JP2006215439A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide technology capable of making ease of maintenance and downsizing compatible with each other in an image forming apparatus disposed in an opening and closing section where a sheet installation part for installing sheets is opened and closed for the purpose of performing maintenance. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is equipped with regulation means (a maintenance lever 70, regulation member 80, hook 90, spring 28) which disable the opening operation of the opening and closing section 3 for maintenance when a manual insertion tray 6 exists in an open position where the tray is opened from the opening and closing section 3 for maintenance. The means are able in the opening operation of the opening and closing section 3 for maintenance when the manual insertion tray 6 exists in a housing position where the tray is housed in the opening and closing section 3 for maintenance. The means do not regulate the closing operation of the opening and closing section 3 for maintenance regardless of the position of the manual insertion tray 6. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a function of forming an image on a recording medium such as a sheet, such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile machine.

  Some conventional image forming apparatuses are provided with a sheet placing portion (manual feed tray or discharge tray) on which a sheet is placed in a maintenance opening / closing portion that is opened and closed for maintenance. In such an image forming apparatus, for example, a connecting shaft that rotatably connects a maintenance opening / closing part to the apparatus main body, and a manual feed tray or a discharge tray (sheet placing part) to the maintenance opening / closing part. The swinging shafts that are pivotally supported are supported so as to be parallel to each other, and the respective shafts are arranged at different positions so that the manual feed tray or the discharge tray and the maintenance opening / closing portion rotate in the same direction. Some are configured to be movable (see Patent Document 1).

  FIG. 5 is a side view showing a main part of a laser printer provided with a manual feed tray with respect to the maintenance opening / closing part.

  In FIG. 5, the swing shaft 104 of the manual feed tray 106 and the connecting shaft 107 of the maintenance opening / closing portion 103 are supported so as to be parallel to each other, and these shafts are arranged at different positions, respectively. The maintenance opening / closing portion 103 is provided with an inclined angle holding surface 154a formed substantially parallel to the movement trajectory of the manual feed tray 106 when the maintenance open / close portion 103 swings from the closed position to the maintenance position indicated by the chain line. An inclination angle holding portion 155 that abuts on the inclination angle holding surface 154a and holds the manual feed tray 106 in the operating position at a fixed angle with respect to the apparatus main body 102 in a state where the portion 103 is in an arbitrary position of the closed position or the maintenance position. Provided.

  In this way, even if the maintenance opening / closing part is in any position without adding any special parts, holding the manual feed tray at a fixed angle can prevent the load from falling, resulting in significant equipment cost. There has been proposed an image forming apparatus that does not cause an increase in the size and size of the apparatus.

  FIG. 6 is a side view showing the configuration of another example of the laser printer.

  In FIG. 6, reference numeral 131 denotes a printer main body, 132 denotes a base structure part that constitutes a part of the printer main body 131, 133 denotes a maintenance opening / closing part that constitutes the printer main body 131 together with the base structure part 132, and the maintenance opening / closing part 133 is The base structure part 132 is swingably supported around the connecting shaft 134, and is held in a closed position in close contact with the base structure part 132 shown by a solid line so that the printer main body 131 can form an image.

  Further, the user, a serviceman, or the like swings the maintenance opening / closing part 133 from the closed position to the maintenance position indicated by a chain line, thereby exposing the inside of the printer main body 131. Reference numeral 135 denotes a feeding cassette that is detachably attached to the base structure portion 132, and the feeding cassette 135 is loaded with a bundle of sheets P for feeding to the printer main body 131.

Further, reference numeral 136 denotes a discharge tray supported by a maintenance opening / closing portion 133 so as to be swingable around a swing shaft 137. When the apparatus is not used, the discharge tray 136 is held at a storage position stored in the maintenance opening / closing unit 133, and swings from the storage position to a discharge position indicated by a solid line when an image is formed by the apparatus. The sheet P on which an image is formed and discharged by the apparatus is stacked on a discharge tray 136 at the discharge position.
Japanese Patent No. 3313554

  However, in the case of the conventional technology as described above, in order to cope with an increase in the loading capacity, it is necessary to increase the loading thickness and increase the strength, and to form an inclination angle holding portion that can only be established in a specific area. In addition, there is a concern that the image forming apparatus will increase in size in the left-right or vertical direction.

