JPH11349166A - Automatic manuscript conveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a generation of an excess driving load of a paper feeding roller by providing an elastic deviation member urging a front disposal supporting plate to the paper feeding roller in the case where many sheets of manuscripts simultaneously pass through the roller. SOLUTION: An elastic deviation member 66 is formed by a flat spring, one end thereof is mounted to an inner surface of a left end portion cover and the other end is abutted to an upper end corresponding to a long hole 621 of a front disposal supporting plate 62 to urge the front disposal supporting plate 62 to a paper feeding roller 40. A plurality of sheets of manuscripts P fed out by a forwardly feeding roller 34 are restricted by the front disposal plate 64 of a front disposal means and are conveyed to a manuscript separating mechanism 50 side by passing through between the respective roller portions of the paper feeding roller 40. At this time, many sheets of manuscripts P simultaneously and sometimes are about to pass through it. At the time, the front disposal supporting plate 62 to which the front disposal plate 64 is mounted is moved to a leaving direction from the paper feeding roller 40 in resistant to an urging force of the elastic deviation member 66.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder provided in a document processing machine such as an electrostatic copying machine, a facsimile or an image reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, copiers have come to use an automatic document feeder which automatically and automatically supplies a plurality of documents to a document set position on the upper surface of a transparent plate with the speeding up and automation of copying processing. I have. An automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a plurality of documents sequentially to a document processor such as a facsimile or an image reader has been widely and practically used. An automatic document feeder of this type includes a document table on which a document is placed, a guide plate disposed downstream of the document table, and an opening formed in the guide plate disposed below the guide plate. A part of the outer peripheral portion projects upward and acts on the lower surface of the lowermost document placed on the document table to feed the document, and is disposed downstream of the forward roller in the transport direction. The image forming apparatus includes a paper feed roller, and a document separating mechanism disposed to face the paper feed roller. Further, a front separating means for regulating the number of originals entering between the paper feed roller and the original separating mechanism to a small number (1 to 3) is provided between the advance roller and the paper supply roller. ing. The pre-separating means includes a front separating plate disposed so as to face in parallel with the axial direction of the forward feed roller. The plurality of originals sent out by the forward feed roller are conveyed to the original separating mechanism side such that a small number (1 to 3) of the originals pass through the gap between the front separation unit and the paper feed roller.

[0003]

In the above-described automatic document feeder, in order to restrict the number of originals entering between the paper feed roller and the original separating mechanism to a small number (1 to 3), the paper feed roller is required. The gap between the sheet and the front separating plate must be reduced. However, if the gap between the paper feed roller and the front separating plate is too small, a certain gap is required to damage the document. For this reason, depending on the paper quality of the original (particularly, the paper having a high friction coefficient), a large number of originals may simultaneously pass through the gap between the paper feed roller and the front separating plate. In this case, a large number of documents may be sandwiched between the paper feed roller and the front separating plate, and an excessive driving load may act on the paper feed roller, causing the paper feed roller to stop.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-mentioned fact, and its main technical problem is that even when a large number of originals are going to pass through the gap between the paper feed roller and the front separating plate at the same time, the paper is not fed. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic document feeder in which an excessive driving load does not act on a paper roller.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a document table on which a document is placed, a guide plate disposed downstream of the document table, and A part of the outer peripheral portion is disposed below the guide plate and partially protrudes upward from an opening formed in the guide plate to act on the lower surface of the lowermost document placed on the document table before sending the document. A feed roller, a paper feed roller disposed downstream of the feed roller in the transport direction, a document separation mechanism disposed opposite the paper feed roller, and an upstream side of the document separation mechanism in the transport direction. An automatic document feeder comprising: a pre-separation unit disposed opposite to the paper feed roller; the pre-separation unit includes a front separation plate disposed in an axial direction of the paper supply roller; A pre-separation plate is attached, and a predetermined range is An automatic document feeder, comprising: a front separation support plate movably supported; and an elastic biasing member for pressing the front separation support plate toward the paper feed roller. Is done.

