JPS6122647B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a paper feeding device employed in, for example, an electronic copying machine.

Normally, this type of paper feeding device consists of a paper feeding cassette that is attached to the main body of a copying machine, etc., and stores a large number of sheets of paper at once, and an ejector that contacts the paper in the paper feeding cassette and takes out the sheets one by one. It consists of a roller.

However, the conventional paper feed cassette a has the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. That is, inside the box-shaped cassette main body b, there is a bottom plate c that supports the ends of the sheets P in the removal direction, a trailing edge positioning plate d that regulates the rear end position of the sheets P, and a rear end positioning plate d that regulates the rear end position of the sheets P.
A movable side plate e is provided to regulate the position of the side end surface. The bottom plate c is pushed up by a pair of springs f, f and a pair of auxiliary springs g, so as to elastically press the uppermost sheet P against the take-out rollers h. Furthermore, one corner of the cassette main body b located at the end of the paper ejecting direction and on the paper regulating surface i side, and the end of the movable side plate e in the paper ejecting direction are each pressed against both corners of the end of the paper P in the ejecting direction to prevent multiple sheets from being taken out. The structure includes separation claws j and k.

Therefore, in the past, when changing the size of the paper P, the bottom plate c had to be replaced to match the size of the paper P, which caused the problem that the operation was extremely troublesome. are doing.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its object is to provide a paper feed device that has a relatively simple configuration and is capable of feeding paper of several sizes from a single paper feed cassette. This is what we are trying to provide.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 3 to 5. In the figure, 1 is a paper feed cassette that is attached to the main body of the copying machine (not shown) and can store a large number of sheets of paper P all at once, and 2... is a paper feed cassette that is attached to the topmost paper P in the paper feed cassette 1. This is a take-out roller that serves as a take-out means for taking out sheets one by one.

The paper feed cassette 1 has a cassette main body 3 whose width dimension is set to match the width of the maximum size paper P to be used. This cassette body 3 has paper P.
Separation claws 4, 4 are fixed to both corners in the take-out direction, and a paper take-out plate is provided on the upper end surface of the front wall portion 3a corresponding to between these separation claws 4, 4 to facilitate taking out the paper P. A notch 5 is formed.
Further, inside the cassette main body 3, there is a bottom plate 6 that supports the ends of the paper P in the ejection direction, a rear end positioning plate 7 that regulates the position of the rear end of the paper P, and a pair of plates that regulate the position of the side edges of the paper P. movable side plates 8, 8 are arranged. Further, movable separating claws 9, 9 movable in the left-right direction, that is, in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the paper P is taken out, are attached to the front wall portion 3a.

The bottom plate 6 is arranged at the front inside the cassette body 3 and across the entire width of the cassette body 3, and is configured to be movable in the vertical direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the bottom plate 6 is constantly pushed upward by coil springs 10, 10 as elastic push-up members, so that the supported paper P can come into contact with the separation claws 4, 9 with an appropriate pressure. It is structured as follows.

Further, the rear end positioning plate 7 is connected to the cassette main body 3.
It is movable back and forth using a slit 11 formed on the bottom surface as a guide, and can be fixed in a predetermined position via a set screw 12.

The movable side plates 8, 8 are movable in the left-right direction using a slit 13 formed in the front bottom of the cassette body 3 as a guide, so that the distance between the mutually facing surfaces can be set according to the size of the paper P. It is designed so that it can be fixed in a predetermined position via a set screw (not shown).

Further, on the upper surface of the support arm portion 8a extending to the lower surface side of the bottom plate 6 of the movable side plate 8, an upper end portion is made to protrude upward through a slit 15 formed in the bottom plate 6 and serving as a window for protruding a guide. A guide protrusion 16 is provided in a protruding manner.

