JP2008222317A - Sheet feeding device and image forming device with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sheet feeding device having a paper feeding roller easy to be attached and detached. <P>SOLUTION: In a paper feeding device on a manual paper feeding tray side of an image forming device, a paper feeding roller 9 is disposed inside a housing, and a shaft 42 is connected to the paper feeding roller 9 freely to move in the axial direction of the shaft 42. The shaft 42 is connected to a driving shaft 43 freely to move in the axial direction. An annular groove 42c is formed in an intermediate part of the shaft 42 so as to regulate movement of the shaft 42 in the axial direction with a regulation rod 46e of a stopper 46 formed in the housing 41. When detaching the paper feeding roller 9, the paper feeding roller 9 is detached by releasing engagement of the regulation rod 46e with the annular groove 42e and displacing the shaft 42 in the axial direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sheet feeding apparatus including a sheet feeding roller that supplies a sheet to a sheet conveyance path and is easily attached and detached, and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding apparatus.

  A paper feed roller is disposed at a paper feed port of a paper feed cassette of an image forming apparatus or the like and a paper feed port of a manual guide to feed a sheet to the conveyance path. This paper feed roller is frequently used because it is used to pull out one sheet. When the image forming apparatus is used for a long period of time due to friction and abrasion with the sheet each time the sheet is pulled out. Since there are several replacements, there is an image forming apparatus in which the paper feed roller can be attached and detached.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-228561 discloses an image forming apparatus including such a detachable paper feed roller. 13 and 14, side plates 51, 52, 53 fixed to the frame side provided in the apparatus main body support bearings 54, 55, 56, respectively. One end of the drive shaft 57 is supported by a bearing 54 attached to the side plate 51. The drive shaft 57 is inserted into the bearing 54 so as not to move in the axial direction but to rotate in the circumferential direction. An engagement pin 58 is press-fitted into the shaft end which is the other longitudinal end of the drive shaft 57.

A bearing 55 is engaged and fixed to the side plate 52, and a bearing 56 is engaged and fixed to the side plate 53. Further, the roller support shaft 60 penetrating the paper feed roller 59 is supported so as not to move in the axial direction between the bearings 55 and 56 but to be rotatable in the circumferential direction.
At one end of the roller support shaft 60 coupled to the drive shaft 57, a notch 60a that can engage with the engagement pin 58 is formed. Since the entire length of the engaging pin 58 is shorter than the diameter of the drive shaft 57, the bearing 55 can move on the shaft between the side plate 51 and the side plate 52 in a state where the engagement of the bearing 55 is removed from the side plate 52. It has become. The engaging pin 58 and the notch 60a constitute a connecting means.

The bearing 55 and the bearing 56 are formed by molding a flexible material having the same structure, and one of the bearings 56 is a restraining portion protruding in the outer peripheral direction of the bearing portion 56a as shown in FIG. 56b, a locking piece 56c formed at the upper end of the holding portion 56b, and a clamping portion 56d protruding from the outer periphery of the bearing portion 56a are formed.
The side plate 53 is formed with an opening 53a into which the bearing portion 56a of the bearing 56 is inserted, a locking hole 53b into which the locking piece 56c at the upper end of the holding portion 56b is engaged, and a recess 53c into which the holding portion 56d is inserted. Has been. The holding portion is constituted by the holding portion 56b, the locking piece 56c, the holding portion 56d, the opening 53a, the locking hole 53b, and the concave portion 53c, and the locking piece 56c and the locking hole 53b. The locking means is constituted by

  In order to fix the bearing 56 to the side plate 53, first, the bearing portion 56a is fitted into the opening 53a so that the clamping portion 56d passes through the recess 53c. Thereafter, the bearing portion 56a is rotated while elastically deforming the holding portion 56b to shift the holding portion 56d from the position of the concave portion 53c, and the elastic deformation of the holding portion 56b is restored, thereby fitting the locking piece 56c into the locking hole 53b. Then, the bearing 56 is fixed to the side plate 53. Similarly, the procedure for fixing the bearing 55 to the side plate 52 is the same as the procedure for attaching the bearing 56 to the side plate 53.

