retracting member 251 is driven by the reverse rotation of the feeding motor 301 to move the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 from the feeding position or the lowest position toward the first retracting position, and feeds. The forward rotation of the motor 301 makes it possible to move the pickup roller 231 from the first retracted position to the feeding position or the lowest position.

[Drive transmission mechanism]
Next, the drive transmission mechanism 300 of the transfer roller 232 and the pickup roller 231 will be described with reference to FIGS. 15 and 16. In addition, in FIGS. 15 and 16, only the drive transmission path from the feed motor 301 to the pickup roller 231 is extracted and shown.

The feed motor 301 as the drive means and the drive motor is, for example, a pulse motor, and is provided in the housing 204 (see FIG. 6 and the like) of the multi-stage storage device 200. Therefore, when the storage 210 is pulled out from the housing 204, the drive transmission mechanism 300 has a coupling 302 as a connection means so that the drive transmission path from the feed motor 301 to the transfer roller 232 is separated in the middle. .. That is, the drive transmission mechanism 300 has a motor-side drive transmission mechanism 310 from the feed motor 301 to the coupling 302, and a roller-side drive transmission mechanism 320 from the coupling 302 to the pickup roller 231. The coupling 302 connects the feeding motor 301 and the pickup roller 231 so as to be drive-transmissible with the storage 210 inserted in the housing 204, and when the storage 210 is pulled out, the feeding motor 301 and the pickup are connected. The drive connection with the roller 231 is released.

The motor-side drive transmission mechanism 310 is a mechanism for transmitting drive between the drive shaft 301a of the feed motor 301 and the transmission shaft 302a for transmitting drive to the coupling 302 by a belt 311 and pulleys 312 and 313. That is, a pulley 312 is provided on the drive shaft 301a and a pulley 313 is provided on the transmission shaft 302a, and an endless belt 311 is hung on these pulleys 312 and 313. As a result, the drive of the feed motor 301 is transmitted to the transmission shaft 302a via the pulley 312, the belt 311 and the pulley 313. The motor-side drive transmission mechanism 310 may be a mechanism for transmitting drive by a gear train, or the like, in addition to such a mechanism by a pulley and a belt.

The roller side drive transmission mechanism 320 is a mechanism for transmitting drive from the other transmission shaft 302b of the coupling 302 to the pickup roller 231. The roller side drive transmission mechanism 320 includes a gear 321 provided on the transmission shaft 302b, a gear 322 provided at the end of the rotation shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232, a gear 323 provided at the intermediate portion of the rotation shaft 232a, and a pickup roller. It has a gear 324 provided on the rotating shaft 231a (feeding roller rotating shaft) of the 231 and an idle gear 325 provided between the gear 323 and the gear 324. In the present embodiment, the drive of the feed motor 301 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 via the rotary shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232 and the idle gear 325.

Drive transmission from the transmission shaft 302b to the pickup roller 231 is performed as follows. First, the drive of the feed motor 301 is transmitted to the transmission shaft 302b via the motor side drive transmission mechanism 310 and the coupling 302. Next, the rotation of the transmission shaft 302b is transmitted to the gear 322 that meshes with the gear 321 to rotate the rotation shaft 232a. As a result, the transport roller 232 rotates. Next, the rotation of the rotary shaft 232a is sequentially transmitted to the idle gear 325 that meshes with the gear 323 and the gear 324 that meshes with the idle gear 325, so that the rotary shaft 231a rotates. As a result, the pickup roller 231 rotates. The idle gear 325 is provided to make the rotation directions of the transport roller 232 and the pickup roller 231 the same. The rotary shaft 231a may be fixed to non-rotation, the pickup roller 231 and the gear 324 may be rotatably supported by the rotary shaft 231a, and the gear 324 and the pickup roller 231 may be connected to each other. In this case, the drive transmission from the idle gear 325 to the gear 324 causes the pickup roller 231 to rotate relative to the rotation shaft 231a together with the gear 324.

The feed motor 301 is a motor capable of forward and reverse rotation, and when it rotates in the forward direction, the transport roller 232 and the pickup roller 231 rotate in the direction of transporting the sheet. On the other hand, when the feed motor 301 rotates in the reverse direction, the transfer roller 232 and the pickup roller 231 rotate in the direction opposite to the direction in which the sheet is conveyed. When the feed motor 301 rotates in the reverse direction, the rotation is transmitted from the rotation shaft 232a to the retracting member 251 (see FIG. 12A and the like) via the one-way clutch 252, and the pickup roller 231 is described later. And the guide member 240 moves from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position.

The feed motor 301 and the motor-side drive transmission mechanism 310 are provided on the housing 204 side, and the pickup roller 231 and the transfer roller 232 and the roller-side drive transmission mechanism 320 are provided on the storage 210 side. When the storage 210 is pulled out from the housing 204, the coupling 302 is separated and the driving force of the feed motor 301 is not transmitted to the transfer roller 232 side. On the other hand, when the storage 210 is inserted into the housing 204 and the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position of the housing 204, the coupling 302 is connected and the feed motor 301 is driven by the transport roller 232. It becomes possible to transmit to the side. The predetermined mounting position is a position where the sheet housed in the storage 210 can be conveyed in the multi-stage storage device 200.

