JPH0457577B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Technical Field> The present invention relates to a device for conveying sheet materials such as photographic paper, transfer paper, and original documents to be read, and in particular, to a device for conveying sheet materials such as copying paper, transfer paper, and scanned manuscripts, and particularly for conveying sheet materials one by one in copying machines, electronic file printers, facsimile printers, etc. The present invention relates to a device that grips and conveys a sheet material in order to reliably convey it piece by piece.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, as a device for conveying sheet materials such as sheets of paper or manuscripts one by one to a predetermined position,
It is common and widely used to transport sheet materials picked up by a paper feed roller or the like and conveyed one by one by pinching them between a pair of rollers.

A device using this pair of rollers uses friction between the rollers to carry out conveyance. Therefore, it easily damages the sheet material (original), stains the surface of the sheet material, and easily slips against art paper or coated paper, which have a low surface friction coefficient. Furthermore, it has many disadvantages, such as the tendency to cause conveyance errors due to a decrease in the coefficient of friction caused by changes in paper powder and roller material over time, and meandering, which is apt to occur due to unbalanced roller shapes during the conveyance process. ing.

In order to overcome these drawbacks, various devices have been proposed that use air suction to adsorb sheet materials and convey the adsorbed sheet materials.

This device that uses air suction connects a sheet material suction section with an air suction port on the bottom and a suction air casing with a negative pressure chamber inside, and connects one side of the sheet material to the bottom of the sheet material suction section. The structure is such that the sheet material is adsorbed by the sheet material and conveyed while being in contact with one side of the adsorbed sheet material by rotation of a friction member such as a belt or roller provided on the bottom surface.

However, when the above-mentioned sheet material conveying device handles thin sheet materials, for example, if the suction force is too strong, the sheet material is likely to be damaged, and conversely, if the suction force is too weak, it is likely to cause errors in suction of the sheet material. For the reasons mentioned above, it is difficult to adjust the suction force, and when thin and thick sheet materials are mixed, it is difficult to convey them.

On the other hand, there is also a sheet material conveying device in which a driving member such as a chain is directly connected to the vicinity of both sides of the document gripping portion, but due to constraints from the driving device such as the chain, it is difficult to provide a small and highly accurate device. is difficult.

Furthermore, each of the above-mentioned devices becomes complicated and large in size when performing double-sided reading of a sheet material having double-sided images, and is therefore unsuitable for devices that frequently cause trouble during transportation and require reliability.

<Object of the Invention> In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention provides a means for detecting the edge of a document to be gripped, without soiling or damaging the sheet material, and without causing conveyance errors. In accordance with the detection means, the document gripping section grips a certain amount of the edge of the document over the entire gripping section, and the edge of the document that is slanted according to the operation is gripped by a certain amount and then becomes slanted. A small and highly reliable document having a so-called document alignment function and a sheet material reversing function for reading images on both sides of the sheet material. The purpose is to provide a conveyance device.

<Embodiment> The document conveying device of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the document conveying device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the document conveying device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an operation of the present invention. FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory views for explaining the document alignment operation of the present invention. Identical parts are given the same reference numerals.

Reference numeral 1 in the figure indicates a base plate of the document conveying device, and two frames 2 and 3 connected to stays 35 and 36 are provided on the base plate 1. At the top of the frames 2 and 3, there is a first arm 5 supported by first arm support shafts 4 and 4' (see Fig. 2).
is provided.

A rotating member (not shown) is provided inside the first arm 5 via a plurality of bearings 80, and the rotating member includes a shaft fixing plate 53 for mounting the alignment support shaft 52, and a gear mounting plate. A pipe 55 is attached, and a main shaft support block 16 is provided via a bearing 50 to an alignment support shaft 52 attached to the shaft fixing plate 53. The main shaft 11 is connected to the inside of the main shaft support block 16 via a bearing 51.
passes through the main shaft 11, and a solenoid mounting pipe 56 is provided on the outside of the main shaft 11 so as to be connected to the main shaft support block 16.

