JPS60244723A - Sheet conveyor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To greatly reduce the whole size of a conveyor, by using a cut sheet as a recording medium, and providing a single conveying system for both the recording sheet and an original sheet. CONSTITUTION:After an original sheet 19a or a recording sheet 19b which is a cut sheet is set on a platen 20, a send-out roller 22 is moved down into contact with the sheet 19a or 19b to send such sheets one by one in a direction A to feed rollers 24, 25. When the front edge of the sheet 19a or 19b is detected by a sensor 26, the send-out roller 22 is moved up. The sheet 19a or 19b is then pinched between the feed rollers 24, 25 so that the sheet is conveyed at a prescribed speed to a reading position. At that time, if the sheet is the original sheet 19a, light is irradiated from a light source 27 upon the sheet 19a and the light reflected from the sheet is read by a light receiver 30 so that image information is transmitted. If the sheet is the recording sheet 19b, the heater of a thermal head 32 is caused to heat corresponding to the received image information to color the sheet 19b to perform recording thereon.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a conveying device, and more particularly to a sheet conveying device that has an improved sheet material guide section that guides a document sheet or a recording sheet.

[Prior Art] Sheet material conveyance devices are used in copying machines, facsimile machines, and the like. For example, FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a document conveyance system and a recording paper conveyance system in a conventional facsimile machine.

In FIG. 1, what is indicated by the symbol l is a manuscript, which is on the manuscript table 2J.
:, will be placed in.

When the document 1 is placed on the document table 2, the document 1 pushes down the sensor 3, and the placement of the document is detected and this is notified to the apparatus.

In this state, when a start button (not shown) is pressed, the original l is fed by the pickup roller 4 from the top toward the paper feed rollers 6 and 7, is sandwiched between them, is detected by the sensor 5 at the tip, and is positioned at the reading position. sent to.

The sent document l is irradiated by a light source 8, and the reflected light is read by a reading means 9 consisting of a solid-state image pickup device or the like using mirrors 8a and 8b.

When the leading edge of the document passes the reading position, the paper ejection roller 10.11
The paper is sandwiched between the two and discharged onto the tray 12.

On the other hand, the roll-shaped recording paper 13 placed inside the main body of the apparatus is detected by the sensor 14 and sent to the thermal head 15 side.

The recording paper 13 is subjected to appropriate pressing force by a platen roller 16 and a thermal press 1, which is an image forming means, and is then recorded.

Subsequently, the recording paper 13 is fed toward the cutter 17, cut at a predetermined position, and discharged onto the tray 18.

Devices having such document and recording paper conveyance systems are widely used.

Various improvements have been made to these devices to reduce their size and cost, but as long as roll paper is used as recording paper, there is a limit to how small the devices can be made.

In other words, if the winding diameter of the roll paper is made smaller in an attempt to downsize the entire device, the curl of the recording paper will become tighter and the recording paper will not be fed straight, making jams and other problems more likely to occur. It also becomes difficult to set the roll paper.

Therefore, as long as roll paper is used, there is a limit to the miniaturization of the device.

On the other hand, as devices become smaller, motors and their deceleration mechanisms that constitute the transport system for not only roll paper but also originals and recording paper,
Furthermore, the proportion of space occupied by the cutter device becomes extremely large.

That is, as long as the structure shown in FIG. 1 is employed, it is extremely difficult to significantly reduce the size.

[Purpose] The present invention has been made in order to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and by using cant sheets instead of roll paper and integrating the conveyance system for original sheets and recording sheets into one. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet material conveying device that can significantly reduce the overall size of the device.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

Figure 2 and the following diagrams explain one embodiment of the present invention, and the reference numeral 19a in each figure is a sheet-like original (original sheet).
What is indicated by 19b is a cut sheet of recording paper (recording sheet). Both documents are placed on the same document table 20-11.

A document (original sheet) or recording paper (
A sensor detects that a recording sheet (recording sheet) is set on the document table, and a pickup roller that feeds the document 19a or recording paper 19b to paper feed rollers 24 and 25 is arranged above the sensor.

