JPH0354636B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention transmits the rotational force of a rotating part provided in a paper feed mechanism on an office machine to a paper feed roller via a spring clutch mechanism and a one-way clutch. The present invention also relates to an automatic paper feeding device that feeds sheets held in a stacked manner in a paper holding section one by one by rotating the paper feeding roller in a fixed direction.

[Conventional technology]

For example, when feeding paper to a printing machine, the rotational force of a platen provided within the printing machine is used to rotate a paper feeding roller of an automatic paper feeding device.

In such a case, since the platen may be rotated in both forward and reverse directions, a clutch mechanism is provided to transmit only rotation in a certain direction to the paper feed roller. In addition, after the sheet of paper is fed to the contact position between the platen and the pinch roller by the rotation of the paper feed roller, the sheet of paper is pinched between the platen and the pinch roller, and the sheet is fed to the printing start position by the rotation of the platen. However, if the paper feed roller continues to rotate even after the end of the paper sheet has come off the paper feed roller, there is a problem in that the next paper sheet is continuously fed out.
Therefore, a one-way clutch is provided between the paper feed roller shaft and the paper feed roller, and after the leading edge of the sheet reaches between the platen and the pinch roller, the clutch mechanism is disengaged and the paper feed roller shaft is closed. The platen and the pinch roller are used to pull out the paper sheet while stopping the paper feed roller and rotating the paper feed roller idly relative to the shaft.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As described above, an automatic feeder that supplies paper sheets to an office machine (printing machine in the above example) that has a paper feeding mechanism equipped with a rotating part (platen in the above example) that rotates in both forward and reverse directions. In the paper device, when the rotary section rotates in a fixed direction, a paper feed roller feeds the sheet, and when the direction of rotation of the rotary section is changed, the clutch mechanism is disengaged. However, in a mechanism in which the input rotating body of the clutch mechanism rotates in conjunction with the paper feed mechanism, the rotation of the rotating part of the paper feeding mechanism in the opposite direction is prevented from being fed due to contact resistance between the input side rotating body and the paper feed roller shaft. The vibration is transmitted to the paper roller shaft and then to the paper feed roller, causing this roller to rotate in the opposite direction, which may cause the uppermost sheet in the sheet holder to move. If such a situation occurs, the position of the leading edge of the sheet will not be determined in the next sheet feeding process, resulting in a decline in so-called cueing accuracy.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic paper feeding device that rotates a paper feeding roller in conjunction with a rotating section provided in a paper feeding mechanism of an office machine. This prevents the paper feed roller shaft from rotating unnecessarily when the clutch mechanism interposed between the paper feed roller and the paper feed roller shaft is disengaged, and allows the paper feed roller to locate the beginning of the sheet with high precision. The aim is to make sure that

[Means for solving problems]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an automatic paper feeder for supplying paper sheets to an office machine having a paper feeding mechanism equipped with a rotating part that rotates in both forward and reverse directions. a paper sheet holder that holds the sheets in a stacked manner, a paper feed roller shaft disposed in the width direction of the paper sheets held in this paper sheet holder, and a paper feed roller shaft that is attached to this paper feed roller shaft and that A paper feed roller that contacts the surface of the uppermost sheet of paper and rotates in one direction to deliver the uppermost sheet of paper to the paper feed mechanism of the office machine, and between this sheet of paper feed roller and the paper feed roller shaft. a one-way clutch that is interposed in the paper feed roller and transmits only the rotation of the paper feed roller shaft in the sheet feeding direction to the paper feed roller;
An input-side rotating body that is rotatably attached to the paper feed roller shaft and rotates forward and reverse in conjunction with a rotating part provided in the paper feed mechanism of the office machine, and is wound around the paper feed roller shaft. one end of which is brought into contact with the input rotating body, and the other end is brought into direct or indirect contact with the paper feeding roller shaft, and when the input rotating body rotates in the sheet feeding direction, its rotation is used to feed the paper. A coiled clutch spring that transmits information to the roller shaft,
A clutch release mechanism that appropriately engages one end of the clutch spring to eliminate the rotation transmission function of the clutch spring, a braked wheel fixed to the paper feed roller shaft, and a clutch release mechanism that engages with the braked wheel. and a braking member that prohibits the rotation of the paper feed roller shaft following the rotation of the input-side rotating body in the counter-sheet feeding direction.

