JP2538933B2 - Feeder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Object of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention is attached to an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer or an electronic copying machine, and a paper (paper, plastic sheet) is attached to the image forming apparatus. Etc.) as appropriate.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in a sheet feeding device provided in a plurality of sheet accommodating portions, a plurality of aligned sheet feeding means provided corresponding to the sheet accommodating portions operate simultaneously.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, in the conventional sheet feeding device having a plurality of sheet accommodating portions, a plurality of aligning and feeding means respectively provided corresponding to the sheet accommodating portions are provided. Since it is configured to operate at the same time, when the paper is continuously fed from the paper storage unit located on the upstream side of the transport path that transports the paper toward the outlet, the preceding paper is placed downstream of the transport path. If the sheet is not completely passed through the last-stage aligning / feeding means located on the side, the aligning / feeding means cannot be stopped in order to perform the aligning operation of the next sheet. As a result, the number of sheets to be fed per unit time is reduced, and there is a problem that the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus cannot be adjusted.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to continuously feed a sheet from a sheet storage unit located on the upstream side of a conveyance path that conveys the sheet toward an outlet. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a feeding device capable of performing feeding with a shortened feeding interval, and capable of continuously feeding a sheet in a state of being compatible with the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) The present invention provides a feeding device that is attached to an image forming apparatus and feeds a sheet to the image forming apparatus, in order to solve the above problems. A plurality of sheet storage units for storing the sheets,
The take-out means provided in each of the paper-sheet accommodating portions for taking out the paper, the aligning-feeding means for aligning and feeding the papers taken out by the take-out means, and the paper aligned by these aligning-feeding means A sheet accommodating unit that is equipped with a transport path for transporting toward the outlet and a aligning and feeding means stop mechanism that stops the aligning and feeding means located upstream of this transport path, and is located upstream of the transport path. When continuously feeding the sheets from the section, when the trailing edge of the preceding sheet passes the aligning and feeding means located on the upstream side of the conveying path, the aligning and feeding means stopping mechanism causes the aligning and feeding means to perform the alignment feeding. When the feeding means is temporarily stopped, the next sheet is taken out by the take-out means, and the leading end of the sheet is aligned by the aligning and feeding means that is stopped. When the trailing edge of the preceding sheet is conveyed to a predetermined position, the aligned sheet is fed. Configured to initiate delivery by means A.

(Operation) That is, according to the present invention, when the paper is continuously fed from the paper storage portion located on the upstream side of the transport path, the rearrangement feeding in which the trailing edge of the preceding paper is located on the upstream side of the transport path is performed. When the sheet has passed through the means, the aligning and feeding means stopping mechanism temporarily stops the aligning and feeding means, the takeout means takes out the next sheet, and the leading end of the sheet is aligned by the stopped aligning and feeding means. , When the trailing edge of the preceding sheet is conveyed to a predetermined position, the feeding by the alignment feeding means is started,
Even when the paper is continuously fed from the paper storage section located on the upstream side of the conveyance path, it is possible to feed the paper with the feeding interval shortened, and the paper is suitable for the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus side. It is possible to perform efficient continuous feeding in the state.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are an external perspective view and a schematic vertical sectional side view showing the internal structure of an image forming unit device equipped with a feeding device of the present invention, and have the following structures.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a laser printer as an image forming apparatus. The laser printer 1 is placed on a multi-cassette feeder 2 as a feeding apparatus of the present invention, and an envelope feeder 3 is mounted on the rear side thereof. .

The laser printer 1 has the following configuration. That is, reference numeral 5 in the drawing denotes a printer main body of the laser printer 1, the rear portion of the upper surface of the printer main body 5 is raised one step, and a concave portion 6 as a paper discharge portion is formed in the central portion of the upper surface. The concave portion 6 is provided with a jogger device 7 having a pedestal (jogger tray) 8.

Further, an operation panel display section 9 and an operation panel switch section 10 are provided on the right side of the recess 6, and three IC card insertion ports 11 ... Are provided on the left side. Also,
A paper discharge tray 12 is mounted on the front side of the printer body 5.

