JP2008203578A - Mechanism for adjusting height of apparatus, post-processing device and unit for increasing height of apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an adjusting mechanism adjusting height of an apparatus, particularly, correcting deviation of the height positions between the discharge port of an image forming apparatus and the feed port of a post-processing device with simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: By movably engaging the support shaft 32 of a wheel 31 in a slot 51 formed at a lower part of the side wall of the apparatus, the wheel 31 is attached so as to partially project from the base of the apparatus. Then, a stopper member 6 with three recessed parts 61a, 61b and 61c having a different distance from the center of rotation is turnably attached to the upper part of the slot 51. The position of the upper end of the support shaft 32 movable in the slot 51 is regulated by the recessed parts of the stopper member 6. By turning the stopper member 6 to select the recessed part to abut on the support shaft 32, the projecting amount of the wheel 31 from the base of the apparatus is adjusted and then the height of the apparatus is adjusted. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus height adjustment mechanism, and more particularly to an adjustment mechanism capable of changing the height of the apparatus in stages.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a post-processing device may be detachably attached to the image forming apparatus in order to further perform stapling processing, punching processing, sorting processing, and the like on a sheet on which an image has been fixed. In order to smoothly carry the paper discharged from the image forming apparatus into the post-processing apparatus, it is necessary to match the height positions of the paper discharge port of the image forming apparatus and the carry-in port of the post-processing apparatus as much as possible.

  However, if the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus are installed on a floor on which a carpet or the like is laid, the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus have different weights. There is a shift in the height position between the discharge port and the carry-in port of the aftertreatment device. The carry-in port of the post-processing device is given a margin for receiving paper by increasing the width in the height direction of the carry-in port in consideration of the deviation from the discharge port of the image forming device. If there is a deviation in the height position between the discharge port and the carry-in port of the post-processing device, a paper jam is likely to occur particularly when the curled paper is discharged.

In order to correct such a shift, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes to place a post-processing device on a table whose height can be adjusted. In Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, a technique is proposed in which both the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus can be easily connected even if a deviation occurs in the height direction.
JP 2000-44111 A JP-A-9-77343 JP 2002-128369 A

  However, in the proposed technique of Patent Document 1, the structure is complicated and the apparatus may be increased in size. Further, in the proposed techniques of Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, although the image forming apparatus and the post-processing apparatus can be easily connected, the height positions of the discharge port and the carry-in port of the image forming apparatus, the post-processing apparatus, and The misalignment is not corrected at all. For example, when a curled sheet is discharged from the image forming apparatus, there is a high possibility that the sheet will not be smoothly carried into the post-processing apparatus and become a paper jam.

  The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and the object of the present invention is to adjust the height of the apparatus, in particular, the height position between the discharge port of the image forming apparatus and the carry-in port of the post-processing apparatus. It is an object of the present invention to provide an adjustment mechanism capable of correcting the deviation with a simple structure.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide a post-processing device and a raising unit that can adjust the height with a simple structure.

  According to the present invention, the support member that protrudes from the bottom surface of the apparatus and supports the apparatus to be placed, the long hole formed in the lower part of the side wall of the apparatus so as to extend in the vertical direction, and the long hole in the side wall of the apparatus A stopper member rotatably attached above the support member, the support member having a rod-like engagement portion extending in a substantially horizontal direction from the support member main body, and the stopper member from the rotation center Two or more recesses are formed at outer peripheral positions having different distances, and the support member is attached to the device by movably engaging the engagement portion of the support member into the elongated hole, and the stopper member The upper end position of the engagement portion that is movable in the elongated hole is regulated by the recess, and the stopper member is rotated to select the recess that comes into contact with the engagement portion. It is characterized by adjusting the protrusion amount Height adjusting mechanism of the apparatus is provided.

  Here, from the viewpoint of enabling smooth movement of the apparatus, the support member body may be a wheel, and the engagement portion may be a support shaft of the wheel.

  According to the present invention, there is also provided a post-processing device that performs at least one of stapling processing, punching processing, and sorting processing on the paper discharged from the image forming apparatus. A wheel attached so that a part thereof protrudes from the bottom surface, a long hole formed so as to extend in the vertical direction at the lower part of the side wall of the apparatus main body, and a device side wall rotatably attached to the upper part of the long hole The stopper member is formed with two or more recesses at outer peripheral positions having different distances from the rotation center, and the support shaft of the wheel is movably engaged in the long hole. Thus, the wheel is attached to the post-processing apparatus main body, and the upper end position where the stopper member can move within the long hole of the support shaft is regulated by the concave portion of the stopper member, and the stopper member is rotated to contact the support shaft. By selecting, by adjusting the amount of projection of the bottom surface of the post-processing apparatus main body of the wheel, the post-processing apparatus characterized by adjusting the height of the apparatus is provided.

  Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a raising unit on which a post-processing device that performs at least one of a staple process, a punch process, and a sort process is placed, and a part of the unit protrudes from the bottom surface at four corners of the bottom surface. A wheel mounted in such a manner, a long hole formed in the lower part of the side wall so as to extend in the vertical direction, and a stopper member mounted on the side wall so as to be rotatable above the long hole. Two or more recesses are formed at outer peripheral positions with different distances from the rotation center, and the wheel is attached by movably engaging the support shaft of the wheel into the long hole, and the recess of the stopper member The upper end position of the support shaft that can be moved in the long hole is regulated, and the stopper member is rotated to select the recess that comes into contact with the support shaft, thereby reducing the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface of the wheel. And integer, raising a unit which is characterized in that the height adjustment of the post-processing apparatus is provided.

  In the height adjusting mechanism according to the present invention, the support member is attached to the apparatus by movably engaging the engaging portion of the support member into the long hole formed in the side wall of the apparatus, and the distance from the rotation center is increased. A stopper member having two or more recesses formed at different outer peripheral positions is rotatably mounted above the elongated hole, and the stopper member is rotated to select a recess that comes into contact with the engaging portion. Since the height of the device is adjusted by adjusting the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface of the device, the height of the device can be adjusted with a simpler structure and without increasing the size of the mechanism. Further, by attaching this adjusting mechanism to each of the support members attached to the apparatus, it is possible to adjust the horizontality of the apparatus in addition to the alignment of the discharge port and the carry-in port in the height direction.

  Further, in the post-processing device and the raising unit according to the present invention, the wheel is attached to the device or the unit by movably engaging the support shaft of the wheel in the long hole formed in the side wall of the device, and from the rotation center. A stopper member having two or more recesses formed at outer peripheral positions with different distances is pivotably mounted above the long hole, and the stopper member is rotated to select a recess that comes into contact with the support shaft. Since the height of the device is adjusted by adjusting the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface of the device, the height of the device can be adjusted with a simpler structure and without increasing the size of the mechanism. In addition, by attaching this adjusting mechanism to each of the wheels attached to the device, it is possible to adjust the horizontality of the device in addition to the alignment of the discharge port and the carry-in port in the height direction.

  Hereinafter, the adjustment mechanism according to the present invention, the post-processing apparatus using the adjustment mechanism, and the raising unit will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of a height adjusting mechanism and a post-processing apparatus according to the present invention. In this figure, a post-processing device is attached to the image forming apparatus. First, the image forming apparatus 1 will be described. An automatic document feeder (ADF) 17 is placed on the contact glass G so as to be opened and closed. Documents (not shown) placed face-up on the paper feed tray 18 of the ADF 17 are fed one by one in order from the top. The fed document is conveyed to the reading unit 19 where the document image is input to the image input unit R as a digital signal. Then, the document that has passed through the reading unit 19 is discharged onto a paper discharge tray (not shown) formed below the paper feed table 18.

  On the other hand, the paper stored in the paper feed cassette C is fed one by one by the pickup roller 41, passes through the transport path, and is waited after the leading edge is adjusted by the registration roller pair 42, and transported to the photosensitive drum D at a predetermined timing. Is done. After the surface of the photosensitive drum D is uniformly charged by the charging device 11, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum D by the exposure device 12 based on the image data input to the image input unit R. . The electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by the toner supplied from the developing device 13, and is transferred onto the fed paper by the transfer roller 14. The sheet on which the toner image is placed is conveyed to the fixing roller pair 15 and is heated and pressed by the heating roller and the pressure roller, and the toner image is fixed on the sheet. In the case of forming toner images on both sides of the paper, the paper is conveyed to the reverse conveyance mechanism 16 and the above processing is repeated to form and fix the toner images on both sides of the paper. The sheet on which the toner image is fixed is discharged from the discharge port 10 to the post-processing device 2 by the discharge roller pair 43.

