JPH0460899B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a sheet feeder installed in a sheet intake port provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser printer, a liquid crystal printer, or a printing machine. Concerning a containment device.

[Technical background of the invention]

Generally, in image forming devices such as copying machines,
A paper cassette is attached to the sheet intake port to supply sheets such as copy paper, tracing paper, synthetic resin film, etc., but when copying a large amount at once, it is necessary to replenish the sheets frequently during copying. There must be.

Therefore, a sheet feeding device that accommodates a large amount of sheets is attached to the sheet intake port for a normal paper cassette installed in a copying machine, or to a specially provided sheet intake port to reduce the number of times sheets are replenished. ing.

In such a sheet feeding device, a stacking section on which sheets are stacked is supported by left and right frames, and the stacking section is raised in accordance with the amount of sheet reduction. Additionally, the width of the frame that supports the loading section is narrowed to reduce weight. Therefore, the support position of the loading section is located at the front.

[Problems with background technology]

Therefore, when sheets are stacked on the stacking section, the stacking section tilts rearward due to the weight of the sheets, causing the sheets to move backward, disrupting the alignment of the sheets, and making it impossible to stably feed the sheets.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, for example,
As disclosed in Publication No. 40361 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 58-147927, the stacking section is supported at the rear with respect to the center of gravity of the sheet, and the front side of the stacking section in the sheet feeding direction is tilted downward. There is.

However, with this structure, although the above-mentioned problems can be solved, the following new problems may occur.

In other words, as disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, the support position of the stacking section is rearward with respect to the center of gravity of the sheets, and the sheet storage device is supported by the part protruding into the sheet intake port, so that the connection between the intake roller and the sheet is difficult. The load that can be generated on the pressure contact point inevitably varies due to the movement of the center of gravity depending on the sheet size, and this has the disadvantage that consistent paper feeding conditions cannot be obtained and paper feeding errors are more likely to occur.

[Purpose of the invention]

This invention is a sheet that maintains the aligned state without moving backwards even when vibrations are applied to the sheet due to the inclination of the stacking section, and that also provides a stable sheet feeding condition and prevents sheet feeding errors. The purpose is to obtain a containment device.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a feeding unit that feeds sheets to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus, a feeding unit that loads the sheets, and supports the stacked sheets backward from the center of gravity in the sheet intake direction. A stacking section supported by a pair of left and right supporting means having a position and tilted forward in a sheet taking-in direction, and an elevating device that raises the stacking section according to a decrease in the amount of sheets stacked on the stacking section. In the sheet accommodating device, first support means supports the sheet accommodating device at the position of the feeding section and positions the sheet to be taken into the sheet inlet;
A second support means is provided behind the first support means in the sheet feeding direction and is attached to the image forming apparatus near the center of gravity.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming device such as a copying machine 3 is placed on a mounting table 1, and the copying machine 3 receives sheets supplied from a sheet storage device such as a sheet feeding device 5 attached to the copying machine 3. It is beginning to form images.

The mounting table 1 has openings 7 and 9 on the sides and top.
It has a large-capacity accommodating section 11 that accommodates the sheet feeding device 5 equipped with the above, and a multi-tiered cassette accommodating section 15 that accommodates a plurality of small-capacity paper feed cassettes 13 that accommodate sheets of different sizes.

The sheet feeding device 5 includes a sheet storage section 17 that stores sheets, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
, a feeding section 19 that guides the sheet sent out from the sheet storage section 17 to the copying machine 3, and this feeding section 1.
A support guide 21 as a first support means having recesses 20 provided on both sides of the sheet storage section 9, a pin 23 as a second support means provided at the center of both sides of the sheet storage section 17, and a pin 23 as a second support means provided in the center of both sides of the sheet storage section 17 17, and a back cover 27 rotatably attached to the back of the seat accommodating section 17 as shown in FIG.

Note that the pin 23 is provided in consideration of the position of the center of gravity of the sheet feeding device 5 at a position where the center of gravity does not fluctuate even if the size of the sheets to be accommodated changes. In other words, even if the center of gravity changes depending on the size and amount of sheets loaded on the hopper 29, this pin 2
The pin 21 is provided at a position where the direction of the moment of the center of gravity around 3 does not change, and therefore the direction of the supporting force on the pin 21 due to the moment does not change.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the sheet storage section 17 includes a stacking section, for example, a hopper 29, whose tip abuts against a tip regulating plate 28 to support the sheet, and an elevating device that moves the hopper 29 up and down along a guide 30. 31 are provided. The lifting device 31 includes a roller 35 rotated by a motor 33, and this roller 3.
5 and a hopper 29, and a roller 39 supporting this belt 37. Note that electrical components such as the lifting device 31 are electrically connected to the copying machine 3 through a power connector 32 and a signal connector 34 shown in FIG.

