JP2568694B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a manual paper feed mechanism.

(B) Conventional technology A conventional electronic copying machine 100 is shown in FIG. The transfer material 102 fed from the manual paper feed tray 101 with the manual feed tray 101 turned down is conveyed by paper feed rollers 103 and 105 and registration rollers 106, passes through transfer guides 107 and 109, and the image on the drum 110 is transferred and charged. Transcribed and separated by containers 111 and 112,
The sheet is conveyed by the conveying section 113, the toner image is fixed by the fixing roller section 115, and is conveyed in a fixed direction until the sheet is finally discharged to the sheet discharge tray 116.

In the case of forming multiple images, the fixing unit 11
The transfer material 102 that exits 5 is directed to the double-sided multiplex sheet conveyance path 119 by the paper deflecting plate 117, passes through it, and is again sent to the drum 110 and the fixing roller unit 115. When the transfer material 102 is being discharged by the discharge roller 120, the discharge roller 120 is inverted, guided by the paper deflecting plate 117, passed through the transport path 119, and sent to the drum 110.

(C) Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, as described above, the manual feed tray 10
1 is located on the right side of the electronic copier 100, and it is necessary to take sufficient space on the right side of the copier 100 in order to turn the tray 101 to the right and set the transfer material 102 thereon. There is a problem that the space efficiency for installing the device becomes poor.

The present applicant has proposed a method in which a manual feed tray is installed on the front of the apparatus, and the manual sheet material is carried into the re-conveying path from a direction orthogonal to the re-conveying path (not disclosed at the time of the present application;
No. 121774), when the hand-held transfer material 102 is nipped and transported on the transport path 119 by the transport roller,
Depending on the way of nipping, the manual transfer paper 102 may be set in a wavy state as shown in FIG. In particular, there is a problem that this phenomenon is likely to occur when the transfer material paper 102 absorbs moisture.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus which has a good installation efficiency and prevents transfer paper from waving without increasing the size of the entire apparatus.

(D) Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is provided in an apparatus main body, and is configured to convey a sheet material to an image forming unit of the apparatus main body. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a manual feed path for feeding a manual sheet material inserted from a manual feed port provided on a front surface of the apparatus from a direction orthogonal to the main body feed path. A conveying means for pinching and conveying the manually-fed sheet material sent through the manual feeding path on the path, and holding the conveying means when the sheet material is conveyed from the manual feeding path to the main body conveying path; Release means for releasing the pressure is provided, and when starting the holding from the holding pressure released state by the release means to start the conveyance by the conveyance means, the manual sheet material is moved through the main body conveyance path. Provided successively clamping means for performing sequential clamping the reference end side of the sheet material which functions as a reference for transmission, characterized in that.

Preferably, the main body transport path is a sheet material transport path for performing double-sided / multiple image formation.

(E) Operation Based on the above configuration, the sheet material inserted from the manual feed slot provided on the front surface of the apparatus is sent to the main body transport path via the manual transport path. At this time, the nipping pressure of the conveying means of the main body conveying path has been released by the releasing means, and the carrying-in of the manual sheet material from the manual feeding path is not hindered. Then, in a state where the manual sheet material is carried into the main body transport path, the release by the release means is released, and the transport means sandwiches the sheet material and transports the main body transport path along the reference end. At this time, the conveying means is sequentially pressed by the pressing means.
The sheet material is sequentially clamped from the reference end side.

(F) Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a detailed perspective view of the embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the operation of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an external perspective view, and FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional front view of FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a copying machine having a manual paper feed port 2, a manual tray 3, and a cassette 5 at the front, that is, a copying machine having a front loading type.
Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the sheet material 6 stored in the cassette 5 is separated by the pickup roller 7,
When the sheet is fed, the conveying roller 9 causes the registration roller 10 to move.
Transported to Then, the resist roller 10 is positioned synchronously with the image formed on the drum 11,
The sheet material 6 is conveyed at a predetermined timing. Then, the image on the drum 11 is transferred to the sheet material 6 by the charger 12, and the sheet material 6 is further transferred to the drum material by the separation charger 13.
Separated from 11, and transported to the fixing unit 16 by the transport unit 15,
The image is fixed by the fixing unit 16. The sheet material 6 for copying a single image on one side is discharged by a discharge roller 17.

