JP2009190840A - Sheet feeder and printer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an air sheet feeder to be driven by an air suction drive source of a DC fan even when the suction belt pitch is reduced, or the diameter of a drive (driven) roller is reduced in order to save the space of the sheet feeder and to reduce the size of the sheet feeder, and a printer having the same. <P>SOLUTION: The sheet feeder has a sirocco fan 15a, a suction relay pipe 13 is communicated with and connected to a suction chamber 12 on both sides of the paper sheet width direction Y. The sirocco fan 15a has a suction unit 10A arranged above and in a vicinity of a suction belt 11. The sheet feeder has a front side discharge unit 30 comprising a pair of side discharge chambers 42 for blowing air a to both side end faces of a paper sheet bundle 2, a front discharge chamber 20 for blowing air a to a fore end face of the paper sheet bundle 2, a front discharge relay pipe 24, a side discharge relay pipe 43, a front side discharge drive source chamber 44, and a single sirocco fan 25 communicated with and connected to the front side discharge drive source chamber 44. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus and a printing apparatus, and in particular, separates sheets from a stacked sheet bundle by blowing air, and feeds the separated uppermost sheet by air suction. The present invention relates to an air suction type sheet feeding apparatus and a printing apparatus having the same.

  As is well known, there are friction type and air type sheet feeding devices (sheet feeding devices) that take out and feed one sheet at a time from the stacked sheet bundle (see FIG. 12 for the friction type). An air-type paper feeder separates sheets from a sheet bundle by blowing and discharging air, and feeds the separated uppermost sheet while sucking air (for example, patents). Reference 1 and 2).

FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 show an example of a conventional air-type paper feeding device 500 (hereinafter also referred to as “air paper feeding device 500”). The principle of the air feeding device 500 is roughly performed by the following processes (1) to (3).
(1) By blowing air a to the front end surface and both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2, air enters between the sheets, and the sheets S of the sheet bundle 2 are separated and scattered as shown in FIG.
(2) By sucking only one uppermost sheet S1 of the separated sheets S1 and S, the sheet S1 is attached to and held on the suction belt 11.
(3) As the suction belt 11 rotates and travels, one sheet S1 is fed and conveyed.

  The operation of components (components) that function in the step (1) of blowing air a to the front end surface and both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2 is as follows. As shown in FIG. 8, from the front of the sheet bundle 2, a flow of air a is created by a front air discharge fan 23 including a DC fan as a front air discharge drive source, and this air a passes through the front discharge chamber 20 to generate front air. It goes out from the discharge port 21 and blows onto the front end surface (front end surface) of the sheet bundle 2. Here, the front discharge chamber 20 provided with the front air discharge port 21 and the front air discharge fan 23 constitute a front discharge unit 22.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, air a is also generated from a pair of left and right side air discharge fans 41, 41 including a DC fan as a side air discharge drive source, similarly from both left and right end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2. A flow is created, and this air a goes out through the side discharge chamber 42 and blows to each side end face of the sheet bundle 2. The air is blown onto the front end surface and both side end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2, so that the upper part of the sheet bundle 2 is separated and separated one by one as shown in FIG.
Here, the side air discharge fans 41 and 41 and the side discharge chamber 42 constitute a side discharge unit 40. The front discharge unit 22 and the side discharge unit 40 constitute an air separation unit that separates the sheets S one by one by blowing air to both side end surfaces and the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2 stacked on the sheet feed tray 3. Yes.

Components (components) that function in the step (2) of sucking only one separated uppermost sheet S1 and the step (3) of conveying one sheet S1 by rotating and running the suction belt 11 are: The suction belt 11, the drive roller 14 a, the driven roller 14 b, the suction chamber 12, the suction relay pipe (duct) 13, the air suction drive fan 15, the suction drive source chamber 17, and the suction belt drive motor 47.
Above the uppermost sheet S1 in the sheet bundle 2, there is a suction belt 11 composed of an endless belt wound between a driving roller 14a and a driven roller 14b as a pair of rotating members. A large number of holes 11a for air suction are formed. In FIG. 9, for simplification of illustration, the hole 11a is formed so as to be formed in a specific range of the suction belt 11 between the driving roller 14a and the driven roller 14b. However, the holes 11a are formed at equal pitches on the lower side of the suction belt 11 and the upper rollers 14a and 14b over the entire sheet conveying direction X in the suction belt 11 and the sheet width direction Y orthogonal thereto. It goes without saying that the same applies to FIG. 2 described later.
On the left and right outer sides of the sheet feed tray 3 on which the sheet bundle 2 is stacked, a sheet feed unit 500A described later (almost all components functioning in the above steps (1) to (3) including the sheet feed tray 3). A pair of unit side plates (not shown) constituting the configuration) is disposed, and the driving roller 14a and the driven roller 14b are rotatable on the pair of unit side plates in the arrow direction (clockwise direction) in FIG. It is pivotally supported. Further, in an air sheet feeder that does not constitute a sheet feeding unit, the driving roller 14a and the driven roller 14b are arranged in a direction indicated by an arrow (clockwise direction) in FIG. 8 on a pair of side plates (not shown) fixed to the apparatus body. It is pivotally supported.
One end of the shaft of the drive roller 14a is connected to an output shaft 47a of a suction belt drive motor 47 as a belt drive means fixed to the one unit side plate side via a coupling 14c. The suction belt drive motor 47 is composed of, for example, a stepping motor that is easy and accurate in controlling the conveyance distance by variable speed control and rotation.

In the space between the driving roller 14a and the driven roller 14b and surrounded by the upper and lower suction belts 11, there is provided a suction chamber 12 for sucking air a having an opening 12a formed in a downward direction and forming a box shape. It has been. A suction relay pipe 13 is connected to and connected to one side of the suction chamber 12 via a suction port 13a shown in FIG.
A drive source for sucking air is an air suction drive fan 15 as an air suction drive source, and a suction drive source chamber 17 is connected to and connected to the air suction drive fan 15. Therefore, the suction chamber 12 and the air suction drive fan 15 are connected and connected via the suction relay pipe (duct) 13 and the suction drive source chamber 17.
The suction belt 11, the drive roller 14 a, the driven roller 14 b, the suction chamber 12, the suction relay pipe 13, the air suction drive fan 15, the suction drive source chamber 17, and the suction belt drive motor 47 constitute the suction unit 10. .
In the suction unit 10 described above, the suction belt 11, the suction chamber 12, the suction relay pipe 13, the air suction drive fan 15, and the suction drive source chamber 17 constitute air suction means.
In the suction unit 10, the suction belt 11, the drive roller 14a, the driven roller 14b, and the suction belt drive motor 47 constitute sheet feeding means for feeding the paper S sucked and held by the air suction means. is doing.

The operations in the above steps (2) and (3) are as follows. That is, by driving the air suction drive fan 15, when the air a is sucked by the suction chamber 12 through the suction drive source chamber 17 and the suction relay pipe 13, the inside of the suction chamber 12 becomes negative pressure, Since the air a is sucked from the hole 11a of the suction belt 11 in the range facing the surface of the opening 12a of the suction chamber 12, the uppermost sheet S1 separated into one sheet in the step (1) is applied to the suction belt 11. Pasted and held by suction.
When the sheet S1 adheres to the suction belt 11, the suction belt drive motor 47 is driven to rotate the drive roller 14a in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The sheet S1 is conveyed to a pair of upper and lower registration rollers 113a and 113b disposed on the downstream side of the “paper feeding direction X”. After transporting the sheet S1 to the registration roller pair 113a, 113b, the suction belt drive motor 47 is stopped to stop the travel of the suction belt 11, and the suction operation is waited for a predetermined time. The remaining sheet S1 is conveyed by rotation of the registration roller pair 113a and 113b. When the rear end of the sheet S1 comes in the vicinity of the front plate 4 that abuts the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2, the sheet S separated into the next sheet by the same operation as described above adheres to the suction belt 11. . The air feeding system feeds paper by repeating these processes and operations. The front plate 4 has a plurality of vertically elongated slits (not shown) for allowing the air a blown from the front air discharge port 21 to pass therethrough.

