JPH0764451B2 - Automatic paper feeder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic paper feeder capable of reliably and easily feeding cut paper, storing and discharging discharged paper, and continuously discharging continuous paper.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, in printing devices such as printers and typewriters,
Paper to be printed or continuous paper is supplied from the paper feeder.

This paper feeding device is divided into an automatic paper feeding device that separates and feeds stacked cut papers, and a continuous paper feeding device (tractor mechanism) that continuously feeds continuous papers.

The paper feed device for cut paper prints the paper stacked on the paper feed stacker on the platen automatically by rotating the paper feed roller or by manually feeding one paper by the platen of the printing device and the print head. The printed sheets are accommodated in the paper output stacker.

On the other hand, the continuous paper feeding device feeds the continuous paper with a tractor, continuously ejects it in front of or behind the printer while printing on the platen with the print head, and bends the continuous paper by bending it. It is supposed to be stored.

Cut paper is mainly used in word processors,
Continuous paper is mainly used in computers, but recently, personal computers having a word processor function have appeared, and not only continuous paper but also cut paper is often used. For this reason, the printer used to connect to a personal computer is equipped with a continuous paper supply device in the printer body, and in order to supply other cut paper, an automatic paper feed device for cut paper is prepared separately and installed in the printer body. I was feeding cut paper. Further, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-202872, the printer body does not have a paper feeding device, and the printer body is provided with a continuous paper feeding device and a cut paper feeding device, respectively, and the continuous paper feeding device is attached to the printer body. There has been proposed an automatic paper feeder capable of switching between continuous paper and cut paper by attaching and detaching the cut paper feeder in the same state.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

However, in both cases, the cut sheet feeding device must be detached from the printer main body or the continuous sheet feeding device at the time of continuous sheet feeding, and there is a drawback that the detached cut sheet feeding device is complicated to store and remove.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to easily supply continuous paper as needed with an automatic paper feeder, which is a cut paper feeder, mounted in a printer body. The task is to switch between feeding and discharging cut sheets.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, an automatic paper feeder according to a first aspect of the present invention provides a paper feed stacker for stacking cut papers and a rotational drive force of a drive shaft of a printer body via a power transmission path. A sheet feeding device that separates the cut sheets stacked on the sheet feed stacker one by one by the receiving sheet feeding roller and sends the cut sheets to the printing section of the printer body, and the cut sheets printed by the printing section are stacked and stored. In an automatic paper feeding device including a paper discharge stacker, a detachment mechanism that connects and disconnects the power transmission path is provided in the middle of the power transmission path,
Corresponding to the cut paper discharge path that guides the cut paper that has been printed to the paper discharge stacker, the continuous paper discharge port that discharges continuous paper is arranged, and when the power transmission path is in the connected state, the cut paper that has been printed is A guide plate that moves in tandem with the detaching mechanism of the power transmission path is arranged so as to guide the continuous paper to the continuous paper discharge port when the power transmission path is cut off so as to guide the cut paper discharge path. It was done.

[Work]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the automatic paper feeding device set in the printer main body has one of two feeding states: a cut sheet feeding state for printing cut sheets or a continuous sheet feeding state for printing continuous sheets. One is selected and used.

In the continuous paper feeding state, the power transmission path is shut off by the operation of the detaching device, and the driving force of the drive shaft on the printer body side is not transmitted to the paper feeding roller via the power transmission path of the automatic paper feeding device. Absent. The guide plate faces the continuous paper discharge port, and the continuous paper is sent from the rear of the automatic paper feeder to the printer body side for printing, guided by the guide plate and sent to the continuous paper discharge port, It is delivered to the front of the automatic paper feeder.

In the cut sheet feeding state, the power transmission path is connected by the operation of the detaching device, and the guide plate faces the cut sheet discharging path.

Then, the driving force of the printer main body side is transmitted to the sheet feeding roller via the power transmission path of the automatic sheet feeding device, and the sheet feeding roller cuts the cut sheets stacked on the sheet feeding stacker of the automatic sheet feeding device. After being sent to the printer main body and printed, the sheet is guided by the guide plate, passed through the outer peripheral surface of the sheet discharge roller from the cut sheet discharge path, and sent to the sheet discharge stacker of the automatic sheet feeder to be stacked.

