JP2013068750A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that includes a static electricity removing mechanism capable of stably removing static electricity charged to a paper ejecting roller from the paper ejecting roller configured to be movable in the roller shaft center direction.SOLUTION: A static electricity removing mechanism is configured to include an elastic member 52, one end of which is conducted with a rotation shaft 35 of a paper ejecting roller 15 and the other end of which is conducted with a sheet-metal frame that is electrically grounded, and which is operated to be expanded and contracted in association with the movement in the shaft center direction of the rotation shaft 35. Accordingly, the conduction state between the paper ejecting roller 15 and the sheet-metal frame can be reliably ensured irrespective of the movement position of the paper ejecting roller 15, and thereby static electricity charged to the paper ejecting roller 15 can be stably flown to the sheet-metal frame.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, or a printer device, for example, and is obtained by improving a static electricity removing mechanism of a paper discharge unit.

  A paper discharge unit is provided at the end of the conveyance path in order to send the recording paper after the image is fixed to the paper receiving unit. In addition, it has been widely known that a shift mechanism is provided in the paper discharge unit so that the recording paper is sent out in a state where the recording paper is laterally shifted by a certain number of sheets, thereby facilitating sorting for each number of recording paper. For example, in the image forming apparatus of Patent Document 1, a paper discharge roller provided in a paper discharge unit is configured to be movable in the axial direction of a roller by motor power, and the paper is shifted laterally every predetermined number of sheets. It can be sent to the receiving part.

JP 2010-030709 A (paragraph number 0015, FIG. 3)

  As in the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in a configuration in which the paper discharge roller is configured to be movable in the axial direction of the roller, between the paper discharge roller to be moved and the main body frame at the ground potential, It is difficult to secure a conductive path for removing static electricity. For this reason, it is difficult to stably remove static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller, and there is room for improvement in this respect.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and can stably remove static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller from the paper discharge roller configured to be movable in the axial direction of the roller. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus provided with a static electricity removing mechanism.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a rotation shaft 35 and a roller main body 36 attached to the rotation shaft 35, and a sheet discharge roller 15 that feeds a recording sheet on which an image is fixed toward the sheet receiving unit 7. And a moving mechanism for moving the entire paper discharge roller 15 along the axial direction of the rotary shaft 35 and a static electricity removing mechanism for removing static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15.
The static electricity removing mechanism has one end connected to the rotating shaft 35 and the other end connected to a ground member 51 provided around the discharge roller 15 and electrically grounded, and the rotating shaft. 35 includes an elastic member 52 that is expanded and contracted in accordance with the movement of 35 in the axial direction. The paper discharge roller 15 is electrically connected to the ground member 51 through the elastic member 52.

  The static electricity removing mechanism includes a bush 50 that is mounted in a conductive state with the rotating shaft 35 and moves along with the movement of the rotating shaft 35 in the axial direction, and one end of the elastic member 52 is It is possible to take a form that is electrically connected to the bush 50.

  A nip roller 16 disposed opposite to the paper discharge roller 15 and for feeding the recording paper toward the paper receiving portion 7 in cooperation with the paper discharge roller 15 may be included.

  The paper discharge roller 15 is configured to be moved between a normal position and a moving position by the moving mechanism. The elastic member 52 includes a compression coil-shaped spring main body 53 configured to be able to expand and contract in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller 15, and two spring arms 54 that extend from both ends of the spring main body 53. 55, a torsion coil spring made of metal. The paper discharge roller 15 can be moved from the moving position to the normal position or from the normal position to the moving position by the elastic force of the spring body 53.

