JP2010052903A - Paper feeding cassette and image forming device having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a paper feeding cassette enabling side cursors to be accurately positioned, with high working efficiency, at predetermined positions corresponding to the paper of inch size and the paper of centimeter size by a simple configuration and to provide an image forming device having the paper feeding cassette. <P>SOLUTION: This paper feeding cassette includes a first guide member 31 in which a groove for inch size and a groove for centimeter size 31a are formed as positioning grooves and a second guide member 32 in which a groove for inch size and a groove for centimeter size 32a are formed at intervals different from those of the groove for inch size and the groove for centimeter size 31a which are formed in the first guide member 31. The first guide member 31 is slidable relative to the second guide member 32 in the paper width direction. The first guide member 31 is changeable between the first position and the second position where the groove for inch size 31a and the groove for centimeter size 32a which are formed in the respective first guide member 31 and the second guide member 32 become effective, respectively. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a paper feed cassette that is attached to and detached from a main body of an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus including the same.

  An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer that forms an image on a sheet by electrophotography is detachably mounted with a sheet cassette containing the sheet, and the sheet from the sheet cassette to the image forming unit one by one. And an image is formed thereon.

  Here, the paper feed cassette includes a paper storage unit that can store paper of a plurality of sizes, a slidable side cursor that regulates the width direction of the paper stored in the paper storage unit, and a sliding direction of the side cursor. A positioning mechanism including a plurality of formed positioning grooves and an engaging member that selectively engages one of the positioning grooves to position the side cursor is provided.

  In such a paper feed cassette, the side cursor is slid in the paper width direction in accordance with the size of the paper stored in the paper storage portion and applied to the end in the paper width direction, and a positioning groove formed at that position. The side cursor is positioned by engaging the engaging member with the side member, and the width direction of the sheet is regulated by the side cursor.

  By the way, there are two types of paper sizes of inches and centimeters depending on the destination, and the position of the positioning groove is defined according to each, but depending on the size of the paper, for example, the letter size of inches and centimeters Since the positioning grooves corresponding to the A4 size are close to each other, there is a possibility that the user may position the side cursor by mistake, and it becomes impossible to stably feed the paper. In the worst case, a paper jam ( Jam).

  Therefore, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 discloses that inch-sized or centimeter-sized paper is inch by rotating a positioning member formed on the surface from which the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove are respectively formed by 180 °. A paper feeding cassette has been proposed in which the user does not position the side cursor by mistake by switching between the size groove and the centimeter size groove.

  In Patent Document 2, a first guide groove provided with a plurality of inch-size locking recesses and a plurality of centimeter-size locking recesses along the longitudinal direction of the paper is formed in the lower plate, and the width direction of the paper An inch size locking recess is made effective by setting the upper plate movable to the first position, and a centimeter size locking recess is made effective by setting the upper plate to the second position. In addition, the width restricting plate (side cursor) is provided with a claw that can be engaged with the activated locking recess for inch size or the engaging recess for centimeter size, thereby accurately setting the fixing position of the width restricting plate. Paper cassettes that can do this have been proposed.

  In Patent Document 3, a centimeter-type locking portion is provided on one side of the guide portion provided on the sheet stacking surface, and an inch-type locking portion is provided on the other side of the guide portion, and can be engaged with each locking portion. A paper feeding cassette has been proposed in which an engaging member is rotatably attached to a guide plate to prevent an erroneous setting of a paper end surface regulating member (side cursor) by a user.

  In Patent Document 4, the first locking claw for setting the irregular size paper at a predetermined position and the second locking claw for setting the fixed size paper at a predetermined position are configured to be unlocked simultaneously by one operation. There has been proposed a paper feeding device capable of setting both a regular size paper and an irregular size paper at a predetermined position without causing interference of two series of lock mechanisms.

In Patent Document 5, in a paper stacking device including a universal tray having a regulating member (end cursor) movable in the paper feeding direction and a regulating member (side cursor) movable in a direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, A conductive member is provided on at least one of the regulating member movable in the paper feeding direction and the pair of regulating members movable in the direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction, and the energized state is intermittently applied in the direction in which each regulating member moves. By disposing the conductive member on the tray so as to change, it is possible to clearly recognize that the regulating member is set at a predetermined position, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of paper non-feed and skew. A paper stacking device has been proposed.
JP 2005-126150 A JP 2006-176330 A Japanese Patent No. 4040553 JP 2007-191277 A JP-A-6-271094

  However, all of the configurations proposed in Patent Documents 1 to 5 have a problem that the structure is complicated because many components are required, and switching workability is poor.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its object is to accurately position the side cursor at a predetermined position corresponding to inch-size paper and centimeter-size paper with a simple configuration with good workability. An object of the present invention is to provide a paper feeding cassette that can be used and an image forming apparatus including the same.