[0006] The front separating plate is constituted by an elastic sheet member. Further, the paper feed roller includes a plurality of roller portions provided at predetermined intervals in the axial direction, and the front separating plate is a convex separating member positioned between the respective roller portions of the sheet feeding roller. Part.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of an automatic document feeder constructed according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an upper end portion of the electrostatic copying machine 2 and an automatic document feeder 4 mounted thereon. The electrostatic copying machine 2 has a housing 6, and on the upper surface of the housing 6, a transparent plate 8 (FIG. 2), which may be a glass plate, is provided. On one side (left side in FIG. 2) of the transparent plate 8, a document regulating member 1 for defining a document set reference position G is provided.
0 is disposed, and a stationary mounting member 12 is disposed on the other side (the right side in FIG. 2). The automatic document feeder 4 configured in accordance with the present invention includes a housing 6 of the electrostatic copying machine 2.
1 is pivotally mounted between a closed position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 1 and an open position indicated by a two-dot chain line around a pivot axis extending along the rear edge of the transparent plate 8. Electrostatic copier 2
When the original is manually placed on the transparent plate 8, the automatic document feeder 4 is opened to expose the transparent plate 8, the original is placed at a required position on the transparent plate 8, and With the document feeder 4 closed, the transparent plate 8 and the document placed thereon are covered. When placing a document on the transparent plate 8, the document is required by placing one edge of the document against the leading edge of the document regulating member 10 and positioning the trailing edge of the document at the document setting reference position G. Position. When the document is automatically loaded onto the transparent plate 8 using the automatic document feeder 4 and is automatically output from the transparent plate 8, the automatic document feeder 4 is positioned at the closed position.

Continuing the description with reference to FIG. 1, the illustrated automatic document feeder 4 includes a front cover 14 and a rear cover that are disposed at an interval in the front-rear direction (the direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG. 2). 16 is included. The front cover 14 and the rear cover 16 can be formed from an appropriate synthetic resin. A rear support substrate (not shown) is provided in the rear cover 16, and such a rear support substrate is connected via a mounting mechanism (not shown) which may itself be a known form. Thus, it is mounted on the upper surface of the housing 6 of the electrostatic copying machine 2 so as to be pivotable. Various components of the automatic document feeder 4 are directly or indirectly supported by the rear support substrate. A document placing means 18 and a document discharge tray 20 are provided between the front cover 14 and the rear cover 16. The document placing means 18 includes a document table 22 extending upward from the left end to the right rear end in FIG. 2 and an auxiliary table rotatably mounted at the rear end of the document table 22. 24. The document table 22 has a pair of width regulating members 26 movably in the width direction. The pair of width regulating members 26 are connected to each other below the document table 22 via a well-known rack and pinion mechanism (not shown), and approach each other in conjunction with each other. In the direction and away from each other.
The document discharge tray 20 is disposed below the document placing means 18 and has a document placing surface 201 formed in a mountain shape when viewed from the front-back direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2). A left end cover 28 is disposed between the left ends of the front cover 14 and the rear cover 16, and a right end cover 29 is disposed between the right ends.

Continuing the description with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a forward feed means 30 is disposed downstream of the document table 22 in the transport direction. The advance means 30 is
A guide plate 32 is provided extending downstream of the document table 22 in the transport direction. An opening is formed on the upstream side of the guide plate 32, and a forward feed roller 34 constituting the forward feed means 30 is disposed below the opening. The forward feed roller 34 is formed of an elastic material having a large friction coefficient such as urethane rubber, and is disposed so that a part of the outer peripheral surface slightly projects upward from an opening formed in the guide plate 32. The rotation axis (not shown) of the forward feed roller 34 is
It is operatively connected to an electric motor 35 as a drive source via a power transmission mechanism (not shown).

Above the forward feed roller 34, a forward feed pressure mechanism 36 constituting the forward feed means 30 is provided. The forward feed pressurizing mechanism 36 includes a rotating shaft 36 disposed above the forward feed roller 34 in parallel with the forward feed roller 34.
2, and a pressing plate 364 which has an upper end fixed to the rotating shaft 362 and a lower end placed on the original table 22 and acting on the original (P) inserted on the guide plate 32. . The pressing plate 364 is formed of an elastic thin plate made of a stainless steel plate in the illustrated embodiment, and the upper end thereof is fixed to the rotating shaft 362 by a fixing means such as a screw. Feed roller 34
At the upper position of the uppermost document placed on the document table 22, it is positioned at an operating position for pressing the original and pressing the original, and a non-operating position separated from the original. The rotating shaft 362 constituting the forward feed pressing mechanism 36 is provided with side plates 39, 39 provided at front and rear ends of a support substrate 38 disposed above the forward feed roller 34.
(Only the rear side plate 39 is shown in FIG. 2). The turning shaft 362 is connected to a solenoid (not shown) via a link mechanism, and is turned in a predetermined direction when the solenoid is urged.
When the solenoid is de-energized, it is rotated in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction. Therefore, the pressing plate 364 attached to the rotating shaft 362 is biased by a solenoid (not shown) so that the rotating shaft 3
When the document 62 is rotated in a predetermined direction, it presses the document inserted above the guide plate 32, the solenoid is deenergized, and the rotating shaft 3 is rotated.
When 62 is rotated in the direction opposite to the predetermined direction, it is separated from the document.

