JPS63295336A - Circulating type document feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically feed both-side documents with a simple structure and reduce the time for the copying operation of multiple copying by rotating a document picture image and opposing the whole faces of it to an exposing part. CONSTITUTION:Both-side documents placed on a document tray 7 are introduced to a document drum 2 one sheet at a time from one positioned on the lowermost part in order by means of a conveying belt 11 and a conveying roller 11a. And, since each sheet of both-side documents which has been subjected to a copying operation is once inverted before it is discharged onto the document tray, the discharged document has its face which was opposite to the exposing part 3 upward. Thus, the documents which are inverted upside down are placed on the document tray 7 in the same order as at the time of setting the documents. From this condition, as the documents are again introduced to the document drum 2 one sheet at a time, the top face at the time of setting the documents is opposed to the exposing part 3. Each document which has been subjected to the second copying operation is also once inverted and discharged onto the document tray 7. Accordingly, the documents are set on the document tray 7 in the same condition as at the time of setting the document.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Industrial field of application This invention is a copying machine equipped with a double-sided copying function,
A single-sided or double-sided original placed on a document tray is guided one by one to an exposure unit (relating to a circulating document feeder).

(b1 Overview of the Invention The circulating document feeder according to the present invention can be summarized as follows: It is equipped with a double-sided original transport unit that transports double-sided originals to the original drum without reversing them, and the number of copies is determined when the single-sided original or double-sided original transported from the single-sided original transport unit or the double-sided original transport unit is wrapped around the original drum. By facing the exposure unit and then inverting it once before transporting it, it is possible to transport single-sided and double-sided originals in accordance with the page order with a simple structure, and to speed up the copying process of multiple copies. This is what I did.

(C) Conventional technology Some copying operations involve continuously copying multiple originals with consecutive pages, and with the spread of copying machines equipped with double-sided copying functions, multiple single-sided manuscripts with consecutive pages are sometimes copied. A duplex copying operation is performed in which an original is copied onto both sides of half of the sheets, or a plurality of double-sided originals are copied onto both sides of the same number of sheets. In order to simplify such double-sided copying work, it is essential to have a device that continuously feeds multiple consecutive pages of originals to the exposure area, and in particular, a device that can reverse the original when double-sided copying of double-sided originals is required. is required.

Therefore, in the conventional system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-26464, a two-tiered sheet path is constructed vertically between the support train on which the original is placed and the platen, and in the case of a single-sided original, the sheet path is separated from the support tray. The document is reversed once and sent via VC onto the platen through only one sheet path, and in the case of a double-sided document, the document is reversed twice by passing through both sheet paths and placed thinly on the platen. After the copying process is completed, the original that has been inverted on the platen is inverted once more and returned to the support tray 2, so that each time the double-sided original passes through this conveyance path, its front and back sides are inverted on the support tray. I also make sure that both sides of the manuscript are copied.

(d1) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional document feeder described above, the document transport path is stopped on a two-stage platen between the document placement section and the exposure section. It has a configuration in which light is sent back and forth, and in a multi-copy mode in which the image of a single document is copied onto multiple sheets of paper, the copying operation takes a long time.

The principle of this invention is that single-sided originals are reversed once, double-sided originals are guided to the exposure section without being reversed, and the original image is rotated so that its entire surface faces the exposure section, thereby making it possible to create double-sided originals with a simple structure. An object of the present invention is to provide a circulation type document feeder that can automatically feed documents and shorten the time required for multi-copying work.

(e) Means for Solving the Problems The circulating document feeder of the present invention includes a rotatable document drum around which a document is wound, an exposure section facing the circumferential surface of the document drum; A single-sided document transport section that transports the originals on the original tray from the lowest position to the original drum in the single-sided original mode, and a single-sided original transport unit that transports the originals on the original tray from the lowest position to the lowest original in the double-sided copy mode. A double-sided document transport section that sequentially feeds the document to the document drum without reversing it, a counter that counts the number of times the document wrapped around the document drum faces the exposure section, and a counter that counts the number of copies that have been set in advance. The present invention is characterized by being provided with a document discharging section that once inverts and discharges the document wrapped around the circumferential surface of the document drum onto the top of the document on the document tray.

(f) Function In this invention, the single-sided originals placed on the original tray are reversed once and conveyed to the original drum in order starting from the original located at the bottom, and are wound around the circumferential surface of the original f-height drum. be done. A counter counts the number of times the original wrapped around the original drum faces the exposure section due to rotation of the original drum. It is turned over once and then discharged. Therefore, a single-sided original placed on the original tray with its image side facing up is discharged onto the original tray with its image side facing up after its image side faces the exposure section. Therefore, when copying operations are completed for all originals placed on the original tray, all the originals are placed on the original tray in the same state as they were initially set.