An image forming mechanism 4 is provided in the printer body 5. That is, 15 in the drawing is a drum-shaped photosensitive member,
A charging device 16, a laser optical system 17, a developing device 18, a transfer device 19, a peeling device 20, a cleaning device 21, and a charge eliminating device 22 are sequentially arranged in the peripheral portion along the rotation direction.

Further, in the printer body 5, the photoconductor 15 and the transfer device
A conveyance path 24 extending forward through the image transfer portion 23 between the sheet feeding cassette 19 and the sheet feeding cassette 19 is formed in the bottom of the printer main body 5 and the feeding cassettes 26 and 27 of the multi-cassette feeder 2. Paper P automatically fed through paper feed rollers 28, 28 'and aligning roller pairs 29, 29', etc., and paper manually fed from the manual feed tray 13.
The envelope A, which is automatically fed from P and the envelope feeder 3, is guided to the image transfer section 23.

Further, an aligning roller pair 30 is arranged on the upstream side of the image transfer section 23 of the transport path 24, and the fixing device 3 is arranged on the downstream side.
1, a paper discharge selector 32, and a paper discharge roller pair 33 are arranged.

At the end of the transport path 24, a pair of paper discharge rollers including a lower roller 34a and an upper roller 34b for guiding the paper P, envelope A, etc. sorted by the paper discharge selector 32 to the recess 6 as a paper discharge portion. A branch conveyance path 35 including 34 is formed.

In FIG. 2, 40 is a lower cover, 41 is a front cover, 42.
Is an upper cover, 43 is a right cover, 44 is a left cover, 45 is a right cover opening / closing lever, and 46 is an upper unit opening / closing lever.
Reference numerals 47, 48, ..., 49 shown in FIG. 3 are control boards constituting the control unit 51.

Then, in the image forming operation, the photoconductor 15 is driven and is uniformly charged by the operation of the charging device 16, and then the laser optical system 17 exposes the photoconductor 15 according to the image signal. And an electrostatic latent image is formed.

Next, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 15 is developed by the developing device 18 using a two-component developer composed of toner and carrier, and is sent to the image transfer section 23 side as a developer image.

On the other hand, in synchronization with this developer image forming operation, the paper feed cassette
The paper P selectively taken out from 25, 26, 27, the paper P manually fed, or the envelope A supplied from the envelope feeder 3 is fed through the aligning roller pair 30 and is preliminarily placed on the photoconductor 15. The formed developer image is transferred to the paper P or the envelope A by the function of the transfer device 19.

Then, the paper P or the envelope A is peeled off from the photoconductor 15 by the peeling device 20, passes through the conveying path 24, and is fixed in the fixing device.
Sent to 31.

Here, after the developer image is melted and fixed on the paper P or the envelope A, the discharge direction is sorted by the paper discharge selector 32, and discharged onto the pedestal 8 of the upper jogger device 7 or onto the lower paper discharge tray 12. To be done.

After the developer image is transferred onto the paper P or the envelope A, the residual toner remaining on the photoconductor 15 is cleaned by the cleaning device 21, and the next copying operation is ready.

Next, the multi-cassette feeder 2 as the feeding device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 4 to 7.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 50 denotes a feeder main body serving as a feeder main body, and inside the feeder main body 50, upper and lower two-stage cassette accommodating portions 55, 55 'are formed.
A cassette 2 as a paper storage unit that stores the paper P
It houses 6,27. In addition, these cassettes 26, 27
The presence / absence of each is detected by the cassette detecting means 60, 60 '.

At the rear of the cassette housing 55, 55 ', these cassettes 2
Sheet detecting means 61, 61 'for detecting the sheets P of 6, 27 are respectively arranged to detect the presence or absence of the sheets P in the cassettes 26, 27.

In addition, the cassette 2
Paper feed rollers 28, 28 'are provided as a take-out means for taking out the sheets P in the sheets 6, 27 one by one. In addition, cassette 2
A sheet size detecting means 63 for detecting the sheet size by a magnet of a sheet partition plate and a reed switch 62 (not shown) is provided.

