JP3337196B2 - Automatic 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 an automatic paper feeder used for a printer or the like to selectively feed a first sheet out of a plurality of stacked sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An automatic paper feeder of this type generally uses a separation claw that holds a downstream corner of a plurality of paper sheets stacked on a holding plate in a paper feed direction to feed a first sheet of paper. It is designed to be sent selectively. FIGS. 4 to 6 show the structure of a conventional automatic sheet feeding apparatus using a separation claw. FIG. 4 (a)
4B is a bottom view, FIG. 5A is a front view,
5 (b) is a bottom view, FIGS. 6 (a), (b), and (c) are enlarged views of a portion A in FIG. 4 (b), an enlarged view of a portion B in FIG. 5 (a), and FIG. FIG.

A holding plate 10 for holding a sheet is rotatably supported on the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction as a fulcrum, and is urged toward a sheet holding surface by a spring 11 called a knock-up spring. On the paper holding surface side of the holding plate 10,
A paper feed roller 20 is provided. The paper feed roller 20 is
Roller support shaft 2 provided on the paper holding surface side of holding plate 10
1 and is rotated in the sheet feeding direction while being pressed against the first sheet stacked on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10, thereby sequentially feeding the sheets downstream.
Then, in order to prevent double feeding of the sheet, the holding plate 10
A separation claw 30 for elastically holding a corner on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction of the sheet is provided on the side of the sheet.

A guide plate 40 called a letter guide is attached to a side edge of the holding plate 10 on the separation claw side. The guide plate 40 has a side edge rotatably supported by a shaft portion 12 provided on a side edge portion of the holding plate 10. Usually, as shown in FIG. It falls down inward and is flush with the paper holding surface of the holding plate 10. When a thick paper such as an envelope or an index card is used as the paper, the guide plate 40 is raised with the shaft portion 12 as a fulcrum, as shown in FIG. Thus, the sheet is positioned on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10 at a position where the sheet does not interfere with the separation claw 30.

The reason for using such a rotating guide plate 40 is that, in the separation of the paper using the separation claw 30, the first paper is deformed by the feeding operation by the paper feed roller 20,
The separation of the paper is performed by utilizing the fact that the paper is raised from the second and subsequent papers. However, if the paper is thick paper such as an envelope, it is difficult to deform the paper.
This is because if it is held at 0, it cannot be overcome.

[0006]

However, the conventional automatic sheet feeder using the guide plate 40 has the following problems due to the guide plate 40.

[0007] When thick paper such as an envelope or an index card is used as the paper, it is necessary to fix the guide plate 40 to the upright position. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 6, a projection 41 is provided on the shaft support of the guide plate 40. On the other hand, the side edges of the holding plate 10
Thereby, a concave portion 15 is formed. When the lying guide plate 40 is erected, the ribs 14 are pressed by the convex portions 41 to bend and deform, and the convex portions 41 are fitted into the concave portions 15 formed by the ribs 14 so that the guide plate 40 is erected. Fixed to state.

However, in such a fixed structure,
It is necessary to provide the rib 14 at a position close to the shaft portion 12 of the holding plate 10, and the structure of this portion becomes complicated. Therefore, a mold structure for molding the holding plate 10 becomes complicated, and the cost is increased. In addition, since the ribs 14 are extremely small in structure, there is a possibility of molding failure, and when the molding failure occurs, the guide plate 40 is not securely fixed in the upright state. Further, since the small ribs 14 are greatly deformed every time the operation is performed, the ribs 14 may be damaged when the number of operations is increased, and the guide plate 40 is fixed in the upright state even when the damage occurs. Will not be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to reliably fix a guide plate in an upright state, to simplify a mold structure, and to reduce molding failure and repetition. It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive and high-quality automatic sheet feeder capable of avoiding a decrease in a fixing function due to an operation.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An automatic sheet feeding apparatus according to the present invention holds a plurality of stacked sheets, and includes a movable holding plate urged toward a sheet holding surface and a movable holding plate. A sheet feed roller disposed on the sheet holding surface side and driven to rotate in the sheet feeding direction in a state of being pressed against the first sheet of the plurality of sheets held on the sheet holding surface; And a separation claw that is provided on the side of the holding plate to hold a corner of the plurality of sheets held on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate on the downstream side in the paper feeding direction, A rotating guide plate that positions the paper on the paper holding surface at a position where it does not interfere with the separation claw by standing up from a state in which it falls down along the paper holding surface of the plate, and is disposed on the paper holding surface side of the holding plate The guide groove supports the feed roller, and the circumferential groove into which the upper end of the upright guide plate fits is outside. It is characterized by comprising a roller support shaft formed on the surface.

When the guide plate stands up and its upper end is fitted into the circumferential groove of the roller support shaft, a gap required for inserting the paper between the paper holding surface and the paper feed roller is secured. Is preferable.

