JP2001151354A - Sliding unit, paper feeder and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sliding unit, smoothly sliding even if an upright member of a sliding portion is longer or a moving member is shorter, having good sliding operation and saving space in the vertical direction, and a paper feeder and an image forming device each having the sliding unit. SOLUTION: This sliding unit has the sliding portion 11 provided with the moving member 13, the upright member 12 standing almost upright from the moving member and a plurality of rotors 25 connected to the moving member, and a guide portion 20 provided with a guide groove arranged so as to sandwich the plurality of rotors 25. When load is applied to the upright member of the sliding portion, the sliding portion slides along the guide portion while the plurality of rotors rotate in the guide groove. Each of the paper feeder and the image forming device has the sliding unit for restricting the position of paper.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slide unit in which a slide portion slides smoothly along a guide portion, a paper feeder for regulating a paper position by the slide unit, and an image forming apparatus provided with the paper feeder. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when recording paper is set in a paper feed cassette of a copying machine or the like, a slide portion having a regulating portion is provided to regulate the recording paper at a predetermined position, and the sliding portion is adjusted according to the size of the recording paper. The paper position is regulated by moving the slide part. Such a slide portion is provided as a side guide and a rear end guide so as to regulate the positions of both sides and the rear end of the recording paper. A conventional slide unit will be described with reference to FIGS.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 6, an L-shaped slide portion 1 composed of a vertical member 2 and a horizontal member 3 for regulating the paper position is provided.
Pressing the vertical member 2 causes the guide portion 5 to move as shown in FIG.
Slide horizontally. As shown in FIG. 6A, both ends of the slide portion 5 are sandwiched between the horizontal member 3 and the lower member 4 attached below the horizontal member 3.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 7, an L-shaped slide portion 7 composed of a vertical member 8 and a horizontal member 9 for regulating the paper position is provided.
By pushing the vertical member 8, it slides in the horizontal direction in the figure with respect to the guide shaft 10. A guide shaft 10 is provided on the vertical member 9a that is upright from the vicinity of the horizontal member 9 of the vertical member 8 and from the end of the horizontal member 10.
Are provided through which the bearings 10a and 10b are supported. Similar guide shafts and bearings are provided in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing.

However, the slide unit 1 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is mounted on a sheet cassette capable of loading a large number of recording sheets, for example, 500 sheets or more.
Or, when 7 is provided, the height L12 of the vertical members 2, 8 must be increased. Therefore, when the vertical members 2 and 8 in FIGS. 6 and 7 are pushed and slid,
Are bent, and the surface pressure between both ends of the slide portion 5 and the horizontal member 3 in FIG. 6 or the bearings 10a and 10b and the slide shaft 1 in FIG.
The surface pressure between 0 and 0 becomes large, and this surface pressure becomes a slip resistance, so that it becomes an obstacle to the slide and the slide operability of the slide portions 1 and 7 deteriorates. Further, the slide portion 5 or the slide shaft 10 side is deformed, the resistance is further increased, and the slide operability is further deteriorated.

If the length L11 of the lateral members 3 and 9 is lengthened to some extent, it is possible to prevent the slide operability from deteriorating to a certain extent. However, as a result of the lengthening of the horizontal members, the side guide and the rear end guide must be crossed three-dimensionally. In this case, the space in the vertical direction is wasted, and the size of the sheet cassette is increased. As described above, when the height L12 of the vertical members 2 and 8 increases, the length L11 of the horizontal members 3 and 9 also tends to increase.
/L12>0.7.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a structure in which the sliding member slides smoothly even if the longitudinal member becomes longer or the horizontal member becomes shorter.
An object of the present invention is to provide a slide unit which has good slide operability and can achieve space saving in the vertical direction, and a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus provided with the slide unit.

[0008]

To achieve the above object, a slide unit according to the present invention comprises a moving member, an upright member substantially upright from the moving member, and a plurality of rotating bodies connected to the moving member. And a guide section having a guide groove arranged to sandwich the plurality of rotating bodies, and when a load is applied to the upright member of the sliding section, the plurality of rotating bodies are provided. The slide portion slides along the guide portion while rotating in the guide groove.

According to this slide unit, when an action is applied to the upright member, the slide portion receives a force in the slide direction and a force for rotating the rotating body, and the rotating body at the leading end in the sliding direction receives the force in the guide groove. Since the rotating body at the rear end hits the upper surface of the guide groove, and the plurality of rotating bodies rotate in the guide groove, the guide portion slides smoothly without resistance, so that the sliding operability is improved. For this reason,
The upright member of the slide portion can be configured to be long, and the moving member can be configured to be short in the slide direction. Further, the sliding portion slides smoothly not only in one direction but also in the opposite direction along the guide portion.

