JPH05204207A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically and consecutively feed a sheet document to an image forming part, to facilitate processing operation when document jamming occurs and to make a feeder inexpensive and small in size by orderly performing paper separating and feeding operation to plural stack of document previously set. CONSTITUTION:The 1st stack of document 4 placed in parallel on a document platen 2 is fed by feed rollers 9, separated by a separation roller 10 and a separation belt 11, fed to a contact glass 3 through a pull-out roller 12, and selectively ejected on an ejection stacker 15 or the document platen 2 by the actions of a reversing roller 16, an intermediate roller 17, an upper paper ejecting roller 18 or a lower paper ejecting roller 19, a reversing deflecting pawl 20, and a paper ejecting deflecting pawl 21. Next, after finishing the feed of the 1st bundle of document 4, and 2nd bundle of document 5 on the document platen 2 is moved in a direction shown by arrow A by an end fence 22, and guided by a side guide 8, then the document is consecutively fed to an image forming part 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder, and more particularly, to set a document bundle on a document feeder capable of mounting a plurality of document bundles on a document table and to feed a sheet document for each document bundle. The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder that separates sheets one by one and continuously supplies them to an image forming unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automatic document feeders carry stacked sheets of documents or the like one by one to a predetermined position on a contact glass of a copying machine or the like, perform a copying operation, and then place them on a discharge tray. Had been discharged. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-152
The document feeder described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 879/1987 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-222939 has two document plates on which the documents to be supplied are stacked, and each document plate separates the stacked documents one by one. A separate sheet feeding unit for feeding sheets was provided. For this reason, for example, it is possible to set two different types of document bundles on each document table and perform continuous and automatic supply processing, or increase the number of documents that can be set at one time.

Further, in the document feeding apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-82249, a plurality of document stands on which documents are stacked are movably arranged in the vertical direction, and are placed at the document feeding port of the document feeding section. The manuscript tables on which desired manuscripts are placed are moved, and the manuscripts stacked on each manuscript table are supplied to the manuscript sheet feeding section one by one. As described above, one original feeding unit is used to continuously supply originals placed on a plurality of movable originals in a desired order.

Further, the document feeding device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-1642 shows the feeding state of each document by partitioning each set of document bundles placed on the document table by a partitioning means. While detecting, a plurality of document bundles stacked on the document table are separated and supplied one by one.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional automatic document feeder, the Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-1 is used.
As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 52879/1987 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 622939/1987, separate sheet feeding means are provided for each of a plurality of original plates, which causes a problem of increasing cost and increasing the size. there were.

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-82249, since a plurality of document stands can be moved with respect to one document feeding section, a plurality of document bundles can be arranged in a desired order. It can be supplied continuously, and the cost can be reduced. However, in the case of this conventional example, since a plurality of document trays are moved in the vertical direction, a space is required for moving the document trays from the home position in the vertical direction, which causes a problem that the apparatus becomes large. It was

Further, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-1642, when the partition means is used, the latter document stack is sequentially set on the former document stack via a partition plate. Therefore, there has been a problem that the thickness of the document to be stacked increases and a non-feed jam occurs when the document feeding unit exceeds the sheet feeding capacity. Moreover, for example, when the former document is jammed, it is necessary to set the jammed document again, but since the latter document is placed on it,
There was a problem that it was an obstacle and difficult to work.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and a sheet feeding operation is automatically performed continuously on an image forming unit by sequentially performing a separate sheet feeding operation on a plurality of document sheets set in advance. An object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive and compact automatic document feeder, which can easily supply a document and perform a processing operation when a document is jammed.

[0009]

