Paper Feeder

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to a paper feeder with a pickup roller for feeding sheets of paper one by one.

Conventionally, for feeding stacked a plurality of sheets of paper, a paper feeder that separates and feeds the sheets of paper one by one with a pickup roller has been known. Further, for reliable separation of sheets of paper with a pickup roller, a configuration provided with a convex portion on the bottom plate of a tray for holding sheets of paper has been disclosed. On the bottom plate of the tray, the convex portion is provided and a bundle of sheets of paper are placed to form an arched shape on the bottom plate. The pickup roller is provided to press the position nearer the end of the bundle of sheets of paper than the convex portion against the bottom plate with roller pressure. When the pickup roller rotates into contact with the uppermost sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is lifted from the bundle of sheets of paper in an arched form and separated alone. The convex portion is provided on the bottom plate, and thereby, the pickup roller becomes easier to lift up the sheet of paper in an arched form and separate the sheet more reliably (e.g., Patent Document 1).

[Patent Document 1] JP-A-9-175674

However, in the related art, the bundle of sheets of paper has three curved parts for forming the arched shape on the convex portion, but sheets of paper are difficult to form curved parts due to stiffness of paper depending on the material types or the number of sheets of paper of the bundle. Accordingly, there has been a problem that the ends of the bundle of sheets of paper have no contact with the bottom plate and float from the bottom plate. In this case, the pickup roller can not press the bundle of sheets of paper toward the bottom plate and separation of sheets of paper becomes unstable. Further, the higher roller pressure of the pickup roller can bring the bundle of sheets of paper into contact with the bottom plate, but may lift the plural sheets of paper at the same time due to the higher roller pressure.

Furthermore, there has been a problem that, when the bundle of sheets of paper is inserted from the nearly horizontal direction onto the bottom plate of the tray, the end of the bundle of sheets of paper is caught by the convex portion and smooth insertion of the bundle of sheets of paper can not be made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To solve the above described problems, a purpose of the invention is to provide a paper feeder capable of stably feeding sheets of paper.

A paper feeder of the invention includes a tray for placing and holding a bundle of sheets of paper formed by stacking plural sheets of paper, a control part for pressing the uppermost sheet of paper of the bundle of sheets of paper, and a roller for separating the sheet of paper from the bundle of sheets of paper, wherein the tray has a first placement surface and a second placement surface that receive the sheets of paper.

According to the paper feeder, only the uppermost sheet of paper is separated from the bundle of sheets of paper by deforming the sheet of paper at the uppermost of the bundle of sheets of paper with the roller. In this regard, the roller deforms the sheet of paper to separate it from the bundle of sheets of paper. Further, in the paper feeder, the tray for placement of the bundle of sheets of paper has the first placement surface and the second placement surface. The bundle of sheets of paper placed on the tray having such two placement surfaces is held in a shape along the first placement surface and the second placement surface, and the boundary position between the first placement surface and the second placement surface is an inflection point in the shape of the bundle of sheets of paper. The bundle of sheets of paper in this state is similar to the initial state in which the roller starts to deform the sheets of paper to separate the sheets of paper from the bundle of sheets of paper. When the roller starts to separate the uppermost sheet of paper, the uppermost sheet of paper starts to deform more easily and reliably for separating it from the bundle of sheets of paper than in the case where the bundle of sheets of paper are placed on a placement surface formed by one flat surface. Further, even the bundle of sheets of paper having a number of sheets of paper or the bundle of sheets of paper having higher stiffness can be smoothly deformed against the resistance of the bundle of sheets of paper. Furthermore, the bundle of sheets of paper is slid along the first placement surface and the second placement part with no convex obstacle or the like and smoothly placed on the tray. In this way, the paper feeder can smoothly insert the sheets of paper into the tray and reliably feed paper by separating the sheets of paper from the bundle of sheets of paper one by one.

A paper feeder of the invention includes a tray for placing and holding a bundle of sticky notes formed by stacking plural sticky notes having an adhesive part at one end, a control part for pressing the adhesive part of the sticky note located at the uppermost of the bundle of sticky notes, and a roller for separating the sticky note from the bundle of sticky notes by flipping the free end part side of the sticky notes, wherein the tray has a first placement surface that receives the side of the adhesive part and a second placement surface that receives the side of the free end part of the sticky notes.

