JPH07285685A - Sheet feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the size of a sheet feeder in the specified direction which separately feeds a plurality of sheets stacked on a sheet stacking part. CONSTITUTION:A friction member 4 is arranged on the upper face of sheets 2 stacked on a sheet stacking part 3 to be capable of being brought into contact with the sheets 2, and a member pressure contacting mechanism for pressure contacting the member 4 to the sheets 2 and a member rotating mechanism for rotation driving the member 4. The sheets 2 are maintained in a manner to be orthogonal to the carrying direction. With such an arrangement, the whole size of the sheets 2 in the short direction being held can be shortened.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device for feeding a large number of stacked sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art PPC (Plane Pap
A sheet body such as an er copy) sheet or an OHP (Over-Head Projector) sheet is stacked and accumulated in advance, and the sheets are separately fed one by one and used for image printing.

Therefore, generally, in a printer or the like, a sheet feeding device that feeds the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets and a sheet that is fed by the sheet feeding device. And a sheet separating device for completely separating the body into one sheet. The sheet feeding device as described above has a structure in which a rotatable feeding roller is supported above a sheet placing portion on which a sheet body is stacked so as to be vertically movable. Has a structure in which a rotatable friction roller is in contact with a friction plate.

[0004]

Each of the above-described sheet feeding devices has a structure in which a large number of sheet bodies stacked on the sheet mounting portion are separated one by one.

Here, since the printing paper is generally rectangular and the total lengths of the long side and the short side are different, the sheet feeding device for holding such a printing paper in the sheet placing portion is also different from the front and back. The length is different between the left and right. Then, the printer device or the like defines the direction of the printing paper so as to be appropriate for sheet conveyance and image printing, and the sheet feeding device is also arranged corresponding to this direction.

Here, in such a printer device, it is sometimes desired to shorten one of the front-rear length and the left-right length of the sheet feeding device due to the internal layout and the like. It is difficult to shorten the front-rear length and the left-right length of the sheet feeding device held by the section.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A sheet placing portion on which a large number of sheet bodies are stacked is provided, and a friction member facing the upper surface of the sheet body stacked on the sheet placing portion is provided so as to freely come into contact with and separate from the sheet mounting portion. A member pressing mechanism that presses the upper surface of the sheet body stacked on the sheet body is provided, and a member rotating mechanism that rotationally drives the friction member pressed by the member pressing mechanism to the upper surface of the sheet body is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the separating member is provided at a position where the lower surface of the sheet member that rotates together with the friction member that is rotationally driven by the member rotating mechanism is rubbed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, sheet detecting means for detecting the position of the sheet member rotating together with the friction member driven by the member rotating mechanism is provided. Rotation control means for driving and controlling the member rotation mechanism is provided corresponding to the result.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the sheet body is held and conveyed at a position where an end portion of the sheet body that rotates together with a friction member driven to rotate by the member rotating mechanism moves. A sheet transport mechanism is provided.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the member pressing mechanism is formed by a weight.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the member rotating mechanism rotationally drives the friction member, which is brought into pressure contact with the upper surfaces of the plurality of sheet members stacked on the sheet placing portion, by the member rotating mechanism to rotate the sheet member. Let me feed you.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the separating member scrapes the lower surface of the sheet member that rotates together with the friction member driven by the member rotating mechanism so that the sheet member that is fed by the rotation of the friction member is separated by the separating member. Separate well.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the sheet detecting means detects the position of the sheet body rotating together with the friction member driven by the member rotating mechanism, the rotation control means operates the member rotating mechanism in response to the detection result. By controlling the drive,
Reliably feed the rotating sheet to the optimum position for conveyance.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the sheet conveying mechanism holds and conveys the sheet body at a position where the end portion of the sheet body that rotates together with the friction member that rotates the member rotating mechanism moves. Even when the second and subsequent sheet bodies rotate following the first sheet body, only the first sheet body is held and conveyed by the sheet conveying mechanism.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the member pressure contact mechanism is formed by the weight, the pressure by the member pressure contact mechanism does not change even if the position of the friction member moves up and down due to the increase or decrease of the sheet body.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the invention described in claim 1 will be described below with reference to FIG. In this embodiment, the front-back direction and the left-right direction are defined with the conveyance direction of the sheet body as the front.
This is defined for convenience in order to simplify the description, and does not limit the actual installation or use direction of the device.

First, in this sheet feeding apparatus 1, a sheet placing section 3 on which a large number of sheet bodies 2 are stacked is provided by a tray or the like, and the sheet bodies 2 stacked on the sheet placing section 3 are provided. The friction member 4 is disposed above and above the support member 5 by a support shaft 5 so as to come into contact with and separate from the friction member 4. Then, a member pressing contact mechanism (not shown) that supports the friction member 4 movably in the vertical direction by the support shaft 5 and presses it against the upper surface of the sheet body 2 stacked on the sheet mounting portion 3 is a solenoid. A member rotating mechanism (not shown) for rotating and driving the friction member 4 pressed against the upper surface of the sheet body 2 by the support shaft 5 is formed by a drive motor or the like. ing.

