JPH03182438A - Paper feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To stably transfer sheets by providing a transfer bus from a sheet feed section with many loaded sheets independently from other buses, and forming it into a nearly linear shape. CONSTITUTION:A transfer bus 205 from a sheet feed section 6 with many loaded sheets of sheet feed means 215, 221 feeding sheets to an image forming device 1 is provided independently, and it is formed into a nearly linear shape. Sheets S3 fed from the sheet feed sections 215, 221 of a lower deck 6 with many loaded sheets are transferred via the sheet bus 205 linearly independent toward a resist roller not shown in the figure on the downstream side. The sheets S3 from the lower deck 6 are stably transferred at a high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (A) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a paper feeding device that is attached to the upstream side of an image forming apparatus and has a plurality of stages of paper feeding means.

(B) Conventional technology Conventionally, when a paper feeding device has multiple stages of paper feeding means, the paper fed from each stage ends up hitting the same registration roller (reference roller) in the image forming device. Can be guessed.

Therefore, the conveyance paths from the paper feeding means of each stage to the registration rollers merge in the middle.

FIG. 24 shows a paper feeding section of a conventional paper feeding device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-127934. In this paper feeding device, there are three paper feeding sections 410, 4 in the vertical direction.
20 and 430 are respectively disposed, and conveyance paths 411, 421, and 431 for fed sheets become one at the merging portion 400. On the downstream side of the merging section 400, there are registration rollers of a copying machine or the like. In the case of this device, paper feed section 4
10. The conveyance path from 420, 430 to the confluence section 400 all has bends.

In addition, Fig. 25 and Fig. 26 show the
A paper feeding device 500 disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 55 is shown. In the case of this paper feed unit fi500 as well, the transport paths 510 from the plurality of paper feed units 501 arranged below -E become one at the confluence part 520, and before reaching the registration rollers in the main body 530. is merging with. In addition, the main body 53
The paper feed path 532 from the lower stage 531 in 0 is approximately linear, but the upper stage path is correspondingly longer.

C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional example described above, since it is necessary to merge multiple paper feeding paths into one over a short distance, each conveyance path has a bent part, and the paper Passage resistance during transportation increases, leading to cost disadvantages associated with powering up the drive system, and a decrease in transportation reliability and jam handling performance.

Also, even if one of the multiple stages is a linear path,
Other paths have become more curved, other paths have become longer, and there are many factors that lack productivity and reliability.

Furthermore, since the conveyance paths are merged upstream of the registration rollers of the main body and the common path portion is long, the distance from each paper feed section to the registration rollers becomes long, resulting in low productivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding device in which a transport path from a paper feeding section that carries a large number of sheets is made independent from other paths and is approximately linear, thereby stabilizing paper transport. It is something.

(d) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances. The attached paper feeding unit W (2) includes a paper feeding means (S) for feeding paper (S) to the image forming apparatus (1)
215, 221) in a plurality of stages, the paper feeding means (215, 221) has an independent conveyance path (205, 350) from the paper feeding section (6) that carries a large number of sheets, and , is characterized by being formed in a substantially straight line.

(f) Function Based on the above-mentioned configuration, the paper (S3) fed from the paper feed section (215, 221) of the lower deck (6) with a large number of sheets loaded
The sheets are conveyed toward the downstream registration rollers (13) via linear independent sheet paths (205, 350), and as a result, the sheets <S> are conveyed from the lower deck (6) at high speed. And it is done stably.

Note that the above-mentioned symbols in parentheses are used to refer to the drawings and do not limit the configuration in any way.

(F) Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on FIGS. 1 to 23.

The paper feeding device of the present invention is a large-capacity front-loading deck that is attached to the side of a copying machine as an image forming device, and has upper and lower divided units.When a paper jam occurs, the paper path is opened. The upper unit is configured to be slidable.

In FIG. 1, a paper feeder 2 of the present invention is connected to a main body 41 of a copying machine 111 serving as an image forming apparatus. This paper feeding device 2 has an upper unit 3 and a lower unit 5 which are divided into upper and lower parts. The upper unit 3 has a manual paper feed section 42 that can load about 50 sheets of paper S, and a manual paper feed section 42 that can load about 1000 sheets of paper S.
A plurality of upper/middle decks 43 and 45 on which sheets S are stacked are housed, and a lower deck 6 on which approximately 3000 zero sheets S can be loaded is housed in the lower unit 5, respectively.

The copying machine 1 is originally used as a cassette paper feed type, and when connecting the paper feeding device 2 of this embodiment to the copying machine I11, the unit of the cassette paper feeding section in the copying machine 1 is moved by a guide. The transport path for the paper feeder 2 is formed by replacing the rollers with the rollers. This conveyance path
Hereinafter, it will be referred to as an interface unit. This interface unit has paths that connect to the upper unit 3 and lower unit 5, respectively, as will be described later.

The details of the configuration of an embodiment of the paper feeding device are shown in FIGS. 1 to 2 below.
This will be further explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal sectional side view of a paper feeder 2 of the present invention and a copying machine 1 connected thereto. A copying system including the copying machine 1 is disposed above the copy W11 and is used to copy the original 46.
A document processing device 47 that automatically feeds paper, a copy paper post-processing device 49 such as a sorter, an automatic duplexing device 50 that also serves as a mounting table of the copying machine 1 and is used to form images on both sides of the paper S, etc. It is equipped with

Inside the main body 41, there is an optical system 5 for scanning the document 46.
1, a photosensitive drum 52 on which a toner image is formed by exposure by the optical system 51 and a developing device, a transfer section 53 for transferring the toner image onto the paper S, a fixing device 55 for fixing the toner image, etc. .

The paper feeding device 2 is roughly divided into eight units. That is, the upper unit 3 and the lower unit 5 are divided in the vertical direction, the manual paper feed section 42 on the upper unit 3, the upper deck 43 and the lower deck 45 in the upper unit 3, and the paper is fed from both decks 43 and 45. The upper paper feeding unit 56 that feeds paper S, and the lower deck 6 in the lower unit S
and a lower paper feeding unit 7 that feeds the paper S from now on. Further, the paper feeding device 2 is connected to the copying machine 1.
The interface unit 9 is provided in place of the cassette paper feed section unit originally provided in the cassette paper feed unit.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the paper feeder 2. As shown in FIG.

A cover 57 that covers the manual paper feed section 42 is provided at the top of the paper feed device f2, and the cover 57 includes a transparent cover that prevents foreign objects such as gobs from entering the paper S of the manual paper feed section 42. 59 is provided so as to be openable and closable. A gap cover 63.
It is filled in by 65.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the paper feeder 2 shown in FIG. 2 viewed from above.

In the figure, the front door 66 of the copying machine 1 and the front cover 60, 61, 62 are on the same plane. When the front door 66 is opened or the decks 43 and 45°6 are pulled out, a gap d is required to prevent them from buffering each other, and the gap cover 63 is used to close this gap d.
．． It is 65.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the front covers 60, 61, 62
are provided with remaining amount display portions 67, 69, and 70 for displaying the remaining amount of paper S in each deck 43, 45.6, etc., and since the lower deck 6 is a 3000-sheet deck, the remaining amount display portion is The length of the window is longer than that of the other windows. In this embodiment, the locking direction of the deck 67, 69, 70 is electrically locked using a solenoid, as will be described later in FIG. It has become.

Reference numeral 71 is a release switch for releasing the above-mentioned lock. When this switch is pressed, the lid of each deck 43, 45.6 (described later) will be lowered and the lock will be released.
, 45.6.

