JPH0326469Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Technical Field> The present invention relates to a sheet member detection mechanism applied to an electrostatic copying device or the like.

<Background Art> Conventionally, electrostatic copying apparatuses and the like have been provided with a sheet member detection mechanism that detects a sheet member conveyed through a sheet member conveyance path in order to detect a paper jam. This type of sheet member detection mechanism generally includes a detection means consisting of a micro switch or a combination of a light emitting element and a light receiving element,
The detection means is configured to directly detect passage of the sheet member.

On the other hand, with the diversification of copying in recent years, double-sided copying devices capable of copying on both sides of a sheet member have been proposed and put into practical use. In such a double-sided copying apparatus, a sheet member fed from a sheet member supply device is conveyed through a sheet member conveyance path, and during such conveyance, a copy is applied to one side of the sheet member, and the sheet member with the copy applied to one side is is conveyed to the upstream side of the sheet member conveyance path through the sheet member return path, and the sheet member is conveyed again through the sheet member conveyance path, and during this conveyance, copies are made on the other side of the sheet member. There is. An intermediate stock section is disposed in the sheet member return path, and sheet members with copies on one side are temporarily stacked in this intermediate stock section before being supplied to the upstream side of the sheet member conveyance path. It is structured so that it can be stored.

In such a double-sided copying device, in order to detect a paper jam in the upstream side of the sheet member return path of a sheet member that has been copied on one side, a sheet member detection mechanism is provided in the intermediate stock section to detect the arrival of the sheet member. However, in this intermediate stock section, the sheet members are placed in a stacked state, so using a conventional sheet member detection mechanism, it is difficult to detect the first sheet member. However, there was a problem that the second and subsequent sheet members could not be detected.

<Purpose of the invention> The present invention was made in view of the above facts, and its purpose is to transport the second and subsequent sheet members that are conveyed as required and placed in a stacked state on the stacking unit. can be reliably detected in
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel sheet member detection mechanism.

<Summary of the invention> According to the invention, there is provided a swinging support member that is swingably provided above the stacked stacking section on which the sheet members are placed in a stacked state, and a swinging support member that is rotatably provided on the swinging support member. A driven roller that is driven by the action of the sheet member mounted and conveyed to the stacking section, a detection means for detecting the rotation of the driven roller, and a detection means for detecting the rotation of the driven roller, and a driven roller that moves the sheet member to the stacking section. a conveyance roller for conveying the sheet member as required above, the conveyance roller and the driven roller being arranged so as to be able to abut on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet member among the sheet members in the stacked stacking section; A sheet member detection mechanism is provided, wherein the conveying roller is arranged near the driven roller.

<Preferred Specific Example of the Invention> Hereinafter, a specific example of the sheet member detection mechanism constructed according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, which is a simplified illustration of a portion of an electrostatographic reproduction apparatus such as a duplex copying machine, the illustrated electrostatic reproduction apparatus is provided with an intermediate stock section 2. The intermediate stock section 2 includes an intermediate tray 4 constituting a stacked stacking section on which sheet members are placed in a stacked state, and a conveyance roller that acts as a forwarding roller for conveying the sheet members onto the intermediate tray 4 as required. 6, and movement prevention means 8 for preventing movement of the sheet member. The intermediate tray 4 is composed of a plate-shaped member and extends substantially horizontally in the copy paper conveyance direction. A pair of width adjusting members 10 (only one of which is shown in FIG. 1) is movably mounted on the intermediate tray 4 at intervals in the lateral direction (in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 2 together with FIG. 1, the conveyance roller 6
is attached to a swinging support member 12 that is swingably provided above the intermediate tray 4 . A short shaft 14 (FIG. 2) is implanted on one side of the tip end of the swing support member 12, and a conveyance roller 6 is rotatably mounted on the short shaft 14. A pulley portion 16 is integrally provided on one side of the conveyance roller 6, and the pulley portion 1
6 is drivingly connected to a drive source (not shown) for the electrostatographic reproduction apparatus via transmission means including an endless belt 18. Therefore, the conveying roller 6 is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow 20 (FIG. 3) (counterclockwise in FIG. 1) via the belt 18 and the like by the action of a drive source (not shown). The above-mentioned swing support member 1
2, there is further provided an actuation mechanism (not shown) for selectively bringing the conveying roller 6 into an active state and a non-active state. The actuation mechanism includes an electromagnetic solenoid (not shown), which maintains the transport roller 6 in an active state when the electromagnetic solenoid is deenergized (in such an active state, the swinging support member 12 rotates about the support shaft 21). It is freely swingable and is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 by the weight of the conveyance roller 6, etc., so that the conveyance roller 6 is placed on the upper surface of the intermediate tray 4 or the sheet member is placed on the intermediate tray 4. When the electromagnetic solenoid is energized, the conveyance roller 6 is held in a non-active state (in such a non-active state, the swing support member 12 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 1 about the support shaft 21 by the action of an electromagnetic solenoid, and thus the conveyance roller
(It is positioned at the position shown by the two-dot chain line in the figure and is spaced a predetermined distance from the upper surface of the intermediate tray 4).

