JPH11292320A - Sheet feeding device and image formation device provided therewith - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily exchange a sheet feeding roller. SOLUTION: This sheet feeding device A conveys sheets loaded on a sheet loading means by rotating a sheet feeding roller 1 which is provided on a sheet feeding roller shaft 70 and of which part is cut out. The sheet feeding roller shaft 70 is divided into a part in which the sheet feeding roller 1 is provided 71 and a part in which it is not provided 46, and these divided shaft parts 71, 46 are mutually connected by a connectable and separable joint means 72.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus for separating and feeding a plurality of sheets stacked on a sheet stacking means such as a sheet feeding cassette and a tray one by one, and a copying apparatus provided with the apparatus. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a machine, a printer, and a fax.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of a sheet feeding apparatus, there is a center-based sheet feeding apparatus shown in FIGS. The sheet feeding roller shaft 18 provided with a sheet feeding half-roller (sheet feeding roller) 40 of this apparatus is, for example, a sheet feeding roller disposed on both sides of a cassette which is a sheet stacking means of an image forming apparatus described later. Left and right plates 42, 41
Are rotatably supported by bearings 44 and 43 provided respectively.

Incidentally, the right in the present invention means from the downstream side (left side in FIG. 13) in the sheet feeding direction to the upstream side (FIG. 1).
3 is the right side when looking at the right side). That is,
In FIG. 13, the side plate side indicated by reference numeral 41 is right, and the side plate side indicated by reference numeral 42 is left.

[0004] At the end of the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 protruding rightward from the sheet feeding right plate 41, a rotation drive transmission device for performing one rotation control is provided, and the rotation drive of another conveyance roller is provided. Interlocked with the transmission device.

FIGS. 14 and 15 are views showing a structure in which the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 is replaceably mounted on the sheet feeding roller shaft 18. FIG.

The sheet feeding half moon roller 40 is formed by fitting a half moon shaped rubber 45 into a half moon shaped sheet feeding roller collar 39. The sheet feeding roller collar 39 is molded, and a pair of snap-fit type fastening portions 47, 47 formed at both ends in a direction parallel to the axis of the collar 39 with open ends facing in a direction perpendicular to the axis. To the sheet feeding roller shaft 18. The interval (h) between the openings of the retaining portion 47 is determined by the sheet feeding roller shaft 18.
Is set to be smaller than the diameter (d). Bosses 47a and 47b having different diameters are formed on the sheet feeding roller collar 39 so as to fit into the fitting holes 18a and 18b on the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 side. The diameter of the fitting hole 18a changes on the way so that the boss 47a does not enter from the opposite direction. The diameter of the fitting hole 18b is d1, and the fitting hole 18a is
If the diameter of the large meridian is d2 and the diameter of the small meridian is d3,
The diameters are set in a dimensional relationship of (d2>d1> d3), and the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 has a fixed mounting direction and is not mounted in the reverse direction.

The sheet feeding apparatus is provided, for example, in an image forming apparatus and is used to feed a sheet into the image forming apparatus.

[0008]

The conventional sheet feeding roller shaft 18 uses one shaft supported by bearings 43 and 44. For this reason, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 is provided so as to be detachable from the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 in the snap-fit manner as described above.

However, the conventional sheet feeding device has the following problems.

When the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 is set to the sheet feeding right,
After assembling the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 through the left side plates 41 and 42, when the sheet feeding half moon roller 40 is mounted, the sheet feeding half moon roller 40 is mounted unless the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 is rotated. Therefore, it is difficult to mount the sheet feeding half-roller 40.

Further, when the sheet feeding roller 40 is detached from the sheet feeding roller shaft 18, the sheet feeding roller shaft 18 is rotated half a turn to rotate it downward, so that the opening is directed upward and then pulled downward. It cannot be removed without it. For this reason, it is difficult to remove the sheet feeding half-roller 40.

A sheet separation roller pair 2 is provided upstream of the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40, or
When a sheet conveyance path from the optional cassette is provided, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 is guided by the sheet feeding right and left side plates 41 and 42, and is inserted into a cassette insertion slot (not shown). 13 (to the left of 13). Therefore, unless the hand is inserted from the cassette insertion slot, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 cannot be replaced, and it is difficult to replace the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40.

