Cover-Actuated Roller Separation for Jammed Document Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cut-sheet feeding apparatuses require cumbersome and often damaging procedures to remove document sheets caught in the feed path, as users must open the cover and manually separate the feeder and pinch rollers, which can lead to document damage or prolonged removal times.
Innovation Solution
A cut-sheet feeding apparatus with movable portions that switch between open and closed states, allowing the user to easily release caught sheets by altering the relative position of the feed rollers, eliminating the need for additional actions to separate them.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the cover is opened to remove caught document sheets, then the document sheets can be accessed, but the feeder and pinch rollers remain in pressing contact requiring additional manual separation actions
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically performs the roller separation action in advance by detecting when the cover is opened and automatically moving the pinch roller away from the feeder roller, so that when the user opens the cover to remove a caught sheet, the rollers are already separated and the sheet can be removed without additional manual separation steps
Solution Approach 2:
The system makes itself serviceable by automatically responding to the cover opening action - when the user opens the cover, the system self-activates the roller separation mechanism through the cover opening detection, eliminating the need for the user to manually separate the rollers
2Loss of time
If manual separation of feeder and pinch rollers is required, then caught sheets can be removed, but document damage may occur and removal time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system detects cover opening and automatically separates the rollers before the user attempts to remove the document, eliminating the need for forceful manual separation that could damage the document and reducing the total time required for removal
Solution Approach 2:
The cover opening detection mechanism serves as an intermediary that triggers the automatic roller separation, mediating between the user's action of opening the cover and the system's response of separating the rollers, thereby enabling safe and quick document removal
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates quick and safe removal of caught document sheets without damaging them, simplifying the operation and reducing the time required to resolve paper jams.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic member having an operating portion and a supported portion, and operating to apply, from the operating portion, a biasing force to a shaft of the second feed roller to elastically press the second feed roller against the first feed roller
Implementation Method 2
a movable support member supporting the supported portion of the elastic member, and movable relative to the main body so that a position of the movable support member is switchable between an operating position to press the second feed roller against the first feed roller by elastically deforming the elastic member, and a non-operating position to reduce the elastic deformation of the elastic member
Data Source
AI summary
A document feeding apparatus in a cover body supported by a document reading table whose upper surface is at least partially constituted by a platen glass. The cover body is openable and closable relative to the table and covers the glass when closed. The apparatus feeds a document sheet along a feed path from at a document setting portion and to a document ejecting portion. The apparatus comprises: an upper and a lower feed roller that are disposed along the path to pinch and feed the sheet; a bearing member supporting a shaft of the lower roller such that the lower roller is movable onto and away from the upper roller; a protrusible member disposed in the cover body and below the lower roller to be movable between an outer position to protrude from a bottom of the cover body and an inner position not to protrude therefrom, the protrusible member being placed at the outer position when the cover body is open, and at the inner position by the document reading table when the cover body is closed; and a biasing member supported by the protrusible member and biasing the lower roller toward the upper roller, such that when the protrusible member is at the outer position, the lower roller is off the upper roller, and when the protrusible member is at the inner position, the lower roller is in pressing contact with the upper roller.