JPH02163221A - sheet feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To forgo providing an exclusive driving source of a sheet loading mechanism and lower the cost of a sheet feeding device by power transmittably connecting the input shaft for lifting up/down a sheet loading bed to the rotation output shaft of a driving source provided on the outside of the sheet loading mechanism at the time of setting the sheet loading mechanism on a sheet feeding device. CONSTITUTION:After feeding sheets S to a sheet loading bed 91, as a sheet loading mechanism 61 is pushed into an installing base as shown by the arrow 115, an input gear 86 is engaged with a gear 105. When the sheet loading mechanism 61 is further pushed in up to a sheet feeding position, the outer face of the input gear 86 presses the actuator of a switch 118 to turn on the switch 118. Based on the ON signal of this switch 118, a driving source 97 is started while engaging the clutch 103 of the loading bed. Thereby, the driving force of the driving source 97 is transmitted to the input gear 86 via a driving gear 99 and gears 100, 102, 105 to lift up the sheet loading bed 91 via a roller chain 85.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (a) Industrial Application Field The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device in an image forming apparatus, and more specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet feeding device in an image forming apparatus, and more specifically, a sheet loading mechanism and a sheet feeding mechanism are used when the main body of the image forming apparatus is placed. The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device in an image forming apparatus that is disposed in each installation stand.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, facsimiles, or printers, when forming images using a large number of cut sheets of a certain predetermined size, a large number of sheets of the predetermined size are loaded. The sheets are stacked on a sheet stacking table of a special sheet stacking mechanism that can be used, and are fed one by one to the image forming section by a sheet feeding mechanism. The sheet stacking mechanism and the sheet feeding mechanism are disposed within an installation base on which the main body of the image forming apparatus is placed, and the sheet stacking base is movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction. It can be taken in and out of the installation stand. Further, the sheet loading table in the image forming apparatus is moved up and down by a dedicated drive source that is separate from the driving source for feeding the sheets, and the driving source and the sheet loading table are moved up and down with respect to the installation base. It was being taken in and taken out.

(c) Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional sheet feeding device, the sheet loading mechanism and the sheet feeding mechanism are driven by a dedicated drive source as described above, and two drive sources are required. At the same time, the drive source for the sheet loading mechanism is moved in and out together with the sheet loading platform, which has the disadvantage that the sheet feeding device becomes expensive.

Furthermore, since the conventional sheet feeding mechanism was directly incorporated into the installation base on which the main body of the image forming apparatus is placed, there was a drawback that the sheet feeding apparatus was very difficult to assemble and maintain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeding device in which an input shaft for vertical movement of a sheet loading platform can be connected to a drive source when a sheet loading mechanism is set at a position where sheets can be fed. It is.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeding device in which a drive and transmission system for vertical movement of a sheet stacking table and a feeding drive transmission system for feeding sheets can be driven by the same drive source. It is said that

A further object of the present invention is to provide a sheet feeding device in which the sheet feeding mechanism can be attached to and removed from the installation base.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. For example, as shown with reference to FIGS. Sheet loading platform that can be moved up and down in parallel (
91), and a sheet feeding mechanism (62) that feeds out the sheets (, S) loaded on the sheet stacking table (91) one by one, and the sheet stacking mechanism C61 ) is the sheet feeding ff1l(6
In the sheet feeding device (60) that is movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction of 2), a drive source (97) for vertically moving the sheet loading platform (91) is connected to the sheet loading mechanism ( 61) an input shaft (8A) which is provided outside and which moves the sheet loading platform (91) up and down when the sheet loading mechanism (61) is at the sheet feeding position 11ffi (61A); The rotation output shaft (9) of the source (97)
7a) is in a transmission state.

Moreover, the rotation output shaft (97a) of the drive source (97) and the seat 8I! ll1 mechanism (81) Input shaft (87)
a one-way rotary clutch (107) that prevents the sheet loading platform (91) from lowering when the loading platform clutch (103) is in a power cutoff state; ) to the output shaft (9
7a) and the input shaft (87).