Further, when a sheet containing calcium carbonate or the like, which has been used in Europe or the like in recent years, is fed, the calcium carbonate or the like adheres to the tread surface of the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40, so that the tread surface becomes slippery. As a result, sheet feeding failure due to slippage of the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 occurs earlier than before, and the sheet feeding half-moon roller 40 must be replaced frequently. For this reason, the configuration in which the sheet feeding half-roller 40 is difficult to replace is a major problem.

Further, the image forming apparatus provided with the above-mentioned sheet feeding device has a problem that it takes a long time to replace the roller for feeding the sheet, so that it has to be stopped for a long time.

(Object) It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding roller in which a sheet roller feeding shaft can be connected and separated in a longitudinal direction so that a part of the sheet roller feeding shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller can be taken out. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding apparatus capable of easily performing image exchange, and an image forming apparatus provided with the sheet feeding apparatus.

[0016]

The above object is achieved by the following sheet feeding apparatus.

The sheets stacked on the sheet stacking means are
In a sheet feeding device provided on a sheet feeding roller shaft and conveyed by rotation of a partially cut sheet feeding roller, the sheet feeding roller shaft is provided with a portion provided with the sheet feeding roller. The divided shafts are connected to each other by joints that can be connected and separated.

The sheet feeding roller shaft has a rotating force transmitting means for intermittently rotating the sheet feeding roller shaft, and the joint means is configured to rotate the sheet feeding roller when the rotating force transmitting means stops rotating. A phase matching unit is provided for connecting the divided axes so that the axes are separated from the seat.

The phase matching portion has a T-shaped ridge protruding from one of the opposed ends of the divided shaft, and a T-shaped ridge formed on the other to receive the ridge. It is made up of grooves.

[0020] The joint means includes an axial centering means for aligning the axes of the divided shafts.

The shaft centering means may include a projecting guide surface formed in a divergent shape at one of the opposed ends of the divided shaft, and a projecting guide surface formed in a narrowed shape at the other. And a concave guide surface for receiving.

The divided shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller is supported by a detachable snap-fit bearing.

The snap-fit bearing supports the divided shaft having the sheet feeding roller by a distance for separating the joint means so as to be movable in the thrust direction.

At least the sheet feeding roller shaft,
The snap-fit bearing is a molded product.

The sheet roller is provided detachably with respect to the sheet feeding roller shaft.

The above problem is solved by the following image forming apparatus.

A sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of the above, and an image forming section for forming an image on a sheet fed by the sheet feeding apparatus.

(Operation) The replacement of the sheet feeding roller is performed by removing the shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller from the shaft not provided with the sheet feeding roller. The sheet feeding roller is replaced with the entire shaft, or the sheet feeding roller is removed from the shaft. After the replacement, both shafts are connected to each other by joint means to be integrated.

[0029] The sheet feeding roller moves the overlapped sheet by one.
Some parts have been cut off to send one by one. The sheet feeding roller shaft rotates intermittently so that the sheet feeding roller can feed the sheet at a certain time interval. For this reason, it is necessary to match the phase of the position where the sheet feeding roller is attached with respect to the sheet feeding roller shaft with the rotational force transmitting means for intermittently rotating. However, when the shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller is removed, the phases are not matched. However, the phases are naturally matched by engaging the T-shaped protrusion with the T-shaped groove.

The axes of the connected shafts are made to coincide with each other by the projecting guide surface and the concave guide surface of the joint means.

Further, the shaft at the portion where the sheet feeding roller is provided is removed by using the bending of the snap-fit bearing. At this time, the shaft is moved in the thrust direction so that the coupling means can be attached and detached.

Further, since the replacement of the sheet feeding roller can be easily performed, it is not necessary to stop the image forming apparatus for a long time.

[0033]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

The same parts as those shown in FIGS. 13 to 15 showing the conventional example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description of those parts will be omitted.

The structure of the sheet feeding device will be described.

The sheet feeding device A according to the embodiment of the present invention comprises:
This is a center-based sheet feeding apparatus that separates and feeds sheets one by one from a cassette that is a sheet stacking unit in which a plurality of sheets are set.

A sheet feeding roller shaft 70 corresponding to the conventional sheet feeding roller shaft 18 is composed of two shafts, a rotational force transmission shaft 46 and a half moon roller support shaft 71, and both shafts 46, 71 can be connected and separated from each other by a coupling mechanism 72.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, the rotational force transmitting shaft 46 is shown.
The sheet feeding right side plate 41 is
And the right auxiliary side plate 81 so as to be rotatable.

