JP2012046313A - Sheet supply tray, and sheet supply and conveying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the inclination and lateral misalignment of sheets, and reduce back tension that acts on the sheets when the sheets are conveyed.SOLUTION: A sheet supply and conveying apparatus includes: first and second guide members 101, 102 that guide each of side end portion in a conveying direction to be brought into contact with each side end portion in the width direction of the sheets; a stacked member 110 that is disposed to be separated from the guide members 101, 102 and has a support surface for supporting an inner region of the sheets; first and second movable members 111, 112 that hold the guide members 101, 102, respectively; and a moving mechanism that moves the first movable member 111 so that the first guide member 101 is separated form the side end portion of the sheet stacked on the stacked member 110 by a driving force from outside, and moves the second movable member 112 so that the guide member 102 is separated from the side end portion of the sheets in conjunction with the movement of the first movable member 111.

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet supply tray for supplying a sheet such as a recording sheet to a conveying unit and a sheet feeding / conveying apparatus including the same.

  2. Description of the Related Art A sheet supply tray for supplying a sheet of recording paper, original paper, or the like to conveyance means provided in a printer or a copying machine is widely known. In general, the sheet supply tray includes side guides that are provided so that the user can adjust the position according to the sheet size and that guide both side edges of the sheet (for example, see Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses that both side guides are connected to the side edges of the sheet so that the back tension acting on the sheet is not increased by the frictional resistance between the side guides and the side edges of the sheet during printing on the sheet being conveyed. A configuration for evacuating from is disclosed.

JP 2007-131422 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, since the weight of the stacked sheet bundle is received in the direction in which the side guide is retracted while receiving the weight of the side guide, the sheet bundle is disturbed, and there is a possibility that the skew or lateral deviation of the sheet may occur. . Further, since the side guide is moved while receiving the weight of the sheet bundle, a large power is required for the movement of the side guide, and the moving mechanism of the side guide needs to be sturdy. Further, the play existing in the mechanism for retracting the side guide may cause the skew of the sheet and the lateral shift.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a sheet supply tray capable of suppressing the occurrence of skew and lateral deviation of a sheet while reducing the back tension acting on the sheet being conveyed, and a sheet feeding / conveying apparatus including the sheet supply tray. .

  The sheet supply tray of the present invention is a sheet supply tray that supplies the sheet to a feeding unit that feeds the sheet to the conveying unit one by one, and is in contact with each side end in the width direction of the sheet. First and second guide members that can respectively guide the sheet in the feed-out direction, and a placement member that is disposed away from the first and second guide members and has a support surface that supports the inner region of the sheet; The first and second movable members that respectively hold the first and second guide members, and the side edge of the sheet on which the first guide member is placed on the placement member by the applied driving force The first movable member is moved so as to approach and separate from the sheet, and the second guide member is moved toward and away from the side edge of the sheet in conjunction with the movement of the first movable member. The second movable member A moving mechanism for moving, characterized by having a.

  According to the present invention, by supporting the inner region of the sheet with the mounting member, the friction between the guide member and the sheet can be reduced, the back tension acting on the sheet being conveyed is reduced, and the sheet It is possible to suppress the occurrence of skew and lateral deviation.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer as a sheet feeding / conveying apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a detailed view of a sheet feeding tray 100 in FIG. 1 (A arrow view). FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the vicinity of a side guide and a mounting plate in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. It is the figure which looked at FIG. 3 from the back. FIG. 6 is a detailed view of part E in FIG. 5. It is a perspective view which shows the detail of the moving mechanism which moves a movable plate. It is an enlarged view which shows the detail of the moving mechanism which moves a movable plate. FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the vicinity of the pinion in FIG. 5. It is a figure showing the effect | action of the spring in FIG. It is a schematic block diagram of the sheet feeding / conveying apparatus which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment]
1 to 8 are views showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer as a sheet feeding and conveying apparatus. 100 and 200 are paper feed trays, 1 and 4 are paper feed rollers (feeding means), 2 is a flapper, 3 is a pair of transport rollers (transport means), 5 is a platen, 6 is a carriage unit, and 7 is a pair of paper discharge rollers. , 8 is a paper discharge tray. The sheets stacked on the sheet feed tray 100 or 200 are conveyed one by one to a pair of conveyance rollers, printed on the platen by the ink head on the carriage unit 6, and discharged onto the sheet discharge tray 8 by the sheet discharge roller pair. Paper. Since the operations of paper feeding / conveying / printing are well known, they are omitted here.

  FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the sheet feeding tray 100 as a sheet supply tray, as viewed from the direction indicated by the arrow A in FIG. Reference numerals 101 and 102 denote left and right side guides (first and second guide members) for guiding the side edges of the sheet. The user moves this according to the sheet size, and the guide portions 101a and 102a perpendicular to the sheet stacking surfaces 101c and 102c of the side guides 101 and 102 are brought into contact with the side edges of the sheet. As a result, the side edges of the sheet P are brought into contact with the side edges in the width direction, and the side edges are guided in the feeding direction F, respectively. Reference numeral 110 denotes a mounting plate (a mounting member), which is disposed apart from the side guides 101 and 102. The placement plate 110 has a support surface 110k that supports the inner region of the sheet P. 111 and 112 are left and right movable plates (first and second movable members). The left movable plate 111 (first movable member) and the right movable plate 112 (second movable member) are the left side guide 101 (first guide member) and the right side guide 102 (second guide member), respectively. Holds movable. Specifically, the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102 are respectively held by the left and right movable plates 111 and 112 so as to be movable in the width direction of the sheet P placed on the placement plate 110. The side guides 101 and 102 are held at the stationary positions of the movable plates 111 and 112 by a frictional force, and can be moved relative to the movable plates 111 and 112 by the action of an external force exceeding the frictional force by a user or the like. Details will be described later.

  The mounting plate 110 is fixed to the base portion 105 of the paper feed tray 100. 121 is a cover part fixed to the base part 105 similarly to the mounting plate 110. FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the vicinity of the mounting plate of FIG. The elongated holes 111b, 111c, 112b, and 112c of the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 are fitted to round bosses (not shown) of the base 105 and can move in the directions of arrows B and C, respectively. It is.

  4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. The support surface 110k of the mounting plate 110 is disposed at a position one step higher than the surfaces of the left and right movable plates 111 and 112. The support surface 110k is disposed at a position higher than the sheet stacking surfaces 101c and 102c of the side guides 101 and 102. The support surface 110k can be flush with the sheet stacking surfaces 101c and 102c. A width R of the mounting plate 110 is configured to be wider than a width Q of the left and right side guides 101 and 102. The friction coefficient of the material of the mounting plate 110 with respect to the sheet is set to be higher than the friction coefficient of the material of the side guide with respect to the sheet. Specifically, in this embodiment, the mounting plate 110 is made of polystyrene, and the side guides 101 and 102 are made of polyoxymethylene.

  FIG. 5 is a rear view of FIG. Reference numeral 107 denotes a left side guide rack, which is fixed to the left side guide 101 via a left mounting plate 160. The right side guide rack 108 is fixed to the right side guide 102 via a mounting plate 161. Reference numeral 150 denotes a pinion that is fitted to the boss portion 110 b of the mounting plate 110 and meshes with the left side guide rack 107 and the right side guide rack 108. 6 is a detailed view of a portion E in FIG. The hole 107a of the left side guide rack 107 is fitted into the boss 101b of the left side guide 101 protruding from the hole 111a of the left movable plate 111, and the compression spring 163 is interposed between the left side guide rack 107 and the mounting plate 160. The mounting plate 160 and the boss 101b of the side guide 101 are fastened with screws. As a result, the left side guide 101 and the left side guide rack 107 are integrally coupled. The right side guide 102 has the same configuration. In addition, a frictional resistance due to the spring 163 acts between the left side guide 101 and the left movable plate 111 to give a moderate operational feeling when the user moves, and to prevent the side guide from moving due to the force received from the seat. ing.

