JP3338984B2 - Paper guide plate support structure - 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 feeding unit used in a printer or the like, and more particularly, to a manual paper guide plate in a paper feeding unit provided with a paper cassette for automatically sending paper to a printing unit. Related to the support structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a paper feeding unit of a printer includes:
A paper cassette that automatically transports paper one sheet at a time to the printing unit;
And a manual paper guide plate for manually guiding the paper to the printing unit. Each of the paper cassette and the paper guide plate is provided with a reference wall which is a reference surface against which the side edge of the paper comes in contact in order to feed the paper with the side edge aligned with the printing unit. And the reference wall of the paper guide plate are positioned at the same distance from one frame. In addition, the manual paper guide plate is provided to extend between the left and right frames facing each other, and is attached to the frame via a support member detachable from the frame so that the manual guide plate can be easily removed at the time of maintenance and inspection. Installed. The support member is provided with an elastic engagement claw. The elastic engagement claw is engaged with an engagement hole formed in the frame while elastically deforming the elastic engagement claw. By sandwiching the frame in the thickness direction, the support member is detachably attached to the frame.

[0003]

However, a mechanism is provided at the side of the paper cassette for feeding out the paper one by one, and the position of the reference surface of the paper cassette is further away from the frame by that much. Will be. In order to match the reference surface of the paper cassette, a bracket functioning as a spacing member is interposed between the side of the reference surface side of the manual paper guide plate and the frame, and a support member is detachably attached to the bracket. The paper guide plate is attached to the frame via a bracket. This bracket is
In order to reduce the weight of the sheet feeding unit, the sheet feeding unit is formed with a thickness smaller than the thickness of the frame. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare two types of support members in accordance with the thickness of the frame and the thickness of the bracket. As a result, the increase in the number of types of support members not only complicates the management of parts but also increases the number of support members. Since two dies are required for molding the, the manufacturing cost is increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to provide a paper guide plate support structure which facilitates parts management and reduces manufacturing costs. It is in.

[0005]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention is directed to a bracket attached to one of a pair of left and right frames facing each other, the bracket having a smaller plate thickness than the frame; A support structure for a paper guide plate comprising: a pair of support members attached to the other frame by elastic engagement pieces; and paper guide plates supported by left and right frames via these support members. An elastic engagement piece is integrally provided on the support member, and a projection is provided on the support member in the vicinity of the elastic engagement piece, and the elastic engagement piece and the projection are fitted into the other frame. A mating hole is formed, and an engaging hole in which only an elastic engaging piece is fitted is formed in the bracket, and the other of the supporting member is engaged with the elastic engaging piece in an engaging hole of the frame and the bracket. flame An engagement claw having a distance from a contact surface that abuts on an edge of the engagement hole forms substantially the same thickness as the plate thickness of the frame, and the engagement claw contacts the edge of the engagement hole of the bracket of the protrusion. The distance from the contact surface is the same as the thickness of the bracket. Therefore, when attaching the support member to a bracket having a thickness smaller than the thickness of the frame, the front and back edges of the engagement hole of the bracket are sandwiched between the projection and the elastic engagement claw. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of protrusions having different distances between the engaging claw and a contact surface of the protrusion that abuts an edge of an engaging hole of the bracket. Along with the bracket,
One of the plurality of protrusions is in contact with the edge, and the other protrusions are formed with engagement holes to be fitted.
Therefore, by changing the size of the engagement hole of the bracket and selecting the projection to be brought into contact with the surface of the bracket according to the thickness of the bracket, one support member can be attached to various brackets having different plate thicknesses.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a printer device employing a paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a paper feed unit provided in the printer device, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the paper feed unit, and FIG. 4 is a rear view of the paper feed unit. 5A and 5B show the supporting member, FIG. 5A is a side view, FIG. 5B is a front view, FIG. 5C is a bottom view, FIG. 5D is a rear view, and FIG. FIG. 7 (a) is a view taken along the line VII (a) in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 (b) is a view taken along the line VII-VII in FIG.
FIG. 8B is a view taken in the direction of the arrow, FIG. 8 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow VIII in FIG.
FIG. 9 is a view on arrow IX in FIG.

