JPH11292303A - Automatically feeding device and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To firmly hold a side guide at a predetermined position and regulate a side part of sheet material by a side guide securely to feed the sheet material by preventing its oblique travel when the sheet material is fed. SOLUTION: In an automatically feeding device comprising a sheet material loading means 9 loading a plurality of sheet materials, a feed means separating and feeding the sheet materials loaded on the sheet material loading means one by one, and a side guide 7 provided on the sheet material loading means slidably in the direction of its width and regulating a side part of the sheet material, a projection 7c of the side guide is engaged with a projection 8b of a base 8 to regulate a slide of the side guide, regulate the side part of the sheet material by the side guide securely, and prevent oblique travel of the sheet material to be fed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic feeding apparatus for automatically feeding sheet materials one by one and a recording apparatus using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a recording apparatus provided with an automatic sheet feeding apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, etc. forms an image on a sheet material such as paper or a plastic thin plate by an image recording section based on image information. It is configured as follows. And
As the recording apparatus, an ink jet type, a wire dot type, a thermal type, an electrophotographic type and the like are known depending on a recording method.

[0003] As a method of feeding the sheet material used in the recording apparatus, there is a method of manually feeding the sheet material one by one,
Alternatively, a method of automatically and continuously feeding paper by an automatic paper feeder is known.

When a sheet material is automatically and continuously fed one by one by an automatic sheet feeding device, a sheet separation method using a separation claw using a separation claw for pressing a corner portion of the leading end of the sheet material, or a sheet separation method is used. 2. Description of the Related Art A friction separation method in which a material is separated by a frictional force of a loading means is widely used.

In order to reduce the skew of the sheet material at the time of separation and feeding, a pressure plate 9 as a sheet material stacking means is provided.
A side guide 7 is provided so as to be slidable in a direction orthogonal to the sheet material conveying direction, that is, in the width direction. The side guides regulate the position of both side ends parallel to the sheet conveying direction of the sheet when the sheet is stacked. The side guide is held by being urged by the sheet material stacking means using the rigidity of the side guide itself formed of plastic. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, a tip 51b of an integrally formed arm portion 51a of the side guide 51 is urged to a rail portion 52a on the back surface of the pressure plate 52 by the elastic force of the arm portion, and the sheet material loading surface of the side guide 51 is formed. And the opposite convex surface 5
The side guide 51 is attached so that the pressure plate 52 is sandwiched between 2c and the tip 51b. The sliding resistance of the side guide 51 in the width direction of the sheet material mainly depends on the leading end 51.
b is determined by the frictional resistance between the side guide 51 and the pressure plate 52, which is proportional to the force urged on the rail portion 52a.

[0006]

However, the above conventional example has the following disadvantages.

(1) When the number of times of sliding the side guide increases, the tip 51b wears, the force urging the rail portion 52a decreases, and the sliding resistance of the side guide decreases. In the case where the sliding resistance is considerably reduced, when the sheet material such as the fed sheet P is slightly inclined, the rear side edge of the sheet material contacts the side guide, and in some cases, the side guide is When the sheet material is moved (FIG. 9), a gap G is generated between the end of the sheet material and the side guide, and there is no restriction on the sheet material.

(2) When the apparatus is maintained at a high temperature due to transportation or storage environment, the rigidity of the arm 51a of the side guide made of plastic decreases and the tip 51
The force with which b is urged to the rail portion 52a, that is, the sliding resistance decreases. At this time, as in (1), the sheet material may be conveyed while being skewed.

When the recording is performed while the sheet material is conveyed while being skewed as described in (1) and (2), the distance Y between the edge of the recorded image and the edge of the sheet material as shown in FIG. (Margin) changes in the feeding direction. Further, when the degree of skew is large, an image to be formed on the sheet material is formed outside the sheet material as shown in FIG. cause.

