JP2003173124A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which needs a small space for opening a cover member even though the cover member is widely opened and also in which a sufficient working space can be obtained. <P>SOLUTION: The cover member 50 possesses at least one bend part at which it is bent, and is also provided with a first cover 51 attached to a printer main body 1 so as to be turnable through a supporting point 60 and a second cover 52 attached to the first cover 51 so as to be turnable through a supporting point 61, so that the turning direction of the second cover 52 is reverse to that of the first cover 51 at an opening time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

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, a facsimile and a composite machine of these.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, when a recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a sheet) is jammed in a machine, most of it is processed by a user. For this reason, various image forming apparatuses have been devised in recent years so that the user can easily perform jam processing. Further, in recent image forming apparatuses, downsizing of the apparatus is required,
For example, it is known that a paper feed cassette is arranged below the image forming unit, and paper is ejected to the upper surface of the apparatus or inside the body so that the paper feed cassette or the paper ejection tray does not pop out of the apparatus main body.

By the way, in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, when jam processing is performed, if the paper conveyance path can be largely opened, a large work space can be taken, so that the processing operation can be simplified and further such a large opening can be made. If obtained, it is extremely advantageous even when the members in the main body are replaced or inspected.

[0004]

However, in an image forming apparatus of the type in which the paper transport path is formed along the side surface of the apparatus main body, when the paper transport path is to be wide opened, the side cover is largely opened. Therefore, a space is required to open it. In the image forming apparatus in which the space for opening the side cover is secured and installed, the installation space is not substantially downsized even if the above-mentioned protrusion of the paper feed cassette or the paper discharge tray is eliminated. there were.

For this reason, the maximum opening angle of the side cover can be set to a small angle such as within 45 ° to reduce the opening space, but in this case, the opening space near the fulcrum of the cover is There was a problem that the workability in the relevant part deteriorates because it becomes too narrow.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which even if the cover member is largely opened, the space for opening is small and a good working space can be obtained.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus having an openable cover member on the exterior of a main body of the image forming apparatus, wherein at least the cover member is broken. It is characterized by having one bent portion.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the cover member has a plurality of covers divided in parallel with an axis of rotation of the member, and the cover member is rotated on the main body of the image forming apparatus. When the cover that is movably mounted and is opened and closed is the first cover, it is effective that at least one other cover is rotated in a direction opposite to the direction in which the first cover is rotated when opened.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention,
A paper feeding unit that feeds a recording medium toward an image forming unit located above the image forming apparatus main body is provided, and a rotation fulcrum of the first cover with respect to the image forming apparatus main body is the paper feeding unit. It is effective that the part is set at a position where it appears when the cover member is opened.

Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when the opening angle of the first cover is α, α <90
It is effective to have a holding means for holding the first cover at a position of 0 °.

Further, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, it is effective if the cover member supports a constituent unit for forming an image. Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the paper feeding unit includes a paper feeding tray that can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body.
When the direction in which the paper feed tray is pulled out is the front of the main body of the apparatus, if the cover member is provided on the side surface of the main body,
It is effective.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a printer main body, and a paper feed section 2 having paper feed trays 26-1 and 26-2 provided in two upper and lower stages is provided below the printer main body 1. ing. Paper feed trays 26-1 and 26-2 of the paper feed unit 2
Is pulled out in the direction of arrow A in FIG. In addition, the operation unit 3 is provided on the upper right side of the printer body 1.
Is provided, and the operation unit includes a power switch (not shown),
It has a display section for displaying the position of the jammed sheet, the fact that toner supply or component replacement is necessary.
In this printer, the operation unit 3 is provided and the paper feed tray 2 is provided.
The side from which 6-1 and 26-2 are pulled out is the front.

As shown in FIG. 2, inside the printer, a first intermediate transfer belt 10 as an image carrier wound around rollers 11, 12, and 13 is arranged at substantially the center of the main body. The intermediate transfer belt 10 includes rollers 11, 12, 1
One of the driving rollers 3 is connected as a driving roller to driving means (not shown), and is rotated in the counterclockwise direction by driving the driving means. Four image forming units a, b, c, d are arranged on the first intermediate transfer belt 10 along the lower running side thereof, and each image forming unit is arranged so as to contact the first intermediate transfer belt 10. It also has a photosensitive drum 5 as an image carrier. A static eliminator L, a cleaning device 6, a charging device 7, and a developing device 8 are arranged around the photoconductor drum 5, and the photoconductor drum 5 is rotationally driven in the arrow direction by a driving unit (not shown). An exposure device 9 is provided below each of the image forming units a, b, c, d, and laser light emitted from the exposure device 9 is applied to the photosensitive drum 5 at a writing position between the charging device 3 and the developing device 8. Is irradiated. Image forming units a, b, c, d
Have the same peripheral parts configuration, but the colors of the coloring materials (toners) handled by the developing device 8 are different.