Referring again to FIG. 1, the movement blocking means 8 includes a movement blocking member 22 disposed on the downstream side of the conveying roller 6 when viewed in the conveying direction of the sheet member. The movement blocking member 22 is composed of a plate piece, and its lower end is connected to the output end of the electromagnetic solenoid 24. When the electromagnetic solenoid 24 is deenergized, the movement blocking member 22 is moved to a blocking position (a blocking position) in which its upper end side protrudes upward through an opening 26 formed in the intermediate tray 4 by the action of a spring member (not shown). When the electromagnetic solenoid 24 is energized, the upper end of the electromagnetic solenoid 24 moves toward the intermediate tray 4.
from the upper surface of the block to the non-blocking position.

The intermediate stock section 2 described above is further provided with a pair of rollers 28 and 30 on the downstream side of the movement blocking member 22 when viewed in the sheet member conveyance direction. Roller 2 located on the upper side of the pair of rollers
8 is rotated in the direction shown by an arrow 32, that is, the same direction as the sheet member conveyance direction, and acts as a conveyance roller that conveys the sheet member further downstream, and the roller 30 located on the lower side is rotated in the direction shown by an arrow 32, that is, the same direction as the sheet member conveyance direction. direction, that is, the direction opposite to the sheet member conveyance direction,
It acts as a separation roller to prevent two sheets from being fed.
In the pair of rollers 28 and 30 described above,
The friction coefficient of roller 28 is larger than that of roller 30.

In the electrostatic copying machine equipped with the intermediate stock section 2 described above, a sheet member supply device (not shown) is provided.
A sheet member fed from is conveyed through a sheet member conveyance path (not shown), a copy is applied to one side of the sheet member during such conveyance, and the sheet member with the copy applied is conveyed through a sheet member return path (not shown). figure)
is conveyed to the intermediate stock section 2 through the upstream side of the storage medium. Once conveyed in this manner, the sheet member is placed on the intermediate tray 4 of the intermediate stock section 2, and is moved downstream on its upper surface. When the sheet member is moved up to the transport roller 6, the transport roller 6 in the active state acts relatively weakly on the upper surface of the sheet member due to its own weight, and the sheet member moves in the direction of the arrow 20.
It is further moved downstream by the action of the conveyance roller 6 which rotates in the direction shown in FIG. 3. and,
When the sheet member is moved to the movement blocking member 22 in the blocking position, the leading edge of the sheet member comes into contact with the upper end of the movement blocking member 22 that protrudes upward from the upper surface of the intermediate tray 4, thus preventing the sheet member from moving. is definitely prevented. At this time, the conveyance roller 6
acts relatively weakly on the upper surface of the sheet member, so that if the sheet member is prevented from moving, a slip occurs between the sheet member and the conveyance roller 6.

When the sheet member with copies on one side is thus placed on the intermediate tray 4, an electromagnetic solenoid of an actuating mechanism (not shown) is energized, and the conveying roller 6 moves as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. The pair of width alignment members 10 are then moved laterally as desired. When the width alignment member 10 is thus moved, its inner surface acts on both side edges of the sheet member, and the sheet member on the intermediate tray 4 is positioned at a desired position.

Once the above-mentioned positioning of the sheet member is completed,
The electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) of the actuating mechanism is deenergized, and the conveying roller 6 is kept in an activated state, and its own weight abuts the upper surface of the sheet member placed on the intermediate tray 4, and the sheet Press the member relatively lightly.

