JPH10274869A - Paper feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeding device capable of detecting the remaining amount of a paper sheet with an inexpensive and simple constitution and easily and quickly informing a user even at a remote place of the remaining amount of the paper. SOLUTION: The rotary body 7a of a detecting means 7 is rotated with the turning of a turning lifter 6, so that the rotary body 7a is rotated to be relative to a main body 7b provided with switching parts SW1 and SW2. It is constituted so that two projection parts 7c and 7d of the rotary body 7a turn on/off two switching parts SW1 and SW2 of the main body 7b respectively by the rotational amount of the rotary body 7a and the remaining amount of the paper S can be detected in four stages by various kinds of ON/OFF states of the switching parts SW1 and SW2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper supply device for supplying recording paper and originals to image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers and facsimile machines.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a paper supply device used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, etc., uses a feed roller or the like to transport a large number of recording papers and originals stacked in a paper storage unit. The sheet is automatically fed one by one toward the next process.

In the above-described conventional paper supply apparatus, the remaining amount of the stored paper can be confirmed by pulling out a tray or cassette in which the paper is loaded from the apparatus body and directly checking the amount of the paper. Alternatively, the confirmation is made by a remaining amount detection device provided in the paper supply device.

As the above-mentioned remaining amount detecting device, a window or a slit is provided in a sheet accommodating portion such as a tray or a cassette, and the remaining amount of the sheet is visually checked. There is a mechanism in which a mechanism for moving the lever is provided, and the remaining amount of paper is displayed according to the position where the lever is moved.

Another type of remaining amount detecting device is provided in a paper supply device provided with a paper storage portion capable of storing a large amount of paper on a paper loading plate. A plurality of detection switches are provided along a path along which the stacking plate moves, and a position of the sheet stacking plate moving according to a change in the amount of stacked sheets is detected by the plurality of detection switches. Some display the remaining amount.

[0006]

However, in the above-described paper supply apparatus provided with a plurality of detection switches, for example, the remaining amount of paper is 100%, 75%, 50% of the whole.
%, 25%, it is necessary to provide four detection switches at each of the four locations. That is,
Since the same number of detection switches as the number of detection steps are required, if the number of detection steps is increased, the number of detection switches must be increased, and the cost of the paper supply apparatus increases.

When an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine having a paper supply device is remotely controlled by a host computer in a network environment or the like, the host computer determines the remaining amount of paper in the paper supply device. Since it is not possible to check the remaining amount of paper,
The user goes to the place where the image forming apparatus is,
The user has to visually check the paper remaining amount display portion, or pull out the paper storage portion such as a tray or a cassette and directly look at it. For this reason, remote control by the host computer is very inconvenient for the user.

In view of the above problems, the present invention can detect the remaining amount of paper with an inexpensive and simple configuration, and even a user at a remote location can easily and quickly know the remaining amount of paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide a possible paper supply device.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a paper tray for storing paper, and a vertically rotating paper tray disposed on the bottom of the paper tray and having the paper placed thereon. A possible bottom plate, a feed roller disposed at the top of the paper tray and feeding the paper in contact with the top of the paper, and raising the bottom plate until the top of the placed paper contacts the feed roller. A rotating lifter for rotating the rotating lifter, detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of paper based on the amount of rotation of the rotating lifter, and displaying means for displaying the remaining amount of paper detected by the detecting means, wherein the detecting means Is a rotating body having a plurality of projections which is rotated with the rotation of the rotary lifter, and a multi-stage sheet which is fixed to a stationary portion and is driven by the projections to turn ON / OFF in various states. Detect remaining amount It is obtained by; and a body switch section number is provided.

[0010] According to the paper supply apparatus having such a configuration,
The paper is placed on the bottom plate of the paper tray, the rotating lifter rotates the bottom plate upward to raise the paper, and the feed roller feeds out the paper one by one from the uppermost part, and feeds the paper to a predetermined device. Is supplied. The detecting means detects the remaining amount of paper based on the amount of rotation of the rotating lifter, and the display means displays the detected remaining amount of paper to notify the user.

[0011] When the rotating body of the detecting means rotates with the rotation of the rotating lifter, the rotating body relatively rotates with respect to the main body provided with the switch section. At this time, the plurality of protrusions of the rotator turn on / off the plurality of switches of the main body, respectively, according to the rotation amount of the rotator, and the various remaining ON / OFF states of the plurality of switches at this time indicate the remaining amount of paper. Can be detected in multiple stages.

