JPS6371038A - Pafer feed device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to continuously feed even rigid cards or the like with a high degree of efficiency, by mounting a second cassette casing storing therein cards or the like, on the front surface of a box, and by feeding the cards or the like one by one to a out-sheet conveying path from the lowermost one of them with the use of a paper feed roller. CONSTITUTION: When printing is made to post cards 24, a second cassette casing 18 is mounted onto the front surface of a box, and paper feed is made by rotating a paper feed roller 29 by means of a motor 28. When an engaging piece 58 of the second cassette casing 18 engages with a pawl 59, a pressing member 53 is pressed downward so that the lowermost one of the post cards 24 is subjected to the pressure of a pressing section 52, and therefore, it is fed by means of the paper feed roller 29, passing through a gate 37. After the paper feed roller 29 rotates to feed one post card 24 and then stops, a cam 30 pushes up the post card 24 by means of a projection on a swing arm 33 to separate the post card 24 from the feed roller 29 subsequent to the reach of the leading end of the post card 24 to a feed roller in the box, so that the post card 24 is fed only by the feed roller in the box.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feeding device that separates a large number of stacked sheets one by one and feeds them by a paper feeding roller.

Conventional technology Conventionally, a cassette case is provided at the bottom of a housing housing a printing unit, and a ticket conveyance path curves into a U-shape in order to convey the ticket pulled out from the front edge of the cassette case to the printing unit at the rear. Some machines are equipped with a feed roller in the ticket conveyance path.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, since the slips inside the cassette case at the bottom of the housing are curved, stiff cards such as postcards tend to bend. Some devices are equipped with a manual feed slot on the front of the housing, but it is extremely troublesome to insert postcards and the like one by one through this manual feed slot.

Means for Solving the Problem The housing of the printing machine includes a first cassette case located at the bottom and containing a large number of sheets in a stacked state, and a cassette case near the front edge of the first cassette case. A paper feed roller located at an upper portion, a printing section, and a ticket conveyance path that extends from the front edge of the first cassette case toward the front upper part, passes through a curved surface, and reaches the printing section at the rear are provided. A second cassette case with an opening at the top and having a mounting surface that supports sturdy cards in a stacked state facing an extension surface extending forward from the latter half of the conveyance path after the curved surface is attached to the printing machine. The second cassette case is detachably attached to the front surface of the cassette, and includes a paper feed roller that contacts the cards on the lowest layer, and a paper feed roller that is detachably attached to the second cassette case. A pressing body is provided with gates facing each other with a gap, a cover for opening and closing the top opening of the second cassette case is vertically movably connected to the second cassette case, and a pressing part for pressing the cards is formed at one end. The other end is rotatably connected to the cover, and a plate spring is provided on the rotatable free end side of the cover to bias the pressing body toward the placement surface of the second cassette case. A locking piece that elastically engages with the second cassette case is integrally formed on the plate spring.

Function: Therefore, the ticket in the first cassette case is pulled out by the paper feed roller and conveyed from the ticket conveyance path to the printing unit for printing. However, when printing on cards such as postcards, the Attach the second cassette case, press the cards in the second cassette case toward the paper feed roller with a pressing member, separate the cards with a gate, and use the paper feed roller to sequentially remove the cards from the bottom layer into the casing. It is sent to the latter half of the cut transport path inside the body. As a result, even stiff cards can be fed continuously and efficiently without bending.

Moreover, in order to press cards, the pressing body is urged by a plate spring, and by engaging the locking piece of this plate spring with the second cassette case, a clamp mechanism locks the cover in the closed state. It can be omitted.

Example An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, a printing section 2 is provided inside a housing 1 of the printing machine. The second printing unit 2 includes a rotating photoconductor 3, a charger 4 that forms a charged layer on the outer periphery of the photoconductor 3, and a laser beam scanned over the charged layer formed by the charger 4 to form an electrostatic latent image. an exposure section 5 that forms an electrostatic latent image, and a developing device 6 that develops this electrostatic latent image.
A transfer charger 13 transfers the developed image onto the cut sheet 12 that is fed up from the first cassette case 7 to the feed roller 8 and the feed rollers 9, 10, 11, and the transferred cut sheet 12. It consists of a fixing roller 14 that fixes the image. Further, inside the casing 1, there is provided a ticket conveyance path 16 that extends from the front edge of the cassette case 7 toward the front upper part, passes through the curved surface 15, and reaches the printing section 2 at the rear.

