JPH05295B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device that also serves as a mounting table on which an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser printer, a liquid crystal printer, or a printing machine is placed.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in image forming devices such as copying machines,
A paper feed cassette containing sheets of copy paper, tracing paper, synthetic resin film, etc. is inserted into a sheet intake port of a copying machine, and the sheets in the cassette are taken in one by one by a take-in roller.

Since such paper feed cassettes are used by being attached and detached depending on the sheet size, they are required to be lightweight and compact. For this reason, the amount of sheets that can be stored at one time is limited, and depending on the sheet size, sheets must be replenished frequently, which is troublesome. Particularly when copying a large amount at once, sheets must be replenished frequently during the process.

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

However, since this sheet feeding device is attached by inserting the paper feeding section into the sheet intake port, the sheet feeding device protrudes from the copying machine, requiring a large installation space.

For this reason, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-90330, a part of the sheet feeding device is built into the mounting table on which the copying machine is placed, so that the amount of protrusion of the large-capacity sheet feeding device from the copying machine is reduced. It is being considered that

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, as the sheet size increases, the amount of protrusion from the copying machine also increases, and this is not a fundamental solution.

This invention allows sheets to be fed through the inlet of the image forming apparatus while accommodating a large capacity of sheets, and can be replaced with a regular cassette at any time, making it easy to deal with jams and paper feeding errors. The object of the present invention is to obtain a sheet feeding device having extremely few protruding parts to the outside.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with the intake port 47 of the case 2 on which the image forming device 7 is placed, which forms an image on a sheet taken in from the intake port 47 into which the cassette 9 is attached. A feeding means 15 has a feeding port 35 formed on the side thereof, and separates the sheets stacked in the storage section 13 provided in the case 2 into one sheet and sends them out from the feeding port 35 to the outside of the case 2. , 31, and 33, and a mounting portion 39 that can be attached and detached to the intake port 47 in place of the cassette 9, and a sheet fed out from the feeding port 35 by the feeding means 15, 31, and 33 is conveyed to the intake port 47. The unit 17 is provided with a conveying section 37 for transporting.

〔Example〕

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

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 7 including a sheet taking-in section 3 and an image forming apparatus 5 is positioned and placed on a case 2 of a sheet feeding apparatus 1 which also serves as a mounting table.

The sheet feeding device 1 has a multi-tiered cassette storage section 11 that stores a plurality of small-capacity paper feed cassettes 9 that store sheets of different sizes, a sheet storage section 13 that stores a large amount of sheets, and a sheet intake section. A feed-out roller 15 feeds out the sheet stored in the sheet storage portion 13 in a direction opposite to the direction in which the sheet is fed to the image forming portion 5, and a feed-out roller 15 inverts the sheet fed out by the feed-out roller 15 to the sheet intake portion 3. A reversing unit 17 is provided.

The sheet storage section 13 is provided with a hopper 19 that supports the sheet, and a lifting device 21 that moves the hopper 19 up and down. The lifting device 21 includes a roller 23 rotated by a drive device, and this roller 23.
and a hopper 19, and a roller 17 that supports this belt 25.

The feed roller 15 is configured to be rotated up and down by an arm 29. Feeding roller 15
A feeding roller 31 that feeds the sheet sent out by the sending out roller 15 and a separation roller 33 that rotates in the opposite direction to the feeding direction that rejects the sheet that follows the sent out sheet are provided in front of the 1. The separated sheets are sent out from a feeding port 35 provided on the side surface of the case 2 on the side of the sheet intake section 3.

Note that the feed roller 15 and the feed roller 31
and the separation roller 33 constitute a feeding means.

In place of the cassette 9, the reversing unit 17 has a removable attachment part 39 attached to an inlet 47 (to be described later), and the reversing unit 17 also has a removable attachment part 39 for replacing the cassette 9 with a sheet separated into one sheet by a feeding roller 31 and a separating roller 33 and sent out from the feeding opening 35. a conveying section 37 that conveys the
have.

The conveyance section 37 is provided with a supply section 41 and a plurality of rollers 43. Further, the mounting portion 39 is provided with a guide 45 .

On the other hand, the image forming apparatus 7 has the following configuration.

First, the sheet intake section 3 is provided with two intake ports 47 and 49. Intake port 4
The mounting 39 of the reversing unit 17 is inserted into 7,
The paper feed cassette 9 is inserted into the intake port 49,
Sheets are taken in by take-in rollers 51 and 53 (take-in means) provided inside. The captured sheet is then sent to the image forming section 5 by the registration rollers 55 and the conveyor belt 57.

The image forming section 5 is provided with a photosensitive drum 59. A charging device 6 is provided around the photosensitive drum 59.
1. Unnecessary charge eraser 63, developing device 65,
A transfer device 67, a separation charge device 69, a separation claw 71, and a drum cleaner 73 are arranged.

A document cover 75 is attached to the document setting section so that its back surface can be opened and closed by a hinge.

A platen 77 made of contact glass is provided below the document cover 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, the paper feeding timing is adjusted by the registration roller 55, and the photosensitive drum 59 and the transfer device 67
The image is transferred onto a sheet P placed between.