In the procedure of removing the bearing 56 from the side plate 53, the holding portion 56b is elastically deformed and the locking piece 56c is taken out from the locking hole 53b. As a result, there is no restriction on the rotational direction of the bearing 56. Therefore, the bearing 56a is rotated to a position where the sandwiching portion 56d and the recess 53c correspond to each other, and the bearing portion 55a is pulled out from the opening 52a so as to pass the sandwiching portion 56d from the recess 53c. The bearing 56 is separated from the side plate 53. Similarly, the procedure for removing the bearing 55 from the side plate 52 is the same as the procedure for removing the bearing 56 from the side plate 53.
After the bearings 55 and 56 are removed from the side plates 52 and 53, the roller support shaft 60 can move in the axial direction and can be separated from the side plates 52 and 53.
JP-A-10-250860

As described above, the invention disclosed in Patent Document 1 can remove the paper feed roller 59, but it is necessary to remove the bearings 55 and 56 from the pair of side plates 52 and 53 in order to remove the paper feed roller 59. . Further, in order to remove the bearings 55, 56 from the side plates 52, 53, the holding portions 52b, 53b of the bearings 55, 56 are elastically deformed, and the bearings 55, 56 are further rotated to sandwich the bearings 55, 56. 55d and 56d are removed from the recesses 52c and 53c of the side plates 52 and 53, respectively. Therefore, it takes time and effort to remove the roller 59. Further, the work cannot be performed in a state where the paper feed roller 59 is disposed at a place where it cannot be seen from the outside.
SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a sheet feeding device capable of easily removing a feeding roller and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device. And

In order to achieve the above object, a sheet feeding device according to the present invention is connected to a rotation driving unit (driving gear) and is rotatable, and is disposed in a sheet feeding unit to feed the sheet. A paper feed roller fed from a section, a housing in which the paper feed roller is disposed, and a drive shaft and a paper feed roller disposed between the drive shaft and a shaft provided on a bearing provided in the housing. An intermediate shaft that is movable, and one end of the paper feed roller is rotatably supported by a roller bearing provided in the housing, and one end of the intermediate shaft is coupled to the other end of the roller bearing. While rotating together, the roller shaft is disposed so as to be movable in the axial direction. The other end of the intermediate shaft is connected to one end of the drive shaft and rotates together. Can move in the axial direction The intermediate shaft is connected to the other end of the paper feed roller at a first position disposed on the paper feed roller side, and the intermediate shaft is moved to the opposite side of the paper feed roller. In the second position, the connection between the paper feed roller and the intermediate shaft is released, and the housing is provided with a restriction portion for restricting movement of the intermediate shaft in the axial direction. An engaging portion that is restricted by a portion is formed, and the restricting portion can be engaged and disengaged with respect to the engaging portion, and the intermediate shaft is moved to the first position and the second position. I was able to move.
In the sheet feeding device, the restricting portion of the housing protrudes from the housing toward the intermediate shaft and has elasticity, and the restricting portion of the intermediate shaft is a groove formed in the circumferential direction of the shaft. Then, the intermediate shaft can be disposed at the first position so that the tip of the protruding portion is inserted into the groove.
The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus that feeds a sheet from the sheet feeding apparatus to a sheet conveying unit of the apparatus main body, and the sheet feeding apparatus includes the sheet feeding apparatus.
The apparatus body of the image forming apparatus is provided with a cover that can be opened and closed so as to face the housing, and when the cover is opened, an opening (notch) from which the paper feed roller can be taken out is formed in the housing. The restricting portion that restricts the movement of the intermediate shaft in the axial direction is provided with an operation portion that can disengage the restricting portion from the engaging portion, and the operation portion (knob) faces the cover. Can be arranged.

