JP2003089435A - Paper feed mechanism of printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To surely prevent various troubles that occur when feeding an envelope, and to realize smooth and stable paper feeding to the envelope. A paper feed guide mechanism (2) having a paper feed tray (2s) for loading a large number of print materials (P) including at least an envelope (P) and a pair of side plates (2p, 2q) disposed on the left and right sides of the paper feed tray (2s). The regulation guide part 7 which regulates the disturbance from the regular position of the camera is provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding mechanism of a printing apparatus suitable for feeding a material to be printed including an envelope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printing apparatuses for printing on special paper such as business cards and postcards have been known, and the applicant has already proposed a printing apparatus suitable for use when printing special paper of this type. Open 2
It was proposed by the publication No. 001-80810.

This printing apparatus includes a paper feed mechanism which is arranged on the front surface of the apparatus main body to supply the paper, and a pre-stage conveyance mechanism which conveys the paper supplied from the paper feed mechanism to the rear surface side of the apparatus main body. A printing mechanism that prints on the paper conveyed by the front-stage conveyance mechanism by a thermal transfer method, a rear-stage conveyance mechanism that conveys the paper printed by the printing mechanism U-turns through a horizontal U-shaped conveyance path, and a main body of the apparatus. A paper output tray mechanism that receives the paper discharged from the rear-stage transport mechanism by arranging it at a position surrounded by the rear-stage transport mechanism on the upper surface portion, and transfers the paper conveyed by the front-stage transport mechanism to the printing mechanism. The printing is performed by sandwiching the platen roller arranged above, the ink ribbon arranged below and the print head (thermal head).

[0004]

By the way, the above-mentioned printing apparatus is mainly intended for printing of special paper such as business cards and postcards. However, when the paper is an envelope, the business card using thick paper is used. Different from single paper such as postcards, various papers that are unstable in shape, such as multiple papers overlapping, there is a step due to sticking, and a bag shape that easily creates an air layer Since it has a factor,
There was a problem that it was not possible to feed the paper smoothly and stably, and various problems associated with paper feeding were likely to occur.

The present invention solves the problems existing in the prior art as described above, and in particular, various troubles that occur when an envelope is fed are reliably prevented, and the envelope is smooth and stable. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding mechanism of a printing apparatus that can realize paper feeding.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a paper feed tray 2s for loading a large number of print objects P including at least an envelope Pe and a pair of side plates 2p arranged on the left and right sides of the paper feed tray 2s. , 2q, a paper feed elevator mechanism 3 for elevating and lowering the paper feed tray 2s, and a paper P from the paper feed guide mechanism 2 one by one.
And the paper feed roller mechanism 4 for sending out the paper, and the top surface position Xu of the printing target P loaded in the paper feed tray 2s is detected by the face control sensor 5, and if the top surface position Xu is lowered, the paper feed elevator mechanism 3 is driven and controlled. And feed tray 2
When configuring the paper feed mechanism 1 of the printing apparatus M including the control unit 6 that raises s to the fixed position, the paper feed guide mechanism 2
In addition, a regulation guide portion 7 that regulates the disturbance of the printing material P from the regular position is provided.

In this case, according to a preferred embodiment, the regulation guide portion 7 can be constituted by one or more of the first regulation guides 11p and 11q, the second regulation guides 12p and 12q, and the third regulation guide 13. First Regulation Guide 11
On the p and 11q, the printing material P that protrudes inward from the upper portions of the side plates 2p and 2q and is loaded in the paper feed tray 2s
To the second regulation guides 12p and 12q, and a function to regulate the upward displacement with respect to the printing material P sent by the paper feed roller mechanism 4. The third restriction guide 13 can have a function of restricting downward displacement with respect to the printing material sent by the paper feed roller mechanism 4. on the other hand,
When the face control sensor 5 detects the lowering of the uppermost surface position Xu, the controller 6 controls the paper feed roller mechanism 4 to move.
It is possible to provide an operation restriction function that allows the operation of the paper feed elevator mechanism 3 only when the operation of No. 2 is stopped.
The paper feed tray 2s can be configured to be removable, and any paper feed tray 2s selected from a plurality of different paper feed trays 2s can be used.
The s ... Can include a narrow paper feed tray 2ss for loading strips Ps such as seat cards.