The first intermediate transfer belt 10 is a belt having a resistance value that allows toner to be transferred from the photosensitive drum 5. For example, the thickness of the substrate is 50 μm to 500 μm
With a belt based on the resin film or rubber of No. 1, the surface layer is coated with low surface energy to make the volume resistance value of the entire belt 10 ⁶ to 10 ¹² Ωcm, and the surface resistivity (Ω / □) is 10 ⁵ to 10 10. It is in the range of ¹² . This first
On the back side of the intermediate transfer belt 10 (inside the loop), a transfer roller 20 as a means for transferring the toner images formed on the image forming portions a, b, c, d onto the belt surface is formed on the image forming portions a, b. ，
It is arranged so as to face the photosensitive drums 5 of c and d. Further, a cleaning device 25 is provided outside the loop of the first intermediate transfer belt 10 at a position facing the roller 13, and the cleaning device 25 transfers the toner image carried on the first intermediate transfer belt 10 after transferring the toner image. , To remove unnecessary toner remaining on the surface of the belt.

In the printer of this embodiment, the second intermediate transfer belt 1 as an image carrier is provided on the right side of the first intermediate transfer belt.
00, the first intermediate transfer belt 10 extends in the horizontal direction, while the second intermediate transfer belt 100 extends in the vertical direction. The second intermediate transfer belt 100 of the present example is wound around rotating rollers 111, 112, 113, and one of the rotating rollers 111, 112, 113 is driven by a driving device (not shown) to rotate clockwise. To be done. On the back side (inside the loop) of the second intermediate transfer belt 100, there is a first intermediate transfer roller 120 as a means for transferring the toner image carried on the first intermediate transfer belt 10 to a recording medium or the second intermediate transfer belt. It is provided in the vicinity of the roller 11 that supports the transfer belt 10. further,
Outside the loop of the second intermediate transfer belt 100, a second intermediate transfer belt cleaning device 250, a charger CH as a transfer unit for transferring the toner image carried by the second intermediate transfer belt 100 to a recording medium, and the like. It has been deployed. The cleaning device 250 uses a blade to
After transferring the toner to the paper, the second intermediate transfer belt 100
The unnecessary toner remaining in the toner is removed.

The first intermediate transfer belt 10 and the second intermediate transfer belt 100 are brought into contact with each other by the transfer means 120, the roller 113 and the roller 11 supporting the second image carrier 10,
Form a predetermined transfer nip.

The second intermediate transfer belt 100 is heat resistant and
The second intermediate transfer belt 100, which is a belt having a resistance value that allows the toner to be transferred from the first intermediate transfer belt 10 directly or to a recording medium, is a polyimide or polyamideimide having a substrate thickness of 50 μm to 500 μm. The surface layer is coated with low surface energy such as fluorine, and the volume resistance value of the entire belt is 10 ⁶ to 10 ¹² Ωc.
m, and the surface resistivity (Ω / □) is in the range of 10 ⁵ to 10 ¹² .

Paper feed cassettes 26-1, 26-2 of the paper feed unit 2
Contains a paper P as a recording medium, the uppermost paper is fed by a feeding means including a paper feed roller 27, and the fed paper passes through a plurality of guides 29 to a registration roller pair 28. Be transported.

In the printer main body 1, a fixing unit 30 having a built-in heat source such as a heater is provided on the upper right side of FIG.
Following the fixing unit 30, a paper ejection guide 31, a paper ejection roller pair 3
2. A paper discharge stack section 40 is provided. Fixing unit 30
The heat source is energized in the fixing process as the paper P is conveyed.

Above the first intermediate transfer belt 10 and below the paper discharge section 40, there is provided a storage section TS in which four toner cartridges TC for storing replenishment toner can be set. The toner of the toner cartridge TC has four colors of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black, and is supplied to the developing device 8 of the corresponding color by a powder pump (not shown). To replace the toner cartridge TC, the paper discharge unit 4
This can be done by opening the cover that is part of 0.