  8A and 9B, reference numeral 500A denotes a paper feed unit that is integrally configured with the exception of the pair of registration rollers 113a and 113b among the components (components) constituting the air paper feeder 500. The paper feed unit 500A is configured to be detachable from, for example, an apparatus main body 50 of a stencil printing apparatus shown in FIG. 12, which will be described later, via attachment / detachment means including fastening means such as screws (not shown).

The suction force of the air is sucked from the total area (hereinafter referred to as “suction belt hole area”) of the holes 11a of the suction belt 11 located in the range facing the surface of the opening 12a of the suction chamber 12 and these holes 11a. It depends on the speed of the air. In order to increase the suction force of air, it is generally preferable that the suction belt hole area is large and the air speed is high. This is because the air suction force is increased and the function of sucking and holding the paper S is improved. The air suction force referred to here means the volume and air volume of air per unit time.
In order to increase the speed of the air sucked from the holes 11a of the suction belt 11, the suction relay pipe 13 having a cross-sectional area larger than the area of the total holes 11a of the suction belt 11 is preferable.
The conventional suction relay pipe 13 is
(A) As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, suction was performed at one place from the side of the suction belt 11.
(B) As shown in FIG. 9, the suction is performed from the upper direction which is the sheet suction direction.

JP 2005-162456 A JP 2007-31070 A

  However, in the method (a) in which suction is performed at one position from the side of the suction belt 11, the size and cross-sectional area of the suction relay pipe 13 are determined by the distance between the suction belts 11 pitch, that is, the distance between the rollers 14a and 14b. (See FIG. 8). That is, the size and cross-sectional area of the suction relay pipe 13 are shorter than the distance between the suction belt pitches and smaller than the diameter of the drive (driven) roller 14a (14b) from the relationship shown in FIG.

  Until now, because there was no space restriction, the suction belt hole area was smaller than the suction relay pipe (duct) cross-sectional area. However, if the space must be reduced, that is, the suction belt pitch is short, or the drive (driven) Although the diameter of the roller must be reduced, this also reduces the cross-sectional area of the suction relay pipe 13. That is, the suction belt hole area> the suction relay pipe (duct) cross-sectional area, and the suction force is reduced.

If the suction force is increased due to the relationship of the suction belt hole area> the suction relay pipe (duct) cross-sectional area, the air pressure passing through the suction relay pipe 13 is increased by increasing the static pressure of the air suction drive fan 15. It corresponded.
However, when the static pressure of the air suction drive fan 15 is increased, there is a limit in a DC (direct current) fan motor (hereinafter referred to as “DC fan”), and an AC (alternating current) motor used in a vacuum cleaner or the like. A large blower to drive was used. In this case, it is inevitable to secure a space by a large blower itself, increase the size of the apparatus, and increase the cost.
Further, considering the conventional technology from another viewpoint, it includes an air sheet feeder and a stencil printing apparatus having the same as the suction unit 10 of the conventional air sheet feeder 500 shown in FIGS. In order to save space and reduce the size of the printer main unit, if the distance between the suction belts is reduced or the diameter of the drive (driven) roller is reduced, one suction relay pipe (duct) is connected from one suction chamber. It can be said that only the structure to consider was considered.

  On the other hand, with respect to (b) above, FIG. In this method, the suction belt hole area is equal to the suction area, but between the upper suction belt 11 and the suction drive source chamber 17a, particularly between the upper suction belt 11 near the drive roller 14a and the suction drive source chamber 17a. When the gap 19 is generated, air leaks, and there is a problem that stable suction conveyance cannot be performed. In FIG. 10, a suction force acts between the suction chamber 12a and the upper and lower suction belts 11 and between the suction drive source chamber 17a in the vicinity of the driven roller 14b and the suction belt 11 due to a suction force. Therefore, it is a level that can be ignored as compared with the gap 19 of the part.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems and circumstances, and in a printing apparatus including an air feeding type sheet feeding apparatus and a stencil printing apparatus having the same, space saving and miniaturization of the apparatus are achieved. Therefore, even if the distance between the suction belt pitches is small or the diameter of the drive (driven) roller is small, the air suction drive source of the DC fan can cope with it, and space efficiency (consolidation of components) ) Is the main purpose.

In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the above-described object, the invention according to each claim employs the following characteristic means and configuration.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an air separating means for separating sheets one by one by blowing air onto at least one of the both end surfaces and the front end surface of the stacked sheet bundle, and the separated uppermost sheet A belt that is wound between a pair of rotating members and travels in the sheet conveying direction for sucking and conveying the sheet, and a suction chamber provided in a space between the rotating members and surrounded by the belt A suction relay pipe having a suction port connected to and connected to the suction chamber, and an air suction drive source connected to and connected to the suction relay pipe. Further, the suction port is connected to and connected to at least both sides of the suction chamber in the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to the first aspect, the air suction drive source is disposed in the vicinity of the upper portion of the belt.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the air separating means communicates with a side air discharge port that blows air to both side end surfaces of the sheet bundle, and the side air discharge port. An air blowing drive source connected and having an air suction port for sucking air and an air discharge port for discharging air; and the air blowing drive source is located near the air discharge port of the air suction drive source. It is arranged.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to the first or second aspect, the air separating means includes a side air discharge port that blows air to both side end surfaces of the sheet bundle, and air to the front end surface of the sheet bundle. A front air discharge port for spraying, and an air blowing drive source that is connected to and connected to the side air discharge port and the front air discharge port and includes an air suction port for sucking air and an air discharge port for discharging air. The air blowing drive source is arranged in the vicinity of the air discharge port of the air suction drive source.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the air blowing drive source and the air suction drive source are the air suction port, the air discharge port, It is characterized by comprising a sirocco fan equipped with.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to the fifth aspect, a plurality of the sirocco fans as the air suction drive source are arranged, and the air discharge port of the sirocco fan on the upstream side is provided. The air suction port of the downstream sirocco fan adjacent to the upstream sirocco fan is arranged in communication and connection.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, the driving means for driving the belt is disposed in the vicinity of the air suction driving source, and the air blowing driving is performed. And a cover member that covers the air suction drive source and the drive means.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the sheet feeding device according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, and a print image forming unit that forms a print image on the sheet fed by the sheet feeding device. The printing apparatus is characterized by comprising:

According to the present invention, it is possible to realize and provide a novel sheet feeding apparatus capable of solving the above-described problems and achieving the above-described object, and a printing apparatus having the same. The effects of the invention for each claim are as follows.
According to the first aspect of the present invention, in order to save space and reduce the size of the apparatus, the air suction drive of the DC fan can be achieved even when the belt pitch is small or the diameter of the rotating member is small. The suction relay pipe communicates with and is connected to at least both sides in the sheet width direction perpendicular to the sheet conveyance direction in the suction chamber via the suction port, so that both sides of the belt in the sheet width direction can be used. Since air is sucked from the uppermost sheet, the uppermost sheet separated into one sheet in a state where the suction area with respect to the sheet is substantially doubled can be securely attached to the belt and sucked and held and fed.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the above configuration constitutes preconditions for improving the efficiency of the space (aggregation of components such as components and components) in accordance with the operation and effect of the first aspect. In addition, since the length of the suction relay pipe can be shortened, pipe friction loss and cost can be suppressed.

