JP3897082B2 - Recording material edge guide, sheet feeder provided with the recording material edge guide, and recording apparatus provided with the sheet feeder - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a sheet feeder for feeding a recording material used in a recording apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine or the like, and guides the recording material to an appropriate feeding path located at both ends of the recording material. The present invention relates to a paper edge guide. The present invention also relates to a sheet feeder including the sheet edge guide and a recording apparatus including the sheet feeder.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There is a printer as one of recording apparatuses, and a sheet feeder is used in which printing sheets are stacked and the uppermost one is sequentially fed by a sheet feeding roller. The sheet feeder is provided with a sheet edge guide that aligns both side edges of a plurality of printing sheets and defines a feeding position in the main scanning direction of the recording head. The side edges are aligned by the guide and the feeding position is defined. The sheet feeder includes a paper feed roller that feeds the printing paper, a paper hopper that presses the back of the lowermost printing paper to press the uppermost printing paper against the paper feeding roller, and a paper that faces the paper feeding roller. A plurality of stacked printing sheets are provided with separation pads, and only the uppermost printing sheet is surely separated and fed by these cooperative actions, and is conveyed one by one to a conveyance roller disposed immediately in front of the recording head. Sent toward you. The printing paper sent to the transport roller is sent to the recording head unit at a constant pitch by the rotation of the transport roller, and printing is performed.
[0003]
Here, the paper edge guide regulates the feeding posture of the fed printing paper so as not to feed the printing paper in an obliquely inclined posture, so that the printing paper is accurately set with respect to the paper feed roller shaft. It also plays the role of eating in a vertical posture. This is because if the printing paper is fed obliquely, that is, in a so-called skewed state, it causes a printing defect that is obliquely printed on the printing paper in a subsequent printing operation. Therefore, the paper edge guide is configured to be freely adjustable according to the width of the printing paper so as to reliably guide both side edges of the printing paper.
[0004]
On the other hand, it is necessary to feed the printing paper by the paper feed roller with high accuracy for this reason, and the printing paper fed by the paper feed roller has as little feeding load as possible, that is, back tension. Is desirable. In addition, even when the printing paper bites on the conveyance roller provided immediately before the recording head and is conveyed to the recording head side by the conveyance roller at a constant pitch, the printing paper is similarly backed in order to perform a high-precision print feeding operation. It is desirable that the tension is small.
[0005]
However, in order to accurately position the printing paper fed from the sheet feeder, the paper edge guides are pressure-bonded (adhered to) both sides of the printing paper in order to reliably guide both side edges of the printing paper using the paper edge guide described above. Then, the fed printing paper generates a frictional resistance with the paper edge guide, and this becomes a factor of the back tension described above. In view of this, a paper edge guide structure is known in which protrusions are provided on the guide surface of the paper edge guide to reduce the contact width between both sides of the printing paper and the guide surface.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, since the protrusions in the paper edge guide are conventionally provided perpendicular to the traveling direction of the printing paper on the guide surface, when a plurality of printing papers are set in the sheet feeder, the leading edge of the printing paper to be set is set. A corner portion was caught on the ridge, and the corner portion was sometimes bent. Furthermore, when a part of the printing paper to be set by the hook is set obliquely, and a plurality of printing papers whose side edges are in a mismatched state, trying to align the side edges by a paper edge guide, The side edge of the printing paper set in the oblique state may be bent. In addition, as a result, the printing paper set obliquely may not be completely corrected in its posture by the paper edge guide. When printing paper is fed in such a state, the printing paper side on the feeding path The end may be in contact with a printer component existing on the feeding path and be deformed, or may cause a printing defect due to the skew described above.
[0007]
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the problem is that a paper edge is provided on the guide surface of the paper edge guide in order to reduce the printing paper feeding load, while the paper is being set or fed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper edge guide that does not add extra deformation to printing paper.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, a recording material edge guide for a sheet feeder according to claim 1 of the present invention guides both side edges of a recording material in a sheet feeder for feeding the recording material. A recording material edge guide for defining a feeding start position, wherein the guide surface of at least one of the recording material edge guides located at both ends of the recording material protrudes from the guide surface to the recording material side A plurality of ridges that are intermittently contacted with the end in the traveling direction of the recording material and that are oblique to the traveling direction are arranged, and the contact width between the ridge and the recording material side end is The plurality of ridges are formed so as to gradually increase in the traveling direction of the recording material.
[0009]
According to the first aspect of the present invention, the guide surface of at least one of the recording material edge guides protrudes from the guide surface intermittently across the side edge of the recording material and the traveling direction of the recording material. Since a plurality of ridges are provided in contact with the recording material, the contact frictional resistance between the recording material side end and the guide surface is reduced, and not only can the feeding load be reduced, but the ridges are in the traveling direction of the recording material. On the other hand, since they are arranged obliquely, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of a problem that the corner of the recording material tip is caught by the ridge when the recording material is set on the sheet feeder. Therefore, when the recording material is set on the sheet feeder, the recording material is not excessively deformed, and there is no possibility that the recording material is set obliquely on the sheet feeder due to the leading edge of the recording material. As a result, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of printing defects and the like due to the recording material being fed obliquely.
Further, when the recording material is fed by the paper feed roller, the recording material side end advances in the traveling direction while contacting the guide surface of the recording material edge guide to some extent. At this time, the restraining force that the recording material receives from the paper feed roller increases as it approaches the paper feed roller. Therefore, the contact force of the recording material side edge against the guide surface also advances the recording material. The farther towards the direction, the greater.
According to the invention described in claim 1 of the present application, in order to correspond to the abutting force that increases in the forward direction in the recording material moving direction, the contact between the protruding line and the recording material side end is made. Since the plurality of protrusions are formed so that the width gradually increases in the traveling direction of the recording material, the recording material side end can be guided more reliably in the vicinity of the paper feeding roller having a large contact force, As a result, it is possible to prevent deformation of the recording material side end and printing defects caused by feeding the recording material obliquely.
Further, when the recording material is set from above the sheet feeder and the both side edges are aligned by the recording material edge guide, the recording material has a larger size at the leading end due to the gravity of the recording materials stacked. It is necessary to apply a side pressure. In such a case, if the contact width where the recording material side end and the projection contact is small, the recording material side end may be deformed. However, since the contact width between the ridge located at the leading end of the recording material and the recording material side end is large, even in such a case, excessive deformation of the recording material side end occurs. It has the advantage that it can be dispensed with.
[0010]
The recording material edge guide of the sheet feeder according to claim 2 of the present invention is the recording material edge guide according to claim 1, wherein the recording material has a traveling direction obliquely downward, and the ridges extend in the vertical direction. It is characterized by that.
[0011]
According to the invention of claim 2 of the present application, since the recording material has a traveling direction obliquely downward, and the ridges are formed to extend in the vertical direction, the recording material is applied to the sheet feeder from above. When setting the recording material, that is, when dropping the recording material, the projection serves as a guide function to guide the recording material vertically downward, thereby enabling the recording material to be smoothly set on the sheet feeder. It becomes.
[0015]
A sheet feeder according to a third aspect of the present invention includes the recording material edge guide according to the first or second aspect. According to the invention described in claim 3 of the present application, in the sheet feeder, the same effect as that of the invention described in claim 1 or 2 of the present application described above can be obtained.
[0016]
A recording apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention includes the sheet feeder according to the third aspect. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the same effect as that of the third aspect of the invention can be obtained in the recording apparatus.
[0017]
The recording apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention is characterized in that the recording material edge guide according to claim 1 or 2 is formed by integral molding with a main body cover constituting the recording apparatus.
[0018]
According to the invention described in claim 5, since the recording material edge guide according to claim 1 or 2 is formed by integral molding with the main body cover constituting the recording apparatus, a separately prepared recording material edge guide is provided. The trouble of installation can be omitted, and the same effects as the invention of claim 1 or 2 can be obtained inexpensively and easily.
[0019]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an outline of an ink jet printer as an “inkjet recording apparatus” according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the ink jet printer 100 according to the present embodiment with the upper cover removed.