  In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention is a paper storage unit that is detachable from the image forming apparatus main body and can store a plurality of sizes of paper, and a paper stored in the paper storage unit. Slidable side cursor that regulates the width direction of the side cursor, a plurality of positioning grooves formed in the sliding direction of the side cursor, and an engagement member that selectively engages one of the positioning grooves to position the side cursor A first guide member having an inch-size groove and a centimeter-size groove formed as the positioning groove, and the first guide member formed on the first guide member. A second guide member having an inch size groove and a centimeter size groove formed at a different interval from the inch size groove and the centimeter size groove is provided, and the first guide member is 2 slidable in the sheet width direction with respect to the two guide members, and the position of the first guide member is an inch size groove formed in each of the first guide member and the second guide member. The centimeter-size groove can be switched between a first position and a second position where the grooves are enabled.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the first guide member is made of resin, and the height of the first guide member in the paper stacking direction is set to the height of the second guide member. The height is set to be higher than the height, and the first guide member is slid together with the side cursor in a state where the engagement member is biased to the first guide member.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the first guide member is fixed at the first and second positions by concave and convex fitting, and the first guide member is fixed. It is characterized in that the fixing by the concave-convex fitting is released by the bending deformation of.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus in which the paper feed cassette according to any one of the first to third aspects is detachably attached to the main body.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first guide member in which the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove are formed as the positioning groove, the inch-size groove formed in the first guide member, and the A second guide member having an inch-size groove and a centimeter-size groove formed at a different interval from the centimeter-size groove is provided, and the first guide member is arranged in the paper width direction with respect to the second guide member. The first guide member is made slidable and the position of the first guide member and the second guide member are made effective by the inch size groove and the centimeter size groove, respectively. Since the position can be switched between the first position and the second position, the side cursor can be accurately positioned at a predetermined position corresponding to the inch-size paper and the centimeter-size paper with a simple configuration with good workability. That.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, the first guide member is made of resin, and the height of the first guide member in the paper stacking direction is higher than the height of the second guide member in the paper stacking direction. Since the first guide member is slid on the first guide member together with the side cursor while the engagement member is biased to the first guide member, the contact area of the engagement member can be kept small, and the side cursor can be slid. The side cursor can be smoothly slid without adding a large resistance. If the first guide member and the engaging member are made of a resin having high slidability, the wear is suppressed and the durability is enhanced.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the first guide member is fixed at the first and second positions by the concave-convex fitting, and the first guide member is fixed by the concave-convex fitting by the bending deformation of the first guide member. Therefore, the first guide member can be switched and fixed between the first position and the second position with a simple operation and good workability.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the side cursor can be accurately positioned at a predetermined position corresponding to the inch-size paper and the centimeter-size paper with good workability, so that the paper can be stably conveyed.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[Image forming apparatus]
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a laser printer as an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the illustrated laser printer 1, a tilt is formed at the center of the upper surface of a box-shaped printer body (housing) 2. A concave paper discharge tray 3 is provided. An openable and closable manual feed tray 4 is provided at the upper part of the front surface of the printer main body 2 (the right side in FIG. 1 is the front), and the manual feed provided rotatably in the manual feed tray 4 and the printer main body 2 at the back thereof. The sheet feeding roller 5 constitutes a manual sheet feeding unit 6.

  Thus, the laser printer 1 transfers an image on a sheet based on image data transmitted from a terminal (not shown) while conveying the sheet as a recording material along a conveyance path L provided in the main body 2. The conveyance path L is formed in a substantially L shape in a side view and extends to the paper discharge tray 3.

  Further, the laser printer 1 includes a cassette paper feeding unit 7 provided at a lower portion of the printer main body 2, an image forming unit 8 provided at a substantially central portion in the main body 2 above the cassette paper feeding unit 7, and the image A fixing device 9 disposed behind the forming unit 8 and a concave paper discharge unit 10 provided on the upper surface of the printer main body 2 above the fixing device 9 are provided.

