JPH08301464A - Automatic paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an automatic paper feeder which can easily mount/demount a paper feed cassette relating to the automatic paper feeder and can easily adjust displacement in the lateral direction relating to a paper processor main unit. CONSTITUTION: An automatic paper feeder 1 has a paper feed cassette 20 removably mountable in this automatic paper feeder by receiving paper piled. The automatic paper feeder 1 has a cassette receiving part 2a of guiding the paper feed cassette 20 and a positioning means 5 of carrying out positioning the paper feed cassette 20 mounted by the cassette receiving part 2a. This positioning means 5 has an engaging member 6 engaged with the mounted paper feed cassette 20 to make its position movable in a direction orthogonal to a paper feed direction relating to a paper processor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic paper feeder for feeding paper to a paper processing unit of a paper processing apparatus such as a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a technique in which an automatic paper feeder is detachably attached to a printer so that papers of different sizes can be conveyed to a paper processing device such as a printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer). ing. This automatic paper feeder
A large number of sheets are stacked and accommodated, and the uppermost sheet is sequentially fed out and fed to the printing unit of the printer.

By the way, when such an automatic sheet feeder is mounted, if the printer is not accurately positioned with respect to the printer main body, there arises a problem that the sheet is displaced at the printing position. In this case, if the automatic paper feeding device is mounted in a state of being displaced in the paper feeding direction, it does not matter because the feeding amount for the paper feeding roller pair is only shifted, but it is displaced laterally with respect to the paper feeding direction. If it is mounted in this state, the center of the printing area for the fed paper is shifted and the margin size of the printed paper changes.

In order to solve this problem, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 1-129144 discloses a technique for laterally adjusting a paper feed cassette detachably mounted on an automatic paper feeder. The technique disclosed in this publication will be briefly described below.

The main body of the paper feeding device is provided with a cassette receiver for engaging and holding both sides of the paper feeding cassette. Each of the cassette receivers provided on both sides is screwed to the frame through a long hole extending in the horizontal direction so that the cassette receiver can be adjusted in the horizontal direction with respect to the frame of the main body of the automatic paper feeder. Has become. Therefore, the paper cassette
By adjusting the positions of the cassette receivers on both sides which are engaged and held, the mounting position in the lateral direction is changed, and the lateral shift with respect to the sheet feeding direction is adjusted. The technique disclosed in this publication discloses a multi-stage automatic sheet feeder, and the sheet cassettes of the automatic sheet feeders can be adjusted independently.

[0006]

In the above-mentioned sheet feeding cassette, the protrusions formed on both sides of the sheet feeding cassette are engaged with and guided by the groove-shaped cassette receiver, and are attached to and detached from the automatic sheet feeding device. As described above, the cassette receiver is laterally adjustable, and is configured to receive the cassette at the laterally adjusted position.

In this case, since it is necessary to adjust both sides of the cassette receiver at the same time, it is possible that the cassette receiver is adjusted so that there is no rattling with respect to the cassette receiver. The problem of becoming difficult arises. Further, the width of the cassette receiver may be narrowed due to changes in the dimensions of each member over time, and in this case also, there arises a problem that it becomes difficult to attach and detach the paper feed cassette. Further, in the lateral adjustment of the paper feed cassette, it is necessary to adjust the cassette receivers on both sides, which makes the adjustment work troublesome.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic paper feeding device which can easily attach and detach the paper feeding cassette to and from the automatic paper feeding device and can easily adjust the lateral shift with respect to the main body of the paper processing device.

[0009]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the automatic sheet feeder of the present invention can be detachably mounted on a sheet processing apparatus, and can be detachably mounted for stacking and accommodating sheets. A sheet feeding cassette, a guide unit for guiding the sheet feeding cassette, and a positioning unit for positioning the sheet feeding cassette mounted by the guiding unit,
It is characterized in that the positioning means has an engaging member which engages with a sheet feeding cassette to be mounted and which can move the position of the sheet feeding cassette in a direction orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction with respect to the sheet processing apparatus.

[0010]

The paper feed cassettes containing stacked sheets of paper are mounted on the automatic paper feed device through the guide means. The automatic sheet feeding device is provided with an engaging member that engages with a sheet feeding cassette to be attached, and the attached sheet feeding cassette is positioned by engaging with the engaging member. The engaging member is configured to move the position of the paper feed cassette to be mounted in the direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, and the lateral direction of the paper feed cassette to be mounted is adjusted by adjusting the engaging member. The deviation in direction is corrected.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of the automatic sheet feeder of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the automatic sheet feeder 1 according to the present invention is arranged in a printer 70 which is a sheet processing apparatus. The printer 70 shown as an example includes a sheet feeding cassette 71 as it is, and the sheet fed by the sheet feeding roller 72 is conveyed by the conveyance roller pair 7.
5, 76 is fed to the printing unit 80, and the paper printed here is discharged to the paper discharge stacker 85 via the conveyance roller pair 82 and the discharge roller pair 83.

