JP3493767B2 - Image forming device - 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 in which a paper feeding mechanism is automatically set to a paper feeding position or a non-paper feeding position corresponding to a position of an open / close type paper ejection tray when the tray is used or not used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a small image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG.
A large number of sheets are placed on a cassette 2 that is detachably inserted from the lower part of the front surface (right side in the figure) of the apparatus main body, and the sheets are taken out one by one by a sheet feeding mechanism 3 including a sheet feeding roll and a separating member. The paper is fed, the paper is reversed by the paper feed guide plate 4, and the paper is conveyed by the standby roll 5 in accordance with the printing timing. Image printing (toner image formation) based on the image data is performed by the unit 6, and the toner image is fixed to the sheet by a fixing unit including a heating roll, a pressure contact roll and the like. The printed paper is reversed by the paper discharge guide plate 8 and is discharged to the paper discharge tray portion 9 with the printing surface facing downward.

Since the image forming apparatus 1 is small in size, when printing on large-sized paper, a large-sized cassette 2a protruding to the rear of the main body of the apparatus is used to feed paper as shown by the chain double-dashed line in the figure. However, if printing is performed on a large-sized paper sheet as it is, there is a risk that the front end of the ejected paper sheet will protrude to the front surface, hang down, fall off by its own weight, and scatter. Therefore, in this case, the detachable auxiliary discharge tray 9 is provided on the upper front side.
A is attached to store large-sized printed sheets.

As a paper feeding method, in addition to the cassette method as shown in the figure, there is also a method in which a paper feeding tray 10 is attached to the central portion of the front surface of the apparatus as shown by a chain double-dashed line for feeding. Although there are advantages and disadvantages to each of the cassette and the tray, when the device is required to be downsized, it is easier to use the detachable paper feed tray as a whole than to use the paper feed cassette. It is easy to realize the expected price reduction.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned method of attaching and using the auxiliary paper discharge tray 9a has a problem that the attachment and detachment work is troublesome and the operability is poor although the structure is simple. When large-sized paper is not used, the auxiliary paper ejection tray 9a is removed and stored so that it does not interfere with the operation. However, once the auxiliary paper ejection tray 9a is removed, the storage is troublesome, and other members are not used. There was a risk that it would be lost. On the other hand, if a paper ejection tray is always provided in the main body of the device, it is not necessary when ejecting short-sized oval paper, etc., and the device becomes larger because the paper ejection tray protrudes sideways, which deteriorates usability. There was a problem.

Further, in the case of using the above-mentioned paper feed tray 10, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, in order to set or release the paper at the paper feed position, a vertically movable bottom plate holding the front end portion of the paper is used. An operation lever 13 is provided in order to bring the paper feeding roller 11 into and out of contact with the paper feeding roller 12. When the operation lever 13 is rotated to the position shown by the broken line in the drawing so as to be raised toward the main body of the apparatus as indicated by arrow A in the drawing, the bottom plate 11 is pulled down in conjunction with this and the front end of the paper can be easily received. To On the other hand, when the operating lever 13 is pulled in the opposite direction to the position shown by the solid line in the figure, the lowering of the bottom plate 11 is released in conjunction with this and the spring (not shown) urges it upward. As a result, the leading end of the sheet placed on the bottom plate 11 is brought into pressure contact with the sheet feeding roller 12 to set the sheet feeding state. Although this paper feed tray method is simple, it has a drawback that the manual operation such as operating the operation lever 13 is complicated.

Generally, in the image forming apparatus, since the paper feed section and the paper discharge section are operated independently as described above, it is inconvenient in terms of usability. What was constructed to satisfy all sexuality was not realized easily.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus which has the simplicity of a tray system, does not require the trouble of attaching and detaching the tray, and automatically sets and releases the sheet at the sheet feeding position.

