JP3543844B2 - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Industrial applications]
The present invention relates to a paper supply apparatus, and more particularly, to a paper supply apparatus that sequentially pulls out a plurality of stacked sheets of paper from a lowermost side and supplies the same.
[0002]
[Prior art]
As shown in FIG. 4, this type of conventional paper supply apparatus stacks papers 102 in a horizontal state on a standby unit 101 configured to blow air from the bottom side of a bottom surface 101a to form a standby state. A leading end guide member 103 for positioning the drawing end of the paper 102 at a paper drawing end of the unit 101, and a vacuum rotating clockwise in the drawing, wherein the lowermost paper 102a is pulled out by a rotational force while being sucked by an air suction force. A roller 104 is provided, and an interval between the vacuum roller 104 and the leading end guide member 103 is adjusted so that a plurality of sheets 102 do not pass. However, according to this sheet supply apparatus, when a large amount of sheets are stacked, there is a disadvantage that the suction force of the vacuum roller 104 does not sufficiently act on the sheet 102 due to the weight, and a smooth and reliable drawing operation is not performed.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Therefore, the inventor of the present application sets a standby unit of a paper supply unit that supplies sheets one by one and a standby unit of a small number of sheets to the standby unit, and supplies one or a plurality of sheets to a stage preceding the standby unit. An attempt was made to arrange a paper auxiliary supply unit that supplies paper to the standby unit sequentially. However, when paper is supplied from the paper auxiliary supply unit to the standby unit, the paper is not reliably supplied to the standby position, and the paper supply from the standby unit is performed. However, there has been a problem that the operation cannot be performed accurately. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a paper supply apparatus that solves these disadvantages.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the paper supply device of the present invention has a bottom plate, a leading guide member for aligning the leading ends of sheets stacked on the bottom plate, and a stack between the bottom plate and the leading guide member. A sheet supply device for supplying the lowest sheet of a plurality of sheets stacked from a standby unit provided with a vacuum roller that draws a sheet in contact with a lower surface of the lowermost sheet, wherein the standby unit waits for one or more sheets. A transfer surface to be supplied to the transfer portion, and a butting portion extending to the transfer surface, the transfer surface being changed and the rear end of the sheet placed in the standby portion facing the leading end guide of the standby portion being aligned. A sheet auxiliary supply means having a surface formed by a transfer belt is provided at a stage preceding the standby section.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
According to the present invention, in addition to the above-described structure, the paper auxiliary supply unit stands up with a gap on a transfer surface of the transfer belt, and abuts the leading ends of sheets stacked on the transfer surface and is transferred from the transfer surface. It is preferable to add a paper storage unit provided with a guide member for regulating the amount of paper. Further, it is conceivable that the distance between the tip guide member and the abutting surface can be adjusted.
[0006]
[Action]
A sheet auxiliary supply means is provided in the preceding stage of the standby unit, and the sheets stacked on the bottom plate of the standby unit by sequentially replenishing the sheets need only stack a small amount of paper. The paper in the standby section is easily pulled out, and the paper in the standby section is securely held at a predetermined position in the standby section by the abutting surface of the leading end guide member of the standby section and the transfer belt of the paper auxiliary supply means, so that the paper can be accurately supplied by the vacuum roller.
[0007]
【Example】
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Here, FIG. 1 is an explanatory side sectional view of the paper feeding apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory front sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.
[0008]
Sheet feeder as shown in FIG. 1 1, the sheet auxiliary feed means 2 including a plurality of transport belts 20,21,21 circulating movement to the arranged drawing clockwise to be inclined downward toward the transport direction In addition, the sheet 4 is placed thereon and has a sheet transfer surface. The central transfer belt 20 is disposed higher than the other transfer belts 21 on both sides and is raised. A plurality of transfer belts 20, 21, 21 are inclined by the transfer belt 20 and the guide member 3 arranged at the end of the transfer belt 20 in the transfer direction inclining vertically with respect to a plane perpendicular to the surface of the transfer belt 20. The sheet storage unit is configured so that the sheet 4 placed thereon can be stored with a large lifting load of the central transfer belt 20 (as shown in FIG. 2). A large number of sheets 4 are stacked and stored on the transport belts 20, 21 and 21, and are sequentially pulled out from the gaps of the guide members 3 by the transport belts 20, 21 and 21 from the lower side. The pulled out paper 4 is configured to be supplied to the standby unit 6.
