JPS6254730B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a copy material feeding device used in image forming equipment such as a copying machine or a recording device. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a feeding device that is capable of not only feeding a detailed stack of copying materials, but also manually feeding copying materials different from the above-mentioned copying materials.

The present invention will be explained below by taking a cassette feeding system of a copying machine as an example.

When automatically feeding copy materials in a copying machine, copying materials of a predetermined size are loaded and stored in a cassette in advance, and by attaching this cassette to the main body of the copying machine, the copies in the cassette are There is a cassette feeding system in which materials are automatically fed one by one by a feeding means such as a feeding roller. In this case, if you want to use copying material of a different size, material, color, etc. from the copying material in the cassette, remove the already installed cassette from the copying machine and insert another cassette containing copying material of the desired size. must be installed. Therefore, when using only one copying material or several copies of different sizes, it is desirable to be able to manually insert these materials into a copying machine and make copies, thereby saving the troublesome effort. Further, when using only one copying material or only a few copies, it is desirable to be able to manually insert the copying material into the copying machine and make copies, as this saves troublesome effort. Furthermore, if a single sheet of copying material can be fed manually, so-called double-sided copying, in which both the front and back sides of the copying material are used, can be obtained without any troublesome operations.

Therefore, feeding devices capable of manual feeding have been devised.

Conventional copying machine feeding devices capable of manual feeding include those equipped with a cassette containing copy materials and a removable and replaceable manual feeding stand, or a separate feeding port/feeding stand exclusively for manual feeding. There are those in which the means and conveyance path are arranged in the main body of the copying machine, and there are also manual feed cassettes in which the lid of the cassette serves as a manual feeder and serves as both the feeding means and the conveyance path. Of these, manual feed cassettes in particular do not require the hassle of attaching and detaching a dedicated stand when manually feeding, unlike a dedicated stand, and on the other hand, the device can be made more compact and cost-effective compared to copiers that have a dedicated feeding port and a dedicated transport path. Easy to do. In order to reliably feed the manual copy material, it is necessary to correctly place the manual copy material at the feeding start position. Therefore, in order to position the manual copy material in the manual feed cassette, there are two methods: to place the leading end of the manual copy material against some kind of regulating means, or to place the rear end of the manual copy material against a mark written on the manual feed stand. There is a way to match it. The former method of positioning by the tip of the manually fed copy material is advantageous in that it can be manually fed even if the user does not know the size of the manually fed copy material or uses a copy material of a size other than that marked on the manual feed table. is desirable.

By the way, as a regulating means for positioning the tip of manually fed copy material in a manual feeding cassette,
Conventionally, there is a method using a protrusion fixed to a guide extending from a manual feed stand. That is, in this method, a stopper is provided at the tip of the upper and lower guide means for guiding the manually fed copy material to a predetermined feeding start position to block the passage of the copy material, and when feeding, the feeding means pushes the lower guide member and closes the passage. is opened and the copying material is sent out. The sent-out copy material is further sent into the machine by a conveying means inside the machine. At this time, the feeding means is raised while the fed copy material is passing through the stopper. Therefore, the passage is closed by the regulating means before the manually fed copy material has completely passed through the passage.

Therefore, such a conventional regulating means fixed to a guide exerts harmful frictional resistance on the conveyance of the copying material, and there is a possibility that the copying material may be skewed or the copying material may become jammed.

Further, in the feeding device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 55-106942, when the paper feed roller 9 is in the paper feeding position (FIG. 8), the stopper 11 is retracted, but after paper feeding, the paper feeding device 9 returns to the non-feeding position (7th
(Fig.), it has a structure that protrudes from the top surface of the cassette. Therefore, the structure is complicated, and the stopper 11 protrudes when the paper feed roller 9 is in the non-feed position.
imparts frictional resistance to the copy material conveyed by the downstream conveyance means, which hinders conveyance.

Therefore, the present invention aims to solve the above problems. According to the present invention, after the manually fed copy material is fed by the feeding roller, the position regulating means for positioning the tip of the copy material does not apply frictional resistance that would interfere with the conveyance by the downstream conveyance means to the copy material. The present invention provides a feeding device having the following features.

