JPH03177235A - Sheet transporting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To handle a recording sheet having different width dimension in a wide range by installing a center guide in a demountable manner. CONSTITUTION:When a sheet 4 which has a large large width and has a slackened center part is transported, a center guide 8 is installed, and the center part of the sheet is supported. While if a recording sheet 41 having a narrow width is transported, the center guide 8 is demounted from a shaft 2a, and the left and right side guides 1a and 1b are set in accordance with the recording sheet width, and the recording sheet 4 having the width in the case where the left and right side guides 1a and 1b are closely fitted can be handled. When each width dimension of the side guides 1a and 1b is set so that the width size becomes the min. dimension of the used paper size, a sheet transport device which can dispose of the width of all the used paper can be obtained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention can be used, for example, in printers, copying machines, etc.
The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding device that sequentially feeds a plurality of sheets stacked one by one to a transfer section or the like.

(Prior Art) In a recording device such as a printer or a copying machine, or in a document reading device, a sheet feeding device for sequentially feeding a plurality of stacked sheet materials (recording paper, manuscripts, etc.) sheet by sheet. Many use a so-called cut sheet feeder.

There are various types of sheet separation mechanisms for the sheet material feeding device, and a typical one uses separation claws.For example, as shown in FIG. 8(A),
The front end of the sheet material 40 stacked on the mounting plate 30 in the feeding direction is pressed by the separating claw 70, and the mounting plate 30 is pressed by the pressure contact spring 50 to press the uppermost layer sheet material against the feeding roller 60. When the feeding roller 60 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, a thrust force is applied to the sheet material 40. On the other hand, since the ends of both sides of the stacked sheet materials 40 are held down by the separation claws 70, one of the uppermost sheets is held between the separation claws 70 and the feeding roller 60 as shown in FIG. 8(B). make a loop.

When the feeding roller 60 further rotates, the sheet material 40 overcomes the separating claw due to the restoring force and forms a loop between the conveying rollers 90 as shown in FIG. 8(C), thereby removing the skew of the sheet material 40. Let's do it.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 9, many of the sheet material feeding devices are provided with side guides 1O for positioning and guiding the sheet material 40 in contact with both side edges of the sheet material 40 held under pressure. This side guide IO has one through shaft 20a so that it can accommodate sheet materials 40 of different sizes.
It is mounted so that it can move in the width direction of the sheet material along.

However, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, when feeding a wide sheet material 42, the left and right side guides 10a
, 10b becomes thick, so the stacked sheet material 4
2. Since the center part is depressed, it is easy to cause transportation defects due to wrinkles during feeding.

For this reason, in the conventional sheet material feeding device, one or more center guides 80 are provided between the left and right side guides 10a and 10b to support the center portion of the stacked sheet materials 42 and prevent slack in the sheet materials. Prevention was being done.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in such conventional technology, the center guide is fixed at a predetermined position, or cannot be removed even if it is movable along the attached axis. There was a limit to how close they could get. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, a narrow sheet material 41 (for example, a postcard, etc.)
Since the use of this method is restricted, there is a problem in that it cannot accommodate the feeding of narrow sheet materials of various sizes.

The present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art described above, and its purpose is as follows.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material feeding device that can also handle feeding of narrow sheet materials by detachably providing a center guide that supports the central portion of a wide stacked sheet material.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides two side guides that position and guide a plurality of stacked sheet materials in contact with both side edges of the sheet materials. a moving means that allows the side guide to move in the width direction of the sheet material so as to accommodate sheet materials of different sizes; and a center that is disposed between the two side guides and supports the sheet material from below. In a sheet material feeding device having a guide,
The present invention is characterized in that the center guide is removably provided.

The center guide can be configured to be slidable on a mounting shaft disposed in the width direction of the sheet material, and a detachable mechanism is disposed on the mounting shaft.

Moreover, if the attachment/detachment mechanism is disposed at a position corresponding to the position of the side guide when using a regular sheet material, operability will also be improved.

(Function) It is possible to remove the center guide as necessary, and when feeding a wide sheet material, attach the center guide, and when feeding a narrow sheet material, remove the center guide. be able to.

Furthermore, by making the position of the center guide attaching/detaching mechanism correspond to the side guide position when using a regular sheet material, it becomes a mark and the side guides can be easily set.

(Embodiments) The present invention will be described below based on illustrated embodiments. A sheet material feeding apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 4. Here, FIGS. 1 and 2 are an enlarged perspective view and a sectional view showing the state of attachment and detachment of the center guide of the sheet material feeding device according to the present embodiment, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are overviews of the sheet feeding device. FIG. 2 is a perspective view and a plan view showing the configuration.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, the side guide 1 that also serves as a frame is divided into a left half 1a and a right half 1b, and is adjusted in the full width direction by moving them along a pair of passing shafts 2a and 2b. It is now possible. Note that the left side guide la is usually fixed, and the right side guide lb
It is common to move according to the width size of the sheet material, and this embodiment also has this configuration.

t'7j inside the side guide l! A large number of recording sheets 4 are loaded on one plate 3, and a pressing spring (Fig. 3,
(not shown in FIG. 4, see 50 shown in FIG. 8), the storage plate 3 is pressed toward the feeding roller 6 fixed to the shaft 2a, so that the uppermost layer of the recording sheet material 4 is transferred to the feeding roller. A is formed so that it is pressed into contact with 6.

