JP2005187135A - Manual paper feeder and image forming device equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manual paper feeder capable of comfortably feeding stiff paper such as cardboard sheets or paperboard sheets and an image forming device equipped with the paper feeder. <P>SOLUTION: A manual paper feeding tray 9 is rotated and opened, then, an arm 23 integrally rotates with the manual paper feeding tray 9 while being guided by a pin 25 and the other end part 22b of an arm 22 and one end part 23a of the arm 23 connected by the pin 25 move upward. Then, a groove 33 abutting on guide members 34 slides and a manual paper feeding unit body 8a moves to the outside of an image forming device body 1a. Guide plates 27, 28 respectively rotate at predetermined angles, the guide plate 27 is made to be locked by a regulating member 32, and the guide plate 28 is brought into a locked state by a regulating member 31. Accordingly, the angles of the guide plates 27, 28 to a paper feeding conveyance route 11 change interlocking with the movement of opening the manual paper feeding tray 9. (That means the angles of the guide plates 27, 28 to the paper feeding conveyance route 11 get smaller). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus including the same, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus including a manual sheet feeding device as a sheet feeding path.

In recent years, in order to shorten the conveyance path and increase the printing speed, an image forming apparatus having a vertical conveyance path extending in a substantially vertical direction (vertical direction) has been adopted. In general, in such an image forming apparatus, two paths of a sheet feeding cassette and a manual sheet feeding unit are provided as a sheet feeding path to the image forming unit, and the two paths before the registration roller or the upstream relay roller. Are supposed to join. Among these, the manual paper feed unit adopts a configuration in which the paper placed on the manual paper feed tray is transported to the paper supply transport path via a guide plate that acts as a manual paper feed path (for example, , See Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-116591 (page 3, FIG. 2)

  Here, in the conventional image forming apparatus provided with the vertical conveyance path, as described above, it is necessary to shorten the conveyance path to increase the printing speed, and the sheet supply conveyance path is on the end side in the image forming apparatus. Therefore, it is not possible to secure a sufficient space around the paper supply conveyance path, and it is necessary to store the manual paper feed unit in a narrow space. It was necessary to provide it at a steep angle with respect to the paper supply conveyance path. In addition, the paper loaded on the manual paper feed unit may be not only thin paper, but also thick paper or strong paper. When such stiff paper is used in a state where it is provided at a steep angle, paper jams and oblique conveyance are sent out, which makes it difficult to stably feed paper.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a manual sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus including the manual sheet feeding device that can easily feed stiff paper such as cardboard and paperboard. With the goal.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a manual paper feed tray that can be opened and closed by being rotatably supported by a manual paper feed device body, and a manual paper feed device body that is provided in the manual paper feed device body. In a manual sheet feeder provided with a guide member for guiding the conveyed paper, the manual sheet feeder body moves in a predetermined direction and the guide member rotates in conjunction with the opening / closing operation of the manual sheet feed tray. It is characterized by doing.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including the manual paper feed device according to claim 1 and a paper supply transport path for transporting paper. The angle of the guide member with respect to is changed.

  Here, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the angle of the guide member with respect to the paper supply conveyance path can be reduced in conjunction with the operation of opening the manual paper feed tray.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the angle of the guide member with respect to the sheet supply conveyance path can be increased in conjunction with the operation of closing the manual sheet feed tray.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the manual paper feed tray can be stored in a storage unit provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus when the manual paper feed tray is closed.

  According to the present invention, the manual sheet feeder main body moves in a predetermined direction and the guide member rotates in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the manual sheet feed tray. Therefore, the manual sheet feeder is used. In this case, even when thick paper or stiff paper is used, paper jams and oblique conveyance can be prevented, and stable paper feeding can be performed regardless of the paper quality and thickness of the paper. In addition, since the guide member can be accommodated in a limited space saving when the manual paper feeder is not used, a predetermined narrow width is provided when the manual paper feeder is not used. The manual sheet feeder can be stored in the space.

  In addition, according to the present invention, the manual paper feed tray is configured to be housed in the housing portion provided in the image forming apparatus main body, so that the overall machine size of the image forming apparatus is reduced.

  Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 is a so-called vertical conveyance type image forming apparatus, and includes a sheet feeding unit 2 disposed at a lower portion of the image forming apparatus main body 1 a and a side of the sheet feeding unit 2. A sheet conveying unit 3 disposed on the upper side and the upper side, an image forming unit 4 disposed on the right side of the sheet conveying unit 3, and an image reading unit 5 disposed on the upper side of the image forming unit 4. ing.