[0009]

The structure of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below. The present invention relates to an image forming unit, a feeding unit that feeds a sheet toward the image forming unit, and a feeding unit that stacks and stores a plurality of sheets to be introduced into the feeding unit from the outer surface of the apparatus main body. Paper tray, paper feed position for feeding the paper stacked on the paper feed tray to the paper feeding means, and allowing the paper feeding by the paper feeding means, and the paper feed tray An image forming apparatus comprising: a sheet feeding setting unit that moves a sheet stacked on the sheet away from the sheet feeding unit to a non-sheet feeding position that makes it impossible to feed the sheet by the sheet feeding unit. Assumption.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention has a stacking position where it is opened with respect to the main body of the image forming apparatus for stacking the sheets on which the image is formed and discharged in the image forming section and a closing position where the sheet is stored in the apparatus main body. And a discharge sheet tray that can be opened and closed at a storage position in contact with the outer surface of the apparatus main body, and the discharge sheet tray is opened to the stacking position by being interposed between the discharge sheet tray and the sheet feeding setting means. And interlocking means for interlocking the paper feeding setting means to the paper feeding position and interlocking the paper feeding setting means to the non-paper feeding position in conjunction with the discharge paper tray being closed to the storage position. .

The discharge paper tray is provided so as to face the paper stacking side of the feed paper tray when expanded to the stacking position, as described in claim 2, for example. In addition, it is configured to be an auxiliary tray that stacks sheets of paper on which images are formed and discharged by the image forming unit when in the stacking position in cooperation with a discharge tray unit that stacks in the vicinity of the discharge port. As described in claim 4, it is configured to be stacked with the image surface to be formed facing down.

The outer surface portion of the apparatus body may be, for example,
As described above, it is configured to be the upper surface portion of the apparatus main body, and is also configured to be the side surface portion along the vertical direction of the apparatus main body, for example, as described in claim 6.

[0013]

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the ejected paper tray is opened to load the ejected paper, and the ejected paper cooperates with the ejection tray part near the ejection port with the image side facing down, for example. Work and load. When not in use, it is closed to be stored and abuts, for example, an upper surface portion or a vertical side surface portion of the apparatus main body. The interlocking means positions the paper feed setting means at the paper feed position when the discharged paper tray is opened to the stacking position, and positions the paper feed set means at the non-paper feed position when the discharged paper tray is closed at the storage position. Let

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the arrangement of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. The image forming apparatus 20 shown in the figure shows an LED printer as an example, and the left side of the figure is the front side and the right side is the back side. It is a small printer having a depth (right and left in the figure) of, for example, about 30 cm (centimeter).

In FIG. 1, an LED printer (hereinafter, referred to as an apparatus main body) 20 includes a paper feed unit, a paper transport unit, an image forming unit, a fixing unit, a paper discharge unit, a discharged paper storage unit and the like. The paper feed unit includes a paper feed tray 21, a raising plate 22, a paper receiver 23, and the like. Among these, the paper feed tray 21 also serves as the upper lid (two-point sand line 21a in the figure) of the apparatus main body 20. In the figure, a state is shown in which the device is rotated in the clockwise direction (from the front side to the back side of the apparatus main body) indicated by an arrow B in the figure and is obliquely opened at a fixed position. A plurality of sheets are placed so as to lean against the surface that is opened obliquely upward. The raising plate 22 located in front of (lower side of) the paper feed tray 21 is in a non-paper feed position in which the paper feed tray 21 is opened and is rotated slightly downward as indicated by a chain double-dashed line 22a in the figure. . The leading edge of the sheet placed on the sheet feed tray 21 enters the non-sheet feeding state position of the raising plate 22 and contacts the sheet receiver 23. At the time of printing, the raising plate 22 is biased to the paper feeding position shown by the solid line in the figure to press the leading end of the paper against a conveyance roll 25 described later to set the paper in the paper feeding state.

The paper transport section comprises a transport roll 25, a separating member 26, a standby plate 27 and the like. The transport roll 25 is in contact with the leading edge of the uppermost sheet and rotates in the clockwise direction in the figure to feed the sheet in order to feed the sheet to the image forming unit. The separating member 26 separates the sheets one by one by frictional resistance in order to prevent double feeding of the sheets delivered by the transport roll 25.
The standby plate 27 has its upper end projecting into the transport path, blocks the leading edge of the fed paper, makes the paper stand by until the print timing, and rotates counterclockwise in accordance with the print timing. The feeding path is opened and the sheet is fed to the image forming unit.

