JP2019099364A - Feeder and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a feeder and an image forming apparatus capable of improving a conveyance accuracy of a recording medium.SOLUTION: A feeder includes: a feeding unit, a skew correction unit, and a guide unit 90. The skew correction unit is provided downstream of the feeding unit in a conveyance direction of the recording medium. The feeding unit includes a feed roller for conveying the recording medium. The skew correction unit includes a gate unit. The gate unit is rotatable about an axially extending rotational axis of the feed roller, and a downstream end of the recording medium in the conveyance direction is abutted to correct the skew of the recording medium. The guide unit has the feed roller and the gate unit attached thereto. The guide unit 90 includes: a first bearing 91 that holds the feed roller; a second bearing 92 that holds a gate; and a cassette positioning unit 93 for determining an arrangement of a feed cassette with respect to the guide unit 90, as a part of the guide unit 90.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a supply device and an image forming apparatus.

  With regard to a conventional image forming apparatus, JP-A-4-269767 discloses an image forming apparatus capable of obtaining good quality by maintaining the accuracy of the image forming position such as the printing position on a sheet and the copying position. Patent Document 1).

JP-A-4-269767

  As disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, the accuracy of the image forming position such as the printing position on the sheet and the copying position is required. There are a roller registration method and a gate registration method as a mechanism for correcting the inclination of the sheet being conveyed. In the roller resist method, the front end of the sheet is abutted at the nip portion of the stopped roller pair to form a loop, and the sheet is fed to further correct the front end of the sheet by following the nip portion.

  On the other hand, in the gate registration method, the leading end of the sheet is made to conform to the retractable abutment member, and the abutment member is retracted by further pushing the sheet. Thus, the sheet is conveyed downstream with respect to the abutment member. In general, the gate resist method is cheaper than the roller resist method. On the other hand, the gate resist system is often inferior to the roller resist system in the correction capability when the amount of skew before the gate (the size of the inclination of the sheet with respect to the sheet conveyance direction) is large. Therefore, in the gate registration method, it is required to improve the sheet conveyance accuracy on the upstream side in the sheet conveyance direction with respect to the gate.

  The present disclosure provides a supply device and an image forming apparatus capable of improving the conveyance accuracy of a recording medium.

  The supply device according to the present disclosure includes a supply unit, a skew correction unit, and a guide unit. The supply unit transports the recording medium stored in the supply cassette. The skew correction unit is provided downstream of the supply unit in the conveyance direction of the recording medium. The supply unit includes a supply roller for conveying the recording medium. The skew correction unit includes a gate unit. The gate unit is rotatable about an axis of rotation extending in the axial direction of the supply roller, and the downstream end of the recording medium in the transport direction is abutted to correct the skew of the recording medium. . The supply roller and the rotation shaft are attached to the guide portion. The guide unit is a cassette positioning unit that defines, as a part of the guide unit, a first bearing unit that holds the supply roller, a second bearing unit that holds the rotation shaft, and an arrangement of the supply cassette with respect to the guide unit. And contains.

  According to the above-described supply device, the conveyance accuracy to the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the plain paper with respect to the skew correction unit is improved, so that the transfer position accuracy of the toner image on the plain paper is improved. Therefore, good image quality can be obtained.

  In the above supply device, the guide further includes, as a part of the guide, a door positioning portion that defines the arrangement of the open / close door provided opposite to the supply device with respect to the guide. Thus, when the transport mechanism is provided on the opening / closing door, the transport accuracy is improved.

  In the above-described supply device, the open / close door is provided with a double-sided conveyance unit which conveys a recording medium already printed on one side to the skew correction unit. As a result, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper from the double-sided conveyance unit to the skew correction unit is improved.

  In the above-described supply device, the open / close door is provided with a double-sided conveyance unit which conveys a recording medium already printed on one side to the skew correction unit. The guide unit further includes a double-sided conveyance positioning unit that defines the arrangement of the double-sided conveyance unit with respect to the guide unit as a part of the guide unit. As a result, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper from the duplex conveyance unit to the skew correction unit is further improved.