  According to the third and fourth aspects of the invention, with the above configuration, the air blowing drive source can suck the air discharged from the air discharge port of the air suction driving source, thereby improving the suction efficiency of the air blowing drive source. Can do.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the above configuration can contribute to downsizing as a DC fan, and after each sheet is reliably separated by increasing the static pressure, the sheet is sufficiently sucked and held. Can be sent.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, by the above configuration, the static pressure is further increased, so that the sheet can be sucked and held sufficiently and reliably, and discharged from the air discharge port of the sirocco fan. The air blowing drive source or the sirocco fan as the air blowing drive source can suck the air with increased static pressure so that the suction efficiency of the air blowing drive source can be further improved. In the case of the invention according to claim 6, which is cited in claim 5).

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the driving means for driving the belt is arranged in the vicinity of the air suction driving source and has a cover member that covers the air blowing driving source, the air suction driving source, and the driving means. Thus, each drive sound is sound-insulated / reduced by the cover member, so that low-noise feeding is possible.

  According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, the above configuration realizes and provides a printing apparatus including a stencil printing apparatus that has the effect of having the sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects. be able to.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments including the best mode and examples for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Regarding the constituent elements such as members and components having the same function over the above-described background art examples, embodiments and modifications, etc., once described by attaching the same reference numerals as much as possible, the description will be given. Omitted. In order to simplify the drawings and the description, even components that are to be represented in the drawings may be omitted as appropriate without being specifically described in the drawings. When a constituent element such as a published patent publication is cited and explained as it is, the reference numeral is attached with parentheses to distinguish it from that of the embodiment.

First, the overall configuration of a digital thermal stencil printing apparatus as an example of a printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 schematically shows the overall configuration of the digital thermal stencil printing apparatus, and FIG. 12 mainly shows the overall configuration of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 in FIG.
In the stencil printing apparatus shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, an active energy ray curable ink can be used. Therefore, an active energy ray curable fixing device 201 for curing the active energy ray curable ink is shown in FIG. It is provided on the paper discharge side of the stencil printing machine main body. As an example of the active energy ray curable ink, an ultraviolet curable ink is used. As an example of the active energy ray curable fixing device, an ultraviolet curable fixing device is used.

11 and 12, reference numeral 200 denotes a stencil printing apparatus main body shown in detail in FIG. 12, and a paper feeding unit 110 is provided on the right side of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200. As described above, the active energy ray curing and fixing device 201 is provided on the paper discharge side of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200. In this active energy ray curable fixing device 201, an active energy ray lamp, a motor for conveying paper, a belt, an adsorption fan, and the like are incorporated. Then, the active energy ray curable fixing device 201 is configured to fix the active energy ray curable ink onto the paper and discharge the printed and fixed paper to the paper discharge tray 52 by belt and suction conveyance.
The internal configuration of the active energy ray curable fixing device 201 is the same as the UV irradiation device (2) as the ultraviolet irradiation device shown in FIG. 1 of JP-A-2006-281658 proposed by the present applicant, for example. In relation to this, on the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 side shown in FIG. 12, the same configuration as the stencil printing control apparatus (55) described in FIG. 4 of the above-mentioned JP-A-2006-281658 is arranged. Has been.

Next, the overall configuration of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 12, reference numeral 50 denotes an apparatus main body forming a framework on the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 side. As shown in the figure, the portion indicated by 80 at the top of the apparatus body 50 is a document reading portion as a document reading device, and the portion indicated by 100 below is a plate making portion as a digital thermal stencil type plate making device. The part indicated by 129 on the left side of the plate making unit 100 is a printing drum unit as a printing drum device in which a printing drum 121 having a porous cylindrical plate cylinder on the outer peripheral part is disposed, and a portion 120 below the printing drum 121. A portion shown is a printing pressure unit as a printing pressure device, a portion indicated by 70 on the left side of the printing drum 121 is a plate discharging portion as a plate discharging device, and a portion indicated by 110 below the plate making unit 100 is a paper feeding device as a paper feeding device. The part indicated by the reference numeral 130 on the left side of the printing pressure device 120 and below the plate discharging device 70 indicates a paper discharge unit as a paper discharge device.
In FIGS. 11 and 12, reference numerals 150, 151, and 152 shown in parentheses together with reference numerals of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 are stencil printing apparatus main bodies according to a first embodiment and a second modification thereof, which will be described later. This is distinguished from the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 to which the present invention is applied.

  The document reading unit 80 has a function of reading an image of the surface of the document 60 transferred from a document placing table (not shown), and the plate making unit 100 has a function of making a plate 101 of a master 101 wound in a roll shape and feeding and feeding it. The printing drum unit 129 has a function of winding the plate-making master 101 around the outer peripheral surface thereof and supplying ink to the plate-making master 101 on the printing drum 121. A function of forming a print image on the sheet S by pressing the sheet S as a sheet-shaped recording medium / printing medium against the sheet 121, and the plate discharging unit 70 uses the master 101 from the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121 The paper feed unit 110 has a function of stripping and discharging it into the plate discharge box 74. The paper feed unit 110 is configured to print the paper S stacked on the paper feed tray 51 as a paper feed table and the printing drum unit 129 and the printing pressure unit. The ability to feed between 20, sheet ejection section 130, a function of discharging the paper S printed by the printing drum 129 and the indicia pressure part 120 to the discharge tray 52, each having.

  The basic overall operation of the stencil printing apparatus main body will be described with reference to FIGS. First, a user places and sets a document 60 having an image to be printed on a document placing table (not shown) arranged at the top of the document reading unit 80, and makes a plate making start key 91 on the operation panel 90 shown in FIG. Press. In response to pressing of the plate making start key 91, a plate making start signal is generated, and this is used as a trigger to first execute the plate discharging process. That is, in this state, the used master 101 used in the previous printing remains attached to the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121 (the outer peripheral surface of the plate cylinder). The printing drum 121 is connected to printing drum driving means (not shown, for example, a main motor) via a driving mechanism (not shown), and is driven to rotate by the printing drum driving means.

  The printing drum 121 rotates in the direction opposite to the arrow direction A in the figure, and the rear end portion of the used master 101 mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121 approaches the pair of plate discharge peeling rollers 71 a and 71 b of the plate discharge unit 70. Then, the roller pair 71a, 71b rotates while scooping up the rear end of the used master 101 with one of the plate release roller 71b, and a plate discharge roller pair 73a disposed to the left of the plate release roller pair 71a, 71b. , 73b and a pair of discharge plate transfer belts 72a and 72b spanned between the pair of discharge plate peeling rollers 71a and 71b, the used master 101 is gradually peeled off from the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121. Then, the sheet is discharged into the discharge plate box 74 while being conveyed in the arrow direction X1, and the so-called discharge process is completed. At this time, the printing drum 121 continues to rotate counterclockwise. The used master 101 that has been discharged is then compressed inside the discharge plate box 74 by the compression plate 75.