In the automatic paper feeder according to the present invention, the peripheral groove in which the upper end of the upright guide plate is fitted to a roller support shaft provided on the paper holding surface side of the holding plate for supporting the paper feed roller. Is provided. Here, the holding plate is urged toward the sheet holding surface. For this reason, when the guide plate is raised, the guide plate attached to the side of the holding plate elastically fits into the circumferential groove by the urging force of the holding plate. Therefore, the guide plate is securely fixed in the upright state, and is not subjected to an excessive force during its operation. Also, on the side of the holding plate,
A rib for fixing the guide plate is not required, and the mold structure is simplified, and the molding failure and breakage of the rib are eliminated.

That is, the automatic sheet feeder according to the present invention utilizes the roller support shaft provided on the sheet holding surface side of the holding plate and the fact that the holding plate is urged toward the sheet holding surface. ,
This simplifies the mold structure and also avoids molding failure of the guide plate and deterioration of the fixing function due to repeated operations.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of an automatic sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2A and 2B show a state in which a guide plate of the automatic sheet feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention is raised. , (A) is a front view, and (b) is a bottom view. FIG. 3 is a side view showing a state in which the guide plate of the automatic sheet feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is raised.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the automatic sheet feeding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided with a holding plate 10 inclined at a predetermined angle and a sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10. The paper feed roller 20, a separation claw 30 provided on the side of the holding plate 10, a rotating guide plate 40 attached to a side edge of the holding plate 10 on the separation claw side, and holding together with the separation claw 30 Board 1
And an operation lever 50 provided on the side of the “0”.

The holding plate 10 is rotatably supported with the upstream side (upper side) in the sheet feeding direction as a fulcrum, and is provided with a spring 11 provided on the back side (opposite holding side) of the sheet holding side 10 (feeding side). (Toward the paper roller 20).

The paper feed roller 20 is mounted on a roller support shaft 21 provided on the paper holding surface side of the holding plate 10. At the end of the roller supporting shaft 21 on the separation claw side, there is provided a tapered portion 22 whose outer diameter decreases toward the tip end, and a circumferential groove 23 located at the tip end of the tapered portion 22.
Is provided. The circumferential groove 23 is provided with a rotating guide plate 40.
In a standing position, and is located at a position facing the center of rotation of the guide plate 40.

Separating claw 30 arranged on the side of holding plate 10
Faces the downstream corner of the holding plate 10 in the paper feeding direction, in order to hold the downstream corners of the plurality of sheets held on the paper holding surface of the holding plate 10 in the paper feeding direction, and The holding plate 10 is urged by a spring (not shown) in a direction from the sheet holding surface to the side opposite to the holding surface. Separating claw 30
And an operation lever 50 arranged on the side of the holding plate 10
When the paper is set between the holding plate 10 and the paper feed roller 20, the holding plate 1 is held while the separation claw 30 is held at the current position.
0 to the holding surface side so that the holding plate 10 and the feed roller 2
This is for forming a gap between zero.

The guide plate 40 is on the same side as the separation claw 30, and has a shaft supporting portion 42 for attachment to one side edge thereof.
Having. Each shaft support 42 is rotatably attached to the shaft 12 provided on the side edge of the holding plate 10. Thereby, the guide plate 40 can rotate about one side edge, and the rotation switches between a lying state along the surface of the holding plate 10 and an upright state perpendicular to the surface. You. Then, in the lying state, the holding plate 10 is fitted by being fitted into the concave portion 13 provided on the surface of the holding plate 10.
(See FIG. 1). On the other hand, in the upright state, the peripheral groove 23 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the end portion of the roller support shaft 21 faces the rotation center of the guide plate 40. The upper end is fitted so that it is fixed in its upright state (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

A guide plate 40 fixed in an upright state is provided.
Holds the holding plate 10 urged toward the paper holding surface side,
A predetermined gap δ (for example, a gap of about 3 mm) for inserting a sheet is secured between the holding plate 10 and the sheet feeding roller 20 (see FIG. 3).

Since the guide plate 40 is fixed in an upright state by the circumferential groove 23 provided on the outer peripheral surface of the end portion of the roller support shaft 21, the guide plate 40 is provided on the side edge of the holding plate 10.
No ribs are provided for fixing the armature in an upright state.

Next, an operation method and functions of the automatic sheet feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

When the paper is plain paper, the guide plate 40 is lowered into the recess 13 of the holding plate 10 as shown in FIG. In this state, the operation lever 50 is operated to
Is held at the current position, and the holding plate 10 is pressed against the holding surface. Thereby, between the holding plate 10 and the paper feed roller 20,
There is enough clearance to accommodate multiple sheets. In this state, after setting a plurality of sheets on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10, the operation lever 50 is returned to the original position. Thus, the first sheet of the plurality of sheets set on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10 is pressed against the sheet feeding roller 20. Further, the separation claw 30 elastically abuts on a corner on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction of the sheet. In this state, when the paper feed roller 20 rotates in the paper feed direction, the paper is sequentially fed over the separation claw 30 and fed to the downstream side in the paper feed direction from the first sheet.

