JP2554481B2 - Image generator - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image generator such as an electrostatic copying machine or an electrostatic printing machine.

<Prior Art> In recent years, as a particularly small and low-priced image generator, it is composed of a lower supporting frame and an upper supporting frame mounted on the lower supporting frame so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position. An image generator including a so-called shell-type support structure and a so-called process unit detachably attached to the upper support frame has been proposed and put into practical use. The process unit includes a unit frame that is detachably mounted on the upper support frame, and a developing device and a cleaning device are usually mounted on the unit frame together with a rotating drum having an electrostatic photoconductor on the surface thereof. Has been done.

However, the conventional image generator has the following problems to be solved due to the structure in which the unit frame is moved in the front-rear direction to be attached to and detached from the upper support frame.

First, when the unit frame is moved in the front-rear direction, since the lower part of the rotating drum is normally exposed to the outside, the operator's finger or foreign matter is inadvertently brought into contact with the photoconductor during the above-mentioned movement. It is often the case that the photoconductor is damaged.

Secondly, the relatively heavy process unit falls downward at the moment when the unit frame is disengaged from the upper support frame. Therefore, at that moment, the process unit is inadvertently dropped and the photoreceptor is damaged. There are not a few things to blame.

<Object of the Invention> The present invention has been made in view of the above facts, and its main purpose is to easily attach and detach the process unit,
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide an excellent image generator in which the photoconductor is markedly damaged during mounting and dismounting.

<Summary of the Invention> According to the present invention, a support structure including a lower support frame and an upper support frame mounted on the lower support frame so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position, and a unit. An image generator including a frame and an electrophotographic photosensitive member mounted on the unit frame, the unit frame being detachably mounted on the upper support frame of the support structure body. A closed position which is disposed above a mounting portion of the upper support frame where the process unit is mounted and closes an upper surface of the upper support frame, and a portion of the upper surface of the upper support frame that corresponds to at least the process unit. The process unit further includes an auxiliary support frame mounted to the upper support frame so as to be rotatable between an open position to be opened, and the process unit is formed by moving the auxiliary support frame to the open position. Upper branch Is attached and detached therefrom from above through the upper opening of the frame to the upper supporting frame, the image generator is provided, characterized in that.

<Preferred Specific Example of the Invention> A specific example of an electrostatic copying machine will be described below as an example of an image generating apparatus configured according to the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1. Outline of Electrostatic Copying Machine Referring to FIG. 1 which is a simplified sectional view of the electrostatic copying machine, the illustrated electrostatic copying machine is provided with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped housing indicated by numeral 2 in its entirety. In the specific example, the housing 2 is defined by a support structure body composed of a lower support frame body 4 and an upper support frame body 6 and an auxiliary support frame body 8 mounted on the support structure body. The support structure body and the auxiliary support frame 8 will be described later.

On the upper surface of the housing 2, the document placing means 10 is mounted so as to be reciprocally movable in the left-right direction. This document placing means 10
Is a transparent plate 12 on which the original to be copied is placed.
And a transparent plate 12 and an openable and closable original document cover 14 for covering the original document placed thereon.

A so-called process unit, generally designated by reference numeral 16, is detachably attached to a substantially central portion of the housing 2. The mounting and dismounting of the process unit 16 will be described later. The process unit 16 has a unit frame 18 which is detachably mounted, and a rotary drum 20 is rotatably mounted at a substantially central portion of the unit frame 18. Bottom wall of unit frame 18
An opening 24 is formed in 22 and the lower portion of the rotary drum 20 projects downward through the opening 24. Rotating drum
An appropriate electrophotographic photosensitive member is provided on the peripheral surface of 20. The unit frame 18 is further provided with a corona discharger 28 for charging, in an appropriate form indicated as a whole by a corona discharger 28 in sequence around the rotary drum 20 which is rotationally driven in the direction indicated by the arrow 26 when viewed in the rotation direction. A good developing device and a cleaning device, generally designated 32, of any suitable form, are also installed. Developing device 30
Includes a magnetic brush mechanism 36 arranged in the developing chamber 34, and the cleaning device 32 includes an elastic blade 38 acting on the surface of the rotary drum 20 and a toner collecting chamber 40.

