JPH0940213A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate the need for opening a side cover when undoing a jam by causing a pair of paper guide plates to be separated from each other by a guide plate moving mechanism so that a paper pressing roller separates from a paper feed roller, and causing paper to be pulled out in front by opposite pieces from the depth of a paper passage when a movable element is pulled out in front. SOLUTION: If a jam has occurred at a portion where jams are relatively likely to occur, e.g. at the vertical part 20a of a paper passage 20, the front door of a device main body is opened, and a cam 27 is rotated in the backward direction by gripping a handle 28. Then a paper guide plate 25 is separated from a paper guide plate 24 so that a paper pressing roller 22 is separated from a paper feed roller 21; i.e., when the paper is freed and a movable element 30 is pulled out in front by gripping the handle, the paper is pulled out in front from the depth of the paper passage 20. Therefore, the need for opening the side cover of the device main body to open the vertical part 20a of the paper passage 20 when undoing the jam is eliminated.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

The present invention relates to a copying machine,
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer and a facsimile, the present invention relates to a sheet conveying device that conveys a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to convey a sheet from a sheet feeding section to an image forming section, a sheet conveying path formed by facing two sheet guide plates with a predetermined gap therebetween and forming an image with the sheet feeding section. And a roller provided rotatably on each of the paper guide plates, and when one roller is driven, the other roller is made to follow and rotate, and the paper is conveyed by these paired rollers, and a jam is generated. There is a sheet conveying device in which, when it occurs, the gap between the two sheet guide plates is widened to separate the rollers and the sheet is taken out in this state.

[0003]

The paper jammed in the paper transport path may be wrinkled or may be offset to one side of the paper transport path, and it is difficult for the fingers to enter even if the gap of the paper guide plate is slightly widened. Therefore, it is difficult to remove the jammed paper. In addition, in a general image forming apparatus, since there are many types in which a sheet is conveyed from one side toward the other side toward the apparatus body, the cover provided on the side surface of the apparatus body is opened sideways to convey the sheet. Although there is one in which the road is completely opened, a space must be secured to the side of the main body of the apparatus in order to open the cover, which wastes the floor area of the office or the like.

[0004]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A paper transport path that supports at least one of a pair of paper guide plates facing each other so as to approach and separate from the other paper guide plate, and the paper guide plates facing each other with respect to the other paper guide plate. A guide plate moving mechanism for moving them closer to and away from each other, a paper conveying roller rotatably provided in the paper conveying path connected to a drive unit, and rotatably supported by the paper guide plate supported so as to come in contact with and separate from each other. A sheet pressing roller that comes into contact with the sheet conveying roller when the sheet guiding plates are brought closer to each other by a lever, and a movable body that is movably held by the sheet guiding plate in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction. And a facing piece fixedly provided at an end portion on the back side of the movable body and facing a side edge of the sheet.

Therefore, when a jam occurs,
When the pair of paper guide plates are separated by the guide plate moving mechanism to separate the paper pressing roller from the paper conveying roller and the movable body is pulled out to the front side, the paper is moved from the back side to the front side of the paper conveying path by the facing piece. Gravitate.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, at least one of a pair of opposed sheet guide plates is supported so as to be able to move toward and away from the other sheet guide plate, and the sheet opposed to each other. A guide plate moving mechanism that moves the guide plate toward and away from the other sheet guide plate, and a sheet conveying roller that is connected to a drive unit and is rotatably provided in the sheet conveying path, are supported so that they can come into contact with and separate from each other. And a sheet pressing roller that is rotatably supported by the sheet guiding plate and comes into contact with the sheet conveying roller when the sheet guiding plates are brought close to each other,
The sheet guide plate includes a movable body movably held in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction, and a holding section provided at an end portion on the front side of the movable body for holding a side edge of the sheet. ing.

