JP3628506B2 - Manual paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement of a manual sheet feeding device used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printing machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine, and in particular, can easily feed stiff paper such as cardboard and board. The present invention relates to a manual sheet feeder.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In a paper feeding device used in a conventional image forming apparatus, various separation mechanisms are provided in order to prevent double feeding of documents and paper. A friction separation mechanism known as a kind of separation mechanism includes a mechanism that separates multi-feed paper between rollers or a multi-feed paper between a roller and a friction pad.
In addition to the normal paper feeders that store regular-size paper in a paper cassette or the like and are used regularly, the paper feeder can feed fixed-size paper, special paper, interrupt paper, etc. There is a preferable so-called manual paper feeder. As a manual sheet feeding device, in addition to a type that actually manually feeds one sheet at a time, there is a type that automatically feeds one sheet at a time from among a large number of sheets set on a manual sheet feeding table.
By the way, in recent years, it has been required to copy the cover and back cover used when binding a created copy in a copying machine using the same copying machine, such as cardboard and board used as a cover. There is an increasing demand for copying on thick paper. However, it is impossible to feed and transport thick paper using conventional copiers that have been configured with various parts such as a transport path to transport thin paper that is weak. Since problems such as paper are likely to occur, it has been difficult for conventional copying machines to meet such requirements. That is, since the paper thickness and rigidity (paper stiffness) are extremely different between plain paper (thin paper) and thick paper, it is desirable to set the conveyance path to be almost straight in order to pass the thick paper. For this reason, it is desirable that the angle of the manual paper feed table be close to the horizontal to eliminate the angle with the conveyance path inside the image forming apparatus. In the manual paper feeder designed in the above, the friction separating means for separating the plain paper is provided in front of the manual feed direction (back side). In many cases, the frictional separation means becomes an obstacle and a paper feed failure occurs.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and when passing thick paper, the friction separating mechanism for plain paper is retracted in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the manual feed tray, and the paper feeding / conveying property is improved. An object of the present invention is to provide a manual sheet feeding device capable of improving reliability and reducing costs by simplifying the mechanism.
[0004]
[Means for solving the problems]
To achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is loaded into the paper and the paper feed roller provided in the manual feed slot of the feeding device, by rotating it about the axis of the feed roller The manual feed tray is configured to be able to change the angle between thin paper feed and thick paper feed, and can be freely rotated in the direction in which the leading edge of the manual feed tray contacts and separates from the paper feed roller. And a separation unit having a separation member that performs a function of separating thin paper by contacting a paper feed roller, and when the manual feed tray is set at an angle for thin paper feeding. When the separation unit is close to the paper feed roller so that the separation member is positioned close to the paper feed roller, and the manual feed tray is set at an angle for feeding thick paper, the separation member The separation unit so that the Characterized in that it holds the spaced apart position from the paper roller.
[0005]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part (separation mechanism) of the manual sheet feeder of the present invention, and shows a state in which plain paper (thin paper) can be fed. FIG. 2 is an external perspective view, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view. 4 and 5 are longitudinal sectional views showing the operation. FIG. 4 shows a state for feeding thick paper, and FIG. 5 shows a state in which it is opened.
This separation mechanism is schematically constituted by a manual paper feed tray I and a separation unit II pivotally supported so as to be rotatable in the vertical movement direction relative to the manual paper feed tray I.
The manual paper feed tray I is integrally provided with a bracket 2a that engages with a shaft 1a of a paper feed roller 1 provided at a manual paper feed port of a paper feeder main body (image forming apparatus main body) so as to be relatively rotatable at the tip. And a bottom plate 3 that is supported on the manual feed base 2 so as to be movable up and down and is always elastically biased upward (in a direction away from the manual feed base 2) by a paper feed pressurizing spring 4 and the like. .
The manual feed tray I rotates between the set angle for feeding thin paper in FIG. 1 and the set angle for feeding thick paper shown in FIG. 4 and further in the open state in FIG.
The feed roller 1 is engaged with the manual feed base 2 integrated with the bracket 2a by the shaft 1a, but the feed roller 1 itself rotates for feeding by a driving force from a motor (not shown). Of course.
