PICKUP MECHANISM
A pickup mechanism includes a main frame, a supporting element mounted to the main frame, and a pickup module positioned in the main frame and including a pickup arm, a transmitting element, a separation element, a pickup element and a barrel element. The separation element includes a separation shaft and a separation roller. The pickup element includes a pickup shaft and a pickup roller. The separation roller and the pickup roller are restricted in the pickup arm. The transmitting element links the separation shaft and the pickup shaft. The pickup arm is pivoted at the separation shaft. The barrel element has a base portion pivotally mounted around the pickup shaft, and a stopping block. When the pickup module swings upward or downward, the barrel element is driven to rotate along with the pickup shaft to make the stopping block against the supporting element or apart from the supporting element.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a pickup mechanism, and more particularly to a pickup mechanism capable of picking up papers steadily.
2. The Related Art
Referring to
When papers are prepared to be put on the input tray 52, the pickup element 64 together with the pickup arm 61 of the pickup module 60 is raised up to a constant level and the resisting portion 74 of the stopper element 70 resists against the first blocking block 611 for supporting the pickup module 60 so as to make sure the papers are put on the input tray 52 successfully to reach the stopper element 70. When the papers are put on the input tray 52 by user, a pushing force of the papers needs conquer a friction between the resisting portion 74 and the first blocking block 611 to push away the blocking portion 72 for allowing the pickup element 64 to swing downward to pick up the papers. However, when a single piece of paper is put on the input tray 52, the single piece of paper has the poor pushing force to fail to push away the blocking portion 72 that makes the pickup element 64 have no way of picking up the single piece of paper. Furthermore, when a larger external force than the friction acts on the pickup mechanism, even if the external force just can conquer the friction between the resisting portion 74 and the first blocking block 611, the pickup element 64 of the pickup module 60 is apt to slip downward to affect putting the papers on the input tray 52. As a result, the pickup mechanism fails to pick up the papers steadily.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAn object of the present invention is to provide a pickup mechanism. The pickup mechanism includes a main frame, a supporting element mounted to the main frame, and a pickup module positioned in the main frame. The pickup module includes a pickup arm, a transmitting element, a separation element, a pickup element and a barrel element. The separation element includes a separation shaft and a separation roller mounted around the separation shaft. The pickup element includes a pickup shaft and a pickup roller mounted around the pickup shaft. The separation roller and the pickup roller are restricted in the pickup ann. The transmitting element links the separation shaft and the pickup shaft. The pickup arm is pivoted at the separation shaft to swing the pickup module upward or downward under a drive of a power source. The barrel element has a barrel-shaped base portion pivotally mounted around the pickup shaft of the pickup element. A side of the base portion extends outward to form a stopping block. When the pickup module swings upward or downward under the drive of the power source, the barrel element is also driven to rotate along with the pickup shaft so as to make the stopping block against the supporting element or apart from the supporting element.
As described above, when the pickup mechanism is in a status of preparing to put papers on an input tray, the power source drives the barrel element rotates upward along with the pickup shaft to make the stopping block exceed the top of supporting element. Therefore, the pickup module keeps being supported by the supporting element even if the pickup mechanism is crashed or shaken, for preventing the pickup module from swinging downward so that the papers can be effectively put under the pickup roller. Furthermore, when the pickup mechanism is in a status of picking up the papers loaded on the input tray, the barrel element is driven to rotate downward to make the stopping block of the barrel element be located under the supporting element, the pickup roller can be released freely to swing downward to pick up the papers loaded on the input tray. In this way, when a stack of papers or a single piece of paper is put on the input tray, it effectively prevents the stack of papers or the single piece of paper from needing conquer a force of the stopper element, accordingly, a drawback of prior art that the single piece of paper fails to push away the stopper element is also prevented. Therefore, it's convenient for putting the papers on the input tray so as to make the pickup mechanism pick up the papers steadily.
The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reading the following description, with reference to the attached drawings, in which:
With reference to
Referring to
One end of the separation shaft 231 is pivoted to the upper cover 11, and the other end of the separation shaft 231 is connected with a power source (not shown) to drive the pickup module 20. The pickup arm 21 is pivoted at the separation shaft 231 to swing the pickup module 20 clockwise upward or anticlockwise downward under a drive of the power source. In this embodiment, the power source includes a motor (not shown) and a plurality of gears (not shown). A motive power generated by the motor is transmitted by the gears to the separation shaft 231 to drive the separation roller 232 to rotate. Then the motive power is transmitted to the pickup shaft 241 by the separation shaft 231 on account of the separation shaft 231 connecting with the pickup shaft 241 by the transmitting element 22.