  In FIG. 5, a left movable plate rack 142 and a right movable plate rack 143 are fixed to the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 by screws, respectively. The left movable plate rack 142 and the right movable plate rack 143 mesh with the pinion 141 fitted to the boss portion 110a of the mounting plate 110 in common.

  FIG. 7 is a detail of the F section in FIG. Reference numeral 130 denotes an input gear, which rotates when a driving force (not shown) from the printer body is transmitted (applied). Reference numeral 133 denotes an output gear that is integrally coupled to 130 and meshes with the rack 132. When the input gear 130 and the output gear 133 rotate by a predetermined angle in the direction of arrow F due to the rotation transmitted from the printer main body, the rack 132 moves in the direction of arrow G. The boss portion 132a of the rack 132 is fitted in the groove portion 111f of the left movable plate 111 in FIG. Since the groove 111f is inclined, when the rack 132 moves in the direction of arrow G, the left movable plate 111 moves in the direction of arrow H. FIG. 8 shows details of the groove 111 f of the left movable plate 111 and the boss 132 a of the rack 132. In the normal state, the rack 132 has the boss 132a at the position J. As described above, when the rack 132 moves in the H direction by the rotation of the input gear, the boss portion 132a moves to the K position. When the left movable plate rack 142 integrally coupled with the left movable plate 111 in FIG. 5 moves in the direction of arrow H, the left movable plate 111 moves in the direction of arrow H. The right movable plate rack 143 moves in the direction of arrow I through the pinion 141 in FIG. The right movable plate 112 integrally coupled with the rack 143 also moves in the direction of arrow I. Since the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102 are held by the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 as described above, they move together when the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 move. At this time, since most of the weight of the seat is received by the mounting plate 110, the required torque when the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 move is small.

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 171 denotes a tension spring (elastic member) that urges the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 in the direction of pulling each other. 9 and 10 are enlarged views of the vicinity of the pinion 141 in FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the relationship between the rack and the pinion when assuming a state where the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 are not urged by the tension spring 171. The pinion 141 and the right movable plate rack 143 have a backlash amount (M + N). In this state, the right movable plate 112 has a backlash amount. The same applies to the left movable plate rack 142, and the left movable plate 111 has a backlash. By urging with the tension spring 171, the left and right racks 142 and 143 are pulled in the directions of arrows O and S as shown in FIG. 10, and are pressed against the tooth surfaces of the pinion 141, thereby eliminating rattling. As a result, the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102 can firmly press the side edges of the sheet without rattling.

  The operation of the above configuration will be described. The user stacks the sheets P on the sheet feeding tray 100 in FIG. 1, picks one or both of the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102 with a finger, and slides the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102. Adjust the interval to the sheet size. Then, a print signal is sent to the printer from a personal computer (not shown) connected to the printer. When the sheet P is fed out by the sheet feeding roller 1 and engages with the rotating conveying roller 3 to reach a position below the printing position of the head 6, the input gear 130 in FIG. 7 is rotated in the direction of arrow F. As the rack 132 moves in the direction of arrow G, the left movable plate 111 and the right movable plate 112 in FIG. 5 move in the directions of arrows H and I, respectively, in conjunction with each other. Thereby, the left side guide 101 and the right side guide 102 are moved away from the side edge of the sheet P so as not to have back tension during printing. When printing is completed, the input gear 130 rotates by a predetermined angle in the direction opposite to the arrow F, so that the left side guide 111 and the right side guide 112 return to positions where they abut against the side edges of the sheet.

