JPH0780592B2 - Sheet material transfer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to sheet material conveyance for conveying a sheet material to a predetermined position in an image forming apparatus such as a circulation type document conveying apparatus, a copying machine, a laser beam printer or the like. Regarding the device.

(B) Conventional Technology Conventionally, as an example of a sheet material conveying device, there is a circulation type document conveying device (hereinafter referred to as RDF) 1 as shown in FIG. The RDF 1 is arranged on the upper portion of the copying machine main body 2, and the sheet originals P, which are placed on the tray 4 with the processing surfaces facing upward, are separated one by one from the lower one and conveyed to the copying machine main body 2. Through the document feeding path 11, the processing surface is placed face down at a predetermined position on the platen 3 of the copying machine main body 2. In the case of a double-sided original, it is conveyed again from the platen 3 through the inversion path 12 to the platen. Therefore, a bent document conveying path 5 for reversing the sheet document P is provided between the platen 3 of the copying machine body 2 and the platen 3.

Further, in order to feed the sheet document by skewing it, the conveying belt 7 and the separation belt 9 on the upstream side are rotated while abutting the leading end of the document against the feed roller 6 which is not rotating, to form a loop on the sheet document P. It is necessary to allow the sheet guide 10 above the feeding roller 6 to escape upward, and a space is secured in the upstream-side document conveying path 11 of the feeding roller 6 so that the sheet document P easily forms a loop. .

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention By the way, the bent document feeding path 5 often interferes with the feeding of a sheet document whose front end is curled upward or a thick sheet document. Therefore, it is necessary to narrow the original conveying path to correct the upper curled sheet original or to suppress the play of the thick sheet original. However, if there is the above space, the correction or the pressing cannot be effectively performed, and the upper curled sheet is curled. There is an inconvenience that a sheet document or a thick sheet document cannot completely bend at the bent portion.

On the other hand, if the original conveyance path is narrowed by giving priority to the conveyance of the original curled original or the like, there is a disadvantage that a loop for skew feeding is not formed.

In particular, when the two sheet material conveying paths, that is, the original sheet feeding path and the reversing path are joined and the skew feeding is performed by the common skew feeding removing means, as in the above-described circulation type document feeding apparatus, two sheet material feeding paths are used. Since the conveying path of is curled and guided to the common skew removing means, a sheet material such as an upper curl is likely to cause a problem such as a jam, and when the two conveying paths are narrowed, the sheet is skewed. This causes the inconvenience that the loop is not formed.

(D) Means for Solving the Problem The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and regulates the leading end of the sheet material (P) to be conveyed to the sheet material conveying path upstream of the skew feeding removing means. A skew removing means (46) for forming a loop on the sheet material is provided, and the skew removing means joins the first sheet material conveying path (37) and the second sheet material conveying path (41). A sheet material conveying device which is disposed in a portion and removes the skew of the sheet material conveyed to the first and second sheet material conveying paths and conveys the sheet material to a predetermined position; ), And a movable guide (movable guide) which is movably arranged at the confluence of the first and second sheet material conveying paths (37) and (41) and constitutes the first and second sheet material conveying paths. 47 ′), a detecting means (S) for detecting the sheet material, and the movable guide (47 ′), Drive means for displacing either one of the first and second sheet material conveying paths to expand, and based on the detection of the detection means (S), the movable guide (47 ') It is characterized in that the sheet material conveying path on the conveyed side is displaced so as to expand so as to form a loop in the sheet material.

(E) Operation Based on the above configuration, for example, the second sheet material conveying path (4
When the sheet material (P) is supplied to 1), the movable guide (4
7 ') is in a state where the second sheet material conveying path (41) constitutes a narrow conveying path, and the sheet material is guided to the conveying path (41) and stably conveyed. And the detection means (S)
When the sheet material (P) is detected, the movable guide (47 ') is displaced by the driving means so as to expand the second sheet material conveying path (41), and the sheet material is conveyed by the skew feeding removing means (46). The tip end of the loop abuts against, and the enlarged transport path forms a loop.