In the sheet feeding device of the present invention and the image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device, the intermediate shaft is connected to the other end of the feeding roller at the first position arranged on the feeding roller side, At a second position where the intermediate shaft is moved to the opposite side of the paper feed roller, the connection between the paper feed roller and the intermediate shaft is released, and the housing is moved in the axial direction. Since a restricting portion for restriction is formed, an engaging portion restricted by the restricting portion is formed on the intermediate shaft, and the restricting portion can be engaged with and disengaged from the engaging portion. By moving the shaft in the axial direction, the paper feed roller can be removed, and the paper feed roller can be attached and detached, so that the paper feed roller can be easily attached and detached during assembly and maintenance after assembly. became.
In the above invention, the restricting portion of the housing protrudes from the housing toward the intermediate shaft and has elasticity, and the engaging portion of the intermediate shaft is a groove formed in the circumferential direction, Since the tip of the protrusion is inserted into the groove, the protrusion and the shaft can be easily engaged and disengaged by moving the protrusion outward in the radial direction.
Further, in the image forming apparatus, a cover that can be opened and closed is provided so as to face the housing, and when the cover is opened, an opening from which the paper feeding roller can be taken out is formed in the housing, and the axial direction of the intermediate shaft is formed. The restricting portion that restricts the movement of the operation portion is provided with an operation portion that can disengage the restriction portion from the engagement portion, and the operation portion is disposed at a position facing the cover. The paper feed roller can be replaced without removing the housing simply by opening it, and the time for replacing the paper feed roller can be greatly shortened.

Hereinafter, a sheet feeding device and an image forming apparatus including the sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this specification, the direction indicated by the arrow F in FIG. 1 is the front side of the apparatus.
An image forming apparatus 1 as a printing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a sheet feeding cassette 2 that accommodates a sheet as a printing medium on the lower side of the apparatus main body 1a. A pick-up roller 3 that draws out the paper from the paper feed cassette 2 and a paper feed roller 4 and a separation roller 5 arranged in pairs on the downstream side are provided. On the front surface of the apparatus main body 1a, the manual feed tray 8 can be opened in the direction indicated by the arrow a about the rotation shaft 8a. A paper feed roller 9 is disposed on the lower end side of the manual feed tray 8. When a sheet is set on the manual feed tray 8, the sheet can be transferred to the conveyance path 7 on the downstream side by the rotation of the paper feed roller 9.
The conveyance path disposed along the inside of the apparatus main body 1a of the manual feed tray 8 is a reverse conveyance path 38 for duplex printing. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 has a structure in which a portion in front of the reversing conveyance path 38 becomes an upper side cover 47 and is opened together with the manual feed tray 8 as shown in FIG.

  The structure of the image forming apparatus 1 will be briefly described along the flow of the sheet. The above-described conveyance path 7 is formed on the downstream side of the paper feed rollers 4 and 9. In the conveyance path 7, the first feed roller pair 10, the registration roller pair 11, the driving roller 12 and the secondary transfer roller 13, the fixing roller 15 of the fixing device assembly 14, and the addition roller are provided downstream from the paper feed roller 4. A pressure roller 16, a second feed roller pair 17, and a discharge roller pair 18 are disposed. By these roller groups 10 to 18, the sheet is discharged from the discharge port 19 through the conveyance path 7.

A drive roller 12 that is paired with the secondary transfer roller 13 is provided with a driven roller 21 that is spaced apart from the horizontal direction of the drive roller 12. A transfer belt is provided between the drive roller 12 and the driven roller 21. 22 is disposed. Primary transfer rollers 28 to 31 are arranged at intervals on the inner peripheral side of the transfer belt 22, and the printing unit 24 is positioned below the transfer belt 22 at positions corresponding to the primary transfer rollers 28 to 31. -27 are arranged.
These printing units 24 to 27 are substantially the same, and only the ink colors handled at the time of printing are different. That is, process units of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are provided along the circumferential direction A of the transfer belt 22. Each process unit has the same basic configuration except that the toner color is different. Therefore, here, the yellow printing unit 24 positioned on the upstream side will be described in detail, and the description of the other toner color printing units 25 to 27 will be omitted.