The image forming section includes a photosensitive drum 30 and a charger 3 which is sequentially disposed near the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 30.
1, LED head 32, developing roll 33, transfer device 34,
It consists of a cleaner 35. The charger 31 applies an initial charge to the photosensitive surface of the photoconductor drum 30, and the LED head 32 exposes the photosensitive surface of the photoconductor drum 30 having the initial charge to exposure based on image data and develops it. Roll 33
Is a toner image of the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive surface of the photoconductor drum 30 by exposure, and the transfer device 34 transfers the toner image to a sheet. The cleaner 35 is the photosensitive drum 30.
The toner remaining on the photosensitive surface is removed.

The fixing section is composed of a heat generating roll 38 and a pressure contact roll 3.
9 and the like, the pair of rolls sandwiches the sheet on which the toner image is transferred and is conveyed in the image forming unit, and the toner image is thermocompression-bonded and fixed on the sheet surface.

The paper discharge section comprises a carry-out roll 40, a paper discharge guide plate 41, a paper discharge roll 42 and the like. Carry-out roll 40
Conveys the paper on which the toner image has been fixed and printing has been completed so as to be carried out, the paper ejection guide plate 41 reverses the paper that is carried out, and the paper ejection roll 42 reverses so that the printing surface faces downward. The discharged paper is discharged from the discharge port 44 from the front side of the upper surface of the apparatus main body toward the back direction.

The discharged paper storage section comprises a horizontal tray 46, an open / close tray 47 and the like. The horizontal tray 46 is a tray portion in the vicinity of the discharge port, and on the other hand, it also serves as an inner lid of the apparatus main body 20. Therefore, when the above-mentioned paper feed tray 21 (upper lid) is opened, the upper outer surface portion of the apparatus main body 20 is opened. Form.
The horizontal tray 46 rotates in the clockwise direction in the drawing around the support shaft 49 during maintenance / inspection or when the toner replenishing cartridge 48 or the like is replaced, thereby exposing the inside of the apparatus main body.

The open / close tray 47 is an outer surface portion of the apparatus main body 20 (the upper surface of the horizontal tray 46) when the apparatus main body 20 is at rest.
The upper lid (paper feed tray 21) and the inner lid (horizontal tray 46) are folded into a position abutting against each other and are located at an intermediate position (two-dot chain line 47 in the figure).
It is stored in a). On the other hand, at the time of use, after the paper is placed on the above-mentioned open paper feed tray 21, like the paper feed tray 21, it is rotated about the hinge 50 in the clockwise direction indicated by the arrow B in the figure, The paper tray 21 is expanded to the paper discharge stacking position facing the paper stacking side.

Although not shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, an interlocking mechanism that interlocks with the opening / closing of the opening / closing tray 47 is provided, and the interlocking mechanism is used to expand the opening / closing tray 47. The paper feed tray 2 is linked with the raising plate 22.
The sheets placed on the sheet No. 1 are automatically set to the feeding state.

FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are views showing the structure and operation of the interlocking mechanism in which the raising plate 22 moves between the non-feeding position and the feeding position in association with the opening / closing of the opening / closing tray 47. Is. Same figure
In (a), the opening / closing tray 47 is centered around the hinge 50 and is indicated by an arrow C in the figure.
The state of being rotated in the counterclockwise direction indicated by is stored in the storage position. An elongated fan-shaped cam 51 is fixed to the rotating end of the opening / closing tray 47 at an angle of about 90 degrees. The cam 51 slidably engages with the cam receiving portion 22-1 of the raising plate 22 to support the engaging surface of the raising plate 22 in a state where the opening / closing tray 47 is stored in the storage position as described above. The shaft 22-2 is pressed in the counterclockwise direction as indicated by the arrow D in the figure. As a result, the raising plate 22 is moved by the unillustrated spring member to the transport roll 25 indicated by the arrow E in the figure.
It resists the urging force in the direction and rotates to a non-feeding position separated from the transport roll 25 and stands still.