  In the above-described supply device, the open / close door is provided with a manual feed unit that supplies a recording medium from the outside. As a result, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper from the manual feed unit to the skew correction unit is improved.

  In the above-described supply device, the open / close door is provided with a manual feed unit that supplies a recording medium from the outside. The guiding unit further includes, as a part of the guiding unit, a manual feed positioning unit which determines the arrangement of the manual feeding unit with respect to the guiding unit. Thereby, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper from the manual feed unit to the skew correction unit is further improved.

  In the above-described supply device, the guide portion further includes, as a part of the guide portion, a gear rotation shaft to which a gear to which driving force of at least one of the supply roller and the rotation shaft is transmitted is attached. The gear rotation shaft extends in the axial direction. Thereby, the resist roller gear and the driving force of the supply roller can be accurately transmitted to the gear attached to the gear rotation shaft.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes the supply device according to any one of the above aspects, and an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium in which skew feeding is corrected by the skew feeding correction unit. Thereby, an inexpensive image forming apparatus can be realized.

  According to the present disclosure, it is possible to realize a supply device and an image forming apparatus capable of improving the conveyance accuracy of a recording medium.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the vicinity of the supply device of Embodiment 1; It is a perspective view of a guide part before attaching a feed roller and a resist roller. It is the schematic which shows the side side of a housing | casing. It is a perspective view at the time of seeing the guide part shown in FIG. 3 from V direction. It is a perspective view of the supply apparatus of Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a schematic perspective view at the time of seeing from the VII direction of FIG. It is a perspective view at the time of removing a gear from the supply apparatus of FIG.

  Hereinafter, the supply device and the image forming apparatus in each embodiment will be described based on the drawings. In the embodiments described below, the same or substantially the same configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will not be repeated. Each configuration of the embodiments described below may be selectively combined as appropriate.

First Embodiment
(Image forming apparatus 200)
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an image forming apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment. The image forming apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus 200 as a color printer. The following describes the image forming apparatus 200 as a color printer, but the image forming apparatus 200 is not limited to a color printer. For example, the image forming apparatus 200 may be a monochrome printer, a fax, or a monochrome printer, a color printer, and a multifunction peripheral (MFP: Multi-Functional Peripheral).

  Image forming apparatus 200 includes image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, 1K, toner bottles 15Y, 15M, 15C, 15K, intermediate transfer belt 30, primary transfer roller 31, secondary transfer roller 33, driven roller 38, a driving roller 39, a timing roller 40, a housing 80, a fixing device 50, and a control device 2.

  The housing 80 defines an outer shell of the image forming apparatus 200. The housing 80 contains the image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, 1K, the intermediate transfer belt 30, the primary transfer roller 31, the secondary transfer roller 33, the driven roller 38, the drive roller 39, and the timings inside. The roller 40, the fixing device 50, the supply cassette 101, and the control device 2 are accommodated.

  Image forming unit by image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, 1K, intermediate transfer belt 30, primary transfer roller 31, secondary transfer roller 33, driven roller 38, drive roller 39, and timing roller 40 Is configured. The image forming unit forms an image on a recording medium which is supplied from the supply cassette 101 and whose skew feeding is corrected by a skew feeding correction unit 70 described later. In the first embodiment, the recording medium is plain paper S.

  The image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1K are arranged in order along the intermediate transfer belt 30. The image forming unit 1Y receives supply of toner from the toner bottle 15Y to form a yellow (Y) toner image. The image forming unit 1M receives supply of toner from the toner bottle 15M to form a magenta (M) toner image. The image forming unit 1C receives the supply of toner from the toner bottle 15C to form a cyan (C) toner image. The image forming unit 1K receives supply of toner from the toner bottle 15K to form a black (BK) toner image.

  The image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1K are arranged in the order of the rotational direction of the intermediate transfer belt 30 along the intermediate transfer belt 30. Each of the image forming units 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1K includes a photoconductor 10, a charging device 11, an exposure device 12, a developing device 13, and a cleaning device 17.

