JPH07112834A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To appropriately feed a sheet from a cassette even though sheets which have the one and the same size but which are of different kinds are stored in the cassette by obtaining data of a kind of sheets in a cassette in addition to data of a size thereof. CONSTITUTION:Means 30 for setting a kind of sheets, in addition to a size of sheets, and means 40 for detecting a kind of sheets set in a device body, are provided in a cassette 10. Accordingly, if the operator is to store special sheets such as colored paper or reproducible paper in the cassette 10, when a kind of the sheets is set on the device body through the sheet kind setting means 40, the kind of the sheet is also detected by the sheet kind detecting means 40. Further, in the control for automatically selecting a cassette, the cassette in which the special sheets are stored is excluded, thereby it is possible to prevent an unnecessary special sheet from being fed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus which feeds a cassette in a copying machine, a facsimile or the like.
The present invention relates to a type that can detect not only the size of paper stored in a cassette but also the type.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a copying machine as an image forming apparatus, as shown in FIG. 7, for example, an optical scanning system 2 is provided at the uppermost part of a vertical apparatus body 1, and an image forming section is provided under the optical scanning system 2. 3 is arranged. A paper storage unit 4 for storing paper of each size is arranged below the apparatus body 1.
The image forming unit 3 includes a paper feeding unit 5 that separates and feeds the sheets one by one, and a conveyance unit 6 that conveys the sheets on a predetermined path.
Connected to. In the paper storage unit 4 of (a), for example, only the cassette 10 is set in five stages, in the paper storage unit 4 of (b), the cassettes 10 are set in three stages, and a large-capacity deck 7 is further arranged in the lowermost stage. It is set. Cassette 10
For example, 500 sheets of paper can be stored, and in this case, various sizes and types of paper can be stored depending on the usage state of the user.

At least the apparatus main body 1 is provided with a size detecting means 8 for detecting the size of the paper stored in the cassette 10. Therefore, when the operator stores a sheet of a predetermined size in the cassette 10 and sets it in the apparatus main body 1, the size detecting unit 8 detects the sheet size and displays it on the operation unit. Therefore, when copying, when the operator specifies the size of the paper to be used, a predetermined cassette 10 is selected based on the specification. Further, in the case of automatic cassette selection in which the paper size is not specified, the cassette 10 having the same size as the original is automatically selected. When the operator presses the start button, the sheets of the selected cassette 10 are conveyed one by one to the image forming section 3 by the sheet feeding section 5 and the conveying section 6, and the image of the original is copied onto the sheet.

The type of paper will be described here. Normally, white plain paper is most often used. Further, a device such as a sorter that automatically sorts and collates discharged sheets has become widespread. Therefore, various colored papers and thick papers are often used as cover sheets and middle insert sheets. In recent years, recycled paper having a color different from that of plain paper has also been used. Furthermore, the second
At the site where the original drawing is used, the second original drawing paper is used, and thus, in addition to the plain paper, there is a tendency that many special papers of the same size and special type are used. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7A, when one copying machine has a cassette 10 having a large number of five stages, plain paper and special paper of the same size are provided in the cassettes 10 of the five stages. Often mixed and set.

On the other hand, the control system based on the detection of the size of the paper will be explained. When the operator specifies the paper size and makes a copy, only the paper in the specified cassette 10 is fed. If you want to copy by automatic cassette selection,
In consideration of shortening the copying time, sheet feeding is started from the uppermost cassette 10. At this time, if there are a plurality of cassettes 10 of the same size and the number of sheets does not reach the number set by the operator, the cassettes 1 are automatically arranged in order from the top to the bottom.
It is controlled so that the operation of switching to 0 and feeding and copying is continued.

[0006]

By the way, in the above-mentioned prior art, the size detecting means 8 uses only the information about the paper size of the cassette 10. Then, in the case of automatic cassette selection based on this paper size information, the uppermost cassette 10 of the corresponding paper size is selected first, and when there is no paper in the cassette 10 during continuous paper feeding,
The cassettes 10 of the same size in the lower stage are controlled to be sequentially selected.

Therefore, there is no problem when only plain paper is used. Further, in the case where the same size sheets of plain paper are distributed and stored in the cassette 10 having a large number of stages, there is an advantage that the time and effort for replenishing the sheets is reduced during continuous sheet feeding, which is convenient. On the other hand, even when different types of sheets such as plain paper and special paper of the same size are mixed and set, there is no problem as long as the operator specifies the type together with the size of the paper in the predetermined cassette 10. . However, in this case, the following problems occur when the paper is fed by the automatic cassette selection. That is, since the uppermost cassette 10 is automatically fed in sequence, unnecessary paper such as the uppermost colored paper is fed when the required plain paper is set in the lower cassette 10. As a result, paper and image formation are wasted. When the upper cassette 10 runs out of paper in continuous feeding, the lower cassette 10 is automatically switched to continue feeding until the set number of sheets is completed. Paper is fed, and paper is wasted as well.

In view of the above, the present invention obtains information on the type of paper in the cassette in addition to the size, and properly feeds the cassette even when different types of paper of the same size are stored. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0009]

To achieve this object, the present invention provides a sheet storage means (4) having a plurality of cassettes (10) for storing sheets of various sizes and types, and a sheet storage means (4). Size detecting means (8) for detecting a size, feeding means (5) for selecting a predetermined cassette 10 and feeding the sheet, and image forming means (3) for forming an image on the fed sheet. In an image forming apparatus including: a paper type setting unit (30) for setting a type other than the size of the paper stored in the cassette (10); and a paper type detection unit (40) for detecting the set paper type. It is characterized by including.

[0010]

In the present invention having the above structure, the cassette (10) is provided.
When the paper is stored in, the size of the paper is detected by the size detecting means (8). Further, in the case of storing special paper different from plain paper, when the paper type setting means (30) sets the type of paper, the paper type detection means (40) detects that the paper is special paper. Thus cassette 1
Size and type information is input for sheets stored in 0, and this information can be displayed on the operation unit. Further, in the control of the automatic cassette selection, the special paper cassette (10) can be excluded from the target, so that unnecessary special paper is not fed from the cassette even with the same size, and waste of paper is eliminated.

The reference numerals in parentheses are for reference only and do not limit the structure of the present invention.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a cassette of an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention. A cassette 10 is a rectangular frame body 11 and a bottom plate 1.
2. It is formed in a relatively thin box shape having an intermediate partition 13, and the left and right side frames 11b are fitted to the rails 25 of the apparatus main body 1 so that they can be inserted and removed horizontally. The front frame 11a of the cassette 10 is provided with a lock lever 14 that prevents the cassette 10 from being pulled out when it is inserted and set in the apparatus body 1. Again cassette 1
On the bottom plate 12 of 0, two side fences 15 are provided so as to move back and forth and lock at any position, and one end fence 16 is provided so as to move left and right and lock at any position. Sheets of a predetermined size are stacked and stored in a space surrounded by the side fence 15, the end fence 16 and the right frame 11b.

The partition 13 of the cassette 10 is provided with a size detection piece 20 of the size detection means 8 so as to set the paper size by moving along the slide groove 21 in the direction of the arrow. Further, a size detection switch 22 is arranged in the apparatus main body 1, and when the cassette 10 is set, the size detection piece 20 presses a predetermined switch button 22a of the size detection switch 22 to detect the paper size. To be done.

On the other hand, a paper type setting means 30 for setting the type of paper is provided on the right side of the front frame 11a of the cassette 10.
A paper type detecting means 40 is provided at the end of the rail 25 on the right side of the apparatus body 1.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the paper type setting means, and FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a part of the paper type setting means. FIG. 4A is a horizontal sectional view in the case of setting the special paper with the paper type setting means assembled, and FIG. 4B is a vertical sectional view thereof. FIG. 5A is a horizontal cross-sectional view when setting plain paper with the paper type setting means assembled, and FIG. 5B is a vertical cross-sectional view thereof. From these drawings, the paper type setting means 30 sets the paper type,
As means for displaying, the special paper display board 32 of FIG. 4 and the special paper display board 32 of FIG.
It has a plain paper display board 31. The special paper display plate 32 is formed in a rectangular shape by writing the size and type of paper on the table. The plain paper display plate 31 has the same size as the special paper display plate 32, the size of the paper is described in the table, and the groove 31a is formed in the vertical middle of the right edge. The size and type of paper can be arbitrarily displayed according to the operator's preference by using a sticker or the like that can be replaced.

On the right side of the front frame 11a of the cassette 10, there is provided an insertion port 33 for vertically inserting one of the special paper display plate 32 and the plain paper display plate 31, and a display is provided in front of the insertion port 33. The window 34 opens. Further, a stepped hole 36 is horizontally provided on the right side in the middle of the insertion port 33 in the vertical direction through a through slit 35 so as to open to the right frame 11b, and a cap 37 is fitted into the stepped hole 36. The lever-shaped setting lever 38 is movably inserted.