[0020]
An ink-jet printer (hereinafter simply referred to as “printer”) 100 includes a sheet feeder 1 that accumulates a plurality of printing sheets (sheet paper, hereinafter referred to as “paper P”) as “recording material”. 100 on the back of the main body. The sheet feeder 1 includes a sheet receiver 6 that supports the stacked sheets P from the back, a movable edge guide 5 that can slide on the back guide 4 and can be fixed at an arbitrary position, and a fixed edge guide 20. The sheet P is fed while being guided by the movable side edge guide 5 and the fixed side edge guide 20 by adjusting the fixed position of the movable side edge guide 5 on the back guide 4 according to the width of the sheet P. Sent. In the printer 100, the back guide 4 and the fixed-side edge guide 20 are formed by integral molding with the main body cover 13 constituting the printer 100 (for example, injection molding with ABS resin).
[0021]
The paper P is fed to a transport roller 2 located in the middle of the main body by a paper feed roller (not shown in FIG. 1) provided in the sheet feeder 1, and the paper P fed to the transport roller 2 is While being pinched with the transport driven roller 3 that is driven and rotated according to the rotation of the transport roller 2, the transport roller 2 rotates to transport the platen 10 located below the carriage 7 in the sub-scanning direction at a constant pitch. Is done.
[0022]
The carriage 7 is guided by a guide shaft 8 installed on a frame 11 serving as a base body of the printer 100 main body and reciprocates in the main scanning direction. An ink cartridge 9 is detachably attached to the carriage 7, and ink in the ink cartridge 9 is sent to a recording head (not shown) provided at the lower part of the carriage 7. The recording head ejects ink from a nozzle row (not shown) formed on the surface of the paper P facing the platen 10 onto the transported paper P, whereby printing is performed. The printed paper P is discharged from the recording head toward the front side through an opening 14 provided in the cover 13 of the main body of the printer 100 by a paper discharge roller (not shown) positioned below the paper discharge frame 12. .
[0023]
Next, the structure of the sheet edge guide of the sheet feeder according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a plan view of the fixed-side edge guide 20 (as viewed in the direction of arrow X in FIG. 1), and FIG. 3A is a zz sectional view of the fixed-side edge guide 20 cut at the zz position in FIG. FIG. 3B is a view in the direction of arrow y when the fixed-side edge guide 20 is cut along the traveling path of the paper P indicated by the broken line P in FIG.
[0024]
In FIG. 2, on the guide surface 21 of the fixed-side edge guide 20, three ridges 23 a, 23 b, and 23 c (hereinafter, collectively referred to as “convex ridge 23”) are integrated with the fixed-side edge guide 20. And along the vertical line. Further, as shown in FIG. 3A, the guide surface 21 has a slope that expands vertically upward, and all the ridges 23 have their tops along the vertical line V from below to above. Formed into. Accordingly, since the tops of the ridges 23 are all formed on the same plane including the vertical direction and the traveling direction of the paper P, the side edges of the paper P to be stacked are surely aligned. Can be done.
[0025]
Further, the ridges 23 are formed so that the contact width in contact with the side edge of the paper P gradually increases in the traveling direction of the paper P. This will be described in detail below. First, a broken line R in FIG. 2 indicates a traveling path at the time of feeding one of the stacked sheets P. As shown in the figure, ridges 23b and 23c exist on the traveling path of the paper P. Since the top of the ridge 23 is formed so as to exist on the same vertical plane as described above, the side edge of the paper P advances on the traveling path while being in contact with the ridges 23b and 23c. Here, the ridges 23 are formed so that their cross-sectional shapes are different from vertically upward to downward. That is, in the vertical upper portion, a cross-sectional shape close to a semicircular shape so that the contact width becomes small like the contact width (L ₁ ) between the ridges 23b in FIG. And the top of the semicircle gradually increases so that the contact width becomes larger as the contact width (L ₂ ) between the ridge 23c and the side edge of the paper P in FIG. It will change to a shape that can be sharpened. As a result, the ridge 23 gradually increases the contact width with the end of the paper P in the direction of travel of the paper P. An arrow shown in FIG. 3B indicates the traveling direction of the paper P.
[0026]
Next, the function and effect of the ridges 23 will be described mainly with reference to FIG. 2 and with reference to FIG. 3 as appropriate.
