JPH0312752Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to a paper feeding device used in an electrophotographic copying machine or the like.

Conventionally, a paper feed device for an electrophotographic copying machine uses a flip-up lever to flip up the recording paper in a recording paper cassette toward a large-diameter paper feed roller, and then the paper feed roller and a roller that rolls into contact with the paper feed roller. A structure in which the paper is fed to a timing roller located in the paper feed path using a contact roller is known.

By the way, in a paper feeding device having such a structure, when paper needs to be fed, the paper feeding roller is rotated to feed a sheet of recording paper into the paper feeding path, and the leading edge of the recording paper is waited just before the timing roller. , the timing roller rotates at an appropriate timing to feed the recording paper, but the recording paper during the waiting period is sandwiched between the paper feed roller and the contact roller, so when feeding the recording paper using the timing roller. , the inertial resistance of the paper feed roller and the contact roller is applied to the recording paper. For this reason, in the past, a one-way clutch was incorporated between the paper feed roller, the rolling contact roller, and their support shafts to prevent unnecessary traction resistance from being applied to the recording paper. In the paper roller, the inertia resistance alone is quite large, so the recording paper may not be completely bitten by the timing roller, resulting in a "feeding error" or, if the recording paper is thin, the traction resistance may increase. There have been accidents where it has broken.

The purpose of this invention is to obtain a structure in which the inertial resistance of the paper feed roller and contact roller does not act on the recording paper when the timing roller feeds the recording paper. In a paper feed device such as a copying machine, the paper is flipped up toward a feed roller by a lever, and fed to a timing roller located in the paper feed path by the feed roller and a transfer roller that makes contact with the paper feed roller. It is proposed to provide a mechanism that can freely approach and separate from the paper feed roller and separate the rolling contact roller from the paper feed roller when the paper feed roller does not rotate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Details of embodiments of an electrophotographic copying machine to which the present invention is applied will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, the entire electrophotographic copying machine to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

At the top of the copying machine body A, which has a pair of legs extending in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. The light is projected onto the circumferential surface of a photoreceptor drum 3 built into the copying machine body A through a condensing light transmitter (trade name: Cellhook Lens) 2. A charging electrode 4, a condensing light transmitting member 2, a developing device 5, a transfer electrode 6, a static eliminating electrode 7, and a cleaning device 8 are arranged around the photosensitive drum 3 in order in the rotational direction thereof. Further, the recording paper a stored in the recording paper cassette B is transferred to the paper feeding path α by a paper feeding device, the details of which will be described later.
The toner image transferred from the photoreceptor drum 3 is fixed thereon by the recording paper transport device 9 located at the transfer electrode 6, and then the toner image transferred from the photosensitive drum 3 is fixed. The paper is taken out onto the paper discharge tray 12 by the action.

Immediately below the copying machine body A, that is, legs 13A and 13B
A cassette holder 14, which constitutes a part of the paper feeder, is incorporated between the two. The cassette holder 14 can be pulled out to the front of the copying machine body A as shown in the first figure along guide rails 16A and 16B that can slide along the grooves 15A and 15B of the legs 13A and 13B. In this state, the loaded recording paper cassette B can be replaced. and cassette pedestal 14
A flip-up lever 19 is provided on the right side of the recording paper cassette B for flipping up the bottom plate 17 of the recording paper cassette B toward a paper feed roller 18, which will be described later. This spring lever 19
is fixed to the middle part of a spring shaft 20 extending in the front-rear direction on the right side of the cassette holder 14, and a driven lever 22 controlled by a biasing lever 21, which will be described later, is fixed to the rear end. It has been done.

