JPH09301554A - Sheet material feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform stable conveyance as well as to reliably and easily correct the skew of a fed sheet material. SOLUTION: A sheet material 3 loaded onto a sheet material loading material 2 is fed through a guide plate 6 to the conveying roller 5 side by a feed roller 4. The feed roller 4 has the degree of freedom in the paper feeding direction (Y direction) and the perpendicular direction (X direction), and the sheet material 3 fed from the feed roller 4 is brought in contact with the outer peripheries of the conveying rollers 5 separated from nip parts 15 by the guide plate 6. Since the feed roller 4 is rotated at a speed higher than that of the conveying rollers 5, the skew of the sheet material 3 brought in contact with the conveying rollers 5 is corrected, and the sheet material 3 is fed to the next process side by the feed roller 4 and the conveying rollers 5 in the good posture.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding apparatus used in a sheet processing apparatus for printing, transferring, copying, etc., and particularly suitable for correcting skew of the sheet material to perform smooth sheet feeding. Sheet material supply device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an office machine such as a copying machine or a printing machine, a large number of sheet materials such as paper are stacked and fed one by one from the topmost one into the apparatus for copying and printing. It is desirable that the fed sheet material be fed straight, but in many cases, the sheet material is fed with a skew (inclination) caused by a configuration error of a sheet material feeding mechanism such as a sheet material feeding device, accuracy error, and assembly error. For this reason, skew correction means using a registration roller has been adopted in the conventional technique. That is, the registration roller is stopped and the sheet material is pressed against the registration roller to form a bend in the sheet material, and then the registration roller is driven to correct the skew.

However, the registration roller does not have a function other than skew correction and is an extra component as a sheet material feeding device, which increases the cost of the apparatus and requires a space for arranging the registration roller. And becomes an obstacle to downsizing of the device. Therefore, a known technique having a skew correction means that does not use a registration roller is disclosed in the conventional technique. For example, JP-A-56-33332 can be mentioned.

The "paper sheet separating / conveying device" disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 56-33332 is provided with a paper sheet inclination correcting means including a stopper roller and a gate roller downstream of a roller for feeding a sheet material. After correcting the skew of the sheet material, the sheet material is sent to the paper sheet separating means to separate the sheet material. That is, the skew is corrected by periodically applying resistance to the sheet material by the stopper roller and the gate roller.

[0005]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention JP-A-56-3333
Although it is possible to realize the miniaturization of the device by the paper sheet separating and conveying device of Japanese Patent No. 2 publication, this device does not have a reliable means for correcting the skew of the paper sheet on the sheet feeding side for feeding the sheet material, There is a problem that the skew correction effect is insufficient. Further, by arranging this paper sheet separating / conveying device on the downstream side of the paper feeding side, there is a possibility that the normal separation accuracy is adversely affected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the skew correction of the sheet material is surely performed without using the registration roller, and the sheet material can realize the low cost and the downsizing of the apparatus. An object is to provide a supply device.

[0007]

A sheet material feeding device according to a first aspect of the present invention is arranged such that the sheet material stacked on the sheet material stacking material is rotatably mounted on a stationary side of the apparatus along a sheet feeding direction. A paper feed roller that is supported and arranged in contact with the uppermost sheet material, and a pair of conveyance rollers that is arranged downstream of the paper feed roller and that nips and conveys the fed sheet material, A guide plate that is provided between the conveying roller and the paper feeding roller and forms a guide path that abuts the leading end of the sheet material fed from the paper feeding roller with the outer periphery of the nip portion of the conveying roller. In the sheet material supplying device, the paper feed roller is driven at a rotational speed higher than that of the transport roller, and a contact portion of the paper feed roller with the sheet material is in a plane coordinate direction of the sheet material. Move the sheet material in the direction of rotation along the plane Characterized in that it is formed into a shape having a degree of freedom to the ability to selectively.

In the sheet material feeding device according to the second aspect of the present invention, among the transportation rollers, the transportation roller on the side where the sheet material abuts is made of metal, resin or hard rubber.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the sheet material feeding device is characterized in that the paper feeding roller is a curved body and the abutting portion is formed by a point.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet material feeding device, the paper feed roller comprises a plurality of small roller groups arranged along the outer circumference of the paper feed roller. It is characterized in that it is supported rotatably in the paper feed direction and the orthogonal direction by a support shaft arranged along the outer periphery of the paper feed roller in parallel with the direction.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the sheet material feeding device is characterized in that the small roller has an outer peripheral surface having a curvature concentric with the outer peripheral surface of the paper feeding roller.