Next, the operation of the feeding unit 230A when the storage 210 is inserted into a predetermined mounting position in the housing 204 will be described. First, when the storage 210 is mounted at the mounting position, for example, when the load capacity of the seat is large, the top seat may be at a height where it comes into contact with the pickup roller 231 located at the feeding position or the bottom position. There is. As described above, when the pickup roller 231 is moved from the first retracted position to the feeding position or the lowest position, the feeding motor 301 is rotated (forward rotation) in the direction of feeding the sheet by the pickup roller 231. ..

Therefore, if the storage 210 is mounted in the predetermined mounting position of the housing 204 and then the pickup roller 231 is moved from the first retracting position to the feeding position or the lowest position without stopping, the pickup roller is moved during this movement. Since 231 is also rotating, the top sheet is conveyed by the pickup roller 231. That is, since the pickup roller 231 moves to the feeding position or the lowest position in the state where the pickup roller 231 is rotated, the sheet is conveyed at the same time as it comes into contact with the sheet.

In this state, the pickup roller 231 is not in contact with the seat with sufficient pressure, and for example, the pressure distribution in the rotation axis direction of the rollers is not constant. For this reason, when the sheet is conveyed with such an unstable contact pressure, the posture of the sheet is displaced, and problems such as jamming of the sheet and oblique transportation of the sheet are likely to occur. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the seat feeding unit 230 is operated as follows.

First, in the state where the sheet is stored in the storage 210, the guide member 240 and the pickup roller 231 are located at the first retracted position as shown in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b). At this time, as shown in FIG. 17, the lever-side engaging portion 273 of the swing lever 271 of the lock mechanism 270 engages with the lock engaging portion 253 of the retracting member 251 to support the pickup supported by the guide member 240. The roller 231 is locked in the first retracted position.

In this state, when the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position of the housing 204, the control unit 203 controls the feed motor 301 and the solenoid 261 as follows. As described above, when the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position of the housing 204, the coupling 302 is coupled and drive transmission is possible from the feed motor 301 to the pickup roller 231 (FIG. 16). , 17).

First, the control unit 203 turns on the solenoid 261 when it detects that the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position of the housing 204 by a mounting sensor (not shown). Then, as shown in FIG. 18, the plunger 261a retracts and the holding lever 262 swings upward about the swing shaft 262a. At this time, the second engaging portion 264 of the swing lever 271 engages with the lower surface of the swing lever 271 to lift the swing lever 271. That is, the holding device 260 is positioned at the holding position. As a result, the lever-side engaging portion 273 of the swing lever 271 and the lock engaging portion 253 of the retracting member 251 are disengaged, and the retracting member 251 is unlocked. That is, the lock mechanism 270 unlocks the guide member 240 by the operation of switching the holding device 260 to the holding position.

Next, the control unit 203 rotates the feed motor 301 in the forward direction. Then, the one-way clutch 252 slips, and the retracting member 251 is allowed to rotate in the counterclockwise direction of FIG. 13 (a). That is, when the feed motor 301 is energized, if the feed motor 301 is not rotating, the rotary shaft 232a driven and connected to the feed motor 301 remains stopped. A one-way clutch 252 exists between the rotating shaft 232a and the retracting member 251 to lock the rotation of the retracting member 251 in the counterclockwise direction with respect to the rotating shaft 232a. That is, when the rotation shaft 232a tends to rotate clockwise with respect to the retracting member 251, in other words, when the retracting member 251 tends to rotate counterclockwise with respect to the retracting member 232a. , The one-way clutch 252 is locked, and rotation transmission is possible between the rotation shaft 232a and the retracting member 251. Therefore, the retracting member 251 cannot be rotated counterclockwise unless the feed motor 301 is rotated in the reverse direction to rotate the rotation shaft 232a in the counterclockwise direction.

When the feed motor 301 is rotated in the forward direction in this way to allow the retracting member 251 to rotate in the counterclockwise direction of FIG. 13A, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is urged by its own weight. The spring 280 (FIGS. 14A and 14B) swings in the direction from the first retracting position to the feeding position or the lowest position due to the urging force. At this time, the retracting member 251 rotates in the counterclockwise direction of FIG. 13A as the guide member 240 swings due to the engagement between the retracting engaging portion 254 and the guide member side engaging portion 242.

Then, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 swings to the second retracted position as shown in FIG. Here, the second evacuation position is a position between the first evacuation position and the feeding position, and the pickup roller 231 does not come into contact with the uppermost seat even if the maximum amount of seats are loaded in the seat storage portion 220. The position. Further, in the second retracted position, the rotation axis of the pickup roller 231 is located vertically below the rotation axis of the transfer roller 232 (the swing center of the swing shaft).

At this time, the solenoid 261 is still turned on, and the holding lever 262 is in a state where the swing lever 271 is still lifted. As described above, the tip end portion of the holding lever 262 is provided with a first engaging portion 263 that can be engaged with the guide member side engaging portion 242 of the guide member 240. The first engaging portion 263 is an inclined surface such that the surface that engages with the guide member side engaging portion 242 in a state where the holding lever 262 is lifted upward is substantially horizontal.

Therefore, when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 swings to the second retracted position as described above, the first engaging portion 263 of the holding lever 262 engages with the guide member side engaging portion 242 of the guide member 240. In addition, the pickup roller 231 is held in the second retracted position. That is, the holding lever 262 is configured to hold the pickup roller 231 in the second retracted position while the solenoid 261 is turned on.