Figures 3 and 4 show the aforementioned recording paper cassette B.
The paper feeding device has a large diameter paper feeding roller 18 located at the lower right corner of the copying machine body A facing the flip-up lever 19. ing. That is, this paper feed roller 18 is fixed approximately at the center of a paper feed roller shaft 24 that is rotatably wrapped around the front and rear body frames 23A, 23B of the copying machine body A, and the paper feed roller shaft 24 has a A plurality of auxiliary rollers 25 having approximately the same outer diameter as the paper feed roller 18
is located. In addition, the hinge shaft 2 shown in FIG.
An arcuate guide plate 28 slightly spaced apart from the circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 18 is attached to the inner surface of the jam release door 27 which can be opened centering on the paper feed roller 18.
8 and the paper feed roller 18, there is formed an intake path β for reversing and directing the recording paper a fed out from the paper feed roller 18 to the left in the horizontal direction. The jam opening door 27 is provided with a separating member 3 that can press a separating rubber 29 at the tip against the circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 18.
0 is attached. The sorting member 30 is fixed to a rotatable sorting shaft 31 built in the front and back direction inside the jam opening door 27, and the rear end of the sorting shaft 31 is driven by a bendable torque transmission spring 32. A lever 33 is supported.

A compression spring 3 is installed directly above the paper feed roller 18 mentioned above.
A rolling contact roller 35 that can press against the peripheral surface of the paper feed roller 18 with a force of 4 is positioned. This rolling contact roller 35 is mounted on a bearing block 36 that can move up and down as shown in FIG.
A, 36B are pressed downward by the compression spring 34, and the engagement pieces 38A, 3 at the shaft end of the rolling contact roller shaft 37
8B is engaged with the operating shafts 40a of the vertical movement levers 40A, 40B of the control shaft 39 which spans the front and rear fuselage frames 23A, 23B, respectively. The vertical movement levers 40A, 40B are attached to the front and rear fuselage frames 23A, 2.
3B with a strong biasing spring 41
Since the control shaft 39 is biased in the direction of the biasing spring 4
1, the contact roller 35 assumes the position shown by the imaginary line in FIG.

Returning to FIGS. 3 and 4, the paper feeding device includes a paper feeding path α that communicates between the intake path β and the lower circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum 3. A paper feed path α consisting of a curved upper guide plate 42 and a lower guide plate 43
A timing roller 45 provided on a timing roller shaft 44 extending between the front and rear body frames 23A and 23B parallel to the paper feed roller shaft 24 and a rolling contact roller 46 rolling thereon are located. Also,
A manual feed inlet γ is formed in the upper part of the jam release door 27 and joins the connection position of the intake path β and the paper feed path α.
The upper recording paper is taken into the machine from the manual feed inlet γ. Furthermore, micro-switches MS1 and MS2 for detecting the insertion of manual recording paper and the recording paper waiting in the paper feed passage are placed facing the manual feed entrance γ and the paper feed path α. ，
The output signal of MS2 is input to the control circuit CPU shown in FIG. Further, a command signal for the copy button CB is input to the control circuit CPU, and the control circuit CPU sends an output signal to electromagnetic solenoids SoL1 and SoL2, which will be described later.

The left side of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 show a control mechanism for controlling the above-mentioned flip-up shaft 20, paper feed roller shaft 24, handling shaft 31, control shaft 39, and timing roller shaft 44, and a drive (not shown) is shown. A drive chain 48 driven by a motor in the direction of arrow Y includes first and second sprockets 50 and 51 rotatably supported on a sprocket shaft 49 and the timing roller shaft 30.
It is hung on. A first spring clutch 52 is interposed between the second sprocket 51 and the timing roller shaft 44, and the rotational movement of the first sprocket 50 is controlled by the input gear 53 and the intermediate shaft 54 integrally with the first sprocket 50. is transmitted to a large-diameter drive gear 56 via a relay gear 55 . The driving gear 56 is supported by the paper feed roller shaft 24 so as to be freely rotatable as shown in the fourth figure, and is interposed between the paper feed roller shaft 24 on both sides of the drive gear 56. A third spring clutch 59 is provided which is interposed between the second spring clutch 57 and a control cam 58 which rotatably supports the feed roller shaft 24.