A sheet material feeding device according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the small roller group is arranged in a plurality of rows in the axial direction of the sheet feeding roller.

According to another aspect of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention, the small rollers of the small roller group arranged in a plurality of rows are selectively arranged along the outer periphery of the paper feeding roller without a gap and projected from the side surface. It is characterized in that the images are arranged in a circle.

The sheet material fed from the paper feed roller is guided by the guide plate and comes into contact with the outer periphery of the transport roller which is out of the nip portion. Since the rotation speed of the paper feed roller is faster than that of the transport roller, a rotational moment force acts on the sheet material that is in contact with the transport roller at one end side and is inclined to correct the skew. In this case, since the abutting portion of the sheet feeding roller has a degree of freedom selectively with respect to the sheet material in the plane coordinate direction of the sheet material and the rotation direction along the plane, the sheet material to be skew-corrected moves smoothly. Then it is easily corrected to the correct posture. Further, by forming the transfer roller from a material such as metal, resin, or hard rubber, the rigidity of the transfer roller is increased, deformation of the transfer roller is eliminated, and skew correction is performed more reliably.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a sheet material feeding device of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG.
22 to 23, the basic structure of the sheet material feeder of the present invention and the degree of freedom of the sheet material will be described. The sheet material feeding device 1d is arranged on the downstream side of the sheet feeding roller 4d that abuts on the uppermost position of the sheet material 3 stacked on the sheet material stacking material 2 (corresponding to a sheet feeding tray). And a guide plate 6 interposed between the paper feed roller 4d and the transport roller 5.

The sheet material stacking material 2 is provided with side fences 7 that are arranged to face each other with a width dimension of the sheet material 3 and a slight gap, and an end surface of the sheet material 3 opposite to the sheet feeding direction. It has a frame-like shape including an end fence 8 for holding the sheet, and a separating portion 9 (corner claw) for separating the uppermost sheet material 3 is arranged at the end portion in the sheet feeding direction.

The paper feed roller 4d comprises a rotary shaft 10 that is orthogonal to the paper feed direction of the sheet material 3 and is pivotally supported on the stationary side of the apparatus, and a paper feed roller portion 11d fixed to the rotary shaft. Part 1
1d forms an abutting portion 12 by abutting the outer periphery of the sheet material 3. The sheet feeding roller portion 11d shown in FIG. 19 is formed of a cylindrical body, and the contact portion 12 is formed of a line orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction.

The transport roller 5 is composed of two rotary shafts 13 and 13 orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, and a pair of transport roller portions 14 fixed to the rotary shaft 13. In addition, the two rotary shafts 13 and 1
The front and rear transport roller portions 14A and 14B of the transport roller portions 14 fixed on the sheet 3 are arranged to face each other.
Are arranged in contact with each other, and the nip portion 15 at the joining position
The sheet material 3 is sandwiched by.

Both the paper feed roller 4d and the transport roller 5 are rotationally driven by a drive means (not shown), but the rotation speed of the outer circumference of the paper feed roller 4d is set higher than the rotation speed of the outer circumference of the transport roller 5.

The guide plate 6 is composed of an inner guide plate 6A and an outer guide plate 6B which is arranged with a proper gap therebetween. This detailed structure will be described in detail later, but the leading end of the sheet material 3 sent out by the paper feed roller 4d is disengaged from the nip portion 15 of the transport roller 5 and abuts on the outer circumference of either of the transport roller portions 14A or 14B. 16 (FIG. 4).

As shown in FIGS. 20 to 22, assuming that the plane coordinates of the sheet material 3 are X and Y and the sheet feeding direction is Y, the sheet material 3 is orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction Y as shown in FIG. X
21 and 2 as well as having the freedom to move in any direction.
As shown in FIG. 2, there is a degree of freedom in the Y direction of the paper feeding direction and the XY directions of the rotation direction (shown by the arrow A) on the XY plane. That is, when the sheet material 3 is in a free state, the sheet material 3 has a degree of freedom of movement in three directions of the X direction, the Y direction and the XY direction.

