JP2009053285A - Paper ejection tray structure for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the visibility of a paper sheet ejected onto a paper ejection tray from an discharge port, while increasing a flexibility on design, to form a top surface plate part without requiring a mold in a complicated shape, and also to easily assemble an upper lid. <P>SOLUTION: The structure has the paper ejection tray 4 on which paper ejected from the paper ejection port 5 arranged in the upper surface of the main body 2 of a printer is placed. The paper ejection tray 4 is composed of: a bottom plate formed integrally with an upper surface casing 44 forming at least the top surface wall of the main body 2; and the upper lid 40 disposed so as to freely opened or closed in an opening formed in a casing 44 so as to face the edges of the bottom plate. A decorating panel 45 is attached to the upper surface of the bottom plate. The decorating panel 45 and the upper lid 40 have the same color. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a discharge tray structure of an image forming apparatus in which an openable / closable lid is disposed on a discharge tray on an upper surface of an apparatus main body.

2. Description of the Related Art Many image forming apparatuses such as printers are provided with a paper discharge port at the top and the upper surface of the apparatus main body serving as a paper discharge tray surface. In such an image forming apparatus, an openable lid that forms a part of the surface of the paper discharge tray is formed, and a developing housing that is a housing portion of a toner cartridge of the developing device is provided below the lid. The cartridge is detachably disposed from the developing housing by opening the lid. An image forming apparatus having an openable / closable upper lid that also serves as a paper discharge tray is disclosed in Patent Document 1 below.
JP 10-301351 A

In many cases, the top plate (upper casing), which is a portion excluding the above-described lid on the sheet discharge tray surface, is composed of only one component, and most of them have the same color as the upper lid. The shape of the support part of the rotation axis of the upper lid is formed on the top plate on the apparatus main body side that supports the upper lid, but the shape of the support part is mostly formed by a slide mold due to its structure. is there.
In recent years, with regard to the design of the paper discharge surface of the image forming apparatus, there are many that adopt a dark color scheme such as black and improve the visibility with respect to the color of the discharged paper (generally white). .
However, when a dark color scheme such as black is adopted, if the entire casing or the top plate portion is separated from each side wall of the casing together with the upper lid, at least the top plate portion becomes a dark color scheme, which is a design constraint. Is big.
In addition, if the support portion of the upper lid rotating shaft is formed in such a shape that the rotating shaft does not fall off, the workability is remarkably deteriorated when the upper lid is assembled, and the mold shape for forming the top plate is complicated. As a result, there is a problem that the mold becomes expensive.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and improves the visibility of the paper discharged from the discharge port to the discharge tray while increasing the degree of freedom of design restrictions. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge tray structure for an image forming apparatus in which the top plate can be formed without the need for a complicated mold, and the upper lid can be easily assembled.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is provided with a paper discharge tray on which paper discharged from a paper discharge port disposed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body is placed, and the paper discharge tray is provided at least on the apparatus main body. It is formed by a tray plate part formed integrally with the casing forming the top wall, and an upper lid arranged to be opened and closed at the opening of the casing formed facing the edge of the tray plate part. In the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus, the tray plate portion is formed of a bottom plate formed integrally with the casing of the apparatus main body and a decorative plate that covers the top surface of the bottom plate.
The paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus forms the surface color of the decorative plate and the surface color of the upper lid in the same color, and is different from the surface color of the decorative plate and the surface color of the front casing including the bottom plate. Can be formed.
In the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus, a bearing that accommodates the rotation shaft of the upper lid can be formed by the bottom plate and the decorative plate.
The rotation axis of the upper lid of the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus extends in the width direction of the apparatus main body, and the bearings are formed upward in a pair of recesses formed in the opening edge of the bottom plate. Is an open groove, for example, a U-shaped groove, and the rotating shaft can be supported by covering the upper part of the groove with the decorative plate.
The shaft attaching portion provided with the rotation shaft of the upper lid of the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus can restrict movement of the rotation shaft in the axial direction by a restriction member formed on the decorative plate.

The paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a paper discharge tray on which paper discharged from a paper discharge port provided on the upper surface of the apparatus main body is placed. Formed by a tray plate part integrally formed with respect to the casing forming at least the top wall, and an upper lid disposed to open and close at the opening of the casing formed facing the edge of the tray plate part In the discharged paper tray structure of the image forming apparatus, the tray plate portion is formed of a bottom plate formed integrally with the casing of the apparatus main body and a decorative plate that covers the upper surface of the bottom plate. By changing the casing color, the degree of freedom of design constraints is increased.
The paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus forms the surface color of the decorative plate and the surface color of the upper lid in the same color, and is different from the surface color of the decorative plate and the surface color of the front casing including the bottom plate. Therefore, the visibility of the paper can be improved by making the color of the paper discharge tray darker.
In the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus, since the bearing that accommodates the rotating shaft of the upper lid is formed by the bottom plate and the decorative plate, a mold having a complicated shape for forming the bearing portion. The bearing can be formed without using.
In the sheet discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus, the rotation axis of the upper lid extends in the width direction of the apparatus main body, and the bearing is formed in a vertical direction in a pair of recesses formed in the opening edge of the bottom plate. The upper part is an open groove, for example, a U-shaped groove, and the upper part of the groove is covered with the decorative plate so as to support the rotating shaft, so that the upper lid can be easily assembled. I was able to do it.
In the paper discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus, the shaft mounting portion provided with the rotation shaft of the upper lid is configured to restrict movement of the rotation shaft in the axial direction by a restriction member formed on the decorative plate. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the upper lid from falling off.

Hereinafter, a lid structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The direction indicated by the arrow F of the printer 1 shown in FIG. 1 is the front of the printer 1, and the direction intersecting the arrow F is the width direction of the printer 1.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view thereof. Referring to these drawings, a laser printer 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as “printer 1”) that is an image forming apparatus includes a printer main body 2 that is a substantially rectangular parallelepiped apparatus main body. A paper discharge tray 4 is formed on the upper surface of the printer body 2.
On the front side of the paper discharge tray 4 of the printer main body 2, a front lid 6 that is a manual paper feed tray lid is opened with a support portion at a lower end (not shown) as a rotation shaft and an upper end portion as a front side. It is formed as follows.

In a substantially central region within the printer main body 2, a photosensitive drum 7 as an image carrier is disposed so as to be rotated clockwise in FIG. Around the photosensitive drum 7, a main charging roller 8, a developing sleeve 9 of a developing device, a transfer roller 10, a cleaning roller 11 and a cleaning blade 12, a static eliminator (not shown), and the like are provided. A laser scanning unit LSU that converts input image information into laser light and irradiates the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is disposed at an upper position in the printer main body 2.
As the photoreceptor of the photoreceptor drum 7, an a-Si system or OPC is used. When a charging bias is applied to the main charging roller 8 by a charging bias power supply device (not shown), the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is uniformly charged. In the embodiment, a positive charging bias is applied, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is uniformly positively charged.

  The developing device includes a developing sleeve 9 disposed in the developing housing 13 and a toner cartridge 14 for supplying toner to the developing housing 13. When a developing bias is applied to the developing sleeve 9 by the developing bias power supply device, the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 is developed by being exposed by the laser scanning unit LSU. In the embodiment, a developing bias having the same positive polarity as the polarity of the charging bias is applied, and the toner, which is a magnetic one-component developer, is reversely developed with respect to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 7. It is configured to be allowed to.

A transport path 15 for transporting paper is disposed at a substantially central portion of the printer main body 2 in the vertical direction, and a paper feed cassette 16 is mounted at the lower end. The conveyance path 15 passes between the photosensitive drum 7 and the transfer roller 10 and extends substantially horizontally in the tangential direction thereof. The upstream end region of the transport path 15 is inverted downward and connected to the paper feed cassette 16. On the upstream side of the photosensitive drum 7 in the conveyance path 15, a separation roller pair 18, a conveyance roller pair 19, and a registration roller pair 20 are disposed along the conveyance path 15 in that order from upstream to downstream. Yes. On the upstream side of the pair of registration rollers 20 in the conveyance path 15, a sheet detection sensor S that can detect the sheet P being conveyed is disposed.
In the paper feed cassette 16, there are disposed a bottom plate 22 that is a paper placement plate supported at one end so as to be rotatable around a shaft 21, a compression coil spring 28 that pushes the other end of the bottom plate 22 upward. ing. The upper surface of the front end of the paper P stacked and accommodated on the bottom plate 22 is pressed against a pickup roller 23 provided in the printer main body 2.