  The post-processing device 2 is provided with a punching unit P that makes a hole in the paper and a staple unit S that staples the paper. The punching unit P is for making a hole for filing paper, and a conventionally known mechanism can be used. The staple unit S includes a processing tray 22 for temporarily placing the conveyed paper and a stapling unit 23 for stapling the paper on the processing tray 22. In addition to the above mechanism, the post-processing device 2 may of course be provided with a conventionally known mechanism such as a half-folding mechanism.

  The sheet discharged from the discharge port 10 of the apparatus main body 1 is sent from the carry-in opening 20 to the conveyance path 21a of the post-processing apparatus 2 and, after necessary, a filing hole is opened by the punching unit P, and then reaches the flap 24. . Here, when the staple processing is selected and input, the sheet is sent to the transport path 21 b by the flap 24 and carried into the processing tray 22. Then, when a series of sheets has been carried into the processing tray 22, the stapling means 23 performs the stapling process. The sheet subjected to the stapling process is discharged to the main tray 25 through the conveyance path 21d.

  On the other hand, when the staple processing is not selected and input, the sheet is sent to the transport path 21c by the flap 24 and discharged to the sub-tray 26. In the above embodiment, the stapled paper and the non-staple paper are discharged to different paper discharge trays 25 and 26. However, the paper may be discharged to the same paper discharge tray. Further, there may be one paper discharge tray or two or more paper discharge trays.

  In the image forming apparatus 1 and the post-processing apparatus 2 having such a configuration, for example, if a carpet or the like is laid on the floor where they are installed, the image forming apparatus 1 sinks due to its own weight, and the discharge port of the image forming apparatus 1 10 and the height position of the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing device 2 may be shifted. In such a case, the height of the post-processing device 2 is adjusted by the height adjusting mechanism provided at the lower portion of the post-processing device 2, and the height of the carry-in port 20 is adjusted to the height of the discharge port 10.

  FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the height adjustment mechanism. In order to make the post-processing device 2 detachable from the image forming apparatus 1, wheels (support member main bodies) 31 are attached so as to protrude from the four corners of the bottom surface of the post-processing device 2. Specifically, a pair of elongated holes 51 extending in the vertical direction are formed in the lower portion of the post-processing apparatus 2, and a support shaft (engaging portion) 32 of the wheel 31 is engaged with the elongated holes 51 so as to be movable. Yes. In addition, on the upper side of the long hole 51, a stopper member 6 in which three concave portions 61a, 61b, 61c with which the support shaft 32 abuts is formed is rotatably attached with a screw 62. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the distances from the rotation center of the stopper member 6 to the three recesses 61a, 61b, 61c are different from each other. When the protrusion amount of the wheel 31 from the bottom surface of the post-processing device 2 is increased, that is, when the height position of the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing device 2 is increased, as shown in FIG. Is rotated so that the concave portion 61 a having a long distance from the rotation center comes into contact with the support shaft 32. On the other hand, when reducing the protrusion amount of the wheel 31 from the bottom surface of the post-processing apparatus 2, that is, when reducing the height position of the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing apparatus 2, as shown in FIG. The member 6 is rotated so that the long concave portion 61 c having a short distance from the rotation center contacts the support shaft 32.

  Two or more recesses formed on the outer periphery of the stopper member 6 may be provided so that the distance from the rotation center is different, and the height switching number of the post-processing apparatus is determined according to the number of recesses formed. Since the stopper member 6 in FIG. 2 has three recesses, the height position of the post-processing apparatus 2 can be switched to three stages. Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and four or more recesses may be formed in the stopper member 6 so as to perform switching in four steps or more. It is practical that the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the distance from the rotation center to each recess is about 5 mm at the maximum. The stopper member 6 may be pinned, but if the rotation center is screwed, the stopper member 6 can be prevented from rotating except when necessary.

  FIG. 4 is a front view showing an embodiment of the raising unit U according to the present invention. The post-processing device 2 is placed on the raising unit U in FIG. 4, and the post-processing device 2 can be attached to and detached from the raising unit U. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the structure of the raising unit U. The raising unit U in this figure includes a bottom plate 7 having a square opening 71 formed in the center, hollow rectangular parallelepipeds 8a and 8b having bottom openings suspended on opposite sides of the bottom plate 7, and hollow rectangular parallelepipeds 8a and 8b. The support shaft 32 is engaged with a pair of long holes 51 (shown in FIG. 6) formed in the opposing side walls 81a and 81b in the vertical direction so as to be rotatably attached to the hollow rectangular parallelepipeds 8a and 8b. Four wheels 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d are provided. The four semicircular cutouts 82 formed in the upper portions of the hollow rectangular parallelepipeds 8a and 8b are for accommodating the wheels attached to the bottom surface of the post-processing device 2 placed on the raising unit U. is there.

