JPH0299361A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a paper width regulating member detachable from a cassette case by one action to correspond to two or more sizes of recording paper using the single cassette case by a method wherein a body of the paper width regulating member for a loaded sheet material and mechanism component parts to be mounted on said body are integrally molded. CONSTITUTION:A paper width regulating member 14 is formed by integrally projecting a part for mounting this member on a cassette case body 11, two types of spring parts for pressing the right end of paper toward a paper left reference surface, and a shaft part 141 for supporting a separation claw 12. All of these component parts are integrally molded pieces of resin. As the two types of spring parts, vertically two types of spring parts 142, 143 respectively making a pair longitudinally are used so as to utilize the elasticity of spring. The paper width regulating member 14 is positioned so that a planar part 114 of the cassette case body 11 is held by a forked part 144. A circular boss 145 shaped into a cylindrical projection and provided on the rear face of the center part is fitted into a hole of the cassette case body 11, whereby the paper width regulating member is positioned and prevented from being distorted at the center part thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a paper feeding device, and more particularly, to a paper feeding device that feeds cut sheets supplementally stacked in a cassette to a recording device or the like.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in paper feeding devices that load cut sheets in a cassette and feed the sheets one by one into a recording device using a feed roller or the like, when loading paper into a cassette bucket, A paper width regulating member is provided to level the paper along a certain reference plane.

This paper width regulating member prevents problems such as skewing of paper by regulating the paper to a predetermined reference position and pressing against it with a certain force. Further, this paper width regulating member is generally configured to be able to be attached to a plurality of locations on the cassette, so that it can accommodate a plurality of paper widths. Furthermore, there are some in which the paper width regulating member is complementary to the cassette and freely slides to appropriately respond to stepless changes in paper width within a certain range.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional example as described above, the paper width regulating member is formed of a sheet metal, and for example, as shown in FIG. 10, the paper width regulating member 31 is bent into an L shape. The legs or the bottom of the cassette tub 35 are usually screwed at two or more places. In addition, this paper width regulating member 31
Two leaf springs 34 are fixed to the back of the board by screws, etc., and usually molded paper pressing members 32 and 33 are attached to each tip of the leaf springs 34 by screws or heat welding. Fixed. These leaf springs 3
4 and paper pressing members 32 and 33 press a stack of recording paper of the same size and regulate it in the reference direction, but many of the parts that make up the paper width regulating member 31 and the like are sheet metal parts,
Since the fixing to the cassette tub 35 and the connection of the respective parts are done by tightening screws, etc., the cost of parts and assembly are generally high, resulting in high manufacturing costs.

In addition, when the paper width regulating member 31 described above is made to correspond to various paper widths, the device user (operator) needs to remove and tighten screws, and a dry blowing tool is required for this purpose. The paper width regulating member could hardly be replaced by the user. Therefore, it has been proposed that this paper width regulating member can be easily slid in the paper width direction and fixed at any position, but in order to slide these parts made of sheet metal, parts such as spring parts must be installed. It became necessary to add several more items, and an increase in manufacturing costs was unavoidable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding device that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks, reduces the cost of the main body of the paper width regulating member of the cassette bucket and the parts added thereto, and improves the operability when replacing them. It is about providing.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured by integrally molding a main body of a paper width regulating member that regulates the paper width of stacked sheet materials, and mechanical parts attached to the main body. It is characterized by

Further, one aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the mechanical component is a spring component that presses the stacked sheet material in one direction.

[Function] In the present invention, the main body of the paper width regulating member of the cassette tub, the paper pressing member added thereto, the spring, the attachment part to the cassette tub, and other parts are all integrally molded, and this is attached to the cassette tub. Since it can be attached and detached with one touch, costs are reduced by reducing the number of parts, and the operability of attachment and detachment is also improved, making it possible to easily handle multiple sizes of recording paper with one cassette tub.

Further, in the present invention, by providing a protrusion or a marker corresponding to the applicable paper size at one end of the mold-integrated paper regulating member, automatic detection of the paper size is easily possible.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a cassette feeder and a cassette bucket (paper cassette) that constitute a paper feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the detailed structure of the cassette supplementary paper width regulating member, and FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the recording apparatus to which the above-described cassette feeder and cassette bucket are installed.

