JP3017389B2 - Method of manufacturing frame, frame and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine has a front loading type apparatus for pulling out a paper cassette 2 to a front side of an apparatus body 1 as shown in FIG. It has been devised.

Further, from the viewpoint of user-friendliness,
There is a demand for ease of paper jam (jam) processing.

For this reason, not only the sheet cassette 2 but also an image forming apparatus of a type in which the sheet conveying member is pulled out from the apparatus main body 1 as one sheet conveying unit has been devised.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an image forming apparatus from which the sheet transport unit can be pulled out from the apparatus main body 1. The configuration of FIG. 3 will be described while describing the image forming operation. The original 4 placed on the platen glass 3 is illuminated by an illumination lamp 5 that moves in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. The light is further reflected by a moving mirror 7 moving at half the speed of the moving mirror 6 in the same direction, passes through a lens 8, is reflected by a group of fixed mirrors 9, and forms an image on a photosensitive drum 11 which rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure. I do. The photosensitive drum 11 is uniformly charged in advance by the primary charger 12, and the light image becomes a latent image. Alternatively, image information radiated by a laser by modulating a video signal is scanned from a laser device 13 equipped with a polygon mirror and a lens system via a reflection mirror 14 to thereby expose the photosensitive drum 11.
A latent image is formed thereon. The latent image on the photosensitive drum 11 is provided with a toner by a developing device 15 to become a toner image, and the transfer charger 1
Proceed to 6.

On the other hand, the transfer material S in the paper cassette 2 is sent out by one of the paper feed rollers 18 and 19, sent out to the conveyance path 22 by any one pair of conveyance rollers 21, and is sent by the pair of transfer rollers 23. Next registration roller front guide 2
4, the leading end of the transfer material S hits the stopped registration roller 25, where the registration roller 25 rotates in synchronization with the latent image on the photosensitive drum 11, and the transfer material S The toner passes between the transfer charger 16 and the photosensitive drum 11 through a transfer guide 26 between the roller 25 and the transfer charger 16, and is supplied with a charge having a polarity opposite to that of the toner image on the photosensitive drum 11 by the transfer charger 16. The image is transferred onto the transfer material S. After the transfer, the transfer material S is separated from the photosensitive drum 11 by the separation charger 27, and the fixing roller 29a and the pressure roller 29b, which are pressed and rotated by the transfer conveyance unit 28, are used.
, And the toner image is fixed to the transfer material S by the fixing device 29 and sent out.

A fixing device outlet roller 31 pair is provided at the outlet side of the fixing device 29, and the transfer material S after fixing is fed by the pair of rollers 31 and guided to the discharge roller 33 by the flapper 32 located at the solid line position in the drawing. It is discharged to the tray 34. Flapper 32
Is located at the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG.
The transfer material S, which is divided into a pair of rollers 37 extending to the multiplex copying conveyance path 36 or a pair of rollers 38 extending to the storage cassette 37, and having advanced to the multiplex copying conveyance path 36, is formed on the photosensitive drum 11 in the same manner as described above. The transferred toner images are transferred in a superimposed manner and discharged onto the tray 34.

In the above description, the registration roller front guide 24, the registration roller 25, the transfer guide 26, the transfer charger 16, the separation charger 27, the transfer paper transport unit 28, the fixing unit 29, and the paper discharge unit indicated by a two-dot chain line in the drawing. , Multiple copy transport path 36
And the like are configured as one sheet transport unit 17, and if this unit is pulled out, jam (paper jam) processing can be performed collectively outside the apparatus main body 1 of the image forming apparatus.

However, the front side plate 1a (FIG. 4) on the front side of the apparatus main body 1 of such an image forming apparatus has a front side because the sheet cassette 2 and the sheet transport unit 17 come out to the front side of the apparatus main body 1. When the front side plate 1a on the front side of the apparatus main body 1 is formed of a plate-like member, as shown in FIG.
A large opening 1b is formed at the center of the area a. As a result, in order to maintain the frame strength of the apparatus main body 1, the dimension L1 in FIG.

On the other hand, image forming apparatuses such as copiers are increasingly required to be downsized from the viewpoint of an installation environment in an office. However, in order to maintain the strength of the frame of the apparatus main body 1, the L1 section is required. It is in conflict with the need for size.