Further, a vertical movement drive transmission system (109) for vertically moving the sheet loading platform (91), and the sheet feeding machine fA (6) are provided.
The feeding drive transmission system (113) of 2) is driven by the same drive source (97).

In addition, a drive transmission system (1) for vertical movement of the sheet loading platform (91) is also provided.
09) and the feeding drive transmission system (113) of the sheet feeding mechanism (62) are configured on one frame (65).

Furthermore, the frame (65) is removable from the mounting base (3) on which the frame (65) is attached from a direction parallel to the sheet feeding direction.

(E) Effect Based on the above configuration, when the sheet loading mechanism (61) in the pulled out state is pushed into the installation base (3), the input gear (86) of the input shaft (87> of the sheet loading mechanism (61) The sheet loading mechanism (
The sheet loading platform (91) of the sheet loading mechanism (61)
1) It can be driven by an external drive source (97).

Further, when the loading platform clutch (103) is in the engaged state, the rotational force of the drive source (97) is applied to the one-way rotation clutch (103).
07) to the input shaft (87) to move the sheet loading platform (91) up and down.
3) is disconnected, the one-way rotation clutch (1
07), the sheet loading platform (91) is prevented from descending due to its own weight and the weight of the loaded sheets S.

Further, the vertical movement of the sheet loading table (91) and the sheet feeding operation by the sheet feeding mechanism (62) are performed by one driving source (
97). The vertical drive transmission (109) and the feeding drive transmission system (113) that transmit each driving force are configured on one frame (65), so the frame (65) is attached to the installation base (3). ), assembly and maintenance inspection of both drive transmission systems (109) and (113) can be performed efficiently.

Note that the above-mentioned symbols in parentheses are used to contrast with the drawings, and do not similarly limit the structure of the present invention.

(to) Embodiment: An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
First, referring to FIG. 5, an outline of an image forming apparatus (in this embodiment, a copying machine) 1 to which the present invention is applied will be explained.

A main body 2 of the copying machine 1 is placed on a mounting base 3. An optical system 5 is installed in the upper part of the main body 2, a copying section (image forming device) 6 is located in the center, and a plurality of devices are installed in the lower part. Sheet stacking sections 7.9 are respectively provided. A manual paper feeding section 10 is disposed upstream of the copying section 6, and a fixing section 11 and a paper ejection section 12 are disposed downstream thereof.

Platen 1]? The document 15 placed on the document 15 is scanned when the lamp 16 of the optical system 5 moves in the direction of the arrow, and the reflected light 16a passes through a plurality of mirrors 17 and lenses 19.
The photosensitive drum 20 of the copying section 6 is irradiated with light. Photosensitive drum 2
The peripheral surface of 0 is uniformly charged by the -order charger 21, and an electrostatic latent image is formed by the exposure action of the optical system 5. The developing device 22 attaches toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, and this toner image is transferred to the electrostatic latent image by the transfer charger 23.
The image is transferred to a sheet to be described later.

On the paper feed cassettes 25 and 26 of the sheet stacking sections 7 and 9,
Sheets S of different sizes are stored, and either the paper feed rollers 27 or 29 is selectively operated to send out the corresponding sheet S toward the vertical conveyance path 30. - For example, the sheet S sent out by the paper feed roller 27 is transferred to the separating section 31 consisting of a conveying roller and a separating roller.
The sheets are separated one by one by the conveyor roller pair 32 and sent to the registration rollers 33. Further, the sheet S is sent to a transfer charger 23 at a predetermined timing in accordance with the rotation timing of the photosensitive drum 20, and the toner image is transferred thereto. The sheets S in the other paper feed cassette 26 are also separated one by one by the paper feed roller 29 and separation unit 35 and sent toward the transfer charger 23 .

