JP4078617B2 - Manual feed device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a manual sheet feeding device that can be used in an image forming apparatus used for a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, a digital multifunction machine, and the like, and more particularly, a pickup failure of a recording sheet placed on a manual sheet feeding table. The present invention relates to a manual sheet feeding device that can prevent the above.

  Image forming apparatuses used in digital multi-function peripherals that have multiple functions such as copiers, printers, facsimiles, copy functions, print functions, FAX communication functions, and scan functions are generally paper cassettes that set a large amount of plain paper. In addition, a manual paper feeder is provided for special recording paper such as cardboard, film, and backing paper. The recording sheet placed on the manual sheet feeding device is conveyed to the recording unit and an image is recorded in the same manner as the recording sheet set in the sheet feeding cassette.

  Various thicknesses and sizes of recording paper are placed on the manual paper feeder and fed to the recording unit. However, pickup failure may occur due to differences in the thickness of the recording paper, resulting in misfeeds. is there. There is a manual sheet feeding device that prevents the occurrence of misfeed due to the difference in the thickness of the recording sheet (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  This manual paper feed device separates the recording paper placed on the manual paper feed table using the gradient of the separation plate and feeds it to the image forming apparatus. The gradient of the separation plate is reduced mainly to correspond to the thick paper, and both ends are provided with a gradient of the separation plate in order to improve the separation performance of the recording paper having the same thickness as that of a normal copy recording paper. It is enlarged. Further, in order to improve the separation ability at both ends, a spacer that restricts the passage of the recording paper is provided in a portion facing the separation plate. Furthermore, in order to perform stable separation against the change in the paper thickness of the recording paper, an elastic film is attached to the separation plates at both ends to improve stability.

As another manual paper feeding device 100, as shown in FIG. 6, a sheet of recording paper placed on the flapper 101 is made up of one sheet by a pickup roller 102 and a flapper pad 103 attached on the flapper 101. A sheet of recording paper P is rolled over and a central portion in the width direction of one recording paper P is in a nip portion 107 between a pickup roller 102 and a guide pad 106 affixed to a paper guide 105 provided in the image forming apparatus 104. There are some which are conveyed, nipped by the pickup roller 102 and the guide pad 106 and fed from the paper feed path 108 to the registration roller 109.
JP 2000-302267 A

  However, in the above-described manual sheet feeding device 100, as shown in FIG. 7, the end portion in the width direction of the recording paper P that is rolled by the pickup roller 102 and the flapper pad 103 is on the upper surface of the paper guide 105. The front end of the recording paper P in contact with the side surface is not guided to the nip portion 107 between the pickup roller 102 and the guide pad 106 and is not fed, or the end of the recording paper P in contact with the side surface of the paper guide 105 The part may be bent and conveyed, resulting in misfeeds.

  Such a pick-up failure is particularly likely to occur when a recording sheet on which an image is recorded on one side after passing through the fixing device, that is, a so-called backing sheet, is fed from the manual sheet feeding device 100. The backing paper is warped by the heat applied when passing through the fixing device, and when this backing paper is placed on the flapper 101 of the manual paper feeder 100, a central portion corresponding to the pickup roller 102 is provided. Becomes a state of excitement. Therefore, when the center portion of the backing paper rolled by the pickup roller 102 and the flapper pad 103 is guided to the nip portion 107 between the pickup roller 102 and the guide pad 106, the end portion in the width direction of the backing paper is more than the center portion. There is a problem that the position is lowered and the sheet guide 105 is easily brought into contact with the side surface, and no feed or misfeed is likely to occur.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is a manual paper feed that can prevent a pickup failure during paper feed even if the recording paper placed on the manual paper feed tray is a strongly warped recording paper. An object is to provide an apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the manual paper feeding device according to claim 1 is movable in the width direction of the recording paper on the manual paper feeding table on which the recording paper is placed and the manual paper feeding table. And a pair of side guides for restricting a width direction of the recording paper, and a manual paper feeding device used in an image forming apparatus including a paper guide for guiding the recording paper to a paper feeding path. The film guides are attached to the back surfaces of the pair of side guides so that the front ends of the paper guides are in contact with the top surfaces of the paper guides.

  According to the manual sheet feeding device of the first aspect of the present invention, the end of the recording sheet placed on the manual sheet feeding table is guided to the upper surface of the sheet guide along the film attached to the side guide. Even if the recording sheet placed on the manual sheet feeding stand is a strongly warped recording sheet, the end of the recording sheet does not come into contact with the side surface of the sheet guide, and pickup failure can be prevented. In addition, since the film is attached to the side guide and the film moves as the side guide is moved to the width of the recording paper, it can be used for manual feeding of recording paper of various widths. It is possible.