(3) Therefore, even if the tip 51b of the side guide arm is worn or the rigidity of the arm 51a is reduced, the sliding resistance is reduced in advance so that the side guide does not move due to the skewing of the sheet material. There is a way to keep it large. However, since the sliding resistance is large, the force required for the user to move the side guide increases, and the abutment of the side guide against the edge of the sheet material becomes insufficient. In this case, skew of the sheet material is induced as in (1) and (2). Further, since a large force is required every time the side guide slides, it is difficult to change the sheet material size, and the versatility of the apparatus with respect to the sheet material is impaired.

(4) For the above reasons, there has been proposed a structure provided with a lock means for preventing the movement of the side guide as shown in FIG. On the sheet material loading surface side of the pressure plate 52, a saw tooth shape 52b is provided, and a release knob 53 having a saw tooth shape 53a that engages with the saw tooth shape 52b is supported by the side guide. A spring 54 for urging the sawtooth shape 53a to the sawtooth shape 52b is provided as shown in the figure. The side guide can be moved by tilting the pushing surface 53b of the release knob 53 toward the side guide, separating the engaged saw tooth shape 53a from the saw tooth shape 52b, and applying a force in the sliding direction of the side guide. Become. This configuration does not have the drawbacks of (1) and (2), but slides the side guide while pressing the release knob, so that it can be moved by a simple operation of pushing or pulling the side guide (1). There is a disadvantage that the operation is troublesome as compared with (2) and (3).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to reliably control the width of a sheet material in feeding the sheet material and to simplify the operation. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic sheet feeding device and a recording device having a side guide.

[0013]

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve the above object, a means of the present invention is a sheet material stacking means for stacking a plurality of sheet materials, and one sheet material stacked on the sheet material stacking means. In an automatic feeding device having a feeding means for separating and feeding, and a side guide slidably provided in a width direction of the sheet material stacking means and regulating a side portion of the sheet material, an automatic feeding apparatus includes It is characterized in that it has a side guide restricting means for restricting the slide of the side guide when feeding, and canceling the restriction of the slide of the side guide when the sheet material is not fed.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a paper stacking apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. This embodiment will be described using a recording apparatus using an inkjet recording method as an image forming apparatus. FIG. 1 is a main cross-sectional view showing the entire configuration of the recording apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a simplified view of a main part of the paper stacking apparatus.

First, the overall configuration of the recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. A recording apparatus as an image forming apparatus includes an automatic feeding apparatus 1 capable of loading sheets of different sizes (in the present embodiment, sheets having a width of about 240 mm or less) and an image recording unit 2 using an inkjet recording method, which is connected to a metal chassis 3. It is the configuration that was done. The automatic feeding device 1 is attached to the metal chassis 3 at a predetermined angle.
The sheet P, which is a stacked sheet material, is ejected substantially horizontally after recording.

The automatic feeding device 1 includes a sub-tray 4, a feeding roller 5, a separating claw 6, a moving wall 7, a base 8, a pressure plate 9, a pressure plate spring 10, a separation plate 11, and the like. Normally, a release cam (not shown) mounted coaxially with the feed roller has a pressure plate 9.
Is pushed down to the position shown in FIG. 1, and the paper P is separated from the feeding roller 5. In this case, the sheet P is opposed to the chord portion of the half-moon-shaped paper feed roller 5, is pressed by a roller arranged on the side of the paper feed roller 5, and is separated from the feed roller.

With the sheet material such as paper P set, the drive of the transport roller 12 is transmitted to the feed roller 5 and a coaxial release cam (not shown). When the release cam rotates and separates from the pressure plate 9, the pressure plate 9 rises, and the arc portion of the feed roller 5 comes into contact with the paper P. Then, the paper P is picked up by the rotation of the feed roller 5 and separated one by one by the separation claw 6. The separated paper P is supplied to the supply inlet 14.
Sent to The feed roller 5 and the release cam rotate once until the paper P is fed into the nip portion between the feed roller 12 and the pinch roller 13, and the drive is turned off from the feed roller 12 with the pressure plate 9 released to the feed roller 5 again. Figure 1
The state shown in FIG.