  In the present invention, one end is connected to the rotating shaft 35, the other end is connected to the grounding member 51 provided around the discharge roller 15 and electrically grounded, and the axis of the rotating shaft 35 is connected. The static electricity removing mechanism is configured to include an elastic member 52 that is expanded and contracted as the direction moves. Further, the paper discharge roller 15 is electrically connected to the ground member 51 via the elastic member 52. As described above, when the paper discharge roller 15 is electrically connected to the grounding member 51 through the elastic member 52, even when the paper discharge roller 15 is moved by the moving mechanism, the paper discharge roller 15 is moved. Variations in the distance between the end of the elastic member 52 and the grounding member 51 can be absorbed by the elastic member 52 extending and contracting. Accordingly, the conductive state between the paper discharge roller 15 and the grounding member 51 can be reliably ensured regardless of the movement position of the paper discharge roller 15, so that the static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15 can be prevented from being grounded. It is possible to remove the static electricity from the paper discharge roller 15 with a stable flow to 51.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a bush 50 that is mounted in a state in which the static electricity removing mechanism is electrically connected to the rotating shaft 35 and moves along with the movement of the rotating shaft 35 in the axial direction by the moving mechanism. A form in which one end of 52 is electrically connected to the bush 50 can be adopted. According to this, since one end of the elastic member 52 can be prevented from being worn by the rotation operation of the rotating shaft 35, wear of the one end of the elastic member 52 can be prevented.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention may include a nip roller 16 that is disposed to face the paper discharge roller 15 and that feeds the recording paper toward the paper receiving unit 7 in cooperation with the paper discharge roller 15. As described above, in the form in which the paper discharge roller 15 cooperates with the nip roller 16 to feed the recording paper toward the paper receiving portion 7, static electricity is easily charged on the paper discharge roller 15 due to friction with the nip roller 16. However, according to the present invention, since the conductive state between the paper discharge roller 15 and the grounding member 51 can be reliably ensured, the static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15 can flow stably to the grounding member 51. it can.

  It is assumed that the paper discharge roller 15 is moved between the normal position and the movement position by the moving mechanism, and the paper discharge roller 15 is moved from the movement position to the normal position by the elastic force of the spring body 53 constituting the elastic member 52. Alternatively, it can be configured to be moved from the normal position to the moving position. That is, the elastic member 52 can have not only a static electricity removing function but also a function of returning the paper discharge roller 15 to the normal position or a function of moving the paper discharge roller 15 to the moving position. According to this, since the moving mechanism only needs to move the paper discharge roller 15 in one direction from the normal position to the movement position or in one direction from the movement position to the normal position, the paper discharge roller 15 is moved by the movement mechanism. The structure of the moving mechanism can be simplified as compared with a mode in which the reciprocating mechanism is moved back and forth between the normal position and the moving position. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the cost of the moving mechanism and contribute to lowering the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a paper discharge unit constituting the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a paper discharge unit, showing a state where a paper discharge roller is in a normal position. FIG. 4 is a plan view of a paper discharge unit, showing a state where a paper discharge roller is in a movement position. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 3. FIG. 4 is a vertical side view of a paper discharge unit, showing a state where a paper discharge roller is in a normal position. FIG. 4 is a vertical side view of a paper discharge unit, showing a state where a paper discharge roller is in a moving position. It is a top view which shows another Example of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this invention.

(First Embodiment) FIGS. 1 to 8 show a first embodiment in which the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied to a multifunction machine having a copy function and a facsimile function. In the present embodiment, “front / rear”, “left / right”, and “up / down” follow the cross arrows shown in the figure and the front / rear, left / right, and upper / lower indications shown in the vicinity of each arrow.

  In FIG. 2, the multifunction device 1 is disposed below the main body 4, the main body 4 on which the image forming unit 2, the fixing device 3, and the like are disposed, the image reading unit 5 disposed above the main body 4. The paper feed cassette 6 is provided. A paper receiving portion 7 for discharging recording paper on which an image is formed is provided at the upper portion of the main body portion 4. Inside the main body portion 4, recording paper from the paper feed cassette 6 to the paper receiving portion 7 is provided. A conveyance path 8 is provided. The image forming unit 2 is disposed on the upstream side of the conveyance path 8, and the fixing device 3 is disposed on the downstream side of the conveyance path 8. An operation panel 9 having various operation buttons is provided in front of the image reading unit 5.

  An automatic document reader 11 is provided above the image reading unit 5, and a sheet-like document can be continuously read through the automatic document reader 11. An image of a spelled original such as a book can be read by placing it on a platen glass provided on the upper surface of the image reading unit 5.