[0010] It is preferable that a vertical interval between the guide grooves is larger than a diameter of the rotating body. As a result, the rotating body is sufficiently freely rotatable in the guide groove, and when a load is applied to the upright member, the rotating body at the leading end in the sliding direction surely hits the lower surface of the guide groove, and the rotating body at the rear end is in the guide groove. The guide portion slides more smoothly because it reliably hits the upper surface, and the slide operability is further improved.

The moving member and the upright member of the slide portion are formed in an L shape,

The distance between the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body and the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of another rotating body that is farthest in the sliding direction of the slide portion is L1, and the distance between the upper end of the upright member and the guide groove is When the distance to the lower surface is L2, L1 / L2
L2 ≦ 0.6 can be satisfied. Thereby, the upright member can be made sufficiently long, and the moving member can be shortened in the sliding direction. Therefore, a plurality of slide units can be provided close to each other, and space saving in the vertical direction can be realized.

Further, by further comprising an urging mechanism for applying an urging force to the slide portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to the slide direction, the movable member can return to the original position even if the movable member is tilted during sliding or non-sliding. Also, the slide operation feeling is improved.

Further, the paper feeding device of the present invention comprises a moving member,
A paper position regulating member that stands substantially upright from the moving member, a slide unit including a plurality of rotating bodies connected to the moving member, and a guide unit including a guide groove arranged to sandwich the plurality of rotating bodies. The guide portion is provided with a fixed base, and a paper feed tray for placing paper on the fixed base is provided, and when a load is applied to the paper position regulating member of the slide portion, While the plurality of rotating bodies rotate in the guide groove, the slide portion slides along the guide portion with respect to the fixed base and the paper feed tray, and the paper position regulating member moves the paper on the paper feed tray. The position is regulated.

According to this paper feeder, when an action is applied to the paper position regulating member, the sliding portion receives a force in the sliding direction and a rotating force of the rotating body, and the rotating body at the leading end in the sliding direction is moved. The rotator at the rear end contacts the upper surface of the guide groove, and the plurality of rotators rotate in the guide groove, and the guide portion slides smoothly without resistance, so that the slide operability is improved. Then, even if the paper position regulating member is bent, the favorable slide operability does not change. Therefore, the paper position regulating member can be slid smoothly on the fixed base on which the paper is placed according to the size of the paper. Further, since the paper position regulating member can be made higher, it is possible to regulate the paper position of a large amount of paper on the fixed base. Further, since the moving member can be configured to be shorter in the sliding direction, even if a plurality of guide portions are provided as the rear end guide and both end guides of the paper, they do not interfere with each other, do not cross three-dimensionally, and can save space in the vertical direction.

It is preferable that the vertical interval between the guide grooves is larger than the diameter of the rotating body.

Further, the moving member of the slide portion and the paper position regulating member are formed in an L-shape, and another rotation farthest in the sliding direction of the slide portion from the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body. Let L1 be the distance from the outer edge of the outer peripheral surface of the body,
When the distance from the upper end of the paper position regulating member to the lower surface of the guide groove is L2, L1 / L2 ≦ 0.6 can be satisfied. Thereby, the paper position regulating member can be made sufficiently long, and the moving member can be shortened in the sliding direction.

It is preferable that the apparatus further comprises an urging mechanism for applying an urging force to the slide portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to the slide direction.

Further, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the above-described paper feeder, and can be configured so that paper is supplied from the paper feeder. According to this image forming apparatus, the size of the sheet feeding device can be reduced in the vertical direction.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view of a slide unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line II, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the guide groove and the rotating body of FIG.

As shown in the figure, the slide unit has a slide portion 11 and a guide portion 20, and the slide portion 11 is moved in the slide direction F in FIG.
Slide along.

The sliding portion 11 includes a moving member 13 extending in the lateral direction of FIG. 2, an upright member 12 substantially upright from one end of the moving member 3 in the sliding direction, and two ends of the moving member 13 along the sliding direction. It includes a connecting member 14 connected so as to extend downward, and a plurality of rotating bodies 25 rotatable around a rotating shaft 25 a (FIG. 4) mounted inside the connecting member 14. The rotating body 25 is moved in the sliding direction by 2
Each is arranged in two rows.