Furthermore, each front cover 60, 61, 62 has a handle 7.
2 and a paper size display section 73 are provided, respectively.

A plurality of casters 76 are fixed to the lower surface of the main body 41 and are in contact with a floor surface 75. Furthermore, a leg member 77 having an adjuster 79 at its free end and a plurality of casters 80 are provided on the lower surface of the paper feeder 2 . This caster 80
is lifted off the floor surface 75 when the paper feeding device 2 is installed, and the paper feeding device 2 is supported by casters 76 and casters 76.

Figure 4 shows the front cover 60°61.6 of the paper feeder 2.
2 and a gap cover 63, 65 are removed. FIG.

By slidably supporting the rail 81 fixed to the frame 3A of the upper unit 3 by a bearing 82 supported by the frame 5/l of the lower unit 5, the upper unit 3 becomes slidable in the direction of the arrow 83. There is. A lock pawl 85 is pivotally attached to the frame 3A by a shaft 86, and the upper unit 3 is locked or released by engaging and disengaging the lock pawl 85 with one of the bearings 82.

The rail guide 87 fixed to the frame 5A is provided only on the front side rail 8■ of the two rails 8i on the front and back sides in the figure, and as shown in FIG. When sliding, the rail 81 is guided to move linearly. FIG. 6 is a view of the device of FIG. 5 viewed from the right. In addition, Figures 1 and 2
In the figure, a member 89 is fixed to the main body 41 and is provided between the main body 41 and the manual paper feed section 42 of the copying machine 1. This prevents foreign objects from falling into the paper feed path.

Next, a method of installing the paper feeding device 2 in the main body 41 of the copying machine 1 will be explained using FIGS. 4 and 6.

In FIG. 4, a positioning member 91 that forms a groove and has upper and lower arms is fixed to the lower part of the main body 41, and a positioning pin 92 that can be freely engaged and detached from this positioning member 91
is fixed to the frame 3A. When installing the paper feeder 2, the positioning bin 92 is engaged with the positioning member 91 to position the paper feeder 2 relative to the main body 41. The lower arm part of the positioning member 91 is slightly long and forms a guide part. When installing the paper feeder 2, first place the positioning bin 92 on the horizontally extending arm and push the lower unit 5 into the positioning member 91. When the lower unit 5 is in contact with the automatic duplexing device 50 serving as a loading table of the copying machine 1, the lower unit 5 is positioned only in the vertical direction.

Next, by operating the adjuster 79, the height direction of the paper feeding device 2 is adjusted until it becomes parallel to the main body 41.

Finally, the frame 5A of the lower unit 5 and the automatic duplexing device 5
By fixing the frame 0 with bolts 93 and nuts 95, the paper feeding device 2 is positioned laterally (left and right) and connected to the copying machine 1. Ultimately, the casters 80 of the paper feeder 2 are lifted off the floor 75, so even if the floor 75 is slightly undulating, the paper feeder 2 can be accurately connected to the copying machine 1. be able to.

Note that the positioning bins 92 are provided on the front side and the back side, and the vertical adjustment of the main body 41111 is as follows.
The paper feeding device 2 of this embodiment is perfectly positioned because the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-127934 is not simply a method of placing the paper. In addition, the paper feed device 2
Since the vertical positioning of the sheet is performed using the bottle shape as a fulcrum, the sheet feeder 2 itself is rotatable in response to the adjustment of the adjuster 79, and horizontal adjustment can be performed without applying excessive force. Ru.

In FIG. 6, the horizontal positioning of the paper feeder 2 is as follows:
This is done by sandwiching the front portion 3a of the frame 3A between the positioning members 91. The positioning member 91a on the back side supports the back side of the lower unit 5, but this positioning member 91a is formed slightly wide so as not to firmly pinch the rear part 3b of the frame 3A.

Here, the general structure of the frame 3A of the upper unit 3 is as follows:
This is shown in the perspective view of FIG. In the figure, a window frame-shaped frame 3a and a frame 3b are connected by a bottom stay 96 of the frame. It is fixed with an upper stay 97, a corner stay, etc., and configured into a box shape. The frames 3a and 3b are
It has a welded structure, and the precision and rigidity of the entire sheet feeding device 2 are maintained by the frames 3a and 3b.

Next, the configuration of the unit of the paper feeding device 2 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The upper unit 3 and the lower unit 5 have been described above, so a description thereof will be omitted. 9. A manual sheet feeding section 42 is screwed to the upper part of the frame 3A. The upper paper feed unit 56 is attached from the left side of the upper unit 3 so that it can be attached and detached when the upper unit 3 is slid in the direction of arrow 83 (see FIG. 4). That is, the upper sheet feeding unit 56 is slidably held by a pair of upper and lower stays 101 and 102, and the bases of the stays 101 and 102 are pivotally connected to the frame 3b by shafts 103, respectively. As described above, by forming the upper sheet feeding unit 56 into a hinge structure and attaching the frame 3b, the ease of assembling and servicing the upper sheet feeding unit 56 is improved.

As shown in FIG. 5, the lower sheet feeding unit 7 is attached to the frame 5A from above and secured with screws. In this case as well, the first-stage sheet feeding unit 7 is attached and detached by sliding the upper unit 3 forward (in the left-right direction in FIG. 5). As shown in Figure 4, the upper/middle deck 43
．． 45 is the frame 3A via the rails 105 and 106
It is installed inside the device and can be freely pulled out towards the front. The lower deck 6 is detachably attached to the frame 5A via a plurality of rails 107.

Next, the upper/middle deck 43.45 will be explained using FIG. 7 and FIG. 8.

The upper/middle decks 43 and 45 are each made of the same parts, and differ only in the mounting positions of the front panels 60 and 61, so corresponding parts will be described with two types of reference numerals and with reference to the same figure.

The case 105 of the upper/middle deck 43.45 has a case bottom 10 that is open upward and has a channel shape (U-shape).
6, a right side plate 107 and a left side plate 109 are combined into a box shape. Inside the case 105, a lifter plate 110 (111) on which sheets of paper S are loaded is provided. The case 10 is mounted on the side of the lifter plate 110 (111).
A sliding member 112 for sliding inside the housing 5 is provided. Also, on the side of the lifter plate 110 (111), there are four wire fixtures 113, 115°liB, 11
7 is fixed to the case bottom 106 and extends to the outside through a slit 119 formed in the side wall of the case bottom 106.

A wire shaft 120 is rotatably attached to the lower right side of the case 105, and the case 105 of the wire shaft 120
A sprocket 121 and a pulley 122 are fixed to one end (the upper end in FIG. 7) of the sprocket 121 and pulley 122, respectively.
Pulleys 122 and 123 are fixed to the other end of the bracket, respectively. A lifter drive motor 125 is fixed to the back side plate of the case 105 via a bracket, and a sprocket 126 fixed to its output shaft is connected to the chain 1.
27 to the sprocket 121.

The pulley 122 has two wires 129 as described later.
, 130 are locked and wound. A pair of guide pulleys 131 and 132 are pivotally supported at the upper portions of the side plates on the front and back sides of the lifter 110 (111), respectively. One wire 129 let out from the pulley 122 is attached to the guide pulley 131.
, 132, and the other wire 130 is locked to the wire fixture 115 via a guide pulley.

This method of fixing wires 129, 130 is as shown in FIG. This allows the vertical stroke of the lifter 110 (111) to be maximized. Also,
As long as the slit 119 is lengthened, the '8th
The lid 110 (111) can be moved up and down by the amount indicated by the reference numeral in the figure.

