JPH03107176A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the entire processing time and to reduce power consumption by permitting a controller to stop the drive of a carrying device while the trailing edge of a document is between the carrying device and an ejecting device and to stop the drive of the ejecting device after the trailing edge of the document passes by the ejecting device. CONSTITUTION:If the leading edge of a document in a waiting position is moved closer to the trailing edge of a document in an exposing part than a distance between a position where an exposing part stopper 11 abuts on a document and the grasping point of a paper ejecting roller 12, the document in the waiting position is sent to the exposing part. When a platen upwardly carrying belt 9 stops, the trailing edge of the previous document remains between the paper ejecting roller 12 and the exposing part stopper 11. However, since the roller 12 is rotated by a motor 31, the previous document is ejected to a document eject part 13 even if the belt 9 stops. The roller 12 is stopped after the trailing edge of the document passes by the roller 12. The document sent to the exposing part is again scanned and exposed, and is ejected instant that scanning and exposing end, and then the document in the waiting position is sent to the exposing part. These operations are repeated until a sensor 14 detects the absence of a document.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder such as a copying machine, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic document feeder such as a copying machine, and more specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic document feeder such as a copying machine. The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder that feeds documents into an exposure section above and discharges them to a discharge section upon completion of exposure.

[Conventional technology]

The conventional automatic document feeder as described above connects the ejecting means and the conveying means on the platen glass with a timing belt to drive the ejecting means such as the ejecting roller that sends the original to the ejecting section. This was done using a driving force transmitted from a conveying means on the platen glass. Then, the conveying means on the platen glass must be driven until the document comes off the ejecting means, which not only increases power consumption and wears out the conveying means on the platen glass quickly, but also The gap between the document being sent out and the document being fed onto the next platen glass must be greater than the distance from the conveying means to the ejecting means, and as a result it takes time to replace the document in the exposure section, reducing the overall feeding time. The problem is that the processing speed is slow.

[Invention or problem to be solved]

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is possible to stop the conveying means on the platen glass before the original comes off the ejection means, and it is possible to stop the conveyance means on the platen glass before the original comes off the ejection means, so that it is possible to stop the conveying means on the platen glass, and to replace the original with the original sent out by replacing the original in the exposure section. An automatic document feeder that can make the gap between documents fed narrower than the distance from the transport means to the ejection means, which not only reduces power consumption and wear and tear on the transport means, but also shortens the overall document processing time. The purpose is to provide.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the automatic document feeder of the present invention, the conveying means on the platen glass and the ejecting means for sending out the original sent out from above the platen glass by the conveying means to the ejecting section can be driven independently, and the control device The driving of the conveying means is stopped while the rear end of the document is between the conveying means and the ejecting means, and the driving of the ejecting means is stopped after the rear end of the document passes through the ejecting means. This feature achieves the above object.

[Effect]

That is, in the automatic document feeder of the present invention, due to the above-mentioned features, in order to quickly change the originals in the exposure section, the interval between the sent-out original and the sent-in original is narrowed, and as a result, the sent-in original reaches the exposure section. When the conveyance means is stopped, even if the trailing edge of the sent original has just come off the conveyance means and there is a distance to reach the ejection means, the ejected original is ejected to the ejection section without any hindrance by the ejection means that continues to drive. Therefore, the entire feeding processing time can be shortened, and power consumption and wear and tear on the conveying means can be reduced by stopping the conveying means first.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below using illustrated examples.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a partial side view and a partial perspective view of a drive mechanism, respectively, showing an example of an automatic document feeder according to the present invention.

