JP3298046B2 - Cassette unit - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cassette unit provided in a printer or the like and for feeding sheets in a sheet cassette to a printing unit one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a cassette unit of this type is provided with a pickup roller for sending out sheets stored in an inserted paper cassette one by one to a printing unit. Sheets of different sizes can be stored in the sheet cassette. For this reason, a plurality of pickup rollers are provided in the sheet width direction so as to correspond to each sheet size.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional cassette unit, of the plurality of pickup rollers provided, a roller provided for a large-sized sheet and a roller provided for a small-sized sheet are provided. The rollers used are different in frequency of use and therefore have different degrees of wear. That is, the pickup roller near one edge of the sheet corresponds to the sheet of all sizes, but for example, the roller located farthest from the one edge to correspond to the largest sheet is not used. This is because the frequency of the operation is reduced. If the degree of wear is different depending on the pickup rollers arranged in the paper width direction as described above, the paper tends to be skewed when the paper is fed, causing paper jam.

[0004] Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its object is to provide:
An object of the present invention is to provide a cassette unit that can stably feed paper for a long time without skew.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cassette unit for feeding the uppermost sheet of the sheets stored in a sheet cassette by a pickup roller. Two sheets are provided, of which a fixed pickup roller is positioned at one edge in the width direction of the sheet, and the other movable pickup roller is movable so as to correspond to the other edge in the width direction of the sheet. Is provided on a movable guide plate which is movable in the width direction of the paper provided in the paper cassette and abuts on the other edge of the paper, and the detected means detected by the detection means is a movable pickup. A moving means is provided on the roller side and moves the movable pickup roller in the width direction of the sheet. Therefore, the movable pickup roller and the fixed pickup roller contact the sheet the same number of times regardless of the size of the sheet, so that the degree of wear is the same and the output for feeding the sheet is always the same. Further, the movable pickup roller is automatically positioned according to the size of the sheet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cassette unit for feeding the uppermost sheet of sheets stored in a sheet cassette by a pickup roller, wherein two pickup rollers are provided, and a fixed pickup roller of the pickup roller is used for the sheet. Positioning at one end in the width direction, the other movable pickup roller is movable so as to correspond to the other end in the width direction of the sheet, and the detecting means made of a magnet corresponding to the size of the sheet to be stored is used as the sheet. In addition to being provided on the cassette, a detecting means comprising a Hall IC detected by the detecting means is provided on the movable pickup roller side,
Further, a moving means for moving the movable pickup roller in the width direction of the sheet is provided, and the position of the movable pickup roller is set at an intermediate position between the start and end of detection of the Hall IC. Therefore, in positioning the movable pickup, variations in sensitivity of the Hall IC, variations in the strength of the magnet, and variations in the distance between the Hall IC and the magnet are absorbed.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a printer employing a cassette unit according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the same in an exploded manner, FIG. 3 is a side view of an inserter unit, and FIG. Plan view,
5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV in FIG. 4, and FIG.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI, FIG. 7 is a plan view of a paper cassette inserted into and removed from the cassette unit according to the present invention, and FIG.
10 is a side view taken along a line VIII-VIII, FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view of an essential part showing an enlarged view of FIG. 9A, FIG. 9 is a plan view showing an essential part of a paper cassette, and FIG. FIG. 11 is a flow chart for explaining the operation.

In FIG. 1, a printer generally designated by the reference numeral 1 is a printer, which includes three paper cassettes 2 which can be inserted into and removed from the apparatus, a manual paper feed unit 3 which can manually feed paper, and an apparatus. The printed paper is ejected inside the printer 2
A stacker 4 and an operation panel 5 provided with control buttons for various operations are provided. In FIG. 2, a paper feed unit 8, a control unit and a power supply unit 9, a spacing unit 10, a discharge unit 11 and the like are housed in a cabinet 7 forming a housing of the printer 1, and these can be inserted and removed from the front side. It is configured to be. The paper feed unit 8 includes the paper cassette 2 described above.
Can be inserted and removed in the directions of arrows AB, and a three-stage cassette unit 12 for accommodating these paper cassettes 2.
The spacing unit is provided with a print head (not shown) for printing paper.

Referring to FIG. 3, the schematic structure of the paper feed unit 8 will be described. The paper cassette 2 inserted in the direction of arrow A into the cassette unit 12 is detected at the rear end of each cassette unit 12. A cassette detection switch 43 is provided. Pickup rollers 40 and 41 are provided on the upper rear end side of each cassette unit 12, and first, second, and second rollers formed by a transport guide (not shown) are provided behind each cassette unit 12.
Third paper transport paths 6a, 6b, 6c are provided.
These first, second, and third paper transport paths 6a, 6b, 6c
Are combined to form one paper transport path 6d, and the paper is sent from the insert unit 8 in the direction of arrow C and transported to the printing section of the spacing unit 10 described above.

