JP2008008998A - Bracket for fixing outside cover member of image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bracket by which not only the outside cover member of an image forming apparatus is stably attached but also it is attached with the degree of freedom to some extent. <P>SOLUTION: The bracket 11 is equipped with a reference surface 21 provided in any one direction out of six directions of front, rear, right, left, top and bottom directions and attached and fixed on a structural frame 10 in a surface-contact state, and reference parts for positioning a cover member 12 formed respectively in five directions excepting the direction where the reference surface 21 is formed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a bracket applied when an exterior cover member covering an outer surface of an image forming apparatus is attached and fixed to a structural frame constituting the image forming apparatus.

In the present invention, the left and right brackets applied when fixing the exterior cover member of the image forming apparatus are made into a common part, but the member fixing brackets applied to a plurality of places in this way are made into a common part. As such, it is described in, for example, Patent Document 1 and is publicly known.
Patent Document 1 relates to an automobile door lock device, in which a bracket for attaching an actuator for unlocking operation or the like is made a common component for left and right doors.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-307698

As a method of making the left and right brackets into a common part in this way, for example, it is conceivable that the shape of the brackets is made symmetrical. However, the bracket of the image forming apparatus is required not only to have a function of fixing the outer cover but also to have a function of positioning the cover, and to be able to attach the outer cover stably. Therefore, it must be said that it is not sufficient to simply make the bracket symmetrical.
Furthermore, the symmetrical bracket has few reference portions for fixing the outer cover member, and the outer cover member is attached with a certain degree of freedom (expanded in various places) when fixing the cover member. I can't.

  The object of the present invention is that the exterior cover member of the image forming apparatus can be stably attached, and of course, the exterior cover member can be attached with a certain degree of freedom and can be provided at low cost. An object of the present invention is to provide a bracket for fixing a cover member.

  The first aspect of the present invention is directed to a bracket applied when an exterior cover member that covers the outer surface of the apparatus is attached and fixed to a structural frame constituting the image forming apparatus. This bracket is a bent metal fitting made of a metal plate. A reference surface that is provided in any one of the six directions of front, rear, left, right, up and down, and is attached and fixed to the structural frame in a surface contact state, and each of five directions excluding the formation direction of the reference surface And a formed reference portion for positioning the cover member.

  As in the second aspect of the present invention, at least four reference portions among the reference portions formed in five directions can be configured by a surface.

  As in the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to adopt a form in which a hole for fixing the exterior cover member is provided on the surface constituting the reference portion.

  As in the fourth aspect of the present invention, at least one of the surfaces constituting the reference portion may be formed by bending the reference surface at least three times.

  In the bracket according to claim 1, since the plurality of reference portions are provided, when fixing the exterior cover member, the exterior cover member can be attached with a certain degree of freedom (deployed at various locations). it can. In other words, in the past, it was possible to make different brackets for each mounting location, but these could be made into common parts, so the number of parts of the image forming apparatus was reduced and the manufacturing cost was reduced. Can contribute. Stable attachment is possible by pressing the exterior cover member against the reference portion. Further, since the bracket is formed of a bent metal fitting made of a metal plate, the bracket can be provided at a low cost, and this can also contribute to a reduction in manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus.

  In the bracket according to claim 2, since it is constituted by a surface, more stable attachment is possible.

  In the bracket according to the third aspect, the cover member can be screwed.

  In the bracket according to claim 4, since the surface formed by bending the reference surface at least three times has a spring property by bending the metal plate, even if the cover member is distorted during molding, the surface is bent. It can be installed. That is, the bracket and the exterior cover member can be fastened and fixed without being affected or restricted by the initial distortion caused by molding defects of the exterior cover member.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of a bracket for fixing an exterior cover member of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 is a simplified perspective view of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is an external perspective view showing the structure of the bracket, FIG. 3 is a front view showing the mounting structure of the exterior cover member including the bracket, and FIG. 4 is a mounting state of the bracket to the frame. It is a vertical side view shown.
In this embodiment, the direction in which the operation panel 7 is arranged in FIG. 1 (the direction of the white arrow Y1) is defined as “front”, and the opposite direction is defined as “rear”. Further, a direction orthogonal to the front-rear direction and the horizontal direction is defined as a left-right direction.

