JPS6160624B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a device for optically reading a document in facsimile, OCR, etc., and is a reading device with automatic document feeding that feeds the document automatically and reads the document.

A facsimile or OCR document information reading device can include the following elements. In other words,
A hopper section that stores and places originals that are not to be read, a stacker section that stores processed documents in an orderly manner without disturbing the order, a transport section that connects the hopper section and the stacker section, and feeds documents one by one from the hopper section. an automatic paper feeding section that feeds the document automatically, a document feeding mechanism section that transports the automatically fed document according to the reading speed, an optical system reading section that reads information on the fed document, and a power supply section and electric circuit control section that operates the device. configured. When designing a device, how to efficiently arrange the components described above is extremely important in achieving miniaturization, high reliability, and smooth operation of the device.
The size of this reading device with automatic sheet feeding is inevitably determined by the size of the document used.

In the present invention, the hopper section and the stacker section of the conveyance section are arranged in a trapezoidal shape, for example, and the main components are appropriately arranged to correspond to the trapezoid.
Plan to improve efficiency. In addition, the document hopper section is configured to have a steeper slope than the friction coefficient of the document being used, so that all documents other than the lowest end in the hopper fall naturally, and only the lowest document is pressed against the paper feeding rubber roller with an appropriate negative pressure.
The present invention is characterized by being a highly reliable document reading device with automatic paper feed that can automatically feed single sheets against natural falling.

The apparatus according to the present invention will be explained in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front partial sectional view of the apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A--A in FIG.

In the figure, 1 is an unprocessed document stored in the document hopper 2 and placed on the hopper base plate 3, and 4 is a document that supports the lower end of the document 1 placed on the hopper base plate 3 and is slidable. This is a document support plate that can be slid and set according to the situation. The hopper base plate 3 is provided with an inclination of an angle θ. This angle θ is made larger than the natural friction angle λ of the original. 5 is a hopper front plate, and a gap is formed between this hopper front plate and the hopper base plate 3 to allow the document 1 to pass therethrough;
From this interval, one of the lowest originals of the originals 1 is fed out.

A stacker 6 for storing the processed original 1' (original after information reading) is provided at a position almost symmetrical to the installation position of the hopper 2, and the hopper base plate 3 and the stacker base plate 7 are symmetrical. It is located in Like the hopper 2, the stacker 6 is also provided with a slidable document support plate 8 for supporting the edge of the document 1'.

Further, both the hopper base plate 3 and the stacker base plate 7 are connected by a conveyance base plate 9 formed in an R shape in order to convey the original 1. The hopper base plate 3, the transfer base plate 9, and the stacker base plate 7 may be formed integrally, or may be formed separately and connected. A document guide plate 10 is provided at an appropriate interval over almost the entire circumference of the conveyance table plate 9 so as to allow the document 1 to travel smoothly.
Note that the conveyance table plate 9 does not have to be formed in an R-shape, but may be configured to have a shape that reverses the conveyance direction and allows smooth conveyance.

On the other hand, a negative pressure chamber 11 is provided on the back surface of the hopper base plate 3, and a paper feed roller 13 fixed to a drive shaft 12 is provided inside the negative pressure chamber 11. This paper feed roller 13 has an opening 14 formed in the base plate 3 facing the roller, and projects through the opening 14 from the surface of the base plate 3 by an optimum amount. Note that an auxiliary roller 15 for the paper feed roller 13 is provided below the paper feed roller 13 . Also, a feed-out roller 16 faces the exit of the gap between the hopper base plate 3 and the front plate 5 and rotates in the same direction as the paper feed roller 13; roller 17
is provided.

In the above example, the original 1 is placed on the hopper base plate 3.
When the recording surface is placed on the top and the bottom surface is placed, when a reading start command is issued, the paper feed roller 13, paper feed auxiliary roller 15, feeding roller 16, and reverse separation roller 17 move in the direction of the arrow for paper feeding. Rotation is started using a motor (not shown) as a drive source. On the other hand, a negative pressure suction blower (not shown) connected to the negative pressure chamber 11 is also driven at the same time as the reading start command, and the negative pressure chamber 11 is brought into a negative pressure state by sucking air from the arrow. Therefore, the document 1 is removed from the document suction opening 14.
One sheet at the bottom end is pressed against the paper feed roller 13. Here, the paper feed roller 13 is made of an elastic body having a high coefficient of friction, and even if the inclination angle θ of the hopper base plate 3 is larger than the natural friction angle λ of the original, the paper feed roller 13 resists the natural falling force of the original 1 and moves upward. Feed the original at the bottom. In this case, negative pressure suction does not act on the documents other than the bottom edge, and the natural falling force of the object on the slope F = W (sin
θ−μcosθ), it maintains a steady state while being placed. In the above equation W, the total load μ of the original is tanλ.

A sheet of original 1 is fed as if fully loaded, and this original passes between the hopper base plate 3 and the hopper front plate 5, and then passes through the feed roller 16 and separation roller 1 of the next stage.
It reaches between 7 and 7. The feed roller 16 and the feed/separation roller 17 are not in contact with each other, and have a space (gap) that is approximately the same as the smallest paper thickness of the original used, and this space can also be used for originals of different paper thicknesses. In order to be adaptable, the reversing separation roller 17 is configured as a movable tension pressure type. Therefore, when a document 1 having a paper thickness larger than the minimum space is fed, the space is expanded by the biasing force of the paper feed roller 13 and the feeding roller 16 against the tension pressing force, and the document 1 is fed out.
Note that when a plurality of originals 1 are fed against the natural falling force due to vacuum suction between the originals and reach between the feed roller 16 and the separation roller 17, the lowest one is placed in the feeding direction of the feed roller 16. The documents are fed out by the urging force, but the reverse separation function of the separation roller 17 applies an urging force in the opposite direction to the feeding direction, and the originals are easily separated by working with the natural falling force due to the inclination angle of the hopper base plate 3. Then, it falls naturally and returns to the original steady state, or it becomes a standby state slightly below the separation roller 17. As described above, reliable automatic sheet feeding for one sheet can be performed.