[0006]
The separation unit II is a friction pad separation type separation means for separating plain paper (thin paper), and friction on the front end surface of the bottom plate 3 provided on the manual feed table 2 is the same as the normal friction pad separation method. The member 3 a and the separation member 7 b on the separation pad base 7 are pressed against and contacted with the outer periphery of the paper feed roller 1. The separation pressure spring 8 is means for applying a load for separating the plain paper. Then, this state shown in FIG. 1 is a plain paper feeding state.
At this time, the manual feed tray I maintains a posture inclined slightly upward from the horizontal direction as shown in the drawing, and the multi-feed plain paper fed from the bottom plate 3 on the paper feed tray in this state (Thin paper) is sufficiently frictionally separated between the separating member 7b and the paper feed roller 1. In this state, even when trying to feed thick paper, it is hindered by friction between the separating member 7b and the paper feeding roller 1, and tends to cause poor paper feeding.
[0007]
Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the separation unit II is generally configured by a separation bracket 6, a separation pad base 7, and a separation pressure spring 8.
The separation bracket 6 includes a main body 6A (one piece 6A ′, the other side 6A ″) formed of a plate bent in a substantially L shape, a shaft 6a integrally projecting from both end surfaces of the bent portion of the main body 6A, and the main body 6A. A bearing for fitting and receiving a projection 6b which is a bent portion provided at the tip of the other piece 6A ″, a hole 6c for inserting and supporting an end of a spring 11 described later, and a shaft 7a of the separation pad base 7 A portion 6d and a recess 6e formed at the center of the piece 6A ′ for receiving the spring 8 are provided.
The separation pad base 7 is integrated with a plate-shaped main body 7A having a separation member 7b on the upper surface, two columns 7B integrally led out obliquely downward from one end edge of the main body 7A, and a tip of the column 7B. And a locking piece 7c integrally projecting in an inverted L shape downward from the other end edge of the main body 7A.
[0008]
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the shaft 7a of the separation pad base 7 is rotatably fitted and supported in a bearing 6b of the separation bracket 6, and the locking piece 7c is formed on the protrusion 6b of the separation bracket 6. It is assembled so as to come into contact with this from below. The spring 8 abuts against the bottom surface of the main body 7A of the separation pad 7 and biases it upward.
The separation unit II configured as described above is pivotally supported on the manual feed table 2 of the manual paper feed tray I by the configuration shown in FIG. Reference numeral 2f in FIG. 2 is a front wall that is bent upward from the front end portion of the manual feed base 2, and the separation unit II is disposed in a notch 2g that is received by the center of the front wall. It is pivotally supported so as to be pivotable in the vertical direction. Further, the shaft 6 a provided in the separation bracket 6 is loosely fitted into the long groove 9 a of the support bracket 9 provided in the main body guide plate 10. Note that the front wall 2f does not appear in the sectional view of FIG.
The separation unit II is rotatably supported by the manual feed table 2 by rotatably supporting the shaft 7a having both ends protruding from the bearing 6d of the separation bracket 6 by a bearing 2h provided on the manual feed table 2. Will be.
Further, after inserting a torsion spring-like spring 11 (with both ends of the coil spring protruding) through the shaft 7a, one end portion 11b protruding from the spring is locked onto the manual feed table 2 by the locking member 2i. On the other hand, by engaging the bent end of the other end 11a in the pore 6c of the separation bracket 6, the separation unit II is urged to rotate upward (E direction).
