JPH0627762A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily connect and disconnect a document loading table in a single operation without using a machine screw for fixing. CONSTITUTION:On a paper feeding unit 12, two pieces of support pins are fixed with an interval. On a flange on one end of a document loading table 16, two cutouts for installation 68, 70 are formed with an interval. One of the cutouts for installation 68 consists of a longitudinal cutout extending from the lower end of the flange upward and a lateral cutout extending in the lateral direction from the upper end of the longitudinal cutout. The other of the cutouts for installation 70 consists of a longitudinal cutout extending from the lower end of the flange upward. The lateral cutout 68 is engaged with one of the support pins 60 and the other of the cutouts for installation 70 is engaged with the other support pin 62.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder applied to an image processing machine such as an electrostatic copying machine or an image reader.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A platen glass is provided on an upper surface of a housing body of an image processing machine, for example, an electrostatic copying machine. The upper surface of the housing body is further provided with an automatic document feeder.
der (hereinafter abbreviated as ADF) is mounted. Recently, various types of ADFs have been proposed to carry out the document processing operation automatically so that a document to be copied or read can be carried into a desired position on the platen glass and further discharged from the platen glass. It has been put to practical use. As prior art documents disclosing a typical example of ADF, there are, for example, JP-A-61-229744 and JP-A-63-295334.

In a typical example of an ADF, a main frame body of an electrostatic copying machine (hereinafter simply referred to as a copying machine) is rotatable about a main frame body rotation axis between a closed position and an open position. Installed in the housing. The main frame turning axis is positioned so as to extend along one edge of the platen glass on the back side (rear side) of the copying machine. The main frame is a substantially box-shaped unit body whose upper surface and side surfaces are normally covered with a synthetic resin cover and whose lower surface is open. When the main frame is positioned in the closed position, it covers the platen glass, and when it is positioned in the open position, the upper surface of the platen glass is opened. When the original is manually placed on the platen glass, it is necessary to open and close the main frame. Further, a paper feeding unit is provided on one end side (left side of the copying machine) of the main frame body, and a paper discharge unit is provided on the other end side (right side of the copying machine). The main frame is provided with a document placement table and a document ejection tray. The document placement table is provided in the paper feed unit, and the document discharge tray is formed on the upper surface of the cover between the paper feed unit and the paper discharge unit. The paper feeding unit includes a document carry-in path from the document placing table to the platen glass, and the paper discharge unit includes a document carry-out path from the platen glass to the document discharge tray.
The document placing table is mounted on the document input path entrance side of the paper feeding unit. The upper surface of the cover between the paper feeding unit and the paper discharging unit serves as the document discharging tray. Then, a document conveying means for conveying the document through the document carry-in path, the platen glass upper surface and the document carry-out path is provided. The original document conveying means includes an original document conveying means for conveying the original document through the original document conveying path, a conveying belt mechanism for conveying the original document along the upper surface of the platen glass, and an original document conveying means for conveying the original document through the original document conveying path. Is included. The transport belt mechanism is provided between the paper feed unit and the paper discharge unit. More specifically, the lower side of the cover between the paper feeding unit and the paper discharging unit,
That is, it is positioned below the document discharge tray.
When the main frame body is positioned at the closed position, the conveyor belt mechanism is positioned so as to face the platen glass. The transport belt mechanism includes a driven roller and a driven roller which are arranged at intervals in the document transport direction, and an endless belt wound between the rollers.

[0004]

The document placing table is attached to the paper feeding unit in such a manner that it projects from one end of the paper feeding unit onto the document discharge tray. The document placing table is detachably attached to the paper feeding unit by a plurality of fixing screws. As a result, it takes a lot of time to mount and the mounting work time becomes long. It also takes time and effort to remove it for maintenance, etc., resulting in a long removal time. In addition, the number of parts also increases.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above facts, and its object is to use a fixing screw without using screws.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved ADF in which the document placing table can be easily attached and detached with one touch.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a main frame is provided between a closed position and an open position with respect to a platen glass provided on a housing of an image generator. The main frame is mounted rotatably, a paper feed unit is provided at one end side of the main frame, and a paper discharge unit is provided at the other end side of the main frame. A transport belt mechanism is provided between the paper feed unit and the paper discharge unit. Is arranged so as to be positioned so as to face the platen glass at the closed position of the main frame body, and in the automatic document feeder in which the document placing table is attached to the sheet feeding unit, Two support pins are attached in a protruding manner at intervals in the front-rear direction of the image generator, and a flange extending downward is formed at one end of the document placing table, and two mounting pins are provided on the flange. Notches spaced One of the mounting notches is formed by a vertical notch extending upward from the lower end of the flange and a horizontal notch extending laterally from the upper end of the vertical notch. The other is composed of a vertical notch that extends upward from the lower end of the flange, and the one lateral notch of the mounting notch is engaged with one of the support pins,
The other side of the mounting notch is engaged with the other side of the support pin, so that the document placing table is detachably attached to the sheet feeding unit. There is provided an automatic document feeder, wherein the one of the mounting notches is positioned on the front side of the image generator.

[0007]

When the document placing table is attached to the paper feeding unit, the front side of the document placing table where one of the mounting notches is located is lowered and the back side where the other of the mounting notch is located is located at the lower side. In the raised state, first, one of the support pins located on the front side is engaged with one of the vertical notches of the mounting notch from above. The upper end of this vertical cutout is supported by one of the support pins. Next, the document placing table is moved forward in the front-rear direction of the image generator, that is, toward the front side, and the innermost portion of the lateral cutout is engaged with one of the support pins. After that, by lowering the document mounting table at the high back side, the document mounting table pivots around one of the support pins, and the other vertical notch of the mounting notch engages with the other of the support pins. The upper end of this vertical cutout is supported by the other of the support pins. By the above one-touch operation, the document placing table can be attached to the paper feeding unit without using a fixing screw. Even if the operator lifts the front side of the document placing table after mounting the document placing table, only the document placing table is not lifted (disengaged) due to the engagement of one of the lateral cutouts and the support pin.

When removing the document placing table from the paper feeding unit, first, the back side of the document placing table is lifted. The document placing table swivels upward with one of the support pins located on the front side as an axis. By this pivoting operation, the other vertical cutout of the mounting cutout of the document placing table is disengaged from the other support pin. In that state, the document placing table is moved to the back side. One lateral notch of the mounting notch moves while being supported by one of the support pins, and the upper end of the vertical notch engages with one of the support pins. Then, if the front side of the document placing table is lifted, one vertical notch of the mounting notch is disengaged from one of the support pins. By the above one-touch operation, the document placing table can be easily removed from the paper feeding unit. Therefore, the attachment / detachment operation of the document placing table becomes extremely easy, and the attachment / detachment time is shortened.

[0009]

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of an ADF constructed according to the invention.

With reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, in the illustrated embodiment, an ADF generally designated by the numeral 2 is applied to the copying machine 4. In this specification, the front side means the front side of the copying machine 4 shown in FIG. 1, the rear side means the same back side, the right side means the same right side, and the left side means the same left side.
The copying machine 4 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 6, and a platen glass 8 (FIG. 2) is provided on the upper surface of the housing 6. The original to be copied is positioned at a required position on the platen glass 8. Since the copying machine 4 itself may have a well-known form, the description thereof will be omitted.
The ADF 2 has a main frame body 10 mounted on a platen glass 8 provided on the housing 6 so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position. The pivot axis (not shown) of the main frame 10 is the platen glass 8 on the rear side of the copying machine 4.
Positioned to extend along one edge of the. The main frame body 10 is a substantially box-shaped unit body whose upper surface and side surfaces are covered with a synthetic resin cover and whose lower surface is open. When the main frame body 10 is positioned at the closed position, the platen glass 8 is covered, and when it is positioned at the open position, the upper surface of the platen glass 8 is opened. A paper feed unit 12 is provided on one end side (left side of the copying machine) of the main frame body 10, and a paper discharge unit 14 is provided on the other end side (right side of the copying machine). The main frame 10 is also provided with a document placing table 16 and a document discharge tray 18. The document placing table 16 is provided in the paper feed unit 12, and the document discharge tray 18 is formed on the upper surface of the cover between the paper feed unit 12 and the paper discharge unit 14. The paper feeding unit 12 includes a document carry-in path 20 from the document placing table 16 to the platen glass 8, and the paper discharge unit 14 includes the platen glass 8.
A document discharge path 22 from the top to the document discharge tray 18 is included. The document placing table 16 is mounted on the entrance side of the document feeding path 20 of the paper feeding unit 12. A conveyor belt mechanism 17 is provided below the cover between the paper feed unit 12 and the paper discharge unit 14, that is, below the document discharge tray 18.

A document transport means for transporting a document through the document carry-in path 20, the upper surface of the platen glass 8 and the document carry-out path 22 is provided. This document conveying means is provided with a document carrying-in path 2
0, a document carrying-in unit for carrying the document through the document 0, a carrying belt mechanism 17 for carrying the document along the upper surface of the platen glass 8, and a document carrying-out unit for carrying the document through the document carrying-out path 22. .

The paper feeding unit 12 is provided with a guide plate 24 that defines the document carry-in path 20 and guide plates 26 and 28 that are arranged so as to face the guide plate 24. The document carry-in means is provided in the paper feeding unit 12. The document carry-in means is a carry-in roller 3 arranged along the document carry-in path 20.
0, a separation roller pair 32 and a registration roller pair 34. A carry-in port 21 (see FIG. 2) is formed at the most upstream position of the document carry-in path 20 of the paper feeding unit 12. The sheet feeding unit 12 also includes an opening / closing frame body 38 that is supported so as to be rotatable with respect to the main frame body 10 about a pivot axis 36. One of the guide plate 26 and the separation roller pair 32 is provided on the opening / closing frame 38 side. Opening and closing frame 3
When 8 is positioned at the open position, the guide plate 26 is separated from the opposed guide plate 24, and one of the separation roller pairs 32 is separated from the other, so that the paper feeding unit 12 has many parts of the document carry-in path 20. It will be released.

The conveyor belt mechanism 17 includes driven rollers 40 arranged at intervals in the conveying direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2).
A driven roller 42, an endless belt 44 wound around each of these rollers, and a plurality of pressing rollers 46. When the main frame body 10 is positioned at the closed position, the transport belt mechanism 17 is positioned so as to face the upper surface of the platen glass 8. The action traveling portion of the endless belt 44, that is, the lower traveling portion is pressed against the upper surface of the platen glass 8 by the action of the pressing roller 46. When the endless belt 44 is rotationally driven by a rotary drive source (not shown), the document can be conveyed from the left to the right along the upper surface of the platen glass 8. The paper discharge unit 14 includes a guide plate pair 48 that defines the document discharge path 22. The document discharge means is provided in the paper discharge unit 14. The document delivery means is
It includes a carry-out roller pair 50, a discharge roller pair 52, and the like arranged along the document carry-out path 22. Paper discharge unit 14
A document discharge port 54 is formed on the downstream side of the discharge roller pair 52.

The originals placed on the original placing table 16 in a stacked state are conveyed one by one from the carry-in entrance 21 through the original carry-in passage 20 by the rollers 30, 32 and 34 of the paper feeding unit 12. It is conveyed toward the mechanism 17.
The original is positioned at a predetermined position on the upper surface of the platen glass 8 by the action of the transport belt mechanism 17. Then, a predetermined copying process is performed in the copying machine 4. When the copying process is completed, the document is transported by the transport belt mechanism 17 toward the paper discharge unit 14. This document is output from the paper discharge unit 1.
Each of the rollers 50 and 52 of No. 4 passes through the document carry-out path 22 and is discharged from the discharge port 54 onto the document discharge tray 18. The basics of the above-mentioned configuration and operation in the ADF2 are disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 3-276388 filed by the present applicant on September 30, 1991.

Next, the mounting mechanism of the document placing table 16 will be described. With reference to FIGS. 3 to 5, two support pins 60 and 62 are attached to the paper feeding unit 12 so as to be spaced apart in the front-rear direction of the copying machine 4 and project. Specifically, the carry-in port 2 of the paper feeding unit 12
1, a stay 64 extending in the front-back direction of the copying machine 4
Is provided. The stay 64 is formed of a metal plate that is bent and formed into a substantially L shape when viewed in the front-rear direction.
The support pins 60 and 62 are screwed to the stay 64 at intervals in the front-rear direction. Substantially identical support pins 60 and 62 have threaded portions at one end,
A large-diameter head portion is formed at the other end, and a circumferential portion is formed at the middle portion. The support pin 60 is provided on the front side of the copying machine 4,
The support pin 62 is provided on the back side.

Flange extending downward is formed at the periphery of the document placing table 16 integrally formed of synthetic resin. Flange 6 formed at one end
Two mounting notches 68 and 70 having a predetermined width are formed at a distance from each other. The predetermined width is a width slightly larger than the diameter of the circumferential portions of the support pins 60 and 62. In the state where the document placing table 16 is mounted, the mounting notch 68 is positioned on the front side of the copying machine 4, and the mounting notch 68 is positioned on the rear side. The mounting notch 68 on the front side includes a vertical notch 68a extending upward from the lower end of the flange 66, and a horizontal notch 68b horizontally extending from the upper end of the vertical notch 68a toward the mounting notch 70. It is configured. The mounting notch 70 is
It is composed of a vertical notch extending upward from the lower end of the flange 66. The lower ends of the vertical notches 68a and 70 are formed so as to be slightly wider toward the end. As will be described below, this is because the mounting notches 68 and 70 correspond to the support pins 60 and 6, respectively.
This is for facilitating engagement with 2. The horizontal notch 68b of the mounting notch 68 is engaged with the support pin 60, and the mounting notch 70 is engaged with the support pin 62, so that the document placing table 16 can be attached to and detached from the paper feeding unit 12. It is installed. The mounting notches 68 and 70 are support pins 60 and 62.
And the heads of the support pins 60 and 62 reliably prevent axial disengagement.

Referring mainly to FIG. 5, when the document placing table 16 is mounted on the paper feeding unit 12, the front side of the document placing table 16 where the mounting notch 68 is located (the left side in FIG. 5). ) Is low and the rear side (the right side in FIG. 5) where the mounting notch 70 is located is high, the vertical notch 68a of the mounting notch 68 is first attached to the support pin 60 located on the front side from above. Are engaged (see solid arrow X1 in FIG. 5). The upper end of the vertical cutout 68 a is supported by the support pin 60. Next, the document placing table 16 is moved to the front side of the copying machine 4 (see solid line arrow X2 in FIG. 5), and the innermost portion of the lateral notch 68b is engaged with the support pin 60. After that, by lowering the document mounting table 16 at the high back side, the document mounting table 16 pivots around the support pin 60 (see solid line arrow X3 in FIG. 5), and the mounting notch 70 engages with the support pin 62. To meet. The upper end of the mounting notch 70 (vertical notch) is supported by the support pin 62. By the above one-touch operation, without using the fixing screw,
The document placing table 16 can be attached to the paper feeding unit 12. The solid line in FIG. 5 shows the mounted state of the document placing table 16. Even if the operator lifts the front side of the document placing table 16 after mounting the document placing table 16, only the document placing table 16 is lifted (disengaged) by the engagement of the lateral cutout 68b and the support pin 60. Absent.

The original placing table 16 is attached to the paper feeding unit 12
When detaching from the original, first, the back side of the document placing table 16 is lifted. The document placing table 16 pivots upward with the support pin 60 located on the front side as an axis (see the double-dashed line arrow Y1 in FIG. 5). By this turning operation, the mounting notch 70 of the document placing table 16 is disengaged from the support pin 62. In this state, the document placing table 16 is moved to the back side (see the double-dashed line arrow Y2 in FIG. 5). Notch for mounting 6
The eight horizontal notches 68b move while being supported by the support pins 60, and the upper ends of the vertical notches 68a engage with the support pins 60. The chain double-dashed line in FIG. 5 shows such a state in which the document placing table 16 is rotated. Then, when the front side of the document placing table 16 is lifted up (see the double-dashed line arrow Y3 in FIG. 5), the vertical notch 68a of the mounting notch 68 becomes the support pin 6
It deviates from 0. By the above one-touch operation, the document placing table 16 can be easily removed from the paper feeding unit 12. Therefore, the attachment / detachment operation of the document placing table 16 becomes extremely easy, and the attachment / detachment time is shortened.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes or modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. . For example, the lateral notch 68b of the mounting notch 68 is formed so as to extend laterally (to the right in FIG. 5) from the upper end of the vertical notch 68a toward the other mounting notch 70. You may form so that it may extend in a reverse direction (left of FIG. 5). In that case, the movement direction of the document placing table 16 in the attachment / detachment operation is different, but basically the same.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the document notch is formed by simply engaging and disengaging the mounting notch formed on the document placing table side with the support pin mounted on the sheet feeding unit side. Since the placing table can be attached to and detached from the sheet feeding unit, the document placing table can be easily attached and detached with one touch without using fixing screws. As a result, the attachment / detachment time can be shortened and the number of parts can be reduced. Further, even if the operator lifts the front side of the document placing table, only the document placing table is not lifted up (disengaged) by the engagement of one of the lateral notches and the support pins.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a state in which an electrostatic copy machine is equipped with a preferred embodiment of an automatic document feeder constructed according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view showing the automatic document feeder of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the automatic document feeder of FIG. 1, showing a part of a document placing table in a see-through manner.

4 is a cross-sectional view showing a mounting portion on the back side of the document placing table of FIG. 3, which corresponds to a cross section taken along the line AA of FIG.

5 is a sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Automatic Document Feeder 4 Electrostatic Copy Machine 8 Platen Glass 10 Main Frame 12 Paper Feed Unit 14 Paper Ejection Unit 16 Document Placement Table 17 Transport Belt Mechanism 60 and 62 Support Pins 66 Flange 68 and 70 Notch for Mounting

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main frame is attached to a platen glass provided on a housing of an image generator so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position, and a paper feeding unit is provided at one end of the main frame. Is provided, and a paper discharge unit is provided at the other end side,
A conveyor belt mechanism is arranged between the paper feeding unit and the paper discharging unit so as to face the platen glass at the closed position of the main frame, and a document placing table is provided in the paper feeding unit. In the mounted automatic document feeder, two supporting pins are attached to the paper feeding unit so as to be spaced from each other in the front-rear direction of the image generator, and are attached to one end of the document placing table at a lower position. A flange extending toward the bottom of the flange is formed with two mounting notches spaced apart from each other, and one of the mounting notches includes a vertical notch extending upward from a lower end of the flange and a vertical notch. A lateral notch extending laterally from the upper end of the notch, the other of the mounting notches being a vertical notch extending upward from the lower end of the flange, and the one of the mounting notches The horizontal notch The original placing table is detachably attached to the paper feeding unit by engaging one of the support pins and engaging the other of the mounting notches with the other of the support pins. An automatic document feeder, wherein one of the mounting notches is positioned in front of the image generator when the mounting table is mounted.