The coupling part 46a of the torque transmitting shaft 46
Protrudes from the sheet feeding right side plate 41 toward the sheet feeding left side plate 42 side, and the other end is provided with a toothless clutch gear 31 for transmitting a rotational force of one rotation control.

The rotational force transmitting shaft 46 is a hollow molded product, and a coupling portion 46a is provided with a T-shaped slit 46b as shown in FIG. The half-moon roller support shaft 71 is a hollow molded product, and a coupling portion 71a is provided with a T-shaped rib 71b.

Here, the width t2 of the slit 46b> the rib 7
1b, and the slit 46b
Is provided with a chamfer 46c, and a taper 71c is provided at the tip of the rib 71b.

Thus, the sheet feeding roller shafts 70 and 1
The phase relationship with the rotational force transmitting shaft 46 for performing the rotation control is determined. That is, the T-shaped slit 46b and the rib 71b
Means that the toothless clutch gear 31 and the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 are positioned such that the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 is at a position away from the sheet when the rotation of the toothless clutch gear 31 is stopped.
The rotational force transmission shaft 46 and the half-moon roller support shaft 71 are connected in phase with each other. Further, when the bottom 46d of the slit 46b and the taper 71c of the rib 71a come into contact with each other, they serve to make the axes of the rotational force transmission shaft 46 and the half-moon roller support shaft 71 coincide with each other.

In FIG. 8, a half-moon roller support shaft 71 is rotatably mounted on bearings 48 and 49 provided on a sheet feeding top plate 73 at a portion 71e having a shaft diameter φD.

In FIGS. 8 and 9, bearings 48 and 49 are molded products (shaft diameter D of half-moon roller support shaft 71).
> The dimensional relationship of the inner diameter H) of the bearing piece 48a is set, and the half-moon roller support shaft 71 is held in a snap-fit manner of the bearing pieces 48a, 48a.

For the length fl of the bearing 48, the length f2 of the portion of the half-moon roller support shaft 71 mounted on the bearing 48 is f
1 <f2, the positioning is performed in the thrust direction, and a thrust gap of δ is provided between the coupling portions 71a and 46a.

The length f1 of the portion of the half-moon roller support shaft 71 on which the bearing 49 is mounted is given by the length f1 of the bearing 49.
3 is long enough to form a gap of δ1. As a result, the half-moon roller support shaft 71 is positioned by the bearings 48 and 49 and is rotatably hung, absorbs misalignment with the rotational force transmission shaft 46 and misalignment in the thrust direction, and smoothly transmits rotational force. Is available.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a sheet feeding half-moon roller 1.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state of attachment to a half-moon roller support shaft 71 of FIG.

The sheet feeding half-roller 1 has a molded sheet feeding roller collar 83 and rubber 82 fitted therein. The boss 8 is provided on the sheet feeding roller collar 83.
5 is protruded, and its boss 85 has a sheet feeding collar 83.
A rib 86 for projecting in the mounting direction is projected. The boss 85 has a hole 8 formed in the half-moon roller support shaft 71.
The rib 86 is inserted into a groove 89 for preventing reverse attachment formed at the edge of the hole 88. The snap-fit type claw 84 provided on the sheet feeding roller collar 83 is caught by the claw hooking portion 87 of the half-moon roller support shaft 71, so that the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 is fixed to the half-moon roller support shaft 71. ing. The sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 can be removed from the half-moon roller support shaft 71 by pushing the claw 84 in the direction of arrow G in FIG.

To remove the half-moon roller support shaft 71 from the main assembly of the apparatus, as shown in FIG. 10, insert a hand from the cassette insertion port side (from the left side in FIG. 10) shown in FIG.
Pull out downward as in b → c, insert your hand through the cassette insertion slot side, and remove.

FIG. 11 is a detailed view of a main part of the one-rotation toothless clutch gear of FIG.

In FIG. 1, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1
And the feed roller 2A of the sheet separation roller pair 2,
The driving force of the driving motor 8 is transmitted via the one-rotation toothless clutch gear 31. Thus, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 and the feed roller 2A are intermittently driven by one rotation.

