JPS60236948A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To repeatedly feed a document without reversing by disposing a pair of document trays opposite to both end portions of a document table, and switching one tray to feed-out side and the other tray to receive side. CONSTITUTION:The first and second document trays 100, 200 are disposed opposite to both end portions of a document table comprising a document glass 20 mounted on the upper surface of a copying machine and an endless feed belt 25 disposed on the upper surface of the document glass 20 in such a manner as to rotate forward and backward. The respective trays 100, 200 can be pivoted on pins 102, 202 to be switched to a horizontal state (feed-out position) and to an inclined state (receive position). Paper feed rollers 110, 210, document detection switches 104, 204 and document pressing rollers 103, 203 are mounted on the trays 100, 200, respectively. The paper feed rollers 110, 210 can be switched to a paper feed position and a retreat position. Furthermore, a pair of paper feed rollers 120, 220 and separation rollers 130, 230 are respectively disposed between the document table and the respective trays 100, 200.

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder having a function of automatically feeding a document onto a document table and ejecting the document in a copying machine or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic document feeding device shown in FIG. 1 has been provided for sequentially making multiple copies of a portion of a document.

That is, the document table glass (1) J: has an endless feeding bell) (
2) is provided so that it can be rotated in the direction of the arrow (,), and a document tray (4) is provided on one side of the document tray (4), and a document tray (4) is provided at both ends for reversing the document.
7) and (9) were installed.

In this device, the original is placed at the arrow (1) of the paper feed roller (5).
)) The sheets are fed out one by one from the bottom layer based on the rotation in the direction of The document is fed, is once positioned and stopped by a stopper (3), and after the exposure is completed, the stopper (3) retreats and is sent out from the document table glass (1) by the feed belt (2) which rotates again. After being reversed by a guide roller (8) and a guide plate (9), it is returned onto the Haraaki tray (4).

However, this automatic document feeder has the drawback that since the document is bent twice, there is a risk of damage to the document if the document gets jammed, and the document cannot be used in any other way.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic document feeder that feeds documents only in the horizontal direction, thereby eliminating the risk of damage to documents due to paper jams, and which is capable of feeding even thick paper. Our goal is to provide the following.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, an automatic document feeder according to the present invention includes a pair of document trays arranged opposite to each other at both ends of a document table, and each document tray is arranged at a sending position and a receiving position. It is equipped with a switching means, a paper feed roller that feeds the originals placed on each original tray one by one from the bottom layer, and an endless feeding belt that is in contact with the original platen 2 and can be driven in forward and reverse rotation, It is characterized in that a document fed from one document tray is fed to a predetermined position on the document table 2 by rotation of a feed belt, stopped for a predetermined time, and then discharged to the other document tray.

That is, in the present invention, a pair of document trays provided at both ends of the document table are used for both feeding and receiving, so that when one feeds out a document, the other receives it, and by repeating this alternately, a portion of the document can be Make multiple copies of a manuscript in sequence. With this, two of the drawbacks of the above-mentioned circulation method, the original
This eliminates frequent reversals and enables stable horizontal feeding even in the upper stage.

FIG. 2 and subsequent figures show one embodiment of the automatic document feeding apparatus according to the present invention. First, the general structure and operation will be explained with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

The document platen glass (20) is installed on the -1- plane of the copy (not shown), and below it a well-known optical system can scan in the left and right directions in the figure, and on the top surface there are support rollers (26),
An endless feeding bell wound around (28) (25) is installed in sliding contact with the document table glass (20) and is driven to rotate in forward and reverse directions.

The first document tray (100) and the second document tray (20)
0) are arranged facing both ends of the document glass (20), and are placed in a horizontal state (3- feed position) and in a tilted state with respect to the document glass (20) using the pins (102) and (202) as fulcrums. (The receiver is in the take position) and can be switched.

These document trays (100), (200) have paper feed rollers (110), (210), document detection switches (104), (204), and document holding roller (103), respectively.
), (203) are attached, and paper feed rollers (1, 10
) can be switched between a paper feeding position shown by a solid line in FIG. 2 and a retracted position shown by a solid line in FIG. 3. Another paper feed roller (210) is located at the paper feed position shown by the solid line in FIG.
It is possible to switch to the retracted position shown by the solid line in the figure.