The control unit 203 further rotates the feed motor 301 in the forward direction while the pickup roller 231 is held in the second retracted position. Then, the retracting member 251 rotates, and the engagement between the retracting engaging portion 254 and the guide member side engaging portion 242 is released. That is, the control unit 203 rotates the feed motor 301 forward by a second predetermined amount from the state where the pickup roller 231 is held in the second retracted position. Specifically, the retracting engagement portion 254 and the guide member side engaging portion 242 are sufficiently separated from each other, and the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 retracts to a predetermined position where it can move to the feeding position or the lowest position. The feeding motor 301 continues to rotate so that the engaging portion 254 moves. In the present embodiment, since the feeding motor 301 is a pulse motor, the above-mentioned first predetermined amount and the above-mentioned second predetermined amount are a predetermined number of first pulses and a predetermined number of second pulses. Even if the feed motor 301 is a DC motor, it is possible to control the rotation of the first and second predetermined amounts described above by providing an encoder capable of detecting the rotation amount of the motor.

In this way, the retracting member 251 can move to the feeding position or the lowest position of the pickup roller 231 by rotating the feeding motor 301 in the forward direction while the pickup roller 231 is held in the second retracting position. do. Even in such a state, the pickup roller 231 is held in the second retracted position by the holding lever 262. Then, when the retracting member 251 is rotated to a predetermined position, the rotation of the feed motor 301 is stopped.

The control unit 203 turns off the solenoid 261 after stopping the drive of the feed motor 301. Then, as shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B, the holding lever 262 swings downward about the swing shaft 262a, and the guide member 240 also swings downward due to its own weight and the urging force of the urging spring 280. By swinging downward, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 moves to the feeding position or the lowest position. The side of the retracting member 251 opposite to the retracting side engaging surface 254a is a stopper surface 254b, and a stopper (not shown) provided on the housing 204 so that the retracting member 251 does not rotate too much. It is possible to engage with.

As described above, in the case of the present embodiment, once the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position of the housing 204 and the pickup roller 231 is moved from the first retracting position to the feeding position or the lowest position. , It is held in the second retracted position. Then, after stopping the drive of the feed motor 301, the feed motor 301 is moved from the second retracted position to the feed position or the lowest position. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the pickup roller 231 from moving to the feeding position or the lowest position in the rotated state. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the posture deviation of the sheet supplied from the storage 210.

In the above description, when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is moved from the first retracted position to the feeding position or the lowest position, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is temporarily moved. After holding the feed motor 301 in the second retracted position and stopping the rotation of the feed motor 301, this holding was released. However, when the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 moves from the second retracted position to the feeding position or the lowest position, the feeding motor 301 is stopped and then moved, or the feeding motor 301 is driven. It may be possible to select whether to move in the state of being moved.

[Drawer operation of storage]
Next, the operation of pulling out the storage 210 from the housing 204 will be described. First, when the control unit 203 detects that the drawer button 205 (see FIG. 3 or the like) is pressed, the control unit 203 reverses the feed motor 301. As a result, the feeding unit 230A including the pickup roller 231 starts to rotate upward with the rotation shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 as a fulcrum (see FIG. 23). After that, the control unit 203 drives the feed motor 301 by a first predetermined amount and stops. At this time, the feeding unit 230A is in a state of being moved to the first retracted position (FIG. 23 (c)).

In the first retracted position, as described above, the pickup roller 231 moves to a position where a part of the outer circumference thereof is directly above the transport roller 232, and the guide members 240 and 240A of the feeding unit 230A stand up in a substantially vertical direction. It becomes a state (FIG. 11 (b)). The first predetermined amount for driving the feed motor 301 at this time is the drive amount for the feed unit 230A to move from the feed position or the lowest position to the first retracted position. The control unit 203 unlocks the storage 210 when the feeding unit 230A moves to the first retracted position. When the lock of the storage 210 is released, the operator can manually pull out the storage 210 including the seat feeding unit 230.

Here, the operation of the feeding unit 230A from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position when the storage 210 is pulled out will be described in detail. When the operator operates the pull-out button 205 as described above, the feed motor 301 is rotated in the reverse direction to position the pickup roller 231 in the first retracted position. That is, when the storage 210 is mounted at a predetermined mounting position, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 is at the feeding position (FIG. 23 (b)) or the lowest position (FIG. 23 (a)). It is located and is in a state where the drive of the feed motor 301 can be transmitted to the transfer roller 232 side. Therefore, in this state, the feed motor 301 is rotated in the reverse direction to drive the motor side drive transmission mechanism 310 and the coupling 302. The drive is transmitted to the roller side drive transmission mechanism 320 via the roller side drive transmission mechanism 320.

Then, the rotation shaft 232a of the transfer roller 232 rotates, and this rotation is transmitted to the retracting member 251 via the one-way clutch 252 (see FIGS. 13A and 13B). As described above, the one-way clutch 252 transmits the reverse rotation drive of the feed motor 301 to the retracting member 251. Therefore, when the feed motor 301 is rotated in the reverse direction, the retracting member 251 rotates clockwise via the rotating shaft 232a and the one-way clutch 252, and the retracting engaging portion 254 also rotates together with the retracting member 251. Rotate in the same direction. Then, as described above, the retracting side engaging surface 254a of the retracting engaging portion 254 engages with the guide member side engaging portion 242. Further, when the retracting member 251 rotates, the guide member 240 and the pickup roller 231 move to the first retracting position as shown in FIG. 23 (c).