The hopper 29 is provided with a pair of support means, for example, support rollers 36 and 38 attached to the support means 26, on the rear left and right sides of the center of gravity in the sheet take-in direction when sheets are loaded, and are guided in a forwardly inclined state. It is supported by 30 people.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, a feeding means 101 is provided at the top of the sheet accommodating portion 17 to feed out the sheets stacked on the hopper 29 one by one.
This feeding means 101 includes a feeding roller 103, a sprocket 105, a lurch chain 107, a sprocket 109, gears 111 and 113, and a pulley 1.
15, belt 117, pulley 119, motor 12
1, etc., and a feeding roller 103 feeds out the sheet by rotation of a motor 121. Note that the feeding roller 103 is a one-way roller that rotates in one direction.

The feeding unit 19 includes a separating claw 122 that separates the sheet sent out by the feeding roller 103 into one sheet, a guide 123 that guides the separated sheet, and a shaft 12.
a pressing plate 127 (pressing means) rotating around 5;
Solenoid 129 that rotates this pressing plate 127
is provided.

The mechanism for rotating the pressing plate 127 using the solenoid 129 is shown in FIGS. 5 to 7.

A crank 135 rotatably supported by a shaft 133 is rotatably connected to the plunger 131 of the solenoid 129 . Further, a lever 139 is rotatably supported on a shaft 137 provided at right angles to the shaft 133. For this reason, lever 1
39 is rotatable at right angles to the crank 135, and when rotated to the crank 135, the tip is attached to the lever 1.
When one end of the lever 39 is pressed, the other end of the lever 139 pushes the lower end of the pressing plate 127.

As shown in FIG. 5, the feeding section 19 is provided with a sheet detection sensor S having a light emitting element and a light receiving element in the sheet setting section.

On the other hand, a sheet intake port 41 is provided at the bottom of the copying machine 3, facing the large-capacity storage section 11 of the mounting table 1, as shown in FIG. The sheet intake port 41 is open at the bottom and at the insertion side of the sheet feeding device 5.

Furthermore, a pin 43 that engages with the support guide 21 of the sheet feeding device 5 and a notch 45 that engages with the pin 23 are provided on the inner surface of the sheet intake port 41 .

Therefore, the sheet feeding device 5 is attached to the sheet intake port 41 as follows.

Make sure that the copying machine 3 is placed in the correct position on the mounting table 1, and insert the sheet feeding device 5 into the large-capacity storage section 1.
1 and the sheet intake port 41.

At that time, the pins 2 provided on both sides of the lifting device 31
3 into the notch 45 provided inside the copying machine 3, and insert the weight of the sheet feeding device 5 into the notch 45 provided inside the copying machine 3.
to support. At this time, the pins 43 provided deep inside the sheet intake port 41 are simultaneously engaged with the recesses 20 of the support guides 21 provided on both sides of the lifting device 31, and the sheet feeding device 5 supported by the notch 45
is prevented from rotating around the pin 23 by the support guide 21.

In the sheet intake port 41, as shown in FIG. 1, a sheet intake means, such as a intake roller 47, which is engaged with the pressing plate 127 of the sheet supply device 5 is provided.

Further, a support plate 49 such as an L-shaped bent iron plate is provided at the bottom of the copying machine 3.
The sheet feeding device 5 is fixed via a mounting portion 25 with screws 141 and 143 shown in FIG.

Further, the copying machine 3 is provided with an intake port 51 into which the paper feed cassette 13 is inserted. In addition,
A take-in roller 53 is provided within the take-in port 51 .

Registration rollers 55 and a conveyor belt 57 are provided ahead of the take-in rollers 47 and 53 to feed the sheet to an image forming section 58.

The image forming section 58 is provided with a photosensitive drum 59. Around this photosensitive drum 59, a charging device 61, an unnecessary charge eraser 63, a developing device 6
5, a transfer device 67, a separation charge device 69, a separation claw 71, and a drum cleaner 73 are arranged.

An automatic document feeder 75 is attached to the document setting section so that its rear side can be opened and closed by a hinge.

A platen 77 made of contact glass is provided below the automatic document feeder 75, and a slit illumination device 79 is provided below the platen 77 so as to be movable in the left-right direction along the platen 77.

In addition, two movable reflecting mirrors 81 and 83 and a lens 8
5 and two fixed reflecting mirrors 87 and 89 transmits a light image of the original image illuminated by the slit illumination device 79 to the photosensitive drum 59, and performs exposure. There is.

