JP4502966B2 - Recording apparatus and paper feeding mechanism thereof - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a paper feeding mechanism thereof, and more particularly to a recording apparatus capable of returning a recording sheet bitten by a pad and a pickup roller into the recording sheet cassette when the recording sheet cassette is pulled out from the recording apparatus body It relates to the paper feed mechanism.

  A general recording device such as a digital copier, facsimile, or printer, that is, a recording device that prints image data from a scanner or personal computer on a recording paper, and has a recording paper cassette on which a plurality of recording papers can be set The upper recording sheet is separated and fed from the lower sheet by the frictional force between the pickup roller and the pad or roller located below, and in particular, the pickup roller and the pad or roller located below the sheet are separated. Recording apparatuses having a constant positional relationship are known.

  Conventionally, in this type of recording apparatus, a sheet is fed by a pickup roller and then sent to a recording unit provided separately from the pickup roller. However, since the pressure of the pickup roller is always applied to the sheet, the pickup roller is rotated until the rear end of the sheet fed by the conveying roller is completely removed from the pickup roller. That is, when the trailing edge of the sheet being conveyed completely comes off the pickup roller, the leading edge of the next sheet to be fed is in a state of being bitten by the pickup roller.

  On the other hand, as an example of this type of recording apparatus, a rack is provided on the paper feed side of a paper cassette (recording paper cassette), and the shaft of the paper feed roller on the main body side is driven and controlled by the one-way clutch and the one-way clutch. An image forming apparatus provided with a pinion gear that meshes with a rack is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1). In this apparatus, the pinion gear rotates in the counter-feeding direction in conjunction with the paper cassette taking-out operation. On the other hand, the paper feed roller is rotated by the pinion gear, and the recording paper nipped between the paper feed roller and the separation pad is pulled back into the paper cassette.

JP 2002-087603 A (summary, paragraph 0026, FIG. 2 and FIG. 3)

  However, in the conventional recording apparatus, when the paper size is changed or when the paper is added, it is necessary to pull out the paper feed tray and then remove the uppermost paper from the pickup roller. There were drawbacks.

  On the other hand, the invention described in Patent Document 1 discloses a paper feed mechanism that solves this problem. However, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, a paper separation mechanism (pinion gear, one-way clutch and paper feed roller) is provided on the apparatus main body side, whereas in the present invention, a paper separation mechanism corresponding to this is provided in the recording paper cassette. On the side.

  Further, since the invention described in Patent Document 1 has the same insertion / removal direction of the paper feed cassette and the paper feed direction of the recording paper (that is, the rotation direction of the paper feed roller), a simple rack gear and pinion gear configuration can be adopted. it can. However, a one-way clutch is required to prevent the drive from being transmitted when the paper cassette is inserted and during the paper feeding operation. Although not described in Patent Document 1, in the present invention, when the paper feed cassette is pulled out, the paper feed roller rotates in the reverse direction. Therefore, there is also a mechanism for preventing this drive from being transmitted to the gear system of the paper feed motor. Necessary.

  On the other hand, the present invention has a configuration in which the insertion / removal direction of the recording paper cassette and the feeding direction of the recording paper (that is, the rotation direction of the feeding roller) are different (for example, 90 degrees). In this case, it is not necessary to limit the driving of the paper feed roller, and a simpler configuration than the invention described in Patent Document 1 can be realized.

  As described above, the invention described in Patent Document 1 is completely different from the present invention in configuration.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a paper feed mechanism in which the direction of inserting / removing the recording paper cassette differs from the direction of feeding the recording paper (that is, the direction of rotation of the paper feeding roller). It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus and its paper feeding mechanism that do not require the uppermost recording paper to be pulled back from the pickup roller.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus in which the insertion / extraction direction of the recording paper cassette and the feeding direction of the recording paper are different, and a groove through which a guide pin provided in the recording apparatus main body passes is formed. And when the recording paper cassette is pulled out, a slider that moves in the return direction of the recording paper with the guide pin fitted in the groove;
A pickup roller pressed against the recording paper, a rotary shaft to which the pickup roller is attached, a rack gear provided at a fixed length at the end of the slider wall, and a pinion gear provided on the rotary shaft and meshable with the rack gear Are provided in the recording paper cassette.

