JP2003192159A - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeder having a simple configuration and capable of reliably preventing jammed paper from remaining in an apparatus main body by pulling out a paper feed tray. SOLUTION: On a side fence 3 on the back side in a drawing direction B of a paper feed tray 2, a protruding portion 15 protruding toward the paper side and being parallel to the paper restriction surface 16 of the side fence 3 and being the same as or the same as the paper restriction surface 16 Plane 1 placed outside
7 is provided, and the remaining paper prevention claw 18 is rotatably supported around a support shaft 19 parallel to the paper feeding direction.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper feed tray which is attached to an apparatus body of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer or the like so as to be drawn out in a direction substantially orthogonal to a paper feed direction. The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device having a side fence that regulates a width direction orthogonal to a sheet feeding direction of a sheet placed on a sheet feeding tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sheet feeding device of the above type is a device having a so-called front loading sheet feeding tray. As shown in FIG. 12, this type of paper feeding device is provided with a paper feeding tray 10
A pair of side fences 101 and 102 for regulating the width of the paper in the direction substantially perpendicular to the paper feeding direction indicated by the arrow A in 0.
End fence 103 that regulates the width of the paper in the paper feeding direction A
Is provided. The sheet P placed in the sheet feed tray 100 is raised by a bottom plate raising device (not shown) to a position where the uppermost sheet reaches the sheet feeding position, and then fed by a feed roller or the like (not shown).

[0003]

In the above-described paper feeding device, a jam such as a non-feed may occur during paper feeding, and the leading edge of the jammed paper may stop near the feed roller. At this time, the user can
When the paper feed tray 100 is pulled out in the pull-out direction indicated by arrow B to remove the jammed paper, the distance between the jammed paper P ′ and the upper surface of the side fence 101 is small and the jammed paper P ′ is on the back side when the paper stacking amount is large. There is a problem that the vehicle may get over the side fence 101 and remain in the apparatus main body as shown by a virtual line in FIG. If the jammed paper P ′ passes over the side fence 101 and remains in the main body of the apparatus, it becomes extremely difficult for the user to remove the jammed paper P ′, which often results in a call jam that requires a service person to request.

For such remaining paper, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 77291, there is a paper provided with a fixed protrusion to the paper side, but the paper setting property is difficult. In order to avoid this paper setting property, the front end of the protrusion is retracted from the paper setting region to the back side, but this reduces the holdability of jammed paper. Further, depending on how the jammed paper is bent, it may remain in the machine without being caught by the protruding portion. Especially in recent copying machines, the height per sheet feeding tray is suppressed due to the multi-stage sheet feeding tray and space saving. Therefore, a sufficient distance cannot be provided between the protruding portion and the side fence, and the protruding portion and the side fence are not caught in the protruding portion and remain in the machine.

In view of the above situation, the present invention provides a paper feeding device with a simple structure that can reliably prevent jammed paper from remaining in the main body of the device when the paper feeding tray is pulled out.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to the invention described in claim 1, a paper feed tray mounted to the apparatus main body so as to be drawn out in a direction substantially orthogonal to the paper feed direction. And a side fence that restricts a width direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction of the paper placed on the paper feeding tray, in the side fence on the far side in the drawing direction of the paper feeding tray, A remaining paper preventing pawl is provided which is formed of a protruding portion protruding toward the paper side for preventing remaining paper and a flat surface which is parallel to the paper regulating surface of the side fence and is the same as or outside the paper regulating surface. The most main feature of the prevention claw is that it is rotatably supported about a support shaft that is substantially parallel to the paper feeding direction.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding device according to the first aspect, the protruding portion is kept substantially horizontal by the weight balance of the remaining paper preventing pawl or the biasing member, and the lower surface of the protruding portion at this time. The main feature is that it is above the uppermost surface of the paper at the time of paper feeding.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding device according to the second aspect, the main feature is that a slip prevention member is provided at the tip of the protruding portion of the remaining paper prevention claw.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding device according to any one of the first to third aspects, the protruding portion is provided with a roller rotatable about an axis orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction. That is the main feature.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the sheet feeding device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, it is preferable that the lowest point at the time of rotation of the protrusion is above the upper limit of the sheet stacking amount. The main feature.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a copying machine to which a paper feeding device according to the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, a sheet feeding tray mounting portion for mounting a sheet feeding tray 2 is provided in the apparatus main body 1 of the copying apparatus. In this example, three sheet feeding trays 2 are arranged. . This paper feed tray 2 is, for example, a rail 14 shown in FIG.
Can be slid and pulled out from the apparatus main body 1 in the pull-out direction indicated by arrow B.

