JP2001048356A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a projection of a paper feed cassettes irrespective of the size of paper. SOLUTION: A laser printer 1 has a paper feed cassette 19 removably loaded into a printer body 3. The paper feed cassette 19 has a forward cassette section 55 and a backward cassette section 53 divided in two in the inserting direction and interconnected for relative pivotal movement. The printer body 3 has a guide member 63 for guiding the loaded forward cassette section 55 upward. When the paper feed cassette 19 is loaded into the printer body 3, the forward cassette section 55 is guided by the guide member 63 or is moved along as it is pivoted upward.

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 such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile and the like, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus having a detachable paper cassette inside a main body of the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a laser printer (image forming apparatus) 100 is, as shown in FIG.
And a paper cassette 10 inserted and mounted in the main body 101.
3 is provided. Such a laser printer 100
In recent years, the size of the printer main body 101 has been reduced.

[0003]

However, even if the printer main body 100 is downsized, as shown in FIG. 9, the paper feed cassette 101 protrudes greatly from the printer main body 101, and the paper feed cassette 101 protrudes greatly. Problem.

On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 9-110191, a slide cassette section slidable with respect to the cassette body is provided, and when small-sized paper is used, the slide cassette section is slid. A technique for shortening the length of the sheet cassette is disclosed, however, if large-sized paper is used, the length of the sheet cassette must be increased, and the sheet cassette is moved from the image forming apparatus main body. It protruded greatly (the area occupied by the protruding portion of the paper cassette was large).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of reducing the protrusion of a sheet cassette regardless of the size of sheets.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including a sheet cassette detachably provided in an image forming apparatus main body.
The image forming apparatus main body includes a plurality of cassette parts that are divided into a plurality of parts in the insertion direction and that are rotatably connected to each other. The image forming apparatus main body includes a guide member that guides the inserted cassette part upward. When the cassette unit is inserted into the image forming apparatus main body, the front cassette unit in the insertion direction is moved upward while being guided by the guide member.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, paper is set in a paper feed cassette, and the paper feed cassette is moved from the front cassette to the main body of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as "main body").
Insert inside. When the sheet cassette is inserted into the main body, the front cassette section is guided by the guide member and moves upward while rotating, and the sheet cassette is mounted on the main body.

By rotating the front cassette part upward by the guide member, the horizontal dimension of the paper feed cassette can be shortened, so that the paper feed cassette can be inserted deep into the main body. Therefore, the protrusion of the sheet feeding cassette can be reduced regardless of the size of the sheet.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the guide member guides at least two cassette portions.

[0010] According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
And the guide member guides at least two cassette portions, so that the rotation angle of each connecting portion when the cassette portion is guided by the guide member is small. In addition, since the cassette section moves smoothly while turning upward, the operability of the sheet cassette is improved.

[0011] The invention described in claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the present invention, all the cassette portions of the sheet cassette are housed in the image forming apparatus main body.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
Or the same effect as that of the invention described in 2 is obtained, and all the cassette portions of the paper feed cassette are accommodated in the image forming apparatus main body, so that the paper feed cassette does not protrude from the image forming apparatus main body, and The appearance improves. Further, since the sheet feeding cassette does not protrude from the image forming apparatus main body, a member such as a dustproof cover for covering the protruding portion is not required, so that the number of components can be reduced.

The invention described in claim 4 is the first to third aspects of the present invention.
In the invention according to any one of the above, the connecting portion of the paper feed cassette is provided with a stopper portion for restricting a downward rotation from a horizontal position.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the first aspect is provided.
In addition to the same operation and effect as the invention described in any one of (3) to (3), when inserting the sheet cassette, the sheet cassette is inserted while being kept horizontal by the stopper portion,
Even when the sheet cassette is pulled out, the sheet cassette is kept in a horizontal state, and the cassette section does not rotate downward, so that the operability of inserting and pulling out the sheet cassette is improved. In addition, since the sheet cassette is kept horizontal when the sheet cassette is inserted and pulled out, it is possible to prevent the sheet from being bent.

[0015] The invention according to claim 5 provides the invention according to claims 1 to 4.
In the invention according to any one of the above, the front cassette portion includes an engagement portion that is slidable by engaging with a guide member, and when the sheet cassette is inserted into the image forming apparatus main body, the engagement portion is a guide. It is characterized by engaging with the member and sliding along the guide member.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first aspect.
In addition to the same operation and effect as the invention described in any one of (4) to (4), the front cassette portion can be reliably guided upward by providing the engaging portion, and the operability of the sheet cassette is further improved. improves.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, a first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a laser printer which is an image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic process.