The paper P taken out from the upper cassette 26 via the paper feed roller 28 'is guided by the upper guide 64, then the leading end of the paper P is aligned by the upper aligning roller pair 29', and then guided by the outlet guide 65. It is fed to the laser printer 1 from a delivery port 66 as a delivery port.

Further, the paper P taken out from the lower cassette 27 via the paper feed roller 28 is guided by the intermediate guide lower guide 67, then the leading end thereof is aligned by the lower aligning roller pair 29, and then the intermediate guide 68. After being guided, it is nipped and conveyed by a pair of upper aligning rollers 29 ', guided by an outlet guide 65, and fed from the delivery port 66 to the laser printer 1.

Also, the guides 64 and 67, the pair of aligning rollers 29 and 29 ',
Delivery means 56 including an intermediate guide 68, an exit guide 65, etc.
Is installed on the back side of a door 80 that is rotatable about the shaft 70 of the frame 69 of the multi-cassette feeder 2.

The door 80 can be opened by rotating a lever 81 in the direction of arrow a in the figure. That is, the lock shaft provided so as to project from the frame 69 by rotating the door lever 81 in the direction of the arrow a in the figure.
The lock lever 83, which is locked by 82, pivots in the direction of the arrow b in the figure to release the lock, and the door 80 opens in the direction of the arrow c with the shaft 70 as a fulcrum. Then, the entire feeding means 55 mounted on the back side of the door 80 is exposed, and the work of removing the paper P jammed in the feeding path 85 constituted by the feeding means 55 and the maintenance and inspection work can be performed very easily. Is possible.

Further, the door 80 is fixed to the shaft 70 by a bush and a stopper (not shown), and is detachable from the feeder main body 50 by removing the stopper.

Further, the opening and closing of the door 80 can be detected by turning on and off the micro switch of the door detecting means 86 in which the extending portion from the intermediate guide 68 attached to the door 80 is attached to the frame 69. It has become.

Further, FIG. 4 is a left side portion of the multi-cassette feeder 2, which is a pair of aligning rollers 2 as a positioning and feeding means.
A drive means 126 for driving 9,29 ', a control section 90 as control means for controlling the multi-cassette feeder 2, and a signal transmitting / receiving section 91 connected to the control section 90 by a signal cable (not shown) are arranged. There is. Then, in the signal transmission / reception section 91, as shown in FIG. 8, signal transmission / reception means (interface signal cable) connected to the control section 51 of the laser printer 1.
92 is connected and various controls are performed.

The upper surface of the feeder main body 50 is a mounting surface 53 on which the laser printer 1 as an image forming apparatus can be directly mounted, and a hole serving as a positioning portion 54 is formed in the mounting surface 53 to form a laser. A protrusion (not shown) on the bottom surface of the printer 1 is engaged so that it can be set at a predetermined position.

In addition, the aligning roller pair 2 is used as the alignment feeding means.
The driving means 126 of 9 ', 29 has the construction shown in detail in FIG. That is, 93 is an aligning motor as a drive source, and the driving force of the aligning motor 93 is the driving roller 29a of the aligning roller pair 29 'located downstream of the conveyance path via the first power transmission system 126a. 'To the second
It is adapted to be transmitted to the drive roller 29a of the aligning roller pair 29 located on the upstream side of the transport path via the power transmission system 126b. 29b and 29b ′ are drive rollers 29a and 29b.
It is a driven roller provided in a state of rolling contact with a '.

The first power transmission system 126a includes an aligning motor 93
The power generated by the drive roller is sequentially transmitted through the belt 94, the gear pulley 95, the gear portion 95a of the gear pulley 95, and the gear 96.
It is configured to be transmitted to the gear 97 or the like attached to the shaft 127 of 29a '. Then, the drive roller 29a 'is driven.

Further, the second power transmission system 126b transmits the power generated by the aligning motor 93 to the belt 94, the gear pulley 95, the gear portion 95a of the gear pulley 95, the gear 96 ', and the small diameter gear integrated with the gear 96'. 96a ', a spring clutch 128 as a mechanism for stopping the alignment feeding means, a gear 99, a gear 100, and a gear 101 attached to a shaft 129 of a drive roller 29a. Then, the drive roller 29a is driven.