In addition, the number of the various ON / OFF states can be increased to a number larger than the number of the switches by properly combining the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of switches driven thereby. it can. In this way, the number of steps for detecting the remaining amount of paper can be made larger than the number of switches, so that the number of switches of the detecting means can be smaller than the number of steps for detecting the remaining amount of paper, The cost of the paper supply device can be reduced.

Further, by transmitting a signal detected as the remaining amount of paper to the host computer and displaying the remaining amount of paper on the display unit of the host computer, the user can bother to reach the place where the paper supply device is. The user does not need to visually check the paper remaining amount display section or pull out the paper storage section and directly see it, so that the user can easily and quickly know the remaining paper amount while staying at a remote location. Becomes possible.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 1
FIG. 1 is a diagram referred to for describing a sheet feeding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

In the sheet feeding apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a sheet tray on which sheets S are stacked and stored. The sheet tray 2 is detachably attached to two upper and lower stages (a lower stage is not shown) of the apparatus main body 12. Equipped. Reference numeral 3 denotes a pick-up roller (feed roller). The pick-up roller 3
Are sent out one by one from the top.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a retard roller pair, and the retard roller pair 4 separates and transports the fed sheets S one by one. Reference numeral 5 denotes a bottom plate on which the sheets S can be loaded and which can rotate, and 6 a rotation lifter that raises the bottom plate 5 toward the pickup roller 3.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a detection device (detection means) for detecting the remaining amount of the paper S placed on the bottom plate 5 according to the rotation angle (rotation amount) of the rotation lifter 6. Device 7
Is a rotary member 7a (see FIG. 4) having two arc-shaped projections 7c and 7d provided therein, and two switch units S provided therein.
It has a main body 7b (see FIG. 5) provided with W1 and SW2.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a motor for rotating the rotary lifter 6, and this motor 8 is attached to the apparatus main body 12 side. The output shaft 8a of the motor 8 is provided with a gear 9 (see FIG. 3). The gear 9 is provided at an end of a shaft 11 (see FIG. 2) having a rotary lifter 6 at the center. (See FIG. 3).

The rotating body 7a of the detecting device 7 is formed in a round lid shape, and a gear is formed on the outer circumferential surface thereof. The gear on the outer circumferential surface of the rotating body 7a of the detection device 7 is designed to mesh with the gear 10 provided at the end of the shaft 11 (see FIG. 3).

In such a configuration, the paper S is placed on the bottom plate 5 of the paper tray 2, the rotating lifter 6 rotates the bottom plate 5 upward to lift the paper S, and the pickup roller 3 The sheets S are sent out one by one from the uppermost portion and supplied to an image forming apparatus (not shown). Then, the detecting device 7 detects the remaining amount of the sheet S based on the amount of rotation of the rotating lifter 6, and a display means (not shown) such as an LCD displays the detected remaining amount of the sheet S to notify the user. It has become.

On the other hand, the paper tray 2 is provided with a paper detection sensor (not shown) for detecting the uppermost paper surface of the paper S on the raised bottom plate 5, and the paper detection sensor is provided with the raised bottom plate. When the uppermost sheet surface of the sheet S above the sheet 5 is detected, a control circuit (not shown) stops driving of the motor 8 that is rotating the rotating lifter 6.

When the sheet S on the bottom plate 5 is sent out by the pickup roller 3 and the retard roller pair 4 installed on the sheet tray 2 and the uppermost sheet is lowered, the above-mentioned sheet detection sensor detects the sheet surface. The motor 8 is driven again to raise the bottom plate 5. Thus, the uppermost sheet surface of the sheets S stacked on the bottom plate 5 can always be held at a substantially constant position.

By the way, the paper tray 2 is moved to the main body 1 of the apparatus.
2, the connection between the gear 9 for rotating the rotating lifter 6 and the output shaft 8 a of the motor 8 is released, and the bottom plate 5 rotates downward by the weight of the paper S and the bottom plate 5. It is supposed to.

Next, the detecting device 7 for detecting the remaining amount (loading amount) of the sheets S stacked on the bottom plate 5 of the sheet tray 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, when the rotating lifter 6 is rotated upward by the driving of the motor 8 to raise the bottom plate 5, the rotating lifter 6
With the rotation of the gear 10, the rotating body 7a of the detecting device 7 having the gear formed on the outer circumferential surface rotates.