The above-described placement of the paper on the paper feed tray 21 is performed in this state, and the leading end of the placed paper enters between the transport roll 25 and the raising plate 22 and contacts the paper receiver 23. In the same figure (b), when the placement of the paper on the paper feed tray 21 is completed (the paper feed tray 21 and the paper are not shown in the figure for convenience of description), the paper is placed on the paper feed tray 21. The opening / closing tray 47 is shown in a state of being opened in the clockwise direction shown by an arrow F in the figure up to a position facing the sheet stacking side of the tray 21 (sheet discharge stacking position) (see FIG. 1). The cam 51 fixed to the rotating end of the opening / closing tray 47 is the opening / closing tray 4.
With the expansion of No. 7, it rotates in the same direction as the expansion. As a result, the press contact of the raising plate 22 with the cam receiving portion 22-1 by the cam 51 is released, and the raising plate 22 moves in the direction of the conveying roll 25 indicated by the arrow G in the drawing based on the biasing force of the spring member. Rotate to press against. As a result, the uppermost tip of the sheet that has entered between the transport roll 25 and the raising plate 22 and is in contact with the sheet receiver 23 is brought into pressure contact with the transport roll 25, and the sheet feeding state is set.

As described above, after the paper is placed on the paper feed tray 21, the paper feed state of the paper is set only by expanding the opening / closing tray 47, and the operation of the paper feed setting lever is not necessary, which is convenient. Is. Further, when the work of placing the paper on the paper feed tray 21 is performed, the open / close tray 47 which is opened in front of the paper feed tray 21 is closed at the storage position so that the work is difficult. Therefore, the open / close tray 47 is always closed. By closing the opening / closing tray 47, the sheet entrance path between the transport roll 25 and the raising plate 22 is always opened when the sheet is placed. That is, this ensures that the leading edge of the paper is always placed in the correct position. Also, after the paper is placed, the opening / closing tray 47
If the paper is not opened, the paper feed state is not set, and therefore printing is not executed. Therefore, the open / close tray 47 is always opened to execute printing. In other words, the paper is not discharged while the open / close tray 47 is closed. Therefore, a paper discharge jam or the like caused by forgetting to open the open / close tray, which is likely to occur in a device using such a simple open / close tray. There is no danger of this occurring.

Next, FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C show another structural example of the interlocking mechanism in which the open / close tray 47 and the raising plate 22 are interlocked and the operation thereof. In this case as well, the raising plate 22 is always biased toward the transport roll 25 by a spring member (not shown).

In FIG. 1A, the opening / closing tray 47 has a hinge 50.
The state of being stored in the storage position with the center of rotation as a center is shown. The lever 54 is attached to the turning end of the opening / closing tray 47.
It is fixed in the direction of 80 degrees. A lever pin 54-1 is provided on the side of the tip of the lever 54, and the slit 55 formed at one end of the interlocking lever 55 that engages with the lever pin 54-1 in a substantially vertical state.
It is fitted into -1. The interlocking lever 55 is rotatable about a fulcrum 55-2 located slightly below the center of the interlocking lever 55, and a pin hole 55-3 is formed at the other end.

A shaft support portion 22-4, which is formed substantially perpendicular to the surface of the raising plate 22 at a side end of the raising plate 22 and is pivotally supported by a rotating shaft 22-3 of the raising plate 22, has a tip end side surface. Raised plate pins 22-5 are provided. This raised plate pin 2
2-5 is engaged with the pin hole 55-3 of the interlocking lever 55 with some play.

One end of the pulling spring 57 is locked to the locking pin 47-1, which is slightly away from the pivoting part of the hinge 50 of the opening / closing tray 47 in the free end direction, and the other end is the end on the side of the raising plate 22. Is locked to the rotary shaft 22-3. As described above, the lock pin 47-1 of the open / close tray 47 locked by the pulling spring 57.
Since the position of is slightly separated from the hinge 50 in the free end direction, the biasing force of the pulling spring 57 is on the left side of the hinge 50 with respect to the opening / closing tray 47 when the opening / closing tray 47 of FIG. It works like pulling the open / close tray 47. Therefore, in this state, the open / close tray 47 is constantly urged by the pulling spring 57 in the closing direction, and thereby stably rests in the storage position.

