JPS62140946A - Sheet feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a sheet feeding device which can be installed on a sheet take in port and having a large capacity by providing an engaging means which relatively moves sheets and a feeding means vertically to engage the both. CONSTITUTION:When a large quantity housing part 9 is used, sheets are set on a hopper 19, and a roller 23 is rotated to lift up the hopper 19. Then, the hoper 19 is stopped in a condition that the sheets have slightly pushed up a feed out roller 15. When the feed out roller 15 is rotated according to a paper feed command, sheets are fed out and separated by means of a separating claw 38. The separated sheet is guided downward by a guide 33 and guided to a take-in roller 53 by a guide 37 and taken in. When sheets are taken in by a defined quantity, the hopper 19 is lifted up by a certain quantity, to make a sheet always in contact with the feed out roller 15.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] This invention relates to copying machines, laser printers, liquid crystal printers,
The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device that is attached to a sheet intake port provided in an image forming apparatus such as a printing machine.

[Technical background of the invention]

Generally, in an image forming device such as a copying machine, a paper feed cassette is attached to the sheet intake port to supply sheets of copy paper, tracing vapor, synthetic resin film, etc., but when making a large number of copies at one time. In this case, it is necessary to frequently replenish sheets during copying.

Therefore, a sheet feeding device that accommodates a large amount of sheets is attached to the sheet intake port for a normal paper feed cassette installed in a copying machine, or to a specially provided sheet intake port to reduce the number of times sheets are replenished. I'm here.

[Problems with background technology]

However, since such a sheet feeding device has a large capacity, the sheet storage section protrudes downward from the bottom of the copying machine. However, medium-sized copiers are mounted on a special mounting stand to make them easier to operate, so there is no problem in installing them, but small-sized copying machines do not require a mounting stand and can be mounted directly on a table or desk. It is often used on top of.

Therefore, the distance between the loading surface and the sheet intake port is short,
It is not possible to secure sufficient sheet storage space, and only a sheet feeding device whose capacity is not much different from that of the paper feeding cassette can be attached.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeding device with a large capacity that can be attached to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus without using a dedicated mounting table.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a sheet accommodating section on which sheets to be supplied to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus are placed, and a sheet receiving means provided at the sheet intake port from a position higher than the sheet intake unit. a feeding device that feeds out the sheets stored in the sheet storage section; a first guide that guides the sheets fed out by the feeding device downward; and a first guide that guides the sheets downwardly guided by the first guide. a second guide that guides the sheet to the sheet taking-in means;
The apparatus is provided with an engaging means for relatively moving the sheet and the feeding means in the vertical direction to engage them.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a sheet feeding device 1 is installed in a sheet intake port 3 of an image forming apparatus, for example, a copying machine 7.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the sheet feeding device 1 accommodates a large-capacity storage section 9 that accommodates a large amount of sheets, and a small-capacity paper feed center (sheet cassette) 11 that accommodates sheets of different sizes. The cassette accommodating section 13 that stores unused paper cassettes 11, the auxiliary accommodating section 2 that accommodates unused paper cassettes 11, the large capacity accommodating section 9, and the paper cassettes 11 set in the cassette accommodating section 13. A feeding means for feeding the sheet from a position higher than the sheet taking-in means, such as the taking-in roller 53, such as the sending-out roller 15.
17" and a mounting section 18 that is mounted on the sheet intake port 3.
It is equipped with

The large-capacity storage section 9 includes a hopper 19 that supports sheets.
, an engaging means for moving the hopper 19 up and down, such as a lifting device 21, is provided. The lifting device 21 includes a roller 23 rotated by a drive device, a belt 25 connecting the roller 23 and the hopper 19, and a roller 27 supporting the belt 25.

The paper feed cassette 1 set in the cassette accommodating section 13
Engagement means, such as a spring 6 and a biasing plate 8, are provided for pushing up the bottom plate 4 of 1 and engaging the sheet with the feed roller 17.

The delivery rollers 15, 17 are pivoted up and down by arms 29.31. delivery roller 15,
A guide 33.35 is provided in front of the sheet 17 to guide the sheet sent out by the delivery roller 15.17 downward.

The loading section 18 is provided with a curved guide 37 that takes the sheet guided downward by the guides 33, 35 and guides it to the take-in roller 53. Note that a separating claw 38 is provided at the upper end of the guide 37 to separate the sheet sent out by the feeding pressure roller 15 into one sheet.

On the other hand, the copying machine 7 has the following configuration.

First, the sheet feeding device 1 is connected to the sheet intake port 3.
The mounting portion 18 is inserted, and the sheet is taken in by a taking-in roller 53 provided inside. The captured sheet is then sent to the image forming section 5 by the registration rollers 55 and the conveyor belt 57.

The image forming section 5 is provided with a photosensitive drum 59. A charging device 61, an unnecessary charge eraser 63, a developing device 65, a transfer device 67, a separating charging device a69, a separating claw 71, and a drum cleaner 73 are arranged around the photosensitive drum 59.

A document cover 75 is attached to the document setting section so that its back surface can be opened and closed using hinges.

A platen 77 made of contact glass is provided below the document cover 75, and a slit illumination device 79 is provided below the platen 77 so as to be movable in the left-right direction along the platen 77.

In addition, two movable reflecting mirrors 81 and 83 and lenses 85 and 1
An exposure optical device equipped with two fixed reflection fis 87 and 89 transmits an optical image of the image of the document illuminated by the slit illumination device 79 to the photosensitive drum 59, and performs exposure.

The photosensitive drum 59 forms an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image of the document on its outer peripheral surface, and the developing device 65 converts this latent image into a visible image using toner.