In such a structure, the sheet feeding apparatus 1 is formed, for example, as a part of a printer apparatus (not shown), and the sheet separating apparatus (not shown) of the printer apparatus has a PPC. A sheet body 2 such as a sheet of paper or an OHP sheet is fed.

Therefore, when the sheet feeding device 1 feeds the sheet body 2 stacked on the sheet placing portion 3, as shown in FIG.
As illustrated in (a), the friction member 4 is pressed against the upper surface of the stacked sheet bodies 2 by a member pressing contact mechanism, and as illustrated in FIG. The friction member 4 brought into pressure contact is rotationally driven by the member rotating mechanism. Then, the uppermost one of the sheet bodies 2 stacked together with the friction member 4 rotates and projects forward, so that the sheet body 2 is held by the sheet separating device. Therefore, the same figure (c)
In this state, the member pressing mechanism moves the friction member 4 upward and separates it from the sheet body 2, so that the sheet body 2 is separated and fed into the printer apparatus by the sheet separating apparatus. .

Here, the printer apparatus using the sheet feeding apparatus 1 conveys the rectangular sheet body 2 here in the longitudinal direction to execute image printing.
The sheet feeding apparatus 1 holds the sheet body 2 in a direction orthogonal to this. For this reason, in this sheet feeding device 1, the entire length of the sheet body 2 in the conveying direction is equal to the short side of the sheet body 2, and the sheet feeding device 1 is moved to the sheet body 2 due to the internal layout and the like. It is most suitable for printers, etc. that want to shorten in the transport direction.

When the sheet body 2 is conveyed in the longitudinal direction, the sheet conveying apparatus 1 holds the sheet body 2 in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. When the sheet is conveyed in the lateral direction, the sheet body 2 can be held in a direction orthogonal to the sheet.

That is, when the sheet body 2 is conveyed in the longitudinal direction, the sheet feeding apparatus 1 holds the sheet body 2 so that the conveying direction is the lateral direction. The sheet body 2 can be shortened in the conveying direction, and when the sheet body 2 is conveyed in the lateral direction, the sheet body 2 is held so that the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction is the lateral direction. The entire sheet body 2 can be shortened in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction. Therefore, when it is desired to shorten the sheet feeding device 1 in the longitudinal direction of the conveyed state of the sheet body 2 as described above, the sheet feeding device 1 is suitable.

Further, the sheet feeding device 1 feeds the sheet body 2 to the sheet separating device as described above, but in reality, the sheet body 2 is rotated by the friction member 4. The sheet separating device can be omitted because the separating property is extremely good when the sheet is fed. That is, since the frictional resistance between the stacked sheet bodies 2 decreases toward the top due to the weight of the sheet bodies 2, the uppermost one sheet has the smallest frictional resistance, and the stacked sheet bodies 2 are If it is simply transported, only the topmost sheet can be separated and fed.

However, in the conventional sheet feeding device for feeding the sheet body 2 by the feeding roller, the friction resistance between the stacked sheet bodies 2 is maximized because the sheet body 2 is pressed by the feeding roller from above. The sheet member 2 is low in separability because the moving speed of the sheet member 2 by the feeding roller is uniform over the entire surface and the frictional resistance is great, from the uppermost position to the lowermost position.

In the sheet feeding device 1 for rotating and feeding the sheet body 2, the rotating sheet body 2 is used.
Since the sheet body 2 is not pressed outside at a high speed, the uppermost one sheet body 2 having the smallest frictional resistance is separated and fed at this position. At this time, the sheet body 2 is pressed at the position of the friction member 4, but at this position, the moving speed of the sheet body 2 is low, so that the frictional resistance is small, and this frictional resistance hinders the separation of the sheet body. Never. Therefore, since the sheet feeding device 1 actually functions as a sheet separating device, it is possible to use one sheet as a separating feeding device.

As an embodiment of the invention described in claim 1, the friction member 4 is formed by using a solenoid or the like in a member pressure contact mechanism for pressing the friction member 4 against the sheet body 2. Although it has been illustrated that the members are pressed and moved in the vertical direction, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. As an embodiment of the invention according to claim 5, the member pressing mechanism is formed by a weight ( (Not shown) is also possible. By doing so, the pressure of the member pressing mechanism does not change even if the position of the friction member 4 moves up and down due to the increase or decrease of the sheet body 2, so that the performance of the sheet feeding apparatus can be stabilized.

Further, here, as one embodiment of the invention described in claim 1, it is illustrated that the stacked sheet bodies 2 are separated and fed only by the friction member 4. However, as illustrated in FIG. As an embodiment of the invention described in 2, it is also possible to use a sheet feeding device 7 in which a separating member 6 is provided at a position where the lower surface of the rotating sheet body 2 is rubbed with rubber having a large frictional resistance. By doing so, in the sheet feeding device 7, the sheet member 2 to be fed by the rotation of the friction member 4 can be favorably separated by the separating member 6, so that the performance of separating and feeding can be improved.

