JPH11314768A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a skew and a lateral resist shifting by improving paper setting properties between both side fences. SOLUTION: A side fence contact member 11 is mounted in a mounting hole 14 of a bottom face 10a of a side fence 10. A side fence moving member 12 formed with a level differential by an inclined face 12a, is in an image forming device body. At the outside of the device, the side fence 10 is inclined so as to make the bottom face 10a closely adhere to a bottom face 9a of a paper feeding tray, and a top side is spread to the outside whereby paper 16 can be very easily set up. When the paper feeding tray is inserted into the device, and the side fence contact member 11 gets over the inclined face 12a of the side fence moving member 12, the side fence contact member 11 goes up, therefore the side fence 10 turns round to the side of the paper 16. At this time, if a space between two side fences 10 is set to the very limit of the prescribed size of the paper 16, any skew and lateral resist can be prevented from occurring.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device for an image forming apparatus, and has a side fence for regulating a sheet width direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction to an image forming section. It relates to an apparatus having a tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The image quality required for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine includes a skew and a lateral registration error. With the improvement, demands from users are becoming more and more severe. It is known that the skew and the lateral registration deviation are greatly affected by the state of setting the paper on the paper feed tray.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 1, usually, the width direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1) of the paper 21 is perpendicular to the paper feeding direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1). A regulating side fence 22, 22 is provided. Generally, the width between the side fences 22 is set to be slightly larger than the specified width of the paper 21 in order to facilitate the setting of the paper 21. However, the width size of the paper 21 varies depending on each brand and the environment with respect to the prescribed size. If there is a gap between the paper 21 and the side fence 22, depending on the setting state of the paper 21, the skew and the variation of the lateral registration may vary. Conversely, if the paper 21 is set to just the specified width size, it becomes difficult to set the paper 21 on the paper feed tray 20, and the end of the paper 21 is bent as shown in FIG. And resistance to the paper 21 when passing the paper,
In some cases, non-feeding may occur.

In order to solve such a problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 156780/1996 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-235024 have proposed techniques. However, since these have a side fence provided with a pressing member, the pressing force varies depending on the amount of paper. It is considered that the setting tends to be excessively pressed or insufficiently pressed, and setting is difficult. For example, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-235024 takes this point into consideration.
It is considered that this is not very effective in a general type in which the bottom plate, which is widely used in a sheet tray capable of stacking about 0 sheets, rotates and the leading end of the sheet feed rises.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding device which is effective for sheet setting, skew, and lateral registration deviation.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a side fence for regulating a sheet width in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction is provided. In the sheet feeding device having a sheet feeding tray having a side fence abutting member protruding from the bottom of the side fence, the side fence contact member slides when the sheet feeding tray is set in the image forming apparatus main body. A side fence moving member having an inclined surface portion for moving the side fence upward is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a side fence adjusting member for sandwiching a mounting portion of the side fence for mounting the side fence abutting member together with the side fence abutting member. It is screwed to a mounting portion of the side fence, and the height of the side fence abutting member projecting from the bottom surface of the side fence can be adjusted by the side fence adjusting member.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, a stopper for regulating the inclination angle of the side fence is provided on the side of the side fence opposite to the mounting portion of the side fence abutting member and sandwiching the sheet. It is characterized by the following.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a copying machine shown as an example of an image forming apparatus using the sheet feeding device according to the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming unit, 2 denotes an image scanning unit, 3 denotes a paper feeding unit, 4 denotes a manual paper feeding tray, 5 denotes a fixing device, and 6 denotes a paper discharging tray. A developing device 8 and the like are provided around 7. The paper feed unit 3 is provided with a pair of paper feed trays 9, 9 in a detachable manner. The paper on which the image is to be transferred is supplied from one of the paper feed trays 9 or the manual paper feed tray 4, receives the transfer of the toner image while passing under the photosensitive drum 7, and passes through the fixing device 5. The image is fixed, and is discharged onto the discharge tray 6.

A pair of side fences 10 as shown in FIG. 3A are provided on the sheet feeding tray 9, and a side fence abutting member 11 is attached to a bottom surface 10a of the side fence 10 so as to protrude therefrom. Further, when the sheet feeding tray 9 is set in the sheet feeding section 3, the bottom surface 10 a of the side fence 10 is moved upward, as shown in FIG. A side fence moving member 12 having a step as shown in FIG. The step of the side fence moving member 12 is formed by an inclined surface 12a as shown.