Note that the pick-up roller 22 and the paper feed roller 24, .
A friction piece 23 is disposed between the document plate 25 and the document table 20 to prevent double feeding of the document 19a or the recording paper 19b. .

Of the paper feed rollers 2, 4, and 25, the roller designated by 24 is a roller that feeds a document or the like in steps at a predetermined speed, and 25 is a roller that is in pressure contact with this roller.

A paper feed roller 24.2 is located downstream of the paper feed roller 24.25.
A paper edge detection sensor 26 is disposed to detect the leading edge or trailing edge of the original document etc. sent by the paper feeder 5.

The sent document is illuminated by a light source 27, and the reflected document image is reflected by a mirror 28. The light is read by the light receiving element 30 through the condensing lens 29.

A platen roller 31 is arranged on the paper discharge port side of the apparatus. The platen reeler 31 is a roller that feeds the document at the same speed as the roller 24 and discharges the document. 8. A thermal head 32 is installed above the platen roller 31.
(recording means) are located and are in place.

The thermal heave F'32 is pressed against the platen roller 31 by a spring (not shown).

A tray 33 for receiving both original documents and recording paper is provided at the paper discharge port.

FIG. 3 shows details of the thermal head 32.

In FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B), the part indicated by the reference numeral 32a is a white background for reading, and the part indicated by the reference numeral 32b is a heating element consisting of a large number of heating resistors.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as above will be explained.

First, the case of document transmission will be explained.

When the transmission document 19a is set on the document table 201-, the leading edge of the document pushes down the sensor 21, so that the apparatus detects that the document is set.

At this time, if the document 19a is improperly set, the device cannot detect the document, so it is necessary to display the area where the document is to be set on the document table 20 with an index or the like.

When the send button (not shown) is pressed after the original has been correctly read, the pickup roller 22 is lowered by a driving means (not shown) so as to come into contact with the original 19a, and the pickup roller 22 is moved down to the direction of arrow A.
The document 19a starts to be fed in the direction shown in FIG.

The pink unroller 22 is mounted at a position slightly closer to the direction of arrow B than the sensor 21 so that all set originals can be fed.

In addition, since the pickup roller 22 constitutes an automatic paper feeding mechanism by utilizing the difference in the coefficient of friction between the pickup roller 22 and the friction piece 23,
Pickup roller 22, friction piece 23, and document 19a
There is the following relationship between the friction coefficients of (recording paper 19b).

Pickup roller 22, document 19a (recording paper 19b)
)> Original 19a (recording paper 19b) and friction piece 2
Friction coefficient of 3> Friction coefficient between originals 19a (recording paper 19b).

In this way, the pickup roller 22 utilizes the above-described difference in the coefficient of friction of the stacked documents to feed the stacked documents one by one toward the paper feed rollers 24 and 25, starting from the top.

The pick unroller 22 moves up when the leading edge of the original 19a is detected by the paper edge detection sensor 26, and when the next original still remains on the original table 20H, the trailing edge of the original is detected by the paper edge detection sensor 26. When detected, it falls onto the next document again and feeds the document in the direction of the arrow.

When the document is nipped by the paper feed rollers 24 and 25 and sent out at a predetermined speed, the leading edge of the document is kited by the thermal head 32 and conveyed to the reading position.

The original 19a that has been sent to the reading position is irradiated by the light source 27, the reflected light is read by the light receiving element 30, and the original 19a is discharged onto the tray 33''.

The above operation is repeated until all originals are sent out.

It goes without saying that the heating resistor of the thermal head 32 is not operated during transmission.

On the other hand, in the case of document reception, when the recording paper is stacked on the document table 20 and the receive button is pressed, the recording paper 19b is sent out in exactly the same way as in the case of document feeding, so the explanation will be omitted. Of course, at the time of reception, the reading optical system stops functioning, and the heating element 32b of the thermal head 32 generates heat based on the received image information to color the recording paper made of thermal paper and perform recording.