In parallel with the plate removal process, the document reading unit 80 operates to read the document. That is, the document 60 placed on a document placing table (not shown) is rotated in the directions of arrows X2 to X3 (hereinafter, referred to as “rotation”) by the rotation of the separation roller 81, the pair of front document transport rollers 82a and 82b, and the pair of rear document transport rollers 83a and 83b. (Referred to as “original transport direction X2”) while being conveyed for exposure reading. At this time, when there are a large number of documents 60, only the lowermost document is conveyed by the action of the separating blade 84.
The upper rear document transport roller 83a is rotationally driven by a document transport motor (not shown) made of, for example, a stepping motor. The upper front document transport roller 82a is rotationally driven by the document transport motor via a timing belt (not shown) spanned between the upper transport roller 83a and the transport roller 82a, and each roller 82b, 83b. Each follower rotation.

  When reading the image of the original 60, the reflected light from the surface of the original 60 illuminated by the fluorescent lamp 86 while being conveyed on the contact glass 85 is reflected by the mirror 87 and passes through the lens 88, and then the CCD (photocoupler such as a charge coupled device) is read. This is performed by being incident on an image sensor 89 formed of a conversion element. The original 60 from which the image has been read is discharged onto the original tray 80A.

  Optical information (image data) of the document 60 is photoelectrically converted by the image sensor 89, and an analog electric signal is input to an analog / digital (A / D) converter (not shown) and converted into a digital image signal. . This digital image signal is subjected to image processing for stencil printing by an image processing unit (not shown) in a control unit (not shown). Digital image signals relating to binary black pixels and white pixels thus subjected to image processing are It is input to a thermal head drive control unit (not shown). This thermal head drive control unit controls each heating element 102a of the thermal head 102 shown in FIG. 12 mainly through a thermal head drive circuit (not shown), and receives a command from a control means (not shown). Control operation.

The optical information (image data) input to the A / D conversion unit is not limited to that read by the CCD, and may be information from a contact image sensor (CIS) or the like, for example. The digital image data input to the thermal head drive control unit in the control unit (not shown) may be a digital image signal transmitted from a computer such as a personal computer.
The digital image signal input to the thermal head drive control unit in the control unit (not shown) generates a digital image data signal or the like as a thermal head drive signal and passes through a thermal head drive circuit (not shown). 102.

On the other hand, in parallel with such document scanning and image reading operations, plate making and plate feeding processes are performed based on digital signalized image information (digital image signal). That is, when the plate making start signal is used as a trigger and a stepping motor (not shown) coupled to the platen roller 103 is driven to rotate, the master 101 is set to be able to be fed out via a master support member (not shown). The master 101 is pulled out from a master roll 101A formed by being wound around the core tube 101a. At this time, the master 101 performs sub-scanning indicated by an arrow X4 in the drawing by rotation at a constant speed of the platen roller 103 and the tension roller pair 105a, 105b serving as a master conveying unit pressed against the thermal head 102 via the master 101. It is transported downstream in the direction X4 (hereinafter also referred to as “master transport direction X4”).
A large number of minute heating elements 102a arranged in a line in the main scanning direction of the thermal head 102 are sent from the thermal head drive control unit in the control unit (not shown) to the conveyed master 101. Each of the thermoplastic resin film portions of the master 101 that is in position-selective heat generation according to the digital image data signal and is in contact with the heat generating element 102a is heated, melted and perforated. In this way, image information is written in the master 101 as a drilling pattern by position-selective melt drilling of the master 101 according to the image information.

  The platen roller 103 is connected to a stepping motor (not shown) via a rotation transmission member (not shown) such as a timing belt and a gear, and is rotated by the stepping motor. The rotational driving force of the stepping motor is applied to a pair of upper and lower reversing rollers 107a and 107b via a rotation transmission member (not shown) such as a gear and via a tension roller pair 105a and 105b and an electromagnetic clutch (not shown). It is to be transmitted. In addition, there is a device in which a stepping motor different from the stepping motor for rotating the driving roller of the pair of reverse rollers 107a and 107b is provided instead of the electromagnetic clutch.

  The thermal head 102 is shown for receiving a digital image signal from the image sensor 89, the A / D conversion unit, the image processing unit, etc. (not shown) or from a personal computer (not shown) as described above. Thermal head drive including digital image data signal processed and sent out by the thermal head drive control unit of the control unit (not shown) via the image processing unit via the personal computer / controller, interface device, data development unit, etc. The master 101 has a function as plate-making means for position-selectively heating, melting, punching, and making a plate by selectively heating a large number of heating elements 102a based on the signal for use. The thermal head 102 can be brought into and out of contact with the platen roller 103 via the master 101 by a well-known contacting / separating means (not shown).

As the master 101 used in FIGS. 11 and 12, for example, a laminate structure in which a thermoplastic resin film and a porous support made of Japanese paper fiber, synthetic fiber, or a mixture of Japanese paper fiber and synthetic fiber are bonded together. Can be mentioned. As the thermoplastic resin film, for example, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film is used.
The plate making unit 100 constitutes a plate making unit that can be attached to and detached from the apparatus main body 50 via a known attaching / detaching means. As the attaching / detaching means, for example, a guide member having a U-shaped cross section that is provided on the apparatus main body 50 side and guides the plate making unit, and a convex member that is provided on the plate making unit side and is slidable with respect to the guide member. Combinations are mentioned. As described above, since a guide member (not shown) and the like is disposed on the apparatus main body 50 side, space saving and miniaturization in the height direction Z in the paper feeding unit 110A are desired.

The leading end of the master 101 having image information written therein is fed toward the outer periphery of the plate cylinder of the printing drum 121 by the pair of reverse rollers 107a and 107b, and the traveling direction is changed downward by the plate feeding guide plate 108. Then, it hangs down toward the expanded master clamper 122 of the printing drum 121 in the plate feeding position state indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. At this time, the used master 101 has already been removed from the printing drum 121 by the plate discharging process.
When the leading end of the master 101 that has been made is clamped and held by the master clamper 122 at a fixed timing by the operation of an opening / closing device (not shown) disposed on the apparatus main body 50 side to open and close the master clamper 122, the printing drum 121. , The master 101 that has been subjected to the plate making is gradually wound around the outer peripheral surface while rotating in the arrow A direction (clockwise direction) in the figure. The plate making master 101 has its rear end cut into a certain length by the cutter 104 after the plate making is completed, and the plate making master 101 is completely wound around the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121. The plate making and feeding processes are completed.

  After that, the rotation of the platen roller 103, the pair of tension rollers 105a and 105b, and the pair of reverse rollers 107a and 107b causes the upstream end of the remaining master 101 on the upstream side to be transported toward the nip portion of the pair of reverse rollers 107a and 107b. The When the leading edge of the master 101 thus transported is detected by a master leading edge detection sensor (not shown) and it is determined that the leading edge of the master 101 has occupied the initial position, the platen roller 103, the tension roller pairs 105a and 105b, and the reverse roller pair 107a, The rotation of 107b stops, and a plate making standby state for the next plate making is entered. The initial position of the master 101 is set in advance, for example, to a position slightly protruding forward from the position sandwiched between the nip portions of the pair of reversing rollers 107a and 107b.

  Next, the printing process is started. First, the uppermost one of the sheets S stacked on the sheet feeding tray 51 is pulled out by the sheet feeding roller 111 and further separated into one sheet by the cooperative action of the separation roller pairs 112a and 112b. The paper is fed in the direction of arrow X (hereinafter also referred to as “paper transport direction X” or “paper feed direction X”) toward the roller pair 113a, 113b, and further synchronized with the rotation of the printing drum 121 by the registration roller pair 113a, 113b. The sheet is fed between the printing drum 121 and the press roller 123 in the printing pressure unit 120 at the predetermined timing. The press roller 123 is detachably contacted with the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121 by a known press roller displacing means (not shown), and is supplied to the printing drum 121 on which the master 101 having been made on the outer peripheral surface is wound. It functions as a pressing unit that presses the fed paper S to form a print image on the paper S. When the fed paper S is inserted between the printing drum 121 and the press roller 123, the press roller 123 that has been separated below the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121 is swung and raised. As a result, it is pressed against the master 101 that has been pre-rolled around the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121. Thus, due to the adhesive force due to the viscosity of the ink that has oozed out from the porous portion of the printing drum 121, the master 101 that has been subjected to plate making comes into close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the printing drum 121, and at the same Ooze out and the oozed ink is transferred to the surface of the paper S to form a printed image.

