JPH09150986A - Paper transport device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To easily take out a paper sheet jammed in a paper sheet conveyance path. A transport roller 2 that normally transports a paper sheet S
When a jam occurs, the contacting / separating mechanism 27 separates the sheets 1 and 22 from each other, and the advancing / retreating mechanism 41 advances the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 into the paper sheet conveying path 20. It is configured to drive in a direction orthogonal to. As a result, when jamming or the like, the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 pull the sheet S from the back side of the sheet conveying path 20 toward the front side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device used in OA equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, OA equipment is required to be downsized in order to reduce the installation space. This request is no exception for the paper sheet conveying device provided inside the OA equipment. As a result, the jam processing must be performed in a narrow space, and workability is poor. Then, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-1060
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 47, there is a paper guide device for guiding the paper and a paper guide device for separating the paper feed path from the paper feed path when a jam occurs. Also,
As described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-287566, there is an image forming apparatus provided with a jam removing unit by a method of forming a through hole for taking out jammed paper at the bottom of a paper feeding unit.

[0003]

The paper jammed in the paper transport path may be wrinkled or may be offset to one side of the paper transport path, and the gap of the paper guide member may be slightly widened, or the transport roller may come into contact with the paper. It is difficult to remove the jammed paper because it is difficult for the fingers to enter even if the paper is separated. Also,
In a general image forming apparatus, since there are many types in which the sheet is conveyed from one side in the left-right direction toward the other side toward the apparatus main body, the cover provided on the side surface of the apparatus main body is opened sideways. Although there is one in which the transport path is opened entirely, a space must be secured to the side of the apparatus main body in order to open the cover, which wastes the floor area of the office or the like.

[0004]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper sheet transporting device, which comprises a pair of transporting rollers opposed to each other with a paper sheet transporting path in between, and a drive unit for driving at least one of the transporting rollers. A contacting / separating mechanism for selectively contacting / separating the conveying roller, an orthogonal conveying roller rotating in a direction orthogonal to the rotation direction of the conveying roller, and the orthogonal conveying roller selectively to the sheet conveying path. It has an advancing / retreating mechanism for advancing or retracting. Therefore, when the transport roller is brought into contact with the contact / separation mechanism and driven by the drive unit, the sheet is transported by the transport roller in a desired direction. When the transport roller is separated by the contact / separation mechanism, the orthogonal transport roller is advanced to the sheet transport path by the advancing / retreating mechanism, and the orthogonal transport roller is driven,
The paper sheet is taken out by the orthogonal conveying roller in a direction orthogonal to the normal conveying direction of the conveying roller.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper sheet transporting device.
In the paper sheet transporting device described above, an orthogonal transport driving unit that drives the intersecting transport rollers is provided. Therefore, when the orthogonal transport driving unit is driven, the orthogonal transport rollers rotate, and the paper sheet is taken out.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a paper sheet transporting device.
In the paper sheet conveying apparatus described above, a detection unit is provided which detects the edge of the paper sheet discharged from the paper sheet conveyance path by the orthogonal conveyance roller and outputs a stop signal for stopping the orthogonal conveyance drive unit. Therefore, when the detection unit detects the edge of the paper sheet conveyed by the orthogonal conveyance rollers, the orthogonal conveyance drive unit stops.

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
A description will be given based on FIG. FIG. 1A is a front view showing a normal paper sheet conveyance state, FIG. 1B is a front view showing a paper sheet conveyance state during jam processing, and FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus. 3 is a perspective view showing the drive structure of the orthogonal conveying rollers.

First, the internal structure of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. A document table 3 is provided above the apparatus main body 2. Inside the apparatus main body 2, a rotatable photoconductor 4, a charger 5 for charging the photoconductor 4 to charge its surface, and an electrostatic latent image of a document image on a document table 3 on a charged portion of the photoconductor 4. 6, a developing unit 7, 8 for accommodating toners of different colors to develop an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 4, and a transfer charger for transferring the toner image on the photoconductor 4 to a sheet of paper. 9, a charging charger 10 for separating the paper from the photoconductor 4, a cleaning unit 1 for cleaning the surface of the photoconductor 4
1. A charge eliminating lamp 12 for eliminating charge on the photoconductor 4 is provided.

