JPH10265070A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeder provided with a paper feed step which can feed such special papers as a thick paper, thin paper and envelope alike a regular paper other than the paper feed step exclusively used for the regular paper. SOLUTION: Out of paper feed steps 11, 12 with two steps of a main body, R of the guide plate 22 of a second paper feed step 12 is made to a big R such as about 50 and given a function which can match with the various kinds of paper sheet. In order to increase the separation performance of this paper feed step 12, FRR separation method having a pick up roller 2, feed roller 3 and reverse roller 4 is adopted. The angle made by a straight line for connecting a feed roller shaft with a reverse roller shaft and a vertical line is set to about 20 deg..

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeder mounted on a printing device such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to a paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 8 to 10 show a conventional sheet feeding / separating mechanism. FIG. 8 is a view showing a FRR type paper separating mechanism. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the paper feed / separation mechanism includes a pickup roller 2 for feeding out a sheet P set on a sheet tray 1, a feed roller 3, and a reverse roller 4 in contact with the feed roller. This is a so-called FRR system having a separation roller pair. As shown in FIG. 3C, when the number of sheets P is one, the reverse roller 4 is driven by the feed roller 3 against the reverse biasing force, and the sheet P is sent out as it is. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3D, when the sheet P is sandwiched between the two nip portions, the frictional force between the sheets is smaller than the frictional force between the sheet P2 and the reverse roller 4, so that the reverse roller 4 Reversed by the original urging force, the paper P2
Is loosened (pushed back), and only the sheet P1 is sent out.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a sheet feeding / separating mechanism of a corner claw type. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, there are provided a half moon roller 5 for feeding out the sheet P on the sheet tray 1 and a corner claw 6 for regulating both ends of the sheet. As shown in FIG. 3C, the rotation of the half-roller 5 causes the uppermost sheet P to be blocked by the corner claws 6 to form slack, and to be sent out separately from the second and subsequent sheets.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a friction pad type sheet feeding / separating mechanism. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, a paper feed roller 7 for feeding out the paper P on the paper tray 1;
A friction pad 8 is provided which is in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 7. Then, as shown in FIG.
1 is fed out, and the second sheet P2 is blocked by the friction pad 8.

[0005] As described above, the conventionally used paper feed separation mechanism has excellent separation certainty (that is, high performance for paper type), but has a complicated mechanism and high cost.
The method (FIG. 8) has a corner claw method (FIG. 9) and a friction pad method (FIG. 10) which are inferior in separation certainty, but have a simple mechanism and are inexpensive.

A plurality of paper feed stages (paper feed trays and paper feed cassettes) installed at the inner bottom of the printer main body and a paper feed stage of a paper feed table optionally added to the outside of the bottom of the printer main body include: The same type of paper separation mechanism is employed. Plain paper that is frequently used is set in each paper feed stage, for example, for each size. Among them, the most frequently used plain paper (for example, A4 size paper) is placed in the first (uppermost) paper feed stage.
Is usually set. This is because the first paper feed stage is located higher than the other paper feed stages, so that paper can be replenished in an easy posture and the paper transport path is short. And the copying speed is high. On the other hand, a manual feed table has been used for feeding special paper such as extremely heavy paper, thin paper, and envelopes that are rarely used.

[0007]

