JP2008239263A - Paper feeding cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeding cassette assuring easy handling, capable of performing two operations simply through a single motion, i.e. engagement and release of a rear edge hold-down member and vertically moving of a projection for preventing the sheet rear edge from spring up. <P>SOLUTION: The paper feeding cassette equipped with the sheet rear edge hold-down member storing paper sheets laid one over another and aligning the rear edges of the sheets by moving toward the sheets along the sheet feeding direction and abutting to the rear edges of the stored sheets and a position fixing means to fix the rear edge hold-down member to a casing by engaging with an engagement part formed on the casing side of the cassette through the prescribed operation, wherein the position fixing means is provided with a projection which protrudes to the direction of the sheets and which sinks in association with the engaging motion of the position fixing means with the engagement part caused by the prescribed operation and rises with the releasing motion. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  According to the present invention, the sheets are stacked and stored in a layered manner, and are moved toward the sheet along the sheet feeding direction so as to come into contact with the rear end portion of the stored sheet. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet feeding cassette provided with a sheet trailing edge pressing member for aligning the trailing edge positions of a plurality of stacked sheets, and in particular, a sheet feeding capable of achieving both operability and prevention of jumping of a stored sheet. It relates to cassettes.

An example of a conventional paper feed cassette provided with a sheet rear end pressing member as described above is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
This paper cassette is slidably mounted in the paper feed direction with respect to the bottom surface of the paper cassette to lock the rear edge of the paper stored in the paper cassette, and is locked in a position corresponding to the paper size. A paper feed cassette having a rear end pressing unit capable of sliding, wherein the rear end pressing unit is slidable in a paper feeding direction, and a vertical direction relative to the slider behind the slider in the paper feeding direction. Slidably, and at the lower part, a locking member provided with an engaging projection that engages with and disengages from the bottom surface of the paper feeding cassette, and an upper part of the slider and an upper part of the locking member, respectively, in the paper feeding direction rearward A gripping portion provided toward the top, and by picking these knobs and narrowing the distance between the two knobs, the lock member is moved up to move the engagement convex portion and the paper feed cap. To release the engagement between Tsu bets bottom, it is configured to include a, a knob portion that enables sliding of the slider.
In such a sheet feeding cassette, the engagement of the engaging projections that engage with and disengage from the bottom surface of the sheet feeding cassette is released by a simple operation of picking the knob, so that the rear ends of the stacked sheets are aligned. It is possible to provide a paper feed cassette excellent in the operability of the slider.
JP 2006-89246 A