The automatic paper feeder 1 can be detachably attached to the lower side of the printer 70. In this embodiment, the same automatic paper feeders are stacked in two stages. Of course, the number of automatic sheet feeding devices to be stacked is not particularly limited, and a single configuration may be used.
Each of the automatic paper feeding devices stores a large number of paper sheets and is detachably attached to the automatic paper feeding device 20 and a topmost paper sheet stored in the paper feeding cassette 20. A paper feed roller 50 that feeds out the paper and a feed roller pair 51 that conveys the fed paper toward the printer are provided, and the required automatic paper feed device is driven by a paper feed command from the printer. To be done. Therefore, the printer and the automatic paper feeder are electrically and mechanically connected to each other.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of one of the automatic paper feeders shown in FIG. 1 as seen from the paper feed direction side. The above-described paper feed cassette 20 is detachably attached to the frame 2 of the automatic paper feeder 1. Therefore, the frame 2 has a cassette receiving portion 2a for guiding the paper feed cassette 20 in the attachment / detachment direction.
Is formed, and the engaging portion 21 projectingly formed on the paper feed cassette 20 is guided along this portion. In the illustrated embodiment, the cassette receiving portion 2a extends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface, and the paper feeding cassette 20 is attached and detached along this direction. As shown in FIG. 4, a positioning portion 2b is formed at a predetermined position on the cassette receiving portion 2a, and a locking portion 21a formed on the engaging portion 21 of the sheet feeding cassette 20 is the positioning portion 2b. By engaging with 2b, the paper feeding cassette 20 is positioned in the paper feeding direction.

The sheet feeding cassette 20 includes a placing plate 23 for stacking sheets, and a pressing spring 24 for urging the stacked sheets attached to the placing plate 23 toward the sheet feeding roller 50.
And a guide member 2 that defines both sides of the stacked sheets.
5 and 5. Then, the uppermost sheet is separated one by one through the rotation driving of the sheet feeding roller 50 and a sheet separating mechanism (not shown), and is fed out in order.

The paper feed cassette 20 guided and mounted on the frame 2 is positioned in the paper feed direction as described above, and is adjusted and positioned in the direction (transverse direction) orthogonal to the paper feed direction. It is configured to be. In this case, the lateral positioning adjustment is performed by the positioning means 5 provided on the frame 2 and engaged with the sheet feeding cassette 20. In the embodiment shown in the figure, the positioning means 5 projects from the lower frame 3 of the automatic paper feeder and feeds the paper cassette 2
An engaging member (positioning pin) 6 that engages with the back surface of 0 is provided. As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning pin 6 projects from a long hole 3a formed in the lower frame 3 and having a scale extending in the lateral direction, and is fixed at an arbitrary position from the back side via a screw 10. . The paper feed cassette 20 is laterally positioned by engaging the positioning pin 6 fixed at an arbitrary position. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, a fitting member 30 that engages with the positioning pin 6 when mounted in the arrow direction is formed on the back surface of the paper feed cassette 20 so as to project therefrom. The fitting member 30 is integrally formed with a guide portion 30a so as to easily receive the positioning pin 6 that is laterally adjusted and fixed. It is fixed by the circular fitting portion 30b.

As described above, when the sheet feeding cassette 20 is mounted along the cassette receiving portion 2a of the frame 2, the engaging portion 21a of the engaging portion 21 of the sheet feeding cassette 20 and the positioning portion of the cassette receiving portion 2a. 2b and the laterally adjusted engaging member 6 engages with the fitting portion 30 of the paper feeding cassette to perform lateral positioning. The engaging portion 21 and the cassette receiving portion 2a formed on the paper cassette 20 are set so that there is a slight gap in the lateral direction.