  The cassette sheet feeding unit 7 stacks and stores a plurality of sheets in a rectangular box-shaped sheet feeding cassette 11 having an open top surface, and picks a roller 12 that takes out the sheets in the sheet feeding cassette 11 one by one. A feed roller 13 and a retard roller 14 are provided for separating the taken-out sheets one by one and feeding them to the conveyance path L. The conveyance path L has a predetermined timing after temporarily waiting for the fed-out sheets. A registration roller pair 15 is provided to be supplied to the image forming unit 8.

  The image forming unit 8 forms an image on a sheet supplied from the manual sheet feeding unit 6 or the cassette sheet feeding unit 7, and is an image carrier disposed rotatably at a substantially central portion in the main body 2. As a photosensitive drum 16, a charger 17 disposed around the photosensitive drum 16, a developing device 18 serving as a developing unit, a transfer roller 19 serving as a transfer unit, and a cleaning device 20, and a scanning optical device disposed above them. A laser scanner unit (LSU) 21 and a toner hopper 22 are provided.

  The fixing device 9 is for fixing the toner image transferred onto the paper in the image forming unit 8 to the paper, and is a heating roller 23 and a pressure member which are heating members that are pressed against each other to rotate. The pressure roller 24 is provided.

  Further, the paper discharge unit 10 is for discharging the paper on which the toner image has been fixed in the fixing device 9 to the outside of the printer main body 2, and a paper discharge roller pair 25 provided at the end of the conveyance path L. And a plurality of conveying guide ribs 26 in the form of longitudinal ribs for guiding the paper conveyed on the conveying path L to the paper discharge roller pair 25 and the paper discharge tray 3 for stacking the paper discharged outside the main body 2. It has.

  Next, an image forming operation of the laser printer 1 having the above configuration will be described.

  For example, when a print start signal is transmitted to the laser printer 1 from a terminal such as a personal computer (personal computer), in the image forming unit 8, the photosensitive drum 16 is driven in a direction indicated by an arrow (clockwise) in FIG. And the surface thereof is uniformly charged to a predetermined potential by the charger 17. Then, when laser light based on image data transmitted from the terminal is output from the laser scanner unit 21 and irradiated onto the photosensitive drum 16, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 16. Then, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 16 is developed by the developing device 18 using toner as a developer to be visualized as a toner image.

  By the way, when cassette feeding is performed, the sheets stored in the sheet feeding cassette 11 of the cassette sheet feeding unit 7 are picked up one by one from the uppermost one by the pick roller 12, and are fed by the feed roller 13 and the retard roller 14. Each sheet is separated and conveyed to the registration roller pair 15.

  In the registration roller pair 15, the paper is temporarily put into a standby state and then supplied to the image forming unit 8 at a predetermined timing synchronized with the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16.

  In the image forming unit 8, the sheet supplied to the transfer nip between the photosensitive drum 16 and the transfer roller 19 is conveyed while being pressed against the photosensitive drum 16 by the transfer roller 19, so that the surface (transfer surface) is transferred. ) Is transferred to the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16. Then, the sheet on which the toner image is transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 9, and is heated and pressed in the process of being sandwiched and conveyed by the heating roller 23 and the pressure roller 24 in the fixing device 9 to form a toner image. Get fixed. The toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 (transfer residual toner) after the transfer of the toner image onto the paper is removed by the cleaning device 20.

  Thus, the sheet on which the toner image is fixed on the surface by the fixing device 9 is conveyed upward along the conveyance path L, guided along the conveyance guide rib 26 to the discharge roller pair 25, and the discharge roller pair. 25, the paper is discharged and stacked on the paper discharge tray 3 at the top of the printer main body 2, and a series of image forming operations is completed.

  When the user manually feeds the paper, the paper set on the manual tray 4 of the manual paper feed unit 6 is supplied to the registration roller pair 15 by the paper feed roller 5, and thereafter the same process as described above. Then, an image is formed on the paper.

[Paper cassette]
Next, details of the configuration of the paper feed cassette 11 according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  2 and 3 are partial perspective views showing a positioning mechanism for positioning the side cursor of the paper feed cassette according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a view in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

  The paper feed cassette 11 shown in FIG. 1 is detachable from the printer main body 2 of the laser printer 1, and a bottom plate 27 constituting a paper accommodating portion capable of accommodating a plurality of sizes of paper is not shown therein. It is provided so as to be swingable up and down around a fulcrum (see FIGS. 2 to 4).