Next, a detailed explanation of each part according to the present invention will be given with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

A. Cassette tub A cassette tub is generally box-shaped, and multiple sheets of the same size are loaded into it and attached to a cassette feeder.The cassette feeder separates the papers one by one and feeds them into the recording device. This is a paper storage box for simultaneous supply. As shown in FIG. 1, the cassette tub according to the embodiment of the present invention has a
It consists of a bucket main body 11, a separating weight 12, a left dividing female claw I3, a paper width regulating member 14, a paper trailing edge regulating member 15, a pressure plate 16, and a separating sheet cover 17.

The paper stack is stored on a pressure plate 16 provided at the bottom of the cassette tub main body 11.
is loaded on top of the The pressure plate 16 is rotatably installed on two iFd+ 111 protruding from the inner wall surface of the cassette tub body 11. The pressure plate 16 is urged toward the paper feed roller 22 by a pressure plate 262, which will be described later. Also, pressure plate 1
A separation sheet 161 is attached to the paper 6 to prevent the stacked papers from being fed tangled (double feeding).

In this embodiment, a claw separation method is used, and the separation claw left 13
is a shaft 1 protruding from the inner wall surface of the cassette tub body 11.
The right separation claw 12 is rotatably attached to a shaft 141 protruding from the inner surface of the paper width regulating member 14. These separation claws 12.1
3 rests on the top of both ends of the stacked paper bundles by its own weight.

The paper bundle stacked on the pressure plate 16 is stacked along the left reference surface 113 of the cassette bucket zero body 11, and the right end of the paper stack is pressed and regulated by the paper width regulating member 14.

B1 paper width regulating member As shown in Figures 2 (8) to (C), the paper width regulating member 14 described above has two parts: a part for attaching it to the cassette tub main body 11, and a part for pressing the right end of the paper toward the paper store reference plane. type of spring part and a shaft part 1 for supporting the separation claw 12
41 is integrally provided in a protruding manner. All of the parts constituting these paper width regulating members are integrally molded products made of resin.

The two types of spring parts mentioned above are two types, upper and lower, and a pair of left and right spring parts, and utilize the elasticity (spring properties) of resin. The pair of lower spring parts 142 press down on the lower part of the stacked paper stacks, but the lower part of the stacked paper stacks requires a certain amount of strong pressing force due to the weight of the paper stacks, so The arm portions of the spring are shorter than those of the upper pair of spring portions 143, and have stronger elasticity (elasticity) than the upper pair of spring portions 143.

If the upper pair of springs 143 are not pressed with a force smaller than the lower stacked paper, the paper will be swallowed, so the lower pair of springs 14
The arm part is formed longer than 2.

The pressing force of these springs 142, 143 can be adjusted by further varying the thickness of the spring i.

In this way, the spring portion 142 of the stacked paper width regulating member 14 on the pressure plate 16. It is pressed against the left reference plane +13 by N3, so that it can always be sent out from the reference position, and it is also possible to prevent the paper from being conveyed diagonally, that is, so-called skew feeding.

Moreover, this paper width regulating member 14 can be easily removed from the cassette tub main body 11, and can be freely installed in two positions in this embodiment.

To this end, as shown in FIG. 2(^), the main paper width regulating member 14 has a forked tip 144, and is installed at a predetermined position on the cassette tub body 11 as shown in FIG. The plate-like part 114 is connected to the fork-like part 1.
It is positioned by sandwiching it with 44. Further, the fork-shaped portion 144 prevents the paper width regulating member 14 from sagging sideways at the same time as positioning. Further, a circular boss 145 in the shape of a cylindrical projection is provided on the back surface of the central portion of the paper width regulating member 14, as shown in FIG. The paper width regulating member is fitted into a hole (not shown) provided therein for positioning and for preventing deflection of the central portion of the paper width regulating member. In addition, the paper width regulating member 1
The rear end portion of 4 is provided with a claw portion 146 as shown in FIGS. 2(8) and 2(C). The same claw hook selectively protruding from the bottom of the cassette tub main body 11 on either side is formed so that a portion 115 is fitted thereinto. In this embodiment, by using such a so-called barrier locking structure, at least two types of paper widths, for example, A4 size and letter (
Letter) size.

