JP2011020815A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device with further improved operability capable of eliminating fear due to exposure of an end face of a metallic frame without increasing a number of parts. <P>SOLUTION: This image forming device includes an image formation part forming images on a paper; a cassette housing part having a cassette detachment opening, and detachably housing a paper cassette housing the papers through the cassette detachment opening; and a paper feeding part for feeding the papers in the paper cassette housed in the cassette housing part toward the image formation part. The cassette detachment opening is formed on a side face directed to a lateral direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction. The device is provided with a metallic frame made of a sheet metal extending in the paper feeding direction along the cassette detachment opening, and having a bottom part extending in the paper feeding direction and an upright part, which stands and is curved from a side edge of the lateral direction of the bottom part, whose end face is directed to the bottom part side, and which extends in the paper feeding direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  Patent Document 1 proposes to use a protective frame provided with a U-shaped groove into which an edge of a sheet metal member is fitted (see Patent Document 1).

  In addition, conventionally, there has been a proposal for improving the safety with respect to the exposed edge by deburring the edge that cannot be hidden by the sheet metal member.

JP 2002-282068 A

  Deburring that has been proposed in the past has been sufficiently useful for improving the safety with respect to the edge of the exposed sheet metal member. In view of fear of receiving, improvement by a more useful method has been desired. The present invention has been made from such a viewpoint, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus in which the operability of the operator is further improved.

An image forming apparatus according to claim 1 is provided.
An image forming unit for forming an image on paper;
A cassette housing portion having a cassette attaching / detaching opening, in which a paper cassette containing paper is detachably accommodated through the cassette attaching / detaching opening;
A paper delivery section for delivering the paper in the paper cassette accommodated in the cassette accommodation section toward the image forming section,
The cassette attachment / detachment opening is formed on a side surface facing in a lateral direction perpendicular to the paper delivery direction,
A sheet metal extending in the paper feeding direction along the cassette attaching / detaching opening, and a bottom portion extending in the paper feeding direction, and a curved surface which is erected from the lateral side edge of the bottom portion and has an end face directed to the bottom side A metal frame having a standing portion extending in the paper feeding direction is provided.

An image forming apparatus according to claim 2
The bottom portion has a protrusion that protrudes in the direction in which the standing portion is erected and extends in the paper feeding direction beyond the bottom side edge;
The standing portion is characterized in that the end surface is directed from the bottom side edge, is curved, and faces the bottom side at a position lower than the protruding portion.

An image forming apparatus according to claim 3
The standing portion is erected from the bottom side edge, is curved at a height lower than the protruding portion, and has the end face directed to the bottom side.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, it is possible to realize the wiping of fear due to the exposure of the end face of the metal frame without increasing the number of parts, and the operability is further improved.

  According to the image forming apparatus according to the second and third aspects, the operability is further improved.

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus. It is an external perspective view of a paper cassette. 1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus with a paper cassette extracted. It is a cross-sectional view of a sheet metal member. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a sheet metal member. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of a cross section shown in FIG. 4. It is a front view of the cross section of a sheet metal member. FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of a sheet metal member that extends in the paper conveyance direction along the cassette attachment / detachment opening above the cassette attachment / detachment opening.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the image forming apparatus.

  An image forming apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a simple type monochrome machine having a single sheet cassette for storing recording sheets.

  FIG. 1 shows a main body housing 1, an upper lid 2, a paper transport unit 3, a paper cassette 4, and a manual paper feed base 5 that constitute the image forming apparatus 10.

  The upper lid 2 covers the upper surface of the main body housing 1 so as to be freely opened. A document table 20 on which one or a plurality of documents are placed is attached, and a document placed on the document table 20 is placed on the top cover 2. It incorporates an automatic document feeder that feeds one sheet at a time and conveys it along a predetermined conveyance path. A document conveyed along a predetermined conveyance path by the automatic document feeder is discharged to a discharge unit 21 (see FIG. 3) below the document table 20.

  The main body case 1 has a strip-shaped contact glass provided on a top surface covered with an upper lid 2 at a position facing a document conveyed on a predetermined conveyance path by an automatic document feeder, and adjacent to the contact glass. And a platen glass on which documents are placed one by one by a user.

