This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-153402 filed Sep. 13, 2020.
The present disclosure relates to a medium feeding device and a medium processing apparatus including the medium feeding device.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2016-653 (refer to DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS and FIG. 17) discloses a sheet feeding device including a constituent that enables long sheets to be placed on a sheet feeding tray by a tray bottom plate of the sheet feeding tray being extended. In the sheet feeding device, sheets are fluffed by blowing air from a side of the sheet feeding tray, and a transport belt sticks by suction to a fluffed sheet and delivers the sheet.
Aspects of non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure relate to, in a medium feeding device including a transfer unit and a fluffing unit, addressing a technical challenge to preventing a medium from becoming stuck (jamming) during medium feeding.
Aspects of certain non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure overcome the above disadvantages and/or other disadvantages not described above. However, aspects of the non-limiting embodiments are not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and aspects of the non-limiting embodiments of the present disclosure may not overcome any of the disadvantages described above.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a medium feeding device including a storage unit that stores media in a form of a sheet, a delivery unit that is disposed downstream in a medium delivery direction relative to the media stored in the storage unit and that delivers the media individually, a transfer unit that is disposed above the storage unit and that sticks by suction to each of the media stored in the storage unit and transfers the media to the delivery unit individually, and a fluffing unit that is disposed beside the media stored in the storage unit in a direction intersecting the medium delivery direction. The fluffing unit fluffs an upper-side region of the media in a state of being separated by blowing air toward a side of the media. The medium feeding device further includes plural position detection units that are arranged in a region that is on the delivery unit side relative to a position of a downstream end portion, in the medium delivery direction, of each of the media stored in the storage unit and that does not reach a contact portion where the delivery unit comes into contact with the media. The position detection units are arranged at an interval in a width direction of the media intersecting the medium delivery direction. The position detection units detect a position of the downstream end portion, in the medium delivery direction, of each of the media.
Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
The medium feeding device illustrated in
In the present exemplary embodiment, as
In particular, a representative example of the medium feeding device further includes a control unit 6 that determines whether a state of a downstream end portion, in the medium delivery direction, of a medium S1 is within a predetermined permissible range, based on information detected by the position detection units 5, and that stops a feeding operation of the medium S1 when the state of the downstream end portion of the medium S1 in the medium delivery direction is in an abnormal range that is out of the permissible range.
In such a technical configuration, the storage unit 1 typically has a stacking portion on which media S are to be stacked. A type that stores media S of a variety of sizes has, at a position beside the media S in a direction intersecting the delivery direction of the media S, a side guide portion that guides media S for positioning the media S, or the type has, at a rear position upstream in the delivery direction of media S, a rear guide portion that guides the media S for positioning the media S. The storage unit 1 is often withdrawable with respect to a housing of the medium feeding device in view of media S supplement capability. In this example, jamming of media S while being caught by the delivery unit 2 is suppressed from occurring, and the storage unit 1 is thereby able to be withdrawn smoothly.
The delivery unit 2 may be any delivery unit having a function of delivering media S. For example, paired delivery rollers and a combination of a delivery roller and a delivery belt are representative, and, in both cases, a “medium S1-contact-portion NP” means a nip region between such delivery members that nip a medium S1, which is to be delivered, therebetween. For example, when the delivery unit 2 is a pair of rollers, the medium S1-contact-portion NP is a region (nip region) in which the paired rollers are in contact with one another. Alternatively, one of the paired rollers may transport a belt, and the rollers may hold the belt therebetween.
This example is based on the premise that the transfer unit 3 and the fluffing unit 4 are mounted and may be any of various types such as a large medium-storage-capacity type or a long-sheet-capable type. In particular, any type having a storage unit 1 that is able to be withdrawn may be used.
Regarding the position detection units 5, it is possible to select position detection units appropriately as long as plural position detection units may be arranged at an interval in the width direction intersecting the delivery direction of the media S. The position detection units 5 here are for grasping a skew state of the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of media S, and at least two (5a and 5b) may thus be provided. However, note that three or more position detection units may also be arranged. An image sensor that extends continuously in the width direction of the media S is unlikely to be used as the position detection unit 5 in view of interference with the transfer unit 3.
Next, a representative example or other examples of the present exemplary embodiment will be described.