  The charging device 11 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive member 10. The exposure device 12 irradiates the photosensitive member 10 with a laser beam in accordance with a control signal from the control device 2 and exposes the surface of the photosensitive member 10 according to the input image pattern. Thereby, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the input image is formed on the photosensitive member 10.

  The developing device 13 includes a developing roller 14. The developing device 13 applies a developing bias to the developing roller 14 while rotating the developing roller 14, and causes the toner to adhere to the surface of the developing roller 14. Thereby, the toner is transferred from the developing roller 14 to the photosensitive member 10, and a toner image corresponding to the electrostatic latent image is developed on the surface of the photosensitive member 10.

  The photosensitive member 10 and the intermediate transfer belt 30 are in contact with each other at a portion where the primary transfer roller 31 is provided. The primary transfer roller 31 has a roller shape and is configured to be rotatable. By applying a transfer voltage of the opposite polarity to the toner image to the primary transfer roller 31, the toner image is transferred from the photosensitive member 10 to the intermediate transfer belt 30. The yellow (Y) toner image, the magenta (M) toner image, the cyan (C) toner image, and the black (BK) toner image are sequentially superimposed and transferred from the photosensitive member 10 to the intermediate transfer belt 30. Thus, a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 30.

  The intermediate transfer belt 30 is stretched around a driven roller 38 and a drive roller 39. The drive roller 39 is rotationally driven by, for example, a motor (not shown). The intermediate transfer belt 30 and the driven roller 38 rotate in conjunction with the drive roller 39. Thereby, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 is conveyed to the secondary transfer roller 33.

  The cleaning device 17 is in pressure contact with the photosensitive member 10. The cleaning device 17 recovers the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive member 10 after the transfer of the toner image.

  The image forming apparatus 200 further includes a supply cassette 101 and a supply device 100. In the inside of the supply cassette 101, plain paper S is accommodated. The supply cassette 101 includes an installation stand 101a. The plain paper S is installed on the installation stand 101a. The feeding device 100 transports the plain paper S along the transport path 41 toward the secondary transfer roller 33 one by one from the feeding cassette 101. Details of the supply device 100 will be described later.

  The secondary transfer roller 33 has a roller shape and is configured to be rotatable. The secondary transfer roller 33 applies a transfer voltage of the opposite polarity to the toner image to the plain paper S being conveyed. Thereby, the toner image is attracted from the intermediate transfer belt 30 to the secondary transfer roller 33, and the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 is transferred to the plain paper S.

  The timing roller 40 adjusts the conveyance timing of the plain paper S to the secondary transfer roller 33 in accordance with the position of the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30. As a result, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 30 is transferred to an appropriate position on the plain paper S. After the toner image is transferred to the plain paper S, the plain paper S is conveyed to the fixing device 50.

  The fixing device 50 applies pressure and heat to the plain paper S. The fixing device 50 fixes the toner image on the plain paper S conveyed along the conveyance path 41. The plain paper S on which the toner image is fixed is discharged to the tray 48.

  The image forming apparatus 200 further includes a duplex conveyance unit 22 and a manual feed unit 23. The duplex conveying unit 22 conveys the plain paper S, which has already been printed on one side (toner image is fixed), to the feeding device 100 through the reversing path 42.

  The manual feed unit 23 supplies the recording medium to the supply device 100 from the outside of the housing 80. The manual feed unit 23 includes a manual feed unit 23a. The manual insertion portion 23 a is provided outside the housing 80. Recording media such as cardboard and postcards are supplied to the supply device 100 from the manual feed unit 23a. The recording medium supplied from the manual feed unit 23 is supplied to the supply device 100 through the manual feed path 43.

(Supply device 100)
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the periphery of the supply device 100 according to the first embodiment. The supply device 100 includes a supply unit 60, a skew correction unit 70, and a guide unit 90. The supply unit 60 conveys the plain paper S stored in the supply cassette 101 toward the skew correction unit 70.