At this time, the lock engaging portion 253 provided on the retracting member 251 also rotates in the same direction, and as described above, the inclined surface 253a swings by engaging with the engaging surface 273a of the swing lever 271. The lever 271 is lifted. Then, when the inclined surface 253a gets over the engaging surface 273a, the swing lever 271 swings downward and the lever side engaging portion 273 engages with the lock engaging portion 253, as shown in FIG. As a result, even if the retracting member 251 is locked at this position and the drive transmission from the feeding motor 301 is cut off, the retracting member 251 carelessly supports the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 at the feeding position or at the maximum. It prevents it from rotating in the direction of moving it toward the lower position. Further, by locking the retracting member 251 in this way, the pickup roller 231 supported by the guide member 240 located at the first retracting position by engaging with the retracting engaging portion 254 also also has the first retracting position. It will be locked to.

In the present embodiment, when the storage 210 is pulled out in this way, the feeding unit 230A including the pickup roller 231 is retracted to the first retracted position and locked at this position. That is, the detaching device 255 retracts the pickup roller 231 to the first retracting position before the storage 210 is pulled out from the housing 204. Therefore, when the operator stores the seat in the seat storage unit 220, the pickup roller 231 does not get in the way, and the work of storing the seat can be facilitated.

Further, by moving the feeding unit 230A including the pickup roller 231 to the first retracted position before pulling out the storage 210 from the housing 204 in this way, when the sheet is stored in the storage 210, it is possible to store the seat in the storage 210. It is possible to prevent an operator such as a user from touching the pickup roller 231.

[Replacement of pickup roller and transport roller]
Next, replacement of the pickup roller 231 and the transfer roller 232 will be described. As described above, the pickup roller 231 feeds the sheet on the loading tray 221 and the transport roller 232 further transports the sheet fed from the pickup roller 231. The peripheral surfaces of the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 are worn along with the feeding and transporting operations of the sheet, and the friction coefficient of the surface changes. If the coefficient of friction on the surface of the roller changes, it becomes a factor that causes poor transfer of the sheet. For this reason, conventionally, the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 are detachably configured so that these rollers can be replaced.

For example, in the configuration described in Patent Document 1 described above, the pickup roller can be replaced by inserting a hand or the like through an opening provided in the housing. However, in the configuration of Patent Document 1, since the roller is replaced from the opening formed in the housing while the pickup roller or the like is inside the housing, the roller replacement work can be performed. It's hard to do. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the roller replacement work is facilitated by the following configuration. Hereinafter, the configuration relating to the replacement of the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 25.

[Support configuration of pickup roller 231 and transfer roller 232]
First, the support configurations of the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 will be described with reference to FIGS. 20 to 21 (b). The pickup roller 231 includes a roller portion 231b as a first roller portion that comes into contact with the seat, and a rotation shaft (shaft) 231a as a first shaft that supports the roller portion 231b so as to be pullable from one end side (left side in FIG. 20). Have. In the present embodiment, the roller portion 231b is attached to one end of the rotating shaft 231a. The rotation shaft 231a is supported by rotation support portions 241 formed at two locations on the opposite surface (rear surface) of the guide surface 240B (FIGS. 10 and 11 (b)) of the guide member 240.

The transport roller 232 is arranged substantially parallel to the roller portion 232b as the second roller portion in contact with the seat and the rotation shaft 231a, and the rotation shaft 232a as the second shaft that supports the roller portion 232b so as to be able to be pulled out from one end side. And have. In the present embodiment, the roller portion 232b is attached to one end of the rotating shaft 232a. The rotating shaft 232a is supported by a side plate 211a on the back side (rear side) of the feeding unit 230A and two brackets 211b attached to the frame (stay) 211. In this embodiment, the front side (front side) of the device is the front side of the paper in FIG. 1, the left side in FIG. 20, and the storage 210 is pulled out from the housing 204. Further, the back side of the device is the side opposite to the front side, and the storage 210 is inserted into the housing 204 on the right side of FIG. 20.

Such a pickup roller 231 and a transport roller 232 are so-called cantilever support mechanisms in which only the inner side of the roller portions 231b and 232b is supported. As a result, the roller portions 231b and 232b can be attached to and detached from the rotating shafts 231a and 232a without removing the rotating shafts 231a and 232a.

[About the configuration of the guide member]
Next, the configurations of the guide members 240 and 240A will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) with reference to FIGS. 20 to 22 (b). As shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B, the feeding unit 230A is provided with a lower guide 256 for guiding the sheet fed by the pickup roller 231 to the transport roller 232 and a lower guide 256 facing the lower guide 256. It has guide members 240 and 240A which are the upper guides.

The upper guide is composed of a guide member 240 provided on the rear side and a guide member 240A provided on the front side. That is, the guide member 240A as the first guide member is arranged on the drawer direction side of the storage 210 with respect to the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231. The guide member 240 as the second guide member is the roller portion 231b. It is arranged on the side different from the drawer direction of the storage 210 (that is, the insertion direction side). Hereinafter, the guide members 240 and 240A will be described respectively.

The guide member 240 on the rear side is arranged on the other end side (rear side) of the roller portions 231b and 232b supported by the rotating shafts 231a and 231b. The guide member 240 is integrally united with the pickup roller 231 and the transfer roller 232, a plurality of gears 323 to 325, and the like, and constitutes the roller unit 230B. Then, as described above, when the storage 210 is pulled out, it rotates to the first retracted position with the rotation shaft 232a as a fulcrum so as not to interfere with the setting of the seat, and is in an upright state.