Further, the support arm portion 8a has a spring receiving portion 17 which fits into the slit 13 formed on the bottom surface of the cassette body 3 and is formed of a recess.
A guide portion 8b forming a guide portion 8b is provided in series. The coil spring 1 is attached to the spring receiving portion 17.
A sliding spring receiver 19 has a lower end portion of the coil spring 10 fitted therein, and an upper end portion of the coil spring 10 is slidably guided by a guide plate 18 as an inclined guide portion integrally formed on the back surface of the bottom plate 6.
When the movable side plate 8 is moved, the coil spring 10 is moved together with the movable side plate 8.

Further, the guide surface 18a of the guide plate 18 is arranged such that the distance between the guide surface 18a and the bottom surface of the cassette body 3 increases as the coil springs 10 move inward so that the pushing force decreases as the coil springs 10 move inward. It is sloping. Further, the guide surface 19a of the spring receiver 19 that comes into sliding contact with the guide surface 18a of the guide plate 18 is inclined in the opposite direction to the guide surface 18a, and the upper end surface of the coil spring 10 is parallel to the lower surface of the bottom plate 6. There is no loss of quality.

Further, the separation claw 9 is attached to the front wall portion 3 of the cassette main body 3.
It is configured such that it can be fixed via set screws 21, 21 whose threaded portions are inserted into slit portions of a guide rail 20 attached to the outer surface of the guide rail 20a.

Next, the handling procedure and operation of the above embodiment will be explained. First, sheets P are stored with the inner surface of the front wall 3a of the cassette main body 3 as a reference. Next, move the trailing edge positioning plate 7 and the movable side plates 8, 8 to appropriate positions to restrict the movement of the paper P in the front, back, left, and right directions, and align the movable separating claws 9, 9 with the movable side plates 8, 8. Moving. Next, the uppermost sheet P is set so that both front corners are positioned below the separating claws 9, 9.

At this time, the bottom plate 6 supporting the front part of the paper P...
The paper P, which is elastically pushed up by the coil springs 10, 10, is held between the separating claws 9, 9.

Further, as the movable side plates 8, 8 move, the strength of the coil springs 10, 10 changes, so even if the size of the paper P... changes, the pushing force for pushing up the paper P... remains almost the same.

When the paper feed cassette 1 containing the paper P is installed in the main body of a copying machine in such a state, the take-out rollers 2 come into contact with the front upper surface of the paper feed cassette 1, as shown in FIG. As the take-out rollers 2 rotate, sheets of paper P are taken out one by one starting from the topmost sheet.

Although a coil spring is used as the elastic push-up member in the above embodiment, a leaf spring may also be used. In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

According to the present invention, although the configuration is relatively simple, when feeding paper of different sizes, there is no need for troublesome operations such as replacing the bottom plate according to the paper size as in the past. It is particularly useful if adopted in a copying machine or the like that can feed paper and frequently uses paper of multiple sizes. In addition, the force for pushing up the paper is almost uniform regardless of the size of the paper, and the effect is that one sheet can be taken out reliably.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the conventional device, Fig. 2 is a vertical side view, Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 4 is a partially cutaway view of the paper feed cassette of the same embodiment. FIG. 5 is a perspective view, and FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional front view. P...paper, 1...paper feed cassette, 2...take-out roller, 3...cassette body, 6...bottom plate, 8...movable side plate, 10...elastic push-up member (10 coil spring) (10' leaf spring), 17...receiving section , 18... Inclined guide portion (guide plate).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a paper feed cassette in which the sheets are taken out one by one by means of a take-out means, there is a cassette body that stores a large number of sheets of paper at once, and a means for taking out the sheets stored in the cassette body. a bottom plate supporting the direction end; a bottom plate disposed on the lower surface side of the bottom plate; pushing up the bottom plate so that the paper rolls into contact with the ejecting means;
and a pair of elastic push-up members whose fixed positions are variable, a pair of movable side plates that have receivers for receiving the lower ends of these elastic push-up members and are movable according to the size of paper, and a lower surface side of the bottom plate. 1. A paper feeding device comprising a paper feeding cassette having an inclined guide portion which is formed in a shape of a slanted guide portion and guides the elastic push-up member so that the pushing-up force decreases as the pushing-up member moves inward.