JPH0543013Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is provided in an automatic duplex copying machine to accommodate a single-sided copy sheet, and to feed out the single-sided copy sheet again for copying on the back side. In particular, regarding the paper feeding device in the intermediate tray for
The present invention relates to a device configured such that a pressing member that presses a single-sided copy sheet toward a bottom roller also serves as a separator.

[Conventional technology]

In an automatic duplex copying machine equipped with an automatic recirculating original processing device, sheets are fed from a paper tray, etc., sheets with single-sided copies are made one after another, and after being stored in an intermediate tray, copies are made in the back-side mode. However, in this case, feeding of single-sided copied paper from the paper tray and feeding of paper from the paper tray are performed alternately.

Therefore, in the first stage, the documents stacked on the automatic document feeder are sequentially formed into single-sided copied sheets and stored in the intermediate tray.
In the case of subsequent copying in reverse mode,
The double-sided copied paper that has been taken out from the intermediate tray and has been copied on the back side is conveyed toward the output tray, but at this time, the single-sided copied paper that is created alternately with the double-sided copied paper is contained in a tray.

In other words, in an automatic duplex copying machine that performs copying in the mode described above, the single-sided copy paper stored in the intermediate tray is first copied into N sheets of originals, and then the single-sided copies of the N sheets are copied. When storing the completed paper in the intermediate tray and performing backside copying on the N sheets that have already been copied on one side, the next sheet that has already been copied on one side is ejected from the ejection roller and is placed on top of the N sheets that have already been copied on one side. will be housed in. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the (N+1)th sheet of single-sided copied paper from the N sheets of single-sided copied paper stacked on the intermediate tray.

If this N+1 sheet of single-sided copied paper is not separated, if double-feeding occurs when double-sided copying is performed on the N+1 single-sided copied paper, subsequent single-sided copied paper will be All of them end up as miscopies.

Therefore, in the conventionally used intermediate tray, a separator is set on the intermediate tray every cycle of the automatic document feeder to prevent single-sided copied sheets from being mixed with each other. Then, when it is detected that a double feed has occurred while copying N sheets of single-sided copied paper, the miscopy ends within the range of the N sheets of single-sided copied paper, and N+1 sheets are copied. It is set so that it does not affect the eyes.

As such a conventional paper feeding device from an intermediate tray, a device as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is used. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 5, a vacuum feeder 32 is provided at the sending-out end of the intermediate tray 2, and the vacuum feeder feeds single-sided copy sheets one by one. It is designed so that it can be sent out toward the conveyance roller 8.

This device uses a separator 30 that can move up and down, and when it detects that the N sheets of single-sided copy paper under the separator are gone,
The separator is moved onto the upper one-sided copy sheet and is set again as a partition member.

Further, when using the retard type paper feeding device shown in FIG. 6, a paper handling mechanism formed by a retard roller 7 and a feed roller 6 is provided at the paper feeding side end of the intermediate tray. A bottom roller 5 is provided in front of the paper feed roller 6.

Furthermore, a weight roller 31 is provided corresponding to the bottom roller 5, and the weight roller 31 performs the same operation as the separator.

[Problem that the invention attempts to solve]

However, in the conventional apparatus as described above, the swinging mechanism of the separator or the weight roller is complicated and may not be able to perform its function satisfactorily. In particular, when a weight roller is used, the weight roller cannot properly press the paper against the bottom roller, and when resetting on top of the N sheets of single-sided copy paper, the N sheets of paper cannot be properly pressed. It was difficult to move the paper without disturbing the stacked state of the paper.

Furthermore, since the single-sided copied paper stored in the intermediate tray has passed through the fixing device, the leading edge of the paper often curls due to heating in the fixing device. However, some conventional devices have drawbacks such as the inability to properly feed paper whose leading edge is curled upward.

These separators or weight rollers are
When it is reset, it bypasses the side of the stacked paper and sets it on top of the paper again. To do this, the operating range of the pressing member is adjusted to the intermediate position. It requires a wider set-up on the side of the tray, thereby requiring extra space inside the copier.

[Purpose of invention]

The present invention solves the drawbacks of the conventionally used devices as described above, and simplifies the movement mechanism of the pressing member, and when moving the pressing member, the one-sided It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can effectively press the paper against a bottom roller without adversely affecting the edges of the copied paper.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

According to the present invention, the above-mentioned purpose is to place a sheet at the output side end of an intermediate tray that stores sheets that have already been copied on one side of the automatic duplex copying machine and feeds the sheets for copying on the back side.
In a paper feeding device that includes a paper handling mechanism composed of a paper feeding roller, a separating roller, etc., and a pair of bottom rollers and a pressing member, the pressing member is capable of coming into contact with and separating from the top surface of the paper. A rotatable support member pivotally supported above is movably supported between the bottom roller and the paper so as to apply a constant pressure to the paper by its own weight, and rotation of the support member transports the pressing member into the tray. This is accomplished by an intermediate tray paper feeder in an apparatus such as a copying machine, which is characterized by separating sheets of paper.