  The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances as described above, and in an image forming apparatus provided with an opening / closing portion in which a sheet placement portion for placing a sheet is opened and closed for maintenance, the maintainability is improved. An object is to provide a technology capable of achieving both miniaturization.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides:
An opening / closing part provided in the apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable and supported at a position where the inside of the apparatus main body is exposed when opened;
A sheet placing portion provided in the opening and closing portion so as to be openable and closable;
In an image forming apparatus comprising:
A regulating means for regulating the opening operation of the opening and closing unit by moving based on the position of the sheet placing unit;
The regulating means is
When the sheet placement portion is in an open position opened from the opening / closing portion, the opening operation of the opening / closing portion is disabled,
When the sheet placement portion is in the storage position stored in the opening / closing portion, the opening / closing portion can be opened.

  According to the present invention, in the image forming apparatus provided with an opening / closing part in which a sheet placing part for placing a sheet is opened / closed for maintenance, it is possible to achieve both maintainability and downsizing.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, and relative arrangements of the components described in this embodiment should be appropriately changed according to the configuration of the apparatus to which the invention is applied and various conditions. It is not intended to limit the scope to the following embodiments.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state in which a manual feed tray 6 as a sheet placing portion is closed in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an image according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state where the manual feed tray 6 is opened in the forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a main part showing a state where the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is opened in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view showing the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and shows a state where the manual feed tray 6 is opened.

  First, the configuration of an image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a printer) according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes a printer main body, 2 denotes a base structure part (apparatus main body) constituting a part of the printer main body 1, and 3 denotes an opening / closing part (hereinafter referred to as maintenance opening / closing part) constituting the printer main body 1 together with the base structure part 2. .

  The maintenance opening / closing part 3 is supported by the base structure part 2 so as to be swingable about the connecting shaft 4 and is held in a close position close to the base structure part 2 shown in FIG. To. At the time of maintenance, the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is released from the closed position and swung to the maintenance position shown in FIG. 3 by a user, a serviceman (operator, user), etc. The inside is exposed and maintenance is performed.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a feeding cassette that is detachably attached to the base structure portion 2, and the feeding cassette 5 is loaded with sheets P for feeding to the printer main body 1.

  Further, the manual feed tray 6 is supported by the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 so as to be swingable about the swing shaft 7. When the manual feed tray 6 is not used, the manual feed tray 6 is held in the storage position stored in the maintenance opening / closing unit 3. When the manual feed tray 6 is used, the user moves the manual feed tray 6 from the storage position to the operating position (open position). ), The sheet P can be loaded on the manual feed tray 6.

  Here, the connecting shaft 4 and the swing shaft 7 are supported so as to be parallel to each other, and the respective shafts are arranged at different positions, so that the manual feed tray 6 and the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 rotate in the same direction. It is configured to be movable.

  Next, an image forming operation by the printer of this embodiment will be described. Hereinafter, as shown in FIG. 4, when the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is held in the closed position and the manual feed tray 6 is opened to the operating position, image formation is performed on the sheets P stacked on the manual feed tray 6. Will be described.

  The photosensitive drum 10 rotating in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4 is uniformly charged by the charger 11, and the laser unit 12 as image writing means scans the uniformly charged photosensitive drum 10 with the laser light L. As a result, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 10. The developing device 13 develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 10 into a toner image.

  On the other hand, the sheet P stacked on the manual feed tray 6 is sent out in the transport direction by the rotation of the feeding roller 14 in the direction of the arrow as the image formation is started, and this sheet P is the uppermost one by the frictional force of the separating member. Only the sheets are separated and fed into the conveyance path 16. The sheet P fed into the conveyance path 16 is timed by a detection signal from the registration sensor 17 and stops at a position where the sheet P contacts the nip portion of the registration roller pair 18 and the skew is corrected.

  The registration roller pair 18 starts the conveyance of the sheet P at the timing when the toner image on the photosensitive drum 10 reaches a predetermined position, and the transfer roller 19 detects the photosensitive member on the sheet P that has been started to be conveyed by the registration roller pair 18. The toner image on the drum 10 is transferred. The sheet P is conveyed to the fixing device 20 where the toner image is heated and fixed, and then discharged onto the discharge tray 22 by the discharge roller pair 21. At this time, the discharge sensor 23 detects the trailing edge of the sheet P at the upstream position of the discharge roller pair 21 and outputs a detection signal for defining the stop timing of the discharge roller pair 21.