In such a configuration, when a control button on the operation panel 5 is operated to perform printing, one of the cassette units 12 is selected, and the pickup rollers 40 and 41 of the cassette unit 12 are selected. Rotates a predetermined number of times. By rotating the pickup rollers 40 and 41 a predetermined number of times, the uppermost sheet of the cassette unit 12 is moved to the sheet conveying paths 6a, 6b and 6c.
And is conveyed to the paper conveyance path 6d by a paper supply roller (not shown) and a pinch roller which is in contact with the paper supply roller, and is transmitted in the direction of arrow C.

Next, the structure of the cassette unit 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. Cassette unit 1
2, a frame 13 having a U-shaped cross section having a bottom plate 14 and both side plates 15 and 16 formed by bending both ends of the bottom plate 14 upward and opening upward and forward and backward and having a paper cassette insertion opening 13 a at the front end. Provided. Brackets 17 are provided on both side plates 15 and 16 of the frame 13 between upper ends substantially at the center in the directions of arrows AB. At the end of the bracket 17 on the side plate 15 side, a support portion 18 is extended in the direction of arrow A, and the side portion 19 of the support portion 18 is connected to the side plate 1.
6 is formed so as to be opposed to 6.

On the upper surface of the bracket 17 on the side plate 16 side,
As shown in FIG. 6, the stepping motor 21 is fixed so that the motor shaft 21a projects below the bracket 17. A gear 22 is mounted on the motor shaft 21a. A gear 23 rotatably supported by the bracket 17 meshes with the gear 22. A drive pulley 24 is integrally formed at the lower end of the gear 23. As shown in FIG. 4, a driven pulley 26 is rotatably supported by the bracket 17 so as to face the pulley 24 and the bracket 17 in the longitudinal direction (the direction of arrow D-E).
A belt 25 is stretched between 26.

Two shafts 28, 2 are provided between the side portion 19 of the support portion 18 of the bracket 17 and the side plate 16 of the frame 13.
A carrier 30 is slidably supported on the shafts 28 and 29 in the DE direction. That is, the carrier 30 is provided with a frame 32 formed in a U-shaped cross section, which is composed of both side plates 33 and 34 provided with holes into which the shafts 28 and 29 are inserted, and a bottom plate 35. The bottom plate 35 of the frame 32 is provided with a Hall IC 36 projecting below the bottom plate 35, and the both side plates 33, 34 are extended toward a drive shaft 39 described later to form extended portions 33a, 34a.

A substantially L-shaped tongue 37 in a side view projects from the edge of the bottom plate 35 of the frame 32 on the side of the belt 25 so as to contact the belt 25. The tongue piece 37 is fixed to a part of the belt 25 by a holding piece 38 for holding the belt 25 together with the tongue piece 37.
Therefore, when the belt 25 moves in the DE direction by the rotation of the stepping motor 21 in the forward and reverse directions, the carrier 30 moves in the DE direction via the tongue piece 37.

Reference numeral 39 denotes a drive shaft having a square cross section. The drive shaft 39 is rotatably supported between both side plates 15 and 16 of the frame 13 and is attached to the extending portions 33a and 34a of the frame 32 of the carrier 30 described above. It is inserted so that it can rotate freely. The movable pickup roller 40 provided between the extending portions 33a and 34a is inserted into the drive shaft 39 so as to rotate integrally with the drive shaft 39 and to be slidable in the axial direction of the drive shaft 39. ing. The movable pickup roller 40 is located at a distance L from the Hall IC 36.
The movement between the extending portions 33a and 34a is restricted by the sleeve 40a so as to be located only in the E direction.

A drive shaft 39 is provided on the side plate 15 side of the drive shaft 39.
The fixed pickup roller 41 is axially mounted on the drive shaft 39 so as to be restricted from sliding in the axial direction and rotate integrally with the drive shaft 39. These two pickup rollers 40, 4
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, pickup units 1 are provided with pickup units 40a and 41a formed in a fan shape and having a plurality of slits formed on a surface thereof, the slits being orthogonal to the rotation direction. A worm wheel 48 is mounted on one end of the drive shaft 39 on the side plate 15 side, and a motor 45 is attached to the worm wheel 48.
Worm 47 attached to the motor shaft is meshed,
The motor 45 is fixed to the support part 18 of the bracket 17 via a bracket 46.