  By supporting most of the weight of the sheet with the mounting plate 110 and supporting the sheet with a higher coefficient of friction than the side guides 101 and 102, the left and right movable plates 111 and 112 have a small power without disturbing the stacked sheet bundle. Thus, it can be separated from the side edge of the seat together with the side guide. Furthermore, the left and right movable plates move the same distance when the side guides are retracted, so that the stacked sheet bundle is not disturbed. Further, since the moving mechanism of the movable plate is free from play due to the action of the tension spring 171, there is no skew or lateral deviation of the conveyed sheet.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the present invention has been described as a paper feed tray of a printer. However, the present invention can also be implemented as a paper feed tray of a document transport device (sheet feed / transport device). FIG. 11 shows the document conveying device. Reference numeral 100 denotes a paper feed tray having the same configuration as the paper feed tray 100 in the first embodiment, and 101 denotes a side guide. Reference numeral 301 denotes a paper feed roller pair, 302 a platen roller, 303 a paper guide, 305 a platen glass, 306 a contact image sensor, 307 a paper discharge roller pair, and 308 a paper discharge tray. The user sets the original D on the paper feed tray 100 and sets the side guides so as to be aligned with the paper edges. In response to an input signal from a personal computer or the like (not shown), the rollers 301, 302, and 307 rotate to convey the document D. When the document D reaches the reading position by the contact image sensor 306, the side guide moves to the retracted position.

100: Paper feed tray (sheet supply tray)
101 ... Left side guide (first guide member)
102 ... Right side guide (second guide member)
110 ... Placement plate (placement member)
111 ... Left movable plate (first movable member)
112... Right movable plate (second movable member)

Claims (6)

A sheet supply tray that supplies the sheet to a feeding unit that feeds the sheet to the conveying unit one by one;
First and second guide members that abut each side edge in the width direction of the sheet to guide each side edge in the feeding direction;
A mounting member disposed apart from the first and second guide members and having a support surface for supporting an inner region of the sheet;
First and second movable members respectively holding the first and second guide members;
Due to the applied driving force, the first movable member is moved so that the first guide member is separated from the side edge of the sheet placed on the placing member, and the first movable member is moved. And a moving mechanism for moving the second movable member so that the second guide member moves away from the side edge of the sheet in conjunction with the sheet supply tray. The moving mechanism includes a rack provided on each of the first and second movable members;
The sheet supply tray according to claim 1, further comprising: a pinion that is provided on the placement member and meshes with the rack in common.   The sheet supply tray according to claim 2, further comprising an elastic member that urges the first and second movable members in a direction of pulling each other.   The first and second guide members are respectively held by the first and second movable members so as to be movable in the width direction of the sheet placed on the placing member, and the first and second guide members are caused by a frictional force. 2. The seat according to claim 1, wherein the seat is held at a stationary position of the two movable members and is movable with respect to the first and second movable members by the action of an external force exceeding the frictional force. Supply tray. A sheet supply tray for placing sheets;
A feeding means for feeding out the sheets placed on the sheet supply tray one by one;
Conveying means for conveying the sheet sent out by the feeding means,
The sheet supply tray is in contact with each side end in the width direction of the sheet, and guides each side end in the feeding direction, respectively, and first and second guide members,
A mounting member disposed apart from the first and second guide members and having a support surface for supporting an inner region of the sheet;
First and second movable members respectively holding the first and second guide members;
First and second movable members respectively holding the first and second guide members;
The applied driving force moves the first movable member so that the first guide member moves away from the side edge of the sheet placed on the placing member, and the first movable member And a moving mechanism that moves the second movable member so that the second guide member moves away from the side edge of the sheet in conjunction with the movement.   In the state where the first and second guide members are in contact with the respective side edges of the sheet placed on the sheet supply tray, the sheet is fed by the feeding unit and engaged with the conveying unit. The sheet feeding / conveying apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a driving force is applied to the moving mechanism so as to be separated from each side end of the sheet.

Images