Further, the apparatus body 2 is provided with a manual feed tray 13 and a paper discharge tray 14 arranged on both sides, and a plurality of paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 at the bottom. In the vicinity of the paper feed side ends of these paper feed cassettes 15 and 16,
A paper feed roller 17 for feeding the papers in the paper feed cassettes 15 and 16 and a separation roller 18 for separating the papers fed by the paper feed roller 17 one by one are provided.
Then, the sheets that are the sheets of the sheet feeding cassettes 15 and 16 are
Through the lower portion of the photoconductor 4 and the fixing device 19, the paper receiving tray 1
A paper sheet conveying path 20 for guiding the sheet 4 is provided. A plurality of pairs of conveying rollers 21 and 22 and a registration roller 23 arranged near the photoconductor 4 are arranged in the sheet conveying path 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vertical portion 20a of the paper sheet conveying path 20 is formed by arranging a pair of paper sheet guide plates 24 and 25 to face each other in order to prevent the paper sheet S from falling. There is. Horizontal portion 20b of the paper transport path 20
As for the portion (see FIG. 2) in which it is necessary to prevent the floating of the sheet, a pair of sheet guide plates are formed to face each other as in the vertical portion 20a.

One of the carrying rollers 21 is driven by a drive unit (not shown) and is rotatably held in a fixed position, while the other carrying roller 22 is opposed to the other carrying roller 21. Bearings 26 held so that they can move toward and away from each other
Is pivotally supported by. Then, one of the transport rollers 21
On the other hand, a contact / separation mechanism 27 for selectively contacting / separating the other transport roller 21 is provided. The contact / separation mechanism 27 has a pressure plate 29 urged by a spring 28 in a direction away from the back surface of the sheet guide plate 25, one end fixed to the pressure plate 29 and the other end fixed to the bearing 26. It comprises a pressure spring 30 and a cam 31 for pressing the pressure plate 29 against the biasing force of the spring 28. In the state shown in FIG. 1A, the pressure plate 29 is pressed by the cam 31 and the conveying roller 22 is brought into pressure contact with the sheet S on the conveying roller 21 by the pressing force of the pressure spring 30.

On the back side of the paper sheet guide plate 24, there are provided a plurality of sets of orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 which rotate in a direction orthogonal to the rotating direction of the conveying rollers 21 and 22. As shown in FIG. 3, the pair of orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 are fixedly fitted to the vertical drive shafts 34 and 35, and fixedly fitted to the upper ends of these drive shafts 34 and 35. A belt 38 is wound around the pulleys 36 and 37. In addition, the orthogonal conveying roller 32 on the front side is provided.
A drive wheel 40 driven by a knob 39 is pressed against the outer peripheral side of the upper surface of the. That is, when the drive wheel 40 is rotated, the orthogonal conveyance roller 32 is rotated along with the drive shaft 34 due to friction with the drive wheel 40, and the rotation of the drive shaft 34 is rotated by the belt 3.
8 is configured to be transmitted to the drive shaft 35.

Further, an advancing / retreating mechanism 41 for selectively advancing or retracting the orthogonal conveying rollers 32, 33 with respect to the paper sheet conveying path 20 is provided. The advancing / retreating mechanism 41 includes a frame 43 biased by a spring 42 in a direction away from the sheet guide plate 24, and a cam 44 for pressing the frame 43 toward the sheet guide plate 24 side against the biasing force of the spring 42. And consists of. The frame 43 holds the drive shafts 34, 35 of the orthogonal conveying rollers 32, 33 and the shaft portion of the drive wheel 40 rotatably.