Next, reference numerals 9 and 10 indicate document gripping plates, each of which has an elastic friction member (not shown) inside its tip. The document gripping plates 9 and 10 are rotatably provided around the main shaft 11 via gripping plate fixing blocks 12 and 13, respectively, but the upper document gripping plate 9 is rotatably mounted on the main shaft 11 via gripping plate fixing blocks 12 and 13, respectively. The main shaft support block 1 is provided inside the first arm 5.
It is fixed at right angles to 6. On the other hand, the lower original gripping plate 10 is completely free of rotational movement around the main shaft 11, but the lower original gripping plate 10 is spanned between the upper original gripping plate 9. They are configured to come into contact with the upper document gripping plate 9 with a constant force by a spring member (not shown) at the elastic friction members provided at the respective tips. The document gripping plates 9 and 10 are positioned on the main shaft 11 by respective mounting blocks 12 and 13, but are restrained by a plurality of stoppers 14 so as not to shift as a whole. The main shaft 11 having the document gripping plates 9 and 10 is connected to the main shaft support block 16, the clutch 15, and the solenoid mounting pipe 5.
The main shaft mounting block 16, the clutch 15,
The solenoid mounting pipe 56, the gripping plate fixing blocks 12, 13, and the main shaft 11 are prevented from shifting by means of a stopper 14 and a latch mounting unit 27 provided at the end 57 of the main shaft 11.

The main shaft 11 has a latch mounting unit 27 and a latch 26 provided at its end 57.
The main shaft support block 16, clutch 15, and solenoid are connected to the main shaft support block 16, the clutch 15, and the solenoid at a certain angle via a plurality of bearings 51 by the ON/OFF operation of the solenoid 23 attached to the solenoid mounting plate 24 fixed to the solenoid mounting pipe 56 via the solenoid mounting plate 24. It rotates inside the mounting pipe 56 and the grip plate fixing blocks 12 and 13. Due to this rotational movement, the force of the spring material is applied between the lower document gripping plate 10 and the upper document gripping plate 9 by a gripping plate opener (not shown) attached to the main shaft 11. It is pulled away from the upper document holding plate 9 by a certain amount against the force. That is, the ON/OFF operation of the solenoid 23 causes the document gripping plates 9 and 10 to open and close (indicated by arrow C in the figure). Next, the main shaft 11, document gripping plates 9, 10, clutch 15, solenoid mounting pipe 56, etc. connected to the main shaft support block 16 are attached to alignment support shafts attached to the shaft fixing plate 53 via bearings 50. It is configured to move in the direction of arrow D in the figure within a certain range around 52, and its driving source is the alignment motor 22.
It is. This alignment motor 22 is connected to an alignment motor mounting block 31 attached to a gear mounting pipe 55.
The alignment motor mounting plate 33 is provided with an alignment cam 45 and a slit 85 for detecting the position of the alignment cam at the tip of the output shaft.

On the other hand, an alignment cam follower 28 is attached to the solenoid mounting block 32 via a follower mounting plate 29, and is brought into contact with the alignment cam 45 by a spring 40. As a result, the alignment motor 22 is driven to move in the direction of arrow D in the figure.

Next, each of the series of component parts described above is configured to rotate within a certain range in the direction of arrow B in the figure via the bearing 80 provided inside the first arm 5, as described above. This drive source is a motor 17 for rotating the document gripping plate, and the motor 17 is connected to the motor mounting plate 2 for rotating the document gripping plate fixed to the first arm 5.
A worm (not shown) provided on the output shaft of the gear mounting pipe 55 is connected to the worm wheel 30 fixed to the gear mounting pipe 55, and its rotation range is similar to that of the timing shaft fixed to the gear mounting pipe 55. It is controlled based on a signal from a sensor 8 attached to the first arm 5 by the wrist 7.