  The feed unit 60 includes a feed roller 61 and a guide roller pair 64. The setting stand 101 a of the supply cassette 101 is inclined when the plain paper S is conveyed to the skew correction unit 70. The feed roller 61 is rotated by transmitting a driving force by a driving mechanism (not shown). The feed roller 61 conveys the plain paper S toward the skew correction unit 70 while sandwiching the plain paper S with the installation table 101 a. The plain paper S is conveyed between the guide roller pair 64 and along the conveyance path 63 to the skew correction unit 70.

  The skew correction unit 70 is provided downstream of the supply unit 60 in the conveyance direction of the plain paper S passing the conveyance path 63 (hereinafter, the conveyance direction of the plain paper S). The skew correction unit 70 corrects the inclination of the plain paper S conveyed by the supply unit 60 with respect to the conveyance direction. The plain paper S whose inclination has been corrected is conveyed to a timing roller 40 provided on the downstream side of the conveyance direction of the plain paper S with respect to the skew correction unit 70.

  The skew correction unit 70 includes a gate unit 71 made of resin, a resist roller 72, and an opposing roller 74. The opposing roller 74 is opposed to the resist roller 72. The opposing roller 74 has an outer diameter smaller than that of the resist roller 72.

  The resist roller 72 has a rotating shaft 72 b and an outer peripheral portion 72 a. The rotating shaft 72b is rotated by a drive mechanism (not shown). The rotation shaft 72b extends in an axial direction DR1 of the supply roller 61 described later. The rotating shaft 72b is inserted through the outer peripheral portion 72a. The outer peripheral portion 72 a constitutes the outer periphery of the resist roller 72. The rotating shaft 72b and the outer peripheral portion 72a are integrally provided. The outer peripheral portion 72a rotates around the rotation shaft 72b as the rotation shaft 72b rotates. In addition to the outer peripheral part 72a, the gate part 71 is provided in the rotating shaft 72b.

  The rotary shaft 72 b is inserted into the gate portion 71. The gate portion 71 is rotatable around a rotation axis 72b. The end portion of the plain paper S at the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the plain paper S abuts on the gate portion 71. Thereby, the inclination with respect to the conveyance direction of the plain paper S is corrected. The gate portion 71 and the outer peripheral portion 72a rotate around the rotation shaft 72b as a central axis. The gate portion 71 and the outer peripheral portion 72a coaxially rotate.

  The manual feed unit 23 further includes a manual feed roller 23b. The manual feed roller 23 b conveys a recording medium such as thick paper or a postcard set in the manual feed unit 23 a toward the skew correction unit 70. The manual feed unit 23 conveys the recording medium to the skew correction unit 70 instead of the supply unit 60. By providing the manual feed unit 23, printing can be performed on various recording media.

  The double-sided conveyance unit 22 has a double-sided conveyance roller (not shown). The double-sided conveyance roller conveys the recording medium already printed on one side to the skew correction unit 70 along the reverse path 42. Thereby, double-sided printing can be performed on the recording medium.

  The supply roller 61 and the registration roller 72 (rotation shaft 72 b) are attached to the guide portion 90. The guide unit 90 functions as a guide when transporting the plain paper S. A conveyance path 63 is formed by the guide portion 90 and the other components.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the guide portion 90 before the supply roller 61 and the resist roller 72 are attached. The guide portion 90 includes a first bearing portion 91, a second bearing portion 92, and a cassette positioning portion 93 as a portion of the guide portion 90. The first bearing portion 91, the second bearing portion 92, and the cassette positioning portion 93 can not be removed from the guiding portion 90. The first bearing portion 91, the second bearing portion 92, and the cassette positioning portion 93 are configured as one component.

  The oblique direction DR1 indicated by the double arrow in the figure is the axial direction of the supply roller 61. The axial direction DR1 is a direction in which the supply cassette 101 is taken in and out.