The pull-down wire 133, which is wound around the pulley 123 with one end locked, has the other end fixed to the center of the back side of the case bottom 106 via a ring-shaped guide bush 135. The wires 129, 130 and the pull-down wire 133 are wound in opposite directions around each pulley, and the lifter 110 (111) moves up and down as the wire shaft 120 rotates in the forward and reverse directions. .

Note that similar wires 129, 130 and guide pulleys 131, 132 are arranged on the side plate on the back side of the case bottom 106, and the other ends of the wires 129, 130 are connected to the pulley 1.
22 and is locked.

In this way, by pulling up the lifter 110 (111) with the four wires 129, 130 and pulling down the central part with the two pull-down wires 133, the so-called 8
Since the vertical stroke of the lid 110 (111) can be made larger than when the lifter is driven by a cross-shaped wire, more sheets can be stacked in the same space.

The case bottom 106 is provided with a friction plate 136 for preventing double feeding of the final sheet and a paper out detection sensor 137 for detecting the presence or absence of the sheet S on the case bottom 106. A guide plate 139 that regulates the depth direction (width direction) of the paper S extends from a hole drilled in the case bottom 106, and is adjusted within the range of an arrow 141. A guide plate 140 for regulating the trailing edge of the paper S extends from another hole.
The paper S is adjusted within the range of A3 or LDL (11″
x17''), it is moved to the location indicated by the arrow 143 and used.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 145 indicates a rail, and 146 indicates a rail guide roller. A lock roller 147, which will be described later in FIG. 14, is provided on the back side of the case bottom 106, and this lock roller 147 is for locking the upper/middle deck upper/middle deck 43 and 45 in the drawing direction. A cylindrical panel extension member 149 for fitting the front panel 60 , 61 to the main body 41 of the copying machine 1 is provided on the front side of the case bottom 106 .

Note that a wire 15 is attached to the end 150 of the wire shaft 120.
1 is wound around the wire 151, and the end of this wire 151 is connected to the second wire 151.
It is linked to the drive section of the remaining amount display section 67.69 shown in the figure, and displays the remaining amount of paper S on the upper and lower sides of the lifter plate 119 (111), ie, the remaining amount of paper S on the remaining amount display section 67.69.

Next, the lower unit 5 will be explained using FIGS. 9 and 10. This lower unit 5 basically has a shape in which the upper/middle decks 43, 45 are elongated in the vertical direction, so a description of the corresponding parts will be omitted. The case 152 of the lower unit 5 has a case bottom 153 and a right side plate 1, similar to the upper/middle deck 110 (111).
55, a left side plate 156, and other members.

At the bottom center of the case bottom 153 is a wire *1k159.
is rotatably mounted, and winding pulleys 160 similar to the pulley 57 are fixed to both ends thereof. The two wires 161 and 162 whose ends are respectively locked to the pulley 160 are a pair of wires fixed to the lower lifter 157 via a pair of guide pulleys 163 pivotally supported on the upper part of the case bottom 153. Fixture 165
are respectively locked. The rear side of the lower lifter 157 is supported in the same manner.

Further, a wire 167 is wound around a pulley 166 for lowering, which is fixed to the middle part of the wire shaft 159, and the other end is locked to the lower lifter 157. A guide member 166 for regulating the rear end of the sheet S3 is provided through a hole drilled in the lower lifter 157. Further, the remaining amount display section 70 shown in FIG. 2 is driven in conjunction with a wire (not shown) wound around the wire shaft 159. Note that the wire shaft 159 is rotatable in forward and reverse directions by a motor (not shown).

Next, a one-back sensor specific to the lower deck 6 will be explained.

In the paper feeding device of this embodiment, from the top, the manual paper feeding section 42
．． Upper/middle deck loaded with 1000 sheets 43.45.300
The arrangement is such that the lower deck 6 is loaded with 0 sheets. Here, the reason why a 1000-sheet deck is not placed at the bottom position is that if a small-sheet deck is placed near the floor 75,
Paper S? This is because the user has to squat down close to the floor surface 75 when loading the device, making it less convenient to use.

However, even if you simply place a deck with the maximum capacity of 3,000 sheets on the bottom side, when you pull it out, you can install a handle away from the floor 75, so the bottom deck will have the maximum capacity. There are benefits to doing so, but the paper costs $1!11
If the lower lifter 157 were lowered to the lowest position each time to do this, the user would still have to squat down close to the floor 75, which would be of no benefit.

Therefore, in the paper feeder 2 of this embodiment, even when the lower deck 6 is pulled out to load the sheets S only on the lower deck 6, a certain amount of the upper surface of the sheets S on the lower lifter 157 remains. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned fixed amount of paper S is set to 60 mm downward from the paper feeding position. It is. This is because high-quality paper for copying machines is usually made up of one set of SOO sheets and has a thickness of about 50 mm.

The advantages of the above configuration are that since there is always a paper loading surface at a position away from the floor surface 75, the paper S3 can be loaded without having to bend down close to the floor surface 75, and that after loading the paper S3, Even when the lower deck 6 is pushed in and the lower lifter 157 is lifted to raise the top surface of the paper S to the height at which paper can be fed, the height is always within 60 mm, so paper can be fed quickly.

In this embodiment, the amount of movement is 1/6 or less than that of a conventional deck in which the lower lifter 157 is lowered to the lowest position, so the lowering time of the lower lifter 157 due to no paper is reduced, and the usability is improved. In addition, the lower lifter 15
Since the moving speed of 7 can be made slower than that of the conventional one, there is an advantage that the capacity of the lifting motor can also be made smaller.

The configuration of a so-called one-back sensor that functions as described above will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.

In FIG. 10, a vertically elongated sensor lever 170 is pivotally attached to a side plate on the front side of the case bottom 153 by a shaft 171, and is biased toward the paper S by a spring (not shown). A protrusion 172 provided at the free end of the sensor lever 170 passes through a hole drilled in the steel plate and extends toward the lower lifter 157, so that the projection 172 extends toward the lower lifter 157 when the paper S or the lower lifter 157 is above the height hl. , paper S.

Alternatively, a sensor 173 consisting of a photointerrupter that is turned on and off by the protrusion 172 of the sensor lever 170 is fixed on the side plate that is pushed away by the lower lifter 157 and is in the retracted position (a position separated from the side plate). . The top surface of paper S3 is located below hl and the protrusion 1
72 comes off from the paper S3 or the lower lifter 157,
The sensor lever 170 rotates toward the lower lifter 157flll (inward) to turn on the photointerrupter 173.

Due to this signal, when the lower deck 6 is pulled out to load paper, the height of the top surface of the paper S is always hl.
The lifting motor can be controlled to However, if the lifting motor starts lowering immediately after replenishing paper S, the operator will be surprised, so even if it is detected that the top surface of the paper has risen by one pack due to paper replenishment, the lifting motor will not immediately start lowering. There is a time lag of about 1 to 3 seconds without driving the motor.

That is, only when the paper S is replenished and the sensor lever 170 is kept pressed by the paper S for 1 to 3 seconds or more does the lifting motor rotate in the downward direction of the lower lifter 157, and the signal from the sensor 173 is activated. Keep lowering it until it switches.

Thereafter, by repeating this, the height of the top surface of the paper S can be maintained at hl until the lower stage lifter 157 is lowered to the lowest position. After the lower stage lifter 157 has been lowered to the lowest position, the elevating motor will not rotate. If paper is further replenished after this state is reached, the height will be higher than the top paper.

