Tray swinging mechanism and device including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11634288-B2
Application number	US-202017131116-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2020
Priority date	Dec 26, 2019
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

According to aspects of the present disclosure, there is provided a tray swinging mechanism including a document tray. A movable plate of the document tray is configured to be swingable about a tray shaft and extends leftward. A lifter is configured to be swingable about a lifter shaft extending in the front-rear direction at a position different from the tray shaft. On a lower surface of the movable plate, a cam surface configured to contact a tip of the lifter is formed. The cam surface includes a parallel part parallel to an upper surface of the movable plate and a curved part spaced from the upper surface farther toward a right side. According to a shape of the cam surface, each time the lifter is rotated by a particular angle, the tip of the movable plate moves by a particular amount.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tray swinging mechanism provided to a device having a main body, a tray, and a pickup roller, the tray being swingably supported by the main body with a first shaft, the tray extending from the first shaft toward a downstream side in a conveying direction which is perpendicular to the first shaft, the tray having a first surface on which document sheets are stacked and a second surface which is a surface opposite to the first surface, and the pickup roller being configured to contact the document sheets stacked on the tray to feed the document sheets toward the downstream side in the conveying direction,
wherein the tray swinging mechanism comprises:
a lever swingably supported by the main body with a second shaft extending parallelly to the first shaft at a position different from a position of the first shaft; and
a driving source configured to generate a driving force to swing the lever,

wherein the tray includes at least one cam surface formed on the second surface, the at least one cam surface being configured to contact a tip of the lever,
wherein the at least one cam surface is formed such that, at every swinging movement of the lever by a particular constant angle, a moving amount of a tip of the tray is constant when the lever is swung by a particular angle, the at least one cam surface being arranged within a range where the pickup roller extends in an axial direction of the first shaft, and
wherein the at least one cam surface includes:
a parallel part parallel to the first surface of the tray; and
a curved part extending to an upstream side from the parallel part continuously in the conveying direction, the curved part being spaced from the first surface farther toward the upstream side,
the parallel part and the curved part configured to contact the tip of the lever.

2. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein the second shaft is arranged at an upstream side with respect to the tip of the lever in the conveying direction.

3. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one cam surface is formed on a tip end surface of a rib protruded from the second surface of the tray, the rib having a plate shape extending in the conveying direction in a plane perpendicular to the second surface.

4. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 3 ,
wherein multiple ones of the rib protrude from the second surface of the tray, the multiple ribs being arranged in the axial direction of the first shaft, and the at least one cam surface being formed on a tip end surface of each of the multiple ribs.

5. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 4 ,
wherein, when the pickup roller is projected from a vertical direction onto a horizontal plane, a contacting part between the lever and the at least one cam surface is positioned within an area on which the pickup roller is projected.

6. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein the tip of the lever has a semi-cylindrical surface with a cylindrical axis parallel to the second shaft, the semi-cylindrical surface being configured to contact the at least one cam surface.

7. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller,
wherein, every time a number of the document sheets supported by the first surface of the tray decreases by a particular amount, the controller drives the driving source to swing the lever by a particular angle and stops driving of the driving source after the lever is swung by the particular angle.

8. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 7 , further comprising a lowermost position sensor configured to detect the tray positioned in a lowermost position, the lowermost position sensor being configured to output a detection signal to the controller,
wherein a lowermost detector configured to contact an actuator of the lowermost position sensor is provided at the tip of the lever.

9. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 , further comprising a stopper configured to contact the lever to restrict the lever from being moved downward.

10. The tray swinging mechanism according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one cam surface includes a plurality of cam surfaces arranged within the range where the pickup roller extends in the axial direction of the first shaft.

11. A device comprising:
a main body;
a tray being swingably supported by the main body with a first shaft, the tray extending from the first shaft toward a downstream side in a conveying direction which is perpendicular to the first shaft, the tray having a first surface on which document sheets are stacked and a second surface which is a surface opposite to the first surface;
a pickup roller configured to contact the document sheets stacked on the tray to feed the document sheets toward the downstream side in the conveying direction;
a lever swingably supported by the main body with a second shaft extending parallelly to the first shaft at a position different from a position of the first shaft; and
a driving source configured to generate a driving force to swing the lever,
wherein the tray includes at least one cam surface formed on the second surface, the cam surface being configured to contact a tip of the lever,
wherein the at least one cam surface is formed such that, at every swinging movement of the lever by a particular constant angle, a moving amount of a tip of the tray is constant when the lever is swung by a particular angle, the at least one cam surface being arranged within a range where the pickup roller extends in an axial direction of the first shaft, and
wherein the at least one cam surface includes:
a parallel part parallel to the first surface of the tray; and
a curved part extending to an upstream side from the parallel part continuously in the conveying direction, the curved part being spaced from the first surface farther toward the upstream side,
the parallel part and the curved part configured to contact the tip of the lever.

Assignees

• Brother Ind Ltd

Inventors

• Okamoto Yoshihiro
• Mizuno Tomoyuki

Classifications

• B65H3/0669

  Driving devices therefor · CPC title

• B65H2301/4212

  of articles substantially horizontal · CPC title

• B65H1/04

  adapted to support articles substantially horizontally, e.g. for separation from top of pile · CPC title

• B65H2403/53

  Articulated mechanisms · CPC title

• B65H2403/512

  involving radial plate cam · CPC title