Although the sheet material 3 is apt to cause skew in the sheet feeding material, this correction is easily performed by moving the sheet material 3 in a direction having the degree of freedom of the sheet material 3. On the contrary, if the degree of freedom of the sheet material 3 is restricted, the skew of the sheet portion 3 may not be surely corrected. From the above viewpoint, in the paper feed roller 4d shown in FIG. 19, the contact portion 15 is formed of a line, and the sheet material 3 has a degree of freedom that is movable in the Y direction, but the degrees of freedom in the X direction and the XY direction are restricted. To be done.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a sheet material feeding device 1 which solves the above problems. The sheet material feeding device 1 is different from the sheet material feeding device 1d shown in FIG. 19 only in the structure of the sheet feeding roller 4, and the duplicate description of the same members will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the sheet feeding roller 4 of this example comprises a rotary shaft 10 and a sheet feeding roller portion 11, and the sheet feeding roller portion 11 is a curved body. Therefore, the contact portion between the outer periphery of the paper feed roller portion 11 and the sheet material 3 is formed by dots. As a result, the sheet material 3 has a degree of freedom in any of the X direction, the Y direction, and the XY direction, and has a structure in which the skew can be easily corrected.

Next, the shape of the guide plate 6 and the positional relationship among the guide plate 6, the paper feed roller 4, and the transport roller 5 will be described with reference to FIG. The transport roller 5 is arranged above the paper feed roller 4, and the rotation speed of the paper feed roller 4 is the same as described above.
Faster than the rotation speed of. A curved inner guide plate 6A is installed between the paper feed roller 4 and the transport roller portion 14A inside the transport roller portion 14. On the other hand, an outer guide plate 6B formed in a curved shape is installed between the front end surface of the sheet material stacking material 2 in the paper feed direction and the outer transport roller portion 14B located at a position distant from the paper feed roller 4. . The inner guide plate 6A and the outer guide plate 6B are provided with a guide path 16 at an appropriate interval.
Are arranged opposite to each other. Also, the inner guide plate 6
The ends of A and the outer guide plate 6B on the side of the transport roller portion 14 are arranged at positions apart from the nip portion 15.

FIG. 4 shows the locus of movement of the sheet material 3 when the sheet material 3 is fed into the guide plate 6 having the above structure.
This will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 4, the uppermost sheet material 3 is fed from the paper feed roller 4 in the Y direction. The sheet material 3 is separated by the separating portion 9 and fed into the guide path 16 of the guide plate 6.

The sheet material 3 fed into the space 16 advances until its tip hits the outer guide plate 6B as shown in FIG. 5, and is then bent along the outer guide plate 6B as shown in FIG. It touches the outer circumference of the outer transport roller portion 14B. As described above, since the guide plate 6 is in the position out of the nip portion 15 and the rotation speed of the sheet feeding roller 4 is faster than that of the transport roller 5, the sheet material 3 transports its end face in the state shown in FIG. It is pressed against the outer periphery of the roller portion 14B.

8 and 9 show the state of FIG. 6 as X of the sheet material 3.
It is seen from the Y side. FIG. 8 shows a case where the sheet material 3 is sent out from the paper feed roller 4 side while the skew is generated. That is, the sheet material 4 is shown in a state in which one side surface (the left end in the figure) is in pressure contact with the transport roller portion 14. As described above, since the sheet feeding roller 4 rotates at a higher rotation speed than the conveying roller 5, the sheet material 3 in the state shown in FIG. 8 is centered on the pressure contact point P between the conveying roller portion 14 and the sheet material 3. As a result, a moment M rotating counterclockwise acts to correct the skew, and the entire front end of the sheet material 3 is pressed against the transport roller portion 14 as shown in FIG.

The sheet material 3 with the skew corrected is sent to the nip portion 15 as shown in FIG.
It is sandwiched by 14B and sent to the next process side.

When the sheet feeding roller 4 is formed from the curved sheet feeding roller portion 11 shown in FIG. 1 when the sheet material 3 shown in FIG. 9 is straightened, as described above, the X direction, the Y direction, and the Since the sheet material 3 has the degrees of freedom in the XY directions, the sheet material 3 is smoothly and easily corrected by the moment M.