The position detection units 5, as an example, are arranged closer to the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the media S that are stored in the storage unit 1, than to the contact portion NP of the delivery unit 2 with the media. In this example, because a distance between a medium that has been detected and the contact portion of the delivery unit 2 with the medium is long, when the position detection units 5 detect a state of a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium, the medium is prevented from reaching the contact portion of the delivery unit during detection of a delivery state of the medium.
Regarding the position detection units 5, as an example, the storage unit 1 further has, on the delivery unit 2 side, a stopper wall 1a that is capable of retaining the media S stored in the storage unit 1 when the fluffing unit is not used, and the position detection units 5 are arranged closer to the medium S1-contact-portion NP of the delivery unit 2 than to the stopper wall 1a. In this example, it is possible to select arrangement locations of the position detection units 5 relative to the stopper wall 1a.
The position detection units 5, as an example, are attached to respective attachment portions that are provided in portions of a holding frame of the delivery unit 2. In this example, when the position detection units 5 are arranged near the delivery unit 2, an attachment structure of the position detection units 5 is simplified by using the holding frame of the delivery unit 2.
The position detection units 5, as an example, are arranged, in the width direction of the medium S1, on the outer sides of the media S1-contact-portion NP of the delivery unit 2 in close proximity to the media S1-contact-portion NP. When the position detection units 5 are arranged at an interval in the width direction of the medium S1, it is difficult to arrange the position detection units 5 on the inner side of the medium S1-contact-portion NP of the delivery unit 2 in the width direction of the medium S1 due to a concern about interference with the transfer unit 3. Thus, this example is a possible arrangement example in view of setting an interval as short as possible in the width direction.
A representative example of the control unit 6 grasps a skew state of the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium S1 based on information received from the position detection units 5 and determines whether the skew state is within a permissible range. In this example, in a case in which a medium S1 to be delivered is skewed to a large extent, when, for example, the medium S1 that has been delivered is subjected to predetermined processing by the processing unit, there is a concern that such processing on a correct region of the medium S1 fails to be performed, and this example is thus for avoiding such an event in advance. The permissible range and the abnormal range with respect to the skew state of the medium S1 may be set appropriately for a model of each medium processing apparatus in consideration of the processing quality of a processing unit.
Based on this representative example, the control unit 6, as an example, also addresses a case in which the position detection units 5 do not detect the presence of a medium S1 within a predetermined time period as a case included in the abnormal range. This example is on the assumption that a medium S1 is caught by, for example, the stopper wall 1a of the storage unit 1.
The control unit 6, as an example, provides a notification to an alert unit that issues an alert to a user, when the control unit 6 determines that a state of a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of a medium S1 is in the abnormal range. Receiving such an alert, the user is able to check an abnormality of the medium S1 that is fed from the storage unit 1.
The control unit 6, as an example, returns a medium S1 to the original position with the transfer unit 3 sticking to the medium S1 by suction and stops a transfer operation when, following a determination that a state of the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium S1 is in the abnormal range, a feeding operation of the medium S1 is stopped with the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium S1 not being in contact with the delivery unit 2. In this example, even if an abnormality occurs in feeding the medium S1, in a condition in which the medium S1 has not reached the position of the medium S1-contact-portion NP of the delivery unit 2, an abnormal medium S1 is returned to the original position in the storage unit 1 when the feeding operation of the medium S1 is stopped. Thus, this example may prevent the abnormal medium S1 from being left as is.
The control unit 6, as an example, causes the delivery unit 2 to stop after the delivery operation by the delivery unit 2 has been completed, when, following a determination that a state of a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of a medium S1 is in the abnormal range, the feeding operation of the medium S1 is stopped with the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium S1 being in contact with the delivery unit 2. In this example, whether the medium S1 is in contact with the delivery unit may be determined by using another position detection unit, which is not illustrated, disposed downstream immediately beside the delivery unit 2. This example is on the assumption that the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium S1 has already passed through the delivery unit 2 although an abnormality of the medium S1 is determined, and, if the feeding operation of the medium S1 is stopped in such a condition, the medium S1 is left while being in contact with the delivery unit 2. Thus, in this example, the delivery operation of the medium S1 is to be completed by the delivery unit 2 so that there is no involvement of the medium S1 in the delivery unit 2.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In
In this example, the processing unit 20 includes an image forming portion 21 that forms images on the media. The image forming portion 21 may adopt various image forming systems such as an electrophotographic system or an ink-jet recording system. The processing unit 20 includes an inbound transport path 22 used to transport the media that are fed from the medium feeding device 11 into the image forming portion 21 and an outbound transport path 23 used to transport the media on which images have been formed by the image forming portion 21 out of the processing unit 20. In this example, a built-in medium feeding portion 24 is further separately provided below the image forming portion 21 in the processing unit 20, and media that are fed from the medium feeding portion 24 are also fed into the image forming portion 21 via a feeding transport path 25. Reference 26 denotes an inbound transport roller 26 disposed at the entrance of the inbound transport path 22, and the appropriate number of transport members are provided in the inbound transport path 22, the outbound transport path 23, and the feeding transport path 25.
