JPH05147764A - Sheet material feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent trouble in an image forming device such as jamming in an arrangement in which a sheet material specifically formed as folded into an envelope shape is fed by a sheet material feeding device to the image forming device. CONSTITUTION:Two types of rotary bodies are provided, i.e., energized rotary bodies 22, 23 and active rotary bodies 30, 32, 33 to feed each sheet material P within a sheet material feeding device M1, among which at least either member of either pair is arranged being split at the two ends of the sheet material P across the width. Thereby the two side edges E1 of the sheet material P to be fed can strongly be pressed partially, which permits feeding to an image forming device M2 upon making perfect the foldings at the edges.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding apparatus used by being attached to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer, and more particularly to a labor saving system for manual sheet feeding work for the image forming apparatus. ..

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus for automatically feeding a special sheet material such as a postcard or an envelope in place of a manual feeding operation by detachably attached to a manual sheet feeding port of the image forming apparatus. A sheet material feeding device is known.

This is provided with a connecting mechanism for mechanically and electrically connecting to an image forming apparatus as a main body on the front end side of a cabinet, and a positive rotating body having an independent drive source therein. , A sheet material feeding path is formed by a biasing rotating body that presses the sheet material against the positive rotating body,
The sheet material feeding path is configured to transfer the sheet material to the sheet material feeding path on the image forming apparatus side through the manual sheet feeding port of the image forming apparatus when the sheet material feeding apparatus is properly attached to the image forming apparatus. It is possible to connect. A sheet feeding tray for placing the sheet material is provided at the start end side of the sheet material feeding path, and the sheet material to be fed is artificially stacked on the sheet feeding tray at a constant amount. .. In addition, a pair of guide plates with positionless adjustments are attached to the left and right sides of the paper feed tray so that sheet materials of various sizes can be positioned at the central position of the sheet material feeding path. It has become. The positive rotating body and the biasing rotating body are usually arranged so as to sandwich two places near the center of the sheet material so as to be able to deal with various sheet materials having different sizes. ..

In such a conventional sheet material feeding apparatus, a certain amount of sheet material stacked on the sheet feeding tray is sequentially fed from the uppermost sheet material in response to a sheet feeding signal from the image forming apparatus which is the main body. Alternatively, depending on the type of device, the sheet material may be inserted into the sheet material feeding path for each leaf in order from the lowest position, and friction driven while being sandwiched from both sides by the positive rotating body and the biasing rotating body, and manually fed. It is sent to the image forming apparatus through the paper mouth.

[0005]

However, according to the above-mentioned prior art, the sheet material to be fed has a double-folded peripheral portion such as an envelope, particularly an envelope for horizontal writing. When the folded portion is a binding margin that can be opened and closed, printing may occur due to jams due to poor conveyance in the sheet material feeding path of the image forming apparatus that received the sheet material, or deviations in the conveyance timing. There was a problem in that accuracy was poor. Further, in the case where the image forming apparatus has a fixing unit using a heat roll, there is a problem that unrecoverable wrinkles occur on one surface side of the doubled sheet material.

That is, the sheet material feeding path on the image forming apparatus side is much more complicated than the relatively simple sheet material feeding path on the sheet material feeding apparatus side, and the sheet material feeding apparatus can easily pass through the sheet material feeding apparatus. Even if it is an envelope or the like that can be done, on the image forming apparatus side, it is caught on a peripheral member due to opening of the binding margin, or the like, it cannot enter between the registration rollers at a predetermined timing, or between a pair of heat rolls, As a result of the air layer enclosed inside impairing the integrity between the front and back sheets of paper such as an envelope, each causes a corresponding failure.

Therefore, the present invention devises the arrangement of the positive rotating body and the biasing rotating body in the sheet material feeding device so that not only the envelope or the like is sent to the image forming apparatus, but also the folded edge of the envelope or the like is formed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material feeding device in which the occurrence of a jam or the like on the image forming apparatus side is prevented by strongly pressing the sheet and supplying the sheet material to the image forming apparatus.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. For example, referring to FIG. 1, the sheet material feeding path (R ₁ ) is provided on one surface side. A plurality of positive rotating bodies (30, 32, 33) for frictionally driving the sheet material (P) in the feeding direction, and the sheet material feeding path (R).
₁ ) A plurality of biasing rotating bodies (22, 23) arranged on the other surface side for pressing the sheet material (P) against the positive rotating body (30, 32, 33), and the biasing rotating body In the sheet material feeding device (M ₁ ) for feeding the sheet material (P) along the sheet material feeding path (R ₁ ) by the body and the positively rotating body (30, 32, 33), the positive rotation Body (30, 32, 33) and the biasing rotating body (22, 23)
At least one of at least one pair of the positive rotation body and the biasing rotation body selected from the above is divided and arranged at both ends in the width direction of the sheet material (P), and both ends of the sheet material (P) are arranged by the pair of rotation bodies. It is characterized by partial pressure.

