JP3278529B2 - Roll paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll paper feeder used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer, and more particularly to a roll paper loading unit which can be opened and closed with respect to the apparatus body. The present invention also relates to a sheet feeding device including a mechanism for preventing the roll sheet from falling off from the sheet feeding roller due to the opening / closing operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional roll paper feeder, a roller paper loading unit for removably loading roll paper is easily unitized to facilitate maintenance such as replacement of roll paper or jamming of paper. It is formed to be openable and closable with respect to the apparatus main body. As the opening and closing method, there are known a method of pulling out the unit in a horizontal direction at right angles to the width direction of the roll paper, and a method of opening and closing by pivotally supporting the unit to the apparatus main body. Further, a pair of paper feed rollers is provided on a transport path of the roll paper from the paper feed device in the apparatus main body toward the image forming unit in order to pull out the roll paper, and the roll paper is held between the paper feed roller pair. The paper is drawn out and transported to the image forming unit.

[0003]

In the apparatus having such a configuration, since the paper feed roller pair is provided on the apparatus main body side, the operator puts his hand in the apparatus main body to transfer the roll paper to the paper feed roller pair. Must be set so that it is clamped between.
Alternatively, the roll paper must be set on the paper feed roller pair by putting a hand through a window that can be opened and closed after the unit is mounted. As described above, the work for holding the roll paper between the pair of paper feed rollers becomes complicated, and it becomes necessary to provide an extra space on the apparatus main body side.

If both rollers of the pair of paper feed rollers are provided on the unit side, a connecting device such as a gear or a belt for driving the paper feed rollers is required, and the size of the device cannot be avoided.

Further, when one roller of a pair of paper feed rollers is located in the apparatus main body and the other corresponding roller is located on the unit side, the rollers are brought into contact with each other while the unit is mounted, and the roll paper is rolled. The work of pinching becomes complicated. In particular, when the roll paper is fed upward, the roll paper that has been sandwiched falls off and drops each time the unit is opened and closed, and the roll paper must be reset on the paper feed roller pair each time. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has a structure in which a roll paper is always nipped by a paper feed roller which is transported from a roll paper feed unit to an image forming unit when the unit is mounted, and the unit is mounted on the unit. Provided is a roll paper feeder in which a roll paper is held by a unit even in an open state, and it is not necessary to perform an operation of holding a roll paper by a paper feed roller every time the unit is opened and closed as in the related art. As an issue.

[0007]

According to the present invention, a roll paper is loaded into a roll paper loading unit arranged to be openable and closable with respect to an apparatus main body, and a roll heading from the unit toward the apparatus main body. A paper feed roller pair for nipping the roll paper and transporting the paper to the image forming section is provided in the middle of paper transport, one roller of the paper feed roller pair is provided on the apparatus main body side, and the other roller is provided on the unit. In the roll paper feeder, the unit is provided with holding means for holding the roll paper in between, and when the unit is in a closed state, the roll paper held by the holding means is opened and interlocked with this operation. Then, the one roller of the pair of paper feed rollers is brought into contact with the other roller so that the roll paper is sandwiched between the rollers. The holding means both rollers of roller pair is in association with the operation of separating is characterized in that for holding the roll paper.

The holding means includes a pair of rollers provided on the door side of the unit and a pivoting member having one end pivotally supported by the unit so that one of the rollers can rotate in one direction. Fixed to the door side of the unit, the other roller is positioned near the center of the pivoting member and urged to abut against the roller fixed to the door side of the unit, and the other end of the pivoting member is One of the paper feed rollers is provided, and the paper feed roller pair holds the roll paper when the unit is mounted, and the roller pair of the holding means grips the roll paper when the unit is opened.

[0009]

In such a configuration, when the unit is mounted, the pair of paper feed rollers grips the roll paper, and the pair of rollers of the holding means is separated by the pivotal movement of the pivot member accompanying the grip of the pair of paper feed rollers, and the roll paper is removed. Open. When the unit is opened, the holding member acts so as to contact the roller pair of the holding means by opening the unit, and the roller pair pinches the roll paper. In this way, the roll paper is nipped by either the paper feed roller pair or the roller pair of the holding means, regardless of the position of the unit.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a roll paper feeder disposed in an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention. Unit 2 and a roll paper feed unit 3.

