Patent ID: 6164641
Filing Date: 2000-12-26
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
A document separating mechanism for an automatic document feeder, for separating and feeding the bottommost document of documents laid on document bearing means, said document separating mechanism comprising:a separating roller mechanism having a plurality of roller members provided at spaced locations in an axial direction;a separating belt mechanism disposed opposite and above said separating roller mechanism, said separating belt mechanism including a driving roller mounted on a shaft, a driven roller mounted on a shaft and disposed parallel to and spaced from the driving roller, a separating belt looped over the driving roller and the driven roller and pressed against the separating roller mechanism, and a tension imparting mechanism for exerting tension on the separating belt, said tension imparting mechanism including a pair of connecting members for connecting the shaft of the driving roller and the shaft of the driven roller, a pair of support arms, each support arm having a first end pivotably supported by one of the two shafts, a tension roller rotatably mounted on a second end of each of the support arms and acting on an upper surface of the separating belt, and a pair of spring members, each spring member stretched between the first end of one of the pair of support arms and one of the pair of connecting members.