JP2006255979A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device which can easily perform the angle adjustment for an operating section by a new constitution, and at the same time, can hold the operating section at the adjusted angle. <P>SOLUTION: The operating section 6 is freely rockably supported by a device main body 2, and the operating section 6 can be rocked in the upward direction and the downward direction in this image forming device 1. For the image forming device 1, an operating section holding means 19 which holds the operating section 6 at an arbitrary angle to the device main body 2, and holding releasing means 20 and 21 are provided. In this case, the holding releasing means 20 and 21 release the holding state of the operating section 6 by the operating section holding means 19, and are respectively provided in response to respective rocking directions of the operating section 6. When one holding releasing means 20 is operated, the operating section 6 is made rockable in the downward direction alone, and when the other holding releasing means 21 is operated, the operating section 6 is made rockable in the upward direction alone. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying apparatus, a facsimile, a printer, a plotter, and a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a configuration of an operation unit that operates the apparatus.

  In conventional image forming apparatuses such as electrophotographic copying machines, facsimile machines, printers, plotters, and printing apparatuses, an operation unit (operation panel) is provided in consideration of an operator's line-of-sight position and ease of operation. In many cases, the main body is fixed at a predetermined angle with respect to the exterior panel. However, the fixed operation unit has a problem in that the visibility of the display unit that performs various displays provided in the operation unit is reduced due to reflection or reflection of a room lamp. Further, in recent years, wheelchair users are advancing into society, but the operation unit of the image forming apparatus described above is often installed on the upper surface of the apparatus, and the operation position of the operation unit is too high for wheelchair users. There was a problem that it was not possible. Therefore, the operation unit is configured to be swingable with respect to the exterior panel of the apparatus main body, and has holding means for holding the operation unit at an appropriate swing angle so that the holding state is maintained even when an appropriate external force reaches the operation unit. An image forming apparatus to be maintained is disclosed in, for example, “Patent Document 1” or “Patent Document 2”.

JP 2003-246114 A JP 2004-133243 A

  In the technique disclosed in “Patent Document 1”, an operation lever disposed on the front surface of the operation panel, an attachment angle fixing member interlocked with the operation lever, and an apparatus main body side that engages with the attachment angle fixing member. And a mounting angle of the operation panel is adjusted to a plurality of levels by operation of the operation lever. Further, in the technique disclosed in “Patent Document 2”, the operation panel is swingable around its front end, provided with a locking means for fixing and holding the operation panel, and a claw member constituting the locking means is provided. By moving it, the swing angle of the operation panel is adjusted in a plurality of stages.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easily adjusting the angle of the operation unit and holding the operation unit at an adjusted angle with a novel configuration different from the above-described technologies. And

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, in an image forming apparatus in which an apparatus main body swingably supports an operation unit for operating the apparatus, and the operation unit can be swung upward and downward. An operation unit holding unit configured to hold the device body at an arbitrary angle; and a holding release unit configured to release the holding state of the operation unit by the operation unit holding unit. Provided in accordance with each swinging direction, the operation part can swing only downward when operating one of the holding release means, and the operating part when operating the other holding release means Can be swung only upward.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the operation unit holding unit further includes a swing regulating unit that regulates swinging of the operation unit due to its own weight.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the swing restricting unit is provided integrally with the operation unit and rotates when the operation unit swings; and A resistance adding member disposed in the apparatus main body in pressure contact with the rotating body and imparting rotational resistance to the rotating body is connected to a rotational force applied to the rotating body only when the operating portion is swung downward. And a one-way clutch.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the operation portion holding means is provided integrally with the operation portion, and the operation portion is swung. A pair of ratchet gears that are provided integrally with a support shaft that rotates in the direction of the shaft, and are arranged to engage with the ratchet gears, respectively. A pair of rotation restricting members that restrict the rotation of the ratchet gear and allow the other ratchet gear to rotate, and the holding release means is configured to operate the ratchet gear and the rotation restricting members during operation. Only one of the engagements is released.

  According to the present invention, since the operation unit holding unit restricts the swinging of the operation unit when the holding release unit is not operated, the operation unit is held at an arbitrary angle with respect to the apparatus main body, and one of the holding release units Only the downward swing of the operating portion is allowed during operation, and only the upward swinging of the operating portion is allowed when operating the other holding release means, so that the angle of the operating portion can be easily adjusted Can do.

  In addition, since there is a swing restricting means for restricting swinging of the operation unit due to its own weight, it is possible to prevent the operation unit from swinging unexpectedly due to its own weight when swinging the operation unit downward. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a problem that causes danger to the operator.