Next, the configuration of the paper cassette 2 will be described with reference to FIG. The paper cassette 2 is provided with a case 50 whose upper part is opened by a bottom plate 51 and a surrounding wall standing upright so as to surround the peripheral end of the bottom plate 51, and both side plates 52a, 52a of the surrounding wall facing each other. Three shafts 54, 55, 56 are suspended between 52b. One side plate 52
On the side a, a fixed guide plate 57 with which one edge of the paper accommodated in the paper cassette 2 abuts is placed on the mounting plate 60 in which the movement in the width direction of the paper, that is, the movement in the direction of the arrow DE is regulated. It is fixed to. Shafts 54 and 55 are fitted into the movable guide plate 58 provided on the other side plate 52b side, and the movable guide plate 58 is integrated with the placing plate 62 in accordance with the size of the sheet by using the shafts 54 and 55 as guides. Arrow DE
Movably adjustable in the direction and abuts the other edge of the sheet. At one end of the fixed guide plate 57 and the movable guide plate 58 in the direction of arrow A, a conventionally widely known separator 59 for feeding out sheets one by one is provided.

A shaft 54 is fitted into the mounting plate 60, 61, 62 at its rear end (in the direction of arrow B), and its front end is turned up and down (forward and backward on the paper) with this shaft 54 as the center of rotation. The mounting plate 60 is configured to be freely movable, and the movement of the mounting plate 60 in the DE direction is regulated, and the mounting plates 61 and 62 are supported movably in the DE direction. Reference numerals 64, 64 denote fixed mounting plates positioned at the same height as the mounting plates 60, 61, 62, and 65 denotes a pad provided between the fixed mounting plates 64, 64 according to the size of paper. The movement can be adjusted in the AB direction.

Next, a movable adjustment structure for moving the movable guide plate 58 of the paper cassette 2 in accordance with the size of the paper will be described with reference to FIGS. The movable member denoted by reference numeral 70 is entirely made of synthetic resin on one side (arrow E in FIG. 9).
The movable guide plate 58 described above is attached so as to cover this opening. Bearing portions 72 and 73 into which the shafts 55 and 54 are inserted are formed at lower front and rear end portions of the movable member 70, and a part of the bearing portion 73 is cut out.
The cross section is formed in a substantially inverted J-shape, and the free end 74 is
0.

The lower portion of the rear end portion 75 of the movable member 70 is formed in a bifurcated shape in a side view and has a slit-shaped holding space 7.
7, and a leaf spring 78 is provided in the holding space 77.
Is press-fitted and fixed. The leaf spring 78 has a cross-sectional shape that is substantially the same as the outer peripheral surfaces of the bearing portion 73 and the free end portion 74 described above, and has a tip portion in the direction of arrow F in FIG. It is curved so as to be located. Therefore, the free end 74 of the bearing 73
Is urged in the F direction by the leaf spring 78, in other words, is urged in a direction to reduce the inner diameter of the bearing portion 73, so that the bearing portion 73 tightens the shaft 54, and the movable member The movement of the shaft 54 in the axial direction (DE direction) is restricted.

The other side of the movable member 70 has a bearing 7
A concave portion 79 is provided near the free end 74 of the third, and the concave portion 79 has an opening at the top and a window 80 at the bottom. 81 is a pin 8 implanted in the movable guide plate 58
2 is a lever rotatably supported about the center of rotation, and the operation unit 83 projects above the recess 79 from the window 80;
The lower end 84 contacts the free end 74 of the bearing 73. Reference numeral 85 denotes a stopper protruding into the movable member 70. The stopper 85 locks the lower end portion 84 of the lever 81 to restrict the counterclockwise rotation of the lever 81. A magnet 87 is fixed to the front side of the upper part of the movable member 70, and when the paper cassette 2 is inserted into the cassette unit 12, the magnet 87 moves on the movement locus of the Hall IC 36 of the carrier 30 described above. It is configured to be located.

Next, a paper feeding operation in the cassette unit having such a configuration will be described. First, the movable guide plate 5 in the paper cassette 2 is adjusted to the size of the paper.
The operation of setting 8 will be described. 8A, the engaging portion 84 of the lever 81 is locked by the stopper 85, and the free end portion 74 of the bearing portion 73 is urged in the direction of arrow F by the leaf spring 78. The movable guide plate 58 is restricted from moving in the D-E direction.

