Automatic document feeder, image reading device, and image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9219833-B2
Application number	US-201514637933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2015
Priority date	Mar 11, 2014
Publication date	Dec 22, 2015
Grant date	Dec 22, 2015

Abstract

An automatic document feeder comprises: a feeding unit that causes an image of a first side of a document to be read by a first image reading unit; a second image reading unit that reads an image of a second side of the document; a release unit that supports a reading guide opposite to a reading surface of the second image reading unit and enables underneath of the reading surface to be released; and a paper ejection tray on which the document having been subjected to image reading and ejected from a paper ejection roller pair is accumulated, wherein an end fence that rises up at a document ejection direction upstream side of the paper ejection tray is configured of separate members that are an upper portion and a lower portion, and a rotational pivot of the release unit is provided downstream from the end fence in a feeding direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic document feeder, comprising:
a feeding unit that causes an image of a first side of a document to be read by a first image reading unit while feeding the document;
a second image reading unit that reads an image of a second side of the document while the feeding unit feeds the document;
a release unit that supports a reading guide opposite to a reading surface of the second image reading unit and enables underneath of the reading surface to be released; and
a paper ejection tray on which the document that has been subjected to image reading and ejected from a paper ejection roller pair is accumulated, wherein
an end fence that rises up at a document ejection direction upstream side of the paper ejection tray is configured of separate members that are an upper portion and a lower portion, and
a rotational pivot of the release unit is provided downstream from the end fence in a feeding direction.

2. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the upper portion of the end fence is provided in the release unit and the lower portion of the end fence is provided in the paper ejection tray.

3. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein a height of the lower portion of the end fence is higher than a height in accumulating direction of a document load specification number set for the paper ejection tray.

4. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , further comprising, on at least one side of a width direction orthogonal to a document feeding direction of the paper ejection tray, a document fall-off restriction member that protrudes towards the other side such that the document fall-off restriction member has an upper guide surface that is slanted downward towards the other side.

5. The automatic document feeder according to claim 4 , wherein the document fall-off restriction member has a lower guide surface that is slanted upward towards the other side.

6. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein when a distance separating the end fence from the second image reading unit is L 1 and a distance separating the rotational pivot of the release unit from the second image reading unit is L 2 , a relation, L 1 <L 2 , holds.

7. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein
the upper portion of the end fence is formed of a cover of the release unit, and
the lower portion of the end fence is formed of the paper ejection tray.

8. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein
the paper ejection roller pair includes: a driven roller that is one of a pair of rollers; and a pressurizing member that pressurizes this driven roller towards a drive roller that is the other one of the pair of rollers, and
the driven roller and the pressurizing member are held by the upper portion of the end fence.

9. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the release unit has a white color portion at a position that is opposite to the second image reading unit when the release unit is closed.

10. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein the upper portion and lower portion of the end fence are partially overlapped with each other.

11. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1 , wherein
the paper ejection roller pair includes: a driven roller that is one of a pair of rollers; and a pressurizing member that pressurizes this driven roller to a drive roller that is the other one of the pair of rollers, and
a direction in which the pressurizing member pressurizes the driven roller is a direction approximately parallel to the end fence.

12. An image reading device, comprising:
a first image reading unit that reads the image of the first side of the document; and
the automatic document feeder according to claim 1 .

13. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a first image reading unit that reads the image of the first side of the document; and
the automatic document feeder according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Kubo Hiroshi
• Fujii Takashi
• Kitaoka Shinya
• Kimura Norio
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kubo Hiroshi
• Fujii Takashi
• Kitaoka Shinya
• Kimura Norio

Classifications

• H04N1/00602 Primary

  Feed rollers · CPC title

• H04N1/00628

  Separating, e.g. preventing feeding of two sheets at a time · CPC title

• H04N1/00572

  with refeeding for double-sided scanning, e.g. using one scanning head for both sides of a sheet · CPC title

• H04N2201/0094

  Multifunctional device, i.e. a device capable of all of reading, reproducing, copying, facsimile transception, file transception · CPC title

• H04N1/0032 Primary

  with a medium handling apparatus, e.g. a sheet sorter (handling thin or filamentary material, e.g. sheets B65H) · CPC title