An irradiation lamp 42 and a reflection plate 44, which are located above the process unit 16, are provided on the upper portion of the housing 2.
An optical system 46 is also provided. The optical system 46 is composed of a large number of elongated optical elements extending in the vertical direction (for example, a rod-shaped lens sold by Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. under the trade name “SELFOC Microlens”). The light from the irradiation lamp 42 is applied to the original placed on the transparent plate 12 through the transparent plate 12, and the reflected light from the original is formed on the upper wall 48 of the optical system 46 and the unit frame 18 as shown by the dashed line. Rotating drum 20 in exposure area 52 through exposed exposure opening 50
Is projected on the peripheral surface of.

At the lower center of the housing 2, a corona discharger for transfer is installed.
54 and a stripping static eliminator 56 located adjacent to this and on the downstream side thereof are disposed. At the right end of the housing 2, copy paper supplying means generally designated by numeral 58 is arranged, and at the left end of the housing 2, a copy paper tray 60 is arranged. Between the copy paper supply means 58 and the copy paper tray 60, there is provided a copy paper transport system indicated by reference numeral 64 for transporting the copy paper through the transfer area 62. The copy sheet feeding means 58 includes a copy sheet table 66 and a copy sheet feeding roller 68 arranged above the downstream end of the copy sheet table 66.
The copy sheet feeding roller 68 is driven to rotate in the direction shown by an arrow 70. The copy paper is inserted on the copy paper table 66. Then, when the copy paper feed roller 68 is rotated in the direction indicated by the arrow 70, the copy paper feed roller 68 further advances the copy paper. The illustrated copy paper transport system 64 includes a guide plate pair.
72, a pair of conveyance rollers 7 driven to rotate in the direction indicated by arrow 74
6, guide plates 78 and 80, a conveyor belt mechanism 84 that is rotationally driven in the direction indicated by arrow 82, a pair of heat fixing rollers 88 that is rotationally driven in the direction indicated by arrow 86, a pair of guide plates 90, and a direction indicated by arrow 92. It includes a discharge roller pair 94 which is driven to rotate. In the upper heating roller 96 of the heating fixing roller pair 88,
Appropriate heating means 98 is provided.

In the electrostatic copying paper as described above, the rotating drum 20
While being driven to rotate in the direction indicated by the arrow 26, the charging corona discharger 28 charges the photosensitive member on the rotating drum 20 substantially uniformly to a specific polarity, and then on the transparent plate 12 in the exposure area 52. The image of the original is scanned and exposed on the photoconductor, and thus an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image of the original is formed on the photoconductor. At the time of the scanning exposure, the document placing means 10 is moved by scanning exposure from the scanning exposure start position indicated by the two-dot chain line 10A to the right to the scanning exposure end position indicated by the two-dot chain line 10B. After that, the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor is transferred to the developing device 30.
The magnetic brush mechanism 36 of FIG. Next, the copy paper supplied from the copy paper supply means 58 and conveyed by the copy paper conveying system 64 is brought into close contact with the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 20 in the transfer area 62, and the transfer corona discharger 54 acts on the photoconductor. The toner image is transferred onto the copy paper.
Then, the rotating drum is removed by the action of the static eliminator 56 for peeling.
The copy paper is peeled off from 20. The separated copy paper is conveyed through a pair of heat fixing rollers 88, during which the toner image on the copy paper is heat fixed and discharged to the copy paper receiving tray 60. On the other hand, the rotary drum 20 continues to rotate further, and the toner remaining on the photoconductor after the transfer is removed from the photoconductor by the action of the elastic blade 38 of the cleaning device 32.

Structure of Support Structure Main Body The illustrated electrostatic copying machine includes the following support structure main body. Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 together with FIG. 1, a supporting structure main body of a concrete example is composed of a supporting structure main body and an auxiliary supporting frame 8 rotatably mounted on an upper surface of the supporting structure main body, The main body of the structure is the lower support frame 4 and the lower support frame 4.
The upper support frame 6 is mounted so as to be freely rotatable.
The lower support frame 4 has a vertical front substrate and a vertical rear substrate (not shown) arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIGS. 1 to 3). Various components such as a copy paper supply unit 58, a transfer corona discharger 54, a peeling static eliminator 56, and a copy paper transport system 64 are mounted between the front substrate and the vertical rear substrate. In addition, the upper support frame 6
Also has a vertical front substrate and a vertical rear substrate (not shown) arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction, and a configuration of an electric motor 100 or the like that constitutes a main drive source between the vertical front substrate and the vertical rear substrate. The element is mounted. A connecting bracket 102 is provided on the bottom of the left end of the upper support frame 6, and the connecting bracket 102 is provided via a shaft member 104 mounted between the vertical front substrate and the vertical rear substrate of the lower support frame 4. It is installed on the street. Therefore, the upper support frame 6 is rotatable between the closed position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 and the open position shown in FIG.

