JP2020005308A - Document feeder and image forming apparatus including document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a document feeder which includes a retractable document loading tray, where downsizing and thickness reduction of the document feeder are achieved and visibility of a document discharge tray part is not impaired.SOLUTION: A document feeder 10 of the invention includes: a housing which houses a paper feeding mechanism; a document loading tray 30 on which a document is placed; and a document discharge tray 40 which collects the document. The housing includes an upper cover 20 and a first protruding part 21 provided at the upper cover 20. The document loading tray 30 includes an engagement part 31 and an opening part 32 and is engaged with the housing so as to swing between a first position where the document loading tray 30 is opened to a document discharge tray 40 side and a second position where the document loading tray 30 is closed to an upper cover 20 side with the engagement part 31 set as a supporting point. The opening part 32 is disposed in the first protruding part 21 when the document loading tray 30 is in the second position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a document feeder provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a multifunction peripheral, and a facsimile machine, and an image forming apparatus provided with the document feeder.

  Conventionally, a feeding device for feeding a document in a document reading device or the like has been provided, such as a feeding device 200 of Patent Document 1. The feeding device 200 of Patent Document 1 includes a paper support unit 201, a cover unit 202, and a discharge tray unit 203. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state where the cover unit 202 of the feeding device 200 is open. FIG. 6 is a side sectional view showing a state where the cover 202 is open, and FIG. 7 is a side sectional view showing a state where the cover 202 is closed.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 to 7, in the feeding device 200 of Patent Document 1, the sheet support unit 201 and the discharge tray unit 203 can be moved in conjunction with each other by opening and closing the cover unit 202. By changing the cover unit 202 from the open state to the closed state, the paper support unit 201 can be shifted from the “use position” in FIG. 6 to the “storage position” in FIG.

  For this reason, according to the feeding device 200 of Patent Literature 1, it is possible to save a useless space when the cover unit 202 is closed when not in use, and to reduce the size and thickness of the entire feeding device 200. Can be.

JP 2010-245624 A

  However, the feeding device 200 of Patent Document 1 cannot make the paper support unit 201 large enough for the document size in order to be able to store the paper support unit 201 inside the housing. . For this reason, when a large document is placed at the “use position” in FIG. 6, the rear end of the document hangs down inside the cover 202, and the document is easily lifted up with respect to the paper support unit 201. However, there is a problem that a paper jam occurs during feeding. In addition, in the “use position” shown in FIG. 6, since the cover 202 covers the document discharged to the discharge tray 203, there is a problem that the document in the discharge tray 203 is forgotten.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a document feeder having a document feeder provided with a stowable document placing tray, which is reduced in size and thickness and does not hinder the visibility of a document discharge tray section. I do.

  In order to solve the above problems, a document feeder according to the present invention includes a housing accommodating a paper feeding mechanism, a document mounting tray for mounting a document, and a document discharge tray for collecting a document. An upper cover, a first convex portion provided on the upper cover, a document placement tray having an engagement portion and a guide rib, a first position opened to the document discharge tray side, and an upper cover side Between the document loading tray and the second position when the document loading tray is at the second position. The guide rib is a downstream end portion of the document placing tray in the document feeding direction when the document placing tray is at the first position, and further includes a second convex portion adjacent to the document placing tray. The width is the same as the width in the direction perpendicular to the document feed direction. B is at the second position, characterized in that not disposed at a position opposite to the first projection.

  The document discharge tray further includes a discharge port for discharging the document, and the discharge port is opened when the document mounting tray is at the first position or the second position.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes any one of the above-described document feeders.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to the document feeder of the present invention, the document feeder provided with the stowable document placing tray can be reduced in size and thickness, and the lowering of the visibility of the document discharge tray portion by the document placing tray is prevented. can do.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus including a document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a first position in which a document placing tray is opened. FIG. 5 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a second position in which a document placing tray is closed. It is a perspective view of the conventional feeding device. It is a side sectional view showing the "use position" of the conventional feeding device. FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view illustrating a “storage position” of a conventional feeding device.

  Hereinafter, a document feeder and an image forming apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings of the present invention, the same parts or corresponding parts are represented by the same reference numerals.

