JPS6213246B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an electronic copying machine having a paper feeding device that sequentially takes out and supplies copy sheets one by one.

Generally, in the paper feed device of an electronic copying machine, a frictional take-out is generally used, in which a take-out roller is brought into contact with the copy paper to take out the copy paper. Additionally, although it is specified that the copy paper should be fanned well before being inserted into the cassette, this is not always done by the operator, and as a result, the copy paper may not come out of the cassette. Trouble often arose. Conventionally, in such cases, the machine would warn the operator that it was out of paper or that there was a paper jam, which would require the operator to know what was going on inside the machine and take steps such as reinserting the cassette. was.

The present invention has been made based on the above circumstances, and its object is to provide an electronic copying machine equipped with a paper feeding device that eliminates the inconvenience of not taking out copy paper even though there is copy paper in the cassette. This is what we are trying to provide.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings. Figure 1 shows the external appearance of an electronic copying machine. In the figure, 1 is the main body of the electronic copying machine, and on the top surface of this main body 1 is provided a document table 3 that holds a document 2 and moves back and forth from side to side. At the same time, an operating section 4 is provided on the upper surface of the front part. The operation unit 4 includes a power switch 5, a copy button 6, a copy number setting key 7, a copy number display 8, a "copy available" indicator light 9, a "paper jam" indicator light 10, and a "no copy paper" indicator.
An indicator light 11, an "out of toner" indicator light 12, and a "periodic inspection" indicator light 13 are provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a drum-shaped photoreceptor 14 is provided approximately at the center of the main body 1, and between the photoreceptor 14 and the document table 3, the back is surrounded by a reflector 15. Light source 16, mirror 1
7, a lens 18, and a lens 19, an optical device 20 for projecting and exposing the image of the original 2 onto the photoreceptor 14 is provided. Further, a charging device 2 is provided around the photoconductor 14 to precharge the photoconductor 14 before exposure.
1. Photoreceptor 14 formed by optical device 20
A developing device 22 for developing the upper electrostatic latent image, and a photoreceptor 1
4, a transfer device 23 that transfers the toner image formed on copy paper (hereinafter referred to as paper) P, and paper P.
a peeling device 24 that peels off the photoreceptor 14 from the photoreceptor 14, and a charge removal device 2 that removes the charge on the photoreceptor 14 after transfer.
5, and a cleaning device 26 for removing residual toner on the photoreceptor 14. Further, a charge erasing lamp 27 is disposed between the charging device 21 and the exposure position of the photoreceptor 14 by the optical device 20 for erasing the charge on the unnecessary portion of the photoreceptor 14 charged by the charging device 21. ing.

