JP2980949B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus used for a device such as a digital copying machine or a facsimile machine.

2. Description of the Related Art Various image reading devices are used in digital copiers and facsimile machines. In general, a traveling body having a line light source and a line sensor is provided below a glass plate serving as a document support plate. The image information of the document is optically read and scanned by scanning.

Therefore, a conventional example of such an image reading apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. FIG. In the image reading apparatus 1, a fluorescent lamp 4 as an electric component and a reflection mirror 5 are provided at a position facing the glass plate 3 as a document support plate fixedly attached to the upper surface of the box-shaped main body housing 2 from below. And a reflection traveling body 9 including two reflection mirrors 7 and 8 opposed to each other at an included angle of 90 degrees. A line sensor 11 is fixedly disposed at a position facing the reflection mirror 8 of the reflection traveling body 9 with a lens array 10 interposed between the line sensor 11 and the surface of the glass plate 3. A reading optical path of a fixed length is formed via the movable mirrors 5, 7, 8. Here, a power supply device 14 as a power supply unit is disposed on a bottom surface 13 of the internal space 12 of the main body housing 2,
The power supply device 14 and the fluorescent lamp 4 of the scanning traveling body 6 are connected by a bendable cable 15.

In such a configuration, in the image reading device 1,
The image information of the original 16 placed on the glass plate 3 is illuminated by the fluorescent lamp 4 of the scanning traveling body 6 that moves in the sub-scanning direction opposite thereto, and the reflecting mirrors 5, 7, and 8 and lens array 10
Is read and scanned by the line sensor 11 via. At this time,
Since the optical path length of the reading scan is maintained constant by the sub-scanning movement of the reflection traveling body 9 at half the speed with respect to the scanning traveling body 6, the image information on the surface of the original 16 is good on the line sensor 11. Will be imaged.

In the image reading apparatus 1 having such a structure, the fluorescent lamp 4 which is an electric component that requires electric power for the moving scanning traveling body 6 is used.
Is provided, the power supply to the fluorescent lamp 4 is realized by using a bendable cable 15.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention The image reading device 1 as described above has a flexible cable.
Although power is supplied to the fluorescent lamp 4 of the moving scanning traveling body 6 by utilizing the scanning traveling body 15, in such a structure, as illustrated in FIG. 6 (b) and FIG. In some cases, the cable 15 that bends with the movement of the glass 6 contacts the glass plate 3. In this case, the internal space 12 of the main body housing 2
The dust accumulated on the bottom surface 13 of the glass plate 3 is conveyed to the back surface of the glass plate 3 by the cable 15, and the glass plate 3 is contaminated and the reading performance is hindered.

For example, although it is possible to clean the back surface of the glass plate 3 thus contaminated, the contamination of the glass plate 3 progresses each time the image reading apparatus 1 is used.

It is also conceivable to extend the main body housing 2 in the height direction to reduce the amount of bending of the cable 15 so that the cable 15 does not contact the glass plate 3, but this is not preferable because the image reading apparatus 1 becomes large. .

Means for Solving the Problems A document supporting plate having a light-transmitting property is fixedly mounted on the upper surface of the box-shaped main body housing, and is positioned parallel to the document supporting plate above the internal space of the main body housing in the sub-scanning direction. An electric component such as a line light source and a line sensor is attached to the movable traveling body, and the other end of the bendable cable having one end connected to the electric component of the traveling body is connected to the power supply via the bottom of the internal space of the main body housing. In the image reading apparatus, a cable support member protruding in a convex shape is formed at a position where the cable on the bottom surface of the internal space of the main body housing contacts, and the cable support on the curved outer peripheral surface of the cable facing the cable support member is formed. A support plate contact portion projecting in a convex shape was formed at a position where the member did not contact.

By forming a convexly projecting cable support member on the bottom surface of the main body housing and forming a convexly projecting support plate contact portion on the curved outer peripheral surface of the cable, the cable that bends in accordance with the movement of the traveling body can be used as a document. The contact between the support plate at the support plate contact portion and the bottom surface of the main body housing and the cable support member at the curved outer peripheral surface allows dust accumulated on the bottom surface of the main body housing and the support rail to be scanned by the cable. It is not transported to the back of the support plate.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. First, in the image reading device 17, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, a support rail 18 as a cable support member is formed on the bottom surface 13 of the main body housing 2 in the sub-scanning direction. As illustrated in FIG. 1 (b), a cable rail 21 which is a support plate contact portion is formed at a position where the support rail 18 does not contact the curved outer peripheral surface 20 of the cable 19 supported above. . The cable rail 21 is formed lower than the support rail 18 so as not to contact the bottom surface 13 of the main housing 2.
The other structure is the same as that of the image reading device 1 described above.