According to the paper feeder, the bundle of sticky notes to be placed has the adhesive part and the free end part unconstrained by the adhesive, and only the uppermost sticky note is separated from the bundle of sticky notes by deforming the free end part of the sticky note at the uppermost of the bundle of sticky notes with the roller. In this regard, the roller deforms the sticky note to separate it from the bundle of sticky notes. Further, in the paper feeder, the tray for placement of the bundle of sticky notes has the first placement surface and the second placement surface. The bundle of sticky notes placed on the tray having such two placement surfaces is held in a shape along the first placement surface and the second placement surface, and the boundary position between the first placement surface and the second placement surface is an inflection point in the shape of the bundle of sheets of paper. The bundle of sticky notes in this state is similar to the initial state in which the roller starts to deform the sticky notes to separate the sticky notes from the bundle of sticky notes. When the roller starts to flip up the uppermost sticky note, the uppermost sticky note starts to deform more easily and reliably for separating from the bundle of sticky notes than in the case where the bundle of sticky notes is placed on a placement surface formed by one flat surface. Further, even the bundle of sticky notes having a number of sticky notes or the bundle of sticky notes having higher stiffness can be smoothly deformed against the resistance of the bundle of sticky notes. Furthermore, the bundle of sticky notes is slid along the first placement surface and the second placement part with no convex obstacle or the like and smoothly placed on the tray. In this way, the paper feeder can smoothly insert the sticky notes into the tray and reliably feed paper by separating the sticky notes from the bundle of sticky notes one by one.

In this case, it is preferable that the first placement surface and the second placement surface of the tray are inclined from the side of the first placement surface toward the side of the second placement surface.

According to the configuration, the second placement surface is a slope inclined relative to the first placement surface, and the bundle of sticky notes placed on the tray is bent to have a slope at the side of the roller along the first placement surface and the second placement surface. Therefore, even the bundle of sticky notes with few sticky notes left or the bundle of sticky notes having lower stiffness can be placed along the first placement surface and the second placement surface and constantly maintained in the fixed bent condition, and all of the sticky notes can be separated smoothly under the same condition from the bundle of sticky notes by the roller.

Alternatively, in this case, it is preferable that the first placement surface and the second placement surface of the tray are formed in step-like shapes.

According to the configuration, the tray has the first placement surface and the second placement surface respectively forming the step-like shapes, and the first placement surface and the second placement surface formed by the steps can be machined more easily in manufacturing and finished more accurately than the slope. The bundle of sheets of paper placed on the tray is bent and placed with a gap between the placement surface at the lower step side and itself. Therefore, using the gap, the pressure by the roller or the control part can be adjusted for adjustment of the degree of bending, and proper bending can be secured with respect to the bundle of sticky notes with higher stiffness or the like by making the pressure higher. In this way, the paper feeder having the stepped first placement surface and second placement surface can operate to more easily bend the sticky notes for separation from the bundle of sticky notes according to the material, stiffness, or the like of the bundle of sticky notes.

Further, it is preferable that the bundle of sticky notes is placed in the tray so that the free end part of the sticky notes faces the second placement surface side.

According to the configuration, the bundle of sticky notes is constantly in the fixed bent shape by placing the free end part of the bundle of sticky notes at the side of the second placement surface as the slope or step-like surface. Thereby, the sticky notes are reliably flipped up and separated from the bundle of sticky notes by the roller. Further, since the second placement surface has no projection that inhibits insertion of the bundle of sticky notes, the bundle of sticky notes can be easily inserted along the second placement surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a sticky note printer provided with a paper feeder according to the embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the sticky note printer provided with the paper feeder according to embodiment 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the inside of the sticky note printer in a condition that the ink ribbon cartridge has been detached and the tray has been drawn out.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are sectional views showing the configuration of the paper feeder and setting of sticky notes in the tray.

FIGS. 5A to 5C are sectional views sequentially showing a flow of feeding sticky notes by the paper feeder.