The invention according to claim 1 is
An original feeding unit that separates sheet originals one by one from an original stack set at an original feeding position and feeds the sheets to an image forming unit; and an original feeding unit provided on the image forming unit and fed by the original feeding unit. A document stacking means capable of mounting a plurality of document stacks in parallel in the sheet document feed direction, and a side movable in the width direction of the document stack at both side positions of each document stack placed on the document stacking means. A guide is provided, and both sides of each document stack are held by the side guides to hold the positions, and at least one of the side guides provided on the document feeding means side can automatically adjust the guide width. The document stack guide means and an end fence arranged in the direction orthogonal to the side guides and located on the back surface of the second and subsequent document stacks mounted on the document stacking means to the document feeding means side. Move it,
An original bundle moving means for setting the placed original bundle at the original feeding position, and after the original bundle set at the original feeding position of the original placing means is separated and fed, it is placed at the second or later position. The document stack is continuously moved to the document feeding position by the end fence, and the sheet document is continuously supplied to the image forming unit while being guided by the side guide. According to the invention, a side guide provided on the side of the document feeding means for automatically adjusting a guide width is provided after a bundle of documents sandwiched by the side guide is completely fed.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the end fence is used to move the next document bundle to the document feeding position, and then the side guide is operated to adjust the guide width. According to the invention, the document placing means has two
5. The invention according to claim 4, further comprising a document size detection sensor for detecting the size of the document when the bundle of documents placed after the th is moved to the document feeding position by the end fence. 6. The sheet according to claim 5, wherein the side guide is operated to adjust the guide width based on the document size information detected by the document size detection sensor. For a small document stack that allows multiple document stacks to be placed side by side in the document feed direction, ejects to a document stacker other than the document stacker, and for a large document stack that cannot be loaded in parallel. Is discharged onto the document table of the document placing means.

[0010]

According to the present invention, a plurality of document bundles are placed in parallel on the image forming section of a copying machine or the like, and the document bundles are sequentially moved to the document feeding position on the document feeding means side by the end fence. On the other hand, the side guides hold the positions to separate the original bundle one by one, and the separated sheet originals are supplied to the image forming unit. Therefore, the document table on which a plurality of document bundles are placed in advance is accommodated on the image forming unit, the apparatus can be downsized, and only one document feeding means is required, and the document bundles are moved by using an end fence. By using a simple structure in which the document table is moved horizontally in a horizontal direction, the cost can be reduced. Also, at least the side guides on the side of the document feeding means can automatically adjust the guide width, so even if a stack of documents of different sizes is placed side by side, the side guides can be moved to an appropriate position according to each document width. However, the sheet document supply operation can be continuously performed. Furthermore, since the original bundles do not overlap each other as in the conventional example, the jam clearance operation can be easily performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the side guide provided on the document feeding means and capable of automatically adjusting the guide width is
After stacking the stack of documents at the document feed position, temporarily open the stack to the maximum width, move the next stack of documents with the end fence, and then adjust the guide width. Even in this case, when the document bundle is moved to the destination side guide, the document can be smoothly and automatically supplied without being caught.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the document size detection sensor for detecting the document size of the document stack when the document size is moved to the document feeding position is provided, the document size can be known before the paper feeding operation. It is possible to quickly process the first original of each original bundle. According to the invention described in claim 4, the guide width of the side guide is adjusted based on the document size information by the document size detection sensor, so that the plurality of document bundles are reliably guided and sequentially conveyed, and the document is conveyed. Can be continuously supplied.

In a fifth aspect of the present invention, a small-sized original document in which a plurality of original document bundles can be placed in parallel on the original document placing means is processed in the image forming section and then discharged to the original document discharge stacker side.
Large-sized originals that cannot be placed side by side are returned to the original table after processing and discharged, so that the discharge stacker that is suitable for each original size can be selected appropriately and the discharge processing operation can be performed smoothly. ..

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the configuration will be described. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of an automatic document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 6 is a plan view for explaining the operation of the side guides on the document table.

