JP3345370B2 - Paper ejection mechanism - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper discharge mechanism applied to various devices that handle cut-sheet paper, such as a facsimile device, a scanner device, a printer device, and an electronic copying device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 shows an example of a sheet discharging mechanism conventionally applied to a facsimile machine. In this conventional paper discharging mechanism, a platen roller 14e that can be driven and rotated is provided to face a document surface glass 13e.
A document transfer surface 4e for guiding the document m to the paper discharge port 3e is provided downstream of the document transfer direction. A discharge roller 6e is provided below the sheet transfer surface 4e, and a part of the outer peripheral surface of the discharge roller 6e extends from the notch 49 of the sheet transfer surface 4e to above the sheet transfer surface 4e. Part protrudes.

According to such a configuration, the document m transferred onto the sheet transfer surface 4e by the platen roller 14e can be transferred further downstream by the discharge roller 6e. Therefore, when the images of the plurality of originals m are successively read sequentially, the plurality of originals m are prevented from remaining on the sheet transfer surface 4e, and the plurality of originals m discharged from the paper output port 3e are eliminated. It is possible to prevent the order of m from being changed.

That is, if the discharge roller 6e is not provided, the document m having passed through the platen roller 14e cannot be positively transported downstream. For this reason, due to frictional resistance when a plurality of originals m overlap each other in the vicinity of the paper exit 3e, the original m becomes
If a situation occurs in which the document m is not smoothly discharged from the printer, as shown in FIG. 8, the rear portion of the document m may float above the sheet transfer surface 4e and the document surface glass 13e. If such a situation occurs, the document m10 transported next by the platen roller 14e enters the lower side of the previous document m, and the stacking order of these documents changes. On the other hand, according to the conventional paper discharge mechanism shown in FIG. 7, such a situation can be solved.

[0005]

However, in the conventional paper discharge mechanism, the discharge roller 6e is provided below the paper transfer surface 4e, and a part of the discharge roller 6e is projected above the paper transfer surface 4e. Therefore, there were the following difficulties.

That is, the conventional discharge roller 6e causes the document m to be transferred and discharged by contacting the lower surface of the document m transferred by the platen roller 14e. Therefore, for example, the original m indicated by a virtual line in FIG.
If the trailing end of the document ma has largely floated above the sheet transport surface 4e as shown in FIG.
Cannot be brought into contact with the discharge roller 6e. In this case, the document ma cannot be positively discharged from the discharge port 3e, and there is a possibility that the next document may enter below the rear end of the document ma. As a result, in the related art, there is still a problem in the certainty in preventing the order of the originals from being changed.

The discharge roller 6e needs to be positively rotated like the platen roller 14e.
As a means for achieving this, if an independent driving means separate from the driving mechanism of the platen roller 14e is used, a dedicated motor or the like is required, resulting in an increase in the cost of the apparatus.

As means for solving this problem, means for drivingly connecting the discharge roller 6e to a driving mechanism of the platen roller 14e can be considered. However, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 7, when the platen roller 14e is disposed above the document transfer path, the platen roller 14e and the discharge roller 6e are vertically Located on the opposite side. For this reason, the platen roller 14e
In order to drive and connect the discharge roller 6e with an appropriate drive connection means such as a gear or a belt, the drive connection means and the document m are transferred so that the drive connection means and the document m do not interfere with each other. It is necessary to provide it in a state of protruding to the side of the route. In addition, in order to employ such a drive connecting means, for example, it is necessary to protrude the shaft end of the discharge roller 6e to the side of the document transfer path, and to form the discharge roller 6e longer than the width of the document m. There must be. Therefore, conventionally, there has been a problem that a mechanism for driving the discharge roller 6e is increased in size and the manufacturing cost is increased.

[0009] Such a problem is caused not only by the mechanism for discharging the original in the facsimile apparatus but also in the case where the facsimile apparatus or the printer apparatus prints out the recording paper and then discharges the recording paper. This has occurred in various devices generally provided with a transfer and discharge function.

The present invention has been proposed in view of the above points, and has an object to reliably perform a sheet discharging operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a sheet discharge mechanism that can appropriately prevent the stacking order of sheets discharged from a sheet discharge port from being changed. It is another object of the present invention to reduce the size of the sheet discharging mechanism and reduce the manufacturing cost.