In this embodiment, a paper trailing edge regulating member 15 is further provided in the cassette tub body 11 in a removable manner. This trailing edge regulating member 15 is designed to regulate the trailing edge of letter-sized paper. The rear end regulating member 15 is attached to the cassette persimmon main body 11 by a claw-fastening method, and can be easily removed by hand. In addition, this rear end regulating member 15
When removed, the rear wall of the cassette tub body 11 is set so as to act as a rear edge regulating member for A4 size paper. At this time, the unused rear end regulating member 15 is stored in the rear end regulating member storage space 116 next to the cassette tub main body 11 using the same barachin method as described above, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
Never lose it. In this form, the rear end regulating member 1
5, the rear wall of the cassette tub main body can be used as a rear end regulating member when A4 size paper is used, for example, so the size of the cassette tub main body 11 can be reduced accordingly, resulting in a reduction in manufacturing costs.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 (A), one side of the fork-shaped portion +44 has a portion 144-a protruding from the cassette bucket zero body 11, and the protruding portion 144-a , paper size detection switches 41 and 42 provided in the cassette feeder, which will be described later, at positions facing the protruding portion 144-a at each position of the paper width regulating member.
Press one of the two when inserting the cassette. In this embodiment, since two types of paper sizes are supported, two paper size detection switches are provided.

C. Cassette feeder section As shown in FIG.
1, and a plurality of paper feed rollers 2 provided on this paper feed shaft 21.
A driving section is provided on the left side plate, and a motor 231, an intermediate gear 24, a paper feed gear 25, a clutch section, etc. are installed in this driving section.

Further, pressure levers 261 are fixed to both ends of a pressure shaft 26 provided on the cassette feeder, and a pressure plate 262 is pivotally supported at the center of this pressure shaft 26, and a bottle provided in the jo pressure 1M2B is One end of a coil-shaped pressure spring 264 is hooked to a parallel bottle 263 fitted in a hole, and the other end of the coil-shaped pressure spring 264 is hooked to a U-shaped hook provided on a pressure plate 262. The parallel pin 263 is fixed using a protrusion raised from the pressure plate 262 as a stopper, and the pressure spring 264
is provided in a displaced state (compressed state) between the U-shaped part of the pressure plate 262 and the parallel pin 263.

The aforementioned cassette tub body 11 is inserted into the cassette feeder from the front end of the cassette feeder along a guide rail (not shown). Here, the cassette tub main body 11 is tilted by the guide rail at an angle of, for example, 3° in this embodiment.
The rear end of the cassette feeder 11 after being installed is about 2 degrees lower than the cassette feeder installation surface.
It is raised upwards by 0 mm, making it easier for the operator to reach in and improving operability.

As the cassette tub 11 is inserted along the guide rail, the fixed slopes 117 provided on both sides of the tip end of the cassette tub 11 are inserted.
The R portion at the tip of the aforementioned pressure lever 261 moves along the
As a result, the pressure shaft 26 rotates and at the same time the pressure plate 262 rotates in a direction that lifts the pressure plate 16 provided on the cassette tub body 11. When the cassette tub main body 11 is inserted to a predetermined position in the cassette feeder, the R portion of the tip of the pressure lever 261 fits into the concave portions 118 on both sides of the tip of the cassette tub and is held at that position.

When the R portion of the tip of the pressure lever 261 fits into the recess 118 from the slopes 117 on both sides of the tip of the cassette tub 11, there is a slight bulge, so it feels like it gets caught, and the cassette tub 11 is held in a predetermined position. The tactile sensation is transmitted to the operator's hand, and the cassette tub 11 cannot be moved unless a certain tensile force is applied.

Further, as described above, when the pressure plate 262 rotates and lifts the pressure plate 16, the pressure plate 16 lifts the separation claw 12.13 together with the loaded paper stack, and the separation claw 12.13 is attached to the cassette tub body 11. It collides with a stopper (not shown), and the position of the pressure plate 16 is regulated at the same time.

At this time, the pressure spring 264 is displaced, and the pressure plate 16 is urged upward, that is, in the direction of the paper feed roller 22.

D. Paper feeding operation When the cassette tub 11 is installed in the cassette feeder as described above and a paper feeding command is issued from a controller (control unit) to be described later, the cassette feeder starts feeding paper. Next, this paper feeding operation will be explained.

FIG. 3 shows a cassette feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention disposed in a recording apparatus (for example, having means for forming an image using a recording liquid that uses thermal energy to form droplets of the recording liquid). A cross-section of the finished state is shown. As shown in this figure, the cassette feeder is fixed to the bottom surface of the recording device with screws or nails. A paper hole (paper introduction hole) is provided on the bottom of the recording device to receive the recording paper fed from the cassette feeder. After that, the recording medium is fed inside the recording apparatus. The cassette feeder sequentially performs operations to feed paper to a conveyance roller and a pinch roller, which are paper conveyance means within the recording apparatus, according to instructions from a controller.