The supply inlet 14 is provided with a PE sensor lever 17,
It comprises a PE sensor 18, a lower guide 19 and the like. Transport unit 15
Comprises a transport roller 12, a pinch roller 13, a pinch roller guide 16, a platen 20, and the like.

The PE sensor lever 17 detects the leading edge of the sheet P and finds a recording position on the sheet P. The pinch roller 13 urges the pinch roller guide 16 by a pinch roller spring (not shown) and is pressed against the transport roller 12 to generate a transport force of the sheet P.

The sheet P sent by the feeding roller 5 advances along the platen 20 by rotating the pair of rollers 12 and 13 by a conveying motor (not shown), and the recording head 21 outputs the sheet P based on predetermined image information. Recording can be performed. The recording head 21 is formed integrally with the ink tank 22, and has a configuration that can be easily replaced.

Incidentally, as an image forming means in the present apparatus, an ink jet recording system for discharging ink from the recording head 21 for recording is used. That is, the recording head 21 has a fine liquid ejection port (orifice), a liquid path, and an energy action section provided in a part of the liquid path, and an energy for generating a droplet forming energy to act on the liquid in the action section. Generating means.

As an energy generating means for generating such energy, a recording method using an electromechanical exchanger such as a piezo element or the like, an electromagnetic wave such as a laser is irradiated to generate heat, and droplets are discharged by the action of the generated heat. There are a recording method using an energy generating means, and a recording method using an energy generating means for discharging a liquid by heating a liquid by an electrothermal converter such as a heating element having a heating resistor. Among them, the recording head used in the ink jet recording method of discharging a liquid by thermal energy,
Since liquid ejection ports (orifices) for ejecting recording droplets to form ejection droplets can be arranged at high density, high-resolution recording can be performed. Among them, a recording head using an electrothermal transducer as an energy generating means is advantageous because it can be easily made compact, easily mounted at a high density, and inexpensively manufactured.

In the present embodiment, the ink is ejected by energizing the electrothermal transducer in response to a recording signal and utilizing the film boiling caused by the thermal energy to grow and shrink bubbles generated in the ink. The recording is performed by discharging the ink from the discharge port.

The recording head 21 integrally having the ink tank 22 is removably mounted on a carriage 23. The carriage 23 reciprocally scans the guide shaft 24 in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the sheet P. Accordingly, an image is formed on the sheet P conveyed on the platen 20 by the scanning of the recording head 21 integrally with the carriage 23.

The discharge section includes a discharge roller 25 and a transmission roller 26 for transmitting the drive of the transport roller 12 to the discharge roller 25.
And a spur 27 for assisting discharge.

A transport motor (not shown) for driving the transport rollers 12 and the like and a carriage motor (not shown) for driving the carriage 23 are rotated by a predetermined angle in accordance with a signal sent from a driver (not shown). Stepping motor is used.

The feed roller 5 is provided with a sensor plate (not shown) having a radius smaller than the diameter of the feed roller rubber attached to the feed roller 5. This sensor plate (not shown) is partially cut away, and only when the paper feed roller 5 and the release cam are at the initial position where the pressure plate 9 is released, a roller composed of a photo interrupter or the like directly provided on the electric board. The sensor (not shown) is configured to be in a light-transmitting state without blocking light. By detecting the state of the sensor plate, it is possible to detect the angular position of the feed roller 5 and the angular position of the release cam that is synchronized with the phase of the feed roller 5 and is linked to the feed roller 5. Control timing can be set.

Next, the automatic feeding device 1 according to the present invention will be described in detail. The automatic feeding device 1 is configured such that many components are attached to a base 8. FIG. 2 is a diagram of the automatic feeding device 1 as viewed from the recording surface side of the sheet material.