The sensor lever 170, which is elongated vertically, is connected to the lower deck of the paper feeder of the present embodiment, which is provided at a position close to the rear end in the paper feeding direction of the paper size that can be fed by the lower deck 6. 6, B5 is the minimum size, so B
It is provided at a position that is about loam from the rear end of 5. This is because if there is a sheet S4 whose leading end is caught in separation rollers 215 and 221, which will be described later, and the lower lifter 157 is lowered, the sheet will lean as shown in FIG. 10. At this time, for example, the sensor lever 170 is
5, the leaning paper S4 would be detected, and no matter how much the lower lifter 157 is lowered, the signal from the sensor 173 would not change, resulting in a malfunction.To prevent this malfunction, In this case, the sensor lever 170 should be mounted as close to the rear end as possible, but the position of the sensor lever 170 is almost determined due to the above reason that this is limited by the minimum size.

Next, details of the above-mentioned pulley 122 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 11, 12, and 13.

In FIG. 12, a groove 179 formed around a boss 177 and two grooves 180 and 181 branching from this groove 179 are formed on the end face of a pulley body 176. The depth β of 180.181 is approximately equal to the diameter of the wire. The groove 180 is used when winding to the right, and the groove 181 is the opposite. The wires 129 and 130 are connected inside the pulley 122 and are composed of one wire,
It is divided into two by a perforated ball 182 crimped onto the wire.

The perforated ball 182 is fitted and fixed in a recess 183 provided in the middle of the groove 179 of the pulley main body 176. Then, the wires 129, 130 are sandwiched between the flange 185 and the boob body 176, and the flange 185 is fixed with the screws 186.
0 is fixed. The flange 185 is also formed with a notch 187 into which the perforated ball 182 is fitted. Wire 129 consisting of one wire as described above
, 130, the only difference between the tensile forces acting on the wires 129 and 130 is the perforated ball 18.
2, the wire can be fixed more stably than simply caulking the wire end. In addition, the wire 12
9 and 130 are not forced to bend, the wire 129
, 130 can be wound stably.

The flange 185 is formed with a protrusion 189 facing toward the main body 176, and when the wires 129, 130 are wound once, the previously wound wire 129° It functions to prevent overlapping winding on top of 130, and FIG. 13 shows the state in which overlapping is prevented. Note that the height of the protrusion 189 is about 1.5 times the diameter of the wire 129, 130.

FIG. 14 shows a lock unit for locking the upper/middle and lower decks 43, 45.5 in the drawing direction, and is provided corresponding to each deck.

In the figure, a bracket 190 on which a locking roller 147 (see FIG. 7) is pivotally supported is fixed to the back side plate of the case bottom 106 of each upper/middle deck 43°45. A support member 195 is attached to the frame 3A of the upper unit 3.
A lock pawl 191 is rotatably attached to the support member 194 by a shaft 192, and is rotated counterclockwise in the figure by the elasticity of a tension spring 193 whose one end is locked to the frame 3A. is energized by The claw portion 196 of the lock claw 191 is formed in an arc shape centered on the shaft 192, and when the upper/middle deck 43, 45 is pushed in and set (the claw portion 196 engages with the lock roller 147 /Lock the middle decks 43 and 45 so that they cannot be pulled out.

A stopper 197 made of rubber is fixed to the support member 195 of the frame 3A, and the upper/middle deck 43.45
Support member 1 that acts as a stopper when pushed in
95, the base of a leaf spring 199 is fixed, and this leaf spring 199 is inserted into each upper/middle deck 43.
45 in the direction of pushing it back forward. As a result, the lock roller 147 and the claw portion 196 of the lock claw 191 are always in contact with each other, and the upper/middle deck 43, 45 is positioned in the drawing direction.

A solenoid 200 fixed to the frame 3A is connected to the rear end of the lock pawl 191 via a lever 201. When the solenoid 200 is turned on, the lock pawl 191 is rotated to the chain position, and the leaf spring 199 is
The unlocking by the lock claw 191 is completed by displacing the upper/middle deck 43, 45 by a distance dl in the direction and pushing the upper/middle deck 43, 45 back a little in the pull-out direction. Above solenoid 2
00 is detected by the deck pull-out sensor (shown in the diagram).
Detects that the middle deck 43.45 has been pushed back and turns O.
It is designed to be FF.

The lock unit 10 is constituted by the lock pawl 191, the lock roller 147, the solenoid 200, and the like. Note that the lower deck 6 is also the same as the upper/middle deck 43.
It is locked by a lock unit 10 similar to 45.

Further, the lock unit 10 described above also has a frame 3.
Although they are screwed to A and 5A, they can be adjusted in the direction in which the upper/middle decks 43 and 45.6 are pulled out, so that so-called lateral registration adjustment of the paper S can be performed. Stopper 197 and leaf spring 1996, shaft 1
92, so the above distance d□ and the stopper 197 and the case bottom 106 (153)
The distance d2, etc. from the side plate to the side plate is always kept constant. In addition, in this example, the above-mentioned d8 is 1 m hazy.

The lock unit 10 is also provided with a sensor switch (not shown), and the upper/middle deck 43, 45, 6
It is possible to detect whether it is pulled out or locked.

This electrically prevents the upper/middle decks 43, 45.6 from being pulled out at the same time to prevent them from falling over, as will be described later. Wanawachi, upper/middle deck 4
If any one of the decks 3, 45, and 6 has been pulled out, the other decks cannot be pulled out even if the switch 71 (see Figure 2) is pressed.

Next, the lower sheet feeding unit 7 will be explained using FIGS. 15 to 18.

In FIGS. 15 and 16, the lower paper feed unit 7 is configured to feed paper S from the lower deck 6.

It has a fixed side paper guide 206 and a movable side paper guide 207 that form a conveyance path 205. Fixed side paper guide 206
is fixed to the upper part of a pair of frames 210 and 211 whose lower parts are connected by a connection Fi 209. The movable side paper guide 207 is attached to the shaft 2 which is pivotally connected to the base 212.
The base is pivoted to 13.

A feed roller 215 is attached to the shaft 213 via a one-way clutch (not shown). The pickup arm 216 whose base is pivotally connected to the shaft 213 has an import 217.
is rotatably provided, and a pickup roller 219 is attached to this shaft 217 via a one-way clutch (not shown). The boots fixed to the shafts 213 and 217 are connected by a belt 220.

The lower sheet feeding unit 7 has a dedicated motor (path shown), and the shaft 213 is driven via an electromagnetic clutch (not shown).

The retard roller 221 that is in contact with the foot roller 215 functions to push back the paper S3 by double feeding, and is fixed to a shaft 222 shown in FIG. 223 so as to be rotatable.

The bearing 224 is slidable in the groove of the support member 223 and can move forward and backward relative to the foot roller 215. The grooves are as shown in FIG.
It is inclined at a predetermined angle (10" in this embodiment) with respect to the line connecting the rollers 215 and 221. This means that when the retard roller 221 is driven, the feed roller 2
This is to increase the pressure between the roller 15 and the retard roller 221, thereby increasing the stability of paper feeding.

A roller 22 disposed downstream of the retard roller 221
5 is pivotally supported by frames 110 and 111 and directly driven by a motor. The idle roller 226 that is in pressure contact with this roller 225 is connected to the movable side paper guide 20.
The roller 22 is attached to the elongated hole 7 by the spring 227.
5 side is biased.

A roller 229 is pivotally supported on the movable side paper guide 207, and a leaf spring 230 provided on the upper unit 3 moves the roller 229 toward the arrow P.
being pushed in the direction. Paper S.

When a jam occurs, the movable side paper guide 207 moves in the direction indicated by the arrow 23 by sliding the upper unit 3 in the direction of pulling it out.
Since it can be rotated to the position indicated by the chain line in one direction and the movable side paper guide 207 is automatically released, it is easy to clear the jam.

