JP3323654B2 - Paper ejection device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a paper discharging device for discharging a paper provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser beam printer, an LED printer, etc. to a predetermined place. Among them, in particular, it is provided with a tray for loading sheets movable in the direction of approaching / separating from the discharge port, and a spring for urging the tray to move the tray in the direction of the discharge port, according to the amount of loaded paper. The present invention relates to a sheet discharging device in which a tray gradually descends against the urging force of a spring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a laser beam printer for recording an image by an electrophotographic process, a desired toner image is formed by an electrophotographic process, and then a fixed processed paper is placed in a predetermined place. A paper discharge device H for discharging paper is provided. Usually, as shown in FIG. 4, a paper discharge roller 101 for conveying and discharging the paper is pressed against the paper discharge roller 101 with an appropriate pressure, and the paper discharge roller 101 is brought into contact with the paper discharge roller 101. On the other hand, it comprises a discharge roller 102 driven to rotate, a driving device (not shown) for driving and rotating the discharge roller 101 in the direction of arrow R1, a discharge tray 103 for receiving and stacking discharged sheets, and the like. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 104 denotes a fixing device, and reference numeral 105 denotes an image forming unit. The sheet p is conveyed to a sheet discharging device after a desired image is formed and fixed by these.

[0003] Various devices have been devised in order to arrange the sheets discharged in the above-mentioned sheet discharging device in a more orderly manner. For example, instead of a flat shape with the paper discharge tray, the central part is recessed downward in the direction perpendicular to the paper discharge direction, so that the paper is united near the center, or a stopper member is provided at the leading end of the paper to align the paper feed direction. And to improve sex.

In Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho 56-10751,
By elastically supporting the output tray so that the output tray descends gradually according to the weight of the paper loaded,
The paper stacking upper surface is brought close to the paper discharge opening to prevent the paper from curling or to prevent the paper from falling off while the paper falls, so that the paper is arranged neatly. When the paper is loaded, the paper discharge tray is lowered by the weight of the paper, so that the paper loading capacity can be increased at the same time.

[0005]

In the above-mentioned prior art, it is possible to improve the alignment of sheets without increasing the sheet stacking capacity. It is effective in that.

Recently, in image forming apparatuses such as laser beam printers, there has been a great demand for printing not only on ordinary cut sheets but also on envelopes. In addition to passing the envelope through the mouth, a paper feeder dedicated to the envelope is attached to the image forming apparatus main body to pass the paper.

[0007] In the above conventional example, although there is no problem with ordinary cut paper, if the weight is not changed much compared to cut paper such as an envelope, but is thicker in the conventional apparatus,
Because of the thickness of the envelope, the stacking height of the envelope is increased to a maximum before the discharge tray is sufficiently lowered, and as a result, the envelope stacking capacity of the envelope feeder side relative to the envelope stacking capacity of the envelope paper feeder is increased. There is a problem that the capacity is extremely short.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei.
No. 17064, a first bottom plate capable of swinging according to the load capacity, and at least one second bottom plate provided inside thereof to provide an elastic force at the second bottom plate with the first bottom plate. There was a configuration that made the elastic force smaller than the elastic force. This means that the tray area on which the envelopes are loaded is a separate movable tray and the urging force of the trays is reduced, and when the envelopes are loaded, the tray descends earlier to gain the loading capacity of the envelopes. Things.

Although the above configuration can certainly increase the discharge paper stacking capacity of the envelope, it has the following problems.

[0010] The width of the cut paper and the envelope to be used is, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-17064, that the cut paper is
There is no problem if the envelope is completely bisected to 0 to 216 mm and the envelope is 90 to 120 mm. For example, the cut paper may be B5 size paper (width 182 mm) or executive (EXECUTI).
VE) paper (184.2 mm width) is used, and envelopes are C5 size envelopes (width 162 mm) and B5 size envelopes (width 176 mm).
mm), there is almost no difference in the width dimension between the cut sheet and the envelope. Therefore, if the width of the second bottom plate is set to about 180 mm in accordance with the width dimension of the envelope, even small-sized cut paper will be loaded on the second bottom plate, and the second bottom plate will be quickly moved because the elastic force of the second bottom plate is small. There is a problem that the alignment may deteriorate due to the descent.

An object of the present invention is to provide a paper discharge device which can secure a sufficient discharge paper stacking capacity even with a thick paper such as an envelope by a simple operation, and at the same time can keep good alignment of the stacked paper. And

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a tray for stacking a plurality of sheets of paper, the tray being capable of moving in a direction of approaching / separating from a discharge port for discharging sheets. A spring for urging the tray in the direction of the discharge port, wherein the tray gradually descends against the urging force of the spring in accordance with the stacked amount of sheets, and the tray is discharged from the discharge port. A sheet leading edge aligning member for aligning the sheet by abutting the leading end of the sheet to be provided is provided so as to be position-adjustable according to the length of the sheet, and the tray is lowered from a normal position to be raised by the spring. And a tray lowering regulating member for regulating, wherein the operation of regulating the upward movement of the tray lowering regulating member is interlocked with the operation of adjusting the position of the sheet leading edge alignment member to the envelope alignment position. In .

[0013]

1 to 3 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
2 is a cross-sectional view of the paper discharge device, FIG. 2 is a top view near the paper discharge stopper, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the paper discharge device when the paper discharge tray is lowered.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a discharge roller for conveying and discharging a sheet, and 2 denotes a discharge roller which presses against the discharge roller 1 with an appropriate pressure and rotates following the discharge roller 1. 1
Is driven and rotated in the direction of arrow R1 by a driving device such as a motor.