That is, when a paper feeding command is issued from the controller, the motor 23 in the cassette feeder rotates, and the paper feeding shaft 21 and the paper feeding roller 22 provided on the paper feeding shaft 21 start rotating. Here, when the paper feed roller 22 starts rotating for paper feeding, a trigger operation is performed, which will be described in detail later.

The paper feed roller 22 has an arcuate shape with a portion of the circle cut out, and does not come into contact with the stacked papers in the paper feeding standby state. When the paper feed roller 22 rotates in the forward direction of paper feeding, the edge portion of the paper feed roller 22 comes into contact with the uppermost paper surface of the stacked paper bundle, which has been urged by the pressure plate 16 and the pressure spring 264, and The paper is pushed forward by the frictional force of the edges. At this time, only one sheet of paper is separated by the separating claws 12 and 13. The paper feed roller 22 pushes down the stacked paper at an arcuate portion against the pressure spring 264, and conveys the paper by obtaining a frictional force due to the pressure. When the paper feed roller 22 rotates further, the cutout portion of the paper feed roller 22 faces the paper, and the paper and the paper feed roller 22 are no longer in contact with each other, so that the paper is no longer transported.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the paper is not conveyed to the paper conveying body within the recording apparatus in this one paper feeding operation, so the same operation is repeated once more. In other words, the paper feeding operation is completed by rotating the paper feeding roller 22 twice. Note that the paper sent out by the paper feed roller 22 is guided by a guide stay 28 inside the recording device, is guided into the recording device from the paper entry hole 0 of the recording device, and is fed along the guide plate inside the recording device. The paper is guided to a paper transport body such as a transport roller within the device.

Next, the configuration of the drive section of the cassette feeder and the paper feed trigger operation will be described in detail.

As mentioned above, the drive unit of the cassette feeder is the motor 23.
, an intermediate gear 24, a paper feed gear 25, a clutch section, etc. As shown in detail in FIG. 4, the clutch unit attached to the paper feed shaft 21 consists of a clutch spring 251, a clutch drum 252, and a control ring 253, and its operation is controlled as shown in FIG. The control lever 254 to be controlled is connected to the control ring 253 by the control spring 255.
is biased towards.

As shown in FIG. 4, the clutch drum 252 is fixed to the paper feed shaft 21 with a parallel pin or the like.
Paper feed gear 25 feeds paper in parallel with 52! It is rotatably provided on N121. Each of the clutch drum 252 and the paper feed gear 25 is provided with a clutch spring holder on its circumferential surface, and the coiled clutch spring 251 is ring-mounted so that the clutch spring holder straddles both of the parts. There is. One end of the clutch spring 251 is fitted into a hole 256 provided in the clutch drum 252, and the clutch drum 252 and the clutch spring 251 are connected. The other end of the clutch spring 251 is hooked onto a notch 253 provided in a control ring 253.

The control ring 253 has a shape as shown in FIG.
In the plan view of this figure (^), left rotation is assumed to be forward rotation, that is, the direction in which the paper feed roller 22 conveys the paper.

Based on the above configuration, the operation of the paper feed trigger in the embodiment of the present invention will be explained. The control lever 254 is rotatably fitted into a boss 27 provided on the side plate of the cassette feeder, and is rotated in the direction from the front to the back of the stacked paper and the control ring 253 as shown in FIG. 5(A). It is biased by a control spring 255 provided around the boss 27 in a direction toward the center of the circle. In the paper feeding standby state, the control lever 254 is connected to the control ring 2.
It is caught in the notch 253a of 53 and stopped. When a paper feeding command is issued from the controller, the control ring 253 rotates a predetermined number of steps in the reverse rotation direction (that is, clockwise rotation direction). The rotation at this time is obtained from the motor 23), and the rotation of the motor 22 is transmitted to the paper feed gear 25 via the intermediate gear 24 (see Fig. 1), and the clutch spring 251 wrapped around the paper feed gear 25 However, the clutch spring 25 rotates due to the loosening torque, although in the loosening direction.
The control ring 253 to which the spring 1 is hooked is rotated in the opposite direction. This control ring 253
By rotating the control lever 254 in the opposite direction, the control lever 254
The control ring 253 moves radially outward along the slope portion 253b of the notch 253a and rides on the surface 253c (
(See Figure 5 (8), (B), (C)).