In the figure, l is a document stacking part, 2 is a pair of left and right parts,
The racks 2A provided at the bottom of each are engaged with a pinion 3 rotatably provided on the lower surface of the original stacking section l across the pinion 3, making it possible to move toward and away from each other symmetrically. a width position regulating plate, 4, which detects the position of 2A to obtain document width information; 5, a document size sensor that provides document size information; 5, a document stacking section 1;
The leading edge position regulating plate 6 aligns the leading edges of the sheet-like originals placed on the original sheet, and rotates in the direction of the arrow in contact with the top surface of the originals placed on the original stacking section l, and sends out the topmost original using frictional force. When the feed roller 6 is displaced from the solid line position to the dotted line position, the tip position regulating plate 5 is also prevented from rotating counterclockwise around its support shaft 5A by a stopper (not shown). It is displaced from the position to the dotted line position where it does not get in the way of feeding the original.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a sorting and feeding means consisting of light pressure contact between a feeding bell 7A that rotates in the direction of the arrow) and a sorting roller 7B that is stationary or rotates at a slow speed counterclockwise, and 8 a relay that further conveys the document sent by the sorting and feeding means 7. A feed roller 9 is a roller on the platen that rotates in the direction of the arrow when placing a document on the exposure area on the platen glass 10 and when discharging the document from above the platen glass 10 via the discharge roller 12 to the document discharge section 13. 9A and 9B are the drive rollers and driven rollers that tension the platen upper feed belt 9, 9C is the tension roller of the platen upper feed belt 9, and 9D is the platen upper feed belt 9 that is connected to the upper surface of the platen glass IO. This is a push roller that presses the

When placing an original on the exposure section on the platen glass 10, 11 is moved to a blocking position where the upper end protrudes above the upper surface of the platen glass 10 as shown in the figure, and the original is transferred from the exposure section to the original ejection section 13. When discharging, the exposure section stopper is moved to a retracted position where the upper end is retracted below the upper surface of the platen glass 10. The exposure section stopper 11 is displaced so that it changes to the retracted position just before the upper platen feeding belt 9 starts rotating, and changes to the blocking position just before the upper platen feeding belt 9 stops rotating. Thereby, the original can be stopped at the exposure section with less resistance from the exposure section stopper 11 to the rotation of the platen upper feeding belt 9.
Further, it is possible to prevent the original from being ejected from the exposure section from being disturbed.

14 to 16 are first to 3119th document sensors provided in the document conveyance path from the document stacking section I to the document discharge section I3; 17
In order to be able to place a document on the exposure area by hand, the device frame of the automatic document feeder [8] can be lifted up on the front side around an axis parallel to the platen surface on the far side of the page in Figure 1. Since the device frame 18 can be rotated to open, it is a device frame open sensor that detects whether or not the device frame 18 is opened.

The rotation from the feeding roller 6 to the platen upper feeding belt 9 is controlled by a speed control device using, for example, a DC motor and an encoder or a tacho generator, which can switch the rotational speed in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2 into at least two stages. Motor 1, such as a DC servo motor consisting of a combination of
given by 9. That is, the rotation of the motor 19 is transmitted from the motor pulley 20 to the carrier pulley 21 by the timing belt, and then from the deceleration carrier pulley 22, which rotates integrally with the carrier pulley 21, to the roller shaft pulley 8A, which is integral with the relay feed roller 8, and the electromagnetic is transmitted to the input pulley 24 of the clutch 23, and under the condition that the electromagnetic clutch 23 is turned on under the control of a control device such as a copying machine, the input pulley 2
4 is transmitted to the output shaft gear 26 that is integral with the output shaft 25 and the core shaft gear 27 that drives the feed bell 1-7A of the sorting and feeding means 7 that meshes with the output shaft gear 26, and the core shaft gear 27 that rotates integrally with the core shaft gear 27 The rotation of the intermediate feed roller 8, the feed roller 6, and the separating feed means 7 is carried out as the rotation is transmitted from the pulley 28 to the roller shaft pulley 6A, which is integrated with the feed roller 6, by the timing belt. Note that when the sorting row 27B of the sorting and feeding means 7 rotates counterclockwise, the rotation can be provided by, for example, a swing crank and a ratchet mechanism driven by rotation of the belt core shaft. Further, the rotation of the platen upper feeding belt 9 is controlled by the output side pulley 30 when the electromagnetic clutch 29 is turned on and the rotation of the carrier pulley 21 is controlled by the control device.
This is done by being transmitted from the output pulley 30 to the roller shaft pulley 9AP, which is integrated with the drive roller 9A of the upper platen feed belt 9, by the timing belt.