The sheet material is slid in the direction perpendicular to the feeding direction (arrow) by moving the movable side guide 7 so that the right side E surface of the base 8 serving as a fixed side guide and the F side of the movable side guide are moved. , Are set in a form that regulates both sides of the sheet material. In this example, it is possible to feed and record a sheet material having a width of 240 to 95 mm. In the portion of the base 8 that does not overlap with the pressure plate 9, that is, in the vicinity of the rear edge of the base 8 in the sheet conveying direction, a saw-tooth shape 8 b is formed, and extends in the sliding direction of the side guide 7 over the entire sliding area.

The pressure plate 9 is supported by a base 8 and is rotatable about an axis 8a. A separation pad made of a material having a relatively large friction coefficient, such as artificial leather, is adhesively bonded to the concave portion of the pressure plate 9 at a position facing the feeding roller 5, and the sheet material when the number of stacked sheets is reduced is reduced. Double feed is prevented.

FIG. 3 is a main sectional view of the automatic feeding device 1.
Due to the springiness or elasticity of the clip portion 7a of the side guide 7, the side guide 7
Is pressed and held. In this example, the sliding force for sliding the side guide 7 is set to about 100 g.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a part of the main sectional view of the automatic feeding device 1. In this state, the pressure plate 9 is regulated by a release cam (not shown), and the sheet material is
It is in a state away from. The side guide 7 is provided with a sawtooth shape 7c at a position facing the sawtooth shape 8b (shown in FIG. 2) provided on the base 8 so as to mesh with the sawtooth shape 8b. As shown in FIG. 6, the sawtooth shape 8b is such that the moving side guide 7 has a steep slope in a direction away from the opposing E-plane and a gentle slope in the opposite direction. Similarly, in the shape of 7c, the surface in the direction away from the E surface forms a steep angle, and the opposite surface has a gentle angle. In other words, the saw-tooth shape 7c has a steep slope for movement of the side guide 7 outward in the width direction of the sheet material or the pressure plate 9, and has a gentle slope for movement inward.

In the feeding state, the pressure plate 9 is released from the release cam (not shown), and the sheet material is urged by the feeding roller 5. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a part of the main cross-sectional view of the automatic feeding device 1 at that time. The pressure plate 9 rotates about 7 ° about the shaft 8a (shown in FIG. 2), and the sheet material hits the feed roller and stops. At this time, the sawtooth shapes 7c and 8b
Are engaged as shown in FIG. When 7c descends and engages, if the tips of both teeth of 7c and 8b come into contact, 8
Among b, 7c meshes with either of the adjacent teeth. 7c
And 8b have, for example, the same height and a pitch of 1
mm and a small pitch. Since the sliding force of the side guide 7 is generally very small, about 100 g, the convex vertex of the tooth 7c is fixed in conformity with the concave corner of the tooth 8b. Also, 8
By setting the pitch of the teeth b to 1 mm, the side guide is fixed to a position outside at most 1 mm from the end face of the sheet material. If the gap is about 1 mm, the sheet material is fed without skew.

As for the surfaces 7c and 8b, the surfaces in the direction away from the surface E form a steep angle, so that when they are engaged with each other,
Strengthens against forces in the direction away from the surface. This is to prevent breakage and deformation of the side guide when the side guide is to be opened outward during feeding.

In the non-feeding state, the pressure plate 9 is rotated about the shaft 8a by the release cam and pressed toward the base 8, so that the sawtooth shapes 7c and 8b are separated from each other, and the side guide 7
Can be adjusted lightly.

