JPH0671950B2 - Paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device that feeds a sheet such as a transfer sheet in an electronic copying machine.

2. Description of the Related Art As a sheet feeding device, the sheets stacked in a sheet feeding cassette can be sequentially fed by a pickup roller from the topmost sheet, and the sheet feeding device is detachably arranged on the sheet feeding cassette. It is known that a sheet placed on a manual feed tray can be fed by a pickup roller.

However, in this paper feeding device, the manual tray can be rotated for attachment / detachment, and the center of rotation is located near the upper portion of the pickup roller. There is a drawback that the space becomes large, and therefore the manual tray cannot be made too long.

Aim of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding device which can reduce the space of the rotating portion including the manual tray, can lengthen the manual tray, and is easy to handle. .

(Structure) According to the present invention, a paper feed cassette for accommodating sheets stacked in a paper feed cassette, a manual tray including a front tray and a rear tray arranged above the paper feed cassette, and the paper feed cassette described above. From the topmost paper stored in the paper cassette,
Alternatively, in a paper feeding device including a pickup roller that selectively feeds a sheet placed on the manual tray, the rear tray and the front tray are in a substantially same plane as the usage state and the front tray. The front end of the rear tray is connected to the rear end of the front tray so that the front tray is swingable between the rear end and the stored position, and the front end of the front tray is connected to the lower part of the pickup roller. A front tray guide means for guiding the front tray movably back and forth so as to be selectively positioned at a paper feed position in contact with the peripheral surface or a retracted position located behind the paper feed position. And

Next, specific examples of the constitution of the present invention will be described in detail.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 indicates a paper feed cassette having an upper surface opening. The paper feed cassette 1 can be attached to and detached from the electronic copying machine main body 2. A rotary bottom plate 3 is rotatably arranged inside the paper feed cassette 1. A plurality of sheets P are stacked and placed on the rotating bottom plate 3 and housed in the sheet feeding cassette 1.

The pickup roller 4 is arranged so as to be located above the front end of the paper feed cassette 1 when the paper feed cassette 1 is mounted in the electronic copying machine main body 2. A feed roller 5 and a reverse roller 6 are arranged in the pickup roller 4 in the sheet feeding direction. A holding piece 7 (only one of which is shown) is rotatably attached to both ends of the shaft 5a of the feed roller 5, and the shaft of the pickup roller 4 is attached to the turning ends of these holding pieces 7. 4a is rotatably held, and the pickup roller 4 is movable in the vertical direction by a constant distance.

A pressing means 8 is arranged below the pickup roller 4. The pressurizing means 8 comprises a rotating shaft 8a, a pressing arm 8b having a base fixed to the rotating shaft 8a, and a driving means (not shown) for rotating the rotating shaft 8a. The paper feed cassette 1 is arranged below the pickup roller 4, and when the paper P in the paper feed cassette 1 is fed, the pressure application arm 8b of the pressure application means 8 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. The sheet P is moved and inserted through the hole 1b of the bottom plate 1a of the sheet feeding cassette 1 to raise the rotating bottom plate 3 to press the sheet P against the pickup roller 4.

When the pickup roller 4 rotates in the direction of arrow a in the state where the pressing means 8 raises the rotating bottom plate 3 to press the paper P against the pickup roller 4, the paper stored in the paper feed cassette 1 is rotated. P is fed from the top. The sheet P sent out by the pickup roller 4 is inserted between the feed roller 5 and the reverse roller 6 which are rotated in the directions of arrows b and c, and is fed by the feed roller 5. The reverse roller 6 prevents two or more sheets P from being fed at the same time.

A manual tray 9 is arranged above the paper feed cassette 1. The manual tray 9 is composed of a front tray 9a and a rear tray 9b rotatably connected to the rear end thereof,
The rear tray 9b is swingable between a use position (FIG. 2) which is substantially flush with the front tray 9a and a storage position which stands upright from the rear end of the front tray 9a. As shown in FIG. 4, guide side plates 10 are arranged on both sides of the sheet feeding cassette 1 at the apparatus position. The guide side plates 10 have inclined guide groove portions for guiding the manual tray 9 on their inner surfaces. 10a is formed. Guide protrusions 9c and 9d are formed on both sides of the front tray 9a and the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9, and these guide protrusions 9c and 9d can be inserted into the guide groove portion 10a of the guide side plate 10. Has become. Guide side plate 10,
The guide groove portion 10a and the guide protrusions 9c and 9d constitute a tray guide means for guiding the front tray 9a of the manual tray 9 below the pickup roller 4.