As shown in FIG. 1, a laser printer 1
The image forming section 4 is provided at a substantially central position in the printer main body 3. The image forming section 4 has a photoreceptor 5, and the periphery of the photoreceptor 5 is written on the photoreceptor 5 by a charger 7 for uniformly charging the surface of the photoreceptor 5 and an optical device 9. Developing device 11 for visualizing the latent image with toner 10, transfer roller 15 for transferring the image on photoconductor 5 to paper (recording paper) 13, cleaning for removing residual toner remaining on photoconductor 5 after transfer The device 17 and the like are arranged.

At the lower part of the printer body 3, a paper feeding device 18 is provided.
The paper supply device 18 is provided with a paper supply cassette 19 which stores the paper 13 and is capable of being inserted into and pulled out of the printer main body 3, and a paper supply roller 21 which supplies the paper 13 in the paper supply cassette 19. And a separation pad 23 for separating the fed sheets 13 one by one.

Between the sheet feeding device 18 and the image forming section 4,
A transport path 25 for the paper 13 from the paper supply device 18 to the image forming unit 4 is formed. The transport path 25 is timed to synchronize the fed paper 13 with the image on the photoconductor 5. Registration sensor 26 and registration sensor 26
A registration roller 27 for transporting the sheet 13 is provided between the photoconductor 5 and the transfer roller 15 at the timing of (1).

A transfer roller 15 is provided above the image forming section 4.
A fixing device 29 for fixing the image transferred to the paper 13 by the printer, a paper discharge roller 31 for discharging the paper 13 on which the image is fixed by the fixing device 29, and the like are provided. The paper 13 discharged from the paper discharge roller 31 is stacked on a stacker 33 formed on the upper surface of the main body cover 3a of the printer main body 3.

On the left side of the image forming section 4 in FIG. 1 (below the stacker section 33), a metal case 35 is provided.
An electrical unit 37 housed therein is provided. The electrical unit 37 includes a controller board 39, various adjustment switches and control units (not shown) mounted on the controller board 39, and the like. I have. Case 3
A power supply 41 and a case 45 accommodating an electric board 43 and an optical device 9 for writing a latent image on the charged photoconductor 5 are provided below the power supply 5.

Reference numeral 47 in FIG. 1 denotes a manual paper feed tray for manually feeding paper.
The paper No. 7 is fed to the image forming unit 4 while being separated one by one by the feed roller 49 and the separation pad 50.

Here, the paper feed cassette 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing the sheet feeding cassette. The paper cassette 19 is
The front cassette 55 is divided into a front cassette 55 and a rear cassette 53 in the insertion direction.
(See FIG. 3). The rear cassette section 53 and the front cassette section 55 are connected to a connecting section 57.
Are connected by

The rear cassette 53 has a bottom plate 51 on which the sheets 13 are loaded (see FIG. 1). The bottom plate 51 is rotatable upward about the fulcrum 53 by a lifting mechanism (not shown). Has become. As the bottom plate 51 is raised, the stacked paper 13 is pressed against the paper feed roller 21 with an arbitrary pressure. The rear cassette section 53 has a first stopper section 53a below the connecting section 57.

The front cassette 55 is provided with a fulcrum 5
9 is rotatable. Front cassette unit 55
Has a second stopper portion 55a below the connecting portion 57. When the second stopper portion 55a comes into contact with the first stopper portion 53a, the downward rotation of the front cassette portion 55 is restricted. The paper feed cassette 19 is configured to maintain a horizontal state. The front end of the front cassette 55 in the insertion direction is provided with an engaging portion 6 that engages with a guide member 63 described later.
1 is provided.

On the other hand, the paper feed cassette 19 of the printer body 3
In the insertion direction (left side in FIGS. 1 and 3)
Has a guide member 63 disposed upward from near the bottom surface of the printer body 3 as shown in FIG. The guide member 63 guides the front cassette portion 55 upward when the sheet cassette 19 is inserted into the printer main body 3. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the engaging portion of the front cassette unit is engaged with the guide member.

