With Means To Restrain Feed Of Next Sheet Patents (Class 271/121)
-
Patent number: 9637334Abstract: There is provided a feed apparatus including a support unit having a support surface, a feed roller, a first arm to support the feed roller, a recess portion on the support surface, a second arm swingable, with a side of the one end as a swing shaft, between a first position at which the other end of the second arm is in the recess portion and a second position at which the other end is outside the recess portion; and a biasing member. In a case that the second arm is the first position, a guide surface of the second arm is positioned on an upstream side of the feed roller in the feed direction and in a case that the second arm is the second position, the other end of the second arm is positioned on a downstream side of the feed roller in the feed direction.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2014Date of Patent: May 2, 2017Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Yuta Uchino
-
Patent number: 9624057Abstract: A sheet feeder includes a sheet feeding unit configured to feed a sheet from a sheet storage case in a sheet feeding direction orthogonal to a loading direction in which the sheet storage case is loaded into an apparatus main body, and a conveying guide configured to guide the sheet fed by the sheet feeding unit. The conveying guide includes a first guide segment included in the apparatus main body and a second guide segment included in the sheet storage unit. The sheet feeder further includes an edge guide member disposed at an end of the first guide segment. The edge guide member has a guide surface that allows reaction force including a directional force component acting upward and a directional force component acting in a direction opposite to the sheet feeding direction to be generated when the sheet partly projecting from the sheet storage case abuts the guide surface.Type: GrantFiled: March 22, 2016Date of Patent: April 18, 2017Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Toshifumi Itabashi, Kakeru Takahashi
-
Patent number: 9617094Abstract: A sheet conveyor including a separation roller, a separation pad, an urging member urging the separation pad, and a feed roller unit disposed downstream relative to the separation roller in a conveyance direction, the feed roller unit including a first outer circumferential surface disposed on a first side in a width direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction, a second outer circumferential surface disposed on a second side opposite to the first side in the width direction, and a concave portion disposed between the first and second outer circumferential surfaces in the width direction, the concave portion being recessed inward in a radial direction of the first and second outer circumferential surfaces from the first and second outer circumferential surfaces, an urging member being disposed upstream relative to the concave portion in the conveyance direction and disposed between the first and second outer circumferential surfaces in the width direction.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2016Date of Patent: April 11, 2017Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Tsuyoshi Suganuma
-
Patent number: 9592974Abstract: A sheet feeder including a driving mechanism moving a stopper, an end of the stopper in a first position being closer to a pickup roller axis than a part of a roller surface of a pickup roller, the end of the stopper in a second position being farther from the pickup roller axis than the part of the roller surface, and a movable set guide having a first surface facing in a particular direction to become farther from the roller surface, the first surface being farther from the pickup roller axis than all the roller surface when the set guide is in a third position and contacts the stopper in the first position, the first surface being closer to the pickup roller axis than the part of the roller surface when the set guide is in a fourth position and separated away from the stopper in the second position.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 2015Date of Patent: March 14, 2017Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Yutaka Saito, Masatsugu Mizuno
-
Patent number: 9580260Abstract: A feeding device is disclosed, which comprises a paper passage, a sheet-separating roller, a friction institution, and a stopper. The sheet-separating roller is disposed in the paper passage. The friction institution is disposed in the paper passage opposite to the sheet-separating roller. The stopper is disposed in the upstream side of the sheet-separating roller. The stopper includes an axle, a short arm, and a long arm. The short arm connects to the axle, and the axle acts as a fulcrum. The long arm and the short arm disposed to the axle coaxially. A threshold of the force for pushing the short arm is larger than a threshold of the force for pushing the long arm.Type: GrantFiled: December 9, 2015Date of Patent: February 28, 2017Assignee: Avision Inc.Inventors: Sung-Po Cheng, Kai-Fan Hsueh
-
Patent number: 9573779Abstract: When waiting for printing, a cam that rotates together with the rotation of a gear locks a knurl at position on the upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction, which prevents sheets from dropping down. Moreover, during printing, when the cam is rotated 180° from the locked position, the knurl is in a state capable of sliding toward the downstream side. As a result, with the force that returns the knurl to the upstream side being too small, it is possible to prevent feeding overlapping sheet due to the front end of a sheet further on the down side than a sheet being fed from dropping toward the downstream side further than the knurl.Type: GrantFiled: February 13, 2015Date of Patent: February 21, 2017Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Kosuke Yamamoto