That is, the support member that supports the pressing member is rotatable above the delivery side end of the intermediate tray,
When the pressing member is in contact with the bottom roller, the single-sided copied paper conveyed to the intermediate tray is placed on the pressing member, and when the number of sheets reaches a predetermined number (N sheets), the supporting member rotates. The pressing member is removed from under the paper, and when the support member rotates further, the pressing member is positioned above the paper again and presses the paper against the bottom roller by its own weight. In this way, single-sided copied sheets from the N+1th sheet are further conveyed onto the pressing member, and the pressing member acts as a separator to separate the sheets conveyed to the intermediate tray and the sheets discharged from the intermediate tray for double-sided copying. do.

A pair of supporting members including the pressing member are preferably provided on both sides of the paper feed-out side end, and a shaft including the pressing member is movably supported between both supporting members.
More preferably, a plurality of pressing members are provided around the rotation center of the support member, and when the downstream pressing member in the rotational direction is released from below the paper, the upstream pressing member pushes the paper against the bottom roller. Therefore, the downstream pressing member can be easily removed from under the paper stacked thereon.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an intermediate tray paper feeding device according to the present invention in an apparatus such as a copying machine. In this embodiment, an end guide 3 is provided at the rear end of the intermediate tray 2 that accommodates the single-sided copied paper 1, and a paper handling device consisting of a feed roller 6 and a retard roller 7 is provided at the front end on the paper feeding side. There is a mechanism in place.

In addition, in a position close to the paper handling mechanism,
A bottom roller 5 is provided at the bottom of the tray 2, and the bottom roller 5 feeds out the single-sided copied paper 1 stored in the intermediate tray 2, and the paper handling mechanism separates the paper one by one. 8
Make it possible to feed paper towards the

A discharge roller 9 is provided on the upper part of the intermediate tray 2, and a single-sided copy sheet is sent from an image transfer device such as a photoreceptor drum through a fixing device, and is placed on top of the single-sided copy sheet 1. The single-sided copy sheet 1a is then deposited.

A weight roller 4 as a paper pressing member is pressed against the bottom roller 5 by its own weight, and the weight roller 4 is movably supported by a rotatable support member 14 that is pivotally supported above the intermediate tray 2.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the paper pressing section. A pair of support members 14, which are rotationally driven by a driving means 13 such as a motor, are made of disks, and have an elongated hole 11 into which the shaft 10 of the weight roller 4, which presses the single-sided copied paper 1 against the bottom roller 5, is loosely fitted. The weight roller 4 is rotatably supported by the support member 14 via the elongated hole 11, and can be moved into and out of contact with the bottom roller 5 by rotation of the support member 14. Further, a tie bar 12 is provided at a position substantially symmetrical to the elongated hole 11 of the support member 14 to connect the pair of support members.
4. The weight roller 4 and the tie bar 12 are rotated around the rotation axis of the driving means 13. The shaft 10 of the weight roller 4 slides within the elongated hole 11 due to its own weight when the support member 14 rotates. Note that the supporting member 14, which is not provided with the drive means 13, is pivotally supported by means not shown.

The operation of the paper feeding device according to the present invention will be explained using FIGS. 3a, 3b, and 3c.

As shown in FIG. 3a, one-sided copy paper 1a
are sequentially deposited in the intermediate tray 2 by the discharge roller 9, and at this time the support member 14 is stopped, the rear end of the single-sided copied paper 1a contacts the end guide 3, and the front end is supported by the weight roller 4. be done. When the number of single-sided copied sheets 1 accumulated on the intermediate tray 2 and the weight roller 4 reaches N, the support member 14 is moved by the driving means 13 to the arrow A in FIG. 3b.
It is rotationally driven in the direction indicated by , and rotates once until the N+1-th single-sided copy sheet 1b is discharged by the discharge roller 9. When the support member 14 rotates with the weight roller 4 supporting the single-sided copied paper 1, the front end of the stacked paper 1 is lifted upward as shown in FIG. 3b, and at the same time the tie bar 12
The rear side is pressed downward. For this reason,
At the beginning of rotation of the support member 14, the front end of the paper 1 is supported by the weight roller 4 and the tie bar 12 and is in a curved state. And the support member 14 is the third b
When the paper 1 rotates further from the position shown in the figure, the weight roller 4 separates from below the paper 1, the paper 1 is no longer supported by the weight roller 4, and its curved front end is restored and supported by the bottom roller 5. The support member 14 further rotates and stops at a position where the weight roller 4 faces the bottom roller 5, and the weight roller 4 presses the paper 1 by its own weight.