The guide section 20 has an upper guide 21 and a fixed base 24 also serving as a lower guide, which are in close contact with each other at the center. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the upper guide 21 stands upright at the vertical portion 22 and extends horizontally at the horizontal portion 23 under the vicinity of both ends along the sliding direction of the moving member 13, and the upper guide surface inside the horizontal portion 23. 23a and lower guide surface 24a of fixed base 24
A guide groove 26 that fits so that the rotating body 25 is interposed between the guide grooves 26 is formed. The distance between the upper guide surface 23a and the lower guide surface 24a is larger than the diameter of the rotating body 25, and when the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body 25 contacts the upper guide surface 23a,
A gap 26a is formed between the lower guide surface 24a and the lower guide surface 24a.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, a vertical urging mechanism 30 is provided between the upper guide 21 and the moving member 13. The urging mechanism 30 includes a leaf spring 30 attached to a mounting member extending downward from the other end of the moving member 13 with a screw 32, and a plate spring rotatably provided at the tip of the leaf spring 30 so as to contact the upper guide 21. And a rotating roller 31 biased by a spring 30.

The operation of the above-described slide unit will be described. When the upright member 12 is pushed in the direction F of FIG. 2 by the grip portion 12a, the slide portion 11 receives the force in the direction F and the rotating body 25 receives the force of rotating in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. The rotator 25 at the front end contacts the lower guide surface 24a of the guide groove 26, the rotator 25 at the rear end contacts the upper guide surface 23a, and each rotator 25 rotates along the guide portion 20 while rotating in the guide groove 26. Since the guide portion 11 slides smoothly without resistance, slide operability is good. And even if the upright member 12 bends, this favorable slide operability does not change.

In this case, since the vertical interval of the guide groove 26 is larger than the diameter of the rotating body 25, when the sliding body 11 moves, the rotating body 25 comes into contact with the guide surface 24a or 23a and moves to the opposite surface 23a or 24a. Contact can be reliably prevented. By this. The sliding part 11 can slide more smoothly.

Further, the urging mechanism 30 can return to the original position even when the moving member 13 is tilted in the direction a during sliding or non-sliding, and the sliding operation feeling is improved.

Also, when the slide portion 11 is slid in the direction opposite to the direction F, the slide can be smoothly performed in the same manner.

According to the slide unit shown in FIGS.
Even if the upright member 12 is made sufficiently long,
The sliding operability is good even if is shortened in the sliding direction, and this good sliding operability does not change even if the upright member 12 is pushed and bent. From the above, as shown in FIG. 2, the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body 25 and another rotating body 2
5, the distance from the outer end of the outer peripheral surface to L1
Assuming that the distance from the upper end to the lower guide surface 24a is L2, L1 / L2 ≦ 0.6 can be realized.

Next, an example in which the above-described slide unit is provided on a fixed base of a sheet cassette of an image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG. The paper feed cassette 50 has a top surface opened and a paper feed tray 54 on which a large number of recording papers P are placed, and the fixed base 24 located below the paper feed tray 54 (see FIG. 2).
A paper position regulating member 55 as a rear end guide for regulating the position of the recording sheet P in the direction A, and sheet position regulating members 56 and 57 as both end guides for regulating the position of the recording sheet P in the direction B;
A plurality of rotating roller pairs 5 that constitute a sheet feeding mechanism and are driven to rotate
1, 52, and 53.

The rear end guide provided on the fixed base 24 is constituted by the slide unit shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, and the paper position regulating member 55 is constituted by the upright member 12 shown in FIGS.

When the paper position regulating member 55 is slid to regulate the position of the recording paper P, one surface of the upright member (paper position regulating member) 12 is placed on the recording paper P at a predetermined position as shown by a broken line in FIG. 12a contacts. Note that the guide section 20 is shown in FIG.
Is located below the paper feed tray 54 indicated by the alternate long and short dash line. The paper position regulating members 56 and 57 slide in conjunction with a rack and a pinion (not shown) to regulate the position of the recording paper P in the direction B.

Further, as shown in FIG.
0 is set in the image forming apparatus 60 by being inserted in the direction T, and pulled out in the direction T ′ so that recording paper can be replenished.