  The paper feed unit 2 includes a paper feed cassette 6 in which paper is accommodated, and the paper is fed from the paper feed cassette 6 to the paper transport unit 3 side by the rotation operation of the paper feed roller 7 so that one sheet of paper is fed. Each sheet is surely fed to the sheet conveying unit 3 one by one. The paper feed cassette 6 is configured to be detachable from the image forming apparatus main body 1.

  The paper feed unit 2 is provided with a manual paper feed unit 8, and the manual paper feed unit 8 includes a manual paper feed tray 9 and a paper feed roller 10. The paper placed on the manual paper feed tray 9 is sent out from the manual paper feed tray 9 to the paper supply transport path 11 by the rotation operation of the paper feed roller 10, and the paper is fed one by one to the paper transport unit 3. It is configured to be.

  The paper fed to the paper supply transport path 11 is transported toward the image forming unit 4 via the paper transport unit 3. The image forming unit 4 forms a predetermined toner image on the paper 9 by an electrophotographic process, and is an image end holder that is rotatably supported in a predetermined direction (the arrow direction in the figure). A photoconductor 12 and a charging unit 13, a developing unit 14, a transfer unit 15, a cleaning unit 16, and a charge eliminating unit 17 are provided around the photoconductor 12 along the rotation direction thereof.

  The charging unit 13 includes a charging wire to which a high voltage is applied. By applying a predetermined potential to the surface of the photoconductor 12 by corona discharge from the charging wire, the surface of the photoconductor 12 is uniformly charged. It is done. Then, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 12 by the laser beam from the laser scanning unit (LSU) 18 based on the image data of the document read by the image reading unit 5. Next, toner is adhered to the electrostatic latent image by the developing unit 14 to form a toner image on the surface of the photoconductor 12, and the toner image on the surface of the photoconductor 12 is transferred to the photoconductor 12 by the transfer unit 15. The image is transferred to a sheet supplied between the unit 15.

  The sheet on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed from the image forming unit 4 toward the fixing roller pair 19. The fixing roller pair 19 is disposed on the downstream side of the image forming unit 4 in the sheet conveying direction. The sheet on which the toner image is transferred in the image forming unit 4 includes a heating roller that forms the fixing roller pair 19, The toner image is fixed on the sheet by being sandwiched and heated by the pressure roller pressed against the heating roller.

  Next, the sheet on which the image is formed by the fixing roller pair 19 from the image forming unit 4 is discharged to the discharge unit 21 by the discharge roller pair 20. On the other hand, after the transfer, the toner remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 12 is removed by the cleaning unit 16, and the residual charge on the surface of the photoconductor 12 is removed by the charge eliminating unit 17. The photosensitive member 12 is charged again by the charging unit 13, and image formation is performed in the same manner.

  Next, the manual sheet feeding unit 8 provided in the sheet feeding unit 2 will be described with reference to the drawings. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views showing the main configuration of the manual paper feed unit in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the manual paper feed tray is closed. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the manual paper feed tray is opened.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the manual sheet feeding unit 8 includes arms 22 and 23, and one end 22 a of the arm 22 is fixed to the image forming apparatus main body 1 a by a pin 24. The end 22 b is connected to one end 23 a of the arm 23 by a pin 25. The manual paper feed tray 9 is fixed by a shaft 26 provided on the arm 23, and one end side 9 a of the manual paper feed tray 9 is attached to the manual paper feed unit main body 8 a via the arm 23, and is integrated with the arm 23. Thus, it is configured to be openable and closable by being rotatably supported by the manual paper feed unit main body 8a. The arms 22 and 23 are connected so as to be rotatable in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the manual sheet feeding tray 9, and the arm 23 is interlocked with the opening and closing operation of the manual sheet feeding tray 9. The structure is such that it operates while being guided by the pins 25. As shown in FIG. 2, when the manual paper feed tray 9 is closed, the manual paper feed tray 9 is stored in a storage section (storage space) S provided in the image forming apparatus main body 1a. It has become.

  The manual paper feed unit 8 is provided with guide plates 27 and 28 for guiding the paper conveyed from the manual paper feed tray 9 to the paper supply / conveyance path 11. One end portion 27 a of the guide plate 27 is attached to the manual sheet feeding unit main body 8 a by a pin 29, and the guide plate 28 is manually inserted by the one end portion 28 a being fixed by the shaft portion 10 a of the sheet feeding roller 10. It is attached to the paper feed unit main body 8a. The guide plates 27 and 28 are attached so as to be rotatable in conjunction with the opening / closing operation of the manual paper feed tray 9 so that the angle with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 is changed. ing. The change in the angle of the guide plates 27 and 28 with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 will be described in detail later.