In this state, the thumb of one hand is moved to the movable member 70.
And touch the rear end 75 of the lever 81 with the forefinger.
When the lever 81 is moved in the direction of arrow B against the lever 3, the lever 81 rotates clockwise about the pin 82 as a rotation center. When the lever 81 rotates, the engaging portion 84 moves the leaf spring 78.
The free end 74 of the bearing 73 is elastically deformed in the direction of the arrow H against the urging force of the bearing 73, so that the tightening of the shaft 54 by the bearing 73 is released. Therefore, D-
Since the movement in the E direction becomes possible, the operation unit 8 of the lever 81
The movable member 70 is moved in the D-E direction in accordance with the size of the sheet while holding the rear end 75 of the movable member 70 with the index finger and the thumb.

When the movable member 70 is moved so as to match the size of the sheet, the index finger, which has been in contact with the operating portion 83 of the lever 81, is released from the operating portion 83, and the pressing of the free end portion 74 by the engaging portion 84 is released. The free end 74 is rotated in the F direction by the urging force of the leaf spring 78. Therefore, since the bearing portion 73 tightens the shaft 54, the movable member 7
The movement of the movable guide plate 58 is set according to the size of the sheet.

As described above, when the movable guide plate 58 is set in accordance with the size of the sheet, the operation section 8 of the lever 81 is used.
It is possible to move the movable member 70 while holding the index finger and the thumb applied to the rear end portion 75 of the movable member 70 and the thumb without holding the index finger and the thumb. Can be. Therefore, the operation of releasing the tightening of the shaft 54 by the bearing 73, the operation of moving the movable member 70, and the operation of tightening the shaft 54 by the bearing 73 are performed by the operating portion 83 of the lever 81 and the rear end 75 of the movable member 70. The operation can be performed by one-touch operation while holding the index finger and the thumb without touching the index finger and the thumb, so that the operability is improved without troublesome operation.

Next, the operation of moving the movable pickup roller in the cassette unit 12 in accordance with the size of the sheet will be described with reference to FIGS. The carrier 30 of the cassette unit 12 is located in advance on the right end side of the belt 25 called a home position. When the paper cassette 2 in which the movable guide plate 58 is set according to the size of the paper as described above is inserted in the direction A from the paper cassette insertion opening 13a of the frame 13 of the cassette unit 12 in FIG. The front end is detected by the cassette detection switch 43.

When the cassette detection switch 43 confirms that the paper cassette 2 has been inserted into the cassette unit 12, the carrier 30 is at the home position in advance. The step number n of 21 is recorded as 0. In step S2, the stepping motor 21
When the step rotates forward, the belt 25 runs and the carrier 30
Moves in the direction of arrow D via the tongue piece 37. If the Hall IC 36 has not reached the position corresponding to the magnet 87 of the paper cassette 2 in S3, the Hall IC 36 does not turn ON, and the process returns to S2. When the Hall IC 36 reaches the position corresponding to the magnet 87 of the paper cassette 2 in S3, the Hall IC 36 is turned ON, and in S4, the number of steps “n ₁ ” is recorded in the apparatus control section.

Further, if the stepping motor 21 rotates forward by one step and the carrier 30 moves in the direction D, and if the Hall IC 36 is not turned off in S5, the stepping motor 21 rotates forward by one step in S6 and S5.
In step 7, when the Hall IC 36 is turned off, the number of steps "n ₂ " up to that point is recorded in the device control unit in step S7. In S8, the device controller (n ₂ -n ₁₎ /
2 = M, and in step S9, the stepping motor 2
1 is rotated backward by M steps, and the carrier 30 is slightly returned in the E direction. By returning the carrier 30 to an intermediate position between the start of detection and the end of detection by the magnet 87 in this way, the Hall IC 36 is located at the center of the magnet 87 in the DE direction. Therefore, the movable pickup roller 40 located at a distance L in the direction of arrow E from the Hall IC 36 is located at a distance L in the E direction from the movable guide plate 58 of the paper cassette 2. That is, the movable pickup roller 40 is always positioned at a distance L from the other edge of the sheet regardless of the size of the sheet stored in the sheet cassette 2. In this state, by rotating the motor 47 a predetermined number of times, the movable pickup roller 40 and the fixed pickup roller 41 rotate a predetermined number together via the drive shaft 39, and the pickup unit 40
The uppermost sheet of the sheet cassette 2 is set to A by A and 41a.
Send in the direction.

