JP2001080777A - Sheet material feeding device and sheet material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] A separation claw for separating a sheet material having small rigidity,
When feeding a sheet having high rigidity, the sheet falls down so as to be retracted from the passage so that the sheet does not skew. FIG. 4 shows a state at the time of paper feed standby.
At this time, the pressure plate 4 on which the sheet material P is loaded is located at a position separated from the feeding roller 5. The separation claw 6, which is rotatable about the support shaft 6b, is in a state of being erected by the separation claw spring 18 and standing on the passage. At the time of sheet feeding, the pressure plate 4 is lifted by the pressure plate spring 9, and the sheet material P is fed by the feeding roller 5 rotating clockwise. When the sheet material P is a rigid postcard or the like, the separation claw 6 rotates counterclockwise and falls down. At this time, the separation claw 6 is urged in the falling direction by the spring 18. The separated claw 6 is returned to the initial position by a separation claw return gear (not shown).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus provided in a sheet processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on sheet materials fed one by one.

A typical example of the sheet processing apparatus is an image recording apparatus (printer, copier, printer, etc.) that records an image on a recording material (sheet material) fed one by one. Facsimile) and a document information reading device that reads information of a document (sheet material) fed one by one.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A sheet material processing apparatus is provided with a sheet material feeding device for separating and feeding stacked sheet materials one by one. Various types of sheet material feeding apparatuses are employed, and typical configuration examples among them are shown in FIG. 8, FIG. 9, and FIG.

In this sheet feeding apparatus, a sheet P is stacked on an inclined pressure plate 100. Pressure plate 100
Is attached to the base 101 so as to be rotatable up and down. The pressure plate 100 rotates around a support shaft at a rear end (not shown). The pressure plate 100 is urged upward by a pressure plate spring (not shown). The pressure plate 100 is released by the release cam 107 at the time of paper feeding standby, and is at a predetermined position apart from the feeding roller 102. When the sheet feeding is started, the release cam is separated from the pressure plate 100, and the pressure plate 100 is lifted upward by the pressure plate spring. Thus, the sheet material P on the pressure plate 100 is fed by the half-moon-shaped feeding roller 102 rotating clockwise. 8 and 9 show this state.

[0005] This sheet material feeding device includes a bank 101a.
And a separating claw 103 are provided. For a rigid sheet material such as a thick paper or a postcard, the bank separation is performed using the bank portion 101a. For a rigid sheet material such as a plain paper, the separation is performed. Claw separation using the separation claw 103 is performed. The bank 101a is formed on the base 101, and the separation claw 103 is attached to one side of the base 101 in the sheet material width direction.

The separating claw 103 is attached to the base 101 with respect to the shaft 1.
It is attached so as to be rotatable around 03a. The vertical state shown in FIGS. 8 and 10 is the initial position of the separation claw 103, and the separation claw 10
3 is at this initial position. The separation claw 103 is positioned at the initial position because the hooks 101b, 1
Separating claw spring (coil spring) 1 interposed between 03b
04.

FIG. 9 shows a state in which a sheet material P having high rigidity is being fed by a feeding roller 102. In this case, the separation claws 103 rotate counterclockwise due to the rigidity of the sheet material P and fall down, and the sheet materials P are separated one by one by the frictional force of the bank portion 101a. When the sheet material P passes, the falling separation claw 103 rotates clockwise by the urging force of the separation claw spring 104 and returns to the initial position.

The sheet material P having a small rigidity is
2, the urging force of the separation claw spring 104 overcomes the rigidity of the sheet material P.
Reference numeral 3 denotes the rigidity of the sheet material P and does not rotate in the counterclockwise direction, but is at the initial position. Therefore, the sheet material P bends and passes over the separation claw 103, thereby being separated one by one.

[0009]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional sheet feeding apparatus, there is a limit to the falling state of the separation claw 103, and the separation claw 103 is completely retracted from the passage as shown in FIG. do not do. This is because the separation claw spring 104 has a function of returning the separation claw 103 to the initial position. For this reason, the separation claw 103 protruding into the passage rubs on one side of the back surface of the sheet material P, resulting in a transport load, and the sheet material P may skew.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the falling state of the separation claw 103 differs depending on the rigidity of the sheet material P (a, b), and the pinch and the conveyance roller 105 for conveying the fed sheet material P. The path length up to the nip of the roller 106 changes like a and b. This also results in a difference between the left and right conveyance amounts of the sheet material P, which causes skew.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a separation claw for separating a sheet material having a small rigidity is completely retracted from a passage when a sheet material having a high rigidity is fed, and the sheet material is separated from the passage. It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet feeding device in which the back surface of the sheet is not rubbed.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention for achieving the above object is usually in a state of standing on a passage,
The present invention relates to a sheet material feeding device including a separation claw that rotates around a support shaft and falls down when a force greater than a predetermined value is received from the fed sheet material.

