JPH06144624A - Manual paper feed device of image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent damage of a stopper in simple constitution. CONSTITUTION:This is a manual paper feed device to carry out paper feeding by separating a plural number of sheets of paper 2 inserted on a manual feed base 1 one by one by a feed roller 8 and a reverse roller 9, and a stopper 12 to temporarily blocking the head end of the sheets before a pair of the rollers is constituted of a main body part 12a and a stopper part 12b to engage with it. When the sheet of paper 2 exists on the stopper part 12b, as this sheet of paper 2 moves in the reversal direction due to discharge and others against the carrier direction, the stopper part 12b falls and retreats from the manual feed base 1, and damage is prevented.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer and a facsimile, and more particularly to a manual sheet feeding device for manually feeding a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an electrophotographic copying machine, it is necessary to supply sheets such as plain paper and sheets to a transfer section for each copy. In this case, prepare a dedicated cassette according to the size of the paper, store a large number of paper in this cassette, and automatically feed the paper one by one for each copy, It is possible to feed one sheet from a plurality of sheets that are inserted one by one or simultaneously.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a conventional manual sheet feeder.

A plurality of papers 2 can be manually inserted into the manual feed stand 1. Side fences 3 for preventing misalignment are attached to both sides of the manual feed stand 1. A stopper 4 made of nylon resin is rotatably arranged at the front end of the paper 2 so as to regulate the feeding. The stopper 4 is composed of a vertical portion and a horizontal portion, and a spring 5 for biasing the stopper 4 in the counterclockwise direction is attached to one end of the horizontal portion. Further, the armature of the solenoid 6 is attached to the other end of the horizontal portion.

A guide 7 is provided at the outlet of the paper 2 facing the stopper 4, and a feed roller 8 and a reverse roller 9 for separating one sheet of the paper 2 and conveying it to the transfer portion are provided at the rear end. Are arranged above and below. Furthermore, in the upper part between the side fence 3 and the stopper 4,
A pickup roller 10 for delivering the paper is provided, and when it descends, the uppermost one sheet 2 of the paper 2 can be delivered.

The operation of the manual sheet feeder having the above-mentioned structure will be described.

FIG. 10 shows a state in which the paper 2 is not inserted in the manual feed stand 1. In this state, the upper end of the stopper 4 is in an upright state, and the position of the front end of the manually fed paper 2 is regulated. When the stopper 4 is upright during sheet feeding, the solenoid 6 is excited because it interferes with the conveyance of the paper 2, and the stopper 4 rotates clockwise against the biasing force of the spring 5. As a result, the paper 2 can enter the inside of the guide 7.

Then, the pickup roller 10 descends and comes into contact with the uppermost paper 2 so that the pickup roller 1
By rotating 0, the uppermost paper 2 is fed into the guide 7. After this paper 2 leaves the guide 7,
Its tip is inserted between the feed roller 8 and the reverse roller 9.

When the paper feeding is completed, the stopper 4 temporarily locks the leading end of the paper 2 to be reinserted.
Is returned to the state of. If the stopper 4 is in the predetermined position except when the paper is fed, the life of the solenoid 6 is shortened due to the temperature rise of the solenoid 6 due to the constant power supply. Returning to the position.

The technique related to the manual paper feeder is as follows.
For example, JP-A-1-164249 and JP-A-63-190.
142, JP-A-63-262343, JP-A-62-93.
129, JP-A-61-38140, JP-A-3-4413.
1, JP-A-2-261734, JP-A-3-272953
and so on.

[0011]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the stopper returns to the predetermined position at the end of the paper feeding even if the paper that has not been fed remains as shown in FIG. However, when the user pulls out the remaining paper to remove the remaining paper, a force is applied to the stopper on the upstream side in the sheet feeding direction, and the stopper is damaged (from the folded portion 11 in FIG. 11).

As a solution to this problem, there is a method of detecting the residual paper by a sensor or the like and moving the stopper to the retracted position. When this method is used, as described above, the life of the solenoid increases due to the temperature rise of the solenoid. This leads to a decrease in power consumption and an increase in power consumption, and the problem cannot be solved.

Alternatively, there is a method of increasing the strength of the stopper, but this is not a solution because it causes an increase in the cost of the stopper, a slower operation due to an increase in weight, and an increase in size of the solenoid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a manual sheet feeding device for an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the stopper from being damaged by a simple structure.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention separates a plurality of sheets inserted in a manual insertion path from a sheet by a feed roller and a reverse roller to feed the sheets one by one. In the manual sheet feeding device of the image forming apparatus including a stopper that temporarily locks the front end of the paper before the pair of rollers, when the paper is present at the front end of the stopper, Means is provided for retracting the leading end of the stopper from the transport path when the sheet moves in the direction opposite to the transport direction.

In this case, the stopper is plate-like and has a rotation fulcrum on both sides, and a tip portion is composed of a stopper portion capable of moving in and out of the conveying path, and a main body portion which rotatably holds the stopper portion. be able to.

[0017]

According to the above-mentioned means, each portion functions as a sheet positioning member in the sheet conveying direction, and retreats from the sheet conveying path when the sheet is pulled out to remove the remaining sheet and forms stoppers. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an accident such as breakage of the stopper without applying an excessive stress.

Further, by adopting a structure in which the exposed portion in the conveying path can be tilted, it becomes possible to prevent the breakage of the stopper while simplifying the structure and reducing the cost.