In FIGS. 15 and 18, a roller 2 is attached to one end of a three-arm pressurizing arm 233 that is pivotally supported by
35 is pivotally supported, and this roller 235 presses the shaft 222 by a tension spring 237 whose both ends are locked to a pressure arm 233 and a locking member 236, and the retard roller 2
21 is pressed against the feed roller 215.

The release lever 240 is pivotally connected to the lower sheet feeding unit 7 by a shaft 241, and is biased in the direction of an arrow 243 by the elasticity of a tension spring 242 whose one end is locked to a fixing member (not shown). The release lever 240 is restricted from rotating by abutting a pressing member 245 fixed to the left side plate 156 of the lower deck 6 at its lower end.

The tension spring 242 has a stronger elasticity than the tension spring 237, and when the lower deck 6 is slid in the direction of pulling it out, the release lever 240 rotates in the direction of arrow 243 to release the end 233a of the pressure arm 233. By pressing and rotating, the pressure of the rollers 235 can be released.

When the lower deck 6 is pulled out by configuring the release mechanism 11 using the above-mentioned pressure arm 233 release lever 240, etc., and making it possible to release the pressure on the retard roller 221,
The pressure on the retard roller 221 is automatically released, making it easier to clear the jam.

Although not shown here, the release lever 24
A release lever corresponding to 0 is provided separately, and this lever can release the pressure arm 233 by sliding the upper unit 3 in the drawing direction. This makes it easier to handle jams.

Further, the nip between the feed roller 215 and the retard roller 221 is located at the inner opening of the frame 3a, and when pulling out the lower deck 6, simply releasing the pressure on the retard roller 221 allows the paper S3 to be removed. It can be pulled out without damaging it. In FIG. 16, the lower paper feed unit 7 is detachably attached to the lower unit 5 via its base 212. The foot roller 215 is a consumable item and must be replaced at certain intervals, so
It is necessary to improve its interchangeability.

An opening 246 is formed in the base 212 and can be opened and closed by rotating a cover 247. By opening the cover 247, the foot roller 215 can be replaced. . Since the retard roller 221 is located below the fixed paper guide 206, it cannot be replaced from above. After pulling out the cartridge, the cartridge can be installed and removed from the lower deck 6 side.

Note that since the pickup roller 219 has a durability of passing approximately 1 million sheets, only this roller 219 is replaced by removing the entire lower unit 5. FIG. 17 shows a perspective view of the pickup roller 219, feed roller 215, and retard roller 221 of the lower sheet feeding unit 7.

The copying machine 1 of this embodiment has the ability to copy 90 sheets per minute by fixed reading of originals in normal mode in conjunction with the original processing device 47, but some copy sets are obtained from some original sets. , so-called one to one
In this case, feed the original from the scan-only tray and
Skim copying is performed with the optical system 51 of the main body 41 fixed.

This eliminates the loss time during backscanning of the optical system 51, making it possible to increase the flash exposure and copying speeds, making it possible to increase the speed from 90 sheets per minute to approximately 120 sheets per minute. However, in this case, although the paper feeding speed remains the same, the gap between the sheets being fed is narrowed considerably, making the conditions for the paper feeding device considerably stricter.

Specifically, the paper feeding device of this embodiment has a speed of 500III/s.
If you are trying to achieve a paper spacing of 40 mm or less at a paper feeding speed of about EC, the paper spacing will be only 401500 = 0.08 seconds, and moving the pickup roller 219 up and down will require both the roller 219 and the paper S3. Due to the collision with
Considering the occurrence of bounce of the pickup roller 219, etc., this becomes almost impossible.

However, with the retard roller method, the pickup roller 21
If the paper sheet S3 is kept pressed, the ability to prevent double feeding will be degraded, and double feeding of the sheet S3 will likely occur. In order to solve the above problem, in this embodiment, the pickup roller 219 of the lower unit 5 is configured to have a variable paper feeding pressure.

That is, in FIG. 17, the pickup roller 21
9 is swingably attached to the pickup arm 216. One end 251 of a swinging arm 250 pivotally supported by a shaft 249 is located on the back side of the end of the pickup arm 216, and this swinging arm 250 has one end attached to a tension spring 252 that is locked to a stationary member. Due to the elasticity of the arrow 253 direction, that is, the pickup arm 2
16 is biased in the direction of lifting it. Further, a solenoid 255 that acts in the opposite direction to the tension spring 252 is connected to the swing arm 250.

The upper end of the other end link 256 of the swinging arm 250 is pivotally connected, and the elongated hole 25 is bored at the lower end of the link 256.
7 is fitted with an end of a horizontal portion of an L-shaped abutment member 259 and connected thereto. The actuating member 259 supported by the shaft 260 is biased in the direction of the arrow 262 by the tension spring 261. The abutting member 263 is fixed to the lower end of the vertically facing arm of the actuating member 259. ing.

When the solenoid 255 is OFF, the pickup arm 216 is lifted upward by the tension spring 252. In the conventional pickup roller, the tension spring 252 is strong enough to lift the pickup roller 219 away from the paper S3, but in this embodiment, it is normally pressed against the paper S3 with a force of about 120 g. The pick-up roller 219 is made strong enough to have a contact pressure of 50 g or less.

As a result, the pickup roller 219 is no longer bound to the paper S, and the pickup roller 219
can be pressurized and released almost at the response speed of the solenoid 255. In other words, when the solenoid 255 is ON, it weighs about 120g, and when the solenoid 255 is OFF, it weighs about 5g.
A pressing force of 0g or less is acting on the paper S3.

Further, the link 256, the operating member 259, etc. are connected to the pickup roller 21 when the lower deck 6 is pulled out.
When the lower deck 6 is set, the abutment member 263 of the actuating member 259 is pressed by the lower deck 6 and is at the solid line position against the elasticity of the tension spring 261. The link 256 is the elongated hole 25
It is in a free state within the range of 7.

Next, when the lower deck 6 is pulled out, the actuating member 259 is displaced to the position shown by the broken line due to the elasticity of the tension spring 261, so the link 256 is pulled downward and the swing arm 250 rotates in the direction of arrow 252. As a result, the pickup roller 219 is flipped up.

FIG. 18 shows the lower sheet feeding unit 7 viewed from the feeding direction.

In the same figure, the dormer vine 26 connected to the shaft 265
6, a torque transmission member 267 that functions as a universal joint is connected to the torque transmission member 2.
A shaft 222 on which a retard roller 221 is mounted is connected to the other end of the shaft 67 . The shaft 265 is attached to a support plate 270 via a bearing 269 with a one-way clutch. Driving force is transmitted to the shaft 265 via an electromagnetic clutch (not shown), but due to the action of the one-way clutch bearing 269, even if the shaft 265 becomes free due to the electromagnetic clutch being turned off, the retard roller 2
21 rotates in the opposite direction to paper S.

double feeding is prevented.

As shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the feed roller 2
Pulleys 271 and 272 are fixed to the shaft 213 of No. 15 and the shaft 265 connected to the retard roller 221, respectively.
In this embodiment, pulleys 272 and 271 are set at a rotation ratio of approximately 1:2. This is because when the paper feeding speed increases, if the tangential speed of the retard roller 221 is made equal to the tangential speed of the feed roller 215, the maximum rotation speed of the torque limiter 266 becomes considerably large.
In order to prevent this, the torque limiter 266 is
This is because excess torque is released as heat, so it is not preferable to rotate at high speed.