A pulling spring 13 is attached to the pin 11 provided on the guide side plate 10 and the pin 12 provided on the side portion of the rear tray 9b of the manual feed tray 9. As shown in FIG. 2, when the guide protrusion 9c of the front tray 9a of the manual tray 9 is inserted into the guide groove portion 10a of the guide side plate 10,
When the front tray 9a and the rear tray 9b of the manual feed tray 9 are arranged in a substantially flat plate shape with fingers, the spring 13
Is for urging the manual tray 9 in the conveying direction of the sheet P and urging the rear tray 9b to rotate upward.

The rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9 is rotated upward from the position shown in FIG. 2 with fingers to bring the rear tray 9b into contact with the exterior plate 2a of the electronic copying machine main body 2 as shown in FIG. When the fingers are separated from the rear tray 9b in this state, the rear tray 9b is held in contact with the exterior plate 2a by the tensile force of the spring 13. When the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9 is rotated by fingers from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 1, the pulling force of the spring 13 acts to rotate the rear tray 9b upward. Therefore, the rear tray 9b can be easily rotated.

The rear tray sensor 14 for detecting that the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9 is in contact with the exterior plate 2a is provided by the guide side plate 10.
Are placed on top of. When the rear tray 9b of the manual feed tray 9 is separated from the exterior plate 2a, the control means receiving the detection signal of the rear tray sensor 14 actuates the drive means of the pressing means 8 to move the pressing arm 8b to the position shown in FIG. It is rotated in the clockwise direction from the position shown in to be arranged at the position shown in FIG.

The rear tray 9b of the manual feed tray 9 is pivoted downward from the position shown in FIG. 1 by fingers to be arranged at the position shown in FIG.
Further, the front end of the front tray 9a of the manual tray 9 is arranged below the pickup roller 4 as shown in FIG. 3 by further pushing and moving the manual tray 9 toward the pickup roller 4. You can Manual tray 9 above
2 is pushed in the direction of the pickup roller 4 from the position shown in FIG. 2 by a finger, the tension force of the spring 13 acts in the direction of the pickup roller 4, so that the manual tray 9 is smoothly moved to the position below the pickup roller 4. Can be moved to.

In the state where the manual feed tray 9 is arranged at the position shown in FIG. 3, the paper P is placed on the manual feed tray 9 by fingers and the leading end of the paper P is placed between the pickup roller 4 and the manual feed tray 9. When inserted, the paper P is picked up by the pickup roller 4
It means that it has been placed at a position where it can be fed. As shown in FIG. 4, a fixed guide plate 9e and a movable guide plate 9f for guiding the paper P are provided on the upper side of the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9.

The spring 13 does not have to be provided,
If the spring 13 is not provided, it is necessary to provide tray locking means for detachably locking the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9 to the exterior plate 2a of the electronic copying machine body 2. This tray locking means can be composed of, for example, a magnet piece fixed to the exterior plate 2a and a magnet piece fixed to the rear tray 9b of the manual tray 9.

Effect According to the present invention, since the manual tray is configured such that the rear tray is connected to the front tray, the space of the rotating portion including the manual tray is reduced and the manual tray is lengthened. Since the rear tray is connected to the front tray, the manual tray is unitized, which facilitates the handling of the manual tray itself and the operation of attaching / detaching the manual tray to / from the copying machine. Play.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 to 3 are partially cutaway front views showing a sheet feeding device of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a main part of the same sheet feeding device. 1 ... Paper feed cassette, 4 ... Pickup roller, 9 ...
… Bypass tray, 9a …… Front tray, 9b …… Rear tray,
9c, 9d …… Guide protrusion, 10 …… Guide side plate, 10a …… Guide groove

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A paper feed cassette for accommodating sheets stacked in a paper feed cassette, and a paper feed cassette arranged above the paper feed cassette.
A manual feed tray composed of a front tray and a rear tray, and a pickup roller for selectively feeding the paper stored in the paper feed cassette from the top or the paper placed on the manual feed tray. And a rear tray that is substantially flush with the front tray such that the rear tray can be swung between a use position and a storage position upright from the rear end of the front tray. , The front end of the rear tray is connected to the rear end of the front tray, and the front end of the front tray is brought into contact with the lower peripheral surface of the pickup roller at a paper feeding position or behind the paper feeding position. In order to selectively position it in the retracted position,
A sheet feeding device comprising front tray guide means for guiding the front tray backward. 2. A spring for urging the front end of the front tray in a direction to move it to the paper feeding position and for urging the rear tray in a direction to rotate it from the use state to the storage state. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding device is provided on the rear tray.