  As shown in FIG. 2, at the end of the conveyance path 8 facing the paper receiving unit 7, a paper discharge unit 12 that sends the recording paper on which the image is fixed by the fixing device 3 toward the paper receiving unit 7 is provided. Yes. As shown in FIG. 6, the paper discharge unit 12 has a resin case 14 having a terminal conveyance path 13 as a base, and a paper discharge roller 15, a nip roller 16, and the like are arranged inside the case 14. ing. The paper discharge roller 15 and the nip roller 16 are provided in a moving body 17 configured to be movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the case 14. The moving body 17 is configured to be movable between a normal position located on the rear side as shown in FIG. 7 and a moving position located on the front side as shown in FIG. Further, as the moving body 17 moves in the front-rear direction, both rollers 15 and 16 are configured to reciprocate between the normal position and the moving position. The moving body 17 and the rollers 15 and 16 are in a normal position closer to the rear in a normal state (see FIG. 7). In a state where the recording paper is nipped by both rollers 15 and 16, the moving body 17 and both rollers 15 and 16 are moved to the moving position (see FIG. 8) so that the recording paper is laterally shifted forward. It can be sent out to the paper receiver 7. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 23 denotes a filler for detecting the timing of feeding recording paper into the paper discharge unit 12.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the moving body 17 includes a base wall 18 that extends in the front-rear direction, and a pair of front and rear bearing arms 19, 19 that extend downward from the front and rear ends of the base wall 18. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the case 14 is formed with an opening 20 that allows the moving body 17 to be mounted, and a base wall of the moving body 17 is provided at each opening edge in the left-right direction of the opening 20. A rail body 21 for receiving the left and right ends of 18 and moving the movable body 17 in the front-rear direction is formed. Ribs 22 are partially provided on the lower surfaces of the left and right ends of the base wall 18 of the moving body 17, and the rib 22 comes into contact with the rail body 21, thereby providing a contact surface between the moving body 17 and the rail body 21. As a result, the moving body 17 can be smoothly moved with respect to the case 14.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the moving mechanism for moving the moving body 17 is constituted by a gear mechanism. More specifically, the moving mechanism includes a stepping motor 25, a plurality of transmission gears 26, a final gear 27 that meshes with the transmission gear 26, and a mesh with the final gear 27 that is fixed to the front bearing arm 19. And a rack 28. By rotating the stepping motor 25 from the normal position shown in FIG. 7, as shown in FIG. 8, the movable body 17, the paper discharge roller 15, and the nip roller 16 can be moved to the forward movement position. Further, by rotating the stepping motor 25 in the reverse direction from the movement position shown in FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. 7, the movable body 17, the paper discharge roller 15 and the nip roller 16 can be moved to the rear movement position. it can.

  The amount of movement from the normal position in FIG. 7 to the forward movement position is controlled by the amount of pulse power applied to the stepping motor 25. As shown in FIGS. 1, 7, and 8, a return sensor 30 is provided behind the case 14 facing the mobile body 17 for detecting the mobile body that has been returned to the normal position. As shown in FIG. 3, the return sensor 30 includes a detection piece 31 that protrudes rearward from the rear end of the moving body 17, and a light projecting element 32 that faces the movement locus of the detection piece 31. It comprises a light receiving element 33. When the moving body 17 is moved rearward from the forward movement position in response to the rotational driving force from the stepping motor 25, the light projection from the light projecting element 32 is blocked by the detection piece 31, and the amount of light received by the light receiving element 33. Is decreased, it is detected that the mobile body 17 has returned to the normal position.