〔Example〕

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 9 show the contents of an automatic sheet feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer, which is composed of a printer main body 2 for printing cut paper or continuous paper and an automatic paper feeder 3. The automatic paper feeder 3 is a printer main body. 2 is provided with a frame body 3A that can be detachably set, and a paper feed shaft 4 is rotatably provided horizontally between the left and right side plates 3B constituting the frame body 3A, and at the end of the paper feed shaft 4, A one-way clutch 4A is attached, and a paper feed roller 5 made of rubber is attached in the middle of the paper feed shaft 4.

6 is a paper feed stacker mounted located behind the paper feed shaft 4 to the frame body 3A, the sheet feeding stacker 6 is intended for accommodating the cut sheet P ₁ of unprinted, the entire cut sheet P ₁ A pressure plate 6A for pressing against the sheet feeding roller 5 is provided, and a pressing force is applied to the pressure plate 6A by a coil spring 6B.

A paper separating device 7 separates the cut papers P ₁ stacked on the paper feeding stacker 6 _one by one by the paper feeding roller 5 and sends the cut papers P ₁ to the printing unit of the printer body 2.

In front of the paper feed roller 5, a pair of paper discharge rollers 8,
8 is provided on a roller shaft 9, 9 horizontally rotatably mounted between the left and right frame side plates 3B, and a paper discharge stacker 10 is provided in front of the pair of paper discharge rollers 8 and 8 on the frame body 3A. The paper discharge stacker 10 accommodates the paper P _{2 for} which printing has been completed.

The paper discharge stacker 10 has a support wall 11 and a groove 11 in the support wall 11.
A wire member 12 is supported by A so as to be upside down. The wire member 12 and the pressure plate 6A form an inverted eight shape when viewed from the side.

Reference numeral 13 is a platen of the printer main body 2, and a drive shaft 13A thereof is removably engaged with a lower end portion 3C of the frame main body 3A of the automatic sheet feeder 3 and is compact via a gear train (not shown). It is connected to a DC motor (not shown).

A platen gear 14 is attached to the drive shaft 13A, and a passive gear 15 attached to the frame body 3A of the automatic sheet feeder 3 is meshed with the platen gear. Reference numeral 16 denotes a rotation transmission shaft horizontally rotatably mounted between the side plates 3B of the frame body 3A. The passive gear 15 is attached to one end of the shaft 16 and the first gear 17 is attached to the other end. .

The first gear 17 meshes with an intermediate gear 18 supported by a lever 24. The lever 72 supports a second gear 19 that meshes with the intermediate gear 18, and a third gear 20 that meshes with the second gear 19. The third gear 20 meshes with a fourth gear 21 and a fifth gear 22. Are engaged with each other. This fifth
The gear 22 is a one-way clutch 4A provided on the paper feed shaft 4.
Mesh with the clutch gear 23 of the.

The lever 24 described above is rotatably supported by the side plate 3B of the frame body 3A about the rotation shaft 20A of the third gear 20, and one end of the spring 25 is hooked on the upper portion thereof. The end is hooked on a pin 26 provided on the side plate 3B.

Then, as shown in FIG. 3, a support shaft pivotally supported by the side plate 3B.
A guide plate 27 is attached to 27A, and a pin 28 is planted at the lower end of the lever 24, and this pin 28 engages with a pin receiving portion 27B formed on the guide plate 27. Guide plate 27 above
Is directed to the cut sheet discharge path 29 that guides the discharge rollers 8 and 8 in the cut sheet feed mode, and is directed to the continuous sheet discharge port 30 in the continuous sheet feed mode. A continuous paper track 31 is built in the printer body 2 side, and a guide member 32 is provided on the continuous paper track 31 to form a gap S for the continuous paper P _c to flow. .

In the figure, 33 is a pinch roller and 34 is a sensor.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the automatic paper feeding device 3 is set in the printer body 3, one of the two modes of the cut paper feeding mode for printing the cut paper P ₁ or the continuous paper feeding mode for printing the continuous paper P _c is selected. Used. The cut paper feed mode is shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and the continuous paper feed mode is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the cut sheet feeding mode, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the pulling force of the spring 25 is applied to the lever 24, and the intermediate gear 18 supported by the lever 24 is pressed against the first gear 17. Are engaged with each other. Therefore, the rotational driving force of the first gear 17 to which the rotation of the drive shaft 13A is transmitted is transmitted to the first gear 17 → the intermediate gear 18 → the second gear 19 → the third gear 20, and further from the third gear 20. It is transmitted to the fourth gear 21 and is transmitted to the clutch gear 23 via the fifth gear 22.

