JPS6340173A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the upper housing from inability of closing or the upper housing part, etc. from being deformed, destructed or poor operation of the titled device by constituting the titled device so that a movable member being in a escape position receives automatically a moving kinetic force in the direction of a normal position by interlocking with closing of the upper housing and goes to a reset state to the normal position. CONSTITUTION:When jammed paper is removed, as a rule, a unit 40 is brought to a reverse rotating operation and reset again to a normal position shown by a two-point chain line. In this regard, even if it is forgotten and the upper housing B is brought to a closing operation to the lower housing A, in the closing movement process of its upper housing, a part 44a of a discharge paper sue guide plate 44 of the upper housing B side abuts on a part 40a of the unit 40 being in an escape position, and pressed by the continuous closing movement of the upper housing B. Also, by its pressure force, the unit 40 is turned naturally in the direction of the normal position centering around a shaft part 41. Next, when a toggle spring 42 crosses over a position of the shaft part 41 and goes to the normal position side by following said turning, the unit 40 is turned positively in the direction of the normal position centering around the shaft part 41 by a tensile force of its spring 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic type or an electrostatic recording type.

More specifically, the device is divided into an upper casing and a lower casing, the lower casing can be opened and closed freely relative to the lower casing, and the upper casing is used in a closed state relative to the lower casing. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

An image forming apparatus configured as described above has, for example, a paper feeding means, an image transfer means, a regulation paper conveying means, a fixing means, etc. on the lower casing side, and a process cartridge (image forming section) and a paper ejecting means on the lower casing side. Each device is built in, and by opening the upper case from the lower case, the inside of the device is wide open, making it easy to perform maintenance such as inspecting the inside of the device, removing jammed paper, and replacing consumables. be able to.

Furthermore, in order to make the maintenance easier, 9
Generally, the required parts of the internal mechanisms and equipment are movable so that they can be freely changed between the normal position and the escape position.

For example, in order to facilitate the removal of jammed paper that occurs in the narrow paper path between the paper feed section and registration rollers, (b) The fixing device has a movable structure that can be freely rotated between the position and the draining position where the paper path is widened or opened. In order to facilitate the replacement of the cleaning felt, etc. inside the C6 fuser, some of the components of the fuser are movable so that they can be rotated freely between the normal position and the release position where the interior of the fuser is opened. For example, the fuser cover is made into a movable mechanism that can be rotated freely between the normal position and the relief position where the felt portion is exposed.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

After moving the above movable members to the escape position and removing jammed paper or replacing the felt, be sure to return them to their normal positions and move (return) them. It is necessary to confine against That is, there is an order of priority in the operating procedures of the device.

If this is not done, the lower body may interfere with the movable members that are still in the release position while the lower flute body is being closed, and the lower housing may not be closed in the specified position, or the parts that are crossed may become deformed or damaged. . Furthermore, even if the device is closed, the movable member is not returned to its normal position, so the device cannot operate normally.

However, in practice, it is not uncommon to forget to return the Ii'r moving member to its normal position as described above and to close the lower housing.

The present invention aims to solve this problem.

Summary, Structure of the Invention [Means for Solving Problems] The present invention has the following features: - The device is divided into an L part housing and a lower housing, the upper housing can be freely opened and closed with respect to the lower flute body, and the upper housing is In an image forming apparatus configured to be used with the body in a closed state with respect to the lower flute body.

Regarding a movable member inside the awning machine that is operated to change its position from the normal position to the release position during maintenance and is to be returned to the normal position, the upper part of the movable member is not returned to the normal position and remains in the release position. When a closing operation is performed on the lower flute body of the casing, it receives a pressing force in relation to the upper casing that is closing and moves, and is configured so that the pressing force causes it to return to its normal position. The gist is an image forming apparatus characterized by the following.

[For production]

In other words, even if you forget to return the movable member that has been changed to the release position to its normal position and close the upper housing, the '5f moving member, which remains in the release position, will close the lower flute body. In conjunction with this, it automatically receives a moving force in the direction of the normal position, returns to the normal position, and enters the return state.

Therefore, it is possible to prevent failure to close the lower flute body, deformation or damage of the movable member or the lower housing, malfunction of the device, etc. due to forgetting to return the movable member to its normal position as in the conventional case.
In addition, ranking manipulation is virtually eliminated, and operational troublesomeness is also eliminated.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below using an electrophotographic image recording apparatus that records images by scanning a photoreceptor with a laser beam.

