JPH10114439A - Manual insertion type paper sheet feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To feed paper sheets, ranging from ordinary paper sheets to paperboard sheets, in a signal paper sheet feeding device. SOLUTION: A manual insertion table 2 is installed in a picture image forming device or in a copying-and-duplicating device in a freely opening/closing manner. In this case, the table 2 can be set at least two positions, or an inclined state position at which ordinary paper sheets are fed under the FRR paper sheet feeding method and a horizontal state position at which cardboard sheets are fed under the slit separation method. The set state of the hand feeding table 2 is detected by detection sensors SW1, SW2. When the cardboard is to be fed, the distance between a pick-up roller 6 and the tip end for a front guide 2a of the manual insertion table 2 should be equal to the sum of the maximum thickness of the cardboard and an allowance not greater than the said maximum thickness, so that only one topmost cardboard sheet can be separated and carried.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manual sheet feeding device for feeding and conveying an image forming apparatus and a copying and printing apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Paper types that can be used in general copying machines and the like are limited. For example, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-69962, various types of paper are used. There is disclosed a manual sheet feeding device capable of stacking a large number of sheets with a sabaki roller using a torque limiter and a half moon-shaped sheet feeding roller so that sheets of any basis weight can be separated and conveyed. However, there is a limit even if paper of any thickness can be conveyed.
from m ² before and after the thin paper, perform until paperboard 200 to 400 g / m ² which is not used in conventional copying machines with a single paper feeding method was impossible.

In view of the above, the present invention is not limited to the passing of plain paper (paper of about 54 to 157 g / m ² used in ordinary copying machines) conventionally used for copying, as well as thick paper. (Thick paper exceeding 157 g / m ² and called paperboard) is intended to provide an apparatus capable of passing paper. Further, the present invention enables one sheet feeder to pass from plain paper to paperboard.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manual sheet feeding apparatus in which a manual feeding table is attached to an image forming apparatus, a copy printing apparatus, or the like to achieve the above object. A hand stand position that can be freely opened and closed and that is compatible with the FRR paper feeding system that separates and feeds plain paper used in ordinary copiers, etc.
It has at least two or more hand slide set positions in the hand slide position suitable for the slit separation method for separating and feeding thick paper called paperboard or the like, and the hand slide is in any of the above positions. It has a detecting means for detecting the fact.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the manual feeder is positioned at a hand slide table compatible with the FRR sheet feeding method, the reverse roller and the feed roller are brought into contact with each other to enable the separating operation of the FRR sheet feeding method. When the position of the hand slide and the position where the hand slide is closed conforming to the separation method, a reverse roller contact / separation mechanism and a control device for separating the reverse roller from the feed roller are provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the control device controls the drive time of the pickup roller to be extended until the sheet is sent to the downstream conveying system when the slit separation type sheet feeding is performed. It is characterized by doing.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the pickup roller and the front end of the front guide on the front side in the sheet feeding direction of the hand stand are provided at the position of the hand stand for performing the slit separation type sheet feeding. Is the maximum paper thickness tma that can be passed.
The relationship between x and the margin α is ΔS = tmax + α, 0 <α <
tmax.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a portion where a gap ΔS between the front end of the front guide of the hand slide and the pickup roller is established is a portion of the front end of the front guide of the hand slide near the pickup roller. Only, and both ends of the front guide are set to be larger than the gap ΔS.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the rotary driving means of the pickup roller has a torque limiter.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, when the control device detects that the hand stand is located at the hand stand position for performing the slit-separated sheet feeding, the control signal is used in response to the detection signal. At least one of the transfer condition and the fixing condition is changed to a condition suitable for passing thick paper.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the apparatus further comprises a gap adjusting means capable of adjusting the value of the gap between 0 and ΔS when the sheet is fed by the slit separation method.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the gap adjusting means can adjust the gap ΔS in accordance with the thickness of a sheet to be used.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, F used in the embodiment of the present invention
An aspect of the RR sheet feeding method will be described with reference to FIG. F
The RR sheet feeding method has high reliability as a separation sheet feeding of plain paper and is widely used. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a hand slide unit, which is composed of a hand slide 2, a bottom plate 3 and a friction plate 4 fixed at a position corresponding to a pickup roller 6 at the tip thereof. Is pressed against the pickup roller 6 by an elastic body (not shown). However, the upper limit of the bottom plate 3 is stopped at a position slightly protruding from the front end of the front guide 2a of the hand slide 2, and is regulated by a stopper (not shown) so that it cannot move upward any further.