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The paper detecting device is pivoted to the upper cover 11 of the main frame 10 for detecting whether there is any paper on the input tray 12.
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As described above, when the pickup mechanism is in the status of preparing to put the papers on the input tray 12, the power source drives the barrel element 25 rotates clockwise upward along with the pickup shaft 241 to make the stopping block 251 exceed the top of the supporting portion 41 of supporting element 40. Therefore, the pickup module 20 keeps being supported by the supporting element 40 even if the pickup mechanism is crashed or shaken, for preventing the pickup module 20 from swinging downward so that the papers can be effectively put under the pickup roller 242. Furthermore, when the pickup mechanism is in the status of picking up the papers loaded on the input tray 12, the barrel element 25 is driven to rotate anticlockwise downward to make the stopping block 251 of the barrel element 25 be located under the supporting portion 41, the pickup roller 242 can be released freely to swing downward to pick up the papers loaded on the input tray 12. In this way, when a stack of papers or a single piece of paper is put on the input tray 12, it effectively prevents the stack of papers or the single piece of paper from needing conquer a force of the stopper element 30, accordingly, the drawback of prior art that the single piece of paper fails to push away the stopper element 30 is also prevented. Therefore, it's convenient for putting the papers on the input tray 12 so as to make the pickup mechanism pick up the papers steadily.
Claims
1. A pickup mechanism, comprising:
- a main frame;
- a supporting element mounted to the main frame; and
- a pickup module positioned in the main frame, and including a pickup arm, a transmitting element, a separation element, a pickup element and a barrel element, the separation element including a separation shaft and a separation roller mounted around the separation shaft, the pickup element including a pickup shaft and a pickup roller mounted around the pickup shaft, the separation roller and the pickup roller being restricted in the pickup arm, the transmitting element linking the separation shaft and the pickup shaft, the pickup arm pivoted at the separation shaft to swing the pickup module upward or downward under a drive of a power source, the barrel element having a barrel-shaped base portion pivotally mounted around the pickup shaft of the pickup element, a side of the base portion extending outward to form a stopping block,
- wherein when the pickup module swings upward or downward under the drive of the power source, the barrel element is also driven to rotate along with the pickup shaft so as to make the stopping block against the supporting element or apart from the supporting element.
2. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the barrel element rotates along with the pickup shaft by a friction between the barrel element and the pickup shaft, and the friction can be provided by means of an elastic arm of the barrel element, an elastic element or damping oil.
3. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein an inside of the base portion of the barrel element defines the elastic arm, a periphery of one end of the pickup shaft of the pickup element is concaved inward to form a ring-shaped sliding groove, a free end of the elastic arm protrudes inward to form a sliding block resisting in the sliding groove by an elastic force of the elastic arm to generate the friction.
4. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the elastic element, such as a spring, is disposed between the barrel element and the pickup shaft to make the elastic element rub against the base portion of the barrel element and the pickup shaft so as to generate the friction between the barrel element and the pickup shaft.
5. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 2, wherein the damping oil is applied on the pickup shaft and an inside of the base portion of the barrel element so as to generate the friction between the barrel element and the pickup shaft.
6. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a stopper element which is set on the main frame and located between the separation element and the pickup element, the stopper element having a blocking portion for blocking papers entering an inside of the pickup mechanism.
7. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting element has a supporting portion, the stopping block can be sustained by the supporting portion for supporting the pickup module when the pickup arm is raised up.
8. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separation roller and the pickup roller are made of a material with a high friction coefficient, such as rubber.
9. The pickup mechanism as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting element is a belt or a gear chain.
Type: Application
Filed: May 10, 2012
Publication Date: May 16, 2013
Applicant: FOXLINK IMAGE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD. (New Taipei City)
Inventors: Shao-Yang Wu (New Taipei City), Yueh-Shing Lee (New Taipei City)
Application Number: 13/468,581
International Classification: B65H 3/06 (20060101); B65H 3/32 (20060101);