  The first bearing portion 91 has a front bearing portion 91a and a rear bearing portion 91b. The front bearing portion 91a and the rear bearing portion 91b are provided side by side in the axial direction DR1. A through portion 91 c is formed in the front bearing portion 91 a. A through hole 91d is formed in the rear bearing portion 91b. The through portion 91 c and the through hole 91 d are provided substantially in a straight line. The feed roller 61 is held by inserting the shaft of the feed roller 61 into the through portion 91 c and the through hole 91 d.

  A through hole 92 a is formed in the second bearing portion 92. The resist roller 72 (rotation shaft 72 b) is held by inserting the rotation shaft 72 b into the through hole 92 a.

  The cassette positioning unit 93 defines the arrangement of the supply cassette 101 with respect to the guide unit 90. The cassette positioning unit 93 has a front positioning unit 93 a and a rear positioning unit 93 b. The insertion part 93c is formed in the front positioning part 93a. An insertion hole 93d is formed in the rear positioning portion 93b. The feed cassette 101 is positioned with respect to the guide unit 90 by inserting the positioning rod provided in the feed cassette 101 into the insertion portion 93 c and the insertion hole 93 d.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing the side of the case 80. As shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 200 further includes an open / close door 21. The open / close door 21 is configured to be rotatable about a hinge portion 21c. An opening 80 a is formed on the side surface of the housing 80. When the open / close door 21 is closed, the opening 80 a is closed by the open / close door 21. The open / close door 21 is provided to face the supply device 100 when the open / close door 21 is closed. When the open / close door 21 is open, the opening 80a is opened. By opening the open / close door 21, the inside of the case 80 can be accessed from the outside.

  The double-sided conveyance unit 22 is provided in the opening / closing door 21. The double-sided conveyance unit 22 is provided to face the supply device 100 when the open / close door 21 is closed.

  The open / close door 21 is provided with a manual feed unit 23. The manual feeding unit 23 is provided to face the feeding device 100 when the open / close door 21 is closed. The manual feed unit 23 is provided from the inside to the outside of the housing 80 in a state where the open / close door 21 is closed.

  The open / close door 21 has a front protrusion 21 a and a rear protrusion 21 b. The front protrusion 21a is disposed farther from the hinge 21c than the rear protrusion 21b. The front protrusion 21 a and the rear protrusion 21 b protrude toward the inside of the housing 80 when the open / close door 21 is closed.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the guide unit 90 shown in FIG. 3 as viewed from the V direction. The guide unit 90 further includes a door positioning unit 94 as a part of the guide unit 90. The door positioning unit 94 determines the arrangement of the open / close door 21 with respect to the guide unit 90. The door positioning unit 94 can not be removed from the guiding unit 90. The first bearing portion 91, the second bearing portion 92, the cassette positioning portion 93, and the door positioning portion 94 are configured as one component.

  The door positioning unit 94 has a predetermination unit 94a and a postdetermination unit 94b. A hollow portion 94c is formed in the predetermining portion 94a. A hollow portion 94 d is formed in the rear determination portion 94 b. In the state where the open / close door 21 is closed, the front protrusion 21a shown in FIG. 4 is inserted into the hollow portion 94c. The rear protrusion 21b is inserted into the hollow portion 94d. Thus, the open / close door 21 is positioned with respect to the guide portion 90.

(Action effect)
As shown in FIG. 3, the first bearing portion 91, the second bearing portion 92, and the cassette positioning portion 93 are configured as one component. By forming the first bearing portion 91 and the cassette positioning portion 93 as one component, it is possible to suppress the component dimension cumulative tolerance of the guide portion 90. Therefore, the position accuracy of the plain paper S on the installation table 101 a with respect to the supply roller 61 is improved. When the position accuracy of the plain paper S on the installation table 101 a with respect to the supply roller 61 is high, the conveyance direction of the plain paper S and the axial direction of the supply roller 61 are substantially orthogonal to each other. Thereby, the inclination of the plain paper S in the conveyance direction of the plain paper S can be suppressed. Therefore, the conveyance accuracy in conveying the plain paper S from the supply unit 60 to the skew correction unit 70 is improved.