The paper feed roller shaft 24 and the timing roller shaft 4
4 is provided with a support shaft 60 that passes through the rear fuselage frame 23A, and at the inner end of the support shaft 60, a control pawl 61 that is operated by the first electromagnetic solenoid SoL1 is rotatable. Supported by the same control claw 6
The first end hook 61a faces the control sleeve 57a of the second spring clutch 57. Therefore, when the first electromagnetic solenoid SoL1 is excited by the output from the control circuit CPU, the control pawl 61 is rotated via the rod 62 against the force of the spring 63, and the tip hook 61a is rotated by the second spring. The clutch 57 is pulled away from the control sleeve 57a, and the feed roller shaft 24 is rotated. Further, the base end of the biasing lever 21 is fitted to the outer end of the support shaft 60 so that it can rotate freely, and the base end of the biasing lever 21 is fitted between the tip of the biasing lever 21 and the driven lever 33 of the cutting shaft 31. A biasing spring 64 composed of a tension spring is applied. On the other hand, a fulcrum shaft 65 supported by the rear fuselage frame 23A is provided below the support shaft 60, and a driven lever 66 that can rotate around the fulcrum shaft 65.
A biasing spring 67 constituted by a tension spring is hung between the tip of the biasing lever 21 and the aforementioned biasing lever 21, and an operating lever 68 that can rotate integrally with the driven lever 66.
The tip end portion 68a of the lever 68a faces the driven lever 22 of the spring upper shaft 20 which is in the set position as shown in the fifth figure.

The biasing lever 21 also has a driven roller 69 in its intermediate portion, which is driven by the control cam 58, which is made as a circumferential cam. Sleeve 59a of the third spring clutch 59 mentioned above
Since the control cam 58, which can rotate integrally with the cam 58, has a circumferential protrusion 58a, when the circumferential protrusion 58a and the driven roller 69 coincide, the biasing lever 21 moves clockwise in FIG. 5 about the support shaft 60. rotated,
The biasing springs 64 and 67 are tightened, the bottom plate 17 of the recording paper cassette B is thrown up, and the sorting rubber 29 of the sorting member 30 is pressed against the circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 18. Furthermore, the biasing lever 21 has an actuation arm 70 branched from its intermediate portion, and the tip of this actuation arm 70 faces the driven end 40b of the vertically movable lever 40B. Therefore, when the biasing lever 21 is in the inoperative position shown in FIG.
Since the tip of the actuating arm 70 retreats out of the movement trajectory of the driven end 40b of the vertically moving lever 40B, the contact roller 35 takes a position separated from the paper feed roller 18 by the force of the biasing spring 41, and the control cam 58 When the circumferential protrusion 58a of
is rotated counterclockwise in FIG.
5 is pressed against the circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 18 by the force of the compression spring 34.

Furthermore, a rotation control member 72 biased counterclockwise in FIG. 5 by a spring 71 is attached to the support shaft 60.
is swingably supported, and the timing roller 4
5 and the rotational movement of the control cam 58 are controlled by this rotation control member 72. That is, the rotation control member 72 is connected to the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL shown in FIG.
The first spring clutch 52 has a driven end 72a facing the bell crank 73 operated by the second spring clutch 2, and a locking pawl 72b facing the peripheral teeth of the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52. Therefore, when the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL2 is energized, the locking pawl 72b is disengaged from the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52, and the timing roller 45 rotates. Also,
The rotation control member 72 is a third spring clutch 59
It has a pair of half-stepping pawls 72c and 72d facing the upper and lower sides of the sleeve 59a. That is, the half-step advance claw 7
2c can intervene in the locus of movement of a pair of stepping protrusions 74a, 74b formed on the circumferential surface of the sleeve 59a at a distance of about 180 degrees, and the half-stepping pawl 72c is separate from the stepping protrusions 74a, 74b. approximately located in the plane of
It is possible to intervene within the locus of movement of the pair of stepping protrusions 74c and 74d separated by 180 degrees. Therefore, the control cam 58
The sleeve 59a rotates by 180 degrees for each reciprocating motion of the rotation control member 72, and the control cam 58 and the sleeve 5
9a returns to the old position.

Since the embodiment has the above configuration,
Paper is fed using the following operations.