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, when the separation claw is standing, the separation claw is positioned at a predetermined position, and when the separation claw falls, the separation claw is moved in the falling direction. Separation claw positioning means for urging the
Separating claw return means for rotating the standing separation claw to stand up.

For example, a coil spring is used as the separating claw positioning means.

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, when the separation claw is standing, the separation claw is positioned at a predetermined position, and when the separation claw falls, the positioning state of the separation claw is changed. Separation claw positioning means for releasing,
Separating claw return means for rotating the standing separation claw to stand up.

For example, an elastic piece such as rubber is used as the separation claw positioning means.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIGS. 1 and 2 show the overall structure of an image recording apparatus (inkjet printer) provided with a sheet material feeding apparatus to which the present invention is applied. FIG. 1 is an external perspective view, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view.

This image recording apparatus is configured to feed a sheet material P stacked on a pressure plate 4 by a feeding roller 5 and to convey the sheet material P sent from the sheet feeding portion 1. A paper feed / recording unit 2 that performs recording by discharging ink from a recording head 26 while being conveyed by rollers 19, and discharges a sheet material P recorded by the recording unit 2 with a discharge roller 33 and a spur 34.
And a paper discharge unit 3 for discharging paper.

Next, the paper feeding unit 1, the paper feeding / recording unit 2, and the paper discharging unit 3 will be described in detail.

Description of the paper feed unit 1 (FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4)
Reference) The paper feeding unit 1 is detachably attached to the image recording apparatus main body. The pressure plate 4 is in an inclined state, and the feeding roller 5 feeds the sheet material P stacked on the pressure plate 4. The fed sheet material P is recorded while being transported in a horizontal state in the sheet feeding / recording unit 2.

In the sheet feeding section 1, the sheet materials P are separated one by one by claw separation or bank separation. The claw separation is a one-claw separation by a separation claw disposed on one side in the width direction of the sheet material P.

On the base 8 of the sheet feeding section 1, a pressure plate 4 for loading the sheet material P, a feed roller 5 for feeding the sheet material P loaded on the pressure plate 4 from the uppermost sheet material, Separating claws 6 are provided for separating the fed sheet material P one by one.

The pressure plate 4 is rotatable up and down around a support shaft 4 a at the rear end, and is urged upward by a pressure plate spring 9. When the paper is not fed, the pressure plate 4 is pressed by a release cam 16a described later, and
It is in a state of being separated from. 2, 3 and 4 show this state. The pressure plate 4 is provided with a movable side guide 7 movable in the directions of arrows X1 and X2 (FIG. 1).

The feeding roller 5 is a half-moon shaped roller, and stops rotating with the cut portion facing the sheet material P when paper is not fed, as shown in FIGS. The feeding roller 5 is driven by a motor (not shown) by gears 10 and 1.
1, 12, and 13. Further, the drive of the motor is transmitted to the above-described release cam 16a via the gears 14, 15, and 16. The release cam 16a is provided on the gear 16.

The separation claw 6 is rotatable about a shaft 6b, and is urged by a claw spring (coil spring) 18 interposed between the hooks 6a and 8a. FIG. 4 shows the state of the separation claw 6 when paper is not fed. At this time, the separation claw 6 is urged clockwise by the claw spring 18 and is standing in the passage. It is the separation claw return gear 17 shown in FIG. 3 that brings the separation claw 6 into this state when paper is not fed. The separation claw return gear 17 is a gear that meshes with the gear 13 and rotates counterclockwise. When the separation claw 6 is tilted counterclockwise at the time of paper feeding, the separation claw 6 is rotated clockwise so that the state shown in FIG. Wake up. At this time, the teeth 17a of the gear 17
mesh with c.

When the separation claw 6 is in the state shown in FIG. 4, the hook 6a of the separation claw 6 is positioned at a distance t (for example, 0.5) from the position shown in FIG. 5, that is, the straight line O connecting the hook 8a and the shaft 6b.
mm to 3 mm) in a clockwise direction.
The separating claw 6 does not rotate in the counterclockwise direction by a rigid sheet material such as plain paper, but rotates in the counterclockwise direction by a rigid sheet material such as a postcard. In this case, when the hook 6a crosses the straight line O, the separation spring 18 urges the separation claw 6 in the counterclockwise direction, so that the separation claw 6 falls down and retracts from the passage. FIG. 6 shows this state.

Description of the paper feeding / recording unit 2 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) The paper feeding unit includes a transport roller 19, a pinch roller 20, a pinch roller guide 21, a pinch roller spring 22, a pinch roller cover 23, a chassis 24, and the like. Consists of

The transport roller 19 is rotatably mounted on the chassis 24. The pinch roller guide 21 is rotatably attached to the chassis 24. The pinch roller 20 is rotatably attached to a pinch roller guide 21 and is in contact with the transport roller 19. The pinch roller cover 23 is fixed to the chassis 24. The pinch roller 20 is urged toward the transport roller 19 by a pinch roller spring 22 engaged with the pinch roller cover 23.