[0011]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sheet discharging mechanism, comprising: a rotatable sheet conveying roller driven by a driving unit; And a discharge roller for discharging the conveyed paper toward the paper discharge port, and a discharge roller provided between the paper conveyance roller and the discharge roller for contacting the outer peripheral surface of the rotating paper conveyance roller. A paper discharge mechanism comprising an idle roller that can rotate in conjunction therewith , wherein the paper is transported to the discharge roller.
Rotation of the idle roller transmitting the rotational force of the feed roller
The shaft is constituted by a spring-shaped shaft, and the idle roller
Is elastic by the outer peripheral surface of the discharge roller and the spring-shaped shaft.
The discharge roller and the eye
The dollar roller is located close to the paper transport roller.
And the discharge row.
Move the idle roller and the idle roller to the approaching position.
Then, by rotating the sheet conveying roller by the driving unit, the discharge roller is moved through the idle roller.
The sheet is rotated and the sheet is conveyed by the outer peripheral surface of the sheet conveying roller and the discharge roller.

Further, the paper discharge mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the paper transported by the paper transport roller.
The paper transport surface that guides the paper, and open / close above the paper transport surface
An opening / closing panel operably provided, wherein the opening / closing panel
The discharge roller,
And an idle roller.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the paper discharge mechanism, the idle roller and the discharge roller have a large-diameter roller portion and a small-diameter roller portion, respectively. The idle roller rotates when the outer peripheral surface of the paper transport roller contacts the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller, and the discharge roller contacts the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller and the small-diameter roller portion of the discharge roller. It rotates.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of a main part showing an example of a facsimile apparatus provided with a sheet discharging mechanism according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

For convenience of explanation, the schematic configuration of the facsimile apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described first. The facsimile apparatus has an image reading function of a document m as an example of a cut sheet, and a sheet placing plate 10 for setting a plurality of documents m in a stacked state, Table 10
Separating plate 11 and feed roller 1 for separating a plurality of originals m set thereon one by one and sequentially feeding the originals downward.
2. A transparent original plate glass 13 provided in the middle of the transfer path of the original m fed by the feed roller 12, a white platen roller 14 provided opposite to the original surface glass 13, and other components to be described later. Is provided.

The platen roller 14 is a feed roller 1
This is for transferring the original m in the sub-scanning direction while abutting the original m fed onto the original glass 13 by the reference numeral 2 on the surface of the original glass 13. The platen roller 14 can be driven and rotated by, for example, a stepping motor (not shown). The surface of the platen roller 14 is rubber-lined so as to reduce the slip of the document m.

An original m is provided below the original surface glass 13.
An image reading unit 2 for reading an image is provided. The image reading unit 2 includes a light source 20 such as an LED that irradiates light to the document m positioned on the document surface glass 13, a plurality of mirrors 21 and lenses 22 that reflect light reflected from the document m.
And a reading sensor 23 such as a CCD sensor that receives light through the CCD. The reading sensor 23 outputs an electric signal of a voltage corresponding to the received light amount to an image data processing unit (not shown) that executes a binarization process.

The paper discharging mechanism according to the present embodiment is for smoothly discharging the document m transported by the platen roller 14 from the paper discharge port 3 of the facsimile apparatus. More specifically, the sheet discharge mechanism includes a sheet transfer surface 4 located downstream of the platen roller 14 in the sheet transfer direction, a projecting rib 5 protruding from an upper surface of the sheet transfer surface 4, and the sheet transfer surface. A discharge roller 6 and an idle roller 7 are provided above the discharge roller 4.

The paper transport surface 4 is provided with a platen roller 14
For guiding the original m conveyed to the paper discharge port 3 by the paper feed direction.
It is formed in an inclined shape whose height is reduced. The sheet transfer surface 4 is constituted by, for example, a part of a housing of the facsimile machine formed so as to cover the image reading unit 2.

The rib 5 has, for example, a substantially triangular shape in a side view,
Alternatively, it is formed in a protruding shape that projects in a smooth shape above the paper transfer surface 4, for example, is formed in a substantially arc shape in a side view, and is fixedly attached to the upper surface of the paper transfer surface 4. However, as shown in FIG. 2, the projecting ribs 5 are provided at two places at appropriate intervals in the width direction of the sheet transfer surface 4, and the ribs 5 of the document m transferred on the sheet transfer surface 4 are provided. It is provided so that it can contact the lower surface of each of both ends in the width direction (direction of arrow N2). In a facsimile machine,
Generally, since a document of A4 width or B5 width is often used, the interval between the pair of ribs 5, 5 is set to, for example, a width slightly smaller than the paper width of B5. Of course, the width interval between the pair of ribs 5 and 5 may be freely adjustable.