[Effect]

By engaging the braking member with the braked wheel, rotation of the paper feed roller shaft can be inhibited, and unnecessary rotation of the paper feed roller can be prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 to 15.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of the printing apparatus, in which an automatic paper feeder 3 is mounted on the printing apparatus main body 1 via a mounting base 2. As shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the printing device 1.
The cylindrical platen 4 has a printing head (not shown) facing the outer peripheral surface thereof, and a paper pan 5 covers the lower part of the outer peripheral surface. Furthermore, pinch rollers 6a and 6b are pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the platen 4 through the paper pan 5, and these pinch rollers 6a and 6b and the platen 4 constitute a paper feeding mechanism. The pinch rollers 6a and 6b are divided into a plurality of parts in the axial direction, and as shown in FIG. A bulging portion 7 is provided. 10th
In the figure, 5a and 5b are pinch rollers 6a and 6, respectively.
This is a through hole that penetrates b. Further, a bail roller 8 is brought into contact with the upper part of the outer peripheral surface of the platen 4.

A sheet insertion opening 10 is provided in the outer casing 9 of the printer body 1, and a guide member 11 with a V-shaped cross section is arranged near the platen 4 with its bent corner facing the sheet insertion opening 10. has been done.

On the other hand, the automatic paper feeder 3 includes a paper holding section 12.
is provided, and paper sheets 13 of a certain size are stacked and held here.

The paper sheet holding section 12 has a rectangular opening 16 in the bottom plate part of the casing 14 that holds the paper sheets 13 in a stacked manner, that is, a movable plate 15, and a pressing member 17 is fitted into this opening 15. The pressing member 17 is pressed from behind by a spring member 18 such as a compression coil spring. In addition, the above-mentioned case 1
4 attaches the upper end of the rear surface to the back plate 19 of the paper feeder 3, and the shaft 2
0, and is constantly biased toward the left in the drawing by a spring (not shown). Further, paper sheet separation members 21 are attached to the left and right side plates of the housing 14, respectively (only one side is shown).

FIG. 3 shows an exploded view of the mechanism surrounding the pressing member 17. A cork board 22 is pasted on the front side of the pressing member 17 to prevent slippage between the pressing member 17 and the surface of the paper, and on the rear side. A flange 23 is provided to protrude outward. Therefore, the pressing member 17
fits into the opening 16 and is pressed from behind by the spring member 18. However, the amount by which the surface of the cork plate 22 protrudes from the inner surface of the movable plate 15 is such that the flange 23 limited by contact with. The other end of the spring member 18 is received by a nut 25 that is part of the adjustment mechanism 24 . As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this adjustment mechanism 24 includes a screw member 26 attached to the back plate 19 which is screwed into the nut 25.
The position of the nut 25 is changed by rotating the nut 25. Note that 27 in the figure is an E-ring that prevents the screw member 26 from being pulled out from the hole 28 provided in the back plate 19. A pair of protrusions 2 are provided on the outer periphery of the nut 25.
9 are provided adjacent to each other, and a stopper piece 30 formed by cutting and raising the back plate 19 is inserted therebetween to prevent the nut 25 from rotating.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, the sheet separating member 21 is formed of an elastic plate material (for example, a metal plate), and one end is attached to the left and right side plates of the housing 14 with screws 31. It is fixed with a protrusion 32, and the other end is a separation claw part 33. The separating claw portion 33 is brought into contact with the corner portion 13a on the delivery side of the sheets 13 stacked and held in the housing 14. Further, the paper sheet separating member 21 is bent at an approximately right angle in the width direction at an intermediate position, and between this bent portion and the separating claw portion 33, especially near the reference numeral 21a, the thickness of the paper sheet 13 is reduced as shown in FIG. Between the bent portion and the screw 31, it can be bent in the width direction of the sheet 13 as shown in FIG. In addition,
Reference numeral 34 in FIG. 5 is a paper guide that guides the paper 13 of the printing machine main body 1 from the paper holder 12.