Separation claws 7 are provided on both sides of the front end of the side guide l for separating the uppermost recording sheet material 4 when the sheet material is being fed. A thrust is applied to the recording sheet material 4 by the frictional force of the rollers, and the uppermost layer of the recording sheet material 4 is separated by a separating claw 7 and fed to the recording apparatus.

Further, between the left half 1a and the right half lb of the side guide 1, a center guide 8 for supporting the center portion of the stacked recording sheets 4 is slidably attached along the mounting shaft 2a. There is.

When setting the recording sheet material 4, as shown in Fig. 4, move the right side guide tb according to the width size of the recording sheet material 4, and move the center guide 8 near the center of the left and right side guides la*1b. It will be moved.

Here, in order to explain the center guide 8 and the mounting shaft 2a in detail, enlarged views showing the attachment/detachment mechanism are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the shaft 2a is provided with a keyway 2al in the longitudinal direction of the shaft 2a. On the other hand, since the center guide 8 is provided with a key part 81 as a protrusion that engages with the keyway 2al of the shaft 2a, the center guide 8 can slide left and right, but it cannot come off the shaft 2a. In addition, a slot 7) 2a2 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is provided at a specific position of the shaft 2a, and by removing the key part 81 of the center guide 8 from there, the center guide can be removed. 8 can be attached and detached.

In the sheet material feeding device having the above configuration, when the sheet material is fed because the central part is slack, the center guide 8
can be attached to support the center of the sheet material.

On the other hand, when feeding a narrow recording sheet material 41, as shown in FIG. 5, the center guide 8 is removed from the shaft 2a and the left and right side guides 1a and ib are set to match the recording sheet +1. Depending on the left and right site guide la,
It is possible to handle recording sheets up to 4 in width, which is the width of lb. By setting the width dimension of the side guide 1 so that the width size at this time is the minimum dimension of the paper size to be used, the sheet feeding device can be made compatible with all paper widths to be used.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Components that are the same as those in the first embodiment described above will be described with the same reference numerals.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, the slit 2a2 for attaching and detaching the center guide 8 of the present invention can be provided at any position on the shaft 2a, but as shown in FIG. By setting the slit 2a2 so that the width when adjusted to the attachment/detachment position is the width of a standard size recording sheet material 43 (for example, A4 vertical width), it becomes a mark and can be adjusted to the frequently used recording sheet width. becomes easier. In this case, if the right side guide 1b is provided with a mechanism (not shown) that is clicked by a known locking means at the position of the slit 2a2 for detachment, the right side guide 1b can be moved along the axis 2a. It is also possible to create a configuration in which the user is automatically clicked to the height of A4 paper. Providing a click mechanism in this way makes it easier to align the side guides when using a standard size.

In the embodiments described above, one center guide 8 is used, but if the maximum width of the recording sheet material 4 used is quite wide, two or more center guides may be used. Then, the center guides 8 are attached and detached in an appropriate number according to the width of the recording sheet material to be fed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the width of the recording sheet 4 is adjusted by moving the right side guide lb, but this is the same even if the opposite side, that is, the left side guide la, is made movable, and furthermore, both sides are made movable. For example, in a sheet feeding device that inserts the recording sheet 4 based on the center, a structure that is movable left and right is adopted.

(Effects of the Invention) The present invention has the above-described structure and operation, and includes a detachable center guide that supports the center of the stacked recording sheets.1 The center guide is attached when feeding wide recording sheets. Since it is configured to be removed when feeding narrow recording sheets, it is possible to provide a sheet material feeding device that can handle recording sheet materials with a wider range of different widths than conventional ones.

Further, if the slit provided in the mounting shaft for attaching and detaching the center guide is configured to match the side guides at a position having the width dimension of a standard size, frequently used recording sheets of a standard size can be easily set.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged perspective view showing the attachment and detachment state of the center guide of the sheet material feeding device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the same, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the sheet material feeding device, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the state when feeding a narrow sheet material, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are views showing the present invention. FIGS. 8 to 11 are diagrams showing conventional sheet material feeding devices. Explanation of symbols l...Side guide (la...Left side guide, l
b...Right side guide) 2a...Mounting shaft 2al...Keyway 2a2...
・Slit (detachment mechanism) 3... Placement plate 4... Sheet material (41... Narrow sheet material, 42
... wide sheet material, 43 ... standard size sheet material) 8 ... center guide 81 ... part diagram

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) two side guides that position and guide a plurality of stacked sheet materials in contact with both side edges of the sheet materials;
a moving means that allows the side guide to move in the width direction of the sheet material so as to accommodate sheet materials of different sizes; a center guide that is disposed between the two side guides and supports the sheet material from below; What is claimed is: 1. A sheet material feeding device having: a sheet material feeding device, characterized in that the center guide is removably provided. (2) The center guide according to claim (1), wherein the center guide is slidable on a mounting shaft disposed in the width direction of the sheet material, and a detachable mechanism is disposed on the mounting shaft. The sheet material feeding device described. (3) The sheet material feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the attachment/detachment mechanism is disposed at a position corresponding to a position of a side guide when using a regular sheet material.