JP2005280921A - Medium feeding device and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a medium feed device easily resetting a feed error in a feed roller, and a recording device, and a liquid jet device having the feed device. <P>SOLUTION: The medium feed device has a rotation regulating means 70 to regulate the rotation in the direction opposite to the feeding direction of a feed roller 45, and a rotational force regulating means 80 which transmits the rotational force in the feed direction transmitted from the rotation regulating means to the feed roller and allows the feed roller in an idling manner when the rotational force in the direction opposite to the feed direction is added from the feed roller. Thus, even if feed error occurs during the feed by the feed roller, the medium is easily drawn out from the feed roller by pulling the medium from the feed side. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a medium feeding device that feeds a medium, a recording device including the medium feeding device, and a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  Inkjet printers, which are one type of recording apparatus, include a type that feeds paper from the back side and discharges it to the front side, and a type that feeds and discharges paper on the front side. A type of printer that feeds and discharges paper on the front side has a paper feed tray disposed in the lower part of the front of the apparatus and a paper discharge stacker in the upper part. The paper stored in the paper feed tray is fed and reversed by the paper feed roller, conveyed and recorded by the paper feed roller, and discharged onto the paper discharge stacker by the paper discharge roller. Yes.

JP 2001-240263 A

  In the above-described conventional ink jet printer, when a paper jam or other feeding error occurs during feeding by the paper feed roller, a load to reversely rotate the paper feed roller is large even if the paper is pulled from the paper feed tray side. Therefore, the paper cannot be removed from the paper feed roller. Also, if the paper is forcibly pulled, the paper may be torn. In such a case, the feeding error cannot be canceled unless the rear cover of the printer is opened.

  The present invention has been made in view of the various problems as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a medium feeding device capable of easily canceling a feeding error in the feeding roller, and the medium feeding device. Another object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a liquid ejecting apparatus.

  To achieve the above object, the medium feeding device of the present invention is a medium feeding device for feeding a medium by a feeding roller, and a rotation regulating means for regulating the rotation of the feeding roller in the reverse feeding direction. The rotational force transmitted from the rotation restricting means is transmitted to the feed roller, and the rotational force that causes the feed roller to idle when a reverse feed force is applied from the feed roller. It is characterized by having a regulation means. Thus, even if a feeding error occurs during feeding by the feeding roller, the medium can be easily pulled out from the feeding roller by pulling the medium from the feeding side.

  Further, the rotation restricting means and the rotational force restricting means are connected to each other and attached to the shaft of the feeding roller. Thereby, since the rotation restricting means and the rotational force restricting means can be gathered in a compact manner, the size of the device itself can be reduced. Further, the rotation restricting means and the rotational force restricting means function as means for canceling the medium feeding error. Thereby, the medium can be pulled from the feeding side to cancel the feeding error, so that the medium feeding error clearing operation can be simplified. Further, the rotation restricting means is a one-way clutch, and the rotational force restricting means is a torque limiter. Thereby, since it becomes a simple structure, while arranging space can be made small, component cost can be held down low.

  In order to achieve the above object, the recording apparatus of the present invention is a recording apparatus for recording on a medium, and is provided with each of the medium feeding apparatuses. The liquid ejecting apparatus of the present invention is a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid onto a medium to be ejected, and includes the above-described medium feeding devices. Thereby, it is possible to provide a recording apparatus and a liquid ejecting apparatus that exhibit the above-described effects.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the entire external configuration of an inkjet type multifunction peripheral that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the internal structure, and FIG. It is the schematic side view. The ink jet type multifunction peripheral 100 has a printer function capable of recording on, for example, a JIS standard L size, A6 size to A4 size cut sheet or postcard, a JIS standard size A4 size original, Equipped with a scanner function that can read originals up to US standard letter size, and a copy function that can copy to JIS standard L size, 2L size, B5 size, A4 size, six cuts, postcard size paper ing.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 is entirely covered with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing 101, a printer 110 is disposed in the lower stage, and a scanner 120 is disposed in the upper stage. ing. A sheet feeding unit 130 is disposed on the back side, and a sheet feeding / discharging unit 140, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, is disposed on the front side. Since the user can select one or both of the paper feeding unit 130 on the rear side and the paper feeding / discharging unit 140 on the front side as the setting direction of the paper before recording, the degree of freedom of the installation position of the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 Can be increased. Furthermore, since the paper after recording is always discharged from the paper supply / discharge section 140 on the front side, the user can easily take out the paper.