The paper bundle 5 is stacked on the bottom plate 3, but at this time, the pickup roller 6 is retracted upward as shown in FIG. It comes in contact with the paper and sends out the paper. The pickup roller 6 is moved up and down by driving means such as a solenoid (not shown), and an appropriate pressing force (this force is referred to as pickup roller pressure) is applied to the paper surface of the sheet bundle 5. At this time, the upward pressing of the bottom plate 3 (referred to as the bottom plate pressing force) is set to a force sufficiently higher than the pickup roller pressure, so that even when the pickup roller pressure is applied to the paper bundle 5, the bottom plate 3 is moved to the upper limit position. Will not be depressed.

The paper sent from the hand slide 2 is sent to a nip portion between a feed roller 7 and a reverse roller 8. When two or more sheets are sent to the nip portion between the feed roller 7 and the reverse roller 8, the reverse roller 8 rotates clockwise in the figure by a driving force applied via a torque limiter (not shown). Then, the lower sheet is returned to the sheet bundle 5. At this time, the returned paper is not returned to a position where it passes by the pickup roller 6 due to the inclination of the hand slide 2, and is normally sent out by the pickup roller 6 at the next sheet feeding.

The feed roller 7 feeds the paper separated into only one uppermost sheet from a guide plate 9 installed on the downstream side to a pair of registration rollers 10. The sheet sent to the registration roller pair 10 receives a predetermined sheet position, and is conveyed to an image forming unit (not shown).

When not used, the hand slide unit 1 rotates about a fulcrum installed on a main body side plate (not shown).
When the paper is held in a vertical state as in (B) and the paper is fed by the FRR paper feeding method, the paper is held with an appropriate inclination as shown in FIG. That is, as described above, in the FRR paper feeding method, when a plurality of multi-fed papers enter the separation unit formed by the feed roller 7 and the reverse roller 8, the lower paper is returned to the hand slide 2 by the above-described return operation. At this time, a paper press serving as a stopper is required at the rear end side in the return direction so that the paper does not return too much. In the illustrated embodiment, the manual feed stand 2 has an appropriate By maintaining the inclination, non-feeding due to excessive return of the paper and dropping from the hand stand 2 are prevented.

Further, the reverse roller 8 can be moved toward and away from the feed roller 7, and has a solenoid (not shown) as a contacting / separating mechanism for that purpose.
Is set at the FRR sheet feeding position, and when the detection sensor SW1 shown in FIG. 1A is turned on, the solenoid is operated to bring the reverse roller 8 into contact with the feed roller 7; , The reverse roller 8 is separated from the feed roller 7. That is, when not using the FRR sheet, the reverse roller 8 is separated from the feed roller 7 so as to eliminate the load torque of the torque limiter (not shown) to reduce the driving torque.

Next, the mode of the slit separation sheet feeding system employed in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the case of the slit separation paper feeding method, the manual feed unit 1 is set horizontally. With this setting, the position detection sensor SW2 is turned on, thereby recognizing the thick paper mode, and changing the setting of at least one of the transfer condition and the fixing condition to a condition suitable for thick paper. At this time, the position of the pickup roller 6 is set so as to be substantially horizontal to the feed roller 7 by driving means such as the above-mentioned solenoid (not shown) and fixed in that state by a holding member (not shown).

The stack of thick paper 5a is set by pressing down the bottom plate 3 as in the case of plain paper. At this time, since the pickup roller 6 is fixed, the thick paper is set as shown. At this time, pick-up roller 6 and hand stand 2
As shown in FIG. 2, the gap ΔS between the front end of the front guide 2a and the front end of the front guide 2a is represented by a maximum paper thickness tmax to be used + a margin α (0 <α <t
max). Accordingly, when feeding the thick paper, no more than two thick papers enter the gap ΔS between the pickup roller 6 and the front end of the front guide 2a. Conveyed. At this time, the detection sensor SW2 is turned on, and the rotation time of the pickup roller 6 is set to a time necessary and sufficient to feed the registration roller pair 10 on the downstream side. Therefore, there is no problem even if the feed roller 7 and the reverse roller 8 are separated.