  This image forming apparatus is a so-called in-body discharge type image forming apparatus, and includes a plurality of paper feed cassettes 2 arranged at a lower portion of the apparatus main body 1 and an image formation arranged above the paper feed cassettes 2. And an image reading unit 5 disposed above the image forming unit 3 via the in-body discharge space 4. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 a denotes an automatic document feeder that is assembled above the image reading unit 5. The paper fed from the paper feed cassette 2 is stacked in the in-body paper discharge space 4 after the toner image is fixed by the image forming unit 3.

  An operation panel 7 for inputting various control operations such as a copy operation and a facsimile operation for the image forming apparatus is provided on the front side of the apparatus body 1. On the surface of the operation panel 7, in addition to a touch panel type liquid crystal screen 8 functioning as a display means and an operation means, operation buttons 9 such as a numeric keypad for inputting the number of copies are arranged.

  A structural frame for supporting an internal device such as an image forming unit or a fixing device is built in the apparatus main body 1. This structural frame is a combination of a frame extending in the vertical direction and a frame extending in the horizontal direction (hereinafter simply referred to as “horizontal frame”; reference numeral 10 (see FIGS. 2 to 4)). It has a skeleton structure that roughly matches the shape. Substantially the entire structure frame is covered with an exterior cover member 12 that is fixedly attached to the horizontal frame 10 via a bracket 11.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral S denotes an exterior cover member mounting structure constituted by the horizontal frame 10, the bracket 11, and the exterior cover member 12. Specifically, the mounting structure S is disposed in the upper front portion of the apparatus main body 1 and extends horizontally in the left and right directions, and a pair of left and right brackets 11 and 11 attached to the left and right ends of the horizontal frame 10. And an exterior cover member 12 attached and fixed to the horizontal frame 10 so as to cover the outer surface of the apparatus main body 1 via the brackets 11 and 11.
In addition, in the mounting structure S according to the present embodiment, attention is paid to the fact that the left and right brackets 11 are made into common parts. That is, it is noted that the same brackets 11 and 11 are used on the left and right.

  These brackets 11 are bent metal fittings (pressed products) made of a single metal plate 20 having a deformed shape as shown in FIG. 5, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, Fastening portion 21 that is mounted and fixed to front outer surface 14 with screws 15 in a surface contact state, left engagement portion 22 having an engagement surface directed in the left direction, and right having an engagement surface directed in the right direction To the horizontal frame 10 formed above the engaging portion 23, the engaging portion for fixing the three exterior cover members 12 of the lower engaging portion 24 having an engaging surface directed downward, and the fastening portion 21. And a latching claw 25 for latching. The left engagement portion 22 is directed to the left after being bent three times from the fastening portion 21.

As shown in FIG. 5, the fastening portion 21 includes an upper first piece 27, a lower second piece 28, and a connecting piece 29 that connects the first piece 27 and the second piece 28 at the left end edge. It has a U shape in front view. Both pieces 27 and 28 have a substantially square shape, and each has a screw through hole 30. A folded piece 31 is extended in a cantilevered manner from the upper end edge of the first piece 27, and the folded piece 31 is folded back and then downward to form a hook-shaped latching claw 25.
Further, a square piece 33 extending rightward from the right end edge of the first piece 27 is folded forward to form the right engagement portion 23. The right engagement portion 23 has a through hole 35 (fixing hole).

  As shown in FIG. 5, a rectangular piece 36 having a long rectangular shape is provided on the left side edge of the fastening portion 21 so as to be folded back at the bent portion 43 toward the front. A piece 37 extending downward from the lower end edge of the folded piece 36 is folded back in the horizontal direction to form the lower engaging portion 24. A through hole 38 (fixing hole) for mounting and fixing the cover member 12 is formed in the corner portion of the board surface of the lower engaging portion 24.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a folded piece 39 serving as the left engaging portion 22 is extended in a cantilevered manner toward the left outer side at the upper left edge of the folded piece 36. A left engagement portion having two engagement surfaces, that is, an engagement surface 40 directed to the front and an engagement surface 41 directed to the left, by bending back and forth to form a U shape as shown in FIG. 22 is formed. The engagement surface 41 is provided with a through hole 42 (fixing hole) for fixing the cover member 12. The left engagement portion 22 is directed to the left after being folded at the three bent portions indicated by reference numerals 43, 44, and 45. Therefore, the left engagement portion 22 can be slightly bent and deformed in the left-right direction.