As described above, when the document gripping plate rotation motor 17 is driven, the alignment motor 22 and the solenoid 23
The original holding plates 9 and 10 also move simultaneously.

Next, the first arm 5 is rotatably provided within a certain range in the direction indicated by arrow A in the figure using the first arm support shafts 4 and 4' as fulcrums, and its driving source is a motor 6. The timing slit 20 is controlled and driven via a gear train (not shown) provided on the frame 3 based on a signal from a sensor 21 and a signal from a switch (not shown) provided on a stay 35. The timing slit 20 is provided coaxially with a gear (not shown) via the gear train, and the sensor 21 is provided on the base plate 1.

Therefore, as the motor 6 is driven, the alignment motor 22, the solenoid 23, and the document gripping plate rotation motor 17 also rotate at the same time.

As described above, all the mechanisms for performing the operations indicated by arrows A, B, C, and D in the figure are provided on the base plate 1, and this base plate 1 is moved by the transport motor 90 as shown by the arrows. It will be moved in the E direction.

First, a slider 60 having a plurality of bearing members 38 therein and a plurality of bearing rollers 65 are provided at the bottom of the base plate 1. The slider 60 is provided on a sliding shaft 70 which is fixed to an external frame (not shown) via a bearing member 38, and a driving wire 100 is attached to the lower part of the slider 60. On the other hand, the bearing roller 65 is configured to be able to freely rotate on a guide rail 75 which is also fixed to an external frame or the like. The drive wire 100 is passed around a main pulley 91 attached to the transport motor 90 via a plurality of auxiliary pulleys 95, a tension pulley (not shown), etc., and transmits the movement of the transport motor 90. At this time, the movement of the entire document transport device in the direction of arrow E is controlled based on signals from a sensor (also not shown) and signals from a plurality of switches via a timing slit (not shown) provided on the output shaft of the transport motor 90. There is.

Next, the operation of the document conveying apparatus of the present invention constructed as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6.

FIG. 4 shows the steps of a document reading device as an embodiment using the document conveying device according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 67 indicates the upper surface of the platen glass, and reference numeral 105 indicates the document P by air suction, for example.
A document suction device that pulls up a document to a predetermined paper feeding position is shown in each case. Further, reference numeral 88 indicates the tip end portions of the document gripping plates 9 and 10, and P indicates a sheet of paper to be conveyed.

After first setting the mode for single-sided or double-sided scanning of the original, an instruction is given to start reading the original.First, the process for single-sided scanning will be explained.

When an instruction is given to start reading a document, the document suction device 10
5 pulls up the document P to a predetermined paper feeding position shown in FIG. 4a. At this time, the document conveying device is in the standby position and its operation is not normal.

Next, after confirming that the document P has been lifted up by the document suction device 105, as shown in FIG. and motor 17
The tip 8 of the document gripping portion
The document conveying device moves forward so that 8 substantially follows the trajectory indicated by A in FIG. At the same time as this forward movement is started, the document gripping plates 9 and 10 are brought into an open state by the action of the solenoid 23. and sensors (18 and 19) for detecting the edge of the document.
When the edge of the document is detected by the action of two pairs (composed of), the document conveying device stops, and at the same time, the solenoid 23 is turned off and the document gripping plates 9 and 10
are closed by the action of a spring stretched between them. In this state,
As shown in FIG. 2, the end of the document P is sandwiched between elastic friction members provided at the tips of the document gripping plates 9 and 10. However, when the document P pulled up by the document suction device 105 is set diagonally, the two pairs of sensors detect that the document P is set diagonally by the amount of the tilt by the action of the cam 45 and the cam follower 28 by driving the alignment motor 22. An operation is performed in which the oblique end of the original P is held between the original gripping plates 9 and 10 by the same distance over the entire gripping section.

This operation will be explained in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, referring to FIG. 5, an explanation will be given of an alignment operation when the document P to be gripped protrudes toward the alignment support shaft 52.

