JPH07291471A - Paper sheet conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a sheet conveying device which can take out and convey sheets of paper while using a minimally required space. CONSTITUTION:A belt 105 is installed in contact with the oversurface of a sheet of paper 110 and pinched by a drive roller 101 and a pressure roller 107. The drive roller 101 and belt 105 mesh with each other in the meshing part 106 and can move from the leading edge 110a of the sheet 110 to its trailing edge when the drive roller 101 is rotated. A suction part 104 to suck the leading edge is provided on the surface of the belt 105, and when the suction part 104 is operated and the belt 105 is moved to the trailing edge of the sheet 110, its leading edge is heaved. A feed roller 108 is installed in a position where the heaved sheet 110 comes in contact. Opposing the feed roller 108, a holder roller 109 is installed for pinching the heaved sheet 110 and conveying it.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device used to convey a sheet-shaped recording sheet to a recording head portion of a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, smaller devices such as printers, facsimiles, and copiers that record on paper have been required, and the development of techniques for using a thin motor and miniaturizing a paper transport mechanism has been promoted. There is.

These general recording mechanisms can be roughly classified into an electrophotographic recording system using a laser or an LED capable of recording on plain paper and an ink jet recording system, both of which are intended for sheet-like paper. Many. Therefore, these recording mechanisms require a sheet conveying device for conveying the sheet-shaped sheet to the recording head unit.

For example, an electrophotographic recording system represented by a laser printer has a photosensitive drum 603 having a charging section 601 and a developing section 602 as shown in FIG.
A laser unit 604 for forming an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor drum 603, and a transfer unit 606 for transferring the developed toner image on the photoconductor drum 603 to the recording paper 605.
And a fixing unit 607 that fixes the toner image transferred onto the recording paper 605. The recording paper 605 is stacked on the paper hopper 608, and the paper hopper 60 is loaded on the basis of a recording signal transmitted from a host computer (not shown).
The recording paper 605 at the uppermost position among the recording papers No. 8 is conveyed one by one to the photoconductor drum 603 which is the head portion by the conveying unit 609 for conveying the recording paper 605.

The transport unit 609 will be described with reference to FIG. The recording paper 605 is placed on the paper push-up plate 703 in the paper hopper 608, and is pressed against the pick roller 705 made of a rubber material by the spring force of the push-up spring 704. The pick roller 705 has a friction plate 70.
6 are in contact with each other, and by rotating the pick roller 705 counterclockwise in the drawing, the recording paper 605 moves toward the friction plate 706. At this time, the first recording sheets 605 and 2
The frictional force between the second recording paper 605 and the second recording paper 60 is
5 is smaller than the friction force between the friction plate 706 and the friction plate 706, the second recording paper 605 stops on the friction plate 706, only the first recording paper 605 is taken out, passes through the guide 707, and is fed to the feed roller. Reach 708. After that, the recording paper 605 is conveyed by the rotation of the feed roller 708.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional paper conveying apparatus, the recording paper is taken out from the paper hopper one by one by utilizing the frictional force between the recording paper and the friction plate, so that the first paper is conveyed. In order to separate the recording paper from the second recording paper and to smoothly convey the first recording paper, it is necessary to bring the recording paper and the friction plate into contact with each other in as wide an area as possible. Therefore, a pick roller having a large diameter d (see FIG. 9) (about 30 mm) is used, and the height of the pick roller is increased accordingly, which is an obstacle to downsizing of the apparatus. Further, since the recording paper conveyed by the friction roller has to advance to the direction of the friction plate to some extent, the curvature of the guide cannot be reduced. Therefore, an extra space L (see FIG. 9) is required from one end of the paper hopper, which also hinders downsizing of the apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a paper transporting device which can take out and transport a paper in a minimum space.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is provided with a suction section capable of controlling suction and release of a sheet, and the sheet is sucked by the suction section. And a pair of conveying rollers for nipping and conveying the leading end of the sheet turned up by the pickup mechanism.