That is, the present invention that achieves the above object comprises: a copy material loading table 3 for loading copy materials; a manual feeding table 6 for sequentially supplying copy materials different from the copy materials on the copy material loading table 3; A feeding means 11 capable of feeding copy materials from both the copy material loading table 3 and the manual feed table 6; and a position control device that abuts the leading end of the copy material fed from the manual feed table 6 to regulate the position of the leading edge. Means 13
The feeding means 11 has a contact surface 1 that contacts the copying material.
1a and a non-contact surface 11b that does not contact the copy material, and the position regulating means 13 is a rotating body 13 that can rotate in reverse relative to the moving copy material. It is characterized in that it has a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of the contact surface of the roller 11 and is provided on the same axis 12 as the feeding roller 11.

An embodiment of the feeding device of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a cassette that can be attached to and removed from a copying machine body to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, Fig. 1a is a schematic diagram showing a state in which the top cover is slidable, and Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the copying machine main body. 3 is a sectional view of the feeding system during automatic feeding, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the feeding system during manual feeding.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cassette box-shaped main body, in which a copying material P is placed on an intermediate plate 3 which is constantly held in an upward direction by a spring 2 (shown in Figs. 3 and 4). Loaded and stored. Further, reference numeral 4 denotes a separating claw, which is disposed at the leading end of the copy material P in the feeding direction. This separation claw 4 is held by an arm 4a swingably attached to a vertical plate 5 fixed to the box-shaped main body 1, and can be moved up and down by its own weight or by a light force, and as the copy material P decreases. oscillate. Then, the leading edge of the copy material P in the feeding direction is positioned, and the copy materials are separated one by one during feeding.

An opening/closing lid 6 that also serves as a manual feed tray is detachably attached above the box-shaped main body 1. This opening/closing lid 6, which also serves as a manual feed tray, serves to dust-proof the copy materials P loaded and stored in the box-shaped main body 1, and also serves to protect the copy materials P1 that are different from the copy materials P loaded and stored in the box-shaped main body 1. It also serves as a manual feeding stand for manually feeding (shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later). The opening/closing lid 6 is provided above the box-shaped main body 1 so as to be slidable in the feeding direction of the copy material, and is located away from the machine body, that is, on the non-feeding side during automatic feeding. During manual feeding, it is located closest to the machine, that is, on the feeding side, and is used as a manual feeding stand. The opening/closing lid 6 has a flat surface 6a on which a manual copying material P1 (shown in FIG. 5, which will be described later) is placed, and a slightly downward guide 6b on the feeding side thereof.

Note that, as shown in FIG. 1a, this opening/closing lid 6 has both widthwise ends of the lid 6 bent downward and inward, and this bent portion 6d is connected to the main body side rail 6e.
It engages with and slides. and flat part 6
A plurality of elongated ribs 6c are erected at regular intervals along the insertion direction of the copy material so that the manual copy material P1 does not come into close contact with the copy material P1. Furthermore, the flat part 6a
A protruding guide 7 is provided at the side end of the guide 7 to reliably guide the manually fed copy material P1 in the feeding direction. And on the opposite side of this guide 7 is a cam 8.
is provided.

Note that it is desirable that the lower guide 6b has some degree of flexibility, and is made of, for example, polycarbonate, ABS resin, a metal plate, or the like. It is also preferable that the surface in contact with the copying material has low friction.

