JPH0641979Y2 - Intermediate tray paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial field of application) The present invention is provided in an apparatus such as an automatic double-sided copying machine and is used for temporarily storing single-sided copied paper and sending it out for backside copying. The present invention relates to a tray, and more particularly, to an apparatus that enables an accurate feeding action even for sheets of different sizes when the intermediate tray is a side registration type apparatus.

(Prior Art) In an automatic double-sided copying machine equipped with a recirculation automatic document processor, the documents are sequentially sent from the automatic document feeder toward the platen portion to scan the image of the document, Image information is transmitted to a drum or the like. A state in which the paper is sent out from a paper tray or the like in parallel with the operation of conveying and scanning the original, and is initially prepared as a single-sided copied paper, and the back side of the copy is directed to the photosensitive drum at the next back side copying stage. It will be sent out at. For that purpose, an intermediate tray is provided in the main body of the copying machine, and a means for temporarily storing the one-side copied sheet is constructed in the intermediate tray. Then, as described above, in the first stage, for the originals stored in the automatic document feeder, the single-sided copied sheets are sequentially created and stored in the intermediate tray, and when the back side mode is copied thereafter, the paper tray and the intermediate tray are copied. From then on, the paper is fed alternately toward the image transfer portion.

Further, in the copying operation, the sheet made as the double-sided copy is discharged toward the discharge tray, but the single-sided copied sheet is sent toward the intermediate tray.
In the previous step of creating one-sided copied paper, the N sheets of one-sided copied paper stored in the intermediate tray and the (N + 1) th one-sided copied paper created in the next step and stored in the intermediate tray It will be necessary to separate them. Therefore, in the conventional intermediate tray, a separator device as shown in FIG. 5 is used. That is, in the intermediate tray 1 shown in FIG. 5, the end guide 2 is provided at the rear end portion of the intermediate tray 1, and the end portion of the sheet fed from the carry-in path 4 through the discharge roller 3 is The positioning is performed by abutting on the end guide 2.

Further, the bottom roller 5 is attached to the end of the intermediate tray 1 on the paper feeding side.
And a weight roller 24 are provided, and a paper separating mechanism including a paper feeding roller 6 and a separating roller 7 is provided on the side of the delivery path beyond that. Then, the sheet Pa initially sent to the intermediate tray 1 and the sheet Pb sent in the next stage are separated and accommodated by the weight roller 24, and when the operation of sending out the sheet Pa is completed. , The weight roller 24 is moved upward, and the paper accumulated on the weight roller
Pb is lowered to a position in contact with the bottom roller 5 so that the single-sided copied sheet can be supplied for backside copying.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the conventional device as described above,
Since the weight roller and its supporting shaft have a degree of freedom in the vertical direction, the amount of rocking is small, the shaft does not come off from the leading edge of the paper, and a separate mistake easily occurs. On the other hand, increasing the amount of swing of the shaft increases the volume occupied by the separating means, which is an obstacle to downsizing the device. In addition, if you store the curled single-sided paper above,
The separator device has a number of problems such as the inability to effectively exhibit the performance of separating the aligned sheets and the aligned sheets, and makes it possible to easily solve these problems. At present, the development of means is desired. If the copier is a center registration type device, for single-sided copied paper stored in the intermediate tray, devices such as paper feed rollers are evenly distributed to the left and right of the center of the paper. The sheets are brought into contact with each other, so that the sheet can be accurately delivered without causing deviation or the like.

However, when the copying machine is a side registration type device, the paper feed roller for discharging the single-sided copied paper from the intermediate tray corresponds to the paper that is most frequently used in the copying machine. It is provided so that the movement of the paper can be performed well. For example, in an apparatus in which A4 size paper is frequently used, the copying machine is supported by the shaft of the paper feed roller so that the A4 size paper can be well fed. Therefore, in the case of a paper of a size different from the A4 size, the paper feeding roller or the like performs the action of feeding the paper at a position away from the center of the paper.

Further, when the shaft supporting the weight roller as described above is curved due to the weight of the roller or the like, the pressing force applied to the paper is not set in the central portion of the paper,
As in the case where the paper sizes are different, the problem that the paper cannot be fed straight out occurs. If the pressing force of the weight roller and the feeding action of the paper feed roller do not work with respect to the center of gravity of the paper,
As for the paper sent out from the intermediate tray, the part where the conveying force is applied bends greatly to the part where it is not applied,
This has the drawback that problems such as oblique feeding tend to occur.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventionally used apparatus. The means for pressing the paper against the bottom roller can also serve as the separator and curl is generated. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device that can reliably act on a sheet and that allows the roller that presses the sheet against the bottom roller to have a uniform pressing force.