[0009]
The standby unit 6 includes a vacuum roller at the drawing end side of the paper 4 supplied here, that is, at the leading end side, which comes into contact with the lower surface of the lowermost paper 4a of the plurality of stacked papers 4 and pulls out the paper 4a. 7 are provided. The standby unit 6 has a guide surface having a slope inclined in the direction of the vacuum roller 7 for guiding the leading end side of the stacked sheets 4 supplied to the bottom plate of the standby unit 6 toward the vacuum roller 7. The transfer belts 20, 21, 21 form a front end pressing guide 8 having a semicircular cross section as a member, a front end guide member 10 for aligning the leading end of the sheet 4, and an abutting surface 9 for guiding the rear end of the sheet 4. Is done.
[0010]
Therefore, the standby space before and after the sheet 4 in the standby section 6 is set by the interval between the leading end guide member 10 and the abutting surface 9 formed by the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21. The distance between the tip guide member 10 and the abutting surface 9 is adjusted by a frame 27 holding the transfer belts 20, 21, 21 along a stay 27 sandwiched by slide bearings 28 attached to the frame (in the figure). (In the left-right direction). Movement width of frames, the block 31 attached to the frame being adapted to be slid over the stay 27, while block 31 to the left and right stoppers 29, 29 to be fixed to a desired position of the stay 27 abuts, The interval is determined. Reference numeral 30 denotes a screw for fixing the stopper .
[0011]
Further, the standby unit 6 is configured such that air is blown from a lower portion of the bottom plate of the standby unit 6 so as to lift the stacked sheets 4. Further, a sensor 11 for detecting the stacking height of the sheets 4 supplied to the standby unit 6 is provided. As the sensor 11, for example, it is preferable to use a reflection type sensor using ultrasonic waves, light, or the like. When the sensor 11 detects that the stacking height of the sheets 4 has not reached the predetermined value, the sensor 11 generates a detection signal, and drives the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21 of the sheet feeding apparatus 1 based on the detection signal to store the sheets. The paper 4 is supplied to the standby unit 6, and a predetermined number of sheets 4 are always supplied to the standby unit 6 from the paper auxiliary supply unit 2 which is a paper storage unit.
[0012]
In the present embodiment, the transfer belts 20, 21, 21 are driven by driving the transfer belts 20, 21, 21 according to the detection signal of the sensor 11 which is issued when the amount of stacked sheets 4 of the standby unit 6 becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value. The sheets 4 stacked on top of each other are supplied to the standby unit 6 in appropriate numbers.
[0013]
Next, this supply operation will be described with reference to FIG. When the vacuum roller 7 is started (step 201), the sensor 11 detects whether or not the stacking amount of the papers 4 in the standby unit 6 is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step 202). In step 203, it is determined whether or not the transport belts 20, 21, and 21 are being driven. If the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21 are not driven, they are driven to supply the paper 4 (step 204), and it is determined whether or not a device stop signal has been issued (step 205). If the device stop signal has been issued, the operation of the device is stopped (step 209), and the process is terminated. If the device stop signal has not been issued, the process returns to step 202 to perform the above-described operation. repeat. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 203 that the transport belts 20, 21, and 21 are being driven, the process proceeds to step 205, and the above-described operation is performed.
[0014]
If it is determined in step 202 that a predetermined number or more of the sheets 4 have been stacked, the process proceeds to step 206 to determine whether the transport belts 20, 21, and 21 are being driven. If the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21 are being driven, they are stopped to stop the supply of the paper 4 (step 207), and it is determined whether or not an apparatus stop signal has been issued (step 207). (Step 208) If the device stop signal has been issued, the operation of the device is stopped (Step 209) and the operation is terminated. If the device stop signal has not been issued, the process returns to Step 202 and returns to Step 202. Repeat the operation. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 206 that the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21 are not driven, the process proceeds to step 208, and the above-described operation is performed.