(1) Overall configuration of the device (Figure 102) A and B are the lower and upper casings of the device, and the upper casing B is connected to the lower body A so that it can be opened and closed freely around the hinge l. has been
When the upper housing B is sufficiently closed with respect to the lower housing A, a locking member (not shown) is engaged and the lower housing B is held in a closed state with respect to the lower flute body A. FIG. 1 shows the closed state.

When the locking member is released, the lower housing B can be held in a substantially perpendicularly opened and raised position with respect to the lower writing style A around the hinge portion l.

FIG. 2 shows this open state. In this open state, the inside of the apparatus is open, and internal inspection, insertion and removal of process cartridges, etc. can be easily performed.

On the lower rod A side, there are two paper cassettes, a paper feed section 5 consisting of a paper feed roller 3, a registration roller 4, etc., and an image transfer discharger 6.
, a paper conveying section 7, an image fixing device 8, a laser unit 9, etc. are provided. On the upper housing B side, there are a process cartridge 10, a laser reflecting mirror 11. A pre-exposure lamp 12, a paper transport section 13, a paper discharge tray 14, etc. are provided.

In this example, the process cartridge 10 includes a drum-type electrophotographic photoreceptor (hereinafter referred to as drum) 15, a banding device 16,
The four devices, the developing device 17 and the cleaning device 18, are made into a cartridge, and when opened from the upper housing B and the lower flute body A, two parts J are arranged along the guide rail 20 arranged on the lower housing B side. It is inserted into and removed from the housing B at a predetermined position.

Image recording is carried out in the state shown in FIG. 1, in which the process cartridge 10 is installed on the side of the upper rod B, and its F section housing B is closed and locked in the lower rod A.

That is, in response to the image recording start signal, the drum 15 is rotated around the sleeve 15a in the direction of the arrow at a predetermined circumferential speed.

The drum 15 has a pre-exposure lamp 1 on its circumferential surface during its rotation process.
2, the entire surface is pre-exposed, and then uniformly charged, either positively or negatively, by the electric device 16.

Next, in exposure 81119, the laser beam scanning unit 9 performs laser beam scanning exposure to form an electrostatic latent image of the target image on the peripheral surface.

The laser beam unit consists of a semiconductor laser (not shown), a rotating polygon mirror, an f-theta lens, etc.
A laser beam modulated in accordance with the time-series electric pixel signals of the target image is output from the semiconductor laser to the rotating polygon mirror, and is transmitted to the exposure section 1 of the drum 15 via the reflection mirror 11.
9, the surface of the drum 15 is exposed to laser beam main scanning in the drum generatrix direction.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the drum 15 is developed with toner by a developing device 17, and reaches the position of the image transfer discharge device 6. Then, the toner developed image is sequentially transferred from the paper feeding section 5 to the transfer paper p fed between the drum 15 and the transfer discharger 6 in synchronization with the rotation of the drum 15.

The transfer paper on which the toner image has been transferred is sequentially separated from the surface of the drum 15 by a separating member (not shown), introduced into the image fixing device 8 via the paper transport section 7, where the image is fixed, and then discharged via the paper transport section 13. The image is discharged onto the paper tray 14 as an image-formed product.

The surface of the drum 15 from which the transfer paper has been separated is cleaned in a cleaning section and used for repeated image formation.

The paper feed section 5 includes a paper cassette 2 loaded with sheets p, a half-moon-shaped (broken circle) paper feed roller 3, a registration roller 4, and the like. The paper feed roller 3 is intermittently rotated in the paper feeding direction by one rotation or a predetermined number of rotations at each predetermined paper feeding timing, and each of the intermittent rotations directs one sheet of paper P in the cassette 2 toward the registration roller 4. sent out.

The paper p is sent out from the cassette 2 by the paper feed roller 3, and its leading edge is once caught by the nip of the registration rollers 4, which are stopped at that time, and then transferred to the drum 1.
The registration roller 4 is driven to rotate at a predetermined timing synchronized with the rotation of the image forming apparatus 5, and is fed toward the transfer unit 6.