FIGS. 6D to 6F are sectional views sequentially showing the flow of feeding sticky notes by the paper feeder.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a paper feeder according to embodiment 2.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the paper feeder of the invention will be described according to the drawings. In the embodiments, a paper feeder provided in a sticky note printer will be described as a specific example. The sticky note printer is connected to a personal computer for printing various kinds of data of characters, graphics, electronic mails, etc. created and selected by a personal computer on sticky notes (sheets of paper) having an adhesive part. The paper feeder provided in the sticky note printer holds a bundle of sticky notes (bundle of sheets of paper) formed by stacking sticky notes in a tray, and flips up the sticky notes one by one from the bundle of sticky notes and separates them from the adhesive parts to feed them to a printing mechanism. Then, in the printing unit of the printing mechanism, the ink of an ink ribbon is transferred to the sticky notes by a thermal head for printing the various kinds of data.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the sticky note printer provided with the paper feeder according to the embodiments of the invention. The sticky note printer 1 includes a case 2 forming an outer frame, and the case 2 has a case main body 2a and an openable lid 2b forming part of the upper surface of the case main body 2a. The case main body 2a has a tray 5 provided at the lower part of the case main body 2a for holding a bundle of sticky notes 4, an opening part 6 for insertion and drawing of the tray 5 from the case main body 2a for placing the bundle of sticky notes 4 on the tray 5, a ejecting slot 7 located in a slit shape between the case main body 2a and the openable lid 2b for feeding the sticky notes 4P that have been separated from the bundle of sticky notes 4 and printed to the outside of the case 2. Further, the openable lid 2b is attached to the case main body 2a with a hinge for opening and closing in the vertical direction, and the maintenance of the printing mechanism etc. and replacement of ink ribbon cartridges can be performed by opening the openable lid 2b.

Next, an internal configuration of the sticky note printer 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the inside of the sticky note printer provided with the paper feeder according to embodiment 1. Further, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the inside of the sticky note printer in a state that the ink ribbon cartridge has been detached and the tray has been drawn out. As shown in FIG. 2, the sticky note printer 1 has a main frame 10 having a flat plate shape extending in the vertical direction, and a sub-frame 11 attached along the horizontal direction perpendicular to the main frame 10 at the lower part of the main frame 10.

The sub-frame 11 has a box shape open upwardly, and the tray 5 for holding the bundle of sticky notes 4 is insertably and drawably stored in the box shape part. Further, in the sub-frame 11, a pickup unit 31 for flipping up and picking up the sticky notes 4P (see FIG. 1) from the bundle of sticky notes 4 held in the tray 5 one by one is provided as a paper feeder 30 together with the tray 5. Furthermore, in the main frame 10, a printing mechanism 20 located above the pickup unit 31 for printing on the sticky notes 4P and a transmission mechanism 40 including a motor 41 for driving the paper feeder 30 and the printing mechanism 20 are provided.

As below, the configurations of the respective mechanisms will be described. The paper feeder 30 has the tray 5, the pickup unit 31, and a positioning part 32 for controlling the upward position in height of the bundle of sticky notes 4. Of them, the tray 5 has a pulling part 51 provided at the side of the opening part 6 of the case 2 for drawing out the tray 5 from the case 2 and a bottom plate 52 for placing the bundle of sticky notes 4 thereon, and further, the bottom plate 52 has two surfaces of a horizontal surface part (first placement surface) 52a nearly horizontally provided at the pulling part 51 side and a slope part (second placement surface) 52b as a slope inclined to be lower than the horizontal surface part 52a. The bundle of sticky notes 4 placed on the bottom plate 52 is gently bent in an arched shape.

Further, the bottom plate 52 is vertically movable and presses the placed bundle of sticky notes 4 upwardly. The positioning part 32 is fixed to the sub-frame 11 and provided above the tray 5 in contact with the bundle of sticky notes 4 pressed upwardly. Thereby, the uppermost sticky note 4P of the bundle of sticky notes 4 is constantly located at the predetermined fixed position in height. The movability of the bottom plate 52 will be described later with reference to FIG. 4.