The recording unit includes a platen 25, a recording head 2
6, carriage 27, carriage shaft 28, rail 29,
It comprises a timing belt 30, a carriage motor 31, a pulley 32 and the like.

The platen 25 and the carriage motor 31 are attached and fixed to the chassis 24.

The pulley 32 is rotatably attached to the chassis 24.

The carriage shaft 28 and the rail 29 are mounted on the chassis 24 so as to be parallel to the main scanning direction.

The carriage 27 is mounted so as to fit on the carriage shaft 28 and the rail 29, and is movable in the main scanning direction.

The carriage 27 is engaged with the timing 30, and the drive of the carriage motor 31 is transmitted through the timing belt 30 and the pulley 32.

The recording head 26 is mounted on a carriage 27, and is mounted such that the head section faces the platen 25.

Description of the paper discharge unit 3 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) The paper discharge unit 3 is provided with a paper discharge roller 33 and a spur 34 for assisting discharge. The paper discharge roller 33, the transmission roller 35, and the spur 34 are rotatably attached to the chassis 24. The drive of the transport roller 19 is transmitted to the discharge roller 33 via the transmission roller 35.

Next, the operation of the image recording apparatus will be described.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 show the state at the time of paper feed standby. At this time, since the release cam 16a pushes the pressure plate 4 down to a predetermined position (FIG. 3), the sheet material P is separated from the feeding roller 5. When the sheet material P is set on the pressure plate 4, the driving of the motor (not shown)
16 to the feed roller 5 and the release cam 16a. As a result, the release cam 16a separates from the pressure plate 4, and the pressure plate 4 rises, so that the sheet material P comes into contact with the rotating feeding roller 5. The sheet material P is picked up by the rotation of the feed roller 5 and separated by the separation claw 6 one by one. The separated sheet material P is sent to the paper feeding / recording unit 2
The separation claw 6 is returned to the initial position by the separation claw return gear 17 just before the feed roller 5 completes one rotation. The behavior of the separation claw 6 at this time will be described later in detail.

Thereafter, when the feed roller 5 makes one rotation, the release cam 16a again releases the pressure plate 4 with respect to the feed roller 5, the drive of the feed roller 5 is cut off, and this initial state is maintained. I do.

The sheet material P sent to the paper feeding / recording section 2 is
With the platen 25 and the pinch roller guide 21 serving as guides, the sheet reaches the nip between the transport roller 19 and the pinch roller 20. Then, when the leading end of the sheet material P sent to the feeding roller 5 has passed the nip portion between the transport roller 19 and the pinch roller 20 by a predetermined amount, the cueing of the sheet material P ends. At this point, the drive is given to the transport roller 19 by the LF motor 36, and the sheet material P advances along the platen 25 by the cooperation of the transport roller 19 and the pinch roller 20. At this time, the carriage 27 and the recording head 26 move in the main scanning direction, and perform recording based on predetermined image information by discharging ink from the recording head 26. The sheet material P recorded on the platen 25 is transported by the conveying roller 19 and the pinch roller 2.
Paper discharge unit 3 provided downstream of the platen by the cooperation of
Sent to

The sheet material P sent to the paper discharge unit 3 enters a nip portion between a paper discharge roller 33 and a spur 34 rotating in synchronization with the transport roller 19 via a transmission roller 35, and The paper is sequentially discharged by the cooperation of the spurs 34 and 34.

Here, the behavior of the separation claw 6 will be described.

At the time of paper feed standby shown in FIG. 5, the separation claw 6 is in a state of standing on the passage. The leading end of the sheet material P stacked on the pressure plate 4 is in contact with a bank 8 b formed on the base 8.

FIG. 6 shows a state during paper feeding. FIG. 6 shows a case where the sheet material P is feeding a sheet material P having high rigidity, such as cardboard or a postcard. In this case, the rigidity of the sheet material P causes the separation claw 6 to rotate counterclockwise.
For this reason, the separation claw 6 is in a state of falling down and retracting from the passage as described above. Therefore, the separation claw 6 does not hinder the movement of the sheet material P and does not become a load, so that the sheet material P does not skew. In this case, the sheet material P is separated one by one (bank separation) by the bank portion 8b.

In FIG. 6, when the sheet material P is a sheet material having low rigidity such as plain paper, the separation claw 6
4 does not rotate in the counterclockwise direction, and the state of FIG. 4 is maintained. Therefore, the sheet material P bends over the separation claws 6 and gets over, whereby the sheet P is separated one by one (claw separation).