Further, the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 10 after completion of the transfer of the toner image is removed from the photosensitive drum 10 by the cleaning unit 24 and collected in the cleaning unit 24.

  Here, the case where an image is formed on the sheet P fed from the manual feed tray 6 has been described. However, when the sheet P is fed from the feeding cassette 5, the sheet P is stored in the feeding cassette 5. An image forming operation is performed by feeding one sheet P to the conveyance path 30 by the feeding roller 25 and the separating member 26.

  Next, a characteristic configuration of the present embodiment will be described.

  The printer main body 1 of the present embodiment is provided with restriction means for restricting the rotation of the maintenance opening / closing part 3 by moving based on the position of the manual feed tray 6. When the manual feed tray 6 is in the open position opened from the maintenance opening / closing unit 3, this restricting means disables the maintenance opening / closing unit 3 to open, and the manual tray 6 is stored in the maintenance opening / closing unit 3. When in the stored position, the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 can be opened, and the closing operation of the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 is not restricted regardless of the position of the manual feed tray 6.

  The restricting means includes a maintenance lever 70 as an operation member supported by the maintenance opening / closing part 3 so as to be slidable in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 1, and a maintenance lever 70 pivotally supported by the maintenance opening / closing part 3. Member 80 that restricts the sliding movement of the member, and a member that is supported coaxially with the restricting member 80 and rotates with the thrust movement of the maintenance lever 70 to be locked to the fixed shaft 29 disposed in the base structure portion 2. A hook 90 as a stop member is arranged so that one end is biased in a direction in which the regulating member 80 abuts on the manual feed tray 6 and the other end is biased in a direction in which the hook 90 is locked with the fixed shaft 29 as a locking portion. And a spring 28 as a torsion coil spring (first biasing means, second biasing means). The regulating member 80, the hook 90, and the spring 28 are pivotally supported on a rotation shaft (hereinafter referred to as a shaft) 27.

  Hereinafter, a state in which an image forming operation is possible and the manual feed tray 6 is opened will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the manual feed tray 6 is open, the pressing member (contacting surface) 61 of the manual feeding tray 6 is separated from the pressing surface (contacting surface) 81 of the regulating member 80, so that the regulating member 80 biases the spring 28. Thus, the pin 90 of the maintenance lever 70 rotates until the stopper surface 84 comes into contact with the stopper portion 95 of the hook 90 and is disposed at a position (a restriction position) where the pin 71 contacts the restriction surface 83 of the restriction member 80. As a result, the pin 71 of the maintenance lever 70 is obstructed by the restricting surface 83 of the restricting member 80 so that the slide movement is impossible.

  The restriction member 80 is provided with a restriction hole 82 in which the pin 71 of the maintenance lever 70 is engaged (connected). The restriction hole 82 includes a slide hole 82a that allows the pin 71 to slide in the arrow A direction; A shaft 27 serving as a rotation center of the restricting member 80 and a concentric hole 82b formed in a substantially concentric shape are provided. And the regulation surface 83 is a surface which comprises the circular arc by the side of an outer diameter among the concentric circular holes 82b, and when the pin 71 is located in the concentric circular holes 82b, it restricts the movement of the pin 71 in the arrow A direction. It is.

  Further, since the regulation surface 83 is formed substantially concentrically with the shaft 27 that is the rotation center of the regulation member 80, the regulation surface 83 and the pin 71 slip and the regulation member 80 rotates. It is preventing.

In this state, the maintenance lever 70 cannot be pulled up in the direction of arrow A, and the hook 90 maintains the locking position (state) locked to the fixed shaft 29. It cannot be opened.

  Here, the pin 71 constitutes a convex portion, the slide hole 82a constitutes a second concave portion, and the concentric hole 82b constitutes the first concave portion, thereby constituting a first engaging portion.

  Next, a state where the sheet P is removed and the manual feed tray 6 is closed will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the manual feed tray 6 is closed, the pressing portion 61 of the manual feed tray 6 pushes up the pressing surface 81 of the regulating member 80, so that the regulating member 80 rotates and the pin 71 of the maintenance lever 70 regulates the regulating member 80. It is arranged at a position where it cannot contact the surface 83. This position is an allowable position that allows the maintenance lever 70 to slide in the direction of arrow A, and the pin 71 of the maintenance lever 70 is slidable within the slide hole 82a of the restriction hole 82 of the restriction member 80. .