  A rectangular flat plate-shaped scanner cover 102 shown in FIG. 1 is disposed on the upper surface of the housing 101. The scanner cover 102 has a handle 103 formed at the front, and is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow a in the figure around a rotation axis at the rear. When using the scanner 120, the user can open and close the scanner cover 102 by inserting a finger into the handle 103, so that the user can easily put in and out the document.

  On both sides of the front surface of the housing 101, cartridge storage portions 104 into which the plurality of ink cartridges 10 shown in FIG. Each ink cartridge 10 stores ink of each color for recording. Each cartridge storage section 104 is covered with a transparent or translucent cartridge cover 105 shown in FIG. The cartridge cover 105 is attached so as to be rotatable in the direction of the arrow b shown in the figure around a rotation shaft at the lower part thereof. Even if the user does not lift the entire heavy scanner 120 and open the inside of the printer 110 as in the prior art, the ink cartridge can be released by simply pressing the cartridge cover 105 to release the locking portion and opening the cartridge storage portion 104. Since 10 replacement operations and the like can be performed, work efficiency can be improved.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an operation unit 106 for instructing each operation of the printer 110, the scanner 120, and the copy is disposed in front of the scanner cover 102 on the upper surface of the housing 101. The operation unit 106 includes a power system for turning on / off the power, an operation system for operating the cueing of paper, operating an ink flushing, a processing system for performing image processing, etc. A liquid crystal panel 107 and the like for displaying are provided. The user can operate buttons and the like while looking at the liquid crystal panel 107 for confirmation.

  In the housing 101, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a paper supply / discharge unit 140 including a characteristic portion of the present invention, a paper supply unit 130, a recording unit 150, and the like are disposed. As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed unit 130 is formed with a rear paper feed port 131 that opens upward in a rectangular shape, and a frame 132 is formed along both edges and the rear edge of the rear paper feed port 131. It is arranged. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the frame 132 automatically includes a paper support 133 that supports one or more sheets to be fed and a sheet supported by the paper support 133 one by one. A rear sheet feeding mechanism (hereinafter referred to as a rear ASF) 134 for feeding the sheet is disposed.

  FIG. 4 is a side view showing details of the paper support 133 and the rear ASF 134, which will be described with reference to FIGS. The paper support 133 includes a first support 21 and a second support 22 that support the back side of the paper, a fixed edge guide 23 that guides both side edges of the paper, a movable edge guide 24, and the like. The rear ASF 134 is a hopper 31 that lifts the paper supported by the paper support 133, a paper feed roller 32 that picks up the paper lifted by the hopper 31, and a paper that is multi-fed by the paper feed roller 32. A retard roller 33 that separates only one sheet, a rear sheet return unit 34 that returns the remaining sheets separated by the retard roller 33 to the hopper 31, and the like are provided.

  The first support 21 is formed in a flat plate shape and is disposed inside the rear wall of the frame 132 so as to be retractable and retractable. The second support 22 is formed in a flat plate shape so that the first support 21 can be stored and pulled out. It is arranged. Since the first support 21 and the second support 22 are formed to be extendable in the paper feeding direction, they can be stored compactly when not in use, and various sizes of paper can be stored when in use. Can support reliably.