In the figure, 1 is an image forming section which is an image forming section, 2 is a document stand provided above the image forming section 1, and 3
Is a contact glass for taking in the original image in the image forming unit 1, and 4, 5 are the first original bundle 4 placed on the original table 2.
And second document bundles 5 and 6 are stoppers that serve as abutting for setting the document bundle at the document supply position, 7 is a first document set sensor that detects that the first document bundle 4 has been set, and 8
Is a side guide that guides the side surface of the first document stack 4, 9 is a calling roller that calls the lowest sheet document of the document stack set at the document supply position, and 10 and 11 separate the stacked document stacks one by one. Separation roller 10 and separation belt 11 to feed
Is. Reference numeral 12 is a pull-out roller 12 that conveys the separated sheet originals, 12a is a driven roller placed in contact with the pull-out roller 12, 13 is a registration sensor for detecting the original size, and 14 is a sheet original on the contact glass 3. Conveying belt for conveying, 15 is a discharge stacker for discharging sheet originals after copying operation, 16 is a sheet roller for sending sheet originals when reversing or discharging originals, and reversing rollers 16, 17, 18 and 19 are discharged originals passing through the reversing roller 16. Intermediate roller 1 that transports and discharges each direction
7, upper discharge roller 18 and lower discharge roller 19. Reference numerals 20 and 21 denote reversing deflecting claws 20 and ejecting deflecting claws 21 and 22 for controlling the conveyance direction of the originals, and are used for moving the second original bundle 5 to the original supply position by contacting the rear surface of the second original bundle 5. An end fence, 23 is a second document set sensor that detects whether the second document stack 5 is set, 24 is a side guide that guides the side surface of the second document stack 5, and 25 is a motor that drives the side guide 8. 26 is a gear train that adjusts the rotation speed of the motor 25; 27 is a pulley that rotates the wire 28 while receiving the rotation of the gear train 26; 29 is a connecting shaft that connects the side guide 8 and the wire 28; Is a home position sensor that detects the position where the side guide 8 is open to the maximum width, 31 is an end fence moving belt for moving the end fence 22 in the feeding direction of the document stack, and 32 is a predetermined end fence 22. Are you back to the waiting position? An end fence sensor for detecting whether or not a document size detection sensor 33 detects a size of a moving document stack disposed in the lower center of the document table 2.
Is a stacker sensor for detecting the presence / absence of documents in the discharge stacker 15, and 35 is a document stack sensor for detecting the leading end position of the document stack at the tip of the stopper 6.

Next, the operation will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a document table 2 is provided on the upper surface of the automatic document feeder mounted on the image forming unit 1, and sheet documents are sequentially supplied onto the contact glass 3 of the image forming unit 1. Then, the copying operation is performed for each required number of sheets. In this embodiment, a first original bundle 4 and a second original bundle 5 on which sheet originals are stacked are placed in parallel on the original table 2 in the original supply direction.

First, as shown in FIG. 1, in the paper feeding preparation operation for feeding the first original bundle 4, the first original bundle 4 is placed in a state where the front end of the first original bundle 4 is abutted against the stopper 6. set. Next, the first original document setting sensor 7 detects whether or not the first original document bundle 4 is set. The first bundle of documents 4 is positioned in the width direction by manual operation so that the side guides 8 provided on both sides of the first bundle of documents 4 in the depth direction of FIG. ..

Next, when the print switch of the operation panel (not shown) is depressed, the first original bundle 4 is brought into contact with the calling roller 9
Is rotated so that the lowest document is conveyed. Even if two or more fed originals are fed in an overlapping manner (double feed), they are separated one by one by the action of the separation roller 10 and the separation belt 11, and after being inverted, the sheet original is contacted by the pull-out roller 12 to the contact glass. 3 to a predetermined position. Specifically, the separation belt 11 is pulled by the force of a spring (not shown) and is in contact with the separation roller 10. Then, at the same time that the separation roller 10 is rotated in the normal direction by a paper feed motor (not shown), and at the same time, the separation motor (not shown) is turned on at an interval of 50 ms to rotate the separation belt 11 in the reverse direction, thereby reliably separating the overlapped sheet originals. ..

At this time, the rotation time of the driven roller 12a pressed against the pull-out roller 12 is detected by the pulse generator as the length of the original in the registration sensor 13 provided during the conveyance, and the depth of the registration sensor is detected. There is a document width detection sensor for detecting the document width in the direction, and the document size (length, width) of the conveyed sheet document can be detected.

Then, the sheet original fed at a predetermined position on the contact glass 3 is copied by the image forming section 1 by a desired number of sheets, and then the conveying belt 14 is rotated to discharge the sheet. .. The paper discharge unit for the copied sheet original can selectively discharge paper from two discharge directions shown by arrows B and C in FIG. The sheet document discharged from B is placed on the document table 2, and the sheet document discharged from C is placed on the discharge stacker 15. The mechanism for selecting these two discharge units 2 and 15 is to reverse the sheet original carried out from the contact glass 3 by the conveyor belt 14 with the reversing roller 16, the intermediate roller 17, the upper paper discharging roller 18 or the lower paper discharging roller 19. The reversing deflecting claw 20 provided on the conveying path in the middle of conveyance is fixed to the position indicated by the solid line, and the conveying belt 21 is indicated by the solid line position (discharged in the direction of arrow B) or the broken line position (arrow C
However, the mechanism is not limited to this.