Next, returning to FIG. 15, the sensors will be explained.

In the figure, a sensor 275 is provided within the base 212 to maintain the height of the paper S3 at a predetermined paper feeding level. An operating piece 276 fixed to the free end of the pickup arm 216 detects the movement of the pickup arm 216 and controls the lifter motor of the lower deck 6.

A switch 277 fixed in the base 212 is used to prevent the lifter motor from running out of control when the microcomputer that controls the paper feeding device malfunctions, and is wired directly to the motor drive line of the lower deck 6. This is a so-called overrun switch.

Transmissive type sensors 280, 281 and 282, 283 each consisting of a light emitting part and a light receiving part are arranged on the upstream and downstream sides of the nip between the feed roller 215 and the retard roller 221, respectively. There are 101 meters upstream and 201 meters downstream. The above sensor is a transmission type sensor, and the sensor is a normal lever type sensor.
This is because the response speed on the return side of the sensor lever is too slow.

Sensors 280 and 281 are for paper feeding start position control. As shown in Figure 15, normally when loading paper,
There is a predetermined distance a between the leading edge of the paper and the nip between the rollers 215 and 221.

In this embodiment, the distance a is about 25 mm+.

During paper feeding, the paper S3 is separated at the nip section, so the paper S3 is separated from the paper S3 at the starting position of paper feeding, that is, the paper S3 before paper feeding.
It is not known where the tip of the paper is within the distance a (25 am).
It means to go crazy.

This deviation in tying is not a problem when feeding normal paper with a large paper spacing, but when aiming for a paper spacing of 40 mm, it becomes a fairly large deviation. That is, 40±25mm=15~
It becomes 65 mm, which is a considerable error. The sensor provided to minimize this deviation is the sensor 2.
It is 80,281.

The specific operation of the present invention will be described below.

At the moment when the trailing edge of the paper S previously fed from the lower deck 6 passes through the nip between the rollers 215 and 221, the sensors 280 and 281 detect the leading edge of the next paper S as shown in FIG.
It becomes clear whether it is within the range indicated by or even closer to the nip. If the position is closer to the nip than a, paper is fed by normal tying.

If the next sheet S is in the range a, the pickup roller 219 is slightly rotated the moment it passes through the nip, the leading edge of the next sheet S is sent closer to the nip than the sensors 280, 281, and then feeds paper using normal tying. This makes it possible to reduce variations in paper feeding tying compared to conventional paper feeding.

The sensors 282 and 283 are sensors for generating paper feed timing, and detect the trailing edge of the previous paper S to generate a paper feed signal for the next paper S. This sensor 282, 283
The closer the paper is to the nip, the smaller the paper spacing will be.
The distance is set to about 20 mm because the paper may break through the nip part to some extent and be double fed, and then be returned by the retard roller 221, so it cannot get too close to the nip part. A normal lever-type paper detection sensor 285 is provided downstream of the sensors 282 and 283.

Next, the bristle paper feeding method will be explained using FIGS. 1, 15, and 23.

As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feeding device 2 loads the paper S at a position far from the registration rollers 13 of the main body 41. Normally, the copying speed of the copying machine 1 is the scanning speed of the optical system 51. determined by the ability of That is, on the downstream side of the registration rollers 13, the maximum copy speed is obtained when the paper S is sent out in synchronization with the scanning speed of the optical system 51.

However, a stack of originals with an unknown number of originals was sent to the original processing device 4.
7, it is impossible to know when the document will run out.At this time, if paper is fed from the paper feeder 2 side at narrow intervals to maximize the copy speed, By the time it is detected that the original has run out, the next sheet S has already been fed.

And about this paper S that has lost its place,
It is usually called flying vapor. This is likely to occur when paper is fed from a position far from the registration rollers 13 as in this embodiment, and is particularly likely to occur with sheets of paper size that have a narrow paper interval.

In order to solve this problem, conventionally, the registration roller 13 and the paper S loading position are placed close together, or when the copy mode is not known in advance when it will end, the copying speed is sacrificed and the paper S is loaded once. I used a sequence in which I started feeding paper from the deck, checking that copying had not yet finished each time. In some cases, there has been a method in which the paper S, which has been fed twice, is returned to the deck by reversing the rollers.

In this embodiment, when feeding paper from the lower deck 6, one sheet is always left between the flying vapor lower deck 6 and the registration roller 13, thereby solving the above-mentioned problem. This paper feeding method will hereinafter be referred to as the bristle feeding method.

In the bent paper feeding method, the paper S is always left in the paper path, so if the paper S is left in a place where the paper path is bent, the paper S will curl, resulting in poor transfer, jamming, or stacking on the sorter. Defects are more likely to occur.

In this embodiment, the paper path inside the interface unit 9 is divided into two, and the paper path from the lower deck 6 is made to have a nearly straight shape with at least R100 or more, so that the paper S Prevents curling. In the upper/middle decks 43 and 45, it is difficult to form a direct paper path, so in this embodiment, bristle paper feeding is not performed. Therefore, the copy speed is also slower than that of the lower deck 6.

Another reason why we do not perform bristle feeding on upper/middle decks 43 and 45 is that when the upper unit 3 is slid in the drawer direction, the bristle fed paper S will be separated without a paper path. The problem is that the paper S becomes unusable, that is, the paper S becomes wasted.

On the other hand, in the lower deck pass, the sheets S are not separated.

In the paper feeder 2 of this embodiment, the paper sizes that can be fed by the lower deck 6 are A4, B5, and LTR (11'' x 8.
5"). Now, there are some things you need to be careful about when performing bristle feeding. One is that the paper path is almost straight as mentioned above, and secondly, burr feeding The trailing edge of the paper S is located downstream of the nip between the rollers 215 and 221.

This is because if you try to pull out the lower deck 6, the trailing edge of the paper S that was partially fed will be inside the lower deck 6 (if it remains, it will get in the way when you take the lower deck 6 in and out.
This is because, in the worst case, there is a risk that the trailing edge of the paper may be damaged when the paper is fed erectly.

In this embodiment, the distance *b from the registration roller 13 to the leading edge of the paper on the lower deck 6 is set as follows.

For A4, B5, and LTR sizes, it is not possible to reduce the distance to a point where the copy speed does not slow down, so use bristle feeding. It will be larger, so as mentioned above, check whether the manuscript is finished or not, and then
That is, it is possible to set the distance so that the copy speed does not decrease even if paper is fed after receiving a paper feed signal from the main body 41.

In the embodiment, the distance is set as described above, and the edge feeding is not performed for the B4 size. The position of the leading edge of the paper S when the edge feeding is performed is shown in FIG. 1 with reference numeral 286.
The size at this time is A4.

Next, the upper paper feeding unit 56 will be explained using FIGS. 19 and 20.

FIG. 19 shows the lower paper feed unit 7 and the upper paper feed unit 5.
The feed roller 215, the drive belt 273 of the retard roller 221, and the small pulley 27, which are used in common with 6.
1 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between a large pulley 272 and the like.

Also in the upper paper feed unit 56, the lower paper feed unit 7
Similarly, the tangential speed of the retard roller 221 is slower than that of the feed roller 215.

FIG. 20 shows a vertical side view of the upper sheet feeding unit 56.

In this embodiment, the upper sheet feeding unit 56 does not perform erect feeding for two reasons: the paper path is not a straight line, and the sliding of the upper unit 3 makes the erratic fed paper S unusable. Therefore, when the paper size is small, the copying speed may become slower than the maximum speed of the main body 41 of the copying machine.