In this example, as
In this example, both the upper drawer 13 and the lower drawer 14 store a large amount of media and feed the media individually. The relay unit 16 includes a first outbound transport path 17a used to transport outward the media that are fed from the upper drawer 13, a second outbound transport path 17b used to transport outward the media that are fed from the lower drawer 14, and a third outbound transport path 17c used to transport outward the media that are fed from the manual feeding portion 15. The first to third outbound transport paths 17a to 17c have the appropriate number of transport rollers 18, and a merging transport path 17d that is connected to an outlet 17e to the processing unit 20 is formed on the exit side of each of the first to third outbound transport paths 17a to 17c. The merging transport path 17d includes a discharging roller 19. The upper drawer 13 and the lower drawer 14 have handles 13a and 14a, respectively, and are capable of being withdrawn frontward.
In this example, the upper drawer 13 and the lower drawer 14 have configurations substantially similar to one another. Hereinafter, the drawers will be described by referring to an example of the upper drawer 13.
In this example, for example, as
In this example, as
In this example, the storage portion 30 may be designed in accordance with the size of a medium to be used, and the medium to be used may be an ordinary-size medium in view of providing versatility. For the ordinary-size medium here, for example, a medium having a length of up to 488 mm in the longitudinal direction may be used, and an example of the medium in such a size is a medium in a size of A3, defined by the Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS), or smaller.
In this example, the side guides 32 are provided so as to move in the width direction of the stacking bottom plate 31 and are to be positioned at predetermined positioning positions. The end guide 33 is provided so as to move forward and backward in the delivery direction of media on the stacking bottom plate 31 and is to be positioned at predetermined positioning positions. In this example, the partition plate 34 has plural stopper pieces 35 (refer to
In addition, as
In this example, as
When being denoted collectively, the divided roller bodies 41b and 42b are referred to as a “divided roller 43”. When being denoted collectively, the divided roller bodies 41c and 42c are referred to as a “divided roller 44”.
In this example, as
In this example, the vacuum head 50 has a head body 51 having a hollow boxy shape. A surface of the head body 51 facing media stored in the storage portion 30 has a large number of vacuum holes 52, and a suction mechanism 53 is connected to the head body 51. The suction mechanism 53 here adopts a configuration in which a blower 54 for suction and the head body 51 are coupled to one another by a vacuum duct 55, in the middle of which, a vacuum valve 56 that opens and closes a flow passage is interposed, and the vacuum valve 56 is opened and closed by a valve motor 57.
The head frame 60 has an advancing/retreating mechanism 61 that causes the vacuum head 50 to advance and retreat. In this example, as
In this example, as
In addition, in this example, a medium regulating portion 100 is provided near the corresponding air blowing port 71 of the side guide 32. Each medium regulating portion 100 is provided beside media stacked on the stacking bottom plate 31 and protrudes into a media storage region so as to regulate an excessive amount of fluffing of a medium that is fluffed when the fluffing mechanism 70 is used.
In this example, as
In this example, an air duct 83 is in communication with the air nozzle 81, and a blower 84 for blowing air is connected to the air duct 83. An opening/closing valve 85 that opens and closes a flow passage is provided in the middle of the air duct 83 and opened and closed by using a valve motor 86.
As
In the present exemplary embodiment, as
For example, as
In this example, as
The prior stage position sensors 120 (specifically, 120a and 120b) are arranged in the width direction intersecting the medium delivery direction, that is, in the axial direction of the delivery roller 40, with a distance g therebetween and detect a position of the downstream end portion of the medium in the medium delivery direction.