In addition, when performing manual paper feeding, the sheet S is inserted between the tray 36 and the paper feeding roller 37 of the manual paper feeding section 10, separated one by one by the separation section 39, and fed to the transfer charger 23. Ru.

The sheet S to which the toner image has been transferred is peeled off from the photosensitive drum 20 by a peeling charger 40, and is sent to the fixing unit 11 by a conveyance unit 41, where the toner image is fixed. The sheet S after fixing is conveyed to a flapper 43 by a conveyance roller 42, and guided to a paper discharge roller 45 by this flapper 43. When the copy is a one-sided copy, the sheet S is discharged to the outside of the machine by the paper discharge roller 45.

When copying is double-sided copying, when the trailing edge of the sheet S is detected by a detection switch (not shown), the paper ejection roller 45 is reversed and the guide position of the flapper 43 is switched, so that the sheet S is The paper is conveyed from the rear end side through the reversing path 46a to the re-conveyance path 46, held between the pair of conveyance rollers 47, conveyed to the pair of conveyance rollers 49 and 50, and then stacked on the intermediate tray 51.

When refeeding the sheet S from the intermediate tray 51, the pair of transport rollers 49 and 50 and the pair of refeed rollers 52 are rotated in the normal direction. Note that the sheets S on the intermediate tray 51 are stacked on top of each other by means already devised, with the upper sheet S gradually shifting toward the downstream side, and when refeeding the sheets,
The stacked sheets S are conveyed to a pair of refeed rollers 52, and from there are fed one by one to the registration rollers 33. Thereafter, an image is formed on the back side of the sheet S in the same manner as described above.

The above-mentioned copying machine (image forming apparatus) 1 is a normal double-sided copying machine equipped with normal paper feed trays 25 and 26 in the main body 2, but the above-mentioned copying machine is equipped with an optional sheet feeding device capable of feeding a large number of sheets. It is also possible to connect to the copying machine 1,
This feeding device is normally arranged within a mounting base 3 on which the main body 2 of the copying machine 1 is placed.

The sheet feeding device 60 in the installation stand 3 includes a sheet loading mechanism 61 that stores a large amount of sheets S, and a sheet feeding mechanism that feeds the sheets in the mechanism 61 into the conveyance path 30 of the copying machine 1. It consists of 62 main parts. Inside the installation stand 3 there is a
As shown in the figure, a pair of guide rails 63 are fixed along the left-right direction. The sheet loading mechanism 61 can be moved in and out of the installation base 3 by moving a plurality of rollers 64 mounted on the front and rear thereof along the guide rail 63.

The frame body 65 of the sheet feeding mechanism 62 includes a pair of L-shaped mounting members 65a and 65b, and an upper plate 65c having both ends glued to the upper inner wall thereof. A continuous opening 3a is formed in the front and upper part of the installation base 3, and the frame 6 is closed so as to close this opening 3a.
5 is detachably attached to the front part of the installation stand 3.

The sheet feeding mechanism 62 is provided with a conveyance path 66 made up of a pair of guide plates, the upper end of which faces the vicinity of the lower end of the vertical conveyance path 30 in the copying machine 1 . At the lower end of the conveyance path 30, a pair of conveyance rollers 67 for conveying the sheet S toward the registration rollers 33 is provided. The sheet feeding mechanism 62 includes a conveying roller 70a fixed to a shaft 69.
and a separation section 70 consisting of a separation roller 70b in pressure contact with the separation section 70, and a paper feed roller 71 that feeds the sheet S to this separation section 70. This paper feed roller 71 is connected to the shaft 6.
The lever 72 is rotatably attached to the free end of a lever 72 whose base is pivotally attached to the lever 9 .

6 and 7 show details of the sheet stacking mechanism 61. As shown in FIG. A shaft 77 is rotatably provided at the bottom of the left and right side plates 75 and 76 of the housing 73, which is generally box-shaped.
Sprocket 79 is fixed. A sprocket 80 disposed above the sprocket 79 is pivotally attached to the side plate 75 by a shaft 81, and both sprockets 79 are connected by a roller 82.