[0009]

[Function] Based on the above configuration, the sheet material feeding path (R ₁ )
When the sheet material (P) is supplied from the starting end side of the sheet, the sheet material (P) is pressed against the positive rotating body (30, 32, 33) by the biasing rotating body (22, 23) while It is frictionally driven in the feeding direction by 30, 32, 33). At this time, the sheet material (P) is at least a pair of positive rotating bodies that can be freely selected from a plurality of positive rotating bodies (30, 32, 33) and biasing rotating bodies (22, 23). Between the urging rotating body and, for example, the positive rotating body (33) and the urging rotating body (23) inevitably pass. At least one of the positive rotating body (33) and the biasing rotating body (23) selected here is a sheet material (P).
Since the sheet material (P) is divided and arranged at both ends in the width direction, the biasing force that presses the sheet material (P) against the positive rotating body (33) is intensively applied to both widthwise end portions of the sheet material (P). Both ends of the sheet material (P) are strongly pressed over their entire length when passing between the positive rotating body (33) and the biasing rotating body (23). As a result, in the case where the sheet material (P) is formed by folding back and opening like an envelope, the folding is made more complete to prevent floating such as the binding margin and expell unnecessary air inside. Can be sent to the image forming apparatus side.

The reference numerals in parentheses are for the purpose of contrasting the drawings, and do not limit the structure of the present invention in any way.

[0011]

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

1 to 3 show an internal mechanism of a sheet material feeding device M _{1 according to} the present invention.

The sheet material feeding device M ₁ has a six-sided structure including a top plate 11 and a bottom plate 16, side plates 12 on both sides, and a side plate 13 on the paper feed side and a side plate 15 on the discharge side as an exterior case. The cabinet 10 is provided, and the main members are housed in the cabinet 10. Opening / closing lids 11a and 13a are attached to the top plate 11 of the cabinet 10 and the side plate 13 on the paper feed side, respectively, so that the paper feed side of the cabinet 10 can be largely opened.
A discharge port 16h is formed at the discharge side end of the bottom plate 16. On the other hand, from the side plate 15 on the discharge side of the cabinet 10, a connecting rod 6 and a connector 6a are provided so as to project laterally.

Inside the cabinet 10, a paper feed tray 50, a feeding belt 30 as a positive rotating member, a feeding roller 32, and a discharging roller 33 are arranged in this order from the paper feeding side to the discharging side.
A separation roller 22 and a pinch roller 23 as an urging rotating body are provided. However, the biasing rotors 22 and 23
And the positive rotating bodies 30, 32, 33 are arranged in two upper and lower series, and the sheet material feeding path R ₁ (shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1) is
Formed between the two. That is, the positive rotating bodies 30, 3
2, 33 and the biasing rotors 22, 23 are arranged passively. Specifically, the separation roller 22 and the feeding roller 32 are paired vertically, and the pinch roller 23 and the discharge roller 33 are paired.

The paper feed tray 50 and its peripheral members will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The paper feed tray 50 is fixed to the bottom plate 16 of the cabinet 10 with a fixed plate 51 and a fixed plate. It consists of a pair of guide plates 52 standing on both sides of the plate 51, and the pair of guide plates 52 can be symmetrically moved in the width direction of the fixed plate 51. That is, a freely rotatable pinion 53 is attached to the back surface side of the fixed plate 51 in a horizontal posture, and a pair of racks 55 mesh with the pinion 53 so as to sandwich the pinion 53 from the front-rear direction. There is. Each rack 55 is supported below the fixed plate 51 so as to be horizontally movable in the width direction of the fixed plate 51. Further, each guide plate 52 is connected to each rack 55 via a sleeve provided on the fixed plate 51. Therefore, when one guide plate 52 is slid, the other guide plate 52 is driven in the opposite direction.
As a result, the sheet materials P stacked on the paper feed tray 50 are
Can always be positioned at the center of the sheet material feeding path R ₁ . The opening / closing lid 13a provided on the side plate 13 on the sheet feeding side is configured to extend the sheet feeding tray 50 when it is opened, and the long sheet material P having irregular vertical and horizontal dimensions is provided.
You can also put.