In addition, a manual feed cover 1 is selectively attached to the front of the housing 1.
7 and a second cassette case 18 are provided. As shown in FIG.
A curved guide surface 19 is formed to face the curved surface 15 of the roller 6 with a predetermined gap therebetween, and a pinch roller 20 that resiliently contacts the feed roller 9 is rotatably mounted.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the second cassette case 18 is formed with a curved guide surface 21 for conveying the cut sheet 12 between it and the curved surface 15 of the cut sheet conveyance path 16. On both sides of the tip of the curved guide surface 21, locking protrusions 22 are formed to detachably engage locking holes (not shown) formed on both sides of the cut conveyance path 16, and a feed roller 9
A pinch roller 23 in contact with is biased in one direction and rotatably provided. Note that the manual feed cover 17 also has locking protrusions 22 on both sides, and its attachment structure to the housing 1 is the same as that of the second cassette case 18.

The second cassette case 18 is formed with a storage section 26 that is open at the top and has a bottom surface 25 that supports postcards 24 as cards. A motor 28, a paper feed roller 29 and a cam 30 which are rotated by the motor 28 by a group of gears, and a PC board 3 are mounted on the base 27 at the bottom of the storage section 26.
1 and a swing arm 33 that rotates about a shaft 32 as a fulcrum. The paper feed roller 29 slightly protrudes upward from a window 34 formed in the bottom surface 25. A roller 35 that cushions the cam 30 is provided at the free rotation end of the swing arm 33, and a protrusion 36 that projects upward from the bottom surface 25 is provided.
is formed.

Next, a gate unit 38 having a gate 37 through which one postcard 24 is passed is fixed to the storage section 26. This gate unit 38, as shown in FIG.
A plate 40 having a mounting surface 39 formed on the upper surface on which the 4 is placed;
It consists of a frame body 41 and a gate plate 42. A window 43 is formed in the plate 40 through which the paper feed roller 29 projects. The frame body 41, the plate 4o, and the cassette case 18 are connected by screws 44 and nuts 45, and each gate plate 42 has two elongated holes 47 into which screws 46 are inserted. 41 so that the vertical position can be freely adjusted. Further, on both sides of the gate plate 42, there are inclined surfaces 48 which are inclined in the sending direction of the postcard 24 toward the placing surface 39.
are formed, and a gate 37 is formed between these inclined surfaces 48 and the mounting surface 39.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, a cover 50 for opening and closing the upper opening of the storage section 26 is attached to both sides of the frame 41 by a shaft 51 so as to be vertically movable.

At the free rotation end of the cover 50, the other end of a plate-shaped pressing member 53 having a pressing portion 52 for pressing the postcard 24 at one end is attached to the other end thereof so as to be vertically movable via a shaft 54. One leg 56 of a 7-shaped plate spring 55 is fixed to both sides of the pressing body 53.

As shown in FIG. 3, claws 59 are formed on both sides of the cassette case 18 to resiliently engage a locking piece 58 formed at the tip of the other leg 57 of the plate spring 55. Furthermore, stoppers 60 are formed on both sides of the pressing body 52 to abut against the inner surface of the cover 50 to restrict the rotation angle of the pressing body 52.

Next, the attachment structure of the plate spring 55 to the pressing body 52 will be explained in more detail based on FIG. 6. On both sides of the end of the pressing body 52 on the rotation center side, two notches 62 with side openings and two protrusions 63 are formed with a tongue piece 61 between them.
A recess 64 that contacts the lower side of the tongue piece 61 and a hole 65 that elastically engages with the ejection projection 63 are formed in the leg 56 of No. 5 .