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a copying machine provided with a manual feed table. A first-stage paper feed stage 11 and a second-stage paper feed stage 12 are arranged at the inner bottom of the main body 10, and a paper feed table 13 provided at a lower portion of the main body 10.
Also, three paper feed stages 14 to 16 are arranged. A manual feed table 17 is provided on one side of the main body 10. As shown in FIG. 11, the manual feed table 17 has conventionally been used to feed special paper such as extremely thick paper, thin paper, and envelopes that are rarely used. However, this mechanism has a problem that a large number of sheets exceeding 100 cannot be fed at one time. In addition, there is a problem that the wings of the manual feed table are provided on the side of the machine body, so that the installation space is required and the cost of the manual feed table itself is increased. Therefore, it can be said that the special paper which is used only infrequently may be simply fed from the paper feed stage provided in the main body 10 or the paper feed table 13, but as shown in FIG. It was difficult to feed special paper with the structure of the conventional paper feed stage.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional paper feed stage. The guide plates 21 and 12 are provided between the paper feed stages 11 and 12 provided at the inner bottom of the main body 10 and the vertical common conveyance path 20.
2, R (radius) of the guide plates 21 and 22 is small, for example, about 20 (mm). Therefore, if an attempt is made to feed an extremely thick sheet of paper, an envelope, or the like in the sheet feeding stages 11 and 12, the sheet is transferred to the transport guide plate 21,
After passing through 22, they wrinkle or bend. This is because normally, in order to transport an envelope or a thick 135K sheet without plasticizing, R of the transport path is required to be 50 or more. This is because the paper feed stages 14 to
The same applies to No. 16. Note that in FIG.
Denotes a conveying roller, 24 denotes a registration roller, and 25 denotes a photosensitive drum.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding device capable of feeding a special paper such as a thick paper, a thin paper, an envelope and the like in the same manner as a plain paper, in addition to a paper feeding stage dedicated to the plain paper. is there. A second object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeder in which only a separation mechanism of a sheet feed stage having a high sheet type correspondence performance is made highly separable and the overall cost can be reduced. A third object of the present invention is to provide a paper feed mechanism capable of narrowing the width of a machine body by tilting a separation mechanism largely with respect to a horizontal plane. A fourth object of the present invention is to increase the height of the main body when the paper feeding performance of the main body feeding is usually increased. However, the paper feeding performance is increased by using the second and subsequent feeding stages. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding device that can prevent this from occurring. A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding device that allows a user to easily recognize which paper feeding stage has a high paper type correspondence performance and corresponds to special paper such as thick paper, thin paper, and envelope. It is to be.

[0010]

A first object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages mounted on a printing apparatus, which is compatible with a paper type of at least one or more paper feed stages except the uppermost stage. The performance is solved by the first means in which the performance is set to be higher than the performance corresponding to the paper type of the uppermost paper feed stage.

[0011] The first and second problems are that, in the first means, the separation mechanism of at least one of the second and subsequent sheet feeding stages from the top is replaced by a separation mechanism of another sheet feeding stage. This is solved by a second means different from the above. The first and third problems are as described in the first or second means, wherein the separation mechanism of the second and subsequent paper feed stages from the top is inclined more greatly in the horizontal direction than the separation mechanism of the first stage. It is solved by means. The first and fourth objects are as described in the first to third means, wherein a common transport path for transporting the paper from a plurality of paper feed stages is provided, and the common transport path is provided from a paper feed stage having a high paper type correspondence performance. The R shape of the transport guide plate up to
It is solved by a fourth means which is larger than the shape. The first and fifth problems are that, in a paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages mounted on a printing apparatus, at least one or more paper feed stages have higher paper type handling performance than other paper feed stages. And the identification means is marked on the outside of the drawer of the paper feed tray which has the higher paper type correspondence performance. The first and fifth problems are that, in a paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages mounted on a printing apparatus, at least one or more paper feed stages have higher paper type handling performance than other paper feed stages. And the identification means is provided with an identification mark on the upper part of the drawer of the paper feed tray or the bottom surface of the paper holder in which the paper type correspondence performance is enhanced.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same parts as those in the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
According to the present invention, at least one of a plurality of paper feed stages (for example, in the example of FIG. 11, two paper feed stages and three paper feed tables).
One of them is a paper feed stage having a high paper type compatible performance (hereinafter, referred to as a multi-type paper compatible type paper feed stage) capable of feeding special paper in the same manner as plain paper. The first shown in FIG.
In this embodiment, the multi-type sheet-supply type paper feed stage is the first (upper) paper feed stage 11 of the main body 10. The difference of the sheet feeding stage 11 from the others is that the R (that is, the radius) of the guide plate 21 is different from the others.
As described above, since the R of the guide plate is required to be 50 mm or more in order to smoothly transport the thick paper, the R of the guide plate 21 is set to 50 mm in this case. With this configuration, it is possible to feed 135K paper smoothly. That is, unlike the conventional manual feed table, the feeding of special paper such as thick paper, thin paper, and envelopes can be performed simultaneously with the feeding of many sheets at the same time as the plain paper. Further, the space for installing the manual feed table can be eliminated, and the cost can be reduced by the amount of the manual feed table.