[0052] toothless clutch gear 31, and the notch cam 31c having a notch 31d, and a non-toothed gear main body 31 ₁ having a toothless portion 31a and a toothless portion 31b of the stepped is integrally formed, non-toothed portion 31 a faces the idle gear 10, and the missing tooth portion 31 b faces the second gear 19. The toothless clutch gear 31 is held at a predetermined rotation position by the sheet feeding timing adjusting means B such that the toothless portion 31a faces the idle gear 10 and the toothless portion 31b faces the second gear 19. . The circumferential length of the missing tooth portion 31a is a length corresponding to the circumferential angle θa, the circumferential length of the missing tooth portion 31b is a length corresponding to the circumferential angle θb, and θa < θb. For this reason, the toothless clutch gear 31 is provided with the idle gear 1 before the second gear 19.
It is designed to mesh with zero.

The sheet feeding timing adjusting means B comprises:
Notch cam 31c and solenoid (actuator) 6
And a spring 32.

The solenoid 6 is operated based on a control signal from the control means 100 to operate the notch 31c of the notch cam 31c.
The armature (hook) 6a is provided to be locked to d. Spring 32, when the hook 6a is disengaged from the notch 31d, the toothless gear main body 31 ₁ of the toothed portions idle gear 1
A rotational force is applied to the toothless clutch gear 31 in the clockwise direction in the figure so as to mesh with the zero gear and the second gear 19, respectively.

[0055] Also, among the sheet feeding timing adjusting unit B, the stopper mechanism B ₁ is is constituted by a notch cam 31c and the solenoid 6.

The toothless clutch gear 31 is connected to the torque transmitting shaft 4.
6 is fixed to the D cut portion 46d. D cut part 4
6d is formed to determine the relative positional relationship between the sheet feeding half moon roller 1 attached to the half moon roller support shaft 71 and the toothless clutch gear 31. With the D cut portion 46d and the coupling mechanism 72, the positioning adjustment between the toothless clutch gear 31 and the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 becomes unnecessary, and the assembly of the sheet feeding device A becomes easy. The positioning of the toothless clutch gear 31 with respect to the half-moon roller support shaft 71 is performed in addition to the D-cut portion 46d.
Positioning by engagement of a key and a keyway may be used.

When the toothless clutch gear 31 is locked on the hook 6a, the drive motor 8
The rotational force transmitted to the motor shaft gear 9 and the idle gear 10 fixed to the a is not engaged with the toothless clutch gear 31 and the idle gear 10, so that the toothless clutch gear 3
1, the sheet feeding half-roller 1 remains stopped.

The toothless clutch gear 31 and the second gear 1
Since the gear 9 is not meshed, the drive system from the second gear 19 to the feed roller 2A is also freely rotatable. The feed roller 2A and the feed roller shaft 23 of the feed roller 2A are not attached to the sheet feeding left side plate 42 so that they can rotate freely when the toothless clutch gear 31 and the second gear 19 are not meshed with each other. It is attached via a bearing or the like shown in the figure.

The feed roller 2A is a retard roller 2
B is driven in reverse rotation. The retard roller 2B is driven by the rotational force transmitted from the driven rotary drive motor 8 via the motor shaft gear 9, the idle gear 11, the drive shaft gear 12, the drive shaft 13, the joint 14, and the torque limiter 16 of the retard roller 2B. , And rotate in the direction to return the sheet.

Further, the rotational force of the drive motor 8 transmitted to the drive gear 12 via the motor shaft gear 9 and the idle gear 11 is transmitted to the transport roller 3 via the idle gear 24.
A is transmitted to the drive gear 25 and is transmitted to the transport roller 3A via the transport roller drive shaft 26. Thereby, the transport roller 3A rotates in the sheet transport direction. At this time, the transport roller 3B is driven to rotate reversely with respect to the transport roller 3A.

The operation of the sheet feeding device will be described.

When the solenoid 6 is operated, the hook 6a is pulled, and the engagement between the notch 31d of the notch cam 31c and the hook 6a is released, the toothless clutch gear 31 is moved to the spring 3 position.
2, the toothless clutch gear 31 meshes with the idle gear 10 rotating counterclockwise, and the driving force of the drive motor 8 is transmitted to the toothless clutch gear 31. You.

From the idle gear 10 to the toothless clutch gear 3
When the driving force of the driving motor 8 is transmitted to the clutch gear 1 and the toothless clutch gear 31 starts rotating for a while, the toothless clutch gear 3
1 meshes with the second gear 19, and the torque of the drive motor 8 is transmitted to the second gear 19.

The rotational force of the drive motor 8 is controlled by the second gear 19, the drive shaft 20, the third gear 21, and the feed roller 2.
A is transmitted to the drive gear 22 of A, and the feed roller 2A starts rotating in the sheet conveying direction (clockwise direction in FIG. 1).