Further, a paper feeding device 100 is provided at the inner bottom of the main body 1 . That is, a cassette 28 is detachably installed, and the sheets P stacked in this cassette 28 are transferred to the take-out device 2 as a sheet feeding means.
9, the photoconductor 1 is taken out one by one.
The paper is fed into a paper transport path 32 that passes through a transfer section 30 between the paper sheet 4 and the transfer device 23 and reaches a paper discharge port 31. A fixing device 33 that heats and fixes the toner image transferred to the paper P is provided at the end of the paper transport path 32. Note that 34 is a toner replenishing device that replenishes toner to the developing device 22, 35 is a filter device that captures residual toner removed by the cleaning device 26, and 36 is a paper discharge port 31.
This is a tray that receives paper P discharged from the tray.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cassette 28 includes a frame 38 having overlapping prevention claws 37, 37 at both corners in the paper removal direction, and a support plate that supports the paper P stored in this frame 38 in the removal direction. 39, and a spring 40 that always urges the support plate 39 upward. Furthermore, support legs 41 and 42 are provided protruding from the lower surface of the cassette 28, and guide protrusions 43 and 43 are provided on the lower surface of the tip.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the guide protrusion 4
Notch grooves 44 are formed in the inclined surfaces of 3 and 43, respectively, and when the cassette 28 is inserted, these notch grooves 44 and 44 engage with the shafts 46 installed on the frames 45 and 45 of the ejecting device 29. It is designed so that the positioning can be done by aligning the parts. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5, cams 47, 47 are attached to the front of both sides of the cassette 28.
When loading and unloading 8, the take-out roller 48 of the take-out device 29...
It is designed not to come in contact with. That is, the rotating shaft 49 that supports the take-out rollers 48 is connected to the driving shaft 50 that is mounted on the frames 45, 45.
Roller arms 51, 51 that are rotatable about the fulcrum
It is attached to the free end side of the unit and is configured to be able to move up and down. In addition, roller arms 51, 51
Support plates 52, 52 project diagonally downward at the free ends of the cassette 28 and at positions corresponding to the cams 47, 47 provided on the cassette 28. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6a, b, and c, the cassette 28
When the cassette 28 is inserted, a roller arm 51,
The tips of the support plates 52, 52 provided on the free end side of the cam 51 come into contact with each other, and when the cassette 28 is further inserted, the support plates 52, 52 are pushed up by the inclined surfaces of the cams 47, 47, and the roller arms 51, 51 are driven. Axis 5
Rotates counterclockwise with 0 as the fulcrum. next,
When the cassette 28 is set in place and the notched grooves 44, 44 are engaged with the shaft 46, the support plates 52, 52 are removed from the upper surfaces of the cams 47, 47, and the roller arms 51, 51 are rotated clockwise by their own weight. , the take-out roller 48 comes into contact with the uppermost sheet P in the cassette 28 for the first time. Furthermore, when removing the cassette 28, the ejecting rollers 48 are deviated upwards as in the case of inserting the cassette 28.
Never come into contact with.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a roller arm 51,
A driving shaft 50 serving as a fulcrum of the drive shaft 51 is connected via a 1/3 rotation clutch 56 to a gear 55 driven by a motor 54 as a drive source, and is driven at a predetermined timing. Furthermore, the driving shaft 5
0 and a rotating shaft 49 to which a take-out roller 48 is attached are interlocked via a power transmission mechanism 60 consisting of sprockets 57, 58 and a chain 59.

The 1/3 rotation clutch 56 is constructed as shown in FIG. That is, a gear 55, a hub 61, and an arbor 62 are fitted to the driving shaft 50, and the arbor 62 is fixed to the driving shaft 50 via a pin 63. Further, a spring 64 is fitted on the outside of the hub 61 and the arbor 62, and a sleeve 65 is fitted on the outside. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, three locking portions 65a are formed at equal intervals on the circumferential surface of the sleeve 65, and the circumferential surface is rotatable about a support shaft 66. A tip claw portion 67a of the crank lever 67 is in sliding contact. The other end of the crank lever 67 is connected to a plunger 68a of a solenoid 68.

Therefore, the gear 55 is always rotating while the motor 54 is rotating, and when the solenoid 68 is energized, the crank lever 67 is pulled and rotated for a predetermined period of time, so that the tip claw 67a is engaged with the locking part of the sleeve 65. 65
deviate from a. Therefore, the spring 64 is tightened by the frictional force of the hub 61, and the arbor 62 and the driving shaft 50 integrated therewith begin to rotate. sleeve 6
Since the locking portions 65a are provided at three equal intervals on the solenoid 68, the plunger 68a of the solenoid 68 is
When pulled twice, the shaft 50 rotates by 1/3.

Note that 69 shown in FIG. 8 is a bushing that rotatably supports the driving shaft 50 on the frame 45.

The plunger 68a of the solenoid 68 is pulled three times in succession, causing the drive shaft 49 to interlock with the driving shaft 50.
When the take-out roller 48 attached to the paper rotates once, the uppermost paper P in the cassette 28 is taken out and sent into the paper conveyance path 32.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, a pair of transport rollers 70 and 71 are provided between the paper transport path 32 and the transfer unit 30 from the take-out device 29, and the paper is taken out by the take-out rollers 48. P
A first guide plate 72 guides the paper P between the transport roller pair 70 and 71, and the paper P carried out by the transport roller pair 70 and 71 is transferred to the transfer unit 30 on mutually opposing surfaces.
Second and third guide plates 73 and 74 are provided to guide the user. The conveying roller 70 facing the arcuate guide surface of the first guide plate 72 is made of a rubber roller with a large coefficient of friction, and the conveying roller 71 facing the tip surface of the first guide plate 72 is made of a metal roller with a small coefficient of friction. has been done. Thus, the paper P taken out from the cassette 28 by the take-out rollers 48 is guided between the pair of transport rollers 70 and 71 along the first guide plate 72. If the theoretical conveyance distance of the paper P at this time is 100, then one rotation of the take-out roller 48 is the outer circumference length of 110.
It is set so that the paper P taken out is
is deflected between the first guide plate 72 and the conveyance roller 70 and is sufficiently pushed between the pair of conveyance rollers 70 and 71. At this time, the leading edge of the paper P is connected to the guide surface of the first guide plate 72 and the metal conveyance roller 7 due to the stiffness of the paper itself.
1, even if the paper P is taken out from the cassette 28 in a skewed state, the leading edge is aligned with the contact line of the pair of transport rollers 70, 71.