Similarly, when the sheet material is supplied to the first sheet material conveying path (37), the movable guide (47 ') is first positioned so as to form a narrow conveying path, and the sheet material is narrow. When the sheet is stably guided by the conveying path, and then the detecting means (S) detects the sheet material, the movable guide (47 ') is displaced to expand the first sheet material conveying path (37), and the sheet material is moved. Comes into contact with the skew feeding removing means (46) to form a loop.

The reference numerals in the parentheses are for the purpose of contrasting with the drawings, but do not limit the configuration of the present invention in any way. (F) Examples Prior to describing the examples of the present invention, the basis of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

RDF (circulation type document feeder) which is a sheet material feeder 20
Has a document tray 21 on the upper side, as shown in FIG.
A wide belt 22 is provided below, and the sheet original P placed on the original tray 21 is placed on the original tray 23 at a predetermined position on the platen 25 of the main body 23 of the copying machine. Then, the sheet document is carried out from the platen 25 onto the document tray 21. The original tray 21 is provided with a bendable auxiliary tray 26, which is extended when a sheet original having a long sheet feeding direction is placed. Further document tray
A width direction restricting plate 27 is slidably arranged in the width direction of the sheet original on the 21 to restrict the width direction of the placed sheet original to stabilize the stability of the sheet original during feeding and the original tray.
21 Consistency is ensured at the time of carrying out. A paper feed roller 29 is provided adjacent to the document tray 21, and a stopper 30 that moves up and down is arranged.
The sheet original P when it is set on the upper side is restricted by the protruding stopper 30 so that it cannot be advanced downstream. Then, multiple conditions are input on the operation unit of the copying machine,
When the start key is pressed, the stopper 30 sinks,
The path of the sheet document P is released, and the sheet document P receives the feeding force of the sheet feeding roller 29 and advances to the downstream portion. At this time, the partition member 31 arranged above the document tray 21 rotates and rides on the uppermost sheet document P to distinguish between the unprocessed document and the processed document. A conveyor belt 32 and a separation belt 33, which form a separation section, are arranged downstream of the stopper 30. The sheet originals P that have been rotated in the directions of the arrows and advanced from the original tray 21 are sequentially arranged from the lower one. Separate and convey every sheet. Further, a weight 35 is provided above the stopper 30 so that the number of sheet originals on the original tray 21 is small and the sheet original P cannot advance to the separating portions 32 and 33 only by the feeding force of the feeding roller 29. By moving the sheet document P downward and sandwiching it between the sheet feeding roller 29, the feeding force of the sheet feeding roller 29 is improved. Further, a document regulating plate 36 is provided in the vicinity of the separating belt 33 so that a large number of sheet documents P do not enter the separating sections 32, 33 at one time. And. A document feeding path 37 is formed from the separating units 32 and 33 to the platen 25, and the document feeding path 37 is bent and connected to the transporting path on the platen 25.
To the platen 25. Further, a large roller 39 is arranged on the left side of the main body of the RDF 20, and the platen 25
From the large roller 39 around the outer circumference of the large roller 39 to extend above the original tray 21 is formed, and further, the reversing path 41 is formed by branching from above the large roller 39 of the original paper discharging path 40, The downstream portion of the reversing path 41 merges with the document feeding path 37. A discharge roller pair 42 is provided downstream of the document discharge path 40, and the sheet document P conveyed in the document discharge path 40 is discharged onto the document tray 21.
Further, the wide belt 22 is arranged around the drive roller 43 and the turn roller 45 above the platen 25, and the sheet original P is conveyed to a predetermined position on the platen 25.
The sheet original placed and placed on the platen 25 is discharged to the original discharge path 40.

