JPS62140947A - Sheet feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stably remove static electricity on a loading part by providing a grounding means for grounding said loading part to the outer surface of a frame via a supporting part. CONSTITUTION:When documents are set on a reference position on a platen 77, a sheet take in command is issued from a copying machine 3, a take in roller 47 is rotated, and the sheets are taken in into the copying machine 3. When the sheets are taken in by a defined quantity, a hopper 29 is lifted up by a certain quantity, to make a sheet always in contact with a feed roller. When the hopper 29 is moved vertically, an electricity removing brush 145 slides being in contact with a metal plate 141. Thereby, in whichever position the hopper 29 may stay, a static electricity which is charged in the hopper 29 always flows to the metal plate 141 via a supporting member 26, an arm 143, and the electricity removing brush 145, and spread in a metal frame 32 and removed.

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 a large number of copies are made at one time. In some cases, sheets must be replenished frequently during copying.

Therefore, a sheet feeding device containing a large amount of sheets is attached to the sheet intake port for installing a normal paper feed cassette installed in a copying machine, or to a specially provided sheet intake port, and the number of times sheets are replenished is increased. It is extinct.

Such a sheet supply device includes a stacking section that stacks sheets, and a lifting device that raises the stacking section according to the amount of sheet reduction.

[Problems with background technology]

In such a sheet feeding device, each time the sheets are fed out, the sheets rub against each other and static electricity is generated. Therefore, when this static electricity is accumulated and discharged, the microcomputer in the control section may malfunction or be damaged due to the noise.

Therefore, the frame is grounded to eliminate static electricity. However, since the loading section moves up and down with respect to the frame, it is difficult to apply electricity, and the static electricity in the loading section cannot be removed reliably.

[Purpose of the invention]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeding device that can stably remove static electricity from a stacking section.

[Summary of the invention]

In this invention, in order to establish electrical continuity between the vertically moving loading section and the frame, the supporting section of the loading section, which is most stable against vibrations and external forces of the loading section, and the frame are connected by grounding means, and the frame is Paper dust generated when sheets are fed out tends to accumulate inside the frame, making it difficult to establish electrical continuity, so consideration was given to grounding the loading section to the outer surface of the frame. That is, the present invention provides a sheet supply device that is attached to a sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus and supplies sheets to a sheet intake means provided at the sheet intake port, which includes a stacking section for stacking sheets, and a stacking section attached to the stacking section. a support part that is
A frame for vertically movably supporting this supporting section, a lifting device for vertically moving the loading section along the frame, and a grounding means for grounding the loading section to the outer surface of the frame via the supporting section are provided. It is designed to easily remove static electricity from the parts.

[Embodiments of the invention]

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

As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine 3 is placed on a mounting table 1, and a copy 8!3 is used to copy a sheet fed from a sheet feeding device 5 attached to this copying machine 3. It looks like this.

The mounting table 1 includes a large-capacity accommodating section 11 for accommodating the sheet feeding device 5, which is provided with an open lower portion 9 at the top of the side riser;
It has a multi-tiered cassette storage section 15 that stores a plurality of small-capacity paper feed cassettes 13 that store sheets of different sizes.

The sheet feeding device 5 is shown in FIGS. 2 and ! As shown in FIG.
A feeding section 19 leading to the feed section 19, a support gamma side 21 having four parts 20 provided on both sides of the feeding section 19, a bin 23 provided at the center of both sides of the sheet storage section 17, and a sheet storage section 17. The attachment part 25 is provided on the abdomen of the seat storage part 17, and the back cover 27 is rotatably attached to the back part of the seat storage part 17 via a hinge.

Note that the pin 23 is provided in consideration of the center of gravity position of the sheet feeding device 5 at a position where the center of gravity does not fluctuate even if the size of the sheets to be accommodated changes.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the sheet storage section 17 includes a loading section, for example, a hopper 29, which supports the sheet by abutting the tip against the tip regulating plate 28, and this hopper 29 is provided on metal frames (chassis) 32 on both sides. Lifting devices 3 and 1 are provided that move up and down along the guide 30. The lifting device 31 includes a roller 35 rotated by a motor 33, a belt 37 connecting the roller 35 to a hopper 29, and a row 239 supporting the belt 37. Note that electric parts such as the lifting device 31 are electrically connected to the copying machine 3 through a connector.