By the way, the paper feed cassette as described above is detachably attached to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile, and particularly when it is attached to the image forming apparatus vigorously, it is housed in the cassette. There is a problem in that the trailing edge of a sheet such as a transfer sheet that has been bounced up causes a paper feed failure during actual paper feeding.
For this reason, in the conventional sheet feeding cassette, there is provided a protrusion that protrudes toward the sheet overlapped on the wall portion on the rear side in the sheet feeding direction and presses the trailing edge of the sheet that is about to jump up. As a result, even if the sheet feeding cassette is vigorously mounted on the image forming apparatus, the inconvenience that the trailing edge of the sheet is pressed by the protrusion and does not jump up and a sheet feeding failure occurs is avoided.
In this way, it is desirable from the viewpoint of preventing the trailing edge of the sheet from jumping up to form a protrusion protruding in the sheet direction on the rear wall of the sheet feeding direction of the sheet feeding cassette. Such a protrusion for preventing the jumping up is not useful for preventing the jumping up if it is too far from the upper surface of the sheet, and if it is too close to the upper surface of the sheet, it will interfere with the insertion or removal of the sheet from the paper cassette, and the operability Will be reduced.
That is, the protrusion rises to a position away from the upper surface of the sheet to some extent so as not to interfere with the insertion operation when the sheet is inserted into or removed from the sheet cassette, and when the sheet cassette is attached to the image forming apparatus. In order to prevent the sheet from jumping up, it is desirable that the sheet is set at a position close to the upper surface of the sheet. However, the sheet feeding cassette in the conventional image forming apparatus lacks such delicate considerations, and is Even when the protrusions are provided, when inserting or removing the sheet, prior to insertion or removal of the sheet, a cumbersome work of manually lifting the protrusions is required, and operability is lacking.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to perform engagement / disengagement of the rear end pressing member with a simple operation as in the paper feed cassette described in Patent Document 1. The protrusion for preventing the sheet from jumping up can also be performed in conjunction with the simple engagement / disengagement operation of the rear end pressing member, so that the rear end pressing member is engaged and disengaged. It is an object of the present invention to provide a paper feed cassette that can significantly improve the operability by making it possible to easily move the protrusions for preventing the jumping up and down in one operation.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention accommodates sheets in a layered manner, and abuts against the end of the accommodated sheet by moving along the sheet feeding direction, thereby forming the layered sheet. A sheet trailing edge pressing member for aligning the trailing edge positions of a plurality of sheets stacked on the sheet, and an engagement portion formed on the housing side of the sheet feeding cassette by a predetermined operation, thereby engaging the sheet trailing edge pressing member. In the paper feed cassette comprising a position fixing means for fixing a member to the casing, the position fixing means is a protrusion protruding toward the sheet, and the position fixing means is engaged by the predetermined operation. The sheet feeding cassette is configured to include a protrusion that descends with the engaging operation with the unit and rises with the disengaging operation.
Thus, the operation of raising or lowering the protrusion and the operation of engaging and disengaging the rear end pressing member with respect to the paper feed cassette housing can be completed by the one predetermined operation, in other words, It is possible to provide a paper feed cassette that can significantly improve operability because the movement of the protrusion for preventing the sheet from jumping and the engagement / disengagement operation of the sheet trailing edge pressing member can be performed in conjunction with each other. It is.

Further, as a specific example of the position fixing means, the sheet rear end pressing member can be rotated about a support shaft provided in the sheet feeding direction, and the protrusion is formed on the upper end thereof. It can be configured by providing a single lever. The two levers have their upper ends opened to each other so that the protrusions at the upper ends thereof are lowered. With the operation, the lower ends of the levers engage with the engaging portions. The lower end can be configured to release the engagement of the engaging portion in accordance with the operation of closing the portion.
Further, in the case where an elastic member that constantly urges the two levers in the direction in which the upper ends thereof open is further provided, the two levers perform the vertical movement of the protrusion and the fixing and releasing of the sheet trailing edge pressing member. By simply pinching the upper end of the handle or releasing the knob, it can be completely interlocked, and a significant improvement in operability can be expected.

  According to the present invention, the engagement and disengagement of the rear end pressing member and the prevention of the sheet from jumping can be achieved at the same time by only a simple operation of raising or lowering the protrusion, and the operability can be remarkably improved. It is.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings so that the present invention can be understood. The following embodiment is an example embodying the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention.
Here, FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view as seen from the front of the paper feed cassette according to the embodiment of the present invention, showing a state in which two levers are opened, and FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view seen from the back of the paper feed cassette, FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view seen from the front of the paper feed cassette showing a state in which the two levers shown in FIG. 1 are closed, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a partial perspective view seen from the rear side showing the closed state of the two levers of the sheet feeding cassette shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a side view of the entire sheet trailing edge pressing member including the lever, and FIG. It is the fragmentary perspective view seen from the front of the paper feed cassette which concerns on an Example, Comprising: The state with which the engagement with the housing | casing was cancelled | released is shown.
As shown in FIG. 1, a sheet feeding cassette 1 according to this embodiment is configured to store sheets S in a layered manner as indicated by broken lines.
In this case, since all the sheets of the sheet bundle stacked in layers must have the same position in the sheet feeding direction indicated by the arrow Y, the sheet feeding cassette 1 is indicated by the arrow Y of the sheet S. In the feeding direction shown, that is, in the direction of the sheet S, it is guided by the rail 21 in the arrow Y direction fixed to the housing 5 of the sheet feeding cassette 1 and moved to the end of the stored sheet S. A sheet rear end pressing member 3 for abutting and aligning the rear end positions of the plurality of sheets S stacked in layers is provided. Further, the sheet trailing edge pressing member 3 is engaged with the concave and convex engaging portion 7 formed on the housing 5 side of the sheet feeding cassette 1 by a simple predetermined operation such as picking as described above. Position fixing means 11 for fixing to the housing 5 is provided.
The position fixing means 11 includes protrusions 9a and 9b protruding in the direction of the sheet S. The protrusions 9a and 9b are connected to the engaging portion 7 of the position fixing means 11 by the predetermined operation. The distance between the sheet S and the seat S decreases, and the distance increases with the operation of releasing the engagement to increase the distance from the sheet.

