JP2017013916A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To release inhibition of feeding by contacting an opposing inner face side of a side fence of sheet supply means with an end of a sheet, so as to prevent occurrence of jamming of supplied sheet caused by mistakenly setting the sheet.SOLUTION: Side fences 100 and 109 which can be moved in a sheet width direction are provided on a manual sheet supply base 22. The side fence 109 can be moved along a side fence sheet guide 106 and moved together with the side fence 109. A stopper member 103 at a tip part connects to a side fence protruding member 107 and can be operated by operating the side fence protruding member 107. When the side fence protruding member 107 protrudes more than the side fence 100, the stopper member 103 inhibits conveyance of a set sheet. When the side fence 100 is pressed against the sheet, the side fence protruding member 107 is pushed by an end part of the sheet to be moved, a connecting member 110 also moves and the stopper member 103 rotates, so that the inhibition of conveyance of the sheet is released.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and particularly relates to a paper set in a paper feed table of the image forming apparatus.

As a conventionally known technique, a stop member that can be opened and closed is provided at the front end of the side fence, and the stop member can be released by applying the fence inner surface to the end of the paper.
(1) Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for providing a manual sheet feeding device that can reduce the possibility of sheet skew and lateral deviation due to manual sheet feeding. Specifically, a guide groove is provided on the manual sheet feed table along the sheet feeding direction, and a width guide plate is attached to the guide groove so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction. A sensor for detecting the contact of the end of the stacked paper is provided at the front end of the width guide plate. If manual feed is not selected when the image forming operation is started by the image forming operation start signal, a predetermined image forming operation is started. However, when the manual paper feed stand is opened and manual paper feed is selected, it is determined by a signal from the sensor whether or not the width guide plate and the paper edge are properly in contact. As a result, when the width guide plate and the sheet edge are not in contact with each other, the image forming operation is stopped to display that the contact state is inappropriate. A sensor that detects the contact of the end of the stacked paper is employed.
(2) In Patent Document 2, paper feeding can be suppressed when the recording medium is not regulated in the sub-scanning direction, which is perpendicular to the main scanning direction of the recording head, and skew and jamming occur during printing. A technique capable of preventing the above is disclosed. Specifically, the image forming apparatus includes a manual paper feed tray having a side fence that sandwiches and regulates the recording medium in the sub-scanning direction that is perpendicular to the main scanning direction of the recording head. And the recording medium detection means which detects whether the edge part by the side of the subscanning direction of a recording medium is contacting the side fence is provided in the side fence. A recording medium detecting means for detecting whether or not the recording medium is in contact with the side fence is employed for the side fence.
(3) Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for providing a paper feeding device that can detect whether or not an end fence is in an appropriate position after completion of paper transfer and prevent paper feeding failure. . Specifically, a protrusion is provided on a rack that moves in conjunction with opening and closing of the end fence. A home position detection sensor and a close detection sensor are installed in the vicinity of each protrusion. As the end fence opens and closes, the opening or closing of the end fence is detected from the output state of both sensors. When it is detected that the end fence is closed and the trailing edge of the sheet is pressed, the sheet feeding is started. A home position detection sensor and a close detection sensor are employed in the vicinity of each protrusion. Further, an end fence that starts feeding the paper when the end fence is closed and the trailing edge of the paper is pressed is adopted.