FIG. 10 shows another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention. The sheet material feeding device 1a is different from that shown in FIG. 1 in the structure of the sheet feeding roller, or the other components are the same, and the duplicated description will be omitted.

The paper feed roller 4a of this example is shown in FIGS.
As also shown in FIG. 3, a large number of small rollers 17 are arranged along the outer periphery of the paper feed roller portion 11a. That is, it comprises a support shaft 18 concentric with the outer periphery of the paper feed roller portion 11a, and a small roller 17 rotatably supported along an X direction orthogonal to the paper feed direction (Y direction). The small roller 17 is formed of a curved body. By using this small roller 17, the contact portion between the small roller 17 and the sheet material 3 becomes a point, and the small roller 1
Since 7 is arranged along the outer periphery with an appropriate interval, the frictional force with the sheet material 3 is reduced as compared with that shown in FIG. 1, and the movement of the sheet material 3 in the X and XY directions is further improved. It becomes easier and skew is easily corrected.

FIG. 13 shows still another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention. The sheet material feeding device 1b of this example differs from the sheet material feeding devices 1 and 1a shown in FIGS. 1 and 10 only in the shape of the sheet feeding roller. As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, a plurality of the paper feed rollers 4b are arranged along the outer circumference of the small roller 19. The small rollers are arranged on the support shaft 8 in the same manner as the small roller 17 shown in FIG. It is rotatably supported along the direction. The curved line of the small roller 19 along the Y direction is formed into a curved surface having the same center of curvature as the center of curvature of the outer circumference of the paper feeding roller unit 11b. Small structure 1 with the above structure
The number of contact points between the sheet material 3 and the sheet material 3 increases more than in the case of the small roller 17 and the feeding of the sheet material 3 can be surely controlled, and the sheet material 3 has the freedom in the X direction, the Y direction and the XY direction. However, the skew can be easily corrected.

FIG. 16 shows still another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention. The sheet material feeding device 1c is different from the sheet material feeding devices 1, 1a and 1b in the shape of the sheet feeding roller 4c, and the other components are the same as those described above. The sheet feeding roller 4c of this example is the sheet feeding roller 4b shown in FIG. 14 as shown in FIGS.
Are arranged side by side along the axial direction of the rotary shaft 10, and a group of small rollers composed of small rollers 19 are arranged so that the gaps between the adjacent small rollers 19 are filled with each other. The projected images from the sides are arranged without a gap so as to draw a circle. With the structure described above, any one of the small rollers of the sheet feeding roller 4c is always in contact with the sheet material 3, so that the skew can be reliably corrected and stable sheet feeding is performed.

Generally, the skew is about 2 m when the width is 200 mm.
Something about m occurs. Therefore, the moment M described above may be one that can correct the skew of about 2 mm. That is, the rotation speed of the sheet feeding roller 4 is about 2 m before the sheet material 3 is added to the nip portion 15 as compared with the conveying roller 5.
It is sufficient to make it as fast as m ahead.

[0036]

【The invention's effect】

1) According to the sheet material feeder of claim 1 of the present invention, the sheet material sent from the paper feed roller hits the transport roller via the guide plate, and the paper feed roller has a higher rotation speed than the transport roller, thus causing skew. The moment is applied to the sheet material in which the skew has occurred, and the skew is surely corrected.

2) According to the sheet material feeding device of the second aspect of the present invention, since the conveying roller is formed of a material having high rigidity and capable of improving the processing accuracy, the deformation due to the pressure contact of the sheet material is small and the skew is small. Correction is effective.

3) According to the sheet material feeding device of the third aspect of the present invention, since the sheet feeding roller is formed by the curved body, the movement of the sheet material in the rotational direction (XY direction) can be easily performed. As a result, the skew is surely corrected.

4) According to the sheet material feeding device of the fourth aspect of the present invention, the paper feeding roller is composed of a group of small rollers, and the small roller is provided on the support shaft arranged along the outer periphery of the paper feeding roller in the paper feeding direction. Since it is rotatably supported in the direction (X direction) orthogonal to the (Y direction), the degree of freedom of the small roller increases, and more reliable skew correction is performed.