  The paper discharge roller 15 evacuated to the downstream side of the end conveyance path 13 includes a rotation shaft 35 extending in the front-rear direction and a total of five roller bodies 36 mounted at predetermined positions on the rotation shaft 35, and is a motor (not shown). Is driven to rotate. 7 and 8, reference numeral 40 denotes a final gear of the drive mechanism that transmits the rotational driving force from the motor to the rotary shaft 35, and reference numeral 41 denotes a passive gear that receives the rotational driving force from the final gear 40. Indicates a cylindrical passive cylinder mounted on a passive gear. The cross-sectional shape of the rear end portion of the rotating shaft 35 is formed in a non-circular shape having a smooth surface, and the non-circular cross section allowing the passive tube 42 to enter the rear end portion of the rotating shaft 35 correspondingly. Shaped connection holes are established. As described above, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, when the rotary shaft 35 of the paper discharge roller 15 is moved in the front-rear direction along with the movement of the movable body 17, the rotary shaft 35 is retracted from the passive cylinder 42 and An approach operation is performed. Further, even when the rotary shaft 35 of the paper discharge roller 15 moves in the front-rear direction along with the movement of the movable body 17, the rotary shaft 35 having a non-circular cross section is received on the inner peripheral surface of the connection hole of the passive cylinder 42. Thus, the rotational driving force from the motor can be transmitted to the rotating shaft 35.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, the nip roller 16 that performs the operation of feeding the recording paper to the paper receiving unit 7 in cooperation with the paper discharge roller 15 includes a rotary shaft 45 installed on the upper wall 44 of the moving body 17. A driven roller including a roller body 46 mounted on the rotary shaft 45, and is driven to rotate as the paper discharge roller 15 is driven to rotate. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 47 indicates an opening provided in the upper wall 44 of the moving body 17 corresponding to the nip roller 16.

  The paper discharge roller 15 includes two types of roller bodies 36 having different front and rear width dimensions. Specifically, on the rotating shaft 35 of the paper discharge roller 15, there are three ring-shaped roller main bodies 361 whose front and rear width directions are small, and two columnar roller main bodies 362 whose front and rear width dimensions are larger than the roller main body 361. Are alternately mounted, and the roller body 46 of the nip roller 16 is provided above the cylindrical roller body 362 having a large front-rear width dimension.

  In the paper discharge unit 12 configured as described above, the paper discharge roller 15 and the nip roller 16 nip the recording sheet charged with static electricity, or the nip roller 16 and the paper discharge roller 15 are frictionally rotated. Static electricity may be charged on the paper discharge roller 15. In order to remove such static electricity, the multifunction peripheral according to this embodiment is provided with a static electricity removal mechanism.

  As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 7 and the like, the static electricity removing mechanism includes a bush 50 mounted in a state of being connected to the rotary shaft 35, one end connected to the rotary shaft 35, and the other end in the vicinity of the paper discharge unit 12. It includes an elastic member 52 that is electrically connected to a sheet metal frame (grounding member) 51 (see FIG. 6) that is provided and electrically grounded. The elastic member 52 includes a compression coil-shaped spring body 53 configured to be elastically deformable in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller 15, and first and second two springs extending from both ends of the spring body 53. It is a metal torsion coil spring having spring arms 54 and 55. The spring body 53 is housed in a spring chamber 56 formed in the case 14 in parallel with the opening 20, and is compressed by an operation piece 57 extending from the movable body 17 into the spring chamber 56. More specifically, as the moving body 17 moves from the normal position to the moving position, the spring body 53 is compressed in the spring chamber 56 by the operating piece 57 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the first spring arm 54 extended from the rear end portion of the spring body 53 includes a first horizontal piece 541 extending in the left-right direction and a rear end from the left end portion of the first horizontal piece 541. The second horizontal piece 542 extends in the direction, and the vertical piece 543 extends downward from the rear end of the second horizontal piece. The lower end of the vertical piece 543 is folded upward to form a contact piece 544. The first horizontal piece 541 and the second horizontal piece 542 are disposed in a recess 58 formed in a recess on the upper surface of the upper wall 44 of the movable body 17, and a middle portion of the first horizontal piece 541 is formed by a fixed piece 59. It is fixed to the upper surface of the recess 58. The bush 50 is configured on the rotating shaft 15 so as to be moved along with the movement of the rotating shaft 15 in the axial direction. The front end of the contact piece 544 is in contact with the outer surface of the bush 50 in a pressed state by receiving the elastic force of the vertical piece 543.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the second spring arm 55 includes a first horizontal piece 551 extending forward and a second horizontal piece 552 extending rightward from the front end of the first horizontal piece 551. As shown in FIG. 6, a contact piece 553 that is bent obliquely upward to the right is formed at the tip (right end) of the second horizontal piece 552, and the tip of the contact piece 553 is electrically The bottom surface of the grounded metal plate frame 51 is in contact with the pressed state. As shown in FIG. 3, the bent portions of the first horizontal piece 551 and the second horizontal piece 552 of the second spring arm 55 are fixed to the upper surface of the case 14 by screws 60.