In order to minimize this deterioration in copy speed, the upper paper feeding unit 56 performs variable speed paper feeding. Simply put, even if you start feeding paper after receiving a signal that there are still originals left, that is, a signal that copying has not yet been completed, copying will not be possible using the conventional system where the machine process speed = paper feeding speed. In this case, when the paper feeding speed is set as the process speed of the main body 41, the deterioration of the copying speed is minimized by feeding the paper up to the registration roller 13 in a hurry. , 500 am/
A paper feeding speed of 760 mm/sec is given for a process speed of sec.

However, there is a problem that did not occur when the conventional process speed = paper feed speed. Firstly, since the paper feeding speed is fast, if the pickup roller 290 is suddenly driven by the electromagnetic clutch (as shown in the diagram), slips are likely to occur.Secondly, as explained in the lower paper feeding unit 7, the retard roller 221 Drukuri Kuta 266 (first
(see Figure 8) will exceed the allowable rotation speed due to high-speed paper feeding. Thirdly, the paper feeding speed and the process speed of the main body 41 are different, so if the timing is not adjusted properly, the fed paper S will overlap the previous paper S. This could result in a collision with the rear end.

In order to solve the above three problems, this embodiment devises the sequence, but first, the upper paper feed unit 56
Let's start with the configuration.

In FIG. 20, reference numeral 291 indicates the upper sheet feeding unit 56.
A dedicated motor 292 is a clock plate fixed to the motor shaft 293 of the motor 291, which drives the rollers.
The rotation speed of the motor shaft 293 is detected. The rotation speed of the motor 291 is thereby controlled.

Further, rollers 295 and 296 are directly driven by a belt (not shown) on the motor shaft 293. However, a one-way clutch (path shown) is provided in the middle of the drive system so that the sheet S becomes free when it is pulled out in the transport direction. Roller 297 and roller 299 are idlers, and like roller 227 in FIG.
The rollers 295 and 298 are pressurized by 0. Up/
middle feed roller 215, retard roller 221,
The rollers 235, etc. are located in the lower paper feed unit 7 (see Figure 15).
Since this is the same as that explained in , the explanation thereof will be omitted.

However, the pickup roller 290 has a smaller diameter than the pickup roller 219 of the lower sheet feeding unit 7. This is because, as can be seen from FIG. 1, the pickup roller 290 becomes a dead space that reduces the loading amount of paper S, and the upper/middle shelf Detsuki 43.45 is 100
Since there are 0 sheets, even if the roller diameter is reduced and the durability is lowered, the balance can be maintained considering the frequency of use.

The belt 301 is attached to a shaft 302. The drive of the pickup roller 290 is transmitted to the pickup roller 290. The shaft 302 and the shaft 303 are each driven by an electromagnetic clutch between the motor 291 and the shaft 302 . The shafts 305 and 306 of the retard roller 221 are
It is driven by a belt 273 similar to that shown in FIG. Lever-type sensors 307 and 309 are respectively provided on the paper path. The stays 101 and 102 are for attaching the entire upper sheet feeding unit 56 to the upper unit 3, as shown in the second engineering drawing.

When clearing a jam, the guide 310 is opened to the chain line position,
Idlers 297 and 299 are now open. Further, when the guide 310 is set, it is fixed by being pressed against the main body 41 by the spring 312. The guides 312 and 313 are used to feed the paper S from the manual feed unit 42.
The receiver is a paper guide to take.

The notch 315 in the side plate reaches the nip between the rollers 215 and 221, and is provided to prevent the paper S reaching the nip portion from being damaged when the upper/middle deck 43, 45 is pulled out. Also, the pickup arm 316 is different from the one on the lower stage, and the pickup arm 316 is different from the one on the lower stage.
It is designed to be lifted until it leaves S*. Turn on the solenoid (as shown) or upper/middle deck 43.4
When the pickup arm 316 is pulled out, the pickup arm 316 is lifted up.

With the above configuration, a characteristic sequence for solving the three problems mentioned above will be described.

When the motor 291 is rotated at a paper feeding speed of 750 ms/sec and the electromagnetic clutch is connected, the slip prevention when the pickup roller 290 is rotated is performed by rotating the motor 291 at a paper feeding speed of 750 ms/sec. The speed of the motor 291 is set to O, and after the clutch is connected, the motor 291 is started up.

By doing this, the pickup roller 290
is accelerated by the start-up acceleration of the motor 291 itself, so a gentler acceleration is obtained than when the electromagnetic clutch is turned on, and slipping of the pickup roller 290 can be prevented.

Note that when rotating the pickup roller 290, the solenoid is turned off immediately before the pickup so that the pickup roller 290 comes into contact with the top surface of the paper.

Further, when stopping the paper S, the clutch can be turned OFF as in the conventional method to quickly stop the paper S. Furthermore, since high-speed clutching is eliminated, noise can also be reduced.Ninth, measures to prevent the permissible rotational speed of the drooping ivy 266 from being exceeded will be described.

In this embodiment, the rollers 215 and 221 are φ32, and assuming a tangential speed of 760 as/see, the rollers 215 and 221 have a diameter of 4
It becomes 54 rpm. Conventionally, the feed roller 215 and the retard roller 221 were oriented in opposite directions and had the same tangential speed, but in this case, the torque limiter 266 would rotate at a maximum of 908 rpm, which would be the sum of the rotation speeds of both rollers. In this embodiment, the retard roller 22
1, feed roller 2 as shown in Fig. 19.
By half of 15, the maximum rotation speed is 454+
454/2 = 681 rpm.

However, since this still exceeds the maximum allowable rotation speed, in the embodiment, the electromagnetic clutch is turned on and the shaft 302
, 305, 303, and 306 are being rotated by the motor 291, the maximum speed of 760 am/sec is given up and they are sent at the normal speed of 500 am/sec. Then, the leading edge of the fed paper S is placed on the roller 29.
6,299 and the rollers 195, 297, the electromagnetic clutch is disengaged and the speed of the motor 291 is increased to 500 m/s to 760 m/s.
I have given it to a. By doing this, it is possible to always keep the maximum rotational speed of the drooping ivy 266 at 454 rpm or less.

As a measure to prevent the paper S fed later from colliding with the paper S in front, it is necessary to communicate closely with the main body 41 and to eject the paper to the paper path at the finer pitches possible with the sensor, so that the paper S is constantly fed. Since the only way to do this is to control the following paper S while capturing the movement of the preceding paper S, I will not discuss the study here.

As described above, the paper feeding device 2 of the embodiment is provided with completely two paper feeding paths. Therefore, a special paper feeding mode that is used only in the above-mentioned high-speed skimming mode will be explained. As mentioned above, the high-speed skimming mode is only available on the lower deck 6, but on the middle deck 45.
Paper can be alternately fed from the middle deck 45 and the lower deck 6 only when the paper S of the same size as the lower deck 6 is also loaded. By doing so, in these decks 45 and 6, the paper feeding interval becomes considerably large, so that more stable paper feeding can be performed.

FIG. 22 shows a vertical side view of the manual paper feed section 42. As shown in FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 320 indicates a paper-out detection sensor that detects the presence or absence of stacked sheets S, and 321 indicates a paper stacking shutter. The paper loading shutter 321 is linked to a transparent cover 59 shown in FIG.
When opened to load paper S as shown in the figure,
The paper loading shutter 321 is located at the solid line position in FIG.
This prevents the operator from stacking sheets S beyond the paper stacking shutter 321. This is because if the paper S is brought into contact between the feed roller 322 and the retard roller 323 too much, that is, if the paper S is pushed too far into the feed roller, a paper feeding failure will occur. The paper stacking shutter 321 is rotatably mounted around a shaft 325 in the direction of the arrow, and when the cover 59 is closed, the paper stacking shutter 3
21 rotates to the chain line position and becomes ready for paper feeding.