When the main switch of the electrophotographic copying machine is turned on, the drive chain 4 is activated by the drive motor (not shown).
8 is driven, the locking pawl 72b of the rotation control member 72 locks the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52, and also engages with the stepping protrusion 74a of the third spring clutch 59. Therefore, the biasing lever 21 maintains the position shown in the fifth figure.
Therefore, in this state, the cutting shaft 31
is in the inoperative position as shown in FIG. Further, since the actuating lever 68 is retracted below the driven lever 22 of the spring upper shaft 20 as shown in FIG. can be placed on the cassette holder 14 and placed under the copying machine body A.

When the copy button CB is pressed, the control circuit CPU
A copy signal is sent from the second electromagnetic solenoid.
SoL2 is energized. Therefore, the rotation control member 7
2 is rotated clockwise to the position shown in FIG. Therefore, the sleeve 59 of the third spring clutch 59
a and the control cam 58 rotate until the step protrusion 74c is stopped by the half step pawl 72d. As a result, the circumferential projection 58a of the control cam 58 causes the biasing lever 2
1 is rotated clockwise as shown in FIG. 8, the biasing levers 64 and 67 are pulled, and the cutting shaft 31 and the spring shaft 20 are biased counterclockwise in the same figure. In this way, the bottom plate 17 of the recording paper cassette B is flipped up toward the paper feed roller 18, and the separating rubber 29 of the separating member 30 is attached to the paper feed roller 18.
are pressed against each other to prepare for paper feeding, but at the same time, due to the clockwise rotation of the rotation control member 72 described above, the locking pawl 72b is disengaged from the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52, so that the timing roller The rotational motion is transmitted to the timing roller 45, and the timing roller 45 rotates. Therefore, unnecessary recording paper that has been misplaced in the paper feed path α due to a power outage or other accident is removed.

Next, when the micro switch MS2 detects that there is no recording paper a in the paper feed path α, the first electromagnetic solenoid SoL1 is activated by the output of the control circuit CPU.
is excited, the control claw 61 is disengaged from the control sleeve 57a of the second spring clutch 57, the rotational force is transmitted to the paper feed roller 18, and the rotational movement of the paper feed roller 18 and the peeling action of the separating member 30 cause a sheet of recording paper to be separated. a is taken out to the intake passage β. This recording paper a
is sent to the paper feed path α by the rolling contact motion between the paper feed roller 18 and the rolling contact roller 35, but at the time when the recording paper a enters the paper feed path α, a signal is sent from the control circuit CPU, and the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL2 is demagnetized and the rotation control member 72 moves back to the position shown in FIG. 8B. Therefore, the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52 is stopped by the locking pawl 72b of the rotation control member 72, so the timing roller 45 is immediately stopped. At the same time, the sleeve 59a of the third spring clutch 59 is disengaged from the half-stepping pawl 72d of the rotation control member 72, so the control cam 58 starts rotating, but the biasing lever 21
Since the position shown in FIG. 8A is maintained until it is completely removed from the circumferential surface protrusion 58a, the recording paper a, which is in the middle of being fed, advances in the paper feeding path α. Thereafter, by the subsequent rotation of the control cam 58, the handling shaft 31 and the spring shaft 20 are
The biasing force is removed, the advancing protrusion 74b of the sleeve 59a is locked by the half advancing pawl 72c of the rotation control member 72, and the control cam 58 is stopped at the position shown in FIG. 8B. On the other hand, the recording paper a being fed advances through the paper feed path α due to the rotational movement of the paper feed roller 18 that continues to rotate, and the timing roller 4 whose leading end is stopped.
5, the sheet is deflected in a loop shape in the paper feed path α, and this paper feed preparation completion state is detected by the micro switch MS2, and the first electromagnetic solenoid SoL1 is demagnetized by the output of the control circuit CPU, and the paper feed roller 18 is stopped, and the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL2 is energized again at a predetermined timing.