On the other hand, feeding rollers (1, 2,
0), (220) and a pair of capstan rollers (150), (151), (
250), (251) are installed, and the separating roller (130), (230) is a feeding roller (120),
It is possible to switch between a position in contact with (220) and a retracted position to one side. Also, a stopper (21) and document detection sensors (22), (23) are installed, and the stopper (21)
) can be switched between a protruding position above the document platen glass (20), a downwardly retracted position, and 4-.

This device stores originals in one of the original trays (]00) or (20).
0) to the other document tray (200) or (1,00) via the document table glass (20), and then feeding in the opposite direction is repeated for a predetermined number of copies. Therefore, the feed bell (25) and various rollers can be driven to rotate in forward and reverse directions.

Mode A is for feeding the original from the original tray (+00), and Mode B is for feeding the original from the original tray (200).
Then, in the case of mode A, as shown in FIG. ) is the paper feed position, and the paper feed roller (2
10) is switched to the retracted position, and the sorting roller (230
) is switched to the retracted position. Also, feeding bell 1
(25) The various rollers are each driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow, and this rotation direction is defined as normal rotation.

In this mode A, the originals stacked on the original tray (100) are sent out one by one starting from the bottom layer by the forward rotation of the paper feed roller (110), and the originals are fed out one by one from the bottom layer to the feed roller (120).

Sorting roller (]+30 and capstan roller (15)
0).

At (151), it is transported to the left. Next, the feeding belt (
25), the original platen glass (20) is fed to the left, and when the tip touches the stopper (21) and is detected by the sensor (23), the feeding bell) (25) The rotation of the document is stopped, and the document is positioned and stopped by the stopper (21). Here, exposure is started, and when it is finished, the stopper (21) retracts downward and the feeding bell (25) resumes normal rotation, and the document is fed to the left and the capstan roller ( 250) and (251), the feeding roller (220) and the separating roller (2
30) are received by the document tray (200) and stacked. The above two operations are repeated 1) until the last sheet, and when the last sheet is sent out from the document tray (100), the switch (1, 04) is turned off and the mode is switched to mode A.
and move to mode B.

In mode B, as shown in Figure 3, the document tray (
200) is the feed position (horizontal state), the document tray (1
00) is switched to the receiving position (tilted state), the paper feed roller (210) is switched to the paper feed position, the paper feed roller (110) is switched to the retracted position, and the mackerel troller (130) is switched to the retracted position. and the stopper (21) is retracted downward. Also, feeding bell) (25).

Each of the various rollers is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow in a direction opposite to that in mode A, and this rotation direction is defined as a reverse direction.

In this mode B, the originals stacked on the original tray (200) are fed out one by one from the bottom layer by the reverse rotation of the paper feed roller (210), and the paper feed roller (220), separation roller (230) and cap Stan roller (250)
, (25]) to the right. Next, the document is fed to the right on the document table glass (20) by reversing the document feed bell (25), and after a while after the sensor (23) detects that the trailing edge has passed, the document feed bell ) (25) is switched to normal rotation, and the stopper (21) protrudes upward. Then, when the document is returned slightly to the left and its trailing edge contacts the stopper (21) and is detected by the sensor (23), the rotation of the feed bell (25) is stopped and the exposure is performed in the same manner as above. is started. When the exposure is completed, the 7-feeding bell (25) resumes its reverse rotation, and the document is fed to the right to the capstan rollers (150) and (151).
The documents are received by the document tray (100) between the feed rollers (1, 20) and the sorting roller (+30) and stacked. The above operations are repeated until the last sheet is placed, and the last sheet is placed in the document tray (200).
When it is sent out, the switch (204) is turned off, mode B ends, and the mode A shifts again.

The copying operation ends when modes A and B are repeated for a predetermined number of copies.

Next, the configuration of this device will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The paper feed rollers (110) and (21,0) are attached to their supporting shafts (1
11), levers (112) at both ends of (211),
It is rotatably supported by levers (11, 3), (212), and (213), and levers (1, 12), (+13), and (
212), (213) are feeding rollers (120), (
220) is rotatably supported at both ends of the support shafts (121) and (221,).