On the other hand, inside the main body of the copying machine, an upper guide means 9 for guiding the manually fed copy material P1 to a feeding start position is inserted through an opening 10 into a semicircular feeding roller 11 as a feeding means.
It extends close to. This feeding roller 11 is
Conveying portion 11a as a contact surface for conveying copy material
and a non-conveyance portion 11b serving as a non-contact surface. This conveying portion 11a is made of a material with a high coefficient of friction, such as rubber. When the feeding roller 11 is not feeding, the non-feeding portion 11b of the feeding roller 11 is
(Fig. 3), so even if the set position of the feeding roller 11 is fixed, the copy material P is
The cassette can be attached and detached without contacting the cassette. During feeding, as the shaft 12 rotates, the conveying portion 11a descends to feed out the copy material. Furthermore, a roller-shaped stopper 13 as a position regulating means having a diameter slightly smaller than the conveying portion 11a is rotatably attached to the shaft 12 on which the feeding roller 11 is provided. This roller-like stopper 13 is in contact with the copy material P during automatic feeding because the opening/closing lid 6 is located on the non-feeding side away from the main body of the copying machine (FIG. 3).
During manual feeding, when the opening/closing lid 6 is pushed closer to the main body of the copying machine, that is, when it is pushed toward the feeding side, the tip of the lower guide 6b provided on the opening/closing lid 6 comes into contact with the corrugated stopper 1.
3 and the copying material P.
comes into contact with the tip of the lower guide 6b. At this time, since the tip of the lower guide 6b is thin and sharp, the lower guide 6b can easily fit between the stopper 13 and the copying material. Therefore, the leading end of the manually fed copying material P1 that is manually fed along the lower guide 6b is positioned and regulated (FIG. 4). Further, an actuator 14 and a micro switch 15 are provided inside the copying machine body, and when the opening/closing lid 6 is pushed in during manual feeding, the actuator 14 is pushed up by the cam 8 and is set as a manual feeding base. Detect.

Below, Figures 5 to 1 are for manual feeding.
This will be explained using Figure 1.

In the case of manual feeding, the operator first closes the opening/closing lid 6 by pushing it toward the feeding side until the rear end handle 6f comes into contact with the box-shaped main body 1, as shown in FIG. Then, the tip of the lower guide 6b enters between the roller-like stopper 13 and the stacked copy materials P, and the cam 8 lifts the actuator 14 and switches the micro switch 15.
Turn on. By this signal, the feed roller 1
The rotation speed and scanning length of the optical system for feeding in step 1 are switched to manual feeding. Specifically, in the case of manual feeding, the number of rotations of the feeding roller 11 is increased because the feeding start position is located at the rear (non-feeding side) of the feeding starting position of the stacked copy materials. For example, when feeding a stack of copy materials, the feeding roller 11 is rotated twice, but in the case of manual feeding, upon receiving this signal, the feeding roller 11 is rotated 2.5 times. Thereby, even in the case of manual feeding, a predetermined amount of loop is formed with the registration rollers 18. Further, in the case of manual feeding, in this embodiment, the size of the manually fed copy material is not detected, so the optical system is caused to scan as if the largest size copy material was manually fed. That is,
In order to compensate for the difference in the feeding start position between automatic feeding and manual feeding and the difference in size between loaded copy material and manual copy material, the rotational speed of the feeding roller and the scanning length of the optical system are changed. In this embodiment, a mechanical method of pressing a microswitch using a cam and an actuator is used as the manual feed detection means, but other methods such as using a light source and a photoelectric element are of course possible.

After setting the manual feed table in this way, the operator places the manual feed copy material P1 on the flat surface portion 6a, and
It is guided by the width guide 7 and pushed in the feeding direction. Then, the tip of the manual copying material P1 reaches the opening 10,
It passes under the upper guide means 9 and is introduced into the passage 16 (FIGS. 5 and 6). When the copying material P1 is further pushed forward, the stopper 13 blocks the advance of the leading end of the copying material P1 and it stops (Figs. 7 and 8).
figure). That is, the stopper 13 determines the stopping position of the manual copying material P1 at its leading end. At this time, the copying material P stored in the box-shaped main body 1 is constantly receiving upward force from the spring 2 and is in pressure contact with the lower guide 6b. Since the stopper 13 is in pressure contact with the lower guide 6b, the manual copying material P1 does not pass through the stopper 13 just by pushing it with its tip, and is reliably positioned.

