JPH10218408A - Manual paper feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manual paper feeding device in which a gap between a paper feeding roller and the tip end of a front face guide attached to the front side in the feeding direction of the feeding device can easily be set or altered and in which an angle between the roller and the paper sheet can be varied. SOLUTION: A manual feeding unit is set to a picture image forming device main body nearly horizontally. A piece of paper 21, which is similar to that in use, is put into a paper pocket. When a projection 19 of a supporting body 16 is brought in contact with the paper 21, the supporting body 16, which serves as a separate unit, is rotated taking a pin 18 as a fulcrum, by the amount of the thickness of the paper 21 owing to a leaf spring 20 and held therein. Thus, both separation angle θ and gap S, which are formed by a separation member 17, which is fixed on the supporting body 16, and the paper sheet 6 lying at the uppermost position, can be set so as to have the optimum separating condition for the paper in use.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

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

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A manual paper feeder generally used in an image forming apparatus and a copy printing apparatus has been used in an image forming apparatus such as a manual feed unit 1 shown in FIG. Is openably and closably attached to the main body 2 of the apparatus. When used, open and use as shown by the solid line in the figure, and when not in use, close as shown by the dotted line in the figure to reduce the occupied area of the machine. It has become.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration when the manual feed unit 1 of FIG. 1 is used. The manual feed unit 1 presses a bundle of sheets 6 against a sheet feed roller 7 by a bottom plate 4 and a pressure spring 5 disposed on a sheet feed table 3, and rotates the sheet feed roller 7 using the sheet feed pressure (arrow in the figure). Direction). Then, only the uppermost sheet 6 is separated by a front guide (not shown), guided by upper and lower guide plates 8 and 9, and sent to a transport roller pair 10. The transport roller pair 10 further feeds the paper into the apparatus main body 2.

[0004] In such general image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and copy printing apparatuses, usable paper types are limited. For example, in the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-69962, various types of paper are used. There is disclosed a manual paper feeder capable of stacking a large number of papers with a sabaki roller and a half-moon-shaped paper feed roller using a torque limiter so that paper of any basis weight can be separated and conveyed over various types. However, there is a limit even if paper of any thickness can be conveyed, and development of an apparatus capable of passing thick paper and paperboard as well as generally used plain paper has been desired.

Therefore, the paper thickness of the paper to be used is detected, and a gap (hereinafter referred to as a slit width) between the paper feed roller and the front end of the front guide on the front side in the paper feed direction of the manual paper feeder is detected in accordance with the detected paper thickness. ) Has been developed to obtain an optimum slit width, but it has been desired to be able to change the slit width reliably and appropriately according to the paper to be used.

The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a manual sheet feeder that can easily set and change a slit width and can also change an angle between a sheet feed roller and a sheet.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a manual sheet feeding device is provided with a sheet feeding roller disposed near a downstream side in a sheet conveying direction. A manual sheet feeding device, comprising a separating member for passing only one sheet of paper and keeping the second and subsequent sheets stopped, and a storage section for the sheet to be fed being attached to the image forming apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable. A paper setting section provided on the image forming apparatus main body side, paper thickness detecting means for detecting the thickness of the paper set in the setting section, and advancement of the paper according to the paper thickness detected by the paper thickness detecting means Means for varying the direction and the angle of the separating member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the paper thickness detecting means is a projection protruding from the storage section toward the set section, and the thickness of the storage section is set according to the paper thickness set in the set section. It is characterized in that the inclination is variable.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the paper thickness detecting means has means for enlarging the detected used paper thickness, and the variable means is configured to perform the separation based on the paper thickness amount enlarged by the enlarging means. It is characterized in that the separation angle of the members is changed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the paper thickness detecting means has means for enlarging the detected paper thickness, and the enlarging means is rotatable at one end side to the image forming apparatus main body. It is a lever arm which is pivotally supported, has a first protrusion protruding toward the storage portion on the other end, and a second protrusion protruding toward the set portion between these.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the first projection of the lever arm protruding toward the storage section is formed as a flat operation knob.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following, portions common to the related art will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. 3 and 4 show a first embodiment of the manual paper feeder according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view and FIG. 4 is a sectional view. The manual paper feeder according to the present embodiment includes a paper setting unit 11 provided on the image forming apparatus main body 2 side and a paper feed third unit.
And a means for varying the direction of travel of the sheet 6 and the angle of a member that separates the top sheet from the sheet bundle in accordance with the detection of the sheet thickness set in the setting unit 11 and the detected sheet thickness. It has 12.

