Paper Feeder

Abstract

A paper feeder 30 includes at ray 5 for placing and holding a bundle of sticky notes 4 formed by stacking plural sticky notes 4P having an adhesive part 4a, an adhesive part side positioning part 32a for pressing the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4, and a pickup roller 35 located at the side of the free end part of the sticky notes 4P for transporting and bending the sticky notes 4P toward the adhesive part side positioning part 32a to separate them from the bundle of sticky notes 4, and a bottom plate 52 has a horizontal surface part 52a that receives the side of the adhesive part 4a and a slope part 52b that receives the side of the free end part of the sticky notes 4P at respectively different positions in the height direction.

Description

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND[0001]The present invention relates to a paper feeder with a pickup roller for feeding sheets of paper one by one.[0002]Conventionally, for feeding stacked a plurality of sheets of paper, a paper feeder that separates and feeds the sheets of paper one by one with a pickup roller has been known. Further, for reliable separation of sheets of paper with a pickup roller, a configuration provided with a convex portion on the bottom plate of a tray for holding sheets of paper has been disclosed. On the bottom plate of the tray, the convex portion is provided and a bundle of sheets of paper are placed to form an arched shape on the bottom plate. The pickup roller is provided to press the position nearer the end of the bundle of sheets of paper than the convex portion against the bottom plate with roller pressure. When the pickup roller rotates into contact with the uppermost sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is lifted from the bundle of sheets of paper in an arched for...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]According to the paper feeder, only the uppermost sheet of paper is separated from the bundle of sheets of paper by deforming the sheet of paper at the uppermost of the bundle of sheets of paper with the roller. In this regard, the roller deforms the sheet of paper to separate it from the bundle of sheets of paper. Further, in the paper feeder, the tray for placement of the bundle of sheets of paper has the first placement surface and the second placement surface. The bundle of sheets of paper placed on the tray having such two placement surfaces is held in a shape along the first placement surface and the second placement surface, and the boundary position between the first placement surface and the second placement surface is an inflection point in the shape of the bundle of sheets of paper. The bundle of sheets of paper in this state is similar to the initial state in which the roller starts to deform the sheets of paper to separate the sheets of paper from the bundle of sheets of paper. When the roller starts to separate the uppermost sheet of paper, the uppermost sheet of paper starts to deform more easily and reliably for separating it from the bundle of sheets of paper than in the case where the bundle of sheets of paper are placed on a placement surface formed by one flat surface. Further, even the bundle of sheets of paper having a number of sheets of paper or the bundle of sheets of paper having higher stiffness can be smoothly deformed against the resistance of the bundle of sheets of paper. Furthermore, the bundle of sheets of paper is slid along the first placement surface and the second placement part with no convex obstacle or the like and smoothly placed on the tray. In this way, the paper feeder can smoothly insert the sheets of paper into the tray and reliably feed paper by separating the sheets of paper from the bundle of sheets of paper one by one.

[0010]According to the paper feeder, the bundle of sticky notes to be placed has the adhesive part and the free end part unconstrained by the adhesive, and only the uppermost sticky note is separated from the bundle of sticky notes by deforming the free end part of the sticky note at the uppermost of the bundle of sticky notes with the roller. In this regard, the roller deforms the sticky note to separate it from the bundle of sticky notes. Further, in the paper feeder, the tray for placement of the bundle of sticky notes has the first placement surface and the second placement surface. The bundle of sticky notes placed on the tray having such two placement surfaces is held in a shape along the first placement surface and the second placement surface, and the boundary position between the first placement surface and the second placement surface is an inflection point in the shape of the bundle of sheets of paper. The bundle of sticky notes in this state is similar to the initial state in which the roller starts to deform the sticky notes to separate the sticky notes from the bundle of sticky notes. When the roller starts to flip up the uppermost sticky note, the uppermost sticky note starts to deform more easily and reliably for separating from the bundle of sticky notes than in the case where the bundle of sticky notes is placed on a placement surface formed by one flat surface. Further, even the bundle of sticky notes having a number of sticky notes or the bundle of sticky notes having higher stiffness can be smoothly deformed against the resistance of the bundle of sticky notes. Furthermore, the bundle of sticky notes is slid along the first placement surface and the second placement part with no convex obstacle or the like and smoothly placed on the tray. In this way, the paper feeder can smoothly insert the sticky notes into the tray and reliably feed paper by separating the sticky notes from the bundle of sticky notes one by one.

[0012]According to the configuration, the second placement surface is a slope inclined relative to the first placement surface, and the bundle of sticky notes placed on the tray is bent to have a slope at the side of the roller along the first placement surface and the second placement surface. Therefore, even the bundle of sticky notes with few sticky notes left or the bundle of sticky notes having lower stiffness can be placed along the first placement surface and the second placement surface and constantly maintained in the fixed bent condition, and all of the sticky notes can be separated smoothly under the same condition from the bundle of sticky notes by the roller.

[0014]According to the configuration, the tray has the first placement surface and the second placement surface respectively forming the step-like shapes, and the first placement surface and the second placement surface formed by the steps can be machined more easily in manufacturing and finished more accurately than the slope. The bundle of sheets of paper placed on the tray is bent and placed with a gap between the placement surface at the lower step side and itself. Therefore, using the gap, the pressure by the roller or the control part can be adjusted for adjustment of the degree of bending, and proper bending can be secured with respect to the bundle of sticky notes with higher stiffness or the like by making the pressure higher. In this way, the paper feeder having the stepped first placement surface and second placement surface can operate to more easily bend the sticky notes for separation from the bundle of sticky notes according to the material, stiffness, or the like of the bundle of sticky notes.

[0016]According to the configuration, the bundle of sticky notes is constantly in the fixed bent shape by placing the free end part of the bundle of sticky notes at the side of the second placement surface as the slope or step-like surface. Thereby, the sticky notes are reliably flipped up and separated from the bundle of sticky notes by the roller. Further, since the second placement surface has no projection that inhibits insertion of the bundle of sticky notes, the bundle of sticky notes can be easily inserted along the second placement surface.

Problems solved by technology

However, in the related art, the bundle of sheets of paper has three curved parts for forming the arched shape on the convex portion, but sheets of paper are difficult to form curved parts due to stiffness of paper depending on the material types or the number of sheets of paper of the bundle.

Accordingly, there has been a problem that the ends of the bundle of sheets of paper have no contact with the bottom plate and float from the bottom plate.

In this case, the pickup roller can not press the bundle of sheets of paper toward the bottom plate and separation of sheets of paper becomes unstable.

Furthermore, there has been a problem that, when the bundle of sheets of paper is inserted from the nearly horizontal direction onto the bottom plate of the tray, the end of the bundle of sheets of paper is caught by the convex portion and smooth insertion of the bundle of sheets of paper can not be made.

Images