The manually fed copy material P1 positioned as described above receives a feeding signal by pressing a copy switch (not shown) or a detection means (not shown) that detects that the copy material P1 has reached a predetermined position. The half-moon-shaped feeding roller 11 rotates in response to a feeding signal issued by detecting the presence of the copying material, and its conveying portion 11a comes into contact with the manually fed copying material, and at the same time, it is transported into the box-shaped main body 1 via the lower guide 6b. It is pushed down by a certain amount together with the copy material, and is sent out by the rotation of the feeding roller 11 (FIGS. 9 and 10). At this time, the diameter of the roller-like stopper 13 is
Since it is shorter than the diameter of 1a, the corrugated stopper 13
A gap is created between the lower guide 6b and the lower guide 6b, from which the manually fed copy material is sent out. Moreover, at this time, since the roller-like stopper 13 is rotatable about the shaft 12, it does not obstruct the feeding of the manually inserted copy material P1. The fed-out copy material P1 is further conveyed into the copying machine main body by the registration rollers 18 via the guide 17, that is, through the same path as the feeding path of the copy material P in the box-shaped main body 1 ( Figure 11). During this process, the conveying portion 11a of the feed roller 11 rises and the non-conveying portion 11b comes down, so the stopper 13 and the manually fed copy material may come into contact again. Since it can freely rotate around the copy material being conveyed, it follows the conveyance of the copy material, and the conveyance force of the copy material is much greater than the frictional force on the copy material caused by the roller-shaped stopper 13 and the lower guide 6b. is not obstructed. Furthermore, the copy material P in the box-shaped main body 1 is blocked by the separating claw 4 and is not sent out together with the manually fed copy material.

Furthermore, a case in which copying material is fed from inside the box-shaped main body 1 will be explained. First, the opening/closing lid 6 is opened by pulling it out to the non-feeding side. Then, the cam 8 is disengaged from the actuator 14, and the paper feeding length and optical scanning length are switched from manual feeding to automatic feeding. That is, the optical scanning length and the predetermined number of revolutions of the feeding roller are determined according to the size of the copy materials loaded in the cassette.
Then, by pressing a copy switch (not shown), a feeding signal is issued, the feeding roller 11 rotates, and its conveying portion 11a contacts the topmost photo material, and the rotation of the feeding roller 11 causes the copy material to be transported. Sent out. The fed copy material is then transported to the guide 17.
It is further conveyed into the main body of the copying machine by registration rollers 18. The copy materials to be fed inside the box-shaped main body 1 have their leading ends positioned by the separating claws 4, and are separated and fed one by one.

In each of the embodiments described above, an automatic feeding cassette loaded and stored with copy materials of a certain size and a feeding stand exclusively for manual feeding are integrated, and a single cassette is capable of both automatic feeding and manual feeding. Only examples that allow both of these are shown. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the present invention may be applied to, for example, a feeding deck. Further, although only a half-moon-shaped roller is shown as an example of the feeding means, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a circular roller that is movable in the vertical direction and descends during feeding, for example. In this case, the roller-shaped regulating means is of course supported by a shaft provided separately from the feeding means.

As described above, in the present invention, the feeding means is a feeding roller having a contact surface that contacts the copying material and a non-contacting surface that does not contact the copying material, and the tip position of the manually fed copying material is positioned coaxially with the feeding roller. Since the rotary body is installed in a rotary body that can follow the moving copy material, after the manual copy material is fed by the feed roller, the feed roller does not come into contact with the copy material, and the tip position is adjusted. Since the rotating body serving as the regulating means rotates in response to the moving copy material, it does not apply any frictional resistance to the copy material that would impede its conveyance by the downstream conveyance means.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1, 1a, and 2 are general views showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views thereof,
Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7, Figure 8, Figure 9, Figure 1
0 and 11 are explanatory views showing the manual feeding process. In the figure, 1...cassette box-shaped main body, 2...spring, 3...middle plate, 4...separation claw, 6...opening/closing lid that also serves as manual feed tray, 8...cam, 7, 9, 17...guide, 10...
Opening, 11... Feeding roller, 11a... Conveying portion, 1
1b...non-conveyance portion, 12...feeding roller shaft, 13...
Roll-shaped stopper, 14...actuator, 15...
Micro switch, 16... passage, 18... registration roller.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A copying material loading table 3 for loading copying materials; a manual feeding table 6 for sequentially supplying copying materials different from the copying materials on the copying material loading table 3; and the copying material loading table 3. A feeding means 11 capable of feeding copy material from both the table 3 and the manual feed table 6; and a position regulating means 13 that comes into contact with the tip of the copy material fed from the manual feed table 6 to regulate the position of the tip.
The feeding means 11 has a contact surface 1 that contacts the copying material.
1a and a non-contact surface 11b that does not contact the copy material, and the position regulating means 13 is a rotating body 13 that can follow the moving copy material. A feeding device characterized in that it has a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of the contact surface of the feeding roller 11 and is provided on the same axis 12 as the feeding roller 11.