A sprocket (not shown) similar to the sprocket 79 is also fixed to the end of the shaft 77 extending from the right side plate 76, and is connected to a sprocket 83 disposed above it by a roller chain 85. There is. The sprocket 83 is formed integrally with the input gear 86 and is rotatably attached to the side plate 76 by an input shaft 87.

On the above-mentioned side plates 75.76, there are roller chains 82.85.
A long hole 75a in the vertical direction along the vertical direction.

76a are formed respectively. Each long hole 75a, 76
Guide rails 89 and 90 are fixed to the outer surfaces of the side plates 75 and 76, respectively, along the line a. Both side plates 7
A sheet loading platform 91 on which a large amount of sheets S (see FIG. 5) are loaded is arranged between 5.76 and a pair of guides 92 and 93 whose bases are fixed to both sides of the platform. 7
Elongated holes 75a and 78a of 5 and 76 extend respectively. The free ends of the guides 92, 93 are formed with inward openings and fit over the guide rails 89, 90, respectively. Furthermore, cut-outs 92a and 93a formed on both guides 92 and 93 are locked to roller chains 82 and 85, respectively, by screws 95. With the above configuration, the sheet stacking table 91 has roller chains 82, 8
5. When rotating, it can move up and down while remaining parallel.

As mentioned above, the frame 65 of the sheet feeding mechanism 62 shown in FIG. As shown, a drive section 96 is provided.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the attachment is to the side plate 6 of the member 65b.
A motor (drive source) 97 is fixed to the inner surface of the side plate 5d, and a drive shaft 97a of the motor 97 extends to the outer surface of the side plate 65d, and a drive gear 99 is fixed to its free end. The drive gear 99 includes a gear 100 on the sheet loading side.
The gear 100 is rotatably attached to a shaft 101 whose base is fixed to the side plate 65d.

The gear 1゜2 rotatably attached to the shaft 101 is
When the loading platform clutch 103 provided on the shaft 101 is turned on, it rotates together with the gear 100. Also,
The gear 105 meshing with the gear 102 has a side plate 85
A one-way rotation clutch 1 is attached to the shaft 106 fixed to the
07, and the gear 105 is connected to the arrow 1 in FIG. 2 by the action of a one-way rotation clutch.
It is designed to be able to rotate only in the 07 direction. A vertical drive transmission system 109 is composed of the gears 100, 102, 106, the loading platform clutch 103, the one-way rotation clutch 107, and the like.

A gear 110 on the sheet feeding side is further meshed with the driving gear 99, and this gear 110 is rotatably attached to a shaft 69 to which a conveyance roller 70a shown in FIG. 5 is fixed. Feeding latch 11 provided at 111
2 is turned on, it rotates together with the shaft 69. The gear 110, the feeding latch 11
2 and the shaft 69 constitute a feeding drive transmission system 113. A transmission mechanism (not shown) is provided between the shaft 69 and the paper feed roller 71 (see FIG. 5), and the paper feed roller 71 rotates intermittently when the copy start button (path shown) is operated. The sheet S is then fed.

As described in FIG. 1, the sheet loading mechanism 61 can be moved in and out of the installation base 3, and the sheet loading mechanism 61 loaded with a predetermined sheet S is moved in the direction of the arrow 115 to feed the sheet. It is set at position 61A (see FIG. 4). In FIG. 3, a hole 116 is formed at a suitable position in the side plate 65d of the frame 65, and when the sheet stacking mechanism 61 is set at the sheet feeding position 61A, the input gear 86 of the input shaft 87 is inserted into the hole 116. The gear 106 extends from the gear 106 and meshes with the gear 106. A switch 118 attached to the side plate 65d via a support member 117 is arranged at a position facing the above-mentioned 116. This switch 11
8, when the sheet loading mechanism 61 is set at the sheet feeding position 61A, the actuator is pressed by the input gear 86 and turned on. When the switch 118 is turned on, the motor 97 starts rotating and the loading platform clutch 103 is operated to couple the gear 102 and the gear 100 integrally.