The recording paper on which recording has been completed is fed onto the tray 33.

As described above, the sheet material conveying device according to the present invention is configured to have a single conveying system for original sheets and recording sheets, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the device can be made more compact. A cost town can be realized.

Since there is only one conveyance system, even if a jam or the like occurs, there is no need to open two conveyance systems as in the conventional case, and the jam can be cleared by opening only one conveyance system.

In addition, since the table on which the transmission original and the recording paper are placed is common, the operation is simple and the number of parts can be reduced, making it possible to downsize the apparatus.

In addition, in conventional devices, the space to store recording paper, especially roll paper, was an obstacle to miniaturizing the device, but in the present invention, the document table is placed outside and can be used only when needed. By adopting a configuration that uses this, it has become possible to significantly reduce the size.

Furthermore, since the paper ejection roller and the platen roller are shared, the number of rollers can be reduced, the conveyance system can be shortened, and the apparatus can be made smaller.゛Also, the surface of the document does not come into contact with the heating element side of the heatherad,
Since it comes into contact with the platen roller side, no sliding friction occurs with the heating element, and even when writing in pencil, for example, there will be no inconvenience such as pencil dust scattering and staining the document.

Furthermore, as devices become faster, there is a desire for recording paper that can produce color even when the temperature of the heating element of the thermal head is relatively low. Color develops due to frictional force.

On the other hand, the friction piece 23 is required to stack a plurality of recording sheets and separate and feed them one by one. Therefore, if the recording surface is on the F side, there is a risk that the recording paper will be rubbed by the friction piece 23 and colored.

However, in the present invention, the recording surface is placed on the upper side, the thermal head is also placed on the upper side, and the recording surface is configured to only contact the pickup roller, so that no color develops.

Further, a guide plate 32c is provided on the lower surface of the thermal head 32 in order to suppress flapping of the paper.

As a result, there is no need to provide a completely separate guide plate as a paper guide, so the number of parts can be reduced and the installation space for the guide plate can be shortened.

In addition, if the document size is small or the document is transparent, if the back side of the document is recorded as not white, black may appear on both edges or the image information may be destroyed, and the amount of light may change due to changes in the light source over time. Image information cannot be read accurately.

Therefore, in the present invention, by providing the white background portion 32a with uniform whiteness, accurate reading of image information is made possible.

Although the above description has been made using a facsimile machine as an example, the present invention can be applied to general image forming apparatuses capable of reading and recording, and particularly to sheet material processing apparatuses in general, and the reading optical system may also include mirrors or lenses. Or CC
In addition to the image reading element such as D, a contact type sensor or other reading means may be used.

Furthermore, although the recording means has been described using a thermal head as an example, it is not limited to a thermal head, but an inkjet method, a wire dot method, or other methods may be adopted.

Furthermore, the recording medium is not limited to paper, and may be other sheet-like materials.

[Effects] As is clear from the explanation in section L below, according to the present invention, the structure in which the conveyance system for the original sheet and the recording sheet is shared is adopted, so that the driving source and other parts can be shared. 1
The number of parts can be significantly reduced, resulting in lower costs, smaller equipment, improved reliability, and easier maintenance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a conventional facsimile machine, and FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate an embodiment of the present invention.
The figure is a longitudinal side view, FIG. 3(A) is a rear view of the thermal head, and FIG. 3(B) is a side view of the thermal head. 19a...Original 19b...Recording paper 20...Original table 21.26...Sensor 22...Pickup roller 23...Friction piece 2jL, 25...Paper feed roller 27...Light source 30... Light receiving element 31... Platen roller 32... Thermal head 32a... White background portion 32b... Heat generating element 32c... Guide plate: 5゛v

Claims (1)

[Claims] A sheet material conveying device that uses a cut sheet as a recording medium, conveys the recording sheet in the same direction as the original sheet, and has a common conveyance system for the original sheet and the recording sheet.