-
Patent number: 9567173Abstract: A sheet feeder comprises a feed deck for supporting a stack of sheets (65) to be fed. The feed deck may be formed by a bed of freely spinning rollers. A feed block (62) comprises a friction pad (66) that projects from the bottom of the feed block (62) towards a drive belt (42) to define a gate therebetween. The drive belt (42) frictionally engages the underside of a bottom sheet of the stack (65) and urges the sheet towards the gate. The feed block (62) comprises a front face (72) immediately upstream from the gate, which is inclined at a sharp angle to the feed direction. The friction pad (66) comprises a lower face that is substantially parallel to the feed direction and does not intersect the plane of the feed block front face (72).Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2011Date of Patent: February 14, 2017Assignee: CreaseStream LLPInventors: Graham Michael Harris, Paul Graham Barrett
-
Patent number: 9511962Abstract: A sheet feeding device includes a rotary feeder to contact a first side of a sheet to feed the sheet downstream along a feed passage; a friction pad disposed opposing the rotary feeder with the feed passage interposed between the rotary feeder and the friction pad to form a separation nip, the friction pad having a first side facing the separation nip and a second side opposite the first side of the friction pad; a holder disposed on the second side of the friction pad and having a first side holding the friction pad and a second side opposite the first side of the holder; a guide support disposed on the second side of the holder; and a pair of guides disposed on the guide support to contact a second side of the sheet facing the friction pad to raise the sheet from a surface of the friction pad.Type: GrantFiled: March 26, 2015Date of Patent: December 6, 2016Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Mizuna Tanaka, Ippei Kimura, Ikuo Fujii, Hirofumi Horita, Tomoya Tanaka
-
Patent number: 9493317Abstract: A paper feed apparatus includes a paper feeding portion that sends-out a paper placed in a paper placing tray, and is used in an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction machine. The paper feed apparatus comprises a first regulating portion and a second regulating portion that are arranged in the vicinity of a downstream side of a paper feeding position by the paper feeding portion. The first regulating portion is arranged outside a second width paper passage area to regulate a movement of a first width paper such as A4 paper placed in the paper placing tray toward a feeding direction. On the other hand, the second regulating portion is arranged inside the second width paper passage area to regulate a movement of a second width paper such as a name card placed in the paper placing tray toward a feeding direction.Type: GrantFiled: January 15, 2016Date of Patent: November 15, 2016Assignee: SHARP KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Yasumasa Morimoto
-
Patent number: 9487364Abstract: A sheet conveying device includes a holder, a friction member, a rotary conveyance member having an outer circumferential surface and forming a nip area between the outer circumferential surface thereof and the friction member, the rotary conveyance member configured to rotate while contacting the friction member, and separate and convey multiple sheet-like materials one by one at the nip area, and a pair of guides configured to lift an underside of each of the sheet-like materials at a portion facing the friction member, the pair of guides disposed upstream from the nip area in a sheet conveying direction, outside both ends in an axial direction of the rotary conveyance member, separate from the nip area from the axial direction of the rotary conveyance member, and being overlaid with the outer circumferential surface of the rotary conveyance member.Type: GrantFiled: August 7, 2013Date of Patent: November 8, 2016Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Ippei Kimura, Mizuna Tanaka, Ikuo Fujii, Hirofumi Horita
-
Patent number: 9475320Abstract: A door opening and closing device includes, a door supporting portion for supporting an axial side of a door, a door receiving portion inclined to the door supporting portion for receiving an open-send side of the door, an opening formed from the door supporting portion to the door receiving portion to be opened and closed by the door, a first support point made by a combination of a shaft attached to the axial side of the door and an elongated hole formed on the door supporting portion, and a second support point provided at an intermediate portion between the axial side and the open-end side of the door and capable of freely contacting-with and separated-from the door receiving portion. The open-end side is angled to the axial side to have an angle therebetween in accordance with an inclined angle of the door receiving portion to the door supporting portion.Type: GrantFiled: July 27, 2015Date of Patent: October 25, 2016Assignee: RISO KAGAKU CORPORATIONInventor: Kensuke Shiina
-
Patent number: 9457973Abstract: A sheet feeder includes a separation roller having a circumferential surface that contacts a first sheet to be fed first among stacked sheets and picks up the first sheet and one or more second sheets adjacent to the first sheet, a separation arm that is closer to the circumferential surface of the separation roller downstream in a feeding direction and configured to apply higher frictional resistance to the second sheets than the first sheet to feed the first sheet ahead of the second sheets, and a guide member including a guide portion that has a lower-friction surface than the separation arm and extends from the separation arm with a distal end thereof in contact with or close to the circumferential surface of the separation roller. The guide portion guides the first and second sheets along the circumferential surface of the separation roller.Type: GrantFiled: July 2, 2013Date of Patent: October 4, 2016Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yoshinori Osakabe, Takayuki Akimatsu
