JPS63143162A - Sheet transfer direction switching device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure and prevent a jam by providing a pair of transfer rollers at the directly upstream side of a branch point swayably around a drive roller shaft and swaying the sheet discharge direction in response to the required branch transfer direction in a copying machine or the like. CONSTITUTION:A pair of transfer rollers 20, 21 located at the directly upstream side of a transfer path branch point are supported by a side plate 29 swayably around the shaft 26 of the drive roller 20, the tongue piece 29a of the side plate 29 hits a stopper 23 by the energizing force of a spring 25 when a solenoid 24 is not excited, and the sheet discharged through a pair of rollers 20, 21 is fed to an upward path 8. On the other hand, when the solenoid 24 is excited, an arm 22 is rotate to the right to rotate the side plate 29 to the left by an angle alpha, and the sheet discharge direction of a pair of rollers 20, 21 is set to a lower transfer path 10. Accordingly, the structure is simplified, and the possibility is reduced that a scratch is formed on the sheet or a jam is generated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a conveyance direction switching device for sheets conveyed along a conveyance path.

Conventional technology In devices that transport paper inside the machine, such as copying machines, the paper ejection direction can be switched between ejecting the paper with the back side reversed and ejecting it without reversing, or ejecting the paper after making a one-sided copy and ejecting the back side copy. Therefore, it is often necessary to branch the conveyance path and switch the conveyance direction for various purposes, such as switching between directing the paper toward the paper refeeding path and the like.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a paper conveyance path of an example of a copying apparatus capable of selecting one-sided copying or two-sided copying.

The transfer paper 5 is fed from the first tray 1 or the second tray 2, subjected to registration by the registration rollers 3, and fed to the transfer section of the photoreceptor 4, on which the toner image formed on the photoreceptor is transferred. , if the paper is to be ejected to the ejection tray 7 outside the apparatus after being fixed by the fixing device 6, one path 8 branched at the branching part A is used.
When stacking the sheets in the large-volume discharge section 9 in the apparatus or when performing double-sided copying, the sheets are transported along the other path 10. When stacking 14 sheets of paper in the bulk paper output section 9, the sheets conveyed along the path 10 are conveyed in the same direction,
When performing double-sided copying, the trailing edge of the paper passes through the branch point indicated by B in the figure and then is moved in reverse, transported through a duplex transport section 11 separate from the path 10 on which the paper has been transported, and transferred to the registration roller 3. The paper is fed again with the back side touching the photoconductor 4, and after the back side image is transferred, it is transferred to the paper output tray 7 outside the machine.
The paper is selectively discharged to the bulk paper discharge section-9.

Now, in the above-mentioned copying apparatus, when switching the paper conveyance direction without changing the direction of travel, such as at the branch part A, generally, as shown in FIG. A placket 16 fixed to the shaft 12 is displaced by a solenoid 13 and a spring 14 opposing the solenoid 13, and the paper sent out by the pair of paper transport rollers 17 can be guided to one of two branching paths. A switching pawl 15 is commonly used.

However, such a conveyance direction switching device requires space to equip a switching claw and a shaft to support it.
In particular, if the sheets to be conveyed are of various sizes, a large number of switching claws are required. Further, since the leading edge of the paper that is being fed by the pair of paper transport rollers 17 hits the claws, it is easy to leave marks on the paper or jam the paper, depending on the thickness of the paper and the shape of the claws.

Furthermore, as shown in the branching point B in Fig. 7, with respect to a device that transports the traveling direction in the opposite direction and performs a switchback to change the transporting direction, as shown in Fig. 9, a solenoid (not shown) is used at the branching point to displace the device. All the sensors 18 detect that the trailing edge of the paper has passed the branch point, and after a predetermined period of time, the pair of conveying rollers 17 on the downstream side are reversed, and at the same time the switching claw 15 is moved to the position shown by the chain line in the figure. A known device is known in which the paper is switched to the opposite direction so as to advance toward the duplex conveyance path 11, but this device also has the same drawbacks as the switching device of FIG.

Further, as a means for switching the conveying direction by using a switch bank, as shown in FIG.
．． Second driven rollers 41 and 42 are provided, and the paper conveyed through the path 48 is transferred to the drive roller 40 and the second driven roller 41.
and discharge it to a tray 44 which is inclined so that the tip is upward.
A so-called three-roller type paper reversal in which the trailing edge of the ejected paper is held in the nip between the drive roller 40 and the second driven roller 42 by its own weight, and the trailing edge is conveyed through the reversing path 45 first. A device is also known, but this device has the drawback that the paper is removed from the rollers once, so the registration and skew quality are not good.

Purpose The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the paper conveyance direction switching device, and an object of the present invention is to provide a conveyance direction switching device that can reliably and smoothly switch the conveyance direction of paper with a simpler configuration than the conventional one. do.