  The printing unit 24 is provided with a photosensitive drum 32 that is rotatable in the clockwise direction. Around the photosensitive drum 32, a cleaning unit 33, a charger 34, and a developing unit 35 are disposed along the rotation direction. The charger 34 uniformly charges the outer peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 32 to a predetermined surface potential, and has a function as a charging unit. A surface region between the charger 34 and the developing unit 35 is an irradiation region of a light beam from the exposure unit 36, and the photosensitive drum 32 is exposed by the light beam to generate an image signal on the photosensitive drum 32. A corresponding electrostatic latent image is formed.

The electrostatic latent image formed in this manner is visualized by toner supplied from the developing unit 35 of the developing unit 35 via the toner cartridge 37 and transferred to the transfer belt 22 by the primary transfer roller 28. The same processing is performed in the downstream printing units 25 to 27, and the toner image transferred to the transfer belt 22 is transferred to the sheet by the secondary transfer roller 13.
When the unfixed toner image transferred to the sheet passes through the fixing roller 15, it is fixed to the sheet by the heat of the fixing roller 15 and the pressure of the pressure roller 16, and is discharged from the discharge port 19. On the other hand, in the photosensitive drum 32, residual toner attached to the photosensitive drum 32 is removed by the cleaning unit 33.

FIG. 3 shows a position where the paper feeding device 6 located in the lower part of the reverse conveying path 38 is arranged, and a housing 41 of the paper feeding roller 9 of the paper feeding device 6 is arranged. FIG. The paper feed roller 9 is shown as viewed from the bottom of the housing 41. The substantially box-shaped housing 41 is provided with an upper wall portion 41a, a front side wall portion 41b, and a rear side wall portion 41c so as to surround the paper feed roller 9. A trapezoidal notch 41d is formed on the front side of the front side wall portion 41b where the paper feed roller 9 is located.
Inside the housing 41, a feed roller 9 and a shaft 42 connected to the feed roller 9 are disposed. One end of a drive shaft 43 is connected to the shaft 42, and a drive gear 44 is connected to the other end side of the drive shaft 43. The drive gear 44 can be rotated by a drive unit (not shown).

5 and 6 show a state where the shaft 42 is supported by the housing 41.
A plurality (two in the present embodiment) of plate-shaped support ribs 45 are provided inside the housing 41, and the support ribs 45 are arranged in the front-rear direction of the housing 41. Specifically, the support rib 45 is disposed on one side of the housing 41, is provided from the front wall portion 41b to the rear wall portion 41c beyond the upper wall portion 41a, and supports the shaft 42 at the center lower portion of the support rib 45. A bearing 45a is formed. The bearing 45a supports the shaft 42 rotatably at positions located at both ends of the shaft 42, and supports the shaft 42 slidably in the axial direction of the bearing 45a.

One end of the shaft 42 is connected to the paper feed roller 9. The front end portion 42a on one end side of the shaft 42 is formed in a cylindrical shape and has four protrusions 42b protruding radially outward at intervals of 90 degrees. On the other hand, the side roller 9a, which is disposed on the other end side of the paper feed roller 9 so as to protrude to the side of the paper feed roller 9, has a shaft hole 9b shown in FIG. Is formed. In the shaft hole 9b, recesses 9c are formed in the shaft hole 9b at intervals of 90 degrees so as to correspond to the positions of the protrusions 42b. Then, by fitting the concave portion 9c and the protrusion 42b, the tip end portion 42a of the shaft 42 and the shaft hole 9b are connected so as to be fitted, and the relative relationship in the circumferential direction between the paper feed roller 9 and the shaft 42 is achieved. Rotation is restricted, and both rotate together. The shaft 42 and the paper feed roller 9 are not restricted in the axial direction, and are formed so that the fitted state can be separated by moving the shaft 42 in the axial direction.
As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, an annular groove 42 c is formed in the entire axial direction of the shaft 42 at the center in the axial direction of the shaft 42. A stopper 46 that restricts the movement of the shaft 42 is provided on the upper wall portion 41 a of the housing 41, and the stopper 46 is formed integrally with the housing 41.
In the present embodiment, the shaft 42 is not a complete columnar shape, but is formed with rectangular grooves 42h in each part to reduce the weight of the shaft 42 and reduce the material. In particular, the cost of the material can be reduced, which is significant.