The document conveying device starts moving forward in the direction of arrow E with document gripping plates 9 and 10 open. Sensors 18 and 19 composed of, for example, a light-emitting device and a light-receiving device for detecting the edge of the document are mounted on the document grip plates 9 and 10, respectively, with a distance b between them. The document gripping plates 9 and 10 as shown in FIG.
It is provided so that the edge of the document can be detected when it is opened at a certain angle. Further, the sensor on the left side of the figure is provided with its center at a distance a from the center of the alignment support shaft 52. First, the sensors 18' and 19' on the right side in the figure detect the edge of the document, and then the movement continues in the direction of arrow E until the sensors 18 and 19 on the left side also detect the edge of the document. As soon as the sensor detects the edge of the document, its forward movement is stopped. At this time, the document gripping section is at the position shown by the dotted line in FIG.
The distance traveled by the document conveying device from when the right sensor detects the edge of the document to when the left sensor detects the edge of the document is defined as l. Next, the document conveying device retreats a distance a/b·l in the direction shown by arrow E' to the position shown by the dashed line in the figure, and shifts to the operation shown by b in the figure. The distance detection as described above is performed by a timing slit and its slit counting sensor (not shown). The alignment support shaft 52 is then moved in the direction of arrow D from the position indicated by the dashed line in the figure.
The alignment motor 22 is driven to start rotating the document, and as shown by the solid line in FIG. Stop operation.

As described above, the edge of the document P is held between the document grip plates 9 and 10 by the same size across the entire gripping section, and the document conveyance device starts conveying the document P in the direction shown by the arrow E' in the figure. . At the document reading position, the alignment motor 22 drives the document gripping plates 9 and 10 while holding the document P as indicated by the arrows in the arrows.
The movement in the direction D' is based on the signal from the sensor 86 (see FIG. 3) by the positioning slit 85, as shown by the solid line in FIG. That is, the document P is positioned so that the conveyance direction E' of the document P is parallel to the side portion P _E of the document P. The alignment operation is completed as described above.

Next, in FIG. 6, an explanation will be given of an alignment operation when the document P to be gripped is pulled down toward the alignment support shaft 52, contrary to the example in FIG. 5.

First, as in the case of FIG. 5, the document conveyance device starts moving forward in the direction of arrow E with the document gripping plates 9 and 10 open, and the sensors 18 and 19 on the left side of the figure detect the edge of the document. Next, the right sensor 18'
and 19' continue to advance until they similarly detect the edge of the document, and as described above, the right sensor stops its operation at the same time as detecting the edge of the document. At this time, the document gripping section is in the position shown by the broken line in Figure a,
Document gripping plates 9 and 10 remain open at a constant angle. Let l' be the distance traveled by the document conveying device from when the left sensor detects the edge of the document until the right sensor detects the edge of the document.
Next, the document conveying device advances further in the direction of arrow E by a distance a-b/b.l' to the position indicated by the dashed line in the figure, and then moves to the operation indicated by b in the figure. Rotation is started by the drive of the alignment motor 22 about the alignment support shaft 52 in the direction of arrow D' from the position shown by the dashed line in the same figure b, and both the left and right sides are rotated as shown by the solid line in the same figure b. At the same time as the sensor detects the edge of the document, the document gripping plates 9 and 10 are closed and the forward movement is stopped. As described above, the edge of the document P is sandwiched between the document gripping plates 9 and 10 by the same dimension across the entire gripping section as in the case of FIG.
Conveyance of the original P is started to E', and the same alignment operation as described above is performed at the original reading position. After stopping at this original reading position, the original gripping plates 9 and 1
After 0 rotates a certain angle while holding the original P,
That is, the reading operation of the original is performed after the tip 88 of the original holding portion comes into almost contact with the upper surface 67 of the platen glass. After the single-sided reading of the original P is completed as described above, the first arm 5 is rotated as shown in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG.
Open it and eject the original P. Next, as shown in j in the same figure, by rotating the first arm 5 and document gripping plates 9 and 10, that is, by performing the reverse operation of the above-mentioned reversing operation (shown in e in the same figure), the state shown in solid lines in the figure is obtained. It moves in the direction of arrow E', returns to the standby position shown in the figure a, and moves on to the next document conveyance operation.