Next, the control ring 253 is moved in the positive direction by a certain predetermined number of steps.
is rotated by a motor 23. That is, the motor 23
When the rotation of the paper feed gear 25 is transmitted to the paper feed gear 25 and the paper feed gear 25 rotates, the clutch spring 25 wrapped around the paper feed gear 25
1 rotates in the tightening direction, strong torque can be transmitted to the clutch drum 252, that is, the paper feed shaft 21. As a result, the control lever 254 rests on the surface 253d due to the biasing force of the control spring 255 (
(See Figure 5(A)).

Here, the control ring 253 is further moved in the opposite direction by a predetermined step.
When the control lever 254 is rotated, the control lever 254
53e, the control ring moves radially outward along surface 253f.
Get on top.

When the control ring 253 is rotated in the normal direction from this state, the control lever 254 moves inward in the radial direction of the control ring along the slope portion 253g, and then rides on the surface 253c along the slope portion 253h (see FIG. See C).

Further, due to the forward rotation of the control ring 253, the control lever 254 rides on the surface 253d, further moves inward in the control ring radial direction along the slope portion 2531, and further moves toward the inside of the control ring in the radial direction along the slope portion 2531.
3j 2. Get on top of the lying surface 253 (Fig. 5(C)).

(See (D)). Thereafter, the control lever 254 again fits into the notch 253a and returns to the initial position.

To summarize the above movements, the paper feed trigger for rotating the paper feed roller 22 twice is generated by reverse rotation (predetermined number of pulses), forward rotation (predetermined number of pulses), and reverse rotation (predetermined number of pulses) of the control ring 253. When the control ring 253 is rotated in the forward direction from this point, the control ring 253 rotates twice and returns to the initial position. At this time, the paper feeding roller 22 rotates twice in synchronization with the control ring 253, and the paper feeding operation is completed.

The number of pulses of the above-mentioned reverse trigger is such that when the paper feed roller 22 rotates in reverse due to the rotation of the motor 23a, the control lever 254 controls the slope portion 253b of the control 'p:1253.
253e, ensuring surface 25:]c, 253
It is sufficient that the paper feeding roller 22 does not interfere with other parts such as paper and cause adverse effects such as the paper slipping.

The paper feed trigger and paper feed operation are performed as described above, but in the unlikely event that something gets caught during the reverse trigger or the control lever 254 does not operate normally due to other disturbances, or if the paper feed trigger In case the specified amount of paper is not fed due to the paper slipping or getting caught even though the paper has been (not shown) has not reached the point where paper is detected, by applying the paper feed trigger again, the rate of paper feeding errors can be significantly reduced.

Further, in order to cope with the case where the initial position of the control ring 253 is shifted during transportation of the device, etc., the motor 23 is rotated by at least two rotations of the paper feed roller 22 when the power is turned on. Thereby, no matter what position the control ring 253 is in before the power is turned on, the control ring 253 is set to the initial position when the power is turned on.

In addition, in the paper feeding standby state, the paper is brought upstream from the predetermined initial position, that is, from the position of the separation claw 12.13 of the cassette tub 11, and the amount of paper required to be fed into the recording device is small. In order to prevent the control yA 253 from reaching the initial position due to a small amount of rotation of the paper feed roller 22, the motor 23 is controlled by the controller so that the paper feed roller 22 always rotates at least two rotations. That is, even if paper feeding is completed without the paper feeding roller 22 rotating twice, the motor 23 will continue to rotate until the control ring 253 returns to the initial position, so that the control ring 253 always returns to the initial position. controlled.

Next, the above paper feeding operation is explained in the block diagram of FIG. 6 and the block diagram of FIG.
This will be explained in more detail using the flowcharts in FIGS. (8) to (C).

E. Control Circuit FIG. 6 shows a schematic circuit configuration of the control system of the above-mentioned recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as printer).

In this figure, 1100 indicates image data in the horizontal direction (
The image data for each line sent from the host computer (data transfer device) 1100 to the printer is triggered by a controller 1020. The signal is transferred at a clock rate of a predetermined frequency in accordance with the signal 1160.

1020 is a control unit that controls the entire printer;
For example, MPU1021 such as a microprocessor,
RO that stores the control program of the MPU 1021 and the control procedures and data shown in the flowcharts described later.
M1022, used as a work area,
For example, a count value that calculates the paper width or the number of data according to the paper width,
Alternatively, the RAM 10 includes an area for storing the total number obtained by calculating the total number of reception lines according to the counted value.
23, a counter 1024 that counts the number of paper feeds and the number of carriage feed pulses, which measures time in response to instructions from the MPU 1021, and when the instructed time is counted, the MPU 10
21, a timer 1025 that outputs an interrupt signal, and an I10 port 10 that outputs various data and control signals.
26 mag.

