JP2967200B2 - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder, and more particularly, to an automatic document feeder having a discharge unit provided with document switching means.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIG. 5, a conventional automatic document feeder (ADF) includes a paper supply unit 2 for supplying a document, a transport unit 3 for transporting the supplied document onto a contact glass for copying, and a copy unit. And a discharge unit 4 for discharging the completed document to the outside, and is placed on the image forming apparatus main body 1. 2a is a paper feed tray, and 4a is a paper discharge tray.

In the discharge section 4 of such an automatic document feeder (ADF), as shown in FIG. 6, the copied document p is discharged rightward, that is, in the direction of the discharge tray 4a, and the copied document p is discharged. To turn the document over, turn left,
The discharge path is switched to the one in the 4b direction, and the other is to return to the transport section (backside copy side 4c) again to copy the backside.

This switching method is performed by switching means 5 including an upper switching claw 6 and a lower switching claw 7.

That is, if the lower switching claw 7 is moved closer to the reversing roller 8 at the center with the tip of the lower switching claw 7 centered on the shaft 7a, the copied document p is moved by the conveying rollers 14 and 13 along the guide plate 16 along the reversing roller 9 The document p is conveyed between the lower switching claw 7 and the guide plate 17 by the reversing roller 9 and is discharged onto the discharge tray 4a by the discharge roller 11.

When the tip of the lower switching claw 7 is moved away from the reversing roller 8 and the upper switching claw 6 is rotated about the shaft 6a to bring the tip thereof closer to the reversing roller 8, the copied document p is transported by the transport roller. The document p is transported by the rollers 14 and 13 to the reversing roller 9, and the document p rises between the reversing roller 8 and the guide plate 15 and passes over the upper switching claw 6. Exhausted to 4a.

Further, when the tip of the upper switching claw 6 is separated from the reversing roller 8 and the tip of the lower switching claw 7 is also separated from the reversing roller 8, the copied document p reaches the reversing roller 9 by the transport rollers 14 and 13. The reversing roller 9 ascends between the reversing roller 8 and the lower switching claw 7, passes between the reversing roller 8 and the guide plate 15, and is conveyed between the reversing roller 8 and the upper switching claw 6. Guide plate from 10
The sheet is transported between the guide plate 16 and the guide plate 19 and is transported to the rear copy side 4c.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the method of branching the document p by using the switching means 5 between the upper switching claw 6 and the lower switching claw 7 as described above, the switching claw 6 and the lower switching claw 7 are placed with a certain length. That is, the two had to be provided separately. Therefore, a guide plate 15 is required to form a conveyance path between the upper and lower switching claws 6 and 7, and an additional member is required, resulting in an increase in the weight of the ADF.

Also, since the position of the discharge roller 11 is lowered, the discharge tray
There is also a problem that the distance between the discharge roller 4a and the discharge roller 11 becomes narrow, and the amount of documents deposited on the discharge tray 4a becomes small.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem.

[Means for solving the problem]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following automatic document feeder. That is, the present invention provides an automatic feeder that includes a paper feed unit that supplies a document, a transport unit that transports the supplied document onto a contact glass for copying, and a discharge unit that discharges the copied document to the outside. A document feeder, wherein the discharge unit has document switching means for reversing the document sent from the transport unit and branching the document to the left and right, and the document switching means is substantially at the center of the discharge unit; And two opposed document switching claws located above the reversing roller provided on the shaft. A plurality of the document switching claws are attached to the respective shafts, and the opposed leading ends are close to each other. An automatic document feeder, which is arranged alternately so that it can pass each other.

[Action]

When the two document switching claws are not operated by the solenoid and are in a free state, the copied document is discharged to the back side copying side. When one document switching claw is actuated by a solenoid and its rear end approaches the reversing roller, the copied document is discharged to the right discharge tray.

Move the rear end of one document switching claw away from the reversing roller,
When the tip of the other document switching claw approaches the reversing roller,
The copied document is discharged to a discharge roller on the left side.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, together with how the configuration of the present invention is actually embodied.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of one embodiment of the present invention, in which 20 is
ADF discharge section. A reversing roller 24 is positioned substantially at the center of the discharge unit 20. Above the reversing roller 24, substantially triangular document switching claws 22 and 23 are provided. Is composed. These document switching claws 22 and 23
Are mounted on the shafts 22a and 23a as shown in FIG. The opposing tips 22b and 23b are staggered so as to approach and pass each other. Therefore, the document switching claws 22 and 23 are independently rotated shafts 22a and 23a to change the document path.
However, since the tip portions 22b and 23b are alternately arranged, the tip portions 22b and 23b can pass through each other without abutting and can rotate. The rotation of the shafts 22a and 23a is performed by a solenoid.