Further, the inner width of the tray 5 in the insertion and drawing direction is set to a predetermined length for holding the bundle of sticky notes 4 having a predetermined length, and set to the maximum width of the bundle of sticky notes 4 for holding the bundles of sticky notes 4 having various widths. Here, the inner wall surface of the tray 5 at the main frame 10 side is used as the reference surface of the stacked surface of the sticky notes 4P in the width direction, and the bundle of sticky notes 4 is held in the tray 5 along the inner wall surface as a guide in the width direction. FIGS. 2 and 3 show the case where the bundle of sticky notes 4 having the minimum width is held in contact with the inner wall surface in the tray 5.

In this case, in order to place the bundle of sticky notes 4 having the minimum width more stably, a guide plate (not shown) for guiding a stacked surface opposite to the stacked surface in contact with the inner wall surface is provided. It is conceivable that a guide plate may take a book end form or a guide plate matching the width of the bundle of sticky notes 4 may be raised among a plurality of guide plates laid down to be embedded in the horizontal surface part 52a or the slope part 52b. In this manner, regardless of the width of the bundle of sticky notes 4, the tray 5 can properly and stably place the bundle of sticky notes 4 while controlling the bundle of sticky notes 4. As shown in FIG. 3, an operator pulls the pulling part 51 of the tray 5 to draw out part of the tray 5 from the sub-frame 11, and thereby, the bundle of sticky notes 4 can be newly placed, refilled or replaced in the tray 5.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pickup unit 31 has a connecting arm 34 extending in the width direction of the bundle of sticky notes 4, a supporting arm 33 (the supporting arm at the main frame 10 side is not shown) for supporting both ends of the connecting arm 34 to form a U-shape with the connecting arm 34, an arm shaft journal part 12 provided in the sub-frame 11 for rotatably supporting the supporting arm 33, a pickup roller (roller) 35 provided in parallel with the connecting arm 34 in a position facing the bundle of sticky notes 4 from above, and a roller shaft 35a for supporting the pickup roller 35 toward the connecting arm 34 and integrally rotating with the pickup roller 35.

In this configuration, the supporting arm 33 vertically moves the connecting arm 34 with a cam mechanism of the transmission mechanism 40, and brings the pickup roller 35 into contact with the bundle of sticky notes 4 or separates it from the bundle. Further, the rotation power is transmitted from the transmission mechanism 40 via a gear to the roller shaft 35a for rotation of the pickup roller 35. The pickup roller is provided in the length of the bundle of sticky notes 4P having the minimum width nearer the main frame 10 side of the roller shaft 35a, and includes a core part made of resin attached to the roller shaft 35a and a rubber roll part wrapped around the outer circumference of the core part. A high friction material having heat resistance such as silicone rubber is used for the rubber roll part. The details of separation of the bundle of sticky notes 4P by the pickup unit 31 will be described later with reference to FIGS. 5A to 5C.

Next, the printing mechanism 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the printing mechanism 20 has a printing mechanism frame 21 fixed to the main frame 10, and an ink ribbon cartridge 22 detachably attached to the printing mechanism frame 21. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the printing mechanism frame 21 is provided with a ribbon take-up shaft 26 forming a ribbon take-up mechanism 25 together with the ribbon cartridge 22 (see FIG. 2) cantilevered and mounted on the printing mechanism frame 21, a guide roller 27 in contact with the pickup roller 35 to drivenly rotate, and a guide shaft 27a cantilevered on the printing mechanism frame 21 for journaling the guide roller 27.

Further, a printing part 29 is cantilevered close to the guide roller 27 and attached in parallel with the guide roller 27 to the printing mechanism frame 21. The printing part 29 has a thermal head 28 on which heating elements are arranged facing the bundle of sticky notes 4 in parallel with the width direction of the bundle of sticky notes 4.

Next, the configuration of the paper feeder 30 holding the bundle of sticky notes 4 will be further described in detail. FIG. 4A is a sectional view showing the configuration of the paper feeder, and FIG. 4B is a sectional view showing setting of sticky notes in the tray. Prior to the description of the configuration of the paper feeder 30, the bundle of sticky notes 4 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4A, the bundle of sticky notes 4 is formed by stacking a large number of sticky notes 4P in the same shape, and each of the sticky notes 4P is glued at a part of the rear side end. The bundle of sticky notes 4 is configured by stacking the notes on a non-adhesive paper with the adhesive sides of the sticky notes 4P arranged along the one end of the paper as an adhesive part 4a so that the sticky notes 4P are separated from the adhesive part 4a one by one by flipping the surfaces of the free ends of the sticky notes 4P. Therefore, the sticky notes 4P can be attached to an adherend such as paper via the adhesive part again after separated from the bundle of sticky notes 4.