The guide member 240A on the front side is arranged on one end side (front side) of the roller portions 231b and 232b supported by the rotating shafts 231a and 231b. The guide member 240A constitutes a slide support portion 601 and a guide unit 600 that slidably support the guide member 240A in the rotation axis direction of the pickup roller 231 (extending direction of the rotation shafts 231a and 232a). Therefore, the feeding unit 230A has the above-mentioned roller unit 230B and the guide unit 600. The guide unit 600 is movable together with the guide member 240 on the rear side from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracted position, and is further movable relative to the guide member 240.

The slide support portion 601 supports the guide member 240 so as to be slidably movable between a position close to the transfer roller 232 and a position away from the transfer roller 232. As shown in FIGS. 21 (b), 22 (a), and (b), the slide support portion 601 is formed with slits 602 in the width direction of the sheet (extending direction of the rotating shafts 231a and 231b). .. An engaging piece 603 that engages with the slit 602 is provided on the back surface of the guide member 240A (the surface opposite to the guide surface 240B). Then, by engaging the two engaging pieces 603 with the slit 602, the guide member 240A is configured to slide and move along the slit 602. In the present embodiment, the engaging piece 603 is formed in a T shape, and the guide member 240A sandwiches a part of the slide support portion 601 by the back surface thereof and the T-shaped engaging piece 603. It is attached to the slide support portion 601.

Further, an elastic spring 604 for urging the guide member 240A to the rear side is provided between the slide support portion 601 and the guide member 240A. Specifically, the slide support portion 601 extends the portion where the slit 602 is formed to the pickup roller 231 side from the downstream side in the seat feeding direction of this portion to form the extension portion 607. Then, the elastic spring 604 is arranged in the extending portion 607. As shown in FIG. 21B, the elastic spring 604 is locked to the locking portion 604a provided on the slide support portion 601 at both ends and the locking portion 604b provided on the guide member 240A, respectively. The guide member 240A is configured to be pulled from the state of FIG. 22 (b) to the state of FIG. 22 (a) (in FIG. 22 (b), one end of the elastic spring 604 is a locking portion 60b. Shown in the unlocked state).

Further, as shown in FIGS. 22A and 22B, a protruding portion protruding toward the slide support portion 601 is provided on the side portion of the guide member 240A in the width direction (extending direction of the rotating shafts 231a and 232a). A 605 is provided and engages with a recess 606 provided on the widthwise side of the slide support portion 601. As a result, the movement of the guide member 240A by the elastic spring 604 to the pickup roller 231 side is restricted, and the displacement in the seat transport direction is suppressed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 21B, the slide support portion 601 is provided with rotation pins 608a and 608b as rotation support portions. The rotating pins 608a and 608b rotatably support the guide member 240A with respect to the pickup roller 231 in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the rotating shafts 231a and 232a. The rotating pin 608a is supported through the engaging hole of the side plate 211c on the front side of the feeding unit 230A. Further, the rotating pin 608b is supported through the engaging hole of the bracket 211d attached to the frame 211. As a result, the slide support portion 601 is rotatably attached to the feeding unit 230A around the rotation pins 608a and 608b.

Therefore, the guide unit 600 including the slide support portion 601 and the guide member 240A can rotate together with the guide member 240 to the guide position for guiding the seat and the upright position retracted from directly above the loading tray 221. .. Further, as will be described later, the guide unit 600 is rotatable around the rotation pins 608a and 608b with respect to the roller unit 230B including the guide member 240 and the pickup roller 231.

The upward rotation of the guide unit 600 is restricted by the slide support portion 601 coming into contact with the frame 211. On the other hand, the downward rotation of the guide unit 600 is restricted by the end portion of the guide member 240A downstream in the seat feeding direction coming into contact with the lower end of the frame 211.

Further, the guide position of the guide member 240A is such that when the pickup roller 231 (roller unit 230B) moves to the feeding position, the guide surface 240B of the guide member 240 on the rear side and the guide surface 240B of the guide member 240A on the front side The positions are almost the same. As shown in FIG. 23A, the pickup roller 231 is in the lowest position, which is a position lower than the feeding position, in a state where the pickup roller 231 is not in contact with the seat. Then, when it is detected that the pickup roller 231 is pushed up by the uppermost sheet coming into contact with the load tray 221 and the pickup roller 231 reaches the feeding position shown in FIG. 23 (b), the load is loaded. The ascent of tray 221 stops. After that, the sheet is delivered according to the delivery instruction.

Further, the position where the downward rotation of the guide member 240A is restricted is a position where the free end portion 231a1 of the rotation shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 does not abut. Then, as described above, when the pickup roller 231 rotates to the first retracted position when the storage 210 is pulled out, the free end portion 231a1 of the rotating shaft 231a becomes a part of the guide unit 600 during this rotation. In contact with each other, the guide member 240A is rotated to the first retracted position. In the present embodiment, a part of the guide unit 600 that comes into contact with the free end portion 231a1 of the rotating shaft 231a is a tip portion 607a of the extending portion 607 of the slide support portion 601. The tip portion 607a is also a regulating portion that restricts the guide member 240A to a position adjacent to the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 at the guide position.