The setting lever 38 has a plate-shaped detection unit 3 on the right side.
8a and a spring receiver 38b and an engagement protrusion 38c on the left side, the spring 39 is biased to the cap 37 and the spring receiver 38b. Then, in relation to the special paper display plate 32 or the plain paper display plate 31 inserted into the insertion opening 33, the engaging protrusion 38c is moved in and out of the insertion opening 33 through the through slit 35, and the detection portion 38a is also a slit of the cap 37. 37a
Inserted in and out via the.

In the paper type detecting means 40, a notch 25a into which the detecting portion 38a is inserted is horizontally formed at the end of the right rail 25, and the detecting sensor 4 is provided in a state of straddling the notch 25a.
1 is attached by the metal fitting 42. And the detection sensor 4
1 outputs an ON / OFF signal according to the presence / absence of the detection unit 38a to detect special paper or plain paper.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, if the paper type is not set by the paper type setting means 30 of the cassette 10, the setting lever 3 is set by the spring 39.
8 is retracted inside the cap 37 so that it does not interfere with handling. Therefore, when the operator stores, for example, A4 size plain paper in the cassette 10 of a certain stage,
Side fence 15 and end fence 16 on the bottom plate 12
The paper is stored while being positioned by, and at this time, the size detection piece 20 is moved to a predetermined position to set the size.

In this case, the operator inserts the plain paper display plate 31 into the insertion opening 33 of the front frame 11a of the cassette 10 as shown in FIG.
, The engaging protrusion 38c at the tip of the setting lever 38 engages with the groove 31a on the right side of the plain paper display plate 31, so that the setting lever 38 remains retracted. At this time, the size of plain paper A4 printed on the front side of the plain paper display plate 31 inserted into the insertion opening 33 is displayed from the display window 34. Therefore, after that, always check the size and type of paper and always Paper is stored accurately.

After that, the cassette 10 is pushed in, so that the cassette 10 is inserted and set in the apparatus main body 1 along the rails 25. Then, the size detection piece 20 presses a predetermined switch button 22a of the size detection switch 22 to detect the A4 size. Further, although it is detected by the detection sensor 41 of the paper type detection means 40, since the detection portion 38a of the setting lever 38 is in the retracted state, the detection sensor 41 remains ON and plain paper is detected. In this way, both the A4 size of paper and the type of plain paper are detected, and these pieces of information are input to the apparatus main body 1 and displayed on the operation unit.

On the other hand, when the operator operates the cassette 10 at a certain stage.
Has the same A4 size as plain paper, but colored paper, second
When the special paper such as the original drawing is stored, the paper is stored in the same manner as described above and the size is set by the size detection frame 20. In this case, when the special paper display plate 32 is inserted into the insertion opening 33 of the cassette 10 as shown in FIG. 4, the size of the front side of the special paper display plate 32 and the contents of the special paper are displayed accurately in the display window 34. . On the other hand, the setting lever 38 is used for the special paper display board 3
2 is pressed against the spring 39 by the straight edge 32a on the right side of 2, and the detection portion 38a is moved to the slit 37a of the cap 37.
To the outside and is held in this protruding state.

Then, when the cassette 10 is inserted and set in the apparatus main body 1, the A4 size is detected by the size detection piece 20 and the size detection switch 22 as described above. Further, the protruding detection portion 38a of the setting lever 38 is guided by the notch 25a of the rail 25 and enters the detection sensor 41,
Therefore, the detection sensor 41 is turned off and the special paper is detected. Information on the A4 size and the special paper is similarly input to the apparatus main body 1 and displayed on the operation unit.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 7A, when one copying machine has five cassettes 10 and special paper is stored in each cassette 10 mixed with plain paper according to the operator's preference, Both the size and type of the paper are detected and displayed on the operation unit. For this reason, the operator can accurately instruct the size and type of the paper, and the necessary paper is copied while properly feeding the cassette.

Further, in the control in the case of automatic cassette selection,
The signal from the paper type detection means 40 makes it possible to exclude the special paper cassette 10. For this reason, in the cassette 10 of plain paper, the uppermost cassette 10 as in the conventional case.
The sheet feeding operation is started from the beginning, and when the sheets in the cassette 10 are exhausted due to the continuous feeding, it is controlled to switch to the lower cassette 10 in sequence. Therefore, in automatic cassette selection, only plain paper is fed and copied, and unnecessary special paper of the same size is completely prevented from being fed.

