JPH0750345Y2 - Paper size detector - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention] (Industrial field of application) The present invention relates to a paper size detecting device for detecting the size of a cut paper contained in a cassette case.

(Prior Art) A conventional paper size detecting device of this type is configured as shown in FIG.

Here, FIG. 7B is a sectional view taken along the line I-I of FIG.

In FIG. 4, the cassette case 1 can selectively store cut paper of any one size among a plurality of paper sizes.

An upper detection piece retainer 2 is provided on a side surface of the cassette case 1, and a lower detection piece retainer 3 is provided at a position facing the lower side thereof.

By fixing the lower detection piece retainer 3 with screws 4 from below, the detection piece 5 can be held between the lower detection piece retainer 2 and the upper detection piece retainer 2.

As the detection piece 5, there are various types as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) to 5 (c) in addition to the one attached in FIG.

Incidentally, FIG. 5 particularly shows the manner of mounting them in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

As can be seen from the figure, each of the detection pieces 5a, 5b, 5c has a tongue piece 50 that protrudes from the side surface of the detection piece 5a, 5b, 5c when attached to the cassette case 1, and their sizes are different.

The size of the tongue piece 50 corresponds to the size of the cut sheet that can be accommodated in the cassette case 1. For example, the detection piece 5a corresponds to A4 size, and similarly, the detection piece 5b and the detection piece 5c respectively have the same size. Compatible with B5 and A5 sizes.

In actual operation, each of the detection pieces 5a, 5b, 5c is selected to have the tongue piece 50 that fits the size of the cut sheet currently accommodated in the cassette case 1, and the cassette is subjected to the above-mentioned operations one by one. It is attached to the case 1.

On the other hand, a sensor 6 is provided at a predetermined position on the equipment side such as a fax machine or a copying machine to which the cassette case 1 is attached.

This sensor 6 is composed of, for example, a transmissive sensor composed of a plurality of pairs of light emitting elements 6a and light receiving elements 6b so as to sandwich the tongue piece 50 of the detection piece 5 on the side surface of the cassette case 1 in the attached state.

The sensor 6 generates a signal corresponding to "0" when the tongue piece 50 of the detection piece 5 is interposed between the light emitting element 6a and the light receiving element 6b, and generates a signal corresponding to "1" when not intervening. To do.

Thereby, from the sensor 6, the cassette case 1
A sensor signal as shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained according to the tongue shape of the detection piece 5 attached to the.

This sensor signal corresponds to the paper size listed in the left column of the figure.
Since they correspond to each other, the size of the sheet currently accommodated in the cassette case 1 can be specified (sheet size detection) by processing the sensor signal with a detection circuit (not shown).

In such a conventional paper size detection device, the detection pieces 5 must be prepared for each size of paper that can be accommodated in the cassette case 1, and the number of detection pieces 5 needs to be at least as shown in the paper size column in FIG. is there.

When the number of paper sizes to be detected increases in this way, it is necessary to form a large number of tongue pieces corresponding to each of them, so that the detection pieces must be made large to some extent.

On the other hand, it is necessary to replace the detection piece after a complicated work each time the paper to be stored is changed, and further, since the detection pieces are numerous, it is inevitable that it will be difficult to manage the loss or erroneous mounting. It was

(Problems to be solved by the invention) As described above, in the above-described conventional paper size detection device, the number of detection pieces corresponding to the paper size that can be accommodated in the cassette case is changed and used for each detection target. As the number of barrel paper sizes increases, the number of detection pieces also increases,
Not only is the attachment / detachment work complicated, but there is also the problem that the detection piece is often lost or mistakenly attached.

The present invention eliminates this problem and can suppress the increase in the number of detection pieces even if the number of paper sizes to be detected increases, and simplifies the attachment / detachment work and prevents the detection pieces from being lost or erroneously attached. An object of the present invention is to provide a feasible paper size detection device.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) A paper size detection device of the present invention is provided in a paper cassette and a detection piece formed by standing a tongue piece on a flat plate having a continuous cutout portion. The pair of guide members and one of the pair of guide members are provided so as to face the other of the guide members, and have a shape that engages with the cutout portion of the detection piece. An elastic member that is sandwiched between the other guide member and that bends in a direction intersecting with the sliding direction when the detection piece is slid in the guide member, and on the apparatus body side where the paper cassette is mounted. Paper size detection means is provided, which detects the size of the paper accommodated in the paper cassette according to the position of the tongue piece of the detection piece sandwiched by the elastic member and the other of the guide members. Composed.