  The main body housing 1 receives a document reading unit that reads a document below the contact glass and the platen glass, and an image signal representing a document image read by the document reading unit. And a control unit for controlling the operation.

  The document reading unit forms a light source that emits light toward the document passing through the contact glass, a mirror unit that directs reflected light reflected from the document in a predetermined direction, and forms an image of the reflected light from the mirror unit. The lens includes a lens and an image receiving sensor that receives a light image formed by the lens and outputs an image signal.

  In addition, this document reading unit also supports reading of documents performed by placing documents one by one on a platen glass. In this case, a light source, a mirror unit, or the like is scanned according to the document size. These scans are controlled by the control unit.

  Further, the main body housing 1 includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording sheet in the middle. In this image forming unit, a charge is applied to the surface of the rotating photoconductor, and exposure light based on the image signal of the document image received by the control unit is applied to the surface of the photoconductor to which the charge has been applied. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface, and the electrostatic latent image is developed with toner. Further, the toner image obtained by this development is transferred onto the recording paper, and the toner image is fixed on the recording paper by heating and pressurizing the toner image to form an image on the recording paper. The recording paper on which the image is formed is discharged from a discharge port 300 provided in the middle stage of the main body casing 1.

  In addition, the main body housing 1 has a cassette housing portion that detachably houses the paper cassette 4 inside the lower portion.

  FIG. 1 shows a state in which the paper cassette 4 is mounted in the cassette housing portion. The front surface of the paper cassette 4 is used when the paper cassette 4 is attached to and detached from the cassette housing portion. A handle 41 is provided. The image forming apparatus 1 is an embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the paper cassette.

  FIG. 2 shows a paper cassette 4 in which recording paper 200 is stored.

  Since drawing and transport of the recording paper 200 accommodated in the paper cassette 4 is a known technique, illustration and detailed description of the mechanism are omitted, but the paper cassette 4 is used by the paper transport unit 3 shown in FIG. 2 is pulled out in the direction of the arrow P shown in FIG. 2 and supplied to the image forming unit provided in the middle stage of the main body casing 1.

  By the way, when a paper jam occurs in an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a recording paper, the user pulls out the paper cassette through the cassette attaching / detaching opening of the main body housing and does not follow the normal jam handling procedure, and the main body from the opening. There are cases in which a sheet of paper that is partially caught in the sheet conveyance unit by putting a hand in the casing is pulled and pulled in a direction opposite to the direction when the sheet is conveyed normally.

  This place where the user places his / her hand is not visible to the user unless the paper cassette is pulled out from the main unit case. In some cases, the end face of the sheet metal member is disposed in a state of being exposed along the paper feeding direction. In such a case, although safety is ensured by deburring but design processing is not performed, there is a risk of fear to the user who saw the end face of the sheet metal member, It is not preferable in terms of design. Further, since the paper cassette is arranged so that it can be easily seen when the paper cassette is pulled out, it is preferable to take further safety measures.

  Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the contrivance described below realizes the wiping of fear caused by the exposure of the sharp end face of the sheet metal member without increasing the number of parts, and further improves the operability. It is improving.

  FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the image forming apparatus with the paper cassette extracted.

  FIG. 3 shows a cassette attaching / detaching opening 100 used for attaching / detaching the paper cassette 4 to / from the cassette housing portion, which is provided on the lower side of the main body casing 1 and on the side surface facing the transverse direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction P. It is shown. In FIG. 3, illustration of an operation panel and the like provided on the upper portion of the main body housing 1 is omitted.

  Further, FIG. 3 shows a sheet metal member 11 extending in the paper feeding direction P (see FIG. 2) along the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100. The sheet metal member 11 corresponds to an example of a metal frame according to the present invention.

  4 and 5 are cross-sectional views of the sheet metal member shown in FIG.

  4 shows a cross section of the sheet metal member 11 along a direction perpendicular to the paper feed direction P, and FIG. 5 shows a vertical cross section of the sheet metal member 11 along the paper feed direction P. Has been.

