JPS62259931A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable a cassette of different kind to be used, by providing a receiving member, having a notched recess, and a supporting plate in both sides of a paper feed opening while holding-plates, which engage with a cassette holder comprising the receiving members and the supporting plates, in the cassette and lifting a cassette bottom plate. CONSTITUTION:An opening part 52, to which a cassette 58 of large capacity can be mounted, is provided in the side wall of a main unit 51. The opening part 52 forms in its inner both sides a cassette holder comprising a receiving plate 53, having a notched recess 54, and a supporting plate 55. The cassette 58 provides in its both side walls a cassette holding part 60 having a protrusive part 61 engaged with the cassette holder. The cassette 58, which is mounted to the opening part 52 engaging the cassette holding plates 60 with the cassette holder, is pressed to dash against a stopper 64. A magnet 62 turns on a reed switch 63 deciding the cassette to exist, and a cassette bottom plate 65 is lifted by turning a lifting plate 56. In this way, the cassette of different capacity can be mounted to a single paper feed opening.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to paper feeding devices for copying machines, laser beam printers, and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, paper feeding devices for copying machines have become more diverse, including cassette systems, manual feeding systems, and large-capacity cassettes that can hold 1,000 or more sheets of paper, and various installation configurations have been proposed. .

An example of the above-mentioned conventional paper feeding device will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the main parts of a conventional paper feeding device with a cassette installed. The copy paper receiving plate 2 is supported using the rear end 2' as a fulcrum, and the copy paper 4 is set on the copy paper receiving plate 2.

The copy paper separating claw 3 is attached so as to be vertically movable via a shaft 3' provided inside the side wall of the cassette body box 1, and separates the uppermost copy paper of the copy paper 4 set on the copy paper receiving plate 2. Press down the corner of the tip with your own weight. Then, the cassette containing the copy paper 4 is attached to the cassette receiver 6 of the copying machine main body 5, and the copy paper in the cassette is brought into contact with the copy paper feed roller of the copy machine via the copy paper receiver plate 2 by the pressing arm 8. Then, the copy paper 4 is sequentially fed out one sheet at a time by the rotation of the feed roller in the direction of the arrow, and is fed to a predetermined location within the copying machine.

Even if the copy paper 4 decreases, the pressing arm 8 is pushed up in the direction of arrow B by the spring 9, and the position of the top surface of the copy paper 4 is always kept constant, and the position is adjusted in relation to the thickness and weight of the copy paper. Since the strength of the spring 9 is designed so that the copy paper always contacts the delivery row 27 with a constant pressure.

In this invention, a cam 1o is provided on both side walls of the cassette main body box 1, and a cam guide roller 11 is provided on the copying machine main body 5, which is opposed to the cam 1° and is interlocked with a suppression arm 8, and a cam guide roller 11 which is interlocked with a feed-out roller. A cam guide row 212 is provided.

A cam guide row 21 is rotatably mounted on the push-up arm plate 24.
A pressing arm 8 is attached to the copying machine main body 6 via a shaft 13 fixed to the main body 6, and a spring 9 pushes up the cam guide roller 11 and the pressing arm 8 with the fixed bin 14 as a fulcrum before the cassette is installed. keep it in good condition.

Further, a feed roller 7 is attached to the feed roller plate 16 via a cam guide roller 12 and a rotating shaft 17, and a spring 1 is attached to the copying machine main body 6 with a fixed pin 18 as a fulcrum.
6 keeps the cam guide roller 12 and the feed roller 7 in a depressed state before the cassette is installed.

Note that the rotation of the feeding roller 7 in the direction of arrow A is caused by the rotation of the shaft 17.
a gear 19 fixed to the bottle 18, a gear 20 rotatably bearing on the bin 18, and a motor 2 attached to the copying machine main body 5.
This is done by connecting the gear 22 fixed to the gear 1, and even if the shaft 17 moves up and down with the pin 18 as the fulcrum, the pinch circle of the gear 20 and the pitch circle of the gear 19 are always in contact, allowing smooth drive between the gears. .

The relationship between the sending roller 7 and the pressing arm 8, which are actuated by the spring 16 and spring 9 attached to the spring bin 23 fixed to the copying machine body 5, is such that the pushing down force of the sending roller 7 is set to be stronger than the pushing up force of the suppressing arm 8. do.

