JPS6169631A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply make a both-sided copy by discharging documents from the upper and lower trays among, three, that is, the upper, middle and lower document trays to be copied, reversing the documents to be stored in the middle tray, and discharging the documents in the middle tray to be copied. CONSTITUTION:When documents are placed and accumulated face downward on the lower tray 3c among three-stage trays 3, the document is automatically slided down from the tray 3c to reach a guide plate 7, and brought into contact with a separation roll 8 to be stopped. On pressing a copy button in such condition, with rotation of a belt 8a of the roller 8, the uppermost document is transported onto a document placing table 1a by a broad belt 6, and the surface of the document is copied. After completion of copying, the document is mixed to the right along the upper transport portion of the belt 6 and discharged to the middle tray 3b. After that, the document on the middle tray 3b is transported onto the placing table in the same manner, and after completion of copying the back of the document, the document is collected and accumulated in the upper tray 3a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder for double-sided documents in a copying machine.

[Conventional technology]

Most conventional automatic document feeders are intended for so-called single-sided originals in which the image to be copied is only on one side; however, when copying double-sided originals using such an automatic document feeder, In this case, it is necessary to perform an operation of once copying the front side of the document and ejecting it onto the paper ejection tray, then turning it over and placing it on the paper feed tray again.

Therefore, when copying double-sided originals, although the originals are automatically copied by the automatic feeder, the operator cannot leave the copying machine to flip and place the originals. The function of the automatic feeder is also not being utilized.

However, recently, proposals have been made for copying machines equipped with an automatic document feeder that can continuously copy both sides of a double-sided document.

For example, a proposal in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 55-12937 proposes that a copier be equipped with a number of redo trays corresponding to the number of originals, and after the front side of the originals have been copied, the originals are inverted and stored in the trays, and then the trays are moved. It is configured to copy the back side, and its structure is large and complicated, making it unsuitable for general office use, and it is also impossible to attach or modify it to conventional automatic document feeders. It is a structure.

In addition, while copying the front side of double-sided originals, a sensor detects whether there is an image on the back side, and when the presence of an image is detected, the original ejected to the output tray is automatically reversed and returned to the input tray. Copying machines have also been proposed that are configured to return to the image on the back side of the original and then copy the back side of the original. It requires a circuit to do this and is very expensive, so it cannot be said to be suitable for general office use.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The present invention aims to provide an automatic document feeder that has a compact structure and is inexpensive, avoiding the complicated structure, large size, and high price common to conventional automatic document feeders jN for double-sided originals. .

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention enables a document to be carried out from a document tray, turned over after copying the front side, and stored in a paper output tray.
For example, by moving the paper output tray to the position of the document tray, the document is conveyed to the document tray again and the back side of the document is copied in row 5. It has a tray, and the document is ejected from the lower or upper document tray to make a copy, the middle document tray Km is inverted and stored, the document is ejected from the middle tray to make a copy, and the document is ejected from the middle tray to make a copy. This is achieved by the automatic document feeding device of the copying machine, which is characterized by being able to make double-sided copies of documents stored in the lower document tray.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the automatic document feeder of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1 to 4.
As shown in the figure.

FIG. 1(4)(B) shows a first embodiment, in which an automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as the device) 2 includes an upper tray 3m, a middle tray 3b, and a lower tray on which documents are to be stacked. A three-stage tray 3 including a tray 3c is provided with an appropriate inclination angle so that it can move up and down against the guide rails 2m and 2b.

A rotatable plate 4 is attached to the tip of the middle tray 3b, and when the third tray 3 moves downward and occupies the position shown in FIG. The receiver is a structural trap in which the plate 4 rotates counterclockwise at a right angle to g and retreats.

On the other hand, a wide belt 6 is installed at the upper part of the document table 1 of the copying machine 1 and is conveyed by circulating in a clockwise direction by the rotation of a drive row 25. In between, various members are arranged for supplying the originals accumulated on the three-tiered tray 3 to the conveying surface of the wide belt 6, or vice versa, and discharging the originals from the conveying surface to the three-tiered tray 3.

In other words, the three-tiered tray 3 moves upwards to the point shown in Figure (4).
, the guide plate 7 is arranged at a position to receive the accumulated documents on the lower tray 3C, and the guide plate 7
The original supplied from the holder passes through a sorting roller 8 and a timing roller 9, and is fed one by one onto the original placing table 1a by the wide belt 6, and the original that has been copied is delivered to the original by the wide belt 6. ) 6, the paper is further circulated through the conveyor belt 10 and the guide plate 11, and then the paper is transferred to the discharge roller 1.
2 and then discharged to the middle tray 3bK.

The specific operation of the automatic document feeder according to the present invention will be explained below.

The three-stage tray 3 in the automatic document feeder 2 is shown in FIG.
), and double-sided originals to be copied are placed and stacked on the lower tray 3C with the front side facing downward.

The stacked originals automatically slide down from the lower tray 3C and reach the top of the guide plate 7, where the front end comes into contact with the marking roller 8 and stops.

When the copy button of the copying machine 1 is pressed in this state, the bell 8a of the sorting roller 8 starts to rotate clockwise, and the topmost document is conveyed in the direction of the timing roller 9.

In the case of the first document when copying is started, the timing roller 9 is already in a rotating state, so the document is sent to the left without stopping, and is transported by the wide belt 6 to the document placing table. It slides on 1a and is stopped when its front end abuts against stopper 1bK.

Note that since the rotation of the timing roller 9 is stopped during the copying operation of the preceding document, the subsequent document to be conveyed slips on the surface of the separation roller 8 (8a) and is temporarily moved. is placed in a waiting state.

