JP2003300632A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet stacking device capable of easily and surely positioning a paper width control member. <P>SOLUTION: A cassette case 1 as a device body is provided with paper width control plates 2, 2' as a pair of width control members, an intermediate plate 3, pressure springs 4, 4' and a rear end control plate 5. The paper width control plates 2, 2' are connected to a lever 6, a lever shaft 7, and a frictional pad, and the pad is compressed or released by the rotation of the lever 6 to control the sliding of the paper width control plates 2, 2'. A contact part of the lever 6 and the paper width control plates 2, 2' has the cam-shape, and the lever shaft 7 is vertically moved in interlocking with the rotation of the lever 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet stacking device used in a sheet feeding portion of an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to provide a sheet stacking device that can perform a positioning operation of a width regulating member simply and accurately and does not require dimensional accuracy in the width regulating member and the apparatus main body, the sheet is moved in the width direction of the sheet. In a sheet stacking apparatus having at least one flexible width regulating member attached, one of the width regulating member and the apparatus main body is provided with a positioning member that is pressed toward the other, and the other is engaged with the positioning member. The engaging portion is provided.

The positioning member is a ball,
The engaging portion is a recess into which the ball fits.

Furthermore, the width regulating members may be formed in a pair, and a rack may be provided on each of the pair of width regulating members, and the racks may be meshed with a single pinion gear.

With the operation of the present invention based on the above-mentioned structure, the width direction of the sheet placed on the apparatus main body is restricted by bringing the width restricting member movable in the width direction into contact with the side edge of the sheet. Then, the positioning member provided on one of the width regulating member or the apparatus main body is automatically locked to the engaging portion provided on the other by the pressing force by an operation of merely moving the width regulating member in the width direction. The regulation member is accurately positioned at a predetermined position. In addition, by simply pushing the width regulating member in the width direction, the width regulating member can be withdrawn from the engaging portion against the pressing force and moved in the width direction.

Further, the balls are fitted into the recesses for positioning.

Further, the width regulating member is secured by the frictional force between the pressed positioning member and the width regulating member or the apparatus main body.

[0008]

However, in this case, when the actual positioning is performed, the levers on both sides are released and the paper width regulating plate is moved to check the fitting portion in the cassette case to move it to the lever fixing position. The operation had to be performed (that is, each time the paper width regulating plate was moved, two levers were released and fixed), which was complicated. If you forget to fix one of the levers, the paper width regulating plate is positioned using the rack and pinion gears, so backlash of the gear causes play in the paper width regulating plate, which causes the paper width regulating plate to move. There was the problem of becoming inaccurate.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a sheet stacking device capable of easily and reliably positioning the paper width regulating member.

[0010]

A sheet stacking apparatus having at least one width regulating member movable in the width direction of a sheet attached to an apparatus main body on which a sheet is placed,
One of the width regulating member or the device body is provided with a positioning member that is pressed toward the other, and the other is
In the sheet stacking apparatus, which is provided with an engaging portion with which the positioning member engages, the positioning member is a ball, and the engaging portion is a recess into which the ball fits. Fixing the regulation plate,
It is characterized by interlocking the release.

In a sheet stacking apparatus in which at least one width regulating member movable in the width direction of the sheet is attached to the apparatus main body on which the sheet is placed, one of the width regulating member or the apparatus main body and the other one. A positioning member that is pressed toward the other side is provided, and an engaging portion with which the positioning member engages is provided on the other side, the positioning member is a ball, and the engaging portion is a concave portion with which the ball fits. In the sheet stacking apparatus, each of the positioning members has a pinion gear, and the pinion gears are linked by a single rack to interlock with fixing and releasing of the paper width regulating plate.

3. The sheet stacking apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper width regulating members are formed in a pair, and the pair of paper width regulating members each have a rack, and the racks are meshed with a single pinion gear.

The rear side of the positioning member in the sheet stacking device insertion direction is arranged so as to be guided by a part of the body of the image forming apparatus to a fixed position when the sheet stacking device is aligned with the main body of the image forming apparatus.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) Next, the present invention will be described based on the illustrated embodiments. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view showing a cassette U as a sheet stacking device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The cassette case 1 as the main body of the apparatus has a pair of paper width regulating plates 2 as width regulating members.
2 ', an intermediate plate 3, a pressure spring 4, 4', and a rear end regulating plate 5 are provided. The paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'are connected to the lever 6, the lever shaft 7 and the friction pad 8. The rotation of the lever 6 causes the pad 8 to be compressed or released as shown in FIGS. 1 (B) and 1 (C). To regulate the sliding of the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 '.
The contact portion between the lever 6 and the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'is cam-shaped, and the lever shaft 7 moves up and down in conjunction with the rotation of the lever 6. That is, when the lever shaft 7 moves upward as shown in FIG. 1C, the flange 7a of the lever shaft 7 compresses the friction pad 8. Conversely, when the lever shaft 7 moves downward as shown in FIG. 1B, the friction pad 8 and the cassette case 1
There is a clearance between them.