Also, when the sheet material 6 for copying a double-sided single image is mostly ejected by the ejection rollers 17, the ejection rollers 17 are inverted, guided downward by the flapper 19, and fed into the duplex / multipass 20. It is.

The sheet material 6 for copying a single-sided multiplex image is sent to a double-sided / multiple path 20 by a flapper 19.

The sheet material 6 for copying a double-sided single-sided and single-sided multiplex image passes through a pair of guide plates 21 and 22 constituting a moving guide portion which is a part of the main body conveyance path. The sheet is sent to the roller 10 and a predetermined copying operation is performed.

Next, the configuration of the relationship between the manual sheet feeding from the front side and the conveyance of the sheet material for double-sided and multiplexing, which is a main part of the present invention, will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

Reference numerals 21 and 22 denote a pair of rectangular upper and lower guide plates described in FIG. 4, which are fixed in parallel to each other, and are pivotally supported by the main body of the copying machine by a pair of left and right pins 25. Reference numeral 26 denotes a manual feed tray guide which forms a manual feed path, and is fixed to the main body so that the surface thereof is the same as that of the manual feed tray 3 (see FIG. 3). Following the manual tray guide 26, a lower guide 27, and an upper guide 29 above the lower guide 27 are fixed to the main body. A pressing arm 31 is pivotally supported by a pin 30 fixed to the main body below the manual tray guide 26 and the lower guide 27, and the pressing arm 31 is not shown in FIG. A driven manual feed roller 33 urged upward is attached to the back side of the pressure arm 31 so as to be vertically moved by an eccentric cam 32 driven by a pulse motor or the like. Guide plate 22 at the side end
A push-up top 35 is provided to push up. Also, the device 1
A re-feeding conveyance driving roller 36 is rotatably provided on a shaft in the front-rear direction, and is turned on and off from a driving source (not shown) via a clutch. The re-feeding conveyance drive roller 36 is provided with a hole 37 that penetrates the guide plate 22, and is formed integrally with the re-feeding conveyance roller 39 shaft 40 facing above the driving roller 36.

A bracket 41 is fixed to the guide plate 21, a roller release arm 46 is pivotally supported by a pin 47 on the bracket 41, and a U-shaped bracket 42 is attached to both sides of the arm 46. The vertical piece is provided with an elongated hole 42a in the vertical direction, and the shaft 40 of the refeeding / conveying driven roller 39 is restrained in the longitudinal direction by the elongated hole 42a, and is slidably inserted in the vertical direction. Further, the front end 46a of the roller release arm 46 is locked to the lower surface of the protruding piece 49 fixed to the main body of the copying machine 1. Also, guide plate 21
A shaft 44 of the paper feed roller 39 is supported by a long hole 44a of the bracket 44, and the shaft 40, that is, the driven roller 39 is urged downward by a tension spring 43. In addition, a hole 45 through which the roller 39 penetrates the guide plate 21 is provided in the guide plate 21.

Further, a manual paper feed drive roller 50 which penetrates the upper guide 29 downwardly through the above-mentioned upper guide 29 and is rotatably mounted is rotated by a pulse motor (not shown) or the like so as to face the manual paper feed roller 33. It has become. A reference guide surface 57 of the manual sheet material 6 is formed perpendicular to the right side of the manual tray guide 26.

Further, the front end of the guide plate 21 is bent upward at a substantially right angle to form a shutter member 51. When the sheet member 6 abuts against the shutter member 51, a sensor lever 52 abutting on the end of the sheet member 6 is activated. A photo interrupter 53 provided on the shutter member 51 and detected by the sensor lever 52 is provided as a set with the sensor lever 52, and a sensor lever 55 for detecting the rear end of the manual sheet material 6 on the upper guide 29 and The photo interrupter 56 is provided as a set.

In addition, as shown in FIG.
Is provided in an area C through which the sheet material 6 passes when performing double-sided / multiple copying. A limit line D of this area, that is, a reference end when the sheet material is conveyed, is indicated by a chain line.

 Next, the operation of the manual sheet feeding will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2 (a), during double-sided / multiple copying, the pressing arm 31 is supported at a position where the eccentric amount of the eccentric cam 32 is minimum, and descends. Guide plate supported by push-up top 35 provided at the back end
The left ends of 21, 21 are lower than the upper surface of the manual tray guide 26, and the shutter member 51 intersects the upper surface of the tray guide 26. Further, at this position, the re-feeding conveyance rollers 36 and 39 normally perform the re-feeding operation. That is, the manual feed rollers 33 and 50 located in the area C where the sheet material 6 passes for double-sided and multiple copying do not interfere with the sheet material 6 to be fed again.