On the other hand, a feeding roller 46 is arranged at the confluence of the document feeding path 37 and the reversing path 41, and the feeding roller 46 forms a loop on the arrived sheet original P to form an oblique movement of the sheet original P. Remove the line. Then, the document feeding path 37 near the feeding roller 46
A movable guide 47 is arranged on the upstream side, and the movable guide 47 constitutes a part of the document feed path 37 as shown in FIG. When the sheet document P forms a loop when the leading edge of the document hits the feeding roller 46 and forms a loop, the sheet feeding path 37 is narrowed so that the loop is sufficiently formed. Displace the path 37 to the enlarged line position. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, a plurality of movable guides 47 are fixed in series on a guide support shaft 49 and arranged in a comb tooth shape. Then, on one side of the guide support shaft 43, there is a dummy movable guide 47 that does not function as a guide,
A return spring 50 is stretched on the dummy movable guide 47, and a solenoid 51 is further connected to the dummy movable guide 47.
Is in the OFF state, the movable guide 47 narrows the document feeding path 37 at the solid line position by the tension of the return spring 50 (see FIG. 1A). The leading edge of the sheet document P that has entered the document feed path 37 is provided with a sensor S provided near the feeding roller 46.
Is detected and the signal for detecting the leading edge of the document is transmitted from the sensor S, the solenoid 51 is turned on to pull the movable guide 47 against the tension of the return spring 50, and the movable guide 47 is shown in FIG. 1 (b). To the position where the document feed path 37 upstream of the feed roller 46
Is enlarged, and the loop of the sheet document P can be formed. Then, when the signal for detecting the trailing edge of the original is transmitted from the sensor S, the solenoid 51 is turned off again and the movable guide 47 is returned to the position where the original feeding path 37 is narrowed.

In the RDF 20 having the above-described configuration, the sheet originals P placed on the original tray 21 are separated one by one in order from the lower one by the separating units 32 and 33, and the original document feeding path 37 narrowed by the movable guide 47 is provided. Be transported. At that time, even if the leading edge of the sheet document P is curled upward, the sheet document P is pressed by the movable guide 47 and is less likely to be conveyed poorly. When the front edge of the sheet document P is detected by the sensor S, the movable guide 47 is displaced, and the upstream portion of the movable guide 47 of the document feeding path 37 is enlarged to form a space. Then, the sheet document P is further conveyed and its leading end abuts on the feeding roller 46. Therefore, the feeding roller 46 stops rotating, while the separating portions 32 and 33 continue to rotate, and a loop of the sheet document P is formed in the space upstream of the movable guide 47, so that the sheet document P is skewed. The line is removed. Then, the feeding roller 46 takes a time from the detection of the leading edge of the document by the sensor S until the leading edge reaches the feeding roller 46,
Furthermore, it has stopped for the time when an appropriate loop is formed,
At the time of these passages, the sheet is rotated and the sheet document P is conveyed.
Further, the separating units 32 and 33 are controlled so that the rotation speed thereof is gradually decreased and the formed loops are gradually disappeared.
Further, when the sensor S detects the trailing edge of the sheet document P, the movable guide 47 returns to the position where the document feeding path 37 is narrowed. Then, the sheet original P passing through the feeding roller 46 is conveyed and placed at a predetermined position on the platen 25 of the copying machine 23 by the wide belt 22. Then, when the copying process is completed, the sheet original P is again conveyed toward the large roller 39 by the wide belt 22, and is conveyed around the outer circumference of the large roller 39 by a half round along the original sheet discharge path 40, and the pair of discharging rollers 42. From the document tray 21 to the original tray 21.

