JP3378691B2 - Paper separation equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeder for preventing double feeding of conveyed paper sheets. 2. Description of the Related Art In office machines, for example, in order to prevent double feeding of paper sheets drawn from a tray or the like, paper sheets are separated one by one in a conveying process of the paper sheets. I have. An example of the conventional sheet separating apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. In this conventional example, a separation roller 100 that is freely rotatably supported and a non-rotating separation roller 101 are arranged to face each other, and when a plurality of sheets S are conveyed as shown in FIG. One of the separation rollers 10 is driven by the transport force of the leaves S.
0 is rotated, and the other separation roller 101 which does not rotate prevents the second and subsequent sheets S from advancing. The gap between the separation rollers 100 and 101 is difficult to be constant due to manufacturing variations, and this gap affects the separation operation of the paper sheet S.
The gap between 0 and 101 is adjusted. Hereinafter, a structure for the adjustment is shown in FIG. [0003] The separation rollers 100 and 101
On both sides of the frame 103, which is disposed to face the separation roller 2 and rotatably supports the separation roller 100, long holes 104 long in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the separation roller 100 are formed. Is the shaft 1 of the separation roller 101
05 is displaceably supported. Both sides of the shaft 105 are urged by a spring 106 in a direction away from the separation roller 100. The frame 103 has a shaft 10
Adjusting screw 10 for pressing both sides of separation roller 5 toward separation roller 100
7 are screwed together, and these adjustment screws 107 are attached to the frame 1
A lock nut 108 that comes into contact with the upper surface of the nut 03 is screwed. In such a structure, the right and left lock nuts 108 are loosened, the adjusting screw 107 is moved upward, and the separation roller 101 is retracted from the separation roller 100 by the urging force of the spring 106. Then, the separation roller 10
Insert a gap gauge of desired thickness between 0 and 101,
In this state, the adjusting screw 107 is tightened to remove the separation roller 10.
Lower one. Subsequently, after the lock nut 108 is tightened to prevent the adjustment screw 107 from rotating, the clearance gauge is removed. Accordingly, a gap suitable for separating the paper sheet S is formed between the separation rollers 100 and 101. Further, in the structure shown in FIG. 9, the position of the shaft 105 was changed by the adjusting screw 107 while measuring the height of the shaft 105 using a dial gauge without using a gap gauge, and a desired measured value was obtained. The gap between the separation rollers 100 and 101 is adjusted by locking the adjustment screw 107 in this state. In the conventional structure, when the gap gauge is inserted between the separation rollers 100 and 101, there is a limit in turning the adjustment screw 107 in the tightening direction. It is difficult to equalize the tightening force of the left and right adjustment screws 107 with the feeling of. When a difference between the right and left fastening forces occurs, a difference occurs in the gaps at both ends of the separation rollers 100 and 101, so that the resistance to the sheet S differs between the left and right sides, which also causes skew of the sheet S. In this case, readjustment is performed. Each time, the left and right lock nuts 108 must be loosened in order to turn the left and right adjustment screws 107, and after the adjustment, the lock nuts 108 must be tightened again. As a result, the adjustment operation takes time. According to the present invention, there is provided a pair of separating members which use a separating roller which is rotatable on at least one side, and which are arranged to face each other with a sheet feeding passage therebetween, and one of the separating members. And a movable support for supporting the other separation member so as to be able to contact and separate from the separation member supported by the positioning part, and the separation supported by the movable support. a separating spring biasing the member in the direction of separating from the separating member supported by said positioning unit, pressurizing the separating member supported by the front Symbol movable support unit to the separating member supported by said positioning unit And inserted between the pair of separating members.
The gap between the pair of separation members is set according to the thickness of the member.
And a fixing unit for selectively fixing the movement of the pressing unit. When the fixed state of the pressurizing section by the fixing section is released,
The pressure unit presses the separation member supported by the movable support unit toward the partner separation member by the urging force of the pressure spring. The movement of the pressurizing unit is fixed by the fixing unit in a state where the gap gauge etc. of the desired thickness is inserted between the pair of separation members,
When the gap gauge or the like is pulled out from between the pair of separating members, the separating member that is displaceably supported by the movable supporting portion abuts on the pressing portion by the urging force of the separation spring, and the movement with respect to the movable supporting portion is regulated. In this state, an optimum gap for separating paper sheets is formed between the pair of separating members. An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, FIGS. 5 to 7 show the configuration of a sheet feeding device arranged on the upstream side of the sheet separating device of the present invention. A paper storage unit 3 is formed on the front surface of a housing 2 such as a printer, and a paper feed roller 4, a paper detection roller 5, and an auxiliary roller 6 are rotatably provided at the bottom of the paper storage unit 3. Have been.
