JPH0517056A - Roll paper cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the deformation of a roll paper due to the intrusion of the outside air from the paper feeding port of a paper feeding cassette and protect the top edge of the roll paper, as for the roll paper cassette. CONSTITUTION:Sending-out rollers 6 and 7 insalled inside a paper feeding cassette 3 are arranged in contact with each other so as to close a paper feeding port 3a, and nip a roll paper 4. When a roll paper cassette is inserted into a body, the pinion 8 of the sending-out roller 7 is meshed with a rack 9 on the body side and revolves normally, and the roll paper 4 is driven out from the paper feeding port 3a by the sending-out rolls 6 and 7. On the contrary, when the roll paper cassette is pulled out from the body, the pinion 8 is reversely revolved by the rack 9, and the sending-out rollers 6 and 7 retract the roll paper 4 inside the paper feeding port 3a.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roll paper cassette, and more particularly to a roll paper cassette for supplying roll paper to an image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a detachable roll paper cassette for supplying roll paper to an image forming apparatus is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is one described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-6534. This type of roll paper cassette has holes and cutouts for the feed roller near the roll paper feed port, and when the roll paper is no longer pinched by the feed roller, the leading edge of the roll paper is pulled inside the cassette. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the tip end of the roll paper from being deformed or soiled.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional roll paper cassette, although the leading end portion of the roll paper is protected, the roll paper cassette has a feed port and a feeding roller for feeding the roll paper. Outside air enters through holes, etc.,
There is a problem that the roll paper is easily deformed due to humidity and the like. As a result, defective copying such as wrinkles and missing images occurs.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a roll paper cassette capable of preventing outside air from entering the paper feed cassette from a paper feed port or the like and protecting the leading edge of the roll paper.

[0005]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A roll paper cassette in which a paper feed cassette is removably attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus and roll-shaped paper stored in the paper feed cassette is supplied to the main body side through a paper feed port. The feeding roller pair that holds and conveys the roll paper near the paper feed port is arranged so as to close the paper feed port, and when the paper feed cassette is mounted on the main body,
The feeding roller pair is rotated forward to feed the leading edge of the roll paper from the paper feed port, and when the paper feeding cassette is removed from the main body, the feeding roller pair is rotated in the reverse direction so that the leading end of the roll paper is placed inside the paper feeding port. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the paper feed port is sealed by an elastic member that can be opened and closed.

[0006]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the feeding roller pair is arranged inside the paper feeding cassette so as to close the paper feeding port, and when the paper feeding cassette is mounted on the main body, the feeding roller pair rotates forward. And send out the end of the roll paper,
Roll paper is supplied to the main body. When the paper feed cassette is removed from the main body, the feeding roller pair rotates in the reverse direction to pull the leading end of the roll paper into the paper feed opening. For this reason, it becomes difficult for the outside air to enter the inside from the paper feed port of the paper feed cassette, and the deformation of the roll paper due to humidity and the like is prevented,
Since the leading edge of the roll paper is pulled into the paper feed cassette when the paper feed cassette is removed, the roll paper is protected.

According to the second aspect of the invention, by further sealing the paper feed port of the paper feed cassette with the elastic member that can be opened and closed, the outside air is prevented from entering the paper feed cassette, and the roll paper The deformation can be prevented more reliably.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the entire copying machine equipped with the roll paper cassette of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of the roll paper cassette according to the present invention. .

