Automatic document feeder and image reader

• Main Authors: KOMATSU RYUTA, IMAMURA TAKAO, TAKIDA NORIO, SHOJI NAOKI, SHIRAKURA MIZUHO, IINO SEIJI, SUZUKI KUNIHIDE
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 25.10.2001
• Edition: 7
• Subjects: CINEMATOGRAPHY; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY; PHOTOGRAPHY; PHYSICS; PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION

The invention aims at providing an automatic document feeder capable of making the whole apparatus small-sized, simplifying its driving system, improving the speed of reading consecutive document sheets when conveying document sheets to the document reading position of an image reader, surely preventing an image read in the image reader from being distorted, and preventing a document sheet from being jammed. An automatic document feeder of the invention has a conveying roller for conveying a document sheet, conveys a document sheet to a document reading position on a platen facing a document image reading portion with said document sheet between them, comprising a pickup guide for picking up the fore end of a document sheet scanned at said document reading position and a pressing piece for pressing a document sheet being conveyed against said pickup guide at a curved portion provided by said platen and said pickup guide. Said pressing piece is fixed at the upstream side of said document reading position, extends from said fixed position across the document reading position and is made free at the downstream end portion of it. Further, this document feeder is provided with a document sheet deflecting means for deflecting a document sheet toward the paper discharge stacker. Hereupon, said document deflecting means is a plate spring being capable of swaying within a specified range.