Since the guide surface 21 is provided with the ridges 23, the contact friction resistance between the paper P side end and the guide surface 21 is reduced, and the feeding load of the paper P is reduced. Since the ridges 23 are arranged obliquely with respect to the advancing direction of the paper P, it is possible to reduce a problem that the corner of the leading end of the paper P is caught on the ridges 23 when the paper P is set on the sheet feeder 1. be able to. Thereby, when the paper P is set in the sheet feeder 1 or when the paper P is fed, the paper P is not deformed excessively, and the paper P is fed obliquely, that is, due to a skew phenomenon. Printing defects and the like can be reduced.
[0027]
Since the ridges 23 are arranged along the vertical direction, the ridges 23 guide the paper P vertically downward when the paper P is set on the sheet feeder from above, that is, when the paper P is dropped. The guide function is fulfilled, whereby the paper P can be smoothly set on the sheet feeder.
[0028]
On the other hand, a paper feed roller 15 is disposed directly below the fixed-side edge guide 20, and when the paper P is fed by the paper feed roller 15, the paper P-side end is somewhat guided by the guide surface 21, that is, the ridge 23. While touching, proceed in the direction of travel. At this time, the restraining force that the sheet P receives from the sheet feed roller 15 increases as the sheet P approaches the sheet feed roller 15, so that the contact force of the sheet P side end toward the guide surface 21 is also reduced. It becomes larger in the traveling direction, that is, downward in FIG.
[0029]
However, as described above, the ridges 23 are formed so that the contact width between the ridges 23 and the paper P side end gradually increases in the traveling direction of the paper P (see FIG. 3B). The sheet P side end can be reliably guided with a wider contact width at a position where the contact force toward the guide surface 21 becomes larger at the position where the sheet P side end becomes larger. In addition, it is possible to prevent printing defects caused by the sheet P being fed obliquely. Further, when the paper P is set obliquely from above and both side edges are aligned by the paper edge guide 20, it is necessary to apply a large lateral pressure to the front end of the paper P due to the gravity of the stacked paper P. However, as described above, the contact width between the ridge located at the leading end of the paper P and the paper P side end becomes large. In such a case, the extra contact at the paper P side end due to the small contact width. It is not necessary to cause a serious deformation.
[0030]
In the present embodiment, for the paper edge guides (fixed side edge guide 20 and movable side edge guide 5) located on both side edges of the paper P, a ridge is provided only on the guide surface of the fixed side edge guide 20. However, by providing the guide surface of the movable-side edge guide 5 with the protrusions according to the present invention, the effects of the present invention can be further obtained. Needless to say, even when the number of ridges formed on the guide surface 21 is appropriately changed, the above-described effects of the present invention can be obtained.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of ridges that protrude from the guide surface and intermittently contact the recording material side end and the recording material traveling direction on the sheet edge guide in the sheet feeder. Since the contact area between the recording material side edge and the guide surface is reduced, the feeding load of the recording material can be reduced, and the ridges are obliquely crossed with respect to the traveling direction of the recording material. Therefore, when the recording material is set on the sheet feeder, it is possible to reduce a problem that the corner portion of the recording material tip is caught by the ridge.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an ink jet printer according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a plan view of a paper edge guide according to the present invention.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are cross-sectional views of a paper edge guide according to the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
20 Fixed-side edge guide 21 Guide surfaces 23a, 23b, 23c Convex P

Claims (5)

In a sheet feeder that feeds a recording material, a recording material edge guide that guides both side ends of the recording material and defines a feeding start position of the recording material,
The guide surface of at least one of the recording material edge guides located at both ends of the recording material protrudes from the guide surface and intermittently contacts the recording material side end in the traveling direction of the recording material. And a plurality of ridges obliquely crossing the traveling direction are arranged,
The recording material edge of the sheet feeder, wherein the plurality of convex strips are formed such that a contact width between the convex strip and the recording material side end gradually increases in a traveling direction of the recording material. guide. The recording material according to claim 1, wherein the recording material has a traveling direction obliquely downward, and the protrusion is formed to extend in a vertical direction.
A recording material edge guide for a sheet feeder.   A sheet feeder comprising the recording material edge guide according to claim 1.   A recording apparatus comprising the sheet feeder according to claim 3.   3. A recording apparatus, wherein the recording material edge guide according to claim 1 or 2 is formed by integral molding with a main body cover constituting the recording apparatus.

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