Further, since the film is attached to the back surface of the side guide, there is an advantage that the recording paper to be fed can be smoothly conveyed without being caught by the end of the film on the upstream side in the paper feeding direction.

Hereinafter, a manual sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, an image forming apparatus 2 using a manual sheet feeding device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be outlined with reference to FIG.
As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 2 (hereinafter also referred to as the apparatus main body 2) has a paper feed cassette 3 disposed at the lower part of the apparatus main body 2 and an image reading apparatus 4 disposed at the upper part of the apparatus main body 2. In addition, a recording unit 5 and a discharge tray 6 are provided. The recording paper P taken out from the paper feeding cassette 3 by the paper feeding roller 7 is transported to the recording paper transporting path 8 and is recorded from the photosensitive drum 9 disposed in the recording unit 5 based on the image data read by the image reading device 4. The toner image is transferred to P. Then, the recording paper P carrying the toner image is fixed to the recording paper P through the fixing device 10, and the recording paper P is discharged to the discharge tray 6 by the discharge roller 12 provided at the end of the discharge path 11. To do. Note that the image reading device 4, the recording unit 5, and the fixing device 10 are generally used and will not be described here.

  In addition, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a reversing path 14 provided with a conveyance roller 13 for sending the recording paper P to the recording unit 5 again so that the front and back of the recording paper P recorded on the front surface are reversed and the back surface is recorded. The upstream portion of the inversion path 14 is connected to the discharge path 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the downstream portion of the reversing path 14 is provided so as to join the recording paper conveyance path 8 at a portion where the registration rollers 15 are arranged. Further, the manual sheet feeding device 1 is disposed on the lower side of the apparatus body 2, and the manual sheet feeding device 1 is connected to the junction between the sheet feeding path 16 and the reversing path 14 from the sheet feeding cassette 3. The sheet feeding paths 17 are merged to manually feed the recording paper P placed on the manual sheet feeding device 1.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 2 includes a pickup roller 18, a paper guide 19, and a guide pad 20 in a portion where the recording paper P is fed from the manual paper feeding device 1.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the pickup roller 18 includes a roller body 21 and a rotating shaft 22, and is supported by the image forming apparatus 2 and a rotational force is applied to the rotating shaft 22 by a driving source (not shown). The roller main body 21 abuts on the recording sheet P at the top of the bundle of recording sheets placed on the manual sheet feeding device 1, picks up the recording sheet P and feeds it to the registration roller 15. Make paper.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the paper guide 19 is provided at the manual paper feed port 23 where the manual paper feed device 1 of the image forming apparatus 2 is disposed, and is fed from the manual paper feed device 1. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the recording paper P is fed so that the recording paper P is smoothly guided to the paper feeding path 17. Guide ribs 24 extending in the direction are formed at predetermined intervals.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the guide pad 20 is affixed to the approximate center in the width direction of the upper surface of the paper guide 19 so as to correspond to the pickup roller 18, and is picked up from the manual paper feeder 1. The central portion of the sheet of recording paper P is sandwiched with the pickup roller 18 and fed to the registration roller 15.

Next, the configuration of the manual sheet feeder 1 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 5, the manual sheet feeder 1 includes a flapper 25, a flapper pad 26, a side guide 27, a film 28, and an extension tray 29.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the flapper 25 is a manual paper feed table on which the recording paper P is placed. When the recording paper P is placed on the flapper 25, first, the recording paper P is placed by pushing down the flapper 25 downward. Then, the release lever 30 is released and the flapper 25 is raised by the urging force of the spring 31 to press the recording paper P against the pickup roller 18.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the flapper pad 26 is affixed to the central portion of the image forming apparatus 2 on the flapper 25, and one sheet of recording paper is placed on the flapper 25 together with the pickup roller 18. For recording paper P. Due to the difference between the frictional force between the flapper pad 26 and the recording paper P and the frictional force between the recording papers P, only the uppermost recording paper P in contact with the pickup roller 18 is conveyed by the rotational drive of the pickup roller 18. Then, the central portion of the recording paper P is sent to the nip portion 32 between the pickup roller 18 and the guide pad 20.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the side guide 27 moves in the width direction of the recording paper P along a groove 33 extending in a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction of the recording paper P formed on the flapper 25. The width direction of the recording paper P is regulated by a pair of left and right so that the central portion of the recording paper P is aligned with the center of the manual paper feeding device 1 in the width direction. The side guide 27 is provided with a bottom plate 34 on which an end portion in the width direction of the recording paper P is placed, and a side wall that protrudes perpendicularly from a side edge of the bottom plate 34 and regulates an end portion in the width direction of the recording paper P. The bottom plate 34 slides along the groove 33, and the width direction end of the recording paper P is adjusted by pressing the width direction end of the recording paper P with the left and right side walls 35 in accordance with the size of the recording paper P. regulate. Further, the left and right side guides 27 slide in conjunction so that the central portion of the recording paper P is aligned with the center of the manual paper feeder 1 in the width direction.