(Means and Actions for Solving Problems) According to the present invention, a sheet feeding roller and a separating roller are provided at an end of a feeding side of an intermediate tray that accommodates single-sided copied sheets and feeds sheets for back side copying. And a bottom roller and a pressing member disposed upstream of the paper feed roller, and configured to send the one-sided copied paper toward the back side for copying. The present invention relates to a device such as a double-sided copying machine. In the present invention, the pressing member is composed of a separator device, and the separator device includes a pair of wheels rotatably arranged on both sides of an intermediate tray, a tie bar connecting the wheels, and an elongated hole provided in the wheel. Via a separator shaft that is movable in the circumferential direction of the wheel, and the separator shaft and the tie bar constitute a means for aligning the papers stored in the intermediate tray. A roller provided on the separator shaft is configured as a unit that presses a sheet against a bottom roller, two rollers are arranged on the separator shaft, and the two rollers are offset to one side of the intermediate tray. And the pressing forces of the two rollers against the paper are set to the same value.

Therefore, in the paper feeding device of the present invention, the position of the roller member of the paper feeding device is offset to one side of the paper feeding tray, and the size of the paper stored in the intermediate tray is Even when they are different from each other, the action of pressing the paper toward the bottom roller is maintained constant, and the paper can be prevented from being obliquely fed. Also,
In the present invention, even if the bottom roller and the weight roller act on the sheet at the same position regardless of the size of the sheet, the sheet feeding device performs the feeding operation from the intermediate tray. At this time, the paper can be normally fed along the registration line. Further, in the intermediate tray paper feeding device of the present invention, it is possible to accurately separate the next set of N + 1th sheets from the group of N sheets of one-side copied sheets that have been accumulated first, and It is possible to accurately perform the paper alignment of the set of paper and the pressing operation toward the bottom roller.

(Embodiment) The configuration of the intermediate tray paper feeding device of the present invention will be described with reference to the illustrated example. The embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.
The relationship between the one-sided copied sheet accommodated in the intermediate tray 1 and the weight roller used as a pressing unit when separating and sending out the one-sided copied sheet is shown. In the embodiment of the present invention, the copying machine is configured as a side registration type device, and according to the type, the registration line R is provided on one side of the intermediate tray 1. It is set. Then, the one-sided copied sheets stored in the intermediate tray are deposited with their side surfaces positioned at the position of the registration line R, and the feeding operation by the sheet feeding device can be performed. ing.

In the embodiment of the present invention, weight rollers 24 and 24a are arranged at the feeding portion of the one-sided copied sheet of the intermediate tray 1, and these weight rollers push a predetermined amount of the one-sided copied sheet from above. The pressure is applied to press the sheet against the bottom roller. In the weight roller of the present invention, a pair of wheels 11 and 12 are arranged on both sides of the feeding portion of the intermediate tray 1, and weight rollers 24 and 24a are provided for a separator shaft 20 supported by the wheels. The separator shaft 20 supporting the weight roller has a portion on the side of the geared wheel 11 as a solid member 21, and the other side is a hollow member.
The member 22 is formed by joining the solid portion 21 and the hollow member 22. For example, in the above embodiment, when the separator shaft 20 is configured as a member having a diameter of 60 mm, the hollow member 22 is configured by a hollow rod having a wall thickness of about 0.3 mm, and the hollow member 22 is adhesive to the solid member 21. Join using. In addition, the two shaft members can be joined by using fitting or other joining means other than bonding.

Further, in the separator shaft 20 of the present invention, when the paper most frequently used in the copying machine is, for example, A4 size, when the A4 size paper is fed, the separator shaft 20 and the weight roller 24 are Thus, the lengths of the two shaft members 21 and 22 are set so that the center of gravity applied to the sheet is set at the center of the sheet. In order to achieve the above-mentioned object of the present invention, in the device of the present invention, as described above, the separator shaft 20 is joined to the solid member 21 and the hollow member 22 to be integrated as one rod-shaped member. In the relationship between the lengths of the solid member 21 and the hollow member 22, the center of the pressing force is located at the center of the weight rollers 24, 24a supported by the separator shaft 20. It consists of states.

Further, for the intermediate tray of the present invention, the sheet feeding device adapted to the A4 size as described above is arranged at the feeding portion of the one-side copied sheet, and by the bottom roller pressed by the weight roller 24. When the ejected paper has a linear feed direction, it can be fed in a normal state without adding extra force such as diagonal feed to the paper. ing. Further, when the sheets accommodated in the intermediate tray 1 of the present invention are of a large size such as B4 size, the sheets of the sheets are not attached to the side plate of the intermediate tray 1 set as the registration line R. Resistance is added when the side portions slide, and the central portion of the one-side copied sheet is displaced from the position of the weight roller. Therefore, in the apparatus of the present invention, even when feeding a large-sized sheet, the weight roller only presses the bottom roller at a constant position without changing the position of the weight roller pressing. , It is possible to perform the feeding operation for a large size sheet.
The above-described feeding action is performed similarly for small-sized paper. By configuring in this way, the paper on the intermediate tray 1 is conveyed in a normal state toward the paper conveyance path. You will be able to.

The detailed structure of the intermediate tray 1 of the present invention described above is shown in FIG.
And, it will be described with reference to FIG. In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the intermediate tray 1 is provided with an end guide 2 at the rear end portion of the sheet storage portion, and one-sided copy is sent from the image forming portion of the copying machine. The paper is
When the sheet is accommodated in the intermediate tray 1 from the carry-in path 4 through the discharge roller 3, the end of the intermediate tray 1 can be positioned. Further, the intermediate tray 1 of the present invention is provided with a paper separating mechanism connected to the feeding path 8 in the same manner as in the case of the conventionally used intermediate tray. And the separation roller 7 are arranged so as to face each other.

Further, a bottom roller 5 is provided in the front side of the above-mentioned paper separating mechanism, and means for pressing the paper against the bottom roller 5 and separating the set of one-side copied paper is provided. There is. As a means for pressing and separating the sheet, the apparatus of the present invention uses a separator device 10 having a mechanism as shown in FIG. The separator device 10 of the present invention is a wheel with gears arranged facing each other on both sides and connected by tie bars 13.
11 and the wheel 12, and the separator shaft 20 that is engaged with the geared wheel and the long holes 14 and 14a respectively provided in the wheel and the end portions of which are arranged to project from the side portions of the wheel. Composed of and. The separator shaft 20 is provided with weight rollers 24, 24a at predetermined intervals.

In the separator device 10 of the present invention, a gear provided on one of the geared wheels 11 meshes with a drive gear 17 driven by a motor 16 to drive the device. Then, the geared wheel 11 and the tie bar 13 are rotated by rotating the geared wheel 11.
A wheel 12 that is integrally provided via the wheel is adapted to rotate in an interlocking manner.

In addition, the geared wheel 11 and the wheel 12 of the present invention are provided with support shafts 18 at the outer portions thereof,
Although it is supported by the frame of the intermediate tray or the main body of the copying machine via the support shaft, its description is omitted. Further, cams 15 are provided on both sides of the wheels of the separator device 10 of the present invention, and the cam surfaces of the cams 15 are arranged so as to project upward, and the separator shaft 20 rotates upward. At this time, since the portion of the separator shaft 20 projecting to the side of the wheel slides along the cam surface into the long holes 14 and 14a and is lifted upward, the swing range of the separator shaft 20 is set to be large. You will be able to.

Next, the operation of the separator device of the present invention having the above structure will be described with reference to FIG. When the original is set in the automatic document feeder and the copying operation is started, the single-sided copied paper created in the first stage of the automatic double-sided copy is directed to the intermediate tray as shown in FIG. 4 (a). Are transported and sequentially deposited. At this time, the front end of the single-sided copied paper P stored in the intermediate tray is tie bar 13
And the separator shaft 20 is passed between the separator shaft 20 and the separator shaft 20, and the tip end on the delivery side is deposited on the separator shaft 20.

The separator device 10 is rotated when N sheets of one-sided copied sheets corresponding to the number of originals are accommodated and the next copy set is accommodated in the intermediate tray. When the separator device 10 is rotated, the separator shaft 20 is moved upward while supporting the leading end of the paper as shown in FIG. 2B, and at the same time, the tie bar 13 presses the paper. Be lowered. Further, when the separator device 10 is rotated, the part of the separator shaft 20 protruding from the wheel to the side is engaged with the cam 15, and the cam 15 sets the turning radius of the separator shaft 20 to be large. As mentioned above, it is lifted by the separator shaft 20 and its rear part is the tie bar.
The sheet P pressed by 13 is positioned on the bottom roller 5 with the sheets aligned on the intermediate tray, as shown in FIG.

Then, as shown in FIG.
After the separator shaft 20 has reached the portion above the bottom roller 5 and stopped after 10 revolutions, the weight roller supported by the separator shaft 20 transfers the paper to the bottom roller 5. The sheet is pressed toward the front side, and in a state of being able to send out the one-side copied sheet according to the back side copying mode, the apparatus stands by.