First, the structure will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the roll paper cassette according to the present embodiment has a plurality of paper feed trays 1 detachably attached to a paper feed section of a copying machine, and roll papers 4 stored therein. Is rotatably supported by the spool 5. The leading end of the roll paper 4 is fed while being sandwiched by the feed rollers 6 and 7, and the roll paper 4 is supplied to the main body of the copying machine to perform the copying operation. Cutters 11 and 12 are roll paper 4
Is separated by a predetermined length. Since the image forming mechanism of the copying machine is the same as the conventional one, the description of its configuration and operation is omitted.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the roll paper cassette according to the present embodiment. The roll paper 4 is housed inside the paper feed cassette 3, and the paper feed cassette 3 is the paper feed tray 1.
Are placed on top of. The paper feed tray 1 can be attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body by moving the paper feed tray 1 in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing by the handle 2. Paper cassette 3
In the vicinity of the sheet feeding port 3a inside, the feeding rollers 6 and 7 are rotatably arranged so as to cover the sheet feeding port 3a.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the portion indicated by the one-dot chain line circle A in FIG. That is, when this is seen in detail in FIG.
The delivery rollers 6 and 7 that sandwich and feed the roll paper 4 are disposed in contact with each other at the center of the paper feed port 3a, and a pinion 8 having the same rotation axis is fixed to the delivery roller 7. 4A to 4D are cross-sectional views showing the structure and operation of the roll paper 4 feeding mechanism. Figure 4
As shown in (a), a rack 9 is fixed to the main body of the copying machine so that the pinion 8 of the feeding roller 7 meshes with the roll paper cassette when it is mounted. And FIG.
Feeding rollers 6 and 7 in the process from (a) to (c)
Since the pinion 8 rotates in the rack 9, the roll paper 4 is fed out from the paper feed port 3a to receive the rotational force and is supplied to the main body side. In FIG. 4D, the pinion 8 is disengaged from the rack 9 and meshes with a drive gear 10 for conveying the roll paper 4 to the main body side. The cutters 11 and 12 cut the roll paper 4 at appropriate places by mutual action.

FIGS. 5 to 6 are views showing an embodiment of the roll paper cassette according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a rubber sheet 13, which is an elastic member, is supported in a cantilever manner at the paper feed port 3a of the paper feed cassette 3. And
As shown in FIGS. 6A to 6C, when the leading end of the roll paper 4 is fed from the paper feed port 3a, the rubber sheet 13
Bends to open the paper feed port 3a, and supplies the roll paper 4 to the main body. Conversely, when the roll paper 4 is pulled in from the paper feed port 3a, the bending of the rubber sheet 13 returns to seal the paper feed port 3a.

Next, the operation will be described. When the roll paper cassette is attached to or detached from the main body of the copying machine shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed tray 1 is moved in the horizontal direction (in the direction of the arrow in the figure) while holding the handle 2 shown in FIG. Then, the pinion 8 of the feeding roller 7 shown in FIG. 3 meshes with the rack 9 provided on the main body side shown in each of FIGS. 4A and 4B to rotate, and the feeding operation and the drawing operation of the roll paper 4 are performed.

That is, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the roll paper cassette is inserted into the apparatus main body from the left side of the drawing, as shown in FIG. 4B, the pinion 8 becomes the rack 9. The feeding roller 7 and the feeding roller 6 mesh with each other and rotate in the arrow direction. By the rotation of the feeding rollers 6 and 7, the leading end of the roll paper 4 nipped between them is sequentially fed to the right and reaches the cutters 11 and 12 fixedly arranged on the main body side (FIG. 4C). . Then, when the roll paper cassette is inserted further into the interior, the pinion 8 disengages from the rack 9 and meshes with the drive gear 10 to stop (FIG. 4 (d)). This is the state in which the roll paper cassette is completely installed in the copier body.

On the contrary, when the roll paper cassette is to be removed from the apparatus main body, FIG. 4 (d) to (c) → (b) →
The operation in the order of (a) is the reverse of that when the roll paper cassette is mounted. That is, as shown in FIG. 4B, when the roll paper cassette is slowly pulled out to the left in the figure, the pinion 8 of the feeding roller 7 separates from the drive gear 10, and
As shown in (c), the pinion 8 meshes with the rack 9, the feeding rollers 6 and 7 rotate in the direction opposite to the arrow in the figure, and the leading end of the roll paper 4 cut by the cutters 11 and 12 is As shown in FIGS. 4B and 4A, the paper is pulled into the paper feed opening 3a.