The support shafts (121) and (221) are rotatably mounted on the frame of the main body of the copying machine. In addition, the frame of the copying machine has rotary remade (115) and (21)
5) B- is installed, and its drive pin (+16) is connected to the lever (+1
2), is connected to (212).

The sanding rollers (130) and (230) are attached to the spindle (1,
31>, (23I), and the supporting shaft (13]L (
The cam floor (132) attached to both ends of the (23])
133) and (232), (233) or the lever (
+12), (113) and (2]2), (2]3)
cam surfaces (112a), (113a), (212a)
, by touching (213a) from -1 side.''
1. The lower position is restricted. In addition, the document tray (10
0), pins (105) protruding from both sides of (200)
), (205) has the lever (112), (1]
3), and the sides of (212) and (213) can come into contact with each other.

That is, levers (112), (113) and (2]2)
, (2]3) is a rotarylinoid (115), (
Drive pin ([6), (
216) rotates around the supporting shaft (12]) and (221). When functioning as a feeder, as explained in Fig. 4, the rotary lever (115) is turned on, the levers (112) and (113) are held horizontally, and the The document tray (100) itself is raised to the feed position (horizontal state) using the pin (+02) as a fulcrum, and the paper feed roller (110) is raised to the notch (10) of the document tray (100).
From 1), it comes into contact with a document (not shown). In addition, the cam floors (132), (133) are the cam surfaces (112a), (
113a), and the mackerel troller (130)
moves downward and comes into contact with the feeding roller (120). The same applies when another rotary solenoid (215) is turned on.

On the other hand, when the receiver functions as a receiving side, as explained in FIG.
The levers (212) and (213) rotate in a substantially vertical direction, and the document tray (200) itself rotates to the receiving position (tilted state) using the pin (202) as a fulcrum.
The rotational position of 200) is regulated by a stopper (not shown)], and the paper feed roller (2]0) retracts downward. In addition, the cam floors (232) and (233) are connected to the cam surface (212a).
), (213a), and the handling roller (2
30) is driven away from the feed roller (220).

On the other hand, the paper feed motor (140), (2
40) and a belt drive motor (153) are installed.

The paper feed motors (1, 40), (240) connect their output shafts to the support shafts (12) of the feed rollers (+20), (220).
1), (221), and its rotational driving force is applied not only to the feed rollers (120), (220) but also to the pulleys (12]) and (22]) fixed to the spindles (12]) and (22]).
bell 1. (142
) by stretching the paper feed roller (+10), (2
10), and the supporting shafts (+21), (221
) and the pulleys (143) and (243) fixed to the spindle (1
3]), a pulley (144) fixed to (23]),
(244) and bell l-(145), (245) are stretched, and the signal is also transmitted to the sorting roller (+30). Note that the belts (+42>, (242)) are made of an expandable and contractible member in order to be concentric with the switching of the positions of the paper feed rollers (+10), (210).

The belt drive motor (153) is connected to the capstan roller (1
It is connected to one end of the support shaft (152) of the support shaft (150), and its rotational driving force is applied not only to the capstan roller (150) but also to the pulley (+54) fixed to the support shaft (152) and the feed bell) (25 ) is also transmitted to the feed belt via the support roller (26) by stretching the bell) (156) between the pulley (+55) fixed to the spindle (27) of the support roller (26) of the be done. In addition, in the document tray (200), a bell is attached to a pulley (256) fixed to the spindle (29) of the support roller (28) and a pulley (254) fixed to the spindle (252) of the capstan roller (250). (257), the rotational driving force of the belt drive motor (153) is also transmitted to the capstan roller (250). In addition, the lower capstan roller (151), (251,
) rotates in contact with the upper rollers (150) and (250).

FIG. 6 shows the control device of this device. In the drawing section,
Commands from the operator, such as the number of copies and the print command, are input, and the main body of the copying machine is controlled under operating conditions determined by a microcomputer (c p u ) based on the input conditions from the operation section.