The paper position regulating members 55, 56,
Since the slide 57 can be performed very smoothly, the operability of the paper feed cassette is improved. Further, as described above, since L1 / L2 ≦ 0.6 can be realized, a large-capacity universal sheet cassette capable of storing a large amount of recording paper, for example, 500 sheets or more can be configured. In addition, since L2 (≒ the length of the moving member in the sliding direction) can be reduced, the side guide and the rear end guide can be placed on the same plane, and the space of the sheet cassette in the vertical direction can be reduced. Therefore, the height of the sheet cassette can be reduced, which can contribute to space saving of the image forming apparatus.

As described above, the present invention has been described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
Various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. For example, the slide unit of the present invention can be applied not only to the sheet feeding device but also to a mechanism having another slide unit. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the sliding portion is configured such that the moving member and the upright member are formed in an L-shape, but the upright member is formed in an inverted T-shape in which the moving member and the upright member stand upright from a portion away from the end of the moving member. You may. In addition, although four rotators were provided,
It may be more than this. Further, the image forming apparatus may be an apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile, or the like.

[0036]

According to the present invention, even if the upright member of the slide portion becomes longer or the moving member becomes shorter, the slide portion slides smoothly and the slide operability is good, and space saving in the vertical direction is achieved. It is possible to provide a slide unit that can be used. In addition, it is possible to provide a paper feeder and an image forming apparatus in which the paper position regulating member slides smoothly, has good slide operability, and can achieve space saving in the vertical direction.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a slide unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a view cut along line III-III in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged front view of a guide groove and a rotating body of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a sheet cassette that can be loaded in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention;

6A is a front view of a conventional slide unit, and FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view taken along line VIB-VIB.

FIG. 7 is a side view of another conventional slide unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Slide part 12 Upright member 13 Moving member 20 Guide part 21 Upper guide 23a Upper guide surface (upper surface of guide groove) 24 Lower guide, fixed guide 24a Lower guide surface (lower surface of guide groove) 25 Plural rotating bodies 26 Guide groove 30 Vertical biasing mechanism 54 Paper tray 55 Paper position regulating member L1 Distance between outer end of outer peripheral surface of rotating body 25 and outer end of outer peripheral surface of another rotating body 25 L2 Lower guide surface 24a from upper end of upright member 12 Distance to

Claims (9)

[Claims] A sliding member including a moving member, an upright member substantially upright from the moving member, a plurality of rotating bodies connected to the moving member, and a guide arranged to sandwich the plurality of rotating bodies. A guide portion having a groove, wherein when a load is applied to the upright member of the slide portion, the slide portion moves along the guide portion while the plurality of rotating bodies rotate in the guide groove. A slide unit characterized by sliding. 2. The slide unit according to claim 1, wherein a vertical interval between the guide grooves is larger than a diameter of the rotating body. 3. The moving member and the upright member of the slide portion are formed in an L-shape, and an outer end of an outer peripheral surface of the rotator and another rotator farthest in a sliding direction of the slide portion are formed. When the distance from the outer end of the outer peripheral surface to L1 and the distance from the upper end of the upright member to the lower surface of the guide groove are L2, L1 / L2 ≦ 0.6
The slide unit according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The slide unit according to claim 1, further comprising an urging mechanism for applying an urging force to said slide portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to a sliding direction. 5. A slide unit comprising a moving member, a paper position regulating member substantially upright from the moving member, and a plurality of rotating bodies connected to the moving member, and arranged to sandwich the plurality of rotating bodies. A guide groove provided with a guide groove, and a paper feed tray having a base on which the guide part is disposed and fixed, and a paper tray for placing paper on the fixed base, wherein the paper position regulating member of the slide part is provided. When a load is applied, the slide portion slides along the guide portion with respect to the fixed base and the paper feed tray while the plurality of rotating bodies rotate in the guide groove, thereby regulating the paper position. A sheet feeding device, wherein a member regulates a position of a sheet on the sheet feeding tray. 6. The sheet feeding device according to claim 5, wherein a vertical interval between the guide grooves is larger than a diameter of the rotating body. 7. The moving member of the slide portion and the paper position regulating member are formed in an L-shape, and another rotation farthest from the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of the rotating body in the sliding direction of the slide portion. When the distance from the outer end of the outer peripheral surface of the body to L1 and the distance from the upper end of the paper position regulating member to the lower surface of the guide groove are L2, L1 / L2 ≦
3. The sheet feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the value is 0.6. 8. The sheet feeding device according to claim 5, further comprising an urging mechanism for applying an urging force to the slide portion in a direction substantially perpendicular to a sliding direction. 9. An image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device according to claim 5, wherein paper is supplied from the sheet feeding device.