The hopper 29 is provided with a pair of support parts, for example, support rollers 36 and 38 attached to the support member 26, on the rear left and right sides of the center of gravity in the sheet take-in direction when sheets are loaded, and the hopper 29 is tilted forward. It is supported by the id 30. Note that the hopper 29 and the support member 26 are electrically connected.

On the outside of the metal frame 32 on one side,! As shown in Figure 4, a nickel-plated metal plate 141 is attached along the id 30.

Further, a metal contactor such as a static elimination brush 145 that slides into contact with the metal plate 141 is attached to the support member 26 via a metal arm 143.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 3, a feeding means 101 is provided at the top of the sheet storage section 17 to feed out the sheets stacked in the hopper 29 one by one.

This feeding means 101 includes a feeding roller 103, a sprocket 105, a limp chain 107, and a sprocket 10.
9, gears 111, 113, pulley 115, belt 117
, pulley 119, motor 121, etc., and motor 1.
The feeding roller 103 feeds out the sheet by rotation of 21.

Note that the feeding roller 103 is a one-way roller that rotates in one direction.

The feeding section 19 includes a separating claw 122 that separates the sheet sent out by the feeding roller 103 into one sheet, an id 123 that guides the separated sheet, and a suppressing plate 127 (pressing means) that rotates around a transport 125. ), a twist/id 129 for rotating this pressing plate 127 is provided.

The first feeding section 19 is provided with a sheet detection sensor S including a light emitting element and a light receiving element in the sheet setting section.

On the other hand, at the bottom of the copying machine 3, there is a mounting table 1 as shown in Figure MS2.
A sheet intake port 41 is provided opposite the large-capacity storage section 11 . The sheet intake port 41 is open at the bottom and at the insertion side of the sheet feeding device 5.

Further, on the inner surface of the sheet intake port 41, a pin 43 that engages with the support side 21 of the sheet feeding device 5 and a notch 45 that engages with the pin 23 are provided.

Therefore, the sheet feeding device 5 is attached to the sheet intake port 41 as follows.

After confirming that the copying machine 3 is placed in the correct position on the mounting table 1, the sheet supply device 5 is inserted into the large-capacity storage section 11 and the sheet intake port 41.

At that time, the pins 23 provided on both sides of the lifting bag ji31,
It is inserted into a notch 45 provided inside the copying machine 3, and the weight of the sheet feeding device 5 is supported by the notch 45. At this time, the support id 21 provided on both sides of the lifting device 31
A pin 43 provided deep inside the sheet intake port 41 is engaged with the recess 20 of the sheet feeder 5, and the sheet feeding device 5 supported by the notch 45 is prevented from rotating around the pin 23 by the support id 21. Ru.

In the sheet intake port 41, as shown in FIG. 1, a sheet intake means, for example, a intake row 247, which is engaged with the pressing plate 127 of the sheet supply device 5 is provided.

In addition, a support plate 49 such as a steel plate bent in an L-shape is provided at the bottom of the copy 8!3, and the sheet feeding device 5 is fixed to the four support plates with screws through the mounting portion 25. There is.

Furthermore, the copy 8!13 is provided with an intake port 51 into which the paper feed cassette 13 is attached. Note that a take-in roller 53 is provided within this take-in port 51 .

At the tip of the take-in rollers 47 and 53, there is a registration roller 5.
5 and a conveyor belt 57 are provided to supply the sheet to an image forming section 58.

The image forming section 58 is provided with a photosensitive drum 59. Around this photosensitive drum 59, a charging device 61, an unnecessary charge eraser 63, a developing device 65, a transfer device 67, a separating charging device 69, a separating claw 71, and a drum cleaner 7 are provided.
3 is placed.