Further, when the paper P is taken out, a paper detection switch 75 consisting of a microswitch serving as paper feed detection means is operated at the leading edge of the paper P, and a start signal for the document table 3 is issued. Next, the pair of transport rollers 70 and 71 start rotating in synchronization with the operations of the document table 3 and the photoreceptor 14, and the paper P is guided by the second and third guide plates 73 and 74 to the transfer unit 30.
transported in the direction of At this time, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 11, the take-out roller 48...
... rotates by 1/3 in conjunction with the pair of transport rollers 70 and 71. The take-out roller 48 will rotate 11/3 times before one sheet P comes out of the cassette 28. At this time, the outer circumference of the take-out roller 48 is set to be slightly shorter than the shortest of the sizes of the various sheets P set in the cassette 28, so that the second sheet P is not ejected. It's becoming like that. Further, the take-out rollers 48 are configured to freely rotate idly as the paper P is conveyed except when being driven.

Further, as shown in FIG. 12, a high voltage transformer 76 which is a high voltage source for the charging device 21 is shared with the transfer device 23. Therefore, it is cheaper than a system in which a dedicated one is provided individually, but the timing of the output generation of the high voltage transformer 76 needs to cover all of the two uses, so the photoreceptor 14 is charged. There are also problems in that they become charged even when they are not feeling well, and that it is difficult to turn on and off high voltage. As a solution to this problem, the charge erasing lamp 27 is provided. The charge erasing lamp 27 lights up at the same time as the photoreceptor 14 starts to rotate, as shown in the timing chart of FIG. 13, and corresponds to the distance L ₁ to the position S on the surface of the photoreceptor 14.
It is held for 1.85 seconds by a variable timer 77 whose resistance value is varied, for example by a combination of a resistor and a capacitor. When the point S of the photoconductor 14 rotates and just reaches the point E, the image of the document 2 set on the document table 3 is irradiated, and the photoconductor 14
There is no charge before the upper image, and no solid black latent image is formed even without exposure. Also,
The light at the rear end of the image is turned off 0.1 seconds after the original platen 3 returns to its original position, so that there is no possibility that the leading edge of the image will be erased during the next copy. Further, the charge erasing lamp 27 is configured to have a variable irradiation range, and after erasing, the exposure point E
It is now possible to adjust the dispersion in the distance _L2 . That is, as shown in FIG. 14, the charge erasing lamp 27 includes a lamp body 78, a case 79 that accommodates this lamp body 78, and this case 7.
A front shutter 82 and a rear shutter 83 are made of L-shaped spring plates screwed to form a slit 81 facing a colored glass 80 serving as a light-transmitting part of the window 9. The adjustment screws 84, 84 are configured to be elastically deformed to vary the position of the tip forming the slit 81. Therefore, for example, by tightening the adjustment screw 84 and setting the tip position of the front shutter 82 to the position indicated by the two-dot chain line, the distance to the exposure point E can be adjusted from L ₂ ′ to L ₂ ″ after erasing. become.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG.
5. Paper detection switch 75, 8 for detecting paper P
6, 87, and document table switches 88, 89, and 90 for detecting the position of the document table 3.

Furthermore, there is a control section 91 within the main body 1, and a first
As shown in Figure 6, the microprocessor unit 9
2, a pulse oscillator 93, a power supply device 94, and the variable timer 77. The microprocessor unit 92 includes the aforementioned switches 88,
Signals from 89, 90, 75, 85, 86, 87 are input, and each indicator light 9, 10, 11, 12, 1
In addition to controlling the blinking of 3, the motor 54, which is the main drive source, and the 1/3 rotation clutch 56 are turned on and off.
Off control solenoid 68, conveyance roller pair 70,
It controls the on/off of a conveyance clutch 95 for controlling the rotation of the document table 71, a document table forward clutch 96 for driving the document table 3, and a document table return clutch 97. moreover,
Fixing lamp 98 of fixing unit 33 and optical device 20
The flashing control of the exposure lamp 16 is performed.