  The fixed edge guide 23 is formed integrally with the hopper 31 in a shape along the right side wall when viewed from the front side of the frame 132, and the movable edge guide 24 is formed along the left side wall when viewed from the front side of the frame 132. And is attached to the hopper 31 so as to be movable between the left side wall and the right side wall of the frame 132 substantially parallel to the rear wall of the frame 132. Since the fixed edge guide 23 and the movable edge guide 24 can reliably guide both side edges of the paper even if the paper sizes are different, the feeding can be performed with high accuracy.

  The hopper 31 is formed in a flat plate shape on which paper can be placed, and is disposed substantially parallel to the rear wall of the frame 132. The lower end is positioned near the paper feed roller 32, and the upper end is the rear wall of the frame 132. It arrange | positions so that it may be located close to the top part. The hopper 31 is provided with the other end of a compression spring (not shown) having one end attached to the rear wall of the frame 132 on the back surface on the lower end side, and the lower end side pivots about the upper end side by expansion and contraction of the compression spring. It is arranged like this.

  The paper feed roller 32 is formed in a D-shape with a part of the cross-section cut away, and is disposed near the lower end of the hopper 31. The paper feed roller 32 rotates intermittently and frictionally feeds the paper lifted by the hopper 31. It is supposed to send. The retard roller 33 is disposed so as to be in contact with the paper feed roller 32, and when the paper is fed by the paper feed roller 32, only the uppermost paper is frictionally separated from the lower paper. Yes. The rear paper return unit 34 is formed in the shape of a claw and is disposed in the vicinity of the paper feed roller 32. The lower paper separated by the retard roller 33 is placed on the claw and returned to the hopper 31. .

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the paper supply / discharge unit 140 is formed with a front paper supply / discharge port 141 that opens in a rectangular shape toward the front, and paper is supplied below the front paper supply / discharge port 141. A tray 142 is disposed, and a paper discharge tray 143 is disposed above the paper feed tray 142. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a front surface, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, automatically feeds the sheets stored in the sheet feed tray 142 one by one at the side of the front sheet feed / discharge port 141. A paper feed mechanism (hereinafter referred to as front ASF) 144 and a front paper discharge mechanism (hereinafter referred to as front EJ) 145 that automatically discharges paper to the paper discharge tray 143 are provided.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the paper feed tray 142 is formed in a flat plate shape, and the paper to be fed before recording is stacked and stored on the upper surface. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the paper discharge tray 143 includes a first tray 143a, a second tray 143b, and a third tray 143c. The first tray 143a is formed in a flat plate shape, and the rear part is rotatably disposed on the main body frame 108 of the paper feed / discharge unit 140, and the second tray 143b is formed in a flat plate shape and the first tray 143a. The third tray 143c is formed in a flat plate shape so as to be retractable and retractable on the second tray 143b.

  The paper discharge tray 143 is configured such that the paper to be discharged after recording is stacked and placed on the upper surface with the second tray 143b and the third tray 143c pulled out. Since the second tray 143b and the third tray 143c are formed to be extendable in the paper discharge direction, they can be stored compactly when not in use, and various sizes of paper can be discharged when in use. The stacked sheets can be surely stacked and placed. The paper supply / discharge unit 140 is also configured to be able to manually feed and supply a tray containing thick paper, an optical disk, or the like that cannot be bent during paper supply / discharge. .

  FIG. 5 is a side view showing details of the front ASF 144, which will be described with reference to FIGS. The front ASF 144 includes a pickup roller unit 41 that takes out the paper stored in the paper feed tray 142, and a bank portion 42 that changes the direction of the paper taken out by the pickup roller unit 41. Further, a retard roller unit 43 that separates the sheets fed by the pickup roller unit 41 into only one sheet, a front sheet return unit 44 that returns the remaining sheets separated by the retard roller unit 43 to the sheet feed tray 142, An intermediate roller (feed roller) 45, an assist roller 46, and the like that reverse the sheet to be fed into a U shape are provided.