Further, the sheet storage unit 3 has a sheet S stacked on the bottom thereof.
Is provided from above. Paper storage unit 3
The bottom surface of the paper feed passage 8 has a part of the outer periphery of the paper feed roller 4, the paper sheet detection roller 5, and the auxiliary roller 6 protruding upward from the paper feed passage 8. The paper sheet detecting roller 5 is
Although not shown, it is rotatably supported by a part of a displaceable arm, and when this arm is urged upward, it comes into resilient contact with the lowermost sheet S. Therefore, when the paper sheet S on the paper feed passage 8 runs out, the arm is displaced upward together with the paper sheet detection roller 5, and the movement of this arm is detected by a detector (not shown), so that the paper sheet is stored. It is possible to know the state in which the sheet S in the unit 3 has run out. [0010] As shown in FIG. 7, the sheet storage section 3 is extended upward from a portion of a sheet feeding path 8 downstream of the sheet feeding roller 4 and has a leading end in the transport direction of the sheet S. A plate 9 for supporting the side edge of the sheet is provided, and a sheet passing gate 10 is formed between the lower edge of the partition 9 and the sheet feeding passage 8. When the sheet S is inserted into the sheet S obliquely downward from the auxiliary roller 6 side, the leading edge of the sheet S located in the lower layer enters the sheet passing gate 10 and is bent, thereby causing a jam. In order to prevent such a situation, when storing the paper sheet S in the paper sheet storage unit 3, the paper sheet passing gate 10 is shut off by the stopper 11,
A structure is employed in which the stopper 11 is retracted downward when shifting to the sheet feeding operation. As shown in FIG. 7, a sheet separating apparatus 12 for separating sheets S passing through a sheet passing gate 10 is provided.
Is provided downstream of the partition plate 9. Hereinafter, the sheet separating apparatus 12 of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Among the components constituting the sheet separating device 12, a pair of separating members facing each other with the sheet feeding passage 8 therebetween is such that at least one of them is a rotatable separating roller, and
One of the pairs needs to be supported in place and the other displaceable. In this embodiment, separation rollers 13 and 14 are used as a pair of separation members. However, the shaft 15 of one (lower) separation roller 13 is opposite to the side plate 1
6 freely rotatably supported. These side plates 16 function as positioning portions for positioning the separation roller 13 at a fixed position. The shaft 17 of the other (upper) separation roller 14 is supported by a long hole 19 formed on both sides of a roller frame 18 as a movable support so as to be able to freely contact and separate from the separation roller 13. The portion is urged by a separation spring 20 in a direction separating from the separation roller 13. Further, a pressure unit 22 is provided which has a pressure spring 21 and presses the upper separation roller 14 against the lower separation roller 13 by the urging force of the pressure spring 21. That is, the pressing unit 22 is connected to the roller frame 18.
Pair of left and right pressure arms 2 displaceably supported on both sides of the arm
3 and a pair of left and right pressure springs 21 stretched between these pressure arms 23 and the roller frame 18. As shown in FIG.
Are formed with an inverted U-shaped notch 24 and an elongated hole 25 for pressing the shaft 17 of the separation roller 14 downward. And
On both sides of the roller frame 18, screw holes 27 into which fixing screws 26, which are fixing portions passing through the long holes 25, are screwed to selectively fix the pressing arm 23. In such a configuration, the separation roller 1
When adjusting the gap between the rollers 3 and 14, first, one end of the separation spring 20 that urges the separation roller 14 upward is removed, and the left and right fixing screws 26 are loosened. The pressure arm 23 releases the separation roller 14 supported by the roller frame 18 so as to be vertically movable because the screw 26 is released from the restrained state.