The photosensitive drum 59 forms an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image of the document on its outer peripheral surface, and this latent image is transferred to the developing device 6.
Visualization with toner is performed by 5.

The visible image formed on the photosensitive drum 59 in this way is captured by the capture roller 51 or 53, and the paper feeding timing is adjusted by the registration roller 55.
The image is transferred onto the sheet P sent between.

The sheet with the visible image transferred in this way is
The photosensitive drum 59 is separated from the photosensitive drum 59 by the discharging action by the separation charging device 69 and the mechanical separation action by the separating claw 71, and is sent to the fixing device 93 by the conveyance roller 91.

The transfer sheet is discharged from a discharge port 97 with the visible image facing upward by a discharge roller 95, and is stored in a sheet processing device 99.

This sheet processing device 99 has a folding function (folding device) and a sorting function (sorter),
Conveyance path 151, conveyance rollers 153, 155, conveyance switching gate 157, folding roller 15
9,161,163, size switching gate 16
5. Folding path 167, 169, roller 17
Suction belt 1 supported vertically by 1,173
75, a distributor 177, and a plurality of trays 176. Note that the folding path 167 is, for example,
The folding path 169 is for B4 size, and the folding path 169 is for A3 size, for example.

The automatic document feeder 75 includes a document tray 201 on which a document is set, a separation and feeding section 203 that separates the document set on the document tray 201 into one sheet and sends them out, and a separation and feeding section 203 that separates the document set on the document tray 201 into one sheet and sends them out, and a document feeder 203 that separates the document set on the document tray 201 into one sheet and sends them out. A conveyance section 205 that conveys the document onto the platen 77, sets it at a reference position, and sends it out from above the platen 77 after copying is completed; A storage tray 209 for storing sheets ejected from the storage tray 207 is provided.

With the above configuration, this device operates as follows.

First, the back cover 27 of the sheet feeding device 5 is opened and a sheet is set on the hopper 29. Since the hopper 29 is inclined, the leading edge of the sheet abuts against the leading edge regulating plate 28. Also, Hotupa 29
Since the support position of is located behind the center of gravity,
The weight of the seat causes the hopper 29 to tilt further forward. Therefore, the sheet does not shift toward the rear of the hopper 29.

In this state, when the back cover 27 is closed, the motor 33 is automatically driven and the roller 35 is
to raise the hopper 29. When the sheet pushes up the feeding roller 103 and a sensor (not shown) turns on, the feeding roller 103 stops. Then, when a paper feeding command is issued, the solenoid 129 is energized, and the pressure plate 127 is rotated downward by the suction operation of the plunger 131. Further, the motor 121 is driven, and the feeding roller 103 is rotated. Therefore, the sheet is sent out, separated into one sheet by the separating claw 122, and sent to the set position. When the leading edge of this sheet is detected by the sensor S, the motor 121 stops and
When the feeding roller 103 stops rotating, the solenoid 129 is demagnetized, the pressing plate 127 returns, and the sheet is pressed against the taking-in roller 47.

On the other hand, the document tray 20 of the automatic document feeder 75
1 and press the copy button (not shown), the document is separated into one sheet by the separation and feeding section 203 and sent out, and the document is transferred to the platen 7 by the transportation section 205.
It is set to the reference position on 7. Note that when copying is completed, the original is ejected to the storage tray 209 via the ejection unit 207, and the next original is supplied from the separation/feed separation 203.

When the original is set on the platen 77 at the reference position, a sheet take-in command is issued from the copying machine 3, the take-in roller 47 rotates, and the sheet is taken into the copy machine 3. When the trailing edge of the sheet is detected by the sensor S, the solenoid 129 is energized, the press plate 127 moves away from the take-in roller 47, the motor 121 rotates, and the feed roller 103 feeds out the next sheet.

Note that when a predetermined amount of sheets are taken in, the hopper 2
9 rises by a certain amount, and the sheet always reaches the feed roller 10.
It borders on 3.

The image of the thus captured sheet is copied by the image forming section 58 and is supplied to the sheet processing device 99.

When the sheet needs to be folded to B4 size or A3 size, it is supplied to folding rollers 159 and 161 through a conveyance path 151. When the sheet to be folded is B4 size, the size switching gate 165 is switched as shown by the solid line, and when the sheet is A3 size, it is switched as shown by the broken line.

When the sheet end hits the tip of the folding path 167 or 169, the sheet is bent, and the bent portion is gripped by the folding rollers 161, 163, folded, and stored in a tray 179 designated by the distributor 177.

When there is no need to fold the sheet, the conveyance path switching gate 157 is switched as shown by the broken line,
The tray 179 designated by the distributor 177 accommodates the tray 179 .