In FIG. 1, a printer device, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, has a paper cassette 2 which can be inserted into and removed from the device, a manual paper guide plate 3 for manually feeding paper, and a paper feeder which is fed into the device. And a stacker 4 for discharging printed paper. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 5 denotes a paper feed unit provided in the above-described printer device 1, which is provided with a pair of left and right frames 7a and 7b (see FIGS. 3 and 4) that face each other at an interval. Between the left and right frames 7a and 7b, a manual paper guide plate 3 is provided at the top, and a cassette unit 8 is provided below the paper guide plate 3. The cassette unit 8 is configured so that the above-described paper cassette 2 is housed therein so as to be freely inserted and removed.

At the front side of the paper guide plate 3 for manual feed, a manual feed path 6 comprising a paper guide for guiding the paper and a group of rollers (both not shown) for holding the paper and transporting the paper is provided. The paper transported along the transport path 6 is configured to be sent to a printing unit (not shown) positioned in the direction of arrow A and printed. The cassette unit 8 is provided with a pickup roller 9 for sending out the sheets in the sheet cassette 2 one by one to the sheet transport path 10. The paper sent to the paper transport path 10 is transported in the paper transport path 10 by a paper guide that guides the paper and a group of rollers (both not shown) that sandwich the paper and transport the paper. Is sent to a printing unit (not shown) located in the printer and printed.

3 and 4, the paper guide plate 3 is formed by a flat plate into a substantially rectangular shape in a plan view, and both right and left ends 12a and 12b are bent at right angles.
a, 12b are bent at right angles to form the engaging portion 13
a, 13b are formed. The engagement portions 13a, 13
b, 3 of the groove 26 of the support members 17A, 17B described later.
Three engaging holes (not shown) are formed to engage with the protrusions 27. Among the bent portions 12a and 12b, the bent portion 12b functions as a reference surface of the paper fed manually by the paper guide plate 3, and as shown in FIG. Side end 15a is bent 12b
And the paper 15 is fed in the direction of arrow A in the figure.

The bent portion 12b, which is a reference surface for manual feeding,
Are positioned at the same position as the reference surface 14 of the paper cassette 2a. 17A and 17B are support members,
As will be described later, both ends of the paper guide plate 3 are attached, and the paper guide plate 3 is attached to the left and right frames 7a, 7b via these support members 17A, 17B. Here, the width l of the support members 17A and 17B is
It is formed with a minimum width so that the distance L between a and 7b does not become large and the whole device does not become large. On the other hand, the distance L1 between the reference surface 14 of the paper cassette 2 and the frame 7b
Is formed larger than the width 1 of the support members 17A and 17B because a mechanism for sending out the sheets one by one from the sheet cassette 2 is provided as described above. Therefore, (L1) is provided inside the frame 7b on the reference surface side.
A bracket 16 having a width of -l) = β is attached, and the support member 17B is attached to the frame 7b via the bracket 16. As shown in FIG. 7, the bracket 16 has a plate thickness t of the frame 7 to reduce the weight of the entire apparatus.
It is formed of a sheet metal thinner by α than the sheet thickness T of a and 7b. Reference numeral 18 denotes a plurality of transport rollers, which are fixed to a shaft 19 rotatably supported by the left and right frames 7a and 7b.

Next, the detailed shapes of the support members 17A and 17B will be described with reference to FIGS. Support member 1
7A and 17B are attached to the frame 7a and the bracket 16 because the members to be attached are different and have the same shape. Therefore, only the support member 17A will be described here, and the description of the support member 17B will be omitted. . The support member 17A has a front part 21, an upper part 22, a bottom part 23, and a back part 25 opened by both sides 24, 24, and is formed in a substantially elongated box shape by synthetic resin. On the front part 21,
An elongated groove 26 extending to both side portions 24 and 24 and opening at both ends is formed, and three protrusions 27 are formed in the groove 26.
Is protruding.