The setting section 11 is formed by providing a paper pocket 13 at a position on the downstream side of the paper feed roller 7 of the lower guide plate 9. An opening 14 is formed in the paper pocket 13 on the side of the manual feed unit 1. In the paper pocket 13, paper used for image formation such as copying to be used, or a paper piece made of the same paper is put. Although the way of inserting the paper piece may be from the side of the drawing or from above, in the illustrated embodiment, the upper side of the paper pocket 13 is also opened so as to be inserted from above in the drawing.

Separation unit 1 provided in manual feed unit 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes a cutout provided in the front cover 15 on the image forming apparatus main body 2 side of the sheet feed table 3. The separation unit 12 includes a support 16 and a separation member 17. The support 16 is provided with pins 1 provided on both side edges.
8 and 18 are attached to the front cover portion 15 so as to be rotatable, and a projection 19 is provided on the surface of the set portion 11.
A leaf spring 20 is provided inside the paper feed table 3 so as to urge the lower end of the support 16 in the drawing, that is, the side on which the projection 19 is provided, closer to the set portion 11 side.

The separating member 17 is fixed to the support member 16 and has an appropriate elastic force and an appropriate coefficient of friction on the side which comes into contact with the paper. The separating member 17 may be of a two-layer structure in which a friction member such as sponge or cork is stuck to a thin plate of resin or metal, or a member having an appropriate friction coefficient obtained by processing a surface of a thin metal plate. .

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4 which shows a detailed cross section of the state where the manual feed unit 1 is set. The manual feed unit 1 is set substantially horizontally on a stop position (not shown) in the image forming apparatus main body. At this time, paper pocket 13
When the paper piece 21 to be used is inserted, the protrusion 19 of the support 16 comes into contact with the paper piece 21, and rotates counterclockwise in the figure with the pin 18 as a fulcrum, and the plate fixed to the front cover 15. It is held by the spring 20 at a position rotated by the thickness of the paper piece 21. Then, the separation angle θ and the gap (slit width) S formed by the held separation member 17 of the separation unit 12 and the uppermost paper 6 are set to be the optimum separation conditions for the paper used. You.

When a paper thicker than the illustrated paper thickness is set in the paper pocket 13, the separation unit 12 is further rotated counterclockwise in the figure by the increased paper thickness, so that the separation angle θ is small and the slit width is small. S increases and the separation condition is set according to the paper thickness.

5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention in which the thickness of the paper piece 21 set in the paper pocket 13 is enlarged. FIG. 5 is a perspective view, FIG. 6 is a plan view, and FIG. It is sectional drawing. In the configuration of the first embodiment, the paper thickness of the paper piece 21 set in the paper pocket 13 is directly transmitted to the separation unit 12, but in this embodiment, the paper thickness is transmitted in an enlarged manner. Further, the projection 18 provided on the support 16 in the first embodiment is not provided in the present embodiment.

That is, the paper setting section 11 is inserted into the paper pocket 13.
And a detection arm 22 having a lever arm shape. The position of the paper pocket 13 is shifted in the paper width direction at a position downstream of the paper feed roller 7, and the shaft support 23 at one end of the detection arm 22 is moved to the image forming apparatus main body or the lower guide plate. 9 is rotatably supported. The other end of the detection arm 22 is provided with a knob 24 projecting toward the separation unit 12 at a position downstream of the sheet feeding roller 7, and a projection 25 projecting toward the paper pocket 13 between the shaft support 23 and the knob 24. It has. This detection arm 22
Is rotationally urged by a spring (not shown) so that the knob 24 is separated from the paper pocket 13.

