Ikegami Tsushinki Co., Ltd.

Chikado Goto

Hiroshi Tobita

Kenji Hayashi

Toshio Sakuuchi

Tetsuya Tamura

A document sheet feeder in accordance with the present invention includes a document sheet stacker, an inclined surface portion which is inclined by a predetermined angle with respect to the document sheet stacker, a separation roller which is disposed above the document sheet stacker and which has a plurality of equiangularly-spaced-apart blades extending radially outwardly from the outer surface of the separation roller, a feed roller disposed downstream of the separation roller in order to feed a separated sheet to a predetermined position and pinch roller movable to contact with or disengage from the feed roller. The separation roller is rotatably carried at the end of a first swinging arm and is moved between an operative position at which the sheet separation is effected and an inoperative position spaced apart from the operative position. A pinch roller is rotatably carried at the leading end of a second swinging arm which in turn is swung to a position at which the pinch roller is made into contact with the feed roller when the separation roller is in the operative position for separating a sheet one at each time.

Document sheet feeder

An extremely compact sorting apparatus includes a plurality of trays, each tray having a pin on each side of an entry portion side where a recorded sheet is received. The tray pins are guided by a vertical guide groove disposed on a frame so as to form a tray entry portion, as cam wheels with slots shift trays one level upwardly or downwardly. A transport plate for guiding a recorded sheet pivotally supports a discharge roller shaft and a cam wheel shaft coaxially. Furthermore, a motor for driving the discharge rollers and a motor for driving the cam wheels are mounted on the transport plate to provide a transport unit. When a recorded sheet is inserted onto the transport plate, it is detected by a detector, so that the drive of the discharge rollers begins and the recorded sheet is discharged to the tray entry portion. When this discharge is completed, the drive of the cam wheels begins so that the trays are shifted by one level. At this time, the cam wheels shift integrally with the transport plate so that the sorting machine is readied for insertion of the next recorded sheet.

Sorting machine

A compact sorting machine inverts recorded sheets into a face-down attitude and discharges them into individual trays. When a recorded sheet is sent from a feed opening, this sheet is transported on a transport path located below entrances of a plurality of trays. Guide members disposed in the vicinity of each tray entrance are driven according to a control signal so that the recorded sheet is discharged into individual trays. At this time, a guide member having an arc-shape simultaneously inverts the recorded sheet into a face-down attitude.

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Ibaraki, Japan

Chikado Goto