Front guide 2a for securing gap ΔS
FIG. 3 shows an example in which the shape of the tip is only a portion near the pickup roller 6. As a result, even when the paper curls downward, the leading edge of the paper does not hit the front guide and is not fed, and skew (bending of the paper) does not occur, so that high reliability in conveyance can be obtained. Can be

When a thick paper such as a paperboard is passed through and the image is positioned by abutting the nip of the pair of registration rollers 10 on the downstream side, a greater conveying force is applied than when the plain paper is conveyed. When the nip strikes, the paper penetrates through the nip without bending and the resist goes out of control, or the paper does not bend due to the strength of the paper even if it does not penetrate through the nip, so the pickup roller 6 slips. Slip marks may remain on the paper. In the device of the present embodiment,
To prevent this, the pickup roller 6 is stopped when a certain set load occurs. That is, FIG.
As shown in (1), a torque limiter is built in the pickup roller 6, and when the load exceeds a certain set load, a slip occurs between the magnet 11 and the hiss plate 12, and the pickup roller 6 stops. Thereby, the substantial driving of the pickup roller 6 can be stopped before the paper penetrates or the roller is stained. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 13 denotes a driving gear of the pickup roller 6, and reference numeral 14 denotes a driven gear.

As described above, when the detection sensor SW2 detects that the slit-separated sheet feeding is to be performed, it is possible to control the setting change of the transfer condition and the fixing condition to the condition suitable for the thick paper, and to always obtain a clear copy. FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of a control device used for such control. The control circuit 15 shown in this figure is, for example, a control circuit of the copying machine main body or a control circuit provided independently.
Control of drive time of pickup roller 6, reverse roller 8
There is on / off control of a solenoid (hereinafter, referred to as a reverse solenoid) for driving the image forming apparatus, control of transfer conditions, and control of fixing conditions.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of control by the control circuit 15 described above. First, the paper feed control method is determined (step 1). If the paper feed is FRR, the reverse solenoid is turned on (step 2), and the drive time of the pickup roller 6, the transfer condition, and the fixing condition are set to normal (step 3). 5) Start copying. On the other hand, if it is determined in step 1 that the sheet is not the FRR sheet feeding, it is determined whether the sheet is the slit sheet feeding (step 6). If the sheet is not the slit sheet feeding, the process returns to the start. Is turned off (step 7), the drive time of the pickup roller 6 is extended (step 8), the transfer conditions are set for thick paper (step 9), and the fixing conditions are also set for thick paper (step 10), and copying is performed. Start. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the copy condition suitable for the thick paper is set by setting the position of the hand stand for the thick paper without operating in the thick paper mode, and a complicated operation or an erroneous operation due to forgetting to switch is eliminated. FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 show an embodiment of the eighth and ninth aspects.

Next, a mechanism for variably controlling the gap ΔS between the tip of the front guide 2a of the hand slide 2 and the pickup roller 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. The gap adjusting plate 16 that forms the gap ΔS is movable up and down with respect to the front guide 2 a of the hand slide 2. In the illustrated mechanism, the gap adjustment plate 16 is held by the hand slide 2 so as to always descend by its own weight, and the stopper pin 17 is inserted through the hole 2 b of the hand slide 2.
The adjusting arm 18 supporting the stopper pin 17 is screwed to the gap adjusting plate 16 and held so as to rotate about the support shaft 19, so that the protrusion 18 a provided on the adjusting arm 18 and the wall surface of the hand slide 2 are connected. The rotation of the adjusting arm 18 is braked by frictional force. Also, the tip 18 of the adjusting arm 18
As for b, as shown in FIG. 9, an L-shaped overhang is provided at the end of the hand slide 2 which does not affect the paper conveyance.