(Operation) According to the paper size detecting device of the present invention, the other of the pair of guide members and the elastic member are provided, and the detection piece is provided with a plurality of locks determined by the engagement of the notch and the elastic member. By providing the detection piece holding means that holds the detection piece slidably through the position, it is possible to detect a plurality of paper sizes by using one common detection piece while appropriately changing the locking position of the detection piece. While avoiding an increase in the number of detection pieces depending on the number of paper sizes, the management of detection pieces can be facilitated and the risk of loss can be greatly reduced.

In particular, the detection piece holding means is formed in one of the pair of guide members provided in the paper cassette in a shape that engages with the cutout portion of the detection piece, and the sliding direction of the detection piece in the guide member. Since the elastic member that bends in the intersecting direction is provided inside, the elastic member bends in the direction intersecting the sliding direction of the detection piece, and the detection piece can be moved by simply pushing the detection piece. However, the size of the paper stored in the paper cassette can be set very easily.

By the way, in general, the paper sizes are those for domestic standards (B4, A4, etc.) and those for overseas standards (LETTE, as shown in FIG. 6).
R, LEGAL, etc.).

When performing detection on all paper sizes of both these standards, prepare two types of detection pieces, one for domestic standard and one for overseas standard, and use these selectively. For example, while suppressing the increase of detection pieces to a minimum,
It is possible to increase only the number of paper sizes to be detected.

(Embodiment) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a two-sided view showing the structure of the main part of a paper size detecting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

In FIG. 1, the cassette case 1 and the mounting manner of the upper detection piece retainer 2, the lower detection piece retainer 3, the screw 4, and the sensor 6 with respect to the cassette case 1 are the same as the conventional configuration.

The device of the present invention is different from the conventional device in that the detection piece 5A is used instead of the detection piece 5.

FIG. 2 is a two-sided view similar to FIG. 1 showing the structure of the detection piece 5A according to the present invention.

As is clear from the figure, the detection piece 5A is formed with sawtooth-shaped notches as a whole in which V-shaped notches are arranged at equal intervals on the upper end of the surface on which the tongue piece 51 is erected. Below that, a paper size index 52 corresponding to the paper sizes of B4, A4, B5, and A5 is written.

This paper size index 52 means that the above-mentioned detection piece 5A is commonly used for detecting each paper size described therein, and the interval is the light emitting element 6a (light receiving element 6b) in the sensor 6. Also the same).

On the other hand, the upper detection piece retainer 2 on the side where this detection piece 5A is attached
An elastic carrier 7 having a shape matching the cutout portion of the upper end portion of the detection piece 5A is provided inside.

Further, a paper size alignment mark 8 composed of an arrow or the like is provided at a predetermined position on the surface of the upper detection piece retainer 2.

To attach the above-mentioned detection piece 5A to the cassette case 1, first, with the lower detection piece retainer 3 removed, the detection piece 5A is elastically supported so that the desired paper size index 52 is aligned with the paper size alignment mark 8. 7 and then the lower detection piece presser foot 3 is stopped from below with a screw 4.

At that time, the notch portion of the detection piece 5A is set so as to be fitted exactly to the elastic carrier 7.

Needless to say, the paper size index 52 at this time is selected to correspond to the size of the paper currently accommodated in the cassette case 1.

Through the above work, the detection piece 5A is fitted to the elastic carrier 7 at its upper end portion, and is firmly held by the elastic force.

Here, the elastic force of the elastic carrier 7 is appropriately selected, and the detection piece 5A can be appropriately moved in the arrow B direction at the arrangement pitch of the sensor 6 by applying an appropriate stress.

Thereby, for example, when the B4 size paper is stored in the cassette case 1, the B4 paper size index 52 is aligned with the paper size alignment mark 8, and when the A4 size paper is stored, the A4 paper size index 52 is set. By moving the detection pieces 5A so as to match the paper size alignment mark 8, the paper size being accommodated in the cassette case 1 can be easily set each time.