Next, one of the paper feed trays 2 will be described. 2 is a plan view of the paper feed tray 2, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are cross-sectional views taken along lines III-III and IV-IV of FIG. 2, 3 and 4, side fences 3 and 4 as a pair of side regulating members for regulating the width of the paper P in the paper feed tray 2 in a direction substantially perpendicular to the paper feed direction indicated by the arrow A. And the end fence 5 that regulates the width of the paper P in the paper feed direction A, and the paper P is placed on the bottom plate 6 shown in FIG. The bottom plate 6 is provided with a bottom plate lifting device. The bottom plate lifting device includes a lifting arm 7 that pushes up the bottom plate 6, and a lifting shaft 8 that rotates the lifting arm 7, and the lifting shaft 8 is on the device body 1 side. It is rotationally driven by the raising motor 9 provided in the. When the paper feed tray 2 is set in the apparatus main body 1, a tray set is detected by a set detection means (not shown), the raising motor 9 rotates, and the coupling 10 and the raising shaft 8 are meshed with each other so that the raising shaft 8 moves. The driving force is transmitted, and the raising arm 7 pushes up the bottom plate 6. When the uppermost sheet P reaches the sheet feeding position,
The ascending motor 9 stops driving, and the sheet can be fed. Further, when the paper feed tray 2 is pulled out from the apparatus main body 1, the coupling 10 and the rising shaft 8 are disengaged, and the paper P and the bottom plate 6 are naturally dropped.

The paper feed unit provided on the side of the apparatus main body 1 is a known frictional separation type paper feed unit, and is composed of three main rollers: a pickup roller 11, a feed roller 12 and a reverse roller 13. The pickup roller 11 and the feed roller 12 are idlers (not shown).
Are interlocked by. The reverse roller 13 is always rotated in the direction opposite to the feeding direction and serves to separate the sheets P one by one.

In the paper feeding device according to the present invention, of the above side fences 3 and 4, the side fence 3 on the back side of the paper feed tray 2 in the pulling direction B is a protrusion 15 protruding toward the paper.
And a paper-remaining prevention pawl 18 formed of a flat surface 17 which is parallel to the paper-restricting surface 16 of the side fence 3 and is arranged on the same side as or outside the paper-restricting surface 16 and the paper-remaining prevention pawl 18 is provided. It is rotatably supported around a support shaft 19 parallel to the paper direction A.

In the paper feeding device thus constructed, the user indicates the paper feeding tray 2 by the arrow B even when the leading edge of the jammed paper P'is stopped near the feed roller due to jam of non-feeding or the like. If it is pulled out in the pulling-out direction, the jammed paper P ′ is pulled out together with the paper feed tray 2 without getting over the side fence 3 as described below.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show the situation. When the leading edge of the jammed paper P ′ is stopped near the feed roller due to jam such as non-feed, the leading edge of the jammed paper P ′ rides on the reverse roller guide portion 25, and the bottom plate 6 is pulled out by pulling out the paper feed tray 2. Even if it falls, it does not follow the stacked sheets on the bottom plate 6 and is in a floating state. If the paper feed tray 2 is pulled out as it is, the rear end of the jammed paper P'is pushed forward by the side fence 3, but since the front end remains on the apparatus main body 1 side, the jammed paper P'rotates a little or bends to prevent the remaining paper preventing pawl 18 That is, the plane 17 is pressed.

The remaining paper preventing pawl 18 is rotated by pushing its flat surface 17 with the jammed paper P ', the inclined flat surface 17 guides the jammed paper P'downward, and the protruding portion 15 further pushes the jammed paper P'. The jammed paper P ′ is surely introduced into the lower side of the protruding portion 15 by pressing it from above. (At this time, it is preferable that the support shaft 19 is located near or above the height at which the jammed paper P ′ abuts on the flat surface 17.) As a result, the jammed paper P ′ is formed by the protruding portion 15 and the reverse roller guide portion 25. The jammed paper P'is pulled out together with the paper feed tray 2 so as to be caught by the protruding portion 15 even when the jammed paper P'rear end easily gets over the side fence 3 because it is pinched.