In the present embodiment, the original stacks 4 and 5 to be placed on the original table 2 are arranged by using the mechanism for selecting the discharge sections 2 and 15 described above.
Is shorter than the length in the lateral direction of the A4 plate and the size of at least two document stacks is such that they can be placed side by side, the first stack of first documents 4 is first ejected from the stacker in the direction of arrow C. By ejecting the second bundle of documents 5 onto the document table 2 in the direction of arrow B, the paper can be fed and ejected separately for each bundle of documents.

Further, in the case of a large-sized document stack such that the document stacks overlap each other on the document table 2, for example, in the case of the A3 size, the document is always discharged to the document table 2 side (arrow B side). It is possible to secure a discharge unit according to the document size. In this way, the reversing deflection pawl 20 and the paper ejection deflection pawl 21
The registration sensor 13 detects the document size that serves as a reference when selecting the paper ejection direction by controlling the paper ejection direction, and the paper ejection units 2 and 15 may be selected based on the detection result.

Next, after the feeding operation of the first original bundle 4 is completed, the feeding operation of the second original bundle 5 is subsequently performed. That is, on the document table 2, together with the first document bundle 4 in FIG.
The second bundle of documents 5 shown in FIG. 2 is placed in parallel at a predetermined position where it hits the end fence 22. Whether or not the second original stack 5 is set is detected by the second original set sensor 23. Positioning of the second document stack 5 in the width direction is performed by moving the side guide 24 by a manual operation.
Then, as described above, the first stack of originals 4 is sequentially fed, and then the discharge stacker 15 is selected and discharged. Further, since the completion of the feeding operation of the first document bundle 4 can be detected by the first document set sensor 7, the side guide 8 is widened to the maximum width after the end detection of the first document bundle 4. As shown in FIG. 2, the side guide 8 rotates a pulley 27 and a wire 28 in a predetermined direction by a motor 25 via a gear train 26, and the side shaft 8 is provided at each connecting shaft 29 portion provided on the wire 28. Since it is connected to the guide 8, depending on the rotation direction of the wire 28 and its rotation amount, as shown in FIG.
It can be appropriately moved in the direction of arrow D, which is the direction of adjusting the guide width. As shown in FIG. 2, after the feeding of the first bundle of originals 4 is completed, the home position sensor 30 causes the side guide 8 to move.
Rotate the motor 25 until it detects the side guide 8
Is the maximum width of the home position position (dashed line position)
Spread and stop.

Next, after the side guide 8 is widened to the maximum width, a motor (not shown) is rotated to rotationally drive the end fence moving belt 31, and the end fence 22 is moved in the direction of arrow A in the figure. , The second stack of documents 5 to the stopper 6
Transport it to the position where it hits against. End fence 22
After the front end of the second original stack 5 is detected by the first original set sensor 7, a predetermined amount is moved to the stopper 6 and stopped at the position of the end fence 22a (see FIG. 1). afterwards,
Move the end fence 22 in the opposite direction of arrow A,
Return to the original solid line position and stop. This stop position is detected by the end fence sensor 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a document size detecting sensor 33 for detecting the document size is arranged near the center of the document table 2, and the document size of the second document stack 5 is detected. It can be detected while moving by the end fence 22. As shown in FIG. 2, two document size detection sensors 33 are arranged in the width direction of the document, and the document width is detected by the position of the sensor that is blocked, and the length of the document is detected by the blocking time. can do.

As described above, after the second bundle of documents 5 is moved to the document feeding position, the side guide 8 at the home position shown in FIG.
The side guides 8 are reliably guided by the side guides 8 by rotating the motor 25 and moving the side guides 8 by a predetermined amount based on the document size information (document width information) detected by the side guides 8. You can

Even when the original size detecting sensor 33 is not provided, since the original size information is obtained by the registration sensor 13 after feeding the first sheet, the side size is determined based on the size information. The guide width of the guide 8 may be adjusted. In this way, after the sheet feeding operation of the second document stack 5 is sequentially performed and the copying operation is completed in the image forming unit 1, the sheet document is sent in the direction of arrow B and is discharged onto the document table 2. Further, a scatter sensor 34 provided below the discharge stacker 15 detects the presence or absence of a sheet document in the discharge stacker 15, and when there is no document on the discharge stacker 15, the sheet document is discharged from the direction of arrow C in the stacker 15
May be discharged on top.