It is the sensor 6 that the detection piece 5A of the present invention functions effectively.
Consider from the side.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which the detection piece 5A of the present invention is mounted so that the paper size index 52 of B4 is aligned with the paper size alignment mark 8.

At this time, the tongue piece 51 of the detection piece 5A is interposed so as to block only the optical path of the element pair at the right end of the sensor 6.

As described above, the operating characteristics of the sensor 6 are 0 when the optical path is blocked and 1 when the optical path is not blocked, so that the sensor signal obtained at this time is "1, 1, 0".

Next, referring to FIG. 6, it can be seen that the sensor signal corresponds to the B4 size paper, and from this it is clear that the apparatus of the present invention can detect this B4 size paper.

In the same way, it can be seen that other paper sizes can be detected accurately.

However, this detection piece 5A is prepared for the paper size detection of the domestic standard, and cannot be applied to the paper size detection of the international standard such as LETTER and LEGAL.

To detect the paper size of this international standard, it is appropriate to use the detection piece 5B having the tongue shape shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to detect a plurality of paper sizes by using the detection pieces 5A and 5B having only two specifications as shown in FIG.

Therefore, it is possible to greatly improve the management problem that the detection piece is mistakenly attached or is lost.

Further, according to the present invention, a separate detection piece is prepared for each specification, so that the size of the tongue piece need not be unnecessarily increased.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the upper end shape of the detection pieces 5A and 5B is processed into a saw blade shape is shown, but the shape is not limited to this.

For example, if a corrugated shape is applied, sliding in the arrow B direction can be performed more easily.

In that case, even if the lower detection piece retainer 3 is designed to be fixed from the beginning, the detection piece can be moved, and the attachment / detachment work can be further facilitated.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the paper size detecting device of the present invention, the detection piece holding means configured to slidably hold the detection piece having the notch portion, which is composed of the other of the pair of guide members and the elastic member, is provided. By providing the detection piece, a plurality of paper sizes can be detected by using one detection piece while appropriately changing the locking position of the detection piece, and the management of the detection piece can be facilitated by the decrease in the number and the number of lost pieces can be improved. The risk can also be greatly reduced.

In particular, the detection piece holding means of the present invention is formed in one of the guide members in a shape that engages with the notch of the detection piece and bends in a direction intersecting the sliding direction of the detection piece in the guide member. Since the elastic member is built in, the detection piece can be moved by pushing it in the desired sliding direction, and the size of the paper stored in the paper cassette is extremely easy to set even though it has a simple structure. You can do it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a two-sided view showing a main configuration of a paper size detecting device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 (b) is a sectional view taken along the line I--I of FIG. FIG. 1 is a two-sided view showing respective aspects of a detection piece used in the paper size detecting device of the present invention in accordance with FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 shows a main part configuration of a conventional paper size detecting device of this type. FIG. 6B is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG. 6A, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a detection piece used in this conventional paper size detection device, and FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the sensor signal in this kind of paper size detection apparatus. 1 ... Cassette case, 2 ... Upper detection piece presser, 3 ... Lower detection piece presser, 4 ... Screw, 5,5a, 5b, 5c, 5A, 5B ... Detection piece, 50, 5
1 ... Tongue piece, 52 ... Paper size index, 6 ... Sensor, 6a ... Light emitting element, 6b ... Light receiving element, 7 ... Elastic carrier, 8 ... Paper size index

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A detection piece formed by standing a tongue piece on a flat plate having a continuous cutout portion, a pair of guide members provided in a paper cassette, and one of the pair of guide members. It is provided so as to face the other of the members, has a shape that engages with the cutout portion of the detection piece, and sandwiches the detection piece with the other of the guide member, and in the guide member, When the detection piece is slid, an elastic member that bends in a direction intersecting with the sliding direction and the main body of the apparatus on which the paper cassette is mounted are provided and sandwiched by the elastic member and the other of the guide members. And a paper size detecting means for detecting the size of the paper contained in the paper cassette according to the position of the tongue of the detection piece.