According to this embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) The hopper 29, which loads the sheets taken in by the take-in roller 47 provided at the sheet take-in port 41 of the copying machine 3, is supported by a pair of left and right supports behind the center of gravity in the sheet take-in direction when the sheets are loaded. Member 26, support roller 3
6 and 38, when the sheets are stacked on the hopper 29, the hopper 29 tilts toward the tip regulating plate 28 with the support member 26 as the center.

Therefore, the hopper 29 does not tilt backward due to the weight of the sheet, and even if the hopper 29 vibrates due to its vertical movement, the sheet does not move backward, the sheet alignment is maintained, and safe paper feeding is achieved. I can do it.

(2) In addition to supporting the position where the hopper 29 is tilted forward, the hopper 29 is
Since the seat is installed with an inclination towards the 8 side, even if the number of stacked sheets decreases and the weight becomes lighter, the minimum inclination to prevent the seat from moving backwards can be maintained.

Conversely, even if the installation inclination angle of the hopper 29 is small, the hopper 29 will be inclined due to the weight of the sheet, so even if there is some variation in the installation angle between products during the manufacturing process, there will be no problem with sheet alignment, and the manufacturing It's easy to do.

[Modified example]

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above,
The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and for example, the following modifications are possible.

(1) In the sheet storage device, the feeding unit 9 is the feeding unit 1
It is also possible to use one that does not include 01. That is, the image forming apparatus may simply store sheets on a stacking section that moves up and down, and the sheets on the stacking section may be directly fetched by the sheet fetching means of the image forming apparatus.

(2) In the above embodiment, the hopper 29 was installed at an angle, but since the hopper 29 is inclined due to the weight of the sheet,
It can also be installed horizontally.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the sheet storage device according to the present invention, the feeding section feeds out the sheets to the sheet intake port of the image forming apparatus, and the feeding section that stacks the sheets and the sheet intake direction in the state where the sheets are stacked. A stacking section is supported by a pair of left and right support means having a support position rearward from the center of gravity of the stacking section, and is tilted forward in the sheet take-in direction, and the stacking section is raised in accordance with the amount of decrease in the number of sheets stacked on the stacking section. In a seat storage device equipped with a lifting device that
a first support means for supporting the sheet storage device at the position of the feeding section and for positioning the sheet take-in position into the sheet take-in port; and behind the first support means in the sheet feeding direction; Moreover, since the second support means for attaching the vicinity of the center of gravity to the image forming apparatus is provided, even if the center of gravity changes depending on the size of the sheets to be loaded, the first and second support means By supporting the storage device, it is possible to reliably position the sheet to be taken in, and even when vibrations are applied to the sheets, the aligned state can be maintained without moving backward, and moreover, the sheet can be fed in a stable state. Thus, a sheet storage device that is unlikely to cause paper feeding mistakes can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 9 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of a mounting table, a copying machine, a sheet feeding device, an automatic document feeder, and a sheet processing device; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the sheet feeding device seen from the front, Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the sheet feeding device seen from the rear, Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the sheet feeding device, and Figs. 5 to 7 Figure 8 shows the rotating mechanism of the pressing plate, Figure 8 is a perspective view showing the state in which the sheet feeding device is inserted into the large-capacity storage section of the loading table and the sheet intake port of the copying machine, and Figure 9 shows the loading table. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a sheet feeding device is inserted into a large-capacity storage unit and a sheet intake port of a copying machine. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Mounting table, 3... Copying machine, 5... Sheet supply device, 11... Large-capacity storage part, 17... Sheet storage part,
19... Feeding section, 26... Supporting member, 28... Tip regulation plate, 29... Hopper, 31... Lifting device, 3
6, 38... Support roller, 41... Sheet inlet, 47... Intake roller, 75... Automatic document feeder, 99... Sheet processing device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A feeding unit 19 that feeds sheets to a sheet intake port 41 of an image forming apparatus, and a feeding unit 19 that loads the sheets and a position that is located behind the center of gravity in the sheet intake direction with the sheets loaded. The stacking section 2 is supported by a pair of left and right supporting means 26 having supporting positions, and is tilted forward in the sheet taking-in direction.
9, and a lifting device 3 that raises the stacking section 29 according to the amount of decrease in sheets stacked on the stacking section 29.
1, a first supporting means 21 for attaching the sheet accommodating device to an image forming apparatus and positioning the feeding section 19 at a sheet taking-in position of the sheet taking-in port 41; A sheet storage device characterized in that a second support means 23 is provided behind the first support means 21 in the sheet feeding direction and near the center of gravity of the image forming apparatus.