JPS6116052B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a document alignment device for automatically aligning the leading edge of a sheet-like document with respect to the reading section when the document is conveyed to the reading section.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, devices such as copying machines and facsimile machines that have a function of reading originals include a mechanism that automatically transports the original and a mechanism that automatically aligns the leading edge of the transported original. These conventional alignment devices have a pair of conveyance rollers, and the direction of the conveyance rollers is controlled according to the state of the sheet document to align the documents, and the structure is very complicated. Furthermore, in order to sandwich the original between the pair of transport rollers, the original needs to have a certain level of stiffness.For example, for very thin originals such as air mail paper, It is difficult to make it stick. Regarding this point, it is possible to easily insert a very thin document between the rollers by leaving a certain gap between the rollers only when inserting the document, but it is possible to easily insert a very thin document between the rollers. Adding a mechanism for changing the roller gap to the conventional conveying mechanism further complicates the entire device, which is extremely disadvantageous in terms of reliability and cost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a document alignment device that has a simple configuration and can easily align even thin documents.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a document aligning device that aligns the leading edge of the document with the reading section when conveying a sheet-like document to the reading section. a roller that is rotationally driven to move the image; a sphere that faces away from the roller and does not have a rotating shaft that rotates according to the movement of the original when an original is held between the rollers; Based on a detection means for detecting the presence of a document placed on the downstream side in the document insertion direction, and a detection signal from the detection means,
a control means for moving the roller toward the sphere so that the original is held between the roller and the sphere; and the pair of rollers and the sphere align the original with respect to the reading unit. An alignment device is provided. The roller may be configured to rotate in a direction that conveys the document at an acute angle with respect to a guide surface provided perpendicularly to the document reading section. Moreover, a combination of a plunger and a link mechanism can be used as the means for raising and lowering the roller. The roller of the present invention may be of any type as long as it has a rotating shaft and rotates, and may be cylindrical, barrel-shaped, or spherical.
It may be made of rubber or may have a blocking surface.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to Examples.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a facsimile apparatus embodying the present invention, particularly showing a document conveying section. In the figure, 1 is a document placement guide surface (hereinafter referred to as the document placement surface), 2 is a document reading section, and a slit-shaped exposure slit is sandwiched under the cover 3, and two slits are placed in front and behind it.
A pair of transport rollers is provided. When the original is held between these rollers and passes through the reading section, it is illuminated by the lamp 17 shown in FIG. The optical image is converted into an electrical signal. In the figure, a guide plate 4 is fixedly installed at the back of the document placement surface 1 in a direction perpendicular to the slit direction of the reading section. The placement surface 1 side of this plate 4 constitutes a guide surface 5 for abutting and guiding the document to be conveyed. This guide surface 5 is arranged at right angles to the slit 11 (see FIG. 3). Reference numeral 6 denotes a roller constituting a member that moves up and down with respect to the sphere of the present invention, and is rotationally driven by a shaft 7 in the direction of conveying the document at an acute angle with respect to the guide plate 4. It is assembled so as to be rotatable around a shaft 9. In this way, the lever 8 is configured to be swingable on the fixed shaft 9, and one end of the lever 8 is connected to the suction shaft 23 of the plunger 22. Reference numeral 24 is a sphere without a rotating shaft that rotates following the movement of the drive source when driven.
come into contact with. A paper detector 10 detects whether a document has been inserted between the paper detectors.

Next, the structure of the apparatus of the present invention and the process of arranging documents will be explained with reference to a cross-sectional view of the facsimile apparatus in FIG. 2 and a plan view in FIG. 3. In a standby state before the document is conveyed, the roller 6 is retracted from the document placement surface 1 due to its own weight, and a gap larger than the thickness of the document is created between the roller 6 and the sphere 24. When the original 14 is inserted into this gap, the paper detector 10 detects the presence of the original, and a control circuit (not shown) issues a signal, causing the suction shaft 23 of the plunger 22 to be pulled to the right. . As a result, the lever 8 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 2 around the fixed shaft 9, and the roller 6 protrudes from the document placement surface and rises to a position where it slightly lifts the sphere 24. The original 14 is held between the two sides. Note that this sphere 24 is prevented from falling below a certain position by a convex portion on the support portion. roller 6
As shown in the figure, the rotating shaft 7 is connected to the slit 11 of the reading section 2.
It is mounted non-parallel to the direction, and the angle θ formed by the shaft 7 and the guide surface constitutes an acute angle of 20° to 30°. The shaft 7 is connected to a rotating shaft 13 of a motor, which is a drive source, via a universal joint 12 using a coil spring. With the above configuration, when the motor rotates, the roller 6 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, and the document 14 is conveyed in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.
The right side 21 of the leading edge of the original 14 is the guide surface 5 of the guide plate 4
(Fig. 1), a drag force is generated between the document and the guide surface 5, and this drag force causes the document 14 to move into the sphere 24.
The document 14 moves forward while rotating counterclockwise around the contact point with the guide surface 5, and finally reaches a state where the right side of the document 14 is in contact with the guide surface 5, that is, the leading edge of the document 14 is parallel to the slit 11. Thus, the document 14 is gripped by the conveying roller 15 with its leading edge aligned parallel to the slit 11.