The double-sided originals placed on the original tray are transported to the original drum in order starting from the lowest original, and after facing the exposure unit for the number of copies, the originals are reversed once and placed on the original tray. is discharged to the top. Therefore, while the document is placed on the document tray, the image on the bottom surface of the document faces the exposure section, and then the document is discharged onto the document tray with that surface facing upward. Therefore, once the copying operation is completed for all the originals, the originals are placed on the original tray in the same order as when they were first placed, and with the top and bottom sides reversed. When all the originals are led to the exposure section again from this state, the image on the top surface when initially set faces the exposure section, and the originals are discharged onto the document tray with this side facing upward. Therefore, when the second copying operation is completed for all the originals, all the originals are placed on the original tray in the same state as when they were first placed.

(Embodiment a) FIG. 1 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a circulating document feeder that is an embodiment of the present invention.

A document tray 7 is exposed on the top surface of the circulating document feeder 1. A plurality of originals can be stacked and arranged on this original tray 7. A document drum 2 is rotatably provided on the left side inside the circulating document feeder 1 . This document drum 2 is supplied with rotational force from a drum motor M1. A slit disk 15 is fixed to the rotation shaft of the document drum 2. This slit disk 15 has a slit 15a at one location on the outer periphery, and a document tray 7 is provided with a photo ink printer 16 at a position where this slit 15a can be detected.
Below, on the document drum 2 side and on the opposite side, there are transport healds 11 and 8 and transport rollers lla and 8a.
is provided.

The conveyance belt 11 is guided to the document drum 2 through a rotational force from a double-sided motor M3. At this time, the original is not reversed. Meanwhile, the transport bell! -8 is supplied with rotational force from the single-sided motor M2, and guides the originals on the original tray 7 to the original drum 2 via the reversing conveyance path 9 and the single-sided conveyance path 10 in order from the lowest one. At this time, the document is once reversed in the reversing conveyance path 9.

An exposure section 3 made of hard transparent glass is provided vertically below the document drum 2 . This exposure section 3 faces the document drum 2 over its entire width in the longitudinal direction. A charging charger 14 is provided near the outer periphery of the document drum 2 and between the exposure section 3 and the double-sided conveyance path 12 and the single-sided conveyance path 10 . The charger 14 faces the circumferential surface of the document drum 2 over the entire length thereof, and
The peripheral surface of the document drum 2 is charged with a potential by corona discharge.

A registration roller 18 is provided between the electrification charger 14 and the double-sided conveyance path 12 and the single-sided conveyance path 10. This registration roller 18 has a registration clutch CLT.
Rotational force is selectively supplied from the drum motor M1 by I. Further, a plurality of rollers 2a are in contact with appropriate positions on the outer peripheral surface of the document drum 2.

Further, a document discharge path 17 is formed between the vertically upper portion of the document drum 2 and the document tray 7. This document discharge path 17 is provided with discharge rollers 17a and 17b. Further, a document discharge path 17 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the document drum 2.
A flapper 13 is provided at a position facing the. This flapper 13 selectively contacts a part of the outer peripheral surface of the document drum 2 by driving the solenoid 5OLI. In the above, the conveyor belt 8, the conveyor roller 8a, the single-sided motor M2
and a reversing conveyance path 9 constitute the single-sided document conveyance section 4, which includes a conveyance bell) 11, a conveyance path 11a, and a double-sided document motor M3.
constitutes the double-sided document conveying section 5. Also, flapper 1
3. The document discharge path 17 and discharge rollers 17a and 17b constitute the document discharge section 6.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a copying machine to which the above-mentioned circulating document feeder is installed.

A photosensitive drum 22 is rotatably provided in the center of the copying machine main body 21, and a copying process section 25 is provided along with a charger 23, a developing device 24, etc. on the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum 22.
It consists of A paper tray 26a, paper trays 26b and 25c are attached to one side of the copying machine main body 21, and a paper feed section 28 is installed along with paper feed rollers 27a to 27c.
It consists of A sorter 34 is attached to the other side of the copying machine main body 21, and forms a paper ejection section 29 together with a paper ejection roller 29a provided inside the copying machine main body 21. A timing roller 30, a conveyance belt 31, and a fixing device 32 are provided between the paper feed section 28, the copy process section 25, and the paper discharge section 29, and a paper conveyance path 33.
A light source 44 is located above the interior of the copying machine body 21 that constitutes the main body 21 of the copying machine.
, mirrors 45a to 45d, and a lens 46. Light from the light source 44 of the optical system device 47 is irradiated onto the image surface of the original, and the reflected light is distributed onto the surface of the photosensitive drum 22 via mirrors 45a to 45d and the lens 46.

It should be noted that the circulation type document feeder 1 of this embodiment is used in the copying machine main body 2.
1, the light source 44 and the exposure section 3 face each other when the light source 44 is at the initial position shown in the figure.