A paper feed roller 40 is provided downstream of the advance mechanism 30. The paper feed roller 40 is provided as shown in FIG.
And a plurality of (four in the illustrated embodiment) roller portions 4 mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the rotating shaft 42 and the cylindrical portion 44 attached to the rotating shaft 42 as shown in FIG.
It consists of six. The rotating shaft 42 is operatively connected to an electric motor 35 as a driving source via a power transmission mechanism (not shown). The cylindrical portion 44 is formed in a cylindrical shape with an appropriate synthetic resin, and is integrally attached to the rotating shaft 42. The plurality of rollers 46 are formed of a material having a large coefficient of friction such as urethane rubber, and are mounted on the outer peripheral surface 441 of the cylindrical portion 44 at predetermined intervals in the axial direction. The plurality of rollers 46 are disposed such that a part of the outer peripheral surface slightly protrudes upward from an opening formed in the guide plate 32.

An original separating mechanism 50 is provided above the paper feed roller 40. The document separation mechanism 50 includes a separation roller 51 in the illustrated embodiment. The separation roller 52 includes a fixed shaft 52 and a cylindrical portion 53 formed of an appropriate synthetic resin and rotatably disposed on the fixed shaft 52.
And a surface layer portion 54 formed of an elastic material having a large coefficient of friction such as urethane rubber and attached to the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 53.
And a torque limiter mechanism 55 disposed between the fixed shaft 52 and the cylindrical portion 53, and the surface layer portion 54 is disposed in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the roller portion 46 of the paper feed roller 40. ing. The torque limiter mechanism 55 includes a cylindrical portion 53.
And a spring clutch mechanism for fixing the tubular portion 53 to the fixed shaft 52 when a predetermined or more driving torque acts on the fixed shaft 52.
The separation roller 51 having the torque limiter mechanism 55
It does not constitute a new feature in the automatic document feeder constituted by the present invention, and the constitution itself may be a known form, and therefore, for details of the constitution,
The description is omitted in this specification. In the illustrated embodiment, the separation roller 52 is used as the document separation mechanism 50.
However, as the document separation mechanism 50, a separation belt mechanism or another separation mechanism can be used.

A pre-separating means 60 is disposed upstream of the document separating mechanism 50 in the transport direction so as to face the paper feed roller 40. This pre-separating means 60 is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The pre-separation means 60 is disposed in the axial direction of the paper feed roller 40 and is supported by the support substrate 38 so as to be movable in a direction facing the paper feed roller 40 (up and down in FIG. 3) over a predetermined range. 6
2, the front separating plate 64 having an upper end attached to the lower end of the front separating supporting plate 62, and the front separating supporting plate 62 pressed toward the paper feed roller 40 (downward in FIG. 4). Elastic biasing members 66, 66. In the illustrated embodiment, the pre-separation support plate 62 is provided with two long holes 621, 621 long in the vertical direction at intervals in the longitudinal direction (the horizontal direction in FIG. 5) as shown in FIG. ,
The stepped bolts 68, 68 which are provided through the elongated holes 621, are screwed to the support substrate 38, and are movably supported in a vertical direction over a predetermined range.

The elastic biasing members 66, 66 are formed by leaf springs in the illustrated embodiment. One end of the elastic biasing members 66, 66 is screwed to the inner surface of the left end cover 28.
And the other end thereof abuts against the upper end corresponding to the long hole 621, 621 of the front separating support plate 62, respectively, and the front separating supporting plate 64 faces the paper feed roller 40 (downward in FIG. 4). ) Pressing. In the illustrated embodiment, an example is shown in which the elastic biasing members 66, 66 are disposed at positions corresponding to the long holes 621, 621 of the front separating support plate 62, respectively. One may be provided at a position corresponding to between the long holes. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, an example is shown in which a leaf spring is used as the elastic biasing members 66, 66, but a coil spring or another elastic member may be used as the elastic biasing member.