The position fixing means 11 may have various configurations as long as it has the functions described above. The following is a specific example of the position fixing means.
In this case, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the position fixing means 11 is composed of two levers 11a and 11b that are curved in a "<" shape.
The two levers 11a and 11b are rotatable as indicated by an arrow X shown in FIG. 2 around a support shaft 13 provided in the sheet trailing edge pressing member 3 along the sheet S feeding direction. The upper end portion is opened as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 or closed as shown in FIGS.
The protrusions 9a and 9b according to the central configuration of the present invention are formed on the upper ends of the levers 11a and 11b, respectively, in a state of protruding toward the sheet S as shown in FIG. . In FIG. 5, the protrusion amount of the protrusions 9a and 9b from the sheet rear end pressing member 3 is indicated by L.
The lower end portions 17a and 17b of the levers 11a and 11b can be engaged with a plurality of engaging portions 7 in a direction perpendicular to the arrow Y (sheet width direction) fixed to the housing 5 of the sheet feeding cassette 1. It is.
As described above, the protrusions 9a and 9b rotate around the support shaft 13, so that the upper ends of the two levers 11a and 11b are lowered by performing an operation to open each other as shown in FIGS. At the same time, the lower end portions 17 a and 17 b are engaged with the engaging portion 7 in accordance with this operation. Moreover, it raises with the operation | movement made to close, and the lower end part 17a, 17b cancels | releases engagement with the said engaging part 7. FIG.

  Although not shown in the drawing, an elastic member such as a helical spring that always urges the two levers 11a and 11b in a direction in which the upper ends thereof are opened is mounted around the support shaft 13. The levers 11a and 11b are normally open as shown in FIGS. In this state, the protrusions 9a and 9b come into contact with the upper end portion of the sheet rear end pressing member 3, so that the rotation of the levers 11a and 11b is stopped and the lower end portions 17a and 17b of the levers 11a and 11b are stopped. Is maintained in an engaged state with a plurality of engaging portions 7 in the direction perpendicular to the arrow Y (sheet width direction) fixed to the housing 5 of the sheet feeding cassette 1.