1300 is an image buffer memory that stores image data sent from the host computer 1100 at least for the number of print elements of the print head (128 lines in this embodiment); the image data from the host computer (data transfer device) 1100 is Control unit 1020
The images are sequentially stored in the image buffer memo 300 under the control of . 1040 includes a counter 1041 that can set the number of image data to be received for one line, and when the control unit 1020 receives the set number of data, it outputs a detection signal 1.
170 to the control unit 1020. Further, this receiving circuit 1040 is equipped with a black dot discrimination circuit 1042 that can identify the presence or absence of a black dot.

1050 is a line corresponding to the number of recording elements of the recording head 51 from the image buffer memory 1300 (for example, 12
This is a data converter that reads out data (for 8 lines) one column at a time (128 dots) in the vertical direction and outputs it in accordance with the recording position of the recording head 51.

The recording head 51 is an inkjet type recording head in which ink nozzles consisting of 128 ejection orifices and ejection energy generating elements corresponding to each ejection orifice are arranged in a row in the vertical direction, and perform printing by scanning in the horizontal direction. It is.

A driver 1070 drives the recording elements of the recording head 51 based on print data from the data converter.

56 is a carriage motor that horizontally scans a carriage (not shown) on which the recording head 51 is mounted; 1090
is a carriage motor driver that drives the carriage motor 56 according to control data from the control section 1020. 71 is a paper feed motor capable of feeding paper by an amount equal to the pitch between each recording element of the print head 51;
10 is a driver for driving a paper feed motor 71;

Reference numeral 23 denotes a cassette motor for the cassette feeder shown in FIG. Paper is fed from the cassette via the cassette. 11
30 is a cassette motor 23 according to instructions from the control unit 1020.
This is a driver that drives the. Carriage motor 56
In this embodiment, the paper feed motor 71 and the cassette motor 23 are constituted by stepping motors.

Reference numeral 1140 is an information processing unit that sends various information to the control unit 1020, and this information is output to the control unit 1020 as a detection signal 1180. The information human resources department 1140 is composed of the following elements. That is, 1141 is a key panel that allows you to specify the paper size, for example, and A
It is assumed that paper sizes such as 4 and 85 can be specified. 11
Reference numeral 42 denotes a filter paper END sensor used for positioning the leading edge and detecting the trailing edge of the recording paper during paper feeding.

Reference numeral 1143 denotes a paper width detection device, which is mounted on the carriage in this embodiment. For example, this paper width detection device detects the width of the fed paper, and prevents recording at a position other than the recording paper. Reference numeral 1144 denotes a cassette attachment detection section that detects whether or not a paper cassette is attached, and corresponds to the paper size detection switches 41 and 42 in FIG. Also, 114
Reference numeral 5 denotes a cassette paper presence/absence detection unit that detects the presence or absence of paper in the cassette. Furthermore, 1146 is an ink presence/absence detection section that detects the presence or absence of ink in an ink cartridge that supplies recording ink to the recording head 51, and 1147 is an ink cartridge presence/absence detection section that detects the presence or absence of the ink cartridge. Reference numeral 1149 is a pump home position detection unit that determines the reference position of a cap mechanism and pump mechanism specific to an inkjet recording apparatus, and 1410 is a carriage home position detection unit that determines the reference position of the key ridge on which the recording head 51 is mounted. . Also,
1141 is a door opening/closing detection unit that detects opening/closing of the door of the recording apparatus.

+150 is host computer (data transfer device) 11
These are command signals such as paper size and recording commands instructed by 00, and the paper size can be specified not only from the information human resources department 1140 but also from the host computer 1100.

F. Control Operation Next, the control operation of the embodiment of the present invention having the configurations shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7(Δ) to (C).

First, in step 1 of FIG. 7(A) (hereinafter abbreviated as S)
Represented by l. The same applies hereafter), 114 in the Information Human Resources Department in Figure 6
It is determined whether or not there is paper in the cassette 11 based on the human input signal 1180 from the cassette paper presence detection section 1145 located in the cassette 11. If there is no paper, proceed to error processing. If there is paper, the process advances to S2, and it is determined whether a recording command has been sent to the control unit 1020 by the signal 1150 from the host computer or data transfer device 1100 in FIG. If there is no recording command, the process advances to the next process.

If a recording command is received, the process advances to S3 and the control unit 1020
Clears the paper feed counter provided in the counter 1024 inside. Next, proceed to S4, and set the number of pulses until the paper width of the fed paper can be detected in the carriage feed counter similarly provided in the counter 1024, and in the next step 55, the carriage motor 56 (FIG. 6) Start.

