JPH085166Y2 - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial field of application] This invention is a separation device that regulates the paper in a paper storage unit at a paper feed position to a constant rising position regardless of the number of paper stored and separates the paper into one. The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine having a nail.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, in a copying machine, a separation claw is rotatably supported by a side fence provided movably in a paper width direction orthogonal to a sheet feeding direction in a paper feeding cassette, and the separation claw is provided at a sheet feeding position. There is one in which both corners of the paper in the paper feed cassette on the paper delivery end side are locked to regulate the rising limit of the paper and separate the paper at the time of paper feed.

Examples of means for restricting the upward movement of the separation claw are described in, for example, a method in which a part of the separation claw is brought into contact with a stopper formed in the side fence, and JP-A-63-31951. As shown in FIG. 9, one end of the separation claw 41
By bringing 41a into contact with the bottom portion 42a of the paper feed cassette 42, the amount of rotation of the claw portion 41b in the arrow J direction is regulated, and the position of the uppermost paper P is determined by the number of paper sheets in the paper feed cassette 42. Regardless of this, there are some that are always regulated at a certain limit.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

In this way, in the paper feeding device in which a part of the separation claw is brought into contact with the stopper formed in the side fence to regulate the amount of rotation in the ascending direction, both or one of the side fences is regulated. In many cases, it can be moved together with the separation claw in the paper width direction.

In such a sheet feeding device, when the uppermost sheet is raised to the upper limit by a rising biasing member such as a spring and abuts on the separation claw and is regulated to start feeding, The paper is pressed against the paper by the paper feed roller and slightly pushed down, and when the paper feed roller is separated from the paper surface after completion of paper feeding, this time it is suddenly pushed up by the urging member and separated by the separating claw. Since the claw portion is brought into contact with the claw portion, when at least one of the side fences is movable, the position of the separation claw ascending is liable to change due to backlash in the movable portion, which makes the paper feeding unstable.

Even when the one end of the separation claw is brought into contact with the bottom of the machine cassette to regulate the rising limit as shown in FIG. 9, when the side fence is also movable, the movable part Due to the backlash, the position of the separation claw at the ascending end is changed, and the paper feeding is likely to be unstable.

Further, as described above, the separation claws are rotatably supported by the side fences, and the side fences facing each other are linked with each other via the rack and the pilaon.
When inserting the paper feed cassette into the main body, the paper that was pushed down and locked through the bottom plate etc. is released and the rising biasing member causes it to rise rapidly. In the case of a paper feeding device, the impact that is applied to the separation claw by the abutment of the paper due to the sudden rise of the paper is transmitted to the side fence, and the joint part of the side fence and the rack is destroyed. There was a problem that there was also.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the separating claw can be moved together with the side fence according to the paper size, and the position of the rising limit of the paper in the paper cassette can be stabilized without changing. The aim is to always be able to regulate accurately.

[Means for solving the problem]

Therefore, the paper feeding device according to the present invention includes a paper storage unit, a lifting biasing member that biases the paper in the paper storage unit to the lifting side via the bottom plate, and a lifting biasing member that lifts the paper. A paper feed roller that presses and rotates the upper sheet of paper to feed it, a pair of separation claws in which claws are arranged at both corners on the sheet sending end side, and at least one in the paper width direction orthogonal to the paper feed direction. In a paper feeding apparatus having a pair of movable side fences, the separating claw is rotated to at least the moving side of the side fence so that the rising limit of the sheet lifted by the lifting biasing member can be regulated. The pair of separation claws are movably mounted, and locking portions are provided so as to project in the sheet feeding direction substantially directly below the respective claw portions of the pair of separation claws, and the locking portions are opposed to the locking portions and are fixed to the paper storage section. To accept and move the side fence The separation claw rise restriction groove is formed so as to be movable in the direction.

[Action]

According to the paper feeding device configured as described above, when the paper is stored in the paper storage unit and the paper is biased to the rising side by the lifting biasing member via the bottom plate, The claws of the pair of separation claws respectively arranged at both corners are lifted by the ascending paper, and the ascending is caused by the locking part projecting directly under the claws. Since it is regulated by the separation claw rise regulating groove and does not rise by a predetermined amount or more, it is possible to regulate the position of the rising limit of the sheet raised by the raising biasing member without changing.