An automatic document feeder 75 is attached to the document setting section so that its rear surface can be opened and closed by a hinge.

A platen 77 made of plain glass is provided below the automatic document feeder 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.

Further, an exposure optical device including two movable reflecting mirrors 81.83, a lens 85, and two fixed reflecting mirrors 87.89 sends an optical image of the original image illuminated by the slit illumination device 79 onto the photosensitive drum 59. It is designed to transmit information and perform 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 image is taken in by the take-in roller 51 or 53, the feeding timing is adjusted by the registration roller 55, and is transferred onto the sheet P sent between the photosensitive drum 59 and the transfer device 67.

The sheet onto which the visible image has been transferred in this way is separated from the photosensitive drum 59 by the discharge action of the separation device 69 and the mechanical reduction action of the separation claw 71, and is sent to the fixing device 93 by the conveyance roller 91. It will be done.

The transfer sheet is discharged from a discharge port 97 with the visible image facing upward by a discharge roller 95, and is stored in a sheet storage device 99.

The sheet storage device 99 reverses the front and back of the sheets supplied from the copy +9i3 and stores the sheets in pages, and as shown in FIG. 151, a switchback path 153 that conveys the sheet in the opposite direction to the input direction; a reversal path 155 that turns the sheet upside down and reverses it;
It includes a sheet discharge sensor S2 that detects sheet discharge, sheet discharge ports 157 and 159 that discharge sheets, and a storage tray 161 that stacks discharged sheets.

The conveyance path switching device 151 includes fjIJl rotating in the feeding direction that are in pressure contact with each other, second rotating bodies such as conveyance rollers 163 and 165, and these conveyance rollers 2163 and 16.
A conveying roller 165 is placed above the sheet sent out by 5.
A third rotary body, for example, a conveyance roller 167, which is provided in pressure contact with and rotates in a direction opposite to the sheet feeding direction; , 165, the rear end of the sheet in the feeding direction is connected to the conveying roller 163°16.
5, for example, a relay roller 169
, an elastic material 171 such as a synthetic resin sheet that presses the sheet against this intermediate roller 169 , and conveyance rollers 163 , 1
The deflecting means 173 presses the rear end of the sheet sent out by the sheet 65 in the feeding direction against the conveying roller 167.

Although the driving force of the relay roller 169 is obtained from the drive motor via a transmission mechanism, an auxiliary roller that is in contact with both the conveyance roller 163 and the intermediate roller 169 is provided, and the rotational force of the auxiliary roller driven by the conveyance roller 163 is transmitted. may be transmitted to the relay roller 169.

The deflection means 173 is configured to move the deflector 173 after a predetermined time T1 after the entrance sensor S1 detects the rear end of the sheath P (a time after the rear end of the sheath P passes the relay roller 169 after the rear end of the sheath P is detected by the entrance sensor S1). The shift lever 179 is provided with an excited lever/id 175 and a shift lever 179 which is rotated around the pongee 177 by the solenoid 175.

The rows 2157, 165, and 169 are driven by a drive motor (not shown) (rotates when the entrance sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the sheet, and stops when the discharge sensor S2 detects the trailing edge of the sheet).

The automatic document feeder 75 includes a document tray 201 on which a document is set as shown in FIG.
3. The original sent out from this separation feeding section 203 is conveyed onto the platen 77 and set at the reference/position value,
After the copying is completed, the conveyance section 205 sends out from above the platen 77.
, a discharge section 207 that reverses and discharges the original sent from the conveyance section, and a storage tray 209 that stores the sheet discharged from the discharge section 207.

With the above configuration, this device operates as follows.

First, the back cover 27 of the sheet feeding device 5 is opened, and a sheet is set on the hopper 29. Since the hopper 29 is inclined, the leading end of the sheet abuts against the leading end regulating plate 28. Furthermore, since the support position of the hopper 29 is located at the rear of the center of gravity, the hopper 29 is tilted further forward due to the weight of the sheet. For this reason, the sheet is placed in the hopper 29.
It will not shift backwards.