In the above configuration, in the process of inserting and mounting the cassette into the cassette receiver 6 from the state shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the cams 10 provided on both side walls of the cassette main box 1
As a result, the guide rollers 11 and 12 are pushed up against the spring, and the feed roller 17 that is linked to the guide roller 12 is pushed up.
The suppression arm 13 interlocked with the guide roller 11 is pushed down, and the state in which the copy paper 4 does not come into contact with the feed roller 7 is maintained.

Then, when the cassette is installed, the cam 1 of the cassette is
0 and the guide rollers 11 and 12, the feed roller 7, which had been pushed up, returns to its original position.

By pressing the slope of the cam 10 with the guide roller 12 via the spring 16, the cassette 7) and the receiver 6 are positioned in the direction of the cassette device and downward. (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-166
236) Furthermore, as seen in Japanese Patent Publication No. 49-23006, a plate cam 36 which has a guide groove 32 on the side wall of the housing 31 and an inclined step plate 33 and rotates by a spring 35 with 01134 as a fulcrum. , the 10th-ra 38 and the 20th-ra on the side wall of the paper feeder 37.
- A roller 39 is provided, and both rollers 38 and 39 are connected to the guide groove 39.
Insert the 20th roller 39 while guiding it on the tread plate 33, and then the feed roller 40
There is also a paper feeding device that is attached so that the leading end side of the paper 41 is pressed into contact with the paper 41 . Note that when the number of sheets decreases, the tenth roller 38 is removed from the tip of the guide groove 32 in the paper feeding direction, so the paper feeding tray 3
7 will be displaced upwards.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the above structure, the spring-biased suppression arm and the delivery roller are attached and detached by a cam on the cassette body box vertically while exerting an action against the spring force. Because of this, considerable force is required to attach and detach the cassette body box. In the latter case, the paper feed tray is inserted while resisting the spring force, and the same result as described above occurs. In addition, paper feed openings and cassettes, including conventional ones, are generally formed in a uniform size that can be installed, except that the size of the cassette in the paper feeding direction differs depending on the paper size accommodated, and any size cassette can be installed. It is now possible to do so. This is the same even if there are multiple paper feed openings. Therefore, in the case of a cassette that can hold 600 sheets of paper, although B6 and A4 sizes, which are usually used in large quantities, are fine, B4 and A3 size cassettes, which are used in small quantities, are heavy and difficult to insert and remove with one hand. There was a drawback. Therefore, for B4 size or A3 size cassettes, you can use a small capacity cassette that can hold about 250 sheets of paper, but as mentioned above, the paper feed opening and cassette are uniformly formed, so cassettes with different capacities can be installed. There were some problems that made it impossible to do so.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feeding device that allows both large-capacity cassettes and small-capacity cassettes to be attached and that can be smoothly attached and detached.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the paper feeding device of the present invention has at least one paper feeding opening into which a large-capacity cassette can be attached, and a notch recess is formed in the side wall of the paper feeding opening. A cassette holder comprising a receiving member and a supporting member in which a and a cassette holding member is provided on a side wall of the small capacity cassette, the cassette holding member being removable from the cassette holder and having a convex portion that fits into the notch recess of the receiving member, and the cassette holding member of the cassette is attached to the cassette holder. The cassette is configured such that either of the cassettes can be installed so that they fit together.

Effects The present invention has the above-described configuration, which makes it possible to mount any of the cassettes with different paper storage capacities, and allows for light and smooth operation since no resistance is encountered during attachment and detachment.

Embodiment Hereinafter, a paper feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of the paper feeding device of the present invention in a state where the cassette is not installed, and in the figure, 51
1 is the main body of the copying machine, which is formed with a paper feed opening 62 into which a large capacity cassette can be inserted. Reference numeral 53 denotes a receiving plate fixed to the side wall of the paper feed opening 52, and a notch recess 64 is formed in the upper surface.