Returning to FIG. 2 again, 35 in the figure is the sheet holding section 1.
This is a paper feeding roller shaft that is disposed in the width direction of the paper sheets 13 held therein, facing the movable plate 15 of No. 2. A one-way clutch 36 is attached to this shaft 35.
A paper feed roller 37 is attached through the paper feed roller 37, and the outer peripheral surface of this paper feed roller 37 is brought into contact with the surface of the uppermost paper sheet 13 in the paper sheet holding section 12. The paper feed roller 37 is divided into a plurality of parts in the axial direction, and a clutch 36 is provided in one direction for each divided roller.

The automatic paper feeder 3 also includes the paper feed roller shaft 3.
5 are provided, and a paper discharge roller 40 and a pinch roller 41 are attached to these shafts 38 and 39, respectively, with their outer peripheral surfaces in contact with each other. When the paper sheet 13 sent out from the printing machine main body 1 is guided by the paper ejection guide 42 and reaches between the paper ejection roller 40 and the pinch roller 41, the paper ejection roller 40 rotates (therefore, the pinch roller 41 also rotates at the same time). ) rotates both rollers 40,4
1, the paper rises while contacting the static elimination brush 43, and falls into the discharged paper holding section 44.

The paper feed roller shaft 35 and the shaft 38 of the paper discharge roller 40 rotate in conjunction with the platen 4. The interlocking mechanism will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.
First, as shown in FIG. 8, the paper feed roller shaft 35 and the shaft 38 of the paper discharge roller 40 are supported by left and right side plates (only one shown) 45 of the automatic paper feeder 3. A gear 46 as an input side rotating body is rotatably mounted on the paper feed roller shaft 35 at a portion protruding outward from one side plate 45, and a ratchet wheel 47 as a braked wheel is mounted on the shaft end. is fixed. The gear 46 and the ratchet wheel 47 have sleeve portions having substantially the same outer circumference and are opposed to each other, and a coiled clutch spring 48 is wound around both sleeve portions. The clutch spring 48 includes a clutch release mechanism 49 and a clutch mechanism 50.
Clutch release mechanism 4
Numeral 9 is composed of a clutch magnet 51, an armature 52 as a movable part that is attracted by the magnet 51 and rotates, and a spring 53 that separates the armature 52 from the magnet 51. When the armature 52 is separated from the magnet 51 by the spring 53, the tip end is connected to the clutch spring 48.
It is engaged with one end 48a, and when pulled by the magnet 51, it is separated from one end of the clutch spring 48a. Therefore, when the gear 46 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 8 in conjunction with the forward rotation of the platen 4 (rotation in the direction of forwarding the sheets 13), the armature 52 is pulled by the clutch magnet 51. When the clutch spring 48 is separated from one end 48a, the clutch spring 48 tightens the sleeve portion of the latchet wheel 47 by the rotation of the gear 46, causing the paper feed roller shaft 35 to rotate together with the gear 46. However, if the tip of the armature 52 is engaged with one end 48a of the clutch spring 48, the tightening effect of the clutch spring 48 will not be exerted, the gear 46 will idle, and the paper feed roller shaft 35 will not rotate. Also, platen 4
When the gear 46 rotates in the opposite direction, the gear 46 rotates clockwise in FIG. 8, so the clutch spring 48 is not tightened in this case as well, and the paper feed roller shaft 35 does not rotate. However, when the gear 46 rotates clockwise, the gear 46 and the paper feed roller shaft 35
Due to contact resistance with the paper feed roller shaft 35, the gear 46
It is possible that it may rotate slightly following the
In order to reliably prevent such unstable rotation of the paper feed roller shaft 35, a ratchet pawl 54 as a braking member is fixed to the armature 52 with a screw 55. When the armature 52 is separated from the clutch magnet 51, the ratchet pawl 54 engages with the ratchet wheel 47, inhibits the rotation of the ratchet wheel 47, that is, the rotation of the paper feed roller shaft 35, and prevents the armature 5 from rotating.
2 is pulled by the clutch magnet 51 and rotated, the prohibition is released. The ratchet pawl 54 has a long hole 54a at its base end, and the screw 55 is passed through the long hole 54a, and by loosening the screw 55, the ratchet wheel 4 is removed.
The position can be adjusted relative to 7.