A first locking means 106 is attached to the right end of the housing 2 in relation to the upper support frame 6 being rotatable. The illustrated first locking means 106 has a shaft 108 attached to the lower support frame body 4 and a lock member 110 pivotably attached to the upper support frame body 6. The locking member 110 is provided at one end with a claw 110a capable of engaging with the shaft 108, and at the other end through an opening formed in the right wall of the upper support frame 6 so as to project somewhat outwardly. 110b is provided. The lock member 110 is operated at the lock position (the claw portion 11 shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 by operating the operation portion 110b.
It is freely rotatable between a position where 0a engages with the shaft 108) and a lock release position (not shown) (the position where the claw portion 110a separates from the shaft 108). The first locking means 106 is further provided with a biasing member such as a torsion coil spring 112 that biases the locking member 110 toward the locking position.

In the specific example, the process unit 16 is detachably attached to the substantially central portion of the upper support frame 6. More specifically, the upper support frame 6 is provided with a pair of support members 114 and 116 at intervals in the left-right direction. The pair of support members 114 and 116 extend in the front-rear direction. On the other hand, on the left side wall 118 and the right side wall 120 of the unit frame 18 of the process unit 16, supported portions 122 and 124 extending in the front-rear direction are provided corresponding to the pair of supporting members 114 and 116. By mounting the supported portions 122 and 124 provided on the unit frame 18 on the supporting members 114 and 116 from above as will be described later, the process unit 16 is detachably mounted on the upper supporting frame body 6.

Further, the auxiliary support frame 8 has a front wall and a rear wall (not shown) arranged at intervals in the front-rear direction, and an upper wall 126 and a bottom wall 128 are provided between the front wall and the rear wall. Has been. In the specific example, an optical device for projecting a document image, that is, an irradiation lamp 42 and an optical system 46, is provided between the front wall and the rear wall of the auxiliary support frame 8.
Etc. are installed. Such an auxiliary support frame 8
As shown in the drawing, is disposed above the mounting portion of the upper support frame 6 where the process unit 16 is mounted, and covers the upper surface of the substantially central portion of the upper support frame 6 (in this connection, An opening for irradiating the original by the irradiation lamp 42 is formed on the wall 126, and an opening for guiding the reflected light from the original to the photoconductor is formed on the lower wall 128). In the illustrated specific example, the upper end of the upper support frame 6 and the upper end of the left end of the auxiliary support frame 8 are connected via a shaft member 130 (a vertical front substrate and a vertical rear of the upper support frame 6). A shaft member penetrating the substrate and the front and rear walls of the auxiliary support frame 8
130 is installed). The auxiliary support frame 8 is in the closed position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (in the closed position, the bottom wall 128 of the auxiliary support frame 8 is a part of the upper support frame 6).
a and a turning motion beyond the above closed position is prevented) and an open position shown in FIG. 3 (in such an open position, the upper wall 126 of the auxiliary support frame 8 is replaced by the upper wall of the upper support frame 6). It partially abuts and is prevented from turning beyond the open position).

A second locking means 132 is attached to the upper right end of the housing 2 in relation to the fact that the auxiliary support frame 8 is rotatable. The illustrated second locking means 132 includes a locked piece 134 mounted on the upper support frame 6 and a lock member 136 pivotably mounted on the auxiliary support frame 8. The lock member 136 has a claw portion 136a and an operating portion 136b that projects slightly above the upper wall of the upper support frame 6, and the locking piece 134 has a locking opening through which the claw portion 136a is locked. Are formed. By operating the operation portion 136b, the lock member 136 is moved to the lock position shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 (the position where the claw portion 136a is located in the locking opening of the locked piece 134) and the position shown in FIG. The unlocked position shown by the dotted line (claw 13
6a can be freely swung between the locking piece 134 and the locking opening of the locked piece 134). Although not shown, the second locking means 132 is also provided with a biasing means such as a torsion coil spring that biases the locking member 136 toward the lock position.