-
Patent number: 9403650Abstract: In a sheet feeding device, when a leading end of a recording sheet is guided to a nip region along a leading end portion of a sheet guide member in contact with a surface of a separation roller, the leading end of the recording sheet slides and moves on surfaces of projected end portions to be guided to the vicinity of the nip region, and the leading end of the recording sheet passes through the nip region quickly. Hence, a sheet feed error is much less likely to occur. Since a distance from recessed end portions to the nip region is longer and the leading end of the recording sheet is in contact with the separation roller for a longer time right after passing the recessed end portions until reaching the nip region, even though a plurality of recording sheets is stacked, the recording sheets are separated one by one by the separation roller, preventing a multi-sheet feed of the sheets.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 2015Date of Patent: August 2, 2016Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Norichika Katsura, Yasuaki Fukada, Yoshiyuki Kobayashi, Yoshiteru Kikuchi
-
Patent number: 9394126Abstract: Provided is a paper feeding device including a transporting unit that feeds one sheet away from sheets, a detaching member that detaches the one sheet away from the sheets together with the transporting unit, a supporting member that supports the detaching member, and that includes a shaft longer than the detaching member in a direction perpendicular to a sheet feeding direction, and a holding member that holds the shaft not to move to a downstream side in the sheet feeding direction, and that releases the shaft from holding when the shaft moves in a direction other than the sheet feeding direction.Type: GrantFiled: October 30, 2014Date of Patent: July 19, 2016Assignee: FUJI XEROX CO., LTD.Inventor: Toyohide Sakamoto
-
Patent number: 9346640Abstract: A sheet feeder includes a feeding member to contact a sheet and feed the sheet downstream in a sheet conveyance direction, a friction pad disposed facing the feeding member to contact the feeding member, and a receiving table including a pad mount to hold a side of the friction pad opposite a nip between the friction pad and the feeding member. The friction pad includes a fixed range secured to the pad mount upstream from the nip and a movable range extending downstream the nip in the sheet conveyance direction. A first friction force of the pad mount to act on the movable range of the friction pad is smaller than a second friction force of the sheet to act on the movable range of the friction pad.Type: GrantFiled: March 9, 2015Date of Patent: May 24, 2016Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.Inventors: Hirofumi Horita, Ikuo Fujii, Mizuna Tanaka, Tomoya Tanaka, Toshikane Nishii, Masaki Narita, Yoshitake Shimizu, Yutaka Aso, Takashi Fujimoto
-
Patent number: 9302865Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet stacking portion on which sheets are stacked, a sheet feeding unit configured to feed the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion, a slope portion arranged downstream of the sheets in a feeding direction of the sheets stacked on the sheet stacking portion and configured to separate the sheets from each other, the sheets fed by the sheet feeding unit being bent when contacting the slope portion, and a contact width variable mechanism configured to change a contact width in which the slope portion and a leading edge of the sheet, in the feeding direction, fed by the sheet feeding unit are in contact with each other by moving part of the slope portion in the feeding direction or in a direction opposite to the feeding direction.Type: GrantFiled: July 1, 2013Date of Patent: April 5, 2016Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Akira Omori
-
Patent number: 9278822Abstract: A sheet separator including a separation roller and a separation pad having a separation surface facing an outer circumferential surface of the separation roller in a nip position between the separation surface and the outer circumferential surface, the separation surface including a first surface disposed upstream relative to the nip position in a first direction perpendicular to the axis, the first surface including a curved surface that is curved to become closer to the axis in a direction toward the nip position from an upstream end portion of the separation surface in the first direction, and a second surface disposed downstream relative to the nip position in the first direction, the second surface flatly extending along a second direction parallel to the axis.Type: GrantFiled: December 26, 2014Date of Patent: March 8, 2016Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Tsuyoshi Suganuma
-
Patent number: 9248985Abstract: A sheet feeder configured to hold a separation pad may include a pivotable housing having a connection element for attaching the separation pad. In one example, the connection element may correspond to a protrusion, with the separation pad including one or more corresponding recesses or holes. A fixing member configured to secure the separation pad may be slidably connected in the housing to be slidable, while connected to the housing, between a first position and a second position.Type: GrantFiled: March 28, 2014Date of Patent: February 2, 2016Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Yoshikazu Kawauchi
-