Therefore, when double-sided copying is performed on one sheet, the sheet member having been copied on one side is temporarily stored on the intermediate tray 4 as described above.

When making multiple double-sided copies, after the sheet member is placed on the intermediate tray 4 as described above, the next sheet member is placed on the sheet member and moved along the upper surface of the sheet member. Ru. Then, when the next sheet member is similarly moved to the movement blocking member 22, it comes into contact with this and its movement is blocked. Thereafter, an electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) of the actuating mechanism is energized and the pair of width alignment members 10 are moved as desired to align the width of the next sheet member on the intermediate tray 4 as desired. When the width adjustment is completed, the electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) is deenergized again. When making double-sided copies of a large number of sheets, the above-mentioned operations are repeated, and the sheet members having a copy image on one side are placed on the intermediate tray 4 in a stacked manner, and copies are made on the other side. Temporarily stored before dispensing.

Thereafter, when the sheet member is fed from the intermediate tray 4 in order to perform copying on the other side of the sheet member, the electromagnetic solenoid 24 is energized. In this way, the movement blocking member 22 is held in a non-blocking position in which its upper edge is retreated from the upper surface of the intermediate tray 4, and thus the uppermost sheet member among the stacked sheet members on the intermediate tray 4 is in the operating state. Under the action of the conveyance roller 6, a pair of rollers 28 and 30
will be transported towards. A pair of rollers 28 and 30
, the roller 28 is rotated in the sheet member conveying direction indicated by the arrow 32, and the roller 30 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow 34.
Since the sheet member is rotated in the opposite direction to the sheet member conveyance direction shown by defining a side portion) and upstream of a sheet member transport path (not shown). The sheet member conveyed to the upstream side of the sheet member conveyance path as described above is conveyed again through the sheet member conveyance path, and a copy is applied to the other surface of the sheet member during this conveyance.

The intermediate stock section 2 of the electrostatic copying machine described above is provided with a sheet member detection mechanism, generally indicated by the numeral 40, constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the illustrated sheet member detection mechanism 40 includes a driven roller 42 and a detection means 44 for detecting rotation of the driven roller 42. The driven roller 42 is composed of a disc-shaped member, and a plurality of rectangular openings 46 are formed at intervals in the circumferential direction on the side surface thereof. This driven roller 42 is rotatably mounted on a short shaft 48 implanted on the other surface of the tip end of the swing support member 12.
Therefore, as the swing support member 12 rotates, it is moved up and down together with the conveyance roller 6. In the specific example, the driven roller 42 is provided on the swinging support member 12 to which the conveyance roller 6 is mounted, but instead of this, a swinging support that is swingable separately from the swinging support member 12 is provided. A member may be provided, and the swing support member may be provided with a driven roller. In addition, the illustrated detection means 4
Reference numeral 4 is composed of a combination of a light emitting element 50 and a light receiving element 52, in which the light emitting element 50 is disposed on one side of the driven roller 42, and the light receiving element 52 is disposed on the other side of the driven roller 42. Light emitting element 50 and light receiving element 52
are attached to the support member 54 at intervals in the lateral direction (in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper in FIG. 1, in the vertical direction in FIG. is fixed at the bottom edge of the The detection means 44 may be provided not on the main body side of the electrostatic copying apparatus but on the swing support member 12 which is swingably mounted. In this case, the positional relationship between the driven roller 42 and the detection means 44 can be kept constant regardless of the number of sheet members placed on the intermediate tray 4.

Next, referring mainly to FIGS. 1 and 3,
The effects of the sheet member detection mechanism 40 described above will be explained.

When a sheet member with a copy on one side is conveyed onto the intermediate tray 4 as described above, this sheet member is further conveyed toward the downstream side under the action of the conveying roller 6 which is in an active state. . When the leading end of the sheet member is moved to the driven roller 42, the leading end of the sheet member being moved downstream is driven by the rotation of the conveying roller 6 in the direction shown by the arrow 20 (FIG. 3). It acts on the roller 42, and the driven roller 42 moves in the direction of the arrow 58 under the action of this sheet member.
(Fig. 3). When driven in this manner, the aperture 46 formed in the driven roller 42 moves as required, and when the aperture 46 passes between the light emitting element 50 and the light receiving element 52, light from the light emitting element 50 passes through this aperture 46 and reaches the light receiving element. Thus, the detection means 44 detects that the sheet member is on the intermediate tray 4.
It is detected that the object has been conveyed to the top as required.