(2) Movable members In this example device, a. A lower paper feed guide plate 31 and an upper registration guide plate 3 that constitute a paper path between the paper feed roller 3 and the registration rollers 4;
The three members 30-40 and 50, which are the resist upper guide plate 30, b, paper separation claw unit of the image fixing device 8) 40, C, and the upper cover 50° of the image fixing device 8, are set in their normal positions during maintenance. It is a movable member within the device that is operated to change its position from the position to the release position, and then returned to the normal position.

a. Registration-upper guide plate 30 FIG. 3 is an oblique view of one end side of the registration roller 4 and the registration upper guide plate 30, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a side view of the device in the relief position.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 32 denotes a side plate, and the lower roller 4(a) of the registration roller 4 has shaft portions 38 at both ends thereof supported by bearings on the side plate 32. The upper roller 4(b) has shaft portions 34 at both ends thereof supported by bearings in vertical holes 33 of the side plate 32 so as to be able to move up and down to some extent, and one end of a torsion coil spring 35 is hooked to the −F side of the shaft portion 34. upper roller 4(b)
is kept in constant contact with the lower roller 4(a) with a load of approximately I kg.

The upper roller 4(b) has a two-sided chamfer shape 3 on both end side shaft portions 34.
4a and 34a, and both side bases 30a of the resist 1 guide plate 30 are attached to and supported by the two-way shaft portions. Also, a two-sided cam disk 3 is provided at the end of the shaft portion 34.
6 are installed in one piece.

When the resist-1 guide plate 30 is in the normal position as shown in FIG. - A predetermined paper path 37 is formed between the paper paths 31 and 31.

When taking out the jammed paper that has occurred in this passage 37, the guide plate 30 is moved counterclockwise in FIG. The lower roller 4(a) of the registration roller 4 is opened and rotated to the release position where it hits the shaft portion 38 of the lower roller 4(a). Along with this rotational operation, the shaft portion 34 of the upper guide plate 30 also rotates together with the upper guide plate 30, so that the arcuate surface of the two-way cam disc 36 comes into contact with the upper surface 32a of the upward step of the chassis side plate 32. The shaft portion 34 is slightly lifted in the -L direction against the spring 35,
The load between the upper and lower rollers 4 (a) and 4 (b) is released, and a slight gap is left between them. The rotated guide plate 30 is held at its open rotation position, which is the release position, by the frictional force of contact between the arcuate portion of the cam disk 36 and the chassis surface 32a.

Therefore, it is possible to easily remove jammed paper generated in the passage 37 between the upper and lower guide plates 30@31.

After removing the jammed paper, in principle, rotate the upper guide plate 30 in the opposite direction and return to the position shown in Figures 3 and 4 (Figure 2, point 2'Jf5!!a).
(shown) to the normal position.

However, even if you forget this and operate the device by closing the lower casing B into the lower casing A, in the process of closing and moving the lower casing, the guide plate 30 (solid line in Figure 2 The part 10a (FIG. 5) of the process cartridge 10 on the upper housing B side, in this example, comes into contact with the cam portion 30d that also serves as a handle for rotating operation (position, FIG. 5), and continues. The upper kite plate 30 is pressed by the closing movement of the lower housing B, and the upper kite plate 30 is naturally rotated around the shaft portion 34 in the direction of the normal position due to the pressing force, and the lower housing B is moved relative to the lower housing A. By the time it is completely closed, it has completely returned to its normal position. By this return, the seventh roller 4 of the registration roller
(b) also returns to the state in which it is in contact with the lower roller 4 (a) with a predetermined loading force. It is preferable that the cam portion 30d has a large arcuate shape so that the mutual sliding movement when it comes into contact with the portion 10a of the process cartridge 10 on the upper housing B side is as smooth as possible.

b. Paper separation claw unit of the image fixing device 8, g 40. This unit 40 is a regular paper separator unit 40 that is enclosed like a two-dot chain line in the main body of the image fixing device 8 around a shaft 41 as shown in the second figure. It can be rotated freely between the position and the relief position where it is folded down and rotated to open as shown by the solid line. Reference numeral 42 indicates a toggle spring that selectively holds the unit 40 in the normal position and the relief position.

To take out jammed paper that has occurred in the image fixing device 8, rotate the unit 40 around the shaft 41 to the desired position shown by the solid line to widely open the fixing device body and the unit 40. This makes it easy to take out the jammed paper.