The sensors (22), (23) and the switch (104)
, (204) are input to the microcomputer (CPU) via the interface circuit, and are input to the motor (140).
), (240).

(153), rotorinoid (115), (21
5) On/off control of the drive lever/id of the stopper (21).

Here, the processing procedure of this device is shown in FIG. This will be explained in detail with reference to a flowchart.

When you start, first press the switch (1
, 04) is on or off. This is the document tray (
100), and if it is on, it is confirmed that the document is a document, and the apparatus is set to mode A in step (S2). If off, step (
In step S23a), turn off the rotary lenoid (115) and release the document tray (]+00 from the feeding state.
In step (S24), it is determined whether the switch (204) is on or off. This is to fix whether or not a document is loaded in the document tray (200). If it is on, the document is confirmed and the device is switched to mode B in step (S25).
Set to . If it is off, in step (S231)), the rotary release (215) is temporarily turned off to release the document tray (200) from the feeding state, and then in step (S231))
Return to l).

When Il+ is set to on in the step (Sl) and mode A is set in the step (S2), the process waits for input of a print signal in the step (S3), and then waits for input of a print signal in the step (S4).
) to turn on the rotary solenoid (+15). The print signal is generated when the operator turns on the print key, but it is automatically generated for the second and subsequent copies.

At the same time, the feed motor (140) is turned on in normal rotation in step (S5), and the belt drive motor ('153) is turned on in normal rotation in step (S6), so that each roller and the feed belt (25) are turned on in normal rotation. Start rolling. Also, step (S7
) After the stopper (21) is turned on, step (S8)
Wait for the sensor (22) to turn on. The sensor (22) is turned on when the leading edge of the document reaches, and at the same time, step (S9)
Turn off the paper feed motor (140). Here, the document is fed to the left in FIG. 2 on the document table glass (20) by normal rotation of the feed bell (25), and waits for the sensor (23) to turn on at step (Sho). The sensor (23) detects when the leading edge of the document reaches the stopper (21), and when the sensor (23) is turned on, the belt drive motor (1) is activated in step (S11).
53) is turned off. At this time, place the original on the platen glass (2
0) and is positioned and stopped by a stopper (21).

Next, in step (Sl, 2), an exposure start signal is issued, and an optical system (not shown) scans directly below the document platen glass (20) to project and expose an image onto the surface of a photoreceptor (not shown). When the exposure end signal is issued in step (Sl3),
Step (S14) turns off the stopper (21), and step (Sl5) turns off the belt drive motor (15).
3) is turned on again for normal rotation, and in step (316) the paper feed motor (240) is turned on for normal rotation. After that, step (S1
In step 7), it is confirmed that the sensor (23) is on, and in step (Sl8), it is waited for the sensor (23) to be off. The sensor (23) is turned off when the trailing edge of the document passes, and at the same time as the sensor (23) is turned off, the timer (A) is turned on in step (S+9).

The timer (A) is used to drive until the document is reliably ejected to the document tray (200),
When it is confirmed in step 20) that the timer (A) is off, the belt drive motor (S53) is turned off in step (S2]), and the paper feed motor (240) is turned off in step (S22).

Thereafter, the process returns to step (Sl) and the same process as described above is repeated. All originals in original tray (]+00 are sent to I
), the switch (+04) is turned off, and after turning off the rotary linenoid (+1) in step (S23a), the switch (204) is turned on in step (S24).

Determine off. The switch (204) is determined to be on since the document has been received in the previous mode A operation, and is set to mode B in step (S25).

Next, in step (S26), the input of the print signal is waited, and in step (S27), the rotary solenoid (21,
5), and in step (328) turn on the paper feed motor (24).
0) is turned on in the reverse direction, and at the same time, in step (S29), the belt drive motor (153) is turned on in the reverse direction.

As a result, each roller and the feed bell (25) start rotating in reverse.

