JPH06255836A - Hand insertion paper feeder for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a hand insertion paper feeder for an image forming device wherein overloading paper on a hand insertion tray can be surely detected to facilitate also operation of paper setting. CONSTITUTION:When a paper sheaf within permissible height is set to a specific position of a tray 1, a paper sensor 19 detects paper properly set, to turn on a solenoid 17 by a detection signal of the sensor, and a call out roller 4 is turned in the clockwise direction by action of a spring 13 and brought into contact with on the paper. Here, a height detecting sensor 12 detects height of the paper, set to the tray 1, by a space between the call out roller 4 and the tray 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a calling means for contacting a paper placed on a tray and feeding the same, and a moving means for moving the calling means between a paper feed position in contact with the paper and a separation position away from the paper. The present invention relates to a manual sheet feeding device for an image forming apparatus, which includes a contacting / separating unit and a double feed preventing unit that feeds the sheets sent from the calling unit one by one.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a manual sheet feeder of the above type, one provided in a main body of a copying machine, a facsimile or a printer for conveying recording paper, or an image forming apparatus for conveying an original is attached. The one provided in the ADF is known. Generally, there are two types of manual sheet feeding devices, one is a manual sheet feeding method in which a user sets one sheet at a time without a double-feeding preventive means, and a multi-manual sheet feeder having the above-mentioned double-feeding preventing means. In this multi-manual paper feeding device, the position of the tray bottom plate is fixed, and the calling means abuts on the paper placed on the tray without raising it, and the paper is fed sequentially from the topmost paper. Is.

In such a multi-sheet manual feeding device, when a large number of sheets are placed on the tray, the contact pressure of the calling means for the uppermost sheet and the contact pressure of the calling means for the lowermost sheet are different. Further, the approach height level with respect to the entrance guide plate is also different between the uppermost sheet and the lowermost sheet. Therefore, in the multi-bypass feeder, even if a large number of sheets are placed on the tray, the difference in the conveyance characteristics due to the difference in the pressure characteristics and the approach height of the calling means should be kept within a range that does not cause a problem in conveyance. The number of sheets that can be placed on the tray is regulated, and is usually about 20 to 50 sheets. If the regulation of the number of stacked sheets is not strictly performed, there is a high possibility that a conveyance problem such as non-feeding may occur.

Therefore, conventionally, there is known a manual paper feeding device in which a roof or an eave is provided on a side fence which regulates the width direction of the paper, and the height is restricted so that the paper is not placed over the roof or the eave. There is.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9337/93, the weight of a sheet placed on a paper feed tray is detected, and the number of sheets to be loaded is regulated depending on whether the weight is heavier or lighter than a predetermined weight. It is disclosed.

Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-15080, a side fence is provided with a claw, and when the number of sheets placed on the sheet feeding section exceeds the limit number, the claw enters below the exceeded sheet. It is disclosed that the number of loaded sheets is restricted.

[0007]

However, there are problems in each of the above-mentioned methods for regulating the number of stacked sheets. The manual paper feeder, which has a roof or an eaves on the first side fence, has a simple configuration and is an effective method. It may be set so that it will be pushed into the roof or eaves. At this time, there is a high possibility that the uppermost paper of the paper is pressed against the roof or the eaves and the paper is not fed. Further, when the side fence is provided with a roof or an eaves, there is a problem that the operability is somewhat poor because the paper setting direction is restricted.

[0008] In the manual paper feeding device in which the number of sheets to be loaded is regulated by the weight of the second paper, the operability at the time of paper setting does not deteriorate, but there is a problem that the weight and thickness of the paper are not necessarily proportional. That is, the weight and thickness of the paper are not constant depending on the type of paper, and even for the same paper, it greatly changes depending on the water content.
There is a problem of poor practicality.