  The pickup roller unit 41 is disposed above the rear portion of the paper feed tray 142 and is pivotable up and down with respect to the paper feed tray 142. The pickup roller unit 41 descends and frictionally feeds the paper stored in the paper feed tray 142. It is supposed to send. The bank portion 42 is disposed to be inclined rearward at the rear portion of the paper feed tray 142, and changes the direction of the leading edge of the paper fed by the pickup roller unit 41 upward. .

  The retard roller unit 43 is disposed so as to come into contact with the intermediate roller 45, and when the sheets are fed by the pickup roller unit 41, only the uppermost sheet is frictionally separated from the lower layer sheet. Yes. The front paper return unit 44 is formed in a claw shape and is disposed in the vicinity of the retard roller unit 43, so that the lower layer paper separated by the retard roller unit 43 is put on the claw and returned to the paper feed tray 142. It has become. The assist roller 46 is disposed so as to be in constant contact with the intermediate roller 45. The uppermost sheet separated by the retard roller unit 43 is sandwiched between the intermediate roller 45 and reversed into a U-shape so that the platen Feed to 155.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the front EJ 145 includes a first paper discharge roller 51 and a first jagged roller 52, a second paper discharge roller 53 and a second jagged roller 54, and the like. The first paper discharge roller 51 is disposed on the downstream side of the platen 155, and sandwiches and discharges the paper passing through the platen 155 together with the first knurled roller 52. Further, the second paper discharge roller 53 The paper is disposed downstream of the first paper discharge roller 51, and the paper is nipped together with the second jagged roller 54 to be discharged onto the paper discharge tray 143.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the recording unit 150 includes a paper feed roller 151 that feeds paper in the sub-scanning direction in synchronization with the recording operation, a driven roller 152 thereof, and a carriage 153 that moves in the main scanning direction in synchronization with the recording operation. A recording head 154 that discharges ink in synchronization with the recording operation, a platen 155 that holds the paper during recording flat, and the like are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed roller 151 is arranged on the upstream side of the platen 155 in the conveyance, and the paper fed by the paper feed roller 32 or the paper fed reversely by the intermediate roller 45 is shown in FIG. The paper feed mechanism 156 shown in FIG. 4 is sandwiched with the driven roller 152 and sent out to the platen 155. The carriage 153 is inserted through the carriage guide shaft 157 shown in FIG. 3 above the platen 155 and connected to the carriage belt 158 shown in FIG. 2. When the carriage belt 158 is operated by the carriage motor 159 shown in FIG. Along with the movement of the carriage belt 158, the carriage belt 158 is guided by the carriage guide shaft 157 to reciprocate.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the recording head 154 is mounted on the carriage 153 at a predetermined distance from the platen 155. For example, the recording head for black ink that discharges black ink, yellow, cyan, light cyan, And a plurality of color ink recording heads for ejecting magenta and light magenta inks, respectively. The recording head 154 is provided with a pressure generating chamber and a nozzle opening connected to the pressure generating chamber. The size of the recording head 154 is controlled from the nozzle opening toward the sheet by storing ink in the pressure generating chamber and pressurizing it with a predetermined pressure. Ink droplets are discharged. Next, the periphery of the intermediate roller 45 of the paper supply / discharge unit 140, which is a characteristic part of the present invention, will be further described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing details of the periphery of the intermediate roller 45 of the paper supply / discharge unit 140. As shown in FIG. 6A, the intermediate roller 45 is driven by the rotational force transmitted from the paper feed roller 151 driven by the paper feed mechanism 156 shown in FIG. That is, a gear train 60, a one-way clutch (rotation restricting means) 70, and a torque limiter (rotational force restricting means) 80 are arranged between the paper feed roller 151 and the intermediate roller 45 as a rotational force transmission mechanism.

