JP2006089165A - Upper cover, sheet carrier and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an upper cover which is opened/closed without any complicated work such as the unlocking work, and high in safety by reliably stopping the upper cover before the upper cover is completely closed even when the upper cover in the open state is rapidly closed. <P>SOLUTION: The upper cover 2 is supported by a body 1 at supporting points in a vertically openable/closable manner, and paper sheets P in a sheet carrying passage can be removed by opening/closing the cover 2. The upper cover 2 is stopped on the proximal side of the fully closed position when the upper cover 2 is closed by a stopper mechanism 3, and the upper cover 2 is pressed to be in the fully closed state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an openable and closable upper cover provided on an upper part of an apparatus main body, a sheet conveying apparatus that conveys a sheet by the apparatus main body, and an image used for image formation by an electrostatic copying process such as a copying machine, a facsimile, or a printer. The present invention relates to a forming apparatus.

In an image forming apparatus, a sheet conveying apparatus, a document reading apparatus, and the like, the upper cover is opened at the time of document JAM or maintenance. However, the upper cover suddenly closes when a force is applied in the closing direction from the open state, and there is a danger such as pinching a hand. In order to prevent the occurrence of such a situation, it is conceivable to restrict the movement by locking and unlocking by a combination of two or more parts, but a complicated operation for unlocking is required.
Further, at this time, when the movement is restricted by locking and unlocking by a combination of two or more parts, a complicated structure is required, leading to an increase in cost.

  In order to improve these problems, for example, in Patent Document 1, when one side has a lock pin and the other side has a recess or a hook, and the open state is maintained, the lock pin is locked in the recess and remains closed. In this case, the lock pin is a mechanism that is locked and fixed to the hook portion, and maintains the open state and closed state of the cover. However, in this disclosed technique, the lock pin is provided with an interlocking lock lever or the like, and when releasing the open state or the closed state, it is necessary to move the lock lever in a direction to release the lock pin.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-106085

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the problem is that the upper cover can be opened and closed without complicated work such as unlocking, and the opened upper cover is suddenly closed. However, it is possible to provide an upper cover, a sheet conveying apparatus, and an image forming apparatus with high safety by securely stopping the structure before the fully closed state.

The features of the present invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, are listed below.
1. An upper cover of the present invention is a top cover configured to support a fulcrum of a cover so as to be openable and closable up and down on a main body, and to be able to remove paper in a sheet conveyance path by opening and closing the cover. When the cover is closed, the cover is stopped before the fully closed position, and the upper cover is pressed to be fully closed.
2. The upper cover of the present invention is further stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover, and when the stopper mechanism comes into contact with the spring coil and the main body upper surface member that act in the direction of opening the upper cover. A sliding member that slides between the upper member is provided, and in the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding portion are in a straight line, and the force acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil is reduced. It is characterized by maintaining a fully closed state.

3. The sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention is a sheet conveying apparatus configured to convey while sandwiching a sheet by a plurality of conveying members, and supports a fulcrum of a cover that can be opened and closed up and down on the sheet conveying apparatus body, In a sheet conveying apparatus having an upper cover configured to be able to remove the sheet in the sheet conveying path by opening and closing the cover, the cover stops before the fully closed position when the upper cover is closed. The upper cover is pressed to be fully closed.
4). In the sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention, the upper cover is further stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover, and the stopper mechanism acts in a direction to open the upper cover and the upper surface of the main body. Provided with a sliding member that slides between the upper member of the main body when it comes into contact with the member. In the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding part are in a state of being almost in a straight line, acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil. The force to perform is made small and the fully closed state is maintained.

5. An image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a reading device that reads an image of a sheet in the middle of conveyance while sandwiching the sheet by a plurality of conveyance members,
An image forming apparatus including a reading device including an upper cover configured to support a fulcrum of a cover so that the sheet can be opened and closed by opening and closing the cover and opening and closing the cover. When the upper cover is closed, the cover is stopped before the fully closed position, and the upper cover is pressed to be fully closed.
6). In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the upper cover is further stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover, and the stopper mechanism acts in a direction to open the upper cover and the upper surface of the main body. Provided with a sliding member that slides between the upper member of the main body when it comes into contact with the member. In the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding part are in a state of being almost in a straight line, acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil. The force to perform is made small and the fully closed state is maintained.

  In the present invention, even if the open upper cover is suddenly closed by the means for solving the above problem, the stop mechanism stops before the fully closed position by contacting the upper member of the main body. It is possible to prevent a hand from being caught between the two. Also, by pressing the upper cover, the upper cover can be opened and closed without complicated work such as maintaining the fully closed state and releasing the lock, so there is no problem when opening and closing the upper cover in normal work Absent. Furthermore, the stopper mechanism is provided with a spring that acts in the direction to open the upper cover and a sliding member that slides between the upper portion of the main body and the upper portion of the main body, thereby reducing the number of parts and reducing the cost.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that it is easy for a person skilled in the art to make other embodiments by changing or correcting the present invention within the scope of the claims, and these changes and modifications are included in the scope of the claims. The following description is an example of the best mode of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the claims.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the sheet conveying apparatus of the present invention. The sheet conveying apparatus includes an original table (original placement table) 10, a lower guide plate (front) 11, a lower guide plate (rear) 12, a front drive roller 13, a front driven roller 14, a rear drive roller 15, and a rear driven roller. 16, a reading unit 17, a photosensitive drum 18, a white guide plate (exposure guide plate) 19, and a contact glass 20. An original P placed on the original table 10 is inserted by an operator, and the original sheet P is placed below. Guided by the guide plate (front) 11 to the nip portion of the front drive roller 13 and the front driven roller 14, the image surface is read by the reading unit 17 located below the contact glass 20, and after reading, the lower guide plate (rear) 12 is guided to the nip portion of the rear drive roller 15 and the rear driven roller 16 and is conveyed and discharged.