Further, the variable timer 77 creates the timing of the flashing of the charge erasing lamp 27, and the holding relay 99 of the copy paper out indicator light 11 maintains this state when it becomes "out of copy paper", and when the cassette switch 85 is turned off, this state is maintained. Reset retention.

Next, based on the flowchart of FIG. 17, a description will be given of the process from turning on the power to lighting up the "copy possible" indicator light 9. First, when the power switch 5 is turned on, the motor 54 and the conveyance clutch 95 are operated and run idly for 11 seconds to ensure that no paper P remains in the paper conveyance path 32. 11 seconds is a sufficient time for ejecting the paper P even if the paper P is bundled at the entrance side, considering the length of the paper transport path 32 and the transport speed. Paper detection switch 7
5, 86, and 87 are checked, and if these are "in", there is a possibility that there is a paper P that should not be present, so an error state is assumed and the flow proceeds to A. The charge erasing lamp 27 and the removal lamp 25a of the charge removing device 25 are turned on for 11 seconds to remove all latent images and charges on the photoreceptor 14. After waiting for the fixing device 33 to reach a predetermined high temperature, the "copy possible" indicator light 9 is turned on.

Further, the copying process will be explained based on the flowcharts of FIGS. 18, 19, and 20. When the copy button 6 is pressed, the "copy possible" indicator light 9 goes out. Next, rotate the motor 54
After waiting 500 milliseconds, connect solenoid 68. Since the rotation of the motor 54 becomes stable within 500 milliseconds, the paper P can be taken out stably when the solenoid 68 is connected. Simultaneously with the operation of the solenoid 68, a timer (not shown) is set to "4.2 seconds", and the solenoid 68 is turned off when 1.05 seconds have elapsed. Although the solenoid 68 is energized three times in Fig. 11, it may be done as shown in Fig. 11, or the clutch 95 operates the same even if it remains energized for 1.05 seconds as in this flow. . During this time, the leading edge of the paper P reaches the pair of transport rollers 70 and 71.

If the paper detection switch 75 is not turned on even after 2 seconds have passed after the timer is set to [4.2 seconds], that is, if the paper P has not been taken out, the solenoid 68 is connected again. The connection time is 1.05 seconds, and 2 seconds have already passed, so "disconnect" is
Do this at a timing of 3.05 seconds. If paper P does not come out even after 4.2 seconds have elapsed before retrying, it is determined that there is no copy paper. Whether or not to retry can be determined by reading the number of tries while adding it to the memory, but in this embodiment, the total time required is checked by taking advantage of the fact that the time required for one try is fixed. .

If the paper detection switch 75 is pressed before the timer reaches 2 seconds, it is determined that the paper P has been correctly taken out, and the document table forward clutch 96 is connected to start the operation of the document table 3.

The charge erasing lamp 27 is turned off 200 milliseconds after the original platen forward clutch 96 is connected. Next, a 6.75 second timer is set, and at the same time as the transfer clutch 95 is connected, a 4.6 second timer is also set. After 100 milliseconds have elapsed after the conveyor clutch 95 is connected, the solenoid 68 is turned on and the take-out roller 48 is set to 300 msec.
After rotating for milliseconds, the paper P is conveyed by the pair of conveying rollers 70,
Push the paper P to ensure that it bites into the hole 71.
The reason why the take-out roller 48 starts rotating 100 milliseconds later is to prevent the sheet P from being bent more than necessary, since it has already been bent at the first guide plate 72. Paper detection switch 75 is turned on for more than 4.6 seconds
When the state is, it is treated as an abnormality and entered into flow A.