5) According to the sheet material feeding device of the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the small roller is formed to have a curvature concentric with the outer peripheral surface of the sheet feeding roller, the number of contact points with the sheet material increases. However, in addition to the effect of skew correction, the effect of reliably carrying the sheet material is enhanced.

6) According to the sheet material feeding device of the sixth aspect of the present invention, by arranging the small roller groups in a plurality of rows in the axial direction, the sheet material can be conveyed more reliably and the skew correction effect is improved. To be

7) According to the sheet material feeder of claim 7 of the present invention, since the projected images of the group of small rollers arranged in a plurality of rows are arranged so as to draw a circle, the sheet material and the small rollers always contact each other. Since the state is maintained, the skew of the sheet material can always be corrected, and the sheet material can be stably conveyed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a sheet material feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of a paper feed roller used in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a skew correction method according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a skew correction method according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a skew correction method according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a sheet material that is skew-corrected and conveyed.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining a skewed state of a sheet material and a correcting action thereof in the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a sheet material that has been skew-corrected and is in full contact with a conveyance roller.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention.

11 is an enlarged perspective view of the paper feed roller in FIG.

FIG. 12 is a side view of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing still another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention.

14 is an enlarged perspective view of the paper feed roller in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a side view of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention.

17 is an enlarged perspective view of the paper feed roller in FIG.

FIG. 18 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing the basic structure of the sheet material feeding device of the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram for explaining the degree of freedom of the sheet material.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram for explaining the degree of freedom of the sheet material.

FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram for explaining the degree of freedom of the sheet material.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 sheet material feeding device 1a sheet material feeding device 1b sheet material feeding device 1c sheet material feeding device 1d sheet material feeding device 2 sheet material loading material 3 sheet material 4 feeding roller 4a feeding roller 4b feeding roller 4c Paper feed roller 4d Paper feed roller 5 Transport roller 6 Guide plate 6A Front guide plate 6B Rear guide plate 7 Side fence 8 End fence 9 Separation part (corner claw) 10 Rotating shaft 11 Paper feed roller part 11a Paper feed roller part 11b Paper feed roller section 11c Paper feed roller section 11d Paper feed roller section 12 Contact section 13 Rotating shaft 14 Transport roller section 14A Front transport roller section 14B Rear transport roller section 15 Nip section 16 Guide path 17 Small roller 18 Support shaft 19 small roller

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding device for feeding a sheet material stacked on a sheet material stacking member, which is rotatably supported on an immovable side of an apparatus along a sheet feeding direction and abuts on the uppermost sheet material. A paper roller, a pair of transport rollers arranged downstream of the paper feeding roller and sandwiching and feeding the fed sheet material, and the paper feeding roller provided between the transport roller and the paper feeding roller. A sheet material supply device, comprising: a guide plate that forms a guide path that abuts a leading end of the sheet material sent from a paper roller on an outer periphery of the conveyance roller, which is out of a nip portion; Driven at a rotational speed higher than that of the conveying roller, the contact portion of the sheet feeding roller with the sheet material is free to move the sheet material in the plane coordinate direction of the sheet material and the rotation direction along the plane. Being formed into a shape that selectively has a degree Sheet material supply device characterized by. 2. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein among the transportation rollers, the transportation roller on the side where the sheet material comes into contact is made of metal, resin, or hard rubber. 3. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed roller is a curved body, and the abutting portion is formed of points. 4. The paper feed roller is formed by arranging a plurality of small roller groups along the outer circumference of the paper feed roller, wherein the small roller is the outer circumference of the paper feed roller in parallel with the paper feeding direction. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet material feeding device is rotatably supported in a sheet feeding direction and a perpendicular direction by a support shaft arranged along the axis. 5. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the small roller has an outer peripheral surface having a curvature concentric with the outer peripheral surface of the paper feeding roller. 6. The sheet material feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the small roller group is arranged in a plurality of rows in the axial direction of the paper feeding roller. 7. The small rollers of the small roller group arranged in a plurality of rows are selectively arranged along the outer periphery of the paper feeding roller without a gap, and the projection images from the side surface are arranged so as to draw a circle. The sheet material supply device according to claim 6, wherein the sheet material supply device is a sheet material supply device.