  As described above, the technique according to Patent Document 1 requires a sensor that detects the contact of the end of the stacked paper. Further, in the technique according to Patent Document 2, it is necessary to employ a recording medium detection unit for detecting whether or not the side fence is in contact with the side fence. Furthermore, in the technique according to Patent Document 3, a home position detection sensor and a close detection sensor are necessary in the vicinity of each protrusion, and when it is detected that the end fence is closed and the trailing edge of the paper is pressed, the paper is fed. It was necessary to start.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and a sheet setting error is achieved by releasing the obstruction of feeding by the opposing inner surface side of the side fence of the sheet feeding means coming into contact with the sheet end. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the occurrence of paper jam due to the above.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes: a manual sheet feeding unit that feeds a sheet; and a sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit. The means has a pair of side fences movable in the width direction of the paper, and the side fences are opposed to the stopper members for inhibiting the feeding of the paper set on the paper feeding means, and the side fences A protrusion member that is provided on the inner surface side and moves by abutting against an end of the paper, and the stopper member releases the inhibition of the paper feeding in conjunction with the movement of the protrusion member. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, without using a home position detection sensor, a close detection sensor, an end fence, or the like, by releasing the hindrance of the feeding by the contact inner surface side of the side fence of the sheet feeding unit coming into contact with the sheet end, It is possible to prevent a paper jam due to a paper setting error.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an overall schematic diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus that is an implementation target of the present invention. It is the schematic plan view which looked at the paper surface right side part of FIG. 1 from upper direction. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram schematically illustrating a state where a double-sided conveyance guide unit and a transfer roller unit are opened in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of a state in which a manual feed table in a right side portion of FIG. It is a schematic plan view of the state (state closed to the minimum) which looked at the manual feed stand in the right side part of FIG. 1 from upper direction. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a manual feed base on the right side portion of FIG. 5 seen through from the center. It is the schematic which shows the state which the side fence protrusion member demonstrated in FIG. 4 and the stopper member operate | move. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a manual feed base in which a stopper member is disposed on the front side in the paper transport direction from the paper presence / absence detection sensor and is opened to the maximum. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view of a manual feed base in which a stopper member is disposed on the front side in the paper transport direction from the paper presence / absence detection sensor. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a state where the paper cannot be conveyed by the stopper member (a) and a state where the paper can be conveyed (b). It is sectional drawing which shows the state which a stopper member operate | moves by operation | movement of a side fence protrusion member. FIGS. 11C and 11D are a plan view (a) illustrating the operation of the side fence protruding member and the stopper member in the paper setting state, and the side fence in the paper setting state in FIGS. 11 (c) and 11 (d). It is the top view (b) which showed the operation before a projection member and a stopper member.

The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The present invention makes it possible to release the stop member by abutting the end of the stacked paper without using a home position detection sensor, a close detection sensor, or an end fence. In addition, when the opposed inner surface side of the side fence of the paper feeding means abuts against the end of the paper, the obstruction of the feeding is released, thereby preventing the occurrence of paper jam due to a paper setting error.

  FIG. 1 shows an overall schematic diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus that is an object of the present invention. The illustrated image forming apparatus is a desktop type compact copying machine and can be used as a printer, but in the following description, it will be described as a copying machine. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image forming unit (hereinafter referred to as a printer 1), which has a document reading device 2 at the top and a document pressing pressure plate 3 thereon. At the bottom is a paper feed tray 4 that can be pulled out in the front direction (the right side in the figure). The sheet 5 stored and loaded in the sheet feed tray 4 is pushed up by the movable bottom plate 6 at the leading end side (right side in the drawing), and is given a conveying force toward the upper right direction by the sheet feeding roller 7 that is rotationally driven. The Then, the sheets 5 are separated one by one by the friction pad 8, and the separated sheets are timed by registration rollers 9 and 10 which are arranged to face each other and are driven to rotate, and are sent to the upper image forming unit. It is conveyed vertically.

  In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a photosensitive drum, and an electrostatic latent image is written on the surface by laser light emitted from the writing unit 12 while rotating. The photosensitive drum 11 and the transfer roller 13 form an image with toner on the left surface of the sheet in the figure. Reference numeral 14 denotes a toner bottle for supplying toner. The sheet on which the image is formed with the toner is fixed on the toner image by the fixing unit 17 provided above the sheet and provided with a pair of heat fixing rollers 15 and 16. Next, the sheet is discharged by a rotating discharge rollers 18 and 19 toward a space provided at a lower portion of the document reading device 2, that is, toward a sheet receiving tray 20 of the sheet discharge storage unit, and an image is formed on the sheet discharging tray 21. It is discharged and loaded with the surface facing down. A path indicated by a solid arrow in the drawing is a sheet conveyance path at this time.