  By forming the first bearing portion 91 and the second bearing portion 92 as one component, it is possible to suppress the component dimension cumulative tolerance of the guide portion 90. Therefore, the positional accuracy of the supply roller 61 with respect to the gate portion 71 (rotation shaft 72b) is improved. When the positional accuracy of the supply roller 61 with respect to the rotation shaft 72 b is high, the axial direction of the supply roller 61 and the axial direction of the rotation shaft 72 b are substantially parallel. Thus, the inclination of the plain paper S with respect to the conveyance direction of the plain paper S in front of the gate unit 71 can be suppressed. Therefore, the skew correction function by the skew correction unit 70 which is a gate registration method can be reliably exhibited.

  As described above, by forming the first bearing portion 91, the second bearing portion 92, and the cassette positioning portion 93 as one component, the component dimension cumulative tolerance of the guide portion 90 can be suppressed. As a result, the conveyance accuracy on the downstream side of the conveyance direction of the plain paper S with respect to the skew correction unit 70 is improved, so that the transfer position accuracy of the toner image on the plain paper S is improved. Therefore, good image quality can be obtained.

  Furthermore, even if the skew feed correction unit 70 based on the inexpensive gate registration method is used, it is possible to ensure the conveyance accuracy to the downstream side of the conveyance direction of the plain paper S with respect to the skew correction unit 70. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the supply apparatus 100 can be suppressed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the guide unit 90 has a door positioning unit 94 that defines the arrangement of the open / close door 21 with respect to the guide unit 90. Thereby, the position accuracy of the opening / closing door 21 with respect to the guide part 90 is improved. Therefore, when the transport mechanism is provided in the open / close door 21, the transport accuracy is improved.

  The double-sided conveyance unit 22 is provided in the opening / closing door 21. By improving the positional accuracy of the open / close door 21 with respect to the guide portion 90, the positional accuracy of the double-sided conveying portion 22 with respect to the guide portion 90 is also improved. Thus, the positional accuracy of the double-sided conveyance roller (not shown) of the double-sided conveyance unit 22 with respect to the rotation shaft 72b attached to the guide unit 90 is improved. When the positional accuracy of the double-sided conveying roller with respect to the rotating shaft 72 b is high, the axial direction of the rotating shaft 72 b and the axial direction of the double-sided conveying roller are substantially parallel. Therefore, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper S from the duplex conveyance unit 22 to the skew correction unit 70 is improved.

  The guide unit 90 may further include a double-sided conveyance positioning unit that defines the arrangement of the double-sided conveyance unit 22 with respect to the guide unit 90 as a part of the guide unit 90. By providing the double-sided conveyance positioning unit, the positional accuracy of the double-sided conveyance unit 22 with respect to the guide unit 90 is further improved. Thus, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper S from the duplex conveying unit 22 to the skew correction unit 70 is further improved.

  The open / close door 21 is provided with a manual feed unit 23. By improving the positional accuracy of the open / close door 21 with respect to the guide unit 90, the positional accuracy of the manual feed unit 23 with respect to the guide unit 90 is also improved. Thereby, the positional accuracy of the manual feed roller 23b with respect to the rotation shaft 72b attached to the guide portion 90 is improved. When the positional accuracy of the manual feed roller 23b with respect to the rotational shaft 72b is high, the axial direction of the rotational shaft 72b and the axial direction of the manual feed roller 23b are substantially parallel. Therefore, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper S from the manual feed unit 23 to the skew correction unit 70 is improved.

  The guide unit 90 may further include a manual feed positioning unit which defines the arrangement of the manual feed unit 23 with respect to the guide unit 90 as a part of the guide unit 90. By providing the manual feed positioning unit, the positional accuracy of the manual feed unit 23 with respect to the guide unit 90 is further improved. As a result, the conveyance accuracy of the plain paper S from the manual feed unit 23 to the skew correction unit 70 is further improved.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 200 includes a supply device 100 and a fixing device 50 provided on the downstream side of the skew correction unit 70 in the transport direction. The image forming apparatus 200 includes a supply device 100 capable of suppressing the inclination of the plain paper S with respect to the conveyance direction of the plain paper S in front of the gate unit 71. As a result, even if the skew correction unit 70 based on the inexpensive gate registration method is used, the conveyance accuracy to the downstream side of the conveyance direction of the plain paper S with respect to the skew correction unit 70 can be ensured. Therefore, an inexpensive image forming apparatus 200 can be realized.