  The gear train 60 includes a first spur gear 61 fitted to the paper feed roller 151, a second spur gear 62 that meshes with the first spur gear 61, a third spur gear 63 that meshes with the second spur gear 62, A compound gear 64 that meshes with the third spur gear 63 is provided. The one-way clutch 70 is of a general internal tooth type, and operates so as not to regulate the rotation of the intermediate roller 45 in the sheet feeding direction and to regulate the rotation in the sheet feeding reverse direction. The one-way clutch 70 is fitted to the shaft 45 a of the intermediate roller 45 and is disposed so as to mesh with the compound gear 64.

  The torque limiter 80 includes a coil spring 81 and a holder 82. The coil spring 81 is inserted into the shaft 45 a of the intermediate roller 45. The holder 82 is formed in a cylindrical shape capable of covering the coil spring 81, one end is connected to one end of the one-way clutch 70 by meshing, and the other end is meshed with one end of the coil spring 81. . That is, a convex portion 82a is formed at one end of the holder 82, and the holder 82 and the one-way clutch 70 are engaged with each other by engaging with a concave portion 70a formed at one end of the one-way clutch 70 as shown in FIG. Are connected. A recess 82b is formed at the other end of the holder 82. As shown in FIG. 6B, one end of the coil spring 81 is bent perpendicularly to the axis and inserted, so that the holder 82 and the coil spring 81 are It is designed to be locked. The loosening torque of the coil spring 81 is set to be larger than the load applied to the shaft 45 a of the intermediate roller 45 by the gear train 60.

  In such a configuration, the rotational force in the paper feeding direction transmitted from the paper feed roller 151 is transmitted from the gear train 60 to the torque limiter 80 via the one-way clutch 70. Since the rotational force at this time is smaller than the loosening torque of the coil spring 81, it is transmitted to the shaft 45a of the intermediate roller 45 via the coil spring 81. Therefore, the intermediate roller 45 rotates smoothly in the paper feeding direction.

  On the other hand, when a paper jam occurs in the intermediate roller 45, when the user pulls the paper from the paper feed tray 142 side, a rotational force is applied to the intermediate roller 45 in the reverse direction of paper feed. If the rotational force at this time is somewhat larger than the loosening torque of the coil spring 81, the coil spring 81 is twisted in the loosening direction, that is, in the direction away from the shaft 45a of the intermediate roller 45. Accordingly, the shaft 45a of the intermediate roller 45 rotates idly, and the intermediate roller 45 rotates smoothly in the reverse direction of paper feed. Therefore, the user can pull out the paper from the paper feed tray 142 side without damaging the paper, and can easily release the paper jam in a short time.

  According to the configuration as described above, since the internal tooth type one-way clutch 70 is used, the number of parts can be greatly reduced compared to the case where a planetary gear as in the prior art is used. And backlash can be reduced. And since the torque limiter 80 is combined, the intermediate roller 45 can be fed and rotated in reverse by applying a rotational force exceeding the loosening torque of the torque limiter 80, and a feeding error such as a paper jam can be caused. It can be easily released from the front side. If a paper jam or the like occurs when the paper reaches the paper feed roller 151, a load is applied by the paper feed roller 151. Therefore, the driven roller 152 is released by some method, so that the paper is not damaged. It can be pulled out from the paper tray 142 side.

  In such a configuration, an operation in the case of recording on a sheet by the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 will be described. The user stores a plurality of sheets of paper before recording in the paper feed tray 142 and activates the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100. The sheets stacked and stored in the sheet feed tray 142 are frictionally fed to the intermediate roller 45 by the pickup roller unit 41 driven by the paper feed mechanism 156, and only the uppermost sheet is driven by the paper feed mechanism 156. Separated by the retard roller unit 43 and fed. The paper is skewed and cueed, and is nipped by the paper feed roller 151 driven by the paper feed mechanism 156 and its driven roller 152 and fed to the platen 155.