Once the jammed paper is removed, the unit 40 is rotated in the opposite direction and returned to its normal position as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

However, even if you forget this and close the upper cylinder B of the device in the lower housing A, during the process of closing and moving the lower housing,
A portion 44a of the paper ejection guide plate 44 on the upper housing B side, in this case, comes into contact with a portion 40a of the unit 40 that remains in the release position, and as the upper housing B continues to close in, The unit 40 is pressed, and the pressing force causes the unit 40 to naturally rotate toward the normal position around the shaft 41. As the toggle spring 42 moves beyond the shaft 41 and moves toward the normal position, the unit 40 rotates toward the normal position. Due to the tensile force of the spring 42, the unit 40 actively rotates about the shaft portion 41 toward the normal position and returns to the normal position.

C1 Upper cover 50 of image fixing device 8 As shown in the second figure, this upper cover 50 is in a normal position where it is closed to the upper surface of the main body of image fixing device 8 as shown by a two-dot chain line, centering on a shaft 51, As shown by the solid line, it can be freely rotated to the relief position where it was opened and raised almost immediately.

By opening the cover 50, the cleaning felt 52 of the fixing device main body can be easily replaced.

After replacing the felt 52, in principle, the cover 50 is closed and rotated to return to the normal position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

However, even if you forget this and operate the upper housing B of the equipment in the lower housing A, in the process of closing and moving the lower housing,
The cover 50, which is still in the relief position, is on the upper housing B side.
In this example, the cover pressing spring plate 54 contacts and is pressed by the subsequent closing movement of the lower casing B, and by the pressing force, the cover 50 is rotated about the shaft portion 51 toward the normal position and fixed. It collapses into the main body of the vessel and returns to its normal position. In the state shown in FIG. 1 in which the lower housing B is completely enclosed in the lower housing A, the cover 50 is pressed down by the spring plate 54 on the lower housing B side and stably held at the normal position.

Thus, during equipment maintenance, the user forgets to return the movable members such as the guide plate 30, unit 40, cover 50, etc. from the relief position to the normal position, and closes the lower casing B of the equipment against the lower casing A. Even if the upper case B is closed, the upper case B automatically returns to its normal position in conjunction with the closing operation.

There are a plurality of movable members 30, 40, and 50 as shown in E, and the upper casing B is closed with respect to the lower casing A while all of them are in the release position as shown by solid lines in Figure 2. When the insertion operation is performed, each member 30, 40, 5
Rather than having a configuration in which the upper housing B in the confinement process acts on the 0 at the same time, each member receives the pressing force in relation to the lower housing B side in an arbitrary order and returns to its normal position with a time difference. A configuration in which the return operation is performed is advantageous in that there is less resistance during the closing process of the lower casing B.

C. Effects of the Invention As described above, according to the present invention, when the movable member inside the device that has been moved to the relief position is forgotten to return to its normal position during device maintenance, the upper casing of the device is moved to the lower part. (2
) Even if the body is closed, the movable member returns to its normal position in conjunction with the closing operation, making it easier to avoid forgetting to operate the lower casing as in the conventional device described above. Inability to close, deformation/damage of movable parts and the lower part of the housing, malfunction of the device, etc. are prevented, and the need for order operations is virtually eliminated, eliminating operational hassles. .

The intended purpose is well achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the device, and FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the L section ff in a closed state, and FIG. A vertical cross-sectional view with all the member parts moved to the escape position, Figure 3 is an oblique view of one end side of the registration rollers and the resist-L guide plate, and Figure 4 shows the registration upper guide plate under the paper feeding position. FIG. 5 is a side view of the device positioned at the iE standard position with respect to the guide plate, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the device positioned at the relief position. A is the lower rod of the device, B is the lower casing of the device, 1 is the hinge shaft connecting the two, and 30 and 40-50 are the guide plates as movable members that are operated to be moved to the escape position during maintenance. , unit, - Hicaba. Figure 3 Tsuwabu (Dan)

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Image of a configuration in which the device is divided into an upper housing and a lower housing, the upper housing can be opened and closed freely relative to the lower housing, and the upper housing is used with the upper housing closed relative to the lower housing. In a forming device, for a movable member within the device that is changed from the normal position to the release position during maintenance and should be returned to the normal position, if the member remains in the release position without being returned to the normal position, When the upper casing is operated to close the lower casing in this state, the upper casing receives a pressing force in relation to the upper casing that is moving to close, and the pressing force causes the upper casing to return to its normal position. An image forming apparatus characterized by the following. (2) If there are multiple movable members and if the closing operation of the upper casing to the lower casing is performed while all of them remain in the release position, each movable member will close and move in any order. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus receives a pressing force in relation to the upper casing and returns to the normal position with a time difference.