In such a configuration, the image reading device 17 reads and scans image information of the document 16 in the same manner as the image reading device 1 described above.

Here, in this image reading device 17, the cable rail 21 of the cable 19 that contacts the back surface of the glass plate 3 is
19 is supported by the support rail 18 on the curved outer peripheral surface 20,
There is no contact with the bottom surface 13 or the support rail 18 of the main body housing 2. That is, in the image reading device 17, the bendable cable 19 contacts the glass plate 3 by the cable rail 21 and contacts the bottom surface 13 of the main body housing 2 and the support rail 18 by the curved outer peripheral surface 20. As a result, dust accumulated on the bottom surface 13 of the main body housing 2 and the support rails 18 is not conveyed to the back surface of the glass plate 3 by the cable 19, and the glass plate 3 is prevented from being stained. Is maintained. Further, in the image reading device 17,
Since the glass plate 3 is not stained even if the curved cable 19 comes into contact as described above, it is necessary to extend the main housing 2 in the height direction so that the curved cable 19 does not come into contact with the glass plate 3. In addition, it is possible to obtain a thin and stable image reading device 17.

Note that, in the image reading device 17 of the present embodiment, an example in which the cable rail 21 is formed as a support plate contact portion on the curved outer peripheral surface 20 of the belt-shaped cable 19 is illustrated, but the present invention is limited to the above structure. Instead, it is possible to omit the formation of the support plate contact portion by using the shape of the existing cable. In other words, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, a flexible printed circuit (FPC) is used as a cable.
An image reading device 25 that uses the protrusion of the conductive pattern 24 formed on the base film 23 as a contact portion of the support plate using the base film 23.
Alternatively, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, an image reading device 28 or the like that uses parallel feeder wires 26 as cables and is used for the protruding support plate contact portions of the cord portions 27 on both sides can be implemented.

Effect of the Invention As described above, the present invention fixedly attaches a translucent document support plate to the upper surface of the main body housing on the box,
An electric component such as a line light source or a line sensor is mounted on a traveling body which is positioned above the internal space of the main body housing and parallel to the document support plate and is movable in the sub-scanning direction. One end is connected to the electric component of the traveling body. In the image reading apparatus in which the other end of the bendable cable is connected to the power supply unit via the bottom of the internal space of the main body housing, the cable protrudes in a convex shape at a position where the cable on the bottom of the internal space of the main body housing contacts. A cable that bends in accordance with the movement of the traveling body by forming a support member and forming a support plate contact portion that protrudes in a position where the cable support member on the curved outer peripheral surface of the cable facing the cable support member does not contact. However, the document support plate comes into contact with the support plate contact portion and contacts the bottom surface of the main body housing and the cable support member on the curved outer peripheral surface. Dust deposited on the bottom surface of the housing and on the support rails is not transported to the back surface of the document support plate by the cable, so that the document support plate is prevented from being stained, and an image reading device with always good reading performance can be obtained. And the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a longitudinal sectional side view showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 (b) is a longitudinal sectional front view, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing a first modified example, FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part, FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing a second modified example, FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part,
FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing a conventional example, FIG. 7 (a) is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part, and FIG. 7 (b) is a longitudinal sectional front view. 2 ... body housing, 3 ... original support plate, 4 ... electric parts, 6 ... traveling body, 12 ... internal space, 13 ... bottom surface, 14
... power supply unit, 17, 25, 28 ... image reading device, 18 ... cable support member, 19, 22, 26 ... cable, 20 ... curved outer peripheral surface, 21, 24, 27 ... support plate contact unit

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An original supporting plate having a light-transmitting property is fixedly mounted on an upper surface of a box-shaped main body housing. The original supporting plate is positioned above an internal space of the main body housing in parallel with the original supporting plate and in a sub-scanning direction. An electric component such as a line light source or a line sensor is attached to the movable traveling body, and the other end of the bendable cable having one end connected to the electric component of the traveling body is supplied with power through a bottom of the internal space of the main body housing. In the image reading device connected to the portion, a cable supporting member protruding in a convex shape is formed at a position where the cable contacts the bottom surface of the internal space of the main body housing, and a curved outer periphery of the cable facing the cable supporting member is formed. An image reading apparatus, wherein a support plate contact portion protruding in a convex shape is formed at a position where the cable support member does not contact the surface.