By the way, when the stacking amount of the paper P is small, the rear end of the jammed paper P'has a large distance to the upper surface of the side fence 3 and the jammed paper P'cannot climb over the side fence 3.

Therefore, the jammed paper P ′ does not remain on the apparatus main body 1 side as shown in FIG. 12, and the problem of call jamming can be prevented.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, the protrusion 15 is kept substantially horizontal by the balance of the weight of the remaining paper preventing pawl 18 and
If the lower surface 20 of the protruding portion at this time is arranged so as to be above the uppermost surface of the paper P at the time of feeding, the protruding portion 15 does not touch the paper P at the time of paper transportation, and a good transportation state can be maintained. In this case, the remaining paper preventing pawl 18 may be biased by a biasing member such as a slight spring so that the protruding portion 15 is kept substantially horizontal.

By the way, many sheet feeding devices can feed sheets P of various sizes. Therefore, the side fences 3 and 4 can be adjusted and moved to the sheet feeding tray 2 according to each size. It is installed. Therefore, the protruding portion 15 provided at the predetermined position of the side fence 3
So you have to be able to pull out jammed paper of all sizes. However, for example, in the paper feed tray 2 in which the paper P of up to A3 size can be set, when the paper PS of A6 size is jammed during feeding, as shown in FIG. When PS is pulled out, its catching amount x becomes smaller than that of a large size PS. Therefore, when the small-sized paper PS is jammed and the paper contact surface of the protruding portion 15 and the paper PS slip, the nipping between the protruding portion 15 and the reverse roller guide portion 25 is removed, and the paper PS is The probability of remaining on the apparatus body 1 side is larger than that of the large size.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
It is effective to provide the slip prevention member 21 at the tip of the protruding portion 15 of FIG.

With this configuration, even if the jammed paper is small in size and the jamming amount x is small, the protruding portion 15 surely presses the jammed paper with the slip prevention member 21 at the tip, so that the protruding portion 15 and the reverse roller guide portion The jammed paper can be pulled out without the pinch at 25 slipping out. A rubber-based member is effective as the slip prevention member 21.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, when the protruding portion 15 is provided with a roller 23 rotatable about an axis 22 orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction A of the sheet P, the roller 23 is raised when the roller 23 is raised. Since the roller 23 abuts on the uppermost sheet P and suppresses the raw curl of the sheet P, and the rollers 23 circulate around the sheet during sheet conveyance, a stable sheet conveyance state can be maintained without giving resistance.

Further, as shown in FIG. 11, if the lowest point 24 of the protrusion 15 at the time of rotation is set to be higher than the upper limit PL of the sheet stacking amount, the sheet P can be placed from above when setting the sheet. As shown by the phantom line in FIG. 11, the remaining paper preventing pawl 18 is rotated downward to the position 26 retracted from the paper setting area, and after the paper is set, it can be returned to the normal position for transportation. This improves the paper setting property. Further, it is not necessary to widen the frontage between the projecting portion and the side fence and introduce the jammed paper unlike the fixed projecting member having improved setting property, so that space saving can be achieved.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned illustrated examples, and various modifications can be made. For example, although the friction separation type sheet feeding device has been described in the illustrated example, the present invention can be applied to other types of sheet feeding device such as a friction pad.

[0028]

As described above, the first aspect of the present invention is as described above.
According to the sheet feeding devices described in Nos. 5 to 5, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

(1) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 1 In the side fence on the far side of the paper feed tray with respect to the drawing direction, a protruding portion for preventing remaining paper that protrudes toward the paper side is parallel to the paper regulating surface of the side fence. By providing a remaining paper prevention claw formed of a flat surface that is the same as or outside the sheet regulation surface and rotatably supporting the remaining paper prevention claw around a support shaft parallel to the sheet feeding direction, Even if a jam occurs where the leading edge of the paper stops near the feed roller,
By pulling out the paper feed tray, the jammed paper can be guided to the lower side of the remaining paper preventing claw, sandwiched by the protruding portion and the reverse roller guide, and pulled out. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a problem that remains on the apparatus body side and becomes a call jam, and the jam can be processed by the user.