  As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the stopper 46 is disposed inside a U-shaped cutout groove 46 a that penetrates the upper wall portion 41 a of the housing 41. A base end portion 46b connected to the housing 41 is provided on the front side of the cutout groove 46a, and the stopper 46 has a cantilever support portion 46c extending rearward from the base end portion 46b. A knob 46d that protrudes laterally from the cantilever support 46c is formed on the top surface of the tip of the cantilever support 46c. A regulating rod 46e extending to the shaft 42 axis side is connected to the lower portion of the cantilever support portion 46c so as to hang downward. The distal end portion 46f of the restriction rod 46e is inserted into the annular groove 42c of the shaft 42. As a result, the shaft 42 is prevented from moving in the axial direction. As for the cantilever support part 46c, the front-end | tip (rear end) side has elasticity, and the control rod 46e can move up and down as shown by the arrow b (refer FIG. 9). Therefore, the engagement of the annular groove 42c of the restriction rod 46e can be released by pulling the knob 46d upward, and the original engagement state can be restored by releasing the knob 46d. The shaft 42 can move in the axial direction of the shaft 42 by releasing this engagement. The stopper 46d of the stopper 46 is in a position where it can be visually confirmed and operated by opening the upper side cover 47 as shown in FIG.

  With reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11, the attachment state of the one end side of the paper feed roller 9 will be described. As shown in FIG. A shaft hole 9 d is formed on one end side of the paper feed roller 9. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 11, a support wall 48 is provided on the inner side of the housing 41 in the front-rear direction, and a support shaft 48 a is formed on the support wall 48 so as to protrude toward the paper feed roller 9. Yes. The shaft hole 9d of the paper feed roller 9 is detachably disposed on the support shaft 48a. The paper feed roller 9 is pivotally supported so as to be inserted into a support shaft 48a which is a fixed portion, and is rotatably supported. As described above, the other end of the paper feed roller 9 is connected to the tip 42a of the shaft 42.

  FIG. 12 shows a connecting portion between the shaft 42 and the drive shaft 43. A cylindrical portion 42d is provided at the other end of the shaft 42, and an inner hole 42e is formed in the cylindrical portion 42d. The inner hole 42e has an opening formed on the drive shaft 43 side, and a large diameter portion 43a formed on one end side of the drive shaft 43 is fitted and connected to the inner hole 42e. The large-diameter portion 43a and the inner hole 42e rotate together in the axial direction like the coupling between the shaft hole 9b of the paper feed roller 9 and the protrusion 42b of the shaft 42 shown in FIG. It is formed in a dovetail shape (not shown). On the other hand, the large-diameter portion 43a and the inner hole 42e are formed to have the same cross-sectional shape in the axial direction so that the movement in the axial direction is possible.

In a state where the shaft 42 and the drive shaft 43 are connected, the length L1 is provided between the bottom 42f of the inner hole 42e and the end of the large diameter portion 43a so that the shaft 42 can move toward the drive shaft 43. A gap L1 is formed so that the shaft 42 can move toward the axial drive shaft 43 side.
An annular protrusion 42 g that protrudes outward in the radial direction of the shaft 42 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the cylindrical portion 42 d of the shaft 42. The movement of the annular protrusion 42g toward the paper feed roller 9 is restricted by a restriction wall 41e provided in the housing 41. Therefore, the shaft 42 can slide by the gap L1.
The length of the gap L1 is such that one shaft hole 9d (see FIG. 10) of the paper feed roller 9 is inserted into the support shaft 48a (see FIG. 11) of the housing 31 in order to remove the paper feed roller 9. It is necessary to form a length longer than L2 and the length L3 inserted into the shaft hole 9b of the sheet feeding roller 9 (ie, L1> L2 + L3 is satisfied). ).