The paper feeding mechanism according to the present invention is a paper feeding mechanism of a recording apparatus in which the direction of inserting / removing the recording paper cassette differs from the direction of feeding the recording paper, and is formed with a groove through which a guide pin provided in the main body of the recording apparatus is passed. When the recording paper cassette is pulled out, a slider that moves in the return direction of the recording paper with the guide pin fitted in the groove, a pickup roller pressed against the recording paper, and a rotating shaft to which the pickup roller is attached And a rack gear provided at a fixed length at the end of the wall of the slider,
The recording paper cassette is provided with a pinion gear provided on the rotating shaft and meshable with the rack gear.

  Next, the operation of the present invention will be described. In the present invention, a slider that slides in the same direction as or opposite to the recording paper feeding direction (the direction of rotation of the pickup roller) is provided on the tray of the recording paper cassette. A pinion gear is provided on the rotation shaft of the pickup roller, and a rack gear that meshes with the pinion gear is provided on the slider. On the other hand, a guide pin is provided in the recording apparatus main body, and a groove through which the guide pin passes through the slider is an intermediate between the insertion / removal direction of the recording paper cassette and the feeding direction of the recording paper (the rotation direction of the pickup roller). It is formed in the direction.

  With this configuration, when the recording paper cassette is pulled out, the slider slides according to the operation, and the pickup roller rotates in the direction opposite to the recording paper feeding direction via the pinion gear and the rack gear. As a result, the uppermost recording sheet is pulled back from the pickup roller to the tray side.

  According to the present invention, since the above-described configuration is included, it is possible to omit an operation of pulling out and removing the uppermost recording sheet from the pickup roller after the recording sheet cassette is pulled out.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an example of a recording paper cassette of a recording apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the recording paper cassette as viewed from the drive configuration side.

  Since the configuration of the main body of the recording apparatus according to the present invention is the same as that of the conventional one, the illustration in the following drawings is omitted.

  Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a recording paper cassette 10 mounted on a recording apparatus includes a tray 1, a push-up plate 2 for loading recording paper (not shown) on the tray 1, a rotating shaft 3, and a rotating shaft 3. A pickup roller 4 provided for feeding recording paper, a pad 5 for separating the lower recording paper, and a drive for feeding the recording paper provided at one end of the rotary shaft 3 are transmitted. A driving pin 6 that is disposed adjacent to the driving pin 6 at one end of the rotary shaft 3, a slider 8 that is slidably provided on the tray 1, and a pinion gear 7 that is provided on the slider 8. The rack gear 9 is configured.

  The insertion direction of the tray 1 to the recording apparatus main body (not shown) is the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, and the pulling direction of the tray 1 from the recording apparatus main body (not shown) is the direction of arrow B in FIG. The pickup roller 4 rotates in the direction of arrow C when paper is fed and in the direction of arrow D when the recording paper is returned. Further, the feeding direction of the recording paper is the arrow E direction, and the returning direction of the recording paper is the arrow F direction.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view in which the push-up plate 2 is omitted for convenience from the perspective views of FIGS. 1 and 2. Referring to the drawing, a groove 8a is formed on the contact surface of the slider 8 with the bottom surface of the tray 1, and a guide pin 21 provided on the recording apparatus main body side is fitted into the groove 8a. The groove 8a is formed from one end of the slider 8 in a certain length parallel to the extending direction of the rotary shaft 3, and then bent in the recording paper return direction F at a certain angle.

  FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of an example of the tray 1. Referring to the figure, the tray 1 is also formed with a groove 1a into which the guide pin 21 is fitted. A groove 1b for locking the slider 8 is also formed.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an example of the slider 8. This figure shows a case where the rack gear 9 is provided at a certain length at the end of the wall portion of the slider 8. Protrusions 8 b and 8 c are provided at the end of the contact surface of the slider 8 with the tray 1, and the protrusions 8 b and 8 c are fitted into the grooves 1 b of the tray 1, so that the slider 8 slides on the tray 1.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing details of an example of the configuration in the vicinity of the pickup roller 4. Referring to the figure, a spring 22 is provided between the push-up plate 2 and the bottom surface of the tray 1, and a spring 23 is provided between the pad 5 and the wall end surface of the tray 1.

  Next, the operation of the paper feed mechanism of the recording paper cassette will be described. The recording paper is stacked on the push-up plate 2. Since the push-up plate 2 is pushed up by the spring 22, the recording paper is pressed against the pickup roller 4. Then, an external driving force is transmitted to the pickup roller 4 via the driving pin 6 and the rotating shaft 3.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the pickup roller 4 is in contact with both the push-up plate 2 (or the recording paper stacked on the push-up plate 2) and the pad 5, and the pad 5 prevents double feeding of the recording paper. is doing.