There is a paper discharge section 2 inside the sorter 34 and the cabinet 36.
A sub-transport path 40 is configured to communicate between the paper feed section 9 and the paper feed section 28. A flapper 36 provided inside the sorter 34 guides the paper discharged from the copying machine main body 21 to either the paper discharge path 42 or the sub-conveyance path 40 . A switchback transport path 37 and an intermediate tray 39 are formed in the sub-transport path 40 . The switchback transport path 37 reverses the front and rear ends of the sheet in the traveling direction within both transport paths formed in a loop shape by the intermediate road 33 and the sub-transport path 40 . Intermediate tray 39
temporarily stores the paper guided to the sub-transport path 40.

With the above configuration, in the single-sided copy mode, the paper fed from the paper feed section 28 is guided into the copy process section 25 by the timing roller 30 in synchronization with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 22. The paper onto which the original image has been transferred is transferred to the conveyor belt 31
After being guided to the fixing device 33 and subjected to heating and pressure, the sheet is discharged from the sheet discharge section 29 to the bin 43 of the sorter 34 by the sheet discharge rollers 29a and 42.

In the double-sided copying mode, the sheet fed from the sheet feeding section 28 and the sheet on which the image has been copied is guided to the sub conveyance path 40 . In the sub-transport path 40, the front and rear ends of the paper are reversed in the horizontal and vertical feed path 37, and then temporarily stored in the intermediate tray 3. After that, when the original is replaced, the paper is fed from the intermediate tray 39 by the paper feed roller 41 and guided to the copying process section 25 via the sub-transport path 40 and the transport path 33. At this time, since the front and rear ends of the paper have been reversed, the opposite side of the paper faces the photoreceptor drum 22 from the first copying process. The paper on which images have been formed on both sides in this manner is discharged into a bin 43 by paper discharge rollers 29a and 42.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control section of the circulation type document feeder.

The CPU 61 outputs data for controlling each input/output device according to a program written in the ROM 62 in advance. R
A part of the memory area of AM63 is allocated to the working area at this time. I10 for CPU61
A motor driver 65 , a charger driver 66 , a solenoid driver 67 , a clutch driver 68 , a photointerrupter 16 , and a control section of the copying machine main body 21 are connected via an interface 64 .

The motor driver 65 drives the drum motor M1, single-sided motor M2, and double-sided motor M3 according to control data output from the CPU 61. Charger driver 66 drives charger 14 according to control data output from CPU 61. In addition, the solenoid driver 67
Similarly, the clutch driver 68 is the solenoid 5OL.
I and registration clutch CLT1. The photo interrupter 16 is a slit 15a of the slit disk 15.
When detected, a detection pulse is output to the CPU 61. C
When this pulse is input, the PU 6.1 knows that the document drum 2 has made one rotation. Further, the CPU 61 exchanges data with the control section of the copying machine via the I10 interface 64. Memory areas MEI and MB2 of the RAM 63 store the number M of originals and the number S of copies sent from the control section of the copying machine, as shown in FIG. Also, R.A.
Memory areas ME3 to ME5 of M63 are allocated to a counter C1, a counter C2, and a timer T, respectively, which will be described later.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the control section of the circulation type document feeder.

After the power is turned on, the CPU 61 of the control unit included in the circulating document feeder 1 waits for the print switch of the copying machine body 21 to be operated. When the print switch is operated in the copying machine main body 21, the drum motor M1 is driven and the timer T is started (n2, n3). Further, the charger 14 is driven (n4), and the number of original sheets M and the number of copies S are read from the control section of the copying machine main body 21 (n5). The number M of originals and the number S of copies are stored in the RAM 63 as described above.
are stored in memory areas MEI and MB2, respectively.

Next, it is checked whether the set mode is single-sided original mode or double-sided original mode (n6). When the single-sided document mode is set, the single-sided motor M2 is driven for a predetermined period of time (n7 to n9). Here, the time t2 measured by the timer is the time until the front end of the document reaches the conveyance roller 10a. After this, when a predetermined period of time has elapsed, the registration clutch CLTI is driven (n13.n14
). Here, the time t1 measured by the timer T is the time from when the single-sided document reaches the registration rollers 18 via the reversing conveyance path 9 and the single-sided conveyance path 10 until the slit 15a of the slit disk 15 faces the registration rollers 18 for the first time. be. When the registration clutch CLT1 is turned on, the registration rollers 18 start rotating, and the paper is guided toward the document drum 2. At this time, the outer circumferential surface of the document drum 2 has already been charged with a potential by the charging charger 14, and the document is attracted to the surface of the document drum 2 and wound around it. At this time, the position of the slit I-15a of the slit disk 15 coincides with the leading edge of the document.