The bottom surface 9a of the paper feed tray 9 is
As shown in FIG. 4, two pairs of side fence mounting holes 13 are provided in two rows in the vertical direction in the drawing along the paper feeding direction (the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4). The mounting hole 14 of the side fence abutment member 11 is one in the row of
It is provided at a substantially central position of 3 and 13. In the drawing, reference numeral 15 denotes a pressing member for the rear end of the sheet.

The side fence 10 and its bottom surface 10a
Are formed so as to form an acute angle slightly smaller than 90 degrees as shown in FIG. However, the side fence contact member 1
If the position of the first mounting hole 14 is lowered, the angle may not be acute. The side fence contact member 2 includes a straight small diameter shaft portion and a head-shaped contact portion as shown in the figure, and is integrally attached to the bottom surface 10a of the side fence 10 by caulking or the like. The straight portion is longer than the thickness of the side fence mounting hole 13.

The side fence 10 having such a structure is as follows.
Leg 1 in side fence mounting hole 13 of paper feed tray 9
Then, the side fence abutment member 11 is slid and inserted into the mounting hole 14 as shown by the arrow in FIG. As described above, since the attachment to the paper feed tray 9 is performed by insertion without using screws, an improvement in assemblability can be realized. In the state after installation,
Since the side fence 10 and its bottom surface 10a form an acute angle, the top of the side fence 10 is separated from the bundle of sheets 16 as shown in FIG. This side fence 10
As shown in the figure, there is no movement in the direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction, that is, in the width direction of the sheet 16 for mounting on the sheet feeding tray 9 as shown in FIG.
By selecting the third row, it corresponds to the width of the paper 16.
Therefore, in the figure, the rows of the side fence mounting holes 13 are each two rows, but in order to correspond to various sizes, three rows are required.
More than one row may be provided, or only one row may be considered, but the present invention may be any. The bottom plate on which the sheets in the sheet feed tray 9 are stacked is not shown.

The side fence moving member 12 includes
In FIG. 6, the paper feed tray 9 is attached to the paper feed unit 3 by a rail 17 also provided on the image forming apparatus main body side, as shown in FIG. Are being regulated.

The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
When the paper feed tray 9 is pulled out from the paper feed unit 3, the side fence 10 is in close contact with the bottom surface 9 a of the paper feed tray 9 due to the weight of the side fence contact member 11 hanging on the bottom surface 10 a and the resulting moment. And the top side is spread outward.
For this reason, a gap is formed as shown in FIG.
The set can be done very easily.

On the other hand, when the sheet feeding tray 9 is inserted into the sheet feeding section 3 while being guided by the rails 17, the side fence contact member 11 moves on the surface of the side fence moving member 12 as the sheet feeding tray 9 moves. To slide. At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the paper feed tray 9 tends to descend due to the weight of the paper feed tray 9 and the positioning by the rail 17, and the side fence abutment member 11 reacts from the surface of the side fence moving member 12 with a reaction force. Receive. The side fence abutting member 11 can move up and down because the small diameter shaft portion is fitted in the mounting hole 14, and pushes up the bottom surface 10a of the side fence 10 by the above-described reaction force. On the other hand, since the side fence 10 cannot be moved in the vertical direction by fitting the legs 10 b into the side fence mounting holes 13, the side fences 10 center on the side fence mounting holes 13 when receiving the force of the side fence abutting members 11. Paper 1
6 to rotate in the width direction.