Therefore, the front side plate 1a on the front side of the apparatus main body 1 of the image forming apparatus such as a copying machine is extruded from the plate-like one shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the square tubular member 41 is formed by combining an upper frame 41a, a lower frame 41b, and a vertical frame 41c in a rectangular shape by welding or the like to form a closed opening frame 42, and the opening frame 42 is formed into a front plate 1a.
Alternatively, an apparatus that is used as a strength support member for the front side plate 1a of the apparatus main body 1 has been devised.

[0012]

However, as shown in FIG. 6, the extruded square tube members as shown in FIG. 5 are combined by welding or the like and used as a strength support member for the front side plate of the apparatus body. In the device, since a member having a large section modulus called an extruded square tube material is used, it is possible to maintain the strength of the device main body in a small space. When a member (for example, a rail member for pulling out the sheet transport unit) is attached, a hole is required to be formed in the extruded square tubular member using a drilling machine or the like, which greatly deteriorates mass productivity. Similarly, when any notch is required, milling or the like is required, which reduces the degree of freedom in design and significantly increases the cost. And the chips from these cutting processes remain in the hollow frame,
In some cases, it is difficult to remove the chips and the chips cannot be removed.
In addition, since it is a hollow material, it is difficult to perform press punching. Furthermore, the screw member and the reinforcing member cannot be fixed in the hollow rectangular tube.

The present invention provides a method of manufacturing a frame by using a frame member which allows a large opening to be provided in the apparatus body of the image forming apparatus and has improved workability, a frame, and an image forming apparatus provided with the frame. The purpose is to:

[0014]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a part required as a frame on a metal strip is subjected to a required processing to obtain a shape required for the completed frame. After that, the strip is bent along its longitudinal direction to form an angle-shaped steel channel or a grooved steel-shaped strip, and two angle-shaped steel-shaped strips or two grooved-steel-shaped strips are cut in the longitudinal direction. A method of manufacturing a frame member, wherein the flange end portions are overlapped with each other and welded to form a single hollow frame member, and the frame member is combined with the frame member to form a frame member. It is.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the processing according to the first aspect includes drilling, milling, pressing, welding,
A method of manufacturing a frame, wherein an assembling process or the like is selectively performed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a strip into an angle type steel shape or a groove type steel shape in place of the above-described processing at the time of the strip or in addition to the processing at the time of the strip. The method for manufacturing a frame according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein a required process for obtaining a required shape, such as press working, welding, or assembly, is performed on the completed frame.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a metal strip has a shape required for a completed frame, such as punching, milling, pressing, welding, assembling, and the like, in a portion required at the time of completion as a frame. After performing the necessary processing for obtaining the strip, the strip is bent along its longitudinal direction to obtain an angle-shaped steel section or a groove-shaped steel strip, and two angle-shaped steel strips or two grooves. It is characterized in that a frame-shaped body is formed by combining a frame material including a hollow steel material with a single steel hollow member by overlapping and welding the end portions of respective flanges in the longitudinal direction. Frame.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of forming a strip into an angle steel shape or a grooved steel shape in place of or in addition to the above-described processing at the time of a strip, and thereafter, performing punching, milling, and the like on the strip. The frame according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, characterized in that required processing for obtaining a required shape is added to a completed frame such as press working, welding, and assembly processing.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus in which the image forming means of the apparatus main body is supported by a frame, wherein the frame has the frame according to the fourth or fifth aspect. The image forming apparatus is a feature.

[0020]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Example 1 FIG. 1 shows a frame obtained by the method of manufacturing a frame according to the present invention, which is used as a front plate of the image forming apparatus shown in FIGS.

2 and 3, an upper frame 103, a lower frame 104, and a vertical frame 102 are combined in a rectangular shape to incorporate a rigid frame front plate 101. As shown in FIG. A rail 51 for symmetrically guiding the sheet transport unit 17 is attached to the vertical frame 102. The two rails 51 are arranged horizontally and parallel in the front-rear direction inside the image forming apparatus with the groove sides facing each other. The rail 51 is a lip grooved steel shape with a lip only on the upper side in the figure, and the web side is fitted into the notch 52 of the vertical frame 102, and the flange 53 welded to the rail 51 is inserted into the rail 51 so that a screw member 54 such as a bolt is inserted. Is screwed into the vertical frame 102.

As shown in FIG. 7, the cross sections of the upper frame 103, the lower frame 104, and the vertical frame 102 are a combination of the same strips 100a and 100b of a deformed angle type steel shape. The flange ends are welded together so that the cross section becomes a hollow square tube.

