JPH0558491A - Separation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To positively separate a sheet as well as to enable the quantity of overlapping to be accurately and easily set up by providing a hold section holding the quantity of overlapping specific with a feed means brought into contact with a separation means, for the circumferential surface of at least, either one of the feed means or the separation means. CONSTITUTION:A sheet separation device 50 is made up of a feed means 51 composed of a roller body 52, and of a separation means 60 composed of an endless separation belt 61 which is winded onto paired separation pulleys, and a contact section (f) is so constituted that the projection K of a roller base body 52 for the roller body 52 comes in contact with the projected section 61 a of the separation belt 61. And in the range of over-lapping, the contact section (f) is made up of the projected section K of a roller base body 54 and of the projected section 61a of the separation belt 61, and besides, since they make contact with each other with low friction, the quantity of overlapping can be secured, furthermore the appropriate quantity of overlapping can concurrently be formed with ease with no particular attention paid even at the time of assembly.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses, as a roller body, one of a feeding means for feeding a sheet to be conveyed and feeding the same and a separating means for preventing the progress of the sheet following the sheet, and the other endless end. The present invention relates to a sheet separating device which is configured as a belt and in which a feeding means and a separating means are arranged so as to oppose each other so as to overlap each other.

2. Description of the Related Art One of a feeding means for feeding a sheet to be fed and feeding it and a separating means for preventing the progress of the sheet following the sheet is a roller body, and the other is an endless belt. In a sheet separating device in which the separating means and the separating means are in non-contact with each other and are opposed to each other so as to overlap each other, since the feeding means and the separating means are not in contact with each other, the abrasion of each is small. The performance can be maintained for a long time, and the seat has a gentle corrugation when viewed from the direction of travel, which makes the waist stronger and is less likely to jam.

Further, since the sheet is not in contact with the feeding means and the sheet is not in contact with the separating means, the sheet is not contaminated and the driving power can be reduced.

Further, since the feeding means and the separating means are not in contact with each other, it has a good characteristic that there is no abnormal noise called so-called squeal caused by the contact between them.

On the other hand, since the feeding means and the separating means are non-contact and overlap with each other, the overlap range L is extremely limited as shown in FIG. 5, in other words, the central angle of the roller body. If it says, it is in the range of the limited small central angle β, and there was a limit to the separation performance.

Further, since it is a non-contact overlap, it is difficult to maintain the overlap amount at a predetermined amount, and there is a problem that the separation ability varies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to easily and accurately set the above-mentioned overlap amount and set a wide range of the overlap region without impairing the advantages of the prior art. It is to provide a separation device capable of

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention comprises one of a feeding means for contacting a sheet to be conveyed and feeding the same and a separating means for preventing the progress of the sheet following the sheet. The roller body and the other endless belt are arranged, and the feeding means and the separating means are arranged so as to oppose each other so that the feeding means and the separating means form a non-contact portion that overlaps without contacting each other. In the sheet separating device, a holding unit is provided on at least one peripheral surface of the feeding unit and the separating unit to bring the feeding unit and the separating unit into contact with each other to hold the amount of the overlap at a predetermined amount. That is the main feature.

The above-mentioned object is to use a low friction material for at least one of the feeding means and the separating means forming the contact portion between the feeding means and the separating means in the holding part, or to use a roller body. The feeding means or the separating means is composed of a main body roller and an auxiliary roller rotatably supported coaxially with the main body roller, and a contact portion of the holding means with the feeding means and the separating means is endless. It can also be achieved more effectively by constituting by contact between the belt and the auxiliary roller.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Various embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, an outline of a sheet feeding device 10 to which a sheet separating device according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 4
Shows the sheet feeding section 20 of the sheet feeding device 10 as a center.

The paper feeding device 10 includes a paper feeding tray 11 on which original sheets are placed, a paper feeding section 20 for feeding the originals one by one from the paper feeding tray 11, and a document received from the paper feeding section 20. The transport unit 40 transports and positions on the platen P of the copying apparatus C to receive the exposure process, and a discharge unit (not shown) for discharging the exposed document and a discharge tray for collecting the discharged documents. ing.

The paper feeding section 20 is provided with a pickup roller 21 which comes out in contact with the lowermost paper, an empty sensor 22 which detects the presence or absence of a sheet on the paper feeding tray 11, a weight leaf spring 23 which comes into contact with the uppermost paper and presses it, and the front end of the original. It comprises a stopper 24 for pressing and closing the document at appropriate time and a sheet separating device 50 for separating the document into one sheet.