[0036]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the sheet material is fed, a side guide restricting means is provided to restrict the sliding of the side guide when the sheet material is not fed and to release the regulation of the slide of the side guide when the sheet material is not fed. Can move the side guide lightly and set it to a predetermined position.When feeding the sheet material, the sliding means restricts the sliding of the side guide by the restricting means, thus ensuring the position of the sheet material in the width direction. As a result, it is possible to prevent skewing of the sheet material and perform good recording without image defects in the sheet material.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main cross-sectional view of an automatic feeding device and a recording device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the configuration of an automatic feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a main cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an automatic feeding device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion F in FIG. 3 in one operation state of the automatic sheet feeding apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a portion F in FIG. 3 in another operation state of the automatic sheet feeding apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a view taken in the direction of arrow S1 in FIG. 4 for explaining the configuration of the automatic feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the automatic feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention, as viewed in the direction of arrow S2 in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a main cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a conventional automatic feeding device.

FIG. 9 is a simplified diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional automatic feeding device.

FIG. 10 is a simplified diagram illustrating an image recorded by a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a simplified diagram illustrating an image recorded by a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a simplified diagram illustrating a configuration of a conventional automatic feeding device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Automatic feeder 2 ... Image recording part 3 ... Metal chassis 4 ... Subtray 5 ... Feeding roller 6 ... Separation claw 7 ... Side guide 7a ... Arm part 7b ... Tip part 7c ... Saw-tooth part 8 ... Base 8a ... Rotating shaft 8b ... saw tooth part 9 ... pressure plate 9a ... rail part 10 ... pressure plate spring 11 ... separation plate 12 ... conveyance roller 13 ... pinch roller 14 ... paper feed inlet 15 ... conveyance part 16 ... pinch roller guide 17 ... PE sensor lever 18 ... PE sensor DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 ... Lower guide 20 ... Platen 21 ... Recording head 22 ... Ink tank 23 ... Carriage 24 ... Guide shaft 25 ... Discharge roller 26 ... Transmission roller 27 ... Spur 28 ... Separation pad 51 ... Side guide 51a ... Arm part 51b ... Tip part 52 ... Pressing plate 52a ... Rail portion 52b ... Saw tooth portion 53 ... Release knob 53a ... Saw tooth portion 53b ... Pressing surface 54 ... Spring P ... Paper

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A sheet material stacking means for stacking a plurality of sheet materials, a feeding means for separating and feeding sheet materials stacked on the sheet material loading means one by one, and a width direction of the sheet material stacking means. Slidably provided, and a side guide that regulates the side portion of the sheet material,
An automatic feeding device having side guide restricting means for restricting the sliding of the side guide when feeding the sheet material and releasing the regulation of the sliding of the side guide when the sheet material is not fed. . 2. A sheet material stacking means for stacking a plurality of sheet materials, a feeding means for separating and feeding sheet materials stacked on the sheet material loading means one by one, and a feeding means for feeding the sheet material loading means. Urging means for urging in the direction, a loading means operating means for operating the sheet material loading means in a direction opposite to the urging direction of the urging means in synchronization with the rotation of the feeding means, and a width of the sheet material loading means. The side guide member and the base, wherein the side guide member is provided slidably in the direction, the side guide regulates a side portion of the sheet material, and the base member rotatably supports the sheet material stacking means. A pair of engaging projections that engage with each other are formed on both of the members, and when the sheet material is not fed, the sheet material stacking means is rotated by the stacking means operating means, so that the pair of engaging projections is mutually engaged. Engage and slide the side guide An automatic feeding device characterized by regulating the following. 3. The automatic feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the pair of engaging projections are formed on opposing surfaces of the side guide and the base member, respectively, along a sliding direction of the side guide. apparatus. 4. The pair of engaging projections according to claim 3, wherein the pair of engaging projections are serrated projections having steep slopes and gentle slopes alternately. An automatic feeding device wherein steep slopes are engaged with each other. 5. A recording apparatus comprising: the automatic feeding device according to claim 1; and recording means for performing recording on a sheet material fed by the automatic feeding device. 6. The recording device according to claim 5, wherein the recording means supplies a current to the electrothermal transducer according to an image signal, and performs recording by discharging ink by growth of bubbles generated by heating by the electrothermal transducer. Characteristic recording device.