  In addition, since it has a one-way clutch that connects the rotational force to the rotating body only when the operating unit swings downward, the operating unit can swing upward without requiring a large force. Can be improved.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 which is an electrophotographic copying apparatus has a photosensitive drum, a developing device, a transfer device, a fixing device, an optical writing device, etc. (not shown) inside the device main body 2, respectively. An image is formed according to the original image placed on the image reading unit 3 provided at the top of 2 and the image-formed transfer sheet is discharged onto a discharge tray (not shown). The image reading unit 3 is provided with a cover 4 that can be opened and closed with respect to a contact glass (not shown) and an ADF 5 provided on the cover 4.

  An operation panel 6 as an operation unit for operating the image forming apparatus 1 is disposed on the upper front side of the apparatus main body 2. The operation panel 6 has a display device 7, various keys 8 and the like on the upper surface of a panel body 6a having a housing shape, and the panel body 6a supports both ends of the support shaft 10 in a non-rotatable state. 2 and a pair of brackets 9 (only one is shown in each figure) shown in FIG. 3 are integrally attached. The support shaft 10 is rotatably supported at a portion near both ends thereof by a pair of brackets 11 fixed to the apparatus main body 2, whereby the operation panel 6 is supported by the apparatus main body 2 to be swingable.

  Two ratchet gears 12A and 12B are fixed to the support shaft 10 at a predetermined interval. Each of the ratchet gears 12A and 12B is formed so that each tooth surface is inclined with respect to one of the rotation directions different from each other. The tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12A is counterclockwise in FIG. The tooth surfaces are inclined in the clockwise direction in FIG.

  Above each of the ratchet gears 12A and 12B, an engagement plate 13 is provided as a rotation restricting member having an engagement portion 13a that engages with the tooth surface of each of the ratchet gears 12A and 12B on one end side. Each engagement plate 13 is rotatably supported by a bracket 14 fixed to the apparatus main body 2 by a support shaft 13b integrally formed at a substantially central portion thereof, and a torsion coil spring 15 attached to each support shaft 13b. The respective engaging portions 13a are pressed against the tooth surfaces of the corresponding ratchet gears 12A and 12B by the urging force.

  The lower ends of the columnar members 17 whose upper ends are fixed to the bottom surfaces of the release switches 16A and 16B whose upper surfaces are exposed on the surface of the apparatus main body 2 are respectively in contact with the other end sides of the respective engagement plates 13 and released. When the switch 16A is pressed, the engagement between the ratchet gear 12A and the engaging portion 13a is released, and when the release switch 16B is pressed, the engagement between the ratchet gear 12B and the engaging portion 13a is released. Projections 16Aa and 16Ba are formed on the release switches 16A and 16B, respectively, and each projecting portion 16Aa and 16Ba comes into contact with an upper plate of the apparatus main body 2 and a member (not shown) provided on the apparatus main body 2. An upper limit position when the release switches 16A and 16B are not pressed and a lower limit position when the release switches 16A and 16B are not pressed are set.

  With the above configuration, when the release switches 16A and 16B are not pressed (non-operated), the engaging shafts 13 are engaged with the tooth surfaces of the corresponding ratchet gears 12A and 12B. The operation panel 6 is fixed with respect to the apparatus main body 2. When the release switch 16A is pressed (operated) from this state, the engagement between the engaging portion 13a and the tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12A is released, and the support shaft 10 has the engaging portion 13a inclined portion of the tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12B. The operation panel 6 can be swung only in the downward direction by allowing the rotation in the direction of climbing up, that is, the counterclockwise rotation in FIG. Further, when the release switch 16B is pressed, the engagement between the engaging portion 13a and the tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12B is released, and the support shaft 10 is a direction in which the engaging portion 13a rides on the inclined portion of the tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12A. That is, by allowing the clockwise rotation in FIG. 3, the operation panel 6 can be swung only upward.

  When the operation panel 6 swings, when the operation panel 6 reaches a desired angle, the pressing of the release switch 16A or 16B is stopped, so that the engagement plate 13 is moved by the biasing force of the torsion coil spring 15. The engagement portion 13a is engaged with the tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12A or 12B, and is returned to the initial state shown in FIG. 2, and each engagement portion 13a engages with an appropriate tooth surface of the ratchet gear 12A or 12B. Thus, the operation panel 6 is held at an arbitrary angle by the apparatus main body 2. This arbitrary angle is appropriately set according to the number and interval of tooth surfaces formed on the ratchet gears 12A and 12B. In addition, when the operation panel 6 is swung, there is provided a configuration that regulates the swing angle of the operation panel 6 so that the operation panel 6 does not rotate to an angle that does not have the tooth surfaces of the ratchet gears 12A and 12B. Yes.

  Further, when the operation panel 6 is swung, either one of the release switches 16A or 16B is pressed, but the other release switch is not pressed (the operation panel 6 is swung downward). To move it, press the release switch 16A). During this swinging, the release switch that has not been pressed moves up and down with the up and down movement of the columnar member 17 that is in contact, because the engaging plate 13 moves up and down with the rotation of the corresponding ratchet gear. End up. In order to prevent this, a compression coil spring 18 is disposed around each columnar member 17 with the upper end abutting against the bottom surface of the release switches 16A and 16B and the other end fixed to the bracket 14.