In the case of a double-sided original, the sheet original placed on the platen 25 is not copied for the first time, but is conveyed toward the large roller 39, and is rotated around the large roller 39 almost once. The sheet is turned upside down through the path 41, and again conveyed and placed on the platen 25. Therefore, the back side copy process is performed first,
Further, the sheet is conveyed again toward the large roller 39, and is rotated around the large roller once to be reversed, and is placed on the platen 25 to perform the copy processing on the surface.
It is carried out on 21.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The RDF of this embodiment is replaced with the movable guide 47 of the above-mentioned embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 4A, the document feeding path 37 and the reversing path 41
It has a movable guide 47 'which is displaced over both sides. Then, the movable guide 47 'is displaced even when the sheet document P is conveyed to the reversing path 41, and the sheet document P is transferred to the reversing path 41.
, The movable guide 47 'is displaced so as to narrow the inversion path 41. Again, the document feed path 37 is enlarged. Then, when the sheet document P to be subjected to the double-sided document copying process is conveyed through the reversing path 41 and its leading end abuts against the feeding roller 46, the detecting means such as the sensor S detects this and the driving means such as the solenoid is operated. A signal is sent to displace the movable guide 47 'to a position where the reversal path 41 is enlarged, as shown in FIG. 4 (b). Then, a space in which the loop of the sheet original P is sufficiently formed is formed in the inversion path 41. As described above, the RDF according to the present embodiment can exert the action of the movable guide of the present invention not only when the sheet original of the single-sided copying process is reversed but also when the sheet original of the double-sided copying process is reversed.

Note that in the above-described embodiment, RDF that processes a sheet original
Although the (circulation type document feeder) has been described, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied to an apparatus for processing sheet materials in general.

(G) Effect of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, since the first and second sheet material conveying paths join and are guided to the skew feeding removing means, these conveying paths are curved and the sheet material Even when the sheet material is conveyed, even if the sheet material is guided to any of the first and second sheet material conveyance paths, the conveyance path is narrow even if the sheet material is conveyed easily. By forming a path, the curl of the sheet material can be corrected or the play can be suppressed and the sheet material can be stably conveyed, and the sheet material is conveyed in the state where the sheet material is in contact with the skew feeding removing means. The conveying path on the side is enlarged, a loop is easily formed, and the skew feeding of the sheet material can be reliably performed regardless of which of the first and second sheet material conveying paths is being conveyed. it can.

In addition, regardless of whether the sheet material is conveyed and skewed by the two sheet material conveying paths, only one movable guide, the detecting means and the driving means are sufficient, and the structure is simple and, for example, document feeding. It can also be installed in narrow spaces such as roads and inversion roads.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a movable guide of a circulating type document feeder as a basis of the present invention. FIG. 1A shows a position when a narrow document feed path of the movable guide is formed, and FIG. The position when forming the enlarged document feeding path is shown. FIG. 2 is a side view of the circulation type document feeder, FIG. 3 is a side view showing a drive mechanism of the movable guide, and FIG. 4 is a side view showing the movable guide of the embodiment of the present invention. Shows the position when the narrow reversing path of the movable guide is formed, and (b) shows the position when the enlarged reversing path is formed. FIG. 5 is a side view of a conventional circulating type document feeder. P ... Sheet material (sheet original), S, S '... Detection means (sensor), 20 ... Sheet material conveying device (circulating document conveying device, RDF), 37 ... First sheet material conveying path ( Document feed path), 41 ... Second sheet material conveyance path (reversal path), 46 ...
Skew removing means (feeding roller), 47, 47 '... movable guide, 51 ... drive means (solenoid).

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Noriyoshi Ueda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (56) References JP-A-60-197548 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A skew removing means for regulating a front end of a sheet material to be conveyed to form a loop in the sheet material, wherein the skew removing means comprises a first sheet material conveying path and a second sheet material. In a sheet material conveying device, which is arranged at a portion where a conveying path merges, and in which the skew of the sheet material conveyed to the first and second sheet material conveying paths is removed and the sheet material is conveyed to a predetermined position, A movable guide that is movably arranged on the upstream side of the skew feeding removing means and at the confluence of the first and second sheet material conveying paths, and constitutes the first and second sheet material conveying paths; A detecting means for detecting a material; a driving means for displacing the movable guide so that one of the first and second sheet material conveying paths expands;
Based on the detection of the detection means, the movable guide is displaced so that the sheet material conveyance path on the side where the sheet material is conveyed is expanded so that a loop can be formed in the sheet material. A sheet material conveying device characterized by being configured.