  In this state, when the maintenance lever 70 is pulled up in the direction of arrow A, the pin 71 slides while abutting against the slide surface 94 of the hook 90, and the hook 90 rotates about the shaft 27. However, it is possible to open the maintenance opening / closing part 3 from the base structure part 2 by taking the unlocking position away from the fixed shaft 29 of the base structure part 2.

  Further, the pressing portion 61 of the manual feed tray 6 is formed substantially parallel to a virtual circle tangent centering on the swing shaft 7 (it can be said that the manual feed tray 6 is formed in the operation direction of the closing operation of the manual feed tray 6). The pressing surface 81 of the regulating member 80 is formed so as to be substantially parallel to the pressing portion 61 of the manual feed tray 6 in a rotated state, and the pressing surface 81 of the regulating member 80 and the pressing portion of the manual feed tray 6 are formed. The manual feed tray 6 can be easily closed even if the urging force of the spring 28 is strong because the sliding resistance between the paper and the power supply 61 is made of a material.

  Further, when the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 shown in FIG. 3 is closed from the open state, when the tapered surface 92 as the sliding portion of the hook 90 comes into contact with the fixed shaft 29 of the base structure portion 2, the pin of the maintenance lever 70 is The hook 90 rotates in a direction in which the slide surface 94 formed on the hook 90 is separated from 71. A pin insertion hole 93 including a slide surface 94 that enables this operation is formed in the hook 90. Here, the pin 71 constitutes a convex portion, and the pin insertion hole 93 constitutes a third concave portion, whereby the second engaging portion is constituted.

  Therefore, the hook 90 is rotatable regardless of the positions of the maintenance lever 70 and the regulating member 80, and can be locked to the base structure portion 2 simply by pushing the maintenance opening / closing portion 3 in the closing direction.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the manual feed tray 6 that can be manually fed is in the open position opened from the maintenance opening / closing unit 3 by providing the restricting means, When the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is not opened, and the manual feed tray 6 is in the storage position stored in the maintenance opening / closing part 3, the maintenance opening / closing part 3 can be opened. Regardless of the position, the closing operation of the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is not restricted.

  As a result, when the sheet is placed on the manual feed tray 6, the maintenance opening / closing part 3 is not opened, so that the manual feed tray 6, which has been a concern when opening the maintenance opening / closing part 3, It is possible to prevent the stacked sheets from falling and to improve maintenance.

  Furthermore, since it becomes possible to implement | achieve by the structure which simplified the regulation means, the enlargement of an apparatus can be suppressed (a miniaturization can be achieved), and the cost increase of an apparatus can be suppressed. In the spring 28, by applying a torsion coil spring, the cost and size of the apparatus can be reduced.

  In the present embodiment, the manual tray 6 has been described as the sheet placement unit. However, the sheet placement unit is not limited to this, and is provided in the maintenance opening / closing unit 3 so as to be openable and closable. It may be any as long as it is a discharge tray on which a sheet discharged from the apparatus main body is placed.

  In addition, although the torsion coil spring is used for the spring 28, the present invention is not limited to this, and a biasing means that biases the regulating member 80 in a direction in contact with the manual feed tray 6 and a direction in which the hook 90 is locked to the fixed shaft 29. The urging means for urging to the position may be provided separately.

  In addition, the maintenance lever 70 is provided with the pin 71, and the restriction member 80 is provided with the restriction hole 82 with which the pin 71 is engaged. The maintenance lever 70 may be provided with a concave portion where the convex portion is engaged (connected). Further, the pin 71 of the maintenance lever 70 and the pin insertion hole 93 provided in the hook 90 constitute the second engaging portion. However, the hook 90 is provided with a convex portion, and the convex portion is The maintenance lever 70 may be provided with a concave portion to be engaged (connected).

