JP2995689B2 - Automatic paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic sheet feeding apparatus for separating and feeding sheets one by one from a stacked sheet bundle.

[Conventional technology]

When a copier makes multiple copies of a document consisting of a plurality of originals, it is possible to automatically feed the originals onto the contact glass of the copier to save time and effort. 1 from the bottom of the stack of originals placed on
The originals are extracted one by one and fed onto the contact glass of the copying machine.The exposed originals are returned and stacked on the original bundle placed on the original mounting table to reduce the number of copies. An automatic document recirculation feeding device (Recycle Docum) that circulates each document in the circulation path consisting of the paper feed path and the return path a number of times corresponding to the page order and feeds it onto the contact glass.
ent Handler; abbreviated as RDH) is used.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

Generally, in the RDH described above, the original is circulated repeatedly in function, so depending on environmental conditions (especially at low temperature and low humidity),
Static electricity is likely to occur, and the documents tend to stick to each other. In particular, during paper feeding, if the paper is fed downward, the document, the table, and the document are rubbed. In addition, overseas copy manuscripts on paper quality,
Because of poor smoothness and susceptibility to static electricity, paper feeding failures such as non-feeding and double feeding during paper feeding tend to occur.

On the other hand, since the discharging unit to the document tray is provided with a discharging unit, the discharged document can be neutralized to some extent, but especially when the number of documents is large, the weight of the document increases, and the lowermost document is more closely attached. It will be easier. In such a state, there is a problem that static electricity is easily generated at the time of paper feeding, and the static elimination effect at the time of discharging is insufficient.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic sheet feeding apparatus which can solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional apparatus and can prevent defective sheet feeding.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the first means includes a stopper movable to a position for regulating the sheet bundle and a position for releasing the regulation, a separating unit for separating the sheet bundle one by one,
In an automatic paper feeder including a call roller that feeds the sheet bundle to the separation unit, a position where the sheet bundle is regulated is almost directly above an axis of the call roller, and the regulation is performed. Is released, the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle on the call roller, the plurality of call rollers are provided coaxially,
The pressing position of the stopper against the sheet bundle is set between the plurality of calling rollers.

The second means is such that in the automatic sheet feeding apparatus based on the same premise as the first means, the position where the sheet bundle is regulated is substantially right above the axis of the call roller and the regulation is released. Thereafter, the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle on the call roller, and the call roller has one flat surface, and is located at the lowest position when the sheet bundle is set. The rotation of the call roller is set so that the call roller does not protrude from the surface of the sheet.

A third means is the automatic paper feeding apparatus based on the same premise as the first means, wherein the position for regulating the sheet bundle is almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and the regulation is released. After that, the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle on the call roller, and a conveying means for assisting the conveyance of at least one of the call rollers is provided upstream in the conveying direction of the call roller. It is characterized by having.

A fourth means is the automatic paper feeder based on the same premise as the first means, wherein the position for regulating the sheet bundle is almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and the regulation is released. After that, the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle on the call roller, and a circulating transport unit that returns the sheet transported from the separation unit to a position regulated by the stopper again. It is characterized by having.

[Action]

In the first means, the pressing position of the stopper against the sheet bundle is set between a plurality of call rollers provided coaxially,
Since the paper is pressed against the call roller by utilizing the waist of the paper, the paper can be prevented from being damaged by pressurizing the stopper.

In the second means, when the sheet bundle is set, the calling roller does not protrude from the surface of the lowermost sheet,
Since the rotation position of the call roller is set such that the flat surfaces of the call roller face each other, the paper can be set smoothly.

According to the third means, the conveyance means assists the conveyance of the sheet by the call roller, so that the occurrence of a paper feeding failure can be prevented.