Here, the feed roller 2A is fixed to the feed roller shaft 23 so that the feed roller shaft 23 can rotate freely when the second gear 19 and the toothless clutch gear 31 are not engaged. Has become.

On the other hand, since the retard roller 2B exerts a torque equal to or more than a predetermined value on the torque limiter 16 and the torque limiter 16 operates to cause slippage, the feed roller 2B
Start rotating (following) in A (sheet conveyance direction).

The toothless clutch gear 31 makes one rotation, and the notch 31d of the notch cam 31c is connected to the hook 6a of the solenoid 6.
2 again, the toothless clutch gear 31 returns to the initial state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and does not rotate until the hook 6a of the solenoid 6 is pulled again.

As described above, when the toothless clutch gear 31 makes one rotation, the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 makes one rotation in the sheet conveying direction, and the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 rotates the sheet P on the sheet stacking means. The sheet P is conveyed toward the separation roller pair 2, and the sheet separation roller pair 2 conveys the sheet P to the conveyance roller pair 3.

Here, when two or more sheets P picked up by the sheet feeding half-moon roller 1 and conveyed to the sheet separation roller pair 2 overlap, the frictional force between the sheets is equal to that of the rollers (2A, 2B). Sheet or roller (2
A, 2B) The sheets slip because they are smaller than the frictional force between the sheets. Then, since only a torque equal to or less than the predetermined torque of the torque limiter 16 acts on the retard roller 2B, the retard roller 2B rotates in the direction of returning the sheet in the same direction as the rotation direction of the drive gear 12 (the direction of the broken arrow, the clockwise direction). , The sheet on the retard roller 2B side (lower side) is separated one by one in cooperation with the feed roller 2A, and the sheets are sequentially returned to the cassette 50.

When the sheet is being conveyed by the conveying roller pair 3, the rear end of the sheet is still nipped by the nip portion of the sheet separating roller pair 2 for a while.

At this time, since the feed roller 2A is freely rotatable, it is pulled by the sheet and rotates. Further, a rotational force pulled by the sheet also acts on the retard roller 2B. Since this torque is equal to or greater than the predetermined torque of the torque limiter 16, the retard roller 2B is pulled by the sheet and rotates against the torque of the torque limiter.

When the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the nip portion of the sheet separating roller pair 2, only a torque equal to or less than a predetermined value of the torque limiter acts on the retard roller 2B, and the retard roller 2B starts rotating in a direction to return the sheet. At this time, since the feed roller 2A is freely rotatable, it rotates following the retard roller 2B.

(Image Forming Apparatus) FIG. 12 is a schematic front sectional view of a laser beam printer E which is an example of an image forming apparatus using the sheet feeding apparatus A.

Sheets P stacked on a cassette (sheet stacking means) 50 are picked up by a sheet feeding half-roller 1, separated one by one by a pair of sheet separating rollers 2, and are separated by a guide 51 by a pair of conveying rollers 3. The sheet is conveyed to the registration roller pair 52 along the path.

Thereafter, the sheet P is conveyed by the pair of registration rollers 52 so that the conveying speed thereof matches the operation speed of the photosensitive drum (image forming means) 53 as a photosensitive member. Then, the toner image on the photosensitive drum 53 is transferred onto the sheet P by the transfer roller 54.

Thereafter, the sheet P is guided by the separation guide 55, the conveyance guide 56, and the entrance guide 57, and is heated and pressed by the fixing roller 58 and the pressure roller 59. As a result, the toner image is fixed on the sheet P as a permanent image.

At this time, since the sheet P is wound around the fixing roller 58, the sheet P is forcibly separated from the fixing roller 58 by the separation claw 60, conveyed by the fixing discharge rollers 61 and 62, and conveyed along the conveyance guide rib 64. Will be done.

Further, the sheet P is conveyed along the conveyance guides 66 and 67 by the conveyance roller pair 65, and is discharged and stacked on the face down tray T by the discharge device 68 which also performs curl removal.

[0079]

According to the present invention, since the divided shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller can be removed, the sheet feeding roller can be replaced easily and in a short time.
After the replacement of the sheet feeding roller, the divided shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller can be easily and quickly incorporated into the sheet feeding device. In this case, the entire shaft can be replaced with the sheet feeding roller provided, and the shaft can be used again by replacing only the sheet feeding roller. Further, if the shared shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller is supported by the snap-fit bearing, it is easy to remove and install the shared shaft.

