JP2802625B2 - Printer paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeder for a printer that switches between continuous paper and cut paper.

(Prior Art) Since a printer has a built-in tractor feeder that normally feeds continuous paper because the printer selects continuous paper or cut-sheet paper depending on the document to be printed, the printer is located at the lower part in front of the paper storage unit. A paper feeder provided with separation pawls V for locking the lower corners of the paper at both ends of the paper is set in the printer as an adapter, and the rotation of the platen is transmitted to the paper feed roller to form a continuous paper and a cut sheet. The system is set up to allow automatic feeding of both sheets.

In such a paper feeding system, since the same platen is used, when switching from continuous paper to cut sheet paper, it is necessary to reverse the platen so that the continuous paper is retracted from the platen. Because it operates by receiving rotation, the paper feed roller also operates during continuous paper retraction, causing unnecessary movement of cut sheets. There is a problem that time is required.

In the above-described paper feeder, a separating claw V for locking a lower corner of a sheet is normally arranged at a lower front side end of a hopper section S for storing a sheet as shown in FIG. By applying a pulling force applied by the paper feed roller to the paper on the front surface, only the paper on the front surface is buckled by the separation claw V and is taken out one by one.

However, when the print carrier itself is strong such as a card or an envelope, it cannot be buckled by the separation claw V, so that it is necessary to separate the print carrier by a downwardly inclined slope U formed on the lower front surface. There is. For this reason, in a paper feeding apparatus using such a separation claw V, when printing on a rigid carrier such as a card, both side edges of the sheet are biased toward the center side of the separation claw. For this reason, an attachment is attached to the sheet feeding device, and the lower end corner of a postcard or the like is set at a position where it does not contact the separation claw F and is separated by the inclined surface U. In addition to the problem that the printing operation is complicated due to the necessity of operation, there is also a problem that it is not possible to print on paper that is short in the transport direction such as a slip due to the distance between the paper feed roller and the platen. Was.

(Object) The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a novel sheet feeding mechanism that can easily cope with printing of various types of paper. .

(Summary of the Invention) That is, the present invention is characterized in that a side wall that regulates the width direction of the stacked recording paper, a receiving plate that regulates a lower end of the recording paper, and a rear surface of the recording paper is pressed forward. A pair of hopper members composed of a pressure plate, a paper feed roller that comes into contact with the surface side of the recording paper and pulls out the paper, a separation slope formed to be inclined downward in front of the receiving plate portion, and a recording paper. When the separation claw disposed at a position abutting on the lower end corner is set at a position abutting on the side surface of the recording sheet, and at a position capable of advancing / retreating to a non-contacting position and abutting on the side surface of the recording sheet. A cut-off sheet provided with a width-restricting member for restricting the lower end of the recording sheet to a position disengaged from the separation claw, and a sheet-supply auxiliary roller disposed downstream of the sheet-supply roller and receiving power from a platen Paper feeder and paper Tractor means for transporting continuous paper positioned upstream in the feed direction, and rotating the paper feed roller in the paper discharge direction by reverse rotation of the platen, and the paper feed auxiliary roller regardless of the rotation direction of the platen And a conduction means for turning off the paper feed roller and the platen when the tractor is operated.

(Embodiment) Therefore, the details of the present invention will be described below based on an illustrated embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG.
A frame mounted on the surface of the printer main body. The frame includes a drive gear 3 that engages with a platen gear G fixed to the shaft of a platen P when set in the printer. Paper feed rollers 5 and 5
And a hopper member 6. The hopper members 6, 6 have guide shafts 9, 9 parallel to the platen P (FIG. 2).
Along with the inside,
That is, lateral width regulating members 7, which will be described later, are provided on the surface facing the side of the paper H so as to be rotatable in a direction perpendicular to the paper H.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of one of the above-mentioned hopper members (the left one in FIG. 1).
Is a side wall member that regulates a side portion of the sheet H, and a receiving plate 11 that supports the lower end of the sheet H is horizontally fixed to the inner side. A separating member 12 for thick paper having a slope inclined downward and forward is provided at the leading end of the receiving plate 11 on the sheet feeding roller side, and a separating claw 13 is provided at a position where the lower corner of the sheet H contacts. . Further, behind a space formed by the side wall member 10 and the receiving plate 11, a compression spring 17 guides the paper substantially vertically by guide pins 15 and grooves 16 as shown in FIG. A paper pressure plate 19 that is constantly urged toward the paper feed rollers 5 and 5 is provided.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, reference numeral 7 in the figure denotes the above-mentioned width regulating member, which is formed in an elongated water drop shape, and whose inner surface, that is, the surface on the paper side, projects more toward the center than the separation claw 13. It is attached to the side wall member 10 so as to be rotatable.