In addition, the pin receiving portion 27B of the guide plate 27 is connected to the pin 28 of the lever 24.
The guide plate 27 is rotated about the support shaft 27A in the direction of approaching the lever 24 under the force of, so that the guide plate 27 is in a substantially vertical state and the cut sheet P ₁ Cut paper discharge path 8 that guides between the discharge rollers 8 and 8
Directed to 4.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the driving force of the drive shaft 13A is transmitted to the sheet feeding roller 5 via the one-way clutch 4A, and the sheet feeding roller 5 causes the cut sheet P ₁ to be transferred to the printer main body 2
After being printed, the sheet is guided by the guide plate 27 and passed from the cut sheet discharge path 84 between the discharge rollers 8 to be stored in the discharge stacker 10.

Next, the cut sheet feeding mode will be described. A program corresponding to the procedure of FIG. 4 is stored in the memory of the control circuit (not shown), and the cut sheet P ₁ is automatically printed as follows according to this program.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, first, in a state where the automatic paper feeder 3 is set in the printer main body 2 and cut papers P ₁ are stacked and accommodated in the paper feed stacker 6, the printer main body 2 When the automatic operation switch is turned on, the program shown in FIG. 4 starts.

In step 41, while the one-way clutch 4A is on, the control circuit issues a paper feed command from the paper feed stacker 6 to the platen 13 to the motor (not shown), which causes the motor to rotate in the forward direction. The rotation is transmitted to the one-way clutch 4A via the rotation transmission system described above, and at the same time, the paper feed shaft 4 and the paper feed roller 5 are rotated in the arrow direction of FIG. When the paper feed roller rotates in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 5, the maximum layer of cut paper P ₁ in the paper feed stacker 6 becomes 1
The sheets are separated and sent out in the direction of the platen 13 as shown in FIG. The cut sheet P ₁ reaches between the platen 13 and the pinch roller 33 that presses the platen 13 and is caught by the rotation of both. Then, it is determined whether or not the edge of the cut sheet P ₁ has been detected by the sensor 34 (step 42). Step
When the edge of the cut sheet P ₁ is detected at 42, the process proceeds to the next step 43, and the one-way clutch 4A is further rotated in the normal state by an angle corresponding to three lines and stopped. After that, the routine proceeds to step 44, where the skew prevention operation of the cut paper P ₁ is executed.

That is, the control circuit gives a reverse rotation command corresponding to, for example, four rows to the motor, reversely rotates the motor and turns off the one-way clutch 4A, and at the same time, reverses the platen 13 by four rows in the arrow direction in FIG. By rotating, the edge of the cut paper P _{1 held} between the platen 13 and the pinch roller 33 is returned to the paper feed stacker 6 side, and the platen 13 and the pinch roller
Release from 33 and cause flexure as shown in FIG. As a result, the edge of the cut sheet P ₁ is aligned and brought into contact with the tangent line between the platen 13 and the pinch roller 33, and the skew of the cut sheet P ₁ is prevented.

When the skew prevention operation is completed, the process proceeds to step 45, where the control circuit gives the motor a paper feed command for feeding the cut paper P ₁ with the aligned edges to the print position, and causes the motor to rotate in the normal direction. As a result, the bent cut sheet P ₁ is sent to the printing side as the platen 13 rotates forward.

Then, in the next step 46, the sensor 34 causes the cut paper P ₁
It is determined whether or not is detected. When the cut paper P ₁ is detected, the process proceeds to step 47, where the control circuit gives the motor a paper feed command corresponding to, for example, 46 lines, which drives the motor in the forward direction to rotate the platen 13. Then, the print start position is cued to the cut paper P ₁ . After that, the paper feed control related to the print operation in the printer body 2 is performed, and the cut paper P ₂ that has been printed is printed.
As shown in FIG. 7, the paper is guided between the paper discharge rollers 8, 8 and fed into the paper discharge stacker 10 to be stacked on the wire member 12.

On the other hand, during the continuous paper feeding mode, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the spring 25 is pulled in the direction of the arrow and locked by the lever stopper 34. As a result, the lever 24 is held in a tilted state, and the meshing between the first gear 17 and the intermediate gear 18 is released.