As a result, even if the envelope Pe has various factors that make it unstable in shape, the restriction guide portion 7 provided in the paper feed guide mechanism 2, specifically, the paper feed guide mechanism 2 is rationalized. Guided by the first regulation guides 11p and 11q, the second regulation guides 12p and 12q, and the third regulation guide 13, which are arranged in a special manner, the disturbance from the regular position is regulated, and thus various kinds that occur when the envelope Pe is printed. The trouble of is avoided. On the other hand, although the topmost position Xu is also unstable due to the envelope Pe that is unstable in shape, if the control unit 6 is provided with an operation limiting function, for example, the sheet feed roller mechanism 4 feeds the envelope Pe at the same time. The paper elevator mechanism 3 operates, and troubles such as skewing due to unstable feeding position of the envelope Pe can be avoided.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, an outline of a printing system S including a printing apparatus M will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.

FIG. 6 shows the overall configuration of the printing system S, which comprises a printing apparatus M and a computer C connected via a connection cable 51. As the computer C, a general-purpose personal computer can be used, and the processing unit 5 including a CPU and the like.
2, memory 5 including hard disk, ROM, RAM, etc.
3, a bidirectional parallel port 54 and the like are provided, and each unit is connected by a bus line 55. Further, the computer C has a printer driver 56 installed by application software, and various printing conditions for operating the printing apparatus M can be set by the printer driver 56.

On the other hand, the printing apparatus M comprises a controller 57 shown in FIG. The controller 57 includes a processing unit 58,
A memory 59, a bidirectional parallel port 60, and the like are provided, and each unit is connected by a bus line 61. The connection cable 51 connects the bidirectional parallel port 54 on the computer C side and the bidirectional parallel port 60 on the printing device M side. As a result, a printing system S that transfers print data from the computer C to the printing apparatus M and controls the printing apparatus M by the printer driver 56 of the computer C to perform printing is configured.

Further, FIG. 7 shows a schematic configuration of a mechanical system in the printing apparatus M. In the printing apparatus M, the right side in the figure is the paper feed side and the left side is the paper discharge side. The paper feed mechanism 1 according to the present embodiment is arranged on the right side surface, and the stacker is on the left side surface. A mechanism 72 is provided. The paper feed mechanism 1 is roughly divided into a paper feed guide mechanism 2, a paper feed elevator mechanism 3, and a paper feed roller mechanism 4. The paper feed mechanism 1 is
It constitutes an essential part of the present invention, and a specific configuration and operation (function) will be described later. On the other hand, between the sheet feeding mechanism 1 and the stacker mechanism 72, the pre-stage transport mechanism 7 is moved from the sheet feeding mechanism 1 side.
3, the printing mechanism 74, and the post-stage transport mechanism 75 are sequentially arranged.
Further, 57 is a controller, which is the processing unit 5 described above.
8, memory 59 and the like.

The pre-stage transport mechanism 73 comprises a take-away roller mechanism 91, a pre-registration roller mechanism 92, and a registration roller mechanism 93, which are sequentially arranged in the horizontal direction. It has a function of conveying to the printing mechanism 74. In addition, each roller mechanism 9
The intervals of 1 to 93 are set to intervals shorter than the minimum size of the material P to be conveyed. In particular, the pre-registration roller mechanism 92 and the registration roller mechanism 93 have a skew correction function of adjusting the angle (direction) of the conveyed printing material P to be constant by controlling the rotation operation.

The printing mechanism 74 is constructed by arranging a platen roller 95 on the lower side of the conveyed printing material P and an ink ribbon 96 and a print head 97 using a thermal head on the upper side. It has a printing function. The ink ribbon 96 is loaded by a ribbon cassette, and the ink ribbon 96 wound in a roll is unwound from a supply reel 98 and wound up by a take-up reel 99.