  A fixing device 24 is disposed on the downstream side of the photosensitive drum 7 in the conveyance path 15. The fixing device 24 includes a heat roller 25 and a pressure roller 26 pressed against the heat roller 25 from below. On the downstream side of the fixing device 24 in the conveyance path 15, a conveyance roller pair 27 is disposed. The conveying roller pair 27 includes a driving roller 30 and a driven roller 31 that is pressed against the driving roller 30. A discharge conveyance path 29 is disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance roller pair 27. The discharge conveyance path 29 extends upward along the inner side of the rear wall of the printer body 2, and is curved to the front side of the printer body 2 at the upper end portion and connected to the discharge port 5. A pair of conveyance rollers 32 is disposed at a substantially central position in the vertical direction of the discharge conveyance path 29, and a pair of discharge rollers 33 is disposed at the upper end (downstream end). Each of the conveyance roller pair 32 and the discharge roller pair 33 includes a driving roller and a driven roller that is pressed against the driving roller.

The paper discharge tray 4 described above is provided on the upper surface of the printer body 2. The paper discharge tray 4 is formed by an inclined portion that is gently inclined so as to become higher from the rear side toward the front side, and a flat portion that continues to the front of the inclined portion. The flat portion includes an upper lid 40 that can be opened and closed. Is provided. The image forming apparatus supports the sheet discharged from the lower side from the sheet discharge port 5 provided on the vertical wall formed on the rear side after image formation from below.
The upper lid 40 covers the upper part from the substantially middle position of the upper surface of the printer main body 2 to the front end part, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, arms 41 and 42 are provided at the left and right ends of the rear end part of the upper lid 40. Are integrally formed. The arms 41 and 42 are substantially U-shaped extending from the back surface of the upper lid 40 to the lower side, and both left and right side surfaces in the width direction of the arms 41 and 42 are substantially flat. Rotating shafts 41a and 42a projecting outward from the side surfaces are formed on both side surfaces outside the distal end portions of the arms 41 and 42, respectively.

As shown in FIG. 5, a concave wall 44a that is recessed stepwise is formed on the front edge of the upper casing portion 44 of the printer body 2, and a bearing groove 44b is formed on the upper side of the concave wall 44a. Is formed. The bearing groove 44b has a shape in which the side surface of the concave wall 44a is cut up and down in a U-shape and opens on the upper side, and accommodates one shaft 42a of the upper lid 40 described above.
The upper casing portion 44 is provided with a bottom plate 46 at a portion where the paper discharge tray 4 is formed, and a decorative plate 45 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is mounted on the upper surface of the bottom plate 46. 6 shows the front side of the decorative plate 45, and FIG. 7 shows the back side of the decorative plate 45.

  Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the bottom plate 46 in the upper casing portion 44 has a rectangular locking hole 47 a that is long in the width direction of the printer body 2 around the recess wall 44 a and a rectangular shape that is long in the front-rear direction of the printer body 2. A locking hole 48a is formed, and a circular locking hole 49a is formed at the rear of one locking hole 47a. Then, on the back surfaces of both sides of the front edge portion of the decorative plate 45, the locking claws 47b and 48b having a triangular claw at the tip are placed on the surface at positions corresponding to the rectangular locking holes 47a and 48a. The positioning boss 49b is formed so as to protrude on the surface at a position corresponding to the circular locking hole 49a. Further, a regulation pin 50 having a substantially cross-shaped cross section is formed at the front edge of the decorative plate 45, and the regulation pin 50 is located on the side surface (printer) of the position where the arms 41 and 42 are disposed inside the recess wall 44a. It is provided so as to be adjacent to the width direction side surface of the main body 2. On the rear edge portion of the decorative plate 45, claws 53 that protrude rearward from the rear edge portion are formed at three positions along the width direction of the decorative plate 45 at equal intervals.

