JPH0679941B2 - Paper feeder for electrophotographic printer - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device of an electrophotographic printer capable of handling both single-cut sheets and continuous folding sheets as sheets used in an electrophotographic process type optical printer. It is a thing.

[Prior Art] Generally, a high-speed line printer is widely used as an output device of a computer or the like, and is put into practical use in various forms even in a printing method. For example, there is a dot impact method as a mechanical printing method, and on the other hand, there is also a non-impact method such as an optical printer capable of high-speed printing with a low operation noise as in the present invention, which has a tendency to be manufactured in recent years.

FIG. 4 is a side view of a printer device showing a conventional paper handling method equipped with a wire dot head. FIG. 4 (A) shows an example of disclosure when using the single-cut form 111, in which the printing platen 112 is provided inside the main body device 110, and the print head 113 is brought into contact with the single-form feed roller 114 to the printing platen 112. It is provided in pressure contact, and further has a paper pressing roller 115, and printing of a single sheet and paper feeding are performed. Further, FIG. 4 (B) shows continuous paper 116.
In this case, the single-sheet feed roller 114 is separated from the printing platen 112, and the tractor 117 feeds the sheet. It is well known that there is a printer that can handle both continuous paper and single-cut sheets. By the way, in the case of a high-speed line printer, continuous folding paper (hereinafter referred to as continuous paper) is mainly used as the paper to be used. However, as shown in FIG. 5, depending on the type of output information from the computer or depending on the purpose of use, continuous printing may be performed on the voucher 111. Methods such as providing several 119 and inserting a single cut 111 into the cutout 119 to continuously perform printout processing have already been disclosed in JP-A-60-194544 and JP-A-60-8152. There is.

On the other hand, as a non-impact high-speed printer, a device that converts output information from a computer or the like into a visible image such as a character or a figure by using an electrophotographic method, and handles continuous paper or roll paper exclusively is well known. Has been.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In an optical printer apparatus using an electrophotographic process method,
Output devices used for computers and the like tend to be used because a large amount of information is processed in a short time as a conventional tendency for devices that can handle both single-cut sheets and continuous sheets. Paper that can be used is limited to continuous paper.

However, as described in the above-mentioned prior art, there are cases where it is desired to continuously print the output information in a single-cut size as shown in FIG. 5 according to the content and purpose thereof. In this case, the continuous paper requires a certain degree of strength, so that a slightly thick paper is required, and a special notch is required in the continuous paper, resulting in a high manufacturing cost. Further, there is a drawback that the number of steps for inserting the cut sheet into the cutout portion of the continuous sheet increases.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic printer capable of stable and accurate printing on continuous folding paper as well as single-cut paper, enabling rapid processing of information by high-speed printing, and improving system efficiency. To provide a sheet feeding device.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the object, the sheet feeding device of the electrophotographic printer of the present invention is configured as follows.

(1) In an electrophotographic printer paper feeding device capable of printing on both single-cut sheets and continuous folding paper, it is provided on one side of the main body of the apparatus and is capable of stacking, accommodating and supplying a plurality of single-cut sheets. A hopper provided as described above, a continuous paper supply unit provided near the hopper for supplying continuous folding paper having creases at predetermined intervals, and a cut sheet supplied from the hopper to a printing unit. A single-sheet paper feeding mechanism provided along the paper transportation path in the main body of the apparatus so that the continuous folding paper fed from the continuous paper feeding unit is transported via the printing unit. The continuous folding paper feeding mechanism provided side by side with the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism as much as possible and the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism and the continuous folding paper feeding mechanism provided side by side are selectively selected according to the operation mode. Drive means for driving to, and a paper discharge mechanism provided on the other side surface facing the one side surface of the apparatus main body for discharging printed paper outside the apparatus main body,
It is equipped with.

(2) In the paper feeding device of the electrophotographic printer according to (1) above, the single-cut paper feeding mechanism is arranged near the paper feed port of the hopper, and is composed of a plurality of single papers stacked in the hopper. A paper feed roller provided so that the form paper can be fed one by one, and the paper fed by the paper feed roller,
A take-in roller provided so as to take in the paper transport path,
A plurality of paper feed rollers arranged so as to be scattered along the paper feed path in order to discharge the cut-sheet paper, which has been taken into the paper feed path by the take-in roller and has undergone printing, to the outside of the apparatus main body. , Is included.