Patent number: 9242816Abstract: There is provided a feed apparatus including a support unit, a feed roller, a swingable arm to support the feed roller, a guide unit, a movable member movable to a retracted position and a protruding position at which the movable member can abut against the sheet supported by the support unit, a driving source, driving transmission units; and a contact-separating mechanism to move the feed roller to a separated position and an abutment position at which the feed roller abuts against the sheet supported by the support unit. In a state in which the movable member is the protruding position and the feed roller is the separated position, a time required to start feeding of the sheet by the feed roller moved from the separated position to the abutment position is longer than a time required to shift the movable member from the protruding position to the retracted position.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2014Date of Patent: January 26, 2016Assignee: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventors: Tsuyoshi Ito, Yuta Uchino, Gakuro Kanazawa
-
Patent number: 9242815Abstract: A medium supply device includes a feeding unit that feeds a medium among one or more media placed on a placing table, a separating unit that is arranged to come into pressure-contact with the feeding unit, a blocking portion that is movable and blocks a space formed between the feeding unit and the separating unit in an upstream side of a nip region in a conveying direction of the medium, and a curve-forming portion that presses the medium against the feeding unit side to form a curve in a width direction of the medium.Type: GrantFiled: November 21, 2013Date of Patent: January 26, 2016Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventors: Hideyuki Okumura, Kiichiro Shimosaka, Ryoichi Yasukawa
-
Patent number: 9139387Abstract: There are provided a sheet feeding apparatus which, with a simple configuration, can suppress generation of noise during feeding of a sheet without having an affect on sheet separating performance, and an image forming apparatus which includes this sheet feeding apparatus. The sheet feeding apparatus includes: a feeding roller which feeds a sheet S; a separation roller which is pressed against the feeding roller and rotates in a reverse direction to a direction of feeding by the feeding roller to separate sheets, fed by the sheet feeding apparatus, one by one; a feeding rotational shaft which transmits rotational driving force to the feeding roller; and a roller dumper which is provided between the feeding roller and the feeding rotational shaft, and transmits the rotational driving force from the feeding rotational shaft to the feeding roller, while absorbing vibrations of the feeding roller.Type: GrantFiled: July 25, 2013Date of Patent: September 22, 2015Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Hiroshige Inoue
-
Patent number: 9126777Abstract: A sheet feeding mechanism is configured to feed a sheet, which has an actuator having a contact member configured to contact a sheet being fed, and a shaft configured to support the contact member, the shaft having a first end and a second end in a longitudinal direction, a first supporting part configured to support a first end portion of the shaft, a second supporting part configured to support a second end portion of the shaft, a detection unit configured to detect a position of the contact member, and an elastic supporting member configured to holds the first end portion of the shaft such that the shaft is displaceable in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.Type: GrantFiled: September 23, 2013Date of Patent: September 8, 2015Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Yoshikazu Shimizu, Masafumi Inoue
-
Patent number: 9114947Abstract: A medium supply device includes a feeding unit that feeds a medium among one or more media placed on a placing table, a separating unit that is arranged to come into pressure-contact with the feeding unit, and a blocking portion that is movable and blocks a space formed between the feeding unit and the separating unit in an upstream side of a nip region in a conveying direction of the medium. When one of the media placed on the placing table is fed by the feeding unit and the one or more media are placed on the placing table, the space is formed by the medium fed by the feeding unit, the separating unit, and the one or more media placed on the placing table.Type: GrantFiled: December 26, 2013Date of Patent: August 25, 2015Assignee: PFU LIMITEDInventors: Hideyuki Okumura, Kiichiro Shimosaka, Ryoichi Yasukawa
-
Patent number: 9085427Abstract: A feeding device includes a feed roller configured to feed stacked sheets, a first transmission unit configured to transmit driving force to the feed roller, a separating member configured to separate a sheet having been fed by the feed roller from the other sheets, a moving unit configured to move the separating member to a separating position where the separating member is in contact with the sheet to separate the sheet and a retracting position where the separating member does not separate the sheet, a second transmission unit configured to transmit driving force to the moving unit to work the moving unit, and a transmission unit configured to simultaneously transmit driving force of a drive source to the first transmission unit and the second transmission unit.Type: GrantFiled: August 30, 2013Date of Patent: July 21, 2015Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Ryuji Nogami
-
Patent number: 9079731Abstract: A sheet separator including two guides disposed to face each other across a distance in a width direction, at least one of the two guides being configured to move along the width direction to enlarge or reduce the distance therebetween, a separation roller, a separation pad configured to separate sheets being conveyed by the separation roller on a sheet-by-sheet basis in cooperation with the separation roller, a pressing mechanism configured to apply a pressing load to press the separation pad toward the separation roller, and an adjuster configured to increase the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to enlarge the distance, and decrease the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to reduce the distance.Type: GrantFiled: June 3, 2014Date of Patent: July 14, 2015Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Muneaki Takahata