  3, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are schematic views showing the operating state of this stopper mechanism. An upper cover 2 that closes the upper portion of the main body 1 is supported so as to be openable and closable with respect to the main body 1. The upper cover 2 is provided with a stopper mechanism 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the stopper mechanism 3 includes a bracket 4, a sliding portion 5, a shaft 6, and a spring coil 7, and the bracket 4 is fixed to the upper cover 2. Further, the sliding portion 5 can be rotated around a shaft 6 provided rotatably on the bracket 4, and the rightward rotation is restricted by the side surface 8 of the sliding portion 5.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operating state of the stopper mechanism.
At the time of opening shown in FIG. 2, the spring coil 7 of the stopper mechanism 3 is in a contracted state as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, when the upper cover 2 is suddenly closed, the sliding portion 5 comes into contact with the upper surface 9 of the main body, so that it stops before the fully closed state. When a force is further applied in the direction in which the upper cover 2 is closed from the state shown in FIG. 3, the sliding portion 5 rotates to the left, the spring coil 7 extends little by little, and the upper cover 2 is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. In the state of FIG. 4, the sliding portion 5 of the stopper mechanism 3 and the spring coil 7 are in a straight line, the force acting in the direction of opening the upper cover 2 of the spring coil 7 is reduced, and the upper cover 2 is fully closed. The state can be maintained. When the upper cover 2 is opened, the stopper mechanism 3 is returned to the state shown in FIG.

  Therefore, according to the above embodiment, even when the upper cover 2 in the open state as shown in FIG. 2 is suddenly closed during work or the like, the upper cover 2 is in the fully closed position as shown in FIG. Since the closing operation can be stopped in front of the operator, the operator is not caught between the main body 1 and the upper cover 2. Further, since it is only necessary to provide the stopper mechanism 3 having a simple configuration, it is possible to take measures at low cost and attach it to an existing copying machine. Further, even in the fully closed state in FIG. 3, the stopper mechanism 3 does not lock the movement of the upper cover, so that the upper cover 2 can be opened and closed without complicated work. Then, by changing the mounting position of the stopper mechanism 3, the angle at which the upper cover 2 stops can be changed, so that the degree of freedom in design is increased. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, although the stopper mechanism 3 is provided on the upper cover 2, the stopper mechanism 3 can be provided on the main body 1.

It is the schematic which shows the structure of the sheet conveying apparatus of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the operation state of this stopper mechanism. It is the schematic which shows the operation state of this stopper mechanism. It is the schematic which shows the operation state of this stopper mechanism. It is a schematic diagram explaining the operation state of this stopper mechanism.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body 2 Upper cover 3 Stopper mechanism 4 Bracket 5 Sliding part 6 Shaft 7 Spring coil 8 Side surface 10 Document table 11 Lower guide plate (front)
12 Lower guide plate (rear)
13 Front driving roller 14 Front driven roller 15 Rear driving roller 16 Rear driven roller 17 Reading unit 18 Photosensitive drum 19 White guide plate (exposure guide plate)
20 Contact glass

Claims (6)

In the upper cover configured to support the fulcrum of the cover so that it can be opened and closed up and down on the main body, and to be able to remove the paper in the sheet conveyance path by opening and closing the cover
An upper cover, wherein when the upper cover is closed, the cover stops before the fully closed position, and the upper cover is pressed to be fully closed. The upper cover according to claim 1,
The upper cover is stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover,
The stopper mechanism is provided with a sliding member that slides between the spring coil that acts in the direction of opening the upper cover and the upper body member when contacting the upper body member,
In the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding portion are in a state close to a straight line, and the force acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil is reduced to maintain the fully closed state. A sheet conveying apparatus configured to convey a sheet while sandwiching the sheet by a plurality of conveying members, wherein the sheet conveying apparatus main body supports a fulcrum of a cover that can be opened and closed vertically, and the sheet is conveyed by opening and closing the cover. In a sheet conveying apparatus including an upper cover configured to be able to remove paper on a path,
When the upper cover is closed, the sheet stops before the fully closed position, and is pressed to press the upper cover to be in a fully closed state. In the sheet conveying apparatus according to claim 3,
The upper cover is stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover,
The stopper mechanism is provided with a sliding member that slides between the spring coil that acts in the direction of opening the upper cover and the upper body member when contacting the upper body member,
In the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding portion are in a state close to a straight line, and the force acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil is reduced to maintain the fully closed state. An image forming apparatus including a reading device that reads an image of a sheet in the middle of conveyance while sandwiching the sheet by a plurality of conveyance members,
In an image forming apparatus including a reading device including an upper cover configured to support a fulcrum of a cover so that the sheet can be opened and closed up and down, and by removing the sheet from the sheet conveyance path by opening and closing the cover.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the upper cover is closed, the cover is stopped before the fully closed position, and the upper cover is pressed to be fully closed. In the image forming apparatus according to claim 5,
The upper cover is stopped by a stopper mechanism provided between the main body and the upper cover,
The stopper mechanism is provided with a sliding member that slides between the spring coil that acts in the direction of opening the upper cover and the upper body member when contacting the upper body member,
In the fully closed state, the spring coil and the sliding portion are in a straight line, and the force acting in the direction of opening the upper cover of the spring coil is reduced to maintain the fully closed state.

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