  The bottom plate 27 has a pair of left and right slidable side cursors 28 (only one is shown in FIGS. 2 to 4) for regulating the width direction of the paper placed on the bottom plate 27, and the side cursors. A positioning mechanism for positioning and fixing 28 at a position corresponding to the paper size is provided. The pair of left and right side cursors 28 can be slid in opposite directions in the paper width direction (arrow direction shown in the figure) in conjunction with each other, and each side cursor 28 is a guide bar provided on the bottom plate 27 in the paper width direction. 29 and the guide groove 30 are slid in the paper width direction.

  Next, the positioning mechanism of the side cursor 28 constituting the gist of the present invention will be described.

  In the positioning mechanism, inch-size grooves and centimeter-size grooves (collectively indicated by reference numeral 31a) are formed as positioning grooves at appropriate intervals along the sliding direction of the side cursor 28 (paper width direction). One guide member 31, and the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove 31a formed on the first guide member 31 at intervals different from each other. The second guide member 32 is formed integrally with a bottom plate 27 made of sheet metal.

  Here, the first guide member 31 is made of resin and can slide in the paper width direction with respect to the second guide member 32, and the height in the paper stacking direction is the second guide member 32. Is set higher than the height in the paper width direction. Further, an operation protrusion 31b protrudes from one end of the first guide member 31 in the longitudinal direction, and an engagement protrusion 31c is formed in the vicinity of the operation protrusion 31b as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, on the side of the bottom plate 27 where the first guide member 31 is provided, two rectangular engagement grooves for positioning and fixing the first guide member 31 at a first position and a second position described later. 27a and 27b are formed.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, on the outer surface of the side cursor 28, an inch-size groove and a centimeter-size groove 31a formed in the first guide member 31 and the second guide member 32, respectively. An engagement member 33 that selectively engages with the activated one of 32 a is provided so as to be movable up and down. The engagement member 33 is urged downward by a spring 34, and the first guide member 31. It is contact | abutted on the upper surface of. The engaging member 32 and the spring 33 are covered with a rectangular box-shaped cover 35 as shown in FIG.

  Thus, for example, the engaging protrusion 31c formed on the first guide member 31 engages with one engaging groove 27a as shown in FIG. 2, and the first guide member 31 is moved to the first position. When positioned, the inch-size groove 31a formed in the first guide member 31 and the inch-size groove 32a formed in the second guide member 32 are matched and activated. When the side cursor 28 is moved in the paper width direction in accordance with the size of the inch size paper, the engaging member 33 that slides together with the side cursor 28 slides on the first guide member 31 and the first guide The side cursor 28 is engaged with the activated (matched) inch size grooves 31a and 32a of the member 31 and the second guide member 32, and the side cursor 28 is positioned according to the paper size (the side cursor 28 is behind the width of the paper). Are fixedly positioned at a position) to abut the surface, the width of the sheet is aligned by the side cursor 28.

  On the other hand, when a centimeter-size sheet is stored in the sheet storage portion of the sheet feeding cassette 11, the operation guide 31 b provided on the first guide member 31 is pressed downward so that the first guide member 31. Is bent, the engagement of the engagement protrusion 31c with one engagement groove 27a is released, and the first guide member 31 is slid to move the engagement protrusion 31c into the other engagement groove 27b. By engaging, the position of the first guide member 31 is switched from the first position to the second position.

  Then, the centimeter size groove 31a formed in the first guide member 31 and the centimeter size groove 32a formed in the second guide member 32 are matched and activated, so that When the side cursor 28 is moved in the paper width direction according to the size, the engaging member 33 that slides together with the side cursor 28 slides on the first guide member 31, and the first guide member 31 and the second guide The side cursor 28 is engaged with the validated (matched) centimeter-size grooves 31a, 32a of the member 32, and the side cursor 28 is in a position corresponding to the paper size (position where the side cursor 28 abuts against the rear end face of the paper width) The sheet is positioned and fixed, and the width of the sheet is adjusted by the side cursor 28.