The original platen switch 90 detects that the original platen 3 has reached the right end, and when the switch 90 is turned on, the original platen forward clutch 96 is disengaged, the original platen return clutch 97 is engaged, and the original platen 3 begins to be returned. When the paper detection switch 75 is turned off, that is, when the trailing edge of the sheet P that has been taken out has passed, the document table 3 shifts from the "forward operation" to the "return operation." When the document table 3 moves to the return operation, a timer is set for 7.4 seconds. When the original platen switch 89 is turned on, the original platen return clutch 97 is disengaged to stop the returning movement of the original platen 3. At the same time, the "copy possible" indicator light 9 is turned on to indicate that the next copy is possible.

If the paper detection switch 86 is turned on when the leading edge jam timer elapses for 6.75 seconds, the paper P has reached the paper discharge port 31, and it can be determined that the paper P has been conveyed without jamming on the way. At 6.75 seconds, paper P is detected by paper detection switch 8.
If the number has not reached 6, it is assumed that there is a paper jam and the error flow C is entered.

When the paper detection switch 86 is turned on when the trailing edge jam timer has elapsed for 7.4 seconds, it is assumed that the trailing edge of the paper P still remains, so the paper jam flow B is entered.

Also, Fig. 21 shows the error subroutine and the 22nd
In the part indicated as an error in the figure, the process shown in FIG. 21 is executed and the paper jam indicator light 10 is turned on. Error handling (Fig. 21) is that when errors (abnormal states) A and B occur, all parts are turned off for 11 seconds while the motor 54 continues to rotate, and when error C occurs, the motor 54 immediately stops and charges are removed. The removal lamp 25a is turned off, the charge erasing lamp 27 is turned off,
The paper jam indicator light 10 lights up.

Further, as shown in FIG. 23, if there is no paper P, the "no copy paper" indicator light 11 is turned on,
Wait for cassette 28 to be reinserted. Reinsertion is determined by detecting that the cassette switch 85 is once turned ``off'' and then turned ``on''. By re-inserting the cassette 28, the "No copy paper" indicator light 11 is turned off and the "Copy available" indicator light 9 is turned off.
will be lit.

Note that in the embodiment described above, the copy paper is tried to be removed from the cassette up to twice within a certain period of time, but the present invention is not limited to this.
The number of tries may be three or four times, and although the number of tries is limited within a certain period of time, it may be limited by the number of times.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and that various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

As described above, the present invention compares whether or not the paper has been fed within a predetermined time, and if the answer is "no", the paper is taken out a plurality of times, thereby almost eliminating mistakes in taking out the paper.

In addition, a means is provided to limit the number of times a paper refeed instruction signal is generated, and if paper is not fed even after reaching a predetermined number of times, a "no copy paper" signal is issued, so there is a risk of endless attempts. There is no need to worry about the timing of issuing a warning in the event of a real paper jam being too late.

It has various effects such as.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is an external perspective view, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line shown in FIG. Figure 4 is a side view showing a state in which the cassette has been inserted, Figure 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cassette is being inserted, and Figures 6a, b, and c are schematic side views for explaining the state in which the cassette is inserted. Figure 7 is a perspective view of the extraction device, and Figure 8 is 1/3 of the main part of the device.
9 is a side sectional view showing the engagement and disengagement state of the sleeve and crank lever, FIG. 10 is a side view of the pair of conveyor rollers, and FIG. 11 is a timing chart. , Fig. 12 is a schematic side view showing the positional relationship of the charge erasing lamp, Fig. 13 is a timing chart, Fig. 14 is a side sectional view showing the configuration of the charge erasing lamp, and Fig. 15 is the arrangement of main detection elements. a schematic side sectional view showing;
Figure 16 is a block diagram of the control section, Figures 17 to 2
Figure 3 is a flowchart. 29...Ejecting device, P...Copy paper, 10
0...Paper feeding device, 75...Paper detection switch (micro switch), 91...Control unit, 92...Microprocessor unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A paper feeding means for sequentially taking out the copy paper one by one, a paper feeding detection means for detecting the taken out copy paper, and a paper feeding instruction signal generating means for generating a signal instructing the paper feeding means to take out the copy paper. Comparing means for comparing the paper feeding instruction signal and the paper feeding signal from the paper feeding detection means to determine whether or not the paper has been fed within a predetermined time;
A paper refeeding instruction signal generating means is provided to generate a paper feeding signal again when the paper refeeding signal is generated, and a means for limiting the number of times the paper refeeding instruction signal is generated. An electronic copying machine equipped with a paper feeding device configured to emit a signal.