Further, the paper is a plurality of stacked sheets of paper, and the pickup mechanism is arranged so that the suction unit sucks the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets. May be

Further, the pickup mechanism has a belt that can move from the front end portion to the rear end portion of the paper while rolling on the paper, and the suction portion is provided on at least a part of the surface of the belt. What is provided, the pickup mechanism has a roller that can move from the front end portion to the rear end portion of the paper while rolling on the paper, and the suction portion has at least one surface of the roller. And the pickup mechanism has an arm that is rotatably supported about an axis parallel to the edge of the paper, and the suction unit can contact the upper surface of the paper. It may be provided at the tip of the arm.

The suction section is configured to suction the sheet by vacuum suction for sucking air from a large number of fine holes, or to suction the sheet by electrostatic suction using charging of the sheet. Good.

[0012]

In the sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention constructed as described above, the leading edge of the sheet is sucked up by the suction section of the pickup mechanism and turned up. Then, the front end of the sheet that has been turned up by the pickup mechanism is nipped by the pair of conveyance rollers. When the leading edge of the paper is pinched, the suction of the paper by the suction unit is released, and the transport roller is rotated to transport the paper. Since the leading edge of the sheet is flipped up and the sheet is sandwiched in this manner, the pickup mechanism and the conveying roller are arranged above the sheet, and the sheet conveying device is configured within the range of the size of the sheet. Further, since a member having a large diameter such as a conventional pick roller is not required, the height is low. Further, since the sheets are turned up by suction, only the uppermost one sheet is reliably separated from the stacked plural sheet-shaped sheets.

As a pickup mechanism for flipping the leading end of the paper, a belt or a roller is provided so as to be able to move while rolling on the paper, and an adsorption portion is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the belt or the roller, or a rotatable arm. Is provided
It is conceivable that the tip of the arm is provided with a suction portion. If the belt or roller is movably installed while rolling, move the belt or roller from the leading edge to the trailing edge of the sheet while the suction section is operating to attract the sheet to the outer peripheral surface of the belt or roller. Then, the paper is turned up. Further, in the case where the suction section is provided at the tip of the rotatably supported arm, the suction section is operated while the suction section is in contact with the upper surface of the sheet, and the arm is rotated by a predetermined angle. The suction unit rotates together with the arm while suctioning the sheet, and the sheet is turned up. In this case, in particular, the arm and the suction unit operate integrally, so that the configuration and operation are simple.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a belt supporting structure of the sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG. It is an exploded perspective view.

As shown in FIG. 1, the axis of rotation is parallel to the side of the front end 110a of the sheet 110, and is arranged to face each other with a gap in the direction from the front end 110a to the rear end of the paper 110. Two holding rollers 102, 103
A belt 105 is wound around the sheet, and the outer peripheral surface of the belt 105 is in contact with the upper surface of the uppermost sheet 110 of the plurality of sheets 110 stacked in a sheet hopper (not shown).

A driving roller 101 having a gear-like meshing portion 106 formed on the outer peripheral surface is arranged between the holding rollers 102 and 103 in parallel with the holding rollers 102 and 103. , Meshes with teeth formed on both sides of the inner peripheral surface of the belt 105 on the upper inner peripheral surface of the belt 105. Drive roller 101
Is fixed to a drive shaft 101a that is rotated by a drive source (not shown) such as a motor, and sandwiches the belt 105 with a pressing roller 107 that is disposed above the belt 105 and is rotatably supported.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, each of the holding rollers 102 and 103 is rotatably supported by two supporting members 111 attached to both ends thereof while keeping their intervals. Each support member 111 has a long hole 111a parallel to the facing direction of each holding roller 102, 103.
Is formed, and the drive shaft 101a is formed in the long hole 111a.
Is loosely fitted. As a result, when the drive shaft 101a is rotated to rotate the drive roller 101, the belt 105
While rolling on the paper 110, the leading edge 11 of the paper 110
It is configured to move in a direction perpendicular to the side of 0a.