  As described above, in the paper feed cassette 11 according to the present embodiment, the first guide member 31 in which the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove 31a are formed as the positioning grooves, and the first guide member 31. The first guide member 31 is provided with a second guide member 32 in which the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove 32a are formed at different intervals from the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove 31a. Is slidable in the paper width direction with respect to the second guide member 32, and the positions of the first guide member 31 are formed on the first guide member 31 and the second guide member 32, respectively. Since the inch size groove and the centimeter size groove 31a, 32a can be switched to the first position and the second position, respectively, the side cursor 28 can be moved with a simple configuration. Workability in predetermined positions corresponding to Nchisaizu paper and cm size paper well can be accurately positioned.

  In the present embodiment, the first guide member 31 is made of resin, and the height of the first guide member 31 in the paper stacking direction is higher than the height of the second guide member in the paper stacking direction. Since the first guide member 31 is slid on the first guide member 31 together with the side cursor 28 in a state where the engagement member 33 is biased to the first guide member 31, the contact area of the engagement member 33 can be kept small. A large resistance is not added to the sliding of the side cursor 28, and the side cursor 28 can be smoothly slid. In this embodiment, since the first guide member 31 and the engagement member 33 are made of a resin having high slidability, these wears are suppressed and durability is enhanced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the first guide member 31 is fixed at the first and second positions by engaging protrusions 31 c provided on the first guide member 31 and the bottom plate 27. Since the first guide member 31 is fixed by the concave / convex fitting by releasing the concave / convex fitting with the concave / convex fitting with the mating grooves 27a and 27b, the first guide member 31 can be easily operated with good workability. 31 can be switched and fixed between the first position and the second position.

  In the above, the embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the laser printer and the paper feed cassette provided in the laser printer has been described. However, the present invention includes a printer other than the laser printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or a complex machine thereof. Of course, the present invention can be similarly applied to an arbitrary image forming apparatus and a paper feed cassette provided therein.

1 is a side sectional view of an image forming apparatus (laser printer) according to the present invention. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the positioning mechanism which positions the side cursor of the paper feed cassette which concerns on this invention. It is a fragmentary perspective view which shows the positioning mechanism which positions the side cursor of the paper feed cassette which concerns on this invention. It is a figure of the arrow A direction of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Laser printer (image forming device)
2 Printer body (image forming device body)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Paper discharge tray 4 Manual feed tray 5 Paper feed roller 6 Manual paper feed part 7 Cassette paper feed part 8 Image forming part 9 Fixing device 10 Paper discharge part 11 Paper feed cassette 12 Pick roller 13 Feed roller 14 Retard roller 15 Registration roller pair 16 Photosensitive drum 17 Charger 18 Developing device 19 Transfer roller 20 Cleaning device 21 Laser scanner unit (LSU)
22 toner hopper 23 heating roller 24 pressure roller 25 paper discharge roller pair 26 transport guide rib 27 bottom plate 27a, 27b engaging groove 28 side cursor 29 guide bar 30 guide groove 31 first guide member 31a inch system of the first guide member Size groove and centimeter-type size groove 31b Operation protrusion 31c of the first guide member 31c Engaging protrusion of the first guide member 32 Second guide member 32a Inch-type size groove and centimeter-type size groove 33 of the first guide member 33 Engagement member 34 Spring 35 Cover L Conveyance path

Claims (4)

A sheet storage section that is detachable from the image forming apparatus main body and can store sheets of a plurality of sizes; a slidable side cursor that regulates a width direction of the sheets stored in the sheet storage section; In a paper feed cassette including a positioning mechanism including a plurality of positioning grooves formed in a cursor sliding direction and an engaging member that selectively engages one of the positioning grooves and positions a side cursor.
A first guide member in which an inch-size groove and a centimeter-size groove are formed as the positioning groove, and the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove formed in the first guide member are at different intervals. A second guide member having an inch-size groove and a centimeter-size groove is provided, and the first guide member can be slid in the paper width direction with respect to the second guide member. The position of the guide member is changed to the first position and the second position where the inch-size groove and the centimeter-size groove respectively formed in the first guide member and the second guide member are activated. A paper feed cassette characterized by being switchable.   The first guide member is made of resin, the height of the first guide member in the sheet stacking direction is set higher than the height of the second guide member, and the engagement member is set to the first guide. 2. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1, wherein the first guide member is slid together with the side cursor in a state where the member is urged.   The first guide member is fixed at the first and second positions by concave-convex fitting, and the fixing by the concave-convex fitting is released by bending deformation of the first guide member. The paper feed cassette according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that An image forming apparatus comprising the paper feed cassette according to claim 1 detachably attached to a main body.

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