In front of the separating device 50, there is provided a pre-sorting means 25 for restricting the number of original sheets fed by the pickup roller 21 and sending only a few sheets to ensure the separating operation in the separating device 50. It is provided.

At the end of the separating device 50, a curved and wide resist space 33 is formed surrounded by an outer guide plate 31 and an inner guide plate 32, and the leading end of the original sheet is passed through the rectilinear portion 34 and beyond. A registration roller 35 for temporarily contacting the feeding portion 40 and adjusting the feeding timing to the feeding portion 40, and at the same time for correcting the feeding posture of the original document, and a pinch roller 36 that strongly contacts the roller 35 are provided. Also, the rectilinear section 3
4 is provided with a registration sensor 37 which detects the leading edge of the original document and takes timing. And the sheet guide 3
It reaches the conveyance section 40 via 9.

The transport section 40 comprises a drive belt (not shown), a driven roller 41, and a transport belt 43 stretched around the transport belt 43, and a plurality of press rollers 44.

Next, a first embodiment of the sheet separating device 50 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the sheet separating device 50 of the sheet feeding device 10 is a feeding means 5 comprising a roller body 52.
1 and a separating means 60 composed of an endless separating belt 61 wound around a pair of separating pulleys 62 and 63. Of course, the separating means may be a roller body and the feeding means may be a belt type.

As shown in FIG. 2, the roller body 52 of the feeding means 51 comprises a roller base body 54 made of a hard and low friction material, and a plurality of ring bodies 55 surrounding the outer periphery of the roller base body 54. These ring bodies 55 are roller bases 54.
It is made of a material that is slightly softer than the above and has a high friction coefficient, and has an appropriate width w, an appropriate mutual interval v, and a feeding means 51.
With the distance R from the axis D _{0 of}
Is stuck to.

The outer circumference of the roller base 54 has a radius of r.
_The protrusion K is ₁ and the recess J having a radius r ₂ smaller than the protrusion K, and r ₁ and r ₂ are smaller than the distance R, respectively.

On the other hand, on the outer periphery of the separation belt 61 of the separation means 60, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of protrusions 61a and recesses 61 are formed.
2 is formed, and in FIG. 2 showing the cross sections II to II of FIG. 1, the protrusion 6 from the axis D ₀ of the feeding means 51 is formed.
The distance to 1a is S, and the distance to the concave portion 61b is G.

As shown in FIG. 2, the protrusion K of the roller base 54 and the protrusion 61a of the separation belt 61 are in contact with each other to form a contact portion f. In this embodiment, the roller base 5
4 is a low-friction member, but at the contact portion f, at least one of the separation belt 61 and the roller base 54 is a low-friction member to reduce the load due to the frictional force generated on both the separation belt and the roller base. It is desirable to do. Roller base 54
And the radius S ₁ of the protrusion 61a is substantially the same as the radius r ₁ . Further, the outer circumference of the ring body 55 of the feeding means 51 and the recessed portion 61b of the separation belt 61 are t ₁ = GR, and the protrusion 61a and the recessed portion J of the roller base 54.
There is a gap of t ₂ = S−r ₂ between and, forming a non-contact portion.

Therefore, when the overlap amount between the feeding means 51 and the separating means 60 is d, d = R-s.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the above-mentioned overlap amount d is formed uniformly along the outer peripheral surface corresponding to the central angle α of the roller base 54.

A protrusion 61c as shown in FIG. 2 is provided in the center of the inside of the separation belt 61, and the separation pulley 62,
The belt is guided by a groove (not shown) provided in 63 to prevent the belt from coming off.

Next, the operation will be described.

By placing a document sheet on the paper feed tray 11 and pressing the start button of the copying machine,
Will start. Immediately thereafter, the solenoid of the weight leaf spring 23 and the solenoid of the stopper 24 are both turned on, and the original sheet receives a downward pressure from the uppermost sheet, and the original sheet can be fed. When the pick-up roller 21 starts operating, a plurality of sheets are fed out. Then, for example, two or three sheets are separated by the separating device 50.
Is fed to.

The plurality of original sheets that have entered the separating device 50 are fed by the frictional force of the ring body 55 on the sheet on the feeding means 51 side, but the second and subsequent sheets are separated by the separating means 60.
The separation belt 61 receives the force in the upstream direction, and the sheets are sequentially fed back. Therefore, in the overlapped section of the separation belt 61 and the roller body 52 of the feeding means 51, even if there are two or more sheets that enter, the separation action is always received in this section, and a reliable separation operation is performed. realizable.