With the above structure, when the sheet is fed to the printing portion of the printer while being laterally displaced, the screw 1 shown in FIG.
Loosen 0 and adjust the positioning pin 6,
It is sufficient to shift the position in the horizontal direction for positioning. In this way, by simply adjusting the positioning pin 6 that engages with the paper feed cassette 20, it is possible to easily correct the lateral deviation of the paper fed to the printer. In addition, the paper feed cassette 20
Since there is a gap between the engaging portion 21 and the cassette receiving portion 2a that guides the engaging portion 21 so that the sheet feeding cassette 20 can be adjusted in the lateral direction, the detaching operation of the sheet feeding cassette 20 is performed. Can be done smoothly. Further, due to changes over time, etc., the engaging portion 21 and / or the cassette receiving portion 2a
Even if the position is shifted and the distance between the two becomes narrower, the paper feed cassette 20 does not become difficult to attach and detach because the gap exists between the both.

The automatic paper feeder 1 of this embodiment is constructed so as to be stacked in a number of stages and mounted on a printer. Projecting pin 1 to be positioned
5 is formed, and a positioning hole 17 into which the projecting pin of the lower automatic sheet feeder is fitted is formed in the lower surface thereof. As described above, in the case of the multi-stage automatic sheet feeder, it is possible to adjust only the sheet cassette of the automatic sheet feeder having the lateral deviation.

The engaging member of the above-mentioned positioning means is shown in FIG.
Various modifications can be made in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, an eccentric positioning pin 6
a. The eccentric positioning pin 6a can be rotated by a screw 10 from the back surface side of the lower frame 3, and the positioning pin 6a can be laterally adjusted by the eccentric amount. The surface of the lower frame 3 is graduated so that the amount of movement can be visually checked.
According to this configuration, the position of the sheet feeding cassette can be adjusted simply by rotating the screw 10, so that the adjusting operation can be performed more easily. As described above, the engaging member of the automatic sheet feeder according to the first aspect is an eccentric positioning pin that rotatably projects from the frame of the automatic sheet feeder and engages with the sheet cassette. The eccentric positioning pin 6a causes the paper feed cassette to be slightly displaced in the paper feed direction. Therefore, the paper feed cassette 20 shown in FIG.
There is some play between the locking portion 21a of the engaging portion 21 and the positioning portion 2b of the cassette receiving portion 2a.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made as follows, for example. Paper feed cassette 20
The position of the positioning means 5 that engages with is not limited to the central position of the lower frame 3, and can be variously changed.
It may be provided on the frame portion on the rear side in the mounting direction of the paper feed cassette 20. The engaging member 6 of the positioning means 5 may be configured to move laterally without using screws. The means for guiding the paper feed cassette 20 may have a configuration in which a convex portion is formed on the frame side and a concave portion is formed on the paper feed cassette side. Further, the above-mentioned positioning means and guide means are appropriately modified according to the attachment / detachment direction of the paper feed cassette to / from the automatic paper feed device and the paper feed direction to the printer body which is the paper processing device.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the sheet fed to the sheet processing apparatus main body is displaced in the direction orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction, the adjustment can be easily performed. Even if such adjustment is performed, the paper feed cassette can be easily attached to and detached from the automatic paper feed device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a state in which two stages of automatic sheet feeders of the present invention are stacked and attached to a sheet processing apparatus main body.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the automatic sheet feeder shown in FIG. 1 as seen from the sheet feeding direction.

FIG. 3 is a view of a paper feeding cassette of the automatic paper feeding device shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the automatic sheet feeders stacked in two stages shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of positioning means for positioning the paper feed cassette.

6A and 6B are views showing another embodiment of the positioning means shown in FIG. 5, in which FIG. 6A is a perspective view and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic paper feeder, 2 ... Frame, 2a ... Cassette receiving part, 3 ... Lower frame, 5 ... Positioning means, 6 ... Engaging member, 20 ... Paper feeding cassette, 30 ... Fitting part, 21 ... Engaging part , 50 ... Paper feeding roller, 70 ... Printer (paper processing device).

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An automatic sheet feeding device which is detachably mountable to a sheet processing apparatus and has a sheet cassette which is detachably mountable for stacking and accommodating sheets, and guide means for guiding the sheet feeding cassette. Positioning means for positioning the paper feed cassette mounted by the guide means, the positioning means engaging the paper feed cassette to be mounted, and positioning the paper feed cassette with the paper processing device. An automatic sheet feeding device having an engaging member that is movable in a direction orthogonal to a sheet feeding direction with respect to the sheet feeding direction. 2. The engaging member of the positioning means is slidable in a long hole formed in a frame of the automatic paper feeder and extending in a direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, and can be slid at an arbitrary position. The automatic paper feeder according to claim 1, wherein the automatic paper feeder is fixed and engages with the paper feed cassette.