55 is a support plate fixed to the corresponding upper part of the receiving plate 53; 66;
is a push-up plate that pushes up the bottom plate of the cassette, 57 is a paper feed roller that separates and feeds the topmost sheet of paper, and 58 is paper 6
In the case shown, paper 59 is a cassette containing 50 sheets.
A large capacity cassette containing 0 sheets is shown. Reference numeral 60 denotes a cassette holding plate fixed to the side wall of the cassette 58, and a protrusion 61 that fits into the cutout recess 54 of the receiving plate 53 is formed at the lower part. FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway side view when the cassette is installed. 62 is the paper feed of the cassette 58
A magnet 63 is embedded in the side wall of the tip, and a reed switch is provided on the main body side at a position corresponding to the magnet 62. These magnets and reed switches are used to detect the presence or absence of a cassette and the size of paper stored in the cassette. A plurality of each are provided for detection.

64 is a stopper for the cassette 1.7), 86 is a bottom plate on which sheets are placed, and 66 is a notch. When installing the cassette, insert the cassette holding plate 6Q of the cassette 58 between the receiving plate 53 and the support plate 55 of the paper feed opening with the paper feed side tip of the cassette facing downward. At this time, since the rear end of the support plate 55 on the paper feeding side is filled upward and the opening is widened, the cassette holding plate 60 is inserted smoothly. When the tip of the cassette comes into contact with the stopper 64, the receiving plate 5
The lower protrusion 61 of the cassette holding plate 60 is located in the notch recess 54 of No. 3.
are fitted, and the support plate 55
As a result, the cassette is mounted and supported by the cassette holder consisting of the receiving plate 53 and the supporting plate 56. A dotted line in the figure indicates a small capacity cassette 67 that can accommodate 250 sheets, and has the same configuration as the large capacity cassette 58 described above. Therefore, in the attached state, a space is formed between the bottom of the small capacity cassette 67 and the bottom of the paper feed opening 52. Note that the paper feed roller 57 is arranged to be able to move vertically and is positioned at a fixed position by its own weight, so that even if it comes into contact with the leading end of the cassette when inserting the cassette, it will straddle the tip due to the vertical movement, and there will be no problem. Figure 3 shows the drive configuration of the push-up plate,
Figure (a) is a side view, and figure (b) is a front view. Reference numeral 68 denotes a drive gear which is driven by a motor 69 and a worm 7o. 71 is a spring clutch, 72 is an operating gear, and 73 is this operating gear 7.
A fan-shaped gear 74 driven by the fan-shaped gear 74 is a shaft fixed to the fan-shaped gear 73, supported by a side wall 75, extending into the paper feed opening, and having a push-up plate 56 fixed thereto for pushing up the bottom plate of the cassette into position. One end of a spring 76 is locked to the push-up plate 66, and the other end is locked to the stopper 64, so that the push-up plate 56 is always urged to rotate downward. Reference numeral 77 is an operating rod, which is activated when the tip of the cassette is pressed when the cassette is installed, and the ratchet pawl 78 is activated by the spring clutch 71.
It operates to move the locking position with the upper ratchet. The spring clutch 71 is provided with a spring clutch 9 that connects the shaft of the drive gear and the shaft of the actuating gear to transmit driving force or release the driving force.

Next, the operation will be explained based on the configuration of the present invention described above. The cassette holding plate 60 of the cassette is attached to the cassette holder 5.
3. Insert it along the line 55 until the tip reaches the stopper 64.
When the holding plate comes into contact with the holding plate, the convex portion 61 of the holding plate fits into the cutout recess 54 of the receiving plate 53, and the cassette is mounted. During this mounting process, the tip of the cassette presses against the actuating rod 77 shown in FIG. Once the cassette has been installed, the magnet 6 attached to the cassette is attached as shown in Figure 2.
At step 2, the reed switch 63 detects the presence of a cassette and the paper size. When the reed switch 63 detects the presence of a cassette, the motor 69 rotates and the drive gear 68 is rotationally driven via the worm 70, as shown in FIG. At this time, the spring clutch 71 rotates, and the spring clutch engages the shaft of the drive gear 68 and the shaft of the operating gear 72, thereby transmitting rotational driving force to the operating gear. The fan-shaped gear 73 begins to rotate as the operating gear rotates, and the push-up plate 56 fixed to the shaft 4 is pushed upward against the biasing force of the spring 76. Therefore, the cassette bottom plate 65 is pushed up, and the top of the paper stored in the cassette is pressed against the paper feed roller 5. The paper feed roller is equipped with a spring that limits its rise and a level sensor (not shown) that detects the paper level.
If it is detected that the paper level can be fed, the motor 69 is stopped, and when the number of papers decreases and the paper level falls, the motor 69 is rotated again to push the push-up plate 56 further upward. This operation is the same even if a small capacity cassette is installed.