Opening / closing operation of upper support frame body When copy paper jam occurs in the copy paper transport system 64, the upper support frame body 6 is moved from the closed position shown in FIG.
Place it in the open position shown. In such opening, the first
The lock member 110 of the lock means 106 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 to unlock the lock member 110 and the shaft 108, and then the upper support frame 6 is rotated around the shaft member 104 by the arrow 138 (see It is sufficient to turn in the direction shown in Fig. 2). As described above, when the process unit 16 is swung in the direction indicated by the arrow 138 and moved to the open position, the process unit 16 is also moved integrally with the upper support frame body 6, as shown in FIG.
At least most of the copy paper transport path in the copy paper transport system 64 is opened, so that the copy paper jammed in the copy paper transport path can be removed sufficiently easily.

On the other hand, in order to move the upper support frame 6 to the closed position, the upper support frame 6 is moved around the shaft member 104 by an arrow 140 (Fig. 2).
Turn in the direction indicated by. When it is swung to the closed position, the lock member 110 of the first lock means 106 engages with the shaft member 108 (the first lock means 106 is in a locked state), and thus the upper support frame 6 is closed. Locked in position. In the closed position, various components mounted on the lower support frame 4 and various components mounted on the upper support frame 6 (including those mounted on the unit frame 18 and the auxiliary support frame 8), Are held in the positional relationship shown in FIG. 1, and the above-described copying operation can be performed.

Attaching and detaching operation of the process unit For example, in order to change the color of the copy to be produced from black to another color such as red, the process unit 16 including the black developing device 30 is detached and the process unit of another color is removed. In the case where 16 is mounted, the document placing means 10 is moved leftward in FIG. 1 to, for example, the scanning exposure start position as shown in FIG. 3 and then the auxiliary support frame 8 is moved to the closed position shown in FIG. To the open position shown in FIG. At the time of such opening, the locking member 136 of the second locking means 132 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 to the unlocked position shown by the chain double-dashed line (thus, the locking member 136 and the locked piece). After releasing the lock with 134), the auxiliary support frame 8 may be turned about the shaft member 130 in the direction indicated by the arrow 142 (FIG. 3). When the auxiliary support frame 8 is swung so as to bring the auxiliary support frame 8 to the open position, as shown in FIG. The upper side is opened, and the process unit 16 can be disengaged through the opening created by moving the auxiliary support frame 8 to the open position.

Thereafter, the process unit 16 is lifted upward as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3 to raise the support members 114 and 1 of the upper support frame body 6.
Leave 16 In order to facilitate the detachment of the process unit 16 (further, mounting of the process unit 16 which will be described later), it is preferable to provide the upper wall 48 of the unit frame 18 with a gripping means as shown in FIG. 4, for example. The illustrated gripping means includes a flexible elongated gripping member 146. Gripping member 1
Elongated openings 148 are formed at both ends of 46, and the pin 150 is fixed to the upper wall 48 of the unit frame 18 through the openings 148, whereby the gripping member 146 is mounted on the upper surface of the upper wall 48. Therefore, in order to disengage the process unit 16 from the upper support frame body 6, it is sufficient to grasp the grasping member 146 and lift it upward through the upper surface opening generated by placing the auxiliary support frame body 8 in the open position. As a result, the process unit 16 is separated from the upper support frame 6 as shown in FIG. When the process unit 16 is detached, the operator grips the gripping member 146 and lifts it upward, so that the process unit 16 is not inadvertently dropped. In addition, since the process unit 16 is lifted upward at the time of such detachment, the operator's finger or a foreign object comes into contact with the lower portion of the rotary drum 20 protruding somewhat through the opening 24 of the bottom wall 22 of the unit frame 18. And the damage to the photoreceptor due to carelessness at the time of detachment is reduced.