The discharge roller 6 includes a platen roller 14
The document m transferred onto the sheet transfer surface 4 is further transferred to the sheet discharge port 3 further downstream. The idle roller 7 is for transmitting the driving torque of the platen roller 14 to the discharge roller 6. The discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 are attached to the lower surface of an opening / closing panel 16 as an operation panel including an operation switch 15 of the facsimile machine.

More specifically, the opening / closing panel 16 is connected to a housing body of the facsimile machine via a connecting pin 17, and as shown by a virtual line in FIG. It can be rotated up and down as a center. Both ends of the discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 are supported by a pair of brackets 18 attached to the lower surface of the opening / closing panel 16. Therefore, the discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 contact or approach the platen roller 14 in the normal closed state in which the open / close panel 16 is lowered as shown by the solid line in FIG. In the open state in which the open / close panel 16 is lifted upward as shown by the arrow, the light is largely separated from the platen roller 14 and the like.

The discharge roller 6 is, as shown in FIG.
It has a first roller section 60 and a second roller section 61 which are coaxial and have different diameters. Small roller second roller portion 61
Is a portion for making contact with the idle roller 7 as described later. On the other hand, the first roller portion 6 on the large diameter side
Reference numeral 0 denotes a portion for bringing the original m into contact with the original m. In a normal state in which the opening and closing panel 16 is closed, both ends are supported by the pair of ribs 5 and 5 and approximately the center of the original m in the width direction. It is provided so as to abut the part. Further, the lower end surface of the outer periphery of the first roller portion 60 is set to be located slightly below the upper end surfaces of the pair of ribs 5 and 5 by a dimension L. The rotation center O1 of the discharge roller 6 is located at a contact point P between the platen roller 14 and the document m, that is, a position higher than the surface of the document surface glass 13.

The idle roller 7 has a roller portion 7 which comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the second roller portion 61 of the discharge roller 6.
As shown in FIG. 1, the roller unit 70 is configured to contact the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 14 in the normal state in which the open / close panel 16 is closed. Both ends of the idle roller 7 are
As shown in FIG. 2, the idle roller 7 is supported by a spring-shaped shaft 71 having a resilient force in the downward direction of the arrow N1. The outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 14 comes into contact with the outer peripheral surface of the second roller portion 61 of the discharge roller 6. Therefore, the idle roller 7 rotates in conjunction with the platen roller 14 by contact friction with the platen roller 14 and transmits the rotational force of the idle roller 7 to the discharge roller 6 by contact friction. The rotation direction of the platen roller 14 and the rotation direction of the discharge roller 6 are the same.

The diameter of the platen roller 14 is D1,
The diameter of the first roller portion 60 of the discharge roller 6 is D2,
If the diameter of the roller portion 61 is D3, the angular rotation speed ω2 of the discharge roller 6 is equal to the angular rotation speed ω of the platen roller 14.
In relation to 1, ω2 = (D1 / D3) · ω1. On the other hand, the peripheral speed v2 of the outer peripheral surface of the first roller portion 60 of the discharge roller 6 is v2 = (D2 / D3) in relation to the peripheral speed v1 of the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 14.
-It becomes v1. Here, the discharge roller 6 satisfies D2> D
3 are formed. Accordingly, the peripheral speed v2 of the outer peripheral surface of the first roller portion 60 of the discharge roller 6 is higher than the peripheral speed v1 of the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 14.

Next, the operation of the paper discharging mechanism having the above configuration will be described.

First, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, in a normal state in which the opening / closing panel 16 is closed, the original m1 fed out between the platen roller 14 and the original surface glass 13 by the driving of the feed roller 12 is , Platen roller 1
The sheet 4 is transferred onto the sheet transfer surface 4 on the downstream side by the drive rotation of the sheet 4. Then, the lower surfaces of both ends in the width direction of the document m1 are guided upward so as to rise from the sheet transfer surface 4 along the upper surfaces of the pair of ribs 5 and 5. On the other hand, the first roller portion 60 of the discharge roller 6 having a peripheral speed higher than that of the platen roller 14 is in contact with a substantially central portion in the width direction of the document m1.

Therefore, when the rear end of the document m1 passes below the platen roller 14, the document m1
Is further transported toward the paper discharge port 3 at a higher speed than the speed transported by the platen roller 14 by the rotating action of the first roller unit 60. Therefore, before the next second document is transported onto the paper transport surface 4 by the platen roller 14, the entirety of the document m1 can be appropriately and promptly discharged from the discharge port 3 to the outside. This makes it possible to prevent a part of the rear end portion of the document m1 from remaining on the sheet transport surface 4 while remaining partially.
As a result, when reading the image of a plurality of originals m, the stacking order of the originals m discharged from the paper output port 3 does not become out of order.