  The sheet metal member 11 is erected from a bottom portion 12 extending in the paper feeding direction P and a lateral side edge perpendicular to the paper feeding direction P in which the bottom portion 12 extends, and is curved so that the end face 131 is directed to the bottom side and the paper is And a standing portion 13 extending in the delivery direction P.

  4 and 5 show that the sheet metal member 11 is a part of the chassis provided inside the main body housing 1.

  FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of the cross section shown in FIG.

  The bottom portion 12 of the sheet metal member 11 shown in FIG. 6 includes a ridge region 121 that protrudes in the direction in which the erected portion 13 is erected and extends in the sheet feeding direction P, and the ridge region 121 and the erected portion 13. The ridge region 121 extends longer in the paper feeding direction P than the side end region 122. This protrusion area | region 121 is equivalent to an example of the protrusion part said to this invention.

  FIG. 7 is a front view of a cross section of the sheet metal member.

  In FIG. 7, the standing portion 13 is erected from the edge of the side end region 122 of the bottom portion 12 opposite to the edge on the ridge region side, and is curved at a height lower than the ridge region 121. The end face 131 is directed toward the bottom side.

  As a result, the position of the end face 131 is always lower than the ridge region 121, and even when the user's arm that has entered the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100 moves in the paper transport direction P to remove jammed paper, The arm does not hit the end face 131. In addition, since the end surface 131 is directed to the bottom side, exposure of the end surface 131 in a state of standing in a blade shape is avoided without using other members, and the design is improved.

  If the end surface 131 is at a position lower than the ridge region 121, the standing portion 13 may not be curved at a height lower than the ridge region 121. Even in this way, when the user's arm that has entered the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100 moves in the paper transport direction P to remove jammed paper, the arm does not hit the end surface 131 of the sheet metal member 11.

  In the above embodiment, the sheet metal member extending in the paper transport direction P along the cassette attachment / detachment opening 100 on the lower side of the cassette attachment / detachment opening 100 has been described as an example of the sheet metal member 11 having a curved standing portion. The sheet metal member that extends in the paper transport direction P along the cassette attachment / detachment opening 100 on the upper side of the cassette attachment / detachment opening 100 may be used as the sheet metal member 11 having a curved standing portion.

  FIG. 8 is an external perspective view of a sheet metal member that extends in the paper transport direction along the cassette attaching / detaching opening above the cassette attaching / detaching opening.

  FIG. 8 shows a state where the sheet metal member 11 provided on the upper side of the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100 is looked up obliquely from the lower side of the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100.

  Also by the sheet metal member 11 provided on the upper side of the cassette attaching / detaching opening 100, the end surface 131 is directed to the bottom side, so that the exposure of the end surface 131 in a blade-like standing state uses another member. Will be avoided.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body housing | casing 10 Image forming apparatus 100 Cassette attachment / detachment opening 11 Sheet metal member 12 Bottom part 121 Projection area | region 122 Side edge area | region 13 Standing part 131 End surface

Claims (3)

An image forming unit for forming an image on paper;
A cassette housing portion having a cassette attaching / detaching opening, in which a paper cassette containing paper is detachably accommodated through the cassette attaching / detaching opening;
A paper delivery section for delivering the paper in the paper cassette housed in the cassette housing section toward the image forming section,
The cassette attaching / detaching opening is formed on a side surface facing a transverse direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction,
A sheet metal extending in the paper feeding direction along the cassette attaching / detaching opening, and a bottom portion extending in the paper feeding direction and a curved surface that is erected from the lateral side edge of the bottom portion and has an end face directed to the bottom side, An image forming apparatus comprising: a metal frame having a standing portion extending in a paper feeding direction. The bottom portion has a ridge that protrudes in a direction in which the standing portion is erected and extends in the sheet feeding direction from the bottom side edge;
2. The image according to claim 1, wherein the standing portion is a portion that stands from the side edge of the bottom portion, is curved, and has the end face directed toward the bottom portion at a position lower than the protruding portion. Forming equipment.   The said standing part stands up from the said bottom part side edge, curves at the height which fell below the said protrusion part, and has turned the said end surface to the said bottom part side, The characterized by the above-mentioned. Image forming apparatus.

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