The post-stage transport mechanism 75 comprises a first transformer roller mechanism 101 and a second transformer roller mechanism 10 which are sequentially arranged.
2 and the discharge roller mechanism 103, and the printing mechanism 7
4 has a function of transporting the printing material P printed by the printing unit 4 to the stacker mechanism 72. In addition, each roller mechanism 101 to 1
The interval of 03 is set to an interval shorter than the minimum size of the material P to be conveyed.

The stacker mechanism 72 has a stacker 105, and the printing material P discharged from the discharge roller mechanism 103.
Are sequentially stacked on the stacker 105 with the printing surface facing upward. In addition, the stacker 105 is supported by an elastic support mechanism (not shown) and is stacked on the printing materials P.
As the number of sheets increases, the downward displacement occurs. In FIG. 7, the stacker 105 indicated by a virtual line is in a lowered state.
Besides, in FIG. 7, 111 is a feed-out sensor, 11
2 is a registration sensor, 113 is a cue sensor, and 114 is a paper discharge sensor.

Next, a specific structure of the sheet feeding mechanism 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

The paper feed mechanism 1 has, as a basic structure, a paper feed tray 2s for loading a large number of print objects P including envelopes Pe.
And a paper feed guide mechanism 2 having a pair of side plates 2p and 2q arranged on the left and right of the paper feed tray 2s, a paper feed elevator mechanism 3 for moving the paper feed tray 2s up and down, and one paper from the paper feed guide mechanism 2. The paper feed roller mechanism 4 that sends out the material to be printed P and the uppermost surface position Xu of the material to be printed P loaded in the paper feed tray 2s are detected by the face control sensor 5, and if the uppermost surface position Xu is lowered, the paper feeding elevator mechanism 3 Is provided with a control unit 6 that drives and controls the sheet feeding tray 2s to move up to a fixed position. In this case, the material P to be printed includes not only single papers such as business cards, postcards, invitations but also non-single paper envelopes Pe, specifically company envelopes, Japanese envelopes, Western envelopes and the like.

The paper feed elevator mechanism 3 has a pair of left and right drive pulleys (gulleys with gears) 21 arranged on the upper side and connected by a shaft, and a pair of left and right driven pulleys arranged on the lower side and connected by a shaft ( Geared pulley) 22 ...,
An endless timing belt 23 spanned between the drive pulley 21 and the driven pulley 22 and an elevator drive unit 24 that rotationally drives the drive pulley 21. Further, a pair of left and right guide rails 2 are provided in parallel with the timing belts 23.
5, 25 are arranged, and sliders 27 having a pair of upper and lower rollers 26 are slidably mounted on the guide rails 25. The sliders 27 are fixed to the timing belts 23 facing each other, and a tray support 28 is provided between the pair of left and right sliders 27. As a result, when the elevator drive unit 24 is operated, the tray support unit 28 can be moved up and down.

On the other hand, the paper feed guide mechanism 2 includes the paper feed tray 2
s and a pair of side plates 2p and 2q arranged on the left and right of the paper feed tray 2s. Paper feed tray 2 shown in FIG.
s is a standard paper feed tray, and an auxiliary frame 31 is provided on the lower surface. The auxiliary frame 31 is a retractable type, and the paper feed tray 2s can be substantially enlarged by pulling it out as shown in FIG. Can be stored. Further, the paper feed tray 2s is attached to and detached from the center of the tray support portion 28. In this case, the tray support 28
A support plate 32 is fixed to the center of the support plate 32, and a pair of left and right locking holes 33,
33 is formed so as to penetrate therethrough, and on the other hand, a pair of left and right locking claws 34, 34 that are inserted and locked in the locking holes 33, 33 are integrally formed on the attachment / detachment surface of the paper feeding tray 2s.
In the inside of s, the supporting plate 32 is exposed on the attaching / detaching surface.
It is configured by embedding a magnet 35 that attracts to. In addition,
A protruding locking piece portion 36 that hooks on the upper surface of the tray support portion 28 is integrally formed on the upper portion of the attachment / detachment surface of the paper feed tray 2s, and the support plate 32 horizontally supports the lower surface of the paper feed tray 2s. The support piece portion 37 is integrally formed.