That is, assuming that the distance from the surface of the side wall member 10 to the tip of the separation claw 13 is l, and the distance from the surface of the side wall member 10 to the surface of the lateral width regulating member 7 is W, the dimensions are set such that l <w. I have. Reference numeral 20 in the drawing denotes a stopper that is operated by the lever 21 to hold the position when the lateral width regulating member 7 is tilted forward.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show details of the above-described train wheel mechanism 4 in a state of printing a cut sheet, and FIG. 6 shows a state of printing a continuous sheet. In FIG. Frame 1
Is set in the printer, and is a gear that engages with the platen gear G and transmits power to the intermediate gear 22, the discharge roller driving gear 24, and the gear 25. This gear 25 and small gear 26
Is integrally rotatably engaged with a shaft 27, and a gear 28 provided with a planetary gear mechanism 30, which will be described later, is freely movably engaged with the shaft 27. An integral small gear 31 is rotatably engaged.

Reference numeral 30 denotes the above-mentioned planetary gear mechanism, which is freely rotatable with a friction torque enough to allow a small gear, which will be described later, to rotate around the rotating shaft 29 of the gear 28 without contacting the stationary gears 36, 37, 39.
A mold arm L and a T-type arm T are mounted. A gear 33 meshable with the small gear 31 and meshable with the feed roller gear 36 is provided on the L-shaped arm L. A gear 34 meshable with the gear 31 and meshable with the gear 39 is provided on the T-shaped arm T. free with rotatably provided, the arms T ₂ are freely rotatably mounted on the paper feed auxiliary roller meshing possible gear 35 to the gear 37 when biased to one meshed with the gear 28.

On the trajectory of the planetary gear mechanism 30, a feed roller gear 36 fixed to the feed roller 5 and an intermediate gear 39 meshing with a feed auxiliary roller gear 37 fixed to the feed auxiliary roller 38 are arranged. When the arm 32 is in one direction, that is, when the platen P is reversed (FIG. 4), the gears 33 and 34
36, and through the gear 39 engaged with the paper feed auxiliary roller gear 37, also when the platen P is forward is moved to the other, attached to which gear 35 the paper feed auxiliary roller gear arm T ₂ 37 The positions of the gears are selected so that the gears directly mesh with each other (FIG. 5). The other end of the L-shaped arm, pin La, have pin T ₃ provided at the other end of the T-shaped arm, the release lever 41 for contacting and separating the feed roller F to platen P of the planetary gear mechanism 30 gear 33 , 34, 35 are stationary gears 36,
Locked without meshing with 39, 37.

Reference numeral 44 denotes a locking member which is rotatable about a shaft 45 and is urged by a tension spring 46 in a direction of retreating from the planetary gear mechanism 30, and a position at which the release lever 41 separates the feed roller F from the platen P (first position). When set to (Fig. 6), the projection 43
Pin to move to the planetary gear mechanism 30 side through the La, engage the T _3, and is configured to secure a position disengaging the gear 33, 34 and 35 of the planetary gear mechanism 30.

FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10 show the operation state of the entire paper feeding mechanism of the printer when the above-described paper feeding device is set, respectively. FIGS. And FIG. 10 shows a state in which printing is performed on continuous paper. In FIG. 10, reference numeral 50 denotes a paper feeder disposed between the paper feed roller 5 and the platen P. The auxiliary roller is connected to a paper feed auxiliary roller drive gear 39 (FIGS. 4 and 5), receives the paper discharged from the paper guide plates 51, 51, and transfers the paper to the platen P. 53 is a discharge roller drive gear 22
The paper discharged from the platen P is moved upward in cooperation with the guide plate 54 by a paper discharge roller connected to the paper feed roller 55. In the case of continuous paper J, it is discharged to the front side of the printer (FIG. 10).

FIGS. 11 (a) and 11 (b) show the above-described paper deflection mechanism, respectively.
55 shows an embodiment of the present invention, which is provided with a rib 55a for discharging the continuous paper to the front of the platen along the continuous paper (No. 7).
FIG. 7), two recesses 61, 62 which are rotatably mounted on a block 58 fixed to the machine casing 1 (FIG. 7) and engage with projections 60 formed on the outer periphery of an elastic piece 59 of the block 58. In the case of cut-sheet paper H, the rib 55a is located on the platen P side (a in the figure), and in the case of continuous paper, the rib surface 57a is located at the position (b) facing the front of the printer. It is configured to be selectively locked at a location.

 Next, the device configured as described above will be described.

(1) When printing on continuous paper First, the rib 55a of the paper guide mechanism 55 is set to the position where the continuous paper J is discharged to the front of the printer (FIG. 11B), and the release lever 41 is moved to FIG. Set it to the near side as shown. As a result, the feed roller F separates from the platen P, and power is transmitted to the tractor T in the printing apparatus main body. At the same time, the pin La of the planetary gear mechanism 30 engaging member 44 by the movement of the release lever 41, engages the T _3, the planetary gear mechanism the sheet feed 30 of the gear 33, 34 and 35 respectively roller driving gear 36, the paper feed The platen gear G is locked at a position where it does not mesh with the auxiliary roller driving gear 39, and the connection between the platen gear G, the sheet feeding roller driving gear 36, and the sheet feeding auxiliary roller driving gear 37 is disconnected. This allows the continuous paper to be fed to the print head at the start of the printing operation, rotates the platen forward for printing, or feeds the continuous paper J in preparation for feeding paper from the paper feeder to the printer. Even if the platen P is reversed to evacuate out of the paper movement path of the apparatus, the paper of the paper feeder will not be fed into the printing apparatus during continuous paper use.

When a print signal is input in this state, the platen P rotates and power is transmitted to the tractor T and the paper discharge roller 53, and the printing end portion of the print head M is discharged upward by the paper discharge roller 53. The ejected sheet J has its leading end in contact with the rib 55a of the sheet deflecting mechanism 55 and changes its direction toward the front. Therefore, the ejected sheet J cannot move to the stocker 56, and moves downward from the front of the printer to be separately installed. It is stored while folded in the storage section for continuous paper.

(2) When printing on a cut sheet First, the lateral width regulating members 7, 7 on both sides are tilted to the front side and retracted from the paper insertion path (the position indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 2). In this state, the hopper member 6 is moved along the shafts 9, 9 so that the surface of the side wall member 10 comes into contact with the side of the sheet (the direction of arrow B in the drawing), and the positions of the hopper members 6, 6 are adjusted. .

When such preparations are completed, the release lever 41
Is set to the position shown by the solid line in FIGS. 4 and 5, the feed roller F is pressed against the platen P, and the transmission of power to the tractor T in the printing apparatus main body is cut off.

At the same time, the locking member 44 and the pin La by the movement of the release lever 41, the engagement of the T ₃ is released, the planetary gear mechanism 30 is shaft 29
Can be turned around the center. When a sheet feed signal is input in this state, first, the platen P rotates in the reverse direction, and the gear 28 receiving the rotation rotates the gear 28, and the L-shaped arm L and the T-shaped arm T rotating around the gear 28 rotate. The planetary gears 33 and 34 move to positions (the state shown in FIG. 4) where the planetary gears 33 and 34 come into contact with and engage with the feed roller driving gear 36 and the gear 39, respectively. When the platen P further rotates in this state, the rotational force of the platen P is transmitted to the paper feed rollers 5 and 5 via the drive gear 3 and the gear train mechanism 4, and the paper on the surface set on the hopper members 6 and 6 is formed. Is drawn down. In this process, the forces of the rollers 5 and 5 are transmitted to the second and third sheets, but the separation claws 13 and 13
On the other hand, the first sheet H ₁ is moved downward over the separation claw 13 because the lower end corner is buckled by the separation claw 13, and is drawn into the sheet feeding auxiliary roller 50.