The front separating plate 64 is formed of an elastic sheet member. In the illustrated embodiment, the front separating plate 64 is formed of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin sheet member having a thickness of about 0.125 mm, and the upper end thereof is formed by a fixing member such as an adhesive or a double-sided adhesive tape. It is mounted on the separation support plate 62. At the lower end of the front separating plate 64, the paper feed roller 4
A plurality of convex separating portions 641 provided at positions corresponding to the respective 46 rollers of the 0 roller. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the pre-separation plate 64 is formed in a trapezoidal shape, and its tip is disposed so as to protrude inward from the outer peripheral surface 461 of the roller 46 of the paper feed roller 40. I have.

Continuing the description with reference to FIG. 2, a transport belt mechanism 70 is provided below the document placing means 18. The transport belt mechanism 70 includes a drive roller 71 and a driven roller 72 disposed at intervals in the transport direction (the horizontal direction in FIG. 2), an endless belt 73 wound around these, a drive roller 71 and a driven roller 72. And a plurality of pressing rollers 74 disposed between the pressing rollers 74. The lower running portion of the endless belt 73 extends along the transparent plate 8 of the electrostatic copying machine 2, and a document conveying path 75 is defined between the two.

The original conveying path 75 and the paper feed roller 40
A document carrying path 80 is formed between the two. This document carrying path 80 is defined by an inner guide plate 801 and an outer guide plate 802. A registration roller pair 82 is provided in the document carrying path 80. The registration roller pair 82 includes a driving roller 821 and a driven roller 822. The driving roller 8 of the registration roller pair 82
21 and the drive roller 71 of the conveyor belt mechanism 70
Is electrically connected to an electric motor (not shown) via an appropriate power transmission mechanism.

A document discharging means 90 is provided on the right side of the document conveying path 75 in FIG. The original discharging means 90
Includes a document discharge path 92, a pair of conveying rollers 94 disposed in the document discharge path 92, and a discharge roller pair 96 disposed at a discharge side end of the document discharge path 92. The transport roller pair 94 includes a drive roller 941 and a driven roller 942, and the discharge roller pair 96 also includes a drive roller 961 and a driven roller 962. Driving roller 941 of conveying roller pair 94 and driving roller 9 of discharging roller pair 96
61 is electrically connected to an electric motor (not shown) via an appropriate power transmission mechanism.

The automatic document feeder in the illustrated embodiment is configured as described above, and its operation and effect will be described below. In performing the copying operation, the operator first places the document P to be copied on the document table 22 and inserts the document P forward and inserts the front end of the document P into the forward feed roller 32.
On the upper side of. Then, when the copy start key is pressed by the operator, the solenoid (not shown) of the forward feed pressing mechanism 36 is urged, the pressing plate 364 is positioned at the operation position, and the document P inserted on the guide plate 32 is pressed. I do. The electric motor 35 is driven simultaneously with the pressing of the document P by the pressure plate 364, and the forward feed roller 34 and the paper feed roller 40 are driven to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. The rotation of the feed roller 34 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. The original is sent out by the frictional conveying force. At this time, the originals on the original layer are moved in the transport direction due to friction between each other, but a small number (1 to 3) of the originals are transported downstream by being regulated by the front separating means 60.

Next, the operation of the pre-separating means 60 will be described. A plurality of documents P sent out by the front feed roller 34 are regulated by the front separation plate 64 of the front separation means 60, and a small number (1 to 3 sheets) of the separation portion 641 having a convex shape and each of the paper feed rollers 40 are provided. The sheet passes through between the rollers 46 and is transported to the document separation mechanism 50 side. Since the front separating plate 64 is formed of an elastic sheet member,
When the document is separated, the document is elastically deformed in the transport direction, so that the document passage property is improved. At this time, if the original P has a high friction coefficient, a large number of originals may try to pass between the paper feed roller 40 and the front separating plate 64 at the same time. When a large number of documents are sandwiched between the paper feed roller 40 and the pre-separation plate 64 in this way, an excessive driving load acts on the paper feed roller 40, and the paper feed roller 40 stops and is conveyed. It may not be possible. However, in the illustrated embodiment, the front separation supporting plate 62 on which the front separation plate 64 is mounted is separated from the sheet feeding roller 40 against the pressing force of the elastic biasing members 66, 66 (upward in FIG. 3). ). Therefore, an excessive driving load does not act on the paper feeding roller 40, and it is possible to prevent the paper feeding roller 40 from stopping due to the excessive driving load and becoming unable to be transported.

