JP2007290847A - Tray moving type automatic document feeding device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tray feeding type automatic document feeding device capable of facilitating access to a document to be delivered and recovering the delivered document securely while facilitating the work for feeding a document. <P>SOLUTION: In this tray moving type automatic document feeding device capable of feeding a document 31 to be fed on a document tray 6 to a paper feeding device 5 automatically and conveying and delivering the document 31 automatically, the document tray 6 is provided at a paper feeding position for loading the document to be fed before reading and a delivery position for loading the delivered document 32 after reading displaceably, and a holding device 11 for receiving and holding the document 31 to be fed on the document tray 6 is provided in the paper feeding device 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tray-moving automatic document feeder such as an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) connected to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile.

In a conventional tray moving type automatic document feeder, when a document is placed on a sheet feeding tray, the sheet feeding tray is moved upward from a predetermined first position to be positioned at the uppermost position. Set the document to be fed to the second position where the document can be fed, and after starting feeding the document, always raise the feed tray according to the decrease in the document on the feed tray. The paper feed document located at the top of the paper feed tray is set to the second position, and when all the paper feed originals on the paper feed tray are fed, the paper feed tray is further moved upward to enter the third position. What is moved to the position is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-16093 A

  By the way, the tray-moving automatic document feeder described in Patent Document 1 moves the paper feed tray to the third position when the paper feed document is no longer on the paper feed tray, thereby ejecting the discharged paper. Although the document can be easily taken, the paper feed tray is still at the top. Therefore, it may not be easy for some users to access the discharged document. Further, the problem that it is difficult to see depending on the viewing angle of the discharged document has not been solved. For this reason, there is a possibility that the user forgets to collect the discharged document.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and facilitates access to a discharged document while easily feeding a supplied document, and reliably collects the discharged document. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tray moving type automatic document feeder capable of performing the above.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the invention described in claim 1 is directed to a tray-moving automatic document feeder that automatically feeds a fed document on a document tray to a sheet feeding device and automatically conveys and discharges the document. The document tray is provided so as to be displaceable between a feeding position for placing the fed document before reading and a discharging position for placing the discharged document after reading. A holding device for receiving and holding a fed document is provided.
With this configuration, after setting the fed document on the document tray at the feeding position to the feedable position, the fed document is transferred to the holding device, so that the document tray can be moved to the feeding operation. End the engagement and displace to the discharge position to enable the discharge operation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the holding device includes a pressing plate that presses the upper surface of the paper feeding document and a biasing member that presses the pressing plate against the paper feeding document. And
With this configuration, a bundle of fed documents can be held by a holding device including a pressing plate and an urging member without depending on the document tray.

The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that the document tray is supported so as to be rotatable about an end portion on the discharge direction side as an axis.
With this configuration, when the document tray is rotated upward, it becomes a paper feed position, and when it is rotated downward, it becomes a discharge position.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the document tray is fed by transferring the fed document to the holding device after setting the fed document on the document tray at the feeding position to the feedable position. In order to end the involvement in the operation and displace it to the discharge position to enable the discharge operation, while performing the paper feeding operation in the same operation procedure as before, the discharged document is placed on the document tray where it can be surely seen. As a result of being discharged and placed, there is an effect that the discharged document can be easily accessed and can be reliably collected.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the bundle of fed documents can be held by the holding device including the pressing plate and the urging member without relying on the document tray. Even in this state, the document tray can be moved to the discharge position, and the discharged document can be smoothly placed on the document tray.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the document tray is moved to the upper side to be the paper feed position, and is turned to the lower side to be the discharge position. There is an effect that can be moved to.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, a tray-moving automatic document feeder 3 is provided at the top of an image forming apparatus 2 of a copying machine 1 so as to be opened and closed by a hinge connection (not shown). The tray moving type automatic document feeder 3 includes a substantially rectangular frame 4 and a paper feeder 5 on one side of the frame 4. The document tray 6 is engaged with a rotatable support bar 8 passed to a support column 7 provided on both sides opposite to the side on which the paper feeding device 5 is provided.
The image forming apparatus 2 includes an image reading unit 51, an operation unit, a control unit, a data storage unit, a paper storage unit, a printing unit, a toner unit, and the like, and prints an original image read by the image reading unit 51. The image data can be output to a computer display or the like.