  In the paper discharge unit 12 configured as described above, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, the movable body 17 is in the normal position in the normal state, and similarly, the paper discharge roller 15 and the nip roller 16 are also in the normal position. It is in. Thus, when the movable body 17 is in the normal position, the spring body 53 of the elastic member 52 is in an extended state close to the natural length in the spring chamber 56. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the contact piece 544 of the first spring arm 54 of the elastic member 52 contacts the outer surface of the bush 50 in a pressed state, so that the elastic member 52 and the rotary shaft 35 are in an electrically conductive state. Is secured. In addition, the contact piece 553 of the second spring arm 55 of the elastic member 52 is brought into contact with the sheet metal frame 51 in a pressed state, so that an electrical conduction state between the elastic member 52 and the sheet metal frame 51 is ensured. As described above, since the electrical continuity between the paper discharge roller 15 and the sheet metal frame 51 is ensured via the elastic member 52, the static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15 is stably released to the sheet metal frame 51. be able to.

  When the recording paper is discharged while being shifted laterally with respect to the paper receiving unit 7, each time the recording paper is nipped by the paper discharge roller 15 and the nip roller 16, the paper discharge roller 15 or the like is moved to the moving position to Is shifted laterally in the front-rear direction. More specifically, the stepping motor 25 of the driving mechanism is driven to move the moving body 17, the paper discharge roller 15, and the nip roller 16 to a predetermined moving position, and the recording paper nipped by both the rollers 15 and 16 is moved back and forth. The recording paper is sent to the paper receiving unit 7 while being shifted laterally.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 8, when the moving body 17 or the like is moved to the moving position, the spring of the elastic member 52 is received in the spring chamber 56 by receiving a moving operation force via the operation piece 57 of the moving body 17. The main body 53 is in a compressed state. Further, as in the case of the previous normal position, the contact piece 544 of the first spring arm 54 of the elastic member 52 contacts the outer surface of the bush 50 in a pressed state, so that the electrical connection between the elastic member 52 and the rotary shaft 35 is achieved. A good conduction state. In addition, when the contact piece 553 of the second spring arm 55 of the elastic member 52 is in contact with the sheet metal frame 51, an electrical conduction state between the elastic member 52 and the sheet metal frame 51 is ensured. As described above, even when the paper discharge roller 15 or the like moves to the moving position, the electrical conduction state between the paper discharge roller 15 and the sheet metal frame 51 is ensured via the elastic member 52, and the paper discharge roller 15 As in the normal position, static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15 can be released to the sheet metal frame 51.

  That is, even when the paper discharge roller 15 is moved by the moving mechanism, the elastic member 52 can absorb the fluctuation of the distance between the bush 50 and the sheet metal frame 51 due to the movement of the paper discharge roller 15. Accordingly, the conductive state between the paper discharge roller 15 and the sheet metal frame 51 can be reliably ensured regardless of the position at which the paper discharge roller 15 is moved. The static electricity can be removed from the paper discharge roller 15 with a stable flow.

Second Embodiment FIG. 9 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the moving mechanism is configured by a solenoid 70 instead of the moving mechanism configured by the previous gear mechanism. Further, in addition to the static electricity removing function, the elastic member 52 has a returning function for returning the movable body 17 and the paper discharge roller 15 from the moving position to the normal position. Different.

  Specifically, the moving mechanism includes a solenoid 70 and an operating arm 72 connected to a plunger 71 of the solenoid 70. The solenoid 70 includes a housing 73 in which a coil is built, and a plunger 71 that is a movable iron core configured to be able to move forward and backward from the housing 73. When the coil 71 is energized, It is configured to advance in the backward direction. The operating arm 72 is configured to be rotatable about a shaft 74, one end of which is connected to the protruding end of the plunger 71 via a connecting shaft 75, and the other end of the operating piece 57 of the moving body 17. It faces the trajectory in the front-rear direction. As the plunger 71 moves backward, the other end of the operating arm 72 is rotated around the shaft 74 so that the operating piece 57 of the moving body 17 is moved forward. The movable body 17 is configured to be moved forward by pressing in the direction. Since the configuration of other members including the elastic member 52 is not different from that of the first embodiment, the description thereof is omitted.