In this state, when the back cover 27 is closed, the motor 33 is automatically driven to rotate the roller 35 and raise the hopper 29. When the sheet pushes up the feeding roller 103 and a sensor (not shown) turns on, the feeding roller 103 stops. Then, the motor 121 is driven and the feeding roller 103 is rotated. Therefore, the sheet is sent out, separated into one sheet by the separation claw 122, and sent to the set position. When the leading edge of the sheet is detected by the sensor S, the motor 121 is stopped, the rotation of the feeding roller 103 is stopped, the solenoid 129 is energized, the pressing plate 127 is rotated, and the sheet is taken in by the roller 47. is pressed against.

On the other hand, when a document is set on the document tray 201 of the automatic document feeder 75 and a copy button (not shown) is pressed, the document is separated into one sheet by the separation and feeding section 203 and sent out, and the document is sent to the platen 77 by the conveyance section 205. It is set to the upper reference position. Note that when copying is completed, the original is ejected to the storage tray 209 via the ejection unit 207, and the next original is supplied from the separation/feed separation 203.

When the original is set at the reference position on the platen 77, a sheet take-in command is issued from the copy fi3, the take-in row 247 rotates, and the sheet is taken into the copy 8!13. When the trailing edge of the sheet is detected by the sensor S, the solenoid 129 is de-energized, the press plate 127 moves away from the take-in roller 47, the motor 121 rotates, and the feed roller 103 feeds out the next sheet. .

Note that when a predetermined amount of sheets are taken in, the hopper 29 is raised by a certain amount, and the sheets are always in contact with the feeding roller 103.

By the way, when the hopper 29 moves up and down, the static elimination brush 14
5 slides in contact with the metal plate 141. Therefore, no matter where the hopper 29 is located, the static electricity charged in the hopper 29 always flows to the metal plate 141 via the support member 26, the arm 143, and the static elimination brush 145, spreads to the metal frame 32, and is eliminated.

The image of the sheet taken into the copying machine 3 is copied by the image forming section 58, and the sheet is supplied to the sheet storage device 99.

When the entrance sensor S1 detects the leading edge of the sheet, the drive motor is activated by the signal, and the rollers 159, 165, and 169 rotate. Therefore, the sheet is transferred to the conveyor roller 1G3, 165
and sent to the switchback path 153. Note that the sheet is held by the intermediate roller 16 by the elastic material 171.
9 and transported. The rear end of the seat is the entrance sensor S
1, a timer for exciting the solenoid 175 operates.

When the trailing edge of the sheet passes through the conveyance rollers 163 and 165,
The sheet is further conveyed by the intermediate roller 169 and the elastic material 171, and when the rear end of the sheet is removed from the intermediate roller 169, the sheet supplied to the switchback path 153 loses its conveying force and stops. When time T1 has elapsed since the population sensor S1 detected the rear end of the seat, the solenoid 175 is energized, and the shift lever 179 is rotated as shown in the eleventh diagram.
The edge of the sheet is pressed against the conveying roller 167.

Therefore, this sheet end is switch-packed by the conveying force of the conveying roller 167, gripped by the conveying rollers 165 and 167, and supplied to the reversing path 155. Note that the solenoid 175 is demagnetized after a predetermined time T2 after being energized.

The sheet supplied to the reversing path 155 is ejected with the sheet end, which was the trailing edge when ejected from the copying machine 3, becoming the leading edge. Then, when the trailing edge of the sheet is detected by the paper discharge sensor S2, the drive motor is stopped unless the next sheet is detected by the entrance sensor S1. If the entrance sensor S1 detects a sheet, the drive motor continues to rotate.

The sheets discharged by the paper discharge rollers 157 and 159 are
161 storage trays are loaded.