In a manual paper feeding device in which the third claw is inserted below the number of sheets exceeding the limit number of sheets, the claw may damage the sheet, and the user may notice that the claw is below the sheet. If not, there is a problem that there is no effect.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a manual sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus capable of surely detecting overloading and easy to set a sheet.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a calling means for contacting a paper placed on a tray and feeding the paper, and a paper feed position and a paper for contacting the calling means with the paper. In a manual sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus, which is provided with a contacting / separating unit that moves between a separating position away from the sheet feeding unit and a double feeding preventing unit that feeds the sheets sent from the calling unit one by one, The interlocking member that interlocks with the movement between the sheet feeding position and the separating position of the device, and whether the height of the paper placed on the tray from the position of the interlocking member is higher than the allowable stacking height of the paper. It is characterized in that it has a height detecting means for detecting whether it is low, and the height detecting means detects the height of the sheet from the distance between the calling means of the sheet feeding position and the sheet mounting surface of the tray.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention further comprises a sheet detecting means for detecting that the sheet is set at a predetermined position where the sheet can be fed, and the contacting / separating means detects the sheet by the sheet detecting means. When not detecting, the calling means is held at the separated position, when the paper detecting means detects a sheet, the calling means is moved from the separated position to the paper feeding position, and at the time of the movement, the height detecting means It is characterized by being activated.

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is such that when the sheet detecting means detects a sheet when the power switch of the image forming apparatus main body is turned on, the contacting / separating means is It is characterized in that the calling means performs a contacting / separating operation with respect to the sheet, and the height detecting means is activated during the contacting / separating operation.

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention, when the start switch is turned on when the paper detecting means detects a paper, before the image forming apparatus main body starts to operate, It is characterized in that the calling means performs a contacting / separating operation with respect to a sheet, and the height detecting means is activated during the contacting / separating operation.

Further, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention disables the paper feeding operation when the height detecting means determines that the paper placed on the tray exceeds the allowable stacking height. It is characterized by

Further, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is provided with an overload warning display means, and when it is determined that the sheets placed on the tray exceed the allowable loading height,
The overload warning display means is turned on.

[0017]

According to the above construction, the interlocking member that interlocks with the movement of the calling means between the sheet feeding position and the separating position, and the height of the sheet placed on the tray from the position of the interlocking member is the height of the sheet. A height detecting means for detecting whether the stacking height is higher or lower than the allowable stacking height, and the height detecting means detects the height of the sheet from the distance between the sheet feeding position calling means and the sheet mounting surface of the tray. Since the sheet feeding pressure between the sheet and the sheet feeding roller can be obtained by utilizing gravity, a predetermined sheet feeding pressure can be stably obtained over time, and the configuration is simple and inexpensive.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a manual sheet feeding device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 is a tray on which a sheet is placed, 2 is a side fence that regulates the width direction of the sheet, 3,
Reference numeral 3a is an inlet guide plate, and the downstream end of the tray 1 in the sheet feeding direction is in contact with the end of the inlet guide plate. A call roller 4 as a call means is provided above the entrance guide plates 3 and 3a near the tray 1, and a feed roller 5 and a reverse roller 6 as a double feed prevention means are provided downstream of the call roller 4 in the sheet feeding direction. It is provided. The calling roller 4 is supported at one end of a connecting portion agent configured as an arm 7 rotatably mounted around a shaft 5a of a feed roller 5. Then, a gear 10 meshing with a gear 8 fixed to the shaft 5a of the feed roller 5 via an idle gear 9 is fixed to the shaft 4a of the calling roller 4, and the drive to the feed roller 5 is transmitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a filler 11 is fixed to the arm 7, and the filler 11 is rotated around the shaft 5a of the calling roller 4 in accordance with the rotation. A height sensor 12 as height detecting means for detecting the filler 11 is provided in the moving region of the filler 11, and the height sensor 12 is such that the calling roller 4 rotates clockwise about the shaft 5a. It is arranged at a position where the filler 11 is detected when an allowable stacking height of sheets described later is reached. Further, the arm 7 is integrally provided with a tubular portion 7a,
A spring 13 for biasing an elastic force in a direction of bringing the calling roller 4 into contact with the tray 1 is locked to the cylindrical portion 7a. Further, the projection 14 is provided upright on the cylindrical portion 7a, and the projection 1
4 has a first link 16 rotatably mounted on a shaft 15
16 a of the arm is in contact. The link 16 is further provided with a second arm portion 16b, and the second arm portion 16b has a solenoid 17 that rotates the link 16 in a counterclockwise direction when turned on and an original position when the solenoid 17 is turned off. And a spring 18 for returning to.
In this case, since the protrusion 14 is in contact with the one arm portion 16a of the link 16 by the elastic force of the spring 13,
When the solenoid 17 is turned off, the calling roller 4 is held at a separated position separated from the surface of the tray 1 by an allowable stacking height or more. Then, when the solenoid 17 is turned on, the link 16 is rotated counterclockwise against the action of the spring 18, and at this time the arm 16a is also rotated counterclockwise, so that the calling roller 4 is placed on the tray 1 surface. Is rotated to the paper feed position where it abuts against.

