Sheet stacking unit, and sheet conveying device and image forming apparatus each including the sheet stacking unit
First Claim
1. A sheet stacking unit comprising:
- a placement body;
a sheet stacking plate on which sheets are to be stacked together with the placement body;
a cursor which is movable on an upper surface of the placement body in a widthwise direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction and which is brought into contact with widthwise side faces of the sheets placed on the sheet stacking plate to align the sheets;
a rack coupled to the cursor and extending along the widthwise direction;
a pinion provided in the placement body to make up a rack and pinion mechanism in cooperation with the rack;
a detection sensor which is placed opposite the rack and which has a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion;
a plurality of detection-object parts which are placed in the rack along the widthwise direction and which are to be detected by the detection sensor while the cursor is set in specified positions; and
a controller which detects a position of the cursor in correspondence to an output of the detection sensor to thereby identify a widthwise size of the sheet, whereinthe plurality of detection-object parts have optical characteristics of transmissivities, which are different from one another, with respect to light emitted from the light-emitting portion,the controller identifies the widthwise size of the sheet on a basis of output values from the detection sensor which detects light transmitted by the detection-object parts,in the detection sensor, light emitted from the light-emitting portion and transmitted by any one of the detection-object parts is received by the light-receiving portion,the rack has rack teeth formed on a side face of a rack body,the rack is provided with a plurality of opening portions that penetrate the rack body from an upper surface thereof in a thickness direction thereof and that are arranged at predetermined intervals on a straight line extending in the width direction, andthe plurality of detection-object parts are arranged at the plurality of opening portions, respectively.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A sheet stacking unit of the disclosure includes a sheet stacking plate, a cursor, and a detection sensor. The cursor includes an alignment part for performing widthwise alignment of a document, and a rack extending along the widthwise direction. The detection sensor is placed opposite the rack, and has a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion. A plurality of detection-object parts placed in the rack along the widthwise direction have optical characteristics of different reflectivities or transmissivities from one another with respect to light emitted from the light-emitting portion. The controller detects a widthwise size of the document on a basis of output values from the detection sensor which detects light reflected or transmitted by the detection-object parts.
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Citations
7 Claims
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1. A sheet stacking unit comprising:
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a placement body; a sheet stacking plate on which sheets are to be stacked together with the placement body; a cursor which is movable on an upper surface of the placement body in a widthwise direction perpendicular to a sheet conveyance direction and which is brought into contact with widthwise side faces of the sheets placed on the sheet stacking plate to align the sheets; a rack coupled to the cursor and extending along the widthwise direction; a pinion provided in the placement body to make up a rack and pinion mechanism in cooperation with the rack; a detection sensor which is placed opposite the rack and which has a light-emitting portion and a light-receiving portion; a plurality of detection-object parts which are placed in the rack along the widthwise direction and which are to be detected by the detection sensor while the cursor is set in specified positions; and a controller which detects a position of the cursor in correspondence to an output of the detection sensor to thereby identify a widthwise size of the sheet, wherein the plurality of detection-object parts have optical characteristics of transmissivities, which are different from one another, with respect to light emitted from the light-emitting portion, the controller identifies the widthwise size of the sheet on a basis of output values from the detection sensor which detects light transmitted by the detection-object parts, in the detection sensor, light emitted from the light-emitting portion and transmitted by any one of the detection-object parts is received by the light-receiving portion, the rack has rack teeth formed on a side face of a rack body, the rack is provided with a plurality of opening portions that penetrate the rack body from an upper surface thereof in a thickness direction thereof and that are arranged at predetermined intervals on a straight line extending in the width direction, and the plurality of detection-object parts are arranged at the plurality of opening portions, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification