JP2000072310A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the sheet take-out property and space property for jam treatment by providing a plurality of stages of discharge trays in a body discharge part, and mounting the discharge tray other than the bottom stage in such a manner as to be entirely or partially rotatable around a rotating fulcrum. SOLUTION: An upper discharge tray 42 is rotatable counterclockwise around a rotating shaft 51. Accordingly, when the sheet discharged to a lower discharge tray is taken out or a jam occurs in and around a lower discharge part, the upper discharge tray 42 is retreated upward, whereby a large space can be ensured in the body paper part to improve the working property. The upper discharge tray 42 is recessed in the center part so as to easily catch the discharged sheet and the lateral edge parts of the recessed part are protruded outward to form protruding parts 53, 54. By providing these protruding parts 53, 54, even a sheet of maximum size can be satisfactorily stocked without curving on the upper discharge tray 42.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital copying machine, a printer, a facsimile or a digital copying machine for discharging a sheet on which an image has been formed by an image forming unit to an internal discharge unit provided above the image forming unit. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a recent image forming apparatus, a so-called wingless apparatus, in which a sheet feeding section and a sheet discharging section protruding from the apparatus main body are eliminated, has attracted attention. In a device having a scanner mechanism, if an attempt is made to provide a wingless function, the upper surface of the device main body cannot be used as a paper discharge unit.
An internal paper discharge unit is provided between the image forming unit and the scanner unit, and the paper is discharged here.

[0003] Since the in-body paper discharge section having such a configuration has only a limited space, there is a problem that it is difficult to multiply the paper discharge trays. However, in the case of a multifunction peripheral having the functions of a digital copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, it is required to separate the job into a copy discharge unit and a facsimile discharge unit, and more preferably, a discharge tray for each function is provided. That is.

[0004]

Therefore, in an image forming apparatus having an in-body paper discharge section, if a plurality of paper discharge trays are provided with emphasis on functionality, the sheets discharged to the lower paper discharge tray are particularly provided. There was a problem that the take-out property was impaired. Furthermore, if a paper jam occurs at a switching unit for selectively switching the sheet discharge port or a relay unit to a sheet processing device such as a selectively equipped sorter, the upper discharge tray becomes an obstacle. However, there is also a problem that a sufficient working space cannot be secured.

[0005] The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving the sheet take-out property and the space property for jam processing even when a plurality of paper discharge trays are provided in a paper discharge section in a body.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for discharging a sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming section to an in-body discharge section provided above the image forming section. In the image forming apparatus for printing paper, a plurality of discharge trays are provided in the inner discharge portion, and the discharge trays other than the lowermost tray are all or partially mounted rotatably about a rotation fulcrum. It is characterized by having.

According to the present invention, a part of the discharge tray other than the lowermost tray is rotatably mounted in two directions with respect to a fixed position for receiving the sheet. It is effective if an elastic holding means for holding the elastic member at the fixed position by an elastic force is provided.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an image forming apparatus of the paper discharge type in the cylinder according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an image forming section 1 is disposed substantially at the center of the apparatus, and a sheet feeding section 2 is located immediately below the image forming section 1. Although the paper supply unit 2 is shown as being composed of two paper supply cassettes, the number of cassettes can be increased or decreased as needed. Above the image forming unit 1, a scanner unit 3 for reading a document is provided with a space therebetween. A space between the image forming unit 1 and the scanner unit 3 is formed as a paper discharge unit 4 to discharge a sheet on which an image has been copied.

In the image forming section 1, for example, around a photoreceptor drum 5 composed of an organic photoreceptor, a charging charger 6 for charging the drum surface, an exposure device 7 for irradiating image information on the drum with a laser beam, A developing device 8 for visualizing an electrostatic latent image on the drum, a transfer roller 9 for transferring a toner image on the drum to a sheet, and a cleaning device 10 for removing and collecting residual toner on the drum are arranged. Further, a fixing device 11 for performing a fixing process on the sheet after the image transfer is provided.
It is arranged downstream of the electrophotographic process means in the sheet conveyance.

A paper feed unit 2 composed of a two-stage paper feed cassette includes:
Each sheet cassette 21 accommodates sheets of different sizes or different orientations. Inside the paper feed cassette 21, a bottom plate 22 for lifting the leading end of the sheet to a call roller 23 is attached. The sheet pulled out of the cassette by the call roller 23 is fed to the registration roller 14 via the feed roller 24.
Handed over to In some cases, the manual tray 1 that is hinged to the side of the device housing 15 of the image forming unit 1 and that can be freely rotated and opened and closed.
6 to a registration roller 14.