A paper feeding unit 9 for feeding a paper feeding document 31 is provided on the upper front wall of the paper feeding device 5, and a mounting table 10 is formed so as to connect the paper feeding unit 9 and the document tray 6. ing. The mounting table 10 is formed so that a paper feed document 31 can be placed. The paper feed document 31 is held on the mounting table 10 by pressing the paper feed document 31 from the upper surface of the mounting table 10. And a pair of paper feed document cursors 12 that can support both ends of the paper feed document 31 and can slide toward and away from each other. It has been.
A paper discharge unit 13 is provided at the lower part of the front wall of the paper supply device 5 to discharge the paper output document 32 that has been read. A cover 14 is provided on the upper surface of the sheet feeding device 5 so as to be openable and closable.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the inside of the paper feeding device 5 is a delivery roller capable of feeding the paper feed document 31 from the top of the bundle of paper feed documents 31 placed on the document tray 6. 21 is provided in parallel with the paper feed unit 9 and facing the paper feed unit 9. The delivery roller 21 can move between a standby position and a delivery position by an arm 21a. The delivery roller 21 is normally in a standby position, and is moved to the delivery position by an arm 21 a that swings from the standby position, and is configured to be able to contact the uppermost document of the fed document 31. A pair of separation rollers 21 ′ for feeding the sheet-fed originals 31 one by one and adjusting the position of the leading end of the sheet-fed original 31 are arranged in parallel with the feed roller 21 on the downstream side of the feed roller 21. Is provided. On the downstream side of the separation roller 21 ′, a pair of feeding rollers 22 for conveying the fed document 31 one by one is provided in parallel with the separation roller in the axial direction.

The contact roller 23 is provided further downstream of the feed roller 22 so as to be parallel to the feed roller 22 in the axial direction and in contact with a glass surface (not shown) on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 2. Around the contact roller 23, small-diameter auxiliary rollers 26, 27, and 28 are provided in contact with the peripheral surface of the contact roller 23 and parallel to the contact roller 23 in the axial direction.
A document reading unit 51 provided inside the image forming apparatus 2 is disposed immediately below the contact roller 23 at a position facing the glass surface (not shown). On the downstream side of the contact roller 23, a plurality of pair of discharge rollers 24 for conveying the fed document 31 toward the paper discharge unit 13 are provided in parallel with the contact roller 23 in the axial direction. On the further downstream side of the discharge roller 24, a pair of discharge rollers 25 for discharging the fed document 31 onto the document tray 6 is provided in parallel to the discharge roller 24 in the axial direction. The discharge roller 25 is disposed in parallel with the paper discharge unit 13 and is provided to face the paper discharge unit 13.

The document tray 6 is engaged with a rotatable support bar 8 passed to the support column 7 so that both the fed document 31 and the discharged document 32 can be placed. The document tray 6 is configured to be movable between a first position (feed position) shown in FIG. 2 and a second position (discharge position) shown in FIG. A document detection sensor 15 capable of recognizing the presence or absence of the discharged document 32 is provided on the upper surface of the document tray 6.
Next, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the holding device 11 is formed with an opening 41 having a width that allows a bundle of the fed document 31 to pass through, and is urged from above to feed the fed document. The urging device 42 includes a spring for holding the 31 on the mounting table 10, and is connected to the lower portion of the urging device 42 to transmit the pressing force from the urging device 42 to the paper feeding document 31 evenly. The pressing plate 43 is provided. On the side of the pressing plate 43 on which the paper feeding document 31 is inserted, an inclined portion 43 ′ that is inclined upward is provided so that the paper feeding document 31 can be easily inserted.

Next, the operation will be described.
When the fed document 31 is set on the document tray 6, the document tray 6 is stationary at the first position. The fed document 31 is placed on the document tray 6 with the document image side up, and the fed document 31 is inserted into the opening 41 of the holding device 11 so that the leading edge of the fed document 31 is in contact with the feeding unit 9. Place. Here, the pressing plate 43 is provided above the opening 41 of the holding device 11, but since the inclined portion 43 ′ is formed, the paper feed document 31 can be easily passed. At this point, the biasing device 42 of the holding device 11 is not functioning. After the paper feed document 31 is placed at an appropriate position, the paper feed document cursor 12 is slid to support both sides of the paper feed document 31 so that the plurality of paper feed documents 31 are arranged so as not to be displaced from each other. Thereafter, when a start button 33 provided on the image forming apparatus 2 is pressed, a driving device (not shown) of the holding device 11 is operated to lower the pressing plate 43, and the pressing plate 43 comes into contact with the upper surface of the sheet feeding document 31. . Further, the biasing device 42 functions to hold the paper feed document 31 on the mounting table 10 of the paper feed device 5 with an appropriate pressing force. After the fed document 31 is held on the mounting table 10, the document tray 6 moves to a second position where the discharged document 32 discharged from the discharge unit 13 can be placed. At this time, the document tray 6 itself moves in accordance with the support bar 8 being rotated by a motor or the like.

  After the document tray 6 moves to the second position, the delivery roller 21 moves from the standby position to the delivery position where it abuts on the uppermost surface of the fed document 31 by the arm 21a. Thereafter, the feed roller 21 rotates, so that the fed document 31 is sent to the separation roller 21 'on the downstream side. The separation roller 21 ′ sequentially feeds one sheet at a time due to the frictional force of the sheet feeding document 31, and the leading edge of the sheet feeding document 31 is in contact with the separation roller 21 ′ so that the sheet feeding document 31 is against the image forming apparatus 2. Adjusted to be parallel. As the separation roller 21 ′ rotates, the fed document 31 is conveyed downstream and sent to the feeding roller 22.