FIGS. 10 to 17 illustrate a method of manufacturing the vertical frame 102 in the order of steps. Since the left and right vertical frames 102 are symmetrical, only the left vertical frame 102 in FIG. 1 will be described. For the blanks 100a-1 and 100b-1 in a shape in which the angle-type steel profile members 100a and 100b are developed, a strip steel material is used (see FIGS. 10 and 11).

As shown in FIG. 12 and FIG.
A notch 52a which becomes a part of the notch 52 at the time of assembling at 0a-1 and a hole 54a through which the screw member 54 is inserted, and a notch 52b which becomes a part of the notch 52 at the time of the assembling at the blank 100b-1 are punched ( Milling when the plate thickness is large (hatched portion).

As shown in FIG. 14, a rectangular thick female screw member 55 provided with a female screw 54b corresponding to the hole 54a of the punched intermediate member 100a-2 of FIG. 12 is welded to the intermediate member 100a-2. Then, the intermediate member 100a-3 is fixed with rivets or the like.

As shown in FIG. 15, the intermediate member 100a-3
With the female screw member 55 inside, the intermediate member is bent into an L-shaped cross section by a press in the longitudinal direction to form a strip member 100a as an intermediate member.

As shown in FIG. 16, the intermediate member 100b-2
Is bent in the longitudinal direction into an L-shaped cross section by a press to form a strip member 100b as an intermediate member.

As shown in FIG. 17, the strips 100a, 100
A welding W is performed by aligning the respective flange ends of b with each other to form a vertical frame 102 of a hollow rectangular tube. As a result, FIGS.
The notches 52a and 52b provided in the blanks 100a-1 and 100b-1 are combined to form a notch 52, and a female screw 54b shown in FIG.
There are five.

For the sake of simplicity, the above description has been limited to the processing of the shape for attaching the guide rail 51 to the vertical frame 102, but the processing required for the image forming apparatus is mainly performed by the strip blanks 100a-1 and 100b-1. It is added in the state of. However, instead of welding, such as drilling or notching in a blank state, similar processing may be performed after processing into an L-shaped cross section, or processing may be performed separately for both. As described above, machining or welding is performed at the time of the strip-shaped blank or the strip having the L-shaped cross section, so that the machining is simple. In the state where the hollow square tube is formed as shown in FIG. 17, the female screw member 55 can be provided so as to be inside the hollow square tube, and the blank 10 can be directly provided.
When the length of the internal thread is insufficient when the internal thread is provided at 0a-1, the thickness of the internal thread member 55 can be increased to make the internal thread length the required length. Note that, instead of the female screw member 55, a nut may be welded to the hole 54a.

Similarly, an upper frame 103 and a lower frame 104 are manufactured.
The front frame 101 of the apparatus main body 1 is completed by assembling the upper frame 103, the lower frame 104, and the vertical frame 102 in a quadrilateral manner by welding. The front side plate 101 is a part of the frame of the apparatus main body 1, and the front side plate 101, the rear side plate, the side plate, the seat plate, the top plate, and the like of the apparatus main body 1 form a hollow six-cube frame.

In the drawing, the upper frame 103 and the lower frame 104 of the front side plate 101 are also formed of hollow square tubes similar to the vertical frame 102. However, this portion is not a hollow square tube but has a sufficient strength even in other shapes. The same effect can be obtained as the front side plate 101 even if the cross-sectional shape of the upper frame 103 and the lower frame 104 is changed to a shape other than the rectangular cylinder.

Second Embodiment FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. Unlike FIG. 1, in FIG. 9, the strip is bent from the strip plate into grooved steel-shaped strips 101 a and 101 b, and the respective flanges are overlapped with the grooves facing each other and fixed by welding to form a frame member. After performing necessary processing required when assembled as a frame at the time of the strip, the channel-shaped steel strips 101a, 101
b and then the vertical frame 102. Upper frame 103, Lower frame 1
The same applies to the upper frame 103 and the lower frame 10.
4, the vertical frame 102 is assembled in four sides and fixed by welding,
Get 1.

Since the second embodiment is manufactured from a blank of a plate-like member in the same manner as the first embodiment, it has the same advantages, and it is also possible to fix the overlapping portions of the plate members by spot welding. It is possible. In other words, compared to the case of the first embodiment, the first embodiment is fixed by fillet welding or the like, whereas the mass productivity is further improved by using a means of high mass productivity called spot welding. It is to be noted that the upper frame and the lower frame do not necessarily have to be rectangular cylinders as in the case of the first embodiment.