The document 1 fed out as described above passes through a conveyance path formed by a conveyance table plate 9 and a document guide plate 10, and a constant speed conveyance roller 18 and a pinch roller 19 are provided facing each other in the conveyance path. It is caught in the container and transported at a constant speed. This constant speed conveyance roller 18 conveys the original 1 in synchronization with the reading speed.

Immediately after the constant speed conveyance roller 18, light is emitted.
A sensor 20 is provided to detect the leading edge of the document 1, which is a light receiving element, and sends this sense signal to a control circuit section 21 provided at the bottom of the main body of the apparatus, which will be described later. For example, by outputting the above sense signal, the document 1 is moved between the constant speed conveying roller 18 and the opposing roller 1.
9, constant speed transport (synchronized with reading speed)
Therefore, the driving of the paper feed roller 13 and the suction of the document are stopped. At this time, the separating roller 17 and the original feeding roller 16 also stop at the same time. Furthermore, in order to prevent friction between the separating roller 17 and the feeding roller 16 from interfering with the constant speed conveyance of the read document, a one-way clutch is provided at the boss portion of the feeding roller 16, so that even if the rotation is stopped, the roller 16 remains We are considering allowing it to rotate freely.

In the figure, reference numeral 22 denotes a roller on the back side of the reading unit, which smoothly transports the original to be read that is transported at a constant speed, prevents the original from vertically shaking, and prevents out-of-focus during information reading. The distance between the back roller 22 and the sensor 20 is constant, and the leading edge of the document 1 is positioned directly below the back roller 22 after a certain period of time has elapsed since the sensor 20 detected the leading edge of the document 1 . That is, by inputting a signal from the sensor 20 to the control circuit unit 21, the circuit 21 outputs a control signal to the illumination lamp 23 and the like after a certain period of time has elapsed. Therefore, the illumination lamp 23 is provided for the rear roller 12, and the illumination lamp 23
to illuminate. Further, the reflected light from the original 1 is received by a reading element 25 provided as an original reading scanning section via an imaging lens 24, and is subjected to photo-to-electrical conversion.
The optical reading device consisting of the illumination device 23, the imaging lens 24, and the reading element 25 is provided in a space surrounded by the R-shaped conveying table plate 9, and illuminates the document being conveyed with the information recording surface facing downward. It reads information optically. In this case, the R-shaped conveyor plate 9
An exposure opening 2 is provided in a portion facing the back roller 22 of the
6 is provided, and the document being conveyed at a constant speed is optically read through the exposure opening 26. The reading element 25 has a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements arranged in a row with a constant bit, and reads information in each scanning line on the surface of the original by sequentially scanning each element electrically.

As described above, the document 1 is optically read midway on the R-shaped conveyance plate 9 and sent through the conveyance path between the conveyance plate 9 and the document guide plate 10, and is sent to the stacker 6.
The paper is pinched between a discharge roller 27 provided opposite to the roller 27 and a pinch roller 28 provided opposite the roller 27 . Therefore, after the reading is completed, the original 1' is discharged and stored in the stacker 6 by the discharge roller 27. At this time, the information side of the manuscript 1' is on the stacker base plate 7.
The originals are stored in the order in which they are automatically fed.

As described above, according to the present invention, the hopper base plate is provided at an angle of inclination that is greater than the inherent friction angle of the document being used, and the document other than the lowest edge is set so that the natural falling force acts on the document, thereby achieving high reliability.
It provides a long-life automatic paper feeding device, and also has a stacker section located almost symmetrically to the hopper base plate, allowing documents to be transported and ejected by allowing the stacker section to hold them in the order by allowing them to fall naturally due to gravity. The drive system is kept to a minimum, and the internal space formed by the hopper base plate, conveyor base plate, and stacker base plate is
By providing a document reading optical system and a document reading scanning section, each mechanical section can be housed in a minimum space, and the device can be made smaller.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view of the apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line A--A. 1: unprocessed manuscript, 2: hopper, 3: hopper base plate, 6: stacker, 7: stacker base plate,
9: R-shaped carrier plate, 10: Original guide plate, 13: Paper feed roller, 18: Constant speed conveyance roller, 23: Illumination lamp, 24: Imaging lens, 25: Photoelectric conversion element, 2
6: exposure opening, 27: discharge roller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A device that optically reads information on a manuscript,
an upwardly inclined hopper section that accommodates the document and is configured with an inclination angle greater than the friction angle of the document; a stacker section that accommodates the scanned document and is installed at a position approximately symmetrical to the hopper section; and the hopper section. and a stacker section connected by a direction reversing conveyance path, and a negative pressure chamber provided in the hopper section that attracts the lowermost document, and a paper feed roller with which the attracted document comes into pressure contact. An automatic paper feed section, a document conveyance mechanism section including a constant speed conveyance roller and a discharge roller provided in the document conveyance section, and a document conveyance path formed by the hopper section, the conveyance section, and the stacker section. and an optical reading section including a photoelectric conversion section that illuminates the document being conveyed through the conveyance section and receives the reflected light.