Next, in step (S30), the process waits for the sensor (23) to turn on, and when it turns on, the paper feed motor (240) is turned off in step (S31). Immediately, the sensor (23) is turned on when the leading edge of the original (rear end in mode A) is reached, and then the original is moved to the original platen glass (25) by reversing the feeding bell (25).
20) The upper part is fed to the right in FIG.
) to wait for the sensor (23) to turn off. The sensor (23) is turned off when the trailing edge of the document (the leading edge in mode 8) passes, and at the same time, the timer (B) is turned on in step (S33).
− Do. The timer (B) is used to slightly feed the trailing edge of the original onto the document table glass (20) in mode B. When it is confirmed in step (S34) that the timer (B) is off, the timer (B) is set in step (S35). While turning on the stopper (21), the belt drive motor (15) is turned on in step (336).
3) is switched to forward rotation. That is, the document is fed to the left, the sensor (23) is turned on in step (S37), and the belt drive motor (153) is turned on in step (S38).
) off. At this time, the document is positioned and stopped by the stopper (21) on the document table glass (20) J2 as in the mode A described above.

When the exposure start signal is issued in step (S39),
'The optical system scans and projects the image onto the photoreceptor surface.
Exposure is performed. When the exposure end signal is issued in step (S40), the belt drive motor (153) is turned on in the reverse direction again in step (S4]), and the paper feed motor (140) is turned on in the reverse direction in step (S42). In step S43), the stopper (21) is turned off. Thereafter, in step (S44.) it is confirmed that the sensor (22) is on, and in step (S45) it is waited for the sensor (22) to be off. The sensor (22) is turned off when the trailing edge of the document passes, and at the same time as the sensor (22) is turned off, the timer (C
) on. Like the timer (A), the timer (C) is used to drive until the document is reliably ejected to the document tray (100), and in step (S47) it is confirmed that the timer (C) is off. Then, in step (S48), the belt drive motor (153) is turned off, and in step (S4), the belt drive motor (153) is turned off.
9) Turn off the paper feed motor (+40).

Thereafter, the process returns to step (S24) and repeats the same process as described above. When all the originals on the original tray (200) are sent out, the switch (204) is turned off, and the rotary solenoid (215) is turned on in step (S231]). If the number of copies is 2, the operation ends, but if it is greater than 2, the mode A continues.

That is, in the present invention, a document is fed from one document tray ( ) 00 to the other document tray (200) or vice versa, and a necessary number of copies of a portion of the document are continuously copied.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be variously modified within the scope of the invention. especially,
Various configurations can be considered for the document trays (+00), (200) and their rollers.

As is clear from the explanation in ``Effects of the Invention'', the present invention is such that one of the moon manuscripts arranged opposite to each other at both ends of the manuscript table is switched from one side to the sending side to the other side to the receiving side. Therefore, it is possible to make multiple copies of some manuscripts one after another.
The feeding path is horizontal, and there is no need to turn the document over as in the conventional case, and it is possible to feed the document satisfactorily even at t5, which may cause damage to the document if it gets jammed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a conventional automatic document feeder. Figure 2 and subsequent figures show an embodiment of the automatic document feeder according to the present invention, Figures 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams of its operation, and Figures 4 and 5 are perspective views of the document feeder and its surroundings. 6 is a block diagram of the control device, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart 1 showing the processing procedure. (20)...Original table glass, (21)...Matasoba,
(22). 19- (23)...Sensor, (25)...Document feed belt, (100), (200)...Document tray, (1,
04>, (204)...detection switch, (110)
, (210)...Paper feed roller, (115), (2
15)...Rotary repair, (120), (2
20)... Feeding roller, (130), (230)
... Separating roller, (140), (240) ... Feeding motor, (150), (+51), (250),
(251)...capstan roller, (154),
(253)...Belt drive motor. Patent Applicant Minolta Camera Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Aobai Fu and 2 others 20 - Continued from page 1 [Stocks] Int, C1,' Identification code Office reference number 15
104 119 6691-2H AQζ-

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A pair of original trays arranged opposite to each other at both ends of the original platen, means for switching each original tray between a sending position and a receiving position, and a means for switching the originals placed on each original tray. It is equipped with a paper feed roller that feeds sheets one by one from the bottom layer, and an endless feed belt that is in contact with the document table and can be driven in forward and reverse rotation. An automatic document feeder characterized in that the document is fed to a predetermined position on a document tray by rotation, the document is stopped for a predetermined time, and the document is ejected to the other document tray.