At a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the belt 105, a suction portion 104 for sucking and holding the paper 110 is provided. As the position of the suction unit 104, the sheet 1 formed by a feed roller 108 and a pressing roller 109 described later is used.
In consideration of the nipping margin of 10, the holding roller 103 on the leading edge side of the sheet 110 is 10 mm from the leading edge 110a of the sheet 110.
It is preferably provided at a position facing the paper 110 when it is at a moderate position. Also, the belt 1 at this time
The position of 05 is set as the initial position, and the paper 1
The belt 105 is prevented from moving toward the tip side of 10. As the suction mechanism of the suction unit 104, vacuum suction from a fine hole by a suction pump or electrostatic suction using charging of paper can be used. However, these are generally known techniques. Detailed description is omitted.

As is clear from the above description, the drive roller 101, the drive shaft 101a, the holding rollers 102,
The pickup mechanism is configured by 103, the belt 105, and the pressing roller 107.

Further, the belt 105 is attached to the paper 110 while the paper 110 is adsorbed by the adsorption portion 104 of the belt 105.
When moved to the rear end side, the leading end 110a of the paper 110 is lifted as the belt 105 moves. At the position where the lifted leading end of the paper 110 touches, a drive source (not shown) such as a motor. The feed roller 108 which is rotated by is rotatably supported, and the pressing roller 109 is rotatably provided so as to face the feed roller 108. Further, the pressing roller 109 is movably provided so as to press the feed roller 108, and by pressing the pressing roller 109 against the feed roller 108 while the feed roller 108 is in contact with the paper, the feeding roller 108 and the pressing roller 108 are pressed. The paper 110 is nipped by 109. Then, when the feed roller 108 is rotated in this state, the sandwiched paper 110 is conveyed. The feed roller 108 and the pressing roller 109 form a pair of conveying rollers.

Next, the operation of the sheet conveying apparatus of this embodiment will be described.

First, when the feed roller 108 and the pressing roller 109 are separated from each other, and the drive shaft 101a is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure with the suction portion 104 being operated, the meshing portion 106 of the drive roller 101 becomes a belt. 1
Since the belt 105 is engaged with the teeth of No. 05 and is sandwiched by the driving roller 101 and the pressing roller 107, the belt 105 moves from the position shown in FIG. 3A to the position shown in FIG. 3B. Then, the sheet 110 moves to the rear end side of the sheet 110 while rolling on the sheet 110. At this time, since the suction portion 104 has sucked the leading edge of the first sheet 110, that is, the uppermost sheet 110, the leading edge of the sheet is lifted as the belt 105 moves.

Then, when the belt 105 is further moved, the leading end of the paper 110 comes into contact with the feed roller 108, as shown in FIG. When the leading end of the paper 110 contacts the feed roller 108, the drive shaft 10
1a is stopped to stop the movement of the belt 105, and
(D) of FIG. 4 and FIG.
Is moved to the feed roller 108 side, and the leading end of the paper 110 is nipped by the pressing roller 109 and the feed roller 108.

After that, the operation of the suction unit 104 is stopped to release the suction of the sheet 110, and the feed roller 108 is rotated to convey the first sheet 110 upward.

When the sheet 110 is conveyed and the trailing edge is separated from the feed roller 108, the rotation of the feed roller 108 is stopped, the pressing roller 109 is separated from the feed roller 108, and the drive shaft 101a is further reversed to initialize the belt 105. Return to position. Then, by repeating the above-described operation, the second and subsequent sheets 110 are continuously conveyed.

As described above, the suction portion 104 sucks the front end of the paper 110 to turn up the front end of the paper 110, and the turned-up paper 110 is conveyed upward. The paper can be conveyed without popping out, and the outer shape of the paper conveyance device can be reduced to the outer shape of the paper. Moreover, since a large member such as a conventionally used pick roller is not required, the height of the device can be reduced. Further, by using such a sheet conveying device in the sheet conveying mechanism of the recording device, it is possible to provide a small recording device in which the maximum size of the sheet 110 used in the recording device has the maximum outer shape. . Further, since the sheet 110 is turned up by suction, only the uppermost one sheet can be reliably separated from the plurality of stacked sheets.

