JPS6258B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in paper feed cassettes used in copying machines and the like.

Conventionally, in this type of paper feed cassette, the stacked sheets of paper stored in the cassette main body are pushed up by a support plate (bottom plate) that is biased upward, so that the top surface of the uppermost paper at the end in the ejection direction is pushed up. Both corners are brought into contact with separation claws fixedly provided on the cassette body, and when the topmost paper is taken out by a friction take-out roller, the paper is deflected by the separation claws and separated from the second sheet. It's summery.

There are approximately 10 separation claws at the corners of the paper that perform the above separation action.
It is most desirable to apply a small load on the order of 1.5 g, but with the above configuration, the claw load changes depending on the size of the paper and the amount of paper piled up, making it impossible to obtain a stable double-sheet prevention effect. There were flaws.

Therefore, a separation claw is attached to the free end side of a rotatable separation claw holding lever that is attached directly or indirectly to the cassette body, and the corners of the paper are held down by their own weight. things have begun to be put into practical use.

However, the separation claw holding lever is either rotatably supported directly on the side frame of the cassette body or rotatably supported on a dedicated support frame erected on the inner bottom surface of the cassette body. The side surface of the lever may be in surface contact with the side frame or support frame of the cassette body to which the separation claw holding lever is attached, or may be in surface contact with the side edge of the paper, or may be in surface contact with both. . Therefore, in such a case, there is a drawback that sliding failure occurs due to frictional resistance due to surface contact between the separation claw holding lever and the contact member, and the claw load is likely to be inappropriate.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to have an extremely simple structure, yet make the rotational movement of the separation claw holding lever smooth, and ensure that the claw load on the paper is appropriate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly reliable paper feed cassette that allows one sheet to be taken out with ease.

The present invention will be explained below based on an embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 3. Figure 1 shows the paper feed cassette installed in the paper feed section of a copying machine, etc.
The structure is as follows. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a cassette body that collectively stores stacked sheets of paper P. Paper outlet 2 formed by cutting out the upper edge of
is formed. Further, a support plate (bottom plate) 4 is provided at the bottom front part of the cassette body 1 and is always urged upward by a plurality of springs 3. It supports the side in the take-out direction of P and is pushed up so as to come into contact with the friction take-out rollers 5, 5 as a constant paper feeding means.

Further, separation claw holding levers 6, 6 are disposed at the front portions of both sides inside the cassette main body 1, and separation claws 7, 7 integrally molded on the free ends of these separation claw holding levers 6, 6 hold the cassette. It is designed to press both corners of the upper surface of the paper P stored in the main body 1 in the take-out direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the separation claw holding levers 6, 6 are assembled by inserting a supporting shaft 8, which is integrally provided in a protruding manner, into a mounting hole 9 which is provided in a protruding manner in the side frame portion 1b of the cassette main body 1, as shown in FIG. It is configured to be rotatable about a support shaft 8 as a fulcrum. Further, a retaining ring 10 is attached to the support shaft 8 to prevent the support shaft 8 from coming out from the mounting hole 9.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a side frame portion 1b serving as a lever mounting member is provided at a free end portion and a pivot end portion on the outer wall side of the separation claw holding lever 6, respectively.
A pair of dot-like protrusions 11, 11 are provided to reduce contact resistance with the inner wall surface. Furthermore, a pair of linear protrusions 12, 12 are provided on the inner wall side of the separation claw holding lever 6 to reduce contact resistance with the side end surface of the paper P.

Therefore, the separation claw holding levers 6, 6 having the separation claws 7, 7 on the free end side are connected to the paper P
......and the side frame portion 1b which is the lever mounting member,
Since the contact resistance with the inner wall surface of the cassette 1b is reduced, the separation claws 7, 7 are always accommodated in the cassette body 1, and rotate smoothly under their own weight without causing sliding defects. Both corners of the upper surface of the paper P are pressed down with an appropriate claw load. Therefore, the uppermost sheet P taken out from the cassette main body 1 as the friction take-out rollers 5, 5 rotate is sufficiently bent by the separating claws 7, 7 and separated from the second sheet P. Afterwards, both ends of the sheet that were being held down quickly pass over the separation claws 7, 7, and only the topmost sheet P is reliably taken out.

In the embodiment described above, the separation claw holding lever 6 contacts both the paper P and the side frame portion 1a serving as a lever mounting member to which the separation claw holding lever 6 is attached. Although a description has been given of a case in which protrusions 11, 11, 12, and 12 are provided on both sides, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in Fig. 4, when a common cassette main body 1 is used regardless of paper sizes P, when storing small-sized paper P..., the bottom surface of the cassette main body 1 is In the case where the separation claw holding lever 6 is rotatably attached to the back side of the guide plate 13 that guides the side end surface of the paper P that is erected,
Protrusions 11, 11 are provided only on one side of the guide plate 13, which serves as a lever mounting member, that contacts the back surface.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the separation claw holding lever 6
In the case where a spacer 14 is interposed between the side frame portion 1b serving as a lever mounting member to prevent mutual contact between them, the protrusions 12, 12 may be provided only on one side that contacts the paper P. become.

In addition, although the protrusions 12, 12 provided on the side of the separation claw holding lever 6 that comes into contact with the paper P are straight,
For example, as shown in FIG. 6, arcuate protrusions 12' and 12' are formed around the support shaft 8, which serves as a rotation fulcrum, to further reduce the contact resistance with the accumulated paper P during rotation. You can also do this.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the present invention. Also,
In the description of the other embodiments mentioned above, the same parts as those of the above-mentioned embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

As explained above, the present invention provides a protrusion on at least one side of the separation claw holding lever to reduce the contact resistance between the paper or the lever mounting member to which the separation claw holding lever is attached. The rotation of the separation claw holding lever becomes smooth,
The load of the separating claw on the paper is maintained appropriately, improving the reliability of paper feeding. This effect is especially great when sheets of irregularly arranged paper are stored.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a paper feed cassette according to an embodiment of the present invention installed in a paper feed section, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the main part of the embodiment, and Fig. 3 is a separation claw. FIG. 4 is a plan view of the main part of another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a plan view of the main part of still another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. The figure is a perspective view showing a modified example of a separation claw holding lever having a separation claw. P...Paper, 1...Cassette body, 4...Support plate, 6...Separation claw holding lever, 7...Separation claw, 1
b, 13... Lever mounting part, 11, 12, 12'
……protrusion.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cassette body 1 that accommodates stacked sheets of paper P.
, a support plate 4 that supports the paper stored in the cassette main body, and a separation claw 7 that presses the top corner of the paper supported by the support plate in the removal direction.
and a rotatable separation claw holding lever 6 which has the separation claw on the free end side and is attached directly or indirectly to the cassette body, the separation claw holding lever 6 Protrusions 11, 12, 12' are provided on at least one side of the paper to reduce contact resistance with the paper or the lever mounting members 1b, 13 to which the separation claw holding lever is attached. Paper cassette.