Further, as an embodiment of the invention described in claim 3, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a sheet detecting means for detecting the position of the rotating sheet body 2 is provided by a pressure sensitive switch 8,
It is also possible to use a sheet feeding device 9 or the like in which a rotation control means for driving and controlling the member rotation mechanism corresponding to the detection result of the pressure sensitive switch 8 is formed by a driver circuit (not shown) or the like. By doing so, the sheet feeding device 9
Since it is possible to reliably feed the rotating sheet body 2 to the optimum position for conveyance, it is possible to contribute to the improvement of reliability.

Further, as an embodiment of the invention described in claim 4, as illustrated in FIG. 4, a sheet which holds and conveys the sheet body 2 at a position where the end portion of the rotating sheet body 2 moves. A sheet feeding device 12 or the like in which the transport mechanism 10 is provided by a pair of feed rollers 11 is also possible. By doing so, the sheet feeding device 12 is configured such that, as shown in the drawing, even when the second and subsequent sheet bodies 2 rotate after the first sheet body 2, the first sheet body 2 rotates. Since only the sheet 2 can be held and conveyed by the sheet conveying mechanism 10, the performance of separation and feeding can be improved.

As an embodiment of the invention described in claims 1 to 5, as shown in FIG. 5, the member pressure contact mechanism is formed of a weight (not shown), and the lower surface of the rotating sheet body 2 is The separating member 6 is provided at the position to be rubbed, the sheet detecting means for detecting the position of the rotating sheet body 2 is provided by the pressure sensitive switch 8, and the member rotating mechanism is driven and controlled according to the detection result of the pressure sensitive switch 8. By forming the rotation control means by a driver circuit (not shown) or the like and providing the sheet conveying mechanism 10 that holds and conveys the sheet body 2, an extremely high performance sheet feeding device 13 can be formed.

[0032]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a sheet mounting portion on which a large number of sheet members are stacked is provided, and friction that opposes the upper surface of the sheet members stacked on the sheet mounting portion in a freely contactable and separable manner. A member pressing mechanism is provided for pressing the friction member onto the upper surface of the sheet body stacked on the sheet mounting portion, and the member pressing mechanism rotates the friction member pressed against the upper surface of the sheet body. By providing the member rotating mechanism for driving, the sheet body can be held in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction, so that the sheet feeding device can be shortened in the short side direction of the held sheet body. Therefore, it is possible to contribute to the improvement of the internal layout of the printer using the sheet feeding apparatus and the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the separating member is provided at a position where the lower surface of the sheet member that rotates together with the friction member rotationally driven by the member rotating mechanism is rubbed. Since the sheet member to be fed by the rotation of 1 can be favorably separated by the separating member, there is an effect that the performance of separation and feeding can be improved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, sheet detecting means for detecting the position of the sheet member rotating together with the friction member driven by the member rotating mechanism is provided, and the sheet detecting means detects the sheet. By providing the rotation control means for driving and controlling the member rotating mechanism according to the result, it is possible to reliably feed the rotating sheet body to the optimum position for conveyance, which contributes to improvement in reliability. It is possible to achieve such effects.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the sheet body is held and conveyed at a position where an end portion of the sheet body that rotates together with a friction member driven by a member rotating mechanism moves. By providing the sheet transport mechanism, even if the second and subsequent sheet bodies rotate following the first sheet body, only the first sheet body can be held and transported by the sheet transport mechanism. Therefore, it is possible to improve the performance of separation and feeding.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, since the member pressure contact mechanism is formed of a weight, even if the position of the friction member moves up and down due to the increase or decrease of the sheet body, the pressure applied by the member pressure contact mechanism is increased. Does not change, so that it has an effect that it can contribute to stable performance of the sheet feeding apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the invention as set forth in claim 1, (a) is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a friction member is pressed against a sheet body, and (b) is a friction member. FIG. 6C is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the friction member is rotated, and FIG. 7C is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the friction member is separated from the sheet body.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the invention as set forth in claim 2;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the invention as set forth in claim 3;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the invention as set forth in claim 4;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the invention described in claims 1 to 4.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 7, 9, 12, 13 Sheet feeding device 2 Sheet body 3 Sheet placing portion 4 Friction member 6 Separation member 8 Sheet detecting means 10 Sheet conveying mechanism

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet mounting portion on which a large number of sheet members are stacked, a friction member facing the upper surface of the sheet members stacked on the sheet mounting portion so as to come in contact with and separate from the upper surface of the sheet member, and the friction member is the sheet. A member pressing mechanism that presses the upper surface of the sheet body stacked on the mounting portion; and a member rotating mechanism that rotationally drives the friction member that presses the upper surface of the sheet body. A characteristic sheet feeding device. 2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a separating member is provided at a position where the lower surface of the sheet member that rotates together with the friction member that is rotated by the member rotating mechanism is rubbed. 3. A rotation detecting means for detecting the position of a sheet body rotating together with a friction member rotatingly driven by a member rotating mechanism, and driving control of the member rotating mechanism according to a detection result of the sheet detecting means. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit. 4. A sheet conveying mechanism for holding and conveying the sheet body at a position where an end portion of the sheet body rotating together with a friction member rotationally driven by the member rotating mechanism moves. The sheet feeding device described. 5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the member pressing mechanism is formed by a weight.