  With the above-described configuration, the engagement plates 13 engage the engagement portions 13a with the ratchet gears 12A and 12B in a state where the release switches 16A and 16B are not depressed, so that the support shafts provided integrally are provided. By restricting the rotation of 10, the operation panel 6 is held at an arbitrary angle with respect to the apparatus main body 2. From this state, when the release switch 16A is pressed, the engagement between the ratchet gear 12A and the engagement plate 13 is released, and only the downward swing of the operation panel 6 is allowed. By pressing the release switch 16B, the ratchet The engagement between the gear 12B and the engagement plate 13 is released, and only the upward swing of the operation panel 6 is allowed. In the above-described configuration, the ratchet gears 12A and 12B, the engagement plates 13, the brackets 14, and the torsion coil springs 15 constitute the operation portion holding means 19, and the release switch 16A and the columnar member 17 integrated therewith hold release release means. 20, the release switch 16B and the columnar member 17 integrated with the release switch 16B constitute holding release means 21, respectively.

  In the above-described embodiment, when the release switch 16A is pressed to swing the operation panel 6 downward, the operation panel 6 swings downward due to its own weight simultaneously with the press of the release switch 16A, which is unexpected. There is a risk that the operator may be in danger due to the swinging motion. Therefore, a roller 22 as a rotating body is fixed to the support shaft 10, and a friction plate 23 as a resistance adding member is disposed so as to be in pressure contact with the roller 22 on the apparatus body 2. The friction plate 23 may be any member as long as it provides a rotational resistance to the roller 22, and is preferably an elastically deformable member such as a leaf spring. The rotational resistance provided by the friction plate 23 is set such that the operation panel 6 does not swing due to its own weight when the release switch 16A is pressed. The roller 22 and the friction plate 23 constitute a swing restricting means 24.

  With this configuration, when the operation panel 6 is swung downward, it is prevented that the operation panel 6 is swung unexpectedly by its own weight, and there is a problem that the operator is in danger due to the unexpected swing. Can be prevented.

  In the above-described configuration, the swing restricting means 24 also acts when the release switch 16B is pressed to swing the operation panel 6 upward, so that the operator can swing downward while swinging upward. Therefore, it becomes necessary to swing the operation panel 6 with a larger force, and there is a problem in operability. Therefore, a one-way clutch 25 is interposed between the support shaft 10 and the roller 22, and the rotational force of the support shaft 10 is transmitted to the roller 22 when the operation panel 6 is swung downward. When the 6 is swung upward, the operation panel 6 can be swung upward without requiring a large force, so that the operability can be improved. .

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which an electrophotographic copying apparatus is used as an image forming apparatus is shown. However, the image forming apparatus is not limited to this, and an image forming apparatus having an operation unit such as a facsimile, a printer, a plotter, and a printing apparatus is used. The present invention can be applied to any apparatus.

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus that employs an embodiment of the present invention. It is a fragmentary sectional perspective view of the operation part rocking | fluctuation mechanism used for one Embodiment of this invention. It is a fragmentary sectional perspective view of the operation part rocking | fluctuation mechanism used for one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Image forming device (electrophotographic copying machine)
2 Device body 6 Operation unit (operation panel)
10 Support shaft 12A, 12B Ratchet gear 13 Rotation restricting member (engagement plate)
19 Operation part holding means 20, 21 Holding release means 22 Rotating body (roller)
23 Resistance addition member (friction plate)
24 swing restricting means 25 one-way clutch

Claims (4)

In an image forming apparatus in which an apparatus main body swingably supports an operation unit for operating the apparatus, and the operation unit can be swung upward and downward.
An operation unit holding unit that holds the operation unit at an arbitrary angle with respect to the apparatus main body; and a holding release unit that releases a holding state of the operation unit by the operation unit holding unit. Provided in accordance with each swinging direction of the operation part, and when operating one of the holding release means, the operation part can swing only downward, and when operating the other holding release means The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit can swing only in an upward direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit holding unit includes a rocking regulation unit that regulates rocking of the operation unit due to its own weight. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.
The swing restricting means is provided integrally with the operation unit and rotates when the operation unit swings, and is disposed in the apparatus main body while being in pressure contact with the rotary body, and rotates with respect to the rotary body. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a resistance adding member that provides resistance; and a one-way clutch that connects a rotational force applied to the rotating body only when the operating unit swings downward. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The operation portion holding means is a pair of ratchet gears that are provided integrally with the operation portion and that are provided integrally with a support shaft that rotates when the operation portion swings, and the ratchet gears that are different from each other. And a pair of rotation restricting members that are arranged to engage with each other and restrict the rotation of one of the ratchet gears and allow the other ratchet gear to rotate when the operation unit swings in one direction. The holding release means releases only one of the engagements between the ratchet gears and the rotation restricting members during the operation.

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