Next, a sheet loading mechanism 61 and a sheet feeding mechanism 62 that constitute the sheet feeding device 60 housed in the installation base 3 are explained.
The operation will be explained based on FIGS. 3, 4, 8, and 9.

The sheet loading mechanism 61 is at the sheet feeding position 1if shown in FIG.
61A, that is, when it is in the pulled out state as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. Due to its own weight and the weight of the sheets S loaded on the sheet stacking table 91, it has been lowered to the lowest position.

After replenishing the sheet S to the sheet loading table 91, when the sheet loading mechanism 61 is pushed into the installation table 3 as shown by the arrow 115, the input gear 86 meshes with the gear 106, and the sheet is further fed. When pushed to position 61A, the outer surface of input gear 86 presses the actuator of switch 118 as shown in FIG. 4, turning switch 118 on.
Thereby, it is detected that the sheet stacking mechanism 61 is set at the sheet feeding position.

Upon receiving the activation signal from the switch 118, the motor 97 (drive source) is started and the loading platform clutch 103 is turned on (
The rotation of the motor 97 is transmitted to the input gear 86 via the drive gear 99 and gears 100, 102, and 106, and the rotation of the motor 97 is transmitted to the input gear 86 through the drive gear 99 and the gears 100, 102, and
5 rotates clockwise in FIG. 6, the sheet stacking table 91 rises (step 3 in FIG. 8), and when the top surface of the stacked sheets S reaches the standard paper feeding height, the sheet stacking table 91 rises. The paper feed standard height sensor shown in the figure is turned on (S
Top 4) In response to the signal from this sensor, the motor 97 stops and the loading platform clutch 103 is turned off to release the connection between the gears 100 and 102 (Stop 5).
At this time, the input gear 86 and the gear 106 of the vertical drive transmission system 109 are in mesh with each other, so even though the loading platform clutch 103 is off, the input gear 86 is input by the action of the one-way rotation clutch 107 in the gear 106. The gear 86 cannot be reversed. Therefore, the top surface of the sheet S loaded on the sheet loading table 91 is placed in a copy standby state where the sheet S is held at the standard sheet feeding height (Stop 6). Next, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, when the user selects copy start using a sheet S of a predetermined size in the sheet feeding device 60, the motor 97 is started and the feeding latch 112 is turned on and off at a predetermined timing. The paper feed roller 71 and the separation 70 (see FIG. 5) rotate, and the uppermost sheet S stacked on the sheet stacking table 91 is separated by one.
The sheets are sent out one by one (Stop 7). Due to this paper feeding action, the position of the top surface of the stacked sheets S gradually lowers, and eventually the paper feed standard height sensor (not shown) that detects the top surface of the sheet S turns off ( Stop9
), the loading platform clutch 103 is turned on in response to the signal from this sensor, the rotation of the motor 97 is transmitted to the input gear 86 and the input shaft 87, and the sheet loading platform 91 begins to rise again (Step 10). When the sheet is fed again by rising and the standard sensor is turned on (StepH), the stacking clutch 103 is turned off and the sheet stacking table 91 stops rising. This process continues until the desired number of copies are completed.
Repeat step 13). When the set number of copies have been completed, the motor 97 stops and the feed latch 112 closes.
is turned off (Stop 14), and the copying machine 1 enters the copy standby state again (Stop 5).