[0009]
Next, the state when the thick paper is passed will be described with reference to FIG. The manual feed table 2 is rotatably connected to the rotation shaft 1a of the paper feed roller 1 by a bracket 2a, and the manual feed table 2 rotates in the vertical direction around the paper feed roller 1. When the manual feed table 2 that has been in the plain paper feeding posture shown in FIG. 1 is rotated in the direction A to shift to the horizontal posture, the separation unit II pivotally supported at the front end of the manual feeding tray I is 7a is pushed forward (to the left in the drawing) while rotating relative to the fulcrum. Then, the shaft 6a located at the front end of the separation bracket 6 is guided by the long groove 9a provided in the support bracket 9, and the separation unit II is retracted downward as a whole along the long groove front portion inclined downward. To do. At that time, the protrusion 6b on the separation bracket 6 side and the locking piece 7c of the separation pad base 7 are brought into contact with and locked, so that the upward opening of the separation pad base 7 is restricted. As a result, the separating member 7b can maintain a state of being largely retracted from the transport path of the thick paper fed from the bottom plate 3, so that the thick paper can be smoothly fed and transported without interfering with the thick paper. It becomes possible. In this case, the interval between the bottom plate 3 and the sheet feeding roller 1 is set so that one sheet is fed, but a slit separation method in which other intervals are set may be used. That is, as long as the separating member 7b can be retracted from the thick paper conveyance path, the interval between the paper feeding roller and the bottom plate may be any value. Further, since the frictional resistance of the peripheral surface of the sheet feeding roller 1 is set sufficiently larger than that of the friction member 3a, the friction member 3a does not hinder the conveyance of the cardboard.
[0010]
Next, a state when the manual paper feed tray I and the separation unit II are mounted to the paper feed opening from the state where the manual paper feed tray I and the separation unit II are opened from the paper feed opening will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the manual feed base 2 rotates in the opening direction indicated by the arrow B, the projection 6a of the separation bracket is detached from the long groove 9a of the support bracket 9, and the separation unit II is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 1 as shown in the figure. Take me around. During this time, the separation unit II is urged in the C direction with respect to the paper feed roller 1 by the urging means (not shown) (spring 11 shown in FIG. 2), and is always in contact. In addition, an oblique notch 9b that is inclined downward is provided at the opening end of the long groove 9a to prevent interference with the projection 6a of the separation bracket during the mounting operation (D direction) and to perform the setting operation. It is smooth.
In other words, it is easy to move the manual feed tray as shown in FIG. 5 to the thick paper feed state as shown in FIG. 4 or the plain paper feed state as shown in FIG. Yes, it is possible to effectively exhibit the optimum separating ability and feeding ability according to each feeding state.
[0011]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the separation unit provided with the friction separation member is rotatably connected to the manual feed tray provided with the manual feed table, so that the friction separation is performed according to the angle of the manual feed table. The members can be moved back and forth from the paper feed roller in conjunction with each other, so that it is possible to improve the paper feeding / conveying performance of the thick paper and to improve the reliability and reduce the cost by simplifying the mechanism.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a main part (separation mechanism) of a manual sheet feeding device according to the present invention, and shows a state in which plain paper (thin paper) can be fed.
2 is an external perspective view of FIG. 1. FIG.
3A and 3B are exploded perspective views of FIG. 1. FIG.
4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG.
5 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the operation of the embodiment of FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
I manual feed tray, II separation unit, 1 feed roller, 1a shaft, 2 manual feed tray, 2a bracket, 3 bottom plate, 4 feed pressurizing spring, 6 separation bracket, 6A body, 6a shaft, 6b protrusion, 6c pore, 6d bearing, 6e recess, 7 separation pad base, 7a shaft, 7b separation member, 8 separation pressure spring, 9 support bracket, 9a long groove,

Claims (1)

A paper supply roller provided at the manual paper supply port of the paper supply device;
A manual paper feed tray that is capable of changing the angle to be set in the paper feed port in the the cardboard sheet feeding for thin sheet feeding by rotating it about the axis of the paper feed roller,
A separation unit having a separation member that is supported at the front end portion of the manual paper feed tray so as to be rotatable in a direction in which the paper feed roller comes into contact with and separates from the paper feed roller and that exhibits a function of separating thin paper by being in contact with the paper feed roller And comprising
When the manual paper feed tray is set at an angle for thin paper feeding, the separation unit approaches the paper feeding roller so that the separation member is positioned close to the paper feeding roller.
When the manual paper feed tray is set at an angle for feeding thick paper, the separation unit maintains a posture separated from the paper feed roller so that the separation member is separated from the paper feed roller. Manual feed device.

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