  Next, the movement of the manual sheet feeding unit accompanying the opening / closing operation of the manual sheet feeding tray 9 will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a movement groove 33 is formed below the manual sheet feeding unit main body 8a, and the groove 33 engages with a guide member 34 provided on the image forming apparatus main body 1a side. doing. Then, in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the manual paper feed tray 9, the groove 33 is slid in a predetermined direction (that is, the left-right direction indicated by the arrow X in the figure) while being in contact with the guide member 34. The manual paper feed unit main body 8a (or the manual paper feed unit 8) slides and moves in the left-right direction. FIG. 4 is a bottom view showing the state in which the manual paper feed tray 9 is closed.

  When the manual paper feed tray 9 is rotated from the closed state shown in FIG. 2 (that is, stored in the storage portion S) to the open state shown in FIG. The other end portion 22b of the arm 22 and the one end portion 23a of the arm 23 connected to each other by the pin 25 are moved upward while being rotated integrally with the manual feed tray 9 while being guided by the guide 25. Then, as described above, the groove 33 slides while being in contact with the guide member 34, and the manual sheet feeding unit main body 8a moves leftward (that is, in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 2).

  As shown in FIG. 3, the manual paper feed unit main body 8a is provided with a regulating member 35 for regulating the movement of the manual paper feed tray 9, and the manual paper feed tray 9 rotates by a predetermined angle. Then, the arm 23 comes into contact with the restricting member 35, and the rotation of the manual sheet feeding tray 9 is restricted, and the arm 23 is fixed to the predetermined position shown in FIG. When the manual paper feed tray 9 is fixed, the movement of the arm 22 and the arm 23 is stopped. As a result, the leftward movement of the manual paper feed unit main body 8a is restricted and the manual paper feed unit 8 is moved. Is pulled out from the image forming apparatus main body 1a and fixed at a predetermined position shown in FIG. 5 is a bottom view showing a state where the manual paper feed tray 9 is opened.

  The other end portion 27b of the guide plate 27 is provided with a restriction member 31 for restricting the movement of the guide plate 28, and the sheet supply transport path 11 is restricted for restricting the movement of the guide plate 27. A member 32 is provided, and the guide plate 27 is in contact with the regulating member 32. When the manual paper feed tray 9 is closed, as shown in FIG. 2, the regulating member 31 is in contact with the guide plate 28, and the guide plate 27 is engaged with the guide plate 28 via the regulating member 31. However, as described above, when the manual paper feed tray 9 is opened, the manual paper feed unit main body 8a moves in the direction of arrow A, so that one end portion 27a of the guide plate 27 also moves in the direction of arrow A. . Then, the contact state between the regulating member 31 and the guide plate 28 is released, and the guide plate 27 is rotated by a predetermined angle, and the manual feed tray 9 is opened as shown in FIG. The plate 27 is locked by the restricting member 32. Accordingly, the angle of the guide plate 27 with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 changes (that is, the angle of the guide plate 27 with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 decreases) in conjunction with the operation of opening the manual feed tray 9. .

  On the other hand, the guide plate 28 is in contact with the restricting member 31 and locked by the restricting member 31 as shown in FIG. 2 when the manual feed tray 9 is closed. When the tray 9 is opened, the manual sheet feeding unit 8 moves in the direction of arrow A. As described above, the guide plate 27 moves, and the other end portion 28a of the guide plate 28 fixed to the shaft portion 10a also moves. Move in the direction of arrow A. Then, the guide plate 28 is rotated by a predetermined angle, and the other end portion 28b of the guide plate 28 is in contact with the restricting member 31, and the manual paper feed tray 9 is opened as shown in FIG. The guide plate 28 is locked by the restricting member 31. Accordingly, similarly to the above-described guide plate 27, the angle of the guide plate 28 with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 changes in conjunction with the operation of opening the manual paper feed tray 9 (that is, the guide plate 28 with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11). The angle becomes smaller).

  In the state shown in FIG. 3, the paper is placed on the manual paper feed tray 9, and the paper is sent to the paper supply / conveyance path 11 via the guide plates 27 and 28, and the paper is conveyed one by one. The paper is fed to the section 3.

  After the manual feed unit 8 has been used, when the manual feed tray 9 is rotated from the open state shown in FIG. 3 to the closed state shown in FIG. 2, the arm 23 is guided by the pins 25. The other end 22b of the arm 22 and the one end 23a of the arm 23 connected to each other by the pin 25 are moved downward. Then, as described above, the groove 33 slides while being in contact with the guide member 34, and the manual sheet feeding unit main body 8a moves rightward (that is, in the direction of arrow B in the figure), and the manual sheet feeding unit. 8 is housed in the state shown in FIG. 2, that is, in the image forming apparatus 1, and fixed to the predetermined position shown in FIG. Further, the manual paper feed tray 9 is again stored in a storage section (storage space) S provided in the image forming apparatus main body 1a.