  The illustrated copying machine has another sheet feeding unit. This is called a manual sheet feeder. The sheet 23 set on the manual sheet feeding table 22 rotated and opened in the right direction in the drawing is sent out in the left direction in the drawing by the rotation of the calling roller 24 that can swing in the vertical direction, and the registration roller. 9 and 10 are guided. The subsequent process is the same as that from the paper feed tray.

<Double-sided print mode>
Next, the conveyance path and operation in the case of duplex printing in the copying machine shown in FIG. 1 will be described.
As described above, the sheet on which the image is formed on one side is discharged to the discharge receiving tray 20 at the front half of the sheet sandwiched between the discharge rollers 18 and 19. The conveyance is temporarily stopped at the point where the trailing edge of the sheet has passed the leading edge of the reverse path switching claw 26. In this case, the trailing edge of the paper that has passed the leading edge of the reversing path switching claw 26 jumps up due to the paper rigidity of the paper and moves to a position higher than the leading edge of the reversing path switching claw 26.

  Here, when the discharge rollers 18 and 19 are reversed, the paper passes through the upper end of the reverse path switching claw 26 as indicated by the dotted line in the figure, and is guided downward by a guide member (not shown) by the double-sided conveyance rollers 27 and 28. Further, it is conveyed downward. Then, the sheet is bent and conveyed by a guide member (not shown) as indicated by a dotted arrow in the figure, and is guided again between the registration rollers 9 and 10. Thus, double-sided printing is possible by forming an image on the opposite side of the paper. The sheet printed on both sides is discharged onto the sheet receiving tray 20.

  In the figure, reference numeral 29 denotes a column provided only on the front side on the left side of the drawing, and plays a role of holding the document reading device 2. The printed paper discharged onto the paper receiving tray 20 is normally taken out from the front direction (front side of the figure). If this is not possible, it can be taken out from the left side of the figure. It has become.

<Jam handling operation>
Next, the opening / closing part of the right cover for the jam handling operation will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the right side portion of FIG. 1 as viewed from above. Two units are provided so as to be able to rotate around a single shaft 30 held in the apparatus main body of the image forming unit 1 and provided in the vertical direction. This is to facilitate jam processing. One is a double-sided conveyance guide unit 31 that is integrated with the exterior cover and holds the double-sided conveyance roller 28. The other is a transfer roller unit 32 that constitutes a sheet conveying means inside that holds the transfer roller 13, the registration roller 10, and the double-sided conveyance roller 27. A dotted line in FIG. 2 shows a state in which the double-sided conveyance guide unit 31 and the transfer roller unit 32 are opened with the shaft 30 as the rotation center.

By releasing a lock mechanism (not shown), the double-sided conveyance guide unit 31 and the transfer roller unit 32 are slightly opened and rotated by a spring force (not shown), and are further opened from this state by manual operation until jamming can be performed. It has become.
FIG. 3 schematically shows a state in which the double-sided conveyance guide unit 31 and the transfer roller unit 32 are opened in FIG. Jam from the registration roller to the vertical conveyance unit can be dealt with by opening the transfer roller unit 32, and jamming from the double-side conveyance unit can be dealt with by opening the double-side conveyance guide unit 31.

<Bypass tray paper setting operation>
Next, an operation for setting paper on the manual paper feed tray 22 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of the manual sheet feed tray 22 in the right side portion of FIG. 1 as viewed from above. On the manual sheet feeding table 22, a side fence 100 and a pair of side fences 109 that are movable left and right (in the sheet width direction) along the groove-shaped side fence sheet guide 105 are provided. The side fence 109 can move left and right along the side fence paper guide 106, and the side fences 100 and 109 operate in conjunction with each other. FIG. 4 shows a state where the paper sheet is opened to the maximum and is used with the maximum paper width. A sheet presence / absence detection sensor 120 capable of detecting the presence / absence of a sheet is provided in the center of the side fences 100 and 109. In the side fence 100, a stopper member 103, a side fence paper guide 101, and a side fence protrusion member 107 are arranged at the tip.