As described above, since the paper feed tray 2s is configured to be detachable from the tray support portion 28, any paper feed tray 2s selected from a plurality of different paper feed trays 2s can be used. If the narrow paper feed tray 2ss shown in FIG. 4 is prepared, it is possible to stably load the strip paper Ps such as seat cards. The paper feed tray 2ss also has locking claws 34s, 34s, magnets 35s, and locking piece portions 36s similar to those of the paper feed tray 2s shown in FIG. 3, and can be attached to and detached from the tray support portion 28. The standard paper feed tray 2s shown in FIG. 3 can be loaded with the above-mentioned business cards, postcards, invitations, envelopes and the like. FIG. 4 shows the loaded envelope Pe (Western envelope).

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the paper feed tray 2s
The interlocking support mechanism portion 41 is disposed below the, and the interlocking support mechanism portion 41 supports the pair of right and left side plates 2p and 2q formed in a rectangular shape in an upright state. The side plates 2p and 2q can be translated in the left-right direction by the interlocking support mechanism portion 41, and can be interlocked in the left-right symmetrical direction.

The side plates 2p, 2q are provided with a first regulation guide 11p, which constitutes the regulation guide portion 7,
11q is provided. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first restriction guides 11p and 11q are side plates 2 respectively.
It is provided by protruding a predetermined width inward from the upper part of p, 2q. By providing such first regulation guides 11p and 11q, in particular, it is possible to regulate the jumping up of the left and right parts of the envelope Pe when the pickup roller 42 described later comes into contact with the envelope Pe on the paper feed tray 2s. You can

On the other hand, the paper feed roller mechanism 4 includes the paper feed tray 2
A pickup roller 42 for sending the printed material P loaded in s to the front in the conveying direction, a feed roller 43 arranged in front of the pickup roller 42 in the conveying direction, and a retard roller 44 arranged below the feed roller 43 are provided. The print objects P separated by the roller 43 and the retard roller 44 are sent forward one by one. In this case, the pickup roller 42 is supported on the other side of the support bracket 45 whose one side is rotatably supported by the shaft 43s of the feed roller 43, and can be vertically displaced with the shaft 43s as a fulcrum. In addition, the pickup roller 42 includes a pickup roller driving unit 46.
While being driven to rotate by the feed roller 43, the feed roller 43 rotates integrally with the pickup roller 42 via a rotation transmission mechanism.

Further, the paper feed roller mechanism 4 is provided with the second regulation guides 12p and 12q and the third regulation guide 13 which constitute the regulation guide portion 7. Second regulation guide 12p,
12q are arranged on both left and right sides of the pickup roller 42, one second regulation guide 12p is attached to the upper chassis 47 which is installed between the upper portions of the guide rails 25, 25, and the other second regulation guide 12q is Attach to the support bracket 45. Each second regulation guide 12p, 12
In particular, q is an inclined guide surface 12ps, 12 that regulates upward displacement with respect to the envelope Pe delivered by the pickup roller 42 and can be reliably and stably fed between the feed roller 43 and the retard roller 44.
qs respectively. Also, the third regulation guide 13
An inclined guide surface that is arranged below the feed roller 43, regulates downward displacement with respect to the envelope Pe sent out by the pickup roller 42, and can reliably and stably feed between the feed roller 43 and the retard roller 44. Has 13s. The third regulation guide 13 is integrally formed with the front plate 13f that regulates the position of the front end side of the printing target P (envelope Pe) loaded in the paper feed tray 2s.

On the other hand, in the vicinity of the support bracket 45, the uppermost surface position Xu of the printing material P loaded in the paper feed tray 2s.
Is connected to the controller 57, and the drive motor built in the elevator drive unit 24 and the drive motor built in the pickup roller drive unit 46 are also connected to the controller 5.
Connect to 7. The face control sensor 5 uses a transmission type optical sensor, and a shutter 45s integrally provided on a support bracket 45 that moves up and down corresponding to the uppermost surface position Xu.
Detect the position of. The face control sensor 5 and the controller 57 form a control unit 6. Then, when the face control sensor 5 detects the lowering of the uppermost surface position Xu, the control unit 6 allows the operation of the paper feed elevator mechanism 3 only when the operation of the paper feed roller mechanism 4 is stopped. It has a limit function.