As described above, in the state where the clearance is generated, the pair of paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 ′ are attached to the cassette case 1.
Along the slit 50 provided in the sheet, the width direction of the sheet as a sheet (not shown), that is, the sheet feeding direction B as shown in FIG.
It is movable in the direction of arrow A at right angles to. Further, racks 52 and 52 'are provided on the plates 51 and 51' of the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 ', respectively, and the racks 52 and 52' mesh with a single pinion gear 53. Separation claws 9 and 9'are provided on the front end side of the cassette case 1 in the feeding direction B. The separation claws 9 and 9'are centered on a shaft member (not shown) as a rotation center and the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'are provided. It is rotatably supported by. The middle plate 3 provided in the cassette case 1 is a pongee 3a, 3
The pressure is applied upward by the pressure springs 4 and 4'with b as the center of rotation, and the paper is nipped between the separation claws 9 and 9 '. The paper is loaded in the cassette case 1 by being positionally controlled in the width direction by the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'contacting both side edges thereof and being regulated in the longitudinal direction by the trailing edge regulating plate 5.

As shown in FIG. 1A, holes 54 are provided in the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 ', and a ball (positioning member) 12 slidable vertically in the holes 54 is built in. The ball 12 is pressed toward the cassette case 1 side by the elastic force of the leaf spring 13 engaged with the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 '. The cassette case 1 is provided with a plurality of concave portions 14 as engaging portions that engage with the balls 12, corresponding to the moving positions of the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 '.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. The cassette case 1 is attached in the direction of arrow B to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer. Then, when one of the paper width regulating plates 2 (2 ') is moved in the direction of arrow A, the power is transmitted to the other paper width regulating plate 2' (2) via the pinion gear 53, and in the same direction. It moves and the width direction of the paper is regulated. Then, the paper width regulating plate 2 is moved by a simple operation of moving the paper width regulating plate 2 in the width direction A.
The 2'ball 12 is automatically locked in the concave portion 14, and the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'are accurately positioned at predetermined intervals, that is, positions. Even if the ball 12 is not located in the center of the concave portion 14, the ball 1 is locked by the lever 6 being locked.
2 slides and fits securely in the recess 14. In addition, the ball 12 is pulled out of the recess 14 against the pressing force of the spring plate 13 by a simple operation of pressing the paper width regulating plate 2 in the width direction A, and the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'are moved in the width direction A. It will be ready.

Further, the ball 12 to be pressed and the concave portion 14
Due to the frictional force with the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 ',
A right angle with respect to and smooth movement are secured. Therefore, high dimensional accuracy is not required for the racks 52, 52 'of the paper width regulating plates 2, 2', the pinion gear 53, and the slit 50, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the leaf spring 13 is used as a means for pressing the ball 12, but it may be integrated with the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2 '. Regarding the shape of the ball 12, the shape of the portion not related to sliding may be arbitrary as long as the surface that slides on the cassette case 1 is spherical. Further, in the present embodiment, the pair of paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'moves uniformly, but the same effect can be obtained even when one side is fixed. Further, by disposing two or more balls 12 on the paper width regulating plate as shown in FIG. 2, it becomes possible to further improve the accuracy of the perpendicularity of the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'to the moving direction B. .

In the illustrated embodiment, the balls 12 are provided in the paper width regulating plates 2 and 2'and the recess 14 is formed in the cassette case 1, but the reverse configuration may be adopted.

By linking the positioning member with the arm member 20 and interlocking the fixing and releasing of the paper width regulating plate, even if one fixing is forgotten, the other fixing operation is transmitted by the link and forgetting to fix. Brings about the action of fixing.

Further, even if the fixing of the paper width regulating plates on both sides is forgotten, when the cassette case is mounted on the main body, in this case the main body wall 30 on the back side pushes the fixing member to fix the paper width regulating plates.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to, for example, a deck type sheet stacking apparatus other than the above-described upper opening type cassette U.

(Second Embodiment) The present invention is one in which the rack width and the pinion 41 are made to work, which is what the paper width regulating plate is linked by the link member in the first embodiment (FIG. 3). The actual operation is the same as in the first embodiment.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
With the configuration as described above, the width regulating member can be moved, positioned, and accurately positioned by a simple operation.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A, 1B, and 1C are enlarged cross-sectional views showing a lever shaft of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a partially cutaway plan view of the cassette according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway plan view of a cassette according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 cassette case 2 Paper width control plate 6 lever 20 Arm member 40 racks 41 pinion

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus main body on which a sheet is placed,
In a sheet stacking device having at least one width regulation member movable in the width direction of the sheet, one of the width regulation member or the apparatus main body is provided with a positioning member that is pressed toward the other, and the other one,
In the sheet stacking apparatus, which is provided with an engaging portion with which the positioning member engages, the positioning member is a ball, and the engaging portion is a recess into which the ball fits. Fixing the regulation plate,
A sheet stacking device characterized by interlocking release. 2. The apparatus main body on which the sheet is placed,
In a sheet stacking device having at least one width regulation member movable in the width direction of the sheet, one of the width regulation member or the apparatus main body is provided with a positioning member that is pressed toward the other, and the other one,
In the sheet stacking device, wherein the positioning member is provided with an engaging portion, the positioning member is a ball, and the engaging portion is a concave portion with which the ball fits. In the sheet stacking apparatus, each of the positioning members has a pinion gear. A sheet stacking device characterized in that the pinion gears are linked by a single rack to interlock the fixing and releasing of the paper width regulating plate. 3. The paper width regulating member is configured in a pair, and the pair of paper width regulating members each have a rack, and the rack is meshed with a single pinion gear.
The sheet stacking device described. 4. The back side of the positioning member in the sheet stacking device insertion direction is arranged so as to be guided by a part of the body of the image forming apparatus to a fixed position when the sheet stacking device is aligned with the body of the image forming apparatus. The sheet stacking device according to claim 1 or 2.