When the paper is not loaded on the hand slide 2, the adjusting arm 18 pushes up the stopper pin 17 until the stopper pin 17 comes into contact with the upper edge of the hole 2b of the hand slide 2.
6 also rises until it comes into contact with the pickup roller 6,
With the gap ΔS = 0, the tip 18b of the adjustment arm 18 and the hand slide 2
Is also zero. Then, the paper is mounted on the hand stand 2, and FIG.
When the paper (thick paper) 5a to be used is sandwiched under the leading end 18b of the adjusting arm 18, the adjusting arm 18 rotates counterclockwise in the drawing, and the gap adjusting plate 16 is moved via the stopper pin 17 as it moves. And a gap ΔS = t + α is set between the pickup roller 6 and the gap adjusting plate 16, so that an appropriate gap is easily obtained for the thick paper to be used, and the operability is improved. The margin α may be positive or negative depending on the position of the pickup roller 6 and the positions before and after the gap adjusting plate 16.

[0027]

As described above, in the manual paper feeder according to the first aspect, the manual feeder is attached to the image forming apparatus or the copy printing apparatus so as to be openable and closable, and is usually used in a copying machine or the like. At least two hands: a manual feeder position suitable for the FRR paper feeding method for separating and feeding plain paper, and a manual feeder position suitable for the slit separation method for separating and feeding thick paper called paperboard or the like. It has a slide set position, and has a detecting means for detecting that the slide is in any of the above positions. There is an effect that it is possible to set a condition that allows paper to pass from paper to paperboard. Further, when the FRR sheet feeding method is used, there is also an effect that the hand stand holds an appropriate inclination, so that non-feeding due to excessive return and dropping of the sheet from the sheet stand can be prevented.

As described above, in the manual feeder according to the second aspect, when the manual feeder is in the manual feeder position suitable for the FRR paper feeding method, the reverse roller and the feed roller are brought into contact with each other to perform the FRR.
It has a reverse roller contacting / separating mechanism and a control device that enables the separation operation of the paper feeding method and that, when in the position of the hand slide and the position where the hand slide is closed, that is compatible with the slit separation method, separates the reverse roller from the feed roller. With the configuration, the driving load required for rotating the rollers can be reduced when unnecessary.

As described above, in the manual paper feeder according to the third aspect, when the paper is fed by the slit separation method, the driving time of the pickup roller is extended until the paper is sent to the downstream transport system. As described above, since the control is controlled by the control device, all the conveyance at the time of sheet feeding in the slit separation system can be performed by the pickup roller, and the slit separation performance can be improved.

As described above, the manual feeder according to the fourth aspect of the present invention is arranged such that, when the manual feeder is in the manual feeder position for performing the slit-separated feeding, the pickup roller and the manual feeder are located on the front side in the paper feeding direction. The relationship between the maximum paper thickness tmax that can be passed and the margin α is ΔS = tmax +
Since α, 0 <α <tmax is satisfied, there is an effect that other special parts and the like are unnecessary, and the apparatus can be formed at low cost.

As described above, in the manual feeder according to the fifth aspect, the portion where the gap ΔS between the front guide end of the manual feed stand and the pickup roller is established is defined by the front guide end of the manual feed stand. Only the portion near the pickup roller is set, and both ends of the front guide are set to be larger than the gap ΔS. Therefore, even if the end of the cardboard tip curls to some extent downward, it hits the front guide and is not fed. This has the effect of improving reliability.

In the manual paper feeder according to the sixth aspect, as described above, the rotation driving means of the pickup roller has the torque limiter. Therefore, when a load exceeding the set value is generated, the torque limiter is turned off. During operation, the pick-up roller stops, and when the nip collides with the registration rollers on the downstream side when passing thick paper, the paperboard passes through the nip without bending and causes the registration to go out of alignment. Is stopped, so that it is possible to prevent the rollers from slipping and leaving slip marks on the paper.

As described above, the manual feeder according to claim 7 detects a presence of a manual feeder at a manual feeder position for performing slit-separated paper feeding. As a result, the control device changes at least one of the transfer condition and the fixing condition to a condition suitable for passing thick paper.
It is possible to change the position of the hand stand for thick paper without performing any special operation in the thick paper mode, and the copy conditions are also suitable for thick paper. This eliminates the complexity of operation and erroneous operation due to forgetting to switch. There is.