From this state, when the open / close tray 47 starts to rotate in the direction of the sheet discharge placement position shown by the arrow H in the figure, it is fixed to the rotary end of the open / close tray 47. By rotating the lever 54 rotating clockwise around the hinge 50, the lever pin 5 at the tip of the lever 54
4-1 and the slit 5 of the interlocking lever 55 engaged with this
5-1 starts rotating to the left in the figure. Interlocking lever 55
In response to the leftward movement of the slit 55-1, the other end of the pin hole 55-3 opposite to the fulcrum 55-2 and the raising plate pin 22-5 of the raising plate 22 engaged with the pin hole 55-3. Turns to the right. By rotating the raising plate pin 22-5 to the right, the sheet leading end placement portion of the raising plate 22 on the side opposite to the rotating shaft 22-3 with respect to the raising plate pin 22-5 is moved to the arrow J in the figure.
As shown by the arrow, it rotates to the left, that is, toward the transport roll 25.

When the opening / closing tray 47 thus starts to rotate in the direction of the discharged paper placing position, the locking pin 47-1 also rotates clockwise around the hinge 50 as the opening / closing tray 47 rotates. Rotate. Due to the rotation of the locking pin 47-1, the locking pin 47-1, the hinge 50, and the rotary shaft 22-3 at which the other end of the pulling spring 57 is locked are aligned in a straight line, and the pulling spring 57 is formed. The direction of the urging force of reaches the dead point passing through the rotating shaft 22-3. This figure (b) shows this state.

By passing through this dead point and further expanding the opening / closing tray 47, the locking pin 47-1 is opened.
Rotates to the right of the hinge 50, whereby the biasing force of the pulling spring 57 acts on the open / close tray 47 to pull the open / close tray 47 on the right side of the hinge 50. Therefore,
After that, the open / close tray 47 is constantly urged in the expanding direction by the pulling spring 57, so that the open / close tray 47 is stably stopped at the discharged sheet placing position.

At this time, the raising plate 22 is the raising plate pin 22.
-5 and the pin hole 55-3 of the interlocking lever 55 are engaged with each other to allow the rotation corresponding to the difference between the thickness when the sheets are fully loaded and the thickness when the sheet is the last one. There is room, and the sheets are appropriately pressed against the transport roll 25 from the full load to the last sheet by the biasing force from a biasing member (not shown). When the opening / closing tray 47 is closed, the operation proceeds in the reverse order of the above-described FIG. 3 (c) → (b) → (a) and the pressure contact of the raising plate 22 to the transport roll 25 is released. The paper leading edge mounting portion is opened.

Thus, also in this case, the opening / closing tray 47
By interlocking with the opening and closing of, the pressure contact and release of the conveying roll 25 by the raising plate 22 can be automatically performed. In the embodiment described above, the tray for feeding and discharging the paper is opened and closed on the upper surface of the main body of the apparatus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, FIG.
As shown in (a), for example, when the apparatus main body 20 is vertically long, the paper feed tray 21 and the paper discharge tray 47 may be provided on the side surface, and as shown in FIG. The paper feed tray 21 and the paper discharge tray 47 may be opened to the outside on the left and right (or front and rear) of the apparatus body 20. The double-headed arrows K and K'shown in the drawing indicate the opening and closing directions of the paper feed tray 21, and the double-headed arrows L and L'also show the paper discharge tray 47.
Shows the opening and closing directions of. Similarly, arrows M and M'indicate the sheet feeding and discharging directions. Also, the same figure (b)
In the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, the paper feed tray and the paper discharge tray are widely separated, but the interlocking mechanism is provided with levers extending to the left and right (or front and rear) of the apparatus main body 20 to raise and lower the paper discharge tray 47. It may be transmitted to the interlocking operation of the plates.