A feeding belt 30, which will be described in detail later, is disposed on the downstream side of the sheet feeding tray 50, and the feeding belt 30 is also provided.
A paper pressing weight 17 is provided above the sheet feeding device, and a sheet detecting sensor 7 for detecting the presence or absence of the sheet material P is provided between the sheet feeding tray 50 and the feeding belt 30.

The paper pressing weight 17 is formed by bending a thick metallic material having a sufficient self-weight into a downward warp of an intermediate portion, and a supporting shaft 17a supporting the bending portion directs the sheet material P in the feeding direction. It is installed in a downward inclined posture. Further, the support shaft 17a is fixed to the free ends of a pair of arms 12b which pass through the arc-shaped elongated holes 12h formed in the side plates 12 on both sides of the cabinet 10 and project outward, and swing along the side plates 12. ing. Each arm 12b
Has the center of swing at the center point when forming the long hole 12h, and therefore the paper pressing weight 17 can move up and down within the range of the long hole 12h while gradually changing the inclined posture. it can.

On the other hand, the sheet detection sensor 7 includes a swingable detection lever 7a and a photo interrupter 7 as a main body.
b, the detection lever 7a is attached in an upwardly inclined posture toward the feeding direction of the sheet material P, falls down by stacking the sheet material P, and operates the photo interrupter 7b to detect the presence or absence of the sheet material P. It is like this.

A front end guide plate 19 for aligning the front end positions of the sheet materials P to be stacked is attached above the downstream end side of the conveyor belt 30.
The inside is largely divided by a front end guide plate 19 into a paper feed side and a discharge side.

Next, the positive rotors 30, 32, 33 and the biasing rotors 22, 23 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

The feeding belt 30, the feeding roller 32, and the discharging roller 33, which are positive rotating bodies, are arranged below the separating roller 22 and the pinch roller 23, which are biasing rotating bodies. That is, the sheet material P passes through the upper side of the feeding belt 30 and the like and is urged downward by the separation roller 22 and the like. First, as for the feeding belt 30, the belt 31 for frictionally driving the sheet material P is provided between the belt rollers 31e attached to the front shaft 1A and the rear shaft 2A, which are arranged so as to maintain a mutual distance through the frame 31b. By hanging and driving the front shaft 1A, the belt 31 is circularly driven in the feeding direction. The feeding belts 30 are arranged in four units in parallel in the width direction of the paper feed tray 50, and both are simultaneously driven by the shaft 1A. However, the four unit feeding belts 30 are arranged such that two groups on the same side are respectively set, and as a whole, a pair of double feeding belts 30 is arranged at a constant interval. ..
Further, the entire feeding belt 30 is configured such that the rear shaft 2A side swings up and down around the front shaft 1A, and the lowering of the feeding belt 30 is stopped at a fixed position on the bottom plate 16 of the cabinet 10. A stopper 31c is attached.

The lower end of the front end guide plate 19 of the sheet material P has reached a level where a slight gap is left between the sheet 31 and the belt 31 of the feeding belt 30.

The intermediate portion of the front shaft 1A, a pair of feeding belts 30
The feed roller 32 is attached between the two via the one-way clutch 1B. The outer diameter of the feeding roller 32 is
The one-way clutch 1B is set to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the belt roller 31e including the thickness of the belt 31, and the one-way clutch 1B is interposed so as to positively drive the feeding roller 32 only in the feeding direction.

For the feeding roller 32, the separating roller 2
2 are opposite. The separation roller 22 is the feeding belt 3
It is attached to the drive shaft 3A provided on the front shaft 1A of 0, and is always driven to rotate in the direction opposite to the feeding direction of the sheet material P, that is, the direction of pushing the sheet material P back to the sheet feeding side. Further, the drive shaft 3A is urged downward by a spring 37 via a transmission member (not shown) so that an appropriate contact pressure of the separation roller 22 with respect to the feeding roller 32 can be maintained.