In the fourth means, since the stopper presses the upper surface of the sheet bundle, when the sheet circulates and returns again by the circulating transport means, the leading end of the sheet abuts against the stopper to regulate the sheet position. You. Further, the paper before the paper supply and the paper after the paper supply can be separated by the stopper.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the overall configuration of an RDH as an embodiment of the present invention. The RDH includes a sheet-supply table 1 provided in a cover-type case covering a contact glass 101 provided on the top surface of the copying machine main body 100 over a range excluding the left and right ends of the upper part thereof, and a left end in the drawing. A sheet feeding unit 70 including a sheet feeding mechanism for sequentially feeding one sheet at a time from the bottom of a sheet bundle placed on a sheet feeding table 1 provided in the unit to a contact glass 101, and a lower running unit of the contact glass 101 A transport unit having a transport belt 12 that slides over the entire upper surface and transports the original fed from the paper feed unit to a predetermined original exposure position on the contact glass 101, and after exposing the original, discharges the original from above the contact glass 101. 71, a reversing unit 72 for reversing the document sent from the transport unit 71, and a return unit 73 for returning the document reversed by the reversing unit 72 to a document bundle on the sheet feeding table 1. ing.

Hereinafter, each of the sheet feeding unit, the conveying unit, the reversing unit, and the return unit will be described in order.

(Sheet Feeding Unit) Side fences 2 are provided on both the left and right sides in the transport direction within the minimum document placing range at the front of the sheet feeding table 1. In the vicinity of the front end in the paper feeding direction of the paper feeding table 1, two call rollers 3a and 3b having a missing circular portion are positioned so that they do not protrude from the original placing surface when the missing circular portion is located above. Are provided before and after.

Above the call roller 3a, there is provided a pressing plate 4 which is driven by a solenoid (not shown) and presses down the leading end of the document at a position shown by a chain line in FIG. 1 to press the call roller 3a. Above the holding plate 4, there is provided a stopper 5 which rotates around the rear end and is displaced between a retracted position shown by a broken line and an operating position shown by a solid line in FIG. In the operating position, the toe of the stopper 5 abuts on the upper surface of the table 1 or the upper surface of the set of originals, and returns to the upper surface of the original bundle on the table 1 from behind by circulating the set claw when setting the original bundle. It has a function to correct the skew by abutting the leading edge of the document.

The document bundle pressed by the pressing roller 4a by the pressing plate 4 is reliably conveyed to the separation unit by the synchronous rotation of the calling rollers 3a and 3b. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 6 denotes a document set sensor, which detects that the document is set on the document bundle table 1, and outputs a call roller 3 based on the detection signal.
The document bundle is conveyed by rotating a and 3b by a fixed amount.

The call rollers 3a and 3b further have a function of reliably feeding the lowest sheet of the document bundle at the above-mentioned position in cooperation with the separation unit including the endless belt 7 and the separation roller 8. The separation roller 8 rotates in a direction for moving the document in the conveyance direction at a speed at which the peripheral bundle becomes the document conveyance speed. On the other hand, the endless belt 7 is pressed against the circumference of the separation roller 8 over the circumference thereof, and The direction opposite to the transport direction (arrow A in FIG. 1)
In the direction indicated by the arrow) at a speed of, for example, about 1/20 of the document conveying speed, the friction coefficient between the separation roller 8 and the document, the friction coefficient between the endless belt 7 and the document, and the By appropriately setting the friction coefficient, the original fed out from under the original stack by the call rollers 3a and 3b can
In the case of a sheet, the sheet is directly conveyed to the pull-out rollers 9 and 10 on the downstream side, and in the case of two or more sheets, only the lowest one sheet is separated and conveyed toward the pull-out rollers 9 and 10.

The separation roller 8 has a built-in one-way clutch. When the document is conveyed by the pull-out rollers 9 and 10, even if the driving of the separation roller 8 is stopped, the separation roller 8 is rotated to reduce the document conveyance load, and is conveyed at a predetermined speed. I can do it. Separation roller 8
Is turned on / off by a clutch (not shown), and when the registration sensor 11 provided at the discharge section from the paper feed section 70 to the transport section 71 detects the leading edge of the document, the clutch is turned off and the drive to the separation roller 8 is cut off. Is done. The registration sensor 11 also serves as a detection unit for detecting the trailing edge of the document and controlling to stop the document at a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass 101.

The above-mentioned call rollers 3a and 3b, the separation roller 8, and the pull-out roller 9 can be driven by a single motor or by separate motors.