As described above, the manual paper feeder according to the eighth aspect has the gap adjusting means capable of adjusting the value of the gap between 0 and ΔS when performing the sheet feeding by the slit separation method. There is an effect that the gap can be appropriately adjusted so as to correspond to a paper thickness smaller than the maximum usable paper thickness, and the range of usable thick paper can be expanded.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, as described above, the gap adjusting means can adjust the gap ΔS in accordance with the thickness of the paper to be used. Thus, there is an effect that the operability of the user is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a side view showing the state of a hand slide, a pickup roller, a feed roller, a reverse roller, and a pair of registration rollers in a state of a FRR sheet feeding method employed in an embodiment of the present invention, and a hand slide unit. Is a side view (B) of a state in which is rotated in a non-use state and held in a vertical state, and a side view (C) showing a state of a manual feed unit in a slit separation paper feeding method when thick paper is passed.

FIG. 2 is a side view illustrating a gap between a feed roller and a front guide of a hand slide when thick paper is passed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a front guide tip shape for securing a gap between a feed roller and a front guide of a hand slide.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a pickup roller having a built-in torque limiter.

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram of a control device.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control by a control circuit.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a mechanism for variably controlling the gap between the front guide tip of the hand slide and the pickup roller.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the same sheet thickness adjustment state.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 By-pass unit 2 By-pass unit 2a Front guide 2b Hole 3 Bottom plate 4 Friction plate 5 Paper bundle 5a Thick paper bundle 6 Pick-up roller 7 Feed roller 8 Reverse roller 9 Guide plate 10 Registration roller pair 11 Magnet 12 His plate 13 Drive Side gear 14 Follower side gear 15 Control circuit 16 Gap adjusting plate 17 Stopper pin 18 Adjusting arm 18a Projection 18b Tip 19 Support shaft SW1 Detection sensor SW2 Position detection sensor ΔS Gap between pickup roller and front guide tip of hand slide

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G03G 15/00 516 G03G 15/00 516 550 550 21/00 384 21/00 384

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A hand-holding table which can be freely opened and closed with respect to an image forming apparatus, a copying and printing apparatus, etc., and which is compatible with an FRR paper feeding system for separating and feeding plain paper used in a normal copying machine. Position, and at least two or more hand-holding table set positions that are compatible with a slit separation method for separating and feeding thick paper called paperboard or the like. A manual sheet feeding device having a detecting means for detecting that the sheet is in a state. 2. When the position of the manual feed stand conforms to the FRR sheet feeding method, the reverse roller and the feed roller
A reverse roller contacting / separating mechanism that separates the reverse roller from the feed roller when the position of the hand slide and the position where the hand slide is closed enables separation operation of the RR paper feeding method and is compatible with the slit separation method. The manual sheet feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a device. 3. The control device according to claim 2, wherein when the sheet is fed in the slit separation mode, the driving time of the pickup roller is controlled so as to be extended until the sheet is fed to a downstream transport system. Item 2. The manual sheet feeding device. 4. A gap ΔS between the pickup roller and a front end of a front guide on the front side in the paper feeding direction of the manual feed stand when the manual feed stand position for performing the slit separation type paper feed is provided.
4. The manual paper feed according to claim 1, wherein the relation between the maximum paper thickness tmax and the margin α that can be passed is ΔS = tmax + α, and 0 <α <tmax. apparatus. 5. A portion where a gap ΔS between the front end of the front guide of the hand slide and the pickup roller is established is only a portion of the front end of the front guide of the hand slide near the pickup roller. 5. The manual feeder according to claim 4, wherein both ends are set to be larger than the gap ΔS. 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation driving means of the pickup roller has a torque limiter.
Any one of the manual feeding devices according to any one of (5) to (5). 7. When the control device detects that the hand stand is located at the hand stand position for performing the slit-separation type sheet feeding, the control signal is used for the transfer condition and the fixing condition based on the detection signal. 7. The manual sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the conditions is changed to a condition suitable for passing thick paper. 8. The manual sheet feeding device according to claim 4, further comprising a gap adjusting unit that can adjust the value of the gap between 0 and ΔS when the sheet is fed by the slit separation method. . 9. The manual paper feeder according to claim 8, wherein said gap adjusting means is capable of adjusting said gap ΔS in accordance with the thickness of a sheet to be used.