In this re-energized state of the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL2, the sleeve 52a of the first spring clutch 52 becomes free from the locking pawl 72b of the rotation control member 72, so the timing roller 45 rotates and enters the paper feed path α. A certain recording paper a is on the photosensitive drum 3
sent towards. In this case, the sleeve 59a of the third spring clutch 59 has its stepping projection 74
d is locked by the half-step advance pawl 72d, the peripheral surface protrusion 58a of the control cam 58 is in the position shown in FIG.
Since the biasing lever 21 is in an inoperative state, the spring lever 19 and the separating member 30 are also not operated. As described above, the recording paper a in the paper feed path α is fed, and the rear end of the recording paper a is connected to the micro switch MS2.
When detected, the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL2 is demagnetized by a command from the control circuit CPU, and each member returns to the state shown in the fifth figure. Of course, in the state shown in FIG. 5, the spring lever 19 is in the inoperative position, so the cassette holder 14 can be freely inserted into and removed from the copying machine body, and the recording paper cassette B can be replaced with a desired one.

Next, the case of manual paper feeding will be explained. In this case, a sheet of recording paper a on the manual feed table 47 is taken into the paper feed path α from the manual feed entrance γ. That is, when the recording paper a is detected by the microswitch MS1 located at the manual feed entrance γ, the control circuit CPU activates the second electromagnetic solenoid SoL at an appropriate timing on the condition that the microswitch MS2 detects the recording paper a.
2 is energized. Therefore, the rotation control member 72 is in the position shown in FIG. 8A, and the timing roller 45 is rotated to feed the manual recording paper a toward the photosensitive drum 3, but the first electromagnetic solenoid SoL1 is not energized. , the paper feed roller 18 does not rotate, and the recording paper a in the recording paper cassette B is not taken out to the intake path β. After that, the control circuit CPU receives the rear end detection signal of the manual recording paper a from the micro switch MS2.
The rotation control member 72 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 8B, and the rotation control member 72 is swung back and forth once again to return to the state shown in FIG.

Note that during the above-mentioned operation, the recording paper a is in the intake path β.
The contact roller 3 is used only while the paper is fed from the
5 is in rolling contact with the paper feed roller 18, so while the timing roller 45 is feeding the recording paper a, the load of the rolling contact roller 35 is not applied to the recording paper a. is timing roller 4
5 will not cause a "feeding error" in which the paper is not fed.

As is clear from the above description, in the paper feeding device of the present invention, the rolling contact roller 35 is separated from the paper feeding roller 18 when the timing roller 45 rotates, that is, when the timing roller 45 is feeding the recording paper a. Therefore, no traction resistance is applied to the recording paper a, which reduces the occurrence of "sheet feeding errors" and allows the use of thin recording paper a. In addition, in the paper feeding device of the present invention, since the rolling contact roller 35 is separated from the paper feeding roller 18, an additional feature that allows the recording paper a to be inserted directly and reliably into the paper feeding path α from the manual feed entrance γ is provided. There are also some effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an electrophotographic copying machine incorporating the present invention, Fig. 2 is an overall sectional view of the copying machine, and Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an electrophotographic copying machine incorporating the present invention.
The figure is an enlarged sectional view of the paper feeding device of the copying machine, FIG. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the - line in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the control mechanism of the paper feeding device, and FIG. 6 FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of a control section of the rolling contact roller, FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the paper feeding device, and FIGS. B... Recording paper cassette, a... Recording paper, 18...
...Paper feed roller, 19...Flip lever, 35...
Rotation roller, 37...Rotation roller shaft, 40A, 4
0B... Vertical lever, 45... Timing roller, α... Paper feed path.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A copying machine, etc., in which the recording paper in a recording paper cassette is flipped up toward a paper feed roller by a flip-up lever, and fed to a timing roller located in the paper feed path by the paper feed roller and a rolling contact roller that contacts it. In the paper feeding device, a rolling contact roller 35 which is arranged parallel to the axis of the paper feeding roller 18 and is in pressure contact with the paper feeding roller 18 is arranged so as to be able to freely approach and separate from the paper feeding roller 18. A copying apparatus characterized in that a separation mechanism is provided that separates the rolling contact roller 35 from the paper feed roller 18 when the roller is in a non-rotating state, so that recording paper can be easily fed into the paper feed path. Paper feeding device for machines, etc.