As shown in FIG. 4A, the tray 5 forming the paper feeder 30 has a bottom plate 52 provided at the bottom side of the pulling part 51 and the internal surface of the tray 5, and an urging part 53 that urges the bottom plate 52 upwardly. The placement of the bundle of sticky notes 4 on the bottom plate 52 is such that the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4 is located at the horizontal surface part 52a and the free end part is located at the slope part 52b of the bottom plate 52. When the tray 5 is set into the sub-frame 11, the bottom plate 52 is urged upwardly by the urging part 53 and, if the bundle of sticky notes 4 is placed, the bundle of sticky notes 4 is pressed against the positioning part 32. On the horizontal surface part 52a, a note of caution to place the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4 on the horizontal surface part 52a (not shown) and an arrow to place the width direction of the bundle of sticky notes 4 nearer the side of the main frame 10 (not shown) are provided.

The positioning part 32 has a section nearly in an L-shape, and has an adhesive part side positioning part (regulation part) 32a located correspondingly to the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4 and a free end part side positioning part 32b located near the longitudinal end of the free end part. The bundle of sticky notes 4 is pressed against one nearly L-shaped end of the positioning part 32. Further, the pickup roller 35 is located nearer the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4 than the free end part side positioning part 32b. This is the state in waiting for paper feed, and arranged to start paper feed for printing at any time.

The urging part 53 includes springs provided between the bottom plate 52 and the bottom part of the internal surface of the tray 5, and one end is locked at the lower surface of the bottom plate 52 and the other end is locked at the bottom part of the internal surface of the tray 5. The springs of the urging part 53 are provided for urging the bottom plate 52 upwardly in a balanced manner, and the bundle of sticky notes 4 placed on the bottom plate 52 is pressed against the positioning part 32 with uniform force by these springs. Therefore, regarding the bundle of sticky notes 4, even when the sticky notes 4P are separated one by one and reduced, the height level of the sticky note 4P located at the uppermost is constantly maintained in the fixed position.

Furthermore, the urging part 53 has a mechanism (not shown) for expanding and contracting according to the insertion and drawing of the tray 5 from the sub-frame 11. That is, when the tray 5 is inserted into the sub-frame 11 as shown in FIG. 4A, it urges the bottom plate 52 upwardly, and when the tray 5 is drawn out from the sub-frame 11 as shown in FIG. 4B, it falls toward the bottom part of the tray 5 and is retracted. Since the bottom part side is retracted, when the bundle of sticky notes 4 is refilled or replaced in the tray 5, the bottom plate 52 and the bundle of sticky notes 4 are not controlled by the positioning part 32, and thus, the bundle of sticky notes 4 can be slid along the horizontal surface part 52a and the slope part 52b of the bottom plate 52 and easily placed. After the bundle of sticky notes 4 is placed on the bottom plate 52, the tray 5 is inserted into the sub-frame 11, and thereby, the paper feed waiting state as shown in FIG. 4A is obtained.

Next, a sequence of paper feed operation by the pickup roller 35 will be described. FIGS. 5A to 5C and 6D to 6F are sectional views sequentially showing a flow of feeding sticky notes by the paper feeder. FIG. 5A is a sectional view showing a state that the pickup roller presses the bundle of sticky notes, which is the paper feed waiting state. In the paper feed waiting, the pickup roller 35 is in contact with the surface of the uppermost sticky note 4P of the bundle of sticky notes 4 while pressing the bundle of sticky notes 4 placed on the bottom plate 52 of the tray 5. In this case, the pickup roller 35 is in contact with the free end part of the bundle of sticky notes 4 gently curved to form an arched shape and placed with tilt on the slope part 52b.

The pickup roller 35 to which the rotation of the motor 41 has been transmitted by the transmission mechanism 40 flips up the uppermost sticky note 4P of the bundle of sticky notes 4 toward the adhesive part 4a and starts to bend it. FIG. 5B is a sectional view showing the state that the pickup roller 35 bends the sticky note 4P. As shown in FIG. 5B, with the rotation of the pickup roller 35, the free end part of the sticky note 4P is pulled out from the free end side positioning part 32b and gradually bent to be curved upwardly. In this regard, the pickup roller 35 can easily bend the sticky note 4P upwardly because it flips the free end part of the sticky note 4P placed with tilt on the slope part 52b.