If the R of the transport guide plate 21 from the first paper feed stage 11 to the common transport path 20 is increased, the position of the photosensitive drum 25 is increased, so that the main body 10 becomes large in the height direction. It will be.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, it is more desirable to increase the R of the transport guide plate 22 from the second paper feed stage 12 to the common transport path 20. FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a schematic structure figure of the paper feeder concerning an embodiment. As described above, in the second embodiment, the second
The second paper feed stage 12 is a multi-type paper compatible type paper feed stage. That is, R of the guide plate 22 is set to 50 mm. Also, special paper is harder to separate one by one than plain paper. In other words, it is often desired to employ a separation mechanism having high separation performance. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The above-described FRR method (the pickup roller 2, the feed roller 3, and the reverse roller 4) is adopted for the paper feed stage 12 which is a paper stage. The first paper feed stage 11 is, for example, of a friction pad type (paper feed roller 7, friction pad 8).

As described above, the overall cost can be reduced by using a low-cost friction pad system or corner claw system for the separation mechanism other than the multi-type paper-compatible paper feed stage requiring high separation performance. Can be.

FIG. 3 is a view showing the inclination angle of the FRR separating section in the second embodiment shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the angle θ at which a straight line connecting the axis of the feed roller 3 of the FRR system and the axis of the reverse roller 4 forms a vertical line is set to about 20 degrees (deg), which is larger than in the related art, so that 1
Since the space from 1 and 12 to the common transport path 20 can be reduced, the size of the main body 10 can be reduced. The angle of 20 degrees is also an angle between the sheet and the horizontal direction when the sheet enters the separation unit when only one sheet is stored in the sheet feeding stage.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. In the third embodiment, one multi-type paper feeding stage (second feeding stage 12) is provided on the main body 10 side, and the paper feeding table 13 side
One multi-type paper feeder (second feeder 1
5) is provided. That is, in the paper feed table 13, the R of the guide plate 26 of the upper paper feed stage 14 is 20, 2
The R of the guide plate 27 of the sheet feeding stage 15 of the stage is 50 mm, and the FRR separation system is adopted only for the second stage. Note that reference numerals 28 and 29 in the figure indicate transport rollers of the common transport path 20. Therefore, also in the paper feed table 13, it is possible to continuously feed special paper while keeping its size equal to that of the related art. In addition, the cost can be reduced for the sheet separation mechanism as in the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing that the indication of the multi-type paper-compatible paper feed stage is attached to the outside, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing that the indication is also attached to the top and the bottom of the sheet holder.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the display contents of the multi-type paper type paper feed stage. As shown in FIG.
A label 31 for “thick paper” is provided in the display area 30. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the display area 30 is provided on the outer surface of the multi-type paper-compatible paper feed stage, and as shown in FIG. 6, on the upper portion and the bottom surface of the paper holder. That is, they are provided at a total of three places. This makes it easy for the user to recognize that the paper feed stage is a multi-type paper compatible paper feed stage, and improves usability. Although not shown, the color of the entire front panel of the multi-type paper-compatible paper feed stage can be differentiated from other paper feed stages by making the color of the entire front panel different from the others.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since a special paper having a high performance corresponding to the paper type is provided, which can feed the special paper which is infrequently used in the same manner as the plain paper, the conventional manual paper feeder is provided. Unlike a table, a special paper such as a thick paper, a thin paper, and an envelope can be fed at a time for a large number of papers at the same time as the plain paper. Further, the space for installing the manual feed table can be eliminated, and the cost can be reduced by the amount of the manual feed table. According to the second aspect of the invention, in addition to the functions and effects of the first aspect, at least one of the sheet feeding stages of the second and subsequent sheet feeding stages from the top is separated by another feeding mechanism. The invention according to claim 3, wherein the separation mechanism is different from the paper-stage separation mechanism, so that only the paper-stage separation mechanism having a high paper type correspondence performance can be made highly separable to reduce the overall cost. For example, in addition to the function and effect of the first aspect of the invention, the separation mechanism of the second and subsequent paper feed stages from the top is more inclined in the horizontal direction than the separation mechanism of the first stage. The width can be reduced. According to the fourth aspect of the invention, in addition to the functions and effects of the first aspect, the paper feeder has a common transport path for transporting the paper from a plurality of paper feed stages, and has a higher paper type correspondence performance. Since the R shape of the transport guide plate from the step to the common transport path is made larger than the R shape of the uppermost transport guide plate, the height of the main body is usually increased when trying to improve the paper transport performance of the main body feeding. However, this can be prevented by improving the sheet conveyance performance using the second and subsequent sheet feeding stages.
According to the fifth and sixth aspects of the present invention, an identification mark is attached to the outside of the drawer of the paper feed tray having the enhanced paper type corresponding performance, or the upper part of the drawer of the paper feed stage or the paper having the enhanced paper type compatible performance is provided. Since the identification mark is provided on the bottom surface of the holder, unlike the conventional manual feed table, the feeding of special paper such as thick paper, thin paper, and envelopes can be performed simultaneously with the feeding of many sheets at the same time as the plain paper. Further, the space for installing the manual feed table can be eliminated, and the cost can be reduced by the amount of the manual feed table. Further, the user can easily recognize which paper feed stage has a high paper type correspondence performance and corresponds to special paper such as thick paper, thin paper, and envelope.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an inclination of an FRR separating unit in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a sheet feeding device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing that a multi-type paper compatible type paper feed stage is indicated on the outside.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing that the display is attached to the upper portion and the bottom surface of the paper holder.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating display contents of a multi-type paper-compatible paper feed stage.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a FRR type paper separating mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a sheet feeding / separating mechanism of a corner claw type.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a friction pad type paper feed separation mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a copying machine provided with a manual feed table.