To remove the cassette from the paper feed opening, perform the operations described above in reverse. When the cassette is started to be removed, the reed switch 63 first detects that there is no cassette and the motor 69 is de-energized. At the same time, the operating rod 77 that was in contact with the cassette tip is pushed back by the spring biasing force, and the ratchet pawl 78 reversely rotates the spring clutch 71 to release the engagement of the spring clutch. Therefore, the operating gear becomes free, and the push-up plate 56 is lowered by the biasing force of the spring T6, and is released from the cassette bottom plate. Therefore, the cassette can be pulled out smoothly without any resistance.

In this embodiment, the detection of the presence or absence of a cassette has been explained using a magnet and a reed switch, but a photo sensor is used.

A microswitch or the like can also be used and is not limited to this embodiment.

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, the present invention has a paper feed opening into which a large-capacity cassette can be attached, a cassette holder on the side wall, a means for detecting the presence or absence of a cassette, and a detection means for detecting the presence or absence of a cassette by detecting the cassette bottom plate. In addition to disposing a push-up member for pushing up, a cassette holding member that fits with the above-mentioned cassette holder is provided on the side wall of the large-capacity cassette and the small-capacity cassette, so that the cassette holding member of the cassette fits into the cassette holder. Since the cassettes are mounted with the same size, it is possible to mount cassettes with different paper storage capacities. In addition, this allows for example to use a large capacity cassette that can hold 500 sheets of B6 size or A4 size paper, which are used often, and a small capacity cassette that can hold 260 sheets of B4 size or A3 size paper, which is used less. Even paper the size of a dog is lighter, and the cassette can be loaded and unloaded with one hand, making it extremely easy to operate.

Furthermore, when inserting or removing a cassette, a cassette holding plate provided on the side wall of the cassette is slidably fitted into a cassette holder provided on the side wall of the paper feed opening. Since the raising member is moved up and down, many advantages can be obtained, such as the ability to easily and smoothly insert and remove the cassette without any resistance.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the main parts of the paper feeding device of the present invention in a state where the cassette is not installed, Fig. 2 is a partially cutaway side view when the cassette is installed, and Fig. 3 shows the drive configuration of the push-up plate. (B) is a front view of the main parts of the cassette, FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the main parts of the conventional paper feeder with the cassette not installed, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the paper device in a state in which a cassette is not installed. 61...Main body, 62...Paper feed opening, 5
3... Receiving plate, 54... Notch recess, 5
5... Child holding board, 56... Pushing up board, 6
7...Paper feed roller, 68.67...Cassette, 69...Paper, 60...Cassette holding plate, 61...Protrusion , 62... Magnet, 63... Reed switch, 64...
・Stopper, 68... Drive gear, 71...
...Spring clutch, 72...Operating gear, 3
・・・・・・Sector gear, 6・・・Spring, 77・
...Operating rod.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A cassette holder that has at least one paper feed opening into which a large-capacity cassette can be attached, and that includes a receiving member and a support member in which a notched recess is formed in the side wall of the paper feed opening, and detects the presence or absence of a cassette. and a push-up member that pushes up the cassette bottom plate by the detection of the detection means, and a push-up member that can be fitted into and removed from the cassette holder on the side walls of the large-capacity cassette and the small-capacity cassette, and that has a push-up member of the receiving member. A cassette holding member having a protrusion that fits into the notch recess is provided, and the cassette holding member of the cassette is fitted into the cassette holder, so that either of the cassettes can be mounted. paper feed device. (2) An operating rod that is activated when the cassette comes into contact with it, a spring clutch that is rotated by the operating rod to connect the driving gear and the operating gear, and a cassette that is driven by the interlocking gear and is constantly biased in the release direction. and a fan-shaped gear to which a bottom plate push-up member is fixed, and when the detection means detects that the cassette is attached, the drive gear rotates the push-up member to push up the bottom plate of the cassette. , when the cassette is removed, the spring clutch is released by actuation of the operating rod, and the pushing member is released from the bottom plate of the cassette by the urging force of the pushing member. The paper feeding device according to item 1.