[0035]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to simply open the open / close tray after the paper is placed on the paper feed tray, and in conjunction with this, the lifter plate transfers the paper to the transport roll. Since the paper feed status is automatically set, there is no need to operate the paper feed setting lever, etc. Therefore, the operation is simple and convenient, and the components of the paper feed tray are reduced to realize cost reduction. . Further, when the paper is placed on the paper feed tray, the opening / closing tray is always closed at the storage position, and in conjunction with this, the paper feed state is released and the entrance path of the paper leading edge is opened. , The paper can be placed in the correct state at all times. Also, if the open / close tray is not opened, the paper feed status linked with this will not be set, so
Printing and paper ejection are not performed while the open / close tray is closed.Therefore, paper ejection jams, etc. due to forgetting to open the open / close tray, which often occur in a device using a simple open / close tray, are not generated. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment.

2A and 2B are diagrams showing a configuration and an operation of an interlocking mechanism in which a raising plate moves between a non-paper feeding position and a paper feeding position in association with opening / closing of an open / close tray.

3 (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing another configuration example of the interlocking mechanism in which the open / close tray and the raising plate are interlocked and the operation thereof.

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are diagrams showing another example of arrangement of a paper feed tray and a paper discharge tray.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing an example of a conventional small-sized image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a conventional paper feed tray with an operation lever.

[Explanation of symbols]

20 Image forming device (LED printer) 21 Paper tray 21a Paper tray closing position 22 Lifting plate 22a Position of non-feeding state of lifting plate 22-1 Cam receiver 22-2 Spindle 22-3 Rotation axis 22-4 Shaft support 22-5 Lifting plate pin 23 Paper receiver 25 transport rolls 26 Separation member 27 Standby plate 30 photoconductor drum 31 charger 32 LED head 33 developing roll 34 Transcriber 35 cleaner 38 heating roll 39 Pressure contact roll 40 unloading roll 41 Paper ejection guide plate 42 paper ejection roll 44 outlet 46 horizontal tray 47 open / close tray 47a Opening / closing tray storage position 47-1 Locking pin 48 toner replenishment cartridge 49 spindle 50 hinges 51 cam 54 lever 54-1 Lever pin 55 Interlocking lever 55-1 slit 55-2 Support point 55-3 pin hole 57 Extension spring

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Masanori Ota 2-229 Sakuragaoka, Higashiyamato-shi, Tokyo Inside Casio Electronics Co., Ltd. (56) References: 60-64943 (JP, U) (58) Survey Areas (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 83/00 B65H 1/08 B65H 31/00

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image forming unit, a feeding unit that feeds a sheet toward the image forming unit, and a feeding unit that stacks and stores a plurality of sheets to be introduced into the feeding unit from the outer surface of the apparatus main body. Paper feed tray, paper feed position for feeding the paper stacked on the paper feed tray toward the paper feeding means to enable feeding of the paper by the paper feeding means, and the paper feed sheet An image forming apparatus comprising: a sheet setting unit that moves a sheet stacked on a tray away from the sheet feeding unit and moves to a non-sheet feeding position where the sheet feeding by the sheet feeding unit becomes impossible. A stacking position in which the image forming unit is expanded to the main body of the image forming apparatus for stacking sheets to be image-formed and discharged, and an outer surface of the main body of the apparatus which is closed to be stored in the main body of the apparatus. And a discharge paper tray that can be opened and closed in a storage position that abuts against The paper feed tray is interposed between the paper tray and the paper feed setting means, the paper feed setting means is positioned at the paper feed position in conjunction with the ejection paper tray being expanded to the stacking position, and the paper ejection is performed. An image forming apparatus, comprising: interlocking means for positioning the paper feed setting means at the non-paper feed position in conjunction with closing of the paper tray at the storage position. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharge paper tray is provided so as to face a paper stacking side of the feed paper tray when expanded to the stacking position. 3. The discharge paper tray, in the stacking position, stacks the paper, on which an image is formed and discharged by the image forming unit, in cooperation with a discharge tray unit for stacking in the vicinity of the discharge opening. 2. An auxiliary tray for performing the operation according to claim 1.
Or the image forming apparatus according to 2. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharged paper tray is provided so as to be stacked with an image surface to be formed facing down. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface portion of the apparatus body is an upper surface portion of the apparatus body. 6. The outer surface portion of the apparatus body is a side surface portion along the vertical direction of the apparatus body.
The image forming apparatus described in 2, 3, or 4.