Further, the shaft 102 of the gear 99 has the gear 130 and the ratchet 13
The spring clutch 128 consisting of 1, a coil spring 132 and an arbor 133 is provided. When the solenoid 105 shown in FIG. 4 is OFF, the flapper 106 of the solenoid 105 is engaged with the ratchet 131 by the spring 107. Drive force is not transmitted to the shaft 102 of the gear 99
Only 30 can rotate.

When the solenoid 105 is turned on, the flapper 106 is attracted by the solenoid 105 and separated from the ratchet 131, and the power is transmitted to the gear 99 via the gear 130, the spring 132, and the arbor 133.
And the gear 101 rotates via the gear 100. As a result, the driving roller 29a of the lower aligning roller pair 29 is
Is driven.

FIG. 5 shows the right side portion of the multi-cassette feeder 2 in which the drive units for the paper feed rollers 28, 28 'are arranged.

The power supply when the paper feed motor 110 rotates in both the forward and reverse directions and rotates left is attached to the shaft of the upper paper feed roller 28 'which has a built-in one-way clutch by the belt 111, the gear pulley 112, and the gear 113. The paper feed roller 28 'transmitted to the gear 114 rotates.

On the other hand, at the same time, a gear 117 including a one-way clutch attached to the gears 115 and 116 and the shaft of the lower feed roller 28.
Although the power is transmitted to the gears 117, the gear 117 rotates idly and the lower paper feed roller 28 does not rotate due to the action of the one-way clutch.

Further, the power when the paper feed motor 110 rotates to the right is transmitted to the gear 1 via the belt 111, the gear pulley 112, the gear 115, and the gear 116.
The lower paper feed roller 28 is rotated by being transmitted to 17.

On the other hand, at the same time, the power is transmitted to the gear 114 attached to the shaft of the upper paper feed roller 28 ′, but the built-in one-way clutch prevents the upper paper feed roller 28 ′ from rotating due to idling. Has become.

At the end of the shaft of the paper feed rollers 28, 28 ', a cam 11 with a half-moon shaped paper feed roller 28, 28' in phase.
8, 119 are attached, and cam sensors 120, 121 for detecting the positions of the cams 118, 119, that is, the positions of the half-moon-shaped feed rollers 28, 28 'are provided.

 The internal structure is as described above.

Then, in the multi-cassette feeder 2 having the above-mentioned configuration, when the paper feed signal for the paper P of the upper cassette 26 is issued, the signal transmission / reception unit is transmitted via the interface signal cable 92.
It is sent to the control unit 90 via 91.

The control unit 90 detects the detection signal of the size of the paper P in the upper cassette 26 by the paper size detecting means 63 ', the detection signal of the paper detecting means 61 for detecting the presence or absence of the paper P, and the presence or absence of the upper cassette 26. Cassette detecting means 60 for detecting
Each of the detection signal detected by 1. and the detection signal detected by the door detection means 86 for detecting the opening and closing of the door 80 is sent to the laser printer 1, and when it is determined that all are normal signals, the sheet feeding motor 110 is moved to the left. The rotation of the gear 114, which starts to rotate, causes the cam 119 on the same axis and the upper paper feed roller 28 'to rotate, thereby rotating the cassette.
The paper P in 26 is taken out.

The sheet P thus taken out is guided by the guide 64 and the leading end of the sheet P is aligned by the aligning roller pair 29 '. After a slight delay, the driving roller 29a 'of the aligning roller pair 29 rotates and the sheet P is nipped and conveyed by the aligning roller pair 29.

At this time, when the cam 119 detects the cam 119 again, the paper feed motor 110 stops rotating and stands by until the next paper feed signal.

Paper P nipped and conveyed by a pair of aligning rollers 29
Is guided by the exit guide 65 and is fed from the delivery port 66 to the laser printer 1.

Then, the leading edge of the sheet P guided into the laser printer 1 is detected by an aligning switch (not shown), and after the length of the sheet P plus α has elapsed, that is,
When the paper P is completely fed from the upper aligning roller pair 29 ', a stop signal of the aligning motor 93 from the control unit 51 of the laser printer 1 is sent to the multi-cassette feeder 2 and the aligning roller pair 29' is stopped. To do.