Also, as the lever 24 tilts, the pin 28 causes the pin receiving portion 27B of the guide plate 27 to move about the support shaft 13A.
Since the guide plate 27 is rotated in a direction away from 24, the guide plate 27 is inclined and is directed to a position for guiding the continuous paper P _c toward the continuous paper discharge port 30.

Then, the driving force of the drive shaft 13A is transmitted to the first gear 17, but is not transmitted to the intermediate gear 18, and thus is not transmitted to the clutch gear 23. As a result, the rotation of the paper feed roller 5 is stopped. Then, in this state, the continuous paper Pc is inserted into the gap S between the continuous paper tractor 31 and the guide member 32 of the printer main body 2 from the rear of the automatic paper feeder 3, printed by the printer main body 2, and guided by the guide plate 27. Is guided to the continuous paper discharge port 30, and is delivered to the front of the automatic paper feeder 3.

According to the above configuration, unlike the conventional example, the continuous paper feeding device for feeding the continuous paper is not required, and the operation for attaching and detaching the automatic paper feeding device 3 is not necessary for switching between the continuous paper and the cut paper. Therefore, the operation can be simplified.

Moreover, in the cut sheet feeding mode, the sheet feeding roller 5 can be rotated to feed the cut sheet P ₁ by operating the lever 24. In the continuous sheet feeding mode, the lever 24 can be operated by Stop the rotation of the paper feed roller 5 and feed the paper stacker 6
It is possible to stop the feeding of the cut sheet P ₁ and feed the continuous sheet P _c while the cut sheets are stacked on the sheet. Therefore, the switching work between the continuous paper P _c and the cut paper P ₁ can be easily performed.

In addition, when the lever 24 is operated to switch to the cut paper feeding mode or the continuous paper feeding mode, the guide plate 27 is automatically set in the state where the cut paper is placed on each of the paper feed stacker 6 and the paper discharge stacker 10. Therefore, the sheet can be directed toward the cut sheet discharge path 29 or the continuous sheet discharge port 30, so that the cut sheet or continuous sheet can be smoothly delivered.

In the present embodiment, the power transmission path is composed of a plurality of gears, but the constituent elements are not limited to gears and, for example, pulleys may be used.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the continuous paper feeding device for feeding continuous paper, unlike the conventional example, is not required, and automatic switching is performed for switching between continuous paper and cut paper. The work of attaching and detaching the paper feeding device is unnecessary, and the operation can be simplified.

Moreover, when the cut-and-feed mechanism is operated to switch to the cut sheet feeding state or the continuous sheet feeding state, the guide plates are automatically set in the state where the cut sheet is placed on each of the paper feed stacker and the paper discharge stacker. , The cut sheet discharge port or the continuous sheet discharge port can be directed, so that the cut sheet or continuous sheet can be smoothly sent out.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an automatic paper feeder when a cut paper is used according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the same automatic paper feeder. FIG. 3 is a side view of the same automatic paper feeder when cut paper is used. FIG. 4 is a flow chart when using cut sheets. 5 to 7 are operation explanatory views of the same automatic paper feeder when cut paper is used. FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are operation explanatory views of the same automatic paper feeder when continuous paper is used. [Explanation of symbols] 2 ... Printer main body 3 ... Automatic paper feeding device 5 ... Paper feeding roller 6 ... Paper feeding stacker 7 ... Paper separating device 10 ... Paper discharging stacker 13A ... Drive shaft 24 ... Lever 27 …… Guide plate 29 …… Cut paper ejection path 30 …… Continuous paper ejection port.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cut sheet stacked on a sheet stacker by a sheet stacker for stacking cut sheets and a sheet feeding roller for receiving a rotational driving force of a drive shaft of a printer body via a power transmission path. An automatic paper feeding device comprising a paper separating device that separates sheets one by one and sends them to a printing unit of a printer body, and a paper ejection stacker that stacks and stores cut sheets printed by the printing unit. A detachment mechanism that connects and disconnects the power transmission path is installed in the middle of the path, and a continuous paper discharge port that discharges continuous paper is arranged in correspondence with the cut paper discharge path that guides the cut paper that has been printed to the discharge stacker. However, when the power transmission path is connected, the printed cut paper is guided to the cut paper discharge path, and when the power transmission path is cut off, the continuous paper is guided to the continuous paper discharge port. , The automatic sheet feeding apparatus characterized by disposing the guide plate to move in conjunction with the desorption mechanism of the power transmission path.