FIG. 5C is a sectional view showing the state that the sticky note 4P runs on the pickup roller 35. As shown in FIG. 5C, when the free end part of the sticky note 4P being flipped and bent passes through under the pickup roller 35, it is flipped up along the rotational direction of the pickup roller 35 due to friction between the pickup roller 35 and itself and runs on the pickup roller 35. That is, the sticky note 4P is once bent and its free end part is flipped up, and the free end part runs around the upside of the pickup roller 35 and mounts onto the pickup roller 35.

The pickup roller 35 on which the sticky note 4P is mounted then moves to a printing position. FIG. 6D is a sectional view showing the state that printing is started on the sticky note. As shown in FIG. 6D, the pickup roller 35 sandwiches the sticky note 4P between the thermal head 28 of the printing part 29 and the guide roller 27 in contact with them. Though not shown, the ink ribbon is sandwiched between the thermal head 28 and the sticky note 4P. At this time, the guide roller 27 rotates according to the rotation of the pickup roller 35, and separates the sticky note 4P from the adhesive part 4a together with the pickup roller 35 for feeding. Concurrently, printing is performed on the sticky note 4P via the ink ribbon by the thermal head 28 of the printing mechanism 20.

The sticky notes 4P are sequentially transported to the printing part 29 with the progress of printing, and separated from the adhesive part 4a. FIG. 6E is a sectional view showing the state that the sticky note is separated from the adhesive part, and as shown in the drawing, the sticky note 4P is pulled out from the adhesive part side positioning part 32a during printing and further separated from the adhesive part 4a, and thus, completely separated from the bundle of sticky notes 4.

FIG. 6F is a sectional view showing the state that the printing on the sticky notes has been ended. As shown in FIG. 6F, the printed sticky notes 4P are sequentially transported by the pickup roller 35 and the guide roller 27, and further, transported out from the ejecting slot 7 of the case 2 shown in FIG. 1. After the sticky notes 4P are transported out from the ejecting slot 7, the pickup roller 35 moves to the state shown in FIG. 5A.

As above, major advantages of the paper feeder 30 of embodiment 1 are as follows.

(1) According to the paper feeder 30, the bundle of sticky notes 4 is placed so as to be bent to form a slope at the side of the pickup roller 35 along the horizontal surface part 52a and the slope part 52b of the tray 5. Therefore, even the bundle of sticky notes 4 with few sticky notes 4P left or the bundle of sticky notes 4 with lower stiffness can be supported by the bottom plate 52 and maintained in the uniformly bent state, and all of the sticky notes 4P can be separated smoothly under the same condition from the bundle of sticky notes 4 by the pickup roller 35.

(2) The bottom plate 52 of the tray 5 is urged upwardly by the urging part 53 and the uppermost sticky note 4P of the bundle of sticky notes 4 faces the pickup roller 35 constantly at the predetermined height position controlled by the positioning part 32. Therefore, separation of the sticky notes 4P from the bundle of sticky notes 4 is unaffected by the number of the sticky notes 4P left in the bundle of sticky notes 4, and they are stably fed by the pickup roller 35.

(3) The bottom plate 52 has no projection that inhibits the insertion of the bundle of sticky notes 4 or the like, and thus, the bundle of sticky notes 4 can be easily inserted from the horizontal surface part 52a toward the slope part 52b along the bottom plate 52. Since the bundle of sticky notes 4 is inserted nearly in parallel with the bottom plate 52, there is no need to secure the insertion space above the pickup roller 35 of the tray 5 and the space can be saved. Further, the bundle of sticky notes 4 can be placed in the tray 5 without completely drawing out the tray 5 from the sub-frame 11.

(4) In addition, since the bottom plate 52 falls at the bottom side of the tray 5 when the bundle of sticky notes 4 is inserted, insertion of the bundle of sticky notes 4 is not inhibited by the positioning part 32 or the pickup roller 35.