  On the other hand, since the pickup roller 4 rotates until the trailing edge of the recording paper in the pickup roller 4 completely passes through the pad 5, the recording paper to be fed next is in a state of being caught by the pad 5 and the pickup roller 4. Stop at.

  Here, when the operator pulls out the tray 1 of the recording paper cassette 10, the slider 8 moves in the recording paper return direction (the direction of arrow G in FIG. 3). This is because the slider 8 moves while the guide pin 21 is fitted in the groove 8 a of the slider 8.

  On the other hand, since the rack 8 is provided on the slider 8, the pinion gear 7 meshing with it rotates in the recording paper returning direction (in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 3), and the pickup roller 4 is also in the same direction as the pinion gear 7. And the recording paper is pulled back into the tray 1.

  Thus, the recording paper is pulled back into the tray 1 only when the operator pulls out the tray 1 of the recording paper cassette 10.

  As described above, according to the present invention, since the recording paper is pulled back into the tray 1 only when the operator pulls out the tray 1 of the recording paper cassette 10, the operator changes the size of the recording paper, or the recording paper Therefore, the operation of pulling back and releasing the uppermost recording sheet from the pickup roller 4 can be omitted.

  In addition, since the rotation mechanism of the pickup roller 4 has only a few gears and the drive power source is interlocked with the insertion / removal operation of the tray 1, it is possible to provide a simple and inexpensive recording apparatus and its paper feed mechanism. Become.

  In this embodiment, the driving force of the pickup roller 4 is interlocked with the pulling out of the tray 1 of the recording paper cassette 10, but the pickup roller 4 is reversed using an external driving force (not shown) used for normal paper feeding operation. It is also possible to make it.

1 is an external perspective view of an example of a recording paper cassette of a recording apparatus according to the present invention. It is the external appearance perspective view which looked at the recording paper cassette from the drive structure side. It is the perspective view which abbreviate | omitted the raising board 2 for convenience from the perspective view of FIG. 1 and FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an example of a tray 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of a slider 8. It is a figure which shows the detail of an example of a structure of the pick-up roller 4 vicinity.

Explanation of symbols

1 Tray 1a, 1b Groove
2 Push-up plate
3 Rotating shaft
4 Pickup roller
5 Pad
6 Drive pin
7 Pinion gear
8 Slider 8a Groove 8b, 8c Projection
9 Rack gear 10 Recording paper cassette 21 Guide pin 22, 23 Spring

Claims (4)

A recording apparatus in which the insertion / extraction direction of the recording paper cassette is different from the feeding direction of the recording paper,
A groove for passing a guide pin provided in the recording apparatus main body is formed, and when the recording paper cassette is pulled out, a slider that moves in the return direction of the recording paper with the guide pin fitted in the groove;
A pickup roller pressed against the recording paper and a rotating shaft to which the pickup roller is attached;
A rack gear provided at a fixed length at the end of the wall of the slider;
A recording apparatus, wherein a pinion gear provided on the rotating shaft and meshable with the rack gear is provided on the recording paper cassette. The slider is a flat plate having an L-shaped cross section, a groove is formed on the bottom surface of the slider and the tray of the recording paper cassette, and a guide pin provided in the recording apparatus main body is fitted into the two grooves. The recording apparatus according to claim 1 . A paper feeding mechanism of a recording apparatus in which the direction of inserting / removing the recording paper cassette differs from the feeding direction of the recording paper,
A groove for passing a guide pin provided in the recording apparatus main body is formed, and when the recording paper cassette is pulled out, a slider that moves in the return direction of the recording paper with the guide pin fitted in the groove;
A pickup roller pressed against the recording paper and a rotating shaft to which the pickup roller is attached;
A rack gear provided at a fixed length at the end of the wall of the slider;
A paper feed mechanism, wherein a pinion gear provided on the rotary shaft and meshable with the rack gear is provided on the recording paper cassette.   The slider is a flat plate having an L-shaped cross section, a groove is formed on the bottom surface of the slider and the tray of the recording paper cassette, and a guide pin provided in the recording apparatus main body is fitted into the two grooves. The paper feed mechanism according to claim 3.

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