As described above, the movable pickup roller 40
Moves according to the size of the paper in the paper cassette 2, so that only two pickup rollers are needed, and the number of components is reduced. Further, since the movable pickup roller 40 and the fixed pickup roller 41 always wear in the same manner, it is possible to prevent the paper from skewing. Further, by moving the Hall IC 36 in the direction D from ON to OFF and then returning the moving amount by 、, the magnetic force of the magnet 87, the sensitivity of the Hall IC 36, and the magnet 87 and the Hall IC 36 , Etc., are absorbed. Therefore, even if the paper size changes,
Since the movable pickup roller 40 can always be positioned at a fixed distance L from the movable guide plate 58 of the paper cassette 2, the paper can be fed reliably and stably.

In the present embodiment, the moving distance of the carrier 30 is measured based on the number of steps of the stepping motor 21. However, the stepping motor 21 is provided with an encoder, and is measured based on the number of pulses of the encoder. You may make it. Further, as detecting means for determining the movable position of the movable pickup roller 40,
Although the Hall IC 36 and the magnet 87 are non-contact switches, other non-contact switches may be used. Needless to say, contact switches such as limit switches and reed switches are also possible.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, two pickup rollers are provided, of which the fixed pickup roller is positioned at one edge in the width direction of the sheet and the other movable pickup roller is connected to the sheet. The movable pickup roller and the fixed pickup roller are movable by being movable to correspond to the other end in the width direction.
Regardless of the size of the sheet, the sheet is contacted the same number of times, so that the degree of wear is the same and the output for feeding the sheet is always the same, thereby preventing the sheet from skewing. A detecting means corresponding to the size of the paper to be stored is provided on a movable guide plate which is movable in the width direction of the paper provided in the paper cassette and abuts on the other edge of the paper, and is detected by the detecting means. By providing the detected means on the movable pickup roller side and the moving means for moving the movable pickup roller in the width direction of the sheet, the movable pickup roller is automatically positioned according to the size of the sheet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the detecting means is a magnet, the detected means is a Hall IC, and an intermediate position between the start and end of detection of the Hall IC is movable. By setting the position of the pickup roller, variations in the sensitivity of the Hall IC, variations in the strength of the magnet, and variations in the distance between the Hall IC and the magnet are absorbed, so that the position of the movable pickup roller is always accurate.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a printer employing a cassette unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a printer employing the cassette unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of an inserter unit in a printer employing the cassette unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the cassette unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a paper cassette inserted into and removed from the cassette unit according to the present invention.

8 (a) is a side view of FIG. 7 taken along line VIII-VIII, and FIG. 8 (b) is an enlarged view of FIG. 7 (a).

FIG. 9 is a plan view showing a main part of a paper cassette inserted into and removed from the cassette unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 10A is a model diagram for explaining the operation of the cassette unit according to the present invention, and FIG. 10B is a diagram for explaining the operation of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the cassette unit according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Paper cassette, 12 Cassette unit, 21 Motor, 25 Endless belt, 30 Carrier, 36 Hall IC, 40 Movable pickup roller, 41 Fixed pickup roller, 87 Magnet

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshiro Sato 2-3-2 Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo Inside Tamura Electric Works, Ltd. (72) Inventor Mikio Nagai 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo NEC (72) Inventor Naoya Takayama 3-49-1, Kamiishihara, Chofu-shi, Tokyo Japan Electric Data Equipment Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-56-117931 (JP, A) JP-A-59- 43737 (JP, A) JP-A-61-60536 (JP, A) JP-A-54-104784 (JP, U) JP-A-1-149333 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 3/06

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A cassette unit for feeding the uppermost sheet of sheets stored in a sheet cassette by a pickup roller, wherein two pickup rollers are provided, and a fixed pickup roller of the two pickup rollers is attached to one edge in the width direction of the sheet. Positioning, the other movable pickup roller is movable so as to correspond to the other edge in the width direction of the paper, and the detecting means corresponding to the size of the paper to be stored is movable in the width direction of the paper provided in the paper cassette. Other paper
The movable guide plate is provided on the movable guide plate which is in contact with the other edge, the detected means detected by the detection means is provided on the movable pickup roller side, and the moving means for moving the movable pickup roller in the width direction of the paper is provided. A cassette unit characterized by the following. 2. The topmost sheet stored in a paper cassette
Cassette that feeds out sheets of paper by a pickup roller
In the unit, two pickup rollers are provided.
The fixed pickup roller in the paper width direction.
The other movable pickup roller is positioned at one edge of
Can be moved to correspond to the other edge in the width direction of the paper
And a magnet corresponding to the size of the paper to be stored
Detecting means is provided on the paper cassette, and
The detection means consisting of the Hall IC detected in the step
Movable pickup row provided on the backup roller side
Moving means for moving the roller in the width direction of the paper;
Movable between the start and end of detection
The cassette is located at the position of the pickup roller.
Unit.