In the scanner section 3, a contact glass 32
In order to scan a document (not shown) placed thereon, a reading traveling body 31 including a document illumination light source and a mirror is moved. The image information scanned by the reading traveling body 31 is read as an image signal by an image reading device 33 provided behind the lens. The read image signal is digitized and subjected to image processing.
A laser diode (LD, not shown) of the exposure device 7 is driven based on the image-processed signal, and a laser beam from the LD is reflected by a polygon mirror. To form an electrostatic latent image on the drum.

The paper discharge unit 4 on the image forming unit 1 is configured so that three sides except for the front surface in FIG. In a state of being lifted and supported. As a result, the sheet on which the image is formed is discharged into the body of the image forming apparatus, and even if the copy target is, for example, a confidential document, the content is hard to be seen by a nearby person. In the present embodiment, the sheet is discharged on the back side due to the direction of sheet conveyance in the image forming unit 1, and therefore, it is particularly excellent in keeping confidentiality.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a lower discharge tray 4 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus housing 15 is provided in the paper discharge section 4.
1 and an upper discharge tray 42 provided above the discharge tray 1. The paper discharge unit 4 can have three or more stages as needed or depending on the size of the space set as the paper discharge unit 4. Note that, in FIG.
Reference numeral 8 denotes a switching claw for selectively switching the discharge trays 41 and 42. The sheet on which the image has been copied is discharged to the lower discharge tray 41 via the discharge roller 43 when the switching claw 18 is at the position indicated by the solid line. When the paper is fed and switched to the position indicated by the dashed line, the paper is discharged to the upper paper discharge tray 42 via the paper discharge rollers 44. At this time, in this embodiment, the sheets are discharged to the discharge trays 41 and 42 on the basis of the center.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the upper discharge tray 42. The side indicated by reference numeral A is a sheet take-out side, and
The surface is surrounded by a wall surface (not shown) of the device housing. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the upper discharge tray 42 is rotatably mounted on the fixed member 50 via the rotating shaft 51 on the downstream side in the sheet discharging direction. Fixing member 50
Is fixed to the wall surface of the apparatus housing, so that the upper discharge tray 42 has a rotation fulcrum on the downstream side in the sheet discharge direction and a free end on the upstream side in the sheet discharge direction. As shown in FIG. 4, the free end of the upper discharge tray 42 has a stepped receiving portion 1 formed below the discharge roller 44 of the apparatus main body.
It is mounted and supported on 5a.

In the image forming apparatus constructed as described above, as shown in FIG.
Can be rotated in the counterclockwise direction. Therefore, when the sheet discharged to the lower paper discharge tray 41 is taken out, or when a jam occurs in the lower paper discharge unit and its vicinity, if the upper paper discharge tray 42 is retracted upward, the paper is discharged to the internal paper discharge unit. Since a large space can be secured, the workability is improved.

As shown in FIG. 3, the upper discharge tray 42 has a central portion recessed on the sheet take-out side A so that the discharged sheet can be easily grasped, and left and right sides of the depression are outward. Overhanging portions 53 and 54 are provided. By providing the overhang portions 53 and 54, even the largest size sheet on which an image is formed can be used for the upper discharge tray 42.
It can be stocked well without bending or the like. However, when the overhang portions 53 and 54 are provided, the sheet ejection property of the lower discharge tray 41 deteriorates accordingly.

Therefore, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.
5 is mounted so as to be rotatable upward around the center. Therefore,
When removing sheets from the lower discharge tray 41, the upper discharge tray 4
The sheet take-out property can be improved only by turning the overhang portion 54 as shown by the dotted line without rotating the entire 2. When the extended portion 54 is released, it is released by its own weight, and a stopper (not shown) returns the upper surface to a fixed position where the upper surface forms a surface substantially continuous with the upper surface of the upper paper discharge tray 42, and is held at that position. Is done.