FIG. 12 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional paper feed stage.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Pickup Roller 3 Feed Roller 4 Reverse Roller 5 Half Moon Roller 6 Corner Claw 7 Feed Roller 8 Friction Pad 10 Main Body 11 Upper Feeding Stage on Main Body 10 Side 12 Lower Feeding Stage on Main Body 10 13 Feeding Table 14 Feeding Table The first stage paper feed stage 13 side 15 The second stage paper feed stage 13 side of the paper feed table 13 16 The third stage paper feed stage 13 side of the paper feed table 13 17 Manual feed table 20 Common conveyance path 21 Upper guide plate of the main body 10 side 22 Lower guide plate 23, 28, 29 Conveyor roller 24 Registration roller 25 Photoreceptor drum 26 First stage guide plate on paper feed table 13 Second stage guide plate on paper feed table 13 R Guide plate Radius θ Angle of FRR separation

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages mounted on a printing device, wherein the paper type corresponding performance of at least one or more paper feed stages other than the uppermost paper stage is determined by changing the paper type of the uppermost paper feed stage. A paper feeding device characterized in that it is set to be higher than the type correspondence performance. 2. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein a separating mechanism of at least one of the second and subsequent paper feeding stages from the top is different from a separating mechanism of another paper feeding stage. Paper feeder. 3. The separation mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the separation mechanisms of the second and subsequent paper feed stages from the top are more inclined in the horizontal direction than the separation mechanism of the first stage. Paper feeder. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
It has a common transport path for transporting the paper from a plurality of paper feed stages, and the R shape of the transport guide plate from the paper feed stage with the enhanced paper type handling performance to the common transport route is changed to the R shape of the uppermost transport guide plate. A paper feeder characterized by being larger than the shape. 5. A paper feeder having a plurality of paper feed stages mounted on a printing device, wherein at least one or more paper feed stages are set to have higher paper type handling performance than other paper feed stages, A paper feeder, characterized in that an identification mark is attached to the outside of the drawer of the paper feed stage having a higher paper type correspondence performance. 6. A paper feeding device having a plurality of paper feeding stages mounted on a printing device, wherein at least one or more paper feeding stages are set to have higher paper type handling performance than other paper feeding stages, A paper feeder, characterized in that an identification mark is attached to an upper part of a drawer of a paper feed stage or a bottom surface of a paper holder, the performance of which is higher for the paper type.