With such a structure, when the picked-up material 42 is sent out by the pickup roller 42, the number of the printed material P on the paper feed tray 2s is reduced by one, so that the pick-up roller 42 and the shutter 45s are slightly lowered. At this time, when the shutter 45s is lowered to open the optical path of the face control sensor 5 and the face control sensor 5 is turned on, the controller 57 drives and controls the elevator drive unit 24 and raises the paper feed tray 2s. . As a result, the material to be printed P rises, and further,
When the shutter 45s rises and the optical path of the face control sensor 5 is blocked, the face control sensor 5 is turned off and the operation of the elevator drive unit 24 is stopped. As a result, the uppermost surface position Xu of the printing target material P loaded in the paper feed tray 2s is always maintained at a fixed position.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus M including the paper feeding mechanism 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the envelope Pe, which is the material P to be printed, is loaded on the paper feed tray 2s. In this case, the envelope Pe (Western envelope)
As shown in FIG. 4, the flap portion Fe is opened and loaded so as to be conveyed from the side without the flap portion Fe. On the other hand, the printer driver 56 of the computer C is activated, and the type (print envelope) of the material P to be printed is selected from the property screen displayed on the display, and various printing conditions are set and print data is selected. When the power is turned on, the print head 97 and the ink ribbon 96 (ribbon cassette) are separated from the platen roller 95.

When the start key is turned on, the setting data and the print data are transferred from the computer C to the controller 57 of the printing apparatus M, and when the printing preparation of the printing apparatus M is completed, the paper feed roller mechanism 4 The envelope Pe loaded on the paper feed tray 2s is sent forward by the pickup roller 42, and the envelopes Pe separated by the feed roller 43 and the retard roller 44 are sequentially sent forward one by one.

At this time, even if the envelope Pe is unstable in shape, the first regulating guides 11p and 11q, the second regulating guides 12p and 12q, which are rationally arranged in the paper feed guide mechanism 2, are provided.
By being guided by the third regulation guide 13, disturbance from the regular position is regulated. That is, due to the existence of the first regulation guides 11p and 11q, the pickup roller 42
When the paper comes into contact with the envelope Pe on the paper feed tray 2s, the bounce of the left and right parts of the envelope Pe is restricted. Further, due to the presence of the second regulation guides 12p and 12q, the envelope Pe sent from the pickup roller 42.
Is regulated from being displaced upward, and is fed between the feed roller 43 and the retard roller 44 in a reliable and stable manner, and due to the presence of the third regulation guide 13, the envelope Pe is fed downward from the pickup roller 42. Is regulated, and it is fed between the feed roller 43 and the retard roller 44 in a reliable and stable state. As described above, since the disturbance of the envelope Pe from the regular position is regulated, various troubles occurring when printing the envelope Pe can be avoided.

Further, although the topmost position Xu is also unstable due to the envelope Pe which is unstable in shape, the control unit 6 is provided with an operation limiting function, so that, for example, when the envelope Pe is sent out by the paper feed roller mechanism 4. At the same time, the paper feed elevator mechanism 3 operates, and troubles such as skew of the envelope Pe due to unstable feeding position of the envelope Pe are avoided.

Next, the operation limiting function will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Now, the paper feed roller mechanism 4 is activated and the envelope P loaded on the paper feed tray 2s.
It is assumed that e is in the middle of being forwarded by the pickup roller 42. In this state, the face control sensor 5 is normally off, and as a result, the elevator drive unit 24 is also stopped (step S1).