A pair of upper and lower guide members 35 and 36 are arranged on the downstream side of the feeding roller 32, and a discharge roller 33 and a pinch roller 23 are arranged on the downstream side thereof. The discharge roller 33 is attached to the drive shaft 6A and arranged at the level of the lower guide member 35.
The pinch roller 23 is attached to the shaft 5A and is pressed against the discharge roller 33 from above. However, both the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 are divided and arranged close to both ends of the sheet material P in the width direction, and as a whole, a pair of upper and lower sides are provided on both ends of the sheet material P in the width direction. The same arrangement as that of the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 is provided. Therefore, the downward biasing force applied via the shaft 5A is concentrated and applied to each pair of the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23.

The sheet material P from the feeding roller 32 passes between the guide members 35 and 36, is fed to the discharging roller 33, and is discharged from the discharging port 16h by the discharging roller 33. That is, the sheet material feeding path R ₁ extends from the top of the paper feed tray 50 to the discharge port 16h, and the sheet material feeding device M ₁ corresponds to the image forming apparatus M ₂ (shown by a chain double-dashed line in FIG. 1). when attached to) can be connected to the route R ₂ feed sheet feeding in the image forming in the device M ₂ through the manual feed port H of the image forming apparatus M _2. Further, among the positive rotating bodies 30, 32, 33 and the biasing rotating bodies 22, 23, those which need to be driven are driven by one drive motor via the power transmission mechanism 20 externally attached to one side plate 12 of the cabinet 10. 60 drives in synchronization.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

The sheet material feeding device M ₁ can be used by externally attaching it to any image forming apparatus M ₂ that can be supported by inserting the connecting rod 6 attached to the side plate 15. At this time, the image forming apparatus M ₂ as the main body and the sheet material feeding apparatus M ₁ are not only mechanically integrated but also electrically connected via the connector 6a or the like, and a control signal is transmitted between them. It is possible to give and receive. Further, at this time, the sheet material feeding path R ₁ on the side of the sheet material feeding apparatus M ₁ is connected to the internal sheet material feeding path R ₂ through the manual sheet feeding port H of the image forming apparatus M _2. The manual paper feeding operation for the forming apparatus M ₂ can be automatically performed.

That is, when the opening / closing lid 11a on the top plate 11 side and the opening / closing lid 13a on the side plate 13 side are opened, the paper feed side of the cabinet 10 is largely opened. A required number of sheet materials P are stacked on the tray 50. The stacked sheet materials P can be positioned in the feeding direction by operating the guide plate 52 to position them in the width direction and pushing them toward the front end guide plate 19 on the discharge side. Since the front end guide plate 19 is disposed on the downstream end side of the feeding belt 30, regardless of the size of the sheet material P, at least the front end side of the sheet material P is positioned on the feeding belt 30 by positioning in the feeding direction. Can be placed on. After the positioning is completed, the weight 17 is lowered and the sheet material P is pressed onto the feeding belt 30. At this time, the sheet detection sensor 7 has already issued a detection signal due to the stacking of the sheet material P, and this detection signal is interpreted by the control unit of the image forming apparatus M ₂ as, for example, information indicating that there is manual paper. .. Further, based on this detection signal, the image forming apparatus M ₂ issues a paper feed signal.

In accordance with the paper feed signal, the sheet material feeding device M ₁
Positive rotating bodies 30, 32, 33 and biasing rotating bodies 22, 23
Are simultaneously driven to rotate.

The rotation of the feeding belt 30 causes the belt 31 to rotate.
The lowest sheet material P that is in direct contact with the sheet moves forward through the gap between the belt 31 and the front end guide plate 19. At this time, if the sheet material P is double-fed, only the upper sheet material P is pushed back by the relative rotation of the separation roller 22 and the feeding roller 32, and is fed to the next order. Feeding roller 32
The sheet material P that has passed through is adjusted in the traveling direction when passing between the guide members 35 and 36, and is guided to the nip portion formed by the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23.