In this embodiment, an example in which the belt 105 is sandwiched between the driving roller 101 and the pressing roller 107 in order to move the belt 105 has been described.
Instead of providing the teeth that mesh with the meshing portion 106 of the drive roller 101, the meshing portion 1 of the drive roller 101
By forming a hole in which the teeth of the driving roller 101 are fitted corresponding to the teeth of No. 06, the belt 105 and the driving roller 101 can be meshed with each other without providing the pressing roller 107.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a pickup mechanism of a second embodiment of the sheet conveying apparatus of this embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the suction portion 4 is provided at a part of the outer peripheral surface.
The suction roller 403 provided with 02 is supported movably in a direction perpendicular to the side of the leading edge 410 a of the sheet 410 while rolling on the sheet 410. The suction unit 402 is the first
For the same reason as in the embodiment, it is preferable to provide the suction roller 403 at a position where it comes into contact with the sheet 410 when the suction roller 403 is at a position about 10 mm from the leading edge of the sheet. Also, the suction unit 402
As the material, the same material as that used in the first embodiment can be used. Further, a drive shaft 401 arranged parallel to the suction roller 403 is rotatably supported on the rear end side of the sheet 410 with respect to the suction roller 403.

A pulley 401a is fixed to the drive shaft 401, and one end of a winding wire 405 is fixed to the pulley 401a. On the other hand, a pulley 403a is also fixed to one end of the suction roller 403, and the other end of the winding wire 405 is passed through the pulley 403a of the suction roller 403 to a fixing member 406 fixed to a support member (not shown). It is fixed. A return spring 404 is provided between the fixed member 406 and the pulley 403a of the suction roller 403, and the return spring 404 biases the suction roller 403 toward the leading edge 410a of the sheet 410. Further, above the suction roller 403, a feed roller (not shown) and a pressing roller (not shown) similar to those of the first embodiment are arranged.

Based on the above construction, when the drive shaft 401 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the drawing while the suction portion 402 is operating, the winding wire 405 causes the pulley 40 of the drive shaft 401 to rotate.
It is wrapped around 1a. Since the other end of the winding wire 405 is fixed to the fixing member 406, when the winding wire 405 is wound around the pulley 401 a of the drive shaft 401, the suction roller 403 resists the spring force of the return spring 404 and moves on the paper 410. The sheet 410 moves to the rear end side while rolling.

As a result, the leading edge of the first sheet 410 is lifted, and thereafter, the sheet 4 is processed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.
10 is conveyed.

As in this embodiment, a suction portion 402 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the suction roller 403 without using a belt, and the suction roller 403 is rolled on the paper 410 to lift the leading end of the paper 410. As compared with the first embodiment, the paper transporting device can be configured with a simpler configuration.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a third embodiment of the paper carrying apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 7 shows the leading end of the paper in the paper carrying apparatus shown in FIG. It is a perspective view showing the state where it was lifted.

In the sheet conveying apparatus of this embodiment, an L-shaped arm 503 is fixed to a drive shaft 501 which is arranged parallel to the side of the front end 510a of the sheet 510 and which is rotatably supported. The suction portion 502 that can come into contact with the upper surface of the sheet 510 is provided at the tip of the sheet. Adsorption part 502
Is preferably placed at a position of about 10 mm from the front end of the sheet 510 when the sheet 510 is in contact with the sheet 510 in consideration of the margin for sandwiching the sheet 510 by the feed roller 508 and the pressing roller 509. Further, as the suction portion 502, the same one as in the first embodiment can be used. Also,
A feed roller 508 and a pressing roller 509 are arranged above the suction portion 502, but since these are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

Based on the above configuration, the feed roller 508
And the pressing roller 509 are separated from each other and the suction section 502 is in contact with the sheet 510.
When the drive shaft 501 is rotated about 90 ° in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the first sheet 510 is moved as shown in FIG.
The leading end of the sheet is sucked by the suction section 502 and lifted up, and comes into contact with the feed roller 508. Next, the pressing roller 509 is moved so that the pressing roller 509 and the feed roller 508 hold the leading edge of the sheet 510,
The operation of the suction unit 502 is stopped. After that, by rotating the feed roller 508, the first sheet 510
Is transported.