However, it is assumed that the face control sensor 5 is turned on during the feeding by the pickup roller 42 due to the unstable behavior of the uppermost surface position Xu (step S2). In this case, if the operation limiting function is not provided, the feed roller mechanism 3 operates at the same time when the envelope Pe is sent out by the pickup roller 42, so that the leading end of the sent envelope Pe fluctuates, causing a problem such as skew. Become. Therefore, by providing the controller 57 with an operation restriction function, when the face control sensor 5 is turned on, it is determined whether or not the paper feed roller mechanism 4 is in operation, and when it is in operation, the elevator drive unit 24 is operated. The stopped state is maintained (step S3). On the other hand, if it is determined that the operation of the paper feed roller mechanism 4 has stopped, the elevator drive unit 24 (paper feed elevator mechanism 3) is drive-controlled at this point (step S4). When the elevator drive unit 24 operates, the paper feed tray 2s moves up (step S5),
Further, when the shutter 45s rises, the optical path of the face control sensor 5 is blocked, and when it is turned off, the elevator drive unit 24 is stopped (step S).
6, S7). In this way, if the control unit 6 is provided with the operation limiting function, the feeding position of the envelope Pe becomes unstable, and troubles such as skew are avoided.

On the other hand, the envelope Pe sent out from the paper feed roller mechanism 4 is conveyed by the pre-stage conveying mechanism 73, and if the leading end of the envelope Pe is detected by the cueing sensor 113, the preset first set time T1 has elapsed. After that, the controller 57
Thus, the release driving unit (not shown) is drive-controlled, the print head 97 and the ink ribbon 96 (ribbon cassette) are lowered, and the ink ribbon 96 is pressed against the upper surface of the envelope Pe to perform a predetermined printing process.

The envelope P is further conveyed, and the cue sensor 11
If the second set time T2 elapses from the time of detection by 3,
The controller 57 drives and controls a release driving unit (not shown), and raises the print head 97 and the ink ribbon 96 to separate them from the upper surface of the envelope Pe. After that, the printed envelopes Pe are conveyed by the post-stage conveyance mechanism 75 and ejected from the ejection roller mechanism 103, so that they are sequentially stacked on the stacker 105 in the stacker mechanism 72.

As described above, the paper feed mechanism 1 according to the present embodiment.
Even if the envelope Pe has various factors that make it unstable in shape, the restriction guide portion 7 provided in the paper feed guide mechanism 2,
That is, the first regulation guides 11p and 11q, the second regulation guides 12p and 12q, which are rationally arranged in the paper feed guide mechanism 2,
Since the irregularity from the regular position is regulated by being guided by the third regulation guide 13, various troubles that occur when printing the envelope Pe can be reliably prevented, and the operation limiting function provided in the control unit 6 It is possible to reliably prevent troubles such as skew of the envelope Pe due to unstable feeding position of the envelope Pe, and smooth and stable feeding of the envelope Pe can be realized.

The embodiment has been described in detail above.
The present invention is not limited to such an embodiment,
The detailed configuration, shape, quantity, material, etc. can be arbitrarily changed, added, or deleted without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0040]

As described above, in the paper feed mechanism of the printing apparatus according to the present invention, the paper feed guide mechanism is provided with the restriction guide portion for restricting the disturbance of the material to be printed including the envelope from the normal position. It has a remarkable effect.

(1) It is possible to surely prevent various troubles that may occur when an envelope having various factors causing shape instability is fed, and to realize smooth and stable feeding of the envelope.

(2) According to the preferred embodiment, as the regulation guide portion, the first regulation guide which protrudes inward from the upper portion of the side plate and regulates upward displacement with respect to the envelope loaded in the paper feed tray. By providing the above, it is possible to prevent the jumping up of the left and right parts of the envelope that occurs when the pickup roller contacts the envelope on the paper feed tray.

(3) According to the preferred embodiment, if a second regulation guide that regulates upward displacement of the envelope fed by the paper feed roller mechanism is provided as the regulation guide portion, the envelope is fed from the pickup roller. It is possible to prevent the envelope from being displaced upward, and to reliably and stably feed the envelope between the feed roller and the retard roller.