At the next step 56, the process waits until the carriage motor 56 stops, and then proceeds to S7. In S7, the number of pulses by which the control lever 254 can be moved to the surface 253e of the control ring 253 is set in the cassette motor counter provided in the counter 1024, and the cassette motor 23 is started. The process waits until the cassette motor 23 stops at the next step 58, and then proceeds to S9. In S9, the control lever 25 is attached to the surface 253d where the control ring 253 is located on the above-mentioned cassette motor counter.
The number of pulses by which the cassette motor 4 can be moved is set, and the cassette motor 23 is started. The process waits until the cassette motor 23 started in the next step 510 stops.

Further, when X; Sell < 511, the number of pulses by which the control lever 254 can be moved is set in the cassette motor counter on the surface 253f where control y: 4253 is located, and the cassette motor 23 is started. In the next S12, the case motor 2
Wait until 3 stops.

After that, in 513, the paper END in the information input 0 section 1140 is
It is detected whether or not paper has entered the sensor 1142. Normally, in the operations from 54 to S12, no paper is detected, so if paper is detected by the paper END sensor 1142, the process proceeds to error processing. Therefore, the process normally proceeds to 514.

514, the paper END sensor 1142 from the cassette 11
The number of pulses is set in the cassette motor counter and the paper feed counter in the counter 1024 so that the cassette paper feed roller 22 can make two rotations. next S
At step 15, the cassette motor 23 and paper feed motor 71 are started. Further, in 516, it is determined whether or not paper has entered the paper END sensor 1142, and if paper has entered, the process advances to 520.

If no paper has entered the position of the paper END sensor 1142 at 516, the process advances to 517 in FIG. 7(B), and it is determined whether or not both the cassette motor 23 and the paper feed motor 71 have been stopped. If it is not stopped, return to 516 and 5
16 and 517 are repeated.

If the motors 23 and 71 have stopped, the process advances to 518 and 1 is added to the paper feed counter. In the next step 519, it is determined whether or not the paper feed counter has reached 2. If not, the process returns to S7 and the control operations from 57 to 519 are repeated. When the paper feed counter reaches 2, the process proceeds to error processing.

Now, when the paper arrives at the paper END sensor 1142 in 516, the process advances to 520, but in S20, the number of pulses corresponding to the distance from the paper END sensor 1142 to the positioning of the leading edge is reset to the above-mentioned paper feed counter. Wait until the paper feed motor 71 stops at 521, and then
1 stops, the process advances to S22.

In step 522, data is received, and in step S23 it is determined whether data has been received for the number of recording elements arranged vertically in the recording head 51. If not, the process returns to step S22. Repeat operation 523. If the data is complete, the recording head 51 is driven in step 524 to perform recording processing, and in step S25, the number of pulses for the recording element elements is set in the paper feed counter, and the paper feed motor 71 is
Start.

In the next step 526, it is determined whether the value of the above-mentioned cassette motor counter is O or not, and if it is 1, the cassette motor 23 is also activated in S27. At the next 528, the paper feed motor 7
1 stops, and in S29 it is determined whether or not information recording of one page of character images has been completed.If not, the process returns to S22 and the operations from 522 to S29 are repeated. When one page of printing machine record is completed, the paper is ejected at 530 and the process proceeds to the next process.

The control procedure from 531 to 538 in FIG. 7(C) is an interrupt processing routine for switching the excitation of the paper feed motor 71 and the cassette motor 23. First, S3]
When the interrupt processing starts in step S32, it is determined whether or not the paper feed counter described above is 0. If not, 1 is subtracted from the paper feed counter in step 533, and the excitation of the paper feed motor 71 is switched. If the paper feed counter is 0, the paper feed motor 71 is stopped at 534. Next, in S35, it is determined whether or not the above-mentioned cassette motor counter is O. If not, 1 is subtracted from the cassette motor counter in 536, and the excitation of the cassette motor 23 is switched. If the cassette motor counter is 0, the cassette motor 23 is stopped at 537. Finally, in step 538, the main interrupt processing is terminated.

Through the above control operations, the paper feeding operation of the cassette feeder after receiving the recording command is completed.