At this time, ink is supplied to the ink reservoir 127 formed between the ink roller 125 and the doctor roller 126 from the ink supply pipe 124 that also serves as the support shaft 124 on the inner peripheral side of the printing drum 121, and the rotation of the printing drum 121. Ink is supplied to the inner peripheral side of the printing drum 121 by the ink roller 125 that is in contact with the inner peripheral surface while rotating in the same direction as that of the printing drum 121 in synchronization with the rotation speed of the printing drum 121.
The ink supply pipe 124, the ink roller 125, and the doctor roller 126 constitute an ink supply unit that supplies ink to the master 101 on the printing drum 121. The pressing means is not limited to the press roller 123, and an impression cylinder having a diameter substantially the same as the diameter of the printing drum (plate cylinder) 121 is also used. Of course, the present invention is applied to such an impression cylinder type stencil printing apparatus. The
As described above, the printing drum 121, the ink supply unit, and the press roller 123 constitute a print image forming unit that forms a print image using ink on the paper S fed by the printing unit 110.

  For example, W / O type emulsion ink is preferably used as the ink used when printing on uncoated paper such as high-quality paper. Hereinafter, in the example of the stencil printing apparatus shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, it is assumed that an ultraviolet curable ink as an active energy ray curable ink is used in order to simplify the description. Hereinafter, the simple ink means an active energy ray curable ink (ultraviolet curable ink).

The sheet S on which the printing image is formed in the printing pressure unit 120 is peeled off from the print drum 121 by the sheet discharge peeling claw 114 in the sheet discharge unit 130 and is sucked by the suction fan 118 while being sucked by the suction sheet discharge inlet roller 115 and the suction. It is adsorbed by the porous conveyance belt 117 stretched around the sheet discharge outlet roller 116, and is conveyed toward the sheet discharge table 52 as indicated by the arrow X5 by the rotation and running of the conveyance belt 117 in the counterclockwise direction. The paper is sequentially discharged and stacked on the paper discharge tray 52. In this way, so-called plate printing is completed.
After the plate printing is finished, the press roller 123 is separated from the printing drum 121, and the printing drum 121 returns to the initial position (home position) where the master clamper 122 is substantially above in FIG.

  Next, a desired printing speed value is set by pressing a printing speed setting key (not shown) arranged on the operation panel 90 shown in FIG. When the print start key 92 is pressed and the printing start key 92 is pressed, the paper feeding, printing, and paper ejection steps are repeated for the set number of prints at the set printing speed in the same process as the stencil printing. This completes the entire process.

In FIG. 12, a portion surrounded by a two-dot chain line except for the registration roller pairs 113a and 113b is a paper feed configured to be detachable from the apparatus main body 50 via an attaching / detaching means including a fastening means such as a screw (not shown). The unit 110A is shown. The sheet feeding unit 110A is configured as a sheet feeding device using the friction method described above. In the paper feed unit 110A, the separation roller pairs 112 and 112b are used as separation means, but a combination of a paper feed roller and a friction pad as a friction member is also used.
In FIG. 12, reference numeral 1 </ b> A indicated by parentheses together with the reference numeral of the paper feeding unit 110 </ b> A is described later which is configured to be detachable with respect to the apparatus main body 50 through attachment / detachment means including fastening means such as screws (not shown). 1 illustrates a sheet feeding unit according to one embodiment.
Further, the air feeding device may be configured so as to be mounted as an external option on the printing apparatus main body in combination with a mass feeding unit capable of mass feeding.

Here, the operation panel 90 shown in FIG. 13 is supplemented. The operation panel 90 is disposed on one side of the upper part of the document reading unit 80. As shown in detail in FIG. 13, the operation panel 90 includes a well-known plate making start key 91, printing start key 92, numeric keypad 93, trial printing key 94, enter key 95, mode clear key 96, touch panel 98, display 99 and the like. Is arranged. The operation panel 90 is also provided with a function that functions as a paper type setting unit as a notification type and a sheet type recognition unit that recognizes the sheet type.
The plate making start key 91 functions as an operation starting means for starting a series of steps (operations) from reading of an image of a document to plate discharge, plate making, plate feeding, paper feeding, plate printing, and paper discharge steps. The numeric keypad 93 has a function for inputting and setting the number of prints and the like, the print start key 92 has a function for starting the printing operation for the number of prints inputted and set with the numeric keys 93, and the trial printing key 94 has Each has a function of starting a test printing operation. The enter key 95 has a function for confirming / setting values and the like at various settings, and the mode clear key 96 has a function for erasing / clearing various mode setting states. Is done.

The touch panel 98 is driven by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) drive circuit including a touch panel drive circuit (not shown), and is used to display various modes and various selection setting means (the above-described paper type setting means) displayed on the screen by a known touch panel method. It is configured so that it can be highlighted and selected and set.
The display means or notification means comprising an LCD screen disposed on the touch panel 98 is used when the ink used and the air volume due to the rotational speed of each sirocco fan 15a, 15b do not match the thin paper, plain paper, coated paper or cardboard. This is displayed or notified.
The paper type setting unit has a function as a paper type recognizing unit capable of selecting and setting thin paper, plain paper, and coated paper as the paper, specifically, a thin paper setting key 131 provided on the touch panel 98, It consists of plain paper setting key 132 and coated paper setting key 133. The paper type setting means is not limited to the one described above, and a key capable of setting thick paper or the like in more detail may be provided.

  For example, when coated paper (including art paper or the like) is selected and set with the coated paper setting key 133, the smoothness of the surface is high (smooth state), so the friction of the paper feeding unit 110A shown in FIGS. In the separation method, the sheets S cannot be separated one by one. Therefore, on the basis of a signal relating to the coated paper setting from the coated paper setting key 133, a control means (not shown) displays the fact on the LCD screen of the touch panel 98 (that the paper feeding unit of the air feeding device is mounted). In addition, the printing pressure unit 120, the printing drum unit 129, the paper discharge unit 130, and the like of the stencil printing apparatus main body 200 including the paper supply unit 110 are deactivated to prohibit paper supply, printing, and paper discharge operations. (The same applies to a first embodiment and modified examples 1 and 2 described later).

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Compared with the paper feeding unit 500A of the air paper feeding device 500 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the first embodiment is a paper feeding unit 1A of the air paper feeding device 1 as shown in FIGS. The only difference is the use of. Compared with the paper feeding unit 500A of the air paper feeding device 500, the paper feeding unit 1A of the air paper feeding device 1 uses a suction unit 10A instead of the suction unit 10 of the paper feeding unit 500A. Instead of the side discharge unit 40 and the front discharge unit 22, a front / side discharge unit 30 as an air separating unit is used, and with the adoption of the suction unit 10 </ b> A and the front / side discharge unit 30, they will be described later. The air suction drive source and the air blowing drive source and the like that are configured in a specific arrangement as will be described later, one sirocco fan 15a as a suction drive source to be described later that constitutes the suction unit 10A, and the front side discharge unit 30 Single sirocco fan as an air blowing drive source which will be described later 5 and the point of using a suction belt drive motor 47 three silent cover 35 as a cover member for covering the drive source and drive means consisting (indicated by a one-dot chain line bold in FIGS. 1 and 2) differs mainly.
The paper feeding unit 1A of the air paper feeding device 1 is the same as the paper feeding unit 500A of the air paper feeding device 500 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 except that the above differences will be described in detail later. 11 and 12, the air-type paper feeding unit 1A shown in parentheses together with the friction-type paper feeding unit 110A is a stencil printing apparatus main body shown in parentheses in the same drawing instead of the paper feeding unit 110A. 150 indicates that it is mounted and applied.

