JP2808699B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] In the present invention, an upper housing is disposed so as to be openable and closable with respect to a lower housing, and a process cartridge is detachably mounted on the upper housing and the upper housing is closed. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus used in a state.

[Conventional technology]

As a conventional example of an image forming apparatus using the above-described process cartridge, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-166055 is known.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

In this conventional apparatus, an optical unit and a process cartridge are arranged in an upper housing that can be opened and closed with respect to a lower housing, the optical unit is freely suspended on the upper housing, and the process cartridge is mounted on an optical system. The optical unit and the process cartridge are positioned and fixed to the lower housing when the upper housing is closed.

The optical unit of this conventional image forming apparatus is suspended freely with a relatively large degree of freedom in the front, rear, left, right, up and down directions with respect to the upper housing by left and right stopper pins, holders, lands, and leaf springs. Therefore, when the upper housing is closed, the positioning range of the positioning mechanism for positioning the optical unit and the lower housing is increased,
There has been a problem that this positioning mechanism becomes large.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an optical unit in which an optical unit is unitized is supported in a small displacement range, and thereby, a displacement amount for positioning the optical unit in the closing operation of the upper housing portion. Becomes smaller,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which a positioning mechanism for positioning the optical unit can be made small and simple.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, in an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, an upper housing is disposed so as to be openable and closable with respect to a lower housing, and a process cartridge is detachably mounted on the upper housing, and the upper housing is closed. In an image forming apparatus used in a state, an optical unit in which an optical unit is unitized is disposed in an upper housing and above a mounting position of a process cartridge so as to be displaceable in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, and one end is placed at an upper end. A plate-like spring member fixed to a support installed on the housing is fixed to and supported by the other end of the plate-like spring member. The process cartridge is displaceable in the horizontal and vertical directions below the optical unit, and is provided with a spring downward. With the upper housing closed, the process cartridge is positioned and engaged with the lower housing while the process cartridge and the optical unit are positioned. And it has a configuration.

(Operation)

According to the above configuration, with the upper casing closed, the process cartridge and the lower casing, and the process cartridge and the optical unit, are simultaneously positioned by the closing operation of the upper casing.

Since the optical unit is supported by the upper housing via a plate-like spring member having one end fixed to a column, the displacement range of the optical unit during the opening operation of the upper housing is reduced, and the closing operation of the upper housing is performed. The amount of displacement for positioning the optical unit at the time is small.

〔Example〕

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a lower housing, 2 denotes an upper housing connected by a hinge 3 provided on one side of the lower housing 1 so as to be opened and closed,
4 is an optical unit housed and arranged in the upper part of the upper housing 2,
Reference numeral 5 denotes a process cartridge which is detachably attached to a lower portion of the upper housing 2.

The optical unit 4 is displaceable in the horizontal and vertical directions with respect to the upper housing 2, and is supported by the lower member 7 of the upper housing 2 by a plate-like spring member 6. This leaf spring member 6
The mounting of the upper housing 2 is as shown in FIG.
One end of the plate-shaped spring member 6 is fixed to a support 8 erected on the lower member 7, and the other end is fixed to a frame 9 of the optical unit 4 by locking. Further, on the lower surface of the frame 9 of the optical unit 4 and on the axis of the photosensitive drum 11 described later,
Further, on both sides in the axial direction, there are protrudingly provided optical unit positioning legs 10 having engaging projections 10a at the tips (FIG. 4).

As shown in FIG. 6, the process cartridge 5 comprises a photosensitive drum 11, a cleaning device 12, a charger 13, a developing device 14 and the like arranged around the photosensitive drum 11, and these are used for the process cartridge 5. The frame 15 is inserted into and supported by the lower portion of the upper housing 2 so as to be displaceable in the horizontal and vertical directions. FIGS. 4 and 5 show the structure of the photosensitive drum 11 of the process cartridge 5 at both ends in the axial direction, and the support shafts 16 fixed to both ends of the photosensitive drum 11 in the axial direction.
Are supported by a support member 17 fixed to the frame 15.
The upper portion of the support member 17 is a positioning projection 18 protruding above the frame 15, and at the tip thereof and on the axis of the photosensitive drum 11, the optical unit is positioned by the positioning leg 10.
There is provided an engagement recess 18a with which the engagement protrusion 10a provided in the first embodiment is engaged. The process cartridge 5 is urged downward by a spring member 19 via the frame 15.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a process cartridge positioning member protruding from both sides of the lower housing 1. A yoke provided at an upper end of the lower housing 1 has a yoke provided thereon to support the photosensitive drum 11 when the upper housing 2 is closed.
16 are to be engaged.