Next, the case of reading both sides of a document will be explained.

The same explanation will be given with reference to FIG. 4, but since the operation from instructing the start of reading the original to reversing the original (see e in FIG. 4) is the same as in the case of single-sided reading, the description will be omitted. Next, move the reversed original P to the arrow f in the same figure.
After the document transport device is transported in the direction shown by E' and stopped at the reversed document reading position shown in g in the same figure, the tip 88 of the document gripping section almost touches the top surface 67 of the platen glass, as in the case of single-sided scanning. The document reading operation is performed while this state is maintained. The original P whose both sides have been scanned in the above manner is indicated by the arrow E in the figure h.
It is transported in the direction indicated by . The following operations are also exactly the same as in the case of single-sided reading, and will therefore be omitted.

However, the original P sucked by the original suction device 105
If there is a large deviation, the above-mentioned sensors 18 and 19 provided on the document gripping section of the document conveying device
The document transport device moves forward until it detects the edge of the document, and the first arm 5 and document gripping plates 9, 10 move forward.
However, when they reach their limits, that is, a position where a part of the document transport device and document suction device 105 begin to come into contact, these operations are stopped by a limit switch (not shown), and the document gripping device 105 is stopped. Report what you cannot do.

Furthermore, in this device, if the gripped document shifts or falls during transportation, the sensors 18 and 19 detect the presence or absence of the document and immediately stop all operations. It is configured to report breasts.

<Effects> As described above, according to the document conveying device according to the present invention, even a thin document set diagonally can be gripped reliably without soiling or damaging it, thereby preventing conveyance errors.

Furthermore, since the skewed state of the original can be easily corrected and conveyed, skewed feeding of the original can be prevented and images can be read accurately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the document conveying device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the document conveying device according to the present invention, FIG. 3 is a partial side view of the present invention, and FIGS. FIGS. 5A and 5B and FIGS. 6A and 6B are explanatory diagrams used to explain the operation of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Base plate, 2, 3... Frame, 5... First frame, 6... First arm rotation motor, 7, 20, 8
5... Slit disk, 8, 21, 86... Sensor,
9, 10...Document gripping plate, 11...Main shaft,
17... Document grip plate rotation motor, 18, 19... Sensor, 22... Alignment motor, 23... Solenoid, 28... Cam follower, 31... Alignment motor mounting block, 32... Solenoid mounting block, 4
5... Cam, 52... Alignment support shaft, 55... Gear mounting pipe, 56... Solenoid mounting pipe, 60... Slider, 65... Bearing roller, 70... Shaft for sliding, 75... Guide rail, 90... Transport motor, 91 ...Main pulley, 100...Drive wire, 105...Document suction device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A document conveying device that grips and conveys a leading edge of a document, comprising: a pair of upper and lower document gripping means 9 and 10 having elastic friction members on document gripping surfaces; a shaft member 11 attached so that the section can be opened and closed; and a support member 1 that supports the shaft member 11 in a direction parallel to the document conveyance surface 67 and perpendicular to the document conveyance direction E.
6, and a shaft member 1 to which the document gripping means 9 and 10 are attached.
1 from a position orthogonal to the document conveyance direction E in a predetermined range in the front-rear direction D of the document conveyance direction; A plurality of document edge detection sensors 18 and 19 are provided spaced apart in the width direction, and output signals from the plurality of document edge detection sensors 18 and 19 are provided when the document is set diagonally. A document conveying device characterized in that the document gripping means 9 and 10 are rotated in a direction corresponding to the inclination direction of the document to grip an edge of the document, and then moved in the document conveyance direction.