  As compared with the conventional suction unit 10 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the suction unit 10A of the first embodiment includes an air suction fan 15a as an air suction drive source as shown in FIGS. The sirocco fan 15a is clearly defined and limited, and the sirocco fan 15a is disposed in the vicinity of the upper portion of the suction belt 11, and the suction chamber 12 is formed to extend along the paper width direction Y of the suction belt 11. The tube 13 is connected to and connected to at least both sides (two locations in the present embodiment) of the suction chamber 12 with its suction port 13a in the sheet width direction Y. Accordingly, the sheet width direction Y in the suction chamber 12 is connected. The suction relay pipe 13 communicates with and connected to the suction drive source chamber 17 from both sides of the suction belt, and the suction belt as a drive means for driving the suction belt 11 Point arranged dynamic motor 47 in the vicinity of the sirocco fan 15a (air suction driving source) differs mainly.

1 and 2, the suction belt 11, the drive roller 14a, the driven roller 14b and the single suction chamber 12, the left and right suction relay pipes 13, the suction drive source chamber 17, the sirocco fan 15a, and the suction belt drive motor 47 are A suction unit 10A is configured.
In the suction unit 10A described above, the suction belt 11, the suction chamber 12, the left and right suction relay pipes 13, the suction drive source chamber 17, and the sirocco fan 15a constitute air suction means.
In the suction unit 10A, the suction belt 11, the drive roller 14a, the driven roller 14b, and the suction belt drive motor 47 constitute sheet feeding means for feeding the paper S sucked and held by the air suction means. is doing.

As described above, the front / side discharge unit 30 constitutes an air separating unit that separates the sheets S one by one by blowing air onto both side end surfaces and the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2 stacked on the sheet feeding tray 3. is doing.
The front / side discharge unit 30 includes a pair of left and right side discharge chambers 42, 42 having side air discharge ports 42 a for blowing air a to both side end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2, and air on the front end surface (front end surface) of the sheet bundle 2. a front discharge chamber 20 having a front air discharge port 21 for blowing a, a front discharge relay pipe (duct) 24 connected to and connected to the front discharge chamber 20, and side air discharge through the side discharge chambers 42 and 42. Left and right side discharge relay pipes (ducts) 43 communicated and connected to the outlet 42a, and front and side discharge drive source chambers 44 communicated and connected to the left and right side discharge relay pipes 43 and the front discharge relay pipe 24, respectively The air suction port 25 is connected to and connected to the front / side discharge drive source chamber 44 and sucks air a. Is mainly composed of one and the sirocco fan 25. a single DC air blowing driven fan as an air blowing driving source and an air discharge opening 25a2 for discharging the air a.
In the present embodiment, the sirocco fan 25 generates air a that is blown to the front end surface and both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2. The sirocco fan 25 is arranged near the air outlet 15a2 of the sirocco fan 15a. The static pressure specification of the sirocco fan 25 is equivalent to that of the sirocco fan 15a.

  In the present embodiment, as described above, since the suction belt drive motor 47 is disposed in the vicinity of the sirocco fan 15a, the drive force transmission method of the suction belt drive motor 47 that drives the suction belt 11 is the cup shown in FIG. The direct drive method of the suction belt drive motor 47 via the ring 14c is changed to a drive force transmission means using a toothed belt 48, a toothed drive pulley 47a, and a toothed pulley 14d. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, a toothed pulley 14d fixed to one end of the shaft of the driving roller 14a, a toothed driving pulley 47a fixed to the output shaft of the suction belt drive motor 47, and a toothed pulley A driving force transmission means comprising a toothed belt 48 wound between the pulley 14d and the toothed driving pulley 47a is employed. The driving force transmission means is not limited to the means shown in FIG. 2, but may be one using a gear train.

  As a matter of course, each communication / connection part of the suction unit 10A, in addition, a connection part between the air suction port 15a1 of the sirocco fan 15a and the suction drive source chamber 17, and a connection part between each suction relay pipe 13 and the suction drive source chamber 17. , A connection portion between the suction drive source chamber 17 and the air suction port 15a1 of the sirocco fan 15a, a connection portion between the suction chamber 12 and the suction port 13a of each suction relay tube 13, and each communication / connection of the front side discharge unit 30 In addition, the connection part of the air discharge port 15b2 of the sirocco fan 25 and the front side discharge chamber 44, the connection part of the front side discharge chamber 44 and each side discharge relay pipe 43, each side discharge relay pipe 43 and each side Connection portion with discharge chamber 42, connection between front side discharge chamber 44 and front discharge relay pipe 24 The connection portion between the front discharge relay pipe 24 and the front discharge chamber 20 has an appropriate fitting connection shape so that there is no air leakage, and an appropriate seal tape or the like is applied to prevent air leakage. .

  FIG. 5 shows a specific product example of the sirocco fans 15a, 15b, and 25. In FIG. 3, 15c and 25c are multi-blade fans provided in the sirocco fans 15a, 15b and 25, and 15d and 25d are leads which supply electric power to the DC fan motor provided in the sirocco fans 15a, 15b and 25. Each line is shown. The name of the sirocco fan is a term widely used among those skilled in the art, but its official name (academic term) corresponds to a multiblade fan of a centrifugal blower.

Next, the sheet feeding operation of the sheet feeding unit 1A of the air sheet feeder 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. First, by driving a sirocco fan 25 comprising a DC fan, a flow of air a is created, and this air a goes out through the front side discharge drive source chamber 44 and the left and right side discharge relay pipes 43, 43. Then, the air is blown from the side air discharge ports 42a of the side discharge chambers 42 to the side end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2.
At the same time, a part of the air a generated by driving the sirocco fan 25 as described above passes through the front discharge chamber 20 via the front discharge relay rod (duct) and exits from the front air discharge port 21. Then, it sprays on the front end surface (front end surface) of the sheet bundle 2. In this way, each air a blows on the front end surface and both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2, so that the upper part of the sheet bundle 2 is reliably separated and separated one by one as shown in FIG.

  Next, by driving the sirocco fan 15a at a predetermined timing, when the air a is sucked from the single suction chamber 12 via the suction drive source chamber 17 and the left and right suction relay pipes 13 and 13, suction is performed. Since the inside of the chamber 12 has a negative pressure and air a is sucked from the holes 11a of the suction belts 11 on both sides in a range facing the surface of the opening 12a of the suction chamber 12, the description will be given with reference to FIGS. Compared to the case of the conventional suction unit 10, the uppermost sheet S 1 separated into one sheet in a state where the suction area is substantially doubled is securely attached and sucked and held on the suction belt 11.