[0019]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a manual sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 2 shows a perspective view of the embodiment shown in FIG. In each of the following drawings, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements as those in FIG. 10, and thus duplicated description will be omitted below.

In the stopper 12 (made of nylon resin similar to the stopper 4) in this embodiment, about half of the vertical portion of the stopper 4 described above can be rotated independently with respect to the main body portion 12a (which may be resin or metal). The feature is that it is configured by the portion 12b. This stopper 12
As shown in FIG. 2, two pieces are provided orthogonal to the transport direction. The stopper portion 12b falls to the left side of the drawing from the upright position, but cannot fall to the right side.

In FIG. 2, the main body 12a and
Although the structure is shown in which the spring 5 and the solenoid 6 are engaged with the lever 13, the structure shown in each of the above figures may be a single component in which the main body portion 12a and the lever portion are integrated. Good.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a detailed structure of the stopper 12.

The stopper portion 12b has a "F" shape,
Protrusions 12c are provided on both sides in the middle thereof.
2c is fitted in a recess 12d provided at the upper end on the side of the main body 12a and can rotate. The lower end portion 12e of the stopper portion 12b has an appropriate elastic force and contacts the upper surface of the main body portion 12a as shown in FIG.
When b further rotates, it bends as shown in FIG.
It functions as a leaf spring for automatically returning b to the position of the chain line.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9.

When the paper 2 is not inserted in the manual feed stand 1, the stopper portion 1 of the stopper 12 is set as shown in FIG.
2b is upright, and when the paper 2 is inserted, FIG.
The tip position of the paper 2 is regulated as shown in FIG.

In the state shown in FIG. 7, when the paper feed is started, the pickup roller 10 descends, and the lower surface thereof is pressed against the upper surface of the sheet bundle as shown in FIG. 8, and the friction force is generated as the pickup roller 10 rotates. By top paper 2
Are sent to the right in the figure. During this paper feeding, the solenoid 6 is driven (excited) as shown in FIG.
Rotates in the direction of the arrow, and the stopper 12b
And the paper 2 being fed is conveyed to the subsequent stage without support.

As shown in FIG. 9, when the user tries to take out the paper 2 that has entered the guide 7, the portion protruding from the top of the stopper 12 rests on the stopper 12b. Here, when the paper 2 is pulled to the left in the figure, the contact friction causes the stopper portion 12b to rotate in the direction of the arrow and fall to the state of the dotted line. Therefore, almost no force is applied to the main body portion 12a, and there is no risk of damaging the stopper 12 as in the conventional case.

After the paper 2 is pulled out, the stopper portion 12b returns to the position shown in FIG. 6 by its own elastic force. Therefore, it can be configured without using a torsion coil spring or the like for returning the stopper portion 12b. Further, by using resin for the stopper portion 12b, as shown in FIG. 3, the main body portion 1 of the stopper portion 12b is
The fitting into the 2a can be easily performed, and the productivity can be improved.

In FIG. 3, the main body 12a is provided with the recess 12d and the stopper 12b is provided with the projection 12c. However, conversely, the main body 12a is provided with the projection and the stopper is provided with the recess. You may

[0030]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects.

In the manual paper feeding device of the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of papers inserted in the manual paper feeding path are fed by a feed roller and a reverse roller.
In a manual sheet feeder of an image forming apparatus, which separates sheets one by one and feeds the sheets, and further includes a stopper that temporarily locks the leading end of the sheet before the pair of rollers, the stopper has the leading end. When the above-mentioned paper is present in the section,
Since the means for retracting the leading end from the transport path when the paper moves in the direction opposite to the transport direction is provided, accidents such as breakage of the stopper can be prevented.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual sheet feeder for an image forming apparatus, which has a plate-like shape and has rotation fulcrums on both sides thereof, and a tip portion of which is movable in and out of a conveying path, and the stopper portion is rotatable. Since it is made up of a main body and a
It is possible to prevent the stopper from being damaged while simplifying the structure and reducing the cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a manual sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a detailed configuration of a stopper shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the stopper according to the present invention when discharging the remaining paper.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the stopper according to the present invention immediately after the remaining paper is discharged.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state of the manual paper feeding device of the present invention before insertion of paper.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a state after the paper is inserted in the manual paper feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a state during paper feeding in the manual paper feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a front view showing a state in which the remaining paper is discharged from the manual paper feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a conventional manual paper feeding device.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing a state of a conventional manual paper feeding device when a residual paper is discharged.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Manual Feeder 2 Paper 3 Side Fence 4 Stopper 5 Spring 6 Solenoid 7 Guide 8 Feed Roller 9 Reverse Roller 10 Pickup Roller 12 Stopper 12a Main Body 12b Stopper 12c Protrusion 12d Recess 13 Lever

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of sheets of paper inserted in a manual insertion path are separated and fed by a feed roller and a reverse roller one by one, and a front end of the paper is temporarily placed in front of the pair of rollers. In a manual paper feeding device of an image forming apparatus having a stopper that locks mechanically, when the paper is present at the tip of the stopper, the paper moves in a direction opposite to the conveying direction. A manual sheet feeding device for an image forming apparatus, further comprising means for retracting a front end portion of the stopper from a conveyance path. 2. The stopper is plate-shaped and has rotation fulcrums on both sides, and a tip portion is composed of a stopper portion capable of moving in and out of a conveyance path, and a main body portion that rotatably holds the stopper portion. The manual sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1.