Before the sheet feeding tray 9 is set in the sheet feeding section 3, the side fence contact member 11 reaches the inclined surface 12a of the side fence moving member 12, and the inclined surface 12a
The side fence contact member 11 rises to such an extent that the contact portion sticks to the bottom surface 9a of the paper feed tray 9. Accordingly, the side fence 10 rotates toward the sheet 16 (FIG. 7B). If the space between the side fences 10 and 10 on the side of the sheet 16 at this time is set to be almost the specified size of the width of the sheet 16, skew and lateral registration can be prevented. In the illustrated embodiment, both of the above-described mechanisms are provided on the side fences 10 on both sides in the width direction of the paper 16, but may be provided only on one side.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another form of attachment of the side fence contact member 11 to the side fence 10. In this embodiment, the bottom 10a of the side fence 10
A boss portion 10c having a threaded hole is provided, and a dial-shaped side fence adjusting member 18 is screwed from above, and the shaft portion of the side fence contact member 11 is press-fitted into the shaft portion to be integrally attached. With this structure, the side fence 1 is rotated by rotating the side fence adjusting member 18.
Since the distance between the lower surface of the bottom portion 10a of the first fence 0 and the contact portion of the side fence contact member 11 can be changed, the bottom surface 10a of the side fence 10 when the sheet feeding tray 9 is set in the sheet feeding portion 3 is set.
, That is, the amount of rotation of the side fence 10 in the paper width direction can be adjusted. Thereby, the paper 16
Fine adjustment may be made for the variation in the width size.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view (A) and a sectional view (B) showing a modification of the side fence 10. In this example, the bottom 10a of the side fence 10 is extended to the side sandwiching the sheet to form a stopper 10d, and the extension 10d, which is an extension thereof, is perpendicular to the surface of the side fence 10 on the sheet side. It is. Such a stopper portion 1
A value of 0 prevents the side fence 10 from falling too much when the side fence abutment member 11 is raised and the side fence 10 is set on the sheet, thereby ensuring the setting.

[0020]

In the paper feeder according to the first aspect, as described above, when the paper is set, the interval between the side fences is widened on the top side, so that the paper can be easily loaded.
The side fence is automatically set at the position corresponding to the paper size when setting the paper feed tray in the image forming apparatus, etc., so that skew and lateral registration deviation due to the gap between the side fence and the paper are reliably prevented. There is an effect that it becomes possible to do.

In the paper feeder according to the second aspect, as described above, the distance between the side fence abutting member and the side fence mounting portion can be adjusted. There is an effect that the responsiveness is improved.

In the paper feeder according to the third aspect, as described above, the side fence can be prevented from being unnecessarily inclined to the paper side by the stopper for regulating the inclination angle of the side fence. In addition to the effect described above, there is an effect that the bundle of sheets to be stacked between the side fences can be reliably set.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an attachment structure of a sheet feeding tray and a side fence generally used in a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a copying machine shown as an example of an image forming apparatus using a sheet feeding device according to the present invention.

3A and 3B are a perspective view of a side fence and a perspective view of a side fence moving member of the sheet feeding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention used in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the paper feed tray.

5 is a side sectional view schematically showing a state where the side fence of FIG. 3 is attached to the paper feed tray of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view conceptually showing a state in which a sheet feeding tray of the sheet feeding apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted on a sheet feeding section of the image forming apparatus main body.

FIG. 7 is a side view showing the operation of the side fence, the side fence contact member, and the side fence moving member in a state where the paper feed tray of the paper feed device according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted on the paper feed unit of the image forming apparatus main body. It is sectional drawing.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing another mode of attaching the side fence contact member to the side fence.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view (A) and a sectional view (B) showing a modification of the side fence.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming part 2 Image scanning part 3 Paper feed part 4 Manual feed tray 5 Fixing device 6 Discharge tray 7 Photoconductor drum 8 Developing device 9 Paper feed tray 9a The bottom surface 10 Side fence 10a The bottom surface 10b The leg 10c Same as above Boss portion 10d Stopper portion 11 Side fence contact member 12 Side fence moving member 12a Inclined surface 13 Side fence mounting hole 14 Side fence contact member mounting hole 15 Paper rear end holding member 16 Paper 17 Rail 18 Side fence adjustment Element

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding device including a sheet feeding tray having a side fence for regulating a sheet width in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction, wherein a side fence contact member protruding from a bottom of the side fence; A sheet feeding device comprising a side fence moving member having an inclined surface portion for slidingly contacting the side fence and moving the side fence upward when the sheet feeding tray is set in the image forming apparatus main body. . 2. A side fence adjusting member for sandwiching a side fence attaching portion for attaching the side fence abutting member together with the side fence abutting member, wherein the side fence adjusting member is screwed to the side fence attaching portion. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the height of the side fence abutment member protruding from the bottom surface of the side fence is adjustable by the side fence adjusting member. 3. The side fence is provided with a stopper for restricting an inclination angle of the side fence, on a side opposite to a side where the side fence abutting member is attached, and sandwiching a sheet. 1 or 2 paper feeders.