JPH026031Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Technical Field This invention relates to a paper alignment device for a double-sided copying machine or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a double-sided copying machine is equipped with an intermediate tray that once arranges the sheets of paper that have been copied on one side and refeeds them for copying on the other side. This applies not only to double-sided copying but also to single-sided copying when multiple copies are made. In this type of apparatus, it is necessary to align and store the sheets on the intermediate tray so as not to cause the sheets to be misaligned when re-feeding the sheets. Therefore, this type of technology is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 189963/1983. However, since only the position from which the paper is delivered to the intermediate tray is specified, the usable paper size is limited.

Therefore, the applicant has proposed an apparatus as shown in FIG. 1 in which the usable paper size is not limited. First, the paper 1 that has been copied on one side is transferred to the intermediate tray 3 by a pair of transport rollers 2.
It is fed into the upper discharge gate device 4. The discharge gate device 4 discharges the paper 1 onto the intermediate tray 3 and the guide table 5, and sends it to the paper alignment/refeed section 6. That is, the paper 1 discharged onto the intermediate tray 3 and the guide table 5 is fed by the feed roller 7 to the stopper 8 position and stopped there. In other words, the front edges of the paper 1 are aligned at the stopper 8 position, and the paper is in a standby state for re-feeding. Here, the feed roller 7 is supported by an arm 10 that is rotatable about a fulcrum 9 and comes into contact with the paper 1 due to its own weight, and is displaced upward as the paper 1 is accumulated.

Here, to explain the discharge gate device 4, first, a divided conveyor belt 13 is provided which is supported by a driving roller 11 and a driven roller 12 and is substantially parallel to the intermediate tray 3. This conveyor belt 13
For example, four discharge rollers 14, 15, 1
6, 17 are provided in contact with the lower surface, and gate claws 18, 1 are provided between the discharge rollers 14, 15, 16, 17.
9 and 20 are rotatably provided. These gate claws 18, 19, and 20 are controlled by solenoids to have four release positions.The largest paper is ejected as shown in A, and the smallest paper is ejected as shown in B. It is to let them do it.

However, in the paper alignment/refeed section 6,
It is necessary to use the stopper 8 to align not only the front edge of the paper but also its side edges. Therefore, movable fences 21 are provided at both ends of the guide table 5 to align the side edges. This movable fence 21 includes a sponge 22 as shown in FIG.
It is known to have the following affixed. However, such sponges 22 and the like have poor dimensional accuracy, making it impossible to accurately set the interval between the movable fences 21. Further, the paper 1 is likely to get caught between the sliding surface of the movable fence 21 and the end surface of the sponge 22 (section A in FIG. 2), causing trouble.

Purpose This invention was developed in view of the above points, and it improves the accuracy of the movable fence spacing to stably align the side edges of the paper, while also eliminating problems such as paper jamming. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper alignment device for a double-sided copying machine, etc., which does not require double-sided copying.

Configuration An embodiment of this invention will be explained based on FIGS. 3 to 8. Components that are the same as those shown in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. First, the basic configuration will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. The guide table 5 has a side plate 3 connected by a stay 30.
It is installed between 1 and 31'. A pair of L-shaped movable fences 32 and 32' are provided on both ends of the guide table 5. here,
Long holes 33, 33' formed in the guide table 5
The guide pins 34, 34' fixed to the movable fences 32, 32' are inserted through the guide table 5.
The elongated holes 36, which are connected to the guide members 35, 35' on the lower surface and formed in the guide members 35, 35',
A stepped screw 37 is fixed from the back surface of the guide table 5 through 36'. As a result, the movable fences 32 and 32' can reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the paper 1 with respect to the guide table 5 integrally with the guide members 35 and 35', respectively. On the other hand, a step motor 39 is attached to a bracket 38 outside the side plate 31, and a drive pulley 40 is provided at the lower end. Also, guide table 5
The pulleys 41 and 4 are also attached to the bottom surface using the stay 30.
2, 43 are provided, and these pulleys 40 to 43
A wire 44 is stretched in a loop between the tension springs 4 and 4.
5 gives tension. A portion of the wire 44 is fixed to the protrusions 46, 46' of the guide members 35, 35' by being sandwiched between fixing plates 47, 47'. As a result, by moving the wire 44 by driving the step motor 39, the movable fences 32, 32' move forward and backward via the guide members 35, 35'.

Furthermore, a shielding plate 48 is provided on the outer surface of the movable fence 32.
is fixed, and the tip of this shielding plate 48 can operate a home sensor (photo interrupter) 50 on the bracket 38 through a hole 49.

Furthermore, pins 51, 51' are fixedly planted on the inner surfaces of the movable fences 32, 32', and the paper guide 5
2, 52' are rotatably attached. In addition,
The tip 52a of the paper guide 52 is made of a flexible material such as polyester film.
Further, an appropriate weight 52b may be provided.