FIG. 7 is a sectional explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the overhang portion 54 is mounted so as to be rotatable about a rotation shaft 55 in two directions, clockwise and counterclockwise. Have been. That is, the overhang portion 54 of the embodiment of FIG. 6 is held at a fixed position by the stopper and cannot be rotated further clockwise than the position. However, in this example, such a stopper is not provided, and thus the overhang portion 54 can be rotated in two directions. It is configured as follows. A spring 56 is attached between the main body of the upper discharge tray 42 and the overhanging portion 54 as an elastic holding means in a state where a load is always applied. In this case, the center of the rotation shaft 55 is located on the center line L of the spring 56. It is attached to pass through.

With this configuration, the load on the spring 56 increases even if the overhang portion 54 rotates in either the clockwise direction or the counterclockwise direction in FIG.
When the projecting portion 54 is released in the rotated state, the projecting portion 54 is automatically returned to the above-described fixed position by the elastic force of the spring 56. Therefore, the overhang portion 54
Is not stopped at the position even if left in a rotated state, there is no danger that the stackability of the upper sheet discharge tray is impaired.

In the image forming apparatus configured as described above, if the projecting portion 54 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, the space on the lower discharge tray 41 is increased similarly to the above embodiment, and the image forming apparatus is rotated in the clockwise direction. If it is moved, the greatly protruding portion is lowered, so that the sheet ejection property of the sheet discharge tray 42 is also improved. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the overhanging portion 54 on the downstream side in the paper discharging direction is rotated. However, the overhanging portion 53 on the upstream side in the paper discharging direction may be similarly rotated. Good.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of a paper discharge section according to FIG. 2 showing an application example of the present invention. In the present example, the switching claw 18 is used to selectively switch the sheet toward the lower discharge tray 41 to the lower discharge tray 41 and the sheet processing device 60. Then, the sheet heading toward the lower sheet discharge tray 41 is discharged via the sheet discharge roller 43, and the sheet heading toward the sheet processing apparatus 60 is conveyed along the relay path 45 by the relay roller 46, and is disposed adjacent to the image forming apparatus main body. The sheet is sent to the sheet processing apparatus 60. In addition, as a sheet processing apparatus, for example, a sorter,
It is a sheet binding machine, a sheet folding machine or the like.

In the image forming apparatus constructed as described above, as in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 to 7, the entire upper discharge tray 42 and a part thereof can be rotated. In addition to the advantages described above, a good working space can be obtained in performing the jam clearance process at the relay path 46 and the switching claw 19. In this case, the paper discharge unit of this example is configured such that the lower paper discharge tray 41 can also be rotated upward, and the rotation axis (not shown) of the lower paper discharge tray 41 is opposite to the sheet take-out side A. The lower sheet ejection tray 41 is provided on the back side, and the sheet take-out side can rotate upward with the back side as a fulcrum.

The present invention can be applied to a case where the number of discharge trays in the internal discharge section is three or more. In this case, a part or the whole of the tray other than the lowermost tray is rotated as described above. It is constituted so that.

[0025]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the space on the lower discharge tray can be increased, so that the sheet dischargeability of the lower discharge tray is improved. Also, sufficient space for work can be secured.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to improve the sheet taking-out property of the upper discharge tray and the lower discharge tray without impairing the stackability of the upper discharge tray, and to provide a simple and inexpensive structure. be able to.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus of an internal discharge type according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of an in-body paper discharge unit.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the upper paper discharge tray of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the upper paper discharge tray.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an upper sheet discharge tray is rotated.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a protruding portion of the upper discharge tray.

FIG. 7 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a protruding portion of an upper discharge tray according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing another in-body paper discharge section to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming part 4 In-body paper discharge part 41 Lower paper discharge tray 42 Upper paper discharge tray 51 Rotation shaft 53,54 Overhang part 55 Rotation shaft 56 Spring

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H072 BA17 CA01 EA16 FA03 3F048 AA02 AA04 AA05 AB01 BB03 3F054 AA01 AC02 AC03 AC05 BA04 BC05 BD04 BD07 BF03 BF07 BJ02 DA14

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for discharging a sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming unit to an internal discharge unit provided above the image forming unit, wherein the internal discharge unit includes a plurality of sheets. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a discharge tray of a tier; and a discharge tray other than the lowermost tier is entirely or partially mounted rotatably about a rotation fulcrum. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a part of the discharge tray other than the lowermost tray is rotatably mounted in two directions with respect to a fixed position for receiving the sheet. An image forming apparatus comprising an elastic holding means for holding a part of the paper discharge tray at the fixed position by an elastic force.