As described above, the document whose number is controlled to a small number (1 to 3) by the action of the pre-separating means 60 is
When the document 2 passes through the separation roller 51 of the document separation mechanism 50, only the lowermost document is separated and conveyed to the document carrying path 80. Then, the front end of the document conveyed to the document carrying path 80 is brought into contact with the nip portion of the registration roller pair 82 in a non-operating state, and the primary sheet feeding is completed.

When the primary paper feeding is completed as described above,
The registration roller pair 82 and the transport belt mechanism 70 are operated to position the trailing edge of the primary fed document at the document setting reference position G on the transparent plate 8. Then, an exposure operation is performed. When the exposure operation is completed, the transport belt mechanism 7
The pair of transport rollers 94 and the pair of discharge rollers 96 of the document discharge means 90 and the discharge roller 96 are operated, and the document which has been exposed on the transparent plate 8 is passed through the document discharge path 92 to the document discharge tray
The document is discharged onto the original placing surface 201 of the “0” document.

[0024]

The automatic document feeder according to the present invention is constructed as described above, and has the following effects.

That is, the pre-separating means comprises a pre-separating plate, a pre-separating support plate mounted on the pre-separating plate and supported on the supporting substrate so as to be movable within a predetermined range in a direction facing the sheet feeding roller, Since the support plate is constituted by the elastic biasing member that presses the support plate toward the paper feed roller, a document of high quality with a high friction coefficient is sent, and a large number of documents are simultaneously passed between the paper feed roller and the front separation plate. If the sheet is to pass, the front separation support plate on which the front separation plate is mounted is moved in a direction away from the sheet feeding roller against the pressing force of the elastic biasing means. Therefore, an excessive driving load does not act on the sheet feeding roller, and it is possible to prevent the sheet feeding roller from being stopped due to the excessive driving load and becoming unable to be transported.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which a preferred embodiment of an automatic document feeder configured according to the present invention is mounted on an electrostatic copying machine.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the automatic document feeder shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an embodiment of a paper feed roller and a front separation plate provided in the automatic document feeder shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of a main part of the automatic document feeder shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front view of a front separation device provided in the automatic document feeder shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 2: electrostatic copying machine 4: automatic document feeder 6: housing of electrostatic copying machine 8: transparent plate 10: document regulating member 18: document placing means 20: document discharge tray 22: document table 30: forward feed means 32 : Guide plate 34: forward feed roller 35: electric motor 36: pressurizing mechanism 362: rotating shaft of pressurizing mechanism 364: pressurizing plate of pressurizing mechanism 38: support substrate 40: paper feed roller 42: rotation of paper feed roller Shaft 44: cylindrical portion of paper feed roller 46: roller portion of paper feed roller 50: document separation mechanism 51: separation roller 60: front separation means 62: support plate for front separation means 64: front separation plate 641: front separation plate Separating section 66: elastic biasing member 68: stepped bolt 69: screw 70: transport belt mechanism 71: drive roller of transport belt mechanism 72: driven roller of transport belt mechanism 73: endless belt of transport belt mechanism 4: pressing roller 75 of the conveyor belt mechanism: the document feed path 80: the document introduction passage 82: a pair of registration rollers 90: document discharge means 92: the document delivery passage 94: transport roller pair 96: discharge roller pair

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Takachi Fukumoto 1-2-2, Tamazo, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi Mita Corporation

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An original table on which an original is placed, a guide plate disposed downstream of the original table, and an outer peripheral portion disposed below the guide plate and formed through an opening formed in the guide plate. A forward feed roller for projecting the original by feeding a part of the lowermost original protruding upward and acting on the lower surface of the original placed on the original table;
A paper feed roller disposed downstream of the feed roller in the transport direction, a document separation mechanism disposed opposite the paper feed roller, and the paper feed roller upstream of the document separation mechanism in the transport direction. And a pre-separating means disposed opposite to the paper feed roller, the pre-separating means comprises: a front separating plate disposed in the axial direction of the sheet feed roller; and a front separating plate. A front separating support plate that is mounted and supported on the supporting substrate so as to be movable in a predetermined range in a direction facing the sheet feeding roller, and an elastic biasing member that presses the front separating support plate toward the sheet feeding roller. An automatic document feeder, comprising: 2. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1, wherein said pre-separation plate is formed of an elastic sheet member. 3. The paper feed roller includes a plurality of roller portions provided at predetermined intervals in an axial direction, and the front separating plate is positioned between the respective roller portions of the paper feed roller. 3. The automatic document feeder according to claim 2, further comprising a convex separating portion.