In the above-mentioned state, after the operator confirms that double-sided / multiple copying is not in operation, the sheet material 6 is abutted against the shutter material 51 from the manual feed port 2 along the reference guide surface 57. The manual insertion start signal is output by a button (not shown).

Next, by this signal, the control unit (not shown) rotates the eccentric cam substantially 180 degrees and raises the pressing arm 31.
Guide plates 21 and 22 are pin 2 by push-up piece 35 (see Fig. 1).
5, the upper surface of the guide plate 22 is held slightly lower than the upper surface of the lower guide 27.
The pressing arm 31 and the eccentric cam are arranged such that the re-feeding conveying roller 36 is located below the upper surface of the guide plate 22 to the back.
32 dimensions are set. The manual paper feed roller 33 is pressed against the manual paper feed drive roller 50 by the upward urging force via the manual sheet material 6 that has abutted against the shutter member 51, and the shutter member 51 is pushed upward by the guide plate. Evacuate with 21. At the same time, the other end 46a of the roller release arm 46 is locked by the projecting piece 49, the back side of the roller release arm 46 rises, and against the downward biasing force of the tension spring 43,
The shaft 40 is lifted, and the refeeding conveyance driven roller 39 is rotated by the guide plate 22.
Retreats above the lower surface of.

When the eccentric cam 32 completes the rotation of almost 180 degrees, a signal is issued, and the control unit receiving the signal outputs the manual feed roller.
By driving 50, the manual sheet material 6 is conveyed toward the back side at a predetermined speed (see FIG. 2 (b)).

Next, after the rear end of the sheet material 6 is detected by the sensor beam and the interrupters 55 and 56, the manual feed rollers 33 and 50 are stopped after conveying by a predetermined amount. By this movement, the rear end of the sheet material 6 matches the limit line D of the area C described above. The state of the sheet material 6 is as shown in FIGS. 2 (c) and 2 (d).

Next, the control unit that has received the signal indicating that the drive source for driving the manual paper feed drive roller 50 has been stopped turns on the drive source of the eccentric cam 32 and rotates it approximately 180 degrees. In the middle of this, as shown in FIG.
a, located at the lower end of 42a, inclined along the inclination of the lower end,
A refeeding / conveying driven roller 39 on the reference end (limit line D in this figure) of the sheet material 6 first presses against the sheet material 6, and then the roller 39 on the opposite side of the reference end sequentially contacts the sheet material 6. 6
Press against In this case, the shaft 40 is gradually inserted into the long hole 42a on the left side.
Rising from the bottom of And the leftmost roller 39
In a state where the shaft 40 is pressed against the sheet material 6, the shaft 40 is slightly lifted from the long holes 42a on both sides as shown in FIG.
In this manner, the distance between the left and right of the long holes 42a, 42a, the inclination when the release arm 46 is lowered, the length of the long hole 42a, and the urging force of the tension spring 43 are appropriately adjusted, and the sheet material 6 is moved from the reference end side. The pressing can be performed sequentially and appropriately. In this manner, even when the sheet material 6 is waving, the wave is pressed from the reference end side, so that the sheet material 6 is accurately positioned on the transport path (guide plate 21). In other words, the long hole 42
The reference rollers a and 42a hold the sheet material between the reference end roller 39 and the roller 36, and when the next roller 39 holds the sheet material, the reference end roller 39 is held by the tension spring 43. While maintaining the above, is an escape to allow further movement of the release arm 46, the angle of the release arm 46 and the position of the long hole 42a,
The clamping means is constituted sequentially. Note that FIG. 2 is exaggerated so as to increase the inclination of the shaft 40 in order to explain the above operation, and in fact, as shown in FIG.
Is a long hole 44a of a bracket 44 provided on the upper guide plate 21.
And there is no large inclination as shown in FIG. 2 (b). When the drive source of the eccentric cam 32 is turned off, the roller
The drive source 36 turns on and conveys the sheet material 6 in a direction perpendicular to the manual feed direction.

 Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

Members having the same configuration and operation are denoted by the reference numerals, and the description will not be repeated.

The frame 60 is mounted on the upper guide plate 21 and the frame
A shaft 61 is supported on the shaft 60 in the front-rear direction, and opposed long holes 63, 65 are provided in the front and rear plates of the frame 60 below the shaft 61, and the long holes 63, 65 restrain movement in the front-rear direction, A shaft 62 that slides in the up-down direction is provided.
39 are installed. Reference numeral 66 denotes a locking piece, which has a substantially circular hole 67 at the top and a long hole continuously provided below the hole 67.
Eccentric cams 70 and 7 mounted on shaft 61
The hole 67 of the locking piece 66 is locked to 1, and the lower end of the long hole 69 of the locking piece 66 is locked to the shaft 62. And the shaft 61 is the frame 60
It is driven by a motor 72 attached to the rear plate.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), when the guide plate 21 descends, the refeeding conveyance driven roller 39 on the reference side (left side in the figure) of the sheet material 6 first presses the sheet material 6. In addition, the eccentricity of the cams 70 and 71 is adjusted. That is, the motor 72 is synchronized with the eccentric cam 32 shown in FIG.
The shaft 61, that is, the eccentric cams 70, 71 are rotated by 180 degrees.

In the above embodiment and other embodiments, the left end of the sheet material 6 is used as the reference end. However, when the reference end is placed on the back side of the double-sided multiplex conveyance area C shown in FIG. The eccentric cams 70, 71 in another embodiment are adjusted by adjusting the length positions of the long holes 42a, 42a of the bracket 42 shown in FIG.
By adjusting the degree of eccentricity, the sheet material 6 can be sequentially pressed from the roller 39 on the rear side.

(G) Effects of the Invention As described above, the sheet material is conveyed from the manual conveyance path to the main body conveyance path while providing the manual insertion port on the front surface of the apparatus and improving the installation space efficiency of the image forming apparatus. Since the release means for releasing the holding pressure of the transport means is provided when the manual sheet material is carried into the main body transport path, it can be transported reliably and with high accuracy without interfering with the transport means. Further, when the conveying means is returned to the holding pressure state, the sheet is successively held from the reference end of the sheet material by the pressing means sequentially, so that even if the sheet material has some undulation or sagging, the slack etc. Even when the reference end is moved to the other side and the slack or the like is removed in this way, the reference end is not pinched accurately, and the conveyance from the main body conveyance path can be performed with high accuracy.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a perspective view around a guide plate according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the operation of the guide plate, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a copier embodying the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an operation explanatory view of a guide plate of another embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is an explanatory view (vertical front view) of a conventional side-feed type copying machine with manual feed, and FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a waving state of a sheet material generated between the sheet material and a sheet material conveying roller. It is. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus (copier), 6 ... Sheet material, 20 ... Main body conveyance path (double-sided / multi-pass), 21,22 ... Guide plate, 26 ... Manual conveyance path (manual tray guide), 31,32 ... Guide Plate driving means (pressing arm, eccentric cam), 33,50 ... Conveying means (manual feed roller, manual feed drive roller), 36,39
… Conveying means (refeeding conveyance drive roller, refeeding conveyance roller), 46… Release means (roller release arm), 46, 42a, 66,
71, 72 ... successive pressing means (roller release arm, long hole, locking piece, cam).

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Agency reference number FI Technical display location G03G 15/00 514 G03G 15/00 514

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A main body conveying path provided in the apparatus main body for conveying a sheet material to image forming means of the apparatus main body; and a manual sheet material inserted from a manual insertion slot provided on a front surface of the apparatus. An image forming apparatus comprising: a manual conveyance path for conveying from a direction orthogonal to the conveyance path, wherein the manual conveyance sheet is nipped and conveyed to the main body conveyance path via the manual conveyance path. A conveying unit provided with a release unit for releasing the holding pressure of the transport unit when the sheet material is transported from the manual feed path to the main body transport path; and the release unit for starting transport by the transport unit. When starting the clamping from the clamping pressure released state by the above, the manual sheet material is sequentially transferred from the reference end side of the sheet material which is a reference when the sheet material is transported through the main body transport path. Provided pressure means, the image forming apparatus characterized by. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the main body conveyance path is a sheet material conveyance path for performing double-sided / multiple image formation.