(3) In the paper feeding device of the electrophotographic printer according to (1) above, the continuous folding paper feeding mechanism is disposed in the vicinity of the continuous paper feeding unit, and continuously pulls out the continuous folding paper in the feeding unit. And a first tractor provided so that it can be fed by the first tractor, and the continuous folding paper that is fed by the first tractor and conveyed on the paper conveyance path and printed is discharged to the outside of the apparatus main body. A second tractor disposed along the transport path.

(4) In the paper feeding device of the electrophotographic printer according to (1) above, the driving means includes a drive source including a pulse motor and the power of the drive source, and is a single-sheet paper feeding mechanism or a continuous folding paper feeding mechanism. And an electromagnetic clutch provided so as to be capable of transmitting to each of them, and control means for selectively driving and controlling these electromagnetic clutches in accordance with a single-cut sheet mode or a continuous sheet mode.

(5) In the paper feeding device of the electrophotographic printer according to the above (1), the paper discharging mechanism is long at a central portion of a saucer-like lid attached to the other side surface of the main body of the device so as to be openable and closable. Equipped with a stacker with a hole-shaped paper discharge port,
In the opened state, the tray part of the tray-shaped lid of the stacker can receive and store the printed cut sheets, and in the closed state, the printed continuous folding sheets are discharged from the sheet discharge port of the stacker. It is possible.

[Operation] As a result of taking the above measures, the following effects occur.

(1) In the single-cut sheet mode, the drive unit selectively drives the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism. Therefore, the plurality of cut sheets stacked in the hopper are sequentially fed to the paper transport path in the main body of the apparatus, are transported on the paper transport path via the printing unit, and are subjected to desired printing. The cut sheet is ejected from the paper ejection mechanism to the outside of the main body.

In the continuous paper mode, the continuous folding paper feeding mechanism is selectively driven by the driving means. Therefore, the continuous folding paper stored in the paper supply unit is continuously pulled out and continuously fed to the paper conveyance path in the apparatus main body, and conveyed on the paper conveyance path via the printing unit.
The continuous folding paper on which the required printing has been performed is ejected from the paper ejection mechanism to the outside of the apparatus body.

In this way, even though the desired print is performed while being conveyed through the same paper conveyance path, single-cut sheets are individually conveyed by the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism and continuous folding sheets are continuously conveyed by the continuous folding sheet feeding mechanism. Therefore, for single-cut sheets and continuous folding sheets, proper conveyance is performed under the most preferable conditions.

(2) In addition to the effect of (1) above, the single-cut sheets are accurately fed one by one to the sheet conveyance path by the take-in roller, and are stably conveyed by a plurality of sheet feed rollers. Become.

(3) In addition to the effects of the above (1), since the continuous folding paper is conveyed by the first and second tractors,
It is possible to stably convey at a predetermined conveyance timing without causing a print position shift or the like.

(4) In addition to the effects of the above (1), the single sheet paper feed mechanism or the continuous folding paper feed mechanism is selectively controlled by a single drive source according to the operation mode.

(5) In addition to the effect of (1) above, printed single-cut sheets are stored in the tray part of the open stacker stacker, and printed continuous folding sheets are output from the sheet discharge port of the open stacker stacker. Since the sheets are discharged through the same sheet discharging mechanism, there is an advantage that each sheet can be taken out in a required manner, which is convenient.