Therefore, when a jam occurs,
The pair of paper guide plates are separated by the guide plate moving mechanism to separate the paper pressing roller from the paper transport roller, and the movable body is once moved toward the back side of the paper transport path by a predetermined distance according to the width of the paper, When the movable body is pulled out to the front side after the front side edge of the paper is held by the holding unit, the paper is picked out to the front outside of the paper conveyance path.

[0008]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on FIG. First, FIG. 3 shows the overall structure of the image forming apparatus 1. A document table 3 is provided above the apparatus main body 2, and a photoconductor 4 is rotatably provided inside the apparatus main body 2. Various process units are provided around the photoconductor 4. The various process units include a charging charger 5 that charges the surface of the photoconductor 4 by charging the surface of the photoconductor 4, a scanner 6 that writes a document image on the platen 3 as an electrostatic latent image on a charged portion of the photoconductor 4, and a different color. Developing units 7 and 8 for accommodating the toner of the above to develop the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 4, a transfer charger 9 for transferring the toner image on the photoconductor 4 to a sheet, and a separation for separating the sheet from the photoconductor Of the charging charger 10, a cleaning unit 11 for cleaning the surface of the photoconductor 4, a discharge lamp 12 for removing the charge on the photoconductor 4, and the like.

Further, a manual tray 13 is provided on one side of the apparatus main body 2, and a paper discharge tray 14 is provided on the other side. Further, a plurality of paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 are provided at the bottom of the apparatus main body 2, and these paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 are provided.
The paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 are provided in the vicinity of the end of the paper feed side of 16.
A paper feed roller 17 for sending out the paper inside and a separation roller 18 for separating the papers sent out by the paper feed roller 17 one by one are provided. And the paper feed cassette 1
The sheet receiving tray 14 is directed upward from the front end portions of the reference numerals 5 and 16 and is gently curved at the front end portion of the manual feed tray 13 to face the horizontal direction.
Is provided with a sheet conveying path 20. A plurality of paper conveying rollers 21, a paper pressing roller 22 elastically contacting these paper conveying rollers 21, and a registration roller 23 arranged near the photoconductor 4 are provided in the paper conveying path 20. It is arranged.

Here, when the paper is skewed at the time of feeding and the double feed of the paper cannot be prevented by the separating roller 18, a jam is likely to occur in the vertical portion 20a on the upstream side of the paper transport path 20. For this purpose, as shown in FIG.
0a is formed by arranging a pair of paper guide plates 24 and 25 so as to face each other so that they can approach and separate from each other. Specifically, one of the paper guide plates 24 is fixed to a frame (not shown) of the apparatus main body 2, but the other paper guide plate 25 is biased in a direction away from the paper guide plate 24. It is supported so that it can approach and separate. Then, the sheet conveying roller 21 driven by the motor is rotatably supported by the sheet guide plate 24 on the fixed side, and the sheet pressing roller 22 is held by the sheet guide plate 25.
It is supported rotatably.

Then, as shown in FIG. 1, the paper guide plate 2
A guide plate moving mechanism 26 for moving the sheet 5 toward and away from the other sheet guide plate 24 is provided. The guide plate moving mechanism 26 includes a spring (not shown) that biases the paper guide plate 25 in a direction to separate the paper guide plate 25 from the paper guide plate 24, and a cam 27 that supports the back surface of the paper guide plate 25. A handle 28 is provided at one end on the front side of the. As shown in FIG. 1A, when the back surface of the sheet guide plate 25 is pressed by the cam 27 against the biasing force of the spring,
The sheet guide plate 25 approaches the sheet guide plate 24 until the sheet pressing roller 22 contacts the sheet conveying roller 21. FIG.
As shown in (b), the cam 27 is retracted (clockwise).
When turned to, the paper guide plate 25 is separated from the paper guide plate 24 by the urging force of the spring.

As shown in FIG. 1, a concave portion 29 orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction is formed on the inner surface of the paper guide plate 24 over the entire width, and a movable body 30 is movably held in the concave portion 29. . The movable body 30 is prevented from rotating by, for example, defining the cross section in an elliptical shape or a polygonal shape, and an opposing piece 31 facing the side edge of the sheet S (see FIG. 2) is provided at the back end of the movable body 30. The knob 32 is integrally formed and has a knob 32 at the front end.