  6 is a front view of the raising unit U of FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. On the upper side of the long hole 51, a stopper member 6 in which three concave portions with which the support shaft 32 of the wheel 31a abuts is formed is rotatably attached by a screw 62. As described above, the distances from the rotation center of the stopper member 6 to the three recesses are different from each other, and the protrusion amount of the wheel 31 from the bottom surface can be adjusted by selecting the recess to be brought into contact with the support shaft 32. . As a result, the height of the raising unit U, that is, the height of the post-processing apparatus 2 can be adjusted.

  In the embodiment described above, the deviation in the height direction of the discharge port 10 of the image forming apparatus and the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing device 2 is corrected by adjusting the height position of the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing device 2. However, the height adjustment mechanism according to the present invention is provided in the image forming apparatus, and the height position of the discharge port 10 of the image forming apparatus is adjusted so as to match the carry-in port 20 of the post-processing apparatus 2. Of course.

  Moreover, in embodiment described above, the height adjustment using the unit U for raising is preferable at the point which does not require big force. According to the raising unit U, if the post-processing device 2 is removed, only the light raising unit U that is lighter than the post-processing device 2 can be lifted to adjust the height.

It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the post-processing apparatus provided with the height adjustment mechanism which concerns on this invention. It is an outline figure showing an example of the height adjustment mechanism concerning the present invention. It is a schematic diagram of a stopper member. It is a schematic diagram of the unit for raising concerning the present invention. It is a perspective view of the unit for raising of FIG. It is a front view of the unit for raising of FIG. It is the sectional view on the AA line of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Post-processing apparatus 6 Stopper member U Raising unit 31 Wheel (support member main body)
32 Support shaft (engagement part)
51 Long hole 61a, 61b, 61c Recess

Claims (4)

A support member that protrudes from the bottom surface of the device and supports the device to be placed, a long hole formed in the lower part of the side wall of the device so as to extend in the vertical direction, and the device side wall can be rotated above the long hole. And a stopper member attached to
The support member has a rod-shaped engagement portion extending in a substantially horizontal direction from the support member main body,
The stopper member is formed with two or more concave portions at outer peripheral positions having different distances from the rotation center,
The support member is attached to the device by movably engaging the engagement portion of the support member into the elongated hole, and the upper end position of the engagement portion movable within the elongated hole by the recess of the stopper member Is regulated,
A device height adjusting mechanism, wherein the amount of protrusion of the support member from the bottom surface of the device is adjusted by rotating the stopper member and selecting a concave portion that comes into contact with the engaging portion.   The height adjusting mechanism of the apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support member main body is a wheel, and the engagement portion is a support shaft of the wheel. A post-processing device that performs at least one of a staple process, a punch process, and a sort process on paper discharged from an image forming apparatus,
Wheels attached to the four corners of the bottom surface of the post-processing apparatus main body so that a part thereof protrudes from the bottom surface of the apparatus, a long hole formed to extend in the vertical direction at the lower side wall of the apparatus main body, A stopper member rotatably attached above the elongated hole,
The stopper member is formed with two or more concave portions at outer peripheral positions having different distances from the rotation center,
The wheel is attached to the main body of the post-processing device by movably engaging the support shaft of the wheel into the long hole, and the upper end position of the support shaft within the long hole of the support shaft is restricted by the recess of the stopper member. And
The height of the device is adjusted by adjusting the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface of the main body of the post-processing device of the wheel by rotating the stopper member and selecting the recess that contacts the support shaft. Post-processing device. A raising unit on which a post-processing device that performs at least one of a staple process, a punch process, and a sort process is placed;
Wheels attached to the four corners of the bottom so that a part of the bottom protrudes from the bottom, a long hole formed to extend in the vertical direction at the bottom of the side wall, and turnable above the long hole in the side wall An attached stopper member,
The stopper member is formed with two or more concave portions at outer peripheral positions having different distances from the rotation center,
The wheel is attached by movably engaging the support shaft of the wheel into the long hole, and the upper end position where the wheel can move within the long hole of the support shaft is regulated by the recess of the stopper member,
A raising unit characterized in that the height of the post-processing device is adjusted by adjusting the amount of protrusion from the bottom surface of the wheel by rotating a stopper member and selecting a recess that contacts the support shaft. .

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