In this embodiment, when the plain paper or the special paper is stored in the cassette 10, the plain paper display plate 31 or the special paper display plate 32 is inserted into the cassette front frame 11a to set the paper type. As a result, the operator can easily operate and forget less. Since the contents of the plain paper display plate 31 or the special paper display plate 32 are displayed on the display window 34, the size and type of the paper can be confirmed and stored. Furthermore,
Since the paper type setting means 30 is provided in each cassette 10, it is not necessary to set the paper type again when the cassette 10 containing special paper is replaced with another sheet feeding stage.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a paper type setting piece 50 as the paper type setting means 30 is provided in the vicinity of the size detection piece 20 of the partition 13 of the cassette 10 in engagement with the slide groove 51. Then, in the case of plain paper, the frame 50 is moved to the left side, and in the case of special paper, the frame 50 is moved to the right side to set the type of paper. Further, in the apparatus main body 1, a paper type detection switch 52 as the paper type detection means 40 is provided at a position matching the right side of the frame next to the size detection switch 22.
Is provided.

As a display means, a replaceable sticker 53, which describes the size and type of paper, is stuck and displayed on the front side of the cassette 10. Other than that, the configuration is exactly the same as in FIG. 1, and the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when storing, for example, A4 size plain paper in the cassette 10, the size detection frame 20 is moved to a position corresponding to the size, and the paper type setting frame 50 is moved to the left side. Then, the cassette 10 is inserted and set in the apparatus main body 1. Then the size detection switch 22
The size of the paper is detected by the switch operation, and at the same time, the paper type setting piece 50 does not contact the paper type detection switch 52
With F, plain paper is detected.

When storing special paper of the same size, the paper type setting frame 50 is moved to the right. Then, the paper type detection switch 52 is pressed by the paper type setting piece 50
N, so that the special paper is detected. Therefore, the ON signal of the paper type detection switch 52 causes the cassette 10 to
It can be excluded in the case of automatic cassette selection control.

In this embodiment, since the paper type setting means 30 and the paper type detecting means 40 have the same switch structure as the size detecting means 8, the structure becomes compact. Further, since the paper type setting means 30 is arranged in the vicinity of the size detecting means 8 of the cassette 10, it is less likely that the operator forgets to set the paper type when the paper is stored. Furthermore, the paper type setting is
It can also be configured to be performed by the operation unit of the apparatus main body 1. In this case, the operator may set the paper type setting mode prepared in advance and set the paper feed stage of the cassette 10 storing the special paper as the special paper. Therefore, in this paper type setting mode, the special paper feed stage can be excluded in the case of the control of automatic cassette selection.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the image forming apparatus is provided with the paper type setting means for setting the type other than the paper size and the paper type detecting means for detecting the paper type, the paper type setting is performed when the operator stores the special paper. By doing so, both the size of the paper and the special type can be displayed on the operation unit, etc., and the reliability of the operation is increased. Also, in the automatic cassette selection control, cassettes containing special paper can be excluded.
Special papers such as original drawings are no longer fed in cassettes, eliminating unnecessary waste of special papers during continuous paper feeding.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a cassette of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a paper type setting unit in detail.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing the paper type setting unit in a partial cross section.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal and vertical cross-sectional view showing a paper type setting unit and a paper type detecting unit when storing special paper.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal and vertical cross-sectional view showing a paper type setting unit and a paper type detecting unit when storing plain paper.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the cassette.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing an overall outline of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 3 Image Forming Section (Image Forming Means) 4 Paper Storage Section (Paper Storage Means) 5 Feeding Section (Feeding Means) 8 Size Detection Means 10 Cassette 30 Paper Type Setting Means 40 Paper Type Detection Means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A paper storage unit having a plurality of cassettes for storing various sizes and types of paper, a size detection unit for detecting the size of the paper, and a predetermined cassette selected to supply the paper. In an image forming apparatus provided with a feeding unit for feeding and an image forming unit for forming an image on a fed sheet, a paper type setting unit for setting a type other than a size of a sheet to be stored in a cassette, and a set type An image forming apparatus comprising: a paper type detection unit that detects a paper type. 2. The paper type setting means has a plain paper display board used when storing plain paper and a special paper display board used when storing special paper. One of the paper display plates is inserted into the front frame of each cassette to display, and the detection unit at the end of the setting lever is configured to move in and out sideways. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cassette rail is provided so as to detect plain paper or special paper depending on the presence or absence of the detection unit of the setting lever. 3. The paper type setting means is provided in the vicinity of the partition size setting means of each cassette, and is configured to move a frame in accordance with plain paper and special paper. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is provided so as to detect plain paper or special paper by a switch operation depending on the presence or absence of a frame in the apparatus body.