In this embodiment, the detection arm 22 has a knob 24 so that the detection arm 22 can be moved forward (downward in FIG. 6).
When the paper piece 21 to be used is put in the pocket 13 and the hand is released from the knob 24, the detection arm 22 rotates counterclockwise (upward) in FIG. Stops there. Then, since the knob 24 is disposed at a position downstream of the sheet feed roller 7, when the manual feed unit 1 is set, the knob 24 and the setting portion 11 of the manual feed unit 1 come into contact with each other as shown in FIG. The slit width S is formed in the same manner as in the previous embodiment. However, the paper piece 21 is enlarged by the detection arm 22. When the paper thickness is increased in this manner, the play between the components caused by the configuration of the apparatus is absorbed, and the detection width of the paper thickness is widened, so that a wide paper from thin paper to thick paper such as paperboard can be used.

[0021]

As described above, the manual paper feeder according to the present invention detects the thickness of the paper set in the paper setting section provided on the image forming apparatus main body by the paper thickness detecting means. The traveling direction of the paper and the angle of the separating member for separating only the top sheet can be varied according to the detected paper thickness, and the paper feed roller and the manual feeder can be varied according to the paper thickness to be used. It is easy to optimize the gap between the front end of the paper feeding device and the front guide on the front side in the paper feeding direction and the angle of the separating member, and to maintain the adjusted gap and separating angle reliably. It has the effect of becoming. Moreover, there is an effect that the gap and the separation angle can be adjusted at a fine level according to the paper thickness.

In the manual feeder according to claims 3 and 4, as described above, the separation angle of the separation member is changed by enlarging the used paper thickness detected by the paper thickness detection means. In addition to the above-mentioned common effects, it is possible to absorb the backlash between the components that make up the device, and the detection width of the paper thickness is widened, and it can handle wide paper from thin paper to thick paper such as paperboard and paperboard. There is an effect that it can be used.

In the manual paper feeder according to the fifth aspect, as described above, the projection protruding toward the storage section is formed as a flat operation knob, so that in addition to the above-described common effects, the user can enjoy the same effects. There is an effect that operability can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a general open / close type manual paper feeder.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration when the manual feed unit of FIG. 1 is used.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the first embodiment of the manual sheet feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the same.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a part of a second embodiment of the manual sheet feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the same.

FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of the same.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Manual feed unit 2 Main body 3 Paper feed stand 4 Bottom plate 5 Pressure spring 6 Paper 7 Paper feed roller 8 Upper guide plate 9 Lower guide plate 10 Transport roller pair 11 Set part 12 Separation unit 13 Paper pocket 14 Opening part 15 Front cover part DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 16 Support 17 Separation member 18 Pin 19 Projection 20 Leaf spring 21 Paper piece 22 Detection arm 23 Shaft support 24 Knob 25 Projection θ Separation angle S Slit width

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A separation member for passing only one uppermost sheet by a sheet feeding roller arranged near the downstream side in the sheet conveying direction and keeping the second and subsequent sheets stopped, and feeding the sheet. In a manual paper feeder in which a paper storage section is attached to a main body of an image forming apparatus so as to be openable and closable, a paper setting section provided on the image forming apparatus main body side and a paper thickness for detecting a paper thickness set in the set section. A manual sheet feeder comprising: a detecting unit; and a unit configured to change an advancing direction of the sheet and an angle of the separating member according to a sheet thickness detected by the sheet thickness detecting unit. 2. The paper thickness detecting means is a projection protruding from the storage section toward the set section, wherein the inclination of the storage section is changed according to the paper thickness set in the set section. The manual paper feeder according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The paper thickness detecting means has means for enlarging the detected used paper thickness, and the variable means changes the separation angle of the separating member with the paper thickness amount enlarged by the enlarging means. The manual sheet feeder according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: 4. The paper thickness detecting means has means for enlarging the detected paper thickness, wherein the enlarging means rotatably supports one end side of the image forming apparatus main body and the other end side. 2. The manual sheet feeder according to claim 1, further comprising a lever arm provided with a first protrusion protruding toward the storage portion and a second protrusion protruding toward the set portion therebetween. 5. The manual paper feeder according to claim 4, wherein the first projection of the lever arm protruding toward the storage section is formed as a flat operation knob.