The above-mentioned driven roller 42 is driven after the tip of the sheet member reaches the driven roller 42 and then the movement prevention member 2
The distance between the openings 46 is set so that one opening 46 passes between the light emitting element 50 and the light receiving element 52 while the sheet member is driving the driven roller 42. Although it is preferable that a plurality of openings 46 pass between the light emitting element 50 and the light receiving element 52 during the above-mentioned period.

In such a sheet member detection mechanism 40, when the number of sheet members on the intermediate tray 4 increases,
In connection with this, the swing support member 12 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 1, and the conveyance roller 6 and the driven roller 42 come to act on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet member. Therefore, when the next sheet member is conveyed onto the stacked sheet members, the driven roller 42 is driven by the action of the next sheet member, and thus the sheet members are stacked on the intermediate tray 4. Even though the sheet members are placed on the intermediate tray 4, it is possible to reliably detect the sheet members, especially the second and subsequent sheet members.

In the present invention, as can be clearly understood from FIGS. 2 and 3, the conveying roller 6 is connected to the driven roller 4.
It is located near 2. A sheet member is fed onto the stacking section by the conveying roller 6. Even when the sheet member to be fed is in a wavy state, such a sheet member is pressed down to some extent by the conveying roller 6 and brought into a nearly flat state.

Therefore, the driven roller 42 located near the conveyance roller 6 comes into sufficient contact with the sheet member, so that its rotation is performed reliably. As a result, the detection of the second and subsequent sheet members in the stacking section can be performed more reliably. The waving phenomenon of the sheet member is particularly likely to occur when the sheet member has passed through a fixing roller (not shown). Therefore, the present invention is extremely effective when applied to a sheet member stacking section located downstream of the fixing roller.

Although specific examples of the sheet member detection mechanism configured according to the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such specific examples, and various modifications and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. It is possible.

For example, in the specific example, the sheet member detection mechanism configured according to the present invention was applied to a double-sided copying machine, but the invention is not limited to this.
Detection that detects the arrival of a sheet member in an electrostatic copying device that performs copying on one side of a sheet member and then overlaps it with the other side, and furthermore, in a stacking unit where sheet members are placed in a stacked state. The mechanism can also be applied to various other devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a simplified cross-sectional view of a portion of an electrostatic copying apparatus equipped with a sheet member detection mechanism constructed according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the sheet member detection mechanism shown in FIG. 1 and its vicinity. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the sheet member detection mechanism shown in FIG. 1 and its vicinity. 2... Intermediate stock section, 4... Intermediate tray, 6
... Conveyance roller, 12 ... Swing support member, 40 ...
... Sheet member detection mechanism, 42 ... Driven roller, 44
...detection means.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A rocking support member that is swingably provided above a stacked stacking section on which sheet members are stacked, and a rocking support member that is rotatably attached to the swinging support member. , a driven roller that is driven by the action of the sheet member conveyed to the stacked stacking section, a detection means for detecting rotation of the driven roller, and a detection means for detecting the rotation of the driven roller, and placing the sheet member on the stacked stacking section. a conveyance roller for conveying as required, the conveyance roller and the driven roller are arranged so as to be able to abut on the upper surface of the uppermost sheet member among the sheet members in the stacked stacking section; A sheet member detection mechanism characterized in that a conveying roller is arranged near the driven roller. 2. The sheet member according to claim 1, wherein the conveying roller for conveying the sheet member onto the stacking section as required is rotatably mounted on the swinging support member. Detection mechanism. 3. The stacking unit is composed of an intermediate tray on which sheet members with copies on one side are placed in a stacked state, and the conveying roller is used to place the sheet members on the intermediate tray as required. The sheet member detection mechanism according to claim 2 of the utility model registration claim, which is a front-shifting roller. 4. The detection means is composed of a combination of a light emitting element and a light receiving element arranged on both sides of the driven roller, and the driven roller has an opening through which light from the light emitting element can pass. A sheet member detection mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 3 of the utility model registration claims.