In such a structure, the sheet S for transferring the image on the photoconductor 4 is fed from the sheet feeding cassettes 15 and 16 or the manual tray 13. The occurrence of a jam is detected by a jam sensor (not shown) arranged at a predetermined position on the paper sheet transport path 20. When the paper is fed from the manual feed tray 13, the horizontal portion 20b of the paper sheet conveyance path 20 is used, and the conveyance path is short, so the occurrence frequency of jams is low. When a jam occurs in the horizontal portion 20b of the paper sheet transport path 20, the front door (not shown) of the apparatus body 2 can be opened and the jammed paper can be taken out.

In the paper feeding from the paper feeding cassettes 15 and 16, when the paper S is skewed at the time of paper feeding or the separation roller 18 cannot prevent the double feeding of the paper S, the paper is fed on the upstream side of the paper feeding path 20. Jam is likely to occur at the vertical portion 20a. When a jam occurs in the vertical portion 20a, the front door of the apparatus main body 2 is opened and the cam 31 is rotated counterclockwise as shown in FIG. Since the pressing spring 30 is pulled away from the sheet guide plate 25 by the urging force, the conveyance roller 22 is separated from the conveyance roller 21. Further, when the cam 44 is rotated counterclockwise and the frame 43 is pressed against the sheet guide plate 24 side against the urging force of the spring 42, the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 press the sheet S against the sheet guide plate 25. To do. Then, when the knob 39 is gripped and the drive wheel 40 is rotated, the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 rotate as described above, so that the sheet S is drawn from the back side of the sheet conveying path 20 to the front side.

Therefore, at the time of jam clearance, the side cover of the apparatus main body 2 is opened as in the conventional case, and the paper sheet transport path 2 is opened.
It is not necessary to open the 0 vertical portion 20a. For this reason, it is possible to eliminate the need to open a space for opening the cover on the side of the apparatus body 2. The above is Claim 1
This is an effect corresponding to the described invention.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a drive mechanism of the orthogonal conveying rollers. In the present embodiment, the orthogonal conveyance drive unit 45 that drives the orthogonal conveyance rollers 32 and 33 is provided. Specifically, the orthogonal conveyance drive unit 45 is a motor. The drive wheel 40 pressed against the orthogonal transport roller 32 is directly connected to the orthogonal transport drive unit. The other configuration is the same as that of the previous embodiment, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

In such a structure, the orthogonal conveyance drive unit 45
When is driven, the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 are rotated and the sheet S is automatically pulled toward the front side, so that the operability of the jam processing can be improved. This is an effect corresponding to the second aspect of the invention.

Further, FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.
It will be described based on. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the paper sheet transport path. The sheet conveying path 20 is formed by the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33.
A detection unit 46 is provided which detects the edge of the paper sheet S discharged from the sheet and outputs a stop signal for stopping the orthogonal conveyance drive unit 45. In the present embodiment, the detection unit 46 is arranged near the front edge of the sheet guide plate 25 and optically detects the passage of the sheet S, and the on / off state of the detector 47. And a judgment means (not shown) for judging the edge of the paper S.

That is, in the state shown in FIG. 5A, the detector 47 has not detected the paper S. When the orthogonal conveying rollers 32 and 33 are driven in the clockwise direction from this state, the sheet S is pulled toward the front side as shown in FIG. 7B, and therefore the detector 47 indicates that the sheet S exists at the beginning of this process. The detection signal is output. This detection signal is output while the sheet S is pulled toward the front side, but when the rear edge of the sheet S passes the front surface of the detector 47, the detector 47 outputs a detection signal indicating the meaning of the absence of the sheet S. Output. The judgment means is
The detection signal of the detector 47 is monitored, and the detection signal indicating the absence of the sheet S output after the first detection signal indicating the presence of the sheet S is regarded as the state in which the back side of the sheet S escapes from the sheet conveyance path 20. The determination is made, and the voltage application to the orthogonal transport drive unit 45 is stopped. As a result, the orthogonal transport rollers 32 and 33 are stopped. Therefore, the operability of jam handling can be further facilitated. This is an effect corresponding to the third aspect of the present invention.

