BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below for illustration only for, which thus is not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a paper separating and guiding device with a frictional pad in the prior art;
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention in an automatic paper-feeding device;
FIG. 3A is a schematic side view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention in the automatic paper-feeding device;
FIG. 3B is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention;
FIG. 4A is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention before the paper sheets are separated;
FIG. 4B is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention in the paper separating state; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the process of delivering paper sheets of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In order to further understand the objects, structures, features, and functions of the present invention, it is illustrated below in detail through the embodiments.
Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 3A, and FIG. 3B, a device for paper separating and guiding 200 provided in the present invention is applied in a paper-feeding device 500. The paper-feeding device 500 includes a paper pickup roller 100, a device for paper separating and guiding 200, and a paper feeding tray 300.
The paper pickup roller 100 is driven by a motor (not shown), and is rotated as the motor rotates. An elastic element 250 is connected to the device for paper separating and guiding 200 for pushing it to press against the paper pickup roller 100, and makes the paper pickup roller 100 closely contact with the paper sheets to be fed 400, and feeds the paper sheets to be fed 400 together with the paper pickup roller 100.
The paper feeding tray 300 is an inclined surface for supporting the paper sheets to be fed 400. The paper sheets to be fed 400 slide downwards along the surface of the paper feeding tray 300 under the effect of the gravity and is positioned until their front edges contact with the device for paper separating and guiding 200, as shown in FIG. 4A.
Referring to both FIG. 3B and FIG. 4A, FIG. 3B is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention, and FIG. 4A is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention before the paper sheets are separated. An elastic pad 220 is disposed on the top surface 242 of the device for paper separating and guiding 200 facing the paper pickup roller 100, which is made of elastic materials, for example, rubber. Moreover, the outer edge of the paper pickup roller 100 is also made of elastic materials, for example, rubber. Due to the elastic pad 220 and the paper pickup roller 100 having elasticity, an appropriate normal force is generated between the device for paper separating and guiding 200 and the paper pickup roller 100, such that the paper sheets are clipped between the device for paper separating and guiding 200 and the paper pickup roller 100 under an appropriate force. Meanwhile, the paper pickup roller 100 made of elastic materials can also be used to enhance the friction force with the paper sheets, such that the paper pickup roller 100 drives the paper sheets smoothly.
One side edge of the top surface 242 of the device for paper separating and guiding 200 far away from the elastic pad 220 has a first inclined surface 244 forming a first inclined angle a between 10° to 15° with the top surface 242, which is used for arranging the paper sheets stepwise sequentially, such that the paper sheet on the top-is protruding forwards. A second inclined surface 246 is adjacent to the other side edge of the first inclined surface 244, and forms a second inclined angle b with the top surface 242. The second inclined angle b must be larger than the first inclined angle a, thus, the second inclined angle b is in the range of 65° to 75°. The second inclined surface 246 is mainly used for blocking the paper sheets to avoid excessive paper sheets sliding to the first inclined surface 244 and the top surface 242 at the same time, so as to prevent the stepwise arrangement of the paper sheets from being affected. Moreover, the device for paper separating and guiding 200 is made of plastic, thus it can be manufactured by the way of injection molding, to accurately control its size. Furthermore, since the plastic is used, the manufacturing cost is relatively low.
Referring to FIG. 4A, it is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention before the paper sheets are separated. The paper feeding tray 300 is a surface inclined downwards. The paper sheets to be fed 400 slide downwards along the surface of the paper feeding tray 300 under the effect of gravity, and are positioned until their front edges contact with the device for paper separating and guiding 200. At this time, the front edges of the paper sheets to be fed 400 are aligned evenly.
Next, referring to FIG. 4B, it is an enlarged schematic view of the device for paper separating and guiding of the present invention in the paper separating state. When the paper pickup roller 100 rotates clockwise to pickup paper sheets, it pushes the device for paper separating and guiding 200 to be inclined, such that the front edges of the paper sheets to be fed 400 slide towards the first inclined surface 244. At this time, the first paper sheet 400a on the top and the front edges of a part of the second paper sheets 400b enter the first inclined surface 244, such that the first paper 400a and the part of the second paper sheets 400b are arranged stepwise sequentially, and the first paper sheet 400a is guided to move towards the top surface 242. The second inclined surface 246 blocks a part of the second paper sheets 400b to avoid excessive paper sheets sliding into the first inclined surface 244, wherein and excessive paper sheets cause difficulty in paper separating. Finally, on the first inclined surface 244, the first paper sheet 400a is protruding more outwards than other second paper sheets 400b, thus, only the first paper 400a can enter the top surface 242 and contact with the paper pickup roller 100, thereby completing the operation of paper separating.
Referring to FIG. 5, it is a schematic view of the process of feeding paper sheets of the present invention. The paper pickup roller 100 starts to rotate and drives the first paper 400a on the top surface 242 to be transmitted towards a paper guiding rail 600.
Since the automatic paper-feeding apparatus emphasizes the stability in the operations of separating and delivering paper sheets, the first inclined surface 244 of the present invention makes the first paper sheet 400a to be fed be protruding outwards relative to other paper sheets, and only the first paper sheet 400a contacts with the paper pickup roller 100, thus avoiding the problem of multi-feed. Meanwhile, in order to ensure that the paper sheets to be fed 400 are arranged stepwise, the present invention further provides a design of the second inclined surface 246 for preventing excessive paper sheets from entering to the first inclined surface 244 at the same time, such that the paper sheets to be fed 400 are accurately arranged stepwise, thereby further reducing the probability of multi-feed or paper jam.
The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.
Patent Application
20070262514