  When the manual sheet feeding unit main body 8a is moved in the direction of arrow B, one end portion 27a of the guide plate 27 is also moved in the direction of arrow B, and the guide plates 27 and 28 are rotated by a predetermined angle. It will return to the state shown in FIG. More specifically, the guide plate 28 is pushed up and rotated by the regulating member 31 with the rotation of the guide plate 27 while the other end portion 28 b is in contact with the regulating member 31. In other words, the state is locked to the restriction member 31. On the other hand, the guide plate 27 is rotated while the regulating member 31 provided at the other end 27 b is in contact with the guide plate 28 and is locked to the guide plate 28 via the regulating member 31. . Accordingly, the angle of the guide plates 27 and 28 with respect to the paper supply transport path 11 changes in conjunction with the operation of closing the manual paper feed tray 9 (that is, the angle of the guide plate 27 with respect to the paper supply transport path 11 increases). become.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the manual paper feed unit main body 8a moves in a predetermined direction (the direction of the arrow A) in conjunction with the operation of opening the manual paper feed tray 9, and the paper is fed and conveyed. Since the angle of the guide plates 27 and 28 with respect to the path 11 is reduced, the guide plates 27 and 28 are used when the manual sheet feed unit 8 is used in the manual sheet feed unit 8 in the vertical conveyance type image forming apparatus 1. Can be avoided at a steep angle with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path 11, and as a result, even when thick paper or stiff paper is used, paper jams and oblique conveyance can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to perform stable paper feeding regardless of the quality and thickness of the paper.

  In the present embodiment, in conjunction with the operation of closing the manual paper feed tray 9, the manual paper feed unit body 8 a moves in a predetermined direction (the direction of arrow B), and the guide plate for the paper supply transport path 11. Since the angles 27 and 28 are configured to be large, in the manual sheet feeding unit 8 in the vertical conveyance type image forming apparatus 1, when the sheet feeding unit 8 is not used for sheet feeding, the sheet supply conveyance path 11. The guide plates 27 and 28 adjacent to each other can be accommodated in a limited space saving. Therefore, as described above, when the manual paper feed unit 8 is used, the manual paper feed unit 8 is not used even when the angle of the guide plates 27 and 28 with respect to the paper supply transport path 11 is reduced. In this case, the manual sheet feeding unit 8 can be stored in a narrow space in the vertical conveyance type image forming apparatus 1.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the manual paper feed tray 9 is configured to be stored in a storage portion (storage space) S provided in the image forming apparatus main body 1a, so that the overall machine size of the image forming apparatus is compact. Become.

  In addition, the said embodiment is only an explanatory example, The scope of the present invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Based on the meaning of this invention, the shape, dimension, material, etc. of each structural article are changed. It is possible that they are not excluded from the scope of the present invention.

  Examples of utilization of the present invention include a manual sheet feeding device that feeds stiff paper such as cardboard and paperboard, and an image forming apparatus including the same.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of a manual paper feed unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a manual paper feed tray is closed. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a main part of a manual paper feed unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which a manual paper feed tray is opened. FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing a state in which a manual paper feed tray of the manual paper feed unit according to the embodiment of the present invention is closed. FIG. 6 is a bottom view showing a state in which a manual paper feed tray of the manual paper feed unit according to the embodiment of the present invention is opened.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Paper feed part 3 Paper conveyance part 8 Manual paper feed unit 8a Manual paper feed unit main body 9 Manual paper feed tray 11 Paper supply conveyance path 27, 28 Guide plate

Claims (5)

A manual paper feed tray that is openable and closable by being rotatably supported by the manual paper feed device main body, and a guide that is provided in the manual paper feed device main body and that guides the paper conveyed from the manual paper feed tray In a manual sheet feeder provided with a member,
A manual sheet feeding device, wherein the manual sheet feeding device main body moves in a predetermined direction and the guide member rotates in conjunction with the opening and closing operation of the manual sheet feeding tray. An image forming apparatus comprising: the manual sheet feeding device according to claim 1; and a sheet supply conveyance path for conveying the sheet.
An image forming apparatus, wherein an angle of the guide member with respect to the paper supply / conveyance path is changed in conjunction with an opening / closing operation of the manual paper feed tray. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an angle of the guide member with respect to the sheet supply conveyance path decreases in conjunction with an operation of opening the manual sheet feed tray. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an angle of the guide member with respect to the sheet supply conveyance path is increased in conjunction with an operation of closing the manual sheet feed tray. 5. 5. The manual feed tray is stored in a storage unit provided in the main body of the image forming apparatus when the manual feed tray is closed. 6. Image forming apparatus.

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