(2) Function and Effect Corresponding to Claim 2 The protruding portion is kept substantially horizontal by the self-weight balance of the residual paper preventing pawl or the biasing member, and the lower surface of the protruding portion at this time is above the uppermost surface of the paper at the time of feeding. By arranging so as to come to the position, it is possible to eliminate the resistance applied to the paper at the time of carrying the paper and maintain a good carrying state.

(3) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 3 By providing a slip prevention member at the tip of the protruding portion of the remaining paper prevention claw, small jammed paper with a small amount of catching at the trailing end of jammed paper is provided. Also, the paper can be pulled out without the nipping between the protruding portion and the reverse roller guide portion coming out.

(4) Action and Effect Corresponding to Claim 4 A roller which is rotatable about an axis orthogonal to the paper feeding direction is provided in the protruding portion, and the raw curl of the paper is suppressed by abutting against the uppermost paper. It is possible to maintain a stable conveyance state without giving resistance to the paper.

(5) Operation and Effect Corresponding to Claim 5 By arranging the protruding portion so that the lowest point at the time of rotation is above the upper limit of the sheet stacking amount, the protruding portion of the remaining paper preventing claw is set at the time of setting the sheet. After the paper is set, it can be rotated and retracted, and the remaining paper preventing pawl can be returned to the normal position at the time of conveyance. As a result, the user only needs to set the stack of sheets from above when replenishing the sheets, and there is no need to return the protruding portion of the remaining sheet prevention claw to the upper surface of the sheet, so that the sheet setting property is improved.

Further, it is not necessary to widen the frontage between the projecting portion and the side fence and introduce the jammed paper unlike the fixed projecting member having improved settability, so that space saving can be achieved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a copying apparatus to which a sheet feeding device according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an example of a paper feed tray according to the present invention.

3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III of FIG.

4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line IV-IV of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an example of a paper feed tray according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of a main part showing an engaged state of jammed paper and a remaining paper prevention pawl in an example of the paper feed tray according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of an essential part showing an example in which the protruding portion of the paper feeding tray according to the present invention is kept substantially horizontal by the weight balance of the remaining paper preventing pawl.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of an essential part showing an example in which a slip prevention member is provided at the tip of the protruding portion of the remaining paper prevention pawl in the paper feed tray according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of a main part showing an example in which a roller rotatable about an axis orthogonal to a paper feeding direction is provided in a protruding portion in a paper feeding tray according to the present invention.

10 is a view on arrow XX in FIG. 9. FIG.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of an essential part showing an example in which the lowermost point of the protrusion of the paper feed tray according to the present invention when the protrusion is rotated is higher than the upper limit PL of the sheet stacking amount.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an example of a conventional paper feed tray.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 device body 2 paper tray 3 side fence 4 side fence 15 protruding part 16 Paper regulation side 17 plane 18 Remaining paper prevention nail 19 spindles 20 Lower surface of protruding part 21 Anti-slip member 22 axes 23 Roll 24 lowest point when turning A paper feed direction B withdrawal direction P paper P'jam paper PL Paper load upper limit PS paper (small size) x catch amount

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A paper feed tray mounted so as to be drawn out in a direction substantially orthogonal to the paper feed direction with respect to the apparatus main body,
In a paper feeding device having a side fence that restricts a width direction orthogonal to a paper feeding direction of a paper placed on the paper feeding tray, the side fence at the back side in the drawing direction of the paper feeding tray has a paper side. The remaining paper preventing pawl is provided with a protruding portion for preventing remaining paper and a plane that is parallel to the paper regulating surface of the side fence and is arranged on the same side as or outside the paper regulating surface. Is a paper feeding device, which is rotatably supported around a spindle substantially parallel to the paper feeding direction. 2. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the protruding portion is kept substantially horizontal by the balance of the weight of the remaining paper preventing pawl or the biasing member, and the lower surface of the protruding portion at this time is the paper sheet when feeding. A paper feeding device characterized by being located above the upper surface. 3. The paper feeding device according to claim 2, wherein a slip prevention member is provided at the tip of the protruding portion of the remaining paper prevention claw. 4. The paper feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the protruding portion is provided with a roller rotatable about an axis orthogonal to the paper feeding direction. Paper equipment. 5. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the lowest point of the protruding portion when the protrusion is rotated is above the upper limit of the sheet stacking amount.