JP2003002508A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly deliver a long paper sheet from an image forming device with a built-in delivery part. SOLUTION: When the value of L1 is smaller than that of L2, a motor M doesn't rotate and an extension tray 10 is stored in a main body housing 2. On the other hand, when the value of L1 is larger than that of L2, the motor M is rotated based on a signal from a control means, and the extension tray 10 is moved to be in the state indicated in the figure 1. In the state, the delivered sheet is supported from the bottom of the built-in delivery part 9 to the extension tray 10.

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 copying machine, a printer and a facsimile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, an image forming apparatus having an in-body discharge portion has been widely known in order to reduce the installation space. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, this image forming apparatus is a substantially middle portion in the up-down direction of the main body housing 20, and is formed inside the body discharge portion 21 below the reading optical portion 22 and above the paper feeding portion. The sheet having the image formed thereon can be discharged from the discharge port 23 and stocked in the in-body discharge section 21. Thus, for example, since the paper discharge tray and the like are not provided on one side surface of the main body housing 20, there is an advantage that the installation space can be made compact. The length L of the in-body discharge unit 21 in the paper discharge direction is the length of the maximum size paper in the longitudinal direction (A
297 mm for 4 aircraft, 420 mm for A3 aircraft)
It is currently set to be slightly larger than

(First Prior Art) Referring to FIG. 3, such an image forming apparatus is provided with a reading optical section 22 above the in-body discharge section 21. There is an image forming apparatus in which the reading optical unit 22 has a certain weight, and a support wall 24 is provided from the rear of the main body housing to the front at the downstream end of the in-body discharging unit 21 in terms of strength because of its strength. . .

(Second Prior Art) Referring to FIG. 4, there is also an image forming apparatus in which a supporting wall is not provided by solving the strength problem described above. In such an image forming apparatus, since the paper ejection openings are provided on the front surface and the right surface (downstream end of the paper ejection direction) of the main body housing 20, it is easy to take out the paper ejected to the in-body ejection portion. Has become.

[0005]

However, when attempting to discharge a long sheet (for example, a sheet having an A4 width of 297 mm or more or an A3 sheet of 420 mm or more) using the first conventional technique, In addition, before the long paper is ejected, the leading edge of the paper comes into contact with the supporting wall 24 to cause paper jam, or even if the paper is ejected, the paper is bent and the paper is properly ejected. I can't.

Further, when attempting to discharge a long sheet of paper using the second conventional technique, the right side surface of the main body housing 20 is open, and therefore, there is a possibility that it will slip off from the in-body discharging section 21. is there.

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of properly ejecting a long sheet of paper even if the image forming apparatus has an in-body ejecting section.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a substantially intermediate portion in the vertical direction of the main body housing, below the reading optical portion and at the sheet feeding portion. Has an in-body discharge part formed above
In an image forming apparatus in which a sheet take-out opening is provided at least at the downstream end of the in-body discharge section in the sheet discharge direction, the image can be drawn out of the in-body discharge section from the downstream side end in the sheet discharge direction. The image forming apparatus is provided with an extension tray.

According to the present invention, the extension tray is provided so that it can be pulled out from the downstream end of the in-body discharging section in the sheet discharging direction toward the sheet discharging direction. Therefore, for example, long paper longer than the standard size is discharged. In this case, if the extension tray is pulled out, the ejected sheet does not slide down from the in-body ejecting section, so that the problem that the long sheet is not ejected properly does not occur.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus has a paper size detecting means for detecting the length of the discharged paper in the conveying direction, and the length of the paper detected by the paper size detecting means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extension tray is automatically pulled out when the length is longer than the in-body discharging portion.

According to the present invention, when the length of the sheet detected by the sheet size detecting means is longer than the in-body discharging section, the extension tray is automatically pulled out, so that the sheet can be surely discharged. Become.

[0012]

1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the inside of image forming apparatus 1 is covered with a main body housing 2. The internal structure of the main body housing 2 is as follows. That is, the reading optical unit 3 for reading a document is arranged above and the paper feeding unit 4 is arranged below.

An image forming section 5 is arranged on the downstream side of the sheet feeding section 4 in the conveying direction, a fixing section 7 is arranged on the downstream side of the conveying direction, and a discharge roller is arranged on the downstream side of the fixing section 7 in the conveying direction. 8 are arranged. A sheet conveying path from the sheet feeding section 4 to the discharging roller 8 is constituted by a conveying path 6.

The sheet conveyed on the conveying path 6 is discharged to the in-body discharging section 9 by the discharging roller 8. The in-body discharge portion 9 is a substantially intermediate portion in the vertical direction of the main body housing 2, and is formed below the reading optical portion 3 and above the paper feeding portion 4.

Referring to FIG. 2, the in-body discharge section 9 has a sheet take-out opening formed on the front surface and the right side surface (the downstream side end in the sheet discharge direction). The sheet discharged to the in-body discharge section 9 can be taken out from this take-out opening.

Further, an extension tray 10 is provided on the right side of the in-body ejecting section 9 so as to be drawn out in the sheet ejecting direction from below the take-out opening. A rack gear is formed (not shown) on the bottom surface of the extension tray, and the rack gear is drivingly connected to the motor M. Therefore, by the rotation of the motor M, the state where the main body housing 2 projects from the right side (the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1) and the main body housing 2
And the state (state shown by the broken line in FIG. 2) stored in the storage device are automatically set. The rotation control of the motor M is performed based on the detection result of the paper size detection means described later.

A manual paper feed section B is provided near the lower left side surface of the main body housing 2 in FIG. In addition to the standard sizes such as A3 and A4, irregular sizes such as long sheets can be fed from the manual sheet feeder B. The manual paper feed section B merges with the downstream side of the transport path 6, so that the paper fed from the manual paper feed section B also passes through the transport path 6 and is discharged to the in-body discharge section 9. ing.