  In a state where the paper feed roller 9 is attached to the housing 41, the annular protrusion 42g of the shaft 42 is disposed close to or in contact with the restriction wall 41e while the shaft 42 is restricted by the restriction rod 46e of the stopper 46. Thus, the gap L1 of the inner hole 42e of the shaft 42 is maintained. The annular protrusion 42e plays a role as positioning for placing the tip end portion 46f of the restriction rod 46e of the stopper 46 in the annular groove 42c of the shaft 42 by contacting the restriction wall 41e.

With this structure, as shown in FIG. 4, when removing the paper feed roller 9 from the state where the paper feed roller 9 is assembled to the image forming apparatus 1, first, the upper side cover 47 is opened to the outside and opened. (See FIG. 2). At this time, the manual feed tray 8 also moves together with the upper side cover 47. When the upper side cover 47 is opened, the housing 41 can be seen and the upper wall 41a of the housing 41 can be seen as shown in FIG.
A stopper 46 is provided on the upper wall 41a, and the knob 46d of the stopper 46 is pulled upward. Thereby, the restriction rod 46e of the stopper 46 moves upward, and the engagement between the restriction rod 46e and the annular groove 42c of the shaft 42 is released. Since the shaft 42 can move in the axial direction when the engagement is released, the shaft 42 is moved to the drive shaft 43 side in the axial direction. The shaft 42 is moved by inserting a hand into a notch 41 d formed in the housing 41. Since the clearance L1 is formed in the axial direction in the inner hole 42e of the shaft 42, the shaft 42 can be moved.
Thus, the tip end portion 42 a of the shaft 42 is detached from the shaft hole 9 b of the paper feed roller 9. After the shaft 42 is moved to the drive shaft 43 side, the knob 46d may be separated from the fingertip.
Next, the paper feed roller 9 is moved to the drive shaft 43 side, the shaft hole 9d of the paper feed roller 9 is removed from the support shaft 48a formed on the support wall 48 of the housing 41, and the paper feed roller 9 is removed from the housing 41 and the shaft 42. Can be desorbed from. The paper feed roller 9 can be taken out from the notch 41d.

  The paper feed roller 9 can be assembled to the housing 41 and the shaft 42 in the reverse order of the removal of the paper feed roller 9. That is, with the shaft 42 moved to the drive shaft 43 side (with the paper feed roller 9 removed), the paper feed roller 9 is inserted from the notch 41d, and the shaft hole 9d of the paper feed roller 9 is supported by the housing 41. Insert into shaft 48a. If the support shaft 48a is set to a certain length or longer, the paper feed roller 9 can be temporarily held on the support shaft 48a. Then, the knob 46d is pulled upward to move the shaft 42 to the paper feed roller 9 side.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the coupling portion between the sheet feeding roller 9 and the shaft 42 is a dovetail coupling like the coupling between the shaft hole 9b and the protrusion 42b. These are arranged at positions where they can be fitted, and the paper feed roller 9 and the shaft 42 are connected. At the time of connection, the restriction rod 46e of the stopper 46 is located in the annular groove 42c of the shaft 42 where the annular protrusion 42g of the shaft 42 abuts against the restriction wall 41e of the housing 41. The restriction rod 46e can be inserted into the annular groove 42c. Thus, the paper feed roller 9 can be easily assembled to the support shaft 48 a of the housing 41 and the tip end portion 42 a of the shaft 42.

  As described above, in this embodiment, the feed roller 9 can be attached and detached simply by pulling up the knob 46 d of the stopper 46 and shifting the shaft 42 in the axial direction. When the image forming apparatus 1 is manufactured, the feed roller 9 can be removed. Assembling becomes easy, and the sheet feeding roller 9 can be easily attached and detached during maintenance after assembling. In particular, the housing 41 of the sheet feeding device is disposed at a position facing the inside of the openable upper side cover 47 of the image forming apparatus 1, and the knob 46d of the stopper 46 is disposed on the upper surface 41a of the housing 41. The paper feed roller 9 can be attached and detached without removing the structural members of the image forming apparatus 1. A notch 41d formed in the housing 41 allows the paper feed roller 9 to be easily taken out from the housing 41 and accommodated.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. However, of course, the present invention can be variously modified or changed based on the technical idea of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the printing apparatus of the image forming apparatus is taken as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and FAX machines other than the printing apparatus. Further, the present invention can be applied to a sheet feeding unit of a sheet conveying apparatus other than the image forming apparatus.
In addition, as for the paper feed roller 9, the manual feed side paper feed roller has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to the paper feed roller on the paper feed cassette side.