Then, the leading end portions 22b and 23 of the document switching claws 22 and 23 are
Since b is staggered, that is, as shown in FIG. 1, the document switching claws 22, 23 are in a state of being close to each other, so that the document switching pawls 22, 23 can form a document transport path,
The guide between the document switching claws 22 and 23 becomes unnecessary.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a reversing roller. As shown in FIG. 1, when the copied document is transported to the reversing roller 25 by the transport rollers 30 and 29, the document is transported to the discharge roller 27 or 28 by the reversing roller 25. Is what you do.

Reference numeral 26 also denotes a reversing roller for transporting the original in the direction 36 for backside copying.

 31, 32 and 33 are guide plates for guiding the original.

Since the document switching claws 22 and 23 are provided on the reversing roller 24 as shown in FIG.
7 and 28 can be arranged at substantially the same level as the switching claws 22 and 23, respectively, so that the space between the discharge trays 34 and 35 is large and the amount of originals deposited is increased.

Since the position of the discharge roller 27 is located higher upward, in a high-speed machine, there is a method of obtaining a good stacking property (amount of deposition) by reducing the peripheral speed of the discharge roller to the peripheral speed of the reversing roller 24. .

Next, the operation of the automatic document feeder having the above configuration will be described.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of returning the original to the backside copy side 36 in order to further copy the back side of the original whose front side has been copied.

When the document switching claws 22 and 23 are not operated by the solenoid and are in a free state, the leading ends 22b and 23b of the document switching claws 22 and 23 are separated from the reversing roller 24. In this state, the document whose surface has been copied is conveyed to the reversing roller 25 along the guide plate 32 by the conveying rollers 30 and 29, and is raised by the reversing roller 25 along the reversing roller 24 and
The original reaches the guide plate 32 by the reversing roller 26.
The sheet is conveyed to the back side copy side 36 while descending between the side 33.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for discharging the copied document to the right discharge tray 34 side.

In this case, the solenoid is operated to rotate the shaft 23a of the document switching claw 23 so that the rear end 23c of the document switching claw 23 approaches the reversing roller 24. In this state, the copied document reaches the reversing roller 25 along the guide plate 32 by the conveying rollers 30, 29, and the reversing roller 25 causes the document switching claw 23 to move.
And the guide plate 31, the document p is branched rightward and reaches the discharge roller 27, and the document p reaching the discharge roller 27 is dropped and discharged to the right discharge tray 34 by the discharge roller 27.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for discharging the copied document to the left discharge tray 35.

In this case, the shaft 23a of the document switching claw 23 is rotated to
The rear end 23c of the document switching claw 23 is separated from the reversing roller 24. At the same time, the solenoid is operated, and the shaft 22a of the document switching claw 22 is
To rotate the tip end 22b of the document switching claw 22
Move closer to 4. In this state, the copied document reaches the reversing roller 25 along the guide plate 32 by the conveying rollers 30 and 29, and moves up between the reversing roller 24 and the document switching claw 23 by the reversing roller 25. The document p, which has passed over the claw 22, reaches the discharge roller 28, and reaches the discharge roller 28, and is dropped and discharged to the discharge tray 35 on the left side by the discharge roller 28.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, the document switching means comprises two opposed document switching claws located above a reversing roller provided substantially at the center of the discharge section. A plurality of attached front ends are arranged alternately so as to be close to each other and pass through each other, so that one end of each document switching claw can pass without contacting each other, and two Since the document can be conveyed by the document claw, another guide member is not required. As a result, the weight of the automatic document feeder can be reduced, and the cost can be reduced.

In addition, since the discharge rollers can be arranged at a high position, the distance between the discharge rollers and the discharge tray can be increased, and as a result, the amount of accumulation can be increased.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view for discharging an original to a back copy side in one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view for discharging an original to a right output tray. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for discharging a document to the left discharge tray, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional example. Reference numeral 20: discharge unit, 21: document switching means, 22, 23: document switching claw, 22b, 23b: tip of document switching claw.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-175331 (JP, A) JP-A-60-159859 (JP, A) Fully open 1986-75457 (JP, U) Really open 1986 181047 (JP, U) Fully open 1979-55,600 (JP, U) Fully open, 52-39141 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An automatic feeder for feeding a document; a transport unit for transporting the supplied document onto a contact glass for copying; and a discharge unit for discharging the copied document to the outside. A document feeder, wherein the discharge unit has document switching means for reversing the document sent from the transport unit and branching the document to the left and right, and the document switching means is substantially at the center of the discharge unit; And two opposed document switching claws located above the reversing roller provided on the shaft. A plurality of the document switching claws are attached to the respective shafts, and the opposed leading ends are close to each other. An automatic document feeder, wherein the automatic document feeders are alternately arranged so that they can pass each other.