  The film 28 is a thin plate member made of an elastic resin such as PET, and as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the other end side is a side so that one end on the image forming apparatus 2 side comes into contact with the paper guide 19. The guide 27 is affixed to the bottom plate 34 with double-sided tape or the like. The recording sheet bundle placed on the flapper 25 is fed by being fed onto one recording sheet P by the pickup roller 18 and the flapper pad 26, but the recording sheet P to be fed is like a backing sheet. Even when the recording paper P is strongly warped, the end of the recording paper P is guided to the upper surface of the paper guide 19 along the upper surface of the film 28 without contacting the side surface of the paper guide 19. Since the film 28 is attached to the side guide 27 and the side guide 27 is moved in accordance with the width of the recording paper P, the film 28 also moves. Therefore, the manual feeding of the recording paper P having various widths is performed. It is possible to deal with paper.

  When the film 28 is affixed to the back surface (lower surface) of the bottom plate 34 of the side guide 27, the recording paper P to be fed is fed more than the surface 28 (upper surface) of the bottom plate 34. It is preferable because it is smoothly conveyed without being caught by the upstream end or the like. In addition, the film 28 can more reliably guide the end of the recording paper P to the upper surface of the paper guide 19 when the film 28 is attached along the outer edge of the back surface of the bottom plate 34 of the side guide 27. preferable.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the extension tray 29 has a plate-like extension portion 36 pivotally supported on the side portion 37 at the upper end portion, and is used when a long recording paper P such as A3 or B4 size is placed. Is used by extending the extension 36 from the upper end.

The flow of the recording paper P placed on the flapper 25 of the manual sheet feeder 1 having the above configuration will be described.
First, the recording paper P is placed on the flapper 25 by a predetermined method. When the recording paper P to be placed is a long recording paper P of A3 or B4 size, the recording paper P is placed by extending the extension 36 of the extension tray 29 as shown in FIG. The loaded recording paper P is pressed against the pickup roller 18 and is at the top of the bundle of recording papers pressed against the pickup roller 18 by the pickup roller 18 and the flapper pad 26 by the rotational drive of the pickup roller 18. One recording sheet P is rolled from the recording sheet bundle, and the leading end of the centered recording sheet P faces the pickup roller 18 and the nip portion 32 of the guide pad 20.

  At this time, the end portion of the recording paper P in the width direction is guided along the film 28 to the upper surface of the paper guide 19, so that the end portion does not contact the side surface of the paper guide 19 and no feed occurs. . Then, as the central portion of the recording paper P toward the nip portion 32 is sandwiched between the pickup roller 18 and the guide pad 20 and conveyed to the paper feed path 17, the end portion of the recording paper P is also on the paper guide 19. The paper is guided along the upper part to the paper feed path 17 and fed to the registration roller 15.

  As is clear from the above description, in the manual sheet feeder 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention, the tip of the film 28 attached to the back surface of the side guide 27 is in contact with the top surface of the paper guide 19. When the paper is fed, the end of the recording paper P is guided along the film 28 to the upper surface of the paper guide 19, so that the end of the recording paper P does not contact the side surface of the paper guide 19 and no feed occurs. Even if the recording paper P placed on the flapper 25 is a backing paper having a strong warp, it is possible to prevent a pickup failure of the recording paper P during paper feeding.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention. For example, the flapper 25 biased by the spring 31 is used as a manual paper feed table. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a manual paper feed table on which the recording paper P is placed by another method. There may be.

  The present invention can be applied to a manual sheet feeding device used in an image forming apparatus used in a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, a digital multifunction machine, or the like.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus using a manual sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an expanded sectional view of the X section of FIG. It is a YY arrow line view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a configuration of a manual sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a perspective view illustrating an example of a manual sheet feeding device. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the conventional manual paper feeder. It is an AA arrow line view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Manual paper feeder 2 Image forming apparatus 17 Paper feed path 19 Paper guide 25 Flapper 27 Side guide 28 Film P Recording paper

Claims (1)

A manual paper feed table on which the recording paper is placed, and a pair of side guides that are installed on the manual paper feed table so as to be movable in the width direction of the recording paper and regulate the width direction of the recording paper. And a manual paper feeding device used in an image forming apparatus including a paper guide for guiding the recording paper to a paper feeding path.
The paper guide of the upper surface to the manual paper feed unit in which the tip is characterized in that the pasted respectively a film so as to contact the back surface of the pair of side guides.

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