At the stage where the sheet has been moved until it is pulled into the paper feed auxiliary roller, the platen P rotates forward. The forward rotation of the platen causes the planetary gear mechanism 30 to rotate to the position shown in FIG.
The gear 35 comes into contact with the paper feed auxiliary roller driving gear 37, while the other gears 33, 34 and the gears 36, 39 are disengaged. Accordingly, the paper feed rollers 5, 5 are turned off, and only the paper feed auxiliary rollers 50, 50 further transport the cut sheet toward the platen P. When the leading edge of the cut sheet moves to the contact point between the platen P and the feed roller F, the cut sheet is not drawn into the platen P and the feed roller F without being pulled by the platen P and the feed roller F due to the reverse rotation of the platen P. Swings up and down with a small amplitude at, and is correctly aligned along the contact line between the platen P and the feed roller F,
Even if the printing paper is misaligned during the transfer, it will be corrected by this swing operation.

When the platen P moves forward in this state, the planetary gear mechanism
5 is turned in the opposite direction to the state shown in FIG. 5 and the power to the paper feed rollers 5 and 5 is cut off, while the paper feed auxiliary roller drive gear 37 is driven by the power from the platen P via the gear 35. In response, the rotation is still continued. By rotating the platen forward by an amount corresponding to the circumference of the platen P from the state where the leading end of the cut sheet is bitten by the feed roller F to the print head M and the length corresponding to the sheet printing start position, the sheet is rotated. The cue is accurately located at the printing position (Fig. 10).

When printing is started from this state, the portion where printing is completed is pulled out upward by the paper discharge roller 53 and falls to the stocker 56 by its own weight. When the platen P continues to rotate until the trailing end of the cut sheet passes through the discharge roller 53 in this way, the cut sheet is stored in the stocker 56.
In the discharging process, even if the sheet is tilted to the front of the printer, the sheet is pushed back toward the stocker 56 by the sheet deflecting mechanism 55 and stored in the stocker 56.

If there is printing for the second and subsequent pages, the platen P is rotated again, the paper is set at a predetermined position through the above-described process, and the cut-sheet paper that has been printed is placed in the stocker section. Deposit sequentially.

By the way, since the paper feed assist rollers 50 and 50 are disposed on the paper moving path between the platen P and the paper feed roller 5, for example, a horizontally long slip or the like having a length of only about 80 mm in the transport direction is used. Even when the short paper is set on the hopper member, the paper discharged from the hopper members 6, 6 by the paper feed rollers 5, 5, as shown in FIG. Even if the contact is lost, the paper feed assist rollers 50, 50
The sheet is transferred to the platen P by the sheet feeding auxiliary rollers 50 and 50. As a result, it is possible to automatically supply each sheet to the printing apparatus, and the sheet is accurately fed to a predetermined correct position with respect to the platen P.

Next, when printing on a stiff medium such as a postcard or envelope, the paper width regulating members 7, 7 are tilted toward the pressure plates 19, 19 (the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 2), and printing is performed in this state. The position of the hopper members 6, 6 is adjusted so that the lateral width regulating members 7, 7 abut on the side of the medium to be stored, and the medium is accommodated in the hopper members 6, 6. When the printer is operated in this state, the paper is pulled downward by the paper feed rollers 5 and 5 rotated by the platen P. At this time, the side of the medium
Since they are located inside the separation claws 13, 13 by the lateral width regulating members 6, they move without contacting the separation claws 13, and are separated by the slope 12 formed on the receiving plate 11. The platen P is set at a predetermined position. In this case, even if the medium has a size smaller than the distance between the sheet feeding rollers 5 and 5 and the platen P, since the sheet feeding auxiliary rollers 50 and 50 exist in the middle, the feeding is performed in the same manner as described above. The sheet is transferred to the platen P by being transferred to the paper auxiliary rollers 50 and 50.