As is well known, as the image forming section 2, a corona charger 6 for uniformly charging the surface of the image carrier 5 around the image carrier 5 and a latent image on the image carrier 5 by projecting an original image are provided. An optical device 7 for forming an image, a developing device 8 for developing the latent image,
A transfer device 9 for transferring a visualized toner image to a roll paper as a transfer material sent from a roll paper feeding unit 3 described later, and removes the developer remaining after the transfer on the surface of the image carrier 5. It has a cleaner 10 and an eraser lamp 11 for making the surface potential of the surface of the image carrier 5 uniform, and these are arranged so as to sequentially act on the image carrier 5. Further, a fixing device 12 for fixing the toner image on the transfer material as a permanent image is provided.

The configuration inside the roll paper feeding section 3 will be described. The roll paper transport unit 3 includes a first unit 15a and a second unit 15b including mounting plates 14a and 14b for loading the roll papers 13a and 13b, and these units are arranged vertically with respect to the width direction of the roll papers 13a and 13b. And is configured to be vertically pivotable about pivots 16a and 16b provided in the apparatus main body 1. A transport path 1 for the roll paper in the second unit 15b
8 and a large-diameter roller 19 for changing the transport direction and correcting the curl of the roll paper 13b. In order to rotatably hold the roll papers 13a and 13b in the units 15a and 15b, the core 2 of the roll papers 13a and 13b is used.
A shaft member 21 for holding down and fixing the inner surface is inserted into the inside of 0. Further, the mounting plates 14a and 14b are provided with grooves 22 for holding the shaft members 21 fixed to the roll papers 13a and 13b.

A common transport roller 23 for transporting roll paper from the roll paper feed unit 3 to the image forming unit 2 is provided between the image forming unit 2 and the roll paper feed unit 3. The common transport roller 23 is for feeding the roll paper between the image carrier 5 disposed in the image forming section 2 and the transfer device 9 (transfer section). It is desirable for the purpose of shortening the paper transport path, and is located at the front end of the apparatus 1 in the illustrated example. In this manner, the position of the roll paper in the roll paper feed unit 3 is adjusted to the position of the transport roller 23 common to the roll paper 13a and
Are arranged in a straight line, and the space of the roll paper feeding unit 3 can be made compact.

The transport path of the roll paper formed by the above-described arrangement of the roll paper will be described.
The transport from the roll paper 13a loaded in the roll paper 5a to the transport roller 23 is performed by the drive roller 2 disposed in the roll paper feed unit.
4a, a counter roller 25a located on the door side of the unit, abutting on the roller 24a, and driven by sandwiching the roll paper;
The sheet is conveyed by the shortest distance to the common conveying roller 23 through a pair of sheet feeding rollers 26a including the holding means.

The roll paper 13b loaded in the second unit 15b is transported by a paper feed roller 26b having the same structure as the above-described paper feed roller 26a and having holding means, and a paper feed roller 26c. In order to bypass the one unit 15a, the roll paper is conveyed through a roller 19 having a larger diameter than the core 20 of the roll paper and a counter roller 27 driven by the roller. In addition, these roll papers 13a, 13b
A guide 28 for guiding and transporting is provided. Further, when the units 15a and 15b are closed, a part of the mounting plates 14a and 14b of the units 15a and 15b guide the roll paper.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the configuration and operation of the sheet feeding roller in the pivoting operation of the units 15a and 15b will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the units 15a and 15b in FIG. The units 15a and 15b have basically the same structure. A drive roller 24 having a drive mechanism is disposed in the roll paper feed unit 3, and a counter roller 25 that is driven by sandwiching the roll paper 13 is disposed in the door 29 of the unit 15. One end 31 of the counter roller 25 is pivotally supported by a holding member 30 on a door 29 so as to be pivotable. The counter roller 24 is rotatably provided at the other end 32 of the holding member 30. In the vicinity of the center of the holding member 30, a first holding roller 33 as a holding means for holding the roll paper 13 when the unit 15 described later is opened is arranged rotatably only in the feeding direction. The holding member 30 is urged toward the front of the apparatus by a spring means 34 such as a coil spring or a leaf spring.
When the unit 15 is mounted, the drive roller 24 and the counter roller 25 are in contact with each other and hold the roll paper 13 therebetween. The second holding roller 35 of the holding means which is opposed to the first holding roller 33 and separated when the unit is mounted is provided on the unit 15 side. First holding roller 33
The second holding roller 35 is provided with a roller that is larger than the width of the roll paper 13.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which the unit 15 of FIG. 2 is pivoted counterclockwise to be opened, and when the unit 15 is opened, the driving roller 25 of the sheet feeding roller pair and the counter roller 25 are separated. Thus, the held roll paper 13 is released. In conjunction with this operation, the holding member 30
Moves in the direction of the front of the apparatus, that is, in the counterclockwise direction. By this movement, the first holding roller 33 and the second holding roller 34 provided on the holding member 30 come into contact with each other, and hold the roll paper. Since the holding roller 33 is rotatable only in the feed direction, the roll paper fed toward the upper portion does not fall off.