The shutter of the conventional manual paper feeder is directly driven by a solenoid, and the solenoid is 100% energized.
However, the shutter was configured to be held in two positions without electricity using a spring clutch or cam, etc. Cover 59 on paper feed section 42
By providing this and interlocking the paper loading shutter 321, it is possible to reduce costs and prevent foreign matter from entering the copying machine 1.

Note that the cover 59 is provided with an opening/closing sensor (not shown), so that paper cannot be fed unless the cover 59 is closed.

A feed roller 32 is attached to the frame of the manual paper feed section 42.
2 is pivotally supported, and a retard roller 323 in pressure contact with the retard roller 323 is driven by an unillustrated dowel. The shaft of the foot roller 322 is slidable within the groove 326 and is driven by a universal joint (not shown). The groove 326 is slightly inclined so that the pressing force against the retard roller 323 increases when driving is applied as described in FIG. 15.

The pressure lever 329 pivoted by the shaft 327 is connected to the spring 3
The lever 329 is biased clockwise by the lever 30.
A pressure roller 331 pivotally supported by the feed roller 322 presses the shaft of the feed roller 322 . On the downstream side of the rollers 322, 323, there are paper feed guides 332, 3 that guide the paper S to be fed.
33 are provided.

a pickup arm 336 whose base is pivotally connected to a shaft 335;
A pickup roller 337 is pivotally supported at the free end of. A pulley 339 provided on the shaft 335 and a pulley 340 provided on the shaft of the pickup roller 337 are connected by a belt 341. Pick up roller 33
When a solenoid (not shown) is turned on, the paper 7 falls to the position indicated by the chain line under its own weight and comes into pressure contact with the paper S. Note that the manual paper feeding section 42 is driven by a dedicated motor (as shown) and does not have a glue latch such as an electromagnetic clutch, so that the paper feeding operation is performed solely by controlling the rotation of the motor.

As shown in FIG. 1, the upper cover 57 also serves as a paper loading tray for manual paper feeding, and as it goes to the right in FIG. 1, it rises in a large arc and reaches its maximum height at the edge of the cover 57. However, due to this, cover 59
The paper S is easier to handle than when it is flattened as indicated by the chain line 342.

FIG. 23 shows a detailed cross section of the interface unit 9.

The interface unit 9 connects the paper feeder 2 to the copying machine l.
When it is attached to the main body 41 of the cassette, it is attached in place of the cassette stand, and a dedicated motor (not shown) drives the rollers 345 and 346 via an electromagnetic clutch. The idlers 347 and 349 are rollers 345
, 346, respectively. Paper detection sensors 352 and 353 are disposed on the paper feed path 350, and a paper detection sensor 355 is disposed on the upper paper feed path 351. Reference numerals 356, 357 are fixed guides, 359, 3
80 is a moving guide that can be released when clearing a jam. Both of the moving guides 359 and 360 are fixed by leaf springs 361 and 362 attached to the upper unit 3, with rollers 363 and 365 at the free ends being pressurized in the P direction.

By configuring the interface unit 9 in this way, when clearing a jam, by sliding the upper unit 3 in the pull-out direction, the guides 359 and 260 are aligned with the paper feed paths 350 and 35 with the guides 359 and 260 centered at the base ports 366 and 367.
1 is opened, making it easier to clear jams.

Incidentally, after the leading edge of the paper 286 (see FIG. 1) which has been supplied with a curvature is detected by the sensors 352 and 353, the paper 286 is stopped at a predetermined position after counting the clock. sensor 353
Although this is not necessarily necessary, there is a possibility that the microcomputer may forget the stop position due to the power being turned off, etc., or the position of the paper in the paper feed may change due to other human factors. The registration roller 13 of the main body 41 is located downstream of the stop position of the leading edge of the paper 286 that has been flex-fed.
This is a sensor installed upstream of the

In this way, by using the two sensors 352 and 353 and pinching the leading edge of the paper 286 that has been fed with a blur, it is possible to control the paper 5286 that has been completely fed with a blur.

In this embodiment, the number of sheets to be randomly fed is limited to one, but if the paper feeding path is very long, two or more sheets can be randomly fed. In FIG. 24, another deck 370 is attached to the lower unit 5. The distance from the separating section 371 of the deck 370 to the registration rollers 13 of the main body 41 is an overwhelmingly long paper feeding path 372.

When the paper feed path 372 with a long distance @L becomes necessary,
The above pressure is 1 m so that the distance 11L is approximately (the length of the paper S in the feeding direction, the feed paper interval during semi-continuous copying) x an integer! L and
Select the size of paper S and insert two or more sheets of paper 373, 37
5 can also be fed in a continuous manner.

In the paper feed path 372, a paper detection sensor 377.37 is provided.
9, 380, and 381 are provided, and as explained in the previous embodiment, monitor the sheets 373, 375, etc. that have been randomly fed.

In this case, when the paper S is long in size, the same effect can be obtained by reducing the number of sheets that need to be fed at the same size as compared to the paper size paper.

(G) As described in detail, according to the present invention, among the multiple stages of paper feeding sections that feed paper into an image forming apparatus, the conveyance path from the paper feeding section that carries a large number of sheets can be made independent. By forming the paper in a substantially straight line, it is possible to stabilize paper conveyance, reduce the conveyance load, and improve operability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of a copying machine and a paper feeding device to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a front view of the paper feeding device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the same, and FIGS. The figure is also a longitudinal front view,
Fig. 6 is a right view of Fig. 4, Fig. 7 is a plan view of the upper/middle deck, Fig. 8 is a front view, Fig. 9 is a plan view of the lower deck, Fig. 10 is a front view, Figure 11, Figure 12,
Fig. 13 is a detailed view of the wire booth, Fig. 14 is a plan view of the lock unit of the upper/middle/lower deck, Fig. 15 is a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of the lower paper feed unit, and Fig. 16 is a perspective view. FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the pickup roller section, FIG. 18 is a plan view of the retard separation section, FIG. 19 is a side view, FIG. 20 is a longitudinal side view of the upper paper feeding unit, and FIG.
The figure is a perspective view of the upper paper feed unit, FIG. 22 is a longitudinal side view of the manual paper feed unit, FIG. 23 is a longitudinal side view of the interface unit, and FIG. 24 is a side view of the paper feed section of a conventional paper feeder. FIG. 25 is a perspective view of another conventional paper feeding device. S, S□, S,, S...Paper 1...Copying machine (image forming device) 2...Paper feeder 3...Upper unit 5...Lower unit 6...Lower deck 7...Lower paper feed unit 9...Interface unit, 10.
...Lock unit 11...Release mechanism, 13.
・Registration roller 41 ・Main body of the copying machine
42...Manual paper feed section 43...Upper deck 45...Interruption deck 46...Document
47... Original processing device 52... Photosensitive drum 215, 221... Paper feeding section 286... Pre-fed paper

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In a paper feeding device attached to an image forming apparatus, the paper feeding device having a plurality of stages of paper feeding means for feeding sheets to the image forming apparatus, the number of sheets loaded in the paper feeding means A paper feeding device characterized in that a conveyance path from a paper feeding section with many paper feed sections is independent and formed in a substantially straight line. 2. A claim characterized in that the paper in the paper feed unit is previously fed within a range downstream of the paper feed unit in the independent conveyance path and upstream of a reference roller of the image forming apparatus. 1. The paper feeding device according to 1.