Further, the manual paper feeding device is provided with a paper sensor 19 as a paper detecting means for detecting when a paper is set at a predetermined position on the tray 1.

The operation mode of the manual paper feeding device constructed as described above is as follows. FIG. 2 shows a state before sheets are set on the tray 1. At this time, the solenoid 17 is in the off state, so the calling roller 4 is held at the separated position. Here, when a sheet bundle within the allowable height is set at a predetermined position of the tray 1, the sheet sensor 19 detects that the sheet is set correctly, and the solenoid 17 is turned on by the detection signal. Solenoid 17
When is turned on, the calling roller 4 is rotated clockwise by the action of the spring 13, and the calling roller 4 is brought into contact with the sheet as shown in FIG. At this time, the height detection sensor 12
It is checked whether or not the height detection of the sheets set on the tray 1 is activated and the height detection sensor 12 detects the filler 11. Since the height of the sheet bundle at this time is within the allowable height, the height detection sensor 12 can detect the filler 11 rotating with the calling roller 4, and the controller (not shown) allows the sheet bundle to have an allowable height. It is determined that it is within the range and manual feeding is possible. Then, when the user presses the start switch of the image forming apparatus provided with this manual sheet feeding device, paper is fed from the top sheet of the sheets set in the tray 1. That is, the sheet sent to the calling roller 4 is separated into the uppermost sheet and the subsequent sheets by the feed roller 5 and the reverse roller 6, and the sheets are fed one by one from the uppermost sheet.

Next, a case where a sheet bundle having a height not lower than the allowable height is set on the tray 1 will be described. in this case,
Similarly to the above, the solenoid 17 is turned on by the detection signal of the paper sensor 19, and the height detection is activated when the calling roller 4 is brought into contact with the paper. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, since the filler 11 is not detected by the height detection sensor 12, the height detection sensor 12 does not emit a detection signal, and the control device determines that the sheet stack is at or above the allowable height. . At this time, the control device manually feeds the paper by, for example, turning off the drive to the manual paper feeding device or turning the start switch 21 provided on the operation unit 20 of the image forming apparatus red to disable the start, as shown in FIG. Disable the paper feeding operation of the paper device.
Further, a display unit 22 provided in the operation unit 20 of the image forming apparatus
In addition, the user is informed that the sheet stack is too high by the overload warning display means.

Thus, when the paper is set on the tray 1, the height of the paper is detected from the distance between the calling roller 4 and the tray 1, so that the height can be accurately detected. Moreover, since the side fence 2 does not have a roof or an eaves, the degree of freedom in the paper setting direction is increased and the operability is improved. Furthermore, when a stack of sheets having a height equal to or higher than the allowable height is set in the tray 1, the manual sheet feeding device disables the sheet feeding operation, so that no trouble occurs in sheet feeding and conveyance to the user. Since the warning of overloading is displayed, the user can immediately know that.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 6, when the power switch 23 of the image forming apparatus is in the off state, it is possible that sheets are set on the tray 1 of the manual sheet feeder. At this time, the height detection is not performed when the calling roller 4 is already waiting at the paper feed position.

Therefore, in such a situation, when the power switch 23 is turned on, the above-described height detection operation is performed. That is, the solenoid 17 is turned off, the calling roller 4 is once moved to the separated position, and then returned to the paper feeding position. And
When the calling roller 4 contacts the paper, the height detection is activated.

According to this structure, when the power switch 23 of the image forming apparatus is in the off state, even if an overloaded sheet is set on the tray 1, this can be detected reliably. Further, after the manual sheet feeding device reaches the used state, additional sheets may be replenished, which may cause the sheet bundle to exceed the allowable height. If the paper feeding operation is started in this state, there is a high possibility that a trouble in paper feeding and transportation will occur.

Therefore, each time the start switch 21 is pressed, the manual paper feeding device turns off the solenoid 17 to move the calling roller 4 to the separated position once, and returns it to the paper feeding position again so that the calling roller 4 hits the paper. Activates height detection when touching.

According to this structure, it is possible to reliably detect the fact that the paper is additionally replenished after the manual paper feeding device is in use and the paper stack exceeds the permissible height by this.