When the copying of the front side of the document is completed, the stopper 1b is retracted and the wide belt 60 rotates again, and the document is turned upside down and moved rightward on the top surface of the wide belt 6, and then transferred to the conveyor belt as described above. 10, the paper is discharged onto the middle tray 3b by the paper discharge roller 12.

After the front side of each document on the lower tray 3C has been copied, it is automatically stacked on the middle tray 3b with the back side facing downward.

When all the originals on the lower tray 3C have been copied, the three-tier tray 3 is moved downward in response to information from an original detection member (not shown) and a signal from the control unit to change to the state shown in the figure (Bl). becomes.

In this state, the middle tray 3b corresponds to the guide plate 7, the upper tray 3a corresponds to the paper discharge roller 12, and the receiver of the middle tray 3b corresponds to the plate 4.
rotates to allow the accumulated documents to slide down onto the guide plate 7.

Therefore, when the copy function is activated by the subsequent action of the control unit, the original on the middle tray 3b is transferred to the lower tray 3C mentioned above.
After going through the same process as the original above, it is fed to the original placing table laK, and in this case, after the back side of the original is copied, it is turned over and placed on the upper tray 3a again with the front side facing down. To be collected and collected.

In this way, according to the automatic document feeder of the present invention, copying both the front and back sides of a double-sided document can be performed completely automatically by simply pressing the initial copy button, so that the operator can There is no need to be present at the copying machine, making double-sided copying possible in a so-called unattended state.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show the second, third and fourth embodiments according to the present invention.
The examples shown in Figure 2 are upper, middle,
The three-stage tray 13, which includes the lower trays 13a, 13b, and 13c, is attached to the shafts 14m, 15 on the device 2.
It is constructed so that it can swing up and down in parallel by means of slides 14 and 15 that rotate about a as a fulcrum.

In the figure (~, the link 14 has an upper limit <1f5+t
The link 15 also stops following this, and the lower tray 13e touches the guide plate 7, and the middle tray 13b
is placed at a position facing the paper ejection roller 12.

Therefore, similarly to the previous example, after the document on the lower tray 13e is carried out, copied, and ejected to the middle tray 13b, the link 14 is moved counterclockwise to the lower limit stop 16bK based on the information from the document detection member. When the middle tray 13b and the upper tray 13& are rotated until they come into contact with the guide plate 7 and the upper tray 13& are in positions corresponding to the paper ejecting rollers 12, respectively, the plate 4 of the middle tray 13b rotates counterclockwise. Rotate in the direction.

Thus, as in the previous example, the originals on the middle tray 13b are accumulated and collected on the upper tray 13& after the back side has been copied! However, the links 14 and 15 have the feature that they are extremely simple and can operate with high precision as a mechanism for raising and lowering the three-stage tray 13 while always maintaining a constant inclination.

In addition, in the example shown in Fig. 3, a three-stage tray n is attached to the main unit of the JJ72 so that it can rotate about the rotation center 17, and the front side of the document is copied in the same way as in the previous example at a position within the area. When the tray n is rotated counterclockwise to the position shown in Figure +8), the back side of the original is copied as in the previous example.

In this example, the inclination angle of the three-tier tray n varies, but by appropriately selecting the position of the rotation center 17, each position can be set at a position with good conditions for carrying out the original. , it is possible to make the structure very concise.

Furthermore, in the case shown in FIG. 4, a three-tiered tray is fixed on the main body of the apparatus 2, and between the sorting roller 8 and the third-tiered tray is a rotatable roller with a rotation center of 70 m as a fulcrum. A guide plate 110 is disposed between the conveyor belt 10 and the three-tiered tray, and is rotatable about a rotation center 110a and supports a paper discharge roller 120 at its end. are doing.

That is, when a document is detected on the lower tray 33a, the guide plates 70 and 110 are in the state shown in FIG. At the same time, the plate 4 of the receiver with the intermediate tray rotates counterclockwise, and the state shown in FIG.

In each of the embodiments described above, the original is transferred from the lower tray to the tray in the middle after copying the front side, and then from the tray in the middle to copying the back side. The configuration is configured to eject the paper to a higher tray after finishing and perform double-sided copying, but ′! r@Transfer direction of moving member and 3
If the moving direction of the stacked trays and the switching direction of the guide analysis are configured to operate in the opposite direction, the document feeding and ejecting trays described above can be exchanged, and the document can be transported from the upper tray to the lower tray and ejected. It is also possible to take the order.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention is to realize an automatic document feeder W that can automatically copy double-sided documents in rows 5 by attaching it to a conventional automatic document feeder in addition to a 3-tier tray, thereby allowing an unattended state. It has become possible to copy double-sided originals without making any changes to the copying machine.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 show four embodiments of the present invention, and (A) in each figure is a cross-sectional configuration diagram of a state in which the surface of a document is being copied in each embodiment of the present invention. Similarly, figure f
B) is a cross-sectional view of the main parts in a state where the back side of the original is being copied.

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) It has three integrated original trays, top, middle, and bottom. Originals are ejected from the lower or upper original tray to make copies, and after being inverted and stored in the middle original tray, the originals are stored in the middle original tray. Eject the original from the tray and make a copy,
An automatic document feeder for a copying machine, characterized in that it is capable of double-sided copying of documents by storing them in an upper or lower document tray. (2) The first aspect of the present invention is that by moving the upper, middle, and lower three document trays upward or downward, the document stored in the middle tray can be sent out to the document conveyance path.
Automatic document feeder as described in section. (3) By providing a guide plate that can switch the document conveyance path between the middle and lower trays and between the upper and middle trays of the three upper, middle, and lower document trays, the document stored in the lower or middle tray is conveyed. An automatic document feeder according to claim 1, which is capable of feeding a document to a path.