The rotation of the rotating body 7a causes the protrusions 7c,
When 7d moves in the circumferential direction, the protrusion 7c (7d) moves to the left in the figure as shown in FIG.
Is pressed downward in the figure, the switch section SW1 is pressed.
The tip of (SW2) comes into contact with the terminal 7f and is turned on by energization. Then, when the protrusion 7c (7d) moves rightward in the drawing and moves away from the drive roller 7e, the switch SW1 (S
The tip of W2) is separated from the terminal 7f and turned off when the power is cut off.
Becomes

The remaining amount of the paper S placed on the bottom plate 5 is 10
At 0%, for example, it is assumed that the projections 7c and 7d of the detection device 7 and the switches SW1 and SW2 have the positional relationship shown in FIG. In this case, the projection 7c is connected to the switch SW2.
Is turned on, and the projection 7d turns on the switch SW1, which corresponds to the mode M1 showing various ON / OFF states of FIG.

Then, the rotating body 7a is moved in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
When rotated by 0 °, the protrusions 7c and 7d and the switch SW
The positional relationship between SW1 and SW2 is as shown in FIG. 8, and the remaining amount of paper S at this time is 75%. In this case, the projection 7
Since the switch c turns off the switch SW2 and the protrusion 7d turns on the switch SW1, this corresponds to the mode M2 shown in FIG.

By the way, the protrusion 7c is rotated by the rotation of the rotating body 7a until the position shown in FIG.
Since W2 is ON, the period from 100% to just before 75% is included in the mode M1 in FIG.

The rotating body 7a is 90 ° in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
When rotated, the protrusions 7c and 7d and the switch units SW1 and S
The positional relationship of W2 is as shown in FIG. 9, and the remaining amount of paper S at this time is 50%. In this case, the projections 7c, 7
Since d turns off the switch units SW1 and SW2, it corresponds to the mode M3 shown in FIG.

Incidentally, the projections 7c and 7d are connected to the rotating body 7a.
The switch SW1 is turned on and the switch SW2 is turned off just before the position shown in FIG. 9 is reached by the rotation of. Therefore, the period from 75% to just before 50% is included in the mode M2. become.

Also, the rotating body 7a is 90 ° in the direction of the arrow in FIG.
When rotated, the protrusions 7c and 7d and the switch units SW1 and S
The positional relationship of W2 is as shown in FIG. 10, and the remaining amount of the sheet S at this time is 25%. In this case, the protrusion 7c,
7d turns off the switch SW1 and turns on the switch SW2, which corresponds to the mode M4 shown in FIG.

The projections 7c and 7d are connected to the rotating body 7a.
Since the switches SW1 and SW2 are both turned off immediately before reaching the position shown in FIG. 10 by the rotation of, the range from 50% to just before 25% is included in the mode M3. Until immediately before the rotating body 7a rotates and comes to the position of FIG.
Turns off the switch SW1 and turns on the switch SW2
Is included in the mode M4.

On the other hand, the detected remaining amount is sent from a control circuit of the image forming apparatus to a host computer (not shown).
By displaying the information on a display (display unit) such as a CRT of the host computer, the user can easily and quickly check the remaining amount of paper while staying at a remote place. Further, when the paper runs out, it is detected by a paper presence / absence detecting means (not shown).

In the above-described embodiment, the rotation range of the rotating body 7a of the detection device 7 at 360 °
Although the four modes M1 to M4 are determined, four modes in other angle ranges such as 270 ° and 180 ° are adjusted by adjusting the diameter of the rotating body 7a and the arc-shaped length of the protrusions 7c and 7d. M1 to M4 may be determined.

In the above embodiment, the case where the detecting means has two protrusions and two switch parts has been described. However, three or more protrusions and switch parts of the detecting means may be provided. Well, or they may be a different number of combinations.