Embodiment 2

Next, embodiment 2 as another specific example according to the paper feeder 30 of the invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the paper feeder according to embodiment 2.

As shown in FIG. 7, the tray 5 forming the paper feeder 30 has the same main configuration as that of the tray 5 in embodiment 1, and has the pulling part 51, a bottom plate 60 provided at the bottom side of the internal surface of the tray 5, and the urging part 53 that urges the bottom plate 60 upwardly. The bottom plate 60 has a horizontal surface part 60a that horizontally places the bundle of sticky notes 4 as is the case of the horizontal surface part 52a of embodiment 1, and a step-like step part 60b forming a step in the direction of the urging part 53 with respect to the horizontal surface part 60a provided in place of the slope part 52b of embodiment 1.

In the placement of the bundle of sticky notes 4 on the bottom plate 60, the adhesive part 4a of the bundle of sticky notes 4 is located at the horizontal surface part 60a of the bottom plate 60 and the free end part is located at the step part 60b. Thus placed bundle of sticky notes 4 on the bottom plate 60 is gently bent in an arched shape and the slope faces the side of the pickup roller 35. Therefore, the free end part of the bundle of sticky notes 4 placed on the step part 60b is inclined, and the pickup roller 35 can flip up the free end part of the sticky notes 4P and bend the sticky notes 4P upwardly as is the case of embodiment 1.

Further, the bottom plate 60 is vertically movable like the bottom plate 52 of embodiment 1, and upwardly presses the placed bundle of sticky notes 4 with the urge by the urging part 53. The bundle of sticky notes 4 pressed upwardly is in contact with the positioning parts 32a, 32b fixed to the sub-frame 11 and provided over the upper part of the tray 5, and thereby, the uppermost sticky note 4P of the bundle of sticky notes 4 is located constantly at the predetermined height position.

An advantage of the above described paper feeder 30 of embodiment 2 is that the bottom plate 60 includes the horizontal surface part 60a and the step part 60b, and they can be machined more easily and finished more accurately than in the configuration of the horizontal surface part 52a and the slope part 52b. Further, since there is a gap between the step part 60b and the bundle of sticky notes 4, the pressure of the pickup roller 35 can be adjusted using the gap for adjustment of the degree of bending of the bundle of sticky notes 4. Therefore, the pressure of the pickup roller 35 is made higher for securing proper bending with respect to the bundle of sticky notes 4 with higher stiffness or the like.

Further, the invention is not limited to the above described embodiments but the same advantages as those of the embodiments can be obtained with the following embodiments.

(Modified Example 1) The horizontal surface part 52a and the slope part 52b of the bottom plate 52 in embodiment 1 are not limited to the configuration that the horizontal surface part 52a is located at the side of the adhesive part side positioning part 32a but the slope part 52b may be located at the adhesive part side positioning part 32a and the horizontal surface part 52a may be located at the side of the pickup roller 35. Further, the horizontal surface part 52a and the slope part 52b may be a curved surface convex toward the side of the pickup roller 35. In either configuration, the sticky notes 4P can be separated from the bundle of sticky notes 4 by the pickup roller 35 nearly in the same manner as that of the embodiment 1.

(Modified Example 2) In addition, the slope part 52b of the bottom plate 52 may not have one surface configuration but step-like configuration in section. In this case, the line sequentially connecting the apexes of the step-like convex portions is at the same inclination as that of the slope part 52b. According to the step-like shape, it is more easily machined than the slope and the bundle of sticky notes 4 can be placed at a predetermined inclination as is the case of the slope part 52b.

As shown in the respective embodiments, when the paper feeder 30 is provided in the sticky note printer 1, it plays a role of separating the sticky notes 4P from the bundle of sticky notes 4 having the adhesive part 4a one by one and feeding them to the printing part 29. Thus, the paper feeder 30 having the horizontal surface part 52a (60a) and the slope part 52b (step part 60b) on the bottom plate 52 (60) can separate and feed sheets of paper from a bundle of sheets of paper formed by stacking a number of sheets of paper one by one in the same manner as that of the paper feed of the sticky notes 4P, and can reliably feed paper when mounted on a copier, printer, facsimile, or the like.

Paper Feeder

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Priority Claims (1)