The sheet onto which the visible image has been transferred is subjected to a de-charging action by a separating charge device 69 and a mechanical separating action by a separating claw 71, and is transferred to the photosensitive drum 5.
9, and the fixing device 93 is moved away from the fixing device 93 by the conveying roller 91.
sent to.

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 paper discharge tray 99.

In the above configuration, the paper feeding operation is performed as follows.

First, when feeding sheets using the paper feed cassette 9, the paper feed cassette 9 is attached to the intake port 49, and the sheets in the paper feed cassette 9 are taken in by the take-in roller 53.

In addition, when using the sheet storage section 13,
A sheet is set on the hopper 19, and the roller 23 is rotated to raise the hopper 19. Then, the sheet pushes up the feed roller 15 and stops. When the feed roller 15 rotates in response to a paper feed command, the sheet is fed out, separated into one sheet by the feed roller 31 and separation roller 33, and supplied to the reversing unit 17. This sheet is fed through a supply path 41 onto a guide 45, and taken up by a roller 51.
captured by. Note that when a predetermined amount of sheets are taken in, the hopper 19 is raised by a certain amount, so that the sheets are always in contact with the feed roller 15.

An image is copied onto the sheet taken in in this way by the image forming section 5, and the sheet is stored in the sheet discharge tray 99.

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

(1) The sheet accommodated in the sheet accommodating section 13 is fed to the feed roller 1 in the opposite direction to the direction in which the sheet is supplied from the sheet taking-in section 3 to the image forming section 5.
5, and the sheet sent out by the feed roller 15 is reversed by the reversing unit 17 and supplied to the sheet take-in section 3, so that the sheet is stored on the opposite side to the direction in which the feed roller 15 sends out the sheet. A large amount of space is created, and a large amount of sheets from small to large sheets can be accommodated without protruding to the outside.

(2) Since the sheet feeding device 1 is placed directly below the image forming device 7 so that the sheet feeding device 1 also serves as a mounting table, it takes up less space and is more compact than a sheet feeding device that is externally attached. .

(3) As before, the intake port 4 of the image forming device 7
If the sheet feeding device is hung from 7,
It can only accommodate about 1,000 sheets, but since it is a stationary type, it can also accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 sheets. In addition, since the storage space is wide, A3
It can accommodate and supply a large amount of large sheets such as B4 size and B4 size.

(4) Since the sheet supply device 1 is not suspended from the intake ports 47 and 49 of the image forming apparatus 7, the load on the image forming apparatus 7 is reduced.

(5) Intake port 47 into which paper feed cassette 9 is installed
Since the mounting portion 39 of the reversing unit 17 is attached to the sheet feeder 1 to feed sheets from the sheet feeding device 1, the conventional image forming device 7 can be used as is, which is economical. Further, even if the size of the sheet changes, the amount of protrusion of the reversing unit 17 does not change.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the intake port 47 of the case 2 is provided in which the image forming device 7 that forms an image on a sheet taken in from the intake port 47 into which the cassette 9 is mounted is placed. A feeding means 15 has a feeding port 35 formed on the side thereof, and separates the sheets stacked in the storage section 13 provided in the case 2 into one sheet and sends them out from the feeding port 35 toward the outside of the case 2. 31 and 33, and a mounting portion 39 that can be attached and detached to the intake port 47 in place of the cassette 9, and a sheet fed out from the supply port 35 by the feeding means 15, 31, and 33 is conveyed to the intake port 47. Since the unit 17 having the conveying section 37 is provided, the image forming apparatus 7 can accommodate a large capacity of sheets.
It is possible to feed sheets through the intake port 47 of the cassette 9, it can be replaced with a regular cassette 9 at any time, it is easy to deal with jams or paper feeding mistakes, and the protruding part to the outside can be made extremely small. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of an embodiment of the present invention. 1... Sheet supply device, 2... Case, 3...
Sheet intake section, 5...image forming section, 7...image forming device, 13...sheet storage section, 15...feeding roller, 17...reversing unit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A cassette 9 containing sheets is removably attached to the intake port 47; a capture means 51 for capturing the sheets of the cassette 9 attached to the intake port 47; In a sheet feeding device in which an image forming device 7 having an image forming unit 5 for forming an image on a sheet is mounted and feeding sheets stored in a location different from the cassette 9 to the image forming device 7, A case 2 on which the forming device 7 is placed, and the intake port 4 on the side of the case 2.
A feeding port 35 formed on the surface side where 7 is provided.
a storage section 13 provided in the case 2 for stacking and accommodating sheets; and a storage section 13 for storing and stacking sheets, and separating the sheets stacked in the storage section 13 into one sheet and directing the sheets from the feeding port 35 to the outside of the case 2. It has feeding means 15, 31, 33 for sending out, and a removable mounting part 39 on the intake port 47 in place of the cassette 9, and a removable attachment part 39 for feeding out the material from the feeding port 35 by the feeding means 15, 31, 33. and a unit 17 having a conveyance section 37 for conveying the sheet to the intake port 47.