In such a structure, the paper on which the image is transferred on the photoconductor 4 is fed from the paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 or the manual tray 13. When paper is fed from the manual feed tray 13, the horizontal portion of the paper feed path 20 is used, and since the feed path is short, the frequency of jams is low. When the paper is fed from the paper feeding cassettes 15 and 16, when the paper is skewed at the time of feeding or when the separation roller 18 cannot prevent the double feeding of the paper, a jam occurs at the vertical portion 20a on the upstream side of the paper transport path 20. It tends to occur, but the frequency of occurrence in the horizontal part is low.
When a jam occurs in the horizontal portion of the paper transport path 20, the front door (not shown) of the apparatus body 2 can be opened and the jammed paper can be taken out. The occurrence of a jam is detected by a jam sensor (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position on the paper transport path 20.

Now, in the case where a jam frequently occurs, which is the vertical portion 20a of the sheet conveying path 20 in this example, when a jam occurs in the vertical portion 20a, the front door of the apparatus main body 2 is opened. As shown in FIG. 1B, the handle 28 is gripped and the cam 27 is rotated in the retreating direction to move the paper guide plate 25 away from the paper guide plate 24, and the paper conveying roller 21 to the paper pressing roller 22. Move away. That is, when the sheet is released in a free state, the knob 32 is grasped and the movable body 30 is pulled out to the front side, the sheet is pulled toward the front side from the back side of the sheet conveyance path 20 by the facing piece.

Therefore, when the jam is cleared, the cover on the side surface of the apparatus main body 2 is opened as in the conventional case, and the paper conveying path 2 is opened.
It is not necessary to open the 0 vertical portion 20a. For this reason, it is not necessary to open a space for opening the cover on the side of the apparatus body 2. When the manual tray 13 is not used, the manual tray 13 can be removed or folded inside the apparatus main body 2 to install the side surface of the apparatus main body 2 close to the wall of the building or other equipment. As a result, the floor area of the office or the like is not wasted. The above is the effect corresponding to the invention of claim 1.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
It will be described based on. A movable body 33 is movably held by the paper guide plate 24 in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. The support structure of the movable body 33 is similar to the support structure of the movable body 30. A gripping section 34 for gripping the side edge of the sheet is provided at the front end of the movable body 33. Similar to the principle of the scissors, the holding portion 34 is configured such that a movable piece 36 is urged in a closing direction and rotatably attached by a pin 37 to a fixed piece 35 fixed to the movable body 33.
Therefore, when the rear end portions of the fixed piece 35 and the movable piece 36 are gripped, the tip of the movable piece 36 opens around the pin 37, and when the force for gripping the fixed piece 35 and the movable piece 36 is loosened, the pin 37 is centered. The movable piece 36 has a structure in which the leading end of the movable piece 36 is closed and the sheet is sandwiched at this time.

In such a structure, when a jam occurs, the front door of the apparatus main body 2 is opened and the cam 27 is rotated to move the paper guide plate 25 to the paper guide plate 2 as described above.
4, the paper pressing roller 22 is moved away from the paper conveying roller 21, the movable body 33 is once moved toward the back side of the paper conveying path 20 for a predetermined distance according to the width of the paper, and the holding unit 34 holds the paper. After holding the side edge on the front side, the movable body 3
When 3 is pulled out to the front side, the paper is picked out to the front outside of the paper transport path 20.