In particular, as described with reference to FIG. 2, the first roller portion 60 of the discharge roller 6 is set slightly lower than the upper surface height of the ribs 5 and 5 supporting both ends in the width direction of the document m. As a result, the outer peripheral surface of the first roller unit 60 can be brought into accurate contact with the document m, and the document m can be reliably transported in the direction of the paper exit 3. Further, since the pair of ribs 5 and 5 are projecting, if the document m exceeds the position of the pair of ribs 5 and 5, the rear end of the document m is temporarily Even if a situation in which the document m remains near the downstream occurs, the document m to be transported next is overlaid on the previous document m by the guide action of the ribs 5 and 5. Therefore, it is possible to more reliably prevent the stacking order of the plurality of originals m from being out of order.

The phenomenon in which the order of stacking a plurality of documents m on the downstream side of the platen roller 14 is changed is that the rear end of the previously transferred document m on the paper transfer surface 4 This is because the transfer is stopped in a state of floating above. On the other hand, the discharge roller 6 of the paper discharge mechanism is provided above the paper transfer surface 4 so as to contact the upper surface of the document m1. Therefore, as described above, even if the rear end of one document floats above the paper transfer surface 4, the discharge roller 6
And the discharge roller 6 can be brought into contact with the rear end of the document. As a result, the transfer of the document by the discharge roller 6 is ensured, and it is possible to appropriately eliminate the occurrence of a disorder in the stacking order of a plurality of documents.

Further, as a driving force transmitting means for rotating the discharge roller 6 in conjunction with the platen roller 14, an idle roller 7 which comes into contact with each of the outer peripheral surface of the platen roller 14 and the outer peripheral surface of the discharge roller 6 is used. Due to the use, the mechanism for rotating the discharge roller 6 is very simple. Further, the entire length of the discharge roller 6 can be considerably smaller than the width of the document m as shown in FIG. Similarly, the entire length of the idle roller 7 may be short. Therefore,
The discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 can be configured as rollers that are considerably smaller than the platen roller 14, which is advantageous in that the paper discharge mechanism can be reduced in size.

On the other hand, when the surfaces of the original glass 13 and the platen roller 14 become dirty, it is necessary to perform these cleaning operations. In this case, the open / close panel 16 may be lifted upward as indicated by the imaginary line in FIG. The discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 are provided on the open / close panel 16.
The discharge roller 6 and the idle roller 7 do not exist in the vicinity of the original surface glass 13 in an obstructive manner, so that the cleaning operation of the original surface glass 13 and the like can be performed efficiently.

In the above embodiment, since the rotation center O1 of the discharge roller 6 is set at a position higher than the document surface glass 13 which is the contact point P between the platen roller 14 and the document m, Such advantages can be obtained. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, if the rotation center O1 of the discharge roller 6 is located above the contact point P by an appropriate dimension S, when the document m is transferred in a horizontal direction, for example, The leading end of the document m comes into contact with the downwardly curved surface A of the discharge roller 6, and the document m is necessarily guided below the discharge roller 6. Therefore, the document m is guided downward by the discharge roller 6 and is advantageous in terms of certainty that the document m can be transported in the direction of the paper discharge port 3. Of course, as in the above embodiment, the original m
It is also advantageous in the case where the sheet is guided so as to float above the sheet transfer surface 4.

Further, in the above embodiment, the discharge roller 6 is brought into contact only with the substantially central portion in the width direction of the document m, but the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. In the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, two roller portions 62 provided at both ends of the discharge roller 6A may be brought into contact with the upper surfaces of both ends of the document m. Such a configuration is advantageous in preventing skew or meandering of the document m. Further, when the thickness of the document m is small, both ends in the width direction of the document m are easily deformed upward as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. It is convenient because the correction can be made by the parts 62, 62.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the paper discharging mechanism for transferring and discharging the original to be read by the facsimile apparatus is described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. . The present invention can be applied to a document discharging mechanism in various image reading apparatuses such as a scanner apparatus other than a facsimile apparatus and an electronic copying apparatus. Further, the present invention can be applied to a print unit of a facsimile machine or a paper discharge mechanism handled by other printers. As described above, the present invention can be used for various image processing apparatuses, and can also be applied to apparatuses other than these image processing apparatuses.

Accordingly, the paper in the present invention is not only a concept including an original to be read and a recording paper to be used for recording an image, but also a concept including other papers other than these. is there.