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of an electrophotographic printer to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a main body, and an operation switch panel for a power switch, a single-cut mode, a continuous paper mode, etc. is provided on the front surface, and 2 is a hopper for loading single-cut sheets of various sizes according to the purpose of use. When a single-cut sheet is used as the stacker 3, the stacker is rotated to open and store the post-printed single-cut sheet as a sheet storage stand. Reference numeral 3a is a slot-shaped discharge port provided in the stacker. 4 is continuous paper, first
The external view shown in the figure is the usage state of the continuous paper. Second
The figure is a side view of the interior of FIG. FIG. 3 is a detailed perspective view showing a feeding mechanism for cut sheets and continuous paper.
In the figure, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are indicated by the same symbols. A pulse motor 5 is a drive source that conveys cut sheets or continuous sheets. 5a, 5b, 5c are drive pulleys, 6,7,8,18,21 are conveyor belts, 6a, 10a,
Reference numerals 11a, 11b, 16a, 20a and 23a denote pulleys, which are connected to the respective conveyor belts. Reference numerals 9 and 10 denote two pairs of feed rollers, both of which are capable of conveying cut sheets, 11 is a take-in roller, which conveys cut sheets to a transfer portion, 12 is an electromagnetic clutch, and take-in rollers 11 13 is a follower roller of the take-in roller 11,
The separation operation is performed by driving the solenoid 15. 14 is a link for the operation. Reference numeral 16 is a paper feed roller, which feeds the cut sheets one by one to the transfer unit, 17 is an electromagnetic clutch which transmits and stops the rotation of the feed roller 16, and 19 is a cut sheet , 20 is the second for continuous paper transport
A tractor 22 is an electromagnetic clutch for transmitting and stopping the rotation of the second tractor 20, and 23 is a first tractor for mounting continuous paper.
Thus, rotation transmission and stop operation are performed via the pulley 20a, the conveyor belt 21, and the pulley 23a. 24 is the photosensitive drum (second
Figure), which converts characters and figures into a visible image,
Reference numeral 25 denotes a conveyance guide, which is a conveyance path that guides cut sheets or continuous paper. Reference numeral 26 is a heat roller fixing device for fixing the toner powder image on the paper, and 27 is a single-cut detection sensor provided near the paper feed roller 16. This is to detect the leading edge and the trailing edge of the cut sheet fed from the hopper.

The operation of the electrophotographic printer described above is as follows.

For example, when the single-cut mode is selected by the mode selection of the operation switch provided on the operation panel of FIG. 1, the stacker 3 is rotated in advance as shown by the chain line on the left side of FIG. 2 to finish printing. Be prepared to store the cut sheet. In the operation of the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism (FIG. 3), the drive pulleys 5a, 5b, 5c fixed on the motor shaft start rotating by driving the pulse motor 5 by the control means (not shown). By this rotation operation, the pair of feed rollers 9 and the drive pulley 5b and the pulley which are coaxially fixed
The pair of feed rollers 10 connected via the conveyor belt 7 between the 10a are synchronously rotated. On the other hand, the shaft of the tractor 20 is connected between the drive pulley 5a and the pulley 6a via the conveyor belt 6 and is rotated, but in the single-cut mode, the control of the electromagnetic clutch 22 for urging the coaxial is in the disengaged state. Therefore, the rotation transmission of the shaft of the second tractor 20 is separated. At the same time, the first tractor 23 is also stopped. Therefore, the rotation driving system of the paper feed roller 16 is connected between the drive pulley 5c and the pulley 11a via the conveyor belt 8, and further, the pulley 11b coaxially fixed to the pulley 11a and the pulley 16a provided on the shaft of the paper feed roller 16 are provided. Are connected to each other via a conveyor belt 18. Here, the electromagnetic clutch 17 on the paper feed roller shaft is attracted by the control means in the single-cut mode, that is, the rotation of the paper feed roller 16 is transmitted and the single-cut paper 19 is fed. Next, the leading end of the fed single-cut sheet 19 abuts on the contact position between the take-in roller 11 and the driven roller 13. Considering the vibration of the single-cut sheet 19 generated during feeding, after waiting for a while, the electromagnetic clutch 12 is operated by the control means (not shown) to transmit the rotation to the take-in roller 11, and the photosensitive drum 24 To the transfer section (FIG. 2). At this time, the solenoid 15 has already been sucked by the control means (not shown) in the single-cut mode, so that the driven roller 13 is linked.
It is held in close contact with the take-in roller 11 via 14. The cut sheet paper 19 that has been conveyed is visualized as characters and figures at the transfer section, passes through the conveyance guide 25 (FIG. 2), and is clamped by the pair of feed rollers 10 and conveyed. The pair of feed rollers 9 provided further downstream holds the sheet between them and conveys it. Finally, after the process of fixing the toner powder image on the paper by the heat roller fixing device 26 (FIG. 2), it is sent to the discharge port of the apparatus main body 1 and stored in the stacker 3 shown by the chain line.