As shown in FIG. 6, when the separation claw 6 is opened, the teeth 17a of the separation claw return gear 17 are moved to the teeth 6c of the separation claw 6.
, And the separating claw 6 is rotated clockwise to return to the initial position before paper feeding. The feed roller 5 and the separation claw return gear 17 are synchronized at a ratio of 1: 1.
Immediately before the rotation is completed, the separation claw 6 is always returned to the initial position. The feed amount of one rotation of the feed roller 5 is longer than the distance from the leading end of the sheet material P before sheet feeding to the nip between the transport roller 19 and the pinch roller 20, so that the separation claw 6 is moved by the separation claw return gear 17. When returning to the initial position, the leading end of the sheet material P
9 is pinched by the nip of the pinch roller 20.

<Second Embodiment> FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
An embodiment will be described.

In the first embodiment, the separation claw 6 is positioned at the initial position by using the separation claw spring (coil spring) 18, but in this embodiment, the separation claw 6 is positioned at the initial position.
The separation claw 6 is positioned at the initial position by using an elastic piece 37 such as rubber.

Here, the elastic piece 37 is installed vertically on the base 8 side. Thus, the elastic piece 37 is in a state where it can be elastically deformed in the sheet feeding direction.

On the other hand, the separation claw 6 is provided with a projection 6d. The projection 6d is provided with the elastic piece 37 during the paper feed standby.
Is in contact with or downstream from the paper feeding direction. Here, the slight distance is a distance at which the nails can be separated from a sheet material P having low rigidity such as plain paper in a state where the separation nails 6 are in contact with the elastic pieces 37.

When the sheet material P having high rigidity is fed by the feeding roller, the separating claw 6 rotates counterclockwise due to the rigidity of the sheet material P. Thereby, the elastic piece 3
7 is elastically deformed, and finally the protrusion 6d of the separation claw 6 comes off upstream of the elastic piece 37 in the sheet feeding direction, so that the separation claw 6 is in a no-load state. At this time, the separation claw 6 rotates counterclockwise until it comes off the passage. Therefore, even if the separation claw 6 touches the back surface of the sheet material P, it does not apply a load to the sheet material P and does not obstruct the passage.

Immediately before the feed roller 5 makes one rotation, the separating claw 6
Is returned by the separation claw return gear 17. At that time, the elastic piece 37 is elastically deformed again, and the projection 6d of the separation claw 6 is again pulled downstream of the elastic piece 37 in the paper feeding direction, and returns to the initial state before paper feeding.

In this specification, the one-claw separation system in which the separation claw 6 is disposed on one side in the width direction of the sheet material has been described. It is needless to say that the present invention is also applicable to a double-claw separation system provided on both sides in the direction.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the sheet material having high rigidity is fed, the separation claw is retracted from the passage, so that the separation claw does not apply a load to the back surface of the sheet material being fed. For this reason, the sheet material is fed without skew.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall configuration of an image recording apparatus (inkjet printer) including a sheet material feeding device (sheet feeding unit) to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the overall configuration of the image recording apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a configuration of a sheet feeding unit of the image recording apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state of a feeding roller, a pressure plate, and a separation claw at the time of a sheet feeding standby.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a configuration in which a separation claw is urged by a separation claw spring.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the behavior of the separation claw when a sheet material having high rigidity is fed by a feeding roller.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration for positioning a separation claw using an elastic piece such as rubber.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the configuration of a main part of a conventional sheet material feeding device.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of a conventional sheet material feeding device.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing the configuration of the separation claw.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 separation claw 6b spindle 17 separation claw return gear (separation claw return means) 18 separation claw spring (separation claw positioning means) 37 elastic piece (separation claw positioning means) P sheet material

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sheet feeding device which is normally standing on a passage and has a separation claw which is turned around a support shaft and falls down when it receives a predetermined force or more from a fed sheet material. In the feeding device, when the separation claw is upright, the separation claw is positioned at a predetermined position, and when the separation claw falls down, separation claw positioning means for urging the separation claw in the falling direction, A sheet feeding device, comprising: a separating claw returning unit that raises the separating claw by rotating the separating claw. 2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a coil spring is used as said separation claw positioning means. 3. A sheet feeder which is normally standing on a passage and provided with a separation claw which is turned around a support shaft and falls down when receiving a predetermined force or more from the fed sheet material. In the feeding device, separation claw positioning means for positioning the separation claw at a predetermined position when the separation claw is upright, and releasing the positioning state of the separation claw when the separation claw falls, A sheet material feeding device, comprising: a separation claw return unit that rotates a claw to stand up. 4. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 3, wherein an elastic piece such as rubber is used as said separation claw positioning means. 5. A sheet material processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on sheet materials fed one by one as sheet material feeding means for separating and feeding stacked sheet materials one by one. A sheet material processing apparatus comprising the sheet material feeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4.