Reference numeral 23 denotes a paper discharge tray for receiving and stacking the discharged paper, and swings in the direction of arrow Y3 around a support portion 23-1 provided near the end opposite to the paper discharge roller. The support section 23-1 is rotatably supported by the image forming apparatus main body. An urging spring 4 is provided below the paper discharge tray 23, and the lower end of the urging spring 4 is supported by the image forming apparatus main body, and urges the paper discharge tray 3 toward the paper discharge roller. A rear end wall 5 is provided below the paper discharge roller 1 and the paper discharge roller 2 so that the rear end of the discharged paper abuts and is aligned.

In the vicinity of the biasing spring 4, a wire 24 is locked at one end to a paper discharge tray 23. The wire 24 is wound around a pulley 25 rotatably supported by the image forming apparatus main body below the paper discharge tray. When the pulley 25 rotates clockwise, the paper discharge tray 23 swings downward. It has become.

A paper discharge stopper 26 is provided on the right side of the paper discharge tray of the main body of the image forming apparatus to align the paper with the leading end of the discharged paper. The paper discharge stopper 26 is slidable in the direction of the arrow S, and its position can be adjusted according to the length of the paper to be discharged.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the vicinity of the paper discharge stopper 26.
Indexes for size adjustment, such as envelopes, A4, B4, etc., from those closest to the paper discharge roller are attached, making it easy to adjust the position. A rack 26-1 is integrally formed below the paper discharge stopper 26, and a pinion 2 is provided on the left side of the rack 26-1.
7 is rotatably supported. A belt pulley is formed integrally with each of the pinion 27 and the pulley 25, and a belt 28 is hung between them. In such a configuration, when a normal cut sheet is passed, the discharge stopper is set to the position of the cut sheet such as A4 or B4 in FIG. In this position, the rack 26-1 of the paper discharge stopper is separated from the pinion 27, so that the paper discharge tray is swingable and gradually descends according to the weight of the cut sheets loaded. When the paper discharge tray is lowered, the wire 24 bends and escapes as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1, so that the swing operation of the paper discharge tray is not adversely affected.

On the other hand, when passing an envelope,
The paper ejection stopper is adjusted to the position shown as the envelope in FIG. When the paper ejection stopper is moved to this position, the rack 26-1 and the pinion 27 engage with each other on the way, and the pinion 27 rotates clockwise. As a result, the pulley 25 also rotates clockwise via the belt 28, winds up the wire 24, and the sheet discharge tray 23 descends to the lowermost position to reach the position shown in FIG. In this position, the paper discharge stopper 26 is fixed by a lock mechanism such as a hook means (elastic hole and elastic projection),
The paper discharge tray can be held against the spring force of the urging spring 4. When the lock mechanism is released (or in opposition to it) and the paper discharge stopper is moved to the right again, the pinion 27 also rotates, and the engagement with the rack 26-1 is released, and the rack 26-1 is released. As a result, the paper discharge tray 23 is also free and rises to the uppermost position by the spring force of the urging spring 4.

Therefore, in this embodiment, by setting the position of the paper discharge stopper for aligning the paper by abutting the leading end of the discharged paper to the position for aligning the envelope, the paper discharge tray is automatically moved to the lowermost position. By being able to hold,
At the same time, the number of envelopes loaded can be increased, and the alignment of the envelopes in the discharge direction can be improved.

In this embodiment, the above-mentioned effects are obtained by the rack, the pinion, the belt, the pulley, the wire and the like, but the configuration is not limited to this. For example, if you set the paper exit stopper to the position of the envelope,
The motor is rotated by this switch-on, and the pulley around which the wire is wound may be rotated to wind the wire, and it goes without saying that another configuration may be adopted.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the discharge stacking capacity can be sufficiently secured even with a thick sheet such as an envelope by a simple operation, and the sheet feeding capacity of the sheet feeding device dedicated to the envelope can be accommodated. Further, the alignment of the discharged sheets can be easily and well maintained.

[0023]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a paper discharge device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the vicinity of a paper ejection stopper according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the discharge device when the discharge tray according to the embodiment of the present invention is lowered.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional paper discharge device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 paper discharge roller 2 paper discharge roller 4 biasing spring 5 rear end wall 23 paper discharge tray 24 wire 25 pulley 26 paper discharge stopper 27 pinion 28 belt

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A tray, on which a plurality of sheets of paper are stacked, which is movable in a direction approaching / separating from a discharge port for discharging sheets, and a spring for urging the tray toward the discharge port, are provided. In a sheet discharging device in which the tray gradually descends against the urging force of the spring in accordance with the amount of loaded sheets, the leading edge of the sheet discharged from the discharge port abuts and aligns the sheet. A tray lower regulating member that regulates a rise by the spring at a position where the tray is lowered from a normal position, wherein the tray lower regulating member is provided. The paper ejecting apparatus is characterized in that the rising restricting operation is interlocked with a position adjusting operation of the sheet leading edge aligning member to the envelope aligning position. 2. The tray lower regulating member is a wire having one end locked to the tray and wound around a pulley, and the pulley is interlocked with a position adjusting operation of the sheet leading end aligning member to the envelope aligning position. 2. The sheet discharging device according to claim 1, wherein the wire is wound up to restrict the tray from lowering from a normal position to prevent the tray from rising. 3. A rack is provided on the paper leading edge alignment member, and the rack rotates a pinion by a position adjustment operation of the paper leading edge alignment member to an envelope alignment position, and the rotation of the pinion is transmitted to the pulley by a belt. The sheet discharging device according to claim 2, wherein the pulley is configured to wind the wire by transmitting the pulley.