An operation mode when images are obtained on both sides of a sheet by the above-mentioned image forming apparatus will be described. First,
Image formation is performed by the image forming units a, b, c, and d, and the exposure device 9
By the operation of, the light from the LD light source (not shown) reaches the photosensitive drum 5 uniformly charged by the charging device 7 via the optical components (not shown), and becomes writing information (information according to color). Form a corresponding latent image.

The latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 5 is developed by the developing device 8 to form a toner image, which is formed and held on the surface of the photosensitive drum 5. This toner image is transferred by the transfer roller 20 onto the surface of the second image carrier 10 that moves in synchronization with the first image carrier. The toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor drum 5 after the transfer is cleaned by the cleaning device 6, and then the photoconductor drum 5 is neutralized by the neutralization device L to prepare for the next image forming cycle.

The first intermediate transfer belt 10 carries the toner image transferred from the photosensitive drum 5 of the image forming section a on its surface and moves in the direction of the arrow. On the photosensitive drum 5 of the image forming section b,
A latent image corresponding to another color is written and developed with a toner of the corresponding color to form a toner image. This image is superimposed on the toner images of the previous colors already on the first intermediate transfer belt 10, and finally the toner images of the four colors formed by the image forming portions a, b, c, d are superimposed. . In addition, the second intermediate transfer belt 1
00 also moves in the direction of the arrow in synchronism with the first intermediate transfer belt 10, and when the toner image carried on the surface of the first intermediate transfer belt 10 reaches the transfer region, the action of the transfer roller 120 causes the second intermediate transfer belt 10 to move. It is transferred onto the surface of the transfer belt 100. The image carried on the second intermediate transfer belt 100 is referred to as a back side image for convenience of description.

Next, by the same operation as described above, the first intermediate transfer belt 10 carries the toner images in which the four colors are superimposed and transferred, and this image becomes the surface image. This surface image is the first
When the transfer area is reached by the movement of the intermediate transfer belt 10,
The paper P is fed from the paper feed unit 2 via the pair of registration rollers 28 in synchronization with the surface image. Then, when the paper P reaches between the first intermediate transfer belt 10 and the second intermediate transfer belt 100, the first intermediate transfer belt 10 is provided on one surface thereof.
The toner image of the surface image carried by the transfer roller 120 is transferred by the transfer roller 120.

Further, when the sheet P is conveyed upward, the toner image of the back side image carried on the second intermediate transfer belt is
It is transferred onto the other surface of the paper P by the charger CH. In this embodiment, the polarity of the toner imaged on the first image carrier 1 is negative. By applying a positive charge to the transfer roller 20, the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 5 is transferred to the first intermediate transfer belt 10. Also,
By applying a positive charge to the transfer roller 120, the first
The toner carried on the intermediate transfer belt is transferred to the second intermediate transfer belt 100 or the one side surface of the paper P. Furthermore, by applying a positive polarity charge from the charger CH, the negative polarity toner image on the surface of the second intermediate transfer belt 100 is attracted and transferred to the other surface of the paper P.

In the above steps, the sheet P having the toner images transferred on both sides is sent to the fixing means 30, and the toner images on both sides of the sheet P are fixed at one time, and the pair of sheet discharge rollers 32 passes through the guide 31. Thus, the paper is discharged to the paper discharge stack section 40 above the main body frame.

By the way, in the case where the paper discharge section 40 is configured as shown in FIG. 2, the surface of the double-sided image that is transferred to the paper P later, that is, the surface that is directly transferred from the first intermediate transfer belt 10 to the paper P. Is the lower surface and is placed on the discharge stack section 40. Therefore, in order to align the pages, the image of the second page is created first, and the toner image is held on the second intermediate transfer belt 100. The image on the first page may be directly transferred from the first intermediate transfer belt 10 to the paper P.

The front surface image transferred from the first intermediate transfer belt 10 to the paper P is a normal image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 5, and the back surface image transferred from the second intermediate transfer belt 100 to the paper P is the photosensitive drum. 5 The surface is exposed so as to form an inverse image (mirror image).

The image forming order for page alignment can be realized by a known technique for storing image data in a memory, and exposure for switching to a normal image or a reverse image (mirror image) can be realized by a known image processing technique. ing.