Next, the process unit 16 of another color is attached to the upper support frame 6. In such mounting, the process unit
The holding member 146 provided on the unit frame 18 of 16 is held and positioned above the mounting portion of the process unit 16 on the upper support frame 6 as shown by the solid line in FIG. Is moved to the open position to move the process unit 16 downward through the upper opening formed. Then, the supported portions 122 and 124 provided on the unit frame 18 are positioned on the support members 114 and 116 provided on the upper support frame body 6 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. By doing so, the process unit 16 is detachably attached to the upper support frame 6 from above.

After that, the auxiliary support frame 8 is swung about the shaft member 130 in the direction indicated by an arrow 144 (FIG. 3) to the closed position. When it is swung to the closed position, the locking member 136 of the second locking means 132 is locked in the locking opening of the locked piece 134 (the second locking means 132 is in the locked state), and thus the auxiliary support frame is formed. The body 8 is locked in the closed position. In this closed position, the various components mounted on the upper support frame 6 (including those mounted on the unit frame 18) and the various components mounted on the auxiliary support frame 8 are shown in FIG. The positional relationship is maintained, and the light from the irradiation lamp 42 is projected onto the surface of the rotary drum 20 as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. As described above, the process unit 16 can be attached to and detached from the upper support frame 6 by opening and closing the relatively lightweight auxiliary unit frame 8.

The specific example of the electrostatic copying machine as an example of the image generator configured according to the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific example and deviates from the scope of the present invention. It is possible to make various changes or modifications without using the above.

<Effects of the Invention> The image generator according to the present invention is configured as described above, and is disposed above the mounting portion of the upper support frame of the support structure body where the process unit is mounted, and closes the upper surface of the upper support frame. The auxiliary support frame is mounted on the upper support frame so as to be rotatable between a position and an open position where at least a portion of the upper surface of the upper support frame corresponding to the process unit is opened, and the auxiliary support frame is opened. Since the process unit is configured to be attached to and detached from the upper support frame through the top opening of the upper support frame formed by moving it to the position, the photoconductor provided below the process unit when the process unit is attached and detached. There is little opportunity for the operator's finger to touch it and for foreign objects to come into contact therewith, and therefore damage to the photoreceptor due to carelessness when attaching or detaching the process unit can be significantly reduced. In addition to the above, the process unit can be attached / detached as an up / down operation which is easy to perform.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a simplified cross-sectional view schematically showing a specific example of an electrostatic copying machine as an example of an image generating apparatus configured according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a simplified cross-sectional view showing a state in which the upper support frame body is in the open position in the electrostatic copying machine of FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the auxiliary support frame is moved to the open position and the process unit is detached from the upper support frame in the electrostatic copying machine of FIG. FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing a grasping means provided on the upper wall of the unit frame of the electrostatic copying machine of FIG. 1 in an enlarged manner. 2 ... Housing 4 ... Lower support frame 6 ... Upper support frame 8 ... Auxiliary support frame 16 ... Process unit 18 ... Unit frame 20 ... Rotating drum 30 ... Developing device 32 ... Cleaning device 106 ... First locking means 114 and 116 ... Supporting members 122 and 124 ... Supported portion 132 ... Second locking means

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A support structure comprising a lower support frame and an upper support frame mounted on the lower support frame so as to be rotatable between a closed position and an open position, a unit frame and the unit frame. An image generator including a mounted electrostatographic photoreceptor, the unit frame being removably attached to the upper support frame of the support structure body; the upper support frame Of a closed position which is disposed above a mounting portion where the process unit is mounted and closes the upper surface of the upper support frame body, and an open position which opens at least a portion of the upper surface of the upper support frame body corresponding to the process unit. An auxiliary support frame body mounted on the upper support frame body so as to be rotatable between the upper and lower support frame bodies; and the process unit has an upper surface of the upper support frame body formed by moving the auxiliary support frame body to the open position. Opening It mounted and is separated from it from above to the upper supporting frame and, that the image-forming machine according to claim. 2. The auxiliary support frame is mounted on the upper surface of the central portion of the upper support frame so as to be rotatable between the open position and the closed position, and the auxiliary support frame is moved to the open position. The image generator according to claim 1, wherein an upper portion of the process unit mounted on the upper support frame is opened. 3. The image generator according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary support frame is provided with an optical device for projecting an original image on the electrostatic photoconductor. 4. The process unit further includes a developing device for developing an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor into a toner image, and a cleaning device for removing toner remaining on the photoconductor. The image generator according to claim 1.