On the other hand, the rotation of the paper ejection roller 12 is performed by being transmitted to the roller shaft pulley 12P of the paper ejection roller 12 by a belt from a motor pulley 32 of a motor 31 which is separately controlled by a control device and rotates counterclockwise in FIG. . This motor 31 only needs to have a much smaller output than the motor 19 because it only allows the document sent out by the platen upper feed belt 9 to be ejected from the document discharge section 131:m by the paper discharge roller 12. Also, the relationship between the motor pulley 32 and the roller shaft pulley 12P is that the conveyance speed of the paper ejection roller 12 is the same as the conveyance speed of the platen upper feed belt 9, but it is slightly higher, and until the document comes off the platen upper feed belt 9, the belt Any slip that can occur between the two may be sufficient.

The operation of the automatic document feeder illustrated above will be further explained in the case of a copying machine.

When the device frame 18 is closed as shown in FIG.
7 detects that the device frame 18 is not opened, a document is placed on the document stacking section L, the first document sensor 14 detects the presence of the document, and the width position regulating plate 2 pinches the document with A and P. When the copying start button is pressed in the automatic document feeding mode in which the paper size sensor 4 detects the paper size, the automatic document feeding device is activated by the control device of the copying machine. It works as follows.

The feed roller 6 is lowered by a lifting means (not shown) and presses against the upper surface of the stacked documents, and then rotates in the direction of the arrow together with the sorting and feeding means 7, the relay feeding roller 8, and the platen upper feeding belt 9, until the uppermost The document is brought to the exposure section position on the platen glass 10 where the leading edge abuts the exposure section stopper 11. This is because the platen upper feed belt 9 and the like continue to rotate until a predetermined time period based on a timer or pulse count has elapsed after the second document sensor 15 detects the leading edge of the document, and the leading edge of the document reaches the exposure section stop 11.
The motor 19 in Fig. 2 is about 5-1Qmm before hitting the
This is done by applying a motor brake to stop the platen, thereby stopping the platen upper feed belt 9, etc., and using the inertia generated during this time, the document abuts against the exposure section stopper 11. The rotation of the feed roller 6 during this feeding is stopped in order to prevent electric feeding of the document. 2nd before reaching
This is done by turning off the electromagnetic clutch 23 shown in the figure.

At the same time, the feed roller 6 is also raised to the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

Even if the ejection roller 12 does not need to be rotated to feed the first document described above, after the upper platen feed belt 9 starts rotating, the ejection roller 12 is rotated at the conveyance speed of the upper platen feed belt 9 to keep the exposure unit stopper 11 in contact with the document. The motor 31 shown in FIG. 2 rotates the sheet until the time required to convey the distance from the contact position to the position of the sheet discharge roller 12 has elapsed. If a document is placed on the exposure area by hand before copying is started in the WC document automatic feeding mode, the document may be jammed due to the feed rotation of the platen upper feed belt 9 and the rotation of the paper ejection roller 12. This is to allow the document to be ejected to the document ejecting section 13 without causing any problems. Therefore, in this case as well, the paper ejection roller 12 is stopped at a timing after the trailing edge of the document has passed.

Scanning exposure by moving the scanning optical system such as the exposure lamp 33 in the direction of the thick arrow is repeated for the specified number of copies of the document brought to the exposure section, thereby obtaining the specified number of copies of copy paper. Become.

This scanning exposure is performed with strokes set based on document size information in order to increase copying productivity.

During the above-described scanning exposure, the feed roller 6 and its elevating means,
Sorting and feeding means 7. The relay feed roller 8 and the like are driven to bring the next document to a standby position where the leading edge thereof occupies an appropriate position from the relay feed roller 8 to the entrance of the platen upper feed belt 9, and then is stopped. During this time, since the motor 19 shown in FIG. 2 rotates, the electromagnetic clutch 29 is turned off so that the platen upper feed belt 9 does not rotate. At this time, the rotational speed of the motor 19 is made slower than the rotational speed at which the previous original is fed into the exposure section, thereby ensuring that double feeding of originals can be prevented. This does not reduce copying productivity. The waiting position for the next document is determined by the time from when the second document sensor 15 detects the leading edge of the document to when the feed roller 6 etc. are stopped. It is preferable to determine it as close to the rear end as possible. When the feed roller 6 stops, the trailing end of the document in the standby position has not yet come off the feed roller 6, so the feed roller 6 does not return to the position shown in solid line in FIG.