Next, when an image is to be obtained on one side of the paper P, the method of transferring the toner image to the second intermediate transfer belt 100 and transferring it to the paper, and the step of transferring to the second intermediate transfer belt 100 are omitted. There is a method of transferring from the first intermediate transfer belt 10 to the paper P. In either method, since the image formation is performed on only one of the both sides, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the printer constructed as described above, the paper P fed from the paper feed section 2 is conveyed near the right side surface of the printer main body 1 almost directly upward when the main body is viewed from the front. In such a printer, even if a paper jam occurs at any place, it must be dealt with by the simplest operation possible. Paper feeding unit 2 to fixing unit 3
Even in the paper transport path extending in a substantially vertical direction up to the front of 0, it is necessary to take measures to easily perform the jam processing. In general, when jamming a conveyance path along a side surface of a main body, if the side plate of the main body can be opened so that the conveyance path can be largely exposed, the work becomes easy. However, when the side plate of the main body is largely opened, it is necessary to secure a space for allowing the side plate to be opened on the side surface of the main body, which substantially increases the space for installing the printer.

Therefore, in this printer, a cover member 50 having at least one bent portion that causes a fold is provided on the exterior portion of the right side surface shown in FIG. The cover member 50 of the present embodiment includes a first cover 51 rotatably attached to a printer body as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 via a first fulcrum 60, and a second cover 51 attached to the first cover 51. And a second cover 52 that is rotatably mounted via a fulcrum 61. The cover member 50 includes a first cover 51 and a second cover 5.
2 is divided parallel to the axis of the fulcrum 60, and the fulcrum 60
And the axis of the fulcrum 61 is also parallel. Then, in the cover member 50, the first cover 51 has the fulcrum 60 as a center.
5 to 5, the second cover 52 is configured to rotate counterclockwise about the fulcrum 61, while being rotated clockwise. Further, the size of the cover member 50 in the present embodiment is such that the vertical width is the length from the paper feeding unit 2 to the front of the fixing unit 30 in FIG. 2, and the horizontal width is approximately the same as the maximum usable paper width. And the rotation fulcrum 60 of the first cover 51 is the lower feed tray 26-2 of the paper feed unit 2.
It is located near the paper feed port.

When the cover member 50 holds the handle portion 50a and opens it, as shown in FIG. 4, when the angle between the side surface of the main body and the first cover 51 is α, α <90 °
Therefore, a means for holding the cover member 50 is provided. In the holding means of this example, the ends are located near the tip of the printer body 1 and the second cover 52, and the pins 55 and 5
A support arm 53 rotatably mounted via 6 is provided, and the support arm 53 has an elongated hole 5 extending in the arm extending direction.
4 is formed, one end of this elongated hole 54 is rotatably mounted near the first cover 51 of the second cover 52 via a pin 58, and the other end of the auxiliary arm 57 is A pin 59 movably fitted in the elongated hole 54 is provided. Then, when the cover member 50 is fully opened, as shown in FIG. 4, the pin 59 of the auxiliary arm 57 abuts on the lower end of the elongated hole 54, and further rotation of the second cover is prevented. The cover member 50 is held in this position. At this time, the support arm 53, the elongated hole 54, and the auxiliary arm 57.
By appropriately setting the opening angle α of the first cover 51 so as to satisfy α <90 °.
It can hold 0. If the opening angle α of the first cover 51 is close to 90 °, the vicinity of the fulcrum 60 can be greatly opened, and workability is improved.
The opening angle α of the first cover 51 can be set to α> 90 °, but under such conditions, the cover member 50 lacks smoothness and the stability of the closing operation tends to be impaired. Therefore, it is advantageous that the angle α is α <90 °. Further, the bending angle of the second cover 52 when the cover member 50 is opened to the maximum is β <90 ° when β is set as shown in FIG. Under such conditions, the opening / closing operation of the cover member 50 is smoothly performed, and
It is possible to reduce the operation width when opening and closing the handle portion 50a.

In the printer thus constructed, when the cover member 50 is opened, as shown in FIGS.
The first cover 51 rotates clockwise about the fulcrum 60, while the second cover 52 rotates counterclockwise about the fulcrum 61. Therefore, since the cover member 50 is bent in an inverted V shape, even if the first cover 51 is largely opened, the amount of protrusion of the entire cover member 50 to the right can be suppressed to be small. Further, by setting the position of the fulcrum 60 to be near the paper feeding unit, it is possible to easily process the paper jammed in the paper feeding unit. The supporting arm 5 that constitutes the holding means of this example
3, the long hole 54 and the auxiliary arm 57 may be provided on both sides of the cover member 50, but these members should not be provided on the front side, that is, the front side, and should be provided only on the back side so as not to disturb various works. It is advantageous. It should be noted that when the cover member 50 is opened in the printer, as shown in FIG.
Although 0 is slightly moved outward, it is easy to carry out jam processing and the like in the fixing unit. However, since such a structure is not the gist of the present invention, its description is omitted.