The visible image formed on the photosensitive drum 59 in this way is
The paper is taken in by the take-in roller 53, the feeding timing is adjusted by the registration roller 55, and the paper is transferred to the photosensitive drum 59.
The image is transferred onto the sheet P sent between the printer and the transfer device 67.

The sheet onto which the visible image has been transferred in this way is discharged by the separation charging device 69 and by the separation claw 71 (8!). The photosensitive drum 59 is separated from the photosensitive drum 59 by mechanical separation and sent to a fixing device 93 by a conveying roller 91 .

The transfer sheet is ejected from the ejection port 97 with the visible image facing upward by the ejection roller 95, and is stored in the paper ejection tray 99.
It will be 1F.

In the above configuration, the paper feeding operation is performed as follows.

First, when feeding sheets using the paper feed cassette 11, the paper feed cassette 11 is attached to the cassette storage section 13, and the feed roller 17 sends out the sheets. This sheet is separated into one sheet by a separating claw and guided downward by a guide 35. Then, it is guided by the guide 37 and set between the take-in roller 53 and the tip of the guide 37. Then, when a sheet feeding command is issued, the sheet is taken in by the taking-in roller 53.

In addition, when using the large-capacity storage section 9,
A sheet is set on 9, and the roller 23 is rotated to raise the hopper 19. Then, the sheet stops with the feed roller 15 pushed up slightly. When the feed outlet 215 rotates in response to a paper feed command, the sheets are fed out and separated by the separation claws 38. This separated sheet is guided downward by a guide 33, then guided by a guide 37 to a take-in roller 53, and taken in by the take-in roller 53.6 Note that when a predetermined amount of sheets are taken in, one hopper rises by a certain amount. , the sheet is always in contact with the feed roller 15.

An image is copied onto the sheet taken in in this way by the image forming section 5, and the sheet is stored in the sheet discharge tray 99.

According to the above embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) The feed-out row 215 is provided at a higher position than the take-in roller 53 provided at the sheet take-in port 3, and the sheets stored in the large-capacity storage section 9 are sent out, so that the placement surface of the copying machine 7 and the sheet Even if the distance to the intake port 3 is short, sheets t can be accommodated up to a level rIl higher than the sheet intake port 3, and a sufficient sheet storage space can be secured.

(2) A guide 33 that guides the sheet fed out by the feed roller 15 downward, and a guide 37 that guides the sheet guided downward by this guide 33 to the take-in roller 53 are provided, so that the sheet does not reach the take-in roller 53. When the seat reaches 53, the seat becomes S-shaped, ensuring a predetermined head height and becoming compact.

Furthermore, since the sheet is curved when it is abutted against the take-in roller 53, the sheet tends to return straight. Therefore, the leading edge of the sheet can be renosted.

Furthermore, when the take-in roller 53 rotates, the deflection of the sheet disappears and the trailing edge of the sheet is pulled in after the sheet is sufficiently held in its mouth, so that the sheet will not be skewed even if the feed rollers 15 and 17 act as a load. hard.

(3) Since the sheet feeding device 1 is placed at the same height as the placing surface on which the copying machine 7 is placed, a special placing table is not required, and the sheet feeding device 1 can be placed on the copying machine 817. The sheet can be attached to the sheet intake port 3 by moving it on the same surface such as a table on which the sheet is placed.

(4) The cassette storage section 13 is provided with a large slope above the large capacity storage section 9, and the two delivery rows 215,
17 for feeding out sheets, different types of sheets can be supplied from one sheet intake port 3 despite the small size.

[Modified example]

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and for example, the following modifications are possible.

(1) A height adjustment means may be provided at the bottom of the sheet supply bag rIi1.

(2) In the above embodiment, the cassette storage section 13 was provided above the large capacity storage section 9, but the cassette storage section 13 was provided above the large capacity storage section 9.
A large capacity storage section may also be provided. In this case, the upper large-capacity storage section may feed out the sheets starting from the bottom sheet. [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the sheets are loaded into the sheet intake port of the image forming apparatus, In this sheet feeding device that supplies sheets to a sheet taking-in means provided at a sheet taking-in port, there is provided a sheet accommodating section on which sheets are placed, and a sheet accommodated in the sheet accommodating section from a higher position than the sheet taking-in means. a feeding means for sending out the
A first guide that guides the sheet sent out by the feeding means downward, and a second guide that guides the sheet guided downward by the ml guide to the sheet taking-in means.
and an engaging means for moving the sheet and the feeding means in a vertical direction relative to each other and engaging the sheet and the feeding means in accordance with the amount of decrease in the number of sheets stored in the sheet storage section. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a sheet feeding device with a large capacity that can be attached to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus without using a dedicated mounting table.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the structure of a sheet feeding device and a copying machine, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the sheet feeding device.

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a sheet feeding device that is attached to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus and supplies sheets to a sheet intake unit provided at the sheet intake port, the sheet storage unit on which the sheet is placed, and the sheet intake unit a feeding device that feeds out the sheets stored in the sheet storage section from a higher position; a first guide that guides the sheets fed out by the feeding device downward; and a first guide that guides the sheets downward by the first guide. a second guide that guides the guided sheet to the sheet taking-in means; and a second guide that moves the sheet and the feeding means relative to each other in a vertical direction according to a decrease in the number of sheets stored in the sheet storage section. A sheet feeding device comprising: an engaging means for engaging the two. (2) The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding device is placed at the same height as a placement surface on which the image forming device is placed. (3) In the sheet feeding device according to claim 1, the sheet storage section has a lower storage section and an upper storage section, and the feeding means is provided in each of the lower storage section and the upper storage section. A sheet feeding device characterized by: (4) In the sheet feeding device according to claim 3, the lower storage section is a large capacity storage section in which a hopper loaded with sheets moves up and down, and the upper storage section is equipped with a removable sheet cassette. A sheet feeding device characterized in that it has a small capacity storage section.