Further, in the above-mentioned overlap section, the protrusion K of the roller base 54 and the protrusion 61a of the separation belt 61 form a contact portion f and are in contact with each other with low friction. The amount d is ensured, and a special amount of attention is not required at the time of assembly, so that an appropriate amount of overlap can be easily formed.

The original sheet that has entered is subjected to an appropriate wavy deformation due to the above-mentioned overlap, so that the waist becomes strong and is separated without causing a jam.

The original sheet thus separated is
The paper is sent from the separating device 50 to the registration rollers 35, the paper edge is adjusted at that portion, and then sent to the conveying portion 40 through the sheet guide 39. After undergoing the required processing, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray via the discharge portion. To be done.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

A sheet separating device 70 in this embodiment.
The separating means 60 is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the roller body of the feeding means 71 comprises a main body roller 72 and an auxiliary roller 75 rotatably supported by a shaft 74 of the main body roller 72. It is a thing. A plurality of ring bodies 73 are fitted to the main body roller 72, the distance from the axis thereof is R, and the radius of the recess is r _{2 as} in the first embodiment. The radius of the auxiliary roller 75 is r ₁
And is in contact with the protrusion 61a of the separation belt 61. However, since the auxiliary roller 75 is axially supported by the shaft 74 via the bearing 76 as shown in FIG. 3, the auxiliary roller 75 and the separation belt 61 hardly slide relative to each other, and there is substantially no resistance. It is a transfer. Therefore, in addition to the operation and effect of the first embodiment, the driving power of the separating device 70 can be further reduced. In the first and second embodiments, the separating means 60 rotates in the direction opposite to the conveying direction and sends the follow-up sheet in the reverse direction. It is also possible to prevent the follow-up sheet from advancing by frictional force.

According to the sheet separating apparatus of the present invention, one of the feeding means for feeding the sheet to be conveyed and feeding it and the separating means for preventing the progress of the sheet following the sheet is a roller body. , The other is configured as an endless belt, and the feeding means and the separating means are arranged so as to oppose each other so that the feeding means and the separating means form a non-contact portion that overlaps without contacting each other. In the separating device, the holding means for bringing the feeding means and the separating means into contact with each other to hold the amount of the overlap at a predetermined amount is provided on at least one peripheral surface of the feeding means and the separating means. -A longer lap section, which ensures sheet separation. Also over
The lap amount can be set accurately and easily.

Since the contact portion between the feeding means and the separating means is made of a member having a small frictional resistance and is limited to a further limited range, the driving power of the apparatus is small and no abnormal noise is generated.

Further, except for the contact portion, all parts of the feeding means and the separating means which specifically perform the separating action are kept in non-contact state, so that the separating ability is maintained for a long time.

Further, the roller body is composed of a main body roller and an auxiliary roller rotatably supported coaxially with the main body roller, and the contact portion is formed between the endless belt and the auxiliary roller. The required driving power can be further reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a sheet separating device (first embodiment).

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a sheet separating device (second embodiment) corresponding to FIG. 2 of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of a sheet feeding device to which the sheet separating device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional sheet separating device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Sheet feeding apparatus to which the sheet separating apparatus of the invention is applied 50 Sheet separating apparatus (first embodiment) 51 Feeding means 52 Roller body 53 Roller shaft 54 Roller base 55 Ring body 60 Separating means 61 Separation belt (endless belt) 61a Protrusion 61b Concave 61c Convex f Contact part α Central angle at which contact part is stretched against roller body 70 Sheet separating device (second embodiment) 71 Feeding means 72 Main body roller 73 Ring body 74 Shaft 75 Auxiliary roller 76 Bearing

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A roller means is provided as one of a feeding means for feeding a sheet to be conveyed and feeding the sheet and a separating means for preventing the progress of the sheet following the sheet, and the other is constituted as an endless belt, and the feeding is performed. In a sheet separating device in which the feeding means and the separating means are arranged so as to oppose each other so as to form a non-contact portion in which the means and the separating means do not contact each other, the feeding means and the separating means are provided. 2. A sheet separating apparatus, comprising a holding portion, which is brought into contact with and holds a predetermined amount of the overwrap, on at least one peripheral surface of the feeding means and the separating means. 2. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the feeding means and the separating means is made of a low friction material at a contact portion between the feeding means and the separating means in the holding portion. 3. The feeding means or the separating means composed of a roller body is composed of a main body roller and an auxiliary roller rotatably supported coaxially with the main body roller,
3. The sheet separating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a contact portion between the feeding unit and the separating unit in the holding unit is formed by contact between the endless belt and the auxiliary roller.