Medium conveyance device
A medium conveying apparatus includes a loading tray, a feed roller, a separation roller, a bottom surface guide located at a first position where contact between a bottom surface of the medium placed on the loading tray and the feed roller is restricted, before medium feeding, a first guide engaged with the bottom surface guide located at the first position to restrict contact between a front edge of the medium placed on the loading tray and the separation roller, before medium feeding, and a second guide located between an upstream edge of the separation roller in a medium conveying direction and a central part of the separation roller to regulate the front edge of the medium at a position apart upwardly by a predetermined distance from a nip part of the feed roller and the separation roller, at a time of medium feeding.
1 . A medium conveying apparatus comprising:
a loading tray;
a feed roller to feed a medium placed on the loading tray;
a separation roller located above the feed roller to face the feed roller;
a bottom surface guide located at a first position where contact between a bottom surface of the medium placed on the loading tray and the feed roller is restricted, before medium feeding, and located at a second position where contact between the bottom surface of the medium placed on the loading tray and the feed roller is allowed, at a time of medium feeding;
a first guide engaged with the bottom surface guide located at the first position to restrict contact between a front edge of the medium placed on the loading tray and the separation roller, before medium feeding; and
a second guide including a contact surface coming into contact with the front edge of the medium at a position apart upwardly by a predetermined distance from a nip part of the feed roller and the separation roller, at a time of medium feeding, wherein
the contact surface is located inside an outer peripheral surface of the separation roller such that the contact surface does not protrude outside the outer peripheral surface when viewed from a sheet medium width direction which is perpendicular to a medium conveying direction before the medium feeding.
2 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second guide is located in such a way as not to overlap the feed roller viewed from the sheet medium width direction.
3 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first guide is engaged with the bottom surface guide located at the first position in such a way as to be tilted relative to the bottom surface guide, and wherein
an angle formed by the first guide and the bottom surface is greater than 45° and less than 90°.
4 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of the first guides are spaced at intervals of a width of a minimum medium size supported by the medium conveying apparatus or less in the sheet medium width direction.
5 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the contact surface is located in central part of the medium in the sheet medium width direction.
6 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the contact surface is tilted relative to a nip surface of the feed roller and the separation roller.
7 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second guide includes:
a fixed part provided above by the predetermined distance from the nip part; and
a moving part provided between the fixed part and the nip part to be movable by a front edge of a fed medium.
8 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second guide is provided to be movable by a medium coming into contact with the separation roller when a height of the medium is greater than or equal to a predetermined height.
9 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor to detect a loaded amount or a size of the medium placed on the loading tray; and
a processor to move the second guide according to the loaded amount or the size.
10 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the medium conveying apparatus has a separation mode for separating and feeding a medium and a non-separation mode for feeding a medium without separation, and
the medium conveying apparatus further comprises a processor to retract the second guide when the medium conveying apparatus operates in the non-separation mode.
11 . The medium conveying apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein a friction coefficient of a region above a predetermined position of the contact surface coming into contact with a front edge of a medium is greater than a friction coefficient of a region below the predetermined position.