-
Patent number: 9067747Abstract: A sheet feeding apparatus includes a sheet tray, a sheet feeding roller and a pair of link members. The sheet tray constitutes a loading surface. The sheet tray includes a tray main body and a lifting plate. The tray main body is openable and closable with respect to the wall portion. The lifting plate has a pair of first fulcrum portions disposed upstream of the sheet feeding roller. The downstream side of the lifting plate is rotationally movable up and down around the first fulcrum portions. The tray main body has a pair of second fulcrum portions. The second fulcrum portions are configured to be a pivot point for the opening and closing operation of the tray main body. Each of the pair of link members is coupled to the first fulcrum portion and to the wall portion.Type: GrantFiled: April 15, 2014Date of Patent: June 30, 2015Assignee: Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.Inventor: Tetsuro Kawashima
-
Patent number: 9022381Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a sheet feeding device having a separation pad holding unit, a separation pad fixing unit, and a compression unit while vibration damping unit(such as a sponge member and a Mylar member) that is attached to the compression unit does not contact the separation pad holding unit and the separation pad fixing unit.Type: GrantFiled: January 7, 2014Date of Patent: May 5, 2015Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Shota Kase, Minoru Kawanishi, Hirotaka Ishii, Keisuke Fujita, Akinori Yokota
-
Publication number: 20150115520Abstract: A sheet feeding cassette is capable of being mounted to and removed from an apparatus body along a specified mounting direction. The sheet accommodated within a sheet accommodating portion is conveyed through a sheet conveyance path in a sheet conveyance direction extending along the mounting direction. A sheet feeding roller is disposed at an inlet side of the sheet conveyance path so as to face the sheet accommodating portion. A retard roller is disposed so as to face the sheet feeding roller. The sheet feeding roller forms a sheet feeding nip between the sheet feeding roller and the retard roller. A lock mechanism locks drawing-out of the sheet feeding cassette from the apparatus body or releases the lock. A separator moves the retard roller away from the sheet feeding roller prior to or simultaneously with the lock being released by the lock mechanism.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 24, 2014Publication date: April 30, 2015Inventor: Yuki UOHASHI
-
Patent number: 9016685Abstract: Provided are a sheet feeding device capable of preventing the occurrence of failure in sheet feeding and degradation in quality of printed matter with downsizing achieved and an image forming apparatus provided with the sheet feeding device. The sheet feeding device includes a sheet storing portion 55 in which sheets are stored, a feeding roller 51 placed above the sheet storing portion, a flexible member 53 placed along part of the peripheral surface of the feeding roller with one end of the flexible member fixed to the sheet storing portion at a position below the stored sheets, and a pulling-up portion 300 that is connected to the other end of the flexible member above the sheet storing portion and that pulls up the flexible member to press the sheet on the feeding roller.Type: GrantFiled: June 18, 2012Date of Patent: April 28, 2015Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Junji Yasuda, Masashige Tamura, Shinichi Nishida, Tomokazu Morita, Kazumasa Shibata
-
Patent number: 9016684Abstract: A banknote handling and transmission apparatus includes a drive roller, a driven structure, and a transmission device. The driven structure includes a mounting member and a first driven roller pivotally mounted to the mounting member. The transmission device includes a guiding panel, a bottom panel, a mounting portion secured to the guiding panel, and a transmission structure pivotally mounted to the guiding panel. A transmission channel is defined between the guiding panel and the bottom panel. The transmission apparatus includes a first transmission roller bearing against, and rotated by, the first drive roller, the first drive roller also forces the rotation of the first driven roller, to pick up deposited banknotes and move them squarely into the transmission channel.Type: GrantFiled: June 28, 2013Date of Patent: April 28, 2015Assignee: Zhongshan Innocloud Intellectual Property Services Co., Ltd.Inventors: Chih-Kun Shih, Wan-Cheng Luo, Xiao-Mao Xie, Wei Xu, Kai-Hua Wu, Yong-Gui Pan
-
Patent number: 9019693Abstract: An electronic device capable of ejecting a peripheral element is disclosed, including a housing, a first wheel and a driving unit. The housing has a chamber, wherein the peripheral element is stored in the chamber. The first wheel is disposed in the housing, wherein the first wheel contacts the peripheral element. The driving unit is disposed in the housing, the driving unit rotates the first wheel, and the first wheel moves the peripheral element from a first position to a second position.Type: GrantFiled: February 20, 2013Date of Patent: April 28, 2015Assignee: Wistron Corp.Inventor: Tien-Chung Tseng
-