As described above, the transport rollers 21 and 2 are
The contacting / separating mechanism 27 for selectively contacting / separating 2 with each other, the orthogonal conveying rollers 32, 33, and the advancing / retreating mechanism 4 for selectively advancing or retracting the orthogonal conveying rollers 32, 33 with respect to the paper sheet conveying path 20.
1 is provided in the vertical portion 20a of the paper sheet transport path 20,
These arrangements are not limited to this example, and may extend to an arbitrary part or the entire area of the paper sheet conveyance path.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the sheet conveying device used in the image forming apparatus. For example, the present invention can be applied to a sheet transporting device that transports a document in a document reading device.

[0023]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a pair of conveying rollers arranged to face each other with a paper sheet conveying path in between, a drive unit for driving at least one of the conveying rollers, and the conveying roller are selectively provided. A contacting / separating mechanism for contacting / separating with, and an orthogonal conveying roller rotating in a direction orthogonal to the rotation direction of the conveying roller,
Since it has an advancing / retreating mechanism for selectively advancing or retracting the orthogonal conveying rollers with respect to the sheet conveying path, the sheet is conveyed when the conveying roller is brought into contact with the contacting / separating mechanism and driven by the drive unit. . When the transport roller is separated by the contact / separation mechanism, the orthogonal transport roller is advanced to the paper transport path by the advancing / retreating mechanism, and the orthogonal transport roller is driven, the paper is transported in a direction orthogonal to the normal transport direction of the transport roller. Can be taken out by the orthogonal conveying roller. As a result, the jam processing can be facilitated without requiring a space for opening the paper sheet transport path.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the orthogonal transport driving unit for driving the orthogonal transport rollers is provided, the orthogonal transport driving unit is driven to rotate the orthogonal transport rollers, so that the paper sheet is automatically taken out. Therefore, it is possible to improve the operability of jam handling.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the detection section is provided which detects the edge of the sheet discharged from the sheet conveying path by the orthogonal conveying roller and outputs a stop signal for stopping the orthogonal conveying drive section. When the detection unit detects the edge of the paper sheet, the orthogonal conveyance drive unit that drives the orthogonal conveyance rollers can be automatically stopped by the detection signal of the detection unit, which further facilitates the operability of the jam processing. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B show a paper sheet conveyance path according to a first embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is a front view showing a normal paper sheet conveyance state, and FIG. 1B is a paper sheet conveyance state during jam processing. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional front view showing the internal structure of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a drive structure of an orthogonal conveyance roller.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a drive structure of an orthogonal conveyance roller according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view of a paper sheet transport path according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 Paper Conveying Paths 21 and 22 Paper Conveying Rollers 27 Contact and Separation Mechanisms 32 and 33 Orthogonal Conveying Rollers 41 Advancing and Retracting Mechanism 45 Orthogonal Conveying Drive Unit 46 Detection Unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A pair of conveying rollers arranged to face each other with a paper sheet conveying path in between, a drive unit for driving at least one of the conveying rollers, and a contacting / separating mechanism for selectively bringing the conveying rollers into contact with each other. An orthogonal transport roller that rotates in a direction orthogonal to the rotation direction of the transport roller, and an advancing / retreating mechanism that selectively advances or retracts the orthogonal transport roller with respect to the paper sheet transport path. Paper transport device. 2. The paper sheet transporting apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an orthogonal transport driving unit that drives the orthogonal transport rollers. 3. A detection unit is provided which detects an edge of a sheet discharged from a sheet conveyance path by the orthogonal conveyance roller and outputs a stop signal for stopping the orthogonal conveyance drive unit. 2. The paper sheet transporting device according to 2.