Regarding a layout, as
Here, because the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium that is stored in the storage portion 30 is retained by the stopper wall 36, which is constituted by the stopper pieces 35, provided on the partition plate 34 of the storage portion 30, it is possible to select arrangement positions of the prior stage position sensors 120 relative to the position of the stopper wall 36.
In such a case, the arrangement positions of the prior stage position sensors 120 may be selected so as to satisfy the relationship: m1<m2, when m1 represents a distance between the stopper wall 36 and the center position of a detection surface (specifically, a detection surface of the light-receiving element 122) of each of the prior stage position sensors 120, and ms2 represents a distance between the center position of each of the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40 and the center position of the detection surface of each of the prior stage position sensors 120.
However, when m1 is set to an excessively short distance, there arises a concern that, even if an end of a medium stored in the storage portion 30 protrudes slightly downstream in the medium delivery direction from the stopper wall 36, the downstream end portion of the medium may pass the prior stage position sensors 120, thereby potentially causing false detection.
Thus, in this example, as
In this example, m1 is selected so that m1 is located in a region on the delivery roller 40 side relative to termination position E of the curved portion 38 of the stopper piece 35 (the region corresponds to a region on the right side in
Although a distance L between the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) in the axial direction of the delivery roller 40 may be selected as appropriate, the distance L may be set as short as possible in view of application to a small medium.
In this example, as
In this example, in particular, because the vacuum head 50 has a function of sticking to a fluffed medium S1 by suction and transferring the medium S1 to the delivery roller 40, the vacuum head 50 is required to approach the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40 when transferring the medium to the delivery roller 40. Thus, a moving range in which the vacuum head 50 advances and retreats is required to be within the gap dimension Wg between the divided rollers 43 and 44 of the delivery roller 40 and close to the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40.
Thus, the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) are unable to be arranged in a region that faces gap dimension Wg between the divided rollers 43 and 44 of the delivery roller 40 on the storage portion 30 side because the prior stage position sensors 120 may interfere with advancement and retreat of the vacuum head 50 in the moving range of the vacuum head 50. It is also difficult to arrange the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) in a region that faces the divided rollers 43 and 44 of the delivery roller 40 and that is on the storage portion 30 side because the presence of the divided rollers 43 and 44 may be an obstacle.
Accordingly, in the present exemplary embodiment, the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) are arranged, in the axial direction of the delivery roller 40, on the outer sides of the divided rollers 43 and 44 of the delivery roller 40 in close proximity to the divided rollers 43 and 44. Thus, in this example, the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) are capable of detecting a state of a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of media having sizes except for a minimum size.
Although, in this example, gap dimension Wg of the divided rollers 43 and 44 of the delivery roller 40 is selected so that the sides of a minimum-size medium are nipped, if it is possible to select gag dimension Wg so that inner-side portions of the minimum-size medium in the width direction thereof are nipped, the prior stage position sensors 120 are able to be arranged so as to also perform detection for the minimum-size medium.
In this example, as
The holding frame 45 has a long frame body 45a having a substantially L-shaped cross section. Regarding the frame body 45a, a rising portion of the frame body 45a is fixed to the head frame 60 of the vacuum head 50. A cutout 45b having a substantially rectangular shape is formed at the substantial center of a horizontal portion of the frame body 45a in the longitudinal direction. In addition, tapered portions 45c, which are formed in the horizontal portion, each extend diagonally upward and taper as the distance from the rising portion increases. The cutout 45b here is an opening provided so that portions of the divided roller bodies 41b and 41c of the driving roller 41 are located lower than the horizontal portion to be exposed from the horizontal portion, and each of the tapered portions 45c functions as a guide chute for guiding a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of a fluffed medium to the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40.
In this example, the attachment portions 46 are provided on both sides, in the longitudinal direction, of the cutout 45b of the horizontal portion of the holding frame 45. Each of the attachment portions 46 has a configuration in which a sensor bracket 47 having a substantially L-shaped cross section is anchored to a folded portion 45d formed on an end of the horizontal portion of the holding frame 45 by using a fastener, the sensor bracket 47 is disposed so as to protrude in a form of a visor from the folded portion 45d in substantially parallel with the horizontal portion of the holding frame 45, and a through opening 48 is formed in a portion of the horizontal portion that faces the sensor bracket 47.