As the material of the holding roller 33 and the holding roller 35, a material having a friction coefficient such that the roll paper does not slip when holding the roll paper is preferably used. In the embodiment, the holding roller 33 is preferably made of a plastic material such as Delrin (trade name). The holding roller 35 is preferably formed by applying a thin layer of resin such as urethane rubber to the surface of an aluminum or stainless steel metal roller.

In the setting of roll paper, roll paper is loaded into an opened unit. Next, the roll paper is pulled out to the front side of the apparatus, and the leading end of the roll paper is inserted so as to be held between the holding roller 33 and the holding roller 35. The holding roller 35 is manually rotated, and the roll paper is fed out to a position where the roll paper is nipped by the paper feed roller when the unit is mounted.

In this embodiment, an example in which two roll papers are arranged is described, but a roll paper transport device in which one or a plurality of roll papers are arranged may be used. In addition, any of the first roll paper and the second roll paper can be loaded with roll paper of any size. Further, in this embodiment, the unit is pivoted to be opened and closed from the apparatus main body, but may be a drawer type unit.

[0021]

According to the roll paper feeder of the present invention, the roll paper can always be held at the unit side by a simple structure, so that the roll paper can be prevented from falling off from the feed roller, and the roll paper feed roller can be held. There is no need to reset the roll paper feeder, and the unit of the roll paper feeder can be easily attached / detached or maintained.

[0022]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing a state where the unit is mounted on the apparatus main body.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing a state where the unit is opened from the apparatus main body.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Image forming unit 3 Roll paper feeding unit 13a, b Roll paper 14a, b Mounting plate 15a, b unit 24 Drive roller 25 Counter roller 30 Holding member 33, 35 Holding roller

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image forming unit, comprising: loading a roll paper into a roll paper loading unit arranged to be openable and closable with respect to an apparatus main body; and nipping the roll paper during conveyance of the roll paper from the unit toward the apparatus main body. In a roll paper feeder provided with one roller of the paper feed roller pair provided on the apparatus main body side and the other roller provided in the unit, the roll paper is supplied to the unit. A holding unit for holding the unit is provided, and when the unit is in a closed state, the roll paper held by the holding unit is opened, and the one roller of the sheet feeding roller pair is connected to the other roller in conjunction with this operation. To hold the roll paper between the rollers, and when the unit is open, the holding hand is interlocked with the operation of separating the two rollers of the pair of paper feed rollers that held the roll paper. A roll paper feeding device, wherein the step holds roll paper. 2. The holding means includes a pair of rollers provided on a door side of the unit and a pivoting member having one end pivotally supported by the unit so that one roller is rotatable in one direction. Fixed to the door side of the unit, the other roller is positioned near the center of the pivoting member and urged to abut against the roller fixed to the door side of the unit, and the other end of the pivoting member is 2. The paper feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein one of the paper feeding rollers is provided, and when the unit is mounted, the paper feeding roller pair holds the roll paper, and when the unit is opened, the roller pair of the holding means grips the roll paper. Roll paper feeder.