In such a configuration, the position (home position) of the movable fences 32, 32' during standby is determined by the position of the home sensor 50. When the movable fences 32, 32' are moving inward, the step motor 39 is rotated counterclockwise by the shielding plate 48 until the sensor 50 is activated. Then, the step motor 39 is rotated clockwise according to the machine operation command, and the movable fence 3 is rotated clockwise.
2, 32' are moved inward by a distance b to bring them to a position separated by a distance a from the paper passing side edge. Then, when it is detected that the leading edge of the paper 1 discharged onto the guide table 5 has come into contact with the stopper 8, the step motor 39 is driven clockwise again, and the movable fences 32, 32' are further moved to the dimension a( The paper 1 is advanced by an amount (not necessarily the exact dimension a) to correct the skew of the paper 1 and align its side edge positions. and,
Before the next paper 1 is ejected, the step motor 39 is rotated counterclockwise to move the movable fence 3
2 and 32' are retracted to a position where they are opened by the re-dimension a. By repeating such operations, after the final alignment of the paper 1, the movable fences 32, 32' are moved to the approximate paper width l of the paper 1.

After that, the operator issues a command to refeed the paper, and after the last paper 1 has been conveyed, the step motor 39 is rotated counterclockwise, and the movable fences 32, 32' are moved by (a+b). Return it to the home position and enter the standby state.

Here, the standby positions of the movable fences 32, 32' serve as a reference for determining all paper receiving positions. The paper receiving position is determined from the size signal of the paper cassette and is set to a preprogrammed position. Due to the characteristics of the step motor 39, the amount of movement causes an error of up to ±1 step angle, so a smaller step angle is more advantageous in terms of position accuracy. Also, as mentioned above, the distance between the movable fences 32 and 32' is l + 2 (a + b) when waiting, l + 2a when receiving paper, and l when correcting or refeeding paper.
shall be. Here, when correcting or refeeding paper, set the approximate paper width l.
Therefore, experimentally, l = (paper width) ±2 mm is good.
Fine adjustment of the fence spacing for this purpose is carried out by adjusting the wire fixing portion for the movable fence 32' side, since the position of the movable fence 32 side is determined by the home sensor 50.

The gist of this embodiment is shown in FIGS. 6 to 8. One movable fence 32' consists of a fence surface 60 and a sliding surface 61, and a leaf spring 62 made of spring steel or the like is provided inside the fence surface 60. The plate spring 62 has a curved surface portion 62a at the portion that contacts the paper 1, and has spring properties in the reciprocating direction of the movable fence 32'. A penetrating portion 63 for the lower end of the leaf spring 62 is cut out in the sliding surface 61, and the curved surface portion 62a is received in contact with the abutting portion 63a with a constant spring force. Further, a bent portion 62b is formed at the lower end of the leaf spring 62 and protrudes from the lower surface of the sliding surface 61. For this reason, a stepped portion 61a having a dimension d may be provided on the sliding surface 61.

In this configuration, the distance between the movable fences 32, 32' is set as the distance between the fence surface of the movable fence 32 and the curved surface portion 62a of the leaf spring 62 attached to the movable fence 32'. Here, even if there are variations in the machining dimensions of the leaf spring 62 alone, the curved surface portion 62a will not fit into the penetrating portion 6.
3, the movable fence interval can be easily and accurately set. Even if the movable fences 32, 32' move excessively for some reason or the size of the paper 1 is somewhat large, it can be handled by displacing the leaf spring 62 outward and widening the distance between the fences, making it stable. paper alignment can be achieved. or,
The lower end of the leaf spring 62 is brought into sliding contact with the sliding surface 61 by the penetrating portion 63.
Since the plate 1 penetrates through the plate 1, there is no problem of the paper 1 getting in between the sliding surface 61 and the lower end of the leaf spring 62.
This can be made more effective by providing the bent portion 62b and protruding from the lower surface of the sliding surface 61.

Note that for the contact with the plate spring 62, other means than the penetrating means, such as drawing, may be used. or,
A plate spring 62 or the like may also be provided on the movable fence 32 side.

Effects As described above, in this invention, a spring member is attached to at least one of the movable fences, and the tip of the curved part is received and regulated by the contact part provided on the sliding surface of the movable fence. It is possible to easily set the spacing and improve its accuracy, and it is possible to stably align the side edges even for somewhat large sheets of paper. This prevents the paper from being caught between the two, and prevents problems such as scratches and poor correction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a side view showing the content of the applicant's previous proposal;
FIG. 2 is a front view of a conventional movable fence, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an embodiment of this invention, FIG. 4 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 3. 6 is a perspective view showing the gist, FIG. 7 is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line B--B in FIG. 7. 5...Guide table (paper receiving section), 32,
32'...Movable fence, 60...Fence surface,
61... Sliding surface, 62... Leaf spring (spring member),
62a...Curved surface portion, 63a...Abutting portion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A movable fence consisting of a sliding surface and a fence surface orthogonal to the sliding surface is positioned at the end of the paper receiving section and is attached to reciprocate in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the paper. A spring member having a spring property in the reciprocating direction of the movable fence, protruding in the width direction of the paper and having a long curved surface portion in the stacking direction of the paper is attached to the fence surface, and a spring member is attached to a part of the sliding surface of the movable fence. A sheet aligning device for a double-sided copying machine or the like, characterized in that a contact portion is formed by penetrating the lower end of the curved portion of the spring member and receiving the tip of the curved portion.