Here, the continuous fetch processing operation of the cut sheet 19 will be described. First, the electromagnetic clutch 17 is controlled by a control means (not shown).
To feed rotation to the paper feed roller 16 and
Will be delivered. The single-cut sheet sensor 19 detects the single-cut sheet 19
The leading end portion of is detected and the detection signal is stored in a first storage device (not shown). The cut sheet 19 is conveyed to the position of the take-in roller 11 arranged at a predetermined distance from the detection position.

Here, the control of the electromagnetic clutch 17 is interrupted by the detection signal stored in the first storage device to separate the rotation transmission of the paper feed roller 16. (At this time, the paper feed roller 16 can rotate by its own weight only in the feeding direction.) Next, the electromagnetic clutch 12 is driven by the control means (not shown) to transmit the rotation to the take-in roller 11 to obtain the previously known cut sheet paper. The length of 19 is conveyed and the control is cut off.

Further, the end portion of the cut sheet paper 19 is detected by the cut sheet detection sensor 27 in the carrying process, and is stored in a second storage device (not shown). After carrying a predetermined amount from this detection position, the electromagnetic clutch is again activated by a signal from the second storage device.
17 is driven and rotation is transmitted to the take-in roller 16 to start the feeding operation of the next cut sheet 19. After that, the above operation is repeated and executed.

Next, the operation of the continuous paper feeding mechanism will be described. When handling continuous paper, the stacker unit 3 (Fig. 2) is set upright in advance. Further, it goes without saying that the continuous paper 4 is attached to the tractor 23 provided at the paper insertion port.

Here, the continuous paper mode is selected by the mode selection of the operation switch provided on the operation panel in FIG. By this mode selection, the control of the electromagnetic clutches 17 and 12, which are the drive sources of the paper feed roller 16 and the take-in roller 11 of the single-cut feeding mechanism, is cut off in advance, and the rotation transmission system is separated.

Similarly, driving of the solenoid 15 also releases the suction operation. Therefore, the driven roller 13 is held at a position separated from the outer peripheral surface of the take-in roller by a spring force (not shown) via the link 14.

The drive means 5a, 5b, 5c fixed on the motor shafts respectively start rotating operation by driving the pulse motor 5 by the control means (not shown) in the same manner as the above-described single-cut feeding mechanism. Here, the power transmission in the drive pulleys 5b and 5c is the same as that in the above-mentioned single-cut feeding mechanism, and the description thereof will be omitted. Therefore, the drive pulley 5a and the pulley 6a are connected via the conveyor belt 6, and the electromagnetic clutch 22 is provided on the pulley 6a shaft. The electromagnetic clutch 22 is controlled by the mode control (continuous paper mode) known in advance. The control signal has already been given, and the rotation of the shaft of the tractor 20 can be transmitted. Further, a pulley fixed on the shaft of the tractor 20.
Synchronous rotation is transmitted between the pulley 20a and the pulley 20a via the conveyor belt 21, and the first tractor 23 arranged at the paper insertion port is rotated to convey the continuous paper 4. As a result, the continuous paper 4 mounted on the tractor 23 passes through the conveyance guide 25 and is visualized as characters or figures at the transfer portion of the photosensitive drum 24 in accordance with the print command, similar to the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism. Then, the toner powder image is fixed on the paper by means of the heat roller fixing unit 26 (Fig. 2). Through this step, the stacker 3 is sequentially discharged from the elongated hole-shaped discharge port 3a (FIG. 1).