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 10, one side of the cassette case 18 has a guide surface located on the same plane as a reference surface 66 that is formed on one side of the frame 41 and guides one side of the postcard 24. 6
7 and a support surface 68 that is displaced outwardly by a dimension a (approximately 3 mm) from the reference surface 66, and on the other side, an arm 7 that rotatably holds a guide piece 69 that presses the other side of the postcard 24.
o is rotatably attached around a screw 71 screwed into the bottom surface 25. As shown in FIG. 5, the arm 70 has a boss 73 that rotatably fits into a circular hole 72 formed in the guide piece 69, and a guide piece 69 located on both sides of the boss 73.
A protrusion 74 and an abutting surface 75 are formed to abut on the side surface of. A wave washer 76 is sandwiched between the arm 70 and the bottom surface 25 to provide frictional resistance to the rotational movement of the arm 70.

Furthermore, as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, the PC board 31
Two photoelectric detectors 77 and 78 are fixed to , and a postcard detection lever 79 and a cover detection lever 80 are rotatably mounted on a shaft 81 . A light shielding part 82, 83 is formed at one end of the postcard detection lever 79 and the cover detection lever 80 to block the optical axis of the photoelectric detector 78, and a protrusion 84 projecting upward from the bottom surface 25 is formed at the other end.
85° is formed. The protruding piece 84 is located directly below the postcard 24 in order to detect the presence or absence of the postcard 24, and the protruding piece 85 is located directly below the side edge of the cover 50 in order to detect whether the cover 50 is open or closed. The photoelectric detector 78 detects the motor 2 when the optical axis is blocked by either one of the light blocking parts 82 and 83.
The other photoelectric detector 77 detects one rotation of the cam 30 and disconnects the cam 3 from the power supply.
It detects the 0 honim position and outputs a stop signal to a motor drive circuit (not shown). For this,
A cam 30 is used to transmit power from the motor 28 to the cam 3o.
A hole (not shown) through which the optical axis of the photoelectric detector 77 passes is formed in the gear provided coaxially with the photoelectric detector 77 .

In such a configuration, the cut sheet 12 of the first cassette case 7 is pulled out by the paper feed roller 8, and the cut sheet 12 is pulled out by the feed roller 8,
10.11, the light is supplied to the photoreceptor 3 and printed.

When printing on other sheets, as shown in FIG. 12, attach the manual feed cover 17 to the front of the housing 1.
The cut sheets are fed one by one from the upper surface of the cut sheet transport path L6 to the intermediate portion of the cut sheet conveyance path L6.

When printing on postcards 24, as shown in FIG.
Attach it to the front of the Then, the paper is fed by rotating the paper feed roller 29 by the motor 28. Figures 1 and 2
3, when the locking piece 58 of the plate spring 55 is engaged with the claw 59, the spacing between the legs 56 and 57 of the plate spring 55 is widened by the claw 59, and the reaction force This urges the pressing body 53 downward. therefore.

The lowermost postcard 24 is sent to the left by the paper feed roller 29 under pressure from the pressing section 52 . At this time, the bottom postcard 2
Only 4 passes through gate 37 and is sent to case 1. Further, the paper feed roller 29 rotates and stops in order to feed one postcard 24, but the tip of the postcard 24 reaches the feed roller 1 inside the housing 1.
In the second half of the rotation operation after reaching 0, the cam 3o pushes up the roller 35 with a high bar, and the swing arm 3
Rotate 3 upward. As a result, the protrusion 36 is attached to the postcard 2.
4 is pushed up and separated from the paper feed roller 29, the motor 28 is stopped in this state by the detection signal of the charge detector 77, and the subsequent operation of sending the postcard 24 is left to the feed rollers 10 and 11 on the side of the housing 1. Ru.

In this way, even if the postcards 24 are stiff, they are fed straight from the front of the casing 1, so they are not bent and are fed continuously and efficiently.