As described above, the guide plate moving mechanism 2
6, the movable body 30 having the facing piece 31 at one end, the holding portion 34
The movable body 33 having one end is provided in the vertical portion 20a of the paper transport path 20, but the arrangement is not limited to this example, and it may extend to any part or the entire area of the paper transport path. . Further, the sheet conveying roller 21 driven by the motor may be supported by a support body such as another frame instead of the sheet guide plate 24.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a guide plate moving mechanism for separating mutually opposed paper guide plates and a movable body held by the paper guide plate so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveying direction. And a facing piece that is fixedly provided at the back end of the movable body and faces the side edge of the sheet, so that when a jam occurs, a pair of sheet guide plates is provided. The guide plate moving mechanism can be used to separate the paper holding roller from the paper conveying roller.In this state, a simple operation of pulling out the movable body to the front side allows the sheet to be moved by the facing piece at the end of the movable body. Can be pulled from the back side of the paper transport path to the front side. As a result, in the case of an image forming apparatus of a type in which a part of the paper conveyance path is arranged close to the side surface when the apparatus main body is viewed from the front, the side of the apparatus main body should be opened to open the paper conveyance path over the entire width. It is possible to eliminate the need to open the other cover, so that the apparatus main body can be placed close to the indoor wall surface or other equipment, and the indoor space can be effectively used.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a guide plate moving mechanism for separating the opposite paper guide plates from each other, and a movable body held by the paper guide plate so as to be movable in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveying direction. Since a gripping portion which is provided at the front end of the movable body and which holds the side edge of the sheet is provided, when a jam occurs, the pair of sheet guide plates is moved by the guide plate moving mechanism. The paper pressing roller can be separated from the paper conveying roller by moving the movable body once toward the back side of the paper conveying path for a predetermined distance according to the width of the paper, and then the gripping section can move the movable body to the front side of the paper. After holding the edge, the paper can be picked out to the front outside of the paper transport path by a simple operation of pulling the movable body forward. As a result, in the case of an image forming apparatus of a type in which a part of the paper conveyance path is arranged close to the side surface when the apparatus main body is viewed from the front, the side of the apparatus main body should be opened to open the paper conveyance path over the entire width. It is possible to eliminate the need to open the other cover, so that the apparatus main body can be placed close to the indoor wall surface or other equipment, and the indoor space can be effectively used.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B show a sheet conveyance path according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a vertical cross-sectional side view showing a state where a sheet guide plate is approached, and FIG. It is a vertical section side view showing the state where it was opened.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the paper transport path of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional front view showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of a sheet conveyance path according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 Paper Conveying Path 21 Paper Conveying Roller 22 Paper Holding Roller 26 Guide Plate Moving Mechanism 30 Movable Body 31 Opposing Piece 33 Movable Body 34 Holding Part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A paper transport path that supports at least one of a pair of opposing paper guide plates so as to be able to move toward and away from the other paper guide plate, and the opposite paper guide plates of the opposite paper guide plate. A guide plate moving mechanism that moves the paper guide plate toward and away from the paper guide plate, a paper transport roller that is connected to a drive unit and is rotatably provided in the paper transport path, and the paper guide plate that is supported so as to be movable in and out of contact. A paper pressing roller that is rotatably supported and comes into contact with the paper transport rollers when the paper guide plates are brought close to each other, and a paper guide plate that is movably held in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. A sheet conveying apparatus comprising: a movable body; and a facing piece fixedly provided at an end portion on the back side of the movable body and facing a side edge of a sheet. 2. A paper conveyance path that supports at least one of a pair of paper guide plates facing each other so as to be able to move toward and away from a paper guide plate of the other party, and the paper guide plates facing each other of the paper guide path of the other party. A guide plate moving mechanism that moves the paper guide plate toward and away from the paper guide plate, a paper transport roller that is connected to a drive unit and is rotatably provided in the paper transport path, and the paper guide plate that is supported so as to be movable in and out of contact. A paper pressing roller that is rotatably supported and comes into contact with the paper transport rollers when the paper guide plates are brought close to each other, and a paper guide plate that is movably held in a direction orthogonal to the paper transport direction. A sheet conveying device, comprising: a movable body; and a sandwiching portion that is provided at an end portion on the front side of the movable body and sandwiches a side edge of a sheet.