[Advantages of the Invention] The present invention includes a single-cut sheet feeding mechanism provided along a paper conveyance path in a main body of an apparatus so as to convey single-cut sheets supplied from a hopper via a printing unit, and a continuous paper supply unit. A continuous folding sheet feeding mechanism provided along a sheet conveying path so as to convey the fed continuous folding sheet via a printing unit, a driving means for selectively driving these sheet feeding mechanisms, and a printed sheet as the device. It is equipped with a paper ejection mechanism that ejects it out of the main body, and while it is being conveyed through the same paper conveyance path, the required printing is performed. Are configured to be independently conveyed by the continuous folding paper feeding mechanism. Therefore, according to the present invention, single-cut sheets and continuous folding sheets are conveyed on a common sheet conveyance path, and there is an advantage that proper conveyance can be performed under the most preferable conditions for each sheet. It is possible to provide a paper feeding device for an electrophotographic printer.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment of a high-speed printing electrophotographic printer applied to the present invention, and this drawing particularly shows an example of use of continuous folding paper. FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the paper feeding mechanism showing the inside of the main body of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a detailed perspective view showing the drive system of the paper feeding mechanism, and FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B) are conventional wires. FIG. 5 is a side view of a paper handling system of a printer using a dot head, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of disclosure when printing is performed on a single-cut sheet using a conventional high-speed line printer. 1 ... Device body, 2 ... Hopper, 3 ... Stacker, 3a ...
… Oval hole-shaped outlet, 4 …… Continuous folding paper, 5 …… Pulse motor, 9,10 …… A pair of feed rollers, 11 …… Intake rollers, 12,17,22 …… Electromagnetic clutch, 13 …… Driven roller, 15 …… solenoid, 16 …… paper feed roller, 19 …… single sheet, 20,23 …… tractor, 25 …… transport guide, 27 ……
Single-cut detection sensor.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding device for an electrophotographic printer capable of printing on both single-cut sheets and continuous folding sheets, which is provided on one side of the main body of the apparatus, and stores and holds a plurality of single-cut sheets. A hopper provided so as to be able to supply, a continuous paper supply unit provided in the vicinity of the hopper for supplying continuous folding paper with creases provided at predetermined intervals, and a single-cut paper supplied from the hopper. A single-sheet paper feeding mechanism provided along a paper transportation path in the main body of the apparatus so that it can be transported via a printing unit, and continuous folding paper fed from the continuous paper feeding unit,
A continuous folding paper feeding mechanism provided side by side with the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism so that it can be conveyed via the printing unit, and the single-cut sheet feeding mechanism and the continuous folding paper feeding mechanism provided side by side are selectively driven according to the operation mode. An electrophotographic printer, comprising: a driving unit that drives the apparatus main body, and a paper ejection mechanism that is provided on the other side surface that opposes one side surface of the apparatus main body and ejects printed paper to the outside of the apparatus main body. Paper feeder. 2. A sheet feeding mechanism provided in the vicinity of a sheet feeding port of a hopper so as to feed a plurality of sheet sheets stacked in the hopper one by one. A roller, a take-in roller provided so as to take the paper fed by the paper feed roller into the paper conveyance path, and a single sheet which has been taken into the paper conveyance path by the take-in roller and which has been subjected to print processing. The electrophotographic printer according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of paper feed rollers arranged so as to be scattered along the paper conveyance path so as to eject the paper to the outside of the apparatus main body. Paper feeder. 3. A continuous folding sheet feeding mechanism is provided in the vicinity of the continuous sheet feeding section, and is provided with a first tractor provided so that the continuous folding sheet in the feeding section can be continuously pulled out and fed. A second tractor arranged along the paper transport path for discharging the continuous folding paper, which has been fed by the first tractor, transported on the paper transport path, and printed, to the outside of the apparatus main body; The sheet feeding device for an electrophotographic printer according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding device is included. 4. The drive means comprises a drive source including a pulse motor and the like, and an electromagnetic clutch provided so that the power of the drive source can be transmitted to each of the cut sheet feeding mechanism or the continuous folding sheet feeding mechanism. 2. A sheet feeding device for an electrophotographic printer according to claim 1, further comprising: a control unit that selectively drives and controls the electromagnetic clutch according to a single-cut sheet mode or a continuous sheet mode. 5. A sheet discharging mechanism is provided with a stacker provided with a slot-shaped sheet discharging port at a central portion of a saucer-shaped lid body attached to the other side surface of the apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable. In the above, the tray part of the tray-like lid of the stacker can receive and store the printed cut sheets, and in the closed state, the continuous stack of printed sheets can be discharged from the sheet discharge port of the stacker. The sheet feeding device for an electrophotographic printer according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding device is provided.