JPS6255B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a paper feeding device that supplies transfer paper in, for example, an electronic copying machine.

Recently, this type of paper feeding device is capable of both cassette feeding, which automatically feeds the transfer papers in the paper cassette one by one, and manual paper feeding, which manually feeds the transfer papers one by one. Something like this has been developed. And, such paper feeding devices usually
It is equipped with a manual feed door, and by opening and closing this manual feed door, cassette paper feeding or manual paper feeding can be selectively performed.After manual feeding is completed, the manual feed door can be closed. The configuration is such that the mode is returned to the cassette paper feeding mode. However, with such a system that returns from manual paper feeding state to cassette paper feeding state by operating the manual feed door, it is easy to forget to close the manual feed door, and if you forget to close it, the cassette paper feeding state There was a problem in that malfunctions were likely to occur, such as when copying operations were performed using a cassette feeder without returning to the original mode.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to simplify the operability by automatically and reliably returning from the manual paper feeding state to the cassette paper feeding state. By preventing malfunctions caused by forgetting to reset the system, and by performing the automatic reset using the output signal of a timer that starts operating when the manual paper feeding state is set, it is possible to perform manual paper feeding operations reliably and easily. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feeding device capable of shortening first copy time when feeding paper from a cassette after manual paper feeding.

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

In FIG. 1, a paper feed mechanism 1 includes paper feed rollers 3a, 3b made of rubber, for example, on a rotating shaft 2, as is well known.
are arranged side by side, and are installed as a component in the main body of an electronic copying machine (not shown). On the other hand, the paper feed cassette 4 has an opening 4a above it. A bottom plate 5 is provided at the bottom of the paper feed cassette 4, and a large number of sheets (transfer paper) 6 are stacked on the bottom plate 5. Further, a coil spring 7,...
is interposed, and the front portion of the bottom plate 5 (and paper 6) is always urged upward by the spring 7. Furthermore, the opening 4 of the paper feed cassette 4
A cassette cover 8 is provided at a. This cassette cover 8 is formed into a rectangular shape so as to close the opening 4a except for the front part thereof, and its both rear ends are connected by shafts 9 to both rear ends of the paper feed cassette 4. It is rotatably supported in the section. As a result, the cassette cover 8 is positioned above the opening 4a of the paper feed cassette 4, and
The front upper part of the paper 6 is exposed at the front part of the opening 4a. That is, by setting the paper feed cassette 4 at a predetermined position so that the front upper part of the paper 6 contacts the paper feed rollers 3a and 3b, the paper 6 in the paper feed cassette 4 is brought into contact with the paper feed roller 3.
A and 3b take out the sheets one by one and supply them to a paper receiving section (for example, a paper conveyance path).

On the other hand, the manual feed guide body 10 is placed on the upper surface of the cassette cover 8, and has flanges 11, 11 and guide walls 12, 12 formed on both sides thereof, respectively. Further, the collar portions 11, 11 of the manual guide body 10 engage with guide bodies 13, 13 provided on both sides of the cassette cover 8, and the cassette is guided by the guide bodies 13, 13. It is designed to be able to move forward and backward (slide) on the cover 8 in the front and rear directions. The configuration is such that manual paper can be guided and fed along the upper surface of the manual guide body 10. Furthermore, driven rollers 14a, 14b are rotatably provided in the front part of the manual guide body 10, corresponding to the installation positions of the paper feed rollers 3a, 3b.
is slightly exposed on the upper surface of the manual guide body 10. That is, after setting the paper feed cassette 4 at a predetermined position, the manual feed guide body 10 is advanced, and the paper feed rollers 3a, 3b are brought into rolling contact with the driven rollers 14a, 14b. Paper is supplied to a paper receiving section (for example, a paper transport path).

Further, the paper detection switch 15 is provided near the paper feeding mechanism 1, and is attached to the main body of the electronic copying machine (not shown). The tip of the actuator 15a of the detection switch 15 is located below the rotating shaft 2, and a rectangular through hole 16 is provided in the front part of the bottom plate 5 corresponding to the tip of the actuator 15a. ing. Further, a rectangular through hole 17 is provided in the front portion of the manual guide body 10, corresponding to the location where the detection switch 15 is installed. Therefore, when feeding paper into the cassette, the actuator 15a of the detection switch 15 comes into contact with the paper 6 and is set to face the through hole 16 through the paper 6, so that the tip of the actuator 15a and the through hole 16 are connected to each other. The insertion relationship makes it possible to detect no paper. Also, when manually feeding paper,
The switch 15 detects the through hole 17 of the manual guide body 10.
By setting the actuator 15a to face the actuator 15a so that the tip of the actuator 15a is inserted into the through hole 17, it is possible to detect manual paper passing over the through hole 17.