(4) According to the preferred embodiment, if a third regulation guide that regulates downward displacement with respect to the envelope fed by the paper feed roller mechanism is provided as the regulation guide portion, the envelope is fed from the pickup roller. It is possible to prevent the envelope from being displaced downward, and to reliably and stably feed the envelope between the feed roller and the retard roller.

(5) According to a preferred embodiment, when the face control sensor detects the lowering of the uppermost surface position in the control unit, only when the operation of the paper feed roller mechanism is stopped, the paper feed elevator mechanism is operated. If an operation limiting function that allows the operation is provided, it is possible to reliably prevent a trouble such as an unstable feeding position of the envelope and a skew.

(6) According to the preferred embodiment, if the paper feed tray is configured to be detachable and a narrow paper feed tray for loading strips such as seat tags is provided, the strips can be loaded stably. can do.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional side view of a sheet feeding mechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a front configuration diagram of the paper feeding mechanism as viewed from the rear in the transport direction;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a paper feed guide mechanism in the paper feed mechanism,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of different paper feed trays provided in a paper feed guide mechanism in the paper feed mechanism;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining processing of an operation limiting function provided in a control unit in the paper feeding mechanism,

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a printing system including a printing apparatus including the paper feeding mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of a mechanical system of a printing apparatus including the paper feeding mechanism,

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Paper feed mechanism 2 Paper feed guide mechanism 2s paper feed tray 2p side plate 2q side plate 2ss narrow paper tray 3 Paper feed elevator mechanism 4 Paper feed roller mechanism 5 Face control sensor 6 control unit 7 Regulation guide part 11p First Regulation Guide 11q First Regulation Guide 12p second regulation guide 12q Second Regulation Guide 13 Third Regulation Guide P Printed material Pe envelope Ps strip paper Xu top surface position M printing device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme Coat (reference) B65H 7/06 B65H 7/06 (72) Inventor Minoru Kasugahara 1163 Shimohae, Inari-cho, Nagano-shi, Nagano Nagano Japan In-house F-term (reference) 2C059 DD06 DD14 DD24 DD30 3F048 AA05 AB04 BB02 CB12 CB17 DA01 DC14 EB02 EB06 EB12 3F343 FA06 FA17 FB04 FC23 FC27 GA01 GB01 GC01 GD01 HA17 HA23 HA34 HB07 HB10 HD09 KA13 MA32 MA09 02 MC17

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A paper feed tray having a paper feed tray for loading a large number of printing materials including at least envelopes, and a paper feed guide mechanism having a pair of side plates arranged on the left and right of the paper feed tray, and a paper feed for raising and lowering the paper feed tray. An elevator mechanism, a paper feed roller mechanism that feeds the printing materials one by one from the paper feeding guide mechanism, and a top surface position of the printing materials loaded in the paper feeding tray are detected by a face control sensor. In a paper feeding mechanism of a printing apparatus, which includes a control unit that drives and controls the paper feeding elevator mechanism to raise the paper feeding tray to a fixed position when the paper feeding elevator mechanism is lowered, A paper feed mechanism for a printing apparatus, which is provided with a restriction guide section for restricting the disturbance of the sheet. 2. The regulation guide portion includes a first regulation guide which projects inward from an upper portion of the side plate and regulates upward displacement with respect to the object to be printed loaded in the paper feed tray. The paper feed mechanism of the printing apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the regulation guide section includes a second regulation guide that regulates upward displacement of the printing medium fed by the paper feed roller mechanism. Paper feed mechanism. 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the regulation guide section includes a third regulation guide that regulates downward displacement of the printing medium sent by the paper feed roller mechanism. Paper feed mechanism. 5. The control unit, when the face control sensor detects the lowering of the uppermost surface position,
2. The paper feed mechanism of the printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operation limiting function that allows the operation of the paper feed elevator mechanism only when the operation of the paper feed roller mechanism is stopped. 6. The paper feed mechanism of a printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed tray is configured to be removable and is an arbitrary paper feed tray selected from a plurality of different paper feed trays. . 7. The paper feed mechanism of a printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the paper feed tray includes a narrow paper feed tray for loading strips such as seat cards.