A sensor housing 123 of the prior stage position sensor 120 is positioned and fixed to the sensor bracket 47, and the detection surface that is constituted by the light-emitting element 121 and the light-receiving element 122 is arranged with respect to the through opening 48.
In this example, the later stage position sensor 130 detects whether media S that passed through the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40 have passed, and the single later stage position sensor 130 is disposed at a position within a region through which a minimum-size medium passes and near the nip region NP of the delivery roller 40.
In this example, as
In this example, regarding the attachment portion 135, a portion of the rising portion of the holding frame 45 that faces the cutout 45b is bent in the substantially horizontal direction to integrally form a sensor bracket 136. The sensor housing 133 of the later stage position sensor 130 is fixed to a lower surface of the sensor bracket 136, and a detection surface that is constituted by a light-emitting element 131 and a light-receiving element 132 is disposed so as to face a region through which a medium passes.
In this example, as
In this example, the control targets include, for example, the delivery roller 40, the vacuum head 50 (the suction mechanism 53 and the advancing/retreating mechanism 61), the fluffing mechanism 70, the air separation mechanism 80, and the ascent/descent mechanism 90. The controller 200 also has a display 210 that displays, for example, the progress of a medium feeding job and an abnormality warning regarding a feeding state of a medium.
In the present exemplary embodiment, when an instruction of a medium feeding job is input into the controller 200, the controller 200, after ensuring that a surface of media S in the storage portion 30 is set to a predetermined position, performs a series of medium feeding operation.
In a typical case, the fluffing mechanism 70 fluffs an upper-side region of the media S, and, following such an operation, the vacuum head 50 sticks to a fluffed medium by suction, advances from the home position toward the delivery roller 40 side, and transfers the medium to the delivery roller 40. During such transfer of the medium, the air separation mechanism 80 operates and blows knife-shaped air into a region between a fluffed upper-side medium S1 and the second and subsequent media S below the medium S1 to separate the fluffed medium from the other media.
The medium S1 that has reached the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40 is delivered by the driving rotation of the delivery roller 40 and the media are delivered in succession.
The vacuum head 50 that has transferred the medium, after returning to an original position (home position), prepares for the next processing. The air separation mechanism 80 stops blowing air at the time when a separation operation of the medium ends and also prepares for the next processing.
In this example, the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b) detect whether a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of each of the media S that are fed from the storage portion 30 has passed. The prior stage position sensors 120 provide detection results to the controller 200 so that the controller 200 grasps a state of the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of each of the media S and determines whether the state is in the permissible range or in the abnormal range that is out of the permissible range.
As
In this example, as
In this example, as
First, when a job instruction to feed one or plural sheets (n sheets) of media is input, a feeding operation of the first medium is started.
At this time, whether the prior stage position sensors 120 (120a and 120b: in
Again, after the time difference ΔT between the turning-ON times of SR1 and SR2 is calculated, ΔT>threshold value C is checked.
Here, when ΔT is the threshold value C or below, it is determined that a skew state of the medium is normal (within the permissible range), the feeding operation of the medium continues, and the feeding operation in which media are fed individually is continuously performed until the feeding job of the media ends.
On the other hand, when ΔT>threshold value C is satisfied, it is determined that the skew amount of the medium (specifically, the skew amount of the downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium) is an abnormal amount, and the feeding operation of the medium is stopped.
At this time, whether the medium has passed through the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40 is checked, and, when the medium has not reached the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40, a suction operation of the vacuum head 50 is stopped after the vacuum head 50 is moved back to the home position. When a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the medium has passed the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40, driving of the delivery roller 40 is stopped after the delivery operation by the delivery roller 40 is complete.
Here, when the feeding operation of the medium is stopped, the display 210 illustrated in
Example of Operation under Medium Feeding Control
In
In such a case, after causing the delivery roller 40 to complete the delivery operation, the controller 200 stops the delivery roller 40. Thus, the medium S1 does not remain in the nip regions NP of the delivery roller 40, and it is thereby possible to withdraw, for example, the upper drawer 13 in which a feeding abnormality has occurred.