  The stopper member 103 is connected to the side fence protrusion member 107, and the stopper member 103 can be operated by the operation of the side fence protrusion member 107. The side fence paper guide 101 is configured so as to know the height of the paper that can be set on the manual paper feed tray 22, but is not necessarily required for the configuration of the present embodiment.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of the manual sheet feeder 22 on the right side of FIG. 1 as viewed from above. The state shown in the figure is the minimum closed state, and shows a case where the sheet is used with the minimum sheet width. FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the manual sheet feed tray 22 in the right side portion of FIG. 5 seen through from the center. In FIG. 6, the configuration of the side fence 100 is shown so as to be understood. Further, FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a state in which the side fence protrusion member 107 and the stopper member 103 operate as described in FIG. In FIG. 7B, the stopper member 103 is connected to the side fence protruding member 107 and the connecting member 110, and the stopper member 103 can be operated by the operation of the side fence protruding member 107. When the side fence protruding member 107 protrudes from the side fence 100, the stopper member 103 is as shown in FIG. 8, and prevents the paper set between the side fences 100 and 109 from being conveyed. Similarly, the stopper member 104 can be operated with respect to the side fence protrusion member 108.

  When the side fence 100 is moved along the side fence paper guide 105, which is a slide groove, according to the width of the paper 113 placed on the manual feed tray 22, and the side fence 100 is pressed against the paper 113, the side fence protrusion member 107. Is pushed to the edge of the sheet 113. Thereby, when it moves like FIG. 7, the connection member 110 will also move. The movement of the connecting member 110 causes the stopper member 103 connected to the connecting member 110 to rotate. By this operation, the stopper member 103 changes from a state where the paper feeding is inhibited as shown in FIG. 7B to a state where the inhibition of the paper feeding is released as shown in FIG. 7A.

  FIGS. 8 and 9 are schematic plan views of the manual sheet feed tray 22 in which the openable and closable stopper member 103 is arranged on the front side in the sheet transport direction from the sheet presence / absence detection sensor 120. On the manual feed tray 22, a side fence 100 and a pair of side fences 109 that are movable left and right along the side fence paper guide 105 are provided. The side fence 109 can move left and right along the side fence paper guide 106, and the side fences 100 and 109 operate in conjunction with each other. By operating in conjunction with each other, when one of the side fences 100 and 109 is operated to sandwich the paper 113, the paper 113 can be set at the center on the manual paper feed tray 22.

  FIG. 8 shows a state in which the side fences 100 and 109 are opened to the maximum when used at the maximum sheet width. A sheet presence / absence detection sensor 120 capable of detecting the presence / absence of a sheet is disposed in the center of the side fences 100 and 109. In the side fence 100, a stopper member 111, a side fence paper guide 101, and a side fence protrusion member 107 are disposed at the tip. The stopper member 111 is connected to the side fence protrusion member 107, and the stopper member 111 can be operated by the operation of the side fence protrusion member 107. Further, the side fence 109 is provided with a stopper member 112, a side fence paper guide 102, and a side fence projection member 108 at the tip. The stopper member 112 at the distal end is connected to the side fence protrusion member 108, and the stopper member 112 can be operated by the operation of the side fence protrusion member 108.

  FIG. 10A is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the sheet cannot be conveyed by the stopper member 111. In this figure, when there is no paper 113 on the manual paper feed tray 22, the stopper member 111 is located above the stopper retracting groove 119, so that the paper cannot be conveyed. Similarly, since the stopper member 112 is above the stopper retracting groove 119, the sheet cannot be conveyed. FIG. 10B is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the sheet can be conveyed by the stopper member 111. In this figure, there is a stopper retracting groove 119 for retracting the stopper member 111 on the manual sheet feeding table 22, and paper can be conveyed by entering the retracting groove when the stopper is released. Similarly, there is a stopper retracting groove 119 for retracting the stopper member 112, and paper can be conveyed by entering the retracting groove when the stopper is released.