Second Embodiment
FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the supply device 100 of the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view as viewed from the direction VII of FIG. FIG. 8 is a perspective view when the gear 20 is removed from the supply device 100 of FIG. With reference to FIGS. 6-8, the supply apparatus 100 of Embodiment 2 is demonstrated.

  The feeding device 100 of the second embodiment further includes a registration roller gear 73, a feeding roller gear 62, and a gear 20. The registration roller gear 73 is provided at an end of the rotation shaft 72b in the axial direction DR1. In the axial direction DR1, an outer peripheral portion 72a and a gate portion 71 are alternately provided on the rotation shaft 72b. The registration roller gear 73 transmits the driving force transmitted from the rotation shaft 72 b to the gear 20.

  The gear 20 has a double-sided transfer docking gear 20a and an idle gear 20b. The driving force of the registration roller gear 73 (rotation shaft 72b) is transmitted to the double-sided transfer docking gear 20a via the idle gear 20b. The duplex transport docking gear 20 a meshes with a gear provided to the duplex transport unit 22. Thus, the driving force of the registration roller gear 73 is transmitted to the duplex conveying unit 22.

  The supply roller gear 62 is provided at an end of the supply roller 61 in the axial direction DR1. The gear 20 further includes a drive gear 20c, an idle gear 20d, and an idle gear 20e. The driving force of the supply roller gear 62 is transmitted to the drive gear 20c via the idle gear 20d and the idle gear 20e. The drive gear 20c meshes with a gear provided in the drive mechanism. Thereby, the driving force of the supply roller gear 62 is transmitted to the drive mechanism.

  The guide portion 90 further includes a gear rotation shaft 97 as a part of the guide portion 90. The gear rotating shaft 97 has a cylindrical shape. The guide 90 has a side surface 98. The gear rotating shaft 97 protrudes from the side surface 98. The gear rotation shaft 97 is not removable from the side surface 98.

  The gear rotation shaft 97 has a docking gear rotation shaft 97a, an idle gear rotation shaft 97b, a drive gear rotation shaft 97c, an idle gear rotation shaft 97d, and an idle gear rotation shaft 97e. The docking gear rotation shaft 97a, the idle gear rotation shaft 97b, the drive gear rotation shaft 97c, the idle gear rotation shaft 97d, and the idle gear rotation shaft 97e extend in the axial direction DR1. Double-sided transfer docking gear 20a, idle gear 20b drive gear 20c, idle gear 20d for docking gear rotation shaft 97a, idle gear rotation shaft 97b, drive gear rotation shaft 97c, idle gear rotation shaft 97d, and idle gear rotation shaft 97e , And the idle gear 20e are fitted.

(Action effect)
As shown in FIG. 8, the guide portion 90 further includes a gear rotation shaft 97 to which a gear 20 to which the driving force of at least one of the supply roller 61 and the rotation shaft 72 b is transmitted is attached as a part of the guide portion 90. . The gear rotation shaft 97, the supply roller 61, and the rotation shaft 72b extend in the axial direction DR1. The axial direction of the gear rotating shaft 97, the axial direction of the supply roller 61, and the axial direction of the rotating shaft 72b are substantially parallel. Thus, the resist roller gear 73 provided at the end of the rotation shaft 72 b and the driving force of the supply roller 61 can be accurately transmitted to the gear 20 attached to the gear rotation shaft 97. Furthermore, by configuring the gear rotating shaft 97 as a part of the guide portion 90, the manufacturing cost of the supply device 100 can be suppressed.