The transport path 6 is provided with a detection switch (a sheet size detection means is constituted by the detection switch and control means (not shown)) for detecting the length of the transported paper in the transport direction. Has been. The detection switch X is normally off, but is arranged to be turned on when a sheet passes. ON / O of the detection switch X
The FF signal is transmitted to the control means (not shown). The peripheral speed of the conveyance system is stored in the control means, and the length L1 of the paper in the sheet discharge direction from the time when the detection switch X is turned on (the length of time when the paper has passed the detection switch X during the conveyance). That)
Can be calculated in real time. Further, the control means is provided with a discharge direction length L2 of the in-body discharge portion 9 described later (in the case of the present embodiment, L2 = 430 mm).
Is remembered. The control means compares the length L1 of the sheet in the sheet discharge direction detected by the detection switch X with the length L2 of the sheet discharge section in the sheet discharge direction to detect whether L1 is longer or shorter than L2. It has become.

When the value of L1 is smaller than L2, the motor M does not rotate and the extension tray 10 is kept stored in the main body housing 2. On the other hand, the value of L1 is L
When it becomes larger than the value of 2, the motor M is rotated by the signal from the control means, and the extension tray 10 is moved in the direction shown by the arrow A in FIG.

In the above-described structure, it is assumed that a sheet is fed from the sheet feeding section 4 in order to start the printing operation.
The fed paper passes through the detection switch X, the detection switch X is turned on, and an ON signal is transmitted to the control means.
Now, in the paper feed section 4, a sheet of A4 size paper (length 210 in the discharge direction)
mm) is included. The control means calculates that the length L1 of the sheet in the sheet discharge direction is 210 mm from the peripheral speed of the transport system and the time of the ON signal from the detection switch X. Next, the length L2 (430 m) of the stored discharge direction of the in-body discharge section 9 is stored.
m) is compared with the L1. In this case, since L1 is smaller than L2, the motor M does not rotate, and therefore the extension tray 10 is stored in the main body housing 2 (see FIG. 1).
(State indicated by the broken line).

Next, for example, a long sheet (for example, a sheet width of 210 mm and a sheet conveyance direction length 89) is fed from the manual sheet feeder B.
1 mm) is fed. The detection switch X detects the fed paper.
, The detection switch X is turned on, and an ON signal is transmitted to the control means. The control means detects the detection switch X from the peripheral speed of the conveyance system and the time of the ON signal from the detection switch X.
Calculate the length of the paper passing through in real time. Next, the stored length L2 (4
30 mm) and the L1. When it is determined that L1 is larger than L2, the motor M is rotated and the extension tray 10 is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. That is, although the length of the sheet in the discharge direction is 891 mm, when the sheet passes the detection switch X by 430 mm, the motor M is rotated, the extension tray 10 moves, and the state shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 is obtained. Therefore, the discharged paper is supported from the bottom surface of the in-body discharge portion 9 to the extension tray 10. Therefore, the ejected sheet does not slide down from the in-body ejecting section 9.

Further, as described above, the sheet detection switch X
Even when the switch is ON, since the motor M is immediately rotated when it is determined that L1 is longer than L2, wait until the trailing edge of the sheet finishes passing the detection switch X. Since it is not necessary and the transport path can be shortened, the device can be downsized.

In the above embodiment, the sheet detection switch X is used.
Even when the switch is ON, the motor M is rotated immediately when it is determined that L1 is longer than L2. Instead, the sheet completely passes the detection switch X. After that, the motor M may be rotated when L1 is compared with L2 and it is determined that L1 is longer than L2.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the extension tray is automatically moved when the paper size detecting means detects the long paper, but instead of this, the extension tray may be manually moved. Absent.

The extension tray may be of a two-stage type or a three-stage type, and the movement amount of the extension tray may be determined according to the length of the long paper.

As described above, when the length of the sheet in the conveying direction is longer than the length in the conveying direction of the in-body discharging section, the extension tray is pulled out, so that the discharged sheet slides down from the in-body discharging section. There is no.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the present invention.

Further, in the above embodiment, the control means calculates the length L1 of the sheet in the transport direction from the peripheral speed of the transport system, and compares it with the length L2 of the in-body discharge section in the transport direction.
Instead, the length L2 in the transport direction of the in-body discharge unit is converted from the peripheral speed of the transport system to time T2 and stored, and the time T1 for turning on the detection switch of the transported paper is controlled. Alternatively, the control means may be used to compare T1 and T2.

Further, the present invention is also applicable to an image forming apparatus which is provided with a sheet paper feed section and a roll paper feed section, from which a long sheet is fed from the roll paper feed section. Applicable.

[0030]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first conventional technique.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Image forming apparatus main body 2… Main body housing 9 ... In-body discharge section 10 ... Extension tray M ... motor X ... Detection switch

Front page continuation (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/00 108 G03G 21/00 372 5C062 (72) Inventor Shingo Mori 1-28 Tamatsukuri Chuo-ku, Osaka Kyocera F-term (reference) in Mita Co., Ltd. AD01 AD06 BA00

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A main body housing, which has an in-body discharge section formed below a reading optical section and above a sheet feeding section, which is a substantially middle section in a vertical direction, and at least a sheet discharge direction of the in-body discharge section. In an image forming apparatus having a sheet take-out opening at a downstream side end, an extension tray is provided at the in-body discharging section so as to be drawn out from a downstream side end in the sheet discharging direction. Image forming apparatus. 2. The image forming apparatus has a paper size detecting means for detecting the length of the discharged paper in the conveying direction, and the length of the paper detected by the paper size detecting means is larger than that of the in-body discharging portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the extension tray is automatically pulled out when it is long.