On the other hand, the operating rod 18 is formed in a substantially L-shape and is provided on the main body of an electronic copying machine (not shown). The operating rod 18 is disposed on the front side of one side of the paper feed cassette 4 so as to be able to move forward and backward along the paper feeding direction, and its bent end 18a is attached to one of the guides on the manual guide body 10. It is positioned so as to come into contact with the front end surface of the wall 12. A coil spring 19 is attached to the base end of the operating rod 18, and the return force of the spring 19 constantly biases the operating rod 18 in the opposite direction to the paper feeding direction. ing. Furthermore, the operating rod 18
A protruding portion 20 for driving the switch and a locking portion 21 are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the longitudinal portion 18b, respectively. On the other hand, a rod-shaped locking body 22 is disposed on the front side of the paper feed cassette 4 in a direction perpendicular to the operating rod 18, and this locking body 22 has a substantially central portion that is connected to the shaft 2.
It is rotatably supported by 3. and,
One end (tip) of this locking body 22 is located below the base end of the operating rod 18, and when the operating rod 18 moves forward in the paper feeding direction, the locking portion 21 provided on the operating rod 18
configured to engage with. That is, a coil spring 24 is attached to the other end (rear end) of the locking body 22, and this spring 24 applies a biasing force to one end of the locking body 22 in the clockwise direction. Due to the force, one end of the locking body 22 engages with the locking part 21, and as a result, the manual guide body 1
It is possible to maintain the manual paper feeding state at 0. When this is held, the mode detection switch 25 disposed at the upper part near the base end of the operating rod 18 is activated by the protrusion 20 provided on the operating rod 18, so that the manual paper feeding mode can be detected. It's getting old. A plunger solenoid 26 is connected to one end of the locking body 22, and when the solenoid 26 operates, the locking body 22 and the locking portion 21 are engaged, that is, the manual paper feeding state is changed. The hold is configured to be released. That is,
The manual guide body 1 is operated by the operating rod 18, spring 19, locking body 22, spring 24, etc.
It constitutes a holding mechanism 27 that maintains the manual paper feeding state by 0, and the locking body 22 and the solenoid 2.
6 or the like constitutes a release mechanism 28 that releases the holding state of the holding mechanism 27.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the control system, and the control section 31 mainly consists of a microcomputer.
The paper detection switch 15, mode detection switch 25, copy start switch 32 provided on an operation panel (not shown), and the like are connected to. The control unit 31 also includes a main motor 3 that drives the document table, photosensitive drum, conveyance path, etc. of the electronic copying machine.
3, exposure lamp 34, the paper feed roller 3a, 3
A feed roller drive clutch 35 that connects the paper feed roller drive clutch 35 that connects the document platen to its drive portion, and a document table drive clutch 36 that connects the document table plate to its drive portion are connected. Furthermore, a counter 37, for example, as a timer for measuring time is connected to the control unit 31.

Next, the operation of such a configuration will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. First, the case of cassette feeding will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, a paper feeding cassette 4 containing sheets of paper 6 is set in a predetermined position of the paper feeding mechanism 1.
In this case, the manual feed guide body 10 is retracted to the rear part of the paper feed cassette 4 as shown in FIG. As a result, the mode detection switch 25 becomes inactive (off) and outputs a cassette paper feeding mode signal to the control section 31. Then, the control unit 31 controls the flow.
F ₁ →F ₂ →F ₁ ... is repeated, and the copying standby state is reached. Here, when the copy switch 32 is turned on,
Having received the signal, the control section 31 proceeds to flow _F3 , and controls the main motor 33, exposure lamp 34, paper feed roller drive clutch 35, and document platen drive clutch 36.
etc. to start the copying operation.
In this case, the actuation of the paper feed roller drive clutch 35 connects the paper feed rollers 3a, 3b to their drive via the rotating shaft 2, and thus the paper feed rollers 3a,
3b is rotatably driven to feed the paper 6 in the paper feed cassette 4.
One sheet is taken out from the top and fed to the paper conveyance path provided in front of it. When the copying operation is thus completed, the control section 31 returns to flow _F1 again and enters a copying standby state for paper feeding from the cassette.

Next, when the cassette is in the paper feeding state, for example, when copying is performed by manually feeding paper of different sizes, in other words, when performing manual paper feeding, first, the manual cassette in the retracted state By moving the guide body 10 forward in the paper feeding direction, the manual paper feeding state is set. That is, when the manual guide body 10 is moved forward, the operating rod 18 is pushed against the elastic force of the spring 19 and moves forward together. Then, the locking portion 21 of the operating rod 18 pushes down one end of the locking body 22 against the tensile force of the spring 24, and when the locking portion 21 passes through the locking body 22, the locking body 22 is pushed down by the tensile force of the spring 24. engage with. At this time, manual guide body 1
0 is designed to stop at a predetermined location as shown in FIG. In this way, the movement of the actuating rod 18 is restricted as shown in FIG. 2 by the engagement between the locking part 21 and the locking body 22, and the movement of the actuating rod 18 is held and the predetermined manual feed relative to the manual feed guide body 10 is held. The position is maintained. Also at this time, the second
As shown in the figure, when the projection 20 of the operating rod 18 faces the mode detection switch 25, the mode detection switch 25 is activated (turned on) and outputs a manual paper feeding mode signal to the control section 31. This switches from the cassette paper feeding mode to the manual paper feeding mode. Then, the control unit 31 changes the flow F ₁ →F ₄ →
Proceed to _F5 , reset the counter 37, then activate the counter 37, then proceed to flow _F6 → _F7 , and wait for insertion of manual paper by repeating this flow _F6 → _F7 . do.