In the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. In the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. In the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the conventional image forming apparatus. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the principal part of the conventional image forming apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer main body 2 Base structure part 3 Maintenance opening / closing part 6 Manual feed tray 28 Spring 70 Maintenance lever 80 Restriction member 90 Hook

Claims (8)

An opening / closing part provided in the apparatus main body so as to be openable and closable and supported at a position where the inside of the apparatus main body is exposed when opened;
A sheet placing portion provided in the opening and closing portion so as to be openable and closable;
In an image forming apparatus comprising:
A regulating means for regulating the opening operation of the opening and closing unit based on the position of the sheet placing unit;
The regulating means is
When the sheet placement portion is in an open position opened from the opening / closing portion, the opening operation of the opening / closing portion is disabled,
An image forming apparatus that enables an opening operation of the opening / closing section when the sheet placement section is in a storage position stored in the opening / closing section.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the regulating unit does not regulate the closing operation of the opening / closing unit regardless of a position of the sheet stacking unit. The regulating means is
When the opening / closing part is in a closed state, the opening / closing part has a locking position to be locked by a locking part provided in the apparatus main body, and an unlocking position separated from the locking part. A locking member that is movably provided and enables the opening and closing part to be closed;
First biasing means for biasing the locking member so that the locking member takes the locking position;
When the engaging member is engaged with the engaging member and is movably provided at the opening / closing portion and moved by being operated, the engaging member is moved against the urging force of the first urging means. An operation member to be positioned at the unlocking position from
A restriction position that is movably provided in the opening / closing portion and moves by contacting / separating the sheet placement portion with the opening / closing operation of the sheet placement portion, and restricts the movement of the operation member, and the operation member A restricting member that takes an allowable position to allow movement of
A second urging means for urging the restricting member in a direction in contact with the sheet placing portion;
With
When the opening / closing portion is in a closed state and the sheet placement portion is in the open position, the restriction member takes the restriction position by separating the sheet placement portion, and the operation member By restricting the movement, the locking state by the locking member is maintained, and the opening operation of the opening / closing part becomes impossible,
When the opening / closing portion is in a closed state and the sheet placement portion is in the storage position, the restricting member takes the allowable position by contacting the sheet placement portion, and the operation member is 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when operated and moved, the locked state by the locking member is released, and the opening / closing portion can be opened. 4.   The first biasing means and the second biasing means bias one end of the locking member so that the locking member takes the locking position, and the other end places the restricting member on the sheet. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image forming apparatus is constituted by a single torsion coil spring provided so as to be urged in a direction in contact with the portion. A rotation shaft provided in the opening / closing portion and rotatably supporting the regulating member;
Provided between the restricting member and the operating member, and when the restricting member is located at the restricting position, the restricting member is rotatable with respect to the operating member around the rotating shaft; and A first engaging portion for movably engaging the operating member with respect to the restricting member when the restricting member is located at the allowable position;
Provided between the operating member and the locking member, the locking member is interlocked with the operating member when the regulating member is located at the allowable position and the operating member moves relative to the regulating member. A second engaging portion that engages so as to
A sliding portion that is provided on the locking member and that is in sliding contact with the locking portion in accordance with a closing operation of the opening and closing portion when the locking member is in the locking position; and A fastening portion that is locked to the locking portion only when the opening and closing portion after sliding contact with the locking portion is in a closed state;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: The first engaging portion is
A convex portion provided on the operating member;
A first concave portion that is provided in the restriction member substantially concentrically with respect to the rotation shaft, and that allows the restriction member to turn in a state in which the convex portion is engaged;
Continuing from the first concave portion, the regulating member is provided in a direction in which the operating member moves at the permissible position, and the operating member can be moved with the convex portion engaged. A second concave portion;
Composed of
The second engaging portion is
The convex portion;
Engaged with the convex portion so that the locking member moves to the unlocking position in conjunction with the operation member provided on the locking member and moves along the second concave portion; and A third concave portion that engages the convex portion so that the locking member can be moved from the locking position to the locking release position even when the movement of the operation member is restricted;
Composed of
The first biasing means and the second biasing means bias one end of the locking member so that the locking member takes the locking position, and the other end places the restricting member on the sheet. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured by a torsion coil spring provided so as to be urged in a direction in contact with the portion.   At least one of the contact surfaces that are provided in the sheet placement portion and the regulating member and contact each other when the sheet placement portion is in the open position performs a closing operation of the sheet placement portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image forming apparatus is made of a material that facilitates sliding resistance.   The sheet placing unit is a manual feed tray on which a sheet fed into the apparatus main body is placed, or a discharge tray on which a sheet discharged from the apparatus main body is placed. Item 8. The image forming apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 7.

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