Next, the operation of the first embodiment based on the above-described configuration will be described. The paper 13 is set in the paper cassette 19, and the paper cassette 19 is inserted into the printer main body 3 from the front cassette 55 as shown in FIG. 3 (see arrow K in FIG. 3). At this time, the second stopper portion 55a contacts the first stopper portion 53a, the downward rotation of the second stopper 55 is restricted, and the sheet cassette 19 is inserted into the printer main body 3 while keeping the horizontal state. When the paper cassette 19 is inserted into the printer main body 3, the engaging portion 61 of the front cassette portion 55 is engaged with the guide member 61.

When the paper feed cassette 19 is further inserted while the engaging portion 61 is engaged with the guide member 63, the engaging portion 61
Is guided upward while sliding along the guide member 63. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, the front cassette portion 55 moves while rotating upward about the fulcrum 59. By providing the engaging portion 61, the front cassette portion 55 can be reliably guided upward, and the operability of the sheet cassette 19 is improved.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the paper feed cassette 19 is further inserted, and the paper feed cassette 19 (the rear cassette portion 5) is inserted.
3) is stored in the printer body 3 and the paper feed cassette 19
Is mounted on the printer body 3. When the front cassette portion 55 is rotated upward by the guide member 63,
Since the horizontal dimension of the paper feed cassette 19 can be shortened, the rear cassette 53 can be inserted deep into the printer main body 3. Therefore, the paper feed cassette 19 can be stored in the printer main body 3 irrespective of the size of the paper 13, and the protrusion of the paper feed cassette 19 can be eliminated.

Further, the rear cassette section 53 is connected to the printer main body 3.
And the paper cassette 19 does not protrude from the printer body 3, so that the appearance of the laser printer 1 is improved. Further, since the sheet feeding cassette 19 does not protrude from the printer main body 3, a member such as a dust-proof cover for covering the protruding portion is not required, so that the number of parts can be reduced.

On the other hand, when pulling out the paper supply cassette 19 from the printer main body 3 due to replenishment of the paper 13 or jam processing, it is sufficient to pull out the paper cassette 19 as it is (see an arrow H in FIG. 6).
When the paper feed cassette 19 is pulled out of the printer main body 3, as shown in FIG. 6, the first stopper portion 53a comes into contact with the second stopper portion 55a, so that the rear cassette 5
3 is restricted from rotating downward, does not rotate to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6, and the sheet cassette 19 is pulled out while keeping the horizontal state.

By providing the first and second stopper portions 53a and 55a, the front cassette portion 53 and the rear cassette portion 55 can
Since the downward rotation is restricted and the sheet cassette 19 is kept horizontal, the operability of inserting and pulling out the sheet cassette 19 is improved. Further, when the paper cassette 19 is inserted and pulled out, the paper cassette 19 is kept horizontal, so that the paper 13 can be prevented from being bent.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the description, the same parts as those described above are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the operation of the sheet cassette according to the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the front cassette 55
It is different from the above-described embodiment in that it is divided into two cassette parts, a first cassette part 65 and a second cassette part 67.

The first cassette section 65 includes a rear cassette section 53.
Are connected rotatably about a fulcrum 59 of the connecting portion 57. Further, the first cassette portion 65 is provided with a third stopper portion 65a which comes into contact with the first stopper 53a of the rear cassette portion 53.
And a fourth stopper portion 65b that contacts the fifth stopper portion 67a of the second cassette portion 67.

The second cassette section 67 is connected to the first cassette section 65 by a connecting section 69, and is rotatable about the fulcrum 71 of the connecting section 69 with respect to the first cassette section 65. The second cassette section 67 includes a first cassette section 65.
Fifth stopper portion 67 abutting on fourth stopper portion 65b
a is provided. In addition, an engagement portion 61 that engages with the guide member 63 is provided at a distal end portion of the second cassette portion 69. Also in the second embodiment, the first stopper portion 53a, the third stopper portion 65a, and the fourth stopper portion 6 are provided.
5b, the fifth paper feed cassette 19 by the fifth stopper 67a.
During insertion and withdrawal of the paper feed cassette 19, the paper feed cassette 19 is kept horizontal.

When the paper cassette 19 is inserted into the printer main body 3, the engaging portion 61 of the second cassette portion 67 slides while engaging with the guide member 51 as shown in FIG.
The cassette unit 67 moves while rotating upward. When the paper cassette 19 is further inserted in this state, as shown in FIG. 8, the second cassette part 65 moves while rotating upward, and the paper cassette 19 is mounted in the printer main body 3. .