Further, when the side fence moves, the locking portion of the separation claw can move in the separation claw rise restriction groove in the moving direction of the side fence, so that the separation claw moves together with it.
Even different paper sizes can be accommodated.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of a sheet feeding device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the entire sheet feeding cassette 1 of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feeding device 10 is provided with a paper feeding cassette 1 which is a paper storage unit and a paper sheet P in the paper feeding cassette 1, for example, a spring for urging the paper sheet P in the paper feeding cassette 1 to an upward side via a bottom plate 11. A certain upward biasing member 12, a paper feed roller 2 for pressing and rotating the uppermost sheet of paper raised by the upward biasing member 12 and feeding the paper, and a claw portion at both corners on the paper delivery end side 3 A pair of separation claws 13 and 13 in which 13a are arranged respectively, and a pair of side fences 7 that are movable in the paper width direction (direction of arrow E) orthogonal to the paper feeding direction of arrow D clearly shown in FIG. 8 and.

The supporting portion 13c is supported in the direction indicated by an arrow G in FIG. 1 so that the separating claw 13 can be regulated to the side fences 7 and 8 and the rising limit of the sheet P raised by the lifting biasing member 12 can be regulated. 1
It is rotatably mounted by means of 4, and locking portions 13d are respectively provided so as to project in the sheet feeding direction indicated by the arrow D substantially directly below the respective claw portions 13a, 13a of the pair of separation claws 13, 13, and the locking is performed. The separation claw rising restriction groove 1e, which receives the locking portion 13d of the paper feed cassette 1 in opposition to the portion 13d and is movable in the moving direction of the side fences 7, 8 shown by the arrow E in FIG. 1f (4th
See also figure).

In addition, the lower surface of each claw portion 13a is connected to the paper surface P of the paper on the bottom plate 11.
The rear support portion 13c is attached to the front side surfaces of the side fences 7 and 8 as described above while being substantially parallel to a and passing through the lower portion of the intermediate portion 13b so as not to interfere with the bottom plate 11.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 4 denotes a conveyance path that extends from the paper feed end side 3 to extend above the paper feed roller 2 and guides the paper P fed from within the paper feed cassette 1 upward. When,
A guide plate 35 that guides the paper provided on the downstream side of the paper feed and rotatably supports one of the intermediate rollers 34,
The fixed upper guide 46 and the support shaft 19 facing the upper guide 46
1, which is composed of a guide member 20 serving as a lower guide that can be opened in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1, and a merge conveyance path 39 that merges with the manual insertion path 38, and the registration roller 5 is provided downstream of the paper feed. Immediately before that, the registration sensors 29 are provided respectively.

When the guide member 20 is rotated in the arrow C direction in FIG. 1 to open the conveying path 4, the lower surface 20b of the guide member 20 comes into contact with the sheet feed roller 2 and moves the sheet feed roller 2 in the arrow B direction. The pressing portion 20a is formed by arranging the guide member 20 at a position where it can be pushed down and extending a part of the front edge of the guide member 20 in FIG. Is in contact with a paper feed roller shaft 15 (the central cross section of which is U-shaped) for integrally fixing the above.

As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed cassette 1 includes a copying machine main body 6
On the other hand, it can be inserted and removed in the direction of arrow E, which is orthogonal to the paper feeding direction of arrow D, and as shown in FIG.
The paper P to be stored is set to a predetermined size by a central protruding portion, a pair of opposing side fences 7 and 8 that can approach and separate in the arrow E direction, and a back fence 9 that can move in the arrow F direction. Regulate in position.

The pair of side fences 7 and 8 have racks 36 and 3 at the bottom.
7 parallel to each other and attached to each other, engage them with the pinion 43 from both sides, and set side fences 7, 8
When either one of them is moved toward or away from the direction of the arrow E, the other moves in the same amount in conjunction with it.