  The bracket 11 having the above-described configuration includes a reference portion for positioning the cover member 12 in each of the five directions including front, rear, left, right, and top, excluding the formation direction of the fastening portion 21 serving as a reference surface. That is, the bracket 11 has each of five directions (front, up, down, left and right) excluding the formation direction of the reference surface, with the fastening portion 21 mounted and fixed in a surface contact state with the horizontal frame 10 as a reference surface (rear direction) Is provided with a reference portion for positioning the cover member 12.

  Specifically, in this bracket 11, the engagement surface 40 that faces the front of the left engagement portion 22 is referred to as a “front reference portion”. The upper edge of the left engaging part 22 and the right engaging part 23 is referred to as “upper reference part”. An engagement surface directed downward of the lower engagement portion 24 is referred to as a “lower reference portion”. The engagement surface 41 directed leftward of the left engagement portion 22 is referred to as a “left reference portion”, and the engagement surface directed rightward of the right engagement portion 23 is referred to as a “right reference portion”. To do.

  The exterior cover member 12 is attached and fixed to the horizontal frame 10 in the following procedure. First, the brackets 11 and 11 are attached to the left and right ends of the horizontal frame 10. The brackets 11 are in a posture in which the brackets 11 are latched and held on the upper edge of the horizontal frame 10 by the latching claws 25, and the fastening portion 21 is in surface contact with the front outer surface 14 of the horizontal frame 10. Thus, it is integrated with the horizontal frame 10 by the screws 15 inserted from the screw through holes 30. Next, after the outer cover member 12 is pressed against the engaging portions 22 and 23 of the bracket 11 and aligned, the outer cover member 12 is bolted (not shown) inserted into the through holes 35 and 42 from the outside. Is fastened to the bracket 11. In the left bracket 11, the exterior cover member 12 is fixed using the left engagement portion 22, and in the right bracket 11, the exterior cover member 12 is fixed using the right engagement portion 23.

As described above, according to the mounting structure S of the exterior cover member 12, the two engagement portions of the left engagement portion 22 and the right engagement portion 23 are provided on one bracket 11 and are attached to the horizontal frame 10. Since the left and right brackets 11 are common parts, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and contribute to the reduction of the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus. Since the bracket 11 is made by bending the metal plate 20, it can be produced at a lower cost than, for example, a die-cast molded bracket. Therefore, this also contributes to a reduction in the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus. it can.
Since the left engagement portion 22 is formed by folding back at the three bent portions 43, 44, and 45 so as to be able to bend and deform in the left-right direction, the influence and restrictions of initial distortion caused by molding failure of the exterior cover member 12 and the like. The bracket 11 and the exterior cover member 12 can be fastened and fixed without receiving.

  In the said embodiment, although the case where the bracket based on this invention was applied to the left-right paired bracket 11 * 11 attached to the right-and-left both ends of the horizontal frame 10 which exists in a front position was demonstrated, this invention is not limited to this. However, the bracket according to the present invention can be used as a bracket applied to other portions.

1 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus to which a bracket according to the present invention is applied. It is an external appearance perspective view which shows the whole structure of the bracket which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the use condition of the bracket which concerns on this invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows the expansion | deployment state of a bracket.

Explanation of symbols

10 Structure frame (horizontal frame)
11 Bracket 12 Exterior cover member 21 Reference surface 22 Left engagement portion (reference portion)
23 Right engagement part (reference part)
24 Lower engagement part (reference part)
35 through holes (fixing holes)
38 through holes (fixing holes)
42 Through-hole (fixing hole)

Claims (4)

A bracket that is applied when an exterior cover member that covers the outer surface of the apparatus is attached and fixed to a structural frame constituting the image forming apparatus,
This bracket is a bent metal fitting made of a metal plate,
Provided in any one of the six directions of front, rear, left, right, up and down, and formed in each of five directions excluding the formation direction of the reference surface, and a reference surface that is attached and fixed to the structural frame in a surface contact state. A bracket for fixing an exterior cover member of an image forming apparatus, comprising a reference portion for positioning the cover member.   2. The bracket for fixing an exterior cover member of an image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least four reference portions among the reference portions formed in five directions are configured by surfaces.   The fixing bracket for the exterior cover member of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a hole for fixing the exterior cover member is provided on a surface constituting the reference portion.   4. The exterior of the image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the surfaces constituting the reference portion is formed by bending the reference surface at least three times. Bracket for fixing the cover member.

Images