[Replacement of roller part]
In the present embodiment, as described above, by having the rotation pins 608a and 608b as the rotation support portions, the guide member 240A and the rotation shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 are in the first position and the second position. It is relatively mobile. The relative moving direction of the guide member 240A and the rotation shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 is the vertical direction. That is, in the present embodiment, even the movement due to rotation is included in the movement in the vertical direction.

The first position is a position where the guide member 240A and the rotating shaft 231a are adjacent to each other in the extending direction of the rotating shaft 231a. On the other hand, the second position is a position where the guide member 240A retracts from the first position with respect to the rotating shaft 231a to form a space in which the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 can be pulled out from one end side of the rotating shaft 231a. be. That is, the guide member 240A retracts from a position adjacent to the pickup roller 231 to a position not adjacent to the pickup roller 231 so that the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 can be attached to and detached from the rotating shaft 231a.

Further, since the guide unit 600 has the slide support portion 601 so that the guide member 240A can be slid to a separated position away from the close position close to the transport roller 232. Then, by moving the guide member 240A to a separated position, the roller portion 232b of the transport roller 232 can be attached to and detached from the rotating shaft 232a. Hereinafter, replacement of the roller portions 231b and 232b of the pickup roller 231 and the transport roller 232 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 24 (a) to 24 (c), FIGS. 25 (a) and 25 (b).

As described above, when the storage 210 is pulled out, the pickup roller 231 moves to the first retracted position. First, when the drawer button 205 (FIG. 6 or the like) of the storage 210 is pressed, the elevating motor 227 (FIG. 7) is reversed to lower the loading tray 221. At the same time, the feed motor 301 reverses. As a result, the roller unit 230B including the pickup roller 231 is rotated upward by the detaching device 255 (FIG. 8) with the rotation shaft 232a of the transport roller 232 as a fulcrum, and is in the feeding position or the lowest position (lower position). Ascends (rotates) to the first retracted position (upper position). As a result, as shown in FIG. 24A, the pickup roller 231 moves to a position directly above the transport roller 232, the guide members 240 and 240A are in an upright state, and the pickup rollers 231 and the guide members 240 and 240A are supplied. Evacuate from the feed position or the lowest position.

Here, due to the rotation of the roller unit 230B, the free end portion 231a1 of the rotation shaft 231a of the pickup roller 231 comes into contact with the tip portion 607a of the slide support portion 601 from below. Then, it moves while pushing up the tip portion 607a. As a result, the guide unit 600 rotates around the rotation pins 608a and 608b (FIG. 21B) as a fulcrum and moves from the guide position (first predetermined position) to the standing position (predetermined position or second predetermined position). .. That is, the guide member 240A moves to the upright position as the pickup roller 231 rises from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position by the detaching device 255.

When the roller unit 230B and the guide unit 600 move to the retracted position and the upright position, respectively, the lock held in the closed state of the storage 210 is released, and the storage unit 210 is in a retractable state. Then, an operator such as a serviceman or a user pulls out the storage 210 and replaces the rollers.

[Replacement of pickup roller]
First, replacement of the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 will be described. As described above, when the storage 210 is pulled out, the feeding unit 230A is moved to the first retracted position as shown in FIG. 24 (a). Therefore, the guide unit 600 is also in a state of being moved to the upright position. When replacing the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231, as shown in FIG. 24B, the roller unit 230B in the first retracting position (first position) is placed in the lowest position (first position) lower than the feeding position. It is manually moved to (two positions) to secure a pull-out space for the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231. That is, by moving the roller unit 230B including the pickup roller 231 from the first retracted position to the lowest position while the guide member 240A is maintained in the upright position, the guide member 240A is moved to the second position with respect to the pickup roller 231. To position.

As described above, by placing the guide member 240A in the upright position and the roller unit 230B in the lowest position, a space for pulling out the roller portion 231b is secured. Then, as shown in FIG. 24 (c), in this state, the roller portion 231b is manually moved along the rotation shaft 231a, and the roller portion 231b is pulled out from the rotation shaft 231a. After removing the roller portion 231b, a new roller portion 231b is inserted into the rotating shaft 231a from the pull-out space and attached. That is, the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 is replaced with the roller unit 230B in the lowest position and the guide unit 600 in the upright position.

In the present embodiment, since the guide unit 600 is held in the upright position only by the roller unit 230B, the guide unit 600 is manually held when the roller unit 230B is moved to the lowest position. Further, when the guide unit 600 has moved to the guide position, the operator manually moves the guide unit 600 to the upright position and holds it.

By making the roller unit 230B and the guide unit 600 rotatable individually in this way, the pickup roller 231 or the guide member 240A is placed at a position where the roller unit 231b of the pickup roller 231 does not overlap with the attachment / detachment direction (pulling direction). It can be easily moved, and a space for pulling out the roller portion 231b can be secured. Therefore, the roller can be easily replaced. Further, since the roller is replaced with the feeding unit 230A pulled out from the housing 204 together with the storage 210, a wide replacement space can be secured and the replacement becomes easier.

[Replacement of transport roller]
Next, replacement of the roller portion 23b of the transport roller 232 will be described. As described above, when the storage 210 is pulled out, the roller unit 230B is moved to the first retracted position, and the guide unit 600 is moved to the upright position (FIG. 24 (a)). Then, the roller unit 230B in the first retracted position is manually moved to the lowest position, and the guide unit 600 is set to the upright position (FIG. 24 (b)). In this state, as shown in FIG. 25A, the guide member 240A is manually slid to the front side with respect to the slide support portion 601 to secure a pull-out space for the roller portion 232b of the transport roller 232.