In order to assemble the decorative plate 45 to the bottom plate 46 of the upper casing portion 44, the claw 53 is inserted into a laterally long lateral groove 54 a (see FIG. 1) formed in the vertical wall 54 provided at the rear position of the bottom plate 46. . On the front side of the decorative plate 45, the decorative plate 45 is attached to the bottom plate 46 by inserting the positioning boss 49b into the circular locking hole 49a and inserting the locking claws 47b and 48b into the rectangular locking holes 47a and 48a. Is done. When the decorative plate 45 is mounted, the rotating shaft 42a of the upper lid 40 described above is accommodated in the bearing groove 44b. Therefore, the decorative plate 45 covers the bearing groove 44b, thereby preventing the rotating shaft 42a from coming off. .
As shown in FIG. 8, the regulation pin 50 is disposed inside the recessed wall 44 a and is disposed on the side of the arm 42. The rotating shaft 42a of the upper lid 40 is supported by the bearing groove 44b, and the upper lid 40 can move in the left-right width direction. However, since the regulation pin 50 is disposed along the inner side surface of the arm 42, when the upper lid 40 moves in the width direction, the arm 42 abuts on the regulation pin 50 and regulates its movement. . Therefore, the rotating shaft 42a is prevented from dropping from the bearing groove 44b.
Although description of the other rotating shaft 41a is omitted, it is supported by the same structure as the rotating shaft 42a and restricts the movement of the upper lid 40 in the left-right direction.
Thus, the upper lid 40 is pivotally supported in the vicinity of the intermediate position in the front-rear direction of the printer body 2 with the rotary shafts 41a, 42a located on the rear end side, and is pivotally supported on the printer body 2 so that the front end side is the front side. The

As shown in FIG. 4, the upper lid 40 forms a front wall 51 that protrudes downward from the tip when the upper lid 40 is closed (tilted). The front wall 51 forms part of the front wall of the printer body 2. A blindfold plate 52 is formed slightly behind the front wall 51. The blindfold plate 52 is formed so as to protrude downward from the back surface of the upper lid 40 when the upper lid 40 is closed. The blindfold plate 52 is formed so as to draw an arc with a radius r about the rotation shaft 42a.
In the present embodiment, for example, the upper surface casing 44 is colored in gray including the bottom plate 46, the upper lid 40 is formed in black, and the decorative plate 45 is colored in black. Accordingly, the surface of the paper discharge tray 4 is black as a whole, and the periphery of the paper discharge tray 4 is gray.

In such a printer 1, when a print signal is transmitted to the printer 1, the paper P is pulled out from the paper feed cassette 16 by the pickup roller 23. Then, when the sheet P is conveyed to the conveyance path 15 and conveyed to the photosensitive drum 7, the surface of the photosensitive drum 7 uniformly charged by the charging roller 8 is exposed by the laser scanning unit LSU. An electrostatic latent image is formed, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device to become a toner image. This toner image is transferred by the transfer roller 10 to one side of the paper P conveyed from the paper feed cassette 16 at a predetermined timing.
The sheet P on which the toner image has been transferred is guided by the conveyance path 15 and conveyed to the fixing device 24, and is thermally fixed while passing through the fixing device 24. The sheet P on which the toner image is fixed is one sheet in a face-down state from the discharge port 5 to the discharge tray 4 through the discharge conveyance path 29 by the conveyance roller pair 27, the conveyance roller pair 32, and the discharge roller pair 33. Or two or more sheets are discharged continuously. The upper lid 40 is normally closed, and the front end portion of the paper P is placed on the upper lid 40.