(Conveying Unit) The conveying unit 71 is composed of a single wide conveying belt 12 wound around a pair of rollers 65 and 66, and its lower running part is pressed against the contact glass 101 by a plurality of pressure rollers 13; Paper feed section 7
The original sent from 0 is conveyed to a predetermined exposure position, and the exposed original is sent to the reversing unit 72.

(Reversing Unit) The reversing unit 72 includes a reversing roller 15 provided along a reversing guide, a pressing roller 16 pressed against the reversing roller 15, and a downstream side between a position shown by a solid line and a position shown by a broken line in FIG. A switching claw 14 displaceable therebetween is provided. The switching claw 14 is switched to the position indicated by the broken line in the case of the double-sided original mode. The switching claw 14 is located at the position shown by the solid line in the figure and is discharged to the return portion 73. A reversing sensor 17 is provided between the pressure roller 16 and the switching claw 14 so as to face the reversing roller 15, whereby the drive timing of the transport belt 12 is controlled. The transport belt 12 and the reversing roller 15 are each driven by a single motor (not shown).

(Return Unit) The return unit 73 is a paper discharge unit that can move on the paper feed table 1 in the document transport direction (the left-right direction in FIG. 1).
The document feed path 18 is connected to the rear of the paper discharge unit 18 in the transport direction, expands and contracts in accordance with the movement of the paper discharge unit 18, and forms a document transport path between the paper discharge unit 18 and the upper surface of the paper feed table 1 behind. It is configured to have a guide plate and an intermediate belt 27 for conveying the document discharged from the reversing section 72 to the paper discharge unit 18.

The above-mentioned guide plates are a plurality of (three in this example) guide plates 21, 22,
23, and by moving the paper discharge unit 18,
The overlap of the guide plates 21, 22, and 23 changes so as to expand and contract. The guide plates 21, 22, and 23 are sequentially overlapped outward in the document transport direction so that the front end of the document transported along the transport path is not caught by the overlapping portion of the guide plates. Above each of the guide plates 21, 22, and 23, an outer cover 24, 25, and 26, respectively, has a rear end fixed to a rising portion formed by bending a rear end of each guide plate upward, and is similar to the guide plate. Are provided so as to be able to extend and contract with each other.

 Note that reference numeral 103 denotes a partition sensor, and 104 denotes a neutralization brush.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a paper feeding unit which is a main part of the present invention, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and FIG. 6 are illustrations of a document feeding step, and FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the positional relationship of a board and a calling roller.

The stopper 5 that rotates about the fulcrum 102 has a function of suppressing the protrusion of the leading end when setting the original, and has a function of calling rollers 3a and 3 when the set original is called to the separation unit.
Before b completes one rotation, it comes into contact with the original and presses the original against the call rollers 3a and 3b, thereby pressing the paper at the time of paper feeding. The skew is corrected by abutting the leading edge of the original to be fed, and the original before feeding is separated from the returned original. At the tip of the stopper 5, a flexible holding plate (composed of an elastic body such as mylar) 4 is provided.
When the stopper 5 rotates, the root portion is pressed by the leading end, and the original is pressed against the left-side call roller 3a, and when the original is called into the separating portion, the leading end of the original is wedge-shaped to improve the document feeding performance. Improve. Here, the pressing force by the stopper 5 is larger than the pressing force by the pressing plate 4, and the main pressing means is the stopper 5.

Note that the call roller 3, the pressing plate 4, and the stopper 5 are arranged as shown in FIG.

Further, a neutralization brush 105 is provided at a position near the center of the document table 1 so as not to hinder the movement of the side fence, and the tip of the brush is in contact with the document. 41 is an extruded plate.

Next, the document feeding operation will be described with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 3, after the original is abutted against the stopper 5 and set, the stopper 5 is supplied by a feed signal from the copying machine.
Is released, the pushing plate 41 is advanced from the rear, and the call rollers 3a and 3b are rotated in the counterclockwise direction, so that the document is called into the separation unit. At this time, by releasing the stopper 5,
Pressing plate 4 pulls the original from the leading edge.
, The conveying force of the call roller 3a is obtained, and the leading end of the original is pushed forward in order from the lowest document (see FIG. 4). After a predetermined time, call
Before one rotation of 3a and 3b is completed, the stopper 5 descends and presses the document quickly (see FIG. 5). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6, the lowermost recording sheet is separated and fed one by one by the separation belt 7 and the separation roller 8, and at this time, the call rollers 3a and 3b are separated from the separation roller 8 by the separation roller 8. Cooperate to further rotate and help feed the bottom paper.