In addition, the rotatable paper transport roller referred to in the present invention is not only a platen roller provided to face the original surface glass of the image reading apparatus, but also a printer apparatus as shown in FIG. It also includes a platen roller 14a provided to face the print head 8. Further, the concept also includes a roller other than the platen roller, for example, a roller of a type that transports a desired sheet by sandwiching the upper and lower surfaces of the sheet with a pair of upper and lower rollers. Further, the paper transport roller does not necessarily have to be arranged above the paper transport path. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, a paper transport roller (platen roller) 14a provided opposite the print head 8 or the like.
May be arranged below the transport path of the sheet m.

In addition, the configuration of each part of the sheet discharging mechanism according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the specific configuration of each part can be variously changed in design. It is preferable that the sheet transfer surface is set to be inclined such that the height thereof becomes lower toward the downstream side or to be substantially horizontal. However, it does not matter whether the sheet is inclined or not. The specific length of the sheet transfer surface is not particularly limited.

[0040]

As described above, according to the paper discharging mechanism of the first aspect of the present invention, the rotation of the paper conveying roller is transmitted to the discharging roller via the idle roller, so that the discharging roller is driven. there is no need to separately provide a driving mechanism, it is possible to reduce the apparatus cost.
In addition, since the driving force is transmitted using the idle roller, the apparatus can be downsized. In addition, the rotation axis of the idle roller is
The idle roller is formed by a spring
When the paper transport roller and discharge roller are
Contact the outer peripheral surface and rotate the paper transport roller to the discharge roller
It can be transmitted reliably. In addition, paper transport rollers
Roller and idle roller can be separated
Cleaning work for the paper transport roller
Can be performed efficiently.

Further, according to the paper discharge mechanism of the present invention, the open / close panel is opened to allow the use of the paper discharge mechanism .
Discharge roller and idle low for paper transport roller
Can be easily separated.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the rotation of the paper transport roller is transmitted to the idle roller by the contact between the outer peripheral surface of the paper transport roller and the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller. Further, the contact between the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller and the small-diameter roller portion of the discharge roller is transmitted to the discharge roller. As a result, the peripheral speed of the large-diameter roller portion of the discharge roller is The speed becomes higher than the peripheral speed, and the large-diameter roller portion acts to quickly transfer and discharge the sheet. Also, by providing the idle roller with a small diameter portion, it is possible to alternately arrange the large diameter portion of the idle roller and the large diameter portion of the discharge roller, so that each roller can function even in a narrow space. The size of the device can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an essential part showing an example of a facsimile apparatus provided with a paper discharge mechanism according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a sheet is guided by a discharge roller.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of a discharge roller.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of the sheet transport roller.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of the sheet transport roller.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a main part showing an example of a conventional paper discharge mechanism.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an operation principle in which the order of sheets is changed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Discharge port 6 Discharge roller 7 Idle roller 14, 14a Platen roller (paper transport roller) m Document (paper)

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 29/20 B65H 5/06

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A rotatable paper transport roller driven by a driving means, and a discharge provided downstream of the paper transport roller in the transport direction to discharge the transported paper toward a paper discharge port. and the roller, said provided between the paper transport roller and the discharge roller, a paper discharge mechanism comprising, an idle roller which can rotate in conjunction by contacting the outer peripheral surface of the paper transport rollers to rotate, Transmitting the rotational force of the paper transport roller to the discharge roller ;
The rotation axis of the idle roller is constituted by a spring-shaped axis.
The idle roller is provided on an outer peripheral surface of the discharge roller.
And the discharge roller and the idle roller contact each other while being elastically biased by the spring-shaped shaft.
Moves to the position approaching and leaving the roller
It is possible to bring the discharge roller and the idle roller closer to each other.
Go to that position, by rotating the sheet conveying roller by said drive means, said through said idle roller
A sheet discharging mechanism, wherein a discharging roller is rotated and a sheet is conveyed by an outer peripheral surface of the sheet conveying roller and the discharging roller. 2. A sheet transported by the sheet transport roller.
A paper transfer surface for guiding incoming paper, and an opening / closing panel provided to be openable and closable above the paper transfer surface.
The opening and closing panel has a surface opposite to a paper transfer surface,
Discharge roller and idle roller are provided.
The sheet discharging mechanism according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the idle roller and the discharge roller are
A large-diameter roller portion and a small-diameter roller portion are provided, respectively. When the paper conveyance roller is rotated by the driving of the driving unit, the outer peripheral surface of the paper conveyance roller comes into contact with the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller to rotate the idle roller. 3. The paper discharge mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the discharge roller is rotated by contact between the large-diameter roller portion of the idle roller and the small-diameter roller portion of the discharge roller.