G. Other Embodiments In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention described above, the separation claw 12 is fitted into the protrusion 141 provided on the paper width regulating member 14 as shown in FIG. 1, but the invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, by integrally molding this separating claw with the paper width regulating member 14, the number of negative parts can be further reduced. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the paper width regulating member 14 may be configured to freely slide in the paper width direction within the cassette tub 11. Here, as an example, we will extend a part of the bottom center of the paper width regulating member horizontally by +4.
7) An elastic arm 148 is provided on both sides of the horizontal plate-like portion 147 to obtain frictional force and engagement force, and the mold opening 9 provided on the side surface of this arm 148 is attached to the bottom of the cassette tub body 11. It is configured to fit into a triangular groove provided on the side of the square hole provided.

Further, the paper width regulating member 14 is prevented from coming off from the cassette bucket zero body 11 by a locking member such as a claw (not shown). With this configuration, the paper width regulating member 141 can be slid to any paper width position without requiring any additional parts such as a conventionally required spring member.

This embodiment is not limited to the above example. For example, the present invention can be applied to a paper feeding device that is used by being put in and taken out like a drawer, or to a so-called deck type paper feeding device in which the middle plate is raised and lowered by a motor or the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the paper width regulating member of the cassette tub, the paper pressing member added thereto, the spring, and the attachment to the cassette tub are all molded integrally. By molding it and making it possible to attach and detach it to the cassette bucket with a single touch, the number of parts is significantly reduced, resulting in a reduction in manufacturing costs.It also improves the operability of attaching and detaching, making it possible to record multiple sizes with one cassette bucket. Easily compatible with paper.

Further, in the present invention, by providing a protrusion or a marker corresponding to the applicable paper size at one end of the mold-integrated paper regulating member, automatic detection of the paper size is easily possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a cassette feeder and a cassette bucket (paper cassette) that constitute a paper feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. This figure shows the detailed structure of the paper width regulating member of the target. Figure (^) is its top view, Figure (B) is its left side view, Figure (C) is its back view, and Figure 3 is its top view. FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of the configuration of the cassette feeder shown in FIG. 1 and the recording device with the cassette 1 and the bucket attached; FIG. Front view, Figure 5 (8) is '9S
Figure 5 (8) is a front view showing details of the control ring and control lever of Figure 1; (C) and (D) are side views showing their side shapes, FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the control circuit of the recording apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 (^) to (C) are FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are perspective views showing other embodiments of the present invention, and FIG. 1θ is a perspective view showing the configuration of a conventional paper width regulating member. . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11... Cassette tub main body, 12.13... Separation claw, 14... Paper width regulating member, l5... Paper trailing edge regulating member, 16... Pressure plate, 17... Separation sheet cover 21. ...Paper feed shaft, 22...Paper feed roller, 23...Cassette motor, 24...Intermediate gear, 25...Paper feed gear, 26...Pressure shaft, 27...Boss, 28... Guide slur 41.42... Paper size detection switch, 51... Recording head, 56... Carriage motor, 71... Paper feed motor, 114... Plate-shaped portion, 142.143 ...Spring portion, 144...Fork-shaped portion, 145...Circle boss, 146...Claw portion, 161...Separation sheet, 251...Clutch spring, 252...Clutch drum, 253 ... Control ring, 254 ... Control lever 255 ... Control spring, spring, 262 ... Pressure plate, 264 ... Pressure spring, 1020 ... Control unit (con 1140 ... Information input part. trawler), (B) (A) Fig.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A paper feeding device characterized in that a main body of a paper width regulating member that regulates the paper width of stacked sheet materials and a mechanical component attached to the main body are integrally formed by molding. 2) The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the mechanical component is a spring component that presses the stacked sheet material in one direction. 3) Claim 2, wherein the spring component is divided into a plurality of parts, and the lower length is shorter and stronger than the upper length.
Paper feeding device described in . 4) The paper feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the main body can be attached at a plurality of locations corresponding to the width of the paper, and has positioning means for this purpose. 5) Claim 4, characterized in that the main body has means for detecting the size of the sheet material loaded at the tip end thereof.
Paper feeding device described in . 6) A main body of the paper width regulating member, a spring portion that presses the stacked sheet material in one direction, a member that attaches or steplessly moves the main body to a plurality of locations corresponding to the paper width, and a member that controls the stacked sheet material in one direction. 2. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the separation claw for separating the sheets one by one is integrally molded. 7) The paper feeding device according to claim 6, wherein a protrusion or marker for activating a switch for detecting paper width is integrally formed on the front part of the main body. 8) The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it is used in a recording device having means for forming an image using a recording liquid that uses thermal energy to form droplets of the recording liquid. Paper feeding device described in .