  11A and 11B are cross-sectional views showing a state in which the stopper member 111 is operated by the operation of the side fence protrusion member 107. FIG. The side fence protrusion member 107 is rotated by being pushed by the end portion of the sheet 113. The stopper member 111 operates by changing the height of the surface where the side fence protrusion member 107 and the stopper member 111 are in contact with each other by the rotation, so that the stopper member 111 enters the stopper retracting groove 119 to enable paper conveyance. . 11C and 11D are cross-sectional views showing FIGS. 11A and 11B before and after the operation.

  FIG. 12A is a plan view showing the operation after the side fence protrusion member 107 and the stopper member 111 in the paper setting state of FIGS. 11C and 11D. FIG. 12B is a plan view showing the side fence protrusion member 107 and the stopper member 111 in the paper setting state shown in FIGS. 11C and 11D before the operation. A sheet presence / absence detection sensor 120 capable of detecting the presence / absence of a sheet is located at the center of the side fences 100 and 109. Therefore, the paper is not detected, and printing cannot be started unless the paper is properly set. Even if it cannot be detected, the paper cannot be conveyed by the stopper.

  As shown in the figure, there are a pair of side fences 100 and 109 that can be moved in a direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance on the manual paper feed tray 22 of the printer 1. Further, the side fence 100 has a stopper member 103 for inhibiting the feeding of the set paper, and a side fence protrusion member 107 which is provided on the opposite inner surface side of the side fence and moves by abutting against the paper edge. . Then, the stopper member 103 operates in conjunction with the movement of the side fence protrusion member 107 to release the obstruction of the sheet conveyance.

  Further, the manual feed tray 22 of the printer 1 has a pair of side fences 100 and 109 that can move in a direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance, and the side fences 100 and 109 have stopper members for inhibiting the feeding of the set sheets. 103 and 104. There are side fence projection members 107 and 108 which are provided on the opposite inner surface side of the side fence and move by abutting against the paper edge, and the stopper members 103 and 104 operate in conjunction with the movement of the side fence projection members 107 and 108. By disposing one set of side fences on the paper feed stand, the obstruction of the paper conveyance is canceled.

  Further, the stopper members 103 and 104 on the side fences 100 and 09 of the manual paper feed tray 22 of the printer 1 are arranged in front of the paper feed roller 25 in the paper transport direction, so that the obstruction of the paper transport is canceled. To do. In addition, the manual feed tray 22 of the printer 1 has a stopper for inhibiting paper feeding at a leading end position in the paper feeding direction of the set paper so as to protrude upward from the paper feeding tray surface in parallel with the paper edge. Members 111 and 112 are provided. The stopper members 111 and 112 sink into the surface of the paper feed table in conjunction with the movement of the side fence protrusion members 107 and 108 provided on the side fences 100 and 109.

  Furthermore, the stopper members 111 and 112 on the side fences 100 and 109 of the manual paper feed tray 22 are arranged on the front side in the paper transport direction from the paper presence / absence detection sensor 120 of the manual paper feed tray 22, thereby conveying the paper. The obstruction of sending out is now released. In addition, the stopper members 111 and 112 are configured to release the blockage of the sheet conveyance of the entire sheet width that can be set on the manual sheet feeding table 22.

  That is, it is possible to inhibit the feeding of the sheet by the stopper members 111 and 112 disposed on the side fences 100 and 109, and the stopper members 111 and 112 operate in conjunction with the movement of the side fence protrusion members 107 and 108. By canceling the hindrance to the paper conveyance, it is possible to prevent a paper jam from occurring due to a paper setting error.