At this time, the solenoid 105 remains OFF, and the drive roller 29a of the lower aligning roller pair 29 does not rotate.

Also, the paper feeding operation of the lower cassette 27 is
Similarly, when the detection signals of the paper size detecting means 63, the paper detecting means 61, the cassette detecting means 60, and the door means 86 are sent to the laser printer 1 and all are judged to be normal signals,
The paper feed motor 110 starts to rotate right, the gear 117 rotates, the cam 118 and the lower paper feed roller 28 coaxially rotate, the paper P in the lower cassette 27 is delivered, and it is guided by the guide 67 and contacts the aligning roller pair 29. It touches and the tip is aligned.

After the aligning motor 93 starts to rotate with a slight delay, the solenoid 105 is turned on and the gear 101 rotates, whereby the paper P is nipped and conveyed by the aligning roller pair 29, and then guided by the intermediate guide 68. , And is conveyed by being sandwiched by the upper aligning roller pair 29 ′, guided by the exit guide 65, and delivered from the delivery port 66 to the laser printer 1.

By the way, when it is nipped and conveyed by the aligning roller pair 29. When the cam 118 is detected again by the cam sensor 120, the paper feed motor 110 stops rotating and stands by until the next paper feed signal.

The sheet P nipped and conveyed by the aligning roller pair 29, 29 ′ is taken into the laser printer 1 and the leading edge of the sheet P is detected by an aligning switch (not shown). When the main body control unit 51 determines that the sheet has been completely delivered, the solenoid 105 is turned off by the signal from the main body control unit 51, the rotation of the aligning roller pair 29 is stopped, and the leading edge of the next sheet of paper P is waited for alignment. It is like this.

Next, when the main body controller 51 determines that the sheet P nipped and conveyed by the aligning roller pair 29 'has been completely delivered by the aligning roller pair 29', an aligning motor stop signal from the main body controller is sent. Then, the aligning motor 93 is stopped and stands by until the next sheet feeding signal.

Further, when the sheet feeding operation is continuously performed from the lower cassette 27 located on the upstream side of the transport path 85, the aligning roller pair 29 in which the trailing edge of the preceding paper P is located on the upstream side of the transport path 85 is used. At the time of passing, that is, when passing the A roll in FIG. 7, the spring clutch 128 is set to the non-power transmission state to temporarily stop the driving roller 29a of the aligning roller pair 29 and to feed the next paper P by the paper feed roller 28. When the trailing edge of the preceding paper P which is taken out and aligned by the pair of stopping aligning rollers 29 and conveyed by the upper aligning roller pair 29 'is conveyed to a predetermined position, the aligning roller is taken out. It is designed to start feeding by pair 29.

As a result, even when the paper P is continuously fed from the lower cassette 27 located on the upstream side of the transport path 85, it is possible to feed the paper P with the feeding interval l shortened, and the paper P is fed. It is possible to perform efficient continuous feeding in a state commensurate with the processing capacity of the side.

The sheet feeding operation from the lower cassette 27 is also performed in the same manner as the upper cassette 26.

In addition, the cassette 26 or 27 specified during the paper feeding operation
When the paper P is not detected by the paper detecting means 61, 61 ', when the cassettes 26, 27 are not detected by the cassette detecting means 60, 60', and further when the door 80 is not closed by the door detecting means 86. When the multi-cassette feeder 2 is turned on, the multi-cassette feeder 2 does not operate.

In addition, the cassette housing portion 5 of the multi-cassette feeder 2
The cassettes 26 and 27 housed in 0 and 50 'are the laser printer 1 mounted on the multi-cassette feeder 2.
The cassette 25 differs from the cassette 25 in the length, and the other shapes are the same. Therefore, the cassettes 26 and 27 of the multi-cassette feeder 2 can be mounted on the laser printer 1, and conversely, the cassette 25 of the laser printer 1 can be mounted on the multi-cassette feeder 2 for use. Therefore, the troublesome work of replacing the sheets P ... Is not necessary.