When the shaft is incorporated in the sheet feeding apparatus, if the sheet feeding roller shaft is provided with a rotating force transmitting means for intermittently rotating the shaft, the phase matching unit causes the rotating force transmitting means to rotate. And the sheet feeding roller whose part has been cut out can be easily assembled in phase with the sheet feeding roller.

Further, the shaft provided with the sheet supply roller can be easily connected to the shaft provided with the sheet supply roller by the shaft center aligning means.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a sheet feeding roller shaft in FIG. 1 and is a partial cross-sectional view.

FIG. 3 is a view of a sheet feeding roller shaft separated at a coupling mechanism portion as viewed from an upstream side.

FIG. 4 is a view of a half-moon roller support shaft viewed from a coupling portion side.

FIG. 5 is a view of a rotational force transmission shaft as viewed from a coupling portion side.

FIG. 6 is a diagram in which a sheet feeding half-moon roller is mounted on a half-moon roller support shaft.

FIG. 7 is a diagram in which a sheet feeding half-moon roller is mounted on a half-moon roller support shaft.

FIG. 8 is a partial cross-sectional view of a sheet feeding roller shaft supported by a bearing as viewed from an upstream side.

FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the bearing as viewed from the left side in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a procedure for removing a sheet feeding roller shaft from a cassette insertion slot (left side in the figure).

FIG. 11 is a detailed diagram of a one-rotation control unit.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view of a laser beam printer provided with a sheet feeding device.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a conventional sheet feeding apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a conventional sheet feeding apparatus in which a sheet feeding half-moon roller is mounted on a half-moon roller support shaft.

FIG. 15 is a view of FIG. 14 viewed from the right side.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List A sheet feeding device P recording paper (sheet) E laser beam printer (image forming device) 1 sheet feeding half-moon roller (sheet feeding roller) 31 one-rotation toothless clutch gear (rotational force transmitting means) 46 rotational force transmitting shaft (Shaft without sheet feeding roller) 46a Coupling part 46b T-shaped (phase matching part, groove) 46d Bottom of slit (concave guide surface) 48 Bearing (snap-fit bearing) 49 Bearing (snap-fit bearing) 50 cassette (sheet stacking means) 53 photosensitive drum (image forming unit) 70 sheet feeding roller shaft 71 half moon roller supporting shaft (shaft provided with sheet feeding roller) 71a coupling unit 71b T-shaped rib (phase) 71c Taper (projecting guide surface) 72 Coupling mechanism (joint means)

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding apparatus for feeding a sheet stacked on a sheet stacking means by rotation of a partially cut sheet feeding roller provided on a sheet feeding roller shaft. A sheet feeding device, wherein a roller shaft is divided into a portion where the sheet feeding roller is provided and a portion where the sheet feeding roller is not provided, and the divided shafts are connected to each other by joint means that can be connected and separated. 2. The sheet feeding roller according to claim 1, wherein said sheet feeding roller shaft includes a rotating force transmitting means for intermittently rotating said sheet feeding roller shaft, and said joint means is configured to rotate said sheet feeding roller when said rotating force transmitting means stops rotating. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a phase matching unit that connects the divided axes so that the axis is located away from the sheet. 3. A T-shaped ridge protruding from one of opposed ends of the divided shaft, and a T-shaped engraved on the other to receive the ridge. The sheet feeding device according to claim 2, further comprising: a groove having a shape. 4. The joint means comprises an axis aligning means for aligning the axes of the divided shafts.
Or the sheet feeding device according to 3. 5. The projecting guide, wherein the axis centering means is formed in a flared shape at one of opposed ends of the divided shaft, and is formed in a narrowed shape at the other side. 5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 4, further comprising a concave guide surface for receiving the surface. 6. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the divided shaft provided with the sheet feeding roller is supported by a detachable snap-fit bearing. 7. The snap-fit bearing supports a divided shaft having the sheet feed roller movably in a thrust direction by a distance that separates the joint means.
The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1. 8. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein at least the sheet feeding roller shaft and the snap-fit bearing are molded products. 9. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding roller is detachable from the sheet feeding roller shaft. 10. A sheet feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising: an image forming section for forming an image on a sheet fed by the sheet feeding device. Characteristic image forming apparatus.