When all of the plurality of sheets set on the sheet holding surface of the holding plate 10 are consumed, the sheet holding surface comes into direct contact with the sheet feeding roller 20.

When the paper is a thick paper such as an envelope, the guide plate 40 is erected as shown in FIGS. At this time, since the holding plate 10 is urged toward the sheet holding surface,
It is preferable to push the holding plate 10 to the side opposite to the holding surface, but even if the operation is not performed, when the guide plate 40 is raised,
The guide plate 40 is pushed by the roller support shaft 21 and moves to the side opposite to the holding surface. Therefore, in any case, the upper edge portion of the guide plate 40 is elastically fitted into the circumferential groove 43 of the roller support shaft 21, and the guide plate 40 is fixed in the upright state. In this state, the space between the holding plate 10 and the paper feed roller 20 is
A predetermined gap δ (for example, about 3 mm) for inserting a sheet is formed.

Then, by pushing the sheets one by one from the gap δ along the inner side surface of the guide plate 40 to the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction, each sheet is not interfered with the separation claw 30 and the respective sheets are located on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction. Supplied to

As described above, in the automatic paper feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention, the upper edge of the guide plate 40 is fitted into the circumferential groove 23 provided on the roller support shaft 21 that supports the paper feed roller 20. By the combination, the guide plate 40 is fixed in an upright state. Therefore, the guide plate 4 is provided on the side of the holding plate 10.
There is no need to provide a rib or the like for fixing the holding plate 0, and the mold structure for forming the holding plate 10 is simplified.
In addition, malfunctions due to poor molding of the ribs and malfunctions due to breakage of the ribs due to repeated operations are also eliminated.

On the other hand, the peripheral groove 23 and the upper edge of the guide plate 40 fitted in the peripheral groove 23 can be made larger than the rib because there is no interference with other members, and the shape can be made simpler. In this case, there is no complication of the mold structure, molding failure, and damage due to repeated operations. Therefore, the cost can be reduced by simplification of the mold structure, and operation defects due to molding defects and damage to members are almost eliminated, thereby improving quality.

[0029]

As described above, the automatic sheet feeder according to the present invention is provided with the guide plate standing upright on the roller supporting shaft provided on the sheet holding surface side of the holding plate for supporting the sheet feeding roller. The guide plate is fixed in an upright state by utilizing the fact that the roller support shaft and the holding plate are urged toward the paper holding surface side by providing a peripheral groove in which the upper end portion is fitted, so that the fixing is securely performed. It can be carried out. In addition, although the guide plate is securely fixed in the upright state, the mold structure can be simplified, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore, there is almost no operation failure due to molding failure, and damage due to repeated operations is unlikely to occur, so that quality can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an automatic sheet feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show a state in which a guide plate of the automatic paper feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is erected, FIG. 2A is a schematic front view of the automatic paper feeder, and FIG. It is a schematic bottom view.

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the automatic sheet feeder showing a state where a guide plate is erected.

4A and 4B show the structure of a conventional automatic paper feeder, wherein FIG. 4A is a schematic front view of the automatic paper feeder, and FIG. 4B is a schematic bottom view of the automatic paper feeder.

5A and 5B show a state in which a guide plate of a conventional automatic paper feeder is erected, FIG. 5A is a schematic front view of the automatic paper feeder,
(B) is a schematic bottom view of the automatic sheet feeding device.

FIG. 6 shows a guide plate fixing portion of a conventional automatic paper feeder,
FIG. 4A is an enlarged bottom view of part A in FIG.
FIG. 5B is an enlarged front view showing a portion B in FIG.
FIG. 5C is an enlarged bottom view showing a portion C in FIG. 5B.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Holding plate 20 Paper feed roller 21 Roller support shaft 23 Peripheral groove 30 Separation claw 40 Guide plate 50 Operation lever

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A movable holding plate urged toward a sheet holding surface, holding a plurality of stacked sheets, and disposed on the sheet holding surface side of the holding plate, and holding the sheet on the sheet holding surface. A paper feed roller that is driven to rotate in the paper feeding direction in a state of being pressed against the first paper of the plurality of papers, and is provided on the side of the holding plate and held on the paper holding surface of the holding plate A separation claw that holds the corners of the plurality of sheets on the downstream side in the sheet feeding direction, and a separation claw that is attached to the side of the separation claw side of the holding plate and rises from a state in which it is laid down along the sheet holding surface of the holding plate. By this, a rotatable guide plate that positions the paper on the paper holding surface at a position that does not interfere with the separation claw, and a guide plate that is arranged on the paper holding surface side of the holding plate to support the paper feed roller and stands up And a roller support shaft having a peripheral groove formed on the outer peripheral surface to which the upper end of the roller is fitted. An automatic paper feeder characterized by the following. The guide plate stands up and its upper end is fitted into the circumferential groove of the roller support shaft, and a gap required for inserting a sheet between the sheet holding surface and the sheet feeding roller is formed. 2. The automatic sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the automatic sheet feeding device is held at a secured position.