Structure In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a pair of conveyance rollers that are in pressure contact with each other on the upstream side of the conveyance path branching position with respect to the paper traveling direction, and are pivotally supported on a common side plate, and the side plate is supported by the axis of the rollers. The swing angle of the side plate is selected so that the paper discharge direction of the pair of rollers can be selected from any one of the branch directions at the branch position. The invention is characterized in that it has a means for doing so.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2 are diagrams showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the branch section indicated by A of the copying machine in FIG. The transport rollers 20, 21 of the two are pivotally supported on a common side plate 29. The side plate 29 is connected to the shaft 2 of the drive roller 20 of the pair of rollers.
It is pivotally supported so as to be able to swing freely around 6. A gear 30 is attached to one end of the shaft 26 of the drive roller 20, as shown in FIG.
is fixed, and driving force is transmitted from the main body side through this gear to rotate the drive roller 20 and convey the paper. Side plate 2
The tongue piece 29a extending downward from the roller pair 20.21 is pulled by the spring 25 and normally comes into contact with the stopper 23, and the roller pair 20.21 maintains the position shown in FIG. is sent to the path 8 upward from the first branch. The tongue piece 29 is engaged with the arm 22 that moves around the shaft 28 by a solenoid 24, and when the solenoid 24 is turned on, the roller pair 20.21 moves around the shaft 26 via the arm 22 and the side plate 29. As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet is ejected by the pair of rollers 20.degree. 21 toward the lower conveyance path 10. As shown in FIG. The timing for turning on the solenoid 24 may be a predetermined time after the starting timing of the registration roller 3, or if there is another suitable timing, it may be turned on after a predetermined time delay.

4 and 5 are diagrams showing an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a conveyance direction switching device for the switchback type branch point B in FIG. 7.

A pair of transport rollers 31 and 32, which are provided in pressure contact with each other and are provided immediately downstream of the branch point B, are pivotally supported by a common side plate 33. A gear 31' is fixed to the end of the drive roller 31, and a driving force is applied from the main body side. is transmitted and can rotate in forward and reverse directions. As in the previous embodiment, the side plate 33 can swing between the position shown in FIG. 4 and the position shown in FIG. 6 by a solenoid (not shown), and in the position shown in FIG. 1
The paper conveyed through the ゜ direction is directly conveyed to the path 9' leading to the bulk discharge section 9, and the roller pair 3 is moved to the position shown in Fig. 6.
1. When 32 is reversed, the paper on the path 9' is sent to the duplex conveying section 11. Therefore, when reversing the paper and sending it to the duplex feeding section for double-sided copying, the roller pair 3
1.32 in the position shown in Fig. 4 and the roller pair 31.32.
is rotated in the forward direction, and at a predetermined time after the sensor 18 detects the trailing edge of the paper, the r#IJ transition flora pair 32 is reversely rotated and at the same time is oscillated to the position shown in FIG. 6 and held at that position. , the paper is transported to the double-sided conveyance section 11 in an inverted state with the trailing edge first.
can be sent to.

In each of the above embodiments, there are two transport directions at the branching point of the paper transport path.
We explained the case where the branch branches in one direction, but if one branch direction is three
In the above case, the common side plate that pivotally supports the roller pair may be rotated by a step motor, a servo motor, or the like so as to match the direction of each branched conveyance path.

Effects As described above, according to the present invention, the pair of conveying rollers originally provided immediately upstream of the branching point can be swung around the drive roller shaft, and the paper ejection direction can be adjusted to the required branching conveying direction. The paper transport direction can be changed by simply swinging the machine, which simplifies the configuration, and since the transport direction is switched using rollers, there is less chance of scratches on the paper or jams that occur with conventional devices. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view thereof, Fig. 3 is a side sectional view explaining its operation, and Fig. 4 is a side sectional view 1 of another embodiment of the invention. Figure 5 is its perspective view, Figure 6
The figure is a side sectional view for explaining its operation, FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing the paper conveyance path of an example of a copying machine having a branch part in the paper conveyance path, and FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG. 10 are conventional ones. FIG. 3 is a side sectional view showing an example of the paper conveyance direction switching device of FIG. 5.10... Paper conveyance path, 10ell... Branch direction, 20.21: 31, 32... Conveyance roller pair, 20.
31... Drive roller, 24... Solenoid, 29133... Common side plate 7th
Figure 8 Figure 9

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a device that switches the conveyance direction of paper conveyed along a conveyance path into a plurality of branching directions, a pair of conveyance rollers that are in pressure contact with each other on the upstream side of the conveyance path branch position with respect to the paper traveling direction are shafted on a common side plate. the side plate is swingably supported around an axis parallel to the axis of the roller, and the sheet discharge direction of the pair of rollers selects any one of the branch directions at the branch position. 1. A paper conveyance direction switching device characterized in that a means for selecting a swing angle of a side plate is provided so that the side plate can be rotated. (2) The above-mentioned branching direction is branched by proceeding in a direction opposite to the initial conveyance direction at the branching point, and the above-mentioned swingable roller pair is capable of forward and reverse rotation. A paper conveyance direction switching device according to claim 1. (3) The paper conveyance direction switching device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the side plate is swingable about the axis of the drive-side roller. (4) The paper transport direction switching according to claim 1, wherein the paper transport direction switching direction is two directions, and the means for swinging the side plates of the roller pair is a solenoid. Device.