  In addition, by arranging one set of side fences 100 and 109 provided with stopper members 111 and 112 that can be opened and closed at the front end portion on the manual paper feed tray 22, it is possible to prevent a paper jam from occurring due to a paper set error. Furthermore, by disposing the stopper members 111 and 112 disposed on the side fences 100 and 109 of the manual sheet feed tray 22 in front of the sheet feeding roller in the sheet conveyance direction, the sheet conveyance is prevented from being sent out. It is possible to prevent paper jam due to a setting error.

  In addition, the stopper members 111 and 112 sink into the surface of the paper feed base in conjunction with the movement of the side fence protrusion members 107 and 108 provided on the side fence, so that the paper can be fed due to a paper set error. The occurrence of jam can be prevented.

  Furthermore, by disposing the stopper members 111 and 112 that can be opened and closed in front of the sheet presence / absence detection sensor 120 in the sheet conveyance direction in the sheet conveyance direction, the sheet conveyance is surely obstructed. It is possible to prevent a paper jam from occurring due to a set mistake.

  Further, by disposing the stopper members 111 and 112 so that the sheet conveyance can be inhibited over the entire sheet width that can be set on the manual sheet feeding table 22, the inhibition of the sheet feeding can be ensured. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a paper jam due to a paper setting error. The stopper members 111 and 112 that can be opened and closed can prevent the occurrence of a paper jam due to a paper setting error by stopping the paper at all printable paper widths.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and many variations are possible by those having ordinary knowledge in the art within the technical idea of the present invention.

1: Printer 2: Document reading device 3: Document holding pressure plate 4: Drawable paper feed tray 5: Paper 6: Movable bottom plate 7: Paper feed roller 8: Friction pad 9, 10: Registration roller 11: Photosensitive drum 12: Writing unit 13: Transfer roller 14: Toner bottle 15, 16: Thermal fixing roller 17: Fixing unit 18, 19: Discharge roller 20: Discharge storage unit 21: Discharge receiving tray 22: Manual feed tray 23: Paper 24: Call roller 25: Paper feeding roller 26: Reverse path switching claw 27, 28: Double-sided conveyance roller 29: Column 30: Shaft 31: Double-sided conveyance guide unit 32: Transfer roller unit 33: Reverse path switching claw member 34: Reverse stacking tray 35 , 36: discharge roller 37: bottom feed roller 38: separation roller 39: friction pad 40: guide plate 100: side fence 1 1: Side fence paper guide 102: Side fence paper guide 103, 104: Stopper member 105, 106: Slide groove 107, 108: Side fence protrusion member 109: Side fence 110: Connection member 111, 112: Stopper member 113: Paper 119 : Stopper retraction groove 120: Paper presence / absence detection sensor

JP-A-11-292347 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-076808 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-077774

Claims (6)

A manual paper feeding means for feeding paper,
A paper conveying means for conveying the paper fed from the paper feeding means;
In an image forming apparatus comprising:
The paper feeding means has a pair of side fences movable in the width direction of the paper,
The side fence
A stopper member for inhibiting the feeding of the paper set in the paper feeding means;
A protruding member that is provided on the opposite inner surface side of the side fence and moves by contacting an end of the paper;
Have
The stopper member releases the inhibition of the paper feeding in conjunction with the movement of the protruding member;
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The stopper member is provided at the front end of the side fence so as to be openable and closable, and is arranged in one set in the paper feeding means.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.
The stopper member is arranged in front of the paper feeding roller provided in the paper feeding means in the paper transport direction.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
A stopper member for obstructing the feeding of the paper is provided on the paper feeding base of the paper feeding means at the tip position in the paper feeding direction set on the paper feeding base in parallel with the paper edge. It is provided in a state of protruding upward from the surface of the paper feed table,
In conjunction with the movement of the protruding member provided on the side fence, the stopper member sinks toward the surface of the paper feed table.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
A detection means for detecting the presence or absence of conveyance of the paper is arranged on the paper feed table,
The stopper member is arranged in front of the detection unit in the transport direction of the paper,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 or 5, wherein:
The stopper member can stop the conveyance of the paper of all widths capable of image formation,
An image forming apparatus.