At both ends of the upper part 22 and the bottom part 23, as shown in detail in FIG. 6, elastic engaging pieces 28 are erected on the end face 23a side so as to be sandwiched by a pair of slits 29, 29. An engagement claw 28a is formed at the tip end of the engagement piece 28, and the interval between the engagement claw 28a and the end surface 23a is formed to the above-described plate thickness T of the frames 7a and 7b. Protrusions 30 protrude from the end surface 22a of the upper portion 22 and the end surface 23a of the bottom portion 23 adjacent to the elastic engagement piece 28.
The height of 0 is formed to be α obtained by subtracting the thickness t of the bracket 16 from the thickness T of the frames 7a and 7b.
In other words, the distance from the end face of the projection 30 to the engagement claw 28a is formed to be the same as the thickness t of the bracket 16.

As shown in FIG. 8, an elongated hole 32 is formed in the frame 7a to which the support member 17A is attached. The elongated hole 32 is engaged with the engagement claw 28a of the elastic engagement piece 28. The size of the engagement hole 32 in the longitudinal direction is determined by the engagement claw 28.
When a is engaged, it is formed to a size including the protrusion 30, that is, a size into which the elastic engagement piece 28 and the protrusion 30 are fitted. Therefore, the elastic engagement piece 2 of the support member 17A
8 while elastically deforming the engaging claw 28a,
When the engaging claw 28 a is engaged with the back surface of the edge of the engaging hole 32, the projection 30 is fitted into the engaging hole 32. For this reason, the end face 22a of the upper part 22 and the end face 23a of the bottom part 23 of the support member 17A abut on the surface of the edge of the engagement hole 32, and the end faces 22a, 23a and the engagement claw 28a of the elastic engagement piece 28 are used. The thickness direction of the frame 7a is clamped. At this time, the engagement claws 28a of the elastic engagement pieces 28 with respect to the end faces 22a and 23a of the support member 17A.
Is formed to be the same as the thickness of the frame 7a, so that the support member 17A is firmly attached to the frame 7a.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9, the bracket 16 to which the support member 17B is attached has an elongated hole-shaped engaging hole 33 with which the engaging claw 28a of the elastic engaging piece 28 is engaged.
The dimension of the longitudinal direction of the engagement hole 33 is a dimension not including the protrusion 30 when the engagement claw 28a is engaged.
That is, it is formed to have a size in which only the elastic engagement piece 28 is fitted. Therefore, the elastic engagement piece 2 of the support member 17B
8 is elastically deformed and the engaging claw 28a is
6 is engaged with the engaging hole 33, and the engaging claw 28a is
When the projection 30 is engaged with the back surface of the edge, the projection 30 comes into contact with the surface of the edge of the engagement hole 33. For this reason, the front and back of the edge of the engagement hole 33 are sandwiched by the projection 30 and the engagement claw 28 a of the elastic engagement piece 28, and the distance from the end surface of the projection 30 to the engagement claw 28 a is the thickness of the bracket 16. Since the support member 17B is formed in the same size as t, the support member 17B is firmly attached to the bracket 16.

The engaging portion 13a of the paper guide plate 3 is inserted through one of the grooves 26 of the supporting member 17A attached to the frame 7a and the opening at both ends of the groove 26 of the supporting member 17B attached to the bracket 16. , 13b. By moving the paper guide plate 3 along the groove 26, the protrusions 27 of the groove 26 are inserted into the engagement holes of the engagement portions 13a and 13b.
And the paper guide plate 3 is attached to the left and right frames 7a, 7b via the support members 17A, 17B and the bracket 16. At the time of maintenance and inspection, the paper guide plate 3 is
Is moved along with the projection 27 of the groove 26 and the engagement portion 13.
The engagement between the engagement holes a and 13b is released, and the paper guide plate 3 can be removed from the support members 17A and 17B. When removing the support members 17A, 17B from the frame 7a and the bracket 16, the support members 17A, 17B
While elastically deforming the elastic engaging piece 28 of the
And the engagement holes 32, 33 are released.