Therefore, when the paper feed tray 1 is pulled out from the main body of the copying machine shown in FIG. 1, the leading end of the roll paper 4 is protected in the vicinity of the paper feed port 3a of the paper feed cassette 3 as well as in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, since the feeding rollers 6 and 7 are arranged so as to close the paper feed port 3a, the outside air hardly enters from the paper feed port 3a, and the roll paper 4 is prevented from being deformed by moisture or the like. You can

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the paper feed port 3
When a is sealed by the rubber sheet 13, as shown in FIG. 6C, in addition to the above operation, when the tip of the roll paper 4 is fed out, the rubber sheet 13 is pressed by the pressure of the roll paper 4. Is pressed and the roll paper 4
Can be paid out. Conversely, roll paper 4 into paper feed port 3
When pulled in from a, the roll paper 4 is fed by the action of the feeding rollers 6 and 7 from the opening of the rubber sheet 13 described above.
When the leading edge of the roll paper 4 enters the inside of the rubber sheet 13 (see FIG. 6 (b)), the rubber sheet 13 moves to the original position for sealing the paper feeding port 3a. Since the inside of the paper feed cassette 3 is reliably sealed back, the outside air does not enter the paper feed cassette 3, and the roll paper 4 can be reliably protected from the humidity of the outside air and the occurrence of deformation can be prevented. .

[0018]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the feeding roller pair is arranged inside the paper feeding cassette so as to close the paper feeding port, and the feeding roller is rotated forward when the paper feeding cassette is mounted on the main body. When the front end of the roll paper is fed out to supply the roll paper to the main body side, and conversely when the paper feed cassette is pulled out from the main body, the feed roller is reversely rotated and the roll paper is drawn into the paper feed port. As a result, the leading end of the roll paper can be protected, the feeding roller can prevent the outside air from entering the paper feed cassette, and the roll paper can be prevented from being deformed by moisture or the like. Therefore, it becomes possible to form a good image on the roll paper.

According to the second aspect of the invention, since the elastic member is arranged so as to be openable and closable at the paper feed port, the outside air is prevented from entering the paper feed cassette from the paper feed port, and the roll paper is more reliably fed. High quality image formation can be performed by protecting the sheet from the humidity of the outside air.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an entire copying machine to which a roll paper cassette of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a roll paper cassette according to the invention of claim 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion A of FIG.

4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a configuration and an operation when the roll paper cassette of FIG. 3 is attached to and detached from a main body side, FIG. 4A is a diagram before mounting, FIG. 4B is a diagram when mounting is started, and FIG. Is the figure during installation,
(D) is a diagram at the end of mounting.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an embodiment of a roll paper cassette according to the invention of claim 2.

6A and 6B are diagrams illustrating a configuration and an operation when the roll paper cassette of FIG. 5 is attached to and detached from a main body side, FIG. 6A is a diagram before mounting, FIG. 6B is a diagram when mounting is started, and FIG. Is the figure during installation,
(D) is a diagram at the end of mounting.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Paper tray 2 handles 3 paper cassettes 3a Paper feed port 4 roll paper 6, 7 Feed roller 8 pinion 9 racks 13 Rubber sheet (elastic member)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A roll paper cassette in which a paper feed cassette is detachably provided in a main body of an image forming apparatus, and a roll of paper stored in the paper feed cassette is supplied to a main body side through a paper feed port. A pair of feeding rollers for sandwiching and transporting the roll paper is arranged near the sheet feeding port inside the sheet feeding cassette so as to cover the sheet feeding port, and when the sheet feeding cassette is mounted on the main body, the feeding roller pair is properly moved. It is configured to rotate and feed the front end of the roll paper from the paper feed port, and when the paper feed cassette is detached from the main body, the feed roller pair is reversely rotated to draw the front end of the roll paper into the paper feed port. Roll paper cassette featuring. 2. The roll paper cassette according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed port is sealed by an elastic member that can be opened and closed.