After securing the drawing space in this way, as shown in FIG. 25B, the roller portion 232b is manually moved along the rotating shaft 231a, and the roller portion 232b is pulled out from the rotating shaft 231a. Then, after removing the roller portion 232b, a new roller portion 232b is inserted into the rotating shaft 231a from the pull-out space and attached. When the manual holding of the guide member 240A is stopped (hands are released), the guide member 240A automatically slides to an adjacent position of the transport roller 232 by the action of the elastic spring 604 (FIG. 21 (b)).

In the present embodiment, the guide member 240A in the pull-out direction of the roller portion 232b is configured to be slidable in this way, and is slidably moved against the urging force of the elastic spring 604 to provide a space for attaching and detaching the roller portion 232b. Can be secured and the rollers can be easily replaced. Further, when the replacement of the rollers is completed and the operator stops holding the guide member 240A, the elastic spring 604 automatically returns by the urging force, so that it is possible to prevent forgetting to return. Further, since the roller is replaced with the feeding unit 230A pulled out from the housing 204 together with the storage 210, a wide replacement space can be secured and the replacement becomes easier.

In this embodiment, the retard roller 233 (FIG. 7. FIGS. 23 (a) to 23 (c), etc.) can also be replaced. That is, the retard roller 233 is also cantilevered and supported, and the roller portion of the retard roller 233 can be pulled out with respect to the rotating shaft. Further, of the lower guide 256 (FIGS. 11A and 11B), the lower guide 256 adjacent to the pulling direction (front side) of the roller portion of the retard roller 233 can be slid to the front side. It has become. When replacing the roller portion of the retard roller 233, the lower guide 256 on the front side is slid to secure a space for replacing the roller portion.

<Second embodiment>
The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 26 (a) and 26 (b). In the first embodiment described above, the guide member 240A is raised with the pickup roller 231 lowered to secure a roller replacement space, and the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 is replaced. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 26B, with the pickup roller 231 raised, the guide member 240A is lowered to secure a roller replacement space, and the pickup roller 231 is replaced. I am doing it.

That is, also in the case of the present embodiment, when the storage 210 is pulled out, the roller unit 230B and the guide unit 600 are moved to the first retracted position as shown in FIG. 26A. When replacing the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231, the guide unit 600 in the upright position (second predetermined position) is manually moved to the guide position (first predetermined position) as shown in FIG. 26 (b). The space for pulling out the roller portion 231b of the pickup roller 231 is secured. That is, by moving the guide member 240A from the upright position to the guide position while maintaining the pickup roller 231 in the first retracted position (upper position), the guide member 240A is positioned in the second position with respect to the pickup roller 231. .. Other configurations and operations are the same as in the first embodiment described above.

<Other embodiments>
In each of the above-described embodiments, the feeding unit relatively moves the guide member and the shaft in the vertical direction by rotating the guide member, but slides the guide member and the shaft relatively in the vertical direction. You may move it. For example, a moving support portion for supporting one of the guide member and the feeding means so as to be slidable in the vertical direction with respect to the other member is provided, and the guide member is provided at the first position and the first position with respect to the feeding means. The slide can be moved to two positions. It should be noted that the guide member may be movable between the first position and the second position with respect to the feeding means by combining the slide movement and the movement by rotation.

Further, the slide movement in the vertical direction is not limited to the slide movement in the vertical direction, and may be a slide movement in a direction inclined with respect to the vertical direction. Further, the slide moving direction does not have to be the vertical direction. That is, the moving support portion that slidably supports one of the guide member and the feeding means with respect to the other member slides in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft of the feeding means. Any configuration is sufficient. Further, as described above, the vertical movement includes not only the slide movement but also the rotation movement.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the roller unit 230B is retracted to the first retracted position, and then the storage 210 is pulled out to replace the pickup roller 231 or the transport roller 232. However, the storage cabinet 210 may be pulled out without retracting the roller unit 230B, and the roller replacement work may be performed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 203 for controlling the feed motor 301 and the solenoid 261 is provided in the multi-stage storage device 200, but these controls may be performed by the control unit 140 of the image forming device 100. .. Further, the seat feeding device may have another configuration such as a one-stage deck regardless of the above-mentioned multi-stage storage device.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the storage 210 is mounted on the housing 204, the pickup roller 231 is once moved from the first retracted position to the second retracted position, and then moved to the feeding position or the lowest position. The configuration was explained. However, it may be configured to move directly from the first retracted position to the feeding position or the lowest position when the storage 210 is installed.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the detaching device 255 as a moving means has a configuration in which the pickup roller 231 can be moved to the feeding position or the lowest position and the first retracting position. However, the moving means may be provided only with a function of moving the pickup roller 231 from the feeding position or the lowest position to the first retracting position. In this case, the pickup roller 231 is moved from the first retracting position to the feeding position or the lowest position by another mechanism. For example, a lever that can release the state in which the pickup roller 231 is held in the first evacuation position is provided, and the pickup roller 231 is supplied from the first evacuation position by manually operating this lever in the state where the storage is pulled out. It may be moved to the feed position (bottom position) or the second retract position.