Furthermore, it is also possible that ripple-deformed paper is used in the manual paper feeder. in this case,
As shown in FIG. 7, since the height of the sheet is not less than the allowable height due to the corrugation of the sheet, the height H may be within the allowable height range if the degree of the corrugation is eliminated. In such a case, immediately after the calling roller 4 is brought into contact with the sheet, it is determined that the height of the sheet bundle is equal to or higher than the allowable height. However, the pressing of the calling roller 4 directly causes the height h within the allowable height range. become.

Therefore, in consideration of such a case, the manual paper feeding device experimentally obtains a time period in which the waviness is eliminated by the pressing of the calling roller 4, and after that time period, the height detection is activated.

According to this structure, if the paper is placed within the height h within the allowable height range if the waviness is eliminated, the manual paper feeding device can be used without the user's hand. .

[0032]

According to the first aspect of the invention, since the height of the sheet is detected from the distance between the calling roller and the tray, the accuracy of height detection is improved. Moreover, since the side fence has no roof or eaves, the degree of freedom in the paper setting direction is increased, and the operability at the time of setting is also improved.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the paper is set in the tray, the height of the paper is immediately detected, and it is determined whether the paper is within the allowable height.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, even when an overloaded sheet is set on the tray when the power switch of the image forming apparatus is in the off state, this can be reliably detected.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, even if the manual sheet feeder is additionally used after the manual sheet feeder is in use, the sheet bundle is reliably detected even if the sheet bundle exceeds the allowable height. be able to.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the corrugated paper is placed, if the paper that fits within the allowable height range is placed if the corrugation is eliminated, the user's hand The manual paper feeding device can be used without bothering.

According to the sixth and seventh aspects of the invention, when the sheet bundle having the height higher than the allowable height is set in the tray, the manual sheet feeding device is made unable to perform the sheet feeding operation. Since the above problem does not occur and the user is warned of being overloaded, the user can immediately know that.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a manual sheet feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state before sheets are set in a tray.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which sheets within an allowable height are set in a tray.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which paper having an allowable height or more is set in a tray.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an operation panel of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing an operation unit and a manual sheet feeding unit of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which a corrugated and deformed sheet is set in a tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Tray 4 Calling Roll 5 Feeding Roll 6 Reverse Roll 7 Arm 11 Arm 12 Filler 12 Height Sensor 17 Solenoid 19 Paper Sensor 21 Start Switch 22 Display 23 Power Switch

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A calling unit that contacts a sheet placed on a tray and feeds the sheet, and a contacting / separating unit that moves the calling unit between a sheet feeding position in contact with the sheet and a separating position away from the sheet. A manual sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus, comprising: a multi-feed preventing unit that feeds the sheets sent out from the calling unit one by one; interlocking with movement of the calling unit between a sheet feeding position and a separating position. The interlocking member, and height detecting means for detecting whether the height of the paper placed on the tray from the position of the interlocking member is higher or lower than the allowable stacking height of the paper. A manual sheet feeder, wherein the height detection means detects the height of the sheet from the distance between the sheet feeding position calling means and the sheet mounting surface of the tray. 2. The manual paper feeding device of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a paper detection means for detecting that the paper is set at a predetermined position where paper can be fed, and the contacting / separating means is the paper feeding means. When the detection means does not detect the paper, the calling means is held at the separated position, when the paper detection means detects the paper, the calling means moves from the separated position to the paper feeding position, and at the time of the movement, A manual sheet feeder, wherein the height detecting means is activated. 3. The manual sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the power switch of the main body of the image forming apparatus is turned on, the sheet detecting unit detects a sheet. The manual sheet feeder, wherein the contacting / separating means performs the contacting / separating operation with respect to the sheet by the calling means, and the height detecting means is activated during the contacting / separating operation. 4. The manual sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the start switch is turned on when the sheet detecting unit detects a sheet, the image forming apparatus A manual sheet feeder, wherein the calling means performs a contacting / separating operation with respect to a sheet before the main body starts operating, and the height detecting means is operated during the contacting / separating operation. 5. The manual sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the height detection is performed after a predetermined time has elapsed after the calling unit has performed a contacting / separating operation with respect to the sheet. A manual sheet feeder, wherein the means is activated. 6. The sheet feeding operation is disabled when the height detecting means determines that the sheets placed on the tray exceed the allowable stacking height. 1. A manual sheet feeding device according to one of the items. 7. The manual sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an overload warning display means, and the sheets placed on the tray exceed the allowable stack height. When it is determined that the overload warning display means is turned on, the manual sheet feeder.