[0035]

According to the first invention of the present invention, notches, perforations, and other members are fixed to each of the two strips by, for example, processing shown in the second invention of the present invention to form a hollow frame. After being subjected to assembling, etc., it is bent into an angle steel shape or a grooved steel shape, and a strip is formed. The two strips are joined by welding to form a hollow frame. Since processing is performed in a flat state with both sides open compared to adding processing, processing is easy, and it is also easy to assemble and fix other members in advance inside the hollow frame member after completion. It can be carried out.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, after forming the strip on the angle-shaped steel shape or the groove-shaped steel shape, the work is not performed in the strip state, or in addition to the processing in the strip state. For example, when attaching other members to the inside of a hollow strip, the bending die for bending the strip into an angle-type steel shape or a groove-type steel shape is simplified. . Further, when the notch is large and rigidity is required for the blank, the notch can be processed following the bending.

Since the fourth invention of the present invention is a frame provided with a hollow frame member obtained by the manufacturing method of the first invention, a frame having a complicated notch, a large number of holes and the like can be easily formed. Can be obtained.

The fifth invention of the present invention is a frame body having a hollow frame member obtained by the manufacturing method of the first invention according to the fourth invention, and therefore has a complicated notch, a large number of holes and the like. Frame can be easily obtained. Further, there is an effect that a frame body having a hollow frame member in which a female screw member, a nut, a seat plate, and other members are fixed as necessary to the frame member inside the hollow frame member can be obtained.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the image forming means is the fourth type.
Or it is supported by the frame shown in the fifth invention,
In addition to the rigidity of the frame, there are few restrictions on processing for attaching other members inside and outside the frame, so the degree of freedom of design increases, and the workability of mass production improves, enabling a significant cost reduction. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a front side plate of an apparatus main body according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a front side plate of an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus of a conventional example.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a frame member used for a front side plate of an apparatus main body of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a front side plate of an apparatus main body of an image forming apparatus of a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a frame member used for a front side plate of the apparatus main body according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a front side plate of an apparatus main body according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a frame member used for a front side plate of the apparatus main body according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a vertical frame blank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a vertical frame blank according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a first step of the blank of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a first step of the blank of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a second step of the blank of FIG. 10;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a bending process in the next step of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a bending process in a second step subsequent to FIG. 13;

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing a final step of assembling and welding the vertical frame.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus main body 100a, 101a strip material 100b, 101b strip material 101 Front side plate 102 Hard frame 103 Upper frame 104 Lower frame

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-55-61327 (JP, A) JP-A-58-65444 (JP, A) JP-A-63-188160 (JP, A) , U) Japanese Utility Model Hei 1-163122 (JP, U) Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 46-2620 (JP, Y1) Tokuhyo Hei 5-502995 (JP, A) (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB) Name) G12B 9/10 H05K 7/18 G03G 15/00 550

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. After performing necessary processing to obtain a shape required for a completed frame on a portion required at the time of completion as a frame on a metal strip, the strip is moved along its longitudinal direction. To form an angle-shaped steel section or a grooved steel section, and weld two angle-shaped steel sections or two groove-shaped steel sections by overlapping the respective flange end portions in the longitudinal direction. A frame member made of one hollow strip, and a frame material is formed by combining frame materials including the frame member. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing includes drilling, milling,
The method for manufacturing a frame according to claim 1, wherein press working, welding, assembling, and the like are selectively performed. 3. A punching, milling, pressing, welding, and assembling process after forming a strip into an angle-type steel shape or a groove-type steel shape in place of or in addition to the above-described processing during a strip. 2. The method for manufacturing a frame according to claim 1, wherein a necessary process for obtaining a required shape is completed on the completed frame such as a process. 4. A process for obtaining a shape required for a completed frame, such as punching, milling, pressing, welding, and assembling a portion required at the time of completion as a frame on a metal strip. After that, the strip is bent along its longitudinal direction to obtain an angle-shaped steel shape or a grooved steel-shaped strip, and two angle-shaped steel-shaped strips or two grooved-steel-shaped strips are formed. A frame body characterized in that each flange end side is overlapped and welded in the longitudinal direction to form a single hollow strip frame member, and a frame material is formed by combining frame materials including this frame member. 5. After forming a strip into an angle type steel shape or a groove type steel shape in place of or in addition to the above-described processing at the time of the strip, the hole is drilled, milled, pressed, welded, and assembled. The frame according to claim 4, wherein required processing for obtaining a required shape is completed on the completed frame such as processing. 6. An image forming apparatus in which an image forming means of an apparatus main body is supported by a frame, wherein the frame has the frame according to claim 4 or 5.