To the separation roller 13 on the other side. In this state, a gap gauge (not shown) having a desired thickness is provided between the pair of separation rollers 13 and 14 while the pressure arm 23 is retracted upward against the urging force of the pressure spring 21. ) And the like, and the fixing screw 26 is tightened to fix the movement of the pressure arm 23, the detached spring 20 is set, and the gap gauge or the like is pulled out between the pair of separation rollers 13 and 14. Roller 14, which is displaceably supported by the shaft 17, has its shaft 17
Abuts on the inner surface of the notch 24 of the pressure arm 23 by the urging force of the separation spring 20, the movement of the roller frame 18 with respect to the roller frame 18 is restricted. In this state, the optimum gap between the pair of separation rollers 13 and 14 for sheet separation can be easily adjusted by one adjustment operation. In this adjustment state, the upper separation roller 14
Does not rotate due to the resistance of the separation spring 20 or the like. Therefore, when a plurality of sheets S are sent from the above-described sheet feeding device 1, only the lowermost sheet S passes while rotating the lower separation roller 13 by its own conveyance force. ,
Sheets S other than the lowermost sheet S receive resistance from the upper separation roller 14 and are thus prevented from advancing. That is, the sheets S are separated one by one. As described above, in order to loosen the fixing screw 26 and displace the pressing arm 23 downward by the urging force of the pressing spring 21, the separation spring 20 which resists the bending operation of the pressing spring 21 is once removed. Although described in the state, the urging force of the pressure spring 21 is set to be larger than the urging force of the separation spring 20 so that the pressing arm 21 It is also possible to displace 23 downward. As described above, since one of the separation rollers 14 does not need to be rotated, it does not need to be a rotating body, and the separation roller 14 may be replaced with a separation member similar to a separation pad. Also in this case, a structure in which a separation member similar to a separation pad instead of the separation roller 14 is urged by a separation spring 20 to be displaceably supported by a roller frame 18 and pressed by a pressing unit 22 is applied. .
Alternatively, a non-rotating separating member similar to a separating pad may be positioned at a fixed position, and the rotating separating roller may be displaced with respect to the non-rotating separating member.
The structure described in the above embodiment is applied to the structure for the displacement. According to the present invention, a separating member supported at a fixed position by a positioning portion, and a separating member supported by a movable supporting portion so as to be movable toward and away from the separating member. counter arranged to bias the separating spring in the direction of separating the separator member supported by the movable support from the separating member supported by the positioning portion is supported by the positioning portion separating member supported by the variable turning support portion A part inserted between the pair of separating members while pressing the separating member.
The gap between the pair of separating members is set according to the material thickness.
A pressurizing section having a pressure spring is provided, and a fixing section for selectively fixing the movement of the pressurizing section is provided. When the fixing state of the pressurizing section by the fixing section is released, the pressurizing section is moved by the movable support section. In order to press the supported separating member toward the other separating member by the urging force of the pressing spring, the fixing portion presses the fixing member with a gap gauge or the like having a desired thickness inserted between the pair of separating members. Is fixed, and by pulling a gap gauge or the like from between the pair of separating members, the separating member, which is displaceably supported by the movable supporting portion, is brought into contact with the pressing portion by the biasing force of the separating spring. The movement with respect to the movable support portion can be restricted, and thus, the gap optimal for separating the paper sheet between the pair of separation members can be easily adjusted by one adjustment operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view showing a sheet separating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a side view showing the sheet separating apparatus. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a sheet separating apparatus. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a movable support unit and a pressing unit. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an example of a sheet feeding device as viewed from the outside. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the structure of the paper sheet device. FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional side view showing the structure of the paper sheet device. FIG. 8 is a side view showing an example of a conventional sheet separating apparatus. FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing an example of a conventional sheet separating apparatus. [Description of Signs] 6 Paper feed paths 13 and 14 Separation member, separation roller 16 Positioning section 18 Movable support section 20 Separation spring 21 Pressurizing spring 22 Pressurizing section 26 Fixed section

Claims (1)

(57) Claims 1. At least one of the pair of separation members is disposed using a separation roller rotatable at least one of which is opposed to each other with a sheet feeding path therebetween, and one of the separation members is defined. A positioning portion that supports at a position, a movable support portion that supports the other separation member so as to be able to contact and separate from the separation member that is supported by the positioning portion, and the separation member that is supported by the movable support portion. a separating spring biasing in the direction of separating from the separating member supported by said positioning unit, before with the separating member which is supported by previous SL movable support pressed in the separating member supported by said positioning unit
According to the thickness of the member inserted between the pair of separating members,
A paper separating apparatus, comprising: a pressurizing portion having a pressurizing spring for setting a gap between the separating members , and a fixing portion for selectively fixing the movement of the pressurizing portion.