  FIG. 1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus 100 including a document feeder 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus 100 selectively performs a copy mode, a facsimile mode, a scanner mode, and a printer mode. In the copy mode, an image read from a document is printed on recording paper. In the facsimile mode, an image read from a document is transmitted via a public line, and an image received via the public line is printed on recording paper. In the scanner mode, an image read from a document is output to an external information terminal device. In the printer mode, an image input from the information terminal device via the network is printed on recording paper.

  The image forming apparatus 100 includes a document feeder 10, a scanner unit 112, an image forming unit 113, a paper feed cassette 114, a paper discharge tray 115, and the like.

  The scanner unit 112 is a document reading device, includes an image reading unit (not shown) inside, and has the document feeding device 10 mounted on the upper side. The document feeder 10 includes a document placing tray 30 and a document discharge tray 40, and feeds a sheet-like document placed on the document placing tray 30 in a copy mode, a facsimile mode, and a scanner mode. The document is discharged to the document discharge tray 40 via the image reading unit of the scanner unit 112. The scanner unit 112 reads an image of a document by an image reading unit.

  The image forming unit 113 includes an image forming unit (not shown) therein, and includes a paper feed cassette 114, a paper discharge tray 115, and the like. The image forming unit 113 forms an image on a recording sheet fed from the sheet feeding cassette 114 by an image forming unit, and discharges the image to a discharge tray 115.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the document feeder 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The document feeder 10 includes an upper cover 20 that forms a part of a housing, a first convex portion 21 provided on the upper cover 20, a document placing tray 30 for placing a document, and a document placing tray 30. An opening 32 is provided, an adjustment guide 41 for adjusting a placement position of a document, and a document discharge tray 40 for collecting a read document.

  FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing the first position of the document feeder 10 when the document placing tray 30 is opened, and FIG. 4 shows the second position of the document feeder 10 when the document placing tray 30 is closed. It is a side sectional view.

  The upper cover 20 covers the upper part of the paper feed roller 52 and the pickup roller 51 of the paper feed mechanism housed in the housing so as to be openable and closable. The paper feed roller 52 and the pickup roller 51 are provided at a high position of the document feeder 10 in preparation for a case where the number of placed documents is large.

  Therefore, by housing at least one of the paper feed roller 52 and the pickup roller 51 so as to be located below the first convex portion 21 provided on the upper cover 20, a portion other than the first convex portion 21 is accommodated. The document feeder 10 can be reduced in size because the height of the document feeder 10 can be kept low.

  The document placing tray 30 has an engaging portion 31 formed of a shaft or a hole provided at an end portion, and an opening 32 provided at a portion where a document is placed. Further, it is swingably engaged with the housing of the document feeder 10 with the engaging portion 31 as a fulcrum. For this reason, the document placing tray 30 can be displaced between the first position in FIG. 3 and the second position in FIG. 4 by opening and closing with respect to the housing.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the document feeder 10 is used, the document placing tray 30 is set to the opened first position, and the document is placed on the document placing tray 30. The original placed on the original placing tray 30 is fed out from the paper feed port 42 to the document reading unit 46 by the pickup roller 51 and the paper feed roller 52, and is read by the document reading unit 46, and then is discharged from the document output port 47. And is collected in the document discharge tray 40.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the original placing tray 30 is in the opened first position, the opening 32 provided in the original placing tray 30 is arranged above the original discharge tray 40. The document collected on the document discharge tray 40 from the opening 32 can be visually recognized. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the document collected on the document discharge tray 40 from being forgotten.

  As shown in FIG. 4, after using the document feeder 10, the document placing tray 30 is folded and stored on the upper cover 20 with the document placing tray 30 in the closed second position. At this time, the opening 32 of the document placing tray 30 is arranged at the position of the first protrusion 21 of the upper cover 20.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the height of the first protrusion 21 of the upper cover 20 and the thickness of the document tray 30 are formed to be substantially the same. For this reason, when the document placing tray 30 is folded over the upper cover 20, the document placing tray 30 and the first protrusion 21 of the upper cover 20 can be made substantially flat, and the height of the document feeder 10 can be reduced. Therefore, the size of the document feeder 10 can be reduced even when the document placing tray 30 is stored at the second position.