Further, when replenishing the second cassette case 18 with postcards 24, the cover 50 is opened upward using the pin 51 as a fulcrum, as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. At this time, the rotation angle of the pressing body 52 is limited by the contact between the inner surface of the cover 50 and the stopper 6o, that is, the separation distance of the pressing portion 52 from the inner surface of the cover 50.
4 and does not prevent the cover 50 from moving in the closing direction. Furthermore, when the cover 50 is closed, the locking piece 58 of the plate spring 55 engages with the claw 59 elastically, so that
The cover 50 is pressed using the plate spring 55 that urges the pressing body 52.
can be kept closed. Accordingly, a clamp mechanism for the cover 50 can be omitted.

Furthermore, even if the cover 50 is closed without storing the postcard 24 and the paper feed roller 29 is rotated, by positioning the pressing part 52 at a position where it will not interfere with the paper feed roller 29,
The rubber outer circumferential surface of the paper feed roller 29 does not wear out.

Note that since the support surface 68 is shifted outward by the dimension a from the reference surface 66 and the guide surface 67, when the postcard 24 is pressed by the guide piece 69, the front of the postcard 24 in the direction of travel is shifted as shown in FIG. It comes into contact with the reference surface 66 and the support surface 68 in a state where it leans inward and the rear side leans outward. On the other hand, since the paper feeding roller 29 rotates with an axis perpendicular to the reference surface 66, the postcard 24 is brought closer to the width as the paper feeding operation progresses and comes into contact with the reference surface 66 and the guide surface 67. It will be fed parallel to the surface 66 and the guide surface 67. Therefore, meandering feed can be reliably prevented.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is configured as described above, the ticket in the first cassette case is pulled out by the paper feed roller, conveyed from the ticket conveyance path to the printing section, and printed. When printing on a paper, attach a second cassette case to the front of the housing, press the cards stored in the second cassette case against the paper feed roller using a pressing member, and separate the cards one by one using a gate. The cards can be fed out continuously, and the pressing body is urged by a plate spring to press the cards, but by engaging the locking piece of this plate spring with the second cassette case. This has the advantage that a clamp mechanism for locking the cover in a closed state can be omitted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view showing the second cassette case, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the second cassette case with the cover omitted, and FIG. The figure is a partial vertical side view of the A-A line section in Figure 2,
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the gate unit, Fig. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the support structure of the guide piece, and Fig. 6 is a partially exploded view showing the mounting structure of the cover, pressing body, and plate spring on an enlarged scale. A perspective view, FIG. 7 is a plan view of the PC board inside the second cassette case,
Figure 8 is a side view, Figure 9 is a perspective view of the postcard detection lever and cover detection lever, Figure 10 is a plan view showing the postcard feeding operation, and Figure 11 is the second cassette case attached to the housing. FIG. 12 is a longitudinal side view, in a reduced size, showing a state in which the manual feed cover is attached to the housing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first cassette case located at the bottom of the housing of the printing machine and accommodating a large number of tickets in a stacked state, and a portion near the front edge of the first cassette case. A paper feed roller located at an upper portion, a printing section, and a ticket conveyance path that extends from the front edge of the first cassette case toward the front upper part, passes through a curved surface, and reaches the printing section at the rear are provided. A second cassette case with an opening at the top and having a mounting surface that supports sturdy cards in a stacked state facing an extension surface extending forward from the latter half of the conveyance path after the curved surface is attached to the printing machine. The second cassette case is detachably attached to the front surface of the cassette, and includes a paper feed roller that contacts the cards on the lowest layer, and a paper feed roller that is detachably attached to the second cassette case. A pressing body is provided with gates facing each other with a gap, a cover for opening and closing the top opening of the second cassette case is vertically movably connected to the second cassette case, and a pressing part for pressing the cards is formed at one end. The other end is rotatably connected to the cover, and a plate spring is provided on the rotatable free end side of the cover to bias the pressing body toward the placement surface of the second cassette case. A paper feeding device characterized in that a locking piece that elastically engages with the second cassette case is integrally formed on the plate spring. 2. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is provided with a stopper that comes into contact with the inner surface of the cover to determine the rotation angle of the pressing member. 3. Claim 1, characterized in that the pressing part of the pressing body is located at a position where it does not come into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the paper feed roller.
Paper feeding device as described in section.