The cover member 50 is opened and closed by operating the handle portion 50a provided on the outer surface side of the second cover 52. The handle portion 50a may be provided at an appropriate position as long as it is near the tip of the second cover, but if it is arranged so as to be located within a depth of 254 mm from the front, it complies with the provisions of Article 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act. Therefore, it is advantageous.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the holding means for the cover member 50 is different from the above-mentioned embodiment. The holding means of this example includes a support cord 62 that connects the printer body 1 and the second cover 52, and stopper means that regulates the opening amount of the first cover 51. The stopper means, as shown in FIG.
It is composed of a protrusion 63 formed near the fulcrum of the cover 51 and a stopper 64 provided on the printer body 1 side, and a flexible rope is used as the support cord 62 in this example.

In the printer thus constructed, the support cord 62 is greatly loosened when the cover member 50 is closed, and when the cover member 50 is opened, the first cover 51 is released.
Stops at the position where the protrusion 63 contacts the stopper 64.
Then, the second cover 52 stops at the position where the support cord 62 is tensioned, and thus the opened cover member 50 can be held at a predetermined position. In the present embodiment, the opening angle of the second cover 52 can be easily changed by adjusting the length of the support cord 62, and thus it is easy to set the opening angle according to the installation conditions.

FIG. 8 shows a modification of the printer shown in FIG. 6, and in this example, instead of the support cord 62, the support arm 6 whose end portions are axially supported by the printer body 1 and the second cover 52, respectively.
The example using 5 is shown. Further, FIG. 9 is a modified example of FIG. 7, and in this example, instead of the stopper 64, the protrusion 6 with which the first cover 51 opened to the printer body 1 abuts
An example in which 6 is provided is shown. With such a configuration, when the cover member 50 is opened, the back surface portion of the first cover 51 and the like come into contact with the protrusions 66, and the cover member 50 stands still.

FIG. 10 shows still another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the unit U1 including the above-mentioned second intermediate transfer belt 100 is detachably mounted on the cover member 50 as the image forming constituent unit. There is. In this case, the second cover 52 is provided with a holder portion (not shown) for holding the unit U1. When the unit U1 including the second intermediate transfer belt 100 is replaced or inspected, the printer thus configured can open the cover member 50 and then pull out the unit U1 upward as shown in FIG. Yes, and it's extremely easy to do.

Further, the image forming unit held by the cover member 50 is not limited to the unit of the second intermediate transfer belt 100, and as shown in FIG. 11, a transfer for transferring the toner image carried by the intermediate transfer belt 10 onto a sheet. It may be a unit including the roller 101.

Further, the cover member 50 may be provided with guide means for guiding the conveyed paper P, for example, a conveyance guide 67 on the inner surface side thereof as shown in FIG. Further, although not shown, in the case where there is a conveying roller to be driven on the printer main body side, a pair of driven conveying rollers may be provided in contact with the conveying roller.

By the way, for example, in the printer shown in FIG. 2, when the first intermediate transfer belt 10 has to be taken out from the printer main body 1 for inspection and replacement, etc., the cover member 50 can be opened and pulled out from the side surface side of the main body. The operation is simple and advantageous. However, in the above-described embodiment, the first intermediate transfer belt 10 hits the second cover 52 and cannot be extracted.

Therefore, in still another embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 12, the cover member 70 is the first cover 7.
The first cover 71 and the second cover 72 are substantially the same as those in the above embodiment. Further, the third cover 73 is rotatably attached to the second cover 72 via a fulcrum 68, and when taking out the first intermediate transfer belt 10 as described above, the third cover 73 is attached to the second cover 72. Rotate clockwise. At this time, the height of the cover member 70 when opened becomes low, and the first intermediate transfer belt 10 can be attached and detached in the horizontal direction indicated by the arrow. The rotation of the third cover 73 is effective when the first intermediate transfer belt 10 is attached or detached, but is not necessary for general jam processing. Therefore, while the first cover 71 and the second cover 72 rotate about the fulcrums 60 and 61, respectively, in the opening operation, the third cover 73 is integrated with the second cover 72 by an appropriate locking means (not shown). It is advantageous in terms of the operability of opening and closing the cover member 70 that the cover member 70 is held in place and is unlocked and rotated only when necessary.