  Although the image forming apparatus 200 adopting the tandem system as the printing system has been described in the embodiment, the printing system of the image forming apparatus 200 is not limited to the tandem system. The arrangement of each component in the image forming apparatus 200 can be appropriately changed in accordance with the printing method employed. As a printing method of the image forming apparatus 200, a rotary method or a direct transfer method may be adopted. In the case of the rotary method, the image forming apparatus 200 is configured of one photosensitive member 10 and a plurality of developing devices 13 configured to be rotatable coaxially. At the time of printing, the image forming apparatus 200 guides each developing device 13 to the photosensitive member 10 in order to develop a toner image of each color. In the case of the direct transfer method, in the image forming apparatus 200, the toner image formed on the photosensitive member 10 is directly transferred to the plain paper S.

  It should be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative and non-restrictive in every respect. The scope of the present invention is indicated not by the above description but by the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims.

  Reference Signs List 20 gear 20a double-sided conveyance docking gear 20b 20d 20e idle gear 20c drive gear 21 opening / closing door 21a front projection 21b rear projection 21c hinge 22 double-sided conveyance 23 manual feed unit 23a Manual feed unit, 23b manual feed roller, 41, 63 conveying path, 42 reverse path, 43 manual path, 48 tray, 50 fixing device, 60 feeding unit, 61 feeding roller, 62 feeding roller gear, 64 guide roller pair, 70 skewing Correction part, 71 gate part, 72 registration roller, 72a outer peripheral part, 72b rotation shaft, 73 registration roller gear, 74 opposing roller, 80 case, 80a opening part, 90 guiding part, 91c penetration part, 91d, 92a penetration hole, 93 cassette positioning part 93a front positioning part 93 b Rear positioning portion 93c insertion portion 93d insertion hole 94 door positioning portion 94a front positioning portion 94b rear positioning portion 94c 94d hollow portion 97 gear rotary shaft 97a docking gear rotary shaft 97b 97d 97e Idle gear rotation shaft, 97c drive gear rotation shaft, 98 side surface portion, 100 supply device, 101 supply cassette, 101a installation base, 200 image forming device, DR1 axial direction, S plain paper.

Claims (8)

A supply unit that conveys the recording medium stored in the supply cassette;
A skew correction unit provided on the downstream side of the feeding direction of the recording medium with respect to the supply unit;
The supply unit includes a supply roller for conveying the recording medium,
The skew correction unit is rotatable about a rotation axis extending in the axial direction of the supply roller, and a downstream end of the recording medium in the transport direction is abutted to skew the recording medium And a gate unit for correcting
A guide unit on which the supply roller and the rotation shaft are attached;
The guide portion, as a part of the guide portion, includes a first bearing portion for holding the supply roller, a second bearing portion for holding the rotation shaft, and a cassette positioning portion for determining the arrangement of the supply cassette with respect to the guide portion. And supply equipment.   The feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the guiding portion further includes, as a part of the guiding portion, a door positioning portion that defines an arrangement of the opening / closing door provided opposite to the feeding device with respect to the guiding portion.   The feeding apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the open / close door is provided with a double-sided conveyance unit which conveys a recording medium already printed on one side to the skew correction unit. The open / close door is provided with a double-sided conveyance unit for conveying a recording medium already printed on one side to the skew correction unit.
The feeding device according to claim 2, wherein the guide unit further includes a double-sided conveyance positioning unit that defines the arrangement of the double-sided conveyance unit with respect to the guide unit as a part of the guide unit.   The supply device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the open / close door is provided with a manual feed unit that supplies a recording medium from the outside. The opening and closing door is provided with a manual feed unit that supplies a recording medium from the outside,
The feeding device according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the guiding portion further includes, as a part of the guiding portion, a manual feeding positioning portion which determines the arrangement of the manual feeding portion relative to the guiding portion. The guide unit further includes, as a part of the guide unit, a gear rotation shaft to which a gear to which driving force of at least one of the supply roller and the rotation shaft is transmitted is attached.
The feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the gear rotating shaft extends in the axial direction. A feeder according to any one of claims 1 to 7;
An image forming unit configured to form an image on a recording medium whose skew feeding has been corrected by the skew feeding correction unit;