In another embodiment, when the first document set sensor 7 detects the setting of the first document bundle 4 and then the print switch of the main body operation unit (not shown) is depressed,
The stopper 6 escapes to the position shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. next,
The end fence 22 rotates the end fence moving belt 31 and operates it in the direction of arrow A, pushes out the rear end portion of the first document bundle 4 to move the first document bundle 4 to the position indicated by an alternate long and short dash line, and the document bundle sensor 35 After detecting the leading edge of the bundle of documents, the end fence 22 is moved in the direction opposite to the arrow A and returned to the original position indicated by the solid line. Then, the stopper 6 turns off the solenoid drive frame that has lifted the stopper 6 so that the stopper 6 returns to the solid line position shown in FIG. As a result, the stopper 6 is in a state of pressing the first document bundle 4 from above. In this way, by pressing the leading end of the first original bundle 4 from above with the stopper 6, even a curled original in which the leading end of the first original bundle 4 is curled hits the stopper 6 and is not fed. It is possible to reliably feed sheet originals one by one.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the structure of an automatic document feeder according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 3b
Is a reverse conveyance path, 37 is a switchback sensor, and 38 is a reverse detection sensor. The difference from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is that the structure of the document discharge unit when discharging the sheet document fed to the contact glass 3 of the image forming unit 1 to the discharge stacker 15 is changed to the outside of the document table 2. The sheet is discharged to the discharge stacker 15 provided. That is, in the document discharge section of FIG. 3, when the sheet document on the contact glass 3 is discharged by the conveyor belt 14, the reversing deflection claw 20 is set to the solid line position, and the sheet discharge deflection claw 21 is set to the broken line position. Intermediate roller 17
After the upper sheet discharge roller 18 is rotated to feed the one-side sheet document to the reverse conveyance path 36, the trailing edge of the sheet document is detected by the document sensor 37, and the sheet discharge deflection claw 21 is returned to the solid line position. The upper discharge roller 18 is reversed, and the arrow C is passed through the intermediate roller 17.
The sheet document is discharged to the discharge stacker 15 in the direction. As described above, the sheet document is switched back to the original position when the position of the discharge stacker 15 is opposite to that shown in FIG. This is because With this configuration, the discharge stacker 15 does not overlap the document table 2 and the second document stack 5 can be easily set.

The reversal detection sensor 38 provided in the vicinity of the reversing roller 16 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 is used when reversing a sheet original when a double-sided original is used. That is,
For double-sided originals, use the reverse deflection tab to align the pages.
After moving 20 to the position of the broken line, the conveyor belt 14 and the reversing roller 16 are rotated from above the contact glass 3 by the reversing deflection claw 20, and when passing the reversal detection sensor 38, the conveyor belt 14 is rotated reversely. The back side of the sheet document is turned to a predetermined position on the contact glass 3 for copying. next,
After the sheet document is inverted again to copy the front side by the same operation as described above, the sheet discharging operation is performed in the same manner as the one-sided document.

As described above, the automatic document feeder according to the present embodiment makes a copy while feeding a sheet document one by one to the image forming unit of the copying machine 1 while sequentially moving a plurality of document bundles. The operation can be performed continuously. For this reason, even if the former person is using the copying machine, if he / she sets his or her original to be copied at the position of the second original bundle 5 on the original table 2,
Even if the automatic document feeder is away, the copying process is automatically performed continuously, so that the time can be effectively used.

Further, when the amount of originals to be copied is large, if a large number of originals are automatically fed at one time and copied by dispersing them into a plurality of bundles and placing them in parallel on the original table 2. .. Further, in the automatic document feeder of the present embodiment, the document table 2 and the discharge stacker 15 are provided on the image forming section 1 and the bundle of documents to be supplied is placed on the document table 2 in parallel. In addition to facilitating the setting of the sheet and taking out the discharged original, the structure of the apparatus is simplified, the jam clearance operation can be performed easily, and the size can be reduced.