Patent number: 9010751Abstract: A sheet feed device has a tray with holding surface for holding sheets, a feed unit for feeding sheets from the tray, and a separation plate. The separation plate has an inclined surface and two or more separation portions that separate a sheet from the sheets held in the tray. At least one of the separation portions projects a first distance from the inclined surface. The separation plate also has a projection positioned on the inclined surface that projects a second distance from the inclined surface. The second distance is greater than the first distance. A first of the separation portions is positioned upstream of the particular projection in the sheet feed direction, and a second of the separation portions positioned downstream of the particular projection in the sheet feed direction.Type: GrantFiled: March 10, 2014Date of Patent: April 21, 2015Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventors: Tetsuo Asada, Yukio Shiohara
-
Patent number: 8994963Abstract: A sheet conveyance unit including a sheet tray on which a stack of sheets is placed, a sheet feed member to feed sheets from the stack of sheets, a separation/feed unit to separate a topmost sheet from the rest of sheets fed by the sheet feed member and feed the topmost sheet to a predetermined position, and a pre-separation unit disposed between the sheet tray and the separation/feed unit. The pre-separation unit includes a downward sloped portion to guide a leading edge of each sheet diagonally downward, and an upward sloped portion provided downstream from the downward sloped portion in a conveyance direction of the sheets to guide the leading edge of each sheet diagonally upward. Both ends of the upward sloped portion in a lateral direction are sloped upward more gently than the center of the upward sloped portion.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 2013Date of Patent: March 31, 2015Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.Inventors: Yohei Osanai, Yasunobu Youda, Taku Kudoh, Takayuki Andoh, Koji Hatayama
-
Publication number: 20150084269Abstract: A sheet feeding unit includes a supporting member configured to rotatably support a rotary feeding member, a first retaining member configured to push the supporting member upward from the underside to retain the rotary feeding member at a waiting position, and a second retaining member protruding on the underside of the supporting member when the first retaining member retains the supporting member. The retention of the supporting member by the first retaining member is released in association with the mounting of a sheet storage portion in the mounting position, and then the retention of the supporting member by the second retaining member is released.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 17, 2014Publication date: March 26, 2015Inventors: Satohisa Tateishi, Kozo Inoue
-
Patent number: 8985314Abstract: A driven roller unit and a paper feeding device are provided. The paper feeding device includes a frame, the driven roller unit and a driving roller. The frame has a dome concave. The driven roller unit has an omnidirectional ball, wherein the omnidirectional ball is in the dome concave. The driving roller is disposed above the frame and the driven roller unit. When the driving roller presses on the driven roller unit, an angle included by the driving roller and the driven roller unit is adjusted due to the rotation of the omnidirectional ball relative to the dome concave, and therefore the force applied on the driven roller unit is uniform.Type: GrantFiled: June 18, 2012Date of Patent: March 24, 2015Assignees: Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited, Kinpo Electronics, Inc.Inventor: Chih-Hwa Wang
-
Patent number: 8985570Abstract: A paper feeding mechanism includes a mechanical frame, a gear assembly, a paper supply tray, a pickup assembly, a paper pressing assembly and a stopper assembly. The gear assembly includes a drive gear and a transmission gear. The paper pressing assembly includes a paper pressing frame, a paper pressing tray, a gear shaft, at least one swing arm and an elastic element. The stopper assembly includes a blocking element and a connecting element. The drive gear drives the transmission gear and the gear shaft to rotate, the connecting element drives the blocking element to move downward to make the blocking element realize a paper blocking function, and the drive gear breaks away from the drive gear, the elastic element pushes against the paper pressing tray to move downward, the blocking element breaks away from the paper supply tray to raise up for making the paper blocking function disappeared.Type: GrantFiled: February 14, 2014Date of Patent: March 24, 2015Assignee: Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Jing Hua Fang, Wen Ching Liao, I Chuan Hong
-
Publication number: 20150054213Abstract: A manual paper-sheet feed portion of an image forming apparatus includes a manual tray, a feed opening, a feed roller, and a shutter. The manual tray is shifted to an opened state, whereby placement of a recording medium becomes possible. The feed opening accepts feeding of the recording medium to a conveyance path. The feed roller feeds the recording medium to the conveyance path. When the feeding of the recording medium to the conveyance path is started, the shutter swings in one direction to open the feed opening, and when a rear end of the recording medium passes through the feed opening, the shutter swings in the other direction to return to a position where to shield the feed opening.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 22, 2014Publication date: February 26, 2015Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventor: Yasuhiro MIYAKE
-
Publication number: 20150035222Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for separating a media item from a bunch of media items. The apparatus comprises at least one first roller located on a first side of a transport path along which a media item is transported and at least two further rollers located on a further side of the transport path opposite the first side, said at least two further rollers being spaced apart to receive a portion of said at least one first roller therebetween, wherein in an advance mode of operation said first and further rollers rotate in the same direction and in a reject mode of operation said first and further rollers rotate in opposite directions.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 31, 2013Publication date: February 5, 2015Applicant: NCR CORPORATIONInventors: Owen Wilson, Frank Dunn, Jason Gillier