 In the figure, reference numeral 21 denotes a fixing device.

As shown in FIG. 1, a spring member 19 for urging the process cartridge 5 downward through the frame body 15 uses a leaf spring and is located on the left side of the support shaft 16 of the photosensitive drum 11 in FIG. In addition to the arrangement, a spring member 19′19 ″ using a coil spring may be provided on the axis of the photosensitive drum 11, as shown in FIGS.

In the above configuration, when the upper housing 2 is closed with the process cartridge 5 inserted into the upper housing 2, the support shafts 16 at both ends of the process cartridge 5 engage with the process cartridge positioning members 20 of the lower housing 1. The lever process cartridge 5 is positioned with respect to the lower housing 1. At this time, the pressing is performed by the biasing spring members 19, 19 ', 19 "downwardly of the process cartridge 5.

At this time, the optical unit 4 housed and arranged in the upper housing 2 has the engaging projections 10a of the optical unit positioning projections 10 provided on both sides thereof in the engagement recesses 18a provided in the positioning projections 18 of the process cartridge 5. The engagement causes the optical unit 4 to be positioned with respect to the process cartridge 5. The optical unit 4 has one end fixed to and supported by the other end of a plate-like spring member 6 fixed to a column 8 erected on the upper housing 2. The optical unit 4, which is displaceable in the vertical and vertical directions, has a small
And the positioning of the optical unit 4 during the closing operation of the upper housing 2 is performed with a small displacement.

The light of the optical unit 4 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 22 and irradiates the photosensitive drum 11 of the process cartridge 5. The reflecting mirror 22 is integrally fixed to the frame 9 of the optical unit 4.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the present invention, the optical unit in which the optical means is unitized is housed and arranged in the upper housing together with the process cartridge, and the optical unit is arranged so as to be displaceable in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction in the upper housing and has one end. The optical unit is supported in a small movable range by fixing the optical unit to the other end of the plate-like spring member fixed to the support standing upright on the upper housing, thereby closing the upper housing. In this case, the amount of displacement for positioning the optical unit is reduced, and the positioning mechanism for positioning the optical unit can be made small and simple.

[Brief description of the drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where the upper housing is opened, FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a support portion of the optical unit, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a positioning portion of the process cartridge with the optical unit, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the process cartridge, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of the structure of the process cartridge, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are cross-sectional views showing another embodiment of the process cartridge. 1 is a lower housing, 2 is an upper housing, 4 is an optical unit, 5 is a process cartridge, 6 is a plate-shaped spring member, 19, 19 ', 1
9 "is a spring member, 7 is a lower member, 8 is a support, 10 is an optical unit positioning leg, 11 is a photosensitive drum, 15 is a frame, 16
Is a support shaft, 17 is a support member, and 18 is a positioning protrusion.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-1-166055 (JP, A) JP-A-1-237564 (JP, A) JP-A-1-195472 (JP, A) JP-A-61- 221976 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model 63-66847 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 1-71737 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 62-38654 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model 61-187157 (JP, U) (61) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03G 15/00 550 G03G 21/16-21/18 G03G 15/04 B41J 2/44 G02B 26 /Ten

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] In an image forming apparatus in which an upper housing is disposed so as to be openable and closable with respect to a lower housing, a process cartridge is detachably mounted on the upper housing, and the upper housing is closed, an optical unit is used as a unit. The optical unit is placed in the upper housing and above the mounting position of the process cartridge so that it can be displaced in the horizontal and vertical directions, and one end is fixed to a column standing upright on the upper housing. The upper housing was closed by firmly supporting the other end of the spring member and mounting the process cartridge under the optical unit so as to be displaceable in the horizontal and vertical directions and by biasing downward. An image forming apparatus, wherein the process cartridge is positioned and engaged with the lower housing in the state, and the process cartridge and the optical unit are positioned and engaged.