As described above, since one support member 17 can be attached to the frame 7a and the bracket 16 having different plate thicknesses, the number of types of the support members 17 does not increase, and the management of parts becomes easy. At the same time, the number of dies for forming the support member 17 is not increased, so that the manufacturing cost is reduced.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The thickness T of the frames 7a and 7b is 2.0 mm, the thickness t of the bracket 16 is 1.2 mm,
The height α of 0 is 0.8 mm.

In the present embodiment, the height α of the projection 30 is one type. However, by providing a plurality of types of projections having different heights, the sizes of the engagement holes 32 and 33 are changed, and If the projections that contact the surface of the bracket 16 are selected, the brackets 1 having different plate thicknesses by one support member 17 are selected.
6 can be attached.

[0019]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, one support member can be attached to a frame and a bracket having different plate thicknesses. Therefore, parts management becomes easy and the number of dies is not increased, so that the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since a single support member can be attached to a bracket having a plurality of plate thicknesses, it is easy to manage parts and the number of dies is not increased. As a result, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a printer device employing a paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a paper feed unit provided in a printer device employing a paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a paper feeding unit provided in a printer device employing a paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a rear view of a paper feed unit provided in a printer device employing the paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.

5A and 5B show a support member in the support structure of the paper guide plate according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 5A is a side view, FIG.
(C) is a bottom view and (d) is a rear view.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged perspective view showing a support member of the paper guide plate support structure according to the present invention.

7 (a) is a view taken in the direction of arrow VII (a) in FIG. 4,
(B) is a view on arrow VII-VII (b) in FIG. 4.

8 is a view taken in the direction of the arrow VIII in FIG. 7 (b).

FIG. 9 is a view on arrow IX in FIG. 7 (a).

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer apparatus, 2 ... Paper cassette, 3 ... Paper guide board,
5: paper feed unit, 7a, 7b: frame, 12a, 1
2b: bent portion, 14: reference surface, 15: paper, 16: bracket, 17A, 17B: support member, 28: elastic engagement piece, 28a: engagement claw, 30: projection, 32, 33: engagement hole .

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Mikio Nagai 5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo Within NEC Corporation (72) Inventor Naoya Takayama 3-49-1, Kamiishihara, Chofu-shi, Tokyo Japan (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 1/00-3/68 B65H 11/00-11/02

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bracket attached to one of a pair of left and right frames facing each other and having a smaller thickness than the frame, a pair of support members attached to the bracket and the other frame by elastic engagement pieces, A paper guide plate support structure comprising a paper guide plate supported by left and right frames via a support member, wherein the elastic engagement piece projects integrally with the support member, and A protrusion is provided on the support member in proximity to a piece, an engagement hole is formed in the other frame so that the elastic engagement piece and the projection are fitted, and only the elastic engagement piece is formed on the bracket. Is formed, and the other engagement hole of the frame and the bracket engages the elastic engagement piece with the other engagement hole of the support member.
Distance between the contact surface abutting the edges of the frame of the engagement hole forms the plate thickness and Hobodo Ji engaging claw of frame <br/> over arm, the bracket of the projection and the engaging claw A support structure for a paper guide plate, wherein an interval between the engagement hole and an abutting surface that abuts on an edge of the engagement hole is formed to have the same size as the thickness of the bracket. 2. The support structure for a paper guide plate according to claim 1, wherein said engaging claw and said engaging hole of said bracket of said projection are provided.
A plurality of projections having different distances from an abutting surface that abuts the edge of the bracket are provided, and one of the plurality of projections abuts the edge of the bracket, and the other projections are fitted.
A support structure for a paper guide plate, wherein an engagement hole is formed.