In addition, at the bottom of the paper feed end side 3 of the paper feed cassette 1,
A bottom plate 11 having an H-shape when viewed from the top is provided, and it is provided with supporting portions 11a and 11b formed on both left sides in FIG. 2 at substantially the center of the side walls 1c and 1d on both sides of the sheet feeding cassette 1. It is rotatably mounted by a mounting pin or the like, and two rising urging members 12 are attached between the lower surface of the front portion (right side) of the bottom plate 11 and the bottom portion 1b of the sheet feeding cassette 1, and The bottom plate 11 is always urged upward by the ascending urging member 12 in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed roller 2 is formed in the shape of a half moon roller by cutting a part of the outer peripheral portion thereof to form a cutout portion 2a, and as shown by a solid line when not feeding. 1, the cutout portion 2a is made to stop by facing the uppermost sheet surface Pa in the sheet feeding cassette 1, and the sheet feeding roller 2 is substantially orthogonal to the sheet surface Pa in the sheet feeding cassette 1. Is supported so as to be movable in the direction indicated by arrow B and in the opposite direction.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of paper feed rollers 2 (three in this example) are arranged at equal intervals on the paper feed roller shaft 15 with the positions of the respective missing circles 2a aligned. As shown in FIG. 5, the fixing portion 2c integrated with the roller portion 2b (rubber portion) is fixed, for example, by locking the sheet feeding roller shaft 15 with the claw portion 2d and fixing it with the screw 32 ( (See also FIG. 1), and the left side in FIG. 5 which is the operating side of the paper feed roller shaft 15 is substantially orthogonal to the paper surface Pa (FIG. 1) in the paper feed cassette 1 by the method described later. The arrow B and the side opposite to the arrow B are movable.

The paper feed roller shaft 15 includes a solid shaft portion 16, an intermediate roller support portion 17, and a drive side support portion 18 connected to a drive source (not shown). The shaft portion 16a is rotatably fitted into the bearing 21, and the right side is the angular shaft portion 16a.
As b, one end of the roller supporting portion 17 having a U-shaped vertical cross section (see also FIG. 1) is integrally fixed by, for example, screwing.

Then, at the other end of the roller support portion 17, a drive side support portion 18 having a U-shaped vertical cross section is inserted into one end of the drive side support portion 18 in a U-shaped groove 17a formed in the roller support portion 17. As shown in FIG. 6, the connection pin 22 fixedly installed is fitted with almost no backlash, and they are integrally connected.

As shown in FIG. 7, the bearing 21 is vertically movably fitted in a U-shaped groove 23a formed in the bracket 23 with the lower side open, and the bracket 23 is inserted into the copying machine body 6 (third part). (Fig.) Is fixed. A pressure lever 25, which is rotatably supported in the direction of arrow H by a shaft 24, is provided below the bearing 21. The pressure lever 25 is constantly pushed up by an upward urging force of a spring 26 to supply the pressure. In a normal state where the paper roller 2 or the paper feed roller shaft 15 is not pushed down by an external force, the paper feed roller shaft 15 is located at the upper end position of the U-shaped groove 23a, and the paper feed roller 2 is shown by a solid line in FIG. At the position indicated by
I am trying to rotate in the direction.

The downward rotation of the pressure lever 25 is restricted by the stopper pin 27 shown in FIG. 7, so that the paper feed roller 2 is prevented from descending more than a predetermined amount.

Further, the paper feed roller shaft 15 has a drive side support portion 18 on the right side thereof.
A sliding member 45 whose outer peripheral portion is formed into a circular shape is fitted into the sliding member 45, and a projection 45a formed at one end of the sliding member 45 is engaged with an engaging hole 18a of the drive side support portion 18 to be integrated. The sliding member 45 is rotatably fitted in a bearing 31 fixed to the side plate 28 on the back side of the copying machine body 6.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the paper feed cassette 1 containing the paper P is inserted into the main body 6 of the copying machine, the paper P is pushed by the upward biasing member 12 as shown in FIG. Bottom plate 11
The sheet is pushed up through the sheet, and both corners of the sheet on the delivery end side 3 come into contact with the lower surface of the claw portion 13a of the separation claw 13.

At this time, each of the separation claws 13 has a locking portion 13d that protrudes in the paper feeding direction, so that the separation claw rising restriction grooves 1e and 1f of the sheet feeding cassette 1 are formed.
The upper limit of the rise is regulated by contacting the upper end of the.

When paper feeding is started in this paper feedable state, the first
The paper feed roller 2 at the position shown by the solid line in the figure makes one rotation in the direction of arrow A and stops, but when the arc-shaped outer peripheral portion comes into pressure contact with the paper surface Pa of the uppermost paper during the rotation, the paper surface Pa is pushed down against the urging force of the slightly amount urging member 12 by the passage of the arc-shaped outer peripheral portion of the sheet feeding roller 2 (illustrated by a chain double-dashed line).

At that time, the separation claw 13 rotates in the direction in which the claw portion 13a descends due to its own weight, and the claw portion 13a contacts both corners of the paper surface Pa following the descent of the paper P, so that The sheet is sent out to the conveyance path 4 and reaches the registration roller 5 while being separated into one sheet by the separation claw 13.