Subsequently, the N+1-th single-sided copy sheet 1b is discharged into the intermediate tray 2 by the discharge roller 9 and placed on the N-th sheet 1, and its front end is supported from below by the weight roller 4. Therefore, paper 1 up to the Nth sheet and paper 1 after the N+1th sheet
b is separated by a weight roller 4, and the weight roller 4 acts as a pressing member that presses the stacked sheets 1 up to the Nth sheet against the bottom roller 5, and also presses the stacked sheets 1 up to the Nth sheet and the N+1 sheet. It acts as a separator that separates the paper after the first one.

The support member 14 moves from the position shown in Figure 3a to the position shown in Figure 3c.
When the paper 1 rotates once to the position shown in the figure and is sandwiched between the weight roller 4 and the bottom roller 5, the paper 1
The entire sheet is conveyed by the bottom roller 5 to the abutment area between the feed roller 6 and the retard roller 7 shown in FIG.

Note that this embodiment is a device that separates the N-th sheet 1 and the N+1-th sheet 1b by one rotation of the support member 14 including the weight roller 4 and the tie bar 12. As shown in FIG. 2, a weight roller 4 is further attached in place of the tie bar 12, and the support member 14 rotates half a rotation, thereby increasing the N.
It is also possible to separate the sheet of paper 1 and the (N+1)th sheet of paper 1b. That is, when N sheets 1 are conveyed onto the weight roller 4 located below,
The support member 14 is driven half a rotation, and after the weight roller 4 located above moves to a position where it presses the paper 1 in the intermediate tray 2, it stops and the Nth paper 1 is moved.
and the (N+1)th sheet 1b are separated. This makes it possible to cope with high-speed ejection of the paper 1. Note that the support members 14 are preferably each provided with a drive means 13 and driven to rotate synchronously.

In these embodiments, the support member 14 is rotated intermittently. In order to drive the support member 14 intermittently, a spring clutch and a solenoid are used to control the drive of the support member 3 by the drive means 13, or a pulse motor can be used as the drive means 13.

Furthermore, although the rotatable weight roller 4 is used as the sheet pressing member in the above embodiment, the pressing member is not limited to a roller shape and may have any shape as long as it can press the sheet 1. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the weight roller 4 can be omitted and the paper can be directly pressed and separated by the shaft 10.

[Effect of idea]

According to the present invention, the paper pressing member is movably supported by the rotatable support member, and the paper discharged into the intermediate tray is deposited on the pressing member which is in contact with the bottom roller, and is discharged into the tray. When the number of sheets reaches a predetermined number, the support member is rotated and the pressing member moves to the position where it separates and presses the paper in the tray, so the paper in the tray can be reliably separated and pressed with a simple configuration. be able to.
Further, since the pressing member is actuated by the rotation of the support member, the operation of the pressing member can be easily controlled by controlling the rotation (driving means) of the support member. Further, it is possible to reduce the space within the copying machine for the paper feeding device for the intermediate tray, and the simplification of the mechanism can contribute to lowering the manufacturing cost of the copying machine.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an intermediate tray paper feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 4 are perspective views of a paper pressing section, FIGS. 3a to 3c are explanatory diagrams of a paper separation mechanism, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are diagrams showing the configuration of a conventional paper feeding device in an intermediate tray. Codes in the figure: 1... Single-sided copy paper, 2... Intermediate tray, 3... End guide, 4... Weight roller, 5... Bottom roller, 6... Feed roller, 7... Retard roller, 8... Conveyance roller, 9...Discharge roller, 10...Shaft, 11...Elongated hole, 12...Tie bar, 13...Driving means, 14
... Support member, 30 ... Separator, 31 ... Weight roller, 32 ... Vacuum feeder.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A paper handling mechanism consisting of a paper feed roller, a handling roller, etc., and a pair of paper handling rollers are installed at the output side end of the intermediate tray that stores paper that has been copied on one side and feeds the paper for backside copying in an automatic duplex copying machine, etc. In a paper feeding device that is provided with a bottom roller and a pressing member, and the pressing member is capable of moving toward and away from the top surface of the paper, the pressing member is attached to a rotatable support member that is pivotally supported above the bottom roller. An intermediate device in a device such as a copying machine, which is movably supported between the paper so as to apply a constant pressure to the paper by its own weight, and the pressing member separates the paper conveyed into the tray by rotation of the support member. Tray feeder.