-
Patent number: 8944428Abstract: A removable media dam for a media input tray. The removable media dam is mountable in a front wall of the media tray and may contain one or more rollers for feeding media from the media input tray. The removable media dam includes a separator roll positioner for angularly rotating a separator roll between a retracted position and an extended position to adjust the height of the separator roll with respect to a media contact surface thereby varying the media sheet separation force applied by the separator roll to media sheets being fed from the media tray. In one form, the removable media dam is mountable by a user without the use of tools.Type: GrantFiled: April 5, 2013Date of Patent: February 3, 2015Assignee: Lexmark International, Inc.Inventors: Chad Michael Piening, Louann Behymer Samuels, Curtis Duane Woodson
-
Patent number: 8915495Abstract: A media transport assembly includes a loadstop drive assembly to gather and compress a media stack in a media tray before a pick and feed cycle, and a pick drive assembly to pick a sheet of media from the media stack and feed the sheet of media to a media path. The loadstop drive assembly is positioned on one side of a gear wall and the pick drive assembly is positioned on an opposite side of the gear wall such that the pick drive assembly is driven by the loadstop drive assembly through the gear wall.Type: GrantFiled: August 21, 2012Date of Patent: December 23, 2014Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.Inventors: Keith Jariabka, Kieran B Kelly
-
Patent number: 8915496Abstract: A feeding apparatus includes a pickup roller arranged to pick and feed a medium downstream along a conveying path, a separating roller arranged downstream to the pickup roller for advancing the medium downstream, a brake roller arranged opposite to the separating roller, and a pressing structure arranged opposite to the pickup roller and operable to swing toward or away from the pickup roller according to the rotating direction of the brake roller. When the brake roller rotates for feeding mediums downstream, the pressing structure moves toward the pickup roller and applies a normal force required for picking the medium. But when the brake roller stops rotating downstream because multiple mediums are fed between the brake roller and the separating roller, the pressing structure moves away from the pickup roller and stops applying normal force, so as to control the medium-picking process.Type: GrantFiled: October 19, 2012Date of Patent: December 23, 2014Assignee: Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Che-Pin Hung, Yueh-Shing Lee, Shao-Yang Wu
-
Patent number: 8910931Abstract: A sheet feeding device including: a sheet feeding roller configured to convey a sheet; a placing portion on which the sheet is configured to be placed; a moving unit configured to move the placing portion toward the sheet feeding roller; a separation pad to which a leading end of the conveyed sheet is configured to abut at a contact position; a separation roller configured to nip the sheet conveyed by the sheet feeding roller between the separation pad and the separation roller at a nip position while bringing the sheet into sliding contact with the separation pad; and a separation assistant member provided between the sheet feeding roller and the separation roller and configured to change a distance between the nip position and the contact position according to a basis weight of the sheet by coming into contact with the sheet.Type: GrantFiled: September 27, 2013Date of Patent: December 16, 2014Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Naoyuki Iwata
-
Patent number: 8910932Abstract: Separator assembly for use with printers is described herein. One example separator assembly includes a separator pad movable between a first position and a second position such that the separator pad is to engage a leading edge of a print media in the second position. A cam is rotatable between a third position and a fourth position to move the separator pad from the first to the second position.Type: GrantFiled: June 30, 2011Date of Patent: December 16, 2014Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.Inventors: Steve O. Rasmussen, Allan G. Olson, Michael L. Gustafson, Abdolreza Movaghar
-
Patent number: 8905398Abstract: A medium feeding device includes a medium feeding unit that feeds a medium placed in a set position, and a friction separation member that is disposed downstream of the medium feeding unit and is configured to come into contact with the underside of the medium, the friction separation member being deformable, and feed path restriction members that are arranged such that the friction separation member is located between the feed path restriction members, the contact portion of the feed path restriction member which comes into contact with the topside of the medium being located at a position lower than the upper surface of the friction separation member.Type: GrantFiled: May 11, 2012Date of Patent: December 9, 2014Assignee: Seiko Epson CorporationInventor: Toshikazu Kotaka
-