Further, as described above, when the single-sided copied sheet positioned at the paper feeding position is sent out and the single-sided copied sheet created by the image scanning of the next original is to be stored, the sheet shown in FIG. As shown, the separator shaft 20 is accommodated on the separator shaft 20, and at that time, the aligned paper Pa and the aligned paper Pb are separated from each other by the separator shaft 20.
This ensures that they can be separated and stored. The one-sided copied sheet, which is positioned on the bottom roller 5 and pressed by the weight roller 24, is sent out to the sheet separating mechanism by the rotation of the bottom roller 5. In the paper separating mechanism,
Paper is separated by the paper feed roller 6 and the separation roller 7, and 1
The toner images on the back surface are transferred one by one toward an image transfer portion such as a photoconductor drum, and the toner image on the back side is fixed and completed as a double-sided copy, which is then discharged to a discharge tray.

In the separator device of the present invention, the separator device 10 is rotated by the above-described operation, and two rod-shaped members provided in the separator device cause one member to press the rear side of the paper and the other one. Since the member performs an operation of squeezing the leading edge of the paper or an operation of brushing it off, even when the leading edge of the paper is curled, the paper alignment and positioning operations are performed accurately. obtain.
Further, in the copying cycle, the above-described operation of sending out the one-sided copied sheet and accommodating the next set of the one-sided copied sheet is repeated by repeating the operations of FIGS. 4 (a) to (e). It can be performed continuously.

In the separator device 10 of the present invention described above, the geared wheel, the long holes provided in the wheel, and the cams arranged on the side portions have a large turning radius when the separator shaft is rotated. It is provided to allow you to. And, the guide member of the separator shaft formed on the geared wheel and the wheel,
It is not limited to the above-mentioned configuration,
The shape of the cam surface and the like can be changed as necessary.

Further, in the present invention, when pressing the one-side copied sheet by the weight roller, it is possible to arbitrarily set the play range of the separator shaft that supports the weight roller. Further, the intermediate tray of the present invention is not only used for making a double-sided copy as described above, but also for making a multiple copy such that another image is transferred on the image side of the copy. Can also be used.

(Advantages of the Invention) Since the intermediate tray paper feeding device of the present invention has the above-mentioned structure, the two rod-shaped members are rotated to accurately separate the two sets of one-side copied sheets. It is possible to perform the operation of setting the next single-sided copied sheet as well as the operation of the sheet. Further, in the separator shaft of the present invention, since the separator shaft is constructed by joining two kinds of members having different unit weights, the rigidity of the rod member can be secured,
The rod-shaped member can be prevented from being bent due to the weight of the weight roller or the like, and a pressing force can be applied to a certain position of the paper. Further, since the intermediate tray sheet feeding device of the present invention can set the range of the rotational movement of the separator shaft to a large range, the sheet aligning operation can be accurately performed even for the curled single-sided copied sheets. Will be possible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the constitution of the device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing the constitution of the intermediate tray of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the separator device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is the present invention. FIGS. 5A to 5E are operation views showing the operation of separating sheets, and FIG. 5 is a side view showing the configuration of the intermediate tray of the conventional example. Is. Reference numeral 1 in the figure 1 ... Intermediate tray, 5 ... Bottom roller, 6 ... Paper feeding roller, 7 ... Separation roller, 10 ... Separator device, 11
...... Geared wheel, 12 …… Wheel, 13 …… Tie bar, 14 …… Oval hole, 15 …… Cam, 16 …… Motor, 17 …… Drive gear, 20 …… Separator shaft, 21 …… Solid member ,
22 …… Hollow member, 24 …… Weight roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A paper separating mechanism composed of a paper supply roller and a separating roller at an end portion of a feeding side of an intermediate tray for accommodating single-sided copied paper and feeding the paper for back side copying, and the paper feeding mechanism. In an apparatus such as an automatic double-sided copying machine that arranges a bottom roller and a pressing member upstream of the paper roller and sends out the one-sided copied sheet toward the back side copying, in the bottom roller arranged in the intermediate tray. The pressing member that presses the paper against is constituted by a separator device, and the separator device includes a pair of wheels rotatably arranged on both sides of an intermediate tray, a tie bar connecting the wheels, and an elongated hole provided in the wheel. Via a separator shaft movable in the circumferential direction of the wheel, and is housed in the intermediate tray by the separator shaft and the tie bar. And a roller provided on the separator shaft is used as a means for pressing the paper against the bottom roller, two rollers are arranged on the separator shaft, and the two rollers are arranged. An intermediate tray sheet feeding device, characterized in that the intermediate tray is arranged at a position offset to one side and the pressing force of the two rollers against the sheet is set to the same value.