When the separation claws 13 rotate in the descending direction,
Each of the locking portions 13d is provided with a separation claw rising restriction groove 1 of the sheet feeding cassette 1.
Since it moves downward in e and 1f, the lowering of the separation claw 13 is not hindered.

Further, the paper feed roller 2 is a paper feed roller shaft that supports it.
The hollow shaft 16 of 15 is always pushed upward by the pressure lever 25 through the bearing 21 and is in the position shown by the solid line in FIG. Paper feed is performed.

As described above, the uppermost sheet P in the sheet feeding cassette 1 is separated into one sheet by the rising limit being restricted by the separating claw 13 and is fed. In this embodiment, the rising limit of the separating claw 13 is increased. Is positioned by abutting the respective locking portions 13d on the upper ends of the separation claw rise restriction grooves 1e, 1f, and the locking portions 13
As shown in FIG. 8, since the position of d is provided almost directly below the claw portion 13a to which the upward urging force F ₁ from the sheet directly acts, the force F ₂ acting on the locking portion 13d is It is approximately equal to F ₁ .

Therefore, when the rising of the separation claw 13 is regulated by a stopper or the like at a position between the claw portion 13a and the support pin 14 which is apart from the claw portion 13a, the force acting on the stopper. However, according to this embodiment, such a situation does not occur at all, and further, the force F ₂ acting on the locking portion 13d is not received by the movable side fence, so that the paper feeding cassette 1 is fixed. Separation claw rise restriction grooves 1e, 1f formed on
Since it is possible to stop the rise of the separation claw 13 at an accurate position, it is possible to stably and accurately regulate the position of the sheet ascending limit without changing the position.

In this embodiment, only the operating side (left side in FIG. 5) of the paper feed roller shaft 15 is movably supported in the direction substantially orthogonal to the paper surface Pa in the paper feed cassette 1. 15 may be movably supported on both sides.

Further, in this embodiment, the case where both the side fences 7 and 8 are movable has been described, but the present invention is similarly applied even when only one of the side fences is movable. be able to.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a paper feeding device of an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile machine other than a copying machine.

[Effect of device]

As described above, according to the paper feeding device of the present invention, the position of the ascending end of the paper in the paper feeding cassette can be stably and accurately regulated without changing, and the separation claw has the side fence. Since it can be moved together with it, it is possible to deal with various paper sizes.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the configuration of a sheet feeding device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the entire sheet feeding cassette 1 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an application of the sheet feeding device of FIG. FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing a part of the copying machine, FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view showing one side of separation claws arranged at both corners on the sheet sending end side in the sheet feeding cassette together with the vicinity thereof, FIG. The figure is a front view showing a state in which a plurality of paper feed rollers 2 are attached to the paper feed roller shaft 15 with a part in section, and FIGS. 6 and 7 are the vicinity of the movable bearing of the paper feed roller shaft 15. And a side view and a plan view showing the structure of the roller supporting part 17 of the paper feed roller shaft 15 and the connecting part of the driving side supporting part 18, respectively. FIG. 8 shows the force F ₁ acting on the claw part 13a of the separating claw 13. And locking part 13
FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between the force acting on d and the force F _2, and FIG. 9 regulates the rotation amount of the separation claw by bringing one end of the conventional separation claw into contact with the bottom of the sheet feeding cassette. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the paper feeding device thus configured. 1 ... Paper feed cassette (paper storage unit) 1e, 1f ... Separation claw rise restriction groove 2 ... Paper feed roller 3 ... Paper feed end side 5 ... Registration roller 7, 8 ... Side fence, 10 …… Paper feeder 11 …… Bottom plate, 12 …… Rise biasing member 13 …… Separating claw, 13a …… Claw 13d …… Locking part, P …… Paper

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A paper storage unit, an ascending urging member for urging the paper in the paper storage unit to an ascending side via a bottom plate, and a pressure contact with the uppermost sheet of paper ascended by the ascending urging member. A paper feed roller that rotates and feeds paper, a pair of separation pawls having pawl portions at both corners on the paper delivery end side, and a pair of at least one of which is movable in the paper width direction orthogonal to the paper feed direction. In the paper feeding device including the side fence, the separation claw is rotatably attached to at least the moving side of the side fence so that the rising limit of the sheet lifted by the lifting biasing member can be restricted. Locking portions are provided in the paper feeding direction so as to protrude substantially directly below the respective claw portions of the pair of separation claws, and the locking portions are received in the paper storage portion so as to face the locking portions and the side portions. Separation claw that can move in the direction of movement of the fence A sheet feeding device having a rise restriction groove formed therein.