  In the sheet feeding cassette 1 described above, the levers 11a and 11b are opened and the lower end portions 17a and 17b are engaged with the engaging portion 7 as shown in FIGS. When the operator pinches the upper ends of the levers 11a and 11b from the state fixed to the housing 5 of the paper cassette 1, the levers 11a and 11b are simply tightened to the state shown in FIGS. In this state, since the lower end portions 17a and 17b of the levers 11a and 11b are not engaged with the engaging portion 7, the sheet rear end pressing member 3 can be easily moved along the rail 21 in the direction of the arrow Y as a whole. It is possible to move, and the rear end portion of the sheet S can be brought into contact with the rear end portion of the sheet S so that the position of the rear end portion of the sheet S can be aligned.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the protrusions 9a and 9b provided on the upper ends of the levers 11a and 11b are rotated by simply pinching the upper ends of the levers 11a and 11b as described above. 13, the vertical position thereof is raised, so that when the sheet is replenished or taken out at that position, the sheet S is less likely to interfere with the protrusions 9a and 9b. The operability is improved without interfering with the insertion and removal operations.
3 and 4, the operator simply removes the finger from the levers 11a and 11b from the state in which the sheet trailing edge pressing member 3 is pressed against the sheet trailing edge to align the sheet trailing edge. The levers 11a and 11b are opened by elastic members such as the helical springs as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that the lower end portions 17a and 17b of the levers 11a and 11b interfere with the engaging portion 7 and press the rear end of the sheet. Since the member 3 is fixed to the housing 5 of the sheet feeding cassette 1, the protrusions 9a and 9b are rotated around the support shaft 13 to lower the position thereof, and the distance from the upper surface of the sheet S is shortened. Even if the sheet feeding cassette 1 is vigorously inserted into the image forming apparatus in this state, the two functions that the protrusions 9a and 9b interfere to prevent the upper layer portion of the sheet S from jumping up are achieved at once.

In the above embodiment, the engaging portion 7 is formed on the lower surface of the casing 5 of the paper feed cassette 1. However, the engaging portion 7 is provided on the side surface of the paper feed cassette 1. Needless to say, those that belong to the technical scope of the present invention.
In the above embodiment, the case where the distance from the sheet S is changed by turning around the support shaft 13 as in the levers 11a and 11b has been described. As a modification of the present invention, FIG. The sheet rear end pressing member 3a that moves along the rail 21a as described above is movable in the vertical direction, and its lower end engages with the engaging portion 7, whereby the sheet rear end pressing member is engaged with the engaging portion 7. A position fixing member 111 that is detachably fixed may be provided, and a protrusion 109 protruding in the direction of the sheet S may be provided at the upper end portion of the position fixing member 111.

It is the fragmentary perspective view seen from the front of the paper feed cassette concerning an embodiment of the invention, and shows the state where two levers opened. FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the sheet feeding cassette illustrated in FIG. The partial perspective view seen from the front of the paper feed cassette which shows the state which two levers shown in FIG. 1 closed. The partial perspective view seen from the back surface which shows the state which two levers of the paper feeding cassette shown in FIG. 1 closed. The side view of the whole sheet | seat rear end pressing member containing a lever. It is the fragmentary perspective view seen from the front of the paper feed cassette which concerns on the Example of this invention, Comprising: The state with which the engagement with the housing | casing was cancelled | released was shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper feed cassette 3 ... Sheet rear end pressing member 5 ... Housing 7 ... Engagement part 9 (9a, 9b) ... Protrusion 11 (11a, 11b) ... Lever (position fixing means)
13 ... Support shafts 17a, 17b ... Lower end 21 ... Rail

Claims (3)

While storing sheets in layers,
A sheet trailing edge pressing member configured to align the trailing edge positions of the plurality of stacked sheets in contact with the edge of the accommodated sheet by moving along the sheet feeding direction; ,
In a paper feed cassette comprising position fixing means for fixing the sheet trailing edge pressing member to the housing by engaging with an engaging portion formed on the housing side of the paper feed cassette by a predetermined operation.
The position fixing means is a protrusion that protrudes toward the seat, and is lowered with the engagement operation of the position fixing means with the predetermined operation, and is raised with the engagement release operation. A paper feed cassette comprising a protrusion.   The position fixing means includes two levers that are rotatable about a support shaft provided in the sheet feeding direction on the sheet trailing edge pressing member, and the protrusions are respectively formed on the upper ends thereof. The upper ends of the two levers are opened to each other so that the lower end engages with the engaging portion as the projection of the upper end descends, and the lower end corresponds to the closing operation. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1, comprising two levers for releasing the engagement of the engaging portion.   The sheet feeding cassette according to claim 2, further comprising an elastic member that constantly urges the two levers in a direction in which upper ends thereof open.

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