Next, when a detection pulse is input from the photo ink converter 16, the contents of the counter C1 allocated to the memory area ME3 are incremented by n15. n16), the document 2 is wound around the circumferential surface of the document drum 2 until the content of this counter C1 matches the number of copies S (counter C
When the content of 1 matches the number of copies S, solenoid SQL
1 to bring the separating claw 13 into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the document drum 2 (n18). The photo ink converter 16 outputs a detection pulse when the slit 15a is located on the vertical line. At this time, the leading end of the document wrapped around the circumferential surface of the document drum 2 faces the exposure section 3 . Therefore, if the solenoid is driven when the content of the counter C1 that counts the output pulses of the photo ink printer 16 matches the number of copies, when the document drum 2 rotates in the direction of arrow A and reaches the separating claw 13, the document kf, 11 separation is started, and the document is led to the document ejection path 17. After that, the counter C2 assigned to the memory area ME4 is incremented (n19), and it is checked whether the contents of the counter C2 match the number of document sheets M. (n20). The content of counter c2 is the number of originals M
If they do not match, the process returns to step n6 for the next document from n6 to n9. Repeat operations n13 to n19. When the content of the counter C2 matches the number M of originals, the process returns to step n1 and waits for the print switch to be operated.

If the set mode is the double-sided original mode, the double-sided motor M3 is driven for a predetermined time (n10 to n12). Here, the time t3 measured by the timer T is the time until the leading edge of the document reaches the registration rollers 18. Thereafter, the registration clutch CLTI is turned on at a predetermined timing, and the same processing as in the one-sided original mode is performed. At step n20, when the processing for the number M of originals is completed, the process waits for the print switch to be operated. When the operator operates the print switch on the copying machine body 21 again, step n2
~n6. Processes n10 to n12 are performed.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the single-sided originals placed on the original tray 7 are sequentially transferred to the reversing transport path 9 by the transport belt 8 and the transport roller 8a, starting from the lowest one.
The document is then guided to the document drum 2 through the single-sided conveyance path 10 . At this time, the single-sided document is once reversed in the reversing conveyance path 9. Therefore, the upper surface of the original on the original l/ray 7 faces the exposure section 3 located below the original drum 2.

After the copying process has been completed, the original is conveyed to the original drum 2, then turned over once, and then discharged to the original tray 7.

Therefore, when the document is ejected to the tray 7, the exposure section 3
The surface facing is the top surface.

The double-sided original placed on the original tray 7 is placed on the urethral belt 11.
The documents are guided to the document drum 2 one by one by the conveyance roller lla, starting from the lowest one. At this time, the document is not reversed. Therefore, the lower surface of the document set on the document tray 7 faces the exposure section 3.

Since the double-sided document that has been copied is once reversed and discharged to the document tray, the surface of the document discharged to the document tray 7 faces the exposure section 3 facing upward. When the copying work for the number of originals is completed in this manner, the originals are placed on the original tray 7 in the same order as when the originals were inserted, and with the front and back sides reversed. From this state, the originals are again guided one by one to the original drum 2 (and the top surface when the original is placed is at the exposure area 3).
to face. The original after the second copying operation is also reversed once and discharged to the original tray 7. Therefore, when the second copying operation is completed for the number of originals, the original tray 7
The original will be placed on top in the same state as when the original was set.

(h) Effects of the Invention According to the present invention, in the single-sided document mode, the document is once reversed and guided to the document drum, and in the double-sided document mode, the document is guided to the document drum without being reversed. At the same time, after the copying process is completed, the original is turned over once and then ejected to the original tray.
The document transport path between the document tray and the document drum can be simplified. In addition, since the original is wrapped around the original drum that rotates relative to the exposure section, there is no need for either the optical system or the original to move back and forth, which eliminates time loss during return movement and shortens the copying process. It can be timed.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a circulating document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic front cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a copying machine to which the circulating document feeder is installed.
Figure 3 is a block diagram of the control unit of the circulating document feeder.
FIG. 4 is a memory map of the main part of the RAM forming a part of the control section of the circulating document feeder, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the control section of the circulating document feeder. 1-Circulating document feeder, 2-Document drum, 3-Exposure section, 4-Single-sided document conveyance section, 5-Double-sided document conveyance section, 6-Document discharge section, 7-Document tray.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A rotatable document drum that wraps documents around its periphery; an exposure section that faces the circumferential surface of the document drum; A single-sided document transport section that inverts the document once and transports it to the document drum; a double-sided document transport section that transports the document on the document tray to the document drum in order from the lowest document in double-sided copying mode without inverting the document; and the document drum. There is a counter that counts the number of times the original wrapped around the original drum faces the exposure section, and when the counter counts the preset number of copies, the original wrapped around the original drum is moved to the top of the original on the original tray. A circulation type document feeder comprising: a document ejection section that is reversed once and then ejected; and a document feeder.