  When the sheet S1 adheres to the suction belt 11, the suction belt drive motor 47 is driven to rotate the drive roller 14a in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The sheet S1 is conveyed to the registration rollers 113a and 113b on the side. After the sheet S1 is conveyed to the registration roller pair 113a, 113b, the driving of the suction belt drive motor 47 is stopped, so that the travel of the suction belt 11 is stopped and the suction operation is waited for a predetermined time. The remaining sheet S1 is conveyed by rotation of the registration roller pair 113a and 113b. When the rear end of the sheet S1 comes in the vicinity of the front plate 4 that abuts the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2, the sheet S separated into the next sheet by the same operation as described above adheres to the suction belt 11. . At this time, by driving the sirocco fan 15a, the air a discharged from the air discharge port 15a2 is sucked through the air suction port 25a1 by driving the sirocco fan 25, so that the suction efficiency of the sirocco fan 25 is increased. Will be better. Air feeding is continued by repeating the above processes and operations.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the following advantages and effects are achieved. That is, first, by having the suction unit 10A having the above-described specific configuration, the space between the suction belts 11 can be reduced or the drive / driven rollers 14a and 14b can be reduced in order to save space and reduce the size of the apparatus. Even when the diameter is reduced, the sirocco fan 15a, which is a DC fan, can be used, and the single suction chamber 12 passes through the suction drive source chamber 17 and the left and right suction relay pipes 13 and 13 in the paper width direction Y. Since air a is sucked from the holes 11a of the left and right suction belts 11, the suction area for the sheet S1 is substantially doubled as compared with the case of the conventional suction unit 10 described with reference to FIGS. In this state, the uppermost sheet S1 separated into one sheet can be securely fed and sucked and held on the suction belt 11 and fed. As the sheet S1 is sucked from both sides in the sheet width direction Y, the sirocco fan 15a as a suction drive source can be disposed in the vicinity of the upper portion of the suction belt 11, and the second and third effects described later are exhibited. It is possible to increase the efficiency of the presupposed space (consolidation of components, components, etc.) and to shorten the length of the suction relay pipe (duct) 13, thereby suppressing pipe friction loss and cost as much as possible. it can.

  Secondly, by having the front-side discharge unit 30 having the above-mentioned specific configuration, an air blowing drive source that blows air a to both side end surfaces and the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2 is configured by a single sirocco fan 25, Since the sirocco fan 25 is disposed in the vicinity of the air discharge port 15a2 of the sirocco fan 15a, the sirocco fan 25 including the air suction port 25a1 can suck the air a discharged from the sirocco fan 15a, thereby serving as an air blowing drive source. The suction efficiency of the sirocco fan 25 can be improved.

  Third, by arranging a suction belt drive motor 47 for driving the suction belt 11 in the vicinity of the sirocco fan 15a, three drive means / drive sources, that is, a sirocco fan 15a as an air suction drive source, and an air blowing drive source. A single sirocco fan 25 and a suction belt drive motor 47 as drive means are gathered in one place, and a silent cover 35 as a cover member covering these three drive means and drive sources from above (see FIG. 1 and FIG. 2) (indicated by a thick one-dot chain line), the drive sound is cut off and reduced, so that low-noise paper feeding is possible.

(Modification 1 of the first embodiment)
Modification 1 of the first embodiment will be described. The modified example 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in comparison with the first embodiment. Instead of the front side discharge unit 30 as the air separation unit constituting the paper feed unit 1A, the front discharge By removing the relay tube 24, the structure of the side air discharge side air separating means for blowing air a to both end faces of the sheet bundle 2 and the front air discharge side air separation for blowing air a to the front end face of the sheet bundle 2 are provided. The main difference is that the configuration of the means is separated. Except for this difference, the first modification is the same as the first embodiment.

  The structure of the air separation means on the side air discharge side that blows air a on the both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2 is the left and right side discharge connected to and connected to the side air discharge port 42a via the side discharge chambers 42 and 42, respectively. A relay pipe (duct) 43, a side discharge drive source chamber 44 that is connected to and connected only to the left and right side discharge relay pipes 43, and an air that is connected to and connected to the side discharge drive source chamber 44 and sucks air a It comprises a sirocco fan 25 that is a DC air blowing drive fan as a single air blowing drive source having a suction port 25a1 and an air discharge port 25a2 that discharges air a.

The configuration in which the air a is blown onto the front end surface of the sheet bundle 2 is the same as that of the front discharge unit 22 shown in FIG. 8, for example, and the front air discharge source is a DC fan such as a sirocco fan. .
According to this modification, there are substantially the same advantages and effects as the first and second advantages and effects in the first embodiment. However, in this modified example, the fan 15a, the sirocco fan 25, and the suction belt drive motor 47 are combined in one place as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. Although one drive source / drive means can be covered with the silent cover 35, the integration of DC fans as front air discharge sources connected to and connected to the front discharge chamber 20 cannot be expected as much as in the first embodiment.

  For example, the front discharge unit 22 shown in FIG. 8 is removed from the configuration of the air separating unit in the first modified example and the air a is blown to both end surfaces of the sheet bundle 2 as the air separating unit. You may comprise only the structure by the side air discharge side similar to.

(Modification 2 of the first embodiment)
A modification 2 of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.
In the second modification, as compared with the first embodiment, the suction unit 10A of the paper feeding unit 1A of the air feeding device 1 of the first embodiment and the stencil printing apparatus main body 150 having the suction unit 10A are replaced with FIG. 7, 11, and 12, the only difference is that the suction unit 10 </ b> B of the paper feeding unit 1 </ b> B and the stencil printing apparatus main body 151 having the suction unit 10 </ b> B are used.
As compared with the suction unit 10A shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the suction unit 10B is replaced with a single sirocco fan 15a as shown in FIGS. In the example, the use of two sirocco fans 15a and 15b is clearly defined and limited, that is, a sirocco fan 15a and an air suction port having an air suction port 15a1 for sucking air and an air discharge port 15a2 for discharging air. It is clearly stated that the sirocco fan 15b having 15b1 and the air discharge port 15b2 for discharging air is used, and the downstream sirocco fan 15b adjacent to the air discharge port 15a2 of the sirocco fan 15a on the upstream side of the air discharge path. The main difference is that the air suction port 15b1 is arranged in communication and connection.
The paper feed unit 1B of the second modification is the same as the paper feed unit 1A shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the air-type paper feeding unit 1B shown in parentheses together with the friction-type paper feeding unit 110A is a stencil printing apparatus main body shown in parentheses in the same drawing instead of the paper feeding unit 110A. 151 indicates that it is mounted.

As a method of increasing the static pressure even in a DC fan, air suction drive fans as air suction drive sources are sirocco fans 15a and 15b, and the sirocco fans 15a and 15b are arranged as shown in both drawings. That is, after the suction drive source chamber 17 is communicated and connected to the left and right suction relay pipes (ducts) 13 in the same manner as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the suction drive source chamber 17 is connected as shown in FIGS. In addition, an air suction port 15a1 of the upstream sirocco fan 15a is connected and connected.
A fan connection duct 45 is connected to and connected to the air discharge port 15a2 of the upstream sirocco fan 15a, and then a fan connection duct 45 is connected to and connected to the air suction port 15b1 of the downstream sirocco fan 15b. The air discharge port 15b2 of the sirocco fan 15b is opened on the most downstream side so as to discharge air. In other words, two sirocco fans 15a and 15b are connected and connected in series.
As a matter of course, a connection portion between the suction relay pipe 13 and the suction drive source chamber 17, a connection portion between the suction drive source chamber 17 and the air suction port 15a1 of the sirocco fan 15a, and a fan connection with the air discharge port 15a2 of the sirocco fan 15a. The connection part between the duct 45 and the connection part between the air suction port 15b1 of the sirocco fan 15b and the fan connection duct 45 has an appropriate fitting connection shape so that there is no air leakage, and an appropriate seal tape or the like is applied. Thus, air leakage is prevented.