  The sheet is recorded by a recording head 154 mounted on a carriage 153 scanned by a carriage motor 159 and a carriage belt 158. At this time, the control unit of the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 supplies each color ink to the recording head 154 from a total of seven color ink cartridges, for example, yellow, magenta, light magenta, cyan, light cyan, and black. High-precision ink dot control, halftone processing, and the like are executed by controlling the driving of the carriage 153 and the paper feed roller 151. The paper on which recording has been completed is sandwiched between the first paper discharge roller 51 and the first jagged roller 52, the second paper discharge roller 53 and the second jagged roller 54 driven by the paper feed mechanism 156, and the paper supply / discharge unit 140. And is stacked and placed on a paper discharge tray 143.

  As described above, according to the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 of the present embodiment, the one-way clutch 70 that restricts the rotation of the intermediate roller 45 in the reverse feeding direction and the rotational force in the feeding direction transmitted from the one-way clutch 70 are reduced. A torque limiter 80 that idles the intermediate roller 45 when it is transmitted to the intermediate roller 45 and a reverse rotation force is applied from the intermediate roller 45 is provided. Even if this occurs, the sheet can be easily extracted from the intermediate roller 45 by pulling the sheet from the feeding side. Further, since the one-way clutch 70 and the torque limiter 80 are connected to each other and attached to the shaft 45a of the intermediate roller 45, the one-way clutch 70 and the torque limiter 80 can be compactly gathered, and the size of the inkjet multifunction peripheral 100 itself can be reduced. .

  Any recording apparatus provided with a medium feeding device can be applied to, for example, a facsimile machine, a copying machine, and the like. In addition to the recording apparatus, the meaning of a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid corresponding to its use from a liquid ejecting head onto an ejected medium instead of ink and attaches the liquid to the ejected medium is, for example, a liquid crystal display or the like Color material jet head used for manufacturing color filters, electrode material (conductive paste) jet head used for electrode formation for organic EL display and surface emitting display (FED), bio-organic matter jet head used for biochip manufacturing, precision pipette The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus equipped with a sample ejection head or the like.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an overall appearance configuration of an ink jet type multifunction peripheral that is one of recording apparatuses according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an internal structure of the multifunction machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view of the internal structure of the multifunction machine of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a side view showing details of a paper support and a rear ASF of the multifunction machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a side view showing details of a front ASF of the multifunction machine of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating details of a periphery of an intermediate roller of a paper feeding / discharging unit of the multifunction peripheral of FIG. 1.

Explanation of symbols

21 First support, 22 Second support, 23 Fixed edge guide, 24 Movable edge guide, 31 Hopper, 32 Paper feed roller, 45 Intermediate roller, 60 Gear train, 70 One-way clutch, 80 Torque limiter, 81 Coil spring, 82 Holder, 100 Inkjet MFP, 101 Housing, 110 Printer, 120 Scanner, 130 Paper Feed Unit, 131 Rear Paper Feed Port, 132 Frame, 133 Paper Support, 134 Rear ASF, 140 Paper Feed / Discharge Unit, 150 Recording Unit, 151 Paper Feed Roller, 156 Paper feed mechanism

Claims (6)

A medium feeding device for feeding a medium by a feeding roller,
Rotation regulating means for regulating rotation of the feeding roller in the feeding reverse direction;
Rotational force regulation that transmits the rotational force in the feeding direction transmitted from the rotation regulating means to the feeding roller and causes the feeding roller to idle when a rotational force in the feeding reverse direction is applied from the feeding roller. And a medium feeding device. The medium feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation regulating unit and the rotational force regulating unit are connected to each other and attached to a shaft of the feeding roller. The medium feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the rotation regulating unit and the rotational force regulating unit function as a cancellation unit for the medium feeding error. The medium feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rotation restricting unit is a one-way clutch, and the rotating force restricting unit is a torque limiter. A recording device for recording on a medium,
A recording apparatus comprising the medium feeding device according to claim 1. A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects liquid onto a medium to be ejected,
A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising the medium feeding device according to claim 1.

Images