As the feed roller 22 rotates, the fed document 31 is further conveyed and sent to the contact roller 23. The fed document 31 conveyed to the lower part of the contact roller 23 is in close contact with a glass surface (not shown) provided on the upper surface of the image forming apparatus 2, and the document image is read by the image reading unit 51 of the image forming apparatus 2. . In the image reading operation, the position of the image reading unit 51 is fixed, and the sheet feeding document 31 is moved by rotating the contact roller 23 to sequentially read the document image. Here, the auxiliary rollers 26, 27, and 28 that are in contact with the peripheral surface of the contact roller 23 allow the image reading unit 51 to read the original document image of the supplied original document 31, so that the original document 31 is not illustrated. The area to be brought into contact with the surface is secured, and the fed document 31 is adjusted to be parallel to the image reading unit 51.
The fed document 31 that has been read is conveyed along the shape of the contact roller 23 and then conveyed to the downstream discharge roller 24. The fed document 31 that has passed through the plurality of discharge rollers 24 is conveyed to the discharge roller 25, and is discharged from the paper discharge unit 13 by rotating the discharge roller 25, and stops at the second position as the discharged document 32. Placed on the original document tray 6. When there are a plurality of fed documents 31, the above operation is repeated continuously.

  Here, at the same time as the discharged document 32 starts to be discharged onto the document tray 6, the document detection sensor 15 provided on the document tray 6 starts to function. The document detection sensor 15 is a support bar with which the document tray 6 is engaged so that the document tray 6 is stopped at the second position when the discharged document 32 is placed on the document detection sensor 15. A control signal is transmitted to a control unit of a drive device (not shown).

  In the case where there are a plurality of paper feed documents 31, it is assumed that the paper feed document 31 remains even when the paper discharge document 32 is discharged, but the paper feed document 31 is held by the holding device 11. Therefore, a space S is formed between the fed document 31 and the document tray 6, and only a part of the weight of the fed document 31 is applied to the document tray 6. Accordingly, the discharged discharged document 32 enters the space S between the fed document 31 and the document tray 6 and is placed on the document tray 6.

When the operation of reading all the fed originals 31 is completed, the discharged originals 32 are discharged onto the original tray 6 and placed, and the operation is completed. Thereafter, when the user collects the discharged document 32, the document detection sensor 15 reacts to the absence of the discharged document 32 on the document tray 6, and the document tray 6 is engaged after a certain set time. By transmitting a control signal to a control unit of a driving device (not shown) of the support bar 8 that is present, the document tray 6 moves from the second position to the first position, and enters a standby state.
Further, by opening and closing the cover 14, maintenance of each component installed in the paper feeding device 5 is possible.

According to the above-described embodiment, the document tray is moved from the first position to the second position and the discharged document is discharged onto the document tray while ensuring the ease of setting the fed document on the document tray. As a result, the discharged document is placed on a document tray that is surely visible, so that the discharged document can be easily accessed and can be reliably collected.
In the tray moving type automatic document feeder of the above embodiment, when the document tray is rotated upward with the fulcrum at the end of the frame as an axis, the first position (feeding position) is obtained, and the document is rotated downward. If moved, the second position (discharge position) is reached, so that the document tray can be moved with a simple structure. In other words, there is an effect that the manufacturing process can be performed without complicating the manufacturing process and without expensive costs.

In addition, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above, For example, the following aspects are employable.
In this embodiment, a spring is used as the biasing device of the holding device, but other members may be used as long as they have the same function.
In this embodiment, the document tray is returned to the first position after collecting the discharged document. However, when all the discharged documents are discharged, the document tray is automatically returned to the first position. The discharged document may be collected at the position.
In this embodiment, the document detection sensor is used for the purpose of moving the document tray from the second position to the first position in accordance with the presence or absence of a discharged document. If the state is continued, it may be determined that the user has forgotten to collect the discharged document and may be used to issue an alarm.

1 is a perspective view of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a document tray at a first position (paper feeding position) along a line AA in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the document tray in a second position (discharge position) along the line AA in FIG. 1. It is a perspective view of the holding device in one embodiment of the present invention. It is sectional drawing which follows the BB line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Tray movement type automatic document feeder 5 ... Paper feeding device 6 ... Document tray 11 ... Holding device 31 ... Feeding document 32 ... Discharged document 42 ... Energizing Device (biasing member) 43 ... Pressing plate

Claims (3)

In a tray-moving automatic document feeder that automatically feeds a document fed on a document tray to a sheet feeder and automatically conveys and ejects the document,
The document tray is provided so as to be displaceable between a paper feed position for placing the fed document before reading and a discharge position for placing the discharged document after reading,
A tray moving type automatic document feeder, wherein a holding device for receiving and holding the fed document on the document tray is provided in the feeding device.   2. The tray according to claim 1, wherein the holding device includes a pressing plate that presses an upper surface of the paper feeding document, and a biasing member that presses the pressing plate against the paper feeding document. Mobile automatic document feeder. 3. The tray moving automatic document feeder according to claim 1, wherein the document tray is supported so as to be rotatable about an end portion on a discharge direction side as an axis.

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