The sirocco fans 15a and 15b have the same static pressure specifications, that is, have the same shape and dimensions including the static pressure specifications. By adopting a configuration in which the two sirocco fans 15a and 15b are communicated and connected in series, the static pressure can be increased by about 50% compared to the case of one of the sirocco fans 15a and 15b. For example, assuming that the static pressure of one sirocco fan is 400 Pa, only one of the sirocco fans 15a and 15b and the configuration in which the sirocco fans 15a and 15b are connected in series as shown in FIGS. As a result of conducting a comparison test with the configuration, it was possible to increase about 50% to 600 Pa in this modification.
In general, when two sirocco fans having the same static pressure specifications are connected and connected in series, the theoretical static pressure is approximately doubled, but in this modification, the suction drive source chamber 17 and the fan It was found that the contact duct 45 increased by about 50% due to friction, load resistance and the like.
In this modification, each sirocco fan 15a, 15b is made of a DC fan. Therefore, it is possible to change the static pressure and the air volume by changing the number of rotations. The sirocco fans 15a and 15b are rotationally driven at the maximum rotational speed.

6 and 7, the suction belt 11, the drive roller 14a, the driven roller 14b and the suction chamber 12, the left and right suction relay pipes 13, the suction drive source chamber 17, the sirocco fans 15a and 15b, the fan connection duct 45, and the suction belt The drive motor 47 constitutes the suction unit 10B.
In the suction unit 10B, the suction belt 11, the suction chamber 12, the left and right suction relay tubes 13, the suction drive source chamber 17, and the sirocco fans 15a and 15b constitute air suction means.
Further, the component parts of the sheet feeding means for feeding the paper S sucked and held by the air suction means in the suction unit 10B are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  According to the present modification, the first to third effects similar to those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and in the paper feeding unit 1B and the stencil printing apparatus main body 151 having the same, the space can be saved and the size can be reduced. In addition, even when the pitch between the suction belts 11 is small or the diameter of the driving (driven) roller 14a (14b) is small, the sirocco fans 15a and 15b having DC fans are connected and connected in series as described above. As a result, the sheet S can be sufficiently sucked and held and fed by increasing the static pressure. Further, since the sirocco fan 25 is disposed in the vicinity of the air discharge port 15b2 of the sirocco fan 15b, the sirocco fan 25 including the air suction port 25a1 can suck the air a discharged from the sirocco fan 15b, thereby driving air blowing. The suction efficiency of the sirocco fan 25 as a source can be made better than that of the first embodiment.

  As described above, the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, modifications, and the like. However, the technical scope disclosed by the present invention is limited to those exemplified in the above-described embodiments, modifications, or examples. However, it should be understood that various embodiments, modifications, or examples may be configured within the scope of the present invention in accordance with the necessity and application thereof. It will be clear to the trader.

It is a somewhat schematic front view showing a paper feed unit of the air paper feeder of the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of FIG. FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic side view around the suction unit of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a somewhat schematic side view around the front-side discharge unit of FIG. 1. (A) is the bottom view which shows the product example of the sirocco fan used for 1st Embodiment and the modification 2, (b) is a right view of the fan, (c) is a top view of the fan It is. FIG. 10 is a somewhat schematic front view showing a sheet feeding unit according to Modification 2 of the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a bottom view around a suction unit in the paper feeding unit of FIG. 6. It is a partial cross section front view which shows the principal part of the conventional air feeder. It is a top view of FIG. It is a partial cross section front view which shows the principal part of the conventional air paper feeder different from FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing an overall configuration of a stencil printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is a front view which shows the whole structure of the stencil printing apparatus main body of FIG. It is a top view of the operation panel used for the stencil printing apparatus main body of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Air feeding device (sheet feeding device)
1A, 1B Paper feed unit 2 Paper bundle (sheet bundle)
3 Paper feed tray (sheet stacking stand, paper feed stand)
10A, 10B Suction unit (composed of sheet feeding device and paper feeding unit)
11 Suction belt (constitutes belt and air suction means)
12 Suction chamber (composes air suction means)
13 Suction relay pipe (composed of air suction means)
14a Drive roller (constitutes sheet feeding means)
14b Follower roller (constitutes sheet feeding means)
15a, 15b Sirocco fan (composed of air suction drive source and air suction means)
15c, 25c Multi-blade fan 17 Suction drive source chamber (configures air suction means)
20 Front discharge chamber (composes air separation means)
23 Front air discharge fan (front air discharge source)
24 Front discharge relay pipe (composed of air separation means)
25 Sirocco fan (composed of air blowing drive source and air separation means)
25a1 Sirocco fan air inlet 25a1
25a2 Sirocco fan air outlet 25a2
30 Front / side discharge unit (air separation means)
35 Silent cover (cover member)
42 Side discharge chamber (constitutes air separation means)
43 Side discharge relay pipe (composed of air separation means)
44 Front / side discharge drive source chamber (composed of air separation means)
45 Fan connection duct (composed of air suction means)
50 Apparatus Main Body 121 Printing Drum (Composing Print Image Forming Unit)
123 Press roller (constitutes printing image forming means)
150, 151, 152 Stencil printing machine body (printing machine)
S paper (sheet, printing medium)
X Paper transport direction (sheet transport direction)
Y Paper width direction (sheet width direction)
Z height direction

Claims (8)

An air separating means for separating sheets one by one by blowing air onto at least one of the both end faces and the front end face of the stacked sheet bundle; and for sucking and conveying the separated uppermost sheet A belt wound between a pair of rotating members and traveling in the sheet conveying direction; a suction chamber provided in a space between the rotating members and surrounded by the belt; and communicating with the suction chamber; In a sheet feeding apparatus comprising: a suction relay pipe having a suction port to be connected; and an air suction drive source connected to and connected to the suction relay pipe;
The sheet feeding apparatus, wherein the suction relay pipe communicates and is connected to at least both sides of the suction chamber in the sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveying direction through the suction port. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1,
The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air suction drive source is disposed in the vicinity of the upper portion of the belt. In the sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The air separation means includes a side air discharge port that blows air to both end surfaces of the sheet bundle, an air suction port that communicates with and is connected to the side air discharge port, and sucks air and an air discharge port that discharges air. An air spray drive source,
The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the air blowing drive source is disposed in the vicinity of the air discharge port of the air suction drive source. In the sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The air separating means communicates with a side air discharge port that blows air on both side end surfaces of the sheet bundle, a front air discharge port that blows air on the front end surface of the sheet bundle, and the side air discharge port and the front air discharge port. An air blowing drive source that is connected and has an air suction port for sucking air and an air discharge port for discharging air;
The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the air blowing drive source is disposed in the vicinity of the air discharge port of the air suction drive source. In the sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the air blowing drive source and the air suction drive source includes a sirocco fan including the air suction port and the air discharge port. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
A plurality of the sirocco fans as the air suction drive source are arranged,
A sheet feeding device characterized in that the air suction port of the downstream sirocco fan adjacent to the upstream sirocco fan is connected to and connected to the air discharge port of the upstream sirocco fan. apparatus. In the sheet feeding apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
A drive means for driving the belt is disposed in the vicinity of the air suction drive source,
A sheet feeding apparatus comprising a cover member that covers the air blowing drive source, the air suction drive source, and the drive means. A sheet feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
Print image forming means for forming a print image on the sheet fed by the sheet feeding device;
A printing apparatus comprising:

Images