This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-50490, filed on Jul. 23, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a paper feeding device including a paper sensing device which decides whether a sheet of paper is loaded.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a scanner, and a multi functional peripheral device is an apparatus for forming a visual image by providing a sheet of paper with ink or toner according to data to be printed.
The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of sensors on a transfer passage of the paper for sensing whether the paper is transferred smoothly along the transfer passage or not.
Especially, one of the sensors is a paper sensing device, which can sense the paper is loaded or not. The paper sensing device senses the paper loading to perform a pre-operation of a paper pickup operation for forming the visual image on the paper.
On the other hand, devices having different functions are combined to be a device having multi-functions at present, thus a multi-functional peripheral device combining the devices having different functions such as the printer, scanner, copying machine, and facsimile is developed.
The combination of the devices accompanies miniaturization of components, and the components also have multi-functions.
Accordingly, in a pickup roller assembly, which picks a sheet of paper up and transfers the paper into the main body, a pickup roller and a sensing device are disposed independently, thus complicating the device and increasing cost due to a lot of components.
An aspect of the present invention provides a paper feeding device in which a paper stopper for controlling the position of a front end of a sheet of paper can also perform a function of sensing whether the paper is loaded, thereby to obtain an economic and reliable printing quality.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a paper feeding device includes a pickup roller assembly picking a paper up and transferring the paper, a paper sensing device sensing whether the paper is loaded on a sheet of paper feeding board and a stopper controlling the paper so that a front end of the paper is located below the pickup roller. In addition, the paper sensing device includes a sensing unit and a probe unit, which is installed to be rotated with the stopper, turning the sensor unit on/off.
The above and/or other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring to
Also, a read-out unit 140 for reading the paper so as to perform a scanning operation and a copying operation, a paper feeding board 151 installed in a paper feeding unit above an upper portion of the read-out unit 140, with the paper feeding unit being rotatable with respect to the read-out unit 140 to feed the papers, and with a paper feeding unit 150 including a paper feeding device 160, which provides the read-out unit 140 with the papers to be read, are provided.
The paper feeding device 160 includes a pickup roller assembly 162 for picking up the paper and transferring the paper to the read-out unit 140, a paper sensing device 170 for sensing whether the paper is loaded on the paper feeding board 151 or not, and a stopper 180 for controlling the paper so that the front end of the paper is located in a lower direction of the pickup roller assembly 162.
The pickup roller assembly 162 includes a body 163 having a pickup roller 167, which is installed on one side of the body 163 to be rotatable with respect to a supporting shaft 168, and a rotary shaft 164, which is installed on the other side of the body 163 and supported within the paper feeding unit 150 what is to be rotatable, rotating by a driving power received from a driving unit (not shown) through a gear unit 165.
The pickup roller assembly 162 is covered by an upper frame 161 located thereon, and a lower frame 169 is located on a lower portion of the pickup roller assembly 162. A slit 169a is formed on the lower frame 169 so that the stopper 180 can move thereon.
When the pickup roller assembly 162 receives the driving power through the gear unit 165 from the driving unit (not shown), the rotary shaft 164 rotates. A clutch 166 installed on the rotary shaft 164 moves the body 163 using the rotating force of the rotary shaft 164 toward the lower direction, that is, toward the lower frame 169 centering around the rotary shaft 164. The pickup roller 167 is moved toward the lower direction with the body 163. Here, the pickup roller 167 receives the driving force from the rotary shaft 164 through a driving force transfer device (not shown) and rotates to contact and feed the paper from the paper feeding board 151.
The paper sensing device 170 includes a probe unit 171 fixedly installed on one end of the supporting shaft 168, and a sensor unit 172 fixedly installed on the upper frame 161. Preferably, the sensor unit 172 comprises a light emitting unit 172a radiating the light and a light receiving unit 172b receiving the light radiated from the light emitting unit 172a, which are disposed with a predetermined distance from each other.
The probe unit 171 blocks the light radiated from the light emitting unit 172a toward the light receiving unit 172b by locating between the light emitting unit 172a and the light receiving unit 172b, or makes the light radiated from the light emitting unit 172a go to the light receiving unit 172b by being out of between the light emitting unit 172a and the light receiving unit 172, thereby the sensor unit 172 is turned on/turned off to sense the paper.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an optical sensor is used as the sensor unit 172, however, a contact type sensor that is turned on/off by contacting the probe unit 171 or various modifications can be used as the sensor unit 172.
The stopper 180 comprises a stopping unit 181, which is installed to slide in the slit 169a formed on the lower frame 169, having one side fixed on both ends of the supporting shaft 168 and the other side extending toward the lower frame 169, and a suspending unit 182 installed on the upper frame 161 and selectively coupled to a suspending step 183 disposed on the supporting shaft 168 to stop the rotation of the supporting shaft 168.
Operations of the paper feeding device having above structure according to the present invention will be described with reference to accompanying figures.
Referring to
On the other hand, when the suspending step 183 is suspended by the suspending unit 182, the stopping unit 181 prevents the paper P from proceeding toward the direction represented by the arrow.
Referring to
The pickup roller 167 rotates by the rotating force received from the rotary shaft 164 to pick up and transfer the paper.
As described above, according to the paper feeding device of the present invention, since the probe unit for turning the sensor unit on/off is operated with the stopper, the number of components can be reduced, thus reducing the cost and stabling the quality of product.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2003-0050490 | Jul 2003 | KR | national |
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