[0015]
In such a feeding operation of the paper 4, the guide member 3 is provided so as to stand substantially along the vertical plane, and the transfer belts 20, 21, 21 are provided to be inclined so as to be processed in the feeding direction. Therefore, the transfer of the sheet 4 from the transfer belts 20, 21, 21 is smoothly performed. Note that the supply of the paper 4 here does not necessarily have to be performed one sheet at a time, and a plurality of sheets may be supplied collectively.
[0016]
The paper 4 supplied to and stacked on the standby unit 6 is guided by the front-end pressing guide 8 while receiving the buoyant force of the air from the bottom plate of the standby unit 6, and is aligned with the front-end guide member 10. The rear end is regulated and guided by the abutting surfaces 9 by the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21, respectively, and guided from the lower one toward the vacuum roller 7. When the leading end of the sheet 4a reaches a predetermined position, only the lowermost sheet 4a is sucked by the suction force of the vacuum roller 7 and further pulled out by the rotational force of the vacuum roller 7. At this time, even if the leading end of the lowermost sheet 4a is curled upward, the leading end pressing guide 8 surely guides the sheet 4a toward the vacuum roller 7, so that the leading end of the sheet 4a is too far from the vacuum roller 7. The situation where the suction force does not work does not occur.
[0017]
However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the transfer belts 20, 21, and 21 are raised at the center of the transfer belt 20, but when the printed or processed surface of the sheet to be transferred is at the center, May be raised, and the number of supply units is not limited to three, and may be two or four or more. The shape of the tip pressing guide 8 can be variously changed, such as a semicircular cross section, a triangular cross section, or a curved plate like the supply guide 5. Further, the sensor 11 and the rear end guide 9 need not always be provided.
[0018]
【The invention's effect】
As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the standby unit is configured such that the paper is sequentially replenished from the paper auxiliary supply unit, and the paper to be stacked on the bottom plate of the standby unit is obtained by merely stacking a small amount of paper. It is easy to pull out the lowermost paper with the vacuum roller, without causing troubles such as paper jam, etc., and the paper is kept on standby by the end guide member of the standby part and the abutting surface by the transfer belt of the paper auxiliary supply means. Thus, there is an effect that the standby state is ensured at a predetermined position of the copy unit, and accurate sheet supply timing by the vacuum roller is guaranteed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an explanatory side cross-sectional view of a paper supply device of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory front sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a driving operation of a sheet feeding device and a single-sheet feeding device based on a sheet amount of a standby unit.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory cross-sectional view of a conventional paper supply device.
[Explanation of symbols]
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper supply device 2 paper auxiliary supply means 3 guide members 4, 4 a paper 6 standby unit 7 vacuum roller 9 butting surface 10 leading edge guide members 20, 21 transfer belt

Claims (3)

A standby unit provided with a bottom plate, a leading end guide member for abutting the leading ends of the sheets stacked on the bottom plate, and a vacuum roller between the bottom plate and the leading end guide member for drawing out the sheet in contact with the lower surface of the lowermost stacked sheet; A paper supply device for supplying a lowermost sheet of a plurality of stacked sheets,
A transfer surface for supplying one or a plurality of sheets of paper to the standby portion, and a sheet extending to the transfer surface, the transfer surface being changed and placed on the standby portion facing the leading end guide of the standby portion A sheet supply device, wherein a sheet auxiliary supply means comprising a transfer belt and an abutting surface for abutting the rear end is provided at a stage preceding the standby section. A sheet which stands up with a gap on the transfer surface of the sheet auxiliary supply means by the transfer belt, has a guide member for aligning the leading ends of sheets stacked on the transfer surface and regulating the amount of sheets transferred from the transfer surface. The paper supply device according to claim 1, wherein a storage unit is configured. 3. The paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a distance between the leading end guide member and the abutting surface is adjustable.

Images