Sheet separating mechanism and method of flexing a sheet to facilitate separation from a stack
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsSatoshi Shimizu, Tomohiro Kudo, Kenichi Suzuki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a mechanism for separating a sheet one by one from stacked sheets, wherein a sucker is rotatably supported so that the sucker is moved up and down, back and forth. When the sucker is retracted in a state where the sheet is being sucked, the sucker is caused to be rotatively driven and to change the direction of suction surface, so that a front end portion of sucked sheet is lifted up, and one sheet can be separated reliably one by one.
Claims19
A mechanism for separating a sheet, comprising:
- a suction unit;
- a magazine for storing stacked sheets;
- a support moving in a first direction substantially parallel with the stacked sheets while rotatably supporting said suction unit;
- and
- a regulating member for regulating movement of the sheet in the first direction to give flexure to the sheet being held by said suction unit in response to movement of the support in the first direction, said suction unit being rotated in a second direction by the flexure of the sheet to separate at least a part of the sheet from the stacked sheets.
An image formation system comprising:
- a suction unit;
- a magazine for storing stacked sheets;
- a support moving in a first direction substantially parallel with the stacked sheets while rotatably supporting said suction unit;
- a regulating member for regulating movement of the sheet in the first direction to give flexure to the sheet being held by said suction unit in response to movement of said support in the first direction, said suction unit being rotated in a second direction by the flexure of the sheet to separate at least a part of the sheet from the stacked sheets;
- a conveyance mechanism for conveying the sheet from said magazine;
- and
- an image formation means for forming an image on the sheet conveyed by said conveyance mechanism.
A method for separating a sheet, comprising the steps of:
- separating one sheet using a suction unit from sheets stacked in a magazine, the suction unit being supported rotatably by a support;
- moving the support in a first direction substantially parallel with the stacked sheets while rotatably supporting the suction unit;
- and
- regulating movement of the sheet in the first direction by a regulating member to give flexure to the sheet being separated by the suction unit in response to movement of the support in the first direction, the suction unit being rotated in a second direction by the flexure of the sheet to separate at least a part of the sheet from the stacked sheets.
A sheet separating apparatus for separating a sheet from stacked sheets stored in a magazine, comprising:
- a suction unit;
- a support movable in a first direction substantially parallel with the stacked sheets stored in the magazine while rotatably supporting said suction unit;
- and
- a regulating member for regulating movement of the sheet in the first direction to give flexure to the sheet being held by said suction unit in response to movement of the support in the first direction, said suction unit being rotated in a second direction by the flexure of the sheet to separate at least one sheet from the stacked sheets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.