On the other hand, a gear 56 is also fixed to the shaft end of the shaft 38 of the paper ejection roller 40, and this gear 56 and the gear 46 on the paper feed roller shaft 35 side rotate in conjunction with each other in the same direction via an intermediate gear 57. are in a relationship. The rotation of the platen 4 is transmitted to the gear 46, which is the input rotating body of the clutch mechanism 50, via a rotation transmission mechanism. Note that 58 in FIG. 8 indicates the final gear of the rotation transmission mechanism.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the printing device, in which a CPU 59 including ROM and RAM is connected to a carrier motor 6 that drives a carrier (not shown).
0, a paper feed motor 61 that drives the platen 4, a clutch magnet 51, a switch 62 for switching between automatic paper feeding and manual paper feeding, a paper out sensor 63 that detects paper out in the paper holding section 12, and the like.
Further, the CPU 59 exchanges signals with the interface control 64 and the operation panel 65.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

FIG. 12 shows the main routine of the printing device.

First, if there is no error during initial operation, it is determined whether data is input from the host computer.
If there is data input, depending on the presence or absence of a page feed code, printout processing is performed if there is no page feed code, and paper feeding processing is performed if there is a page feed code.

Here, the paper feeding process is performed as shown in FIG.

That is, first, the clutch magnet 51 is energized, and then the paper feed motor 61 rotates forward by a certain amount (n steps) to rotate the platen 4 in the forward direction. Therefore, the rotation of the platen 4 is transmitted to the paper feed roller 37 via the clutch mechanism 50 and the one-way clutch 36, and the uppermost paper sheet 13 in the paper sheet holder 12 is sent out by the paper feed roller 37. be done.

Then, as shown in FIG. 14, when the leading edge of the paper sheet 13 has passed the contact line between the platen 4 and the pinch roller 6 and has been further fed by about a=10 mm to 15 mm, the paper feed motor 61 stops and the clutch is activated. The power supply to the magnet 51 is stopped, the ratchet pawl 54 engages with the ratchet wheel 47, and rotation of the paper feed roller shaft 35 is prohibited.

Next, the paper feed motor 61 rotates in the reverse direction to return the paper sheet 13, but the rotation of the motor 61 at this time is not transmitted to the paper feed roller 37. and the first
As shown in FIG. 5, the leading edge of the paper sheet 13 is aligned over the entire width on the contact line between the platen 4 and the pinch roller 6a. At this time, the bulging portion 7 provided in the paper pan 5 applies appropriate resistance to the paper sheet 13, and the paper sheet 13 is prevented from returning too much. Further, the paper feed motor 61 is rotated in the forward direction again with the leading edges of the paper sheets 13 aligned. At this time, the clutch mechanism 50
Since the rotational force of the motor 61 is not transmitted to the paper feed roller shaft 35, rotation of the paper feed roller shaft 35 is prohibited by the ratchet pawl 54. However, since the one-way clutch 36 is inserted between the paper feed roller shaft 35 and the paper feed roller 37, the uppermost paper sheet 13 in the paper sheet holding section 12 is connected to the platen 4 and the pinch roller 6a, 6b
When the uppermost paper sheet 13 is sent out, the paper feed roller 3
7 now rotates idly, and the feeding of the paper sheets 13 is not hindered.

In this manner, when the printing start position of the paper sheet 13 reaches the printing section (the position in front of the print head, not shown), the paper feed motor 61 is stopped, and the paper feeding process is completed.