100 ... Image forming device / 200 ... Multi-stage storage device (sheet feeding device) / 203 ... Control unit (control means) / 204 ... Housing / 210 ... Storage storage / 221 ... -Loading tray / 230 ... Sheet feeding unit / 230A ... Feeding unit / 230B ... Roller unit / 231 ... Pickup roller (feeding means) / 231a ... Rotating shaft (first shaft) ) / 231b ... Roller part (first roller part) / 232 ... Conveying roller (conveying means) / 232a ... Rotating shaft (second shaft) / 232b ... Roller part (second roller part) / 240 ... Guide member (second guide member) / 240A ... Guide member (first guide member) / 240B ... Guide surface / 255 ... Separation device (raising means) / 600 ... Guide unit / 601 ... Slide support / 608a, 608b ... Rotating pin (rotating support)

Claims (13)

With the housing
A storage that can be inserted into and pulled out from the housing and can store sheets,
A feeding means provided in the storage and for feeding the sheets stored in the storage, and
A guide member provided in the storage and guiding the upper surface of the sheet fed by the feeding means is provided.
The feeding means has a roller portion that comes into contact with the seat and a shaft that supports the roller portion so as to be pulled out from one end side.
The guide member is arranged on the one end side of the roller portion supported by the shaft.
The guide member and the shaft are in a first position adjacent to each other in the extending direction of the shaft, and the guide member is retracted from the first position with respect to the shaft, and the roller portion is moved to the shaft. It is movable relative to the second position that forms a space that can be pulled out from the one end side.
A sheet feeding device characterized by that. The guide member and the shaft can move in the vertical direction relative to the first position and the second position.
The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized in that. A feeding unit having the feeding means and the guide member is provided.
The feeding unit has a rotation support portion that rotatably supports the guide member in the first position and the second position with respect to the feeding means.
The sheet feeding device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized in that. A feeding unit having the feeding means and the guide member is provided.
The feeding unit slides one of the guide member and the feeding means into the first position and the second position with respect to the other member in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the shaft. Has a movable support that supports it in a movable manner,
The sheet feeding device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized in that. The feeding unit has a slide support portion that supports the guide member so as to be slidable with respect to the rotation axis direction of the feeding means.
The sheet feeding device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized in that. The guide member is a first guide member arranged on the drawer direction side of the storage with respect to the roller portion of the feeding means.
The feeding unit is arranged on a side different from the drawing direction of the storage with respect to the roller portion, and guides the upper surface of the sheet fed by the feeding means together with the first guide member. Has a guide member,
The sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized by the above. The feeding means and the second guide member are arranged on the downstream side of the feeding means with respect to the sheet transporting direction of the feeding means, and are centered on a rotation axis substantially parallel to the rotation axis direction of the feeding means. It can rotate as a unit,
The sheet feeding device according to claim 6, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized in that. An ascending means for raising the feeding means from a lower position to an upper position above the lower position is provided.
The guide member moves to a predetermined position as the ascending means ascends the feeding means from the lower position to the upper position.
By moving the feeding means from the upper position to the lower position while the guide member is maintained at the predetermined position, the guide member is positioned at the second position with respect to the feeding means.
The sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized by the above. An ascending means for raising the feeding means from a lower position to an upper position above the lower position is provided.
The guide member moves from the first predetermined position to the second predetermined position as the feeding means is ascended from the lower position to the upper position by the ascending means.
By moving the guide member from the second predetermined position to the first predetermined position while the feeding means is maintained at the upper position, the guide member is moved to the second position with respect to the feeding means. To position,
The sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized by the above. With the housing
A storage that can be inserted into and pulled out from the housing and can store sheets,
A loading tray provided in the storage and for loading sheets,
It is a feeding means provided in the storage and feeds the sheet loaded on the loading tray, and supports the first roller portion in contact with the sheet and the first roller portion so as to be able to be pulled out from one end side. The feeding means having a first shaft, and the like.
A transporting means provided in the storage for transporting a sheet fed by the feeding means, the second roller portion in contact with the sheet and the second roller portion arranged substantially parallel to the first shaft. The transport means having a second shaft that supports the roller portion so as to be able to be pulled out from one end side.
It is provided in the storage and is arranged on one end side of the first roller portion supported by the first shaft and the second roller portion supported by the second shaft, and is fed by the feeding means. A guide member that guides the upper surface of the sheet to be formed, and
A rotation support portion that rotatably supports the guide member with respect to the feeding means in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the second shaft.
A slide support portion for supporting the guide member with respect to the transport means so as to be slidable in the extending direction of the second shaft.
A sheet feeding device characterized by that. The rotation support portion rotatably supports the guide member at a guide position for guiding the upper surface of the sheet fed by the feeding means and a retracted position retracted from the guide position.
The first roller portion is located at a position not adjacent to the guide member in the extending direction of the first shaft while the guide member is in the guide position or the retracted position, relative to the guide member. It can be pulled out from the first shaft while being positioned at the rotated position.
10. The sheet feeding device according to claim 10. A regulating portion for restricting the guide member to a position adjacent to the first roller portion at the guide position is provided.
11. The sheet feeding device according to claim 11. The slide support portion is separated from the adjacent position adjacent to the second roller portion and the second roller portion from the adjacent position so that the second roller portion can be pulled out from the second shaft. Supports the position and slides so that it can be moved.
The sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the sheet feeding device is characterized by the above.

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