(Effects) As described above, in the present invention, a pair of a side wall that regulates the lateral width direction of the deposited recording paper, a receiving plate that regulates the lower end of the recording paper, and a pressure plate that elastically presses the back of the recording paper forward. A hopper member, a paper feed roller that comes in contact with the front side of the recording paper and pulls the paper downward, a separating slope formed so as to be inclined downward in front of the receiving plate, and a position that contacts the lower end corner of the paper. When the separation claw is set at a position where it comes into contact with the side of the recording paper and a position where it comes into contact with the side of the recording paper, and when it is set at a position where it comes into contact with the side of the recording paper, the lower end of the recording paper is separated from the separation claw. A cut-sheet paper feeder including a width-restricting member for restricting the sheet at a deviated position, and a sheet-supply auxiliary roller disposed downstream of the sheet-supply roller and receiving power from the platen; To transport continuous paper The paper feed roller is rotated in the paper discharge direction by the reverse rotation of the platen, and the paper feed auxiliary roller is rotated in the paper feed direction regardless of the rotation direction of the platen. Since it has a conduction means for disconnecting the connection between the roller and the platen, when printing cut sheet paper after the printing of continuous paper, in order to hold the paper feeder in an inactive state even if the tractor means is reversed, It is not necessary to remove the paper feeder, and the paper ejected from the paper feed roller can be taken over by the paper feed auxiliary roller, so that even short paper can be fed automatically, and the width is restricted. The separation mechanism can be selected by moving the member forward and backward, and the printing operation can be simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a sheet feeding device of the present invention,
2 and 3 are perspective views and cross-sectional views showing details of the hopper member in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 show the train wheel mechanism of the above device in a state in which cut sheets and continuous sheets are fed. FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10 are sectional views showing a sheet feeding mechanism configured by setting the sheet feeding device shown in FIG. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing one embodiment of a paper guide plate, and FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a hopper member of a conventional paper feeder. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Machine frame, 2 ... Claw 3 ... Driving gear 4, ... Wheel train mechanism 5, 5 ... Feeding roller, 6, 6 ... Hopper member 7, 7 ... Width regulating force member 12 ... Separating member for cardboard, 13 Separating claw 19 Pressure plate 22 Discharge roller drive gear 30 Planetary gear mechanism 36 Feed roller drive gear 37 Feed auxiliary roller drive gear 41 Release lever 50, 50: paper feed auxiliary roller 53: discharge roller, 55: paper deflecting mechanism 56: stocker, H: paper G: platen gear, F: feed roller P: platen, T ... Tractor

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A pair of hopper members comprising a side wall for regulating a lateral width direction of the deposited recording paper, a receiving plate for regulating a lower end of the recording paper, a pressure plate for pressing a back surface of the recording paper forward, and the recording paper. A paper feed roller that draws out the sheet in contact with the front side of the sheet, a separating slope formed so as to be inclined downward in front of the receiving plate, and a position that is in contact with a lower end corner of the recording sheet. When the separation claw is set at a position where it comes into contact with the side surface of the recording sheet and a position where it does not come into contact, and is set at a position where it comes into contact with the side surface of the recording sheet, the lower end of the recording sheet is placed with the separation claw. And a cut-sheet paper feeder provided with a paper feed auxiliary roller disposed downstream of the paper feed roller and receiving power from a platen. Position to carry continuous paper Tractor means for rotating the paper feed roller in the paper discharge direction by reverse rotation of the platen, and rotating the paper feed auxiliary roller in the paper feed direction regardless of the rotation direction of the platen. A feeding device for disconnecting the connection between the sheet feeding roller and the platen when the device is operated.