Note that the holding plate 4 may be formed of a thin leaf spring, and if it is a mylar that has been subjected to a charging process, the effect on static electricity is improved. Although the generation of static electricity is reduced when the document table 1 is made of metal, the present embodiment, in which the discharging brush 105 is added as an insulator, is more effective for discharging the document.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
The stopper also functions as a pressure member, and the pressing position of the stopper against the sheet bundle is set between the call rollers. Since the paper is pressed, it is possible to obtain the transport force required for transporting the paper bundle with a small configuration, and to prevent the paper from being damaged by pressurization of the stopper. Can be prevented.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the stopper also functions as a pressing member and the call roller has a flat surface, the conveying force required for conveying the sheet bundle can be obtained with a small configuration, and when the sheet bundle is set. The flat surface can be positioned so as to face the lowermost sheet, and the sheet can be set smoothly.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the stopper also serves as a pressing member, and the conveyance means assists the conveyance of the sheet by the call roller, so that the conveyance force required for conveying the sheet bundle can be obtained with a small configuration. In addition, it is possible to prevent a paper feeding failure at the time of calling the paper.

According to the invention described in claim 4, the stopper also serves as a pressing member, and when the paper is circulated by the circulating transport means and returned again, the stopper presses the upper surface of the sheet bundle. The transport force required for transporting the sheet bundle can be obtained with a small configuration, the position of the leading edge of the sheet can be regulated by the stopper, and the sheet before feeding and the sheet after feeding can be separated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an automatic circulating document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged configuration diagram of a paper feeding unit which is a main part of the present invention, FIG. 3, FIG. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of the document feeding step, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a positional relationship among a stopper, a pressing plate, and a call roller. 3a, 3b call roller, 4 press plate, 5 stopper, 7 separation belt, 8 separation roller, 104, 105
…… Antistatic brush.

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] A stopper that is movable between a position where the sheet bundle is regulated and a position where the regulation is released, a separation unit that separates the sheet bundle one by one, and feeds the sheet bundle to the separation unit. In the automatic sheet feeding apparatus having a call roller, the position of regulating the sheet bundle is set to be almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and after the regulation is released, the position on the call roller is reduced. The stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle at a position, a plurality of the call rollers are provided coaxially, and a pressing position of the stopper against the sheet bundle is set between the plurality of call rollers. An automatic paper feeder, comprising: 2. A stopper movable between a position for regulating a sheet bundle and a position for releasing the regulation, a separating section for separating the sheet bundle one by one, and feeding the sheet bundle to the separating section. In the automatic sheet feeding apparatus having a call roller, the position of regulating the sheet bundle is set to be almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and after the regulation is released, the position on the call roller is reduced. The stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle in the sheet bundle. The call roller has one flat surface, and when the sheet bundle is set, the call roller is positioned from the lowermost sheet surface. Wherein the rotation of the call roller is set so that the paper does not protrude. 3. A stopper movable between a position for regulating a sheet bundle and a position for releasing the regulation, a separating section for separating the sheet bundle into individual sheets, and feeding the sheet bundle to the separating section. In the automatic sheet feeding apparatus having a call roller, the position of regulating the sheet bundle is set to be almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and after the regulation is released, the position on the call roller is reduced. Wherein the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle at a position above the sheet bundle, and a conveying means for assisting the conveyance of at least one of the call rollers is provided upstream in the conveying direction of the call rollers. Feeding device. 4. A stopper movable to a position for regulating the sheet bundle and a position for releasing the regulation, a separation unit for separating the sheet bundle into individual sheets, and feeding the sheet bundle to the separation unit. In the automatic sheet feeding apparatus having a call roller, the position of regulating the sheet bundle is set to be almost directly above the axis of the call roller, and after the regulation is released, the position on the call roller is reduced. Wherein the stopper is provided so as to press the upper surface of the sheet bundle at a position above, and a circulating transport means for returning the sheet fed from the separation unit to a position regulated by the stopper again. Automatic paper feeder.