In the above paper feeding process, when the paper sheet 13 is sent out from the paper sheet holding section 12, the sheet separation member 21
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the paper sheet 13 can be elastically deformed in the thickness direction and the width direction.
The transmission of the information will be carried out easily. Also, when rotating the paper feed motor 61 in reverse during the paper feeding process,
The rotation of the paper feed roller shaft 35 is controlled by the ratchet wheel 4.
7 and the ratchet pawl 54, the second sheet 13 will not be misaligned within the sheet holder 12 due to reverse rotation of the sheet feed roller 37.

Further, the sheet holding section 12 is provided with a pressing member 17 that is separate from the movable plate 15, and this pressing member 17 is biased toward the sheet feeding roller 37 by a spring member 18, so that the sheet feeding roller The contact pressure between the contact pressure between the movable plate 17 and the surface of the sheet 13 does not change due to deformation of the movable plate 17, and meandering of the sheet 13 caused by this can be prevented. In particular, by making it possible to adjust the biasing force of the spring member 18 against the pressing member 17 using the adjustment mechanism 24, the contact pressure between the paper feed roller 37 and the surface of the sheet can be adjusted as appropriate.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, rotation of the paper feed roller shaft can be inhibited by engaging the braking member with the braked wheel, thereby preventing unnecessary rotation of the paper feed roller. It is possible to position the paper sheets with high precision using the paper feed roller.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 15 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the device, and FIG. 3 shows a mechanism around a pressing member. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the adjustment mechanism, FIGS. FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the relationship between the platen and the paper pan; FIG.
Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the printing device, Figure 12 is a flowchart showing the main routine, Figure 13 is a flowchart showing paper feeding processing, and Figures 14 and 15.
The figure is a side sectional view showing the paper feeding processing operation. 1... Printing machine body, 4... Platen, 6a, 6
b...Pinch roller, 12...Paper holding section, 13
... Paper sheet, 35 ... Paper feed roller shaft, 36 ... One-way clutch, 37 ... Paper feed roller, 46 ... Gear (input side rotating body), 47 ... Ratchet wheel (braked wheel), 48...Clutch spring, 49
...clutch release mechanism, 50...clutch mechanism, 51...clutch magnet, 52...armature (movable part), 54...ratchet pawl (braking member).

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. In an automatic paper feeder that feeds paper sheets to an office machine that has a paper feeding mechanism equipped with a rotating part that rotates in both forward and reverse directions, paper sheets of a certain size are stacked and held. a paper sheet holding section; a paper feed roller shaft disposed in the width direction of the paper sheets held on the paper sheet holding section;
A paper feed roller that is attached to the paper feed roller shaft and delivers the top paper to the paper feeding mechanism of the office machine by contacting the surface of the uppermost paper in the paper holding section and rotating in one direction. a one-way clutch interposed between the paper feed roller and the paper feed roller shaft and transmitting only the rotation of the paper feed roller shaft in the sheet feeding direction to the paper feed roller; an input-side rotating body that is attached and rotates forward and backward in conjunction with a rotating part provided in a paper feeding mechanism on the office machine side; and an input-side rotating body that is wrapped around the paper feed roller shaft and whose one end is the input-side rotating body. a coil-shaped clutch spring that is brought into contact with the paper feed roller shaft and whose other end is brought into direct or indirect contact with the paper feed roller shaft to transmit the rotation to the paper feed roller shaft when the input side rotating body rotates in the paper feed direction; A clutch release mechanism that appropriately engages one end of the clutch spring to eliminate the rotation transmission function of the clutch spring, a braked wheel fixed to the paper feed roller shaft, and a clutch release mechanism that engages with the braked wheel. An automatic paper feeder comprising: a braking member for inhibiting rotation of a paper feed roller shaft that follows rotation of the input-side rotating body in a counter-sheet feeding direction. 2. The automatic sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the braked wheel is a ratchet wheel, and the braking member is a ratchet pawl. 3. The braking member is attached to a movable portion of the clutch release mechanism, and when the clutch release mechanism is disengaged from one end side of the clutch spring, the braking member is also disengaged from the braked wheel. Automatic paper feeder.