[0033]

According to the first aspect of the invention, a plurality of document bundles are placed in parallel on the document table, and the document bundles are moved one by one while the document bundles are moved to the document feeding position by the end fence. Since the sheets are separated and fed, the apparatus can be downsized, and only one document feeding unit is required, and the simple structure in which the document stack is horizontally moved by the end fence can reduce the cost, and the jam clearance operation can be easily performed. It can be carried out. Further, at least the side guides on the side of the document feeding means can automatically adjust the guide width, so that even if a plurality of document bundles of different sizes are placed, they are continuously guided while being guided to an appropriate position according to the document width. Sheet originals can be fed to.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the side guides on the document feeding side open the bundle of documents at the document feeding position to the maximum width after the feeding of the document bundle and finish the next document bundle by the end fence. Since the guide width is adjusted after the document is moved, even if document bundles with different document widths are placed in parallel, the document bundle will not get caught on the side guide during movement, and automatic feeding processing can be performed sequentially. it can.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the document bundle is moved to the document feeding position, the document size of the bundle is detected by the document size detection sensor. As a result, the first original document of each original bundle can be processed quickly. According to the invention described in claim 4, since the guide width of the side guide is adjusted based on the document size information by the document size detection sensor, even if a plurality of document bundles having different sizes are adjusted to the document width. It is possible to continuously and reliably supply sheet originals while sequentially holding the side guides.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in the case of a small-sized document in which a plurality of document bundles can be placed in parallel on the document table,
Documents are ejected to the stacker side, and if they are large-sized documents that cannot be placed side by side, they are ejected on the document table. Therefore, select the stacker suitable for each document size for each stack of documents, and then discharge. Processing can be performed appropriately.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of an automatic document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the operation of a side guide on the document table of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a configuration of an automatic document feeder according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Forming Section (Copier) 2 Document Plate (Ejection Section) 3 Contact Glass 4 First Document Bundle 5 Second Document Bundle 8 Side Guide 14 Conveyor Belt 15 Ejection Stacker (Ejection) 22, 22a End Fence 24 Side Guide 25 Motor 26 Gear train 27 Pulley 28 Wire 29 Connection shaft 30 Home position sensor 33 Document size detection sensor

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An original feeding unit for separating sheet originals one by one from an original stack set at an original feeding position and feeding them to an image forming unit; and an original feeding unit provided on the image forming unit. Document placing means capable of placing a plurality of document bundles in parallel in the feeding direction of the sheet document fed by the means, and the width of the document bundle at the side surface positions of each document bundle placed on the document placing means. Side guides that are movable in a predetermined direction are sandwiched by the side guides to hold the positions of both sides of each document stack, and at least the side guides provided on the document feeding means side of the side guides have a guide width. A document stack guide means that is automatically adjustable, and an end fence that is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the side guides and that is located on the back surface of the second and subsequent document stacks mounted on the document mounting means. Move it to the paper feeding side and load it A document stack moving means for setting the collected document stack at the document feeding position, and the second and subsequent documents placed after the document bundle set at the document feeding position of the document placing means is separated and fed. An automatic document feeder, wherein a stack of documents is sequentially moved to a document feeding position by the end fence, and sheet documents are continuously fed to the image forming unit while being guided by the side guides. 2. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1, wherein the side guides provided on the side of the document feeding means for automatically adjusting a guide width feed a bundle of documents sandwiched by the side guides. After the paper is completed, once it is opened to the maximum width, the end fence moves the next document stack to the document feeding position, and then the side guide is operated to adjust the guide width. Document feeder. 3. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the document placing means moves the second and subsequent document bundles to the document feeding position by the end fence. An automatic document feeder, characterized in that a document size detection sensor for detecting the size of the document is arranged in the document. 4. The automatic document feeder according to claim 3, wherein the side guide is operated to adjust the guide width based on the document size information detected by the document size detection sensor. Automatic document feeder. 5. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1, wherein when a plurality of document bundles are arranged in parallel in the sheet document supply direction of the document placing means, the document stacking device is a small-sized document bundle. An automatic document feeder, characterized in that when a large-size document stack that cannot be placed in parallel is discharged to a document discharge stacker other than the setting section, it is discharged onto the document table of the document setting means. apparatus.