When the sheet stacking mechanism 61 runs out of sheets S by repeating copying using the sheet feeding device 60 in the installation base 3 in this way, the sheet stacking mechanism 61 The installation base 3 is pulled out as shown in FIG. In this drawing process, the input gear 86 of the sheet loading mechanism 61 comes out of the gear 106 of the drive unit 96 provided on the frame 65, and the sheet loading platform 91 descends to the lowest position due to its own weight, and the sheet loading mechanism 61 is moved back to the lowermost position. It becomes ready for loading.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, the sheet loading mechanism (61) can be moved in and out of the installation base (3) in a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet (S) feeding direction. In the sheet feeding device (60), a drive source (97) for moving the sheet stacking table (91) up and down is provided outside the sheet stacking mechanism (61), and the sheet stacking mechanism (61) is positioned at the sheet feeding position ( 61A), the input shaft (87) that moves the sheet loading platform (91) up and down is in a state of transmission with the output shaft (97a) of the drive source (97), so it is a dedicated It is possible to realize an inexpensive sheet feeding device (60) by omitting the driving source.

Further, the drive source (97) is connected to the sheet feeding mechanism (62).
Since the drive sources (97) for sheet feeding are the same, one drive source (97) can feed the sheet loading table (9).
Since the vertical movement of 1) and the sheet feeding action of the sheet feeding mechanism (62) are performed, the sheet feeding device can be made inexpensive, and
Its maintenance and inspection becomes easy.

In addition, a loading platform clutch (
Even when the sheet loading platform (91) is off, the sheet loading platform (91)
Since a one-way rotation clutch (107) is provided to prevent the sheet from descending, the same drive source (97) can feed the sheet while the sheet loading platform (91) is stationary at the standard sheet feeding height. be able to.

Further, a vertical movement drive transmission system (109) for vertically moving the sheet stacking table (61) and a feeding drive transmission system (113) for feeding sheets (S) are provided on one frame (65). At the same time, the frame body (65) is mounted on the installation stand (3).
Since the film can be deposited on the vertical movement drive transmission system (
109) and the feeding drive transmission system (113) can be easily assembled and maintained and inspected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an installation base housing a sheet feeding device of the present invention, a sheet loading mechanism, and a sheet feeding mechanism;
The figure is a front view showing a drive section of a sheet feeding device showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded side view with a part of the drive section cut away, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view showing an example of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway side view of the sheet stacking mechanism, FIG. 7 is a plan view, and FIGS. 8 and 9. is a flowchart in an embodiment of the present invention. S... Sheet, 1... Image forming device (copying machine)
, 2...Main body 3...Installation stand 60...
Sheet feeding device 61... sheet loading mechanism 62...
... Sheet feeding device 65 ... Frame 87 ... Input shaft 91 ... Sheet loading platform 96 ... Drive unit
97... Drive source (motor), 97a... Rotation output shaft 103... Seat fifi stand clutch,
107... One-way rotation clutch, 109... Vertical drive drive transmission system, 113... Feeding drive transmission system Fig. 1

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A sheet loading mechanism having a sheet loading platform that can load sheets and move up and down in parallel, and a sheet feeding mechanism that feeds out the sheets loaded on the sheet loading platform one by one. In the sheet feeding device, the sheet loading mechanism is movable in a direction substantially perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction of the sheet feeding mechanism, wherein a drive source for vertically moving the sheet loading platform is connected to the sheet loading mechanism. The input shaft is provided outside the mechanism, and when the sheet loading mechanism is in a sheet feeding position, an input shaft that moves the sheet loading mechanism up and down and a rotational output shaft of the drive source are in a transmission state. sheet feeding device. 2. A loading platform clutch is provided between the rotational output shaft of the drive source and the input shaft of the sheet loading mechanism, and the sheet loading platform is lowered when the loading platform clutch is in a state where the power is cut off. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, further comprising a one-way rotation clutch provided between the output shaft and the input shaft. 3. The sheet feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the vertical movement drive transmission system for vertically moving the sheet loading platform and the feeding drive transmission system of the sheet feeding mechanism are driven by the same drive source. . 4. The sheet feeding device according to claim 3, wherein the drive transmission system for vertical movement of the sheet stacking table and the feeding drive transmission system for the sheet feeding mechanism are constructed on one frame. 5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 4, wherein the frame is detachable from a mounting base for attaching the frame from a direction parallel to the sheet feeding direction.