Therefore, the sheet material P is sandwiched between the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 from the front end side, and is positively driven over its entire length, and finally,
It is discharged from the discharge port 16h. However, during this period, the sheet material P is not sandwiched uniformly in the entire width direction, but is fed while being strongly pressed only at both ends in the width direction. This is because the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 are divided and arranged in the width direction of the sheet material P, and the urging force by the pinch roller 23 that presses the sheet material P against the discharge roller 33 is applied only to both ends of the sheet material P. It's all about focusing on. Therefore, the sheet material P to be fed
Is a double-folded edge portion E ₁ such as an envelope or a binding margin E ₂ that can be opened and closed, the edge portion E ₁
Can be more reliably folded and the binding margin E ₂ can be prevented from rising. Also, the air inside the envelope is
It is naturally discharged by perfecting the folding of the edge E ₁ . That is, the envelope or the like can be brought into a state extremely close to the sheet material P of one sheet and fed into the manual sheet feeding port H of the image forming apparatus M ₂ , whereby the sheet material P is
It is possible to prevent the occurrence of a jam in the image forming apparatus M ₂ that receives

In the above embodiment, the positive rotors 30, 32, 3 are used.
Although the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 are selected from 3 and the biasing rotating bodies 22 and 23 and both of them are divided and arranged, only one of the selected ones may be divided and arranged. An equivalent effect is obtained. Further, not limited to the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23, it is possible to freely select other ones.

FIG. 4 shows the separating roller 22 and the feeding belt 30.
An example in which and are selected and the separation roller 22 is divided and arranged is shown.
The feeding belts 30 are originally arranged side by side in a state of being divided, and the separation rollers 22 are divided and arranged corresponding to the outer feeding belts 30 located at both ends of the sheet material P in the width direction. There is. On the other hand, the discharge roller 33 and the pinch roller 23 are arranged inside the sheet material P so as to sandwich the sheet material P in a balanced manner.
The feeding roller 32 is omitted. Separation roller 22
The shaft 3A for use is biased toward the feeding belt 30, and the edge portions E ₁ on both sides of the fed sheet material P are sandwiched by the feeding belt 30 and the separation roller 22 over the entire length thereof. Can be compressed and the fold of the edge E ₁ can be completed.

In the above embodiment, the positive rotating body 3
Although one pair is selected from 0, 32, 33 and the biasing rotating bodies 22, 23, two pairs may be selected. Further, depending on the type of the sheet material feeding device M ₁ , it is possible to select two or more pairs if there are more positive rotating bodies and biasing rotating bodies. Further, a sheet material feeding device M of a type in which the stacked uppermost sheet materials P are sequentially fed.
Even if it is ₁ , it is applicable as long as the sheet material feeding path R ₁ is formed by the positive rotating bodies 30, 32, 33 and the biasing rotating bodies 22, 23. Feeding belt 30
The same applies to a device provided with a conveyance roller instead of.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention, at least one pair is selected from a plurality of positive rotating bodies and biasing rotating bodies arranged facing the sheet material feeding path,
By dividing and arranging at least one of them at both ends in the width direction of the sheet material, and sandwiching the sheet material with the other remaining material to feed the sheet material, it is possible to partially strongly press the edge portions on both sides of the sheet material. For example, when feeding an envelope as a sheet material, make the folding of the envelope more complete and feed it to the image forming apparatus as the main body in a state very close to a sheet As a result, it is possible to extremely effectively prevent the occurrence of jams on the image forming apparatus side, defective printing accuracy, and wrinkles during image fixing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of an entire sheet material feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view showing a positive rotating body and a biasing rotating body.

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 3 showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

22 Energizing Rotating Body (Separating Roller) 23 Energizing Rotating Body (Pinch Roller) 30 Positive Rotating Body (Feeding Belt) 32 Positive Rotating Body (Feeding Roller) 33 Positive Rotating Body (Discharging Roller) P Sheet Material R ₁ Sheet Material feeding route

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A sheet material feeding path is provided on one surface side,
A plurality of positive rotating bodies that frictionally drive the sheet material in the feeding direction; and a plurality of biasing rotating bodies that are disposed on the other surface side of the sheet material feeding path and press the sheet material against the positive rotating body. A sheet material feeding device for feeding the sheet material according to the sheet material feeding path by the biasing rotating body and the positive rotating body, wherein at least one selected from the positive rotating body and the biasing rotating body At least one of a pair of positive rotating body and biasing rotating body is divided and arranged at both ends in the width direction of the sheet material, and both ends of the sheet material are partially strongly pressed by the pair of rotating bodies. Sheet material feeding device.