When the first sheet 510 is conveyed, the second and subsequent sheets are similarly conveyed, and the stacked sheets 510 are conveyed one by one.

Thus, by providing the suction portion 502 at the tip of the arm 503 fixed to the drive shaft 501,
It is possible to configure the paper transport device with a simpler configuration. Moreover, since the suction unit 502 operates integrally with the drive shaft 501, the rotational movement of the drive shaft 501 is reliably transmitted to the suction unit 502, and the rotation of the drive shaft 501 also causes the sheet 510 to be flipped up more reliably. It will be

[0040]

As described above, the present invention has the pickup mechanism for flipping the leading end of the sheet, and the conveying roller for nipping the tip of the sheet turned up by the pickup mechanism to convey the sheet. The pickup mechanism and the transport roller can be arranged within the range of the size of the paper. Further, since a member having a large diameter such as a conventional pick roller is not required, the height can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to achieve a small-sized sheet conveying apparatus whose outer shape is within the range of sheet size and whose height is low. When the sheet conveying device of the present invention is used in the sheet conveying mechanism of the recording apparatus, it is possible to provide a compact recording apparatus in which the maximum sheet size used in the recording apparatus has the maximum outer shape. Further, since the sheets are turned up by suction, only the uppermost one sheet can be reliably separated from the stacked plural sheet-shaped sheets, and the stacked sheet-shaped sheets can be taken out one by one.
Optimal as a paper transport device for transporting.

As the pickup mechanism, the rolling of a belt or a roller or the rotation of an arm having a suction portion at its tip can be used. In particular, when the rotation of the arm is used, the pickup mechanism can be constructed with a very simple structure.

Further, since the suction section has only to have a function of suctioning or releasing the sheet, conventional suction means such as vacuum suction or electrostatic suction can be applied.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a first embodiment of a sheet conveying device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a belt support structure of the sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the sheet transporting device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a state in which the leading end portion of a sheet is nipped in the sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a pickup mechanism of a second embodiment of the sheet transporting device of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a third embodiment of the paper transport device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a state in which the leading end portion of the sheet is lifted in the sheet conveying apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram of a recording device of a conventional electrophotographic recording system.

9 is a cross-sectional view of a transport unit of the recording apparatus shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 drive roller 101a, 401, 501 drive shaft 102, 103 holding roller 104, 402, 502 suction part 105 belt 106 meshing part 107 pressing roller 108, 508 feed roller 109, 509 pressing roller 110, 410, 510 paper 110a, 410a 510a Tip 111 Support member 111a Long hole 401a, 403a Pulley 403 Adsorption roller 404 Return spring 405 Winding wire 406 Fixing member 503 Arm

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A pickup mechanism that has a suction unit that can control suction and release of a sheet, and that picks up the leading end of the sheet by sucking the sheet by the suction unit, and a pickup mechanism that is turned up by the pickup mechanism. A sheet conveying apparatus, comprising: a pair of conveying rollers that nips and conveys a leading edge of a sheet. 2. The sheet is a plurality of stacked sheet-like sheets, and the pickup mechanism is arranged so that the suction section sucks the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets. The sheet conveying device according to item 1. 3. The pickup mechanism has a belt that can move from a front end portion to a rear end portion of the paper while rolling on the paper, and the suction portion is provided on at least a part of a surface of the belt. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, which is provided. 4. The pickup mechanism has a roller that can move from a front end portion to a rear end portion of the paper while rolling on the paper, and the suction portion is provided on at least a part of a surface of the roller. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, which is provided. 5. The pickup mechanism has an arm rotatably supported about an axis parallel to the side of the leading edge of the sheet, and the tip of the arm is such that the suction portion can come into contact with the upper surface of the sheet. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, which is provided in the section. 6. The sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the suction section sucks the sheet by vacuum suction that sucks air from a large number of fine holes. 7. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1, wherein the suction unit sucks the sheet by electrostatic attraction using charging of the sheet.