Publication number: 20140353905Abstract: A sheet separator including two guides disposed to face each other across a distance in a width direction, at least one of the two guides being configured to move along the width direction to enlarge or reduce the distance therebetween, a separation roller, a separation pad configured to separate sheets being conveyed by the separation roller on a sheet-by-sheet basis in cooperation with the separation roller, a pressing mechanism configured to apply a pressing load to press the separation pad toward the separation roller, and an adjuster configured to increase the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to enlarge the distance, and decrease the pressing load in response to the at least one of the two guides moving in a direction to reduce the distance.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 3, 2014Publication date: December 4, 2014Applicant: BROTHER KOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHAInventor: Muneaki Takahata
-
Publication number: 20140353904Abstract: A sheet feeder includes a casing, a sheet stacking portion, a sheet conveyance path, a feed roller, a separation pad, a holder, a mounting portion and a guiding member. The sheets are placed on the sheet stacking portion and fed in a predetermined direction in the sheet conveyance path. A nip portion, through which the sheet passes, is formed between the feed roller and the separation pad. The holder fixedly supports the separation pad and is mountable into and removable from the mounting portion of the casing. The guiding member guides the holder. The posture of the holder is changeable between a first posture in which a predetermined clearance is formable between the guiding member and the holder when the holder is mounted into the mounting portion and a second posture in which the holder is pressed against the guiding member when the sheet passes through the nip portion.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 28, 2014Publication date: December 4, 2014Applicant: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventors: Mitsuhiro Tahara, Hiroki Ozawa
-
Patent number: 8899575Abstract: There is disclosed a sheet feeding device which feeds a plurality of stacked sheet-like recording media one by one from a tray containing the recording media, including a sheet feeding roller which comes in contact with the uppermost layer of the recording media contained in the tray, and rotates to feed the recording medium; an inclined member including an inclined surface which is positioned on a downstream side in a feeding direction of the recording media, and inclined at an obtuse angle to the feeding direction of the recording media, and on which the fed recording media abuts; and a separating member having an uneven surface, to separate the one fed recording medium, wherein the separating member is configured to be movable between a position projecting to the inclined member and a position retreated from the projecting position, while maintaining the same inclining angle as that of the inclined member.Type: GrantFiled: July 17, 2012Date of Patent: December 2, 2014Assignee: Canon Kabushiki KaishaInventor: Keisei Hakamata
-
Patent number: 8894062Abstract: An automatic paper feed device includes a mechanical frame, a paper supply tray mounted to the mechanical frame, at least one motor mounted to one side of the mechanical frame, an upper cover, a stopper mechanism, a paper pressing mechanism, a transmission mechanism, a feed mechanism and a control mechanism. The stopper mechanism includes a blocking element and a torsion spring. The paper pressing mechanism includes a pressing board, at least one pressing roller and an elastic element. The feed mechanism is pivotally mounted to the paper supply tray. The control mechanism controls the motor to rotate, the rotation of the motor drives the transmission mechanism to support or break away from the pressing board to make the pressing board slide upward or downward with respect to the paper supply tray and further abut against or break away from the blocking element.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2014Date of Patent: November 25, 2014Assignee: Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Kuan Ting Chen, Wen Ching Liao
-
Patent number: 8876104Abstract: Sheet conveying path extends from sheet stacking portion. Sheet feed roller is disposed, in sheet conveying path, facing sheet stacking portion. Sheet feed pad is disposed facing circumferential surface of sheet feed roller, and has pad surface that forms, between pad surface and circumferential surface, nip portion into which sheet is conveyed. Support member has support surface to which sheet feed pad is fixed and contact surface located upstream of support surface in sheet conveying direction so as to be higher than pad surface, and configured to make contact with leading end of sheet fed from sheet stacking portion. Rib portions are disposed in support member. Rib portions are disposed on both side portions, in sheet width direction intersecting sheet conveying direction, of support surface, and have inclined surfaces that extend so as to lower front end portions thereof, respectively, from contact surface toward downstream side in sheet conveying direction.Type: GrantFiled: November 11, 2013Date of Patent: November 4, 2014Assignee: KYOCERA Document Solutions Inc.Inventor: Yuichi Koshimura
-
Patent number: 8876103Abstract: There are provided a paper conveying apparatus which can drive paper set guides, paper feed rollers, retard rollers, and conveyor rollers by a single motor. The paper conveying apparatus includes a paper set guide for setting paper, a paper feed roller for feeding paper set at the paper set guide, a retard roller arranged facing the paper feed roller, a conveyor roller for further conveying paper fed by the paper feed roller, a motor for generating a drive force for driving the paper set guide, and a transmission mechanism, arranged straddling a transport path of the paper, for transmitting the drive force to the paper feed roller and the retard roller, wherein the conveyor roller is driven by the transmission mechanism.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2013Date of Patent: November 4, 2014Assignee: PFU LimitedInventors: Yusuke Kasashima, Shigeru Yonemura, Norihiro Yamasaku