In the above embodiment, the first cover 51 is used.
The second cover 52 and the second cover 52 are configured to be rotatable via a pivotal fulcrum such as a hinge. However, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 13, the first cover portion 81 and the second cover portion 82 are made of resin. A cover member 80 formed by integral molding and configured to be bent by reducing the thickness of the bent portion 83.
May be Further, although the number of covers in the cover member has been described in the above embodiment, the number of covers in the cover member may be four or more, and the cover member opened at this time has a stepped shape when viewed from the side. You may also open it.

[0046]

According to the structure of claim 1, in the image forming apparatus having the openable cover member on the exterior of the image forming apparatus main body, at least the cover member is broken.
Since there are two bent portions, the amount of overhang of the cover member at the time of opening can be suppressed, and a sufficient open space for performing work such as jam clearance can be obtained.

According to the structure of claim 2, the cover member has a plurality of covers divided in parallel with the axis of rotation,
When the first cover is a cover that is rotatably attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus and is opened and closed, the other at least one cover member is opposite to the direction in which the first cover is rotated when opened. Since it is rotated, in addition to the effect of the first aspect, the width for opening and closing the cover member can be reduced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the paper feed unit for feeding the recording medium toward the image forming unit above the main body of the image forming apparatus is provided at the lower part of the main body of the image forming apparatus and the main body of the image forming apparatus of the first cover. Since the rotation fulcrum of is set at the position where the paper feed section appears when the cover member is opened, it can be opened greatly even at the lower side of the main body of the device, and jams in the paper feed section and inspection / replacement of members can be performed. Workability is improved.

According to the structure of claim 4, when the opening angle of the first cover is α, there is a holding means for holding the first cover at a position where α <90 °, so that the cover member can be stably opened and closed. The motion is obtained.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the constituent unit for forming an image is supported by the cover member, so that replacement and inspection of the constituent unit can be performed very easily. According to the configuration of claim 6, when the paper feed unit includes a paper feed tray that can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body, and the direction of pulling out the paper feed tray is the front of the apparatus main body,
Since the cover member is the cover member on the side surface of the main body, the space for opening the cover member on the side surface side of the main body is small,
The installation space of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a printer that is an example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an internal structure of the printer.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a cover member of the printer is opened in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the cover member shown in FIG. 3 when the cover member is open.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the cover member of the printer is opened and the unit is taken out.

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the cover member according to another embodiment of the present invention when the cover member is open.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing another embodiment of the holding means of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a side view illustrating the modification of FIG. 6 when the cover member is open.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a holding means in a modified example of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a side view showing the cover member according to still another embodiment of the present invention when the cover member is open.

FIG. 11 is a side view illustrating the cover member according to still another embodiment of the present invention when the cover member is open.

FIG. 12 is a side explanatory view showing a cover member when it is open, showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a side view showing the cover member according to still another embodiment of the present invention when the cover member is open.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Printer body 2 paper feeder 10 First intermediate transfer belt 50, 70, 80 cover member 51,71 1st cover 52,72 Second cover 53 Support arm 54 long hole 57 Auxiliary arm 60,61 fulcrum

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having an openable cover member on an exterior of a main body of the image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member has at least one bent portion that causes breakage. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover member has a plurality of covers divided in parallel with an axis of rotation of the member, and the cover member is the main body of the image forming apparatus. When the cover that is rotatably attached to and is opened and closed is the first cover, at least one other cover is rotated in a direction opposite to the direction in which the first cover is rotated when opened. Image forming apparatus. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a paper feeding unit that feeds a recording medium toward an image forming unit located above the lower portion of the main body of the image forming device, and the first cover. The rotation fulcrum of the image forming apparatus main body of
An image forming apparatus, wherein the sheet feeding section is set to a position where it appears when the cover member is opened. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein α is an opening angle of the first cover.
An image forming apparatus comprising: a holding unit that holds the first cover at a position of <90 °. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cover member supports a constituent unit that forms an image. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet feeding unit includes a sheet feeding tray that can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body.
An image forming apparatus, wherein the cover member is provided on a side surface of the main body when the direction of pulling out the paper feed tray is the front of the main body of the apparatus.