Here, if a manual sheet is inserted within a certain period of time (for example, 30 seconds) until the counter 37 counts up, the copying operation is started. That is, by inserting a manual sheet from behind along the upper surface of the manual feed guide body 10 toward the paper feed rollers 3a, 3b, the sheet detection switch 15 is activated (turned on) at the leading end of the sheet. Then, upon receiving the signal, the control section 31 advances from flow _F6 to flow _F3 and starts the copying operation. In this case, as described above, the paper feed rollers 3a and 3b are rotationally driven by the operation of the paper feed roller drive clutch 35, so the paper feed rollers 3a and 3b are in contact with each other at this time.
The paper inserted between the paper feed rollers 3a, 3b and the driven rollers 14a, 14b is fed to the paper transport path by being carried between the paper feeding rollers 3a, 3b and the driven rollers 14a, 14b. When the copying operation is completed in this way, the control unit 31 returns to flow F ₁ again, but in this case, since the manual paper feeding state is still maintained, the control unit 31 again proceeds to flow F ₄ →F ₅ . The counter 37 is reset to restart counting, and the flow advances from _F6 to _F7 to wait for manual paper insertion. Therefore, the counter 37 is reset and restarts counting every time one manual sheet is inserted.

On the other hand, if no manual paper is inserted within the predetermined time, the cassette paper feeding state is automatically restored. That is, when the machine is in a standby state for manual sheet insertion, if no manual sheet is inserted within a certain period of time, the counter 37 counts up. Upon receiving this signal, the control section 31 proceeds from flow _F7 to flow _F8 , operates the solenoid 26, and then returns to flow _F1 again to enter a copying standby state for paper feeding from the cassette. When the solenoid 26 operates, the distal end of the locking body 22 rotates downward against the tensile force of the spring 24, and the engagement with the locking portion 21 is released. As a result, the operating rod 18 is moved by the spring 19
The manual guide member 10 is pushed back in the direction opposite to the paper feeding direction by the restoring force and retreats, returning to the cassette paper feeding state shown in FIG. At this time, the protrusion 20 of the operating rod 18 moves away from the mode detection switch 25, so that the mode detection switch 25 is reset (turned off) and outputs a cassette paper feeding mode signal to the control section 31. This switches from manual paper feeding mode to cassette paper feeding mode. Then,
The control unit 31 repeats the flow F ₁ →F ₂ →F ₁ again, and enters a copy standby state. In this way, the manual paper feeding state is released and the paper automatically returns to the cassette paper feeding state.

As detailed above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically and reliably return from the manual paper feeding state to the cassette paper feeding state, which greatly simplifies the operability and prevents malfunctions caused by forgetting to return to the original state. etc. can also be prevented. Furthermore, by performing the automatic return described above using the output signal of a timer that starts operating when the cassette is in the manual paper feed state, the time from setting to the manual paper feed state until automatic return is always a constant time, and thus By setting the time with sufficient allowance, reliable and easy manual paper feeding operation becomes possible. Further, since the automatic recovery time after turning on the copy start switch is not required, the time required for first copying when paper is fed from a cassette after manual paper feeding is significantly shortened. Furthermore, by resetting the above-mentioned timer each time a sheet of manual paper is fed, when copying is performed continuously by manual paper feeding, the time required for automatic recovery after copying is completed is also approximately a constant time. Therefore, the operability of manual paper feeding is further improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view in a cassette paper feeding state, FIG. 2 is an overall perspective view in a manual paper feeding state, and FIG. 3 is a control system. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation. 1... Paper feeding mechanism, 4... Paper feeding cassette, 6...
Paper, 10...Manual guide body, 27...Holding mechanism, 29...Release mechanism, 31...Control unit, 32...
...Copy start switch, 37...Counter (timer).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A paper feed cassette 4 in which paper 6 is stored, a manual guide body 10 that forms a manual paper feed state, and a manual paper feed cassette 4 in which paper 6 is stored, a manual feed guide body 10 that forms a manual paper feed state, and a paper feed cassette 4 that stores paper 6, a manual feed guide body 10 that forms a manual paper feed state, and a manual feed paper or paper feed cassette that is manually fed by this manual feed guide body. Paper feeding mechanism 1 that supplies paper to the paper receiving section
a holding mechanism 27 that maintains the manual paper feeding state formed by the manual guide body; a release mechanism 29 that releases the holding state of this holding mechanism; A paper feeding device comprising: a timer 37 that outputs a signal after the elapse of time; and a control section 31 that operates the release mechanism based on the output signal of the timer. 2. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the timer 37 is reset every time one sheet of paper 6 is fed in the manual paper feeding operation.