Here, the driving source for the rollers 6 is a motor, but a driving force transmission mechanism such as a belt or a gear train may be used from the driving source (not shown) for the conveyance rollers 15 and 16. In this case, since the conveyance force of the document is interrupted by the upper and lower movements of the rollers 6, the movement is equivalent to the case where a clutch mechanism is inserted between the drive source of the conveyance rollers 15 and 16.

Next, an embodiment of the holding mechanism for the roller portion will be described in detail.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the roller holding mechanism;
The right side in the figure is a document placement surface, and FIG. 5 is a plan view seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4.

Gear 25 is a gear on the driving source side, and is rotating clockwise in FIG. 4. Gear 26 that meshes with this
is rotated counterclockwise on the fixed shaft 27, and the pulley portion 26-1 integrated with the regear also rotates in the same direction. Pulley part 2
A rubber belt 28 is stretched around the belt 6-1, and is hung on a pulley 31 on a roller shaft 30 via a pulley 29 that changes direction midway. The pulley 31 is fixed on the roller shaft 30, and furthermore, the roller shaft 31
A roller 32 is fixed to the roller 32, and the roller 32 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. 4 by power transmission through the rubber belt 28. This direction is the same as the direction in which the document is fed as described above. Also, gear 25, gear 2
6, and pulley 26-1, pulley 31, and roller 3
The circumferential speed of the roller 32 can be arbitrarily set depending on the diameter of the roller 2.
To make it possible to adjust the document feeding speed up to .

The roller shaft 30 is rotatably supported by a bearing 33, and the bearing is supported by a holder 34. Further, the entire roller portion is supported by a lever 35, and is configured to be rotatable around a fixed shaft 27. On the other hand, the other end 35-1 of the lever 35 is coupled to the suction shaft 36-1 of the plunger 36 by a pin 37. Reference numeral 38 denotes a plate for adjusting the vertical stroke of the roller, and is configured such that the roller rises higher when moved in the direction of arrow B. Further, 39 is a cushioning material such as rubber that absorbs the impact when the adjusting plate 38 and the holder 34 come into contact, and 40 is a board on which a series of these parts is mounted.

Next, the operation of the roller holding mechanism configured as described above will be explained with reference to the drawings. In the standby state shown in the figure, the roller 32 is in the standby position, being lowered in the direction of arrow C due to its own weight, and the outer diameter portion of the roller is recessed from the original document placement surface. Note that at this time, if necessary, a spring may be used to bias the roller portion in the lowering direction.

When a document is inserted and detected by the paper detector as described above, the plunger 36 is activated by the control system.
When a signal is input to the plunger, the suction shaft 36-1 of the plunger is pulled in the direction of arrow D, and the lever 35 connected thereto is moved counterclockwise (fourth direction) around the fixed shaft 27.
As shown in FIG. 3, the roller 32 protrudes slightly from the document placement surface to form a conveying device. This amount of protrusion can be adjusted by the adjustment plate 38 as described above. However, experiments have shown that this protrusion amount of about 0.5 to 2 mm is sufficient for document conveyance. When the roller is raised, the driving gear 25 may be kept turning at all times, or the power may be turned up when the paper detector detects the paper.

As described above, the present invention is an apparatus for aligning original documents by sandwiching them between a sphere and the rollers facing the sphere, and since the originals are inserted without operating the rollers, the originals can be inserted steadily and easily. This makes it easier for users to handle manuscripts.
In particular, even very thin originals can be reliably aligned.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a document conveying section of a facsimile apparatus embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the document conveying section shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a plan view thereof. 4 is a front view showing the holding mechanism for the roller portion shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and FIG. 5 is a view seen in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 4. 1...Document placement surface, 2...Document reading section, 3...
...Cover, 4... Information board, 5... Information surface, 6...
Roller, 7...Shaft, 8...Lever, 9...Fixed shaft, 10...Paper detector, 11...Slit, 12
... Universal joint, 13 ... Motor, 14 ... Manuscript,
15, 16... Conveyance roller, 17... Lamp, 1
8, 19...Optical system, 20...Photoelectric conversion element, 2
1...Right side of the leading edge of the document, 22...Plunger,
23... Suction shaft, 24... Sphere, 25... Gear,
26...Gear, 27...Fixed shaft, 26-1...Pulley section, 28...Rubber belt, 29...Pulley,
30...Roller shaft, 31...Pulley, 32...Roller, 33...Bearing, 34...Holder, 35...
Lever, 35-1... Lever end, 36... Plunger, 36-1... Suction shaft, 37... Pin,
38...adjustment plate, 39...buffer material, 40...substrate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a document alignment device that aligns the leading edge of a sheet document with the reading section when conveying the sheet document to the reading section, there is a roller that is driven to rotate to convey the document at an acute angle to the guide surface. ,
A spherical body facing away from the roller and having no rotating shaft rotates following the movement of the original when the original is held between the rollers, and a sphere located downstream of the roller and the spherical body in the original insertion direction. a detection means for detecting the presence of a document; and a control means for moving the roller toward the sphere so that the document is sandwiched between the roller and the sphere based on a detection signal from the detection means; A document aligning device characterized in that a document is aligned with respect to a reading unit using a roller and a sphere.