When the scanning exposure of the original on the exposure unit is completed, there is no need to wait for the scanning optical system to return to the illustrated position, and the rotation from the feed roller 6 to the paper ejection roller 12 is performed, thereby removing the original on the platen glass 10. The document is discharged onto the document discharge section 13, and the leading edge of the next document is brought to the exposure section on the platen glass 10, the leading edge of which is in contact with the exposure section stopper 11. In this case, in order to increase the productivity of copying, the leading edge of the document in the standby position is placed on the rear edge of the document in the exposure section using the exposure section stopper 1.
Assuming that the original contact position in No. 1 is closer than the gripping point of the paper ejection roller 12, the original in the standby position is brought to the exposure section and the platen upper feed belt 9 stops. [Eight ends of the wall will remain between the paper discharge roller 12 and the exposure section stopper kl. However, since the paper ejection roller 12 is rotated by the motor 31, even if the platen upper feed belt 9 stops, the previous original will be transferred to the original ejection section 13.
is discharged. Then, the paper discharge roller 12 is stopped after the trailing edge of the document has passed.

The document is brought to the exposure section; scanning exposure is performed again on the original;
During the scanning exposure, the original is fed from the original stacking part l to the standby position, and when the scanning exposure is finished, the original is ejected from the exposure part and the original from the standby position is sent to the exposure part.
This process is repeated until the first document sensor 14 detects that there is no document. Then, when the last document for which the first document sensor 14 detects that there is no document is scanned and exposed in the exposure section, the next document is not fed to the standby position, and the scanning exposure is completed and the last document is exposed. The motor 19 and the like are stopped when the document is fed out of the exposure section and removed from the platen glass 10, and the motor 31 is stopped when the document is finished being discharged to the discharge section 13, thereby completing a series of operations of the automatic document feeder. ends.

Note that the document detection information of the third document sensor 16 is used to count the number of document sheets, obtain an off signal for the motor 19, etc. and the motor 31, or detect the document exposure section stopper! It is used for detecting when a vehicle passes by and stops.

On the copying machine main body side, when the scanning optical system returns to the solid line position and the last copy sheet of the specified number of copies of the last original is ejected out of the machine, everything stops and the series of copying operations ends.

The automatic document feeder of the present invention can be used not only for copying machines but also for document reading devices and the like. Furthermore, the conveying means on the platen glass is not limited to a belt, nor is it limited to a method in which the document is sent to a standby position in advance.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In the automatic document feeder of the present invention, in order to quickly replace the documents in the exposure section, the gap between the sent document and the fed document is narrowed, so that when the fed document reaches the exposure section and the conveying means is stopped. Even if the trailing edge of the sent document has just come off the transport means and there is a distance to reach the ejection means, the ejected document continues to be driven and is ejected to the ejection section without any hindrance. The feeding processing time can be shortened, and power consumption and wear and tear on the conveying means can be reduced by stopping the conveying means first.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a partial side view and a partial perspective view of a drive mechanism, respectively, showing an example of an automatic document feeder according to the present invention. l...Document loading section 6...Feeding roller 7.
... Sorting and feeding means 8... Relay feeding roller 9...
Platen top feed belt

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an automatic document feeder that sequentially feeds originals placed on a document stacking section one by one to an exposure section on a platen glass and then sends them to an ejection section after exposure, a conveying means on the platen glass and a conveying means on the platen glass are used. A discharge means that sends out the document sent from above to a discharge section can be driven independently, and a control device stops driving the conveyance means while the rear end of the document is between the conveyance means and the discharge means. death,
An automatic document feeder characterized in that the drive of the ejecting means is controlled to be stopped after the trailing edge of the original passes through the ejecting means.