  In the MFP (image forming apparatus) according to the present embodiment, in a normal state, the moving body 17 receives a biasing force from the spring body 53 of the elastic member 52 that is a compression coil spring, and is in a normal position near the rear. It is in. When the coil of the solenoid 70 is energized from this state, the plunger 71 is advanced backward, and the operating arm 72 is rotated forward about the shaft 74 and the operation piece 57 is pressed forward. To do. As a result, the movable body 17 moves forward, and the movable body 17 and the paper discharge roller 15 are moved to the movement position. When energization of the coil of the solenoid 70 is stopped, the moving body 17 and the like are returned to the normal position by receiving the biasing force from the spring body 53 of the elastic member 52.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the moving mechanism may be the solenoid 70 that moves the paper discharge roller 15 from the normal position to one direction of the moving position. Therefore, the structure of the moving mechanism can be simplified as compared with the configuration in which the paper discharge roller 15 is reciprocated between the normal position and the moving position by the gear mechanism. Thereby, the cost of the moving mechanism can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. Note that the static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller 15 can flow to the sheet metal frame 51 via the elastic member 52 regardless of the position of the paper discharge roller 15 as in the first embodiment. is there.

  In the above embodiment, the static electricity removing mechanism includes the bush 50, and one end of the elastic member 52 is electrically connected to the bush 50. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and one end of the elastic member 52 is directly connected to the rotating shaft 35. It is possible to take a form that is electrically connected.

  In the second embodiment, the elastic member 52 is provided with a return function for returning the movable body 17 and the like from the moving position to the normal position. It is possible to adopt a form in which a moving function for moving the body 17 and the like from the normal position to the moving position is performed. According to the embodiment, the moving mechanism may be the solenoid 70 that moves the paper discharge roller 15 from the movement position to the normal position in one direction. Therefore, the gear mechanism moves the paper discharge roller 15 between the normal position and the movement position. The structure of the moving mechanism can be simplified as compared with the form of reciprocating movement. Thereby, the cost of the moving mechanism can be reduced, and the manufacturing cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.

1 Image forming device (multifunction machine)
7 Paper receiving part 12 Paper discharge part 15 Paper discharge roller 16 Nip roller 35 Rotating shaft 36 Roller body 50 Bush 51 Grounding member (sheet metal frame)
52 Elastic member 53 Spring body 54 Spring arm 55 Spring arm

Claims (4)

A paper discharge roller that includes a rotation shaft and a roller body mounted on the rotation shaft, and that feeds the recording paper on which the image is fixed toward the paper receiving portion;
A moving mechanism for moving the entire paper discharge roller along the axial direction of the rotating shaft;
A static electricity removing mechanism for removing static electricity charged on the paper discharge roller;
Have
The static eliminating mechanism is
One end is connected to the rotating shaft, the other end is connected to a grounding member provided around the discharge roller and electrically grounded, and along with the movement of the rotating shaft in the axial direction Including an elastic member that is operated to expand and contract,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the paper discharge roller is electrically connected to the grounding member via the elastic member. The static electricity removing mechanism includes a bush that is mounted in a conductive state with the rotating shaft and moves along with the movement in the axial direction by the moving mechanism of the rotating shaft,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein one end of the elastic member is electrically connected to the bush.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a nip roller disposed opposite to the paper discharge roller and configured to feed the recording paper toward the paper receiving portion in cooperation with the paper discharge roller. The paper discharge roller is adapted to be moved between a normal position and a moving position by the moving mechanism,
The elastic member is made of a metal having a compression coil-shaped spring body configured to be elastically deformable in the axial direction of the paper discharge roller, and two spring arms that are extended from both ends of the spring body. A torsion coil spring,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein the sheet discharge roller is configured to be moved from a moving position to a normal position or from a normal position to a moving position by an elastic force of the spring body.

Images