In
In this example, the medium feeding device 11 has a body portion 300 (having a configuration substantially similar to the medium feeding device of the first exemplary embodiment) that is stacked with and feeds normal-size media. By a long size option 400 being added to the body portion 300, it is possible for the medium feeding device 11 to be stacked with and feeds the long media.
In this example, the body portion 300 has a configuration substantially similar to that of the medium feeding device 11 of the first exemplary embodiment. Unlike the first exemplary embodiment, in the body portion 300, an opening to which the long size option 400 is connectable is ensured in a side wall of a housing 12 on a side facing away from the relay unit 16. In addition, at a location that is in an upper portion of the housing 12 and adjacent to the manual feeding portion 15, an opening/closing covering part 301 is provided. The opening/closing covering part 301 is opened and closed with a portion thereof on the manual feeding portion 15 side as a rotation supporting point. In the body portion 300, by operating a handle 302 provided on the opening/closing covering part 301, the opening/closing covering part 301 is opened to ensure a working space when a long medium is set.
In this example, as
In this example, regarding the change section 420, a raising base 421 as a raising portion, which is for raising the height of the stacking bottom plate 31, that is disposed on the stacking bottom plate 31 included in the storage portion 30 of the upper drawer 13 in the body portion 300, and a surface portion of the raising base 421 is used as a specialized stacking portion 422 for long media.
Regarding the addition section 401, in an external housing 402, an additional stacking portion 403 is disposed at a location adjacent to a portion of the specialized stacking portion 422 on the side facing away from the delivery roller 40. A stacking surface of the specialized stacking portion 422 and a stacking surface of the additional stacking portion 403 are substantially flush with one another and function together as a long medium stacking portion 410 on which long media are enabled to be stacked. In this example, in particular, the stacking surface for long media is raised with respect to the stacking surface for normal-size media by using the raising base 421. This is because it is intended that the weight of the long media stacked on the long medium stacking portion 410 is decreased to reduce a load applied on an ascent/descent mechanism 90.
Moreover, in this example, the ascent/descent mechanism 90 has, in addition to the configuration for ascending and descending the stacking bottom plate 31 in the first exemplary embodiment, plural suspending portions 405, plural wires 406, and plural guide pulleys 407 all for ascending and descending the additional stacking portion 403. The wires 406 suspend and support the additional stacking portion 403. After the wires 406 are looped over the respective guide pulleys 96 that are existing constituents of the ascent/descent mechanism 90 in the body portion 300 area, one end side of each of the wires 406 is anchored to a corresponding one of the winding pulleys 97 that are existing constituents. The ascent/descent mechanism 90 causes the additional stacking portion 403 and the specialized stacking portion 422 to ascend and descend at the same timing by the driving motor 98, which is an existing constituent, rotating.
Furthermore, inside the external housing 402 of the addition section 401, around the additional stacking portion 403, additional side guides 432 (specifically, 432a and 432b) that guide long media for positioning both sides of the long media in the width direction intersecting the delivery direction of the long media are provided. In addition, the existing end guide 33 is also used here as an end guide for the additional stacking portion 403. Moreover, in the additional side guides 432, an additional fluffing mechanism 440 is provided, and additional medium regulating portions 450 for preventing side edge portions of a long medium from being excessively fluffed when the long media are fluffed are disposed. In
Regarding the medium feeding device 11 in which the long size option 400 is used, long media are stored in the long medium stacking portion 410, a surface of the long media is located at a predetermined position by using the ascent/descent mechanism 90, and the medium feeding device 11 is held on standby in such a state until a medium feeding instruction is provided.
When the medium feeding instruction is provided, the medium feeding operation is performed. During the medium feeding operation, the fluffing mechanism 70 and the additional fluffing mechanism 440 operate and fluff the long media, and the vacuum head 50 sticks by suction to an upper surface portion on the downstream side, in the delivery direction, of a fluffed long medium and transports the long medium to the delivery roller 40. In addition, the air separation mechanism 80 separates a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of the long media one after another, and the long media are transferred to the delivery roller 40 individually.
At this time, the long media tend to be easily skewed compared with normal-size media. In this example, a state of a downstream end portion, in the delivery direction, of a long medium is detected, and whether the feeding state of the long medium is in the permissible range or in the abnormal range may be determined.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the disclosure and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2020-153402 | Sep 2020 | JP | national |