JPH11292347A - Paper manually feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the possibilities of the occurrence of skew and lateral shifting of sheet in manual paper feeding. SOLUTION: Guide grooves 3, 3 are provided along the direction of paper supply of sheet on a paper manually feeding base 2, width guide plates 4, 4 are attached to the guide grooves 3 so as to move in the orthogonal direction for the direction of sheet feeding, and sensors 5, 5 detecting the contact of an end part of stacked sheets are provided in tip parts of the width guide plates 4, 4. If manual feeding is not selected when the image formation operation is started by an image formation operation start signal, a predetermined picture image formation operation is started. If the manual feeding base is opened and manual feeding is selected, whether the width guide plates 4 and the end part of the sheets are in contact properly or not is judged b signals from the sensors 5, and the image formation operation is stopped when the width guide plates 4 are not in contact with the end part of the sheets to display that the contact condition is improper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a manual paper feeder used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine and a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A manual paper feeder is originally used for feeding paper of various sizes including special size paper.
For this reason, the width guide plate for preventing the occurrence of paper conveyance problems such as skew and lateral displacement is slidable in the width direction so as to be compatible with various paper sizes. For example, JP-A-06-
The recording sheet setting device disclosed in 191677 discloses
The side fence of the recording sheet storage unit installed inside the apparatus is moved by the side fence driving means in accordance with the sheet size and is brought into contact with the end of the sheet to prevent skew and lateral displacement of the sheet. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-916
The manual paper feeder disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 41-210 is protruded forward in a paper feed direction with respect to a width guide plate slidable in the width direction of a manual paper feed table that is openably and closably attached to a paper feed unit of an image forming apparatus. An auxiliary guide plate that is rotatable in the opening and closing direction is provided in such a state as to prevent skew and lateral displacement of the sheet.

[0003]

However, in the manual paper feeder, since the sliding operation of the width guide plate is performed manually for ensuring safety, the width guide plate and the sheet end are not in contact with each other. There is a possibility that an image forming operation is performed, which causes a conveyance failure such as a skew or a lateral shift of a sheet.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a manual sheet feeder which has less transport trouble as in the conventional apparatus.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a manual paper feeder according to the present invention provides a manual paper feeder attached to a paper feeder of an image forming apparatus in a widthwise direction of paper. A pair of width guide plates are slidably attached, and a unit is provided for detecting a contact state between the width guide plate and an end of a sheet stacked on the manual paper feed tray, and an image forming operation is performed by the detection unit. When it is detected that the width guide plate and the end of the sheet are not in contact with each other at the start, the image forming operation is stopped and a warning is issued.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a manual sheet feeder according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming apparatus main body, 2 denotes a manual sheet feeding table, and the manual sheet feeding table 2 is attached to a sheet feeding unit (not shown) in the image forming apparatus main body 1 so as to be able to feed sheet paper. Further, guide grooves 3, 3 are provided on the manual paper feed table 2 along the paper feeding direction of the stacked paper.
Width guide plates 4 and 4 are attached to the guide grooves 3 so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction, and can accommodate various sizes of sheets including irregular shapes. . Sensors 5, 5 are provided at the leading end portions of the width guide plates 4, 4, as means for detecting the contact of the end of the stacked sheets.

The sensor 5 for detecting contact is a sensor for detecting the end of the sheet with a reflection type optical sensor or a leaf spring member for ensuring the contact between the width guide plate and the end of the sheet. Can be used, and the movement of the leaf spring member due to the contact between the sheet edge and the leaf spring member is detected by a proximity switch or an optical switch. Note that the copiers and printers to which the present invention is applied are general ones, and thus description thereof is omitted.

In the present embodiment, the width guide plate 4, which is an effective means for preventing skew and lateral displacement of sheets caused by handling various sheet sizes in manual sheet feeding, is made slidable. The configuration is such that the operator can touch the hand while the apparatus is operating. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of the operator, the guide movement by the guide driving mechanism as employed in the apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-191677 cannot be adopted, and the width guide plate 4 is manually operated.
Slides are performed. Therefore, the state of contact between the width guide plate 4 and the end of the sheet depends on the sense of the operator, and skew of the sheet and the occurrence of a conveyance failure such as lateral displacement are induced. Therefore, the state does not depend on the sense of the operator. The following operation is performed in order to prevent the problem from occurring.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit configuration for realizing the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of FIG.
In FIG. 2, 10 is a control unit, 11 is an operation display unit, 12
Denotes an input / output circuit, and the input / output circuit 12 is connected to the sensor 5 and the sheet feed control unit 13.

In the operation of the present embodiment, as shown in the block diagram of FIG. 3, an image forming operation is started by an image forming operation start signal from the operation display unit 11 or the like (step 1). At this time, when manual paper feed is not selected (step 2), a predetermined image forming operation is started (step 4). However, when manual paper feed is opened and manual paper feed is selected (step 4). 2) The sensor 5 determines whether the contact between the width guide plate 4 and the end of the sheet is proper.
(Step 3), the width guide plate 4
If the sheet edge is not in the contact state, the image forming operation is stopped (step 5), and the operation display section 11 displays that the contact state is inappropriate (step 6).

[0011]

As described above, the manual sheet feeder according to the present invention monitors the contact state between the width guide plate and the end of the sheet, and when it is detected that the sheet is not in the contact state. By not starting the image forming operation, there is an effect that the possibility of skew and lateral displacement of the paper due to manual paper feed can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a manual sheet feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration for realizing the operation of the embodiment device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the embodiment device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus main body 2 Manual feed tray 3 Guide groove 4 Width guide plate 5 Sensor 10 Control unit 11 Operation display unit 12 Input / output circuit 13 Feed control unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI B65H 11/00 B65H 11/00 B G03G 15/00 516 G03G 15/00 516

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pair of width guide plates are slidably mounted in a width direction of a sheet on a manual sheet feeding table attached to a sheet feeding unit of an image forming apparatus. Means for detecting a contact state with an end of the stacked sheets, wherein the detecting means ensures that the width guide plate and the end of the sheet are not in a contact state when an image forming operation is started. A manual feeder that stops the image forming operation and issues a warning when the image is detected.