In the second embodiment, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained, and the front cassette 55 is divided into the first and second cassettes 65 and 67. When the guide cassette 63 is guided by the guide member 63, the angle of rotation of each of the connecting portions 57 and 69 may be small, and the front cassette portion 55 moves smoothly while turning upward. Operability is further improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, in the present embodiment, the engaging portion 61
Provided, but without the engaging portion 61, the front cassette portion 55
May be directly mounted on the guide member 63 and moved while rotating upward.

In the second embodiment, the front cassette section 55 is divided into two (the sheet cassette 19 is divided into three). However, the present invention is not limited to this. What is necessary is just to divide into a plurality.

In this embodiment, the sheet cassette 1
9 is housed in the printer main body 3, the rear cassette 53 may be configured to slightly protrude from the printer main body 3.
3 can be inserted deeply into the printer main body 3, so that the protrusion of the sheet cassette 19 can be reduced as compared with a conventional sheet cassette.

Further, the present invention is applied to the laser printer 1, but the same operation and effect can be obtained even when applied to, for example, a copying machine, a facsimile or the like.

[0043]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the horizontal dimension of the sheet cassette can be reduced by rotating the front cassette section upward by the guide member. It can be inserted deep inside. Therefore, the protrusion of the sheet feeding cassette can be reduced regardless of the size of the sheet.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first aspect of the invention can be obtained, and the guide member guides at least two cassette portions, so that the cassette portions are guided by the guide members. In this case, the rotation angle of each connecting portion can be small, and the cassette portion moves while rotating smoothly upward, so that the operability of the paper feed cassette is improved.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first or second aspect can be obtained, and all the cassette portions of the paper feed cassette can be accommodated in the main body of the image forming apparatus. Does not protrude from the image forming apparatus main body, and the appearance of the image forming apparatus is improved. Also, since the paper cassette does not protrude from the image forming apparatus main body,
Since a member such as a dust cover for covering the protruding portion is not required, the number of parts can be reduced.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first to third aspects are obtained, and the sheet cassette is kept horizontal when the sheet cassette is inserted and pulled out. Since it is maintained, the operability of inserting and pulling out the paper feed cassette is improved. In addition, since the sheet cassette is kept horizontal when the sheet cassette is inserted and pulled out, it is possible to prevent the sheet from being bent.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the same effects as those of the first to fourth aspects of the invention can be obtained, and the front cassette portion can be surely directed upward by providing the engaging portion. Guidance can be provided, and the operability of the sheet cassette is further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a laser printer to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing a sheet feeding cassette.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an engaging portion of a front cassette unit is engaged with a guide unit.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the front cassette is guided by a guide member.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the sheet cassette is housed in the printer main body.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a sheet cassette is pulled out from a printer main body.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the operation of the sheet cassette according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the sheet cassette of FIG. 7 is housed in a printer main body.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a conventional laser printer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 3 Printer main body (image forming apparatus main body) 19 Paper feed cassette 53 Rear cassette part 53a First stopper part 55 Front cassette part 55a Second stopper part 57, 69 Connecting part 61 Engaging part 63 Guide member 65 First Cassette part 65a Third stopper part 65b Fourth stopper part 67 Second cassette part 67a Fifth stopper part

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising a sheet cassette detachably provided in an image forming apparatus main body, wherein the sheet cassette is divided into a plurality of cassettes in an insertion direction and connected to each other so as to be rotatable with each other. The image forming apparatus main body includes a guide member that guides the inserted cassette unit upward, and when the sheet feeding cassette is inserted into the image forming apparatus main body,
An image forming apparatus, wherein a front cassette portion in an insertion direction moves while rotating upward while being guided by a guide member. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide member guides at least two cassette units. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein all cassettes of the sheet cassette are housed in the image forming apparatus main body. 4. The image according to claim 1, wherein a stopper portion for restricting a downward rotation from a horizontal position is provided at a connection portion of the sheet cassette. Forming equipment. 5. The front cassette portion includes an engagement portion that is slidable by engaging with a guide member, and the engagement portion engages with the guide member when the sheet cassette is inserted into the main body of the image forming apparatus. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus slides along a guide member.