In the above embodiment, the gear 10 of the rotary lifter 6 is arranged on a different axis from the gear 9 of the motor 8, but may be arranged coaxially. In the above embodiment, the rotating body 7a of the detecting device 7 is installed on a different axis from the rotating lifter 6, but may be installed coaxially. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the rotating body 7a is separate from the shaft 11 of the rotary lifter 6, but may be integrated. Thus, the detection can be performed more accurately by interlocking the rotating body 7a with the rotating lifter 6 and the motor 8.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, when the image forming apparatus 21 and the host computer 22 are connected to each other, the image forming apparatus 21 and the detecting apparatus 7 are connected by a signal line so that the detecting apparatus 7 The detected remaining amount of paper can be transmitted to the host computer 22 and can be displayed on the display unit 23 of the host computer 22.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The rotating body of the detecting means rotates in conjunction with the rotating lifter and further with the motor, and rotates relative to the main body of the detecting means provided with the switch, so that the rotating body according to the rotation amount of the rotating body By turning on / off the plurality of switch portions of the main body by the plurality of protrusion portions, the remaining amount of paper can be accurately detected in a plurality of stages.

The number of the various ON / OFF states can be increased to a number larger than the number of the switch parts by properly combining the plurality of protrusions and the plurality of switch parts driven thereby. it can. In this way, the number of steps for detecting the remaining amount of paper can be made larger than the number of switches, so that the number of switches of the detecting means can be smaller than the number of steps for detecting the remaining amount of paper, The size of the detection means can be reduced, and the cost of the paper supply device can be reduced.

Further, the signal detected as the remaining amount of paper is transmitted to the host computer, and the remaining amount of paper is displayed on the display unit of the host computer. The user does not need to visually check the paper remaining amount display section or pull out the paper storage section and directly see it, so that the user can easily and quickly know the remaining paper amount while staying at a remote location. Becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a bottom plate 5 and a rotary lifter 6 of the paper supply device 1.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing drive gear trains 9, 10, and 7a of the rotary lifter 6, wherein FIG. 3A is a top view and FIG. 3B is a front view.

4 is an internal front view of a rotating body 7a of the detection device 7. FIG.

5 is an internal front view of a main body 7b of the detection device 7. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the detection device 7;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the projections 7c and 7d of the detection device 7 and the switches SW1 and SW2 when the remaining amount of the sheet S is 100%.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a positional relationship between the protrusions 7c and 7d of the detection device 7 and the switches SW1 and SW2 when the remaining amount of the paper S is 75%.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the projections 7c and 7d of the detection device 7 and the switches SW1 and SW2 when the remaining amount of the sheet S is 50%.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the protrusions 7c and 7d of the detection device 7 and the switches SW1 and SW2 when the remaining amount of the paper S is 25%.

FIG. 11 is a table showing various modes M1 to M4 of the switch units SW1 and SW2 of the detection device 7 corresponding to the remaining amount of the sheet S.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state where a remote host computer 22 is connected to the image forming apparatus 21 by a wire connection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper supply apparatus 2 Paper tray 3 Pickup roller 4 Retard roller pair 5 Bottom plate 6 Rotating lifter 7 Detector 7a Rotating body 7b Main body 7c, 7d Projection part 7e Driving roller 7f Terminal 8 Motor 8a Output shaft 9,10 Gear 11 Shaft 12 Apparatus main body 21 Image forming apparatus 22 Host computer 23 Display section S Paper SW1, SW2 Switch section

Claims (3)

[Claims] A sheet tray for storing sheets of paper, a bottom plate disposed on a bottom of the sheet tray for placing sheets of paper thereon, and rotatable in a vertical direction; and a sheet of paper disposed on an upper part of the sheet tray. A feed roller that feeds the sheet by contacting the top of the sheet; a rotary lifter that rotates the bottom plate upward until the top of the placed sheet contacts the feed roller; and a rotation of the rotary lifter. Detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of paper based on the amount of movement; and displaying means for displaying the remaining amount of paper detected by the detecting means. A body provided with a plurality of switch units that are fixed to the stationary unit, are driven by the protrusion units, and turn on / off in various states to detect the remaining amount of paper in a plurality of stages; Having, A paper supply device, characterized in that: 2. The detecting means has two protrusions and two switch parts, and four types of protrusions and switch parts generated by a combination of each protrusion and each switch part according to the amount of rotation of the rotary lifter. 2. The sheet supply device according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount of the sheet is detected in four stages based on the ON / OFF state. 3. A display unit of a host computer is used as the display unit, and a signal detected as the remaining amount of paper by the detection unit is transmitted to the host computer.
The paper supply device according to claim 1, wherein the remaining amount of the paper is displayed on a display unit of the host computer.