The conveyance rollers 163, 165 that rotate in the feeding direction and are in pressure contact with each other in this way, and these conveyance rollers 163, 1
The conveying roller 16 is placed above the sheet sent out by the
A conveyance roller 167 is provided in pressure contact with the sheet and rotates in the opposite direction to the sheet feeding direction, and a switchback path 153 is provided below this conveyance roller 167, and the sheet is sent out by the conveyance rollers 1G3 and 165. An intermediate roller 169 that moves the rear end of the sheet F in the feeding direction away from the conveyance rollers 163 and 165. Then, the trailing end in the feeding direction of the sheet sent out by the conveying rollers 163 and 165 is moved to the conveying roller 16.
Since the shift lever 179 is in pressure contact with the shift lever 179, the trailing edge of the sheet is moved to the conveying row as shown in FIG. 163,1
Even after the sheet is removed from the conveyor roller 165, the sheet is sent out by the intermediate roller 169, and the trailing edge of the sheet is completely separated from the conveyor roller 165 and moved away. However, when the sheet is switched back in the direction opposite to the feeding direction, the edge of the sheet is not bent by the conveyance roller 165.

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

(1) When the hopper 2'9 is loaded with sheets or moves up and down, it vibrates around the holding member 26.
Since the static elimination brush 145 is attached to the support member 26 of No. 9, even if the hopper 29 vibrates, the vibration of the static elimination brush 145 is small. Therefore, the movable hopper 29 can be stably and reliably neutralized.

(2) A metal plate with which the static elimination brush 145 comes into sliding contact.
Since the plate 141 is provided on the outside of the metal frame 32, no matter how much paper dust is generated inside the metal plate 141 as sheets are fed, it is difficult for the paper dust to stick to the outside static elimination brush 154 and the metal plate 141. Therefore, even if the device is used for a long time, conduction is maintained and static electricity is removed reliably.

[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) Metal plate 1 in contact with static elimination brush 145
41 may be provided only at the top.

This is because discharge is more likely to occur when the number of sheets decreases.

(2) The static elimination brush 145 may be brought into direct contact with the metal frame 32 without using the metal plate 141.

(3) The support section may be a shaft or roller that supports the loading section. Furthermore, the support portions may be located at the front and rear of the loading portion, instead of on both sides.

(4) The frame supporting the support portion does not need to be made of metal, as long as the metal plate 141 is grounded.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, in the sheet feeding device that is attached to the sheet intake port of an image forming apparatus and supplies sheets to the sheet intake means provided at the sheet intake port, the stacking section for stacking sheets; , a support section attached to the loading section, a frame that supports the support section in a vertically movable manner, a lifting device that moves the loading section up and down along the frame, and a lifting device that moves the loading section up and down along the frame; Since the sheet feeding device is provided with a grounding means for grounding the outer surface of the frame, it is possible to obtain a sheet feeding device that can stably remove static electricity from the stacking section.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1jS1 to 6 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a sectional view 4 showing the overall configuration of an image processing device, and FIG. Perspective view showing the state in which the sheet feeding device is inserted into the sheet intake port, @3
4 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the sheet feeding device, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the grounding means, FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of the sheet accommodating device, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the sheet accommodating device. be. 1... Placing table 3... Copying machine 5... Sheet feeding device 11... Large capacity storage section 17... Loading section 19... Feeding section 26... Supporting member 29
...Hopper 30...Id 32...Metal frame 36.38...Support roller 41...Sheet intake port 47...Take-in roller 58
... Image forming section 99 ... Sheet storage device 1
01... Feeding means 141... Metal plate 143... Arm 145... Static elimination brush patent applicant Nippon Seimitsu Kogyo Co., Ltd. Figure 4/7 δ5

Claims (2)

[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 means provided at the sheet intake port, there is a stacking section for stacking sheets, and a stacking section attached to the stacking section. a support part, a frame that supports the support part in a vertically movable manner, a lifting device that moves the loading part up and down along the frame, and the loading part is grounded to the outer surface of the frame via the support part. A sheet feeding device characterized by being equipped with a grounding means. (2) In the sheet feeding device according to claim 1, the grounding means is attached to a metal plate attached to the outer surface of the frame and a contact that is attached to the support part and makes sliding contact with the metal plate. A sheet feeding device comprising: