JPH0641948Y2 - Paper alignment device - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] The present invention relates to a sheet aligning device disposed in a paper feed tray, and more particularly to the position of a sheet used in an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine. It relates to a matching device.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in an image forming apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine, in order to adjust the paper feed timing of paper such as a document, the paper arranged in the paper feed tray is always started from a fixed position. For the paper tray, a paper alignment device for positioning the arranged paper at a fixed position (start position) is used.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual perspective view of a main part of a conventional example of the above-described alignment apparatus, and shows an example applied particularly to a facsimile apparatus.

The alignment device 1 has a pair of recesses 3 each having a rectangular cross section, which are formed at predetermined positions along the width direction of the paper feed tray 2, and the tips of the recesses 3 are inserted into the recesses 3 to engage with the recesses 3, respectively. A pair of arms 4 that combine to function as paper stoppers
The arm rotation means 5 is configured to cause the tip of the arm 4 to come out of the recess 3 at a predetermined timing and then be fitted into the recess 3 again.

Of these, the arm rotating means 5 is a rotating shaft 6 that rotates in one direction (counterclockwise in the figure), and a pair of cylindrical supporting members 7 fixed to the peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 6 at a predetermined interval. Each of the rear ends 4a of the arms 4 is fitted into a shaft 8 fixed to the side of the support member 7 and is rotatably supported about the shaft 8. The rotation of the rotary shaft 6 is controlled by a drive device such as a motor (not shown) that rotates the rotary shaft 6 and a control device that controls the operation of the drive device. It makes one revolution from the initial position shown in the figure and returns to the original initial position again.

At the initial position of the rotary shaft 6 shown in FIG. 6, the tip 4b of the arm 4 is fitted into the recess 3 and the peripheral edge 3a of the recess 3 and the tip 4b of the arm 4 are engaged with each other.

Therefore, at the initial position of the rotary shaft 6 shown in FIG.
When the (dashed-dotted line) is arranged on the paper feed tray 2 which descends toward the right side of the drawing, the leading end 9a of the original document 9 is engaged with the arm 4 and the progress thereof is stopped, so that the original document 9 is fed. It will be positioned at the start position on the paper tray 2.

On the other hand, when the rotary shaft 6 rotates counterclockwise from the initial position of the rotary shaft 6 shown in FIG. 6, the support member 7 and the support member 7 are provided as shown in FIG. Since the shaft 8 also rotates in the counterclockwise direction at the same time, the arm 4 rotatably supported by the shaft 8 rises upward, so that the engagement between the recess 3 and the arm 4 is released. Is stopped, the sheet is moved to the right in the drawing as shown by the arrow, and is conveyed into the facsimile apparatus main body (not shown).

[Problems to be solved by the device]

By the way, according to the above-mentioned conventional positioning device 1, the rotary shaft 6 supporting the arm 4 rotates a predetermined rotational angle counterclockwise to return from the position shown in FIG.
When the arm 4 reaches the predetermined rotational position shown in the figure, the arm 4 swings greatly while drawing an arc locus (dashed line) with the axis 8 as its center by its own weight and the radius R of the arm 4 as a radius, and then again The tip 4b of 4 is located below.

Therefore, according to the conventional alignment apparatus 1, a large moving area for securing the rotation of the arm 4 must be secured near the arm 4, and therefore the arm 4 indicated by the one-dot chain line is required.
Within the range of the rotation locus of, that is, within the movement area of the arm 4,
Another member (for example, a pressing member for pressing a sheet such as an original document against the paper feed tray 2) cannot be arranged, and therefore, there is a problem that a space constraint condition for installing the other member becomes severe. there were.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the length of the arm 4 shown in FIG. 8 may be set short and the distance L between the upper surface of the paper feed tray 2 and the rotary shaft 6 may be shortened. However, if the length of the arm 4 is set to be short and the distance L between the upper surface of the paper feed tray 2 and the rotary shaft 6 is shortened in this manner, the double feeding of the paper in the vicinity of the alignment device 1 is performed. When the prevention device is provided and the documents are conveyed one by one through the double feed prevention device, it becomes impossible to stack a large number of documents on the upper surface of the paper feed tray 2.

Further, according to the above-mentioned conventional positioning device 1, when the rotary shaft 6 returns to the initial position, the arm 4 is centered on the shaft 8 by its own weight and the length R of the arm 4 is reduced as shown in FIG.
When the rotary shaft 6 returns to the initial rotation angle as shown in FIG. 9 in which the same parts as in FIG. The tip 4b of the arm 4 may not be re-inserted into the recess 3 but may jump over and come into contact with the sheet feeding tray 2 downstream in the sheet conveying direction, and stop at that position. There was also a problem that the originals could not be aligned.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention reduces the movement area of the arm functioning as a paper stopper as much as possible, and surely inserts the arm that once escaped from the recess into the recess again. The purpose is to provide.

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, in the longitudinal direction of the arm functioning as a sheet stopper, a shaft for supporting the arm forms a guide means slidable along the longitudinal direction of the arm, whereby the arm rotating means. When the rotating shaft that constitutes the arm rotates to return to the initial position, the arm does not rotate about the shaft that supports the arm but drops substantially vertically downward while engaging with the shaft. Is.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the sheet alignment apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual perspective view of a main part of a sheet aligning apparatus 10 according to the present invention, in which the same parts as those in FIG. 6 are designated by the same reference numerals.

In this alignment device 10, a long hole 11a is formed in the longitudinal direction of the arm 11 that functions as a paper stopper, and the shaft 8 that supports the arm 11 is a guide means that is slidable along the longitudinal direction of the arm. . At the initial position of the rotary shaft 6 shown in FIG. 1, the tip 11b of the arm 11 is fitted into the recess 3 and the peripheral edge 3a of the recess 3 and the tip 11b of the arm 11 are engaged with each other. When the (dashed-dotted line) is arranged on the paper feed tray 2 which descends as it goes to the right in the drawing, the leading edge 9a of the original document 9 engages with the arm 11, so that the original document 9 is placed on the paper feed tray 2. Will be positioned at the start position of.

Next, the operation of the alignment device 10 described above will be described, and the configuration will be described in more detail.

When the rotary shaft 6 rotates counterclockwise from the initial position of the rotary shaft 6 constituting the arm rotating means 5 shown in FIG. 1,
The arm 11 supported by the shaft 8 rises upward as shown in the sectional view of the main part of FIG. 2 shown in FIG. 1A, which disengages the recess 3 from the arm 11, As a result, the stop of progress of the original document 9 is released, and the original document 9 moves to the right in the drawing as indicated by the arrow and is conveyed into the main body of the facsimile apparatus (not shown).

Next, the rotating shaft 6 supporting the arm 11 rotates counterclockwise by a predetermined rotation angle to return from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the initial position, and reaches the rotating position shown in FIG.
When the arm 11 is slightly further rotated counterclockwise from the rotation position shown in the figure, the arm 11 falls down substantially vertically downward along an elongated hole 11a formed along the longitudinal direction of the arm 11 by its own weight as shown in FIG. Then, it is inserted into the concave portion 3.

Therefore, in the embodiment, when the arm 11 is re-inserted into the recessed portion 3, the arm 11 falls substantially vertically downward, so that the movement region in which the arm 11 moves only needs to be substantially vertically below the shaft 8. Becomes Further, since the arm 11 falls substantially vertically downward, almost no force is exerted on the tip 11b of the arm 11 in the circumferential direction about the shaft 8, and therefore the tip 11b of the arm 11 swings very little. It has become a thing. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the rotation shaft 6 returns to the rotation angle of the initial position again, the tip 11b of the arm 11 surely engages with the peripheral edge 3a of the recess 3.

It should be noted that in the above-mentioned embodiment, a long hole is provided in the arm 11 as the guiding means.
Although 11a is formed, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, instead of the elongated hole 11a, the shaft 8 may be constituted by a slidable elongated groove as guide means.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the support member 7 of the shaft 8 supporting the arm 11 is constituted by a cylindrical member, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, for example, an arm fixed to the rotary shaft 6 is used. Alternatively, the shaft 8 may be fixed to this arm, and the arm 11 that functions as a sheet stopper may be supported by the shaft 8.

[Effect of device]

As described above, in the sheet aligning apparatus according to the present invention, the movement area of the arm functioning as a sheet stopper is extremely small, and therefore, the space constraint condition for installing other members in close proximity can be relaxed. In addition to this, it is possible to make the image forming apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus using the sheet alignment apparatus compact.

Further, when the arm acting as the paper stopper is fitted into the recess again, the swing thereof is reduced as much as possible, so that the recess and the arm are securely engaged with each other, so that the paper is securely transferred. It can be aligned with a predetermined start position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual perspective view of an essential part showing an embodiment of a sheet aligning apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 5 show the operation of the sheet aligning apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a conceptual cross-sectional view of an essential part of the conventional sheet aligning device, and FIGS. 7 to 9 are views of FIG. 6 showing the operation of the conventional sheet aligning device. FIG. 3 is a conceptual cross-sectional view of the relevant part. 2 ... Paper feeding tray, 3 ... Recessed portion, 6 ... Rotating shaft, 7 ... Support member, 8 ... Shaft, 9 ... Paper (original), 10 ... Positioning device, 11
… Arm, 11… Guide means (long hole).

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A recess formed at a predetermined position on the upper surface of a paper feed tray, and a tip inserted into the recess to temporarily engage with a peripheral edge of the recess and engage with a sheet disposed on the paper feed tray. An arm for positioning the sheet, a rotary shaft arranged substantially above the recess and rotating at a predetermined timing, and a shaft fixed to the peripheral surface of the rotary shaft and rotatably supporting the arm are fixed. In the sheet aligning device for ejecting the arm from the recess by the rotation of the rotary shaft and inserting the arm into the recess again, the arm is fixed to the support member in the longitudinal direction of the arm. Paper aligning device, characterized in that the shaft forms guide means slidable along the longitudinal direction of the arm.