Since the decorative plate 45 and the upper lid 40 are black for the portion of the paper discharge tray 4, the visibility of the white paper P is improved and the misplacement of the paper P can be prevented. Further, by changing the colors of the portion of the paper discharge tray 4 and the portion other than the paper discharge tray 4 in terms of design, freedom in design restrictions can be improved. By making the colors of the decorative plate 45 and the upper lid 40 the same color, even if they are formed separately, it is possible to achieve a sense of unity.
The upper lid 40 is rotatably arranged on the printer main body 2, but a bearing groove 44 b which is a support portion of the rotation shafts 41 a and 42 a of the upper lid 40 is formed in the upper surface casing 44, and the support shape thereof is the upper portion. Is formed into an open U-shape. The U-shaped groove may be V-shaped or U-shaped with the U-shaped open part up as long as the upper part is open. Therefore, when the upper surface casing 44 is formed, when the upper surface casing 44 can be removed by opening and closing the mold of the upper surface casing 44, the mold of the portion of the bearing groove 44b is formed. The punching is in the vertical direction, eliminating the need for a slide mold and simplifying the mold shape. The upper part of the bearing groove 44b can be closed by the decorative plate 45, and the rotary shafts 41a and 42a are restricted in the vertical direction. The movement of the upper lid 40 in the axial direction of the rotation shafts 41a and 42a is because the restriction pin 50 formed on the decorative plate 45 is disposed on the inner surface side of the arm 42 provided with the rotation shafts 41a and 42a. The movement of the lid 40 is restricted in the width direction. Therefore, the rotation shafts 41a and 42a are prevented from falling off from the bearing groove 44b.
As shown in FIG. 9, when the toner is consumed, the upper lid 40 can be opened and the toner cartridge 14 can be detached from the developing housing 13.

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, a printer is taken as an example of the image forming apparatus, but the present invention can also be applied to a FAX, a copier, and a complex machine thereof.
For example, in the above embodiment, the color of the front lid 6 that is a manual feed tray is not mentioned, but the front lid 6 is also the same color as the paper discharge tray 4 so as to improve the visibility and design of the paper. It may be.

1 is a perspective view of a printer adopting a lid structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the printer of FIG. 1 in the front-rear direction. It is a perspective view of the upper lid arrange | positioned at the upper part of the printer of FIG. It is sectional drawing seen from the side surface direction of the upper lid arrange | positioned at the upper part of the printer of FIG. It is an expansion perspective view of the support part of the rotating shaft of the upper lid of the printer of FIG. It is the perspective view which looked at the decoration board arrange | positioned by the rear part of the upper lid of the printer of FIG. 1 from the surface. It is the perspective view which looked at the decoration board arrange | positioned by the rear part of the upper lid of the printer of FIG. 1 from the back surface. It is the enlarged view which looked at the attachment part periphery of the upper lid of FIG. 1 from the inside of the apparatus main body. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a front lid and an upper lid of the printer of FIG. 1 are opened.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 2 Printer main body 4 Paper discharge tray 6 Front lid 14 Toner cartridge 40 Upper lid 41a, 41b Rotating shaft 44 Top casing part 45 Decoration board 46 Bottom board 50 Control board

Claims (5)

A paper discharge tray on which paper discharged from a paper discharge port disposed on the upper surface of the apparatus body is placed;
The discharge tray can be freely opened and closed to a tray plate portion formed integrally with a casing forming at least the top wall of the apparatus main body, and an opening of the casing formed facing the edge of the tray plate portion. In the discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus formed by the arranged upper lid,
The discharge tray structure of an image forming apparatus, wherein the tray plate portion is formed of a bottom plate formed integrally with a casing of the apparatus main body and a decorative plate that covers an upper surface of the bottom plate.   2. The image formation according to claim 1, wherein the surface color of the decorative plate and the surface color of the upper lid are formed to be the same color, and the surface color of the decorative plate is different from the surface color of the casing. The output tray structure of the device.   The discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a bearing that accommodates a rotation shaft of the upper lid is formed by the bottom plate and the decorative plate.   The rotation axis of the upper lid extends in the width direction of the apparatus main body, and the bearing is a groove formed in a vertical direction in a pair of recesses formed in the opening edge of the bottom plate, the upper opening being open. The discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an upper portion of the image forming apparatus is covered with the decorative plate so as to support the rotating shaft.   The shaft attachment portion provided with the rotation shaft of the upper lid is configured to restrict movement of the rotation shaft in the axial direction by a restriction member formed on the decorative plate. A discharge tray structure of the image forming apparatus described.

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