1 is a side view illustrating an internal structure of an image forming apparatus including a sheet feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state in which a lid member of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1 is opened forward. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sheet feeding device on the manual feed roller side when viewed from obliquely above with the lid member of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 removed. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sheet feeding device of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 viewed from below. FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of a bearing portion of a shaft of the sheet feeding device in FIG. 4. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cross-sectional structure of a housing and a shaft portion of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. It is sectional drawing in the XX line direction of FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a stopper portion formed on an upper portion of a housing of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a state where a restriction rod of a stopper portion formed on an upper portion of a housing of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 is inserted into an annular groove of a shaft. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a sheet feeding roller and a shaft disposed in a housing of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an arrangement portion of a paper feed roller formed in a housing of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a connecting portion between a shaft and a drive shaft disposed in a housing of the image forming apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a conventional sheet feeding device. It is a side view of a conventional sheet feeding device. FIG. 13 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an engagement state between a side plate and a support shaft of the sheet feeding device in FIG. 12.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 1a Apparatus main body 8 Manual feed tray 9 Paper feed roller 41 Housing 41d Notch 42 Shaft 42c Annular groove 43 Drive shaft 45 Support rib 46 Stopper 46d Knob 46e Restriction rod 48a Support shaft

Claims (4)

A drive shaft connected to the rotation drive unit and rotatable;
A paper feed roller disposed in the paper feed unit for feeding the sheet from the paper feed unit;
A housing in which the paper feed roller is disposed;
An intermediate shaft disposed between the drive shaft and the paper feed roller and supported by a bearing provided in the housing and movable in the axial direction;
One end of the paper feed roller is rotatably supported by a roller bearing provided in the housing,
The intermediate shaft is disposed so that one end thereof is connected to the other end of the roller bearing and rotates together, while being movable in the axial direction with respect to the roller shaft.
The other end of the intermediate shaft is connected to one end of the drive shaft and rotates together, and is connected so as to be movable in the axial direction with respect to the drive shaft.
The intermediate shaft is connected to the other end of the paper feed roller at a first position disposed on the paper feed roller side, and the intermediate shaft is moved to the opposite side of the paper feed roller at a second position. The connection between the paper feed roller and the intermediate shaft is released,
The housing is provided with a restricting portion for restricting movement of the intermediate shaft in the axial direction, and the intermediate shaft is formed with an engaging portion restricted by the restricting portion, and the restricting portion is the engaging portion. The sheet feeding device is configured to be able to engage and disengage with respect to the intermediate shaft, and to move the intermediate shaft to the first position and the second position.   The restricting portion of the housing is a restricting portion protruding from the housing toward the intermediate shaft and having elasticity, and the restricting portion of the intermediate shaft is a groove formed in a circumferential direction of the shaft, 2. The sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate shaft is disposed at the first position so that a leading end portion is inserted into the groove.   An image forming apparatus that feeds a sheet from the sheet feeding apparatus to a sheet conveyance unit of the apparatus main body, wherein the sheet feeding apparatus includes the sheet feeding apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. An image forming apparatus. The apparatus main body is provided with a cover that can be opened and closed so as to face the housing, and when the cover is opened, an opening from which the paper feed roller can be taken out is formed in the housing.
The restricting portion that restricts the movement of the intermediate shaft in the axial direction is provided with an operation portion that can disengage the restricting portion from the engagement portion, and the operation portion is disposed at a position facing the cover. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.

Images