In addition, the cam 1 that detects the position of the paper feed rollers 28, 28 '
If the multi-cassette feeder 2 is stopped midway for some reason during the paper feeding operation, the cams 18 and 119 and the cam sensors 120 and 121 will not operate even if the paper P fed halfway is removed.
Sometimes it is not detected in 118,119.

At this time, the paper feeding motor 110 is rotated to rotate the gear 114 or the gear 117, and the cams 118 and 119 move to the cam sensors 120 and 121.
The paper feed motor 110 is rotated until it is detected at the same time, and at the same time, the cassette detection means 60, 6o ′ of the designated cassette 26, 27,
The signals of the door detection means 86 of the paper detection means 61, 61 are sent to the control section 51 of the laser printer 1, and after it is determined that the signals are regular signals, a paper feed signal is issued and the multi-cassette feeder The paper P is fed from 2.

In the description of the above-described embodiment, two cassettes of the multi-cassette reader 2 serving as the feeding device have been described, but it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the scope of the invention.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, when continuously feeding a sheet from the sheet storage portion located on the upstream side of the transport path, the trailing edge of the preceding sheet is located upstream of the transport path. At the time of passing through the aligning and feeding means located on the side, the aligning and feeding means stopping mechanism temporarily stops the aligning and feeding means, and the take-out means takes out the next sheet and adjusts the leading edge of the stopped sheet. Since the sheet is aligned by the position feeding means, and when the trailing edge of the preceding paper is conveyed to a predetermined position, the feeding by the position adjusting feeding means is started. Even when the paper is continuously fed from the copy section, it is possible to feed the paper with the feeding interval shortened, and efficient continuous feeding can be performed while the paper meets the processing capacity of the image forming apparatus. It is possible to provide an advantageous feeding device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view showing an embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing an image forming unit device equipped with the feeding device of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is its internal structure. FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional side view showing the inside of the feeding device, FIG. 4 is a left side view of the inside of the feeding device, FIG. 5 is a right side view of the inside of the feeding device, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view showing the sheet conveyance path from the lower cassette, and FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the connection state of the sending and receiving means. 1 ... Image forming device (laser printer), 2 ... Feeding device (multi-cassette feeder), 26,27 ... Cassette of feeding device, 28,28 '... Taking-out means (feeding roller), 2
9,129 ′ …… Aligning and feeding means (aligning roller pair), 2
9a, 29a '... Drive roller, 50 ... Feeder main body (feeder main body), 56 ... Delivery means, 66 ... Outgoing port, 85 ... Conveyance path, 90 ... Control section (control means), 93 ...... Drive source (aligning motor), 126 …… Aligning roller drive means, 126a …… First power transmission system, 126b …… Second power transmission system, 128 …… Alignment feeding means stopping mechanism (Spring clutch), P ... Paper.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A feeding device, which is attached to an image forming apparatus and feeds a sheet to the image forming apparatus, wherein a plurality of sheet accommodating sections for accommodating the sheets and a sheet provided in each of the sheet accommodating sections. Taking-out means for taking out, aligning and feeding means for orienting and feeding the sheets taken out by these taking-out means, and a conveying path for conveying the sheets aligned by these orienting and feeding means toward an outlet. And a aligning / feeding means stopping mechanism that stops the aligning / feeding means located upstream of the transport path, and continuously feeds paper from the sheet storage section located upstream of the transport path. When the trailing edge of the preceding sheet passes through the aligning / feeding means located on the upstream side of the conveying path, the aligning / feeding means stopping mechanism temporarily stops the aligning / feeding means and the ejecting means. Take out the next sheet of paper with Is aligned by Kuraikyuoku means, the feeding device the rear end of the preceding sheet is characterized by being configured so as to start feeding by Seii feeding means when conveyed to a predetermined position. 2. The feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the aligning and feeding means is a pair of aligning rollers driven by one driving source. 3. The aligning and feeding means stopping mechanism comprises a spring clutch interposed in a driving force transmission system for transmitting the driving force of the driving source to the aligning and feeding means. The feeding device according to item 1.