  In addition, since the original placing tray 30 is not housed in the housing, the placing area suitable for the original size can be freely set on the original placing tray 30.

  The main configuration of the document feeder 10 according to the present invention has been described above. However, as a more preferable embodiment, the following configurations can be appropriately combined.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the document feeder 10 is configured such that the first convex portion 21 of the upper cover 20, the opening 32 of the document placing tray 30, and the document discharge tray 40 are substantially Although arranged so as to be parallel, more preferably, the respective central axes are aligned on the same straight line. With such a configuration, the originals of various sizes discharged to the original discharge tray 40 can be visually recognized from the opening portion 32, so that it is possible to reliably prevent the user from forgetting to remove the original from the original discharge tray 40. it can.

  Further, it is preferable that the document feeder 10 of the present invention be substantially flat, including the peripheral portion of the document placing tray 30, when the document placing tray 30 is closed. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 2, a second convex portion 22 adjacent to a peripheral portion of the document placing tray 30 may be formed on the housing or the upper cover 20. By providing the second convex portion 22, the upper surface of the document feeder 10 becomes substantially flat when the document tray 30 is closed, so that the design of the document feeder 10 can be prevented from being damaged.

  Further, since the first convex portion 21 is a portion that is always exposed to the outside regardless of the opening / closing of the document placing tray 30, characters, symbols, and drawings related to the document feeder 10 are provided on the upper surface of the first convex portion 21. By displaying such information, an advertising effect can be brought about.

  For example, the space of the first convex portion 21 can be effectively used by displaying a company logo, a diagram of the document feeder, a symbol of ADF indicating the document feeder, and the like.

  The concave portions other than the first convex portion 21 and the second convex portion 22 are exposed when the document placing tray 30 is opened, and are covered when the document placing tray 30 is closed. For this reason, these sections may be provided with an indicating section 61 for indicating a placement position for each size of the document and an opening section 62 for confirming the leading end position of the document.

  When the document feeder 10 is used, the operability of the document feeder 10 can be improved by opening the document placement tray 30 and causing the indication section 61 and the opening section 62 to appear. Further, when not in use, the document placing tray 30 is closed, and the indicating section 61 and the opening section 62 are hidden, so that the appearance of the document feeder 10 can be improved.

  Further, similarly to the concave portion on the housing side, it is also possible to provide the above-mentioned indicating portion 61 on the inner surface of the document placing tray 30.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Document feeder 20 Upper cover 21 1st convex part 22 2nd convex part 30 Document mounting tray 31 Engagement part 32 Opening 40 Document discharge tray 41 Adjustment guide 42 Paper feed port 46 Document reading part 47 Paper discharge port 51 Pickup Roller 52 Paper feed roller 60 Document feed direction 61 Indicator 62 Opening unit 100 Image forming device 112 Scanner unit 113 Image forming unit 114 Paper feed cassette 115 Output tray 200 Feeding device 201 Paper support unit 202 Cover unit 203 Output tray unit 204 Feed roller

Claims (3)

A document feeder having a housing for accommodating a paper feed mechanism, a document placement tray for placing documents, and a document discharge tray for collecting documents,
The housing has an upper cover, and a first protrusion provided on the upper cover,
The document placing tray has an engaging portion and a guide rib, and is provided on the housing between a first position opened on the document discharge tray side and a second position closed on the upper cover side. It is swingably engaged with the engaging portion as a fulcrum,
The housing further includes a second convex portion adjacent to the document placing tray when the document placing tray is at the second position,
The guide rib is an end on the downstream side in the document feeding direction of the document placing tray when the document placing tray is at the first position, and is perpendicular to the document feeding direction of the document placing tray. The width is the same as the width in the direction, and is not arranged at a position facing the first convex portion when the original placing tray is in contact with the placed original and the original placing tray is at the second position. Document feeder. The document discharge tray further includes a discharge port for discharging the document,
2. The document feeder according to claim 1, wherein the discharge port is opened when the document placing tray is at the first position or the second position.   An image forming apparatus comprising the document feeder according to claim 1.